Saturday, March 28, 2015

1988 Kenner Talking Baseball


Talk about a blast from the past. During last month's COMC pick-up, I came across a bunch of 1988 San Diego Padres Starting Lineup Talking Baseball cards. I actually bought this electronic card game, made by Parker Brothers Toys of Beverly, Mass., for my oldest son's birthday that year. 

 
This electronic game, which set you back about $100 in the day, was basically a small computer and keyboard housed in a miniature baseball stadium, which allowed you to respond to baseball game situations. The cards, measuring 2-5/8 x 3, were part of the Starting Lineup Talking Baseball game, which also included a team game cartridge. And it only took four "C"-sized batteries to operate.

For those of you who aren't too familiar with this electronic game, here's an actual TV ad for Starting Lineup Talking Baseball.


There were 42 cards in the complete National and American League "All-Star" set, including seven instruction cards (without player pictures) as well as Tony Gwynn (21b). Like Panini and other card companies today, Kenner only had a player’s association license for the game, so of course, there are no logos on the uniforms or hats.

You could also pick up one of the 26 individual teams sets, so you could play, say the San Diego Padres against the San Francisco Giants. You have to remember though, there was no interleague play, or even Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Miami (Florida) Marlins, or Tampa Bay Devil Rays, for that matter. And while the Los Angeles Angels played in Anaheim just off of I-5, there were no Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Here's the 14 San Diego Padres cards I picked up through COMC.
 


 

The entire San Diego Padres Team Set includes
1-Shawn Abner
2-Roberto Alomar
3-Bobby Brown
4-Joey Cora
5-Mark Davis
6-Tim Flannery
7-Goose Gossage
8-Mark Grant
9-Tony Gwynn
10-Stan Jefferson
11-John Kruk
12-Shane Mack
13-Carmelo Martinez
14-Lance McCullers
15-Randy Ready
16-Benito Santiago
17-Eric Show
18-Garry Templeton
19-Ed Whitson
20-Marvell Wynn
21-Batting Order Checklist. 
  

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

March Urbandale Card Show

This past Sunday was the third Sunday of the month, so that means it's time for the monthly Urbandale American Legion card show. With 70+ degree temperatures and generally gorgeous weather, this month's show was very well attended, both from a dealer's standpoint and as far as the number of collectors in attendance.
 
The nickel and dime boxes were definitely out in force, so it was a no-brainer to pick up these San Diego Padres cards - a 1995 Topps Embossed Andy Benes (#40), Bip Roberts (#57) and Joey Hamilton (#87), 2000 Stadium Club Trevor Hoffman (#18), 2002 Topps Reserve Xavier Nady (#31), and 2003 Donruss Champions Sean Burroughs (#220).

And then there was this bunch of 2000 Pacific cards, which included Wally Joyner (#367), Andy Ashby (#361), Ben Davis (#362), Ruben Rivera (#372), and Sterling Hitchcock (#364). If you know of my love for minor league cards, then you also know I couldn't pass up this 1992 Waterloo Diamonds Fleer/Procards Shawn Robertson (#2154). Signed as a free agent by the Padres in 1991, he only played two seasons of minor league ball, in Spokane of the Northwest League (Low-A ball) and in 1992 with Waterloo (Class A). After that, he appears to have fallen off the face of the earth.
 
I also picked up these 1995 Stadium Club Andy Benes (#26), 2001 Bowman's Best Sean Burroughs (#129), Mat Latos (#50), 2011 Bowman Platinum Bold (#50) Stadium Club Members Only Parallel Dustin Hermanson (#107), 1997 Pinnacle Jason Thompson (#180), and 2001 Upper Deck Vintage Ryan Klesko (#289).

While I've only picked up one or two packs of 2015 Topps cards, I have yet to pull any Padres cards. Fortunately, I was able to find seven 2015 Topps cards, which included Yonder Alonso (#99), Yasmani Grandal (#338), Rene Rivera (#3), Jesse Hahn (#145), Everth Cabrera (#28), and Carlos Quentin (#32). I also grabbed a 2015 Topps team card, as well. Of these six cards, only half - Alonso, Hahn and Quentin are still with the club - everyone else has been traded to make up the new-look 2015 Friars.

Even though I wasn't able to attend last month's show, Myron, one of my favorite dealers was still looking out for me and had these Padres cards set aside for me, as well as a few team sets. I was more than happy to find these gorgeous Tony Gwynss, which included a 1991 Topps Cracker Jack I (#36), 1998 Revolution Showstoppers (#35), and a 2015 Donruss Tony Gwynn Tribute (#2), as well as2013 Pinnacle Artist's Proof Jedd Gyorko (#187), 2014 Bowman Platinum Toolsy Die-Cuts Austin Hedges (#TDCAH), and a 2014 Bowman Chrome Prospects Autographs Jose Urena (#BCAPJUR) of his hands.
He also had a1993 Upper Deck 28-card team set and a 1994 Collector's Choice 19-card team set put aside for me.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

I'll have a boxful of Nacho's, please

Another package I've recently received in the mail (but have taken forever to post) is from Christopher over at Nachos Grande. An avid Legos collector, I had sent him a Christmas card with a Lego mini character.

He was touched by the card and elated with the Lego character. In return, he sent me this wonderful collection of San Diego Padres cards and goodies.
You know, it's always great to be gracious and good enough to send a gratuitous group of Gwynns, so Christopher saw fit to send along a few cards of Mr. Padre, himself. Here's his 2000 Impact Mighty Fine in '99, 1997 Collector's Choice All-Star Connection, 2008 Upper Deck Heroes, 1998 Collector's Choice, 1987 Topps, and a 2014 Stadium Club.
For a team created in 1969, it's hard coming up with vintage cards. However, Christopher saw fit to include these Padres "Vintage" cards - a 2004 Upper Deck Vintage Miguel Ojeda, 2007 Topps Heritage Brian Giles and Adrian Gonzalez, 2004 Upper Deck Vintage Brian Lawrence, and 2007 Topps Allen & Ginter Kahlil Greene and Edwin Moreno.

How about a 1996 Circa Fernando Valenzuela, Wally Joyner and Andy Ashby, 1991 Studio Tony Fernandez, Brian Lawrence. Oliver Perez and Shane Victorino, 2002 Fleer Fall Classics SP Steve Garvey. A friend and I used to have a blast mimicking a few pitchers' pitching motions and Valenzuela was one of them that was so much fun to copy, especially due to his heaven-directed look, as part of his wind-up. Al Hrabosky, the Mad Hungarian, was another one that was fun to mimic.
In 1991 Topps released Stadium Club, featuring a glossy UV coating on both sides of the card, gold foil stamping on the front and a nice, borderless action photo on the front. Christopher made them part of his package, including these Topps 1995 Stadium Club Andy Benes, Brad Ausmus, and Andy Ashby, 1994 Stadium Club Archi Cianfrocco, 1996 Stadium Club Glenn Dishman, 1992 Stadium Club Paul Faries, and a 1996 Stadium Club Joey Hamilton. Oh yeah, here's a 1995 Topps D3 Andy Benes, too.
 
Here's a 2008 Upper Deck UD Game Materials Morgan Ensberg, 1982 Topps Luis Salazar and Joe Lefebvre, Ken Caminiti 1996 Pinnacle, 1997 Collector's Choice, 1997 Collector's Choice Crash the Game Exchange, 1997 Collector's Choice All-Star Connection.
And finally, here's a Jake Peavy 2005 Upper Deck Classic, 2008 Topps Year in Review, 2005 Topps Opening Day, 2000 Topps Stars Sean Burroughs, Derrek Lee 1997 Collector's Choice, 1994 Score RC, 1998 Upper Deck, and 2000 Topps Stars Ryan Klesko.

He also included a Padres pencil and Padres Sportsclix character (of course, I can't find the box with his cards again, so I can't tell you who the Padres player was).

Sunday, March 1, 2015

February goodies from COMC

Its time once again to post my monthly booty earned from the COMC (Check Out My Cards) website. As you may well know, if you complete more than a few of their COMC Challenges, you can earn enough COMC dollars to pick up a nice little stack of free cards
 
I'm now up to 240,055 points, good for $240 worth of free sports cards (and yes, I've spent almost every penny of that on COMC cards). As a matter of fact, I'm more than happy to share some of my most recent purchases accumulated through COMC in this post.
 
For starters, I had a great opportunity to add some new cards to my Tony Gwynn collection. I was able to find some food issues, newer cards, minis, serial numbered, glossy, and other unique Gwynn cards. I'll begin with this 1990 Sunflower Seeds #11, 2000 Metal Hit Machines #H4, 2013 Panini Father's Day Museum Collection #MC3, 1993 Duracell Power Players I #14, 1988 Drake's #14, and 1998 Metal Universe Universal Language #19.

When it comes to Gwynn minis, you can't go wrong with these 1987 Hostess Stickers #16, 1992 Topps Micro Gold #G270, 1993 Topps Micro #5, 1991 Topps Cracker Jacks I #26, and 2013 Topps Gypsy Queen Mini #287B.

And then there's the glossy and serial numbered, including a 1998 Fleer Tradition #315, 2000 Bowman's Best #40, 2000 Topps Gold Label Class 3 #11 1998 Pinnacle Inside #37, 1998 Leaf Rookies and Stars Standing Ovations #5 S/N 3490/5000, and 2001 Post #17.
Of course, I'm always looking for "older" Padres cards, so I grabbed these 1974 Topps #250A Willie McCovey, and 1974 Topps "Washington" cards, #148B Dave Hilton and #32B John Grubb. And then there's this 1979 OPC #95 Randy Jones (one of my favorite Padres pitchers), 1970 Topps #151 Dave Roberts, 1973 Topps #268 Jerry Morales, 1971 Topps #548 Don Mason, and 1971 Topps Coins #133 Ollie Brown. I had won a stack of these coins on a bid board at a local sports card shop, but the only Padre to be found belonged to Mark Davis.
And then of course, I just had to pick up a Padres autograph card, in this case a 2005 Origins Old Judge Autographs  #AO Akinori Otsuka. A pair of Ken Caminiti cards beckoned, including these 1998 Tops Tek Patterns 32 #68 and 1997 Donruss Preferred X-Ponential Power #10b S/N 492/3000. And then I just had to have these 2005 Reflections Purple #78 Mark Loretta S/N 54/99, 2003 Sweet Spot #212 Miguel Ojeda S/N 332/1430, 2013 Panini Father's Day #41 Jedd Gyorko S/N 48/499, 1987 Fleer Limited Edition #16 Steve Garvey, and 2009 Upper Deck Goudy #168 Trevor Hoffman.
 
Lately, it seems as if COMC is finally catching up on their inventory listings, so it appears that the challenges are starting to slow down. If that's the case, then it may be awhile before I'm able to tap into this mother lode again.