The fronts are very generic and make me think these cards are MLB team issued cards from the 1970s or 1980s perhaps - though that is how the originals might have looked.
I do like how Topps made good use of the colors on the back of the cards - where it's not as sleepy as the fronts.
I had second thoughts where I really wanted the card - but had to pivot towards finding others.
2005 Upper Deck Justin Verlander RC #430 [$5] - it depends on what I may actually find, but I maybe on the hunt for loose, low end rookies of star players with significant playing careers.
2003 Fleer E-X X-Tra Innings Ichiro 1 of 10XI [$5] - this might be a type of insert I might have pulled back in the day and say, ‘meh’ where it’s not really a hit in my book, especially out a $6 pack, but the die-cut design and the use of black color scheme makes this card stand out.
I was going to get those two [for $8], but just make it an even $10 - the seller had me grab a 2019 Topps Chrome 1984 Ichiro 84TC-14, which was fine by me.
Ichiro might have been going out to dinner when the prominent 'all-star' grapher back in the day begged, "there's only four of us" and Ichiro came over, grabbed the guy's pen and quickly signed our items - it was such a satisfying get, since it was the most random 'never gonna happen' thing.
Looking back, the Mariners were supposed to play the Angels - but the MLB games were postponed because of 9/11.
I bought a copy of this card last year, but there was a stray mark on the top left hand corner and on principle, I returned the card to the seller - even though it cost me s/h to send it back.
Because the impulse buy didn’t end up working last year, picking up a copy of the card ended up itch I had to scratch - Ichiro was a universally loved player and as a personal tribute to the player and the man, I wanted a cheap, classy looking 'bookend card' for my micro-mini Ichiro PC.
While I don’t have an extensive Ichiro card collection [maybe three or four of his cheapest rookies in addition to whatever loose cards I may have] - I do have several in-person autographs I was able get through parts of his legendary career with a few stories on those IP quests for his scribble.
I would have originally settled for a raw copy of the card as they were released, but after the fact, a slabbed copy [$10.99 BIN - $3.00 eBay promo on purchases of $3.01 or more] only cost several dollars more - while third party grading can be a straight up joke, especially for the most recent of cards, having a card entombed in plastic gives me some peace of mind as far as getting a relatively clean card.
These cards aren't hard to find at all, so PSA 10 listings are not much more than the PSA 9 ones - as far as I’m concerned a PSA 9 is what I'll usually what settle for as the most common grade for most modern cards I’m looking to pick up.
I liked him just like everyone else seemed to - mainly it was because he was all about infield singles, stealing bases, showing off his arm and his defensive skills as a fast-paced contrast to the plodding all-or-nothing players who had one skill [slugging a lot of home runs], but offered little else.
Maybe for years, the media couldn't pin a narrative to Ichiro's career - part of the appeal was the quirkiness and mystery of this far east hit machine who crashed the major leagues at 27, yet was a year-to-year threat to reach the 200-hit plateau that he made up for 'lost years' to reach the 3,000 hit milestone.
I'm afraid as the years pass and new players sprout, there will be less guys to count - but it's fun to go back and remember times when I've gotten someone like Ichiro's autograph in-person.
Now, the all-world hit king is stepping away for a bit away for a bit, likely maybe forever as a player - despite the feel good aspect of Ichiro signing with the Mariners in spring training, the team just couldn't carry his corpse any longer as one of the guys on the team's 25-man roster.
I don't exactly play the game I've seen fans do [through occasional posts on Web sites] where when someone accomplishes a feat, leaves the game as a player or gets into the Hall of Fame - they do a mental calculation whether if they've seen him play in-person.
Too many times where I'm at a game and the last thing I'm paying attention to is the action on the field - as odd as it may sound, it maybe harder to get into a MLB game in-person because there is just this huge separation from the cheap seats to the field.
Pujols just hit 570th and 571st home runs and while perhaps he can reach 600 home runs this year - maybe passing Harmon Killebrew [573], Mark McGwire [583] and Frank Robinson [586] are more realistic for Pujols to reach and pass this season.
While his overall numbers had trended upwards since the season started, Pujols is still hitting about .220 - so it's really discouraging watching what was once an all-around hitter merely hang on an all-or-nothing hitter.
It's been a slow crawl, but I'm hoping Pujols can bump his average all the way to .250 or so - with 'decent' power numbers by the All-Star break.
As for Ichiro, he's 39 hits away from reaching 3,000 hits, so it's a foregone conclusion that he is going to get to the milestone mark and more - maybe an added bonus is at the moment, he is showing flashes of the vintage Ichiro with a .351 batting average and a .407 on-base percentage.
It's fun keeping track of a great player still being able to get it done at such an advanced [as far as professional baseball goes] age of 42 - however, it's not 2004 and I'm afraid that if he gets overexposed [not that it matters since it seems he's done just about everything], that his resurgent numbers will get dragged down over the course of the season.
More cards from an 87-card mix I put together at a card show for $20 - I tried to build up a 'run' of mini-collection adds perhaps with an emphasis on the assorted star cards [I was finding for the most part] as opposed to strictly commons.
2001 Topps Archives Willie Mays #225
It would be nice to see Ichiro still putting up the numbers, though guy is 42-years old and his MLB playing career is on its death knell - however, he should be good to get his 3,000th hit sometime in 2016 and that eventual accomplishment will be a testament of his metronomic consistency as professional hitter.
I picked up 'old' Photofiles 8x10's of Torii Hunter, Michael Young, Ichiro x2 for a dollar each - I picked them up to get autographed, though Ichiro seems like he's on his last legs as an MLB player and never was an easy 'get' in the first place.
I picked up a lone 11x14 top loader $2 - maybe I'm trying to branch out to larger photos and need something to protect such photos.
I even brought the photo to a Seattle trip I took earlier this year, hoping I'd random see Martinez at the lone Mariners game I was able to go to - no dice on that, but I eventually saw a post through the SCN message boards where someone was taking items for Martinez to be signed.
I thought it might be a good opportunity to get the photo signed and not have to worry about carrying it around - though it seemed pretty ballsy to send the photo in to a random person who was going to get it signed for a fee.
I assume the person taking items has some sort of agreement to get at least a certain number of items signed - from what I stumbled upon, I assume the signing was at Sun Times show - Martinez was scheduled to appear on Sunday [Nov. 24], so that was when my item was probably inked up.
My biggest fear about this whole deal was something catastrophic happening - maybe my Priority SASE gets lost or banged up, the autograph was signed on the toploader [not likely, but who knows] or the autograph is imperfect and/or comes back wrecked.
I've been thinking about Ichiro's last couple of years - he's nearly 40, he can't get on-base, doesn't run as much, doesn't hit for any sort of pop anymore and getting to the 3,000 hit milestone as a MLB player seems like a pipe dream at this point.
Maybe the flair is still there and perhaps a desire to compile numbers - but maybe the nail in the coffin may have been his trade from the Seattle Mariners to the New York Yankees.
It doesn't compute anymore that is anywhere close to being a good player - it is sort of fascinating to see how he deals with what seems to be the tail end of his great professional baseball career, though it's sad that anything he good he does at this point seems to be a mirage and he's just seemingly hanging on after a 10-year period of metronomic excellence.
I was wondering how to deal with the new 2011 Topps Heritage coming out - I'm not going to pick up a hobby box for $75-$80, but like a lemming I wanted to see what the 2011 Topps Heritage cards looked like in-hand.
I don't think I've really loved any particular year of Topps Heritage - maybe 2009 was the last year I really liked how the Heritage cards looked.
I understand they are supposed to mimic Topps' sets from the past, but perhaps I have to be a set-builder to understand the appeal of Heritage - when at times I find the cards dull and boring.
For now, I picked up a 2011 Topps Heritage blaster box and also a three-pack blister [$8.99 each at Target] - the blisters come with '3 exclusive black parallel' cards, which maybe the ideal lure for collectors looking for a non-blaster Heritage purchase.
Black parallel pack
#C30 Clay Buchholz
#C48 Chone Figgins
#C60 Will Venable
Pack one
#208 Rickie Weeks
#68 Travis Snider
#238 Ichiro
#165 Adam Jones
#199 Aroldis Chapman
#156 Hank Conger
#159 Joba Chamberlain
#209 Andrew Romine - is it weird that I imagine being a professional baseball player for the Angels, taking a baseball card picture like Conger and Romine do on their cards?
#153 Marco Scutaro
Pack two
#280 Hiroki Kuroda
#212 Roy Oswalt
#72 Philly's Men Up the Middle - Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley
#320 Jason Heyward
#NAP-14 Felix Hernandez - New Age Performers insert
#167 Wilson Ramos
#414 Jarrod Dyson
#266 Jose Ceda
#155 Brian Wilson - I love this card but everyone has seen it, haven't they? The card is awesome but perhaps Topps should have gone with an image featuring Wilson's trademark beard.
Pack three
#150 Miguel Cabrera
#38 Coco Crisp
#276 Darwin Barney
#65 Robinson Cano
#458 Ian Kennedy - SP
#137 Babe and Mgr. Huggins
#383 Daniel Hudson
#219 Jeremy Hellickson
#191 Ryan Dempster
At a card show I frequent, I dug through a stack of cards that were a quarter each - I ended up getting 20 cards and was charged $4.
I am apathetic to base cards of superstars because they are not worth much and seem redundant, but for around a quarter each - there were some allure to jumping in and picking up the following cards because I've 'tagged' the players as 'personal favorites.'
Albert Pujols
2005 Bowman's Best #28
2008 Upper Deck Sweet Spot #83
2010 Bowman #185 - x2
Ichiro
2008 Upper Deck Sweet Spot #47 - not shown
2010 Bowman #172 - obscured by the flash on my camera
Ken Griffey Jr.
2010 Bowman #40
Chone Figgins and Ichiro look to gel during spring training and form a top of the lineup duo, to ignite the Seattle Mariners - on paper, the Seattle Mariners look to be at the top of the American League West. However, I don't think they are a finished product and wouldn't be surprised if they took a step back, before they can take a step forward.
Can the starting pitching hold up after Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee - will the offense be able to score enough runs? Will Milton Bradley put together a relatively healthy and productive season?
Ichiro is some kind of freak, but does his 'homeboy,' Ken Griffey Jr. have one more season - where his bat speed resembles something more of what fans saw in the late 1990s or even when healthy in the 2000s.
In putting together a revamped Mariners team, GM Jack Zduriencik has had a cult-like following among mainstream baseball pundits and statheads alike - but is Zduriencik's 2010 Mariners good enough to compete against the Angels?
I'm an Angels fan and it is going to be exciting to see how the two squads battle it out in 2010 - since they should be the top teams to battle for the division title.
For the questionnaire, go to Dinged Corners
