Nearly a glitch in the Matrix - feat. Kirby Puckett

I made this 2006 Fleer Greats Decade Greats Puckett a keeper out of a 25 card dollar dig at a card show where I was charged $20 - I have Puckett rubber stamped as a Hall of Fame legend to collect from the junk wax era and this retro card from the 2000s ends up a little more unique, where it goes into my stadium project.

Like my last post, I thought the same image on one card was used for another card and sure enough Puckett's 1988 Fleer card used nearly the same image - maybe it makes a little more sense where Fleer [or Upper Deck, which had bought out Fleer in 2005] would be able to dig around and look for an archive of images to use.

On first glance, the pictures on the cards are virtually the same where they could have been taken seconds from each other - the only wrinkle that makes the images slightly different are Puckett's eyes, where the retro Fleer card has him looking towards the side, while the 1988 Fleer card has his eyeballs sort of looking downward.

Some old-school 1980s card show pick ups

I'd braved the foot traffic and narrow aisles at the last card I show I was at - I wear a mask and standing idle digging through rows of random cards in a stuffy room has me feeling out of sorts.

Still, I was able to do my thing at some of the value boxes and after just a couple of hours into the show, I was down to my last $20 - there was a table with sorting tray of all sorts of cards.

A Corey Kluber certified autograph [$10] and a David Wright certified autograph [either $10 or $20, but it was a sticker Panini issue] intrigued - but they might not have been appealing impulse purchases where I was content to leave them.  

I stumbled upon the seller's table where I bought a 1989 Upper Deck Dale Murphy #357 reverse negative from another show date - on my first go around, maybe I wasn’t feeling the table, but gave things another go.

There are rows and clusters of mid 1980s rookies, mid 1980s minor league cards, junk wax era singles, assorted old school and vintage cards from all sorts of sports - it’s fun to consider making some of the random singles keepers, but I have to watch for some obvious blemishes and imperfections where the eye appeal isn't quite there.  

I'd like to think I don't need a chair, but I'm not getting younger and if the primary seller at the table offers me a chair as I dig through his stock of cards - that may actually encourage me to find something.

Go figure, I settled on a 1985 Leaf Kirby Puckett RC [$5] and a 1982 TCMA Orel Hershiser [$10] - maybe the Puckett is a little off center but it’s not bad looking.

Puckett was one of the kings of the junk wax era superstars for me, though his actually rookie year [1985] was before I knew anything about trading cards - I may look to catch up on picking up Puckett's 1985 rookies when I can.

The Hershiser is somewhat of an oddball where it's an early 1980s minor league card [it might be his first pro card released in the United States] that predates his 1985 MLB rookie issues - the longtime Los Angeles Dodgers favorite is still visible as their primary color commentator and like Puckett was a junk wax era star.

There was a 1983 TCMA Hershiser [$10] that may have been a keeper as well and I probably could have gotten the three cards for $20 or less - but to be on the safe side, just picked the older of the two Hershiser cards.

I handed off the cards and the seller took a look at the prices for a moment before asking $7 for the pair.

I could have sworn the seller gave off more of a senior vibe the first time I'd seen him with his adult son who might as well have been tagging along as muscle - but someone had asked him about having Satchel Paige cards in his collection and he said, "I'm not that old."

Card show results - Puckett and Yaz

I made a mid week pit stop at a potential LCS storefront and new card show set-up twice a week - I took look a around and maybe there was four or five tables along with the shop set-up, so it wasn't looking too good.

I did realize it wasn't the weekend and it may take time for guys possibly setting up - to be on that weekday grind with real life stuff in the way.

I don’t know if it was the same guy at this particular table I stumbled on, but I recognized some old school / vintage material from the very first show I attended this year - there maybe a couple of binders with vintage football sets on display and a showcase with some modern and / better stuff.

There were was a couple of piles of $5 cards and I doubt I would find anything - but I ended up with a 1973 Topps Carl Yastrzemski #245 and a 1985 Fleer Kirby Puckett RC #286.

The Yastrzemski was the mutton chops Yaz card featured an episode of The Simpsons, so there was some novelty there - I saw the Yastrzemski displayed before, but the table setup changed up over the past several shows.

With ‘here and now’ interests taking priority, maybe the Yaz was just another card collecting dust in a seller’s stash somewhere - but I was able to to find it again today and it’s worth $5 to have it in-hand.

Come to think of it, I’ve never had a Puckett rookie so it maybe a start to looking for his more common rookie cards - the 1984 Fleer Update is the XRC to have, but that maybe a card that I'm not going to run into anytime, while I still kind of think his 1985 rookies were kind of ‘second tier’ at best.

Puckett was a larger than life superstar during the junk wax era and I ended up with his share of cards - he was a gamer and was on his way to posting more significant counting number through his mid 30s, sbefore he was diagnosed with glaucoma late in his career.

When he was playing, there was never a bad thing spoken about him on or off the field - but he was a flawed human being, who wasn’t the most savory of characters, especially after retirement.

The 30-Day Baseball Card Challenge - Day 5

"A certified autograph card of one of your favorite players."

It's not a pack pulled autograph, but it is certified and slabbed by PSA/DNA, so after scratching my head to come up with a card to post - I've settled on this 1996 Score Zenith Kirby Puckett #149 signed through the mail just about 20 years ago.

Puckett was one of the larger than life baseball stars from the mid 1980s through the mid 1990s - his cards came out through the height of the junk wax era, so it was easy enough to end up with his cards, even if they were your typical Topps, Donruss, Fleer, Score, Fleer Ultra, Leaf, Pinnacle, Pinnacle Select, Upper Deck, etc.

I think the fact that I occasionally ended up with his cards, in addition to helping the Minnesota Twins win a World Series championship in 1991 - made Puckett a pretty familiar national star, even if he didn't star for my hometown team.

He had a well earned reputation of a guy who did so much on the field to help his teams win and help the community off it - unfortunately his playing career ended when he was still surging strong in his 30s and post-career, his sterling reputation took a drastic hit.

2016 Panini Diamond Kings hobby recap

I picked up a box on eBay for $65 and while I bought a few more things so I could use a $15 off $75 eBay promo code - I chose to make believe I applied the discount to this box purchase and just added on the other purchases.

I wanted to see if I could pull a vintage relic card and while it was more likely than finding something featuring Babe Ruth or Lou Gehrig - I wasn't looking forward to the reality my actual hits [two per box] being a combination of Brian Johnson, Robert Refsnyder or Richie Shaffer.

Once I got the box in-hand, I busted through the packs in about 10 minutes and spent another few hours formally listing things out - after my anticipation of busting a full hobby box, I wanted to puke.

My first hit was a dual relic of Dalton Pompey [dud] and my second hit was a Miguel Sano dual relic auto - Sano’s certified autographs are a dime a dozen at this point and I'd picked up at least a couple of random ones last year when he was having a big rookie season.

A sneaky good pull may have partially saved this break came in the form of Kirby Puckett Originals Sapphire parallel serial #’d 18/25 - looks like the past four sales of the card on eBay have been $39.99 [May 5], $39.99 [May 14], $7.00 [May 17] and $28.95 [May 24].

Pack one
#81 Jose Abreu
#105 Yoenis Cespedes
#101 Troy Tulowitzki
#37 Harry Breechen
#30 Gabby Hartnett
#MF8 Roger Maris - Memorable Feats insert
#149 Raul Mondesi
#144 Michael Conforto

Pack two
#74 George Springer
#68 Eric Hosmer
#128 Cal Ripken Jr.
#22 Tony Lazzeri
#50 Lefty O’Doul - mini
#A12 Gerrit Cole - Aficionado insert
#184 Trayce Thompson
#180 Alex Dickerson

Pack three
#63 Dallas Keuchel
#59 Bryce Harper
#124 A.J. Pollock
#120 Matt Carpenter
#13 Lou Gehrig - image variation, though not SP’d.
Dummy card
#HC8 Will Clark - Heritage Collection insert
#177 Luke Jackson
#172 Miguel Almonte

Pack four
#34 Bob Turley
#116 Prince Fielder
#112 Jorge Soler
#13 Lou Gehrig
#3 Billy Martin
#DKM-DY Dalton Pompey - DK Materials Silver Set dual relic blue serial #’d 18/25
#168 Carl Edwards Jr.
#164 Jose Peraza

Pack five
#26 Earl Averill
#17 Roberto Clemente
#108 David Price
#93 Nelson Cruz
#38 Heinie Groh - Red Framed parallel, not serial #’d?
#E11 David Ortiz - Expressionists insert
#160 Peter O’Brien
#156 Collin Rea

Pack six
#7 Honus Wagner
#97 Sonny Gray
#104 Yadier Molina
#140 Carlos Rodon
#84 Josh Donaldson
Dummy card
#DK04 Clayton Kershaw - Originals insert
#152 Richie Shaffer
#148 Ketel Marte

Pack seven
#137 James McCann
#135 Bob Gibson
#54 Adrian Gonzalez
#51 Adam Jones
#DK016 Kirby Puckett - Originals insert Sapphire parallel serial #’d 18/25
#MF10 Ted Williams - Memorable Feats insert
#143 Miguel Sano
#183 Kelby Tomlinson

Pack eight
#88 Max Scherzer
#80 Jonathan Lucroy
#47 Jim Gilliam
#42 Johnny Sain
#137 James McCann - mini
#A14 Felix Hernandez - Aficionado insert
#179 Pedro Severino
#174 Jorge Lopez

Pack nine
#73 Garrett Richards
#67 Edwin Encarnacion
#131 Mariano Rivera
#36 Dom DiMaggio
#21 Ted Williams - image variation, though not SP’d.
Dummy card
#HC10 Greg Maddux - Heritage Collection insert
#171 Gary Sanchez
#167 Max Kepler

Pack 10
#62 Clayton Kershaw
#127 George Brett
#123 Vladimir Guerrero
#29 Frankie Frisch
#21 Ted Williams
#RS-MS Miguel Sano - Rookies Signatures Silver Set serial #’d 239/299
#163 Luis Severino
#159 Robert Refsnyder

Pack 11
#40 Jim Bottomley
#33 Bob Meusel
#12 Leo Durocher
#2 Bill Dickey
#82 Jose Altuve - Blue Framed parallel serial #’d 67/99
#E13 Ozzie Smith - Expressionists insert
#155 Travis Jankowski
#151 Greg Bird

Pack 12
#25 Don Hoak
#16 Pee Wee Reese
#119 Corey Kluber
#115 Noah Syndergaard
#92 Mookie Betts
Dummy card
#DK06 Giancarlo Stanton - Originals insert
#147 Aaron Nola
#142 Corey Seager

First PSA DNA submission yields mostly slabbed goodness

I stopped at the post office Saturday morning because I had a package waiting for me - I was hoping it's my PSA/DNA order because I've been fretting over the status of a stash of six autograph cards I sent to PSA/DNA through their March 2013 special, which was $15 [plus insurance / shipping depending on the declared value of my total order] to have an item with a $150 declared value authenticated, graded and slabbed with a blue flip.

From what I've read, the biggest difference between PSA/DNA flips is blue is basically for authentication and grading of the autograph - while red flips is for the authentication / grading of the card and authentication of the autograph.

This might be a one time submission so I wanted some autograph cards that meant something in my collection - if I sent some oddball autographs cards for submission, I might be stuck with a reminder of something I don't really care for either way.

I decided to submit with two Mariano Rivera, two Derek Jeter and two Kirby Puckett autographed cards - through the special.

Though not perfect, PSA/DNA is the industry standard as far as autograph authentication is concerned - on a whim, I was looking to submit some cards that have been in my collection for the last 15 years and maybe looking for some validation.

After putting together the packaging I was mailing to PSA/DNA and hoping it would get to their offices safely, I realized I'd forgotten to sign and date the submission form I'd filled out - after someone from PSA/DNA contacted me through e-mail to resolve that little problem, I assumed my order was good to go, though I didn't know if it was going to take a while to process my order.

I was waiting around the clock, day by day, looking for any confirmation of my order and/or results being posted - maybe I was looking for a courtesy e-mail, but I didn't get anything at all and perhaps an option would be to give PSA/DNA a call.

I signed up with my personal info to create an account on the PSA Web site to see if I can get some kind of status check - however, I shouldn't assume PSA/DNA would process my order and tie it back with the account I just created on the PSA Web site after I'd already sent my cards in. THERE WAS NOTHING IN MY CREATED ACCOUNT TO INDICATE ANY ORDER AND I WONDERED HOW LONG I'D HAVE TO WAIT AROUND.

The small box I received at the post office after signing / writing my name / giving my address was from Newport Beach, so it had to be from PSA/DNA - it looked sturdy enough that I was hoping there would be slabs inside.

From all the lurking and reading I've done on autograph message boards - a possibility is not having everything I sent in authenticated and I wondered what my reaction would be if none of my cards were slabbed.

Eventually I tried to rip into the well packaged box as delicately as possible and saw what I'd paid $18 each [with insurance/shipping] for - for my first time, I was relieved to see five cards slabbed, though it became apparent soon enough that I had one clunker that failed to pass muster with PSA/DNA.

Results
Two Rivera autograph cards - I'm thinking both of these cards were sent through the mail in the late 1990's since I wasn't out at the ballpark for two or three years after 1996.

Both cards were slabbed with the autograph on the 1997 Score being graded a Gem Mint 10 - I like the 1993 Bowman second-year card though I wish I'd found a way to pick up his 1992 Bowman rookie card instead.

Two Jeter autograph cards - the one I got in-person back in 1996 was slabbed and the one I got TTM in the late 1990's was unslabbed and 'tagged' with 'N4' questionable authenticity.

Until now, I thought the Jeter I got TTM was good but then maybe Jeter used a clubbie to sign his mail back in the late 1990's - when he was started getting overwhelmed with fan mail.

Two Puckett autograph cards - which were both authenticated and slabbed with the autographs being graded.

I never had the opportunity to get Puckett in person but in the late 1990's - wrote to him a couple of times to get a couple of cards signed.

For all my worrying, my submission took about 20 business days then just these last several days to ship back to me - I was worried I'd have to wait at least a couple of months or longer to receive my order, but I got my autograph cards back, even though I don't know what to do with my supposed Jeter miss.