Series 1

Yep. I gave in, like everyone else in the blogosphere/world.

I have no problems with it at all. I've purchased plenty of the flagship set over the years and the one design I hated was the black outline with the stupid dots/squares. Was that 2006? Or 2007? I don't know, it sucked.

2012 is nice. I don't mind it. Granted the one thing I really have no idea about are who half of the players are. truth be told, I don't follow baseball like I used to. I follow the Indians and Pirates, but not much else. As sad as this is to type (and also sound like a complete idiot), if I don't hear a players name off ESPN, I don't know them.

And the reason you are reading this...what I bought.



Blaster and 3 Rack Packs.





I like the gold cards. Reminds me of cheap Pokemon foils. No disrespect to topps. I like cheap looking foil cards.




I really like the tabata card. And I know who Arencibia is. Blue Jays semi-new logo is becoming one of my favorite logos in sports. At least Jays fans can take solace in the fact that they will end up behind Boston and New York, but their logo is the best.

Wish I pulled the Kipnis Golden Future though.



Both these dudes killed the Indians all the time. Would not be surprised if both photos were taken after hitting homers off Injuns pitchers.



Yeah, okay.



I don't rate Castro very high, and have no idea what Aparicio's numbers were. I know he had a MLB Showdown Cooperstown Collection card, but that was because he was a cheap contract to purchase for the card. I'm going to assume he wasn't very good. I'm lazy and don't feel like looking up stats. Chicago card, meh.





INCREDIBLE. AMAZING. NEED ALL ASAP.

If there is one gimmick I will never grow tired of, it is retro cards. Add into the fact they are mini, and I'm sold. topps, take a bow son. And it's the 1987 set, dayummmmmm whoever thought of that should get a raise. I'm collecting all of these. I want nothing more of Series 1.

Side note: Please do another retro set in the 1991 Donruss. Can they even do that? Do they own the rights to Donruss? Honestly, I don't care, it needs to happen.



Obligatory manu-patch post. Wished it was Clemente, but Bench is cool.

Help the Aged

Help the aged,
One time they were just like you,
Drinking, smoking cigs and sniffing glue. Help the aged,



Don't just put them in a home,
Can't have much fun in there all on their own.



Give a hand, if you can,
try and help them to unwind.
Give them hope & give them comfort 'cos they're running out of time.



In the meantime we try.
Try to forget that nothing lasts forever. No big deal so give us all a feel.
Funny how it all falls away.
When did you first realise?
It's time you took an older lover baby. Teach you stuff
although he's looking rough.
Funny how it all falls away.



Help the aged
'cos one day you'll be older too
- you might need someone who can
pull you through
& if you look very hard
behind the lines upon their face you may see where you are headed
and it's such a lonely place.

1962 Topps

Blog has been quiet over the last week due to work. However, sorting and organizing has been happening. The only problem stalling any new posts was the fact that I lost my little phone adapter. All that has been sorted out thought, and I'm back.

First up, 1962 Topps. I have quite a bit of these and saw a blog post a week or so ago where someone was putting together the set; solid idea, so I went for it.

Not including error cards that totals the set to 688, I went for the base set of 598. I'm missing 360 cards. That totals to me having about 60%. The majority of the condition of the cards is average at best. Not my fault that my dad was real little when he collected the cards.

For me, I have said before that I don't really care much about slabbed cards. I'd rather be able to physically feel the cards I own. The unique smell of the old cards cannot be matched. Not to mention slabs are bulky. Overall worth of the card goes up, but I couldn't really care about that.

After sorting the set I took this photo. Thought it was pretty cool to see just how much of a collation was within these cards. From left to right you are looking at cards 1-99, 100-199, 200-299, etc. In the background you have some MLB Showdown 2005 strategy cards and my badass Creed mug from The Office.



Two poses that I've always loved with vintage cards are these. I just feel that the after the swing pose is the best. The way the body has wrapped around itself, position of the feet, and the player's eyes watching the ball to see just how far he hit it. Perfect.



This is somewhat similar to the full body pose; just a bit more up-close. I feel like Dale's bat was cut short in this photo. Optical illusions I 'spose.



And of course, for any vintage card post, the Legends need to make an appearance. I'm not going to lie, whenever I'm sorting, I hope I come across about 5-6 Mantle's. It usually never happens and instead of Mantle, I'm pulling Roy Face and Bob Friend. Nothing against either player, just don't care to have that many Bucco's.

Unless that Pirate is Clemente. I can never get enough of Roberto.



I love the 1962 design. It's plain and effective. The overall condition of this card isn't great. Gloss has started to fade and the corners are semi dog eared. But with this card, I feel those issues make this card perfect. Everything about this card seems so natural. No pine tar, batting gloves, and his look away from the camera is fantastic. This card should be in museums of art.


Instead of Mantle, sometimes another Legend is found. Henry Aaron.



Or maybe a Legendary Coach? THAT JUST SO HAPPENS TO BE A TOPPS ALL ROOKIE?!?!?!



When it's all said and done though, some people just like their Mantle cards. I'm one of them and so was my dad, sort of. He has some big money cards. And they are all in screw down cases together. I've started to break up the exclusive club of screw downs and put them with their right sets. Mantle was the first of the lot to go.



Every time you gaze at this card, you become even more of an American Patriot.

Switching it up from the Bronx Bombers to a Triber and house hold favorite, Tito Francona.



My dad's favorite player growing up along with Colavito. This card features another great pose. I believe that I'm a huge fan of the overall vintage look of each photo. Pretty sure this photo was taken at Fenway.

Sadly not all cards in this set have good photography. Poor John Anderson is case in point.



WHAT IS UP WITH THAT STRAND OF HAIR? FIX IT. PLEASE.

The best cards on Earth...

...are always found right here at Attic Insulation. No joke, read some of my previous posts.

Nah, I'm kidding most of what I have isn't anything good or special, I'm just a dude who likes mediocre baseball players, hilarious names, awesome mustaches, or in the best case scenario, a baseball card featuring all of the above.

And this post is continuing the grand theme of mediocrity in sports card collecting.

Over the last few weeks I've been assembling my dad's cards. I've put together most of the 1969 and 1966 sets. Then I found a box of about 200 or so 1966 cards, became pissed that I sorted some already and still have more to sort. I decided no longer to sort and instead just pull out all cards and sort by sport and year. I've been overwhelmed. One man can only handle so many Roy Face or Bob Friend cards. If you must know that threshold, it's 10 of each.

But there comes times when you are thinking you are opening a wax rack figuring you'll come across some 1973 Topps. Instead you end up finding your own cards somehow buried deep in the 1960's.

Here is one of those times:

The glorious inside.

The first card noticed is in a screw down holder. Must be worth a bit to be kept in such a fool proof case, right? WRONG!

Greg Millen? I have no idea why he is in this. I don't care, it's awesome. I debated taking this apart and letting him go loose. Instead it was decided to keep the card in the screw down and when (if) I have kids they will ask who Greg was and how good of a goalie he was. My response, "I have no idea who he is". Cannot wait for that day.

Underneath Greg was quite a few of the 1992-1993 Cracker Jack Mini's. I vividly remember going to Myrtle Beach almost every summer of my first few years in my life. My dad would always buy Cracker Jack and we'd then open the prize, which were these cards. This has always been one of my favorite memories, and I wish Cracker Jack would start putting cards back into their product. On the topic of Cracker Jack, it blows now. Barely any peanuts, tastes like shit, and I cannot find them in boxes anymore. To top it off, the prizes blow. I don't want some shit ass monster tattoo, I want a Matt Mantei mini, make it happen Cracker Jack.



Recently, I've been very interested in the vintage pre-war cards, after reading "The Card". While they are all nearly out of my budget, these cards will suffice. From top left to bottom right: Speaker, McGraw, Wagner, Matthewson, Mack, Plank. No idea if Nap got a card, but I want it.



On the other end of the mini spectrum are these two. Matt Williams and Chris Sabo. I sleep better at night knowing I own two mini versions of Sabo and Williams.

After being really excited about everything seen so far, I became annoyed. Here is why:



Why were oversized cards created? They serve no purpose. Usually I try to enjoy cards in some way. I just cannot get behind oversized ugly ass cards. Why did Topps do this to collectors? I'm glad I was 1-2 years old when these came out. I most likely would have wanted to collect cards if I saw these shitpiles non stop. The best thing these goofy ass cards have to offer is the paint streak from the 1988 set. Only way this can be redeemed is for Topps to send me the 1988 and 1989 Dan Plesac cards. I would gladly accept your apology in Plesac form. Thanks :)

Don't worry, there's plenty more to come!!!

The Year was 1990

I was 3. The store was K-Mart. Within the next 5 years both K-Mart and I would be going through dramatic changes. K-Mart would eventually move out of my area and into a "nicer" suburb; change it's name to Super K-Mart and start selling groceries. I would continue to collect cards but instead of being excited about all the players, I only wanted Indians (Lofton) and Ken Griffey Jr. cards.

Anyways, I recently found a bunch of 1990 K-Mart Super Stars cards. For some odd reason, I love when baseball cards are technically made by a company (in this case Topps), but branded by someone else (K-Mart). Hell, 2 years ago I bought 40 Duracell battery cards from a shop in Canton...until the owner wanted $30. I offered $5, which even then was pretty generous.

The set itself has 33 cards. I currently have found 11 and am going to search for the remaining 22. It's a free and easy way to collect a set and not having a lot of money, I like it.

Now onto the cards:



Tony Gwynn. I loved these San Diego uniforms. Miss u Tony :(



Doc Gooden. I'd write something here but I'm high as hell on coke.



Glenn Davis. A DH/PH...in the National League? He never played in the American League at this point in his career, so I don't get the DH bit. Either way, nice mustache.



Jose Canseco. Bash Brother. Excellent Mullet. The most honest man in baseball. This one's for you Mario.



Craig Biggio, the catcher. Also about to strike out in this photo.



Ryne Sandberg. I loved watching Ryno play. The best memories of my childhood were spent watching day games on WGN with Harry broadcasting. I miss 1990.



Don Mattingly. For some real odd reason, I was a big fan of Mattingly also. Had a huge bat coin bank of him in my room. Even though I knew who he was and what team he played for, I still got him confused with Wade Boggs all the time.



Tony LaRussa and Roger Craig. I know nothing of Roger except that he looks like a very nice man. Tony is Satan. I'm convinced. I will gladly explain to you why and how I have come to my conclusions. (Please don't sue me for slander/libel Tony)



Howard Johnson. Your hotels suck, dogg. For a second I thought David Wright was hitting in this photo what with that big goofy ass helmet.



Jay Howell. Back of card reads "Jay pitched scoreless inning in 1989 All Star Game". Great Job! Any relation to J. P. Howell?



DAN F'N PLESAC. Yes, I saved the best for last. I felt like a little kid when I found this card. Card of the year material right here. Dan should be in the Hall of Fame.

Final note, I don't know if it's telling or not in the photos, but these cards are beyond bent to hell, which makes them that much more awesome. It adds way more character to the cards.

Stuff My Dad Collects: Pt. 2

I was going through a drawer yesterday and found an old shoe box. Not too sure as to why or when the box was put in here I decided I'd pull it out and take a peek.



It turned out pretty quick that the contents were going to be baseball cards. On top were some 1970 Topps cards. The dead give away: 1969 World Champion Mets card.



I know my city is championship deprived but any Mets fans that read this blog, you can get a second look at this card...since ya know, your team hasn't been worthwhile since then aside from '86.



There were a few other 1970's strewn about in the box, however most of the box was from the 1960's era. Overall I'd say there are about 150 cards in this small box.



Why have one Boog when you can pick 3 Boog's?



A little Braves love in with Hoyt and Phil. I wish Phil got a MLB Showdown card.



This is one of my favorite cards of the box by far. I'm a huge Ernie fan and him with the All Time Homer Champ makes this card awesome. Not pristine mint, but who cares it's not going to be sold.



Legend. If I could go back in time to watch one person play baseball, he is almost at the top of my list....Pete Incaviglia is number 1.



Dear Topps,

Fleer doesn't exist anymore, I suggest you steal this deign and then make a set with on card autos. It'd look fantastic.

Love,
Attic Insulation.



This is Joe Pettini. He played baseball in 1981. I don't know what else to say other than this is the best card I have ever seen in my life.



....and then I see this card. Sorry Joe, but Darrell is pulling the hipster look back in the 80's. Goofy black rimmed glasses, v-neck shirt. All while hitting .246 in 118 games, no big deal.



Pfister? I barely know her.



Nice mug Yogi. I was never a fan of close up face photos. I also am not a fan of Yogi, the only redeeming part of him is his first name.




Obligatory Cookie Rojas shout out. What a good looking man. Great pair of glasses. A++


I hope you enjoyed Part 2 of Stuff My Dad Collects. I hope to do these more often, especially considering I have a whole mess of 1980's cards waiting to be posted with goofy looking dudes.