50s Topps, A HOF Rookie, & More Vintage; 2019 National Recap Part #2

Moving right along with my series of recap posts from the 2019 National, I have a haul of vintage pickups for both the teams and the players that I collect ready to go today.

While I mentioned that the cards featured in yesterday's post were a part of my only player collection oriented purchase, I still grabbed other cards for my PCs across my 2 1/2 days at the show. 

However, my Dad and I's mission was to go after cards that I couldn't necessarily find back home. A perfect example of this is the card at the top of this post; Nolan Ryan's 1971 Topps card which my Dad tracked down.

Buying vintage cards was one of our main objectives for this year's show just as it was at the 2018 National in Cleveland. We both understand that cards from the 50s and 60s aren't going to be readily available forever, especially at the bargain prices that we often see them going for.

In addition to filling in cards from the 1961 and 1976 Topps sets throughout our time in Chicago, we made multiple vintage card purchases while at the show that, ultimately, added up into an impressive haul, consisting of cards from the early 1950s, 3Ds from the 70s, and even a HOF rookie.

I'll showcase some of the other 1970 Kellogg's 3D cards that we picked up later in the week, but, for now, I'll start with the 4 players above, all of whom I collect. Another project of my Dad's, he has always been fond of 3D cards, particularly the Kellogg's brand. 

Whether they're for our 3D binders or player collections, Kellogg's cards are often on his radar when we attend larger Baseball card shows. This time, he assembled a group of 70s Kellogg's cards, including one of Joe Morgan from his early seasons with the Houston Astros. The headshot and the sky background easily makes Morgan's card my favorite of the lot.

Though Morgan's card happens to be my favorite, that doesn't discount the fact that my Dad found a new card for our Ron Santo player collection, something that certainly doesn't happen every day. 

Although he's a 9-time All-Star and a 5-time Gold Glove award winner, Santo is one of the most underappreciated and underrepresented players in Baseball history. He wasn't inducted into the Hall of Fame until after he passed away in 2010, and his most recent Baseball card (excluding fancy hits), according to COMC, is an insert card from 2016 Topps.

I urge Topps to feature Santo in sets like Allen & Ginter and Archives to give this Baseball legend the respect he deserves. However, if I can't have my wish, at least I have his awesome '70 Kellogg's card.

As focused as I often am on boosting my 250 player collections, my Dad is quite the opposite. He has no qualms about buying cards of non-PC guys so long as there are some parameters to what he purchases. 

Though I likely wouldn't have chosen these cards myself, I'm pleased that he ended up buying some vintage Red Sox and Cubs cards from the 1950s. As many Cubs and Red Sox cards as I have, my collection is somewhat limited as far as the early and mid-1950s are concerned (i.e. anything before 1957).

In fact, I didn't even have a single Topps card from 1952 or 1953 going into The National this year. Thankfully, I was able to make some progress with the absence of those 2 sets.

Though we never got our hands on a '53 Topps card, we finally landed our first ever 1952 Topps base card, and the player of choice is Red Sox catcher Gus Niarhos. I also added another '52 Bowman Red Sox card to my collection (Vern Stephens) to go with my other one (Clyde Vollmer).

Even though the players on and the condition of these cards aren't the greatest, that's not a significant concern of mine when it comes to cards from as far back as 1952. 

Frankly, I'm just pleased to have these in my collection in the first place, for I would have difficulty tracking these cards down at the shows I attend.

Now that I have all the photos scanned for this post, I realize that most of the cards shown were ones that my Dad picked up. However, there is a handful that I chose myself, including the 2 1977 Topps cloth cards above which will fit nicely in the Willie Stargell and Lou Brock PCs.

These cards, along with Hostess and Kellogg's sets, are my personal favorite oddballs from the 1970s. Lou Brock's card, in particular, with the powder blue uniform and funky hat, is definitely a standout. 

I'm sure there's a more technical name for these that I'm forgetting, but, for now, I'll simply refer to them as cloth cards.

Out of all the things that make vintage Baseball cards so phenomenal, my Dad and I, collectively, love the various combo cards the most. Whether it's Mays and McCovey's Fence Busters card or Mantle and Mays' Manager's Dream, combo cards were extremely prominent, particularly throughout the 1960s.

I suppose our collective appreciation of combo cards is what led my Dad to grab a whole bunch of them when he had the opportunity to do so. Most of these cards feature just 1 player that I collect, but the Pride of the NL includes 2 (Mays and Musial). 

After deliberating it for a while, I decided to add this card to the Willie Mays PC for no particular reason other than I haven't bought a card of his in a while.

As pleased as I am with my Dad's choices for vintage cards, specifically the oddballs, I'm especially proud of the vintage cards that I was able to grab for bargain prices. 

Starting off with my final purchase of the show, this gorgeous 1955 Topps Monte Irvin card which ended up being one of the biggest bargains of the entire convention at just $5. 

Though 1955 Topps isn't one of my favorite sets of the decade, Irvin's card is pretty close to perfect, from the blue background to the action shot on the left.

As I mentioned, this card was my very last purchase of the entire show. Earlier on, however, I seized the opportunity and grabbed another of Irvin's Topps cards.

Although the surface leaves something to be desired, Irvin's 1954 Topps card is another fantastic pickup, and I couldn't be more pleased to add it to my collection. Thanks to these 2 cards, I've built up a nice vintage Irvin collection, and I definitely see myself adding to it when presented with the opportunity.

I'm equally glad to have both of these vintage cards in my possession, but there's something about the '54 card that's more organized and refined than the '55 Topps alternative. I don't have strong opinions about either set, but I do have positive opinions on each of these 2 cards.

Despite how fabulous the 2 vintage Irvin cards are, I couldn't think of a better vintage pickup than this 1966 Topps Jim Palmer rookie in terms of bargain vintage cards. 

For less than half the cost of a blaster box, I added this sought after rookie of one of the greatest pitchers of all-time to my collection. Now that's what I call a steal.

At a Baseball card show last year, I purchased a redemption card for a Jim Palmer autograph in which he signed a reprint of his iconic '66 rookie card. Now, roughly 1 year later, it's all come full circle, and I have this treasured card in hand. 

My Major Player Collection Purchase; 2019 National Recap Part #1

Last year, I had an absolute blast writing posts recapping my time at the 2018 National in Cleveland, Ohio. At that moment, I had never experienced something so exciting as it pertains to cards, and I was equally ecstatic to share my pickups right here on the blog.

This time around, I'd go as far as to say that The National in Chicago was even better than the Cleveland convention. Because Chicago is such a major sports city, there appeared to be more vendors at this show with a greater appeal to collectors like myself.

Of course, I came to the show not knowing exactly what I wanted to purchase, but I made sure to set some parameters for myself so that I wouldn't be completely all over the place. My 6 goals seemed achievable at the time, but I haven't assessed myself on whether I accomplished them or not since I returned.

I recall that one of my objectives for the show was to add to my player collections without focusing on them too extensively. Since PC cards are widely available online as well as at Baseball card shops and shows, it wouldn't make sense to focus too heavily on them at The National.

However, by the time Saturday came along, I realized that I hadn't made one strictly player collection purchase. Luckily, I found a vendor who was selling hundreds of parallels, rookies, and numbered cards, ranging from $1-$3 each.

Thanks to those boxes, I was able to land a ton of cards for my player collections, all in 1 giant purchase.

One of the greatest things about attending The National is that the prices of Red Sox cards aren't insane like they are at the shows in Massachusetts. I'm not saying that I blame the dealers at the shows I attend for jacking up the prices, but it's refreshing to pay reasonable prices for cards of my favorite players.

5 of the 9 cards above are serial numbered, and one of them is a Benintendi rookie from The National 2 years ago. Each of the cards above cost me just $1, something you'd never see here in MA. 

Though this wasn't intentional, my Red Sox cards haul was mainly centered around 3 players (Benintendi, Betts, and Sale with 1 card of Bogaerts). I also grabbed a few cards of Devers, but I ended up not showcasing them in this post.

Even though he's not shown as a member of the Boston Red Sox on this card, the dealer had a die-cut of Craig Kimbrel available for only $1, a price that I couldn't resist. 

The card is from 2015 Topps Allen & Ginter and is designed to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the set, hence the X design (10 in roman numerals). 

This has been an extremely challenging year to collect Craig Kimbrel because of how long it took him to sign a major league contract. Hopefully, 2019 Topps Update will be the beginning of a much better time for The Kimbrel Collection.

The show being in Chicago resulted in a high number of White Sox, Bears, and especially Cubs cards throughout the entire show. However, the Cubs cards in the bins that I searched through weren't priced any higher than the others.

From the Kris Bryant image variation to the Anthony Rizzo refractor (#/499), the Cubs cards were priced extremely fair. Being that they're my 2nd favorite team, and I saw them beat the Brewers 6-2 at Wrigley last Friday, I was pleased to boost some of my Cubs PCs without breaking the bank.

There were also a plethora of low-numbered cards across these sensational boxes as well. Though almost every card in each bin was serial numbered, cards #/50 and below were quite prominent and, once again, priced fairly.

The Fergie Jenkins refractor from tribute (#/50) was the most expensive card of the bunch at $3 while the Andre Dawson (#/25) has a lower print run yet was less money. 

I've been collecting cards of these 2 Hall of Famers for years, but it's The National that provided me with the lowest-numbered cards for each of the respective PCs.

As soon as I realized that this would be my significant player collection purchase of the entire show, I realized that I needed to go all-out with the best possible cards of my favorite players. Thus, I decided to stick primarily to serial numbered parallels, preferably chrome cards or high-end products.

Purple parallels and refractors of silver/gold tier players that I collect adhere perfectly to this rule. 3/4 cards above are purple parallels from Topps Triple Threads, a high-end set, while the 4th is a refractor from Finest, both a chrome and high-end product.

As excessive as looking through 3 boxes of parallels and rookie cards could've been, setting these basic rules for myself promotes quality over quantity which can be beneficial when each card is priced between $1-$3 each.

9 times out of 10, I'll take a Topps card over its Panini equivalent, but there are some instances in which Panini does such a phenomenal job that I have to give them the respect they deserve and praise their cards. 

I did this when 2018 Chronicles and 2019 Prizm were released, and I want to do the same thing regarding Crusade, a spectacular and colorful Panini product featuring a surplus of Hall of Famers and MLB legends.

This brand was featured in 2018 Panini Chronicles, but I hadn't come across the initial Crusade cards until this show where I picked up purple and gold parallels (#/50) as well as red and yellow refractors (#/75).

In fact, there were a ton of high-end and HOF Panini cards scattered throughout these boxes, some of which I didn't even recognize. For example, I'm not at all familiar with these Etched in Cooperstown cards from Panini's 2015 Cooperstown set, but I, nonetheless, grabbed a couple for my PCs.

These cards seem like a crossover between the Ted Williams Card Company's Etched in Stone cards and the Skybox Metal Universe cards of the late 90s and early 2000s. The design is incredibly interesting, and Panini did a nice job of covering up the logoless caps with the positioning of the banners.

Another mainstay throughout these epic boxes was a significant number of cards from the 2019 Topps Gypsy Queen set. The list from this product includes Fortune Teller minis and Tarot of the Diamond Cards as well as SPs and even hobby box exclusive chrome cards.

Over the last few years, the Gypsy Queen SPs have been challenging to come by (1 per hobby box). The 20-card short print checklist features primarily retired players who I collect, but I didn't see the SPs in-person before the show.

I'm certainly pleased that I was able to purchase all 4 of the cards above, but there's not a doubt in my mind that my favorite card of the bunch is Reggie Jackson. Everything about the card, from the helmet to the hair, is representative of the team he played for and the era he played in.

While the SPs were available in both retail and hobby packs of 2019 Topps Gypsy Queen, the chrome cards could be found only if you purchased a hobby box, for they were included as a box topper. 

Each 3-card pack had a chance for serial numbered cards and autographs, but most featured all gorgeous base cards like the 4 above. As far as I know, every player in the checklist has a chrome card, but I'm nonetheless shocked that these rare and hobby exclusive cards ended up $1 each at The National.

I've mentioned before that these cards are very similar to Topps Heritage Chrome in terms of the cardstock, but I have to admit that I like the Gypsy Queen chromes just a tad more. The set design is perfect for the chrome cardstock, and they're a bit more common than the Heritage versions.

Like the Gypsy Queen chrome cards, the negative refractors from Topps Chrome aren't serial numbered, but that doesn't mean they're easy to come by. In 2019, for example, these cards are 1:66 packs or almost 3 hobby boxes.

I've always loved the look of these cards, both on paper and chrome cardstock. While I wish that they were serial numbered instead, I can't complain about the refractors considering how low of a price I was able to find them for.

It's rather fitting, since my Dad and I were at The National in Chicago, that there'd be some exclusive Bowman Chrome cards from 2017, the last time the show came to The Windy City. Personally, I prefer the 2017 Bowman Chrome prism refractors because of how bold and noticeable they are.

Maybe Topps changed the style of the cards, but the 2018 and 2019 Bowman Chrome National cards simply aren't as shiny as the 2017 versions. I also appreciate that each player's card pays tribute to some sort of anniversary (10, 20, 30 years, etc.)

I don't recall buying any packs of 2011 Topps Baseball cards, so I've never pulled any of the beloved parallels from this set. In addition to current players, there are Diamond Anniversary and Cognac cards for the retired player SPs like Reggie Jackson and Carl Yastrzemski.

As much as I love the Red Sox and Yaz in particular, Jackson's jersey works beautifully with the Diamond Anniversary card. Out of the dozens of PC pickups that I grabbed on Saturday, the Jackson parallel might go down as my favorite. 

It's hard to explain, but there aren't many cards from this lot that I'd take over this stunning parallel.

I understand that Jose Ramirez has been struggling across the 2019 season, but I'm not taking a huge risk by paying $1 each for his 2014 Topps Series 2. I already have one graded (BGS 9.5) that I pulled from a Fairfield repack box, but, like I said, I didn't see any harm in buying these 2.

In 2017 and 2018, Ramirez was a superstar and an AL MVP award candidate. I'm not sure what's been going on with him in 2019, but when he's at his best, Ramirez is one of MLB's brightest stars. I hope, for his sake, that he finds his groove and becomes the star we know he is very soon. 

It may not be the most flashy card of the group, but Xander Bogaerts' 2012 1st Bowman Chrome card ranks as one of the best pickups of the entire purchase. Given the magnificent season that the 26-year old is having, I didn't want to hold off any further on this card, especially since it was available for only $3.

It's safe to say that Bogaerts and Devers have been carrying the Red Sox team for most of 2019 season along with the perennial superstars J.D. Martinez and Mookie Betts. It's frustrating that the team with the best batting average and most RBI probably won't make the playoffs.

If nothing else, however, this will shine a light on how much help the bullpen and, to a lesser degree, the rotation needs. I don't want to talk too in-depth about the dismal state of the Red Sox right now, because these posts are supposed to be about The National.

Plus, I got my hands on a Bogaerts 1st Bowman Chrome card, so it's far from all bad as far as the Red Sox are concerned.

A Nice Welcome Home Gift

What a week.

I'm not going to get into my recap posts for the 40th National Sports Collectors Convention until tomorrow, but I wanted, if nothing else, to share how unforgettable this experience was.

This was my 2nd straight year attending the show, so I had a better idea of what to expect. The sheer size of the venue is overwhelming for anyone, but after a while, I was able to find my way around and do business with some phenomenal vendors.

In many ways, the Chicago show was extremely similar to and different from the Cleveland convention. This year's show seemed to be slightly larger, but at the moment, I can't necessarily rank one above the other.

My flight from Chicago to Boston got in around 11:30 this morning, allotting me some time to get situated and begin the process of organizing all of the new cards that my Dad and I brought back.

Before I get overly invested in sorting and sharing the cards from The National, I wanted to take today to share the cards that I received from a trade package, sent to me by Marc of Remember the Astrodome.

We worked this trade out before I departed for Chicago last Tuesday, and it was nice to return home and see that the package had arrived in the mail. He reached out and mentioned that he could help with my 2019 Panini Prizm Project.

Though the package he sent me was centered around 2019 Panini Prizm, Marc also threw in a few cards that I didn't already have in The Kimbrel Collection. In addition to a Panini Prizm card from a few years back, I received a Pinnacle insert and a 2014 Topps retail green parallel.

With the addition of these 3 cards, The Kimbrel Collection is up to 131 different cards. That puts Kimbrel at the #27 spot on the list of my largest player collections, trailing guys like Carl Yastrzemski and Brooks Robinson by only a few cards.

Because he didn't sign a contract until June, Kimbrel hasn't been featured in many 2019 Baseball card sets. Hopefully, 2020 will be a better year to grow The Kimbrel Collection as a whole and that PC will reach 150 cards before then.

As I mentioned earlier, I don't want to reveal too much about what happened at The National throughout the week, but I will say that I couldn't track down any 2019 Panini Prizm cards for my project. 

No matter how much I looked or how many bins I searched through, I came up short when it came to 2019 Panini Prizm base cards and parallels. There was one vendor at the show selling a few Prizm cards, but there were no price tags on the top loaders, and the lot was gone by the time I went back to the booth.

Thus, I was ecstatic, even after a week of buying Baseball cards, when I returned home to around 20 new cards for my Prizm set. The project as a whole is quite daunting, but this trade certainly helped, particularly with the base cards.

The wide range of parallels is what attracted me to 2019 Panini Prizm in the first place, but I can't say the same about the structure of the base set. The 3 tiers (#1-100 are common, #101-200 are uncommon, #201-300 are rare) make the set unnecessarily challenging to collect.

When you've got over 25 parallels in a product, there's no need to separate the base set into tiers, especially since there are no big-name rookies in the base set checklist.

Nonetheless, Marc was kind enough to send me some of the higher number cards, including quite a few rare (#201-300) ones like the Eric Hosmer card above.

I absolutely envision myself spending years on this insane project, but I'm fortunate to have resources, especially trading partners, to help me inch closer to my goal. 

No matter how many parallels, both numbered and non-numbered, there are in this set, acquiring just 1 helps me make progress with my mission. I'm not looking for Prizms numbered to fewer copies than 25, so that should make this a little easier.

Thanks again for the Prizm cards, Marc. Now, get ready for a week full of recap posts from The National.

An Update From Chicago

My apologies for not posting for the last few days. I've been far busier at this year's National than I was at the 2018 event, between trips to the city, meals, and an unforgettable show. 

I don't want to reveal too much about what I've done/purchased, for I want to save almost everything for the recap posts which will begin this Sunday or Monday. 

However, I did want to write another couple of posts while I'm still in Chicago, so I thought I'd share some cards from one of the most special aspects of the show thus far; the exclusive Bowman Chrome packs from Topps.

In case you're unfamiliar with this promotion, you can take a 2018 or 2019 Topps hobby box to their booth at the show. They'll break the factory seal off your box and give you 1 or 2 (depending on the product) bonus packs with cards exclusive to The National.

These packs, in a way, are comparable to the Bowman mega box mojo packs. They're loaded with serial numbered cards and autographs of tons of players, from current rookies and veterans to prospects and even retired legends.

Some hobby box purchases (which I'll elaborate on once the recap posts begin) plus a generous collector who gave me one of his packs in exchange for me bringing his boxes to the Topps booth resulted in some epic cards for the blog today. 

After this, I'm going to hold off on cards from the show until I return home on Sunday.

The lighting in my hotel room isn't the greatest, but as you can see, the 50-card set consists of 4 groups. There are active veterans, retired stars, top prospects, and young rookies. As far as I know, the idea behind the checklist has been routine since Topps began this promotion several years back.

I never opened a pack of these cards until last year, my first time at The National. I redeemed them at the Topps booth with the box of Chrome and Allen & Ginter that my Dad and I purchased. Our greatest pull, undoubtedly, was a gold refractor (#/50) of Ronald Acuna Jr which we later had graded.

Although I don't have much experience with the promo packs, my sensational pulls from last year inspired me to wait in line for well over an hour to get my hands on these exclusive cards.

For most collectors, Vladimir Guerrero Jr is the #1 rookie on their radar, and I get that. He has the power and sheer talent to become one of the greatest sluggers in baseball history, and fans have been anticipating his MLB debut for over 3 years.

Needless to say, I was thrilled to pull his card towards the end of my Bowman Chrome pack break. I'm not huge into amassing rookie card collections, but the Vlad Jr base cards alone are going for a fair amount on eBay.

However, my top pick as far as 2019 rookies are concerned is 100% Fernando Tatis Jr, so you can imagine how stoked I was to pull not 1 but 2 rookies of his out of these Bowman Chrome packs. 

He doesn't quite have the same hype as Vlad Jr, but that can definitely be beneficial at times. Guerrero's .267 batting average leaves a little to be desired, but Tatis Jr's rookie year stats have been unbelievable. At 20 years old, he's hitting .329 with 19 homers, 45 RBI, and 14 stolen bases in fewer than 300 at-bats.

Tatis' major issue appears to be strikeouts, for he already has 95 on the year. However, he has excellent power and contact hitting, something few players have nowadays. 

Last year, I suspect Topps had some issues in the packaging department with their Bowman Chrome National cards. Many of the packs, including 1 of mine, contained all gold cards, meaning each of the 4 cards in the pack was numbered out of 50 copies.

I believe they fixed this issue in 2019, so, unfortunately, there don't appear to be any all-gold packs at The National this time around. With that being said, I still got my hands on some colored refractors, including Michael Kopech whose gold prospect card I pulled last year.

Kopech hasn't done too much in his rookie season, so the other 3 gold refractors were certainly the best of the group. Each of the players above (Casey Mize, Jo Adell, and Royce Lewis) are in the top 7 of MLB pipeline's top 100 prospects list at #2, #4, and #7 respectively. 

While I'm somewhat knowledgable regarding the top prospects, I don't make any effort to invest in or heavily research players on the top 100 prospects list. It's simply not who I am or how I collect.

However, I have no qualms about holding onto the prospect cards I pull for a couple of years until the guys start playing in the MLB. These 3, in particular, are all expected to make their big league debuts next season, so I don't mind waiting until then to decide whether to keep or sell these gold prism refractors.

Despite pulling multiple gold refractors from last year's packs, the orange prisms (#/25) evaded me completely. As a result, I got my first ever look at these gorgeous cards when I pulled 2 orange refractors of Jose Altuve and Aaron Judge, the faces of their respective franchises.

In general, I don't have much luck when it comes to orange refractors. I didn't pull one of my own until earlier this year from a hobby box that I opted not to feature on the blog. Now, I have 2 more to add to my collection.

The Altuve is nice in that the orange matches one of Houston's team colors while the Judge card is simply stunning. It seems to me that any color pairs well with Yankee pinstripes, and orange is no exception.

Lastly, I knew that this exclusive checklist had autographs, but I never really thought that I'd pull one of them myself, for the odds never seem to be in one's favor. It may not be the most valuable card in the break, but I was pleased to pull a Jose Martinez autograph, numbered out of 25, following his fabulous 2018 season with the Cardinals.

The autograph is on a sticker, not on-card, but the prism refractor makes it challenging to differentiate the 2. I can't say that Martinez would be my first choice, but an autograph is an autograph, especially since the only thing I invested in these packs was time.

Topps' exclusive Bowman Chrome National cards are beautiful as is, and the colored parallels only draw my attention even more. I'm likely going to hold onto these cards for the time being as they'll remind me of the awesome time that I've been having at the show.