Bucket List #6: A Legend Among Legends

I always liked Harmon Killebrew since I was a kid. Had really no idea who he was other than a player for the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins that hit very well. Killebrew to me played the game the way it should be played and excelled through sheer talent and hard work.


He scuffled his first few years in the big leagues. Until '59 when he got a chance to play 3rd base regularly. He started smacking home runs all over the place and became an overnight sensation. Yep, overnight after just 4 years with the Senators. His power was legendary but it was his humble and polite persona that outshone all that. "Killer" became one of those ironic nicknames like calling a large man "Tiny." It never fit his personality but it fit his swing. Harmon hit some towering home runs, one of which was estimated to travel 520 feet unobstructed and there's a red seat commemorating that blast in the Mall of America. Also a statue of a gold glove resides outside Target field exactly 520 feet from home plate. Just awesome.

I could go on and on about Harmon. To say he has my utmost respect is putting it mildly. As a Yankee fan I'm constantly reminded how blown up every Yankee is and how if "so and so" played for the Yankees he'd be big too. To me Harmon didn't need any of that. His epic home runs and humbled personality fit perfectly for those Washington Senator/Minnesota Twins teams. I'm sure it brings great pride to have a legend like Killebrew be synonymous with the Twins organization.

He has probably one of the best autographs out there. It's clean, easy to read and distinctive. I ran across a comment about Killebrew's autograph on an article. The commenter had heard a story that Killebrew took his autograph very seriously. He said "When he saw young players scribbling illegible autographs, he would pull them aside and explain how important they were for the fans asking for them and encourage them to do them well. When mass-signing baseballs for charity auctions, he'd self-edit and throw out balls he didn't think were good enough. "

If you don't have a Killebrew auto I'd strongly urge picking one up. I was able to get the one above for less than $30 and I recently picked this 1999 Epic Signatures one after his passing for a little over $30.


Killebrew is a true legend. I find it a little funny that for years it was thought that the MLB logo was based on Killebrew. I even believed it. But really is it hard to believe that the model for MLB the ICON for MLB should be anyone other than Harmon Killebrew?

2011 Topps Heritage Live at Target

Went to a local Target and found a bounty of Topps Heritage.

There was a gravity feed box, a retail box, blasters and rack packs.

All in all, I'd say I was actually disappointed. Where Topps 2011 wasn't that bad in retail, Heritage just can't hold a candle to what Hobby offers. I know people say "never buy retail" but there's an instant gratification itch retail

1 Blaster results: 3 short prints, 2 inserts

2 Rack packs: 2 inserts
3 Retail box packs: 2 inserts (nice hair)

3 Gravity Box packs: 1 relic, 1 chrome, 1 insert and creepy floating heads


No Hughes and no Mattingly, son of a. I'm kinda disappointed but then again, it's retail and you can't hit the jackpot every time. So this time, the house won big time. So go out find some and post your results. Odds are they will be WAY better than mine.

If you pull Hughes or Mattingly and their chrome inserts let me know. I'm interested :)

Collecting Bucket List #5 We're off to see the Wizard...

The wonder wizard of Ozzie. I'm not going to talk about his career. I saw him play when I was a kid growing up and he was like that fun uncle playing baseball. All the kids love him and he was just really cool to watch and be around.


His autos don't cost that much surprisingly. I assumed there would be a bevy of Ozzie collectors out there driving up the prices but there aren't. I got this auto for just around $20. And others are available for around the same price.


But there is something I would like to discuss about this card and it's causing a dilemma with my bucket list. Do this, open that image up in a new browser and look at it full sized. Now follow from the dot that belongs to the "I" in Smith and go to the right til you see a slight blue line that looks like a piece of string. That's the end of the sticker. Yep this is a clear sticker auto. I had no idea the 2004 Fleer Ex autos were stickers and I bought this card because it had both a relic, auto and was a great price. I do have to say it's a very well done sticker auto. It's hard to see it through scans but in person it is noticeable.

The problem is that I try very hard not to get sticker autos as my bucket list autos. The concept of my bucket list is for me to get cards that fit certain criteria. Now while sticker auto isn't a firm "NO" in my rules, I do have to say it is more *satisfying* as a collector to get an on card auto. As of right now I will keep this card because it fills a niche of an "Ozzie Smith" auto. It also goes above that by being an auto, relic, numbered card. But I still think an on card auto of Ozzie Smith will fit better with my collection. The jury is still out.

What do you think? When looking for autos of your favorite players do you try to get the cheapest you can find regardless of sticker or not. Or do you tend to gravitate toward on card?

2010 Topps Chrome Wrapper Redemption results

I had amassed four hobby boxes of 2010 Topps Chrome. I held onto them until about February 25th when I packaged them up (24 wrappers in each box) in a nice Amazon.com box to be sent for my redemption. Now I know the deadline was the 28th and I was cutting it close but I was hoping they meant POSTMARKED by the 28th.

Luckily my redemption wrappers arrived Friday March 4th which was amazing turn around.

Here are the results in the order I opened the packs:

Pack 1: Babe Ruth, Jason Heyward, Tyler Colvin
Pack 2: Starlin Castro, Jackie Robinson, Stephen Strasburg
Pack 3: Austin Jackson, Ty Cobb, Mike Leake
Pack 4: Lou Gehrig, Mike Stanton, Carlos Santana (green refractors)

The first three packs contained refractors as is stated on the back of the cards themselves. But the final pack were green refractors numbered to 599. Every 10th pack is a green fractor pack according to the Topps website.




I really like this concept for a few reasons. For one, YOU GET CARDS! You take those unwanted pack wrappers and mail those suckers right back to Topps and magically they give you cards. Secondly, I think this lends to the possibility of Topps recycling the materials and reusing them in other packaging materials. Topps gets cheap material to reuse and it doesn't end up in a landfill, win-win.

I do have a question though. While I'm sure this is a "while supplies last" offer. But what happens to all the unclaimed cards? Do they stay in the Topps vault? The wrapper redemption is probably not a new concept but I'm sure it's not a widely embraced concept. I'm sure there are people who threw away all their wrappers or only bought a few packs which wouldn't make for a complete 24. Will these cards show up in other products or maybe even on the Topps Card Giveaway (whatever name it has for each year)?

Either way, I'm really happy with the redemption and I have one box of 24 Bowman Chrome wrappers I plan on turning in. Hope I get something good.

Collecting Bucket List #4 Paying Respect to "The Duke of Flatbush"

If the Dodgers stayed in Brooklyn, I would be a Dodger fan today. I have no doubt about that even to this day. I would be complaining about the free spending Yankees and my underachieving Brooklyn Bums. When I think of "The Duke of Flatbush" I think about their 1955 win over the Yankees. It was the only time they ever beat the Yankees in the World Series, mind you. Even still, it was a great achievement for the Brooklyn team.

Duke was part of a golden age for New York teams in the 50's. From 1949 til 1958 there was at least one New York team in the World Series. And the only thing that really breaks that streak is the Los Angeles Dodgers winning in 1959. Duke was overshadowed by Mantle and Mays but his stats are right up there with the best of them. He was also overshadowed by his own teammates Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella but I always saw him as the glue that held that great 50's Dodger era together.

Snider's autos are plentiful and unfortunately due to his recent passing have gone up to closer to $35 which is still a bargain for this Hall of Famer. I can't remember what I paid for this card because I bought it sometime last year but it couldn't have been too far beyond $20. And Duke Snider has a very smooth and easily read signature. I think this 1998 Donruss Signatures card is one of the best ones to get because of the great picture , on-card Signature and the signature's placement (not on the back of the card like this one).

When things settle down you may want to hunt around for an auto of this Dodger icon. I think he's a must-have for any collector.

Collecting Bucket List #3 Warrior come out and play-ee-yay

I was very fortunate to be born at the tail end of the Yankees worst decade in their history. In 1992 the Yankees traded Roberto Kelly for the man we would come to know as "The Warrior," Paul O'Neill.

He was a big part of "my" Yankees. He was there in 1993 with a team that featured Mattingly, Boggs, both Williams (Bernie and Gerald), Danny Tartabull and Paul Abbott threw is famous no-hitter. I really liked the 1993, 1994 and 1995 Yankees. Obviously 1996 was a changing of the guards so to speak. But O'Neill was there, much like myself, for a disappointing 1993 season. A 1994 season of amazing promise but foiled by MLB baseball players and owners. And the 1995 season which saw the first postseason with the new team alignment and Yankees as the first ever AL Wildcard winners. Then a golden age for the Yankees which saw them win 4 World Series in 5 years until that heartbreaking night in Arizona. The night we last saw O'Neill playing as a Yankee.


There isn't much I can say about Paul O'Neill that most don't already know. He was passionate and pissed. He had this swing that he could just stroke the ball into the outfield for a base hit. His passion for the game earned him the "The Warrior" nickname from the Boss. He had that catch deep in the Atlanta outfield during the 1996 World Series in Game 5 that ended the game. He played in the clinching Game 4 of the 1999 World Series, hours after his father passed away.

He's an important part of my baseball memories. I thought it would be fitting to get a reasonably priced auto of him as part of my bucket list. I found this great on-card auto for a little over $20. I was lucky because there really aren't many of his autos out on eBay and they tend to go for closer to $40 for the more basic autos (not short print or from high end product).

So if you're in the market for one good luck, they're out there you just have to find them.

Topps 2011 The almost blaster from Target (9.99 box)

My fiance picked me up this weird box from Target. The part that hangs on the rack is blurred but you can sorta see it. I actually thought it was a blaster until I read it. It has 72 cards in it.



This is what was inside. No packs just a cello wrapped stack of cards. I think the cards totaled out to 10 inserts and 62 base cards. I ended up needing 34 out of the 62 cards.



The pack doesn't have any fancy inserts like autos, relics or original back 60 years of Topps. But you pretty much have one of every type of common insert. Although I do have a question. What the hell card is that David Ortiz? I've never seen it before. The number on it is THP-13 and it only has his name, team name and a blurb about him on the back. There's no subset name anywhere on the card.

So what is this insert and what are the other ones in its set?

Other than that this pack is really only good for someone looking to build the set on the cheap. I'd rather stick with a blaster and its guaranteed commemorative patch, throwback cards and chance for better inserts. Or rack packs if you're trying to keep things a little cheaper but still get some inserts on the side.