Today’s 9–Harold Baines page 2

I keep my White Sox collection by players last name. When that player reaches 9 cards (a page), they get a post in the Today’s 9 series. I just recently moved all my cards into alphabetical order so most of these posts are just catching up and making sure everybody get’s their due.

HAROLD BAINES

Cards (L-R) – (top row) 1988 Donruss All-Star, 1988 Score, 1988 Topps

(middle row) 1988 Topps mini, 1989 Donruss, 1989 Donruss (green back)

(bottom row) 1989 Topps, 1989 Topps mini,  1996 Leaf Signature Series

Played with the Sox from 1980-1989, 1996-1997, 2000-2001

Was All-Star in 1985-1987, 1989, 1991, 1999

Won a Silver Slugger award in 1989

Card back info –

“Only member of the White Sox to be selected to the ‘87 All-Star team.  Was his 3rd All-Star selection, the other coming in ‘85 and ‘86.  Bothered by after-effects of knee surgery early in ‘87 and was limited to DH duty.  Hit .304 in ‘84 with 29 HR and 94 RBI and .309 in ‘85 with 22 HR and 113 RBI.  Despite being hampered by a bad knee in ‘86, hit .296 with 21 HR and 88 RBI.  2nd on White Sox’ all-time homer list with 140 going in ‘87” – 1988 Donruss All-Star

“Harold, who has never received the acclaim he should as one of baseball’s best players, was disabled for a month by knee surgery and hampered most of the 1987 season by its after affects.  Because of his loss of mobility, Harold had to leave right field, where he was tops, and became the White Sox designated hitter.  Nonetheless, he was chosen for the All-Star game for the third time in a row and set a White Sox record for career home runs.  In July, Harold’s .343 BA ranked ninth in the AL.  Harold, who was the first player picked in the 1977 free-agent draft, set a league mark with 22 game-winning RBI’s in ‘83.  “Even when Harold’s not swinging real good, he’s swinging good,” said manager Jim Fregosi.  “He has an amazing knack of getting hits when he has to.” = 1988 Score

“Harold signed as a 1st round draft selection with the White Sox, June 7, 1977 by scout Bennie Huffman.” – 1988 Topps

“Was scouted as a little leaguer by former White Sox owner Bill Veeck.” – 1988 Topps mini

“White Sox’ all-time HR leader.  Underwent knee surgery prior to ‘87 season and has been reduced to DH duties since.  Led White in RBI last year.  White Sox’ HR, RBI and hits leader in ‘86.  4th in AL in RBI and 6th in batting in ‘85.  All-Star ‘85-‘87.  Led AL in slugging (.541) in ‘84 and topped Chisox in battling and RBI.” – 1989 Donruss

“He belted 1st major league Home Run: 4-19-80.  His first major league Grand Slam: 7-7-82.” – 1989 Topps

“Harold hit a Home Run in the 25th inning.  May 9, 1984” – 1989 Topps mini

“A solid .300 hitter against both righties and lefties, Harold rejoined his original team when he signed with the Chisox as a free agent.  He did so well during his first tour that the team retired his No. 3.  It was reactivated for his return.  At age 37, Harold remains a serious long-ball threat.” – 1996 Leaf Signature Series

Cards in Sox uniform that I own currently – 23

Was really excited when I got the Harold Baines auto from Dennis at “Too Many Grandersons.”  He was one of my favorites growing up.

LCS trip

This past weekend, I got around to finally buying some binders and pages and got all my PC cards all booked and on a shelf.  I was pretty pumped about that.  I’ve been wanting to do it for awhile now so it’s nice that it’s finally done.  My White Sox collection is split between 2 binders and all my Player collections and my Michigan collection are in another.

Stopped by my LCS, he had a bunch of quarter boxes out so I went through those before checking out the higher priced cards.  I came across some trade bait that I couldn’t pass up at $.25, that will be the next post.  While I didn’t manage to come across a whole lot of White Sox cards until the very end, the ones I did find were pretty sweet.  Check them out.

1975 TCMA 1919 Chicago White Sox, all these were the boxes so I grabbed all of them.  I think I had one before this purchase, I didn’t bother checking my have list since it was only 1 and a quarter.  I still haven’t looked, I will when I put them away in the binders.

I went over to his showcase which is relatively small considering cards are just a side business for him, didn’t see much but I did get this pretty cheap.

It’s got some issues, but they are issues I can deal with for the price.  A 1959 Topps Early Wynn.  I was about to head over to check out and saw some some small count boxes that were labeled and some other boxes I didn’t recognize so I checked those out.  Wasn’t much there but I came across this set for $1.99.

I know most card collector’s love this set so how could I pass this up.  I bought one and took out all my Sox cards.

Those will go in my Sox binder.  Why would I break the set up you ask?  Well for one, I figured I could use the rest of the cards as trade bait, so if you want some or if your trying for the set, let me know.  If you want a certain team, let me know.  Just note that this is only the first 330 cards, not the entire set.  And reason number two.  Because I purchased 2 sets.  The set doesn’t fit into my collection, but really, how could I pass it up at only $1.99.  But, like I said, it doesn’t fit into my collection so I will probably trade it away or use it for a contest prize.  I haven’t decided which yet.  So if your interested in this set, let me know as well.

So I walked away with 12 vintage cards for my Sox collection and 2 full sets (15 of 1 set goes into my Sox collection) all for $13 and some change.  Also some oddball cards for some of you.  I’ll have a trade post tomorrow and feature some of those so be sure to check those out.

I’m thinking that was a good day for me.

Ebay bucks and more

I received my ebay bucks at the beginning of July and I decided to head on over and spend my big money.  I picked up 4 cards for my PC.  3 White Sox cards and a Tom Seaver card.  Here they are.

As you can guess, I don’t purchase much on ebay by the 4 cards I purchased with all my earnings.  I was going to make this a contest and have you guess what I spent but you could have gone to ebay and checked the completed listings and figured it out.  So I guess I’ll just tell you.

$1.07/shipped.  It took me awhile to finish this as the Seaver, Thomas and Lemon/Lamp card took $1.06.  So it took me awhile to purchase something for a $.01.  That’s where the Fisk playing card came in.  I got it for $.01 shipped.  I haven’t had any problems with the “free shipping” PWE shipping yet.  Some protect it with a top loader, some don’t.  I figure for the price I’m paying, I’ll take the chance.  I’ve been bidding on anything vintage Sox that I don’t have up to $.50.  So I’ve been making big purchases to work up to my next periods ebay bucks purchase.  Not really, I get outbid quite a bit.

I’ve been scanning today, I have decided to scan all my PC cards and store them here on blogger.  Why not, it’s cheap and easy.  Just all the scanning sucks.  I figure I label each card then you have a way to search.  Maybe some of you do this already, but I thought it was pretty smart.  I’ve scanned the Sox cards that I have gotten in the last few weeks in trades and such, plus scans I found I still had on my computer, so there are already cards on the site.  THE SITE IS LIVE!!!!  Sounds more exciting that way.  I have a lot of cards to go through yet and it will be a constant work in progress I think.  But if you want to check it out, here’s the link - http://mysoxcards.blogspot.com/.  I’m certainly not expecting anyone to follow it or even check it out, but it’s there if you get bored.

Also I sent out some trade packages yesterday, or rather, my wife went to the post office for me and sent them.  So if your expecting a package from me, you should receive it probably on Monday.  And if your not expecting anything from me, you might get a package anyways.  I traded with my cousin and got a few cards for trade purposes.  So a couple of you will be surprised.  I sent out 5 packages, 3 of you are expecting them.  I was hoping to surprise the another person but I had to ask for her address because I apparently didn’t copy it down.

Also, a big shout out to AJ over at “The Lost Collector” who surprised me with this card for my PC.  It’s pretty sweet.  I hadn’t seen the green refractors yet, or at least live.  And to have it be a Konerko just makes it even better.  Thanks again AJ, much appreciated.

Diamond Giveaway Trades

I currently have 27 cards on the Diamond Giveaway site.  I have traded and have gotten 16 cards for my PC’s  I’ll post what I have for my PC’s and what I still have left to trade.  If you see something in the trade section that you want from the site.  Make an offer, you know what I like.  I’m going to make you look at my PC cards first though.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

The following are for trade,  Most trades I offer are for the same year as I’m getting rid of.  But I have accepted trades for other years as long as I’m getting some White Sox cards in return.

  

  

  

  

Make me an offer on the site if you see anything you like.

The only complaints I have about the site are, as I stated before, I wish you could actually get a card for the rings you get, something physical that you could order.  I wouldn’t complain even it was a generic looking card.  And also, I wish there was a box you could check to decline all trades for a certain card.  So I could just check off all the PC cards so I didn’t have to go in and decline the offers on them all the time.  And really?  1986 Topps for a Diamond Cut card?  I’ve gotten a few of those offers.  But the complaints aren’t enough to keep me away.  I’m kicking myself for throwing away some of the Diamond Giveaway cards earlier in the year.  I’m never very impressed when the companies have an online thing, usually they are just a waste of time.  I guess I should have checked this one out before I dismissed it.  Lesson learned.  Although I was surprised I didn’t keep the code cards at least, because I usually do if they have a player on them, but if I did, I don’t know where I put them.

Blogosphere – I love baseball

I just wanted to say how much I enjoy blogging and reading all your blogs.  And yes, I read all 125+ blogs on my blogroll.  Not every day but I usually catch up on all and don’t miss any posts.  But I’ve also made some good friends and great trading partners.  I realize my blog is mostly about my cards where as some of yours go into the design and photography and such.  I do love those posts about cards in general, but I really just don’t get that into the cards with that much depth.  My love is baseball, then baseball cards.  I still get excited when I pull inserts of hall of famers, not because it’s an insert, but because of the player.  Although, I could go without any more Mickey Mantle’s or Jackie Robinson.  I still like getting their cards but do you really need that many different cards of retired players.  When I used to collect, I collected a huge variety of players.  I had probably 20 albums just of players I collected. I had literally hundreds of cards of each of the 50+ players.  Now that I’m older and I can’t spend my “allowance” all on cards, it doesn’t make sense to collect that many cards.  But that doesn’t mean I don’t follow that many players.  I could probably go through the rosters of each team and their would be at least 3 or 4 on each team that I would collect if I had a limitless income.  I just love baseball.

I started a trade with my cousin for cards to trade to a couple of you out there.  So, all for the price of shipping, I’m going to get a bunch of great cards for my PC’s from you guys and gals.  I needed some relic and/or autos to get some relic/autos of Sox players from some of you and I thought that I was going to have to purchase some, but I remembered my cousin does card shows in Ashville, NC every month so I called him up and swung a trade for some of my Braves and Rays cards because those cards do well for him.

And I just completed a trade on the Diamond Giveaway site with another fellow blogger.  I had a 1959 Jim Owens (above) he wanted, but the only Sox card he had was a 1989 Mark Salas.  So he offered me a couple of 70’s cards along with it and I went ahead and accepted it, just because he was a fellow blogger (and Wolverine fan).  And after that trade I offered up the 2 cards he gave me, and within minutes, I got a 1974 Bill Melton to add to my White Sox PC.  So technically, A2wolverine of “No Relics Pulled” gave me 2 Sox cards, plus another one I hope to trade for other Sox cards.

It is so great to trade with people who don’t care about price.  I give them cards for their PC and I get cards for my PC.  Nobody cares if someone comes up a few cards short of the other guys cards.  This blogging has brought my love for cards back, and believe me, it’s been itching to get back.  I spend most evenings looking at your cards or going through mine.  I love baseball, and I love baseball cards.

Diamond Giveaway

As I posted earlier, I bought a Topps Heritage value box at Walmart.  This is the continued post from that one.  I received the 2 Diamond Giveaways cards in those boxes.

I have used the codes on these 2 but if you want the cards, they are available.  And what did I get for those codes, let’s check it out.

  

A 1978 Topps Dave Chalk and a 1980 Topps Doug Flynn.  Don’t have either so I guess I can’t complain.  Not quite sure how the whole site works yet either.  I assume the diamond cut cards you can win just like you do these, put a code in and get it.  Would have rather had any White Sox but oh well.

Here are the 2 digs I got.

Didn’t realize they even had these kind of rings, but it’s pretty cool all the same.  The rings themselves don’t mean anything other than 2 collect for other prizes.  They should put these on a card as well so you can get them sent to you.  It would be a generic card but at least it’s something you can hold.

Trade with Ryan

It seems that I only like to take the time to scan cards on the weekend which is why all my trade posts tend to come out then.  Ryan of “This Card is Cool” and the new “Cardboard Zoo” also requested some of my trade bait cards and after an email or two, he sent me these.

Love the two 1980’s Topps and the 1981 Fleer.  And the 1984 Donruss as far as that goes.  Not a big fan of the 1987 Topps (but really, who is) but I did use to have a crap load of these and had only 1 other so they are still welcome in this household.  I’ve never seen the yellow Toys “R” Us, I used to have the black set, don’t remember the year of it but I assume the yellow ones are just a different year.

I like the looks of the Leaf Limited on top, and the Topps Flashback Friday of Jermaine Dye was a new insert set for me, hadn’t seen those before.  Mark Buehrle’s Perfect game savior, DeWayne Wise in Gold.  Plus a couple of cool Frank Thomas cards.

A couple Topps Attak and four Gypsy Queens that I didn’t have.

And a couple of Tom Seaver’s.  I had forgotten about the American Pie cards.  All these cards are a welcome addition to my PC.  Big thanks to Ryan, be sure to check out his blog “This Card is Cool” and his very informative “Cardboard Zoo”.  Thanks again, Ryan!

Getting Kids Interested

I’m looking for good ways to get my kids interested in collecting.  They are both still young so I’m not too sure that they are really old enough to get interested in it anyways.

I saw Topps was coming out with a MLB sticker book.  I thought about going that route because they are stickers (all kids love stickers) and they would have to collect each players by teams which is like cards.

Nap of “Napkin Doon” had posted about sending letters out to the teams for fan packages.  He had told me later that most teams you can fill out for them on their websites.  I think if I did this, writing the letter might be more personal as far as sitting with the kids and writing them out together rather than clicking a few buttons.

Both these idea seem good, but both of them I’m not sure would work.  Did you guys have a way to get your kids interested or have they resisted everything you have tried?  Suggestions are welcomed, let me know. 

I would really like them to start collecting, although I fear I may be getting them into a dying hobby.  My daughter is 9, my son will be 7 in a month.  They both play baseball/softball.  My daughter is really coming into her own in the game and is really focused on it where as my son has just started and has only played 1 year of t-ball so I don’t know if it’s something that he’ll stick with or not.  My daughter is a daddy’s girl and says she likes the White Sox where as my son is a momma’s boy and says he likes the Cubs.  But neither will really sit with me and watch any games so I don’t even know for sure how interested they are baseball.

As I said before, let me know.  Good idea?  Bad idea?  Too young?  Don’t bother trying?  Good or bad comments, let me know of give me some other ideas.

Trade with the Diamond King

I posted some trade bait a week or so ago and Kevin of “The Diamond King” blog claimed some cards.  I sent his, he sent mine, and another great trade was finished.  This is my 2nd trade with him and I’m just as pleased with this one.  This was the 1st trade that I didn’t get any White Sox cards but that’s ok, because he sent some great cards.

I’ve been getting some great Tom Seaver’s for my collection from traders and Kevin added these 5.  Really like the Kellogg’s card, I remember those from back in the day.

He also sent 4 more Konerko’s for my collection, all Dodgers.  I knew he played for the Dodgers, but I didn’t realize how many cards he had with them.  I thought it was just a few, I was way wrong.  I read on someone’s comment’s the other day how many and was astonished.  I don’t remember where I read that as I have over 100 card blogs I read but you guys are a very reliable source.

But a big shout out to Kevin and go check out his blog “The Diamond King”.  Thanks Kevin!!!

Cards for trade

I have finally finished entering all my baseball cards into Zistle.  Below is the link to my tradelist.  Once there, you can select how you view, either list or gallery on the top right.  Gallery shows photos, where as list shows you much more information.  Also on list you can choose how you want to view the list – year, set, player, team, or card number.

And here is the link to the tradelist - http://www.zistle.com/SoxFan4Life/tradelist

You’ll see on the left side, links to my collections there as well so you can see if I have what you’ve got.  At least until I get my wantlist’s done which I guess will be my next project.  Along with adding the football cards I have.

I do have some vintage listed, 5 cards from the 1960’s as well as 200+ from the 1970’s.

As far as recent goes, most are from 2009-current.  I do have a bunch of Gypsy Queen for those still trying to complete sets.

And now that I have everything listed, it will be easier for me to find cards off your wantlists as well.  So I won’t necessarily have to trade team for team anymore.

So go check it out, and let me know if there is anything you want.

Contest winner

I got my winnings from Matthew over at “Number 5 Type Collection” for a contest he had in honor of Father’s day.  All you had to do was comment on the post of what your and your father’s favorite baseball team was.  For those that don’t know, my father was a die hard Cubs fan.  It was a great idea for a contest and I really enjoyed reading other comments, some with stories of their fathers.  Here was my comment.

My father was a die hard Cubs fan but he past away when I was 8 and so did his influence on me.

My whole neighborhood used to play sports in accordance to the season outside. During the summer's, we'd be playing baseball and everything would stop so the Cubs fan's could go watch the game on WGN. I never wanted to stop playing so I grew to hate the Cubs.

I stopped watching baseball all together after the strike in 1994. A few years later, when I started watching again, I grew to love the White Sox. And have ever since.

My mom tells me that one day I'm going to wake up and my dad is going to be standing at the foot of my bed, in full Cubs gear with a disappointing look on his face.

That’s pretty much the long and short of it.  I don’t, however, hate the Cubs anymore.  To me, they are just another team.  Most White Sox fans hate the Cubs, and I’ve gotten into this argument with Sox fans before, but if you don’t live in Chicago, you don’t really have the hatred for the Cubs.  I love to beat them, because as I’m not real far from Chicago (100 miles) so there are a crap load of Cubs fans here (including the majority of my family.)  I hate their stadium and I hate a lot of their obnoxious fans, but I don’t hold that against the team.  Personally, I feel sorry for their fans but that’s another story.

Sorry, I got sidetracked there.  Here’s the loot sent over from Matthew.  The prize was some cards from the teams in your comments.

All the Sox are cards are new to my collection and the Cubs cards are available for trade.  I really loved the prize, nice touch with all the vintage especially the 1955, which became my oldest White Sox card.  So, my question to you Matthew is, the 1972 Topps (NL Pitching Leaders) has Fergie Jenkins, so therefore is a Cubs card, but did you notice that Tom Seaver is on that card as well and did you know that he is a player I collect?  Whether you did or not, I loved the card.  As well as all the other vintage.  Everybody check out his blog over at “Number 5 Type Collection”

I like this card, and others

Wife and kids were gone, no one was home. So on my way home from work I decided to stop at a pawn shop that says they buy coins just to look in and see if they had any cards. I walked in and rather than waste my time browsing, I asked the guy behind the counter if they sell sports cards, he started to go on about how the prices had dropped, ect, ect. so they don’t buy them anymore. I looked at him and asked “so that’s a no?” He seemed kind of mad but I know about cards, and all I asked was whether they sell them or not. I don’t need a rundown on why he doesn’t buy them. It’s not like I walked in with a huge box of cards asking him to buy.

Anyway, I left and headed up the road to a place that buys and sells DVDs/games/CD’s. You know the kind of place. He has some cards there as well as comics and previously I’ve bought a 600 count box of 1970’s cards for $8 back when I sold on Ebay, made that money back easy. He was advertising a sale on comic books and when I asked about the boxes of cards he said they were on sale. They are normally $1 boxes but with the sell and nobody waiting on me at home, I figured I’d go through and see if there was anything. And there was.

First I’ll show the trade bait, all are available.

I picked up all these just because who can resist these vintage oddball(?) cards at the price. Stan Musial (1975 TCMA), Carl Yastrzemski and Joe Morgan (1977, not sure what they were cut off of), Hank Greenberg (1974, TCMA), Bob Feller (1975, TCMA (1954 Cleveland)), Tris Speaker (1977, TCMA (1920 Cleveland)), Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio (1977, TCMA), and Ty Cobb (1980, TCMA). Most are in really good condition which makes me wonder whether or not they are fake or something else, but I’m not sure why someone would fake these. Either way, they were cheap.

A couple more vintage, Thurman Munson (1976 Topps & 1978 ?), and the 1972 Dodgers rookies (Charlie Hough, Bob O’Brien, Mike Strahler) All 3 are available for trade.

And some more trade bait. I realize that these aren’t high dollar but I was surprised to see them in a $1 box, just because he’s not really a card dealer, I figured his prices would be higher than normal. Cory Aldridge, Adam Pettyjohn, Travis Hughes, David Espinosa (2002 Select Rookies & Prospects autograph’s), Chris Seddon (2007 Bowman Signs of the Future), Danny Peoples (1997 UD SP prospects autograph), William Bergolla (2004 Playoff Honors autograph #’d /1000) and a Carl Yastrzemski (2005 Upper Deck Classic Season game-used jersey)

But of course, they main reason I stopped was to boost my PC’s. So here they are.

I really liked the Hoyt Wilhelm (1967), and the Al Lopez (1960), both are 1st’s for those years. Both the 1975’s are mini and I’m not sure what the Luis Aparicio is. All it says on the back is his name, No. 6 of 33 photos, and T.C.G. So I have no idea of the year or make of the card. Just that it’s an Aparicio and it’s from Topps. So any help there would be appreciated.

A Sox rookie auto #’d /500 (Ryan Meaux) who I want to say isn’t even in the organization anymore but I’m not positive about that. I seem to remember him getting traded. A Shingo Takatsu jersey, who? Unless you’re a Sox fan, you probably don’t remember him. But he was a very effective closer, for a year anyways. I want to say he closed for us in 2004 and was our starter at closer in 2005 but was replaced, because he sucked. Eventually, we ended up with Bobby Jenks who took us to our World Championship that year. Sergio Santos autograph. Can never go wrong with a Michael Jordan card, even if it is a baseball one. A Tadahito Iguchi refractor. Who was a huge part of our 2005 World Series run at 2nd base. But was our #2 hitter, Scott Podsednik got on, a lot. And Iguchi moved him around the bases, a lot. We don’t win the WS that year without his bat. Jim Thome jersey, who is an all around nice guy. I always wish him well where ever he plays, even in Minnesota, except when they play us. And I can also use your help on the last card. Michael Jordan & Frank Thomas. I’m guessing it’s a 1991 as it has Thomas’ stats from 1990. And under Career Highlights for Jordan, it’s all basketball, and says led the Bulls to a 90/91 Championship, no mention of the other 5. I think it looks a lot like the 1986 fleer but it has no mention of a year or manufacturer on the back. So again, any help would be appreciated.

My favorite card, and if you didn’t notice, I didn’t say anything about it up there is this one.

Sergio Santos. If you’ll notice on this minor league card, he’s listed as a shortstop. He couldn’t make at short so he converted to a pitcher a few years back. And the White Sox are glad he did. He is currently our closer after Matt Thornton’s struggles earlier this season. In only his 2nd year in the big leagues, he has become our closer. I couldn’t believe when I saw this autograph in the $1 box. Love this card.

And I was able to pick up a few for my player collections.

A 1981 Donruss and a 1977 Topps of Tom Seaver. If I remember from back when I used to collect. Seaver has another 1981 Donruss card. Never could figure out why some player got 2 cards but I know I used to have both, as well as the 1977.

And a couple of Konerko’s to finish off this very long post. A HR Kings insert and a rookie card.

These were most of the cards purchased, but I actually purchased other Sox cards (Thomas, Mags, a couple of Fisk’s and a Baines) I also purchased all 5 of the Sammy Sosa rookies (I really didn’t want to, but they were Sox cards) and a couple of his 2nd/3rd year cards. So not pictured, I had another 13 cards. And what did I pay for all this card goodness? Got a guess? Anybody? Answer – Just over $20, $20 and some change to be exact.

So if you want some of the trade bait cards up there or you have some help for me on the couple of cards I was lost on, leave me a comment or email me (jccsst1022 at gmail dot com). Hopefully you stayed with my post long enough to read it all.