Free Expos in the Mail!

I had been reading baseball card blogs for at least 7 years before I finally started Four Baggers and Foreclosures. (Always as a lurker, because social anxiety even reaches web sites apparently.) I never joined in, despite it becoming clear that online trading was a great way to acquire cards you want in exchange for cards you don't. It seemed bloggers were always sharing great stories online of the new things they received in the mail.

And who doesn't like cool mail?

Recently, I answered my very first online poll at It's Like having My Own Card Shop, an excellent Arizona Diamondbacks card blog. Daniel polled his readers as to when the last time they purchased a current copy of Beckett.

For me, it was about a year ago.

In my early days of collecting, I read Baseball Cards Magazine (the Krause Publications magazine). In 1989, I started picking up Becketts each month. I still have the first issue of Beckett I ever bought at a card show in 1989.


Beckett - June 1989

Back then, each issue had stories of players, card sets, collecting trends, autograph info...

 You know... CONTENT!

The Beckett of today is a giant nearly unreadable stack of price listings, that doesn't account for online sales, with paid advertising on any other page that isn't their bloated price guide. No stories on Hall of Famers... No stories on obscure sets from the 1970's...

Just 200 pages of why bother....

I still have some of my old Beckett magazines. (And a bunch of loose leaf pulled from full magazines that got tossed out over the years.) Unfortunately, most of that is stuffed deep in a closet, so it's not accessible as I'd like. Something I plan on adding here eventually is a look back at some of those 25+ year old Becketts. Just to reminisce about the glory days of the Junk-Wax era and how it was covered. Some stories that appeared in Becket back then provide a fascinating glimpse at how the hobby has evolved, and is a subject I'm interested in covering here at some point.

That is a much more wordy version of my reply to his post...


A number of random winners was picked from his replies, with those selected winning cards. I was selected, and an envelope with 6 Expos cards inside, arrived in the weekend mail!


2002 SPx - Bartolo Colon

A Colon Expos card is the highlight of any day! He only pitched half of the 2002 season with Montreal, so there aren't a whole lot of Expos cards floating around. This is one I needed!

Not to rub salt, but I watched Colon finish off Minnesota's three game sweep of the D-Backs on Sunday, pleasing both the Twins and Rockies fan in me...


1995 Ultra - Cliff Floyd - 2nd Year Standouts

Floyd has been a player I've collected since he was drafted in 1991, and this is a good example of the mid-1990's loud tackiness in card design. Surprisingly, as much 1995 product as I bought, this card eluded me. Nice to have it 27 years later. Even though all that orange does not mesh with the Expos colors...


1997 Collectors Choice - Mark Grudzielanek - All Star Connection

Collectors Choice was never my choice, and I didn't buy any after 1995. Looking back, they were nice sets that featured a wide player selection and a fun photos. The Grudzielanek is a really nice card in the All Star insert set. Not only did I not have this card, I'd never seen one before!


1995 Score Hall of Gold - Tony Tarasco

I also didn't buy much 1995 Score, so the Tarasco was also new to me. I do have Wil Cordero from that set, so Wil gets a roommate on the binder page. Tarasco came to the Expos from the Braves in the Marquis Grissom trade. His stay in Montreal was brief, Tarasco was an Oriole by 1996.


2002 Ballpark Idols - Ron Calloway

This marks my first card from 2002 Upper Deck Ballpark Idols. I have honestly never seen these cards before getting it in the mail. As my post yesterday explained, I only paid attention to UD Authentics as far the Upper Deck's 2002 products are concerned, so this card is welcome addition from a set I didn't know existed!


2000 Skybox Metal - Peter Bergeron

Skybox (Fleer) Metal was always a weird set that I rarely collected. Most year's sets were loud and colorful and resembled less of a baseball photo than an acid trip. (Go look at 1996 and 1997 Metal and tell me whoever designed that wasn't blasted out of his or her mind...) The Bergeron is a card I've never seen before, but really like. The picture is fits the design, and I like the purple/blue gradient that fits the image.

All six cards Daniel sent were needed in my Expos collection, and will be excellent additions to my team binders!

Thank you so much!

If any readers have some more Expos (or Twins or Rockies) cards they want to pass along, I've got some 30,000 sorted by team cards similar to these readily available for trades. Mostly non-commons, inserts and parallels...

Drop me a line and let me know what you're looking for!

*****

Just a quick post today...

Have to go into work tonight and I'm still not done demolishing the Middle School.

But I was so excited by new Expos, I had to share!

Comments

  1. Daniel WilsonAugust 21, 2017 at 9:41 PM

    Glad the cards got there safely and you needed them all!

    ReplyDelete

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