An Expos ExMess and 2019 Collection Goals
For X-Mess this year, Laura gave me a series of Montreal Expos themed gifts, to help decorate New Baseballcardland. Culminating in this Vladimir Guerrero Mitchell and Ness Cooperstown Collection jersey. Which I will cover more in depth later.
This is the first time in over two decades that my entire collection is in one location. Now that I've figured out what everything I still own is, I have to decide where it goes.... And I've finally come up with a plan!
So let's look at the Expos gifts while I lay out the first stage of the New Baseballcardland sorting process. Shall we?
The first gift of the Expos series was this set of buttons. Nice simple design that I didn't already have!
The next box contained a small plastic snap case with 16 Vladimir Guerrero insert cards from the late 1990's and early 2000's inside. There were 4 cards of Vladimir with the Angles, but I wont hold that against the case. Of the 12 remaining Expos cards, I needed all 12 of them!
To be honest, I really don't like this card design. That fake blurring flair starting just off-center bothers me. And the red clashes with the photo, and there's just too much of it.
Never was a fan of the 1999 Upper Deck Black Diamond set. I picked up a relative lot of it back in the day and was pretty disappointed. Still needed this Guerrero though...
The Vladimir Guerrero Mitchell and Ness Cooperstown Collection jersey was a nice surprise. She guessed that he was my favorite Expo of all time. Tough call, but I'd probably agree. There would have been no question if he'd entered the Hall of Fame with an Expos cap on his plaque. That being said, no other Expos name comes to mind as ranking ahead.
Vladimir's jersey already has a prominent place in the collection, next to the Pedro Martinez Mitchell and Ness Cooperstown Collection jersey, that I purchased via ebay about a decade ago.
Pinnacle put out a huge amount of product in the mid-1990's, with some good innovation. The Certified line was pretty nice, even with the unneeded parallels.
To house all these new Guerrero's, and all the other cards that are sitting in various boxes all over New Baseballcardland, I have acquired a bunch of storage supplies that have been sorely needed. Now I can begin the sorting chore with the supplies I need at hand...
Amongst them: All the cards of Bob's that I pulled from albums to scan, recent new Rockies, Twins and Expos cards, some WWE wrasslin cards that the Targets is discounting heavily, a sneak preview of another Expos gift and recent unopened packs. Oh, and a current Becketts...
Once I figure out which of these are new to the team set albums, they will get filed into the 2500 or so already in this box...
It contained this Montreal Expos Avenue street sign. Plans are to hang it in the hall above New Baseballcardland.
As the card budget shrunk in the late 1990's, UD Choice was a card line that was one of the first sets I cut out of collecting. I have some base cards of that day, but have been really lacking on the inserts. Which made this gift all the better!
Next up for sorting is this pile of smaller boxes of cards, each full of different things that warrant a closer look before simply going to the trash. The Monster Box underneath them is already done. It's 2/3 full of team sorted commons that I didn't want to part with previously...
Where I can start putting away the new and old stuff, that was 1000 miles away from the rest of the collection for so long.
Topps was much better when they used their rainbowie foil as a major design element to a card front. They're also easier to scan and look impressive under different light.
Something has always bothered me about that Pedro Martinez Mitchell and Ness Cooperstown Collection jersey since it arrived in the mail some ten years ago... While claiming to be 100% authentic to the jerseys worn on the playing field, during the season of the player tag on the jersey itself. The Pedro Martinez Mitchell and Ness Cooperstown Collection jersey was close, but a definite D for effort...
In 1996, I purchased an official Russell Athletic Diamond Collection Expos home jersey. (With no name on the back, but an accompanying swanky official turtleneck long sleeve undershirt!) The Russell Athletic Diamond Collection line was as close as the general public could get to the actual playing jerseys' worn by major league teams of that era. They were expensive, but they were legit!
The quality of the Russell Athletic jersey was top notch. The stitching on the Expos sleeve patch is really sharp, I love this patch.
But the sleeve patch on the Pedro Martinez Mitchell and Ness Cooperstown Collection jersey was almost offensively awful.
All of the random commons that get kept, and don't find homes in new or existing three ring binders will get sleeved. And in some cases Top Loadereded...
Like being combined with the contents of the big box of already Top Loaderded and Card Guarded stars and rookies from the last 50 or so years.
Once all that is done, those will be filed into the sleeved, Top Loaderded and Card Guarded stars and rookies. Which will then be sorted by teams, for their "forever home" in these monster boxes...
Look above the shelf... I've been reunited with the 1989 season edition of Pursue the Pennant! Loved that game, it will likely be a post on here soon...
Welcome to the 1990's, where the word GRAPHICS doesn't need to be spelled correctly, or include VOWELS!
The second to last gift (actually third to last, since the Vladdy jersey was the last gift opened in the series) was this blown up canvas print, of a ticket stub from the Expos last ever home game in Montreal.
Which made me kind of sad. Don't get me wrong, this is awesome, but it documents the end of my favorite franchise. Obviously, I know they are the Washington Nationals today, but nothing about that team has anything to do with it's pre-2005 history. The Washington Nationals are cold and corporate, while the Montreal Expos were fun and lovable underdogs. Horribly mistreated by the sport they represented...
I especially appreciated the close resemblance between the 2004 Expos ticket stub, and the two stubs I have from personally attended Expos home games in 1995 & 1996.
The Montreal Expos always appealed to me because they were Major League Baseball shunned stepchild. They wore weird multi-color hats and their logo makes zero sense... They played in a stadium that looked like a toilet/spaceship, with only primary and secondary colors inside... Everything was in English AND French, which you only saw in Montreal!
They were reduced to a glorified farm team for the rest of Major League Baseball in the end, and Jeff Loria is worse than Satan, but at least they were a team worth caring about.
I do hope and think there will be another Major League Baseball team playing in Montreal someday. Maybe even in the next ten years. Weather it's the Tampa Bay Rays fleeing their hopeless stadium situation, or an expansion team that will bring even more billions of dollars in revenue and fees to the game.
Buying the random collection of player cards, you typically get at least one hit. And I'll take another bat card of Vladdy any day of the week!
Once the cards are all sorted and put away where they need to go, there's a big pile of boxed baseball related magazines that need homes as well...
Due to the nature of these gifts, 2018 X-Mess became ExMess!
This is the first time in over two decades that my entire collection is in one location. Now that I've figured out what everything I still own is, I have to decide where it goes.... And I've finally come up with a plan!
So let's look at the Expos gifts while I lay out the first stage of the New Baseballcardland sorting process. Shall we?
The first gift of the Expos series was this set of buttons. Nice simple design that I didn't already have!
The next box contained a small plastic snap case with 16 Vladimir Guerrero insert cards from the late 1990's and early 2000's inside. There were 4 cards of Vladimir with the Angles, but I wont hold that against the case. Of the 12 remaining Expos cards, I needed all 12 of them!
Quite the surprise to me...
Which means it makes sense to Whatever them!
Top 12 Valdimir Guerrero Montreal Expos cards
That I got for ExMess... Whatever!
#12 1999 Upper Deck Challengers For 70
To be honest, I really don't like this card design. That fake blurring flair starting just off-center bothers me. And the red clashes with the photo, and there's just too much of it.
Next!
#11 1998 Pacific Paramount
Much better, though the weird bronze foil is distracting and hard to read.
#10 1999 Upper Deck Black Diamond Stat (itude)
The Vladimir Guerrero Mitchell and Ness Cooperstown Collection jersey was a nice surprise. She guessed that he was my favorite Expo of all time. Tough call, but I'd probably agree. There would have been no question if he'd entered the Hall of Fame with an Expos cap on his plaque. That being said, no other Expos name comes to mind as ranking ahead.
Not even Archi Cianfrocco...
Both worthy Hall of Famers, neither wearing an Expos cap...
#9 1999 Upper Deck Black Diamond Threat
Needed this one too, and it's nicer looking than the lamely name Stat (itude)...
#8 1997 Pinnacle Certified Red
Pinnacle put out a huge amount of product in the mid-1990's, with some good innovation. The Certified line was pretty nice, even with the unneeded parallels.
To house all these new Guerrero's, and all the other cards that are sitting in various boxes all over New Baseballcardland, I have acquired a bunch of storage supplies that have been sorely needed. Now I can begin the sorting chore with the supplies I need at hand...
First would be getting these cards into their appropriate homes.
Once I figure out which of these are new to the team set albums, they will get filed into the 2500 or so already in this box...
That is a lot unlike the long, narrow and heavy gift box was up next on the ExMess holiday.
After we paint the place...
#7 1999 UD Choice Starquest
As the card budget shrunk in the late 1990's, UD Choice was a card line that was one of the first sets I cut out of collecting. I have some base cards of that day, but have been really lacking on the inserts. Which made this gift all the better!
Next up for sorting is this pile of smaller boxes of cards, each full of different things that warrant a closer look before simply going to the trash. The Monster Box underneath them is already done. It's 2/3 full of team sorted commons that I didn't want to part with previously...
The stuff that doesn't go in the trash with get stored and sorted further down this shelf.
I'm gonna need more pages...
And more D-Ring Binders...
#6 2000 Topps A Look Ahead
This one looks nice, but usually the foil inserts that Topps made in this era turned out really muddy...
#5 1998 Topps New Breed
Something has always bothered me about that Pedro Martinez Mitchell and Ness Cooperstown Collection jersey since it arrived in the mail some ten years ago... While claiming to be 100% authentic to the jerseys worn on the playing field, during the season of the player tag on the jersey itself. The Pedro Martinez Mitchell and Ness Cooperstown Collection jersey was close, but a definite D for effort...
In 1996, I purchased an official Russell Athletic Diamond Collection Expos home jersey. (With no name on the back, but an accompanying swanky official turtleneck long sleeve undershirt!) The Russell Athletic Diamond Collection line was as close as the general public could get to the actual playing jerseys' worn by major league teams of that era. They were expensive, but they were legit!
The quality of the Russell Athletic jersey was top notch. The stitching on the Expos sleeve patch is really sharp, I love this patch.
But the sleeve patch on the Pedro Martinez Mitchell and Ness Cooperstown Collection jersey was almost offensively awful.
Different font, uneven logo, stray threads..
Ick... This still bothers me...
#4 1999 Topps 21st Century
More awesome rainbowie foil!
#3 1999 Topps Power Players
Even more awesome rainbowie foil!
And temporarily come to rest in this box, awaiting future sortings...
Once all that is done, those will be filed into the sleeved, Top Loaderded and Card Guarded stars and rookies. Which will then be sorted by teams, for their "forever home" in these monster boxes...
Look above the shelf... I've been reunited with the 1989 season edition of Pursue the Pennant! Loved that game, it will likely be a post on here soon...
#2 1999 Upper Deck Holo GrFX
The second to last gift (actually third to last, since the Vladdy jersey was the last gift opened in the series) was this blown up canvas print, of a ticket stub from the Expos last ever home game in Montreal.
September 29, 2004.
I especially appreciated the close resemblance between the 2004 Expos ticket stub, and the two stubs I have from personally attended Expos home games in 1995 & 1996.
The Montreal Expos always appealed to me because they were Major League Baseball shunned stepchild. They wore weird multi-color hats and their logo makes zero sense... They played in a stadium that looked like a toilet/spaceship, with only primary and secondary colors inside... Everything was in English AND French, which you only saw in Montreal!
They were reduced to a glorified farm team for the rest of Major League Baseball in the end, and Jeff Loria is worse than Satan, but at least they were a team worth caring about.
That not enough people did...
Look at all that non-English!
I do hope and think there will be another Major League Baseball team playing in Montreal someday. Maybe even in the next ten years. Weather it's the Tampa Bay Rays fleeing their hopeless stadium situation, or an expansion team that will bring even more billions of dollars in revenue and fees to the game.
I just hope they are named the Montreal Expos...
And are not placed in the same division as the Yankees and Red Sox...
#1 2003 Upper Deck MVP Covering the Plate
Oh thank god!
The Vladimir Guerrero Mitchell and Ness Cooperstown Collection jersey has a decent sleeve patch!
The last Expos box in the series contained this...
Andre Dawson has a beautiful autograph!
Laura was quick to point out the card number... Excellent attention to detail!
Great wintery haul for the Expos Exmess, a bunch of really cool stuff that I didn't already have!
And I'm definitely ordering Pizza Man for dinner!
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