2014 Sportlots purchase #1: the old guys

With this weekend's show purchases covered I'm back to some recent internet pickups.  Earlier this month I hit up Sportlots to complete one baseball set plus a couple from football.  As usual, while I was at it I added some stuff for my player collections.  I decided to split that haul into two posts--today's covers three of my older PCs, and the other will include the rest.  So enjoy this look at 10 new cards added to my Maddox, Roberts, and Sizemore collections:

Elliott Maddox 1975 O-Pee-Chee

Maddox is the latest player whose '75 OPC/Topps/Mini run I've completed.  Here he is on a spring training card whose only proof of its O-Pee-Cheeness is the back.

Elliott Maddox 1981 O-Pee-Chee

Not only does the '81 OPC version include the brand on the front AND the position in French, this one is also different from the Topps by including a floating "Now with Yankees" message.

And, oh, look at that:  I have 23/23 Maddox cards, so that's another PC down!  He joins Rick Leach, Matt Miller, and Geoff Zahn in that exclusive club.  Check out his entire collection here if you're interested.  Hooray completed projects!

Leon Roberts 1981 Donruss

I still can't help but laugh when I see some of these older Mariners uniforms, but that's partly because I really do like some of the newer versions.  Once again this is a solid entry from Donruss' first set.

Leon Roberts 1981 Topps Traded

Besides Willie Horton, a couple other notable players were sent with Roberts from Seattle to Texas late in 1980:  21-year pitcher Rick Honeycutt (who I remember most from his Oakland days) and "guy that has an infamous benchmark named after him" Mario Mendoza.

Leon Roberts 1982 O-Pee-Chee

Just for fun, I looked up the meaning of "voltigeur," the French word OPC uses for "outfielder."  Merriam-Webster includes a pair of definitions:  "a member of any of various French organizations of light infantry; often :  a sharpshooter in the French army" and "leaper."  I think "sharpshooter" and "leaper" combine to capture the position pretty well!

Leon Roberts 1983 O-Pee-Chee

Again, the OPC version includes a note, "Now with Royals," that the Topps card doesn't, but then again, Topps actually produced a Roberts Royals card in that year's Traded set.  Not that I mind that there's no such thing as OPC Traded--I've got enough to collect as it is!

Leon Roberts 1984 Topps Tiffany

This is the second of Leon's pair of Tiffany cards, and I had already grabbed the '85 card, so I'm all set there.

Although I can't claim to have completed his collection yet, I now own 26/28 of his cards, good for about 93%, and I have one of the remaining two on the way, so it may not be much longer until he joins Maddox and the rest of the completed club.  Check out what I have here.

Ted Sizemore 1973 O-Pee-Chee

This ended up being an OPC kind of day for Ted, which makes sense since that's all I have left of his collection to nab.  The centering on this one is pretty terrible, but I've said a lot that I'm not that picky about it, especially since I wasn't interested in paying much for these.  Fortunately it wasn't one of the harder-to-get high-numbers from some of the other 70's OPC sets, which are gonna set me back a pretty penny.

Ted Sizemore 1979 O-Pee-Chee

Here's an interesting difference between the OPC and Topps cards:  the former has him pictured with the Phillies but notes his February '79 trade to the Cubs, and even labels him as a member of that team; the Topps version is 100% Phillies.  There's still no such thing as a card of Sizemore in a Cubs uni, though.

Ted Sizemore 1980 O-Pee-Chee

Ted was included in both Topps and OPC for his final issue with his last team, the Red Sox.  Unfortunately, the front doesn't provide any insight to OPC's choice for the French translation of "2nd baseman."

With these three additions I now have 20/23 cards in Sizemore's run, with the remainders being the rarer 1971, 1972, and 1974 O-Pee-Chee issues (plus he also has a 1/1 I've never seen).  I'm not sure how quickly I'll be able to find them at a price I like, but I still hope to have his collection finished by the end of the year.

One PC done and two above 85% was a nice way to end the day, but check out my second post from the series soon as that also touches on several newer collections!

2014 COMC pickups #3: An Elliott mess

Today I'm back with one of my new player collections for 2014, Elliott Maddox.  Before my most recent COMC haul I had just five of his 23 cards in my hands, but as you'll see, the site went a long way towards beefing up that number:

1971 O-Pee-Chee and Topps RC

Some of these vintage issues, especially when it comes to O-Pee-Chee, can get pretty costly.  Add to that the fact that the latter card is Maddox's RC (even though he was never a star), and you might expect to pay at least a few bucks for this pair.  Me?  I threw down $1.15 for both.  Allllllllll riiiiiight.

1972 O-Pee-Chee

The Senators moved to Texas and became the Rangers in 1972, as most of you probably known, but the most significant event for the team was Maddox's classic photo that appeared on this card and the Topps version, which I already had.  What are you lookin' at, bro?!

1973 O-Pee-Chee and Topps

Sometimes I like the OPC sets that make it easy to tell that set apart from the Topps versions.  There's always the backs, but I really didn't feel like having to do two scans for all of my OPCs, so just trust me that the one on the left has English and French on the back, ok?

1974 O-Pee-Chee and Topps

'74 was probably Elliott's career season, and he somehow managed to place eighth in MVP voting, with former teammate Jeff Burroughs getting the nod.  Interestingly enough, Burroughs had the lowest WAR (3.6) of anybody in the top nine, while fellow Ranger Fergie Jenkins led all comers (7.8) but placed fifth despite his 25 wins.

1975 Topps and Topps Mini

The Bombers bought Maddox from Texas before the '74 season, and these '75 cards were his first appearance with the team.  I'm glad a nice number of my older Michigan PC guys played in the 70s as they were able to appear in these iconic sets.

1976 O-Pee-Chee and Topps

1976 was Maddox's third and final season in the Bronx, but of course the '77 cards would include this season's stats.  He appeared in only 73 games over the final two seasons of that stay.

1977 Topps

Early in 1977 the Yanks sent Elliott to the Orioles for CF stalwart Paul Blair.  Due to timing or something, Topps still pictured him as a member of the Yankees, but considering he played only 49 games that year, it probably doesn't matter.  Oddly enough, he was never depicted as a Baltimore player as the following year's cards showed him with the...

1978 Topps

...Mets, his fifth and final team.  (He signed with the Phillies in '81 but retired instead)  With that team he played more games than with any other in his career, a total of 335 over three seasons.

1979 Topps

Thankfully, OPC and Topps could be distinguished on card fronts in '79, with the former's logo replacing the latter's in the bottom-left.  Elliott also experienced a two-year hiatus from OPC in 1977-78.

1980 O-Pee-Chee

1980 was actually a decent year for Maddox as he put up his second best career totals for games played (130) and hits (101) and reached a new high in home runs with four.

1981 Donruss

It doesn't come as much of a surprise to me that it took all the way until rookie Donruss' offering the year he retired to get Maddox a non-posed, game action shot.  Topps actually joined in the fun that year as well, and it TOOK THEM LONG ENOUGH.

If you weren't counting (no judgment from me, math is not a requirement on this blog), that's 16 new Maddox cards, giving me a new total of 21/23 of his issues!  Better yet, I may just have that final pair to show off to you before long, so stay tuned!

2014 JustCommons purchase #1: Maddox, Roberts, and Sizemore

Back in February I threw down around $30 on JustCommons to shore up some of my PCs and pick up a bit of trade bait that eventually went to Doug.  I now have everything scanned and tagged so I can show it off to those of you who are interested.

Today you'll see 10 cards representing three players I like to lump together since that's how I originally announced my intention to collect them:

Elliott Maddox 1979 O-Pee-Chee

 

Elliott Maddox 1980 Topps

Elliott Maddox 1981 Fleer

Maddox is a bit of an anomaly in this post, and I'll be you can figure it out pretty quickly if you jump down to flip through the rest of the cards.  I'll reveal the answers at the bottom.

I came into the day with only a pair of Maddox cards, so adding this trio make a surprisingly large dent, jumping me up to about 20%.  He obviously wasn't a star, so I was glad to be able to pay bare minimum prices for issues that weren't terribly rare, though I always feel better when I can land the OPC cards since they can be surprisingly elusive.

Thanks to some other recent purchases you should be seeing a lot more of Elliott pretty soon!

Leon Roberts 1976 Topps Traded

Leon Roberts 1981 Topps

Leon Roberts 1985 Topps

As the '76 Topps Traded card notes, former Tiger Leon Roberts was indeed sent to Houston in a seven player deal that netted Detroit pitcher Jim Crawford (who sucked for three seasons and then retired), catcher Milt May (who was so-so, then sold to the White Sox, but lasted until '84), and pitcher Dave Roberts (no relation) (who wasn't awful, then was sold to the Cubs after less than two seasons).  The Mariners were Leon's next stop, and he had a pretty nice three years for them.  Texas and Toronto were next before he played his final two years with the Royals, whom the Tigers beat in the '84 playoffs.

A trio of Roberts cards doubles his collection to six, good for about 20%, though again, I have a nice number incoming to supplement those!

Ted Sizemore 1976 Topps

Ted Sizemore 1978 Topps

Ted Sizemore 1979 Topps

Ted Sizemore 1980 Topps

Last up is a quartet of Ted Sizemore issues.  These are actually the first I've been able to show off on the blog since I didn't have any in-hand before now.  The 1969 NL Rookie of the Year opened his career with the Dodgers, but you'll have to wait for cards of him with that team.  Instead of Dodger blue, you'll be seeing red, and lots of it.  Ted's second team was the Cards, and he was with them for five seasons, the most in his career with any team.  After a one-year pit stop back in LA, he joined the Phillies in 1977-78, both years of which are recorded in the middle cards above.  After spending most of the '79 season with the Cubs, he was sent to the Red Sox, with whom he finished his career in 1980--which didn't really warrant an appearance in the '81 set.

Ted has 23 cards on his checklist, so I'm well on my way at 17%, with--you guessed it!--a bunch more coming soon.

I'll be back with more such posts soon!

Elliott Maddox trivia-ish answers:

1.  Maddox appears with the same team on all three cards, while Roberts is pictured with three different teams over his trio, and Sizemore is also shown with three total in his quartet.

2.  Maddox's cards hail from three different brands (counting OPC, which you should) while Roberts' and Sizemore's are all Topps.

2014 trade package #4: The Angels in Order orders up some Abbott, Maddox, and Roberts

My fourth trade package of the year is the first response to my post soliciting cards for my three new baseball PCs, and it arrived all the way from Texas courtesy of Tom of The Angels in Order.  The Halos collector extraordinaire not only came up with a couple cards each for two of those players, but also a fat stack of another player who's right in his wheelhouse!

First up are 14(!) new additions to my Jim Abbott PC:

Jim Abbott 1990 Leaf

Another great shot of Abbott's pitching motion from his left; if you didn't know better, you might not even notice the way the glove sits on his left arm.

Jim Abbott 1991 Upper Deck

I'm assuming this is spring training?  As I noted before, Jim compiled two hits over 24 plate appearances in in 1999 with the Brewers.

Jim Abbott 1992 Donruss

Jim Abbott 1992 Upper Deck (#86)

Jim Abbott 1992 Upper Deck (#325)

Jim Abbott 1992 Upper Deck (#642)

Abbott got a lot of card love in '92 UD with a bunch of appearances, and this one is his best as the back notes he never pitched in the minors and that he starred at Michigan, among other observations.

Jim Abbott 1993 Stadium Club

Jim Abbott 1993 Upper Deck (#30)

Look at Jim carry that clipboard like a community hero!  Look at all the mullets in this picture!

Jim Abbott 1993 Upper Deck (#31)

"Hey, Jim, what's the average I.Q. of a Buckeye?  Two?  Yeah, that sounds about right."

Jim Abbott 1993 Upper Deck (#53) (with Langston and Finley)

Because I'd seen plenty of multiple exposure cards before I didn't give this much of a second glance until I went to label it and realized that Mark Langston and Chuck Finley also appeared.  More mullet power!

Jim Abbott 1995 Emotion

I'd say this card lived up to its set's name in focusing on Abbott's game face.  It's actually a fairly rare issue that doesn't show enough of his body to highlight his deformity.

Jim Abbott 1995 Ultra

Jim Abbott 1995 Ultra Gold Medallion

This card (and the base version) end up looking very cool thanks to the blurred background with Abbott the obvious focal point.

Jim Abbott 1996 Upper Deck

A nice enough card, but it will always be overshadowed by one of the best insert sets ever made:  the V.J. Lovero Collection.

My new Abbott total is 55, which I'm duly excited about!

With those out of the way, here's the stuff Tom dug up for my new PCs:

Elliott Maddox 1972 Topps

Hey Elliott, whatcha lookin' at up there?  Got a fly on the bill of your hat or something?  Or maybe are you rolling your eyes because you can see into the future and know how Topps will poison the hobby with unfilled redemptions?

Elliott Maddox 1981 Topps

The '72 was a third-year card while this one seals Maddox's swan song--the 1980 season in which he played for the Mets.  Statistically it wasn't much different from the preceding years, but it would be his final season all the same.

This pair represents the first two cards in Maddox's PC, and you know I'll be working hard to nab all 23 before the end of the year!

Leon Roberts 1979 Topps

I'll probably do this in every post featuring Roberts, but just to reiterate, this is NOT Bip!  The 1972 Tigers draftee played for the Mariners from 1978-80 (his most years with any team), and those were easily the best seasons of his career as he hit .276 with 47 HR and 179 RBI.

Leon Roberts 1982 Topps

Leon headed to Texas in 1980 as part of of an 11-player deal that included teammates Willie Horton (released before the following season) and Mario Mendoza, he of the famed "line."

THIS pair gives me a total of three Roberts cards (I already had his '75 Topps RC since the slightly more famous Gary Carter is the featured player), and his 28-card run should be attainable this year, like Maddox.

Thanks again, Tom, for a fantastic and productive trade!  I'll have your return package, Edmonds SLU and all, out tomorrow.  Readers, go wish a warm Ha-lo to the proprietor of The Angels in Order tonight!