This is a special two-part post. Part one is the fun part - I found an eBay seller, based in Australia, who sells singles of patch cards, relics and such. He had a absolute ton of stuff up last week, including some of the manu-patches from the 2012 Topps blasters. I bought out all the stuff from that series that he had, and I wanted. They arrived today.

First up, the Historical Stitches. I got two - Luis Aparicio and the patron saint of RGB Cards, Frank Robinson:

The thing I love about the Robinson card is that it portrays him as a Red. Frank Robinson's Cincinnati career is often forgotten, but he was absolutely amazing at Crosley Field. You know that he was MVP in 1961, right? The whole "only person to be MVP of the American League and National League" thing? Yeah, it doesn't happen without the Reds. Believe it or not, Robby played more games in a Reds uniform than any other. He was with the team for ten seasons!

However, now that I have these two cards in my position, it confirms what I thought all along; the Historical Stitches set is stupid. It's manu-patches at their worst, because there's no real historical context or events that they're based on. "Featuring stitching designed to replicate his vintage jersey"? What does that even mean?

However, as bad as Topps whiffed on the Historical Stitches, the retired number patches are just that many kinds of awesome. I've always been fascinated with uniform numbers - which ones people choose, how they select them, what new number a person gets when he changes teams and can't get his old number, and yes, which numbers are retired. That's why this set is so awesome. But what do you expect from someone with this book in his personal library?

I got three - a Reds patch, an Orioles patch, and an Athletics patch. And there's that man Robinson again:




I've decided to collect all the Reds, Orioles, Athletics and White Sox patches, along with Sandy Koufax (duh) and all the number 8 cards. Yes, this means I am actively seeking a Yankees patch card, but I'm cool with it because it's Yogi Berra and he's awesome.

By the way, I already bought the Koufax, but the seller doesn't ship to Australia so it's at my parents' house. Along with what seems like half my collection.

Tomorrow, I'll be posting the manu-patch cards I actually pulled from my blasters. With one exception, I am looking to flip these cards for ones I actually want. Yankees collectors will definitely want to check back tomorrow.

It's hard for me to write currently, because it's that time of year again - report card time. Thankfully, this year I only have twenty reports to write, and the expectations for how much to write are less than at my old school. But finding the proper motivation is still a necessity, and it usually means that all other writing activities get pushed to the wayside.

But I'm still opening cards, as it provides a bit of a welcome distraction. And in those packs, I'm still finding interesting things to talk about. For example:

Another year, another uniform for J.J. Putz. After six years of remarkable stability with the Mariners, this marks his fourth team in as many seasons. He'll probably get traded at the deadline or something like that.


Oh great - so how many copies of this card do I need now to complete all my collections?
(The answer, by the way, is four)


The Kimball minis checklist for Series 2 was full of great players for me to collect. Unfortunately, I kept pulling cards of people like Gary Carter. I've never really liked Gary Carter - there's something about him that rubbed me the wrong way, and I can tell you exactly what it is - that bubble-headed perm of his. I don't care that he no longer has it - the point is, he did. I feel the same way about Don Sutton and latter-day episodes of The Brady Bunch when Mike Brady traded in his respectable businessman cut for a swinging '70s perm.

Anyway, the Luis Aparicio is the first Kimball card on my personal checklist that I've pulled. All the rest will be available, and revealed in my Series 2 box break wrap-up post, due early next week.

On a final note, I won a new scanner/printer/copier at the school's fundraiser charity auction. The good news is, it's now a lot easier and less aggravating for me to scan cards. It's literally pushing one button and then changing file names to make my organisational format. So I don't feel dread in having to scan a big pack of cards, and should have a lot more illustrations soon.

When I checked my mailbox, the thing I most like to see was inside - a red and white card notifying me that I had a package that doesn't fit in the box. Since I had been buying quite a bit on eBay lately, I figured it was one of those packages - but it wasn't. It was something totally unexpected, out of the blue, with no warning whatsoever, from fellow White Sox fan Steve at White Sox Cards.

When I opened it, there were two full-to-bursting team bags of cards, each containing all sorts of stuff. Have a look:

Some 2010 Heritage for team-set building purposes. Plus, the obligatory Hebrew Hammer, which is nice.



Also a pair of 2011 Heritage Ichiros with razor sharp corners.


More 2011 cards - this time, Opening Day. Steve was obviously paying attention when I talked about being a sucker for cards with throwback uniforms on them. (Green and gold FTW!) By the way, when did the Reds get that mascot? And what the hell was wrong with Mr. Red?


Some 2010 Upper Decks. That set, thanks to the whole licensing kerfuffle, is a mother lode of uniform back cards. The 2010 Bowman Markakis is not part of the set, but doesn't look out of place next to the other two.


Not only is Jose Lopez shiny and bendy, he's also refractory. If that's even a word.


I'll take a Topps Attax card if it has Stubbsy on it. And that is such a pretty picture of the GABP.


Some Moments and Milestones. It's a tie between that and Upper Deck Documentary for the Set That Wouldn't Die. The Radhames Liz is numbered 1/25 - maybe I should sell it on eBay and put lots of exclamation points in the title.


Here's two more cards concerning my monumentally stupid decision to collect all of the Cards Your Mom Threw Out. Did I mention that I want to collect all the original backs, too?



Finally, it wouldn't be a package from White Sox Cards if he didn't include, well, some White Sox cards. Anytime you open a package containing Luis Aparicio, it's going to put a smile on your face...Luke Appling had one of the best nicknames ("Old Aches and Pains") in baseball history...there was a good selection of current and recent Sox players, with Vizquel, TCQ (a National Chicle card I don't completely hate), Ordonez and shiny Manny...when I was a kid, Jack McDowell seemed to be just about the coolest guy on the planet...yes, that is a real 1961 card of Al Smith, and it's in great shape...the Conlon Collection is one of those sets that everybody in the blogosphere should help each other complete. Donate your cards of teams you don't collect to people who do...mini Carlton Fisk, wearing the uniform that made me fall in love with the White Sox. Shame that his hand is covering up the number on the pants leg.

That's quite a haul, and guess what? That's only one of the bags in the package. I haven't even opened the other one yet. See you tomorrow for those results.

(Okay, I did have a peek at the other bag. There's a mojo relic of a Zeppelin tee.)

According to the last White Sox game I watched, Omar Vizquel is one hit shy from tying Luis Aparicio for second all-time in hits by a shortstop. I knew Vizquel was getting up there, but I had no idea he was 43, or that he's the oldest position player in the majors.

I'm trying to remember a time when Vizquel wasn't playing in the majors. It seems like the guy was around forever, and that's probably because he has been. He showed promise in his stint with the Mariners, but is it any coincidence that Vizquel's arrival in Cleveland was start of the Indians' resurgence? He was the final piece of the puzzle in breaking the curse of Rocky Colavito.

Like many Venezuelan shortstops, Vizquel wore the number 13 throughout his career. He and his current skipper, Ozzie Guillen, both wore the number in honor of Dave Concepcion. Now, a new generation of players, such as Asdrubal Cabrera, wear lucky 13 in their honor. But of course, Vizquel couldn't wear it when he came to the Sox, because Guillen's already got it.

The solution? Ask Aparicio if he could wear number 11. Only Vizquel would have the cojones to do that. And Luis said yes. So now, for the second time in team history, a number has come out of retirement. The first was Harold Baines's number 3, and it was unretired so Harold could use it again when he came back from the Orioles.

But it's fitting that these two great shortstops are now linked with a common uniform. It's hard to find a better pairing than those two. They are each other's statistically most similar batters, and heroes to generations of Venezuelans. Aparicio is the only Venezuelan in the Hall of Fame, and some day Vizquel (and Concepcion) should join him.

Vizquel is scheduled to start Saturday's White Sox/Yankees game. Let's hope he gets hit number 2,673 today.

Is there a Legendary Lineage card in the 2010 Topps set with Vizquel and Aparicio? If so, I want one. If not, then why the hell not?