Baseball Cards

No player in the 20th century has won more games in his final season in the majors than Sandy Koufax.  Koufax wrapped up his big league career in 1966 while winning 27 times for the Dodgers.

Filed under: Card of the Day

Funny when you get patches that so obviously match up 2008 Masterpieces Patch /50 Ryan Grant #57

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By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor Detroit Tigers pitcher Anibal Sanchez may only have a 5-4 record this season, but his win over the Minnesota Twins Friday night was one of the more memorable games of his career. He nearly threw the second no-hitter of his eight-years in MLB, blanking the Twins for a 6-0 win at home but allowing a single hit in the ninth to Joe Mauer. He would have been just the sixth pitcher to throw a no-no in each league. Sanchez (click here for a checklist or OPG) appears on just 571 cards for his career, carrying a total value of just $1,919.05, excluding rarities. His 12 Rookie Cards can be found in 2005 MLB products with his priciest being his 2005 Ultimate Signature card that typically checks in at $60 or less. It’s an autographed card limited to just 125 serial-numberd copies. He did not appear on a Topps card as a rookie, with 11 of his 12 made by Upper Deck and the final card produced by Donruss. His earliest cards can be found in 2004 Just Minors prospect/minor league sets. (Click here to see Sanchez items on eBay.) The right-hander is 53-55 for his career spent with the Marlins and Tigers. He has 86 certified autograph cards with a few of them noting his previous no-no among season highlights recaps. His only no-hitter was on Sept. 7, 2006, with the Marlins when he blanked the Arizona Diamondbacks in a 2-0 win as a rookie. Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

Joel McKeon didn't get much of a chance to show what he could do in spring training 1986, The Chicago Tribune wrote. That's because he hurt his wrist.At AAA Buffalo in April, though, McKeon showed exactly what he could do. He also earned his first call up to the majors."I had my forkball working," the new White Sox pitcher McKeon told The Tribune of his time at Buffalo. "Hopefully, it will stay."For McKeon, his forkball and other pitchers ended up working well enough to keep him up in Chicago into July, until illness cut his season short. His pitches also worked well enough to get him back to Chicago the next year. In a pro career that continued another four seasons, though, he wouldn't return.McKeon's career began in 1982, taken by the White Sox in the first round of the June secondary draft, out of Miami-Dade College in Florida.With the White Sox, McKeon got 11 starts his first season, four in the rookie Gulf Coast League and seven after making the jump to AA Glens Falls. At Glens Falls, he went 5-2, with a 3.00 ERA.After playing at single-A Appleton in 1983, McKeon returned to Glens Falls for 1984 as as reliever. McKeon got into 45 games that year for Glens Falls, five starts, posting an ERA of 3.64.McKeon moved to AAA Buffalo in 1985, returning there to start 1986. It was that May 3 that McKeon made his debut with Chicago.McKeon ultimately got into 30 games in relief for the White Sox in 1987, posting a 2.45 ERA. He also picked up three wins and a save.McKeon picked up his second relief win by mid-May, the second coming on two innings of work, The Tribune wrote."I told him that we'd use him," White Sox manager Tony LaRussa told The Tribune after that second McKeon win. "Spots on the major-league roster are precious. If you have a guy for a certain role, you use him."By July, McKeon was pitching well. Then he came down with hepatitis, having to be hospitalized, The Tribune wrote. His teammates also had to get preventative shots. He was out for the year.He came back for 1987, but his numbers suffered. After 11 outings, his ERA hit 8.00 and he got sent back down. But he pitched well enough there to get another chance in July."I'm starting to get the forkball over," McKeon told The Tribune. "Ive quit trying to throw the ball past hitters when you don't throw that hard. I've got my timing together. Hopefully, it will show."McKeon, though, lasted just two more outings, his last giving up four earned runs in 2.2 innings of work.McKeon continued playing through 1991, moving through the Padres, Braves and Expos systems, before landing with the Orioles for his final two seasons, ending his career without returning to the majors.Chicago Tribune, May 7, 1986: Walker's Wrist Feeling 'Better,' Weights Test NextChicago Tribune, May 16, 1986: McKeon Answers Call For ReliefChicago Tribune, July 24, 1986: Sox Shot Down By IndiansChicago Tribune, July 1, 1987: In keeping with1990 CMC-Pro Cards Tally Players/Coaches Featured:1,145Made the Majors: 667 - 58.3%-XNever Made Majors: 478-41.7%5+ Seasons in the Majors: 28910+ Seasons in the Minors: 173

Andre Dawson 2013 Topps Tribute – Green With the easy job of adding the base card of Andre Dawson from the new 2013 Topps Tribute set to my collection, it then began time to go after the colored parallel versions became the next phase for me. In years past, the colored versions of the Tribute cards came out quickly and sold for quite a bit earlier on.  Lucky for me, I learned that they could be had a few weeks later for much less money but the supply may be a little limited. But, I took that philosophy with me to this year’s release and I was able to snag the Green version if the card for under $2.00.  And I would say that is a good deal!!! The card is serial numbered as 2/75.  And the Green is a nice contrast to the Cubs uniform that Dawson is wearing. Enjoy.

I have some sort of completion problem with Allen & Ginter. What I mean by that is that I feel compelled to complete almost every insert set within the Allen & Ginter family. One of the toughest sets to complete is the box topper sets. I already showed off the 2011 Cabinet card set that I finally completed thanks to Check Out My Cards (check my archives). Today, it's another Ginter box topper that I bought from CoMC. That's Josh Hamilton from the 2012 N43 box topper set. The N43 set is tough because it has 15 different cards - each seeded 1 per box. Of course, sometimes you get one of the aforementioned Cabinet cards instead...or if you are lucky, you get an autograph or relic instead. Anyhow, I'm slowly but surely coming closer to completing the full 2012 N43 set. In fact, I'm now down to needing a mere TWO N43 cards from 2012. 2012 Topps Allen & Ginter Wants:N43: N43- 11 (Ken Griffey Jr.), 14 (Mike Schmidt) I'm also working on the 2011 Allen & Ginter N43 set. Somehow, I'm missing THREE of those still, despite having an extra year to try and collect the pesky things. 2011 Allen & Ginter Wants:N43: Joey Votto, Adam Wainwright, David Wright I can't be sure that I'll ever finish off the two N43 sets, but when I can find one of the missing cards for cheap on a site like Check Out My Cards, I will pounce! At this point, you've now seen four of the 14 cards from my recent CoMC purchase. What other goodies did I pick up? You'll have to wait and see!

Today is one of those "high holy days" of night cards that I mentioned a few months ago.Seventy-eight years ago tonight, the Reds and Phillies played the first night game in major league history. The Reds prevailed 2-1.Almost a century later, night games are the rule, not the exception. Night events in general are increasing rapidly. Who had ever heard of a PGA tournament under the lights until a few years ago? But now premiere events that used to be held exclusively during the day -- golf, horse racing, auto racing -- are now also at night. (this causes holy hell with deadlines, by the way).Increasingly, we live in a night owl world. That's right, I am hardly unique. And in some small way, we can credit or blame Reds officials Powel Crosley and Larry MacPhail for it.They were the ones so desperate for attendance (the Reds were last in 1933 and 1934) that they thought up holding a game at night as a gimmick to get people to the park. Good thing there were no bobbleheads back then. We could still be playing all our baseball games during the day.The first night game was an immediate success. Followers couldn't get over the quality of play. It was an error-less game and players didn't complain about not being able to see the ball, which critics figured would be a common issue.Paul Derringer, a pitcher who would go on to win 20 games for the Reds that year for the first of his four 20-game seasons, pitched the victory. He threw a six-hit complete game, struck out three and walked none.Sadly, I don't have a card of Derringer, which is why the Pete Harnisch card is featured. Hey, it's a Reds pitcher. It's not like I have an extensive Reds collection.Nick from Dime Boxes sent it to me a couple of weeks ago. Little did I know it'd come in handy so quickly.Incidentally, this is today's entire major league baseball schedule:Philadelphia at Washington, 7:05 p.m.Baltimore at Toronto, 7:07 p.m.Minnesota at Detroit, 7:08 p.m.Cleveland at Boston, 7:10 p.m.N.Y. Yankees at Tampa Bay, 7:10 p.m.Atlanta at N.Y. Mets, 7:10 p.m.Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati, 7:10 p.m.L.A. Angels at Kansas City, 8:10 p.m.Miami at Chicago White Sox, 8:10 p.m.Oakland at Houston, 8:10 p.m.Pittsburgh at Milwaukee, 8:10 p.m.San Diego at Arizona, 9:40 p.m.Texas at Seattle, 10:10 p.m.St. Louis at L.A. Dodgers, 10:10 pm.Colorado at San Francisco, 10:15 p.m.Not a day game to be found.I doubt it's to pay tribute to that first game 78 years ago. It's just the way it is now.I'm not anti-day game. I love day games. But there has always been something cool about a night game, even years and years after the novelty has worn off.Happy First Night Game Day ... er, Night.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Night Card Binder candidate: Pete Harnisch, 2001 Upper Deck, #252Does it make the binder?: Unfortunately, no. It can't beat this card.

We’re only about two months away from the 34th National Sports Collectors Convention which will be held in Chicago from 7/31 to 8/4.  There is no question that one of the major draws are the promos given away by many of the manufacturers.  Collectors lineup early and rush through the doors so they can get their spot in line. Its still a little early for companies to unveil their promotional programs for The National.  They typically begin announcing them in June, but I’ve got the details on one of the Topps promotions that will be held at their booth.  According to his Facebook page, sports artist James Henry Smith has been commissioned by Topps to paint eight original portraits (four baseball and four football) that they will use to make cards specifically for The National.  Each one of these portraits will be designed to look like the classic 1952 Bowman set, but will be of modern day players.  The original paintings will measure 8″ x 12-1/8″, will be signed by the player, then scanned and re-sized to 2-1/16″ x 3-1/8″ in order to get them down to a normal baseball card size.  Every card in the set will be limited to 500 copies.  Topps will also be giving away the original artwork at the show too. Here are the players that will be included in this set: Bryce Harper Mike Trout Ernie Banks Frank Thomas Geno Smith Tevon Austin EJ Manuel Eddie Lacy Now they haven’t announced how these ’52 Bowman style promos will be distributed.  Given that Topps is printing 500 copies for each player, they’ll probably give out 100 per day for every player.  Since The National is open for five days this would make the most sense.  In order to get one, you’ll most likely have to open a few packs of a 2013 Topps product at their booth.  This is exactly what Topps did with their Gypsy Queen minis last year. Topps is known for creating promos that can be integrated into their products, especially ones made for set collectors.  The 1952 Bowman design appears in 2013 Bowman this year in the form of signed minis. I’m guessing that is the connection they decided to go with. When complete, the set will probably look something like this Paul “Tank” Younger 1952 Bowman card.  I’m really looking forward to seeing that painted design. Filed under: 2013 NSCC, News