New Oakland A's Collectibles Site

I just got an e-mail from John, a fan of the blog, who recently started a new site of his own, Oakland A's Collectibles.



Being as the sites only been around for a few days, he's already got some interested stuff up there. Plus, how can you not support a guy who promotes Rickey Henderson as his favorite player!



Although my collection is almost all Rickey-based, I do have a few random A's items as well. This program was actually given to me by my dad, and is from 1968, the A's first year in Oakland.

The next best thing to having something in your collection, is getting to look at all the cool items that other people have put together. I'm definitely going to be following John's blog, curious to see what he comes up with next.

A Few Inserts, Parallels, and Oddballs

Sorry about the lack of posts lately, life has been getting in the way of the blog. Plus, within two days of each other last week, both my printer and scanner decided to stop working. A new one is on the way, but it's taking longer than expected.

These were some of the last scans that I made before the thing decided to blow up. Some of them are pretty random, but I'm excited about every one of them getting added to the collection.


1998 Leaf Fractal Materials Die Cuts NX 34 #/500 -- These are serial numbered to 500, but only the first 200 are die-cut. I'd never even seen one of these for sale until recently, but managed to get this one in a trade with another collector


1999 Ultimate Victory Parallel 100 69 #/100


2000 Pacific Prism Premiere Date 93 #/61 -- I found this one on someones random trade page while searching Google for a different card. It's always a nice surprise to stumble upon a nice Rickey parallel hiding someplace


2000 Pacific Omega Premiere Date 132 #/77 -- I got this in a trade for a couple of extra Topps U&H Legends that I'd acquired


2000 Private Stock Gold Portraits 92 #/99


2003 Playoff Portraits Promo 13 -- I found this in an eBay auction along with a similar Hideo Nomo card. The front is the regular 2003 Playoff Portraits, and it also can with the separate card saying it is a promo. For one reason or another, this one is not listed on the master Beckett checklist


1991 Star Home Run Promo (print run of 300 sets)
1991 Star Platinum Promo (print run of 200 sets)


1991 Personality Comics ("Stop the game, I just broke a record")
1991 Personality Comics ("Swoon over my hammy")

I really enjoy adding oddball cards to the collection, and they don't get any odder than this! These were included inside specially marked issues of Personality Comics. I think these were the only cards that 'spoofed" Rickey, but do to the odd nature of this set, I really can't be sure. Either way, I'm definitely glad to have them!

Surprise 2010 Topps Short-Print

When the 2010 Topps SP's started popping up, I didn't really think twice about a Rickey being included in the set. Since he was just included as an SP in 2009 Topps U&H, I didn't hold out much hope of him being included once again. Luckily, I was proved wrong!



Unlike the Yankees card from U&H, the 2010 SP has Rickey playing with the A's in the early 80's. I can't wait to add one of these to the collection!

2010 Topps (and new Rickey's) Have Arrived!

I was able to sneak off to Target at lunch today, and grabbed a few packs of the newly released 2010 Topps. I was hoping to snag a Rickey or too, but I would have no such luck. But, I figured someone out there has pulled one (or will in the near future). All of the 2010 Topps below are for trade for 2010 Rickey's, or any other Rickey that I need for that matter.


This is the A's Franchise History card, and it was a nice surprise to see Rickey on the front!

Here's the Rickey's that should be in the set:

Athletics Franchise History card #137 (as well as any parallels)
The Cards Your Mother Threw Out MTO29 Rickey Henderson
Legendary Lineage LL30 Rickey Henderson / Carl Crawford
Peak Performance Relic PPR-RHE Rickey Henderson
Hat Logo Relic MHR-110 Rickey Henderson
Hat Logo Relic MHR-111 Rickey Henderson
Hat Logo Relic MHR-112 Rickey Henderson
Hat Logo Relic MHR-113 Rickey Henderson


This is the back of the "Cards Your Mother Threw Out" insert, the front of which looks just like his 1980 Topps rookie.


In the preliminary checklist, these were referred to as "Past & Present," but they must have changed it to "Legendary Lineage" somewhere along the line. This is the last of the Rickey inserts in the set, the only cards I've yet to see are the Hat Logo and Peak Performance Relics, which will show up once the hobby boxes are released.

Here's what I have for trade:

Target Red Back Minis
1 Reggie Jackson
6 Cy Young
11 Lou Gehrig

Turkey Red
TR14 Kevin Youkilis
TR16 Ozzie Smith
TR48 Willie McCovey

Peak Performance
4 Walter Johnson
23 Stan Musial

Toppsstown
TTT3 Hanley Ramirez
TTT4 Adrian Gonzalez
TTT17 Todd Helton
TTT22 Andrew McCutchen

Legendary Lineage
LL6 Jimmie Foxx/ Manny Ramirez
LL25 Tom Seaver/ Roy Halladay

Base Cards
37 Garret Anderson
38 Houston Astros®
41 Los Angeles Dodgers®
67 Matt LaPorta
83 Mark Teahen
87 Darin Erstad
88 Jerry Hairston Jr.
93 Joe Nathan
100 Albert Pujols
103 Daniel Murphy
105 Madison Bumgarner
111 Ty Wigginton
132 Cliff Lee
142 Tim Hudson
143 Omar Vizquel
148 Cody Ross
152 Nyjer Morgan
162 Wade Davis
175 Josh Hamilton
178 Kerry Wood
183 Jonathan Papelbon
184 Jeff Francoeur
188 Joe Blanton
190 Pablo Sandoval
202 San Francisco Giants®
217 Gio Gonzalez
223 Ryan Church
226 Juan Rivera
227 Josh Thole
228 Chris Pettit
237 Ryan Braun/Prince Fielder
248 Jason Kendall
258 Edwin Encarnacion
274 Stephen Drew
275 N.L. Rookie of the Year
287 Jhonny Peralta
292 Tommy Manzella
293 Brent Dlugach
294 Adam Dunn
296 Atlanta Braves™
301 Jack Cust
302 Kevin Youkilis/David Ortiz
307 Henry Rodriguez
310 Elvis Andrus

2002 Red Sox Poland Spring

This is the last of the cards that I got in the trade which I featured in my previous post, but I figured it deserved a post of its own.

As anyone that follows this blogs already knows, I'm a big fan of oddball cards, as well as weird regional sets. It used to be that anywhere you went (Kaybee, Toys 'R Us, Woolworth's, etc.) you'd find their own set of baseball cards. These have definitely gone by the wayside, along with including baseball cards on/in packages of food such as Mother's Cookies or Granny Goose potato chips.


This card was produced for the Red Sox in 2002, and I can only assume that it was as a game-day giveaway, although I can't confirm that it was actually the case. The official Beckett description of this cards is "2002 Red Sox Poland Spring 10," and it's one of Rickey's last cards not produced by one of the major manufacturers.


Although not a "high value" card, this is one of my favorite recent acquisitions. It was produced by Grandstand, which is more well known as a producer of minor league team seats, but must also produced regional issues as well.

Cards from a Rickey Collector

Through a purchase that I made on eBay, I recently came into contact with another Rickey collector who'd been out of the hobby for a little while. We've since had a few nice Rickey-related conversations, as it's always fun discussing random errors and variations that only a die hard collector would really enjoy. In the first trade that we completed (another one is in the mail, while more will definitely be forthcoming) I was able to knock off quite a few cards from my want list. These are all "older" cards, that I've been seeking out for quite some time now.


1991 U.S. Playing Cards All-Stars Silver 11H -- I had the 1990 Silver, but was pretty excited to finally track down the 1991!




1995 Blue Jays U.S. Playing Cards 3S & 11H -- These are not the most expensive cards out there, but I just never found them at a reasonable price. Along with the 1991 Silver above, I think I now have all of the Rickey playing cards that have been produced.


1996 Select Certified Certified Blue #70 -- It's always nice to knock a mid-90's parallel off of the want list.


1997 Circa Rave #341 #/150 -- One of Rickey's earliest serial numbered parallels. now I just need to track down the 1996 Rave!


1998 Pacific Invincible Team Checklists #1 -- For some reason, Rickey's actually on the back of this checklist insert.


1998 Ultra Platinum Medallion 431 #/98 -- I didn't think I'd ever get ahold of one of these Platinum parallels. Back before eBay got real big, these were impossible to find, and they are not much easier now.


1999 Paramount Red #150 -- I'm pretty sure all of the Red parallels were retail exclusives, and I'm slowly picking them all up.


2002 Donruss Elite STAR #125 -- Basically a glorified base card.


2002 MLB Showdown #273


2002 MLB Showdown Pennant Run #59


2002 Topps Ten Die Cuts AS APP #115 -- For a fairly low end set, the die-cut parallels are pretty nice looking.

Awesome Trade to End the Year

I had this post all ready for last week, but I forgot to actually post it for one reason or another. When 2009 Triple Threads was released a few months ago, I initially set my sites on acquiring one of each of the three different variations. But, luckily for me, I've exceeded even my wildest expectations.

Following the sales of Triple Threads on eBay, I noticed that the same bidder was winning a lot of the Rickey cards. I was able to track him down, and he was more than willing to trade some of the extra Triple Threads he'd acquired, for some of the older/oddball Rickey's that I had available. We fairly quickly worked out a trade for the 6 cards below in exchange for 274 (yes 274!) different Rickey's that he needed, mainly from the 1980's and 1990's.


2009 Topps Legends of the Game Relics Yanks Bat/20 #RH2

This is the only non-Triple Threads in the trade, and also one of my favorites. With a print run of only 20 cards, I didn't hold out much home of finding an affordable one of these. But, now that I have this one, I need to somehow track down that A's jersey version that is also available.


2009 Topps Triple Threads Relics Emerald (MAN OF STEAL)/18 #117


2009 Topps Triple Threads Relics Gold (MAN OF STEAL)/9 #117

I acquired two "Man of Steal" relics, with the crown jewel being the gold variation, numbered to only 9 copies. I now have four of the six variations (#/36, #/27, #/18, #/9), with only the #/3 and #/1 still missing, but that's considered "complete" in my book.


2009 Topps Triple Threads Relics Sepia (SB KING)/27 #115


2009 Topps Triple Threads Relics Gold (SB KING)/9 #115

I also received the #/9 and #/27 SB King relics, and along with the #/36 that I'd already purchased, I just need to track down an affordable #/18 to complete my own version of the set.


2009 Topps Triple Threads Relics Emerald (1990 AL MVP)/18 #116

Finally, there's an emerald version of the 1990 AL MVP parallel #/18. For one reason or another, these have been harder for me to come across, and this is the only one that I have. At the very least, I'd like to add the #/36 and #/27 versions, with the #/9 probably a long shot, unless I can find it for trade, as I never give up hope completely.