2003 Topps Retired Signature Series

One of my goals this Black Friday was to only pick up cards for my two main player collections.  Rollie Fingers and Robin Yount.  And while I picked up way more Younts this year, I was able to pick up some great Rollies as well. 

First up is this 2003 Topps Retired Signature base card.  I really love the look of the 2003 set. That goes for the Topps flagship set this year too. I lament because I was unable to open almost nothing in 2003 due to my work schedule.  I definetly didn't open any of the Topps Retire Signature series.  These cards came in a box with 5 per box and   4 base cards and an encased retired player auto per pack. I have no idea what these went for back in the day, but the only box I could find for sale was on Amazon and it was listed for over $200. 

 There are also black parallels numbered to 99.  I do have the 2004 Topps Refractor auto for Rollie, but this is the first 2003 card I've acquired.

Here's what the box and pack look like.

2005 Fleer Showcase Showdown

Still digging through the pile of old Rollie cards.  2005 was a nice year for Rollie. He had all sorts of cards issued and all sorts of parallels as well.  The first thing I noticed after I scanned this card was holy crap does my scanner need a cleaning.  So ignore all those smudges and scratches this card looks very nice up close and in hand.

The 2005 Fleer Showcase - Showdown #118 serial numbered 05/15.

This card always make me think of the Price is Right.  Come on down!

This is the only version of this card I own. I don't even have the base card. But according to the Standard Catalog there are quite a few different variations.

I also took advantage of the Black Friday deals on COMC and scored some great new Rollies for the collection. Stay tuned for those.

2013 Panini Cooperstown Signatures #d to 199

My first 2013 Rollie Fingers card.  He's only got 3 real cards so far this year. All three are in Panini's Cooperstown set.  All are inserts.  He has two autos and a Coglan's disc.

And so I figure why not get the rarest of the cards first.  I feel like I stole this card.  I won this card for $2.25. The sellers shipping was a little on the high side which is probably why the card went for so little, but I ended up paying $6.25 delivered and I'll take that anyday for a certified Rollie Fingers on card auto. Especially one numbered to only 199.  His other auto in the set is numbered to 700 and right now I'm having trouble finding one that's not way over priced.

But here is the newest addition to the collection.

2005 Topps Series 1 Celebrity Threads

Been slow on picking up new Rollies this year and I've been slowly scanning a bunch of stuff I haven't featured yet, but I thought I'd take a break and feature a cool "new" card I just got in the mail.

This is 2005 Topps Series 1 Celebrity Threads. There are some other big names in the set too like Ozzie Smith and Cecil Fielder.  

A great oddball kind of card featuring Rollie with a bat.  But I think the best part is that on the back Topps actually tells you that the relic in the card was the jersey worn by Rollie during the 2004 MLB Celebrity All-Star Game, you don't see that anymore.

The other great thing about this card I won it for 99 cents plus shipping. Score.

2005 Upper Deck Past Time Pennants Gold

I'm still digging through the collection, since the looks like 2013 will not be a very good Rollie year for new sports cards.  By my count there are only 3 new cards. Two autos in Panini's Cooperstown Collection and a Colgan's disc insert.  I'm not counting the Tristar cut auto cards.  

So lets take a trip back in time to 2005.  There were lots of products coming out in 2005. And there were lots of Rollie Fingers cards to be had.

I remember when this came out. You got a little Mitchel and Ness mini pennant as a top loader. I bought a box of this way back then. My pennant was one commemorating the 1932 World Series with the Yankees vs the Cubs. Can you guess who won?  I don't remember what else I pulled. I know you got a couple autos and I think a relic too.  I'm also pretty sure I did not pull this Rollie out of that box.  No, I'm fairly certain I got him off of ebay.

Rollie has a couple autos in the set as well, but this card is his Gold Parallel card numbered to just 50.

I also just realized looking at the back of the card here, that Rollie is 5 days older than my father.  But he's also almost 6 inches taller.

1989 Padres Magazine Insert card

I apologize for the lack of posting here. 2013 has been a really slow year for collecting Rollie Fingers. Rollie has only had a hand full of new cards issued this year and at least 2 of them are low numbered autographed cards and Topps has not put out any new Rollie cards this year.  

So instead of waiting till I find a decent priced auto card or a Coglan's disc card that I don't have to pay $3 in shipping I've decided to dip into the collection and pull out a nice oddball to blog about.

I have no idea where I got this card. It most likely came as part of a large lot of Rollie cards I won years ago.

I had to consult the all knowing Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards 2010 edition to find out about this cool oddball.  According to the catalog these cards were part of a 24 card set that was distributed inside the Padres official team programs back in 1989.  There were 4 cards to a panel and 6 panels total.  It was a collaboration between the Padres and a local card store San Diego Sports Collections.  

According to the Catalog a complete set books for about $15 with Tony Gwynn commanding the the premium of the set at $6.  

Rollie's card books at a $1.50. 

And then bam another Rollie auto..!!!

Sorry for the lack of posts all around, but I've been insanely busy and well it's pretty par for the course for me.  I never seem to post much during my busy summers.  But that doesn't mean I've stopped collecting or reading other blogs.  Just wanted to put a quick post up of the newest addition to the Rollie Fingers collection.  This one slipped through my fingers a few years ago and when I saw this up on eBay for auction and not some ridiculous buy it now price I had to go after it.  I finally got a 2009 Goudey Rollie Fingers Sport Royalty auto card!