Recent Pick Ups

I know.It's way too early.With my luck he'll go 0 for the rest of the season and these cards won't be worth the paper they're printed on.That said,right now their Is very little not to like about the Mets young utility man turned everyday player  Jeff McNeil.Or should I refer to  him as "The Squirrel" ,his newly appointed nickname.Which is probably the only thing I hate about McNeil these days.The kid can hit.He proved It towards the end of  last season and It's carried over into spring training and this  season.There was a point  this year where he got a little homer happy but he's gone back to slashing and hitting line drives which Is really his bread and butter.He was  a .300 plus hitter pretty much his entire career In the minors.I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do throughout the course of a whole season In the majors.

Next we have a PSA 8 1986 Fleer  Update Canseco. I would have preferred an 86 Donruss graded but for now this will do.It's certainly In better shape than the current 86 Fleer Update Canseco I have now,so It's an upgrade.

And last but not least,an impulse buy. I've taken a liking to PSA 8 cards. They are super cheap and  In great condition. I think I paid like 3 bucks for this Gonzalez ,and why not?The guy was a stud and I thought it'd be cool to have something graded. HOF?Maybe not but It could be close.

2,591 Hits

354 Homeruns

.283 Average

.360 OBP

5X All Star

Does Gonzalez make the hall?Sound off In the comment section. I mean, your at my pub .What better place to chop It up  about baseball :)

   

The Can Stash!

The Can Stash!

I was sitting back ,enjoying this polar vortex the planet Is currently experiencing and It got me thinking....."Towards the latter part of his career ,Jose Canseco's  bat   was just as cold!"But I'll spare you the misery of seeing J.C. In a White Sox uni (for now) and post the second half of my "Canseco as a Ranger" post. He wasn't horrible with Texas except for 93 where he only played half of a season.

Speaking of polar vortexes.

 It wasn't until I scanned these that I noticed the stain on the back of the Hostess card.Was this common?I'm thinking It was a result of  whatever cake It was wrapped up with secreting sugary deliciousness all over the card.Who knows?

The Can Stash!

It's been a while since I've posted about baseball cards here at the pub and not owning a scanner had a lot to do with that. Taking pictures of baseball cards with a Finepix camera  is a huge pain In the ass,largely because of lighting.Messing around with the flash function and finding the right light to snap pics of cards without getting any weird glare or  odd shadows was becoming too tedious. I've finally picked up a scanner so expect more baseball card posts and an uptick In content.This week I'll be posting the rest of my small Canseco collection as well as any new cards as I acquire them.

Front

Back

The Can Stash! ( Kodak Mail Aways)

Can you guys feel the tides changing a bit?MLB seems to be starting to ease up on the bad boys of summer .These last few years or so we've seen guys like McGwire , Bonds and Pete Rose(yes,PETE ROSE !)make somewhat of a resurgence In Major League Baseball. McGwire has found himself a job with the Padres as their bench coach,Bonds ,though recently fired,was the Marlins hitting coach for about a year or so and Pete Rose has been brought on by FOX to  do color commentary as a guest analyst.And now It seems that Jose Canseco ,the quintessential bad boy of baseball, will be doing some pre game analysis with the Oakland A's this season.I don't know about you,but I'm glad MLB has ,If only half way,dismounted their sanctimonious high horse  in an effort let our child hood heroes back In the game.To the cards...


This set I found on ebay while searching out Canseco oddballs.The price tag says 8 bucks but I only paid 5 and some change ,including shipping.What got me about these cards were the obvious signs of these being from Cansecos early years.There are no date stamps on the set of 10 cards but those are definitely 86/87 duds he's wearing.If anyone has anymore info on this card set ,please let me know In the comments below. 


                                           The card fronts have a vintage filtered look to them.

The backs all have the same advertisement.An offer for an 8" x 10" glossy color photo(on Kodak paper) hand signed by Jose Canseco.

I've never seen these before and who knows,they could be reproductions.It still wouldn't bother me one bit.The shots of Canseco are original and candid as they come.  

Ya see?Canseco had the fundies down-pat!

Are those California Redwoods back there?

Another nice addition to my growing Canseco collection.

The Can Stash (Mother's Cookies Edition)

As a kid ,my local card shop dealer knew me by name.The Hot Stove League was a quaint little card shop ,20 minutes walking distance from where I lived at the time, ran by the sweetest little elderly couple.The owner,slightly balding with a white handle bar mustache ,always had a stack of Canseco cards ready for me to sort through.Most were oddballs that I would  pass up In favor of the encased,more mainstream Canseco cards.The oddballs consisted mostly of All Star inserts,sticker cards and Mother's Cookies.I remember me and my friends chuckling at the name brand "Mother's Cookies" ,lol! WTF?Of all  the generic looking  oddball cards of our favorite players,Mother's Cookies was always the laughing stock.They were the butt of all jokes,the cards in our spokes and frankly,the name  "Mother's Cookies" was just a l-i-t-t-l-e  creepy.Very Norman Bates-esque.Well, It's taken me nearly 30 years to realize how attractive these cards really are.Maybe It's the "no frills" adult In me that can appreciate the simplicity, now, much more than I could have as a kid.



You can't tell from the pictures but these are glossy cards.In fact ,they don't even feel like cards at all.They are more like personal pictures someone took and had developed.Something you'd find In a photo album.The more I gaze at them,the more I like them.Let's face It ,today's cards   bamboozle and perplex us  with the amount of flash and flamboyancy put Into them.With this product,you get a more personal look at your favorite baseball player.The pictures really make It seem as If you were down on the field with the players during the photo shoot.The player names and teams are discreetly placed at the corners ,letting the pictures do all the talking.

1987 Mother's Cookies

This Is my first card of  Jose and Reggie .Strangely, this may be the only card featuring the both of them together.I could be wrong,though.

You would think more of them existed.

1988 Mother's Cookies

1989 Mother's Cookies

1990 Mother's Cookies

1991 Mother's Cookies

The backs are very plain Jane with a designated space for the players autograph. 

The following four Mother's Cookies cards were part of a 1989 set . 

The Can Stash!

Welcome back to the Can Stash!The corner of the blog that will host my 300 some odd Canseco cards and anything else Canseco related.These next couple of Can Stash posts will feature mostly the odd ball stuff as well some All-Star cards.Note:These are all from my childhood collection.

Not sure how I ended up with 4 of these?