The Chocolate Tribe

Food products and baseball cards.

You don't see them as much today as in the past, but food product companies have always liked to use baseball cards as a gimmick or premium to sell their products. Especially if the product was kid oriented. Such as chocolate!

In 1984 Nestle's and Topps combined to create a Nestle version of the entire 1984 Topps set. All 792 cards!

The only catch was, they were offered in 132 card sheets as a premium with some of their products. 4000 sets were supposedly printed.

As it turned out, due to the size of the sheets, they were more valuable as individual cards.

So most of the sheets have been cut, and not necessarily in the most professional manner!

In this photo, I tapped the cards on my desk to even out the stack at the bottom.

As you can see there is a obvious size discrepancy in both the height and width of the cards.

This photo shows the 3 1/2 " side of the cards.
You can imagine what this does to the centering of the image!

I have always liked the oddball sets and this one fits in very nicely with my collection

Another one bites the dust.....

First I want to welcome Joe to the baseball blogosphere. He just started up a new blog about a week ago called The Sandlot. He has made a few trades with me and some other bloggers and I have been very well pleased. You can see the results of one of his trades here. On his initial post he admits an "R" rating at times for word usage but I think he'll do OK. He also has some very nice relics and auto's listed for trade. So check him out for yourself !

And now, add Kerry Wood to the revolving list of the Cleveland Indians pitching staff.

When he had some soreness for a few days they said " Don't worry, be Happy!" everything will be ok. Maybe in July!

So now, everyone has to step up a little and rethink the first few weeks of the season.Fortunately we do have have some depth and there are guys who can the job done.I'm still optimistic about the season.

I'm still not totally sold on Manny Acta, but I'm not condemning the move either.I want to see how he reacts during the season. Will he remove a pitcher from the game he thinks it's time, or will he let the pitcher decide." How do feel? Do you want stay in?" Did you ever hear a pitcher answer "I feel really bad.I think I'm done,take me out."

I also would like to see a little more small ball, move the runner and get him home type of play,in certain situations.

All in all I feel pretty good about the season at this point.

I'm ready for Opening Day !

The Buffet Menu had Tribe Cards

Usually, when you go to a buffet, you don't worry too much. There's bound to be something there that you like. BA Benny's Baseball Card Buffet was no different. Mike saw a card of mine that he liked and after several emails we came to terms on a trade that satisfied both of us.



First the appetizers. There was a nice assortment of older Tribe cards.

Well, maybe the gold Shoppach isn't so old but it's a nice card. I like the 1992 Studio with the B/W background action shot.Also the 1991 Fleer Sandy Alomar.

Chuck Finley had most of his best years with the Angels before he came to the Tribe (although he did win 16 games in 2000). Joe Carter, on the other hand, made his biggest contributions after he left the wigwam.Do you see a pattern here!?

Something old, something new. Something borrowed, some..... (getting a little carried away there.Our 30th wedding anniversary is coming up!) Pete's BA took a hit when he played here, but many of his other stats were much better, go figure. And, if Jhonny P gets traded, will he become a superstar? Probably!

Maybe some shiny will make it all better. Wood, Martinez and Hafner in gleaming chrome.

Time for desert or is it dessert? Yeah, I think so. 2006 Ultra Fine Fabrics Travis Hafner.

Pronk has to get his game back this year.He will get his game back this year.I know he will get...

Two courses of dessert!! Good old Grady. Grady will stay in Cleveland forever. Won't he? Won't he? Say it's so, Grady. You are a superstar in our eyes Grady, even though you don't get the top billing you deserve.

Well, that's all for tonight. Thank you very much for the trade and I probably will return for seconds !

Calling Card Collecting Comrades - Contests and group box break

As we await the upcoming baseball season, here are a couple sites to help pass the time.

Offy is presenting 4 contests for your entering pleasure!

Tristar Contest

Contest #1

Contest # 2

Contest # 3

Contest # 4


Also, Nachos Grande is doing a 3-box group break here :

Box-break

So check these out and get in on all the fun and prizes !!

I told you not to talk about my Mother !!

First, a quick update on the Card Collector.

Thanks very much to the following :

David @ Indians baseball cards and then some
Capt. Canuck @ Waxaholic
NY_hitman_23 @ sports-n-more-trading-cards
Harold @ Bluegrass smoke signals
Tungusta @ long flyball to because...

The five of them, along with myself, have agreed to purchase 6 of the 10 Card Collector programs I will be ordering next week. It's not too late to get in on this deal ! Leave a comment here or send me an email @ randj531@yahoo.com if you are interested.




Getting back to my Mother, or actually Omar Vizquel's mother.

I was putting some prized trade material, that I have received from many various bloggers this year, into my binders when I ran across this card.

Now Omar is not a real big guy, but in this shot, it looks like he took a swing and knocked the poor catcher right off his feet! With his hands slightly clinched and the look on his face I wonder if the catcher had some comment about his family heritage !

The Card Collector - The Final Chapter

I've talked about this before, but this will be the last time. There are many ways to keep track of the cards you have and the cards you need.

I know a number of collectors are on the Zistle program. The main thing I don't like about it is that they rely on on us collectors to build up the system.But it is free. I've looked at several possibilities and decided to go with the "The Card Collector" .

You can click on the title and go to the web site to read the details yourself but I will give you the highlights here.

This program covers baseball,football,basketball,hockey and Nascar. It has over 4 million card listings. Normally, the program disc sells for $49.95 on the web site. It is an off line program so you can use it anytime you have access to a computer, with or without the internet. I am going to buy a pack of 10 programs for $149.95. I am going to sell 9 of them to any interested parties, for $20.00 each (the price of one retail blaster) . That will cover the program and the shipping. I do not plan to make any profit on this.If I find that I have money left over at the end after shipping, I will send a refund to everyone Each program will also come with a certificate for one free update (another $20.00 value).I will also throw in an assortment of cards,with each order, as an extra incentive !

Speaking of updates, that's a point some people are a little wary of. They make an update available once a month at $19.95.

What !!! It's going to cost me another $20 a month !

Calm down ! No, not necessarily. Updates are available every month. You don't have to buy one every month. You can update your program whenever you want. Let's say we both buy a program today and I update mine every month but you don't update yours until the end of December. At the end of December our programs will have the exact same data. Mine would have just been more updated all year long.I would have paid $19.95 every month.You would only pay $19.95 in December. Or, you don't ever have to update if you don't want to.

Do I plan to update mine every month ? Heavens no, no, no !!! (unless I win the lottery). The web site will tell you what will be in each update. I am only concerned about baseball. If there are no baseball related updates on a given month, I'm not going to worry about it. Even if there is a baseball update, depending on what it involves, I may not update that month anyway. Now, if I had a business and bought and sold all kinds of sportscards every day, I would probably update every month. But for the average collector I don't see where that would be necessary. But that's just my opinion. I would like to hear any other views or opinions on this.

I already have 2 of the 9 programs sold. One to David at Tribe Cards. He has used the system for a long time but his is a very old version and he wants to upgrade. Also, NY__hitman23 over at Sports and More wants to buy one.

Added note : I barely finished editing the mistakes and Capt.Canuck joined on. Thanks!!

So, if you are interested, leave a comment here or shoot me an email, randj531@yahoo.com and I'll get you on the list. I plan to order in the next week or two whether I sell all 9 or not.

Treasures From the Troll

Well, we've all the heard the Troll's terrible tale of his parking lot woes. I just want to say again how sorry I am for ya' buddy. I just sent you and Wicked most all of my good Rays stuff, but I'll try to find a few more items!

In the mean time, these are the great Tribe cards Troll sent me in trade.

We start with a couple 2009 Topps Heritage cards.

Shin-Soo Choo

Rookie David Huff

Staying with Heritage

Justin Masterson

Grady Sizemore

Here we back up a little.

Back in 1994, Topps issued the 1954 Archives set.

The set duplicated the original 1954 set except for two cards, #'s 1 and 250.

Ted Williams was on both of those cards,and ironically, in 1994 he has a contract with Upper Deck and couldn't be included in the set!

This card is a copy of Al Smith's 1954 rookie card.

The next card is a 1996 Upper Deck Sandy Alomar.

This a very nice action shot of Sandy doing his job at the plate.

Back again to 1974.

This unnumbered team checklist is neat with the team autographs on the front.

Now we're back into my days!!

1964 Topps Al Luplow and 1959 Topps Woody Held.

I remember watching both of these guys play for the Tribe when I was a young kid!

The above cards were all random additions to our trade.

They were all a nice bonus!

The two cards below were the ones I was actually trading for.

Yep, "The Mick"

He was in his heyday when I was growing up n the late 50's - early 60's.

Every kid on the block wanted to be Mickey when we got together for a ball game.

I was a die hard Indian fan, but Mantle was still my hero in baseball.

I now have about 87 Mantle cards.

Unfortunately, they're all retro.

The disease is mutating out of control !!

There has been a lot discussion on this subject of late. Even my own previous post.

BIPPING !

Those of you who have been around for a while know what I'm talking about. It actually started just before my blog opened in the crisp autumn days of 2008.During the hot summer months before that is when this mysterious, sometimes disturbing infection began to spread among the blogosphere. At first there were just isolated cases, but it starting reoccurring at an alarming rate!After what happened on Thursday evening, I don't know if I can withstand the pressure to go into details of the entire situation. For you newer bloggers,you can read about the evil beginings here ifyou dare !!

What, you ask, could have possibly happened to create such a panic in my life ? Well, I hate to place blame, but it started with a box from David at Tribe Cards. Oh no ! Say it isn't so ! I really don't think it's all his fault. The package must have picked up some strange virus as it traveled east from Arkansas. Maybe it had something to do with the priority mail label as that's all that was holding the box closed. Or, maybe someone opened it along the way and transformed all the great Tribe cards, that he usually sends, into this hideous sight! Scroll on down the page.... if you have the nerve. HaHaHaHaHa

I pulled one card out. A checklist, OK no big deal. Next card, another checklist. Checklist after checklist after checklist after checklist !

I was actually starting to feel a little nauseous.

I had to do something .

I had to tell someone.

So I started this post.

I was concentrating on my writing, as I didn't want to make any mistakkes. Then I looked around, and OMG !!

The box had tripled in size !! Let this be a warning to everyone out there. Beware of any package you might receive from now on. You never know what evil lurks behind the the door marked " Mail ".

Yes David,I will add these to my collection !!! Thanks !

PS The sad part is, that's not all of them! I also have another 400 ct. box full. I've been meaning to put the word out to everyone. If you need any checklists, LMK I might be able to help you out!

The Original Bip ?

I know this is off the Tribe path but it seems pertinent to all the goings on of late !!

I just did a trade with Carl Crawford Cards and included a couple minor league cards. He sent me an email tonight about the trade. He thought I must have done some digging to find the "Bulls" cards. Actually, I didn't really dig that deep but he got me thinking. So I dug a little deeper into my minor league box and ran across this !!

Yep, "Bip" was numero uno in this set ! This has to be be one of his first cards. Now if I just had about 200 of them !!