Lansing Lugnuts
MiLB Madness: Cardboard cameos, Chourio, Bo, Vladdy & more
Minor league baseball cards from the past can include some weird stuff ... stuff you wouldn't imagine to be found on a baseball card. Here are some some new oddities in this latest edition of MiLB Madness.
IF YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW ... THE FINALE
The Cards: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. & Bo Bichette 2020 Choice Lansing Lugnuts 25th Anniversary set (nine)
The Buzz On This: My third card showing MLB All-Stars in this set showcases the same pair of players from the last two months -- now they're just together. This release is a cheap one I found on sale in the official MiLB Store ... so I did a bulk buy. Why? I want to slab some stuff in this one and the price was right for doing some cherry-picking. As I noted before, if you don't dabble in the MiLB realm, there are some affordable ways to find top names in old unis without breaking the bank and this set shows off past notables -- it's a solid alumni set, though these two guys are the biggest on cards this time. Another MiLB set type that can be loaded is the league "top prospects" set and similar all-star releases that can be sold by all teams in a league so more are (likely) made.Keep reading for more examples of some weird or fun baseball cards you can find in MiLB.
MiLB Madness: Looking back, looking at card backs & more
Minor league baseball cards from the past can include some weird stuff ... stuff you wouldn't imagine to be found on a baseball card. Here are some some new oddities in this latest edition of MiLB Madness.
IF YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW ... AGAIN
The Cards: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 2020 Choice Lansing Lugnuts 25th Anniversary set (nine)
The Buzz On This: The second MLB All-Star to be found in this one is Vladdy 2.0 (after Bichette 2.0 last month). This one is a cheap set I found on sale in the official MiLB Store ... so I did a bulk buy. Why? I want to slab some stuff in this one and the price was right for doing some cherry-picking. As I noted last time, if you don't dabble in the MiLB realm, there are some affordable ways to find top names in old unis without breaking the bank and this set shows off notables from this team's past -- a solid alumni set. Another type of cheap MiLB team set that can be loaded are the league "top prospects" sets and similar all-star team sets that can be sold by all teams in a league. My nine sets here were cheaper than pretty much all MLB hobby boxes so far this year.Keep reading for more examples of some weird or fun baseball cards you can find in MiLB.
MiLB Madness: Bo Bichette, Casper Ghosts and 'Hey, Y'all!'
Minor league baseball cards from the past can include some weird stuff ... stuff you wouldn't imagine to be found on a baseball card. Here are some some new oddities in this latest edition of MiLB Madness.
IF YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW ...
The Cards: Bo Bichette 2020 Choice Lansing Lugnuts 25th Anniversary set (nine)
The Buzz On This: I started prepping this one last week but realized I was light on some star power for this one, so I went to the official MiLB Store and did some window-shopping for team sets and finally opted to grab a nine-pack of a set that's got two solid names attached -- and several other big-leaguers inside -- since they were on a slasher sale and I had a discount promo code to burn. If you don't dabble in the MiLB realm, there are some affordable ways to find top names in old unis without breaking the bank and this set shows off notables from the team's past. In this case, it shows Bichette when he hit .384 with 10 homers, 51 RBI, 60 runs and 12 stolen bases in just 70 games back in 2017. I think this one finished off my run of Bichette cards found in MiLB team sets but this serves as a reminder that these look-back sets done from time to time and a more regularly appearing type of set can deliver. The sets can at times be loaded but are a little more plentiful (and that hurt values some) and other types are league "top prospects" sets and similar all-star team sets that can be sold by all teams in a league. My nine sets here were cheaper than all MLB hobby boxes so far this year.Keep reading for more examples of some weird or fun baseball cards you can find in MiLB.
Buzz Buys: Original art, rare toys, old mags, new ink & more for many past and present stars around the sports world
Buzz buys and busts a lot of boxes right here for Buzz Breaks, but one of my goals is to rip a little less and talk more about cardboard that I -- and you -- might like. One way to do that? Simple show and tell -- present a few pick-ups and say why they captured my attention.
So, with all that said, here are a few Buzz Buys ... and this time around it's a little heavier on football as that season is here.
--
AEW ORIGINALS ... AS IN ORIGINAL ARTWORK
The Cards: Gummy Arts original T206-style drawings (1/1s) for Thunder Rosa, Orange Cassidy, MJF, Powerhouse Hobbs & Sting
The Price: Less than an AEW hobby box
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: If you don't know the work of artist Mike Noren -- aka Gummy Arts -- he's been drawing athletes or memorable pop culture characters in penciled cartoon-style reproductions of past cards or on new creations for years now. You can find constantly updating feeds of his work in timely posts over on Instagram or Twitter and then sometimes those get reproduced and sold as cards in packs. In other instances, he's let the original artwork go, too. Those vanish fast and can be pricey -- actually, his packs can vanish fast, too -- and for years now I've eyed the section of his site for original art (typically $50-80 depending on subject) that made it into cards. I had never found one that was must-have for me -- or at least found a must-have one in stock -- but one day after seeing a tweet of his I did my regular ritual and checked the site to find this set of five T206/Honus Wagner homages in one slightly pricier lot but had to grab them. I had remembered seeing the Rosa online but didn't remember any of these being made into actual cards. It turns out they weren't, so the only thing that exists f0r now (at least when I recently grabbed them) are these originals. Four are top AEW stars while one is an all-time great who has worked for every company ... really a no-brainer for me and I might have paid the typical full price for one or two of these. The Rosa card in a Tijuana jersey and others in their own Wagner-style threads made me laugh, while that Cassidy is not far from spot-on even in Noren's style. Poke around here on The Buzz and you'll see more of these ... just not in 1/1 original art form.
Grab a box right here: AEW cards are hereKeep reading for more interesting items ...
MiLB Madness: Bo Bichette, a bat dog, Grover! & some mascots
Minor league baseball cards from the past can include some weird stuff ... stuff you wouldn't imagine to be found on a baseball card and here are five example of some oddities in this latest MiLB Madness series item.
BO BEFORE THE SHOW
The Card: Bo Bichette 2017 Choice Midwest League All-Stars
The Buzz On This One: I've found myself buying more cards of this guy than any other lately and some of the more-obscure stuff like this can be right up there on my radar more than second- or third-year Bowman stuff. Why? MiLB team sets and then loaded All-Star team sets like this one are inevitably a lot rarer than a lot of the basics for popular prospecting releases. Are they pricey? Oftentimes, no, but they simply have to be far more limited. (All-Star sets are likely the more plentiful of the two types as they are often sold by every team in a league.) You can find big names from the past in All-Star sets and they can be loaded with talent while standard team sets can be pricier but really only for a card or two. Now ... on to some weirder cardboard like I always have in hand for this series.Keep reading for four more examples of weird baseball cards you can (almost) only find in MiLB.
MiLB Madness: Ballpark camels and pigs on baseball cards?
Minor league cards are a fun anomaly in the cardboard world with some of the weirder cards ever made to be found there -- most without a single autograph or piece of memorabilia to be found. Many of those cards not even all that well known, either, but unique cards can capture attention and tell stories. Don't believe that? Just ask Keith Comstock.
This time for MiLB Madness, Buzz is coughing up two of the weirder possibilities you can find on cardboard. In the case of two real teams and real baseball cards, we're talking about an actual camel and a pig who both have at least one card appearance out there in the world.
I know because, well, I had to have them.
6 Item(s)