Greatest Mailday Ever? Rookie Jersey Laundry Tag 1/1!
mouschi
Posts: 695 ✭✭✭✭
I'm about to show not one, not two, but THREE epic cards that have come into my collection ... on the same day!
A few weeks back, Gary Carter supercollector Anthony Cali reached out to me to let me know someone had this beauty:
This is a big, huge deal. Rawlings shirt sleeve cards are extremely rare for Canseco. Not all jerseys have them, and when they do, they typically account for one or two of the tiny squares that card companies cut jerseys up into.
I did a quick & dirty measurement on a jersey by spreading it out and (very) crudely measured the dimensions to be around 34 x 54 inches. Cut up into .75" squares like the Rawlings tag above, you have about nearly 2,500 pieces. Many pieces used are larger, so imagine if it is only 1,500-2,000 per jersey instead. Depending upon the player, a single jersey could last a card company multiple years, and span several card releases. If you mix in bat pieces, it would prolong the need for a card company to go jersey shopping for quite some time. It seems as though Topps has run out of patch material for Canseco years ago - the vast majority of his 1/1s from Topps nowadays have only a signature, blank bat chip or plain jersey swatch.
This doesn't seem to be the case for newer players, as they seem to go through tons of jerseys, and perhaps for the sole purpose of having them cut up for cards. Heck, the Kyle Seager supercollection alone I ran into had 7 Majestic tags that were over the course of about a couple years! At the time of this writing, I only know of maybe 3 or so other sleeve Rawlings sleeve cards for Canseco out there - I have NEVER had one before, and this one is quite possibly my favorite out of the others I've seen!
I reached out to the seller, and found out that he also had this!
I've been on the lookout for a button card of Canseco to add into my collection. This 2/2 beauty POPS. The emerald green foil treatment looks dark in some angles and glows in others. While I have had a few other button cards of Canseco, his button cards are extremely hard to find because there have been very few created. In any event, this rings up there with one of my favorites - the green foil goes beautifully with the A's theme.
Now, the big daddy. 
At the tippy top of my list of cards to get was a laundry tag. I've only ever had one before, and it was in a Dynasty /5. I loved it, but was overly satisfied when I was able to replace it with a /5 Dynasty patch of a 25th anniversary sleeve (MUCH rarer than a laundry tag.) Still, I really wanted a laundry tag back.
On Thanksgiving morning, My wish came true! I saw it up on eBay and clicked buy it now as fast as I could. Unfortunately, someone tried to buy it out front underneath me, offering cash and to meet them in person, but thankfully, the seller has integrity and sent the card to me!
It isn't often that you are able to find the source of a game used piece of a card from a game used jersey, but when you do, it really seems to make the card come to life. When you find the piece comes from a rookie year jersey, it makes it way, way, way better - especially when you've never seen a rookie jersey used in cards before!
In one of my most recent podcasts, I talked about how I wasn't sure how Panini got a hold of a game used gold jersey of Canseco. A buddy of mine named Ryan reached out and showed me. Here it is!
What an incredible piece! Nearly all of Canseco's game used cards have white or gray jersey pieces. This is nearly all gold, which is a big deal.
The biggest part of this jersey? This right here ...
And that is exactly what my new card has!
This isn't just any laundry tag card. It is a jumbo laundry tag. From a gold rookie jersey. That I could trace it back to! To me, this is the biggest 1/1 of his that has hit eBay in years. The card is stunningly beautiful in hand, and is now a centerpiece of my collection. I'm telling you, I'm STILL over the moon excited about having landed it!
I LOVE messing around with my cards using Photoshop. Check this out! This is extremely satisfying and cool to see together.
The level of joy these cards have brought me is off the charts. They have made me want to poke my head into the office whenever I walk by just to take a peek at them. I don't know how many times I've done that over the past week, but it is a lot! These three cards together are extremely photogenic - they seem to go together, and are so aesthetically pleasing, I just had to do a bit of a photo shoot:
It was a very, very, very good day for my collection It is mind boggling to me that eBay has had around 100 1/1 Jose Canseco cards appear in 2019 so far. It is funny to think that a couple years ago, I would have been a player on nearly all of them, but now, I am extremely selective as to what I get. It makes mail days so much more meaningful to me. It has changed the collecting game for me from basketball (where you can't really celebrate a slam dunk, because 3 seconds later, you are already on the other side of the court on defense) to baseball (when you hit a home run, you have a long time to enjoy and admire.)
Thanks for reading, guys! Sorry, I can't help it ... gotta post this pic one more time LOVE it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gB9An3KxyY
https://tanmanbaseballfan.com/2019/12/biggest-mailday-ever-you-decide.html
Comments
Sorry if you take this the wrong way....but am I getting this right?? A super rare, rookie year gold Canseco Jersey was sold whole and now has been completely destroyed
I both liked Tanner’s post and agreed with Promethius. Think it sucks that they cut up cool historical pieces - but the ship has sailed and for those that like the jersey cards I think these are really special and cool.
Awesome cards! Congratulations! I feel the same way when I find rare cards, there's no feeling quite like it!
Thanks guys! @promethius88 and @brad31 - I completely understand where you are coming from, but from my perspective, I'm extremely happy they chopped it up - if they didn't, I wouldn't have it! I definitely get it though
He's still my favorite all time player. I love those cards. Well done. I thought you sold your entire Canseco collection and were pursuing other things?
@CommemKing Yessir! About a year and a half ago I gave up supercollecting - I used to pick up everything of Canseco that I didn't have. I sold out, and decided to only pick up cards that I love of his. In 2019, there have been about 100 1/1s of his, and I don't care a whole lot about many of them at all.
I also love graded key vintage, comics, bbce fasc boxes and a few other things
Yep. mine too. The savior of Baseball.
@horsecaller
"The savior of Baseball"
I never looked at it that way. Canseco is the "Jesus" of baseball!? I love it!
I never looked at it that way also ... maybe that's why I like him so much ... because I LOVE Jesus!
Emart photobox?
Great lighting. So easy to setup and break down.
Hard for a scanner to do a lot of cards justice.
Whatever you might think of Canseco there was never any doubt in my mind that spilling the beans as he did was the best thing that could ever happen to baseball. Of course, it never lasts too long as those in control will find other ways to manipulate the game so that they can generate as much revenue as possible.
Yeah, but the revenue has made the games sooo much safer. The Astros have hired a "loss-prevention" team w/ sophisticated telecommunications. They've even installed safety cameras in their trash cans. 😄
It is called "The Flashery" - I love it! It does take a little bit of Photoshop work to get just right, but I enjoy it! Heck, the cards look SO good in this, I have had them displayed in the box with the light on for a while!
That is, until I kept looking at them and couldn't get focused enough to work, lol!
Nice card (albeit I too am a bit aghast with the cutting up of such a jersey)! Will be a nice piece in your collection!
Read your book as well; very well done! Did not realize you spent some time in Fresno. I have lived in Fresno for the past 22 years and frequented the card shop you mention when it was at Herndon and West as I used to work across the street from it. I grew up in Northern California and Jose Canseco was of course a huge deal when I was a kid. Great memories.
Small world and continued success in your collecting endeavors!
Matt
Thanks for reaching out Matt! It's always good to connect with a fellow Fresnoan (I was there for about 12 years) and especially one who was at the same shop!