Its not very often I get to add something to my Harry Kalas collection. He simply doesn’t have that much. And what he does have rarely pops up. A few times a week I check eBay to see if any new Harry Kalas cards are listed. If by chance any of his cards are listed for sale, I most likely already have them. That certainly wasn’t the case last week.
Imagine my surprise when I found this Harry Kalas 2005 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic Signatures Red/Blue Stitch Auto #’ed 1/40 on the auction block. I bet it has been 8-10 years since I’ve seen one of these. It needed to be mine. The seller had a high “Buy It Now” price on it, but I was able to get him way down. I’m happy to announce this card arrived safely without any problems. I have my entire Harry Kalas card collection on display at Sports Card Album.The bobbleheads and stadium giveaways I have of his are thrown in here.
My HK wantlist is really getting down to the extremely rare cards. It consists of (4) different 1/1’s, and (1) #’ed/25.
Harry Kalas/Mike Schmidt 2004 Fleer Greats of the Game – Announcing Greats – Dual Auto #’ed/25
Harry Kalas 2005 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic Signatures Black Stitch Auto #’ed 1/1
Harry Kalas 2015 Topps Five Star Cut Signatures Auto #’ed 1/1
Harry Kalas 2012 Sportkings Series E – Top 50 Broadcasters – Cut Signature Auto #’ed 1/1
Harry Kalas 2012 Sportkings Series E Sketch Card #’ed 1/1
I remember listening to Harry Kalas call Phillies games when I first started watching baseball. When it came to collecting a specific person, I wanted someone that was associated with the Phillies but didn’t have tons of stuff. HK fit that mold perfectly. It would be cool to see him one day get a card in Allen & Ginter with the accompanying parallels.
I decided to drink the Kool-Aid and try a box of 2013 Bowman. I usually don’t go for this kind of stuff, but it was a fun box to break.
Here are the most notable cards pulled:
Auto
Jairo Beras Bowman Chrome Auto
Mini Refractors
Tyler Skaggs
Alen Hanson
Ty Hensley
Courtney Hawkins
Ice Parallels
Carson Kelly
Austin Jackson
Blue Parallels
Jesse Hahn #’ed/500
Nelson Cruz #’ed/500
Sapphire Parallel
Tim Lincecum RC Reprint
Bowman Top 100
George Springer
Gregory Polanco
Notable Chromes
Gregory Polanco
Byron Buxton
Notable RCs
Shelby Miller
Manny Machado
Jurickson Profar
Notable Prospects
Carlos Correa
On a side note, yesterday I made a new addition to my Harry Kalas collection. This one is going to be a biggie. I’m not a fan of redemptions, but this time I didn’t have a choice. I was able to acquire the Harry Kalas 2013 Topps Series 1 Chasing History Cut Signature #’ed 1/1. Its already been redeemed and I’m now waiting on Topps.
On Monday, UPS dropped off the newest addition to my Harry Kalas collection. This is a Harry Kalas 2012 Leaf Executive Collection Masterpiece Cut Signature serial numbered 1/1. Leaf started their Executive Collection last year, and I had been looking for a Kalas item to send in to them. I finally came across a PSA/DNA certified signed index card that worked perfectly. Leaf’s Executive Collection basically allow collectors to create their own cut signature as long as the autograph is certified by either PSA/DNA or JSA. Leaf did an excellent job on the turnaround time. It only took a few weeks. No Harry Kalas autographs were submitted for the 2011 set, and this is the first one in 2012. The chrome border used for the Masterpiece 1/1 cuts look a lot better than the plain white ones from last year.
I guess you could say I’m a Harry Kalas supercollector. He doesn’t have that many cards, and when his autographs pop-up collectors go nuts over them. The longtime Phillies broadcaster has a big following, especially in Philadelphia. This is one card that will stay in my personal collection for quite some time.
Here is my other Harry Kalas one-of-one I own. Sports artist Monty Sheldon did this sketch card for me. Sheldon has worked on many products with Topps such as Chicle, Allen & Ginter, and Gypsy Queen.
I’m still looking for these cards:
Harry Kalas 1984 Tastykake Phillies Broadcasters #7
Harry Kalas/Gary Maddox/Richie Ashburn 1988 Phillies Tastykake Phillies Announcers #39
Harry Kalas/Chris Wheeler/Andy Musser 1990 Phillies Tastykake Phillies Announcers #35
2004 Fleer Greats of the Game Mike Schmidt/Harry Kalas Announcing Greats Dual Auto #’ed/25
Harry Kalas 2004 UD Sweet Spot Classic Signatures Auto Black #’ed/100
Harry Kalas 2005 UD Sweet Spot Classic Signatures Auto Black Stitch #’ed/1
Harry Kalas 2005 UD Sweet Spot Classic Signatures Auto Red-Blue Stitch #’ed/40
Harry Kalas Sportkings Premium Back Redemption Sketches #’ed/1
Harry Kalas Sportkings Series E Top 50 Broadcasters Cut Signature #’ed/1
If you recall, last weekend I went to see the Harrisburg Senators play the New Britain Rock Cats. It was suppose to be Bryce Harper bobblehead night, but they didn’t arrive on time. Starting today you could pick them up if you were one of the first 1,000 fans through the gate and received a voucher. Looks pretty cool!!!
Inside each jumbo pack of 2010 Topps Football collectors can find a Topps Gridiron Giveaway redemption. I just redeemed one and received a Danny Villaneuva 1963 Topps #43. I was hoping for an old card and I got one. Very cool idea by Topps. What have you received?
After work today I went back up to Williamsport because I heard there were some pin vendors setup at some of the local hotels. I purchased a ton of new pins for my collection, and I don’t think I even spent $20.00. I was able to pick-up a few new promos from the Wilson Trophy Company, DPH Custom Pins, and the grocery store Wegmans. Check them out!
To get the Wegmans pin, all I had to do was eat two pieces of pizza and drink a soda.
This morning it was pouring and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to make it up to Williamsport today. But after awhile the clouds cleared, the sun came out and I decided to head up. I picked up a bunch of new pins and got some great photos. Check them out!
Casey At The Bat
The Little League World Series is known for its pins. Here are some that I picked-up.
2010 LLWS logo
2010 LLWS ring pin
Honda’s promo pin is in 3D
active.com’s promo pin
The Wilson Trophy Co. will be selling pins and having giveaways at the Holiday Inn downtown Williamsport this week each day from 2:00 p.m. until midnight.
The biggest promotional giveaway during this year’s National has to have been the Stephen Strasburg 2010 Topps Heritage RC #’ed/999. It took me two days to try and get into this line. Topps had a posted schedule of when they planned to give out these cards, and most of the time people lined up two hours ahead of schedule. Friday I hovered around the general area where collectors were suppose to line up. When they said you could get in line, it was a mad rush and I’m sure I ran over a few toes. I had never seen such a rush for a promo. Luckily I was able to get one.
#’ed 294/999
Ever see the movie 300? This is what it was like when they said you could get in line for the Strasburg promo.
The Strasburg 2010 Topps Heritage RC was the hardest promo to obtain in my opinion. For the first time, I got the idea of what it was like collecting during the early 90’s while attending a National. Promos are always a big draw, but this was insane. Some other promos I got include a bunch of Elite cards from Panini such as Brett Favre, John Wall, and Jimmy Clausen all numbered to 499. Plus I got all the promos that came included inside the VIP packages.
I also pulled some great cards too. From a box of Ultimate Collection Baseball I pulled a Yankee eight way jersey #’ed/20. Wednesday I tried my first box of Sportkings and pulled a Joe Greene / Mario Lemieux dual jersey. LOTS OF GOOD STUFF!!!!!
This morning I received a notice that I had won this Nick Buoniconti autographed card. It comes from that Pro Football Hall of Fame set they issued near the end of last year. The set features 253 total cards and 130 of them are autographed. Buoniconti does not have any certified autographs and/or relics that can be found in packs. I was lucky to find someone who decided to break their set apart card by card. The Hall of Fame only made 150 sets, costing around $5,000.00 each. This card only had one bid and I snatched it up for under $50.00. Its going to be a long time before I find another person willing to spend that kind of cash on a set, and then want to break it up. This card will fit well into my Perfect Season collection. Its also an on-card signature and should arrive this week.
Sports Card Info 