Another one bites the dust

The remainder of the Sportlots purchase of last weekend arrived on Thursday.  Two more envelopes of singles that finished one set and helped me get closer to finishing 3 others.

The victim this time?  2008 Upper Deck, Series 1

It's nice to get another set out of the way.  Actually, it feels really good to start getting some of these sets that have been hanging over my head for quite a while completed.  Sad to say however, that the two sets I've completed this week are just the tip of the iceberg.

I currently have 2 sets that are both just one card away from completion...

2002 Upper Deck Series 2 (need card # 521)

Baseball or not, this man died way too young...

2012 Topps Series 2  (need card # 334)

His next HR gives him 12 straight 30 HR seasons...

Then there's two sets that are in need of nothing but SPs......

2008 UD Masterpieces

Forget kid in a candy store...he runs the candy store now!!

2011 Topps Heritage

looking over his shoulder at Hechavarria

Yep, the Heritage is going to be a bitch to complete with about 50 SPs to obtain, while the Masterpieces is down to 14 SPs to go with the acquisition of the Donny Baseball card shown above.

By the way, if you missed last nights post....got a little Contest going on.  Tell me your opinion, don't be shy.

Thank you for reading, Robert

What to do, what to do

Ever since I pulled the Tony Gwynn auto from the A&G hobby box I bought, I've pondered what I should do with the card.  I'm not really a Tony Gwynn fan and autographs don't do a whole lot for me (unless they're from my favorite teams...of course).

I bandied about the idea of selling the card, something I haven't done in a couple of years (at least).  I decided to look at eBay and see if/what other N43 autos of Gwynn were selling for.  I found 2 auctions for other copies of the card, shown here and here.  I will also tell you that the 2nd seller had his card originally listed as a buy it now for $199.99 for 30 days. 

I also told you all a while back that I would do a contest to celebrate my 25000th hit on the blog.

Please answer this question for an entry in the contest:

If this were your card, what would you do and why?

You have to assume that this card was in your possession.  I don't own it, you do. 

I'll even give you a few days to think about it.  Place a comment on this post before the contest closes on Monday the 3rd at 11:59 pm EDT.

Be honest.  You're not being judged here.  I'd just love to know what people would do with the card.

I'll give away another auto that I pulled from the A&G box I busted....plus some packs as well.

Thanks for reading (and entering), Robert

Well that was easy. Topps Chrome set completed!

2011 Chrome that is...

It only took a little over a year, and a lot of procrastinating, but I finally received the final 2 cards that I've needed to complete the set in the mail today. 

For a guy who prides himself on completing sets, the mere fact that I probably waited, oh, about 4 months to pull the last 2 cards off of Sportlots this past weekend has me ashamed.

Anyhow, they are here and ready for me to show off....

Eric Hosmer RC #170...Derek Jeter #20.  I was able to get the Jeter at the lowest price offered on Sportlots, 18 cents.  The Hosmer cost me $2.50 (yes, that was the cheapest one there...).

That's set #15 in the books, and the Fab Five has its number 1 set completed. That means the other 4 move up by 1, and the 1986 Topps set moves into the #5 position.  That set only has 125 cards remaining for completion.  Not bad for having never purchased a pack from that year.  Also, I only need 10 more completed sets to hit my 2012 goal of having 25 sets complete.

I likely will not be putting this years Chrome or Finest sets together, so the only cards I'll be seeking from those sets are the Blue Jays and various parallels there of.  I honestly don't know if I'm even going to attempt to put together the A&G set (that rant in an upcoming post), even though I purchased a hobby box to participate in the Gint-A-Cuffs contest.  Besides, with the '11 Heritage and '12 GQ sets that I've started, and all their short prints/variations, I should be quite busy chasing those over the next few weeks (months?).

With the group of sets that Topps is releasing currently, it seems as if I'm going to be spending my budget over the next few weeks trying to clean up the old sets that I have been working on for quite a while now, especially those in the Fab Five. I actually am glad that I'm in this mood, because the past 3 months has been a whirlwind of new sets, trips to card shows, and other endeavors that has left my computer room/card table in a sorry state of disarray. 

By the way....I mentioned something last week about a contest...Thursday....I promise.

thanks for reading, Robert 

Saturday wasn't a total write off

Even though I took the day off of posting on Saturday, I didn't take the day off with respect to dealing with my collection.  I decided to take the time and put the '64 Topps cards that I do own into binder pages.  Even though I barely own a quarter of the set, there were some pages that had 6 of the 9 cards. 

If I do say so myself, even though the pages below aren't full (yet), I still think they look great!  The league leader cards featuring Aaron and Killebrew make a great start to this page. 

Poor scanning..Kirkland and O'Dell are in better shape than the scan shows.

The 4th page is scanned below, cards #28-36.  A lot of solid pitchers on this page...Osteen, Perranoski, Jim Perry and Dean Chance.  If you're not sure who Dean Chance is, take a look at his '64 stats and you'll see one of the greatest pitching seasons for a team that barely finished .500 on the season. 

Sammy Ellis had a pretty decent rookie season in 64, finishing 15th in MVP voting.  Sammy's "career year" was in '65, when he won 22 games for the Reds with 15 complete games, and 2 saves. 

The whole point of this post is to show what the cards look like in pages.  Great!!  As I was placing the cards in the pages, I marveled at how great they looked.  All along I've been pretty sure that I was going to complete this set as a long term project.  Now that I've placed them in pages, I'm even more sure that I'll work this set to completion, even with the big price tag on some of the key cards.

These pages will look even better with cards of Clemente, Rose and Koufax in them.  I'll be sure to show them off when I do get them.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Blue Jay Monday: 2010 Topps Gold Travis Snider

Jays fans and analysts have been talking about this guy for what seems like an eternity.  Drafted by the Jays in the first round of the 2006 June draft, Travis Snider got his first shot in the big leagues at the age of 20, hitting .301 in 73 ABs during the 2008 season. 

Travis was part of a very surprising trade pulled off by the Jays at the deadline, being sent to Pittsburgh for reliever/spot starter Brad Lincoln.  That trade was one of the rare "baseball" trades, in that both teams traded players for a specific need. 

So far, Travis has played well in Pittsburgh, hitting .292 in his first 25 games.  It appears that Travis is going to get the chance to play every day here, as the other two youngsters that had started the season on the big club, Alex Presley and Jose Tabata, have both spent extended periods down in AAA Indianapolis.

If Travis plays similar to his Twitter account name (@Lunchboxhero45) in Pittsburgh, he will be loved by the fans.  There is nothing that Pittsburgh fans love more than a player that has no problem getting dirty and playing hard.  Travis may have to change that number though, because he has donned the number 23 for the time being since Erik Bedard currently wears 45.

I decided to change it up a bit tonight, and instead of letting the Randomizer choose the card that was featured, I flipped through a bunch of pages that I have yet to put into a binder, and saw the inspiration for tonight's post.  The Topps 2010 Gold card featured here is #'d 499/2010 card is pretty cool.  It shows Snider finishing one of his many dead pull swings, which should bode well for him in Pittsburgh. The right field porch at PNC Park is definitely hitter friendly, and I believe that there should be a lot of dents in the Clemente wall for years to come.

thanks for reading, Robert

Sakic Sunday: 1990-91 Upper Deck x3

1990-91 Upper Deck, probably the last set that I can remember collecting without having to deal with some kind of insert/parallel/jersey card inside.  (Don't even speak of the holograms that were in the packs, the players featured were barely recognizable to me.)

I used to own a ton of these cards.  Multiple (in the teens) sets were hand collated.  I don't know what it was about this set that sent me scurrying every time I had an extra dollar to the LCS. 

Needless to say it was very easy for me to find the Sakic cards from this year for my PC.  There were actually 3 cards of Joe Sakic in both the low and high numbered series.

If you look very closely at the low series base card on the left (#164), you will see that the 'A' on his jersey has recently been replaced with the 'C', so recently that you can actually still see the 'A' underneath.  I can't recall another card out there of any player that has something like this.  What's interesting is that the captaincy of the Nordiques that year was shared by Sakic and Steven Finn, both of whom replaced the recently departed Peter Stastny.  Instead of naming either Sakic or Finn captain in the 91-92 season, Mike Hough was given the C.  Sakic regained the captaincy the next season and remained the captain until his retirement.

The cards in the low 300's were team checklists with each team having one player artistically represented on the front, with a list of players featured in the set and their card #'s on the back.  They were also numbered in reverse order of the league standings the previous season.  Thus, the Nordiques were featured first (#301) because of their last overall finish the season before. 

The high series, #'d 401-550, featured many of the up and coming rookies, Canada's junior team, and all the players from the 1991 all star game which was played in Chicago.  Joe appears to be right at home from the relaxed look on his all star card featured on the right.  Needless to say, Joe would appear in a few more of those during his career. 

The 1990-91 Upper Deck set will always be one of my all time favorites, largely because it was the first hockey set that I chased after a decade long absence from collecting in the 80's.  Great photography, multiple player photos and a set size that was not too difficult to complete, I'd love to see more sets like this now.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Blue Yu and other musings

To be honest, I really haven't felt like writing about anything serious.  Nothing has really happened lately that has given me cause for alarm.

OK, maybe one thing....the piles and piles of cards that surround me each time I write a post.  Ever since, oh let's say the middle of July, I have felt very little motivation to put things in their proper place.  It seems that every time I do sort out one group of cards, another group or 3 arrives to replace that .

So to punish myself, and maybe you too, I've decided to hunt through some of the piles and, well, try to muse on some of the cards I see.

Cards such as Blue Yu.  Yu Darvish has been around for several months now, and I have not taken one opportunity to use his name in a play on words.  Awful lines such as...

I'm calling Yu

Me and Yu and a dog named Boo

Yu Betcha!!

We all live in his Yu-niverse

Yu can't always get what Yu want...

He's in the prime of his Yuth.

OK, I know, that's enough....here's the Blue Yu at least  (It's funny, lately I've wound up with a lot of cards that belong in Texas.)

Brian??

 (HEY Dave Stewart, what did you think of all those Yuisms???)

Ahem...moving onwards... 

You will all see a post from me next week about a certain autograph card that I pulled recently (contest), but in the mean time here's an auto that just doesn't make sense.

Please tell me how "Erik Gustafsson" turns into an auto with the letters    S  V  S.   What???

All right...let's see what else is on the desk here...how about we run to the Hills and get some cards?

Are there any Hills stores left?

Another part of the package that my wife found me at the Goodwill a few weeks back.  I had never seen any of these glossy Team MVP cards released by Topps in 1989.  There were a few decent names in the pile, such as Mark Langston, Fred McGriff, and Dale Murphy to name a few.  Oh and those Dodger players above as well....they'll do in a pinch.


Come on Topps, you waited until Series 2 to put his card out, couldn't you have at least used the name that the guy wants to be called??  Giancarlo if you need help spelling it.....

Mike Pelfrey wants him banished

Finally, a little love for the 64 Topps set that I'm putting together.  I would love to see more cards like this in modern sets (I know that Heritage is doing it...)

Wonder what those 2 people in the stands are doing there?

For all of you that made it to this portion of the post, be thankful for one thing...

I didn't dip into the piles of GQ and A&G....have a great weekend!!

Thanks for reading, Robert

Group breaks, card drafts and PEDs oh my!!

While enjoying the spoils of a couple of card drafts and a group break this evening, I decided to look a little harder at the cards I received from Wes, Greg and Matt and see if there were any tidbits in there that I could share.

Sure enough.

I found a couple of cards of guys who all of a sudden have become trendsetters and they didn't even know it.

why guys with their ability felt they needed to.....nevermind

I also found a couple of guys who weren't allowed to root for each other during a baseball game.

Let's go 'Dre!!!

I found another guy who may have been one of the top 5 pitchers in the NL before the break, but now should have a missing persons report filed on him...

Come back James, the Buccos need you!

This card is of a man who left this Earth way too soon..and is of a set that would be the only one that I would collect if I got back into football.

How many times did you see this during his playing days??

Moving on to the sport of hockey, I was very happy that Matt was very generous and sent me a couple of extras to ease the sting of my poor luck in his group break.  This Dion Phaneuf is a great addition for me, but it also led me to ask 2 questions...

Matt, thank you for the extras!!!

1.  When did the Leafs have brown in their unis?
2.  Was it a sign when the person who designed this card actually cut out the groin area of the picture to insert the swatch?

The next time you wonder about the reasons why we are going to experience another lockout in the NHL this year, take a look at this guy's contract as one of the reasons. 

12 years, $64 million contract for a 31 year old goalie...and it's the players that have to bite the bullet...

Now that I've regaled you with a bunch of cards from the present and made a little light of the current state of sports, let's enjoy a little bit of the past....who doesn't like vintage??

All well loved, just like a lot of 60's cards

Wonder if these guys ever thought they would hear the terms collective bargaining agreement, performance enhancing drugs or albatross contracts.

Nah, they were just having fun playing the game they loved.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Yep, still working on Gypsy Queen

While out running errands with my wife on Saturday, we decided to stop at Target on the way back home.  Target is a rare stop for me since it's about 20 miles from my house (over the state line no less).  Naturally, I poked around in the card area, and since A&G wasn't particularly interesting to me today, I decided to go for another set that I had mentioned a couple of weeks ago on the blog.

Gypsy Queen packs of various types were still in full force there.  The rack packs were actually buried in behind a bunch of Bowman Platinum (no, I will not be touching those), so I dug a couple of them out.  Combined with a couple of loose single packs, my pack ripping jones was cured.

I didn't fare too badly either.

First, the minis...

The top row are all regular backs, the Martinez and Thames are Straight Cut, the Oswalt, well he speaks for himself.

I did pretty well on the brown framed cards as well, no slouches at all.  All the cards above except for the Thames mini are up for trade.

Of course, there are the usual inserts and variations as well.   I was lucky enough to pull a Mariano Rivera variation card that I needed for my set.

In addition, I snagged an auto today from the first rack pack I opened, and it's a nice looking auto if I do say so...

Gaby Sanchez, now of the Pittsburgh Pirates, has a decent looking signature...he uses his full first name Gabriel (or a form thereof) in his signature.

Yes, I still am going to build this set.  Gypsy Queen for me became like a lot of the early season releases among a lot of collectors...lost in the shuffle. 

I still need a little over 100 cards to complete the set, including 38 of the variations....this one is going to take some time to complete for sure.

Want to trade for any of the minis/inserts/auto?  Drop me a line...email or comment always works.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Two more insanity pages complete

Yes indeed, after playing a little bit of catch up with all the purchases from the National, I finally put away all the serial #'d cards I purchased there.  While doing this, I discovered that I completed two more pages, bringing the total number of completed pages to 5.

This is page #6, cards 46-54.

I had never seen a Topps co-signers card until I started this project.

This is page #9, cards 73-81

the atomic refractor of Heath Bell scanned out really well.

I have picked up 638 cards towards the set, only another 112 cards to the 50% mark.  Two teams still lead the way with 29 cards out of the 50 (New York Yankees, Washington Nationals), while there are three teams that still lag behind with 14 apiece (Baltimore, Houston and Milwaukee).  Eighteen of the 30 teams are at 20 cards or better. 

I can honestly say that picking up those 40 cards at the National was one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had while putting together this set.  The only thing that would have made it even better is if the cards were a quarter apiece, instead of 50 cents...

Keep em coming guys (and gals), always love bringing them in, even if it's only a couple, they are always welcome.


Thanks for reading, Robert

Sakic Sunday: Don't you just love Pacific?

Yes, you all remember Pacific out there.  They of the multitude of sets with a multitude of parallels.

Omega, Paramount, Crown Royale, Revolution, Dynagon Ice,Private Stock, Titanium.  Don't forget the base Pacific set as well.  I'm sure that there may be other sets that I've forgotten over the years.

Pacific definitely made things interested for the collector back in the late 90's/early 2000's, didn't they?  A myriad of sets, many of which contained several forms of parallels.

Base, Ruby, Copper, Ice Blue, Gold, Premiere Date just to name a few.  Each of them listed in the magazine with varying levels of attainability, and in turn varying levels of multipliers increasing the "value" of the card by sometimes crazy levels of multipliers.  Here's an example for you all:

1999/2000 Pacific Paramount.  I have staring you in the face 3 of the various parallels from that year.  The base is on the far right.  The middle card is the Gold parallel (not to be confused with the Holo-Gold!!), available in retail packs, and holding a multiplier of 2.5 to 6x the base card's value.  The card on the far left is the copper parallel, available in hobby packs, with a multiplier of 2.5 to 5x. 

The best part of this is....to complete all the variations of the Joe Sakic base card from this year, I only need six more.  2 types of Emerald to start, an Ice Blue, and various other levels of insanity. 

I could honestly see a lot of player/team collectors saying "screw this" and forgetting about the various parallels.  Imagine if you are an Avalanche team collector?  Nine players in that set, including names like Sakic, Roy, Hejduk and Forsberg. 

To be honest....these cards bring back a lot of memories for me, back to a time when collectors had choices.  Yes, there were tons of sets on the market, but at least there were no monopolies.  Maybe I'll start a bring back the Pacific brand campaign...when I acquire all the Joe Sakic parallels from all the Pacific sets over the years.

I'm guessing you will not have to worry about Pacific coming back any time soon then....

thanks for reading, Robert

Adam Dunn proved me right, for once

Back in May I posted about Adam Dunn and all the negative ink that he received over the winter about the rough 2011 campaign that he endured..  I made a prediction on that post that by the end of the 2012 season he would hit his 400th HR.

Wow....he actually proved me right!!

I realized this morning that the event happened last night after reading an article about the fan who was arrested last night after going into the fountains in Kansas City to retrieve the ball.  The article also goes on to state that the fan might be fined up to $2,500 for diving after a small piece of history.

I think I'd rather pay a few dollars and get myself something like this instead.

Add caption

Must be the fear I have of being surrounded by tattooed men who are looking to show me the meaning of the phrase "jailhouse love" that prevents me from diving into fountains.

Thanks for reading, Robert

28 days

That's all there is before the NHL imposes a lockout on their players if a new CBA is not reached.

I can see the writing on the wall now.  It's going to happen.  We're going to lose significant time again this year.  (I'm praying that the two sides prove me wrong, but they just waited too damn long to start talks)

The problem now is what it was in the past, the owners.  The gulf between the haves and the have nots in the ranks of ownership is just way too wide.  Teams that can bury horrible contracts in the minors (Toronto and the Rangers to name two) have a big advantage over teams that are scrambling each season just to spend to the floor (Phoenix, Florida).  Sadly, the owners have to "band together" to figure a way to do it in order to save the poor clubs.

Who takes the hit?  The players....

I'm sure this guy wasn't going around to the owners with a gun to their heads and saying "give me a 13 year contract"...

 

The league has a real problem on their hands.  The divisive shift isn't within the players; if anything they seem to be more together on the issues than they ever have been.

The players are the driving force of the game, and there are a lot of great young players driving the skill level upwards at an alarming rate.

No sooner do I hear in talks that ownership wants to limit contracts to a 5 year term then I see not one but two players (Pacioretty and Simmonds) sign 6 year contracts.

The problem (at least how I see it) is the owners battling within themselves.  The rich doing their best to drive the poor ones out of business by forcing them to either put up or shut up.  Yes, I know it's the classic business model, but when you have a finite amount of teams in a sport you're trying to expand to the entire North American market, it just doesn't make sense.

Nearly $8 million (on average) per year for Shea Weber?  Come on folks, it's getting a little ridiculous.  Weber is a very good defenseman, but to pay him near what Crosby, Malkin and Ovechkin are making is ....nuts.

This type of spending has forced teams that are "middle of the pack" like Carolina to overpay for players (I'm sorry, $6 million/yr for Jordan Staal is a little much..again just my opinion).

It's obvious now that the lost season of 2004-05 hasn't shown the ownership group anything, because they've gone and created the same problem as they had 8 years ago.  Out of control spending.

I'm not paying good money to go and see Ryan Suter play hockey.   Ryan Suter is a very good hockey player, don't get me wrong, but to pay him the kind of money that he received (13 years, $98 million) is crazy. 


Gary Bettman...you need to get your ownership group together....offer the players 51% of the revenue, put in an impartial mediator to hear appeals on player suspensions...and for the love of all things good, contract this league by 4 teams. 

Do not put a 2nd team in Toronto, do not give a team back to Quebec City unless an owner chooses to move there, and put no more teams south of North Carolina.


I also want to watch Nashville Predators games on the off chance that the cameras will pan and show me the visage of this very lucky hockey player's wife....

Mr. Underwood?  Nah.....

I'm sorry that you've been forced to read a very long winded and choppy rant, but when I see my favorite sport 28 days away from another lockout, well it really just fucking pisses me off.

28 days....you think I'm upset now, wait until the lockout happens....then I might go spinning out of control on the NHL....

lol....I love blogging...

Thanks for reading, Robert

I find it hard to put these cards down

Back in July I came across a post by Dave over at the Wax Stain Rookie (by the way if you're not reading it on a regular basis, you should be) where he mentioned a find at a local LCS of some OPC from 1976-77.

The post featured a Jack Valiquette RC, and the memories just came flooding back.  After a couple of emails back and forth, I secured about 600-700 cards from Dave for a great price.

These cards have created several problems. I don't want to sort them.  I don't want to put them in binders.   I don't want to figure out how many cards I need to finish the set.  I don't even want to take them out of the original box that Dave shipped them in.

Every time I look at that box, and start flipping through the cards, I turn into the 9 year old kid who bought them back in the 70's.  It scares the hell out of me.  Why?

Because unlike the '77 Topps cards that I used to buy when I was a 9 year old, these hockey cards are timeless for me.  It is a group of players with names like Dunc Wilson, Dave Schultz, Bunny Larocque, Gary Smith and so on that take me back to a time over 35 years ago when the game was simpler.  The times were simpler. 

I was a kid who had found collecting to be a joy, and that is something that will follow me until the day I stop breathing.

Cards like this remind me of a better day...

The old California Golden Seals uniforms.  Not the greatest of greens that was used, but still a retro uni that brings back memories.  The Seals were one of two teams that actually transferred cities that summer, the 2nd being the Kansas City Scouts, who moved to Colorado to become the Rockies (not the baseball team....the hockey team)

Something you will never see again.  A player wearing a head band on the ice.  Awesome.

Nick names were great back then as well...this guy was the "Iron Man" (not Robert Downey Jr.)

No relation to Felix

914 straight games.  Many thought it a streak that would never be broken.  Doug Jarvis came along and ended that thought, by playing 964 straight (the equivalent of roughly 12 NHL seasons).

There were many Maple Leafs cards in the box, but this guy was my favorite of the bunch, the pride of Summerside...

I saw Errol Thompson on the Hockey Day in Canada broadcast last winter from Summerside, P.E.I., and he looks better now than he did in the 70's!  

The box is a great mix of posed shots such as the Thompson card above, and on ice photos similar to the Unger, poor lighting and all.

To Dave, who graciously sent me this box of hockey goodness...you've created a monster.  The same monster that prowled the Danforth back in the 70's in pursuit of cardboard gold.

Thank you Dave.

Thanks for reading, Robert

This trade was a "killer"

I'm spoiled.  I have had the good fortune so far of having quite a few people see what they want on my blog, then make me an offer just as quickly that I cannot refuse.  One such blogger who turned that trick on me was Greg who runs the Plaschke, thy sweater is Argyle site.

I will say that I'm 7 for 7 in trades with Greg, and they just keep getting easier.  Greg saw an Evan Longoria '12 Topps jersey card that I posted, made me an offer, and our 7th trade was completed...just like that.

Yes, for me, this trade was a 'killer'.  At least, that's who Greg sent me in return...

07-08 UD Trilogy

Thank you Upper Deck for picturing Doug Gilmour in a Maple Leaf uniform and using a blue swatch.
Thank you as well for using the vintage Maple Leafs logo, which was used from the 27/28 season through the 37/38 season.  That logo is still my favorite of all time, because it is so simple and doesn't look as if it were computer generated.

Thank you again for the trade Greg, I look forward to #8!

Thanks for reading, Robert

Now I know why they call him the Spaceman

Come on folks, look at this card of the "Spaceman" Bill Lee, and tell me that he isn't looking for an UFO, or the mother ship to come and pick him up.

is the phrase "beam me up Scotty" a little too over the top here?

This was one of the cards I scored in a card draft on Wes' blog Jaybarkerfan's Junk. I figured it would be an easy and fun way to ease into a couple of posts about some of the card drafts/group breaks I've been involved with lately.

One card not enough?  OK, here's two more...

The Jays back in the 70's didn't have prospects at any other positions than P & C

The '79 Topps card of the trio of upcoming Blue Jays prospects is interesting, because it appears that photo day in Toronto was taken with a roll of black and white film.  The Roy Halladay card appears to have the stitches of a baseball drawn on it, and if that's the case, that may be the dirtiest looking baseball I've ever seen.  Sorry Donruss, that's a miss...

Just a tease for now...more to come

Thanks for reading, Robert

The last of the National additions

I figured instead of going into a lengthy post detailing the remainder of my purchases, I'd just give out some of the highlights of what's left over.

A couple of hockey HOFers from early 1970s Topps sets are always a good pickup...the Ullman is the first Leaf card from the 71-72 sets that I own.  50 cents was well worth it.

I figured I'd throw together a scan of some of the other cards I also purchased from the same table for 50 cents apiece.  The Aaron is very well loved, but at 50 cents I just couldn't say no.  I grabbed quite a few 71's, 73's and a few 75's from this table, the only "oddball" was the '72 Killebrew IA card you see below. 

Yes...all were 50 cents apiece

A '69 Steve Carlton in damn good condition....and no, it wasn't 50 cents...

At $12, this was the priciest card for me at the show...well worth it

Some more '64 cards that feature McCovey and Yaz...as I mentioned the other day, I was able to snag a few of the league leader cards from the '64 set at good prices, I believe that these 3 cards cost me a total of $12.

Another nice find for me...this Piniella RC set me back $8.

You can't tell me that it doesn't look like Sweet Lou spent too much time in a tanning booth

All totaled, I spent a little over 6 weeks of my budget at the National, but the cards that I added to my collection included a lot of great finds at some pretty sweet deals, so I really can't complain. 

Besides, what else was I going to do with my bonus check from work anyhow??

Thanks for reading, Robert

Sakic Sunday: 05/06 SPx Winning Materials

Decided to give everyone a day's reprieve from my National posts to show off the latest addition to my Joe Sakic PC. 

2005/06 SPx Winning Materials #'d 326/350.  Saw this on eBay a couple of weeks ago, with Buy it Now/Best Offer pricing on it.  I knocked a third off of the asking price as my best offer....sold!!

3 days later it was at my house and part of my collection.  Love that all 3 colors of the Avs jersey are featured on the card. 

I've really let the Joe Sakic PC slide over the past few years, this winter may be the time to rekindle that flame.  I'm sure that there are still a lot of base cards/inserts to pickup. 

Thanks for reading, Robert

National Saturday: Flat rate cards

It took a little time for me to decide how to split up the Saturday purchases that I made at the National.  Again, at least in my opinion I got some more great deals on my 2nd day at the show.  After a little bit of thought, I figured I would split the first post among two tables where the cards I purchased were an easy flat rate.

The first table was actually the Dave & Adam's booth.  I'm sure you're familiar with the Western New York multi store/internet retailer.  Well, as usual they had their mega sized booth with some pretty good deals on wax. 

I am proud to say I resisted the temptation to purchase any wax at the show!!  But...tucked in the back corner of their booth, I found several boxes of jersey cards at a flat rate of $4 per card.  A digging I went...

The A.J. Burnett card I displayed last Sunday on my post was one of the 7 cards I picked up.  The 2nd card is one that I failed to scan before I sent it off to Brian at Play at the Plate.  I'm sure once Brian receives it, he'll show it off for you.  The next three were all Maple Leafs jerseys, a particular weakness of mine as well.

Sittler jersey card for $4!  You bet it is coming home with me.

I also found another pitching star among the boxes, a longtime Blue Jays star that I couldn't leave at the show.

Calling Dr. Halladay

After what seemed an eternity digging through these boxes, I finally found a jersey card of the newest PC that I've started....Jim Thome

The first...

While I spent roughly 30 minutes looking through the myriad of jersey cards at that booth, the next purchase is quite the opposite.

On my out of the show, I hit a table that had a few people milling around.  One of the display cases had a starburst sign on it that caught my eye.

"All cards in this case, $5"

OK...let's take a look then!  Needless to say within 5 minutes, I was 4 cards closer to my '64 Topps set.  I was able to snag 4 League Leaders cards that he had...

Ford, Bouton, Pascaul, Koufax, Drysdale...all on 2 cards for $10!!  You betcha!

The Killer and Hank Aaron....2 cards for $10...how can I say no??  I couldn't...

The 2nd day of the National gave me the opportunity to do something that I wanted to do, which was to start finding some of the "medium" priced cards for this set.  Yes, there still is the matter of cards like Mantle, Rose, Clemente and others that are going to be tough to find for less than triple digits, but those are later on down the line.

1 more post of National treasures to show off....and yes, it is more vintage ranging from 64-75...

Thanks for reading, Robert