Didn't mean to be doing once a week posts

My wife encouraged me to get back posting on the blog again a few weeks ago.  She knows that I enjoy the hobby and talking about it whenever I can.  But when I started up again 3 weeks back, I wanted to try and write more than once a week but getting sick and having my brother-in-law and his wife come for a visit kind of kicked the writing plan to the back burner.  

Lack of new cards into the collection certainly wasn't the reason...

This trade with Marc (TCDB ID:  Save Da Kid) has been on the completed list for over a week, and when it was offered to me, I was quite surprised.

The majority of the inbound cards are in the 2 scans for this post (I didn't scan the pair of 82-83 OPC hockey cards).  

I wound up with 17 cards off of my '68 Topps want list, a welcome sight to say the least, and it's spurred me to start picking up some more '68s off of eBay over the past couple of weeks.  I'll be showing a few of those over the next few posts.

Most of the cards in the trade were of the VG or VGEX variety, which works for me especially since there are a few big names in the two scans.  I know that searching for higher grade copies of semi stars and stars can be a bit pricey, so these for the most part will do.  The Kaat isn't as cut off as the scan shows as well, and there are 2 or 3 that probably will be replaced over time.   But for now, knocking 17 cards off the want list was a welcome offer from Marc.

Now I'm hoping to get some more posts done this weekend so that Friday's only on the blog doesn't become a thing.

Still enjoying the hobby!

Robert

Starting from scratch

I have become an Allen & Ginter fan over the past 18 months.   Sure, I've collected it off and on since I started blogging, but I'm more in tune with it now, especially the original sets from 2006-2007.  I've kind of dedicated myself to building the set as it comes out each year now.

I looked at boxes over the summer, hemmed and hawed over the price and thought to myself that I really didn't want to spend that kind of money on a box when I could be buying singles for the infinite number of sets I'm still working on.

The 2021 A&G set kind of floated off into the distance for a few months, never to be thought of again.  Then, as the trades picked up on TCDB for me at the end of December/beginning of January, a lot of cards from other A&G want lists started coming in.  That's when I decided I'm not buying it, I'm going to try and trade for the base set.   I hit the button to add all the cards for the 2021 set to my want list, and already I'm closing in on 10% complete in just over 2 weeks' time.

I do like how the set looks so far and I'm looking forward to learning about new people which I always do when I get these cards in.   Daniel Kim, for example, is an analyst for the KBO (Korean Baseball Organization) and helped analyze games while they were on ESPN during the pandemic.  It would be interesting to see if winter baseball in the Caribbean would get more play on American TV sometime in the future.

Some of the guys just do not look happy in their pictures, Sonny Gray and David Price may have forgotten how much money they make.  I do like the alternate Washington Nationals cap that Schwarber is wearing.

I've even had SPs already offered and sent my way; the Yates and Baines cards on the bottom were a couple of the handful I've received in the first couple of trades.  Baines' late 70's/early80's White Sox uniform is a classic look that I like.

If you're on TCDB and have a few 2021 A&G dupes that you're looking to trade, look me up, my TCDB ID is rmitchell6700.

I have a few thousand cards on the site up for trade...

Having fun with the hobby!

Robert

500 is in the rearview mirror

Have had a good run of trades so far this month on TCDB, so much so that the 500-transaction mark that I passed on the third is already up to 507, with 8 trades in some form of progress.

I received a small one today, just 5 cards, but they hit 4 different want lists which I thought was great.  I had to send a few Flyers cards to Paul (TCDB ID: flyers4life) but the cards I got in return filled some pretty good holes...

Starting off with a couple of current Maple Leafs to help add to the Leaf collection, which I decided to move to one of those solid plastic 4 row boxes that BCW is now selling (Amazon link here ).  I really do like the product, it's very sturdy but not super heavy (yet, I still don't have it full).  I got it for Christmas which was great because the price point had the box on my "do I want it that bad" list.  

Slowly creeping its way towards completion, 1981 Topps has been a relatively fun build so far and hopefully as it gets closer to being done I can find a Joe Montana RC for a nice price.   

Wish me luck

Another set that came as part of the trade is the 86-87 OPC set, with Steve Yzerman being a nice card to add to the set build.  I started knocking down a bunch of commons on Sportlots a while back, and I have a few more in my current Sportlots box.   The set is small, just 264 cards and I'm now about 2/3 of the way through.  A lot of big names still to go, including RCs of several great players with the most expensive being Patrick Roy.

One day, I truly believe I will hit a vein of these cards somewhere on the cheap and put a good dent into this want list.  The 2018-19 OPC Retro parallel is a beast at 600 cards, and I've not even hit the 50-card mark yet.  My eyes did light up a bit when I saw this as part of the trade package, which some might think a little crazy considering the rest of the trade you've already seen above, but hey this guy thinks a bit different than most!!

Thanks for the trade Paul, it is appreciated.   Hopefully more trades are in our future.

Still having fun here!

Robert

$3.5 million?? I have enough trouble buying cards on Sportlots for over a quarter

Yes, it's been 2 1/2 months since I've decided to write a post and my first attempt at writing was inspired by a tweet from Logan Paul (whom I have no idea about) saying he was bilked out of $3.5 million on a fake Pokemon card scam.

First, why in the world would anyone pay that kind of money for cards?  Don't understand that thinking at all.   I guess if you have it you're more apt to blow it, right?

Second, if I WERE to spend that kind of money, which I'd have to win the Powerball to even think about doing, I certainly wouldn't hit the Pokemon card market.  I know that there are people out there that are into those types of cards, but I imagine that the market for that down the road certainly would not be as big as for baseball/football/basketball/hockey cards.  

Hell, in my world I still struggle buying cards for more than a quarter on Sportlots when I'm placing orders.  Yes, the "I can't see them in front of me when I'm buying them" still plays a big part of it, even though I've placed enough orders over the past few years to know the sellers that are reputable and those that shouldn't be grading 2nd grade math tests, let alone cards.

But I digress....

I've had lots of fun since I last wrote at the end of October, cards mostly playing a part of that.  I doubt anyone noticed that I stayed away from the New Year's "what I'm going to do this year" ritual that I've done for the past few years.  I'm going to do the same thing I've done for the past decade on the blog.  Collect cards, trade with the good folks on TCDB, write from time to time and try to finish some more sets.

1979 Topps football is one set that I've added to over the past couple of months, this one part of a trade on TCDB that also contained cards from a couple of A&G sets that are on the go...

While I've been away, I've managed to knock quite a few cards off of the A&G want lists thanks in part to a lot of great traders on the TCDB site.   My current want list total for Allen & Ginter sets between 2006-2020 is at 955 cards, which isn't bad for getting into chasing these late in the game.   I have 3 years (06,07 & 14) which all have over 200 cards each.   

I also haven't even started on 2021 yet, so there's still a bit of work to do.   

I tried to make a big push right at the end of 2021 to hit the 500-transaction plateau on TCDB and didn't quite make it (498), but it was good to get trading again as my job and my house (more on the house in another post) kind of put a dent into card collecting for a couple of months.  

Back and having fun...still

Robert