52% of your daily fiber

A while back I received a Plain White Envelope in the mail, another of the many trades that I've received from fellow TCDB site members.  I had written down the title for this post on an index card, but I wish that I had saved the cardboard cutout that was used as a stiffener so I could show it off.

After a little bit of searching, I found the image on Google:

With a little bit of thought, I put the fiber in the cereal together with the cardboard I received and came up with the idea.  Now I doubt that the number of cards I'm going to show this evening will amount to 52% of the total that you're going to see today on all the blogs, but here's hoping!!

First up, the scans are a little better.  2nd, 16 cards off of the want list of the '70 Topps set that I've largely ignored for a couple years.  A few names you may recognize such as Jim Spencer, Mike Lum, Zoilo Versalles (who doesn't look very happy with his photo being taken) and Mike Torrez.

I'm also beginning to appreciate the cards such as the AL Playoff in the top center of the first scan.  Over the years they tend to focus on the stars, and naturally the teams that were successful in the playoffs.  

I'm further along than I thought for the 1970 Topps set, just over 60% complete.  It's another set that I started picking up here and there when I lived in PA a few years ago, and still hit it from time to time.

A couple of checklists, the AL RBI leaders' card, and a few names such as Mota, Gaston that you may recognize.  Also, the Dave Concepcion rookie that I got for under $3 and Catfish Hunter that I believe was around $2 were also some nice pickups from the 12 cards of the '71 set.  

The '71 set is more of an off again, still off again set that I've bought cards from over time; just over 300 cards in and I still can't seriously call this a set build.  If I ever get a couple of other sets done (68,69,72, etc.) maybe I'll get more serious about chasing it.  

Maybe 28 cards won't get you 52% of your daily recommended cardboard; I'd settle for even just 1%.  If that's the case, then you've had a good card day.

Robert

Dollar box diving Part 3

I had meant for this post to be up on the blog mid-week, but an illness took me out for a few days.  But now we're back up and running.  Scanned a few cards today, and I'm happy with what I was able to acquire to put a small dent into the 70-72 Topps baseball want lists.  

Apparently I had the jitters when I was loading these 9 cards onto the scanner bed, but you get the idea of what I picked up.  Nothing real big time here, but it was nice to get an AL playoff card into the collection.  Still a long way to go to finish the 1970 set, just under 300 cards to go.  

1971 Topps hasn't been on the back burner for a while, it's been right off of the stove.  So when I started seeing these cards come up for a dollar apiece, I felt a bit of sympathy for the set, and a dozen cards have been added, including a few high-numbered cards.  

Now seeing these cards with a lot of dinged corners you're probably wondering what the excitement was to purchase them.   I know that this is a set that's going to take a very long time to finish and worrying about perfect condition for high-numbered cards at a cost of $1 was going to be silly.  Get them in, get the total number of cards to 299 out of the monster 752 card set, and move on.  

I've been jealous for a while; having seen a few people on Twitter complete this beauty of a set has me wanting to move on this 1972 Topps set for a few weeks.  Then I look at where I am (67% complete) and become aware of the fact that we're still a LONG way off.  Still, 7 cards off the list, 6 of them in the 600-699 # range still has me feeling a bit better about where I am.  

Still lots of sets I'm working on, I've also been on a bit of an A&G run lately to try and finish the 2006-2021 run.   

That is at least something that's achievable for me.

Robert

No pack pressure means...

Vintage coming aboard!  The retail insanity that is taking place has actually helped me.  I don't need to make side trips to Target or Wal Mart anymore in the hopes that there will be something in wax form for me to rip.  

I won't be chasing any Series 1 base, Heritage coming up is a no and likely nothing new for hockey until next year's OPC release.  Probably the only current product I'll be looking for is Allen & Ginter when it comes out in the summertime (July if my memory is good).

What's happening now is I'm still chugging along at my set building.  Still working on The Next 10 sets project, I have 6 of those remaining.  I'm slowly pecking away at those on Sportlots and hope to start knocking some more of those off the want lists soon.

But for now, vintage.  I've bought a lot of singles on Sportlots lately and I've even taken a chance with a bigger card or 2 without seeing it first.  Plus, I've started to reduce want lists for sets that I've been working off and on for a few years now.

Nothing fancy or spectacular here, but it's nice to see some '68 come into the house.   That set is almost halfway complete and there's a few more on the way via ebay likely the end of next week.  The Monday has a crease in it, but for a buck I thought it worthy of being part of the set.  

I've mentioned several times on the blog that '69 Topps is one of my favorites; I was able to find a dozen all reasonably priced (don't think I paid more than 60 cents for any of these) and get them off the want list.  Not sure if I finished any pages with this bunch, I'll be checking on that either this evening or tomorrow and update everyone on that.

I believe I paid $5 for the Ted Williams, which I didn't think was too bad.  Someone in its past life stamped a blue T in the bio, but the card is still pretty nice otherwise and I'm glad it is off the list.  

I would love for a team to bring back the sleeveless jerseys again, the Dick Green and the Rick Monday '68 card are 2 reminders of why I feel that way.   It's just a good look.  With the way a lot of these young players take care of themselves now, I'm sure the gun show would be a good look for a lot of them...

I'll have to go back and look again at my TCDB history on the '72 set, but I believe I've knocked off at least 40 cards from this set this year.  Much like the '69 set, I didn't pay very much to get these into the collection.  I'm pretty sure that the 60 per cent mark is closing in for this set, but with the size that means there's still a long way to go.  

I think combined I spent a blasters worth here, the best part being it all came to me.   No chasing cards at big box stores at all.  

I could get used to this...

Enjoy the hobby!!

Robert

 

Starting to chop down the '74 Topps tree

As I mentioned the other day, it was time to get started on knocking down the '74 Topps want list.  Not only did I make one trade on TCDB that netted me a couple, I also hit the Bay for a few of the star cards as well.

Lousy, lousy scan

I had to dig through my trade archives, but this trio of cards was part of the 2nd trade that I've made with Hal (TCDB ID:halfnard), and not only did I knock a couple commons off of the '74 want list, I was also fortunate to gain the '70 Dave Johnson card, one of the few cards I have left #'d less than 100 on that list. 

Hal had notified me that he may have a bit of a delay in shipping due to the wildfire situation out west, which I totally understood (safety first of course!) and still the cards got here just a few days later safe and sound in their PWE.   Thank you Hal!

For $9 shipped in a bubble mailer, one of my reliable eBay sellers oldbbcards sent me this very nice copy of Johnny Bench.  I've had my eye on it for quite a while, and this was probably the nicest copy that I have seen on all the sites.

I was surprised to find the #4 Hank Aaron Special on eBay for just $5, so it quickly went into my cart.  This card was courtesy of seller hhm224, someone who I used for the first time but would recommend as I bought this card on Saturday, and here it is in my hands on Tuesday!  This leaves me with just the #1 card left out of the 6 Aaron Specials and from what I'm seeing it's going to run me about $20-$30.  Chances are #1 may be the last card I hunt to complete the set.

I have 2 more from the '74 set on the way, which will reduce the list to just 21 cards, including 2 checklists.  6 of those are currently in my Sportlots cart, so the '74 Topps tree is starting to get a little smaller.

Enjoy the hobby!!

Robert

Out of the blue--stateside

In the middle of a heavy rainfall late yesterday afternoon I popped out to the mailbox to ensure that any potential card packages inside didn't get wet.   I have just under a handful of trades on the go, and was hoping that I might get one or 2 of those in yesterday.

I actually got 3 PWE's from 2 fellow bloggers, neither of which I had any idea that they were coming.  Gotta love the surprises!!

The first one was from everyone's favorite Night Owl, Greg.  He had sent me an envelope not too long ago, so getting this was a very nice surprise.

A couple of mid 90's Leafs to add to the collection.  I do have the collection and a want list posted on the TCDB, but probably don't do a good enough job of advertising it to the masses.  The collection I have is just over 800 cards total, with a good mix of older cards along with the 90's and newer stuff.  Always looking for Leafs, so these are a welcome sight.

Moving on to the vintage portion, 1 each from the 70 and 71 sets came my way.  The Bobby Wine card taught me that I need to check my want lists that I have on the blog soon, as I have him marked as in hand on the TCDB, but had his card on the want list on the blog.  Need to fix that.

Joe Moeller's '71 Topps card is no doubt a duplicate in the vast sea of Dodgers cards there in Upstate New York, but is most certainly welcome here in the deep south.  I'm thinking that '71 may be the last of the 68-72 Topps run that I will complete, as I only have just over a third of the set in hand, and am in no hurry to work on it.  That desire may grow a bit next year, we'll see.

Now these '72s are beauties, not just because they are in nice shape, there's also

•  Joe Ferguson's card is his rookie card, and a great catchers shot even if it is posed
•  They are both in the high numbered card range (Ferguson is 616, Team Card is 522)

I have very little in the way of cards above the 400's in hand, so seeing these was extra special.  I'm a little farther along with the '72 set, but at just under 54% done, there's a long hill to climb.  No worries though...

Within a week's time, I went from needing 2 Nolan Ryan cards for the '78 set to needing none.  Immediately upon looking at the K leaders card I was struck that Niekro was the NL league leader.  I looked at the back and had to see the names he left in the dust:

1.  Niekro 262
2.  J.R. Richard 214
3.  Rogers 206
4.  Carlton 198
5.  Seaver 196

Now I know the knuckleball can be a tough pitch to hit, but Phil left those other strikeout artists in the dust during the '77 season!!

The Tommy Lasorda card is one that I know I saw on the Owl's blog a couple months back and had asked Greg if he had an extra copy lying around.   Voila!!

The '78 set want list is rapidly dropping, now down to just 48 cards to go.  When I started the year, I needed 79 cards, so I'd say progress is going rather well.  Maybe my ebay shopping in the next couple of weeks will net me the Molitor/Trammell RC, and then it'll be all down hill from there.

Greg, thank you for the PWE, the cards are really appreciated!!

Enjoy the hobby and stay safe!

Robert

Royals for Royals (and a Yankee and a Mariner)

Knocked off a few more wants with a recent trade with Matthew (TCDB ID: jmswyo), and outside of a pair of player collection cards, nothing but KC Royals went in the mail.  I'm sure if John Olerud or Andrew McCutchen had played for the Royals, I'm sure those cards would have went in my direction as well!

This trade was so easy, I decided to limit it to just one scan.

Right in the middle of the scan, a bit of 2017 A&G help   The Cain is a SP, and I now have 26 out of the 50 short prints from the set, and that's with 145 total cards left on that want list.

Bat rack card aficionados I'm sure have the Bob Oliver card from 1970 Topps in their collections. If they don't, or worse if they weren't aware of it, it may have become part of an updated want list.  The Steve Busby card for '78 Topps drops that want list to 50 cards, as I received a couple of star cards from that set today from a recent eBay purchase, which you'll see in the next few days.

Any cards that help out player collections are always welcome, and I believe that the McCutchen card you see above is the first one that I own that features him in pinstripes.  I don't know what to make of the Olerud in the Topps 205 design from 2003; I think the design is OK but it doesn't really wow me.  I actually like it better looking at it in hand than on the scan.

Still, it's a half dozen cards from a great trade partner, thank you very much Matthew they are appreciated!  Look forward to our next trade.

Enjoy the hobby and stay safe!

Robert

Night Lite

So my De Lux post last week garnered a response from a long time trade partner, and even longer time blogger, the Night Owl.  Needed the Gavin Lux from Series 1 to finish my set, and his was the first response saying he had an extra one somewhere and would send it my way.

I'm quite positive that my envelope was part of his P.O.'d post on Tuesday (which I totally related to BTW).  Just a couple days later, my PWE had arrived, with a half dozen cards from a trio of sets.

Why wait until the end, let's start off with the main reason he sent me the envelope, the final card for my 2020 Series 1 flagship set, Gavin Lux.   Along with it he sent another card for the '85 insert set from this year, Chris Paddack.   I have no idea who Paddack is (sorry Padres fans), maybe someone will educate me a little ( or a lot ) in the comments.  Still haven't quite hit the 30 card mark on this, but with a trade or 2 on the way, that should change soon.

Next up is a pair of '69 Topps cards, most welcome here at my house!  Most of you will know Bob Rodgers by his more famous nickname Buck.  1969 would be Buck's last season as a player in the majors, all 9 seasons spent with the Angels.  I remembered him managing the Expos and the Angels, but did not remember that he was the skipper of the Brewers in the early 80's before being replaced in 1982 by Harvey Kuenn, which would spawn the "Harvey's Wallbangers" season for the Brew Crew.

Finishing off the envelope is a pair of cards from the 1970 Topps set, including Seattle Pilot John O'Donoghue.  John was actually part of a pretty decent bullpen in Seattle, appearing in 55 games in 1969 with an ERA just below 3, and 6 saves.  There were some names in the pen you may or may not remember, Jim Bouton and Diego Segui were also part of the pen, and one of the starters would become a rubber armed reliever just a few seasons later, Mike Marshall.  John's son would also pitch in the majors, albeit just 11 games for the Orioles in 1993.

Greg, thank you as always, the cards are really appreciated!!

Enjoy the hobby and stay safe!

Robert

Trade Week: RabinFW

This trade was the first time I was fortunate enough to trade with Allen, who PC's Adrian Beltre.  I've had a Allen & Ginter Relic from 2012 sitting in my trade box for quite a while, and Allen was good enough to make me a 4 card offer for it, with a nice mix of vintage of new stuff.

I can honestly tell you that I hadn't heard of Abraham Toro before this trade took place.  You might think that's a lot of bull, but it's the truth.

These sets I like to call the "forgotten 3" of my vintage set building run.  I really haven't added anything of consequence to these 3 sets in the longest time, so whenever I can get anything in trade from these sets, it's always great!  The Matty Alou card has a bit of character to it, some minor creases on the left hand border, and you can see a faded tape stain on the Bill Denehy card with some close inspection, but to me all 3 are great, and they knock each of their respective want lists down by 1.  

Thank you for the trade Allen, hope you enjoy the Adrian Beltre relic!!

Enjoy the hobby!

Robert

Royals doubles

While surfing card twitter one night last week, I came across a conversation between AJ from the Lost Collector blog and Matt (Twitter ID:@jmswyo) talking about TCDB and how Matt had just started on there.

Matt's a KC Royals collector, so I interjected my 2 cents and advised him that there may be a few Royals on my trade list he might need.   Next day, I had an offer waiting for me.  Nice!

No doubt that these 4 cards are doubles, as I'm sure I wouldn't have them if that weren't the case.

Nice vintage mix here!  All of them in nice shape, nothing too glamorous but definitely good enough for this guy.  Jim Campanis from the '70 set is especially good since his card # 671 is one of those dreaded high numbers I'll need to start chasing eventually (there's 86 of them...ugh!).  Two '72s and a '69 rounded out the vintage.

I really need to get back on the '69 train eventually, I love that set very much but have been slow to get rolling on it.  I just hit the 200 card mark this week.

Even the Ichiro Matt sent me is blue!!

I'm glad that I've finally figured out the scanning problems...love this scan!

2016 Gypsy Queen blue framed parallel in hand brings the Ichiro collection up to 243 cards, a mere blip on the mega amount of cards that he has out there.   I'm still having fun though adding cards here and there of the superstar.  One day I'll have to maybe pick up an auto or a jersey card or two.  His is the largest player PC I have that doesn't contain a hit.

Matt's TCDB ID is the same as his twitter, jmswyo, and he comes recommended highly.  Thank you for the cards Matt, they are appreciated!!

Enjoy the hobby!

Robert

Binder worthy

More dime finds from the monthly card show today.   This group of '70 Topps brings this set build close to 50% (actually just 2 cards shy) and will prompt me to get them put into pages and in a binder within the next week.

Scan looks a bit blurry to me, although it could be my eyes hallucinating from the heat down here in south Florida.  Two straight days with Rico Carty in a post, although this card was about $1.50 cheaper than the '69 I showed yesterday.

While still not the greatest looking set, '70 Topps is growing on me a bit.   I'm starting to notice little things, such as the Red Sox card of Vicente Romo in the upper left corner.  Wondering why the Red Sox lettering isn't in red.  Carl Yastrzemski's lettering is in red.  The one other Red Sox card I found on a quick search of what I have has the same yellow lettering.

The two A's pitchers that I found both have A) their hands over their head, and B) black lettering on the A's in the upper right corner.   The lettering for the team name doesn't seem to have any rhyme or reason that I've figured out (yet).  Maybe someone out there has more insight into this

This last group of 5 brings today's total to 23, a nice add for a dime apiece from an early 70's set.  The checklist?  Has only one card checked, card #542.  You guessed it, #542 is the 6th series checklist.

I'll never figure out how I managed to add almost 360 of these cards to my collection.   I haven't chased them on purpose even once over the years.   They just seem to find their way into my pile at card shows more often than I can imagine....

Thanks for reading!

Robert

The bounty of Wes continues

A good many of you know, and were part of, the bounty of Wes.  Area 40 (a name which I'm a little afraid to ask about) was the name of the blog where Wes bid adieu to the blogging game and gave away a whole lot of cards to the good folks of the blogosphere. 

I received a ton of A&G cards, which did the following:

• Nearly completed my 2018 set
• Added to several other A&G sets, including '16 and '17
• Gave me a boat load of minis, which aren't my cup of tea.

But lucky me, I have used a fair bit of those minis to enhance my vintage set builds by trading them to frequent TCDB trade partner Bill (TCDB ID: minibbcards).  Another great trade arrived at my doorstep on Monday and included these:

I know this isn't vintage, but I wanted to show this first because I was kind of shocked when Bill had this on the trade offer.  Had no idea that Bill had anything like this in his stash....

Love me some 69s!!  I had no idea that Amos Otis started out with the Mets.  I only ever knew him as a KC Royal.  Not all commons here, as names like Alomar, Aparicio and Koosman (2nd year) found their way here.  All 4 of these sets are a long way from completion, but each little chip in the armor is always great to see.   '69 completion total:  178 cards, just over 26% done.

This could possibly be the worst scan ever.  No matter, as I'm 3 cards closer to a set that I never really intended to start putting together several years ago, but now I'm closing in on the 50% mark. 

This is more of a general statement than a slight at Bill or anyone else out there, but when you trade for '71 Topps cards, you just never know what you'll get.  I've made some trades where cards were fine enough, but they definitely showed their age.  Know what I mean?

These '71s are wonderful.  Clean, sharp corners, almost look as if they just came out of a pack!  It's also cool that I got Robert Barone's favorite player in this group of 9 (kudos to you if you know who it is).

Another set that has a long way to go, '72 Topps cards are also a welcome sight.  Nice to get one of the '00' cards out of the way in Joe Torre.  I knew that Joe had some really good seasons at the plate, but his 71 stats are damn good.  .363 average, 230 hits, 24 HR and 137 RBI, 97 runs scored.  That's one of those seasons in a 5x5 fantasy league that you dream about.  These 4 cards bring me up to an even 150 so far, not bad but I don't expect to finish this set any time soon....

Bill, thank you for the trade, the cards are greatly appreciated!!

Double Digits

You may or may not remember that I set myself just a couple of goals at the beginning of the year, one of them being the lofty goal of completing 100 trades on the TCDB website in 2019.  It may be a bit tough to complete this goal, but I'm a little closer this week as I hit the double digit mark with this trade with Charles (TCDB ID: chemistclete). 

I sent Charles a dozen cards from various vintage and modern sets, and in return I received a bakers dozen cards from 5 sets that I'm slowly putting together.

Let's start with one of my favorites, 1969 Topps.   Each card I acquire just increases my love for this set, especially the backs.

I'm guessing that time affects the shades of pink that the backs have, as many of the cards I have for the set have a sharp/bright pink color, while others (such as the Roy Face) look dull and faded.  No matter, as the backs combined with the simplicity of the front will make this set one of my favorites when completed.   These 4 put me just over the 1/4 complete mark.

Two more from the '70 set to add to the collection.  I still can't believe that even though I've never really "pursued" this set, I'm approaching the halfway mark (just 36 more to go).  I'll have to look, but I don't really remember picking up any major stars from this set yet, so that will be another hurdle in completing this one.

Another set that I really haven't dabbled much in is the '71 set.  These 4 cards get me to the 100 card total.  As you can see the Spiezio and McQueen cards are going to be set fillers for the time being, as the lower left corners have been clipped, similar to playing cards that have been removed from casino tables.

1 from the '78 and 2 from the '79 Topps sets finish off the post.   The Jerry Reuss Pirates card might feature one of the brightest uniforms ever featured on a card.  Still a beauty though.  The '79 set might be a contender for completion this year, as I'm just over 57% done now, and if I'm able to attend the NSCC this summer (which is my plan), I'm sure I'll find a few dealers there that can whittle down the list.

Trades like this are perfect for me, as they mirror my purchasing habits.   A little bit of this and a little bit of that.

Charles if you're reading this, thank you for the trade, the cards are appreciated!!

Thanks for reading!

Robert

5 in a row

Funny what pops into your head when you start to write a post.   Me, being the obsessive numbers guy, thought to myself "when was the last time I posted 5 days in a row?"  Took a couple of minutes to look it up, but Sept. 20 through the 24th was the last time that happened.

Slacker.

No big deal really, as I'm still on the card trail most every day.   My desk is proof of that. 

Last weekend's card show knocked off a few cards from a trio of vintage sets.  At a quarter apiece, it wasn't hard to pick up these...

5 cards gone off of the '70 Topps set with this purchase.   This is the one set that I never have any intention of purchasing every time I go to a show, and somehow these cards just fall into my pile. 

Of the 5 sets between 1968 and 1972, this is probably my least favorite.  Of the 5 sets between 1968 and 1972, this is probably the one that I'll finish first.  The Munson RC and a 3rd year Nolan Ryan will be the stumbling blocks, but other than that with some patience I should be able to get the other big names for reasonable prices.  This year I'll probably just hit the 50% mark....

Another group of cards that I couldn't leave behind at 25 cents apiece.  While flipping through the stack that the dealer had, I tried to get what I could of the team cards as well as the rookie stars.  I still haven't even the 100 card mark for this set, but there's no hurry as it's probably near the bottom of the "expect to finish before the 2020's end" list.

Was there a time when Billy Martin wasn't arguing as a manager?

Ralph Garr=blurry

Various pitching poses

Reading the Night Owl's blog that chronicled his chase of the '72 set, especially the high numbers, makes me wonder if I may have bitten off more than I can chew. 

Seeing these '72 Topps cards brings me back to the late 1990's when I first started picking some of these up, and then got frustrated with how slow I was putting the set together that I got rid of them.  I still wouldn't be anywhere near completing the set even if I had those, but I sure would be further ahead than the 16% I am right now. 

Still have a lot of cards to post, so hopefully I can keep the string of consecutive days going. 

Thanks for reading!

Robert