Dirty tease

I went on a bit of a spending spree at the end of last week.  I decided to hit up Sportlots to try and knock a couple of want lists down.  Mission succeeded.

In what might be a record shipping time, I received the first of my 2 orders yesterday.  The 2013 A&G want list is all but dead.  Just 2 cards remaining now, the Manny Machado RC and the Pele correct version (yes, I do want the writing on the back).

42 cards were in the lot, 20 of them were very affordable short prints (either 27 or 37 cents).

I took a quick look through the 42 cards while writing the post.  Not one non-ball player in the group.  Plus a lot of them were legends, Clemente, Gehrig, Rickey Henderson, Jeter, Mays, Whitey Ford, etc.

Great group of cards for under $20 to nearly finish this set.  I don't know if the seller was wanting to give me a bit of a heart attack, but this a picture of the snap case he sent the cards with...

Now, I would have been very happy had the case been full of 1961 Topps cards, but I'll settle for what I have now.  Wonder what the other group of cards that I bought from the Sportlots site will arrive in?

Robert

TCDB trade #622, 2 of this, 2 of that, and a guy formerly known as Mike

Man that was easy.  Trade offered by Chris (CH34) on the Wednesday, I replied the same day and within 8 days we both had our new cards in hand.  Some Heritage went Chris' way, and I received 5 cards that helped with some collections.

The Jim Thome collection is now up to 669 cards:

I've been getting a lot of his cards lately in trades; I remember not long ago my Thome collection just passed 600 cards.  Now I'm hoping to hit the 700 card mark later this year.  I've been getting them 2 and 3 at a time in trades, so I think 700 is very possible.

The Ichiro Suzuki collection is now up to a nice 333 card total:

No goals are in place for Ichiro, but I'm enjoying the growth of his collection over time.  I'll never go after his big ticket items, the base cards along with the cheaper parallels and inserts are good enough for me.  

My 2013 Allen & Ginter set build increased by one in this trade also:

Stanton is #303 out of the 350 card set that I have in hand.  47 to go, almost half of them are the Short Prints.  All but one of them are baseball players, the soccer legend Pele is the only one that stands out from the others.  Interesting the two versions of the Pele card, one has no description at all on the back, The prices I've found for them on eBay are around the $15 mark, not bad.  

Thank you for the trade Chris, the cards are appreciated!!

Robert

Trade 605: Spoiled with this one

A nice bit of trades have happened lately on the TCDB website for me.  I have a pair that I'm going over in the next 2 posts, which includes this evening's courtesy of Bill, a long time trade partner.

Bill hit a few of my want lists.  Set wants and player wants.  Simple.  Great stuff.  Needed.

2013 & 2014 A&G.  If it isn't short printed in this scan, it's a star card.  NICE!  The 2013 set is right at 80%, well within range of being completed sometime soon.  2014?  Well that one isn't so close; I just hit the 200-card mark with this lot so there is a ways to go.  I've been trying to get some cards from these 2 sets, along with the 06 & 07 original Allen & Ginter sets in trades on the site.  

Lots of blue and white in this scan.  Sundin and Potvin collections, 3 more each.  The Marner's will go into the Leafs collection.  Even though they are down 3-0 against the Panthers, I'll always cheer on the team.  I hope that they at least get one win from this series tonight; a 4-game sweep after the 19-year drought was broken will probably tarnish the accomplishment.  

Thank you for the trade Bill, it is appreciated!

Next trade post, it won't be pedestrian.

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

15 months is a long time

It had been over 15 months since I had hit a card show, until today.  I had planned to go to the West Palm Beach card show for a couple of weeks now as the date is easy to remember, the 3rd Sunday of every month.  

It had been over 2 years since I was to this particular show, as the last couple that I had been to were kind of disappointing due to very low dealer turnout.  The show was still in the same location and I was kind of curious to see what it would be like when I arrived.

The parking lot was a lot more full than I remembered, which was a good sign.   I was actually greeted by the promoter when I walked into the hall, a very nice gentleman who was kind enough to let me know that entrance was "mask required".  Even though I've been fully vaccinated for over a month now, I had no problem putting a mask on after taking a quick peek inside and seeing everyone masked up.

I was shocked to see that the hall was full, tables front to back were all occupied by dealers.  I arrived at 10AM, an hour after the show started and there was a decent crowd inside.  (I actually heard one of the dealers say that this was the "slowest" show in a few months, which really surprised me)  I walked in and started wandering around, finding a table that had dime boxes (9 monster boxes crammed full).

I sat down, the first box was a bit slow for me as I only pulled out a few cards, then I started hitting some good stuff (well, at least for me).

A page worth of Ichiros, including the trio at the bottom that I hadn't seen previously.  10 cents apiece didn't hurt as well.

More player collection cards, definitely not what I intended when I left for the show this morning, but they didn't hurt.

Top row:  A pair of '08 UD heroes black parallels.  That particular set is almost 10% in.  The Anthony Rendon is serial #'d out of 99, a wonderful find for a dime!

Middle Row:  Mario Lemieux in the dime box will always end up in my pile.  The 2 stadium club cards are first day parallels.

Bottom Row:  Trade fodder, which was a nice portion of what I brought home today, with some household names.

I traded off a bunch of the Yankee Stadium Legacy cards a while ago on TCDB, this half dozen will prop up the trade pile for those.

Steven Jackson is another football player that I always enjoyed watching, love his nickname (the bull) and his running style.  10 cents and 10 cents.

I've been pretty hot with collecting the A&G run of sets the past few months and this was the key find for me, over 50 cards from the '13 A&G set, of which I have very few cards.  This set had taken such a back seat to a bunch of others that I hadn't even added a want list to the TCDB.  There are probably a few dupes in the group, but this batch will probably get me over the 20% mark and with a dozen SPs coming home today, it's probably time to update that list on the site.

Last up I grabbed a bunch of serial #'d Topps Moments and Milestones cards.  There was almost 2 dozen that I found with a nice price, so I grabbed them.  

My count was 245 dime cards and two hours of digging through boxes and chatting with other collectors.   The cost?

$20

For me, it was worth the 15 month wait.  I've already found out about another card show closer to home next weekend.  I'll be sure to check it out....

Enjoy the hobby!

Robert

By the page: Allen & Ginter minis

I was just so glad to be able to get a bunch of the Allen & Ginter minis into pages (finally, thank you Greg!), that I couldn't wait to show them off.   Not that these are something that hasn't been seen in the blogosphere a hundred times before. 

I must admit, I was a little surprised at how good they look in pages.   Don't know why I was surprised, but I guess I didn't know what to expect until I put this page together.

Top row:  2011 Allen & Ginter

It's kind of weird showing a row of 5 cards.  Yes, there are 2 Brandon Morrow cards, one of them is an A&G back.

Middle row:   I thought I had 5 black parallels

I originally had an all black row.  Turns out that the Sergio Santos black parallel that I own is from Gypsy Queen.  So I had to improvise, and found a B.J. Ryan 2008 to go along with the 2007 version.

The solid black borders look much better in my opinion.

Bottom row:  Again I was one short

I'm not too fussy about the 2012 design, and when you put it side by side with a 2008, there's really no comparison, is there?

Not a perfect page by any stretch of the imagination, but I was just happy to be able to get these out of the Jays box and get them better protected.

I'm still a few cards short of a Gypsy Queen minis page ( I need 4 ) but being able to get the minis out of the box has prompted a few ideas for pages, which is a good thing.

thanks for reading, Robert

Nineteen

I don't know how he managed it.  Club PWE Maestro Jeff from the 2x3 heroes blog sent me an envelope of Blue Jays cardboard which arrived on my doorstep this past weekend.  Inside was a smorgasbord of cards that I needed to mark off of what seems to be an infinite Blue Jays want list that I've posted.

What did he manage you ask?  He hit 19 different sets on the want list.  1 card from each.

Let's start with a trio of horizontal cards...

Let's see, we have a two time HR champ, proof that one of the Molina brothers spent some time behind the dish in Toronto, and a Canadian that sadly only lasted one season with the Jays before being traded for Brian Wolfe.

Yep, that's 6 pitchers, each from a different set.  They go as far back as the Tom Henke Fleer All-star sticker from '88, all the way up to the 2013 Panini Hometown Heroes Dave Stieb.  That 2008 UD Josh Banks in the lower right corner is his RC, which he earned after pitching all of 3 games in Toronto in 2007. 

I enjoyed both of the Cracker Jack releases from the mid 00's; I was kind of sad that it never came back.  The Fred McGriff checklist on the far right is from the '89 UD set, and finally puts that particular set's want list to bed.

Believe it or not, my favorite of these 5 guys is Frank Catalanotto.  Did nothing flashy during his 4 years with the Jays, but his average was solid every season (.299, .293, .301, .300).  Again, 5 different players, 5 different sets.

Finally, here are my 2 favorites:

Love the Bowman Heritage Ricky Romero RC.  I don't know if it's just the green in the background, but his hat appears to have a bit of a green tinge to it.  No matter though, to me it's a sharp looking card and I'm glad to finally have it.

The Jose Reyes '14 black parallel was the centerpiece of the envelope.  It is #'d 08/63, and it is the first black parallel I own from this year's release.  I never bothered to put up the black parallel want list from the past couple of years, because I don't realistically expect to own more than a handful of these cards.  I decided to take a quick look at eBay to see what some of the cards are going for.   I saw a Josh Thole BIN for $2.99 (not bad), and I also spotted a couple of Jose Bautista cards going for $15 apiece. 

Jeff, fantastic envelope, thank you very much!  The cards are really appreciated.

thanks for reading, Robert

The wise one whittled away at my want lists

I was fortunate enough to catch a tweet earlier in the week from Greg at the Night Owl Cards blog, offering up some of his massive stack of Dodgers doubles.  I inquired about the availability of the 78-80 Topps portion of the doubles box, and during our twitter dialogue he informed me that an envelope was headed my way.

That envelope arrived last Thursday, and all the cards hit the Blue Jays want list, except for one solitary Dodger which knocked another number off the SNI list.

Let's take a look, shall we?

One of the earliest sets that I completed while writing this blog is the 2006 Topps set.  This was in large part due to a large donation from Greg.  Now, he finishes off the Blue Jays 2006 team set with these two cards:

On the back of Burnett's card, Topps mentioned that A.J. had the highest average fastball in MLB during 2005.  The 95.6 average is quite impressive, although I'm not too sure that I can remember the 104mph pitch that the back of the card claims he threw during that season.   I'm sure we would have heard more about it over the years with all the flame throwers that dominate the closer position now...

Greg sent a small sample of Panini needs my way.  It's kind of disappointing that Panini isn't able to secure a MLB license, because cards like the Hometown Heroes Shawn Green on the right would have been so much better with the Jays logo. 

Staying with the modern issues, this quintet of recent releases were all knocked off the want list.   The A&G Melky Cabrera is one of the 2 Blue Jay SPs.  The 2 opening day cards cut that list in half.  Drew Hutchison has become a part of the Jays rotation this year, and has pitched OK so far with a 7-9 record and a 4.44 ERA.   The Jays need to let him hit more, he's 2 for 3 so far this season!

Knock one more card of the serial insanity set.   Jon Garland is serial #'d 715, and is the 33rd Dodger card out of 50 for the set.  Just 355 more serial #'s to go.

Greg's note inside the envelope said there was a reminder of the good ol' days.  Sure enough these three 1992 Donruss cards did just that.   Greg Myers was actually traded during the 1992 season, right before the July 31st trade deadline in a deal that saw Mark Eichhorn return to the Jays.  Both Duane Ward and Mike Timlin were integral parts of the teams that won the '92 and '93 World Series.

Speaking of the 1992 season, included in the package was something I hadn't seen in a very long time.

A pocket schedule from the '92 season, in perfect condition! 

The one thing I got a kick out of when I read it was the note on the middle panel.   All games on CJCL Radio 1430.  With the Blue Jays having success in the previous seasons leading up to 1992, CJCL in Toronto realized there was a big opportunity to increase its listener base, and thus became Canada's first all sports radio channel.   The station eventually migrated to AM 590, where it sits today as "The Fan 590", which I still listen to for Leafs broadcasts, and anytime I'm able to head home for visits with family and friends.

All in all, a great package, and very much appreciated.  Thank you Greg!!

thanks for reading, Robert

Living vicariously through the Gint-A-Cuffs posts

I waited until the last day to decide, but I chose to not participate in the Gint-A-Cuffs V competition this year.  To those of you out there that are in the competition, good luck!

I have taken the time in the past couple of days to start looking at some of the posts, and I will say that I do like the cards so far.  I think that the lighter "border" this year are what appeals to me, and from the blaster/rack pack that I bought, the inserts are all right as well.

I guess I'll show off what I pulled, so you can see if there's anything that may interest you for your collection/set building needs:

How about the SPs to start?  I snagged 5 of them, one of which is Josh Johnson of the Jays.

Tell me how handy it was that the week this set is released, Jason Dufner wins a major!  I decided to run a quick eBay search, and thought it interesting that an auto'd A&G card is on a BIN for $100.   Wow.

You're wondering about the minis?  Sure, have a look:

There's that Dufner guy again.  The Doerr and Murray cards are both A&G backs.  I like the black bordered Scutaro mini.  I'm sure that these will find their way to good homes...

If I were to collect any of the insert sets, it would probably be the palaces and strongholds set.  I've always been fascinated about how man built some of the world's greatest structures, and these would be no different. 

I like the across the years insert set as well.   Comparing the birthdays of these ballplayers to other famous people was interesting to me.

Kudos to Topps for making the nameplate of Paul Goldschmidt absolutely unreadable.  It would have been very interesting to see what the NL central race would have looked like if Johnny Cueto had been healthy this year. 

While what I've posted here doesn't compare to the GAC posts, hopefully somebody will see a card or 3 that they want, and post a comment on the blog. 

Good luck to every one in the GAC competition, I'll be following the posts as closely as I can!

Thanks for reading, Robert