Getting ready for the first storm of 2020

With Isaias approaching the eastern coast of Florida in the next 24 hours, I've got some time to write a quick post (or 2) before tomorrow's day of preparation ahead of the first hurricane to hit south Florida this year. 

I've been holding these cards for a bit over a week now, my last purchase on eBay for probably another week at the least, maybe longer if I hold my grudge against the USPS.   I showed off the first card of the 5 card purchase earlier this week  with the Ryan/Seaver '74 Topps strikeout leaders card.

The only other baseball card I decided to purchase was part of my latest fascination, the '55 Bowman set. 

There's a couple of creases on the lower right corner which you can easily see, and the corners are well worn, but the back is clean with no ink marks, so this card is right up my alley.  Mike Garcia is the 5th card from the '55 Bowman set that I own, and while I do have a want list up on the TCDB, there's absolutely no hurry for me to chase this set.  330 cards is a great size for a mid 50's set for me, and what I think I'll have some fun going after are the umpire cards. 

The other 3 cards that I bought were also what I perceived to be great buys, all of them from early 70's OPC sets.

Back to the early days of the Buffalo Sabres for this 70-71 OPC card of Bill Inglis, whom I never heard of before purchasing this card for less than $2.  A quick look at the Hockey Reference page is in order!!

A quick look it was, as Bill only played 3 seasons in the NHL, managing just 36 games and 1 goal over that time.  Bill had one goal in the playoffs with the LA Kings in the 68-69 season.  Bill's best professional season would come in 1972-73 for the Cincinnati Swords of the AHL, scoring 40 goals and 97 points.   Seeing this I had to find an image of the team's logo, and here it is in case you were curious...

Next up is a pair of Phil Esposito cards, which I believe are quite underpriced from the early 70's when you're finding them for $2-$3

Up top is the Art Ross Trophy card from the '71-72 set that I'm working on, and for $3.25 it was in my cart in no time.   Even better is the Esposito/Clarke card scoring leaders card from 73-74 OPC which was just $2.  Esposito was the runaway scoring champion in the 72-73 season with 130 points, 26 more than Bobby Clarke.  Only 2 others hit the century mark, Bobby Orr at 101 and Rick MacLeish had 100. 

With the impeding storm coming up, we'll see how long it takes before the boredom kicks in and I start surfing online for more cards....

Enjoy the hobby and stay safe!

Robert

Sometimes just talking about cards is a lot of fun

I need, maybe it's need  to get more involved in card discussions on Twitter.   I had probably one of my best experiences talking about cards on Sunday evening, and I didn't speak one word out of my mouth.

It started off with a tweet by everyone's favorite Night Owl, who inquired about people running a card blog and actively trading on the Trading Card Database website.   Well, I had to chime in on this one, because for the last year and a half the TCDB has been in my wheelhouse. 

How do I do both he asked.  If you've read this blog for the past 19 months, you'll know exactly how.

I've combined the two.   Using the trades I've made to keep the blog going.  The site has really helped me "focus" my collection, largely by helping me keep want lists up to date.  I did that relatively well over the years on the blog, but a lot of times I found that I wound up with cards I didn't need via blog trades because folks sent me stuff that I already had, but hadn't marked off on the want lists here.

That's pretty much been eliminated by using TCDB.

I tweeted with a couple of people that have had negative experiences on the site, either from rude traders (not everyone is good on any trade site, unfortunately), or from having difficulty navigating the site. 

 I've run into rude people on the site, it happens.  I try not to be that guy.

On the other hand, the navigation I've learned the hard way.  Trial and error.   Clicking and figuring out what happens when I do stuff on the site.  It's been fun at time.  I've cursed at my computer screen so loud sometimes that my wife asks me what's going on.

So far, using the website has helped me do something I thought would never happen.   Get my collection more organized.  It was a mess, a bloody mess.  It's still not totally together, but at least the several thousand cards I have for trade are in a place where I can find them easily.   That is a win for me.

The best part of this whole post was just relaying that I had a conversation (real or imagined) about the hobby I love, with several other collectors.  I don't get that very often, so when I do I enjoy it as much as possible.

Hence this evenings post....

Enjoy the hobby!!

Robert

Working on #10

As I mentioned yesterday, the final set of the first 10 I'm completing in 2020 is 1974 Topps.  With the latest postal slowdown, I might take my time on this one, as the post office is "playing games" with the packages that are heading my way. 

I have received 3 cards from the set over the past 10 days however, and the speed in which the want list is dwindling is just fine for me right now.

Jack Aker came to me via a trade with new trade partner Pete (TCDB ID: AirPete).  This was one of the larger trades I've done in quite a while, requiring me to spend some time in a post office line, which is always entertaining.  Why you may ask, because I get to see a good amount of people who know nothing about the postal system and the services they provide.   Entertaining because it's fun to watch people in frustration wait in line for 15-20 minutes, time that is much better spent elsewhere.

Maybe if the USPS would keep their automated kiosks running well on a regular basis, lines would be much shorter...

I sent James (TCDB ID: jlcre2003) a bunch of 2015 Topps Heritage to help in his set completion quest and this was the '74 T I received in return, a Billy Grabarkewitz card featuring him in a Phillies uniform.  I really hadn't heard of Billy before, so I looked up his career stats, and outside of the 1970 season where he hit .289 with 17HR, he didn't have much of a career stat wise to mention. 

Last up is the Strikeout leaders card featuring Nolan Ryan and Tom Seaver.  Not a bad price for this on eBay, $7 with free shipping, something I always take advantage of when ordering from the Battersbox.  #2 on the strikeout list for the AL, Bert Blyleven, had 7 more K's than Seaver, but finished a distant 2nd (125 less) to Ryan's 383 strikeout total. 

I'm still kind of mulling whether I want to tone down my online card spending for the next few weeks until I see what goes on with the USPS slowdown.  It's already been frustrating to have 3 packages in the past 2 weeks get to the Opa Locka sorting center, which is just over 25 miles from my house, take 2 days to get a package from there to my post office, which is less than a mile from my house.  Yes, it's a bit of a rant, but it really is frustrating.  Kind of shows a lot of what's prevalent in today's world, businesses putting customer service behind the almighty dollar.

Enjoy the hobby!!

Robert

9 out of 10: Speaking of 9

The day after the blog's 9th birthday (which was this past Thursday if you missed it), I received the final 6 cards of the 2013-14 OPC set to finish off the 9th of 10 sets that I started out the year to complete.   First off, I'm going to show the 3 cards I purchased on eBay to get to the final 6...

I've made purchases like this before on eBay, and usually come out pretty happy.  It was one of those deals where the seller sets a flat price, then in the listing has the actual prices of all the cards they have for sale.  For me, this worked out well, as some of the prices for these 3 cards (especially the Galchenyuk) border on the high side, even for talented players.  The cards cost me $12, as the dealer knocked a couple of dollars off the shipping cost which I thought was pretty decent.

The seller's name is duckshockeyfan and as you might have guessed deals strictly with hockey cards.  I'll certainly be heading back to them to finish up another set or two in the future.

The other 6 SPs from this set came from all the way up in Thunder Bay, ON as Rusty (TCDB ID:rustyk) was kind enough to send me these in a deal in which I messed up and surely forgot to send everything that was promised from my end.   I truly wonder if working from home and being a hermit as I am now is starting to mess with my brain a little.

To make up for my mistake I found a few extra cards to send his way, hopefully they get there in the next week or 2 with how the mail is going right now.

All right, just one set left on the New Years list, 1974 Topps.  It's down to 35 cards to go with a purchase and a trade or 2 that have come in recently.  The want list, in case you're curious, is so.

1,4,10,55,126,181,182,197,209,226,245,250,251,263,268,270,300,301,317,331,
339,340,359,363,398,402,420,480,492,523,530,540,575,582,597

A couple of Hank Aaron specials at the beginning (1 and 4), Pete Rose, Johnny Bench and a few other stars are on the list, but I should be able to chop away at it and hopefully be done by labor day.

Then we start on the next batch of sets.   Nothing easy for this guy.

Enjoy the hobby!!

Robert

Out of one, many

Many will know the common Latin phrase used on American currency e pluribus unum, translated means out of many, one.

Well, I received a trade in the past week that had me thinking just the opposite.  For one Wayne Gretzky card, I received many cards in return from new trade partner Charles (TCDB ID: CharlesD).  Charles helped me with a trio of hockey sets, and a card for a couple of player collections.

Likely to be one of the next 10 sets up for completion is the 18-19 OPC set, which after a strong couple of trade months is down to 70 cards, 20 base and 50 SPs.  16 of the 50 are the team checklists, so I'm hoping to get them for a reasonable price, along with a good chunk of the rookies that I have left, many of which haven't established themselves in the NHL yet.

Still moving along very slowly is the 85-86 build, with only 38 cards in hand.  Nice to get a trio of star cards out of this trade.  Still a long way to go and a lot of big names to acquire, but this is one set that I'm looking forward to the fun of the chase.

Not far behind my love for 85-86 is the 86-87 OPC set, a little further along with 72 cards in hand, or just over a quarter of the set.  Again, nothing but stars in this group which is always good.  Some guy by the name of Patrick Roy and his rookie card are what's going to slow this build down at the end.   Again, the fun of the chase, right?

More additions to to a pair of my hockey player collections; especially nice is the Mats Sundin jersey card from the 07/08 Black Diamond set, #'d out of 100!   It's kind of funny that I appreciate trades for hockey cards more in the summer time than I do in the winter.   Wonder why that is....

Thank you for the trade Charles, the cards are really appreciated.

Enjoy the hobby!!

Robert