Want List Wednesday: 1986 Topps Football

The amount of writing has diminished greatly on this blog in 2021. I think a large part of it was that I didn't have my office space available; it was being used as a bedroom for a friend who was in the process of buying a house.  They moved in to their house this week, so things are starting to get back to normal.  

It has been quite some time since I posted a Want List post on the blog; I figured that the '86 Topps Football set would be a good one to write about since I've been really fortunate to obtain almost 85% of the set in just a few short months.   

I recently picked up this Donnie Shell in a trade with long time trade partner Josh (Royals and Randoms Blog) and when I updated the set on TCDB, I noticed that the want list is down to just 61 cards to go.  

Here's the list:

1,2,8,9,10,11 (Payton All Pro),12,18,19,20,21,24,25,34,44,45 (Marino), 67,74,90,101,112 (Elway),

132,133,144,152,154,155,157,160,161 (Rice RC),168,171,176,181,187,188,189,191,

225,226,244,272,275,282,283,284,285,287,297,298,307,310,345,356,363,371,374 (Young RC),

389 (Bruce Smith RC),390,391,394

The list isn't too formidable, there's a few names that will cost a bit of money but the list should be easy enough to finish by the end of the year.  

The older football sets have become a bit of a fascination for me and I've started picking up random cards here and there from the '79 and '81 sets to see if I can pique my interest in trying to put them together.  

Enjoy the hobby!!

Robert

2 for 5 is a good day for a hitter--for a card company...well

OK, this purchase result I felt was so funny that I had to share it with everyone this morning instead of waiting till later on today or the weekend.

First off, I'm going to say that the shipping time on this 5 card order was phenomenal.  Ordered from CA on Friday the 19th, arrived at my house in Florida yesterday.   Have to give props when it's due.

Now the cards.   This was a 5 card eBay order from one of the larger card sellers on the site.   I'm not going to mention the name, but it's on the west coast as I've already said.

2 for 5 is how they did.  Apparently the order filler on Friday has an issue with parallels.

First off, the positives

This was going to be a "Sunday 15" post that featured these 2 cards, but like I said, I couldn't wait to post this.

The Yastrzemski '72 Topps and the Esiason RC from '86 Topps were right on the money.  Both cards in really nice shape and they cost me $4.50 apiece.  This part was well done.

Now, this is where the games begin.   Let's start with a couple of cards from 18-19 OPC hockey.

I've mentioned quite a few times about the Next 10 set project.  18-19 OPC is one of the sets and I decided to start knocking off some of the cards.  Card 555 is Hellebuyck on the right and #557 is the Sedin twins on the left.  Both needed for my BASE set.

For those who don't know, these are the retro parallels.  Not even close to what the base cards look like.

What's even better?  I finally put up the retro set on the TCDB website as a want last week.  Luckily for the seller, this ends up as just a minor fail, as I'll just end up using these to fill my retro set, which hopefully will be completed by 2030.

Now, for the true fail....

The primary reason I started this order was to finish off my 2019 Gypsy Queen Green set.  Ken Giles of the Blue Jays, card #281, is the final card I need to complete the set.  Notice I said need and not needed.

Forget the Topps logo, where in the world do you see any GREEN on this card?  

I even checked the packing slip that they sent in the envelope.  It even says 2019 Topps Gypsy Queen Green #281 Ken Giles.

How is this not a total fail?  One, I only spent 99 cents on the card, so I'll just hunt around for it on Sportlots to finish the set.

Feedback wise, I'd love to hear how you'd do it in the comments, but I'm going to give:

• 2 positives for the Yaz and Esiason cards
• 2 neutrals for the Retro Parallels
• A negative for the Giles card

I don't give negatives very much, but to mess this order up like this, I feel its warranted.

A little bit of a delay in showing off the GQ set will happen because of this, but it's coming...

Enjoy the hobby!!

Robert

Sunday 15: Seven & Seven

 Stuck to my plan with the $15 purchase on eBay, trying to knock some higher dollar cards off the vintage want lists.   This past week, I grabbed a couple of $7 high number cards from a set that I've pretty much neglected over the past several months.   1959 Topps.

These are two players that I hadn't heard of, but with the way that card prices are rising in the current economy, 7 bucks apiece for a pair of high numbers was something I could live with.

I took a quick look at the remaining 77 cards on the '59 want list and I found a bit of hope.  I believe that there is about 2-3 dozen cards that I can hit up with my new plan and start to chip away at this set.  Probably the more doable plan for the near future will be focusing on hitting the 500 card mark in hand, which is just 5 cards away.  

Hitting that milestone may make me a little more motivated to get this done, but then when I look at what's left I cringe and put that thought in the back of my mind.

3 Mickey Mantle cards will do that to a fellow.

Enjoy the hobby!!

Robert

The Green Machine

 Staying true to my word at the beginning of 2021, I'm steadily working on finishing up the Next 10 sets.  4 are already complete and last weekend I decided on the 5th that is going to be completed.

Thats the 2019 Gypsy Queen Green parallel set.

I didn't think for one minute when I started this set back in 2019 that it would get done, or at least close to being done, this quickly.  My Sportlots order last weekend got me down to just 4 remaining cards.

Found 3 of the 4 on eBay, one of them still on the way here (Gerrit Cole), which left me with just one card remaining.   A Blue Jay no less, Ken Giles.  I found him last night on the bay for under a buck and combined that with a few other cards to take advantage of the one price shipping from Burbank Sportscards and this set should be done by this time next weekend.

I do plan to show it off in its entirety on the blog when I get everything in; 33 pages of scans isn't going to be too bad.

One of the 5 remaining sets on the Next 10 project, the 02-03 UD Vintage set, appears to be a tough nut to crack.  A good portion of the remaining cards are short printed star cards which have been a bit tough to find.  I have one card coming in by dog sled from Canada, but the others are going to have to wait for a bit.  2018-19 OPC hockey seems to be calling my name...

Enjoy the hobby!

Robert