What I could buy for $100

Loved the post by the Night Owl the other day regarding the latest "cash grab" from Topps, the $99.99 Topps Heritage High Number set.  I can totally understand his criticism of the release.  A $100, 100 card release that promises one autograph is a little much to take, even with signers such as Darvish, Harper, etc.

What I'm skeptical of is only 1,000 sets being released.  How are we, the collectors, going to know that this is the case?  I didn't see any indication that sets are going to be serial numbered.  (Yes, I can be cynical)

Don't get me wrong here, I know that there are some out there who have already plunked their hard earned money down (Kaz, I hope you pull something really good!), and they are entitled to spend their collecting dollar how they see fit.  

I, however, am inclined to agree with Greg on this one.  I can't see myself plunking down a Benjamin on this set.   I like shiny new toys just as much as the next guy, but this endeavor just doesn't sit right with me.  Not that I had planned on finishing the '12 Heritage set anyhow....

If I read correctly, this set is going to ship November 3rd, so the month of November is going to be fun for me.

I'm actually going to use eBay for the month, and chronicle what the $100 is going to buy me.  Here are my 3 rules for what the purchases must achieve by the end of the month:

1. Since Topps is guaranteeing an auto in the box, I will purchase one auto as well.
2. I must finish the month with at least 101 cards (1 more than what the Heritage set provides)
3. The purchases must fit in with my collecting goals (set completion, SNI, Jays/Leafs, PCs of Sakic,Thome)

 Who know, maybe I'll finally get around to starting a collection of this guy:

The 2012 Heritage card of Thome?  Yea, that was done on purpose...

thanks for reading, Robert

The thrill of the chase...Serial Numbered Insanity

I really have tried to avoid using the habit blog in recent weeks to promote the Serial Numbered Insanity set.  I kind of felt that that I was taking a little away from the other blog by putting the cards that I have received from the blogosphere on trade posts here.

But last night's post led to tonight's post, and naturally I've made an exception.  Because SNI (loved the use of the initials Greg...had never thought of it until your comment) is the modern version of the thrill of the chase.

You hear a lot of chatter this way and that about inserts/parallels on blogs all the time.  Some guys love them, some guys like them only if they fit their collecting needs (team collectors, for example), and then there are those that wouldn't give I/P the time of day.

Suffice it to say, I am a junkie when it comes to numbered parallels.  A sad, perplexing addiction that probably stems from my love of numbers.  Seeing numbered cards such as this:

Card 574

Or this:

Card 228

are a constant reminder of the variety of sets that are already included so far.

Then there are cards that show the evolution of a player...

Cards 67 & 374

Some cards show that even limited print runs can be a part of it all:

Card 59

Certain cards that remind me of trades that were made as well..

Card 1

Then there is the joy of watching the way that pages develop when placing the cards into sheets, similar to the '64 Topps set I showed yesterday.

Some sheets have only 1 card:

Card 603 all by itself

There are some pages that by random chance show patterns:

Then there are the full pages that look great once completed!

Need to improve my full page scanner skills...

How does this give me "the thrill of the chase"?  There have been a few times now where I've gone to card shows, SNI want list in hand, and found numbered cards only to discover that I have that number already.  It's also been a blast when a fellow blogger/collector sends me the "hey Robert, I've got these numbers for your set" email.  There aren't many feelings that are better than a collector taking the time out to search through your lists, trying to help you out.  Awesome.

It's only going to get worse when I'm down to the last handful of cards, and need certain numbers from certain teams.  Just imagine, card #1142 is the last serial number, and I only need a Baltimore Oriole player. 

Needle in a haystack anyone?  Wondering if down the road the thrill of the chase because the nightmare of my existence....

Time shall tell...

thanks for reading, Robert

It's the thrill of the chase

On one of my many excursions back and forth from work lately, I pondered what my fascination has been over the past few months with collecting "vintage" sets.  When I first wandered back into collecting in the early 90's, there was nothing about vintage that I cared for.  The look, the price, the whole allure of older cards was lost on me.

I was focused on the here and now.  The shiny new kids on the block were the cards that caught my eye.  If it was Upper Deck in the early 90's, I collected it.  A lot.

Fast forward to the start of this blog, 20 years later during the summer of 2011. Shiny and new was still the method of my madness.  The more blogs I read, the more new shiny stuff I looked at, the more I gobbled it up.

Then something happened.  More and more blogs landed in my lap.  More collectors that enjoyed the vintage sets from the 50's, 60's and 70's.

I started to really look at vintage as a new source of collecting.  Why?  Because the way I collect vintage now is the way I collected the shiny stuff back in the early 90's.

Piece by piece.

You see, 20 years ago I was a poor college student who lived on a budget (sound familiar?).  I had only so much in my budget for cards, so sets took a bit of time to be completed.  I bought packs for a while, then as I approached the completion of a set, I would head for the singles binder at the local card shop.

Now, when collecting the modern sets (Topps flagship for example), all I would have to do is wait a couple of weeks, buy a hobby box, have the set 80-90 % completed, make a couple of trades, and voila!  Set done.

No thrill there.  Piece of cake.

Having started older sets such as the '64, '73 and '77 Topps releases has awakened the monster.  The guy who likes the thrill of the chase.  The cheap Scotsman who likes finding deals on vintage commons such as the one I found at the card show last weekend...

You remember the credo..."can't leave them at the show for that price"?  I walked by the table of a dealer I really haven't dealt with all that much, and there was the sign...

1970 Topps commons.  10 cents each

For $2, I started a 1970 Topps set, 20 commons worth.  Yikes, another vintage set to chase...at least I found a blog to follow that chronicles the '70 set. 

Here's another aspect of the chase that I enjoy now more so than I did 20 years ago.  Watching binder pages fill up.  Part of the problem back then was I didn't have the extra money to put any sets in binders and pages.

Fast forward to now, and collecting sets like '64 Topps almost have to be put in pages.  Watching pages fill up is another thrill that 20 years ago never existed (for me at least).

Cards 46-54...only missing #50

Now, this particular page may be the biggest thrill of them all when I finally am able to complete it.  Card # 50 that is missing....well that's none other than Mickey Mantle. 

I don't get that kind of thrill adding a SP from the '11 Heritage set to the binder.  Yea, Stephen Drew was a good pickup, but the wow factor just wasn't there.

I'm sure the Mick will provide that for me....

One day

Thanks for reading, Robert

A fable for the hockey lockout...

A few months back, a tale started about a ruthless group of owners who decided they were going to

and wait out the players until they caved in to their demands.  By doing this, the owners felt that they were really

and believed that by locking out the players they would keep more of their Gold Coins in their pockets.

AU is the chemical symbol for Gold...work with me here

Well, almost 4 months passed since the raising of Lord Stanley's trophy, and the owners finally realized that the players were calling their bluff.  The owners told Mr. Bettman to act

and start negotiating a better

for all parties involved.


In order for a full 82 game season to be played, the sides have approximately 10 days to work out a deal in order to get the season rolling by November 2nd. 

I don't know about everyone out there, but if this actually happened, I'd certainly be

Giggy

with it.

Praying that everyone comes to their senses sooner rather than later....

thanks for reading, Robert

Another 2012 goal bites the dust, my 500th post.

Post # 500 has arrived.  Boy, a lot has happened over the first 499 posts.

• I've made a lot of friends in the blogosphere and completed a lot of trades.
• I've posted quite a lot about my favorite teams (Blue Jays & Leafs), and also completed a few posts about my favorite player (Joe Sakic)
• I've run a few contests that have had some decent turnouts.
• I've had a few posts that have rang out (poor slang, I know) in the blog world (write what you want dammit...)
• I've seen a lot of new blogs start, and I've seen some veteran bloggers leave or take extended breaks away from blogging.

It's that last point that I will discuss more here on post #500.  First off, I have to say this to everyone.

I really do enjoy this.  I try to let the enjoyment I have for writing, and for our hobby, show in my writing.  Yes, I do at times get very negative and surly.  Part of that stems from the current mood that I may be in.  I am human after all.  The point I'm trying to make is that in general, this is a great hobby, and writing about it has only enhanced my enjoyment 100 times over.  There have been a select few that have even taken the time to express their appreciation for what I have written by telling me as such in an email.  That always means a lot to me, thank you.

I am also spoiled by all of you.  I can turn on my computer, head on over to blogger, and look at a myriad of blogs that cover a variety of topics, all about card collecting.  Keeps me off of the streets....

I enjoy watching new blogs start, or finding blogs that may have been writing for a couple of months already.  It's great seeing new people "come out of the woodwork" and start writing about cards.

It's also great seeing the veteran bloggers allow us a little glimpse into their lives, their histories, their interests outside of cards.  I've even seen two of my favorites allow us even deeper into their lives by sharing their health issues.  Right out there in the open, for the whole world to see.  I hope to use them as a model over my next 500 posts and expose a little more of myself to you all (don't go there......).

It's also been sad to see some of the bloggers that had been around for a while leave the blog world.  Interests change, lives change, whatever the reason, sometimes people have to move on.  To those who took the time to explain to us, the blogosphere, the reasons you were leaving, I profoundly say thank you.  Closure is good, whatever the reason. 

Now, one thing that you must know about me is that I don't stick with things over time, which is why I'm not making a big to do about 500 posts.  If you see me get to 3 years/1000 posts, you'll know that I'm truly serious about keeping this blog going. 

I hope that you will continue to read my insanity...maybe over the next 500 posts I'll be able to explain to you why this might be the best name ever to appear on a hockey card.

How many people do you know named after the highest point in the sky?

As always, thank you very much for reading, Robert

Imagine if one of today's players looked like this on a Topps card

I wonder if this is actually his natural face...

Or maybe he wasn't told about the upcoming photo session and had...well let's just say a fun evening the night before.

Wonder if Topps (or any card manufacturer) would release a card such as this today....

Thanks for reading, Robert

I almost stayed within the budget at the card show.

Believe it or not, with all the cards that you see on this blog, I do try my best to stay within the $30 per week "budget".  There are weeks in which I may only buy a few dollars worth of cards, and then other times I find a few deals that may put me up to $40 or more. 

I've held fast to my one credo that I posted quite a while back, and that's no card purchases on the credit card.  I've kept that an absolute must in order to keep solvent while still having fun with our great hobby.

I did pretty well at the card show yesterday, spending $37 total at 3 tables.  The final card I bought was the one that put me over the limit, but when you see it I hope you'll agree it was worth the extra few bucks.

The first group of cards you'll see are either for sets that I'm building, or for potential trades.

The top row are cards from the '73 Topps set.  This is another set that has grown on me, especially the manager cards.  I like the design, the manager on the left side, and his coaches with smaller boxes on the right.  I can't recall a set other than the '73 that honors the coaches along with the manager.  The Brooks Robinson card cost me less than a buck, and other than it being off center, there's not a thing wrong with it.  I had to look twice at the Hrabosky card, seeing him without that Fu Manchu mustache just doesn't sit well with me.  It's kind of like a peanut butter sandwich without the jelly if you know what I mean.

The bottom row were also some interesting finds...the MacLeish on the left is a rainbow card from the 08-09 OPC set, priced to move.  The Aaron Hill sparkly is from last year's Lineage and was found in a 15 cent box (not quite as good as Nick's legendary dime box, but close!).  The Zimmerman jersey card was a buck, following with the theme "priced so well you can't leave it there".  I'm sure one day I'll find a Nationals fan to trade for it.

Naturally, a visit to the monthly show ends up with a trip to the vintage table, and as always Ray was there.  A great six pack of '64 Topps was just part of the transaction...

I managed to pull in a couple of more Pirates...seeing as I'm in western PA they usually go for a little bit more, but with my "discount" the prices drop down to normal.

The key card of the bunch was the Drysdale.  The card is in nice shape, other than the 70-30 centering.  I was able to get it for $8. That was the card that put me over the $30 mark. 

I also bought a bunch of '77 Topps, which is nearing completion with just 55 cards remaining.  I was also able to get a bunch of the Gypsy Queen singles I needed for this year's set; I'm now down to just 7 cards to finish the 300 card base set.

Three more cards for the insanity set came home with me as well.  SNI has received a nice push from my fellow bloggers (thank you all!) over the past few weeks.  I've saved a couple of other purchases for their own post later this week, cards from vintage sets that I had not previously owned any of, but found a fascination (naturally) when I saw the prices. 

I've got just under a month now to get myself ready for the Hockey Expo in Toronto.  I'm actually hoping that I'll be able to use that show to accomplish one of my blog goals that I posted at the beginning of 2012, which is meeting another blogger in person. 

We'll see if anyone is crazy enough to talk to me...

Thanks for reading, Robert

Sakic Sunday: Something a little different

When approached by Jason over at the Joe Average Card Collector blog about a trade, I'll be honest and say that I didn't know what to think at first.  I had never really thought outside the box when it came to collectible items of Joe Sakic.  I pretty much have limited my PC to cards and nothing else.

Now that I have the following two items in hand, I honestly wonder why I never chased items like these before...

 

The program is from the last game in the final season of Joe Sakic's career, which was a 1-0 loss to the Blues on 4/12/2009.  Joe's final season in 08/09 was cut short due to back problems, and sadly Joe didn't play in the game. The program is in really good shape, the pages even smell like they just came off the printing press.  The ticket stub, while not from Joe's last game, is still to me a cool collectible.  The Avalanche won the game featured on the ticket stub, 3-1.  Joe did play in that game but was held scoreless.

I was able to send Jason a couple of jersey cards of players from the Blues, which now that I have my items in hand seems to be a reasonable price indeed.

Jason, thank you for the trade, these items are a wonderful addition to my Joe Sakic PC.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Six and Six

I was on the receiving end of some generosity from Ryan at the "O" No, another Orioles blog this week.  Ryan had posted his want list for this year's A&G set, cards that I was all too willing to give up, and in return I received 6 cards toward the insanity set, and 7 cards towards my '64 Topps set.

The reason this post is titled Six and Six is because one of the '64 Topps cards struck me as humorous, so it's getting its own little post on Monday afternoon. 

Here is some insanity for you:

After losing some steam for a few weeks, the insanity set has picked up recently.  You should be seeing some posts there over the next week for sure.

The '64 set has been hit and miss as well, but 6 more cards will be shown here and happily placed into the binder tonight...

Now, the three head shots you see here are pretty good pictures.  The one you'll see on Monday, well let's just say that fellow had a rough night....

Ryan, thank you for the trade, look forward to many more with you!

Thanks for reading, Robert