Cards from a Collector

And not just from any old collector... but The Collector, AKA Chris. For anyone who happens to be  unfamiliar with Chris or his blog, you will be doing yourself a big favor by clicking on the link and becoming a follower. Also, if you happen to be the sort that enjoys reading non-card blogs as well, I would highly recommend checking out his other work over at the the pedestrian writer.

Some of the cards shown in this post came from a trade bait post that Chris did a month or so (maybe more) ago, so if you're new to his blog, you should go back and find that post, because there was a lot of really neat unclaimed stuff within that post.

I'm a few weeks late in covering these cards that Chris was kind enough to send my way, so I don't want to waste any more time getting to them. So let's jump right in with a few of the 2013 Topps Chasing History inserts, starting with two from the base version:



     
One Holo-Foil:



                                                                       
And one of the gold Holo-Foils:      
                            


This is my first Orange Matrix parallel from the 2013 Cooperstown set.

2013 Topps Emerald Prince, pictured doing what he always did... swing for the fences!

Chris was fortunate enough to get a couple of boxes of 2017 Heritage, which just happened to contain more than a few buybacks, so of course I had to inquire as to the availability of said buybacks. Thankfully there were a few to be had, including the two Terry's above.

The Rafael Palmeiro rookie adds a little bit of name recognition to the frankenset. The '68 Don Pavletich came from one of the box topper buyback packs, of which I hope to open a few of someday, thus far my attempts at acquiring any via eBay and Sportlots hasn't worked out so well. Don may have spent most of his career as a backup, but from now on, he -- or rather his card -- will be a starter in my set.

Saying that "I saved the best for last" when referring to this Dick Groat Topps Lineage autograph would be a serious understatement, I mean look at, it's just awesome. I have six auto's from this series now, which I don't think is too bad, especially considering I only learned of their existence last year. Here's a question that came to mind after receiving this card: Why is Dick Groat never talked about? He's got a couple of World Series rings, was an eight time all-star, won the 1960 N.L. MVP. And if that wasn't enough, he was a legitimate two-sport star, having been an a two time All-American at Duke and playing in the NBA for the Fort Wayne Pistons during the 1952-53 season. If he wouldn't have had to serve his required two year stint in the military, he probably would have continued playing both baseball and basketball professionally. That's a pretty impressive resume, and yet his name is never mentioned. So what exactly does a fellow have to do to get some recognition?

Thank you again for the cards, Chris. By the by, every time I see your blog title, I think of this song:

                
Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

And the winner is...

Before getting to the results, I really want to thank everyone who entered the contest, especially to those who provided a plug via their blog or Twitter, even if it was only done for the extra entry you all helped bring in a lot more participants... which was very much appreciated.

There were 50 total entrants, which exceeded my best case scenario by close to 35. It's not me just being modest when I say that I really only expected 10-15 people to join in, so to say that I was pleased/surprised by the turnout would be a major understatement. The best part of all, in regards to the large turnout, is all the new (to me) blogs that I have been exposed to. I have started following everyone that I had previously been unaware of, which I believe turned out to be around fifteen to twenty, so hopefully I will able to provide some positive contributions to your blogs as well... even if it is just in the form of an occasional uninteresting comment. And thank you to everyone who added me to their blogroll, I will try not to disappoint. To those who didn't, maybe I will be able to win you over at some later date:)

Before getting to the final list, I just wanted to remind everyone that a couple of days ago I did add another consolation prize winning spot to whoever ended up at #11 to go along with the originally planned consolation prize to whoever came in last.

So without further ado, after the list of 50 entrants (18 of whom earned an extra spot) was randomized four times, it looked like this:

List Randomizer

There were 68 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. Richard
2. Chris
3. The Angels in Order
4. JWillden27
5. Mark Hoyle
6. Rosenort
7. Josh D.
8. Nick
9. Jeff S.
10. Dennis
11. Mark Hoyle
12. jasongerman9
13. Tony Burbs
14. John Hazen
15. Dion's IP Autos only
16. Richard
17. Wilson
18. cynicalbuddha
19. GCA
20. RAZ
21. GCA
22. The Lost Collector
23. Shane Kroeker
24. Jupiterhill
25. Daniel Wilson
26. Kin
27. Stealing Home
28. Bru
29. Reds Card Collector
30. CrazieJoe
31. Greg Zakwin
32. Robert
33. Wilson
34. Stealing Home
35. Trevor P
36. Dan
37. Shane Kroeker
38. Collecting Cutch
39. SingleDaddyof2
40. Jeff S.
41. Al Kawamoto
42. Jeff Laws
43. arpsmith
44. Matt Stupienski
45. gcrl
46. P-Town Tom
47. Kin
48. madding
49. Bo
50. Sport Card Collectors
51. Greg Zakwin
52. Bru
53. Chris
54. Adam Sanders
55. Matt Pederson
56. gcrl
57. The Dimwit
58. defgav
59. Dennis
60. John Miller
61. Fuji
62. Jeff Laws
63. Sport Card Collectors
64. Rosenort
65. jasongerman9
66. cynicalbuddha
67. Billy Kingsley
68. Matthew Scott

IP: 137.119.163.253
Timestamp: 2017-03-18 22:08:18 UTC
You have randomized this list 4 times.

Congratulations to Richard, proprietor of Toronto Blue Jays Collection. Since I have not had the good fortune to have had any interaction with you as of yet, you will need to email me at j t e f 8 2 at g mail dot com with your address and whenever you start finding cards for me to purchase for you.

Congratulations to Mark Hoyle for landing in the #11 spot, and to Matthew Scott for coming in last as well. Mark, you don't need to do anything since I already have your address. Matthew, you need to send me an email with your address though, as we have yet to exchange any cards as well.

Thank you again to everyone who entered, because of the overall success, I am now planning on doing a similar contest right before Black Friday, that way the winner of that one will be able to take advantage of all the COMC sales going on.


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

One final contest reminder

Looking at how many people have entered so far, I can't imagine that there's too many folks left that would need another reminder. But just in case there's anyone left that has yet to enter, and would like to get in on the action, you can click here before tomorrow at 5pm (ET) to do so.


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

A contest reminder with a newly added bonus

Just a quick contest reminder for anyone that might not have seen it, or that has seen it, but has yet to enter. If you happen to fall into either of those groups, you should really click here before Saturday to get in on it.

Also, because the turnout has been far better than I could have possibly imagined, I thought I would add a little something extra to the mix. So now, along with the #1 spot getting the grand prize and the last spot getting something that is hopefully of interest to that person, whoever lands in the #11 (my basketball jersey number from many moons ago) spot will also get a prize of some sort. It will probably just end up being a couple of cards off a wantlist, or some cards featuring your favorite team (if you're team collector that is), probably nothing overly special... but it will still be something, which is still better than nothing:)


Thanks to everyone who has entered so far, and thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

It's about time for a contest!

Sometime around Christmas I started thinking about having a go at my first contest. At that point I had been a "blogger" for a little over a year and figured is was about time to give it a try, all I had to do was come with something to give away that would be of interest to a very diverse group of collectors/readers.

The question of what to give away was answered for me when my post Black Friday COMC hoard arrived along with the scratch-offs that yielded multiple free shipping credits (even though you can only use one) that had to be used by March 31st (I'll get back to that in a second). The "when" part of the equation seemed pretty simple to after looking ahead, at the time, and calculating that I should be reaching 200 posts around the middle of March. Perfect reason to hold a contest, right? Right, the only problem is I miscalculated my future output a bit. How much was I off by? Well, this is only post #168, so...

To be fair, I was only off by 32! So instead of celebrating #200 with a contest, I will be celebrating #168 with a contest.

In an attempt to appeal to as many people as possible, the winner will receive $15 of my COMC credit (earned from challenges) to buy whatever they want. All you have to do is find what you want, give me the info on it (seller, item number, etc.), I'll buy it and then add the item(s) to my shipment and send the winner's stuff out once I receive them. I will leave this contest open until Saturday night (the 18th), which will give the winner up to thirteen days to choose their item(s), as I have to put the shipment request in by the 31st. All you have to do to enter the contest is leave a comment to let me know you want in. The names of all the entrants will be randomized four times to pick a winner.

And since this my first contest, I would really like to reach as many people as I can, so a contest plug on your blog, or Twitter (if you don't have a blog) will earn you an extra entry. Just be sure to leave a link in the comments section below.

Oh, and since I know what it's like to finish last in a contest (stupid randomizer!), whoever lands in that last spot will get something as well. I don't know what yet, it probably won't be the greatest thing ever, but it will be something tailored to your interests.


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

Card Show Results: The Non Cheap Stuff

My apologies if this post comes across as a little dull, writing wise, after participating in Robert's 100 word challenge, doing a regular old card show recap post just seems kind of... blah! Since there are a few neat (to me) things in here, I didn't not want to do it, but it just wasn't very exciting to put together, that's all. I'm sure many of you know what I'm talking about, or at least I hope you do.

A couple of posts back I covered the dime box purchases, so as you might've been able to infer from the title, this one will feature the slightly more expensive stuff.

I had seen the Pro Debut mascot patch cards on various blogs in the past, and enjoyed them every time I saw and read about them, but it always seemed like I forgot about them almost immediately after. So up until this point I hadn't seen them person, nor had I ever looked for them online (because of that whole forgetting thing). That all changed when upon arriving to the show, I headed straight for my favorite seller, Jim, who just happened to have a small stack of 2013 patches for $1 each. It only took me a few seconds before deciding to buy all seven of them:

Pretty cool, huh? All of them are numbered to /120, save for the gold Strike, which is numbered to /50. I can guarantee that this won't be last time you see these on this blog.

I also came across another interesting Pro Debut item, this time from the 2015 edition:

I know what you're thinking, and the answer is... why yes, yes I did, I bought dirt! But not just any dirt...

... you see, this dirt that has been maintained by THE Ray Sayre! Now you understand why I had to have it, right? Right? If not, all I can say is that for me, this is just a very fun card. This one set me back $3, which was tied for the second most expensive thing I bought. I know there's some sort of joke here about the Wahoos and paydirt, but it's just not coming to me, so I will just have to move on.



I probably didn't need these 2009-10 Panini Crown Royale Living Legends relics, but for $1 each, why not? I already have a few cards from the regular non-jersey Living Legend insert set, so I was already familiar with the design, of which I have a fondness for.

Try as I might, I could not get the image on this 2010 Topps patch to show up any better, so you'll just have to believe me when I say that it is much clearer in person. The tiger in the middle is really neat, and for $1, I had to have it.

I have found my new favorite shoe related relic set, in the form of this 2001 Absolute Memorabilia Ground Hoggs set. Not that I'm big into shoe cards mind you, but before finding this card and subsequently seeing the rest of the cards in the set, I would have said my favorite shoe related release was the 1999-00 Hologrfx Shoetime set. And from what I've read, these are actually somewhat scarce, and collected by many.

Here is a side view showing the chunkiness of the shoe bit.

Look at that. They actually show you shoes from which the piece came from. That is probably the biggest reason why these are now my favorite shoe related cards. Unfortunately Lamar Smith doesn't seem to be the greatest of people, but a lot of athletes aren't, so what are you gonna do? Priced at $3, I consider this card a steal touchdown.

At a dollar, this was the first time I had spent more than ten cents on one of the Platinum Diamond parallels, but being one of the legends variations and knowing that it's priced considerably higher on various online venues, I wasn't going to be walking away from it for a buck.

Since I have decided to start pursuing both the '97 and '98 Donruss Signature Series autographs a little more actively, I couldn't pass on Magglio, or his $2 price tag. Full disclosure though, when I bought it, I was under the complete impression that he was still playing. I don't know if it's because I'm that out of touch, or if I was thinking of someone else... but apparently Mr. Ordonez retired in 2012, and is now the Mayor of the Juan Antonio Sotillo Municipality in his native Venezuela. Which if I'm not mistaken, now means this qualifies as a cross-collectible.

Normally I don't seek out printing plates, in fact I have ever only bought two, so buying three at this particular show was a bit out of character for me to say that least. But this was also the first time I had ever actually seen any at a show too, so for $3 apiece, I figured why not, even if I only knew who one of the three players were:

Grandpa Boone was the only one of these three guys that I was familiar with. It's unbeknownst to me why, but I have much interest all things related to the 1948 Cleveland Indians championship team, so I thought this was a kind of a neat thing to get. It's a heck of lot easier to see in person than it is in this picture too.

I haven't watched a current NFL game in two years now, so young Mr. Stinson is/was completely unknown to me. He won three national titles at Alabama, one as a redshirt, one as a backup, and one a starting defensive linemen. He was drafted by, and is still currently a member of the Arizona Cardinals.

Laveranues Coles was a receiver who played eleven seasons in the NFL, a large chunk of that with the Jets.

Despite the size of this show, I had virtually no luck in the vintage department. Don't get me wrong, there was plenty of it to be had, it was just one of those time where the prices didn't seem to match the conditions. And as I mentioned in the previous recap, I wasn't feeling so great, so I was in no mood to deal with anyone that didn't have their stuff priced (but did have a Beckett at the ready) or the people that had their stuff marked at full Beckett price... but would make me a good deal if I put a stack together. With that being said, I did manage to snag a much needed tall boy from the 1969-70 set:

It looks a little rough, and it is, but you couldn't get one even in this condition for the five dollars I paid on eBay. The majority of my set is in far better shape than this, so I may try to upgrade this one eventually. With the edition of this card, and the four I just got from Sportlots (next post), I'm down to 35 needed for this set.

And the back...

...there, for any checklist fancier's out there, don't say I never did anything for you:)


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

The most interesting thing that I have ever pulled from a pack

About a year ago now, I bought a box of 1990 Pros Set series 1, got what I believe might be the most interesting thing that I had ever pulled from a pack... and then within days, forgot all about it.

To make the proverbial long story short, a few days before the purchase I had found out that in the town that is the closest to me (about 10 miles), has a printing shop that also doubles as an unpublicized card shop. Why it's not advertised as such, I have no idea.

Having been here for a year or so at the time, I had been under the impression that there wasn't anything even close to a card shop anywhere near here, and it was only by a fluke that I even found out about it's existence in the first place. And of course after I found out about it, I had to go check it out. Which I did, bought a few "junk wax" boxes ($8 apiece) to satisfy my urge to open something, as well as a few really well priced 3200 ct boxes.The guy who owns and runs the card shop side of things is nice enough, although he does seem to be behind in the times when it comes to a lot of the pricing, especially on vintage stuff. I can't fault him too much though as that does seem to be pretty common with the few remaining brick and mortar sellers.

Over the years, especially during the 90's, I have pulled some pretty awesome things. But those were things, no matter how high the odds, that were at least supposed to potentially be in those packs. I'm fairly certain though, that what was gotten from my box of Pro Set wasn't supposed to be in there.

This was in the very first pack taken from the top of the box in between, if I remember correctly, the third and fourth cards. Before opening any more packs, I hit Google, which yielded exactly two things... diddly and squat!

Over the next couple of days I felt a bit like little Pete in The Adventures of Pete & Pete episode "Inspector 34", where after years of getting new underwear with the "Inspected by 34" card in the packages, Pete decides to find out who Inspector 34 is. Unlike Pete though, I didn't have any luck finding my inspector 34.

I had so many questions, such as: Who is "DC"? What time did shift 1 take place?  Where were did "DC" cut these? How did this slip end up in a sealed plastic pack?

Without any answers, I even started getting desperate enough, that I actually though about opening a thread on the Blowout cards forum in an attempt to find out anything. I've mentioned it before, but I really dislike the forums on that site, so that would've been a worst case scenario. Thankfully though, like most things, all it probably took was a combination of me putting it somewhere out of sight, and/ or encountering a shiny object... and just like that, it's forgotten.



For scale.

I have been suffering through a bit of a collecting conundrum over the last couple of months now, which has seen me reevaluating and reorganizing many a card. While doing so, I rediscovered my slip of paper, which had been put in a toploader (with a penny sleeve) for safe keeping... and now my interest has once again been  reignited.

I would be most curious to know if anyone has any thoughts or ideas regarding this bit of paper. If no information is gained from this post, I guess I'm going to have to breakdown and try asking for assistance from all the Pro Set aficionados lurking on the dreaded Blowout forums.


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page

100 Word Challenge Haiku

Robert, over at $30 A Week Habit, put together a contest -- Use 100 words in a post featuring the five cards you were sent. Alright, so here's my entry... using Haiku.

                                                           Locker room trouble
                                                          Stood up against Durocher
                                                          Bobo was avenged!
    
                                                                                                            

                                                          All time wins leader
                                                         Will never be another
                                                         No Cy Young for Cy.
                                                         

                                                        Another green shard
                                                       Now down to fifteen needed
                                                       Complete by year's end?
                                                      

                                                        Princess Grace, ice queen
                                                       Stole many hearts, froze others
                                                       Forget the rumors.
                                                      

                                                       Nancy, queen of clubs
                                                      Female athlete of the year
                                                      Clever Panini.
                                                     


                                                     Thought outside of box
                                                     What a wonderful contest
                                                     Many thanks, Robert!

Card Show Results: The Cheap Stuff

Last weekend was one of the now twice a year super mega card shows in Nashville, and of course I was in attendance, which means I have purchases to share.

I saw from reading his post that Tony was there as well, and since he did a pretty good job describing it, I won't go into any great detail describing the setup. My only minor nitpick with his post, was with the picture he took inside the show, as I don't think it quite captured the sheer size of the event, but since I forgot to take a picture on the way out (as usual)--it will have to suffice. I was very glad to see that he had such a good time though, especially since he had to drive considerably further to get there. As for me, I don't know if it was because I wasn't feeling so great, or because I'm starting to get used to these big shows, but I would have rated this one as just average... or, maybe slightly above.

The day before (Friday), I really started feeling pretty sucky. I should probably say that it wasn't a cold/flu type of thing, lest anyone think I am the sort to go somewhere while knowingly sick and potentially infecting everyone I come into contact with, because I am certainly not that sort. No, instead was just a semi normal problem that had conveniently decided to kick into overdrive on that particular day. As bad as I was feeling come nighttime, I really didn't think I was going to be able to go. It also didn't help that Friday was close to 80 degrees, and Saturday was projected to be only slightly above 40° for the high, which here inevitably means, thunderstorms (usually very violent) when that approaching cold air meets up with the already here hot air... and it didn't disappoint. So between feeling lousy and having the whole house shaking (thunder) at regular intervals, I didn't fall asleep until after midnight, and in what seemed like mere seconds later, my alarm was going off at the set time of 3:30 am, so I could get up and be gone by 5 in order to get there a little before 7 am.

So I ended up making it there, I don't know how, but I did. I felt, and probably looked, like the proverbial walking dead, but a large percentage of the other attendees always do too, so thankfully no one probably even noticed.

Even though I referred to this particular show as average, I still got plenty of neat things, which will make for three posts. Starting with the dime box stuff first, of which for the first and (probably) only time ever, I can actually show all of in a single post. That would have been my only real complaint, that the couple of people that can usually be counted on for their dime boxes, opted to bring some pricier things in lieu of the cheaper stuff. I certainly don't begrudge them for doing so,  I just missed searching through the ten cent boxes that's all.

This Gretzky took a few minutes of research after I got home, as I had no clue what it's origins were. Apparently, National Sports Cards (a Broder-esque company from what I gather), made and released this card sometime in the 90's. I don't know if it was their intention or not, for people to think it was a pre rookie card, but since it's release a lot of unscrupulous sellers have marketed it as such. I was a bit surprised to see that this card sells anywhere from $6-$20 on a semi regular basis on eBay... I just hope the folks buying it aren't thinking it's actually from 1978. Even if it is a Broder type card, I think it's still pretty cool, especially for a dime.

 Two more for my burgeoning 2001 Archives Reserve set. I'm starting to think it might actually be possible to build this set through dime boxes alone.

The two biggest names from the 1998-99 UD Choice Preview set are now gone from my wantlist.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

2011 Topps Lineage -- Bad scan!

1998-99 Upper Deck Ovation - Superstars of the Court #C8

2001 Fleer Greats of the Game - Retrospection Collection x2

Five more 2010 Topps Magic minis. I'm starting to think that I might be able to build a large percentage of this set through dime boxes as well.

Sorry for the bad angle on this 1997-98 Fleer Kobe Rookie Rewind, I originally went the scan route for this post, but some of them came out so poorly I decided switch a few out for pictures instead.

While looking at Ty Cobb sitting in his his Model 30, I couldn't help but wonder if I'm, or rather we, are looking at the originator of road rage.

Every time I find one of these Diamond Platinum parallels in a box, I get really excited, thinking that I'm about to hit the mother lode... but, as usual it was just the one. Oh well, one is better than none.

Here is another card that was initially a mystery to me. I thought for sure it was going to be a parallel of some sort, but nope, just a regular old base card from the 1996 Topps Laser set. These must have been on the more expensive side when they were released, because at the age I was in '96, I couldn't afford to the expensive stuff... which usually meant I didn't pay any attention to it. That being said, I still can't imagine how I've gone all this time without seeing a single card from this set before. Now that I have seen them, I certainly wouldn't mind finding more in the future.

Ending with a real treat, a buyback for only ten cents? That is truly a rarity for me to find one at that price, especially one that is of a vintage-y nature.

I still can't believe that I was able to get all the dime box purchases in a single post! Fingers crossed that that never happens again.

On a completely unrelated note, I encountered my first black snake of the season last week:

Hopefully everyone can see him there in the middle to the top of the photo. At a little over three feet in length, this guy (or gal) was just a baby. These are pretty common here, but since I come from an area where the biggest serpent you are likely to encounter is a foot long garter snake, after two years I'm always still amazed when I come across a 3-6 foot long snake.

Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.