Better late than never

Is there a record, amongst bloggers who actively exchange cards with other bloggers, of who's gone the longest before trading with the Night Owl? If there is, I think I now own it.

I started this blog almost 7 1/2 years ago, and have been fortunate enough to receive, and send out cards to quite a few different bloggers, and blog readers, during that time. However, it wasn't until just this past December that I partook in my first bit of extra-curricular activity with the ever popular winged wordsmith behind Night Owl Cards (and now 1993 UPPER DECK as well).

Some of you might be wondering what took so long, and honestly, I don't really know. I don't think that there's any reason why, it just, for whatever reason, took us a while to swap some cards. For blog purposes, it would've probably been more exciting if their was some great backstory involving murder and betrayal, but there isn't, sorry. 

 

I think I could count on half a hand that number of times that 1987 Topps has appeared on this blog. At this point in time, most collectors seem to either really love the set, or really hate it. Haven't you heard, it's 2023, the internet demands that you pick a side! Me though, well, I guess you could say that I'm indifferent to it. Thanks to my brain slowly turning to mush, I can't say for certain anymore, but it's possible that the very first pack of cards I ever got were 1987 Topps, and if it wasn't the first, it was certainly one of the earlier sets that I collected. With that in mind, there should be at least some nostalgia attached to the set for me, but it's hard to be nostalgic for something that's never gone away -- and from what I've been able to gather, is never gonna go away. I may be neutral on the set, but after all of the blog posts that I've seen in recent years, I'm very glad that I'm not collecting anything current, because I'd probably have a very different take on it, what with it's design constantly being rehashed and all.

These two cards stem back to last year when, much to Mr. Owl's chagrin, he was "gifted" a vending box of 1987 Topps from somebody at work. The resulting blog post was equal parts "Look what someone had the gall to give me!" and "Please take these off of my hands!!!". I knew that I couldn't help him move very many, but I did rattle off a couple of names of guys that I seem to be in need of, and Jamie and Joe were the two that he was able to take care of (please don't ask who the other names were, because I cannot remember anymore). I have a blank backed copy of Jamie's rookie, but somehow did not already have a regular one. And Joe is one of a handful guys that I'm trying not to collect, but still am sort of anyway.

As nice as it was to get them, I'm not sure that these two would've been enough to justify the cost of a stamp. However, they had company...

I suspect that this, and the next card, are copies that have both been upgraded, thus rendering their slightly off-condition counterparts expendable. I too will undoubtedly upgrade this one at some point, but for now, it's just fine for my set. And given current prices, it'll probably continue to be fine for at least the next couple of years.

If the Post was unexpected, which it was, I don't know how to describe this one. I mean, it's not everyday that someone sends me a playing days Erskine. Sure, there's a vertical crease going down the middle, but it doesn't detract from the overall image very much. I've come to realize that if I want to pursue this set in any sort of serious fashion, I will have to be more tolerant towards acquiring cards that are in a similar state. If not, I'll have to be content to sit on the sidelines until the moneyed crowd moves on to something else.

Many thanks to our resident avian author for the envelope, hopefully it won't be another 7+ years before we can do this again.

On an unrelated note, I noticed yet another new blog on the block, and as usual, thought it was worth mentioning. So, if you have a few spare minutes, and are inclined to want to do something nice for someone else, go show Dillard's Dugout some love. One of the best ways to prevent a new blogger from getting discouraged is to let them know that they aren't typing into a void.

These two were not created equal

I think it was last year, or was it the year before, I don't know, I can't remember and I don't want to go look it up -- but at some point in the last two years, there was about a month-long stretch where this Topps Chrome set was all the rage on the blogs. Being a modern set, and a shiny one at that, I tried to follow along with everyone's excitement, but after a couple of posts, I kind of had my fill of it. Before checking out completely, I did however see somewhere along the way that Gene Tenace had an autograph in it. And even though I wasn't too sure how I felt about the looks of it, I figured I'd try to get one if I could, i.e. only if one showed up for dirt cheap would I buy it. Well, maybe six months or so ago, one did, so I did!

For around five bucks shipped I got myself this shiny auto, and I have to admit, I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would, at least not initially. Fast forward six months, and now I kind of hate it. I'll keep it, but I don't like it. I was never all that keen on chromed cards, and these days, I really dislike them. Aside from a few sets, shiny cards have completely fallen out of favor with me. And I don't know why, they just have. Not surprisingly, there's like 47 parallels of this card, none of which I will be chasing... though... if I ever come across any for just a couple of bucks or less, I'll probably get them... begrudgingly! Gene has become one of my favorite people to collect, so even if I don't like them, it would be pretty hard to pass up a cheap autograph of his; even if it is ugly.

About a month after the Gene's arrival, I won another autograph for around the same price...

Now that's a much better looking card. Up until about a month ago, I only had maybe 4-5 cards of Joe Rudi, half of which were autographs, but thanks to a few recent small purchases on the Sportlots, I'm probably up to around 10 or so. Some of my guys have jumped in price, again, just since the New Year started (why?), which kind of sucks, but it just gives me an excuse to shift over to the likes of Gene and Joe, who's prices I don't see ever escalating all that much know; no matter how Boomy the Boom crowd gets.

In unrelated "news", I had an unexpected, and rather pricey (at least for someone of my means) household expense pop up a couple of weeks ago. As a result, I had to scramble to get some things sold in order to cover said hefty bill. I was able to do so, but only after many days of using all of my free time to scan/photograph, edit scans/photographs, and list items on eBay. It is nice to have that option to fall back on, but geez is it a lot of work. And so much computering!!! I was having to spend so much time doing all of that, that by the time I was done each day, I just couldn't do anymore things on the computer; which isn't the end of the world for me, but I did get terribly behind with the blogs. It was only about two weeks, so I don't imagine that anyone would've noticed my sporadic appearances, but in case you did, now you know why. I've been trying to go back and comment where I can, but it sure isn't easy trying to catch-up on two weeks worth of posts (everyone seems to have chosen those two weeks to go on a posting spree). 

In slightly cheerier news, I got myself a Level 4 clearance on the TCDB, and have been using to add some links to cards that previously had none. I've also created a few new pages for actors and actresses that hadn't been previously recognized by the site. As I recently told Dennis (who unintentionally inspired me to do these things), I'm sure that no one using the site will even care about these additions, but I had fun doing it nonetheless.

Also, I closed my Twitter account a few weeks ago. And no, it's not because of who now owns the site, or any other social/political reasons, there just isn't any reason for me to have an account anymore. I only opened the account originally to try and help my blog (now blogs), and I think it did initially, but in recent years people stopped clicking on the links, and so I stopped promoting posts. For about the last year all I've been using the site for is the DM feature, but all of those people have my email address, so there's really no need for me to stay on there just for that. Plus too, I had thought that joining the site would be a good way to keep up with all of the former bloggers that moved over to there, but it's really hurting my soul to see how uninteresting so many of them have become since scuttling their blogs. It's like I said in a comment to someone recently on here, Twitter seems to be the place where old bloggers go to die. I don't know what it is, but folks sure change, a lot (and not for the better), once they start spending all of their time on that site. It's quite sad to see, and I'd just prefer not to see it anymore.

As a possible alternative, I finally joined the Net54 site, but have yet to do anything there. And looking at some of the open discussions currently going, I'm not sure that I'll ever be able to add too much to the site. A lot of those folks seem to be more moneyed collectors, and so far I'm finding it a little difficult to relate to their sort. But, we'll see. Right now, I'd just like to get a few posts done (for all three blogs), and try to keep catching up on all of the posts that I've been missing.

I've been... Smithed?

I'm familiar with the concept of 'Bipping' someone, but what do you call it when someone sends you a bunch of copies of the same Dennis Smith card? A Smithing? Have I been Smithed? If so, I guess it could've been worse... his name could've been Roger 😅.

If 'Smithing' hadn't been a thing before, thanks to, Trevor, from the Bump And Run Football Card Blog, it is now.

In the note accompanying this surprise mailing from last month, Trevor wondered if he may've gone a bit overboard with the the Dennis Smith's? Maybe, maybe not, who am I to say what is or isn't overboard. He also suggested, and this is how I know that he's actually reading my ramblings (thanks for that by the way), that I could possibly use them to start a page. Hmmm? I certainly hadn't planned on doing a page of just this card, but in honor of Trevor, I did do so. It's now the very last page in my Reggie Roby/Dennis Smith binder. Although, I did actually need one of these for my Dennis Smith collection, so as it stands, the page is 2/3 full.

Thankfully for all of you that have made it this far, there was more than just seven copies of the same Dennis Smith card in the envelope. Reggie's are always welcome. And this was the first new Steve Atwater that I had added to his collection in quite a few months. I had been doing a pretty good job of keeping track of that collection, but at some point I got lazy and stopped updating it on the TCDB. Now I have almost no idea what I do or don't have, and have thus stopped buy any new ones until I get it back on track. Knowing me, that'll probably be sometime next year.

Hey, another needed Dennis Smith! Apparently Trevor's the one to go to with all of your, or rather my, Dennis Smith needs. And I already had the Howie, but this one was much nicer, so being able to upgrade the old one was much appreciated.

These were the first two Warren Moon's that I've gotten in a while as well. He's one of those guys that I only ever seemed to find cards of at shows, and since I haven't been going to shows, there's been no Warren Moon's to find. I'm getting to the point where I almost hate tribute cards, but the Donruss here was done pretty well, and I can't say that I dislike it.

Thanks again for the surprise PWE, Trevor! Football hasn't been on my radar very much as of late, so these were a nice change of pace.

One card at a time

Given some of the prices that I've encountered over the last few months, I think I may have chosen the wrong time to start working on my Post sets again. Mind you, I don't regret doing so, as I have been enjoying the "hunt" (despite the lack of successes), it's just that prices seem to be a tad higher than I had anticipated. And I know, the BOOM is still very much alive and well, I just didn't think that those folks would be caring too much for the Post cards; apparently I was wrong.

So far, I've had zero luck on eBay when trying to bid on lots, and zero luck when trying to bid on any bigger names/HOFers. I have however, had two recent successes when bidding on random needs from sellers that I've already gotten other things from, and was just trying to take advantage of their free combined shipping offers. Sam Taylor being the first of these. According to the TCDB, this card has a "dark blue hat" version and a "light blue hat" version; mine being the former. Maybe someday, if I have absolutely nothing else to collect, I will chase down the other version, but for now, dark blue hat is good enough for me.

It's funny how differently two cards from the same set can scan. Sam scanned fine, but Frank looks like 💩 (looks great in person though). I should probably just stick to photographing any future cards. Anyway, Frank isn't a short print, but does seem to command a few bucks more than your average common from the set. Why I don't know? I got a pretty good deal on this one though, it was the only Post card from this seller that didn't have a lot of bidding activity, and since I had already won three other cards (for my Portland Beavers collection) from them, I figured I might as well try to add a card to the '61 Post set as well. The box version, which this is, is supposed to say Charlie Gehringer, but instead cites a Charley Derringer as having been a former Tigers second basemen. This error was corrected for the mail-in version.

I mentioned not having any success on eBay when it comes to big names from Post, but I did just recently land a pretty big name from a Jell-O set...

This win came via a COMC auction on eBay, and represents my first 1962 Jell-O. Roger's got a few problems, but I couldn't be more pleased to have gotten him. And the good news was, being from COMC, I was able to use store credit to pay for it, thus avoiding sales tax (and the $4.95 shipping price). The bad news is, I won't be seeing him in-hand anytime soon, as I just got last years stuff, and won't be requesting another shipment until after the next Black Friday promotion (free shipping). I didn't want to wait that long to show him though, so just try to look past the watermark for now. 

Unless my (public) prediction from a few years ago about the BOOM lasting 5-10 years is wrong (I'm actually starting to think that I should've said 10-15), I think I'm gonna have to be content to play the role of the tortoise in this Post race; which is fine, I've gotten much more accustomed to moving slower as I've gotten older. And who knows, maybe all of the hares will get theirs in the next year or two, and then move onto another "hot" set. I know, probably not, but a fella can dream, can't he?

The 700 Club

Today's post is #700 for this blog.

On one hand, it doesn't seem like a lot compared to some other folks, as that's less than two years worth for the daily posters; it's taken me over seven to get here. But on the other hand, a lot of other blogs have come and gone during the last seven years, the majority of whom never even got close to 700 posts. 

It does feel like something to me, but I don't know where it would rank on the chart of great blog accomplishments. So, with that in mind, I'll just be conservative and call it a mild accomplishment... yay me!

A much larger accomplishment was recently achieved by another blogger, that being, Nick, who just celebrated his 11th year over at Dime Boxes. 

Like the previous year, Nick celebrated his anniversary with a giveaway, which as luck would have it, I was actually kind of early for. 

Normally, I wouldn't refer to working on, and then getting stuck on, a blog post, as a good thing; but that's exactly what happened on the night of Nick's giveaway, and it actually worked out fairly well, for me that is. I don't know if it's because I'm looking for inspiration, or just seeking out a distraction, but I will often go check my blog reading list if I get stuck somewhere on a post in progress (which happens more often than it probably should), read a post or two, comment where I can, and then come back to my post and see if I can get it moving again. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. On the night of Nick's giveaway for example, it didn't.

Early as I may have been on this particular occasion, I wasn't the earliest. I think I was #3 or 4, but was still able to get my top want, so you'll not hear any complaining from me.

Having just started back up with my Post sets, it seemed rather fortuitous that a '61 Post Jim Bunning would be amongst the freebies, and what's more, it hadn't been claimed yet! I think it's considered a win anytime you can add HOFer to a set-build. I would've been more than content with just that card, but did push the greed boundary with two more claims.

I've mentioned it a few times before, but when I was a kid, the only Mother's Cookies I ever saw (and owned) were those of the Mariners variety; thus leading me to think for the longest time that they only ever made them for the Mariners. In fact, I don't think that it was until I started reading the blogs that I found out that there had been whole mess of non-Mariners Cookie cards produced throughout my childhood. Nick had 4-5 A's up for grabs, I missed one that I would've liked to have by just a couple of minutes, but still managed to get these two. I say that I collect Blue Moon Odom, but that collection consists of only a few cards, and almost never gets added to. And I just a said few posts back, I've been very tempted to add Carney to the list of player collections, but have yet to officially do so. In the meantime though, it doesn't hurt to pick up a few of his cards here and there.

Thus ends the claims portion of the post, but if you were fortunate enough to participate in the giveaway, you're probably already well aware that Nick included some extras in each envelope/package...

It's funny, I didn't grow up an A's fan, nor did I ever even know an A's fan, and yet, as an adult, I seem to be drawn to a lot of former A's. Gene Tenace, Ken Holtzman, Catfish Hunter, Rollie Fingers, Vida Blue, Joe Rudi, Bert Campaneris, and John Odom are all players that I collect. And Sal Bando and Carney Lansford are among the players that I've thought about collecting. It's also interesting, and a bit odd, that aside from Carney, all these guys [Edit: save for Vida] retired before I was even familiar with baseball. It's just strange.

Worst scan you'll see on the blogs today!

I'm pretty sure that this is the first card from this set that I've ever seen in person, and even though I'm sure that I've seen cards from it on the blogs, it feels like this is the first time that I've even heard of the set. And without even looking at the checklist, I'm just gonna go ahead and say that this would be the card that I'd want the most from it. Oh, and aside from a suspicious "relic" card, this is now my only other post-playing days card of Senior.

Nick always includes a couple of extra Juniors, and the last couple of times they've all been new to me; this time being no exception.

These were the random portion of the extras. The is pretty neat, so I'll be keeping that one. The other two though, well, if anyone wants them, just say the word. I am thinking about working on a Kellogg's set, just not this one. And as good as Johnny Bench was, he is of almost no interest to me collecting-wise. 

Thanks again for the giveaway, Nick. And congratulations, again, on hitting the 11-year mark, it really is quite a remarkable achievement.

Christmas Catch-Up: Part 3

Today's card could've only come from one person, right?

I don't know which would be the bigger giveaway though, the fact that it's a 2003 Topps Retired Autograph, or it's Christmas-y overlay.

Obviously this came from our resident mad scientist, Gavin, whose creations have included both Baseball Card Breakdown, and 1991 MusiCards Blog.

I hadn't been expecting anything from Gavin, so just seeing an envelope from him was surprise enough, let alone what was inside! Given all of the other Gavin related posts that were popping up right around Christmas, I thought that said envelope might be related to those, but nope, it was Boog!

This is my second Boog autograph, and honestly, is by far the superior of the two (my other one is from 2012 Golden Age). It's also the first time that I've seen a Topps Retired card of any kind in person. Now that I have, it's not hard to see why Gavin likes them so much. I think too that I've only become aware of these cards because of Gavin, and I can't help but think that I'm not the only one.

As great as this card is, and as nice of a gift as it was, I'm afraid that I don't have a lot to say about it. I suspect that my fellow bloggers know all about that, I can say that it's cool as shit fifty times, but no matter how true it may be, that doesn't make for much of a post. I can say that it does look pretty neat in with my Boog pages, though the page that it's now on still needs to be filled out a bit.

Thanks again for the card, Gavin; it's arrival was undoubtedly the biggest surprise of this past holiday season.

*********************Bonus Content!************************

My mom and I did the same thing this Christmas as we did last year, where instead of buying presents, we just went halfsies on a Newspapers.com subscription (during Black Friday when they offer their lowest rates of the year). It's a good arrangement, that works out well for both of us. That being said, she did end up getting me one physical item, that being this book.

I had a Smithsonian book of some sort many (many) years ago, which wasn't very good. It was basically just pictures of items in the museum with a very brief two-line write-up under each one. Much more effort was put into this one, as there's plenty of meat (i.e. stories) behind the items being shown. It'll probably be a few months before I get to this book, but in the meantime, I took a bunch of pictures to give y'all a feel for what's inside:

I'm happy to say that I'm officially caught-up with all things Christmas. And I hadn't planned it this way, but these led right up to a bit of milestone for this blog, which will be the subject of the next post...

Christmas Catch-Up: Part 2

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was contemplating the crazy idea of trying to build the 1955 Bowman set, and ever since then, it seems like the universe has been trying to steer me in that direction. And by "universe", I mean fellow bloggers. And by "trying to steer me in that direction", I mean that two different people have sent me cards from the set in as many weeks. Granted, it's only been three cards, but still, that's three more 1955 Bowman's than I've received over the course of the previous 7+ years of this blogs existence.

Our resident 1955 Bowman collector, Jeff, who also helms Wax Pack Wonders in his spare time, sent me two of my three recently received Bowman's for Christmas. 

I can't remember who it was, but somebody else on the blogs used be actively pursuing this set, but they either stopped blogging altogether, or stopped posting about the set, because the only person I ever see mention it now is Jeff. [Out of curiosity, does anyone know who the other person is/was?]

As for myself, despite the not so subtle nudge that I've been getting, I haven't fully committed to pursuing the set yet. I'm not sure if it's still because of the boom, or if the set is really just that popular right now, but either way, I'm amazed at how much the starter lots on eBay keep selling for. I don't remember commons from the set selling for so much a few years ago, but of course a lot has changed since then, so maybe the prices that I've been seeing are the new normal. I'm thinking that I might have to wait a little longer, maybe until after the current buyers get what they want, before I can even think about trying to get mine.

Dave Pope is in the better condition of the two, but I like the Preston Ward, if only because it looks like two people are beaming up (or down) behind him. I'll definitely be hanging onto this copy even if I am ever able to replace it with a better one.

As Bo can attest, my Portland Beavers collection is a bit of a hot mess right now, but I do have a couple of wants posted on the TCDB for it, Stan here, being one of them. In theory, this card will be getting it's own post on the my Beavers blog at some point, so I'll wait until then to talk about Stan, but in the meantime, it was nice to be able cross off a modern want from the list, as I've been pretty focused on getting players from the teams earlier days in recent months. [Note: I'm trying to clear a bit of a backlog on this blog right now, but for those that care, I should have two new posts up on the Beavers blog by the end of the month]

David Robinson is the only basketball player, who was never a Blazer, that I've currently got catalogued on the TCDB. I added his collection to the site well over a year ago, and foolishly thought at the time that he was gonna be the start of me getting them all logged. Obviously that plan didn't work out so well. I haven't looked yet, so I can't remember if I added this card to a wantlist, or if Jeff just noticed that I didn't have it. Either way, I just moved David to a different binder a couple of weeks ago, and know for a fact that I don't have this card, nor did I have any of his other SI for Kids cards before this arrived. I really dig this card too, the border color for this particular set works really well for the Spurs.

Many thanks to Jeff, not only for thinking of me during the holidays, but also for sending this wonderfully diverse quartet.