Staking claims

If you were to take a peek at my current list of scan folders, you'd probably notice one of two things right off of the bat, or maybe you'd notice both things, I don't know -- the point is that most of the blog related folders share one of two characteristics: Half of the titles start out with "COMC", and the other half are just listed under single names... blogger's names!

I've mentioned many times in recent months how fortunate I've been this year when it comes to receiving cards from fellow blogger's, but due to some very sporadic posting, and a serious lack of creativity, have been slow to give public thanks. Wanting to give everyone their own post hasn't helped either, but that's the way I've always done it, and the way that I will always do it. As such, I find myself looking at 15 folders with names on them, one of which even dates back to before Christmas! This really is quite unacceptable, so in an effort to try and resolve this "problem", I'm gonna see if I can will myself to do at least one thank you post per week until I get caught up.

Ideally I'd like to do these in the order that I received them, but that might end up creating too much pressure if I feel like I only have one option, so I'm just gonna go with whichever one feels right that week, which is sort of what I'm doing this week, by focusing on the most recent PWE(s) to arrive here in Sleevesville.

Rod, the apparently mad genius behind, Padrographs, has taken the "Free Stuff" concept to it's absolute extreme as of late, by offering up free cards on a daily basis, for what seems like at least a couple of weeks now... a number of which I have laid claim too!

Redemption cards were still a fairly new concept back in 1992, and I'm pretty certain that I didn't fully grasp this new concept (despite very clear instructions on the back), which is why when I pulled the now famous Shaq rookie redemption (minus the punched hole) from a jumbo pack of the then newly released 1992-93 Upper Deck, I put it in a binder... instead of sending it in to be redeemed!

Since I didn't send my redemption in, and don't recall ever hearing anyone talking about sending one in, I never realized that when you did, Upper Deck sent it back with a hole punched through it, and a big "TRADED" stamped on the back.

Of course too, if you weren't a dumbass (like me), and you did what you were supposed to do with the card, i.e. redeem it, Upper Deck sent you one of these...

[Note: It took seeing this scan for me to realize that it was time to clean the tray... so much dust!] By the late 90's, I had nearly completed this set, in fact I was only missing one card, this card! I don't know what the going rate for it is these days, but back then it was a bit pricey, and in that pre-internet as we know it era, I never did come across a cheap one, thus I never completed my set. Most of the cards from that nearly completed set are now long gone, but it's still really cool to finally own a copy of this card, and in a way, it sort of feels like I have completed that set after all of these years.

A number of Junior's have come up for grabs, and I've been able to grab most of them. By the by, how great is this Topps Laser?

I didn't realize until just recently how many Vlad Guerrero's I've been picking up at shows over the last couple of years, now that I have, it seems like the only logical thing to do is to go ahead and add him to my list of player collections. And for the record, both of these were new to me.

I don't think that I was necessarily ever in the market for a Joe Theismann autograph, but I love the '84 Instant Replay subset, and I love his signature, and it's placement on the card... so why not try and get it?

Many thanks to Rod for the cards, and for the incredible generosity that he's been spreading by doing these daily Free Stuff posts! If you haven't checked out these posts yet by chance, you might want to do so sooner than later, as I can't imagine that Rod will be able to keep this pace up forever, that is unless a few of us feel like donating some stamps and envelopes to the cause?


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COMC Shuffle #27

Another week, another ten randomly selected cards from last year's COMC hoard!


1995 Collector's Edge - EdgeTech Quantum #1

I don't think that I'll ever fully grasp all of the different Collector's Edge inserts/parallels, but since I only buy the cheap stuff, I don't think I really need to know all of the in's and out's, as a lot of it will forever be out of my price range anyway. Also, is it just me, or does Dan not bear a striking resemblance (in the face) to John Madden on this card? I only just now noticed it, and it's kind of weirdin' me out.


2013-14 Panini Prizm Red, White, & Blue Mosaic Prizms #186

I've heard/read plenty of Blazers fans say that the team is better off without LaMarcus, I'm sorry, but those fans don't know what they're talking about. Perfect example: last season's playoffs, they would've been a lot different (i.e. successful) if L.A. had still been around.

2013-14 Panini Prizm Red, White, & Blue Mosaic Prizms #102

Poor T-Rob, finally found a home in Portland, became a fan favorite, then was traded (along with Will Barton) for a guy (Aaron Afflalo) who spent 25 games doing diddly squat... and it's been all downhill for Thomas ever since!

1971 Milk Duds

If one were to look at Jim Hickman's career as a whole, his inclusion into the Milk Duds set might have seemed like an odd one, but if you look at his numbers from the previous season, it's not hard to see why he would've been added to the checklist. Jim had a career year in 1970, .315 BA, 162 hits, 115 RBIs, 32 HRs, all done in 514 at-bats. He also made his only All-Star appearance that year, also finished 8th in MVP voting. Nowadays if somebody had such an anomalous season like that, some sort of monkey business would be suspected, but I don't think people care enough about the past to go around lobbing accusations at a guy who had one really good season almost fifty years ago.

1996-97 Topps Stadium Club Matrix #18

This may look like a run of the mill Matrix, but it's actually one of the uber-rare Dome'z (yes, with a z) parallels. What, you've never heard of Dome'z before? You need to go look 'em up then, because they were totally a real thing, and most weren't just made up three seconds ago by me :)

1933 Goudey #75

One of the best third basemen of his era (THE best according to Chief Bender), Willie Kamm accomplished much during his thirteen year career, certainly more than I could do justice -- I also happen to be putting this post together at the very last moment, so I'll just take lazy way out, and refer you to his SABR page. On the plus side though, I think that his bio on there, written by a fellow called Joseph Wancho, might be one of the better one's that I've seen. As a quick aside, being from Oregon, I'm always interested in learning about any athletes/celebrities who have ties to the state. So I thought it was kind of neat to see that in 1918, a then 18 year-old Willie, briefly worked at, and played for a shipyard league in St. Helens, Oregon. When I have some more time, I'll have to go back and try and find some more info about this brief time in his life.

2015 Panini National Convention VIP Cracked Ice #10

I kind of liked this set back when I got the card, but that like has since worn off, so if anyone's genuinely interested in a #'d to /25 Trey Burke, don't be shy about saying so.

1998-99 Upper Deck Ionix Reciprocal #R17

I just recently opened my ever pack of Ionix (future blog post), and even though I didn't pull any SICCCCCCCCK HITZ, it sure was fun to finally open one after all of these years. If I had some lottery money, I might actually consider buying a box -- but until then, I'm quite content with just picking up the occasional cheap Reciprocal every now and then.

2013-14 Panini Prizm Red, White, & Blue Mosaic Prizms #224

It's really great that DJ has made it into some modern sets, and while I certainly don't mind him being shown as a Celtic, I'd be lying if I said that part of me didn't want to see him as a Sonic. So, what about it, Panini? Next year's Prizm, DJ in his old Sonics gear?

2012 Topps Black #174

I've already professed my love for Nick Barnett's 2012 Topps card in the past, knowing that nobody else feels the same way, I won't go into it again -- but I will say that this black bordered (#'d to /57)version is boss, and I got it for practically nothing, so, yay me!

Oh, and one more thing that I wanted to mention real quick, looks like yesterday was this blog's anniversary -- apparently I've been doing this for four years now! As per usual, thank you to everyone who's ever taken time out of their day to stop by, and a special thanks to everyone who's ever been motivated to leave a comment, without those, I wouldn't be doing this. I'm not gonna make any promises about me doing this for another four years, but I can say that I've got at least another year in me, so...


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Cardboard hoopsters

It's only taken me two months to do so, but I'm finally getting to the last of my purchases from the giant card show back in September.

In the couple of years of now that I've been going to the Nashville shows, I'm always still a little amazed at just how many 90's basketball inserts there are to be had in the bargain boxes, and that's just at the regular twice a month shows, the numbers increase tenfold at these twice a year baby Nationals.

So as per usual, I brought home a ton of cheap inserts, so some of you might consider this to be a little too long of post -- but for those of you who fall into the less is more camp, you'll be happy to know that I did do quite a bit of whittling, otherwise I probably would've had enough for at least three posts.

Big shows means that some of the big-time vintage dealers show up (the one's who set up at The National), and while their prices aren't always the best, I still tend to look through their offerings just in case. This time I was able to find a couple of reasonably priced set needs, so it did end up being well worth the look (the '74 Clyde Lee has been a pain in my side for a while now). With these most recent additions, I'm down to needing 14 from the '72-73 set, and just 4 from the '74-75 set (those 4 will probably get gotten during the upcoming COMC Black Friday sale).

Going into this show I didn't have any of these 1992-92 Fleer All-Stars, now I have 9 (Michael Adams got left out of the scan)!

A nice selection of early to almost mid 90's inserts. The Hornacek and Malone Beam Team's are of the Member's only variety.

I don't know what the deal is, but it seems like there have been a lot of Shaq inserts to be had at the last 5 or 6 shows that I've been to now. I wasn't really ever a fan of his, but I'm not about to walk away from his inserts, especially when they're priced at 20 cents or less (even if they don't scan very well).

At some point I started finding a bunch of these 1994-95 Fleer Ultra Rebound King's in a 6/$1 box, so of course I started adding them to my stack, it wasn't until after I got home that I realized that I had gotten the entire 10-card set (Keven Willis isn't shown). It's certainly not a high-end insert set, but it was still kind of neat to be able to get the whole set.

[Note to self: don't bother trying to scan any 1997-98 Hoops Chairman of the Board cards in the future, no matter what you do, they'll still just end up looking like hot s***]

One of my favorite basketball inserts of all time are these 1995-96 SP die-cut All-Stars. I think this is like the third Stoudamire that I have, but I did manage to get a gold Vin Baker that I didn't have.

Sometimes when you're looking through Jim's bargain boxes, you will hit patches of certain players, and I'm not gonna lie, I absolutely love it when that happens! At this particular show I ran into a stretch of Scottie Pippen (only half are shown), and...

... Hakeem Olajuwon! I also hit a patch of Mark Sanchez on the football side of things, left those for somebody else though :) Oh, and speaking of Hakeem...

I found a pair of these 1994-95 Skybox Emotion Ntense's in a different dealers $1 box, which made these my only "expensive" insert purchases of the day. This a set that I really like, but since I don't have the MJ, and I'd never pay the $100+ that it would take to get it, I don't think I'll ever have to worry about trying to complete it.

Just a few assorted mid to late 90's inserts, the Garnett Best Cuts sure didn't scan well.

Until just a couple of months ago I had been working on all of the Parallels from the 2013-14 Prizm set, as well as the 2014-15 and 2015-16 sets, but with the ridiculous prices that the rookies are selling for (I'm not paying over $100 for a kid who's yet to accomplish anything of note), I decided to pare back the collection and just work on some specific players (mostly of the retired variety). I really wish I would've been collecting these like this all along, I probably would've had a lot more fun doing so over the last couple of years... better late than never?


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Cagers from a card show

After unintentionally dragging them out for the last two weeks, I am finally on the last of the haul from July's card show -- and for any of the "baseball or bust" readers, it's all basketball, so I won't be insulted if you go ahead and hit that back button.

I don't come across Star cards very often, so I always kind of feel like I have to buy 'em when I do... especially when they're found in a dime box.

Anybody notice what's wrong with this card? If your answer had something to do with the border being the wrong color, you'd be correct (for those who might not know, the border is supposed to be a brownish gold). This card stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb, and I still haven't figured out what's what yet.

My first thought was that it was a printing error, but if it is, I find it hard to believe that I've never seen another one like it -- and I've been around '90-91 Skybox for literally my whole life, or rather, the set's whole life. If it isn't an error, than I have no idea what it is (Google was of no use). If anyone has any thoughts, I'd be most curious to hear them.

These were the first phone cards that I had seen in person for quite a while.

Since my scanner decided to wash out all of the colors, I had to go back and redo the next couple of groups of 90's inserts with the trusty cell phone camera.

I seem to be having some pretty good luck with finding old Topps Draft Redemptions at the last couple of shows that I've attended.

At a quarter a piece, the 'Nique Super Star, and the Kemp Behind he Glass, were the only two cards in this post that didn't come from a dime box. Also, am I the only one who gets a kick out of seeing Otis Thorpe included in an insert set?

Not a huge MJ fan, but I couldn't pass these up -- and please ignore my bad crop job on the top of the photo.

One should not be able to find a 1994-95 UD Collector's Choice Gold Signature in a dime box, even if it is Benoit Benjamin.

You can never go wrong with 10-cent refractors!

Up until a couple of months ago I had been collecting all of the Prizm parallels from 2013-15, but due to multiple reasons that will take too long to explain here, I've decided to focus on just the guys that I like from each set -- not surprisingly, most of those players are of the retired variety.

I thought I already had a copy of the blue Hakeem from the 2013-14 set, which would've been fine because I'm collecting duplicates too, but it turned out that I didn't.

I found a little over 80 different Prizm parallels in the same dime box that I found the stack of 1980-81 Topps basketball from a couple of posts back.

Of those 80 or so parallels, I'm only keeping eight for myself. If I could ever figure out how to use the TCDB, I'd list the rest of them on there, along with all of the others that I had been collecting for the last couple of years.

This was my second orange Batum, as well as my second green Manu. It's hard to tell from the scan, but the Hakeem is a refractor Silver Prizm, it's also a card that I didn't already have one of.

And finally, some 2014-15 Donruss Swirlorama's. Even though I'm not particularly fond of any of these players, it's hard for me to not buy them when they're only 10 cents.

As far as future card show stuff goes, I think I'm going to stop doing my usual 4-5 post recap, and instead just do a two-post best of. These just take too long to get to, and they always tend to push everything else that I want to cover here on the blog to an already overcrowded back burner -- I also can't imagine that anybody actually likes seeing literally everything that was purchased, so...


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The best of the rest: part 2

As promised, today's post will cover the rest of the basketball content from the now, almost month ago, card show.

Tony Battie may not have had the most successful career, but finding this 1997-98 Topps redemption was still pretty cool, as usually I only come across the expired redemption cards.

Scanning these together like this, almost makes them look like one card.

There is a high probability that I already own these, but Clearcut's are one of those inserts that I always feel compelled to buy when found in dime boxes.

While looking down at Jim's dime boxes, I spotted a card that was about as thick as seven normal cards, it turned out to be a 2012-13 Elite Series Glass Masters. It's made out of plastic, but it's heavy and see-through, like a piece of glass. I'm not terribly interested in owning cards of Amar'e (such a waste of talent), but I'll probably hang on to it for the novelty factor.

This is a really nice assortment, and I think that I actually need all of them too.

I have got to be close to completing this set, what with finding another half a dozen and all. Bobby Hurley looks like he's working out in his high school gym.

I think I have like 3 or 4 copies of the Shareef Exclusives card now, I really need to stop buying those, or at least start finding some folks to pawn 'em off on.

Fleer sure had a lot of inserts during the 90's!

The Gary Payton Planet Metal is the only card in this post that didn't cost either 10 or 25 cents, for it I had to shell out a $1, which was totally worth it by the way. I was hoping that the semi-holographic background would scan well, it didn't.

I almost never find SLU cards, so coming across Spud was a nice surprise. Jeremy Lamb is from the 2012-13 Taco Bell set, making him only second one of those that I've ever seen, not that I've really been looking for them though.

I remember these Behind The Glass inserts being kind of a big deal when they came out back in '93, now, like most of the cards in this post, they're just dime box fodder.

One thing that I don't miss about 90's inserts, is the sets that were dedicated to one specific person, I mean I guess they still do it now, but it isn't as prevalent as it once was. That being said, I still had to grab these Shaq Talk's, and they are actually the first two that I've ever owned. Hardwood Leaders is another insert set that I can't seem to stop buying, even though I finished it sometime in the late 90's.

Believe it or not, this Robert Parish Fleer Super Star is my favorite card in this post, if only because I really miss the days of being able to get an insert of someone like Robert Parish.

One of these days I'm going to have to make some sort of checklist for all of my 90's basketball inserts. Right now, I have them housed in five binders and an almost full shoebox (of the two row variety), the shoebox is reserved for the "good" stuff. Everything is sorted by year and set, but without a list, it doesn't do too much good as I very rarely remember what I do and don't have.

Technically speaking, I still have one more group of cards from the show that I haven't gotten too, but I was going to wait and see if I go to this weekend's show or not, before posting about them. I realize that that might not make too much sense, but I promise it will when I get around to talking about said group of cards.


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