I know that name from somewhere

I've made a few purchases this month. Actually, scratch that, I've made more than a few purchases this month. Probably more than I should have. 

I don't keep track of such things, but I've probably acquired more cards this past month than the previous two years combined. Sportlots adding their new non-sport category to the site has been like siren song to me, I just can't seem to resist checking out all of the new stuff that keeps getting added every day. And the cheap prices haven't been helping either. I've been knocking off wants left and right, many of which had been highly sought after (by me) for years now. 

A lot of the things I've been getting have been available on COMC, unfortunately they're often being sold by people who think that just because they have the only one on the site, that any interested parties will be willing to pay 20-30 times more just because it's the only one available. I'm not that kind o buyer. I can easily pass up fifty-cent cards with $20 price tags on COMC, but apparently have no willpower when it comes to those same cards when they have a twenty-cent price tag on Sportlots. So, the bad news is that I've been spending more money than usual this month, but the good news is that I won't have too many more modern (post 1980) non-sport wants after everything that's been bought shows up. I'll probably be able to get back to my normal routine of one or two purchases a month come November.

Given that I've probably already bought over a hundred cards so far this month, I highly doubt that I'll ever get around to discussing the majority of those on here, but I did want to cover at least one small order, if only because I was so pleased with the cards themselves, the way in which they were packed, and the quickness in which they were received. The seller who managed to complete this trifecta is called Triplutz, although the outside of the envelope said WaxPackHero, which is a name that sounds terribly familiar, but I can't seem to place where I've seen/heard it before. For the time being, I'll just assume that it's one that I've seen on the TCDB; I don't have enough time to be racking my poor overtaxed brain over such things.

Despite my going on about non-sport cards for the last ten minutes, astute observers may have noticed a very non non-sport card leading off the post. Well, yeah, there are some sports cards being added to these orders too, plus blog psychology dictates that a post whose first image is baseball related will generate more clicks than one that starts with a non-sport card. Think I'm lying? Go through this post and tell me which card would've garnered more mainstream attention than that nifty Classic Bo (and other guys). 

I haven't seen any on the blogs, so I'm not sure if either card company still does it, but I really miss card backs that compared the stats of certain players like this. Is it just me, or do we never hear about Ruben Sierra anymore? That was quite a season he had back in '89. He led the A.L. in RBIs, slugging %, total bases, and led the majors in triples. He finished second to Robin Yount in the MVP voting that year too. And looking at the numbers, one could make the case that he should've won it. He put up very similar numbers two years later, finishing 8th in the MVP voting. Though, Ripken was the clear winner that year, and it doesn't even look like there was a close second. 

This is just a neat card all the way around.

With Topps getting the NBA license back, I can't help but wonder if they'll do another Archives set for basketball again. I suppose they could an NFL version now, too. Sounds like it's tailor-made for more cards featuring the '87 baseball design. Because that's what everyone is clamoring for, right? Right?

I probably had multiple copies of both versions of this card way back when, but those are long gone. At least I now have the gold one again.

Hey, it's my first ever Wacky Packages of any kind! And hey...

... here's my second! I've been trying to get some of the monster themed cards from the various WP sets for what seems like years now, and have had zero luck in doing so; until now. Granted, these are only from the 1991 set, but still, I finally got two off of my list. I like how "Vlad Bags" rolls off the tongue, but since my world still revolves around videos, blank tapes included, I think I appreciate the effort that went into designing "Mummorex" just a little bit more.

It's a bit hard to tell, but these are both 5-Stripers. The Wild Card Stripes are the devil of any collection that features a player from the early 90's. These may be the lowest on the stripe totem pole, but even so, I'm very glad to have them out of the way.

Some "influencer" out there must've done a thing about 80's title cards, because they sure have jumped in price over the last few years. Enough so that it couldn't have happened on it's own. It would've been nice to know that it was coming so I could've tried to finish my collection before the influenced were told to buy en masse. I still need about a dozen from the 70's through the 90's, this having been one of them. Thankfully, this guy had it listed for a pre-boom price.

I know that there are other people out there who collect every single player that I do. I'm not foolish enough think that any of them are that obscure. But, I do wonder sometimes if there's a collector out there for each and every celebrity and/or comic character that I collect. Sentinels are a perfect example of this question, I mean I'm sure plenty of people have Sentinels cards sitting in sets, but does anyone else have just a Sentinels collection? I do, though it is only a couple of pages worth of cards. This one was an upgrade for me. My old copy didn't fare so well in the box that it had been sitting in during my ten-plus year hiatus from collecting. A couple of moves probably didn't do it any favors either.

Sherri Martel... prrrrrrrr. I know I'm not alone when I say this, but Sherri Martel was one of my earliest crushes. I loved everything about her as a kid, or at least what little I knew about her way back when. It probably didn't hurt too that she was one of those rare women that just kept getting better looking with age. I also appreciated then, and even more so now, that she was always willing to mix it up with the guys. Looking back, she took some crazy bumps (and what other woman was jumping off the top of cages at that time!), unfortunately some of those crazy bumps are probably what led her to become addicted to pain pills and alcohol, which undoubtedly contributed to her untimely death. She doesn't have nearly as many cards out there as she should (a lot of them are modern parallels), but even so, it's always nice to be able to add a new one to my modest collection of hers.

Triplutz is one of those sellers that offers free shipping to a Sportlots box, which I will probably be taking advantage of in the very near future. The only reason I didn't do so this time was because not all Sportlots sellers are created equal, and I wanted to know how accurate this fellow is with his descriptions before placing a larger order with him (which is my standard operating procedure for that site). This guy obviously knows his stuff, so if you're ever inclined, you might want to take a look through his offerings. You won't be disappointed.

A final F U from Panini

                                       
I bought this Carl Eller Golden Age auto from COMC back in early 2017. I believe that I had already decided to collect all three Golden Age autograph sets by then (an idea I've since abandoned), and for 7 or 8 bucks this seemed like a pretty good deal at the time.

Fast forward to Black Friday of that same year, and I bought a couple of $25 Golden Age boxes from Steel City Collectibles (feels like a lifetime ago), the 2013 box of which yielded a redemption for the very same Carl Eller autograph:

Folks who just started collecting in the last few years are probably having heart palpitations right about now, but there's no need for that, you see, Panini was still honoring expired redemptions back in 2017. I know that it may sound crazy, but it's absolutely true. In fact, they had already honored three of my expired Golden Age redemptions throughout the year prior to this one. Because of that, and because I knew that Carl had already signed the cards (if he hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to buy one), I figured that, at best, I'd have to wait a month or two for my second Carl Eller autograph. I couldn't have been more wrong.

I heard nothing for months, then those months turned into years. Then the Rona showed up and everything went to shit. Panini, like pretty much every other company, was having problems galore around this time, and even though I had realized by that point that I was not going to be getting my Carl Eller, I didn't want to be just another asshole that was tearing them a new one on social media for not responding to emails and phone calls; there were enough of those already.

I can't remember when it was exactly, but in late 2020 or early 2021, Panini put out a thing that said they were now fulfilling old redemptions again. Even so, I still knew that I wouldn't ever be seeing Carl. I was still hoping to get something for him though, so I decided to send an email to the person who was in charge of swapping out redemptions for cards of (alleged) equal value. Not surprisingly, I didn't get a response. I then sent a second email, still no response. A third email yielded bupkus as well. 

Not too long after my third email, all of the news started coming out that Panini had lost there licenses for just about everything. I figured then that I'd never be getting anything for Carl, and that probably a lot of other people were gonna end getting screwed out of their old redemptions as well. Or were they?

Panini started sending out emails last month about replacing old redemptions. To me, those emails felt like one of those times where someone's using a lot of words, but wasn't actually saying anything. Since the ones I got didn't mention contacting anyone in particular to switch out your redemption, I kind of thought that they were just gonna send a random thing of their choosing and call it good. That wouldn't have been good, but any something would've been better than nothing, or so I thought. 

I received this email two days ago. Definitely not what I was expecting. Is 150 points a lot? I don't know, it didn't sound like a lot.

Having never had any Panini Rewards Points before, I've never had reason to visit their Rewards site, and therefor had no idea what to expect. After having now done so, I'm glad I didn't go in with any sort of expectations.

Right away I was met with things over 150 points, and kind of crappy looking things if I'm being honest. If that stuff cost that much, what kind of dregs was I gonna find in the sub-150 point category? After setting the points filter to 150 or less, I soon found out. 

Starting first with baseball...

This was just a sample of what could be found for 150 points, but. these. are. awful. I didn't recognize a single name in the baseball category. I thought maybe I'd have better luck with the football...

Nope! There was a lot more to choose from in the football, but I still didn't recognize any of the names. I'm glad to know that I could trade my Carl Eller for a 50-point Aaron Lynch (who?) though. And why are all of these cards so damn ugly? No wonder Panini lost their licenses. I wouldn't even take these cards if someone walked up and handed them to me for free. What would I do with them?

There was nothing in the entertainment category, so my last hope was with basketball.

Hey, Mehmt Okur, I remember him! Looks like I could replace my Carl Eller with a child's relic (bib?) too, I must be a fool not to jump on that deal. 

There was a LOT of basketball cards that could be had for 150 points, and even some names that I recognized, but nothing I'd want, that is until this came up

I thought, "Wow, that's actually kind of a neat card!". A beloved former Blazer, and someone I actually actively collect, what were the odds. I finished going through the offerings, and found a total of 4 different Brian Grant autographs, two as a Laker (boo!), and two as a Heat. It was kind of weird to see him, who had a very respectable NBA career, mixed in with a bunch of nobodies. Whatever, I found this nifty card, even though it still wouldn't be a fair swap for the Carl Eller, but I wanted it nonetheless. The next step was to put it in the cart, then add some other info, before finally getting to the checkout.

Woot? I've got to pay shipping to use my redemption points? Shitty as that is, I now very much wanted this Brian Grant, so I was gonna go through with it, though I didn't need this expensive shipping option, regular old First Class would do just fine. All I had to do is switch the shipping option...

Again... Woot? And here I had thought that they had automatically selected the most expensive shipping option. Nope, that was the cheapest. So, let me get this straight, I'm trading my Carl Eller and $13.52 for this Brian Grant auto? As much as I love Rasta Monsta, this ain't gonna be happening. Obviously if things were on the up and up, Panini would send this to me for free, but clearly they're not. 

After seeing this, I can only imagine how many redemptions are gonna be left on the table. Legally, I don't know how this isn't considered to be fraud, but I'm no lawyerologist, so I'll have to leave that for someone else to decide. In the meantime, this sucks, I got my heart all set on getting this Brain Grant, only for Panini to shit all over it. 

I hate to say it, Panini, because I really liked your Golden Age sets (and I suspect that you'll be bringing them back now that you can't do anything else), but... fuck you, too! You could've gone out with some class, and dignity, but instead you chose to go out like an asshole and screw everyone over. 

P.S. An an extra rub to all of this, I looked around for the Brian Grant, hoping that I could pick it up for cheaper than $13.52 somewhere, but nope, it's not currently for sale anywhere :(

Honesty is always the best policy

Kudos to SP Authentic for being, well, authentic when it came to describing these designs.

And for the record, I agree; these were mediocre at best.

The Wonders of Time Travel

Why is it that I can remember the lyrics to a 30 year-old song that I rarely ever listen to, but can't remember what I sent to a fellow blogger a little over a month ago? 

Just within the last few weeks I listened to "Rico Suave" all the way through for the first time in a couple of years, and was a tad surprised to find that I still knew every single lyric to it, including the Spanish bits, which is interesting since I don't speak a lick of Spanish. And yet, I sent, Jeff, author and blogger extraordinaire, from Wax Pack Wonders, a card sometime in the last 4-6 weeks, and for the life of me, cannot remember what it was. It makes no sense!

I still have Jeff's thank you note around here somewhere, so I could probably go find that and be reminded of which card was sent, but I shouldn't have to, it wasn't that long ago, I should be able to remember it. I'm hoping it'll come to me while I'm typing, and then I can just circle back and add an update; but until then...

My one card sent yielded around 20-something in return (most of which were scanned). A bit much, but the thought behind them is appreciated. One doesn't expect to get basketball cards from Jeff, and yet that's what most of them were. About half the cards were former Blazers, which is never a bad thing.

I don't go out of my way to seek out Clifford Robinson rookies, but still have more copies of these Fleer and Hoops cards than any sane person should have. I have a few copies of the Hardwood Leaders as well, but since it's one of my favorite insert sets of all-time, I won't ever turn down more, especially those of guys that I collect.

When I came back to card collecting I wasn't that interested in the stuff that I had collected the first time around, paying more attention to vintage, and the many things that had come out while I was away. Now that a dozen or so years have passed since my return, I find myself more interested in cards from my childhood/teens than anything else. I suppose it's normal for one to be drawn towards people/players that you can relate to. It may be a base card from a set that not too many people care about anymore, but the '95-96 Hoops card here is a perfect example of why I continue to find myself drawn to this era more and more. I like everything about it, the design, the photo, David's shoes, and most importantly, I can look at it and instantly identify everyone on the card; and still remember how they played. It's great card for cameo collectors, as you've got your choice of Dennis Rodman, Clyde Drexler, Kenny Smith, and Avery Johnson. Good stuff all around!

I've made the mistake of trying to read through a few basketball threads on Twitter over the last few years, and am constantly amazed at how dumb the NBA's modern fan base is. I don't understand how fans of a sport can know so little of it's history, and what's more, feel absolutely no embarrassment over their ignorance. John Stockton is often a target of these idiots. Sad as that is, it does bring me great joy to know that it'll be a very long time (if it ever even happens) before someone breaks his all-time record for assists or steals. That seems to bother those dummies quite a bit too, which makes me even happier. 

The card on the left was actually kind of rare back when it was new, but is now relegated to the dime boxes. Still a neat card though, one which features a young Gary Payton as well.

Being from Portland, being a good guy, and having had a solid career, I should collect A.C. Green, but I don't; he just doesn't move the needle for me. I thought it was kind of interesting to see him on both of these cards though.

All-Star inserts were hit-or-miss over the years. These weren't one of my favorites design-wise, but as mostly a player collector these days, I do appreciate these for being dual-sided with one guy from the East team on the front, and one guy from the West team on the back. It gives you options, as is the case with the Joe Dumars here, I don't collect him, but if you flip the card over... 

... you get John Stockton, who I do collect! I'm pretty sure that I already have one of the Pippen/Kemp cards, but can't remember who's binder it's in. Once I figure it out though, this one will go in whatever collection that it's not already in.

I got one baseball card too. It looks familiar, but I don't think that I have it. That guy in the background is kind of creepy. I'm not sure if he's supposed to be a ghost or what, but either way, he's appropriate for the season.

Thanks again, Jeff! 

*****************************************

In other news, I was able to get in on one of the now famous monthly Time Traveling trades from, Matt, over at Diamond Jesters. 

I think that this was only the second or third time that I've participated on one of these, if only because there usually isn't much for me, and even when there is, it's often the sort of stuff that I know someone else will want more, so I just leave it for them to claim. This past month though, I had to get two. The Cliff Branch was a just because card, I like it, and wanted it, so here it is! I don't have a list for my Alzado's yet, but I do know what I don't have by sight, and this was one that I didn't have. Unfortunately for me, I didn't look at it close enough, and missed the slit under his armpit. I just saw the nice corners, and made my claim.

Fingers! You can see the gash much better here. That's the sort of thing that'll bug the shit out of me, so he's gonna need replacing. I wonder if this one would be good enough for Fuji's damaged card collection?

Thanks for doing what you do, Matt! You seem to be making a lot of people happy with this series of yours.

**************************************

Well, I've made to the end, and still can't remember what I sent to Jeff. I guess it'll just have to remain a mystery.

Oh, and "Rico Suave", yeah that hasn't aged very well. It's hard to believe that I could've liked that back when it was new.

News you can use

Just a head's up for those that might be interested, there's now a non-sport category over on Sportlots. 

This has been a few years in the making, so it's kind of exciting to see it finally being implemented. I was pleasantly surprised by how many cards have already been listed, especially since today is it's launch day. I've already done two small orders, and was able to pick up some of my more wanted cheap cards. I suspect that these were just the first two of what will be many future all non-sport orders made by me on there.

That's all I've got for today. I'll try to get a real post up sometime soon.

Birth of the Cool

The title of that old Miles Davis album seems like an apt way to describe this card, doesn't it? 

Dave's was a name that I knew very early on, but he didn't look like this anymore when I first started collecting. By then he was older, and bulkier; a trend that would continue to increase as the years went on.

Vintage, or in this case, semi-vintage, cards were not a part of my childhood. They were around, I just didn't pay any attention to them. Because of that, I didn't see this one, or pretty much anything else pre- '87/88 until I returned to collecting a dozen or so years ago. Looking at this one now, I think it's safe to say that I missed out on quite a bit as a kid.

The desire to start collecting Dave Winfield has been strong in recent years, and has increased even more in recent months. He has a LOT of cards though. And I really don't want to start another player collection. That being said, I'm kind of compromising with myself at the moment by just seeking out certain cards of his. 

This '78 was tops on my list of most wanted Winfield cards. I was able to cross it off of said list thanks to, Jim, the 'loather of all things upper case' behind, cards as i see them.

Accompanying Dave, was this '89 Pro Set Reggie Roby. I have a "few" copies of this card already, but it's one of my favorites of his, so I don't mind getting another one. I haven't looked yet, but I'm thinking too that this one might even be nicer than the one that I have in my RR collection, in which case it'd be doubly appreciated.

Many thanks to Jim for taking care of that Winfield, and for not going overboard with the mailing. It's always nice when I can get the joy that comes from receiving a package/PWE, but then not have to spend a bunch of time putting stuff away as a result of it.

And on an unrelated note, which I forgot to mention in the last post, a fellow called, Jeremy, returned to blogging a couple of weeks ago after having not done so in almost a decade. He's from before my time, and I suspect many of yours as well, so if you've got some more room for another blog to read (and support), you might want to go check him out over at no one's going to read this blog. Maybe even say hi if you're so inclined.

A purchase, a gift, and an anniversary

Has Topps always done parallels for their Fan Favorites Autographs? If so, how come I haven't seen them before? Is this the first year that they've done a purple one? I feel like I would remember having seen a purple autographed card before, but I don't. I guess it doesn't really matter though, I've seen one now.

I had forgotten to delete my saved search emails for Gene's base auto (as seen in my previous post), which is how I came to find out that he had parallel autographs in this years Archives as well. Parallel autographs really are a silly concept, and one that I'm not too keen to participate in, but here I am, the (semi) proud new owner of a parallel autograph.

I had mixed feelings about the purple when I first the listing for this card, now that it's in hand though, I think that I actually kind of like it. I'm not sure if other people don't like the purple border, or if I just lucked out some, as I got this one, after taxes and shipping, for under five bucks -- which is about a dollar cheaper than I got the base version for. One would think that a card numbered to /150 would fetch more than an unnumbered card, but I'm done trying to figure out why things sell for what they do these days, so I'll just say that I'm content with the price that I got it for, and was prepared to go a couple dollars higher if need be.

After finding out there was at least one parallel to Gene's autograph, I did something that I never do, I sought out a checklist for this years Archives set. Turns out there's four versions of this card, the base, purple (#'d to /150), silver (#'d to /99), and of course, what would a modern set be without a 1/1. I can't remember what color the 1/1 is, but that's obviously out, however, I can, and probably will, try to get one of the silvers though. Hopefully the silver version won't cost too much more than the two I've already gotten, because it's ugly as sin, but it would complete a row on one of Gene's pages, so my own personal collecting OCD will force me to get one; despite it's hideousness.

As okay as this card turned out to be, about a month ago, I was sent an even better one...

Dennis Smith doesn't have a lot of "big-time" cards (thankfully), there's really just three, so if someone were to say to me that they had a card of his to send my way, it's only natural for me to assume that they're planning to send a common base card, after all those do make up like 90-something percent of his catalog. Such was the case a few months ago when, Eric, aka The Snorting Bull, said that he had one of Dennis' cards for me. I figured he was talking about something like, I don't know, an early 90's Upper Deck card or something else along those lines, which, if I needed it, would've been great. Little did I know that, Eric, wasn't thinking so small, and proceeded to drop one of the "Big 3" on me...

For non-football card collectors, this is a 1991 Pro Line Portraits autograph, and also just so happens to be Dennis' only certified autograph (the 1994 Pro Mags autograph doesn't exist - it would be nice if someone who has any pull over at the TCDB would remove it from the site). A discerning eye may have noticed a hint of the Certified Autograph stamp in the lower right on the front of the card, but you can see part of it a little more clearly on the back.

Pack inserted autographs were still pretty new back in 1991, as I believe that they had only become a thing the year prior, and at the time of it's release, the Pro Line Portraits autograph checklist was the largest, and most ambitious to date. Looking at everything that's been produced since it's release, I'd argue that it's still one of the most ambitious sets to have ever been created. Probably one of the most difficult to complete as well.

A number of the autographs in the set were signed with pens that weren't ideal for the surface of these particular cards, causing the effect that you see up above. It's a minor drawback for some, but it doesn't bother me too much, especially since all of Dennis' cards seem to have been of this variety. I'm just grateful to have been able to mark this one off of the checklist, and am very thankful to Eric for making it happen. Trying to complete Dennis' entire catalog is one my few real collecting goals, and this was a big step towards doing so!

In other news, today is this blog's seventh anniversary. Time flies.

The blogs have changed quite a bit in just the last seven years, but I'm still here. With three blogs now, I'm down to only posting on this one a couple of times a month, which works well for me, and because of that I don't see myself going anywhere anytime soon. Besides, I pretty much hate all of the other formats that the "cool" kids are flocking to, so there really isn't anywhere else for me to go. I've had my ups and downs, but in the end, I think I'm gonna be a lifer. I know at this point that I'd miss everybody too much to ever be able to walk away. Crazy as it may sound, but for the most part, blog people are the only people that I'm interested in interacting with. Blog writers, and readers, may be a dying breed, at least that's what the non-blog folks keep claiming, but I tend to think that as long as there's blogs, there will be readers. It's not flashy, and it'll probably never reach "trending" status again, but long format collectible talk still has it's place, it just takes a special sort to realize that.

During my first few years doing this, I sometimes felt like I had to get a certain amount of posts in per month, and probably did force more than a few in order to fill that self-imposed quota. This caused much burnout, and many thoughts of giving up. Thankfully, I was able to get past this idea that I had to match the pace of other more prolific bloggers, and have long since found my comfort zone. These days I only post when I feel like it, and only post about the things that I think are interesting; there's no need for me to post about every single purchase.

A lot of bloggers who've left in recent years have cited declining readership as one of their primary reasons for closing up shop. I can't speak for anyone else, but I haven't noticed too much of a decline, although I gave up stat watching a long time ago; so maybe there has been a drop, and I'm just too dense to realize it. Either way, I do appreciate those who come around here and comment where they can, but even if some of those folks were to start going elsewhere, I'm at that point where I don't mind doing posts for myself. Unlike some of the other social media sites, blog posts show up in Google searches, so I figure even if people were to stop caring about what I'm putting out now, there's always the chance that they will do so at some later date.

I think I've rambled enough for one day, but before I go, I mentioned a few posts back about doing a contest to celebrate this anniversary, and I am going to, your just gonna have to wait about another month for it to drop. I'll be bringing back my old COMC credit giveaway, in which the winner will get X amount of my credit to spend on whatever they want (on the site of course). Since the site runs Black Friday sales for practically the whole month of November now, I figure that'd be the best time to give someone the chance to go on a mini-spending spree. I'll be starting the contest on the last week of October, so that should be something worth coming back for?