Clearing the pile

I while back, I mentioned how I have a stack of incoming packages at the edge of my desk that needs attention. Less because of the sorting and far more because I need to say thanks. Failure to post and give props to those that took the time to send me awesome rectangles sure gives the impressions I am an ungrateful bastard.

100% more baseball cards. 100% less Nazis.

Let's have at it. Starting with an oldie but a goodie. Many, MANY moons ago Dennis at Too Many Verlanders had a giveaway of stuff he just didn't want. I jumped at a single item, but Dennis being Dennis (ie too cool) included a couple packs of UD Heroes. Highlights?

But the one item I asked for was an old Starting Lineup figure.

That little beauty sits on a brick from Old Comiskey in my room. Pepper passed away a few years back, so TTMing that card is unfortunately not an option, but she has autos on eBay if I so desired.

Peter from Baseball Every Night dropped a PWE on me a couple months (or more) back.

Remember when Bowman came back with the oversized cards? Yeah - that was a mistake. Peter also dropped some current year cards on me. I was toying with a Moncada PC, but 5 seconds later I came to my senses and decided against it. Thanks Peter.

Trevor from Bump and Run selected a stack in the TTS giveaway (it is boxed up with 3 others and should go out this week). But in the kindness of Trevor, he sent over cards feeling like he needed to return the favor. They were NOT needed, but certainly not refused, either.

90's inserts - amirite?

Some binder and set needs. I will complete that 2008 UD set someday. Not a lot of those in dime boxes, unfortunately. Always nice to see the Padres brown uniforms on cards. Someday, San Diego...

And a few current Sox, and that sweet, strangely thick Rowand gray swatch for the PC. Thanks Trevor.

Last, but not least, is Gavin from Baseball Card Breakdown. Curiously, his note in the package didn't comment about my manliness or other power I possess. Just a simple "here". So what does here include?

Atomic refractors and a blue Fulmer. Yes, I now collect Joey Bats. If you have dupes, I want them. I'll explain later.

I lot of shiny. I put all these together cuz I wanted to see how shitty the scan would look. Except for the refractors, I was not disappointed.

VINTAGE! That '63 was a card that was not on my list, which means I will have to shuffle a ton of cards in the vintage team set binders. I have built in extra card spaces in the pages, so hopefully it will not be a lot of "shift one to the right" moves.

A couple for the Crede binder, and a sweet (not sick) Petrick patch. This is the 4th relic of Ben's in my collection. And as beautiful as a relic is, the best you can get from a Gavin mailing is his customs.

Boom. The back of the Pierce makes it look like a picture frame you would hang on the wall or set on a mantle. And the Ozzie....well, that speaks for itself. Another fine custom from the episode Homer At the Bat. Thanks Gavin.

Again - a hearty gratitude to all you for the great cardboard. Just a few thousand stacks or less to go.

Don't view this post if you are still using dialup.

I don't remember the exact date I got rid of my 56k modem, but I was excited to move up to a DSL line through my phone company. Pages loaded much faster. Flash games were playable with sound. Hell - downloading a file in a quarter of the time from my horrible modem was amazing. It was so nice to be able to download that Loverboy song on Napster in 15 minutes instead of 45.

Beeeeeer.....GUD!

Way back then, I can recall having to watch an image download on the page I was viewing. Pixel by pixel, line by line; literally. And then the image would need to enhance. Welcome to 2016, where you have 100Mbps download speeds. Streaming high def videos and sound. Massive multi player games. Video conferences. And I can get my Kendra Wilson fix instantly.

But do you realize over 2 million people in the US still use 56k dial up access? So if you are one of them, let me apologize in advance if you clicked to read this post. You probably have time to get that turkey prepped for the oven before everything loads. But when you get a package from the king of the dime boxes, there is just far too much greatness within, and hard to pair down the images.

Yup - Nick dropped a mailer on me, and I'm guessing a lot of these cards came from Wolff's Flea Market, which I hope to hit in a few weeks. Until then, Nick will just do all the hard work for me. And work he did, adding many cards to many binders.

Miscuts off the bat. Here's 3 of the 6 new additions. I have officially moved the 9 pocket pages to a fatter binder. I'm guessing the Whimpy was a dupe of some sort, since he has a microphone shoved in his face, and I know that's a Nick collection genre. The Tigers team card is way off in two directions. I am almost tempted to see what that would grade on centering. Does Beckett or PSA do negative numbers?

Here's 3 of the 6 double play cards sent. Only 4 of them are new additions. Shame that the '94 Select design wrecked half of the Clayton image, though. The framing is ok, considering. But the full width would have made it killer.

16 throwback cards were sent, and I needed 8. In solidarity, I didn't store the other 8 cards in my dupe box, but cut them up.

Three cards showed broken bats, but I already have all three. I had to show this card, though. It's incredible. So much I added it to the Hidden Gems binder. I think if there were more people in the crowd, the card wouldn't look so nice.

Last, here are 3 of the 17 new cards in the bunting binder. Nick dropped a total of 30 on me. I am surprised so many cards of players bunting are still out there. I'm certain Ichiro is not getting one of his 3000 hits with that positioning.

But binder collections were just the start. How about player collections?

All new additions. The two Sox cards at the bottom are from the 2005 World Series set Topps put out. Fortunately, I found the complete set I bought of those. And a very rare Ben Petrick card. I am WAY behind Arpsmith in our Petrick collecting.

Then Nick moved to the Sox box.

So reflective! The Belles are numbered to 3999 and 1999. Remember when that was special?

I have the Frazier for my GQ build, so he is sent to the Sox box. Bonifacio is from the high number release. Conor is not really doing much out west with the Giants, but looks good in sparkly green.

Two simple cards that are beautiful on the outside. And the middle is a very complex card that is just... sigh. Oh 90's.

Nixon is the oldest card Nick sent. The rest here are great oddballs. Fisk on Drake's Big Hitters. Those cards have the same charm as the Swell or Hygrade releases, to me. I wonder what happened to the figure that came with the Guillen card. I also wonder what happened to the figure Stark buried in the corn field. Geez Matt - stare through my soul a little more, would you?

Last, but not least, is a mostly complete 1988 Coke Sox team set. The full set, according to ebay, is 30 cards. I have 22. Love seeing old Comiskey in the background. And Billy tossing out the first pitch in full '59 uniform just makes the entire set. Now I'll have to start tracking down these full team sets.

Thanks again Nick. All your cards have made me lost for space in my boxes and binders (just click play - trust me).

What I've been buying

I really just have one trade package to post, and my brain isn't too witty today. Instead, I made a recent purchase off Sportlots for some set fillers, and to pad out the envelope for shipping costs, filled the order to each seller with some PC cards. I went to Sportlots mainly becuase I wanted two cards to knock out the 2012 Panini Golden Age base set, and I would have spent over $4 for the two cards with shipping via COMC. I knew I could do better elsewhere. JustCommons didn't have what I needed, but a few sellers on Sportlots did the trick. So the '12 Golden Age is done. I miss that set - do wish there was a 2015 version, but oh well.

I focused on three of my player collections - Crede, Rowand and Petrick. When all was said and done, added 10 new Joes, 5 new Bens and 9 new Aarons.

Here's 4 of the 5 Petricks. I am still behind Arpsmith in regard to my Ben Petrick collection. You would have thought that UD base card would be easy to stumble across, but nope. I am a huge fan of Gold Label. That set was far too short lived for the quality of the cards. My Petrick collection sits at 88 cards.

Crede pickups were across the board. I have the autographed version of the Boys of Summer, but not the base, until now.

More Gold Label! I like the framing of the Authentix - less of a ticket and more of a mini matted photograph.

There's the last Petrick. That is not the base Topps, but a "limited edition", according the the foil near the bottom. Not sure what that means, except that I needed the cars. The Team Heroes in the center is one bizarre format. Kind of an upside down '15 Gypsy Queen look to it. No justice to the Certified Cuts scan card at the lower right. Much nicer in hand. Crede collection now at 143 cards.

Couple Phillie cards in the Rowand pile. I wish the Turkey Red wasn't of a softball jersey, though. Could have been much nicer if it was the road grays.

Last of the mailings for Rowand. I forget that he wore 44 in the first two years he was in the bigs on the south side, moving to the more familiar 33 in 2003. The Chrome at the lower right is the most interesting card. And not because of the front.

It took me two seconds of looking at that to realize that is not Rowand on the back. That's Konerko. Rowand's base Topps card for that year has the same incorrect back. Uncorrected error. I'M RICH! My Rowand collection is the lowest of these three at just 53 cards.

JustCommons order goes out soon to add more for each of these players.

Sometimes I spend money on things other than postage

I do love getting cards in the mail. Especially from other bloggers and readers. And I love send out cards in the mail. So usually I am spending money at my local big box store, my LCS, or online with postage.

Once in a while, I get things online. So here's a quick glance at cards I received that did not come from the kindness of you folks.

Before Topps got all weird with their colored parallels, Donruss did a bunch of stuff with colored foil and calling things "samples' or "proofs". Gimmick all the way, but something I need for the collection. Luckily, it was less than a quarter shipped.

Two for the double play binder. The Perez is iffy at a turn at two, but it was six cents shipped. And it's my collection anyway, so in it goes. Morris was a pickup off Listia for 500 credits or so. I snagged a few Impact cards for different binders. I'll need to give that whole set a closer look.

Impact - right? Man, I do like the images on their cards. Clark was also Listia. Belle, on the other hand, was a card that sat in my COMC shopping cart a good 6 months. I was waiting for a day with sales and free shipping to make a purchase. That day came a couple weeks back, so now it's home. But that wasn't all I picked up from COMC.

Here are three sets I completed. I needed about a dozen from Minds That Made the Future, 15 of the Endangered Animals, and that damn Heyward rookie card. But I was able to delete all three sets from my A&G want page. Now just a bunch of minis to go, before 2015 drops.

I still have short prints for 2012 & 2013 Cooperstown, plus some inserts, but the Doerr and a Cobb completed the 2013 base set. Markov completed 2014-15 UD hockey series 1 and the ANH series from Topps Illustrated is off the list as well. I was a set-completing bad ass on COMC. But the highlight of my purchase was these two cards.

Yeah - SUCK IT ARPSMITH! In all honesty, the card on the left was the only one I really wanted. But since I didn't have any copies of the card, I thought I should buy a second. I think it's pretty obvious why I bought the one on the left. There is no WAY in the world that is Ben's auto. My guess is his wife signed that one. I have see enough of his signature to know the one on the right is valid. I am surprised Best got the cards back and didn't notice this forgery. I wonder how many more like this are out there. I think it makes a hell of an oddball addition, though. Been looking at that card for a good 3 years now. And no one else bought it. It gets a center spot on the page in the Petrick binder.

Spending cash

Sometimes you have to hit the 'bay if you want to add some things to your collection. As much as you hope another blogger can get their mitts on some sweet cardboard, ultimately you need to open your wallet and deal with shipping costs. Here's some recent pickups online.

From a vendor that had a flat shipping of $2.50 for as many cards as you buy, I picked up a dozen '58 White Sox for the team set. After all was said and done, I paid just over a buck per card. And quality wise is pretty high. All the cards are in great shape.

Just a single Kimball - card #100. I snagged this for a $1.45 with shipping from Sportlots. This Ruth completes the Kimball Champions set. I'll scan the entire set on another post. Just glad to knock this one out.

My first two additions to the Ted Wilks project. I figured that TipTop card on the left would be extremely hard to find. I lucked out last week, randomly searching and found this one for $13 with shipping. The Eureka stamp was a pickup for $3. Five cards left to complete.

The same night as the TipTop I sniped this Fox Red Man card for $3.25. I threw in a Buy It Now of a '63 ChiSox Mike Joyce since shipping was combined. Just over $7 total. Someone did a number on the tab, but I have yet to find a Red Man of Nellie for under $15 with or without the tab.

A nice '61 Topps Stamp for the Lollar collection. I was happy someone separated this and sold it alone, as every auction I have ever seen of the Sherm stamp is attached to a stamp of the Say Hey Kid. Picked this up for 10 quarters with shipping.

I didn't know these Fleer Futures came in a black parallel. Luckily, my saved search for Petrick cards pulled this up. Set me back a buck with shipping.

I took a chance, spending $6, on a 130 card lot of Konerko. The images had a bunch of dupes, but I figured if I found 25 new cards for the collection, I was ahead of the game. I added 53. I was able to add a few new cards to Jeff's Konerko collection at My Sports Obsession. Plus, if I so desire I have a nice amount left to try for TTMs.

eListibay

After yesterday's post about clearing off the desk, the USPS decided to drop three envelopes on me today. Luckily, there was just a single card in each one. So a few quick scans, and little show and tell and into the binders they go.

Stellar addition to my Petrick binder. I have been watching a few off these from time to time on ebay, but the cost has just been insane. This gorgeous patch from Bowman Chrome showed up with a BIN of just two bucks and free shipping. SOLD!!! Shipping cost on the card? $2.07. So I got "paid" a nickel and two pennies to add this card to my collection. The patch is just sweet. The uniforms worn said "United States" on the front, but I cannot quite figure out what part of what letter I have. I got time.

The next two cards I won at Lista for a combined total of 575 credits. Credits earned not by selling but from time spent filling out lame surveys.

Sellers seem to put a fair amount of SP cards on Listia. I scored four from GQ a couple weeks back. I got this SP of Posey for 499 credits ($1.66 in real money) without anyone fighting me for it. 2013 Heritage is slowly coming together.

Oh baby....that is some upper level of awesome. A low score at 76 credits (about a quarter) landed me this card for my bunting binder. I couldn't ask for any better of a card to add. Great photo, incredible blue print diagram - I am in love. They should reprint this card and give it out to ball players nowadays. No one knows how to lay down a bunt anymore.

I've been working on burning off the credits I have on Listia. Then I go, fill out more surveys and get more credits in my bucket. I can't seem to get down to zero.

My daughter appreciated that video.

The road more traveled.

Every once in a while, you hear a story in sports, or in business, or politics - wherever - that talks about the incredible odds someone had to go through to get where they are. The hard life in the inner city from a broken home of a parent that died young, raised by an aunt that worked 14 jobs to pack the paper sack of the lunch carried over a 10 mile trek to school in a rough neighborhood.

Sometimes, a trade package goes through the same journey. We'll get to that one in a bit. But first, a little look see at a bunch of card I received from Nate at Uncle Doc's Card Closet. If you aren't already following, get over to his site and enjoy/salivate over his storage area for cards. Nate put a call out for mid '90 Donruss. I remembered a fair amount of them when I did my team sort months back, so I dug through all the teams and pulled everything I could find. In return, Nate beat on my A&G needs. Here's just a couple of the many I received.

Trading can be weird. My total of that great '08 Thome card numbered zilch until a month ago. First I got the black bordered mini from the Night Owl a couple weeks back. Now I have the base. Nate also hit my 2011 needs. Here's my want list pre-trade:

And post:

Pretty much halved both my 2008 and 2011 needs. Thanks a ton, Nate. Keep posting your needs cuz I got a lot of cards I could send.

So, the well traveled cards? It all started with a comment about a Kate Upton card.

Oh hi - I'm not interrupting, am I?

From there, Dennis from Too Many Verlanders and I struck up a conversation. Dennis inquired about a 6 swatch Red Wings card in my trade bait and we were off. He offered to help with a couple player collections in return for that card, and whom am I to turn that down. Funny thing on the way to 2x3 Heroes Ground Zero - Dennis sent the package to ANOTHER Jeff he was working on a trade with. The other Jeff, being cool (all us Jeffs are way cool), forwarded the cards to me, and they arrived today. And worth the wait this envelope was. Let's start with the Big Hurt.

I have to break Nick's heart with another autograph card, but the nice part is I have none of these, so they are all welcome additions. Moving to the best team in the NHL...

BOOM! My 2nd Roenick TTM auto. Just like the Thome above, I had zero Roenick autos, and now I have two received in the past 4 weeks. This card was the surprise, which makes me glad I surprised Dennis with a non-posted Red Wing jersey card. Ok - so the help to my player collections started with a few additions to my Petrick section.

The relics complete my first player trifecta with auto, rookie and relic cards. That micro card is just that - micro. Glad to add more Ben's to my collection. Ben had a birthday the other day and is still doing well with his DBS. Lastly, Dennis completed the flawless floor routine with these two gems.

OH YEAH! Mark two more off the Pierce Project with a '63 Series Foes and a '59 Ace Hurlers. Both are in beautiful condition - way nicer than I would have picked up.  I swear that Ace Hurlers is right out of a pack. Thanks again Dennis. If you want to road trip another envelope of similar contents, you have my permission.