Real Value

This card could be priceless!

At least every couple weeks, I go back and read my blog posts from past years.  Or I'll check the stats page and see which posts people have read in the past week.  It's always a very random sampling - I'm guessing it's what people are Googling and being led to, I'm not sure.  But anyway, today this post was in the list.

It was the last part of a list of items that originated in this post from Off Hiatus Baseball.  It's an adaptation of a 30 day music challenge that appeared on Twitter.  I completed my list in three posts.  And then I put this at the end:

That's what the most important thing about this hobby is - the connections we make.  The searching, finding, obtaining, cataloging, storing, admiring, and completing are all fun, but the trading, buying and selling, and discussing cards with other people, plus meeting the players depicted [on them] is the time to be valued most.  That personal value of a card is what drives the hobby.  It's not the dollar value, it's that it reminds you of a time with your Dad, or your friends, or witnessing a great ball game at the stadium, or home on TV.  That real-life experience of family, friends, and heroes is the actual benefit of hoarding these little cardboard slices.  They are merely colored and pressed paper, but what they can represent to an individual is a wide range of memories, feelings, and happiness.  And there's no such thing as too much of that!

Keep in mind that this was three years before the COVID boom.  I don't remember writing this specifically, but I think it sums up why I love these little slabs of cardboard so much. 

(The other reason has to do with the psychology of addiction to some degree, I'm sure.)

Let me know what you think....

Extra Protection

Made a quick purchase the other week to reduce my want list of T205 New York Giants (how many of you have want lists like that?).  I had to laugh at the packaging.  It may have survived the recent hurricanes.  Kudos to seller Toppsaholic for protecting my investment.

Outer white paper wrapping.  Folded and sealed securely.

That was around a box section folder and wrapped in another box section sleeve.

Which contained another cardboard envelope layer...

With a bubble mailer inside of that...

Wrapped in two slab bags...

...was the final product.

This is the "W. A." variation of Latham's T205.  The more common version is "A. Latham" on the back. 

Now I'm down to four for the team set.  Of course, Mathewson is one of them.

Adiós El Tiante (part 2)

Luis Tiant was my favorite baseball PC player.  He passed away on the 8th at the age of 83.

Here is everything I have of his that isn't really a plain standard card.

I've got a bunch of these Sportscaster game cards of my PC players.  One of these days I'm going to have to plow through all the listings to see which ones I'm still missing.  They aren't necessarily listed by player - like this one - so it's a bit tougher to research.

These Linnett portraits are a little smaller than the Sportscasters.  They are very colorful and very '70's.

This Metallic Impressions is from 1993.  I just got this one last month or so.  Actually got two of them - bought one and got one in trade around the same time.  Might work out if I can trade it for the other four PC guys I need from that set - Blue, Bonds, Foster and Lolich.

Also from 1993, the BAT card from UD All-Time Heroes.  Technically, this is the base card.  There are no other kind in the set.  I always think these are an insert from the 1994 set, but I'm wrong.  The whole deal in '93 are these derivatives of the old T202 Triple Folders.

One of the seven PC guys in these 2024 Oversize '75 box toppers from Heritage.  I still need Guidry and Tenace to finish them.  I wish Heritage did more with retired players, but I guess that's what Archives is. 

Speaking of which, here are two autographed Archives cards.  But these are just in-person signed, as opposed to the officially sanctioned flavor with the bigger stamp - like this one.  I didn't remember these were what they are until I pulled them for this post.

Here's both sides of the same situation.  The one on the left is an encased and serial numbered issued autograph.  The one on the right is a base card with an IP auto.  That one was probably cheap.

Here are two more recent officially issued signatures.  The Prizm is a bit over the top gaudy - must have also been cheap or I might have passed it by.

Surprisingly, this is the only jersey I have of Luis.  I don't strive to pile these up for most of my PC's except for the few I'm going for supercollector status with.  Nice looking card though.

And finally, a quadruple dual jersey of Boston's finest numbered out of 75.  You could argue I need a second one for my Fisk collection.  I would say that it's too bad that Dwight Evans and Cecil Cooper weren't the other two players featured.  Then I would have 100% player collection guys on it.  Oh well, I like Rice & Lynn too. 

And that wraps it up for my Tiant collection.  Hope you enjoyed. 

A lot of my PC's started when I had a few cards of the same player and I just liked him.  Tiant was definitely one of the coolest dudes to play the game.  He was funny and kinda badass at the same time.  Plus, he was a loyal and caring family man, as you could see in the program about bringing his parents to America.  I appreciate players much more when they're good people too.

Adiós El Tiante (part 1)

Just a day after I posted about my favorite football PC player's birthday, my favorite baseball PC player passed away.  Luis Tiant was 83.

This 6" x 9" MLB photo decorates the cover of the first of nine binders that house all my baseball player collections.  Luis' cards are right up front.  There are 13 pages from the binder and several other things, so I'll split this into two posts since there are 27 images.  

Here is everything I have of his so far....

It all starts with the personalized IP autographed 1965 Topps rookie card.  Somewhere I had a picture of he and I when I got that signed, but I can't find it.  Not a great shot anyway and he seemed like he wasn't enjoying himself that day.  I just started the '65 set, so I'll need another one at some point for that.  

Found one of the '69 Topps highlights with his signature on it too.  Don't think it was very expensive.  Going through my collection to make these scans, I realize how bad some of these vintage cards are as far as centering.  That '66 is terrible.

The second page is a 9-pocket mini sheet with several inserts and oddballs.  (The bottom slots are empty so I cropped them out.)  A '69 Topps transfer, the regular and OPC deckle edges, a Dell photostamp, a Milton Bradley, and the '70 Kellogg's.  

The O-Pee-Chee versions of the '69 League Leaders cards begin page 3.  As a rule, I put Topps first, then Hostess and Kellogg's, then any others after that.  That changes in 1980 when Topps is no longer the dominant company.  The middle card is a Kahn's.  It might be '70, but only fits in the middle page slot sideways.  There will be a bunch of odd-sized items later that live in the odd-size binder, but that Kahn's just didn't have a good spot in that one, so it stays here.  And those '70 "Supers" aren't really super-sized.

The next page has holes - mostly for OPC versions.  Tiant has no '72 cards.  He was injured and spent significant time in the minors in '71 according to the back of the '73 cards.  I left a slot open for the OPC ERA Leaders below the base card, and for the '74 OPC below the base Topps too.  It works out better to show the pairs this way with an odd number of pockets. 

More from the '75 design later.  That SSPC is such a funny shot.  It looks like he's thinking "If this fool doesn't take the picture and get out of my way, I'm gonna sock him in the mouth!"

More OPC's, a cloth sticker, and a '79 Burger King that is like a Traded card.  Ya gotta love the pairings of the late '70's Topps & OPC's when a player changes teams.

Here's where the order switches.  All companies are in alphabetical order now.  I stuck that little stamp from '83 with the Donruss.  It's actually in a folded penny sleeve draped over the card.

Now it gets really diverse.  Senior Leagues, Swell, Line Drive, Minor Leagues, and Action Packed.

Moving on to post-career issues.  Ted Williams, Upper Deck, Fleer, etc.

Lots of reprinted images in this section.  Archives, Fan Favorites, Retired Signature, and the more uncommon Shoebox Topps issues, among others.

Now the finishes get more fancy then the photo selections.  I'm sure there are a lot more out there that would expand this part of the PC.

More retired player sets, more repeated pictures.  I think there are even more parallels of those Absolute Heroes.  I'm sure I'm still looking for the pewter '06 Greats.

And finally, you have the Topps Chrome Anniversary premiere edition and all the parallels, along with a few of the other issues from around the same year.  The base and Mustaches card are online exclusives.  The Archives '75 isn't what I was talking about before.  This year's Heritage box toppers are even nicer.

Had one straggler stuck on the back of the last page.  Didn't want to start another sheet just for one card.

Stay tuned for part two - all shapes and sizes - plus the mojo hits and a non-card item or two.

Happy Birthday To My #1 PC

Just glanced at the TCDB database home page and saw that today is Priest Holmes' birthday.  The former Ravens & Chiefs running back turns 51.  

I collect anything I can of his, mostly because he won me fantasy football championships in back to back years in the early 2000's when he led the NFL in touchdowns.  

And he's a pretty decent character guy too.

I've got a large binder of his cards, a two row box of jerseys & autographs, and a whole shelf full of McFarlane figures, mini helmets, oversize cards, plus posters, a Fathead, and more.  I probably don't rank real high as a Supercollector (though I'm #1 on the database) since I don't have too many 1/1's. (If I was writing this at home, I'd show you my stuff. I just grabbed these images off the internet, but I have most of the cards.)  If you'd like to see all I have in depth, let me know in the comments.