Bot decoy

Check out my 800th post below or at the Older Post link.  I'm making this post because the 800th has 8 survey responses, but over 500 readers.  This post will take the brunt of the bot attack and leave the previous one to a reasonable number of reads, maybe.

800th post

In honor of my 800th total post (around 700th card-centric one), I had grand designs on going back and doing a retrospective of the blog through the years and reinvigorating some of the series I had started, as well as remembering some of the post ideas that I lost along the way. 

But I've been over a month contemplating all this and haven't been able to actually pull it off.  It's taken me since January 20th of 2023 to manage 100 posts.  I used to do 150+ in my prime, but that's been years ago now.  And with the overrun of bots inflating the reader numbers, I fear that our little platform is doomed to corruption.  And I really can't come up with a lot of original ideas.  Do I keep going with the same old thing?

So I crafted a little survey to see what you readers think.  Is it worth continuing?  Or should I just fire up the warp engines and head back to the homeworld?  I'll still read other blogs, but more and more I just don't know if I have a lot to contribute. 

 Take the survey here

I included some standard questions about what you collect, mostly for my own curiosity.  I'll post the results after a good number of you respond.  Hopefully, I don't get a lot of non-human answerers.  Please only respond once.  Thank you!

My Virtual National

(Editor's note: This post has had four digit readership for the last month or so. (7215 total so far.) That can't be real. I changed the title to see if they will quit.  They didn't - changed it back.)

Even though illness prevented me from attending this year in Chicago, I didn't totally miss out on adding cardboard to my collection.

After I had sufficiently recovered, my girlfriend took me to the Morning Sun Marketplace in Thomasville, PA near York.  We walked through the outside flea market and through all three buildings in the course of the day.  One outside dealer had a couple binders with random assortments of mostly newer baseball, football and hoops stars and every card was $5.  

I found this Jordan Addison /8.  I have two others from this Leaf set as well, so I was happy to add this one.  

Inside, we passed through a booth that had lots of supplies and non-sports cards and figures.  I came back and got this set:

It's complete at 100 cards.  Still shrink wrapped.  Not sure if I'll unwrap it or not.

The highlight of the visit was to go through the inventory at Jason's Sports Cards.  I went through his '63 Topps, but they were generally all commons with a lot of repeats, so I didn't get any of those.  He had a lot of jerseys and autos from lesser baseball and football players at the far end of his display, all marked at $4 each.  He said everything was discounted to two bucks as I was halfway through that section.  I snagged up on some Washington hits that I would have normaly passed over, but for that price, why not?

I hit another Jordan Addison in the Vikings row, but all the others are DC.  No JD5's or anything, but some low serial numbers, even if they're rookie jerseys.  The Jason Campbells are all /25.  The rest are in the 2-300s or so.  They'll be added to the pile of DC hits that I've accumulated over the past year and change.  Unfortunately, I don't have the drawer space to put them with the rest of my Redskins+ gamers & autos.

The other source of pasteboard treasures is my man Marv from Michigan.  Didn't get to see him, but he's been supplying me with 1963 Topps in a couple shipments since May or so.  These are the highlights.  Marked prices were reduced at final sale.

Had to cut out a Gibson that was not quite up to par, but these are a few of the big guns in the later series that I can now cross off my list.

Knocked out some of the better combo cards too.  I've seen the Bomber's Best listed for $125 or more.  These aren't perfectly centered, but the more I look at '63s, the less I expect them to be.

So I didn't totally go cold turkey for a month or more missing out on the National.  I've got sources to keep me collecting for sure.

Next up, my 800th total post... 

Launch Status: Aborted

Unfortunately, my plans for the Michigan trip and the National had to be cancelled.  I've been experiencing cyclical fever, fatigue and other symptoms for almost two weeks now.  I just wasn't going to be able to make the drive back and forth, and wade through all the crowds.  So I called it off.

The upside is, it probably saves me several hundred bucks in the short term, and lets me possibly get ahead of all the stuff that's piled up since I went the last time that I haven't put away yet.

But I really would have liked to be able to shop at some of the dealers that I only see there...

Preparing For Launch

Hopefully, in 24 hours, I'll be reporting from Michigan again.  Stuart and I will be starting another shop & show tour along with the trek to the National.  Barring crash, sickness, trampling, or robbery, I'll be back later with multiple posts on our visits and show loot.

I'll be primarily focused on my older vintage projects - '63 Topps, '50 Bowman, '61 Golden Press, '62 Post, and maybe if I'm really lucky, the last three '57 Topps guys named Aaron, Mantle, and Brooks Robinson.

I'm sure I'll find more new Jayden Daniels and Jordan Addisons too.  And I know one of the first dealers I'll go to is the insert guy at the far end of the first section.  Will try not to blow most of my cash on previous years' Heritage short prints....

Anyway, stay tuned...maybe I'll see you there!