Sneaking One In

Well, I feel like a liar again.  Or at least a cheesy salesman.  And sales is the last thing I ever want to do.  I've gone another month without a single post, and I was hyping up how all my collecting functions would be taking off in August since I am no longer burdened with full time work.

  

The major causes of my absence were - I sold my previous residence (finally!) - settled on the 20th.  I ordered a backyard shed - 10x12 barn style with loft storage, two windows, and a 5' double door - which also lead to ordering another contractor to come build a base for it.  Also multiple doctor appointments (everything is fine - following up from last year and getting new glasses lenses.)  And I went three different places to cut down trees or weeds for people.

I did add another year or two to my football trade stock on TCDB.  That took a few days.

TCDB trading has resumed, and was very steady all month.  It has trailed off a bit, so I ran a report and initiated a couple large trades myself.  (Typically I have all I can handle in incoming propositions.)  I passed 625 trades in August, and still have about 10 going on right now.

The slew of recent trades replenished my recycled painter's tape stock...

I've managed to put away a lot of the football set singles I've gathered over the last year or so.  The baseball stacks (2) are still on the desk.  As are a lot of the new player collection additions.  

Here's the back part of my sorting desk.  (Angela has the front for two rows of stacks of her four football player guys.)  The blue section is my PC guys.  The main ones have a stack and the others with smaller quantities are in the piles by the discs.  The pink section is baseball sets - the middle pile is about six inches high (hard to tell from overhead).  The yellow is JD5's and Jordan Addisons and the few football I just got.  And the green is all extras/dupes.  Mostly recent Allen & Ginter and 2023 Heritage.

Today, I took a major step forward that should help trading and clearing space.  The red section above is where the four stacks of Washington football used to be.  They are now on the other desk in piles by year.

Still have to do the 90's, but here are all the 2000's.  The first five stacks (2000 - 2004) have been checked off in my binder, so they're ready to file.  The binder covers up to 2008, then I have to type the rest into a Word document.  As you can see, there are a lot more from the last few years.  2024 so much so that I had to split it into two piles.  But at least now I'll know what I have and what I don't and won't have to sift through half of this to figure out if I need a card in trade.  I don't put these on the Database, except what gets there automagically through trade.  It's easy enough to consult my lists to fill out trades as I go.  They just haven't been updated in a couple years.  And you can see I've been bringing in a lot despite this.

So anyway, at some point I have a SportLots order to show.  And I'm sure I've mentioned or commented elsewhere on other post ideas that I've since forgotten (again).  I'll try to gather a few of those and put them out in September.  I'm open to suggestion if you remember one that I have lost.  Maybe another poll?  Let me know in the comments.  Thanks for stopping by.  

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.

When The Cardboard Gods Smile Upon You

You ever had the experience of beating the odds while handling your cards?  

I don't mean pulling that 1/1 out of a pack - that's collation and doesn't have much to do with you.  Unless you just paid for one pack out of a box and then reached in and randomly selected the third one in the center stack and it had the case hit...

But I'm not even talking about that much of a win.  More like the subtle little things that happen that just seem lucky or almost supernatural.

What inspired me was the other day when I was pulling cards for the TCDB trades that had stacked up late in the week.  One collector wanted a single card from my 1994 Pacifics among a whole line of other cards.  They are in a three row box, separate from my other trade stock.  It was a number in the 300's, so it would likely be right in the middle.  I reached in and flipped the center row forward, and the first card was the exact card I was looking for.  There was only one, even though so many of my dupes have multiple copies of the same card - up to double digits.  I hit the one card in the entire box that was the one I needed.  What are the chances?

I can't think of what these kind of experiences are called.  My knee-jerk reaction is usually "Damn, I'm good!"  I won't say it happens a lot, but it happens often enough that I either think I've been doing this so long that I've developed psychic powers, or that I need to get out more.

Like when you open a book (or a binder of cards in pages) to the exact page you want without it being marked.  Do things like that happen to you too?

Let me know in the comments.

Recycling

I try to use the top loaders, penny sleeves and some of the modified 9-pocket sheets that I get from trade shipments.  Mostly for shipping other cards out, since they generally aren't clean enough for display or long term storage.  It's better than throwing it all out.  There's enough plastic out there as it is.

The same goes for painter's tape.  If you're doing it right, you're using painter's tape to secure your card shipments.  If you're using scotch tape, deduct three bonus points from your collector score.

I keep mine on the front of the file cabinet next to my computer desk.  That way it's handy to grab some when I'm packing packages.  I've seen other bloggers do the same thing. 

Mine is getting full.  Thanks TCDB traders!

Three Shows In A Month - Part 3: Gettysburg, PA

This one will be rather brief. 

I heard about this show a mere two days before it took place.  My buddy Stuart said I needed to go, but I was hesitant since I had been spending a lot at the previous shows and other purchases recently.  (He would still go if he was dead broke and there was only one junk wax table among a hundred Pokèmon dealers).  But I actually had the time free and it was only a ten minute drive, so I gave in and went.

It was a smaller show in one of the ballrooms at the Eisenhower Hotel in Gettysburg.  It's situated right along the main road into the Battlefield.  There was a Coin show and a Civil War show also happening elsewhere in the venue.  Both of those had better signage directing attendees to them than the Card show - I parked at the far end of the building and ended up walking the length of the place to find it.

My first thought about small shows like this is that there will be almost nothing but slabs and new shiny stuff.  This one wasn't too bad in that way, but it was true that vintage was rare and the typical dealer was a young guy or guys with $1, $5 and higher boxes of singles that weren't sorted by sport, much less team.  There were also about a half dozen gaming (Pokèmon etc.) dealers.   

I did find some offerings that were sorted by sport and team, which makes it easier for me since I'm only looking for two teams in new football stuff.  

Sorry for the pale images, top loaders reflect really bad in my house.  The first couple of these are from 2013 and 2017.  The rest are from the last three years.

The other team is of course, the Vikings, for local kid Jordan Addison.  Really added some good ones this time.  I don't think Donruss was out when I first added him to my TCDB wantlist, so several of these weren't even on it.

And rounding out my selections, the Duke J is a pro uniform flavor of a Prestige rookie for my set. The Marshall is a unique addition to that player collection.  The Hernandez is the last base card of my PC guys in the latest Chrome Platinum Anniversary - now to round out the six billion parallels.  And the Ovie was a throw in to make ten $2 cards for $17 from one dealer.

It only took me from about 10AM or so until 1PM to gather all these.  I walked the whole thing twice.  I suppose I'd go back to this show again since it couldn't be much closer to my house.  Maybe there will be different dealers in the future.  (One guy had some decent vintage and whole dedicated boxes of Bo Jackson and Michael Jordan among others, but all the cards were several dollars apiece, so I passed.)

Anyway.  Now I've got a full table again the the card room to clear off and put all this stuff away from these shows.  Hope you enjoyed my hauls.

What's The Story With This Guy?

I finally finished entering all my recent baseball extras into the TCDB.  (Ok, full disclosure, I still have a couple piles of recently processed dupes that I have to sort yet, but the majority is DONE!)

Do you ever notice that the same guy keeps popping up either when you open packs or buy bulk lots or sort out your monster boxes of extra stuff?  (What? doesn't everyone have multiple monster boxes of trade bait? 😀)

While entering my last box - 2017 thru 2021, this guy kept showing up.  Not only on base cards, which wouldn't be anything special, (since a major percentage of my extras are Topps flagship base,) but in parallels, and even a relic.

This is the Database image, but mine is identical.

I looked up the list of all the Story's I have entered, and here it is:

2016 Topps Heritage - Black Borders (High Numbers) #THC-707 SP
2017 Topps #42
2017 Topps Bunt #49
2018 Stadium Club #299
2018 Stadium Club - Black Foil #299
2018 Topps #230
2018 Topps Big League - Gold #46
2018 Topps Holiday #HMW128
2019 Topps Chrome #183
2019 Topps Update - Gold #US44 AS, SN2019
2020 Topps Heritage - Clubhouse Collection Relics (High Number) CCR-TS
2021 Topps Big League - Souvenirs #13
2021 Topps Heritage #600
2023 Topps Big League #249 SP

Two short prints, two black parallels, and an insert.  And a diverse set list as well, but that's pretty easy to do for anyone with decent talent.

I wish Heritage would stick to colored borders instead of shiny.  It makes so much more sense for a vintage tribute product.

OK, these are actually the base and black foil parallel, but of course, foil comes out black on a scanner. 

Gold parallel

Abominable Snowman encounter?

 

 

And the only 2023 cards I have anywhere in my collection come from two packs of Big League that my buddy Stuart sent randomly.  Which year did he get traded / move to the Sawx?  I don't pay attention any more...

 

So anyway, if you're a Story or Rockies fan and need any of these, hit me up.  Trades are active again on TCDB, or email at the link in the upper right.  I've got a lot of other Rockies available as well.

Yes, 'Em Are Nice Cards

In what should be a much larger effort to purge stuff from Hivemind Headquarters, here's a stack of stuff that might be useful for someone.  I get these at the National Convention, but since I'm not into grading or the high end of the market, these are slated for the Recycle Bin unless someone wants them.  Trade me a few cards or some equivalent for the postage if possible.  I'll probably send them even if you don't.

I'll start with the oldest.  The orange book is Heritage Auctions' catalog, but is also a convention program.  Interspersed with the staff biographies and upcoming auction news and items, there is a map of the National floor and lists of the autograph signers and vendors present for the show.

The SMR (hence the title of this post) is the Sports Market Report.  I suppose this might be the precursor to the YouTube influencer videos that report the going rates of various graded star cards.  It's like a Beckett guide for slabs.  Like I said, I have no interest in this information, but a trendier collector might.

This pair is from the oldest show I went to - 2010.

The next year's SMR guide with Ernie Banks.  These generally feature stars from the cities that hosted the show.  A lot of them are Chicago as a result.

2012 brings Barry Larkin (Nachos....?) and two Heritage catalogs.  I'll ship out any combination of the two types of books.  You're not limited to the corresponding pairs.

2013 was the year they brought all those Cracker Jacks from that big find.  No, that's not a real slabbed card - it's just a photo on the cover.  Though they did pass out replica slabs of those things...

2014 was in Cleveland, so Bob Feller is the cover model.  The Heritage book is still about the same size, but they get a bit larger as we go.

Skipped a year, so here's 2016...

Jump to 2019, and Baker Mayfield, plus two Heritage programs.  Chicago again.

The 41st National was in 2021, since they skipped 2020.  Didn't put this together until I was writing this and had already taken the pics.

Didn't go last year, so here's the most recent program.  Not sure if the SMR's are obsolete at this point...

Hit me up if you'd like any of these.  They'll join the water bottles and junk mail if you don't.

A Little $2 Surgery

The Chantilly show I attended on Friday was a bit disappointing in that I didn't find a whole lot of set killers or special player collection cards.  So I'm still debating on whether to make a post about my haul.  I got almost as much for a fellow collector who has been holding a stack for me than I did for myself.   What I got was largely the same things I usually come home with - 1950 Bowman, 1957 Topps, and a few miscellaneous more recent things.

I did spot Chris Sewall, of Baseball Card Collector Investor Dealer YouTube fame.  I introduced myself and said I watch his videos often even though I consider myself the anti-collector (or anti-hype collector - don't care about grading, rookies, or shiny).  I fumbled over describing what I collect and we parted ways.  Check out his channel, he's not one of these "influencer" guys.  His Q&A sessions are always informative.

But anyway, part of what I bought included a couple 1957 Topps cards that were only a dollar each.  That's generally a great find, but these had a bit of an issue.

They look fantastic on the front, but when you turn them over....

They both have these paper strips stuck to the back of the card.

This one is shown in progress of removal.  I have actually seen this before and was able to cure it.

What you need is a little bit of water (I used a bottle cap), a scraper (or if you're daring, a razor blade - though I'd recommend using the non-blade edge.), a cotton swab, and if you're old like me, a magnifier - preferable that will stand on it's own.

What I do is dip the swab into the water and tap or roll it off so it's not soaked.  You only want to dampen the strip, not so much of the surface of the card.  Just enough to make the glue let go.  Keep the leading edge of the strip damp, but if you get too much water, let it dry and then reapply to just where you need it.

Then I switch to the scraper.  Not sure where I got this one, but it's perfect for the job.  Keep pushing the paper with a light scraping motion, being careful not to press too hard into the card surface.  Once it stops sliding off easily, apply the water again. 

Continue working it down and dampening the leading edge.  Typically I would get about and eight to a quarter of an inch increments before dampening again.  It's slow work, but it pays off.  The first strip was basically whole and came off in one piece.  Wasn't perfect, but it'll do.

The other one had been partially removed so it came off in fragments.  And there was a little damage already at the end.

But they're both much better than they were.  I guess those strips were how someone catalogued their cards or something.  Well, now I have a couple really decent '57s that were only a dollar each!

Let me know in the comments if you've ever had to do rehab work on a card...

Extending Immortality

Here's a "completist" project I did a few weeks ago.  And by "completist", I mean I'm way too obsessed with variations of cheap 80's cards.

The Baseball Immortals set, otherwise known as 1980-87 SSPC HOF, is a total count of 199 players.  Card #1 thru 173 were printed starting in 1980.  An update in 1984 added 174 - 189.  Then 190 thru 196 were added in 1986 and the whole thing reprinted again. And finally, in 1987, the final three cards were added.  As a result, the set actually has four different variant backs.  Not all of them encompass all 199 cards.  Around the card number, there can be "1st Printing", and an MLB logo.  

They go something like this:

1st Printing & MLB logo - cards 1 thru 189.

1st Printing & no MLB logo - cards 1 thru 189 again.

No 1st Printing / MLB logo - cards 190 thru 199.

No 1st Printing / No MLB logo - cards 1 - 173 and 190 - 199.

So I already had a set of these in a binder, and then got most of another one to fill out the 1st Printing or not category.  I didn't figure out about the MLB logo part until afterward, and then pulled a bunch of those out of the original setup and relisted them to accomodate that.  Later I came into a good stack of the MLB logos and finally decided to reconfigure my binder.

Instead of three separate sets, I combined them all to show the backs together.  

Which means I started with two stacks of pages and a pile of loose cards, all in order.  

As you can see above, I put them in order by 1st+logo, then 1st only, then neither.  So the first paged ones could be put in the first column in the new sheet, then the 1st only's in the second column, and on and on, 3 by 3.  

To complicate matters further, there are five of what I'd call "real" variations in the colors used on the front of cards depicting the same player.  I mocked some of these up since they don't have images on the database and I don't own them all yet.

But since a lot of the last 23 cards only have two different backs, it works out OK.

That's where I'm going to leave it today.  Probably more than you ever wanted to know about this quirky Hall Of Famers set.  Anybody else now motivated to fill out the better part of them three times?  

Didn't think so.  It's just me.....