Leading Ladies Of Sports Broadcasting #14

Whipped up a final card for the Leading Ladies series.  It's generally not much fun to pull a checklist, and in this case, you don't get a picture of a gorgeous woman.  Sorry guys. 

Really did it just for the sake of completion.  Moving on....

Road To Victory 1/1

The NHL playoffs will start this Wednesday.  The Washington Capitals will begin their defense of their 2018-19 Stanley Cup Championship.  This is a good time to unveil my latest custom in the tradition of the Machado tablecloth.

2019-20 Absolute Irrelevance Road To Victory 1/1 Parade Used Bus Tire.

I asked myself what could be the most peripheral and ridiculous item they could put a swatch of in a relic card relating to the Caps Cup victory.  It was easy to find a tire swatch image since a good portion of racing relics are of race-used tires.  The rest was just cobbling together images into a cohesive design.

But the parody isn't complete without the presentation.  Machado relics were multi-level exclusivity with matching prices that jumped at each level.  Click on the image for a more readable picture.

Back 2 Back Show Weekend Part 2: Chantilly

Made another journey Sunday, in the opposite direction from Saturday, to Chantilly for the first of the tri-annual shows at the Dulles Expo Center.  Got there a bit early, so I had to wait outside with a small crowd until they opened the doors.  I arrived at about 9:20, and the doors didn't open 'til 10.  Wouldn't have been so bad since the temp was in the 50's or so, but the wind was up so much that it was pretty chilly.  A lot of people were just in t-shirts and shorts, so there was some shivering going on.  Then they herded us into the ticket window lines, which then crossed over to the entrance door - that didn't open until several minutes later - so the crowd was bottlenecked for a bit too.  Was glad to be inside and finally on the hunt.

My first stop was a dealer that had three or four "tray" boxes of cards in Savers marked at $1 each.  All of the pictured cards were a buck.  There was a Steve Largent with a sticker that said $10, and the Payton RB has one that says $8.  There were plenty of decent 60's and 70's baseball stars, as well as some basketball dumped in there too, but the couple that I got are going to other people, so I won't ruin the surprise.  These '78s are bound for Stuart in Michigan.

I'm gonna jump around the different sports so I can keep the purchases together this time.  The next dealer had a binder that had 40¢ common-ish players and $1 team cards in the '75 minis.  I think I knocked out all but a couple teams from the unmarked wants.

Found another couple football that I'll show in a minute, but then went through the '64 Topps.  Found Marichal for a decent $8.  Then I saw the bargain box in the front of the table.  Usually that's where I start, but this time I ended on a high note with all these high number '64s for one or two dollars a shot or less.  The LL and Fox/Killebrew were nice finds too.

Then I moved over to my favorite insert vendor.  He had some bonus stuff this time that he said had been sitting in a cabinet for a while.  70's football (and baseball) at 3/$1.  The Namath and checklist are from the second dealer, but the rest were 33.3¢ each.  Got some bonus upgrades.  Well, technically, they were cheaper than that, but I'll clarify shortly.

Loaded up on '72s as well.  Nice to get the #1 card LL and some good star names. 

Also checked off the Csonka All-Pro from the $1 group before, and snagged the last four team cards I needed for '74 Topps from the three-fer boxes.

On the baseball side, found a few elusive Stadium Club inserts in on of his showcases, plus Brooks, the last series 1 base card, and (yet another) Bo Jackson '87 Future Star reprint from the annual redundant reprint flagship insert set for this year.  I scanned the interesting part, the back.

Narrowed my International Affairs to only a few of the usual suspects after these.  Tried to shoot the pic so the foil on the names would shine.

Killed a few A&G inserts from this past year from a two row batch that was apparently plopped right in the box fresh from the wrappers.  Every six to ten base cards, there was a random insert.  Lots of Magnificent Moons and World's Greatest Beaches.  But I managed to find my last Baseball Equipment, Fantasy Goldmine, and two World Talents.  Ichiro evaded me right up until the last couple handfuls in the box.  I was like "C'mon Ichiro....c'mon dude, be there....YES!
The minis were actually all the way on the other end of his setup.  Still a long way to go on most of those.

The main part of my purchase from him was this load of Heritage short prints.  Diaz completed my 2016 High Number SP's, but I still have a bunch of the #426+ ones missing.  But the big victory was killing off these 2007, 2009, and 2014 shorties.  Brought '09 and '14 down to the point where I could put names on the remaining ones.  Still a lot of '07 to go.  And of course, I messed one up - who needs Nelson Cruz in '09?

Best part is, my man Barry charged me for these (at about $1.35 each) and threw in the rest of the stuff for free.

The rest being ... all the '70 and '72 football, the '74 checklists, the Ginter inserts, the Stadium Club inserts and the Internationals.  Fer nuttin'...!!!!!

Then I capped it all off with these somewhat off condtion '50 Bowmans that were perfectly acceptable for the price, which was three bucks each.  I don't remember the dealer's name, but he called everyone "Brother".  I'm going back to him next time.

A couple of you will receive mailings from me shortly with stuff I didn't show.

It's All Over But The Crying

I can't believe they killed it.

The Alliance Of American Football League suspended operations this past week after eight weeks of games.  They had two more to go, and then two stages of playoffs to determine a champion.

But majority owner Tom Dundon wouldn't let it finish.  Citing unsustainability, he cancelled the rest of the games.  The league hasn't been officially dissolved yet, but it seems like it's coming.  The remaining piece of the company is the tech side which developed an app for gambling on sports or something, which may be the only part Dundon was really interested in.

Most media aren't surprised by the outcome.  They describe it as unwanted, sub-par product that was doomed from the start.  Lumped in with the XFL, USFL, and WFL, the AAF is just another failure like the rest.

I disagree.  I was really enjoying the league.  It seemed like they had done a few things differently. 

They weren't competing with the NFL, but were trying to cooperate with and enhance it by giving former and prospect players the chance to showcase their skills in full-speed games.  They paid every player the same, which eliminates a lot of the eliteism that plagues the NFL today.  A lot of fans are bolting from the NFL because of the drama that comes with prima donna players with exhorbitant salaries, and the resulting criminal activity, social protests, and other chaos generated by players who think they're above the rules.  There weren't many Colin Kaeparnicks, Odell Beckhams, Ray McDonalds, or Aldon Smiths in the AAF.  (OK, Johnny Manziel was a partying dumbass at one point, but he moved past that before he joined up.)

They played by different rules than the big league too.  Mandatory 2-point conversions, the elimination of kickoffs and extra points, a 4th and 12 instead of an onside kick, different timing rules, and other things that the NFL has talked about for years, were happening in every AAF game.  This was their opportunity to try different changes and see how they worked before implementing them on Sundays in the fall.

And the games were fun.  I didn't think they were that far below NFL level of play.  I've seen plenty more NFL games that were much more awkward, sloppy and hard to watch.  AAF action was pretty consistent and kept getting better every week.

The look of the league was cool too.  Each team had very distinctive color schemes and symbology.  The team names and concepts meant something to the home cities.  Arizona retired the number 19 in tribute to the firefighters that perished a few years ago that were their namesakes.  Other teams represented the major industries or traditions of their town.  I couldn't remember any of the UFL teams from a few years ago, because they all had the same colors and had generic mascots (I think).   This was so much better.

And it was almost done!  I can't imagine that they couldn't map it out so they could finish at least the first season.  It would have only been eleven games!  Two weeks of four games and then three playoffs.  Would have been so much nicer to at least be able to look back and say "Remember the AAF, when the Orlando Apollos won the only championship?  That was so much fun to watch."  Now, their legacy is that it was ripped away when it was just getting good by some owner guy who didn't even originate the league after he lost a few million.

I got two boxes of the trading cards and wasn't afraid of the idea of buying shirts and stuff with the logos of a couple AAF teams.  Now you probably won't be able to.  Maybe they'll have value in the nostalgia market like the Michigan Panthers or London Monarchs gear.

Living in Washington, it's easy to hear "it's a business" and translate that to "it's all about the profit margin for the owners, they don't care about the players or fans that much."

Back 2 Back Show Weekend Part 1: Ephrata

Two of the biggest shows of the year coincided this past weekend.  I was a bit annoyed that they fell together, but there are worse problems to have.  Had to get up early-ish both days, but it was worth losing a few hours sleeping in to bring home a big haul ~ twice!

Saturday's event was the annual display up in Ephrata, PA which is north of York.  It's about an hour and a half drive from my house, but it gets easier every time.  I remember the first time I went up in 2016, it was snowing really hard.  This year, it was sunny and close to the 70's.

I snapped a couple photos as I was calling up my various want lists on my phone.  I patched a couple shots together to show an overall view of the place.  The show is held in the Recreation Center adjacent to the school complex.  Most of the gym is filled with tables except for a seating area at the far end that is used during the auction.

I didn't separate my pictures by dealer, so some of these are amalgamations of different buys.  This one is player collection stuff.  The Heritage and Harper (who I don't really collect - especially now that he's gone - I just grab an occasional nice looking card now and then) are from a different source than the rest.  The '79 League Leaders are potential upgrades to my Foster binder, just picked on impulse.  It may be the two '77 LLs I need to improve.

The '75 minis are from Joe, who introduced himself with a handshake to every customer that came by.  It's good customer service training, but gets a bit weird after a while when you're sitting at his table pulling cards.  He had some decent (and cheap) stuff from the 70's, including the minis, at 25¢ each.

The Dewey '89 design is my last player collection guy from the LJN Baseball Talk set.  These are oversize cards with a mini record on the back that plays in a custom player.

The Keller may look familiar, since I got one like it in my post about the COMC order I placed early in March.

This one was different.  The top one is my COMC specimen.  The bottom one appears to be the backing of a Fleer team sticker.  I knew I had seen these on the backs of stickers before.  Lo and behold, it's from the 1980 Team sticker set.  Had the Dodgers logo stickers on the front.  Might have to find one with the stickers still intact and then give this one to his nephew.  Or was it the Mets?  Or San Diego?  *sigh*....Luckily, I don't see any with the '39 series on the back.  So I guess I'm looking for THREE more.

Anyway, on with the loot.  Picked up one of the last few of these 1996~2003 Danbury Mint 22K Gold cards.  That's not a top loader.  These things are encased in a thin plastic holder that is sealed.  They are a unique design that reminds me of 1963 Topps.  Complete with full stats on the back, as long as you tilt them to the light to read them.

Picked up these Palmer serialzed ones along the line too.  I think these went with the Heritage and Harper from before.

Back at Joe's I found these Series 2 Empire Strikes Back cards.  They look fine from this angle, but if you tilt them toward the light...

... not quite so pretty, but for around a quarter each, I'm not unhappy.  They'll be fine in the pages.

Speaking of pretty... I threw in this Charlie's Angels card from a stack he had there.  I didn't take the opportunity to go through the whole thing, but this one will go with the other handful of Jaclyn Smith cards I kept from back when they were new.

Found a dealer at the end of an aisle that had O-Pee-Chee hockey.  And that's without Topps or Upper Deck.  He collected only OPC.  Filled out some of my new Capitals team sets from the 80's (and the two '74 Topps from elsewhere).

Put a hurtin' on my football wants from one dealer that had '72 thru '74 for 20¢ each.  Knocked out half my list right up to where the high numbers start.  Also got two '70s upgrades.

Caught a couple of these '71 game inserts, including the slightly stained Johnny U.

And a rare four panel stamp for my Redskins collection.  Surprised it was so cheap.  There are little booklets you could put the separate stamps into for each team.   These aren't coming apart any time soon.

And finally, to some quality vintage baseball.  The '50 Bowmans are mostly lower numbers that are the rarer ones in that set.  $12 is usually about double what I pay for these most of the time, but for the rare ones, I'll bite.  Stay tuned to the next post for more that were priced the other direction.

The Banks and Kaline were impulse buys for my star binder.  I have no plans on starting a '67 set.  But for $7 for the pair, I couldn't leave them behind.  Banks may have one doinked corner, and Kaline has a subtle crease that starts at the R in Tigers and goes to his hip, but you'll never notice them in the book.

Overall, a good show, but it ended just a bit too soon.  I got there close to 10 AM I think, and they started packing up after 3.  Not sure if I missed much, but I think I did fairly well.  And, I still had another bigger show the next day!

AAF Two Box Break

I've really been enjoying the Alliance Of American Football games since they started back in early February.  Topps jumped in and came out with the premiere set of cards on March 22.  I picked up two boxes from Blowout and they showed up a day early.

Breaking down to 24 packs per box, 10 cards per pack, and as you can see, there are three autographs per box.

Nice looking design with the team colors and logos prominent on the front.  If you haven't been watching, (and if not, you've been missing out if you're a football fan), there are eight teams in two divisions.  The color selections are excellent, and each team is named for a significant feature of their community.  Good idea for an insert set next year maybe.

So far, the Orlando Apollos are the dominant team in the league.  But the competition has been pretty consistent for all eight clubs, so as they go along, it's getting better and better.

To my delight, I basically got a set out of each box.  The second box was short one card, but was better in terms of inserts etc. as I'll show in a bit.  The most well-known people to football fans who aren't familiar with the league are some of the founders and executives.  Michael Vick was slated to be the OC for Atlanta, but when Brad Childress bailed (again?), and some family issues happened, he moved to a league office role in player development.  Steeler collectors might want the two top execs Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu.  And there's CEO Charlie Ebersol represented in this set as well.

Also some famous names in the head coaching ranks.  The Ol' Ball Coach is off to a great start with a 6-1 record in Orlando.  Mike Singletary is having all kinds of bad luck, but his team is better than their 2-5 record indicates.  Mike Martz and Dennis Erickson are famous from their days on the NFL sidelines.  And you might recognize Neuheisel from his college announcing.

Some of the more unique representations are the female assistant coaches.  I know someone collects women in sports.  These are right up your alley.  Dr. Jen Welter paved the way for women coaches with Arizona in the NFL, and has done the same in the AAF.

Most of these guys made some kind of splash in the big show too.  Trent Richardson played several years with a couple teams, and now leads the AAF in touchdowns.  Gavin Escobar was a high pick for the Cowboys.  Charles Johnson is tearing it up at WR for the Apollos, coming from a few seasons with the Vikings.  Nick Novak was a top 10 kicker for the Chargers, and Stacy, Mettenberger, and Murray were all high draft picks.  Murray was a commentator for CBS college broadcasts before he put the helmet back on.

The cards come in parallels, too, three or four per box.  Red are numbered to 99, blue to 50, and yellow to 25.  Got lucky pulling the Ol' Ball Coach.  Thought it was fitting that Denham was blue.

With 175 cards in the base set, these Future Stars round the total number to 200.  Some of these guys are playing and some are backups to this point.  Bercovici got what is probably the signature highlight when he was hit vs. the Commanders week 1.   He came back three weeks later and is playing well.

Lucked out on my auto hits.  Pressley is the league's leading rusher through 7 games.  Got a bonus 4th auto in the second box (instead of the last card for the set?).  I think it was either Ross or Philips.

Felton here is my last card for the second set.  If anyone is trading these, let me know if you have him, or any spares of the Future Stars inserts.  I'll even swap autos if there's someone you like better than one you have.

Gives you a look at the backs as well.  Nobody has stats yet, even college or NFL, they've all got the paragraph blurb.  Next year they'll probably have AAF numbers.  My only quibble with the design in the small card number.  Sometimes it's hard to distinguish 6's, 8's, and 9's with plus quinquagenarian eyes.

There is a digital code link to the AAF app which they have promoted heavily, but I have not delved into. 

Overall, I like these a lot.  Clean design with mostly readable text elements.  Topps was making stuff microscopic their last few years of licensed NFL cards.  These are better.  I hope the league thrives and Topps gets a chance to expand the set and diversify the inserts in the next several years.

Gavin Gives Greats, Girls, And Gridiron Gold

Gavin from BCBreakdown sent an answer package to the couple PWE's I've been mailing his way.  Got it last week.

Started off with some bonus Baltimore boys.  I'm really on an alliteration roll this post....

All the Redskins, which was the bulk of the package, were serial numbered.  This one is from the 90's, when just being serial numbered was cool.  Nowadays, 8799 is a silly number, but I like it.  Doesn't have to be rare to be fun, right?

These two Prestige Extra Points are also /999.  I just didn't scan the backs.  Prestige is generally a nice looking set, but I don't think I've ever bought a box.  Still waiting for RGIII cards to drop through the floor, but he seems to have dumped the ego a bit and helped 'em out in Baltimore enough to be signed on a couple more years.

RGIII Elite /999, and Nehemiah Broughton /250, which is weird, because I have the Ruby parallels numbered /299 in my checklist book.  Guess maybe the rookies are a different number or something.  Doesn't mean I know what I'm talking about.  These always remind me of the Priest Holmes rainbow I made a while ago.

Shiny baby blue Crowder out of 199, and an eBay 1/1 and rare appearance by Chris Thompson - his last one at 49/49.  Not sure if there's anyone else to throw the ball to this season besides CT out of the backfield.  Crowder signed with the Jets for next year.

And the capper - a four swatch rookie of Josh Doctson.  I thought this looked familiar, but I have the gold foil version that looks a lot like this, so they make a good pair.

Some bonus babes to finish off.  Wasn't familiar with many of them besides Ms. McMahon.  That Ruby Riot chick kinda scares me.

Thanks Gavin!