Maybe The Best Year Ever

As I cross the finish line on year 58, I can confidently say that this has been the best year I've had in a long time, if not my whole life.  I found my dream home and dream girl in the same year.💕

Continuing my annual tradition, here are the dreamy girls I share a birthday with.  (I got permission to keep this up as long as I make a post about the studly guys that my girlfriend shares a birthday with in July.)

Kate Middleton has apparently rebounded from cancer treatments last year.  Hope that's the last time she'll have to deal with that.

Nina Dobrev has split with her Olympic boyfriend Shaun White.  Sorry, I'm spoken for now...

So for equal time, I'll be posting shots of Thomas Gibson, Patrick Wilson, and whoever else she likes, but not Tom Cruise...

2025 Is In The Rear View, What Did We See?

Dollar signs, mostly....

Many have already said it, but it feels like the "regular collector" is being left behind in the hobby culture more and more.  It's all about the revenue to the companies in charge.  Everything is more expensive, and the resources for cards seem to be dwindling for those of us that aren't wooed by a plastic prison with a number on it, or a Mojo box break.

Between my buddy Stuart in Michigan, and my knowledge of the local area here in PA, there are still several shops and shows we know that continue to have stock of single cards that aren't the big hype thing, and are reasonably priced for bulk purchasing.  Online is a different story, though.  I have been a regular customer of COMC for a few years, snagging around 100+ cards at a time.  But now they have jacked up shipping costs, which negates much of the value pricing I was finding.  A few years ago, SportLots was my other choice.  There, I could find a few vendors who had decent stacks of things I need, and it was easy to pile up a nice order.  Today, the site interface makes searching and browsing one dealer's inventory a maddening mess.  Other sites are only baseball and are limited in their selections, especially when you're not interested in current flagship products.  eBay is OK, but if you buy something expensive, they have to double check it for you, and if you're looking for singles lots, often each card is listed separately.  The rest of the online dealers only carry (overpriced) boxes. 

For singles, anyway...

When I go to shows, I typically only find a couple current football players' cards.  The older stuff that isn't vintage is rare.  And you have to pass by all the Pokémon and 

Yu-Gi-Oh! tables. 

The new innovations that were hinted at when Fanatics took over have not happened as far as I can tell.  Anyone feel like they've done anything for us?

Sorry, I'm still not into rookies, many current players, expensive boxes, or high end mojo hits.  I want to finish my sets and older player collections and still be able to set up my new house and garage too.  I'm old enough to remember boxes of new product costing $50, and a box of sheets wasn't over $20.   Not any more...

Jeremy summed it up well in a comment the other day: 

... I feel like as long as there are rich people, companies can charge as much as they want. COMC might lose some customers due to long shipping times, but the scalpers and flippers that that can pay out the butt for expedited shipping will do just that and the collectors who can’t or won’t pony up the cost will just miss out on the cards from the site. 

... It ticks me off that deep pocket collectors and scalpers can buy up all the products, charge over market value, leave nothing on the shelves or online, have tons of elite sets like Triple Theads, etc made for them, be the reason for 1,000’s of parallels, ruin shows by driving out dime and vintage boxes, make slabs popular, bash people’s knees at shows with their stupid briefcases, and be the only people that can shop on COMC because of shipping prices. The bubble has to burst, and I will gladly take a hit on card value if companies overproduce as long as these scalpers and flippers leave the hobby. 

Rant over.

 Jeremya1um  January 3, 2026 at 7:13 PM

Thank goodness for TCDB trading. At least they haven't found a way to mess that up yet.  I just have to get my act together and get back to trading!

Stealth Michigan Trip Loot

As you may have read here, I surprised SR75 with a weekend visit right after Christmas.  I worked it out with his girlfriend (as well as my vintage supplier Marv) to see them in Michigan.  She kept it a secret from him until we showed up at a card shop in Brighton.  I found a few more Jayden Daniels cards, as well as a few other singles at that shop.  I didn't scan those, but I will show you what I found at the mall show the next day.

First items were these two Topps Super 70's autographs.  Both are PC guys.  Everything I got from this show was in these big thick magnetic holders.

Continuing the baseball PC theme, I found this Panini Three and Two bat relic numbered 9/20 from another dealer who priced it according to comps of similar ones /75.  Was a fair price.  I usually don't go for non-logo stuff like this, but this one looks pretty good despite that.

Just like most shows I go to these days, Jayden Daniels is who I found next.  I have a printout of what I have of his, but I think I'm going to have to put it on a page on this blog, since I didn't have my printed lists with me on this trip at all.   I hope $20 isn't overpaying for this one.

And finally, this dealer said to make offers and he would make end-of-show deals on everything in his case.  I've seen the red & green Optic before, and it was priced about the same.  I came in at $25, and he said yes and that he had this really cool Inception too that he'd throw in for $5 more.  Sold!

That's it for today.  Stay tuned for some customs from Gavin at BBC Breakdown, and my haul from Marv, including killing most of my 1963 Topps set build, and starting another year. 

Two Boxes of 2025 Allen & Ginter: Diminishing Returns

I almost didn't do it.  As you probably already know, Allen & Ginter is the only new product I buy almost every year - including flagship Topps.  This year, I heard ahead of time that there would only be two "hits" per box.  (Not that "hits" are why I buy ANY product in the first place.)  And that the price would be higher, but you wouldn't get as much out of a box as before.  

So I considered just looking for a base/SP/main inserts set on eBay for less than I'd probably invest in boxes and singles to complete that much.  Hopefully I'd find second copies of my PC guys in base and inserts and maybe luck out and get a "hit" from one of them as well.  Boxes were going for $169 on most major dealer sites. 

But I didn't....

I found boxes at Bergen County Cards in New Jersey for $139 each.  That was only $10 more than last year, so I got two.  Unfortunately, they're sold out right now.

 
Let's tear in!

Have to go straight to the first pack, since there are no box toppers, N43s, or buybacks any more.  Take off points for that at the jump... 

 

First card was a musician dude (no idea).  First card I actually saw was the back of Eddie Murray's Sweet Victory insert.  Nice to start with the Orioles at least.  Forgive the warm incandescent lighting in my new card room.  Nothing is going to look white even though most of this stuff is.

So I tore through the packs and sifted out the base, minis, inserts, and shiny parallels.  (Shiny is getting to be a much bigger thing with Ginter.  Can't say I'm overjoyed about it.)  I won't go through every pack, but will just hit the highlights.  Above are all the base minis, A&G backs, black borders, (most of which will be trade bait) then a new N222, a Light the Night insert, and a chrome Matty mini. (Spoken for.) 

The other insert minis from the first box.  Birds and fish have been done before.  Trust me, I researched it a while ago.  Several states elected Cardinals, so these aren't dupes.

A closer look at the N222 and Chrome Matty.  I wish the 222's had retired players too.

Only pulled one Filigree this time.  Don't know this guy either.

And the Chromes and Silvers are at least one per pack now.  I'm already working on two sets of the Silvers from previous years, so I'm not keeping these.  Just need Bo, Torre, Campaneris, Fisk, Sutter, and Mussina in all forms.  Above are all the Chrome Chromes I pulled.

First hit came about halfway through.  Pretty decent player and non-white swatch.  

Second one was a really nice framed mini auto /25.  But I'm not a Survivor fan, or MTV watcher, so Ms. Fitgerald is not familiar to me.

On to Box #2.
Here are the minis for this box.   Beaches are another well-worn subject.  The Ginter Creative Team is phoning this one in for the most part so far.

 Got three filigrees this time, and two HOF'ers.  That's better.

First hit was a Bellinger bat piece.  This one will go to my Pirate/Yankee friend most likely.

The other hit was the prize of the break...

 

 
BOOM!  Double Rip Card!  And with one of my PC guys on the back!

 And it's #1!

Well, if you've seen my posts on how to deal with Rip Cards, you will know that the above images are AFTER I extracted the minis inside.  Don't use the tabs, slice them along the edges.

These are what I got.  A stained glass Oriole (who I don't know either), and an extended series Yordan #372.

And that's about it.  Pretty standard A&G fare, but missing a few things from years past.  I like the base design just fine, but the reduction in extra stuff just leaves the whole thing a bit lacking.  I'll finish the base, SP's and two regular inserts, but that's about all.

Card Room Migration: Phase 3 - Paint

So the walls were all taped and primed, and now to add the color.  What scheme did you guess?  There were a couple comments that got it right.

Yep, went with the burgundy and gold.  Though it's the scheme of the present season Commanders, and not exactly the old DC Native American shade.  But it looks good.

I punched up the official colors online, and Sherwin Williams had the official paints, so I went with it.  The gold went on nice and evenly.

The first coat of burgundy, however, was another matter.

I was afraid it was going to be a disaster.  But my girlfriend is a very experienced painter and told me to trust the process.  It was just going to take a second coat (or more). 

So the second session a week later yielded much better results.  Unfortunately, it was moving day a little before that, so the furniture was in the room.

But we worked around it and it came out fine.  A few days later, we pulled off the tape. 

The tape came off easier and cleaner than we expected.  There were a few small touch up spots, but at this point, they'll disappear behind the furniture and all the cardboard.

Here's the finished product with the furniture in place, at least at that end of the room.  Baseball goes in the cabinet and shelf to the left, and football, hockey etc. goes in the set on the right.  The wire shelf with the bigger sets and Washington football lockers is still at the old house, as well as part of the binders and sets that were in the cabinets.  It will all come together soon.

Next time - Populating the shelves.

Card Room Migration: Phase 2 - Prep Work

Settlement on the house was Oct 29.  Like I said, we started moving boxes (mostly cards) immediately.  And of course, not only was there my collection, but the two dozen-ish monster boxes of my extras, plus what was left of the set collection I was selling, as well as that bulk hoard that I had upstairs.  Needless to say, everyone says I'm never moving again.  Initially, I thought about staging the bulk of my cards in the garage and then moving them upstairs when the room was done.  But I figured it would be better to keep them at room temperature and humidity and only have to move them from the other upstairs room a few steps away.  

This is only a small part of what we moved over the next couple weeks.  Not shown is the closet in this room that has a couple more stacks.  A lot of what you see here is the two other non-collection batches.  The white boxes on the right are my extras.

The old space was two rooms about the same size - roughly square and measuring around 12' x 15' or so, I can't remember for sure.  The new space is 19' x 14', though the one end is a bit shorter, but includes a closet that I no longer have to use for storing other old junk, it's just for cards and accessories.

Here's the short end of the new space.  You can see I stuffed the closet, and then brought in the paint materials.  The old house had all white walls.  This room is probably the only one I will paint a different color, even though every room in the new house has one and often two colors on the walls.  Most of the colors are nice natural shades (seafoam green, tan, grey, etc.).  The card room was the former residents' daughter's domain.  I don't imagine she was a Florida Marlins fan, and neither am I.  (I'm guessing the turquoise and black may be the local high school colors?).  Either way, I've got to change this scheme before I can set up the room.  Can you guess the colors I'm converting to?  Leave your guesses in the comments below.

Step 1 - Taping.  Had to tape both top and bottom of the two mouldings that separate the colors.  The lighting wasn't great, so it was challenging to get it all lined up right at the edge.  That took an entire evening. 

Step 2 - Priming.  Since the top section was black, and the bottom section was such a dark color, it was pretty much a necessity to prime the areas first, so the colors stayed true (hint: they're the official franchise colors - you guess the team).  The priming was pretty easy.  Again it was another whole evening.  

Here's a sneak peek at Hivemind Headquarters from the outside.

And, of course, the packing continued at the old house.

Next time - Color!

Card Room Migration: Phase 1 - Breakdown

Operations in Maryland have been closed since late October.  I started moving boxes of cards the day of settlement 😄. Except for most of my bulk Redskins and some larger sets, the majority of my collection has been moved out.

If you follow the link to my Featured post that's tagged on the Home page (just there to the right -->) of the Hivemind Headquarters as it was, you can see it looked something like this:

 

 

Well, before the furniture move, it looked like this:

 

 

This one is an "in progress" shot of the binder shelves on the right.  Those shelves were cleared and the boxes taken to the new house.  The rack is still there for the moment.  Everything is off the walls and tops of the cabinets and shelves too. 

Even the desk and shelves in the computer room have been cleared. (I'll get the posters soon.)

Stay tuned for the prep work on the new (larger) space!
 

Operations Suspended: Headquarters Moving

Collecting and Trading operations are temporarily suspended due to Headquarters relocation.  HiveMind Headquarters is moving from Thurmont, MD to Fairfield, PA.

I know, it's supposed to be a Borg ship, but this was cooler...

New location will consolidate Collecting Operations into one space of about 19' x 14', which is close to the total of the two previous spaces.  Stay tuned for images of the new setup in a couple weeks.  Automotive operations will also be located completely onsite as well.

Inventory transfer is currently in progress.  Infrastructure and communication setup will commence around Nov. 14.  Further transmissions will be very limited until then.

 
And please fill out the survey if you haven't already ~ thanks to the 36 respondents so far.

Borg At The Door

Census Drones are still cruising through your cyber domain.  Please take the survey if you haven't already.  Only 22 responses so far.

 Take the survey here 

Thanks! 

Victory Is Ours!

I think the bots have finally been turned back!

Reader levels for all posts have returned to normal levels.  Even the Bot Decoy post has only one read this week.  When I check the Stats page, the top ten most-read posts only have teens and single digits next to them now.  The surge has come back down in the charts too:

Just today it looks like only three of my list pages were opened, instead of all of them by dozens of readers.  I'd put up the other charts, but you guys know what I'm talking about....

I hope the casualties were light in the Bot War.  I do not have final reports on Borg ship deployments or battle damage, but it appears that we have defeated the dreaded enemy.  Thanks to our brave warriors for preserving the blog domain.
 

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!