Graded Card Extraction - Git Yourself A Spudger!

A Spudger is a prying tool generally used for opening the cases of electronic devices such as phones, tablets, laptops, or chromebooks.

 

I actually have a great variety of these for my work as a computer tech.  I realize too, that the proper size flat head screwdriver might do the job just as well.  But what fun is that?

So in this case, I am extracting my 1960 Mickey Mantle All-Star card from its SGC casing.  I do like the SGC cases because they have the black lining that really shows the cards well.  The other companies leave their cases transparent, which isn't as strong a contrast.  Anyway, let's free Mickey from this prison!

It was a lot simpler than I originally thought.  I just started on one edge and put the blade of the tool into the groove and twisted a bit until I saw it seperate, and then worked my way around.  I thought there would be like a latch or locking mechanism along the way somewhere, but when I back around to the starting point, it just came apart.

And there you have it!  He's free and into his new home.  A closer look before we go...

Verto Misereatur!

I love filling team collector's wants, and killing set needs, as most of you probably do too.  And just for the satisfaction of giving those collectors the joy that I enjoy when you get that last card or cards in the mail.  But sometimes what you get in return makes it twice as sweet.

I found a vendor at my monthly show that had cheap inserts from the last couple year's flagship sets, and pulled up P-Town Tom's needs from the Wrigley inserts.  I sent him all but the last one - which he obtained soon after.  I had also sent him some Pacific Cubs and some SGA's too.

Well he appreciated it very much apparently, because I got some prime list hits in return - packaged impeccably, I might add:

Complete with painters tape seal, including pull tab - always important.  And Cal headlining.

Open it up and got two pair:

The last two (barring gremlins) for my 2003 Diamond Kings set.  The evasive Thome and higher number (where the HOFers live) Cal Jr.

Then, continuing with the Ripken theme, the last two 2009 Topps Wal-Mart Cereal Platinum Refractors.  A beautiful set that was available through the namesake retail packaging. There are two Cal's in the set for some reason.  This is the very elusive PR-17, vs. the more common PR-9.

The accompanying note said he ordered these special - if not all four!  Tom, you rock!

P.S. - the title is Google translated Latin for "gracious swap"

Michigan Shop & Show Tour - Finale

Again, sorry about the phantom post listing last week.  Thought I might put this up Saturday, but it's been a cloudy and depressing weekend from both the weather and the hockey playoff results, not to mention the football draft.  So without further adieu...

On the last day I was in Michigan, we attended the Redford card show near Detroit.  It's a monthly show that sets up in an VFW building.  There were a lot of dealers who had just the local Tigers cards and merchandise, but enough others to make it a really nice show.

This photo, which I ended up taking pieces from (and another shot from a slightly different angle), shows my show haul (the loose cards) piled on top of some of the bulk boxes I got from Stuart or other vendors.  I didn't buy all that at one show. :)

A modest amount of 2017 inserts and some other baseball.  My main source of current inserts was John, who is affectionately known as "The Dolphin Guy" because he wears his Miami football jersey to every show.  He had incredibly low prices on more current inserts, star cards, and parallels, and had plenty to choose from.  And when you finished, he knocked some more off of that.  Wish I could come back to his table every month!

Also killed a WHOLE bunch from my 2016 Donruss football, along with some Classics, and 2014 Prestige and Score mixed in.  Again, most were from John averaging a quarter an insert.  Almost killed my Donruss base set from a couple other tables.  Of course, I made the mistake of buying a couple twice, and found I had pulled some fancier parallels instead of the regular inserts.  (Curse you 2014 Score Hot Rookies!)  I'll post some of them for trade later.

Got some shiny RG3's and others for my Redskins collection on the cheap too.  Poor guy, I really hoped he'd make it in the league for somebody....

I look forward to Michigan visits for hockey cards most of all, since they're definitely scarcer in my neighborhood.  Knocked off several 1979-80 stars, leaders, and singles.  Lousy picture...great cards.

The high point of the show was the chance to meet a dealer who I've been buying from for a while - exclusively 1960 Topps baseball.   Finally put a face to Mr. Marv!  His stuff is always gorgeous, and I was not disappointed in the latest selections.  I worked a deal from a list Marv had sent me a whie back.  He even added a few more from the lower numbers.  Then I tacked on these too:

Roger Maris, Willie Mays, and Mickey Mantle high number All-Star cards.  Suh-weet!  Mantle was graded, but I managed to extract him without incident.  (I'll share my technique soon!).  Have a gander:

I started my long journey home right after we left the show and got something to eat.  With my belly (and half my car trunk) full, I set off back to Maryland.

NHL Playoffs: Round 2 - Here We Go Again

My apologies for the "ghost post" yesterday.  I hit the Publish button instead of the Save.  The Michigan finale will be the next post (probably tomorrow).

After the first round of the playoffs, the regional sports networks no longer carry the games.  National coverage takes over and is led by NBC and it's affiliates.

The Nobody But Crosby flagship station...

 The Nothing Besmirches Crosby's Sublime Nobility network....

And the Capitals Never Beat Crosby network...

Doc Emerick and the boys are great announcers, but let's be real.  We know who they like.  Whether it's their own preference, or coaching by the NHL...

I had written another rant condemning them to one-sided coverage of the series.  I must admit, it wasn't nearly as badly biased as I expected, at least, during the game.  Well, until Squidney scored twice.  Then the "unbelievables" and "amazings" started flying around.  I didn't watch the analysts between periods.  I'm guessing they couldn't stop gushing about 87's godlike abilities.

 
The Caps are not only fighting the players on the other side, they must combat the fact that the Pens are the most promoted team in the league over all others, and that usually, Pitt gets all the bounces, deflections, bad penalties, and dumb luck in their favor.

That pretty much continued....

Both teams played very well.  The Pens got some (or all, as usual) lucky breaks early in the second.  The Caps caught up by the third period.  Then a breakaway gave Pitt the lead again.  At this point, the refs stripes turned yellow and they called a slashing penalty on what is generally considered fishing for a rebound.  The Caps allowed only two shots on the kill, but then only had a couple minutes to try for the tie.  Even a seven car pileup in front of the net couldn't provide an opportunity for a score.

Hopefully, the Caps will be able to keep up the pressure for the rest of the series.  It seemed like a much more even matchup this time.

Which means Caps don't have much of a chance.....

The 30 Day Challenge In Five Posts Or Less - Part III

These are the most interesting challenge topics, I think.  16 thru 23 cover a diverse mixture of players, card types, eras, and personal favorites. 

16. A card of a player whom you appreciate (respect as a player) but don't like.

I bet a lot of people will put Barry Bonds here.  My impression of Rocket is about the same.  Great player who apparently used artificial means to keep playing etc.  Not so bad for some guys, but ol' Roger continued to be a jerk about it afterwards.

Honorable Mentions (most of which I'm not big on as players either) - Dustin Pedroia, Ryan Braun, A-Rod (just weird), Mark Teixeira, AJ Pierzinski.

17. A card from the first set you put together by hand.

This is really the same as the #3 challenge, as I've never actually tried to complete a set and FAILED.  Some of them just stay on your want lists longer than others.
A more interesting twist on this one would be to show which card was the last one you needed to finish the set (see my #22 below).  A lot of people would be posting big stars or high numbers for most vintage sets, but it would be cool to see that elusive Micah Bowie or Jack Billingham that someone had to chase.  I've already posted my last card to complete the 1979 Football set, and I can't really remember which 1980 baseball was the last one (I know it wasn't Rickey), so here is just another typical 1980 Topps card. 

18. A card of a player who became manager of your favorite team.

Frank Robinson is one of the rare HOF Superstar players of whom from time to time I consider starting a player collection.  The redundant copies of his vintage cards are the main reason why I dont' do it, but I could just do his post-career and oddball stuff.  I have a few manu-patches and things like that already.  This SP variation has a neat action shot complete with Sal Bando cameo in the Oakland trademark yellow jammies.
Frank became the first manager the Nationals ever had.  He also led the Orioles for a few years in the early 90's.  So he covers both my local teams.

Honorable Mentions - Dusty Baker (a PC of mine already),

19. A favorite card from a country other than the United States.

Livan Hernandez XRC from the 1994 Cuban set.  Figured it was printed in Cuba too.  Nope!  Back says "Printed In Canada".  I was really trying to avoid the default O-Pee-Chee answer!
If I could have used a hockey card, it would have been a Sergei Fedorov from Russia.

20. Your favorite parallel card based on the parallel, not the player.

When I think of parallels, anything made of acetate (Topps Clear), Blue Chrome, or anything by Pacific in the 90's would make my short list.  But I ultimately had to pick these framed blue parallels from 2012 Gypsy Queen.  They're just so retro-elegant, and the frames give them depth that makes even the most cliche picture into a modest work of art.  The GQ logo is a bit in your face, but overall these are my winner.

21. A card of a rookie you thought you were "investing" in.

I am so NOT into rookie prospecting, so here's a bit of a twist on this theme.
I once found a shop while traveling and they didn't have a whole lot, but there was one box of really nice vintage from 1962, '63, and '64 for 25¢ each.  I picked out a big stack of singles (which became my starter lots for those sets - '64 is now officially active) and brought them to the counter.  The kid at the register looked at my pile and said "That looks to be about 100 cards." and rang me up.  I paid and left and almost sprinted down the street because I had actually pulled about 330 singles.  When I saw these two in the piles, I thought I had struck gold at an even higher level!  But alas, these are not actually the rookie cards of Gaylord Perry and Tony Oliva.  Oh well, still a bargain!

22. A card of a common player that always seemed to elude you.

 I do remember this one being the set killer for 1974.  Wasn't the Washington Nat'l League variations, or the no-position Alou, or Winfield, Griffey, or Madlock rookies, it was this dude.
There are more elusive cards for me in other sports.  Still looking for one single 2008-09 OPC hockey single to finish both series and all the inserts, and a couple quarterback rookie cards to kill football sets.

The next section will deal with oddball cards from all the decades.

Star Trek - The Retro Football Card Set - card #7

Now, a new addition to the set.  At some point, I'll have to rig up a checklist card.

Card #7 is Communication officer Lt. Uhura, played by Nichelle Nichols.  She was, of course, the better half of the "first interracial kiss" on TV, and an inspiration to women and minorities everywhere for being in such an important position on the Enterprise crew.

1957 Topps Lieutenant Uhura.

Had to rework the lettering a lot to get it right.  And I hadn't noticed how spartan this design really is.  It's basically two photos with single color backgrounds with the letter bars over them.  So simplistic yet effective.

The purple color isn't actually authentic, but it's what was behind the original portrait photo, so I didn't mess with it.

As usual, let me know what you think.  Hailing frequencies are open!

Michigan Shop & Show Tour - Part 3

One of the must-see venues of my visits to Michigan has become Collectibles Unlimited in Clio.  They're right along the main street in town (126 W. Vienna Street).  Here is a shot of the storefront from a few years ago.

It looks modest on the outside, but when you go in, there's an impressive selection of cards (and actually comics, action figures, gaming cards, etc.)  They've cleaned up and organized a great deal since our first visit.  So now the front room has showcases and neat displays of various items.  The far wall is stacked solid with card boxes that are clearly labeled.  That would be an impressive selection on its own, but a little farther back in the shop is a hallway and a whole other room that is nothing but stacks and shelves of card boxes.  Again, most of these are labeled as to their contents, whether it be by set or by sport (in the case of boxes containing just certain stars).

It took us two days to go through it all (again).  Their stock turns over regularly since they're always out buying collections.  There is actually another part of the building where they bring new stock in for processing.  But you'll have plenty to look through just in the shop alone.

Our haul for the two days doesn't look like a lot, but my lists took a beating for sure.

Believe it or not, there are singles from all four sports, some starter sets, and oddball items all here.  And at a great price.

Here is most of my haul spread out where you can see the diversity.  Highlights include some oversize player collection items, and GameDay/Power Play inserts, Redskins and Capitals singles, baseball and football set singles, and inserts, killers for 2003 Topps baseball, almost all my 2001-02 Topps Archives hockey, and more....

The elusive 1987 Hygrade Mantle "bat low" pose....

Several error cards from 1989 Fleer and 1988 Topps...

There are several whole boxes of 2001 Topps regular and Traded, from which I built almost an entire Traded set....

And we added on a 2006 Fleer football set with a generous amount of the rookies too!

So if you're ever in the Clio area and have some time for digging, stop by and see Matt and Chris and tell him that guy from Maryland sent you.

Star Trek: The Retro Football Card Set - Card #6

This is the last of my 2011 creations of ST:TOS characters in old football designs.  Changed it up a bit with the choice of a matchbook cover instead of a card.

The next ST:TRFCS post will be a 2017 creation!.

1934 Diamond Matchcover Dr. Leonard McCoy.  Fonts match better to the green example of these covers.  The name over the football came in a couple different fonts.  I didn't have anything to match the one in the tan original.  Also had a hard time figuring out what to substitute for the football.  Not many sketches of the original NCC-1701 starship out there.  Nice oddball item instead of the same old Topps or Philadelphia designs.  I'm running out of cool designs to use.  There aren't as many nice ones for football as there are for baseball.

The 30 Day Challenge in Five Posts Or Less - Part II

7. A card you bought in person and the story behind it.

Got one of these from a dealer that I'd see regularly at the Chantilly, VA show.  He was an older gentleman with only a few showcases who mainly dealt in vintage stars.  Usually he had some "off-condtion" stuff that most of his customers weren't interested in.  I don't ever need pristine examples of every star card - if they're too perfect they don't seem real.  So he had one of these (the scan is not my example, I was just too lazy to unsrew it out of the holder it's in.) as well as a '52 Bowman Duke Snider.  The worst defect I can see on mine is a creased corner and maybe a little centering.  Needless to say I got a bargain on the pair, and they're two of the oldest star cards I own.

8.  A card that reminds you of a family member.

My cousin's name is Charles Hudson.  Though he's a skinny white dude born in 1980.  '88 Yankee Charles is African American and was born way back in 1959!

9.  One of your favorite cards from the 1950s.

My first thought was to consider something from my favorite '50s set - 1959, but I just like the set as a whole.  There aren't too many cards that stand out from the whole decade.  Then I saw this one in my star binder.  "Big Klu" and his trademark sleeveless jersey is the "leading muscle man of the Redleg powerhouse."  The uni and the old school team name just make this a consummate 50's card.

10. One of your favorite cards from the 1960s.

I really struggled with this choice.  With all the 60's sets, '68 isn't my favorite design, but the "fine" burlap and the right colors is pretty nice looking.  I almost went with '68 Ernie Banks because he's so happy.  Another choice was '66 Whitey Ford with the Yankees and their stadium, plus Whitey in the follow through pose and the windbreaker under the jersey, but some of those things are associated with different decades.  I settled on Bird Belters here mainly because of the clean layout, the multi-player cards that were so cool in the 60's (the shine is lost on the current efforts), and the depiction of the two immortals from my local favorite Orioles.

11. One of your favorite cards from the 1970s.

I picked this Yaz not because of the '74 design (which I do like a lot), or the cool colors (the black and yellow really pop against the red outline and the photo), but because this is one of the original cards I ever had in my possession.  I recall starting out with a handful of '74s in junior high school (in '78) And I know Yaz was one of them.  The other two I know I had were two Brewers, Pedro Garcia and Eduardo Rodriguez.  I don't know when I traded those two away, I just know my specimens now in my complete set are way too nice to be originals.

12. One of your favorite cards from the 1980s.

 1982 Donruss reversed negative Phil Garner.  I love chasing the variations from the early 80's (and every other decade.)  The early 80's is when they came to the forefront.  I looked through my '81 Donruss and Fleer sets and could have chosen some of the more subtle errors in the text or the "fingers" on the backs of the Fleers.  But I found I was actually missing some of them that I thought I had, and Phil here was the prettiest of all of them anyway.

13. One of your favorite cards from the 1990s.

Three images of the same card out of my Mussina collection.  Was looking for the coolest gaudiest insert from the 90's.  I was not an active collector for the decade, but I consider it the peak of special effects, materials, and innovations in card construction.  This e/x card has some of my favorite things, acetate, varied and elegant fonts, and rainbow reflective areas that aren't overwhelming the design.  I don't chase shiny, but I like it when it's used well.

14. One of your favorite cards from the 2000s.

Took this image off the TC database, but I do have one in my complete set.  I remember when this and Torii's 2007 Allen & Ginter came out.  His expressions are similar on both and pricelessly hilarious without being contrived or forced.

15. One of your favorite cards from the 2010s.

 Ginter has one or more gorgeous ladies each year, but they're not usually related to baseball much more than a few of them being fans or reporters.  But the First Pitch series that Topps has been doing since 2015 is a great way to put celebs on cards to mix it up and still connect it directly to baseball.  They're one of the innovations that Topps CAN take credit for since the exclusive contracts started.