The Broder Version of Graded Cards?

If you write about Broders... there's a good chance you'll get featured on This Week in Blogging.  Jay over at Card Hemmorrhage showed off some nice looking Broders last week on his blog.  Unfortunately... my Saturday post ended up being the baseball card version of The NeverEnding Story.  So I had to make some last minute revisions and presto... you have today's post.

I have probably close to one hundred different Broders sitting in a box that I'd love to show off at some point.  But for today, I present to you this not-so-nice looking "wannabe" rookie card of The Kid.

I've been told on multiple occasions that these cards are completely worthless, but the fact is... a card is worth what someone is willing to pay you for it.  And there are actually collectors out there who are willing to pay a few bucks to add this mass produced unlicensed piece of cardboard to their collection.  Just saying.

Getting back to Jay... he recently sent me a padded enveloped that contained what I would deem to be the graded card version of a Broder:

2000 Archives Reserve #23

Okay.  So this card grading company looks to have been legit at one point, but I'm gonna bet the majority of you have never heard of Snaggletooth Grading.  Have you?

I did some research and it looks like the website might have been up and active in 2002 and 2003, but that's a long time ago.  Just like Broders, there are some collectors out there who don't have an appreciation for defunct grading card companies or the cards they've graded.

Me?  I love this card.  It's a piece of history.  While many collectors would pop this card out of its plastic prison, I have zero intentions of doing so.  My goal is to collect an example of every grading card company slab in existence and I thanks to Jay, I can officially cross Snaggletooth Grading off of my list.

He also sent me some other cards for random collections:

I was very happy to add another Ramon Laureano Topps rookie card to my collection.  He struggled after trying to attack the Astros coach, but I'm confident he'll return to top form next season.

And as much as I avoid purchasing Panini cards myself, that Pinnacle Swing for the Fences acetate insert of Albert Pujols is a nice looking card.  Thanks Jay!

While I'm covering care packages, I received another large padded envelope in the mail last week.  The other one was from Jon over at A Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts.

Let's start off with the largest item in the envelope:

The Raven DVD

One of my favorite things about Jon's blog are his pickup posts where he shares his DVD and VHS purchases.  It reminds me of my days of walking around the flea market before I started hunting for cards.

Back in the 90's and 2000's... movies, CD's, and video games were actually the #1 thing on my list to buy at the local flea markets.  I'm sure I'd stop and look at cards, but I don't remember finding too many deals on them.  Used media was a completely different story.

These days, I'll still pick up a DVD or video game if it's cheap and something I really want to see or play, but it's not very often.  In fact... I haven't been to the flea market in over nine months.  Maybe I'll look into walking around the De Anza Flea Market in November.

Getting back to cards, Jon sent me some of those too in the form of set needs:

Two years ago, my buddy Woody hooked me up with a nice starter set of 1980-88 TCMA Baseball Immortals.  Over the past twenty-four months, the only four cards I've crossed off my list are the ones sent to me by Jon:

This is one of those sets that I have stored in a binder on my office shelf.  I probably should make a stronger effort to complete it.  Right next to that binder is a binder holding these sets:

Jon helped me get one step closer to completing the Greatest Sluggers set with this Jimmie Foxx:

1982 TCMA Sluggers #20

Another set that I just need to sit down and finish.  I absolutely love these 80's TCMA sets.  They're like if Broders and Topps Archives hooked up and had a baby.  I mean it in the best possible way.

In addition to these set needs, he also sent me a nice stack of A's, Padres, and Japanese guys:

That top row of A's are shiny refractors... and both bottom rows of these pages are buybacks... including the two 1987 Topps A's cards and the 2011 Topps Padres team card in the middle rows.

I tried to pick a favorite and narrowed it down to the Terrence Long Bowman Chrome refractor, the 85T Mike Davis, the 86T Garry Templeton, the 88T Benito Santiago, or the 2011 Padres team card.  They're all awesome, so I'll leave it at that.

Thanks Jon for this very generous care package.  As soon as I sit down and watch The Raven, I'll let you know.  Today is the first day of the second quarter and I spent most of the weekend grading, getting my next unit lined up, and then resting, sorting some cards, and writing this week's blog posts.  Maybe over Thanksgiving break?  Hopefully sooner.

Okay... time to get ready for class which starts exactly when I have this post scheduled to publish.

Happy Monday and sayonara!

TWIB: Credit Cards, Controversial Cardboard, and my Puckett Phase

Good afternoon sports card collectors.  Welcome to another edition of This Week in Blogging.  This week's buffet plate is loaded, so let's dive in before things get cold...

#1:  Credit Card Addiction

My father warned me about the dangers of messing with credit cards when I was a kid.  I didn't listen and had to learn the hard way.  Back in the 90's, I found myself in a big pile of debt.  I spent five years paying it off and it was one of the greatest life lessons I ever learned.

1981 Perma-Graphics Credit Cards #19

These days, the bulk of my credit cards look like the Rickey you see above.  Last Sunday, Gregory reminded me of this set I bought a few years ago when he showed off his Keith Hernandez over on his blog:  Nine Pockets.  Here's a look at the set in its entirety:

These credit cards might not earn you any bonus points, but they won't leave you with a pile of debt either.

#2:  Controversial Cardboard

2005 Topps Turkey Red

Topps included Tony Gwynn in their 206 set this year.  On the surface, this isn't too shocking.  However I thought Jongudmund made some interesting and thought provoking arguments on his blog .394 this past Monday regarding Mr. Padre and a card with tobacco roots.  If you haven't read about it already, I encourage you to check it out.

Sorry... I don't have a copy of the 2020 Topps 206 Gwynn, so I decided to use another tobacco inspired card of him instead.

#3:  Incredible Iwamura

2008 Topps Silk #243 (#'d 44/50)

This postseason has made me accept the fact that I'm oblivious to almost anything related to the Tampa Bay Rays.  Thankfully, Jeremy listed his Top 5 Rays Moments back on Monday and recapped important events in their franchise history.

In his post, he made me realize how important Akinori Iwamura is to Rays' fans.   I have a bunch of his cards sitting in my Japanese Athlete PC, but I thought the above card was perfect for this post, since his putout against the Red Sox in Game 7 of the 2008 ALCS sent the Rays to the World Series.

#4:  Lemonade Stands and Penny Cards

1960 Topps #35

Dimebox Nick has inspired a fair number of posts on this blog.  He shows off some of the most unique cards and has some of the most interesting card stories in the blogosphere.  Earlier in the week, he showed off his Top 5 Whitey Ford cards and the card seated in the #1 spot was his 1960 Topps card which was given to him by his father.

Now any card passed down from father to son is a cool card in my book.  But to top it off, Nick's father purchased it from some kids with a lemonade stand.  This sent me on a trip down memory lane as I remember setting up a lemonade stand in front of my house as a kid with some friends.  And guess what.  We sold cards too.

By the way, the 1960 Topps Whitey Ford shown above is the latest autograph addition to my collection.  Picked it up last Saturday off eBay for $30 (+ $6.56 in taxes and shipping).  The seller didn't show a scan of the card back and I failed to ask about it, but I'm pretty sure the price reflects the condition.

#5:  Better Than a Blaster

When it comes to fellow bloggers, I feel like Shoebox Legends and I share similar interests when it comes to collecting.  One of the things we have in common is an appreciation for bargain priced graded rookie cards.  A few days ago, he wrote about his recently purchased graded Kirby Puckett rookie card and I was truly envious.  Shane seems to find the best deals on slabs.  He's also really good at flipping cards for profits and using that money to buy more cards for his collection.

1985 Donruss #438

After doing a little digging, I discovered that I own my own graded copy of that card.  I purchased mine ten years ago on COMC for $12.  Back then... I went through a Puckett phase.  Here are a few of the other collectibles in my Puckett PC:

1985 Fleer #286

1985 Topps #536

1985 Minnesota Twins Postcards #NNO

2003 Sweet Spot Classic Greats #CG-KP

1984 Fleer Update #U-93

The autograph and 1984 Fleer Update set me back a few bucks, but the pair of cellos packs and the slabbed postcard were all purchased for less than the price of a blaster box.

There were actually two more blog posts I was going to feature in today's post, but this one has dragged on long enough.  But my plan is to write about each of them this week, so stay tuned.

Until then, here are a few questions to keep you busy...

What are some of your favorite controversial cards and/or Tampa Bay Rays sitting in your collection?

If you're a team collector, have you ever went through a phase where you collected a player outside of your team(s)?

Okay... that wraps things up another edition of This Week in Blogging.  Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Classic and Colorful Cardboard

Today is National Color Day.  Yup.  Just another day to celebrate something and in the case of this card blog... it's an excuse to show off colorful cards.

While flipping through my binders looking for colored refractors, I noticed that the Classic cards from the late 80's and early 90's also featured colorful borders.  And since Classic cards don't receive the same amount of hobby love as refractors, I decided to focus on them for this post.  Don't worry, I'll probably run with the refractor idea next year.

For now... feast your eyes on my Classic rainbow:

Honestly... I didn't pay a lot of attention to Classic cards when they were in production.  Yes.  I wanted the famous Bo Jackson card that Nolan Ryan is holding.  But when it came to spending my hard earned money, I spent it buying packs or boxes.

These days, I'll target specific Classic singles for my player collections on Sportlots and will pick up hall of famers when I find them in dime boxes.  What about you?

What are your thoughts on Classic cards?

Is there a particular design or colored border that you like more than any other?

And since it's National Color Day...

What's your favorite color?

Happy National Color Day and sayonara!

Perfect Timing

Sometimes... timing is everything.  I've been sitting on this post for well over a month.  I thought about combining it with other posts like when I wrote about my signed Tony Oliva rookie card back in September.  Ultimately I made the executive decision to hold off and publish it today to kick off the 2020 World Series.

Plus it's the twenty-ninth anniversary of this fantastic play...

1992 Tuff Stuff World Series Sheet #1

Isn't it awesome?  Okay, technically the anniversary was yesterday and the card design is average at best.  But that photograph is perfect.  Literally... the timing and position of the photographer was perfect.  

In fact, you can watch the actual play here:

It took place in Game 1 of the 1991 World Series between the Atlanta Braves and Minnesota Twins during the bottom of the fifth inning.  I'm sure most of you don't have time to watch then entire game, but you can click here to skip to the 1:52:45 mark to see the actual play.

Although I remember rooting for the Braves during this World Series, I don't actually remember this play.  However after seeing this card, I doubt I'll ever forget it.

The card itself came out of this issue of Tuff Stuff:

Tuff Stuff Magazine 1992 January 

Ryan over at Japanese Sumo Wrestling Cards and Menko sent me a package back in August containing a few issues of Tuff Stuff Magazine and this one was included.

Here's a look at the rest of the 1991 Tuff Stuff World Series sheet:

Greg Olson might have gotten the upper hand on the play and walked away with one heck of a photograph, but Dan Gladden and the Minnesota Twins walked away with the Game 1 victory.

1991 U.S. Playing Cards All-Stars #4D

A week later Kirby Puckett hit one of the biggest home runs of his career and forced a Game 7.

1991 U.S. Playing Cards All-Stars #AH

The next day, Jack Morris pitched a ten inning shutout and the Minnesota Twins won their third and most recent World Series title.

Hopefully this year's World Series will be just as exciting.

Although I was hoping to see the A's and Padres slug it out... it's pretty cool to see the two teams with the best records face off.  Based on my original rankings, I should be rooting for the Rays.  However, I barely know anyone on the team and I really do like guys like Kershaw, Buehler, and Betts.

The bottom line it doesn't really matter who wins.  Neither are the A's or Padres... and thankfully neither are the Yankees or Astros, so let the best team win.

What about you?

Who are you rooting for?  Who do you think is going to win?

I'm predicting the Dodgers win in six games... but I'm hoping it goes the full seven with Mookie hitting a perfectly timed walk off home run to win the series.

That's it for today.  Happy Tuesday and sayonara!