30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Saturday, December 5, 2020

TWiB: Yellow Cards and Top Loaders, Sand & Wood, and My Very First

Starting tomorrow... the Bay Area will be in full lockdown mode... like we were back in March.  Outside of lines at the grocery store, this won't impact me too much since I don't really go out very often anyways.  But I feel bad for the businesses and all of those who will be impacted financially.

On Thursday at the school board meeting, they made it sound like we won't be going back into the classrooms anytime soon (especially at the middle school level).  I've got mixed feelings about that, but ultimately I support the school board and our superintendent's decision.

Well that catches all of you up with what's going on with me, let's take a look at This Week in Blogging...

#1Mello Yellow

1981 Kellogg's #33

If you're a fan of Kellogg's baseball cards, then you should check out Matt's blog: Run-Fore!-Kelloggs Baseball Cards.  This week he wrote a post about an uncut sheet of 1981 Kellogg's where some of the cards are upside down.  He also pointed out that the 1981 set was the only one printed at the standard card size during their original run from 1970 to 1983.

I already knew that fact, but I wanted to plug Matt's blog... plus it gave me an excuse to show off this beautiful yellow trading card featuring The Man of Steal.


#2Yucky Yellow


Yesterday, The Diamond King showed off his five favorite Rod Carew cards.  Being a Carew collector myself, I was very excited to see his picks.  But the thing that stood out the most was a yellowed top loader he kept his 1984 Donruss Carew in.

I was drawn to it, because I too have a very yellow top loader sitting somewhere in my collection.  Normally I would toss any card supply this yellow (or brown)... but I liked it so much that I set it aside and kept it (although as of this moment, I can't seem to find it).

By the way, The Diamond King recently sent me a care package that I'll plan on writing about in the near future.  Stay tuned.


#3A Sandy Collection

1977 Topps Star Wars #69

One of my favorite things about reading blogs are seeing all of the different mini collections out there.  Earlier this week, I was reminded of Jim's Tatooine collection which focuses on cards with backgrounds featuring nothing but dirt.  I was hoping to show off my 1971 Topps Brooks Robinson World Series highlight card today.  Only there is one problem.  I apparently don't own that card.  Oh well... this C-3PO and krayt dragon skeleton card will have to suffice.


#4My Very First

1984 Topps #280

On Thursday, Chris The Collector talked about how he received the 1988 Topps football set for Christmas when he was a kid.  He also asked his readers "what was your first football card set?".

I'm not 100% sure which was the first football set I bought or built, but 1984 Topps were the first football packs I remember opening.

Back in the 80's, the 1984 Topps Eric Dickerson rookie card was one of my favorite cards.  Back then I was a Los Angeles Rams fan and he was my favorite player.  Then Georgia Frontiere traded him to the Colts and my allegiance to the Rams ended and I started rooting for the Green Bay Packers... which happens to be Chris's favorite team too.


#5Lots of Wood



Jon over at .394 The Tony Gwynn Baseball Card Blog recently completed the 1987 Topps baseball card set.  It's a set he started collecting thirty-three years earlier when he crossed the Atlantic and visited Florida for the holidays with his family.

This set will always be special to me, because it's the first set I ever collected in bulk.  Opened a ton of boxes my mom, aunties, and I purchased at Costco (or Price Club) back in the day.  I love the design... and of course the excellent photography.

I wonder if any of these will make Night Owl's Greatest 100 Cards of the 80's list.  Can't wait to find out.


#6Happy Holidays!

2019 Topps Holiday #126
2019 Topps Holiday Variant #126

Sport Card Collectors is in the midst of his 25 Days of Cardmas... and on Thursday he showed off his 2019 Topps Holiday Carter Kieboom Santa hat variant.  I know Topps and their variants annoy a lot of collectors, include me from time to time.  However I absolutely love last year's Topps Holiday variants.

Well that wraps up another week of This Week in Blogging.  Until next week... here are a few questions to hold you over:

What are some of your favorite fellow blogger mini collections?

What is the first football (or any other sport) set you ever purchased or built?

What was the first full box of cards you opened?

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

20 comments:

The Diamond King said...

You will be relieved to know that the 84 Carew now resides in a clean and clear top loader! 87 Topps might be the first set I ever purchased too. My parents bought me an 82 topps set for a birthday or Christmas, but I plundered it for the stars, leaving the commons in the box. Wish I hadn't done that!

The Lost Collector said...

First full box I opened was 90-91 Hoops. I got it in 1995 or 1996 for my birthday.

Adam Kaningher said...

My first full box I think was 1992 Stadium Club.

Jeremya1um said...

Nick has some good ones with the anthems and awards.
First set was 1986 Topps
First full box was 1990 Donruss. Completed the Yaz puzzle with the last pack.

Nick said...

I've always been fond of gcrl's Dodger Stadium mini-collection, and Night Owl's Night Card Binder. A few of my mini-collections are, admittedly, mere copies of others' ideas -- notably double play cards, which is also a gcrl concept.

Never been much a set builder, but I remember buying a big box of '81 Topps singles at a garage sale when I was a kid. Not sure if it was the whole set, but it had to have been pretty darn close at the very least.

Can't say for certain what my first box was -- there's a good chance it might've been 2005 Donruss Champions. There was something like eight relic cards in every box, which was like angels singing to me in the days I was obsessed with game-used stuff.

Elliptical Man said...

So I think the first packs I bought were '86 Topps baseball and the first (and only) set I tried to complete was '87 Topps baseball.

I don't know what you mean by full box. I bought packs and occasionally singles in my youth. Started with blaster boxes in 2018.

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

By far my favorite is bubble gum. FB sets... probably 78' or 79'. BB cards by the box...1992 something. Back then is when I hit the hobby hard spending 3 bills every week and didn't stop until 2006 only to pick it back up in 2013.

gcrl said...

i ended my allegiance to georgia and the rams when they let vince ferragamo go to the cfl after their super bowl season. i came back a bit when he returned and dickerson arrived, but had decided to follow the vikings instead as my favorite team.
i like to pull cards for nick's mini-collections - awards on cards, kids on cards, tipping caps, zero year/short term stops, and the list goes on.
i came oh so close to completing the 1978 topps football set back in 1978 - i was just short the hollywood henderson card. never did complete it.
the first full box i opened was 1982 fleer. i was gobsmacked when my dad bought a full box for us to open!

Nick Vossbrink said...

My favorite mini-PC is Gavin's "We Didn't Start the Fire" collection.

First baseball card set was 1987 Topps which I got for Christmas. First non-baseball set though was the 1938 Churchman's Kings of Speed set I got a couple years ago.

My first full box of cards was Garbage Pail Kids series 3 way back before I was collecting baseball cards. I never ripped a full box of baseball cards until I got a box of 1990 Fleer for my birthday.

Laurens said...

My favorite fellow blogger mini collections are the ones showing cameos and players signing autographs - those are always fun to look at.

The first set I ever purchased may have been 1990 Score from a Target using Christmas money gifted to me - for whatever reason, I paired it with a swimsuit model poster when you could buy something like that at a big box store.

The first full box of cards I opened was probably 1990 Donruss - I probably cried and whined to get that box and my mother wasn't all too happy to relent and purchase, probably at a Costco [or Price Club back in the early 1990s].

Matt said...

Too many mini collections I need to touch on, thanks for the shoutout and now I need to find a copy of that Tatis!

CinciCuse Bill said...

I look forward to seeing Bubble Blowing Cards from the best bubble blog. I never collected a full set of football cards, but man I had a boatload of them from '71 - '74. Sold them all, as well as all my basketball cards from the same period, at a huge downstate card shown for a nice sum about 8 years ago. Fun fact - that led me to purchase the one and only box of cards I ever purchased (2012 Topps Heritage of their .63 design)! Stay safe!

RunForeKelloggs said...

Thanks for the plug. I remember splitting a box of 1976s with a friend. We started going to card shows that year, but buying new cards was never on our minds at shows full of older stuff. I think I opened a complete box in 1978. I built the 1978 Football set by hand.

Jongudmund said...

Thanks for the mention, Fuji. 33 years is a long time collecting a set but I did it! I can tell you now Tony Gwynn's 1987 Topps card won't be in anyone's top 100 cards from the 80s. Topps managed better photos on 791 other cards in the set!

Peter K Steinberg said...

Nice cards. I always thought non-clear top loaders were vile. Like the plastic oxidized or deteriorated in quality or something? So I tend to recycle them. But if they were meant to be yellow, maybe that's different. I had some few football cards when I was younger but I never got into collecting them (or the sport) at all. Be well and best wishes for schooling.

Fuji said...

the diamond king - lol. good to hear. honestly... i don't judge what you put in your top loaders. your cards, your supplies. everyone has their own standards. but my ocd kind of guides my decision to use new top loaders for my own collection. i fully accepted that this is more of a curse than a blessing

the lost collector - searching for kemp, payton, and hardaway rookies? by 1995... these guys had blossomed into stars. at least i think they had.

adam kaningher - i don't think i ever opened up a box of that stuff. i have opened up the occasional pack. i think i spent most of my money on the 1991 stuff.

jeremya1um - nick might be the king of mini collections. i feel like he has at least a dozen

nick - was just saying that you might just be the king of mini collections. love how you make collecting fun for you and others. and if 2005 donruss champions was you're first box... i'd say that's pretty darn cool. way more high end than my first box

elliptical man - i'd call blasters a full box... but i guess when i wrote the post, i was thinking more of a 36ct box from the 80's or 90's. now i realize my question was flawed since these days there are boxes with only one pack.

johnnys trading spot - bubble cards are very cool. never knew there were so many out there until i started reading blogs. 3 bills a week? oh man... that collection of yours must be insane.

gcrl - whoa. another rams deserter. guess it says something about their franchise. i am glad that the franchise rewarded their loyal fans (like my cousin) with a super bowl title in 1999. that team was a lot of fun to watch. opening up a box of 1982 fleer must have been a blast. my father has never bought me a full box. maybe one day he'll surprise me when i take a trip down to vegas.

nick vossbrink - that is an awesome mini-collection. i'm glad i was able to contribute to it. as for gpk... i probably would have bought way more if i had more access to them. most of the ones i owned were purchased during my trips to hawaii

laurens - i think my target still sells posters. not sure if they have swimsuit models, but they have super heroes and pop stars. and i think i grabbed a box of 1990 donruss at costco too. that might have been the last year my local costco carried boxes of cards

sport card collectors - the tatis in this post is pretty cheap. he has a super rare variant (christmas light necklace) that is not so cheap.

cincicuse bill - love those bubble cards too. glad you got some nice money for those vintage football and basketball.

runeforekelloggs - opening a box of 1976 baseball? that's pretty awesome. building a 1978 topps football set from packs? that's pretty awesome too.

jongudmund - i love the 1987 topps gwynn card, but i know you're not the biggest fan of seeing the back of his head on the card. that being said... there are lots of great photos in the 1987 set

peter k steinberg - my ocd keeps me from reusing top loaders for my own pc. but i have plenty of cards i don't intend on keeping that i use recycled top loaders for.

sg488 said...

1972 Topps Football,in 1972 I collected the first series,and sent away to a place called card collectors company for the 2nd and 3rd series.

Chris said...

1984 Topps football is a great first set, even if you never completed it. Eric Dickerson was so much fun to watch.

I'm blanking on blogger mini-collections but I do like the zero-year cards and short-term stops series.

Fuji said...

sg488 - that's awesome. do you still have the set?

chris - both of those collections are neat. and i probably should go out and pick up the 1984 set. i'm pretty sure i own the elway and marino. can't imagine the rest of the set would be that much... but who knows these days.

The Snorting Bull said...

I am going to go with the first full box question for this morning. In 7th Grade, like many other middle school kids, I had a few motivational issues at time. I was also really good at pushing the line on behavior. Not someone who ended up in the office, but also not really afraid of getting a phone call home. This kid in my Spanish class ends up with two boxes of 1990 Topps cards. I bought one off of him during class. The teacher just talked for an hour straight, as long as you didn't talk out over her, you could get away with a lot. I usually just doodled my way through her class. Anyway, we sat in the back row of class, opened the entire box. We were greatly aided by the fact that her class was taught in a science classroom with giant tables. It would have been hard to pull off with individual student desks, but the tables provided cover for us moving the trash can by our table for the wrappers and we set our bags at the front of the table to provide cover for the cards. I tried the same experiment in the reverse role the first year I taught with a box of 1999 Bowman. Crash and burn. I was like three packs of cards into the box, one of my students goes over to my desk to staple a paper, and says something like, "Oh man, look at all these packs of cards!". Fail.