A Trio of BIPs (Blogger Inspired Purchases)

A quick post with a back update and some recent blogger inspired purchases.  Let's start with the back.  I'm still in a lot of pain, but at least it's not constant.  I've had to burn a handful of sick days and a couple of half days, but it's slowly getting better.

One of the most comfortable positions is laying down flat, pillow under my neck, legs bent, feet flat on the ground, with a heating pad under my lower back.  As luck would it... I'm able to still use my laptop (which lays on my belly) to create Google Slides and lesson plans, do some online Christmas shopping, read blogs, and of course buy cards.

Most of my recent card purchases have been inspired by fellow bloggers.  Let's get to it...

BIP #1:  Beastie Boys Custom

2024 Nine Pockets 1982 Topps In Action #3

Regular readers know that the Beastie Boys are my all-time favorite group.  So when I saw that Gregory over at Nine Pockets created a new card for them, I immediately headed over to his eBay store and purchased four copies.  I asked if he'd sign one of them which he graciously did.  Here's a scan of the back:

He also offered to include a free copy of his original Beastie Boys custom:

2020 Nine Pockets 1982 Topps Future Stars #5

I already own a copy, but told him I'd love an extra for my buddy who is also a huge fan.

Thank you Gregory!  And keep up the creation of sweet customs!

BIP #2:  Iconic Hockey Set

1990-91 Upper Deck French Hockey Set

Not a lot of hockey fans out there, so I'll keep it short (not really... so if you need to... just scroll down).  This set was huge back in the 90's and I've always wanted to own a copy of the French version.  It was once considered much rarer than the English version.

1990-91 Upper Deck French #525

The set is loaded with hall of fame rookie cards including guys like Mike Modano, Ed Belfour, Mats Sundin, Pavel Bure, and Sergei Federov.  Plus it's only a matter of time before Jaromir Jagr gets inducted.

As for the blogger that inspired this purchase, that honor goes to this trio.

#1 Gregory @ Nine Pockets (Again):  He got the ball rolling with a post showing off his complete 1991-92 Upper Deck hockey set back in October.

#2 Bulldog @ Nothing If Not Random:  Bulldog wrote a post showing off three packs of 1991 Upper Deck football that reminded me how awesome early 90's Upper Deck products were.

#3 Joseph @ CrazieJoe's Card Corner:  The day after Bulldog's post, Joe showed off a 1990-91 Upper Deck Tom Barrasso hockey card in a post and the search was on.

Two weeks later, I won an auction on eBay for $21.62 (+ tax & shipping).  Two of the cards (#92 & #93) were English versions.  Unfortunately the seller didn't have either of these cards laying around, but he did refund me a few bucks to cover the cost of me tracking them down for my set.

BIP #3:  Barry Sanders Oddball Rookie

1989 Detroit Lions Police #11

Two weeks ago, Greg over at CROCODILE SPORTS CARDS showed of some recent purchases that included an oddball rookie card of one of the greatest running backs of all-time.

That same day, I purchased a copy of my own off of eBay for $11.75 (tax & shipping included).

Anyone who had the pleasure of watching this guy run in the 90's understands his greatness.  It's just a shame he played for the Detroit Lions.  Can you imagine what his career would look like if he was running behind the Dallas Cowboys' offensive line?

Speaking of the Detroit Lions, I'm quietly rooting for them to beat the Los Angeles Rams today.  Not sure if that'll happen, but if it does and the Seahawks can take down the Colts... the Hawks would own the best record in the NFC.  Let's go Lions, Hawks, and Packers!

Thank you Gregory, Bulldog, Joseph, and Greg for inspiring me to add these cards to my collection!

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

The Weekend Sort

Woke up early on this cold, but lovely three day weekend... and finally caught up on my blogroll.  There are hundreds of posts that I missed during 2023, but I've accepted the fact that I need to let those go and focus on the present.

I'm still catching up on some care packages that were delivered as far back as five months ago.  Normally I'd check them off chronologically... but outside of Ryan's advent calendar... I'm saving some of the larger boxes for the end.  This decision primarily has to do with time... and right now it's easier to summarize a PWE or padded envelope than a medium or large flat rate mailer.

Luckily the holiday weekend allows me to lock myself in my office, open some packages, and sort some cards.  Today I wanted to focus on a few sets I'm working on and show you all the help I've received from a pair of bloggers.

Let's start off with my 2002 Topps Archives set build:

2002 Topps Archives #169

I've always wanted to own this set and over the summer, I found a cheap starter set at the flea market.  Jim over at cards as i see them sent me a package that crossed off four set needs which included a 1977 Topps reprint of his favorite player: Steve Garvey.

Here are the other three cards for my set build:

These four cards bring me 2% closer to completion...

Unfortunately... this is one of those set builds that will probably take me a decade to complete unless I start finding these pop up in dime boxes at the local shows.

Before I show off the rest of the cards Jim sent my way... here are a few other sets I've been working on recently...

Over the Christmas break, I found a box of these NFL Flintstones cards sitting in a Rubbermaid tub.  I hopped on eBay to see if I could find some cheap lots and discovered a vendor with the four inserts for a reasonable price.

1993 Cardz NFL The Flintstones Hologram #H1, H2, & H3

The vendor forgot to include Dallas Cowboys Tekchrome card, but he said he'd ship one out next week.

A separate eBay purchase helped me get four steps closer to completing my 1982 TCMA Baseball's Greatest set build...

Four years ago, I received a huge care package from Woody over at Sports Card Forum and inside was this starter set.  That year Jon helped me out by sending me the Jimmie Foxx.

I'm down to needing only two cards... both of which were part of my most recent COMC shipment that should arrive by early February.

And the final set build for this post is another one of those sets that may or may not ever be completed:

The 2011-12 ITG Enforcers Autograph set is a monster set build that I started over a decade ago.  It contains 85 cards and I'm lucky to add a few cards at a time.

A few months ago Dennis over at Too Many Verlanders sent me these two cards for my set:

2011-12 In The Game Enforcers Auto #A-GB & A-MB

I need to do a better job of monitoring cheap singles for this set build... but currently the cheapest one on COMC is over $6.  If I only needed a handful of cards to complete this set, I'd dish out the money.  But I've accepted I won't be completing this set anytime soon.

Getting back to Jim's care package.  Here are nine other cards he tossed into the padded envelope:

Seven of these were brand new to my collection... including the three Gwynns on top.  I was especially excited to see that Topps Chrome Heart of the City insert of Matt Olson.  I'm not 100% sure, but I think that's Jack London Square featured with Olson.

The last card he included was the newest addition to my Damaged Card PC:

2009 UD Spectrum Red #53 (#'d 208/250)

This shiny parallel was originally featured on Jim's blog back in 2022 when it was involved in a USPS mishap.  If you look closely you'll notice it has some creases and a soft corner.  The card design isn't the greatest... but it's a relatively low serial numbered card that depicts Kershaw at the plate.

The card now resides with other damaged cards in a 9-pocket page... where it will be loved, appreciated, and cared for.

Thank you Jim and Dennis for helping me with these set builds!

Oh and before I forget, I wanted to quickly share this blog inspired purchase:

1996 Topps Ted Williams Opening Day #9

This card was produced by Topps to commemorate the opening of the Ted Williams Tunnel in Boston back on 12/15/95.  He shared this card on his blog a few weeks ago as part of his retired number collection series.  I had never seen or heard about this card before that post, but apparently collectors could purchase a copy directly from Topps that year.  Anyways... that morning I went over to eBay and picked up a few copies.

That wraps up another post.  I hope all of you have a safe holiday weekend.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Extra Innings

I almost forgot... the reason I led this post off with Steve Garvey is because on this date back in 1988... he announced his retirement from baseball.