TWiB: 2nd Best, My 2¢, and a Soaring Eagle

I knew going into yesterday that my Christmas was going to be much different than any previous year.  But thanks to a family Zoom and a delicious prime rib dinner, it turned out much better than anticipated.  Hopefully all of you enjoyed the day too.

Outside of some very generous blogger care packages, I didn't receive any baseball cards this year from my friends or family, but I do have a pretty cool collectible I'm excited to show off on Monday.

In the meantime... let's take a look at This Week in Blogging.

#1:  Let's Get Trivial

What's your favorite thing about reading card blogs?  Seeing cool cards?  Discovering a new set?  How about learning a new fact?

1975 Topps #397

Well if you answered "yes" to the latter, you're in luck... because I'm passing on some baseball knowledge I learned this morning over on The Shlabotnik Report.  In his latest edition of 1970's, A to Z... he wrote about Bill Freehan and how he was an all-star in eleven out of his fifteen seasons with the Detroit Tigers.

Now the bulk of Freehan's career was played before I was around... so I can't really comment on his career.  But being an 11x MLB All-Star sounds pretty impressive to me.

In fact with the exception of Pete Rose, Miguel Cabrera, and a bunch of guys from the PED Era... he holds the record for being named to the most all-star games without being inducted into Cooperstown.

How close did Freehan come to being inducted?  Not close.  He only received 0.5% of the votes back in 1982.  Now his only hope lies with the Eras Committees.

Can't show off a Freehan card without sharing a link to one of his biggest fans:  John Sharp.

#2:  Second Place Trophy

A famous fictional stock car racer once said... "If you ain't first, you're last", but don't tell Dime Box Nick that.  He wrote an awesome Christmas Eve post that honored some of the most famous second-place finishers in MLB history.

1974 Topps #1

1984 Fleer #412

It featured guys like Hank Aaron (#2 All-Time MLB Home Run Leader) and Carl Yastrzemski (#2 Games Played).

2015 Donruss Gwynn Tribute #4

Then I remembered that Tony Gwynn's eight batting titles are the 2nd most in MLB history... right behind Ty Cobb.

2001 UD Hall of Famers Class of '36 #C5

Gwynn isn't alone.  He shares the second place trophy with Honus Wagner.

I'm not the biggest advocate for participation trophies, but for this post... I'll make an exception.

#3:  My Two Cents

Retail flipping has been on a lot of collector's minds lately and earlier this week Matt over at Cards Over Coffee wrote a great piece on the issue.  I encourage you to just click here and read the post yourself, but if you're looking for a quick summary... he talks about his father adopting the new mentality of buying retail and flipping it.

Now I'm sure I'm going to catch heat for my opinion, but I'll share it anyways.

I actually don't blame his dad.  If he doesn't profit off of it, someone else will.  I totally agree that it sucks to find barren retail shelves.  But in the world we live in, people need to make a living and selling cards is better than selling drugs.

I think the problem actually falls on the shoulders of the card companies and retail outlets.  Maybe card companies should offer up the boxes on their websites, but limit the number of boxes collectors can purchase to allow everyone an equal opportunity instead of giving priority to select customers.

As for retail outlets, I'd have no problem with them keeping the boxes behind the counter and limiting them to one box per customer.  Or how about announcing the specific days that new products arrive that way everyone available on those days has a shot of grabbing at least one box.

My main issue with the flippers is the shadiness behind the whole thing.  Like I have a couple of friends who know people at Target who let them know when new product comes in.  In my mind... that's wrong.

As for me... you probably know that I'm not a flipper.  But if I'm walking around Target and I see Prizm Basketball or Prizm Football... I'd buy up every single box they have.  So how can I possibly blame Matt's father?

#4:  Before the Era of Vick

1986 McDonald's Eagles #12

On Tuesday... Elliptical Man showed off some cards from Chris The Collector.  One of them was a card of Randall Cunningham.

Cunningham was a stud back in the late 80's and early 90's.  If you're ever bored, I'd encourage you to check out his highlight videos on YouTube.

1986 McDonald's Eagles #91

Back in June, I purchased a 1986 McDonald's Philadelphia Eagles set for $7.99 (+ $.74 tax) on eBay.  The set also contains an early card of hall of famer, Reggie White.  Although neither of these cards are considered rookie cards, they're still cool and cheap cards.

Well that wraps up another issue of This Week in Blogging.  There were a few other items I was planning to cover, but after I rambled on and on about flipping retail... it ended up hitting the cutting room floor.

One of these posts has inspired a new eBay search and if I ever end up buying it... I'll be sure to give that blogger full credit.

Until then...

What are you thoughts on retail cards, participation trophies, and Freehan's chances of eventually making it into Cooperstown?

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Boatload of Blasters

Back in August, I opened up two blasters of Allen & Ginter and pretty much had my fill of the product.  But that's the thing about addiction.  There's temptation hiding behind every corner.  This time temptation took the form of a bargain too good to pass up.

Two weekends ago, Target had 2018 Allen & Ginter blasters on sale for $12.49 each and I happened to be sitting on a 20% off coupon.  If that weren't enough... Target Redcard holders get an additional 5% off every order.

I ended up grabbing six blasters.  The damage after factoring in taxes was $62.22 delivered.

The bargain hunter in me knows that even at that price, I can add a really nice autograph or vintage hall of famer to my collection.  But the collector addicted to busting packs convinced me this was too good of a deal to pass up.  The question is whether or not I made the right decision.

Well... it's no surprise that I didn't pull $62.22 worth of cards.  I knew that going into this purchase.  The four stacks at the top of the photo are the base cards sorted by hundreds.  Haven't decided if I'm going to build the set or not.  At the bottom are the minis and the inserts.  I was happy to see at least 5, maybe even 10 cards that will eventually be entered into my Player PC Binders.

My favorite was this mini of Roberto Clemente:

In addition to the inserts and minis, I also pulled three decent rookie cards:

Unfortunately... I didn't pull a single Ohtani out of the 48 packs.  No Andujars either.

On the flipside... I did manage to pull this nice Paul Goldschmidt framed autograph:

After factoring in this autograph and the entertainment value, it makes things a little less painful.  And as crazy as this sounds... waking up on a Sunday morning knowing full well that there are a boatload of blasters waiting for you to tear into was practically worth the purchase price alone.  It brought back childhood memories of waking up early on Christmas morning.

Well that's it for today.  In addition to these six blasters, I also purchased a few 2018 Sportkings blasters that I'll open up eventually.  Plus I have a bunch of Black Friday boxes that are still sitting in my office as well, so stay tuned.

Until then...

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

Blaster Box Buffoonery

There's an old saying that goes something like this...

Bottom line... if you keep getting suckered by the same trick... then you've got nobody to blame except yourself.

And that's exactly why my new nickname should be the "Blaster Box Buffoon".  Why?  Well... each and every year, I tell myself not to get lured into buying blaster boxes.  But guess what?  Each and every year, I still do.

Now before I get into yesterday's huge blaster box shopping spree at Target, I'd like to preface things by stating the following:

I respect the fact that plenty of you guys enjoy your blasters... and that's your Cardboard God given right.

But after busting these four boxes, I was quickly reminded of why I always walk away shaking my head.  See for yourself:

The two boxes of Stadium Club were the lone bright spot in this purchase.  I only pulled seven inserts/parallels, but at least I walked away with over 50 new singles for my set.  Everything else including the inserts and parallels will go towards the Super Traders group that Wes and Brian put together.

The third box I busted was 2015 Topps Allen & Ginter.  Overall this box produced the most inserts and parallels.  Although five of them were non-sports related.

My favorite card out of this box was the Aoki mini... which will be heading over to Adam at ARPSmith's Sportscard Obsession.

The last box was a blaster of 2014 Topps Heritage that was actually purchased awhile back, but I figured I might as well include it with the rest of these blasters.

Compared to my Target blaster from two years ago... this box was a straight up bust.  Last time, I pulled 16 inserts, short prints, or parallels.  This time there were only five.  Now I accept that not every box is going to have eight purple refractors, but this box lacked 1st Draft and New Age Performers inserts, plus had one less SP.  I guess you get what you pay for.

These blasters weren't a total waste of money.  I relished in about fifteen minutes of entertainment while opening the packs.  Plus... now I have some cards to send out to fellow Super Traders.  Unfortunately... there wasn't nearly enough value in these boxes to justify this purchase.

That's why... I will use this experience as a reminder to avoid retail boxes from this day forward.  And if by chance I slip... the do me a favor and remind me to watch that video again... because like President Bush said... I just "can't get fooled again."

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

Retail wax is not my thing...

The truth is... since I've gotten back into the hobby, I haven't been a big fan of busting wax in general... but I especially avoid retail wax or blaster boxes. It's pretty simple:

Reason #1

I don't want anymore unwanted base (that I end up giving away to my students anyways).

Reason #2

I'm not optimistic about pulling a great autograph or memorabilia card. Even when they're guaranteed, I know that odds are I'm going to pull an autograph of a 36 year old minor league prospect for the Angels.

Reason #3

If there's a card I really want, I'll usually do my research and pick it up off of COMC or eBay. And every once in awhile, I'll pull off some trades on one of the forums or in the blogworld.

Reason #4

And last, but certainly not least is the value you get from busting wax. You rarely ever get your money's worth... especially out of retail packs. And let's face it... I'm not a millionaire with tons of disposable income. Nope, I'm a teacher who teaches financial responsibility to my students.

But yesterday... while shopping at the local Target for shampoo, conditioner, and some treats for my students... I strolled by the cardboard collectibles aisle. It was the first time I actually saw the section stocked, so I was actually pretty excited.

I've been wanting to pick up a blaster box of 2011 Topps Gypsy Queen, since I've seen some pretty cool stuff being pulled from them. Plus... I'm a softie when it comes to retro-looking products.

Unfortunately, there were no blaster boxes of Gypsy Queen to be found, but I did discover a box of retail under some other boxes. So I grabbed 5 packs (@ $2.99 each) and continued with my shopping.

As soon as I got home, I threw the bags on the dining room table and headed to my office where I proceeded to rip through my purchased wax. Here's a breakdown of what I pulled:

Base Cards

I am now the proud owner of 17 2011 Topps Gypsy Queen base cards, which were highlighted by the three you see above. This set is pretty nice and as soon as they hype dies off, I'll probably try to pick up a completed one off of eBay. By the way... this is the first Stephen Strasburg card in my collection. One of these days, I'll man up and obtain a rookie card of him.

Short Prints

I pulled two short prints of two ball players I know very little about.

Rookie Card

Out of five packs, I pulled one rookie card. Like the short prints, I don't know much about Ben Revere other than what I saw in his stat sheet on baseball-reference.com.

Gypsy Minis

There was one mini in each of my packs. Four of them were regular versions, but none of them are really worth diving into.

Red Gypsy Queen Back Mini

My last pack contained this Nelson Cruz parallel mini. Remember when this guy hit a homerun in each of his first four games to start off this season? Well... he's cooled off quite considerably since then... and I'm assuming so have his cards.

Inserts

Each pack contained an insert, which I thought was pretty cool. And like the base cards, I think they're pretty nice looking and would be perfect for TTM autographs. I really liked the painting of Jason Heyward on his Wall Climbers insert, but my favorite card is the only Padres card I pulled from the five packs. It's a David Eckstein Sticky Fingers insert which honors the second baseman's great hands.

Well there you have it. That's what $16.33 will get you. Will I ever come close to getting my money back? Hmmm... no way... but that's okay... because I don't collect for investment reasons. I collect to have fun. And I enjoyed every minute it took me to rip open these five packs.

Plus... it was a great reminder of why I tend to avoid opening retail products... and wax in general. These days, I'll typically only bust wax if:

Reason #1

It's cheap and I think the product holds great value in it.

Reason #2

I really like the base card design and/or there's a particular insert set I want to chase.

Reason #3

I'm planning on building sets of this product.

Reason #4

I'm really "jonesing" for that fix.

Reason #5

If and when I find a product that fits the first four reasons... then I look at my finances. If I can afford to spend the extra cash, then I'll finally pull the trigger and buy a box/case.

If you were to look back at my last four major wax purchases... they all fell under the five requisites: 09/10 Panini HOF Basketball, 2008 UD Masterpieces Football, 09/10 Bowman 48 Basketball, and 08/09 Topps Signature Basketball.

So... what about you?

How do you acquire most of your cards? Busting wax? Purchasing singles/sets/card lots? Online trading?

Buying mystery packs? Other?

If I were to break it down by percentages, I'd say that 65% of my PC was obtained through purchases, whether they be singles, sets, card lots, or mystery packs. 25% of my collection was acquired through online trades on either Sports Card Forum, Card Collectors World, or in the blogworld. And 10% is obtained through busting boxes or cases of product.

Happy Thursday everyone... I'm definitely looking forward to the three day weekend. Sayonara!