The Card Chop Has Me Seeing Red

I'm embarrassed to say this... but I still haven't purchased a single pack or box of 2014 Topps baseball.  I've been pretty busy with the start of a new semester and haven't made my way down to Target or Walmart in a few weeks, but sooner or later I'll get my hands on some.

Until then, I'll have to stare at the only piece of 2014 cardboard in my collection.  It's an amazing red foil parallel of my favorite former Athletic:

Steve over at The Card Chop sent a nice two card care package earlier in the week that also included this 2005 Topps Chrome autographed refractor...

Mr. Rogers was a 2nd round draft pick for the Oakland Athletics.  Unfortunately he never made it to the big leagues, but that's okay.  This is the first autograph of his in my collection and it's a beauty.  2005 Topps is one of my favorite designs of the decades and the fact that it's a refractor only increases the viewing pleasure.

Thanks Steve!  I appreciate the care package.  Keep your eyes peeled... I'll get some Braves out to you in the next few days.

Happy Friday and sayonara!

Budget Vintage Hall of Famers

Vintage cards are like green lights.  Everybody loves them.  Okay maybe I shouldn't speak for all collectors, but they're one of my favorite things to collect.  I enjoy everything from the smell to the designs to the cardstock.  They take me back in time to when things were simpler.

It's just a shame that a lot of the vintage cards on my wantlist are way out of my budget.  Unless I win the lottery, I'll never be able to afford a T206 Eddie Collins, a 48L Jackie Robinson, a 56T Ted Williams, or a 65T Mickey Mantle.  In fact, I was lucky if I added one or two vintage cards of hall of famers to my collection each year.

Well... that's a thing of the past, because I just solved that problem.  I have decided to collect hall of famers on league leader cards.  Now I know that they're subset cards, which means they lack the career statistics and biographical data of regular issue base cards.  They also feature multiple players, so individuals are forced to share the spotlight.  But that's what keeps them affordable.

So far I've picked up eight different cards:

1962 Topps #54

Everyone remembers the American League home run race between Mantle and Maris in New York.  But what about the race in San Francisco?

1963 Topps #3

Five floating hall of fame heads on one card.  Even if you're not a fan of vintage cards or league leader subset cards, you have to appreciate this one.  Right?

1964 Topps #9

What's better than two San Francisco Giants?  How about three?

1966 Topps #215

I love seeing Hank Aaron and Willie Mays on a batting leaders (instead of a home run leaders) card together.  Add Clemente into the mix and now you understand why I collect these vintage league leaders cards.

1966 Topps #217

Here's another card with Mays and McCovey.  I can't believe these guys didn't win a World Series Championship together.

1968 Topps #2

Finally an American League card.  Three guys who combined to hit 1,437 home runs are featured on a batting leaders card.  No wonder all three of these guys were first ballot hall of famers.

1968 Topps #3

Seeing Cepeda on four out of eight of these league leaders cards made me go back and check out his career statistics.  I never realized how good he was during his first ten to twelve seasons.  Back in 1968, he was just coming off an MVP season.  It's insane that his autographs routinely sell for less than $10 (shipped) on eBay.

1968 Topps #4

The final card.  It's not surprising to see Frank and Carl together again, since the pair represented the last two Triple Crown winners until Miguel Cabrera came along in 2012.  And Killebrew was no slouch either.  He tied Yaz for the home runs in 1967 (the year he won the Triple Crown) and was second to him in both RBI's and MVP voting.

Looking ahead... I'm hoping to pick up a few more of these in the near future.  My one stipulation is that all of the players featured on the card have to be enshrined in Cooperstown.  Right now these two are at the top of my list:

1965 Topps #8 NL ERA Leaders (Drysdale and Koufax)

1967 Topps #236 NL Victory Leaders (Koufax, Marichal, Gibson, and Perry)

But I probably need to start looking into more American League cards too.  Let me know if any of you guys have some suggestions for this collection.

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

Ask And Thou Shall Receive

Sometimes it pays off to bow down to the Cardboard Gods.  That's what I did and now I'm the proud owner of this glorious Gwynn:

If you're not familiar with this card, it's part of the 1999 Century Legends Epic Signatures set and it has been a card I have been trying to track down off and on since its release in June of 1999.

Why the obsession?  Well it's pretty simple... Tony Gwynn is my favorite baseball player of all-time and this is one of my favorite autograph sets.  Upper Deck's ingenious decision to use a light, black and white photo of Tiger Stadium as a background allowed the athlete's on-card autograph to stand out and be the focal point of the card right next to the portrait shot of the player.

Anyways... getting back to the higher beings.  Back in December, Eric over at The Snorting Bull posted his copy of this card and intense feelings of envy overcame me (exaggeration is totally underrated).  The Cardboard Gods must have been reading my thoughts, because sixteen days later a copy popped up on eBay.  A week after that, I won the auction with a bid of $42.01 (free shipping).

But it gets better... I had $22.22 in eBay Bucks, so I ended up paying only $19.79 for this amazing addition to my San Diego Padres PC.

Okay... it's time to get back into my old ways and submit a question of the day.  Here is today's:

What are some of your favorite autographed card sets?

Happy Monday and sayonara!

Thirty-Plus Years of Waiting

In 1981, my parents took me on a trip to Seattle, WA to visit my cousin who was studying dentistry at the University of Washington.  I've referenced this trip before on my blog. 

It's the same trip my parents bought my first baseball card set:  1981 Fleer.

It helped keep the "card collecting" ball rolling and is just one of the many reasons I'm still collecting thirty-three years later.

But the story doesn't end there.  That trip to Seattle also turned me into a Seattle Seahawks fan.  Actually the credit should actually go to my cousin Keith.

Living in the community filled with 49er Faithful, I've had to watch my friends and family celebrate five Super Bowl victories as their favorite franchise built a dynasty that lasted for close to two decades.  During that time, I was fortunate enough to watch my other favorite team (the Green Bay Packers) win a pair of Super Bowls.  However after thirty-plus years, I'm still waiting for the Hawks' first.

Hopefully... the wait will end today.

Thank goodness for great food and good company, because as soon as the game starts I know my stomach is going to be tied in knots as the NFL's best offense squares up against their best defense.

Let's just hope legendary coach Bear Bryant was right when he said "offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships".

Go Hawks!

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

I've Got Bush!

I've waited seven long and hard years for this epic Bush card.  I can touch it, smell it, and stare at it whenever I want, because it's all mine.

Why did I wait so long?  Well to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of paying for Bush.  And after all of the hype over this piece of cardboard a few years back, there was no way I was going to overpay.

But good things come to those who wait and last week I found this at the card show for a little over 7¢. I couldn't believe it.  A good Bush will often set you back a nice steak dinner or even a diamond ring.  However if you're willing to be patient and not picky, then you might be lucky enough to find one for some spare change in your pocket.

Best of all... this Bush is mint and has never been trimmed... just the way I like it.  The only downside is that I'm not exactly sure of how many guys have touched this particular Bush.  It's one thing to be the second or third guy to own it, but what if I'm the hundredth?

I'm not even going to think about it and ruin the moment.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!