Care Packages Aplenty

When I was a kid... one of my favorite pastimes was sorting my baseball cards.  Sometimes I'd sort them by team.  Other times I'd sort them by player.  Heck... I even sorted them by position.  It would drive my mom nuts having my cards scattered all over the floor.

Two weeks ago... I decided to overhaul a bunch of my 5,000 count boxes.  It started off with me attempting to build prize packages for my 1,000th post contest.  But it's sort of snowballed into insanity.  I literally have cards and boxes everywhere.  It's turned into a very stressful project and I finally understand how my mom felt.

I don't want to even think about the number of hours I've spent sifting through cards these past couple of weeks.  But today I decided to take the day off and relax.  I watched some television, ran some errands, grabbed lunch with a friend, took a nap, and finally got around to opening some packages that were buried on my desk.

Matthew, Brett, and Mark... I apologize in advance for the delay.  As crazy as this sounds... I held off to opening your mail, because I had too many cards scattered around.  The cards you sent were better off in their envelopes than being thrown into the chaos of cardboard sprinkled across my office.

However... today I made sure to give each package my full attention and the cards were immediately introduced to their new home.  With that being said, let's show off the goodies.

I'll kick things off with three cards Matthew (Bob Walk the Plank) sent earlier in the week...

Earlier in the year, Eric Sogard came within 15 minutes of being the Face of the MLB.  Today he's batting .186 and splitting time with Nick Punto.  But that's okay... I still can't get enough of "Nerd Power".

Ten years ago, Akinori Otsuka finished in 3rd place for the National League Rookie of the Year Award voting.  Kazuo Matsui finished 6th.  Today neither are playing in the MLB, but both have found nice homes in my collection.  Thanks Matthew!

Next up is a package from Brett... better known as ucffans on Card Collectors World Forum.

He sent me some new Pat Falloons for my Sharks PC, along with several new additions to my Japanese athlete binder.  I absolutely love the 2004 Topps Hideo Nomo card.  It's one of my favorite photos of him captured on cardboard.

Thanks Brett!  This package was indeed more fun to open than bills.

And finishing things off this evening is a package from Mr. Hoyle:

He sent me a pair of fully loaded envelopes filled with Packers, Athletics, and Expos.  As soon as I saw his name, I instantly thought "vintage".  And guess what... that's what he sent.  I love me some 70's Topps action shots and that's exactly what Marcol delivers.  However the crown jewel of these packages is the 1973 Kellogg's Joe Rudi.  There's no lenticular 3D technology used on this card.  But that's okay... because it's vintage, it's Kellogg's, and it's Joe Rudi!

Thanks Mark!

All three of you guys helped me take my mind off of the clutter that currently fills my office.  As soon as I'm finished cleaning and building those contest prize packages, I'lll make sure to send some stuff out to you guys.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

A Trip Down Memory Lane

I'm slowly discovering that I have a love/hate relationship with my cardboard.  Over the past few months, I've had several ever-growing stacks of cards residing on my office desk.  The stacks include a bunch of cool cards I've picked up for myself as well as numerous care packages that fellow bloggers have sent.

Some of these stacks are so old that I don't even know what's in them, so it's kind of cool to pick one up and flip through it.  On the other hand, I'm one of those people who are obsessed with being organized.  And the unorganized stacks are slowly driving me nuts.

Part of the problem is that I've been really busy and haven't had a lot of free time to sort cards.  Plus as the stacks get bigger, I get less motivated.

But on Sunday, instead of my usual trip to the flea market, I sat down and picked up a pile.  They happened to be cards I purchased out of a dime box a few weeks ago.  One card in particular instantly sent me back twenty years...

If you collected in the early 90's, then you probably recognize this card.  Back in the day, 1991 Stadium Club was one of the hottest sets in the hobby and Frank Thomas was one of the hottest players.  In other words, this card was hot!  At the time, it was one of the most expensive cards in my collection and had the luxury of being stored in one of those 1/2" lucite holders.  I can't remember when or what I paid for my copy, but it was a lot more than 10¢.

The card inspired me to walk over to my bookshelf and flip through some of my vintage issues of Beckett Baseball.  I decided to grab the January 1993 issue featuring The Big Hurt and Chuck Knoblauch:

Now I've said it before... and I'll say it again.  If you enjoy reminiscing about the good old days, than you'll love sitting on your porcelain throne with a twenty year old Beckett.

It's filled with all sorts of goodies, but before I share some of them... let's go ahead and look at the values they had listed for my newly acquired 1991 Stadium Club Frank Thomas:

Crazy, right?  $20 to $30 for a second year base card that at the time was less than two years old.  And $250 for the set?  Thomas was easily the highest priced card in the set, while Juan Gonzalez settled for 2nd at $16.  These days you can pick up the pair for under a buck, while a complete 600 card set will set you back under $20 delivered on eBay.  It just proves that premium products don't necessarily equate to rock solid investments.

On the other hand certain vintage cards have done quite well over the past two decades.  One example is my 1965 Topps #282 Masanori Murakami rookie card:

Back then, a near-mint copy of this card listed between $4.50 and $7.00.

Today similar condition Murakami rookies sell in the $10 to $15 range and currently have a book value of $40 on Beckett.

But book values are only the beginning.  My favorite thing to look at in older Becketts is the Hot/Cold list:

The Big Hurt appeared on both lists.  At the time of this printing, Thomas had held the #1 position for sixteen consecutive months and was just about to collect consecutive American League MVP Awards. I wonder how long his streak lasted.

Another featured I loved was the Readers Write...

That's where Beckett published people's letters and typically left feedback.  You've gotta wonder if Beckett's online price guide started with Jim from Pennsylvania.

At this point on Beckett's timeline, their magazines were still chock-full of product reviews and interesting articles like this...

Almost half of their magazine was printed on colored paper and included cool graphs and awesome photography.

Finally, I'll wrap things up with their show calendar...

Once upon a time, a collector living in my neck of the woods could attend a card show four to five times a week.  Out of the first ten days of January 1993, there were four different card shows spanning seven days.  These days I'm lucky if there are seven card shows in one calendar year.

Like most things in life, the early 90's had their hits and misses.  Sure most of the card products from this era were overproduced and tend to be worth much less than it was twenty-something years ago.

But there were good things too.  Collectors were introduced to premium trading cards like Stadium Club, Pinnacle, and Fleer Ultra.  There were more collectors in our hobby, which meant more card shows.  And at the time Beckett still produced a quality magazine with interesting articles and cool monthly features like Readers Write and their Hot/Cold list.

The past few days, I've enjoyed flipping through the issue and taking a stroll down memory lane.  But the party is over and it's time to get back to working on those dang stacks of cards that keep piling up in my office.

Happy Friday and sayonara!

Hats Off to Mr. Padre

We all know that people handle death differently and in their own way.  I myself haven't had a lot of personal experience in that area, so I was a little surprised at how much Tony Gwynn's passing affected me.

A day hasn't gone by where I didn't take at least a few seconds to think about him.  Sometimes it's a tribute video on the internet.  Other days it's me sitting in my office sorting through a stack of cards.  And other times it's when I read through my daily eBay searches.

That's what happened a few days after I heard the sad news.  Someone listed this 2001 Fleer Legacy autographed hat on eBay and it showed up on one of my saved searches:

I've been looking to buy this item for my collection for quite some time and all of a sudden three different hats popped up within two weeks of his death.  I missed out on the first two, but luckily the third time's a charm.

I ended up being the only bidder on this auction and won it with a $75 opening bid, plus $20 shipping.  With the surplus of Gwynn autographed cards and memorabilia floating around the hobby, I know that I overpaid for this item.

With that being said... I'm extremely excited to add this to my Tony Gwynn PC and have absolutely no buyer's remorse.

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

Twelve Reasons to Watch

The MLB Home Run Derby is like chocolate covered bacon.  It's not for everyone.  And honestly... 9 out of 10 times, I don't bother watching it.  I enjoyed the event when I was younger, but over the years it has sort of lost its appeal.

However this year, I wanted to watch the two Oakland Athletics participating in the event:  Josh Donaldson and Yoenis Cespedes.

The first round seemed like it lasted over an hour and the rain delay didn't help much.  But things eventually picked up and by now you've probably heard that Cespedes successfully defended his title becoming only the second MLB player to win back to back Home Run Derby events.

Congratulations fellow Cespedes and Oakland Athletics fans!

As a bonus... it's been awhile since we've had so many players named to the all-star team.  That's not including their latest acquisition who is ineligible to play.

My other favorite team is also sending a pair of former Oakland Athletics...

Plus there are a few Japanese guys (not named Ichiro) that I'll be cheering for...

And to top it off...

One of my favorite players is making his first MLB All-Star Game appearance.  Today's game should be a lot of fun to watch.  Even without Samardzija, that still gives me twelve different reasons to watch tonight's game.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Flashback Friday #12: 1990 Leaf Baseball

Today the summer math program that I teach at took our annual field trip to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, which is an animal themed amusement park.  Most of the students had a lot of fun eating junk food, watching shows, playing carnival games, and of course going on rides.

It took me back to my own childhood when it was known as Marine World Africa USA and located about 45 minutes closer to my house (in Redwood City).  Whenever my parents asked me where I wanted to go for my birthday, I always picked either The Exploratorium, Great America, Chuck E. Cheese, or Marine World Africa USA.

Unfortunately it just wasn't as cool as I remember it being.  As crazy as this sounds... it sort of reminds me of 1990 Leaf baseball cards.

Back in the day, this was one of my favorite baseball card sets.  In the early 90's, I spent a decent percentage of my paychecks building this 528 card set.  It had everything.  A solid checklist with future hall of famers and a nice crop of rookies.  A simple, yet attractive card design.  And its production was limited compared to Topps, Fleer, and Donruss.

It's actually one of the few items I decided to keep after I sold off my collection at the turn of the millennium.  Today the set sits in a box collecting dust in my parent's garage.  Every few years, I'll pull it out and flip through it when I go down to visit them.

And each time I do... it seems like the set is slowly losing it's luster... much like Marine World has.

But a few weeks ago, I stumbled across a guy who had some Series One packs for sale at the Serramonte Mall Card Show.  He offered me the entire twelve pack lot for $4.  That's about how much I used to spend on one pack, let alone twelve packs.  I had no choice but to purchase them.

On the drive home from work, I remembered that they were waiting for me in my office.  So after I grabbed a drink and took a shower, I sat down and busted them open.  Here's a look at some of the key cards I pulled...

Fifteen years ago, this card was one of the hottest cards in the hobby.  Today, it's not.  But I was still excited to pull the rookie card of a 600 Home Run Club member... even if he's bunting in his photo.

Is it Joey or Albert?  Is it a rookie card or not?  Regardless here's another card that was pretty hot in the mid 90's.

Never realized how many things these two had in common until I saw this card.  Athletics.  Photo backgrounds.  Batting Stances.  Home run power.  PED's.

And finally... I'll wrap things up with Mr. Walk.  Twenty years ago, this card would have been just another card thrown into another box of commons.  These days, I don't think I'll see another card of him without thinking of the great baseball card blog:  Bob Walk the Plank.

Okay I've fallen asleep several times while writing this post and there's less than five minutes before it's officially Saturday..  I think it's time I wrap things up and hit the sack.  While I'm catching up on sleep...

Any thoughts or memories on 1990 Leaf baseball?

Happy Friday and sayonara!