I'm an eBay idiot... again!

As human beings, we're not perfect... so it's only natural that we make mistakes from time to time. However, some of us make more mistakes than others.

Last October, I managed to buy an empty box of football cards for $4.99 (99¢ + $4 shipping). Click here if you're bored... as a bonus, there's a picture of me dressed up as a geisha girl.

Since I'm a creature of habit, I'll use the same format as my previous experience...

Who: That would be me.

What: Five COLOR PHOTO COPIES of Star Wars sketch cards

When: Last Sunday

Where: On eBay

Why: The illustrations were so awesome, I figured they were worth a couple of bucks a piece... even if they weren't pack inserted sketch cards.

How: Unfortunately, I was so preoccupied with the artistic beauty... I didn't notice the word PRINT in the title.

So, somebody scanned photos of their homemade Star Wars sketch cards, made color copies of them, and then I purchased them, because I didn't take the time to read the ad carefully.

On a humorous side note... I wasn't the only guy to bid on this lot.

However, the jokes on me... since I'm the one who won it.

Actually, it could have been worse. My max bid was set for $10. Thank goodness we didn't get into a bidding war.

Okay I've shared not one, but two stories of mistakes I've made while collecting cardboard. Don't worry, I've got more to share. But before I do, it's your turn first.

Share with your blogger buddies an embarrassing sports memorabilia story from your past.

C'mon... we all make mistakes. I promise not to pass judgement... although I can't speak for other collectors.

1 Point - Leave your response below.

3 Points - Post your response on your blog and leave a link below, so others can enjoy what you wrote.

I'll accept responses to this post until Sunday at 3pm (PST) and look forward to reading your responses.

Happy Friday and sayonara!

The Collector, the Vendors, and the Card Show

If you live near the San Francisco Bay Area, then I encourage you to check out the Serramonte Mall Card Show. It's actually a collectibles show that's held three times a year: January, June, & September.

The June show was held this past weekend and it didn't disappoint. It featured everything from unopened wax, singles, toys, posters, non-sports, movies, and a bunch of other stuff.

Here's a snapshot of what I picked up:

Purchase #1: Routine Max Dime Box Purchase $13

It's been almost two months since I've seen Max, so it was nice to see his dime boxes were reloaded with goodies. An even nicer surprise was seeing his new "75 cards for $5" pricing.

In addition to the 75 singles, I also picked up three of his dollar bin autographs/memorabilia cards and another box of 2009 World's Greatest Chase. I picked up two boxes from him last time and ended up calling myself a "buffoon", so I guess I have no right to complain when I pull a bunch of non-sport junk wax.

I offered to help Max advertise his next show at the Southland Mall in Hayward from July 6th to July 8th.

Purchase #2: Two Sets of 2010-11 Panini All-Goalies $10

I usually walk past the vendors who carry unopened boxes, because I'm not big on busting newer products. But I was bored and figured I might find a cheap $15 box to bust. Well, I didn't find any $15 (non retail) boxes. But I did find these $5 sets. Each of these factory sets contains the 100 card set, 6 parallels, and a memorabilia card. I'm giving one of the sets to my nephew. I'll bust the other one on a future post and give it away in this contest.

Purchase #3: 1970 Topps #189 Thurman Munson RC $30

I had no intention of spending this much on a single card at the show. However, I needed this card for my Thurman Munson Project and absolutely loved the condition. After some negotiating we settled on the $30 price... which seemed pretty reasonable.

Purchase #4: 1992 Skybox USA Wax Box $20

It's been almost 20 years since The Dream Team won the gold medal in men's basketball at the 1992 Summer Olympics. It's arguably the greatest basketball team ever assembled and this product commemorates the team. As soon as I saw it at the show, I wanted it. And after a quick eBay search to see if $20 was a reasonable price, I snatched it up. Stayed tuned for a future box busting post.

Purchase #5: 2008 Max Factory Figma Chunichi Dragons Mascot Figure $5

If you follow this blog on a regular basis, then you know I love collecting Japanese baseball cards. Well... with the addition of this figure, I'm now collecting Japanese figures too. The Chunichi Dragons were the 2007 Japan Series Champions, a team that featured Kosuke Fukudome and Kenshin Kawakami.

Purchase #6: 2011 Cryptozoic The Walking Dead: Season One Set $10

I kicked myself for not grabbing this set at the last show for $5 and wasn't going to let this opportunity pass me by again. I'm counting the months until the third season starts.

Purchase #7: Jerry Rice Jersey Cards $15

Did I pay too much? Maybe. But what I like about these cards is that they're all from an era when memorabilia cards still had respectable COA's and were pretty tough pulls.

Both of the Upper Deck cards specifically state that the swatch is from a jersey worn by Jerry Rice in an official NFL game and were inserted into one out of every 144 packs. And although Topps' COA is non-existent, at least this card was a tough pull. Collectors found these Gallery Heritage Relics at a rate of 1:211 packs (less than 1 per 8 boxes).

Add that to the fact that Jerry Rice is one of the greatest to play the game and I'm content with my purchase.

Purchase #8: 1998 Kenner "Collector Club" SLU Ted Williams $4

I can't resist purchasing these damn figures. The vendor was selling his figures for 3/$10 or individually for $4. I'm a huge bargain shopper who wants the best deal, but I couldn't find anything else of interest.

No biggie... I'm a huge fan of 90's SLU Convention and Collector's Club pieces and will pay $4 all day long for figures I don't already own.

Purchase #9: Michael Jordan Baseball Cards $1

In last week's Cheap, Cool Cards post, bobjah mentioned Michael Jordan baseball cards. I already have a few in my collection, but figured it couldn't hurt to add a few more at 33¢ each.

Okay... there's my long-winded card show recap. Now, I'll pass it off to you.

In your opinion... what were my best and worst purchases?

1 point - Leave your responses below.

2 points - Leave your responses below with an explanation for your choices.

Don't worry about hurting my feelings... I realize that my collecting tastes aren't shared with everyone.

I look forward to reading your responses. Responses for this post will be accepted until Friday at 3pm (PST). Thanks again to all of you who have chosen to participate in my contest.

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

Domo Arigato: Jack & The Chop Keeper

Let's take a break from the contest for a 24 hour period, so I can say "thank you" to two fellow collectors who have generously sent me some items to add to my collection.

As many of you know, I've been actively trying to collect all of the Donruss/Leaf puzzles from the 80's & 90's. And a few weeks ago, a fellow Donruss puzzle collector helped me out by trading me four of the puzzles I needed. A few days later he informed me that he had one more puzzle that I needed.

He didn't ask for anything in return... he just sent this:

It's the 1991 Donruss Willie Stargell puzzle. Thanks again Jack for helping me out with this project. It's my turn to return the favor, so stay tuned.

The other person I need to thank is The Chop Keeper @ The Card Chop. At the end of May, he busted some packs of Topps Archives and posted his results. I left the comment "Love the Vida!" and a few weeks later I received an email asking me where he should send the card.

Thank you Mr. Chop Keeper. I can't wait to acquire the 1976 Topps Vida Blue and pair the two up.

Thanks again Jack and The Chop Keeper! Your generosity is much appreciated.

Have a happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Awesome Athletics #3: Rickey Henderson

Yesterday, marked the 33rd Anniversary of Rickey Henderson's MLB debut.

On June 24th, 1979, Rickey made his first appearance as a major leaguer for the Oakland Athletics and went 2 for 4 with a double against the Texas Rangers. He also stole the first of his MLB record 1,406 career stolen bases.

It didn't take long for The Man of Steal to become a superstar and my favorite player until the A's traded him to the New York Yankees in 1984. He would eventually come back to Oakland as a free agent in 1990 and although Tony Gwynn had become my new favorite player, Rickey was still my favorite Athletic.

During his 25 year career, he jumped around the league and played for 9 different teams. But he spend 14 of those seasons with the Oakland A's and played 1,704 games with them, which is the 2nd most in franchise history. In fact, he's all over the A's record books:

6,140 At Bats (2nd All-Time)

1,270 Runs Scored (1st All-Time)

1,768 Hits (3rd All-Time)

1,271 Singles (2nd All-Time)

2,640 Total Bases (4th All-Time)

289 Doubles (6th All-Time)

1,227 Walks (1st All-Time)

867 Stolen Bases (1st All-Time)

His career numbers are even more impressive which is why he was a first ballot hall of famer in 2009 and is considered by many to be the best leadoff hitter in the history of the game. More importantly... he's one of the greatest Athletics to take the field in Oakland and he's one of my all-time favorite players.

Here's your question of the day...

Who were your childhood favorites (players)? Do you collect their cards & memorabilia? If so, what's your favorite item (of your favorite childhood player) in your collection?

1 point - Leave your response below.

3 points - Post your response your blog and leave a link below, so other can enjoy what you wrote.

I'll accept responses for this post until Tuesday at 3pm (PST). I look forward to reading all of your responses.

Here's my favorite Rickey Henderson item:

If I had to rank my favorite cards, this one would have to be somewhere in the top 50. It features a classic photo and a decent design. Plus it's hard not to think about 80's rookie cards without including this one. Okay... that's all I've got.

By the way, if you're interested in checking out the current contest standings are click here.

Happy Sunday & sayonara!

Contest Standings Week #2

Wow... what an ending to an amazing Bay Bridge Series. Derek Norris, who was called up from the Sacramento River Cats on Thursday, launched his first MLB home run and boy was it a biggie. Trailing 2 to 1 in the bottom of the ninth with 2 on, 2 outs, and 2 strikes, Norris launched a ball over the left field fence to help the A's avoid the sweep.

What an amazing series! All three games came down to the bottom of the 9th and even though the Giants took the first two games, both teams provided their fans with some serious entertainment.

Okay... now that I've gotten that out of the way, let's take a look at the contest standings.

First let's break down the A's/Giants mini-contest. Twenty-six people participated with sixteen people earning 3 points and ten people earning 1 point. Nobody picked two out of three or three out of three predictions correctly. And since Norris caught two out of the three games, Kurt Suzuki only managed to collect one hit... a number nobody predicted.

Here's a look at the mini-contest results:

And now for the most current standings:

Our current leaderboard looks like this:

Greg Zakwin 19 Points

Ryan G 19 Points

dayf 16 Points

Martyn 16 Points

Richard Nebe Jr. 16 Points

Kirk Jacobsen 15 Points

Matt 15 Points

Play at the Plate 15 Points

Spankee 15 Points

There are a few things to note this week about the point totals:

A. I gave dayf an extra point for a very entertaining response. You may see me reward people from time to time with extra points. The fact is... I'm a teacher and sometimes I reward people with extra credit for above and beyond effort.

B. You may also notice that some people left links to their responses, but did not receive as many points as others. That's because I rewarded people who wrote new blog posts the full three points and the people who gave links to past posts two points. I figure this was the most fair way to distribute points.

There's still plenty of time to join in on the fun. This contest will run through the better half of July and there will be plenty of opportunity to earn (and possibly lose) points.

Thanks again to everyone who's participated in the contest. Stay tuned for my next post (and contest question) which should be up in the next hour or so.

Have a great Sunday & sayonara!

PC Spotlight #19: LeBron James Advertising Sheet

Congratulations to the Miami Heat on their 2nd NBA Championship in franchise history. More specifically... congratulations to King James and his loyal followers on his first NBA Title. There's no doubt in my mind there will be more to come.

The past few years, I just haven't been into the NBA as much as in the past. I even tried to make the huge jump from being a Los Angeles Lakers fan to a Golden State Warriors fan this past season to shake things up. And although I truly enjoyed attending Warriors games this season, I just had no interest in watching any of the NBA Playoffs.

In fact, the only thing I wanted... was for someone... anyone (even the Boston Celtics) to beat the Heat. Call it "sour grapes", but I'm just not a fan of King James anymore. Like others... The Decision debacle made me realize he wasn't the type of player I wanted to support.

Oh well... someone has to win and it was only a matter of time before the best player in the game became a champion. So to honor LeBron, I figured I'd show off one of the very few PC items I have of The King:

It's an advertising sheet from a magazine from a few years back. I can't remember which magazine it came from, but if I had to guess, I'd say Dime Magazine. The sheet is perforated, so you can turn it into four postcards featuring The LeBrons: Business LeBron, Athlete LeBron, Wise LeBron, and Kid LeBron.

The entire sheet measures 7.5" x 10.5", but the post cards are your standard 3.5" x 5" and are printed on glossy card stock. Kudos to Nike and their creative marketing strategies.

Okay... since we already have the A's Predictions part of the contest. I'm going to make today's contest entry short and simple.

How many NBA Titles will LeBron James have at the end of his career?

1 point - Leave a response below... the simpler... the better.

I'll accept responses for this post until Sunday at 3pm (PST) and should have a Week 2 update as soon as I get the results from the A's/Giants game.

Have a great weekend and sayonara!

Take Me Out To The Ball Game!

I've been an Oakland A's fan since the 70's when my older brother started taking me to games. Last night we relived old times by going to the A's/Dodgers game, along with sixteen other family members. Among them were baseball fans from Hawaii, so the Kurt Suzuki (he's from Maui) Fan Club was in full force.

Suzuki struggled by going hitless and striking out once. But Coco Crisp went 2 for 3, walked twice, and had three stolen bases to lead the A's to a 3 to 0 victory over the visiting Dodgers. Brandon McCarthy pitched seven shutout innings allowing only two hits, one walk, while striking out five.

But I'm sure most of you could care less about a recap... especially Mr. Zakwin & Mr. Night Owl... so I'll move on to my pair of PC Additions:

A's Helmet

I've been wanting one of these for a while now, but every time I go, they're sold out. It's one of those deals where it comes filled with popcorn for $6 or $7. I'm debating on whether to use it as a cereal bowl or a wall decoration for my office. Either way... I'm glad I finally have one.

A's Souvenir Bat

As I left the ballpark, I stopped by the Fan Shop and found this cool, miniature Louisville Slugger bat with Athletics stamped on it. It was one of the more affordable items in the store, so I picked it up. I figure it'll be a nice addition to my A's shelf in my office.

Now... here's the section you've all been waiting for: the contest portion of this post.

I figure I'd switch gears this time. Instead of having you write an opinion or a blog response, let's try having you make some predictions.

On Friday, the San Francisco Giants cross the Bay and visit Oakland for a three game series.

A. How many games will the A's win in the series?

B. How many hits will Kurt Suzuki get in the series?

C. How many home runs will the A's hit in the series?

The amount of points you earn will depend on the number of correct predictions you make:

1 point - Zero Correct Predictions

3 points - One Correct Prediction

5 points - Two Correct Predictions

7 points - Three Correct Predictions

I'll accept responses for this post until Friday at 3pm (PST) and will tally up the scores Sunday afternoon/evening after the game. Good luck!

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

I Love Sorting Cards!

I'm one of those people who love to organize and sort things... which explains why I collect trading cards. When I was a kid, I'd plop myself in front of the television with a stack of cards and sort them into teams. A week later, I'd do the same thing... only this time I'd put them in numerical order. The next week? I'd sort them by players. My collection was constantly being manhandled and rearranged.

These days, I don't handle my cards as much as I used to. But every now and then, I still have the urge to sort & organize.

I recently traded my buddy a bunch of unopened wax boxes (3 boxes of 90/91 Pro Set Hockey, 3 boxes of 1991 Kayo Boxing, and 1 box of 90/91 Score Hockey), some 49ers team sets, and $10 for this box of singles:

The box provided me with over ninety minutes worth of entertainment as I sat in front of the television sorting the cards and deciding which cards I wanted to keep and which ones I was going to give away, sell, or trade..

When I was finished, there were little stacks of cardboard scattered across my family room and one small stack of around 30 cards that I planned on adding to my collection.

Here's a sample of what I pulled for myself...

Vintage Cards

90's Inserts

Okay here is today's contest question:

What is your favorite vintage card and/or 90's insert card in your collection? Why? How did you acquire it?

1 point - Leave your response below.

3 points - Post your response on your blog and leave a link below, so others can enjoy what you wrote.

I'll accept responses for this post until Wednesday at 3pm (PST). I look forward to reading your responses.

Happy Monday... have a great week... and sayonara!