TWiB: Hobby Goals, Summer Plans, Books, and The End Game

2021 is off to a great start.  A special thanks to everyone who took the time to help me out and ask me some questions on my New Year's Eve post.  I'm excited to sit down and start planning my new series which will start in the next few weeks.

It was really nice to see my blogroll explode with more posts than usual over the past week or so.  All of the annual Top 10 lists and New Year's resolution posts were very entertaining and opened my eyes to several cards I'm hoping to add to my collection at some point.

Well let's get things rolling with our first This Week in Blogging post of 2021...

#1:  My 2021 Hobby Goals

It's been a few years since I've sat down and written down some hobby goals and until I read Daniel's post over on It's like having my own Card Shop... I had no plans of creating a list this year either.  But he was hosting a giveaway for a Paul O'neill game-used batting glove card... so I came up with these...

• Stick to my budget.
• Organize my inserts, parallels & oddball PC's.
• Organize a few 5,000ct. boxes I have laying around.

I haven't figured out what my budget for 2021 is going to be yet, but it'll probably be somewhere around $100 per month.  Maybe even less.  I'd also like to organize my inserts, parallels, and oddball player collections.  Right now most of them are just thrown into binders and organized by players.  My goal is to sit down and organize them by brand so it's easier to see if I already have the card or not.

2016 Topps Chrome Update #HMT26

Finally... I have a few 5,000ct. boxes that need to be sorted.  One of them is filled with rookie cards that I've accumulated over the years.  Yesterday I started to dig through it and founds some really cool items.  One of them was this Blake Snell.

#2:  Summer Plans

Jim over at cards as i see them wrote about the summer plans that were cancelled do to our planet's current situation.

It made me think about my summer plans that got swept under the rug...

1985 Mother's Cookies Athletics #28

Normally, I'd go to at least a couple of Oakland A's games at the Coliseum... but that never happened.

1987 Mother's Cookies Dodgers #28

My buddy and I had to cancel our annual trip down to Southern California... which meant we didn't get to eat a Dodger Dog or meet up with SumoMenkoMan at Frank and Son.

I also didn't get a chance to visit my father down in Las Vegas.  It's the first time I didn't go down to visit during my summer break in as long as I can remember.

2004-05 Topps Chrome Refractor #178

And the other trip I didn't get to take was my annual trip up to Portland to see my friend and her family.  I was also hoping to get together with Kerry, Gavin, and Rod eventually on one of these trips.

There's always a chance things will be better by this summer... but I won't be flying until I'm 100% certain things are back to normal.  In other words... I'm not getting my hopes up.

#3:  Another Donruss Variation

Nachos Grande wrote a post earlier in the week about a TCDB trade that didn't go as planned.  It involved a 1988 Donruss Barry Larkin factory set variation.  Like NG, I also thought the variation involved the border.  However after digging a little deeper, I noticed that it actually has to do with the font on the back of the card.  

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find any examples of the factory set variations in my collection.  However I have an example of another variation that Jongudmund  pointed out to me this summer over on his blog: .394 - The Tony Gwynn Baseball Card Blog.

The variation literally has to do with a "dot" or "period" located (or not located) on the back of the card:

1988 Donruss Bonus MVP #BC-6

Can you spot the variation (outside of the different shades of blue)?  If not... here's a closer look:

If you look right after the © 1987 Leaf, INC, you'll notice the card on the left doesn't have a "period", but the right one does.  Okay... start digging through your boxes looking for those variations.

#4:  The Baseball Card Bible

The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book is often referred to as the greatest baseball card book in existence.  I've never read it from cover to cover, so I can't really comment.  I do however own two copies of the book:

The first one is a hard cover, first printing version from 1973.  The other is the cover I see more often:

It's from 1991.  One of these versions I received as a gift from a fellow blogger... while the other one was an eBay purchase from 2011.  Unfortunately... my attempt to solve this mystery came up short.

Anyways... Night Owl wrote about the book earlier in the week (which stemmed from a Cardboard Junkie post) where he went through his collection and dug out all of the cards he had that are pictured in the book.  Out of the 243 cards in his version of the book, he discovered he had 48... which is pretty darn impressive.

I left a comment on his posted and estimated I had about eight.  After pulling out my copies and sifting through binders and scans, I came up with these:

1965 Topps #282

1964 Topps #335

1956 Topps #30

1958 Topps #161

1952 Topps #31

I did spot a few more that I'd like to eventually pick up if I can find them for a reasonable price.  So please stay tuned.

Until then... I'm sitting at whopping total of five cards from the Baseball Card Bible.

#5:  All-Time Teams (The Hockey Version)

If you're a baseball fan and you haven't checked out Chris The Collector's All-Time Teams series... I encourage you to click here.  He essentially created an all-time roster for every MLB team with a player only being represented one time.  In other words, Reggie Jackson only appeared for the Oakland A's, but not for the New York Yankees, California Angels, or Baltimore Orioles.

The amount of research he put into each post was very impressive and although you might not agree with every single selection he made... it's definitely worth the read.

Yesterday he started up a new round of all-time teams.  This time he's covering hockey.

He kicked things off with the Anaheim Ducks.  Regardless of whether or not you're into hockey, I highly recommend that you check out his series.  I promise you won't be disappointed.

Anyways... after reading the inaugural post in the series... it reminded me of my trip down to Southern California back in 1999 when I attended the Ducks Casino Night.  I've written about my little adventure before, but I thought I'd share this signed 8x10 featuring three Ducks that made The Collector's team:  Paul Kariya, Guy Hebert, and Teemu Selanne.

#6:  A Few Sayonara Salutes

Last weekend, I read the news that Phil Niekro passed away.  A few tributes popped up on fellow card blogs:  Baseball Card Breakdown, The Diamond King, and Sports Cards Ate My Brain.

1979 Topps #595

When I was a kid, I always thought that Mr. Niekro looked much older than he really was.

1986 Topps Traded #77T

When I was in high school, I saw Major League in the theaters and immediately thought of him when Chelcie Ross (Eddie Harris) appeared on the screen.

2014 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Autographs #FFA-PN

But I'm sure most baseball fans will remember the knuckleball pitcher for his hall of fame career which spanned twenty-four seasons.  Rest in peace, Knucksie.

A few days later, I discovered on Johnny's Trading Spot that Dawn Wells passed away:

2012 Panini Golden Age Historic Signatures #DW

I'm 97% certain that MaryAnn was my very first celebrity crush.  Two years ago I wrote about her in this post, but a recent discovery (that I will share on this blog in the near future) has opened the door of doubt.  That being said... it's impossible for me to look at MaryAnn's smile and not smile myself.  Rest in peace, Mrs. Wells.

2015 Topps Tek Signers #11

My final sayonara salute goes out to Jeremy Bulloch who passed away back on December 17th.  For those of you who aren't familiar with that name, he played the role of Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

If you're a regular on my blog, then you know that Boba Fett is one of my favorite Star Wars characters.  Over the years I've put together a small collection of his signatures that is available here.

I'll just quickly show off my prized possession... which is this limited edition Santa Cruz skateboard that Bulloch signed back in 2017 at a private signing in Oregon with my buddy Mike.  At the time of the signing, Bulloch had never seen one of these skateboards before... which I thought was really cool.  Not sure if anyone else ever had him sign one of these.  If not, this is a one of a kind collectible.

Rest in peace, Mr. Bulloch.

#7:  Look What I Got Posts

This morning, I read back to back posts which made it sound like "look what I got" posts aren't very popular.  Is that true?  Do people really no enjoy seeing what other bloggers have picked up?

Personally... I enjoy reading about what cards that other bloggers purchased, traded for, or have sitting around in their collection.  Sometimes it even leads me to picking up cards myself like this Trevor Hoffman "authentic ticket stub" card:

2009 Topps Ticket To Stardom #TS-63

I can't remember whose blog I originally saw this on, but I did rush over to COMC and grabbed myself a copy.  I'll never tell anyone what they should or shouldn't write about... but if you're asking for my opinion... I'd say don't be afraid to show your readers "what you've got".

#8:  The End Game

Johnny is getting double the exposure in this post.  Last weekend, he wrote about the possibility of selling off his collection.  Ultimately the issue has to do with leaving behind a collection that nobody in his family wants... nor does he want to leave them with the burden of dealing with it after he's gone.

This is an excellent discussion topic that I've had with a few friends... and it's been one of the contributing factors to me slowing down my purchases the past year (although eBay and COMC charging tax... along with rising card values have played the bigger role).  Haven't decided what the endgame will be... but I'm not in any rush either.  With me teaching from home this school year, it would have been the perfect time to start listing cards.  My father even brought up the idea of selling some stuff a few days ago.  But that's not my style.  Maybe one day... but for the time being... I'll continue to collect and enjoy the hobby.

Whoa... sorry for the super long post.  I just started typing and kept typing and typing.  My plan is to cut down on my rambling starting next week.

Until then... feel free to share your thoughts on "look what I got" posts, favorite baseball card books, your collecting endgame, or personal hobby goals down in the comment section below.

I promise to read and respond to each and every one of you.  Even the SPAM.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!