Have you ever started a project at home that you thought would take two, maybe three days... but it ends up taking three to four times longer than that?
That is what happened when I decided to start sorting two 5,000ct. boxes that have been sitting around in my office. They contain a variety of sports cards that appear to be a combination of flea market finds and card show hauls with at least one collection purchase involved as well.
The first thing I did was sorted them by sport. After that each sport were sorted into card types: base, rookies, inserts, and parallels. There's not enough space on my office desk to conduct this kind of sort, so it had to be accomplished on the floor (which wreaks havoc on my lower back). Along the way I started adding cards into binder collections... while a handful of the nicer finds have been inserted into top loaders. The rest are slowly being integrated into other boxes.
Unfortunately... it's taking way longer than it would for the average collector.
You see... I have issues. Seriously. When it comes to card supplies for my personal collection... they need to be new. It's part of my struggle with OCD. In the past week or so... I have swapped out over 2,000 penny sleeves.
I honestly don't wish this obsession on anyone. Most of the time, I accept it as the norm (my norm). But this is one of those occasions where it has cost me hours, a very sore back, and an excessive amount of penny sleeves.
Don't worry... 99% of the penny sleeves will be reused. Some will be used in care packages. Others will be used for cards given away to students. The rest will go to my buddy who sets up at card shows. There is a small percentage that need to be tossed due to crumbling issues or they are just plain nasty.
Ultimately... the goal is to have this project finished by next Tuesday so I can get back to opening up care packages. At this rate, I don't think I'll even touch my Sportlots and COMC packages until after the start of the new school year.
I'm actually okay with that. There's a part of my psyche that gets pleasure in knowing that I have cards waiting for me to sort. I told you I have issues.
Well that's an update on my life. Now let's show off some cards...
Let's start with some from those two 5,000ct. boxes:
1987 Fleer #369
This card brought back to the early 90's when I worked at my local card shop. Bo and 1987 Fleer were both super hot in the hobby. Good times.
Next up is a card that was released when I was on a break from card collecting:
2005-06 Topps Chrome #219
1999-00 Stadium Club One of a Kind #83 (#'d 001/150)
2009 Playoff Absolute Spectrum Blue #192 (#'d 75/75)
2001-02 Fleer Focus Jersey Ed. Numbers #121 (#'d 22/30)
1997 BBM Sparkling Fighters #SF27
Today is World Middle Finger Day. Seriously. People celebrate just about anything these days. Anyways... I picked up this card from the card show dealer with all of those Japanese trading cards I met last year.
It has found a home in my Sports Card Smorgasbord binder next to these two guys:
1994 Stadium Club Golden Rainbow #285
1972 Topps #33
If anyone knows of any other "middle finger" cards, please let me know in the comment section below.
Well that wraps up another post. I'm off to my office to continue the summer sort.
Happy Thursday and sayonara!
17 comments:
Thomas is also giving the middle finger on his 1991 UD card. I've got an extra; I'll send you one.
That Carmen Electra card is very nice.
Good Job! 👍
Take care of that back. Now you are going to have me checking the fingers are ball players, lol.
Sorting projects always seem to take longer than anticipated. And like you, I insist on new sleeves and a specific brand for my cards. In fact I ordered a full case of 10k sleeves late last year and I'm just about out. Time to reorder!
I don't use a lot of penny sleeves, which is why I have stacks of them that will never need to be replenished. They been the same height for at least the last dozen years.
I go thru a lot of penny sleeves too, OCD about wanting uniform pristine Ultra Pro sleeves, at least for like my refractor setbuilds. Then I use the old sleeves for stuff I'm less anal about, like commons in vintage sets.
I doubt you'd be interested in ponying up for it, but Leon Washington 2006 Bowman - Signs of the Future is a great double-barrel middle finger card. Looks like it goes for $25+ these days.
Here's the original flipping the bird card, courtesy of Old Hoss Radbourn!: https://www.tcdb.com/ViewCard.cfm/sid/62060/cid/22165002/1887-89-Old-Judge-Cabinets-(N173)-NNO-Old-Hoss-Radbourn
I can empathize a lot with that comment about the sore back. As I get older I've found that lengthy sorting projects (anything that takes more than about an hour) leave me with so many aches and pains that I can't really do them anymore. Thus whenever I have to sort stuff out I usually just focus on one thing at a time and if I can't finish it in an hour or so I have to put it away and finish it the next day.
1973 #307 Boots Day,not sure if it was ever confirmed or not ,but as kids we always assumed that in the background Tito Fuentes is clearly showing the middle finger.Plus 1982 Fleer Rufino Linares #439 is more than obvious.
Fuji if ya have any trouble in unloading 5000ct boxes you could always see if you have any of my needs I'll be greatly grateful to give them a new home
I think that's Fuentes's index finger but I've got an extra to send Fuji and let him be the judge.
I never understood the hype over Carmen either. Much like Pam Anderson, she always gave off an ick vibe to me. Like you'd want to have all of your shots updated before you got anywhere near them.
This post is a great reminder of how behind I am on sorting!
Mr. Gannosuke! He's one of my favorites from FMW along with Hayabusa, Atsushi Onita, Masato Tanaka, Kodo Fuyuki, Kanemura, and Tetsuhiro Kuroda. Wrestling tape trading days from the 90s and early 2000s got me into FMW
I'm also a middle finger card carrying member - I remember reading about those and picking them up a while back. I don't know of any more (the 1991 Upper Deck Thomas doesn't seem like it's clearly evident if it belongs). That BBM card making it international :-)
I like the new penny sleeves too :-)
Sorting's tough, I now have a growing number, I think it's going years back, luckily I've been able to pare down my pickups so it's nothing close to a 5K box.
bo - good eyes. i never caught that
john sharp - there are also cards of christie brinkley, shannon elizabeth, and jenny mccarthy in that set. although mccarthy is a cutout and very rare.
johnnys trading spot - if you start a middle finger pc, i think i have an extra japanese guy sitting in one of my comc boxes.
crocodile - i can't remember the last time a sorting project ended earlier than expected :D
night owl - you're smart. sleeved cards take up more space
defgav - i forgot about that leon washington card. i totally want it, but no way i'm going to spend that much money. maybe i'll stumble across a copy at the flea market
jeff b - oh man... that's awesome. that's my new white whale ;D
sean - at least you put things away. my office is finally clean, but while i was sorting there were cards everywhere. if i took time to put things away, i probably wouldn't haven't gotten much sorting done :D
sg488 - thanks. i'll try to track down both of those on sportlots
poison75 - as soon as i'm caught up with care packages, i'll take a look at your wantlists and try to help you out.
bo - it's hard to tell... especially with my very poor eyesight ;D
jon - lol. both of those ladies are definitely in the same league
the lost collector - it's a once a year thing (sometimes once every other year) for me. i'm glad it's out of the way. my back is happy too
rebel coyote - i don't follow japanese wrestling (barely even follow wwe), but if i did... mr. gannosuke seems like someone i'd like to root for
steve at 1975baseballcards.com - paring down pickups is a good idea. but my hoarding gene ultimately prevents that from happening.
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