The Summer Sort

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

Here's some cardboard eye-candy.  She's not my type... but attractive is attractive.  And rounding out the summer sort singles are three new additions to my Prime #'s collection:

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)

Finally... here's a card that I was saving specifically for today:

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!

Home Is Where I Want to Be

The first month of summer is in the books... and the  past four weeks have been a whirlwind.  Since the last day of school, I've driven over 2,500 miles and vacationed in Ashland (Oregon), Las Vegas, and San Luis Obispo.  I went to three flea markets and hung out with a fellow blogger at a local card show.  Plus I got a chance to spend quality time with my close friend and two nieces... as well as bond with my dad on an epic road trip.  It's been a great ride, but I'm pretty exhausted.  My real summer break begins today.

Not sure of this song's actual meaning... but on the surface I feel like I'm channeling my inner David Byrne:

YouTube Link to Official Video

This is one of my favorite Talking Head songs off all-time.  Back in late May... it called out to me.  I knew that as soon as my summer break began, this song would kick it off.  I began seeking one of their trading cards.  Unfortunately I didn't find them in the typical music card sets like AGI Rock Star Concert Cards or Pro Set MusiCards.  But eventually I stumbled across a set of cards I had never heard of:  J2 Cards New Wave.  It's a 242 card set featuring just about every new wave group you can think of.  $34.99 (+ $8 shipping) and a week or two later, this card arrived at my doorstep:

J2 New Wave #29

There isn't a year on any of the cards I looked at, but I'm pretty sure these came out in 2019.  Here's what the back of the cards look like:

The card number is hard to see, but it's inside the record in the upper lefthand corner.  The card is also missing a biography, but the company took the time to list the band's popular albums and songs... as well as include an extra photo of the group.

I realize this set isn't for everyone, but if you're interested... here's a list of the bands in this massive card set:

Here's a link to the company's website if you're interested in purchasing this set or seeing the other card sets they produce.

Okay... let's show off some baseball cards.  Today's cards were sent by Jim over at cards as i see them back in early May.  There were two cards that made me regret not opening it up a week or two earlier...

2021 Topps 70 Years of Topps #70YT-68

This Gwynn would have been perfect for my BBA submission last week.  And this card of Kurt Suzuki would have complimented the Mark Ellis refractor in my 4th of July post:

2020 Topps Gold Star #89

Jim hooked up a few other Gwynns and Suzukis for my collection:

1999 Invincible Seismic Force #16

I've seen singles from this insert set before, but I don't think I knew there are two versions for each card: portrait and action.  The portrait card was already in my binder, but now it has its fraternal twin sitting next to him.

2014 Topps Walmart Blue #104

2014 Topps Target Red #104

2014 Topps Update Walmart Blue #US-230

2010 Heritage #438

2013 Topps Mini Pink #208

2022 Topps #171

When I finally get around to adding my 2nd player collection to TCDB... Kurt Suzuki will likely be the player.  The 2022 Topps base card is the only confirmed duplicate, so the other five should help me climb into the Top 5 leaderboard.  By the way... the Heritage is a short print... and the pink mini is #'d 15/25.

Here are the other A's cards he included in the bubble mailer:

There were also a bunch of cards for my Japanese Athlete PC:

Plus a bonus Garvey:

1985 Topps #450

This card and note is going straight into my Sports Card Smorgasbord binder which houses a few sentimental cards from fellow bloggers.  Why is this card special?  Well... Jim is the cardboard connoisseur when it comes to both Steve Garvey and memorial patches.  The RAK patch was added to San Diego Padres jersey from 1984 to 1986 as a tribute to Ray Krok.  But the addition to my binder will remind me of Jim's random act of kindness.

I'll round out this post with one more card from him, which reminds me of "home":

2009 UD A Piece of History Green #174 (#'d 059/150)

Although I don't live in San Francisco... the Golden Gate Bridge doesn't just represent the city.  It represents the Bay Area... which has been considered "home" my entire life.  And it's exactly where I want to be.

Thank you Jim for this very generous care package!  You might notice that I left out one specific card.  Don't worry.  It gets its very own post later next week.

And for the rest of you who took the time to read this post...

Are you a Talking Heads fan?  Favorite song?

Where do you consider "home"?

I look forward to reading your responses.  Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Sentimental Stieb

What's better than adding a gem mint, pack pulled Dave Stieb rookie card to my hometown collection?  How about a Dave Stieb rookie card pulled back in 1980 by the legendary Night Owl:

1980 Topps #77

A few weeks ago, Greg opened up a pack of 1980 Topps and pulled a really clean copy of this card... which ended up being an upgrade for his set.

He generously sent me the one he pulled back in 1980... which in my opinion is way cooler.  It's like owning a piece of card collecting history.

Kind of like owning one of those PSA cards from Dmitri Young's collection:

PSA Photo

I've always been jealous of Greg's memory.  His ability to remember cards he pulled forty-plus years ago is very, very impressive.  I'm even more jealous that Greg kept so many cards from his childhood.  Most of the cards from my youth were sold in 2001 when I sold off my collection to buy my place.  I kept a handful of cards, but there's only one that I distinctively remember pulling myself and it's buried in a box somewhere.

Anyways... getting back to Stieb... he went to the same high school as me.  And according to The Baseball Cube, he's one of only two players from OGHS who went on to play in The Show.  Mike Brown is the other guy...

COMC Photo

Anyone have an extra 1981 TCMA Holyoke Millers card of Mike Brown laying around?

Greg also sent me another San Jose related card:

1993-94 Parkhurst #183

Pat Falloon wasn't born in San Jose, but he was the first player drafted in San Jose Sharks franchise history.  Although he didn't become the superstar many Sharks fans had hoped for, he did have a solid NHL career.

Before we get to the rest of the cards Greg sent, I wanted to show off one more San Jose related item:

A long time ago... I had a student who would do this really funny impersonation of a nail salon worker.  Eventually I found out she was actually impersonating Anjelah Johnson:

A few weeks ago, one of my friends mentioned that Johnson was born and raised in San Jose.  So I hit the internet, found her website, and purchased a signed 8x10 for $10 (+ shipping).

Okay... back to the rest of the cards in Night Owl's care package...

2013 Panini Hometown Heroes Zip Code #16

2013 Panini Heroes State #16

Out of all of the Panini baseball card sets produced over the past decade, Hometown Heroes is my favorite.  When I saw this Zip Code parallel, I got a little excited.  I figured it featured the player's hometown zip code... which meant that if I picked up the Dave Stieb from this set, it would feature a San Jose zip code...

COMC Photo

However it's actually the zip code for the stadium the player played in.  Oh well... wishful thinking.

One of these days I'm going to add my Kurt Suzuki collection to TCDB.  The current leaderboard looks like this:

I'm confident I'll be able to crack the Top 5, but in order to take over the top spot I'm going to need all the help I can get.  That's why I was very happy to add this card to the collection:

2021 Topps Factory Set Foilboard #571 (#'d 036/790)

According to Baseballcardpedia, Topps inserted a five card pack of foilboard parallels into each of the Walmart factory set.  When you take into consideration that there are 660 cards in the 2021 Topps factory set, collectors have a 1:132 chance of pulling any particular card from these special packs.  The fact that there are 790 copies of each card means that Topps produced a ton of factory sets last year.

The final two cards in Night Owl's care package were a Christmas Kershaw and Wacky Jackson:

2020 Topps Holiday #82

Clayton Kershaw is one of my favorite pitchers... and I was very happy to see him resign with the Dodgers.  Hopefully he'll end up being one of those rare "one franchise" hall of famers.

2007 Wacky Packages Series 6 #64

As for the Michael Jackson zombie card, I'm guessing Greg knows I appreciate the wax pack parodies from Wacky Packages.  On the other hand, maybe he know's I'm a fan of The King of Pop.

Thank you Greg for the generous PWE.  The Stieb has been added to the card blogger section in my Sports Card Smorgasbord binder right next to this card:

1989 Bill Pucko Niagara Falls Rapids #29

As for the rest of you...

Do you still have a bunch of the cards from your childhood?

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!