It's A Celebration

Life will always be filled with ups and downs.  2020 has definitely been a downer, but I know that there's a light at the end of the tunnel.  I'm just hoping I see it within the next six months instead of the next six years.

In the meantime, I take it one day at a time and focus on the positive things to help get me through the dark times.  As I've mentioned before... the hobby is one of those things.  It's not perfect.  I could find things to complain about... but in general... I think it's cool that we've experienced a card collecting boom.

Another bright spot in my life has been following the success of my two favorite MLB teams.  For the first time since 2006, the San Diego Padres are headed to the postseason.  And with the help of the Seattle Mariners... the Oakland A's have finally knocked the Houston Astros out of the top spot in the AL West.

Normally... I wouldn't celebrate anything short of a World Series title.  But the odds aren't in their favor... so why not celebrate the little successes while they're in front of us.  I figured this would be the perfect time to share another one of my summer eBay gift card purchases:

1974 Topps #479

When it comes to celebration cards, this card has to be one of the coolest around with the red, white, and blue banner... and the perfectly timed photograph.

I was barely two years old when this celebration featuring Darold Knowles, Sal Bando, and Ray Fosse took place... which means I was way more interested in sucking on my binky than watching baseball.  However forty-seven years later, there isn't a binky on this planet I'd trade this card for.  

The back of the card shows off the key batting statistics for both 1973 World Series participants.  Rusty Staub fans might notice that he had one heck of a series and probably would have taken home the WS MVP Award had the Mets pulled off the Game 7 win.  Instead Reggie Jackson took it home.

As we enter the last week of the regular season, it'll be exciting to see how things play out and who will face who in this year's playoffs.  Obviously... I'd love to see the Oakland A's end up meeting the San Diego Padres in the 2020 World Series.  However I'm planning on celebrating again at the end of October regardless of who wins... unless it's the New York Yankees, Houston Astros, or Los Angeles Dodgers.

Well that's it for today.  Only three more days until the weekend... so that's a reason to celebrate.  Hope all of you are having a good week.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Four Forgotten Flea Market Finds

Hope all of you had a great weekend.  Yesterday afternoon, I spent about an hour digging through a box of slabbed cards I purchased a long, long time ago.

Back in January of 2013, I purchased a huge collection at the De Anza Flea Market for $160.  You can check out the photos here.  I'm not exactly sure if I ever summarized this purchase, but it's one of the best flea market finds I have ever stumbled across.

It was one of those deals that my buddy Mike and I still talk about to this day.  Anyways... within the collection were hundreds of slabbed cards.  They sat in my garage for about five years... and then a couple of years ago I brought them into my office where they've sat behind some shipping supplies.  I've sat down a few times and sifted through them... most recently yesterday.

Here were four that caught my attention:

1989 Donruss #561

At first glance, this is a hall of fame rookie card that received a less-than-desired grade from BGS.  However when I looked at it a little more carefully, I noticed that this is actually a buyback from a product I never purchased before: 2001 Donruss Anniversary Originals.

There's no buyback stamp or anything... so the only proof resides in the holder.

Next up a card that fits into two different collections:

2002 Playoff Prime Signatures #107

Chad Hutchinson is a two-sport athlete who pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals and played for the Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bears.  More importantly... he attended Stanford University... which I maintain a small PC of.

You'll also notice that this card is serial numbered #1/5... which means it also fits into my Prime #'s PC.  And yes... I know that the number "one" isn't a prime number.

I also found this graded Michael Jordan insert:

1990-91 Fleer All-Star #5

Yeah... I know.  It's not gem mint, but it still sells for more than you probably think.  It doesn't matter, because you should know by now that I rarely flip cards.

Plus I collect Jordan.

The last one is a card I may or may not have shown before.  I've definitely pulled it out of the box a few times and admired it.

1998 Bowman Chrome 50th Anniversary Refractor #95

Back in 1998, this would have been a pretty huge pull.

Like the Hutchinson, it's numbered to only 5.  Pulling a common would have been a nice pull, but back in 1998 Kaufman was coming off his best season and he was only twenty-five years old.  Raider fans were pretty excited about him lining up in the backfield.

That's it for now.  I know that most of you aren't into graded cards... but I can't only write about 70's Kellogg's and Topps Project 2020 cards.  Well... I guess I could... but I won't..

Happy Monday and sayonara!

TWIB: Double Bagel, Creative Collecting, and Second Base

Time is a tricky thing.  One one hand, it seems like I just wrote last week's This Week in Blogging post.  On the other hand, this past week of distance learning seemed like an eternity.

Oh well, let's get this party started...

#1:  Pujols Passes Mays

1968 Topps Game #8

Seeing a legend like Willie Mays slowly move down the all-time home run leaders list is sort of bittersweet.  Seventeen years ago, he was third on the list behind only Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth.

Now he's looking up at Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Albert Pujols.

2000 Multi-Ad Sports Midwest League Top Prospects #2

That being said... congratulations to Pujols and all of his fans!   

#2:  Greetings from Syracuse

Earlier in the week, CinciCuse Bill showed off some new acquisitions for his Syracuse Baseball Wall of Fame collection over on his blog, Bill's Baseball Card Blog.  About a week earlier, I received the above postcard from one of my former students who is currently in her senior year at Syracuse.

There have been a lot of notable alumni, but here's the one that stood out the most in my collection:

1997 Upper Deck Legends Autographs #AL-16

Jim Ringo was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the 7th round back in 1953 and went on to have a hall of fame career with them and the Philadelphia Eagles.  My father has mentioned his name a few times over the years, as he was an avid fan of the Packers back in the 50's and 60's.

#3:  Sports Illustrated for Kids Cards

This week (or maybe last week), the September/October issue of SI for Kids began arriving in mailboxes around the world.  There weren't any athletes that stood out this time around, but I Googled a few of them.

Nelly Korda is the daughter of two professional tennis players.  Her father won the 1998 Australian Open.  Speaking of tennis... Sofia Kenin was recently in the news.  I hadn't heard of her or the "double bagel" reference until today.

#4:  Athletes Whose Names are Jobs

When it comes to creative collecting, I've gotta give Elliptical Man some props.  He recently gave away some cards featuring players who names double as careers.

His PWE inspired me to flip through the Oakland A's collection. where I found a hall of famer that would fit this collection:

1973 Topps #235

Thanks Brenden for the PWE.  What exactly do you collect?  This is the 2nd care package you've sent me and I read your blog religiously, but still haven't figured out what you collect.

Oh... by the way... Art Monk also attended Syracuse University.

#5:  Save Second Base

It's that time of the year again and Collecting Cutch is hosting his annual Save Second Base event.  Earlier in the week, he gave his readers a peek at the first prize and it's a doozy...

2020 Topps Project 2020 #84

I'm not gonna say that I'm the biggest fan of Project 2020 cards... but I've commented numerous times professing my fanfare for Ermsy and his cards.  In fact... I have an Ermsy post slated for Thursday.  Stay tuned.

1991 Face to Face #271

Anyways... if you're interested in an opportunity to win this card, all you need to do is write a blog post where you talk about your favorite John Travolta movie as well as plug the contest.  Leave a link in the comment section of his post.  Make sure to mention that Travolta's wife, Kelly Preston recently lost her battle with breast cancer and that it's important that we all work together to raise awareness for a cure.

Okay, here's my response...

As much as I enjoyed watching Grease as a kid... Pulp Fiction is my favorite Travolta film.  In fact that movie would probably be on my Top 20 list of favorite movies.

As for my favorite Kelly Preston movie... I can't really say that I have one.  But I do remember thinking she was really cute when I watched Space Camp back in middle school.

Okay... that wraps up another week of This Week in Blogging.

Feel free tell everyone a creative way to collect, your favorite bagel, your favorite Topps Project 2020 artist, or favorite female tennis player down in the comment section below.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

A Special Treat

Way back in June... at the start of my summer break... I was motivated to try and complete a few of the 70's Kellogg's sets I'm building.  Within a few weeks, I landed the last two cards I needed for my 1977 Kellogg's set.

Anytime you complete a 70's Kellogg's set, it's worth celebrating.  With that set out of the way, I turned my attention to my 1975 and 1978 Kellogg's sets.  Unfortunately... I ran into a brick wall.  It seemed like every morning I checked my saved eBay searches... sellers were asking more and more for their 70's Kellogg's singles.

It got to the point where I started deleting the daily emails without opening them.   I even considered deleting the saved searches, but ended up keeping them since my goal is to go back and work on these projects eventually.

Fast forward a month or so to a couple of days before my birthday.  I was looking up some stuff on eBay when I noticed this 1972 Kellogg's Roberto Clemente:

1972 Kellogg's #49

Outside of picking up some birthday related collectibles and having dinner with a friend, I don't really celebrate my birthday anymore.  But when I saw this card, I decided to treat myself to a special birthday present.

When it comes to card purchases, this is my most expensive single card purchase in quite some time.  I used one of my eBay gift cards to cover the $65 BIN price tag (+ $3 shipping and $6.01 sales tax).

It was pretty exciting to add two vintage hall of famers to my collection over the course of two days.  I wrote about the other card last week, but I wanted to save the best for last.

Clemente is a legend and this card is nothing short of gorgeous.  There's not a single crack to be seen and the back is whiter than my teeth.  I might not be any closer to completing the 1975 and 1978 Kellogg's sets... but this card will hold me over until I'm ready to begin opening up the daily eBay emails featuring insanely priced 70's Kellogg's singles.

Here's you question of the day...

Are there any cards you've put on the back burner due to recent price spikes?

If so, please share them in the comment section below.  I'd love to hear about them.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

It's My Turn

Close your eyes and think of an iconic rookie baseball card from the 80's.  I'm sure the 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. popped into some of your minds.  Some of you might have pictured one of the Ripken rookie cards, the 1984 Donruss Don Mattingly, the 1985 Topps Mark McGwire, or maybe the 1986 Donruss Jose Canseco.

1980 Topps #482

Me?  Well... if this post wasn't focused on the 1980 Topps Rickey Henderson, I probably would have said the 1983 Topps Tony Gwynn.  But Rickey would be second for sure.

The 1980 Topps baseball card design is solid.  The photograph of Rickey features a well-cropped action shot, which is exactly what I'm looking for on a card.  And it's one of those cards I dreamed of owning when I was a kid, but completely missed out on due to the rookie card boom combined with a little kid budget.

Unlike most of you, my memory isn't what it used to be... so I can't remember where or when I acquired this card.  I can't imagine I paid much for it due to the rough bottom edge and soft corners.

But I do love the centering on this particular copy... and the back is nice with the exception of the printing dot in the upper right-hand corner.

In August of 2010, I upgraded and purchased this PSA 8 copy for my collection:

It set me back $36.50 (+ $2.50 shipping).  I'm glad I picked it up back then, because there's no way I'd spend the triple digits this card commands on eBay these days.

Six years later, I added an autographed copy of this card to my collection:

This card was way more expensive than the other card.  I submitted a $90 offer to the eBay seller and he/she accepted.  My Rickey Henderson rookie card trifecta was complete.

These days, I enjoy collecting the reprints that Topps has been mass producing the past decade or so...

2010 Topps Card Your Mom Threw Out Original Back #482

2013 Topps Manufactured Rookie Card Patch #RCP12

2020 Topps Rookie Card Retrospective Logo Medallions #RCR-RH

And the newest addition to my Rickey Henderson collection...

2020 Topps Project 2020 #129

Yup.  Like thousands of other baseball card collecting lemmings, I bit the bullet and purchased a Topps Project 2020 card.

This is actually the seventh one I've bought.  The other six were purchased directly from Topps, while I snagged this one last week on eBay for $11.50 + ($1.06 tax).  After seeing how cheap these sell on the secondary market, I regret purchasing the other cards directly from Topps.

Not sure when Topps plans to ship my cards, but as soon as I receive them... you'll be the first to know.  In the meantime, take a few seconds to answer the question of the day...

When you think of iconic 80's rookie baseball card, what is the first card that pops into your head?

I look forward to reading and responding to your comments.  Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Extra Innings

Here's a peek at which 80's rookie cards popped into reader's minds first.