It's Done

 I finally finished a set project decades in the making. 

After a couple Sportlots purchases and a PWE trade that took more than a month to complete, I now have every base* card in every Upper Deck hockey set from 1990-91 to 2025-26. 

*this does not include Young Guns or other short-printed cards. 

There are about a dozen cards with corner dings that I might try to replace/upgrade through TCDB trades, and I have not decided if I want to add 2025-26 Upper Deck Extended Series to this project. I could buy blasters right now at Barnes & Noble but I'd prefer to just buy the full base set for the same price (or less) 

That decision might come down to whether or not I can fit them in my rows of 800-ct boxes. 

I don't consider having this 200-card extension neccessary at the moment. Perhaps I'll reconsider soon. 

But for now, it's done. All 35 Upper Deck hockey sets are complete.

Oh, and I completed another set recently. 

The last card arrived in the mail yesterday. 

It had to go through eBay's authentication program (it didn't have to, but...) hence the sealed sleeve. I might break the seal on it. I've kept a couple other graded cards sealed with that crud - but this one's special.
 

Exactly nine years and eleven months after officially starting the set build... it's done. 

I'll have more posts about this once I complete my stats spreadsheet and scan a few more singles from this 70 year old set. 

Now I can focus on some much newer and cheaper projects...

Thanks for reading!


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Penultimate '56 Update

The next time I post about my 1956 Topps set build will be the last. It has to be. This set is going to be completed this summer. I've got the date and the final card all planned out. But first...let's take a look at the six cards that have eluded me for nearly a decade, and why I still don't have them:

Card #1 - William Harridge

Here is a list of all card #1 subjects of 1950s Topps sets (excluding 1956) 

1951 - Eddie Yost(blue) / Yogi Berra (red)
1952 - Andy Pafko
1953 - Jackie Robinson
1954 - Ted Williams
1955 - Dusty Rhodes
1957 - Ted Williams
1958 - Ted Williams
1959 - Ford Frick


If kids were going to squeeze and bend the top card with their rubber bands it's probably better to make it a commissioner or league president. I would not want to pay a Card #1 premium for a Ted Williams. 

That said, look at how the 1956 Topps Set starts off:

Looks like one of those Look N' See non-sports issues if you ask me. Considering all the other card #1 subjects of the era I actually lucked out here. That said I'm not surprised that the first card is one of my last needs. Who wants to spend $50 on a faded, off-center single of this guy? Not me. Not yet...

Card #61 - Bill Skowron

I'm surprising no one when I say that two of the last six cards I need are Yankees. This set features Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, Whitey Ford, Billy Martin, and two tough "commons" in Irv Noren and Bob Cerv - plus the final card in the set, Mickey McDermott. 

Skowron is a non Hall of Famer, in the more common First Series, and it's not his RC. So why is "Moose" one of the last six left on my list? 

I donno... I'm picky I guess. Especially with centering. And based on my own independent analysis the centering of nearly every Skowron single is unsatisfactory. Here are some cheap copies:

It's within my budget to get a graded copy, but that's been a struggle as well. This copy has hat bubbles. This one has a faded name bar. This one is giving me a headache. No way that's a PSA 5. Just... ugh. 

How about this one? Looks promising until you zoom in. Dang it. 
This one? Nope, off-center. This one? Off-center and print crud on the name. 

What is it about the 1950s version of Brandon Belt that flares up my OCD? I just can't pick a copy I like and .. hold on... I see it.

It's centered. It's overpriced.. but it's centered. 

Okay. Let's just get this over with.

Nope. Hat bubbles. 

Card #221 - Bob Friend

I have no Friend and I have no real reason why. Maybe it's your personality. 

Bob Friend became a bit of a cult hero to me when I was assembling my all-time team rosters. Maybe that's why I kept kicking this can down the road, assuming that one day I'll be able to afford a high grade copy. 

Welp... there's only one graded copy on eBay right now - at any grade - and .. it's still not in my budget. 

The other cards have somewhat valid reasons for being left on the board. But this just dried up in mid-high grade, for some reason. I might have to settle for a free-range Friendo. 

Side quests

Even though I've set a personal deadline to complete this set within the next three months (and a limited personal budget to complete said project), I may get sidetracked a bit with upgrading here and there before adding the final piece of the puzzle. 

Actually, I've already driven myself in a circle, upgrading a card for no reason. Twice. 

I have a stack of 40 oversized top loaders for non-graded copies. Most of these are sufficient. Two or three - such as card #336 Ellis Kinder - should be upgraded, slab or not. While shopping for a decent copy of William Harridge I noticed that my copy of card #2 Warren Giles(NL president) has a very small crease and should probbaly be upgraded as well. I don't care which 40 cards are in the top loaders and which ones are graded but I'm definitely not getting graded copies of these guys.

Some slabbed singles of above replacement-level players are still reasonably priced and if I have a raw copy in a top loader I might free that space up for something that is not feasible to buy graded. And so, I picked up a PSA 5 copy of Giants pitcher Johnny Antonelli to upgrade from a non-graded copy. 

However I failed to note this in my very detailed catalog of the set and I unknowngly upgraded the upgrade. 

Sigh... let's get back on track, shall we?

Card #332 Don Larsen

Anyone want to guess why I still haven't acquired this card? Yep. Because of one single game. The Yankee premium is bumped up to 3x for a memorable moment such as Larsen's immaculate outing in that year's World Series. I've got to pay Hall of Famer prices for this card, graded or not. 

Very good? No no no -- this man was perfect. 

Card #NNO - Checklist 1/3

Unmarked chekclists are tough to find, especially from the early years of Topps. There's obviously a premium for well-centered copies with vibrant color. I bit the bullet on Checklist 2/4 and paid HOFer prices for a card that isn't neccesarily part of the set - though I always counted these in my project. 

The acceptable copies I've seen for checklist 1/3 are priced higher that the price I paid for 2/4. It's almost certainly going to be the most expensive card remianing. It will not be the capstone card however. 

When I reached 80% completion I started to think about the cards I had remaining.Should I get what I can when I can, or should I select a final card for this set build? Once I studied the names left on my list one jumped out at me. Yes! That's the one. Finish with him. 

Card #260 Pee Wee Reese

My mom bought me two 1956 Topps cards as Christmas gifts when I was still a teenager. I helped her pick them out, from the LCS that nurtured my fledgling collection and the dealer that became such a family friend he ended up being Mom's date to my sister's wedding. 

Those two cards purchased over 25 years ago started me on this decade-long journey. Those two cards were: a Brooklyn Dodger/Hall of Famer and a Hall of Fame shortstop of a New York-based ballclub:

They were not graded whens she bought them. I submitted them to PSA a few years later. 

So why not complete the puzzle with a Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Fame shortstop? 

Pee Wee Reese will be my birthday gift to myself - along with a box of 1986 Topps (the first set I ever collected) and maybe a Starting Lineup figure or two.  I can't expect Mom to pay for this, and I wouldn't ask her to. I just hope she's still physically able to come to Jersey and see the completed set she inspired. 

Six cards in twelve weeks. It will be a challenge. It will be expensive. I don't care.

I'm finishing this thing the way I started it.

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Last Day of Summer (of slabs)

So it looks like the Summer of Slabs will actually be the September of Slabs, since my payout from 4 Sharp Corners won't get here for another couple of weeks, and eBay requires any sports card purchased for $250+ to be sent to them for authentication even if PSA previously authenticated the card. 

I do have a couple recent purchases purchases to show & tell for the final SOS post (and #700 overall!) 

This Larry Doby counts as a Chicago White Sox card, so I only need the team photo to complete my second 1956 team set. It's kind of fascinating to me that I've only got one team set complete.. yet I only need 44 (non-checklist) cards across the entire set. 

I'd had my eye on an early '50s Bowman Doby issue, either '50 or '51 (they look the same) .. but the prices must have soared since the last time I looked. Neither card is in my price range any longer. 

Doby is one of several notable New Jerseyans to be recognized with an esteemed highway stop. I couldn't find a photo of the Larry Doby service area off the NJ Turnpike, so here's a more significant honor:

I also picked up a BGS slabbed single, this Charlie McAvoy Young Guns rookie card:

The photo is blurry because my scanner cant handle the chunky BGS holders. 

I'd been shopping for a McAvoy RC ever since he debuted with the Bruins, and now that he's entering his late 20s and no longer a Norris trophy candidate, the card has come down to a reasonable price (about $50.) I still like Chaaah-lee though. He'll probably be named the B's captain now that Brad Marchand has kissed Boston goodbye. And he's my third favorite McAvoy, after Will: 

...and my wife 😁

Hope you all have an enjoyable Labor Day weekend. Thanks for reading!



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p.s. WE GOT MICAH!?!!! 

2, 4, 6, 8... pocket pages

 I've got a whole mini-album full of two-pocket pages:

And another mini-album mostly filled with 4-pocket pages:

Those pages share space with seven 6-pocket pages:

And now, finally.... I have some 8-pocket pages!

I had a handful of oversized cards like these 1988 Topps BIG Baseball singles stored in top loaders, but I wanted the oversized top loaders for more important cards. So these are now in the mini-binder, along with...

My 5-card set of 1953 Bowman reprints and some random 1989 Bowman cards. I'm going to take that Walter Alston card out and put another '89 Bowman in its place:

This is the most random card to have a unique personal memory, but I remember opening a pack and lingering on Austin Manahan here. I told myself to remember this card, this was a significant card. I was eight years old. I probably didn't know the meaning of the word 'significant', but I knew why this card mattered:

Holy crap! This guy was born in 1970?!? I'm getting old. Someday I'll see a card of a player born in 1980!! 😳

Next time I'm on Sportlots, I'll risk two dimes on this single. It will probably arrive damaged and shoved in a taped-up top loader, but that's okay. 

Back to the Walter Alston. Remember those Greg Morris auctions I was watching? Yeesh:

LOLno. 

Damn Dodger tax.

Better, but still too much.

Ugh. Nope. I got none of 'em. Instead, I rolled the dice on a different Alston:

The price was right, but the faded scan was a concern. This seller also had a Don Bessent, but I was too hesitant to pull the trigger on both. 

Alston arrived today:

Oh, nice. It's not faded it all. It's crisp, clean... 

....and creased. 

Ah well. It's not visible unless you look at it under light. But this is why I buy graded cards. Not a bad deal though, certainly can't complain since it was $100 less than the ungraded Alston that Greg Morris was selling. 

****** Bonus Starting Lineup Showcase mini-post! *******

I like to window shop on eBay for SLU figures around my birthday and Christmas. Makes me feel young. There was a sealed Marcus Allen figure that looked clean, and the price was good, but I didn't have any personal connection to it. 

For about the same price, I picked up four loose pieces: two childhood faves and two that are brand new to me:

I had that Dan Marino once, and the last place I saw it was it was in the backyard of my sister's house. I went to look for it when she moved, but it was long gone. I've never owned a Buffalo Bills figure but the seller had Cornelius Bennett for a few bucks and I thought it would look cool to have a division rival rushing Marino. (Bruce Smith would have been too expensive!) 

Hakeem Olajuwon was only $5, and even though I have a sealed Olajuwon figure from 1994 I couldn't pass up his '88 figure. The only other first series basketball figures I have are an open Larry Bird from Jon Pennysleeves and a sealed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. 

Marcus Allen did make me curious to search out other Raiders, and Todd Christensen was an easy choice. At $12 it was the most expensive piece in the lot, but well worth it for a tribute to Travis James:

Dress a Barbie, Max. Lmao. 

Thanks for reading!





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Summer of Slabs 06 - Sets, etc.

The "final boss" of my card collecting career is the 1956 Topps set. My original plan was to get every single card in PSA 5 grade or better. Here's the latest acquisition, a Rip Repulski 6: 

Down to 48 cards, which means most of what remains is either a hall of Famer (Mays, Reese, Doby, etc.) or a tough common that rarely appears in mid-grade. A fully slabbed set probably wasn't feasible before 2020, and it makes even less sense now. I've filled in some spots with ungraded cards whenever I can find an affordable option. In some cases, the ungraded copies are even pricier than slabbed singles.

Here's a Walter Alston I'm watching. The Dodger tax is real with this one. 

When this ends, it will likely be over $75 total. For those who think graded cards are a waste of money, here's a copy of the Alston card that would have fit my needs:

That's about as much as I would want to pay for a Manager card, even if it is a "RC" of a Hall of a Famer. 

I'm hoping to pick up at least a few '56s from Greg Morris this weekend, but the bidding is always competitive. That's why I prefer to use Buy It Now.

Picked up this Joker RC for under $200. It's a lot for a Donruss card, but I got one really cheap on COMC a few years ago and flipped it for a nice profit. I'm building a bit of of a current/recent greats RC collection, and usually buy Chrome or Prizm because anything higher is out of my budget. However I went with the Donruss RC for Nikola Jokic because I preferred the price and the action shot over his posed Prizm photo. 

Also because I have the complete 2015-16 Donruss basketball set. 

I love graded cards. and I love building sets. A lot of collectors avoid slabbed singles because they're old school set builders and want to have every card in its pack pulled, natural state. I totally get that.

A lot of people buy graded singles as an investment. The authentication gives the owner some peace of mind. They're easier to resell if you suddenly have financial issues because of a natural disaster, or family illness, or because you have two kids who are approaching college age and you're no longer a two-income household. I totally get that, too.

My slabs and my sets are mostly separate. Except when they're not.

Here are three (more) graded singles in my collection that I can't sell because they are part of a complete set:

2018 was the last year I collected more than one baseball set, and it's a good thing I did. I have complete sets of Topps, Topps Opening Day, Big League, and Stadium Club along with Topps Chrome. Much of the appeal of those sets is tied to the Shohei Ohtani RC, and it's unlikely that someone looking for this Chrome RC would be interested in the whole set when they can just buy this one card.

This Michael Jordan All-Star card is one of a handful of slabbed 1988-89 Fleer singles in my collection. I do not currently have the complete set of this; I sold my base MJ (PSA 7) to raise funds for an upgrade. One of the other cards in that consignment was a Dominique Wilkins PSA 9, which I didn't really need in PSA grade. I'll pick up a 'raw' copy for a couple bucks, eventually.

The 1988-89 Fleer set looks a bit off in my basketball binder, because I've got empty pockets for those half-dozen singles in the PSA box. My 2000 Finest baseball set has a space for the Johan Santana RC, and I've considered selling the BGS copy to pick up an ungraded card for the binder. Maybe one day.

Which leads me to 1993 SP, one of my all time favorite sets. I've got the baseball and football sets completed in one binder. Except for the Derek Jeter RC, which was also sold with the intent to upgrade.

I can't possibly afford a PSA 9 copy of this iconic card, and I'll probably pay more than I want to for an 8. But there's another card I'm tempted to upgrade. Not nearly as iconic, but a staple of my teen years - and in my opinion, a nicer looking foil SP RC:

I grew up in New England during the Drew Bledsoe era. I remember when Bill Parcells joined the Patriots, when Robert Kraft bought the team, when they updated their uniforms, and when they drafted Drew. The franchise was a laughingstock through the late '80s and early '90s, and there was a ton of excitement over the new-look Patriots. 

A couple years later, when Bledsoe started resembling Dan Marino, this card blew up. I had a dealer come to my house and personally deliver a copy to my door. I think I paid $65, a "friend" price (they were selling for $75!)

It's tempting to pick up a PSA 9 copy for this card for my PC. The foil edges are just as condition sensitive as they are on the Jeter - and it's a fraction of the price!

Can't justify it though. I already have this card. And I need to set aside cash for the Walter Alston :/

Thanks for reading!




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