Everything Everywhere All At Once

Today is my wedding anniversary with Mrs. Collector. We have nothing planned, because:

• My mother in law might also have cancer and had to go to the hospital for tests today. No one else is around to take her and stay with her, so my wife did. And now she's tired.
  
• The relentless, oppressive "heat dome" was supposed to subside today. It has not. I saw the forecast and told my daughters that I would take them to the park and Friendly's after I got home from work today. LOL. LMAO, even.
• My wife had stomach issues this morning when I left for work, and she's having trouble keeping down most of her food, so an anniversary dinner would be a bad idea even if we could afford it. Which we can't because we just bought a couch to replace the one we bought 12 years ago and give her a comfortable place to rest. It's not here yet.
• I'm in a mood anyway because the only other person in my department has been out on vacation all month (she returns tomorrow -- I think?) and the customers have been especially annoying and dumb lately. I would really like to tell these idiots to pay electronically or kick rocks, but I can't get fired. Need the insurance because I'm giving myself diabetes and high blood pressure.
• Oh, and my wife asked my daughters which aunt/uncle they would stay with if something happened to both her and me... and they separately gave her the same answer. Awww hell no. I'm living forever ... was my response. But, given the rapidly declining health of my family, the planet, our country's politics, etc... it's a struggle.

And so, I take refuge in my own personal oasis. The thing that has acted as my safe space since my alcoholic father terrorized my mother 37 years ago. Cards. And that part of my life has gone fairly well.

I requested shipping on my latest COMC order in early May.
I placed a small order at Sportlots in late June.
I placed two orders at Cardbarrel the second week of July.

All of these orders arrived at the same time. That happened to be the same day that my daughter helped me assemble my brand new bookshelf.

..which I'd bought with a gift card earned from finishing 2nd (out of about 115 entrants) in a company town hall trivia contest. I considered buying some baseball cards with the free cash but the two blasters in my cart (2023 Stadium Club and 2024 Topps Heritage) totaled the same price. I chose the bookshelf over roughly 100 new cards because organizing my card room has been a nice distraction from all the personal and general despair.

Plus, I already had plenty of new cards coming my way.

I'd like to show them off, but my old printer/scanner finally bit the dust. The printer didn't print and the scanner kept scanning fuzzy. So I bought a new printer/scanner with a prior gift card:

I followed the instructions to install the printer, and that's when I encountered a problem. The software requires a modern version of Windows - something from the past dozen years or so.

My computer, which was purchased before my daughters were born, still runs fine. It also runs Windows 7.

Did I ever mention I went to school with that girl? Anyway.. to illustrate how old Windows 7 is, I first saw this commercial during Brett Favre's return to Green Bay as the Vikings QB. In 2009.

All of this is to say I will be borrowing a lot of TCDB scans for the foreseeable future - which is fine for the Athletics series or another round of All-Time Teams. It's not so great for showing off new purchases.

Here's a look at the first Cardbarrel order. These pictures were taken with my phone, it's the best I could do:

I loaded up on Red Sox commons to fill out some of my binders (now that I have more shelf space..)

Of course I picked out some non-Sox as well:

I have a bit of a Terry Francona PC and I enjoy picking up Expos/Blue Jays cards in O-Pee-Chee and ('80s)Leaf sets.

Some substitutions at the top of this one. I did not order a '94 Bowman Kenny Rogers; that was an unannounced replacement for a '94 Donruss Red Sox card. Same for the 1993 Fleer Tim Salmon, which replaced a 1993 Finest Mike Greenwell. :/

This order pushed my reward points past 2,000 so I had a gift code coming. Since the big order was still 'processing' I decided to spend the free cash quickly, in hopes that both orders would arrive at once.

Indeed they did. I made a list of the 'free' cards - before remembering my gift code was for slightly more than $20.

The Sportlots order took a couple weeks to arrive from Saskatchewan. The two cards at the bottom left arrived damaged, but I left the seller positive feedback anyway because I'd fallen so far behind on Sportlots orders that I copy/pasted "A+++ thank you very much!" for every purchase I made this year.

And then there's COMC. A day after receiving yet another $5 apology coupon my order shipped. It arrived two months after I used my prior apology coupon and requested shipment.

On top of that, they mislabeled one of the cards I purchased.

Here's a couple '56 Topps cards from the order. You'll notice the Tommy Carroll is a PSA 8. I definitely didn't buy a PSA 8. No way is there room in the budget for a high-grade Yankee; I had to settle for a PSA 4 with HOFer Early Wynn. 

See? I sensibly ordered an EX-MT 6 and... wait... zoom in on that scan...

COMC sent the right card, they just listed it wrong. Which I guess the seller didn't notice either, or they would have asked for 3-4x more. I only have a handful of PSA 8s in my 1956 Topps set build, and none are Yankees or Dodgers. Until now.

My CA ebay seller friend is sitting on $80 for me to spend, and I asked him to grab a Young Guns RC of a top-ten goal scorer in the NHL. He made an offer that was declined, then the seller ended the listing and reopened it at a significant markup. (This move is also known as "The JoelshitShow".) But now he feels bad I missed out on the card and he's making it his mission to secure the star RC for me.

If and when that happens I'll be sure to show it off here. If not, I don't think I'll have anything new coming in for a while because... one month from now, right after my birthday... there's a bigass card show about an hour away.

Thanks for reading!

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Cardbarrel Pros and Cons

It's the last weekend of the NFL season and I am hyped for some Packers playoff action (win or go home counts as a playoff game, right?) ... unfortunately I don't have any new football items for you. Or is that a good thing, since the card blogging community is one of the few places where the NFL isn't king?

I've got another non-baseball topic upcoming (what can i say? it's the middle of winter!) but before that I'll give the people what they want: Baseball cards. Nothing but baseball cards in this post, I promise.

On New Year's Day I placed an order at Cardbarrel for some set fillers and Boston binder fillers. I picked out some random goodies, too. Exceeded the budget just a bit, so this will be the last purchase I show off for a while.

First of all, the shipping time was lightning fast. Yes, I'm a state away from Cardbarrel HQ but Mehmet prepared this shipment on New Year's night, sent it out on January 2nd, and it was in my mailbox on the 4th. That cost me $3.95. COMC charges $4.99 for shipping and it takes a month or more to get your items. Dave and Adam's are also based in New York state. I get my orders from them in 2-3 days. Costs me $12.95. Minimum.

Another perk of purchasing on Cardbarrel - you can find lots and lots of quality cards under 20 cents each. Baseballcardstore might have them cheaper (depending on how their prices are structured at at any given moment) but it might be 6-8 weeks before your order arrives. Sportlots can have better bang for your buck - if you find a seller with low shipping prices and an inventory loaded with quality cards at 20 cents apiece.

Cardbarrel's prices are much more specific. 15 cent cards, 18 cent cards, 20 and 25... some cards that should be 15 cents are 50. That said, a majority of the cards in my latest order were two dimes or less each:

Every 1994 Ultra set filler I needed was under 20 cents except Paul O'Neill (20c), Omar Vizquel, and Deion Sanders (23 cents each).

I could have been one card closer to completion if I'd realized that the Eddie Guardado you see above was already stashed away in my All Time Teams binder. Instead of spending 18 cents on that, I could have purchased Paul Sorrento - who I didn't realize was missing because Jim Thome was squatting in slot #48.

Some stars and Hall of Famers for my 1996 Score set build. 40 cents for Mattingly, 16 cents for Clark. Didn't we establish that those guys are equal?

I upgraded an off-center Bernie Williams for two dimes (new card in center) but now I have to consider upgrading another - the Dante Bichette is dinged at the top.

These are the only two baseball sets I'm currently completing - and Cardbarrel only sells baseball cards. Which means I might not need to make another purchase from their site for quite a while. A double-bummer considering I'm just about two orders away from earning a $20 gift certificate.

The rest of my recent order featured almost enough Red Sox base cards to fill out every remaining space in my albums. I'm down to just six open pockets across six BoSox binders.

Some much-needed 1984 Donruss and 1992 Bowman Sox; I only had one Red Sox card in each set. I've heard that 1984 Donruss had a noticeably lower print run than most other '80s sets. Can anyone confirm that?

One more Sox card, a couple more '92 Bowman, and some Oakland A's. I've had a post idea in my head for a while where I discuss all of the 1956 Topps recreations in recent years, but it would require a lot of research. Maybe someday. [I will get to an Athletics post in the near future.]

Cardbarrel is not ideal for inserts and parallels; their stock is limited and their prices are often higher than COMC. There are some exceptions - such as this non-SN'd gold refractor of one-time All-Star and local legend Jeffrey Hammonds:

This cost just 80 cents - the most of any single card in this order - but its heavily curled. Not CB's fault.

What was the second most expensive card in this order? A 2005 Topps Heritage Manny Ramirez:

Indicated with a -minus here because it was not shipped. Was I informed of this? No. Was I reimbursed my 60 cents? Nope. And what would I do with 60 cents of store credit anyway - order three commons and pay $3.95 shipping? Nah.

Sigh... anyway, here's the rest of my order.

The cheapest 2011 Topps Chromes I could find, a Dick Mountain 2023 Update to replace the Chrome I sent to Dennis, and... Stephen Strasburg's sunset card?

Two Alan Trammell cards, including a 1982 Topps single for my All-Time Teams binder - replacing the "one and done" copy I sent to MoTown Cards so he could complete the set.

And finally, two Terry Francona cards including a 1986 Topps Traded single...

...which is poorly centered and a little rugged on the back. Almost looks like an O-Pee-Chee card. You're buying blind at Cardbarrel; there are no scans on the site. There's no perfect store I suppose. Each LCS and online shop has its pluses and its minuses.

Have you recently purchased anything from Cardbarrel? How was your experience? What's your favorite/least favorite online shop for sports cards?


Thanks for reading, and ....

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A Barrel of Fun

What an absolutely exhausting week. I had two job interviews that went well. One of them told me to call and let them know when I can start. However I held out for the second job (much closer, better pay/benefits) and after that interview I was told I was "at the top of the list." Unfortunately they had two more days of interviews and I didn't get the job (yet?) If you chase two rabbits, you will lose them both.

Meanwhile my current place of employment has become a shitshow. We were operating as part of a franchise until January 1. Our owners decided to sever ties with the franchise and change the name of the company, which makes it really difficult to follow up on jobs that started before the name change. Also it's tough to keep track of which customers know us by which name, and some customers have to be asked to re-sign documents because the original copy had our company's old name on it. Fun times.

Anyway... here are some cards I bought at CardBarrel. I got a big order from BaseballCardStore too, but that deserves its own series of posts. I don't have the energy for that yet.

These Conlon Collection cards were a mixed bag. I already had the Rice. Cuyler has a small crease across the front. Wood is fine though. This is my first non-Red Sox card of Smoky Joe, who passed away in my hometown when I was four.

A pair of newer Brewer cards. I now have 117 different Robin Yount cards but not his 1975 Topps RC. I do have a Yelich RC incoming, as soon as Nick stops giving away cards :D

The rest of my Cardbarrel order featured set fillers, including two from 2013 Topps Update. I need just 16 cards to complete the 330-card set, and all but two or three of them are big names. The 2018 Chromes you see here leave me just 29 cards shy of a complete set, 25 of which are rookie cards.

2019 Topps Update got a big boost as well. Does anyone know why Mike Trout is wearing #45 here?

Every other card I ordered was a 2014 Topps common. I forgot to scan any of those before putting them away, so here's a Domonic Brown from my duplicate pile. Sorry folks, it's been quite a week.

I was hoping to visit my mother today, whom I haven't seen since before Thanksgiving. After I got Covid, my girls got Covid, and my mom got Covid I thought that there was no one left to get Covid and delay our visit. LOL. Her heart doctor got Covid, so she had to put off having a test done until... today. 😡

Perhaps I'll see her next weekend. This weekend I plan to put away the rest of my new card purchases (and Christmas gifts), update my wantlists, update my tradelists on TCDB, and visit your blogs while watching playoff football. Since my Packers have a bye I'm hoping for the Bengals to win and the Buccaneers to lose. I'd add Dallas to the 'lose' list but I've got no love for the Niners, either.


Enjoy the games, and have a great weekend!


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Cardbarrel Mailday Part 2 (and an Easter gift)

Happy Easter! I hope you were able to enjoy the holiday somewhat despite the quarantine. My wife surprised me with an Easter basket that included my first packs of 2020 baseball cards. (More on this later..)

Here's the conclusion of my Cardbarrel order. I managed to include at least one card from every team, but they weren't always players I needed for my Frankenset.

Of course I have dozens of Tony Gwynn cards. But how could I pass up this sweet single from 2019 Stadium Club?

The top row cuts my Padres wantlist down to five players and a stadium. Ernie Lombardi is the only Reds representative; I still need a lot of Cincy stars. The Rockies are almost complete and I only need four more D-Backs players with Papa Grande on board. 

Monte Irvin didn't make the Giants' All-Time Team but he would certainly make the Negro League All-Star squad that Brett Alan and I consider the unofficial 32nd franchise. The Larry Doyle is off-center on the back but there aren't a lot of other options.

 

There were more Dodgers in this shipment than any other team. Guerrero, Brewer, Wheat, Herman, and Daubert were All-Time Team needs. The rest were just for fun. 

 

Same for Bryant and Banks. Cap Anson is crossed off my need list, but I would like to pick up a card that states what a racist POS he was. It's tough to find any King Kelly Cubs cards so these will have to do. (Jimmy Ryan is going to be practically impossible.)

Dizzy Dean isn't difficult but he'd eluded me until now. I have a vintage Mize and a vintage Bottomley but neither of them are Cardinals cards. Pirates pitchers are going to be a pain; Babe Adams has very few cards and Deacon Phillippe has even fewer. The back of a Fleer sticker was my best bet.

On the other side of Pennsylvania here are a few Phillies needs. I had a Robin Roberts already, and I couldn't decide which Ron Reed I liked better so I bought 'em both.

Two new Mets, two new Braves (mmm Berger...) and a pair of Ovation stars just because it's a cool set and they were roughly a dime apiece.

Once again we'll end with the defending champs. None of these fill a hole in my Frankenset and I have no idea how I ended up with three Tim Wallach cards. But I'm happy to have them all in my collection. 

Here's what the Easter Bunny (aka my wife) brought me. I wouldn't choose Gypsy Queen under normal circumstances, but I was so grateful to have some surprise packs to open. Since there are only 47 cards in this blaster I'll scan them all. Here they are:

These are not scanned by pack, btw. I already sorted and cataloged them before writing this post.

I know Amed Rosario is a SS but it kind of looks like Topps is calling him an ass (yes I'm a child.) 

World Series combatants were well-represented. I pulled four Nationals and four Astros..

..plus a photoshopped Anthony Rendon. Kyle Lewis was the only one of these rookies I'd heard of before. The only Clase I know of is from Shadowhunters. 

There were no Red Sox in this box, but at least I got a card of Yaz at Fenway Park.

Retail-exclusive green parallel pack. My favorite is the color-matching Ramon Laureano. 

Here are the hits. Andres Munoz is numbered to 150. Gypsy Queen's Fortune Teller predicts Judge will win a "fielding award" and a Silver Slugger this season. I think a Gold Glove is a stretch but it's more realistic than OOTP's simulated stats so far. The Marlins are 10-7. The Marlins? And how is Giancarlo Stanton going to hit seven home runs if he can't get off the IL? Also, Mike Trout is batting .208 with two home runs. What is this, his debut year? 


Did you get any sports cards for Easter? Are you following any 2020 baseball season simulators?


Thanks for reading!


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