Four Months To Go

If I'm going to retire from card collecting at the end of 2026 (and that is a big IF), I have a lot left to do. Specifically, I need to prioritize what sets to complete and what single cards to look for in the next four months.

I searched for shopping spree images and found Steve Smith Sr.

As a way of narrowing my focus, I have updated my baseball, football, and basketball want lists. Hockey will follow eventually, but it's not like anyone reading this is sitting on mid-1990s Topps or SPx singles. 

I've spent the past month or so sending out several trade offers on TCDB looking to fill holes in my 1986 Topps and 2026 Topps set builds. It's been slow and steady so far, and if more offers are accepted I shouldn't need to purchase any more Topps flagship or Update singles. I'm trying to save my pennies for 2026 Topps Update anyhow.

A couple such trades arrived today, one from Justin aka Lightningfan7609. 

Justin had a sports card blog here years ago but now runs a team-focused news blog called Raw Charge.

Another PWE arrived from supergajit, who I've bought from on both TCDB and Sportlots. Summer is usually very reliable, but I'm gonna have to replace this diamond-cut Bert Blyleven:

And this heavily dinged Fernando Tatis Jr:

I was already annoyed because someone with three Tyler Booker cards declined my 19-card offer of hockey extras without an explanation or counter. Guess I'll have to buy my Bookers and burn all my Upper Deck hockey dupes (kidding)

Just when I was feeling frustrated with the process of attempting to exchange as many of my 2,000+ dupes and unneeded extras for as many set fillers and PC players as possible in the last third of the year.. blogger mainstay Billy saved the day. He had offered to boost my basketball card count, and sent some Holiday cheer across state lines:

I recently added 2025-26 Topps Holiday to my short list of basketball set builds. Might need to pick up another blaster or megabox this Christmas. (No, I'm not starting any '26-27 sets even if they're released before 1/1/27) 

This trade was already in my favor, and that's before Billy added a bonus:

I was expecting the Miro Heiskanen upgrade. I was not expecting the three Devils cards. While I do have complete base sets of Upper Deck hockey, I can always use Devils dupes for the team binder. 

Billy noticed that I had a car-shaped hole in my collection and sent over the first two auto racing cards I've ever owned. And, since he knows I collect Women on Cards, he chose two female drivers in "super girl" Brittney Zamora and noted Bad Bunny fan Danica Patrick. Thank you Billy!

I've got some more cards incoming from eBay and Sportlots, along with a few more TCDB trades that were accepted. If I'm going to check everythign off my list, this may have to be a full time job for the next four months. Just got to be careful not to break the bank.

Bruhh 😢

Thanks for reading!

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Blogger friends come first

Over the past month or so, I've had small trades and purchases arrive from eBay, Sportlots, and TCDB. Logic would indicate that the orders coming from the east coast would arrive first, followed by central/midwest, then west coast, and Canada would take the longest. 

Personal assumption here but I'd expect that eBay shipments would be most reliable, then Sportlots, then TCDB - just based on the visibility and feedback structue, selling cards vs. trading cards, and moderation of each website. 

Naturally, the post office has laughed at this assumption. I've had issues with receiving cards from all three websites, regardless of location. And while the sellers/trading partners have varied in their responses and the sources, locations, and volume of cards in the incomplete transactions have varied, there is one constant.

Blogger friends have come through every time. 

Here's a care package from Night Owl. He offered to help me complete a couple sets and asked for nothing in return. (don't worry, I'll hit him back for the anniversary giveaway) 

This stack of cards took 3-4 days to travel from NY to NJ, as it should. Meanwhile, I made a trade with a TCDB user in Staten Island more than two weeks ago. I sent my cards two Saturdays ago. Did he receive them? I don't know, he hasn't logged in since the 19th. And I still don't have my cards. 

Bookending with another New York-based blogger, Bo sent me a very generous trade offer on the 15th. That trade took about a week to complete. I filed those cards away already but here's a scan of one of them. 

That's just one TCDB user though. Sometimes trade partners disappear, it happens. What about eBay? There's far more mechanisms in place to prevent sellers from ghosting. 

Ah, but those standard envelopes for single card purchases under $20 are always risky. 

I paid under $2 shipped for this Junior which arrived in four days from Las Vegas. It should have completed my 2024 Topps set, but a three-card trade with a west coast TCDB user has not arrived. This trade partner (I'm not going to name names) logs in every day and has been responsive. They sent my three cards on June 2. That small envelope has apparently been lost in the mail. 

While eBay sellers do have more incentive to complete transactions than TCDB traders, this still seems random to me. Not only because the west coast 3-card trade was with a more active trader(with 100% feedback) while the NY trader has far more feedback (but a negative or two). But because an eBay purchase I made two weeks ago was also lost in the mail. And this seller deserves to be mentioned by name.

Another $2 purchase shipped in a standard envelope. Should have arrived roughly the same time as the Caminero - maybe a day earlier since this seller is in the Boston area. But it didn't. The eBay tracking wasn't helpful as it hadn't even been marked as shipped after 11 days. So I sent The Card Pagoda a quick message just to confirm the card was shipped, and he ... immediately apologized, refunded my $2, and offered to send a replacement. 

The replacement has already arrived. 

More value that I had intially expected, plus two Whalers (based on my screen name) and a refund?!? For a two dollar card? The only reason I even thought to ask Gus to confirm the card shipped was because of a Sportlots order I still have not received.

I wanted my 100th Sportlots purchase to be significant. I also wanted to complete some hockey card sets and that is very tough to do on TCDB. So I saved my pennies and purchased large chunks of cards from three different sellers. 

All three were tracked. Two have arrived. Guess which one didn't? That's right, the one with free shipping. I specifically loaded up at TNT because of the $0 shipping for 101+ cards. They are a preferred seller with 100% feedback. So what happened? 

Sorry, I was away for a week helping my mother and had not dropped off the packages to the post office. I will get your order dropped off at the post office today.

Hey, I get it. Moms always come first. I was anxious about this one because I'm going away to see my mom soon, and I didn't want the package sitting on the porch for five days.

Even after this message it still sat in limbo all week with no status update, though TNT was responsive and offered a refund if the cards didn't arrive soon. As I began writing this I checked USPS to screenshot the lack of status and.. apparently it is moving and expected to arrive tomorrow. So that's a relief. If and when it does, I'll need just 15 cards to complete a run of Upper Deck hockey base sets.

Hopefully I will be able to complete those sets through TCDB trades. And that means sending envelopes across the border to Canada, which is tough for several reasons. The envelopes can't have too much weight to them or customs flags them down and charges $500. As noted above, small envelopes within the US get lost all the time, so adding another country to the mix only increases the diffculty. And some TCDB users north of the 49th won't even trade with Americans (can't say I blame them)

But you know who does? Crazie Joe. 

Joe had a mix of everything for me - Devils, Whalers, an Ovi, and a pair of set fillers. These arrived from Ontario in a week. I was blown away. If I can complete a small PWE trade with someone in Canada this fast, there's no reason for any trade or purchase from anywhere in the lower 48 to take longer. 

It seems so random, right? Some trades arrive fast, others don't. Some small purchases arrive fast, others are lost. Some tracked orders arrive fast, others don't. But Joe here proves that there is a commonality among all the transactions I've completed on time. 

He has a blog. 

So, whether you're buying on eBay or Sportlots, trading on TCDB or elsewhere, don't check a person's feedback rating for peace of mind. Check to see if they have a sports card blog 😁

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TCDB detour

I've been putting off the Top Ten by position series due to lack of interest and also because I've finally finished* cataloging my entire 135,000+ card collection on TCDB! 

*except for my 1956 Topps set, I'm 1/3 done with that -- and then the cataloging is done 😁

If you're on TCDB, add me as a friend or send me a trade offer. I'm CTChris. 

The Top Ten series will resume next week. I should have more time to spend on the blogs now that the TCDB housekeeping is complete. In addition to the weekly Position posts I plan to updated the collection/wantlist tabs and maybe even restore some old posts ahead of The Collector's upcoming 10 year blogging anniversary.

See you next week!



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This Is Why

Big mailday today. Six packages arrived in the mail - three from Sportlots, two from TCDB, and one from eBay. 35 cards total. Varying degrees of satisfaction.

Christmas Evening, as in eight days ago, I spent a small fraction of the cash I'd received as gifts and hit up Sportlots for some set fillers. Had to purchase from four different sellers due to postage and inventory. If you're one of those weirdos who collects baseball and hockey cards (there are dozens of us!) you've probably noticed that sellers who have hoards of hockey cards rarely have the baseball/football cards you're looking for, and vice versa. 

And so I placed my order on the 25th, expecting that maybe one or two would ship from Canada, one or two would ship on the 27th or 28th, and at least one seller would be on vacation and wouldn't ship until today.

I got all four orders already. Here they are:

This order was based around two cards that had been oddly difficult to track down. Finally I'd found someone selling this 1993 Donruss Eric Karros Diamond King insert for under three dollars. Tocchet is the last "common" I need for the 1988-89 Topps set - though it cost me 52 cents (the highest of these four cards) and the bottom has both a dirt spot and a rough corner. Karros cost just 37 cents - but it's a little off-center and has a wonky corner. Still, the foursome was just over three dollars shipped.

I needed just two cards (excluding the super rare gold SPs) to complete my (wife's) 1995-96 Playoff One On One hockey set. Sabres32 happened to have them both, but not much else I needed. Perreault was sort of a throw in; 1983-84 O-Pee-Chee is a set I might consider building someday.

Trombley was initially in a bigger order but since I couldn't find a fourth card from Sabres32 I bought it from him/her instead. You know the rule.

Here's a few representatives from that bigger order, a 32-card mailer that nearly completed two sets:

I decided to complete the 20-card Pro Pointers insert set to fill out the extra pockets in my 1995-96 Donruss hockey binder. Irbe was one of the seven base cards in this order from the actual set and completes the run of 1990s Donruss flagship puck. 1994 Ultra is nearly there - I've got less than ten cards to go. Two of the cards have some bricking damage as you can see; the seller did reimburse me for these.

This PWE actually arrived before New Year's. A four-day turnaround beats nearly every TCDB trade. I sought out the Hakeem Topps card because I didn't want to spend 90 cents for it on COMC. However I did end up spending that 90 cents on the last Pro Pointers card I needed after Lindros and Kariya arrived. The Mario Lemieux is en route from COMC (along with 75 other cards) but it will take a lot longer than four days to arrive.


Speaking of slow wait times... I really, really tried to wrap up my TCDB trading in 2023. I even offered an inducement. But, despite pestering the last two traders as if I was at the office, these swaps took > 2 weeks to complete.



I will give saavik a pass on the turnaround time. She's a student, and her profile page indicates shipping will be a little slow. But I removed something from a different offer when she specifically asked for this one and only card. I sent her the Don Larsen insert she requested on the 16th. She sent me this Clayton Kershaw on the 26th:

Scotch-tape and a penny sleeve. It's amazing this card survived without a scratch.

The last trade took nearly four weeks to complete. And it is my last TCDB trade for a reason. I made an offer to Dtd500 on December 8. He countered on the 11th by removing the Olajuwon Topps card you saw above, and substituted it with another PC player. I accepted, and shipped on the 12th. 


Hoping to receive my six-card PWE by Christmas I messaged him on the 18th "Have you shipped my end yet" He said he was busy with the holidays and would ship the next day, on the 19th. 

Sigh... Christmas mail, am I right? So...let's see what we got.

Yes, Blue Prizms are worth the wait. Unfortunately these two were not eligible for my contest. Mihome316 won, btw.


This is why I'm happy to be done dealing on TCDB. People have busy lives and stuff happens. But when you buy something, those mail delays somehow cease. A purchase made a week ago(or less) can arrive at the same time as a trade shipped out three weeks ago.


(It also helps that the holidays are over.)



Thanks for reading!




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Close Enough

Three weeks ago, I announced a contest to stir up some trade offers with the goal of completely clearing out my tradelist of about 300 cards. 

 

After a couple dozen trades and a big assist from Bo, I almost made it.

Technically I have 14 cards left on my trade list. However, I'm waiting for a response to one last offer - which would move out half of them. And then I'm done trading for a while. I'll save the rest for next year.

I also have five incoming trades, which should all arrive no later than the 30th. And then I'll randomize the names of everyone I've traded with since Thanksgiving and give away that Vlad.

Perhaps it will go to one lucky collector in Canada.

 

 

Thanks for reading!


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Player Collection Roll Call

Much of my collecting focus this year was geared toward building and completing sets. However I think I've hit a wall there. Every TCDB trade option has been exhausted - aside from maybe some 1994 Fleer Ultra baseball singles, there's nothing else I can acquire with what's left of my tradelist. 

I've made 15 separate purchases on Sportlots in 2023(which has become my go-to sports card site, eclipsing COMC) plus a couple from TCDB (shoutout supergajit and RSmith1217). And I made a lot of progress! My two-page wantlist shrunk down to two-thirds of a page, and even with four new projects added it's still much cleaner than it was eleven months ago. 

With my team collections nearing capacity and new sets not really thrilling me (except for 2023 Topps Archives) it was time to turn my focus to player PCs. I added a bunch to my TCDB wantlist and began boosting those numbers. So here's an update on some of the players I collect and where my count stands with four weeks left in the year:

Robin Yount

Current Count: 130 (8th overall, 1st among non-Red Sox in my collection)
Incoming via TCDB: 20
Notes: Even with my meager trade bait it's not hard to reel in overproduction-era singles of a Hall of Famer with over 9,000 unique cards. There are some 2000s singles (Fleer Greats, Legendary Cuts) en route as well.

Kris Bryant

Current Count: 68 (19th, 1st among active non-Red Sox)
Incoming via TCDB: None, but not for lack of trying.
Notes: I didn't add Bryant cards to my wantlist and I've wavered on keeping him on my PC player list. But he's one of few active players I like and his cards always look sharp - especially this one:

I asked for this in a potential trade and the user removed it in his counter, so I declined and bought one on COMC - for well under a dollar.

 

 Eric Dickerson

Current Count: 57 (12th, 2nd among non-Packers)
Incoming via TCDB: 2
Notes: The last time I was able to purchase a football repack from the Shop Rite vending machine I pulled an '84 Topps Dickerson (In Action, not the true RC)

Dan Marino

Current Count: 92 (6th, 1st among non-Packers)
Incoming via TCDB: 2
Notes: Marino has over 14,000 different cards. He'd have crossed the 100-card milestone in my collection long ago if there were more football card collectors on the blogs and TCDB.

Christian McCaffrey

Current Count: 42 (21st, 1st among active non-Packers)
Incoming via TCDB: none
Notes: CMC used to be easy for me to collect, since he's an injury prone non-quarterback. It's been a bit tougher now that he's on a more glamorous team - not just due to the abundance of 49ers fans but also because my dislike for the team. This is the only SF McCaffrey card I have to date, and I acquired it in a recent TCDB trade.

Art Monk

Current Count: 45 (20th, 6th among non-Packers)
Incoming via TCDB: None from TCDB; one incoming from COMC
Notes: Some recently completed trades brought in a few of Mr. Monk's early '90s issues I was inexplicably missing. I should be able to add a couple more before I run out of trade bait.

 

 Hakeem Olajuwon

Current Count: 72 (2nd among all NBA players)
Incoming via TCDB: 12, plus one incoming from COMC
Notes: TCDB counts multi-player team cards, like this. I only count them if the player is specifically mentioned, like this:

...which TCDB does not include in my Hakeem card count, for some reason.

Reggie Miller

Current Count: 75 (1st among all NBA players)
Incoming via TCDB: 2
Notes: The race to 100 is on. Hakeem is pulling ahead. and will take the lead from Miller once all these TCDB trades arrive (even when you factor in their wacky accounting). I've been trying to find an affordable Finest or Chrome refractor of Reggie and it just isn't happening. Although I did manage to pick up his Fleer RC for my set build.

Damian Lillard

Current Count: 34 (19th, 1st among active NBA players)
Incoming via TCDB: None
Notes: My Lillard PC was in danger of shutting down this summer as the Portland legend tried to maneuver his way to Miami. When he ended up in Milwaukee instead(my de facto favorite team) I revived my interested in acquiring more Lillard cards, and I'm looking forward to adding my first Dame card as a Buck. 

Alex Ovechkin

Current Count: 180 (1st among active NHL players)
Incoming via TCDB: 5; plus one from COMC
Notes: Ovi's Gr8 chase toward Wayne Gretzky's NHL goals record is slowing down (he's 67 goals away and only has 5 this year) but my Ovechkin collection marches on. I should be able to reach 200 different cards before the end of 2024.

 

There are plenty of other players I collect, but these ten have been my main focus. 

 

Have you acquired any notable cards of your  favorite players lately? What are your hobby goals for 2024?


Thanks for reading!


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TCDB Trading Contest

I've got about 300 cards in my trade box that I'm looking to clear out by the end of the year. If I can find takers for all of them every one I trade with from now until 12/31 will be entered into a drawing for... 

...we'll get to that. If you're on TCDB, take a look at my tradelist and send me an offer if anything interests you. (You can also leave a comment on this post and I'll contact you.) I'd be thrilled to cross off some set fillers from my wantlist but I'll take a look at any tradelists. PC players/teams are always welcome if you want to make it simple. My goal is to get these cards in the hands of collectors who can use them, as quickly and easily as possible.


If I am able to make trades that move out all 300 cards my trade partners will be entered into a random spinning wheel drawing for this card:

2016 Bowman (paper) Vladimir Gurrero Jr. Prospects/1st Bowman card

I'll announce the winner here on my blog and on TCDB but you should follow my blog anyway :)

 

 

Thanks for reading!



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600th TCDB Transaction Giveaway and Recap

Four weeks ago I  announced a 600-card giveaway to celebrate my 600th blog post (which I have not yet reached) and my 600th completed transaction on Trading Card Database, which I achieved last week.

When I offered a free entry into the 300-card giveaway for any trade partner, the offers immediately poured in. I completed 22 trades in the last three weeks, and added all of these cards to my collection:

alchapman

Bearded Carnivore

BucCollector & Borosny

ckevink & N-J Mercer

cory79

DarthTempest (trade #600!)

FreehanSolo (Dennis)

more from Dennis

even more from Dennis

gasypo30 & retroboysaz

more from retroboysaz (& Giannis back)

lucasf997

moondog7809

MrWhite1978

mw_from_ga

OfficerZero & GoldenEagles555

TigerFan22

TwinKiller

wbaker01

wbaker01 (2)

Ymmat & wackydog

If you see your name here, you'll see your name on the wheel. (My computer isn't set up to record video :/ )

Now, to give this wheel a spin...

Congratulations to ckevink!!! If you're reading this, please send me a message on TCDB (I'm hockeydude) with your address and I'll get a box of 300 cards out to you ASAP.

I'll be hosting another random drawing at the conclusion of my All-Time Teams series, so keep reading and commenting for more chances to win.

Thanks for reading, and trading! Have a great weekend!

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