Irish Day Updates

Aaron Rodgers told his special friend Patty McCaffeine that he wants to play for the Jets this season.

No trade is imminent as the two teams teams are still discussing compensation. Gutey, get Josh Morrissey or let Throw Rogan rot.

Fellow Packers fan Fuji sent a care package to Collector HQ this week:

Brendan Morrison (top left) continues the Irish theme. He's joined by three Scott Gomez inserts and a pair of James Lofton Topps singles for Ye Olde Green & Gold. I really should try to complete a run of Lofton Topps singles, at least from his Green Bay days. He's got an awesome Nike promo card that I recently learned about.

Hopefully other collectors have overlooked it since a young Michael Jordan is also in the set.  

Fuji included these gems as well. I'm very happy to add the Sami Kapanen and Donny (not Donyell) Marshall autos to my Connecticut Collection, and the 1988-89 Fleer cards are awesome as well. But that golden Doug Weight at the top left is a much better prize than it may appear. You see, this Playoff One on One card game (which is my wife's; I'd never heard of or seen them at the time) was issued as a starter/booster pack with common/uncommon/rare tiers. Weight happens to be an Ultra Rare; these were inserted at a rate of one per four booster packs. She managed to pull one (Alexei Zhamnov) but there are 39 38 more we need.

I doubt I'll ever manage to complete the set, but even if I don't it's a PC-ish card as Weight was one of my favorite hockey stars around the turn of the century. Fuji, thanks for the great cards!

So... this has been sitting in my basketball card box for a few years now:

Apparently it's worth a couple dollars. A couple hundred?!??! dollars??!?!

I think I might have to sell it. Maybe I'll just give up the job search and sell cards all day...

Speaking of Steve Nash, this year's NBA MVP race is ridiculous -- emphasis on race. I'm a bit of a Giannis guy, and I like Nikola Jokic as well. I'm neutral on Joel Embiid. But it seems to me that, all things being equal, the award should go to the best player on the best team. That would be the Bucks in the East (and overall), and the Nuggets in the West. If you want to look at which player has the weakest supporting cast as an indicator of which candidate is most valuable then that would be Giannis.

Embiid has James Harden on his team, and they're not as good as Denver or Milwaukee buuut he's leading the NBA in scoring. Honestly, you can't go wrong with any of the three. That's not how some people see it. Because some sports talkers are already eliminating Jokic from the discussion (looking at you, Perk)

Why? Because three MVP awards (especially consecutive) is legend territory. Certain sports talkers don't want to admit that Jokic is worthy of winning three. Many of those same people don't think Steve Nash should have won either of his two MVP awards. Haven't we given you people enough undeserved accolades?

 
I'm not enough of a basketball fan to care one way or the other. Give it to Joker, don't give to Joker.. whatever. Just don't not give it to Nikola because he's not welcome in da club.

 Back to the job hunt. See you next week, and Happy St. Patrik's Day everyone!

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Thank Yous

I received this Thank You card at work today. Two of the girls I work with (who are both younger than me so I feel silly calling them "ladies") got married... I think. No one actually specified. But last week one of the managers passed around a very large 'Congratulations!' card for us to sign, which included an envelope. "You don't have to contribute anything." He told me. I certainly would have - if I had any cash. 

I felt bad accepting this Thank You card but I would have felt worse telling Jazz that "I didn't give anything. I'm sorry." Apparently they have been together for 11 years. I didn't know they were a couple until I was handed the 'Congratulations!' card!

Six months ago I had never encountered an office couple in my life. Now I've seen three.. I think. There's a guy that sits at the far end of the office, by the warehouse, and he waits in his car at 5pm until a blonde woman joins him. At first I thought that was his lady but she might - might - be young enough to be his daughter. I'm getting off-topic here. 

I've got some virtual Thank Yous to hand out for some blogger pals, starting with Bob of The Best Bubble. Back in March Bob posted his finds from an estate sale haul, and I inquired about a card that was not shown. His Sam Jethroe autograph was part of an Ohio Baseball Hall of Fame set that also included..

It's Noodles!!

I've been looking for something - anything - of the Reds' greatest-ever starting pitcher to fill in one of the two remaining holes in my All-Time Teams collection. This won't fit in a nine-pocket page but it will make a nice addition to the collection. Thank you Bob! Now.. does anyone have a George Davis card?

I'm going to thank Fuji in advance for sending me some 2012 Topps baseball set fillers. It's the last flagship baseball set I plan to build, unless I change my mind about 2010 or 2022. I've got a cardboard box that fits nine 800-ct boxes perfectly:

Once the 2012 Topps set is complete I'll have to decide between filling it thisly:

• 2010 or 2022 Topps set, 2012-2019 Topps sets - all hand collated

or thusly:

• 2011 Topps - factory set, 2012-2019 Topps sets - hand collated

Fuji, thank you for your (forthcoming) help with this set project!

This past Saturday I received two bubble mailers in my mailbox. The smaller of the two was my COMC order. Not much to report there; the best stuff was featured in my recent post at The 1993 (yes I still post there sometimes!)

The bigger mailer was a surprise gift from Dennis. Longtime readers of this blog and others are no doubt aware of Dennis's generous care packages. I had actually worried a bit when receiving it; I might not have room for such a big pile of cards, and I certainly wouldn't have a worthwhile return for him.

It... wasn't cards.

Have you read my fairly recent post about the astronomical prices of actress autographs? Well...

Dennis laughs at your $500+ KatMac cards. Here's a whole ass book signed by Anna Kendrick:

I did read Scrappy Little Nobody a few years ago, but this Target edition contains a bonus chapter.

Now I can pair my Anna auto with her "rookie card":

Dennis, thank you very much for this pleasant surprise! A PWE is headed your way.

Fuji, I will send a small mailer to you this weekend. I've got one card for you that wont fit in a PWE.

Bob, feel free to pick a handful of cards from my for sale/trade list and I'll send 'em out ASAP. 

Thank You.. for reading ;-)

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Set chunks and one more PWE

This will be my last blog post at The Collector for a while, and my last basketball post for a long while.

I'm still working on fitting all of the cards from Bo into my basketball monster box.. and now Fuji has checked in with a two-team PWE:

This Electric Currents insert is my 59th Reggie Miller card. He has claimed the top spot in my collection from fellow HOFer Hakeem Olajuwon. For a second I wondered why the scan looked so fuzzy, before realizing it's designed to look electric. This is why I shouldn't write before 10am lol.

Reggie is joined by some more Pacer stars including a pair of "Foreign Exchange" inserts I don't remember seeing as a kid. I scanned the back of the Schrempf hologram because the front probably won't scan well.

Same for the Hakeem Olajuwon hologram from a year earlier. With these two inserts of "Dream", he ties Miller at the top of my PC list with 59 cards. The Flair Othella Harrington didn't scan great but it's very nice in hand. Fuji, thanks for the awesome PWE - it was well worth the wait!


Now back to the box from Bo. I received five starter sets (six if you count the 1993 Upper deck baseball chunk.) They are:

1990-91 Hoops
204 new cards
now: 310/440 (70.5%)

Some of my favorites include the Sam Vincent sans MJ (I do have the Jordan cameo) and the smiling Rick Mahorn with Larry Bird guarding him. I will probably attempt to complete this set because it's cheap, and it was a significant part of my early collecting years. Still need the Michael Jordan base card though.

These team checklist art cards were part of a series 2 update. Compare them to the checklists from...

1991-92 Upper Deck
200 new cards
now: 292/500 (58.4%)

This is my favorite of the five starter sets in this box/blog post. However it's also the biggest, and I'm not close to completing it. I have most of the key rookie cards but I still need all five Michael Jordan singles.

Before the term 'three-peat' existed, Detroit was trying to become "Champions X Three!" Didn't happen.

1993-94 Fleer
185 new cards (plus 2 inserts)
now: 218/400 (54.5%)

I'm leaning toward breaking up this half-set and using it to complete some others, though there are a lot of cool cards in this chunk, including Drazen Petrovic chasing down Hersey Hawkins. (Petro did not have his own card in the set, as he passed away in June of 1993.)

Let's fast forward a decade for the last two set chunks, including the smallest (base) set:

2003-04 SP Authentic
66 new cards (plus one SN #d SP)
now: 69/90 base set (73.3%)

There are 189 cards in the complete set; I'm only counting the 90-card base veteran portion. I don't have to worry about Michael Jordan here (he appears in the serial numbered subset) but I would need Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, and Tim Duncan among others just to complete this base set. Hmm..

2003-04 Upper Deck MVP
147 new cards
(plus 13 parallels, 5 inserts)
now: 147/230 (63.9%)

Hey, it's my first Michael Jordan Wizards card. And it's... a Bullets card!

Lots of big names in this set chunk. And some names I was not at all familiar with:

Will I be pursuing this set build? No way! I still need the Kobe Bryant base card, two Michael Jordans...

...and all of the key rookie cards including LeBron James, which recently sold on eBay for $125.


Bo, thanks again for the big box of basketball cards!


I will be taking a bit of a break here because I have a "Run to 500" series planned and I need my COMC order to show up before that can begin. Regularly-scheduled posts will continue at The 1993.



Thanks for reading!



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PWEs from Fuji and Jon

Quick post today because I'm planning a much longer one for Friday and I still haven't returned to regular commenting.

I've been scouring eBay looking for that big piece to add to my collection and so far I've been much too cautious. The prices are higher than I expect (which usually happens with auctions) and the one card I really want hasn't come back down to the price it was before i had the money to buy it. 

I saw a nice Pee Wee Reese 1956 Topps card just before I left work yesterday. I added it to my watch list, but by the time I got home someone bought it. It's just as well. I probably would have delayed a decision on it until it sold - like I've done with the Hank Aaron and Willie Mays cards that were on my watch list. 

You know what would be great? If there was a major sports card and memorabilia convention nearby with both high end and low end cards that I could purchase all at once without paying tax or shipping fees. Sigh...


Thankfully I've been perked up by a pair of PWEs from two of my favourite* bloggers.

 This Kevin Youkilis mini is one of 15 Red Sox cards in the latest care package from Fuji.

This PWE was full of neat inserts and parallels. 

Some Han-Ram here, and a purple refractor of blogger favorite Henry Owens.


Here are some cards I picked from Jon's Free Stuff Friday offerings:

Williams, Chesbro, and Bonds will go into my All-Time Teams binder (I'm rebooting that series when the 2020 baseball season starts -- assuming it starts on time.) I used to have a bunch of those Brett Favre NFL on Fox booklets and it's nice to have it back in my PC.

Thanks for the cards fellas, they were a nice surprise when I definitely needed one.


*Today is Canada Day, ya hosers. Here are some Canada-centic memes that made me chuckle.

Thanks for reading, eh.



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Catching up on trades

So... how about that NHL trade deadline? 

I'm kidding. Though it is tempting to dive into the Devils completely tearing down their roster or the other deals that went down today, I've got to catch up on some trade/care packages before I resume the All-Time Teams series.


As you probably know Fuji was very busy catching up on his care packages. I was fortunate enough to be added to - and crossed off of - his 'hit' list. His mailer arrived in my inbox today:

A pair of vintage Packers - both Hall of Famers - and a pair of relics. The Stranger Things card is one of 19 set fillers Fuji included. I'm now at 78% completion of the 100-card set.


Jon's "Free Stuff Friday" kicked off a bit of a trend, which spread to Brian's Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary blog. I claimed three cards from Brian and he filled a PWE with some flagship singles I needed:

I'm still a sucker for all things 2017 Topps Heritage. Betts is no longer the face of this franchise :/ I've got one last TCDB trade incoming, and then I will finally have completed the 2019 Topps set.


Just after New Year's Day Rod offered to send me some cards in response to my Blog Update post. I had no idea what he was sending, but about a week ago I received over 100 cards - mostly Milwaukee Brewers:

Rod's mailer arrived the Day I published my Brewers All-Time Team. If I'd waited just a little longer I would have used some of these cards. 

'Y' was I happy to receive so many Brewers cards? Because Yount and Yelich have made me a bit of a Brewers fan over the years. (I'd say they're my fourth favorite team.)

These Topps Total singles are the first of the online-only reboot I've had in my collection (there was one in the Secret Santa gift I sent out, but we're not going to talk about that...) I was surprised that they're so glossy. I wouldn't say they're worth a buck apiece, but they are quite nice.

Some shiny here including a couple refractors, a rainbow parallel, and a Mike Moustakas All-Star relic - which is actually from the All-Star workout, not the actual game. But it's better than the "..not from any specific game/season/event" disclaimer I've seen all too often lately.

Fuji, Brian, Rod.. thank you very much for these great cards! I'm now at nearly 98,000 cards - just 2,000 shy of my 100K goal. I'm still cooking up a return package for Rod (and Nick, whom I've owed for at least a month) but I did send some PWEs out and I plan to be all caught up by Friday (I have a day off due to an A.M. Dr. appt.)

Thanks for reading!



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Christmas Cards from Fuji and Dennis

It's Christmas Eve and I'm exhausted from my weekend in Connecticut (plus staying up late prepping presents for my little ones) but I wanted to say thank you to Fuji and Dennis for adding me to their 'gift' list this Christmas.

Fuji started a "hit list" of collectors to send cards to, and (almost) cleared it all out this holiday season. This six-pack included three vintage Sox, two relic cards, and a Packer in a pear tree. Lol, that didn't work as well as I'd hoped.

The always generous Dennis of Too Many Verlanders/Mannighams sent a nice box of goodies my way. Lots of Sox here, including relics of Wade Boggs and Dustin Pedroia..

..and a pair of postcards from Cooperstown. I bought a handful of these the last time I visited the baseball HOF in the summer of '99 - but not Yaz or Teddy Ballgame. 

  

As if that wasn't generous enough..there were over 200 basketball cards in the box.

All of them were Hall of Famers from the 1990s-early 2000s: Karl Malone, David Robinson, Shaquille O'Neal...

...Gary Payton, Ray Allen, and Grant Hill. When I was cataloging my cards on TCDB recently, I realized that I'd never even seen the 2000-01 Upper Deck basketball set before. 

There was also a handful of Kevin Garnett and Magic Johnson cards, a couple Allen Iverson, and some Dennis Rodman. So many cool cards to catalog...

Three years ago I had maybe 100 basketball cards. Now thanks to the blogging community I have nearly 5,000 - and the top seven players listed are all due to contributions from Dennis.

Thanks again for the great cards, guys! Merry Christmas, everyone!


p.s. if you haven't blown out your budget on Black Friday..COMC is having another sale starting tomorrow. I didn't get to the CT card show (long story) so I might spend some cash there instead.

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