I did end up getting some cards for Christmas* - two megaboxes of Topps Heritage and a megabox of UD hockey. (Did I pick them out myself, pay for them, and wrap them? perhaps...)
*the only Christmas card I received from outside the family arrived yesterday. D's friends have sent photocards in the past but I guess they don't see a reason to send one here without her.
I don't know why I took a picture of the packs but not the cards. There wasn't anything great in here - I already had one of the Young Guns rookies and didn't pull any notable Devils or superstar inserts. Just slowly plugging away at the base set as I've been doing for 35 years with Upper Deck hockey.
One of my Goals For 2026 will be to fill in the missing years in my UD base set collection. I stopped after 2015-16 and didn't resume until 2022-23. There are probably some Extended sets I'm missing, too.
Topps Heritage might be the best value of all recent sports card sets. I got a huge stack of cards with shiny parallels, a couple inserts, and some SP's for less than the cost of a single megabox of Topps Chrome basketball. 272 of these, or 42 of these? Heritage all day!
This stack is going to keep me busy for a while. And so will this book my brother in law gifted me:
He also got me a compilation of sci-fi stories, which I will enjoy almost as much. And one single card:
This was a very cool surprise. I asked if he met Mike Eruzione, but he didn't - this was an eBay purchase. If you haven't seen Miracle I highly reccomend it - even if you're not a hockey fan.
Thanks for reading and Happy New Year! Here's to a less shitty 2026!! 🎉
We met 25 years ago, discussing hockey in a message board. We got married 20 years ago, just as the 2004-05 NHL lockout was coming to an end. Hockey brought us together, but lots of more important things kept us together for my entire adult life.
She did love the Devils though. My sister in law put together this collage, all the pictures are hers. That's Ken Daneyko at one of the many Devils meet and greets the family attended. In the center is a picture of the family before attending Game 2 of the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals. Di insisted on going despite being very pregnant with our second child. I stayed home with our first. Of course the game went to Overtime. She gave birth the next day. We watched Game 3 from her hospital bed.
At one of those Devils Dinners (before Di and I met) she was at a table with Bob Carpenter.
Fun fact: Carpenter has been featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.. but Martin Brodeur has not.
Carpenter asked "who's your favorite hockey player?" likely assuming she'd say him, or at least one of his teammates.
"Trevor Linden" she replied.
Di has over a dozen NHL jerseys, including this authentic 1992-era Canucks sweater
She was always a Trevor fan, before she even liked the Devils. She once wrote to Hockey Illustrated asking the editor in chief why he wasn't featured. She cited reasons like being the youngest captain in the NHL, a rising star, and a top two-way forward. The EIC wrote her back and sent a regional cover.
While she lived with her parents, Di collected hockey cards along with jerseys and magazines. Aside from a brief L.A. Rams fandom during Jim Everett's peak years, hockey was the only sport she liked.
She had a knack for pulling Steve Yzerman and Curtis Joseph inserts.
We sold the Run for the Cup insert for $570 three years ago.
These massive hits are still here. I don't plan on selling anything out of her collection - except maybe her Theo Fleury stuff. She soured on him pretty quick. Bummer she didn't collect Marc-Andre Fleury, he's much more likeable. But "Flower" debuted right before the lockout.
Once we got married, she stopped collecting hockey cards and saved every spare penny for our first home. She was always financially responsible, and we didn't have a decent enough income for the fun things we used to do before - dinners, movies, hockey games, card shows, concerts - until recently.
In recent years, her favorite bands were Muse and Nothing But Thieves. A few days ago I washed and folded about a dozen of her t-shirts/hoodies of just these two bands. We saw Muse together four times, and NBT twice.
Before she got sick I was able to make small purchases at Target and on Sportlots. I even made it to a fairly big card show shortly after she was diagnosed. There have been local shows since, including one in a mall right after my birthday. She wasn't able to go to any of those.
Since I was about eight years old, sports cards have been a constant in my life. A comfort in hard times. But there's no way that retail therapy can get me through this. I'm planning to finish the 1956 Topps Set for my girls' college fund, but not much else seems worthwhile hobby-wise. I might pick up some hockey cards here and there as a reminder of our first years together - though Di wasn't really keeping up with current players after our daughters were born.
I'm still collecting cards though. Too many.
I don't want any more of these for a while.
Thank you all for your sympathy and well wishes. I'll talk to you again soon.
New slabs are coming, but I'll pause the series until they arrive.
My wife was supposed to have surgery yesterday. And technically she did have a procedure. But not the one we wanted.
Quick recap: she was on chemo for just over a year. The cancer did not spread past her liver/colon, but various side effects prompted her doctors to keep changing her meds. One was so bad she lost her appetite for three weeks, dropped to 110 lb, and was too weak to climb stairs or talk more than a few seconds. It was a nightmare. That was in February, when she spent a week in the hospital. They switched her chemo, attached a feeding tube to her, and sent her home with boxes of liquid meals. She got better.
We were referred to a surgeon at Sloan Kettering, who told her that he could remove all the tumors if she gets her strength up. He gave her two jobs: eat, and walk. She kind of ate more. She did not walk.
Oh, and she would have to stop her chemotherapy treatments in the weeks leading up to surgery.
She was tentatively scheduled for late August/early September, but moved up to August 7 because that was the earliest all three of the surgeons would be available at once. Her appetite returned. She stopped using the liquid food. She had good days and bad days. Sloan scheduled her for pre-op testing and scans.
Meanwhile, I binge watched Ted Lasso - a show I'd been meaning to watch since it premiered five years ago. I wanted to watch it with my wife, but we weren't about to subscribe to whatever streaming service it was on just for one show. DVDs are still a thing. I re-installed my old computer because my new laptop doesn't have a DVD drive, and watched the first few episodes.
If you're not familiar with the show, it's about a folksy college football coach who is hired by an English Premier League team (AFC Richmond) to coach the other football. He knows nothing about the game and his presence is seen as a farce by both the press and the players.
The owner only hired him to sabotage the club - which her awful ex-husband loved more than her. It's a little bit Major League at first, but not for long.
Ted Lasso doesn't know a damn thing about tactics - his assistant/best friend Coach Beard helps out with that, along with the club's kit man (think clubhouse attendant) Nate Shelley. Slowly Ted wins over his team with his endless positivity. He convinces them to believe. He hangs a sign above the doorway.
I had a checkup with my doctor last Monday. My wife and I have the same GP (who is an awesome lady) so I asked her to come with. She got a call on the way there and didn't answer it.
When the doctor's assistant led me into the exam room I had my wife come with me. We waited together. Her mother called me. Why the fck is D's mom calling me?
The surgeon was trying to contact her and she didn't answer. So they called her emergency contact - my mother in law - who also couldn't get a hold of her. And so D tried to call her surgeon's office. I asked her to go out in the waiting room so I could focus on myself. My blood pressure would go sky high if she spoke to her doctor while I met with mine.
My awesome doc finally entered. I told her what was wrong, and why my blood pressure was high. She prescribed a mood stabilizer and told me she wouldn't scold me for the daily energy drink consumption since I have so much on my plate right now. When the checkup was over, she sent me to the waiting room until her assistant was ready to draw some blood. Then she saw my wife, and hugged her.
Awesome Doc looked for an open exam room. "Do you want me to come?" I asked.
"You need to." My wife replied.
She had spoken to her doctor. The scans revealed that the cancer had spread. Surgery was no longer an option.
Oh, and she has 4-6 months to live.
At the end of Season 1, Ted Lasso's AFC Richmond are playing their former superstar's new club Manchester City. They need at least a tie in order to avoid relegation, but City are very tough.
This episode is named after a phrase their supporters say to each other, "It's the hope that kills you."
Until this episode, the show was a much-needed distraction from D's health issues. But this one hit home.
Work days have been really tough. Customers and co-workers bugging me about the most petty shit. I started taking the meds my doctor prescribed. They helped a little, until this past Tuesday.
I was in the office for about a half hour when my wife called me. Her surgeon wanted her to go to the emergency room. I told my boss I had to go, and he understood. Petty bullshit continued to pile up.
The surgeon said she looked yellow, because her liver was backed up. They put in a stent to get her flowing again. She's already home.
Will this improve her prognosis? Who knows. I'm trying to be optimistic. I'm trying to believe.
On May 1st, I sent an 8-card submission to Beckett Grading. The plan was to get these cards back in mid- July, keep a couple, and send the rest (along with 10-15 cards I already have) to 4 Sharp Corners for consignment. Those cards would be listed on eBay in late July, and I'd receive my payout sometime around the second week of August. This would align perfectly with my birthday and the East Coast National in White Plains, NY.
I received two emails on Friday, one from Lucky's Promotions listing the autograph guests for the show, including Julius Erving, Frank Thomas, Sammy Sosa, Allen Iverson, and Barry Sanders. Of particular interest to me: Packers legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer LeRoy Bulter, and Basketball Hall of Famer Alex English.
I've never had an opportunity to meet any of the Packers stars I cheered for as a kid/young adult, and I only have autographs of two: Brett Favre and Dorsey Levens. Butler was the anchor of Green Bay's secondary for the entire 1990s. He invented the Lambeau Leap!
Alex English was a guy I never even saw on TV, an out-of-market star that I learned about through trading cards and became a fan simply because his stats popped off the page. $39 bucks to meet him and get his autograph - on an 8x10 or a basketball?!?!? That's a steal!!
The other email I received was from Beckett, informing me that my order would be delivered to me via FedEx on Monday(today). Cool, I'll just tell my wife and she can sign for it, and...
.....nope, she has a chemo appointment. Up until the end of May, she had two appointments every two weeks. But the surgeon took her off chemo so she can get her strength up for the major surgery she needs to have somewhere around the end of August/early September. She shouldn't have any chemo at all. But she's still taking pills and going in for hydration and checkups and whatever. So she would not be home from about 10 am-12:30pm or so. No problem, I can come home for lunch at Noon, and my office is right down the street, so there will only be a two hour-window when no one will be home.
Yeeahh, no one was home. Of course they attempted delivery at 11:15 a.m. What are the odds?
Glad you asked. July has 31 days, and every day has 24 hours, and Mrs. Collector has exactly two two-hour chemo appointments per month, and does not leave the house on a weekday for any other reason. So the odds of the FedEx delivery truck arriving at a time when neither one of us would be home to sign for a package that contains $5,000+ worth of trading cards is:
100%, exactly.
Well, that sucks, but they'll re-attempt delivery tomorrow when the Mrs. will be here. No problem.
They'd better, because she already has to go upstate on Wednesday for an exam and meeting with some more doctors. That will take her out of the house all day. And, the surgeon called her today to discuss her condition. Apparently her tumor is growing a bit larger no shit sherlock, you took her off the good chemo so he wants to schedule her for some tests on Thursday. He's already starting to waver on his initial steadfast diagnosis that he can remove all of the tumors in one single six-hour surgery.
What was I talking about?
Oh yeah. Cards. So, I'm still going to send a consignment order to 4 Sharp Corners and (assuming there are no unforeseen issues with my cards) I'll have some money to spend in August. But I can't drag my wife around a big convention center for 4+ hours while I browse through dime boxes and stand in line for autographs. Instead, I'm going to visit my mother that day. My wife can handle a 2+ hour drive, but standing and walking for more than a minute is an issue. The surgeon told her to exercise but she didn't listen. I kept trying to get her to take walks but she's been too tired or busy.
I'm torn about what to sell though. If I send everything I initially wanted to consign, that will include hockey cards which are out of season and would likely sell for more during fall/winter. But I don't know what I'll be able to do by then; when I sent my BGS order on 5/1, none of this surgery shit was on our radar. Will things be better, or worse, in November? And it is worth waiting just for the potential to make a couple hundred dollars more?
But if I don't send the hockey cards I have a lot less to work with. My goal was to upgrade these three:
...plus pick up a Nikola Jokic RC, a Joe Montana RC, and some of the remaining 1956 Topps cards on my need list (Willie Mays in particular) If I don't include the high-end hockey cards in my consignment, I'll basically have enough to upgrade the Mantle.
Not that any of this is important under the circumstances. It's just that the window for enjoying my collection is closing fast.
I won't be able to squeeze in another card show, but maybe I can make the best of it somehow. If the BGS order arrives as expected I'll show those off before I ship them out to 4 Sharp Corners.
Haven't done a semi-random picture post in a while, so... here's a few pictures I've taken recently:
Happy 10th birthday, Chris. Lol, I got a steal of deal with this Orioles SLU lot. I'd been looking for some plastic protectors for the figures already in my collection (my rare figures are in old, dusty, yellowing bubbles) and one seller wanted $35 for five brand new protectors. I bought a lot of five figures as shown - with the (used) protectors for $35 instead. The Pro Set boxes were $55 total for the pair.
My 666th post recently reached an appropriate comment/view count:
I'm really struggling with this latest Athletics post. Not because I don't know what to write, but because I'm writing too much! I'm a thousand words in and 900 of them have been about Rickey Henderson. I'm not even close to discussing the Bash Brothers. Sigh... I need an editor...
Dennis will appreciate this... I saw this at a sports store in the mall back home this weekend:
First of all, who in their right mind is paying $80 for Alexei Ponikarovsky's autograph? And second.. um.. why is Stevie Y signing Devils pucks?
Jon came across an old postcard from my home town on eBay (not this one) and thought I'd be interested. I showed it to my mom as I happened to be visiting said home town and she told me that Babe Ruth once played on this field. I knew that.. but there was more I didn't know that might interest someone reading this. It was converted to a racetrack, which my mom worked at as a teenager. But in between that time, the field was named after Tigers pitcher "Wild" Bill Donovan - who is credited as "popular Yankees manager" in this article 🙄
It took us five hours to get home from Connecticut because of a major accident (and a flash flood).
Don't know how we could have gone any slower
But when I got home, there was a flat rate box of cards waiting for me.
Anyone building the 2024 Topps Chrome baseball set? Let me know what numbers you need.
In my Blog Bat Around post, I mentioned some of the most
valuable cards I pulled over the years - and I mentioned how many of
them were sold for less than peak value. Jon commented that bloggers
like myself far too often lament the unfavorable transactions and rarely
mention the favorable sales.
So, in the interest of balance (and to remind myself that I'm not completely incompetent at this whole sports card thing) here's
a list of ten cards I sold at or near peak value. Nearly all of these were
sold in either 2020 or 2021. I'm sure I've got some other successful
sales in the archives, but figured I'd focus on the sports card spike
during Covid.
In ascending order:
2012 Topps Russell Wilson RC Sale Price: $32.00
Russ
was still seen as a top-10 quarterback and future Hall of Famer when I
sold this card. I think he's got some good years left in him, but his
popularity has definitely taken a hard hit. As of this posting, you can
buy a PSA 9 copy of this card for under $20.
Speaking of PSA 9s..
Julio Urias 2013 Bowman Sterling AU PSA 9 Sale Price: $43.09
Prospectors
are always cautioned to avoid pitchers but I liked Urias because he
was very young (debuted at age 19), left-handed, and a Dodger. He also
shares my birthday. I gave up on him after injuries halted his progress
(shocker), kicked myself for doing so after he won 20 games, and felt
relieved to have sold this single when he was charged with domestic
violence (again).
A BGS 9.5 copy of this card recently sold for $17.50. Want an ungraded copy? It'll cost you a dollar.
Christian Yelich 2013 Topps Chrome Update RC & 2015 Topps Museum Auto #d/399 Sale Price: $71.00
I
was a fan of Yelich, but worried that his sub-par 2020 season was the
beginning of a decline. He hasn't fallen as far as another player I
invested in pre-pandemic and bailed out on just in time, but his RCs
won't sell for anything near this amount today - even if you throw in an
autograph as I did here. Yeli's base Chrome RC can be had for less than the cost of a large coffee. If you want the autographed version, a gem mint copy or refractor can be had for around this price.
I somehow landed this Bad Boy for pocket change in 2015 back when 4 Sharp Corners had bargain slabs:
It was purchased before I'd really planned to build the set (thus the lack of direct scan) but I sold off some of the PSA 9 singles during the pandemic because ... well, at those prices, it would be silly not to. Earliter this year I got a PSA-slabbed Michael Jordan All-Star for around this price. MJ's nemesis can be had in this grade for about $25 today.
1983-84 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky PSA 9 Sale Price: $305.00
I spied this card ungraded at my LCS (long before they moved down the street from me). The slab cost more than the card itself, and the $30-40 total was a wise investment. I had no intention of selling it, but pandemic pricing sent high-grade copies of all-time greats soaring to new heights. That included the Great One, whose singles practically quadrupled. $305 isn't necessarily a peak price; while many PSA 9 copies sell for under $200 today one copy recently sold for $400.
1996-97 Kobe Bryant SP RC PSA 9 Sale Price: $306.01
Another fortunate 4 Sharp Corners pickup - I bought this with Christmas money in 2014, before I had any plans to rebuild a basketball collection. In that same order I bought a PSA 9 John Stockton Fleer RC - and amazingly both were cheaper than an SP RC of Jarome Iginla!
1748675 - 1988 FLEER #115 JOHN STOCKTON RC JAZZ HOF PSA 9 K1748675-424
I'd planned to keep the Kobe card, especially after he tragically passed away in 2020. However a year later, the prices of this fairly common rookie card were soaring and I decided to sell. The most recent PSA 9 example sold for $50 so I think I made the right decision.
Henrik Lundqvist 2005-06 SP Authentic RC Auto BGS 9.5 Sale Price: $475.00
I managed to splurge on a few Future Watch autos over the years including this "King" Henrik, which I bought in 2012 for $160. Despite my disdain for the Rags, I liked Lundqvist and was happy to have this card in my high-end hockey PC. Once he retired, I decided to cash out. The pandemic was unofficially done by the time I sold this in early 2022, but the prices remained high. One recent eBay auction for a BGS 9.5 ended at about $270, while another copy sold for roughly the same price as mine.
Kris Bryant 2013 Bowman Chrome Ref. Auto BGS 9.5 Sale Price: $600.00
I loved this card. It was one of my absolute favorite singles of one of my favorite players. I did not buy it to resell. This was supposed to stay in my collection forever. However, I started to panic after his injury-riddled 2018 season and even though he rebounded in 2019 I must have sensed something ominous on the horizon - because I sold this card in January of 2020. Bryant's stock has sunk lower than Yelich due to a never-ending string of injuries. I still root for the guy and occasionally scoop up his low-end parallels, but I'm glad I was able to sell this when I did. A South Korean seller recently sold two copies of this card for $99.99 each. I'd consider buying it back at that price.
Jaromir Jagr 1990-91 O-Pee-Chee Premier RC PSA 10 Sold for $625.00
This one was wild. Another prescient purchase from 4 Sharp Corners, back when I was hoarding high-grade rookie cards of legendary players. Jagr was five seasons away from completing his incredible NHL career (he's still an active player in his homeland!) when I picked this up in a 2013 Black Friday sale:
If the Maddux had fetched $400+ during the pandemic I would have sold that one, too. Actually, I sold this card two times - the initial auction ended at $405 but the seller didn't pay so I relisted it. Only when the relisted auction exceeded $500 did the first buyer pay his $405. I immediately refunded him and watched as the relist soared past $600.
This for a run-of-the-mill base card from 1990. Probstein has sold a bunch of 10s recently for about $150 each. Covid was crazy, man.
Mike Trout 2011 Bowman Chrome RC BGS 9.5 Sale Price: over 1k
I wrote a blog post about this gem shortly after it sold, for more than any single card I've ever sold. But, as I said in the Blog Bat Around, it's not the most valuable card I've ever owned. I just happened to sell this at the right time. Since this was a pack pull from a blaster, the $20 I spent (plus the grading fee) easily makes this the most profitable transaction of my collecting life. Even though Trout's place among baseball's best is secure, this card can be purchased in this grade for half a grand today.
There you have it, my ten most successful sports card sales. Unfortunately, I may need to add to this list soon.
Years ago, back when Corky was still blogging, he wrote that he had to sell his 1933 Goudey Lou Gehrig PSA 3 to pay for the medication that he needed to stay alive. That gutted me as a lifelong collector. I could only dream of owning such an incredible card, and any illness that required such a sacrifice must have been an incredibly painful ordeal to endure.
I've been so fortunate to have avoided the hospital for most of my life. No major illnesses or surgeries, even though I don't exercise and I eat like a lazy teenager.
My wife is not so lucky. Mrs. Collector has stage 4 colon cancer. Her chemotherapy treatments start in May.
As a result, this will be my last post for a while. Card collecting is on an indefinite pause as of 5/1. I will try to complete the Athletics series as promised, but it might be the only posts I manage this summer. The family needs me more than ever.
I spent a few days in Boston. My daughters wanted to see some historical landmarks so we visited the Old State House, South Meeting House, Freedom Trail, and Paul Revere House.
There were some Topps cards in the Old State House:
I sent my former manager G a postcard. Told her I miss my restoration "family" and wished her a happy spring. Asked about her daughter's cheer competition and told her to let me know how it goes. I ended the message by saying hi to K-dub and Baldy. And no one else.
On Wednesday we had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. While waiting outside some Masshole asked me if I was a Celtics fan. I was wearing a Vegas Golden Knights hat. I told him no. "Why not?" He shouted outside the passenger's side window. I don't dislike the Celtics, they're fine. And I'm happy that they're beating Brooklyn. But I root for players, not a specific team. That would take too long to explain so I just told him I wasn't from Boston. "No? Then what the fuck are you doing here?" Good question.
Red Auerbach statue at Quincy Market. My nine year old saw the plaque with Larry Bird's shoes to Red's left and surmised that this was Larry legend.
Stopped into Newbury Comics. My daughter got a squishmallow. I saw a scattering of sports cards but balked at the price: $40 for a blaster of UD hockey; $8 per pack. $4 for a pack of MVP hockey. There was Topps baseball but I couldn't see the price tag. Probably $40 for a blaster there, too. I got excited for a second when I saw Panini Prizm.. but it was a wrestling blaster.
Newbury had a pack of regular-sized top loaders: $10.99 for 25. Same price for ten super-thick top loaders. No thanks.
Alex Ovechkin hit 50 goals for the ninth time. I'm hoping Jonathan
Huberdeau wins the Art Ross trophy because he won't win the Hart. Mike
Bossy passed away before my vacation started. Guy Lafleur passed away
while I was in Boston.
Watched a Red Sox game Friday night. The Sox nearly took a 7-2 lead but Travis Shaw's home run was ruled foul. The Rays had runners on and nobody out in the bottom of the ninth so I turned it off. Somehow Boston's bullpen held on for the 4-3 win.
Someone needs to explain to me why this guy is Josh LOW
.... but this guy is Brandon LOWE(as in oww!)
Miguel Cabrera collected his 3,000th hit while I was gone. Shout-out to the Rockies for having the guts to pitch to him.
The weather was nearly flawless while I was on vacation. In Jersey it rains every other day, and every single Saturday. Aside from some brisk wind every day was perfect.
We spent Saturday in Salem. On the way up I passed two sports cards and memorabilia stores in Saugus. They were right off the highway but we'd left Boston without eating breakfast. If we were going to stop it would have to be on the way back.
While the Mrs. went looking for distant relatives at the burial ground I ambled about town haunted by a more recent past.
In between the shops and the cemeteries a bubbly blonde woman clapped when she saw me. No one has been excited to see me in quite some time. "Are you from Las Vegas?" She asked me. I had to tell her I wasn't. She apologized for stopping me and explained that she's a big Golden Knights fan. "That's awesome!" I replied. Was no trouble at all for me, in fact it was nice to be interesting for a moment.
I have now become the guy who wears hats for the logo and colors, rather than the loyalty to team. My tween self would be so disappointed.
At least it disturbed me from my crystalline stupor.
We left Salem around 2pm. The GPS didn't send us through Saugus on the trip home. It sent us to Peabody.
So close, yet so far away. This wasn't on our itinerary, therefore the driver did not stop. Maybe next time.
We stopped at my mom's on the way home. I was exhausted and in a mood so it hit up eBay. Bought three singles from the same seller, all set fillers. One was a Patrice Bergeron RC.. to commemorate my trip to Boston.
When I got home I had three PWEs waiting for me, including the custom cards from Gregory at Nine Pockets. I'll show those off soon.
