My Sports Obsession

Randomness

2012-03-06T22:08:00.001-05:00

Well, rumor has it that tomorrow the Colts are announcing that they are parting ways with Peyton Manning. I guess we will find out who are Colts fans and who are Manning fans. I am both, and I will probably root for Peyton wherever he ends up. Probably Miami since that is where all my favorite team’s players seem to be running for. But I am, and will remain, a Colts fan. I’m not overly huge on the NFL like I am MLB or NCAA so it won’t hurt too much if we suck again. The nice thing is there is only 1 game a week to watch. That’s how I survived last season. It sucks more when the White Sox suck because I try to watch as many games as I can and as we all know, there are a lot more games to be disappointed when watching MLB.

siphotos:

White Sox shortstop Luis Aparicio slides into third base during a spring training photo shoot. This picture appeared on the cover of the April 30, 1962 issue of Sports Illustrated. (Mark Kauffman/SI)
SI VAULT: A group of colorful baseballers are keeping traditions alive (4.30.62)

Not too much longer until baseball!
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I got all my Sox cards reorganized on Sunday, I spent about 10 hours finishing them up. I think my wife thinks I’m nuts spending all that time playing with baseball cards but that’s ok, she’s stuck with me now. I got my Luis Aparicio cards set aside and as soon as I get them logged into my player collection pages and have lists, then I can get them put away as well.

I bought my son a 2012 Topps rack pack or hanger or whatever they are called for my son. He opened them and started putting them in teams, then got his other cards and put them in with their teams. My wife says he’s doing it because I bought them and doesn’t care what they are. But I don’t care, I had fun. I had him reading off the team names hoping he’ll pick them up. Maybe he’ll even watch some games with me this year. Yeah, I doubt that will happen. But I can dream. It would be nice if he would get as excited as I was when he pulled the Mickey Mantle or Bob Gibson inserts. I still get excited about pulling Hall of Famers so I guess I can’t complain that they are all over the new sets.

Happy White Sox spring training day!! I’m the happiest guy ever today!
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Spring training is under way. Now to get to some of the televised games so I can at least watch some baseball. Right now I’d settle for being able to follow them on a stat tracker or my phone or something. All I get right now is a few tweets here and there.

Since this is (was) an all word post. I went over to My Sports Obsession Tumblr and grabbed some pictures I’ve posted there and stuck them in here. Just to show what you’ve been missing. OK, it’s a shameless plug. But I did need some pics to liven up the post so there you go. At least the pics match something in the following paragraph. Well, except for the Michigan baseball, although, it’s above the paragraph about my Tumblr, so technically, I could have posted anything from over there and it fits.

Trade with the Sandlot

2012-03-05T21:32:00.001-05:00

Joe of “the Sandlot” fame contacted me about a trade. He had some Sox cards to get rid of and wanted to know if I had anything to trade. After about a month or so, I finally collected enough cards to send to him. Here’s the highlights of what he sent me in our first trade.

I have some of the Topps Unique cards, but I had never seen the red ones. Are these a parallel from Target? I liked the photo of the Morel the first time I saw it, now I have 3 different ones with this Walmart parallel. And you can’t go wrong with a 75’ mini from Lineage. I only have a few of these, definitely need to get more. Metal Universe of our new head coach, a Joe Crede rookie and a numbered Buehrle. Joe knows how to do a trade right.

I don’t think I’ve see these Topps Gallery cards and I really like them. I’m familiar with the Gallery brand, just hadn’t seen this set before. I like these about as much as I do the Upper Deck Masterpieces.

A couple of refractor’s

A few vintage, including a ‘71.

Even a full team set. Well it was, I didn’t have the Konerko so now I’m short that card for this set. Joe is an awesome trader. He sent a lot of different things. But wait, there’s more.

All of these cards go to my Paul Konerko collection I thought I had the Unique but apparently not.

And finally, Joe even sent these beauties. Brandon McCarthy was supposed to be the next big thing and I was upset when they traded him but apparently KW knew what he was doing because Brandon hasn’t been the same since, lots of injuries hasn’t helped. And you can never go wrong with a Frank Thomas relic.

Thanks Joe, amazing trade. Check out “the Sandlot” and make a swap with the man, he knows what he’s doing.

Big Money in 1989 Fleer?

2012-03-03T21:22:00.001-05:00

You all know my regular Ebay habits, so you know I tend to stick to lower priced cards. I’m currently winning a 1989 Fleer Jack McDowell at $.25/shipped. Which is my max for a base card but I didn’t have it so I put a bid on it. Now notice I said winning, not won. It doesn’t end till tomorrow. But I got a message earlier today that asked me if I could purchase something else since my bid doesn’t even cover a stamp. Seriously? He placed the minimum bid, not me. Now when the auction is over, and if I win it, I always check for other things listed that I might want in order to take advantage of shipping. I went ahead and checked his listings and the only other thing he had that interested me was a reprint of an old cracker jack card but the minimum bid is $.65 which is more than I want to pay for it.

On one hand, I understand being frustrated at having to send a card for less than the price of a stamp. But it’s an 1989 Fleer, did you really expect to get a bunch of money for it? While Jack McDowell was a great pitcher, his cards aren’t worth much.

He also asked if I wanted any other cards he could throw up for me to bid on. I’m debating on whether to even respond of just ignore it. What say all of you? Should I reply and tell him I’ll take any base card I don’t have for, I don’t know, $.10/piece or just ignore the message and see if he ships it?

Player Collection Spotlight–Dave Dravecky

2012-03-02T15:00:00.000-05:00

In this series, I randomly select a card from my player collections and show it off here. Being that it’s random, it could be a base, insert, parallel, auto, relic or any other kind of card I have. It could be from Paul Konerko, Tom Seaver, Billy Williams, Dave Dravecky and even Mike Hart or Peyton Manning. I will put a mark next to it on my PC list so it doesn’t get repeated.

1985 O-pee-chee – Dave Dravecky

1981 Topps–Tudor, Krukow, Scott, Hernandez

2012-03-02T12:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1981 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – John Tudor – Boston Red Sox – Card #14
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “JABO’s”)

Another player I had a collection of. Not sure why as of now, he must have been pretty decent or popular for me to start one though. I want to say this was his rookie card.

Card Facts – Mike Krukow – Chicago Cubs – Card #176
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “JABO’s”)

Card Facts – Rodney Scott – Montreal Expos – Card #539
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “Manupatches & Mustaches”)

I just miss the Expos. That’s all I really have to say.

Card Facts – Willie Hernandez – Chicago Cubs – Card #238
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “JABO’s”)

Cards posted in this set – 62
Total price paid – $2.09
Average price per card – $0.03
Cards left to post – 664
Percentage posted – 62/726 (9% posted)
Percentage completed – 494/726 (68% completed)

Added the new cards that I got from 3 or 4 different trades. It was a few cards from a few different people. But it bumped up percentage complete another percent. Also with 4 free cards through trade, it bumped the average price per card down a cent.

1973 Topps–Fosse, rookie catchers, Alomar, Harmon

2012-03-02T09:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1973 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Ray Fosse – Cleveland Indians – Card #226
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “Royals and Randoms”)

Not a big fan of these Cleveland hats. I always confuse the C with the Cubs logo.

Card Facts – Sergio Robles, George Pena, Rick Stelmaszek – Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers – Card #601
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “Royals and Randoms”)

An elusive high number, big props to Josh for sending this one.

Card Facts – Sandy Alomar – California Angels – Card #123
Purchase Price – $.11 (Ebay lot 40/$4.25)

Of the famous Alomar family, father of Sandy jr and Roberto, MLB players in the 90’s and 00’s. Sandy jr played for the White Sox for a few years.

Card Facts – Terry Harmon – Philadelphia Phillies – Card #166
Purchase Price – $.11 (Ebay lot 40/$4.25)

Cards posted in this set – 57
Total price paid – $6.98
Average price per card – $0.12
Cards left to post – 627 (including NNO Checklists)
Percentage posted – 57/684 (8% posted)
Percentage completed – 106/684 (15% completed)

I got the new cards added into the set completion. It bumped the % completed up by 1. They were all from an Ebay lot I picked up pretty cheap.

Trade with Blue Batting Helmet

2012-03-01T20:55:00.001-05:00

I received a package from Rob over at “Blue Batting Helmet”. I haven’t even gathered enough cards to send him from his last package and here he goes sending me more. It was a small package but he had some great cards in there. Here’s just a few highlights.

Love any Griffey card in a Sox uniform. Wish he would have worked out well here. I was ecstatic when they signed him. An O-Pee-Chee Alexei Ramirez rookie. I haven’t seen these All-Rookie Team cards before. And a young GM Kenny Williams in one of those Fleer Sets that they produced a bunch of in the 80’s.

He even managed to hit a card I need for my player collection of Paul Konerko.

Thanks Rob, I’m slowly gathering some Cubs for you. Be sure to check out “Blue Batting Helmet”

Trade with Sluggo

2012-02-29T19:47:00.001-05:00

I know what your all thinking, who the hell is Sluggo? Well, he’s not a blogger. I don’t think he’ll even see this post unless I stick it on his Facebook wall and even then I can’t guarantee he’ll see it. Sluggo would be my cousin, or at least, my cousin’s nickname. When I was growing up, Sluggo and I collected big time. It was always our dream to start a card shop together. That’s still a dream but it’ll probably stay a dream since card shops don’t fare to well anymore.

He still collects but mostly he sets up at card shows down in North Carolina. Where apparently they have a few times a month, must be nice. So he’s got some good cards. I traded with him a few months ago just to get some trade bait for some fellow collector’s that I was trading with at the time. After the trade, I sent a couple Dale Murphy rookies for his PC that I picked up cheap. He called me, said he had a guy looking for refractors, and we started another trade. I sent him all my football cards and what little refractor’s I had. And he sent me a bunch of cards he’s been grabbing at shows for me. He doesn’t use my have lists, he just grabs whatever oddball cards he can find.

These are some awesome cards. Out of the huge stack he sent me, I had very few of them. And now you see why. He grabbed all kinds of stuff to send me. Die Cuts, Framed, Foul Pole netting, and more.

All these are refractor type parallels. Again, none that I had. Truly a great lot of cards he sent me.

And these 3 awesome cards. Love the shininess of the Finest Konerko. The only card that I knew was coming was the Aparicio patch card. I like them because they are different. I certainly wouldn’t pay a fortune for them, but I do like them. And believe it or not, I actually had the 1960 Topps Aparicio but that’s ok. Because now I need 2 of all of his cards. That’s right, I finally pulled the trigger on starting an Aparicio player collection. I eluded to this earlier last week. I have just really grown to appreciate Aparicio as a player. What I noticed after I decided I might go for his cards for the PC was that when I got one, it got me more excited to see them then any other card so I knew I needed to start one. I’ll try to get my have list up in the next few days.

So there you have it, even family member’s can trade. Baseball Cards bringing family together. Brings a tear to your eye. And just in case he does read this, thanks Kevin!

Valentine’s Day

2012-02-28T20:47:00.001-05:00

I tried to tell you how behind I was. My wife picked up a few packs for me on Valentine’s day. Nothing for my collections but here are the highlights of the packs. All are available for trade.

I started pulling my Sox cards out of their binders to put them in set order. I think I’ll do want lists for the base of the major brands instead of every Sox card. I’ll still take every card, but my collection focus is going to change a bit to completing team sets. Maybe eventually, I’ll even finish my want lists.

I logged into my Google Reader today to over 7000 posts. Not all are sports related and some are pics and twitter feeds so some I can fly through. But that will give you an idea how far behind I am. I’ve noticed I missed a few contests and some other things (Barry Larkin card voting) so I’ve divided them into folders and all my card blogs are in one folder, and that was still over 500 posts. But now I’m going to read all those before I do anything else. I mean, you have to have priorities right. So hopefully in a day or two, I’ll be caught up on all your blogs. You probably haven’t missed me, but I’ll pretend you have if only to stroke my ego. I did get through a couple of hundred while at work today (it was a little slow). So either I need to read more, or all of you need to stop posting till I get caught up. Yeah, I figured, I’ll start reading more.

Player Collection Spotlight–Paul Konerko

2012-02-28T12:00:00.000-05:00

2011 Topps Diamond Parallel – Paul Konerko

Ebay pick-ups

2012-02-27T21:49:00.001-05:00

I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been a little more regular on Ebay than usual and am trying to get cheap cards for my PC’s. These cards are what I received in the mail this week.

Chris Getz – 2007 Bowman Signs of the Future autograph ($2.00/shipped)
Mark Buehrle – 2002 Upper Deck Vintage ($.15/shipped)

First off, a couple for my White Sox team collection. There was a BIN of $3 on the Getz, which I probably would have paid being as he is a former Wolverine as well, but I went ahead and gave him an offer of $2 and he accepted. I’m guessing, he didn’t get many page views on this card because he had “Chris Cetz” in the title and description and decided he might as well take the $2. The Mark Buehrle I didn’t have and at a whopping $.15, I figured I couldn’t pass that up. Think of it as a dime box pick-up with a nickel shipping.

Billy Williams – 1988 Topps All-Star Commemorative Set ($.75/shipped)

I’m been trying to boost my Billy Williams collection, but being as I don’t generally pay over $.50 for inserts, it’s been rough scoring any cards for it. This is actually the first insert I’ve even seen with less than $1 price tag and I used to have all these All-Star glossy sets so I went ahead and bought it anyways.

Paul Konerko – 2012 Topps ‘87 mini ($.99 shipped)

Another insert I overpaid against my rules. But I’ve been wanting this card for my Konerko collection. Most of us love this set, so I’m sure you all understand.

Tom Seaver – 2012 Topps Golden Greats ($.80/shipped)
Tom Seaver – 2002 Upper Deck World Series Heroes ($.20/shipped)
Tom Seaver – 2012 Topps Golden Standard ($.55/shipped)
Tom Seaver – 1986 True Value Super Stars ($.34/shipped)

I guess I was just trying to get all the 2012’s out of the way when they came out since I broke my rule a few times again, but not by much. I’ve been bidding on some relics and auto’s but since I won’t break my rules on those, I haven’t won much. Only 1 to date and that was yesterday so I won’t receive it till next week sometime. I really like the True Value card just because I figure it to be a little harder to come by. I didn’t think I would win in that cheap. Guess I got lucky on that one.

Free cards!

2012-02-26T20:16:00.001-05:00

I’ve spent the weekend getting all the cards I’ve received in the last month or so organized, logged in to my have lists, taken off my want lists, and am now trying to get some posts ready to go in the next few days. Then sometime this week I’ll have to find the time to actually put them all away. Which also explains why I’m so freaking far behind on reading your posts I believe I’m probably almost a week behind on all my blogs. Which isn’t too hard to do since I currently have 446 blogs subscribed to in my Google Reader. Hopefully I can get caught up at work this week.

I was trying to add more blogs to my blog roll as there are a bunch I follow that I haven’t been able to add. I got through about half of them, then the stupid blogger wouldn’t save anymore. I click save, it say’s saving, but never goes away or save’s. I guess I’ll try again sometime this week. Sucks because I was on a roll getting them logged in. I probably would have been done in another 10 or 15 minutes when it stopped. Something like that always happens when I finally get time to do something.

Before I get into the free card, saw this on Twitter. For those of you who don’t know who Oney Guillen is, it would Ozzie Guillen’s son.

And now that my title has gotten you all reading and looking for free cards. I received a PWE in the mail about a week ago. Now if you follow my Ebay habits, which I post on here, then you probably realize I get cards in PWE all the time. So the envelope itself, wasn’t a surprise. At least until I opened it and out fell this.

Apparently Ted at “Crinkly Wrappers” actually reads what I write, or at least he did once. I had posted how much I liked this card, probably when I received the sparkly version of it. Tom Seaver, who is a player collection, White Sox, which is my favorite team, and the old style uniforms that I like. Ted and I have traded in the past. But along with this card, came this note

I think we’ve probably all said it at one point or another, people in this great community of ours are just awesome. Sorry, about tricking you into reading this post with my misleading title, but your life will be better having seen that card. I did it for your own good.

Thanks Ted, it’ll look great right next to my sparkly copy. Be sure to check out “Crinkly Wrappers"

Player Collection Spotlight–Tom Seaver

2012-02-26T13:42:00.001-05:00

1992 Pacific Tom Terrific – Tom Seaver

Contest Pimpage

2012-02-24T21:44:00.001-05:00

Want a chance at a free card? Did I mention it’s an auto/relic of Duke Snider numbered to only 10. A great new blog over at “Cards Beyond Oceans” To check out the contest, go here. They have just announced a 2nd place of a Bryce Harper Bowman card. Get over there now and start accumulating points.

Trade with the Dimwit

2012-02-24T19:55:00.001-05:00

Before I get into the trade, I finally got my stuff scanned tonight. Now it’s a matter of getting them typed up and ready to post. But I can do that on the comfort of my couch, with my feet up. ZZZZZZZZ

I made a trade with Sam a little while ago, I thought I had posted this already but the scan’s were still in my “scanned and waiting” folder so I went searching and sure enough, no post. So here goes.

Sam contacted me with some Sox cards he had but I didn’t have much to send him. So I told him to give me some time and I’d pick some up, which I did. Shipped them off to him and here’s my return package, or at least the highlights.

Some Topps gold cards. I don’t think I have very many of these. I’ve always liked these parallels. I hate parallels because it’s more cards to collect as a team collector, but I have to admit, I do like some of them. I’ve always liked the gold, and I liked the original sparkly diamond ones, I didn’t care that they started going with cognac and whatever else they had. The hope diamond ones look cool but the odds make them a lot harder to get.

Absolutely love these cards. I believe I have the Michael Jordan white one but I know I don’t have the green framed. And if you remember my photo cleansing posts, I was a big MJ fan. Plus, the Big Hurt, one of the greatest Sox ever. And I’ve grown quite a bit of fondness to Aparicio so to get a green framed, awesome. I really do love the Masterpieces set.

I’m not positive what the Thomas blue card is but I believe I have the Tom Seaver one that I picked up at a card show awhile back. I didn’t even know Rios had a Kimball card but I like it. And you can never go wrong with vintage, even if it is a reprint of a vintage.

Tadahito was a huge part of our 2005 championship and it’s a great looking prospect card. The Konerko goes into my player collection which I am always grateful to add to. Plus it’s got a cool, shiny look to it.

And on top of all those great cards, he throws in these 3 relics. A Paulie bat card, which I believe is my first bat card of his. A Danks A&G, I like these framed mini relics. Plus it has a jersey stripe to boot. And I assume the Carlos Lee is a dupe for Sam since he’s an Astros fan. Either way, it’s a great card.

Thanks for the great trade Sam, be sure to check out “The Daily Dimwit”, one of the best card blogs out there.

1973 Topps–Gura, Astros, Jackson, Splittorff

2012-02-24T12:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1973 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Larry Gura – Chicago Cubs – Card #501
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “Crinkly Wrappers”)

Card Facts – Houston Astros team card – Card #158
Purchase Price – $.17 (Ebay lot 6/$1.04)

Creased and miscut, but works for me. If I get too picky, I’ll replace it but for now it’s just fine.

Card Facts – Grant Jackson – Baltimore Orioles – Card #396
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “Royals and Randoms”)

Card Facts – Paul Splittorff – Kansas City Royals – Card #48
Purchase Price – $.17 (Ebay lot 6/$1.04)

Cards posted in this set – 53
Total price paid – $6.76
Average price per card – $0.13
Cards left to post – 631 (including NNO Checklists)
Percentage posted – 53/684 (8% posted)
Percentage completed – 93/684 (14% completed)

I’ve gotten some more 1973’s, hopefully this weekend I’ll get them added to the randomization.

1981 Topps–Petry, Smith, Evans, Stanley

2012-02-24T09:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1981 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Dan Petry – Detroit Tigers – Card #59
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “JABO’s”)

Card Facts – Dave Smith – Houston Astros – Card #534
Purchase Price – $.05 (Ebay lot 100/$4.99).

Card Facts – Dwight Evans – Boston Red Sox – Card #275
Purchase Price – $.05 (Ebay lot 100/$4.99).

I used to have a player collection of Dwight Evans. Of course, I had about 100+ players I collected back then.

Card Facts – Fred Stanley – New York Yankees – Card #281
Purchase Price – $.05 (Ebay lot 100/$4.99).

This card doesn’t even vaguely look familiar. I would assume I’ve seen it before but it doesn’t look familiar at all.

Cards posted in this set – 58
Total price paid – $2.09
Average price per card – $0.04
Cards left to post – 668
Percentage posted – 58/726 (8% posted)
Percentage completed – 483/726 (67% completed)

I got a few more 1981’s in a couple of trades. Hopefully this weekend I’ll get them added to the randomization that I do for these cards to post.

Ebay pick-ups

2012-02-23T21:02:00.001-05:00

I finished up the 80’s on my want lists last night. I’m slowly getting there. No full team sets yet, but I’m within a few cards on a couple. After I get the lists done, I’ll make more of an effort to pick up those few cards and complete the team set.

I’ve been searching Ebay most days trying to pick up cheap Sox, Wolverines and player collection cards but these I’m showing I actually picked up probably a little over a month ago. And no, I haven’t gotten around to scanning yet, these were scanned and waiting in my folder to post. I’ve just been slacking. I know, shocker right?

Pedro Lopex – 2005 Bowman’s Best rookie autograph ($1.98)
Matt Long – 2006 Bowman Chrome Draft Pick autograph ($1.22)
Ruddy Yan – 2004 Leaf Certified Materials autograph ($1.98)
Ruddy Yan – 2005 Gold Leaf Rookies autograph ($1.22)

I try not to spend more than $2 on a non-star auto or relic. As you can tell, I accomplished that with all 4 of these. They came from a couple different lots. I’m getting better at remembering to check the seller’s other items when I win a card. Both these lots came with other cards that I had picked up for Dennis. One lot was 13 cards, all auto’s or relics, and I only paid $3 to ship them. The price paid includes the shipping cost divided between how many cards in the lot.

Jermaine Dye – 2006 Topps Allen & Ginter’s relic ($1.98)

This came in one of the lots that I mentioned above. I will usually pay up to $3 for stars or players I like. Both references are relevant with Dye to me but I still managed to keep it under $2 with the combined shipping.

I realized that I need to start keeping track of how many relics/autos I have in my PC’s. I keep track of a total up above on the right, but I should keep a list for each player. I think I have a couple of Dye relics. I always liked him and I hate that he had to walk away. I understand he had a bad year before he retired but with what he had accomplished with us, I think we could at least offered him a incentive based contract for a year and give him a chance to prove himself. I’m glad he walked away on his terms though. He was offered a contract with someone, that he turned down because he had said he wasn’t going to play for less than a certain price. He didn’t get it, so he retired.

I’ve purchased some more cheap stuff, mostly base and oddball stuff. But they would be in that stack to scan. That stack seems to get bigger and bigger every day. I don’t have to work this weekend, so hopefully I’ll get it done then.

1973 Topps–May, A’s, Bryant, Kingman

2012-02-22T12:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1973 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Carlos May – Chicago White Sox – Card #105
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “Crinkly Wrappers”)

Ted sent this to me, I already had it in my White Sox collection so it worked out to put it towards the 1973 set.

Card Facts – Oakland A’s team card – Card #500
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “Royals and Randoms”)

There is enough players to fill a roster but for some reason it seems like only half a team compared to other team cards.

Card Facts – Ron Bryant – San Francisco Giants – Card #298
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “Crinkly Wrappers”)

Card Facts – Dave Kingman – San Francisco Giants – Card #23
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “Royals and Randoms”)

Cards posted in this set – 49
Total price paid – $6.49
Average price per card – $0.13
Cards left to post – 635 (including NNO Checklists)
Percentage posted – 49/684 (7% posted)
Percentage completed – 93/684 (14% completed)

1981 Topps–Zisk, Kemp, Foote, Geronimo

2012-02-22T09:05:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1981 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Richie Zisk – Texas Rangers – Card #517
Purchase Price – free (Trade with Manupatches & Mustaches)

Card Facts – Steve Kemp – Detroit Tigers – Card #593
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “Manupatches & Mustaches”).

Card Facts – Barry Foote – Chicago Cubs – Card #492
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “JABO’s”)

Card Facts – Cesar Geronimo – Cincinnati Reds – Card #390
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “JABO’s”)

Cards posted in this set – 54
Total price paid – $1.94
Average price per card – $0.04
Cards left to post – 672
Percentage posted – 54/726 (7% posted)
Percentage completed – 483/726 (67% completed)

Player Collection Spotlight–Tom Seaver

2012-02-21T21:36:00.001-05:00

1992 Pacific Tom Terrific – Tom Seaver

Seems like I’ve been here before

2012-02-20T21:45:00.001-05:00

Ever since I picked up all the vintage cards at the card show a few weeks ago. I’ve been wanting to take all my cards out of their pages, and rearrange them. Right now, they are in player order. But wouldn’t all those vintage look good all together. All the feelings of pulling them all out and putting them in a different order reminds me so much of my childhood. I had a huge metal desk in my bedroom. I had thousands upon thousands of cards. I didn’t consider certain cards part of my collection, they were all part of my collection. I wanted every one of them. If I saw a card I didn’t have, I wanted it. It didn’t matter if it was some nobody who I had never heard of, or a hall of famer, if I didn’t have it, I wanted it. One week I would put them in player order. The next week, team order, the next week, card manufacturing order. It was endless. I always had stacks of cards on that desk. I’d stay up all hours of the night, sorting. Now I’m getting the urge to do it again. And probably again. And probably once again.

Plus I’m getting close on a few teams sets and those would look cool together. I’m still trying to copy over my set wants from teamsets4u.com so I don’t know how many I actually have. I know I have the 2010 Topps and I’m only a card short on a few others on account that I always fill my player collections first. So I’m missing a few Konerko cards for those team sets.

On another side note, I’ve ran a fantasy baseball league at work since 2003 but we lose people every year because, as you all know, baseball season’s are very long. Most people don’t want to take the time to check their line-ups every day. It’s a head to head league with 2 divisions, I’m down to 6 teams (plus 1 more to sign up) and I would like to have 10 or 12 teams. There’s 6 scoring columns in each, offense and pitching. Live online draft. Unlimited free agents (with waivers) and trades. It’s a “for fun” league, most of us are baseball enthusiasts. If your interested, email me at jccsst1022 at gmail dot com. By the way, it is free through yahoo, although if you would like, you can throw in $5 and best record at the end of the season wins most of the pot, 2nd place get their $5 back. It’s not mandatory to get in on the money, not all of us do it. But to be eligible for the prize, you have to pay the $5 before the season starts. Like I said, let me know if your interested. I’d just like to have some managers that will take the time to change their line-ups whenever possible. So if you’ve never played and want to try, let me know (jccsst1022 at gmail dot com) and I’ll send you the sign up info. We’ve already got 4 Cubs fans, 2 White Sox fans, and an Angels fan. So as long as your not another Cubs fan, your welcome to join. We’ve already met our quota of Cubs fans. Just kidding of course, anybody is welcome.

I’ve got a few trade posts and ebay pick ups to scan. Plus I also have some cards coming from my cousin in North Carolina that I have to pick up from my mom who was just down there visiting. I know one card I’m looking forward to receiving and when I post it, it will come with an announcement of another player collection starting.

While I do own all these cards in the pictures. I only posted them just so there was some cards to look at. Oh, they all have something in common with my new player collection as well. They are all from the team that my new PC is for.

Oh, and it isn’t any of the player’s pictured here. I really debated on Southpaw above, no not really. But if you’re a regular reader, you should know what’s coming.

Today’s 9–Mark Buehrle, page 2

2012-02-18T22:57:00.001-05:00

I keep my White Sox collection by players last name. When that player reaches 9 cards (a page), they get a post in the Today’s 9 series. I just recently moved all my cards into alphabetical order so most of these posts are just catching up and making sure everybody get’s their due.

MARK BUEHRLE

Cards (L-R) – (top row) 2005 Leaf Limited #’d 697/699, 2005 Topps, 2005 Topps World Series

(middle row) 2005 Topps World Series (season highlights), 2005 Topps World Series (season highlights), 2005 Topps World series (postseason highlights)

(bottom row) 2005 Upper Deck First Pitch, 2006 Bowman, 2006 Fleer Ultra

Played with the Sox from 2000-2011

Has made 4 All-Star appearances over his career and has take home a gold glove in his last 3 seasons. Led the league in innings pitched in 2004 and 2005. Mark threw a no-hitter against the Rangers with one walk in 2007 and also threw only the 18th perfect game in MLB history in 2009 against the Rays.

Card back info –

“Buehrle was a major factor in the hot start by the White Sox in 2005. He allowed two hits in eight scoreless innings against the Indians on Opening Day and set a personal best with 12 strikeouts in a complete game three-hitter vs. the Mariners on April 16.” – 2005 Leaf Limited

“It may not be a glamor stat like strikeouts or ERA, but SBA (stolen bases against) is one that helps Mark win an extra game here and there. His ability to hold runners is so uncanny that, in 2003, no one even tried to steal against him until his 16th start. Buehrle finished the year with only one swipe against him (by Boston’s Johnny Damon) in five tries.” – 2005 Topps

“Mark’s early-season near-infallibility helped establish the White Sox as a legitimate team-to-beat. He allowed two hits on Opening Day, lost his next start, then won nine straight. That earned him the nod to start the All-Star Game (which he won). In the World Series Championship, the smooth southpaw earned a one-batter save in the 14-inning marathon that was Game 3.” – 2005 Topps World Series

“Chicago, IL – Not since the heyday of Greg Maddux has baseball seen such a quick-working, frequent-winning workhorse as Buehrle. The stalwart southpaw bookended a couple of outings in Baltimore in May 2004 and August ‘05 by getting the White Sox into the seventh inning in 49 consecutive starts. It was the longest such streak in the Major Leagues since Steve Carlton worked at least six frames 60 straight time more than 20 years ago.” – 2005 Topps (season highlights)

“Chicago, IL – Buehrle’s credentials to start the 2005 All-Star Game were impeccable: The White Sox ace hit the break with a 10-3 record and a 2.58 ERA, as well as recently snapped streaks of nine consecutive wins and 27 2/3 scoreless innings. He worked two shut-out frames and picked up the victory – stretching the unbeaten streak for the American League to nine years. It was Mark’s second All-Star Game appearance.” – 2005 Topps (season highlights)

“Buehrle quickly turned the tide of momentum in the ALCS with a masterful pitching outing that knotted the series with the Angels at one game apiece. It was “classic Buehrle” – a 99-pitch/71-strike complete game in which he allowed only fave hits and no walks while inducing 14 ground ball outs. He threw only eight pitches in the ninth, then watched as teammates scored moments later for a 2-1 win.” – 2005 Topps (postseason highlights)

“As consistent a winner as any left-hander in MLB over the past five seasons, Buehrle posted another rock-solid campaign for the White Sox in 2004. The southpaw workhorse became the first Chicago lefty since Wilbur Wood to record four consecutive seasons of 14 or more wins.” – 2005 Upper Deck First Pitch

“Resume – Finished fifth in 2005 AL Cy Young award voting…Ranked third in AL with career-best 3.12 ERA…Has won at least 14 games in each of last five seasons. Skills – Quick worker who throws strikes…Offsets well-spotted fastball with excellent change-up…Almost always goes deep into games…Sensational pickoff move. Evolution – Buehrle’s “stuff” is not that impressive by MLB standards, but he learned to change speeds early on, transforming three pitches into the equivalent of nine.” – 2006 Bowman

“A workhorse on the hill for the World Series Champions, the White Sox, Buehrle won at least 14 games and logged over 200 inning for the fifth straight season. The left-hander’s 10-1 record to begin the campaign earned him the starting nod in the All-Star Game, in which he struck out three and earned the win.” – 2006 Fleer Ultra

Cards in Sox uniform that I currently own – 70

Autos/Relics from player above that I currently own - 4

Mark was huge for us in 2005 and helped lead us to a World Series win. Our pitching staff was outstanding and was the reason we made it to the World Series. Mark is a picture of consistency, you can count on him for 200+ innings every year. He was the only pitcher on the staff then that could hold runners on. He has a great pick off move to 1st and I’ve seen him pick off quite a few runners in the games I’ve watched.

He has great accuracy and his walk to strike ratio shows that. Because he’s not a strikeout pitcher, he relies on his defense. And it’s a thing of beauty to watch that kind of pitcher. Strikeouts are cool and dominating, but nothing tops team play, and that’s what you get when Buehrle is on the mound.

Stay tuned for Mark’s next page for his first relic card.

I made the news!

2012-02-17T22:21:00.001-05:00

I know, I know. I’ve disappeared again. I suck. Technically, I’ve probably had time to throw a post or 2 out there. But I’ve been so busy that when I do get the time to post, I just want to sit and relax. Saturday we had a surprise 60th birthday party for my mom. Sunday, I took my son to church so he could earn a badge in cub scouts and also had another birthday party in the afternoon. Girl Scouts on Monday. Tuesday we spent shopping for a new mattress and shoes for the kids. Wednesday I chilled and just couldn’t get in the mood to do anything. Thursday, my son and I toured the local news station with his cub scout troop. Even made our way way on to the live broadcast. See below.

That’s me to the right of the broadcaster (not the one in the ND jacket, bite your tongue) and my son is the head above his other shoulder. It’s supposed to be a live shot of the news room. Oops! I took a picture of my TV, paused. And I had to brighten it up so you could see the background, that’s why the newscaster is washed out. And yes, the station’s call letter are WNDU. Anybody care to guess what the NDU stands for? You don’t want to know if you don’t.

Tonight, I have my niece and nephew over so I haven’t broken my cards out all night. To make matter worse, they have posted Saturday and Sunday at work, which gives me the pleasure of working at least 12 days straight. Blah! So I’m not sure when I’ll get around to posting original content again. I have all kinds of stuff to scan but I just can’t get in the mood to get off my couch. Sorry!

I do have stuff like Today’s 9 and Player Collection Spotlight already saved up so I’ll throw some of those in there when I get the chance. Maybe I’ll get around to scanning and getting something else up. But I’m not making any promises. Weeks like these leave me drained anymore. I’m getting too old.

P.S. – I believe catcher’s and pitcher’s report on Monday. Except the Mariners, I believe they are already together. But about the time I start posting there will hopefully be some baseball on.

Player Collection Spotlight–Tom Seaver

2012-02-15T22:50:00.001-05:00

2011 Topps Update Diamond Parallel – Tom Seaver

1981 Topps–Christenson, Salazar, Keough, Parrott

2012-02-15T12:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1981 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Larry Christenson – Philadelphia Phillies – Card #346
Purchase Price – $.05 (Ebay lot 100/$4.99)

For the record, I prefer these Phillies uniforms. Not that I don’t like their current ones, just prefer these. Maybe it just feels more old school.

Card Facts – Luis Salazar – San Diego Padres – Card #309
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “Manupatches & Mustaches”)

Speaking of old school uniforms. No, I don’t really like these. Can’t think of any Padres uniforms I like but there may be some out there. Actually, I take that back, I like the camouflage ones. So sue me.

Card Facts – Matt Keough – Oakland A’s – Card #301
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “JABO’s”)

A rare action shot for the ‘81’s. Nothing says 70’s like the A’s uniforms.

Card Facts – Mike Parrott – Seattle Mariners – Card #187
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “JABO’s”)

Powder blues, oh yeah. Love the old school Mariners logo on his shoulder. Just watched the movie 50/50 and the main character had a Mariners hat with that logo and I even told my wife that I liked that logo.

Cards posted in this set – 50
Total price paid – $1.94
Average price per card – $0.04
Cards left to post – 676
Percentage posted – 50/726 (7% posted)
Percentage completed – 483/726 (67% completed)

Percentage posted up a percent. Went to 4 cards per post so I’m not on these all year long.

1973 Topps–Holtzman, Barber, Murcer, Grote

2012-02-15T09:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1973 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Ken Holtzman – Oakland A’s – Card #60
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “Crinkly Wrappers”)

It’s funny how this set goes from some great action shots, to poised shots. I’ve always had a soft spot for the A’s. But I think it’s because I feel bad that they have to wear those colors together.

Card Facts – Steve Barber – California Angels – Card #36
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “Royals and Randoms”)

Now there’s an action shot. Much better than the first card. Although I’m not sure I like the shadow pic in the bottom corner. His arm looks twice as long as it should be. Either that, or he’s got something coming out of his leg.

Card Facts – Bobby Murcer – New York Yankees – Card #240
Purchase Price – $.11 (Ebay lot 40/$4.25)

I know this name. Of course, he’s a Yankee so I probably heard it on ESPN back in 1973.

Card Facts – Jerry Grote – New York Mets – Card #113
Purchase Price – $.11 (Ebay lot 40/$4.25)

Well, at least his pose has to do with his position.

Cards posted in this set – 45
Total price paid – $6.49
Average price per card – $0.14
Cards left to post – 639 (including NNO Checklists)
Percentage posted – 44/684 (6% posted)
Percentage completed – 93/684 (14% completed)

Price per card went down a penny with the 2 trade cards and the lower cost ($.11/each) of the other 2. I went with 4 cards and will from now on. I’m not getting a huge amount of traffic from these posts anyways, Not that I do them for the traffic, but that’s how it is. The more I post at once, the quicker I’ll get these posted. I enjoy going through each card one at a time but at over 600 cards, I don’t want to be doing this for over a year or more. I won a 15 card lot on ebay pretty cheap. I didn’t look to see if I had them all, but I figured I only have 14% so chances are I needed most if not all.

Have you seen the 2012’s yet?

2012-02-13T21:23:00.001-05:00

I got my 2012 cards from Kyle over at “JABO’s” who held a box break. I also had the Cubs and Tigers but I set those aside for trades so I won’t bother showing those. You might have seen some 2012’s, I think there has been a post or 2 out there in blog-o-land. But I will show the White Sox portion of the break because it’s my blog and I want too. And yes, I’m going to show every Sox card (minus duplicates).

These are the base cards. I do believe it’s a whole team set. Last time I looked, www.teamsets4u.com didn’t have them listed yet, but I’ve seen team sets listed on ebay at 11 cards, so there is my brilliant detective work.

Here’s the inserts and parallel’s. Love the Aparicio, I’m really close to pulling the trigger on starting a player collection of him. After researching him for my Today’s 9 series, I’ve really gotten into him as a player and his cards.

And 2 cards for my current player collections. Luckily I got 2 Konerko’s so I was able to fill both. Only 1 of the Seaver so I need another one for my team collection as I always fill my player collections first. I’ve been watching some of the relic cards on ebay, they aren’t real high dollar but higher than I’m willing to pay. I can wait them out till they drop. I’d really like the Aparicio with the ring, and I know there is another Gold Standard Seaver in his Reds uniform and a Frank Thomas in that same set that I need to get. I haven’t investigated enough to know what all Sox cards are out there from this set.

Thanks for the break Kyle, I look forward to the next one, which I’m already signed up for.

Today’s 9–Mark Buehrle

2012-02-13T12:00:00.000-05:00

MARK BUEHRLE

Cards (L-R) – (top row) 2002 Donruss, 2002 Topps Heritage, 2002 Upper Deck Diamond Collection

(middle row) 2003 Fleer Tradition, 2003 Topps, 2003 Upper Deck First Pitch

(bottom row) 2003 Upper Deck MVP, 2004 Topps, 2004 Upper Deck

Played with the Sox from 2000-2011

Card back info –

“Mark stepped up as the White Sox’ most reliable starting pitcher in ‘01, his first full big league season. He debuted for the Sox in ‘00 at age 21, and became the primary left-handed setup man, but moved, into the rotation in ‘01. A native of Missouri and the 38th round pick of the Sox in ‘98, Mark won five straight starts from 5/26/01 to 6/18/01.” – 2002 Topps Heritage

“It had been a while since a White Sox lefty went for 16 victories (Floyd Bannister did it in 1987), but Buehrle ended the drought with a monumental effort in 2001. Buehrle made his second Major League season a great one, and his third should be even better” – 2002 Upper Deck

“Buehrle tied with three other American League pitchers to finish fourth in the AL in wins with 19. His 3.58 ERA ranked in 13th in the AL and he finished just one-third of an inning behind Roy Halladay for the lead in innings pitched” – 2003 Fleer Tradition

“Mark, a low draftpick in 1998, rose to stardom in a flash. In 2002, he made the All-Star team after winning 11 games in the first half. “It shows kids you can accomplish something even if you’re picked in the 38th round” Buehrle says. Noted teammate Royce Clayton, “He could have made it last year (too), He’s one of the top young left-handers in the game.”” – 2003 Topps

“There’s no doubt that Buehrle is the ace of Chicago’s pitching staff. In 2002, the talented lefty paced the club in wins for the second straight season while earning his first trip to the midsummer classic. Everything was working for Buehrle in a matchup with the Twins on 7/30/02. In that contest, he wrapped up his first shutout of the year by holding the AL Central champs to just five hits.” – 2003 Upper Deck

“Last year, Buehrle just missed out on becoming the White Sox’s first 20-game winner since 1993. He did tie for fourth in the American League in victories and second to both complete games (five) and shutouts (two). Buehrle’s production of such a young age has Chicago fans excited about his future potential.” – 2003 Upper Deck MVP

“Mark’s 2003 season was less consistent than his previous two but along with Bartolo Colon, he’s considered one of the Sox’s dual aces. That was made clear when he was named the first lefty to start back-to-back Opening Days for Chicago since Wilbur Wood (1972-76). One of Buehrle’s specialties is controlling the running game. No one even tried to steal against him in ‘03 until his 16th start.” – 2004 Topps

“Buehrle’s 2003 campaign was filled with peaks and valleys. July brought him good fortune though as he compiled a 4-0 record, 23 K’s and 3.19 era in six starts.” – 2004 Upper Deck

Cards in Sox uniform that I own currently – 70

Autos/Relics from player above that I currently own - 4

What can I say about Buehrle. My favorite White Sox pitcher in the last 20 years or so. Only person I liked more was Tom Seaver but Mark Buehrle was a White Sox all the way up until this coming season of 2012. A true White Sox player, drafted and played 12 years with us. Signing away to the Marlins after the 2011 season. He was a typical crafty left hander, who mixed all his pitches and made you think. His fastball was in the 80’s so he was far from a flamethrower.

What I liked most about him when he pitched was he didn’t screw around. When the catcher throws that ball back to him, he catches it and steps on the rubber and waits on the sign. No fuss, he went out there to do a job and that’s what he did. He’s had his ups and downs with us, but whether he was on or not, he gave you 110%. That’s all I can ask from a player.

I have lots more to say about Mark but I have a number of completed pages yet to post so I’ll save for those.

1981 Topps–Jim Sundberg #95, JR Richard #350

2012-02-13T09:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1981 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Jim Sundberg – Texas Rangers – Card #95
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “Royals and Randoms”)

I remember Sundberg and I remembered he was a catcher, so I’m guessing he has a card somewhere that I remember where he’s wearing his catching gear.

Card Facts – JR Richard – Houston Astros – Card #350
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “JABO’s”)

Don’t know an enormous amount about JR Richard. I want to say he was really good or really bad. I want to say that he had a consecutive loss streak but I think that happened in the late 80’s so I’m not sure if it was even him. Basically, I don’t know crap and am just throwing this out there.

Cards posted in this set – 46
Total price paid – $1.89
Average price per card – $0.04
Cards left to post – 680
Percentage posted – 46/726 (6% posted)
Percentage completed – 483/726 (67% completed)

Percentage completed is up to 67% from 59% with the trade cards from Josh at “Royals and Randoms”.

1973 Topps–Billy Williams #200, Fergie Jenkins #180

2012-02-13T06:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1973 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Billy Williams – Chicago Cubs – Card #200
Purchase Price – $.56 (Ebay lot 4/$2.24)

If you don’t know, Billy Williams was my father’s favorite player. That’s why he is in my player collection. He was a Rookie of the Year and a current Hall of Famer. So there is plenty to be said about him that I won’t go into here. I actually do remember this card because I originally had a pretty decent sized player collection as a kid, and that was before they produced all the current cards. I remember even having his rookie card (1961) and probably had most of his base through his last card (1976).

Card Facts – Fergie Jenkins – Chicago Cubs – Card #180
Purchase Price – $.56 (Ebay lot 4/$2.24)

It’s apparently a Cubs day as well as a Hall of Famer day for the 1973’s. Fergie was a Cy Young award winner to go with the Hall of Famer. I thought he was great when I was younger and I collected him, but I appreciate more of what he did now that I understand the stats and the game better. It’s your typical pose. Hopefully, he was at least on the bullpen mound and not just standing in the grass. The card has a stain in the bottom right so I might eventually replace this. Haven’t decided if I will or not, it’s not like I’m collecting it to sell it so does it really matter?

Cards posted in this set – 41
Total price paid – $6.27
Average price per card – $0.15
Cards left to post – 643 (including NNO Checklists)
Percentage posted – 41/684 (6% posted)
Percentage completed – 93/684 (14% completed)

Price per card went up with the 2 higher priced purchases at $.56 each. Both Hall of Famers so you can see why I paid that price regardless. I also moved the percentage completed up to 14% from 11% with the trade from Josh at “Royals and Randoms”. Hopefully the randomness of how I pick what cards to show will allow you to see some of those next time.

Player Collection Spotlight–Tom Seaver

2012-02-12T19:57:00.001-05:00

1986 Topps – Tom Seaver

Card Show Awesomeness

2012-02-11T23:59:00.001-05:00

Our quarterly card show was here this weekend. Yeah, once, every 3 months, that’s pathetic, but that’s the way it is around here anymore. It’s never much to brag about. And that’s the way it started here. It was advertised as 40 tables. Now to me, that means 40 dealers. But I’m wondering if they actually counted the tables. Most dealers had 3 or 4 tables, some had more. That’s give you an idea how many people are there. Why they spread it all out in this mall is ridiculous since they could probably squeeze them all into one end.

I remember the days of hitting up shows with my written out lists of what I had or wanted depending on the year. Those days are over. I got a Kindle Fire on Wednesday so after playing around for a few days, I figured out how to send my Google Docs (have/want lists) to my Kindle so I wouldn’t need an internet connection to view my documents, grabbed my daughter, I did say it was at the mall, and left.

My plan going into the show was to grab some White Sox vintage or pick up some 1973 or 1981 for my set collection. I hit a few tables, managed to stay away from anything new. Picked up a few cards.

Nothing too exciting. Neither were on my have list (haven’t finished my want lists, been slacking lately), so I grabbed them and headed on. Last time I was there, a dealer had a box of 1973’s and I was hoping he would be there again. If he was, he didn’t have the box.

I headed to the other side of the mall. The first couple of tables didn’t have much. Lots of $1 base cards that I could buy on ebay for half that shipped. I was disappointed, but I figure I’d hit the last couple of table. As I walked up to the last bunch of tables, I saw a light shining on a table. I heard harp’s playing over the intercom. A whole table of vintage. And I’m not talking 70’s vintage, I’m talking 50’s and 60’s vintage. Let me put it this way, I grabbed everything I wanted and then had to put a bunch back because I just couldn’t afford to spend that much. But I came away with lots of goodies regardless. Lots of pictures from here on out.

I know, more 70’s, but at .50 a piece, I couldn’t resist.

He had a whole book of 67’s marked at $1/each. They were in numerical order so I started at the back because I know a lot of the vintage sets have short printed the last series. I don’t know which years they did it, and which they didn’t. But it didn’t matter, the book only went to 300 and something so I figured he probably took the high numbers out. But I grabbed all the Sox cards in it that I didn’t have, which wasn’t hard since I think I only had the Hoyt Wilhelm. I grabbed the above 9 as well as the following 3.

But wait, there’s more.

Grabbed both these 62’s on accident. Could have saved myself a few bucks for other cards. I think it was the bright light shining over the table. It was in my eyes. Or I was just too excited and didn’t notice the dupe. It was probably the second one.

Also grabbed these 2 Post cards from ‘61 and ‘62. I’ve come across of a number of these in $1 boxes around here so I don’t think they are real hard to find, but I would assume the number of them wouldn’t be as high as a regular ‘61 or ‘62. But that’s just a guess but what would I know. Anybody have a clue about any kind of print run?

Lots of 1960’s, also at $1 each. Except the Aparicio, it was a few bucks. But well worth the money.

The 2 on the left are ‘60’s also. I scanned it with the ‘59 because I had scanned them before I looked up the years and thought they were all ‘59’s. Oops. Big circles, headshots, Topps did it to me on purpose. I don’t know my vintage as well being as I wasn’t around back then.

1958’s. That’s right. I’m still not done. What turned into a crappy day at the card show, turned out pretty awesome.

Yup, even a couple of 57’s. I’m getting as excited typing these out as I was when I came across the table. I’m sure you all can admit how awesome the above cards are.

All in all, I paid $45 at that final table, so I spent less than $50 at the show. Considering I was ready to walk away after $2, I think that one table turned my day around.

Contest win & trade with GCRL

2012-02-10T23:23:00.001-05:00

I won a contest, I know, I couldn’t believe it either. I was randomed off in Jim’s contest for commenting on his bog “Garvey Cey Russell Lopes” and plugging his new blog “Timeless Teams”. My prize was this auto from that set.

Steve Yeager autograph from the 2004 Upper Deck Legends Timeless Teams set. It is available for trade, if nobody claims it, it’ll go to the next Dodger collector I trade with, except Jim, being as he gave it away, I’m going to assume he doesn’t need it. But Jim didn’t stop there, apparently he wanted to trade as well as he sent me a huge stack of White Sox cards as well.

These are just a few of the cards he sent. Really like the Sports Illustrated card. I like that set earlier when I collected but I don’t remember seeing that card. The Konerko Fleer Genuine goes to my Konerko collection because I didn’t have it either.

I will definitely send a return package your way Jim but it’ll take me a little time because all you Dodger traders keep me depleted of other Dodger cards. I have a Steve Yeager auto from 2004 UD Legends Timeless Teams if you’d like. Jusy saying. Be sure to check out “Garvey Cey Russell Lopes” and “Timeless Teams”

Oh No! Not another one.

2012-02-09T21:05:00.001-05:00

Sorry! I haven’t been around too much lately. The blog is been kind of on autopilot. It’s been a busy week.

I bought a value pack of 2011 Update and was planning on opening with my kids. They had never opened any baseball cards with me, but they have obviously seen me mess with them being as I do it all the time. So before I opened it, I talked to both and asked if they would even be interested in it. I made sure that they understood that it was ok if they didn't and that I would rather know before I go buying them packs. My 9 year old daughter said from the start that she didn't think she would be interested but my son said he thought he would. So we all opened them up, 2 packs a piece. My daughter kind of skimmed through them and was done. My son on the other hand, opened his pack and as soon as he looked at one, he would set it down, then look at the next one, then set it beside the other one. He started to put the sparkly and the gold one in the same pile. Once he got all the cards laid out and I gave him mine and he grabbed the ones my daughter opened. He started to sort them by team.

I got excited watching him sort them out. I’m trying not to be, because it may not be anything he sticks with, but it’s tough. Of course, the worst part is my daughter is a White Sox fan, but my son is a Cubs fan. He’s a momma’s boy, and now you understand why we divorced. I couldn’t live with a Cubs fan anymore. Just kidding, of course. But I do make fun of my son because he claims to be a Cubs fan.

When he finished sorting them, he asked for a box like I use, so I grabbed a 250 count box and gave it to him. He grabbed them team by team and put them away. If he sticks with it, I’ll have to show him pages and albums. And buy lots of packs, and teach him about inserts, and parallels, and seriel numbered, relics and autographs!!!!!

But I’m trying not to be excited.

Trying being the key word.

I sent the above picture to my mom, her response “Oh no, not another one.”

And for the record, he didn’t get any White Sox cards, but he did the Cubs. Even got an insert. At least his luck isn’t better than mine.

Today’s 9–Jason Bere

2012-02-07T20:14:00.001-05:00

JASON BERE

Cards (L-R) – (top row) 1992 Classic Best, 1993 Upper Deck (inside the numbers), 1994 Fleer Ultra

(middle row) 1994 Score, 1994 Topps, 1994 Upper Deck (the future is now)

(bottom row) 1994 Upper Deck, 1994 Upper Deck Collector’s Choice, 1995 Bazooka

Played with the Sox from 1993-1998

Was 2nd in Rookie of the Year voting in 1993.

Made the All-Star game in 1994.

Card back info –

“When Jason Bere was a senior at Wilmington High School, he was 165 pounds and a non-prospect. The White Sox took a chance on him, and Chicago thinkis it may have a future ace in the 21-year-old. Bere has a live fastball that has been clocked in the 90’s, a slider, and what GM Ron Schueler thinks may be his best pitch, a changeup that gives his fastball an extra yard or two. Last year, Bere started in Sarasota, blew through Class-AA and ended up in Vancouver. It won’t be surprising if his Hollywood ascent takes him to Comiskey Park this season.” – 1993 Upper Deck (inside the numbers)

“It came as no surprise to most ovservers that Jason was the top rookie pitcher in the major leagues in ‘93 and a second-place finisher in the AL Rookie of the Year voting. After all, he was the No. 1 White Sox prospect at the start of the season and was considered one of the game’s best righthanded pitching prospects. After being recalled from Nashville in late May, Jason split his first 10 decisions, then really took off to end the year with seen victories in a row. He throws an explosive 90-plus fastball, which he mixes with a nasty slider and a strong changeup.” – 1994 Score

“When pitching 8 scoreless, 2-hit innings, Jason broke an 83-year-old team rookie record when he K’d 13 Red Sox, 9-8-93.” – 1994 Topps

“When the White Sox summoned Jason Bere from Class-AAA Nashville on May 25, he joined a staff that included the 1993 Cy Young Award winner (Jack McDowell), the pitcher with the leagues fifth-best ERA (Alex Fernandez), and the pitcher with the league’s seventh-best opposition average (Wilson Alvarez). Bere made his mark on the AL West champs as well. He won his final seven decisions of the season, tying the franchise mark for strikeouts by a rookie (13) in one of those triumphs. The 22-year-old also led Major League rookies in wins and paced AL rookies in strikeouts.” – 1994 Upper Deck (the future is now)

“Bere played a huge role in Chicago’s drive to the American League west title, compiling a perfect 7-0 mark in his last seven decisions of the year. His 12 victories led all Major League rookies, helping him finish second to the Angels’ Tim Salmon in AL Rookie of the Year balloting. Bere allowed only 270 hits in his 370 minor league innings prior to 1993, and he remained stingy in the majors, posting a .210 opponent batting average.” – 1994 Upper Deck

“Bere capped his outstanding rookie season by winning his final seven decisions as the White Sox drove to the AL west title. Included in that stretch was a September 8 outing in which he matched the franchise rookie record with 13 K’s in eight shutout innings.” – 1994 Upper Deck Collector’s Choice

Cards in Sox uniform that I own currently – 13

Autos/Relics from player above that I currently own - 0

Bere was a great starter for a few years, then became average for awhile. What stood out most about looking at his stats was he played until 2003. I was not aware of that, now granted I quit watching baseball from 1994-1999, but still, I was oblivious to it.

Ebay pick-ups

2012-02-06T20:40:00.001-05:00

If you follow me over at “Too Many Manninghams” then you know I made a couple of big purchases from ebay. Here is where you get to see the non-Michigan cards I won. First off, some free cards.

Picked up both of these for my player collections of each for free using what little of ebay bucks I had. I don’t remember the total amount I had but it was under $2.

All the following cards were purchased from the same seller.

Since I was already taking advantage of shipping from the seller, these were just throw in’s that he had listed in his ebay store. I paid $1.50 each for these which is higher than I would normally pay for X-fractor’s but the more cards I got from the seller, the more I could justify spending the money because of the cheap shipping.

Not sure exactly what this is but it’s stamped “Special Olympics, Nevada, 1 of 1”. It’s a copy of the 1995 Classic 5 sport card except the gold foil stamp in the middle. If this is truly a 1 of 1, then it’s my first. And I only got it for $1.25.

Another 2007 Topps Allen & Ginter bat card (I already have one of Konerko) but I won it for only $3.04 so I went ahead and got another one. You can never have too many relic cards. Also got this Grant Hansen auto from Donruss Elite Extra Edition Aspriations #’d /50 for $1.93. Don’t know anything about him but he’s a Sox and it’s an auto and it’s numbered to 50. Pretty good price in my book.

Last but not least is this Brandon McCarthy dual jersey and auto card #’d /225. I got this Triple Threads card for $3.33. I liked McCarthy when he played for us and if I remember correctly, I was pissed when they traded him but I haven’t heard too much since he left. I believe he missed a bunch of last season with injury.

Along with the cards above, I also got a couple of cards to send to Dennis to complete a trade. One, I know he’ll really enjoy. And also a Steve Breaston auto in a Michigan uniform that I posted over on “Too Many Manninghams” for myself. The beauty of all 9 cards that I received from that seller is that I only paid $3 to have them all shipped to me. Which equals to just over $.33/each to ship.

I have some more stuff coming that you’ll get to see whenever I get them in so look for that, hopefully in a day or 2.

Trade with Thoughts and Sox

2012-02-05T18:00:00.000-05:00

Adam of “Thoughts and Sox” had requested some trade bait that I had posted. For the life of me I don’t remember what. But I sent it to him along with some Red Sox cards I had lying around. Here’s some highlights of his return package.

Just a small sample of the Sox cards he sent. There were a lot of Mark Buehrle and Frank Thomas as well as some other cards. Yes, that is a Bowman rookie of Buehrle up there on the left. On the bottom right is a Donruss Originals. Not sure what exactly these are but there was a number of these in the package. I assume it’s more or less a heritage set with Donruss cards.

He also included a crap load (that’s an official measurement) of Konerko’s. The one’s pictured above are just the ones that go to the Konerko collection. Plus there were a few that I already had there that got to go to the White Sox collection. Adam went above and beyond with all of these. But he didn’t stop there. He also threw in these.

2 1960’s White Sox cards. These are awesome. They are 2 different card stocks but I believe I read somewhere that certain sets had done that. I don’t recall why though.

Awesome trade Adam, be sure to check out his blog “Thoughts and Sox” I don’t believe he’s posting much now-a-days but he’s still around.

Player Collection Spotlight–Tom Seaver

2012-02-05T15:00:00.000-05:00

1986 Topps – Tom Seaver

1981 Topps–Don Robinson #168, Hosken Powell #137

2012-02-05T09:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1981 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Don Robinson – Pittsburgh Pirates – Card #168
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “Manupatches & Mustaches”)

Action shot at least. Although he’s probably just warming up. I never understood these Pirates hats. Why they felt they had to be different from the rest of the league on the design is beyond me. And what they have to do with Pirates is way beyond me.

Card Facts – Hosken Powell – Minnesota Twins – Card #137
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “Manupatches & Mustaches”)

Hey Hosken, I realize you just woke up, but I need to take your photo. Alrighty, guess that one will do.

Cards posted in this set – 44
Total price paid – $1.89
Average price per card – $0.04
Cards left to post – 682
Percentage posted – 44/726 (6% posted)
Percentage completed – 426/726 (59% completed)

Average price per card is down another penny to $.04 with 2 trade cards from Eric. I received another trade package in the mail today from Josh at “Royals and Random” so the percentage completed should change on the next post.

1973 Topps–Rookie Outfielders #611, Ted Sizemore #128

2012-02-05T06:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1973 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Rich Coggins, Jim Wohlford, Richie Zisk – Baltimore Orioles, Kansas City Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates – Card #611
Purchase Price – $.56 (Ebay lot 4/$2.24)

Seems like a lot to pay for a single card or even lot compared to what I usually spend, but the lot of 4 had a couple Hall of Famers with this card so I pulled the trigger anyways. I don’t know Coggins, and I know Wohlford from the 1981 Topps set. But Richie Zisk I know from my collecting days. Of course, it’s mainly because of the last name starting with a Z.

Card Facts – Ted Sizemore – St. Louis Cardinals – Card #128
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “Crinkly Wrappers”)

Another poised shot. But at least Ted is looking at the camera, that’s more than I can say than a lot of the other cards in this set. And look at those side burns, and the color of the hair matches his uniform. Ted’s got swag.

Cards posted in this set – 39
Total price paid – $5.15
Average price per card – $0.13
Cards left to post – 645 (including NNO Checklists)
Percentage posted – 39/684 (6% posted)
Percentage completed – 76/684 (11% completed)

Price per card went up with the big purchase of $.56 up there but another trade card from Ted helps keep it from going up too much. Also got bumped up to 6% posting. The percentage completed should go up as soon as I get some trade cards from Josh at “Royals and Random”. I’m going to try to get those logged in later today so by Tuesday’s post they should be completed.

Today’s 9–Gordon Beckham, page 4

2012-02-04T12:21:00.001-05:00

GORDON BECKHAM

Cards (L-R) – (top row) 2011 Topps Diamond Die Cut, 2011 Topps Gypsy Queen, 2011 Topps Gypsy Queen mini

(middle row) 2011 Topps Gypsy Queen Future Stars, 2011 Topps Lineage, 2010 Topps Nation Chicle Chrome refractor (#’d 21/50)

(bottom row) 2011 Bowman Platinum Gold, 2011 Bowman Gold, 2010 Topps Wal-Mart

Played with the Sox from 2009-current

Was 5th in Rookie of the Year voting in 2009.

Card back info –

“Diamond Deed: Beckham showed off multiple skills in a 4-3 victory over the Angels on September 12, 2009. He reached base four times, swatted a solo homer, stole a base and scored two runs. His ninth-inning single set up the winning tally by moving a man to third base.” – 2011 Topps Diamond Die Cut
“On June 6, 2010, Beckham ended a slump of 112 at-bats without an extra-base hit. From that point forward, he raked 31 of them in his final 80 games.” – 2011 Topps Gypsy Queen
“A young Yogi Berra once staffed the outfield. Jackie Robinson played first base as a rookie. Position changes are as old as the game itself, so Beckham – whose bat profiles well anywhere – willingly made one from third base to second to help the team in 2010.” – 2011 Topps Gypsy Queen Future Stars
“The NCAA’s top home run hitter and an All-American at Georgia in 2008, Beckham claimed a slot in the White Sox lineup by the middle of the following year. As a third baseman, he was picked by Sporting News as the 2009 AL Rookie of the Year. Last season Gordon slid to second, where he is a rising star.” – 2011 Topps Lineage
“A look at Beckham doesn’t reveal exceptional size or brawn, so where does the young star’s power come from? His secret is his strong forearms, which, in turn, help him generate bat whip from his wrists. A program involving wrist-curls with barbells are one way for a baseball player to power-up his forearms.” – 2010 Topps National Chicle Chrome Refractor
“Beckham made his MLB debut on 6/4/09, starting at third base against the Athletics. On that same date in 1936, Detroit Tigers catcher Mickey Cochrane collapses, and must be removed from the game, after racing to an inside-the-park home run.” – 2011 Bowman Platinum Gold
“Resume – Notched first career four-hit game on 7/18/10. Finished fifth in 2009 AL Rookie of the Year voting. Smashed 14 homers and 28 doubles. 2008 SEC Player of the Year honoree. Skills – Generates plus power with great bat speed and hip rotation. Has strong arm and smooth actions in field. Hard worker. Evolution – After setting a U. of Georgia record with 28 homers in ‘08, Beckham proved he could wield a wooden bat by whacking .322 in 59 Minor League games.” – 2011 Bowman Gold
“The fastest non-pitcher ever to go from the draft to a White Sox uniform (364 days), Gordon took a few weeks to acclimate in 2009, then blossomed. In his final 85 games, he batted .288 with 13 home runs. A game-ending hit against the rival Cubs on June 27 was a high point that he described as “the best feeling I’ve ever had playing baseball.” – 2010 Topps Walmart

Cards in Sox uniform that I own currently – 39

Autos/Relics I currently own of player above - 3

Beckham is saying all the right things right now before the season starts up. Hopefully, in turn, he will be better than he was last year.

The bottom 2 card backs were listed on previous pages. But as I add cards to the album, I start at the last card and add them until I fill that side of the page and scan it, so you don’t get any duplicate cards. After that I change they way they are in my album so that the parallels are all side by side. The 2010 Topps Walmart is my 4th parallel (and the base) of that card that I have and the 2011 Bowman gold is now beside the base card.

Trade with Baseball Dad

2012-02-03T19:54:00.001-05:00

Baseball Dad of “All Tribe Baseball” fame had asked for a trade bait card that I had posted, I think it was a Ted Williams card from the 80’s. I didn’t have much else to send him because we had just completed a trade a few weeks prior to me posting it. So it was a small trade. But he sent some great cards.

2011’s – Paul Konerko Opening Day, Adam Dunn Atomic (?) Refractor and Tom Seaver Diamond parallel.

I really like refractor’s. What I don’t like is that they don’t say refractor on the backs of them anymore. Then you got multiple parallel refractor’s on top of that. I think they need to say exactly what it is on the back. I like how Upper Deck puts what set it is on the back and I wish Topps would adopt that and even lists the parallels. Some of us don’t break cases and see a whole bunch of cards to figure out the differences. Anyways, back to these cards. Like I said, I like refractor’s so I definitely like the Dunn. But the price of the package for me was the Seaver Diamond parallel. I’ve been looking at the base card of this online but they always want too much because it’s a SP. And I love the diamond parallel in last years set so to get this card in a trade was huge for me. Great trade package from Baseball Dad.

But wait, there’s more….

I know he’s done this as of late, for how long, I don’t know. But I’ve seen on other blogs, and in my previous trade with him, he throws in a pack of Donruss Estrellas. These were the cards in that pack, all for trade if you want one. And in those packs comes a poster, which I found out after I threw my first one out.

Be sure to check out his blog out at “All Tribe Baseball”. Another great trade in the books.

1981 Topps–Billy Sample #283, Checklist #31

2012-02-03T12:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1981 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Billy Sample – Texas Rangers – Card #283
Purchase Price – $.05 (ebay lot 100/$4.99)

Guess Topps went with the ugly green from the 70’s a decade late. Another posed picture with him looking somewhere else.

Card Facts – Checklist – Card #31
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “Manupatches & Mustaches”)

At least I didn’t have to pay for a checklist. Hopefully I get all the checklists in trades.

Cards posted in this set – 42
Total price paid – $1.89
Average price per card – $0.05
Cards left to post – 684
Percentage posted – 42/726 (6% posted)
Percentage completed – 426/726 (59% completed)

Not to exciting of a post with a checklist, but it’s a card, and it’s part of the set. Sorry. Blame the random process.

1973 Topps–Pat Kelly #261, Jim Brewer #126

2012-02-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1973 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Pat Kelly – Chicago White Sox – Card #261
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “Crinkly Wrappers”)

Another Sox card that I already had in my team collection, so technically, this is a dupe, which works out for me so it goes to this set. They teach you growing up to look at the camera, but apparently on vintage cards, they teach you to look over the shoulder of the cameraman. There seems to be a lot of them in this set. Definitely not my favorite Sox jerseys.

Card Facts – Jim Brewer – Los Angeles Dodgers – Card #126
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “Crinkly Wrappers”)

I’m guessing that’s a bag on the ground behind Jim. Either that, or it’s a boxy kind of animal, it almost looks like it has legs. Maybe it’s a baby black bear. I’m going to assume this was pre-game with all those empty seats in the background. Either that, or it was taken in Miami last year. Or in Miami by then end of 2012.

Cards posted in this set – 37
Total price paid – $4.59
Average price per card – $0.12
Cards left to post – 647 (including NNO Checklists)
Percentage posted – 37/684 (5% posted)
Percentage completed – 76/684 (11% completed)

Average price per card dropped a whole penny with 2 more free card from Ted. After it dropped last post a penny as well. Which is good, because this set is eventually going to cost me some money.

Player Collection spotlight–Paul Konerko

2012-02-02T17:11:00.001-05:00

2000 Fleer Mystique – Paul Konerko

The year my life changed forever

2012-02-01T15:54:00.001-05:00

I just finished reading a post by AJ over at "the Lost Collector" about a kid excited about the 2012 release of Topps and his father taking him to the store to get them. Click here for the story. And it got we wondering if my dad would have collected with me. Before I continue with this post, I'm going to give you just a quick summary. My father was diagnosed with cancer around 1979 or so and passed away in the summer of 1981. I was 8 years old then. From what I've heard and remember is he was a huge baseball fan and was a diehard Cubs fan. My mom tells a story about when I got home from the hospital after being born, how he gave me a pencil and started throwing paper wads at me hoping I could hit. He was big into the strat-o-matic games back then as well. I don't remember cards ever being around back then so I don't think he collected. I'm guessing the neighborhood kids got me into it.

My first thought after reading AJ's post was that was awesome that somebody young was into cards that much. I've said before on this blog that I think when our generation dies off, so will the baseball card collectors. My second thought was, I wonder if my dad would have taken me to get cards. Then it slammed into me. 1981. The year my father died. The 1st year I started collecting. Now I can't tell you if it was just coincidence or if they are related. But now I wonder if I didn't go into card collecting full steam after my dad had passed to subconsciously keep him around. I know growing up, that I invented a dice baseball game just to create stats. The number rolled corresponded with what happened at that at bat. And I would keep an actual book and keep all the stats for each player on my team. Even pitching stats. My mom used to tell me that I was so my fathers son, because he was that way. I don't really remember a whole lot about him so I don't know if any of this is true or not. I might have to investigate.

But what I really started to wonder was, would we had made a father/son duo in the collecting world? Would he have taken me to all the local card shows and shops? Would we have gone to games together? Would we open packs and get excited at what each other's pulled? I would like to think so, but we'll never know for sure.

What I do know is, those questions I asked above, my mom did those. She used to take me to the Pierre Moran mall so I could spend my allowance at the coin & card shop. She'd listen to me ramble on and on about my cards all the while pretending to be interested (like my wife does now). My grandparents lived in Glen Ellyn (suburb of Chicago) and we used to make family trips to Wrigley. But as awesome that my mom was with that stuff, I can't help but wonder what could have been.

One of my last memories of my father was a birthday party for him at the Glen Ellyn house. I remember the cake and even what he was wearing that day. But I also associate that day as being a month before he died.

I know we still made trips to Glen Ellyn after he had passed. My grandfather was a pastor there and lived next door to the church. Now that I'm older I realize it was probably the parsonage. But I remember a younger guy, a youth pastor or assistant pastor or something to that effect, lived in the lower level. And I remember how much I loved to go through his filing cabinets. Because they were full of cards. The only thing I remember as to what cards were there are he had them in order of teams rubber banded together. And on the top of each stack, was the 1981 Topps team card. So sometime between my father dying, and meeting this guy was when I started collecting.

One thing is for certain. 1981 was a significant year for me. In my personal life and my card collecting life. Here is something else to throw at you, my dad died at the age of 30. Now here I am, exactly 30 years later, trying to collect the first set I collected. 1981. The year my life changed forever.

-----------------------------------

UPDATE: I've texted my mom and she doesn't remember my dad collecting. He did as a kid but his mother threw those out later. I also texted my grandfather, (yes, my 80+ year old grandparents text) and they lived in Glen Ellyn between 1981-1982 so my memory serves me correct on that point.

1981 Topps–Pirates Future Stars #551, Vida Blue #310

2012-02-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1981 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Vance Law, Tony Pena, Pascual Perez – Pittsburgh Pirates – Card #551
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “JABO’s”)

This seems like this would be a pretty decent card. I want to say all 3 players had decent careers. Tony Pena, I think, had the better career. I know he was with the Pirates for awhile, I vagually remember him with the Cardinals and Indians as well. Vance bounced around a bit, I know he played for the Sox for a few years in the early to mid 80’s. I picture Perez in a Braves uniform.

Card Facts – Vida Blue – San Francisco Giants – Card #310
Purchase Price – $.05 (Ebay lot 100/$4.99)

Vida Blue I definitely remember. I had a player collection of him. He was a great pitcher in his day, but I remember him more from his Oakland A’s days.

Cards posted in this set – 40
Total price paid – $1.84
Average price per card – $0.05
Cards left to post – 686
Percentage posted – 40/726 (6% posted)
Percentage completed – 426/726 (59% completed)

One more free card should put me under $.05 on price per card. Unless I happen to random up a star that I paid a little bit more for. There are a few of those in this set that I purchased. But I paid less than $.50 for those cards as well.

1973 Topps–Horace Clarke #198, Bill Melton #455

2012-02-01T09:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1973 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Horace Clarke – New York Yankees – Card #198
Purchase Price – $.11 (Ebay lot 40/$4.25)

Horace looks a little rough. I’d guess another spring training photo.

Card Facts – Bill Melton – Chicago White Sox – Card #455
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “Crinkly Wrappers”)

Beltin’ Bill Melton. He now does the pre and post game’s for the White Sox so I feel like I know him more. Can’t say it’s a very flattering photo of him though. I believe this is the era of Sox uniforms that they are bringing back for Sunday games this year. Looks like the camera guy just said grab a bat and pose, I got a date tonight and need to get out of here. This was actually a duplicate that Ted had sent me but I because fill my Player/Team collections first, and I already had this card there.

Cards posted in this set – 35
Total price paid – $4.59
Average price per card – $0.13
Cards left to post – 649 (including NNO Checklists)
Percentage posted – 35/684 (5% posted)
Percentage completed – 76/684 (11% completed)

Average price per card dropped a penny with another free card from Ted.

Today’s 9–Harold Baines page 3

2012-01-31T16:31:00.001-05:00

I keep my White Sox collection by players last name. When that player reaches 9 cards (a page), they get a post in the Today’s 9 series. I just recently moved all my cards into alphabetical order so most of these posts are just catching up and making sure everybody get’s their due.

HAROLD BAINES

Cards (L-R) – (top row) 1997 Bowman, 1997 Skybox Metal Universe, 1997 Score

(middle row) 1997 Topps Finest Warriors, 2005 Donruss Diamond King (#’d 70/100), 1987 Fleer Baseball’s Game Winners

(bottom row) 1987 Fleer, 1986 Topps mini, 2006 Parody Playing cards

Played with the Sox from 1980-1989, 1996-1997, 2000-2001

Was All-Star in 1985-1987, 1989, 1991, 1999

Won a Silver Slugger award in 1989

Card back info –

“At the plate, Baines, the definition of a “pro,” has hit 10+ HR’s in 17 straight seasons. His .305 AVG since turning 34 is the highest of any 4 year period in his career. In the clubhouse, his longevity and production are an inspiration” – 1997 Topps Finest Warriors
“The smooth-swinging Baines belted 10 career walk-off home runs, including a blast that ended the longest game ever played in the Major Leagues. On May9, 1984 against Milwaukee, he connected in the bottom of the 25th inning, after more than eight hours.” – 2005 Donruss Diamond Kings
“Harold ranked #5 in hits with 198, #6 in Batting Avg. with .309, #7(tie) in GW-RBI with 13 and #9 in Total Bases with 299.” – 1986 Topps mini

Cards in Sox uniform that I own currently – 27

I had already done the Baines pages but I added a bunch from trades and finished another page, so here it is. I added 4 cards which made an exact 9 for this page. Not much back info as most of the cards list stats and he’s played many years filling up the backs.

Package from Blue Batting Helmet

2012-01-30T20:55:00.001-05:00

I got an email from Rob asking if I wanted a White Sox car flag that he had picked up somewhere. He said it was the old Sox logo that he knows that I like. I said sure, so he sent away. I was pleasantly surprised when I received it last week.

The above mentioned flag, which is way cool. But along with that he sent this hat. Which if you’ve ever noticed my profile pic, I wear hats. But along with those great items, he sent a huge stack of White Sox cards.

These are just the highlights. A couple of Baines, one being a mini and the other I’m thinking might be my first 87 fleer (that’s kind of pathetic isn’t it). A Fisk, a Bo Jackson, and there were a few Robin Ventura’s. I really enjoyed seeing the father-son card, which if memory serves, is from the 1985 Topps set. I remember those from my childhood. But if that wasn’t enough, he sent these.

This is a cool set. It was the whole set, and it was still in plastic. Of course, I had to open it. The bad part is, I’m going to have to do the same thing I did with the 2011 Topps Team Set from the Diamond Giveaway, take out the Konerko for it’s collection and hope I can find another one to complete this set again. I’ve watched listings on ebay for that card but I just can’t drop $3.50 for a single more-or-less base card.

He said he didn’t want anything in return for the flag, but I’m definitely going to have to find him a little something for this awesome package. Your truly a great man, you know, for a Cubs fan. Be sure to check out his MLB recognized blog at “Blue Batting Helmet”.

Box Break from the Dimwit

2012-01-29T21:15:00.001-05:00

Don’t the name fool you, Sam knows what he’s doing over at the “the Daily Dimwit”, He held a box break of some nice sets. You got 2 teams, you picked one and one was randomed. My randomed team was the A’s.

A Frank Thomas card, too bad it’s with the A’s. The Manny Ramirez/Matt Holiday card on the bottom right is numbered. I assume the cards that weren’t with a specific team got randomed, that’s where the Michael Beasley comes in. As well as these 2 cards.

I would have posted that MLK card on Monday had I realized I had it. All the above are available if you are interested.

I haven’t checked to see which of these cards I have yet but I only recognized a few. The Thome SP Authentic is numbered so it’ll go to the Sox collection whether I already have it or not.

I like thse cards and it was one of the reasons I joined this break. I really like the Konerko card at the bottom. I love the design, and it’s numbered.

So a great box break, thanks Sam, for hosting and running it. I enjoyed it and I look forward to others. Be sure to check him out at “the Daily Dimwit”.

1981 Topps–Jack Morris #572, John Pacella #414

2012-01-29T12:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1981 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Jack Morris – Detroit Tigers – Card #572
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “JABO’s”)

A future Hall of Famer, I hope. I had a player collection of Jack Morris when I was growing up. Of course, I had a player collection of just about anybody that was good. But Jack was more than good, he was great. I don’t really get into all the hype of whether someone belongs in the HOF or not. But if I had a HOF, Jack would be in it.

Card Facts – John Pacella – New York Mets – Card #414
Purchase Price – free (trade with “Manupatches & Mustaches”)

I remember this card and I remember why. I remember thinking he threw the ball so hard his hat fell off. He must be great. Hey, I was only 8 when the set came out. At that time, I was gravitating towards the Mets as a favorite team. I know as a child, they were. But I don’t remember if I was this early or not.

Cards posted in this set – 38
Total price paid – $1.79
Average price per card – $0.05
Cards left to post – 688
Percentage posted – 38/726 (5% posted)
Percentage completed – 426/726 (59% completed)

Even 2 free cards didn’t drive the price per card below $.05,,yet. I’m sure I will end up under that even though I’ve got quite a few cards that I paid more than a $.05 for, I have about 3 times that amount that I got free from fellow bloggers.

1973 Topps–Gary Ross #112, Ralph Garr #15

2012-01-29T11:00:00.001-05:00

I’m collecting the 1973 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Gary Ross – San Diego Padres – Card #112
Purchase Price – $.11 (Ebay lot 40/$4.25)

If this card doesn’t say 70’s, then I don’t know what does. The glasses, the uniform colors, the sideburns. Yikes. At least this one looks like it was taken after spring training.

Card Facts – Ralph Garr – Atlanta Braves – Card #15
Purchase Price – $.11 (Ebay lot 40/$4.25)

Another posed shot but you get to to see tarp in the background. Anybody collect cards with the tarp’s showing? You also get to see a little bit of warm-ups before a game in the background. I find myself wondering what the logo is on his right arm. Looks like a plant or a flower.

Cards posted in this set – 33
Total price paid – $4.48
Average price per card – $0.14
Cards left to post – 651 (including NNO Checklists)
Percentage posted – 33/684 (5% posted)
Percentage completed – 76/684 (11% completed)

Percentage posted went up to 5%. But as of right now I can only get to 11% since that would be all the cards that I have.

1981 Topps–Bob Boone #290, Doyle Alexander #708

2012-01-28T21:43:00.001-05:00

I’m collecting the 1981 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Bob Boone – Philadelphia Philies – Card #290
Purchase Price – $.05 (Ebay lot 100/$4.99)

One of the many Boone’s that have played in the majors. Great action shot, although Bob almost looks like he’s smiling because he’s going to get hit. A card that “Play at the Plate” will appreciate for sure.

Card Facts – Doyle Alexander – Atlanta Braves – Card #708
Purchase Price – free (trade with “Manupatches & Mustaches”)

More powder blues. Love the stirup socks though. That’s a true baseball uniform there. Another action shot. Looks like he just threw a pitch. I’d say either a ball or strike, it wasn’t hit, otherwise he would probably looking elsewhere.

Cards posted in this set – 36
Total price paid – $1.79
Average price per card – $0.05
Cards left to post – 690
Percentage posted – 36/726 (5% posted)
Percentage completed – 426/726 (59% completed)

Average price per card and percentage posted are in the exact same spot (4.9) but price per card is going down and percentage posted is going up. I got all my 1981’s in an album today. It looks pretty good because I’m past halfway with this set. Debating on posting each page as I complete it. I only had 1 (9 cards) page filled on 1 side, but none completely completed yet (18 cards). I guess I have until I fill a page before I have to decide on whether to post it or not.

1973 Topps–Wayne Twitchell #227, Jim Hardin #124

2012-01-28T21:11:00.001-05:00

I’m collecting the 1973 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Wayne Twitchell – Philadelphia Phillies – Card #227
Purchase Price – $.11 (Ebay lot 40/$4.25)

Phillies logo looks off centered. I’m starting to think I’m paranoid of all the photoshopping in this set.

Card Facts – Jim Hardin – Atlanta Braves – Card #124
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “Crinkly Wrappers”)

Not a big fan of the lower case a as a logo. Just seems like since your supposed to capitalize cities and proper names, you would use the capital A logo they use now. Seems more proper.

Cards posted in this set – 31
Total price paid – $4.26
Average price per card – $0.14
Cards left to post – 653 (including NNO Checklists)
Percentage posted – 31/684 (4% posted)
Percentage completed – 76/684 (11% completed)

Put all my 1973’s in an album today. It’s a rather bare album at this point but it’s taken care of at least.

Today’s 9–Gordon Beckham page 3

2012-01-28T19:43:00.001-05:00

GORDON BECKHAM

Cards (L-R) – (top row) 2011 Topps, 2011 Topps Diamond Anniversary, 2011 Topps Chrome

(middle row) 2011 Topps Opening Day, 2011 Topps Factory Set Limited Edition, 2011 Topps Attax

(bottom row) 2011 Topps Allen & Ginter’s, 2011 Topps Allen & Ginter’s code, 2011 Topps Allen & Ginter’s Hometown Heroes

Played with the Sox from 2009-current

Was 5th in Rookie of the Year voting in 2009.

Card back info –

“Apparently teammates feel Beckham resembles Justin Bieber. When the teen heartthrob came to US Cellular Field last May to throw out the first pitch, someone tacked a nameplate above the second baseman’s locker that read “Gordon Bieber.” Beckham laughed it off and, for a time, the White Sox even adopted the superstition of playing Bieber’s music pregame.” – 2011 Topps

“Born and bred in Atlanta, Beckham followed his father as a star athlete at the Westminster Schools, A richly endowed private institution in the upscale Buckhead community. The school fields 81 athletic teams that have won 221 state championships since 1951.” – 2011 Topps Allen & Ginter’s Hometown Heroes

Cards in Sox uniform that I own currently – 32

Not much info on the backs of those 9 cards since 5 of them are the same, and Attax and Allen & Ginter’s don’t have much on the back. I really like Beckham and hope he can get his hitting to a more consistent level. I really liked the fact he didn’t complain about switching through 3 positions to make room for other players. That says a team player and I would take a team player over a gifted athlete any day.

1981 Topps–Paul Splittorff #218, Rudy Law #127

2012-01-27T12:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1981 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Paul Splittorff – Kansas City Royals – Card #218
Purchase Price – free (trade with “JABO’s”)

Recognize the name, and that’s about it. Nice action shot in the typical 70’s powder blue’s uniforms. If you had told me his name, I would have known he was with the Royals.

Card Facts – Rudy Law – Los Angeles Dodgers – Card #127
Purchase Price – free (trade with “JABO’s”)

Rudy Law I know for my White Sox collection. I want to say early to mid 70’s cards with them. I remember a ‘73 and a ‘75 card with the Sox. I’m probably wrong, but my memory tends to be more lately.

Cards posted in this set – 34
Total price paid – $1.74
Average price per card – $0.05
Cards left to post – 692
Percentage posted – 34/726 (5% posted)
Percentage completed – 426/726 (59% completed)

Percentage posted is up to 4.6% which is good enough for a 5 spot. Both cards were courtesy of Kyle.

1973 Topps–Ken Singleton #232, Jimmy Stewart #351

2012-01-27T09:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1973 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Ken Singleton – Montreal Expos – Card #232
Purchase Price – $.11 (Ebay lot 40/$4.25)

Oh yeah! Gotta love the powder blues. I’m not sarcastic, I do like them. But I’m guessing that Ken didn’t like the camera man. Looks to me that he’s trying to shove him aside. His face says, “your in my personal space, get back past the bat.” I remember Ken from his Orioles days later in his career. I think he played for quite awhile.

Card Facts – Jimmy Stewart – Houston Astros – Card #351
Purchase Price – free (Trade with “Crinkly Wrappers”)

This isn’t American Pie. Jimmy Stewart? That's a familiar Hollywood name. I don’t know the baseball player. I remember those hats, I don’t remember their jerseys like that though. His hat doesn’t look right either, the logo seems to high. Definitely a spring training photo. Has the chain link fence, but no rock formations.

Cards posted in this set – 29
Total price paid – $4.15
Average price per card – $0.14
Cards left to post – 655 (including NNO Checklists)
Percentage posted – 29/684 (4% posted)
Percentage completed – 76/684 (11% completed)

Average price per card dropped a penny with the free card from Ted. I guess technically they aren’t free since I trade for most. But I have no idea how to figure that out so they’ll stay free for now. Besides, it makes my money spent less and that makes the wife happy. As we all know, when she’s not happy, nobody’s happy.

Trade with Crinkly Wrappers

2012-01-26T20:42:00.001-05:00

Ted and I hooked up for a trade. We’ve talked a bit because he’s collecting the 1973 set as well so he had some dupes to send my way. I think I’ve purchased some of his cards as well before but this was our first trade. I didn’t have many ‘73 dupes, only 1 I think, but I sent him some Blue Jays and he sent a great package to me as well.

I don’t think I’ve seen these black 2010 Topps. I assume they are parallel. But I love the Sox players with a black background. Except for the rookie cup on Beckham, what the hell is going on there?

Even if they aren’t vintage, vintage looking is always great in my book.

And these are some of the cool cards he. Love the colors and design of the top 3 cards. The Wilbur Wood was supposed to go with all the other 1973 cards but I didn’t have one in my Sox collection yet so it goes there. But he did send me a whole bunch of 1973’s as well. You’ll see those in the ‘73 posts.

And what I really loved about Ted’s trade package, was he hit multiple collections. You saw the Sox, here he hit the Billy Williams, Paul Konerko, Peyton Manning and Mike Hart collections. What you don’t see is he even hit my Michigan collection with a few cards. And if I’m not mistaken, he’s the first trader to even hit my Billy Williams collection, which is really good considering I don’t have much for it. And the first card is even numbered. The Peyton Manning collection I don’t really buy for so the only way it grows is by trades so it was nice to see those as well.

Thanks Ted, for the great trade. Be sure to check out his blog over at “Crinkly Wrappers”. He had a great discussion about 2012 Topps going on earlier, be sure to check it out.

1981 Topps–Joe Niekro #722, Record Breaker #204

2012-01-26T19:31:00.001-05:00

I’m collecting the 1981 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Joe Niekro – Houston Astros – Card #722
Purchase Price – free (trade with “JABO’s”)

Joe, brother of Phil, Niekro. I don’t remember Joe as much as Phil. I wonder if he threw the knuckleball as well. I want to say he was around for awhile so I assume he was a pretty decent pitcher. I remember these jerseys but I don’t know if I ever noticed the Astros isn’t centered but motre towards the left shoulder. Is this not the jersey or just a warm up or a t-shirt or something. Maybe Sam can help a brother out.

Card Facts – Ron LeFlore & Rodney Scott – Montreal Expos – Card #204
Purchase Price – free (trade with “Manupatches & Mustaches”)

I do like when they put Record Breakers as part of the sets. I prefer them part of it, rather than inserts. Don’t know much about them but I can imagine a team with 2 guys stealing that many bases. That’s a lot more pressure on the opponent’s pitcher. I do miss the Expos colors. I don’t know why, but I do.

Cards posted in this set – 32
Total price paid – $1.74
Average price per card – $0.05
Cards left to post – 694
Percentage posted – 32/726 (4% posted)
Percentage completed – 426/726 (59% completed)

This is the 2nd Astro card in a post in a row. The way I pick what card to post is I have them all scanned and in alphabetical order. I ask my wife to pick a number from 1-100 and then start where I left off the day before and count to that number and that’s the card I use. So it’s more or less random.

1973 Topps–Bill Lee #224, Phil Hennigan #107

2012-01-26T17:48:00.001-05:00

I’m collecting the 1973 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Bill Lee – Boston Red Sox – Card #224
Purchase Price – $.11 (Ebay lot406/$4.25)

In case you haven’t noticed, whatever I put in these area’s, I do no research. Just my thoughts and feelings from the card or player. That being said, when I see the name “Bill Lee” I think “Spaceman”. I’m going to assume that was a nickname of some kind and I’ve heard it before, but for the life of me, I don’t know why that sticks in my head. I may even be wrong and it’s not a nickname, but that’s what comes to my head. If it is his nickname, maybe it came from this card, he seems kind of spaced out looking toward nowhere.

Card Facts – Phil Hennigan – New York Mets – Card #107
Purchase Price – $.17 (Ebay lot 6/$1.04)

This is another card from that lot of not so great condition cards. As you can tell, this one is actually in good shape, but it’s miscut. Another posed shot, and I’m no expert but I’m going to say his hat is airbrushed. It just stands out too much. I’m probably wrong but that’s the way it looks to me.

Cards posted in this set – 27
Total price paid – $4.04
Average price per card – $0.15
Cards left to post – 657 (including NNO Checklists)
Percentage posted – 27/684 (4% posted)
Percentage completed – 76/684 (11% completed)

The more cards I post, the more I really like this set. Good thing I was born in a year that had cool cards. I’ve read where people wait until they get to a certain percentage of cards before they put them in binders. I plan on getting the ‘81s into a binder this weekend, but I’m not sure if I should bother with the ‘73s since I only have 76 cards. How do all of you set collector’s do it, percentage, do it regardless, don’t use binders? Let me know?

1981 Topps–Denny Walling #439, George Vukovich #598

2012-01-25T12:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1981 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Denny Walling – Houston Astros – Card #439
Purchase Price – free (trade with “JABO’s”)

I remember the name with the team and the card itself. Don’t remember him from any other sets but on the other hand, I want to say I know he played longer. My memory is really good with some things, and all screwy about others.

Card Facts – George Vukovich – Philadelphia Phillies – Card #598
Purchase Price – free (trade with “Manupatches & Mustaches”)

I definitely remember this card. I remember thinking a big Russian is playing in the states. Back then, Russians were the enemies. I don’t even know if Vukovich is a Russian name, but when I was 8, that’s what I thought. Not a flattering photo at all. It’s like the camera guy said, look at the camera and smile, then someone walked behind the camera guy with a hot dog and George followed the hot dog. I can almost see drool on the corner of his mouth.

Cards posted in this set – 30
Total price paid – $1.74
Average price per card – $0.06
Cards left to post – 696
Percentage posted – 30/726 (4% posted)
Percentage completed – 426/726 (59% completed)

Two more free cards. One from Kyle and I think this is the first trade card I have posted from Eric. Both these guys helped with this set big time and it was greatly appreciated.

1973 Topps–Manny Sanguillen #250, Don Baylor #35

2012-01-25T09:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1973 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Manny Sanguillen – Pittsburgh Pirates – Card #250
Purchase Price – $.17 (Ebay lot 6/$1.04)

This ebay lot was actually 7 cards and none were in great condition. But it was cheap and they weren’t horrible. A few creases here and there. One was tore up pretty bad so I didn’t put it in the collection. Cheesy little league photo here. That’s what I always think when I see the fake batting stance.

Card Facts – Don Baylor – Baltimore Orioles – Card #35
Purchase Price – $.11 (Ebay lot 40/$4.25)

Another guy I remember from him coaching in his later years. I’m not sure I knew he played for the Orioles, I mostly picture him with the Angels. At least this one is an action shot, and game action at that. I’d rather see the stands in the backgrounds then rock and chain link fence. If It was taken in spring training, it at least can fake it to most as being during the season.

Cards posted in this set – 25
Total price paid – $3.76
Average price per card – $0.15
Cards left to post – 659 (including NNO Checklists)
Percentage posted – 25/684 (4% posted)
Percentage completed – 76/684 (11% completed)

Up to 4% posted, technically it’s 3.6% but I round up. Long way to go though. I’m 1/3 of the way through the cards I currently have though. I need to get to buying some more. Maybe some with tax money.

Today’s 9–Gordon Beckham page 2

2012-01-24T19:22:00.001-05:00

GORDON BECKHAM

Cards (L-R) – (top row) 2010 Bowman Sterling, 2010 Topps When They Were Young, 2010 Topps 206

(middle row) 2010 Topps Allen & Ginters, 2010 Topps Allen & Ginters This Day in History, 2010 Topps Allen & Ginters game-used bat

(bottom row) 2010 Topps Finest, 2011 Bowman, 2011 Bowman Finest Futures

Played with the Sox from 2009-current

Was 5th in Rookie of the Year voting in 2009.

Card back info –

“Beckham made his MLB debut on 6/4/09, starting at third base against the Athletics. On that same date in 1968, Don Drysdale set a pair of record by firing his sixth straight shutout and extending his scoreless innings binge to 54 (later ending at 58).” – 2010 Bowman Sterling

“The alma mater of both of Beckham’s parents is the University of South Carolina, where his dad quarterbacked the football team and his mother was cheerleader. Gordon grew up passionate about baseball. He still recalls his gloom when his father, the youth team coach, had to cancel games because of rain” – 2010 Topps When They Were Young

“Though a rookie, Beckham was clutch enough in 2009 to sway .348 with runners in scoring positions and two outs.” – 2010 Topps 206

“Resume – Notched first career four-hit game on 7/18/10. Finished fifth in 2009 AL Rookie of the Year voting. Smashed 14 homers and 28 doubles. 2008 SEC Player of the Year honoree. Skills – Generates plus power with great bat speed and hip rotation. Has strong arm and smooth actions in field. Hard worker. Evolution – After setting a U. of Georgia record with 28 homers in ‘08, Beckham proved he could wield a wooden bat by whacking .322 in 59 Minor League games.” – 2011 Bowman

“A college star who tied for the NCAA lead with 28 homers in 2008, Beckham outpaced many forecasts by reaching the Majors early in the ‘09 season. There was nothing left to prove on the farms, where he whacked .322 in 59 games split among three levels. The White Sox starting second baseman in ‘10, Gordon is a thread anywhere from the Nos. 2-9 spots in the order.” – 2011 Bowman Finest Futures

Cards in Sox uniform that I own currently – 32

Debated on even adding the card back info from 2010 Bowman Sterling since it doesn’t say much about Beckham other than his debut date. I liked the When We Young Back though, the info about his parents is cool. A sports fairy tale if you will.

Trade with Stealing Home

2012-01-23T19:19:00.001-05:00

I had a couple of cards that Oscar wanted so we struck up a trade. I sent him a couple of relics and since we had traded recently, he didn’t have many Sox for me. So I got some trade material for a couple of other bloggers that I’m working on getting cards for. I did see one card on his blog “All Trade Bait” and requested that.

These are some of the few Sox he had. Love me some Lineage and a Jerry Owens rookie. I remember when he was supposed to be our next big thing. I’ve heard that about a number of Sox rookies and I’m still waiting for it.

I had requested the Beckham sparkly, but I love the Konerko rookie and Aparicio Kimball.

Some great Sox cards and a big thanks for the other trade stuff. Check out “All Trade Bait” and see what Oscar has for you.

1973 Topps–Jim Lonborg #3, Willie Davis #35

2012-01-23T09:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1973 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Jim Lonborg – Philadelphia Phillies – Card #3
Purchase Price – unknown

Another background with rock. I’m guessing that a lot of these were taken in spring training. Lots of chain link fence and rock formations. The price is unknown because I can’t find it in my record keeping. I’ll doc myself $.50 in the total amount paid for this mistake.

Card Facts – Willie Davis – Los Angeles Dodgers – Card #35
Purchase Price – free (via Trade with “Crinkly Wrappers”)

Well I obviously know this guy. I should know all them with all those Dodger bloggers out there. I would guess this is a brush back pitch at his head since the catcher is already standing. Probably had to go up to get it. Willie doesn’t have his helmet on so either he flinched it off or he got beamed. I do love the action shots in this set. Stuff you don’t hardly ever see. Although, if I was Willie Davis, I’m not sure this is the photo I would want used.

Cards posted in this set – 23
Total price paid – $3.48
Average price per card – $0.15
Cards left to post – 661 (including NNO Checklists)
Percentage posted – 23/684 (3% posted)
Percentage completed – 76/684 (11% completed)

That $.50 penalty cost my average price per card to go up a penny. Good thing I got some cards via trade to equal those out.

1981 Topps–Astros team #678, Bill Caudill #574

2012-01-22T20:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1981 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Houston Astros team – Card #678
Purchase Price – free (trade with “JABO’s”)

Gotta love the old Astros colors. Are there any Astros fans out there like really liked these uniforms? I ask because one of my favorite Sox logos isn’t a very popular one. I see Bill Virdon listed as manager, I think I remember scanning his ‘73 card, also as a manager, but of the Pirates. I like these team cards, kind of like a portrait. I wish they did them more often in the modern sets. Even as an insert would be cool by me.

Card Facts – Bill Caudill – Chicago Cubs – Card #574
Purchase Price – free (trade with “JABO’s”)

I kind of remember this card. I don’t know where this was taken but it doesn’t look like a major league stadium. I could be wrong, I’m just guessing. I’d also guess that it’s a bullpen of some kind since there are people directly behind him, as well as further behind him so I assume the field continues out there. I definitely remember the Cub logo on Bill’s sleave though.

Cards posted in this set – 26
Total price paid – $1.74
Average price per card – $0.07
Cards left to post – 700
Percentage posted – 26/726 (4% posted)
Percentage completed – 426/726 (59% completed)

Hope you all are ok with the way these posts look now. A lot easier on my time schedule this way. This is the first time I’ve added the set completion number on these posts. Wow! Already at 59%. Huge thanks to my fellow bloggers for that number. Price paid for this set should stay really low with the 300 plus cards I’ve gotten from them.

1973 Topps–Brock Davis #366, Dave Hamilton #214

2012-01-22T17:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1973 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Brock Davis – Milwaukee Brewers – Card #366
Purchase Price – $.11 (Ebay lot, 40/$4.25)

Don’t know this card as I probably won’t know too many since this is the year I was born. I’ve never really rooted for or against the Brewers. I would like to see their new stadium some time, I hear it’s pretty cool.

Card Facts – Dave Hamilton – Oakland Athletics – Card #214
Purchase Price – free (via Trade with “Crinkly Wrappers”)

My first trade card posted in either set. I’m able to mix them up more now that I’ve changed the way I’m posting the cards. I never know if I should type out A’s or Athletics when I type it. At least this card is an action shot unlike the one above it. I must say, looking at the photography from this set reminds me of looking at old pictures of my mom’s.

Cards posted in this set – 21
Total price paid – $2.98
Average price per card – $0.14
Cards left to post – 663 (including NNO Checklists)
Percentage posted – 21/684 (3% posted)
Percentage completed – 76/684 (11% completed)

Hope you all are ok with the way these posts look now. A lot easier on my time schedule this way.

Trade with Dennis

2012-01-22T14:09:00.001-05:00

Dennis doesn’t believe in fair trading. He likes to send huge box loads of cards, knowing I only have a few cards set aside for him. Actually, Dennis knows I’m good for it because we’ve traded before and we email a bit with our interest in the Wolverines. He had said he was going to send me a package so I expected the Wolverine auto’s he sent because we had discussed those before. But he sent me a box full of Sox cards as well. You’ll see those here, you’ll have to check out the Wolverine cards over at Dennis sight “Too Many Manninghams” which he lets me guest post there.

Like I said, he sent me a crap load of Sox cards. I won’t go into all of those but I will show the Konerko cards. There were about double these just in Konerko cards but I already had the others in my player collection. But they will probably all be needed in the White Sox Collection.

All these Konerko cards will go to the Konerko collection. And I will be going through the rest of the box to find a huge amount of Sox cards to go to the team collection.

Thanks Dennis, above and beyond as always. I’ll be looking out for some great cards for you. Be sure to check out his blog “Too Many Grandersons” or Verlanders or whatever he’s calling it now. Also check out his other blog “Too Many Manninghams” to see more of the package he sent me. I’ll be posting it there right after this one gets posted.

There be some changes round here

2012-01-21T21:10:00.001-05:00

I woke up this morning and read texts I received through the night and read this from ESPN “Reports – Colts have interviewed former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel for their coaching vacancy” Hell, F***ing NO! I am a Colts fan, not a Peyton Manning fan who just roots for the Colts because of him. I rooted for the Colts and watched the majority of their games this year without Manning. But when I read that text, I said to myself, if they hire him, I’m not rooting for the Colts anymore. Now I’ve thought about it all day, and my mind hasn’t changed. I don’t love the NFL like I do NCAA or MLB so I may not even have a favorite team. I’ll just root for some players I like and that will be the end of it. I truly hope that they don’t hire him for that position. I was annoyed enough when they hired his ass for whatever he does for the team now. If he coach’s, I’m gone.

I just spent 6 hours today just scanning. Trades, Box Breaks and a crap load of 1973 and 1981 Topps. The set cards are what took me forever because I had to scan those individually. But all my scanning is done. Whew!

I’ve said before that I need to be more organized and because I am organized now, I will be able to get the posts ready. But I tend to leave all my cards left to post all stacked up until I get the post out in case I need to see it when typing it out. Which leaves a few stacks of 1981’s and a small stack of 1973’s. So I think I’m going to change the way I show the 81’s and 73’s. I’m going to just show the card (that’s all we need to see anyways) and then my personal comments and my set info. That way I don’t need to keep the cards stacked around and can store them. I don’t have a desk or man cave or anything like that. So when I leave cards stacked around, they are usually on a shelf next to the TV in the living room. I usually type out my blog posts from my couch with my laptop. So in order to get my card stacks out of the living room, I’m going to change those posts. I am also going to possibly post a few cards per post. If I don’t, it’ll take over 2 years of posts for each set. Once I get through what I have those posts will slow down anyways. Hope that’s cool with you guys who read it. But this isn’t a set blog so I find this best for me.

Now I plan on spending the rest of my evening getting posts ready for the next week or so plus a whole bunch of 81 posts Ho hum, the day in the life of a blogger.

I do have a question for all of you though. I generally respond to comments via email and if you don’t have an email attached to your comments, I respond on the post. What does everyone prefer? Or do you not have a preference. Let me know, you all know how.

1981 Topps–Jay Johnstone #372

2012-01-19T12:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1981 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Jay Johnstone – Los Angeles Dodgers – Card #372
Purchase Price – $0.05 (ebay lot – 100/$4.99)
On the back (toon, bottom left) – none
On the back (toon, bottom right) – none
Signed by the Los Angeles Angels as an amateur free agent in 1963.
Debut – July 30, 1966
1966-1970 (Angels), 1971-1972 (White Sox), 1973 (A’s), 1974-1978 (Phillies), 1978-1979 (Yankees), 1979 (Padres), 1980-1982, 1985 (Dodgers), 1982-1984 (Cubs)
Born in Manchester, CT

That’s a bunch of teams. I remember him from the Dodgers and Cubs. But then again, those are the teams he played for when I was getting into baseball as a youngster. I’m not sure I even remember him playing for the Sox, card wise that is, I wasn’t alive yet when he actually did.

Cards posted in this set – 24
Total price paid – $1.74
Average price per card – $0.07
Cards left to post – 703

1973 Topps–Carlos May #105

2012-01-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1973 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Carlos May – Chicago White Sox – Card #105
Purchase Price – $.33 (Ebay lot, 7/$2.34)
On the back (toon) – Carlos led Carolina league in batting, 1968.
- “Carlos had a hot bat for Chisox last September. In one 12-game batting streak he was averaging .419 with 18 hits in 43 at-bats. Carlos hits to all fields, he’ll go to leftfield with the outside pitch and he’ll pull the ball when pitched inside.”
Drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 1st round (18th pick) of the 1966 amateur draft.
Debut – September 6, 1968
1968-1976 (White Sox), 1976-1977 (Yankees), 1978 (Angels)
Born in Birmingham, AL

I mainly know Carlos from collecting Sox cards. I want to say I have 3 or 4 other of his base cards. I know I have his 1975 along with another copy of this one.

Cards posted in this set – 19
Total price paid – $2.87
Average price per card – $0.15
Cards left to post – 665 (including NNO Checklists)

Today’s 9–Harold Baines page 2

2012-01-18T20:34:00.001-05:00

HAROLD BAINES

Cards (L-R) – (top row) 1988 Donruss All-Star, 1988 Score, 1988 Topps

(middle row) 1988 Topps mini, 1989 Donruss, 1989 Donruss (green back)

(bottom row) 1989 Topps, 1989 Topps mini, 1996 Leaf Signature Series

Played with the Sox from 1980-1989, 1996-1997, 2000-2001

Was All-Star in 1985-1987, 1989, 1991, 1999

Won a Silver Slugger award in 1989

Card back info –

“Only member of the White Sox to be selected to the ‘87 All-Star team. Was his 3rd All-Star selection, the other coming in ‘85 and ‘86. Bothered by after-effects of knee surgery early in ‘87 and was limited to DH duty. Hit .304 in ‘84 with 29 HR and 94 RBI and .309 in ‘85 with 22 HR and 113 RBI. Despite being hampered by a bad knee in ‘86, hit .296 with 21 HR and 88 RBI. 2nd on White Sox’ all-time homer list with 140 going in ‘87” – 1988 Donruss All-Star

“Harold, who has never received the acclaim he should as one of baseball’s best players, was disabled for a month by knee surgery and hampered most of the 1987 season by its after affects. Because of his loss of mobility, Harold had to leave right field, where he was tops, and became the White Sox designated hitter. Nonetheless, he was chosen for the All-Star game for the third time in a row and set a White Sox record for career home runs. In July, Harold’s .343 BA ranked ninth in the AL. Harold, who was the first player picked in the 1977 free-agent draft, set a league mark with 22 game-winning RBI’s in ‘83. “Even when Harold’s not swinging real good, he’s swinging good,” said manager Jim Fregosi. “He has an amazing knack of getting hits when he has to.” = 1988 Score

“Harold signed as a 1st round draft selection with the White Sox, June 7, 1977 by scout Bennie Huffman.” – 1988 Topps

“Was scouted as a little leaguer by former White Sox owner Bill Veeck.” – 1988 Topps mini

“White Sox’ all-time HR leader. Underwent knee surgery prior to ‘87 season and has been reduced to DH duties since. Led White in RBI last year. White Sox’ HR, RBI and hits leader in ‘86. 4th in AL in RBI and 6th in batting in ‘85. All-Star ‘85-‘87. Led AL in slugging (.541) in ‘84 and topped Chisox in battling and RBI.” – 1989 Donruss

“He belted 1st major league Home Run: 4-19-80. His first major league Grand Slam: 7-7-82.” – 1989 Topps

“Harold hit a Home Run in the 25th inning. May 9, 1984” – 1989 Topps mini

“A solid .300 hitter against both righties and lefties, Harold rejoined his original team when he signed with the Chisox as a free agent. He did so well during his first tour that the team retired his No. 3. It was reactivated for his return. At age 37, Harold remains a serious long-ball threat.” – 1996 Leaf Signature Series

Cards in Sox uniform that I own currently – 23

Was really excited when I got the Harold Baines auto from Dennis at “Too Many Grandersons.” He was one of my favorites growing up.

Rick Cerone–1981 Topps #335

2012-01-18T12:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1981 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Rick Cerone – New York Yankees – Card #335
Purchase Price – $0.05 (ebay lot – 100/$4.99)
On the back (toon, bottom left) – Holds nearly every offensive record at Seton Hall University.
On the back (toon, bottom right) – Threw 13 Touchdown passes as a high school senior.
Drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 1st round (7th pick) of the 1975 amateur draft.
Debut – August 17, 1975
1975-1976 (Indians), 1977-1979 (Blue Jays), 1980-1984, 1987, 1990 (Yankees), 1985 (Braves), 1986 (Brewers), 1988-1989 (Red Sox), 1991 (Mets), 1992 (Expos)
Born in Newark, NJ

I only remember him from the Yankees. Not sure why a team would get rid of you 3 different times. I would think there was a reason they did the 1st time, let alone the 2nd. I like the helmet on this card. I remember collecting a bunch of those when I was young.

Cards posted in this set – 23
Total price paid – $1.69
Average price per card – $0.07
Cards left to post – 704

1973 Topps–Bill Plummer #177

2012-01-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1973 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Bill Plummer – Cincinnati Reds – Card #177
Purchase Price – $.11 (Ebay lot, 40/$4.25)
On the back (toon) – Bill enjoys hunting trips in the off-season.

“Bill comes from a baseball family. His father, Bill Plummer, was a minor league pitcher, 1921-1927, and his uncle “Red” Baldwin, caught in the minors, 1915-1931.”

Signed by the St. Louis Cardinals as an amateur free agent in 1965.
Debut – April 19, 1968
1968 (Cubs), 1970-1976 (Reds), 1978 (Mariners)
Born in Oakland, CA

I remember having a Reds hat growing up. I don’t remember exactly why, but I do know I loved that hat. I do like the catcher logo they use for these cards. The squatting position. It works for a catcher, not for me though, I hurt thinking about squatting to that position for a few seconds.

Cards posted in this set – 18
Total price paid – $2.54
Average price per card – $0.14
Cards left to post – 666 (including NNO Checklists)

1981 Topps–Joe Strain #361

2012-01-17T18:53:00.001-05:00

I’m collecting the 1981 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Joe Strain – San Francisco Giants – Card #361
Purchase Price – $0.05 (ebay lot – 100/$4.99)
On the back (toon, bottom left) – Played in the 1975 Pan-American games in Mexico City.
On the back (toon, bottom right) – He and his wife both work as teachers during the off-season.
Signed by the San Francisco Giants as an amateur free agent in 1976.
Debut – June 28, 1979
1979-1980 (Giants), 1981 (Cubs)
Born in Denver, CO

Only played for 3 years. It was interesting to see that he held a job in the off-season. I assume not too many need to do this now a days. Of course, the way most major leaguers spend money, they might if they are making the league minimum. I’m pretty sure I could survive on $414,000 a year. But I’m not a major leaguer.

Cards posted in this set – 22
Total price paid – $1.64
Average price per card – $0.07
Cards left to post – 705

1973 Topps–Gary Ross #112

2012-01-17T18:13:00.001-05:00

I’m collecting the 1973 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Gary Ross – San Diego Padres – Card #112
Purchase Price – $.11 (Ebay lot, 40/$4.25)
On the back (toon) – Gary likes to ride horses.

“A prominent member of the Padres’ bullpen in 1972. Gary’s 60 appearances ranked 4th in NL and he had the lowest ERA on staff. Gary won first big leauge game 6-24-68.”

Drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 1st round (7th pick) of the 1967 amateur draft.
Debut – June 28, 1968
1968-1969 (Cubs), 1969-1974 (Padres), 1975-1977 (Angels)
Born in McKeesport, PA

Don’t have much to say. Kind of a boring card. It’s nice to see glasses have changed, although the hipsters seem to want to bring them back.

Cards posted in this set – 17
Total price paid – $2.43
Average price per card – $0.14
Cards left to post – 667 (including NNO Checklists)

Keeping Busy

2012-01-16T19:39:00.001-05:00

It’s been a long winter waiting for spring training. I always get excited when spring training approaches, I watch a few games but then lose interest until the end of spring training when the starters start playing more. I’m keeping myself busy getting organized, posting to other blogs, watching Michigan basketball, and even a little bit of the NFL playoffs. I sent off a few trades last Saturday, and am still getting some cards together for others. Been doing other real life stuff to like Girl and Boy Scouts, homework and work.

I’ve enjoyed blogging, but I don’t always have a whole lot to say so I started a Tumblr account, basically a blog with photographs. I went through my computer and posted some pics and reblogged a few I’ve found. I plan on posting cards from here on there as well. I got the idea from checking out Jonathan’s Tumblr “RGB cards”, you may know Jonathan from this blog though “RGB Cards”. I like what he’s doing with his and thought this would be a good output for myself as well. The bad news is I won’t be doing the photo cleansing posts here anymore because I will just post the photo’s I find there.

So to run down all my blogs

Laws Reviews – I review mostly movies, but I plan on doing some other things. Books, software, ect. No storylines, just my opinions. Just started that this year.
My Personal Collection – The plan is to scan every card in my PC’s and post it here. I’ve gotten some up but nowhere near done.
My Sports Obsession – You might have heard of this one.
My Sports Obsession Tumblr – This is the new one mentioned above.
Random Thoughts from a Random Guy – This is just a random kind of blog. For the most part I post humerous stuff I come across when I come across it. Once in awhile, I’ll post happenings in my real life but being as I don’t really do much, those posts are far and few between.
Too Many Manninghams – Technically it’s not my blog, but Dennis lets me guest posts my Michigan material over there.

I’m not asking asking you to follow them all, just throwing them out there since I added the Tumblr blog as kind of as a sister blog to this one.

Remember to support your Wolverines for the next few weekends. I’m rooting for this guy, he is one of my favorite alumni of Michigan.

1981 Topps–Larry Bowa #120

2012-01-14T16:18:00.001-05:00

I’m collecting the 1981 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Larry Bowa – Philadelphia Phillies – Card #120
Purchase Price – $0.05 (ebay lot – 100/$4.99)
On the back (toon, bottom left) – none
On the back (toon, bottom right) – none
On the back – Larry holds several fielding marks for shortstops.
Signed by the Philadelphia Phillies as an amateur free agent in 1965.
Debut – April 7, 1970
1970-1981 (Phillies), 1982-1985 (Cubs), 1985 (Mets)
Born in Sacramento, CA

I didn’t plan on it being Larry Bowa day here. I shuffled the lots I received from ebay that first week and just take one off the top when I type out a post. Funny how that happened.

Cards posted in this set – 21
Total price paid – $1.59
Average price per card – $0.08
Cards left to post – 706

1973 Topps–Larry Bowa #119

2012-01-14T16:06:00.001-05:00

I’m collecting the 1973 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Larry Bowa – Philadelphia Phillies – Card #119
Purchase Price – $.11 (Ebay lot, 40/$4.25)
On the back (toon) – Larry led NL with 650 At-bats in 1971.

“Larry is one of the NL’s finest fielding shortstops. He set a new major league record in 1971 with his .987 Fielding Pct; he committed only 11 errors all season. In 1972 he broke his own record, committing only 9 errors in 150 games. Larry hits his first major league Homer in 1972".”

Signed by the Philadelphia Phillies as an amateur free agent in 1965.
Debut – April 7, 1970
1970-1981 (Phillies), 1982-1985 (Cubs), 1985 (Mets)
Born in Sacramento, CA

While I knew Larry played for the Phillies, I’m more familiar with him with the Cubs. I watched a lot of Cubs games in the mid 80’s because with WGN, they were on all the time.

Cards posted in this set – 16

Total price paid – $2.32
Average price per card – $0.15
Cards left to post – 668 (including NNO Checklists)

What to do?

2012-01-13T21:34:00.001-05:00

I ponder this question most evenings. Spent last night working on copying team set lists over to my own list again. I started with the year 1900 and I’m only at 1922. I’m excited to get to the current years just to see if I already have any team sets. But I’m forcing myself to start where I left off and work my way to the current years because it keeps me motivated to keep working on the lists. Problem is, I have a whole slew of crap I should be doing.

Getting trade packages ready to go out.
Scan and write up posts for 1973, 1981, Today’s 9, ect.
Want to change my blog template, background, ect.
Finish team sets lists and player collection want lists.
Shop on ebay to spend my ebay bucks.
Put away PC cards already scanned.
Catch up reading all of your blogs.

There’s probably more but I just can’t think of them at this point. I suppose it would help if I would concentrate on one at a time until I complete it, but where’s the fun in that.

I’ve also come to the conclusion that I need to spend my money better and I’ve heard other bloggers mention this and I think I’m going to head that route as well. I’m only going to spend money on stuff for my collections or trade bait. I’m going to try to limit my spending on buying packs and blasters. The logic I heard, and agree with is, why spend $20 on a blaster of cards and end up with a few cards for my collection when I could spend $20 on cards I want. I’m going to try to join some box breaks and get cards that way. The bad part is, that leaves me very little to trade with so I will probably have to cut back on the trading. I do love trading with bloggers because they are so generous but I won’t feel comfortable trading somebody a few cards when I know they will send me a stack. I’ll feel guilty for not sending much. I’ll still pick up trade bait here and there so I can trade, and that’ll be a good way to get hits. Pick up hits for your hits.

I guess since I try to show cards. I’ll show you a few cards my wife picked up for me. She’s really into free stuff online and coupons. She earned some points on some website and picked up 4 cards of my team. The usual with these kind of sites, advertise you can get vintage, but truth be told, we’re going to send you cards from 1986-1994. Which is what they did. 4 1990 Fleer. But it was a good purchase because it was free and I actually needed 3 of the 4. The only one I had already had was an Ozzie Guillen.

So I got to add these to my collection. Thanks baby! Oh, that’s something else I need to do. Add “Put away PC cards already scanned” of course, by the time you get down here, you would have already read it and didn’t know I added it later. Anyways, I jumped in on a 2012 Topps box break already (JABO’s) so hopefully I’ll get close if not complete a series 1 team set.

I gotta go do, I don’t know, something. Crap! Add catch up on all your blogs, I’m a few days behind on those too.

Maybe I’ll get everything done. Either way, I’m out for now.

1981 Topps–Joey McLaughlin #248

2012-01-13T12:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1981 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Joey McLaughlin – Toronto Blue Jays – Card #248
Purchase Price – $0.05 (ebay lot – 100/$4.99)
On the back (toon, bottom left) – none
On the back (toon, bottom right) – none
On the back – Joey made Southern League All-Stars in 1976.
Drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 2nd round of the 1974 amateur draft.
Debut – June 11, 1977
1977, 1979 (Braves), 1980-1984 (Blue Jays), 1984 (Rangers)
Born in Tulsa, OK

Cards posted in this set – 20
Total price paid – $1.54
Average price per card – $0.08
Cards left to post – 707

1973 Topps–Dave Rader #121

2012-01-13T09:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1973 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Dave Rader – San Francisco Giants – Card #121
Purchase Price – $.11 (Ebay lot, 40/$4.25)
On the back (toon) – Dave got his nickname “rooster” from a cartoon character.

“Possibly the NL’s finest rookie receiver of 1972, Dave was the Giants’ first selection in the free agent draft of June, 1967. Dave hit .445, .285 & .333 in his 3 years of high school ball, he was named All-South Yosemite 3rd baseman as a sophomore & All-League catcher as a junior & senior.”

Drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 1st round (18th pick) of the 1967 amateur draft.
Debut – September 5, 1971
1971-1976 (Giants), 1977 (Cardinals), 1978 (Cubs), 1979 (Phillies), 1980 (Red Sox)
Born in Cincinnati, OH

I’m really starting to appreciate the photography more in this set. Not that it’s spectacular photography, but more it’s different from all the other sets. This photograph, for example, is just a live shot during a game. But it’s not really an action shop. But at least it isn’t just a headshot either.

Cards posted in this set – 15

Total price paid – $2.21
Average price per card – $0.15
Cards left to post – 669 (including NNO Checklists)

Trade with Kyle

2012-01-12T19:13:00.001-05:00

Been doing a lot of business with Kyle as of late. He’s been mentioned here on this blog 3 or 4 times in the last few weeks. I’ve bought cards from him, I’ve gotten in on a box break of his, and now he’s become a trade partner as well. So if you’ve not been paying attention to all those posts and haven’t checked out his blog yet, get your head on straight and head over to “JABO’s” now! How many times do I have to tell you.

He saw some cards on my trade bait page (I need to update it) and asked for them so I pulled them aside and these are what he sent me. You’ll see the huge stack he sent of 1981 Topps on those posts, probably for about 1/3 of this year. But here’s what else he sent.

This is just some of the Sox cards he sent me. I love the Frank Thomas masterpieces card (Green framed). The masterpiece cards are just great in general. Then you have a couple of curved chrome refractors from Topps. Jake Peavy (Topps) and Gordon Beckham (National Chicle), both players I like and the Beckham is #’d to /50. And I share Night Owl’s affection for the Lineage ‘75 mini’s. It would definitely collect that set if I was more of a set collector. It is probably my favorite parallel with the diamond sparkly’s right behind it. The Jim Thome UD Xponential card is just cool, nicely designed. And with all those newer cards, he threw in a 1983 Topps Carlton Fisk all-star card as well. And one more newer card, a Chris Sale Allen & Ginter. I enjoy that set as far as the baseball cards go, but I don’t buy any packs because I don’t like all the other cards they throw in, so I’m always happy to get some that I don’t have in trades.

And to top off the trade, he sent these 2 great cards.

Gordon Beckham jersey card with a stripe. I do like these A&G mini relics. And I actually already had the Chris Sale auto I picked up in a box break but I never turn down duplicate auto’s or relics so it is more than welcome in my collection.

Thanks again Kyle, be sure to check out “JABO’s”, he has all kinds of great things for everyone to be involved in over there.

1981 Topps–Ed Figueroa #245

2012-01-11T17:42:00.001-05:00

I’m collecting the 1981 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Ed Figueroa – Texas Rangers – Card #245
Purchase Price – $0.05 (ebay lot – 100/$4.99)
On the back (toon, bottom left) – A giant fan as a youngster, his baseball hero was Juan Marichal.
On the back (toon, bottom right) – He’s the youngest of 7 brothers.
Signed by the New York Mets as an amateur free agent in 1966.
Debut – April 9, 1974
1974-1975 (Angels), 1976-1980 (Yankees), 1980 (Rangers), 1981 (A’s)
Born in Ciales, PR

Appeared in 15 games for the Yankees and only 8 with the Rangers but his card is a Rangers card. They must have had a later release date for these cards in the year. I assume this because it’s not really a high number.

Cards posted in this set – 19
Total price paid – $1.49
Average price per card – $0.08
Cards left to post – 708

1973 Topps–Mickey Stanley #88

2012-01-11T17:41:00.001-05:00

I’m collecting the 1973 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Mickey Stanley – Detroit Tigers – Card #88
Purchase Price – $.11 (Ebay lot, 40/$4.25)
On the back (toon) – Mickey once had a streak of 164 consecutive errorless games.
- “Mickey’s dependable outfield play helped Tigers to win 1972 AL-East championship.”
Signed by the Detroit Tigers as an amateur free agent in 1961.
Debut – September 13, 1964
1964-1978 (Tigers)
Born in Grand Rapids, MI

As much as we complain now a days that players don’t stick around with the same team for their whole career, this is the first card I remember doing in this or the 1981 set that the player stayed with the same team their whole career. So it may have been more common back then, but it certainly wasn’t common from what I’ve seen so far. Granted I’m only about 30 cards into each set total.

Cards posted in this set – 14
Total price paid – $2.10
Average price per card – $0.15
Cards left to post – 670 (including NNO Checklists)

1981 Topps–Rollie Fingers #229

2012-01-10T15:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1981 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Rollie Fingers – San Diego Padres – Card #229
Purchase Price – $0.05 (ebay lot – 100/$4.99)
On the back (toon, bottom left) – none
On the back (toon, bottom right) – none
Signed by the Kansas City Athletics as an amateur free agent in 1964.
Debut – September 15, 1968
1968-1976 (A’s), 1977-1980 (Padres), 1981-1982, 1984-1985 (Brewers)
Born in Steubenville, OH

I remember Rollie more from his days with the Brewers as they were my more impressionable years. And I remember him for the same reason most of us do, his mustache. Oh yeah, he was a pretty good reliever as well.

Cards posted in this set – 18
Total price paid – $1.44
Average price per card – $0.08
Cards left to post – 709

1973 Topps–Gary Nolan #260

2012-01-10T12:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1973 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Gary Nolan – Cincinnati Reds – Card #260
Purchase Price – $.11 (Ebay lot, 40/$4.25)
On the back (toon) – Gary spent full season in majors at age 19.
- “Gary barely missed winning the NL’s ERA title in 1972, finishing a close 2nd to Steve Carlton. Gary was Reds’ top winner last season. He hurled 6 innings vs. Bucs in 1972 NL Playoffs and 10 2/3 innings vs. A’s in 1972 World Series.”
Drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 1st round (13th pick) of the 1966 amateur draft.
Debut – April 15, 1967
1967-1973, 1975-1977 (Reds), 1977 (Angels)
Born in Herlong, CA

It must suck to be with the same team your whole career and then get traded just before you ended up retiring. Although he signed with Milwaukee after the Angels released him but never played.

Cards posted in this set – 13
Total price paid – $1.99
Average price per card – $0.15
Cards left to post – 671 (including NNO Checklists)

Trade with Eric

2012-01-09T21:28:00.001-05:00

Eric of “Manupatches and Mustaches” said he had a bunch of 1981 Topps to send me (you’ll see all those later) and who am I to turn down someone sending me cards. But then a day or so later he posted this card, which I wanted.

Juan Pierre Liquorfactor (Cognac) card. Although after I scan these I think they look like they are camouflaged. I like all the sparkly cards in last years set and I’m sure I’ll like them in this years set.

Pierre had his moments for us, but I liked him. They say he’s the hardest working guy in baseball. I know when he was struggling with us, he went out and played hard every day. You have to respect that. Everyone has slumps, it’s how you perform while in those slumps that makes the man. And he kept his head up and work even harder to overcome the slump. Like I said, you have to respect that.

Along with the huge stack of 1981 Topps, he also sent some other Sox cards for my collection. Because he’s cool like that.

A couple of our new managers rookie cards. And you can’t go wrong with a vintage, even if it is a reprint. Not positive what the Luke Appling is, haven’t logged it in to my collection so I haven’t googled it yet. A Sale mini I didn’t have, I have a few of the mini’s but I didn’t have this one. And since I started this photo with our current manager, I’ll show our last manager at the end. Although I picked it out because it’s a cool photo. This is just a few of the cards he sent.

Thanks Eric, I’ve scrounged up some cards for you but I want to pick up a few more before I send out your package. But I’ll definitely hit you back. And thanks again for all the 1981 Topps. Huge help to the set.

1981 Topps–Tom Hutton #374

2012-01-09T15:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1981 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Tom Hutton – Montreal Expos – Card #374
Purchase Price – $0.05 (ebay lot – 100/$4.99)
On the back (toon, bottom left) – none
On the back (toon, bottom right) – none
Signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent in 1964.
Debut – September 16, 1966
1966, 1969 (Dodgers), 1972-1977 (Phillies), 1978 (Blue Jays), 1978-1981 (Expos)
Born in Los Angeles, CA

I don’t mind that the Expos moved to Washington DC, but I do miss the Expos team colors and that M logo they used.

Cards posted in this set – 17
Total price paid – $1.39
Average price per card – $0.08
Cards left to post – 710

1973 Topps–Dusty Baker #215

2012-01-09T12:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1973 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Dusty Baker – Atlanta Braves – Card #215
Purchase Price – $.11 (Ebay lot, 40/$4.25)
On the back (toon) – Dusty was a broad-jumper in high school.

“Dusty was the National League’s 3rd leading hitter in 1972. The fleet-footed speedster led Braves in Doubles and was 3rd in RBI’s behind Earl Williams & Hank Aaron.”

Drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 26th round of the 1967 amateur draft.
Debut – September 7, 1968
1968-1975 (Braves), 1976-1983 (Dodgers), 1984 (Giants), 1985-1986 (A’s)
Born in Riverside, CA

It’s funny reading about how good Dusty was. Because most of what I know of him is as a manager. I read fleet-footed speedster and chuckled to myself.

Cards posted in this set – 12
Total price paid – $1.88
Average price per card – $0.16
Cards left to post – 672 (including NNO Checklists)

Box break results

2012-01-08T19:15:00.001-05:00

I had planned on spending the weekend scanning and getting more posts ready for the 1973 and 1981 set. Since I posted neither today, you can see, I didn’t get done what I wanted too. I spent most of yesterday copying over from teamsets4u.com to a want list for my Sox collection. I figured I’d start with every card they have, so needless to say, I haven’t gotten very far in the amount of time I was working on it. To many different backs on the T206’s, took me forever to get those logged in. I’ll try to do better this week on getting other posts out. I have so many different things I need to work on and I just jump back and forth between all of them. That doesn’t help me complete anything.

Here’s my results from JABO’s box break. I received these along with some trade cards and a huge stack of 1981’s. He was very generous. I had the White Sox (obviously) and then selected Phillies for my 2nd team and was given the A’s for my 3rd team. And if you know me, the Phillies and A’s are available for trade. He broke a Finest and a Lineage box.

You’ll see 2 Cliff Lee’s in there. One is the Venezuelan insert and one is the base. Gotta love the Mike Schmidt though.

And here’s the rest of the Phillies, A couple of great players in sparkly in the Lineage with Halladay and Schmidt. The Brown on the right is #’d /299. I took the Phillies because #1, they are easy to trade and #2, there are a lot of stars, as shown above.

I didn’t do as well with the A’s, not even a modern star in the bunch. The vintage Foxx is always nice because that’s the reason I like Lineage, is the mix of vintage and modern stars. All of the above cards (A’s and Phillies) are all available.

These are the Sox cards I got for my collection. I already had a bunch of Lineage from trades and packs I purchased earlier in the year so I wasn’t expecting much but I did get a couple that I didn’t have. If you had asked me if I had the Chris Sale, I would have said yes, so it’s a good thing you didn’t ask. And you can never go wrong with one of the best hitter’s to ever wear a Sox uniform. That’s Frank Thomas, not the Adam Dunn card. I didn’t have any Finest so those are all new to me. Too bad Sergio is gone now though, I liked him.

If you haven’t found Kyle’s blog yet, be sure to check it out. He does quite a bit of stuff for everyone to get involved. So check out “JABO’s”.

LCS, Ebay and Trade Bait. All in 1.

2012-01-07T23:00:00.000-05:00

As mentioned in an earlier post, I hit my 2 LCSs to find some cards for a couple of traders that have emailed their list of White Sox cards. I desperately want to find cards of certain players or teams for these traders but I’m not having much luck. One LCS isn’t technically a LCS. It’s called “Media Madhouse,” they buy and sell games and movies for the most part. You know the kind of stores. Everything they sell is used. They do have a sports cards section as well, but since they only buy from people who bring stuff in, it doesn’t get a lot of new stuff in very often. The good side is, it has a 5/$1 box. So I can usually get some older or oddball cards out of there. He does have a showcase of his “hits” but like I said, not a very high turnaround so most of it doesn’t change. The other good side is, I can sit and talk with a few of the employees about sports and sports cards and they at least know a little about what their talking about. Now my other LCS shop, is just a small store at the local mall. Not very friendly service, high prices, and really not much in the showcase for “hits”. The only positive is he sells packs, boxes and supplies. The bad news is, I’m not fighting the mall just to pick up that stuff. But I did hit it in search of some trade stuff as mentioned. He had a box out on his showcase. I asked what the price of that stuff was “$1 a card”, so I started to go through it. About 1 handful of top loaders and I was putting the stuff down. It was basically 2011 base cards, for $1. No thanks, I can get that stuff off ebay/shipped cheaper than that. I started to head out and saw a 5/$20 box of “hits” so I skimmed through it. There was only about 20 or 30 baseball in it but I did grab a few, even though I didn’t find the actual teams I was looking for.

Anyways, here’s what I came away with that day, minus the few cards I grabbed for fellow traders. I did grab a few cards for myself.

I grabbed the Tom Seaver out of the first LCS for $.20. Seriously, $.20. I don’t know if he misplaced it, put it in the wrong box, I don’t know but I wasn’t passing that up. I realize that it’s not a major high dollar card but he would normally have thrown this in the showcase for a $1 or $2 at least. It has a small crease, barely visible in the top left corner and the corners aren’t spectacular, but who cares, freaking $.20 cents. The other card I grabbed at the 2nd LCS out of the 5/$20. I normally wouldn’t have paid $4 for this but I needed to grab 5 cards and do you think I’m going to turn down a White Sox relic, I didn’t think so. Even if the guy did move on to the Tigers. Not an overely huge fan of Ordonez anymore. I was while he was with us. I guess I just have trouble rooting for a guy who complains about his salary when he’s making millions. If he had left like Buehrle did, just played out his contract, and left via free agency for more money, that’s fine. But to tell your team you need more when you signed the contract that your making now, screw you. Just shut up and do what your paid to do. But I digress. Here’s the reason I had to find 5 cards. I came across these 2 and couldn’t pass them up.

The top 2 cards were in the 5/$20. So now you can see why I wanted to find 5 cards, those are some nice looking cards. And yes, they are both available for trade. I’d keep them if they fit into my collection.

The bottom card is not for trade as I have a Mets fan asking for a trade already. But I wanted to share the story on how I got it. I actually purchased a 1973 Topps card for the set collection. I hadn’t received it in yet but it had only been less than a week. To be honest, I had forgotten about the card coming because I had a bunch of other stuff coming at the same time. Anyways, he sent me a message through ebay saying he had thrown out his back and was having trouble getting to the post office. So he was going to include an autograph card when it shipped. I replied back not to worry about it, as long as he kept in contact so I knew it was coming. I also told him not to worry about the auto, it was appreciated but not necessary. Apparently he decided to send it anyways. I’m generally pretty east to deal with as a buyer, as long as I receive it and it’s in the condition said, I’m happy. As a seller, I’ve had people email a day or two after they paid for it asking where it was. Some people are just assholes that way.

1981 Topps–Juan Beniquez #306

2012-01-07T15:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1981 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Juan Beniquez – Seattle Mariners – Card #306
Purchase Price – $0.05 (ebay lot – 100/$4.99)
On the back (toon, bottom left) – none
On the back (toon, bottom right) – none
Signed by the Boston Red Sox as an amateur free agent in 1968.
Debut – September 4, 1971
1971-1972, 1974-1975 (Red Sox), 1976-1978 (Rangers), 1979 (Yankees), 1980 (Mariners), 1981-1985 (Angels), 1986 (Orioles), 1987 (Royals), 1987-1988 (Blue Jays)
Born in San Sebastian, PR

Juan won a Gold Glove in 1977 with the Rangers. He played most of his career games in the outfield between all 3 positions. But also had almost 100 games between all 4 infield positions as well. He played for 8 different teams in his 17 season in the majors. Had 4 straight seasons between 1983-1986 with a .300 or better average with the Angels and Orioles.

Cards posted in this set – 16
Total price paid – $1.34
Average price per card – $0.08
Cards left to post – 711

Average price per card is down to $.08. I don’t really expect it to climb much because this set isn’t a high dollar set. I can’t really think of any major purchases needed for it.

1973 Topps–Jim Wynn #185

2012-01-07T12:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1973 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Jim Wynn – Houston Astros – Card #185
Purchase Price – $.11 (Ebay lot, 40/$4.25)
On the back (toon) – Jim likes jazz music.
- “Jim’s 117 runs in 1972 were 3rd most in majors and set new Houston record. Jim himself held former club mark of 113 runs score in 1969. He had 17 stolen bases.”
Signed by the Cincinnati Reds as an amateur free agent in 1962.
Debut – July 10, 1963.
1963-1973 (Colt 45’s/Astros), 1974-1975 (Dodgers), 1973 (Braves), 1977 (Yankees), 1977 (Brewers)
Born in Cincinnati, OH
Attended Central State University.

Was a 3 time All-Star (1967, 1974-1975). Was 2nd in Home Runs to Hank Aaron with 37 in 1967. Led the league in walks in 1969 and 1976. Spent the majority of his major league career in the outfield, mostly at center field. He had 23 games between shortstop and 3rd early in his career.

Cards posted in this set – 11
Total price paid – $1.77
Average price per card – $0.16
Cards left to post – 673 (including NNO Checklists)

1981 Topps–Pat Underwood #373

2012-01-06T15:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1981 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Pat Underwood – Detroit Tigers – Card #373
Purchase Price – $0.05 (ebay lot – 100/$4.99)
On the back (toon, bottom left) – His brother, Tom, pitches for the New York Yankees
On the back (toon, bottom right) – His father John, is a former minor leaguer in Phillies’ chain.
Drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 1st round (2nd pick) of the 1976 amateur draft.
Debut – May 31, 1979
1979-1980, 1982-1983 (Tigers)
Born in Kokomo, IN

Pat played 4 years for the Tigers, with a year of the minor league between the sets of 2 years. He only pitched 10 innings in his final year.

Cards posted in this set – 15
Total price paid – $1.29
Average price per card – $0.09
Cards left to post – 712

This is the 2nd player from this set that I’ve posted so far that was born in Indiana. Both from places I know. Kokomo is on the way to Indianapolis from where I live so I go through it all the time.

1973 Topps–Denny Riddleberger #157

2012-01-06T12:00:00.000-05:00

I’m collecting the 1973 set, slowly but surely. This post is the latest in my quest for the completion.

Card Facts – Denny Riddleberger – Cleveland Indians – Card #157
Purchase Price – $.11 (Ebay lot, 40/$4.25)
On the back (toon) – Denny is a draftsman in the off-season.
- “Denny led all Indian fireman in 1972 with his 2.50 Earned Run Average, he was used in middle inning stints mostly against lefthanded batters. Denny’s biggest thrill in baseball was his 1st appearance in big leagues, for Senators in September, 1970.”
Signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates as an amateur free agent in 1967.
Debut – September 15, 1970.
1970-1971 (Senators), 1972 (Indians)
Born in Clifton Forge, VA.
Attended Old Dominion University.

Pitched in 103 games in his major league career, 95 of those in the last 2 seasons. Pitched exclusively in relief.

Cards posted in this set – 10
Total price paid – $1.66
Average price per card – $0.17
Cards left to post – 674 (including NNO Checklists)