Collecting update

Got all my trade cards sent out. Everyone I’ve been dealing with have been great, friendly and very helpful. I’ve gotten my first package in the mail but haven’t scanned any of the cards yet. I plan on scanning stuff tomorrow so I’ll do a post about it then.

I have decided to collect any and all White Sox cards, in particular, Paul Konerko, but I’ll take his cards with any team. The above card is the only memorabilia card I have of him so far.

But I’ve been looking at the pictures of the cards on other people blogs and it has brought back memories. So I think I’m going to add a couple of my favorite all-time players whom I used to collect growing up. Most of their cards won’t be expensive and most of his cards will bring back all the fun I used to have when I collected as a kid.

One player was rookie of the year 6 years before I was born but played well into the 80’s so I got to see him pitch in his later years. He won 3 Cy Young awards and was inducted into the Hall of Fame with the highest percentage of votes (98.5%). He even finished his last few years with my beloved ChiSox. Anybody guessed yet?

Tom Seaver

The other player I’m going to collect because I used to collect all his cards back in the day for the same reason. He was my dad’s favorite player and I always figured if I collected his favorite player, he’d forgive me for being a White Sox fan since he was a die hard Cubs fan. He passed away in 1981 when I was only 8 so this collection will help me feel closer to my father. My mom always says one day I’m going to wake up and he’s going to be standing at the edge of my bed, with his Cubs gear on, giving me a disappointed look. Who is the player? Well he was the rookie of the year back in 1961 for his beloved Cubs. Played all but his last 2 season with them until he finished his career with the A’s. He was also inducted into the Hall of Fame. Anybody figured him out yet?

Billy Williams

I’m still looking for my first cards of these players as I am just starting to collect them again. Although I have some gypsy queen base cards coming my way hopefully sometime next week. I know Seaver was featured, I don’t know about Williams. Guess we’ll see if I get to officially start my collection of them next week.

Update

I know, I've been slacking a bit in the last week or so.  My kids have been both having baseball/softball practices and Easter rolled through so I've had a little less time than normal.  My youngest daughter has a practice game Thursday and then their opening day is Saturday.  They've had a lot more practices scheduled but we've been getting a lot of rain the last few weeks.

If you follow my twitter, then you know I tryed my first online box break last week with zero results.  I guess I shouldn't have been surprised considering the box I bought the slot in only had 12 cards to begin with.  I want to say it was a 2010 Topps Triple Threads. What you don't know is that I participated in a 2nd box break last weekend.  Only this time, I made sure the box had more cards to give me a better chance.  And I got a hit.  I won't tell you what it was but it should be here in the next few days and I'll be sure to scan a photo for you.  This hit came from a 2010 Topps Finest.

I've also started up a few trades with other blogs.  I was afraid I didn't have much but some traders are content with just certain teams and such.  Since I'm new to the game, I've emailed a few people about trades and they all seem to be more than willing.  So far, I've only mailed out one because I had been talking to Eric for a bit, the others I just contacted last night so my big plans for this evening (other than take my daughter to Girl Scouts) is to get some more trade packages together plus I have a few more people to contact.

I know I haven't said much about the White Sox, that would be because I have tried to not watch them lately with them losing 10 of their last 11 going into this series with the Yankees.  I still fully support them, it's just to heartbreaking to watch what should be a good team, suck so bad.  I was a little worried going into the Yankees series because I have a long standing bet with a Yankee fan here so I figured I might end up owing even more money than the last sweep pays double with the Angels fan.  But we've pulled out 2 wins in a row with them.  And what's been nice is some great defense, timely hitting, and both the starters and bullpen have looked good.  Which is the total opposite of what we've seen from the beginning of the year.  There were a couple of great plays by Brent Lillibridge to seal our win last night.  I'm going to try to find some video and post it here later.  I should probably wait until I get off work before I go searching the internet for the videos.

USA cards

Had some cards finish on ebay, these are what sold. What didn’t sell will go into my trade pile. I’m going to try to get a page up with everything I have available for trade sometime. It may take awhile, but I’ll get to it eventually.

Some Nice USA stuff, had a few others that didn’t sell. I don’t know of anybody off hand that collects USA stuff, but here’s what didn’t sell. If your interested, let me know.

Trading

I have decided that I am going to collect all White Sox cards. I posted a page of the Sox cards I have, which isn’t many since I’m re-starting to collect them. So check them out and send me what I don’t have.

Now, as far as the trading goes, I haven’t done it online yet. So send me emails (jccsst1022 at gmail dot com) or leave me a comment and tell me what the etiquette is, the unwritten rules. Do I send you what I have that you want and you send me what you have that I want? Does it go by book value (I assume Beckett) on what we both send? Give me some hints, I’m going to add a blogroll on the left side of this page of everyone I follow, chances are I follow yours and I will have to go through them and see who all collects what.

So let me know what I’m doing as I don’t want to shortchange anyone. I can’t wait to start getting envelopes in the mail. I understand since I’m new, you’ll probably want me to send cards first, and I don’t have a problem with that. Most of the blogs I’ve read has said things about trading so if I know your already completing trades then I have no problem sending what I have first.

For those 2 people who had signed up to receive the team lots for $2, I will consider them trade material and I will contact you and get your addresses and ship those out sometime this week.

To collect, or not to collect

Needed to go to the LCS to pick up some top loaders for the cards I need to ship out.  Bought a few packs for the hell of it.  Bought the last 2 packs of Topps Chrome and a pack of Bowman, nothing great but I added the cards to the “Team lots page” which I edited earlier today to list how many cards I have with each team so you’d know how close I was to send out.  Although there is only 2 people (3 teams) spoken for so apparently I’m not going to be getting rid of the cards like I had thought.  I’ve thought about trading for White Sox cards, but there are so many anymore.  I’ve thought about just collecting cards from the the original sets, not all the additional set.  By original sets I mean just the Topps, Fleer, Donruss, Upper Deck.  Not the Chromes, Vintage, Platinum, ect.  But I like those sets too so I don’t know what to do.  To understand why I’m hesitant about starting to collect is to understand that I have an addictive personality.  When I get into something, I go all in.  I’m already addicted to the cards, but they way I do it, I put money in and get money out, but I’m still around the cards and I at least break even (for the most part).  The bad part, I can’t afford to buy cards just for myself.  I work a factory job, 40+ hrs a week.  And provide for my wife and 3 of my 4 kids living with me.  So I don’t have the extra cash to go out and spend money on myself.  Trading would be perfect for that, but I don’t think I really have anything great to send other people.  I’m at a loss.  I’m not sure what to do.  Right now, I’m leaning on collecting all White Sox cards, I’ll just have to keep an eye on my spending, which I can do, it just takes effort (and my wife giving me those disappointing looks).  Any suggestions?

Mint Condition

Just finished “Mint Condition – How baseball cards became an American obsession” by Dave Jamieson.  Very good book.  Loved it.  If you collect or have collected baseball cards, then you need to read this book.  It’s a history of baseball cards and it’s sordid, if not dark, past.  It starts with the genesis of baseball cards in the late 1800’s all the way to the present.  This isn’t a picture book, with lots of pictures of cards.  I assume most are like me, you know where cards came from and how they started.  In tobacco packs.  But there is so much more to the story.  The underhanded tricks early companies used to get people to keep buying.  Why Topps was the only one around for all those years, and why Fleer and Donruss waited until 1981 to start putting cards out.  Which also explains why Donruss had so many errors that year.  It explains why a child’s hobby went from just that, to a multi-million dollar business and how the child is no longer a factor and with that, a slow death of the baseball card is inevitable.  It bring back memories of collecting when I was kid, all the trading that went on in the neighborhood’s.  I still get the itch to open packs but can’t get into collecting in general.  The companies and big business side of cards has ruined collecting for fun anymore.  Reading this book reminded me of trying to collect whole sets or team sets and I’m thinking of doing it again.  Shhh!  Don’t tell my wife.  I highly recommend this book.

What to do? Give them away!!!

I read a post that I think started over at “A Cardboard Problem”. I sat and read the comments and read a few other blogs who posted their own posts about the subject. What do you do with all the cards you don’t collect?

Before I go into what I have decided about the problem, let me give you a little history about what I do to begin with. I buy cards and turn around and sell them. I know, doesn’t sound like much, or sound like I’m a collector. I just love to open packs or boxes. I love the thrill on what I’m going to get next. I love looking at the cards themselves. But it costs money to collect. I have very little money. I also love to sell on ebay. I love to watch people bidding on my cards. It’s really great when I have a good card on there but I don’t very often. So I buy packs and list what cards I think I can sell. Ebay now allows 100 free listings if they start under $1.00 every month. So I take advantage of those, because it’s free, which is right up my alley. I basically lists numbered, memorabilia (jersey, bat, ect) and autographed cards with a few rookies thrown in. For those of you who open packs, you know you don’t really get that many of the above mentioned cards often. I used to hold the “other” cards and when I get so many, list them in a team lot. What I’ve found out is, not many team lots actually sell. And it’s a pain because I try to list all the cards in the lot because I’m not one to trick people into buying junk cards like some do and that becomes a lot of work.

Before I tell you what I’ve decided to do with the “other” cards, let me say, I’ve really gotten into reading a bunch of card blogs. I currently have 30 blogs bookmarked that I check daily and I seem to be adding more every few days. I love hearing everybody talk about their finds, or about their trades, or pack pulls. I love reading about their love of their teams and that teams players. I love to hear everybody talk about their love of cards. It’s nice to see excitement over what are typically basic cards and not bragging about the 3 color jersey patch 1/1 autographed solid gold card that most people will never own. It’s nice once and awhile, because it is exciting, but not every day with a different “super” card. I’ve also started reading “Mint Condition – How baseball cards become an American Obsession” by Dave Jamieson. If you’re a reader, read it. If your not, take the time to do so anyways. I’m only about 1/4 into it and it is really good. It’s a great read about how cards came about, and I’m sure most of you are like I was and know it was originally ads for tobacco but it started out so much more and has such a rich and somewhat dark history. But it goes into a few people who collected every different card they could and they did it, not for the money, but because they loved it.

So, what have I decided to do with them? I decided I would give them away, mostly free. I have posted a page on this blog, with all the teams listed. And what I want you to do is, let me know which teams you want. I will put you on the list with that team and when I get 50 cards of that team, I will e-mail you, you then have 3 days to paypal me $2.00 to cover shipping, and I will send you the cards. I wouldn’t even charge the $2.00 but like I said earlier, I’m broke and it’s still a pretty good deal (50 cards of your team for $2.00). So either comment on this blog, or shoot me an e-mail at jccsst1022 at gmail dot com and tell me which team you want to be notified about. I will take multiple people for teams, when I send the 1st person listed their cards, I will move their name to the back of the list for that team. And the next person on the list will get the next 50, and so on. I can’t tell you how long it’ll take to get 50 cards, I get some teams a lot more than others and it also depends on how many packs I can buy that week. But I would just love to see the cards go to people who appreciate them. So again, comment or email me (jccsst1022 at gmail dot com), I will add your name (1st come, 1st serve), and when that team gets to 50, I will notify you, you paypal me $2.00, and they will be packed and shipped to you.

If you have a sports or sports blog you want me to check out and possibly bookmark, let me know and I will check it out as well.

Maize and Blue Spring game

Watched the game this morning.  I was supposed to go up to Ann Arbor with my brother for it but they ended up scheduling us to work yesterday so I had to DVR it.

The Offense, well, more or less looked the same it did last year.  Which if you remember, didn’t convert into as many wins as it should have.  A few of the games we lost, we could have won had our turnovers not shot us in the foot.  Yeah, our defense didn’t help either.  But we knew they weren’t good so we were counting on that potent offense and Denard Robinson to outscore our opponents but it seemed like every time the defense would step up and stop an opponent, the offense would not score and more times than not, turn the ball back over.  That’s what I saw today.  Interceptions, a dropped snap, and quite a few overthrows from Denard.

Our defense looked good, but I’m not sure if that’s because our offense didn’t or we just have an improved defense.

I know it sounds like I’m being negative against our Wolverines but I’m not.  I realize it’s just April and they have a lot more practice time coming.  And the way I understand it, they only ran about 40% of the playbook.  Just spouting at what I saw.  Even after all the comments above, I’m still excited for this season to get here.  I can’t wait until September 3rd for our opener and of course the 10th against Notre Dame.  For those of you who don’t know where I live, let’s just say, 95% of the people who live here, are ND fans.  Our local NBC station is WNDU.  And every day of the year, the sports page head story is about ND football.  It might be the reason I can’t stand ND, but believe me, it’s not the only reason.  But that’s for another blog.

White Sox – aarrrgggghhhhh!!!!

I don’t know what to say.  I haven’t watched them much this week, been busy, but I’m thinking that it might be a good thing.  I want to say, it’s only April, but I also know these games do matter.  We have time to make them up but wouldn’t it be better to win them now and not have to go to game 163 like our division has quite a few times in recent years.  I want to say that Kansas City and Cleveland won’t keep it up, but who’s to say they won’t.  Minnesota’s line-up never looks impressive every year but they are always there at the end, so who’s to say the Royals or Indians aren’t for real.  Do I think so?  No, not really.  But I know we are digging a hole that I would rather not have to dig out of.  Isn’t it always better to be standing at the top of the hole, not in it.

The bullpen seemed better in the Anaheim series.  Which seems good, hopefully that’ll get fixed.  Our offense has seemed to gone back to leaving men on bases which was a huge disappointment last year.  But on the bright side, the last time the Angels swept us at home, was 2005.  And we all know what happened that year.

Our defense has been surprisingly bad.  Pierre has only 35 in his career and already 2 in 13 games this year.  Not worried about him though, they were just really bad timing on those 2.  But just a bunch of errors that we don’t normally see.  I thought we had pretty good defense.

I’ll leave it to the usual, it’s still early, but they can start playing like the White Sox I know they are, any time now.  Because if this is “All In”, then I’d like to be sitting at the table with them for the next hand.

Ebay Auctions in/out

I ordered one of those ebay lots where you pay a certain price and your guaranteed 4 times the amount back but you don’t know what your getting. I realize they usually give you crap. But it was pretty cheap so I went for it just to see. I always buy multiple lots that way they are more likely to give you better cards for return business. That is what I did here. 10 lots. I wasn’t particularly satisfied, for one, I didn’t receive them for over 3 weeks. I expected the base and insert cards I got, I didn’t expect as many duplicates as they sent me. I got my money’s worth, or so I think. I was just expecting a little bit better.

Rocco Baldelli - 2005 Donruss Throwback Threads jersey /100 RAYS

Ebay auction # – 320686800561

Craig Biggio – 2007 Bowman Sterling refractor jersey /199 ASTROS

Ebay auction # – 320686800339

Carlos Carrasco - 2008 Bowman Sterling jersey/auto PHILLIES

Ebay auction # – 320685447870

Chris Duncan - 2009 Upper Deck jersey CARDINALS

Ebay auction # – 320686800311

Vladimir Guerrero - 2009 UD Spectrum jersey /99 ANGELS

Ebay auction # – 320686800632

Jose Duran / Brandon Hicks - 2009 Donruss Extra Edition College Ties /100 jersey TEXAS A&M

Ebay auction # – 320686800656

Torii Hunter - 2004 Playoff Honors Players Collection jersey w/stripe /50 TWINS

Ebay auction # – 320686800591

Randy Johnson - 2006 Upper Deck Epic Materials jersey /145 YANKEES

Ebay auction # – 320686800528

Chipper Jones - 2008 Bowman Sterling jersey BRAVES

Ebay auction # – 320686800286

Austin Kearns - 2005 Donruss Leather & Lumber bat /100 REDS

Ebay auction # – 320686800212

Javy Lopez - 2004 Upper Deck Origins jersey PUERTO RICO ORIOLES

Ebay auction # – 320686800395

Kazuo Matsui - 2008 Upper Deck game-used jersey ROCKIES

Ebay auction # – 320686800462

Rafael Palmeiro - 2005 Donruss Leather & Lumber jersey /150 ORIOLES

Ebay auction # – 320686800523

Sean Rodriguez - 2003 Upper Deck Rookie jersey ANGELS

Ebay auction # – 320686800575

Tyler Stovall - 2008 Upper Deck Junior National Team 3 color patch 99/99 USA

Ebay auction # – 320686800614

I think those were apart of the lot, I had mixed them with everything else before I realized I was going to make this post. I have a feeling, some of those weren’t. All starting bids are $.99. Check them out as well as some other cards I have listed. I don’t have a link to my ebay auctions on the right side as I type this but that is my next project so maybe by the time you read this, it’ll be there.

Angels cards & Fantasy league

I sold some California, I mean, Anaheim, I mean Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, yeah, that sounds right.  I sold a few to a friend at work today.  Obviously, he’s an Angels fan but we spend a little more time together than most.  Or at least we used to.  Miguel (White Sox fan), Me (White Sox fan) and Paul (Angels fan) used to go to at least one Sox/Angels game a year up until last year, because he got all pissy about an argument.  Sometimes we’d hit the casino in Michigan City on the way, sometimes not.  It used to be a fun, guys trip.  I do miss those games.  I also one time stayed outside Chicago and went to a whole weekend series which was pretty cool.  Only time I’ve been to back to back games, let alone 3 in a row.  I love the ballpark.  We do still gamble big bucks every year.  $2 a game, sweep pays double.  I have this standing bet with a couple of Cubs fans and a Yankees fan as well.  It doesn’t even have to be mentioned before the series, it’s just a standing bet, no matter how much any of our teams suck.  Anyways back to the original reason for the post, here’s the cards I sold him.

    
    
    
Also, I never updated how my fantasy team did this week.  I play 3 different teams but I’ll only talk about the 1 here because it’s all friends and family, people that I know.  The other 2 are ran by a guy, John (Twins fan), that I know from the internet and don’t know but a few people in his leagues and the ones I do know, are from the internet, not real life.

I beat my wife (her 1st year playing) 6-4-1.  I won the Runs battle by quite a bit with some help from Joey Votto and Gordon Beckham who both had double digits for the week.  They also had double digits with Ryan Zimmerman in Hits but I lost that category to Prince Field, Dustin Pedroia, David Wright and Carlos Quintin in double digits for her.  I won Home runs by 1 with 9 different players hitting them.  My team was led in RBI’s by Chris Young but wasn’t enough to overcome Fielder and Quentin’s double digit weeks.  I beat her soundly with Stolen Bases as I had 7 different players with them,  I had 3 players batting over .300 and 1 over .400 (Votto) but that couldn’t compete with Fielder, Pedroia and Pablo Sandoval all hitting .400 or better.

We tied in Wins with 4.  I won the saves battle by 1 behind Joe Nathan and won the strikeouts behind double digits for Gavin Floyd, John Danks and Cliff Lee.  We split ERA and WHIP, even though she had Brian Wilson for a 27.00 ERA, my combined was worse, that’s pathetic.  But I pulled it out with WHIP so I guess we were almost even.

I sure most of you didn’t care, but the Sox game was early and I missed the most of the beginning and don’t care to talk about the end till I calm down so I was bored.  Sorry.  I guess those last 3 paragraphs explains why I have no followers on my blog but my wife being supportive, not sure she even reads this one being as it’s a sports blog and she doesn’t follow much sports.

Mail call

Received a lot I bought on Ebay – 30 card White Sox lot – here’s the highlights.

#’d 697/699 #’d 166/250 x-fractor

#’d 41/50

Nothing high dollar but some nice cards for the price.