the Great Sort

As I mentioned earlier in the week, I sorted 4 3 row boxes of cards for my LCS. I found quite a few cards that I didn't have which surprised me because the majority of the stuff I sorted was, for the most part, just base cards. There were some inserts, but not a ton of them. Everything I got here, I get to keep for free for payment for sorting.

I decided to do the scanning by players instead of big scans, I just like it better that way so you'll get a lot of scans.

As you may know, I collect team cards as in team photo cards. I've probably flipped through thousands of 2023 cards and never thought to keep these for that collection but I did this time. All 3 of them kind of look like the team photos of the past and they seem to feature the whole team so I kept them.

I set aside the players to scan that I have over 50 cards of, and they are all White Sox cards considering I don't PC them as players. Frank (1017), Abreu (265), Ventura (182), Giolito (149) & Rodon (77).

I also did a scan of the younger players that I like and a couple of an older player. Garrett Crochet, I expected big things from before he got hurt. Oscar Colas is supposed to be our future. I really hated the Jake Burger trade and didn't understand but I still like him. I don't think I'll PC him just because he's no longer with us. Lenyn Sosa is also supposed to be one of our futures. You also can't go wrong with some new Dick Allen cards from A&G. Certainly better than a lot of the non-baseball cards they put in that set.

Next up are PC cards.

I grabbed 5 cards of Eloy. This is the first time I've seen the Cosmic Chrome, those are pretty cool. To be fair, I don't think they would have the luster they have without being Chrome. You'll see a lot of the above sets throughout this post. I now have 194 cards of Eloy, closing on a milestone there.

I picked up 3 cards of Robert, 2 of the 3 are actually inserts. I'm only a card behind Eloy with 193 cards of Robert and therefore, also closing in on the same milestone.

I'm still collecting TA, even though I haven't been real happy with him lately. We'll see if it doesn't get better next year. These 7 cards give me 217 of Anderson.

I only picked up 1 card of each of these players. Also like grabbing another Buehrle as he doesn't get much love from the newer sets but he did in the Platinum Anniversary set. I have 383 of Mark.

I picked up this insert of Cease as well. I haven't seen these Velo inserts from the Capstone set. I'm closing on a milestone of Cease's as well with this card being the 98th.

I also found 2 Fisk, 1 from each Sox and both newer. These 2 give me 383 cards of the original Pudge.

2 more of Johnny Bench, one being an insert and a die cut one at that. These make 232 of the Little General.

A couple more of the Platinum Anniversary cards. A lot of my PC players had a card in this set. That's my 348th of the Kid and 147th of Doc.

Always great to pick up some of the Tier 1 collection, especially when I'm adding 4 cards. These give me 572 cards of Tom Terrific which is my 4th highest PC.

2 more for the Yaz collection as well, both from sets you've seen a number of times already. These 2 give me 182 cards of the BoSox legend.

2 more singles. My Zimmy collection is definitely bigger than I thought it would be when I started it. It's at 399 with this card.

Barry's collection, however, I expected it to get pretty big because of when he played. It now sits at 3rd place of my PC's with 741 cards.

I haven't been searching for cards of Steve Carlton but I feel like I've added quite a few lately. I shall go look. I've only added 25 this year but 12 of those were in the last 2 months. He's now at 229 cards.

I'm always pleased to add more of this former Wolverine as well. Really liked seeing the Cosmic Chrome, they definitely look better in real life than scanned. These 2 of the former Rookie of the Year give me 73 of him.

These 2 A&G of Ripken also get me closer and closer to a major milestone of Cal. His PC is my largest at 960 cards. I'm not sure I'm going to hit 1k by the end of the year but I'm not real far away considering I spend 95% of my Saturdays at cards shows.

I said I sorted 4 3 row boxes. What I didn't say was 3 of those were baseball. The other, well, you'll see.

I found this DPJ among that box. This is my 40th card of him.

I've been getting a lot of cards of Nico as well lately. These 2 give me 60 cards which is 4th among my football PC's.

It's always nice to grab a former Wolverines still wearing the uniform. This Uche rookie gives me 12 cards of him.

The Rashan Gary is double that number with 24.

I only started this collection back in November of last year so it's only at 47 cards. I say only just because he has over 4000 cards. I've been searching them out though, just grabbing what comes to me.

Last but not least, I picked up some of Kwity. He only has 37 cards but 5 of them now are of the Wild Card variations. I have 7 Wild Cards and like I said, 5 are of Kwity.

Those were all the freebie cards I got from my LCS but when I'm in there, I try not to look around too much so I don't spend any money. I made the mistake of glancing in a case and seeing this card that I needed.

I cut me a deal on it but I still paid way more than I usually spend on cards. Its his pre-rookie or out of the Traded set.

As you can see, I added a bunch from this last sort but it wasn't one my usual sorts. He actually got 8 3 row boxes from another guy that I know and Kevin sorted the other 4 so he probably pulled some cards for me as well but he sorted football and basketball and he doesn't know all my PC's which is what sucks about not sorting everything. But, I get what I get and I don't pay for it so who am I to complain.

LCS finds

If you've been around here, you know that my cousin and I do a little side work for my LCS. He buys all kinds of stuff that walks in the door and we help him sort it all. When we first started going in the shop, he had boxes all over. Under all his tables and piled in the corners. Now his shop looks pretty clean as far as the floor goes and he has told a bunch of people how much help we've been. He shows us that by giving us cards and great deals on the more expensive stuff. As an example, he had dupe Cronenworth autos and he gave them both to me for the price of 1 which I sent the other to Dennis.

I stopped by yesterday after work to drop off what I sorted last weekend and picked up some new stuff. He didn't give me a ton to do this weekend since I have 2 shows so today is the only day I would have to work on them. He has a few people who buys blasters, hangers and such who pull out one or two cards that they collect and they sell everything else back to him. So this morning, I went through 10 opened hanger boxes of 2022 Donruss. He lets me pull whatever I need for my collections, he knows if I find any high dollar (which I never do with the stuff I'm sorting) to let him know, other than that, he knows I have limited collections and that's all I take so he let's me take them.

I've sorted 2022 Donruss for him before so I had most everything as far as the base that I needed but while I was standing there talking to him, there was a stack of mini's sitting on his desk and I flipped through those and found a few for myself as well. Here's what I added to my PC's.

This was a nice find and it was actually on top of the stack of mini's which is the only reason I went through them because I hate mini's but I need them so what better way then free ones.

I don't add too many Konerko's often anymore since I have quite a few and he doesn't get a whole lot of hobby love anymore (not that he ever did) but he's my favorite Sox player of all-time so I grabbed it. It's actually the A&G back so I still need the regular mini. Plus I have to keep my hefty lead on TCDB.

I also found this regular back mini of Cal. I was hoping to find another one for Dennis but no such luck. I didn't even look to see if he needed it but it was free so I would have been able to take a chance.

Sadly, even though I'm slowly closing in on 1000 cards of Cal, I'm only ranked #46 on TCDB.

Another tier 3 PC guy with the black border version. I was glad to pull so many mini's of HOF'ers, you can't really complain about that.

Another Tier 1 guy that I don't add a ton to his collection. I found a black border mini on his desk and found an Orange Holo in the Donruss hangers I went through. 

At one time, I was #1 on TCDB. I got an email from a guy saying how he figured he'd be #1 after he entered his and I ended up having a couple hundred more. He sent me a 1970 Topps Super and I sent him 20 or so cards he didn't have. A few months later I looked and he had blown past me. I've dropped another spot since then.

Also found this Orange holo of the former Wolverine, Jake Cronenworth. I love that there is a good Michigan guy in the bigs to collect again. Apparently Dennis does as well.

I'm thinking I'm going to start doing my posts like this again, just a pick-up of that day kind of thing so it's less posts and more cards posted at a time. I'll still have some random posts until I'm caught up and then go to strictly these kinds of posts and the birthday posts. I like the random posts but even with doing a few players on each posts, I get behind rather quickly. Probably because I have so many PC players with all the Michigan guys.

Tier 1 sorting

Went over to Sluggo's after work today to prep a few more things for the big show in Shipshewana tomorrow. The bad thing is that it snowed pretty good here so I'm hoping that doesn't effect the attendance too much. We were pumped up for this show because they only do it 4 times a year and the first one is always the biggest, attendance wise. There's over 180 tables so it's always busy but the 1st one of the year is always the busiest. Plus, a fellow blogger is supposed to make an appearance but he's coming from up North and I'm afraid the snow will be too much. It's supposed to stop snowing tonight and it's not supposed to get real cold and get close to 40 tomorrow so while the roads might suck in the morning, I think they will clear off by late morning. It's also an hour East of us so for all I know, there isn't any snow because that's how Indiana works sometimes.

Today's post will feature my Tier 1 pick-ups, which I don't get to add to very often.

I picked up both of these from the boxes we are sorting and selling from the Man Cave up North. As you can tell by the Dodgers uniforms, these are early in his career.

I picked up these 2 from Hollisters at the Lansing show. Technically, we bought a huge box of cards from him and then I paid Sluggo for them at even more of a discount. I like both of these because I like the early Chrome's and Finest are always nice, these are both refractors as well. I paid less than a buck a piece for these.

These 4 give me 742 cards of PK.

I picked up this from Kevin, it's another one of those retired edition cards that I didn't know existed. It was a freebie for sorting.

This was another one that I got in the Man Cave boxes, so once again, another freebie. This would be one of those cards that I thought I had but I didn't. That happens a lot and that's also why I always check before I purchase, well, most of the time.

This one came from my LCS but it came out of a seriel numbered box that we purchased from them but I still got it free from sorting his other boxes.

These 3 cards give my Aparicio to 128 cards. I remembered when I first started that collection, I really didn't think it would ever get that big. It helps he has a bunch of 90's and early 2000's cards.

This is the only Billy Williams I added, but it was also free from sorting for my LCS. I've seen the '52 sets before but I never seen them in the Chrome versions but there were a few in the cards I sorted. Then I logged it in and realized it's from 2021 so it doesn't surprise me that I hadn't seen them yet.

This card gives me 116 cards so not too far from the Aparicio collection.

These both come from the LCS as well. I've been doing a lot of sorting. I actually don't get very many from the LCS sorts. For the most part, I usually only keep 10 or 12 cards of sorts. Although I walked in on Tuesday of this week and he set aside a card for me and just gave it to me when I came in, for free. The second card also goes to my Schmidt collection. It also came from the serial numbered box.

These 2 of Tom Terrific give me 554 card of him.

I got to add to 4 of my 6 Tier 1 collections with all the sorting I've been doing so it's definitely worth it.

Sunday's with Seaver

Sluggo brought over 3 more 5 row boxes for me to sort so I've been sorting most of the day. I got through a box and a half in the few hours I was working on them. I was hoping to get the team lots done by the Plymouth show which is in 3 weeks. Not sure that is going to happen since we keep doing shows on Saturdays, it takes away one of my days that I work on cards. I might have to start doing a little after work each day. Good thing sorting cards is my happy place.

Today's post is a Tier 1 player who I don't add to much too often anymore. He's my favorite player from when I was growing up, even though he played for quite a few years before I starting watching baseball.

I picked this up the other day from Sluggo. It's from 2022. I grabbed one for my White Sox collection as well, I believe it was Rodon who had a pretty good year this year for the Giants. 

Even with that card above, I was going to add more to the Seaver collection with these 5 from Dennis. The first 2 are from the Rookie Cup series and that Topps Fire is the orange parallel and is numbered. I definitely appreciated seeing these in the envelope from him. Thanks again Dennis.

Nolan Ryan card?

Just a quick post tonight. I got a few more of a Tier 1 collection.

When Dennis sends me cards, he tends to hit a lot of my PC's (and I have a lot of them). He gifted me with this Tom Seaver card that I didn't. It highlights one of his games with the Miracle Mets in the World Series.

I also picked up these 3 at the last card show in Mishawaka. The top 2 came from the same seller in his dollar box but I bought enough cards that it only came to $.78 each. The bottom card was in that lot of 1977's that I bought that had some star power, as you can tell.

These 4 cards put my Tom Terrific collection at 523 cards.

A Terrific addition

Finally, I've been waiting for this post to pop up because it's got some great cards. It's another Tier 1 card collection but some of the cards come with a story.

I picked up these 2 from Sportlots. I can't believe I got a Triple Threads for under $.50. Or the Kellogg's to be honest and as you can see, it's in pretty good shape. I just got these in the mail last month.

These 2 came to me from the Diamond King. I like the one on the right, probably because of the whole license thing.

The following 2 cards came from a guy on TCDB. He tweeted at me saying he entered all of his Seaver cards and looked at his ranking expecting to be 1st. He wasn't, by a long shot. I had around 500 and he was around half that. I told him to send me his address and I'd send any dupes I had of him that he needed. I ended up sending 25 or 30 cards and he sent me 1 card but I thought I got the better end of the deal.

This was the only dupe he had that I didn't but it worked out great because I was stoked to get this 1970 Topps Super (short print). It now sits on my shelf so I can see it (and where else am I going to store something that size).

A month later, he also sent this card to go with it. It wasn't necessary because I loved the first one but it was still something I needed.

He must have been on a binge because I just looked and now I'm currently 2nd, behind him by almost 100 cards. He has the rookie and a lot of his vintage stuff where as I don't, because I'm cheap. One day, maybe.

Lastly, I got this auto from Sluggo. He actually picked up the same card only the auto wasn't smudged so he let me have this one. Smudged autograph is better than no autograph. It's my first one of Tom Terrific.

These 7 cards put that collection at 517 cards, which is good for 2nd place on TCDB but 5th place in my own collection.