Sox and more

I dropped off previous sorting at my LCS a week ago and he gave me some more stuff to sort. I was in his shop when Kevin text and said we weren't going to the show on Saturday so I grabbed some more to sort since I'd be home. I started it Friday when I got home and finished Saturday afternoon. There was a book of pages and a lot of cards in penny sleeves which is a pain because I have to take them all out. That probably took more time than all of the sorting. I went through a lot of baseball, some football and a real small stack of basketball but I only ended up with more baseball for myself.

We'll start with the older White Sox cards that I got. There was quite a mix of stuff in this sort as you see the above cards. That is my 109th card of Carlos Lee and my 192nd of Mags.

These are the shiny newer cards. Well, except the Colas, it's not shiny but he's a player I've been picking up cards of lately because I'm hoping for good things. The Keuchel is the Prism Refractor. 

There was also a ton of these Chrome Platinum Anniversary. I didn't realize how many cards were in the set because I figured I was getting close to the team set until I looked these up. I was wrong, these 4 give me 14 but there's 31 total. That's my 238th card of Tim Anderson and my 279th card of Abreu.

Then getting into the player collections, I got one Tier 3 of Gary Carter. The scan doesn't show but it's a pretty shiny card itself. This is my 350th card of the Kid.

Some more platinum anniversary Sox cards but both PC's. That's 233 cards of Moncada and 213th of Eloy.

1 more, same set, different team. I also found this Larkin to add to that PC.  This is my 749th card of Larkin.

As I said above, there was quite an assortment of cards.

I also found 6 cards to add to my 1971 Topps set. As you can see, they are in pretty good shape as well. These 6 give me 204 cards which is good for just over 27% completed.

Even better than the 1971's were these 4 from 1969. They give me only 71 from the set which is just over 10% completed.

The temps dropped below 0 for the first couple of days this week and they cancelled work so I'm working tomorrow to make it up so I'm not sure when I'll get back to my LCS to exchange cards. We have the show that got cancelled last week on Saturday as it got moved so it might have to wait until next weekend.

Christmas is coming, my stack is getting fat

As you probably know, Dennis is a very generous dude and for a little while now, he's been sending out Christmas packages. I've been lucky enough to be on his list for a number of years. We share a bunch of PC's so it's easy for us to pick stuff up for each other. I've got a box of stuff ready to go to him as well, I just got to get it to the post office later this week.

As per the usual, we'll start with the White Sox cards. These 4 all go to the Sox collection. The Reylo is the metallic winter. The Morel and McDowell are inserts and the Short is a purple refractor. The McDowell looked familiar but I didn't have it.

Just as the Reylo above was, this is the Metallic version as well. You can't really tell in either of the scans. This is my 228th card of Yoan.

Dennis sent me some of these Generation Now of Zimmy. These were the only 2 I needed to go along with the 19 that I already had. I also have 3 of the Chrome version. These 2 got me to a milestone though, I now have 400 cards of him.

One of our shared collections is Cal jr. I thought I already had this card as well, I was even thinking that I just added it not long ago but it turns out it was the Darryl Strawberry version of it. This Cal give me 975, not sure I'm going to make that 1k by the end of the year.

He even managed to hit my Vintage collection with this 1972 Topps leaders card. It is my 239th card from that set.

This was another card that I thought I had but I didn't. I do have the base version as this is a promo parallel which explains why I thought I had it. This is the 21st card of Tyrone Wheatley and being as he isn't a PC player, they are all in the Michigan uniforms.

I definitely like this card of our current Running Back. This is the International Trading Card Day card. I'm so glad Bowman can use logos now so they didn't screw with his helmet. This is my 5th card of hopefully many more in a pro uniform as well.

Now we get to the hit portion of the package.

First up, he sent me my 5th auto of Trey Burke. Out of those 5, this is the first one he put her jersey number on the auto. This is also the newest card I have of Burke so maybe this is the way he signs now. This card is my 60th card of Trey.

Funny story with this Funchess patch, Dennis came out to the Kalamazoo show (we'll be back there in January and May) and pulled a card just like this, only with a better patch, out of our boxes. A card I obviously didn't know was there. So he bought that and upgraded his and sent me the old one. It's still a cool patch even if you can barely see the other color. It's also numbered to /50. This is my 113th card of Devin.

Love seeing these 8 TK Legacy autographs as they are difficult to find around here, at least the Wolverine ones are. I see the Notre Dame ones all over. I even recognize a few of the names. He also added a Donovan Warren silver auto.

As always, a great package from Dennis of Too Many Verlanders fame. Thanks brother and I'll hopefully get you yours before Christmas.

Vintage stars

It's Thursday so I'm done with work for the week. I got kicked out at 1 today because I hit my 40 hours and they aren't allowing overtime. Maybe I'll get some posts done this weekend. We are setting up at a small show on Saturday but it's only half an hour or so from home so I won't be gone all day.

Today, I'm going to hit a couple of collections. They kind of go together.

I got 3 cards for the team card collection. They are all mid 2000's. I was happy they came back at this time, I wish they had them in the newer sets. You'd think the heritage sets would at least have them. It's only my 4th card of the Marlins but they didn't have any Vintage. I have 14 cards of the Giants, 5 of them are after 2000. The Mets are now at 13 cards, 4 from after 2000. These 3 came from Sluggo

I said these collections go together before I realized the 3 cards I had for the team collection were all modern (sort of) but here we go anyways.

I picked up these 21 cards from sorting. He must have picked up some (sort of) Vintage lots from somebody.

These 13 cards also came from sorting. All of the players in both scans are of list players, some of the players I pull while doing the sorting. When I sort list players, I put them in player stacks. The guy that buys them pays more when they are already sorted. Obviously, these are the older players, mostly hall of famers. There's a lot more modern players than these but you won't see those here being it's a Vintage post.

Remember awhile ago, when I said the promoter at the Plymouth show told me he had some vintage on his table that I should see, Well the rest of the post are those cards.

As you can see, these are a lot better players than I normally purchase on the cheap. The Yaz is a player collection as well. Kevin was upset I grabbed the Hank Aaron before he saw it. I mean, I didn't grab it until the show was closing so it wasn't like he didn't have that option. These 2 cards give me 238 cards from that set which is good for 30% complete.

2 more stars and another needed PC card. These 2 1971's give me 199 cards which is just under 30% complete.

2 more of the same players only a year older. These 2 1970's give me 117 cards which is good for 16% complete. As you can tell, the older I get, the less cards I have.

Lastly, this 1968 of Killebrew gives me only 56 from that set which is still under 10%.

I paid $33 for those 7 cards which is way over what I normally spend, at least on 7 cards but those are some pretty good Vintage stars and not the usual commons that I pick up. Like I said, he was the promoter and a guy I consider a friend so I didn't mind handing him that much money.

Schmidt with a side of Rice

Sluggo and I went over to our LCS and put in a little work sorting cards. I came home with a stack for myself as payment so I'll probably spend time tomorrow logging and scanning cards.

Today we got another tier 3 collection, or is it Vintage collection. Actually, it's both but it's only 1 card.

I grabbed this while sorting cards for Sluggo (I guess I have to say for who now). I was surprised I didn't already have it but I didn't. I know it's nothing fancy but it was a need regardless.

This is my 282nd card of the HOF 3rd baseman. Not really too far from 300. Hopefully by next year, hehe.

Benchmark Purchase

Since we went vintage on the last post, the random decided to go a vintage player but more modern cards. Except 1.

I had all these shipped in the last Sportlots package. A few cool cards in there. The Stadium Club's and Gold Labels are pretty nice and I like the remakes with the older patterns.

How about this for a vintage look a like. I kind of like the black border on the '69 look (ish). I think I like the name and position on top better than in the circle on the '69's. I picked this up at the Shipshewana show from Joe.

I know, you assume this is a reprint but it's not. I picked this up at the Warsaw show. It was my one big purchase. I probably overpaid for it but when I saw it, I couldn't walk away. I dropped $20 on it and if you know me, that is Obviously this is my oldest card of Bench. It's his first solo card, his rookie he shares with another guy.

These 23 cards get me over 200 cards, up to 207 cards.

Great players at great prices

I have a few days without some birthday posts so you might get to see some more pick-ups for a few days. Unless I get lazy, which is always a possibility. Had some good sleep last night too so I'm rearing to go today. I couldn't tell you the last time I slept past 10. I must have needed it.

Today's post is one of my more popular collections because it tends to speak to more collectors than player or team specific ones.

I'll start off with this. Josh, the guy who gave me the 8000 count box of 1982 Topps and all those publications that I purchased, threw this in with the sell just because it fit with my vintage collection. It actually means quite a bit because 1987 was when I went nuts and purchased a ton of Topps. I remember having a 8 or 9 copies of some of the cards that I PC'd. It was also the last year that I really purchased as a kid, which is why my Vintage Collection stops at 1987.

I've already finished the set so I won't open it and I think it's a pretty cool add to the collection even if it isn't worth much.

I picked up these 2 cards for the 1978 set from that $1 box at the Fort Wayne card show. As I go back and post all these $1 box vintage cards I got, I realize just how good of a purchase that was.

These 2 cards give me 186 which bumps me just over the 25% completed mark.

I added these 2 to the 1977 set. You seen the Yaz on his PC post, it came from the $1 box in Fort Wayne. The Lou Brock I grabbed at the Shipshewana show from Joe who's another guy we set up with and I know.

These 2 cards give me 275 cards for that set for 41% complete.

Another PC pick up that also goes in the Vintage. I picked up this 1976 Schmidt. Another $1 box Ft. Wayne pick up.

This card gives me 359 cards of the 1976 set which puts me at 54% completed. Off the top of my head this is 1 of only 2 1970's set that I'm over half complete.

As you may have figured out, if it's a vintage card with a pretty good player on it, or team card, it came from the $1 box in Ft. Wayne. All 3 of these go to other collections as well, the team card to the team card collection and the Schmidt and Carlton are both PC's as well.

These 3 cards give me 142 cards of the 1975 set which is 21% completed.

The top card is a Ft. Wayne purchase as it's also a PC card. Not the greatest condition but I'll take it for a buck. The bottom card was from my last Sportlots shipment.

These 2 cards give me 313 cards for a 47% completion on the 1974 set. Almost another I can put at half way done.

I specifically went looking for some 1973's with my last Sportlots purchase. I like the few action shots in there, you don't see the Fregosi pose often, watching him probably fouling out.

These 8 cards give me 511 of that set which is good for 77% completed. Obviously, this is the other 70's set over 50% completed.

Both of these 1972's came from Ft. Wayne. The top card is another PC card of Seaver while the bottom card I kept because of Hank Aaron. When I say kept, I could have purchased a ton of his card but was trying to budget so I narrowed down that $1 box purchase to PC cards that also went to the vintage collection.

These 2 cards give me only 84 cards of this set which is only 10% completed. Just for kicks I went and looked to see how many Hank Aaron's I have in my Vintage Collection. The answer is 5 but all our leaders or special cards, none of his base, yet.

As I said above, all my $1 box Ft. Wayne purchases were PC and team cards. This is where we start hitting the team cards. I got the Seaver from the same seller but it wasn't in the $1 box, I dropped $5 on it but I couldn't pass it up as I'm sure I got a discount since I bought so much from him so it was under $5.

These 7 cards from the 1971 set put me at 127 cards for a 17% completion.

I picked up the top 2 team cards in Ft. Wayne and the bottom card from Sportlots. If I wanted to pick up any 2 team cards from that set it would be those 2. The Sox card for obvious reasons and the Mets card because when I collected as a kid I was a Mets fan and I had that card. It was an expensive card of the Miracle Mets back then.

These 3 cards give me 99 cards of the 1970 set for only 14% complete.

These were the oldest of the team cards I picked up in Ft. Wayne. A couple of 1966 cards for $1, I'll take it.

These 2 cards only give me 42 cards of that set which is only 7% complete.

I picked up these 4 cards from the 1960 set from Sportlots for under $.50 each a piece. My 1960 set is probably my furthest along for that decade but that's mainly because I have quite a few of the Sox cards from that set.

These 4 give me 76 cards of that set for a 13% completion. Just for fun I went and looked and 29 of those are White Sox cards.

That's right, I even found some cheap 1958 cards on Sportlots. I'll pick these up all day for under $.50 if I can find them. Wonder how the Guardians like that logo.

These 2 cards give me 24 from that set for a 5% completion.

This was a fun post, I always forget how much I love picking up cheap vintage cards. I tend to focus more on my PC stuff and just pick up vintage when I run across them. Maybe I should add some to my search on Sportlots and specifically look for some again.

Josh is the man

Sluggo and I went out to Warsaw to check out a card show yesterday. It wasn't the greatest but we still found some stuff to grab. Him to sell, me for my collections. The show seemed to be more guys selling their cards than dealers set up, if that makes sense. Which was fine, like I said, I found plenty for myself and Sluggo found some stuff he wanted.

Afterwards, we went around the corner to a LCS there, it was really small (they're getting ready to move to a bigger location) and after being at a show for a couple of hours, I really wasn't in the mood to search a bunch of boxes for cards. I did grab one out of his showcase and again, Sluggo picked up a few as well. 

We left there and headed home but before we got there, we thought we'd hit our LCS and I ended up finding more stuff. He had just bought a collection that had a ton of high end White Sox stuff which was cool to see but was way too rich for my wallet. He did have a bunch more my price range that I did pick up. It was a nice day of shopping for cards and I've spent most of today logging and scanning all the cards from last weekend as well as yesterday.

I just recently looked at how much I've spent this year compared to the last few and I've already spent more than last year, and last year was my highest to date. I guess it's paying off for my collections to work the shows because I generally spend the money I make working for Sluggo towards more cards so it's really easy on the budget. It's also gotten me to spend more money per card instead of always buying cheaply. I've added quite a few cards that I would never had purchased before. To be exact, I've already spent over $600 more than last year and I've picked up a little less than 5000 cards less than last year so that shows you, I've been buying nicer cards.

Today's post, however, is a nod to the old me (from last year). At the Plymouth show last weekend, I was talking to Josh (the promoter) who I had bought a bunch of vintage stuff (you'll see that later) and I was talking about my vintage collection. He handed me a stack of 1975 Topps (39 cards) and asked if I wanted them all for a buck. Hell yeah!

Out of the 39, I needed 33 of them. They are in stacks of teams (you can't tell by the colors so I figured I'd tell you) then the last photo (other than the 2 Rangers) are all the cards I only had 1 player from that team. It boosted my 1975 Topps set to 142 cards. Nothing really flashy but all needs and 1975 cards for $.02 each. I'd call that a bargain, but wait, there's more. 

He also said he had a box of 1982 Topps I could have for $5 but it was at home. He sets up at the Shipshewana show which was a couple of days after his so I told him to bring the box and I'd find him. At the Shipshewana show, I found him and he took me out to his car. I figured he had a 300 count or maybe an 800 count box until he stood up with this.

Those are all 1982 Topps card. I though for sure I'd get to at least only needing the really good players with that many cards. First I sorted them into teams, because they were already somewhat sorted that way.

Yes, those are in alphabetical order by teams. I've sorted baseball cards most of my life and can pretty much name them in alphabetical if I think about it hard enough. Especially 80's, the expansion teams since then throw me off a bit but back to the story. As I was sorting them by teams, I noticed they were almost all standard player cards. Only a couple all-star cards and team leaders cards. No in action, no future stars, no highlights. Alright, that's cool. Than as I started to go through the team stacks, I noticed there were only so many players and a bunch of each. For example, that Athletics stack which seems to be the highest, I only added 13 cards and am still 9 short of the team set. I'm certainly not complaining because I boosted my set quite a bit, almost doubled what I had. Just telling it like it is. Let's look at what I did keep.

I ended up adding 232 cards to the set so I ended up paying just over $.02 a card for the ones I kept and now I have a huge box to get rid of. By the way, the photo of the box was after I took out the 232 cards, that's how packed it was. If you're in need of any 1982 Topps, please let me know. You can have them at no cost, well, maybe shipping cost depending on how many you want.

Let's see how well that boost my 1982 Topps set.

Before

After

61% definitely looks better than under 32%. 

Thanks Josh and quit bringing so much good stuff to the shows, you're taking all my money!