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!

More 80's "Vintage"

Dodgers took game 1. If I had to pick a team I'd want to win, it would probably be the Rays. Just because they are in the AL East and it would rub the Red Sox and Yankees wrong. But either way, I don't mind who wins. I work with a Dodger's fan so if they won, I'd be okay with that. 

Here we go with another 80's vintage post. Good thing Jeff sent a lot.

A couple of pretty good pitcher's in that top row. I didn't mind the 1982 Donruss set but some reason, I don't like this one with the gloves. It's pretty much the same but the glove just doesn't sit right with me. Not sure why. Jeff sent me these 10 cards to give me 56 cards for the set.

I think I might have bought this full set at a card show back in the day. I vaguely remember doing so but I have no idea if it's true or not. I was never into set collecting so I'm sure I got a good deal and I probably broke it up. As you can see above, Jeff dropped a pretty good number on my current attempt at it. These 37 cards put that set at 113 cards.

Jeff hit all 3 major sets with these 47 from the Topps set. Seeing all these Topps cards from the 80's is bringing back so many memories. I don't think I liked this set when it first came out but it grew on me. I was a fan of the 1982 set and this was vastly different. I wasn't so sure about the headshots but like I said, it grew on me. Enough so that when they did it again in 1984, I liked it. I also remember that Willie McGee rookie being a hot commodity. These boosted the set to 185 cards.

Vintage Herr and Willie

Wow! It's been exactly a week since my last post. That's awhile for me, I'm a pretty regular poster but we went to 10 hour days plus Saturday this past week so it took me until Sunday to get everything scanned. When they up to 10 hours, I don't get home until 4:30 so by the time I get done with a shower, we're eating supper and then I tend to chill in the evenings with my wife. I usually take the time on work days between showering and supper to work on cards but the longer hours takes that time away.

I'm no longer going to stick to a month to get the posts done. I have a list of everything scanned and I will random that list and you get what comes up. If I receive more stuff (usually around the end of the month), they'll get added to whatever I still have left to post.

Anyways, I have a lot of cards to show off. A huge package from Jeff at 2x3 Heroes, some box break cards plus some extras from Chris at Nachos Grande, a PWE from Daniel at It's Like Having My Own Card Shop as well as 2 packages from baseballcardstore.ca and 1 from Sportlots. So like I said, lots of cards.

Let's get to it. Today's random is from the Vintage Collection.

Only 2 cards today but Jeff sent me a ton for the Vintage Collections so you'll see a lot more in upcoming weeks. These 2 cards put the 1980 Topps set at 313 cards which is just over 43% complete. These aren't just ordinary cards either, financially maybe, but in the early 80's these were pretty good cards to have. Willie Randolph was a stud for the Yankees and a Tom Herr rookie card? Yes, please! I would have been extremely excited to get both of these cards in the 80s. 

Over half way there

I mentioned that I got some cards off of Facebook via Dennis. These are the highlights of the 35 1979 cards.

I don't want to say that I grabbed players to show that I knew because I know of most of the players, if from cards alone. I grabbed players that I was more familiar with, I guess that sounds right.

These 35 cards put the 1979 cards at 404 which is good for 53% completed. That's further along than I realized that set was. That 35 also put it over halfway for the set.

New Additions - Vintage Collection, 1985

*For those new to the blog, all purchases were made on Ebay (unless otherwise noted) and all were under $.50/shipped.

I'm listing Ebay stuff but also I got an awesome package from Dennis over at "Too Many Verlanders" and my favorite "Too Many Manninghams", although you'll see a lot of that great stuff on the TMM blog whenever I get that post together. I also received 2 huge packages of mainly White Sox cards from Jeff over at "2 x 3 Heroes" as well and both guys also sent a bunch of vintage. I'm also randomizing the posts so let's see what's next.

Jeff added these 11 cards to the vintage collection. The 1985 Topps in my collection are a little more plentiful as I'm now at 129 cards where as the Fleer and Donruss I'm only at 23 and 24 cards.

I even managed to pick up 10 1985 Topps cards on Ebay. I don't remember how they came about but I would hazard a guess that it was a lot or possibly 2.

I only have 4 more of these posts to go, 2 players, 2 vintage, before I can do my grand finale on Too Many Manninghams with all the Michigan cards that Dennis sent over.

In case you're interested, the reason I pretty much always post pics of single cards is because of these 2 blogs that I use to store my cards. My Personal Collections and My Baseball Card Obsession.

New Additions - Vintage Collection 1987

*For those new to the blog, all purchases were made on Ebay (unless otherwise noted) and all were under $.50/shipped.

I'm listing Ebay stuff but also I got an awesome package from Dennis over at "Too Many Verlanders" and my favorite "Too Many Manninghams", although you'll see a lot of that great stuff on the TMM blog whenever I get that post together. I also received 2 huge packages of mainly White Sox cards from Jeff over at "2 x 3 Heroes" as well and both guys also sent a bunch of vintage. I'm also randomizing the posts so let's see what's next.

Jeff always sends me a bunch of 1987's, I think he just likes to pawn his junk wax on me. Luckily, they're always welcome so it's all good.

Picked up 8 cards for the Fleer set as well.

In case you're interested, the reason I pretty much always post pics of single cards is because of these 2 blogs that I use to store my cards. My Personal Collections and My Baseball Card Obsession.