Vintage pickups

I won another card from Greg Morris auctions the other day, and then set bids for a bunch more ending shortly and wound up winning a few to join in on the flat-rate shipping. Might as well get a post out of 'em, right?

A couple big boys from 1975 Topps to kick things off.

Nice pair of dueling All-Stars.

I ended up winning a couple Jim Rice rookies that ended around the same time, but I'd stop short of saying it was an accident; the cheaper creased card on the right can get thrown in the player collection.

Then I got Yaz from another eBay seller, and Vida Blue is also on the way, making the Reds team card with Sparky Anderson all that stands in my way of a complete 1975 Topps set. I'll have to grab one soon to wrap that up.

Back to the Greg Morris stuff, here's a pair of HOF Giants. I'm hoping to finally finish off 1964 Topps in the next year or two.

I'm not too picky with condition if it's a good deal, though I shy away from "Poor/Good" beaters when I can.

A couple more notable names and Bennie Daniels, notable for being the set's final card. Around this same time, I also knocked off more needs in my forthcoming COMC order that should push me over 80% complete when that shows up.

This Willie Montanez rocking the glorious ASR trophy was the initial win that prompted this round of pickups. Funny enough, I ended up losing all the proceeding 1972 Topps needs I bid on, but oh well, I got this one at least, and the few '75s and '64s to go with it. My '72 set currently sits at 95%, so I should be able to wrap up that one this year if I keep at it.

Planning on hitting a local card shop later this week for the first time in years with a blogger meetup scheduled for the local cardsphere crew and a visiting guest of honor from San Jose, so maybe I can score some needs then. Regardless, it'll be great to hang in person with some blogging buddies, assuming the inclement weather in the forecast doesn't spoil our plans.

Happy Thanksgiving

Been meaning to thank GCA for this PWE he sent me recently.

A few appreciated vintage needs, plus a Sheena Easton card to make a cardart version for him.

Thanks, Greg! I'll get a return your way soon.

- -o

Checking Fergie off my '75 Topps needs reminded me I'm not too far off with that set. After snagging the few remaining commons on Sportlots and COMC, I'm now down to just a few big names:

#1 Aaron (Highlight)

80 Fisk

280 Yaz

320 Pete Rose

500 Nolan Ryan

510 Vida Blue

531 Reds (Sparky)

616 (Jim Rice RC)

If anybody has any of those for trade, let me know. I'm thinking it'd be cool to complete the set within its Heritage Year, but I'll have to get serious about it to score all those in the next month.

- -o

Video gaming update.

After playing it regularly for the past year and a half, I've finished Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and have gone backwards to the previous game Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for the first time. It's really frustrating starting over with a weak Link getting my ass handed to me by basic bitch monsters. The sequel really improved gameplay with handy ways to do things, and it's like this first game is a rough draft. But hey, that's on me for playing them out of order, I guess. lol. It's still fun enough to play and I'll try to keep at it. But like, the sequel has rockets to help you quickly blast up into the air when you need to get some elevation, but the first game makes you slowly climb around a lot more instead. There's probably a better way, but I haven't discovered it. I started playing it on Halloween and I'm giving myself a month before I search for help online, but once we hit December, I'm going to have to spend some time watching YouTube tips videos and shrine walkthroughs.

- -o

Excuse the brag, but I had my best financial day as a "cardartist" yesterday, with sales topping $250 on Thanksgiving Eve. Sure would be great if that was a common payday for me, but it was really just a coincidence of a couple outlier big sales (and the Ozzie Smith '90 Donruss tree ornament). The '88 Topps Barry Bonds "Super Rainbow" was made by request after I had made a similar display using Randy Johnson's 1989 Topps rookie. Barry's '87 Topps rookie is a bit too pricey for this concept, but the '88 worked well. I'm not excited about the prospect of making more of these, though, as I kinda get burnt out working on the same card that many times. But it's a cool end result with them all together.

The other big sale was a lot of 36 of my "white border" '91 Fleer mods to a guy who took a liking to the remix of a much maligned baseball card design that dared to lean hard into the color yellow. I think it's the first time I've parted with these things other than as singles. I gave him a good bulk deal. I spent a lot of time of these, but I think it's kinda like a gardener tending to a garden. Caring for them is often a relaxing process, then hopefully your flowers eventually bloom and you can visibly enjoy the fruits of your labor. But yeah, I'll probably try to build up my inventory again with a new crop next summer.

Anyways, I'm glad I had at least that one nice payday. Really it probably just got me out of the red for all the supplies and stuff I've spent money on to see if I could use them to do neat things to cards with. But I feel like I'm in a good place. Don't tell my wife but I'm basically retired from the rat race.. at least for now, but hopefully forever. My top goal in life is to not have to go back to the grind. Sometimes I stress myself out too much just working on my dumb art stuff. Like, I have to have sometime in my life to stress over even when I can basically just play Zelda all day. No but really, let's be honest, my real job these days is "stay at home doggie dad" to an attention-demanding 4.5-year old pit-lab-husky-wolf mutt mix who still acts very much like a crazy puppy. (She even excitedly peed in the house last week for the first time in a long time! I really thought we were over than unfortunate phase. Glad we still have the cleaning enzyme stuff to get rid of the odor.) 

I like when I make cardart sales because then I can walk Ruby to the post office, which makes me feel like I'm actually doing something productive for me and my family, not just aimlessly walking around the neighborhood with my dog so she'll eventually chill for a while afterwards.

I took a picture of her this morning just after midnight in low before-bed lighting. I thought it was funny she saved a little bit of kibble from dinner to ring in Thanksgiving by eating just after the stroke of midnight. Like, she goes hard for Thanksgiving. But no, she does have a blast with the whole local family together in one place.

- -o

Speaking of taking photos in the dark.. 

I found a nicely glowing sheet and had some fun with translucent cards, as you can see from the shadows they left behind. Can you identify which 4 cards were there? One's a Nine Pockets custom.

I'll call the post good here. Thanks for reading and hope you all have/had a great holiday!

70s progression

I think it was around 2017 when I decided I'd make a run at completing all the Topps flagship sets from the decade of the 70s. Part of my motivation for this was to really open up my wantlist and facilitate trading back when the blogs were boppin'. But then that all slowed down plus the covid boom bumped up vintage prices, and so the "last updated" dates on my setbuild spreadsheets haven't been getting updated as frequently in recent years. But I keep up with them in a "slow and steady wins the race" outlook.

It had been years since I traded with Scott Crawford, and it took us a few months of rounding up cards and dealing with distractions, but we were finally able to swap some cards. Scott stuck to the 70s and helped me sweep the cobwebs from many of those wantlists of mine.

Some popular dudes in the mix here. My 1970 Topps setbuild is up past 55% complete now, though it'd be foolish of me to consider myself over halfway done, as I don't have much out of the biggest cards and high numbers. But yeah, I love to get whatever I can via trades in sort of putting in me a good position for when I'm eventually ready to start targeting a Ryan and Bench down the line. But yeah, I have no doubt that 1970 will be the last Topps set of the decade I finish (if I even ever do), since I've already completed '71 and '73, my '72 set is entering the high number home stretch, and '74-up aren't too tough thanks to being all one series.

My 1975 Topps is tantalizingly close to 90% complete now (89.24%), with 71 cards missing. Some fuzzy corners here, but still happy to add them-- especially stoked to see the Mantle/Aaron when thumbing through the stack. Maybe they'll get upgraded someday, maybe not. Seems the older I get, the less concerned about condition I become. Not like I'm planning on ever selling the set when I finish it, I just want to be able to say I've got a complete set of 1975 Topps. Maybe I'll make a push here in 2024, since it'd be kinda cool to complete it during its "Topps Heritage tribute" year.

Even with this robust lot from Scott, I'm still under halfway with 1976 Topps. Not long ago I nearly tried to negotiate for a complete set from another trader dude who broached its availability to me, though that didn't make it into our finalized deal. But yeah, '76 Topps seems like a set that would make sense to get at once as a set since there aren't much in the way of "big money" cards in there jacking up the price. But for now, I'll keep chipping away at it the classic way.

Similar to '76, my '77 Topps setbuild hasn't quite hit the midway point, but keeps chugging along.

Here we go! 1978 Topps is rounding the corner now, with just 18 cards left (97.52% complete). I should try to scoop up those last few cards sometime soon. Already got the big ones.

Thanks so much, Scott! I really appreciate the cards!

- -o

Tacking onto this trade post a combined shipping eBay order I got in this week that also contained a couple 70s needs.

Here are some old cards of white guys looking off to their right. Roger Craig is the first '57 I've added in a while. Just 79 cards remaining there, but I've been at it for about a decade now. Hey, I might complete it someday.

The Yaz refractor was the card that spurred the purchase. I'm ga-ga about All-Time Fan Favorites refractors (/299) and will snatch them up at the right price-- even if I already have them! A lot of sellers ask a lot for them, even commons, but once in a while a nice star pops up cheap. I don't often blog about them as they come in, but going after the full run of all 442 ATFF refractors is a hobby priority of mine these days and I expect that project to be completed before 1970 Topps, for what it's worth. I also love the shiny Killebrew I found while looking through the seller's other items. It's from 2004 Upper Deck Diamond Collection.

A couple serial-numbered cards of future Hall of Famers. I don't really PC Verlander, but the purple sonar refractor called to me, not having seen that style of shiny card in-hand. Not that I want to encourage the endless amount of parallels these days, but it looks pretty cool. My wife has mentioned having a mild celebrity crush on Justin, so I might display it on the fridge in a magnetic-backed top-loader for her to also enjoy. For the record, I've never been into the swinger scene (despite having a buddy into that during my 20s), but Mrs. Verlander could probably convince me to at least consider it. lol

Finally, I don't go after basketball cards often, but this 1995-96 Finest refractor wasn't listed (priced) as being a refractor, so I grabbed it for just a buck while amassing 8 cards to get the seller's promo special shipping deal. (Basically felt like I was buying the Yaz and getting a few bonus cards thrown in.) Gheorghe Mureșan is a player I recognize because he did that movie with Billy Crystal. I like how the protector film text isn't covering any skin, otherwise I'd be more inclined to peel it.

That'll do it for today. Thanks for reading.

February's incoming cards

I've got a big ol' lot of cards in transit from Bo at Baseball Cards Come to Life which will likely take some effort to sort and post about, so let's clear the backlog of cards from the cardsphere that've made their way through the winter weather to my mail slot this past month.

My trade bait page facilitated another easy swap with a friend of the blog. This time it was mr haverkamp who took a shot at the Mike Schmidt auto I had available, hooking me up with some great vintage needs in return.

Home Run King, Hank Aaron! Very happy to knock this big one off the '72 wantlist.

Plenty of familiar faces on these league leader cards.

Along with these other glorious additions, I've scratched my way up to 83% complete with 1972 Topps.

Also some good stuff for my 1970 Topps setbuild. Still barely over halfway through there, but slowly chipping away. It's not his pricey high-number base card, but that NL playoff highlight card features Nolan Ryan.. so that's neat.

I thought I had completed a basic set of 1974 Topps late last year, but as often happens, when I actually went through it, seems gremlins had run off with a few of the cards, including a consecutive run of postseason cards that I must've inadvertently missorted elsewhere. Plus there was a missing base card, #539 Lloyd Allen, which is now atop my reasonable desperate double dozen sidebar wantlist. But yeah, glad to re-acquire this above pair, including the final card from Willie Mays' playing career.

Thanks for the trade, Jim!

-    -   -  - o

A lucky comment left at Johnny's Trading Spot won me a PWE of Padres.

Some recent Topps Holiday cards. I appreciate John giving me a heads up that the Soto is a variation ("Santa belt"), as I probably would've missed it otherwise.

Vintage HOFers to balance out the PWE.

Thanks, John!

-   -  - - --o

Last up today is a surprise PWE from the illustrious Night Owl celebrating the return of baseball being played.

Another fun Holiday variation here, with Manny Machado's Santa cap being hard to miss. Fingers crossed he remains productive throughout that huge contract the team gave him.

Speaking of current happenings in the game, he's not included in this group, but a Dodger and a young player named Gavin makes me think of Gavin Lux. Poor guy just wrecked his knee in spring training and will miss all of 2023. Ouch! :( Such a bummer. Wishing the best to Mr. Lux on his recovery and Mr. Owl on a solid Dodgers season, though of course I'm rooting for San Diego, hoping the Padres can at least win it once in my lifetime. That's all I ask.. just once, damn it!

Everyone knows that Night Owl loves '75 Topps, so receiving any of those from him feels kinda special. The impressive trio above takes me to 86.82% complete-- or round that up to 87%-- with 87 cards left to track down, funny enough. (Everyone knows that Night Owl hates '87 Topps.)

Big thanks, Greg!

That'll do it for this post. Thanks for stopping by.

Card show adjacent

I got covid-19 vaccinated today (1 of 2) with a leftover dose that might've gotten thrown out otherwise. The story there is my mother-in-law is a recently retired medical professional who has been volunteering at vaccinating events. My wife and I were totally fine waiting till whenever, but her mom was really pushing to get us on the stand-by list for any leftover doses. We got a call in the late afternoon letting us know that there were some spots open if we could get our butts down to the place ASAP, and knowing that her mother wouldn't let it go until we finally got it, we hopped in the car and headed down. Everything was winding down for the day by the time we got there. I'm not great with needles, but the whole process was completely painless and I thought the guy was joking when he said he was done, as I was expecting a nasty pinch that never came. (My arm might be sore tomorrow, but it's fine at the moment.) We heard them say they still had like 9 doses left after us, and I only saw like 2 or 3 other people bringing up the rear behind us, so I'm glad we didn't take a dose away from any more deserving folks, rather we just took doses that would've been wasted otherwise because the stuff doesn't have a very long shelf life and wouldn't be usable tomorrow.

Now we just gotta wait a month to get the 2nd shot and we should be good. After that, I think I'll be confident enough to venture back to the card show for the first time in a year. From what I hear, Portland's monthly card show has been as packed as ever lately and great bargains are getting harder to find thanks to the sportscard bubble pumped so big these days. So I might have to be a bit more restrained with my purchases, but the lure of thumbing through fresh cards again is strong. My wife is more excited about returning to the gym again.

Oh, anyways, when I came home, I opened a package of cards from fellow Portland-based card collector Kenneth of the blog Cardboard Hogs (which is active again after being dormant for a while and you should be sure to check it out if you haven't recently).

Ken attended the little blogger meet-up I helped organize a few years back and it's cool bumping into him at the card show once in a while. I feel bad that he had to pay postage to mail this recent package rather than a free hand-off at a show, but hopefully we're running into each other again in person soon.

Stamps and stickers?! Impressive.

Nice bunch of Gavins here, especially the bottom two, both new to me. I have a ton of pre-rookie Gavin Lux cards but almost no rookie cards of his, probably because I didn't buy much 2020 cards (or trade that much last year either)... so this one is extra appreciated.

An assortment of Padres plus a Hoyt.

And finally, some '75s for my setbuild. Nice! J.R. Richard was a need and the others are upgrades. I've become a bit disheartened about vintage setbuilding recently (think I'm gonna have to pull the plug on my short-lived run at 1959 Topps, for example, as unless there's a big bubble burst coming up, the likes of the Mantle and Bob Gibson's RC might be too much of a financial commitment for me to sign up for under current prices).. but at least '74 and '75 Topps shouldn't be too hard to wrap up one of these days. Ninety-six 1975 cards remaining for me, and I've got both big rookies already.

Thanks again, Ken! Much appreciated. I'll try to round up a return for you soon.

Black Gold Rush (big trade recap)

I passed on going to the monthly card show today for a few reasons-- weather was crappy, I already had family lunch plans, it's December and the show is in a mall, and plus I've added a ton of new cards in the past couple weeks thanks to generous trade partners, so that's not a bad card show stand-in. In the interest of time, I'm just going to briefly run through these incoming card packages, though each of them could fill a post to themselves without much trouble.

First up is the latest bunch of cards from Bo.

Great lot of '75 Topps! This setbuild is coming along nicely. Hopefully knock it out in 2020.

Early 90s black gold! (There will be a lot of cards like this in this post, hence the title.)

When I put UD hologram Padres stickers on my wantlist a few years ago, I figured I'd be swimming in them before long. But nope, this is the first one I've ever received in trade, as far as I recall! I've got a Yeti ready for this to be affixed to.

PC needs!

Thanks again for the trade, Bo!

-    -  -- -o

Next up is another package from friend of the blog, Larry P.

Some big name black gold!

More for my "early 90s black gold" collecting project, plus a welcome need for my neglected '84 Donruss setbuild.

Thanks a lot, Larry! Much appreciated!

- - - ---o

And a quick trade with TCDB user jrberus...

..hooking me up with a few more Team 2000 black gold needs. When I eventually complete this insert set I'll have to do a post taking a look at which of these guys actually made it to the year 2000 as an active player. Same with the Team 2001 cards from the next year.

-  - ----o

Mr. Haverkamp dropped a PWE on me with some black gold cards, too.

Dig the "Winner D" pack still in its original packaging. Pretty cool.
Thanks, Jim! I'll send you back something soon.

- - - ----o

Next is my first trade with Bob, who just recently joined the cardsphere with his new blog The Best Bubble.

The black gold lovefest continues with an impressive batch of '92 Leaf golds.

More for the black gold project, including what I'm assuming is the highest "booking" '93 Topps Black Gold card.

Thanks to this and some of the other of the trade packages covered in this post, I've now completed the Leaf Gold Rookies inserts for both 1991 and 1992! I was in awe of those cards as a kid on the rare occasion I was lucky enough to pull one (and still get a big kick out of them as an adult), so that's a pretty cool accomplishment. I should do a post or two spotlighting them in the future. Still looking for some upgrades as well as dupes for PCs. My black gold wants spreadsheet can be found here.

- - - -----o

Lastly for today is a package from first-time trade partner Kyle in NJ. He got in touch with a nice email saying he likes my blog and had some cards to send my way. Always love to hear that!

Good stuff here! My 1992 Leaf Black Gold set is now at 27.27% complete. Still a ways to go, but a pretty good start after only embarking on the quest a few weeks ago.

Some more black gold variety.

Some PC additions too.

Christmas Card! Tyler Glasnow pitched very well for the Rays in 2019, though injuries limited his time on the mound.

Big finish with some impressive 1970 Topps needs and upgrades. Lou Brock in front of the batting cage is awesome.

And let's go out with a BOOM in the form of this beautiful Bob Gibson, a semi-high-number at #530.

Thanks a lot, Kyle! Great stuff. I hope to get a respectable return out to you this coming week.


Thanks again to everybody who's sent me cards, and thanks for reading.