New HOF guys / 9-pocket PC binder

Now that top-tier PC guys of mine Fred McGriff and Dick Allen are finally in Cooperstown, I'm much less emotionally invested in Hall of Fame drama. It's a refreshing change of pace. I remember stressing out the year Larry Walker barely broke the threshold, keeping a close eye on the ballot tracker data for weeks. These days I happily don't give much of a shit-- though yeah, it'd be nice to see holdovers Mattingly and Murphy make it in someday (Don't you think the "character clause" should also swing the other way? Like if a guy spends decades being a stand-up humanitarian and positive ambassador for the game, as both Donnie and Murph are, shouldn't that be factored in along with the stats and help push them over the top? Tiant too. But here I am working myself up again! lol)

Anyways, I've never full-on collected this year's HOF inductees, though the 3 of them each have a page in vol. 1 (last names A-L) of my "9 Pocket PC" binder. In recent years as I try to rein in my collection and figure out the keepers from the non-keepers among cards not in specific buckets (PCs, setbuilds, or other collecting projects/themes), I've started the old hobby standard of filling a 9-pocket page per player. These are players who might strike a sentimental chord with me or something, but I don't feel strongly enough about them to officially christen them a "PC guy" of mine. I also try to get a page filled for every HOF guy (that I don't already PC) (from the "Topps era" [as in not including old-timey players I'm not really familiar with]).

When I come across a 10th card of a "9-pocket PC" guy, I've got to make a call whether to reject a card into my non-keepers, find a home for it elsewhere, or if I just can't narrow the PC down to 9 cards, I'll promote the player to a full PC guy, moving his cards to my PC boxes. 

I figure showing off these 9-pocket PCs makes for an easy blog post. (It seems most of my post ideas kicking around have heavy lifting I need to do that makes me procrastinate instead of working on them, and next thing you know two weeks have gone by without a post.) I'm tempted to do a thing like The Diamond King where I list off names and readers tell me who they want to see.

But for now, here's how the new HOF guys are looking in the binder.

Carlos Beltran's page is heavy on Kansas City cards and there's not much here that wouldn't be on the bubble if nicer Beltran cards fall in my lap. Again, these are just random cards gathered from my collection, so it's not really a curated spread. Ideally I'd love to have a card for each team the guy played for, but hey this isn't my Vagabond Binder, so those rules don't apply. But chances are it won't be long until I work in Mets and Astros representation on Beltran's page. Funny thing, I had been gearing up to make him a full PC guy, but then the 2017 Astros cheating scandal broke, scuttling that plan.

I also have one other Carlos Beltrán card that's too thick/nice for the binder.

Pretty sure I landed this auto in a Nachos Grande mixer group break a decade or so ago. 

Next up, Andruw Jones.

Nothing too eye-popping here, just some random Braves cards. I should try to mix in a couple later cards of his. Andruw was in his prime when I wasn't collecting, and by the time I returned to the hobby his career was stumbling to the finish line. So yeah, just didn't shake out that I ever collected him much, despite the Braves being a second-tier favorite team of mine (I wear my Braves hat out more than my Padres hat, but it's really just a comfort thing).

 

As for Jeff Kent's page, it's still incomplete. 

The pair of cardart superfractors at the bottom are things I made for a buyer who ended up flaking, so guess I'll just hang onto them. The '92 Leaf black gold in the center is a dupe from that parallel set I completed a year or two ago. Happy I had an extra of that, as it's probably his most desirable pack-pulled rookie card (ie, not from boxed sets). And I gotta point out that the Donruss Rookies card at the top was plucked directly from the small percentage of my collection that I've had since childhood. There's something nice about pulling a card as a kid, thinking "I should probably hang on to this one", and then 33 years later, that becomes a Hall of Fame rookie card. Justified! :)

A lotta Alous

Catching up on some incoming cards. 

I stumbled upon a lot of 2005 Topps Chrome refractors (seller was breaking up a partial set in chunks of 20-25 cards) and I ended up winning the auction for just a few bucks. I'm a sucker for a shiny card, what can I say. Larry Walker was my main interest here.. glad to add another card from his St. Louis days, underrepresented in my collection. Gavin Floyd was another PC need. The cards of Rondell White, Moises Alou, and Tim Salmon are ticketed for my 9-pocket PC binder.. dudes I don't really collect, but maybe collect just a little.

The rest of the lot is available for trade. Just let me know if you could use any of these '05 refractors.

-  - ---o

Back to the Alou...

Check out this trifecta I've achieved of 2005 Alou refractors! All with the Giants, coincidentally. Sadly, Felipe Alou was not included in 2005 Topps Retired so a brotherly trifecta isn't possible, but his son Moises slots right in with uncles Jesús and Matty. Of course Moises isn't an auto and the one-touch is just for show, as he's now in a page near the front of in the 9-pocket binder.

I've now completed Moises Alou' page since starting this draft. Looks pretty good. The three 1990 cards are from my childhood collection-- one of the few prospects I was "big on" as a kid who actually went on to a solid career. If not for missing two prime years to injury, may've had a strong HOF case. (b-r stats) His 39.9 career WAR tops Harold Baines' 38.7, for what that's worth.

Bottom left is a card made of metal-- I figure bottom left is the most structurally sound pocket for a heavy card like that. Center square is my only Moises auto, picked up in 2017 while smitten with colored-bordered parallels of the 1986 Topps design (big improvement matching team name color to lower border, though the player name in white would be more readable). A couple fun Pacific cards on the right. If I had to give one card here the boot, it'd be the top Stadium Club card. Wouldn't mind swapping that out for a Marlins card (1997, his lone championship) or a Cubs card (the Bartman incident is probably what first comes to mind when I think of Moises. That and peeing on his hands for toughness. Well, I don't actually think of the act of him peeing on his hands, rather just the fact that it was something he apparently did.)

But back to the trio of '05 Alou refractors...

Topps slighted Matty on the back, withholding any red ink stats despite a batting crown in '66 and leading the league in a few other categories in '69.

-  - --o

Ok, that's all the Alou for today. Now a quick trade recap.

Finally did my first TCDB trade of 2021 thanks to user "hershey" proposing a swap. He sent me a few cards I needed for my Ghostbusters II setbuild, plus a needed Dan Walters card.

Looks like user "bronnerea" set his collection to private on TCDB, meaning I just moved up the leaderboard for several of my PCs. With 25 of 42 Dan Walters cards, I'm now his #1 collector on the site. So that's kinda cool.

I still need eight base cards to finish off 1989 Topps Ghostbusters 2, but at least now I've completed the sticker inserts.

Here are the backs of the 11 stickers. 10 form the puzzle, and one to show you what it looks like. This is a very familiar promotional image for me because I had a real, large puzzle of it when I was a kid. In fact, I still own the box...

I remember putting it together at least once as a kid. All the dark background pieces made for a boring puzzle, honestly, but still a decent way to pass time back in the pre-internet days. I seem to recall the last time I attempted to put it together, one of the dark background pieces had gone missing. I ended up throwing away the rest of the pieces, but hung onto the box for miscellaneous storage since it's cool (used to keep cassette tapes in it until getting rid of them a while back).

Looks like it ran me (or more likely my mom) $5.99 at the corner Longs drugstore.

Hey, speaking of the Ghostbusters, I had been thinking I didn't hang onto any of my childhood Ghostbusters guys, but then stumbled across Peter Venkman in a box of my old stuff the other day. I was inspired to take him into the backyard for a little photoshoot.

Look out, Dr. Venkman! There's ectoplasmic activity afoot.

That's it for today. Happy Friday, everybody.

Garvey auto and also Khris Davis 9-pocket PC

In a way, Steve Garvey is my oldest PC. I had an oddball bread card of his as a kid before I really started collecting cards. Still got it today. The only cards I've owned for longer than that are 3 commons from 1980 Topps, and I've yet to start a Mickey Klutts PC, so that gives the collecting longevity honor to Garvey.

Ha, gcrl just posted this card today, but I had already started this draft. I too was compelled to snag this gorgeous Steve Garvey autograph from 2021 Stadium Club, which extends his active PC streak record in my collection. Savor the moment, Mr. Clean!

Oh, since we're coming off of blue tape and pull-tab awareness week, I figured I'd look at the packaging job by this seller. I wouldn't say it was "bad", but still a bit unorthodox, using blue tape on a paper towel wrapping the cards. (It originally looked nicer, but I restaged it after I thought to snap a photo.) No pull-tabs, though. The thrifty sumbitch I am, I was still able to salvage a few inches of usable tape to reuse. And when I get paper towels in packaging like this, I end up using it (like for wiping countertops and whatnot). Sometimes if the packages are big enough, I'll use them for picking up dog crap in the backyard. I figure that's a "green" thing to do.. save a bag, right? lol. But this one was too small, so it got trashed. (Just let me know if you want me to go more in-depth about my "poop patrol" innovations.)

But anyways, inside the paper towel was a team bag that contained the Garvey in a top-loader flanked by a few surprise 2021 Series 2 cards. Hey, always love random commons as a buffer bonus. I can often find a keeper or two for my collection. In fact, I was able to complete another "9-Pocket PC" page with a card from this lot.

Yeah, Khris Davis is a guy I kinda-sorta thought about collecting for a minute back during his historic run of batting exactly .247 for four consecutive seasons. Seems like a good dude. Hit some big blasts in his prime. Never quite added his name to my "PC guy" list, but I'll settle for a solid page of his cards here and call it good. A sharp Chrome RC gets center-square. That's a fishfractor below it, though not a great pic of it in action here. Looks like the lowly Rangers released Khris last month and he's still a free-agent, so that 2021 Series 2 card might end up being his flagship swansong.

My photo of the backs turned out blurry, but instead please accept some good fishfraction. (sorry, but I refuse to call these prism refractors. But I would also accept dragonfractor.)

Thanks for popping by, kind readers.

Dwight Gooden 9-pocket PC

Picking a random completed page from my "9-pocket PC" binder...

Dwight Gooden is pretty cool, though I missed out on his impressive mid-80s heyday thanks to not getting into baseball/cards until 1990. Never quite made him a "PC guy" of mine, but feels like I've been on the cusp of doing so for years. A player like that makes for a perfect candidate for the 9-pocket PC binder I recently started up.

Doc's great Donruss box bottom from '85 gets the center spot here, with his '85 Topps card being another highlight (a remnant from my childhood collection). I tried cutting out a frame-like thing to keep the Ginter mini from moving around too much (Is this common practice for you binder guys?). The Stadium Club card is a Chrome parallel I pulled (not to be confused with the stand-alone Stadium Club Chrome set).

The backs.

Some of these could be bumped out in favor of other, "better" cards that pass through my hands in the future. You'll notice these are all of the Mets variety. I suppose I should someday work in a card or two from the latter half of his career, bouncing around with teams such as the Yankees and Indians. Wish I had at least one card here with something close to complete year-by-year career stats. But still, decent page. 

I'm also fortunate enough to have 3 Gooden autographs, but they're all encased and therefore not eligible for the binder.

This 2004 Retired refractor I landed back in 2015 is probably my favorite card of his in the collection, but I also have a soft spot for his 2005 Retired auto (the first card I bought in the new house) and an Archives Signature auto #'d 1/5 on a 1992 Bowman card (won in a contest from 2 x 3 Heroes on St. Patrick's Day 2017).

9-pocket PC: Jackie Robinson

I've been doing a new thing with my collection where I've added a ton of new limited player collections.

These are generally players who don't quite compel me to full-on collect them (that is to say, go my normal "hundred card club" method of player collecting), but I still like 'em enough to want to get them represented in my collection in some way. 

So instead of trying to get 100 cards of theirs, I'm only going after 9. This is also a way for me to "engage" more with my collection via binders (I'm historically a box guy). Once a page is filled with 9 cards, if I then get a 10th card, the challenger will have a shot at bumping out an incumbent from a slot. The goal is to achieve a page for the guy with 9 cards that I really like. I can always promote the PC to a full (box) PC instead of a 9-pocket PC if I start having difficulty turning away cards or just decide I want to collect the dude in ernest.

And it goes both ways: some of my smaller PCs (who might not even have 9+ cards in them) have found themselves downgraded to 9-pocket PCs, and guys I collect who sort of fall out of favor with me can go this route too.. I just pair down the collection to the cream of the crop with my favorite 9 cards and toss the rest into the "for trade" bin.

I've really been digging this method of player collecting so far and plan to keep expanding it, likely into a few binders eventually. Feels like it's both opening up my collection, yet also tightening it up since they're capped at 9 cards each, it's got that finish-line/closure aspect that I really appreciate.

Another cool thing about all this is I can do quick posts featuring these 9-pocket PCs. My posting frequency on the blog has been dipping for a while now, and I'm going to try to start doing more frequent, shorter posts to help keep Baseball Card Breakdown boppin'.

Anyways, I figure Jackie Robinson makes a good pick to kick off the series.

Here's my page of his. Gotta love Jackie Robinson. While I've got strong admiration for the man, he's never been a guy I collected much. Cards from his playing days are expensive, and his modern cards tend to get monotonous with the same few pictures used over and over.

I don't have much method to card placement beyond putting the "best" card in the middle, here being a Gallery of Greats insert from 2015 Topps. I made a half-assed attempt at completing the set back then (and its Chrome version), but eventually let it go due to prices and lack of availability outweighing my interest. But at least this one is getting its moment in the sun at "center square" of the page. Hadn't really thought about it before, but I suppose these things remind me of the black refractors I love so well from 2004 Topps Retired and 2004 Chrome.

Other than that one, these cards aren't exactly locked in. Oh wait, the autograph-signing Stadium Club isn't going anywhere either. The card most likely to be the first bumped out would be the 1st card. It's kind of redundant, being very similar to the 2nd card, but I like the second one a bit better since it's shiny.

I consider Jackie's 1956 Topps to be a "bucket list" card for me. It's a great looking piece of cardboard and I hope to add one to my collection someday, though it hasn't been an active pursuit yet. And even if I did score one, it wouldn't be eligible for the page since '56 Topps are a little oversized.

Here are the backs. I try for at least one of the 9 cards to feature full stats on the back for easy pursuing of the guy's career path. There are 2 such cards here, though the Archives barely counts since it's hard to read. I wonder if Topps will start including his 1945 season with the KC Monarchs in his career stats, keeping with the game's recent "The Negro Leagues are Major Leagues" shake-up to their official record keeping. That'd be cool.

So there you have it, my 9-pocket PC of Jackie Robinson. Nothing too incredible, but a solid page and makes me feel good to at least have a little piece of my collection dedicated to this legend.

Update: Since drafting this post, I decided to swap out that 1st card with an Allen & Ginter X. I was originally going for a thing where the top row all had similar photos, but I think I prefer the variety of working a Ginter in there.

Have a great holiday weekend, everybody!