Are you fo' real?? (Buybacks 'n' Bunt)

I haven't bought any 2017 Topps, neither unopened nor on the secondary market, yet as you can clearly see, somehow I was able to obtain some of those buybacks all the kids are crazy for. But wait! Take a closer look at the above photo. These are homemade buybacks! Pretty ingenious, right?! You can literally turn every card in your collection into a homemade buyback! All it takes is a pen and a dash of danger.

Sorry, guys, these ones aren't for sale, so don't even bother trying to talk me out of them. But feel free to make you own.

Switching gears to something slightly less stupid.. I've still been hopping on the Bunt app just about everyday since getting a smartphone around Christmas. While I still think it's crazy to consider paying for a picture of a card, it's kind of a fun way to kill a couple minutes during my morning public transportation commute. I wonder when they're gonna get 2017 digital cards on there.. still flogging the old 2016 design. Maybe I'll even try to figure out how to play the game aspect of the app once the season starts. It's my understanding it's sort of like a fantasy baseball thing?

But I suppose my true goal with Bunt is to score some rare cards on there that I can sell for a few bucks, then use that money to buy actual cards. I haven't attempted any sales yet, but maybe one of these days if/when I pull something big.

This might be my favorite digital card I've pulled so far. These were a special 1987 Topps Football insert set briefly available during Super Bowl weekend. I scored the Trout and the Braun. There's one on eBay right now for 99¢, so I guess this isn't gonna be the card to monetize my Bunt experience.

Some of my other favorite inserts:

Wound up with 3 of these Altuves somehow.

I believe this Gwynn was gifted to me by a cardsphere buddy.

And I also typically jump on the Star Wars Card Trader app most days after I check in with Bunt. It's pretty similar, though seems tough to pull anything special, and I have no idea what's up with the "game" aspect to it, I just open packs and hope for something cool. Again, it'd be nice to eventually be able to sell some of those fake cards to fund the purchase of real cards, but yeah, I like Star Wars so it's kinda fun to rip a digital pack. Here are some highlights from my lil' virtual SW card collection:

Cool.

I'm not necessarily trying to convince anyone to get in on the action, just scraping a post together out of some of my favorite digital cards. Don't worry, traditional cardboard collectors, I won't make a frequent habit out of posts like this.

While I'm not a huge hockey fan, I've also tried to find the Upper Deck ePack app, but couldn't find it. Is it not available on Android or something?

But yeah, Bunt, SWCT, and Twitter are mainly what I mess around on my phone with. I've resisted any dumb, addictive games as I don't want to get sucked into them. I used to play Mafia Wars back in the day and I got borderline unhealthy about it, pointlessly leveling up all the time. I can barely keep up with my Twitter feed. And yeah, I actually try to keep up with my Twitter feed. It might make me look like a jerk when I don't follow back someone who follows me, but damn, I can barely keep up with the accounts I follow already.


I'll end the post with a half-hearted plea...

I think Bunt "free digital pack" code cards like above were inserted in 2016 Bunt (physical) packs, and they're due to expire at the end of February 2017. If any of you readers have any of these sitting around unused on the cusp of being wasted, I'd be grateful if you could hook me up with them. Whether physically by snail mail or just scratch it off and email me the code, I'd be happy to put them to good use. I don't want them enough to, like, trade you good cards just for them, but if you're thinking of sending me cards before the month's out and have a couple to throw in, go for it. Or if you have a bunch and email me the codes, I'd definitely mark you down for future considerations.

Anyways, yeah if you have any of the expiring Bunt code cards you're not gonna use, let me know. Thanks!

The game-changer of getting a smartphone + Wallet Card update

I was a late adopter at getting a cell phone, with nothing but a landline until finally getting a flip-phone in 2009 that I used through the end of 2016. But my lovely wife helped usher me into the 21st Century by getting me a smartphone for my birthday, a sweet Google Pixel.

Exciting indeed! From a carder perspective, it'll come in handy at the card show, being able to look up a card I suspect is a variation, and check online prices, and reference my set wantlists (rather than worrying about having updated printouts). And it'll be nice being able to read and write blog posts on the go (though I'm not great typing with my thumbs, so I probably won't draft too many posts on it). I also try to keep up with my Twitter feed while I'm on the train to and from work.

While I really don't give a crap about collecting digital cards, I gotta admit I've gone ahead and got on Bunt. I don't really know what I'm doing yet, but I try to logon everyday to get my free coins, and I'll usually rip open a digital pack or two, though I've yet to pull anything interesting. I'm not sure if "adding friends" is really a thing on there, but feel free to hit me up on there, username defgav. I haven't done any trading-- again, I haven't really pulled anything anyone would want-- but if anybody wants to pity-trade me a Padres insert or something, that'd be cool. But yeah, it's something to kill a couple minutes during my daily commute, though I can't see myself getting too enthralled with Bunt.

Also, this phone has a great camera built in, so most of the card pics you'll see on my blog going forward will likely be from it, and I can retire my old, heavy, AA battery-draining Pentax camera.

Oh, and yeah, I'll be able to take more wallet card photos now! Gotta admit, I briefly forgot about wallet card and my 2016 card was still in there for the first few days of 2017.

Ol' Wallet Tony doesn't look all that bad, considering. I can't show you the back because I use it as basically a little note card with bits of info, such as the passcode for my work gym. Hey, might as well give the card something to do, right?

But yeah, rather than double down, I wanted to use a new card for 2017. I figured I'd stick with my #1 guy Tony Gwynn.

I did mix it up a little this year, though. After two consecutive years of Topps cards, I went with Fleer this time. Thumbing through my Gwynn dupes, this 1987 "Limited Edition" card stood out as the best choice, with Tony flashing a nice smile during some pre-game catch. So yep, that definitely passes the test of it being a card that makes me happy.

It was kind of surprising how many cards I rejected because of what I associate with them. For example, I love Gwynn's 1990 Upper Deck card, but didn't want to choose that one because of a regret attached to it. See, I used to have a gimmicky "parallel" of that card that a company had encased in a block of lucite and resold as like a neat paperweight or something. I jettisoned it in the big downsizing of my collection back when I moved away from San Diego in 2009. It's one of the few items I regret getting rid of (another atop that list being a Dick Allen ball that I got signed by him in person as a kid). I haven't been able to track down another lucite 90UD Gwynn, and if I saw that card in my wallet on a regular basis, it would only remind me of that sad fact.

On the topic of sadness, my wife's family cat had to be put down today. He made an appearance on the blog a couple years ago ("the perils of a collector having pets") while we were cat-sitting. Poor guy got a tumor on his thigh, and it couldn't be removed without him losing the leg, and he was such an active cat, who was all about going outside and hunting mice and whatnot, so it would have been too big of a hit to his quality of life to slash his mobility and have to get used to being an inside-only cat. But yeah, that's definitely a tough decision to make. He was like 12 or 13 years old.
I only thought to mention it because the fact I chose to photo my wallet cards on dog toys this morning, though that was before I heard the news that it was Joey's last day. I'm glad we had a chance to say goodbye to him over Christmas, at least.

Another sad thing to mention, trading card icon Bob Lemke passed away the other day. In addition to all he did for the hobby-- tirelessly cataloging, digging up fascinating old articles and writing his own-- he's probably the granddaddy of custom baseball cards, setting the bar for making neat, design-accurate cards-that-never-were. Though I don't think I ever personally interacted with him other than an occasional comment on his blog, he was definitely a big inspiration when I was getting into making customs. Sorry to see him go.


But back to the game of Wallet Card. Let's go ahead and crown Bo of Baseball Cards Come To Life as the winner for 2016. He was runner-up in 2015, when The Junior Junkie dominated to Ruthian levels. But this year TJ was busy with his first child, opening up the field. Bo continued to show off interesting bits of old New York's lingering past, all the while his beat-up 1989 Don Mattingly Topps Sticker poking into frame.

Congrats, Bo! I'll try to send you over a prize soon. Like a Mattingly auto or something?

And the rest of you guys, share some photos! It's fun! It kinda breaks my heart when I see a "photos from my recent trip" post on the cardsphere and there's no wallet card to be found. Haha.. throw a wallet card in there and it helps keep the post "on topic" with cards.

If you are in for Wallet Card 2017, let's see what card you picked (assuming you've decided to pick a new one), and how the old one has held up. Looks like Brian has led the way with this so far.

Thanks, guys! Take care.