You're Crazy (acoustic) to pass up a Tom Seaver 2nd-year card for $1.75

I recently won an auction for a Garry Templeton auto I had been searching for, then checked out the seller's other auctions. Ended up with some good stuff, including this slabbed 1968 Topps Tom Seaver for just $1.25 plus 50 cents additional shipping. Even in rough shape, you're crazy if you pass that up!

The back is decent too. Super cool to pick up the first solo card of an all-time great for less than the price of a Starbucks. I recently "retired" my Tom Terrific PC into the Hundred Card Club, but still had to jump on that deal.

Here's another legend I picked up cheap. This '64 Frank Robinson was mine for under $3 plus combined shipping. A little off-center, but otherwise pristine!

Happy to check another A-lister off my 1964 Topps setbuild. (Though at that price, I'd probably have picked it up ever if I weren't working on the set.)

How about another vintage first-ballot HOFer? This '57 Al Kaline wasn't quite the steal as the above 2 cards, but still a solid deal.

It's a beaut, and checks another big name off my 1957 Topps set.

Last one for today is another need for my '57 setbuild. While he doesn't have a plaque in the Hall, Don Larsen is a household name to even casual baseball fans thanks to his incredible World Series heroics in 1956.

Seeing as this is the first card to come out since his legendary performance, it's no surprise the write-up on the back focuses on the perfect game... as would pretty much every card he ever got from that point on. But I suppose you're crazy if you ignore it.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend, everybody!

eBay moratorium

I gotta stop spending so much of my paycheck on eBay cards. I gotta! For the rest of the year, no more eBay searches/purchases. Time to start exercising some serious self-control. I'll place some sniping bids on what's currently in my watchlist, but then it's cold turkey till '14. If it gets too tough, I'll have to ask my fiancée to change my password or something. Or maybe I should join with those proud government workers and stay off eBay until the shutdown is resolved. (Don't get political on a baseball card blog! Baseball card blogs are a haven away from political discussion! I do not want to hear about the political leanings of any collectors! LOL)

That said, I've gotten some neat cards on eBay lately and they make me happy. Watching Ken Burns: Baseball the other day, when they got to the part when they talk about Don Larsen's perfect game, I giddily grabbed my recently-acquired 2003 Topps Retired certified autograph (inexplicably featuring the man in an Orioles uniform, not Yankees, but whatever) and like a kid at a puppet show, bounced around in my seat repeating to myself, "I got that guy's autograph!" (That one was under $5 shipped, a pretty good deal, I thought.)

But yeah, I'm posting this so I won't be able to avoid it.. it's on Blogger forever now. No more eBaying for me till 2014.

To get my card fix(es), I'll be posting a series of "trade bait" posts here over the next 3 months, probably split up by team, so hopefully I can goad a few of you guys into trading with me. (Please! For me!) Keep me off the pipe pole eBay. Thanks, guys! Have a good one.

UPDATE:
A couple more caveats for myself: I think I may make an exception for searching for (and potentially buying) 2004 Topps Retired autos I need, since that's my "main collecting goal" these days, and the ones I need don't pop up very often these days, especially not with reasonable opening bids. So I may need to keep an eye out for those 20 elusive cards that have evaded me thus far.

Also, the moratorium also applies to COMC orders and any similar card-selling site. But Listia is still ok, just obviously no "buying credits" but I wouldn't do that anyways.

And as I mentioned in the comments, I can still venture to eBay for Christmas shopping.. just not cards.