Secret Santa Goods

My blogging has fallen by the wayside but I felt the need to dust off the keyboard and share the great goods I got in the Secret Santa gift exchange.

This year the person I got to send to was a neighbor to the north and I dropped off a small package a couple days ago - the $10 international shipping hurt a bit but it is the giving season.  I found a couple cards off his most wanted list and assuming it was up to date I hope they make him happy.

Coincidentally, my Secret Santa was a different collector from Canada as well.  When I saw the return address I was hoping to see some OPC cards and the package didn't disappoint.

First, a non OPC card for the Giants collection:

I was really glad to get this Longoria, I didn't have the wood parallels even on my want list, this was a need and I was able to add the other Giants from the set. 

Next up were some cards I was excited to see:

 Three 1970s Giants and based on the rough cut on the left side of the Moffitt I was optimistic these were OPC cards as that cut is quite common with these cards.

When I flipped the cards over I was 66% happy, the Barr is a Topps card but the Moffitt and Falcone are OPC needs.  I went through a short stretch where I was trying to knock off some OPC Giants wants off the list and these cards got me thinking of making that a focus in 2020.

While these cards were great, there was one more card that was clearly the highlight of the package. 

A 1973 Reggie Jackson and from those rough cut edges I could tell...

another OPC card!  This was a definite need for the Reggie collection and a card I am super excited about.  Interestingly when I was looking at my want list and removing this card I noticed that my list said I still needed a copy of the regular Topps card.  I pulled out a box of 70s star cards and had a copy so I was able to mark off 2 cards.

So my Secret Santa left a business card in the package but I don't want to share that as it has some personal info but it I was lucky enough to get Kari.  Kari doesn't appear to have a blog but does have an account on the Trading Card Data Base under the ID of karsal.

Thank you Kari for the great gift!

McCovey Monday #95 - 2019 Topps Tier One

My favorite player of all time is Hall of Famer Willie McCovey.  I have amassed a collection of almost 1400 different  McCovey cards since I started collecting him in the late 1980s.  I will show off one of my favorite cards on select Mondays.  Stretch was one of the most feared hitters of all time and I am excited to show off my collection.

I am posting a little later than I would like today.  I fly out tomorrow to Phoenix for work had hopes of putting together a weeks worth of posts this weekend but it was just too busy.  Had some fun (49ers vs. Chiefs football game), some kid fun (took the kids to the Kidz Bop concert) then filled the rest of the time with laundry and other household chores.  After this post I will try to get some pics uploaded and perhaps I will create some posts from the hotel room while I am gone.

Today I decided to show one of my newest Willie McCovey pickups:

I am happy to score this dual relic out of /25 from 2019 Topps Tier One.  Solid looking card although the pic is a little blurry.  I had bid on several and lost out on them but now this one pairs nicely with the one out of /175 I picked up around release time:

This pick up ends my quest for McCoveys in this set as the only 3 remaining cards I don't have are all 1/1s which I won't spend to acquire.

Last week I shared the start of my Ginter McCovey quest and I picked on one new card since that post:

I know can knock of the mini gold border off the want list, very happy to have this card.  The gold looks better on the scan than in person, a little too dark while in had.

I figured I would share the other card I got with the McCovey:

I also collect cards of Mr. October, another #44 uniform wearing player from my childhood.  There don't seem to be too many Reggie cards in his Angels uniform but I like seeing them as a change up.  His A's uni tops my list but still enjoy Yankee and Angels cards (the few Orioles cards look wrong to me).

A Collection Goal Update at the Quarter Point of the Year

A couple days ago I thought it would be wise to check in on my 2018 Collecting goals and see what kind of progress has been made.  I haven't posted as much as I would like so I decided to make my progress check into a post.

As you may recall (or if not you can click on the link above) I decided to go micro and specific on my goals this year which is a reversal over the past couple.  I will copy my list from the post and share some updates in blue and pictures.

Set Building

• Complete 1969 Topps Set (currently need 8 - Bench, Kessinger, Cox, Reggie RC, Mantle, Santo, Fingers RC, Teddy Ballgame) - I have a COMC order coming in soon that should result in exciting news but I have some progress in my possession.

The left side of the Cubs Infield brings me down to 6 needs

An awesome 2nd year card with the Rookie Cup Bench brings me down to 5

• Start new vintage set - I have a couple of ideas in mind but haven't settled on a set quite yet.

• Collect Donruss, Topps Series 1 & 2, Topps Update, Opening Day and 2-3 other 2018 sets - Doing well here, bought a Master Set of Topps Series 1 and built a couple of the retail insert sets I liked.  Bought a box of Opening Day, completed the set with the box and the insert sets through Sportlots.  Bought a base set of Donruss along with the 70 (!) variations.  Decided against Heritage and Gypsy Queen although Gypsy Queen is still a consideration.

HOF Auto collection

• Get to 100 different players (currently at 94) - I posted the addition of Smoltz and LaRussa here, I posted autos of Hoffman and Vlad on my HOF Ballot post here, plus I added this great looking on card auto of Jeff Bagwell.  This brings me to 99, just need to track down 1 more to make my goal.

2014 Panini Prizm 54/75, despite the lack of logo, this is a great looking card in hand. I love the big on-card auto

Reading

• Finish and post on 6 sports books - I have 2 different baseball books right now that I am reading and a bunch ready to go.  Even though I am behind pace, I think I will get there.

• Catch up on Sports Illustrated and ESPN magazines - The stack keeps growing and I doubt this will be a made goal.

49ers Vintage collection (1950s-1970s)

• Get collection into a binder - All done, spent a little time in late February going through all my cards, sorting them by year and paging them up.  It has been fun flipping through a couple of times already. 

• Reach 200 different cards (currently at 152) - I currently sit at 182.  I have even gotten a few through trade.  I feel good about this goal, shouldn't be hard to hit.

USC Football

• Get collection organized - haven't spent any time organizing this part of my collection.

• Establish focus and add 200 new cards - I have yet to gain a focus.  I have added around 75 new cards with a few coming in trades, a couple of purchase and most from the large collection I bought and am working my way through.

Giants

• Add 20 NY Giants era vintage cards - I am already over half way to this goal but none of my pick-ups have been blogged about.  I have an amazing Return from the Purge that will be coming soon, a huge pickup to finish off a vintage team set and a multiple card purchase from an eBay seller.  I will share one card I picked up in a Sportlots auction.

 

An awesome 1952 Topps pick-up.  This is the black back version and one of the last players I need for my Giants team set that aren't in the dreaded high number series.

• Add 100 1970s-1990s cards - I have already far exceeded this goal. Most I won't blog about but I was helped by picking up a 28 card 1993 Topps Inaugural Giants team set, a 28 card 1983 Giants postcard set, a 30 card 1987 Topps Tiffany set, a 21 card 1980 SSPC HOF card Giants team set and 54 cards in a Beckett.com order.

• Reduce parallel want list to 150 cards (currently at 233) - I haven't added any 2018 cards to the list yet as I have picked up the wanted parallels.  I have only knocked about 10-15 cards from the list.  This goal will be a challenge, reasonably priced early 00s Topps Gold cards and some of the earlier years of Ginter minis are tough to come by.

Player Collections

• Willie McCovey - pick up 2 items off want list from playing career - nothing yet

• Rickey Henderson - pick up 5 items off want list from playing career, get checklist up to date - I have 2 in hand and believe my COMC incoming order will get me to this goal.  Still need to get the checklist up to date.

This 2005 Absolute card is the Spectrum version numbered 057/150, I also picked up a 1989 Topps Big

• Dave Winfield - reach 850 different cards (currently at 805), get checklist up to date - I have added 7 and here they are.  Still need to get the checklist up to date.

• Reggie Jackson - reach 700 different cards (currently at 626), get checklist up to date - I have added 10 to get to 636, here are 9 of them.

• Vida Blue - pick up 3 items off want list - any new Vida is getting credit here including the awesome custom from Baseball Card Breakdown.  I also picked up this cool patch from 1979.  That leaves me just 1 short and I have a couple awesome cards to share in a future post that will complete my goal.

Can't tell what team he should be on, right around the time he moved from the A's to the Giants.

• Ben Petrick- reach 230 different cards (currently at 221) - This is going to be a tough one to accomplish, most of the cards I need are pretty hard to find with lower print runs.  I have got 3 pretty awesome new cards.

You can see that the Maximum parallel is numbered 203/323, the Bowman Gold Refractor is 54/99 and the Pacific Extreme LTD is 42/45

• Chili Davis - reach 465 different cards (currently at 453) - no activity on the Chili front so far in 2018.

• Dave Parker - reach 160 different Pirates cards (currently at 140) - only 1 pick up so far but it is a pretty cool one.

I love me some Hostess cards!

• Fred Lynn - post about new player collection, reach 280 different cards (currently at 252) - I still haven't posted about this new player collection but I have been adding some cards.  My collection now sits at 270 cards.  I don't plan on showing off any cards until I get the first post out.

• Ronnie Lott - reach 900 different cards (currently at 868) - I am at 873 but should be able to move the needle much quicker with the 2018 football releases.  Here are 3 cards from 2017 Select, I would like to track down most of the rainbow at some point.

These are numbered 015/149, 04/75 and 12/25

• Roger Craig - reach 380 different cards (currently at 361) - I have only added 1 card, it is a great dual auto that added to two of these collections.  I will have it's own post coming up.

• Dwight Clark - reach 125 different cards (currently at 109) - I have added 5 to get to 114 and will show off 2 of them here.

This counts as 2 on my checklist as the card and coin are listed separately.  These came from a regional grocery store, Save Mart back in 1996

• Fred Dean - add 5 cards (currently at 25) - I shared 1 in my blog bat around post and also picked up this one.

• Harold Miner - add 2 new cards (currently at 252) - Even at 2 this was a stretch goal, not much of his I don't have.  I did track down one postcard sized new card of his and shared on the blog bat around post.

• Charles Barkley - reach 700 different cards (currently at 645) - I have added 7 cards, 2 in this trade, and these 5.

• Patrick Ewing - reach 550 different cards (currently at 505) - 3 new ones here.

For some reason that green border on the UD MVP card really stands out to me.  The Larger then Life insert is a nice shiny gold

• Chris Webber - reach 750 different cards (currently at 710) - 4 new CWebbs added to the collection.

The upper left card is from his college days and the first card on my checklist, it had eluded me for some time and I am super happy to finally own a copy

Reflecting back on my progress so far, I have to say I am pretty happy.  It seems the areas that have been most lacking are my USC football collection and my basketball player collections.  I am interested to see if my focuses shift in that direction.  I am not going to "force" myself to go after certain cards to make a goal, I use the goals as guidelines and go after what feels good.

Have you reflected on your 2018 goals?  If so, how are you doing?

Catching Up with Reggie Jackson

I admit, I have too many player collections - I have a problem.  Over the last couple years I have even added to the number when I decided to pursue collections of Chili Davis, Ben Petrick and Dave Parker as a Pirate.  I have realized lately that a couple of my player collections have taken somewhat of a back seat.  I have placed a little more focus on grabbing some new (to my collection) Reggie Jackson cards and thought I would show them off.

This group has a little bit of everything with parallels, base cards, inserts, and reprints.  It also covers Reggie's stops in Oakland, New York and California. I think Reggie is one of the most photogenic players with so many great cards.

Here are a few more inserts and a short print base cards.  My favorite cards of Reggie show him in his #9 uniform during his first stint with the A's.  He is typically clean shaven on those 70s A's teams, looks pretty young and the A's always sported some sweet unis.

Here are 3 oddball items of Mr. October with a late 70s disc, a Topps coin and an encased Topps Pristine card - 3 very cool collectibles.

I decided to show the back of this 1978 Record Breaker to share the O-Pee-Cheeness of the card.  This card celebrates the amazing World Series performance in 1977.

Here are a couple relics, I really like the UD one on top that celebrates his membership in the 500 HR club (back when it meant a little more).  The Prime Cuts card is cool, I have a great appreciation for bat relics as of late, they used to take a back seat to jerseys in my order of preference but that has switched.

Finally a pair of awesome Kellogg's cards from early in Reggie's career.  A great look for the reasons listed above but even better with the 3-D technology.  I don't see my passion and focus for Reggie cards reaching the height of Willie McCovey or Rickey Henderson but I do plan on continuing to add to my Mr. October collection.

2 More Boxes of 2014 Panini Hall of Fame

Man, I love this stuff.  I have broken a few boxes and saw them on sale again and decided to pick up a couple more.  As a HOF auto collector, my hope is always to add some new autos to my collection. The subject matter of all the cards - HOFers - make some great looking cards of the all time greats.

Let's see how these two boxes treated me:

First up are the base cards and their parallels.  I scored one each numbered to /75, /50 and /25.  The DiMaggio is great and the other two are solid.

These Crusade cards are pretty solid in design, I scored another Jolten Joe, a purple parallel of Dizzy Dean and a great looking die cut of Carl Yastrzemski.  This becomes one of my favorite Yaz cards in my collection and it is numbered to /10.

My two Diamond Kings card as the unnumbered base cards and feature two players I grew up watching.  I love the Brett picture, he looks so young.

One each of my two favorite insert sets from this product.  I have officially decided to collect these 40 card sets.  I have a needs list on my Set Want List page and recently picked up a lot from a seller on COMC, he had pretty reasonable prices and took my offer with them together as a group.

Boom! A gem card of Cubs great Hack Wilson.  I don't know the odds of these gem cards or what they sell for on the secondary market but I like the look.  Having watched a number of box breaks I would guess these are 1 per 5-10 boxes so this is a nice score.

The high from the gem card was tempered a bit with two duplicate autos. I have several Eck autos in my collection.  The Sutton is a nice addition with the numbering /50 and perhaps an upgrade over my other Sutton auto from a different set.

The final card in this box was a big one of the Big Train.  A Walter Johnson 1/1!  I haven't decided what to do with this card yet.  I rarely sell cards on eBay any more and have no idea what I would ask.  If I end up at the National, maybe I will take it as trade bait.  Those are both possibilities but my money would be on it staying in my collection as it is a beautiful card.

On to Box 2...

Only 2 base cards, both actually parallels /50.  Nice to score a Giants card in Cepeda as well.  The Yogi card is great, nice posed photo of the swing follow through.

These Crusade cards weren't all that exciting, no PC hits and not any high end HOFers with the possible exception of Dizzy Dean.

A great bounce back with 2 of my player collections represented by the two Diamond King cards.  These were both needs and the Diamond King design looks great. After the Dominators and Elite Series get knocked off the want list, this set is a possibility to pursue.

It was nice to score 3 of these inserts in this box.  Already had the Mathewson in the Giants collection but it was a need for my new set quest.  I was lucky not to pull any duplicates in the boxes I have purchased so far.

Wow! Another Big Train sighting and another gem sighting. I am guessing these boxes came from different cases.  This 2 box break gave me my two best Walter Johnson cards.

The first auto is my second Whitey Herzog auto for my collection.  I had pulled one from a Panini Cooperstown box a couple years back.  Not the greatest pull but I like this design and  the Herzog photo is nice.

My final auto is a huge pull! A Carl Yastrzemski on card auto /5.  I have been wanting a Yaz auto for a long time. His older certified autos are few and far between. Even though he has started signing more over the past couple of years, his cards are pretty expensive and I haven't found one I like at a price that fits my range. That is no longer a problem with this addition, I can take the eBay email notification off and lessen my daily email load by 1.

I am pretty happy with the boxes of 2014 Panini Hall of Fame once again.  I am not sure what the resale value of these boxes would be, I am not in it to flip and make money. I am very satisfied with these breaks and enjoy all the cards.  My guess is I will probably pick up a couple more during the next round of sales.

Trade Post - The Collective Mind

Late last year I opened 3 boxes of Panini Hometown Heroes and decided to put together a set and a few insert sets.  Greg from The Collective Mind reached out wanting to help me with my wants in exchange for a few of the parallels I had pulled and posted.  Unfortunately he had only 1 card that fit my needs, this nice gold bordered Curtain Call parallel of Mr. October:

Fortunately Greg decided to go on the hunt and tracked down 4 Rickey Henderson cards I needed, check these out:

I was very excited to add these cards to my Rickey collection and would have been very happy with the exchange of these 5 cards for the ones I sent Greg's way.  Have you heard the saying that timing is everything?  I believe while waiting for these Rickeys to make their way to him, I posted some want lists of older sets that I came across while trying to get organized.  Greg happened to be able to hit on quite a few of my need.

First up are a dozen cards from the 1995 Topps release of UC3. This is Sportflics like technology.  My old LCS in Orange County (2 houses ago) had a bunch of old wax boxes and I had picked one of these up and decided to make a want list.  This group of cards got me to within 15 cards of completing the set.

1999 Fleer Brilliants is another one of those older bargain wax boxes from the OC LCS and Greg hit two of my needs.  I still need a bunch of these but I am hoping to find another box on the cheap or someone that has a bunch laying around.  Maybe Josh at Royals and Randoms will come across a huge stack in his recent purchase.  The Musial is from a Walmart exclusive 2010 Topps insert set.

Finally Greg knocked 17 cards off my 1998 Metal Universe set.  This is one of my favorite sets and again my set started off with an LCS wax box.  I wish I knew how to scan these cards better as they are great looking.  Getting this nice group inspired me to seek out other needs.  With this trade package and some recent purchases I am down to needing 25 cards to finish it off.  I will continue to look for deals on these singles and of course drop me a line if you can help.

Greg, thanks for the awesome trade package.  I have been looking through your want list to track down some of your needs to even this deal out.  I appreciate your generosity and taking the time to dig up cards on my want list.