7 Day Trading Card Challenge #1

Tim over at Cardpocalypse has laid down a 7 Day Trading Card Challenge and while I certainly won't cover it over 7 consecutive days, I think I am going to give it a go and hopefully get through all the steps.

Here are the 7 different challenges:

 

Today I have been challenged to share my favorite card acquired during the quarantine.

When I saw this topic, the first card that came to mind was this:

This is my first Topps Project 2020 art card.  When I saw the first few cards come out I wasn't sure they were going to be my cup of tea.  I wouldn't call myself an art connoisseur and the first one I saw that possibly would fit into my collection was an artistic rendering of a 1952 Willie Mays.  The card didn't excite or inspire me.  A few days later I saw this Rickey Henderson rookie rendition come up on Topps.com and instantly liked it.  I am a Rickey collector and think his rookie card is one of the best in the history of the hobby and this one was close enough to the original (not all of these are) for me but different enough where I wanted a copy. 

However with all the craziness about these Project 2020 cards and the crazy prices they are going for won't allow me in good conscious to pick a card from this set as my favorite.  If you aren't familiar, this card that I got for under $20 delivered when it was released, is now for sale of $300+.  I also picked up the second one when it was released but I am done with these.

Let's look at my real favorite card pickup during quarantine:

This is a 1972 Topps Joe Morgan high number and it finished off my 1972 Topps set and therefore finished off my lifetime Topps run.  It was actually one of a lot of cards I got to finish off my set but this was the last card in the package and will ever be remembered as the card that finished my set.

I am still on cloud nine about finishing the set and suspect it will be my favorite hobby accomplishment of the year.

Time to dig into the few 2020 cards I have so far to find a card for Challenge #2.

A Nice eBay Pickup

Back from my second trip to Orlando in the past month and decided it was time to get a post or two up.  I decided that today I would go with the LIFO method (last in, first out) and share something I got in the mail yesterday.

I picked up a 4 card lot that I came across accidentally.  I still have an eBay search that shoots me daily emails of new 2018 Willie McCovey cards and I saw a posting with this title "Topps Inserts Sp Willie McCovey,Rickey Henderson,Hank Aaron,Ted Williams 2018."  I already have the McCovey SP parallel from last year's Topps but the picture is what piqued my interest:

I hadn't picked up this Henderson card for my Rickey collection so I decided to put in a bid.  The post listed 3 other HOF names but only showed two pictures:

I nice Hank Aaron insert but one I already had, and:

An SP parallel of Ted Williams.  I had seen this card a couple times and love the photo.  Teddy Ballgame is wearing his warm up jacket, practicing his swing in the dugout with what I think is Fenway Park in the background.  The big grin on his face makes the photo, looks like a guy who just loves the game.

The final card was a mystery as there was no photo but as expected the aforementioned card I already have in my McCovey collection ended up being the final card:

In the end I won these cards for $6 delivered.  As mentioned the Rickey was a need and I figure the McCovey can go in the Giants binder since I have one in my player collection.  I will probably see if the Hank can find a new home.  The Williams isn't going anywhere, I love the card.  Any time I run across one of the retired player parallels I keep a hold of it.  I have considered going back to when they started a few years back and collecting all of them but I really don't need another collection.

Overall I am really happy with the pickup and have to appreciate the crappy listing job of the seller.  I have to think if these were better listed the price would have been higher than a $2.26 sale price.  Have you ever picked up something on eBay that was listed poorly and resulted in a good deal?

COMC Adds to my Player Collections with a Special Nod to Dwight Clark

My final post from a COMC order back in April focuses in on my player collections.  I have found my attention drifting more towards my player collections over the last few months probably driven by the terrible season the Giants are having.  I am still trying to pick up all the Giants base cards along with a few parallels and relics but not as aggressively as the past few years.

First up is a new McCovey, always great to add some parallels from the 2014 Panini HOF set.  I have cracked a few boxes (I love the 2 HOFer autos/box) and really like almost all the cards from the set. This Crusade card brings my want list for this parallel set down to one die cut card /5 for my McCovey collection.

It has been tough to find many new Vida Blue cards to add to my collection, most of what I need is pretty rare.  I was able to pick up this nice pennant and a couple of minis from Panini Golden Age.  The pennant card is actually fuzzy like felt, pretty cool oddball.

While my want list for Rickey Henderson is much longer than my Vida want list, finding affordable cards from his playing days that I need is sometimes a challenge.  With a couple of offers and some deep searching, I was able to add these 5 to my collection.

My most prominent football player collection is of fellow USC alumnus and HOF CB/S Ronnie Lott.  My Lott collection may have benefited the most from my COMC orders over the past couple of years and this order brought 3 more home.

I believe my sheer card count, Chris Webber is my biggest basketball player collection although I have collected Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing much longer.  I collect cards from throughout his career but always prefer cards from his Sacramento Kings days.  I was able to pick up 2 relic cards at very reasonable prices.

One of my player collections that doesn't get much attention is that of 49ers great Dwight Clark.  Although he only played 9 seasons, he is one of the most beloved players in Niners history.  He was a part of one of the most memorable plays in NFL history and "The Catch" launched the 49ers dynasty of the 80s and early 90s.  To this day I can remember exactly where I was and who I was with when "The Catch" happened even though I was only 10 years old.

Prior to asking for this purchase to be shipped I decided to do a quick search to see if any new Dwight Clark cards were on COMC.  To my surprise, Clark had been featured on a few recent releases, none of which were represented in my collection.  I went on a bit of a shopping spree as you will see below and grew my collection quite a bit.

I don't know if you all heard the news but about 2-3 days after placing my order, the announcement came out that Clark is suffering from ALS.  For some reason the timing struck me as odd, just days after getting so excited about adding a bunch of his cards to my collection, I grew quite sad with the news.

That finished off my April order, I can't believe how far behind I am in sharing my spoils but I think I have 2 more COMC orders scanned since this one.  Not sure if or when I will share those spoils but despite diminished time to focus on my collection and blog, I am still having a blast with this hobby.

COMC Player Collections - March

Back on Black Friday I made a big purchase from COMC and got a nice stack of scratcher game cards.  Unfortunately I didn't win any store credit but I did get a few free shipping winners.  I did a little shopping and had a nice stack of card delivered in mid to late February.  I am not going to break this down into 10+ posts like I did with the Black Friday purchases but I will break it down into 4.

Today's post will feature all the cards I picked up for my player collections.

The biggest group of cards I acquired knocked off 18 needs from my Chili Davis want list:

I was able to pick up both the Topps and OPC versions of Chili's stickers.  The cards in the middle and bottom row are great looking with the Pinnacle Museum and the Stadium Club acetate card.

This group didn't scan too well as there is quite a bit of shiny going on.  Cards I need are becoming hard to come by, I feel lucky to bring in so many with this purchase.

I was able to reel in 2 nice Rickey cards.  The Cooperstown card celebrates him as the all time leader in runs.  This was an insert in one of my favorite releases of all time.  I had a copy in my set but needed one for the Rickey binder.  I also picked up an early 90s 7-11 disc.  The are different varieties with different colors, nice to get one for less than a couple bucks.

I found quite a few Ronnie Lott cards in this purchase as well including these 4 thick, premium cards.  I really enjoy the USC National Treasures card.  My favorite unis for Lott, in order, are USC Trojans, 49ers, Raiders then a distant 4th to the Jets cards.

Tons of Niners love in this scan.  These are all recent releases and I was able to pick them up for relatively reasonable prices.  My Ronnie purchases have seem to come in spurts lately, maybe once or twice a year picking up groups like this to fill in gaps.  I am glad he continues to be included in new releases.

My final group of cards comes from a release Upper Deck did a couple years back for the University of Kansas - now the closest University to where I live.  That reminds me that I need to check at my LCS to see if they can fill some gaps.

I don't know if I have ever shared anything with respect to my Scot Pollard collection.  When he played on the Sacramento Kings, Pollard was one of my favorites.  He is a personable guy, pretty crazy, a great interview and would get into the game and bang.  I have a Kings jersey of his (not a real one) somewhere I need to dig out.  My collection of his is fairly robust, there are only a few low print run and elusive cards from his career I have yet to track down.  It was cool to see some new cards of Pollard's pop up and I need to keep my eyes open for more.

Three more posts to go to share my COMC February goods...

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.

2016 Black Friday COMC Order #5 - Core 3 Player Collections

If by some act or decree I had to limit my many player collections (I think I have 16 across 3 sports) down to a top 3, it would be a pretty easy choice.  My picks would be Willie McCovey, Ronnie Lott and Rickey Henderson.  I picked up a variety of cards for my various player collections in the COMC order and thought splitting them up this way would be the way to go.

First up are my Willie Mac pick-ups:

Stretch has a bunch of cards in the 2014 Panini Hall of Fame set.  These 5 all come from what I would call the base set and these represent just 2 of the 3 different fronts available.  Each set has a different photo and a different border and color around the photo.  The top 4 are what are referred to as the Blue Frame while the bottom 2 are the Green Frame.  There are also Red Frame cards.  Each frame has 6 different varieties with different print runs (base /75, black /1, blue /25, gold /5, green /10 and red /50).  This represents 5 of the 18 cards available and with the low print runs I will never get this set complete but will have fun trying.

An insert within the 2014 Panini Hall of Fame release are these Crusade cards.   The blue framed is not serial numbered and is considered the base.  The purple is /50 and the orange die-cut is /25.     I also have a gold die-cut /10 and a red /75 in my collection.  The only missing cards are the black die-cut /1 and the green die-cut /5.  Again a set I won't ever complete but I am pretty happy with where I am at.

These are 4 more random McCoveys I picked up.  The card on the top left is from 2012 Panini Cooperstown, one of my favorite all time sets.   It was on my want list but not only did I have a copy in my McCovey binder, I had one in my Giants binder and at least one in my dups box - oops.  This year's Gypsy Queen was an SP so I am glad to finally pick this one up.  The bottom left mini is from Panini Golden Age and the Ty Cobb back is one of the most rare.

Next up are my Ronnie Lott pick-ups:

I hadn't picked up any 2015 High Tek Lott cards but with this purchase I now have 6 different variations.  I plan to keep my eyes open for some of the rarer parallels as I would like to fill up an entire page.

Here are cards from two different higher end releases. If you are interested in these cards and all the parallels there can be some good deals to be had on COMC from what I assume are people who crack them for the hits then just toss them up on COMC to get rid of them - just stay away from my players!

The last were just 3 random newer release Ronnies.  The Prizm with the Red, White and Blue border is just a great looking card.  Probably my favorite thing about all these cards is that they feature him in his Niners gear.  While I will pick up the Jets and Raiders cards, my favorites are the Niners and Trojans.

Finally a quad of Rickey Henderson cards from the mid 2000's.

I have recognized I have some big gaps on some pretty easy to find Rickey cards from 2002-2007 and this was a start to remedy the situation.  These 4 cards from about the same time frame show Rickey with 4 different squads.  The man got around.

More stuff to come from my 433 card purchase...