Binder 4 of 19 (1983 Donruss and 1983 Donruss Hall of Heroes)

This is the 4th binder that I've featured and so far it is the best in my opinion.

It contained a bunch of 1983 Donruss cards; including this Howard Johnson RC.

So far each binder has had a least one minor star RC. 

Not much else from the base set except for these 13 Ty Cobb puzzle cards that with...the actual puzzle.

Super happy to add this puzzle to my collection!

But that's not all the binder had in store. Next up is a complete set of 1983 Donruss Hall of Fame Heroes.

This is an absolutely beautiful set and I was shocked to find it in the binder since most of the binders are completely void of anything resembling a star player.

Also included was the Mickey Mantle puzzle from the 1983 Donruss Hall of Fame Heroes set.

Like I said earlier, in my opinion this is the best binder so far and it may end up being the best binder of the lot. 

Again I paid $20 for all 19 binders and 5 boxed sets, so I think I got a great deal, but finding stuff like this makes it even better.

Let me know what you think of 1983 Donruss and the 1983 Donruss Hall of Fame Heroes set.

Binder 3 of 19 (1982 Donruss)

The next binder from my card show purchase was filled with 322 cards from 1982 Donruss. I didn't notice any doubles and there was not a single blank spot on the sheets. Would this mean that stars would be included?

The only star presence in the binder cam in the form of two Expos rookie cards of minor stars, which were found on the first and second page in the binder.

Nothing else of note until the last three pages which contained a complete puzzle which feature Babe Ruth. 

Donruss put gum in it's 1981 packs, but was sued and lost to Topps and so they inserted puzzle pieces into their packs fr the first time in 1982. The puzzles became a staple for Donruss for the next 10 years or so.

I've always loved the Donruss puzzles and was thrilled to find it in the binder. In my opinion, this made the binder worth the 80 cents I paid for it.

How about you? Are you a fan of the Donruss puzzles?

Binder 2 of 19 (1981 Donruss)

The picture above is of one of the binders from my recent card show purchase. 12 of the 19 binders were this binder. I like this binders. I wish they had a d-ring inside, but they don't. None of the cards appear damaged from it, so I'll probably keep them around.

Anyone seen these binders before? Just curious where they might have come from.

My second binder contained 328, 1981 Donruss cards. I did notice a few doubles, but not many. The set has 605 cards, so even with a few doubles I should be right around half way there to completing it.

Once again the binder was void of any star cards. The lone card of note was a Mookie Wilson RC.

1981 Donruss is known for having a lot of error cards from it's original printing, which were corrected later on. I believe that the cards in this binder are from the first printing because I found several different error cards. Nothing of any value, but interesting none the less.

Here's a reverse negative photo of Buck Martinez.

The back of this Del Unser card is missing "3B" from the stats header.

One other thing I noticed about 1981 Donruss was that they made no attempt at photo shopping uniforms like Topps and routinely featured players in uniforms other than that of the team name featured on the front of the card.

What are your thoughts on 1981 Donruss?

How do you think I did with this binder? Again not much in my opinion, but for less than a buck I think I did alright.

Binder 1 of 19 (1981 Topps)

Yesterday I posted a picture of my card show haul from this past Saturday. Among the loot were 19 binders.

I plan on going through each one and posting about it's contents,

First up is a binder of 1981 Topps cards.

The cards are all sorted by team. The best card in the entire binder was this Harold Baines RC.

Now, when I say best, I mean there were no other star cards in the entire binder. I'm not sure how this one made it through.

Out of the 374 cards in the binder, the Baines card is literally the only card of note. But the 374 cards does give me just over 50% of the 726 card set.

I found it interesting that there were no League Leader, 3 player Rookie Cards, checklists, Record Breakers, All-Stars, Play-Offs or World Series cards, or Team Checklists in the entire binder.

I'm trying to get a complete run of Topps cards from 1981 on, so this is a nice start to the set. I have a feeling though that it would be cheaper for me to just buy a complete set rather than try to add all the star cards to this one.

I did enjoy going through the binder though and I learned a few things.

I had no idea that Eddie Murray had a brother who played professional baseball.

What are your thoughts on 1981 Topps?

I paid $20 for the entire lot, which included the 19 binders and 5 boxed sets. Since it breaks down to less than $1 per item, how do you think I did with this binder?

8 years came and went.

I had every intention of posting last Monday, but I got busy and it slipped my mind. I was planning on doing a contest to celebrate the 8th anniversary of my blog.

By the time I remembered, several days had already past and I knew I wouldn't be able to compile a post until today.

I haven't posted much lately (only 4 post before this in June), but it's not for a lack of material. Just take a look at my haul from a card show yesterday.



19 binders, 5 boxed sets, and a few old Beckett magazines all for the price of a blaster.

I've been to card shops and shows, bought a few blasters, got boobleheads, been to multiple autograph signings and have even met up with a couple of fellow bloggers (Matt and Angus) that all still need posts.

The contest post will have to wait until I get caught up on things.

Happy Father's Day!

Hope everyone has a great Father's Day!

I love my dad and will ever be grateful for everything he's done for me, but I didn't get my love of baseball from him.

He's not a fan of baseball or any sport for that matter.

Despite his lack of interest in baseball, he took me to every Little League practice and game. He shuttled me to every card shop and card show in the Phoenix area during the late 80's and early 1990's and I even talked him into a trip to the baseball Hall of Fame one year as part of a family vacation.

One year for Christmas I got tickets to see the 1996 Dream Team while they were touring the country after the Olympics. My dad and I went and I cheered on Shaq, the Mailman, Grant Hill, and the Admiral among others and my dad fell asleep.

Like I said, he's not a sports fan, but I still love him.

I got a few packs of 2017 Topps Series II today from my wife and kids. Nothing big, but since I have three kids, I'll show three cards that will stay in my collection. The rest of the inserts will be part of a prize package for my 8th anniversary of my blog which is tomorrow.

A week or so ago we were at a Diamondbacks game and I saw that the D-Backs Authentics shop had a promotion going on where you paid $50 to spin a wheel for various autographed or game-used items. There about 20 jerseys to choose from, a helmet, a base, game-used balls, autographed photos and balls, locker nameplates, etc.

I got permission to to spin as my Father's Day gift and was hoping to land on a jersey. I ended up landing on a spot for an autographed baseball. The choices were somewhat bleak. There were about 4 or 5 players to choose from and Wellington Castillo and Brad Ziegler are the only ones I remember.

Somehow I managed to talk the guy into letting me pick a game-used ball instead. I picked this ball from Spring Training.

It's from a D-Backs vs. Cubs game on 3/23/17 and was a pitch in the dirt from Zack Grienke to Kyle Schwarber in the top of the first inning.

Anybody else get any sports related gifts for Father's Day?

How the heck did he do it?

I have no idea how he did it, but ARPSmith's Sportscard Obsession sent me a pwe with 9 Paul Goldschmidt cards that I needed.

There were 9 cards in the envelope. All the cards featured my favorite player, Paul Goldschmidt. I didn't already have a single one.

Well done Adam!

This brings my Paul Goldschmidt collection to 290 unique cards.

1953 Topps

I picked up two 1953 Topps cards for my Topps Page-A-Year binder yesterday at my LCS.

The condition is rough and they aren't the biggest names in the set, but they are certainly recognizable.

"The Little Professor", as Dom was known, never reached the elite status of his older brother, Joe, but the 7 time All-Star enjoyed a great career with the Red Sox

Virgil "Fire" Trucks had a very nice Major League career and was a terrific ttm signer before he passed away. Virgil pitched two no-hitters in 1952 for the Tigers and won 20 games in 1953 with the Browns.

As you can see, both cards are not in great condition by any means, but at less than $3 apiece I had to pick them up for my binder.

Every Day's A Holiday - June

It's June. Let's take a look at the Every Day's A Holiday calendar for the month of June.

Here's the day by day breakdown.

1 - Go Barefoot Day
2 - Rocky Road Day
3 - Repeat Day
4 - Hug Your Cat Day
5 - Hot Air Balloon Day
6 - Yo-Yo Day
7 - VCR Day
8 - Upsy Daisy Day
9 - Donald Duck Day
10 - Ball Point Pen Day
11 - Kamehameha Day
12 - Red Rose Day
13 - Sewing Machine Day
14 - World Blood Donor Day
15 - Nature Photograph Day
16 - Fresh Veggie Day
17 - Apple Strudel Day
18 - Go Fishing Day
19 - Garfield the Cat Day
20 - American Eagle Day
21 - Go Skateboarding Day
22 - Onion Ring Day
23 - Let It Go Day
24 - Fairy Day
25 - Color TV Day
26 - Canoe Day
27 - Industrial Workers of the World Day
28 - Tapioca Day
29 - Camera Day
30 - Meteor Watch Day