Looking Ahead

With 2021 just around the corner I wanted to take a moment to look ahead at what I hope the future will bring for me and my collections and my blog.

I have 3 main goals for this next year.

1) Organize

This is a current look at my card room. Yeah, I've got a lot of work to do. This will be my immediate focus. I plan on utilizing binders more so I can enjoy my collection.

2) Downsize

No, downsize isn't the right word. I actually want to grow my collection, but I want to make sure that everything I have is something that I want.

3) Be more involved in the blogging community

2021 will be my 12th year blogging. Nearly 200 posts in 2020 and over 2,000 total, but I don't feel as connected to the blogging community as I have in the past and I want to change that. I'll be reading and commenting more on other blogs and I'll be hosting more contests and giveaways.

Speaking of contests and giveaways, let's get started. Comment below with three of your hobby related goals for this next year and you can win this 2001 Upper Deck Gold Glove Slugger's Choice Game-Used Batting Glove card of Paul O'Neil. It's a little rough around the edges, but still a nice card. You have until January 1, 2021 to enter the the giveaway. 

1968 Topps Rod Carew: All Star Rookie Cup

When I bought the two Rose cards at the card shop a few weeks back I bought this 1968 Topps Rod Carew card as well. This one I bought because of the Topps All Star Rookie Cup on the front. For 1968 I wanted either Carew or Seaver. Hopefully some day I will have both, but for now this Carew will do just fine. 

I wish that that card was better centered, but other than that and a few soft corners, the card is in pretty good shape, so it is the fact that it is off centered that allowed me to snag it for $16, which I think is a fair price.

Carew was the A.L. Rookie of the Year in 1967 and beginning in 1967 he would be an all-star for the next 18 straight years. In fact, only in his final year in the big leagues would Carew not find himself a part of the mid-summer classic. Carew led the American League in batting seven times, including 1977 when he batted .388 and not only won the batting title, but also took home the A.L. Most Valuable Player award. I did find it interesting that he never won a Gold Glove award, but I guess when you hit .328 lifetime with 3,053 hits you don't need a gold glove.

Carew played from 1967 to 1985. I didn't start collecting until 1988, so my first recollection of Rod Carew was from the 1991 Bowman set. I got it for Christmas as a kid. The first 5 cards in the set are dedicated to Carew. Carew would also be the subject of the Donruss puzzle that was part of the 1991 Studio set. Makes sense because 1991 was the year that Carew was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Cards from Cards on Cards

I recently saw a few cards up for grabs on Cards on Cards that I needed so I put in a request and Kerry obliged. I'm working on the Historical Moments part of this set.

Kerry included a bunch of D-Backs cards as well. A good portion of them are from 2020, which is great because I haven't been buying much current stuff. Here is some He

This card was also included. Not 100% why. Maybe Kerry knows something I don't and Cesar will end up signing with the D-Backs for 2021 since he is currently a free agent. Maybe it's because I have a soft spot for the Indians and Reds since I live in Goodyear, AZ which is their Spring Training home. Either, way, thank you very much Kerry for all the cards. You should be receiving your cards shortly if you haven't already. Sorry for the delay.

Classic Oddball: Classic Major League Baseball Card Game

In addition to the 1990 Score Rising Stars set, I bought these two 1989 Classic Major League Baseball Card Game sets for a buck apiece at the card shop over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Why'd I buy two? One to put in a binder and one to actually play the game with., of course. At just $1 each, why not? They had about 8 of them.

I did think it was interesting that one of the (left) has a Kmart price tag and the other one (right) has a Toys "R" Us price tag. $5.97 at Kmart and $5.99 at Toys "R" Us, which sounds about right. 

This is only a 50 card set (cards 151 - 200) and the third of three series referred to as the "Travel Purple" set, but it contains some big names like Ken Griffey Jr. (seen on the front), Bo Jackson, Nolan Ryan, Kirby Puckett, Dwight Gooden, and Mark McGwire among others.

Griffey has another card in the set, It's in the second series; the "Travel Orange" set. Are these considered rookie cards? I collect Griffey and I have over 1000 of his cards, but I didn't have this "rookie" card and I was able to pick one up for a buck, along with the rest of the set. Thank you typically overpriced Card Shop!

$12.95 to $6.97 to $1.00

Over the Thanksgiving weekend my son had a baseball tournament. His team made it to the championship, so they played 5 games over the 3 days (Friday - Sunday). They didn't end up winning the championship, but they played great and ended up with silver rings. 

In between a couple of the games we grabbed some lunch nearby at a place that "happened" to be in the same parking lot as a card shop. It's a card shop I've been to before, but not one of my favorites. 

I know I shouldn't complain about any card shop within driving distance because I know there are several of you out there that don't have one anywhere near you. This shop just doesn't have reasonably priced singles and most of its "wax" is retail that is marked up two or three times the price. What I heard is that the owners daughter works for Wal-Mart and she grabs it for him. I find that super annoying. He owns a card shop and can buy hobby boxes, yet he takes retail off the shelves and out of the hands of collectors only to jack up the price. Okay, I'm done. 

The shop will occasionally have something that is of interest to me. Such was the case on this particular day. I picked up a things for a grand total of $3. First up is this 1990 Score Rising Stars 100 card set.

Not a ton of big names in here by 2020 standards, but there are cards of Ken Griffey Jr., Gary Sheffield, Sammy Sosa, Randy Johnson, and Curt Schilling.

You can see the SRP was $12.95, but the Kmart price tag says $6.97. I paid $1.00.

        

I plan on busting it out and putting it in a binder. I'm curious to see what is in the book. Anyone out these have this set? Did you buy it back in 1990?

1967 Topps Pete Rose

In addition to the 1966 Topps Pete Rose card I was able to add a 1967 Topps Rose card to my collection this past Saturday.

This 1967 card features another shot of Rose in a batting pose, similar to his 1966 card, but this time he is featured batting left-handed. This card isn't in great shape, but it's crease free and not terribly centered, so I was happy to add it to my collection for $20. I put it in the magnetic.

The cartoons on the back mention him leading the Florida State League in doubles, but gives no mention of what year. From what I can tell, Rose was in the Florida State League in 1961 with the Tampa Tarpons. He led the FSL in hits, but not in doubles that year, so I'm confused. His 20 doubles that year had him ties for fourth in doubles. The other cartoons talks about him leading the NL in hits in 1965, so it would make complete sense to have mentioned that he led the FSL in hits in 1961 and that he led the NL in hits in 1965.

I mentioned that this card featured Rose batting left handed. Here is his 1966 and 1967 card so you can see that he is indeed a switch hitter.

I went from have zero 1960's Pete Rose cards in my collection to having two out of seven. Hopefully I can add a few more soon. 

Which of these two cards do you prefer? The 1966 or 1967? Both have a certain appeal in my opinion. I go back and forth, but I think I prefer the 1967 card.

1966 Topps Pete Rose

I picked up that sheet of Pete Rose cards on a whim a few weeks back, but it got me thinking about how many great cards Rose has and how I don't have very many of them. So this past Saturday, I picked up a couple more vintage Rose cards for my collection.

Let's take a look at this 1966 Topps card that I picked up this past Saturday. This card features a clean-cut Rose heading into his fourth season of major league ball. 

The name plate has some printing issues and I could have picked up a different copy of this card for half the price of this one, but while it didn't have the printing flaws that this card does, it has multiple creases, so I choose this version. It set me back $24. I put it in the magnetic.

The card back refers to "Hustling Pete" and the cartoon illustrates Pete winning the Rookie of the Year award in 1963. This is my earliest Pete Rose card in my collection.

I know Rose card be a polarizing player, so if you collect Rose cards, what is your oldest Rose card in your collection? Anyone out there have his rookie card?

Sheets or Pages?

I bought this sheet of Pete Rose cards at an auction at a card shop a few weeks ago. There is a nice variety of cards from the 1970's and early 80's featuring the all-time hit king on the page. 

There are all-star cards from 1970, 1975, 1976, and 1977, base cards from 1978, 1982, and 1983 and a 1983 Super Veteran card on the page. From 1975 - 1981 Topps did not issue a separate all-star card, so the 1975, 76, and 77 cards are also his "base" cards. The cards are not in great condition, which explains how I got the sheet for less than $1 per card.

Throughout this post I have referred to this as both a sheet and a page. What do you call it?

Oddball: 1992 Jimmy Dean (Did you know that Jimmy Dean was in a James Bond movie?)

I intended on publishing this the day after my last post since it was connected, but it didn't get finished and then last week was crazy at work and it wasn't until yesterday that I had a chance to finish it up.

The guy at the card shop initially quoted me a $7 price for the 1992 Jimmy Dean set. I put it back and he asked me how much I was willing to pay and I told him $2 and he said "You got it." So $2 for this, $1.50 for the 1994 Churchs Hometown Stars set, and $2 for the 2018 National Baseball Card Day set. I went to pay and he said "Give me $5." Deal.

The 1992 Jimmy Dean set is a well rounded 18 card set that fits nicely in two sheets. Let's take a look.

Most of us are probably familiar with Jimmy Dean sausage, but did you know that Jimmy Dean was a singer and actor. He started off singing in the early to mid 1950's and had a hit song in 1961, "Big Bad John" and he transferred his singing success into his own tv show: T,he Jimmy Dean Show which aired from 1963 - 1966.. He and his brother started the Jimmy Dean Sausage Company in 1969. He would later appear as billionaire casino owner Willard Whyte in the 1971 James Bond movie Diamonds are Forever.

There was Jimmy Dean baseball card sets in 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1997.

28 card sets drive me insane!

If you read my post yesterday you will recall that along with a partial 2018 National Baseball Card Day set, I inquired about and purchase a couple of other items from a "discount" bin from a card shop recently. 

Here are the other two items. When I asked for the price, the guy did a quick eBay search and gave me a $7 price for the 1992 Jimmy Dean set and $1.50 for the 1994 Churchs Chicken Hometown Stars set. I told him I'd take the Church set and put the Jimmy Dean set back

So let's take a look at the 1994 Churchs Chicken Hometown Stars set. There are lots of stars in the 28 card set, but there are some notable names missing from the 1994 set. Most notably Ken Griffey Jr. and Frank Thomas. These were the two biggest names in baseball and the baseball card hobby back then, but Edgar Martinez and Robin Ventura represent the Mariners and White Sox instead of Griffey and Thomas.

The backs include a color headshot a brief write up and 1993 and career statistics.

The cards are not licensed by Major League Baseball so there are no team logos to be found.

For me, the top card in the set is the Mike Piazza card.

The set includes one card per team, so I get why there are 28 cards in the set, but it still drives me insane that when I put it in sheets it ends up with 3 full pages and then one lone card in the 4th page.

Churchs or KFC? Do you have this set or cards from it? Tomorrow we'll take a look at the 1992 Jimmy Dean set. I didn't pay $7 for it, but I did end up picking it up.

Where were you on August 11, 2018?

I went to a card shop the other day and I browsed for a while before deciding on one particular card. I paid for the card and turned around and saw a "discount" bin that I had been looking through earlier. I had looked through this bin earlier and had set a side a few things that weren't priced because I wanted to ask for a price. So I grabbed the three items I had set aside and took them to the counter to ask for pricing. One of the items had a price, but the other two did not. 

The one that was priced was a 2018 National Baseball Card Day set, or so I thought. It was marked at $2 and then was supposed to be 25% off. As you will see it ended up being one card short. I wasn't expecting it to have the two bonus cards (Aaron Judge and Rhys Hoskins), but card #6 (Jose Altuve) was also missing from the set. I'll have to track that down. 

I'm not sure what I was doing back on August 11, 2018, but it doesn't appear that I went to the card shop because I don't think I had any 2018 National Baseball Card Day cards. Well now I do.

Do you collect the National Baseball Card Day sets? Do you have the Jose Altuve available for trade?

I just need the Topps card to complete the trifecta.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! 2020 has been a strange and challenging year, but I still have much to be grateful for this day. My faith and my family are at the top of the list, but I have a long list of hobby related items that I am thankful for as well.

I'm grateful for card shops and one in particular; The Batter's Box. I've mentioned them before, but I love that they have weekly live auctions. They hold them on Saturdays and Wednesday nights. This past Wednesday I was in the area and was able to stop by for the auction. 

I only snagged one item from the auction. It was this 1954 Red Heart Harvey Kuenn rookie card.

It's beat up, but I was able to grab it for about $6, so I can deal with it for that price. It's also my first card from the Red Heart set. 

I'm not a dog person, but I would like to think that I would have begged my parents for a dog, 6 cans of dog food, and 30 cents so I could get the complete 33 card set. Yep, 2 cans of dog food and a dime, would get you an 11 card all-star team. Each 11 card grouping has a different background color, so that means that the kid that got this Harvey Kuenn card also got the Mickey Mantle card as well.

If you recall, I recently picked up a 1954 Bowman Harvey Kuenn recently. With the addition of this Red Heart card, I just need the 1954 Topps Kuenn rookie card to complete the trifecta.

I can pick up a well loved version of the Topps card for around $10, so it shouldn't be long. 

Do you have any Red Heart cards in your collection? If so, which ones? 

What are the odds?

I shared a small lot of Maury and Bump Wills cards I bought on eBay recently in order to upgrade my 1963 Fleer Maury Wills rookie card. Included in the lot was this 1979 Topps Bump Wills error card. I wasn't familiar with this card, so I looked it up and found out the origin behind it and that there is a corrected version as well.

Fast forward about a week and I'm at the card shop looking through the dime box. In addition to the dime box, they have a couple of small snap tight quarter cases, a 50 cent case and a $1 case. In the 50 cent case I found the corrected version of the card.

I look through the dime, quarter, 50 cent, and $1 boxes/cases every time I go to the card shop and this was the first time I remember seeing this card. Anyways, it seemed pretty crazy to me that I wasn't familiar with the card and then within a week I end up with both versions. Here they are side by side.

You ever had a situation like that happen before? I had a similar situation happen recently that I will post about tomorrow. This one involves a rookie card from 1954.

Dave Philley of the Phillies

I came across this 1958 Topps card of Dave Philley in a dime box recently. I tweeted about it and referred to it as a 1959 Topps card. My bad. To be honest, before coming across this card in the dime box, I wasn't familiar with Dave Philley. I bought it because his last name is Philley and he plays for the Phillies. 

I looked him up and found out he had a lengthy career and was a pretty prolific pinch hitter. In fact, he ended the 1958 season with 8 consecutive pinch hits and started the 1959 season with one as well; setting the record for the most consecutive pinch hits at 9.

The back of his card also mentions this pinch hitting prowess regarding his performance in the 1957 season.

I know his name isn't an exact match to the team name, but it's pretty close. Are there any others out there that are close or an exact match? Last name and their team name. Not their first name and their team name. I'm curious. 

I upgraded and saved 9 cents: 1963 Fleer Maury Wills

A while back I set up an eBay search for a 1963 Fleer Maury Wills rookie card. I was able to secure one as part of a small lot of 1963 Fleer cards. Because it was part of a lot I ended up getting the Wills rookie for $1.07 and it shows. Let's take another look. It's in rough shape, but I love it. Huge crease right down the middle, worn corners, off centered, etc. and that's just the front.

The back contains some ink.

 

I never removed the eBay search and so I continue to get notifications for the card. One such notification was for another small lot that included this 1963 Fleer Maury Wills rookie card.

This card is certainly not in gem mont condition, but it is a huge upgrade to the previous card in almost every possible way. No huge crease down the middle, the corners are not great, but improved and the centering is way better. Oh, and no writing on the back. So how much did this copy set me back? $0.98.

Like I mentioned, this was part of lot, which is why the price per card is so low. So what else was in the lot? Another 1963 card and this one is just as rough as the first 1963 Fleer card. 

This is a 1963 Post card that looks like it was cut out by a 6 year old. Maybe some day I will upgrade this one as well.

There were a few other Maury Wills cards in the lot. The 1969 is in decent shape except for the writing on the front advising of the fact that Maury was back on the Dodgers after a brief stint with the Expos.

More Wills in the lot, but this time it was Bump and not Maury. There is rookie card and a 1979 Blue Jays error card in addition to his 1980, 1981, and 1982 Topps card.

Bump didn't have nearly as productive career as his father, but he has some interesting cardboard, just like his dad. I mentioned the 1979 error listing him on the Blue Jays. This was based on a tip provided to Sy Berger that did not pan out. His 1978 Topps card, not shown here, also has a variation. 

I'm happy with the upgraded Fleer rookie and happy to add the Post card to my collection. The rest were just extras. Do you have any 1963 Post cards in your collection? How about the Wills card? If so, how's the condition?