Two out of three ain't bad! - 1980-81 Topps Magic Johnson RC

My last post was on me putting together the 1980-81 Topps Basketball set. I wrote and posted it on Friday. On Saturday, July 2nd I went to a card show in Phoenix. I hit up my favorite vintage dealer that was at the show. The same dealer that I bought all the pages of 1980-81 Topps Basketball from a few weeks back.

I looked for the remaining Hank Aaron cards I need, but he didn't have any of them. I also took a look at his vintage basketball cardsharping to find some of the cards I needed for the 1980-81 Topps set. He only had a couple of cards from that set. This was one of them.

The price tag, as you can see, says $120. I asked him what he could do. I was hoping he would be in the $80-100 range. He took the card from me and looked at it and say, "$75". I told him I'd take it. My birthday is actually today, so this was my birthday present from my Dad.

The card is off-centered, but otherwise appears to be in good shape. This is the Magic Johnson rookie card. Obviously it's not the Bird, Erving Magic card from the set, but two out of three ain't bad.

Finishing off a mini team set!

Julie, of the blog A Cracked Bat: Baseball Cards and a Hot Dog, sent me a package recently with some awesome D-Backs cards. Thanks again Julie!

Part of the package was a near complete D-Backs team set of 2015 Topps mini cards. The only card missing was the Yasmany Tomas RC.

Since it was only missing one card, I quickly added it to my cart on comc and it came in a recent shipment.

I'm a bit torn when it comes to team sets. I would love to have every D-Backs card ever issued, and thus have every team set, but I just don't see it happening, so I rarely go after team sets.

But then again, when I come across a team set at a great price or am gifted one, as was the case with this one from Julie, I hesitate breaking it up and sorting it by player, which is how most of my D-Backs cards are sorted.

How about you? Do you collect team sets? How do you sort cards of your favorite team, by set or by player? Let me know.

1st Bowman Card vs. RC

I bought a binder at an auction several months back and I've been going through it recently. I came across this 2010 1st Bowman Card of Aroldis Chapman.

I like this card and Chapman is a guy that is a must watch for me when he's in the game. I was glad it was in the binder. 

I don't have a ton of Chapman cards, but I try to pick up his cards when I find them in dime boxes. 

Aroldis Chapman is from Cuba and made his MLB debut in 2011 with the Cincinnati Reds. He pitched for the Reds from 2011 - 2015. Chapman had some off season trouble in 2015 that negated a trade to the Dodgers. Instead a few weeks later he was traded to the Yankees. He was traded to the Cubs in July of 2016 and was a part of the Chicago Cubs championship run. A few months later, Chapman signed a five year deal back with the Yankees.

The purpose of this post though is to discuss the 1st Bowman Card and the RC.

Here's Chapman's 2011 Topps RC. 

What do you think about the guidelines currently in place regarding the Rookie Card distinction? Are you a fan of the 1st Bowman Cards? How does it impact collect-ability and value? Do you even care? Do you like the RC logo being on cards?

Card Shop Pick-Up: 1964 Topps Lou Piniella RC

I picked up 3 vintage cards at my LCS recently. Here is the 3rd and final card. I got this 1964 Topps Lou Piniella RC for $4.80. It was priced at $6, but then was 20% off.