The Elation of a Filled Up Sampler Album Sheet: 1976

It's been a while since I've done a sampler album page, and I've kind of missed it.  I've updated the album quite a bit recently, just haven't posted anything.

I've decided to go ahead and show the whole album in Spreadsheet form on my Sampler Album tab at the top of the blog.  For anyone who cares, the spreadsheet has a few parts to it:

Tab 1:

Top part of the spreadsheet shows the major award winners by year. 

The middle shows silly things like that year's Oscar winning film, who the President was, etc.  I'm still working on that part, but thought it would help give a good frame of reference of life outside of baseball each year.

Bottom part shows what cards I've got for each year, a few on my wish list, and what sort of percent completion I'm at per year.

Tab 2: 

Just ignore tab 2.  It's a quick way for me to see what interesting players were active per year.  Very subjective.

What stands out to me are the mid 90s sets that are so light in my album.  I'm having no luck getting any 1994 cards in trades.  Sure, I could go to sportlots.com and pick up what I need, but that's no fun.

Another note:  I'm trying to keep my album as diverse and interesting as possible.  If you don't see a name listed across the years that you think should be included, let me know.  I'd like to keep the repitition of names to a minimum.

The page for today is 1976:

I'm pretty happy with this page.  A bunch of good names, and the cards are in good shape.  Any page with Hank Aaron is a good one.    There are a few opportunities to upgrade, or at least move out some repeated names from other years, but for now I'm fine with it.  The Fergie Jenkins card is the bomb, and I want one of those Rangers jerseys.

The Elation of a Filled Up Sampler Album Sheet: 1965 Topps

I've mentioned my Sampler Album project before in several posts, so I've decided to start tracking the progress here on the blog.  As I complete pages for each year in the album, I'll write about it, and leave a link to the post in the "Sampler Album Project" page at the top of the blog.

Quickly, the Sampler Album project is simply an album that has a page dedicated to each Topps flagship set from 1951 to today.  I can't (and don't want) to try to try to build every set, and I thought this would be a nice efficient way to look over the history of Topps cards over the years.

The fun part of this project is that each page is never really "finished" until I have 9 cards for that page that I'm totally ecstatic about.  I'm sure there will always be a card out there for each year that could warrant a spot in the page over another. 

However, I have to say I'm pretty darn satisfied as it is with my 1965 page:

That card 3-6 run of Robinson, Mays, Koufax and Aaron is very strong and the other cards certainly aren't junk either.  Eventually I'd love to upgrade the Koufax since there is a pin hole in his hat and the corners are pretty worn.  The Aaron is in incredible condition, and has sentimental value as well since it was a gift from a family friend years ago when I first got in the hobby. 

Maybe I'll trade out the Piersall and Fox if I find a couple of other 1965s I like better, but for now, this page is set, and by far the best page in my sampler album.

Cleve's Christmas Auction Preview Part 5: Vintage Cards

Cleve's auctions always have a great selection of vintage cards, and the Christmas auction this Tuesday takes it to a whole 'nother level.  I showed a handful of Mickey Mantle and Dodger cards in previous posts, and here are some other sweet vintage cards that will be up for grabs:

 This Sport Kings Bobby Jones might be the most impressive card in the auction.  Look up the eBay auctions that are going on for it now and you'll see what I mean.  I'm going to be very interested in seeing what this goes for.  All I know is that it won't go home with me.

 This Yogi Berra card might though.  It sits just outside my Top 5 most wanted cards from the Christmas auction.  If it comes at a reasonable price, it's mine.

 I'd be thrilled with either of these graded 1961 cards....

 Or this Al Kaline....

 But I will abso-freaking-lutely freak the freak out if I wind up with this Hank Aaron rookie.  You will never hear the end of it either, dear readers.

 This is an actual autographed card of Dom Dimaggio.

I don't want to get my hopes up, but I feel good about my chances of getting at least one of the above cards.

For those of you interested in these, or any of the other cards from the Christmas auction (or any auction for that matter) Cleve does take write in bids.  You can reach him at:   479-927-0067 

Cleve’s Christmas Auction Preview Part 1: My Top 5 Wants

I’m going to bombard you people with yet another series of related posts, now that my COMC Haul posts have mercifully ended.

Here’s the difference though: I’m going to show you some ridiculously cool stuff!  And you will like it!

Cleve is holding his annual Christmas auction next Tuesday.  Last year I got blanked and came home with nothing, but it was still fun.  This year, I’m coming home with something, so help me, that is if I’m able to attend and not screwed over by work travel (fingers crossed).

I guess I should take a step back and re-introduce Cleve’sauctions.  The LCS “Cleve’s Collectibles” holds a card auction every Tuesday night.   There is ALWAYS a nice offering of cards, and I almost always come home with something, much to the Lovely Wife’s chagrin.  Every year, in mid December, he holds a Christmas auction, and the auction materials are top of the line stuff, with tons of vintage, memorabilia and autographs.

Part of what makes these auctions so much fun is the owner, Cleve, is one of the nicest, most generous people you could ever hope to meet.     So I’m happy to dedicate a week of posts to this auction, and if I can steer a few people to give his shop some business, I’d be ecstatic.

That is, unless those people get in the way of me getting any of the cards below.  Then we’re going to have a problem. 

There are going to be well over 100 auction items next Tuesday, but I will share the ones I found the most interesting over the next seven days.  Today, why not start out with the best ones, at least from my perspective.  These are the 5 cards I want the most.  There is no way that I will get all,  or even multiple wins, but if I can get one of these, I will be tap dancing all the way home:

1954 Hank Aaron:  I would love to be able to say to people, “Sure, I have a Hank Aaron rookie card.”  I love the sound of that. “I have a Hank Aaron rookie card.”   Will I be saying that next Wednesday?  Not likely, but I’m going to try.

T206 Johnny Evers:  I have a Joe Tinker T206.  My goal is to complete the Tinker-Evers-Chance trio at some point.  If I can get this under $60-$70 or so, I’m going for it.

Derek Jeter Sweet Spot Signature:  Obviously, Jeter is one of the iconic athletes of this era.  An autographed card of him would be a seriously awesome addition to my collection.

1961 Mickey Mantle:  I don’t have any legit vintage Mantles.  There will be about 10 or so at the auction, and I’ll see if I can swing at least one.  If I could have any of them, this is the one I’d like the most.  My guess is that this goes way out of my range quickly.

1955 Jackie Robinson:  I have a 1954 Jackie Robinson and it’s one of the top 5 jewels of my collection.  I’d love to get another one.

For those interested in these, or any of the other cards I’ll show this week, Cleve does take write in bids. 
Give him a call and he will set you up with a bidder number.    You can reach him at:   479-927-0067 

Cleve’s Auction Night: Changing My Mind By The Minute

I have alternately gone back and forth tonight on my opinion of how I fared at Cleve's just a few hours ago.  I initially left the auction feeling a little let down, mostly due to what I didn't get. 

There were a couple of cards on the docket tonight that I really wanted, but I was soundly beaten on both of them.  One was a magnificent 1959 Roberto Clemente.  It was clean, perfectly centered and had sharp  corners.  I hoped I might be able to get it for $25, but it went for around $40 something.  The other was a 1933 Goudey of some fella I don't remember.  But it was a 1933 Goudey, and it too was in great shape.  It went for north of $40 also, and was out of my range.   I can live with missing the Goudey, since I didn't know anything about the player and one of these days I'll get one at a price I can live with.

That Clemente is going to haunt me for a while though.  It was absolutely gorgeous, and at a minimum I could have flipped it for a nice profit if I had a case of buyer's remorse. 

However, no one wants to hear me whine about what I didn't get.  Let's get to what I brought home.

After I win an item,  I quickly have a gut instinct as to if it was a good purchase or not.  Yes, it would make sense to think that if my immediate reaction was that it was a bad purchase, I should not have made it in the first place, only moments beforehand.  That's the power of impulse purchasing, and that is why I keep telling myself I need to have a detailed strategy going into each auction.   That said, after some reflection,  I think my gut instinct was wrong on almost every purchase I made tonight.  I'll explain purchase by purchase:

We were about halfway through the auction, and I didn't have anything to show for the evening.  This pair of former Razorback Joe Johnson cards came up for $3 and before I realized what I was doing, I bid on them.  I immediately was ticked at myself.  Yes, I wanted some nice Joe Johnson's for my Razorback binder, but honestly,  I couldn't even see the cards from where I was sitting and hadn't scouted these cards beforehand.  They could have been anything and my dumb ass just heard "Razorback rookie" and stuck my hand in the air.  Thankfully, these are pretty sweet cards.  The Avant-Guard is numbered to #500 and the Topps Chrome is nice looking too.  So despite my immediate despondency,  I'm good with this purchase.

I had about the same Pavlovian response to hearing "Jeter Rookie" as I did "Razorback Rookie" and paid $2 for this 1993 Jeter card.   Again, I immediately was ticked at myself since this is probably one of the more boring Jeter rookies.  But it's still a legitimate Jeter Rookie and I'm not going to get this for less than $2 anywhere probably.  So again, I'm fine with my purchase.

Ok, I was excited about this then, and am excited about it now.  I got this 1983 Topps Tony Gwynn Rookie for $4.  I'll take that every time I can get it.

I don't know how to feel about this one.  I got this 1973 Hank Aaron for $5.  Normally, I would be ecstatic about adding a Hank Aaron to my collection for $5.  It should be the card of the night.  But take a look at the right side, about 3/4 of the way down.  The card has a nice size split in the side, about a quarter of an inch long.   You know what?  Who cares?  This is going to be a great addition to my sampler album, and I would have spent that $5 on a lousy rack pack of 2012 Topps anyway.  I'll just put my thumb over the cut when I look at the card and pretend it's not there.

I think this was the best value purchase of the night though.  I got this pair of great looking 1959s for $3, and one of them is Whitey Herzog.  The Herzog is in great shape.  As a point of reference, the Clemente I spoke about earlier was in every bit as good a shape as this.  Man, I'm still bummed I didn't get it!







Grades:


Joe Johnson Rookies $3  B+:  Nice cards of the former Razorback


Derek Jeter 1993 UD $2  B+:  Solid pickup of the Yankee great

1983 Topps Gwynn Rookie $4  A-:  I will make this purchase any and every chance I get, no matter how many I accumulate.

1973 Hank Aaron $5  B:  This should be an A+ but for that blasted cut on the side of the card. 

1959 Topps Lot $3  A:  The Herzog alone was worth $3 and this pair will go nicely in my sampler album.



1959 Clemente Miss:  F:  I wish I had that to do over again.  Big time fail on my part.

Baseball Card Box Of Chocolates

As if I needed any more reason to worship the lovely wife...

I have often been tempted to purchase one of these value packs at Target.  10 packs for $10 is a great deal, and at a minimum, you get a pack of 206 and 2010 Heritage.  I've always passed because I felt I should spend my money on packs I "needed."  I came home today to find a value pack, plus a rack pack of 2011 Topps Series 2 on my night stand with a sweet Valentine card that I will keep to myself.

This is a perfect gift for card collectors on Valentines Day because of the assorted nature of it.  I opened it with more of a sense of fun than anything I've opened in a long time.  There was no feeling of hoping to avoid doubles, hoping to get a big hit, or hoping to not get the "wrong" thing.  It was so much fun to open because it was a little of this, and a little of that.  Kind of like going to a wine tasting.
Here was what was inside:

 I haven't opened Upper Deck Wax since forever, so this was a great excuse to do so.

That's such a pretty picture.

And I was very happy with what I got in the packs:

I've received a few of these UD StarQuest cards in trades.  Very nice insert set.  Getting Jeter and Griffey cards turns any pack rip into a win.

The Kinsler at the top of this pic came from a 2007 Topps pack.  The bottom 2 are from the 206.  I love the Queensboro Bridge mini card.  The Munson is a beaut too.

The Heritage pack yielded probably my favorite assortment.  I got Vlad as a Ranger and two of my favorite non-Rangers, Ichiro and Halladay.

I may have mentioned this in the past, but there is something about this Fleer Ultra set that I really like.  It's on the short list of sets to add to my master checklist.

Finally, I mentioned the 2011 Topps rack pack.  Can't complain about these pulls, with the Kimball Champion Aaron leading the way.

That was just fun!  It was a nice reminder of what opening wax is supposed to feel like.  Thank you so much lovely wife.  I'm a lucky dude!

On The 5th Day of Brycemas

My Harper Gave to Me:

5 Gol-den Kiiiiiings:

I hope and think Bryce Harper will do well.  I don’t think he’ll be as good as this guy:

Or Him:

Or Him:

Or Him:

Or Him:

My first vintage Koufax card ever!  Yes, there is a push pin hole at the top of his hat, but I love the 1965 set and this was the best shape of the card I was going to get if I wanted to be able to buy anything else with my Harper funds.  It’s good enough for me.

Etopps 3/28 Offering- T-206 is Back!

Love, love, love etopps T206 cards.  These are beautiful cards, especially in hand!  For those who are not etopps members, this may be a great week to get started.

This week:

Hank Aaron

Tim Lincecum

More information here:

Lent is officially over for me!