Is this real? (A card show report)
Dime Boxes Blog
by Nick
1w ago
Walking through a card show can often feel like something out of a dream. Dad and I attended the big convention hall gathering in our neck of the woods last week, and walking through those aisles and aisles of cardboard gets to be downright hypnotic. It's literally wall-to-wall action of people selling, talking, and breathing the thing you love. Sometimes you have to pinch yourself to believe it. I can say that I've had actual dreams about baseball cards before, and somehow none of them measure up to the actual reality of the things I continue to find at shows over the years. Take this '84 ..read more
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God save your mad parade (a guest post from Dad!)
Dime Boxes Blog
by Nick
2w ago
Nick's Dad here... Nick loves his "oddball" cards and I love seeing his posts here and going through his cards, amazing the amount of cool stuff! I collected the '70s Kiss and Elvis cards, as well as vintage Beatles, Monkees, etc, that were in obtainable mass-produced retail packs, but I also really dig musical oddballs...the apple didn't fall far from the tree!  Here are some of my favorites... Amazingly, at one of Nick's old bookstore jobs, he grabbed me a bag of about 40 of these 1957 Hit Stars trading cards that they were THROWING AWAY!  The set was about half movie ..read more
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Welcome to the dark side (a box of 2024 Topps)
Dime Boxes Blog
by Nick
1M ago
Baseball cards have made me do weird things over the years. There's been many a Topps release day where I've traveled far and wide across suburbia, scouring the Targets and Wal-Marts for any trace of the new cards. I've been to parts of town I didn't know existed in search of these tiny pieces of cardboard. It gets to be an obsession that really brings out the darker side of my collecting personality. I don't do the retail tour anymore - when did I have the time or energy? - but that doesn't mean the prospect of new cards doesn't still trigger the obsessive in me. One of the benefits of ha ..read more
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I've moved since you last saw me
Dime Boxes Blog
by Nick
2M ago
I know the last thing I need is yet another cardboard obsession, but here I am about to post about a new one. It began rather morbidly, following the far-too-soon passing of knuckleball legend Tim Wakefield. I knew Wake had started his professional career as a position player, and had a few cards issued as such, but I thought they were unattainable. That is, until I checked Ebay and found a rather fairly-priced regional issue from Wakefield's minor-league days that listed him as a third baseman(!).  I couldn't hit BUY IT NOW fast enough, and before I knew it, an obsession was born ..read more
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I can't change how I collect
Dime Boxes Blog
by Nick
2M ago
I've been collecting for so long now that I can't envision a life without it. I'm fascinated by the way my pre-teen self managed to come up with my fairly intricate binder system, a method that's remained largely unchanged as of now. But lately I'll admit that I've started running into a few roadblocks - some of said system simply isn't feasible anymore as I get on in years.  The crazy way I sort my cards often means that it takes a lot of time to file them away, a lot of moving cards from one slot to another and such. For a while, that was okay - I was able to devote a sizeable chunk ..read more
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The best budget is no budget (a COMC order)
Dime Boxes Blog
by Nick
3M ago
I've really never had a budget when it comes to baseball cards. Part of this is because I don't collect the seismic kind of stuff that requires a budget in fear of having to sell a kidney. But that's not to say I can't overspend on cards - lately I've been worried that I'm plopping a bit too much of my paychecks down on cardboard, in fact. It's easy to trick myself into thinking I'm a light spender since a lot of what I buy tends to fall into the "loose change" category. But a few Sportlots orders here, a couple infusions of cash into my COMC account there, and before you know it, there go ..read more
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Twelve years
Dime Boxes Blog
by Nick
3M ago
"Dime Boxes" turned twelve yesterday. I admittedly don't post a whole lot these days, but that's not at all an indictment of my love of the blogosphere (more of me not having as much time/energy). This is still my favorite corner of the cardboard universe, and I'm forever grateful for the support so many of you have always showed to that teenager who started yammering on and on about how much he loved 1995 Fleer all those years ago (I STILL DO!).  I've given away cards for my last few blog-versaries, and since I really can't think of a better way to thank all you fantastic readers, I ..read more
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You won't see that again (a card show report)
Dime Boxes Blog
by Nick
4M ago
Like fingerprints or snowflakes, no two card shows are truly alike.  I never leave a show thinking: well, that wasn't much different than the last one. Every show has its own rhythm, its own character. I'm reminded of this every time my dad and I hit the big semi-annual show here in the 'burbs, which we had the pleasure of attending yet again a couple weeks ago.  Want a unique feat at a card show? Take the Lou Brock autograph I found in a quarter box this time around. It's obviously not a pristine example - it's faded to the point that I didn't even realize it was signed until I ..read more
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It ain't me
Dime Boxes Blog
by Nick
4M ago
Once a baseball card is released, it's out there forever - there's no taking it back.  Over the years, it's become obvious that card companies, like us humans, aren't perfect. Error cards are a fun little rabbit hole of this hobby, and the ones I find the most entertaining are the hallowed "player swaps" - i.e., cards that actually feature a different player than whoever was meant to be shown on said card. They range from understandable to bizarre, from laughable to morbid. You probably know about some of the famous ones already - like the infamous '69 Topps batboy fiasco or the time ..read more
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Requiem for a baseball season
Dime Boxes Blog
by Nick
5M ago
As the season comes to a close - featuring yet another World Series I can't bring myself to care much about - I'm left to grapple with the questions left by another year of baseball. Since I'm not much of a morning person, I love having a consistent night shift at work - the main consequence, however, being that it doesn't leave much time for catching ballgames. I probably watched less baseball in 2023 than I have in any other year as a fan. I still keep up with the game (watching standings, checking leaderboards, etc.) but my actual viewing kinda went downhill this year. Part of the beaut ..read more
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