A couple of weeks ago I managed to find time to attend a local card show.  Lately, I haven't been able to attend these as often as I would like so it was somewhat refreshing to be able to touch and inspect cards in person, rather then attempting to judge condition looking at internet scans. Another refreshing thing happened the same weekend.  A new card shop opened near me!  The new shop didn't have a large offering of my preferred vintage cards but I persevered and was able to come up with some nice gems. Starting with this Gooden rookie from the '84 Fleer Traded set ..read more

  I threw caution to the wind the other day and bid on an unopened package of the 1987 Hygrade set.  Ok, it wasn't really anything that would throw the budget off, but I've seen these cards at shows and shops mostly in cheap bins.  A long, long, long time ago I did buy the collector's kit.  You know the one, with the Hygrade binder, a few reprints, some actual junk wax era cards and a price guide. I'm pretty sure I don't have the binder or price guide anymore, but some of those cards may still exist in a box somewhere and I never intended to chase this set.  Fortunate ..read more

  Topps Now is a concept that prints on-demand cards and stickers to commemorate special milestones in sports.  It really is an interesting concept and it comes with built in scarcity.  These special cards and stickers aren't available forever, and in many cases Topps has a time limit before orders are cutoff. Unfortunately, my first crack at this hasn't gone so well.  Back when the Twins were in the playoffs I ordered up a card of my new favorite Twins player - Royce Lewis - which commemorated his hot streak hitting home runs.  The card was also to be autographed (on ..read more

  I feel like I've been working on the 1971 set forever.  Before starting this whole 'get organized' thing (which coincided with the starting of this blog), I had accumulated over 3 - 800ct boxes of these cards.  Sorting through these took a bit of time but I'm glad that part is done.  The odd thing is now that I know exactly what I need to complete this set, it feels like its become just as big a chore to get the remaining cards!  I'm not sure what is worse - staring at boxes of cards that you know someday must be sorted or after those cards are sorted trying to whit ..read more

I haven't been to a card show or shop in some time.  The card shop closest to me shut down recently, which is a bummer as that was my go-to place for supplies.  Now I have to drive what feels like a million miles to get to the next closest shop.  It's also the second card shop that has suddenly closed its doors this year.  Maybe it's a sign of things to come in the hobby but I hope not. Despite me not getting to a shop or show lately, I still need to get my fix in.  So internet shopping has become my source for cards lately.  I think the local post office finally ..read more

I may not have been posting as much as I would have liked this month, but that hasn't stopped me from acquiring more vintage cards.  Recently an auction came up that contained a few Post cards and my bids won!  So for fans of old Post baseball cards you may enjoy this.. er, ...post.  :) I know what you're thinking..."boy that card could have been cut better".  Yes and no.  This isn't actually a Post card, it's my first card from the 1963 Jell-O set!  I had no idea this was in the batch of cards, but I saw a post recently that identified these cards from the stan ..read more

It's been a long time since I've written a post on football cards.  We really don't see enough of these on the blogs.  Even though the football season has wound down, I'm still excited to find football cards from sets that date way back, especially those sets I've been meaning to get to.  So for the last 36 years, I've been meaning to complete the Topps Football set from 1988. I'm not really sure why I had put this off for so long.  Maybe it's because like most cards from the late 80's and 90's, I took them for granted and assumed they will always be cheap and afforda ..read more

  While at my LCS awhile back, I was in the middle of setting aside some cards for purchase when I spotted a box of small, random sets.  All of these sets were a bit dusty, as if they had been sitting in storage for a long time.  I spotted something that looked familiar and was happy see a nice complete glossy set from 1985 rack packs waiting for a new home.  Even better the sticker price was $1.  This dealer is very reasonable and owns one of my favorite shops.  So this set was a throw with all the other stuff I bought that day.  Hard to beat that. The se ..read more

  I haven't posted in awhile as my job and other things have kept me busy, but I have been trying to keep up with most blogs.  I've also been playing around in TCDB trying to learn the ropes there.  So maybe it was  a coincidence that I happened to catch a post by Jeremy of Topps Cards That Never Were fame at the same time I was diving into TCDB.  While reading his blog I decided to check out his want lists and I saw that he happens to be working on the 1982 Topps baseball set, so perhaps it was another coincidence that I happen to have quite a few of these ..read more

  I've neglected my 1956 set build for awhile as my focus shifted to completing the early 70's sets.  But recently I came across a lot of some well-loved '56 commons that looked like they would fit right in with my set.  So I swung a deal and had 77 of those cards on my doorstep in no time.  I didn't really bother to ask or check all of the card numbers, and it was known there were duplicates in this lot.  Still, I figured with my set completion under 50% there had to be a few cards I'd need...right? Luckily I found over 30 cards I needed and now my set is over 50% c ..read more