Thoughts of an old card collector

 More random thoughts...

- If I was just starting out in collecting cards, I'm not sure that I'd know where to start. It is absolutely amazing to me the sheer number of cards that are out there in any given year. The choices that a newbie collector faces could be and would be, for me, overwhelming. It's understandable why set collecting is not as common as it was back when I started collecting.

- I'm still in the inventorying of my collection. I think I'm about a 1/3 of the way done. Probably closer to 1/2 when it comes to my Topps sets. I've got a ton of non-Topps cards that I haven't even touched. If I wasn't a teacher with time off in the summer I doubt I'd be as far along as I am. 

- It's really sad about the cards from the '90s that turned into bricks. There were some decent designs that got screwed up. It's going to be a challenge to complete those sets with cards that aren't messed up.

- Still in the process of figuring out TCDB, but all-in-all it's going pretty well. I've completed 10 trades, including one with Nacho Grande. Here's some of the cards I've gotten in trades.

- Question for those who care to answer in the comments...What's your favorite card, set, or grail card that you're chasing? For me, the grail that I'm always on the lookout for is 1957 Roberto Clemente. Every time I go to a show, that's the one I've got my eye out for. 

- Speaking of shows, anybody going to the National in Chicago? I want to go to a National one day just to say I went, but not  this year. 

- The Texas Rangers are playing really well. Hope they can keep it up!

- I've been blessed to be able to be able to send some random cards to people that I read their blogs. I've gotten some shout outs on their sites and it's appreciated, but that wasn't the intent. I just like doing it. I think its something that I'm going to try and do at least once a month. So, if you've got a blog, let me know in the comments and I'll check it out. If you don't have a blog, let me know your want list or where I can find it. Who knows? You might get a card or two in the mail.

It's late and that's all I've got tonight. 

Peace, 

Michael 

Isaiah 40:31

What to do, What to do?

 What do you do with the cards that don't fit your collection?

When I first got into collecting back in 1981 with the release of Fleer and Donruss to go along with Topps, I wanted everything! I was accumulating a bunch of cards. I really focused on Fleer because, not only was it their reintroduction to baseball cards but the error cards were a big deal. I wrote about my business prowess (actually lack of business prowess) back in my first post. Anyway, I collected everything when it came to baseball cards until college, marriage and kids became my focus. I still bought a little of everything, but not like I had before. 

When I got back into collecting baseball cards around 2018, I started looking around at what was out there and quickly became overwhelmed. I had to make a decision on what I was going to collect and how I was going to do it. I came up with Topps base sets from 1972 to present and certain players, focusing on getting all of the players' Topps base cards. I'm not locked in to just Topps. If I find something that I really like the look of then I'll collect that too. There are a few of older non-Topps sets that I like that I'm going to look for once I get everything in order.

I'm still in the organizing phase of my collection. When you've bought all kinds of baseball cards from all different years and basically, just put them in boxes, you create a mess. I've come a long way in organizing everything, but have a long ways to go too. I'm still a long ways away from getting everything counted and on TCDB too. It's a process.

All of that brings me to my question...What to do with the cards that don't fit your collection?

The majority of my collection came from opening packs. I still like opening packs. My original thought was open the packs, get some doubles and trade or sell them to get what I needed and raise money to open more packs. Well, until recently, it hasn't really gone that way. What little of my collection that's on TCDB has led to several trade offers. I've actually completed 6 trades, have 3 trades processing and one in the works. 

So far, I haven't initiated any trades. I'm kind of wimp. I don't want to insult anyone with what I offer for their cards. What's funny is I don't think (at least I haven't been so far!) that I'd be insulted with whatever I'm offered for my cards. I'd just decline it or send a message that said appreciate it, but it's not enough. I would love to hear any of your trading stories. Being a newbie in the trading world, I only have one story so far. 

I made a trade with a guy on May 10th, mailed the cards on the 11th and received my cards on the 17th. The guy I traded with still hasn't received the cards. I feel terrible about it and have sent him a couple of messages trying to figure out if I need to do something. Return the cards he sent, find the cards and resend...something. I don't know. All I know is that I feel bad about it. The guy has been real nice about it and doesn't seem worried about it, but I hate it.

Another way I've tried to move some cards is to try selling them on buysportscards.com. I think I've had about 9 sales for about $50. It's been about 6 months and I know that $50 isn't much, but it's $50 I wouldn't have had! I've got about 2200 cards listed. Obviously, buysportscards.com doesn't get near the traffic that Ebay does, but there are no fees and most of what I'm selling is not very expensive, so its better than Ebay...if it sells. I know that collectors sell on TCDB too, but I haven't seen or heard anything about it. I wonder how often it happens?

Here's my link to buysportscards.com https://www.buysportscards.com/Seller/c827e50ba1/mpdillard25. 

If you decide to look at it but would rather trade for something posted there, contact me and we can work it out. 

Random act of kindness!

Probably the coolest thing about writing this blog is meeting new people. Two of the coolest people that I've met online is Nacho Grande and Night Owl. It's nice to make new friends even if its only online. I want to give a shout out to Night Owl for the random act of kindness of sending me some of the cards I need to move forward on my 2018 Topps set. Thank you!

I think that's all for now. Please leave a comment and let me know how you move the cards that don't fit your collection or some of your trading stories.

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31

Ramblings of a card collector

 Just some random thoughts...

YouTube

I enjoy watching YouTube videos on baseball card collecting. When I first started watching, it was to get caught up and hopefully, learn something about the hobby. I think I was really trying to get a grasp on grading cards. I still haven't grabbed hold of the whole grading cards thing. Not much has changed since I first wrote about it back in February. I did hear on a video the other day when two guys were discussing the grade of a card being a 9 versus a card being raw and one guy said a 9 was a raw card. I quit watching all of those videos where they reveal their grades because people either do one of two things; they freak out over a really good grade or complain about a bad one. I'll be honest, I'm not sure that I can tell the difference between a 9 or a 10, so why pay the extra money? I'm always open to comments and someone explaining it to me. 

Garage sales and Flea markets

The YouTube show I enjoy the most is Chasing Cardboard. If you haven't seen it, check it out. The thing that gets me about that show is when they come across someone who picked up all of these amazing cards or collections from a storage unit, garage sale or found this box loaded with vintage cards at a flea market for next to nothing. Every time that I've ever found cards at a garage sale or flea market, people asking the world for the cards and 99% of the time, its from the late '80s and '90s. Now don't get me wrong, I still have an appreciation for the those cards. As a matter of fact, there are several of those years I still need to collect, but man, why can't I ever be so lucky to find that hidden Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, or Willie Mays in a box that's $20.00? 

That of course brings up the moral dilemma, do you let the person know what's in the box or do you just buy the box? Maybe that's why I haven't found one yet, because God knows that I couldn't sort that out!

I did go to a Flea market the other day and picked up this nice 1972 Topps Brooks Robinson 

Case/Box Breaks

I've been hearing/seeing a lot about case/box breaks on YouTube, from card shops and other collectors. I've never done one. I've looked into it and even put a couple of them on my watchlist on Ebay, but still haven't done it. I'm not sure that I ever will. Maybe if I can get into one really cheap, but even then if it's cheap would it be worth it? Would love to hear back from some of you that's done one or even if you haven't why so.

TCDB

Thought I'd give an update on the inventorying of the collection. I've actually uploaded onto TCDB my complete sets and 4 years of baseball cards. I've also uploaded most of my current player collection. I've inventoried 7 more years worth of cards, but haven't gotten them uploaded yet. 

I'm listing all of my duplicates as for trade/sale and that has led to 4 complete trades and 4 that are in progress. Juggling 3 or 4 trades at once has been fun and a bit nerve-wracking because, I really don't want to mess it up. Everything has been low end cards, but its been fun and I've closed the gap on completing some sets. 

There's been a lot of activity for just 4 sets being uploaded. It's going to be interesting to see what happens when I get the rest uploaded. 

Here's just a small sampling of what I've received back in trade. 

Mailing cards

I've struggled with how to mail cards when I'm trading with someone. 1 to 4 cards is not the problem. The cards are in penny sleeves, in top loaders, the top is blue taped, top loaders taped together, in the envelope with the sides of the envelope packing tape sealed and off it goes. My problem is the mailing of more of 9 or more cards. 

I've received all kinds of packaging when it comes to getting cards in the mail. Every time (so far!), the cards are fine. Plastic sheets with the binder holes cut off, folded in to thirds, surrounded by cereal box cardboard in a plain white envelope. Me? I put all the cards in penny sleeves the better/most expensive cards in top loaders, no more than 6 cards in between two toploaders, blue taped together surrounded by cardboard cut up from an amazon box (See? even the wife contributes to my collection!) and put into a bubble mailer. Am I overdoing it? Once again, more input please!!!

I guess that's enough rambling for one post. I'll have another in a few days because, I've got a few more things to ramble about! 

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31