Too many irons in the fire.

 Ever feel like you've got to many irons in the fire? Christian, husband, father, brother, uncle, friend, teacher, coach, mentor and I'm sure there's other roles that I fill, have me going in so many different directions that there are days I'm not sure which way is up. A lot of my roles overlap, but still I feel as if I'm getting pulled in 15 different directions. 

There are times that I feel the same way with my card collection. '24 Topps times three, '23 Topps Heritage, '23 Stadium Club, Corey Seager collection, Marcus Semien collection, Josh Jung collection, Mike Trout collection, Shohei Ohtani collection, Clayton Kershaw collection, etc...the list goes on and on. Then on top of all of that, you throw in the inserts that I end up trying to collect and something always seems to get missed or forgotten. Just like in my life, a lot of my collection overlaps and that just adds to things getting missed or forgotten. 

For me, what always seems to get missed or forgotten the most are the sets I'm trying to finish from '72 to present. Actually, it's not present, it's 2019. I'm doing pretty good with '24 Topps and I've completed '20, '21, '22 and '23. It's pretty easy to do that when I'm also doing it for my grandsons. Not so much on the sets from the past. 

Most of the cards that I've gotten for sets from 1981 to 1993 have come via TCDB trades. I was just making trades and not really paying much attention to it. I was more focused on cleaning out my doubles. I mentioned in my post Ramblings of an old collector that I completed the 1984 set. Funny thing was I didn't even know it. I just happened to look on TCDB one day and noticed that I didn't have any '84 cards on my wantlist. How could I not know the set was complete? How is that even possible? Seriously, if I hadn't put the set on TCDB, I'd have a complete set sitting in a box on the shelf and not even know it. Yes, I know, if it wasn't on TCDB it wouldn't have been completed anyway, but that's not my point. My point is I've got to figure out how to be better organized with the cards that are coming in.

TCDB has helped a ton with the organization. That being said, I'm a long, long way from being organized. Between opening packs, picking up cards here and there, attending card shows and TCDB trades, there seems to be a pretty good flow of cards coming in. I'm pretty sure that I have put cards into sets or boxes that I had already inventoried and not updated it on TCDB. 

Plus, I've got cards going out too. The cards going out are pretty well organized and to be honest, I don't have to worry about it too much. Between TCDB trades and what I'm selling on buysportscards.com I know what's going out. My problem is keeping up with what's coming in. 

I may have a fix for my problem. I started putting all incoming cards into one box. Then, as I have time, I can go through the box and update TCDB and put the cards with their respective sets. I'm going to give this a try and see if it helps. 

I've got very little in my collection when it comes to the older sets. I've got a really good start on my '75 Topps and my '78 Topps set. The other sets? Less than 100 cards for each. I decided that I would finish one of the two sets before I focused on another one. Two at one time is enough. There's just not a lot of progress on either set. It's not like the cards aren't out there, just that the sets aren't a priority for me for some reason. I've got to start putting a little more emphasis on those sets. 

Sets that I'm working on pre-1981 have mostly come from card shows. I have received a few trades that involved my '78 set, but for the most part, its card shows and card stores. I think I'll stick to shows and stores, because I can see exactly what I am getting. I'm not a huge stickler on condition, but I want a nice looking card. 

I've struggled with making trades on TCDB for the older cards because of condition. When I put my cards on TCDB, I didn't pay that much attention to condition. I also wonder if my trading partners did the same thing. So when a trade comes up for those older cards, I don't want to send someone a card that might be a rougher than what they were expecting. I know that I'm not a fan of receiving cards that are beat up when my expectation was higher. I have several cards that are placeholders. Cards that I know I want to upgrade at some point because they are more than a little rough. I just don't want to have a whole bunch of cards to try and upgrade. The thing is I'm probably more concerned about what my trade partner thinks of the cards I send than what I get in return. 

For now, until I get TCDB updated on the condition of my cards, I will probably stick to in person deals until I get more comfortable with trading on TCDB for the older cards. 

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31

Showtime!

 No, I'm not talking about the best LA Lakers teams from my childhood. I'm talking about the Dallas Card Show.

Like most of us in the blog world, I'm not going to the National in Chicago as much as I'd like to. I told Dr. Beckett, when I ran into him at the show, that this was my National. In reality, it wasn't that either. I was on a time crunch and didn't really make my rounds all of the tables like I normally do. 

Normally when I'm at the show, I look for vintage cards and cards needed to complete my older sets. This time, I decided that I was going to spend my time scouring the $1.00 boxes and see what I can find. Now, all in all, it I felt as if it was pretty productive. It was a slow process and it really limited my time walking around looking at other tables. I found all of these cards in the 5 for a $1.00 or the 3 for $2.00 boxes. 

The Yordan Alvarez completes the Stars of MLB set. The Luis Robert goes to the Topps player collection and the Chapman goes into the set. 

All of these cards goes into my player collections. I already had the Seager and the Betts, but I needed to get two more cards and I figured I could give them to my grandsons or my nephews. 

While I was going through the boxes, I ran across the All Aces cards. I wasn't going to collect the subset, but I really like these cards and they were only .20 each so, I guess I'm going to put the subset together.  

I don't know if you can tell, but I'm a Bobby Witt Jr. fan. I got to see him play in high school when my oldest son was coaching against him. He seems to be a really nice kid and boy can he play. If I can come across his cards and can afford them, I'll pick them up. I do think that I'm going to stick to Topps products though. I'm not a big fan of the unlicensed products. Can't go wrong with a rookie Corey Seager either. 

These are just some players that I like and have player collections of them. Anything that I double up on will go to the grandkids or nephews. 

I think these were my favorite pickups for the day. I got all of these for $4.00. Felt like a pretty good deal to me. 

I'm debating what to do with my cards that no longer fit in my collection. 

I have listed over 2,000 cards on buysportscards.com and so far, in 5 1/2 months I've sold 41 cards in 13 different orders for a net of about $67.00. Every time I start to think about shutting it down and just moving everything to TCDB for trade/sale, I'll sell something. $67.00 isn't much, especially spread over 5 1/2 months, but its still $67.00 that I get to spend on cards. 

I've also listed over 11,000 cards for trade/sale on TCDB. The cards listed here are not listed on the buysportscards.com site. In about 3 1/2 months I've completed 19 trades with 3 trades in progress. I've gained over 350 cards for my collection and traded away over 150 cards that weren't fitting in with my collection. There's no doubt that trading on TCDB has been a positive for me. I've interacted with some really nice people and have only had one issue and it was worked out without any problem. The trade offers have dwindled quite a bit. I'm still adding cards to my collection and to the trade/sale list, but there hasn't been much action lately. I still haven't initiated a trade yet and I need to do that. 

I think for now, I'm going to keep things the way they are and keep listing cards for sale on buysportscards.com and keep listing in the for trade/sale in TCDB and see how it plays out. 

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31

It finally happened!

 It's official. I'm finally a TCDB trader! Not only did I make my first TCDB trade, I made my second and third trades all in the same week. 

Trade number one was an even thirteen for thirteen card swap for 1981 and 1992 Topps cards needed for my sets. 

 

The trade went off without a hitch. My trading partner was kind enough to be patient with me and walk me through the process on the website. 

Trade number two was a six cards for five cards trade that brought me cards needed for my 1985 Topps set.

There was a little miscommunication on my part, but it was all worked out before cards were sent. Once again, I'm two for two with great trade partners. 

Trade number three is not quite complete. I received four 1984 Topps and fourteen 1985 Topps for four of my extra 1984 Topps cards. 

The cards I sent, as of this post, still haven't arrived at my trade partner's home. I have been in contact with him and he doesn't seemed too worried about it. I'm not comfortable with the fact he hasn't received the cards yet. There's not much I can do about it, until I know something. 

All three trades were started by my trade partners. I'm still trying to figure out how I go about starting a trade with someone else, but so far, it hasn't worked out. I think it will be a lot easier once I get more cards listed in the database. 

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31

Close Encounters

There have been moments in my life where I almost got to meet some great ballplayers. 

When I was in high school, my mom had to go to St. Louis, Missouri for work and she took me with her. While my mom was working, I hung out with a family friend who lived in the area. My friend worked as a tennis pro at a club there and someone had given him tickets to Opening Day. He couldn't go, so he gave them to me. It was 1980 and the Cardinals were opening the season against the 1979 World Series Champions Pittsburgh Pirates. I had never been to Busch Stadium before, so I had no idea where my seats were. When I finally found the seats, I couldn't believe it. Six rows back, right behind the Cardinals dugout! 

Before the game started, the co-MVPs Keith Hernandez of the Cardinals and Willie Stargell of the Pirates were given their awards right in front of the Cardinal dugout. As they are giving the guys their awards the announcer introduces two Cardinals legends...Stan Musial and Lou Brock. They are sitting together one row ahead of me and about four seats down. I was awestruck. I wanted to go meet them, but I was a shy teenager and not very self-confident, so I had to work up my courage to do it. As the second inning was coming to close, I had convinced myself to go talk to them. As I stood up to make my way down the row of seats, they both stood and walked up the aisle. They didn't come back. I missed the chance to talk to Hall of Fame legends. Ever since then, both of those guys have had a special place in my love for baseball. I have a few of their cards and have my eye out for a few more.      

        

Nolan Ryan is one of my heroes. I've never met him, but I came really close one time. My brother-in-law used to work for the FAA and every time the Rangers had a fly over, someone had to be on the ground at the site for communication if there was an issue. Well, that meant he got tickets for the game. It was Opening Day at the Ballpark in Arlington and somehow we both ended up on the field right in front of the Rangers dugout. People were milling around on the field as the stands were filling up. I glanced down the tunnel and saw Nolan Ryan heading my way. I started edging closer to the dugout and as he is coming up the steps to the field, I step in his direction and...someone called his name and he turned and went back down in the dugout. Before he made is way back to the field, we were gone. So close. Being in Texas my whole life, I can say that I'm tempted to drive down to Alvin and see if I can run into him. Who knows? Two of the Nolan Ryan cards that I don't have, but one day hope to own are his rookie card and his 1969 Topps card.        

    

 I have had the opportunity to meet a few MLB players. When I was in high school(a long time ago), I worked at a card shop that once a year put on a card show in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Most of the time I covered the table selling card supplies, wax packs, plastic sheets. etc... Other times, I got to hang out with the players who were there to sign autographs. 

One of the first players that I met was Brooks Robinson. There were several adults around him and me, just being a teenager, I was kind of shuffled off to the side. I did get to talk to him and shake his hand which I thought was pretty cool. I don't remember anything about the really brief conversation we had, but I do remember him being a friendly guy. He signed a picture for me.

I have a few of his cards from the '70s, but there are couple of his vintage cards that I'd like to own one day.

  

I was also blessed to meet and spent a short time with Gaylord Perry and Fergie Jenkins at a different show. Those guys were great. Telling stories about their time playing, laughing, joking. The funny thing is, I don't remember anything about that conversation either. I wished I could have stayed and just listened to them talk. I know that when I walked away I thought they were really cool guys who enjoyed talking baseball. I did get a couple of autographed balls. 

Both Jenkins and Perry pitched for my Rangers, so I think the cards I want, but still don't have, will be with them both in Ranger uniforms because, that's how I'll always remember them.

    

I think my all-time favorite Major Leaguer that I had the privilege to meet has to be Enos Slaughter. This goes back to the days of working the card shows and watching the sales table. 

Our table sat near the entrance of the show. It was late in the day and the crowd had thinned out. The next thing I know, up walks Enos Slaughter. To be honest, I wouldn't have known it was him if I hadn't seen him earlier in the day signing autographs. He asked if it was alright to to pull up a chair and sit while he waited for his ride. He began asking me questions about myself and we talked for a few minutes. The talk quickly turned to baseball and he began to tell stories of his playing days. Before you knew it a small crowd had formed around him. He was talking to all of the little kids that had sat on the floor around him. Every now and then a dad of one of the kids would ask a question and he'd laugh and start on some tale to answer the question. He was like everyone's granddad. I really wished I knew more about the era that he played in so I could have asked some questions. 

He told one story that stuck with me that to this day I can picture him doing it. Here's the story. 

It was a hot summer's day and things weren't going well. Enos was playing in the outfield and the manager had just called time and was heading to mound. Slaughter said that he looked down and noticed what looked like a trap door in the outfield. He opened up and saw that it was where the water valve was for the field. He said that's a pretty big box down there and he thought he could fit in it. So he climbed down in the box and lowered the lid. Just as he lifted the trap door just enough to see out, and to his surprise, he saw the pitcher throw a pitch to the batter. The batter swung and lifted a high fly ball in his direction. He popped out of the box, made the catch for the third out and jogged off the field. He laughed a big laugh and said he always wondered what was going through that pitcher's mind when that ball was hit to the outfield and there wasn't anyone there.

 I don't own an Enos Slaughter baseball card, but that signed picture is mine that I got at the last card show I went to. I'm looking for the right card of Slaughter and I'm leaning towards the '53.

I know why I love baseball. It's not just the skills of the players being able to hit a round ball with a round bat, thrown so fast and with movement that defies logic. It's not just the amazing plays in the field or throws from the outfield to home plate to get the runner. All great reasons to love the game, but there's more. It's the stories. My stories from my childhood playing ball. My stories from my days coaching my boys and now coaching high school. My stories from the games that I was able to attend. The stories of the those who played the game at the highest level. Stories of Satchel Paige, Willie Mays and Enos Slaughter to name a very small few. The stories that are to come.

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31 

Two Things...

First Thing

   

As I mentioned before, I've started, albeit very slowly, putting my collection on TCDB. This has been an eye opening experience. I have learned that even though I thought I was semi-organized with my cards, I'm not. It might look like it, but it's not even close. I've got boxes labeled by brand and years and most of the cards in those boxes are in order. However, that's where the organization ends! I have all of these "other boxes" that have all kinds of cards in them. Even cards that should be in the organized boxes. Every time I turn around, I find more cards that should be somewhere else. 

The other issue is every time I sit down and say to myself, let's work on listing cards in TCDB, I get easily sidetracked to something more fun like looking at the cards instead of cataloging them. Also, like last night, the task just seemed too daunting, so I bailed on it. A couple of people have mentioned that its a process and I believe them!

Another revelation to inventorying my collection that has become a bit of a dilemma is figuring out a system to add cards as they come in. Now don't get me wrong, its not like there's a ton of cards coming in the door everyday, but when I do get something, the first thing I do after I look at it is to put in its place in the set...and forget to mark it off the list or put it in TCDB. I did start a list that I need to add to TCDB, but I can already see that its not going to be very effective. I need to start doing a better job of tracking what's coming in, from where and when it arrives so it will be easier to inventory. 

What a mess! The hope is that one day, I'll get it all in TCDB and in it's rightful place. 

Second Thing

This kind of ties into the first thing...

I had to find a starting point in adding my collection to TCDB, so I opened the cabinet and pulled out a year that I only had 2 boxes of and I knew that I didn't have any outlying cards to deal with...my 1991 Topps cards. 

I honestly cannot remember the last time I have looked at these cards. I checked my checklist and found out that the set wasn't complete, which was a bit of a disappointment, but it is what it is. Anyway, I started going through all of the cards that I have and found some really cool looking cards. I will say that not all of the pictures are clear, some seem grainy but I really liked some of the shots they used on these cards. 

Hard to go wrong with card #1 Nolan Ryan. I'm a huge Ryan fan. Almost got to meet him one time. I'll tell that story another day.

      

I was never a big fan of Carlton Fisk. Probably, because my Rangers had the "real" Pudge in Ivan Rodriguez, but I thought this was a cool looking card. You know with Cecil Fielder running he had to be out, but can you imagine what it would feel like trying to catch the throw with that big man barreling at you?

       

Chipper Jones rookie card. I always liked Chipper, but wasn't a huge fan. I have some family ties to the Atlanta Braves, so I always followed them but like I said wasn't a big fan. I have become more of a fan listening to him talk on different broadcasts, podcasts and such. George Brett could flat out hit. Seems like every time the Rangers played the Royals Brett was always on base or coming up with the big hit. I remember in 1980 when got to .400 and finished hitting .390 for the year. I was rooting for him to pull it off. He was so close. 

           

I could go on and on about Cal Ripken, but will save it for another time. I just like the card. Benny Santiago's card is a cool pic and I always like a good action shot like Rickey Henderson's.

I think this is one of the best Roger Clemens cards. The scoreboard on the Green Monster, Strike out, such a cool shot. 

The 1991 set is a 792 card set that celebrates Topps 40th year anniversary. There are two subsets, the Glossy All-Star set and the Glossy Rookie Set.

      

I have a few of the All-Star cards, but not any of the Rookie cards. Might have to look into acquiring some these in the future. 

To wrap this up, TCDB definitely has it's challenges, uploading everything, making me evaluate how I do things and how to get organized, but there's an underlying benefit of revisiting cards in my collection I've set aside and haven't looked at in awhile. 

Oh yeah, one other thing(I guess that makes it three things!)...Shout out to Night Owl Cards for the mention in his blog!

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31

A Hodgepodge of Thoughts

 You'd think that with only 7 posts to date (8 if you count the one I've started yet never finished), I wouldn't be struggling with something to write about. I mean, my wife tells me all the time that I can talk to a wall and get it to talk back to me. Part of the problem is I read all of these other blogs and watch all of these different YouTube videos with all of these followers and think, what do I have to say that anyone would want to read about? I have to remember that its not just about the readership, but about me having the opportunity to talk about something that I'm passionate about...baseball and baseball card collecting. 

Today, it will be a hodgepodge kind of post. 

Topps Retail packs

                                    

                                                   

There are tons of people trashing Topps retail because of the scarcity of the numbered inserts found in them. If you don't like it, don't buy it! Just because you don't like something means you should trash it. There's a bunch of us out there that don't have easy access to a local card store and Target and Walmart is our best bet. Walmart and Target have helped me get my card fix and helped me get two of my nephews into collecting baseball cards. I don't understand why there are so many negative people out there who feel as if they need to trash everything that they don't like!

Inventorying my collection

When you sit down to start trying to figure out a way to order and catalogue your collection, it can be overwhelming. It is overwhelming. The picture above isn't mine, but that's what it feels like. I decided to give TCDB a try to catalogue my collection. I was able to put a few completed sets on there really easy, once I figured it out. Then I started putting my player collection cards on there. Small amount of cards, still pretty easy. Then I got ambitious and started putting some duplicates on there. Took some time, but figured it out. Then I hit my first roadblock. TCDB listed the cards on top of the sets, which is exactly what I expected it to do, but when I tried to move the dupes to the Trade/Sale list, it wants to move all of the cards, even the one for the set. I know that I can move them one at time, but that will be a pain. Is there an easy way to do this or do I need to upload a different way? So, any TCDB experts out there who happen on this blog, help a brother out!!!

Player Collection

With all of the young stars these days that I really like and thinking about of those players I really enjoyed watching growing up, I decided to start some player collections. Now that there are literally thousands of cards each year for each player and the fact that I'm someone that likes complete sets, I've decided to limit my player collections, for now, to just the base cards each year. My one exception is the rookie cards in the update sets. That's how I'm going to start this anyway. I'm saving a spot for the one rookie card I don't have that I'm always on the hunt for, but can't afford and that's Mike Trout's 2011 Topps Update #US175.

One day, I'll have one of these. One day. 

I did pick up a rookie card of one of those players I saw play in the day that I'm going to collect.

 1976 Topps Ron Guidry. Now, when he was playing, my biggest problem with him was that he was a Yankee. The Yankees owned the Rangers forever. As much as I didn't like him for his team, I always thought he was an awesome pitcher. I believe he is one of the most underrated pitchers from that era. Three different times he won more than 20 games. When I think of pitchers from the '70s and '80s he's always on the list. 

New Baseball Rules 

Well, its been a couple of weeks with the new rules. Here's where I'm at on them.

        Pitch clock

I think I'm a fan of the pitch clock. I do think it should be tweaked. Maybe, even increase it by 5 seconds to give the batter a little more time. I know if someone was throwing a 100mph fastball at me and put me in the dirt, I'd need more than 8 seconds to get back in the box. Someone suggested that the clock be turned off in the 9th inning if the hitter can win the game. I think that's a pretty good idea. The pace of the game is better.

        Pick-off attempts and larger bases

I'm not a fan of limiting pick-off attempts. MLB already made the bases larger to help the runners, you don't need to limit pick-offs too. I like stolen bases in games. I became a huge Rickey Henderson fan because of stolen bases, but let's not go from one extreme to the other. I think the Rangers led the Majors in stolen bases last year and I felt like they ran a lot. My guess is that analytics has taken stolen bases out of the equation. Too many non-baseball people making baseball decisions. 

All in all, the new rules, so far, I have to say have been positive. I really didn't think I'd ever say that, but it seems to be true. 

Hope everyone has a blessed day!

Peace, 

Michael 

Isaiah 40:31

Do you track your card collection?

 As I have said before, I started collecting cards back in 1981 and was pretty active for about 5 years. Then life happened and it became sporadic. I really got back into it about 5 years ago. All that time, I never really thought much about tracking my collection. I mean, to almost anyone else, its not worth a lot of money, but to me...that's a whole other story. 

About the closest I've come to tracking my collection was a checklist that I made for all of the sets I wanted to collect. I'm pretty good with Excel so I created these checklists. 

                                                                   

The thing about it, these checklists don't even come close to listing all of the cards I have. They are great for tracking what I have/need for a particular set, but don't do anything for any doubles, inserts or cards that I have that aren't set related. So, after watching some Youtube videos, I think it might be a good idea to start some kind of inventory of all of my cards. I'm just not real sure the best way to do it. 

First of all, I need something free. Which leans me to Excel. I tend to be a little old school which is why I printed the checklist books. However, I can see how that would not only be extremely time consuming, but will kill a lot of trees. Plus, I'm not sure I see an easy way to update it. Once again, I'm leaning toward Excel. 

I know that there are a ton of collectors who use TCDB and I actually listed a want list for 2022 Topps that I needed to complete a set, but I'm just not real sure about it. I would gladly take any feedback that you'd like to share about it. 

I've heard a lot of people talk about PSA set registry...doesn't apply to me because, I don't do graded cards. To be honest I'm not 100% sure I understand it anyway. I do know that whatever I do, it will take a ton of time to get it all done. 

I'm open to suggestions!

Peace, 

 Michael

Isaiah 40:31     

Credit cards, but not your normal credit cards.

 I got an email the other day saying my ebay order of a rookie Juan Soto had arrived. In my neck of the woods, we have a a community mailbox kind of like you would find in an apartment complex. I absolutely hate it and we really don't check it that often. When I opened the box, it was jammed full of all kinds of junk mail. I kept thinking to myself, "That card better not have gotten damaged in that packed box." Sitting at my desk in front of the computer, surrounded by stacks of baseball cards, I began going through all of the mail. There were no less than 10 credit card offers in the mail. What a waste of time and money! All of those offers and being surrounded by baseball cards got me thinking about a credit card set I had. 

When you collect cards haphazardly for over 40 years, It takes awhile to go through everything and even then you keep coming across something that you forgot you had. As you can guess, my collection is a mess. It's kind of organized, but I'm pretty sure there's no way I can find everything...yet! I'm working on getting things organized and I've started to put some stuff on Buysportscards.com, mostly inserts, to help clear things out and maybe get a little money to help add to the collection. As I was going through yet another box that I had no idea what was in it, I came across the limited edition Perma-Graphics Super Star Credit card set. 

I picked this set up at a card show probably 40 years ago as a throw in on a trade/purchase for $20. How I remember it was $20 I have no idea, but I do. I thought these were so different to cards I'd started collecting. 

These cards have sat in the bottom of a shoe box ever since I got them. Yeah I know, its not like finding an old shoe box with a '52 Mantle or '53 Mays, but still it was a cool find. 

There are some really big names from youth on these cards like Rose, Ryan, Bench and Henderson, but there were no Rangers. Probably, because in those days, the Rangers weren't very good. 

The 32 card Perma-Graphics Super Star Credit Card set was released in 1981. In the Fall of that year, they also released a 18 card set of the NL and AL All-Star starters. I think Perma-Graphics released sets for the next 2 years. I haven't seen any of those in person and I can't remember seeing any more of the ones I have in a really long time. 

I just thought I'd share a little of my collection. 

Peace, 

Michael 

Isaiah 40:31

P.S. The Juan Soto card was perfect!