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     

My Latest Card Show

There's a big card show in the DFW area every other month and I try to go every time. It doesn't always work out that way and it almost didn't work this time either. 

Normally when I go to the show its a Saturday and always jammed packed. This time my Saturday was full of baseball and things that had to get done at the house so, my trip to the show was Sunday after church and lunch with the family. I got to the show a little after 1:00 and the show ended at 4:00. 

Having not been on Sunday, I wasn't really sure what to expect. The best part was there wasn't a ton of people so it was easy to walk the tables, browse, and talk to the dealers without having to fight for space. The worst part? A lot of the dealers had already packed up or were packing up to leave. I'm not sure what I like better, the laid back smaller crowd on Sundays or the crowded floor but a lot more tables with cards to see. 

I picked up my 2023 hobby box to really get started on my 3 sets. I'll give an update on those sets in a later post. I picked up some Mike Trout cards and a Shohei Ohtani out of a dollar box but ended up with a really good deal on these cards.

I know there's a lot of these cards out there, but it's hard to go wrong with Mike Trout and Shohei.

I also got a really good deal on '75 Fergie Jenkins and '78 Reggie Jackson. Both of these cards help complete the sets I'm building.

. 

One of my goals for my collection is to collect the base sets from 1972 to the present. I haven't really started my '72 set yet, but I do have a few of them. I picked up the '72 Clemente at the show. 

I'm a huge Clemente fan. I don't have a lot of his cards, but I'm always looking. I've been searching for a '57 for quite some time now. I actually found one in my price range, but I walked away from it...been kicking myself ever since!

As I was heading out, I went into a side room and found these two cards for a really great price. I have the feeling this was a "the show is coming to an end and I need to sell a couple more cards" deal, but I'll take it!

I am becoming a fan of the '60s cards and the 1957 cards are my favorites from the '50s. I decided a couple of years ago to try and get Hall of Famers as I can and these two fit the bill. I really like the looks of these cards. 

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!

And it starts...

 I've been waiting patiently for the opportunity to get to the local card shop or for my Walmart or Target to stock 2023 Topps Series 1. I've been hearing that once the shelves are stocked, they stay that way and that no one is buying retail. So I figured if that was the case, once they stocked the shelves I wouldn't have any problems. I run by Walmart on my way home and lo and behold, there are 5 hanger boxes left. Just 5 boxes. There were two almost completely empty display boxes. You guessed it, I bought all 5. 

It's always fun to rip packs, especially the new Topps release. 

I like the design of the base cards. The headshot brings back memories of the 1983 and 1984 Topps sets. I'm not a huge fan of the backs of the cards with the different colors, but its not terrible either. The inserts are decent looking too. I do like the throwback card design from 1988. I think its an under appreciated  design because its from the junk wax era, but its a good looking card. 

All in all, I'm excited to start collecting my 3 sets, one for me and one for each of my grandsons. 

I've been watching a bunch of YouTube videos of collectors and they are all bashing Topps Series 1 retail release. It seems to be all about the inserts, which in turn, means its all about the money. Now I, like every other collector loves it when I open a pack and find a really nice rare card. A card that I can add to my collection or maybe sell off/trade for something that I really want to add to my collection. It doesn't always happen, but when it does... There was a YouTube guy who said, "A true collector wouldn't buy retail because of the odds are so bad getting a gold card. True collectors would only buy hobby boxes because the odds are better." I thought that was a pretty arrogant statement. Makes me think maybe that guy isn't a true collector, but a speculator/investor. To each their own. That is what I always thought was cool about baseball card collecting. To each their own. You get to collect what you want. Build sets, collect teams or players...whatever you want to do. I don't get why people have to bash or look down on others who do something different. This is supposed to be fun! Don't think I'll be watching that guy's video anymore. I can live without the attitude. I get enough attitude teaching school!

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31

Where do you get your cards?

     When I first started collecting cards there were only 3 places to get cards; retail stores, your local card shop, if you're lucky enough to have a local card shop or a card show. Now I readily admit back in those days I was not in the know about any card shows, save one and that was the one that the card shop I worked for put on once a year. Now, thanks in big part to the internet, the opportunity to get cards is at the tips of your fingers.  I get the majority of my cards at Walmart, Ebay, BSC.com, a local card shop and a couple of card shows a year. 

 Walmart

    Walmart is as close as I come to a local card shop. As I mentioned in my first blog, I collect Topps current years for myself and my grandsons. It's been an interesting few years trying to get cards at Walmart. If I see it on the shelves, I've got to grab it because it won't be there long. That is until I get to the point of only needing a limited number of cards and then I find tons of product that I don't need. For the most part, it works pretty well for collecting the new releases for me. 

Local Card Store

    Where I live, in a major metropolitan area, there are several card stores, but they are about an hour away, mostly because of traffic. Their hours and my work schedule just make it really difficult to visit. My youngest son and I spent a Saturday driving all over town visiting all the stores we could find checking them out. Out of all of the card stores there is really only one that carries anything vintage or cards to complete sets. Everyone else is all chrome and shiny stuff, some that I actually think looks cool, but not something that I feel like I want to get involved collecting. The closest I get to the flashy stuff in my collection is Topps Chrome and that's only of those players that I really like. 

Ebay

    What is there to say, almost everything can be found on Ebay. One thing I do like about Ebay are the pictures of the cards that you are purchasing. Bidding on cards can be a problem, especially for me. I hate to lose. It takes a lot of control to stay on my budget and not go over. What really gets me is when I lose a card by less than a dollar. I have started using buy-it-now and make an offer. Helps keep me from getting in a bidding war.

 BuySportsCards.com  

    I kept seeing ads for BSC in my emails, on YouTube and other places so I thought I'd check it out. It seemed to be a decent site so I made some purchases and it worked pretty good.  I think this is a good site to pick up lower end cards. It has its drawbacks like a $3.00 minimum on purchases and you don't have an uploaded picture of the card you're buying, but overall it's not bad. I decided to try and sell some of my extra cards on the site because it seemed pretty easy to do. I listed some cards and within a couple of days sold 3 cards. I thought this is easy! Well, two weeks later and not another sniff at selling a card. Oh well, the cards will sit there until something happens. 

Card Shows

    Card shows are a blast. I love walking around, talking to people and looking at their cards. I haven't been real successful at the shows, but that's because I haven't figured out the best way to work it. I have picked up cards that I really like but hasn't helped in completing any of the sets I'm working on. The last show I went to in January I picked up these cards.

They're pretty rough and the Clemente has a crease right across the middle, but I got a great deal on the cards. Shows can be a bit overwhelming too. So many tables, cards, people everywhere, but the overall experience is awesome. I have yet to meet a dealer at a show who wasn't a good guy. I've never been to the National, but I want to. Maybe one day. If you get a chance to go to a show and you haven't been, go its worth it. 

Online Trading

    I've never traded cards online. I think I'd like to, but really haven't figured it out yet. I'm hoping that by writing this blog and meeting some people that trading will become an option. Sounds like everyone who's online writing blogs trades with Night Owl, so who knows?

Let me know in the comments where you get your cards, I'm always looking for a good source!

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31