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

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

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