HAD TO MAKE A TOUGH CHOICE WITH TODAY'S CARD. NO REGRETS
1979 TOPPS ALIEN - INTRODUCING 'JONES'
KITTY! THIS CARD FALLS UNDER THE 'SNAG SOME COOL THINGS I HAD TO PASS UP THE YEAR BEFORE' CATEGORY. I HAD A COUPLE ALIENS CARDS BOOKMARKED TO ADD TO MY HORROR COLLECTION. THE PLAN WAS TO BUY WHICHEVER ONE WAS CHEAPEST BUT WHEN IT CAME DOWN TO IT I COULDN'T PASS UP THE KITTY CAT. THIS IS ONE OF ONLY FOUR CARDS I BOUGHT THAT COST MORE THAN A BUCK, COMING IN AT $1.05. CAT ASIDE, THIS CARD LOOKS GREAT, I LOVE THE DESIGN AND COLOR SCHEME. IT'S REALLY AMAZING SOME OF THE TRADING CARD SETS TOPPS RELEASED AFTER STAR WARS BLOWED THE FUCK UP
THIS SET IS QUITE FRANKLY LOADED WITH ASS KICKING CHARACTER ACTORS AND HONESTLY THERE ARE A HALF DOZEN OTHER CARDS I'D LIKE TO PICK UP AT SOME POINT. THE ENTIRE CAST IS MADE UP OF LEGENDS, BUT THE OTHER CARD I PASSED UP WAS HARRY DEAN STANTON. HE'S ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITES JUST FOR REPO MAN AND TWIN PEAKS BUT HIS ENTIRE CAREER IS AMAZING. HE DOES NOT HAVE A LOT OF CARDS UNLESS THERE'S A NEW TWIN PEAKS CARD OUT THERE I HAVEN'T SEEN YET, BUT THERE ARE SEVERAL IN THIS SET. HE'S STILL BOOKMARKED FOR MY NEXT BINGE AND HARRY HAS SOMETHING THAT JONESY DOES NOT: A STICKER
Card show loot time! No one yelled at me for blowing off my '54 Charlie Silvera post (this is turning into a running joke) so I'mma blow it off until tomorrowish. This card represents the only goal I failed to achieve at the show. I wanted to complete a set, but was unsuccessful. this was not strictly my fault though as I looked for these cards everywhere, but no one seemed to have any. I did find one I needed though:
1979 Topps Dave Parker. I am painfully close to my 1979 Topps set and I thought I could complete it at this show with all the vintage sellers that were sure to be there.
Nope.
Apparently 1979 Topps isn't vintage enough for anyone. Uncle Dick's quit at 1978 Topps. Other sellers didn't have any 1979 binders or boxes either. The seller that had the posters had a box of '79 Topps... football. One guy had about 18 '79 Catfish Hunters but not the two other cards I needed. Sports Memories of Oklahoma usually has some but he wasn't there this time.
I found this card in the same box as the Willie Mays I got to complete my 1972 Topps Series 1 set. It was horribly overpriced at $1.95, but averaged out with the Mays and one other card I got from the guy it worked out ok in the end. Plus I supported a local card shop! At a card show filled with a bunch of other sellers I'll probably never see again! Ok, so I'm not the most logical person out there. This happens when you LOSE ALL YOUR FREAKING WANTLISTS. How does this even happen...
Almost done with this card show. Then I can move on to the next card show. No, I haven't bought any Topps Series 2. I'll be able to find tons of it in repack boxes in about 6 months anyway. Has the mindbendingly absurd gimmick popped up yet? Topps usually saves their best garbage for Series two. Maybe a supadupa short print variation Stephen Strasburg card with the disembodied head of Bryce Harper blowing kisses in the background? Eh, don't care. Here's a card from a real set where men were men and gimmicks were Bump Wills.
1979 Topps Ozzie Smith RC
Wizard! In the fluorescent brown Padres uni! Rockin' the sideburns! Those suckas are dangerously close to Mutton Chops. And it's a rookie card! And it's about a nanometer away from being officially miscut!
One of the sets I'm closest to completing is the 1979 Topps set. It's not even one of my favorite sets of the period, I like bookends 1978 Topps and 1980 Topps much better. I just happened to have a bunch of it, and then people sent me a lot more of it and it sort of kind of piled up. No matter how much I accumulated though The Wizard always loomed. That's one problem I've got with collecting vintage sets. Dang near every one has one or more key rookie cards that are pricey. Well, used to be pricey. Everyone's chasing SWEET MOJO HITZ or looking for completely perfect vintage cards to submit to PSA in hopes of landing that grade 10 cardboard wiener enhancer that they can wave at their fellow graded collectors. No one cares about the vintage garbage I collect.
THE PROBLEM: There was a time in my life when I actually paid attention to price guides. You know the one. I'd buy one about every other month depending who was on the cover and drool over all the Hi prices of the old vintage cards I'd never get my hands on. There were cards that cost over 100 dollars! Even the rookies from 1983 Topps that I already had were $25! That's a lotta money for a card! Or it was in the mid '80s at least when I was a broke kid. I blow $25 on retail bullcrap nowadays without batting an eye. But back then it was Expensive! So here's my problem: Thanks to Beckett Brainwashing early in my collecting career I have a Pavlovian response to iconic vintage rookie cards. First I go, "REALLY REALLY WANT". Then I go, "probably too expensive for me...." and slink off in shame. I can't break myself of this habit either, even though I could probably find just about every significant rookie from 1974-1985 for well under 20 bucks online if I looked hard enough. It's frustrating.
So I'm at the FCB card show. I'm at the Sports Memories OK table. That's the guy I bought a new pile of old goodies from on Saturday. I purposely saved his table for last knowing there would definitely be some good stuff to pick though. If anything was a sure thing at this show, that was it. So I do my usual routine. Check the cases. Look at all the high grade stars from the '60s. Ooooh. Gawk at all the beautiful cards from the '50s. Aaaaah. Gaze lovingly at the pre-war Goudeys and Cabinets and Tobaccos, Oh My!. Get to the Museum case with the 19th century cards and original Ruths and Gehrigs. Jizz in my pants. Then I go to the bargain boxes where I can actually afford stuff.
Roger must have picked up a collection before the show because there was an entire display of low grade Hall of Famers. I found a couple of interesting ones on there that I considered getting but chose to hit the bargain box first just to see what I could find. I found the typicalstuff, '50s commons off my wantlist, Braves for my teams sets, etc. etc. The bargain boxes consist of two 3200 count monster boxes and are organized thusly: Box 1 has a row full of non-sports cards and the baseball oddballs, row two and about half of row three are filled with vintage Bowman and the rest is filled with vintage football, basketball and other assorted sports. Box 2 is filled with Topps organized by year. The back of the first row starts with a section of everything 1973 and newer, then there is a separate section for every year going from 1972 down to 1951. At the very end are a few bargain Pre-war cards. I usually attack the boxes starting with the pre-war stuff, then I hit the 1953s, rummage around the rest of the large-size '50s cards (Except 1952, blecch), hit a few years like 1960 and 1972 that I really like, then work my way through the rest of the years looking for Braves.
I'll usually hit the '73 and up section last. Like, very last. After I've checked the Bowman and Non-Sport and maybe even the football. It usually only has a bunch of '70s stars that I already have. Occasionally a Hank '74 Highlight or Niekro will show up. I checked it last as usual and flipped through it pretty quickly not really expecting anything. It was late and I was getting worn out by my card frenzy so I sloughed through barely paying attention. Gary Carter... Tony Perez... Steve Carlton... Lou Brock... Ozzie Smith Rookie... Carlton Fisk - dang I have two of that card - Ho hum, Bob Gibso- WAIT, WHAT??
I shuffled back. Ozzie Smith. Rookie. The EXPENSIVE 1979 card. In the bargain box. How much. Probably 20 bucks if it's a penny. I'm down to my last 20, no way I can afford this card. What's the price?
Five bucks. My face did this:
Ozzie in my pile. Forgot about the cards in the case. Went to pay. Roger left to pay his electricity bill so I paid someone who was watching his table for him. Felt like a thief. WIZARD FOR FIVE BUCKS. That cop over there is gonna bust me I know it. Finished up the day by picking up a couple items I had left before and was able to walk out the door without getting thrown in the hoosegow. I even talked to Roger on my way out, apparently it was legit. Ok, so it's a smidge off center. Anyone have a diamond cut 1980 Rickey Henderson? A '75 Topps Yount with a tack hole at the top? A '78 Eddie Murray with a hole punch through the rookie cup? There's a fiver in it for ya...
Did you know Jim Bouton ended his career as an Atlanta Brave? Yep, Bulldog pitched five whole games with them in 1978. Topps totally dropped the ball and didn't make a card of Jim in the 1979 set. I have corrected that error with my own custom creation:
I requested that card because up until that point I had been too lazy to create my own card. I unlazied myself and got to working. It may seem tacky to reuse the same image on two cards like that, but this is only the second picture of Jim in a Braves uniform I've ever seen. The other is on the Ball Four plus Ball Five cover that was published in 1980. There's got to be some more pics of him out there somewhere, right?
Bonus quiz: Can anyone guess which '79 Topps card I used as the base for my custom?
Atlanta Sports Cards now has a Quarter box. Life is beautiful. There's a pretty nice mix of newer stuff and inserts from all the major sports in there, but you know what I scrounged for: vintage. Here is a quarter card from each year of the '70s.
1970 - Rod Carew All Star
(insert Beastie Boys lyrics here) Rod's bustin' right through the Sporting News to take his place as the AL's starting second baseman.
1971 - 1970 American League Batting Leaders
Poor Yaz loses the batting title to Alex Johnson by a thousandth of a point and he gets stuck on the bottom row with Tony Oliva. Poor Carl.
1972 - 1971 American League ERA Leaders
Click here. Look at the earned run averages for these three dudes. Contemplate what an American League starting pitcher would have to do in order to post an ERA like that in today's game. Try to think of a way not involving land mines in the batter's box. What hath the DH wrought?
1973 - Rookie Outfielders
HOW THE HECK DID I JUST BUY A DEWEY ROOKIE CARD FOR A BLEEDING QUARTER?! Shoot, maybe I should just build the '73 set...
1974 - Steve Garvey
If the Louvre were to take exactly one baseball card to exhibit in the Modern Art wing, this one here would have to be given serious consideration. This is a masterpiece.
1975 - Bert Blyleven
Look how calmly Bert blows bubbles while waiting in a midaeval torture chamber for the BBWAA to poke and prod him with 287 wins. Now sit on... THE COMFY CHAIR.
1976 - 1975 American League ERA leaders
Why cheapskate vintage collectors love League Leader cards: Three Hall of Famers for two bits.
1977 - Rookies - Outfielders
Hey, Tony Armas hit 43 homers in 1984. Don't be hatin' on Tony.
1978 - Andre Dawson
Hawk with a rookie cup brings joy to my soul.
1979 - Bump Wills Blue Jays error
When I first started collecting this error card was like some rare magical legend... strange and alien... not fit for this world. Now it's in a quarter box. Good thing I'm a scrounger and not an investor! Some poor schlub out there has ten thousand of these cards locked up in a safe deposit box, you just know it.
I didn't go to the mini mall unprepared, oh no. I have a few of my wantlists printed out and at the ready. I was only able to find two off my vintage lists but they're pretty good ones.
1979 Topps Thurman Munson
This was in the half off box and ended up costing me $1. I'm kind of embarassed to say this, but this may very well be my first vintage Thurman Munson card. I have a few from legends sets but I don't think I have any others from his playing days. This one here gets me one step closer to my 1979 set.
1984 Topps Reggie Jackson
This one was the fifth card chosen out of the five for a buck box. That means it's free! I could have sworn I had this card already, but I didn't. No worries, I got it now. There's a lot more vintage '70s goodness to come, this was just the easiest post to knock together.
I got a package from Madding recently. Some assorted Braves, Hawks and Falcons. Good stuff. I've got a bunch of Cards and Blazers I'm hoping to get in the mail today for him. Included in the package was this:
Coolers for $14.99 and Tide for $12.99. Interesting... There's a Rite Aid flyer in with all the cards. Rite Aid recently took over Eckered Drugs so there's one right down the street from me now. Let's see what else they have.
Snapple for 99 cents! Awesome!! I love Diet Peach Iced Tea. Oh wait, there are hard plastic things in here too.. Hey, cards!
The 1979 Topps Robin Yount where he looks more like a bird than Mark Fidrych ever could have dreamed of.
We go from what is probably my favorite Yount card to one of my least favorite Schmidt cards. Mike deserves better than an off kilter half shadow squinchy face portrait. Still, my least favorite Schmidt is still light years above most other cards in my estimation.
Pete Rose, hitting the ball. Doing what he does best. No smartass, he does not do gambling best. He did gambling pretty terribly as a matter of fact. Put him in the Hall already. Make him buy a ticket to see his own plaque if you wish, but put him in the Hall.
Here's a 1992-93 Hawks schedule! I used to have one of these somewhere. I might still have it, but it's certainly not in pristine condition like this one. This brings back a lot of memories. I need good memories right now because the Cavaliers are quickly making the 2008-2009 Hawks a memory.
Pete Rose may have broken the modern NL record for a hitting streak, but guess who broke the streak? Gene Garber and the Braves! W00t!
It's striking how many of the all time leaders on these cards have gone by the wayside in the past 30 years. Nolan Ryan bumped Walter Johnson off the right side of the card, but to be fair some guy named Matt Kilroy technically owns the all timesingle season strikeout crown. How the hell is is possible to strike out 513 batters in a season? And then lose 34 games that same season??
The Rite Aid package ends with A.L. All*Star George Brett. Now this is a photo worthy of a legendary third baseman. Great stuff from Madding, thanks again. Maybe that Blazers - Hawks NBA final will happen next year.
Ok, new year means resolutions. Even Spike Jones thinks so.
You guys don't want to hear about the 'start exercising' 'call my dad more' 'quit eating deep dish pizza and cheesecake for breakfast' kind of resolutions but I will share my card collecting goals for '09. I'm not even going to look at the ones I did last year, 'cause I know I didn't do very well. I'm going to keep it simple this year. First thing I want to do is get some focus.
I like building sets. That has been established. Thing is, I want to collect EVERY set. I've got 50 years worth of sets all over the place and there's at least two dozen more coming out this year that I'll be distracted by. If there's one thing for certain, it's that it's impossible to collect everything. So, I've decided to concentrate on a few sets and once I knock them out I can go on to the next. I've chosen one set for each decade except for the '80s where I'm going to work on three at a time. The goal is to knock 'em out and then move onto the next set instead of trying to complete every set all at the same time.
So here's the sets. First off is three from the '80s because really, there is no excuse for me not having every set from the 80's completed already. I could buy outright half of the sets from that decade with the money I spent on my box of 2008 Allen & Ginter. Like I said, I would get really close to one set, then the calendar flips and I get distracted by a bunch of shiny new stuff. So here's the three to focus on, one from each of the Big Three.
1983 Topps
This is the set that really started off my addiction. It's still one of my favorites of all time. It looks great, has an awesome rookie class and includes the 1982 division winning Braves. I actually completed this set in 1983, but some of it went by the wayside since then. Once this set is complete, I'm taking out '86 Topps.
1987 Donruss
This is my favorite design from Donruss, I always liked those little gray baseballs on the sides that showed you exactly how off center your card was. Like '83 Topps, it also has a pretty hefty rookie class. This was also the first full box I ever bought from a hobby shop. I always assumed I had the full set, but I'm missing a few here and there. 1983 Donruss will be next on my list when this is complete.
1984 Fleer
It's odd, but I never got into this set when I was a kid even though I loved '83 Fleer. I wasn't collecting as much in '84 though and packs became much harder to find around then too. It's a really solid set though even though the huge rookies were saved for the update set. Gotta love the crazy photos they used though. I bought the contents of most of a box of this stuff from a friend in the late '80s after he gave up collecting so I'm not that far from a set even though I never bought a single pack myself in '84. After this is done, I'm going to complete '87 Fleer.
I'm not going to specifically focus on any sets from the '50s or '60 because this project is about completing the sets and one of those sets will take years unless I just focus on it exclusively. I'm pretty sure you readers out there don't want this blog to become "The 1956 Topps Blog" so while I will always be on the lookout for Vintage stuff, I'm not putting it in my main focus for this year. The '70s is completely different. Once the difficult high series cards were done away with in 1974, Topps sets became entirely completable. The only difficulty is with the rookies and between prices falling and the fact that I love Tiptons, I'm counting any Topps set after 1974 as one I can complete if I just get my butt in gear. the one I chose to start with is....
1979 Topps
Why 1979 Topps? I'll be honest, I was not a big fan of this set when I was a kid. 1980 Topps I liked. 1978 Topps I liked. 1979 didn't do much for me for some reason even though I got lucky and found a brick of cards that was stuffed with stars one time. I've grown to appreciate the elegant design now, and the fact that I am much closer to completing this set than any other one from the '70s makes this a no brainer. Really, the only challenge I'll have is the Ozzie and I'll be able to find that easy. Once this is done I'm going to get ambitious and tackle 1974 Topps.
I'm a little less enthusiastic about working on my '90's sets, but I'm going to at least plan for it now that I'm in a set building frenzy. The '90s is when cards really first started to no longer be about the sets anymore but there's still a bunch of great sets to put together from that decade.
1991 Topps
The last real Topps set, as far as I'm concerned. Chipper's rookie is in there for Pete's sake! 792 cards, real cardboard stock, a solid Toppsy design and a boxed Traded set tacked on afterwards. I just picked up the Traded set from D&A so now I just need to pick up the few stragglers from my set. I haven't actually figured out which ones I need yet, or if I need any at all. It's entirely possible I've completed this set and forgotten about it. If so, they next set in my sights will be the utterly fantastic 1993 Upper Deck set.
There are a lot of sets from the new millennium I'm chasing. Heritage and all of the retro sets immediately come to mind. I'm going to be laser focused on two in particular though... One base set and one parallel set.
2006 Allen & Ginter
I've got the '07 and '08 sets, now I need to finish '06. This set drove me crazy. When it first came out I absolutely loved it, but hobby box prices almost immediately zoomed way out of my price range. It didn't help that I was going through financial difficulties in the fall of '06 either. I was able to pick up some loose packs and a few blasters from Target, but once the eBay sellers realized they could make a neat profit on blasters, they evaporated rapidly. Still, I got a decent amount of the set and I should be able to complete it if I buckle down. I'll definitely be chasing the '09 set so it would be cool to have all four completed by the end of the year. After I complete this one, I think I'm going to attack the 2007 Goudey short prints.
2003 Topps205 mini set
If you think I'm nuts over Allen & Ginter, you should have seen how loopy I got over Topps205. T205 is my favorite tobacco card design and I loooooooved the minis from this set. I bought multiple boxes of Topps205 and pestered the local hobby shop owner for every boxtopper bonus of 20 cards in a little box. I am really close to completing this thing but I haven't paid attention to the set for a few years once singles started drying up at shops and on eBay. Time to finish the sucka.
I'm working on the want lists for each of these sets and I'll let you know when I've posted them to the sidebar. I'm still busy with giveaway packages and a a couple of other trades so I'll do a seperate post once I'm ready to start trading. That's enough to think about today, I'll continue on with my 2009 plans tomorrow.
COMPLETE! Thanks to: Chris Harris, Saints of the Cheap Seats, Bay Rat North West, Mr. Haverkamp, Todd Querry, jacobmrly, Madding, Heartbreaking Cards, the dude at the fleamarket, Night Owl and probably others I forgot to mention
