BLACK FRIDAY COMC PICKUPS - PART 17: COMPLETION

NOTE: I SKIPPED PART 16 BECAUSE I THINK THAT CARD IS COOL AND I'M TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO WRITE ABOUT IT BUT MY BRAIN WON'T WORDS. JUST GONNA MOVE ON AND WE'LL GET TO IT WHEN IT'S READY

I WAS A GOOD COLLECTOR AND COMPLETED A SET! SORT OF

1981 TOPPS GIANTS FUTURE STARS

1981 TOPPS WAS THE FIRST SET I COLLECTED. I HAD A COUPLE CARDS THAT I PICKED UP HERE AND THERE BUT 81 TOPPS WAS THE FIRST SET WHERE I BOUGHT A BUNCH OF PACKS AT THE CORNER MARKET AND SORTED THEM ALL OUT AND MARKED CHECKLISTS AND THEN MADE MY OWN TEAMS OUT OF THE PLAYERS AND WROTE IN NEW POSITIONS IF THE TEAM NEEDED A SHORTSTOP OR LEFT FIELDER AND GOT BORED AND CUT OFF THE HAT ON THE FRONT OF A COUPLE OF THE CARDS AND TAPED IT TO ANOTHER CARD BECAUSE NOW THEY GOT TRADED IN MY MIND AND CRUMPLED UP A RANDOM CARD AND THREW IT ACROSS THE ROOM WHEN I GOT MAD AND LOST A J.R. RICHARD CARD IN BETWEEN THE SEAT OF MY GRANDFATHER'S STATION WAGON AND WAS ASTOUNDED BY HOW CLEAN IT WAS COMPARED TO ALL THE OTHER 81 TOPPS CARDS I HAD TRASHED WHEN I FOUND IT YEARS LATER. IN 1982 I DIDN'T COME ACROSS TOO MANY PACKS OF ANYTHING AND IN 1983 I FIGURED OUT WHAT IT MEANT TO BE A COLLECTOR AND MADE AN ATTEMPT TO BE AT LEAST SOMEWHAT CAREFUL WITH MY CARDS. THIS MEANS THAT 1981 TOPPS WAS REALLY THE ONLY SET THAT I TRULY GOT TO JUST FULLY ENJOY. EVEN THOUGH MY BINDER IS FILLED WITH A BUNCH OF CREASED CARDS WITH BAD CORNERS AND SLIGHT MANGLING IT'S A SPECIAL SET TO ME. BUT DANG WAS IT HARD TO COMPLETE

HERE'S THE PROBLEM WITH 1981 TOPPS: NOBODY CONSIDERS IT VINTAGE VINTAGE, BUT IT'S ALSO NOT JUNK JUNK WAX. THE HIGH FALOOTIN' VINTAGE SELLERS WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH IT AND WILL SNOOT THEIR NOSE AT YOU IF YOU ASK IF THEY HAVE ANY. THE BOXES OF JUNKWAX TRASH YOU FIND EVERYWHERE ARE PACKED WITH 1987 TOPPS AND 1988 DONRUSS AND 1989 FLEER AND 1990 UPPER DECK AND WHATEVER SCORE HAPPENS TO BE LYING AROUND AND YOU'LL BE LUCKY TO FIND HALF A DOZEN 81 TOPPS CARDS IN A DOZEN MONSTER BOXES. THIS IS A REAL PAIN IN THE ASS WHEN YOU NEED ONE DANG CARD FOR THE SET AND IT'S NOT A SUPERSTAR CARD. ONE TIME AT A CARD SHOW I THOUGHT I HAD COMPLETED IT WHEN I FOUND AN 81 NOLAN RYAN ONLY TO FIND OUT THAT RYAN WAS THE LAST CARD I NEEDED FOR 1980*. THIS STUFF IS JUST WEIRDLY HARD TO FIND UNLIKE THE CRAZY OVER PRINTED FLEER AND DONRUSS FROM THAT YEAR. I FINALLY BIT THE BULLET AND VASTLY OVERPAID FOR A ROOKIE CARD FEATURING THREE GUYS WHO PLAYED 72 GAMES IN THE BIGS FOR A TOTAL OF 1.2 WAR. ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, THERE IS A BIG CREASE IN THE CARD WHICH MAKES IT FIT RIGHT IN WITH THE REST OF MY SET! COMPLETE AFTER 40 YEARS! EXCEPT... IT'S NOT ACTUALLY COMPLETE SINCE THE TRADED SET CONTINUES THE NUMBERING OF THE MAIN SET. AND I TRIED AND FALED TO FIND ONE FOR SALE BACK WHEN IT COST THIRTY BUCKS AND NOW IT COSTS A HUNDO. OH WELL, THERE'S ALWAYS ONE MORE THING TO COLLECT

*THIS SET IS COMPLETE THANKS TO A GENEROUS DONATION FROM CARDBOARD ICONS. WHY IS NOLAN RYAN SUCH A PAIN EXCEPT WHEN I ALREADY HAVE THE CARD

Joy of a Completed Team Set - 1981 Topps

So turkey's tomorrow and I'm sorta distracted. Have a nice simple, solid team set without many bells and whistles. Also the first set I ever collected. Also including the greatest card ever of a Hungarian. Have yourself a big helping of 1981 Topps with a side dish of Traded.

 I know I promised to put the card numbers here, but tryptophan and laziness and etc. Maybe next week.

Oldy Moldy Mailday Video

I got you a 2013 Topps Series One Rack Pack to video...

But I opened it.

Here's a video mailday from @grogg on Twitter instead. Go sign up for Twitter and stalk him, it'll be worth your while. Or just watch the video. Or not. Totally up to you, I'm not your boss.



For the tl;dw crowd here's some highlights/spoilers.

And the biggun':

I now have no excuse to not finish up my '80s Topps sets anymore.

Hail to the Champ

Thorzul's 1981 Topps Tournament has crowned a winner! Who is it? Click and go see!


Meanwhile U L Washington and his toothpick wants a recount... I think you better give it to him.

Cool Things on Other Blogs

Since I'm having issues creating my own content, here's some links to some other cool baseball card related schtuff on teh internets.

Chris Harris scooped us all on the unveiling of Upper Deck's 2008 set. Check out his review here:
Stale Gum: 1st Impressions: 2008 Upper Deck Series One
Chris does a great job at summing up the 2008 edition and I agree with pretty much everything he said. These were my initial thoughts from checking out the sell sheet.

• Whoever decided it was a good idea to distribute your sell sheet via a powerpoint presentation is an evil, evil person.
• Still charging 5 bucks a pack is bad. Upping the cards per pack to 20 is better, but not quite good. They better not still be charging 3 bucks for 8 cards on the retail packs. Fat packs too. I want to see 35-40 cards a pack if they're still gonna charge 5 bucks. moar cardz plz. kthx.
• I don't understand the redemption cards either. Series 1 doesn't need every damn rookie card in it, people will buy the set anyway. It's February, what else is there to do? Save the rookies for series 2.
• This MLB licensing agreement has got to be tweaked. It's causing too many problems like this redemption crap and Bowman 'insert' sets. Let companies put rookies in the series 1 sets that haven't technically made their debut, but are virtually assured a roster spot like the Japanese imports and the Rule V picks.
  
• Base design looks better this year, but it still looks like they are using foil for the names. I would have never made the connection to the 1995 set, good catch, Chris.
• The fact we are at the point of retro game used card designs blows my mind. I'm ashamed to admit I kind of like it.
• I saw packs of O-Pee-Chee hockey in the store and even though I knew that UD has a monopoly on the hockey market, I never put 2 and 2 together and wondered if UD bought O-Pee-Chee. It's a pretty genius move actually, they did an end around on Topps to gank their vintage designs. Everyone knows that O-Pee-Chee design = Topps design with a different logo.
• Then they go and screw it up by slightly fudging the design like they did with the Vintage sets. That is NOT a 1969 O-Pee-Chee design. The circle design with the team and the position they are using looks really familiar though and I don't mean '69 Topps. I swear it's from an old oddball TCMA set or something like that.

For all your "Indians fan losing their mind over the Tribe in the playoffs" needs, check out Indians Baseball Cards. Always. It's also got lots of great oddball stuff that only a team collector could love such as Doug Jones' Flaming Balls.

If you're not reading The Brill Report, you should be. Lots of good stuff on there. I never even knew there was a Donruss Americana set coming out. Those guys are desperate for that license aren't they...

Squeezeplaycards.com has been doing a really cool thing this year with their $10 weekly wax challenge. Joey spends 10 bucks on packs every week and posts the pulls for our enjoyment. Kind of like A Pack A Day, only with focus and a healthy bit of self-discipline. It's a good example on how frustrating the hobby can be for anyone who can't afford to bust boxes and cases like the high rollers out there.

Ben's still chugging along with the Great Goudey Trade-Away. I love this idea as it serves to showcase a great looking set, show off some truly random cards and encourage something that has been lost in the hobby, trading!

I've been lurking in here a lot lately.

I've pimped this before, but I really like SportsLizard's news reader. They've also a neat price guide thingamajig, but I'm more interested in the cards than the prices.

Thorzul Will Rule is in the finals of the 1981 Topps Tournament. This is a true battle royale between Ellis Valentine's mutant batting helmet and the Mad Hungarian's angry, angry mustache. Go Vote!!!

Also on Thorzul's blog is the most awesomest thing you will ever see on the internet. I'm not even going to tell you what it is. You just have to click to see it for yourself. I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

If you have a card blog that didn't get mentioned, or isn't in my sidebar, please post a comment and let me know about it. I'm planning clean up a bit and separate out all the blogs into their own category. I'd love to have a few more over there to steal from check out!

Keep on Votin'

Don't forget to vote for the greatest 1981 Topps card of all time at Thorzul Will Rule. The tourney is in the quarterfinals now and the competition is heated. Go vote now and make your voice heard.

In honor of the competition I submit another classic specimen from 1981: the immortal Mario Mendoza.


There's a lot to love about this card. The huge glasses. The stylin' Mariners Trident cap. The Kirk Douglas cleft chin. The chipmunk cheeks. A portrait of a defensive specialist so committed to the craft that he even worked on getting outs while batting.