APRIL 2024 CARD SHOW PART 3: MORE DIME BOX

WE LEFT OFF THE PREVIOUS POST WITH A BIG GOOF AS I BOUGHT AN ARCHIVES CARD OF RAISEL IGLECIAS WITH A BIG CREASE IN THE MIDDLE. I MADE UP FOR THAT MISTAKE AND THEN IMMEDIATELY MADE A BUNCH MORE. PRO TIP FOR ALL YOU DIME BOX DIGGERS OUT THERE: WHEN YOU MAKE A BUNCH OF WANT LISTS, USE THEM. BONUS TIP: WHEN YOU DO USE THOSE WANT LISTS, KNOW WHAT YEAR THE CARD IS FROM 

HERE'S A 2019 ARCHIVES CARD OF RAISEL WITH NO CREASES WHATSOEVER. I'VE ALWAYS LIKED THE SIMPLICITY OF THIS SET AND I FELT THE NEED TO PICK IT WHEN I SAW IT IN THE BOX. ODDLY, I SKIPPED OVER A COUPLE 2021 HERITAGE CARDS OF IGLESIAS IN THE 1972 DESIGN WHEN I WAS RUSHING THROUGH THE BOX AND DISREGARING ALL HERITAGE I FOUND. WHY'D I STICK MY NOSE UP AT HERITAGE? I DUNNO, THERE WAS SO MUCH OF IT IN THE BOX MY BRAIN TOLD ME WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR ALL THIS AND I OBEYED. DON'T WORRY, THERE'S STILL A HERITAGE CARD COMING UP IN A FUTURE POST. I CAN'T GET AWAY FROM IT

YAY! VINTAGE FEETSBALL! HERE'S A NICE CARD FROM 1979 TOPPS OF BRONCOS QUARTERBACK CRAIG MORTON. THERE WERE A FEW 70S FOOTBALL CARDS IN THE BOX BUT THIS WAS THE ONLY ONE I NEEDED. ONE 70S FOOTBALL FIND IS GOOD ENOUGH! SOME OF YOU ARE ALREADY TYPING OUT YOUR COMMENTS... BUT MR. JUNK, THAT'S NOT A 1979 TOPPS CARD, THAT IS FROM 1978. YES! YOU ARE CORRECT! GOOD EYE! I HAVE NO IDEA WHY I WAS LOOKING AT MY 1979 WANTLIST FOR A CARD I NEW WAS FROM 1978 BUT I DONE DID IT. SO NO CARD #405 FOR MY 79 SET AND NOW I HAVE A SECOND (AT LEAST) #405 FOR MY 78 SET. WELL I WON'T DO ANYTHING STUPID LIKE THAT AGAIN SURELY

THIS CARD IS FROM THE 2009-10 TOPPS BASKETBALL SET. THIS WAS TOPPS' LAST BASKETBALL BASE SET BEFORE THEY LOST THE LISENCE TO PANINI. IT'S A PRETTY BIG SET AT 330 CARDS AND IT WAS SUPER HARD TO FIND AT THE TIME. I ONLY GOT TWO BLASTERS WORTH OF THE STUFF AND AM MISSING OVER TWO THIRDS OF THE SET. I DIDN'T BOTHER DOUBLE CHECKING IF I NEEDED THIS CARD SINCE I NEEDED SO MUCH OF IT. I GOT THIS ONE ALREADY. NO STEPH CURRY, TWO GERALD HENDERSONS

PRETTY SURE I DON'T HAVE THIS CARD. GREINKE'S A FUTURE HALL OF FAMER BUT I 100% BOUGHT THIS CARD BECAUSE THE LITTLE CAP WITHDIAMONDBACKS WRAPPING AROUND TO THE SIDE PANEL LOOKED ABSURD AND MADE ME LAUGH. OH MAN, THIS DESIGN IS REALLY GOING TO BE A HERITAGE SET IN 2030

ULTRA PRO CARDS! THESE ARE GREAT. THE BACK IS THE BEST

THE SAME HOLOGRAM ON THE BINDER PAGE IS ON THE CARD! THAT'S AMAZING. THAT HOLOGRAM IS BIGGER THAN FIVE OF UPPER DECK'S DINKY HOLOGRAMS. AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO SQUINT THROUGH A MAGNIFYING GLASS WHEN YOU'RE ADDING CARDS TO TCDB LOOKING FOR BASEBALLS OR HOCKEY STICKS OR THE NUMBER 90 AND WHATNOT. NEXT TIME I'M JUST GONNA LIE AND CHECK OFF ALL THE BOXES. NO ONE CAN PROVE I DON'T HAVE ALL OF THEM! AND IF THEY TRY THEY'LL GO BLIND TRYING TO SEE THOSE DUMBASS VARIATIONS

PROBABLY THE BEST CARD OUT OF THE BOX IF WE'RE BEING HONEST. 80S MINOR LEAGUE TEAM SET TRAINERS ARE PEAK TRADING CARDS. YOU KNOW THIS TO BE TRUE

I TALKED ABOUT HEAVENLY MCCUTCHEN BEFORE SO FORGET ABOUT READING MY NONSENSE AND JUST STARE AT THE CARD UNTIL YOU ARE FILLED WITH PEACE AND TRANQUILITY

PRETTY SURE I HAVE THREE COPIES OF THIS CARD ALREADY. I WILL NOT PASS UP A JASON HEYWARD CARD FROM A DIME BOX EVER, ESPECIALLY SINCE THE DAYS WE'LL STILL BE GETTING NEW HEYWARD CARDS WILL BE COMING TO A CLOSE SOON

MORE TOPPS BASKETBALL, THIS TIME FROM 2005-06. THIS IS ANOTHER SET I DIDN'T BUY ENOUGH OF WHEN IT WAS OUT IN SHOPS. RIGHT NOW YOU'RE THINKING SURELY HE DIDN'T IGNORE THE WANTLISTS AGAIN AND BUY ANOTHER DOUBLE. NO, THIS TIME I DID CHECK THE WANTLIST. NO CLUE WHY I DIDN'T GO AHEAD AND CHECK THAT GERALD HENDERSON WHILE I WAS THERE. BUT I DID CONFIRM THAT I DID INDEED NEED CARD #105. FOR THE 2004-05 SET. SOME DAYS YOU JUST DON'T GOT IT, FOLKS. THANKFULLY THIS WAS THE LAST GOOF, ALL THE REST OF THE CARDS I DON'T NEED FOR DIFFERENT REASONS

LIKE THIS CARD! I DON'T NEED A 2020 TOPPS DEBUT INSERT OF DANIEL JOHNSON.  BUT IT'S COOL LOOKING! THERE'S SPOT GLOSS EVERYWHERE AND IT CELEBRATES THE HISPANIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE PROMOTION WHERE THE TEAM NAME WAS CHANGED CLIPPERS TO VELEROS WHICH MEANS SAILBOAT BECAUSE CLOSE ENOUGH. THERE WAS ALSO A DJ AND CHIPS, SALSA AND QUESO. MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL RULES

An Ultra-Pro observation, question and advice

Has anyone else noticed this? I picked up a couple of packages of Ultra-Pro pages at Target today so I could put my 2010 Ginter away properly. When I got home and opened them up, the pages seemed noticeably thinner than I'm used to. I'm not saying they are flimsy or anything, the plastic is still high quality and the seams are solid. they just seemed a little thinner and lighter.

I compared a page with an Ultra-Pro page in an older binder and the new ones do seem to be a little thinner and less rigid than the old ones. The only way I can think of to really test this hypothesis is to get 60 pages of the old sheets and stack them up next to 60 of the new sheets for comparison. Unfortunately all my old sheets are currently filled up with cards which is why I bought the new ones in the first place.

I personally think the change is good (if there is a change and I'm not going loopy). Thinner pages mean your binders are lighter and less bulky. I haven't gone so far as to trash a page doing stress tests but those Ultra-Pro seams are still sturdy. The best part is the plastic seems to be softer and more flexible so there's less danger of  nicking a card on the edge while putting it in the pocket. This is a real danger when slipping vintage cards into pages, I've nicked many a cardboard edge on pages before. Has Ultra-Pro managed to improve a hobby staple? If I'm not just hallucinating it after an overtime-laden week at work I think they have.

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On a related note, there's a blog out there doing a contest related to storing tobacco-sized mini cards. I've completely lost the link and I forgot to put it on the News Box so I unfortunately have no clue which blog is is right now. Long story short, the contest asked what was the best way to store tobacco-sized cards other than in plastic sheets. I didn't bother to enter the contest because the only way to properly store tobacco cards is in 15 pocket plastic sheets.

If you absolutely refuse to put them in sheets, Semi-rigid card savers will also work but that is still an awful lot of holder for a little card. You can also put them in a team bag sideways to store a bunch of them at a time, but then you have to figure out where to store those. Top loaders are useless, especially the tiny little tobacco-sized ones. Those mini size top loaders float all over the place when you put them in a box with the big boys. Any kind of plastic case sucks because the cards slide everywhere and bang on the sides. Same with small cardboard boxes. A real cigar box that once held actual cigars would be the only choice in boxes, but they're still going to slide around. I suppose you could get them slabbed at 10 bucks a pop if you had money to burn.

If you want to properly protect and display the tobacco minis you need pages. You can't just buy them at Wally World though. I got an e-mail today asking where to find the things so I gave this advice on finding them:

Check your local card shop. If they have a decent amount of supplies they'll likely have them. If not, ask the owner or manager and see if they will carry them. More often than not they will gladly stock supplies if a customer requests them and if not then maybe it's time to find a new shop.

No local card shop? No problem, just look online. Amazon has them and if you want to shop around or buy less than 100 pages at a time, just go a Google search for card pages 15 pocket. Easy peasy. 

That's all there is to it. Protect and display those minis!

(no Ultra-Pro isn't giving me kickbacks - I know what I like)