Oversized Additions

I have to admit a little ambivalence here.  My Paul Blair player collection has pretty much ground to a halt. I need to pony up the $9 for a month of access to Beckett, for the sole reason of compiling a more comprehensive list of Blair cards, but I don't expect that to change my activity level significantly.  My expectation is that I will find a fair number of cards I don't have, but they will mainly be low population cut auto cards (without photos) from modern unlicensed products.  Now, unlicensed products don't bother me, but cards without photos do.   As do serial numbered cards with small populations (1/1, x/5, etc.)  Several things contributed to my exit from collecting modern sets, but the main issue was artificial scarcity.  Low population serial numbered cards and short prints really chapped my ass.  So, unless I can get them cheap, such cards won't be a high priority for me.

Oh, there are a few O-Pee-Chee that I lack, but I've never been willing to pay the inflated asking prices.   I may bend on that.  The other main category is Topps Venezuelan.  Those are so expensive, though, I have a hard time seeing myself biting the bullet. So, until then what do I do?

Post cards, I guess.  I am really torn whether post cards qualify as trading cards.  I mean they are cards and all, but they just aren't the same.  They are larger and instead of statistics on the back, they have a little square labeled "Place Stamp Here."  I did win the post card above for the huge, huge price of $5 delivered.  Alas, the seller managed to ship it to the wrong address, so he compensated me by also sending the post card below.

Not to shabby. Two autographed postcards for $5.  I like that. Getting deals like that would change my ambivalence to post cards.  At some point I need to figure out what years they are from, but not tonight.  There is a show tomorrow and I need to get ready.

What I am listening to:  Worried Mind by Eilen Jewell

The Old Ballpark

A lot of you probably read Julie over at A Cracked Bat.  If you do (and you should,) you will know that she recently ran into Ferguson Jenkins in a card shop called The Old Ballpark in Oklahoma City. As an OKC area guy, I can confirm it is a great shop.  The shop in Norman, The Dugout, has a better selection of vintage but isn't as well organized and doesn't seem to put a lot of emphasis on current releases.  The Old Ballpark still has a decent selection of vintage, but does market current releases and has a large number of discount boxes at various price points.

I went there this past weekend with my 1975 and 1979 Topps want lists in hand. I didn't see any boxes of 1975 commons, but did find a one and a half 800 count boxes of 1979 cards.  At last check, I needed around 216 cards to finish 1979. I was able to knock off 117 at The Old Ballpark.

I got a handful of stars, the best of which was this  Jim Rice.

I also got most of the 26 team prospect cards. In fact, I only need 2 more to complete that subset.

I also managed to make one recent addition to my Waner brother PCs on an EBay auction..

I bid on this not expecting to win, but ended up getting it for $15 delivered.  There is the bimonthly OKC show coming up at the end of June that I am going to go to. So, July is the perfect time to get started on the Waner PCs in earnest.  I'll probably start with getting a bunch of modern base cards that are inexpensive and start working to get a few of the vintage cards at bargain prices.

Coming up: Additions to another player collection.