2021 In Review

 It was a year. When I last left you, I was still waiting on the acquisition of my employer by a larger company to close. The transaction finally closed in early December and because, when given the option of moving to Houston or moving on, I chose the latter, a 180 day clock started ticking.  When that clock runs to zero sometime around June 3, I am officially unemployed. I haven't started looking for a new gig yet, but will be starting shortly.

As it stands, I have had plenty of time to prepare, so the change doesn't represent an existential issue. I'm blessed to have that flexibility and to be able to keep somewhat active in the hobby.  

So, enough about that. Shall we talk hobby?  My hobby activity was a bit odd.  I scaled back my level of activity as I prepared but, at the same time, also completed my three most expensive purchases.  So, let's review the year. First, though, I do want to acknowledge a recent kindness.

1. Cards from Night Owl

To get cards from Night Owl is always an opportunity to experience joy and guilt in equal measures. Joy because he seems to have access to really great cards that I don't see very often, if at all. Guilt because he does so much for the hobby already at his blog that receiving cards from him always seems to overweight one side of the ledger. I get that our little corner of this hobby isn't about making sure the debits and credits balance, but my collecting is so inwardly focused that I do occasionally need reminders of the obligation to be a good member of the community.

My early collecting included a mix of modern and vintage.  While I left the annual Topps releases behind quickly, there were several modern series of sets I really liked.  The Fleer Greats of the Game sets issued between 2000 and 2004 are the prime example.  I was mostly done with 2002, except I only had half of the Dueling Duos insert set. I had mostly forgotten about it when a package arrived from Greg that included three of my needs for that subset. I have acknowledge that one of the three was the card above that featured Duke Snider, a legendary Dodger.  Getting such a card from a Dodger collector is a great treat.  And it provided the necessary incentive to get this over with. I managed to piece together the remaining subset needs from COMC and Burbank.

I am almost exclusively a vintage collector, but I do occasionally pick up modern cards that catch my eye. If I came across this card in a discount box at a show, it would buy it.  No questions asked.That I received it as a gift makes it all that much more special.   

I still remember where I was when I learned that Thurman Munson had died in a plane crash.  I grew up in western New York and my family's annual vacation was to rent a cottage in the Thousand Islands near Alexandria Bay. Why mention this at all?  Well, Alex Bay is a short drive from where Night Owl lives. 

Finally,

An interesting card from this year's Stadium Club offering: a Superstar Duos card with Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton on opposite sides. The background graphics, particularly on the Judge side, remind me of the colorful backgrounds on the 2009 through 2011 Tristar Obak sets I love so well.

2. 1960-1963 Signed Fleer

I'm not going to show any cards here, as I still intend to have a series based on them at some point soon. But, for something I started on a lark nearly 10 years ago, I am amazed at how much progress I've made. See for yourself:

3. Set building

Set building has always been a slow process for me. I see folks on Twitter who finish multiple vintage sets per year.  It is hard for me to fathom that.  Once I got past the late 1970s sets, it usually takes me a minimum of two years to complete a set and sometimes more.  

I finally finished my 1968 Topps set in 2021. As near as I can tell, I started this set in 2017, but made absolutely no progress after 2019. I sat at two cards to go for two years waiting for the cost of the Nolan Ryan rookie card to come down. It never did and I finally resolved to just bite the bullet and get it over with.  I broke down and got the Lou Brock card earlier in the year, only leaving #177 to go. I managed to pick this up in an auction for $325 delivered:

This was the third most I have ever spent on a card, but was well below what all but the poorest of  Ryans usually go for.

If you look at the comps on this card, the price I paid was a steal. It went so low because of color fading on the left hand side of the card.  But, it is in great condition otherwise, and it has great eye appeal despite the fading.  So, I am very happy to have it and to have this set finally in the books.

I also have finished 1960 Topps. Sort of, anyways. The final card I needed for that set is still in transit to me and should be here Tuesday.  It isn't this card though:

I got this earlier in the year in a Robert Edwards auction.  This set me back over $400 and is the most I have ever spent on a card.  Evern more than the 1956 Mantle I got at the National several years ago. Barring a postal catastrophe, I'm glad to have finished 1960.

I have not, however, finished 1965.

I started working on 1965 four years ago, in the late winter of 2017, and I am still needing 21 cards to finish. While I picked up the Mantle in 2020, I still need a fair number of the high value cards, like Aaron, Mays, Banks, Uecker, plus the Carlton and Niekro rookie cards. 

Wait. Back up a second. Uecker? It's a high number, but a common nonetheless. Yeah, I don't get it either.  Beckett assigns it a book value of $25, but even rough copies of the card sell for more than that.  It is just odd.

Anyways, I am skeptical of my ability to finish this in 2022.  I looked back. In September of 2020, nearly a year and a half ago, I needed 38 cards to finish, I've added a total of 17 cards in 16 months.  I may just have to bite the bullet and start resetting my cost expectations on this set, because it really shouldn't be this hard.

4. Player Collections 

I have two player collections, Johnny Antonelli and Paul Blair.  This year, I undertook an effort to try and catalog the cards that are available for each. I mainly used TCDB, but found it incomplete andsupplemented it with what I already have.  If you look at TCDB, you will see me as having the largest collection for both players.  But, in summary, I still have a way to go.

This is the latest addition to my Antonelli collection, a James Elder postcard.  At the moment, I have catalogued 98 unique Johnny Antonelli cards and postcards and, also at the moment, I have 66 of them.  67% is pretty good, but not good enough if I am going to be serious here.  Unfortunately, the 32 I don't have are all pretty obscure. How obscure? Well, the only one of the 32 I have actually seen is a 1960 Topps Venezuelan card.  When a Venezuelan is the least obscure of the remaining needs, you know the rest are rarer than hen's teeth. 

My entry back into the hobby was trying to collect Paul Blair cards, since I had a Paul Blair model glove as a kid. Little did I know what I was getting myself in for. I have catalogued 209 different Paul Blair cards and photocards.  There are two sub-categories that I am ambivalent about:  Topps buyback cards (which are basically vintage cards that are stamped with foil, like this one) and cut auto cards mainly produced by Tristar.  Alas,. if I am going to continue to advance my Blair colleciton, I am going to have to overcome that ambivalence.  As of today, I have 154 of those 209 items, for a respectable 74%.  

So, that was a summary of where I am to date. I'm going to try and blog more in 2022.  There are a couple of series I started and let die that I'd like to pick up again. In my next post, I'll lay out how I see my hobby '22 shaping up.

What I am listening to: Texas Sun by Khruangbin & Leon Bridges

On this continent and in the psyche of its people the plains have always been a staggering presence, a place of myth and cliche, a place for transformation, bafflement, or heartbreak. From the east they are a release from the clawing of swamp and tangle and human density. From the west they are a drop and a straightening after the kinks and strains of mountains. Entered from any direction they are a new air, a joy to behold, a combination of large-scale intimidations and primordial inner acoustics. 

- "Magpie Rising" Merrill Gilfillan

Happy Birthday to Me

 So, with my wife out of town it is easy to fall into old habits.  Like leaving dirty laundry on the floor and procrastinating on chores.  Now compound that when it turns out last Sunday was my birthday.  Am I really going to buckle down and attend to my adult obligations?  Heck no!  I masked up and headed to the OKC card show.  I mean, who really attends a Sunday card show during football season? Not many, it turns out. I got there around noon, four hours before the show was scheduled to end, and a number of sellers were already loading out to head home.

I found the sole vintage vendor and sat down and started pawing through boxes.

Almost immediately I found one of the three remaining cards I need to finish 1968 Topps.  Just the Ryan rookie card and Lou Brock left to go.

I managed to pick up a fair number of commons for my 1960 set, along with the three star cards above.  I am sitting at jsut short of 75% complete on that set, with "only" 145 cards to go, with many of the most expensive cards to go: Koufax, Mays, Maris, and (of course) all three Mantle's in the set.

I mainly went to the show to see if I could knock of some of the few remaining cards I needed for my 1955 set.   I found one in my price range, this Kaline second year card.  Just 21 more to finish the set including Banks, Robinson, Killebrew RC, Clemente, and Snider.

Finally, I found only two cards for my 1965 set, but they were good ones.

 

The Mantle isn't in great shape, maybe VG at best, but the price was right.  The book is $800 on the card, but I got it for $125.  Still a fair chunk of change, but it was my birthday.  Anyways, down to 86 cards to finish that set.  Biggest remaining cards are Aaron, Clemente, Mays, Rose, and the Carlton and Perez rookie cards.

So, that is probably about it for the year.  Now that the days are short and the weather uncooperative, i need to pick my 1970 card back project back up.  

What I am listening to: Down to the River by The War and Treaty

Labor Day Card Show

Normally, when I do a brag post about a card show haul, I present the cards in reverse chronological orders.   Today, I am not going to do that, as it seems more appropriate, in order to build suspense (I know you aren't exactly sitting on pins and needles reading this post, but work with me here.)

I picked up a total of 7 cards for the 1960 set I am slowly working on.  These were actually the last cards I picked up at the show as I sought to spend what little cash I had left. These few cards moved me up to having 260 of the cards in the 572 card set.

I just noticed that top edge on the Joe Morgan rookie card. Hoo boy, that is ugly. The experts over at net54 seem to be in agreement that it is a factory defect.  I guess I know now why it was so cheap. I may need to upgrade that some day when I am more concerned with set value.  But, that isn't any time soon. I found a total of 38 cards for my 1965 set. There was a lot more, but not at a price I wanted to pay.  

So, now I am sitting at 468 cards; needing only 130 to complete the set.  Of those 130, 20 are actually upgrades of cards I already have but are in poor condition.  However, even this close to completion, it will probably be a few years before I finish.  The biggest cards I have left include Roberto Clemente, Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Pete Rose, Willie Mays, and the Steve Carlton RC.

Also, since this post has been composed in several sessions, I would like to acknowledge the passing of Lou Brock on Sunday. I never got to see him play and only know him by reputation and baseball cards. But, like Ernie Banks, he always seemed to be smiling. As a person prone to melancholy, I have an affinity for people like Brock and Banks who radiate joy so easily.  Hopefully, the once teammates are playing together again. RIP Lou.

Speaking of which....

I found two of the remaining five cards I needed to complete my 1968 set. The final cards I need at the Hank Aaron All-Star (370), Lou Brock (520), and the Nolan Ryan RC (177). My guess is it will be a while before I finish this set. The first two cards are obtainable, but the prices on the Ryan have been outrageous and way more than I am willing to pay.  Even low grade versions, from reputable sellers, are going for $300 or more.  So, I am going to sit tight and hope the bubble bursts.

There it is.  The final card I needed to finish my 1970 set.  My blogging has been intermittent for a number of years now, so I can't determine exactly when I started working on 1970, but as near as I can tell, it was sometime in 2016. So, it took around 4 years to complete.  

This card is significant in a second way as it is also the final card I needed to complete the run of Topps sets from the 1970s.  I do need one card to finish the 1974 master set (599 - San Diego large print version,) but since I have two of the three versions of that card. I consider the set complete.  While I don't expect to ever seriously build 1952 or 1953 sets, I do plan to work on the remaining Topps sets. My progress on that goal is as follows:

So, what does the future hold?  Not sure. I'm sure I will still be dabbling a bit on eBay, but there is a big show coming up in November in Dallas that I am thinking of attending, if the COVID situation is under control. So, I will try to keep my powder dry and save up some funds if I do decide to go. Also, as the days get shorter and the lawn goes dormant, I am going to try to get back to some original content around here.

  

What I am listening to: God's Problem Child by Willie Nelson (and Tony Joe White, Leon Russell, and Jamey Johnson)

Sigh

With my newfound desire to remain laser focused on my primary collecting goals, I headed off to the every-other month OKC show yesterday morning (Saturday.)  My main goal for the show was to see if I could find any of the few remaining cards I needed for my 1968 and 1970 sets, and to look for additional 1960 and 1965 set needs. I took along my 1956 Mantle I won in a recent set break to  see if I might swing a trade for some of the 1955 Topps stars I need.

And that is where everything went off the rails.  I found none of my '68 and '70 needs and the 1960 cards were priced above my target range, so I left them be. There were no 1955 star cards to trade for. However,  I did manage to find one card for my 1965 set at a cost I was comfortable with.

Only 167 cards left to finish that set.  Great progress today.

via GIPHY

So, in the interest of not leaving early, I kept looking and managed to find 8 cards I needed for my 1972-73 Basketball set, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and The Logo.

I also managed to pick up a  few game-used cards for Hall-of-Famers from the early 2000s for a few bucks each, and an autographed Gil McDougal from the Upper Deck Yankee Classics set. I bought a box of Yankee Classics early in my return to collecting and finished the base set.  I only have  few of the autographs, and no real intent to finish that part of the set, but it was only $5.

The Duke Snider seems familiar.  I think I may have traded one to Night Owl.  (If I haven't, NO, and you want it, let me know. I found a two of your 1956 needs and I can send it along for the ride.)

I also found this Wheaties Pete Rose card. I don't know anything about it, as it has a blank back.  I am not a Pete Rose fan, but I thought it was a neat looking card.

Where things really got off into the ditch was when I bought partial set of 1973 Topps football partial set, with 348 out of 528 cards. I really don't need another tangent in my collecting. Particularly a sport I no longer follow.  But, I had a bunch of these cards as a kid and seeing them set off a wave of nostalgia.

I absolutely love that Joe Greene card and Tom Dempsey is quite the model of physical fitness there, isn't he?

But, the piece de resistance, the thing that made the whole day worthwhile, was found hiding in a 400 count box of low grade 1960s commons.

That is a 1922 American Caramel (E120) Joe Harris.  It is bent five ways from Sunday and has a little paper loss on the back, but Beckett says they are worth $30 in poor condition, so I am happy with the having only dropped a $20 on it.  I always drool over pre-war baseball cards, but don't really have the wallet to pursue building those sets. It might be fun to start a type collection where I just find one example from each of the various sets.  I've already got one T206, so I guess I am well on my way! But, I've got enough going on that I am not about to start any such thing until I am getting closer to finishing the Topps 1960s sets, of which I have I have finished exactly zero so far.

So.  Two posts in just a few days.  I haven't done that in forever.  But, it is likely to be short lived.  I'm not planning any major activity until the late April show in Dallas  While there may be a post here or there, and I suppose there is a chance the creative muse hits me, but we'll now return to your regularly scheduled non-programming.

What I am listening to: You're No Good by Linda Rondstadt

Dallas Show - Part 2

When I first started back collecting, I made it my policy to only build one set at a time.  It was easy to keep to that policy while building the mid to late 1970s sets, which were issued in one series.  As soon as I tried building a pre-1974 Topps issue, the futility of that policy became evident. To state what is well-known anyways, Topps sets from1973 and back were issued in series.  And the later series were issued in smaller numbers because they were coming out at the same time as football cards. Consequently, higher number series are difficult to find and more costly than there early season brethren.

So, in order to stay active, I started building a couple sets at a time. Of course, things got out of control and now I am actively working on 5 different sets.  They are 1955, 1960, 1965, 1968, and 1970.  Of course, as I mentioned in the previous post, I am nearly done with the last two.  I have less than a third of 1960, but am a good way along with 1955 and 1965.

So, I picked up about 40 more cards, mostly commons, for 1965 at the Dallas show.  This puts me at about 70% completion, with 177 cards to go. I did manage to pick up a few star cards, though of the dozen or so most expensive cards in the set, I have exactly 1: #350 Sandy Koufax.

I managed to find 14 cards from 1955 Topps that I needed, including my first two star cards, shown above.  I am about 2/3 done with this set, but still have most of the star cards to go, including the Sandy Koufax and Roberto Clemente rookie cards. This will be a long term set build, even with the relatively short checklist. I'll probably keep adding a few commons at a time and bottom feed for star cards, but probably won't get serious until 2021 or 2022 when the National show is in Chicago and Cleveland, respectively.

That is it for the sports cards from Dallas. I have one more post planned with about a fun little non-sports card set.  Hopefully, I'll be able to make it a bit more informative than my last few posts, which are in the look-at-what-I-got category.

What I am listening to: Midnight Rider by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings