Miscellany

Life continues to be busy and my hobby activity has been hit and miss.   Mostly miss, though I have picked up a couple random things.

This is a 1968 Sports Service Photo for my Paul Blair collection.  I have held off on adding photos to a card collection, but I have finally weakened.  I don't know a lot about Sports Service and some cursory research doesn't result in much.  It is something I need to look into.  I'll probably start over atNet54 and go from there.  This photo is actually 4 1/4 inches by 7 1/4 inches.  And, of course, I don't have any two pocket pages to put it in.

This is the final card I needed to complete my 1994 Ted Williams Card Company set.  It is the checklist card for the Dan Gardiner subset. Interestingly, I expected that this card just reused artwork from the player cards in the subset.   To be sure, some are very similar, but none are exact matches.  I find that level of attention to detail admirable and makes me wonder what could have happened if this card company continued to issue sets after 1994.  I'm not particularly fond of the card backs, but I really like the card front designs, which show the same level of attention that I reference relative to the checklist card above.

In fact, now that I think of it, it would be fun to a post on the set.  Of course, working on those few 1970 Topps card back sets I did was fun and I have managed to not follow-up with a new entry in that series in forever. Winter is coming soon and I'll have more time then.

Anyways, now that I have the 1994 set complete, I have updated my Want List sidebar to show what I need to complete the 1993 Ted Williams set.

What I am listening to: Rogers Park by Justin Townes Earle (I have posted this once before, but I just heard last night that JTE has passed away at the age of 38. If you get a chance, listen to his "Harlem River Blues" album. It is brilliant.)

Card Show Haul - Modern Cards

I didn't make huge progress on the various modern sets I am working on, but I did take a small chunk out of the remaining cards (all inserts) that I need to complete my 1994 Ted Williams set.

This card is the last card I needed to complete the 500 home run club insert set.

The next three cards didn't complete the Locklear Collection insert set, but it did leave me with only one to go.  I like this insert set real well. It is the nicest "painted" card set I have ever seen.  A lot of people like the Donruss Diamond Kings cards. I didn't, but I can't see how anyone could disagree that these are better looking.

This card is part of the 17 card Milestones insert subset.  It is, believe it or not, the first card from this insert set that I have.  I should have looked at the odds of getting these various inserts when I busted the box a while back. I have to assume these are the inserted at the longest odds.

With these five cards, I am down to 21 needed to complete the set; all but 5 of which are from the Milestones insert set.

I also picked up a few other modern cards that caught my fancy.

I really don't have much need for contemporary sets. With limited funds,  they just get in the way of my vintage sets.  But, if there was a current set I would collect, it would be 2015 Stadium Club. I really like this image.  The first African American to play for the Chicago Cubs getting the Presidential Medal of Freedom from our first African American President.  What is not to like about it?

 This card, a Bowman reprint card of Warren Spahn, plays to my love of black and white photography. Although, I have to admit that Spahnie looks kinda creepy in the picture.

Last, but not least, a single from a set I will likely put together: Swell Baseball Greats. Actually, this set is the second of three Swell sets issued between 1989 and 1991, comprising of 420 cards total.

So, that is pretty much it for the modern cards I got at the show. And that is also it for this post.  I'll move on to the vintage in the next post.

What I am listening to: I Wanna Be Rich by Jenny Kerr

February Card Show - Modern Pickups

There was a card show up in OKC this weekend and I intended to go and make progress on the various vintage sets I have in the works (1959 through 1961 Fleer, and 1973 Topps.)  The hope, once again, was that a specific seller of high quality vintage would be there. The reality, once again, was that he was not.  So, I didn't make a lot of progress, but I did make some.  So, I'll call it a success.

However, this post is about the modern cards I picked up by trawling through the discount boxes.

The five cards above are all inserts from the 1994 Ted Williams Card Company set.   As you may recall, I bought a wax box of that set at a recent auction at Kevin Savage Cards.  I intend to do a review of the set, but have been awfully busy lately and haven't had the opportunity. I still intend to do so, so I won't delve into these cards now.  However, I will say that I think the set was well thought out. For example, all the insert sets, of which there was a few, were designed to have unique cards in multiples of 9.

These two cards are from recent Leaf products (2010 and 2012).  I picked them up because I liked the design concept and figured at some point maybe I'll build the sets.  I''ll throw them in my miscellaneous binder as a reminder in the future.

I didn't need this card for my Obak sets.  It is from 2011 and I only have 2009 to complete. I got thsi card because it is a numbered parallel (10/25) and Banuelos is expected to get his first real crack at making the Yankees major league roster this year.  If he sets the league on fire, I'll see if I can flip it for some cash.  If he doesn't, I'm only out two bits.

Coming up tomorrow, or whenever I find some time, my vintage pickups. I only got 11 cards, but I think it was a good haul.

What I am listening to: The Gummy Bear Song. I am not sure how I came across this and, yes, I do get that it is aimed at a crowd 40 years younger than me.  But, it makes me smile everytime I watch it. In fact, I made the main character my Facebook avatar. Don't hate.

The Splendid Splinter

I have found a site I enjoy much more than EBay for auctions.  It is Kevin Savage Cards and he always has great stuff up for auction.  Great vintage cards at a wide range of condition/price points,  modern mojo, full sets, and wax boxes.    He usually has 2-3 auctions a week and there is always plenty of things that I would like to get. But, since I don't have unlimited funds, I have to control myself and only bid on things I really, really want and can get for a bargain price. 

Although I am, first and foremost, a vintage collector, occasionally some thing from the modern era catches my fancy.  You can see several of them over to right on my want list sidebar.  This is another:

I am looking forward to opening this box, which mixes old timers and modern players.  But first, someone wants to play.