After my little hissy fit about cut signatures a few months ago, my player collections went into early hibernation and I resigned myself to only adding new cards once a year or so. In particular, with my Paul Blair collection.there isn't much left. It breaks down mostly like this:
That actually looks like a lot, but the two flagship categories are, to a certain extent, filler. I have the complete run of Topps flagship Blair cards, but thought I would put together both signed and unsigned versions just to have something to do with this PC. However, since making that decision, I have done exactly nothing to make it happen. So, was it really decision? Trees, forests, etc.
There actually is two other categories not mentioned above. The first is regional and team issues from the late 1960s that I have never seen in the wild and (enjoy the contrast) 2004 Upper Deck Timeless Team parallels.
2004 UD Timeless Teams is a confounding set. It covers the significant team or teams from between 1964 and 1995. Great concept and I love the design. It is a set I would want to collect. Except that the execution is horrible. You would think they would have the one dominant team for each year and perhaps the dominant team from each league for each year. Makes sense right? However, there are no teams represented from 1971, 1989, 1990, 1993 and 1994. But, there are three teams for 1969, 1975, 1979, 1980, 1981, and 1986. There are 11 players each representing the 1969 and 1970 Orioles (the same 11 players mind you,) but only 3 players representing the 1987 and 1991 Twins, and the 1992 Blue Jays. 1977 and 1981 had both the Dodgers and the Yankees, but 1978 was the Yankees only.
See what I mean? A complete mess.
Anyways, there are 6 versions of each card:
Base
Bronze (# to 50)
Gold (# to 5)
Signed
Signed Gold (# to 5)
Signed Platinum (# to 1)
I have a saved search on eBay that I scan daily for new items, but I have probably failed to find Blair cards I needed from this set because I scan quickly. However, at this point, I have 8 of the 12 Blair cards. Of the 4 that I am missing two are, not surprisingly, the 1/1s. I will need to do a better job of looking for the other two (1 Bronze and 1 Gold).
I am starting to wake up out of 4 month hobby slumber. I have a new (to me) signed 1960 Fleer card being delivered tomorrow. Hopefully, I will be able to whip up a post about it on Tuesday.
What I am listening to: Outlaws and Mustangs by Cody Jinks
Okay, a little bit. A while back the consensus from my Quandary post is that cards prominently featuring a player, even if the card doesn't name them and isn't even about them, belong in the player collection.
So, I had this in mind as I updated my list of known Paul Blair cards. I used TCDB to help with that process. I found new entries on TCDB for Paul Blair items. I decided to use the opportunity to reorganize my two player collections. Previously, my player cards were loosely organized by issuing company and year. However, I also tried to maximize the use of sheets, so everything was mushed together. And when something new came in, it got added to a sheet at the back and not necessarily with it's rightful grouping. This time through I am using the same organizing principle, but I am leaving open pockets on the sheets for missing cards.
While going through the TCDB entries, I had to revisit not only what counts as a Paul Blair card, but what is card generally.
So, here is a summary of the decisions I made:
1971 Topps #329 World Series Game 3 - Paul Blair is on the card, congratulating Frank Robinson at home plate after Robinson's 3rd inning home run. Even though he is featured prominently on the card, he is decidedly not the subject. TCDB lists this as a Paul Blair card. This is a Frank Robinson card and not a Paul Blair card. It was not added to the want list.
1970 Topps #202 Orioles Celebrate - This is the card that kicked this off last September. For some reason, TCDB only has the OPC version. But, based on that previous feedback I've added that and, of course, the Topps cards to my want list.
1969 MLBPA Photostamps unseparated sheet - I have the individual stamp which is also listed on TCDB. But, I don't see the point of acquiring the same item a second time in a sheet with other stamps I have no interest in. This was not added to the want list. By the same rationale, the following other TCDB entries were also not added to my want list: 1974 Topps photo stamp unseparated sheet, 1975 Hostess panels (both the Hooten and Hooton versions), 1978 SSPC Yankees team sheet, and the 1991 Crown Cola Orioles panel.
1978 Burlington Free Press Baseball Cards - these aren't cards, in my opinion. They are just small feature section of a normal newspaper. Don't believe me? Above are the front and back of the Carlton Fisk cards in the "set." That back is just an everyday clipping from a newspaper sport section. The same holds true for the 1963 Baltimore News-Post Baltimore Orioles Scrapbook Cards and the 1970-71 Dayton Daily News. These don't get added to the want list. The fact that some wisenheimer gave the Dayton Daily News clippings an actual hobby designation (M137) does not change anything.
2001 Topps Archive Reserve Signed baseball - It's a baseball, not a card. Not on the want list.
Now here are some things that annoy me, but are definitely cards.
Print variations: With Paul Blair, the only print variation I have found is the 1971 Kellogg's card, with three versions: 385 runs, 386 Runs with copyright year, and 386 Runs without copyright year. I have two and the third is on the want list.
Buybacks: I have previously stated my annoyance at buybacks. I don't think that taking a vintage card, slapping a foil stamp on it creates a new card. But, I have made my peace with it and have been picking up a few Topps buybacks here and there. But, the above card (2005 Fleer National Pastime Buyback) is really something. The card itself is from 2001 Fleer Greats of the Game. So, Fleer either bought it back or took it out of its unsold inventory, wrote 3/9 on it and called it something new. A foil stamp ain't much effort, but this handwritten serial number raises (or lowers) lazy to a whole new level.
Unlicensed Cut Autos - Tristar is famous for these, but they aren't the only ones. There is in excess of 20 unique cut auto cards listed for Blair on TCDB. I am not a fan, particularly of those that cut up an actual trading card, but I will pick them up from time to time if the price is right.
2016Historic AutographsFriends 'n Foes with Mike Flanagan - While this is really a version of the above cut auto card, it also strains at creating a coherent theme. Paul Blair were teammates briefly during Flanagan's late season 1975 cup of coffee and in 1976. Were they friends? Perhaps, but this card is a bit of stretch. If it was Paul Blair and Brooks Robinso, who played together for many years, I could accept that. But, one season? It doesn't really inspire. I couldn't find an image of it, so I included an image of a comparable card above. Interestingly, I don't believe there is any friend/foe link between Colbert and Musial either, though there is a record book linkage between the two. Read this article.
2006 Upper Deck Epic Four Barrel (Jackson/Munson/Chambliss/Blair) - This is a 1/1 and given the the inclusion of Munson, I will never be able to afford it. I did actually see it pop up on eBay a few years back, but the asking price was around $5,000 if memory serves. I would never pay that even if I could afford it.
2013 Topps Archive Printing Plates - I normally wouldn't add these, but I do have two film positives from the Topps Vault for Blair's 1978 card and a print proof from 1968, so these will be on the want list even though I have no expectation I will ever see them.
So that is about it, Updating my collection is taking time and has to pause since I need to order some four pocket pages for the team issued photo packs and postcards. I'm out of town on business later this week, so I probably won't be done until next weekend. After that, I'll go through the same process for my Johnny Antonelli collection, though it promises to be less frustrating with only a handful of new entries.
What I am listening to: Pump it Up by Elvis Costello
I saw this card on eBay and bought it. It is a 2001 Topps Archive reprint of card 202 from the 1970 Topps set commemorating the Baltimore Orioles win in the AL Championship Series and is signed by Paul Blair. Blair is obviously the key featured player on the card and, if it was a thing back then, would have probably been the series MVP (the first championship series MVP was awarded in 1980.) But, he is not named on the card, except as a line on the series box score and this card doesn't appear on the lists of Paul Blair cards.
So, player collectors out there, is this a Paul Blair card or not? If it is, I guess I will need to get the original Topps and OPC versions for the Blair binder.
What I am listening to: New York Comeback by Lucinda Williams (with Bruce Springsteen)
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.
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.)
After a long period of dormancy, I've made some additional progress on my Paul Blair collection. A new addition came in yesterday:
This is the last of the O-Pee-Chee cards I needed for the PC. It commemorates Blair's game winning home run in Game 3 of the 1966 World Series. It was hit off Claude Osteen, who had otherwise pitched a brilliant game. OSteen's final line was 3 hits, one walk, and three strikeouts in 7 innings pitched.
This is the 142nd unique item in my Paul Blair PC
What I am listening to: Follow You Like Smoke by Elizabeth Cook
Collecting trading cards would seem to be a simple, easy to understand hobby. When I first got into it, back in late 2010, with my Paul Blair player collection, I certainly would have thought so. I did not know of such things as relic cards, sticker autos, short prints and serialized cards. I was quite the naïf. In the near decade since, my collecting has taken me in multiple directions: set building, set building for sports I don't even follow, autographed cards, even non-sport tobacco cards.
But, still at the center is that Paul Blair player collection. It has been somewhat stagnant these last few years, but occasionally something gets added. In my COVID19 quarantine, I have spent more time at Net54Baseball and came across a long thread of Orioles and Brooks Robinson collectors and caught a glimpse of some Blair memorabilia. I introduced myself and one thing led to another and a trade deal was closed. In exchange for one of my 1993 Nabisco Blair cards, I got a handful of team issued Paul Blair postcards (which are still in transit) and this:
I didn't get the 1976 Topps card in the trade, I only included it here to give a sense of the size of the item above it. What is it, you are probably asking? It is a 1976 English's Chicken lid. You are probably wondering if that is really a lid to a bucket of chicken? If you are, you would be correct.
My God! What have I done?
If you had told me in 2010 that I would have added a lid to a cardboard bucket of fried chicken to my collection I would have thought you were crazy. But, here we are. I have a 44 year old chicken bucket lid and I am excited beyond belief. I have occasionally searched for one of these; always unsuccessfully. To have it fall into my lap like this is a nice bit of serendipity. I thought I might explain about English's, but I found out that the late, great, Bob Lemke had beat me to the punch. You can read his blog post here. And the collector he got his information from? The same person I traded with! Small world.
Hopefully, the post cards will be here by the weekend, so I can show them off.
What I am listening to: A Tout Le Monde by Megadeth (yes, I probably should have posted "Once in a Lifetime," but I am in the middle of a thrash metal phase, so you get this.
I'm still mostly on the sidelines waiting for COVID-19 to abate and the oil & gas industry to pull out of it's tailspin. But, I did manage to add a couple new things to my Paul Blair player collection.
As you can see this is the O-Pee-Chee version of his 1968 card. With this, I have ten of the eleven OPC Blair cards. The only one I lack now is card number 153 from 1967, which is the World Series Game #3 card - Blair's Homer Defeats L.A. There is another such card he appears on, 1971 Topps/OPC #195, the AL playoffs game 1 card. However, while he appears on the card, he is not the subject, which is Boog Powell. Blair is just congratulating Powell after he hit a home run. So, I'm not going to consider that part of the PC.
This is a team issued photo from 1975. I know have 4 team issued photo cards. In addition to this one, I believe I have 1969, 1971, and 1973. There isn't a lot of good resources out there for these types of issues, but there are a number of Orioles team collectors on net54. I'm hoping they can help me know definitively which years they are.
Added in edit: I am told by a long time Orioles collector that the photo was actually issued by the team in 1973-1974.
What I am listening to: Rock Me Baby by B.B. King, Susan Tedeschi, and Derek Trucks
In a way I was there at the beginning. No. That isn't quite right. I was there at the inflection point. It seems like forever, but it was less than three weeks ago. On March 11, I was at the Oklahoma City Thunder-Utah Jazz game. Or, more specifically, what was supposed to be the Oklahoma City Thunder-Utah Jazz game. My wife and are Thunder season ticket holders and this was an important game. After preseason speculation that they would be cellar dwellers, our Thunder were in the playoff picture. Firmly in the 5th seed in the Western Division, a win over the Jazz would move them up to the 4th seed.
Then, the Thunder-Jazz game happened. I got to the game about 15 minutes before tip-off, grabbed a hot dog and fries, and settled into my seat. The pregame ritual of introductions and the national anthem took place and then...nothing. I won't go into details. If you are a suscrcriber to The Athletic, there is a well written article about the evening.
Just a bit under three weeks ago.
The world has changed since then. I am now working from home indefinitely and have cut back my hobby spending to almost zero. You see, I work in the oil and gas industry and, even apart from the global pandemic causing a collapse in demand, the Saudis have decided to open up the valves and start a price war to punish recalcitrant members of OPEC+ (mostly Russia) So, while the combination of the two don't represent an existential threat to my future, it does seem prudent to cut back on discretionary spending.
One thing that did filter in was this 1978 New York Yankees Picture Album that I snagged for $5 delivered.
As I built my Paul Blair player collection want list I would check eBay to see if any of the needs were for sale. I mostly struck out, but when I looked for something described as "1978 Photo Album", this came up. I bid on it and won.
As I pulled this out of the shipping envelope, I was hit with a wave of nostalgia. I realized immediately that I had this album when I was younger. I've always been a bit forgetful, so I have no idea how I got it or what ever happened to it. If I had to guess, my mother threw it away, along with my high school letterman's jacket sometime after I went off to college. In any event, I have it again.
This copy is in great condition, which is probably a rare thing 42 years later. It was not built for the long haul. The covers are thin cardboard and the binding isn't particularly sturdy. In fact, it seems like it was designed for the pages to be pulled out individually easily. I won't open it up wide enough to scan a page as that would be a bit too much stress on the binding. I will however leave you with this picture of what I think is the 126th unique item in my Blair PC.
What I am listening to: We Take Care of Our Own by Bruce Springsteen
So, my recent new addition to my Paul Blair PC had me wondering how my collection looked in the larger scheme of things. So, starting with the Trading Card Database, I decided to start to compile a list of cards and cross reference it against my collection. With the advent of unlicensed products, high quality custom cards, serialized parallels, a whole bunch of early 21st century Topps cards that look identical but are from different sets, and a set of similarly identical 1970s team post cards , it is really hard to come up with a comprehensive list.
I am still working through it and trying to get my haves and wants buttoned down. But, I am pretty close and, as of this moment, I have 123 unique Paul Blair cards in my collection and have constructed a want list of 58 cards. Honestly though, I am not sure it is a real want list as there are several categories on there that I am ambivalent about:
I am not necessarily ambivalent about 1 of 1s, but as a practical matter, I am unlikely to ever acquire any of them. So, I don't really count them. I have actually seen one on eBay. But, it was a Four Barrel bat card from 2006 Upper Deck Epic where the 4 subjects where Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson, Chris Chambliss, and Paul Blair. The seller wanted $5,000. Nah, man. That ain't happening.
Also, have two team issued post cards that I haven't yet been able to figure out what year they are from. So, taking these four categories out, I get down to 31 cards on my want list. As I have worked through this process, I spot checked eBay to see what is available and I've been able to add a few more cards cheaply.
I had been aware of the MCI (remember them?) Ambassadors of Baseball sets from 1992 to 1994. But, I hadn't done a great deal of research and was blissfully unaware of the 1995 set. MCI, an erstwhile telecom company that became part of Verizon in 2006, issued these sets in conjunction with a tour of overseas military bases by retired baseball players. Paul Blair was the only player to appear in all 4 sets.
I swear I had this card. I've been overlooking it on eBay for years. Guess why.
That is why. Multiple, virtually indistinguishable cards issued during a short period of time using the image from Blair's half of the rookie card he shared with Davey Johnson in the 1965 Topps set. I can only imagine how hard it must be for collectors like Night Owl when there are probably dozens of cards using the same image for all-time greats like Jackie Robinson.
I'll probably end up publishing my want list in the next few days, though I don't expect much luck in finding these needs that way. But, we'll see.
What I am listening to: Lady Labyrinth by Ludovico Einaudi
It has been a while since I added anything new to my Paul Blair player collection. If my blogging history can be believed, it has been over a year. The last entry of an addition to this PC was November 27, 2018. My blogging has been sporadic since then, so there may have others, but I don't think so.
Anyways, here is a new one:
Most hobbyists will recognize this as a (somewhat stained) 1966 Topps card. The keen-eyed observer will recognize that this card isn't stained so much as printed on lower quality stock and is actually a Topps Venezuelan.
I recently won a lot of six 1966 Venezuelans on eBay. I only really wanted this one, but decided to add two others to my miscellaneous vintage binder. I have already found a home for the remaining three. This is my third Venezuelan card in my Blair PC. I also have a 1967 Topps and a 1972 Photostamp. I haven't fully researched it yet, but I am only aware of two other Blair Venezuelans: 1968 Topps and 1972 Winter League.
This is the 117th unique card in my Blair PC. The Trading Card Database has 176 cards listed for Blair. I am about to start working my way through that list and reconcile against my collection to make sure I have a good (though likely not comprehensive) list of wants. I hope it won't take too long. But, spring is sprung around here and the outdoor farm project season is ramping up. So we'll see how it goes.
What I am listening to: Grey in L.A. by Loudon Wainwright III
Since I maintain two player collections, I am constantly looking for new cards for those players. At this point, it is a rare occurrence to find something I don't have. I do occasionally run across art cards, which are non-licensed cards generally produced by independent artists, and I will often buy them. But, I tend to run hot and cold on these cards. Let's take a look at why that is.
My only complaint about these cards, and it is a minor one, is the images. Since I am looking through all new Paul Blair listings on Ebay daily, these images are familiar to me. Each are commonly seen on 8x10s for sale. Further, card #2 is the same image used on the 1999 and 2001 Fleer Greats of the Game cards for Blair, in addition to the 2003 AT&T Heroes to Heroes card. Overall though, this is minor gripe. These cards sell for $5 to $10, so I would expect that the process is basically running a digital image through some Photoshop filters to render them like paintings.
This card, part of my Johnny Antonelli PC, was a major disappointment. The stock is similar to what is used on greeting cards. Heavier than construction paper, but much thinner than normal trading card stock. Additionally, as you can see, the colors aren't very bright, almost as if the printer was running out of ink. I like custom cards with backs, but this one is uninspiring.
This is my latest art card pickup. This is generally a really nice card. Nice stock, well designed, bright colors. It falls into the "cards that never were" genre. The final series of 1959 Topps baseball included cards for a number of that years All-Star game participants. While Antonelli was on the team representing the Giants, he didn't have a card in that subset. This art card corrects that. My only complaint about this card? The back is blank. Since this card was $5 delivered, I get that the artistic process needs to be limited in order to make this a profitable venture. However, I would have gladly paid $10 or more for this card with a printed back.
There is another art card seller on Ebay that also has a Johnny Antonelli card available. I haven't purchased the card because, even though the card image is quite well done, the listing description reads as follows:
"THIS IS A NOVELTY CARD THAT IS CUSTOM MADE. IT HAS NO VALUE, IT IS FOR COLLECTING ONLY. IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT A CUSTOM CARD IS, PLEASE BUY FROM SOMEONE ELSE. THESE CARDS ARE THE SAME SIZE AS A NORMAL CARD BUT NOT AS THICK. IF YOU WANT A THICK CARD THEN BUY FROM SOMEONE ELSE. IF YOUR GOING TO DISPLAY YOUR CARD IN A TOPLOADER, WHY DOES IT MATTER HOW THICK IT IS. IT WILL LOOK GREAT. CARDS ARE MADE ON 140LB CARD STOCK"
Maybe I am just a different version of curmudgeon, but the combination of thin stock and negativity just turns me off. I'll buy from someone else.
Finally, there is one other art card in my collection and has been so for 6 years. It came to me from Cardboard Junkie. You can read about it here.
So, to my half a dozen or so readers, how do you feel about art cards? Do you add them to your collection?
What I am listening to: Rolling in the Deep by Adele.
I am back from a great vacation and don't have a lot new to report. I have two days to get my lawn, which grew substantially while I was gone, mowed as I am leaving for a work conference on Wednesday. I'll be back home in time for the weekend, but will probably need mow again.
I was considering going to a card show in Plano, Texas (a northern suburb of Dallas and about a 3 hour drive) but I have a number of real life things pressing, so I think I may pass on that this month.
I may keep an eye out for the one 1956 Topps card and the nine 1972 cards I need to finish those sets, but that will be about it.
I did manage to win one Ebay auction while I was gone:
This is one of the four film positives used to produce the 1978 Topps Paul Blair card and is the second that I have acquired. The four positives are for the four colors used in printing (black, cyan, magenta, yellow.) The positive above is for yellow. The other in my collection, which I also won on Ebay two years ago is, I believe, magenta. I am not actually sure, since I can't figure out how to pull up the description on a two year old auction. But, I know it isn't black as it doesn't have the player name on it (which is black on the card.) Further, neither has the card border, which is a dark blue. This should eliminate cyan. The team name is in a dark tan color on the actual card. I can see where yellow and magenta (with a bit of black thrown in) might yield that color.
Anyways, I think it is pretty cool to own two of the film positives for a card of my favorite player on my favorite set from my youth.
What I am watching: Point of view videos for the new Steel Vengeance roller coaster at Cedar Point. It is insane! If you enjoy roller coasters, you need to go and ride it. I've posted both the official park POV video, which I find a bit sterile as the camera is mechanically fixed to the car, and an amateur version which appears to be recorded on a riders GoPro and gives a somewhat truer experience to the actually ride:
It has been a while since I added anything to my Paul Blair player collection. But, something came up recently that I didn't have.
Strictly speaking, I have this card already. It is from Upper Deck's 2004 Timeless Team set. It is one of two different cards featuring Paul Blair: one as a member of the 1969 Orioles and another as a member of the 1970 Orioles. Yeah, I don't get that either.
Anyways, these cards come in a number of variations. There is, of course, the base card version. Then there is a bronze version numbered to 50, which is the card above. Then there is a gold version numbered to 5 and a platinum 1/1. Additionally, there is an autographed version. I have all but the platinum 1/1 for the 1970 team version. For the 1969 team card, I only have the base and the autographed versions. I probably have seen the others, but didn't recognize them. In my Ebay searches I tend to scan images quickly and zoom in on anything that isn't familiar. With a total of 16 saved searches, there isn't much choice. But, I guess I need to change that now.
What I am listening to: Caleb Meyer by Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings
It's been a while since I posted. I've been pretty busy at work and it is that magical time of the year when the grass just won't stop growing. There has been some hobby activity and I have the skeletons of 4 posts in my drafts folder. But, what drew me back out was this contest over at Collecting Cutch, where you show your 10 favorite cards of your favorite player. It gave me a chance to revisit my player collection.
Of course, I chose Paul Blair, a player from my childhood. I had a Paul Blair model baseball glove and his cards were my entry back into the hobby. As it currently stands, I have 112 unique Paul Blair cards in my PC. Here are my favorites in no particular order.
This 1993 Nabisco All Star Legends is probably the most valuable card in my Blair PC. It was not issued through the mail, like the more common cards from this set. It was only issued in person and regional card shows. It rarely comes up for sale on EBay, but when it does it often sells for over $100. I actually have two, neither of which cost me more than $25.
This 1965 Rookie Stars card is, as you may have surmised, Paul Blair's rookie card.
I'm not trying to troll Night Owl here, though I have to admit it is a nice side benefit. No, I like this 1967 Topps World Series card because it captures a key moment in his career, which many cards of the time never did, what with all the spring training posed and head shots.
1978 Topps. This was during the period when I followed the Yankees religiously. I even cut out box scores, taped them in a notebook and kept running statistics, game by game.
This Pro-Cards card appeals to me on several levels. It is an oddball, I like the design, and it features my favorite player as a coach of my hometown Rochester Red Wings
2000 Upper Deck Legendary Lumber. It's a nicely designed card that features Blair and, for some reason, Lou Pinella. There is a Gold version of this card where the cutout is the NY letters and is surrounded by the bat relic chip.
This 1999 SI Fleer Greats of the Game auto card is it. The very first card I got when I decided to get back into collecting.
1993 Upper Deck Baseball Assistance Team three panel card, based on the T202 Hassan triple fold cad from 1912. This is part of a 165 card set that might be fun to collect. In fact, I think I will. a 24 pack box (with 12 cards per pack) is going for around $30 on EBay. Of course, I'll need to find an appropriate Ultra Pro sheet for them.
My favorite modern era set is the 2004 Fleer Greats of the Game set. It was the best of the several GOTG set, with thick embossed cards and a great checklist.
1981 The Franchise, a regional issue set featuring members of the 1966 Baltimore Orioles.
So, there they are. Now I am off to do some yard work before it gets too hot.
