Modern Mistake

I got back into sports card collecting in 2011 and, like most folks new to modern collecting, jumped in wholeheartedly. I was putting together vintage sets and opening up a lot of contemporary issues.  However, I became quickly disillusioned with modern collecting.  The plastic stock of cards like Topps flagship didn't appeal to me. I loved Heritage, but the artificial scarcity of the high number series quickly angered me.  As I struggled to finish 2011 Heritage, I was paying more for high number commons than I was paying for vintage.  I finally gave up in disgust.

Now, I still will add modern single cards to my collection and will occasionally build a modern set that catches my fancy.  But for the most part, I am a vintage set builder.

Yesterday, I got the bug and bought myself a blaster of 2019 Allen and Ginter.  For the most, part it didn't really interest me, although two subsets seemed like something I'd add to my collection.

The first was The History of Flight

The second, as any of you who have been around my blog over time (and there are at least 3 or 4 of you), was Mares and Stallions. I the Andalusian in the blaster and liked it so much, I decided to put that subset together and went online to see what the rest of the cards looked like.

And I saw this:

That, my friends, is not an Appaloosa horse.  That is a Paint Horse / Pinto with a tobiano color scheme.    Appaloosa color patterns generally include spots. Small spots.  Should you be interested, you can see examples and read more about Appaloosa color patterns here  and Paint color patterns here.  Seriously, that image doesn't even match Topps own description on the back.

I suppose I shouldn't expect better from Topps and just let it go. But, I cannot explain how much this ticks me off.  Get your shit together, Topps!

Anyways, if you have any cards from these two subsets and want to trade, hit me up.

What I am listening to: He's my Baby by Donna Hightower

Revisiting a Recent Pickup

I decided to go back and give you an update on a recent pickup of mine:

I know it isn't baseball cards, but it just tickles me to death.  I have 17 acres and my neighbor to the north has 40. I can let two of my dogs run, as they will go off exploring but come back after a while.  I have one dog, a Great Pyrenees-Anatolian Shepherd mix that I cannot let run, as he doesn't come back.  But, he has the Great Pyrenees desire for a territory to patrol.  So, I try to take him for walks on my, and my neighbors, property.  Today, Daisy the barn cat came with us.  Buddy wasn't happy since I wasn't going to take anything other than the shortest loop with a cat in tow, but he'll get over it.

Y U NO TELL ME?

Why didn't any of you tell me this set existed?

Must collect.......must have.......

Recursive Memes

In response to the Cardboard Junkie / Stale Gum Challenge.

Boo! - Halloween Post

When you live out in the sticks, Halloween tends to pass out of your consciousness. While I am not exactly out in the middle of nowhere, (I am only 6 miles from the center of town), I am one of only three residences along this one mile stretch of road. You just don't get trick-or-treaters out here. The country kids head into town for their goodies. So, I don't have much connection to the holiday anymore.

But, I did one Halloweeny type thing this year. I entered Thorzul's Nightmare on Cardboard contest. I figured it would be a good test of my rudimentary Photoshop skills. Here is my entry:




His theme was Not Topps, which is fine with me. I chose the 2004 Fleer Greats of the Game card as my template. It is a set I like, and it wasn't going to be overly complicated to work with. I figured with the off-season/holiday season hobby slowdown, I might indulge my inner geek and blog about how I went about creating this. It probably won't be of interest to most of you, but I had a blast working on this and would like to make a record of the process. I see three posts out of this:

1. Information Content

2. Front Design

3. Back Design

If I actually follow through, I'll add hyperlinks to that list later.

I Think I May Have a Problem

After returning to the show on Sunday to look through a box of cards that a seller had forgotten to bring the day before, I wandered the floor looking for bargains to consume more of the money that remained in my pocket. I spent a little time at one table where the guy was making deals. As I was looking through his vintage I noticed a lonely stack of cards that I thought my wife might like, so I asked how much he wanted for them. When he responded "5 dollars", I handed over a Lincoln.

Now, I know what you are thinking. This is one of the hallmarks of addiction. Justifying your behavior by blaming someone else. That may be true, but not in this case. I swear. No seriously, these are for my wife. Honest.





My wife is a huge Star Wars fan. Not, huge as in collecting all the merchandise, but huge as in she was one of those kids that saw the movie multiple times when it first came out in 1977. Me? Not so much. It was probably over a year after it was released before I finally saw it.

So, when I saw these cards I had to get them for her. She seemed to like them, so yesterday, I put them into Ultra-Pro sheets and a binder. Of course, as I sorted through them, I had the typical Topps experience: nothing even remotely close to a complete series and plenty of duplicates. Yay!

Now I guess I am going to have to start searching around for more of these cards, so I can complete the set for her. No, really, for her.

What? You don't believe me?