Auld Lang Syne

 Life is odd.  This year has been tragic beyond comprehension.  We have seen, and suffered, such loss.  Yet only now, on the last day of the year, with the prospect of relief and normalcy on the horizon, do I feel the weight of the times.  I've struggled with a feeling of melancholy all day.  I hope, and believe, the turn of the calendar in a few hours, will usher in a year, not of forbearance, but hopefulness.

Please accept my best wishes for a happy and fruitful 2021.

November Dallas Show

It has been almost a month since my last post.  Much has happened since then. I led that post off with the story of my sweet senior dog, Missy.  Unfortunately, we lost Missy two weeks later. It was mercifully quick.  On a Thursday night, she was her normal self.  Friday morning, it was clear she was in some distress.  She fought hard, but it was quickly clear it was time to let her go.  I miss her terribly, but she lived a long life (16 to 18 years), was happy until the end, and didn't leave anything on the table. You can't ask for more than that, can you?  I posted a tribute to her on Twitter (borrowing heavily from Robert Burns):

She'll be impossible to replace, but God help me, I'm already watching the adoption page at the Norman Animal Shelter and expect it is only a brief matter of time before the pack is back up to its full staffing level.

I finally managed to get down to Dallas for one of the shows down there after threatening to do so since the beginning of the year. It was a 2 1/2 hour drive, but it was very easy, with all but the first 10 miles, and the last 200 yards, of the drive on I-35.  It was worth the drive with the show being at least 3 to 4 times the size of the every-other-month OKC show.  Overall, it was a good experience.  I found several vintage sellers who were pricing in the same range as I have come to expect locally. For later reference, I normally expect to pay between 30% and 50% of Beckett high book for cards in the range of EX+ to EX/NM condition.  My checklists always have book value so that I can track my expected cost and keep me in line with my show budget.

I had only one bad experience.  My main goal was to make progress on my 1968 and 1970 sets, which were within striking distance of completion.  At one seller, I found 3 cards I needed:two 1968 commons and a 1968 Hank Aaron All-Star card. They had a total book value of $38, so my expected price was in the range of $12 to $15.  Oh, was I mistaken.  There were a couple of warning signs I should have heeded:

1. The seller had 4 prices shown on each top loader. When I asked, he said that they were the book value of cards in 7/8/9/10 graded condition.  
2. When I handed him the cards and asked how much he wanted for them, he spent around 5 minute examining the cards before telling me what he wanted. 

He asked for $75, nearly twice high book and over five times what I would normally expect to pay for those cards. I was shocked nearly speechless. I told him "I think I'll pass" and walked away.  There is no way I was about to pay graded prices on raw cards, particularly since they were, at best, EX condition and not even NM-MT.  I probably should have told him why I was walking away, but there was a huge room to explore and I suspect that a guy who's that out of touch with the market wouldn't really appreciate the feedback.

Luckily, other sellers were more reasonable and I ended up buying at five different tables, including Roger Neufeldt, who is based right here in Norman, but hasn't done local shows since a new promoter would only give him a less-than-acceptable table locations off the actual show floor.  So, I travelled over 100 miles to buy from a guy that is just down the road.

Anyways, I ended up bring home just over 100 cards. Here is a sneak peak:

It was a productive show where I managed to finish one set and get myself into the home stretch on two more.  Stay tuned.

What I am listening to: Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Darius Rucker

PS: Be aware, my Twitter account posted above has little to no hobby content.  It is mainly contemporary politics, so I'd advise to only follow at your own risk.

2017 Hobby Resolutions

Everyone else is doing it, so why shouldn't I?

Of course, being on the wrong side of 50, I have personal resolutions for 2017:

1. Lose some weight.  In 2016, I slimmed down from over 220 to 188.  With the holidays, I've put about 8 pounds back on.  I'd like to lose that and a few more. Ideally, I'd like to get under 185.
2. Exercise.  With a full time job, a 40-60 minute commute on each end of the day, and a 17 acre farm to care for, I have little time for aerobic exercise.  But, I'd at least like to start walking more.
3. Thunder up!  My wife and I bought a 6 game package for the OKC Thunder this year and will probably end up going to 8-10 games, overall  We've talked about getting on the wait list for season tickets next year.  They would be in the nose bleed section, because anything closer to the floor would be out of our price range. It would be hard to make it to 40 games next year, so we may look for another couple to go halfsies with us.

On the hobby side, I have a few goals:

1. Finish one or both of 1970 and 1972 Topps.  These are the last two sets I need to finish the run of Topps sets from the 1970s.
2. Finish 1961 Fleer. Only four cards to go, although two are expensive: Ted Williams and Babe Ruth.
3. Cut the remaining want list on 1956 Topps by a third. I need 75 cards, plus the two checklists, to finish.So, 25 new (to me) cards.
4. Although I suspect that I'm pretty much at the end of this quest,  I'd like to add one more autographed 1963 Fleer card to that set. Of the 7 cards I still need, only one player is still living and that is Willie Mays. Of the 6 other cards, one is Roberto Clemente.  Those two ain't happening.  So, it will have to be Vic Power, Vada Pinson, Dick Farrell, Ken Boyer, or Gene Oliver.
5. Maybe have some original content around here.  
6. Get rid of all the cards I don't want. That is my collection in the picture.  Top two shelves are my sets.  The third shelf down is all my duplicates and unwanted cards.  The bottom shelf is supplies and what not.  I'd like to clean that third shelf out.

So, there it is.  Bring on 2017!

What I am listening to:  The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore by Billy Bragg and Joe Henry

Surprise Pickup from December

As many of you know, I live on a small farm. It isn't a commercial enterprise, but the result of a hobby gone out of control.  I suppose many of your significant others wonder how a hobby could go further wrong than collecting pictures of baseball players on bits of cardboard.  Let me testify that they can.  My wife's hobby is to show horses.  We started out back in 1997 with riding lessons as a bribe to get her to move here from her native Ohio.   18 years later, I have a 17 acre hobby farm.

Most of you probably already know where this is going, but let me bring any newcomers up to speed.  Three years ago, San Jose Fuji asked the card bloggers if they collected anything other than cards.  This post was my answer to that question.  In the intervening years, the cat in the top picture and the tan shepherd in the fourth have passed away.  And then about a year and a half ago, this surprise pickup happened.  So, now you are all up to date.

And you can probably guess the general nature of what the surprise pickup from December is.

In order: Daisy, Stripe and Star.  Back in December, some dumped Daisy and her three kittens at the convenience store across the street in the middle of the night. During the day, one kitten got taken home by someone.  I found these three there when I stopped to fill up my car after work and theyens were moved that night to my barn to be my new mousers.

It has been a couple years since I had a barn cat (coyotes got the last two), and the mice were getting brazen.  Daisy rewarded me within days by dispatching a large mouse.  In the three months since, she continues to catch mice (and at least one bird.)  So, all in all another good pickup.

I will probably being going on radio silence for a couple weeks.  I still have that mystery card coming and it won't be on it's way to me until March 16th, at the earliest.  So, until then...

Favorite Surprise Pickup of 2013

Being in this hobby, we all know the joy of finding something wonderful when you were least expecting it.  I had a fair number of serendipitous pickups in 2013.  But, this is my favorite:

You may recall someone dumped a dog out in the country near my home in early October and we took her in a couple weeks later and named her Abby.  She can be seen above playing with Buddy, the Great Pyrenees mix, who was, coincidentally, my favorite surprise pickup of 2011.  She is a great dog, although she is still a puppy and can get in a bit of trouble at times.

What I Am Listening To: I'll Drink to You by Duke Jupiter (it's a Rochester thing)

Best Mail Day Ever!

My 21st wedding anniversary was at the end of September.  I asked my wife for Anthony Causi's iconic photograph "Mariano Entering the Game" as a gift.  Not surprisingly, as Mo was winding down his final season, it was back ordered.

Well, it arrived today.

I love this photograph as I think, as a (very) amateur photographer, that it stands on it's own merits as art.

But, the story gets better.  My wife asked for, and I got her, tickets for the Pearl Jam concert when they played OKC.  And, in quite the coincidence, that concert is tonight.

What I am listening to: Better Man by Pearl Jam

Surprise Pickup

Sigh.  The perils of living in the country.......

Giving and Misgiving

Giving

A bubble mailer arrived, quite unexpectedly, in the post today.  They were from Night Owl, a reward, if you will, for submitting a winning entry in his recent Define the Design contest. This was actually my second winning entry in that continuing series. My first can be found here.

He sent a nice set of  2011 and 2012 Yankees, including a fair amount of Allen Ginter, which for some darn reason, I didn't show here.

Misgiving

 
A & G is a set I try hard to love but can't quite bring myself to.  It is a set I can just be friends with.  I make no bones about my love for Tristar Obak, a quirky little set that seems to have died after a three year run.  Allen & Ginter also falls into the quirky category, but it just doesn't measure up to Obak.  I think it is because the Obak is put together simply, where A&G is not.  Obak consists of a 120 card base set (with 2 different parallels) , including about 20 short prints, and a single insert set of T212 minis.  Over the three year run, the mini insert set shrunk from 68 cards in 2009 to 24 in 2011.  Tristar is thoughtful about content,  and makes the set hard enough to put together to be interesting, without making it overly complex and impossible.  And, they seemed to be self-aware enough to correct the excess of the first issue in subsequent years.

A&G tries to hit the same niche, but makes all the same "Topps" set decisions that we hate.  A lot of short prints, numerous insert sets and parallels. In short, Topps seems to think of a little of something is good, a lot of the same thing is better.  At one time, I calculated that a master set of 2011 Topps baseball (Series 1,2, and Update) would run nearly 6000 cards just in the base set and base set parallels.  At the time, I didn't bother figuring in the myriad insert sets. In short, Topps is one of those intense adrenaline junkies that no one likes because their only interest is to be more extreme than anyone else. There is beauty in simplicity, but that is a concept completely foreign to Topps.  They are the Kardashians of the collecting world.  A&G mirrors those excesses and I cannot bring myself to enjoy it.

Giving

I keep coming back, in my mind, to the recent death of Chris Stufflestreet, one of our most knowledgeable and generous card bloggers.  Without delving into theological issues, on which I know I diverge from many of you, I have had occasion to ponder what Chris' legacy is and how best I can honor the kindness he showed me.  I didn't save it at the time, but in the package of cards he sent to me earlier this year, there was a note talking about the healing power of cardboard.  It seems like a silly notion, but I think it is true in a way.  I was wallowing in self-pity at the time due to being laid off at work. Despite having his difficulties in his personal life at the time, he took time to search through his card collection to help me along on a set I had been building prior to losing my job. And he was right, receiving that pack was a pick-me-up I sorely needed.  It is a kindness I was not able to fully repay before we lost him.  But, it is a kindness I still intend to honor.

Misgiving

 

There has seemed to be a fair bit of malaise running through the baseball card collecting blog-o-sphere lately. We have lost such names as Crinkly Wrappers, Sewing Machine Guy, and Just a Bit Outside (to name but three). Even such éminence grise as Night Owl and dayf have poured some of their angst over the state of the hobby out onto the pages of their blogs. And I must say that I share some of their weary resignation.  While I don't have nearly the history with the hobby that they do, I do get where they are coming from.

But, when I see such posts, it bothers me.  Even though I have never met a single one of the card bloggers, I feel like this is a community. And a special one at that.  Over the years, I have belonged to my share of clubs out in the real world. And I have been a member of more than a few online communities.  The one constant in all those groups is, unavoidably, strife.  We live in a diverse world and even when people share a common interest, they have divergent ways of embracing it.  And inevitably this leads to conflict as the various factions work to assert their One True Way (tm).

Giving

 
The card blogging community, however, is strangely void of such internecine struggles.  Even though we all collect differently, we seem to get along and don't judge each other, either for our collecting style or our favorite teams.  For someone new to the hobby, that is a blessing beyond measure.

Misgiving

It's unique and, I suppose, it makes the loss of a member that much more acute.  I don't like to see members drop out, even though I understand and accept their reasons for doing so.  I don't like to see others struggle with the extent and scope of their participation in the hobby, even as  I do so myself.

 Giving

 
2011 was my first real year back in the hobby and I embraced it fully. I would find that the shortage of butter wasn't something that could wait until the Saturday grocery run. Oh no, the lack of butter needed to be solved immediately with a trip to the store, where, quite conveniently, I could buy cards. I didn't just embrace the hobby, I bear hugged it.  I put together all three series of Topps flagship, Lineage, and made a concerted run at Heritage.  I dabbled in completing early sets of Heritage. I completed 3 vintage sets and started on two more. 

Misgiving

But, a funny thing happened.  2012 rolled around and I found out that I stopped caring.  My complete Topps flagship and Lineage base sets were sold off on EBay for a pittance.  I didn't buy a single pack of 2012 flagship, Gypsy Queen, Bowman, or A&G, and only one blaster of Topps Archive.

With it being made from real cardboard and based on vintage designs, I still carried a torch for Heritage. I made another run at the contemporary set.  But, here I am at the end of another year and I didn't finish it. Hell, I still haven't finished last year's Heritage.  And, to top it all off, I made no progress whatsoever on any of the other, previous Heritage offerings that I had intended to build. Now, as this year ends, I look at those binders with a jaundiced eye. Why should I chase 75 short prints of a set that evokes the feel of vintage sets, when I am more interested in the vintage sets themselves?  How best do I allocate my resources in order to maximize what I can accomplish?

One of the first things they teach you in B-school is not to honor your sunk costs. No matter how much money you sink into a project if, if it isn't financially justified to move forward, you don't sink another penny into it. You walk away.  I can apply this ruthlessly in my work, but I sit here and stare at my Heritage binders and cannot walk away.

Giving

The time will come when I either rekindle my love for Heritage or give it up. There is no need to rush it.  That is the beauty of a hobby.  It isn't business and you don't have to treat it as such.  So, for now, I will continue to work my vintage sets and plug away at other sets which catch my fancy, like Obak or Fleer Greats of the Game.

 Thanksgiving

As we approach the holiday, it is natural to sit back and reflect on what we have to be thankful for.  Despite a problematic start, I have much to be thankful for in 2012.  And the card blogging community is on that list.  Even though, by eschewing most of the modern cards, my trade activity has dwindled almost to nothing, I still enjoy reading your blogs and sharing your excitement.  

Thank you. 

What I am listening to: Runaway Train by Soul Asylum.