Sports Cards Ate My Brain

All of the free time I've had from not having to commute five days a week and not going out of the house very often made me go through all of my cards in the past few months. An influx of money made me buy more cards than I normally do. I finally ran out of money and cards in storage and decided to really look at what I wanted to keep and what I could move in some way. Here is what I decided I don't need. There are more boxes at the bottom of the stack.  That stack of graded cards includes every graded card I have.  They are pretty much crap as most of them are BCCG cards from repacks bought over the years. The stack has many, many base cards of all sports but also includes some vintages cards, many Hall-of-Famers, and a bunch of memorabilia and autographed cards.  Most of these are from 2011 and before. If someone in the Atlanta area wants to take them off my hands and is willing to pick them up and carry them all down one flight we can negotiate. At this point I'm not w...

When I was 19 years old I was a member of Young Democrats.  On election night 1986 a friend and I went to the election headquarters of Wyche Fowler who was running for Senate against Republican incumbent Mac Mattingly. Fowler beat Mattingly that night.  I was hanging out with a local TV reporter and his producer who were covering the election and an unassuming man came over to talk to the TV reporter. He was introduced to me as John Lewis, who had just won the election for Wyche Fowler's former Congressional seat.  I congratulated Mr. Lewis and he said a few gracious words and then moved on around the room. I was an ignorant 19 year old.  To me the Civil Rights Movement meant Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  As a middle class white kid in the early 80's this is really all we were taught.  If I would have know then what an impact John Lewis had on American history I probably wouldn't have been able to speak to him because he was such an imposing historical f...

The next of my recent non-sports posts is Game of Thrones Season 8 from Rittenhouse.   Over the years I've bought boxes of just about every season as well as some boxes of the Inflexions line.  The only seasons I don't have at least one autographed card from are 4 and 5. This, of course, will be the last box of a season I'll be able to get new as the show came to a satisfying, yes I said satisfying, end. As usual with these boxes I got a complete set of the base cards. The box promised two autographs. This card was a surprise hit for me and can be well paired with the Season 3 Sophie Turner autographed card I have. This is only the second character wardrobe card I've gotten from the show and is part of the costume in the picture. Daniel Tuite played Lothar Frey who was one of the planners of the Red Wedding so we hate him.  I do like these "full bleed" autographs as there as also bordered autograph cards. As mentioned in a previous post there is a trend lately...

I decided to shop on Topps.com and they had 2019 Star Wars Masterwork listed.  I paid the most I've ever paid for a box of cards and I got two. Masterworks has four packs or miniboxes in each box and promises four hits. Here's what I got:   These are purple parallels of the base card. I got two of the base autographs. The first one is they guy who was the voice of the Emperor so not a thrill here.  I'm not a big fan of autographs from voice actors in the Star Wars universe as I do not watch the cartoons. The only autograph I care about from these boxes.  This is a rainbow foil parallel of Denis Lawson who played Wedge Antillies.  After the other two autographs it was very welcome to get a familiar character. Here are a couple of 1/1 sketch cards by Anthony Figaro and Matthew Hirons respectively.  This now takes me from two sketch cards to four in my collection.  As usual the artists have signed the back of the cards.  While these are not character...

I am a big Star Wars fan and have bought a box of just about every product that Topps has released lately.  I decided to get a box of 2020 Women of Star Wars. When I got the box I realized that there were fewer packs than I thought so a complete set cannot be completed out of a box as is usual with most Star Wars releases. Here are the hits: Amy Allen was an employee behind the scenes at Lucasfilm before she was chosen to play Aayla Secura in episodes II and III.  Aayla Secure originally appeared in comic books.  This is the blue parallel version of the card, numbered out of 50. The other big hit I got is this unique sketch card of Queen Amidala.  It is by Patricio Carrasco and his signed on the back by the artist.  This is only the second sketch card I've ever pulled after a Walking Dead one I got a couple of years ago. I was pleased with these two cards but don't plan on buying another box of this product unless it is on deep discount.

I am one of millions of people in the world that love James Bond movies.  I have seen all of them at least once. Depending on when you were born and started watching the movies everyone has a favorite Bond.  Mine in Roger Moore.  The first Bond movie I saw was The Spy Who Loved Me.  My dad and I went.   I enjoyed the comedy aspect of the Roger Moore movies although some people didn't think they were serious enough. All I know was I wanted to talk about "shared bodily warmth" with Major Amasova (played by Barbara Bach). I've collected some Bond cards over the years but never bought I full box so I decided to buy a box of 2019 James Bond collection.  Like most recent boxes of recent non-sport releases it promised an autographed card or 2 in this case. The base cards have an acetate parallel.  I pulled this classic villain card of Rosa Kleb from the Spy Who Loved Me.  I'm pretty sure that Mike Myers was inspired by Kreb when creating Frau Farbis...

I recently purchased boxes of 2013 and 2014 Panini Golden Age. These sets were similar to Upper Deck Goodwin's Champions in that they featured retired players and historical figures.  They also tied in with Panini Americana as far as having memorabilia and autographs from pop culture figures. Each box promised two autos or relics. I had bought boxes when they orginally came out and pulled these a John Belushi shirt card and autographs of Angie Dickenson, Jan Stephenson and John Schneider. Here is what I got from this purchase: 2013 Bob Denver is most famously remembered as Gilligan from Gilligan's Island.  I also have a memorabilia card of him from Donruss Americana. Billy Sunday was a baseball player but is better known as an evangelist.  This card is a short print version as well as a rare white bordered parallel of the base card. I also got an autographed card of former Miami Dolphins running back Jim Kiick that I forgot to scan. 2014 Tatum O'Neal was 10 when she starr...

I loved the show Twin Peaks back in the early 1990's when it first aired and I have the original card set so I decided to get a box of 2019 Twin Peaks Archives. It promised 2 autos per box and with the great cast the show had I figured I would get some good cards.  I got a complete set of the base cards to go with my earlier set. Here are my hits: One Eyed Jacks was the Casino/Brothel in town.  This is a replica poker chip from the casino and is very heavy.  These cards are apparently less than one per box and there is also a "broken" version. Billy Zane is a veteran of many films and TV shows.  He placed John Justice Wheeler on Twin Peaks.  He is probably best known for being the "bad guy" in Titanic. Another veteran actor, Richard played the richest man in town, Benjamin Horne.  Richard played Tony in the movie West Side Story, opposite Natalie Wood. While the poker chip card is an unexpected oddity the autograph cards met my expectations of the quality o...

Over a few purchases I have bought roughly 8 packs of Bowman 1st Edition and 7 packs of Bowman Jumbo.  I have not hit anything that will make me a millionaire but I have also not busted out. I've achieved the base triple (1st Edition, Bowman, Chrome) of Jasson Dominguez. The same with Bobby Witt Jr. and Robert Puason. I've gotten one numbered card from 1st Edition. A Chrome Refactor and a Bowman Yellow "paper." Out of the Jumbo packs I've gotten three autographs. A Quin Cotton Sparkle. A Glennallen Hill Jr. Purple.  (Who else feels old that Glennallen Hill's child is old enough to be drafted.) And my best pull: This nice Robert Puason Sparkle autograph. Overall I have been pleased with what I've gotten but not amazed. As with any Bowman product I'll wait 5-10 years before I really know what kind of value I got.

My second package from Monday is all Al Kaline. 1959 Topps is one of my favorite sets.  I have an Eddie Mathews from this year also. The 1961 Topps design is a little basic for my taste but this was picked up cheap so not going to complain. 1963 Topps has grown on me over the years.  This is the only Hall of Famer I have from this set. 1967 Topps is another classic design.  We love a good spring training photo with random people in the background. Overall I liked this purchase and the other one and will use the marketplace again when I decide to buy some more vintage Tigers.

I decided to delve into the world of the Beckett marketplace for the first time to start my Tigers vintage collection. My father was a Tigers fan since he grew up outside of Detroit in the 40's and 50's. I ordered from two dealers on the site. Here are the cards from the first package. These first two are form 1953 Bowman Color.T  Bill Wight and Johnny Pesky were both traded from the Red Sox to the Tigers in the 1952 season.  These are my second and third Bowman Color cards after my Braves Jack Daniels card. The other two cards are these lovely 1958 Topps.  This is my oldest Kaline cards and a second year Jim Bunning.  I love 1958 Topps and have a few nice Braves from this year also. Before these 4 cards my oldest Tiger was my 1960 Norm Cash so I'm happy to get cards from when my father was younger and may have seen these guys play in Tiger Stadium. Overall I am happy with this purchase and even got a 15% off code if I purchase from this dealer again.