I broke down

if you are a horse racing fan I do not mean what you are thinking . . . for the rest of you . . . I made a set purchase I vowed not to do since I re-entered this hobby several months ago.

Some of you may remember that several months ago at a local card show I grabbed a bunch of Cubs cards from a bargain bin (20 cards for $ 1.00) and two cards (the 1995 Flair Mark Grace #332 and Sammy Sosa #334) made a unique impression on me. Being a vintage kind of guy, this set intrigued me for some odd reason. I was able to pick up a few other cards a month later in another bargain bin find (12 to be exact) and that just fueled my fire.

For the last few months I have been looking at ebay, craigslist, sportlots and checkoutmycards trying to decide how and where I could find or put together the complete set. I sometimes even asked myself "why".

Last week I broke down and found the complete set (432 cards) for sale on ebay, went ahead and put in a bid. After a few days of increasing in $ .50 increments the set was mine for under $ 12.00 (not including shipping). I am not sure if that s a good price or fair price - I dont really care . . . I like this set and am glad I "won".

Now a bit about this set: the 1995 Flair has 432 cards in the basic set; series I and series II with seven subsets (now my real hunt begins). The fronts feature a horizontal border less design with a dual photograph and the backs are the traditional vertical alignment and showcase a third mostly full body, though cropped at the knees, photo.

The stats on the back only show five or six years of play though do highlight some players minor league performances, if only in the bigs for a couple of years. That to me is the only down side from this set, because I do like looking at a whole career worth of numbers but I do like the photography. Every card, as much as I can tell, are single player photos - no one lurking, no one sharing space, no other player on any ones card except for the player themselves.

The Cubs have fifteen (15) cards, part in series I and part in series II. For those who remember, 1995 was the year Ryne Sandberg "retired" and is not included in this set. A disappointment for this Cubs fan but . . .

I will be putting this complete set in nine pocket page protectors sheets and start looking for those subsets. If any of you are interested in my "doubles" let me know (I only have 12 but they are fair game to anyone) . . . I have Garrett Anderson, Rafael Palmeiro, Barry Larkin, Alex Gonzalez, Ron Gant, Ryan Klesko, J T Snow, Javier Lopez, Randy Johnson, Bobby Jones, Dante Bichette and Jim Edmonds - my doubles of Grace and Sosa are going to a special young Cubs fan I know.

I dont breakdown very often and am still not sure why I have taken a liking to this "modern" set but . . . I did . . . break down that is.

Where and how do I start ?

Three and a half months ago I started this blog and had no idea what, where, how or anything about the blogosphere, bloggers or the "new" hobby I had so loved way back when. Today I can honestly say I still have no idea of so many things but one thing is for sure - baseball card bloggers are some of the most generous people around !

Opening Day 2009 (yes April 6th) was a day to remember. The Cubs won and I received a "small" box of cards from Jim at gcrl . A say "small" as sarcastically as I can - it was a 400 count box filled with CUBS cards ! On the day the Cubs win I won too !




From Sandberg to Dawson to Wood, Sosa and Grace- so many swings and smiles to make my heart go beat beat beat. Did you notice the Sandberg and Dawson 1988 Leaf pop ups ? Upper left corner in photos (The ones with the outline around their torso).
Check out Sosa running so fast in his powerful stride that his helmet flies off (1997 Topps # 305) and Kerry Wood showing off his "secret" grip on the ball (2008 UD # 327).
Jim also sent some "vintage", heritage, tradition, archives and cards of stars from yesteryear. A batting champ (Madlock) a Hall of Famer (Jenkins) and half an all-star infield (Santo - Kessinger) plus a few Cubs that could have been somethings.

Did I mention that Jim sent a few cards . . .


So many more Cubs cards and so many 1991's from Fleer, Stadium Club, Topps, Leaf, and Studio 91; all for my daughters binder and did I mention some Cubs cards ? !

Something only a Rangers fan may find interesting; in the Fleer 1991 set, there is a pitcher named Jeff Russell and a catcher named John Russell - did they ever appear together as battery mates making a Russell Russell battery ?

Jim also sent a stack of O-Pee-Chee 1986 Cubs cards and several 1988 Pacific Trading (series 1) to get me closer to completing that set.

All in all, Jim sent me so many cards that as soon as I though I was getting organized, I have more to log in and store.

For me Opening Day 2009 will be remembered for the generosity of a blogger named Jim of gcrl the Dodger fan from Minnesota. Thank you !

more from the show

this being my second (and last) post "showing off" my finds at the card show this past Saturday I want to remind everyone that I did remember my promise to stick to my budget etc . . . and most of my "to do" promises for the wife . . .

For starters, I did pick up several 1970 Topps cards (mostly mid-high numbers) in addition to the ever elusive Al Oliver # 166 (gold trophy topps all-star rookie card). Since I am chronicling this set card by card I will not post any scans . . . yet. I am now at 683 of 720 or 95 % complete; soon I will have to splurge on the Reggie Jackson (#140), Henry Aaron (#500) and the Nolan Ryan (#712). Those are my only missing big ticket cards. Getting closer I am . . .

At the last show I went to I was introduced to the 1995 Flair set with my the one only card, Sammy Sosa #334 - I really like this card / set and added them to my "look for" list. I found a small handful, actually 13 of these heavy card stock cards, in a bargain basket.

These three show off the fronts of my new favorite "modern" set. I really like the horizontal look, double photo, and scripted initials of the players (the scans may not be so clear for that ). Finding a future HOF'er (possibly two in Larkin and Johnson) as well as a Mark Grace was nice.

I also scanned a back for you to see. The backs show a third (different) photo of each player, is the traditional up/down orientation but only shows five or six years of stats (the only down side to these cards). I liked this Ryan Klesko photo . . . each hand holding a batting glove as he seems to be leading off of first base.

I also could not pass up on a few (actually found five) Ken Griffey Jr cards . . .

including two 1991's for my daughters binder and one for me with Griffey Sr and his two sons.

My real "splurge" came from the 1976 Topps set . . . The Sporting News All-Time All Stars !

This small (10 card) sub-set is a real classic. I added these three cards to bring me only one short of completion (missing Babe Ruth # 345). Who can resist these classic black and white photos of when baseball was so different.

I also picked up a few random Cubs cards to fill some gaps; including these two; a 1968 Lee Elia # 561, though more famous for his managerial days / tirade he did appear as a pinch hitting infielder for the Cubs (though appeared in only 15 games) and a 1968 NL Pitching Leaders #5 with Fergie Jenkins.

And I could not pass up three great mustache cards !

So, all in all, I kept all (most) of my promises, had a blast looking around, added cards to several parts of my collection and now Opening Day is here !

Thanks for allowing me to share my limited yet fun additions.

Just a quick tease

I kept all of my promises . . . in regards to the card show I attended earlier today; most importantly the budget side of things. While the show was a bit of a disappointment, with only ten dealers, and way too many basketball, football, hockey and golf cards to go along with the usual over priced fake walnut framed cards; I was able to find some goodies and here is just a sample.

To satisfy my Chicago Cub sweet tooth:

three Mark Graces': swinging, squatting and snipping (the leather with his teeth I presume)

and a couple of Andre Dawson's: his sweet swing and one in an Expo uniform but it is Wrigley Field in the background right ? !

and from my "want" list three 1969 Topps All-Star Rookies (I like those gold trophies) ; there are two World Series champions (Koosman 1969 Mets and Unser with the 1980 Phillies) to go along with the "error" gold trophy printed on Boswell's card.

So there you go . . just a bit of a tease from my card show adventure today. More later . . . I have a wifeless Saturday night to enjoy . . .

A CUBS extravaganza

Thanks to A Cardboard Problem my Cubs collection took a big boost today. Once again the generosity of fellow bloggers make me smile. The offer to send "free cards" of my favorite team was too hard to pass up and I just received a small box of 117 cards -all Chicago Cubs. Here is a picture of about half of them.

Yes, many of them are the over-produced mid 1980's cards but for his Cub fan one can not have enough duplicates of these (great for putting in team sets, team binders and year binders). Thank you ! An added note of interest to those who care; there were three Ryne Sandbergs, four Andre Dawsons, two Mark Grace and three Greg Maddux's.

There was also two 1981 Cubbies: Lenny Randle and Larry Biittner.

A small collection of Frank DiPino - a twelve year, 5 team journeyman who spent the middle of his career (2 1/2 years; 1986-87-88) as a Cub. DiPino's highlight was in 1989 going 9 - 0 for the St Louis Cardinals.

Two 1998 Fleer Ultra, my first cards of this set and nice cards they are.

And one cannot forget to mention two of the happiest Cubs ever, always smiling, always playing hard; Manny Trillo and Bob Dernier.

Thank Card Bandits and A Cardboard Problem . . .you have given this Cubs Fan much to smile about !

My first card show in 2009

. . . to be perfectly honest, I went to my first card show since 1991 (yes that is right, 17, seventeen years ago). I had been itching to find a local show since I started this blog and finally found one fifteen minutes away in a small hotel.

I did the smart thing and printed out my "needs" list, added a few notes and ventured out. Promising myself to stick to a budget, keep my "needs" in mind and not succumb to buying the latest and greatest. I think I did ok . . .

here is a summary of what I picked up:
a) 5 Topps All-Star Rookie cards from the mid 1970's (all "needs" and set me back just $ 1.00)

b) a starter set of 25 cards from 1991 called Studio 91 of Fleer; not sure how many are in the set but I am looking for 1991's so this was a good find ( $ 2.00 for all 25)

c) in my quest to complete my 1970 set, I found a nice guy who had quite a collection of "vintage" cards - I picked up 17 cards, including a Juan Marichel, Brooks Robinson and the "Seaver Wins Opener" from the NL Playoffs (all for $ 15.00)

d) I saw a box marked 20 cards for $ 1.00 all sorted by team. How could I resist ? ! I picked up 40 Chicago Cubs; including two Andre Dawson ('92 Leaf, '90 UD), a '83 Ferguson Jenkins, a 1995 Flair Sammy Sosa (never heard of Flair before today and really like this card), a 1978 George Mitterwald, a 1979 Dave Rader and a few Maddux's, Sandbergs, Zambrano's, Lee's, Soriano's, and even a Vintage 1963 Mark Grace (1998 Fleer) . . . a great pick up of 40 cards for only $ 2.00 !

I will be scanning several of these finds and sharing more with you but for now I just wanted to let everyone know that I survived my first card show in seventeen years, stuck to my budget and found some real good deals (I think). It is now time for me to put away my "needs" list and tend to the "honey do" list . . .