Is 2 always better than 1?

One of my newest pickups is this Michael Pineda Topps Fines dual jersey autograph. The sexiness of this card is high. It's a refractor. It's low-numbered. There's an autograph. And there is a jersey swatch. Actually, there are two of them.

I don't really get that. Sure, I appreciate the extra swatch, but why put two of the exact same pieces right next to each other? One would have looked just fine. Or maybe a home and away swatch? I don't mind multiple swatches, but that's an opportunity to something a little more than just two of the exact same thing.

eBay Bargin Bin: 1962 Post Elston Howard

I've mentioned before than once in awhile, eBay can act like a bargain bin for those of us who don't have an LCS, local shows, or are lucky enough to go to the National.

It's doesn't happen much, but there are cheap, bargain bin-esque deals to be had!

I won this well-loved 1962 Post Elston Howard for $.17 plus $.50 shipping. Definitely the type of card I would snag in a bargain bin. These deals don't come up frequently, but when they do, it feels damn good.

Grinding my gears

I haven't been great at posting lately. I've just been a little lazy. Haven't busted packs in a long time, but I am steadily receiving packages from other bloggers, eBay, and even Listia. Still, basically all that leaves for me is a show-and-tell post, which about 95% of my posts seem to be. Oh well. I'm not trying to impress anybody.

For the seemingly minimum bid of 499 credits, I picked up two nice Bernie Williams cards on Listia. This is the card that really caught my attention. I apologize for the dark scan, but the card is super shiny and this is the best I could do:

This is a 2000 Skybox Metal Hit Machines insert. It's a very cool card and reeks of the 1990s despite just missing the decade by a year. As you can see, it's diecut around the gear. Presumably these gears represent the machine-like tendency of hitters in the year 2000. "I'm not a machine." - Albert Pujols.

As with many cards like this, the edges catch when placing it in a sleeve or top loader. That happened the first time I took the card out, which really annoyed me...or grinded my gears, if you will. Still, it's a great card that reminds me of my collecting heyday.

I also thought that the gear looked a little like a Reese's Cup. Night Owl would never name this set, but if he did, I hope that "Peanut Butter Cup Set" would be an option.

Switching gears (last pun, I promise)...

This Pacific Latinos of the Majors card also accompanied it. It's a very "Pacific" card. I always liked this insert set because Tino was included (despite being born and raised in Tampa). I wonder how bad Topps would get killed if they put out an insert called "Latinos of the Majors" right now? I feel like Pacific had a pass since they produced Spanish-language cards in the early '90s.

Anyhow, while Bernie was never necessarily a PC-guy for me, I would never pass up two shiny inserts of him.

The NEW oldest card in my collection

Up until last week, this was the oldest card in my collection.

Not bad. I was content with it. A vintage Goudey is nothing to be ashamed of.

However, that was until I was Zippy Zapped. Kenny from Cervin’Up Cards sent me a package of cards (which I’ll post about in the near future), and stuck in the middle of a stack of modern-day Yankee cards was this:

Here, look again:

Amazing, isn’t it? This little T206…ohhh, I just got shivers typing “T206”…it happened again when I just did that…is just an incredible thing to behold. I’ve never held one of these antique cards in my hand. I’m always surprised how tiny they are, but wow, are they ever cool! These are the types of cards that are in museums and behind glass cases, not in brown bubble mailers and stuck between two 2013 Topps cards. Not in my hands and certainly not in my collection.

I’d be thrilled to own any T206 (shiver) card, but Joe Lake is extra cool. First off, the card is of Lake as a New York Highlander. Kenny is a huge Highlanders fan, so I’m sure it was not easy for him to send this to a new home. I hope he has an upgraded copy of this card. Lake pitched for NY from 1908 to 1909, and then for St. Louis and Detroit until 1913. His best season for NY in 1909, going 14-11 with a 1.88 ERA in 215 innings. Not bad!

Second, Lake’s first name is “Joe.” My son’s name is Joey. Or Joe. Or Joe-Joe. The card is from the set that was released from 1909-1911. My son was born in 2011. So this card is 100-102 years older than him. Let’s call it an even 100 for the sake of coolness. When I inevitably give this card to him one day, all these minor coincidences will hopefully make the card that much more special to him.

From my limited research, it appears this card had both the Sweet Caporal and Piedmont backs. It’s in what I consider remarkable condition. There is a pencil or ink mark on the back. It was a probably a TTM success. Ok, probably not, but let me pretend.

 

Zippy Zappy, this card is spectacular. Thank you so much!

Pineda 1/1 Patch!

The card above is now the centerpiece of my Michael Pineda collection!

A while back, Chris over at Stale Gum found some discounted packs of 2012 Topps baseball. I believe those were the first ones he bought.

He happened to pull a Topps All-Star Game 1/1 Letter Patch of Michael Pineda. Being a Pineda collector, I needed it!

Chris was kind enough to trade it to me for a bevy of cards from his want list. I love it! Woo!
I've been wanting to add a Pineda 1/1 to my collection, and this is a great addition. I noticed a couple of interesting things when the card arrived that I didn't notice the first time around when I was drooling over the card on Chris' blog.

First off, the card is crazy thick, which is to be expected. I'm curious if packs containing these cards felt differently?

Second, there is no jersey! It's just the letter glued to the cardboard backing. Not sure why, but I expected a red jersey swatch around the letters. I found that to be interesting. I just figured that Topps would snip the jersey along with the letter. It looks a little odd and empty. Just a letter stuck on cardboard. I would have at least colored the cardboard instead of just sticking it on the brownish piece.

Either way, very cool. I hope it is, in fact, from the All-Star Game workout jersey that Pineda wore. I'm thrilled to finally have a Pineda 1/1, and thank the infamous Stale Gum for the trade.

Sketchy-ness: A humbling experience

The other day, I drew Derek Jeter and Mike Trout sketch cards, each highlighting an amazing catch they have made in their career. I don't know why, but I feel like these types of moments aren't captured on cardboard very frequently, although Gypsy Queen has been doing a good job with their Wall Climbers and Glove Stories inserts. No qualms there. Credit where credit is due.

There are some amazing sports artists out there who make a living drawing and painting. I've always been envious of their skill. So, I did something I've never done. I put these cards on eBay.

I didn't expect big bucks. There are far better sketch/painted cards that don't even fetch much money. I'm talking very beautiful masterpieces. There are some very established artists that churn out sketch cards pretty frequenty, and do sell for $30-$40 each. Not bad. Being unknown, I figured mine might sell for a few bucks each.

The Jeter went for just north of $5, while the Trout went for a little over $3.

I don't have much of a right to be disappointed since I was expecting much. It's a humbling experience. Gratifying to know that someone would fork over a few bucks for something you created from scratch, but also a bit disappointing that it was "only" worth a few bucks.

Will I keep doing this? Maybe. I know I'll never make much money doing this, it's not why I do it. But it is a nice way to add a few bucks to the Paypal account while doing something I enjoy. Mostly, I just need practice so I can improve my skill. I love drawing and painting, and while painting is currently something that takes a lot of time and space, sketch cards don't. It helps my relieve my artistic itch.

Hypothetical question

Sometimes I feel like I should downsize my collection. I don't want to. It wouldn't be by choice. I love having the quantity of great Yankee cards that I do. A lot of it is just due to where I live. In NYC-area housing, space is limited. With two kids, space is even more limited. I'm sure once I do move to a bigger place (in the next year or so), I'll have more room to store my collection and can laugh at the thought of downsizing.

But it gets me thinking sometimes. If my wife said that I can only keep one box of cards, what would I keep? She's very reasonable and patient, so she never would, but what if one day she said, "I'm sick of the daily bubble mailers. You get one box, and only one box." What would I keep?

Now, if I only get one box, I'm going to get everything I can out of it. So I'm going to go with this box:

Now hmmm, what would I keep? Well, i gotta keep my nearly 700 Tinos. And with thick relics and whatnot, that would probably take up at least one whole row.

 

I'd also need to keep my TTM autographs. I've put a lot of time into those, especially my Topps Yankees collection.

I'd keep the majority of my Yankee relics as well. I'm still in the camp where relics feel special, likely because I never pull them from packs. They haven't gotten old for me. I wouldn't be able to keep them all, but I'm thinking 25 or 30.

Jeter. I have a few hundred. Those aren't going anywhere.

My vintage! I couldn't give up my vintage cards. Perhaps 1965 and earlier would stay, plus guys like Mantle, Ford, and Munson later on.

Prospects! I have to keep a few of those around. Maybe even one day one will pan out and I'll be able to cash in. Not why I do it, but still...

Non-baseball. I'd have to keep my 50 or so Michael Jordan cards.

Then, I'd probably keep a large assortment of other Yankees cards, from the 70s-today. Not being a set collector would actually come in handy here, since I wouldn't have to worry about keeping complete sets together.

So now I ask you. If you had to condense to just one box, what would you keep?