10 Bucks at an Estate Sale

I was browsing on FB Marketplace, and someone in the next town over was doing an "online estate sale" -- posting single items or lots they had for sale.  Scrolling through, I saw one of the pictures looked like this.

I was a little worried that it said "Pre-1990s" (since that includes the 1980s junk wax), but it had a 1972 Topps on the front and the backs I could see poking up looked old, too.   I was itching to open something -- I had nearly purchased a Fairfield Repack blaster at Target the night before, and talked myself out of it -- so I bought it!  I was expecting about 150 cards from that picture, so for half of the price of a blaster I was willing to gamble.  Let's see what was in there.

Total cards:  212

I'll go "oldest-to-newest" on these.

1968: 1 card // 1969: 2 cards

The Alley is in good condition.   The checklist, however, is all marked up. 

1970: 3 cards

Some nice cards to go in my trade boxes here.

1971: 56 cards

Here's where we start to get into the majority of the box.  There was a big stack of these.

Condition varied a lot.  The two on the top row were in fantastic shape!   The ones on the bottom - eek!  I'm not sure how you do that to the corners without tearing them off.

There were a couple highlights in here - Two Willie Stargells.  Pops!   One in pretty nice shape, and one a bit more worn.

Two of Pirate legend Bill Mazeroski, and a nice condition card of Dock Ellis.

1972: 99 cards.   

When it looked like there were a few '72s in the box....I definitely underestimated!   This was half of the box. 

Condition varied a lot on these.  Here's some bad guys.  Many of them looked like they had water damage on the top edge, which sullied some otherwise nice vintage cards.   The Maddox is a LITTLE miscut.  Someone took a red pen to Carlton/Seaver, and they have apparently made a lot of progress on their '72 checklist, too!

Showing the damage a little more...you can see it at the top of these HOFers.

However, there were quite a few "names" which were in outstanding condition!  Will keep a few of these and trade the rest.  Another Dock Ellis, too.

1973: 21 cards

Here's everything from that year.  Brooks suffered a little top damage, but the Blyleven looks nice.

Rockcards!  13 cards.  Someone opened a pack of these.  It had a few big stars I recognized.

The rest: 16 cards

 There was some other junk in there (including a little pile of bent 1994 Topps).  But these all caught my eye - George Bell "hole puncher" variation, an Elks membership card from Palm Desert, CA (I don't live there....), a Yamaha motorbike, and a nice 1994 Piazza.

I will enjoy putting these in my trade list on TCDB.  If you see anything you'd like, let me know!

In summary: 

Did I enjoy the variety in this box?  Yes!  

Did I get my money's worth?  Yes!  

Was this better than a repack blaster?  Yes!  

So I end this post as a happy camper.

Question:  Which card should I keep in my collection forever and ever?

Stealing Home Every Night

I've been away for awhile, but had to jump in and post two gift packages that recently landed in my mailbox.

First, Peter at "Baseball Every Night" was giving away team slots from his recent Series 2 purchase, so I snatched up the Royals from that. 

My fave pickups here were the Alex Gordon gold parallel, along with a Matt Strahm insert.

There were lots of new cards to me here -- good to see a card of Cheslor Cuthbert -- but can't help but wonder why Peter O'Brien got a card when he never made the 25-man roster for us and was waived by us in May (then waived by the Reds....then waived by the Rangers...).

Thank you so much, Peter!  Everyone remember to send him your Kruk and Strawberry cards!

Right after that one came, I got one from Stealing Home at "All Trade Bait" -- He was running a Big Fun Game of his own and my selection of Lot #6 netted me a big pile of rookies.  Here were my favorites from that stack.

Everybody was so young in these pictures!  Mostly I remember Charlie Hough as the first pitcher ever for the Marlins.  He was 45 when he did that (in 1993), so I would say he had a little longevity in the game of baseball.

These are great!  Thank you, sir!!!

I may be vanishing again soon...baby #3 is due in two weeks, so who knows how that will change everything.

A bientot!

Engagement Pictures and Aquatic Exploration



1997 Fleer Metal Universe - #91 - Johnny Damon

Why is Johnny Damon being attacked?  By a MOLLUSK?!?!  The scan does not do this bad-boy justice.  This is a picture of JD with a diving helmet super-imposed over his head while the squid tries to take out his legs and drag him back to the sea.  Oh, Fleer Metal -- you were awesome. This (along with everything else in this post) came from Jaybarkerfan's last card draft. 

The main reason I had bought-into this draft was for this guy:

2002 Topps Gold Label - Frank White Relic - #ACR-FW

I was the #1 overall pick...and it was MINE!  Frank White in the baby blues.  It's a shame how the KC front-office has treated him lately.  He was always one of my favorites, and loved his commentary during the TV broadcasts. I used my next set of picks to get this one:

2004 SPx Autograph Relic - Justin Huisman - #183 - #/799

I could tell Huisman was a Royal, but I did not remember him AT ALL.  So I went to do a little research on him, and the first thing that came up were his engagement pictures:

She seems nice. 

Justin's MLB career consisted of 25 IP over 14 games back in 2004.  He's now the coach of the "Northwest Indiana Oilmen"...a collegiate team.

Ginter Minis - Rasputin, Robert E. Lee, Alex Gordon

I got 3 Ginter minis, including one of Rasputin -- Russia's greatest love machine.  I cannot make an adequate statement about the relative love machine greatness of Lee or Gordon.


1972 Topps Leo Durocher, 2002 Fleer Platinum Wheelhouse Ichiro

I picked the Durocher since he looked a little crabby.  I picked the Ichiro because it had gears on it.  Turns out that one is embossed, too.
Wes threw in some more goodies for me in addition to the formal picks.


2011 Topps Lineage - Billy Butler Mini and Base

Billy Butler was the ONLY Royal on the Lineage checklist last year, and now I've got his mini and his base card.  Sidebar Rant:  When people were doing Lineage group breaks last year, I asked a few of them how much it would be to get the Royals.  They said it was the same price as any other team.  I pointed out to them that it was only these cards, but they didn't budge.  Needless to say, they didn't sell the Royals because you would have to be an idiot to pay the same price for the Royals that you would for the Yankees or Dodgers.  Many people who run group breaks do a good job of varying the prices based on the team and the checklists of the boxes they are opening, but if you are running group breaks where you sell all single-team-slots for a flat price, you are severely under-charging some people and over-charging others.
  

1997 E-X 2000 - Jermaine Dye and Johnny Damon

Last but not least, these two are from the 1997 E-X2000 set.  The sky/clouds piece is a translucent plastic so that you see that part better when there is a light behind it.  These are super-fun.  I got the Barry Bonds from this set, too.  

I like the looks of these.  I only wonder how much more Fleer Metal could have improved these...maybe have a giant hawk in the sky shooting lasers at Jermaine?  Maybe have Johnny trying to hit a jet fighter with his bat?  Some sort of DRAGON?

I think more cards should have a dragon...or at least a leviathan.