Vintage Cubs Saturday

As I went out running errands Saturday afternoon I popped into a couple Target’s in search of more Bowman. I went 0-for-2 at my two stops, and the second store is just a few blocks away from a card shop.

Maybe I’ll pull the trigger on a hobby box, I thought. I walked into Jim’s Card Korner and he had hobby boxes for $159. That’s the cheapest I have seen.

Jim and I talked about Bowman and as we conversed I talked myself out of it. In years past it’s been difficult paying $80 for Bowman. Why would I want to pay double what I already don’t like paying? Diamond Kings Hobby boxes were marked at $89. It’s a really nice product and loaded with Ohtani. But at $89 for two hit and only 96 cards in a box I couldn’t pull the trigger.

There are not too many singles at this shop, but I happened to ask Jim if he had any vintage singles. “Actually this box (vintage G.I. Joe figure box) came in this morning. They’re in pretty rough shape.” Perfect! I love poor conditioned vintage. Mainly because it’s much cheaper. It also shows some character.

I like beat up cards. A few years ago a friend and I would set up at a card show in Springfield, Illinois. There was an older guy that called himself “Mr. Fair to Good,” a play on Mr. Mint. He loved beat up vintage because they were cheap.

The first stack of cards was 1956 Topps. Hank Aaron was on top. A few cards in was Ernie Banks. It’s actually not too bad, at least for me. Someone had initialed “M.H.” in pencil.

I flipped through and there were a few more Cubs. Some of them I already have in the collection. One card I didn’t have was the team card.

How much for the Banks, I asked. Jim said, $20. Seemed fair to me. How about the Cubs team card? I’d do $5, Jim answered. Sold!

After a Costco run, I opened the mailbox to find a small bubble mailer. This was an eBay purchase from the week as I have been shopping for some pre-War cards. I stumbled upon an auction for a 1921 W516 strip card of Grover Cleveland Alexander.

Initially my max bid was $20, but was outbid with about an hour remaining. This is too cool a card, and you don’t see many Grover Cleveland Alexander Cubs cards. I raised my max to $30 and when the final bell sounded it was mine for $27.50.

There were also two flat rate boxes on my porch. I’ll post about those tomorrow.

Two Tobacco Cards Added From Possibly the World's Most Complete Cubs Collection

Back in October I was sent a link to a news story about a Cubs collection. I wasn’t expecting to blow me away. It did. The article wrote about a card shop in Rockford, Illinois (only 90 minutes from where I live) purchasing a large collection believed to be the largest Cubs baseball card collection.

In the past nine months, I’ve kept putting off the quick trip to check out a piece of the collection, but haven’t made the trip. The owner of the collection recently reached out to me on Twitter and let me know he was selling a few items on eBay.

WGN in Chicago even did a story on this Cubs haul.

Unfortunately, it was a couple days too late for what I had really been after. I’ve been eyeing Cubs cards from 1887 Old Judge for the past three years. About three years ago I passed on a couple that had been listed on eBay for around $110-120 each. I’ll consistently search eBay and come up empty.

Just before I was alerted to the eBay auctions I had done a search while laying on the couch. Whoah! There were three 1887 Old Judge Cubs auctions. Ending soon. Too soon. For something like this, I like to do a little research on the cards and players and the first auction ended at $100 before I even had a chance. Two more ended within minutes and I was a day late and a dollar short.

So, after our Twitter conversation I went back and checked out the listings and placed a few bids, winning two cards. They are now on my daily search list to see what’s listed next.

The first tobacco card I ever bought was a T206 Ed Reulbach back in 1998 or 1999. It set me back about $10 shipped. The same amount I sold a few 1998 Bowman Ruben Mateo rookie cards for. Tobacco cards are significantly more these days, and now I like to purchase authenticated versions. So, I was happy to land a 1911 Sweet Caporal T205 Ed Reulbach for just $21.05.

Another T205 of Orval Overall ended at $27. This is the first original Overall I’ve had in my collection. Always got a kick out of his name.

Hopefully @TopCutBreaks will be listing some more of these awesome Cubs cards, as I’ll be keeping a close eye. There’s a possibility I’ll be stopping by their shop in Rockford next Friday.

Saving Money Online Selling & Trading Sports Cards

Since I began collecting baseball and football cards as a kid in the late 1980’s I’ve been trading and selling them. There’s a common misconception that floats throughout the hobby that people selling their cards are shysters and are only in it for the money. False…for the most part.

While there are people out there only trying to make a buck, most collectors selling cards use that money to reinvest in the hobby. One of my biggest pet peeves is reading that people selling cards are “bad for the hobby.” That’s ludicrous. First of all, money is exchanging hands which is good. Second, much of the money a seller gets by selling cards goes right back into the hobby. That’s great for the hobby.

Since I’ve been more actively selling and trading over the past few years I’m always seeking ways to save. Whether it be buying bubble mailers in bulk on eBay, used too loaders, tips on saving postage, and fees.

Supplies

If you plan on selling and trading more than once in a while, invest on supplies in bulk. Penny sleeves, top loaders, and mailers can be found for pennies (or fractions of a penny) on eBay. I buy used top loaders via flat rate box and try to find them for about $0.04 per loader. Penny sleeves can be found in bulk many places on the cheap, as well as all sizes of bubble mailers.

Postage

Just recently I discovered PayPal Shipping for non-eBay transactions. This covers my Sportlots sales as well as trades. If you walk into the post office with a standard bubble mailer it will cost you $3.50. On PayPal – $2.66. That’s a huge savings no matter how many transactions. Paypal doesn’t advertise this well. The link is PayPal.com/shipnow . When you start shipping cards in excess of 1,000 cards, flat rate boxes is the way to go. Again, use PayPal to save. Then there are the 400 and 500 count boxes. A filled 500-count box will run you about $11.00. Fortunately, Jenny blogged about flat rate envelopes for $7.25 that will fit a 500-count box. That tip is going to save me $4 on many trades. My post office doesn’t stock them, so I placed an order on the USPS website.

Fees

The reason I posted this blog was a change I made this week on PayPal. I’ve read about micro payments in the past, but PayPal doesn’t advertise this service well. And for good reason, because they are making a lot more money on their standard fee structure.

If most of your PayPal transactions are under $10, then micro payments are the way to go. Recently I upgraded my eBay store to list many of my cards at $2 and $3. I’ve been selling many cards for $1.99 with free shipping (in a plain white envelope). Under the standard fee structure it was $0.37. With micro payments it’s only $0.18. You can only have it one way. If you sign up for micro payments all transactions fall under the 5% fee plus $0.05 per transaction as opposed to the 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction. This means the break even point on the fee structure is $11.75.

I have found these tips to be very useful in saving money. And money saved means more money to spend on Cubs cards. Now who wants to put these tips to practice and trade me some Cubs cards?

New Cubs Prospects and Coozies Added on Mailday Monday

Three packages welcomed me home on Monday. As of Tuesday evening, I just tore into the first package. It’s been one of those weeks…and it’s only Tuesday!

Between family commitments and catching up on Sportlots and eBay orders (many from my weekend 2018 Bowman binge), I’m a bit behind.

But Charm City Autographs tweeted that he recognized his bubble mailer from the pile, and I knew he sent some sweet new cards…and more.

For the second time in my Twitter trading the plastic cases were protected by coozies. As previously mentioned, coozies get put to work in my house (moreso backyard), and I’ve always hoarded them.

A bright orange Baltimore & Annapolis Sports & Social Club coozie and a Baltimore Ravens coozie. Even though I’m a Bears fan, this is actually the third NFL coozie in my collection. A few years ago I was able to get a bunch of St. Louis football Cardinals and Arizona Cardinals memorabilia on the cheap at auction, so that is also in my rotation. It’s hit 80 degrees the last two days meaning it’s now coozie season.

Charm City mentioned that he was sending 54 Cubs to me and thought several would be new additions and he was correct. My favorite card of the bunch is not only new, but reminds me of good times at Peoria Chiefs games. Josh Harrison was one of my favorite Chiefs over the years and was really bummed when the Cubs traded him to the Pirates. Really sweet 2009 Tri-Star Projections featuring Harrison in a Chiefs uniform.

Another Peoria Chief in here is a 2011 Topps Pro Debut. I’ve never seen this card so it’s definitely new to the collection. I’m gonna have to go back and look at the Pro Debut checklists to see if I’m missing any others.

The minor league hits keep coming. My sweet spot! Todd Noel was a favorite prospect in the late 90’s and here he is with the Rockford Cubbies. Living just over an hour from Rockford, I really wish they were still a franchise. Now the Cubs are in South Bend and only come to Beloit every other year.

Before South Bend the Cubs’ Midwest League affiliate was in Kane County. Here’s a really sweet card from 2013 Heritage Minors of Albert Almora.

From 2006 Tri-Star is Jake Fox pictured with the Daytona Cubs.

And one more from Tri-Star. When I saw Brett Jackson with the Peoria Chiefs I thought he was going to be a MLB All Star. I was wrong.

Bruce Sutter fires a pitch from Wrigley Field in this sweet black and white photo on a 2015 Leaf Heroes of Baseball.

Jorge Soler was a beast. I really hope he has a great career with the Royals. We can look back fondly on his first home run on August 27, 2014.

Love the artwork on this 2006 SP Authentic Baseball Heroes of Derrek Lee, Kerry Wood, and Aramis Ramirez.

Thanks for the Cubs, Charm City! And the coozies!

Chicago Cubs 2018 Bowman Comes Raining In

Hobby prices for 2018 Bowman are out of this world. Typically, I have hard time forking over $80 for a hobby box of Bowman. This year, you’re lucky if you can find a hobby box for DOUBLE that. Online prices are in excess of $160 per box, and my local card shop had a $165 price tag.

Even months out the presale prices were outrageous. I made the decision early on that I was going retail only on Bowman.

Stalking retail outlets every day of release week, I finally found a small stash of three blasters at a local Target on Thursday. But it was Saturday that brought the mother lode. Even though I had visited my nearest Target on Friday afternoon with no Bowman in stock, I checked in before running some errands on Saturday morning. There they were in all of their glory. Six blaster boxes. I took them all.

Then I was off to the other stores. I found more at the next Target. Just a couple blasters and a few hanger packs. I ripped. Later on I wanted to see if Wal-Mart had been stocked. There is one area Wal-Mart that has a really good selection of cards, and it didn’t disappoint. More blasters, and more hanger packs. Then the next Wal-Mart was also stocked! Ice Cube said it best…Today Was A Good Day.

Of course I was after a Shohei Ohtani autograph. Who isn’t?!? But after that, I am looking for a David Bote Auto. The eBay prices are just insane. I’ll wait until things die down and scoop one up for $10 or less. In total, I pulled four autographs. My best? Thomas Hatch 90/99.

I pulled several hanger packs with the camo parallels. Two Cubs were included: Oscar DeLaCruz and Alex Lange. These are pretty cool. I like them much better than the yellow bordered retail exclusives.

I pulled a couple of the Kyle Schwarber Bowman Birthdays inserts.

Adbert Alzolay was tough to come by. In all of my packs I only pulled one Chrome and two paper. Also snagged a Thomas Hatch, two Alex Lange, and three Oscar De La Cruz.

For the veteran paper set Jen-Ho Tseng gets a rookie card. I don’t like action pitching photos on vertical cards, but they did it right here. The ball is in the shot and no arms are chopped off.

Look at that Anthony Rizzo smile!

Again, I like when the baseball gets captured in the image. Cool shot of a fielding Kris Bryant.

Great job of getting Alzolay in action on the mound on a vertical card. I much rather have a well cropped pitching image on a vertical card than any horizontal card.

The glove really pops on this Thomas Hatch card.

Bowman’s effort on this Oscar De La Cruz card is summed up by the look on his face. Try better next time.

Really excited to see Alex Lange progress. Hopefully he’ll be a big contributor soon.

Overall, I’m happy with 2018 Bowman. Not happy with hobby prices, but the retail breaks were fun. I do have all of my non-Cubs cards for sale in my Sportlots store and eBay store. I’m adding more to each…to fund buying more Cubs cards, of course.

Busy Week Adds 1,734 Cubs to the One Million Cubs Project

It was a busy week for the One Million Cubs Project. A total of 1,734 Cubs cards were added to the collection by varying means. There were 1,637 cards added through three trades, 15 cards added via Twitter purchase, 18 cards added through three eBay purchases, 2 cards added from my local card shop, 46 cards added from buying 2018 Bowman, and 17 cards added from the Walgreen’s jumbo boxes.

Advertisements

Monday’s mailday brought in 440 cards from Dan on Facebook. I sent him Atlanta Braves in return. Wednesday’s mailbox was full of 645 cards from #TheYankeesMillion. He is trying to collect one million Yankees cards.

For two bucks I took a chance on Thursday. A Tyson Miller Bowman Chrome autograph arrived from eBay. It was just $2.00 shipped. That’s a heck of a deal, especially for a chrome auto of a player in the lower ranks of the minor leagues. Miller was a fourth round pick by the Cubs in 2016. He is currently with high-A Myrtle Beach and is off to a 2-2 start with a 3.15 ERA in 20 innings with 22 strikeouts to 7 walks.

After searching Wal-Mart’s and Target’s since Monday, I found my first Bowman on Thursday afternoon. I grabbed all three blaster boxes that remained on the shelf.

As I drove from one Target to another, my route happened to take me right by my local card shop, The Baseball Card Shoppe. I popped in to see what the hobby prices were on 2018 Bowman. Regular hobby boxes were $165, which is less than I expected, but still far too high than I’m willing to spend on Bowman.

Advertisements

I didn’t leave empty handed. First, I glanced at the baseball card albums as eventually I’ll be putting together player binders and want to see the sizes and how the spines look. The shop owner did say he would discount me 20% with the purchase of a 12-album case, which is the amount I would like to start with. Per album it would come out to be about $5.00. A great price. One factor I’m still debating is the size. These albums are 3″ and I’d really like 2″ binders, though I will be able to make the 3″ binders work. Another is the spine. There is just a small plastic pocket at the bottom of the spine for a label. I’d like a larger pocket for a label.

So I did buy a box of 100 BCW protective pages and saw a bargain bin with 1983 and 1984 Donruss Action All-Stars. A Leon Durham was showing on the front of one pack, and is not in my collection, so I sifted through the rest of them. There was a Bill Buckner on the back of another so I bought the two. For $0.50 a pack, not bad.

Advertisements

I do have the others for trade if anyone is interested. From 1983: Richie Zisk, Fernando Valenzuela, Steve Carlton, Gary Ward, and Damaso Garcia. And from 1984: Dave Stieb, Reggie Jackson, George Hendrick, and the checklist.

It was a triple mailday on Friday with two eBay purchases, and one purchase from @CardsFromAttic.

Bowman rained down on Saturday as I found it stocked and a few different retail outlets. I’ll be reviewing my 2018 Bowman Cubs hits later.

As I was out and about looking for Bowman on Saturday, I wanted to check out Walgreen’s. Lately, there have been many people buying the $4.99 jumbo boxes and pulling Bryce Harper rookie cards.

Advertisements

There were five boxes on the shelf, so I figured for $25 at the chance of a Harper rookie or two it’s a fun, cheap break. The boxes rang up on sale…for $1.24 a box! No Bryce Harper rookies were inside, but I did pull a Ken Griffey Jr. Fleer rookie and 17 Cubs cards.

Another blog coming this week will detail a couple recent purchases and what Cubs cards I have been aiming for.

Autographs From Cards From The Attic

Low end autographs have been a target for my One Million Cubs Project lately. Remember…I’m after quantity, not quality. That also goes hand-in-hand with my fandom of Cubs prospects that never panned out.

Advertisements

@Cardsfromattic had a lot of autographed Cubs for sale, and I bit. The price was right for 15 autographed Cubs cards for $20 shipped.

Three of the autos are already in my collection. The 2011 Topps Chrome Darwin Barney is a nice one and isn’t bad to have two in the collection.

Shawon Dunston Jr. was a favorite Cubs prospect mainly because of the familial connection.

Advertisements

2013 Bowman Platinum had plenty of space for a signature. The younger Dunston doesn’t have as nice a signature as his dad.

The third auto card in this lot already in my collection is 2013 Bowman Platinum Barret Loux. Again, a huge space to sign and he takes up a small amount of area with his autograph.

Brett Jackson centered and signed nicely on this 2012 Bowman Sterling.

Pierce Johnson also has a nice sig on this 2012 Bowman Sterling. I once had a beer with Johnson.

Advertisements

Okay, he happened to be standing behind me with Kyle Schwarber when they were minor leaguers and I engaged in small talk. So, for about 90 seconds we had a beer.

Bowman Platinum had some really nice Auto cards. Another one here with a 2012 Dillon Maples.

Hayden Simpson never panned out, but this Bowman Platinum Auto is pretty sweet.

My first “By The Letter” Cubs autograph. It’s a 2009 SP Authentic David Patton.

This one pairs a great 80’s Cub with a classic 80’s Topps set.

Advertisements

It’s a 2013 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Autograph Leon Durham.

Kyuji Fujikawa has a nice autograph as seen here on a 2013 Topps Chrome.

Throwing it back with Randy Hundley. It’s a 2005 Upper Deck Past Time Pennants.

And Dave Kingman on a 2005 Upper Deck Origins signatures.

A Corey Patterson autograph numbered to 60 would have been a gold mine 15 years ago. Now it’s a couple bucks.

I’m not a big fan of horizontal cards, but this Rondell White 2001 SP Authentic is really nice.

Advertisements

Black and white with a well spaced signature. And White has a nice autograph.

Roosevelt Brown also had a really nice signature and it’s another horizontal card. This is a 2000 Fleer Autographics 208/250.

Thanks to @CardsFromAttic for a nice deal on these autos.

The One Million Cubs Project Has Branched Out

Recently one of my Dodgers traders, @SouthIndyCards, was inspired by the One Million Cubs Project and set out to collect one million Dodgers cards. The momentum has carried over to other team collectors chasing that milestone.

One of them, #TheYankeesMillion, sent a box of Cubs that arrived on Wednesday. In all, 645 more Cubs were added to the collection.

Bowman Platinum is a product I chase down when it releases as retail only. It’s a hot product when it comes out and is quickly gobbled up. Oscar De La Cruz is a top pitching prospect for the Cubs. This silver ice parallel is a new one for the collection.

Yesterday I blogged about the set that brought me back to baseball card collecting: 1998 Bowman. I was hooked and grabbed up 1999 Bowman when it was released. The international parallels were a bit “meh” for me, but this Ron Walker is a nice one.

I had never seen this Kerry Wood. It’s a 2000 Pacific Diamond Aces. Beautiful card.

There was plenty of Ryne Sandberg inside, and another new one for me. It’s a 1993 Fleer Atlantic Collectors Edition.

1982 Fleer has always been a Set that I’ve loved. Maybe it’s because it is the year I was born. Or maybe it’s the simplistic design with the amazing baby blue pinstriped Cubs jerseys. I think it’s it those jerseys!

Another new Oddball. It’s 2010 Panini Cooperstown Stars of the Diamond Johnny Evers.

A new Billy Williams in this 2013 Panini Cooperstown.

And this 2014 Topps Finest Anthony Rizzo is also new to me.

Thanks for the trade, and your Yankees will be out this weekend. Help him to #TheYankeesMillion.

The Baseball Card Set That Brought Me Back To Collecting

This week marked the release of the latest Bowman set. As I have hopped from Target to Target and Wal-Mart to Wal-Mart all week I finally found a small stash of blasters on Thursday. I’ll review the 2018 product this weekend.

But tonight it’s all about the set that brought line back to baseball card collecting as a 16-year old. It was 1998 and I had turned 16 in June. After a hot start by the Cubs, Kerry Wood’s 20-strikeout game, and Sammy Sosa blasting home runs at a record pace I was a baseball fan again. My sports fandom had turned to basketball by 1992 and the strike of 1994 further pushed me away from baseball.

Advertisements

During the summer of ’98 I earned my drivers license and found myself spending many a Sunday afternoon driving 30 minutes to a baseball card shop in Colona, Illinois. It was there that I discovered Bowman. With my earnings from working at the IGA grocery store I slapped down $50 or so on a hobby box of 1998 Bowman. It was just the second hobby box I had ever opened. The first was 1991 Upper Deck football.

One thing about 1998 Bowman I had forgotten about was the “Guaranteed Value” exchange.

During a 4-month period you could exchange your complete set for $125. It was a gamble. What if Ruben Mateo or Magglio Ordonez became the next Mickey Mantle? It could be worth hundreds. Or it could end up being worth $10….which is what happened.

Wish I would have cashed in on that $125. Too bad Topps didn’t do this anymore!

Advertisements

The Cubs had 12 cards in the 1998 Bowman set. It was twilight of Mark Grace’s career.

Sammy Sosa was slamming home runs. What a fun season to be a Cubs fan. I really hope the Cubs and Sosa reconcile their differences sooner than later.

Pat Cline was one of the Cubs top prospects of the 90’s. Like many others he didn’t pan out.

Another top prospect was the Cubs first round draft pick from 1997.

Advertisements

Unfortunately, the Cubs dealt Jon Garland to the crosstown White Sox. The return? Matt Karchner. Ouch.

Garland wasn’t the only pitching prospect the organization traded away. Todd Noel was the team’s first round pick in 1996 and was sent to the Marlins for Felix Heredia.

Advertisements

That trade benefited the Cubs much more than Garland for Karchner.

While the Cubs traded away their first round pitching draft picks from 1996 and 1997, they did hang on to their number one pick from 1995.

Advertisements

The flame throwing Kerry Wood took baseball by storm as a 20-year old in 1998. He’s still beloved by Cubs fans today.

Rod Beck had a great 1998 season with Chicago notching 51 saves.

On the short list of my greatest memories of the 1998 Cubs is Brant Brown. It’s actually the reaction by Ron Santo in the WGN radio booth during a late season game against the Brewers.

Advertisements

Brown dropped a fly ball allowing Milwaukee to win while the Cubs were fighting for a playoff berth.

Candy bars rained down from the bleachers for Henry Rodriguez. Of course, they were O Henry bars.

Chris Gissell was another Cubs prospect that didn’t quite crack it. He did make the big leagues for a cup of coffee with the Colorado Rockies in 2004.

Jeff Yoder spent the 1998 season with the single-A Daytona Cubs. His pro career peaked at double-A West Tennessee in 1999 and 2000.

Courtney Duncan appeared in 36 games with the Cubs in 2001 and 2002. He went 3-3 with a 4.80 ERA.

Bowman remains one of my favorite products from a design standpoint, and 1998 remains an all-time favorite.

Mailday Monday Brings A Mix of Cubs

Monday’s Mailday saw 440 more Cubs cards enter the One Million Cubs Project collection. The one-box Mailday was courtesy of Daniel from Facebook. I sent a box of Atlanta Braves in return for the Cubs.

Another 39 Ryne Sandberg cards came. Several more 1987 Topps Sandberg’s were added bringing my total to somewhere north of 200 cards from that issue. Some nice Oddball Sandberg’s here too.

Three more Javier Baez cards added. With his hot play I may be seeing less and less Baez in these trade packages.

Speaking of current players on a hot streak. Willson Contreras blaster another home run tonight. I needed that for my fantasy baseball matchup. Here’s a 2016 Bowman rookie card.

This past weekend the Cubs faced the Rockies in Colorado. One of their stars is infielder D.J. LeMahieu. He was a former Cubs prospect and did see a handful of games as a Chicago Cub in 2011 before getting traded to Colorado. He earned a rookie card in this 2011 Bowman Chrome set.

Phil Norton didn’t make the splash LeMahieu has, but did have a rookie card in the 1999 Bowman’s Best set. I really like this card, and not sure if I have any in my collection.

Both Albert Almora and Carl Edwards appeared in 2014 Bowman Draft. Here’s the paper and chrome version of each player.

And finally a serial numbered Alfonso Soriano. This 2009 Upper Deck Icons is numbered 88/125.

It’s been a slow week so far as I get some trades completed as well as some cards listed in my eBay store. Coming up I will be posting about the set that brought me back to Cubs collecting (hint: it’s Bowman release week), and the new Bowman will be out soon.