Birthday Package From Drew - Something off of the Top Ten Wishlist

I got a couple birthday packages in the mail today, which helps extend my birthday for a few more days (not complaining about that!).  One of the packages was from my good friend, Drew.  Drew has been easing himself back into the blog world since he returned from an awesome study abroad program earlier this year.  Unfortunately, the trip exhausted Drew and his funds, so he wasn't able to attend this year's National.  Drew was sorely missed, especially since the National was relatively in his back yard.

Drew surprised me by crossing a card off of my Top Ten Wishlist.  This 1948-49 Leaf "John" Wagner is a card that I have kept an eye on for a while.  I almost picked one up at the National, but the guy wanted way too much for it.  This one has awesome edges and corners, but some paper loss on the corners; likely due to someone having it taped into an album.

The back of the card looks flawless, and is a nice read.  I especially like the ad for the All Star Baseball Gum Big Pictures "for hanging in your room or club".  How many kids these days build club houses?  This is an awesome card.

Drew also included this really cool Frank Robinson relic from 2005 Donruss Champions.  This was a nice set that came out back when I had just gotten back into the hobby.  I always liked these cards, but didn't pull any hits.  This Frank will look nice with my other Robinson cards (of which there are few, since Frank eludes me most of the time).

Finally, we have this Adam Jones framed relic from 2016 Ginter.  The framed relics seem to be tougher to find, since they now have the full card relics.  I made a trade with Drew to pick this one up.

Other than Mom or Andrew, Drew may be someone I have talked about the most on this blog.  He and I have been trading since he first broke into the hobby.  He was just about 12 at the time, I believe, and now he is almost done with college.  We have been close friends for well over 7 years now, and have even taken a trip to the Hall of Fame (Chris still says he didn't break your dad's car door).

Thank you so much for the awesome cards, and most of all, your friendship, Drew!  I greatly appreciate it, and can't wait to see you at next year's National!

The Foulbunt Top Ten - No. 1

It all comes down to this.  I have ranked the cards that I consider the tops in my collection.  I feel like I chose all of the cards on this list very well, and they all slot into their different positions nicely.  The card that made No. 1 on the list has much more meaning to me than for it to be just another card in my collection.  It meets a lot of the criteria that landed other cards on the list.  Vintage? Check. Rookie? Check. PC Player? Check.

The thing that pushes this card to the top of my list, ahead of all others is that it was/is the culmination of a PC that I never expected to start in the first place.

Card No. 1 out of my Top Ten is:

My 1948-49 Leaf Virgil Trucks rookie card.  Anyone familiar with this blog knows how I feel about Mr. Trucks.  He was a gem of a man, and a favorite to those in the hobby.  I first discovered him when I was discussing TTMs with my good friend, Drew.  I did a phone interview with him.  I corresponded with him a great deal, and I cried when he passed away.  He was a good man, and a great American.  A hero to many of us in the hobby.  When I bought this card, it was (and still is) the most that I ever spent on one baseball card.  I won an auction on Ebay and got this card for $350.00.  Graded, this one would likely go for a lot more.

The price was so high, mainly because this card was a short print.  It was the last of Mr. Trucks regular series cards that I needed for the PC.  I added some more later on, like the 2011 Topps Black Diamond auto, but this one was the last of his regular issue cards from his playing days.  It caps my Trucks PC nicely.

Furthermore, this, like a lot of the older cards with minimal color, it really pops.  The picture of Trucks on the card is a blurry, but he still looks cool.  I also love the old school Tigers jersey.

This card made No. 1 on my list for a lot of reasons.  To me, it most represents what Mr. Trucks meant to me as a person and my desire to have a nice PC built around him.

Thank you all for checking in to see my Top Ten posts; for all of the comments here on my blog, or my Facebook or Instagram.  This has been a lot of fun to do.  I plan on revisiting this in a few years to see if the numbers still stack up.  Who knows, I may add some awesome pieces between now and then, and the list will get a good shake-up.  For those that are interested, I created a page among my tabs (at the top of the blog) so you can go back and look at the Top Ten.

I always hated the Top Watever countdowns that VH1 would have, because there was always some current song or artist that just didn't quite fit in with whatever the countdown was.  Like, they would always try to find a way to sneak Celine Dion into the countdown.  Like, Slash would be the Number 3 guitarist on their list, followed by Celine Dion at number two.  Stuff like that.  I tried my best to make sure that the list was comprehensive of my entire collection, and it didn't reflect any bias toward anything that was obtained last week versus last year.  Thanks for reading!

Top Ten Wishlist Pickup - 1948 Leaf Bobby Doerr

I picked up a card from my top ten wishlist recently when I got this 1948 Leaf Bobby Doerr from Ebay.  I have been wanting one of these for a while; I really like the coloring of the cards.  This makes the second 1948 Leaf that I have, my Virgil Trucks RC being the first.

I believe this is the only card I have of Doerr from his playing days.  Doerr is the last living player who had played in the 1930s.  I've had a few people tell me that I should send this TTM to Doerr, but I have gotten him a few times, and I would really like to keep this card as is.

You can see that there are a few creases, but they don't take anything away from the card at all.  The back is clean as well.

I've done a good job so far working on my goal for this year.  I've now knocked off three cards from my top 10 wishlist.  Hopefully, I will be able to grab a few more of them at the National Card Show in July.

Mail Day - Virgil Trucks Rookie Card and More!

I came home from work today to find a nice bit of mail waiting for me.  The most important pieces being the 1948-49 Leaf Virgil Trucks short printed rookie card that I have had my eye on for a long time as well as a letter from Mr. Trucks himself!

First off, I had (again) saved up a bunch of expense checks from work and used them on some Ebay purchases the other day.  I thought about buying a high-end signed baseball, but instead decided to buy this 'reasonably' prices 1948 Leaf.  It was the only base issue Trucks card that I did not have from his playing days, so I had been waning it for some time.  Thing is, A: The 1948-49 Leaf set is really hard to find, B: this is considered his rookie card and C: this particular card was short printed.  I have seen versions of this card graded PSA 3 going for $480 on Ebay.  I got this one for much less than that.

As you can see, there is a bit of paper loss on the back.  The missing words are: "52 defeats."

Also, I sent Mr. Trucks a Christmas card along with a donation to his church as a thank you for all he has done for me and for fans everywhere.  His response was very nice.  He also included 5 autographed Diamond Signatures cards for me to "give to kids or use as [I] wish..."

I have started a page on this blog showcasing my Virgil Trucks collection.  Please give it a look and let me know what you think.  Mr. Trucks is one of my all-time favorite players and I am happy to be able to show off his cards and memorabilia.