Cleaning Some Clutter

My classroom is cluttered with cards right now.  The eighth graders are wrapping up the civil rights trading card projects... while the seventh graders are designing trading cards of themselves, the teammates, and for me.

Part of the 7th grade assignment is to interview me.  This gives them an opportunity to learn about me while helping them fill the card back with biographical information and other facts.  Almost every group add strengths and weaknesses... along with an assortment of "favorites" to their list of questions.

I'm not exactly someone who is particularly strong or good at anything interesting to kids... so I have been giving them very vanilla responses like "sorting", "organizing", and "cleaning".

Coincidentally... that's how I spent my Saturday morning.

The goal was to clear my desk, scan some cards, and knock out a blog post.  Let's see if I achieved it.

First up are two stacks of cards... which contain stuff from flea market and card show purchases as well as stuff from bloggers.  In an effort to keep this post short and simple, I'll only be showing off a handful of those cards... all of which are either customs or legendary Japanese baseball players.

Let's start off with this custom card of Shohei Ohtani:

Last year... Nick over at n j w v created a series of home run celebration hat cards utilizing the 1981 Topps baseball card design.  I'm not surprised that Ohtani's kabuto made the checklist.

In addition to Ohtani, he sent a pair of Padres customs.  I'm going to save them for the Cinco de Mayo post.  Thank you Nick!  Great job on these customs.  Very impressive.

Next up is a custom of the legendary Sadaharu Oh created by Gregory over at Nine Pockets...

I'm not the first blog to show off this beauty and I'm sure I won't be the last.  I purchased a few copies from his eBay store last year and was hoping to share it when I unveiled my copy of Oh's 1975 Menko Rocket Robot card.

Unfortunately... I still don't own that Rocket Robot card yet... so I decided to pair it with Nick's Ohtani instead.

The card is printed on clear plastic and doesn't contain any printing on the back:

This allows you turn Oh into a switch hitter... or scan his card with different colored backgrounds:

If you're interested in picking up a copy for your own collection, click here.  It's perfect for any Oh PC.

Last, but not least are some singles for my Japanese PC from Bob over at The Best Bubble.

Here are the three new additions to the Ichiro binder: 

2002 Topps Pristine #10

I took a break from collecting right around the time Ichiro stormed the hobby... so I never got a chance to experience Topps Pristine and its unique three packs within a pack concept.  It was cool to see Topps bring this product back.  Unfortunately... with triple digit price tags... it looks like I won't be experiencing the thrill of tearing into Pristine anytime soon.

2002 Upper Deck #123

Ichiro looks like he just took a shot to the groin... but the photo is well-cropped and all body parts are intact, so no complaints here.

2022 Stadium Club Box Topper #184

This might look like your standard sized base card... but it's actually an oversized box topper.  Some collectors might frown upon these, but I embrace them.

The next two cards are a pair of die-cut Nomo's from the 90's that look way cooler in person...

1997 Pacific Crown Collection Fireworks Diecuts #FW-16

This card combines jagged edges and colorful foil (similar to 90's Fleer Metal) to produce a really attractive card.  Plus this was produced in the 90's... which means they were reasonably tough pulls (1:72 packs).

1996 Select Claim to Fame #10

Here's another cool die-cut insert from the 90's.  It references Nomo's stellar rookie season and the fact that he was the starting pitcher in the MLB All-Star Game.  But personally... I feel like his claim to fame is the fact that he paved the way for other NPB players like Ichiro and Ohtani to cross the Pacific Ocean and play in the MLB.

The final card for today is this memorabilia card of Nomo's teammate that was also part of Bob's care package:

2005 Donruss Champions Impressions Materials #141

Kaz Ishii was a starting pitcher for the Dodgers from 2002 to 2004.

Thank you Bob, Nick, and Gregory for these generations additions to my Japanese player collections!

And thank you to those of you who stuck around to find out whether or not I accomplished my Saturday goal.  I didn't.  There are still about 20 cards I need to scan that are sitting on my desk... and I wasn't able to finish writing this post until this morning (Sunday).  That being said... I made a step in the right direction and cleaned up some clutter.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

Cleaning, Organizing, and Sorting

On a recent trip to Costco, I purchased some heavy duty Bankers Boxes which led to some early spring cleaning in my office.  When I was finished, I had cataloged most of my larger card sets which is something I've been meaning to do for years.  Most of the large boxes have been sorted and put away, but this major cleaning/organization project will probably continue until mid-March when spring actually arrives.

In the meantime... I'm also organizing parts of my card collection as well.  Back in December, I received a large flat rate box from Woody over on Sports Card Forum and inside were hundreds of Japanese MLB cards.  It took an entire afternoon to sort through his stuff and integrate it into my binders.

Here are the highlights from his care package.  Let's start with the Ohtani's since he's arguably the hottest player in the hobby:

2018 Topps Opening Day #200

2018 Topps Archives #50

2018 Topps Update #US285

It's not often anyone sends me an Ohtani rookie card... let alone three.  Once upon a time I owned a PSA graded copy of that Opening Day card, but I sold it during the pandemic.  The other were completely brand new to me.

In fact out of the thirteen Ohtani cards he sent my way, I needed twelve of them.  Here's a look at the other nine:

This influx of Shohei cards motivated me to give him his very own binder.  Up until now, his 9-pocket pages were crammed between Tomokazu Ohka and Hideki Okajima pages.   He joins Kurt Suzuki, Ichiro Suzuki, and Hideo Nomo as the only Japanese baseball players with their very own binders.

Speaking of Ichiro and Nomo, here are their new additions from Woody.  Let's start with Ichiro:

2021 Topps Platinum Players Die-Cuts #PDC-15

2022 Topps Archives #185

2021 is the least represented year in my Ichiro PC.  That die-cut insert is only the second card of him in my binder.  Maybe Topps didn't add him to a lot of checklists that year.

Next up are the new Nomos:

1995 Stadium Club #556

1998 Bowman International #289

I thought I owned most of Nomo's rookie cards, but was surprised to see I needed his Stadium Club card.  This Bowman parallel (which didn't scan well) is really cool as it shows off his birthplace.

2000 Pacific Invincible #56

2003 Playoff Portraits #17

Both of these cards are proof that card companies are capable of making high quality base cards.  The Nomo on the left combines cardboard and acetate... but what makes this card especially cool is that it features him with the Detroit Tigers.

The Playoff Portraits card is thick and textured to give off the feeling that you're holding a card that was actually hand painted.  If you've never owned one of these cards, it might be worth tracking down a copy.

Wrapping up today's post is a Masahiro Tanaka relic card:

2017 Topps Museum Collection

Meaningful Material #MM-MTA (#'d 18/35)

I'm not exactly sure why Topps chose to call these Meaningful Material relics... since according to the back of the card the swatch isn't from any specific game, event, or season.  But when you consider that there are only 35 copies of this card out there and Woody was kind enough to send me one of them... that's pretty cool (and meaningful).

Thank you Woody!  I have at least one more post planned that will show off some other cards that were part of this care package.

There were literally hundreds of duplicates in Woody's care package that when combined with my extras ended up filling close to two full rows in a 5,000ct. box.  In the midst of the office organization, I sorted them by player.

Anyone interested in starting a Japanese baseball player collection?  If so, shoot me an email and I'll gladly help you out.  Unfortunately I don't have many Ohtani or Ichiro duplicates, but I've got plenty of other guys like Nomo, Matsuzaka, and Okajima.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Multiple Meanings

As many of you know... 2023 was filled with a lot of ups and downs.  It will forever be marred by the loss of my father and my friend Mike in a span of a month.  But it wasn't all bad... these two tragic events brought me closer to my siblings and strengthened the bond between close friends.

The hobby also helped me get through that rough patch by serving as a healthy distraction.  One of the most therapeutic things for me outside of building Lego sets is sorting cards and building sets.  Walking around flea markets and card shows also helped.

Back on Saturday, December 16th... I was able to do both.  Today's post covers a pair of purchases... one from each.  Both of these purchases were BIG... but in different ways.

Let's start with my most expensive hobby purchase of 2023 and a BIG addition to my Ichiro PC:

2023 Finest Flashbacks Auto #183

I was hanging out at the Silicon Valley Card & Collectibles Show at my buddy's table.  And within minutes... my eyes were drawn to this gorgeous card that took me back to the 90's when autographs were on-card and rare.  I wanted it.

Right next to the Ichiro was the other 2001 Rookie of the Year Award winner:

2023 Finest Flashbacks Auto #179

I wanted this card too.  The only problem is my hobby budget doesn't allow for BIG purchases like these.

After watching two other collectors show an interest in the Ichiro, I decided to pull them out of the case and have him hold them for me.

When things settled down... he offered me the pair for $450.  Yeah... that's BIG money (to me).  But a month has passed and there has been zero buyer's remorse.

He tossed in this cool refractor to sweeten the deal:

2000 Topps Chrome Combos Refractor #TC5

I know this particular insert set is polarizing among collectors.  You either love it... or hate it.

I obviously love it!  In 2000, Nomar, Alex, and Derek were the BIG 3 among American League shortstops and although we crossed into the aughts, refractors were still reasonably tough pulls.  These inserts were seeded into 1:80 packs.

The other BIG purchase I made that day took place earlier in the morning at the Branham Flea Market.  I stumbled across a guy with a binder containing a bunch of oversized cards.  He wanted $10 for the binder, but was focused on the quality of the binder itself and not the cards.

So I asked him if he'd take $5 for the pages and cards without the binder.  He accepted.  I had taken a photo of all of the stuff, but accidentally deleted it.  However I did scan the highlights of the purchase which were these BIG inserts and parallels from the 90's before putting them all away.

Since most of you are baseball fans, here's the only baseball card of note:

1995 Score Rules Jumbo #SR25 (#'d 2,489/3000)

This is a BIG (7.5" x 10.5") parallel to the pack inserted counterparts.  Back in 1995, Score produced Baseball Collector Kits that contained twenty-six assorted packs of Score Series 1 and Series 2 baseball, a binder, ten collector pages, and one of these oversized parallels.

Based on how many are available on eBay, they aren't very common... even though 3,000 copies of each card was produced.

The next card was the key to the purchase:

1997 Donruss Studio Stained Glass Stars #15 (#'d 0318/1000)

This BIG acetate insert is gorgeous!   Once I saw this card, I knew I wanted the entire lot.

There were two BIG names featured in the lot:

1997 Donruss Studio 8x10 Gold Portrait Proof #29 (#'d 0115/1000)

1997 Donruss Studio Red Zone Masterpiece #20 (#'d 0853/3500)

The Elway is a BIG addition to my Stanford PC... while the Moon is a BIG Seahawks pickup.

Well that wraps up my two BIG purchases from back in December.  Gotta love multiple meanings... and overpriced and oversized card purchases.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!