When It Rains...

It pours.

Right in the middle of my Thanksgiving feasting... I received an email I've been looking for to for quite some time.  It was the message saying I had finally won this 2003 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites Archives Autograph of Jeff Reardon:

This card has been on my cardboard wantlist for nearly three years and has been my prime target since the end of April.  During that time a few have popped up on eBay, but in each of those cases dealers were looking to get paid over full book value.

Then last month, someone listed one up as a 99¢ auction, instead of an unreasonable BIN and the bidding war ensued... with myself being the victor.  It's a huge addition to my Montreal Expos PC and now I can finally cross this card off my list.

Reardon is the Montreal Expos all-time saves leader and is one of the greatest pitchers in franchise history.  This is the only certified autographed card he has where he's pictured in Montreal's bleu, blanc, et rouge uniform.

Anyways... getting back to the title of my post.  Since I've won the auction... three more copies of this card have popped up on eBay.  One of them with a BIN for $9.99, which I would have snatched up in a heartbeat three weeks ago.

The other two were listed as auctions.  One recently closed at $7.99 (free shipping) and received no bids, while the other is still active at $5.99 (free shipping).

Where the heck were these guys six months ago?

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

The Quest For The Holy Gwynn

Is over.

1982 TCMA Hawaii Islanders #10

I heard about this card in the early 90's and have dreamed about owning it ever since.  In all honesty... I never thought I'd end up getting one.  In fact, I didn't even have it written down on my top ten list.

In cardboard terms... they aren't necessarily scarce, however they're not exactly plentiful either.  Ten to twenty might pop up on eBay in a given year.  Throw in the fact that I'm Mr. Frugal and the combination meant that I might wait a lifetime to add the card to my collection.

Then I happened to stumble across the entire twenty-five card 1982 TCMA Hawaii Islanders minor league set on eBay a few weeks ago.  I missed out on a complete set in August, so I threw in a respectful bid into my sniper program and waited with my fingers crossed.

When the dust settled... nineteen bids had been placed with my name on top and I couldn't be more excited.  Tony Gwynn's first officially licensed trading card has finally found a home in my San Diego Padres collection.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Insert Appropriate Title Here

I spent a solid two to three minutes thinking about the title of this post and I still haven't found anything I deem appropriate for this blog.  Every idea that popped into my head just didn't pass the PG rating guidelines I restrict myself to.

Oh well... I guess that's the price of becoming a middle school teacher.  I wouldn't want one of my students stumbling across this post and seeing something inappropriate.

Alright.  With that out of the way, let's get to the huge PC addition pictured above.  I recently purchased a lot of nineteen 1999 Sports Illustrated Greats of the Game autographs and Mr. Williams was the centerpiece of the purchase.

As an Oakland A's and San Diego Padres fan, I've been wanting to add this card to my collection for awhile now.  Williams led Oakland to back to back World Series titles in 1972 and 1973.  Eleven years later, he took the Padres to their first World Series appearance.

He was inducted into The Baseball Hall of Fame on July 27th, 2008.  Unfortunately Mr. Williams passed away in 2011, but he will always be remembered by this baseball fan.

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

PC Addition: Jackie Robinson Think Different Poster

I started teaching back in 1998... right around the time Apple Computer came out with the Think Different advertising campaign.  

During that time Apple created a variety of promotional posters including a special educator set that included ten 11" x 17" posters.  My principal gave me a complete set along with several duplicates, but I never got around to hanging them up.  However there was one larger poster of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that I especially liked.  I immediately had the poster laminated and each year, I hang it up in my classroom.  

Years later, I discovered that these posters are pretty desirable and fetch a pretty penny on eBay (yeah, I know I ruined the MLK poster).  That's also when I stumbled across the Jackie Robinson Think Different poster.  I knew right then and there that I wanted one, but at the time they were way out of my price range.  

Eventually I stopped searching for the poster and moved on to other things.  Then a few months ago, one of my students asked me about my MLK poster, which led me to tracking down my latest Jackie Robinson PC addition:

I found a BIN listing on eBay for $42 with a best offer option, so I offered the guy $30 and he accepted.  To be honest, I was weary about my purchase.  It's been well documented that there are a lot of fake Think Different posters on the market.

And you know what they say, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  However my worries disappeared when I received the poster.  It arrived with the Apple Newspaper it was originally housed in.

But I ran into another problem.  How do I display this poster without damaging it?  I wanted to have the poster framed and matted, but I knew tape would be involved.  My solution?  I bought another copy from the same seller.  This time he accepted my $20 offer.

Unfortunately the posters are 20" x 28", which isn't your standard size.  I went to a few frame stores, including Michaels and the cheapest quote I received was $180.  I ended up buying my frame and matting on Amazon.  The damage?  $41.16.  It's more than the poster itself, but well worth the price.  

Now I just need to find a place to hang up this awesome poster.

Happy Jackie Robinson Day and sayonara!

Two Plates Are Better Than One!

When Kurt Suzuki was traded to the Washington Nationals back in August, I figured my Suzuki collection would come to a screeching halt.  But it's safe to say, I've spent more money on his cards and memorabilia in the past two months than the previous twelve months combined.

You've already seen my PSA/DNA certified autographed bat and the OYO figure I showed off last week.  Next up are the two framed printing plates that I picked up off of eBay last month:

2009 Allen & Ginter Black Printing Plate

2009 Topps 206 Cyan Printing Plate

And if that weren't enough... I also added this autographed 8x10 too:

I'm pretty sure these items will hold me over for awhile.  At least, it better.  I'm not sure my budget can afford anymore pieces of memorabilia of a mediocre catcher who no longer plays on my favorite team.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

Dick Perez + Jackie Robinson = Awesome

The WANTLIST.  Some collectors have big ones.  Others have small ones.  But if you collect cardboard, there's undoubtedly at least one card you're chasing.

In my case, I have a ton.  But I recently crossed off the #1 card on my top 10 list:

1985 Perez-Steele Great Moments #3

Back in 1985, Perez-Steele Galleries produced a 12 card set called Great Moments featuring some of the greatest baseball players to take the diamond.  If the design looks familiar, it's because it's modeled after the 1911 Turkey Red Cabinet cards and features the paintings of Dick Perez.  And like the originals, these too are oversized... measuring 5 3/4" x 8", which are much larger than the recent standard sized Turkey Red cards produced by Topps.

The set became a "living set" and over the course of 12 years (1985 to 1997) they produced 9 different series totaling 108 cards.  Each series was limited to 5,000 sets which back in the "Junk Wax Era" was considered relatively scarce.

These days you shouldn't have too much trouble finding singles and sets, but if you want a good deal... you'll have to be patient.  I waited around the past few years and eventually paid $6.69 (free shipping), which was more than I wanted to pay... but I grew tired of waiting.

Here is today's question...

What card(s) are on the top of your wantlist?  How long have you wanted it?

I won't bore you with my top 10 list, but now that I have the Jackie... a 1997 Pinnacle X-Press Bronze Metal Works Greg Maddux is my new #1.  If anyone has one of these laying around, I'd love to work out a deal for it.

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

PC Addition - Autographed Copy of Banzai Babe Ruth

A couple of weeks ago, a fellow collector sent me this cool promo card:

The card talked about a seventeen year old pitcher named Eiji Sawamura, who once struck out Charlie Gehringer, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Jimmie Fox in succession.

This stirred my curiosity, which led me to contacting Mr. Robert K. Fitts, who wrote the book Banzai Babe Ruth.

I asked about purchasing an autographed copy. $30 and a few days later, the book arrived on my doorstep.

Mr. Fitts included a handful of extra Banzai Babe Ruth promo cards and some Wally Yonamine promo cards for one of his other books:

If you're interested in adding these two promo cards to your collection, leave a comment below.

After a few days, I'll randomize the names and give a few of these sets out to fellow collectors who appreciate promotional cards and Japanese baseball players.

As for the book, I'm going to start reading it this weekend. I'll do a review of the book as soon as I'm finished. Although it could take me awhile. The last book I read took me close to a year to finish.

Happy Monday everyone and sayonara!

PC Addition: 1911 T51 Murad Stanford

I've been looking to add another tobacco card to my collection... and this past week I added not ONE, but TWO 1911 T51 Murad Stanford cards. It was one of those situations where I put two bids into my "sniper" program assuming at least one of them would come up short... and neither did. Oh well... at least it was the same seller, so I saved on shipping.

One of these beautiful cards will go into my Stanford PC. The other... well... I'm not sure what I'll exactly do with it.

Maybe I'll give it away in my contest this summer. Maybe I'll sell it at the flea market. Maybe I'll use it as trade bait. Right now, there are bigger issues to deal with. I'm asking for your help.

Which one should I keep?

Card #1

The front of this card has a lot more glossiness and less stains compared to Card #2. In fact, the white borders still look white. There's a small stain on the back of the card, but the second one has an even bigger stain. The major flaw on this card is the "155" stamp on the card, which stands out like a sore thumb.

Card #2

This card is not as attractive as Card #1. The back has a larger, darker stain on the back... but it doesn't have any ink stamps on it.

So which card should I keep? Card #1 or card #2?

Any input would be much appreciated. I'm personally leaning toward #1... but I just can't help staring at the stamp every time I flip the card over.

Thanks in advance. I hope all of you had a great weekend. Happy Monday & sayonara!

PC Addition: Japanese Trading Cards

Yesterday, I wrote about TakaTanakaGiant's "care package" for me & my students.

Today, I'm showing off what I pulled from the stack and added to my collection:

A Trio of 2011 BBM Former MLBers

TakaTanakaGiants shipped a healthy stack of Japanese baseball cards and included some cool parallels and inserts. But the ones I wanted the most were these three, because they all played in the MLB and I figured they'd look cool paired with their rookie cards.

Dynamic Darvish Duo

The card on the left is a subset card from the 2011 BBM set... and the card on the right is a promo card, which also features Norichika Aoki of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Japanese Baseball Team Mascots

I'm a huge fan of MLB mascots... especially Stomper & the Swinging Friar. But the mascots from across the Pacific sure give them a run for their money. These are going straight into my Japanese PC binder.

2010 BBM Sumo Wrestler Cards

I'm a huge fan of odd-balls... and this is the first time I've ever seen sumo cards. I figured my students probably wouldn't appreciate cardboard featuring obese, topless men, in thongs as much as I would. LOL.

2011 BBM Series 2 Wax Pack

Is there another Darvish inside? I'll never know, because this is going straight into my unopened Japanese Wax Pack Collection. This pack is the 33rd one in my collection... but I'm in the process of possibly adding some more in the near future.

1/1 Calligraphy Card

Last, but certainly not least is the awesome one of a kind calligraphy card written by TakaTanakaGiant's wife. Is this awesome or what?

Thanks again TakaTanakaGiants... these are huge additions to my collection.

Happy Saturday... and sayonara!