It's A Celebration

How hectic are the last few days leading up to the end of the semester?  Well... I started writing this post on Monday.... and the plan was to publish it on Wednesday.  Unfortunately I didn't finish writing it until Thursday evening and wrapped up the editing, revising, and formatting today.  Better late than never.

Midweek posts on this blog have become rarer than affordable crack-free Kellogg's cards from the 70's.  But today I wanted to share a congratulatory post to my former student who designed this card for me two years ago:

Sarah was part of a very special class.  I taught 5th and 6th grade for ten years before making the transition to middle school.  She happened to be in that last elementary school class... and as she graduated and headed off to middle school... I followed her and her classmates.

There were ten to fifteen kids who ended up having me three years in a row.  She was one of them.  You'd think she would have gotten sick of me, but she actually ended up TA'ing for me in summer school when she was in high school.  And even when she went off to college, we kept in touch.

Over the weekend, her mom announced on Facebook that the San Jose Sharks would wear special Lunar New Year jerseys designed by Sarah on January 18th during warm ups.  That night her artwork was featured around SAP including the new video scoreboard:

Based on what I've heard, the color red symbolizes "good fortune" and "joy" which is what the Sharks and their fans experienced Wednesday evening in Sarah's presence.  It was the first game I followed live all season and it was fantastic.

The Sharks faced off against the Dallas Stars and fell behind 3-0 before scoring five unanswered goals to win the game.

2022-23 Upper Deck Canvas #C66

Erik Karlsson broke the tie halfway through the 3rd Period and Logan Couture added insurance with empty net goal.

2022-23 Upper Deck Dazzlers #DZ-27

Both of these cards were donated to my San Jose Sharks PC by Reader X who sent me another care package last week.

I haven't bought a box of hockey cards in years, so Xavier is my primary source of Sharks cards.  Here's a thick card with a scratch-off on the back of Couture:

2021-22 Upper Deck Artifacts Bounty #A-17

I looked it up and discovered this is part of an interactive challenge where collectors complete challenges by redeeming certain bounties.  Since this is the only "Bounty" card I own, I won't be participating... which means it'll go into the collection unscratched.

2022-23 Upper Deck Canvas #C65

2022-23 Upper Deck Centre of Attention

Teenage Mutant Ninja Hertl didn't score any goals on Wednesday, but he did assist on the game-tying power play goal in the 2nd period.

Here are a few other cool Sharks cards that Xavier hooked me up with:

2021-22 Upper Deck Artifacts Threads of Time #TT-JT

Look at Jumbo's beard!  The San Jose Sharks will be hosting a legends game the night before they retire Patrick Marleau's jersey number.  Marleau will be playing in the game.  Hopefully Joe will too.

Here's another great hockey beard:

2022-23 Upper Deck Defense Mechanism #DM-22

The past few seasons, Burns was my favorite Shark.  It was a bummer to hear that he was shipped off to Carolina during the off-season.  At least he's with a Stanley Cup contender now.

I wanted to show off two cards of Jonathan Dahlen...

2022-23 Upper Deck Debut Dates #DD-10

2022-23 Upper Deck Rookie Retrospective #RR-2

This guy is no longer with the Sharks, but he's half of the answer to an interesting Sharks trivia question.  His father played for the Sharks too back in the mid 90's and they make up the first father-son duo in franchise history.

That wraps up the Sharks portion of this post.  Figured since I started things off with Sarah's custom of Gwynn's Topps rookie card, I end it with two new additions to my Tony Gwynn PC:

2022 Topps Archives #22

2022 Topps Archives #376

Thank you Xavier for the new additions to the Sharks and Gwynn PC's!  Happy Lunar New Year (it's actually tomorrow) to any of my readers who celebrate the holiday!  And a huge shout out to Sarah for honoring her heritage, doing something positive for the community, and enjoying life to the fullest.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Celebrating Ten Years

There was a time when I wanted to stand out in a crowd.  I wanted to be an all-star in Little League.  I wanted to be known as the kid who could consistently nail a baseline jumper.  I wanted to be the classmate who would deliver you a good grade on your research paper (for the right price).  I wanted to be every kids' favorite teacher.  I wanted to collect every card of every favorite player in my collection.  Those days are in the past.

I haven't played baseball or basketball in over a decade.  These days... I'd much rather write blog posts than research papers... and I'm content with not getting paid.  And sure... I'd love it if every student loved my class and the way I teach... but I've accepted that there's no pleasing everyone.

As for the super collector thing... I just don't have the finances to collect every card of every player I collect.  But I'll happily add new cards to my collection if the price is right or if people want to send them my way.

Last week, AJ over at The Lost Collector sent me a PWE that included this card:

2008 Upper Deck Farmers Oakland A's SGA #OA17

I don't show off Kurt Suzuki cards very often on my blog anymore, but ten years ago... I was trying my hardest to be a super collector of his cards.  I'd pay top dollar for autographs I needed and would actively trade for any card of him I didn't have.  That's why I figured I already had this card.  But a quick peek into my binder revealed that this card was nowhere to be found.

Thank you AJ for filling another slot in my Suzuki collection.

This isn't the first time AJ has sent me a Suzuki card I needed.    Ten years ago, he drew this sketch card of my favorite player and generously donated it to my collection:

It's crazy that AJ and I have been exchanging care packages all these years.  I might not have turned out to be the Kurt Suzuki super collector I thought I'd become, but at least I've kept in touch with fellow collectors like AJ... who remember when I tried.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Smell the Roses

Topps Project 2020 seemed to be hit or miss with collectors... more specifically... bloggers.  People either bought them or didn't.  Although I didn't get swept up by the hype, I definitely purchased a few for my Tony Gwynn and Rickey Henderson collections from my favorite Project 2020 artists.

Then a few months ago, one of my former students shared her rendition of The Great Wave off Kanagawa.  I asked her if she would be interested in doing a commissioned piece for me.  I gave her a synopsis of the Topps Project 2020 and she loved the idea and accepted the job.  She mentioned that her schedule was pretty busy.  I told her I wasn't in any rush.

Last week, she messaged me that she finished the piece and within two days it was in my collection:

Outside of asking her to use a 4x6 index card... I left the rest up to her and was truly blown away by her rendition of Tony Gwynn's Topps rookie card.  I really enjoyed her use of natural colors and the little 'stache she put on Mr. Padre.  I'm also glad she included the roses, because flowers seem to be a popular theme in her works of art.

We've already discussed her doing another piece for me... which will be the 1980 Topps Rickey Henderson rookie card.  However... her schedule is a little crazy right now.  You're more likely to see it on this blog sometime in 2022.

Regardless of whether or not you're a fan of Topps Project 2020, I hope you enjoyed this post.  We all have cards that stand out more than others in our collections.  This one is definitely one of my favorites.  Not just because it a one of a kind piece of artwork... or the fact that it features my all-time favorite baseball player.  It's because it was created by a former student who has gone out of her way to keep in touch.

Thank you Sarah!

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Old School Set Build

When it comes to collecting, I feel like I'm sort of an outlier or irregularity.  Most of the card bloggers I know enjoy set building.  It's entertaining, fun, challenging, and delivers a feeling of accomplishment when you're finished.  Me?  I prefer to just buy one already completed.

I like to think it has to do with saving money, but down inside... I know it's about me being impatient.  I don't like things being incomplete... yet I'm too cheap to just pay top dollar for singles I need for set builds.  That's why I'll just buy complete sets when I can afford them.

A while back, I purchased a box of 1988 Pacific Legends Series 1 baseball from Dennis (Too Many Verlanders).  The goal was to eventually purchase a 1989 Pacific Legends Series 2 box off of eBay, but I haven't been able to find one in my price range.

My solution?  Buy a completed set on eBay for under $10.  The kicker?  It actually contained both Series 1 and Series 2 sets.

However... as you can see from the title of this post... I did sit down, bust open a box, and build a set.

Yesterday I opened up the 1990 Pacific Baseball Alumni Team Legends box that Ryan (SumoMenkoMan) sent me a few weeks ago.  Afterwards I sorted them into stacks by tens and built a hand collated set.  Finally I inserted all three sets into 9-pocket pages for easy viewing.  A good old fashioned set build.

By the time I was finished, my back was getting a little stiff from sitting on the floor... so I didn't have time to scan everything and write a in-depth review of these three sets.  That being said, I did want to at least give you a snapshot at the differences between them:

1988 Pacific Legends Series One #40

Each series contains 110 cards.  The first two sets have identical designs, but the Series One cards feature a yellow and gray card back, while the Series Two substitutes the yellow with blue.

1989 Pacific Legends Series Two #220

Series Two starts off with card #111 and runs through #220.  I originally thought that the 1990 Pacific box continued the series, but that turned out to be untrue.

1990 Pacific Baseball Alumni Team Legends #59

This set features a slightly different design on the front and a very different design on the back.  Plus... Pacific restarted the numbering at #1.  I'm not 100% sure if there were any players in both the 1988 and 1989 Pacific Legends sets, but I know for sure that there were familiar names from those two series in the 1990 set.

That's it for the set analysis for today.  This post has run its course.

If you're interested, I have plenty of duplicates from my 1990 box break.  The collation wasn't very good and I was only able to build one complete set.  However I do have two partial sets.  One I'll probably break up and use for my binder collections and the other I'll send out to Dennis since I know he has an appreciation for these cards.

Thanks Ryan for providing the wax box for me to open.  Thank you Dennis for motivating me to grab these sets.  And thank you Phungo for this very cool post card:

The front features the famous 1976 Topps bubble gum card where he's representing the Brown and Gold instead of the Brewers.  He wrote a nice note and included this Kurt Suzuki sketch on the back:

Thanks again Phungo!  Keep up the amazing artwork.  Okay... here is today's question of the day:

What's the last set you built completely by opening packs and trading away/for duplicates?

Happy Monday and sayonara!

Final Piece of the Puzzle

A few years ago, someone wrote a blog post about that "last" card needed to complete a set.  Can't remember who or when that post took place.  I feel like there was even a catchy term that described that final piece of the puzzle.

Hopefully one of you will remember and leave the link down below in the comment section.

***UPDATE***  After reading this post and some comments down below, the credit goes to Night Owl and his One-Card Challenge.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share twelve sets I'm building that are one card shy of completion.  Most of the cards are valued at a buck or less, but there are a couple that might set me back a few extra dollars.

Let's get to it...

After years of accumulating Comic Ball holograms, I finally decided to sit down and organize them.  I'm also building the Comic Ball 2 hologram set, but I need more than one of those.

A few years ago, I decided to try and build all four Marvel Universe series sets... and now I'm down to needing only one card.  It's a shame that Sportlots doesn't carry non-sports cards.

Dick Perez fans might appreciate this 90's oversized oddball issue.  I know I do.  I picked up an "almost" complete set last year.  Still trying to track down McGriff. 

My friend was attempting to build a 1994 Fleer baseball master set.  Eventually he passed the torch to me and I'm down to needing three cards for three insert sets.

This is a beautiful looking set.  I've got all of the big names.  Now I just need Shuler.

This is one of the two cards I probably won't find in a dime box.  But at least I've already crossed off all of the hall of famers in this set.

There's a copy of this card online for a little over $3.  Unfortunately, it's on COMC... which means if I buy it... I won't get it until October.

Anyone open up any packs of this product?  I don't see too many people selling singles of this stuff.  This might be the last card I find from this post.

Puig-mania is over.  Now maybe I'll be able to grab an affordable copy of this card.

Well there you have it.  Twelve sets.  Twelve cards needed to complete them.

What about you?

Are you currently working on any sets where you're down to only needing one card?

Leave your responses below... and maybe someone will be able to help you out.

In the meantime, I wanted to share a few packages I recently received in the mail.  The first one came from Adam over at ARPSmith's Sportscard Obsession.  I've been really hitting Sportlots hard this summer in an effort to complete some sets.  Last week, I purchased two cards from Adam.

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter Across the Years #MT

2003 Topps Opening Day #147

When he recognized me as the buyer, he generously refunded the money and sent the cards free of charge.

The Posada completes one of the sets my buddy Woody sent me two weeks ago, while the Trout gets me one stop closer to completing the 100 card Ginter insert set.

Thank you Adam!  I appreciate you helping me with these two sets.

Next up are three PWE's from fellow bloggers.  Two are are known for their custom card creating skills, while the other is known for his Big Fun Game.

First up are two cards from Gavin who runs Baseball Card Breakdown:

Pat Neshek Custom Card

This card is awesome!  I'm a huge fan of the 1999 Century Legends Epic Signatures set.  It's one of my favorite autographed sets of all-time.  I'm sure Neshek was blown away when he saw and signed Gavin's custom.  I know I was.

Plus he drew this sketch card of Kurt Suzuki:

Kurt Suzuki Sketch Card

And if you know Gavin, you know he loves his glow-in-the-dark cards.  After reading the back of the card, I noticed that you can turn off the lights and see this:

Thanks Gavin!  The Neshek was added to my ever-growing TTM/IP autograph collection, while the Suzuki sketch card was added to the blogger section of my Sports Card Smorgasbord binder. 

Next up is another cool custom card:

Masanori Murakami Custom Card

This custom is right up there with Gavin's in terms of quality.  Only this one was created by Nick Vossbrink who authors the blog:  n j w v.  I'm a sucker for black and white photography, which is why I love this card... and enjoy checking out the photography on his blog.

Nick also sent me this Panini card of Kyle Bellows for my SJSU collection:

2010 Donruss Elite Extra Edition #84

Bellows also attended the high school down the street from where I grew up.  Thank you Nick!

The final PWE arrived from Johnny's Trading Spot:

These Hostess cards were my prize for participating in his BINGO game a couple of weeks ago.  John must know how much I appreciate 70's Hostess cards, because he's sent me a few over the years.  Thanks John for hosting these awesome games... and for this generous prize package.

That's it for today.  I still have two more care packages I need to write about... as well as some cards from my recent COMC shipment.  Stay tuned for those.

Until then...

Happy Monday and sayonara!