TWiB: Retired Numbers, Rookie Cups, Black Gold, Draft Busts, and Funko Pops

It's that time of the year again.  No... I'm not referring to the release of 2021 Topps baseball.  That's all fine and dandy, but honestly it's hobby news that has little impact on me and my collection.  Will I want some cards from the set?  Sure.  But I'm not too worried about getting my hands on an A's and Padres team set eventually.

Right now... my focus is with my allergies.  The past two nights have been miserable.  I've woken up way more than usual with a scratchy throat, itchy eyes, and the standard headache.  But I'm not going to let that ruin my February Break.  I've got some big plans for this upcoming week... and one of them is to sort through a few more 5,000ct. boxes that are currently cluttering my office.  The only thing that will keep me from reaching this goal will be a sore back and a little laziness.  The solution is to stay motivated and avoid sitting on the floor for long periods of time.  We'll see how that goes.

In the meantime... let's check out another This Week in Blogging post...

#1:  Retired Oakland Athletics Numbers

The Oakland A's don't receive a lot of hobby love on the blogosphere, so I always get a little excited when someone writes a post about them.  Last Saturday, CinciCuse Bill wrote about the jersey numbers they've retired over the years.

1974 Topps #478

He also asked his readers which former A's player will have his number retired next.  I'm not sure if it'll happen, but my best guess is Bert Campaneris (#19).  He's the A's all-time leader in games played, hits, and dWAR, while representing Oakland at the Midsummer Classic five times.  He also was a key member of The Swingin' A's teams that brought three consecutive World Series Championships to the Bay Area in the 70's.  Just not sure if that's enough to have your jersey retired.

#2:  Rookie Cup Cards

Topps Rookie Cup cards have carved out a nice niche in our hobby.  And if you are a fan of them, then you're in luck... because hiflew over at Cards from the Quarry wrote a pair of posts on them this week.

1976 Topps #50

In the first post, he created his version of the Rookie Cup dream team.  A few years ago, I started listing out my favorite Rookie Cup cards (that's still sitting in my blog drafts).  The Fred Lynn was the only player that made both of our lists.

1974 Topps #173

The second post focused on the 1974 Topps set, which didn't have any Rookie Cup cards.  However he reveals where he found the list of Rookie All-Stars Topps created back in 1973.

1987 Topps #80

I haven't figured out my all-time favorite Rookie Cup card... but this Wally Joyner is in the running.  1987 was the first time I ever pulled a Rookie Cup card from a pack.  That was also the year I discovered boxes of baseball cards at Costco/Price Club which transformed the way I collected.

#3:  1966

2020 was a bad year as a whole.  Obviously I don't speak for anyone other than myself... but in a nutshell... hopefully things bounce back in 2021.  There's still plenty of time to see if that will happen.

1960 Topps #80

In the meantime, it's nice to read blog posts that focus on the positive.  And last week, John over at Johnny's Trading Spot did just that when he wrote an informative post about the good stuff that happened in 1966.  I wasn't around yet... but I enjoyed learning some interesting facts.

1990 Leaf #297

I don't want to spoil things for you, but did you know that David Justice was born on the exact same day as a hall of fame teammate of his?  If you want to find out who it was... click the link above.

#4:  Bust Out the Champagne

1991 Topps #333

It's no secret that Greg over at Night Owl Cards is a talented writer.  His blog posts are always well written... which is why Beckett hired him.  I can still remember running out and grabbing the February 2019 issue of Beckett Vintage Collector in order to read his article on the 1976 SSPC set.  Two years later, his article on the 1991 Topps baseball set is the cover story for the March issue of Beckett Baseball.  Congratulations Greg!

And AJ over at The Lost Collector just celebrated his 10th Anniversary this past Wednesday.  He's known for being the #1 Tino Martinez collector among our blogosphere.  He's also quite the artist.  A few years ago, he sent me this Kurt Suzuki sketch card for my collection.  Congratulations AJ!

#5:  A Super Strata Collection

Brian's Andrew McCutchen collection is insane.  Seriously.  It's like something you'd see featured in Beckett Baseball.  Maybe it has?  Anyways... earlier in the week he showed off his collection of 2015 Strata Cutch cards and it left me speechless.  Please.  Click here and check it out.

2015 Strata Clearly Authentic Autographed Relic #CAAR-CKW

I only have a handful of 2015 Strata cards... which is headlined by this Kershaw autograph that features a sliver of red patch on it.

#6:  A First for Topps

1993 Topps Black Gold #8

Two days ago, Crazie Joe showed off some 1993 Topps Black Gold inserts on his blog.  It made me start wondering if they were the company's first randomly inserted "inserts".  I'm not talking about the Topps Posters or Game cards they produced in the 60's.  I'm pretty sure they were included in all packs or packs from specific series of cards... sort of like the Glossy All-Star inserts from the 80's found in rack packs.

Does anyone know of any earlier randomly inserted inserts produced by Topps?

Okay... I'm approaching the three hour mark and don't really want to spend the entire morning of my first day on break writing this blog post.  But I still have a few more blogs I'd like to highlight from this past week...

#7:  Sunset Cards

2015 Topps Gold #177

Do you enjoy "sunset cards"?  If so, click here.  Nick over at Dime Box Cards has been building teams of his favorite "sunset cards" based on the divisions in baseball.  This week he targeted the AL Central. 

#8:  Top 5 Quarterbacks

On Super Bowl Sunday, John over at John's Big League Baseball Blog ranked his Top 5 QB's.  I wasn't sure if he meant his favorite quarterbacks or the best of the best, but you can check out his list by clicking here.

1996 Topps Chrome Refractor #145

My original plan was to list out my Top 5 today... but I'm a little short on time.  So for right now... I'll just show off my favorite QB of all-time: Brett Favre.

#9:  A Friendly Reminder

Chris over at The 1993 wrote another fantastic post where he discussed the 1993 #2 draft picks from each of the major sports.

1996 Pinnacle Laser View Inscriptions #NNO

1994-95 UD Be A Player Die-Cut Autograph #S188

Two of the athletes mentioned in his post (Rick Mirer and Alexandre Daigle) reminded me of a time when I enjoyed collecting draft busts.

#10:  Other Collectibles

Although 99.5% of the blogs I subscribe to are card related, I actually really enjoy reading posts that venture outside of our hobby.  On Tuesday, Gavin over at Baseball Card Breakdown wrote about the glow-in-the-dark Spider-Man Funko Pop he purchased.  He also showed off a pair of action figures too.

I went through a Funko Pop phase a few years ago, but have cut down my acquisitions due to lack of storage space.  That being said... I still will buy action figures every now and then.

Well... that wraps up another This Week in Blogging post.  Here are a few questions for you to ponder:

Do you have a favorite Topps Rookie Cup card?

Do you have a favorite "sunset card"?

Who do you think is the greatest quarterback of all-time?

Do you have a favorite quarterback?

When you think of draft bust... what names pop into your head?

Do you own any Funko Pops or action figures?  If so, do you have any favorites?

In the meantime, I'm gonna dive back into my office and start digging through boxes and look for some cards to blog about.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

A Little Bit of Everything

Have you ever made a general statement similar to... "every collector should try to pick up one of these"?  If so, you're not alone.  I've written posts encouraging people to collect specific things... and I've left comments on blogs along the same lines.

But deep down inside... it's these types of statements and comments that go against the heart of my collecting philosophy... which is... to collect what you want to collect... as long as you're having fun and not intentionally hurting others in the process.

Cynical Buddha wrote a very interesting post a few weeks ago about this very subject.  Originally I had planned on featuring it in my This Week in Blogging post, but I wanted to elaborate on things, so here we are.

His post essentially defines what a "collector" is, then breaks them down into different categories.  By the end of the post, I realized that I pretty much fell into every one of them.  And since it's always good to do a little self-reflection... today I figured I'd break down who I am in regards to collecting... while summarizing CB's collector descriptions.

Here we go...

#1:  The Hoarder - A collector who collects everything, but rarely sells or parts with anything from their collection.

1987 Topps Alf Bouillabaseball #20B

My collection ranges from baseball cards to Star Wars cards... and the last time I sold a card was years ago.  The one thing that keeps me from becoming a Super Hoarder is storage space and despising clutter.  That's why I have no problem giving away or donating cards.

#2:  The Sports Collector - A collector who collects cards from one or more sports.

1990 Players International Sample #1

If you had a few days to dig though my collection, you'd find baseball, basketball, football, hockey, soccer, sumo wrestling, golf, track & field, racing, surfing, horse racing, skateboarding, gymnastics, and probably a few other sports that have slipped my mind.

#3:  The Team Collector - A collector who focuses their collection on a team or two (or three or four).

1984 Donruss Champions #7

I collect a bunch of different professional sports teams ranging from the Oakland A's to the San Jose Earthquakes, but I even collect cards from college teams like San Jose State University and other Bay Area colleges.

#4:  The Player Collector - A collector who collects a specific player... or players.

1991-92 Hoops #579

A few of my larger player collections fall under my team collections, but not all of them.  I also enjoy collecting guys like Steve Carlton, Frank Thomas, Barry Bonds, Thurman Munson, Greg Maddux, Rod Carew, Jackie Robinson, Jose Altuve, Clayton Kershaw, Michael Jordan, Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Joe Sakic, Martin Brodeur, and Mike Modano.

#5:  The Set Collector - A collector who likes to build base or insert sets.

1981 Topps #430

I love owning complete sets.  Okay... so these days I do prefer to buy them over building them.  That being said... I'm still in the process of building a ton of different sets and I'll probably always have a least a handful sitting on my active list.

#6:  The Hit Collector - A collector who enjoys collecting hits.  This can be defined as added value content like autographs, relics, serial numbered cards, parallels, printing plates, and inserts.

2006 Ace Authentics Legends of the Game Materials #LG2

I'm still one of those collectors who gets excited when I pull a hit from a pack of cards.  I caught the bug back in the 90's and have been dealing with it for thirty years.

#7:  The Refined Collector - A collector who is very, very selective in regards to their collection.

1996 Pro Stamps Padres

Five years ago, I was in full shopaholic mode... which is why my collection contains a little bit of everything.  These days... storage space is limited... so I am very, very selective in my card purchases.  

#8:  The Vintage Collector - A collector that focuses on vintage cards.

1956 Topps #125

One of my favorite things to collect are vintage cards.  CB told his readers to define "vintage" however we want.  I agree.  It's up to you to set your own parameters.  Personally  I consider cards produced in the 70's and earlier as vintage.

#9:  The Theme Collector - A collector that focuses on collecting cards within a specific theme.

1992 Topps Gold #793

Although I haven't joined the Frankenset building club... I do have several collections with very specific themes: damaged cards, left-handed athletes, hometown heroes, draft busts, and hockey enforcers.

#10:  The Oddball Collector - A collector who collects cards that don't fall under the categories or rules they've set for themselves.

2017 Topps GPK Battle of the Bands #3a

I've been putting aside cards that were unique or had sentimental meaning to me for years and in 2020, I put them all into a binder titled, Sports Card Smorgasbord.  I feel like it fits CB's description to a tee.

In addition to these ten categories, I've created two more.  Both of these topics were addressed by CB in his post and were included as part of the categories mentioned above.  However... I feel that these two areas have enough of a following to be their own categories.

#11:  The Graded Card Collector - A collector who focuses on collecting graded cards.

1958 Topps #343

There are only a handful of bloggers who fall into this category, but I am one of them.  What started with buying vintage cards slabbed for authenticity purposes... eventually led down the path of picking up graded rookie cards.

#12:  The Non-Sports Collector - A collector who collects non-sports cards.

1977 Topps Star Wars #58

Although the bulk of my card collection is sports related... I have enough non-sports cards to fill up a couple 5,000ct. boxes.  Plus my card collecting timeline started with a pack of 1977 Topps Star Wars cards.

Well there you have it.  My collecting style in a nutshell.  As you can see... I collect pretty much a little bit of everything.

A huge shoutout to Cynical Buddha for putting together these collector "categories".  It was nice to reflect on who I am as a collector.  And I'll wrap up this post with something he highlighted in his post and something many of us have written over the years...

There is no wrong way to collect!

Buy what you want to buy... and collect what you want to collect.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!