Some cool pickups!

So, I've been on a bit of a buying binge! 

When I was in San Antonio on vacation with the family, I met up with a guy on the way out of town, on our way home and picked up these beauties:

 

We will forget the fact that on the way, I backed into a concrete wall.  It's ok - I was only going a few miles an hour, and besides, I didn't buy the cardboard-mobile for her pristine looks!  The back fender was disjointed, and I was bummed, but decided to take a knee to it, and it popped back in place.  Now, she has a matching scar next to what my wife did to her a few years back. 

Anyway, back to the cards ...

I flipped them pretty quickly, which was kind of nice because it helped pay for a bit of the vacation!  Plus, I don't know why, but I always have some sort of satisfaction in having owned some of these cards before - I don't always have to own these items myself to feel fulfilled.  If only I can be that way about eating!  You know - take a bite of cheesecake, then spit it out instead of swallowing. 

Jordan Brown, a baseball player for the Marlins called me up and talked to me about the USA autographed baseball I had.  He said he was interested in trading for it, and mentioned he was talking about it with his hitting coach ... Tino Martinez!  How cool is that?  Martinez resigned today, apparently, due to some internal problems. 

Anyway, I ended up selling it to someone else, but thought it was cool that I got to talk to a ball player for a while about it...who called me ... AND who spoke to Tino Martinez about my ball. 

With my family out of town this weekend, I found myself doing a lot of buying ... and talking to my dogs, but that is neither here nor there. 

I was trying to clean out my office a bit, and remembered a purchase from January's card show that was overshadowed by meeting Jose Canseco.  A 1986 Mother's Cookies promo with Jose Canseco and Will Clark that was signed by Canseco! 

It has just been sitting behind an always open closet door of mine, so I decided to get creative.  A month or so back, I grabbed a framed movie poster of Mandy Moore that was autographed.  I took it out, rolled it up, and put the Canseco item in its place.  it was much smaller than the poster, so what I did was I ended up pulling a few Mother's Cookies cards from my collection, and put them in at the top!  These cards were obtained by me as a child by trading with neighborhood friends, a kid from my little league team and opening Mother's Cookies boxes with my dad.  With all that said, here it is!

This may just be Canseco's biggest rookie card ever!  The cards I put in there will serve as a reminder of how fun it was collecting cards as a child.  My Canseco collection are the only cards I have left from my childhood.  Nothing else is off limits when it comes to selling!

So, back to my buying spree.  Here are a few other items I bought this weekend!

 



Autographs of HOF'ers Lefty Gomez, Steve Carlton, Don Sutton, Lefty Gomez and Billy Herman.  The Herman has an AWESOME inscription.  I've never seen one like it!



Yogi Berra Autographed Baseball



Ralph Branca / Bobby Thomson Autographed Baseball - Thomson hit a homer off Branca in the 1951 Playoffs to give the New York Giants the win against the Brooklyn Dodgers.  It was dubbed "The Shot Heard 'Round the World".

Jim Palmer - An inscription that I think has something to do with his alma mater.

 

Don Drysdale!

 



Sandy Koufax!!!

Pee Wee Reese

1996 Orioles team signed baseball with Cal Ripken Jr. 

I was most excited about the Drysdale / Koufax autographed baseballs.  Truly iconic and dominant pitchers for the Brooklyn / LA Dodgers. 

I also picked up nearly 10,000 cards which are mostly 2013's.  This is a bit of a gamble here, because I don't know too much of what is in them. 

I am still waiting for my autographs and cards to come in.  I can't wait!  I may possibly check out someone's 75,000 card collection this evening or week.  Apparently it is supposed to be all stars, rookies, inserts, etc.  So we'll see what happens. 

You know you are a collector from the 80's & 90's when...

I run into people all the time who are coming back to the hobby, be it for themselves or for their children.  I thought it would be fun to put together a list, so feel free to add to it!

You know you are a collector from the 80's & 90's when...

1. You carefully inspect each corner of a 25 cent card before buying ... with a magnifying glass.
2. Your retirement plan consists of a closet hoard of 1988 Donruss complete sets, and a nice stash of guys like Mo Vaughn & Albert Belle
3. You still refer to Todd Van Poppel & Shawn Green as hot prospects.
4. The card you always wished you had was a 1986 Donruss Jose Canseco rated rookie
5. You think your '85 Topps McGwire is worth $200.
6. You have an impressive run of Becketts from 1986 to 1996
7. That Kid Griffey sure is something, isn't he?
8. Your go-to haggling argument always starts with "but the book value is..."
9. Super collecting a player means you have over 100 of his base cards and one, MAYBE two of his autographs
10. The cards of Phil Plantier, Mike Greenwell, Tino Martinez, Kevin Mitchell, etc. that are in holders are worth less than the holders they are in.
11. You got angry when Score entered the picture, because it made collecting complicated.  Topps Fleer and Donruss are enough!

Mining for Black Diamonds and the Case of the Missing Bautista

Greetings from hot San Antonio!  As I write this, I am in the hotel with my family.  I took them for a vacation to Sea World this 4th of July weekend.  I have been meaning to update my blog, so with my wife passed out on the bed from lack of sleep, and my son on his ipod, I figured this would be the perfect time!

This past week has been another busy one.  First off - a few gems!  I picked up a cool small collection of autographs.  A Nolan Ryan autograph, a Tom Seaver vintage autographed baseball, a Whitey Ford autographed 3x5 and this ...

A game used 1984 USA Olympics baseball signed by the whole team!  Yes my friends, that means that the signatures of Mark McGwire, Will Clark and Barry Larkin, among others are on it!  Very pumped to have this in my collection .... until it finds its rightful owner!  :)

Now, onto a few others pickups here.  I found a few people selling their collections.  One was about 30,000 and the other, about 100,000.  I decided to drive one evening to check out both in one swipe. 

The 30k collection was asking a good amount.  She was a reseller, but didn't know much about cards.  She mentioned that the cards would go for much more on ebay.  I told her cards are my bread and butter, so I would let her know if it were true or not.  Right off the bat, I opened up a 1987 Donruss set, and sure enough, a few of the sealed packages were open.  I told her the McGwire rookie was missing, so probably others were too ... though the Bo Jackson was there. 

I went through a few of the mix boxes and noticed a few Jeters, so I thought it would be worth a try, provided she accepted a fraction of what she offered them up for.  I'm definitely not into picking up collections unless I have an interest in them and can make money on them! 

I got home, and was pleasantly surprised!  A few of the boxes were nothing but the red 2000 black diamonds.  Not too big of a deal, but these boxes yielded over 50 each of Jeter, Bonds, Ripken, Clemens, Griffey, Maddux, etc!  There were some SP Authentic of the same guys, as well as some inserts.  Nothing high end, but about 800 cards of super stars.  I was very happy. 

The next collection was interesting.  The guy claimed he had cards from the 50's to about 2005.  He said this was his collection; that he hadn't looked at it for years and years.  That he bought packs and that is how he got most of the cards.  Something seemed strange, but I figured why the heck not ... so I decided to check it out.  He mentioned most were 2000-2005 and not many at all were 80's to 90's junk.  He mentioned there will be a lot, and I mean a lot of good rookies from the 00's. 

On my way out the door, I noticed the email address ... remember this story?  Yeah, the lady who I was speaking with via email was the same lady who offered the mis-cut Cobb that someone else had offered.  Something is up. 

I went over there and the husband mentioned he was moving.  I asked where to, and he said he didn't know.  He said that he used to buy a few storage units a week and such, too. 

I dove into the cards, and you guessed it ... cherry picked to the bone.  Much of it being 80's 90's stuff!  I find it hard to believe that a collection had not been gone through ... and recently ... when you go through a box of rookies where there are multiples of everyone, except for Jose Bautista ... the star player who has only emerged worthy of being pulled from such a box within the past few years. 

Very interesting.  /strokes chin.

The one thing that saved it for me is that I was able to get them for a price decent enough, and that one box had about 2,000 cards from the 70's.  There were a small handful of 50's and 60's cards. 

This was only part of the story, due to my limited writing time today, but I continue to be baffled by the people that continue to lie.  It seems like every time I buy a collection, someone is trying to bs.  I don't get it!  Come on people - that is not how to treat others. 

Anyway, in the end, I am happy with the purchases, and I got a few good stories/experiences out of them. 

My little slice of Puig-Mania

It has been nearly a week since my family have gone anywhere - because we have all been sick as dogs.  Today, we are feeling like we are on the upswing collectively, and decided to run a few errands.  While we were out, I decided to try and catch some Yasiel Puig fever, like I did with Strasburg a few years back.  1 blaster box of 2013 Bowman for $21.50 @ Walmart. 

First of all, kudos to Bowman for making clean cards now!  Sorry, but 2011 and before were just plain ugly.  These look slick. 

As chants of Yasiel Puig ran through my head (and some slipped out audibly as well) while I was opening them up in the car, WHAMMO ....

2013 Bowman Chrome Top 100 Yasiel Puig

Yay!!!  I remembered hearing a mini refractor of his had gone for $50-$70, so I thought this may be $10-20.  Nope ... A mere handful of hours after opening it up, I sold it for $45 shipped! 

Why, oh why, do people buy these singles when they are at the peak of their popularity?  I would be willing to bet that within 30 days, this card will not even be selling for half of that. 

Oh well - thanks Puig!  Not only do you drop my jaw when watching you on tv, you also got me a free box of Bowman, and a $20 bill in my pocket.  You are alright by me!  #puigmania

A Mid-Summer's Christmas

After buying a huge collection, and dealing with a bunch of other stuff in life, I found myself just last week for the first time, wondering if I should even go to the show this past weekend.  I met Jose Canseco last time ... how can I top that?  Short answer: it can't, and ... it didn't. 

As a matter of fact, Friday was probably one of the weaker shows I went to.  I still had fun though.  I brought a few boxes of unopened cards to wheel and deal with.  Within 5 minutes of walking through the doors, a few dealers bought 4 off of me, so that was pretty cool. 

A little further in, I saw these mini Jurickson Profar bats that were autographed for sale.  I picked up all six of them.  5 minutes later after walking around a bit, I was able to sell 5 to another dealer for $20 more than I paid for all of them, so that basically paid for my parking/ticket to the show, plus I got a free Profar autographed mini bat out of it!  I got a kick out of that, because it was the first time I remember flipping something from one table to another since I was a kid. 

Moving along, I picked up 80 autographed prospects for cheap, as well as this nice Triple Threads auto/jersey of Zach Britton.  I'm a sucker for TTT's!

 

The same table had a 2010 Topps purple chrome refractor Mike Stanton rookie, but we just couldn't agree on a price, so I had to walk.  Truth be known, it was $5, and I wanted it for $3.  (Should I really had admitted that?)

A dealer who I do lots of business with actually had brought 26 autographed baseballs.  One was of Barry Bonds, one was of Jose Canseco ... on a '99 All Star game ball, one was of Jurickson Profar, a Josh Hamilton, a Lance Berkman, and there were several hall of famers like Bob Feller, Orlando Cepeda, Warren Spahn, etc.  Again, we just couldn't come to a price.  I told him I would visit him again on Sunday if he hadn't moved them to see if we could do anything.

Up to this point, I hadn't dug into people's boxes much.  I think it was for fear of missing out on deals elsewhere.  I finally buckled down and checked out one table.  I found two very interesting cards:

Original 1909-11 T-206 Buy back

Roy Halladay ATOMIC REFRACTOR!

I got both these puppies for $13.  The T206 just sold for $40, and the Halladay ... the only other one besides mine online is for sale for $200 obo.  I'd say I did pretty swell on those two pickups!

Saturday, no card show was to be had for me, because I was wrapped up from morning to night with birthday parties for my son. 

The next morning, it was storming but I was not going to let that deter me from an afternoon of cardboard bliss. 

But then, my car had other ideas. 

When I was down the road, the battery light came on.  With it storming, I thought it would be smart to go back and pop the hood to see what I could see.  Yup, battery corrosion and lots of it!  I decided to feed it some diet mountain dew, and go on my merry way. 

I made it there, and was happy I was able to.  I brought a few more boxes to deal with.  I was sure selling a few of my '08 Goudey and Masterpieces would be a hit with a previous customer, but he passed.  I then asked if I could dive into his quarter boxes and grab around 100 for an unopened 2007 Upper Deck retail box and he agreed.  Here is what I pulled out.  I was very happy with the swap!

Part of me felt like I had not invested my time wisely sitting pulling out tiny cards like these, but this is kind of my wheel house.  I love the Shaq classic rookie, the King Felix finest refractor, the Arod and Biggio rookies, the classic Chipper rookie, etc. 

I stopped at the dealer with the baseballs.  He said he sold one, so he had 25 left.  We made a deal!  Here is what I got. 

Moving on, I hit a few places and dug to get some cheap cards that I loved.  One in particular ... the purple Stanton!  Hurray!  Such a purty card. As well as some vintage goodness.

 

What is not to love?  Some hall of fame vintage cards, and some new shiny goodness.  I love the Stanton, the Rizzo purples, the '13 Topps Griffey/Ripken inserts and the Chipper orange refractor oh-so-much.

I went back to the place where I got the Profar bats, and noticed they had a bunch of lower dollar 8x10 autographs.  I was able to buy 97 of them total, but that wasn't all.  I had a good conversation with the owner, and they said they brought in Jose Canseco to do a private signing.  Let's just say, it was intriguing enough to me, that I may consider doing that myself in the future.  Stay tuned! 

At the end of the show, I went to dive in the quarter boxes of another dealer I know, so I could trade a box of 2007 Upper Deck.  100 cards.  I told him I think I can find enough stuff I want for 2 boxes worth if he was game.  He said yes, and I was quite happy. 

Then he said ... "Can you believe this?  I offered this guy the entire lot of my boxes to blow it all out, and he didn't even take it!" 

That stopped me in my tracks.  Should I really be satisfied with walking away with just 2 handfuls of cards for 2 boxes, or should I offer him all 6 of the boxes I brought ('07 UD, '08 Goudey & '08 Masterpieces) plus some cash to wipe him out of his quarter stuff?  DUH!

Go big, or go home, baby!  And I did both. 

I made my pitch, and he accepted.  I requested the use of his trolley to haul my newly acquired batch to the car, after I made one pit stop to the dealer who was holding the autographed baseballs for me. 

He brought up his quarter boxes also, and after talking a while, I was able to get him down to less than half of what he was asking initially, so I wound up taking home everything. 

It's not as if I didn't have enough already, heck - I still have 20 boxes left from the same dealer from the last show!  I was able to make really good money off them though, and that is why I am such a sucker for these quarter boxes. 

All in all, it ended up being a good show - the last 5 minutes ended up being the most action, in terms of quantity, but I really did have fun...as always!

There's Always Money in the Banana Stand

For those of you who are in the know, the new season of Arrested Development is coming back tomorrow, after an 8 year haitus on Netflix, and I couldn't be more excited.  The title of this blog is an homage to a famous quote from the show, but it has a double meaning.  Keep reading for more ...

A few weeks back, I mentioned I had purchased a 400,000 card collection.  I have since been able to climb into the black with the collection, and have a whole ton of good stuff left over!  Half the fun is sharing my treasures on this blog, so here it goes.  Oh, and first, a little background. 

The guy who purchased these, got them from a dealer about 11 years ago, who passed away due to cancer.  He had purchased them for $15,000.  No doubt, there were cards he had sold from this lot before I got my paws on them, but still, based upon what all I was able to move in a few weeks, and what I have left ... I must say I'm thrilled. 

What you are looking at is nearly 40 boxes left over of what is mainly good stuff. 

There are some rows of nothing but Andruw Jones, Chipper Jones, Randy Johnson, Frank Thomas, Greg Maddux, etc. (many of the boxes look like this)

but there are some boxes full of nothing but Derek Jeter and Ken Griffey Jr.  I'm not Andruw Jones hater, but then again, he's no Jeter.  All in all, basically everything you see is filled with stars, rookies, inserts, etc. 

One box is filled with about 600 autographs.  Most of them are from minor league sets, which I'm personally ok with.  I was able to find lots of autographed cards of minor leaguers like Barry Zito, CC Sabathia, Kerry Wood, Eric Gagne, Vernon Wells, Paul Konerko , Todd Helton, Adam Dunn and many other guys.  Very slick stuff!  There were also a good number of retired / hall of famer autographs too. 

Plus, a whole slew of rookies/nice inserts of Pujols, Jeter & Ichiro, & others

Some of the cooler cards I found were autographs of Barry Larkin, Yogi Berra and Bob Feller, as well as a Select gold Jeter. 

There are about 4 huge tubs full of stuff as well that have things like autographs of Alomar, Thomas, Brooks Robinson, a gold card of Nolan Ryan, and other neat things. 

Perhaps the biggest surprise was the containers.  Just for the heck of it, I checked online to see what the containers themselves were going for.  As it turns out, each one goes for about $7 or $8 each, and I have nearly 70 of them!  I have since emptied them of cards and have been selling them separately.  NEVER would I have ever guessed that the containers would be worth so much. 

So yeah - there is always money in the banana stand...or in my case, there is always money in the containers!

When is a Topps Certified Autograph NOT a Certified Autograph?

Before I get to my story, I'd like to update you all on my 400,000 card collection haul.  I have gone through the majority of it, after hours of hard work (poor me, lol!)  I will be fulfilling an order very soon for someone, and the majority of the collection will be a part of it.  Thank goodness too ... we need the space!  A friend of mine will be loading me up with another 200,000 cards soon to fulfill the upcoming over. 

Working through all this cardboard is time consuming, but sure is fun.  It is nice to be able to sit back and look at all the freebies and such you have after all is said and done.  I'll probably be posting pictures at some point in the next few weeks what was found, so stay tuned!

Ok, so the question in the title:  When is a Topps Certified Autograph NOT a Certified Autograph? 

A few days back, someone texted me and asked if I was interested in a 2012 Bowman Chrome Rookie Autographed Refractor of Yu Darvish.

Ummm ... yes please! 

He said it booked for $350, and would take $200 for it.  I wasn't a buyer at $200, but if he could be talked down, I'd sure be happy to consider it!  I asked where he got it from, and he said he traded a guy for it with his PS3. 

I asked for a picture ... here it is!

Preeeeeettttyyyyy

Very nice looking card!!!  One thing that was strange though, was that when I was doing my research, I couldn't find a single autographed card that looked like this ... not one!  This is normally a *very* good sign, and heck ... maybe $200 is worth it after all! 

Then I continued on my research.

I found a number of these "Topps Certified Autograph" Darvish cards (that is what it says on the card itself!) without an autograph!  Apparently, a number of these were made as "proofs".  They could be approved by the higher ups at Topps before going into production. 

"So why was this one autographed?" I thought to myself. 

Click on the image, and compare the signature to what else you see online.  See any problems? 

Part of me wanted to go back to the guy and say Yu didn't sign this ... You signed this!

But part of me was worried that maybe he was just an unknowing person in all this, so I didn't quite know what to do. 

And then I remembered his text from him a few days ago. 

"Why would a card say 'Topps Certified Auto' on it and not have an autograph on it?"

There is the smoking gun. 

Look out everyone - you have no idea how many scammers there are out there!  You never can be too careful with autographs!