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Saturday, May 9, 2020

COLLECTING UPDATE: and then there were four

It's a small and temporary victory! For at least the next 30 minutes, my sets and player collections are fully organized. With a few clicks on the Trading Card database, I can see exactly which cards are needed to complete sets or compliment current PCs.

Throughout the course of updating and organizing, I've made decisions which affect many PCs I enjoy. With space a consideration, I determined which collections were completed.  Unless a card is specifically on my Send Help tab, I am no longer adding cards to the following collections:

JEFF BAGWELL
CRAIG BIGGIO
KEN CAMINITI
MARK GRACE
TONY GWYNN
JAVY LOPEZ
GREG MADDUX
PAUL MOLITOR
MIKE PIAZZA
IVAN RODRIGUEZ
CAL RIPKEN
RYNE SANDBERG
OMAR VIZQUEL
ROBIN YOUNT
and CATCHERS in general.

I value my trade pals and realize these changes may make trading more difficult. Blinds trades have always been fun. I've attempted to keep the blog tab lists clean and legible, and most importantly - organized! I've parted with a few players along the way to make space for those which give me the most joy.  Booted were McGwire, Arod, Gonzalez, Palmeiro, Sosa. Among the heavily trimmed were: Bagwell, Biggio, Gwynn, Ivan Rodriquez, Michael Young, Frank Catalanotto, Greg Maddux, Javy Lopez, Omar Vizquel and Eddie Gaedel.

And then there were four...

I am still actively collecting Altuve, Daulton and Cobb. The Astros scandal saddened me greatly. Altuve's passion for the game, and the joy he brings to it, are what drew me back into collecting. The decision to continue collecting his cards took some reflection on my part. This Spring Training interview with Correa was a determining factor.  I don't believe Correa was completely open in his remarks regarding the  2018 season but his commentary to Ken Rosenthal regarding Altuve at the 3 and 11 minute marks made an impression on me.

2019 Heritage SP

Cobb was a man completely opposite in temperament; a fierce competitor. He comes from the Deadball Era, my favorite in baseball history. Players from this period lived hard-scrabble lives. Rarely did the game pay them a living wage. It was small ball, as homers were a rare occurrence in those days, long ago.

1961 Golden Press - my oldest Cobb

Darren Daulton was my first baseball 'love'.  I became a Phillies fan in 93 and still have a soft spot for them. By the time I discovered Daulton, he'd already been in the game several years. He retired after the 97 season. A bit of a wild child, Dutch settled into a quiet life in his last few years. I 'm not ashamed to say, I cried when he passed from brain cancer in August 2017.

1994 Fleer All Star

All cards needed or wanted for these collections can be found in my collection listed in the Trading Card Database, linked here to each name:

  Jose Altuve
  Ty Cobb  {yes, please send that T206, no reprints...lol}
  Darren Daulton

I'm also continuing to add Buster Posey. Cards I'd like to have are being added to the Quad Squad tab above. As for my catchers-in-gear collection, only cards  from 1974 and older  are being added to the binder.  If there is an exceptional new card such as this, then yes, I would love to have it:

2020 Heritage - how could I not like this card?

And of course, I have a bat collection! I like them floating, broken, racked and cracked:










Did I mention cuddled?



I love the seemingly quieter moments of the game most. These cards give me an odd inner peace. In the topsy-turvy world of today, I can look at cards like these for hours. There may also be more bats...




I'm adding more vintage these days, and these are not necessarily expensive cards. Here are a few I've picked up.

1967

1954

I am by no means a condition snob. If I'm going to spend the money however, I want clean, uncreased copies. I chose a unique vintage set for assembly - 1961 Fleer. I love the RW&B with stars design. I'm halfway through the set. These are not mint but fairly well centered with bright coloring. My copy of Gehrig is as nice as those below. I wanted you to see it on its own but managed to delete the original version of the scan while separating from these fellows. They represent the overall condition of my set build.

1961 FLEER

As for my small Blackhawk hockey collection, it's approaching completion as well. I would enjoy adding some refractors, a colorful patch, OPC and pre-1980 cards. I do have a list of cards in mind HERE. I just don't have room for a large hockey collection. Thanks to the generosity of my trade pals, hockey flowed into my home like flood waters for awhile.

I am still collecting Tigers. You can find these needs on the Uncaged Tiger tab. This list will be a continuous work in progress, regularly updated.

If you managed to read this far down the page, you deserve heads up on an upcoming contest which will require your participation throughout the summer and early fall. Yes, I do know how to drag something out. I recently decided to add tickets to each of my Picker Pals envelopes for a drawing later in the year. Johnny's Trading Spot spoiled my idea by coming up with it on his own. The nerve. ;)  He'll be doing this with his Big Fun Friday games.  Please, join him.  What does this mean then, you ask.

Stay tuned. The primaries are coming....


38 comments:

  1. I don’t blame you! Sometimes you just gotta scale back.

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    1. Outer space may be continuing to expand but no additional rooms have appeared on my home, leaving me no choice.

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  2. So good to see you post again.

    The Astros thing w/ Altuve also hurt me... I absolutely love watching that little guy play baseball.

    Having Verlander on that squad also stinks...it doesn't hurt my love for JV and Mrs. JV any.

    My PC lately is all about Matt Boyd and the Topps Living Set.

    Did you add Cobb, Kaline, and the Tigers players from the set?

    Until we talk again, stay well young lady, and, maybe, just maybe, we'll see each other at a ballpark soon.

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    1. Hey John! I have the Castellanos which seems to have been a wise purchase but never picked up other Tigers. Maybe one day. I have trouble 'buying into' Topps' propaganda.

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  3. Exciting stuff. You cant go wrong with those awesome 1961 Fleer.

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    1. Thanks for a very interesting post. Always good to see someone getting enjoyment from their card collection by getting it streamlined and organized. It is like a full time job. I also like the 1991 Topps Azocar card. The empty seats in the background fits my Frankenset theme.

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    2. Tom, the set really grew on me. So many players from Deadball, guys we just don't hear about anymore. They are a fascinating part of baseball history and should not be forgotten.

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  4. I must have selected the wrong function. I seems I have replied to The Angels In Order's comment. Sorry about that. What else can you expect from a mistake prone senior citizen. Oh well.

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    1. lol Fred. I've done it too, by mistake and intentionally. I need to pull those naked stadiums for you. I'll be more observant in my sortings! I may have an extra Azocar as well. I just rec'd two in the past couple of weeks. It's a fave of mine.

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  5. That 61 Fleer set has always interested me. Found a couple beat up ones at a card show for 25 cents. Not memorable names though. One might have been Joe Sewell?

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    1. Hello Jeff! Always great to see a new name! Could be Sewell. He's one I'm chasing. Hard to pass up for .25! I've added your blog to my reading list, and will also check out your book! It appears to be Deadball Era!!! We also share some common player interests.

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  6. Not always easy to refine what you collect, but I like the sense of more purposeful collecting it provides going forward.

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    1. Hi Crazie Joe - any sign of an envelope from me yet? I don;t think Fred has his either. It's a "two postal system" conspiracy!! So true. I enjoy what I have of these players but need to close the door on most cards for them.

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  7. I laughed at your T206 comment.
    I shuddered at Carlton in a Cardinals uniform.
    I turned up my nose at your '93 bandwagoning.
    I think I have a Daulton from your want list. Might message you through TCDB.

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    1. Ah 93. The good old days. Let me tell ya, I've parted with 75% of my 90s collection over the past several years. I collected was I thought "I was suppose to collect." A lot of prospecting and big stars I didn't care for...because that's was what you did, right?? Wrong. Hope to hear from you. Thanks for reading!!

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  8. Good to hear that your sets and player collections are fully organized (for at least 30 minutes, lol). You're way ahead of me on that one. And isn't TCDB wonderful? Thanks for yet another great post!

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    1. Hi BBC! Thanks for the kind words. That 30 mins has come and gone! Still working on misc parts of my collection but the major components are is good working order. I'll never have those Tigers fully updated.

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  9. I have a stack pulled for you that includes some of the rejected - you will still get them though! Am excited to look for more things for you - will be fun to look for floating bats! Maybe I have a vintage catcher or two, will have to look . . .

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    1. Bo, the 'rejected' are still welcome within trades currently in process. ;) I appreciate the time you take to find just the right cards.

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  10. It's been awhile since I sent you some cards -- I guess it probably still will be awhile the way things are going -- but at least I can assemble a neat "for Julie" stack on my desk and pat myself on the back each time I see it.

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    1. We haven't traded in awhile but it's not for the lack of wanting to do so. I don't pick up a lot of new cards so my Dodger hoard is quite thin. You may still find something when pickin' so please do - often. :)

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  11. It's hard for me to stop collecting a player cold turkey, but with my cataloging projects lately I've had to decide who's a top-tier player collection and who's more of the rank and file. I have to admit that Altuve's no longer a top-tier guy for me because of the whole cheating scandal (along with most current Astros), though I'm not abandoning his cards entirely.

    I love the bats theme! I don't have any plans to start a new mini-collection (god knows I have enough already) but bat racks would probably be my next project if I did.

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    1. My decision came more easily after taking the time to inventory each card. Over 900 Piazzas...that was enough. Some day you will be a bat man. As Greg A. says - resistance is futile.

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  12. Hope the package I sent Tuesday gets to you soon. Hope the Dutch cards I sent are still on the want list. And I've been working on organizing my collection for the past 14 years. Think it'll be another 14 before I'm done. Congrats on getting yours in order.

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    1. I've added only 3 new to Dutch binder in the past month so odds are excellent these are still needed. That 30 minutes mentioned up top? - come and gone!

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  13. If you like the deadball era, hardscrabble ballplayers, and great images, I recommend a book called "The Big Show", which features the photography of Charles M. Conlon. Most of the ballplayers featured in that book are the guys who had to scrap just to make it to the big leagues, and who may not have stayed there very long. Next to each photograph you get a little bit of their story. Very cool stuff. I've got a copy on my coffee table right now.

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    1. Niner, thanks for the tip! I do have a copy of "Baseball's Golden Age" Conlon's photography by the McCabe siblings. Looks like I need to pickup this sequel!

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  14. Hmmmm... now to find a new home for all my Ryno and Gracie dupes. :) No worries, I'll figure it out!
    We all have to cut back from time-to-time and I've done so in a big way the last few years. It has to feel great to get all organized even if it is just for 30 minutes. LOL Congrats!

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    1. I love those guys! There are still some Rynos on my TCDB list, refractors and fancy serial #d cards I wouldn't mind adding. There will certainly be a few new cards I'll want too but these will be added to my Send Help tab. I do feel good about the progess!! PS I haven't seen you on the PP page yet, Tom.

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  15. It's cool that you're sticking with Altuve. I am too. I didn't like how they handled the whole thing... but people make mistakes. He's still a fantastic contact hitter and I'll take one of those over a slugger any day of the week. I doubt I have any Cobb left. I might have some Posey, since my students jumped off the Giants bandwagon a few years ago. I'll also look through my Phillies stack for Daulton.

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    1. If you run out of things to do, that's kind - and thank you. I think Altuve has some real pop in his bat. I can't put myself in a player's position. I read "Baseball Codes" last month. These guys may not get along at times but they do NOT turn on one another. Clubhouse secrets tend to stay in the clubhouse. I wonder what struggles he may have had. We profess to know what the right decisions are but what would we actually do? I don't know. Altuve is a quiet fellow anyway. We don't know what he did or did not say. Thanks to player immunity, we likely won't know for a very long time.

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  16. Stadium Club First Day Issue! Always loved those parallels.

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    1. Those were tough pulls back in the day. I like 'em too!

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  17. Love your quiet moments collection. I haven't gone full-bore here but when I'm acquiring cards just for photography reasons they're almost always those kinds of images. I call it my "ma" collection. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_(negative_space)

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    1. Thank you, Nick. From the link: Ma has also been described as "an emptiness full of possibilities, like a promise yet to be fulfilled", and as "the silence between the notes which make the music". Such insight! I've often found a pause between notes the most powerful piece of music. "The Power of Now" and life between the moments are brimming with possibilities.

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  18. I love the 1961 Ty Cobb,Encarnacion,Ryan Adams 2011 Topps,and Steve Carlton cards the best out of all the ones shown here.With the Ryan Adams one,with the camera angle how it is,it kind of looks like his bat is about 50 inches or so to me,lol.

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