Baseball Cards!!!

[yanksgooner]

Like many of you, after many years of involvement as a young child and adolescent, I gave up one of my favorite pastimes in order to concentrate on drinking beer, buying more music, and chasing tail around the hallways of my middle school and high school.

These past few months, after consulting with several sources in the know, taking a few trips down memory lane, and visiting the places that I used to drop all my snow shovelling money in exchange for pieces of 2-sided, 4-color printed cardboard, I've decided to re-enter the world of baseball card collecting.

Before drinking and other seemingly adult-like indulgences took control, this was something that I really enjoyed as well as something that brought me closer to my family, taught me a thing or two about history, and just plain made me appreciate the old stuff instead of brushing it all aside and playing some dogshit video game.

In any event, I know there are a few card hounds out there on this board, still involved, maybe not...but feel free to share your recent purchases, tales of trades/purchase, card show news, or favorite collectables here....

I just bought one of these last night for the bargain price of $4.80:

[MSBNYY]

Great idea for a thread. I stopped collecting after high school. At that point, there was a big boom on baseball card companies. It was no longer just Topps, Fleer and Donruss. And worse, instead of the classic 792 card sets, and the traded sets, they had different series' from the same company.

I like it simpler. I would buy the Topps set, get 44 of those plastic sheets that take 18 cards a pop, put them in there, and preserve them forever.

My cards are all still at my parents' house, some in great shape, many not.

[$heriff Tom]

Yeah, I like this thread.

Actually just picked up a pack of cards while at 7-11 over the weekend, just for a kick. Normallly shy away from that tact - this pack of 8 Topps cards cost just under FOUR DOLLARS. Actually got a couple of cool cards, including a David Wells and an Alex Gordon rookie.

I told Gooner and a few others off the board that my normal tact is to raid Beckett online once or twice a year, where I scoop up 100 or so random cards, ranging in price from a dime each to a couple of bucks. I pick and choose what I want on those. Favorite players, some rookie cards, some autographed cards or uniform swatch or bat chip cards, things like that.

I'll get into things deeper as this thread evolves, but I have a handful of binders at home, set up with my cards of choice in sleeves. I need to arrange the format better, but just like my old scorecards, at times I randomly enjoy just picking up these books and pawing through.

[MSBNYY]

The first year I collected was 1978. I have a scant few cards before then, but as a young tike, that was the first year I collected for real.

And yes, I wrote on the cards--I numbered them. They are in lousy condition.

[yanksgooner]

Yeah, the first packs I remember getting were '81 Topps. Then my dad stepped on and got a few packs of 82 Topps and 83 Fleer (From which I still have a Ryne Sandberg rookie and a Cal Ripken Jr. rookie) when I did good in school or whatever. That really kicked it off for me.
Once I got a decent command of what was going on in the 80's, we started hitting the shows and coming back with the oldies. I got really into collecting Elston Howard, Orlando Cepeda, Harmon Killebrew, and the holiest of holy...my Thurman Munson collection, including the elusive (pre-internet, mind you) 1975 Topps Mini.

Like Tom said, the cost of a pack for 4 dollars is slightly crazy. I'll be shopping on Beckett and some of the old LI retail spots leading up to the October National at Hofstra University Gym...10/27-28/07.

Here's the deets for those who want to go. I'll be getting all of my Harold Baines cards signed as well as getting a picture with that particular White Sox bearded legend.



Long Island National #7
Long Island's Largest Sports Collectible Show!
Oct 27th - Oct 28th, 2007

Hofstra University - Hempstead NY
Hempstead Turnpike
Show Hours:
Sat: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Sun: 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Adult $6.00 per day
Kids under 10 are free

Free Parking!!

Autograph Guests!
Paul Blair - 1977 and 1978 W.S. Champ
Harold Baines - "384 HR'S - 6 Time A.S.

Denny McLain - 68 Cy Young, 30 Game Winner

Andre Dawson - R.O.Y and MVP

Jim Rice - 382 HR'S - 2 Time MVP!

George Foster - Reds/Mets Great - MVP

Gene Michael - N.Y. Yankees Great!

Sparky Lyle- 1977 and 1978 W.S. Champ

Ralph Kiner - H.O.F Great!

Ed Kranepool - 1969 New York Met Champ!

*Special Promotion*

Global Authentication (GAI)
Will Be Providing Free Autograph Authentication For All Free Autographs Guests Provided This Weekend!



Grading/Autograph Services

[$heriff Tom]

I've been kicking around the idea of a card show. We'll see how this all plays out.

I have one full box set at home, a Topps - I want to say 83...I should know offhand, considering I have handled the cards a lot and have been moving them into a binder. Got it as a gift, in the $50 or so range, a few years back. I think in future years I may cherrypick some box sets for special years of yore.

I was one of those kids who had cards in all kinds of cigar boxes and paper bags, and somehow along the line they dissapeared. Wether Mom tossed them or they were transferred to someone else without me in on it, so much for that.

I wish I had some of those old cards I remember having , like Hank Aaron in his Brewer years, a few Thurmans along the way, and all other kinds of cool cards. I used to make up my own games using baseball cards, and had some other corny rituals, which again, I will get into in time on this thread.

[MSBNYY]

Here's a question--

If I had a valuable card--is there a cost in getting one of those PSA ratings?

If there's a big cost, it's not really worth it.

I have a Fleer Update Roger Clemens card I bought at a show a long time ago. I know it's in great shape. Would love to get it rated, if it's worth the effort.

I also have a Dave Winfield Rookie, and a 1985 autographed Donruss Two For the Title card (autographed by Winfield and Mattingly)

Do autographs raise or lower the value?

[$heriff Tom]

Balls, those cards wont be worth considering selling. You would be lucky to get $20 at most for cards of that ilk. So great, you just paid for 3 days worth of lunches for the week.

Autographs would probably lower the value unless you have a certificate of authenticity, as people cant necessarily trust the actual person signed the card.

There is no money in collecting cards, especially with the glut of them on the market in recent years.

[yanksgooner]

I've heard autographs lower the value of the card...depending on who it is. I've always thought of autographs as having more sentimental value than anything, like meeting the actual player.

[MSBNYY]

The Clemens one would be worth selling. Look an Ebay and type in 1984 Fleer Update Roger Clemens.

[$heriff Tom]

By the way, finding Winfield rookie cards - MINT - for $30.00

Again, big deal - it will buy you a season of Family Guy on DVD.

[Domi]

I stopped collecting when Bullpen Memories closed. I still have a shit-tonne of cards from about 1988-1993.

[Chris]

I have dabbled here and there in baseball card collecting, however my agenda is obtaining cards of players I like and not cards based on their worth or potential worth. That's probably a bad way to go about it.

I have a reasonable collection, and every now and then I get a wild hair up my ass to purchase more cards.

The fact that I have a 3 year old son has started me thinking that I might like to collect cards for my enjoyment NOW, and his enjoyment and possible financial gain in the future.

Last week I was going through my complete (actually more than complete as I have many duplicates) 1989 Topps collection...but then I got in an argument with my wife and threw them all in a bag and put them in a drawer. Maybe this thread will inspire me to pull them out again.

I have bought many Yankee cards on a one-off basis in the past, but again, more for my enjoyment than their actual worth.

One thing that bothers me about the modern world of card collecting is that now you have to contend with all the different card makers. I think that if I make my way back into the world of collecting, I will stick with my childhood staple Topps. I don't know what to make of all this DonRuss, Upper Deck, etc business.

An interesting note - when I started working on the unload docks at UPS in the late 80s, one of the trucks I unloaded was Upper Deck. Other people used to snipe full Upper Deck boxes from that truck all the time, and I never did.

[9]

I bought a huge shoebox full of non-baseball cards (football, basketball and hockey) at a garage sale about 10 years ago. The value of the cards in the box was nearly $2,000. I probably should have sold them then. Lord knows what they're worth now.

[Jackass]

I stopped collecting around 1992 when too many card companies started popping up and it got insane. I collected Topps and Fleer exclusively during my collecting period.

My mother never did the old toss out the cards gag, and when my friends mom's did, they gave the cards to me.

I have virtually 100% complete sets of all Topps (including traded/rookie) from 1958 through 1993. This includes massive amounts of doubles because until the late 1980's, I pretty much created the sets from indivudual wax and rack pack purchases.

I have almost all Fleer sets from that time period as well, but I wasn't as strict about collecting Fleers as I was about collecting Topps.

I collected things that I liked rather than things as an investment. That's why my Brooks Robinson rookie card is autographed. Because he was my hero, and he signed it for me. Fuck those comic book guy herbs that tell me the value went down because of it.

This is my favorite baseball card because I thought it was one of the funniest gags to pull on a dude:



I also collected hockey cards, which in SoCal was extremely difficult to do. I collected Topps and O-Pee-Che's from about 1968 (when the Kings came on the scene) to around the same time I stopped collecting cards. Pretty much 100% complete sets, and yes, I do have a few Gretzky '79 O-Pee-Che cards as well as some Super Mario rookies.

This is my favorite hockey card, though:



I love this card because if you look closely, you can see Phil is in a wild pair of '70's plaid slacks, and it's like he just popped in for a quick shot in his sweater and then was back out banging chicks and drinking Canadian Club and Coke.

[Jackass]

Oh, yea.

Keef, if you don't produce a baggie filled with flour and ask Denny to sign it, you don't have any hair on your balls, and ask George Foster what it was like going to Leuzinger High School (they were our rival high school - and no smart asses he went there waaaaaay before I was in school).

[cactusjames]

A few months ago I found all my old binders, hockey, baseball, football. I decided I wanted to start collecting again and have been buying pretty regulary. A few years ago, as a christmas gift, I got an entire years set, of either topps or fleer, I can't remember off hand, from 1991, maybe even earlier. It has all the rookies from that year, some real funny ones too, but I'd have to get it out of my closet to go further into detail, it's been a few years since I looked in there.

A card I recently got was a Mickey Mantle card that had a cheat code on it for MLB 2k7. When you enter it you unlock for use in games, The Mick. Pretty sweet, he wears the old jersey and everything. It took me awhile to figure out what spots to bat Mantle, A Rod and Abreu in the lineup.

[Chris]

So this thread, last night prompted me to go through my collection. I don't have much, but here's what I have:

A binder full of Yankee cards only. I've got some old time Yankees, but they are new cards. The oldest cards I have are a handful of the late 70s era Yanks - Gossage, Nettles, Chambliss, and maybe a couple of others. I've got TONS and TONS of mid-80s Yankees who basically had a cup of coffee with the team. Then in that same binder I have three pages worth of various Chris Mullin cards.

I went through what was billed as a complete Topps 89 set (by my Grandfather - he doesn't know) but what it actually turned out to be was a full box of baseball card packs - the actual box the use as they display in the store. So I had tons of repeats...sorted through that and pulled out a few cards of interest (of interest for various reasons): 2 x rookie Jim Abbott, quite a few HOFers (Puckett, Ryan, Clemens, Sandberg, Molitor, Gwynn, Eck) David Cone, Keith Hernandez, Jim Rice, the only Red Sox player I was ever a fan of - Oil Can, Edgar Martinez, and 2 x Claudell Washington Angels cards.

Another interesting card I came across - Bob Walk. I have only a scant memory of this guy, and had I not seen the card I wouldn't have ever rememebered he existed. What a name. Wouldn't you purposely stay away from the pitcher position if you were a young ball player and your last name was "Walk." And Bob Walk was a very mediocre pitcher, at best. It might have been different had he been good.

[Chris]

The first return for a "Joba Chamberlain" search on eBay is a Topps card currently at $26.00

[MSBNYY]

Bob Walk?

You know, I wonder if anyone has a Roy Hitt baseball card. He wasn't very good either. I guess you could say a Walk's as good as a Hitt.

[yanksgooner]

I just got another shipment yesterday from an online shop in Chicago.
Once again, I've been told that the 1960 Bill Skowron was unavailable at this time. It was the 2nd retailer tell me such.


I did happen to see it at Alex's MVP Cards on the Upper East Side the other afternoon. I may just have to go back and pick it up there. The only reason I left it in the book was b/c I thought it was getting shipped to me.

This goodie came through in the batch though:



I thought it was great card since he was actually sitting in the bleachers.

[Chris]

Geez...what's with the spread eagle pose? David Wells MUST HAVE given him shit for that.


Here's a question - with so many baseball cards and manufacturers out there...do you think the players care much about their own cards? Do you think, for instance, that David Cone owns or has seen ALL of his cards?

[$heriff Tom]

That is an awesome Cone card. The bleacher pose is a nice touch there.

Funny thing regarding the Joba card - I am a fool - I touted Joba from day 1, and those are the sorts of players I shop for. Get the prospects early, especially personal favorites. Well, that ship has sailed. But I have some interesting prospect cards I grabbed in the last couple of years, I will let you guys know how those pan out ...

Some of my favorite cards are actually guys who will never make it, but I liked for one reason or another - its almost like a salute to a passing cloud. One guy is former Yankee "prospect" Aaron Rifkin - not really much a prospect, he was just the designated power bat for the Staten Island Yankees 5 or 6 years ago, whom I took a fancy to (and not in a gay way)

So I snapped up a few of his cards, including a lot of 10 of the same card from a dealer for a buck. I may have a couple to pass around if I can find them. He was released by the Yankees a couple of years ago, and was last spotted playing in Seattle's system. He wont make the show but I am happy to have his card.

[39poolshark]

Wow, I cant believe I missed seeing this thread from the start. As someone who buys baseball cards on a daily basis, sometimes more than once a day, I will be re-visiting this topic when I am home.

For anyone interested, there is a show in White Plains Oct. 5-7 at the convention center. Good luck find any Yankees, Suzy and I were there before it opened and were in within minutes and they had nothing. Of anyone. However, if you collect teams or players from other teams you will get good stuff relatively cheap. The admission price is $7 and there are people there signing auto's as well.

Also, see Beckett's website for more info, and for single cards in their online hobby shop.

[39poolshark]

One of the best cards I ever got in a box of cards...

<img src="http://bp2.blogger.com/__I_t30OCWsw/RjLdOldsuDI/AAAAAAAAAAM/bJcC_dAul2s/s1600-h/IMG_0011.jpg"></img>

[MSBNYY]

I used to go to that show when I was younger. That's where I got a Joe Dimaggio baseball, a Mantle baseball and the 1984 Clemens Fleer Update.

[$heriff Tom]

At some point over the last few months I collected together all the cards I had of players who died tragically, or young. Even went online and nabbed a few - in fact, I got a text message from a Creature who was in the EMS who answered the call of Ken Caminiti's OD, and before his death was even announced I was on EBay at the time, buying one of his autographed cards.

I then set them up in my book like a sort of tribute page, and soon after realized how morbid it sort of was, and creepy. It still there, but it sort of takes some of the glee out of leafing through my binder when I see 9 cards to a page of smiling young men who were killed in wrecks.

[MSBNYY]

That's a great collection!!!! Not as good as an all dead wrestling tape, but still damn cool. Who made the list?

[$heriff Tom]

Mike Sharpeson, Mike Darr, Lidle, Caminiti, Bob Moose, Lyman Bostock, Darryl Kile, eh, it went on and on. I think I even put in a couple of guys who died in their 40s from troubled reasons like Rod Scurry, Salome Barojas, Bo Diaz. If they died, it there was a story about it, they made that section in the back of the book.

[39poolshark]

Currently, the players that I collect are Pujols, all Yankees, and selected rookies. If there is anyone out there that would like to trade for cards, I am willing to listen. But, the cards need to be near mint or better. Plenty of other players also.