In the 1980s and 1990s, the World was changing, becoming a more softer, gentler place. However, it was still common to reinforce the notion that boys cannot show any real emotion aside from anger and rage.
You only said “I Love You” to your mom or your girlfriend, and aside from a high five or a punch to the arm, boys were to express no positive emotion toward each other.
At least that’s how I perceived the world when I was entering adolescence.
So when it came to Valentine’s Day in elementary school, we selected the most boy-thing ever:
Sports Valentine’s Day Cards.
The messages were very Bro-tastic; what we deemed to be an acceptable way of telling other boys that “we’re cool,” “we good,” “you’re my boy” — or simply, we are friends and I care about you.
As a card collector from a young age I always kept these cards when I got them because … I was a collector.
Over the years I’ve lost a few, but I still manage to have these two, ones of Michael Jordan (I’ll upload a better image later) and Barry Sanders, and I believe I have a third one somewhere of Ken Griffey Jr., which I could not locate for this post.
Anyway, it is Valentine’s Day, and if these still existed and we were still in school I’d write my name on the back of them and place them in each of your poorly decorated Valentine’s bags at the edge of your desks.
Don’t just invest your efforts and money today in chasing down Optic basketball, get flowers and a card for the person in your life — because THAT is an investment worth making.
I’m really not a huge fan of Manufactured relics. Hell, I don’t think anyone is. But the 2020 blaster-exclusive Rookie Logo medallions have won me over.
I enjoy the simplicity of the card; it’s not some wacky design with a chunky piece of metal or rubber. It’s essentially a reprint of a rookie card with the small Rookie Card Logo embedded within and honestly I’m kicking around the idea of working on this set.
I’m drawn to them like no other ManuRelic I’ve seen in the past; maybe it’s my affinity to rookies. Rookie card reprints have been used as ManuRelics in the past — I believe Topps did them as silk patches in 2013 (I did NOT like them) — but the 2020 cards really are gorgeous, even more so when you hold them.
I enjoy the matte finish and the fact that even though the card is thick and has a piece of metal in it, it’s weight is not grossly imbalanced. And while the stock is thick, it resembles something I’d expect to see on a high-dollar release.
We know why ManuRelics exist — it’s an incentive to make people buy blasters; to help consumers feel as if they’ve received something special. And for the first time in a while — maybe even ever — I do feel that way with these.
If you’ve got any you’re looking to unload I’m interested. I’ll be seeking the regular versions of everyone on the checklist; and then variations of the Clayton a Kershaw and Roger Clemens cards from the set.
There comes a time in every man’s life when he sits his boy down to talk about important things in life. That time came last weekend.
I asked him if we could talk, and he looked concerned. He looked nervous and I told him that he’s growing … and so is his collection.
The Birds and Bees talk has already been broached in a age-appropriate way with my 9-year-old, but THE TALK I had with him recently was about choosing a collecting focus.
He had cards on the table and cards on the book case, and cards in sorting boxes, which ultimately are set to make it into binders. It was time for him to think seriously about WHAT he wanted to collect and not just quantity. I told him there was no rush, but I wanted him to start thinking about it. I left it in his hands.
The morning after I mentioned this, he woke up and asked when we could talk — he wanted to discuss some possible focus for his collection.
I told him that he didn’t need to have unbreakable rules for his collection, but he should think about what type of cards excite him, and what players’ or teams’ cards he likes to see.
While his focus is not like that of a laser, he has come to this conclusion: He wants to collect these three players: Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, and Matt Chapman. He likes other players, but he is actively collecting these guys.
Eventually I want to get him to a point where he basically has items that he wants to keep, and others that he is open to moving. And when he has that determination, I hope to help him find some trading partners to move some of his excess for items that he enjoys.
Last weekend my son and I went to the local flea market, part of which I documented in the previous edition of Thrift Treasures. While we were on the way there, I was telling him about my past experience at this flea market, specifically with a certain dealer who would often bring cards and sell them relatively cheap.
Among the previous hauls were relic cards for $1, which was a big deal a decade ago. I did not expect to see that dealer again, but there he was, right in a spot where I remembered. I spotted him from half way down the aisle and told my son. We made a b-line for his table.
This seller has aged over the years, and sadly he is now in a wheelchair. But there he was, hawking goods for the benefit of those looking to secure relatively cheap cards.
I scoured his cards and tried to gauge my son’s interest on some of them, but he was not seeing anything HE wanted for his collection. Totally understandable. But I stopped immediately when I thumbed through a stack of cards in Top Loaders and spotted something I hadn’t seen before.
There in the parking lot of this community college in California was a little pile of dirt, but not just any dirt — pieces of EARTH (it even says so on the card!) from Woodstock, New York, location of THE most historic concert of all time.
I may have said an expletive which caused my son to see what I was gawking at. He immediately asked what it was and what the hell that writing was on the front of the card. I explained to him the significance of the concert and told him that while I had opened a TON of 2001 Topps American Pie, I had not seen this card before.
I’ve pulled pieces of Elvis’ leather jacket, a swatch of Janis Joplin’s clothing, the lining of Frank Sinatra’s jacket (I think), and even pieces of the Berlin Wall as seen on the JFK card from that release. But never have I seen this Woodstock card. The price tag said $10, which I was happy to pay.
I continued to look through the stacks and really only stopped on one other card, a 1958 Topps Rival Fence Busters subset card featuring Willie Mays and Duke Snider. The card had three rounded corners and two somewhat pointy ones. Yeah, that’s not a typo: The card had FIVE corners because someone had clipped off one of the corners.
The price tag said $3 and I knew it had to be mine because it was my duty to save this 62-year-old card from the hell it was living among the piles of stuff constantly dragged from one flea market to another.
I took the cards to the seller, who had since fallen asleep in his wheel chair (poor guy), and his mother (yes, his mother) tried to wake him but he was fast asleep. She saw the cards I had in my hand and the price tags on them and said, “Just give me $10.”
I asked twice if he was sure and then thanked her for the deal.
The Mays/Snider card is in rough shape as you can tell, most would continue to walk away if it sat there. But this is an authentic vintage card featuring two Hall of Famers, one of whom is a local legend. While not worth much to anyone else but me, it’s a card I’m more than happy to have sitting around in my stack of vintage Willie Mays cards. And it’s even better that it was essentially a throw in to this sale.
The Woodstock card is really neat. Yes, it’s a small capsule of dirt embedded in the card — and it really doesn’t specify if the dirt came from the farm where the concert was held or if it’s from the center median of an intersection in that city — but the card represents something I didn’t know existed from a product I opened. Additionally, while I was not alive when Woodstock the concert occurred, I once watched a documentary on Woodstock while I was in college and it completely changed my outlook on music.
I was working at my college newspaper at the time as an editor. I would go to classes during the day and then work at the newspaper until midnight five days a week. When I got home one night, I was unwinding watching VH-1 (it was a music channel, folks) and the Woodstock documentary was on. It was like 1 a.m. when it started and I sat there for the entire thing; I had an emotion connection and reaction (I cried during Joe Cocker’s performance) to the show and the music. It’s hard to explain, but that night changed me, so this card will now sit in my PC as a reminder of that night.
The funny thing about large publicity events like the Topps Million Card Rip Party is that it often brings about negative feelings for those who aren’t involved.
I’ll say this: I was not involved. I wasn’t there and didn’t buy into a break. I did watch a bit on YouTube but had to turn it off because it was causing me anxiety. It looked like chaos, was loud, and honesty, Flagship Topps isn’t really breaker friendly so it was a lot of quick rip and filler chatter between the hits. As I noted on Twitter, the Rip Party wasn’t for me … and that’s Ok. I hold no negative feelings about it.
But the real purpose of this post today is that there is also the notion that all of the good cards are gone since so much of the stuff was ripped at one time. We saw some very nice cards come from some packs.
It’s true there was a lot of product ripped yesterday. But whether it happened in one place or across the country over the course of a day or two, all of that stuff would have been opened this week anyway. Topps flagship is ripped in mass quantity — and it still will be — and at least we know that the cards actually exist.
If you are on the side that believes all of the good stuff is gone, I offer this alternative point: At least you already know that certain 1 of 1s are off the table. Because a lot of those get pulled and put into personal collections and don’t show up on social media feeds So that can lead to folks questioning if they’re still in the wild.
Flagship Topps is about the base cards — that’s why there is so much produced. The rare hits are really a bonus for those ripping, and the fact that some of them are no longer in packs should not deter you from buying the product if you wanted it in the first place.
When you send a high-dollar card off after a sale, there is always a short period of uncertainty where the card is no longer in your possession and has not arrived at its destination.
You’ve essentially trusted complete strangers to be your go-between in moving this asset from your collection to someone else’s.
Those days of transit are often uncomfortable. While it’s been a few months since my last big single card sale, I have sent several packages to COMC in recent months.
One recently had a stack of Zion Williamson cards, some of which I’ve already sold since I asked for premium service. And most recently I sent more than 1,200 cards, the vast majority of which are autos and relics I once held in high regard.
For three days I waited, and last night I received a series of emails from COMC confirming their arrival. I can now breathe.
The items are now in separate batches in my queue, and now looking at my COMC dashboard I feel very accomplished. There are more than 2,000 cards at COMC awaiting formal processing. These are cards I haven’t enjoyed for years, and most hadn’t really seen the light of day in just as long.
I realize the processing fees will eventually start to be deducted and there will inevitably be a moment of question whether or not I’ve made the right decision. But I know I’ve done the right thing, especially since I have more than enough funds already on the COMC site to cover these costs. It may not truly be “free money” since these are cards I once purchased, but the feeling is similar to some extent.
The cool thing is I still have in my possession all of the items I have attachment to. The HOF rookies and tobacco dating back to t206 era, the legend autographs and relics, the graded cards I enjoy showing my son and others.
I know what you’re thinking: Didn’t he say he was moving stuff out of his collection?
If that’s what you’re thinking, then you’re half right. I did say that, but the last post also had the following key components: be happy, write more, and hopefully add to the Thrift Treasures. I am accomplishing all of that here.
Saturday was the monthly flea market at one of the local junior colleges. I hadn’t been there in months, hell maybe even a year. But I was free on Saturday (which is rare) and my son was willing to go check it out with me. So we went with low expectations; I explained that this very much a feast or famine situation.
What we found was that there were at least four dealers who had cards in some format. Some had singles, others had boxes for sale — old and new. I call this an “abundance” of cardboard given that sometimes there is literally no one selling these collectibles.
I wasn’t looking for anything in particular other than stuff that made me happy or seemed like a great deal so I kept my purchases to a minimum.
The focus of this Thrift Treasures post will be on the items purchased from the final table we found on the way out of the venue.
This vendor had a dozen 1990 Donruss Boxes, some 1990 Topps Vending baseball boxes and some other misc items from that era.
But what stood out to me was this 1991 Topps baseball factory set. I’m close to completing my 1991 Topps Stadium Club baseball set and the 1991 Topps flagship set is one of my favorites of all time. And as I journey through this “Happiness Era” of my collecting journey, I’m realizing that I miss buying stuff that brings joy, not just the newest, flashiest or most valuable. Also, I feel like I’m trying to set a good example for my son in the hobby. And this purchase was going to do just that.
The box had a $10 sticker on it and the seller was literally packing up his van with the other items. I didn’t even bother negotiating. I handed him a $20 and be gave me my change.
I explained to my son how great the set is and that my intention was to put the set in a binder so that it can be enjoyed. The photography and design is great.
These sets are often posted on eBay for $10-$15, but shipping is brutal on a 792 card set and add another $15-$20 to your cost — that’s not a price point I want to be at with these cards.
We were about to leave when I was discussing this find via text with a friend. I’d shown him a photo. I told him how this seller had two boxes of 1991 Pro Set NFL Series One For $5 each. The first inquiry was about the Lombardi Hologram insert. I was reminded those were in 1990 — I should’ve remembered, I have one — but was advised that the boxes offer a shot at Bill Bellichik rookies, which command a premium in top grade.
For the low price tag I couldn’t resist. I told my son what the deal was and explained we could open the packs together later this week when he comes back from his mother’s house.
In addition to the Bellichik rookies, we’ll also be hunting for various variations and errors, which can also carry premiums. And when we’re done scouring the box, we’ll take the left overs (minus anything he might want to keep for himself) and donate them so they aren’t just sitting around my place. I post more about those boxes this week.
Me, being silly with the contents of a Thrift Treasures 122
Valentine’s Day and the cards that allowed boys to show some emotion
Posted in Commentary with tags baseball, baseball cards, sports, Valentines Day on February 14, 2020 by Cardboard IconsIn the 1980s and 1990s, the World was changing, becoming a more softer, gentler place. However, it was still common to reinforce the notion that boys cannot show any real emotion aside from anger and rage.
You only said “I Love You” to your mom or your girlfriend, and aside from a high five or a punch to the arm, boys were to express no positive emotion toward each other.
At least that’s how I perceived the world when I was entering adolescence.
So when it came to Valentine’s Day in elementary school, we selected the most boy-thing ever:
Sports Valentine’s Day Cards.
The messages were very Bro-tastic; what we deemed to be an acceptable way of telling other boys that “we’re cool,” “we good,” “you’re my boy” — or simply, we are friends and I care about you.
As a card collector from a young age I always kept these cards when I got them because … I was a collector.
Over the years I’ve lost a few, but I still manage to have these two, ones of Michael Jordan (I’ll upload a better image later) and Barry Sanders, and I believe I have a third one somewhere of Ken Griffey Jr., which I could not locate for this post.
Anyway, it is Valentine’s Day, and if these still existed and we were still in school I’d write my name on the back of them and place them in each of your poorly decorated Valentine’s bags at the edge of your desks.
Don’t just invest your efforts and money today in chasing down Optic basketball, get flowers and a card for the person in your life — because THAT is an investment worth making.
Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone.
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