Mourning a Loss

While talking to a new friend on Instagram today (about how there isn't a card shop here in town anymore), I googled the name of the former shop owner and got some news that I was dreading.  I was expecting it, since Wendell closed the shop abruptly and moved to Rhode Island to be tended to by his family.  I learned today that Wendell passed away on February 27 at the age of 82 while in Hospice care.

I came out here to the Greenville area in December 2008 to check the area out. The company I work for wanted me to see if I even liked the area prior to my accepting a transfer to this office. One of the main selling points (in my mind) was when I discovered that there was a card shop near where I would be working.

I visited said shop in December 2008, (yoy can read about it here) and met Wendell. We moved out here in February 2009 and saw him pretty much weekly until he closed up shop in 2019.  During that time, we because friends, and he treated Mal, Chris and I like family.  The photo above is from February 2015 where Wendell was teaching Chris how to run the register at the shop.  Wendell was supposedly hard to work with, but I never saw that in him.  He was definitely no-nonsense, and the couple of people who told me he was hard to work for probably could have maybe worked a bit harder.  I did, however, resist the temptation to work at the shop because I didn't want to compromise out friendship. 

Wendell was tough, but fair. He called me up one day upset because Chris had thrown darts at the dart board in back, missing the dart board completely and heavily damaging the drywall. Chris and I jumped up, went to Lowes for some spackling, and fixed the wall.  Wendell pulled me aside later and told me how impressed he was with the lesson that I had taught Chris; you fix your mistakes and don't hide from them. He said we could have easily dodged the issue and tossed a little money at it, but we fixed it. I knew he respected me before then, but after that, I sealed the deal.  I think it also showed him how much I respected him when I immediately apologized and rectified the situation.

Chris and I went on a road trip in 2019.  We stopped at the shop before we left to get some supplies.  Wendell chatted with us for a bit like any other visit, and we left.  We got home two weeks later to a note on the door of the shop saying that Wendell had sold the shop and it was now closed.  I learned months later that he had been diagnosed with dementia and his family had facilitated the sale and moved him back to Rhode Island.  Had I known that this was going to happen, I would have hugged Wendell that last time I saw him.  I genuinely loved that man and I never got to tell him goodbye. 

Still, I take a small bit of solace in the fact that when the new owners of the shop closed their location down the street, the bulk boxes of cards I got from them were Wendell's.  So, his legacy will continue to live on in a good many of the TTMs that I'll be getting back for the foreseeable future.

Rest in peace, Wendell. You were a good man and made am impact on my life, as well as Mal's and Chris's. You were like an extra grandpa for us and we will always remember you fondly.  

RIP Wendell Branch 1941-2013. Here is a link to his obituary.

A Nice 2015 Bowman Chrome Pull at the Card Shop

Ebay buys and Instagram trades have kind of slowed down lately with the season coming to a close.  I have been really busy trying to recover from my trip with Chris last weekend, and also from this summer's vacation.  Still, I try to go to the local card shop and pick up some packs just about every week.  Yesterday, I got a jumbo pack of 2015 Bowman Chrome and pulled this really nice card.

This is a green refractor auto of Indians prospect Bobby Bradley.  The card is 99/99 and looks really nice.  The best part is when I went to look at sold listings on Ebay, the card has sold pretty much between $100 - $125 or so.  Not a bad pull!

I don't know if I will get any offers on the card or not, but I am still happy I pulled a good auto.  I may even list it on Ebay, but I'm not sure yet.  I kind of need to work harder on making some trades, but with as busy as I have been, that has taken a spot on the back burner.

Thoughts on 2015 Topps Finest

I've opened a few packs of 2015 Finest at my local card shop and have been really pleased with the results.  I already have pulled two autos, one of which is the above Dilson Herrera.  The card is numbered 1/150, which I thought was pretty cool.

I plan on taking the card with me to next weekend's card show in Raleigh, maybe I'll be able to sell it for a little bit.  We'll see.

Anyway, I like this year's design of Finest.  Of course, Finest always looks good, so that's kind of a given.  I've been able to pick it up by the pack at my LCS, since he opens up one of the little boxes and sells packs individually for the folks who can't afford to buy the mini boxes.  I like that arrangement.

Card Shop Pickup - Brooks Robinson Manufactured MLB Pin

When I walked into the card shop last weekend, the new guy, Jacob, had something waiting for me.  He had this 2015 Topps manufactured MLB pin that he had pulled.  Naturally, I bought it off of him for a good price.  It was his own, so I had to pay him and not the shop, but thankfully, we live in a world where I could just pull out my phone and pay him on the spot with Paypal.  Pretty awesome.

The card is numbered 109/199 and looks really nice.  I'm not usually big on the manufactured "hardware" cards, but I had to get this for the Brooks PC.

My FIrst Taste of 2015 Topps Series 2

I went to the card shop on my lunch today, because I needed new storage boxes.  The ones I have been using for the last 10 years to hold various PCs are looking pretty ratty, so I got three new ones.  While I was there, I couldn't help but pick up a pack of 2015 Topps Series 2, even though I have three boxes being delivered to me at the Raleigh Card Show on Saturday.

I pulled a black parallel of Astros pitcher, Collin McHugh, but otherwise didn't get much else.  I did, however, pull my first 2015 Topps Chris Davis.  I will, as always, attempt the rainbow for this, but I know getting the platinum 1/1 is going to be tough.  I'm excited to get my jumbo boxes, though.  I'll bust them Saturday night after I get in from the show.  I will be setting up and selling there, so if you are in the Raleigh area, come on by and say hello (and buy some stuff).

Some New Brooks Cards From The Card Shop

I have been cherry picking some products recently during my weekly visits to the card shop.  Just a few packs here and there of the newest stuff that comes out, then I head to the shop keeper's office where he lets me look through his boxes of cards that he hasn't yet put out onto the floor.  While I haven't had a lot of luck in the packs, with the exception of the nice patch I posted the other day, I have been luckier looking through his boxes.

I have found quite a bunch of PC stuff in there, like the two Brooks Robinson cards that I want to show today.  The above 2015 Topps Archives is an awesome looking Brooks card, on the 1983 Topps design.  I've said it before, but the 1983 set was the most difficult set I built in 80s decade.  I was able to find tons of commons of all of the other 80s sets except for 1983.  I never understood why.  The set is very nice-looking, and it is cool to see Brooks on that design.  It especially fits, since 1983 was the year in which Brooks was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Another card I found was this 2015 Donruss All-Time Diamond King.  I love the color of this card for some reason, and it also looks very sharp.  I feel like, regardless of the lack of logos, Panini does a good job with their products.

I enjoy searching the boxes of cards at the shop, and while I usually end up buying singles for other people, it is nice to find something for myself every once in a while.

Card Shop Pull - 2015 Stars And Stripes Matt Olson Patch

I went by myself to the card shop today because my wife and son are out of town.  I treated myself to a few packs of cards, and one of them yielded a really nice pull.  I love pulling patch cards, and this one is a nice one.  Matt Olson three color patch, numbered 5/10 from Panini Stars and Stripes baseball.  Stars and Stripes is a pretty good product, especially now that the draft has been completed.

Olson was a first round pick (#47 overall) by the A's in the 2012 draft out of a Georgia high school.  He has shown a great deal of power so far in the minors, with 76 homers over 381 minor league games.  He strikes out a lot, and has a pretty low batting average (.246).  He is still really young (21), and would likely be finishing college right about now, so he still has a chance to move up in the A's system.  He is currently at AA Midland (GO ROCKHOUNDS!!).

I don't think I did too bad with this pull.  I love getting patches, and for the $4.00 price of the pack, I am pretty sure I got my money's worth.

A Trade At The Card Shop

Last Saturday, Chris and I were bored and went to the card shop like usual.  Wendell, the shop owner, has a new guy working there named Jacob (who is in his late 20s).  Jacob seems like a pretty cool dude, albeit a Red Sox fan.  Already, Jacob has a following.  One of the other shop owners in the shopping center sends her son into the shop on Saturdays, and he helps out where needed.  This Saturday, he was folding boxes.  Immediately, he and Chris got to talking, since it appeared that they were about the same age.  It turns out, the kid is named Matt, and is 11 years old.  So, he and Chris chatted for a bit and played some darts in the back room while I chatted with Wendell and Jacob.  I purchased a few packs, and allowed Chris to grab a few as well.

Matt wanted to see what Chris pulled, so Chris opened the two packs I got him (a jumbo pack of 2015 Topps, and a pack of 2015 Panini Diamond Kings).  Matt really liked the Diamond Kings, so he showed me his box of cards he was carrying around the store.  It looked like he had opened a few packs, and had some decent base cards.  I noticed really quickly that Matt liked Hall of Famers.  He had made a point of telling Chris that there were Babe Ruth cards in the Diamond Kings packs, but he had yet to pull one.  He also made mention that he really wanted a Ty Cobb card.

So, I opened my pack of Diamond Kings to see if I could pull the Ruth that he was after.  I didn't, but I pulled a couple Hall of Famers that Matt liked.  I had noticed a card that he had in his little box that I asked him about.  Would he be interested in trading me the Jimmie Foxx, if I gave him a good Hall of Famer. He said he would, so I handed him a Roberto Clemente that I had just gotten out of my pack.  He loved the Clemente and quickly handed me the Foxx (shown above).  He also handed me a nice David Ortiz, saying "Here, you can have this, too."  I thought it was really sweet that this little guy was willing to make trades, and was so happy to have folks to talk cards with, that he gave a free card.

I gathered Chris up, thanked Matt for the deal, and the extra card, then said my goodbyes to Jacob and Wendell.  I made the quick drive home, put up my cards, then looked through a stack that I had on my card desk; some Hall of Famers that my good friend, Max, had sent me.  In it were a few cards I could spare, so I put some in a team bag, along with an Orioles rally towel, then drove BACK to the card shop to surprise Matt.

When we got back, I told Matt that I had some stuff for him, so he came from the back room and gratefully accepted the rally towel and the cards.  However, he didn't open the team bag.  He turned around, and went back to work, since he was helping Jacob assemble storage boxes.  It wasn't until he had completed his task, that he went back and opened the team bag.  I was really impressed that this young man made sure his job was finished before he sat down to look at some cards.

Matt tore open the team bag, and his jaw dropped.  What were "base" cards for me, were treasures for him.  There were 5 Babe Ruths, 2 Ty Cobbs and a Yogi Berra.  I wish I had taken a picture of the look on his face, because he was so amazed that he now owned several Babe Ruth cards.  I was really happy that I made this kid's day, and hopefully, he will cherish those cards as his collection grows.

It was a pretty cool day at the card shop, to say the least.

Awesome Pull - 2015 Gypsy Queen Dee Gordon 1/1

A few weeks ago, I picked up a couple packs of 2015 Gypsy Queen, not expecting to pull a lot, but when the mini card slid out from under the other cards in the pack, I got a nice surprise.  The card was no ordinary mini card, it was this 1/1 graphite parallel of Dee Gordon.

The card is incredibly thin.  I took it back into the shop and put it in a screwdown for tobacco cards, but the card still slid around inside the case.  So, the shop owner cut up one of his business cards to slide behind the card to give it a little more thickness, which worked.  The fact that he used the actual card itself to match up with the business card while he was cutting, well, the both of us were wide-eyed as those scissors came down.  After it was all said and done, I laughed and said, "You don't know how close you were, with one slip of the hand, to seeing a grown man cry."  He looked at me and said "You mean two grown men.."

Wendell is a good man, and I had all the faith in the world that he wouldn't mess up my card.

The card is awesome.  I really wish it was an Oriole, but Dee Gordon is having a fantastic year.  I don't often pull actual 1/1s, so this was an epic pull for me.  I've had people ask me to trade this, but I believe that I will hold onto it, at lease until I can get the Chris Davis (if at all possible).

Familiar Face in a Strange Place - 2000 Topps Dwight Gooden

I was at the card shop recently when I came across this card that I thought was really cool.  This is a 2000 Topps All Star Rookie Team of Dwight Gooden, but as an Astro.  I had no idea that Gooden played for the Astros at all.  A quick check on baseball-reference shows that Gooden played for the Astros for 1 game in 2000.  He started the game and lasted only 4 innings and allowed 4 earned runs.

I kind of forgot how good Gooden really was until I looked at his stats.  His career 194-112 record isn't too bad.  I don't think Gooden will get into the Hall of Fame, which no one can blame anyone but him.  Had he laid off of the drugs during his career, who knows how good he would have been.  I know a couple people who have met him, and I've heard that he is really nice.  I think I would like to meet him as well.

Vintage Card Pickups From The Card Shop

One of the things I miss the most from my time helping out at the card shop in Winston-Salem was when folks would bring in their cards that they wanted to sell.  Lots of times, the cards they were dumping were garbage, but every now and then someone would come in with a shoebox full of vintage and I would enjoy countless hours of sorting and pricing the cards, and sometimes I would have the opportunity to buy the cards for myself, depending on the price that the person wanted.

Well, that shop is closed, has been for 3 and a half years now, and I live clear across the state.  The shop owner here in Winterville knows I am a huge fan of vintage, so when I walked in there yesterday, he handed me a stack of cards that he had just purchased off of someone.  The top card was a 1958 Mantle, so I knew he scored big.  There ended up being 3 or 4 Mantles, 3 or 4 Willie Mays, a '62 Clemente, a '63 Ford, several of the '62 Babe Ruth Story cards, and some other nice early to mid 60s cards.

I decided that I really liked the above 1963 Topps Warren Spahn, just because, and I picked it up for $25.00.  The card is in great shape, as you can see from the scan.

Since Windell (the shop owner) made me a good deal, I also picked up a couple 1967 Topps cards, even though I haven't officially started my set.  I got this Whitey Ford and the below Elston Howard for really good prices ($8 for Ford, $5 for Howard) and can add them to my set.

I really wish they carried more vintage cards at my local shop, but they don't.  I have to wait til September 27 and 28 before I can go to my next card show, so I'll just bide my time until I can get some good steals on nice vintage.  I also have my birthday coming up, so maybe someone will help me with some set needs, as well.

Top 10 Wishlist Pickup - 1969 Topps Reggie Jackson

I hadn't intended to knock this card off of my wishlist this early into the year, but Wendell (the proprietor of my LCS) made me an offer I couldn't refuse on it.  This 1969 Topps Reggie Jackson rookie card is a really nice card.  It is terribly off-centered, as you can see from the scan.  Also, as you may be able to tell from the scan below, the back of the card is faded just a bit.

Otherwise, the card is in great shape and will fit nicely into my 1969 set.  I wasn't aiming for a NRMT/MT set anyway, so there was no way I was going to pay full book for this card.  That's just too expensive.  Book value on the '69 Reggie is $300.00 and I got this card for a fraction of that.  Wendell really hooked me up.

Now that I have that card out of the way, I can concentrate on the Nolan Ryan second-year card or the Mickey Mantle final year card as the two tougher cards to get for the set.

Card Shop Pickup - 2013 Bowman Chrome Hunter Harvey

Two days ago, Hunter Harvey turned 19.  In the photo on the card above, he looks more like 14.  This is the first Hunter Harvey card that I have been able to add to my collection and it came via a jumbo pack of 2013 Bowman Chrome that I picked up at the card shop several weeks ago.

Harvey is another in a recent line of pitchers that the Orioles have taken in the first round of the Amateur draft.  Being that he is from North Carolina, and more specifically, Bandys High School in Catawba, NC (a few miles up NC Highway 16 from where I used to work), I am rooting especially hard for Harvey to have a long and successful career in the majors.  I'm always a fan of NC-born players, so I was really happy when the O's drafted him this past year.

He performed pretty well in his limited experience this past season, posting a 1.78 ERA with a record of 0-1 over 25.1 IP (8 games).  Not bad for a kid fresh out of high school.  Here's hoping Harvey can make it as far as Frederick next season so I can say hello when the Keys come through Zebulon, NC to play the Mudcats.

November 10, 2013 Trip to the Card Shop

I took a trip to the Greenville card shop on Saturday because I was bored.  I picked up a few packs of cards and also hit up the bargain bin.  In it, I found a couple Bowman Platinum cards from this year of Kevin Gausman and also some cards for a few fellow bloggers.  I also found the above 1995 Upper Deck SP Vladimir Guerrero prospect card.  It was only a dollar, so I figured it wouldn't be a bad pickup.  It looks really cool and I can't recall that I have seen it before.

The coolest part of the story, however, comes out of the $12 pack of 2013 Topps Update that I got for Chris.  He got the SP of Bo Jackson.  Since I am a fan of Jackson, I thought it might be a good idea for me to take it off of his hands.  I traded him some Tim Lincecum cards for it and have now added it to my collection.  I made sure to make a fair trade with him so he knows how to do it in the future.  He had begun to have more and more trade requests and I want to make sure he knows how to deal fairly.  I didn't take into account with him that I had purchased the pack with my money; That might have just confused him.  I hooked him up, trust me.

What? A Matt Wieters Card?

Yeah!  I went to the LCS a couple weeks ago and after buying a few packs, I pulled a surprising addition to a PC that has been quite sad lately.  Yes, Matt Wieters.  For some inexplicable reason, Wieters does not appear in Topps sets.  He originally had a deal with Razor (are they even around anymore?) and I think he was in some Tristar products too, but never Topps.  Well, I picked up a pack of 2013 Panini Pinnacle and there he was.  I was actually really happy, and the Pinnacle product is really nice.  My son, Chris, pulled a nice acetate/clear Prince Fielder that looks pretty awesome, so it is a good product.  I still love Topps, but I don't know why a little competition wouldn't be healthy for the hobby.

Trip to the Card Shop - 2013 Panini Bob Feller Box Topper

I went to the local card shop last weekend and saw that they had gotten in the new 2013 Panini Golden Age.  I bought a few packs and didn't really get much of anything except for some horse racing cards.  Something I did see, though was that another patron of the shop had busted a box and had a Bob Feller box topper in his box of stuff.  I asked him if he was going to keep it or sell it and when he replied that he was going to sell it, well, I bought it, haha.

This is an enlarged card with the classic high-kick shot of Feller, which is such a great shot.  I can just imagine the force at which that baseball is about to leave his hand.  Yikes.

The card just looks great and I'm glad that the guy was willing to sell it to me for 5 bucks.  I wish Topps would do more box toppers.

My Thoughts on 2013 Panini Team USA

I went to the card shop recently and noticed some new stuff on the shelves in the form of 2013 Panini Team USA.  I bought something like 6 packs of them figuring that one of my good friends who loves Team USA would like them, even if I didn't.  Well, I was very pleased with Panini's offering this year (which seems to have become the norm).

They put in a good mix of past Team USA players in with some of today's prospects.  The above card of Richie Shaffer is significant because my good friend Corbin went to high school with Shaffer.  He is from Charlotte, NC and played at Clemson.  He was a first round pick (25th overall) by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2012 and is playing for the High A Port Charlotte Stone Crabs.

I definitely will be picking up some more Team USA packs.  I might go for the set at some point, we'll see.  I might trade some of the cards I pulled.  There was a Barry Larkin in there that might be sent away.  Some other veterans as well.

Card Shop Pickup - 2003 Fleer Fall Classic Bob Feller

So, there hasn't really been a whole lot going on this past week as far as the blog goes.  I haven't gotten any mail at all, so finding stuff to post about has been a stretch.  So, to fight off some boredom, I went to the LCS today and got a few more packs as well as a few singles out of the bargain bin.  One of the cards that I found was this 2003 Fleer Fall Classic Bob Feller.  I think the card looks great.  I love the coloring of it, definitely a sharp card.

I really was glad to get this one for my Feller PC, which has slowed down as of late.  I need to get some more of his stuff to show off, but I have been concentrating on my HOF baseballs and my 1971 set.  I'm really trying to lock down the '71 set so I can start to fully concentrate on 1959 and 1969.

There are a few Fellers that I really have my eye on for my PC, so I am always keeping a lookout for bargains.  Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and stumble upon a few and break out of this slump.

Card Shop Pickup - 1976 Topps Mike Cuellar

I picked up this 1976 Topps Mike Cuellar last week at the card shop when I found it in the bargain bin.  I have been quietly putting together a Cuellar PC recently.  He is one of the best pitchers in Oriole history not named Palmer or Mussina.

I figured since I haven't had much mail coming in and am waiting on a ball I got in an auction, I would show this card off.  The 1976 set was a pretty decent one.  It featured Dennis Eckersley's RC, some pretty awesome hair and some even more awesome uniforms.  The Orioles of the era were very good, but were on the tail end of their AL dominance.

Card Shop Pickup - 1971 Topps Johnny Bench

I went to the card shop last weekend with my family and picked up several packs of cards.  I also finally bought this 1971 Topps Johnny Bench that the owner has had in his case for some time.  I know I overpaid for the card (30 bucks), but I know how hard it is to sell singles out of the showcase, so I made sure to throw him a bone.

Bench was probably the biggest star I had left to tackle from this set, so I am definitely beginning the home stretch on this.  I hope to finish it by the summer, so look to see more of these cards being knocked off sooner rather than later.