A Bunch of SIgned 1987 Topps For The Set

I have begun buying cards I need for my 1987 set.  Along with the paid private signings, I have come to a point with the set where a lot of what I want in it won't be free.  There are a good number of tough to get players, and also deceased ones who I know I will have to either trade for or pay some money.

I got the above Don Baylor off of Ebay fairly cheaply, and compared it to other Baylors.  It looks legit, and makes up for my failure to send to him before he passed.

I'm waiting on a TTM request to come back from Hal Lanier, but I went ahead and traded with someone on Instagram for this one.  If the TTM comes back, I'll have some trade bait.

My friend, Noah, went to a signing in Detriot a few weeks ago and picked these two up for me.  Berenguer signs for a fee TTM, and that fee was the same as this signing, I think, so I went ahead and let Noah get this for me.  I saw that Evans signed some, so I do have a TTM out there somewhere, and if that one comes back, it, too will be trade bait.

I cashed in my Speedy Rewards points for a $25 Ebay gift card and used most of it on the above Sparky Anderson.  It was JSA certified, as well as the above Dick Williams.  I used the remainder of the Ebay card, and my Ebay bucks, as coupons on the Williams.

While I was looking at the Williams and Anderson, I saw this lot of deceased former managers for $25.  I had several collectors check out the signatures and they all said they were legit.  When I posted it on my Instagram, even more people told me that they were authentic.  I got the lot for what one of them would have cost me as a single card.

Finally, I was having a conversation with my old friend, Max in California, and he was telling me that Kirk Gibson was in pretty bad shape from his battle with Parkinson's.  So, I decided to try to go ahead and pick this up for the set.  Gibson is a player who I would enjoy meeting, and/or getting something TTM, but with the battle he has ahead of him, I definitely don't want to bother him at all.

So, here they are.  I knocked off several cards for the set, and they are all in my album.

2015 National Recap

I feel like now is a good time to draw my 2015 National Card Show experience to a close.  This was a much better time than the National I went to in 2012, mainly because I decided to go "all in" and do the VIP pass and attend all 5 days.  Spending time with Max, Andrew, Eli and Frankie made the experience even better.

I came home with the pile that you see above.  Here is what it ended up being:

• A 1992 Donruss Elite Cal Ripken autograph that I have wanted since 1992.
• Enough 1959 Topps cards to complete my set.
• 15 signed baseballs (8 Hall of Famers, 6 VIP signers and one Kris Bryant from Max).
• A signed hat for my buddy, Sam.
• A box of Allen and Ginter.
• Two signed 8 x 10 photos.
• A ton of other assorted autograph and relic cards of various PC guys.
• I met Hulk Hogan, Brooks Robinson (again), Lou Brock, Tom Gordon, Ben Grieve, Eric Hinske, Dontrelle Willis, Manny Sanguillen, Maury Wills and Cecil Cooper.

I went way over my budget, but I was really happy with everything I found while I was there.  I also spent a good bit of money on the friends that were with me, and some that couldn't make it.  I found some sweet deals, and even some amazing dime box finds, like the above 1981 Topps  Kirk Gibson RC.

Speaking of dime boxes, I met Nick, the king of Dime Boxes while I was there, as well.

We had a great time using our VIP autograph vouchers.  Some of the guys, we didn't have enough baseballs for, so we got cards signed, like this 1987 Topps John Candelaria.  That made some of the dime box searching pretty fun.  I can't remember the last time I was looking for a Candelaria card on purpose.  The 1987s turn out pretty nice signed, I do believe.

I've said before that the part that I liked the most about the National was being able to spend time with my friends.  Here is a nice group shot of Max, Me, Frankie and Andrew from the Thurdsay at the show.  We all really enjoyed each other's company.  The guys who didn't know each other very well before the show all had become close friends by the end of it.  I was glad that I was able to be allowed to accompany them.  It truly was an honor.

I hope we can all get together again soon, but until then, we can all reflect on this photo and remember the amazing time that we had.

1992 Topps Box Break With Max

I was in Raleigh on Friday to take (and bomb) the second half of the ASBOG exam (the professional geologist exam). After I fried my brain for 4 hours, I met up with Max and we went to Cardiac Cards in nearby Cary to wind down and relax.
After a little bit of debate about what we wanted to do, we decided to spend a little money on a box of 'junk wax.'

We picked 1992 Topps because we had the potential to pull the Manny Ramirez RC. I like how packs cost $0.55, when base packs range from $2.00 to $3.00. I really liked the photography in this set. It looks like Topps brought their A game to this set with some of the photos. See the above George Brett, and the Stan Javier and you'll see what I mean.

Here is an example of a player playing for a team toward the end of their career that doesn't seem to fit (Willie Mays as a Met, Hank Aaron as a Brewer?). I had no idea that Gibson played for Kansas City. Wow. Was a nice surprise, though. I like cards like this.

We did get the Manny RC, so we acheived our goal. I doubt what we ended up with paid for the box, but Max and I had a good time opening it. That was worth it, in my opinion.