Hall of Fame Signed Baseball - Ray Dandridge

One of the Hall of Famers that I had been looking at for some time now, but I had never jumped on (until now) was former Negro Leaguer, Ray Dandridge.  Dandridge (b. 1913 - d. 1994) played in the Negro Leagues for 8 seasons between 1933 and 1944 and also spent some time in the Mexican League. He has been regarded as one of the greatest fielding third basemen of all-time.  Dandridge was elected to the Hall of Fame via the Veterans Committee in 1987.

He has to be the cheapest that I have gotten a Hall of Famer for.  I sold a relic card to a guy on Instagram for $20 and turned around and got this ball for $33 shipped.  I was only $13 out of pocket on this one.  The ball is a Bobby Brown OAL ball and came with a PSA/DNA COA.

Dandridge is my 103rd Hall of Famer.

Instagram Trade With Max S.

I completed a trade with a young Cubs fan named Max recently when I sent him some Cubs cards and two Albert Almora Team USA cards in exchange for this Red Schoendienst manufactured patch card and a couple 2013 Emeralds.

I like this patch card in that is represents the Braves' 1957 World Series victory, their only one in Milwaukee.  I keep forgetting that Schoendienst was on that Braves team, as I always think of him as a Cardinal.

The patch itself is pretty cool, and I keep telling myself that I'll pick up the ones of Brooks Robinson, but I wanted to finish up my letter patches first.  Glad I wasn't holding my breath. Anyway, I appreciate the trade, Max, and I hope we can trade again!

Instagram Trade With Joey - 1960 Topps Willie McCovey RC

Again with a graded card!  Another Hall of Fame rookie card.  I've been on fire with successful trades lately.  I have been able to interact regularly with maybe 10 or so people from Instagram enough now that I consider them actual friends, much like the folks from the blogs that I call friends.  One of the guys I chat with who is high on the friend list is Joey.  Joey is a North Carolinian, like myself, and he is also a huge fan of vintage cards.

Joey is also a huge David Ortiz fan, so when I recently asked if anyone wanted me to look through my card boxes for them and he asked for Ortiz, I obliged him.  Most, if not all of my Red Sox stuff goes to either Scott or my brother, John, but I did have a few David Ortiz cards left.  I also had just recently picked up an Ortiz rookie, one where he is referred to as David Arias, that Joey really has his eye on.

So, he offered me this graded - 2 Willie McCovey RC for the Ortiz, which I thought was more than fair.  I also threw in the other Ortiz cards I had, which were ones Scott had told me before that he didn't want, so I didn't feel like I was cheating on him.

I'm really happy with this McCovey.  I know I have said that I don't really like graded cards, but this one is fine with me and it has a cool story to it.

Most importantly, I'm making some good friends in another nice card community.  I'm glad I am able to tie that into my blog, as well.  Here's to hoping that with all these young folks on Instagram, that one.) the card hobby is alive and well for a new generation and two.) I hope to see some of these young guys want to start blogs and keep this niche of the hobby going as well.  Here's to hoping!

Thanks for the trade, Joey!

COMC Pickups - Some Set Needs and a Cheap Relic

I had a good bit of store credit built up on COMC so I figured it would be a good time to use a little bit of it to knock off a couple set needs.  Above is the 1959 Phillies team card, card #8 in the set. That low number has been mocking me in my needs list, so I finally figured out which card it was and took it out.  The back is unmarked and the card is in pretty good shape.  I got the card for $13.25, which was lower than any I saw on Ebay at the time, so I guess I did ok.

Anything I overspent on the Phillies checklist, I made up for here.  I got this Nolan Reimold Futures Game relic for $1.15 off of COMC.  That's right, $1.15.  What a shame that he can't stay healthy because Nolan is great when he is on the field.  I'm glad I was able to get this card so cheap, but I'm hoping he comes back, hits a ton and his stuff goes back up in value.

Finally, I added another 1948 Bowman to my set with this Billy Johnson for $7.75.  The card has the major crease in the bottom right corner, but it fits right into my set and I'm glad to have it.  Now, my store credit is low again, so I need to sell some more stuff!

Instagram Pickup - 1933 Goudey Jimmie Foxx RC

This card wasn't even on my Top 10 wishlist.  It wasn't on there because I thought it was so far out of reach at the moment, I would concentrate on more realistic goals.  Well, sometimes things just fall into your lap.

I was tagged on a photo on Instagram recently when someone asked what everyone thought the value of this card would be.  Someone commented that I might have an idea.  I gave the guy an honest answer, that it was probably worth around $100 in this condition based on recent Ebay sales. The guy had said he had it listed on Ebay for $40 and thought he had overpriced it.  I commented right away that if he wanted to sell it for $40, then I would be all over it.  Long story short, the card is now in my hands and I can thank Joe D. from Instagram for hooking me up with an amazing card for my Foxx PC.

I've never been a fan of graded cards at all, but this card, you'd have to buy it graded to be sure that it was legit.  I don't even care that the card is graded at a 1.  I'm just happy to own a Jimmie Foxx RC. A 1933 Goudey RC.  It's so awesome, I can't take it!

Cards From Carson

As I spend this evening embroiled in a trade negotiation with a kid who loves to waste my time, I thought I would post tonight about one of the kids on Instagram who happens to be one of the youngest, albeit one of the best traders on that venue.  Carson.  I have traded with him a bunch of times and he is on my short lst of people on there that I send to regardless of whether or not I have something coming from him in return.

I forget what I sent Carson this time around, but he hooked me up with some nice Orioles relics like the above A&G Murray and the below Tier One Adam Jones.

I have really enjoyed my time on Instagram, even though I can complain about it a lot.  I love helping kids build their collections, but sometimes you end up with some kids whose parents haven't really taught them how to interact with people.  Then, you meet someone like Carson (and his dad, Tim) who makes everything worthwhile.

Thanks for the trade, again, Carson!

Awesome Package From Wes

 

I got an email recently from a guy named Wes who reads my blog.  The email was quick and to the point, asking me for my address because he had some Orioles cards for my collection.  As you can see from the photo above, what he sent me was far more than I could have imagined.  It got better, too, when I flipped through the cards and saw a ton of Orioles that I needed and came upon some awesome relics and autographs.  I was amazed at the things I found in the pile.  Here are some of the highlights:

This Brian Matusz Razor Lettermen auto was so cool.  I had another of his, a Z, I believe, but this one was a different color and looks really awesome!

I don't believe former Oriole reliever Rocky Cherry has made it onto the blog before, but this Upper Deck Exquisite auto looks so cool.  It is also numbered 1/10.  Cherry didn't last long for the O's but this card is still really cool and I'm glad Wes included it.

Finally, I was really happy to get this Mike Wright Bowman Platinum auto, red parallel, which is numbered to 25.  I already had the base and now I have the red.  I like Wright because he went to nearby ECU and was really cool when Chris and I met him a few years ago.  I hope he makes it to the bigs and pitches as well as he is capable.

It is going to take me some time to go through all of these cards that Wes hooked me up with.  If you're reading this, Wes, thanks so much!  I really appreciate the package!