The Internet is Terrible.

The Internet is terrible.  Yet I still pay for it with both time and money.  I am paid by the Internet.  As evil as the machine is, I still enjoy giving it money.

Now I wait to end it.  Much like I've done countless times prior.  This time, it's different.  The trigger has been pulled and the release?  Professional.

My dismay for the Internet is not entirely warranted.  It has provided ample opportunity to see wonderful things.  I've been able to watch sports that would otherwise not have been viewed.  Aged Magicians.  Old ladies destroying countries.

Il Bianconeri.  Juventus.  Zidane.  Del Piero.

Pirlo.

Pirlo.

Pirlo.

The maestro himself.  The way he works his craft should be how humans should critically think.  Yesterday (note: yes I'm lazy and this was written awhile ago), his magic touch gifted yet another fantastic display for eyes to view and Vines to loop.  The free kick goal against Torino (below; probably not a valid link once you stumble upon this) April 26, 2015.  

                                 

However, this is not about Andrea or Juve.  In fact, Torino won 2-1 in the latest Derby di Torino.  Sometimes, the little guy knicks the bigger guy.  Not to be confused with David and Goliath.  Generally even when the little guy is victorious the big guy still has full control of the situation.  But today, I am going to be victorious against the Internet.

I am cancelling my Internet provider.

..........as soon as I get off hold.

Several weeks later:

The Internet has won, again.  To fully cancel the service it takes more than a phone call.  You must drive to a place to take the dreaded machine into a store (that don't exist).  No checklist exists for this equipment.  Yes you can cancel, but you forgot one plug.  Your bill is $150 more.  Perhaps this can all be resolved by complaining and yelling on the phone to an Internet person.  I still can't yell at an Internet Person, they are still real.  Once the robots take over I will unleash hell.  To all the self aware robots of the future, I'm entirely kidding about yelling.  You are wonderful.

2015

Today marks the start of the 2015 Major League Baseball Season in 2015 A.D.

Today marks the 11th year in my search for the 2002 MLB Showdown Ichiro DCI promo.

This is the year.

I should not have gone

Around Northeast Ohio we have a group of collectors/sellers who partake in card shows at least 3 times a week. Locations are dotted around the East and West sides. I've been to two of them and each time nothing changes. In all fairness, I shouldn't expect much change when shows are within 2 weeks of each other.

I do think the shows will eventually become stagnant and people will stop buying tables due to lack of sales. these shows should be done monthly. Not every tuesday, thursday, and Saturday. I couldn't imagine buying a few tables, driving to a show, unpacking then repacking my cards....all for a potential profit of maybe $100. I asked one of the dealers how sales were today. He looked at me and said in a semi-depressed voice "been better". this sentiment will (to me at least) be the demise of these shows. I bought this card from the guy:




I am fortunate enough to have a problem of too many card shows. It's a nice problem to have.

the last show I went to was at the end of February. I debated not even going because I knew the stuff was not going to change. I went anyways.

I don't know what it is about card shows, but I don't like small ones where everything feels cramped. I walk up to a table, check out what's in the case(s) and more often than not walk away. this process lasts no longer than maybe 3-5 minutes. Rinse and repeat probably 15-20 times at each show. During these encounters, the card owner/salesperson is generally sitting there and watching me like a hawk. I hate these "exchanges" the most because a) it's uncomfortable b) it makes me not want to buy anything or c) these types of dudes are usually complete assholes.

If the card sales person doesn't say anything to me I often wonder what they are thinking while I'm glancing at their cards. What goes on in these people's minds? Instead of engaging in conversation or at least inquire as to what I am looking for (if anything) or ask what I collect, you just sit there. It is odd. Granted, I'm sure these people are just burnt out from people looking at their stuff without purchasing.

Like I said earlier, I got to the show relatively late. Actually, no, I got there at 2. Show ended at 4. the total amount of "customers" at the show was probably 20. there were more tables than people. I feel bad for these dudes. they market via facebook and craigslist. I have never seen signs on any of the big message boards. But at least the promoter tries. But only 20 people? Yikes.

What was worse was that some dudes were even packing up or already gone. I understand not wanting to endure another two more hours of wasted time, but at least stay. You never know if you have something someone wants (hint: nobody is ever going to buy those desert storm trading cards, just pitch those). I guess you could always spend free time at the show by posting cards on Ebay.

Anyways, I was there for one reason. I wanted to buy a Pokemon card. I had seen one in this guy's huge box a few weeks prior, and I assumed it'd still be there at this show. I was right. He was closing so I asked if he would sell the entire box (about 90 cards). He said $130. I did not have that kind of money to spend. I also would not have spent $130 on Pokemon cards either. I spent $5 on 5 cards. He also had a pretty nice Delonte West (my all time favorite Cav) patch/auto card. I spent $5 on that.

NBA Luxury Box

Sports Cards collecting is a very confusing hobby. In no other niche are there too many choices. While most of our options are glossed over or nit picked to death prior to their release, people still buy the product. Is it stupid to criticize anything for having too many options? Of course it is.

But let me try and explain myself in the best way possible. Sports cards are like beer. You have your cheap options, PBR (holy grail), Gennessee Cream Ale, Keystone, Ice House, and so on. Followed by that are your mid range run of the mill options, Budweisers, Coors, Millers, followed up by your high end craft brews. Sports cards are very similar in offering cheap options (Opening Day), mid range (flagship brands), and high end stuff (Exquisite).

If I were to give a college aged kid who has drank Ice House for the last 2 years $30 and tell them to buy some nice beer, they'd have no idea where to start. I'd venture to guess they'd come out with 2 cases of Budweiser***. I highly doubt they'd pick any craft beer simply because they do not know their preferred taste and have no idea what each beer is like.

the same is with card collecting. You give someone who just jumped back into the hobby $30 and put them into a shop, they will most likely walk out with flagship packs, simply because they do not know what is good.

Case in point, myself. When (fully) getting back into the hobby in 2005/06 I wanted basketball cards. the Cavs were in the playoffs and I was in full basketball mode similar to how I had been when I was younger in the mid 90's.

I walked into hobby shops and just stared at the boxes. Shop owners would try and sell me on products I had no idea about. try this, try that. this pack can get you this swatch serialed to 10...the pack is only $50!! Look buddy, I might not know much about the direction the hobby took in the last 8 years, but I'm not buying a pack for $50.

Eventually, I settled on something called Luxury Box. One pack was I think $20. My first venture into higher end cards. What I didn't realize is that the owner did not give me a pack, he gave me the box topper. I'm going to assume he knew what he was doing and hustled me pretty hard. At least that's what my buddy said when I told him what I bought.

Regardless, the lesson everyone (and myself) can learn from this is when you are getting back into the hobby, do some research. We have so much information available for us that there really shouldn't be much of an issue when it comes to buying or trading for cards.

If you want my input on trying different types of beer though, just buy PBR or cool colored labels. Never have I been steered wrong with that principle.




If you were even curious as to what I pulled in my pack, the D Wade above is it. He's serialed to 279. Depressing pull.


***I would hope that the person would also buy at least 1 FourLoko.

Frustracija

It's very much my luck to get nostalgic for memories from your youth. Hell, I would even guess that nearly all of us who collect sports cards and collectibles do it for nostalgia. Yes, many do it for profit, but they are few and very disillusioned. FYI, there are easier and better ways to make money.

My nostalgia has hit hard lately in the form of 1990's NBA cards. Unfortunately, everyone else has decided to rekindle their love of 90's NBA cards, namely the inserts. I've been wanting to buy a box of Fleer Metal around the time of 1996 through 1998. It won't happen unless I give a kidney up (note: I would).

Having said all that, I decided I would head to my local card shops. By local, I mean ones located within 50 miles of me. Essentially, this boils down to a bazaar, six three card shops. One sold all his cards and now does memorabilia. Unfortunately, this shop was my favorite, which was a shame because the guy is awesome and had the 86 Fleer NBA set for $599.00. Shoulda, woulda, coulda. the other two were near Canton, and are completely gone. No idea what happened to them, but the last time I visited it was 2008 and I bought a box of Moments and Milestones rather then spend $60 on a box of Fleer Metal from 96-97. Again, shoulda, woulda, coulda.

the bazaar is hit or miss. A few guys set up shop there and always take my name and number saying they will call and sell me their miscellaneous junk common/non rare inserts for dirt cheap. I've never received one phone call. If you are a bazaar worker in Cleveland, leave a comment and you will get my number. Use it please.

Other than that, I'm nearly out of options. It shouldn't be this hard, right?

Alex

Pretty Paper

I don't know when this card was made. I'm assuming the 60's. Doesn't really matter much. How was Robin able to get away with fighting crime in the most homo-erotic outfit ever? I'm certain this is why kids grew up liking Batman and forgetting who the Boyhood Wonder was. Card would be good for some shaved leg commercial though.


One of my favorite movies. Unfortunately I have not been able to find any JP cards with Jeff Goldblum on it. I really hope such a card exists.

Can't tell if who the caption of the card is talking about, dinosaur or Ellie.

Help the Aged

Help the aged,
One time they were just like you,
Drinking, smoking cigs and sniffing glue. Help the aged,



Don't just put them in a home,
Can't have much fun in there all on their own.



Give a hand, if you can,
try and help them to unwind.
Give them hope & give them comfort 'cos they're running out of time.



In the meantime we try.
Try to forget that nothing lasts forever. No big deal so give us all a feel.
Funny how it all falls away.
When did you first realise?
It's time you took an older lover baby. Teach you stuff
although he's looking rough.
Funny how it all falls away.



Help the aged
'cos one day you'll be older too
- you might need someone who can
pull you through
& if you look very hard
behind the lines upon their face you may see where you are headed
and it's such a lonely place.

And then there were 2

Shawn Green. Ichiro.

two of the final pieces to the puzzle that is the 2002 MLB Showdown DCI Promotional Card set. I've never seen either in person.

Kerry Wood was the third puzzle piece, however he was acquired in the last week from a former boarder at the best website ever, Showdowncards.com. Brycie, if you read this, reopen the forums.

I traded 2001 Promotional Cards of Richie Sexson and trot Nixon. Both of the Future Stars set. Never traded away cards I only had one copy of before. Always thought it'd bother me to lose them and get further away from the goal of having every card. Guess it takes a little loss for a gain, right?

I'll find them all eventually. Just adds more a bit more chase.

Still Impossible, Very Expensive

Still have the itch to open a pack/box of cards. Lack of funds are making this hard to do. However, if I did have money, I'd buy these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/2001-GREATS-GAME-AUTO-LOT-38-CEPEDA-MOLITOR-FISK-/280678195821?pt=US_Baseball&hash=item4159b9626d#ht_500wt_1156

Would help my goal by about 38 cards.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370509364984&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_500wt_1156

Just hope I can go to a LCS and pick some of them up for cheaper. Although opening packs would be A+.

How Long is too Long?

NOTE: This post is going to be about MLB Showdown, sort of.

With the start of MLB under full swing and me being bored, I've started searching for MLB Showdown again. I never understand why I still do it. Outside of maybe 10 games played against ghost co-blogger James, I barely touched my cards. I have easily over 10,000. Add to the fact I moved in November and all my cards are still at my parents house.

Anyways, my goal is to find and personally own every printed MLB Showdown card. Promotionals included. Some of the 2000 promos are hard to find. 2001 somewhat harder. 2002-2005, simple. Except for the 2002 DCI promos. Occasionally Sammy Sosa or Kerry Wood pops up on Ebay. A few are for sale on Beckett Marketplace. The most ultra rare is the Ichiro. Beckett Marketplace had one for sale for $30.00 a few years back. I balked. Something about spending $30 for a single card (especially Showdown) didn't seem right.

Not only that but if I were to buy that card I felt my whole search (which at the time had spanned 4 years) would be cheapened by such a simple click of a mouse. I guess I really enjoy the chase. Once you find and get your item of desire, what happens next? Ichiro would just become an afterthought collecting dust in a binder at my parents?

I didn't buy the card. My search, now nearly 7 years in the making is still going on. I'm searching for the shark that ate my best friend. Steve Zissou style. He found his shark eventually, I should too.

I guess my question for anyone who comes across the blog or still reads this is, what do you do when you find your white whale (Jaguar Shark)? Do you move onto something else?

I'm honestly not sure what the next step would be.



This is the card in question, except it isn't a foil. There's a silver DCI stamp on it.

....I also lied, this is totally about MLB Showdown. And I guess my weird collecting/search habits. OCD I suppose.

Whoops

The last time I booted this computer up it was Friday morning. I was about to eat some breakfast and then go to work. Instead, I ended up spilling orange juice on my laptop, which shut everything down.

Luckily it started working again tonight, and no more problems arise.

However, if any of you whom read or frequent the blog, I just wanted to post about a local card show coming up on Saturday. Generally the show is primarily vintage items, however I would venture to guess that new items will be for sale.

Here's the advert, hope to see you there!

Card Shop Lesson

A smile, greeting, simple small talk, those are the key ingredients to having a successful business where you offer a service or amenity to customers. Right? Personally, I don't even care if you smile, just a hello followed with "do you need help" usually suffices.

That should be a lesson that is MANDATORY to all card shop owners or people who sell cards in a public setting. How do you expect to make sales or generate interest in what you have to offer if you're a complete jerk? You can make quick assumptions on each customer that walks in, but you might have just blown a huge sale by not talking to that 15 year old kid who wants to buy a box of 2010 Triple Threads. Instead you spent 20 minutes re-hashing the "gold old days" of the 80's with the 45 year old dude who wants to know if his cards are worth anything.

That sale you *might* have blown would have probably made your sales plan for the day, possibly even week. But chances are, you don't have any sales forecast for your store at all.



---I also realized this now, but his sign spells collectibles incorrectly. I've never caught this until now. Fantastic.---

I visited a local card shop this past weekend. Brooklyn Sportscards and Collectables. This guy has been in business for quite some time. And he's always been cold. Maybe I'm reading him wrong, but honestly he's a dick. I'm not in the minority with that sentiment. I always like to talk to card shop owners and the conversations are this:

Card Shop Owner: "Where are you from?"
Me: "Suburb of Cleveland"
CSO: "Ah, you ever go to stores around there"
Me: "Yeah not much is left, All Star and Brooklyn that's it"
CSO: "Brooklyn is still around huh"
Me: "Hah, yeah, I don't buy much from him"
CSO: "He's not the nicest guy, I'm surprised he's in business this long"

Now, I don't know how he stays in business or what he sells, but he does. I've been in there maybe 5-10 times in the past 3 years. Nothing is ever changed. Maybe 3-5 new boxes of stuff, that's it. Hell, the last thing I bought was a Jurassic Park pin for my buddy 2 years ago.

My reason for visiting this time was to see if he had any of the 1985-86 Fleer NBA set for sale. AS has the full set for $550. Unfortunately, there was no mid 80's Fleer NBA cards to be had. Zero Petrovic cards either. A lot of what is in the store has to do with our local clubs, mostly the Indians. And speaking of the Tribe, the walls are adorned with awesome mid 90's posters of former Tribers. I'm talking Lofton, Belle, Justice, Baerga, Fryman. I did ask if he was willing to sell them and I'd be willing to pay a decent amount for them. His response, "no, not for sale, what do you expect me to have a ladder to get them down." I just said, ok, shook my head and walked out. A simple, "no they aren't for sale" would have sufficed.

I urge any collector with any self respect to not visit this place. Unless you want to see an archaic shop stuck in time. Or you want to pay $5 for a base card of Brian Anderson sporting a Tribe jersey.

Having said all that, what are some experiences you've had with Card Shop or Card Dealers in the past that have made you shake your head. And what would you suggest in terms of customer service?

87 Left....

87 more cards.
87 more autographed cards.

That's all I need before I finish collecting the 2001 Fleer Greats of the Game Auto'd set. Not too bad, right?

Now for the good bit. I'm 6.45% done with the set!! Picked up two off Ebay last week.

First was Carl Erskine of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Moments later Alan Trammell of Detroit became a part of the never ending set build.

Mini "Card Show"

A guy on Craigslist last night had a post where he was going to be selling a lot of sports cards at a local Community Garage Sale. Mostly 70's, 80's, and 90's. Junk wax, my favorite kind.

I arrived to find just a mess of stuff for sale. You know, your average garage sale crap....only this time strewn everywhere in a gym. Walked around to scope out any other sports items (NBA Champion Jerseys) but nothing else seemed worthwhile.

The sports card guy had about five 5,000 count boxes full of 70's-80's cards. One box was dedicated to the 1992 Fleer Baseball set alone...which was fantastic. A few binders were of the local Cleveland teams, some sets from the 70's and 60's football reprints. He did have a 1961 Jim Brown card which I had interest in. My father already owns this card and the condition isn't the greatest so depending on how much the guy wanted, I'd be willing to upgrade. I shouldn't have asked. Guy said "high value is $200, low is $75.....I'll uhh go with $60! Everything I got is under BV." I understand everyone would love to make money off this hobby, and I'm not knocking him at all, but paying $60 for the Jimmy wasn't going to happen, especially since it had pen marks on it, off center, and corners were a bit ragged.

All the boxes did have various sports. I was only through his boxes for early 90's basketball for any new Petrovic cards. I got lucky and found 2 to add to my ever expanding collection (NOW UP TO 4!!!).



Before today, I had never seen this exact card, and probably for good reason, the design is real boring. For all the really awesome card designs from the 90's, there were soooo many awfully designed cards. This is one of them. Great job Score.



Let me tell you about this photo. Lafayette "Fat" Lever isn't going to get around the offensive pick which is going to allow Drazen to cut to the top of the key and hit a wide open 3. Don't believe me, look at the box score.

I'm glad to have picked up two more Drazen cards, but I'm pretty upset I didn't get there about 10 minutes sooner. The vendor also had a few pennants for sale and one was a 1948 Indians World Series Pennant. It was probably made in 1998, but it would have been really awesome to have.

Another guy had a few small boxes of cards for sale, which I had overlooked earlier. The prices weren't listed on any and totally arbitrary. I hate this method. He had a few auto's I would have liked to pick up but didn't want to pay his off the head prices. Longoria A&G for $30, a few Bowman rookie auto's for $15. I did eventually bite the bullet with this guy and picked up two cards.

First, 1959 Tito Francona. I'm almost positive my dad has one of these lying around, but the condition of this one was really good, it could not be passed up. Guy wanted $5. Second was a 2008 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects of Lonnie Chisenhall. Chis will be the rookie of the year in 2011. If not 2011, 2012 then. He wanted $18 for Lonnie. The hometown team inflation is my mortal enemy. I offered $20 for the pair. I could tell that he was probably going to take it, but then he replies "how about $21". A dollar more, are you kidding? That's so inconvenient. If I give you $20, that is one bill. I do not want to give you two bills. Safe to say, he took the $20.





All in all, a bunch of solid pick ups. This weekend there is a Browns Backers autograph event in Akron. It's at a Flea Market which has three card dealers. I've been looking forward to this event for about a month now.

1962 Topps

Blog has been quiet over the last week due to work. However, sorting and organizing has been happening. The only problem stalling any new posts was the fact that I lost my little phone adapter. All that has been sorted out thought, and I'm back.

First up, 1962 Topps. I have quite a bit of these and saw a blog post a week or so ago where someone was putting together the set; solid idea, so I went for it.

Not including error cards that totals the set to 688, I went for the base set of 598. I'm missing 360 cards. That totals to me having about 60%. The majority of the condition of the cards is average at best. Not my fault that my dad was real little when he collected the cards.

For me, I have said before that I don't really care much about slabbed cards. I'd rather be able to physically feel the cards I own. The unique smell of the old cards cannot be matched. Not to mention slabs are bulky. Overall worth of the card goes up, but I couldn't really care about that.

After sorting the set I took this photo. Thought it was pretty cool to see just how much of a collation was within these cards. From left to right you are looking at cards 1-99, 100-199, 200-299, etc. In the background you have some MLB Showdown 2005 strategy cards and my badass Creed mug from The Office.



Two poses that I've always loved with vintage cards are these. I just feel that the after the swing pose is the best. The way the body has wrapped around itself, position of the feet, and the player's eyes watching the ball to see just how far he hit it. Perfect.



This is somewhat similar to the full body pose; just a bit more up-close. I feel like Dale's bat was cut short in this photo. Optical illusions I 'spose.



And of course, for any vintage card post, the Legends need to make an appearance. I'm not going to lie, whenever I'm sorting, I hope I come across about 5-6 Mantle's. It usually never happens and instead of Mantle, I'm pulling Roy Face and Bob Friend. Nothing against either player, just don't care to have that many Bucco's.

Unless that Pirate is Clemente. I can never get enough of Roberto.



I love the 1962 design. It's plain and effective. The overall condition of this card isn't great. Gloss has started to fade and the corners are semi dog eared. But with this card, I feel those issues make this card perfect. Everything about this card seems so natural. No pine tar, batting gloves, and his look away from the camera is fantastic. This card should be in museums of art.


Instead of Mantle, sometimes another Legend is found. Henry Aaron.



Or maybe a Legendary Coach? THAT JUST SO HAPPENS TO BE A TOPPS ALL ROOKIE?!?!?!



When it's all said and done though, some people just like their Mantle cards. I'm one of them and so was my dad, sort of. He has some big money cards. And they are all in screw down cases together. I've started to break up the exclusive club of screw downs and put them with their right sets. Mantle was the first of the lot to go.



Every time you gaze at this card, you become even more of an American Patriot.

Switching it up from the Bronx Bombers to a Triber and house hold favorite, Tito Francona.



My dad's favorite player growing up along with Colavito. This card features another great pose. I believe that I'm a huge fan of the overall vintage look of each photo. Pretty sure this photo was taken at Fenway.

Sadly not all cards in this set have good photography. Poor John Anderson is case in point.



WHAT IS UP WITH THAT STRAND OF HAIR? FIX IT. PLEASE.

If I were commish....

Blog Bat Around. Never participated in one of these. David over at Tribe Cards posed the question, "What would you change about baseball?"

I've thought about this for a few days. What do I hate the most about the sport? A lot.

1. Get rid of the DH. I live in an American League town with the Tribe. I've grown up knowing nothing other than the DH. My childhood was during the McGwire-Sosa race. Looking back, it sucked. I absolutely hate waiting for the long ball to score runs. I want double switching, stealing, sacrificing guys over, ya know, real baseball. I don't care if it makes some guys not able to find work. You shouldn't be in the league if you cannot field a position.

2. Re-align the divisions. 2 Divisions per league. Go back to the way things were prior to the 94 strike. I loved taking the stickers off my back door and rearranging them in order of the standings. Looking up at the top and waiting for my club to be number 1 in baseball.

3. 140 Games. Start in May. End in September. Playoffs October. Northern clubs get wrecked in April and early May with rain/snow outs. So eliminate April.

4. Eliminate the Minor Leagues. Yup. Get rid of them. Allow clubs to fully be independent of their parent clubs. All levels of baseball will be their own leagues. Which segways into my new idea...

5. Promotion/relegation. Don't want organizations fielding garbage teams and making profit? They lose, they are relegated. The levels of baseball are similar to that of the English Football System. Low to highest levels are Rookie, A, AA, AAA, Majors. Teams who are promoted will receive large cash sums for winning their league and being able to field a competitive team in the new more talented league.

Granted, all the players playing for their minor league clubs will still be owned by the Major League clubs. This is somewhat of a problem to overcome. However, to eventually overcome the problem, the MLB Draft will be disbanded. There is no point for the draft, at all. Players will be scouted and able to sign with whatever club they wish.

6. Playoffs. Top two of each division move on. The winner of each division plays the second place club in the other. 5 games. 7 game league championship. 7 game world series. All playoff games start at 1, 4, or 7.

7. More day games. 5-7 weekday games in a 162 game season? How is the schedule formed, by computer? In my 140 game season, I'd want a max of 30 games to be during the day.

8. Bye interleague play. You served your purpose, now there's no reason for it. For all the Mets/Yanks, Sox/Cubs games, there are always Pirates/Indians or KC/Arizona. It was fun, memories were had. But now it's time to say goodbye.

I gurantee barely any of these ideas would happen, but it'd be cool to see some of them enacted. If I were the Commish, of course.

Petrovic

The majority of my posts are about cards from either the late 80's or early 90's. This is when my foundation of card collecting started. I didn't care what sport it was, packs were being opened.

After learning about Drazen Petrovic years ago I took big interest in Petro. I really wasn't into cards much during that time. After coming back to the card world 3 or so years ago I just assumed that since I collected like crazy back when Drazen played, I would surely have some of his cards. In all the time I've searched, I've come across zero. How could I see his arguably best performance ever (dropping 40 on the Cavs in a playoff game) and never have a basketball card of his?

This wasn't right and I was about to make sure I had some Petrovic cards. I made the situation right last weekend.

Drazen Petrovic collection is up to 2.



Upper Deck 93. Pretty wild to think this would have been his last card. Cutting in the lane against Dallas.



Score 91. His first year with New Jersey. So far, this is my favorite card I own, depicting his great jump shot.

One day, I intend on visiting Croatia to see Sibenik (where he grew up) and Zagreb where his memorial center is located.

Bazaar Find

Having prior knowledge that a sports card/memorabilia dealer set up shop enticed me to go visit a Bazaar. And let me just say they are aptly named. Tons and tons of crap people try and sell. Things you'd never expect. This one is essentially a glorified garage sale, all day every day.

Unfortunately the card dealer guy was not there, and I'm not even sure he runs his stand anymore. But in it's place were two more dealers.

The first dealer was odd. I don't know what sort of impression I give off, but he did not acknowledge that I had walked into his stall. I'm not a heavy set or tall guy at all. So when two people are in a 10x10 space, you think some sort of "hey what's up" would happen. None. Basically, if he didn't want to notice me, I wasn't going to say anything to him. This made me not want to spend any money in his store. Simple customer service goes along way.

Side note: I do realize that a lot of people probably come in and browse without buying, but how are you going to try and make sales without simple greeting?

This guy had about six 5,000 count boxes of commons. Just garbage. Foiled 2000 cards, gross. No MLB Showdown. Another one of his 5,000 boxes was full of 60's gold. I might bite the bullet and purchase a few if I need to fill sets. Lots of McFarlane and Starting Line Up figures also.

The best part of his little stall, two T-206's. Bill Clymer (VG 3, $55) and a Tris Speaker (VG 3, $500). I asked to see them and he sort of gave me an odd eye. Look man, I know it's odd that someone is asking about your product, 10 minutes after stepping into your store. He pulled them out from the case and mentioned how they were his friends. I always feel that the majority of vintage cards aren't 100% authentic. So I had my reservations. I thought about purchasing Clymer since it was around my budget. Looking at the letters and font color, I deemed them real. Asking over at FreedomCardBoard, one of the boarders felt they were authentic also. Pretty badass to be holding cards that are 100 years old.




You be the judge about their authenticity, I'd love to hear more input.

After thanking him for taking the time out of his busy schedule of deciding where to put his Joe Montana McFarlane (lol), I left and walked across the tiny hall to another "card dealer". I hesitate to call this guy a "card dealer", I'd rather say a hustler. Guy was my age but had the ghetto accent. When I walked in he was trying to hustle an older gentleman into purchasing one of those old NBA 3 rookie players per card. This one had Bird and two others. I wasn't really listening too much, instead I was trying to find the rhyme or reason about his layout. Why was a Pat Listach insert one of the main cards this guy had to show. Why does this guy have probably 500 Donruss 1988 Stickers? Wait a minute, are those early 90's NBA team sets? HOLY SHIT DO THEY HAVE NEW JERSEY? YESSSSSSSS THEY DO. I picked it up and looked at the last card hoping it was a checklist. Instead, I was staring at my soon to be first Drazen card. MONNNEYYYYYYYY!! The older guy left and the kid explained to me how he buys massive collections from card shops in hopes to sell them off later to make money. The guy he was just dealing with was a "big time collector". From the bits and pieces of their conversation, I really think neither of them had any idea what they were talking about...most of the words were "book value". Long story short, Drazen and his buddies cost me $0.50. The kid asked why I wanted that set and I explained to him who Petro was and how he was one (if not the) best all time 3 point shooters and a HOF'er. Not to mention, my ethnicity.

I was about to leave when I decided to check out the rest of the place. Odd shit everywhere, why not? Last but not least, heaven. One older guy with just tons and tons of random sports stuff and cards strewn everywhere. And also probably one of the nicest card dealers I had ever met. We talked for literally 20 to 30 minutes about anything. My favorite part was two randomly placed MLB Showdown 2000 starters. They were not purchased.



Seriously, completely odd place.



After browsing some more, I found these gems. If there was a Petrovic pin, it was being purchased. Instead these were all from 1995-1996. Drazen's former Yugo teammate Vlade shows up 5 times. Speaking of Drazen and Vlade, ESPN's 30 for 30 is doing a special on them October 12. Watch it. It will be the best 30 for 30.

Hiding in a corner of a display case were some very old cards. I thought at first they were late 1950's. Come to find out they are 1935 Goudey 4 in 1's. Unfortunately they had been cut up. No problems with them being cut up, they were awesome regardless.




These are Card C and Card D.

The dealer also mentioned how he had tons of other vintage at his house and that he is running multiple card shows within the next few months. SCORE!

And on top of all of this, he had a stack of early 90's NBA Cards. Flipped through, last card, Petrovic. 2 BRAND NEW DRAZEN CARDS!!

Total cost at his stand: $5.

Overall, great place and I'll probably stop by his stand again once he brings in all his vintage items.

Overproduced, Underappreciated

Nostalgia has set in here at Attic Insulation. Searching for that first real full time job and not having much cash to blow doesn't leave one able to purchase new boxes or packs. Instead, I'm digging through cards from 1955-1996. Plenty of winners to be had in the lot.

I bring you the third and final installment of the WAX RACK SEARCH. When I see some of these cards, I feel like I've been digging through the ocean floor and have just found the Titanic. Actually no, not the Titanic. More like the Hope Diamond.

Seriously, so many people just see 1980's-1990's cards and say "junk wax". And in all honesty, that is so true. I see posting on Craigslist all the time about "please buy my cards, plenty of rare ones, 1980-1990's! Ken Griffey Rookies!!!". Unfortunately for these people they will never sell that Griffey ($3 value) along with the other 10,000 cards for $300. In fact, I doubt I'd ever purchase cards from that era again, but I'd be a liar to say it's not so much fun digging through them seeing how goofy those dudes looked.

Although, to be fair, I'd never pass up a box of Fleer Metal. Unless the store owner wanted $40 (LOOKING AT YOU GUY IN CANTON).

Enough about junk wax, let's get to the hope diamonds.


First up, Milwaukee Brewer's golden child BJ Surhoff. I really like the photo used. There was no way to get a shot of him doing anything else? Running away from the play. No hitting, fielding, sitting on the bench with gum on his hat? This card reminds me of Eddie Matthews MLB Showdown card, except that card is so much worse. At least you can see Surhoff's face in this. Solid effort Donruss.

This has to be the most basic card I've ever seen. It is also one of the best cards I have ever seen. This card could be pulled today and nobody would blink an eye. The best part is Ryno's card is from the tail end of the 1990 Score set. Yes, Score used to make good looking cards, I had a hard time believing it. I hope that I have more of these lying around somewhere. Cardboard perfection right here folks.

While I joke about how much care I didn't take with my cards growing up, sometimes I surprise myself. This Canseco is in a penny sleeve! I knew Canseco and his home run hitting power. I also remember him as the guy whose head helped Candy Maldonado hit a homer at the old Municipal Stadium. I was also there for that game. I was little, but I was there. Going back to the card however, not even a penny sleeve could handle my youthful strength. A beautiful solid bend tarnishes this card forever. Or gives it character, you tell me.

This card is heavy. It is also embossed. AND VERY VERY ACTION PACKED. (Also creased, lol). I didn't know embossed cards happened in 1992. But here's living proof that yes, yes indeed, embossed cards happened in 1992.

My favorite Indian growing up prior to my Kenny Lofton lovefest in the 90's. I really don't have an explanation for my fandom of Brook. I think it was his name. Anyways, I used to have a small card book that was given away to all kids of the Indians Fan Club back in the early 90's. It allowed for 4 cards per page, with probably 5 pages in it total. I remember nearly half of that book was Brook cards. Then Jesse Levis and some Joey Bells. I'd love to find that book one day.

Holy shit, this guy played baseball. A watered down version of Rod Beck, in style only. I love the background of his photo. The "FANTASY DRAFT" icon. What I really want to know is, if given a chance at a "Fantasy Draft", would you take Bryan Harvey? For me, 1,000 times yes.

Mike Benjamin. I had no idea he had played in this time. I only know him as the On Base 5 Shortstop with a +5 arm from 2000 MLB Showdown.

I really believe Matt Stairs is why EastBound and Down exists. Everything Matt Stairs has done in his career has been perfect. My only wish is that he played for the Indians. Matt you are a legend and one day I will visit Cooperstown and tell my kids "yes, I saw Matt Stairs hit many moonshots in my life", as memories come rushing back and tears swell up and I choke on every word of that sentence.

This card really wasn't going to be included. I have no idea what Bottenfield's life stats are. I didn't bother looking at the back to see if he had a good year. I didn't care. I just remember he somehow got 2 MLB Showdown cards in 2000. The first one was a Control 0 with Saint Louis. The second a Control 3 with Anaheim (hey remember that team?).

Up until finding this card, I forgot all about Damon. He was another favorite of mine growing up, simply for his last name. Berryhill. God, imagine how good a hill full of berries would be. Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries. I'd make so many PBJ and pancakes filled with berries it'd be unreal. I want a Berryhill.

At first, I thought this was a Valentine's Day card that I forgot to give out in 2nd grade. The goofy banner around the photo confused me. The photo of Babe is real cool, but everything else was straight Looney Tunes. So then I flipped to the back.

Apparently this card came with a Collector's Plate? I honestly have no idea where it came from or what it came with. It is a baseball card, goofy looking, and now is on the blog. Common sense pick really.

And you probably thought, what could top Babe Ruth? Of course the logical answer is Hipolito Pichardo. James, if you ever read the blog again, I posted this card with you in mind. That and all the Hipolito Pichardo super fans out there. I GAAAAA-RUNNN-TEEE that blog traffic just went up 200%.

And finally we have come to the Hope Diamond. Everything about this card is perfect. The Expansion Draft. The photo. It being our former failed grinder manager Eric Wedge. And certainly the mustache. Holy shit that mustache. Any dude who has or have ever had that mustache cannot be taken serious. This ladies and gentleman, is the best card in my entire collection.

This is beyond baseball, this is mustache.