Incoming from a couple of Bloggers

 I've been getting a lot of mail from Sportlots sellers lately. Yesterday though mixed in th ebatch was a couple from bloggers.

Last week Mark (San Jose Fuji) posted about busting some 1993 Upper Deck All-time Heroes.

It mentioned he had a bunch of dupes of these triple folders. My records showed that I didn't have any Braves and that I needed 1, 49, 150. Well, I was wrong..... What I needed was 1, 149, 150 and 151 which I didn't have on my list (see Hank is pictured in the middle of it so it counts.)  The 49 I said I needed, I didn't, but Mark sent it anyways. A Red Sox guy won't look good in my Braves, but Mr. Ferrell will fit nicely into my PC.

Mark sent a slew of other Braves especially some well loved vintage cards, and some Pacific Legends. The card above I needed and didn't know it either.  Thanks Mark!

Now yesterday Nick (dimebox) posted his goodies from picking Julie's pockets so I won't go through all of that again today.

I will however show this one off that eluded me since last year. It was certainly the highlight of the picked pockets. Made me really happy to check that off. Thanks Julie!

I'll get back to some SportLots stuff tomorrow.

See ya.

Just a few

 Saturday brought four packages from Sportlots (1 was a PWE). I've picked the highlight from each. 

1972 Kellogg's ATG.

2008 TSC. Great shot of the Mick.

Ichiro rookie, the most expensive of the entire order.

The last card needed to close out my 1994 Score Rookie/Traded set build.

See just a few to show off.

Good morning 2021

 What better way to start 2021, but with post #2021.

I went to Walmart yesterday in search of those Holiday boxes. Still none. I did however, see some new boxes of baseball cards. I know I know, my goals in years past and this year too is laying off current year retail boxes (with the exception of the Holiday boxes). 

This was a little different though. Sort of.

2020 Leaf Draft, not an impressive looking card, as I could tell by the box that it looked liked the football cards released months ago. But, you get the complete 50 card set and TWO autographs for $19.98. I grabbed two boxes.

Giants, A's Cubs, and Texas.  Okay I was a bit saddened, as there wasn't even a Luis Robert in the set. But I did get three Braves. Jasson Dominguez is promising, so is Duran, Julio Rodriguez, and Yoenis's brother. 

There you have it, my first 2021 post. Have a great New Year.....That is a Mandate. you must do it or face severe fines.

2020 2020 Duality (Hobby Goals)

 This will be my LAST post of 2020, and lookie lookie.....it is post #2020. Cheesy, yes and I did plan this out a few weeks ago. I wanted to end the year on 2020 posts, and start 2021 with a matching post total. 

With that being the headline, let's move onto my 2021 Hobby goals. Again very short list.

1) Take the rest of completed set build binders back home to Florida. Take those boxes of PC guys back too. This will be a no brainer EASY A. 

2) To knock out the many, many set builds that are missing between 1-3 cards in the binders. There are a few pricey cards in that mix, but should be doable. I also want to get them back home too.

3) Add at least 1 T206 card to the main collection, but also get the rest of the Braves that I need for the team set. Turns out I need 4 more Braves. I thought I only needed 3. But I don't see Bowerman either.

4) By years end (2021) start up the 3 "Franken-Sets" that I have been hoarding cards for 7 years.

     By start I mean get them actually into some sort of organization, and in binders where as I can actually start posting pages. sounds easy, but it isn't, hence why the goal is by year's end.

5) As in the last few years.....stay away from retail current year blasters. Should be another EASY A. I am still on the lerch for 2020 Topps Walmart Holiday Mega boxes, and YES I will be buying every damn one I see if I see any. I was fortunate to witness TONS of just about everything else this year sitting on the shelves. I walked away from 99.9% of those. My fingers are crossed (not really) on finding some.

That is pretty much it.

Have a great New Year!  

    

RIP "MaryAnn" Dawn Wells and a very very short follow up

 We lost an old favorite of many men my age yesterday. RIP MaryAnn. It seems like just the other day I was reading a post about her. I know I did.

A little blog follow up.

As many are noting their year in review, I noticed the one thing I did not post was the actual blog notes.

Here they are, it is short.

I shattered my post record with what will be 482 post for the year. I had noticed this back in November originally when I was considering dumping my collection. I had forgotten about it until just today.

My old record was like 302, beating the previous record of 301. Totally blew it out of the water, and I know why. I did a boatload of give aways this year disguised as contests and games. I figure 100 of my posts go directly to those areas.

Big Fun Fridays, probably made up most of those as they lasted for more than half of the year. The Bingo games added many extra posts too considering there were actually only 4 Bingo nights.

Anyways, I'll be working on my 2021 Hobby goals today and will post them later tonight.

Happy New years (eve).

Wacky Wednesday

 So far I only have the first two weeks worth of December cards. The last two weeks haven't shipped yet.

Checklist 1.

Puzzle 1.

Guest Artist 1 & 2, 1 ad back and 1 Ludlow. Oh yeah, and card #9. It is the only horizontal.

We'll see the rest when they come in.

Happy new year's eve EVE.

2019 Topps Walmart Holiday variation want list.

 Okay, thought that I would throw this LIST out there.

I have been working on the the 2019 Topps Holiday variations from last year. 

SP code 063, Rare code 064, Super Rare code 065. Needs listed below     * = incoming

SP: 8, 23*, 29*, 31, 33, 35*, 36*, 43, 57, 65*, 72, 74*, 85, 95*, 101, 109*, 126, 127, 129, 136*, 

    148, 152, 159*, 165, 167, 171*, 175, 182, 187*, 189, 197*, 199.

RARE: 8, 16, 26, 30*, 35*, 36, 72, 74, 85, 95, 112, 127, 148, 165, 182, 187, 192.

SUPER RARE: 16, 26, 29, 30, 31, 33, 42, 54, 71, 72, 74, 85, 87, 95, 96, 109, 126, 129, 130, 144, 148, 

        159, 167, 192, 197.

WOULDN'T SAY NO TO ANY OF THE RELIC CARDS EITHER.

One from the Bay, and 2 from SL

 Got 2 envelopes today.

This Aaron pairing came from a SportLots seller. 2002 Topps 206.

This vintage Braves need was picked off of Ebay.

Two a days

 No, not football practice, or basketball, or any other practice. Got a couple of goodies closing this post out today.

Adding some more 2020 Braves needs from this seller.

These 4 are minis. The two Ginter X and the two Topps 206. I still have the rest of the 206's to come in yet.

Turns out I think I already have that Acuna Snapshot. We'll see. But those two bottom cards have been LONGTIME wants. 1984 Donruss NUMBERED 29 and 30. I am really stoked about getting these cards, now all that is left is that pesky #248 Mattingly RC. Yes, I still need 2 copies of that card. Feel free to dump a couple on me.

See ya later on tonight, after the mailman runs.

Got another Sportlots package in today.

 Lately, I've been getting at least 1 SportLots package in every mail day. This should last for a few more weeks.

Here is today's goodies.

2020 Braves need from Gold Label. Class 1 (top two rows), and Class Black bottom row.

The top 4 cards are Class 2, with an Albies Black. The bottom two cards are Class 3.

Phil Niekro

 With my PC binders back home the best tribute I can pay to one of my all time favorite Braves is a list of the cards that I have in his PC binder. Please keep in mine any Braves cards that are in the team sets are not counted here unless it is a triplicate. Braves team sets come before set builds, and lastly PC.

PHIL NIEKRO: 142 DIFFERENT

        

1968 topps 7 1968 topps 257 1969 topps 355 1970 topps 69 1970 topps 160 1971 topps 30 1972 topps fold out mini poster 2 of 24 1973 kelloggs 29 of 54 1973 topps 503 1974 topps 29 1975 sspc 35 1975 topps mini 130 1975 topps 130 1975 topps 310 1976 topps 435 1977 hostess cut out 111 1977 topps 615 1978 hostess 122 1978 topps 10 1978 topps 206 1979 kelloggs 3d super stars 28 of 60 1979 topps 595 1979 topps comics nno 1980 burger king 6 1980 kelloggs 3d super stars 51 of 60 1980 opeechee 130 1980 topps 205 1980 topps 245 1981 donruss 328 1981 fleer 242 1981 fleer star stickers 23 1981 fleer stickers mini sticker 148 1981 kelloggs 3d super stars 12 of 66 1981 topps 387 1982 donruss diamond kings 10 1982 donruss 475 1982 fleer stamps 68 1982 kelloggs 3d super stars 36 of 64 1982 opeechee 185 1982 topps 185 1983 donruss 97 1983 donruss 97 1983 donruss 613 1983 donruss action all stars oversize 12 of 60 1983 fleer 143 1983 fleer 411 1983 fleer stickers stickers mini 91 of 270 1983 topps 410 1983 topps 411 1983 topps 502 1984 donruss 188 1984 fleer 187 1984 fleer sticker jersey #35 nno 1984 topps 650 1984 topps traded 84 t 1985 donruss highlights 50 1985 donruss 458 1985 fleer 138 1985 leaf 138 1985 topps 40 1986 donruss 580 1986 donruss 645 1986 fleer in person autograph blue ink 112 1986 fleer 112 1986 fleer 630 1986 fleer star stickers star sticker 82 1986 fleer update  u 81 1986 leaf 243 1986 quaker chewy granola bars 28 of 33 1986 sportflics triple action 163 1986 topps 204 1986 topps 790 1986 topps traded 77 t 1987 donruss 465 1987 fleer 254 1987 fleer record setters 25 of 44 1987 leaf 181 1987 sportflics 147 1987 topps 694 1988 fleer league leaders 28 of 44 1988 score 555 1988 score great moments in baseball 56 of 56 1988 topps 5 1989 classic red 200 1989 pacific baseball legends 212 1990 pacific baseball legends 96 1990 topps mini trivia stickers nno 1992 kelloggs corn flakes 6 of 10 1996 highland mint??? gold card 35 2001 american pie 66 2001 archives 269 of 450 2001 greats of the game 70 2001 ud decades arms race ar 10 2002 ud piece of history 47 2003 flair greats 35 2003 gallery 17 2004 leaf cornerstones c 16 2004 ud legends 239 2004 ud yankees classics 51 2005 diamond kings heritage collections hc 21 2005 diamond kings hof heroes framed red hh 32 2005 diamond kings hof heroes framed green #d 44/50 hh 32 2005 donruss classics classic singles #d 209/400 cs 9 2005 donruss team heroes 39 2005 mvp batter up bu 30 2005 ud classics 76 2005 ud pastime pennants 64 2006 sp legendary cuts chronology gu swatch white bc pn 2008 goudey 10 2010 topps commemorative 1978 all star game mcp 77 2011 topps 60 years of topps 60yot 27 2013 a & g 204 2013 a & g mini  204 2013 a & g mini a & g back 204 2013 cooperstown induction 3 2013 cooperstown green 86 2013 cooperstown 86 2013 gypsy queen 116 2013 gypsy queen mini 116 2013 topps chasing history silver? ch 100 2014 a & g 343 2014 a & g mini  343 2014 archives 1986 topps gold #d 149/199 129 2014 golden age star stamps with marichal,carlton,seaver 6 2014 golden age mini mono  117 2014 golden age 117 2014 gypsy queen 98 2015 finest generations fg 21 2015 museum 56 2016 archives 54 2016 stadium club 135 2017 bunt programs pr pn 2017 diamond kings heritage collections hc 20 2017 fire base 21 2017 fire flame 21 2017 fire green #d 156/199 21 2019 a & g 391 2019 a & g mini hotbox 391

If I picked up any Niekro cards this year (2020), I won't be adding them to this list until mid year next year, as per my normal.

RIP Knucksie.

This way OR That way : part 2

 Judging by a few of the comments on part I of this two part post, I must have left the impression that I was GONE, done for, depressed or something. That was not my intention. I tried to end it with fact that I am still in the game. Now, don't get me wrong, my back top to bottom is a really big issue right now. And yes, I am still concerned on the disposition of my collection in the future. I will have to make sure I work on that issue in the coming years. 

On to part two, more of do I go this way or that way. A couple of weeks ago I decided that no, I'm not ready to call it quits. Yet, it still left me with a brand new dilemma. Something on t.v. made me google the largest Braves baseball card collection. Specifically (that specific), I could find nothing. That could be because the data isn't out there or that I got distracted too much while researching. It Happens! You know it does. The rabbit hole. I went down one of those holes about Paul Jones, "Foul Ball Paul". I have heard/seen him before rather stories on him. I didn't really pay too much attention to his story then. His story is my "new" dilemma. 

Paul holds the Guinness World record for the most non-commercial (personal collection) baseball cards. He is currently over 2.8 million cards. I didn't realize that was a thing. Had I known in the past (it was a thing), that record would have been completely shattered back when I had 8 million cards in my house, with half of them baseball cards. I am glad that I didn't know about it. By reading about his story, you will understand why. It is clear his collection is full of "junk wax", minor league cards, and dupes. But that doesn't matter. Paul does have some vintage, but not a whole lot. He has them sorted by player. I did that a couple of times including my current PC binders. Now it is apparent that Paul probably won't outlive me, but you never know.....we really don't. You see, since he was born his parents were told he was going to die. That has been decades ago now. 

I would never consider taking that away from him. Paul loves baseball, it (his story) makes one feel good. His organization of the cards is envious for boxed cards which works great for his collection. He does have a SUPER impressive autograph (in person) collection too. My dilemma is I NOW have an additional focus when it comes to the cards that I own. This means that within the collection I need to make a few adjustments and I will work on those little by little. You see, I am going to shatter that record, just not officially. Like I just said, I wouldn't take that away from him. I've given away millions with an S over the last decade alone. I am going to get back to that monstrosity of cards, but the dupes will have to be organized by set and year (something that has always made me say ehhhh. This will allow me to better serve how I send cards to trading buds. I am still going to be doing what I have always done... trading and give aways. That makes me feel good. I know that storage will be an issue, but one that can be resolved, especially after Hunter (my youngest daughter) moves into her new home. I won't have bulk buys like that until probably March 2021 anyways or June. 

The dilemma is half answered here. Should I pass before Paul, I want my collection at that time be counted for the record. Yes, take it away at my passing officially. Then I will have the non-vintage dupes which will ultimately be in the millions given and delivered to Paul, so that he can re-take the record officially. I am quite sure a lot of the vintage dupes will wind up there too, but I do a lot of trading out of those cards and I will be setting aside some for Paul. Anyways, you see where I am going with this. Once, I know that I have unofficially passed Paul's 3M + cards, I may reach out to his father Barry to give him a heads up, no need to do that before hand. I have a long way to go. I am at least 1 1/2 to 2 million behind right now. CRAZY, right? 

Now, on the other hand should that MOST enthusiastic baseball card collector ever in the entire WORLD give way to his health issues. I will get my collection recorded. Now that would also create a new dilemma too, what in the hell am I going to do with those dupes then? 

KISS, Keep is simple stupid. Man I wish that I could follow those MOST awesome rules.

Now that is a This & That post for sure.

I got a very heavy wrapped Christmas present.

 My sister in Ocala Kathy, bought me cards for my birthday this year (1983 Traded set), then mailed them to me. Well, I kind of expected her to get me cards for Christmas this year too. I drove home and straight back a couple of weeks ago to drop my presents off for those back home, and grab presents for me. I knew instantly that the heavy package was baseball cards. It kind of scared me knowing she buys everything off of Amazon, but I held out hope because the shape made me think it might be a hobby box of Bowman Platinum. 

Yeah, my first instinct was correct. I did actually search the box knowing what I would find and not find. There were two cards unexpected.

The centering is actually spot on. This is just me not knowing the parameters of my new scanner.

Same here. Turns out I already have those two vintage, so off to the dupes box they went. Not the shiny stuff like Greg got. LOL. I am going to have re-iterate to her that I already own most cards that she will find. I can't fault her, she means well.....she really is trying to appease my card collecting habit. Um Hobby. I am the youngest, and she is 8 years older than me, she was out of the house by the time I started collecting. I plan on showing her my web site the next time I can spend a little time with her now that she is trying to move my hobby along. I want to do that in person so that I can explain it a little to her. I think then all will be GREAT going forward. My only problem is being able to go home for about a week. I haven't been able to do that in 3+ years.  I'll have to make it happen in 2021 so that she doesn't waste her money. I have no idea what she paid for that box, and add in shipping too. She's already asking me if I got anything good in there. I love her so I have to get that done sooner rather than later.

Holiday cards????

 Got these three cards in today's (tonight's) mail. (delivered around 7pm).

As you can tell, I am buying cards. I scooped up these 3 SP Holiday variations last week. Got them on the cheap too.

Hard to read that.

Posey was .50

Senzel was a buck

Molina was .75

I still need a bunch of these. I want all of the variations. I should have scanned the batch of 2019's I have here in GA for Christmas.

This way OR That way??????

 This past week I have posted a lot. I guess trying to make up for not posting so much that last two months. I hinted about doing that last month and that I would explain that in a later post. This post will be part of that explanation. I also mentioned in one of the posts from this week, I believe the "How'd I do" post?"......about me stopping the scanning of the completed sets. They are related. A combination if you will. 

I worked my butt off from January well....the whole year working on getting my cards from boxes into binders. I really didn't think I was going to get done what I did. After all, I was only planning on consolidating the cards from the smaller boxes into 5K boxes by "brand", and that was going to be challenging. For some reason I decided why not just handle them once and put them in binders. I am glad I did. I can NOT say by November that I was burnt out. No, just tired, aching, and hurting. Yes, those are some of the contributions that led to a damn near stoppage of the blog. 

You see 2 months ago I made up my mind that I was DONE. You heard me......DONE with collecting. I started contemplating how I would be selling off EVERYTHING. The ways which I could do it whether a Sothby's style auction or myself through individual sales online, or card shows and the like. 

You see, I know that there is no way my children can take that task on (not that they would want too either) should something happen to me. I know that they would totally get screwed over. As a father I can not do that to them. This is a dilemma that not only pertains to me, but to many of us.

This is a real thing. At some point it becomes an issue. It was not the only issue that put my mind on this path though. Accepting the fact that our Democracy is OVER, it is so full of SHIT, by this I mean corruption, fraud, waste, and abuse etc (FWA is a real thing, I have to certify in it every year and just did so this week).... No, this ain't going all political on you. I've known my entire life about how corrupt Washington DC was. Admit it, every American knows it. Probably the entire world. I just no longer believe it can be fixed, which means for me it's over DONE. Half the country feels that way or something of the like. Still yet, not the only issues for me to make the severe, immediate, abrupt decision to walk away from baseball cards.

I guess I should let you know now, this instance, this moment, RFN that I am NOT walking away from my collection. See even you didn't know where I was going with this post....could be this way or that way, haha  you still don't. In fact, there is more to this story, and it too has me in a dilemma. Tis tis.. you'll have to come back tomorrow for this rest of the story (ref: Paul Harvey).

Good night all.

Cards inside other cards.

 Not the RIP cards. Uh uh, no every year the OCT (Old Card Traders) trading card group that I belong to the members usually send out actual Christmas cards with baseball cards inside them. This year is no different.

Most of the cards this year contained what they refer to as UV (un-vintage) for which I already had copies of the majority. There were two that contained needed vintage though (so far).

This came in the first Christmas card this year. #764 a high number 72 needed for my Braves team sets. 

The 2nd one came yesterday from the leader of the group. I believe that it was intended to upgrade my copy for the team set (VG), but I am throwing it in the actual 58' set build. 

An update for the NUMBERS

 Here we go, squeezing in some more the last week of the year (there will probably be some more show up in January too).

New Numbers with Beckett adding the Elite Extra Edition (which has 43 parallels) just stupid.

New totals: 11, 154 Braves (this far).

More details

 Well, not exactly details, at least not so much as the overwhelming pics. I've posted a lot of things today, a lot. One of those posts were about my hobby goals for 2020.

Goal #4 was about "cleaning up" the boxes on my bedroom floor back home. This is where the details come in.

These two stacks are bindered complete sets. They are ready to go back to Florida to join the equally sized amount I already took home that I scanned in already. 3/4 of these binders were not scanned for the new blogs. I will get to them at some point in the year or years to come (probably the latter).

This scan is the "dupes", well some of the dupes I have here in GA. You can throw in apx 25 boxed complete or near complete sets in another room.  The cards in the tray above are mini collection cards.

Here we have another stack the same size as the first ones. These however, are not complete sets. In fact they need many cards.

These binders are almost a card or three short of being complete.

This scan is more binders of not complete sets (need many cards). The boxes you see are all cards of PC guys that need to go home to "ONE DAY" be put into their respective binders. Apx 30,000 cards.

Two parts here. The sorting tray on top are cards set aside for you fellow bloggers and you can only see half of the tray. The box at the bottom with the cards on top the cards you see are autos and relics of football and basketball which I do not collect. The cards in the box are for a future project and it is full. Oh look, a dupicate set of 89' Bowman sealed.

Three parts here.

The cards on the tiny desk or whatever you call it are card sets that still need to be put into binders.

The cards sitting on top of the (3) 1500 count boxes are PC guys to be sorted as are the 1500 count boxes.

The rest of the boxes are my vintage dupes.

I know that this looks like a mess, and it may be. But this is completely organized compared to the little ass boxes they used to be in back home, scattered everywhere.  I will be so so happy once they are back home laying on a bookshelf with the label out all neat and everything. Completed too! Oh yeah there are still 24 binders of cards sitting in another room that are not complete, mainly vintage stuff from Topps with some Upper Deck.

That is details and nothing but the details.

A recent Ebay win.

 Actually, I'm not sure it was an auction win. It could have been a "buy it now". 

Either way, it is in my hand and by no means is it a recent card.

No, it is the last 1951 Topps I needed to complete that team set. It is a red back. I actually don't have the Holmes variation (Hartford instead of Boston). It too is a red back, but I do have the Boston version and the rest with the Spahn being the biggie. Another team set DONE!

The NUMBERS

 Have you ever heard the phrase it's all in the numbers? I certainly have. In fact every year I post a particular set of numbers.......Braves cards released in the current year, and compare the overall totals with the previous few years.

Here are the totals for the following years (give or take for those not listed with the team name):

2015: 6,145 

2016: 6,628

2017: 8,608

2018: 11,072

2019: 13,304

DRUM ROLL.........

2020: 10,925 WITH 10,559 for Atlanta, 327 for Milwaukee, and 39 for Boston.

From those numbers......

Topps: 8,259

Panini: 2,656

Onyx: 10

Autos: 3,148 (1,611 on card)

Relics: 2,259

Parallel's: 8,931

Inserts: 1,386 (this does not include parallel inserts-those are above)

of the 10,925 Braves cards released for 2020 (so far anyways) ONLY 608 ARE base cards.

I did well getting my Braves base cards this year, even a few of the high end sets, but no where near getting them all.  Feel free to notice any that I have missed on that want page  

2020 Braves needs

See ya later