I Need Some Help From a Canadian Blogger or an Expos Collector

If you read my blog you know that I am trying to get one of every Bill Virdon card.  There is a common card though that has eluded me for years.  I know it exists but I have never seen it.  I don't mean in person I mean on eBay or any other card site.  The card I am talking about is a 1984 Expos Stuart #38 Coaching Staff card.  It has the entire Expos coaching staff on it which included Virdon.  I don't know much about the set and since I have never seen this Virdon card I'm going to guess it was a local set.  (hence the Canadian/Expos help)

There is a complete set listed on eBay right now for $10 and it ends in 2 days.  I don't want to give $10 for this one card so hopefully someone out there has the card for trade.  Please help!

No Inspiration

I know I have been gone a long time.  I don't have an excuse for it, except for the week I was on vacation, the rest of the time I just didn't "feel it".  As a matter of fact I don't feel it right now but I don't want to fall blogrolls just in case inspiration strikes at some point.  

Just because I haven't been writing doesn't mean I haven't been trading and picking up cards.  I had a nice haul of Topps tattoos a while back that I spread out amongst some bloggers.  I nabbed a about 20 Fleer Ted Williams cards for less than a buck a piece and I have added a few Virdon's (including FIVE 1/1 cards!!).  That said I also added these and I have no use for them except as trade bait.

 So if you are working on a 59 set and don't care, at all, for condition I'll be your Huckleberry.  (If you can't tell from the picture someone cut out the team logos from the cards)

Also, Bo and Bert: I didn't forget about you guys I'll be getting you your cards soon.

Slow and Steady, Steady and Slow, That's The Way to Go.

I used to read a book to my kids at night.  It was a Disney Tortoise and the Hare with Donald as the Hare and Goofy as the Tortoise.  Goofy drove and old beater in their race and ended up winning with his motto Slow and Steady, Steady and Slow, That's the Way to Go.  This is how I have always approached my vintage team sets.  With enough money I could scour ebay and fine every last Topps Red Sox card no problem; instead I try to find them on a budget.  I have passed on many many cards because they just wouldn't fit the budget.

I got one card closer to my 58 team set.  It was the most expensive  one.  While it may not be the cleanest copy I won it for $5.51.  It is definitely in poor condition but it is still a Ted Williams from his playing days.  (the scanner cut it short like that, it is a whole card and actually has pretty good corners, considering)  

I would rather have a nice crisp copy but this one has it's advantages too.  I keep my team sets in binders and it is hard for me to put a really expensive card in a binder page sometimes.  But I have no qualms on putting this one in my binder rather than in a top loader. 

I Need One More

One of the people that requested to be in the Card Bloggers Unite Fantasy League just hasn't accepted the invitation I send and I am running out of time.  So I need one more blogger that is willing to join.  Here is who already is participating:

Play At The Plate
Cards on Cards
Cardboard Junkie
Beardy (formally of Mojo Beard)
RedSoxCollector.com
Plain Grey Swatch (The Paper Chase)
ThoughtsAndSox

Please respond if you want to throw your hat in with this bunch.

Fantasy Team Owners Needed

I run a Fantasy League that consists of Card Bloggers (and some former bloggers).  A few teams dropped out and I need new owners.  It is a keeper league and every available team has a decent lineup.  GCRL showed interest before already has an invite (if he would just accept it) and I'll take new owners first come first serve.  Just comment below.  Leave me your email if I don't have it yet or if I can't link to it from your blog.

So Close to the Goal

Yesterday the mailman brought me my newest Virdon card.  Yes it is an ugly ass frankencut but it is my 130th unique Virdon card. 

It is also my second one since I said I was going to acquire 3 this year.  So one more and I have attained my goal but it is safe to say if I find another I'm going to buy it, within reason.  I say within reason because one I need just got listed on eBay but it is out of my price range.  If someone wants to buy it for me I will trade them a Joe Frazier auto, a Barry Sanders Score RC, and whatever else makes it even.

2012 was a big year for Virdon cards.  Between Topps and TriStar there were 14 new Virdon's issued.  It is the most cards issued for him in a single year.  From the looks of it 2013 will be the total opposite.  I'm thinking there will be a good chance that no Virdons are issued at all this year.  He was shut out of Heritage since there are no Buyback cards this year (except Beatles and oddball things) and surely he won't be in Signa Cuts two years in a row.  I see it as both good and bad.  Bad because there is nothing new to chase but good because it is easier on the wallet.

Another Mail Day

Wow, three posts in three days!  What has got into me?  It is probably that I got a bunch of really great stuff lately. My latest great package are different kind of cards, they are postcards.  Tracking down old postcards is tough but not as hard as identifying them.  There isn't really anyone that I can find out there that knows much about them.  The authority on St Louis postcards that I have found is this guy but he has nothing on my latest postcard find.

These are either Brace, Burke, or Rowe postcards but I don't know know how to find out which.  Evidently they were once sorta kind-of partners in printing postcards of obscure players or of players in obscure uniforms.  Although Virdon won the ROY in 55 with the Cardinals the only cardboard he made it on in a Cardinal uniform is 55 Bowman, a team issue postcard, and an ultra rare Hunter's Weiner card. (56 Topps has him as a Cardinal but it is an art card not a photo)

From what I have read on forums Brace and Burke had a ton of old photos and let Rowe use the images to make postcards.  I haven't really found out anything more about these than what is on that link and it sounds like I will probably never know for sure what they are and how many more there may be.

There is actually a 3rd Virdon Cardinals postcard that I know of.  Iit shows Virdon posing with a bat.  Someone sniped me form it on eBay months ago and I am still bitter about it.

Either way they are nice pickups and a great addition to the Virdon binder.  I know have 129 unique Virdon's, only 31 more to go!

Sometimes You Just Have to Change Things Up

I have done a eBay search for Virdon every day for years now. (and ever since I have had a smart phone with an eBay app it has been more like 30 times a day)  Speaking of checking for Virdons on eBay...

Okay, I'm back.  Like I said I search eBay every single day.  Four or five years of searching eBay and I had never seen a 1975 O-Pee-Chee Virdon, not once.  I even started to open all the Topps Virdon auctions to see if they scanned the back of the card and it happened to be an O-Pee-Chee and they didn't notice because the fronts look just the same.

The other day I thought "I wonder if someone listed it as the yankees team and didn't mention that it is a Virdon?"  A quick eBay search of 1975 yankees O-Pee-Chee and there it was.  Not only did I find multiple copies of the card there was one with a .99 BIN.

Five years of searching for a card and it is finally mine, I just had to change it up a bit.

The other day I mentioned that I had some "things" changing.  If you are a long time reader you probably know that two years ago I moved from Missouri to Arizona.  My current change isn't quite so big but just as scary.  When we moved here my wife opened an accounting office and has done super.  The business has done so well that she makes way more money than I do now.  Well Friday is my last day of work for the Maricopa County Health Department.  Starting on Saturday I will be working at the account office with my wife full time.  It is a big step having out entire family income tied to one single thing.  I haven't had much bal l card money in the last few years and I this year I will probably have even less again but I think in the long run it will work out for the best.

Closer to a 2013 Goal

One of the goals I set for 2013 was to finish off my 1969 Topps team set.  I picked up one of the two I needed up off of Listia.

(sorry about the picture my scanner is not in house at the moment)

Always nice to pick up a need for free.

Now if a 1969 Sparky Lyle #311 would just show up for free...

Something Completly Different

I randomly came across this item on ebay.

 It is a Astros Viewmaster reel from 1980.

I tried to take a picture of the image but couldn't figure out how to make it work.  Maybe when my scanner is back in house I can zoom in in all the way and show you the image. 

Though it is technically not a card it is going in my binder and I am counting it towards my goal of 3 more Virdons this year.

Listia Gold

I have been telling people to sign up for Listia for a long time and once again I struck gold on the site, literally.  After a short period of no Red Sox worth mentioning being posted I had another great pickup.  A 1996 Ultra Gold Medallion Mo Vaughn.  "The Hit Dog" only set me back 30 credits.  (to lazy to scan so I swiped the image)



 

Now I know lots of people hate gold foil and this card has it in spades but I really like it.  The sheer gaudiness of it makes this card great.  Not to mention the fact it is of the former Red Sox AL MVP.

I always thought Mo would be an interesting person to have a player collection of.   He was a star of a big market team during the height of card companies experimental years so he was in virtually every really cool insert set; plus he isn't highly collected, and retired before the 1/1 garbage started coming out.  Kind of a perfect storm for a player collection.  I willing bet that there is a blogger out there with a jewel case, collecting dust, full of Mo cards that I would love to trade for.

If you haven't done it already go to Listia now and sign up for free credits that get you free cards.  After that auction off your Topps codes to get more credits to get even more cards.  The great thing about auctioning codes is there is no shipping fees.

2013 Collecting/Blog Goals

So what if I’m about 2 months late with this post. Most yearly goals have fallen by the wayside for people by now so why not start where others have fallen off. Better late than never right? I'm about to go through ANOTHER major life change so hopefully I still have some time for cards and the blog this year. (nothing bad, but kinda scary, maybe more on it at some other point)  Anyway on to my goals.

1. Find 3 more Bill Virdon cards for my Player Collection - I have got 8 new Virdon cards since the beginning of the year and now have 122 of 160 different cards or 76% of them. I’m only shooting for 3 more because of the 38 that I still need most are either: really expensive, really rare, or I can't identify exactly what I need (this last one means I can't tell one team issue card from another). I think 3 is doable There are three on my list that are not real expensive and I can identify.  I'm shoting for these three but any three will do:
• 1959 Topps #543 Corsair Trio - Skinner/Virdon/Clemente
• 1984 Expos Stuart #38 Coaching Staff (It is a common card for crying out loud)
• 2012 Tri Star Signa Cuts #/25 (It makes no sense but I own the 1/1 and 1/10 and I have seen 4 more of the /10 cards on Ebay but have seen the one numbered to 25 only once.)
2. Scan and link all my Virdon cards into my want list. I want my wantlist to be like an online Virdon card database. If you want to know what a 64 Venezuelan Virdon looks like click on it and it will take you to a scan of it.
3. Add more Red Sox to my collection. This is a no brainer; it is why I collect and why I have a blog.
4. Just buy the dam thing. Every year I try to build team sets through trade and LCS purchases. It leaves me with a bunch of holes in my collection.  I'm going to start buying some team sets complete.  I did it a couple times in 2012 and plan on it more in the future.
5. Finish off 2012 Topps Team Set. I need 3 more base from Update. I need a whole bunch of inserts too but I really want to finish off the base set and I know some blogger has to have them all. (Please send them to me!!)  I want them enough that I changed my Top 10 Most Wanted to Top 11.
6. Put together the Wal Mart 2013 Team Set. I’m almost half way there thanks to Night Owl and PATP. I think someone else promised me some but I can’t remember for sure anymore.
7. This will be the easiest one on the list. Post more. Not anything crazy, but I only put together 27 posts last year. Three a month from here on out and I will beat that.
8. Obtain 10 new 50s Red Sox. (I’m on a narrow budget)
9. Finish off the 1969 Team Set. ( I need 2 cards #311 Sparky Lyle and #628 RC Stars Billy Conigliaro / Syd O’Brien / Fred Wenz)
10. Finish off the 1971 Team Set. (I need 1 card #740 Luis Aparicio)(Dam High Numbers)

 

What is a baseball card blog without a baseball card?  Here is a Pedrioa SP Variation card that I have a double of anyone need it?

Card Bloggers Unite and Other Stuff

It has been a little while since I have posted anything. Few things told me I should probably write something.


1. Spring Training is here.
2. I’m about to fall off the blog roll.
3. I got stuck in the snow.

You might think that stuck in the snow is no big deal that shit happens from time to time. Under normal conditions you would be right; the thing is though, I live in Phoenix. I wasn’t really stuck like my car wouldn’t move though. See last summer sometime my windshield wipers quit working. I didn’t know how to fix them and it wasn’t any big deal because it doesn’t really ever rain here and when it does it doesn’t pour or anything. We get that bullshit amount where you have to turn your wipers on and off over and over again because it doesn’t come down hard enough to leave them on. So anyway I get out to my car yesterday and it is covered in snow. I scraped it off with my hand and started to drive but I didn’t get a block before it was covered up again and no wipers to clear it off. Basically the sign that I need to get off my ass and fix the dam car which made me think “I need to get off my ass and write a post”.

As you may or may not know I have a Fantasy League called Card Bloggers Unite. As you probably gathered from the league name it consists of a bunch of card bloggers. 2013 will be our 4th year of the League. Dayf somehow came from next to last place in 2011 to win the championship in 2012. I was a real fucking injustice too since he named his team after a pastel girl’s toy horse. I sent out a league renewal yesterday and half the league has renewed already. We usually lose at least one every year so after a week I may be asking for new participants.

I have received a bunch of packages lately. The latest one was from Cards on Cards. It wasn’t your ordinary package either. You would think a guy with a blog called Cards on Cards would send cards right? Well this time he sent a truck.

To be honest he sent cards too but just because I got off my ass to write a post doesn’t mean that I got the gumption to break out the scanner and it was easier to yank the truck image off ebay than it was to search out the cards he sent. Technically there is a card with the truck though so it is still card related.

Thanks Kerry! I’m working on a return package but it will be all cards, no truck.