Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Savvy Shopping: Backlogged Ball Cards

Last post I mentioned I was backlogged.  To be honest, since I didn't post a lot last year, I have almost a years worth of stuff to show, but I'm not sure if it will ever be shown since I didn't scan a lot of it and what I did might not have made the computer switchover.  Having said that, sometime in quarter 4 of 2017 I made a trip to Savvy Seconds and they had some baseball cards for sale.  It's happened more often in 2017, but most are from around 2010-2014 where I likely have most of them and don't find much oddballs to risk adding doubles to my collection.  Plus I don't want to go through a couple thousand unsorted 2010 cards that you know the best players already was taken out of.  So I check some out and if I find some I'll buy some.  I forgot what I paid on this day, but I think I came out pretty good.  I think it was maybe 4 bucks or so.  So let's take a look.


So yeah, let's start with the Royals.  More than likely I figured I had a lot of these cards, but it was worth the risk since I did get Cain and Gordon.  Though I was pretty sure I didn't have any Kila Ka'aihue cards, so that was the main reason I grabbed the rest of them.  Even if I needed two of them I felt I came out ahead.  Which I think I needed Kila, Tim, and Vin, so it was worth it.


More cards that I probably had.  I think in the end, I might have had all of these, but having a double of Cain, Gordon, and Salvy is handy if I ever decide to do TTM autographs.  I wish Cain the best being a Brewer again, while its sad to see him go, I'm glad he's getting paid to start somewhere.  Mitch Maier is also one of the Royals new coaches this year, but has been in the front office a year or two I believe, so overall not a bad lot of cards.


Those Attack and Toppstown cards are ugly, but I doubted I had them so I took the risk.  I still hate them though.  The Prizm of Shields I wasn't sure I had, but it is likely the only shiny card I'd get on the day, so why not.  The Damon card is one I had already, but was hoping around this time of year I'd call him a Hall of Famer, or at least someone who still had a chance.  Oh well, I always thought this card would be cool to get signed one day if I ever did do TTM.  I think a donation to his charity is needed for him to sign, but he's one of the few I would probably do that for.  The bottom row I figured I already had, but didn't want to get home to find out the only ones I passed on were ones I needed.  In the end, I'm pretty sure I needed the Buckner, so not all was lost.


The Moose card is another one that is perfect to get signed one day, I just hope when I do, he's still a Royals player.  At this point though I just hope he gets signed somewhere.  This free agency market is interesting to say the least.  The Tales of the Game card I got because while I don't expect or even want the largest Jeter collection, I still like to expand what I have, and I knew I didn't have this one.  Though he's not the main focus of the card I guess, but he's still on it and I saw his name and grabbed it.  I hear Topps is still making insert sets of Jeter, and I just wish they'd focus on current players in their flagship set.  Do retired players in the Archives and Heritage sets, and whatever 500 other sets they make each year.

The Ian Kinsler card I got since he went to Mizzou, and while I have a good amount of his cards, this one didn't look familiar to me.  I'm pretty sure I needed it, so it was a good addition.  The last card is one I remember having when I was a kid, and it brought back many memories seeing it again.  In addition to this card, I always liked the 1993 Topps set, and even recently looked on EBay for how much boxes was going for.  I didn't buy any, but I wouldn't be against it in the future.


I grabbed the History of the World Series cards because I don't think I ever had any of them.  The Gonzalez was more because I just liked it, but the Hornsby was because despite having a decent amount of Red Schoendist and Stan Musial modern cards, I don't have any really of Rogers Hornsby.  So I thought I would correct that.  Not a Cardinals collector per se, but in the end, I'll notice it is likely my second most collected team with the amount of Ozzie, Red, Stan, and Pujols cards I have.  The Toppstown cards I got because I obviously didn't have.  The Ryan Howard one is because he played at Missouri State and one day I will work on my collection of Missouri athletes or ones who played here (that didn't play at Mizzou) so I needed it.  Aside from that, I had quite a collection of his cards and wished he got one last shot to play.  The Ichiro I got because I don't actively seek out his cards for a collection, but still don't want to pass up his cards when I come across them.

Bottom row is a mix but I had reasons.  Gomes fits into my Once Royals collection, which I will sort though soon, but have other priorities first.  Blake DeWitt I think was born in Missouri, and wanted to make sure I had a card of his.  The Sinkbeil card I got because I was pretty sure he went to Missouri State.  The Dimitri Young card I grabbed because there weren't many cards that old to look through, and while it wasn't my favorite Score set, it was still considered my childhood, so it brought back memories.

Aside from these, I found some cards that were outside the realm of normal baseball cards.  the first was technically baseball cards, but a spin on it.  The second were cards that came from a baseball card set, and ones I didn't have.


This is a set that I first found out about once I started blogging and bidding on Listia, but have since kept an eye out for so I could build a set.  I think at this point I could just buy a box and finish it quick, but I don't really need a box of mostly doubles so I'll slow roll it.  As for these, this will be the closest I'll get to a Billy Ripken card for a while, and I was impressed at how sharp the corners were on these cards.  I've heard pack fresh before, but these seem like they were opened in the store.  I know they weren't though.  These were all they had from the set and it inches me closer to about halfway I think.  Again, for now its not a priority as I have other sets I'd like to work on first, but we'll see how the year goes.


Not getting political on here, but this has been a set I've quietly been piecing together since I first saw them.  I had McCain and Fred already, but I really liked Fred (more as an actor but still).  I thought I had Ron Paul and Mitt Romney, but wasn't sure.  The real pickups for me here were the Kucinich and Richardson cards.  My collection really leans Republican, so adding some Democrats really balanced things out.  Of course I don't have the Obama or Hillary cards, though I do have a couple other Obama cards from other sets.  As for Hillary, I'm still not sure if I really want a card of her.  While I'm never going to say I'm a history buff, I do one day want to build a set of cards of all the Presidents, and could piece a good Frankenset together now if I tried.  Though if a couple auctions go my way on Ebay, I might not need to.  Though I wish a base card of Trump would go cheap so I could add it.  Again, not being political, I just want to build a set.

The last two cards were from another insert set I don't really remember having, but knew of.  The Taft card was going to be a stopgap for the aforementioned Frankenset, but I think a future post will show I don't really need it now.  The Ripken card I wanted because I really liked it and it will go nice next to his rookie card I have of him.

So overall under 5 bucks for all these cards, I can't really complain.  In fact the last two scans almost made up for all the rest and now that I think about it, I might even remember that they typed in the wrong price on these when I got them.  I know a couple times I was overcharged and was mad about it, so once they only charged me 50 cents instead of the real price and didn't say anything.  I know the money goes to a lot of good services they provide, but at the same time, if you put a quarter on something, I don't expect to pay two bucks for it.

Before I wrap this up, I'll show a couple more scans.  I guess the same day I bought some wrestling cards at Walmart, because they were in the same folder, so let's look.


The only sets I'll consider from WWE anymore is the Heritage sets.  They are simpler and seem to have less inserts, and also have more names I know.  I follow WWE and while I know them all even down to NXT, I'm much rather pull a Rosa Mendes than a Dash Wilder card.  Though while I don't expect to buy packs of other WWE sets anytime soon, I might scour NXT cards on COMC since I know a lot of them from ROH and TNA.  As for these cards, I was happy to pull the Rick Rude and Terry Funk cards.  The signature/finisher moves was kind of cool but I'm not sure it translates too well on card form.


So while Funk and Perfect were the two that stand out most to me since I try to grab them all, I was most excited to pull the Dean Malenko card.  I will always be a fan of the Man of 1000 Holds, and I even strategically placed him above Chris Jericho, because despite his claim, I don't think all his 1,001 holds he claimed he knew were legit.  If you have WWE Network and never saw the WCW feud between Jericho and Malenko, you really need to.  Overall this was a discount pack, and I was happy with what I got.  While I don't plan to add a lot more wrestling cards to my collection, unless they are 80's and 90s cards not named Classic, I will keep an eye out on modern sets to see what they look like and grab a few.  Especially guys I've seen in person.  I really need to find an Eric Young card. 

So that wraps it up today, and my backlog is starting to thin out some, but I still have plenty I've failed to show in the last year.  Now if I can just find all the scans for them.  Well, thanks for reading, and have a great day!

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