Still Finding Gems in a Junk Wax Era

For those of us who collected cards in the 80s we're all very aware of the fact that those cards hold no monetary value whatsoever. That's fine by me considering the fact that I didn't purchase these cards to make a dime off of them. Rather, I enjoyed ripping a pack of cards to see what players I got and who I still needed to complete the set I was slowly building. When Upper Deck came on the scene in 1989 I didn't have the funds to purchase a pack for a dollar a piece. I decided to chase Topps for half the price and since I had been opening Topps packs since 1986 it was a no-brainer decision. Years later, after I returned to the hobby, I was able to add the 1989 Upper Deck set to my collection at an affordable price since that set too was overproduced as well. Recently, while browsing Trading Card Database, I stumbled upon the fact that Upper Deck had released promotion cards in 1989 that they sent to dealers giving them a preview of their upcoming product. There were only two subjects for these promo cards (Wally Joyner and DeWayne Buice) but three different back hologram variations for each (a top hologram, a bottom small hologram, and a bottom large hologram). I'm not sure if I'll chase all three variations, but I have been able to acquire the bottom small hologram promo cards. 

I think they complement my 1989 Upper Deck set nicely.

Rose and the Hall of Fame

I know I'm a little late to the party on this. Life happens and I don't have as much time as I once did to post. Looking at the date of my last post, it's been long overdue for me to throw something together to put on the blog. So, about MLB's decision to reinstate Rose and the other deceased members of the Banned for Life players, I'm not really sure how to take it. I've said before that Rose played the game hard. What he did on the field was amazing. What he did off the field; however, is unacceptable. You break the rules, you pay the consequences. That's just how life works. It's hard to separate the professional and the personal aspects of an individual and that's my conundrum. Was he a great ballplayer? Absolutely. Should he be enshrined in Cooperstown now that he's passed on? I'm not so sure. I'll leave that up to the voters to decide. What I do know is that I'll still keep collecting his cards for the things he did on the field. Case in point, I just picked up this 2011 Playoff Prime Cuts numbered out of 25 for just over the price of a "blaster". I always liked these cards and if I can find one that I need at a reasonable price I'll definitely add it to my Charlie Hustle PC. 

Another Team Set Completed!

It's been a few months since I've posted, but I'm still very much active in the hobby. I'm still making progress on my 1993 Finest set and hope to have that completed by the end of this year. But that's not what this post is about. I was finally able to track down the last Cincinnati Reds card I needed from the 1941 Play Ball set, Buck McCormick. I now have all four Reds cards that are in this set. I'm happy to have finally wrapped up a Reds set that's older than myself. Perhaps I'll even be lucky enough to knock out the 1951 Bowman Reds set this year as well. We shall see.

Congrats Ichiro!

I'm a little late for this post as the Hall of Fame results were announced a few days ago, but better late than never. While I knew that Ichiro was a lock for the Hall, I still couldn't believe that he fell one vote short of a unanimous selection. Just sad that one writer felt that he couldn't vote for him on his first year of eligibility. Regardless, I'm glad that Ichiro will now be forever enshrined in Cooperstown. I spoke last month about a couple of projects that I started. The first being my Rookie book project and the second is tracking down all of Ichiro's Topps Flagship Short Prints (SPs, SSPs and an SSSP that I'll probably never own). My favorite of the bunch is this 2012 Topps Update of him bowing to the fans at his return to Seattle after signing with the Yankees. Such a great card and I'm glad to have it in my collection. I've always admired Ichiro for how he played the game. He was more interested in getting a hit than mashing a home run (similar to Pete Rose in my opinion without all the baggage). If you're interested in seeing the other short prints I've picked up you can click here or select the Ichiro Topps Flagship Short Prints Image Variations link in the pages section. Once I grab the remaining three short prints that I need then I'll consider my Ichiro collection complete. I already have his Topps Flagship rookie and a 2007 Topps Chrome Japanese variation so I think that's a nice assortment. I might chase after a Topps Chrome Rookie but I'm still on the fence about that.

Sometimes I still feel like a rookie collector

I haven't made much progress lately on my wantlist as it relates to my Reds team sets. I'm still sitting at needing two more 1951 Bowman cards and one more 1941 Play Ball to wrap those two up. I had hopes of getting those three cards before the end of the year but I got a little sidetracked. I started two new projects, one being mentioned here. Since I started collecting back in 1986 I was always enamored with certain rookie cards. Rickey Henderson, Wade Boggs, Mark McGwire, Eddie Murray, Dave Winfield and Cal Ripken Jr were just a few that caught my eye. I had always wanted to own a copy of each but as a teen I never had the income to make that dream a reality. Fast forward thirty years later and I decided to start tracking down those cards that I could never afford. This 1974 Topps Dave Winfield is one of twenty three rookie cards I've managed to acquire out of my fifty card Non-Red Rookie project. I've included quite a few modern cards in addition to junk wax and vintage. I'm sure I'll add more vintage cards to the list eventually like a 1969 Topps Reggie Jackson and 1960 Topps Carl Yastrzemski. But for now I'm content with trying to grab fifty. If your curious as to what I've picked up so far you can view the Rookie Album in the Pages section.

I Normally Don't Collect Heritage...

But I had to make an exception. When I first saw this card a few weeks ago I immediately knew that I needed to pick one up. This is the 2022 Topps Joey Votto short print variations and I just think it's an amazing card. A very nice nighttime shot of Votto in the on deck circle under the stadium lights just makes for a nice image. I was able to track down when this image was taken on Getty Images and it's June 21, 2021 when the Reds faced the Twins in Minneapolis. Cincinnati lost that game 7-5 and Votto went 2-5.

Throwback Thursday

It amazes me that after all these years of collecting I'm still discovering cards that I didn't know existed. Case in point are the 2015 Topps Throwbacks. These were included in one of every two rack packs that were sold in Target and Walmart. I guess these would be considered image variations since they have the same number on the back as their standard counterpart but the border on these are light bown. I love the old Reds pullover uniforms since I grew up watching the Reds play wearing them. Out of the 50 cards that were produced, the Reds had five of them (Votto, Frazier, Phillips, Hamilton and Cozart). While not a "short print" according to today's standards, I still think these are fantastic and I'm happy to have them in my collection.