1948 Bowman Reds Team Set

I finished this set earlier this year and I'm just now getting around to posting about it. There's a total of 5 cards in this black and white set which made it easy to track down.

2 Ewell Blackwell
39 Augie Galan
44 Johnny Wyrostek
45 Hank Sauer
46 Herman Wehmeier

Forgetting the First Rule of Collecting

Collecting shouldn't feel like a chore. It's a hobby that one should enjoy. When it starts feeling like a chore, or a job for that matter, then it's lost its purpose entirely. A few years back I started a PC of my favorite Reds player of all time. I had amassed more than 600 unique Pete Rose cards at the pinnacle of collecting his cards. While I can reflect now that 600 was a lot for someone who last took the field 30 years ago, I wasn't content with my collection. The parallels and short prints that comprised Donruss in 2008 as well and Leaf and Panini from 2011 to today just became too overwhelming for me. I felt that if I couldn't own every single Pete Rose card that the hobby produced then it made no sense having a PC of Rose. So I dumped the collection...all 600+ cards. It was freeing knowing that I no longer had to set aside funds to chase down a numbered color parallel to 10 or a short print photo variation; however, there was a part of me that regretted that decision. The variety of cards that I had acquired from the 70s and 80s (Kelloggs, Kahn's, Purina, Nestle, Hostess, Drake's, Coca-Cola, Squirt) was fantastic. It showed a time when anyone and everyone was producing baseball cards to include in their products. These were cards that I had wanted to grab when I was a kid but couldn't afford to buy didn't have the funds to acquire them at the time. After a lot of thought I decided I would create another Pete Rose PC collection but with one major difference. I would make sure that I would abide by some of the cardinal rules of collecting.....collect what you like and have a goal in mind. So, I've already stated my enjoyment of the oddball issues of the 70s and 80s. My goal for this PC will be to keep everything within Pete's time in the majors. Nothing past 1989. There are a couple of cards I will be trying to track down that won't be part of this collection (2014 Leaf Q autographed jersey relic, a 2014 Leaf Q Pure Auto, and the 2015 Leaf Sportkings base, mini and autograph cards) but that's it. I know that if I stick to my goals I'll enjoy putting this PC together and it won't feel like a chore this time around.

Sweet!

I haven't purchased much vintage lately. Instead of focusing on some of my Reds wantlist items I've been consumed with trying to track down 2011 Gypsy Queen autographs and other modern cards. Luckily I was able to stumble across this 1909 T206 Rebel Oakes Sweet Caporal on eBay for just a hair over $30 shipped. Although Rebel is not Mr. Oakes given name, it's Ennis for those that are interested, one interesting tidbit of information I found fascinating wat that both he and Miller Huggins were traded from the Reds to the Cardinals in 1910 for Fred Beebe. With this purchase I now have 13 of the 24 T206 Reds cards that comprise this set. I would like to try and purchase one or two more before the end of the year.

NOW we're talking!

I've been on the fence ever since Topps announced its Topps Now program. While the idea intrigued me that only a certain amount of cards would be produced to meet demand at that time, I didn't like $9.99 price tag for each card. That was a little too rich for me. That being said, I had an epiphany yesterday (or an apostrophy as Mr. Smee states in Hook). Why not limit my foray into Topps Now with just one player for just one year. I decided I would pick up any 2019 Topps Now Nick Senzel cards since Topps has yet to release any rookie cards of the outfielder in the flagship set this year, even though I'm sure that will change when Topps releases their Update and Highlight series this fall. I've become a fan of Senzel since he was called up earlier this year. His numbers have been decent with a .269 BA, 8 HR, and a .799 OPS in 60 games this season. Here are the four cards I have of Mr Senzel

 

2019 Topps Now #172 Print Run 2217

 

2019 Topps Now #174 Print Run 1271

 

2019 Topps Now #183 Print Run 887

 

2019 Topps Now Moment of the Week 5 Print Run 700

I think my favorite of the bunch is the Moment of the Week card. The 1869 Red Stockings throwback uniforms are fantastic and showing Senzel celebrate after hitting his first major league home run is icing on the cake. Just a fantastic card. I won't be chasing any other Topps Now cards after this year but it's nice to add something new to the collection even if it doesn't necessarily fit every now and then.

The Bane that is Short Prints

I've come to expect that each year I'll have to track down a short print or two in the Topps flagship set. Photo variations, retired stars or hall of famers, you name it and Topps has done it all for the sake of adding cards we collectors must chase if we want to have a "complete" team set. Sure, I could choose to ignore them completely and stick with only collecting the standard checklist, but the ocd portion of my brain would always be stewing over these cards. Of course it wasn't always like that. I still remember the junk wax days fondly knowing that I could put together a Reds team set for less than $5. Now it's not uncommon for me to spend around $20. If there's a super short print involved then all bets are off. That being said, I just noticed this past weekend that Topps released it's series 2 set for this year and I wasn't surprised to find out that there were 3 short prints in the series. I was able to track down the 12 card base set as well as the 3 short prints on eBay for just over $23. I wonder if there will come a day when Topps decides to go back to the way things were and put a stick of gum back in a pack of cards and remove those nefarious short prints from flagship. Who am I kidding, that's just asking too much.

It ain't over til it's over

It's been a year and a half since I've been able to add another card to the 2013 Topps Votto Rainbow. Patience definitely pays. I was surprised last week to see this black printing plate pop up on eBay. I already have printing plates for Opening Day, Chrome and Topps Mini but I had yet to find a printing plate for the base Topps. On top of that the other three printing plates I had were for different colors: yellow, cyan and magenta. Luckily I was able to come out as the high bidder and I'm now anxiously awaiting for it's arrival in the mail. With this pick up I'm down to just needing five more cards for my rainbow: 2013 Topps Factory Orange numbered to 230, 2013 Topps Wrapper Redemption Silver Slate numbered to 10, 2013 Topps Opening Day Toy's R Us Purple parallel, 2013 Topps Chrome Camo Refractor numbered to 15 and 2013 Topps Chrome Pink Refractor numbered to 5.

Lou Gehrig says...

Lou Gehrig says that I got this Tony Piet for a steal. I stumbled across this listing last week on eBay with a starting bid of $.99. Once the auction wrapped up this past Sunday the auction ended with a final price of $.99. There are no creases in the card and with a few fuzzy corners and a little bit of surface wear I would say that for once I came out way ahead on a listing. I love the design of the 1934 Goudeys. With the Gehrig tag line on the bottom to the sharp colors and baseball diamond drawing in the background, this is one of my favorite pre-war card sets ever produced. The Piet is the first Goudey to enter my collection and I hope to add a few more before the end of the year.