Contest over at 30-Year Old Cardboard

He's giving away some great stuff. Check it out here.

1956 Topps

I'm halfway through my 1956 Topps Reds (Redlegs) team set, so I guess you could say that I'm excited and frustrated at the same time. It's been a few months since I've crossed anything off my 2012 goals list and it probably will be a few more months until I do. Anyway, I like the 1956 Topps set. The oversized cards from 1952 to 1956 are something that I truly treasure. While I know there are many bloggers out there that like minis...I'm all about jumbo! I also like the fact that this set was also painted and didn't have the actual photos. I think Topps hit a home run when they had a portrait photo AND an action shot on these cards. Very nice. And the cherry on top...the comics on the back of the card. My favorite card of this set would have to be the Ray Jablonski card. I love seeing the dirt fly with the slide into third base. Such a nice scene. That's gritty baseball for you right there!

What brought you back?

This is a question I love to hear answered by many in the sports card community. I was a collector from 1986 to 1993. I decided to get out of the hobby in the fall of 1993 after graduating from high school and my time was monopolized with college and work. Anyway, when I moved with my wife from southwest Ohio to northeast Ohio in the fall of 2001 I was bit by the baseball card bug once more after watching the 2001 World Series between the Yankees and Diamondbacks. There were a couple of card shops close (3 to be exact) so I decided to stop in and see what was there. Since I had collected the Topps flagship sets growing up I decided to get a few packs of 2002 Topps Series 1. Once I opened them I was instantly hooked once more. It doesn't matter how many times I open a pack of cards, it always seems like the first time and I'm always reminded of the first time I opened a pack of 1986 Topps my Mom brought picked up for me from a small hole in the wall convenient store in Point Pleasant, Ohio. Memories...that's what brought me back to the hobby. What about you?

The Joy and Heartache of Collecting Vintage

As I slowly whittle away at my overly ambitious 2012 collecting goals I decided to post some of my thought on my vintage collecting since that's what I've been concentrating on this past year. I love vintage cards. I don't know why, but there's just something about them that evoke the glory days of baseball when titans like Aaron, Mantle, Mays, Robinson (Frank that is), Banks, and Williams (of the Red Sox variety) graced us with their presence on the diamond. When these stars appear on the cardboard, along with a background of ballparks that are long gone and belong to the ages, it's like you're staring at a window looking back through the sands of time at a game that truly was the national pastime. Trying to collect Reds cards from the 1950s and 1960s has proven rewarding, but difficult at the same time. While I love adding these pieces of history to my binder, it's a grueling process since I only have a monthly budges of around fifty dollars and since I'm a stickler for condition, I want my cards to be free of creases, marks, and paper loss... something that's not easy when it comes to paper that's more than a half century old. Anyway, while it's painfully slow and time consuming to collect vintage cards, there's nothing more rewarding in the hobby than to look down at your binder and see a completed page staring up at you.

1958 Topps

So when it comes to completing a team set from a particular year, I have the attention span of a gnat. I always try to finish a year before I start on another one, but when I was surfing ebay the other day I came across a crazy good find of 12 1958 Topps Reds cards for $32.99 that included shipping. While I'm not a huge fan of the 1958 topps set, particularly the Reds with the nasty yellow background that's present on most of their cards, I do like the vintage sets and the Mr. Redlegs image that's on most of the older sets. Another gripe I have with this set is that most of the cards are portrait shots with only a few action shots sprinkled in. Such a disappointment, but oh well. Anyway, getting back to my find on ebay...while the combined lot amounted to a little less than $3 a card, what made this find truly amazing was the fact that this card was included...a second year Frank Robinson card. How sweet is that? I was a little disappointed when I received the package and found that one of the cards (Dutch Dotterer) had a big crease down the middle of the card, but the others were in great shape. So ultimately I got 11 1958 Topps Reds cards for $3 a piece. Can't complain for getting a second year Robinson for $3 can I?

I've Decided to Create My Own Card

So I've been tossing around the idea of creating my own baseball card. Not the kind that depicts players or mascots, but rather stadiums. I always thought a set that featured all baseball stadiums past and present would be such a cool idea. Imaging a set that had the Polo Grounds, Shibe Park, Comiskey Park, Coors Field, Progressive Field...or in the case of me being a Reds fan... Palace of the Fans, Crosley Field, Riverfront Stadium and Great American Ballpark. While the cards would feature pictures of both the outside and inside of the stadiums, it would have information about the stadium on the back of the card as well as a little factoid that's unique to each stadium. Anyway, I decided to give it a try. Let me know what you think and how I could make the design better.

What Reds Fan Wouldn't Like to Have This?

In addition to collecting cards, I'm slowly building up a collection of memorabilia to display in my, as of yet unstarted, Cincinnati Reds Man Cave. Most of the things I have can be found on my Memorabilia page of this blog. Probably one of my most favorite items I have is a pair of seats from Riverfront Stadium/Cinergy Field that my wife and I received as a Christmas gift back in 2002 from my mother-in-law after the stadium was torn down. There's still one seat that I would like to have for my Man Cave, but the possibility of me obtaining this is the near future is highly unlikely...a figural seat from Crosley Field. These seats are amazing! Unfortunately, there amazingly expensive as well. A recent search on ebay has one listed for $1,499.99 which is a little too rich for my blood at this time. But maybe someday.