Trade with ARPSmith and a Bowman Chrome Update

At today's show, I was able to valiantly resist purchasing an entire box of Bowman Chrome at the show today.  Seventy two cards in a box is not sufficient for my opening needs, even at reduced show prices.  I did break down and purchase one pack.  My one thought on the base cards in the pack were "Wasn't this the same design as last year and the year before?"  I'm sure there is a difference, but I would be hard pressed to know what it is.  I also ended up pulling the following Nolan Arenado insert, which is super-shiny, but otherwise a card destined to sit in my boxes until it ends up somewhere else.



A few weeks ago, I worked a primarily "vintage" for new, glossy cards deal with Adam over at ARPSmith's Sportscard Obsession.  As I was leaving for a short vacation last week, a hefty box arrived filled with cards from Adam.  The cards put a significant dent in my want lists towards completing sets, while the 1973 Topps cards heading west are unlikely to be missed.



There was a strong showing for all three 2012 Topps sets, though Series 1 and 2 dominated, as I purchased a box of neither this year.  The Willis and Ramirez cards showcase the players with teams you will never remember ten years from now.  In fact, I had already forgotten Dontrelle spent time with the Cincinnati Reds and this doesn't even cover the Diamondback, Phillie or Oriole portions of his career.



There was also a fairly large amount of 2012 Topps Archives in the box as well, somewhere in the neighborhood of half a set.  As you can might have guessed, my favorite design is the 1984 Topps, which I grew up with.  Yogi barely edged out the Babe for scanning.  I also have come very close to finishing the 2011 Topps Lineage set as well.  The Wagner is a nice addition to any set, since I am such a sucker for pre-war players on post-war cards.



Finally, we have the above.  My almost certainly misguided attempt to complete the 2010 Topps T206 Mini set was greatly aided by the box, knocking 30 or so cards off my list.  Kendrick's card has one of my favorite backgrounds from the original set, which is found on Hall of Famer George Davis's card.  The Diamond Stars Foxx is from CMG reprints set.  Given my new focus on the set, we may see Mr. Foxx appear again quite soon.  Finally, there is Tris Speaker on a 2000 Topps card.  Having went 15 years without thinking about baseball cards, I was almost surprised that there was no original 2000 Topps Tris Speaker card as some kind of shortprint.

Well, I hope Adam is as happy with his haul, as I am with mine.

Building A Set Without A Box

There are a few basic ways you can build a set.  You can always purchase a finished set, relying on the hard work, sweat and furrowed brows of others to bring all of the cards to you, depriving you of the chase and joy of completion.  You can always purchase a box, which will get you well along the way, but almost always your purchase depreciates as the packs crinkle and the foil opens, cards worth less as they spill forth from the package.   Or you can wait for someone else to buy a whole bunch of cards and list them on eBay as a lot and build your set from there.

So, as you probably surmised, I opted for Plan C recently and picked up about 80% of a 2011 Topps Lineage set in one shot.  Given that this was a one bid affair, I ended up paying more for shipping than I did for the cards themselves.  Actually, I'm fairly certain my spending on cards can be broken down into pre-war, shipping, post-war, since I almost always pay more for shipping than the cards themselves if they are from the last 70 or so years.  Regardless, it was a good deal cheaper than purchasing a box, which I researched in great detail and wisely decided against. 

Mixed in with base cards I needed to list, sort and update my want list with, there were also a fair number of inserts included.  Aside from the diamond anniversary Heyward, which I chose not to scan for some reason, below are some of the highlights of the package.



These rookie cards almost made me go to the store and purchase some Drake's Coffee Cakes, as the design is also very reminiscent of the Topps Drake's cards from the late 1980s.  Otherwise, these rookie cards left me cold.



I did appreciate the 1975 Mini Tris Speaker though.  Almost enough to attempt to collect the entire set.  However, looking at lots of these cards online, I thought they were prohibitively expensive and more importantly, I keep looking for new ways to spread myself thinner and thinner, which I should really avoid.



There were also a few refractors.  While the Brooks Robinson was nice, he is really only my second favorite HOF Robinson from the 1960s Orioles.  The McCovey was a much stronger image, especially when the scanner brings out the blue in the cards.  I wonder if he ever thought as he was batting that someday we would be discussing how he would look on blue foilboard.  I suspect not. 

Most importantly, I'm only about 10% away from finishing the set, which is none too shabby considering I purchased a grand total of one pack of Topps Lineage when it was in the stores. 

Trade Post: Nomo's Sushi Platter

I spent about 15 minutes trying to come up with something clever, but everything felt a little too sashimi and I didn't want to end up with any tamago on my face.  Yeah, that doesn't really work either.

I did, however, receive a blind trade package from Nomo's Sushi Platter today.  In my mind, a blind trade package is where you receive a series of cards, agreed upon in principle, but unaware of the exact content.  It allows someone to create that Christmas feeling, as you have no idea what is inside.  In return, I managed to beat the clock at the Post Office Saturday and fulfill the requested wishlist with a few other cards from my trade list.

Inside the package were three kinds of cards, 2012 Topps, 2011 Lineage and this:



Having most of the Cobbs and the Walter Johnson from this set and an affinity for classic, or as the cool kids say, vintage cardboard, I decided to work on this set and am now one card closer. than when the day started.



On some level, it is quite the mountainous challenge to try and complete a set after buying a grand total of one pack of cards from the set, but in retrospect, I realized I very much liked the look of the cards, the checklist of players and size of the set.  Having stopped after pulling a platinum diamond Ty Cobb from my lone pack, I was woefully short on cards to complete the set with.  These cards combined with a post to come later this week, I have made a significant dent in the set.

As to the cards themselves, I am quite partial to the Joe Morgan, as rare is the modern card which features him in Astros garb.  And I am surprised by this, but the above Lou Gehrig is the first of his cards that I own.  And I just liked the Aparicio, since his career stands in such stark contrast to that of Laruppin' Lou.




I also received a sizable stack of Series 1 and 2 Topps 2012.  (For the record, forced alliteration is the best alliteration.)  The horizontal cards are a weakness of mine.  Collecting T206s gives me an additional appreciation for the few cards enjoyed lengthwise instead of heightwise, especially since one of my fondest purchases was a Barney Pelty from the local card shop, back when it was under previous management.



And for some strange reason, I'm drawn in by the Predatoresque mask of Carlos Corporan.  He is not much of a player and he should probably stay clear of Jesse Ventura, but that mask is a simple work of art, reminding you of how many things are scarier than just a series of baseball cards.

Thanks again to Speigel for putting this deal together.