Abandonment (For Now)

In case anyone has actually been keeping up with this thing at all, I have decided to just stop for now.

You see, the posts have been very inconsistent and I just havent felt like writing. The last post was from december!

Anyway, the inspiration is pretty much gone. Im still buying selling and trading a bit of cards. So with what will be my final post for now, ill give a very brief summary of stuff.

Ive had about 2 or 3 trades recently. I bought a 800 card lot of 1985 Baseball. Still not going to start actively pursuing it, but I will soon.

I started an error card collection. The whole thing just sort of grew on me one day, you know, those unappreciated scrap cards. Yeah, wrong backs, different teams and all that.

I got my first box bottoms not too long ago. Ive known about them for a while, but I thought, why not buy a few. So now I guess ill be adding them all to my collection.

Collections, in the past 5 months ive decided to start 2 others. Funny thing is, theyre all base card related. Here they are.

Sets: ive been doing this one pretty much forever, but now its more than just 1-660 or 792 or whatever, now its that plus box bottom plus any errors that are relevant like the 1988 Al Leiter or the 2007 Matsuzaka in japanese letters.

Errors/variations/rare cards: ive got most of a list ready but im always finding new things and debating others. Right now its at about 2400, but I may add more.

And to clarify, its base and the variation or whatever.

If I had to pick 5 of the hardest cards to find this would be my list in no order

1984: #801
1990: USA1 The George Bush card
1990: Frank Thomas NNOF
2007 Chrome Football: 111
And lastly

2009 football: Barack Obama #441

And the last of my collections: Rookies. Thats a tough one. Its been a work in progress since february.

I may just start the last 2 in 2015, once everything is sorted out.

The player collections that I doubt will go far: Ozzie Newsome, Warren Moon, Roberto Clemente, and Yoenis Cespedes.

Im still doing trades and stuff and ive been slowly moving every list to somewhere I can access it.

With that I leave and say goodbye. It could be a month, a year or even 10. Who knows.

Good bye to the blog (for now)….

State of the Blog address

Today, or somewhere around this week, marks 3 years since I first started this little thing. Ive wanted to do a post like this for some time now but the past 2 years the day has slipped by.

2011: I forgot and I was posting very rarely anyway.

2012: I was more active but by then my phone wasnt working and so I couldnt blog. I also didnt have a computer available at home so thats the reason.

This year however is this post. So where are we after 3 years of writing?

Not too far actually, in terms of collecting, there has been quite a boom in cards, trades, sales, stuff like that.

I didnt have many cards when I started this thing. Maybe around 1800-2500. Now that has grown to over 7500. Not much of an increase to some but im not a big multi-box breaker so to me its a pretty big deal.

Whats planned for the next year?

I honestly dont know. More cards of course and there will be more TTM autographs to show. I still dont have a complete set to show off but im close, so very close.

Im also hoping to add a few more printing plates (one or 2 at least) but thats the least of my worries in cards.

I do hope to trade a lot more than now. I think I said that earlier in this post.

Anything else to collect? Like I said way back in like January-March theres that Panini Prizm.

I like it, but with only 2 years in production, I still doubt it lasts.

I suppose I could start a set and if it doesnt last I can sell what I have.

If I do decide on Prizm, this blog will need a new name. There will be some sort of contest, but a prize (if any) will take a while for me to find.

So in closing, I have absolutely no idea what this post is about. I would like to close out by saying that ive had fun so far, but it could be much more better.

TTM Return: Tom Milone

Hello everyone, I know its been a while since I posted anything. I could write about how ive had nothing to write or ive been bored with the blog or anything else but thats not the case.

I dont really have an explanation for you all so lets move on shall we?

Here is a TTM return from Tom Milone I recieved last week

Thats a signed 2012 Topps chrome Xfractor. Thats not all I recieved though. I also sent him a 2012 chrome base and a 2012 Topps RC.

That isnt the only ttm return ive gotten. Things have been slow in that part of my collection, but ive also gotten a return from Nate Schierholtz and Joe Jacoby.

On the non-ttm side of my collection I managed to get a complete set of 2011 Topps football. Now I have just the SPs and the factory exclusive cards.

It may be a while before im actively posting again so just be patient. But dont worry, im thinking of a lot of things I want to write about.

Thats all for today….

TTM Return: Tony Zendejas

Hi everyone! You may be wondering why I havent posted anything since the end of june. Well its not that ive had nothing to post, I do but the thing is ive been waiting for a few cards to come in so that I can do a huge post.

I suppose ill just break it off into pieces or something. Anyway, the card you see at the top of the post is a signed Tony Zendejas card. Im still doing the 1988 Topps auto set but im on and off with it.

I never thought that zendejas did ttm but I saw a return and thought, why not?

Looks like he signed it “dan” or “don” but its tony. This brings me to about 21 cards signed from the set. I got 2 of these signed along with a 1989 Topps and a 1989 team card of his as well. So in all 4 cards signed, but im keeping 3 for myself.

On another note, I got 3 cards for my 1981-82 Topps set so ill post an update to that in a few days.

TTM Return: Ray Childress

Recently, I got a ttm return from Ray Childress. This wasnt any ordinary request though.

Im still doing the 1988 Topps football autograph set (slowly) but its still going. Anyway, I got that signed.

The out of the ordinary thing was those custom relic cards. If youve been reading youll remember that a few weeks ago I got some custom relics made from a member on the blowout cards forum. I got those signed, however one was missing the relic piece.

Oh well, cant really do much about it. I like it and ill have a few more made!

Thats it for now..enjoy!

Totally Random

I dont own it, but enjoy the view anyway

Some more recent mail

So over the past 2 weeks ive gotten things from TTMs to lots of cards. Ill start with the ttms

Jamie moyer, this one was actually from may but I never showed it. Along with this I got another 2011 Topps signed, a 2004 topps chrome and a 1987 Topps

Jeff Karstens. I sent this one off in spring training. I sent this card along with another 2011 Topps and a 2013 Topps. All 3 were signed.

Jerry Mumphrey. Along with this one I sent him 2 1981 Topps and a 1981 Topps Traded. I offered him a card and he kept it, one of the 1981 Topps.

Eric Dickerson. One of my favorites so far. A great addition for my 1988 Topps autograph set im working on. I wanted him to sign 2 of the 3 I sent but he kept a copy of this card along with the team card. Oh well, im still happy.

Then was this…

Guess what this is. Ready?….

Yeah. A lot of 800 1985 Topps football cards. With this I have most of my set finished and im down to the last 90 or so cards. I have a wantlist and a trade list ready but I need to post them.

And lastly….

My first Game Used Card. And a topps tribute one at that. I got it from listia for less than 2000 credits. I thought it would have gone for a whole lot more but I guess not.

Pretty good isnt it? Thats it for now…

A Big Weekend for Mail

Every so often there are weekends in which I get a lot of mail. Yes I realize its Wednesday. To me 4 letters usually isnt much unless theyre TTMs or anything but I had a bit of everything this last weekend. Heres what I got….

First is an Elvin Bethea card I got from Listia. For those who dont know its from the 1975 Topps set. A pretty good set, I got the card only because I found out Elvin Bethea did TTM but for a small fee. Ill get to it eventually but even if I dont send it off its still a great addition to my collection.

Next is a TTM return from Ray Guy. One of the best Punters of his time, he was kind enough to sign 3 cards for me which ill also show here.

The card above is from the 1985 Topps set. This will be going into my set binder shortly….and lastly….

A 1980 Topps card. I had originally gotten the card from Listia and had actually wanted this card for a relative of mine who is a Raiders fan. Since it is from their 2nd Super Bowl win (1980) ill be giving him this one.

Not only did I get that but I also got a few cards from some Blowout Cards Forum members. The first one here is from SDCardguy24. He was on his way to an autograph signing but unfortunately could not get the people I wanted to sign.

I was okay with that and my money was returned and cards unsigned. However I was also greeted by a nice surprise…

A Bowman Kyle Boller auto!. Sure it is an IP autograph and it may be a Bowman card but it was nice of him to give me a signed card even though I didnt ask for it. Thanks!

And lastly, some cards from another member lawjawjones.

On the forum he made a thread a while back about some custom relics he made himself. I saw them and thought “they look pretty good”. So I asked if he can make me a few and kindly offered to do them. A while later (which was this past weekend) I had 6 custom relic cards!

Three Sammy Winder cards, a Bobby Hebert and 2 more. Theyre all from the 1988 Topps set. Unfortunately as I was going through them I accidentally ripped the jersey card relic a bit. Thats my favorite one out of the lot! You can see the it in the first picture.

And the last 2 I mentioned. Ray Childress cards. I had 2 of each done because I want to see how they would look signed and also to give these guys a card of their own.

All these relics that I had made are from the 1988 Football set because its one of my favorite designs. Im thinking of having an entire relic set made but for now, 6 cards is pretty good.

We also traded a few cards. I sent some brewers parallels and got some Roberto Clemente cards in return Thanks lawjaw.

And thats it for now. Thanks for reading….

TTM Return: Kent Tekulve

Last week I discussed that I had a ttm to show. This wasnt it. No, actually this came back yesterday and I was just so excited that I wanted to show it. It came with a thought though. Did he keep one or not?

Almost every time that I do a ttm request I ask the people to keep a card or 2. Its a way for me to thank the people im writing to. Well theres that but I also have a large collection of base cards. But I usually have a great memory of what I sent. With Mr. Tekulve however I cant seem to remember what I asked him to keep.

I dont know if it was a 1980 or a 1988 Topps card.

Either way, 3 more signed cards in my collection and one more that I no longer own. And ive said this a few times: any time I can get rid of cards im happy. Athletes actually keeping a card for themselves when I ask them to makes me even happier.

A big thank you goes to Kent Tekulve for giving me 3 more signed cards for my collection!

Thats a great way to end the month isnt it?

A listia trade

I dont trade very often for several reasons. One is I dont have enough money for cards…ever. I save up and yet it dissapears for reasons which I dont know, stamps binders sheets you name it.

I dont put a lot aside which is a reason within a reason, but its also because what I have to trade is basically crap to the collecting community, at least the community I know.

About 98% of my collection is base and inserts. Thats it. No I dont like autos or relics or anything of the sort. The other 2 percent are parallels.  The other reasons…..well theyre pretty much in this category I dont need to explain.

Luckily I did manage to trade for a lot of cards I didnt have before, in form of 1985 Topps.

Thats a stack of about 50 cards. I traded a few inserts and junk wax type cards for these cards so id say I came on the better end of the deal.

Now I know anyone collecting must be wary of trading on a non trading site. I didnt care because I wanted to rid myself of a few extra cards. So had I been scammed it wouldnt have mattered.

(please dont scam me on a trade!)

Which leads me to this: im still waiting on a few people to get back to me on some trades. Either let me know if youre willing to trade or send an address.

I still need to work on a trade list and at this point its looking like it will take me 50 years to do.

Remember its mostly base but, my base for trade is getting better. I still have a lot of 1981 Baseball from that lot I got in March. I hope to be adding more 1985 Football in the coming months.

I also need a huge storage box because im running out of room and I dont want to see random boxes.

I wont burn my useless cards either. I know someone will want them.

Man this went from a trade post to…randomness.

Sorry about that. I got a ttm return ill be showing in a few days