Happy New Year 2014 to 2015

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Goodbye 2014 and hello 2015.

Looks like my Strive For '65 goal to complete the 1965 Topps Baseball set will not be met (even though I have till April to achieve it) I do have a few that I have gotten in Nov and Dec that I haven't added to the tally yet because I have been super lazy and super lackadaisical for the last 2 or 3 months. 

I have not forgotten about my anniversary contest. That has been a big part of the laziness as well procrastinating on that. I'll get around to things eventually.

Bonus to 5th Blogiversary!

OK here is a way or two to get some bonus points for my Blogiversary Contest!

• If your blog has a post you feel has been neglected and hasn't had any comments or the love you think it should then post a link to it on this post. Limit 2 links per blog = 1 point per link.

Now here are some bonus questions Correct answers will get extra points, partial answers might get one point. Post guesses here, only one guess per question. Answers will be provided sometime after the contest is over. Some of these will be sheer guessing on your part since not all of these subjects I have ever blogged about.

1. I'm not sure if I have mentioned it here but I might have. During my college days I participated in an extra curricular activity. I also had a nickname that was associated with the activity. What was that activity and my nickname? (Hint: The nickname came from a movie franchise)
2. Below are some of the many TV shows I have enjoyed over the years. There have been many others, but I can't list all of them can I? I often have difficulty deciding which ones are my all-time faves but for this contest I picked 5 that I always include in my top 10. Guess which are my "All-Time Fave" shows. 1 point for each correct show. Those who get all 5 will get some bonus points: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: The Animated Series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Primeval, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Planet of the Apes, Return to The Planet of The Apes (animated series), NCIS, NCIS: LA, NCIS: New Orleans, JAG, When Things Were Rotten, Mork and Mindy, Happy Days, Doctor Who, Blakes 7, Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Warehouse 13, Wizards and Warriors, Gilligan's Island, Agents of SHIELD, The Amazing Spider-Man, The A-Team, V, Voyagers, Quantum Leap, The Incredible Hulk, All in the Family, The Facts of Life, Diff'rent Strokes, The Partridge Family, Eight is Enough, Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate Universe, Max Headroom, CSI, CSI: NY, CSI: Miami, Eureka, Land of the Lost (original 1970s version), The Man From UNCLE, UFO, Charlies Angels, Xena: Warrior Princess, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, How I Met Your Mother, Family Guy, Homefront, Welcome Back Kotter, SWAT, The Odd Couple, ALF, The Big Bang Theory, Babylon 5, The Fantastic Journey, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Campion, The Black Adder, Mr. Bean, Faulty Towers, Hawaii Five-O, Emergency, St. Elsewhere, Magnum P.I., Taxi, Continuum, The Blacklist, Highlander, Under The Dome, The Muppet Show, Charmed.
3. True of False: I would pay upwards of $100 for a NM/M 2012 Topps Archives Baseball 241 Bryce Harper RC Super Short Print?
4. Of the following four television shows, which TWO have I seen at least an episode of and would most likely watch the entire run of? Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, 24, Lost
5. Yes or NO: I own an HD Flatscreen TV?

5th Blogiversary Contest!

Hey how did this happen? Today Marks the 5th Blogiversary of this Blog. Yay Me! In honor of this milestone I think I should have a contest. So I'll borrow a "Play At The Plate" from Brian's playbook. So this contest will require a little work to win on your part and on mine (I have to remember how I'm scoring the dang thing and for what). I know I usually don't ask for much but in this case it is the concept not me. I hope I haven't gotten in over my head on this thing.

Beginning with this post until the end of the contest at 4 PM (Eastern) on Friday the 24th, you will get one entry point for commenting on any post I've written on this blog. Only one comment per post will get points and try to make the comment relevant to the post subject. If you have previously commented on a post you can make a new comment, but only the new one will count toward the contest. The person who gets the most points, from comments, primping, following etc.. wins. Simple at least I hope so.

Since it is my 5th Blogiversary I will randomly pick 4 runner-ups who will receive cards from their favorite teams, and maybe some bonus stuff.

How to Enter and gain points:

• The first part and first point is easy just comment on this post for your entry and first point. If you don't comment on this post you will not be entered in the contest. It will be easier for me to keep track of people who entered that way.
• Become a follower. You will get one point for becoming a follower if you aren't already. If you are already a follower then you will get two points since you were already following. Loyalty sometimes pays off in the blogiverse.
• PIMP this contest on your blog and you get 5 bonus points. Make sure you include the link to your pimp I will check them out. No link = no points. Your link can be a second comment to this post, it doesn't get extra comments points, just the Pimpage Points.
• Send me some cards from my wants or needs lists (here and on Zistle) especially 1965 Topps Baseball to help with my "Strive for '65" goal. You can also send cards that you think I might be interested in I do also collect some Non-Sport stuff. Number of points TBD. 1965 Topps Baseball cards will score more points. To qualify for contest points a list of cards being sent needs to be sent to me before the deadline on the 24th. Try to get the cards sent to me sometime before the end of the year.

Sometime later I will make a Bonus Post for an opportunity or two for even more points.

The Prize(s):

• An unopened box of something. possibly several boxes
• A hanging rack-pack of 1989 Bowman Baseball - 38 count

In addition to that stuff I will try to cater the prize package to include cards of at least one of your favorite teams from the Top four American Sports (Baseball, Football, Hockey, Basketball).

Good Luck and let the contest comment cascade commence.

Oh it doesn't matter where you live. I can ship outside the US if need be. It will cost me more and take a little longer but it is possible just don't expect to get it before the Winter Holidays. Winners in the US I can include package tracking info.

Any questions about the contest or verification on a confusing issue regarding the contest please email me at klandersen at yahoo dot com

Strive For '65: 1964 World Series Sub Set

Strive For '65: Joy Of A Complete Sub Set:

1964 World Series Sub Set

I am falling behind in this Strive for '65 quest of mine. It is looking like I will not complete it in time. However, at the beginning of August (Friday 01 Aug 2014) I received a package from a member at TCZ for the Summer Secret Santa trade thing they had. It is one of those gift exchange things where you are given another members wants/needs and you send them a package anonymously. Along with 4 Washington Nationals cards my Santa sent 17 cards from the 1965 Topps Baseball set. This lot of almost 50 year old card goodness yielded not only the remaining card (#41 White Sox Rookie Stars: Bruce Howard and Marv Staehle) to finish my first Joy of a Completed Page for the set, but also the final key card (#
134 1964 World Series Game 3: Mantle's Clutch HR) to the 1964 World Series Subset.

Here is the World Series Subset fronts and backs by themselves. I won't babble on about the individual cards as I will probably do that when I complete the two pages that they are a part of.

1965 Topps Baseball 1964 World Series Sub-Set Cards 132-139

(Fronts and Backs)

Note card 138 on the back has a red mark through the card number. I would eventually like to upgrade that card but it is not as big a priority as trying to complete the dang set is.

Strive for '65 Set Total 194/598 (196/600)

Strive For '65: Joy of the First Complete Page 5

The Joy Of A Complete Page: 1965 Topps First Edition

(Page 5: Cards 37 - 45)

Thanks to a "Secret Santa in July" Package I received on Friday 01 August 2014 my Strive for '65 project gained 17 cards and I completed my first full page for the set. There are still four pages that don't have any cards at all, but page number 5 (Cards 37-45) is now complete. It also provided the final World Series card for that subset (I have a post for that subset scheduled for tomorrow) and OH the creative wrapping was a photocopy of a 1965 Topps Baseball wrapper. One of these days I'd love to get a real wrapper but this copy from a website acts as the cover for my 1965 Topps Baseball Binder.

CARD 37: Fred Gladding Tigers.

CARD 38: Jim King Senators. 

Jim was with Washington from 1961-1967

CARD 39: Gerry Arrigo Twins. 

 

Gerry was with the Twins from 1961-1964 he was then traded to the Reds. 

CARD 40: Frank Howard Dodgers.

 

Frank was traded to Washington in 1965 and was part of the 1972 Inaugural Texas Rangers team. 

CARD 41: White Sox 1965 Rookie Stars:
Bruce Howard (No Relation to Frank) and Marv Staehle.

 

 Bruce went on to join the Senators in 1968. Marv would join the Montreal Expos in 1969 - 1970

CARD 42: Earl Wilson Red Sox.

 

CARD 43: Mike Shannon Cardinals. 

 

CARD 44: Wade Blasingame Braves.

 

CARD 45: Roy McMillan Mets.

 

Current set total: 194/598 (196/600) 32.8%

Since I am a Washington Baseball fan I note any connections to Washington Baseball (Senators, Nationals, Expos, Twins, Rangers etc...)

UStream UGH

I recently checked up on my account at UStream to review how to do stuff there. It had been several months seven to be exact since I had last "broadcast" according to my account. I discovered that with the changes I had noticed a few months back that now my archived videos were GONE. I don't recall getting any notice that things would disappear after the changes, if I did get them I just thought it was typical updating with no real action required. I was wrong. With my BASIC account after 30 days any videos are automatically deleted. If you pay for a premium account you can keep whatever. So now any of the box break videos I had done here and the pack breaks I had done, anything I had UStreamed is GONE. I never thought to save my broadcasts offline. Why should I when the server that broadcast them in the first place was storing them?

The thing that really sucks is all the links I had made on this blog, and on some of the trading card forums now lead to an error page. **Sigh** I suppose I should do something about the links on my blogs that I can fix. Everything else OH WELL.

This reminds me of a few years back when Yahoo got rid of the personal photo albums. I hadn't backed up all of the photos I had there (most of them were stuff from emails that had been long deleted and swimsuit pics I found on the web) and so after the shut down anything I didn't have saved any where else was gone. Occasionally when I remember an image and can't find it anywhere maybe it was something from there.

This comes after I noticed that my Logitech webcam wasn't doing offline videos. Apparently as of 31 July 2013 Logitech no longer supported the software for my particular webcam for making videos. They suggest using Skype. Well I don't want to do Skype I don't even know how to use it. It is on my cellphone, not on my laptop. In someways with online videoing I am a super amateur newbie.

I toyed with the idea of using one of the box break services like UStream, but Blog.TV is now part of something else (YouNow?) and doesn't look like you can actually record what you broadcast. I looked into how to record on YouTube and it looks like that will work. I might need to do some practicing, and eventually I should get a better quality webcam. Who am I kidding so long as the cheap webcam works and as long as what I record isn't anything that would totally devastate me if it were lost I'm not going to get a new one.

This checking up on video making came about because I got word that a package I am expecting the sender wants the mailday opening to be video taped. The packaging has a surprise or a story or is in some special kind of order or some such nonsense like that. I was told the package was shipped out on Tuesday, so I should get it today or tomorrow (Saturday)

Strive For '65: Slowly Not So Surely

It has been a few weeks since I have made any progress in this goal. With a little more than 8 months to go, it is looking more and more like it will not get finished in time.

In a recent small lot of nine cards from sportlots I added one card to my 1965 Topps Baseball Set Build. It was the main card of the four cards or so that I was interested in of the nine cards and the 2nd oldest (the oldest looking one is actually a more modern reprint). The cards were delivered promptly and pretty safely in a padded envelope. They were in a nine-pocket binder page with the page folded up by the rows, similar to what many are doing now with PWEs.

Lets look at the most recent addition to my Strive For '65 Project:

Card #158 Dick Sisler Reds (Front and Back)

So the updated numbers:

177/598 (179/600) 29.9%

Some of those other cards I will mention in this blog sometime later, maybe. The Expos card of course I will mention sometime on my Curly W Cards blog.

Purge Giveaway Basketball Edition

Basketball Card Purge Giveaway

Want cards from your favorite NBA team?

I think every collector at some point has to thin out the herd at least once, and purge Purge PURGE! Well I need to get rid of a bunch of Basketball trade fodder. So I am giving away team lots except for the Washington Wizards/Bullets my Homie team I collect.

The number of cards in each lot will vary. Some teams may only have 5 or 6 cards others 50 cards or more. Most of the players are the common guys, some of the teams may have one of their superstars. Some will not have any stars just the Joe Commons.

To claim a team lot just name your team in a comment to this post. Lots will go first come first serve.

Available Teams: (as of 20 June 2014)
Atlanta Hawks
Boston Celtics
Charlotte Hornets/Bobcats/Hornets
Chicago Bulls
Cleveland Cavaliers
Dallas Mavericks
Denver Nuggets
Detroit Pistons
Golden State Warriors
Houston Rockets
Indiana Pacers
LA Clippers
LA Lakers
Vancouver/Memphis Grizzlies
Miami Heat
Milwaukee Bucks
Minnesota Timberwolves
New Jersey Nets
New Orleans Hornets/Pelicans
New York Knicks
Oklahoma City Thunder
Orlando Magic
Philadelphia Sixers
Phoenix Suns
Portland Trail Blazers
Sacramento Kings
San Antonio Spurs
Seattle SuperSonics
Toronto Raptors
Utah Jazz
Washington Wizards

You may also sign up for my new Team Lot Mailing List that I posted about yesterday. Sign-Up form is on right hand side-bar. That is a similar yet separate project, but I will combine requests from both to jump-start things. I came up with this purging idea for the basketball before I came up with the mailing list idea. Oh I should have mentioned yesterday to expect duplicates. Well I've mentioned it now, but I will try to avoid "Bipping" anyone.

I'm hoping I won't get too overwhelmed by requests. I don't want to be constantly shipping out packages. I also hope I don't have to start spending random tons of money on random tons of cards to fill packages.

If successful I will try to keep the mailing list idea open full time. If it bombs well then I'll have to find another way to purge my duplicates and unwanted (by me anyway) Non-PC cards.

New Feature: Team Lot Mailing List

Want Cards From Your Favorite Team?

For Free?

Attention Team collectors!

Do you want to get cards from your favorite team?

At any time Out of the blue? 

All you have to do is sign up for my "Team Lot Mailing List" by filling out the form on the right hand side bar (it should send me an email with your name and teams) Please make sure you include your mailing address along with your team in the main message field. I'll add you to a mailing list that I will refer to periodically and randomly pick someone to send a batch of cards to.

I will periodically send out cards from Baseball, Football, Hockey and Basketball. You can sign up for all 4 sports if you wish. You can also sign up for 2 teams from the same sport, but most of the time I will just send one team to keep me from getting confused while pulling cards to ship out.

The cards will be from random years. They could be fairly new cards or they could be vintage cards, or anywhere in between. Any and all brands will be included as well. Sometimes inserts and higher end cards might be included. The amount of cards will vary also. Sometimes just a small poker hand of 5 or 6 cards or sometimes a huge lot of 100 or more. You will never know exactly what will come your way. I won't know until I cram the cards into a bubble mailer.

Due to postage rates I can only guarantee shipping to the US and Canada. If you live in another country please contact me first before signing up. Non-US packages will not be as often but will almost always be big batches.

Right now I have Basketball cards I need to purge.

You don't have to send anything back in return, but I realize some people feel obligated to reciprocate from time to time so if you just have to return the favor My teams are the Washington and Baltimore teams. Plus you can check out my Master Want List and What I Collect page to cater stuff to me.

Joy of a Complete Checklist Set Circa 1965

With a less than 11 months (about 10) to go in my quest to Strive for '65 set build I have completed another small hurdle one of many such small feats - The subset of checklists complete with the known printing variations. Back in the 1960s and even up until the very early 1970s Topps released the card sets in series during the season, now-days they release the full set at the beginning of the season or before and then at the end of the season release an update set. OH wait now they release a dozen sets every other month during the entire year confusing the heck out of everyone. The big bonus I got is I somehow managed to get all of the checklists UNMARKED.

 

The 1965 Topps Baseball card set consists of 598 cards divided into 7 series with 7 checklist cards. Two of the checklists (79 and 508) have two print variations:

 1965 Topps Baseball 1st Series Checklist 79 A & B Front (B on left A on right)

The variations for card number 79 is better documented and more "official" as far as variants go. On the back of this checklist card number 61 (Chris Cannizzaro Mets) a card I don't yet have is listed on one variant (61a) as just "Cannizzaro", and one the other (61b) as "C.Cannizzaro" (I noticed on my copy of this card when examining with a magnifying glass it looks like the period got double printed or is really a comma, or someone might have tried to highlight the period as it seems to have two periods. UGH might have to replace yet another card before I have even completed the set)

 1965 Topps Baseball 1st Series Checklist 79 A & B Back (A on left B on right)

1965 Topps Baseball 7th Series Checklist 508 A & B Front

  (Large font version A on left Small font version B on right)

 

The variations for card number 508 is much more subtle. It is a matter of print size and apparently only a variation of half a font point, a font point or maybe even 2 font points. Maybe they should just say the difference is in the space between the print and the bottom red border. When you know what to look for it seems to be more obvious on the front than the back unless you have a misprint version that has all the type setting way off. On the backs it looks like the card number is closer to the text of the list in the larger font version.

1965 Topps Baseball 7th Series Checklist 508 A & B Back

(Version B on left Version A on right)

*I do have one duplicate each of 3rd Series 189 almost fully marked front and back, 4the Series 273 Unmarked (got the duplicate when I got 4 of the checklists at once replacing the marked versions) and 5th Series 361 marked on back.

Strive For '65: Hammerin' Hank In DA House!

Once again I scored a homer, well at least some extra bases, on a high profile player for my Strive For '65 set build. I can now add "Hammerin" Hank Aaron (still the true Home Run King to many a fan) to my list of super players from '65 that I got for much less than expected or what some would say is average. Past "steals toward the set" include Yogi Berra and Harmon "Killer" Killebrew. There are still a few other big names out there that I hope to get for much less such as Mickey Mantle and fellow Yankee Roger Maris.

Hank here I got from Ebay for a bit more than Yogi and Harmon combined before the shipping (after shipping the duo is a little more). Like a few other must haves for this set I sniped this one. I bid my highest of $20 ($20.75?) with 8 minutes to go, and won it for $17 w/ the Free Shipping. It was fortunate that I did aim for a bit higher because at first I was only going to go as high as $15 since within a day to go it had 6 bids at about $6.50. This roll of the dice came up lucky for me not all rolls are that nice. I could have easily spent over $20 for Mr. Aaron's '65 card. In fact I was watching one or two in pretty decent condition at $25 BIN.

1965 Topps Baseball 170 Hank Aaron Braves

(Front and Back)

This brings the total up to 163/599 and gives page 19 two cards out of nine. Oh I also got some Unmarked Checklists 2nd - 5th Series cards 104, 189,  273, 361 for $11.45 Free Shipping. I already had 3 of them but a couple of them were marked. So the total is now 164/599.

Soccer? NO WAY I don't hit women

In my Ebay shopping I picked up a trio of A&G cards two USA Women's Soccer Champs and one Supernanny? I've been meaning to pick up some USA Women's Soccer cards for ages and ages now. So What did I get? From one dealer I got 3 cards at BIN prices shipping was $2.49 combined. Individually shipping would be $2.49 each. I am so glad many sellers allow for combined shipping and you can "Ask seller for total" before you finish the checking out completely. OK so in reverse order of preference I got:

First I got the Supernanny Jo Frost. I'm not a reality TV lover in fact I usually shout and complain about the entire genre of reality TV, but it has been here for several years and looks to have a permanent hold in the universe of television. I eventually need to get the rest of the base set so it was a set need.

2011 Topps Allen & Ginter's 165 Jo Frost Suppernanny (0.99¢)

(Front and Back)

Next the first of two of America's Sweethearts of the Soccer Gridiron Brandi Chastain. What you don't remember her? Maybe if she takes off her jersey...

OK NOW you remember her!

2006 Topps Allen & Ginter's 304 Brandi Chastain USA Women's Soccer ($2.00)
(Front and Back)

Third comes the sweetest sweetheart of the World Cup Champion USA team Mia Hamm. The poster girl for the team for several years.

2007 Topps Allen & Ginter's  272 Mia Hamm USA Women's Soccer ($2.00)
(Front and Back)