Going to the Polls

I set up a couple of polls here concerning group box breaks. I'm seriously toying with the idea of hosting a Baseball one right here on my blog. I was thinking of hosting a Baseball group break on one of my regular card forums. I'm not sure if I want to do it there since there are some simple guidelines you need to follow and I don't want to mess them up. Plus with forum breaks you usually need to poll the members about what boxes to break before collecting payment, when to do the break, how to do it etc. You also usually need to have just about every single type of card supplies available and I don't have some of the larger toploaders for the thick GUs. I usually have some of the slightly larger than normal toploaders for regular GU but lately it seems GUs and Artifact cards have gotten really thick.

I have seen other bloggers host box breaks so I began toying with the idea here. The advantage to doing a break via your blog is the "Your Blog Your Rules!" rule. For my breaks I would be fair, but I would feel more comfortable having the product in hand before filling the break. The drawback to doing it this way is initially I would eat up the cost of the boxes, which is often why many breaks collect money around the time the boxes are being decided and they fit the boxes to the budget. I guess I want to fix the budget to the boxes.  Many forums as I said above you need to consult the members for every little detail to be the fairest. In my breaks I will try to include a variety of product and I would even include some products I don't personally like but are popular.

For many of these breaks I would buy a team myself, even if I did a Basketball break I would maybe take the Wizards/Bullets (the only basketball I really do). I figure if I do some breaks here and get used to hosting I would feel more comfortable doing a break for one of my forums.

The first break I am thinking of doing is Baseball. Now for baseball my teams are Nationals and Orioles, but for many of these breaks I will take just the Nationals, sometimes just the Orioles. For football I will take the Redskins most of the time, sometimes just the Rams with the  occasional change up of the Ravens. For Hockey my only team I'd take is the Capitals so they will rarely be available. Basketball I'm only Bullets/Wizards so if I did any of those breaks I'd take them sometimes or no team at all.

For most of the breaks I would do the one slot gets you 2 teams one you choose and one random. I would host the breaks on Ustream.com and save them there since I have an account there and am used to the way it works. I would post the big hits here in my blog and try to put up scans before sending them out. I will at least mention what hits were pulled.

Important Shipping Note: Due to shipping costs and mailing customs and speed of delivery etc etc I will only allow members who live in the US and Canada to participate at this time. After I get used to doing these things maybe I will open things up to the rest of the world. If I do decide to go "International" Foreign payements would be limited to Paypal International USD funds ONLY.

Also due to my current work schedule the only day I get a chance to get to the post office in time is Saturdays. So Saturdays would be shipping day which means the breaks will be held on Thursday or Friday Nights.

I will make a static page of my group break rules soon. It is in develpment.

That was easy, Don'tcha Know!

(Sarah Palin picture snagged from The Ryno's Horn)

The 1969 Basketball Rule(r)

Friday 02 March 2012 I got one of those rare items that really is pretty rare from Ebay A 1969 Topps Basketball Ruler - 22 Wes Unseld Baltimore Bullets. I got it for a small steal of $9.99 + $3 shipping. I've seen a few of this one and some of the others in the set starting at much much more. These "rulers" are "cards" well really they are just strips of paper like the mini posters only these are 2.5" x 10". So they are one card wide and about an inch short of being 3 cards high. They were folded (3 folds) inserts packed into the regular card packs. They call them "rulers" because on the left-hand side of the front is ruled scale with a caricature drawing of the player portrayed. There are 23 in this set even though they are numbed to 24 (#5 was never issued, not even sure what/who it would have been).

 1969 Topps Basketball Ruler

22 Wes Unseld Baltimore Bullets

(Front and Back)

As you can see the back is blank. Just plain paper. The top fold there in the scan looks like it is in two pieces but it isn't.

It looks like there are two or three more of these things I want to get because of being a player who had played for the Bullets, plus there is the Lou Alcindor (AKA: Kareem Abdul Jabbar) heck maybe I'll chase the whole set since it is only 23, but the stars in the set go for mega bucks, so I might not ever have another one.

A Crinkly Package but not cards

I've been sitting on this post for too long. {SIGH}

One of the card blogs I read fairly regularly is "Crinkly Wrappers". I made a comment on one of Ted's posts a while back and he sent an email in reply w/ a notation that he had checked some of my want lists and had a couple of 2009 Philadelphia Football cards to help w/ my set build and a ton from the 1994 Ted Williams Baseball set to "start/finish" a set (seeing as I had a handful already it would be the latter). All I had to do was send my mailing addy and pay for postage. No problem, done and done. Ain't that the way the blog-universe is 'sposed to work? Then on Monday 19 Mar 2012 a nice package arrives. I had anticipated some of what I saw, but not all.

I knew there would be only a handful of the football cards so barely a poker hand of football cards wasn't a disappointment.

I needed most of them (I already had the Anquan Boldin and I think another one).

2009 Philadelphia Football 6 Anquan Boldin Cardinals

I did not have the Marc Bulger, although I have most of the Rams from this set weird I usually have Bulger cards coming out of my ears. LOL

 2009 Philadelphia Football 174 Marc Bulger Rams

(Front and Back)

Some of the other cards I may show individually later sometime when I talk about their subsets or the next time I do a random sampling of cards.

Then there was this: A ton of cards from the 1994 Ted Williams Baseball set.

 a loaded 8 3/4 x 12 inch flatbed scanner worth of

1994 Ted Williams Baseball Cards.

 9 semi random cards from the base main part of the set.

9 more semi-random cards but these are:
Checklist 1 of 2 plus some of the sub-set cards

(each subset has its own checklist as well)

The Subsets are as follows:

• Cards 93-99 Women of Baseball: The women who played professional baseball during WWII in the AAGPBL (All American Girls Professional Baseball League) the league that was immortalized in the 1992 movie A League of Their Own
• Cards 100-117 The Negro Leagues
• Cards 118-135 The Campaign: Minor League Players (Includes future Major League Players Jason Giambi and Billy Wagner)
• Cards 136-144 Goin' North: Players in their Minor League Uniforms
• Cards 145-153 Swinging for the Fences: Players who have hit 4 homers in one game
• Cards 154-162 Dawning of A Legacy: Cliff Floyd and Tim Salmon careers

A near complete set of 1994 Ted Williams Baseball. 112 out of 162. Some of the higher priced Super Stars, the Namesake cards (Ted Williams) and harder to find cards from the set are missing but with a little shopping around and maybe some begging on card forums and to other bloggers I'll have the set finished sooner than later (then I can start in on the 1993 set). I already had the Women of Baseball sub-set, which I plan on blogging about sometime in the future, and the "3 MuskaSenators" cards from the main part of the set Frank Howard, Walter Johnson, Eddie Yost (I'll blog about them on my other blog I'm about to mention). I did not have any of the Negro League cards from the set. I mentioned that on my other blog "Curly W Cards" (my blog about Washington Baseball cards) in my Frank Howard post that I didn't have any Negro League cards yet. Well now I have some Yay!

My favorite card from the set is still the first one I had gotten of the player mentioned above. Now I have a double of it (and some of the ladies).

Card number 88 Frank "Hondo" Howard - Senators
(Front and Back)

Many many thanks Ted for such a fantastic lot of cards.

Kirk's Knook: The REAL Reason to get the SI Swimsuit Issue

From my regular Non-Cards Blog a Little more eye candy (some of it literally).

Kirk's Knook: The REAL Reason to get the SI Swimsuit Issue

A Little Eye Candy

Not sure of the history of this particular card, so I can't give many details about it. I'm not even sure when it was made or the series it may have come from. Kathy Ireland got her claim to fame by being a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model and was the even more prestigious cover model on the 25th Anniversary Issue. She still has that cute "innocent/not-so-innocent girl next door" look about her. About all I can say about this card is I got it from Ebay (of course) in June of 2008 and paid $10 delivered Max. I think I got if for $5 - $7 can't remember the exact price. Even though it looks black in the scan her facsimile signature and the partial borders are gold.

That same day (02 June 2008) I got a  sexy Manon Rheaume card a 1993 Ballstreet card. OK so it's not as sexy and she's not in a swimsuit (neither is Kathy on that card), she's wearing a long sleeved sweatshirt and khaki shorts. Apparently that was an insert/freebie or attached to an issue of Ballstreet Magazine. So maybe the Kathy Ireland card is a similar deal (a card that was an insert to a magazine)

I didn't scan the back of the Manon card. I had scanned the front a few years back and it is in my photobucket but forgot I had it there., but not the back. I don't like to use my photobucket for the images in my blogs because PB gets blocked at work and I sometimes like to do edits and check how things look at work from a different machine than the one I post stuff from.

[Update: work no longer blocks photobucket but I still tend to forget what I have there and neglect it. I would delete most of the stuff there but I don't know what (if any) images I have linked from there to this or other blogs I have]

EDITED: To add scan of Manon Rheaume card back.

1975 Topps Mini Baseball

In 1975 Topps hit gold with a parallel mini set of the baseball series. The cards are about a 1/4 of an inch smaller than the standard 2.5" x 3.5" cards. Not as small as tobacco cards but still smaller than the standard size. I think they were sold in separate packs, I'm not sure since I never had any back in the day, I only had the standard cards back in '75 and I got a whole bunch of them then. Sadly most of my '75s were traded away in 77 - 79 or so in a card "flipping/tossing trading" game. Anyway right now I only have 4 of these cards. I have not paid more than $10 per for them. I'm not sure if its the ones I have or if its a standard thing but I've noticed the colors on the minis seem to be a bit darker, maybe it is because they didn't get distributed as widely as the regular ones did so they haven't been exposed to the elements as much. The first one I got I already had the regular one of (or made sure I had the regular one as well since it is a fave player). Tug McGraw - Mets.
 

 1975 Topps Baseball Mini - 67 Tug McGraw Mets

(Front and Back)

Now here is the regular sized Tug card, even though the scans are approx. the same size:

 1975 Topps Baseball - 67 Tub McGraw Mets

(Front and Back)

With my other three minis I will show them in the order I think I got them in starting with the man who was the last skipper of the Montreal Expos and thus became the first skipper of the Washington Nationals Frank Robinson. This was from his playing years.

 1975 Topps Baseball Mini - 580 Frank Robinson Indians

(Front and Back)

I think I have his regular card, not sure I also thought I had the regular card of this next player but again I'm not sure. Don Sutton who also has a Washington Nationals connection he was the color commentator for MASN (Mid-Atlantic Sports Network) the cable station that broadcasts the Nationals games for television.

 1975 Topps Baseball Mini - 220 Don Sutton Dodgers

(Front and Back)

This final card is the final mini I have I also have it's regular mate. Both I got through sportlots.com I had ordered the mini version and the seller sent the regular version, I wasn't sure if I still had the regular version, but I requested s/he send the mini since that was the one I ordered (I think I ended up getting one of them for free) eventually I got the mini version. It is the Team Card of the Baltimore Orioles w/ the team checklist on back, unfortunately both checklists have been marked.

 1975 Topps Baseball Mini - 117 Baltimore Orioles TC

(Front and Back)

 1975 Topps Baseball - 117 Baltimore Orioles TC

(Front and Back)

Now just for fun the size comparison of the Baltimore Orioles cards:

Redman Senators 1953 With Tab

When I was a kid I had heard about Red Man Tobacco cards from the price guides I had picked up at my local card shop (or though the mail) and they even had some on display for $20 and up and that was for the ones without the tab, the ones with the tab were much more. At the time I could only dream of one day picking one maybe two up and spending a fortune. I never thought I would ever be able to afford one with a tab. Well time and the internet has changed all that. Of course I prefer to get the ones that are complete with tab. I will only get these things from places where I can see what I am getting, or that have it in writing that you are getting one with a tab. For some of the bigger named stars I might have to settle for a very poor conditioned without tab.

I currently just have Two* 1953 Red Man cards both Washington Senators, both I purchased from Ebay. The first one I received on 18 December 2009 and purchased for only $10. I didn't note what the shipping was, I don't think it was free but it wasn't more than $2 or $3. It was the first Red Man card I ever owned, and to get one in such decent shape WITH The Tab was a super bonus.

1953 Red Man Baseball w/Tab - AL19 Bob Porterfield - Senators

The corners of course are dinged and there are a few very light creases on the front , but over all a very nice specimen. 

1953 Red Man Baseball w/Tab- AL19 Bob Porterfield - Senators (back)

This second one I received on 16 February 2010 for only $6 Delivered! FREE SHIPPING!

1953 Red Man Baseball w/Tab - AL6 Jackie Jensen - Senators
 (Front and Back)

Now I am spoiled with being able to get two nice looking complete cards for such a nice price.It wasn't until I got around to scanning the backs of the cards that I realized the backs all say the exact same thing and have no indication of the card number. I do understand that there are some other offers on the backs of some other cards. I guess I'll have to see when I get other cards from this set then.

NO I don't actually have the vintage unopened pack of Red Man Tobacco. I got the image from robertedwardsauctions website, the card side showed Mickey Vernon also of the Senators. Man I'd love to have that one with the Mikey Vernon card it started at opening bid of $200 and sold for $1,058.

* I have since gotten (25 Feb 2012) a third 1953 Red Man card this one is not a Senator and it does not have the tab and is in pretty awful shape. I got it as part of an 18 card lot of Baseball, Football and 2 Hockey cards ranging from the 1950s to 1970s there were two 1970 Kellogg's Football cards in the mix which was one of the big reasons to get it.. I got the lot from sportlots for a total of 75¢ plus $4.49 postage I got two other lots/auctions from the same seller of about nine 1970 Kellogg's Baseball cards. Four or five of which were in terrible shape.

Here is my third 1953 Red Man Tobacco Baseball card:

1953 Red Man Baseball w/out Tab - NL2 Bobby Adams - Reds

(Front and Back)

Tobacco and The Military

In February of 2010 (13 FEB) I got some stuff from sportlots including some vintage Non-Sport Tobacco 1939 Players Cigarettes "Uniforms of the Territorial Army" cards. They are about the size of modern minis and there were 50 cards in the set. Originally produced by John Player & Sons in 1939. Player's & Sons was/is a tobacco manufacturer in Nottingham, England. They don't say so but at first I thought the cards I have are the 1990 reprints. I've done a little poking around the internet and it seems the reprints do have markings on the back at the bottom saying they are reproductions and have either a 1990 copyright or 1997. It looks like the reprints have red writing on white backing mine have black ink on white. So I have some of the Originals? They have a little bit of a gloss to them and smell musty (well they did smell musty when I first got them, I think hanging out with some other cards wore their stink off.) If I was sure of them being reprints I might not have gotten them. I usually try to avoid reprints but sometimes for extremely rare or vintage stuff I will get a reprint. Still pretty neat though. If I'm going to get reprints like these I'll try for a full set in NMT condition. Also the originals were supposed to have an adhesive on the upper part of the back for putting into some related album? Anyway here are the cards I got (which might be the originals):

1939 Players Cigarettes "Uniforms of the Territorial Army"

 2 A Sussex Gunner 1588 (Front and Back)

1939 Players Cigarettes "Uniforms of the Territorial Army"
 3 Trained Bands Of London 1643 (Front and Back)

 1939 Players Cigarettes "Uniforms of the Territorial Army" 

12 General Post Office Rifles 1882 (Front and Back)

 1939 Players Cigarettes "Uniforms of the Territorial Army"
 24 1st Wessex Field Almbulance R.A.M.C. 1908 (Front and Back)

In December of 2009 from Ebay I got a Non-Sport vintage tobacco card ain't that sort of repetitive? (vintage tobacco) for $10 It is a 1908 Recruit Little Cigars Military Series T81-Infantry, U.S. Army die-cut "pop-up" . So this is a good contender for the oldest card in my entire collection. It is in pretty good shape still full card appears to have not been fully "cut out" to stand-up. When I was scanning it I almost punched it out while flipping it over to scan the back side. It is standard tobacco mini card size (the size of A&G Minis).On the back there is a dashed line for standing up the card. I suppose you were meant to fold back the outer "background" of the card and that would act as the back support for the "figure". I'll keep an eye out for more of these as long as they are relatively affordable.

1908 Recruit Little Cigars Military Series T81-Infantry, U.S. Army

(Front and Back)