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)

Strive For 65: Killer In Da House!

The latest card in the Strive For '65 Set build. Fished from The Bay on one bid for just $5.95 + $2.00 shipping card #400 Harmon "Killer" Killebrew Twins. I thought this would be one of the cards I would have to spend BIG bucks on. Fortunately I managed to find one of the lower priced ones in very good condition so what is there is some off-centering and a small stain of some kind. About 10 years ago I would probably have passed on this one for either of those two reasons. I also would have passed on it if the price were $10 or more with those flaws. Recent prices range from a one bid $1.75 (+$2.32 shipping) to a graded version that went for $125 (didn't check the shipping rate on that one)

1965 Topps Baseball 400 Harmon Killebrew Twins

(Front and Back)

That brings the set build total up one to 162/599 (27.1%). This card fills one more slot in a page bringing that page total up to 2/9. Sadly I don't have a "joy of a complete page" yet on this set. The closest I have is a page with 7/9 those two cards I have in my cart over at sportlots with a bunch of other cards, only a few of which are '65s though. So far I have been playing small ball on this set, I need a couple of grand slams to reach my ultimate goal of having the set complete by Next April.

Joy of a Complete Team Set: 1965 Senators

OH hey a trip to my LCS over the weekend helped me with some Homie team goodies including the official Joy of a complete team set. Unfortunately I won't mention them on this regular blog, but fortunately I do yack about it on my Curly W Cards blog. The story includes this dog of a card:

and how I turned it around from this:

To this:

Yeah that is much better and Don likes it better too. See no more moss growing on his hat:

So this helps with my Strive For '65 campaign. It now stands at 157/598 (599)

Backlog Of... Well Just Stuff

Edit: Oh pooh I already had a post scheduled for when I originally posted this. Sorry for the edit/change in posting.

Just to let you know I have a huge backlog of stuff including tons of scanning that I want to eventually post to this blog and my Curly W Blog. The biggest part of the problem is PRO-crastination. Procrastinating on scanning, procrastinating on most aspects of organization. I even procrastinate a little when I mention my maildays on on card forums at my TCC "blog" and TCZ show and tell "mail bag" post. Oddly enough those are more up-to-date than this blog is in part due to not including scans (sometimes I do, but it is very rare). Sometimes I wait waste a day or two before mentioning what I got in the mail there, sometimes it is the sheer volume of what came that intimidates me. Then there are these blogs and they really intimidate me when I look at how much I have to catch up on. So...

That means that some of my posts about maildays in the next month or two or three might be from ancient vintage maildays. I will most likely point out that they are from sometime in the way-back past and not something that just came "the other day". Try the other day from the other day from about two years ago in some cases. Then again I might have to wait until I complete a set or sub-set to mention some of this stuff.

The wonderful thing about blogging is there is no real standard for how, what, or even when you post something. I wonder if I should have ever composed this particular post to begin with.

So yeah I have some upcoming posts about stale snail mail.

Hmmm I should show a card or two... don't think I've shown this one.

1994 Ted Williams Baseball 9 Andy Etchebarren Orioles

(Front and Back)

and How about this one?

 2009 UD Goodwin Champions Mini Black Border 215 Jimmy Rollins Phillies

Gypsy Queen Back

(Front and Back)

Card Of The Whenever: Brady Anderson

Brady Anderson 1995 Pinnacle Baseball

This card comes from a "junk wax" years set that I used to hate. Partly because the first time I saw the set (actually the set from the following year I think) it was a little difficult to to read the player's name in the gold foil, I think the first card or two I saw might have been worn some or poorly printed. In the case of this card it looks pretty good in real life but the name is hard to read in the scan. The team logo however looks OK in the scan but is almost impossible to see in real life. One of several reasons I hate the gold/silver foil nonsense that the card companies have been giving us for at least 30 years now. Anyway as with many other sets from these years, I now kind of like them. This card is also one of those horizontal/landscaped cards which I normally am not too keen on either, but in this case it is pretty cool because it is one of those sliding into the base niche cards that several bloggers are probably going google-eyed over.

1995 Pinnacle Baseball 188 Brady Anderson Orioles

(Front and Back)

Card of the Whenever: Tommy John 1981 Topps

1981 Topps Baseball: Tommy John

This edition of the Card of The Whenever like most of these posts I will insert at random times. Usually many weeks or possibly months in advance. This particular edition is the third I have written, but who knows in what order it will actually be posted on the blog. I came up with the nifty logo image for this series before writing this post, but by the time this post is published you will have seen the logo already and might be tired of it.

This edition's card is from 1981 Topps Baseball. The Player: Tommy John who is probably best known for the elbow surgery (ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction) that bares his name more than his actual career. Mr. John was the first baseball player to undergo the surgery in 1974 he spent the '75 season recovering. Anyway I got this card from a sportlots auction for 25¢ plus $3.14 shipping (it came from Canada with another card I have talked about on this blog previously)

1981 Topps Baseball 550 Tommy John Yankees

(Front and Back)

Card Of The Whenever: Luis Matos Play Ball

2004 Upper Deck Play Ball: 101 Luis Matos Orioles

Have I said I love retro cards? I think it is because I love vintage. I didn't use to love retro cards. I recall the first time I saw the Bowman/Topps Heritage series (I think I saw the Football first at a 7-Eleven) I hated it. I thought a modern reproduction of a vintage design was unoriginal. Well now I love the Heritage series, even if they are not original. 

This card is a modern retro shout out to the 1940s Play Ball sets of cards. I don't have any original Play Ball cards, most of them are too expensive even the very poor conditioned ones. I like them now, but at one time I wasn't too keen on their plain looks. Odd because I normally like the plain and simple looks for cards.

So here is the modern 2004 Upper Deck Play Ball card for Luis Matos of the Orioles.

2004 Upper Deck Play Ball Baseball: 101 Luis Matos Orioles

(Front and Back)

I am going to need to start building this set of cards. BTW this is one of the cards I got from 2x3 Heroes Jeff, in a PWE six-pack. I told you I'd probably show some of them off individually.

Need Cardboard Contest Pimpage

Need to get some free cardboard?

Well Andrew over at Need More Cardboard is having a contest. Check it Out Here! Tell him CaptKirk42 sent you.

A 2x3 Six Pack PWE

It pays to sign up for things. Jeff at 2x3 Heroes has a mailing list you can sign up for via a special form link he calls Club PWE. If you don't mind getting base cards of your homie team in a PWE it is worth signing up for. It seems to be totally random depending on Jeff's whim and whatever he has available at the time of that whim. (I should try some sort of form thing sometime if I can figure out how to do it) Anyway it is amazing how six cards can be loaded into a PWE.

Here is the six pack I got:

2007 Bowman Heritage Baseball: 106 Felipe Lopez Nationals
2004 Upper Deck Play Ball Baseball: 101 Luis Matos Orioles
2000 Bowman Baseball: 310 Ryan Minor Orioles
2009 Topps Attax Baseball: No Number Lastings Milledge Nationals (#133 in alphabetical lists)
2011 Topps Heritage Baseball: 186 Rick Ankiel Nationals
1995 Pinnacle Baseball:  188 Brady Anderson Orioles

Thanks for the cards Jeff!

Some of these I might show individually sometime. The Nationals I'll show on my CurlyW Cards blog sometime, maybe separate, maybe as a group.