Cheap Slabs - Orange Jee-tah

Welcome to the latest installment of Cheap Slabs, a recurring series of posts where I attempt to show that collecting graded cards does not necessarily need to be an expensive pursuit.  Ground rules for these posts are simple; the card(s) shown have to have cost me less than $25 before taxes and shipping.

Today's card actually represents my final purchase of the dumpster fire of a year that was 2020, as I picked up this shiny HOFer on the very last day of the year...

I'm not one of those Boston Red Sox fans who "hates" the Yankees.  In fact, as a fan of the history of the game, I actually respect the organization a great deal.  On top of that, out of the many, many HOF stars who have donned the pinstripes over the years, Derek Jeter is certainly one of my favorites.

As a kid who collected in the early to mid '90s, Jeter was one of the biggest rookies/prospects of the era.  Even though I'd never seen him play a game at that time, I knew from talking with my friends, reading Tuff Stuff magazine, and checking out the display case at the local card shop, that Derek was a big deal.  Later, in high school and college, I'd watch him grow into a leader on a team that won four World Series championships in a five-year stretch.  Then, as an adult, I witnessed him win another championship for New York, and accomplish the famed 3,000 hits (which he crushed, finishing 6th all-time in hits).  Hard not to respect a guy like that.

Combine all of this with my love for shiny cards, and for the colored refractors from the Topps white border years in particular, and I was absolutely helpless in the face of this fine PSA 9 a few weeks back.

Here's the back, you can click the image for a larger version if you'd like, but trust me that there are a lot of italics, bold, and even some red to be found in that statistics table.  

Always liked the layout of the 2011 set.  Always liked the 2011 set period, actually.  One of the best designs of the 2010s, the beautiful Cognac and Platinum Diamond Anniversary parallels (including retired legend variations) in the base set, Chrome Atomic Refractors that were slightly more plentiful at 225 copies each, and of course the famed Mike Trout.  Yeah, 2011 was a great year for Topps flagship/Chrome!

Here's a great look at Derek in all his shiny glory.  A great-looking card if you ask me.  I still want to get a really nice Jeter RC (or two) for my collection, but in the meantime I'm happy to have snagged this card on the cheap.  Have a feeling it's going to be hard to find his refractors graded at less than $25 once he finally gets inducted this upcoming summer.

That's all for now, thanks for stopping by to check out my cheap slab.  Stay safe out there!

Cheap Slabs - Kiki Cuyler!

Time for the latest installment of Cheap Slabs, where I do my best to dispel the myth that graded cards have to be expensive.  The rules for this recurring series of posts are simple, the card shown has to have cost me less than $25 before shipping and taxes.

In this latest installment, we have a card that I wasn't specifically seeking out, but that I could not possibly resist when I stumbled upon it with less than an hour to go:

I never knew it was possible to land PSA-slabbed cards of HOF baseball players from the 1930s for roughly the cost of a retail blaster, but it turns out it can be done.  Even during the bat-shit crazy year that 2020 was on the sports card market front, deals could still be found with a lot of patience and a careful eye.  I picked up the above card, an absolute beauty from the 1934-1936 Diamond Stars release, for a mere $21.05, and this was not even three months ago.

What I liked about this card, aside from the fact that it will likely always be my only playing-era card of a guy in Cooperstown who was missing from my collection previously, is that it's in truly amazing shape for a card from the 1930s.  In fact, at a quick glance you may be asking yourself how on this planet the card received a grade of "1/Poor" from PSA.

Well, if you look closely, there is a pin hole right at the apex of Kiki's ballcap there.  It's sort of easy to look past since it occurs right along a fold in his cap, and in the darkest part of the card as well.  I did see this before bidding, but do not care about it in the least.  In fact, I'm thrilled that some kid stuck a thumb tack through this thing 80 years ago, because it made this gorgeous copy of the card affordable to me.  Bright, vibrant colors, and even pretty amazing corners given the age.  I'm not 100% sure, but I believe with PSA the pin hole reduces the card to a 1 regardless of all other attributes, so if you can get past a small hole in your card you can get a real gem for cheap coin.

Cuyler was a slash-hitting speedster, known for his batting average and swiped bags.  A lifetime .321 hitter, he led the league in steals four times, and won a World Series with the Pirates in 1925.  Though he never lived to witness his own HOF induction (he died at just 51 years of age, in 1950), the Veterans Committee inducted him in 1968.

I think the Diamond Stars release is a really fantastic and under-rated set.  When it comes to the 1930s most collectors seem to prefer Goudey of the limited options that are out there, but to me Diamond Stars is every bit as interesting.  I finished the Red Sox team set years ago, and while I don't pick these up often or search them out specifically, I'm hoping I run across a few more like this in my collecting lifetime.

That's about all I've got to say regarding this card.  Honestly, this was one of my better bargains of all of last year on the card front, still pretty surprised to have hauled this one in at the price point that I did.  A good reminder to myself that not finding any blasters in the retail world for the past 10 months or so really may not be as big an inconvenience as it seems...

Thanks as always for stopping by!

Cheap Slabs - Tavares Patch!

Time for another installment of Cheap Slabs, where I dispel the myth that graded cards are always expensive to acquire.  In case this is your first Cheap Slabs post, the rules are simple; the graded card cannot have set me back more than $25 before shipping in order to qualify for this ongoing series.

Today's card came in well below that, as you'll see.  It was one of those cases where I was not searching for the card specifically, in fact I didn't even know that it existed, but once I stumbled upon it I simply could not turn down the bargain.

Check it out!

Now, I've gone on record many times stating that I'm not really big on game-used relic or patch cards.  It's just not an area of our hobby that I've ever really focused on much.  Still, when I came across this really nice looking tri-color patch of a legit star player, I was instantly intrigued.  With just minutes to go, nobody had even placed a very reasonable $8.25 opening bid on this card, if you can believe that.  I threw down a bid of less than $10 and lo and behold, a few minutes later the card was mine for $8.25 plus a couple bucks shipping.

John Tavares is certainly a recognizable name in the NHL, on the precipice of 350 career goals and 800 career points already, and only entering into his age-30 season whenever the NHL gets back underway here.  He doesn't have any individual hardware to his name, and has never won the Stanley Cup, but if he can change either of those two things his case for the HOF starts to look pretty good.  Heck, even if he can't achieve either of those objectives, he may still get in based on career stats alone.  With quite a few good years left in front of him, it's not inconceivable that he could surpass the 550-goal or 1,200-point plateaus.

Either way, this is a striking card of a man who's pretty well under-represented in my hockey card collection to date.  I never acquired his Young Guns rookie, and in fact didn't really have a single Tavares card of note prior to hauling this one in.  Tri-color patch, some nice foil shine, and serial-numbered to just /25.  Easily my best card of the star center who's now with the Maple Leafs.

The back of the card is actually somewhat important in this case, as the material on the front is certified by Upper Deck not as "event-worn", or as "having been worn by the player", but as "certified to us as having been used in an official NHL game".  Very important distinction there, at last to this collector.

If the NHL would put some type of clause into their agreement with Upper Deck that would only allow for game-used relics like this, and eliminate the event-worn crap, I might actually be more into relic and patch cards than I am.  Wishful thinking, I know!

So there you have it, a real beauty, especially when you factor in the price point.  It'll be fun to hang onto this card and watch how John's career progresses over the next few years with the Leafs and beyond.  Maybe someday I'll be able to say that I got a graded, game-used patch card of a HOFer, serial-numbered to /25, for less than $10.  And if not, I've certainly blown $8 and change on much dumber things than this in my life.

How about you?  When is the last time that you purchased a card that you really weren't even looking for, based solely on last-minute impulse?  If you have a recent example, I'd love to hear about it in the comments.

Thanks as always for stopping by!

Cheap Slabs - Kirby RC

Time for the next installment of Cheap Slabs, a series dedicated to proving that collecting graded cards does not necessarily have to be expensive.  Each slabbed card featured in this series was had for less than $25.

Today's card is an iconic '80s baseball rookie card, and one that I can hardly believe took me a full 35 years to finally own a copy of...

Yes, it's the '85 Donruss Kirby Puckett RC!  For whatever reason, I've largely ignored the 1985 baseball releases for most of my collecting timeline.  I've long had it in the back of my mind though that I'd like to snag '85 Donruss Puckett and Clemens rookies though, and when the opportunity presented itself recently for me to grab this Puckett in a PSA 8.5 for just $12.62, I jumped at it.

Though his career was relatively brief at just a dozen MLB seasons, Kirby was a 10x All-Star who brought two World Series championships to Minnesota.  He was certainly one of the most effective hitters of his generation, and arguably the best hitter in the history of the Twins organization.  He's certainly in the discussion, anyway.

Here's the back, standard fare for Donruss throughout most of the '80s, other than the color changing and some minor cosmetic tweaks here and there...

A really great card here.  Typically I go for PSA 9s when it comes to cards from the '80s and newer, but in this case, like I said just stumbled upon this one and the price was right.  Someday maybe I'll pick up a PSA 9 and sell this one to offset some of the upgrade cost, but those are expensive enough that they wouldn't make the cut for this Cheap Slabs series anyway!  This set is really tough for grading due to those black borders, so this example is just fine for my purposes.  For much less than the cost of a retail blaster (even with shipping and tax included), color me satisfied.

What I'd really like is to get an '85 Leaf version of this one (and Clemens, too).  I enjoy the Leaf logo in that '85 set, but they're quite a bit scarcer and more valuable than their Donruss counterparts from what I can tell.  Maybe someday...

For now, thanks as always for stopping by my little corner of the internet!

Cheap Slabs - Strikeout Feats!

Time for the latest installment of Cheap Slabs, in which I show off a graded card that I acquired for less than $25.  Tonight, we have a really unique card featuring one of my all-time favorite players...

Maybe not the most aesthetically pleasing or creative design here, but what this card represents is kind of cool.  In the 1983 season, Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton and Gaylord Perry all surpassed the great Walter Johnson on the career strikeouts list.  This was no small feat, as Johnson finished his career with an amazing 3,508 strikeouts.  For these three (who are all enshrined in Cooperstown) to surpass a total that high, each in the same season, is just awesome, and I'm glad that Topps dedicated a Highlight card to commemorate it in the '84 set.

As much as I like Gaylord Perry and Steve Carlton, it was Nolan Ryan that drew me to this card earlier this year.  He, Will Clark, and Cal Ripken, Jr. were the first three players I ever collected as a kid, and so I still search out Nolan Ryan cards to this day.  I'm working on a graded run of his base flagship Topps cards from his '68 RC through his final '94 issue, but I still have a few holes left to plug.

Here's a look at the back, which gives you a brief write-up on each player surpassing The Big Train, so that you can see what date it occurred on for each of these three hurlers.

While I'm mainly sticking to Nolan's primary Topps card for my complete career run project, I'll gladly stray and pick up other slabbed Ryan cards like this one if the price is right.  It certainly was with this card, purchased in July of this year for just $4.99!

That's all for this installment of Cheap Slabs, thanks as always for stopping by!

Cheap Slabs - Devers Bowman RC

There's a myth among certain collectors that collecting graded cards has to be expensive.  It sure can be, but it doesn't have to be!  In the 'Cheap Slabs' series here on the blog, we'll look exclusively at graded cards that cost me $25 or less to add to my collection...

Today's card is a very cheap rookie card of one of the best offensive players to debut for my hometown Red Sox in the past few years...

It's the standard Bowman rookie card of third baseman Rafael Devers, in a nice PSA 9.  I've already got a raw copy of this card, maybe even a couple, but I couldn't resist snatching this one up given that it cost me just $6.25 of COMC store credit!

Devers has had some issues in the field at times, but has been a great hitter in the Boston lineup early in his career.  He led the league in both doubles and total bases last year, his age 22 season.  While his numbers dipped a bit in 2020, I'm considering this past "season" an anomaly as far as my collecting goes, and am just as excited to pick up new Devers cards now as I ever was.

Here's a look at the back, way too busy if you ask me.  In fact, I'm not generally a huge fan of Bowman sets for this very reason, but in this case it was a cheap enough rookie of a player I like a good deal.

So, there's my latest cheap slab.  I actually picked this up many months ago, as evidenced by the fact that I actually have it in hand despite not receiving either of the two COMC orders I've had shipped to me this year yet.

I've got plenty more cheap PSA-graded cards to share in future iterations of this series, but until then thanks as always for stopping by!

Cheap Slabs - Verlander RC

There's a myth among certain collectors that collecting graded cards has to be expensive.  It sure can be, but it doesn't have to be!  In the 'Cheap Slabs' series here on the blog, we'll look exclusively at graded cards that cost me $25 or less to add to my collection...

Today's card is a rookie card of one of the most dominant pitchers of his generation, Justin Verlander!

Pretty nice, huh?  I won this card on eBay a couple of months ago, while sheltering in place.

Verlander could hang up the spikes today for good, and would still retire as an 8x All-Star, World Series champion, AL MVP, 2x Cy Young winner, AL Triple Crown winner for pitching, Rookie of the Year, 3 no-hitters, 3,000+ strikeouts, and more.  Justin's an absolute lock for Cooperstown, and it's crazy to me that his rookie cards are still as cheap as they are at this point.  Just how cheap?

This card was had for $12.50.  I know pitchers don't get a lot of love, and everyone just wants to collect Ronald Acuna and Juan Soto, but come on!

These 2006 Bowman Heritage cards were inspired by the '49 Bowman set.  Of course, the '49 Bowmans were miniature in size, but good enough.  There actually are mini versions of these that are similar in size to the original '49s, but I'm betting a Verlander mini might set me back more than this full-sized version did.  I'll certainly be keeping an eye out though!

That's about all for tonight, just a really cool card of an under-rated (at least in terms of his perceived value in our hobby) star hurler.  Further proof that if you look hard enough, you can find some pretty great cheap slabs out there!

Thanks as always for stopping by!

Cheap Slabs - A Beautiful Charlie Hodge

There are an infinite number of ways to enjoy this hobby, and many polarizing topics that divide collectors as well.  One of the things that I enjoy, though I fully realize many do not, is graded cards.  In a new series here on the blog dubbed Cheap Slabs, I'll be featuring graded card pick-ups that set me back $25 or less.

We get things off to a pretty fantastic start if you ask me; here's an absolutely beautiful 1950s Parkhurst hockey card:

The goaltenders got the best hockey cards in the 1950s as far as aesthetics.  There's not a goalie card from the 1950s that I wouldn't want in my collection, if the price is right.  In this case, the price was definitely right, as this card not only cost me less than the $25 threshold to qualify for my Cheap Slabs series, but was actually less than the price of a retail blaster.  Even better, it truly cost me nothing out of pocket since I used proceeds from selling my Stadium Club Crystal Ball Mookie Betts card to fund the purchase.

Here's a much better look at how colorful and vibrant the card is, courtesy of my iPhone camera.  These types of staged poses in full gear in front of the goal were very common in this decade, but it doesn't make them any less visually stunning.  As another example, my prized Jacques Plante from a couple of years prior to this card features a similar look.

Here's the back, with a vertically oriented layout, contrary to the front.  There's a whole lot to take in here, in two different languages of course, so if you'd like a better look just click the image to enlarge.

Well, that's a wrap.  Not much more to say about this one, except that it's more aesthetically pleasing, and a better long-term fit for my collection, than anything I'd likely have pulled out of a blaster box for about the same coin.

Even if graded cards aren't your thing, I hope you found this one interesting and maybe even enough so that you'll enjoy seeing some others down the line.  Until next time, stay safe!