Backed Up...

If you're waiting to hear from me on a trade or package hang in there. I am incredibly behind at the moment.  Part of this is due to my own busy schedule, part of it is due to a huge influx in trading activity in recent weeks.  I must have sent out at least a dozen packages over the past two weeks but I'm still not out of the woods yet. I can't seem to find 5 minutes for a quick post or a trip to the post office.  BucCollector, your trade cards finally went out today, and Underdog Card Collector, I picked up a couple of additional cards for you out of a dime box at a show this weekend.  I plan to have your package in the mail before the weekend.  I have thank you posts coming to numerous people including the aforementioned BucCollector and Underdog Card Collector, as well as reader Marc and Michael from The Card Raven, among others.

Since I feel obligated to include at least one picture in every blog post, here's a new Red Sox card that I just picked up a couple of weeks back.  This is from the inaugural 2001 Topps Heritage set.  If you're a team collector and you've tackled this set before, then you know that these aren't the easiest cards to find and can get a bit pricey (relatively speaking for a single modern card), especially for an SP like Nomar here.

For whatever reason, certain teams really got screwed on the checklist for this set in terms of short print ratio.  For example, the Cleveland Indians have 15 cards in the set, and not one of them is a short print.  The Red Sox, on the other hand, have 18 cards on the checklist and all but two are deemed SPs!  Nomar set me back $2.60 plus $1.95 shipping for a total of $4.55.  One down, 17 to go.  Hopefully they don't all demand the premium that this card did, or I'll be looking at $80-$100 to complete the team set!  I've got the 17 I need on the want list now as I continue to organize my Red Sox wants and needs, so if you have any available hit me up!  (Yes I realize I just complained about having no time for trades and invited potential new trades in the same post).

I have a ton of great material to post here, including my haul from a card show this past weekend, some really great on-card autos and a bunch more stuff.  Hopefully I can find some time in the next few days to get around to at least some of it.  Until then...

A New (Old) Milt Schmidt

With the 2012-13 (I guess really just 2013) NHL season getting underway today I figured it would be the perfect time to resurrect this card from the draft folder, where it's been for a long time now.  Here's the ninth Milt Schmidt card in my modest collection:

I'm sure you've seen this fantastic 1965-66 Topps Schmidt card elsewhere, Casey over at Drop the Gloves picked up an awesome copy a while back.  This card is all about the vintage Bruins sweater, which you can get a better look at on the card I posted on Milt's birthday last year.  I actually picked this one up just over a year ago, in January of 2012 but never got around to posting it.  It set me back less than the cost of a blaster, and that's including shipping if you can believe that.  Some of that may have stemmed from the fact that the seller listed this as a 1967 Topps Schmidt on the auction.  Not sure how they made that mistake with the year staring them in the face in bold type on the PSA slab but I'll take it!

I hope this card will be a good omen for the 2013 Bruins team, and I'm looking forward to the season opener tonight against the Rangers.  Happy hockey season to all NHL fans, whoever you cheer for.  Except Canadiens fans, of course.

Zistle Trade with stevienicks77

I mentioned in yesterday's post that I'm going to try to get more trading done this year, so I figured it made sense to knock out the first trade post of the year today.  It comes in the form of my third Zistle trade, with user stevienicks77.  I sent over a few random Royals cards, a couple of David Wrights and a Mark McGwire, and in return got 14 cards that I needed towards my 2012 Topps Archives set.  Here are a few of my favorites...

Included in the lot were two Red Sox, Clay Buchholz...

...and Dustin Pedroia.  These are especially appreciated because not only do they get me one step closer to completing this set, but they go towards my goal of 2,000 Red Sox cards by year end.

Nolan Ryan's base card was included and this might have been the highlight of the trade for me.  Any Nolan Ryan that I didn't have is a good one.

I really like this Yogi Berra card, best photo of any card in the package hands down.  What really made the deal for me though was the fact that 3 of the 14 cards were from the 40-card short print set:

Ken Singleton 1980 Topps design.  I like this photo much better than the one on Ken's original '80 Topps card, but I don't have a scan handy.  In fact, I'm not even sure I own that card...

Bake McBride 1975 Topps design.  I kind of like Bake's original '75 card better.  That one I do own, but I don't have a scan around, sorry.

Finally we have Jack Clark on the 1988 Topps design.  Not a drastically different photo than the original really.

This trade was a huge help, particularly due to the three short print cards.  I'm now 52 cards shy of the 200-card short set.  The short prints are another story as I have just 10 of the 40 out there (no I'm not paying $200+ for the #241 Bryce Harper gimmick).  This is one of the sets I hinted at in yesterday's post though, would really like to knock it out by year end.  If you are on Zistle you can already see what I need from the set, but I will have my regular want list here updated shortly as well.  If you have any of this stuff for trade, particularly short prints, hit me up!

Thanks for a great trade stevienicks77!

My 2013 Collecting Goals

In the five years or so that I've been operating this blog, I haven't really been huge on laying out specific collecting goals for each year.  While I do try to narrow my focus, which is a constant struggle, one of the things I like most about the hobby is the huge variety of stuff that's out there.  There are few things that I enjoy more than the totally random purchase that doesn't necessarily fit into my collection but that I just have to have for whatever reason.  In 2013 though, I do have a few specific items I'd like to accomplish with respect to my collection.  So, I'm taking a page out of many other bloggers' books, and here are my 2013 collecting goals, in no particular order (with pictures, because who wants to read a blog post without pictures!)...

Increase my New England Whalers/Hartford Whalers collection to 1,200+ cards

As of today, I have 790 unique Whalers cards scanned, cataloged and added to my online collection on Zistle.  I would like to get this number up above 1,200 unique cards by year end if at all possible.  This one will be a challenge because there just haven't been too many Whalers cards released since 1997, and there weren't a ton of them out there prior to the Whalers coming to the NHL in 1979-80 either, but I'm hopeful that I can pull it off.  If you have any Whalers cards that you think I may need hit me up!

Increase my Red Sox collection to 2,000+ cards

Right now I have 1,217 Red Sox cards cataloged in my online collection on Zistle.  Getting this number to 2,000 or greater will be a challenge in terms of scanning time, etc.  However, unlike with the Whalers there are just so many Red Sox cards out there that I should have no trouble tracking down enough.  In fact, chances are I already have many more than 2,000, this one's just a matter of getting the cards organized and cataloged more than anything.  I'm pretty confident that I can knock this one out as well.

Increase my Adrian Gonzalez Red Sox collection to 100+ cards

Same deal as my first two goals.  Currently sitting at an even 40 cards in the collection, but I have quite a few more that are waiting to be posted already.  I don't see an issue with getting this one squared away either.  As an added caveat, I'd like to double my printing plate count from the 5 I currently have to 10.  This could be tough as there are only so many printing plates that were issued of Gonzalez in the not-quite-two-seasons that he was with Boston, but we'll see...

1953 Topps Project

I ended 2012 with an even 50 cards down in my quest to complete a 1953 Topps set all in PSA 6 EX-MT slabs.  I have literally been at this project since the day I started the blog, and it's been a lot of fun so far.  Before 2013 is done I'd like to see this number at 65, which would bring me to just about 1/4 complete.  I already posted Peanuts Lowrey here at the beginning of this month, so 1 down and 14 more to go on this one.  I'm about 75% sure I should be able to make this mark in 2013...

Complete the 1980s Topps Hockey run

For what seems like forever now, I've been working at trying to finish off the complete run of Topps hockey cards from the decade of my collecting youth, the '80s.  This means every flagship Topps set from the 1980-81 release through the 1989-90 release.  I've already completed and posted about the '86-87, '87-88, '88-89 and '89-90 sets.  Given that there were no Topps sets released in '82-83 or '83-84, that leaves me with '80-81, '81-82, '84-85 and '85-86 to knock off.  I've already got a good chunk, if not all of the cards, so please don't send me your '80s Topps hockey cards.  Again just a matter of scanning, organizing and posting, at least I think.  It would be an added bonus to keep cranking through the '70s sets if I get the '80s done.

Complete at least a dozen trades

No picture for this one, but thanks to Zistle my trading activity is really starting to take off.  I really haven't been a huge trader in the past, so even though 12 trades in a year may seem like small potatoes to some of you, to me it's going to be an undertaking.  This may be the least likely goal to be achieved off my list, we'll see how it goes.

Complete at least 10 sets, aside from '80s Topps hockey

There are numerous sets, both baseball and hockey, that I'm well within striking distance on.  This one could be trouble but what would a list of goals be without at least one or two that aren't so attainable.  Who knows, maybe I'll surprise myself.

Everything else

Aside from that all of the usual items apply.  Keep organizing and scanning, get want lists better updated and more fleshed out, pick up some more great on-card autos, keep accumulating Nolan Ryan, Will Clark and Milt Schmidt cards, stray from my goals on purpose sometimes...you get the point.  Oh yeah, and maybe land at least one really fantastic "white whale" type card before the year is out.

Well, that should give me plenty to do to keep busy this year!  I'm looking forward to another great year of being a part of one of the best online communities out there, and I hope you enjoy this year's posts here at Shoebox Legends.  It will be interesting to look back on this post in 12 months to see how I stacked up.  Until then...

Adrian Gonzalez, We Hardly Knew Ye - Smooth as Silk

I've picked up more than a few new Adrian Gonzalez Red Sox cards in recent weeks, time to start playing catch-up.  I'll start with one this evening that in my opinion was a really good eBay steal:

In case you weren't already aware, Topps took great care to blatantly label the front of this card so that you'd know it's a Silk Collection parallel from the 2011 Topps Update set.  These are kind of a cool concept, featuring a mini, silk version of a card from the flagship or update set framed and numbered to a relatively scant 50 copies.  In the front of the frame there's a hole in the plastic that allows you to verify using your sense of touch that yes, indeed, this little card is made of silk.

I've seen these posted on numerous blogs and have wanted to track this particular one down for a long while now.  I watched the only one listed on eBay for quite a few months, but the $25 buy-it-now price was too steep for my blood.  Once or twice the seller knocked 10% off and I debated snagging it for $22.50 but still felt the price was much too high for a non-autographed card numbered to 50 copies.  Patience paid off as eventually another was listed with a $.99 starting bid.  I took the card home for $3.80 plus $2 shipping, grand total of less than $6.  This card is a good reminder that our hobby is a journey and not a race.  I always operate by the rule that if something doesn't feel right, something probably isn't right.  If a card (especially one with 50 or more copies in existence) seems a bit steep, just wait.  Chances are it will come around again, and besides nothing can ruin a perfectly good card like buyer's remorse...

Adrian Gonzalez Red Sox Cards - Count
Total Cards - 40
#'d /2011 - 1
#'d /999 - 1
#'d/199 - 1
#'d/100 - 1
#'d/75 - 1
#'d /60 - 1
#'d/50 - 2
#'d/25 - 1
#'d/10 - 1
1/1 - 6
Relics - 1
Silk - 1
Autographs - 0
Printing Plates - 5

The Ultimate Hockey Card Mullet?

I think every hockey fan is familiar with the mullet.  To me, it's almost an element of the game just like the puck is, or the Captain's 'C', or the goal.  Flipping through tens of thousands of hockey cards over the years, I've certainly seen my fair share of mullets.  Today though, while I was scanning in and cataloging some more of my Hartford Whalers cards I ran across what may be the best mullet I've ever seen on cardboard.

Behold!

This bad boy comes from a Coca Cola-sponsored, team-issued set from 1993-94.  I had about two paragraphs of absolute zingers written about this 'do.  Everything from the cut itself to the pure amount of space that it takes up on this card.  I just deleted all of it though. 

You see, I found out that Marc was apparently fighting with some major demons later in his life, struggling in his career as a hockey coach in the low-level UHL (United Hockey League).  In 2006, while on the road with the team he coached, he hung himself from the shower rod in his hotel room with a belt.  His blood alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit.  Most of the official references to the story (TSN, etc) have all been pulled down, but the information is confirmed out there if you dig a bit.  As someone who has some experience dealing with attempted suicide, I know that it's no joking matter.  I feel extremely sorry for Marc and his family.  So, no mullet jokes here.  Instead, I'll just say rest in peace, and thank you for the 51 games you donned the Whalers sweater for.  I am fairly certain this is the only card out there that features Marc with the Whalers, so I'm grateful to have it in my collection.

Sorry for the most meant-to-be-funny-but-turned-out-depressing post ever...

Signature Sundays - Ulf Samuelsson

Time for the year's first Signature Sundays post.  Today, in the wake of some really great news, we're returning to a set that I featured a couple of weeks back, 2012-13 Panini Classics Signatures.  I've already shown off the Pat Verbeek auto, but he's not the only Hartford Whaler on the checklist.  Next up we have Ulf Samuelsson:

I have to be honest, Ulf is far from my favorite Whaler.  I wasn't the biggest fan of his "playing style", and he's certainly been a part of some ugly incidents during his career.  On top of that he was involved in the worst trade the Whalers ever made, getting shipped along with Ron Francis to Pittsburgh, who promptly went on to win consecutive Stanley Cups.

All of that being said, he was a core member of Hartford's defensive unit for many, many years, including during my first years as a Whalers fan.  Because of that I've wanted to pick up an auto for some time, and I'm grateful that Panini made that possible.  Like the Verbeek this card has a really great in-game action photo.  What I love most about the card is the signature itself though.  Ulf was clearly very enthusiastic about getting an autographed card, that is one of the largest on-card autos I've seen.  The 'F' in Ulf goes right off the bottom border of the card, I love it!

Still really digging the back design as well.  I said this in the Verbeek post and I'll say it again; while this set may be getting poor reviews from collectors because of the price point, there are some awesome cards to be had on the secondary market.  I totally agree that I'd be bummed about pulling an Ulf Samuelsson auto from a $159/box product, but this is still a beautiful card.  It set me back all of $7.01, plus a couple bucks shipping.  Small price to pay to knock a card off of my Whalers auto want list.

Well, that's all for today.  Enjoy your NFL playoff football, and soon NHL hockey again!

Red Sox Collection - 1984 Topps Traded

I'm traveling the next few days for work, so you're going to get some relatively short posts that I drafted up last minute before leaving for the trip. Hey, it's better than nothing right? Maybe not. Anyway today's post features a 1984 Topps Traded Red Sox team set.

We'll start right off with the main reason I wanted these cards, Bill Buckner.  This is the first Topps card to feature Buckner with the Red Sox.  He came to the team in a late-May trade that sent Dennis Eckersley to the Cubs, so he's pictured with Chicago on his '84 Topps base card:

As usual, the backs of these Traded cards look ten times better than the cards from the accompanying base set.

Mike Easler came to Boston in the offseason prior to the start of 1984 from the Pirates.  I actually don't have his '84 Topps base card so you'll just have to take my word for it (finishing that set is a goal for 2013...).  He enjoyed a monster season in 1984 with Boston, hitting .313 with 188 hits, 31 doubles, 5 triples, 27 HR and 91 RBI.  All of those numbers would turn out to be career highs, I think it's fair to say Mike was in the zone in 1984.

Rich Gale was signed by the Red Sox prior to the season after being released by the Reds.

It didn't go particularly well for Rich in Boston, as he made just 4 starts and appeared in 13 total games in what would be the final season of his career.

Jackie Gutierrez had been the property of the Red Sox since the team signed him as an amateur free agent back in 1978.  He saw his first action with the club in 1983, but having appeared in only 5 games that year Topps neglected to include him in the 1984 flagship set.  When he played in 151 games for Boston in 1984 though, they appropriately dedicated a card in the Traded set to him.

So there you have it, a 1984 Topps Traded Red Sox team set.  I wasn't really actively searching this team set out, but when one went up on eBay with a starting bid of one cent with shipping of $1.75 I couldn't resist.  My final cost was $.30 plus shipping for $2.05 total.  I'll knock a team set off the want list for less than the cost of most packs any day!  In my opinion it was worth the $2 just to get Buckner's first Topps Red Sox card alone...

1953 Topps Project - Peanuts Lowrey

Happy New Year everyone! I figured it would be appropriate to start the year with another post towards a project that I've been at since the start of the blog almost 5 years ago now, completion of the 1953 Topps set.  In 2012 I got my set up to an even 50 cards, or about 18%.  By the end of 2013 I would like to be at 65 cards, or 24%.  No better way to start than to get one posted the very first day possible...today's subject is Harry Lowrey:

Harry, who was dubbed "Peanuts" due to his small stature, managed a respectable 13-year career in Major League Baseball.  He broke into the league way back in 1942 with the Cubs, so here he's pictured on the back nine of his career.  He'd stay with St. Louis through the 1954 season, then play one final season with the Phillies in 1955 before retiring.  Towards the end his was known as one of the game's best pinch hitters.  He connected on 7 pinch hits in a row in 1952, and had 21 total during the 1953 season that this card represents.

After his playing days were behind him, Lowrey stayed involved with the game as a head coach for a few different franchises including the Phillies, Giants, Expos and Angels.  Sadly, he passed away in 1986 at age 68.

Set Progress:  51 of 274 (19%)

Monsters of 2012 - The Splendid Splinter!

I've really focused pretty heavily on both my Red Sox and Whalers team collections this past year.  It makes sense I guess, as these two teams were what got me into sports as a kid, and were the catalyst behind me becoming the fan that I am today.  Team collecting has now jumped to near the top of my short list of what I collect, which as the year closes probably looks something like this:

• On card autographs
• Boston Red Sox and Hartford Whalers
• Sets
• Player collections

Yeah I guess that sums it up, with the caveat that I will go completely random and purchase just about any piece of cardboard for the right price if it looks nice to me.  Anyway, my point in all this is that I recently combined the funds from the card draft I just held with the profits from a really good night at my weekly poker game and picked up an absolute whopper for my Red Sox collection:

Anyone who collects vintage Red Sox cards knows there is one huge roadblock to completing many of the '50s team sets, and his name is Ted Williams.  It's something many team collectors deal with, Aaron for the Braves, Clemente for the Pirates, etc.  I guess I should just be grateful that I'm not a Dodgers collector who has to deal with Jackie Robinson and guys like Snider, Reese, Campanella, etc.  For me, it's a great feeling to acquire my first proper Ted Williams card and clear that roadblock for one my favorite sets from the decade, 1957 Topps.

There are just so many things I love about the card.  The classic pose.  The set itself.  The fact that it's a "bookend" card at #1 on the checklist.  1957 Topps often has centering issues.  I have passed on so many cards over time because they're just wildly off-center from left to right, which is extremely noticeable given the plain white borders of the cards.  This one is slightly off top to bottom, but is better left to right than many I've seen.  Combine that with solid corners and this card just had great visual appeal, enough for me to make a jump at it.

Even the back of the card is awesome.  It's not everyday you see career stats going back to the '30s.  I like that the three years Williams missed while serving his country are also noted.

I would have to say this is my single favorite pick-up of 2012.  It's far from the worst I'll have to deal with if I ever hope to complete the '50s Red Sox run, but it's a great start.  Maybe in 2013 I'll be lucky enough to pick up another Williams...