WC #5 Willie gives back

This week Willie gave back and spent two mornings, beginning at 530am, participating in Santa Clara County's Homeless Census. I manage two programs that work with chronically homeless folks with severe mental illness and this was a great way for us to continue that work.

WC #4 Willie in a Workshop

Willie at a two day workshop on motivational interviewing. Much more interesting than it sounds. Willie enjoyed it and will now be able to understand my needs.

An Oddly Healthy Big Mac Oddball

We have all seen them, those oddball cards that throw us for a loop.They aren't found in most catalogues, if they are found at all. No not those pesky junk wax era issues but the more obscure oddballs. I am always looking for a "deal" and when this popped up on Ebay I put a moderate bid of $1. I ended up getting it for less than that with free shipping. I think this is an appropriate posting since I have a dentist appointment in the morning. I don't see a date but I would assume it was issued between 1998-2000. A quick Google search failed to turn up any information on this issue nor an other cards. Ta da.

This is the description from the seller. "During his St. Louis Cardinals years Mark McGwire worked with the Alliance of the American Dental Association with a grant from Oral Health America and the Foundation for Dental Health Education to produce a collector card promoting oral health.  McGwire's father was a dentist and it apparently was through that connection that this card project was initiated.  

I am a dentist myself.  I originally purchased a package of these cards from the American Dental Association for distribution to our young baseball conscious patients. 

My First Panini Cooperstown Blaster

I had to stop off at one of our discount retailers to get some essentials and as we all do I scanned the card selection and decided to pick up a discounted Panini Cooperstown blaster. As I busted the packs I thought to myself interesting product. The last pack saved the blaster and added an auto from one of my all-time favorite players, and brief Redbird, to our collection. An on card Eck auto numbered out of 500! I am tempted to go grab a few more but I know when to hold them, I know when to fold them, and I know when to walk away.

Better than a Blaster Mega Lot Edition

# of cards in lot: 1284 .
# of cards added to out collection: 320
Cost of lot with shipping: $16.89
Cost per card of unduplicated cards: 1.3 cents per card for all cards.
Cost per card of cards added to collection: 5.2 cents per card.
Quality: 3 Blasters (very little “Junk Wax”)
Value: 3 Blasters
Expectations: 2 Blasters (thought the majority would be junk wax)
Average # of Blasters: 2.67

Description "Hi and thanks for looking.  This lot is for 1345 St. Louis Cardinals cards.  Cards in the lot include base cards, parallels, inserts, serial #'d and game-used. "

Can't say I had much expectations for this lot but I was pleasantly surprised when I received the flat rate box and tore into it. It contained boxes, team bags, and plastic snap boxes of glorious Cardinals' cards. The oldest was a 1978 Topps Jerry Mumphrey (which we have) and the newest cards were 2014 Topps Stadium Club. The vast  majority were from the late 1990s through to the early 2000s. WOW! Scored some great inserts, parallels , and some base. We were able to knock some cards from our needed list with some of my favorites below. Best lot in some time and I had blast going through it.

1999 Skybox Premium Renteria

2005 Topps Update Gold Jimmy Ballgame

2003 Flair Greats Ballpark Heroes Stan 

1999 Fleer SI Lankford

WC #3 On a bro date with Willie

My wife has been spending a well deserved and earned week in Maui and as the day nears when she returns I decided to have a bro date with Willie. We visited the Santa Cruz Flea Market (more on this later) and then finished our bro date with plate of camarones y pulpo and a michelada. 

I am a "winner"

I nearly forgot to post this as I realized today I haven't shared my winnings. Sometime in November I came home and found a beat up box on our porch-I thought great I was sent some cards and the USPS or another carrier beat up the box. So I set it on my dinning table and noticed the sender's address in STL looked very familiar. So I opened it up and the loosely packed box contained some little MLB Network Cardinals draw string bags-WTF?. But underneath the bags was this.

 Under the box was a letter.

Sure as heck my name was in the issue. The week before I won a $100 gift card from the State of Maine for completing a survey about our summer trip. Booya!

WC #2 Free Willie

After work we went to a local Goodwill to try and find, I mean free, some Willies.

WC #1 Willie likes it Big and Spicy

This is my first WC posting. Willie and me enjoying a fat, wet, and spicy burrito before a work meeting.

I am going to show you my Willie in unusual places.

Baseball Card Breakdown is having a contest where you have a junk wax card in your wallet and take photos of it in cool places. I love this-it reminds me when like a decade ago people were stealing neighbor's garden gnomes and taking them around the world and sending the neighbors pictures of their missing gnomes at cool places. I have chosen one of my favorite players to share the experience with me. I couldn't bring myself to sit on Yadi's handsome mug for hours on end so I went with 1983 Donruss Willie McGee. Not technically "junk wax" but I can't wait to bring him to some cool places-which is the least I can do since he will be absorbing some of my arse funk for the next 360 days. Ta da here is my Willie.

2015 Collecting Goals

Collecting goals for 2015. Coming up with goals isn’t an easy task. Yes, one could come up with a list of goals pretty easily but to come up with tasks that are achievable and meaningful isn’t as easy as it may seem. So here is a stab at collecting goals for 2015.

1. Add 100 pre-2015 Yadi cards to our collection.

2. Add 75 2015 Yadi cards to our collection.

As with goal #1 this is doable but probably just barely as the supply is low and the demand high and as any economist knows this isn’t an inexpensive proposition.

3. Add a pre-WWI Cardinals’ card to our collection (note this card must be in at least good condition).

4. Grow our Cardinals’ oddball collection.

I love oddballs-yeah there are plenty in the 1990s but there are some great ones from all decades.

5. Complete five Topps Cardinals Regular team sets from the 1960s and 70s.

I am near to completing the 1966 team set, the 1977 set is complete and I am almost finished with the 1975, 1976, 1978, and 1979 sets. Plus when I start to organize our collection I will be able to check off several vintage cards from our want list.

6. Complete one vintage Bowman Cardinals’ team set.

For the record I love the Bowman sets, their art-work, paper, and even their size I find appealing.

7. Increase our vintage Topps inserts-deckle, coins, supers, poster, stamps, rub-offs for example.

The Lou Brock sticker purchased a few days ago completes the 1977 Topps Cardinals Sticker team set. Ok, there were only two Cardinals to pick up but these are hella cool and remind me of stickers I had back in the '70s.

8. Organize, organize organize. Living in California we don’t have basements so there is no “man cave” to display our collection-so I am in a quandary as what to do. Perhaps boxes, and pages, or just boxes? I do know there is no way to have more then a couple of binders of cards.

9. Visit at least two flea markets in this area.

I am hopeful that I will be able to hit the De Anza flea market in a couple of weeks.

10. Send some cards to COMC.

I have put a couple of cards on Listia but the only bids are for a couple of credits so I am not sure how long Listia will last.

11. Still have fun! I wouldn't do this with out having fun.

Happy New Year to all and a grading of our 2014 collecting goals

I hope everyone had a great New Year and Holiday Season. Christmas was great but I am still feeling under the weather from New Years Eve day. We spent 7 days in San Diego at my in-laws enjoying copious amounts of SD Beer (visiting breweries is another passion of ours) and SD burritos, which are the best IMO.

Time for a recap of 2014 collecting goals.

Goal #1- Set a budget and stand by it.

This I give myself an D for effort and an F for results. I failed to do this and I hope to get better in 2015 so this will be a 2015 goal as well.

Goal #2- Add at least 200 pre-2014 Yadi cards to our collection.

I grade this as an A for effort and B for results. We were able to add 157 pre-Yadis to our collection. Though there are several hundred pre 2014 Yadi cards we need. Seems to me that locating these has been a challenge and at a reasonable price even more challenging. We are talking about base cards, parallels, inserts, etc.

Goal #3- Pick up most of the 2014 Yadi cards for our collection.

I grade this as C in effort and results. This was a serious challenge in large part because of the number of new Yadis in 2014. There were over 200 new Yadi’s in 2014 and we added 75 of these. Topps Tek and high end Topps releases but the nail in this goal’s coffin. Another factor was the, to me, outrageous prices of 2014 and pre 2014 Yadi cards were demanding on EBay and COMC.

Final 2014 Yadi card of the year. Topps Update Jose Molina SP Photo Varition Yadi

Goal #4-Attend at least 2 card shows (haven't done so since I was 16)

This was for the most part successful as I was able to attend one show. So this is a solid B+ in effort and results.

Goal #5- Sell cards on COMC and Ebay.

This was an incomplete grade as I studied for my exams the last 5 months of the year and didn’t have a chance to do this prior to then.

Goal #6- Make trades with other collectors.

This is A for effort and results. I was able to do this and will continue to do so. I have been saving cards for other collectors now I just have to send them out. Andrew your cards will be on the way soon.

Goal #7- Buy one T206 Cardinals or Browns card from the way back.

I grade myself an A for effort and results as I did pick up two 1940 Playball Cardinals-Mort Cooper and Mike Gonzalez for our collection.

Goal #8-Have Fun!

A grades all the way around-I have really enjoyed 2014 in terms of collecting though I may not enjoy organizing them!

Last card added in 2014

Ray Lankford 1999 Flair Showcase ROW 2 #60 St. Louis Cardinals