Rickey goes to a card show!

Posted by cardboard hogs on February 1, 2015

It’s been a very long week over here. I’ve been fighting this sinus infection and dealing with all the fun things that come with that…lots of drugs and kleenex. Lots of coughing and sneezing. Lots of uncomfortable days and bad nights of sleep…but i had something to look forward to this week. A card show, not just any card show, but the first one of the year! We are quite lucky here in Portland to have a show or two each month, but it’s become more and more difficult to make each one with family responsibilities calling. We almost had a scheduling conflict that would have made it impossible for me to attend the show but nana stepped up and took care of the kid for a couple of hours. Good on you Nana!

When i got to the show, i had a plan to take a wallet card photo at each table i visited but then chickened out…or maybe got distracted once i got there. I did manage to get one photo taken while at Tom’s table and pulling a bunch of 2014 Redskin cards.

his was a pretty good show. My favorites were there, Kim and Tom. Both had some great items pulled aside for me…as well as another dealer that always pulls items aside for me although his name escapes me now. He’s become my go to guy for knocking out a ton of my common Redskins especially the years during my non collecting time between the mid 90’s to the early 2000’s. Lots of commons but great checklist items. I will be posting them later this week…hopefully.

Today’s post though, is about Kim’s table. Kim has tons of great relic, auto and serial numbered cards for every sports team in every sport. He also has great prices for the cardboard. The kind of deals you really can’t get anywhere else. He’s often thrown in items at the end of our deals…you know…just to keep me coming back. Since i picked up quite a few items at his table i wanted to focus on the landscape collection. These are the landscape cards from Kim!

This card was essentially a toss in as it’s neither a relic nor an auto…but it is numbered to 99.

Next up is the Roy Helu Jr. card which Kim was extremely excited to show me and REALY wanted me to take it home with me. So I did…i was a little worried that i already have this one but after double checking when i got home i was happy to see that i had not picked this one up yet.

Malcolm Kelly. A very sad bust. Actually probably someone that should not have been drafted as high as he was by the Redskins…but those days are gone and there is no sense in looking at the past. One of the difficult things about obtaining EVERY SINGLE Redskin card made is that you have to make these kinds of pickups. A pretty short print autograph (albeit a sticker) with a game worn jersey that books much more than it should. This is a card show though and the book doesn’t work here…or if it does, you probably won’t have much business at your table. Honestly can’t remember what this one cost but the sticker had it at $18 which i’m certain is not what it cost when the deal was done…maybe $5?

Next in line is this really lovely London Fletcher game worn jersey card from last years Spectra set. I love the burgundy jersey swatch here with a slightly unbound thread coming out of the card…not sure how visible it is, but it’s a nice touch to the card. The shiny blue (purple?) card is pretty sweet too.

Last one and the card that was one of my favorites from Kim is the Jordan Reed Bowman Sterling player worn refractor jersey card. It’s always nice to get a card that has a portion of the number or nameplate in the swatch portion of the cardboard. This one was number 41 of 75.

Groovy Spurs

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 31, 2015

Today was an extraordinarily beautiful day in Portland. The weather was warm and the sun was out…and luckily for me there was a card show that i could spend a couple of hours inside a suburban strip mall…diggin through some lovely dirty boxes. During the week i’ll have a few posts showing off some of the great pickups i had today. Mostly Redskins, but i did manage to pick up a few Nats cards and…some SPURS!

I’ve decided i don’t collect enough things, so the San Antonio Spurs collection is slowly building momentum…slowly. My goal today was to get a couple Gervin cards and maybe a few others if they peaked my interest. This card did some interest peaking. The smoothness of the Ice Man is this beautifully documented in this lovely piece of cardboard.

78 TO George Gervin

Growing up in San Antonio during the 80’s and being a Spurs fan wasn’t the easiest thing in the world. The team was mediocre at best for most years although they had one of the smoothest shooters in the game rockin’ the silver and black.

It wasn’t until the Admiral David Robinson was drafted that things really started to change. But for me, my first favorite Spur was Gervin.

One of the last cards i picked up at the show was this acetate auto of Cory Joseph. I got this one from Kim’s table. One of my favorite table stops at the shows because of his more than fair priced high end cards. This one set me back about $3.

Retail regrets

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 27, 2015

I made a quick trip in to our local Fred Meyers on Sunday to pick up a couple of things, donuts, chocolate, soda, candy…the diet of a grown ass child. To make things even more child like i decided to swing by the card section and did my best to avoid the retail fix. You know that feeling kids, you don’t want to fall down the pit of retail despair, but you can’t help it. It’s an addiction and I fell off the wagon. I was doing great too. Going to all my retail anonymous meetings. Following the 12 steps to perfection.

It’s time to start over.

I bought two packs and i feel dirty.

Not back street alley dirty or even midnight NYC subway dirty

But just kinda full of regret and out $9.98 that could have gone to a couple of beers at a show.

Here’s what i ended up with, be sure you are still seated.

The first pack was a jumbo pack of Absolute Football from this past season. Something fun here that i was completely unaware was happening this season was the full pack of die cuts. All the jigs and jags were really cool but made it a lil difficult to sift through the packs quickly, but i guess that’s just a collector problem issue. I also thought it was fantastic to pull these two guys back to back. Almost like panini was trolling the Rams.

I did pull a Redskin, one Redskin and probably the best offensive player from the 2014 season. DJax! Jackson loves Instagram, he’s a huge gram poster and he loves emoticon…or emoji’s? Not really sure. One of his favorites is the 100 one, as in, he’s always keeping One Hunid. That’s cool. The kids say that a lot, sounds fun. I’ma keep it One Hunid for the remainder of this post. One last note, DJax doesn’t ever use a ‘CK’ back to back (bacc to bacc if you are DJax) mostly because gang members think this means ‘Crip Killer’ and i guess he’s a crip. I find this amusing because his last name is JaCKson. Word!

Next pack. Panini Contenders. I’ve always loved this set and have bought boxes in the past but since i’m on a box break…break, i haven’t done that. The best little nuggets i got in this pack was this kid.

Russell Wilson. He’s a pretty fantastic young QB and only getting better. I had my doubts that he was legit until the comeback vs. Green Bay. Thought he was a decent QB on a great team with a great defense. Both seem to be true…

Last card. Brady and Amendola. Touchdown Tandem. I think i would have paired Brady with the Gronk on this one…but i don’t make cards.

I’m going to have to pull for the Patriots on Sunday even though i’ve never cheered for a Boston team in my life…just don’t really want to see the 12th man tell me how amazing their team is…even though they are pretty amazing and I don’t think the Seahawks will lose. Just can’t cheer for them is all.

A Panini Redemption, and it’s a Bear!

Posted by cardboard hogs on February 6, 2014

One more Panini redemption down and one more to go. Come on Panini America, you can do it! Get it done! Get those busy athletes that don’t care about sports cards to sign their autographs on a sheet filled with little 1 3/4″ x 5/8″ stickers. They love it. Tuned in to the latest Rick Ross song bumping through their beats by Dre headphones. C’MON PANINI!

Initially when i pulled this redemption of Jeffery, I wasn’t too excited. He a Gamecock and I’ve always been partial to the Clemson Tigers. I was born in South Carolina and all of my family is from there, so I picked the Tigers at a young age and never looked back. Now that Spurrier is coaching the cocks, i have even more dislike for them…Spurrier…yuck…Clowney is pretty awesome though. And so was Jeffery this past season.

In hindsight, this is actually a pretty decent hit. Unfortunately though, there isn’t a serial number on the card. It’s just a regular ol’ autograph on a nice card. Seeing the high quality of Jeffery’s auto, i can’t imagine it took him too long to get his pen on the sticker.

Quick stats. This card was redeemed on February 23, 2013 and it was pulled from my mailbox on February 5, 2014. Nearly a year, but not quite…348 days to be exact. Way to go Panini, keep those customers happy. Just for the record, i haven’t picked up any packs or boxes from Panini since last summer and I haven’t really missed it.

I apologize for sounding too negative, but the redemption thing in this hobby really needs to end. Of all the frustration this hobby brings on its collectors with parallels, topps control of the mlb contract and high price ‘hits’, the redemption is the most annoying. Waiting nearly a year to get one of your guaranteed hits from a box is simply ridiculous.

Look at the Harper kid

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 14, 2014

Here are a couple more pickups from the Mall 205 card show for one of the new kids on my PC block. A few inexpensive Harper cards that set me back a grand total of $2. Can’t beat that for this kids baseball card.

look at the kids well manicured eye brows here. Very precise, just like his nearly flawless swing. Seems to be some very minor controversy about him ‘ballooning’ in weight over the off season as if he’s lost control of everything and just letting himself go…DC media…build you up and knock you down.

look at the clean shaven Harper. There has been some crazy beard action going on in this country and it is very heavy in Portland…i’m putting full blame on the hipsters and all those folksy/campy 12 piece banjo bands that keep popping up on my spottily streams. One thing I will not miss is the beard phase. You know what’s worse? A dude with a full grown beard, a vest and a handlebar mustache. Absolutely no excuse for that, at all!

I will post a couple Strasburg cards I picked up from the dollar bin as well soon! Good night kids.

Reed Book(let)s

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 13, 2014

Here is the next gem of a card to add to my ever growing Jordan Reed collection. This one is a booklet. My first Reed booklet and my 3rd overall (2 Leonard Hankerson’s).

This was a pickup from the Mall 205 card show I attended last Saturday…which was lightly attended. I guess most of the dealers come down from Seattle and wanted to watch the Seahawks put a hurtin’ on the poor Saints…so they decided to stay home rather than make the three hour drive.

I was pulling for the Saints to knock off the heavily favored Seahawks and so was the VERY talented Australian actress Margo Robbie. I have no idea why an Australian lady actress would be a Saints fan, but whatever…

https://twitter.com/MargotRobbie/statuses/422208544872873984

…we were both heartbroken…If you haven’t seen The Wolf of Wall Street and are ok with gratuitous everything and anything, then you should kill 3 hours as soon as they can be killed by you. Beats driving to Seattle (I LOVE Seattle, just not the drive…LOVE IT!!!)

Getting back to the card since this is card blog. The guy that i picked the Reed from had purchased it from e-bay specifically for me. Pretty cool huh? That’s what i love about these shows. You attend them enough and chat up the guys, they will go out of their way to find things for you…and not mark up the price! This is a great example of the hobby and what it can be. Very cool…too bad I can’t remember the kids name!!??!?!!

Shiny Baseball Cards

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 6, 2014

My football card blog is lagging in baseball card posts…not really, I just have a few Harpers and a Hanley I wanted to show you kids.

These bad boys have been sitting in my man cave aka, my closet! Just sitting there, precariously perched on a box of top loaders stacked on a box of books, next to a pair of jeans that no longer fits my ever growing winter ass.

Bryce Harper everyone!

I managed to pick up 3 Harper cards that do not have him with a Curly W Nats hat.

This one is very patriotic and shiny and Prizm-y.

Here is the Hanley Ramirez card I noted in the very first sentence of this post. I love Hanley and hope that he can stay healthy next year.

I have paid more attention to the Dodgers in the 1 1/2 years since they picked him up…this also gave me a great opportunity to listen to Vin Scully. Man, I miss baseball already…

Panini Prizm Redemption, I.Pead

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 4, 2014

WOW! Two redemptions in less than a month and it’s a decent auto of a decent player. Isaiah Pead, I.Pead. With a name like that he’s lucky that he’s fast and incredibly athletic. I can only imagine how difficult elementary school could have been.

This card, as you can tell was from last years Prizm set. I picked up a box of this from Dave and Adam’s and really loved the design and layout of the cards…plus they have a great feel to them. This completes the hits from that box that I opened up 315 days ago. Better late than never, I guess.

I have two more redemptions that are in the hands of Panini. I’m going to give it another week or so and give them a call to see if I can get a Redskin replacement for the two outstanding redemptions. I will keep you kids posted. Until then, good luck to you and enjoy collecting!

Black Friday Reeds

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 2, 2014

Going back to Black Friday. As I mentioned earlier, I jumped all over the COMC.com Black Friday sale and picked up some very nice Jordan Reed cards. These are the kind of cards that you want to put in nice card holders and present on some prominent shelf in your sports card room. I don’t have a sports card room, so they will be shown here on the blog.

Here are the player worn patch/player worn relic/player worn memorabilia cards in landscape format. The first one is from Topps Inception. I love these cards with the very cool over processed images and intense photography. Plus it’s number 1 of 93. What’s up with the random number 93?

Next up is Bowman Sterling with Mr. Reed staring very intensely into the cameraman’s lens.

And here is a quad patch numbered to 75.

Here is the autograph portion of the post. The Bowman card along with the three above are super thick cards that barely fit into a penny sleeve. It’s kind of a shame that a card this thick and nice is a sticker auto.

The next card is from this years Prizm set. I love Prizm.

For the last two cards, you will notice they are crazy die cut cards with reflective shiny-ness all over them. I love the die cut cards, but they can be a pain to put back in the penny sleeves.

This one was more difficult to put back in the sleeves. Not putting the toothpaste back in the tube difficult, but difficult no less. I happened to scan these along with the thicker cards, so pardon the shadows…although they create a nice depth to the card and the angles. So nice!

If you are in your late 30’s like me and love some good ole Hip Hop, then you should listen to this as I am doing right now. This takes me back…life moves way too quick.

PS – I’ve updated my 1970’s Redskins checklist…check it out if you think you have something to help me complete my team sets.

Christmas Eve Pickups

Posted by cardboard hogs on December 24, 2013

I had an extra hour today because I decided that work was so slow that I shouldn’t be there. I left to run some errands and was able to get over to see the fine folks at Hoopla sports cards. I had been in there many times, but never really had the time to look around. They have a ton of stuff and are super friendly guys, so they helped me find a couple of things I was looking for…and of course some other things I didn’t know I needed.

As my building of the Tim Duncan collection begins, my main focus is on base cards and cards that I just like the look of. Getting in to basketball cards is completely different…they don’t wear protective head wear so you get a great look at each players face. Here are two pictures of Timmy’s emotionless face. So stoic.

I also picked up my first jersey card of Duncan. That is one BIG STAR.

I love the overhead view in this card. There was a guy in the shop opening some high end version of Hockey cards…man, Hockey cards are REALLY AWESOME. As an amateur photographer, I love the contract of the white ice and the colorful jerseys. I’ve noticed some of these nice contrasts in the basketball cards…but not this one per se.

Here are a couple of cards i didn’t know existed of Ryan Kerrigan and Jarvis Jenkins. I also picked up Paul, Helu and Royster…but I like these guys more so I scanned them instead.

The next one is a beauty. A Stephen Davis Turkey Red jersey card. This card is all kinds of wonderful and cost me $2. Not bad at all for a jersey card.

This is where it gets fun. Heath Shuler. He was a highly touted QB coming out of Tennessee and was to be the face of the franchise for years to come. His QB guru head coach was going to groom him in to the next Troy Aikman, or at least some other great Hall of Fame QB.

A lack of pocket presence and multiple injuries helped derail his career along with inability to really learn the offense that was tailored to fit his specific athletic abilities.