A New Year, A New Post

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 4, 2015

Man, oh man…it has been a very, very long time since i’ve had the time to post anything here. Not sure if anyone has checked in periodically or just assumed i’ve dropped off the face of the blogosphere earth. I still collect, i still read other blogs and i still am trying to get organized. That has been the main reason for my absence, well, that and a very active and passionate 2 year old exhausting all of my free energy. I love him dearly, but i have cards to write about…

As i mentioned, i am still doing all the things that we do as collectors and i’ve managed to make some great progress in getting organized and up to date on my checklists…thanks to a few late nights on the home computer and an extended vacation from work. My main focus has been on getting everything logged from the 1950’s-1990’s. Everything was sweet until i hit the abyss of the mid 90’s when subsets and serial numbers and various parallels became all the unreasonable rage. This was also the period of time when i put the hobby aside to be a 20 year old male. I’ve regained my focus and will have some checklists updated in the next few weeks to months as they get incorporated in to google docs.

Enough with the words. Here are some photos of a few cards from the 1950 and 1952 Bowman sets i’ve picked up the past 6 months.

Normally, bloggers like to save their best for last. Not me. This one cost a few nickels but was very much worth it to me. It’s a beautiful card and centered fairly well…the corner are in pretty nice condition too. I looked at a few 8’s that were available on eBay and were well outside what i could spend and feel ok with myself. This one wasn’t too bad and it’s in great shape.

One of the things that i wanted to do with my set was get each of the Redskins cards from 1959 and earlier graded, so i searched around and picked up what i could from eBay and from the local card shop just around the corner from me, Hoopla Sports. The guys there are great and have nice deals on what i’m looking for…this isn’t one of them though. This one was scooped from eBay. Love how i drop the curve on you huh? completely unrelated story and then this image.

I love the smaller format cards from the 50’s. The card designers and artists did an amazing job with them and holding these pieced in your had you can really appreciate the amount of work that had to go in to each layout.

Collecting redundancy happens quite a bit in our hobby. You pick up multiple variations of cards…red cards, yellow cards, blue cards…rarely, but sometimes, you pick up the same card that comes in two different sizes like this large Dick Alban…large Dick…

OK, here’s my shot at ending on a high note. Another Slinging’ Sammy Baugh card…1952 Bowman Small. I waited and waited on this card in hopes of finding one at a great price from eBay and finally stumbled across a guy that had it listed as BIN. I made him an offer that he quickly refused and came back with something a little better. After another number from him, i finally got it shipped. A little more than i hoped to get for it, but much less than others had their versions priced at.

We have two shows coming up this month and i’m hoping to make one of them. The Cedar Hills show is much closer to me but tends to be less occupied by dealers and i end up walking away feeling like i wasted my time…but it is closer…if not, i will hit up the show at Mall 205 to see what they have going on…hopefully my friend from COMC, Tom will be there?

One last item, i am going to attempt to do the wallet card “challenge” and see what 365 days in my side pocket will do to a 1986 Topps Rickey Henderson. I chose this card because it has my favorite player on it in my favorite baseball teams jersey…and it was the first set i ever completed. Here is day one, which started yesterday…so 363 days in my side pocket.

…side note, i’m rockin’ a money clip this year as i do not like wallets, so let’s call it the money clip challenge here.

Happy Birthday Rickey and Merry Christmas

Posted by cardboard hogs on December 25, 2013

Today is the 55th birthday of my childhood idol. Rickey Nelson Henley Henderson.

The Man of Steal. He was the all time stolen base leader and the greatest leadoff hitter of all time. I can’t think of any position or spot in a lineup where you can say that about a baseball player and not get twenty other names from twenty other people. Maybe it’s a bold statement, but I don’t think there really is an argument for his greatness at the leadoff position. Fielding…eh…not the greatest.

Rickey Henderson 7

He was the reason I became a Yankee fan (but still secretly love the A’s) and the reason why I wear #24 any chance I get. Whenever people asked me in a confused manner, “Why are you a Yankees fan?” They are only more confused after I tell them because of Rickey Henderson…I’m a very loyal fan and hitched my wagon to the Yanks in 1985. I was 9 and there was no going back as far as I was concerned.

Hall Of Fame Baseball

He was also the reason I fell in love with baseball and insisted on stealing as many bases as i could in little league. I also stole them by sliding head first. The coaches never liked it, but the one time I went in feet first I rolled my ankle and got a nasty strawberry…never jammed my wrist sliding head first thank you very much!

He may not have been the greatest teammate of all time and maybe he was a little self absorbed…or aloof 🙂 But he is a Hall of Famer and remains my all time favorite athlete.

This will always be my favorite card. I purchased this with $12 of my allowance money from the West Avenue Card Shop in San Antonio, Texas over the summer of 1986. Funny story about the West Ave. Card Shop…a few years after I purchased this card along with many others through the years, they were busted for buying and selling large amounts of cocaine. I guess they were using the card shop as a way to launder their drug money…and here I just thought they had bad allergies with all the sniffing and wiping of their noses. They were just coke-heads.

Happy Birthday Rickey Henderson as I’m sure you are reading this wonderful post about you on your day of birth that you share with baby Jesus. I hope everyone out there has a wonderful Christmas! Stay safe and keep collecting!

Cedar Hills Show – The low budget version ep.II

Posted by cardboard hogs on June 28, 2013

One of my goals at last weekends show was to pick up some Robinson Cano cards. For whatever reason, he is difficult to find at our local shows and shops…at least inexpensively. I was hoping to get a handful of Cano cards for a dollar or two each…didn’t happen. In fact, I didn’t pick up one Cano card. BUT, i did manage to find a few nice cards of other players I collect…and here they are.

The first card is the classic Mattingly Topps Rookie reprinted from 2001.

Next a Rickey Dodger incarnation from the 2003 Upper Deck set.

And a Rickey A’s from the 1981 Fleer Sticker set. Nice!

Also picked up an Allen and Ginter Mini

And a Prizm. This is both a cool card and one of my least favorite card. I really have a tough time with the photoshopped logos and team names.

The Hanley was part of a 7/$5 deal and it’s numbered to 25. Can’t beat that.

A Crawford Prizm in his Los Angeles Baseball Club jersey…photoshop…

Last up area few Jeter cards. I specifically said I wouldn’t purchase any Jeter cards at this show because he is one player that I have never organized…but always manage to pick up one or two when they are marked for a $1. Also, I couldn’t pass up this trio of cards or the mini. All were part of the 7/$5 deal. Sometimes you justgottagettajeta!

and the Mini!

Cedar Hills Show – The low budget version ep.I

Posted by cardboard hogs on June 23, 2013

I’ve been away from the blogging for a while. No real reason, other than we’ve been busy with life and work…as well as enjoying life away from cardboard and computers.

There was a show this Saturday at the Cedar Hills mall that i attended after having missed the past two shows…so I have some catching up to do. I’ve also received two boxes from Dave and Adams Cardworld that i need to open and review. So, there will be a few posts coming up in the next few days or weeks. I’ve done a lot of scanning tonight and am getting close to nodding out, so i’m going to do a one card post. It’s one of my favorite all time player and a card that I am happy to have picked up for $12.

This was by far the most expensive card I picked up today as I was really trying to stay in the nickel, dime, quarter and dollar boxes. Steve from COMC had the card at his table and as usual was extremely friendly and more than happy to help look for a couple of cards. I ended up picking a few other pieces from him and the 12/$1 boxes…but those are for another post.

I am going to bed, but will be posting like mad the next couple of weeks…I hope. 🙂

GIANT Man of Steal

Posted by cardboard hogs on June 12, 2013

I feel like the more and more cards I buy, the further away I get from purchasing BASEBALL cards. I have no idea why this has become the norm for me, not intentional…just the way it’s become. Baseball has always been my favorite sport and the sport that I LOVE.

Last week I stopped by The Sports Room and made a big pick up.

A giant 1984 Topps Rickey Henderson.

With all of the mini craze Topps has gotten themselves into the past few years, I’d love to see them bring back these big boys. Maybe do a box topper with 3 or 4 cards in a pack of the Archives set next year…could be fun to get a few of these frame-able cads with Robinson Cano or Hanley Ramirez in a 1987 Topps design, eh? Just a thought.

Silk, Mettle and Zumthor

Posted by cardboard hogs on April 26, 2013

It’s Friday night and i’ve been tracking the NFL draft the past couple of hours and days to see whom the Redskins would pick up. I don’t follow a lot of college football, so most of these guys are complete strangers to me. When it’s all wrapped up and the draft is complete, i plan on doing a quick post of the guys that were selected for the Burgundy and Gold. – HTTR!

I couldn’t really think of a good post, so i am going to dig in the crates a bit and post some cards i purchased a month or so ago. They are of my childhood idol Rickey Henderson and they are all pretty cool.

The first one is the Copper (looking) Proven Mettle card numbered 58/99. The card shows a very young looking Rickey in some classic A’s garb with his patented inquisitive stare/squint. These cards are pretty cool and seem to be very popular on the ebay. Not sure how much value they would hold if the apocalypse hit and coins or metal were the only currency accepted. I’m not worried about that though, but we do have an emergency kit along with some water in the basement…and extra cat litter to make the mother in law happy.

The next card is the wrought iron version serial numbered 16/50. This coin is a little better looking than the copper looking one, but has a little ding on Rickey’s nose…not cool, but that happens i guess. The profiles of these coins sticks out from the plane of the card, so i guess these things happen. Still a nice piece to add to my Rickey Henderson PC.

The last Rickey Henderson card is the silk manufactured version of his 1980 Topps Rookie Card. The card is pretty cool and i like the casing around it, frames the card nicely, plus it’s pretty thick. Also like the fact that they don’t have a plastic cover over the card so you can feel the material. Nice. I know Fuji is putting this set together, hope to see it soon…that could be a pretty cool set.

I’m going to go off on a non sports card or sports card note here, so please feel free to move along if you like.

One last item since i’m talking all time favorites. Today is the birthday of my all time favorite Architect, Peter Zumthor. He turned 70 today. My wife and I were lucky enough to venture to one of his few built projects in Vals, Switzerland…the Therme Vals. As an architect, we tend to plan vacations around what buildings we can visit and my wife is a willing participant most of the time…but she was super excited for this trip as it was one of the most heralded thermal baths in Europe and nestled in a tiny Swiss Alps village. Needless to say we had a fantastic time visiting the various rooms and the views were some of the most amazing sights i had ever experience…truly humbling. Zumthor is a bit of an enigma in the Architecture world. He hasn’t built very many projects, around 20 i believe, but he has become world renown due to his dedication to his projects and the sites they inhabit. Zumthor was a Pritzker Prize winner in 2009, which i guess would be the sports equivalent of the Hall of Fame. He is a true craftsmen and his buildings are works of art. If you are interested, here are a few links to some of his projects as well as his wiki page.

Peter Zumthor Wikipedia Page

Peter Zumthor Interview

Therme Vals

Kunsthaus Bregenz

Saint Benedict Chapel

Rickey and Donny Baseball

Posted by cardboard hogs on April 14, 2013

The only real reason i became a Yankee fan was because my favorite player, Rickey Henderson was traded in the winter to the Bronx Bombers. I was a 9 year old kid that was easily led astray and more than willing to change my allegiance as i saw fit. At the time, the Yankees were ok. They did have the history which I was really not that aware of at the time but something i was more than willing to embrace. Gehrig, Ruth, DiMaggio, Mantle…endless names of a great sports franchise.

Through the years, my friends have given me a hard time about being a Yankee fan and question why i’m not an Astros or Rangers fan. My response is always the same…Really? Astros or Rangers? I couldn’t get down with those rainbow sherbet jerseys that Mike Scott and Nolan Ryan rocked in the 80’s. As for the Rangers, they played in the Dallas area and I associated that with the Dallas Cowboys…and there was no way i was signing up for that team, ever. So, I stuck with the Yankees and embraced the team. Granted, i have always had a little piece of my heart set aside for the Oakland Athletics since they were the first team i followed and the one that Rickey is most associated with.

At our Portland show this past Saturday, i wanted to get some new Henderson cards…and do a little digging through the nickel and dollar boxes. As you all know, there is a certain time and physical commitment involved in searching through these boxes, but it’s always worth it. The thing i love the most about doing the digging is finding cards that i have never seen and were issued at a time when i wasn’t collecting.

It also reminds me of the endless amounts of teams Rickey played for…I honestly forgot he played for San Diego.

I do remember those fun Met years. This is actually a pretty cool card to. The technology and card design in the late 90’s and early 2000’s was special wasn’t it?

The last Rickey card may or may not already be a part of my collection, but it only set me back one nickel…so i couldn’t pass it up.

Here are a couple Donny Baseball cards i was able to find. I LOVED the Stadium Club cards, but was never able to get a Mattingly card. It’s been a long time coming Mr. Mattingly.

As a side note, this is my 42nd post. My wife and I got a little date day Saturday afternoon and went to see the new Jackie Robinson movie, 42. Although there were a few parts that were campy and overly sappy for my liking (it is a family movie after all), I felt the movie was very well done and gave a great description of his role with integrating baseball. It was a 2 hour movie, so there is only so much you can comment on and everything cannot be addressed, but I would highly recommend it if you have time. Jackie Robinson Day is tomorrow, so get your 42’s out!

Mall 205 Card Show

Posted by cardboard hogs on March 11, 2013

It’s been a while since I’ve been to a card show and since my last post, so I will tackle both in one post this evening!

Each month, we have a show at Mall 205 here in the Portland area. Not sure why they do these things in a strip mall, but that’s how they do it up here I guess. Maybe they pick up residual traffic from mall shoppers? I don’t know. It provides a great opportunity for me to get new deodorant at Target, some new kicks at the Famous Footwear (remember that name…) and chase it all down with a slice of pizza from the place no longer called pizza schmizza although it still looks like a pizza schmizza.

As of late, I’ve been on a purging phase and have managed to get rid of a bunch of CD’s at the local Everyday Music and have some cash for the card shows. So, I had a slightly bigger budget than normal for this trip…the excitement builds. In general, I don’t go to these shows with goals or objectives because I tend to look for the same stuff and hit up the same tables. This time though I really wanted to pick up some new Robinson Cano and Rickey Henderson cards along with any shiny new Redskins cards I didn’t already have. I was only successful with the latter goal.

Having gone to these shows for the past couple of years now, I’ve developed a rapport with a few of the guys and gravitate to their tables first. My first stop is always Tom. Somehow he manages to have some new Redskin stuff for me each time at fantastic prices. He’s always personable and friendly as well as having a tremendous amount of great cards. In my visit with him, he pulls out this triple auto card with RGIII on it that I can only manage to drool over. No idea how much it was and really didn’t want to know…it was too much for me, but a beautiful card no less. I walked away with a new orange Kerrigan card and a serial numbered Fred Davis along with a couple other items.

$11 TC Ryan Kerrigan Orange Refractor$

After Tom’s table, I typically just move down the line knowing the other tables I want to visit will have some good stuff for me. I worked down the line and ran into a new guy, Greg who had some nice stuff to offer. He dropped a Kirk Cousins auto Prizm and Alfred Morris in front of me…$10…why, yes, thank you.

The next couple of items I picked up came from a couple of different tables at good prices…can’t go wrong with any RGIII in my mind.

One table I visited was very interesting. The guy was selling DVD’s, comics and had a box of cards with a really nice and shiny Derek Jeter on top…so I stopped to take a peek. His sign said ‘this box $1 each’, but he tells me that if I buy 5 cards or more, I can have them for 50cents each…hmmm. If I buy 4 cards, that will be $4 but if I buy 5…it will set me back $2.50. I used to be really good at math and from what I can recall it was in my best interest to max out my purchase at this guys table. Unfortunately, I only managed to pick up 5 items. 4 Jeters and my only Rickey Henderson of the show.

As I worked my way to one of my new favorite table, for some reason I have never asked for the guys name…but I always spend a good amount of money on his stuff. He always has great stuff and gives you a nice deal…plus he’s really cool. I was sifting through his 50% off box when I heard some loud cursing. I turned to see some kid darting out of the aforementioned Famous Footwear with some new Nike kicks in his hand. The kid was fast, but I can see that corporate check on those sneaks a mile away.

THE KID WAS HELLA FAST!

He was being chased out of the mall by Paul Blart’s slimmer brother, well, slightly slimmer and Segway-less. This mall cop had no chance, but it was a valiant effort. I should have offered him a slice of my Hawaiian pizza, they were on sale that day…daily special.

Anyways, back to marked down cardboard. Homeboy hooked me up with some RGIII goodies along with an Aldrick Robinson auto and a Ryan Torain auto that I’ve passed up many times. At least I can cross it off my imaginary list.

Last stop before my wife kills me for being late. New table, friendly guy and great cards that were marked down to 80% off. 80% off! Why in the hell would I pay retail when I can get great cards for 80% off! The guy had a few boxes of nice serial numbered cards with Clinton Portis and Santana Moss cards that I could use for my PC. Unfortunately most of the cards were in their previous teams kits, but still guys I loved to watch.

01 UD Santana Moss Game Gear Jersey510:1000

04 PP Clinton Portis Jersey 39:100

02 TD Santana Moss 139:199

All in all, a great show that included great deals, food and a petty crime. Can’t beat that at all. I ended up staying under my budget and walked out a happy guy…plus it was sunny and warm on a March day in Portland, Oregon. Life is good

One last thing, I couldn’t help but notice this sign and think of The Chronicles of Fuji.

Hogs out!

I gotta Feva!

Posted by cardboard hogs on February 28, 2013

Those immortal words were spoken by none other than the iconic Christopher Walken on the classic SNL skit…and now, I have a fever. I don’t need a cowbell, just some sleep and the ability to breathe through my nose again…such a simple task when healthy. I’ve become one of those neanderthal mouth breathers you find at your local gymnasium flexing in front of the mirror and twitpickin’…you know the type!

Another little bit of fever I caught today was some Spring Fever cards from the electronic bay of two of my favorite players. Both guys are players that i collect and play(ed) for the Yankees, one a legend and one well on his way.

Here they are in all their glory!

Rickey Henderson

Robinson Cano

There are a couple more players that i’m chasing for my PC with this set, but these are great cards for starters. Unfortunately, these cards didn’t scan quite as nicely as they appear in person. These are the first Spring Fever cards i’ve seen in person and am quite impressed with them. I love that Topps has been doing these inserts with their new flagship releases (football kickoff cards). It gets you in to the card shop and supporting your local shop. Unfortunately when i went to the shop last week, i forgot my one redemption card…and as i talked to Rick, he had actually run out of packs. Too slow on my part i guess.

I should have a nice post or two this weekend with some COMC mail but that’s it for now!

Rickey Henderson additions to my PC +1 Jeter

Posted by cardboard hogs on February 26, 2013

Since i’ve gotten the blog up and running again, one thing I really wanted to do was be more proactive in picking up new Rickey Henderson cards, or at least new to me. I’ve been a huge fan of his since I first started collecting in 1985 and was able to collect all of his base cards and some oddball stuff from the 80’s through the mid-90’s. When i gave up collecting for a few years, roughly 1995-2006, i missed out on a lot of his cards and have been playing catch up ever since.

Recently, my targets have been anything that isn’t an autograph or an outrageously short print/low serial numbered card. Focusing on base cards, parallels, inserts and nice looking jersey cards that I can find easily and cost friendly. For some reason or another, his cards are extremely difficult to spot at the card shows I go to as well as my LCS…no idea why. I never have any issues finding Tony Gwynn, Ken Griffey Jr. or Cal Ripken Jr. cards, equally great players from around the same era…but the Rickey Henderson cards are difficult if not impossible to find. I have no idea why this is? Is it that he is such a popular player and people are hoarding his cards? Or maybe people don’t like him as much as the other players from his era?

When he was playing, especially near the end of his career, there was some negativity towards him. He had a rough end with the Mets. Seemingly played one year for every team on the west coast. Tried many times to land with the A’s for a late season push. Whatever the reason, there was some negativity around him. During his heyday, he was an extremely popular player and dynamic player. He was also one of the few guys from the early years of the steroid era that seemed to be clean.

He is also a player, in my mind that is the only ‘greatest ____ of all time’ that can’t be argued with. Maybe I’m wrong on this one, but I believe he is not only the greatest base stealer of all time, but the single greatest leadoff hitter. Maybe i’m biased, but I cannot think of any other player you could say something like this about, much less two things? Who is the greatest Home Run hitter? Greatest Center Fielder? Greatest Catcher, Pitcher? All of these topics draw major debate, but when i comes to the leadoff position and base stealing, There is no one better than Rickey, and that is one of the reasons why he is my all time favorite baseball player. I will keep looking for cards when i’m out and see who has anything new and exciting, I will also check in with the great Rickey Henderson Collectibles website to see what’s new and fantastic in the world of Rickey.

So without further adieu, here are a few images from my latest visit to the ebay and the LCS. (some of these cards may not be that new and exciting to you guys, but they are new to my collection and make me happy!)

The first card is a good ol’ fashioned hologram from the mid 90’s. Upper Deck put all their chips in on this technology and it didn’t quite work out for them…did it? The Denny’s cards are pretty classic though and a must have for your binders. From different angles, it looks like you have a silver-ish card with no image and from others, you can see the Man of Steal! Thank you Denny’s, this one set me back one hundred pennies.

The next two cars are from this years Topps set, The Greats insert and a Game Used Memorabilia Chasing History card. Both were bid on and won by yours truly from the electronic bay. I’m hit or miss on bidding from stuff at ebay as i have found the sellers/buyers difficult to deal with at times. When i do purchase stuff from ebay i go low budget in order to avoid any real issues. Both of these cards set me back about $7 shipped. I love the old and new Rickey on the cards. Classic vs. Legend.

The last one is the Allen and Ginter base card from last years set.

I also picked up this beast, Derek Jeter, from the 1998 Zenith set. This set came out in a period when i was collecting things not on cardboard. I seem to remember Stale Gum doing a box break on these odd ball giants and attempting to find a way to get the mini card out of the big card without damaging the big card…or the mini card. Many attempts were made and a valiant effort was given. I’m just glad these things don’t exist anymore…except with A&G, i guess their stuff is ok, right?