A card from Napkin Doon

A few weeks back I sent Napkin Doon some pressed pennies that didn't fit in my collection. When I told him that I was sending them he begged me for my address. I stalled. I hemmed. I hawed. I didn't want him sending me cards. This wasn't a trade. I finally relented and to the post office he went.

 Here's what arrived.

2009 Topps Sterling
White Frame
Carl Erskine (card # 118)
numbered 01/50

Oisk!  Over the past few weeks I've been having mixed feelings about collecting.  Nothing seems to inspire me.  I didn't buy anything this last weekend even though were some good deals online.  Partly it was I didn't really know what I wanted.  I really need to get my checklists in order.  Partly it was that family was in town.  It is better to spend time with family than to sort cards.  Most times, it is.

This card is resparking my interest.  It looks good.  It is of a player I collect.  I like it.

Thanks, Napkin.

Thoughtful Cards

Yeah, I'm sure that the blog post title of "Thoughtful Cards" has been used before when one is posting about cards from Adam of Thoughts and Sox.

Out of the blue, Adam sent me an envelope with just two cards.

2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites, Carl Erskine (card #24)

1961 Topps, Earl Wilson (card #69)

Both of these are players I collect. I already have these cards. I'm not complaining at all, even though it sounds like I just did. I'm very thankful I have them. I'm going to send the Carl to Anderson, Indiana, to see if Mr. Erskine feels like signing it. The Earl, I'm going to take to work. Put it next to my computer screen. Remind me of the Heritage. No, not the cards, but the Heritage of baseball. The Heritage of Black Baseball.

No, Earl Wilson didn't play in the Negro Leagues, but as the first black player signed to Boston, I'm sure that he heard some comments from the stands and perhaps his fellow players.

I was able to visit the McClung Historical Collection in Knoxville earlier this week. I took a long lunch after being released from Jury Duty and transcribed a week's worth of newspaper stories about Black Baseball in and around Knoxville. From 1921.

Very interesting stuff. This Sunday afternoon I'll be attending a talk and presentation about Negro League Baseball at a local library. Rick Mosley will share his boardgame, Legends of the Game and Bryan Steverson will present the talk portion of the afternoon. I've been in contact with Bryan over the last six weeks or so and he's been a great encouragement in my pursuit of information on the Knoxville Black Giants.

So, thank you very much, Adam. Unexpected gifts are always welcome.

Contest Winnings

Jim, from The Phillies Room, ran a contest a few weeks ago. It was about uniform numbers. I used Baseball Almanac to assist me. It worked. I won.

Jim quickly sent over some Hershisers, an Erskine, and some Negro League player cards that were all new to me. Enjoy them with me.

1996 Topps Stadium Club, Orel Hershiser (card #350)

1998 Pacific, Orel Hershiser (card #71)

1988 Pacific, Carl Erskine (card #350)

1983 Donruss, Hall of Fame Heroes, James Bell (card #25)

1983 Donruss, Hall of Fame Heroes, Satchel Paige (card #11)

1983 Donruss, Hall of Fame Heroes, Monte Irvin (card #15)

Thanks, Jim.

My SportLots.com Experience

I've been waffling back and forth between SportLots.com and CheckOutMyCards.com to pick up a few more cards. A few weeks ago I decided on SportLots. I had done my research and the two were very different, in ease of use, selection, pricing and shipping fees.

Being the frugal guy that I am, I went with quantity and price per card over the higher priced cards. I was able to purchase 25 cards that I wanted for a total of $8.57. It was $7.03 for the cards, $1.75 for Budget Postage/Handling. The seller gave me a 3 % discount on the cards, so that knocked off $0.21. That works out to about $0.34 per card.

About now I'm guessing that your saying, "Well, those were probably all base cards." Nope, not all of them.

The most expensive card was the 1995 Upper Deck Electric Diamond Gold for $1.75.

1995 Upper Deck Electric Diamond Gold (card #74)

Contrast that to the 1995 Upper Deck Electric Diamond for $0.18. The difference? The color of the foil stamp on the front.

1995 Upper Deck Electric Diamond (card #74)

The next most expensive card, well, there were three that came in at $0.50 each.

1986 Drake's (card #31)

1990 Bowman Tiffany (card #84)

1988 Score Glossy (card #470)

The rest of these are the $0.18 cards.

1995 Upper Deck Trade Exchange (card #TC1)

1996 Fleer Post Season Glory (card #3)

1994 Stadium Club Golden Rainbow (card #400)

I was also able to get an Earl Wilson and two Carl Erskines. Still at $0.18 each.

1993 Upper Deck All-Time Heroes, Earl Wilson (card #127)

1993 Ted Williams, Carl Erskine (card #13)

1992 Action Packed All-Star Gallery, Carl Erskine (card #54)

I didn't show you the Topps Stickers, Fun Food Button, the Panini Sticker, the seemingly endless Fleer mini boxed set cards and a few others. Interestingly, I got this package in the mail the same day that Night Owl sent some cards. I opened his first because I didn't know what was in there. This package I knew. Several of the cards that he sent were ones that I had ordered from SL. He gets credit for giving me the cards and the ones that came from SL are now dupes.

Comparing SL to COMC for these cards, there were only two of the 25 from SL that COMC had. They were priced higher at COMC ($0.18 vs $0.25 and $0.18 vs $0.99). The shipping from COMC would be higher ($3.00 for the first card plus $0.25 for each extra card). If I purchased these cards from COMC it would have cost me $9.00 just in shipping alone.

Finding cards on COMC is much easier. Search for the player you want and add the cards to your shopping cart. COMC shows me all of the Hershiser cards that they have in stock. Each one of them is scanned, front and back, with the cards graded by (I'm assuming) the owner of the card. What is M to one might be NM to another. I'm not that picky on cards from the 1980's and 1990's. No, I don't want them creased or dinged, but if there's a speck flaw, meh.

Finding cards on SL is a different beast. Select the player, then you are taken to a checklist of years that the player had cards issued. Select up to three years and see what's available. Then they show you the the cards available. Selecting a specific card drills you down to individual cards, their condition, price and seller.

When your done adding the cards to your cart, you can search another three years. Yes, only three years at a time. Once I found a seller that seemed to have a number of cards that I wanted, I could look for any Hershiser that he had in his inventory. Each SL seller maintains their own stock. At COMC, the cards are all in one location and get shipped from one site.

The seller that I dealt with shipped my purchase very quickly. Too save money, I selected his Budget Shipping option. Each seller lists their own shipping costs, based on the number of cards and any extra services (insurance, packing materials, etc). The pin I ordered was wrapped in plastic, but the clasp was against the cards and put a dent on the front of the Trade Card. I probably should have spent that extra dollar and gotten premium shipping, but this didn't ruin it for me.

I've started a spread sheet with the cards I want, lowest price and then grouped by SL seller, with a column for COMC prices. For the cards I'm looking at, I'll probably place another order with SL and then take the plunge and place an order with COMC. But, these are cards I want, not need. I'm in no rush and perhaps new cards will show up before I place either of those orders.

Bottom line, for me it was some work to determine which cards I wanted and from which site. I'm happy that I spent some time and chose to go with SportLots.com. I can recommend them with confidence, even though I could only search three years at a time. Spending the time researching I was able to add some cards to the Zistle database. That helps me and the collecting community. I'm happy.

Now, how to organize them? I guess that's another post.

Cards from an Editor

By my guesstimate I have about 400 different Orel Hershiser cards. Now I have about 411. A certain Night Owl sent a package that arrived yesterday. Also in the mailbox was a package from a SportLots.com seller. That will be a post for another day.

I opened Greg's package first. I knew what was in the SportLots package. I had no idea (but some clue) as to what was in the bubble mailer from the land in which the sun rarely shines, the days are long and the nights are longer.

Here we have a 1985 Topps Sticker. The photo was probably taken the year before, when he recorded four shutouts and led the league. Coming up behind him is a speedy Chet Lemon.

A 1988 Panini sticker, their first year working with MLB. Who knew what a year that would be for Orel.

Cashing in on Orel's success the previous season, it seemed that almost every card set featured the multi-award winning pitcher. Bubble gum and baseball cards do go together.

One of the many small boxed sets that Fleer produced in 1989. This Super Stars set was produced for the McRory chain of stores. No, I don't know anything about them.

A 1992 O-Pee-Chee. Note the wonderful creativity that the Canadians gave to this card. They put their brand name on a Topps card. Brilliant. Yes, I know the difference between this and a Topps card. Topps clearly says, "Topps".

1993 Score Select. Orel bears down.

The non-electric tombstone set. 1995 SP Championship Die Cut. Just like the regular SP Championship set, but a giant scrapbooking paper punch was used on the top.

1995 Upper Deck. I was amazed that I didn't have this one. But, thinking back on it, this was issued just a few months after my son was born. That was about the time that I stopped actively collecting. It was a good trade off. Orel's still bearing down.

I'm sure that Greg was glad to get this one out of his house. Orel belongs in Dodger blue, not Indian blue. But I do like the wood paneling that UD gave the basement of this card. I always thought that the wood grain should go vertical, but that's just me.

Things are better now. Orel is shown back in his blues. Well, his cap and shirt are blue. This is from the 2004 Donruss World Series set. Orel also pitched for the Indians in two World Series.

Another Donruss, this one from 2005. The Team Heroes set. There are many Showdown variations to this set. Blue. Red. Bronze. Silver. Gold. Greg is going to make me chase down the other ones.

Finally, to put some icing on the cake, Greg tossed in a 2001 Topps Archive of Oisk. This is a replica/reprint/reproduction of his 1959 Topps card. I think that Greg wanted to get this out of the house as well, for it is bathed in pink, a color that doesn't go with Dodger blue, but card companies think that it does.

Thanks Greg. I have to admit that feeling the package before I opened it, I was afraid that I was going to be bipped. But Greg knows that bipping is not nice when one his hoping for more Hershiser cards. You're still aces in my book.

Happy Birthday, Carl Erskine

Dang. I'm a day late with this one, too.

I have simple collecting goals.

Earl Wilson base Topps cards. Completed.

Orel Hershiser cards. A work in progress.

Inexpensive Hall of Famer relic/auto cards. Another work in progress.

Carl Erskine cards. A work in progress that I'm just now beginning to assess. With the help of some bloggers I've started to assemble some Oisk cards.

Mr. Erskine's 83d birthday was on Sunday. In honor of that I thought I'd share my Erskine cards with you. No, this isn't going to be a long post. And I'll only show the fronts. In no particular order, here they are...

2001 Upper Deck Legends of New York, Legendary Dodgers,

Game-Worn Jersey, Carl Erskine (card # LDJ-CE)

2005 Topps Fan Favorites, 1960 Carl Erskine (card # 24)

1955 Bowman, Carl Erskine (card # 70)

1958 Topps, Carl Erskine (card # 258)

1991 Topps Archives (1953), Carl Erskine (card # 308)

1959 Topps, Carl Erskine (card # 217)

2008 Donruss Threads, Carl Erskine (card # 14)

1976 ISCA Hoosier Hot-Stove All-Stars, Carl Erskine (card # 12)

That's what I've got. I've got my eye on a few more, but I'm happy with what I have and will slowly build this collection.

For now, Happy (belated) Birthday, Oisk!

The kindness of fellow bloggers

I am amazed at the kindness of fellow bloggers. Night Owl, up in the hinterlands of New York, was awake enough over the past few months to read my blog and know what I like to collect.

I like Carl Erskine...

,2005 Topps Fan Favorites, 1960 Carl Erskine (card # 24)

I like Orel Hershiser...

1989 Promo Card, Out of the Blue, Orel Hershiser

I like the Cardiff Giant...

2009 Topps Allen & Ginter,
World's Biggest Hoaxes, Hoodwinks & Bamboozles,
The Cardiff Giant (card # HHB19)

I first saw the Cardiff Giant in the late 1960s or early 1970s. It was (and still is) resting at the Farmer's Museum in Cooperstown, New York. The museum has a blog. Here are some entries they've tagged with "Cardiff Giant".

I went searching online and found a few images that were the inspiration for the card front...

So, while Mr. Owl has the Saturday blahs, I'm excited because next week I get to start reading A Colossal Hoax.

Greg (and yes, I do call him Greg sometimes), thank you for the cards.