A new year, a new player to collect - maybe

1996 Pro Line Autographs
Jeff Lewis (card # 38)

You might ask yourself, "Who?"  Jeff Lewis.

He was a quarterback at my alma mater, Northern Arizona University.  I didn't see him play.  Heck, he was only in grade school when I attended college.

He was a fine student athlete and then went on to the pros, playing a few seasons with the Broncos, behind John Elway, and then a few seasons with the Panthers behind Steve Beuerlein.  He didn't fare well in the pros, completing only 54 passes with no TDs.

He then was an assistant coach at the University of Louisville and then at NAU.

He died in January of 2013, just over a year ago.

As I was doing research to flesh out this blog I came across an article from the Charlotte Observer that discusses the results of his autopsy

Former Carolina Panthers quarterback Jeff Lewis, once thought to be the team’s quarterback of the future, died in January as a result of an accidental drug overdose, according to an autopsy report obtained by the Observer. 
The autopsy found morphine and zolpidem, a sedative and sleep aid more commonly known as Ambien, in Lewis’ blood.
 Medication containers and handwritten documents found in Lewis’ Phoenix home indicated a possible history of prescription medication abuse, including zolpidem and the painkiller hydrocodone, Maricopa County medical examiner Kevin Horn wrote in his report.

This doesn't make me happy.  I've been looking at his cards for the last 12 months and finally found one that was going to do it for me on ebay.  I picked it up.  Delivered for less than $3.  I created a checklist and a plan.  I wasn't going to try to get each of the different cards.  Just a rookie, an auto, a card from his last year in Denver, a card from the first and last years in Carolina.  Five cards.

Tragic ending for a young man.  It makes me sad and I'm now I don't know if I want to collect his cards.

Condition of a Rookie Card

We all know that there are a few things to consider when purchasing a card.

• Condition
• Condition
• Condition
• Price

But mostly condition.  Now, I think that we all have a weakness for old vintagey cards with slightly rounded corners and sometimes a pin hole isn't the worst thing in the world.  "Character" is what they say about them.  "Charm".

Here are some of the 1951 Topps Magic cards of Bill Wade that are currently available on ebay.  I searched for Bill Wade Magic.  You can get more results if you drop the Magic and ad 1951.

I've grabbed some screen shots of the fronts and listed Buy It Now prices, or starting bid price if an auction.

The card offered at the lowest price is in the poorest condition.  Since this is the one of the keystone cards to a respectable Bill Wade collection I'm thinking that I should pass on this one, despite the "charm".

$4.99

The second card has some promise.  Fairly tight.  A bit of corner ding.  The price is at the right range for me.

$13.60

Next card is a big dingier.

$18.95

Condition doesn't always apply to the front or the corners.  What does the back look like?  The "Magic" of these cards is one could scratch away the silver coating and reveal the answer to the question.  Topps revived this at least one more time in 1983 with their Scratch-Off cards.  I guess an unscratched card would be more pristine.  We'll see one in a bit.

Next up is a card for about $30.  Rounder corners, off center, and a nasty ding / crease at the bottom left.

$29.99

We're over $30 for this.  Ding upper right.  Rounded lower right.  Like Bill Wade, I think I'll pass.

$32.08

Close to a $50 card.  I've never spent that much on a single card.  And I won't, although it does look nice.

$49.00

And now we reach the highest priced 1951 Topps Magic Bill Wade card on ebay.  Two hundred dollars.  Look at the back, though.  Virtually pristine.  Except for the scratches.  The great condition isn't enough for me to want to buy this one.

$200.00

So, for those that know my collecting style, which card should I get?

Manny Ramirez - At What Price?

I was looking through COMC this week and a card leaped out at me.  Not so much the card, but the price.  Actually, it was the disparity of the prices of the cards.

I wasn't searching for Manny.  I don't collect Manny.  I like his ball playing, but not his attitude towards the game.  I don't want this card.  I'm not into graded cards.  Especially at these prices.

1994 SP Holofoils
Manny Ramirez (card # 31)
BGS 9.5
COMC Price: $276.00

There are three of these things.  I've showed the high.  I'll show the low.  Yep, there's one in between at a cool $196.00.

1994 SP Holofoils
Manny Ramirez (card # 31)
BGS 9.5
COMC Price: $21.50

Ah, here's a much cheaper alternative.  Pick one up that isn't graded.

1994 SP Holofoils
Manny Ramirez (card # 31)
COMC Price: $0.74

The silly thing to me is that there is one seller of the two higher priced graded cards.  Why, then, the $80 price difference between the two cards?  They're both graded at 9.5.  But I don't need to worry about it.

Brave New World

Congrats to Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas for being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. These "cards" are 8-1/2" x 11". I've scaled them down a bit so that your viewing pleasure would be quicker.

2000 Atlanta Journal Constitution Atlanta Braves cards
Tom Glavine

2000 Atlanta Journal Constitution Atlanta Braves cards
Greg Maddux

End of a year, start of a year

This is one of those housekeeping posts.  Not a lot of pictures.  Maybe no pictures at all.  We'll see.

Before I reflect and the past and look to the future I should plug a contest.  Dan, over at It's like having my own Card Shop, is hosting a contest to support Corky over at Pack War.  Basically go follow Pack War and then let Dan know.

Now let me look back.  Not to see how I met my goals for 2013.  I'm too indifferent to compare.  I guess I could see where I failed, where I excelled and then strive to do better this year.  Why wallow in the past?

Okay, maybe a bit.  Last year was my slowest card blogging year ever.  119 posts.  10 per month.  One every three days.  I'm okay with that.  I had a good run commissioning Gint-A-Cuffs.  I kept up with Baseball Nuggets and Old Knoxville Baseball.  Not so much with Got it. Got it. Need it.  I feel that I've almost abandoned North Country Baseball, although I don't want to.

Am I trying to blame the lack of posts on my busyness?  No, not really.

So what I have I accomplished in the card collecting world?  I've branched out a bit.  Tobacco cards.  My Topps Type Collection is complete, but I might consider tweaking it in the future.  I've bought and sold on Listia.  I've expanded my Jeff Burton card collection.

I've actually fleshed out a Jeff Burton checklist.  I need to post it publicly and then get to cracking on making use of it.

I got two in person autographs of baseball players.  Tony Campana and Fergie Jenkins.

I went to several baseball games.  All minor league.  Three stadiums.  Two leagues.  Two states.  That was fun.  Went to two historic stadiums.  Joe Engel in Chattanooga and Rickwood in Birmingham.  Those were also fun.

So, I guess I did need to look back.  That was pleasant for me.  It made watching Downton Abbey almost bearable.  Okay, that was okay, as well.  Except for Lady Mary's stiff lines and acting in the first half of the season premier.  There may be some fictitious cards in the near future.

So, what does 2014 hold?  Criswell isn't here to tell me, so I'll make up some stuff.

• I'll blog when I darn well feel like it and when I feel like I have something worthwhile to say.
• I've started a new football player collection.  Well, is one card a collection?  Maybe not, but it is a start.  Need to create a checklist and prioritize my goals for this player.  Then share him out.
• Start and finish cataloging my Jeff Burton cards
• Create a checklist for Kevin McHale cards.  Catalog same.
• Put my player collections in some sort of order.  Too many stacks of cards, not enough full binder pages.  Specifically Earl Wilson, Kevin McHale, Bill Wade, Jeff Burton, Orel Hershiser.
• As part of cataloging make sure that I'm using Zistle more.
• Add more blogs to follow.  Read them.  Comment on them.
• Engage at least two bloggers I've never sent a package to.  Send them a package, trade or goodness.
• Read more books about the hobby.  Operation Bullpen.  Before there was Bubble Gum.  Those types of books.
• Focus on older cards.  Pre WWII.  Pick up a few of them.
• Find a local card show.  Attend it.  This will be a tough one.  It looks like a two hour trip to the closest one.  I could get knock off some of my other goals with what I'd spend for gas.

That's enough.  I'm getting tired.  I know that other bloggers have gotten much more ambitious with their goals than I have.  That's fine.  This isn't a competition.

I'll keep doing what I've been doing and hope that you keep coming back.  Thanks for supporting me these last five years or so.

2013 Panini Cooperstown

My wife and I celebrated our 24th anniversary earlier this week. We went and had a nice meal at the Cheesecake Factory and then went to see Saving Mr. Banks at the movie theater. Seeing as how they love to jack up prices on tickets and snacks we swung by the local Target to pick up some Cokes and Raisinets.

While there I picked up two packs of the latest Cooperstown offering from Panini, based on the quick review from David at Tribecards.net.

Let's see some of what I pulled.  Campy.  One nice way to get around the MLB license issue is to show images without any MLB affiliation.  A nice shot of a fine catcher.

2013 Panini Cooperstown
Roy Campanell (card # 55)

Each pack contains a Colgan's disc.  For my younger readers, thing POGS.

2013 Panini Cooperstown
Colgan's Chips
Lefty Grove, Rabbit Maranville

There was some sort of shiny card.  I don't know how to describe it.  I looked on the back of the packs and realized that I needed to get my eyes checked.  Dang.  That is some fine print.  How many Crystal Shards options can one set have?  Looking at the stamped serial number helped clarify things for me.  When I pulled it I didn't even notice the serial number.  I was too awed by the shiny.

2013 Panini Cooperstown
Retail Matrix Parallel  (#/325)
Duke Snider (card # 58)

I figured out what the fox says.  "You can't strike me out."  Well, I guess you could, but it was rare.

2013 Panini Cooperstown
Nellie Fox (card # 61)

A nice couple of packs.  I think that they were the only card packs I purchased in 2013.  The Qubi doesn't count.  Let's see if I can keep that streak alive in the new year.

Vin for the Roses

Vin Scully is the Grand Marshall of the 125th Rose Parade.  I slapped together a quick tribute to the legendary broadcaster in the style of a Topps 1964 baseball card.

1964 Topps style
Vin Scully

Happy New Year.