Blog Bat-Around: What I Collect

I don't think I've ever participated in a Blog Bat-Around before. I tend to do things on my own schedule, and by the time I am ready to participate in something like this, everyone else has moved on. I think most people have already moved on from this one, too, but I'm posting about it anyway. I think credit goes to Night Owl for starting/inspiring this one, entitled 'What I Collect.' It's basically an excuse to list your various projects and collecting interests. Some people listed theirs in order of preference, but my collecting habits are too random for me to do that.

I'll start off with baseball. I mainly focus on player collections, although there are some other things I chase. I would say the primary player I collect is R.A. Dickey, but Jon Singleton is up there and I also have tried to put together a decent Josh Reddick collection. Evan Gattis is a guy I've tried to start an accumulation for, but I get distracted from that one too easily. He's probably one of my favorite players to watch, though, outside of Jose Altuve. Singleton's available cardboard seems to be drying up, as it doesn't look like he's going to pan out anytime soon. Maybe I'll change my focus to Gattis or someone else once I feel like I'm done getting Singleton cards. I also pick up Munenori Kawasaki cards when I can, but I think he announced his retirement in the last few days, and he doesn't really have a lot of cardboard out there anyhow.

Because I can't reasonably expect to get all of the cards of any given player, I just try to get the ones I like best, and the ones that are available at a reasonable price. I will grab random hits and cards featuring other players I like, such as Max Scherzer, but when it comes to single cards I am usually pretty focused on a handful of guys. I did pick up a whole lot of Topps Now cards from last season, mostly the ones featuring Astros. I also like to get some of the oddball cards that Topps prints for the Now program, like the card that talked about the Royals' Rally Mantis. I will generally grab any that include a donation to charity. A couple that come to mind are one Topps did for Hurricane Harvey relief and another donating to veteran's charities for Memorial Day.

I usually buy a factory set of Topps and a set of Update from eBay. In most years I collect the blue foil parallel set out of Opening Day. Sometimes I buy a set of Heritage after busting enough of it to realize that I can't possibly build a set without spending a whole lot of money on packs full of doubles. I typically buy a box of Allen & Ginter for Gint-a-Cuffs. Usually I find one other product that I buy a bunch of. Last year it was Bowman Platinum. There are other collections that I sometimes add to, like Wally Moon, Rollie Fingers, Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, vintage sets, Fan Favorites autographs from Topps Archives, and oddball releases.

One big focus of mine has been sketch cards and full-size artwork. I have a few main character collections. The primary ones are DC Comics' Power Girl and Leia from Star Wars. I also have small collections of Marvel characters She-Hulk, Squirrel Girl, and Scarlet Witch. I've accumulated quite a few Captain America sketches, as well as a small number of M.O.D.O.K. sketch cards. I will pick up sketches of other subjects, too, if they catch my eye.

I also collect Star Wars cards, but not all that obsessively. I just get what interests me. Topps puts out a lot of Star Wars products, and keeping up with them all would be a full-time collection. I don't have that kind of focus. I gather cards featuring Leia, interesting relics, and autographs from other characters that I like.

I like wrestling cards. They are a lot of fun. Again, I collect just about anything that catches my eye. I don't try to get all of the Topps Now WWE cards, but I get one or two every few months if a wrestler I like is featured. I like autographs of classic guys like Sergeant Slaughter. I also have collections for Nia Jax and Bayley. I started a Charlotte Flair collection after I met her last year at a book signing, but I don't have an autographed card from her yet. John Cena is too popular for me to collect, but I should really track down an autograph of his.

I've gathered a couple of Iron Sheik hits over time, and I went out and got that Trish Stratus autograph recently. Most of my collections are grab bags of single cards that I pick up on eBay, with the occasional box break or group break thrown in.

I also collect trading cards of Japanese women wrestlers. BBM puts out an annual set that covers a wide range of promotions, and the Stardom promotion puts out their own card set every so often. The Stardom packs are really hard to get, so usually I am limited to whatever singles pop up on eBay. I have a pretty good source for unopened BBM True Heart cards, though, and between eBay and Yahoo! Auctions in Japan I am able to get most of the cards I want. I have a full run of Command Bolshoi (the masked wrestler up top) autographs dating back to 2003. That's my best Japanese wrestler collection, but there are several other wrestlers that I collect. I am currently waiting on a large shipment out of Japan, which includes the complete 2004 set, which almost never comes up for sale. A couple of high-level Japanese wrestlers have transferred to the WWE recently, and that has driven up interest a little bit in these cards. 

I collect UFC cards, too. I have a couple of fighter collections. Neil Magny is one of the primary ones, and Randa Markos is one of the others. I really just like to collect a little of everything, though. I will usually grab just about any relic or autograph if it is cheap enough, and especially if I don't already have something featuring that fighter. I gather up low-numbered parallels if I can, from just about any product. It seems like every year I go pretty hard on at least one product. Last year it was Museum Collection and Chrome. This year I might go after those same products.

I chase NASCAR cards, mostly focusing on a handful of drivers. Most of my favorite drivers have retired, so I am looking for new people to collect. I haven't settled on anyone yet. In reality most of my racing card money goes to Danica Patrick cards and the occasional box break. I am thinking about starting a Darrell 'Bubba' Wallace collection, or maybe collecting one of the Busch brothers. Other racers I collect are Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Josh Wise. I also have a small collection of drag racing stuff, with the main focus of that collection being the Force family (John, Courtney, and Brittany). 

I guess this scan represents pop culture celebrities and other sports. I gather autographs, relics, and other cards featuring people that I've heard of from outside of mainstream sports. Goodwin Champions is a good source for those, as are Panini's various celebrity offerings. I've got a fair number of cards featuring Olympic gymnasts, a decent Felicia Day collection, some singers, some authors, and some people who are mostly famous for being famous or being related to someone famous.

Basketball cards were the main thing I collected during my teen years in the 90's. It is mostly a fringe collection now, but I still gather cards for my main player collections (Hakeem Olajuwon, Gheorghe Muresan, Manute Bol). I will also pick up any Houston Rockets cards I can find, but I don't often go out of my way to track them down. 

Football cards are pretty far down my list, but I still have a couple of NFL collections. Most of the cards I add picture former Broncos' tight end Shannon Sharpe. I like getting Terrell Davis and John Elway cards. I will collect just about anything with Tim Tebow on it. I also recently started a Jake Butt collection, because how often does someone named Butt play for your favorite team? I've picked up one or two Von Miller cards over the last couple of years, too, but I have a hard time focusing on football. The careers are so short, and the sport just hasn't been as exciting for me as it was previously.

That's a quick rundown of my collecting world. I am not a very focused guy, so I bounce around from thing to thing as new products release and my interests change.

Half a Case of The Guild

I've been busting boxes of Cryptozoic's The Guild trading cards whenever I can, chasing the short-printed autograph of Felicia Day as her character, Codex, from the video game in the web series. Several months ago I tried to buy a case of the set from Dave & Adam's Card World, but they only had half a case in stock, or six boxes. So I bought 6 boxes.

Here are the relics from the box. I did all right, although these boxes really overdid it with Vincent Caso. I was happy to pull a Jeff Lewis, though, and the Amy Okuda and Robin Thorsen are nice gets.

The autographs from the boxes were all right, although I think I've got copies of most of these already. Doubles are expected when you've opened as much of this stuff as I have. It was cool to get another Wil Wheaton signature.

Finally! This Felicia Day as Codex autograph card came out of the last box I opened. I don't think Dave & Adam's have gotten any more of this in stock, so it was pretty nice to actually get the card I was chasing out of this batch of boxes.

I spent the long weekend doing some work around the house. We are trying to refinance our mortgage, and that means an appraisal, so we are trying to get everything done that we can. I got a chainsaw on Saturday, and that allowed me to lay waste to some dead trees and a couple of stumps that were bothering me. Today I put some new gutters up on the front of the house. The old ones were destroyed by ice in the big snowstorm last year, and I finally got around to replacing them. I hope these ones hold up better.

Cryptozoic The Guild Seasons 1-3 Felicia Day Autograph

Often when I order something from Dave & Adam's Card World I will throw in a box of Cryptozoic's The Guild Seasons 1-3 trading cards. They are perpetually on clearance and priced at about $15 each. In doing so I am mainly chasing cards featuring autographs or relics of Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton, the other big name in the set. I guess I could try to chase a master set of relics and autos, but I haven't been motivated to do so yet. Unfortunately I have never actually pulled a hit card featuring those two folks, so I have had to turn to eBay to get my Felicia Day cards. I posted about my Felicia Day relic card a couple of months ago and here is the autograph I picked up to go with it.

I got a pretty good deal on it, although I wouldn't say it was cheap. You don't see these things pop up too often, so when I saw a reasonable price on it a couple of months back I jumped on it. There is a short-printed variation that shows her in her Codex costume, and that goes for quite a bit more than this one when a copy surfaces. I would like to add it to the collection some day, but that will probably have to wait a while unless I can get a super deal on it.

Felicia Day The Guild Seasons 1-3 Relic

One web series I enjoyed watching was The Guild, about a group of online gamers who also interact with each other in real life. Felicia Day plays the part of the main protagonist, as well as acting as the writer and producer of the show. I would recommend it for anyone who plays (or has played) online role-playing games or is in touch with geek culture generally.

Cryptozoic made a trading card set for Seasons 1-3 of the series and I've opened up a couple boxes of it over the last two or three years, but so far haven't pulled any of the bigger names (Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton) as far as autographs and relics go. I had to go the eBay route for this card, a Felicia Day wardrobe relic, which adds to my small PC which includes her relic and autograph cards from 2014 Allen & Ginter. She might also have cards out there from her appearances in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural, but I have never seen those shows and haven't paid attention to their card releases.

What eBay Hath Wrought 106: 2014 Allen & Ginter Felicia Day Autograph

I was really hoping that the 2014 Allen & Ginter Felicia Day autograph card would fall to me in the PackaDaily giveaway draft over at Tribecards, but the randomizer didn't fall my way and I was left to seek one out on my own. I had a price in mind that I didn't want to go over, and the auctions for the card pretty consistently went over that price by 40-50%. I was able to hold my ground, though, and eventually one fell to me at an agreeable price.

I think that means the only auto/relic card left from 2014 Allen & Ginter that I really really need is an autograph from The Iron Sheik. There are still plenty of mini inserts on my want list, but I have a full base set and all the full-size inserts, as well as both a relic and an autograph for Felicia Day and a relic for The Iron Sheik. The Sheik's autographs haven't come down in price far enough for me just yet, so it may be a little while before I add that one to my collection.

What eBay Hath Wrought 95: A Warning Against Drowsy Bidding

There are usually a couple of pop culture or non-baseball sports figures in each year's Allen & Ginter set whose autographs and relics wind up on my must-have list. My 2014 list is made up of WWF wrestler The Iron Sheik and internet web series star/geek icon Felicia Day.

I won this Felicia Day relic card from 2014 Allen & Ginter after bidding on it accidentally while going through my saved searches on eBay before bed. I was convinced that I had bid on an autograph and not a relic card, so imagine my surprise when I got notification that I had won this card! Thankfully bidding on this card was my only eBay activity on the evening, so there aren't any Hangover-style surprises showing up on my doorstep courtesy of a wild night on the eBay app.

On the bad side, I slightly overpaid for this card. I also was hoping to snag one of the multi-colored relics that are out there and instead got this plain gray one.

On the good side, at least I didn't wind up paying autograph prices for a relic card. This card's starting bid was probably high enough that most people passed on it anyway, and I didn't get bid up at all. I also knocked a card off of my want list, even though it was an error. Since this experience I have been careful to avoid the eBay app once I get past a certain threshold of drowsiness.

Pack of the Day 75: 2014 Allen & Ginter Blaster Box

I was able to find some 2014 Allen & Ginter at the local Target, so I picked up a value pack (3 packs plus a pack of 3 exclusive minis, which may or may not be crimped on the edges by the pack-sealing machinery) and a Blaster Box (7 packs + 1 bonus pack, also known as 8 packs).

I started out thinking I would scan all the cards from the blaster, but like Night Owl did halfway through his post, I came to the conclusion that I didn't have time for that. So I scanned six of my favorite cards from the group. Out of these, I think the best card has to be the Mike Piazza card, although I can't 100% say why I feel that way. All I know is that I pulled it from the pack and said (inside of my head), "That's probably the best-looking base card in here." Maybe it's the mustache. I thought Will Clark had a decent photo. I am pretty sure the Werth photo has been reused at least once in other Topps products. Another egregious example of a reused photo is on Didi Gregorius' card, which has been reused at least twice now. If mustaches qualify you for inclusion in the Top 6, then Buffalo Bill Cody gets in for sure. I guess most people know Felicia Day from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I know her from her web series The Guild, as well as her typically nerdy posts on her Facebook page. I will probably try to track down her auto in this set.

The Pastime's Pastimes set is a great concept, and some of the players have legitimate hobbies listed on their cards, but a large percentage of the cards I've pulled so far list philanthropy as the player's hobby. I'm not saying that philanthropy is bad, but I am saying that I would like to hear about your real hobbies. The best hobby out of this group comes from a badly outnumbered Red Sox player, Dustin Pedroia, who enjoys watching Bigfoot documentaries and wears a Sasquatch t-shirt. Now that is a hobby. I sure got a lot of Orioles in this box. The main thing the Orioles have going for them in my world is that they are probably my favorite AL East team, which I suppose is sort of damning them with faint praise.

Sometimes I think the Natural Wonder-type cards lose a little in the translation to cardboard. Lake Retba is famous for being a funky color because of salt-loving algae that turn the water pink. I think Topps could have found a better picture for it that maybe shows the water a bit more. They will airbrush an entirely new uniform onto a baseball player, but they won't add some pink to a lake?

I think the Coincidence set is retail-only, and features odd occurrences that may or may not have been accidents. Festivals and Fairs is pretty self-explanatory, as is the World's Capitals set. Running with the bulls just seems like a really stupid thing to do. Maybe I am just too risk-averse.

There are plenty of minis in this set, and they come about one per pack which isn't anything new for A & G. The Ty Cobb card is the black-bordered parallel, and I don't really like this year's black-bordered cards as much as last year's. It looks too busy by far. Larger than Life features the heroes of Tall Tales, and then there are a couple of base cards there too.

More base cards in the form of Longoria, Machado, and the Polar Vortex. Some of these are A & G back parallels, which seem to fall more often than regular base cards. Maybe the A & G back is the default this year? I don't really know. The World's Deadliest Predators card is pretty cool. That is a set I will be trying to put together.

Closing things out, I pulled a Masahiro Tanaka relic card from the blaster, which is one of the more desirable relic cards in the set. I don't have a lot of interest in it, so I tossed it up on eBay pretty quickly. It should at least cover the cost of the Blaster Box. The design on these is pretty good. I like the layout and the frame. The player picture takes up a decent amount of space and the relic with its little nameplate looks all right. I wasn't expecting to pull anything really nice out of a retail purchase, so this was a nice surprise.

Here is the back of the card. I scanned it for the auction, so I might as well put the picture on here, right? I like the design of this year's set. It's not a big departure from other A & G sets, which I guess is kind of the point. I am looking forward to Gint-a-Cuffs VI this year, and I will probably try to put together a set along with some of the inserts.