Listia Loot VII - Ten 1911 T3 Turkey Red Reprints

I am not one hundred percent sure if I have identified these correctly, because the listing just stated "Baseball Cards". I believe these are from the 1982 reprint set done by Renata Galasso of the 1911 T3 Turkey Red set.

Maybe someone out there knows if I am right or wrong.

 I was only supposed to get five cards, so much like my last Listia Loot post (this was from the same seller), I was very pleased...and at 151 credits it was also much cheaper.

Listia Loot VI - 1982 Renata Galasso Seattle Pilots Set

This qualifies as my best Listia win. I really didn't know what I was bidding on, but the picture looked like some oddball cards, and since I started blogging I have a new-found appreciation for anything "oddball".

I had no idea I was bidding on the complete forty-three card set, as the picture only showed eight cards.

Needless to say, I was quite pleased with my purchase.

Here's the front of card #1.

The backs offer stats for the 1969 season (the only season in the Pilot's existence...and the basis of Jim Bouton's book "Ball Four".)

Instead of just highlighting the year, it gives a brief synopsis of the players/coaches career.

This was not only my best purchase to date, but at 1,510 credits, the most costly.

Here are all forty-three cards.

Now if every Listia win could be this cool.

One Card Challenged - 1987 Kraft Home Plate Heroes Wally Joyner

Today debuts a new series on my blog, called "One Card Challenged". I've seen on Night Owl's blog the "One Card Challenge", where people who only need one card to complete a set will post there hoping that someone has the card they are looking for and will send it to them.

This is the exact opposite of that.

Since I buy a lot of repacks, boxes of commons and the like, I have a collection of sets where I only have one card from it. Now I could just probably package these orphans to bloggers who could use the cards, but we don't have time for rational solutions. I have these cards and I must tell you about them.

The first post in this series features a 1987 Kraft Home Plate Heroes Wally Joyner.

This was cut out of a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, hence the back is blank.

It was a forty-eight card set, which apparently is very difficult to find in good condition.

According to baseball-almanac.com here is the checklist:

1	Eddie Murray
2	Dale Murphy
3	Cal Ripken, Jr.
4	Milt Scott
5	Jim Rice
6	Jody Davis
7	Wade Boggs
8	Ryne Sandberg
9	Wally Joyner
10	Eric Davis
11	Ozzie Guillen
12	Tony Pena
13	Harold Baines
14	Johnny Ray
15	Joe Carter
16	Ozzie Smith
17	Cory Snyder
18	Vince Coleman
19	Kirk Gibson
20	Steve Garvey
21	George Brett
22	John Tudor
23	Robin Yount
24	Von Hayes
25	Kent Hrbek
26	Darryl Strawberry
27	Kirby Puckett
28	Ron Darling
29	Don Mattingly
30	Mike Schmidt
31	Rickey Henderson
32	Fernando Valenzuela
33	Dave Winfield
34	Pete Rose
35	Jose Canseco
36	Glenn Davis
37	Alvin Davis
38	Steve Sax
39	Pete Incaviglia
40	Jeff Reardon
41	Jesse Barfield
42	Hubie Brooks
43	George Bell
44	Tony Gwynn
45	Roger Clemens
46	Chili Davis
47	Mike Witt
48	Nolan Ryan

You can imagine how easy it would be to have them have some sort of damage or creasing. 

If anybody has any of the other forty-seven cards, I'm interested in trading for them.

Listia Loot V - Ten Old School Baseball Players

More Listia treasures, although in this I had to get nine cards I really didn't want in order to get the one that I did.

Here are the nine I really didn't want...

...to get the one that I did.

Yeah, I might have "overpaid", as it cost me 303 credits for it, but I don't see these at shows, and believe it or not, I still haven't done the eBay, Sportslots or COMC thing searching for cards. I will someday, but for now, I'm happy with it and that's all that matters.

Swing And A Hit!

This trade package comes courtesy of Matt from the new blog "Bob Walk The Plank". He collects mainly auto and memorabilia cards, but he said that since he started blogging, he's gotten an appreciation for all cards. This is good, because I don't have anything this cool to send him in return.

2013 Topps Update Andrew Bailey Silk Collection numbered 37/50!

2005 Topps Update and Highlights All-Star Stitches David Ortiz...

...and Matt Clement.

He topped it off with a very, very cool 2013 Topps Clay Buchholz auto.

These are very sweet cards Matt, thank you!

It's going to take me a bit to get a return package together for you worthy of this, so please be patient!

Listia Loot IV - Six 1999 Fleer Ultra Cards

I went on a spending spree last week and I think I won three auctions in one day. Nothing big, but cards I know I don't have.

Six 1999 Fleer Ultra cards for the mere cost of 96 credits. Sold to the hoarder with the extremely understanding wife.

What Does Eighteen Bucks Get You At A Card Show?

The local card show was this past weekend, and unlike most of the other ones I try to attend, it is only about 20 minutes away, so I can be back home before noon if I end up finding what I want right away.

I try to keep my budget to about 20 bucks. Sometimes I go a little bit over, in this case I went a bit under. There's not a whole lot of dealers at this one, but this is my favorite show because I always seem to get the best deals here.

I left the wife and dog, got a coffee and one of those rubbery sausage, egg and cheese biscuits at the local Circle K before heading out to my destination. As usual, I brought some bloggers want lists as well as my own because I've learned not to trust myself to remember what I need to get.

I went around to all the tables first without buying anything as nothing caught my eye initially. The last time I was at this show one dealer had a bunch of auto/memorabilia cards for a buck. He didn't have any this time. He also didn't bring his 1979 Topps again! So I circled around for the second time. I was forgoing dime boxes this time as I was looking for some cards for other bloggers that would not fall in the "dime box" category.

My first purchase was this:

This set me back 3 bucks, which ended up being 1/6th of my entire spending spree.

I'm sure you're wondering why a Red Sox fan would be seeking out Yankees, especially when they just took three out of four from us, but there is a sensible reason for this. You see, quite some time ago, I had a Yankees collector email me with a trade proposition. He was offering up a bunch of cards that I needed.

So I looked at his want lists.

Do you know how many cards I had?

Zero.

It happens.

Even with the ginormous (thanks, Weather Channel!) amount of cards that I have, it still is possible to come up empty (especially when their want list consists of numerous autos/memorabilia and insert cards).

So I've been slowly accumulating a fair amount of Yankee oddballs, autos/memorabilia and other cards that I hope will make him have some compassion, which may lead to a pat on the head and have him say "it was a valiant effort, however feeble, but here are your coveted junk wax cards". If not, I'll have a lot of unwanted Yankees that I will need to remove from my humble abode as quickly as I can.

I moved on to another table. This dealer had been here last month, but I had spent most of my money when I had gotten to his table. He had a sign that said "3 for a dollar" in front of a bunch of Derek Jeter and other Yankee cards, but I was all set on those for now. He had a bunch of oddball cards on his table, but none of them were priced. I hate that. No, I really hate that. I will walk away from your table if you do that. That was pretty much why I didn't buy anything from him last month.

So instead of walking away this time, I pointed to a couple of the oddball cards that had captured my interest. "How much for these?" I asked.

"Three for a dollar." he replied. "All that over there is three for a dollar."

"Oh." I replied. "I thought the sign was just for those Yankee cards."

"Nope." he said. "Those are included too."

Stupid me.

So here's what I pulled out of that pile.

First up is this cool 1987 Our Own Tea Dave Winfield.

From that same pile I got a 1993 King B Doug Drabek...

...and a 1978 Papa Gino's Ron Guidry.

I also found 1976 Isaly's Discs of Al Oliver...

...and Catfish Hunter.

Now some of these cards/discs are going to the Yankees collector, plus I'm also putting together something for a Pirates collector that sent me some cool cards recently. So I haven't bought a thing for myself yet. But I've only spent somewhere in the vicinity of 5 bucks, so I've still got three-quarters of my budget left.

One of the most rewarding things about blogging is finding out what other collectors like and picking something up for them. I know of a huge Ron Cey collector and when I saw this I grabbed it immediately.

This is also from the 1976 Isaly's disc set and I picked it up having no idea whether he needed it or not. Just checking his list now, it appears he doesn't. So if Mr. Night Owl wants this, I will send it his way...

...along with the Steve Garvey that was underneath it.

So now that I was done shopping for others, I began to look for oddball cards for myself. He had a small stack of cards in 9-card page protectors on another table. I pointed to the stack and asked him how much for those. He said they were three for a dollar as well, but if I bought enough he would charge me only a quarter a card.

I made sure I bought enough.

I took several pages off of the top of the stack and handed it to him.

Here's what I grabbed.

That's forty-four from the 1982 Kellogg's 3-D Super Stars set! I loved these as a kid, but until now I only had a couple.

Wait, there's more.

One from the 1974 set.

Four from the 1977 set...

...and seven from the 1976 set.

The overwhelming majority of these were in fantastic condition, there were only a few that had some cracking.

Also included with the Kellogg's cards was the 1965 Topps Gold Embossed Boog Powell.

I think I'll be increasing my budget for next month's show. If this dealer is there, I'll be cleaning him out.

And this is what eighteen bucks (and about fifteen minutes of your time) can get you at a card show.

Listia Loot III - Seven 1997 Fleer Baseball Cards

A week or so ago I happened to win a few Listia auctions. As they come in, I''ll put up a quick post about them.

I picked up these seven cards for 200 credits. Not a "bargain" by any means, but hey, I've got to spend 'em on something.

The Ultimate Warrior (1959 - 2014)

I was a huge wrestling fan in the mid-to-late 1980's and I always get a little sad when another one leaves us.

Rest In Peace.

2003 Greg Maddux UD Super Patch Logo

Because of the way I purchase cards and my not-all-that-particularly-good-luck with ripping packs, I don't get very many hits. And I almost never get a decent hit, much less a really great one.

I don't remember what I was opening when I pulled this card, but it immediately scored high on the "coolness" scale. Since I don't buy cards with the sole purpose of reselling them, how much it is "worth" is purely for curiosity's sake. Every now and then I would check online to see if there was a similar one, and see what it was being listed for, but hadn't had any luck finding another one.

I think this is a beautiful card, and now a Hall of Famer to boot. I've never pulled anything quite like it before.  It looks like the "n" from Atlanta from one of his jerseys. You also can see a little bit of the "a" and "t" on either side. While sorting through cards, I came across it again and looked online again to see if I could find another one.

This time I was able to find another one of the these on eBay which had the capital "A" from Atlanta.

The starting bid?

$168.00.

I was pleasantly surprised, but this baby's staying in my collection, not ending up on eBay.