A card show is never a consolation prize

I had plans to go out of town with a friend this past Sunday, but when those plans fell through, I managed, at the eleventh hour, to find a card show happening that same day.

I don't get many weekend days off work, and I haven't been to a new show in longer than I can remember (it's been at least five or six years). For better or worse, I've fallen into the habit of hitting the same couple shows in the Chicago circuit over and over again. They're safe, they're fun, and they're consistent. But there's something to be said for the allure of a new show. It comes with that sense of mystery, one where you can't help but think maybe it'll be great!

I did get to see my aforementioned friend later on in the day - like my card shows, we have our usual haunts around town - and what could have turned into a rather dull day off truly became the best of both worlds since cards, like friends, are never a consolation prize.

And after all was said and done, my official report is that this card show was...okay.

It was in a village hall about a half-hour from my place, maybe 50-60 tables in all. The place was jam packed, and judging from the sweat I managed to work up, didn't seem to be air-conditioned. I can also say that, probably for the first time in my card-collecting life, the median age was probably right around my own, perhaps even a bit younger.

While I like seeing people closer to my age at shows, there's also a consequence of this - at least half of the tables were nothing but slabs and/or unopened wax. I eavesdropped on a lot of conversations during my couple hours there, and I can honestly say I didn't hear one person discuss their enjoyment or sheer love of collecting. A lot of that's worth a few hundred, easy and that'll grade a 9, but little else. I even saw a kid who couldn't have been older than 10 or 11 pull out his phone and try to comp a card after a dealer quoted him a price on something. It all kind of left me shaking my head.

I also saw a lot of unpriced cards (do I even need to go into my rant about this again???) including these two I eventually came home with for $5 a pop after the dealers seemed dissatisfied when I refused their initial $10 price tags - I suppose I can't get too mad since I did, in fact, buy them, but for god's sake PRICE YOUR CARDS, PEOPLE.

I saw exactly two dime boxes all morning, and bought a whopping 10 cards from each of them.

The first was an unspectacular blend of recent Bowman rookies of guys who probably never made it above AA, although I did find a few Cosmic Chromes speckled into the mix (I admittedly kinda like the set). The second was a mostly dull run of mid-to-late '80s singles that had me wondering how in the heck do I still need cards from '88 Fleer?!

I managed to pad my purchase from the latter with the Ripken SP at the top of this post - I normally wouldn't dream of forking over the $12 I spent on it at a regular show, but I still had a good amount of cash in my pocket and I knew that was a card I'd probably never see again.

I spent a good chunk of the morning at a table I saw minutes after jostling into the village hall (seriously, there were a lot of people).

Obviously, the lack of dime boxes at this show was a disappointment, but this guy put together a pretty darn good quarter box for me to dig through - found lots of legends and even a nifty Hideo Nomo Topps gold parallel!

Keep your slabs, I'll take the cheap shiny stuff.

The quarter-box guy even let me have a couple Cubs oddball sets banished to a corner of his table for a mere $2 each because, in his words, he "f---ing hates the Cubs."

The first was a 2009 Topps Cubs team set that actually features a few alternate-universe photos that differ from the regular Topps cards - I already had a fair amount of these, but for two bucks I'm not gonna complain.

My second purchase was far and away the best deal I got the entire day - a complete 2008 Topps Cubs Gift Set, 55 cards in all.

Best I can tell, these were issued for a handful of teams for a very short time late in 2008 and quickly vanished - the singles are darn near impossible to find, much less the entire set. It's a treasured mix of alternate-universe cards, coach cards(!), and even guys who didn't appear at all in the regular 2008 Topps set, including obscure Dime Box favorites like Scott Eyre and Daryle Ward. (One flaw, however, being that Ryan Theriot is actually pictured on poor Mike Fontenot's card.)

Hate the Cubs all you want if it means you'll give me stuff like this for two bucks.

These were among my final purchases of the day, from the dollar box of a couple kids who had to have been about half my age (I still can't get used to buying cards from collectors that young) and talked about PSA the entire time I was at their table.

I'll buy pretty much any Topps Now card for a buck, and you don't see those yellow Walgreens parallels pop up too often - much less one of Vlad Jr.!

Normally modern singles priced anywhere above a dollar are a hard NO from me at shows - it's not that I won't find stuff I want, it's just that the number of modern cards I'm willing to pay that for is just so small.

But with all the PSAs and wrestling cards I saw from my first lap around the place, I knew I wouldn't be in much of a time or money crunch here, so I spent a good 10-15 minutes at one point digging through a $2 box that resulted in exactly three cards I needed with the Clemente, Ryan, and Pence (camo parallel!).

The '94 Topps Traded Konerko rookie has been a pain in my side for a long time, and although it was priced at $4, I basically got it as a throw-in with the Ripken SP I mentioned earlier.

I don't mean to sound cheap, and maybe I'm just out of touch with how people see their cards these days, but it seemed like very little at this show was priced correctly.

For all the tables I bought stuff from - probably about a half-dozen in all - there were probably five trying to sell 2023 Topps singles for a dollar a pop. I also saw a lot of people trying to hawk "mystery bags" for $5-10 a piece that had halfway-decent card on the front, complete with what you just know is probably junk hiding behind it.

Heck, I even paid 50 cents for that Topps Total Miguel Tejada which is probably more at home in a dime box - but that's what can happen when I see a double play card I don't already have.

For the most part, I'd say the cards I wound up finding made up for any head-shaking I had to do throughout the day - I just had to dig a little harder for them.

Managed to X out a card I've needed for a while with that '75 Kessinger mini, and I think the quarter box guy missed one by tossing the Duke mini (numbered to just 50 copies) in there.

A few cheap recent needs here - I bought most of the 2022 Stadium Club Chromes I needed off Sportlots, but that excellent Kolten Wong managed to slip by me.

Those quarter boxes probably made up about half of the total cards I purchased the entire day, which makes sense considering it had stuff like zero-year Corey Klubers and even a tough GQ photo-variation with the Donaldson.

With everything I've just described, you probably wouldn't think this show had much of anything in the way of vintage - and while you'd mostly be correct, there were a few small islands of older stuff hidden within the village hall.

The distribution of modern-to-vintage was probably something like 90 percent/10 percent, but it took me a while to find out since the Fleer Jimmy Foxx (at $5) was actually the very first card I bought minutes after waking into the place.

Tough to beat anything '76 Kellogg's, much less a HOFer like Joe Morgan, and much less one that was basically free...

...since, thanks to a bit of haggling, I got it as a throw-in with that '58 Frank Robinson All-Star - the guy wanted $15 for the Robinson and $5 for Morgan, but I got both for $15 total.

There was really only one tried-and-true vintage vendor at this show, the (often) older males who have singles and binders and glass cases surrounding every corner of their table and seem like they haven't bought a pack of baseball cards since 1973. His stuff was mostly in good condition and thus north of anything I wanted to pay, and I must admit I put that '64 Aparicio back in the box the first time I saw it and moved on.

But there's something about those darn vintage high-numbers that won't leave you alone - I walked around for a few minutes before I thought better of it and went back for Luis...and I even got the vendor to knock a few bucks off the original $15 price tag (we eventually settled on $13).

That same vendor had exactly three '61 Nu-Scoops tucked into the back of one of his boxes, and I bought all three.

These aren't something I hem and haw over, because if I see one I don't have, and the price is anything near reasonable, I buy it - the Yogi was $8, and the Larsen was a mere buck but wound up being a throw-in with the biggie...

...Teddy Ballgame!

Big-name Nu-Scoops tend to be a bit pricey, but either way I can't really argue about securing a vintage Ted Williams for $15. It proved to be an unexpectedly sweet cherry on top of what was kind of a strange afternoon. Was this show an odd experience? Yes. Did it trigger my misanthropic tendencies? Oh yes. But did I have fun? Yes. And did I find stuff I needed? Also yes. 

For, in the end, card shows are that weird and rare space where all of these questions can be answered in the affirmative.

Alive and kicking (thanks to COMC)

I haven't been anything near a proficient blogger lately, but don't mistake that for an ebb in my collecting.

I still have a lot of cards coming in, the most I've had in a while - only problem is that my time to file them away has dwindled, which explains why there's a big box full of un-bindered cards sitting on the living room table right now. These days, instead of near-monthly card shows and constant trades, I'm getting most of my cards online, since I can buy them from the seat of my pants at home, or even during downtime at work (but don't tell my bosses that).

It's no accident that I've had a steady stream of COMC orders coming in to Dime Box HQ over the past year or two, and not surprisingly the latest one showed up on my doorstep a couple weeks ago.

One of my favorite things about COMC is that I can decide when to have my cards shipped - meaning I can build up my backlog until it basically amounts to a card show in a box.

Even better is that I've usually forgotten about a lot of the stuff I've bought until it actually gets to me, which makes the cards in my order a second surprise. I unearthed a nice little TCMA trove that made me smile all over again as I was sorting through this latest batch.

All Short Term Stops are welcome here, but for some reason I find myself chasing anything of Duke Snider on the Mets with just a little more vigor than usual.

I've pretty much cleared out all the cheap Permagraphics on COMC, so I had to resort to buying ones in the next-highest price bracket this time around (right around $2 a piece).

Still a small price to pay for such plastic greatness.

COMC is a treasure chest of affordable SPs and/or variations - never thought I'd love a card of Ty Cobb golfing as much as I do.

I'm a big fan of regional oddballs, and one of the beauties of this technological age is that I don't even have to live in said regions to find them.

I think these Emerald Nuts cards were giveaways at Giants games a while back - they feature a lot of alternate-universe Topps cards with different photos, and even guys like Guillermo Mota who Topps straight up ignored for the entirety of his Giants tenure.

A few minor league gems here - Millar and Hinske are favorites of mine, and the bottom two cards ended up in my cart for the photos (obviously).

I still can't believe how cheap BBM cards can be considering they have to cross an ocean to get here.

That's my first Japanese card of Cubs favorite Seiya Suzuki, and my first card at all of new Mets sensation Kodai Senga.

Milestone unlocked: my first Calbee Ichiros!

(Liked the first one I bought so much that I decided it needed a friend.)

I found one COMC seller who was blowing out his Throwback Thursday inventory - all great cards, but man is that Bob Gibson a beauty.

I say it with each passing COMC order, but I've yet to find a better place to find online exclusives on the cheap.

It's kinda sad that a lot of this stuff gets relegated to the internet, because I know I'd be all over a set of SI covers if they were issued in packs.

A few random cards that didn't fit anywhere else in this post - including a blue Vida Blue and Bartolo Colon flanking a foggy Chicago skyline.

Also, I'm just now learning that Topps issued a commemorative box set for the inaugural 2005 Nationals, a team that, for whatever reason, featured a plethora of Obscure Guys I Collect like Jamey Carroll.

Mini madness!

(Dig the rare Bert Campaneris Yankees sighting.)

A few other oddballs for your viewing pleasure - the blank-front Red Sox great is George Kell, and I still have a hard time believing Stouffer's made baseball cards.

I don't think I'll ever have a firm grasp on COMC's prices - that nifty Bellinger action variation was cheaper than his regular Heritage SP(?).

I have a small collection of cards featuring dogs, but that Topps Now card (that I probably overpaid for) is my first that shows a cat - which certainly makes me happy, since I'm admittedly much more of a Cat Person.

Just in case you thought I forgot about the shiny stuff.

(I need more Fan Favorites refractors in my life.)

I realize this COMC order skewed heavily towards the newer stuff, but be assured I did throw in a few older gems from the likes of Squirt and SSPC for good measure.

I treat most vintage OPC as a kind of bonus in my collection: they're nice to have, but I don't often seek them out - Luis Tiant is one of the rare exceptions to that rule, because of course I want all of his OPCs!

My biggest purchase from this order - a '57 Topps Zimmer! - was also an educational one.

I'll sheepishly admit that until now I didn't know there was a scarce middle series in '57 Topps, which explains why I'd never seen this card before, and why it was noticeably pricier (a shade under $10) than most other vintage Zims I'd bought. Even with the hefty price tag, though, any day with a new Don Zimmer is a good one for this collector.

You may not hear from me as often, but as long as places like COMC keep deepening the goldmines, rest assured my collection will always be alive and kicking.

Keep your hands off my Big League

I broke down and grabbed a box of 2023 Topps Big League, which continues this year's recurring theme of failing to control my card-buying impulses.

With the recent demise of other cheap sets like Opening Day and Topps Stickers, Big League is really the last true low-end brand standing these days. Admittedly, I can't say I'll rue the axing of either of those two other sets - but the thought of losing Big League scared me. I probably wasn't alone in thinking Topps had killed it - the lackluster 2021 release didn't actually come out in early 2022, and there wasn't a 2022 Big League set at all.

Which made it an unexpected surprise to hear that Topps was planning a 2023 Big League set, and, better yet, that it'd be among the first releases of the calendar year.

I've probably spent more money on Big League packs/boxes than any other set over the past few years because it's simply a fun rip that provides a whole lot of bang for your buck - a trend that definitely included this box of the 2023 edition.

True to form, 2023 Big League gives us yet another solid design that mirrors what a good, minimalist design can bring to the table - I'd probably rank it a shade beneath my personal favorite BL designs of 2019 and 2020, but not by much.

An unexpected joy was seeing the first (though obviously airbrushed) cards of Guys on New Teams, which always earns a set points in my book.

But 2023 Big League is not without one overwhelmingly glaring flaw.

The base checklist claims to be 310 cards, but that's a bit of a lie because Topps introduced a dumb staggering system where certain cards are way harder to get than others. Only cards 1-200 are true base cards, the last 110 are short-printed to varying degrees (with #s 301-310 falling 1 per case). These rainbow foils fall one per pack, and while I don't mind the idea of "chase cards," I think it's incredibly stupid to do it with the standard base checklist. 

Make the "chase" an insert or parallel or whatever else I wouldn't mind never owning - don't rob me of precious base cards in a set that's not even that big to begin with.

The real tragedy here is that I'm not really sure why Topps did this at all - the old "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" adage comes to mind.

I did luck out a bit with pulling Julio Rodriguez as my 1-per-box blue foil, but it's a card that seems even dumber when you consider that Rodriguez already has a card in the standard base portion of the set. 

It's a shame because I really like everything else about 2023 Big League - and that includes the inserts.

With Opening Day gone, Big League is left to carry the mascot torch these days - and while my video gaming years are long behind me, those "8-Bit Ballers" feature some excellent Nintendo 64-ish riffs.

Graffiti art is always welcome on baseball cards, which makes these "Roll Call" inserts a thrill.

They also feature the only "retired guy" appearances in this year's set, and although I don't think legends really need to be in Big League at all, I can't complain about a new Roberto Clemente!

These wacky inserts are teeming with 1992 Topps Kids vibes...and I absolutely love it.

Finally, we have the "City Slickers" inserts, which focuses on the game's "City Connect" jersey trend, something that's quickly been growing on my mini-collection radar.

It's kind of a weird thing to explain: do I like the Red Sox "City Connect" jerseys? Not really. Do I want cards that show them? Yup. All told, there aren't really any boring inserts in 2023 Big League, which certainly isn't something you can say about many sets out there.

I hesitate to say that the weird short-printing ruined 2023 Big League, because I still like this year's set a heck of a lot. Everything else about it is about as top-notch as you can ask for out of a brand these days.

If Topps could've just left their grubby mitts off of it, we'd have something that comes very near perfection...but, alas.

Collection chaos

I used to take a certain pride in the chaos of my collection.

Don't get me wrong - I'm still an insane collector hoarding cards of 947 different guys, but I like to imagine I've made attempts to lessen the madness recently, or at least control it a bit. I've had physical want lists at various times in my collecting life, but perhaps my biggest step in controlling the chaos has been starting to enter my cards into TCDB, which I've mentioned on the blog recently. 

I envisioned cataloging as something that would allow me to keep track of my own cards, and not necessarily to open up trades with people who see that I want/have certain stuff. However, Bo of "Baseball Cards Come to Life!" was actually nice and enough to comb through my TCDB lists (which, as of this writing, still only has my Angels cards on it) and find cards I didn't already have.

While my cataloging will probably always be a more selfish endeavor, it's nice to get a package of cards and know that everything in there is gonna be a need.

In addition to the Casey Kotchman at the top of this post (proud to say I'm the #1 Kotchman collector on TCDB!) came a few other relatively Angels dudes who I collect for whatever reason.

Don't think I've ever had anyone else send me new Brendan Donnelly or Robb Quinlan cards, which is just one reason I'm deeply indebted to Bo for going through my TCDB lists.

Here's a few of my personal favorite Angels guys, and ones who I own an ample amount of cards of, but that didn't stop Bo from finding a few I needed.

One of the dilemmas I had to face with TCDB was who and what to catalog - was I gonna enter everything, or just the top-tier guys?

I quickly decided on the former, mostly because I figured it wasn't worth the unnecessary mind games of trying to decide who was worthy of cataloging and who wasn't. If a guy's in my binders, that's good enough for me, and he deserves to be a part of my TCDB collection.

Someone like Wally Joyner is a good example - I don't really chase his cards, but as a relatively well-known name, he's earned a place in my binder and I'll certainly take any new ones that fall into my lap.

Bob Boone was the first star of my TCDB want lists - I couldn't believe how many painfully common cards of his I was missing, and Bo helped me close the gap a bit with that '88 Fleer.

(Also, I'm just now learning that, yes, there are actually cards I still need from that incredibly ubiquitous Pacific Nolan Ryan set.)

But it wasn't all just Angels from Bo - he took down three Dime Box Dozen needs in one easy swoop, and a fourth (Adenhart) that was one of the next in line to become a DBD suspect.

More prime player collection needs - I've still never gotten used to seeing Kenny Lofton in a White Sox jersey.

I obviously get great joy out of adding cards of bigger names like Tony Gwynn to my collection, but it's just as much fun to slide a new Jose Lima into my binders - perhaps even more so considering he doesn't have a million different cards like Gwynn does.

But I'll obviously never say no to new Gwynns or Loftons (especially not weirdly die-cut ones!).

This card just flat-out confused me - it's hard to tell from the scan, but both the "Topps Gold" logo and Olerud's name are printed in what looks to be silver foil.

Problem is, I can't find any record of a silver parallel set in '94 Topps, which has me wondering if it's was just accidentally printed without the gold foil. So that: is a misprint a "new" card? Or does it get banished to the doubles box like the rest? Given the way I collect, you can probably guess how I answered that question. It's sitting in my Blue Jays binder as we speak, snuggled next to all the fellow Oleruds for company.

Ah, who am I kidding - I can't help but embrace the chaos that comes with collecting baseball cards.