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Twenty-two


This forever stamp of former civil rights activist and literary champion Anne Spencer graced a PWE that I received last week from Nick of Dime Boxes.

The average number of cards that fall out of a PWE at my place is nine. Sometimes it's 7 or 8, sometimes it's 10 or 12.

The cards that came out of this envelope totaled 22.

Yup, 22 cards, halfway across the country, for the price of a 55-cent stamp.

I know you don't believe me, and there's nothing I can say or show here that will convince the strongest of doubters. All I can do is provide the cards that came out of the envelope here and let them do the talking:


Card 1: A 1975 Hostess of mid-1970s Royals hero Steve Busby. I jumped on this card in one of Nick's Friday giveaways. I am so glad so many collectors are not interested in '70s Hostess cards. Because I can't think of anything much better.



Card 2: A 1970 O-Pee-Chee Art Shamsky. I jumped on this, too. I don't think I knew it was OPC at the time, thinking merely that I might need it for my 1970 Topps set. Sometimes I don't read before I make a free card bid. It's the only way you can beat out the prize hounds sometimes.



Card 3: A 1980 Kellogg's Ross Grimsley. I own this card already. But it's a nice reminder of the last year that I scooped Kellogg's cards out of cereal boxes. I may be collecting Kellogg's cards through 1983, but really 1980 is the end of an era.



Card 4: A 2011 Allen & Ginter mini of baseball media legend Peter Gammons. I have this card, too, and he doesn't make my frankenset. However, I reserve a place of honor for certain select non-frankenset A&G minis and Gammons is one. Younger people know Gammons as some sort of old-man blitherer on Twitter. I know him as a wonderful writer of Sports Illustrated World Series articles back in the day.



Card 5: A 2016 A&G mini of Paulie. Nope, no way he's making the frankenset. (A Phillies Bryce Harper is blocking his path anyway). It won't find a place of honor in the back of the binder either.



Card 6: A 1976 Hostess Jim Sundberg. Woooo! A need for my '76 Hostess completion quest! I remember Sundberg as a late 1970s All-Star for the Rangers. I always thought he'd become a manager or GM after his career was over. He didn't, although he did work in the front office.



Card 7: 1976 Hostess Roger Metzger. Nick threw in one to go with Sundberg. I have this card already. But with Hostess, you're always looking for upgrades so I'll be doing some contrastin' and comparin' later.



Card 8: A 2017 Bowman Chrome Dustin May. A card I own, but if May does well in the next two years, I will want more than one of this card.



Card 9: 2020 Opening Day Dustin May. This is May after his makeover. I have this card, too, but rookie mojo knows no rationality. When I was collecting in the '70s, we wanted to get rid of our dupes as often as we could. Now people hoard them.



Card 10: 2020 Opening Day Gavin Lux. Yup, keeping as many of these that come to me as well.



Card 11: 1990 Target Hugh Casey. All right, by now you're figuring out how Nick slipped all these cards past the postman. The Target cards are notoriously light and flimsy. You could say the same for Hostess and '80 Kellogg's, too. But I am still impressed. Way impressed. With Nick, with the postal worker, with the post office in general.



Card 12: 1990 Target Randy Jackson. Both of these Target cards I needed, by the way. That's no easy feat with the amount I've accumulated thus far.



Card 13: 1989 Pro Cards Triple A All-Star Game Ramon Martinez. The many minor league cards of Ramon Martinez blend together but I think I own this already.



Card 14: 1990 Pacific Senior League Baseball Cecil Cooper: Out of all of the Senior League designs from this period, this is my least favorite. But I am a slave to cards of players from my childhood, and this is that.



Card 15: 2010 Topps Chrome X-Fractor Matt Kemp. Remember X-Fractors? Why were they called that? There aren't little X designs on the card. It's a bunch of squares and boxes. Anyway, I love this card and I neeeeded it.



Card 16: 1975 Topps buyback George Mitterwald. Mitty is in the buyback binder already. I don't really try to upgrade buybacks (since the stamp ruined the card anyway), but I may take a looksee here.



Card 17: 1994 Fleer Atlantic Mike Piazza. I think Fleer should have gone with this photo for Piazza's card in the main set.



Card 18: 2013 Topps Target red parallel Kenley Jansen. Out of all the red-blue retail parallels from this time, the 2013 reds were my favorite. They match nicely with the Dodgers, too.



Card 19: 2020 Bowman Tony Gonsolin. Hey! It's my first 2020 Bowman card! I don't know how Nick beat back the Bowman hoarders for this thing, but I appreciated it. ... I don't know what's going on with that logo sandwich thing in the corner. It seems almost as pointless as those 1996 Topps squished heads.


Card 20: 2020 Opening Day Gavin Lux, Spring Has Sprung insert. A much-appreciated card. This is an excellent insert set, probably the best of the year thus far. Topps tries to ruin it by squeezing random rookies into it. But I enjoy the look too much to complain too loudly.


Card 21: 1967 Topps Jimmie Hall. Mercy. This card has climbed to the top as the most immaculately clean '67 card that I own. If the edges on the back weren't slightly faded, I'd think Nick just pulled it out of a pack. This card was on my want list, too.



Card 22: 1991 Topps Archives Frank Smith: Oh if every card blogger paid attention to what I write like Nick! They would know that Frank Smith is one of my favorite players from the '50s, someone who grew up in my area and someone I've interviewed and done stories on both while he was alive and since he's passed.



This is my latest addition to my card room. It's a shadow box featuring the autographed cards I have of Frank Smith. All of them were given to me by Smith's dear friend, Norm, after Smith passed away.

I have most of Smith's playing days cards, although I should recheck and see what I'm missing. Smith isn't someone that would pop up in retro sets so getting that '91 Archives card is a pleasant surprise. It will go nicely with my 1953 Topps Smith.

So, whether you believe me or not, those were the 22 cards that came out of that single, plain, white envelope. And if you're calculating, that is 2.5 cents per card to send across five states.

Tell that to the next person who complains about the price of a stamp.

Comments

Oh, so you're the one who beat me to the Hostess cards! :-D

Nice bunch of cards, as Nick always provides.
Old Cards said…
Received a package today myself. Cards looked great and were packaged very nicely. Thanks for your generosity.
Nick said…
As I've said before, I have no clue how my one-stamp PWEs keep slipping past the powers that be, but until I hear otherwise I'll keep pushing the envelope (so to speak).

I couldn't believe how clean that '67 Hall was either -- at the very least, I figured it'd be an upgrade for you. Whenever I see or hear the name "Frank Smith," I always think of you, which is how that card wound up in your pile after I found it in a box. Also, you can thank my dad for the 2020 Bowman. He does vendor gigs at Target from time to time and put a couple rack packs aside for me as he was stocking them. He said all the Bowman he'd stocked was gone by the time he left that day. (Ugh.)

(Also, thank you so much for showing the Harlem Renaissance stamp! They're really well done and the authors/activists are awfully relevant right now.)
Elliptical Man said…
A lot of weird goodness here. Or good weirdness.

May with the white boy fro had the lead early. Senior League Cooper edged him out. Then it was Krazy Kemp. Piazza made a valiant effort, but it's a ho card.

Voting for the Kemp.

I recently spent $3.95 to send 10 cards, so I'm a bit jealous of Nick.
bbcardz said…
I was so looking to see Dustin May pitch this season but I'm losing hope that the season will happen.

Just got a PWE from Fuji today. I thought he had done really well packing 18 cards in it but Nick takes the cake! But as far as return address labels, I think Fuji's is the best I've ever seen--flat out awesome!
Fuji said…
I've read and bookmarked a few "how to package a pwe" posts. Maybe it's time for Nick to add to the list. I'd love to see how he gets it done.
Commishbob said…
Handsome Ransom Jackson! Last Brooklyn Dodger home run. I think he just passed away last year. I kinda, sorta collect his cards and I'll go find that one for myself.
Jimmie Hall - one of EIGHT Angels' outfielders in the 1967 set.
(And that doesn't include Roger Repoz or Woodie Held, who joined the Angels in late-Spring 1967!)
Unknown said…
Glad to see your still doing it! Miss all you guys! Hope all is well!- Wicked
Old Cards said…
Hey Jim from Downingtown, maybe that's why they made that movie.
Defenders50 said…
As someone whose Dad got him the Fleer Sunoco set as a young child, my first reaction was "Wait, that wasn't hit picture in the main set".

Sure enough. I can't imagine why you wouldn't go with that oddball beauty instead.
GCA said…
Didn't realize Serj Tankian had begun a second career in baseball. Guess since SoaDown aren't playing shows...Gonsolin is a strange stage name...
Yes, those 2020 Bowman's are hard to find. I live near a Target and must of showed up right after it was stocked because there was a entire full shelf of MegaBoxes. Not being a dbag, I only bought one. I went back later in the day because I wanted to see if they would be all gone and yes they were...along with just about everything else that was stocked.