All right, nobody cares about 2019 cards with four days left in 2019. That's what you're telling me.
I get it.
The only reason I care about them is because I'm a hopeless team collector. But actually my heart is somewhere else.
It is somewhere far, far, away. From a distant place and time, back when there was just one set to collect -- well, maybe sometimes two -- but definitely not more than that.
The cards were a lot more colorful. The players in the pictures didn't move a lot, but the graphics took care of that. They were bright and loud, and on the back, a cartoon balanced out the rows and rows of numbers.
Yup, my heart is in vintage. That's what I'm saying.
Whap!
Vintage.
David has sent me another Christmas box.
It's the last of the Christmas card greetings to reach my house this year. And I was totally surprised. Not a soul told me that I was going to receive a 1953 Topps Joe Black card. Sweet mercy. I'm getting closer and closer all the time to having just Jackie Robinson on that '53 want list.
Dave is not shy about vintage. He will send cards he thinks you can use and if that's vintage cards, he's there for you.
There ...
... For ...
... You!
I was so excited about these 1970 Topps cards that I didn't bother to take the sleeves off of some of them before I scanned them.
All of the above were new to my collection. They're getting me closer and closer to putting up a want list for 1970 Topps, the next set I want to complete. A couple of them were even high numbers, which I like because there's nothing more deflating that adding a want list and realizing it's packed full of high-number needs. "678 ... 679 ... 680 ... 681 ... 682 ... 683 ..."
These are all upgrades. Look at all those Pilots. That's like one-fourth of the team!
Collectors who enjoy vintage cards don't mind getting vintage cards from sets they're not necessarily collecting. I can't say that for more modern sets. If I'm trying to complete the 1995 Topps set, don't be sending me 1996 Topps. It might end up in the garbage.
But if I'm collecting 1967 Topps and you send me 1965 Topps ...
... I'll be nothing but grateful. That's the famed, misspelled Jim Kaat card! I NEED that in my collection.
The more 1965 Topps cards I get, the more I think I should possibly ditch any thought of completing 1967 and go for the much easier '65 quest. Heck, that's my birth year anyway and you're never getting that '67 Seaver card anyway, pal.
So vintage ...
... heck, yes -- UNMARKED CHECKLIST VINTAGE -- is where it's at!
COME ON, MAN!!!!!!!
There is almost nothing better.
Even hockey vintage is pretty darn fantastic.
I could have sworn that Dave had sent me these 1974-75 Sabres cards before.
But that's before I turned the cards over.
Every single one of them were O-Pee-Chee.
So, yeah, why are we talking about any other cards?
Well, Dave sent some of those other cards, too. Because sometimes I make noise about other non-vintage cards. I don't know why.
At some point in my trip through the box I was staring at that wonderful sight that I know so well.
It was nearly the entire 1975 portion of 2019 Archives.
Had I known this was coming I wouldn't have bought five blasters of the stuff. This isn't a complete set, but pretty damn close. The only card I was missing before this arrived was the Aaron Judge and the Judge wasn't in this stack (although someone just emailed me yesterday that he will send the Judge card).
I have so many dupes of these cards now, which is totally appropriate and really kind of nice because who else loves this design more than me?
The cards did include this Gil Hodges variation. The grayed-out border and position baseball goes nicely with the faded-out background that has been quite jarring with these cards.
The '75 theme didn't end with the Archives cards, though, as Dave sent me this buyback, which is the 349th card that I have from the set in buyback form. I already have my eye on card No. 350, as well as a handful of others.
Before I get to a few random cards, there was one other set stack in the box. It's not really a set I'm collecting, but now that I have so many cards from it ... well, might as well.
That is not the entire 1985 Fleer Update set. It's missing nine cards, mostly Pirates and Cubs (the Pirates, I get, Dave's a Pirates fan, the Cubs are a mystery).
My main quest is to get the 1985 Fleer regular set finished and I'm 112 big cards away from that so let's throw in Update, too! Want list coming soon.
Dave added some Dodger needs to the box, too. I'm really happy to get that Jorge Orta card off the Nebulous 9. Sweet upgrading on its way!
That Bellinger Heritage card is some sort of "Mega Box Exclusive" and don't ask me to explain any more than that. There are Dodgers cards everywhere floating in the air above me and I have no idea that they're there.
I appreciate Dave taking my request for all "When Puigs Fly" cards seriously. I should have many more of these than I do. As for the stickers, one was plenty.
Did you know Topps Heritage Minors had blue border parallels? That news was crushing and cool all at the same time when I found out.
Dave also sent some night cards. I wish the above card could make the Night Card Binder, but since Topps refuses to put card numbers on the back of some of their inserts AND THERE IS NO CARD NUMBER "BF-SC," then there's no slot for this super-fine card.
Look at all the night cards in the 1993 portion of Topps Archives. I bet that's more than half, if not more, of the night cards in the original 1993 Topps set.
Of this group, the Smoltz and Swanson and the 2018 Choo make the night card binder. The rest will be banished to boxes.
So, you probably figured out that I added some 2019 cards in there, even though nobody is interested in them anymore.
I just had to throw the vintage at you first to keep your interest.
Sometimes you have to bring in the big guns.
Comments
Well said!