Year of the pivot

 

The popular Twitter card question-and-answer feature, CardChat, put out a series of questions yesterday relating to buying cards, particularly in 2022.

The last question was simple: show your favorite card purchase from this year.

 

I was stumped.

 

Any other year, it would've been the easiest question in the world to answer. But this year, so far, I have no answer.

 

Sure, I've bought cards I've liked, you've seen them on this blog for the last four months. But there's nothing that stands out as FAVORITE or something that other collectors would see and, say, "oh yeah, that's a great card."

 

A year ago at this time, I was buying 1956 Topps of superstars, any number of two dozen cards I purchased in the first four months of 2021 I could enter as my answer to my favorite card purchase and be sure about it.

 

But this year is different. Buying cards is different. If I want to buy vintage, I will more than likely have to pay something unreasonable, if I'm buying online anyway. One of the other CardChat questions was "what are your biggest challenges to buying cards?" My response was "overcharging." That didn't get any likes -- probably because Twitter is teeming with sellers -- but it's true, places like COMC and ebay are packed with people overcharging for their cards and it's gotten worse.

 

Outside of the card show I went to a couple of weeks ago, I have bought no vintage this year. That's all you need to know that there's something wrong. I live for buying vintage. It's almost all I want in cards, at least mostly what I want.

 

So, unlike last year or other years when I declared it "The Year Of Vintage," 2022 is definitely not that. I'm calling it "The Year Of The Pivot."

 

I've pivoted to other card interests. It's been fairly seamless and I actually did it without thinking about it much. I just moved to cards that I could afford, and here's the thing that a lot of collectors don't get -- I find cards that are not shiny nor really old just as appealing as any Ohtani or Clemente. Life is full of adjustments, you know? I have adjusted.

What I am getting to here is another Sportlots order has come in.

As you can see it was full of oddballs, which I like as much -- if not more -- than anything that's selling for wack prices. I'm really enjoying my quest for as many 1981 Coke cards -- heck any Coke cards from that time -- that I can find.

Sportlots is one of those places that hasn't been inflicted by greed. Prices are still reasonable or at least you can shop around for a reasonable price on what you want. The best part of this particular order is that I didn't have a lot of money at the time and I was looking through some items for sale that I really liked, whining and coveting, and, lo and behold, I discovered I had more than $30 in unused credit!

Let the shopping commence!

Here is another 1981 obsession of the moment -- O-Pee-Chee needs. I can feel a want list for this stuff bubbling under. That Cliff Johnson card is beautiful.

I am hoping that people are reading this and shaking their heads, saying "what's so great about these?" because that means I can continue to buy at least something that I love that isn't going to skyrocket out of my window of affordability.

Another card from 1981, but this is a common-variety Topps issue. I do feel like I have to explain this one a little.

This is an upgrade over the worst-conditioned card in my '81 complete set.

This is the Unser being upgraded (with the ragged bottom edge it could pass for an O-Pee-Chee!). It doesn't look terrible or anything, but next to all the other '81s in the binder, its off-centeredness really stands out.

I often wonder what sellers think when someone clicks "purchase" on something as random as a 10-cent Del Unser card.

 

1970s Kellogg's cards are one of the oddballs that has risen in price over the last several months. This is terrible news, probably what I'm most upset about as I've practically had people giving me these things at shows for the last several years. Now all of a sudden it's like every 3-D lenticular is an Ozzie Smith rookie.

But Sportlots won't do that to me and I was happy with the prices of all these. They're all very shiny, too, except the Eckersley, which was annoying. Its condition was listed as the same as the others and it's definitely not, it's that yellow-hardened look that happens when kids left their Kellogg's cards out in the sun. One of Sportlots drawbacks is many of the cards don't come with images, and pictures are almost imperative when it comes to Kellogg's. That, or make the condition listing match the card!!!

Anyway, at least I crossed off a few '79 Kellogg's cards.

Heh, this thing.

I've wanted this card ever since the Alex Cole Legends Of Cardboard post I wrote. It's magical. View this card on a bad day and you'll hear birds sing.

 

OK, I need to explain these two as well, in what world do these pair up together?

Well, both of them complete sets that I thought were already complete. The 2013 Panini Hometown Heroes card was weirdly missing but now the non-SP portion of that set is done done. The Boggs -- oh, man, that hurt when I discovered that was not in the '83 Fleer binder already. I don't know how I missed missing such a notable rookie card.

But, no matter, they're both home where they belong.

 

 

Speaking of complete sets, this insert from 2001 Upper Deck Decade '70s has finished off everything from that set for me. Base set done, all the inserts done. I'M DONE! What a happy day.

Also, this is how you collect a set of your childhood heroes when vintage card prices are unfriendly.

 

This acquisition is epic.

Let me fill you in on why if all you're seeing is a Tyler Houston card from 2002.

This card is from the 2002 Topps Traded & Rookies set, the Update set. For some strange reason that I don't know -- because I wasn't collecting and card companies thought they could do anything while I wasn't looking -- Topps short-printed a bunch of the cards in this set. I mean a bunch, like out of the Dodgers team set of 11 cards, six of them are SPs.

I hope someone went to jail for this.

The Houston and Nomo cards were particularly tricky for me, and they sell for like 10 bucks each, which is insane for a card from that time (I did not pay $10 for the Houston card -- it cost $2). The person who sold me the card left a note that said he was surprised at how tough they were to find. I'm sure lots of people are. Who would think anyone would short-print stuff like this?

 

I know I've strayed away from oddballs into modern-type cards, but in this pivot atmosphere, I take what I can get, and I'm still finding things I've wanted for a long time.

The 2005 Retired Signature cards have been weirdly elusive, I had maybe one or two of the Dodgers until I grabbed these.

Throw in the Diamond Kings Kershaw insert from the top of the post and a 2011 A&G mini of James Loney that finished that mini team set and you've seen everything I got in the latest order.

Probably doesn't look like much to some people, even with the big discount with the discovered credit, but I'm not here to impress people over these cards.

I'm here to say, "this is what I like" and "STAY AWAY FROM CARDS LIKE THESE, CAN I PLEASE HAVE SOMETHING THAT WON'T BE HOARDED AND SOLD FOR A HUGE MARK-UP?!?!?!?!?!?!?"

I'm running out places to pivot, guys.