C.A.: 1976 Topps Claudell Washington

(I apparently made the faux pas of reminding an ebay buyer that payment was due soon. I don't sell all that much but isn't it reasonable to expect someone to pay within a few days? Anyway, payment's been made. So there. But the bitter taste in my mouth for selling grows stronger. Time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 319th in a series):

My attempt to upgrade cards in my collection is always a challenge.

For the most part, I've successfully upgraded cards from my childhood. Those would be cards from the 1975-79 Topps sets. The '75 set is close to completely upgraded, but that's the one set where I'm always looking for nicer copies. The '76 and '77 sets are close to done. The '78 set has a handful of notable cards with rounded corners that I've been too cheap to improve. The '79 set, I think, is as good as it's going to get.

That means I'm on the second round of upgrades, which focuses on the cards I was buying to complete childhood sets around 2004-05. Those specifically are the '74 and '76 sets.

When I was trying to complete those sets, I bought most of my cards at a pawn shop downtown that is no longer there. I grabbed a host of '75s from that store and quite a few '74s, too. The lighting in that place probably could have been better (it was an old building). Also I wasn't terribly picky about the cards I was selecting then, and I suppose that's a good thing. Getting hung up on condition can get expensive. It's even worse when you don't even realize how much it's costing. (See: grading). But I have expectations when I see those cards in my collection.

 

So I've been updating some '74s and '76s here and there. One of the latest ones is this 1976 Claudell Washington. Claudell is one of those pesky players whose cards are more difficult to obtain than they should be (I need to do a post on that). I think I've upgraded this card now twice.

There is the side-by-side with the upgraded card on the left and the "offending" card on the right. (Is that Sal Bando in the background?) To look at the one on the right, nothing seems amiss. There is a white mark at the bottom right and the photo is a bit bleached-out there. But the main problem you can't really see. There's a folding mark at the top of the card, one of those where the card was dented or folded at some point but not enough to create a crease. It's those deceptive flaws that annoy me.

 

So I've taken care of that problem and I don't have to think about this card again. But sometimes you just have to let things go.

 

I tried to upgrade my 1978 Pirates team car but the one I received was in worse shape. It's the top card and it doesn't look as nice as the one I've had since '78. Also -- this is the annoying thing when there's no picture on a Sportlots card -- there are a couple of boxes checked on the back.

Sometimes I need to learn to leave things alone. But the rush of upgrading is almost as addicting as acquiring new cards.

 

This is a real first-world hobby problem, I know. But the whole hobby is a first-world activity anyway, so I am not apologizing.