My first sportlots order of the year is finally here. There always seems to be one straggler card I'm waiting for two weeks after everything else is in. But content is content, it doesn't matter when it appears on here.
Ol' Walt was the late arrival -- almost got to the point where I sent a "I think the mail lost my card" messsage. But instead I get to declare that this card finished the Dodgers team set for the TCMA The 1960s II set from 1981!
This kind of card is about all that I ordered this time around -- stuff that either finished or got me closer to finishing team sets or set sets. The whole order turned out to be smaller than my usual sportlots order. I guess I was trying to save a little cash. The total seems slight, but it still packs a punch with me!
More TCMA stuff, but I'm nowhere near completing these team sets. I'm making a dedicated effort to finish the 1978 TCMA 1941 Dodgers set, which the Kirby Higby card is from at left. Hoping to order a bunch more from that set soon. The second Alston in this package is from the 1980 TCMA 1959 Dodgers set. Still a looong way to go on that one.
While I'm on legends sets, here's one that I completed finally, after thinking it was complete already. Marv Throneberry was the gremlin in the 1988 Pacific Legends set that is now done. With 1989 Pacific done, too (though I think I still need a second Joe Black), I can focus efforts on 1990 Pacific, where I'm about 30 cards short.
Completing every (well maybe not every) Dodgers team set is important, no matter how forgotten the player. Weirdly, Todd Williams was the last card I needed to finish the 1995 Flair team set. This was a Nebulous 9 card. That want list really needs updating as it's down to three cards now.
1998 Bowman Chrome's team set is complete, too, with these two wildly different cards. Mike Judd's MLB career was 28 games that I don't remember.
The Piazza came from former blogger Adam of ARPSmith's Sportscard Obsession. Unfortunately he's still a Giants fan and he wasn't even blogging last year when I could harass him about the Dodgers' World Series title.
He threw in some 2024 Dodgers with the Piazza card. I own all these already but this was nice and the Kershaws can go to Maybe-Someday-But-Probably-Not set completion quests.
Then there are team sets that you thought you completed with an order only to realize when it shows up that the card you thought you had secured was swiped out of your cart. So I'll have to settle for another Garciaparra card photoshopped into a Dodgers uniform with 2006 Bazooka. Eric Gagne is still out there.
Often while online shopping I stray into sets that have been forgotten but were once discussed frequently on the blogs. 2009 Topps Unique was one of them, a less-than-memorable one-and-done set (at least I think it was).
The base set is black and then there are red and gold parallels. The reds are snazzy, the golds do nothing for me, which is cool because the gold are numbered to /25. The reds are /1199 and that portion of the team set is now complete!
More and more Dodger set-questing! The Pedro Guerrero Cereal Series card from 1984 is a one-card set that I ignored because it looks almost identical to the 1984 Ralston Purina set, which I've completed. The Mike Scioscia finishes the 1987 OPC Dodgers set.
The other two items don't complete team sets but do fall under the It's About Bleeping Time heading. The Stars of MLB inserts of the last few years are ubiquitous, even the Chrome versions. But I could not get that 2024 Chrome Kershaw until now. (Still need a couple Japanese stars, of course). Then there is the Ron Cey 1982 Fleer stamp that I should have owned for a long time already except for my decades of dismissiveness about these things (these aren't CARDS!). I finally came around.
Very little upgrading this Sportlots round, although I do a lot of that with Sportlots because prices are cheaper. I have some 1975 minis that could use some updating though and I started with Cesar Cedeno. My version is miscut (see at right). That's the only issue, that "scratch" is a cat hair.
The most productive portion of the order, though, came from my 1979 Topps football pursuit. These four cards get me down to four left for the set! All that remains is three team checklists (unchecked) and Walter Payton and the Payton has been ordered! I can already feel the post dedicated to '79 football coming up.
The other vintage cards were from 1969 Topps. I'm getting down the the final difficult run with this set with some baddies still to go. But I made a minor dent here with one of the last manager cards I needed.
And also the last two All-Star cards I needed! It's crazy that it's these two. Tommy Helms is not a big name compared with the other players in this set. The McCovey card I owned since I was a teenager but shipped it off in some trade when I thought I'd never try to chase this set. There are still a couple of other cards from this set that I also once owned that I need to get -- Pete Rose and Gil Hodges in particular.
That's the whole rundown. I never plan out my orders for Sportlots or COMC but I usually end up ordering from Sportlots about three times a year and COMC twice a year. My first COMC order of the year is about due.
Anyway, I've been dying to get these cards in their final resting spots and now that Alston is finally secured and I've finally written about it, I can make things nice and cozy for these cards.
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