Freebies and almost freebies

Like most folks in this country, I am not made of money. While going for my daily walks or driving around town, I look at the shiny gargantuans passing for cars on the local road and wonder who can afford that. There are so many of them now, maybe there actually are people made of money?

 

But little guys like me -- who drive a modest CRV -- must pick our moments for spending cash. Budgets and all that. And, while I've never been a bargain-hunter in everyday life, I sometimes am as a card collector. 

Freebies are still a thing in the collecting social media world, though not as often as they once were. I need to do my part in that area -- it's not due to a lack of cards, just a lack of time. But at least I'm participating in the claiming!

 

Here are some very recent acquisitions, all in response to "free" or "free with a catch" come-ons.

 

 

Jim of cards as I see them revived his "Almost Free Fridays" giveaway recently. I was only able to find one card that fit into my collection. This Clayton Kershaw "Hitter's Nightmare" card jumped out at me as something I didn't have. It's an online-only release, of course. I kind of like the "nightmare" theme. But don't turn the card over. Like all online-only releases, the back truly is a nightmare.

 

As a fellow Dodger fan, Jim always have cards I need. He asked if I could use some 2022 UK Topps cards and I said "yes" to these three.

 

 

 This insert from the set also came along. At first glance, I thought it was a sticker, but it's a real live card.

 

 

 With a real live colorful card back! Not a ton of info back here, but at least they made it attractive.

 

 

Probably the biggest Garvey collector I know also sent me this Select Steve Garvey card. This is something called "Concourse" and I'm not going to think any more about what that means.

 

Finding cards for a fellow Dodger fan to send in return is usually fairly easy and fun for me, so I didn't mind this "almost free" exercise at all.

 

 

The next freebie avenue that a chose was the giveaway thread on BlueSky that I've mentioned before. The cards you get on the thread are absolutely free though you're expected to offer freebies yourself, which I absolutely do when I can.

 

Andy offered up some early 1980s Topps stickers and I missed out on a few but then requested all the rest. I've devoted a few posts to Topps stickers from this time, particularly the 1982 set. But the 1981s here are the first ones I knew and collected. I don't know what happened to those stickers (maybe I stuck them?) but I'm gathering them back! I so remember the Lynn, Dawson and Hernandez.

 

 

Some 1983s and 1982s came along, too. A couple of the '82s are "triples," but I had left behind stickers for good by 1983 so all of those are new!

 

 

Diamond Jesters recently made his 100th Time Travel post and on the occasion I tried to claim as many cards as I could to celebrate. This is one of the best "turn in your unwanted old stuff for slightly newer stuff" deals I've ever seen on the internet.

 

Usually I claim one-to-four cards, max. This time I claimed 12, like I'm Baseball Cards Come to Life. I even went for this manhandled 1969 Deckle Edge Don Kessinger. I'd like to add all the deckle edge cards to my '69 Topps quest. Here's one that was owned by a 5-year-old.

 

 

This was the oldest card I claimed, a nice bunt shot of Chico Ruiz. I had to do some research because I thought I owned this card already. But I owned this card:

 

Perhaps you can understand the confusion.

 

 

The anniversary spectacular opened the doors for me claiming stuff I've held off on for a long time. I like all the '80s Fleer box sets, but riffing off the mid 1989 Fleer flagship design wasn't the greatest move. These look like '89 Fleer left out in the sun for months. But I've got to get them all!

 

 

Probably the find of the latest Time Travel for me. I glaze over mid-1980s stickers because it's a cavalcade of "here are two guys on different teams sharing the same space" stickers. But mixed in are some actual one-guy-only stickers, like this one! Gonna need to brush up on these sets.

 

 

 My recent post mentioned that I might be done collecting football cards. But gathering ones I like here and there is still on the table. Early '80s Topps looks good to me (though the '81 set is struggling). Still has players from my youth and I have a whole bunch of 1979 football that could use a home -- not that anyone will care probably.

 

Now I need to gather some older stuff, and more than usual, but that will be fun, too.

 

 

Matt also found two cards for me from the local card shop! I got too excited about that Mondesi Slideshow card as there are two components to it. But turns out I had this one already. I did not have the "Legendary Leaders" card, from that odd UD set that paired up players from different sports but in the same city. Is this my first hockey-baseball card? I believe it is.

 

And, yes, it's time to recount the number of Shawn Green relics again.

 

 

Final freebie. As Gregory from Nine Pockets does from time-to-time, he offers a giveaway of some of his excellent creations to fellow bloggers. I've claimed a few of these. And this is my 10th Nine Pockets creation. Wow!

 

This tribute to Fast Times at Ridgemont High was a no-brainer pick for me. As a senior in high school, this movie was the talk of the class (it debuted the summer before my senior year). It's a classic even though it does not stand up all that well if you view it again decades later as I did.

 

 

Still it's a nice momento of the time period and I appreciate the creator going farther than Topps does sometimes with the card back. Real research! See, Topps, it doesn't take that much effort!

 

Neither does claiming freebies, which I hope will continue to be available on the blogs, etc. Hopefully you'll see one from me some time. But it's going to have to be after school is out.