eBay Deals of the Week

Time for something new! A digest of the best eBay deals of the week. Act fast to grab one of these great deals!

Maybe it would grade out at a PSA 10?

Two Hall of Famers on one card! Oh, wait a minute...

This must be the ultra-rare upside down variation. 

Getting this card at this price would certainly be an investment gamble. 

Hey, this card has two reviews, both 5 stars! How can you go wrong?

A steal for 1992 Fleer! You can't find these anywhere! 

Happy bidding!

Massive Card Lot for $40? Yes, Please.

I haven't posted in a while and part of the reason why is this massive haul of cards:

I regularly search Craigslist and Facebook locally in the hopes of finding big groups of cards for cheap. I've done it before with good results. So even though I really had no idea what was in this lot, I figured $40 would be worth the hunt. And it was, but the lot wasn't without disappointment.

The Bad:

I'm not sure how many cards were in this lot. I planned to try to do a rough count, but kind of lost interest in that early on. Maybe 30,000 to 50,000. That's my rough estimate. In any event, about half the cards basically had to be trashed. I'm not one to throw away cards, but a good number were yellowed and smelled pretty bad due to some combination of dust/smoke/general mustiness. So that was disappointing. The upside of that group of cards is it was basically all Overproduction Era cards, so not a huge loss. 

A decent number of cards in the lot also had some of the stink, but none of the yellowing. Those cards are currently sealed away in boxes with baking soda. I heard this needs to be done for a week to be effective. I hope it works. I snuck a smell (LOL) tonight - after 5 days - and it seems to have helped somewhat. I might do a second week with a new box of baking soda, even though I really want to get at these cards to do more sorting and filing. If anyone has a better tip for exorcising the smell, leave a comment for me.

The Good:

The cards I'm about to show already add up to me recovering my $40, so that's some of the good news. Also, there was a nice box of about 500 Topps Archives cards from 2001, so I should be able to flip those on eBay (they looked like players with last names S-Z, so if you need someone in that range, let me know and I'll take a look for you before I list the cards on eBay). There was also a box of some premium inserts from the mid-90s that have some value. I used some of the Griffey inserts to sell a lot on Facebook, so have already recovered some of the investment:

I'm excited to keep a lot of the cards I found, including a good stack of cards to possibly plug in to my nearly-complete Frankenset (more on that in a upcoming post). There are several hundred of those to go through, so that will be fun. Some others I'm excited to keep are of course, waxy rookies!!!

If you're curious, there wasn't a ton of vintage in the lot (just a few 70s cards), but there were a few hundred early 80s cards. I'll probably ditch the Overproduction Era commons at some point, but will save cards for my player files. So if there's a player you're interested in, as always, let me know and we can work on a trade. Might be a while before I get everything filed though.

Thanks for stopping by!

The Reliable Brett Buntler

I'm well acquainted with the cards of the Overproduction Era, simply because I've seen them so many times. So when I think in terms of patterns or themes in cards, my familiarity with the 1988-1993 or so crowd comes to the forefront. Some patterns I've noticed:

Kirt Manwaring seems to always be the catcher in a play at the plate.

Jose Rijo and Roger McDowell are oftentimes doing something goofy. 

Ken Griffey Jr. is often playfully smiling with his hat on backwards.

And Brett Butler always seems to be bunting, so much so that I have now dubbed him:

Brett BUNT-ler!

The pun is just too easy. 

So I took my Brett Butler cards out and decided to see if my recollection was right. How often is he shown bunting? Surely it couldn't be on every card, but it happened often enough for me to notice a pattern. Here are my findings:

I have 43 different Brett Butler cards ranging from 1983 through 1996. 11 of those cards show him somewhere in the process of bunting.

Here's the lineup:

The 1995 Collectors' Choice Special Edition is my favorite of the bunch. Great shot of the ball hitting the bat. 

Here's the final card, showcasing Butler giving advice on bunting! This was part of a six card subset from 1993 Upper Deck Fun Pack. 

1993 Upper Deck Fun Pack #210 - Brett Butler

That's just over 25% of my cards showing Butler bunting. Pretty healthy incidence of bunting I would say. I always enjoy a good bunting card. 

Are there any players that you picture doing the same thing on many different card issues? 

Thanks for reading!

Bill Clemens, We Hardly Knew Ye

One thing I always liked about the early Donruss baseball cards was the full player's name appearing on the backs of the cards. It was just a quirky detail that someone like me enjoys. It was always interesting to see a player's full name, especially if their first name was a nickname or if they went by their middle name. A couple of my favorite players, Ryne Sandberg and Mark Grace, have the middle names Dee and Eugene respectively. I wouldn't know that without the Donruss cards. These cards also told us that Kirby Puckett was the Twins star's full legal name, as is the case for the now infamous Jose Canseco.

But back to those guys who went by something other than their first name. Did you know there are actually a lot of them? And not just random scrub players, but some of the biggest stars of the 80s and 90s. I looked through some 1990 Donruss cards to appreciate the beautiful design (sarcasm, of course) and to see if I could find some players who went by their middle name. I didn't even look at that many and still found several examples. So I'll present those here, in quiz format, because the former teacher in me can't help himself. But if you can't stand the quiz format, just scroll down to see the players/cards in question.

I also had some 88 and 91 Donruss nearby, so I found a couple of the examples from those sets. And now, the quiz:

1) Which member of the 1998 NL Champion Padres went by his middle name?

A) Tony Gwynn

B) Ken Caminiti

C) Greg Vaughn

D) Kevin Brown

2) Which Twins ace preferred his middle name?

A) Jim Kaat

B) Bert Blyleven

C) Johan Santana

D) Frank Viola

3) Which member of the 1993 World Series Champion Toronto Blue Jays went by a version of his middle name?

A) Rickey Henderson

B) Tony Fernandez

C) John Olerud

D) Joe Carter

4) Which Hall of Fame pitcher was known by his middle name?

A) Nolan Ryan

B) Phil Niekro

C) Don Sutton

D) Greg Maddux

5) Which pitcher who debuted in the 1980s preferred his middle name?

A) Orel Hershiser

B) Tom Glavine

C) Fernando Valenzuela

D) Roger Clemens

6) Which long-time Mariners slugger goes by his middle name?

A) Ken Griffey Jr.

B) Jay Buhner

C) Alvin Davis

D) Edgar Martinez

I think you'll be surprised by some of these. I know I was, and I'm sure I had seen them all at some point in my life. There are undoubtedly more examples than these (I'm looking at you George Thomas Seaver!), so feel free to leave your examples in the comments below. Anyway, many thanks to our favorite cards of the Overproduction Era, 1988, 1990, and 1991 Donruss. 

1) Which member of the 1998 NL Champion Padres went by his middle name?

A) Tony Gwynn

B) Ken Caminiti

C) Greg Vaughn

D) Kevin Brown

1990 Donruss #343 James "Kevin" Brown

Easy to understand Kevin's decision to go with the middle name. He could have gone with James Brown, risking confusion with the Godfather of Soul. He could have been Jim Brown, knowing he'd be associated with arguably the best football player of all time. He could have been Jimmy Brown, but that just doesn't seem to fit. So Kevin it is!

2) Which Twins ace preferred his middle name?

A) Jim Kaat

B) Bert Blyleven

C) Johan Santana

D) Frank Viola

1990 Donruss #331 Rik ("Bert") Aalbert Blyleven

It worked out alright for 7'4" NBAer Rik Smits to go by his given name when he entered the NBA in the 1980s. Fellow Dutchman Blyleven, however, came to America with his family in the mid-50s, so maybe America wasn't ready for a Rik at that time. 

Additional notes:

1) I think that mark on the card is Donruss puzzle glue stain or something. So the Donruss equivalent to a gum stain.

2) Blyleven was traded to the Angels with Kevin Trudeau. Wonder if it's the same Kevin Trudeau who went to jail after peddling those "Cures THEY Don't Want You to Know About" books.

3) Which member of the 1993 World Series Champion Toronto Blue Jays went by a version of his middle name?

A) Rickey Henderson

B) Tony Fernandez

C) John Olerud

D) Joe Carter

1988 Donruss #319 Octavio Antonio "Tony" Fernandez

Tony, who in my mind is quite underrated, passed away in February. If you ask me, Octavio is pretty cool. Certainly worked for Octavio Dotel. That guy played for 13 teams! 

4) Which Hall of Fame pitcher was known by his middle name?

A) Nolan Ryan

B) Phil Niekro

C) Don Sutton

D) Greg Maddux

1990 Donruss #166 Nolan Ryan

Can you imagine Nolan Ryan going by Lynn? Neither can I.

5) Which pitcher who debuted in the 1980s preferred his middle name?

A) Orel Hershiser

B) Tom Glavine

C) Fernando Valenzuela

D) Roger Clemens

1991 Donruss #81 William "Roger" Clemens

I wonder if Clemens was the guy Sheryl Crow was singing about in "All I Wanna Do." In the song, she meets a William whom she is sure went by "Bill or Billy or Mack or Buddy." No Sheryl, he went by Roger. Which works, I think, because Bill Clemens just doesn't have the same ring to it. 

6) Which long-time Mariners slugger goes by his middle name?

A) Ken Griffey Jr.

B) Jay Buhner

C) Alvin Davis

D) Edgar Martinez

1990 Donruss #365 George (Ken) Kenneth Griffey Jr.

Let's let this one sink in for a minute. 

George Griffey Jr... 

GEORGE. 

If the most marketable baseball player of the last half century would have gone by his given name, would he have been as marketable? I don't think so. I guess we have the original George Kenneth Griffey (Sr.) to thank for that, since he's the guy who went by Ken to begin with. 

Really, these guys all had pretty normal first names, but apparently just chose to go with their middle name, probably for a variety of reasons. But I don't think that was to case for everyone. Why, you ask? Because of Andy Hawkins. Who is Andy Hawkins? A middle of the road pitcher with a couple good seasons who spent 10 seasons in the bigs. Win/loss of 84-91, 4.22 ERA, 1.3 WAR. Pretty much your run of the mill major leaguer. I don't really have a great grasp on how it's calculated, but I feel like going by this first name would somehow drop you like 10 points in the WAR formula.

1989 Donruss Traded #T-52 Melton (Andy) Andrew Hawkins

Poor Melton. 

Things I Like (That you probably don't)

I have tossed around the idea of starting a baseball card blog for a couple of months now. I have really enjoyed reading some of the other card blogs out there over the past year and felt like I had something to offer with my perspective. And that's what's been fun about reading the various card blogs out there: unique perspectives. I have visited Nick's Dime Boxes and Night Owl Cards most often, but have enjoyed many others along the way. The inspiration for my inaugural post is something Night Owl recently wrote about, adapting a "things I don't like" theme and turning it positive. I liked the idea and thought it would give you a good introduction to me as a collector. So here are ten things about baseball cards that I like and that you probably don't.

10) Topps Opening Day

Pretty simple reasoning here. I am of the belief that cards should be affordable, especially for young kids. I feel one way to get more kids into the hobby would be to make more inexpensive products available. Topps Opening Day packs are usually only a dollar or two, and as such, are the only new product I typically buy. It's either because I'm cheap, stubborn, or both that I can't pony up more than that for a pack.

9) Any brand of plastic pages (except those old, hard, brittle ones of course)

They can be the far superior Ultra Pro pages or flimsier pages probably meant for photos or something (but still the standard size). I'm good either way.

8) Miscut Cards

I know some people actually do like these. But I'll go out of my way to buy a 1977 miscut of a random guy out of a dime box. It's kind of a shame these cards have gone extinct (unless there are still miscuts today of which I am unaware).

7) Commons

I love looking through a big box of cards, even if I know most will be commons. Why? Because of my Frankenset/many mini-collections (more on those at a later date). It's fun to be able to find a "hit" that most people would pass by without a thought. This Frankenset card sums up how I view a box of commons:

6) Manager Cards

Especially when they are of a player from my youth (mid-nineties). And more especially if they have managerial stats on the back.

Love the 1992 Topps. So many stats on the back. Here we are treated to the lengthy and successful managerial career of George Anderson.

5) Duplicates

I'm not sure why I enjoy having a dozen or twenty or thirty of the same card, but I do. It might stem from my younger days when I had far fewer cards and thus, had a better grasp and appreciation for my inventory. Filling a page with nine of this card was an early thrill for me.

Am I or was I ever a Mark Langston fan? No, but it didn't matter!

4) and 3) Jumbos AND Minis

They're hard to store and display, but other than that, I think they are really neat. I like minis more, but my aging eyes prefer jumbos.

2) 1988 and 1989 Donruss

The designs aren't great. Neither are the photos. But they are the cards of my youth. And I'm partial to a team logo on the front, so there's that.

1) "Junk" Wax Rookies

These were the gems of my youth. The most exciting of them all was the 1989 Donruss Ken Griffey Jr. I didn't grow up with a lot of money to spend on cards and rarely got them as gifts because I just don't think they were on people's radar. So when I did get my hands on some packs in the mid-nineties, it was often the reviled "overproduction era" cards. Junk wax as they are so unfairly called. So I say, give me your 1988 Alomars, Graces, and Glavines yearning to breathe free. Your 1989 Griffeys, Biggios, Schillings, Smoltzes, and Sheffields. Even your 1990 Thomases, Sosas, Gonzalezes, and Oleruds. After all, these were the guys I grew up watching. Why not add a few more to the dozens I already have? No one else wants them anyway, right?