Monday Question Day- Meet Cute?

Today is question day and since it is safer to remain indoors, lets pretend we can meet someone famous.

If you had the chance to meet someone you collect, and they signed a card for you, who would it be and which card?

I would love to meet Ken Griffey Jr. and Mark Hamill but I really don’t know what card I would want signed. For Griffey I am a bit stumped. Most people would probably go with the expected 1989 Upper Deck #1, but I would want something showing his sweet swing. In the end I think I would use the custom illustrated Griffey card from The Simpsons that I have been working on for way too many years. 

For Mark Hamill I would ask him to sign his 1977 Topps Star Wars #1 and I would beg him to sign with one of the personalized quotes that he used to sign.

Monday Question Day- Blogging?

Today is question day:

If you are a blogger, do you type up posts that you hold in drafts?

When I started blogging nearly 10 years ago, I would type up a new post each day. On occasion I would save one in drafts, but most were written daily. Over the years I have found that keeping ideas or even rough drafts in a Word document helped greatly for the days I had limited time or writer’s block. 

Now my posts are pretty much 50/50 with half being pre-written and half being written on the day of being posted. I have found that having posts that I do regularly like Question Day, Art Gallery and Vintage Cards of the Month pre-written and saved in drafts is a major time saver.

Monday Question Day- End A PC?

Today is question day:

Have you ever ended a player/team collection?

The only collection that I don’t have an end point in mind would be my Griffey collection. My other PC collections (Jay Buhner, Edgar Martinez, Steve Largent, Allen Iverson, Gary Payton, Ryan Bader and Sue Bird) I have a list of wants and when I complete those lists I am done with that collection baring any cool new releases.

There have been a couple of athletes over the years that I stopped collecting, like Dan Majerle, Shaun Alexander and Keith Tkachuk. Not for any real reason, just lost interest.

Monday Question Day- Damaging?

Today is question day:

How have you damaged your own cards?

For me, it is ding corners. The ding corner is most likely to get damaged in your collection when organizing. My ding corner is the bottom left corner of the card. When I put a card in to a penny sleeve I slide the right corner in first and over the years I ended up chipping or dinging a few left bottom corners.

Monday Question Day- Display Options?

Today is question day:

Do you display your cards?

I have a small collection of cards, around 35, that I display on two sets of shelves that in a previous life were my CD storage shelves. I also have some Funko Pop! Figures and SGA pieces. Everything else is in binders or 5,000-ct boxes.

Monday Question Day- No Go Zone?

Today is question day:

Have you ever seen a set that initially interests you, but after hitting a point you decided against adding the cards to your collection?

Topps Moments & Milestones and Topps Tek/ High Tek are two that are high on my list of “keep away” sets. These types of sets that are made up of dozens of variations and parallels are frustrating. I made the bad decision to jump in with both feet in to the Moments & Milestones set and bought a box. I have never purchased another card from the set, I have washed my hands too it.

Monday Question Day: Laptop booklet Cards

Today is question day:

How do you feel about booklet cards that open like a laptop instead of a book?

I think a booklet card like this would display nicely as it is designed, but booklet card top loaders are designed to display cards side by side. I guess you could easily stand up the top loader with a laptop opening booklet card.

This card is from the 2019 Topps UFC Knockoue release.

Monday Question Day- Count 'Em Up?

Today is question day:

How do you track your wants?

I have a master Wants List Word document that lists every card that I want to add to my collection, currently sitting at 1,459 cards. I have it broken up by sport and non-sport and then my PC collection is listed individually under the respective sport. Here are my current counts.

Griffey- 1,236 cards on my wants list

Ryan Bader- 81 cards on my wants list not counting #1/1 (188 with #1/1)

Allen Iverson- 45 cards on my wants list

Buhner- 41 cards on my wants list

Gary Payton- 17 cards on my wants list

Steve Largent- 5 cards on my wants list

Edgar Martinez- 4 cards on my wants list

Monday Question Day- I HATE That Year?

Today is question day:

Most collectors have a year they hate collecting for their PC, what year bothers you?

Mine is 2011 for Ryan Bader. There are 128 individual cards over 3 sets, of which 61 are #1/1 cards/printing plates. For comparison, Bader only has 334 total cards so the 128 from 2011 are over 1/3 of all his cards.

Monday Question Day- Boob Tube Cards?

We got over a foot of snow this past Thursday and Friday so there was plenty of time to catch up on the shows on my DVR, which leads to today's question.

Is there a television show that you watch and would like to see a trading card set built on?

The shows that come to mind are both animated shows, Futurama and Bob’s Burgers. There is a Bob’s Burgers Target exclusive 6-card set that was included in a DVD release and I did pick up that set, but I would like to see a full set with sketch cards and autographs.

Monday Question Day- Was It Made?

Today is question day:

Do you ever wonder if a company issued a redemption but never made the card?

I’ve wondered if this was a possibility with how often redemptions go unfulfilled. There is a Ryan Bader card, 2012 Topps UFC Finest Fight Sponsor Auto, that has left me almost certain that the card has never been made. The card is a manufactured relic with a Tapout logo that the fighters were to sign. It is a 10-card checklist, but I have only seen 4 different fighters show up over the past 6 years. I’ve seen the redemption cards, but not the live signed cards.

Ryan Bader has been a regular signer for Topps and has signed stickers, on-card and on mat autographs. He left for Bellator in 2017 so Topps removed him from the 2017 Topps UFC Knockout release, but he even signed and returned those cards and Topps packed them out as an unannounced addition. I find it hard to believe Ryan Bader never signed the Fight Sponsor cards. And if there was an issue, Topps has never been shy about tossing a sticker autograph on a manufactured relic before no matter how crappy it looks. I hope I am wrong, but I don’t think the entire Fight Sponsor checklist was made.

Monday Question Day- How Do You Protect Your Cards

Today is question day:

Do you do anything special in regard to storing your collection?

Since I returned to collecting 1992/93 I have lived in two different environments. In Arizona I deal with high heat, strong sun and dry air. In Washington (Seattle) there was more moisture in the air and typically was colder overall compared to the temps in Arizona.

I keep most of my collection in a bedroom closet, this keeps everything out of the light and relatively temperature controlled. 

I have never had environment damage to my cards, but l heard some horror stories from poor storage. In Arizona I have heard of people storing their cards in the garage or in a storage unit and everything dries out and cracks. Autographs disappear and cards with glossy coatings bake together. In Seattle’s wet climate, mold becomes a very real concern anywhere you have an exterior wall at or below ground level because moisture seeps through and mold grows.

Question Day- Ripped Off?

Today is question day:

Have you ever been burned on a purchase?

I have never had any major situations where I was scammed, partially because I am a skinflint and keep my purchases reasonable, but I have had two cases that cost me about $20 between them.

Many years ago I purchased a 1989 Score Troy Aikman rookie card. I couple of years later I purchased a 1989 Score Deion Sanders rookie card and when I compared the two the Aikman was an obvious counterfeit. Now you are probably wondering why someone would fake a $5-8 card, it is because at one time this was a card that would regularly sell over $50 and so I am guessing this card had been floating around since the days of those higher values. 

The second would be a 1933 Sport Kings Duke Kahanamoku. It was part of a collection of vintage cards that I picked up as one lot. The card got packed away because I was getting ready to move and by the time I got a closer look and realized it was a bad counterfeit many months had passed, and I was well past the time to get a refund. Since it was part of a larger lot I don’t feel like I got ripped off, just a lesson learned. I had talked about this one back in 2016 after I realized the card was fake. 

Question Day- School Pride?

Today is question day:

Do you collect players from your school(s)?

I went to an art college, no sports teams, but I spent my youth in Tucson, so I collect University of Arizona players in their college uniform. I have begun to add some players from my high school to my collection, quite a few went on to a college / semi-pro / professional career. I had done a post this past November for John Beck, the first of my mini-PC of former Mountain View Toros.

Question Day - Card Gifting?

Today is question day:

Do you give or receive cards for Christmas or Hanukkah?

When my kids were younger, I would give them packs or blasters, but they are both in their teens now and neither collect anymore. I have never received cards for Christmas besides the occasional box I purchased for myself from a Black Friday weekend sale. I have received eBay gift cards, which I did use to purchase cards.

Question Day- Take Me Back

Today is question day:

If you left the hobby, what brought you back?

I quit collecting in 1987 and returned in 1993, it was the Shaq Attack that brought me back. I had two friends that weren’t really in to collecting but were also excited about Shaquille O’Neal and someone had told one of my friends that 1992-93 Stadium Club was the set to get. We went to two different cards shops, Northwest Trading Cards (still open in Federal Way and online) and another shop in Tukwila (long time closed) and would buy whatever packs we could get our hands on. We each eventually got a Shaq RC and I was hooked.

Question Day- Did You Take Part In The Sales?

Today is question day:

Did you take part of any of the Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales?

For the last few years I have taken part of COMC’s weekend sales, I prefer picking up singles over gambling with a box. Two years ago they included scratchers in the orders where people could win COMC credit or free shipping but they didn’t do it last year or this year. Instead they include $5 COMC credit with every 100 cards you have included in your shipment. This is part of the reason I don’t request shipment throughout the year until Black Friday.

This year I did something I haven’t done in a long time, I ordered a Mars Attacks Revenge box from Dave and Adams. This will be the first box that I have opened since 2013 or 2014 but this was just an exception due to the product. It was $29.95 and each box includes a complete base card set, 25 green parallels, a sketch card and one additional hit (autographs or printing plates). I am working on the Mars Attacks sets, otherwise I wouldn’t have purchased the box.

Question Day- Your Questions

Today is question day:

Do you have any questions you would like to appear on my Monday Question Day?

Question Day- Who Deserved It?

Today is question day:

Who do you feel is the best athlete to never win a championship?

I did have some problems with limiting the list, but here is my final decision:

Baseball- Ken Griffey Jr., Ted Williams, Ty Cobb & Tony Gwynn

Basketball- Charles Barkley, Allen Iverson & Malone / Stockton

Football- Jim Kelly

Hockey- Pavel Bure and Henrik / Daniel Sedin

Monday Question Day- Shipping Options?

Today is question day:

You are searching for a card and find two listed, same condition, listed the same exact way and same price, but one is $7 plus $3 shipping while the other is $10 with free shipping. Which would you buy?

I would go with the one that is $7 plus shipping because I would expect the seller to send the card(s) in a bubble mailer because I paid for the shipping while I wouldn’t know what to expect from the free shipping seller. The other day on Twitter I saw a collector post a mail day where they received the card in a paper towel folded around the card with the address and stamp. Who the hell does that?