Early Eck

I keep forgetting to post this 1978 Topps Dennis Eckersley that I picked up at the Colorado Springs card show I went to a month ago.  So, since I'm still waiting on a few other eBay pick-ups to arrive, I'll throw it up here on the blog and see what everyone thinks.

How about a little bit of fun? 

I paid money for this card.  The person who can come the closest (without going over) to guessing the price I paid for the above card at the card show will get a bubble mailer filled with as many cards that I have that they collect.  For example, if a Braves collector who also collects cards of catchers will get every Braves and catcher card that I can stuff into a bubble mailer.

I'll close the guesses at 11:59pm, April 27, 2012.  I'll announce the winner Saturday morning and will get their winnings into the mail next Monday.

Trade Report: Condition (Not) Poor

When slangon of the blog Condition: Poor contacted me about working out a trade, I hoped I'd have something that he'd find valuable enough to persuade him to send what he was proposing.  Turns out I did. 

Yet something tells me that "Condition: Poor" is a gimmick, a hook, a rouse, a smoke-screen, etc., because as it turns out, none of the cards he sent were in poor condition at all.  In fact, they were in fantastic condition.  Here, see for yourself.

The meat-and-potatoes of the trade for me were these two manupatches.  While they don't fit into any of my current collections, there is no way I'm turning away manupatches of  Roger Maris and Frank Thomas. 

And I don't think I could consider myself a manupatch collector without at least one commemorative patch of the All-Star Game and the World Series in my collection.

The icing on the cake came in the form of some additions to three of my major player collections and a couple of cool Royals cards that I don't believe I had yet.

Thanks again for the trade slangon!  I look forward to our next meeting.

Trif-ECK-ta

Thursday was a good day.  It brought an end to the third quarter of my school year.  It brought me to within one week of the return of Community.  And it brought all three pieces of a Dennis Eckersley trifecta into my life.  Two of the pieces were eBay purchases and one was included in the trade package* I received from the Wicked One The Cardboard Don. 

*The trade package was jam packed with Royals and Rockies goodness.  I'll probably be able to get a bakers dozen posts out of that one trade alone, which I'm sure my wife will love.  :)

In one fell swoop, I knocked off my number one collecting goal for 2012.  I guess I can now focus one a few of the goals that I've yet to address this year (I'm looking at you Goal #2 -- Denver Bronco Super Bowl Rookie Cards).

Without further ado, I present my first Hall of Famer Trifecta.

THE RELIC

 Nothing fancy about the piece of fabric, but I love the photograph that UD choose.  Classic.

THE ROOKIE

Sure he's sans-mustache, but the awkward face and pose and the fantastic jersey font and wind-breaker under-shirt make this card a definite icon.  It was never important to me to have the rookie be graded, but when I saw this one bundled with two other graded 1970s-era cards of star players and it was in my price range, I wasn't going to let it slip through my fingers.

And, the piece de resistance.

THE AUTOGRAPH

On-card.  Great photo.  Dual autographed.  On-card.  By two Cy Young Winners.  Both mustachioed.  Serial numbered.  Epic and stylish signatures.  ON CARD!!!!  Fifteen bucks shipped.  

This card is 100% in my top three favorite autograph cards that I own. 

Thus completes my trif-ECK-ta.  I love these cards and I am excited to continue to build up my Eckersley collection.  I think I may need to pick up one of those 1000-card lots that I occasionally see listed.  Or maybe someone wants to trade a huge pile of them to me?

Trade Report: Eck from JBF

I recently sent a handful of shiny to Wes of Jaybarkerfan's Junk and he was so kind as to send me a few additions to my Eck collection, some mustaches, and a few cards for my trade bait page.

A suction-cup affixed mustache and a Member's Only Eck?  Yes and please!

The A&G relic and the Cal cards are both available for trade, so if you're interested, send me a line.

Thanks for another great trade Wes!

Fave Five: Cardboard Heavenly Draft -- The Keepers

Here are my Fave Five reasons why I'm glad I joined the Cardboard Heaven Card Draft that Cam put together to help raise funds for a Rose Bowl ticket.

FIVE:  Royals

FOUR:  Rocks

THREE: Former Brewers

TWO: Mustachioed Flamethrower

ONE: Helton Fabric

I added a slew of Rockies and Royals to my collection, including some former Brewers (Cam's team) who were shipped out to KC for Greinke and anther Helton relic.  Sure, I may have over reached a bit by spending my first and second round picks on the Jeffress and Cain autos  (#4 and #17 respectively), but I made up for it by snagging the Helton relic in the third round.

I was able to get either an autograph or relic with each of my picks through the tenth round.  It was then that I made probably my shrewdest move by picking up my Eckersley die-cut in the 11th round.  How it slipped that far, I'll never know.  

All in all it was a ton of fun for a very reasonable price.  I was able to hand-select a bakers dozen of autos and relics, as well as a pile of commons and inserts, for less than a blaster from Walmart or Target.

Later I shall post scans of the cards that will be headed to my trade bait drawer in the ol' library card file.

Thanks again Cam!

Trade Report/Fave Five: Cool Veal Style

Dhoff recently sent me four team-bags full of cardboard goodness. Here are my Fave Five from each bag.

FIVE:  Future Royalty (and a Bip)

FOUR:  Classic Royalty

THREE:  Helton

TWO:  Eck

ONE:  Needed Hochevars and Fowlers

Thanks a bunch Dhoff and I'm sorry that I'm sending considerably fewer cards your way than you sent me.  I definitely owe you.

Fave Five: 2012 Collecting Goals

Sure, it's a touch early to be making plans for next year, but I thought I'd get a head start on setting my 2012 collecting goals.

Obviously I'm going to keep picking up Hochevars, Fowlers, and Stocktons whenever possible and I'm going to try to get organized by getting my cards filed away in their library card file home.  But I need specific collecting goals to keep me motivated over the next year.

The nice thing is, unlike most of my new year resolutions (i.e. lose weight, read more than 2 books in a year, stop killing hobos, etc.), I really want these goals to come true and I will have fun accomplishing them.


So, here are my Fave Five 2012 Collecting Goals

FIVE:   Vintage Cards

 I want to get my 1910 Murad T51 and 1948-49 Leaf (baseball) sets to at least 50% completion by the end of next year.

FOUR:  Mustache Portrait Collection 

Yikes, that's some bad scanning

I want to build a mustache portrait collection that is at least 100-cards strong by the start of next MOvember.

THREE:  Manupatch Collections 

 I want to complete both my letter and logo manupatch collections.  The MLB logo collection is 66% complete and the letters collection is just under 50% complete.

TWO:  Denver Broncos Super Bowl Rookies

Obviously this isn't a rookie card, but it's the only Broncos card I had scanned at the moment.

A rookie card of every player on the Denver Bronco's 1997 Super Bowl winning team.  When a rookie can't be found, I will make due with any card that can be found.  HERE is the 1998 roster.  Key players include Elway, Davis, McCaffrey, Sharp, Romanowski, Atwater, and Elam.

ONE:  Eck Trifecta

A rookie, a relic, and an autograph of the greatest mustache/mullet combo in history, Dennis Eckersley.  I also wouldn't mind getting my Eck collection above 100 cards.

There you have it.  Even if I don't reach these goals, even attempting them is going to make 2012 a great year of collecting in the Manupatches and Mustaches house.

MOvember Fave Five -- Prolific Mustaches, Card of the Set, and a HOFer PC

Since the end of the month snuck up on me quicker than I had anticipated, I'm going to wrap up MOvember and the 2011 Mustache Set with the Card of the Set and a Fave Five of the Most Prolific Mustaches of the Set.

Card of the Set

Honestly, how could it not be?

Now for the Most Prolific Mustaches of the Set, but be warned, I did a very lazy job of checking the following totals.  I would estimate that the following card totals are off by a plus/minus of thirty-seven (give or take a dozen or two (seriously, guys, I did not spend much time counting these cards)).

FIVE:  Boggs made 6 appearances in the set

FOUR:  Goose made 6 appearances in the set

THREE:  Gibby made 7 appearances in the set

TWO:  Robin made 8 appearances in the set

ONE:  Eck walked away with the crown this year filling at least a baker's dozen slots in the Mustache binder.

The odd part is that there are a minimum of 5 more of his cards that didn't make the set.

Since I've basically run out of Hochevar cards to chase (at least ones that are within my price range), I need a new player to hone in on, so I'm officially becoming an Eckersley collector.

The guy knows how to rock a mullet and a mustache and a HOFer to boot.  With over 2000 cards spanning four decades that I'll need to track down, I'm willing to trade for any and all Eckersley cards with which you are willing to part.  I'm also excited to try tracking down my first HOFer trifecta (rookie, auto, relic).

Thanks for your support this MOvember and be on the look-out for an announcement tomorrow about the theme of the 2012 Mustache Set.