Baseball cards

[Patrick Thistle]

I've started a blog about my Tony Gwynn baseball card project. If anyone wants the link, drop me a message.

[Patrick Thistle]

I used the Trading Card Database to catalogue my Tony Gwynn cards and discovered I had a double in my binder. (Grrrr!) My running total is now 212 cards. So far I have posted 45 on my blog.

[Patrick Thistle]

Got a Tony Gwynn card today I didn't recognise at all. Worked out it must be from about 93 and tracked it down on TCDb. It was produced by Sports Collector Digest magazine. That was a fun few minutes.

[Patrick Thistle]

My blog is a month old today

[ursus arctos]

A classic Padre card for you

https://twitter.com/fergieajenkins/status/1272193067269922817

[Cal Alamein]

COOL... never seen that one. A high number too.

The 73 Topps set was far stylish than the 72 or 74 designs.

Patrick Thistle - love yer TG blog, it makes me realize I got out of card collecting at the right time, can't believe how many outfits were/are putting out series the last 20 years or so.

[Patrick Thistle]

Thanks Cal Alamein - card number 100 got blogged today.

A chap who deals in a lot of cards has sourced several hundred for me to go through so I might get to my target after all

[Hot Pepsi]

My blog is a month old today

What’s the link to the blog?

[Patrick Thistle]

What’s the link to the blog?

PM sent

[Patrick Thistle]

Upper Deck made cards back on the 90s that you were supposed to turn onto bobbleheads. As I've acquired a second one, here's one of them popped and folded.

[ursus arctos]

I've never seen one of those and don't really know how to react

[Patrick Thistle]

I put the flat one in a blog post last week I think

[Incandenza]

You know I went to the same high school as Tony Gwynn, right?

[Southport Zeb]

That looks like one of these weird Catalan defecating nativity figures.

[Jumbo McGinnis]

How do you know what cards are worth what?

[Incandenza]

How do you know what cards are worth what?

Back when I collected, there was a monthly catalog listing that was published called Beckett. I'm guessing it's more advanced than a monthly update now.

[ursus arctos]

It's a mini-empire now, with "price guides" that seek to both describe and set the "market", in much the way that stamp catalogues did back in the day. They have on-line versions and an app as well.

Sample page

[Patrick Thistle]

You know I went to the same high school as Tony Gwynn, right?

No I did not. Were you a contemporary of his?

[Patrick Thistle]

How much is too much to spend on baseball cards? I got sent a box from a chap who deals a lot of cards on the basis that any I didn't want I could send back. I keep finding foil variants and other oddities.

[ursus arctos]

This is a question for any kind of collection.

My answer has always been "up to the portion of one's disposable income as one (and one's family) is comfortable with". It is a form of entertainment, like going to the pub, cinema or a football match, or buying a book that you want to have around to dip into.

The thing to avoid is viewing it as an "investment".

[Patrick Thistle]

Oh yeah I'm not buying to invest. That's just a step up from gambling. Basically if I buy all the ones I want then it's over ?100 and I've not spent that in one shout before. It will mean I've smashed my 394 target though.

[Patrick Thistle]

That should be a pound sign not a question mark

[Incandenza]

No I did not. Were you a contemporary of his?

No. I was a contemporary of Chase Utley, though, who was our other most famous baseball player (my school specialized in American football).

[Patrick Thistle]

Wow. That's 2 very good alumni there.

[ursus arctos]

Some multi-generational awesomeness for a Friday

https://twitter.com/DickAllen_15/status/1276519235280351232