Happy New Year!

It's been a while since my last post but I thought it would be a good time write a quick note and let everyone know SandlotCards is still out there and that 2012 has been our best year in the three years we've been in business. Thanks to everyone who has visited our site and made our year a success. We had our best year in terms of number of orders and the number of repeat customers.

One of the fun things about running an online card store is reading the emails you receive from customers. We've heard from many people who were able to finish sets this year, from parents with kids who were just starting out in the hobby, and from old timers who were just getting back into the hobby for fun. Keep the emails coming! We really do enjoy hearing from everyone.

As we look ahead to 2013, we'll continue to add the current year's cards to our inventory but we also plan to make a big push to fill the holes in our inventory from the 1970's and 1980's sets. So check back often, you never know when that card you need to complete an old set will be added. Thanks again and we wish everyone a Happy and Healthy 2013!

One of Them Good Problems

Time to give this blog a heartbeat.  One of the topics I wanted to shed some light on was what it's like to run an online card store.  I'll give a quick update here then move on to another topic.

I'm into the third year of running my online store, sandlotcards.com, and I'm enjoying it.  I have to admit that it takes a lot of work.  Early on, after the initial start up phase, it was pretty simple.   I just had to add cards to my inventory and wait for orders which were few and far between.  Now that Sandlot Cards is well into it's third year we're starting to get a lot of orders and we have to balance that with adding cards to inventory.

I don't know if any of you are fans of the HBO series 'The Wire' but there is a great line by Marlo where he says, "That's one of them good problems."  So that's how I look at it, I'm having fun filling all the orders coming in for both new and returning clients.  Am I struggling to add new stuff quickly? Yea, but that's one of them good problems!

Now on to the topic I wanted to write about......Minis!  I've always said I will not be a collector while I run Sandlot Cards. The reason why is that I do not want to keep cards in my personal collection that customers may want to purchase.  I caved a little and decided I would buy some lower end tobacco cards because I do not plan to sell these online.

I love the tobacco cards because they are over 100 years old and bring you back to the early days of baseball.  I also love them because they are different.  They are not the size and shape of the normal cards we are used to.  They are mini!

And because of that I'm starting to like all the other mini cards I'm seeing.

Like this one from last years's Topps Kimball Champions insert set.....

And this one from Topps 2012 insert set of 1987 mini replicas.

They remind me of the old tobacco cards like this one I recently picked up at a card show....

I just think these are all cool.  I have a feeling that some day I'm going to start building a collection of modern mini cards.  Of course I'd have to throw in the 1975 mini's as well, what mini collection would be complete without those? Heck, I may even start looking at oddball cards.

You know what's great about collecting?  There is no right or wrong way to do it!  Pick something you enjoy and run with it. Someday I'm going to get back into collecting full time but while I'm having fun running my site I'll have to wait........until then I'll settle for a tobacco card now and then, after all, they are the original minis.  

Run my card store or collect full time?  That's one of them good problems.......

Ever Meet Anyone Who Was in a Game Show?

Back when I was in elementary school, I remember reading one of those fluff pieces in our local newspaper where the columnist asks a bunch of Andy Rooney type questions. One of those questions was, 'Have you ever met anyone who was in a game show?'

I'm not sure why this question stood out in my mind but back in the day when cable t.v. wasn't so common I guess it was odd to meet someone who participated in a game show. I finally met a substitute teacher in high school who said she was on the $20,000 Pyramid and got robbed of the grand prize because the celebrity guest gave an invalid clue. Pretty cool story I guess and at the time I thought it was cool to be able to finally answer 'Yes' to that nagging question.

How does all this relate to baseball cards?

Well, I always felt like you could write a fluff piece related to the recent Topps Give Away and Heritage Buyback programs. The obvious question would be, 'Did you ever meet anyone who got something really cool in one of these promotions?'

I've read through many forum posts and watched a few YouTube box breaks yet I never heard about anything really cool from these particular contests.

That was until I broke a case of 2012 Topps Heritage this week. Take a look at this little beauty.....

I'm sure there are a lot of cool hits out there but when I think about the top tier I'm thinking about Mantle, Mays, and Aaron so I was pretty excited about this one. I guess every dog has his day. Now if Topps would only refrain from putting that gold stamp on the buyback cards!

What a Long Strange Trip It's Been...

I mentioned in an earlier post that I’ve decided to start collecting tobacco cards for my personal collection. If you’ve ever thought about buying a tobacco card (or two) but didn’t know where to begin don’t worry about it, just find a cheap one and dive in.

What? Those cards can’t be cheap! Well, relatively speaking they can be. I happened to pick this one up yesterday for only $15.

This card is a bargain for a card that is over 100 years old and not mass produced like the modern cards of today.

Sure it’s got rounded corners and creases but that gives it character! It’s fun to look up this player I never heard of, George Mullin, and find out what he did during his career. I didn't realize he pitched the Tigers first no-hitter and has the second most wins for the Tigers. I also think it’s fun to ponder what this card has been through during it’s life.

Think about it…..

After the card was produced between 1907–1911, here’s what happened and what the card might have went through…..

In the 1910’s

The Titanic sailed (and sank) in 1912, there were only 46 states in the United States, and World War I also broke out. Perhaps some young boy looked at this card each evening as a way to escape from the realities of his country being at war.

In the 1920’s

Television was invented! Maybe the same kid is a bit older now and has put the card away in a box to be forgotten while he is mesmerized by the new invention of television.

In the 1930’s

Prohibition is in full swing. Maybe this card gets passed down to a nephew to keep him occupied while the adults hang out in the basement having a drink or two.

In the 1940’s

World War II is at its peak. This card could be helping another boy escape from the realities of his country or family members being involved in a war.

In the 1950’s

Elvis hits the scene! Does the card getting tucked away again while some teenage boy decides cards aren’t cool and he needs to work on his dance moves to impress the girls at the soda shop?

In the 1960’s & 1970’s

Hmmmmm…bad fashion, lots of drugs, disco music…..many of the young adults in our country were lost during this time so who knows where this card was…..

In the 1980’s & 1990’s

The boom years of baseball cards!!! I bet this card was in a dealer case at a show selling for 4 times its current price.....right next to the Mark McGwire rookie cards selling for $125!

2000’s

During this decade, I guess this card floated around from dealer to dealer for 10 years as the card market tries to find it’s footing.....long forgotten while a new generation of collectors focus on game used and autographed cards.

Now the card has found a good home in my collection and I'll enjoy it for more reasons than the fact it's a Tigers card.

The Power of Social Media

If you've been paying attention to the news lately you've heard a lot about companies making announcements about changes they plan to make to their business. In most cases they are adding fees or charging customers more for less service. What we've also seen recently is that if enough customers speak out against these changes companies may be forced to go back on their plans.

Social media, of course, has provided a great outlet for the little guy to speak their minds. We saw this when Netflix planned to change their pricing structure or when the big banks planned to charge clients a monthly fee to use their debit cards.

Blogs are a great outlet for speaking your mind. If you haven't toyed around on Twitter, it's another great place to speak up, even Facebook can be an outlet. I happened to be checking out Twitter this morning and found this interesting link to Topps Facebook page.

Check out all the feedback on the post!

I'll leave my opinion out of this but I think it will be interesting to see if Topps alters their plan on this one.

The Hardest Part of Running My Card Store

I always loved collecting baseball cards as a kid. Like most kids, I hit that age around junior high school or high school where girls and being cool became more important than collecting.

I got back into collecting during my college years back in the mid to late 1980’s. I kept collecting on and off throughout the years but never had more fun than when my youngest son got into the hobby a few years back. That’s when I decided I wanted to start my online card store.

One of the hardest things about running my store is trying to limit what I collect. After all, I don’t want to compete with my clients. I’ve been pretty disciplined at this but I have to admit, the more cards I look at the more I want to collect.

I’ve been collecting vintage Tigers cards from Topps my whole life but I really don’t have many holes left in that collection So I’ve been trying to figure out something I can collect without siphoning from the purchases I make for my business.

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled across a card I purchased for around $10 back when I was in high school. I wasn’t really collecting at the time but I remember I was at our local mall one day and they were running a card show. $10 was a lot of money back then but I remember looking at this card and thinking how cool it was……



Yep, it was my first (and only) tobacco card.

I probably looked at it quite a bit after I bought it but at some point I tucked it into a shoebox (literally) and went on with life.

A few weeks back I stumbled onto the card again and I got this idea that tobacco cards might be the perfect thing for me to collect. I’m not talking about the Christy Mathewson or Ty Cobb cards, I don’t have anywhere near the budget needed to collect those type of cards. I’m talking about the worn out or unknown player cards that have survived the years. .

So, why tobacco cards?

Well, they won’t compete with what I currently sell, they are old and historic, they are interesting, and…..well…..how cool are they!?!? Maybe I can only afford one (or two) when I go to a card show but I think it will be fun to find an old card and do a little research on a truly old time player.

Here’s my first purchase, made this weekend at a local card show……..



I have no idea about the manufacturer or who is on the card but I think it’s a cool. I’ll have to do a little research on the card and players and turn it into another blog entry.

I guess once you’re a collector you’re always a collector!

Don't Leave!

I like to check out the different collecting forums on occasion. There are a lot of knowledgeable collectors posting interesting and helpful topics on these boards.

Unfortunately, one of the common posts I see is about someone leaving the hobby. Often, the collector states they are tired of the high costs of cards or they are tired of trying to keep up with the ever expanding product lines.

I’m not knocking anyone’s approach to collecting. I love reading about all the different ways people collect; whether it be set building, massive player collections, or cards that feature odd themes like mustaches or serial numbers. It’s all good and it’s up to the individual to decide what they enjoy.

What I would like to do is offer some advice to those who are feeling overwhelmed and are thinking of leaving the hobby. If this is you, maybe it’s time to simplify things and take a different approach. There are many ways to do this but I’ll just give one suggestion here.

Build vintage team sets of your favorite team.

First, pick your favorite team (that’s the easy part). Second, pick up an empty card album and fill it with a bunch of 8 & 9 pocket plastic pages to hold cards. Third, create check lists of Topps cards for your team from somewhere in the mid 1960’s to the mid 1970’s. Fourth, plan on picking up a few cards to start your new, simple collection. Fifth, and most important, DO NOT WORRY ABOUT CONDITION!

Your long term goal is to just build team sets of your favorite team from the years when Topps was the only producer 1952 – 1980. Don’t worry about the sets in the 1950’s just yet or the fact that Bowman produced cards in the early 50’s.

The cards from the mid 60’s to early 70’s are actually quite affordable if you don’t stress about condition, even the hall of famers can be inexpensive in many cases. The cards from these years are also easy to find at almost any card show, on ebay, and at other online stores.

As you pick up the cards just put them in your album by year. Take your time and buy a handful of cards each month. You’ll be surprised at how fast your collection will build up but how long it will take to complete. There is a nice balance between progress and challenge in this approach.

If you’re a Yankees fan or like another team with some expensive ‘key’ cards don’t worry. Look for some really damaged cards to fill the holes or even better, just look for a reprint card. Maybe someday you’ll have a little extra money to buy the real thing.

As you’re working on these team sets you’ll probably find some good deals for cards from the 50’s or even the key cards. Don’t get impatient and start trying to find these deals, let them come to you. Pick a dealer or two and a show and work with them overtime. Dealers will often put things aside for you and give you good deals if you are a repeat customer.

I could go on and on but my point here is that before you leave something you once enjoyed so much, take a step back. Collecting probably didn’t seem complicated when you first started because you kept it simple. Maybe it’s time to take a step back.

Happy Holidays!

What's wrong with these cards?

I received an order through my online card shop the other day that brought back some good memories. I suppose a blog entry about what people order might be interesting, but I'll save that for another day.

This particular order was for most of the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals cards we had in stock, not surprising considering they won the World Series. I happened to get into an email exchange with the Cardinals fan who placed the order and found out he was putting together some Cardinals team sets. (I always enjoy when these email exchanges happen because I feel it adds a 'Mom and Pop' feel to an online store).

Why did this order spawn a memory you might ask? Well, I'm a Tigers fan and I was born in 1968 so the follow trivia question may shed light this.....

Question - What 2 teams played in the World Series in 1968 and what team won?

Answer - The Detroit Tigers defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in 7 games!

Alright, back to the memory..... In 1979 my dad took me to my first card show. He wasn't a collector and I had never been to a card show but it was a day that really hooked me into collecting. I was a little overwhelmed by the variety of cards and had no idea what to buy. That's when my dad, the non-collector, suggested we buy some Detroit Tigers cards from 1968 when they won the Series. My dad was always balanced in what he gave me but on this day he pulled out Tiger card after Tiger card from one of the dealer's boxes. Below are two of the cards he bought me that day.

Can you see what's wrong with them?


Sure the Bill Freehan is a bit off center and the Norm Cash has a few rounded corners but look closely at the top of the cards.

Do you see the 'A.L. ALL STAR' that's hand written on top of them?

That's right, this dealer wrote on the cards!!! Can you believe that?!?!

Guess what, it didn't bother me! I had 1968 Tigers cards in my collection and that was the year they won the World Series! Did I already mention they won the World Series the year I was born?!?!?

These cards have actually remained in my Tigers' album ever since and I doubt I'll ever upgrade them. They remind of of that day with my dad and a simpler time of collecting.

Is there really anything wrong with these cards?

The Best Trade I Never Made

Have you ever looked through your collection of baseball cards or sports cards and noticed how many memories these little pieces of cardboard can stir up? I’m always amazed at how many seemingly ‘common’ cards in my collect have a story behind them.

I can think back to 1980 when a neighborhood friend of mine out in Kansas pulled a George Brett card out of a pack. George was the hottest thing in Kansas back then and I remember thinking how lucky he was to get that card. Every time I look at that card in my collection I think of that kid carry the card around in his pocket the whole summer.

I remember the first Tiger card I pulled from pack in 1978 was a Dave Rozema rookie card with the gold rookie trophy in the bottom left corner.

I also remember my first true vintage card was a 1958 Steve Boros card my friend gave me back in 4^th grade. The card had a crease and some badly rounded corners but I didn’t care, too me it was really cool (and I still have the card in my collection today).

The reason I bring this up is that I had the pleasure of breaking open a few 1981 Topps vending boxes and I came across a card that really stirred up some memories.

The 1981 Topps baseball card set was the first set I ever completed. I remember buying one wax box for $9 at a local card show which gave me a good start on the set. Then, week after week, I would go to the local drug store which had baseball cards for sale and I would buy pack after pack I also did what any kid did back then……I traded like crazy with my friends.

By the time school arrived in the fall I was down to the final card I needed; card #705 Ted Simmons. As luck turned out, my best friend happened to have doubles of that card and he wasn’t even a Cardinals fan. I thought it would be simple to pull off a deal so we made plans to trade cards one day after school.

Well, as we all know, trading is not always that simple. We haggled for at least an hour and although I can’t remember exactly what I offered him I’m sure it was a good deal. How could it not have been a good deal? I was trying to trade for a single common card! Alright, maybe Ted was considered a minor star but I’m sure it was a good deal.

My friend declined to trade and I couldn’t believe it. I went home that night still missing that final card and I couldn’t understand why my friend wouldn’t make the simple trade.

I was upset but a few days later I received a mysterious envelope in the mail with no return address. I opened the envelope and guess what I found inside….

That’s right; my friend mailed me the card and asked for nothing in return. I completed my first set of cards and I was happy as could be. To this day my friend and I still keep in touch even though we live in different parts of the country and sometimes I wonder if this old Ted Simmons card had something to do with it.

What would you do different?

One of the topics I wanted write about in this blog is what it's like running an online card store. The bad news is, I haven't written much on that topic or any other topic lately. The good news is, business has been picking up so I've been busy filling orders and trying to get new inventory online to meet customer requests. The hurricane we had on the east coast this weekend forced me to stay inside so I was able to dedicate some time to the other parts of running the business like updating my store software, adding new videos to my youtube channel, and writing a blog entry.

When running an online card store, or any business for that matter, you have to make a ton of decisions about how to run your company. These decisions range from something as large as, 'What business model are you going to create?' To something as small as 'Should you use scotch tape or painter's tape to seal the cards in top loaders?' The general business model at Sandlot Cards is pretty simple; list single cards online to help people build their player collections and sets, provide quality service, and attempt to create a 'Mom and Pop' type feel to our store, even though it is an internet only business. Now that we are well into our second year of business I've been reflecting on what, if anything, I would change in that model. 'Are you going to sell unopened material?' is a popular question we've received from our customers. I suppose that would be a simplier business model and might provide more income but it's not something I plan to pursue right away. However, that's looking forward, my intent with this blog entry is to look back and ask myself the question, 'What would you have done differently?'

If you look at my website you'll notice I have categories for all the major sports along with categories for each year within the sports. Before I went live with my website I purchased a large number of cards in all major sports from a dealer who was going out of business. My intent was to backfill my invetory with those cards and add new product as it came out. As time goes, I find it diffucult to keep up with all the new product coming out and at the same time to keep backfilling my inventory. Does that mean I regret the decision to cover all 4 sports? No. I don't think there are enough dealers out there that support sports outside of baseball. When was the last time you saw a dealer with basketball cards numerically sorted by set/year at a card show? Heck, when was the last time you saw any dealer outside a major show with numerically sorted cards from the 80's or 90's, or even two years ago!

So, is there something I would have done differently? Yes. I think my approach to backfilling my inventory was too optimistic. I don't think I would have purchased the inventory of the shop that was going out of business. Instead, my approach to backfilling my inventory should have been to buy sets and break them up. The simple reason being, it takes too much labor and time to sort through 5000 count boxes and weed out the cards with very minor dinged corners or centering issues. Even though the monetary cost is higher, it makes more sense from a time and labor perspective to purchase complete sets and break them up. I can't say I totally regret buying that inventory though, the kid in me has a blast every time I open one of those 5000ct.boxes inside.and get to sort through all the random cards inside.

Bowman Prospecting

I just finished adding 2011 Bowman cards to the inventory at Sandlot Cards. I have to admit I don't enjoy adding this set as much as I do other sets. Perhaps it's because of all the minor league players that take time to research and figure out if it's worth putting a premium on their price. Projecting major league talent is a difficult enough task for professional scouts, how can a guy like me figure out which guys might have a chance.

One of the first things I do is to check out some of the sports card forums to see who is getting the buzz. This year it seems like most of the hype for players in this product revolves around Bryce Harper, Brandon Belt, and Paul Goldschmidt. No surprise here.

The next step I take is to check out the stats of each player. This is the part of the process that gives you a chance at finding an overlooked player. This year I found the name Dave Sappelt, who currently plays for the Cincinnati Reds AAA Louisville team.

Sappelt may be getting some hype but since I've missed it I thought others may have missed it too. I'm sure Reds fans are keeping an eye on this guy. He's batting .333 so far this season and is a .300 lifetime hitter in the minors. I'm no expert but I think a guy who hits .300 at all levels of the minors has a shot at getting a job somewhere in the majors soon. One thing that may be holding him back is that he is only 5-9'. I know there are questions of whether players on the smaller side can handle the grind of being an everyday player in the majors.

Anyway, we've added a few of his Bowman Prospect and Bowman Chrome Prospect cards in our inventory. He might be worth a look for those prospectors out there.

I've been busy lately trying to broaden the card selection at Sandlot Cards. Sometimes it doesn't make sense what direction I'm going. For instance, I've been working on adding a bunch of 2003/04 Topps Basketball cards online. Not sure why I chose these cards other than I found a nice selection in the mountain of cards I have yet to add online. In addition, we're nearing the NBA Championship series so I thought it would be nice to simply add some basketball cards.

While I was in the middle of this set and my shipment of 2011 Bowman hobby boxes arrived. I wasn't quite ready to start adding this but who can resist opening new boxes. So I opened box 1 and nothing exciting happened. So I set up the video camera to film the second box break. Good thing I did because it may be the best break I've had so far.......

First, I opened a pack that had the basic Bryce Harper Bowman Prospect card............

Next I opened a pack with Bryce Harper Bowman's Best card.

Finally, I came across this beauty, a chrome refractor serial #'d to 799

I've added the basic set to my inventory and plan to add the prospect cards and post the video this weekend on my YouTube channel. If you're collecting Bowman cards or Bryce Harper check us out.

To Tape or Not to Tape

As baseball season kicks into full gear it's been tough trying to keep up with all the little things surrounding our website such as blogging. So I thought I'd take a few minutes today to give a little more insight into what it's like running an online card store.

When I started SandlotCards I thought the concept was pretty simple; put cards online, take orders, and send out the cards. Little did I know something that seems simple, like packing cards, would take a lot of thought. For many orders I would put the cards in a penny sleeve, pop them into a top loader, and put a piece of tape over top loader to keep the card from slipping out.

Then one day I was on the Sports Card Forum and I read a post regarding putting tape over the opening on a top loader. Seems like many people did not like it when it was done. I never got a clear reason why but more than one person posted in the forum that they did not like this practice. I had never received a complaint about it but I decided to stop the practice and pay the extra few cents to seal the top loader in team bags.

This isn't any big insight as to what it's like running an online store but it should give you some idea as to the many decisions that have to be made when running a store, even on something as simple as putting a card in a top loader. How to package the different varieties of orders is a whole other ball game!

The Bird

I was searching through some boxes today trying to find out which cards I should add to my online inventory next when I pulled out a stack of cards made by Topps in 2005 called ‘The Legendary Years’. It’s not the first time I’ve come across these cards but for some reason I took a closer look at them today and found this card of Mark Fidrych.

I’m a huge Tigers fan and it just so happened that I started to follow them back in 1976 when Mark Fidrych set the baseball world on fire with his performance and antics on the mound for the Detroit Tigers. If you were a fan of the game back then you couldn’t help but like ‘The Bird’. Many people might consider him a character, or a bit of a clown, but from everything I’ve read and seen he was one of the most down to earth guys the modern era of baseball has ever seen.

If you don’t know much about him, he got the nickname ‘The Bird’ because he was tall and gangly and resembled Big Bird from The Sesame Street. There are pictures of him kneeling down and manicuring the pitcher’s mound with his bare hands between innings. But he’s probably most famous for talking to the ball while on the mound, although I believe he said he was really talking to himself.

I guess he was truly a character of the game but if you saw the famous (in my mind) interview of him on the field after dominating the Yankees on Monday Night Baseball back in 1976 you got an insight of how down to earth this guy really was. I remember him grinning ear to ear and looking around as if saying to himself, ‘Enjoy this while it lasts because you’re lucky to be here.’

Sadly enough his career was cut short. He dominated the league in 1976 going 19-9 with a 2.34 ERA as a 22 year old rookie. (Imagine what a guy’s rookie cards would be going for with that kind of rookie record these days). In 1977, he hurt his knee in the spring but as the season progressed he seemed to be back on track. However, arm troubled developed and by the all-star game he was done. He never regained his form and bounced between the minors and majors over the next few years before retiring.

The Bird was the guy who turned me on to baseball and you can imagine the excitement I received when I pulled his rookie card from one of the few packs of cards I opened my first year of collecting back in 1977. I carried that card everywhere, I stuffed it in my pocket, stacked it with other cards in rubber bands, etc. However, even with all the dinged corners and creases it just might be the most valuable card in my collection.

You see, back when The Bird was struggling in the minors to make a comeback I got to see him play for the Evansville Triplets (the Tigers farm team back in 1980) when they visited the Wichita Aeros. So my brother took me to a game and I took that card with me. Late in the game I went down by the dugout and asked one of the players if they could tell Mark Fidrych I wanted an autograph. I was trembling when Mark started walking towards me, after all he was my hero! He came over and told me he would give me an autograph after the game because he would get fined if he gave me one during the game. So I stood there and waited, and waited, and waited….I guess felt sorry for me and was willing to pay the fine because he came over and said he would give me the autograph before the game ended. So I pulled out my favorite card of all time, my dinged up Mark Fidrych rookie card from 1977 and he signed it……

I don’t really know how to wrap up this ling post other than to say, this is what baseball and collecting is all about. I’d love to hear if anyone else has a story like this.

Beware of Heritage Green Tint

We all know Topps loves inserting short print (SP) cards into their releases these days. The recent release of 2011 Topps Heritage is no exception. In the set there are a number of 'Green Tint' cards where the photo has a greenish tint to it.

I have not been able to find an official checklist yet of which baseball cards have this feature but you can bet there are a bunch listed on ebay. Based on the photos I have seen the variation is subtle, yet when compared to the 'normal' version of the card it's pretty clear. The tricky thing is there are a number of cards with green backgrounds that do not appear to have this green tint.

Of course, it looks like there are a number of these 'normal' cards with the green background listed on ebay as green tint variations (just go to ebay and do a search on 2011 Topps Heritage Green Tint). I just wanted to throw this out there in case someone is planning on purchasing these variations on ebay. My advice is to stick to the auctions where they show the normal card and the green tint card side by side. Alternatively, do a search on Google to see if you can find confirmation of which cards have the green tint variation. If anyone finds an official list please let me know and I will post it here.

First Card Memories

One of the great things about being involved in a hobby, be it baseball cards or anything else, is the people you meet along the way.

I've been sending a few cards out over the last couple of months to a gentleman who gives them to the kids he teaches. A father of one of the children asked that he send me a link to this article. It was a small gesture but to me it was nice to know someone thought enough to pass it along. I enjoy reading light pieces like this so I really appreciated the thought.

The article itself is about a father sharing the experience of his son opening his first pack of Topps baseball cards. It reminded me of the first card I ever received.

I got my first pack of cards back in 1977 but I have no idea what it contained. However, the year before my sister came home from school with some type of scholastic newsletter or magazine. In that magazine there was a strip of two or three baseball cards which she didn't want and one of the cards was a 1976 Ron LeFlore Topps card (it was a real Topps card to the best of my memory). So I ripped the card out and carried it around with pride for days. I didn't even bother me that the edge of the card was torn, I had my first card and it was a Tigers card. I suspect if I had kept this strip of cards in tact it would be very rare now and worth some money, of course I didn't care about that stuff when I was 8 years old. Thus my collecting journey had begun.

Does anyone remember their first card or pack of cards?

In my last blog I revealed a new type of box break I wanted to try where I would pull a group of cards from one of the many tens of thousands of cards that I have yet to list online. I happened to pull a group of 2003 Chrome cards. First, I realize why it takes so long to go through a book of 5000 cards and try to list them in my inventory. For this particular group there were actually 5 different sets of 2003 Topps Chrome cards present, which meant I had to create 5 checklists and price 5 sets of cards. (Life was so much easier prior to inserts).

There were about 259 cards total and it turned out the bulk of the cards were 2003 Topps Chrome Traded (195), not the base set cards like I expected. Here are what they look like......

There were only 14 Topps Chrome base set cards but they were all draft pick, prospect, rookie cards. The highlight included 2 Joe Mauer/Justin Morneau rooke cards along with a Jose Reyes (Mets) and Victor Matinez (Indians) rookie card. (There was also a Drew Henson Yankees card...remember him?)

Things got a little better when I started seeing serial numbers. First there was nice group of 17 Chrome Refractors numbered to 699. Here's a quick breakdown by team and a few of the players...

17 2003 Topps Chrome Refractors (SN/699)

2 Cardinals - J.D.Drew

1 Mariners - Freddy Garcia

1 - White Sox - Sandy Alomar Jr.

1 - Pirates - Reggie Sanders

1 - Diamondbacks

1 - Orioles

1 - Cubs

2 Rockies

1 RED Sox - Johnny Damon

1 Astros

1 Expos

1 Dodgers - Brian Jordan

1 Giants - J.T. Snow

2 Blue Jays - Eric Hinske

The serial numbers kept coming as there was a group of 29 Gold Refractors numbered to 449....

Here's the breakdown...

4 Cubs - Todd Hundley, Moises Alou

1 Rockies

1 Royals

2 Astros

2 Twins

2 Mariners -Edgar Martinez, Kazuhiro Sasaki

1 Red Sox - Johnny Damon

1 Angels

2 A's - Keith Foulke, David Justice

2 Brewers

4 Padres

2 Diamondbacks - Matt Williams

1 Giants - Trevor Hoffman

1 Marlins - A.J. Burnett

2 Reds

1 Cardinals - J.D. Drew

Finally, I came across 4 Black Refractors numbered to 199.....

1 Diamondback - Craig Counsell

1 Angels - Tim Salmon

2 Tigers - Shane Halter, Brandon Inge

It was pretty cool finding all the serial numbered cards and fun to pull some random cards to list online. I will do this type of 'break' periodically so you can see what it's like to go through random 5000 ct. boxes of cards.

On Deck

If you read my last entry I mentioned that I'm going to try a different type of box break. Having purchased tens of thousands of cards from a dealer that went out of business, I need to force myself to start getting those cards online. So I've picked a random box and pulled a subset of cards from that box which I plan to add over the weekend.

The box I picked seems to contain mainly 2003 baseball cards and the group of cards I pulled from the box are 2003 Topps Chrome. I took a quick peek and it looks like there are traded cards and serial numbered cards so it could be a cool mix. This weekend I plan to have the cards online and I'll reveal more details of what was pulled.

A Different Type of Box Break

One of the biggest challenges I've come across in running my store is adding the new cards that are coming out each week to my online inventory while trying to add cards from the older sets.

I've always wanted to deal with cards in one way or another but the defining moment came when I visited a local card shop last year. On that visit the owner told me he was quitting the business and he wanted to sell all the 5000 card boxes he had in stock. We worked out a deal and before I knew it i was hauling away more boxes than I knew what to do with. I spent the next few weeks just roughly sorting the cards by year and brand, all sports were present. My plan was to build my website and start listing all the cards I had recently purchased.

It took me a few months to build my site (I may blog more about that another day) then I was ready to start listing cards. My first thought was that I should list the current year of Topps baseball cards. Then I decided I should add some current cards for hockey, football, and basketball. I also broke some sets I had from my personal collection, picked up some bargains each month at local shows, and I continued by adding those cards. Before I knew it I was chasing new sets that were coming out each week and month. Now, a full year later I'm looking back and realizing I still have all those cards from my initial purchase and I've only listed a bunch or cards from the 2001 Topps baseball set. So I've come up with a new idea for a 'Box Break' to fix this problem.

You see, I love watching videos of box breaks on YouTube or reading blogs about boxes people have broken. So I've decided I'm going to randomly pull a group of cards from the 5000 card boxes I have in stock, this will be my own type of box break and I'm going to be forced to list them online. I'll sort them, add them online, and then I'll write a short blog about what I've found. I have no idea of what I might pull but I do know I have cards of all types from all manufacturers, most from the late 90's to 2008 or 2009. I have no idea where this will go but if you've ever dreamed of sorting through a few hundred thousand random cards that's exactly what I'll be blogging about. Stayed tuned.......I'll announce my first 'break' in a day or two.

Advertise for Your Competitors (SEO Part 2)

It's funny how ideas for a blog entry pop into your head.

This morning I woke up and checked the email I received for my online store. I found a 'nice' letter from another website looking to exchange links to each others sites. So it got me thinking, have you ever looked at a website and found a page where they provided links to their competitors? If so, have you ever wondered why sites that are in competition with each other would do this? It's like walking into Target and finding a sign that says, 'Shop at Walmart!'

Well, if you haven't come across this practice you can find it on my site by looking at my links page. This goes back to the question of why would a site do this? It's all related to Search Engine Optimization (SEO). One thing Google takes into account when doing their rankings is how many sites are linking to your site. There are a few types of links; one being the reciprocal link. This is a link where you and another website exchange links. In the end, it helps both sites improve their ranking in Google. So if you're starting an online store it can actually be helpful to work with your competitor rather than work against them. Besides, within the sports cards business we've seen so many variations of cards and sets of the years there is no way one store can carry everything a buyer is looking for, so why not help collectors find alternative sources to build their collections? Besides, if you provide a quality service you shouldn't worry about people not coming back.

I have more to say about this topic of linking and the email I received this morning but I'm going to keep this entry short. Look out for my next entry (hopefully tomorrow) where I outline a new type of 'box break' which I plan to blog about in the coming weeks.