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!