Please Make Fun of me

The beauty about collecting cards is that no wrong way exists. Most are just bound by finances and time. People that worry about the way others collect have their priorities messed up. Sure it gets annoying seeing people on Twitter who PC Mike Trout, Bryce Harper and Steph Curry at the same time, but too each his own.  It's your money and if you want to collect the flavor of the week so be it. The unfollow button is just a click away if it bothers you.

My collecting style is all about variety. I like to jump set from set trying to accumulate cards that interest me. Every so often I go back and look at cards I've accumulated and one will pop out that leaves me with that "what the hell was I thinking" feeling.

Such was the case with this card.....

2014 National Treasures Flawless Honus Wagner Dumb as Shit Diamond Card /20

I'm probably one of the least critical people when it comes to card design. I often look past aesthetics if it is a Pirate that is rarely featured on a card or from an obscure set.  Sometimes a crazy look is what draws me to a set (like any 90's insert). These Flawless diamond cards are just too much for me. 

Maybe I had too many bourbon barrel stouts one evening and was trying to shop for myself and my wife at the same time.  /chugs beer "pretty diamonds....oh this Honus Wagner card is nice too." I remember finally getting this card in the mail and just shaking my head.  Usually I would showoff a unique Honus Wagner card, but the buyers remorse was just too much for me.  It had to be relegated to my basement for 3 years. 

Now I can at least look at this card more from a comical point of view.  Maybe even as more time passes I'll view it like some diecut, lightning bolt/hologrammed card from Pacific. Who knows, if times get tough I can pawn the actual diamond for the .37 it is likely worth.  Someday when I die my daughter will look through my cards and realize that the reason she couldn't go to a nice private college was that Dad bought cards with diamonds in it.  Sorry honey, hope you enjoyed your time at University of Northwest Southeast Delaware Trucker Tech.  

Alright guys let me have it.  

Can I see Your License Please (A Love Hate Relationship with Panini)

I don't make it a habit to chase base Panini parallels.  While I'm somewhat of a Panini apologist I agree than many of the base cards are sub par. Obviously, the lack of licensing takes away a great deal from the overall look of the card.  For me Panini often makes up for this by having unique auto checklists, using college uniforms, better price points, and inclusion of pre war players.  The latter being the subject of my latest purchase.

2016 Immaculate Collection Honus Wagner /25

At least to me this card still looks cool. Obviously during this time period the uniforms were about as basic as can be so the impact of licensing is minimal. I think this is why I liked the Panini Classics set so much. A good chuck of the checklist was made up of pre war players.  Of course it was cancelled after a year.

While I like the Wagner, for every one of those you will find 50 of these...

I like a lot of things about the Donruss releases, but the base cards aren't one of them...

The most frustrating aspect about Panini is that they still haven't attempted to make some of their core products more visually appealing. Have you seen some the NFL versions of Donruss and Prizm? They are nice looking. It just seems like they could come up with some better photo options for current players to skirt the licensing instead of just brushing out logos.  Maybe some shots of guys in street clothes.  Topps had a cool shot of Cutch accepting an award in shirt and tie.  How about some shots from the neck up?   At this point I would be ok with them just trying something.  As far as I know they haven't made an attempt in any of their reoccurring sets.

Does the good outweigh the bad for Panini? I guess it depends on how you collect.  For me I still like them because of the reasons I listed in the first paragraph.  It just feels like they could really improve the one glaring negative....

Thanks for reading!

These are the Good Weekends (Basketball, Football, Beer, Cards)

While I'm always sad to see baseball go, I do get really excited for college basketball. WVU has their first regular season game tonight against Northern Kentucky. The team is returning ten players so expectations locally are high, while nationally they seem to be flying under the radar. I thought they might get some top 25 love coming off a sweet sixteen run, but we start unranked. Preseason rankings are stupid anyway so I guess it doesn't really matter. This also marks my 10th year as a season ticket holder.

Tomorrow afternoon WVU football plays Texas. The game holds a good bit of importance for the Mountaineers. If we beat Texas we have a reasonable chance to win out and salvage the season. The sky was falling after we took 4 losses in a row, but we were underdogs in all 4 games (Oklahoma St, Oklahoma, TCU and Baylor). As you can see the schedule makers were unkind this year. To add insult to injury the last three of those games were on the road.

For all the beer nerds out there I've loaded down on a few high end releases. The drink of choice tomorrow will be Founders Backwoods Bastard.  It is a bourbon barrel aged scotch ale that is only released in November. Tasty stuff!

Enough of me blabbing about a team you most likely don't care about.

How about a card!

2015 Panini Cooperstown Honus Wagner /5

A seller that I'm a frequent buyer from on eBay must have went crazy with this set as he probably had 200 cards for sale. This Honus set me back $7 which seemed reasonable. The good thing was I utilized the combined shipping and got some of my frequent trade partners some goodies too. I'll probably have a mass mailing late next week! 

Have a nice weekend! 

Hidden Treasures

My organization skills are lacking sometimes when it comes to my cards. Ever since I started the blog I've been adding cards at a vigorous pace. The normal protocol is get cards, scan cards, blog about cards and store cards. While this seems simple enough life can get in the way and cause a backlog of cardboard. That is when piles upon piles accumulate on my desk. 

Last night while searching through these piles I came across two really cool cards.

I believe the top one came from crazy man Jaybarker and the bottom was an eBay pickup. I don't have many Flying Dutchmen cards, but the ones I do have are among my favorites. It is easy to hide logos when dealing with the prewar players. I think that why all the Panini throwback sets are received much better than sets like Prizm and Donruss. 

Here is my best Wagner that I showcased last Spring.

Now back to more organizing. Maybe my desk will throw up something else fun!

Flying Dutchman

2011 Topps Tribute Honus Wagner Dual Relic 27/99

I believe this is my only Honus relic card.  He tends to run very expensive so I rarely search to add more to my collection.  The picture doesn't do this card justice.  It is a very sharp looking card.  My daughter wasn't allowing me to do a regular scan tonight so the phone had to do.  Tribute's glossy finish tends to leave a nasty glare so I apologize.  

I've owned the card for a few years now so I don't exactly remember how much I paid.  I'm guessing since this was around the time I got married maybe I splurged as it would be one of the last expenses that I didn't have to justify.  This card is perhaps the last link to my single carefree card purchasing days.  At least I went out with a bang.  

My Pirates are just brutal to watch right now.  After blowing a 6 run lead last night to the Giants we stand 8 below .500.  It is to early to panic, but it is time to start winning some series.  The Brewers are the only team in the division playing well so there is still some time to dig out of the early hole.  Right now we are paying the price for our inactivity during the offseason.  We could really use AJ Burnett right now.  End of rant.  

Anybody going to open some Bowman?