Yet another ID-10-T day...

Yesterday, I posted about having gone through the 6000+ (which is actually about 12000+) cards I bought on 'theBay' not long ago. Well, in my haste to start selling the cards, I managed to skip an entire 3000-count box during my solo sorting time! See? This is why you WANT your kids to join in the process! Oh well, it has been fun looking through the cards to find Indians, inserts, etc.

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I was sorry that dayf did not win the Hank Aaron card.. :-( I was pullin for ya! I have been finding Braves cards, though, so I'll cull a group together and shoot off your way Monday... I am VERY glad to hear you enjoyed the "surprise pack" I pulled together for ya! (Readers, see comments in the previous post for an upcoming response from dayf) :-)

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A sweet surprise!

DAYF and I have been swapping cards back and forth lately (which, by the way, I have some more Braves headed your way). When I saw his return address on an envelope, I peeled the package open to see what surprises were in store. You see, he had informed me that I had not claimed my UD Masterpiece yet from his box-breaking marathon. I freely admit, it had slipped my mind. Inside the envelope, I discovered a Mini Sabathia, "Play Ball" style retro Topps, and my UD Masterpiece - Howie Kendrick! It was like an early Christmas present! :-)

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Yes, it really is 2:45 in the morning as I write this. Why? Well, I decided to start posting some of the cards I got in my gazillion card purchase. I started with a handful (okay, like 45) basketball cards before getting tired of entering the info (I use Turbo Lister, for now anyway). I realize that is not a lot to many folks, and it doesn't even begin to make any resemblance of a dent in the rows and rows of cards I have, but it is a start. Turbo Lister also ticked me off. It calculated my fees incorrectly, so I modified the starting bid prices, then once they were posted, eBay had the correct fees assessed. UGH. Oh well, I am offering any of the cards I put up for sale at NO SHIPPING. We'll see if that leads to more or fewer sales. Would you rather pay $.98 for a card with no shipping or $.05 for a card with $1.50 shipping? Seems like a no-brainer, but you never know the psyche of potential buyers... Here is my current listing: (Here - new window or tab). The purchase has about the same number of football and baseball cards, with a ton of basketball thrown in. There are also some hockey cards and other sets, like "American Pie" and "Olympic Heroes." I was a HUGE Mary Lou Retton fan in '84 (she is about a year or two older than I am and lived not far from where I grew up). One of the Olympic Stars cards is of her. Not sure if I'll keep that or not..

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I was asked if I had videotaped the sorting session with my daughter. I wish I had, but it was one of those things that came together quickly and recording the event for posterity never entered my mind - dang it!

2007 UD Ultimate Sabathia and Hammerin' Hank

Once again, I was poking around eBay, or maybe Beckett, and I came across a game-used Sabathia card. Now, how could I pass THAT up!? I mean, he *IS* the 2007 AL Cy Young winner, after all. But, when I got the card, I checked out the front, the swatch, the picture, etc, and then I flipped it over. I "whooped" out in excitement, adding a "Yes! Finally!!" for dramatic effect. My wife (whom I had scared out of her wits), glared at me, saw the card in my hand, and nonchalantly asked, "Yes??" I then went on my 5-10 minute tirade about materials cards not saying anything except "Congratulations, you got a materials card..." Instead, this card actually SAYS something else about the player no less!! FINALLY!! So, I tip my hat off to you, sir or ma'am at Upper Deck who took the time to write a little blurb on the back of a materials card. It made my day.... And then....

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I mentioned a couple times that I had won a box of cards. Well, turns out to be TWO boxes (technically four boxes, two shipments). As I was searching through this shipment, looking for Tribe cards, my eyes caught sight of something that looked like it said "Hank" passing by in a blur. I stopped, backtracked a little ways, and sure enough, Hank Aaron was staring at me. Surely this was one of those Topps Archives cards, I thought. But, no, the condition was too worn for it be an Archives. I slowly turned it over, scanning every inch for some modern-day copyright mark. There were none to be found. I turned it over and over, marveling at the front, reading the back, finally letting it sink in that I held in my hand a 1957 Topps Hammerin' Hank Aaron card.

I collect Indians almost exclusively, but I am not a moron (well, perhaps it is too early to say that yet - read on). I had been sent an original card from the baseball gods themselves. Had my Dad not passed away this year, I would have wrapped this puppy up and given him the surprise of a lifetime (I believe I have relayed the story of his "disappearing" ball cards, but I will check the posts and See. If I have not told you the story, I will) - one of the cards from his childhood collection.

Part of me, okay MOST of me, wants to keep this card in my "non-Indians" collection. But (and here is where you pass judgement on the "moron" part), I have decided to sell it on eBay (Item 320192526626). Why in the world would I sell a card I have never seen before today, and will most likely never see again in hand? I'm not sure, exactly. But, here is my thinking: Someone out there will appreciate this card more than I really will. I am an old-school collector. I suppose the "nobler" thing to do would be to trade it rather than sell it. Guess I'm not quite THAT old school, huh? :-)

Tradeaway #4 and a serious I-D-10-T error

Getting: 1993 Republic of Liberia Dollar Coin Nolan Ryan
Giving: Derek Jeter Heads Up, Alex Rodriguez Green Back

This trade comes from Brandon in Kokomo (and, yes, I hear you singing the song in your head right now!). I tried very hard to honor Brandon's request, alas, the closest I could come was a couple Yankees.

This trade falls under the "any oddball ya got!" category, and I am glad to accept it! Though my collection is accurately 99.97% Indians, I do collect certain other players, and Ryan is definitely one of them. This coin commemorates seven career no-hitters. I have never had a coin minted from another country (except "Canada, but that doesn't count because it's, like, attached..."), though I have seen those commercials for "painted" coins from Liberia. Evidently, Liberia makes a killing off of producing money featuring things we Americans like to celebrate or commemorate... Who knew?

As for the Jeter and A-Rod: I like the "Heads-up" versions of the Goudeys, and you get to learn things like the fact that "Derek is Bob Dylan's favorite baseball player." That'll be on some game show, I'm tellin ya! A-Rod opts for the classic "bat on shoulder" pose. In a way, I always found this to be an odd pose because I have heard more than my share of coaches constantly yelling, "Get that bat off your shoulders!"

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Okay, so the I-D-10-T error... After I spent most of my creative juices coming up clues for DAYF's cards, I pulled a bonehead move and left his Goudeys on the blankety-blank scanner! So, my apologies to DAYF, and I will send those to you ASAP...

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I received my box(es) of 6000 cards, as I had discussed winning on eBay not long ago. My 5-year old daughter and I went through every card, picking out the Indians. I will input the ones I need into my card database, and then put the rest up for sale (along with the other 5950 cards) soon.

If you have not had the pleasure of looking through rows and rows of cards, searching for specific teams or players, with your very young child, allow me to paint you a picture:

The shipment is in two 3000-count boxes, so I pull one box onto the floor. Using an unopened pack of hockey cards in the box as a divider, I pull out a stack of cards and hand them to my daughter. I then grab a stack for me.

"We're looking for Indians, Honey," I tell her.

"Okay," she says, and begins to cycle through the cards, creating a scattered 'pile' on the floor. About halfway through her stack, she stops. "How do I know which ones are Indians?"

"Look for the picture of the Indian (the logo, though she knows what I mean because she has seen the 'picture' a billion times now), or the card will have the word 'Indians' on it. It begins with an 'I' for 'ih-ih-ih-Indians." I sound it out, so that she knows what to look for.

With one side of her mouth cocked upward and a raised eyebrow, she invokes the 'tone of DUH' and says, "I know what Indians starts with... Ih-Ih-Ih like IGLOO..." The 'DUH' is not vocalized, but I feel it hanging there just the same. All I can do, of course, is laugh.

She picks up the cards again, and this time methodically searches for Indians. She discards football, hockey, and basketball cards. All the while, she is calling out teams like the Pirates, the Red Sox, and the Cardinals. Frankly, I'm impressed. She does hand me a couple of Braves, thinking they are Indians, and again, I cannot help but smile at the aforementioned email from dayf on the subject.

As we complete stacks, the unopened pack is moved along, and I spend more of time straightening out her 'pile' to put the cards back into the box than actually searching through my own stacks of cards, but it is a small price to pay. At one point, however, she has grown tired of looking through card after card, and suggests that I give her all the "shiny" cards to look through. Thus, we sort each stack into "shiny" and "not shiny." Basically, if the thing had any scrap of foil, it was shiny. Given the preponderance of foil on cards these days, spending my time 'fixing' her piles did not hinder progress much at all... :-)

In record time, we burn through 6000 cards, and we have created quite a nice stack of Indians cards, though I have to be honest and say I thought there would be alot more, simply based on the fact that in the past, Indians have served as "filler" cards for many of the bulk purchases I have made. I'm not sure if I am glad this is not the case this time or not... Ah well...

So, now you know... If you have young child or relative and have not had this experience yet, I encourage you to try it out for yourself. It's a memory you will both keep for a long, long time.

Tribe Tradeaway #3 - "Native Americans" for Indians

Before this trade, I received a rather cryptic message (or it was to me until I "got it") from DAYF: "I'll definitely take any Native Americans not of the Cleveland variety of course." No one has ever accused me of being smart, so I "missed" what he was trying to tell me. It was not until, during a later discussion, that he said: "I collect Braves and like you with Indians, I'll take any of them I can get." Being the slow-minded person I am, I still did not get the "Native American" reference until I was staring at a pile of Braves cards I had laid out on my desk. Yeah, yeah, put me on the short bus... (Please, no offense to Native Americans, slow-witted people, or those who spent their going-to-school time on a short bus). And, now that I've managed to offend a portion of my potential audience, let me continue with my tradeaway:

Dave (yes, that is another Dave in the growing pot) sent me SIXTEEN Cleveland Indians cards! That is very cool! Ideally, I would have loved to have been able to send him 16 Braves UD Goudeys in return. Alas, I had but three:

I am not going to post the other cards that I am sending along because I'd rather they be a surprise. But, in the same vein that Dave initiated the cryptographic trade, I offer the following:

• One should not "label" a couple of these
• Would YOU accept the signature of a traitor?
• One gives new meaning to "Stinky Pete"
• A couple of these guys sure are cheesey
• and perhaps E.T could have used a couple others

Once Dave has these all in hand, perhaps he will share with you the "secrets" of the clues... Then again, he may keep you guessing....

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On another note, Joey over at Squeezeplay Cards is showing off his sports collectible Christmas Tree! And the first ornament he shows us is a Cleveland Indians Jersey! It is very, VERY cool!