Friendly competition + unemployment = lots of cards

Some weeks ago I cultivated a relationship with someone else in this world that collects Hank Greenberg cards.

You might be thinking, "what, someone else collects this stuff?"  In fact, yes. they do.

While speaking with him and comparing our collections, I think it fueled a bit of a fire in me to best his collection. He has a ton of high end cut autographs, low numbered cards, bat cards and some vintage.  Nothing short of a great collection.

I really enjoy talking with him (almost daily) and asking for advice on purchases, prices etc. If you don't know someone who collects the same way you do, I highly recommend you reach out to them for their friendship, guidance and knowledge.

So I've been buying.  Also probably aided by my being unemployed since early January. With time comes opportunity.  And with opportunity, comes a hot streak.

Everything below is what I've acquired since early January, with two more cards coming this and next week:

New pickup: 1934 Batter Up v2

There are certain moments, when cards go on eBay and I say to myself, "Yep, I'm going to win that card." I bet more collectors feel that way as well.

I had decided at the NSCC this past August that I wanted to go after all color variations of the 1934 Batter Up # 57 Hank Greenberg.  I bought and graded this one a few years ago, and was a fan of this issue ever since.

At the National, with this in mind, I found two Batter Ups that I pondered, and passed, and pondered, and passed, and offered and counter-offered several times on both cards.  I had to pass on a blue version (shown in this link) because of back damage, and the fact that the dealer's price was too high for the card.  I think I might have already explained this story once here before, but I'm not remembering so I'll just continue.

The second of the two cards I was much more interested in.  A black tinted, raw, sharp card. Guy was asking $300 for it, but $250 if I decided to pay in cash.  I mulled the buy over, and over, and over the three days I was there. I finally gathered up the stones to withdraw the money (with trouble I might add, Wells Fargo didn't take kindly to me withdrawing large amounts in Chicago, Illinois without telling them in advance.)

I was at the table. Took the card out of the book that I found it in, and heavily inspected it.  I found a slight tear where the end of the bat reaches the top edge of the card, and I was immediately turned off. It created a tear in the card, and for $250 I couldn't warrant spending that on a card I know didn't meet the grade for the price.

I passed.

So, present day, I found the card on eBay, and like I said, I knew I was going to have it. I placed my bid with 6 days and change left and carefully watched the auction, padding my bid twice once the activity came from other bidders. I won the card easily, and now it's a day away from arriving, and I can't wait to own it.

2013 National Recap

So, it being my third ever national (2010 bmore, 2012 bmore and 2013 chi), and having a job allowed me the opportunity to travel to the national, as well as spend, what I want, on the cards that I want.

Going into the show I think everyone has the list of cards in their head (or paper) that they'd pay nearly anything for to acquire. For me, those were the 1937 O Pee Chee and the 1936 World Wide Gum.

I flew in Thursday morning from New Jersey and get to the show at about noon. Much like Eric, I wasn't blown away by the size and energy by the show this year, maybe the correct term was overwhelmed.

It took me a bit of time to get started on Thursday with my purchases, but I eventually stumbled upon a clean 1934 Goudey that seemed suitable for the upgrade I desired.

I bought it raw, bargained the seller down considerably, and made the purchase. After which I ran right to SGC to have graded :) the attached image is from my phone before the card was graded, it got a fair. A bit disappointed with the grading, but understood it. I didn't care though, the card has such incredible color and eye appeal and for the price I really couldn't complain.

I then ran into a seller I am familiar with that I know constantly stocks Greenberg. Along with that comes the same story he always tells me, about how 15 years ago he would sell all the Hank Greenberg stuff he had to his daughter, blah blah blah. I did find this interesting piece that I knew existed, but knew very little about. The attached pennant is what I bought. The designation is BF3, produced in 1937 and distribute alongside gum packs. When I got back to the hotel room I researched the pennant and found some great information about it. There are a ton of different colors that these come in, and Greenberg is in three more variations of this issue. A unique buy, for sure!

My last purchase for Sunday came as I would like to say, at the buzzer. I found this with less than 15 minutes to go in the day before the floor closed, and managed to again negotiate the price. The attached pin is from 1938, and I had been wanting one for a very long time. Needless to say, I ended Thursday on cloud nine, easily the best day I ever had at a single show.

Friday came with more expectations, and they were met. I knew the sellers stuff, at the prices I didn't want to pay. I did however, make a really cool purchase this day.

I will be playing in a wooden bat league starting after Labor Day, so knowing I needed a bat, I thought to myself that it'd be awesome to buy a game used bat and use it in the league. So Friday I started this thought with a vendor, and he informed me that they sell bats for people to use them all the time. So I became tickled. I spent the next hour holding and swinging three bats, and chose to buy a black Louisville slugger Jerry Hairston Jr. bat for $50 shipped. Pics to be added upon arrival. I picked up some T206 commons for my brother, then headed, once again, into the final half hour of the day.

I had previously seen the last attached item and remembered it was there, so I simply went and bought it! It's a 1936
Sporting Life record book, accounting for many stories about records and past World Series' played. I began to read the book last night, but decided against it because the book is a bit brittle.

So there it is! My recap. Written in 22 minutes while commuting home on the bus from New York. A great national to be had!

Thanks for reading peeps.

Brian

National Treasure

With my second pickup from 2012 Panini National Treasures, comes this card:

This card is numbered to only 25, and features Detroit's two most feared hitters in the 30's. This card highlights both Greenberg and Gehringer leading the American League in 1934 with 63 doubles and 50 doubles, respectively.

This card cost me $50, a price I am pretty happy with. It's pretty much the only premium card from the set I would be able to afford at a decent price, at least for now. Many of the cards have superstars attached to some incredible piece of memorabilia, be it a jersey, patch or even glove in this triple including Jimmie Foxx and Mel Ott.

Who knows, if that stays reasonable I might snag that one as well, I don't own a glove card outside of this cool 2003 Joe Borchard card that isn't on eBay. Too lazy to scan it.

The Rookie Card

As a young up-and-coming kid from Brooklyn, Greenberg garnered a lot of attention from the New York Yankees, looking for a first basemen to replace Lou Gehrig. Greenberg remembers an account of Gehrig, describing him as a "man amongst boys". A 20 year old being the successor to Lou Gehrig? Hank didn't have that in mind for himself. 

Instead, he signed a contract with the Detroit Tigers, a team with a solid core of veterans that were one year away from winning a World Series championship. 

Now to the card. I bought this card in the Fall of my first semester of college in 2008, a time where I had a lot of disposable income and chose to buy a lot of vintage instead of boozing.  It cost me about $45 on eBay, and I haven't found a card go for that low since.  Although it is pretty beat up, it still retains that nice vintage look and smell, if you're into that kind of kinky shit.

I am looking to upgrade it to maybe a SGC 40 (VG condition) but I would not part with this card simply because of the importance of it to my collection.