The Elation of a Filled Up Sampler Page: 1962 Topps

We have this new guy in our office, and the jury is still out if he's going to cut it.  I think he will, but I'm an optimistic guy by nature.  But earlier today, he sent me through the roof.  One of our big customers (and by big, I mean this customer is as big a customer as there is in the world) requested some data from him.

He sent over the data, which was good, but his email read in full:

"Here is the information.  Thanks." 

"Here is the information.  Thanks."  No greeting the customer by name, no insight to what the data said, and not even an invitation to reach out with questions.

"Here is the information.  Thanks."

That's sort of like when you go through the drive through and the restaurant employee just hands you your bag without saying anything.  Except instead of hamburgers, this bag has information used to make million dollar decisions.

Why am I talking about this?  Because for this post I was tempted to simply show the 1962 page from my Sampler Album and say, "Here is the 1962 page from my Sampler Album." 

But I care too much about all of you, so instead I gave you a story about someone else doing that sort of lazy work in my office, and now -look at this!- I have a lot of words in this post.  Yay for me and my creativity!  I still haven't said anything about the 1962 page, but at least I didn't just say "Here is the 1962 page from my Sampler Album."

I do like the Brooks Robinson card quite a lot.

Cleve's Auction Night- $11 HOFers

I did something Tuesday I hadn't done in a while: spend a leisurely 30 minutes shooting the bull with Cleve at Cleve's Collectibles, my LCS.  By the sheer volume of mentions of Cleve's I've had over the course of this blog, that might sound a little surprising.  But typically, I'm darting in during a lunch hour, checking the weekly auction fodder, saying hello to Cleve and some of the regulars, and then getting on my way. 

But the Lovely Wife is in wine country right now, my kids were both in school today, and I had taken the day off from work.   I understand 30 minutes really isn't that long, but it was a mountain of time compared to what I've had lately for this hobby.

I had put in a few write in bids last week, but had 0 expectations that I had won anything.  I didn't even ask about my results when I came in and started looking over this week's stuff.

So when Cleve said, "By the way, you won the '61 Banks and the '62 Robinson," I was stunned and surprisingly overjoyed.

These are great adds to my Sampler Album:

I have to make yet another disclaimer- these are not nearly as mis-cut as my scanner says they are.  Both cards are in outstanding shape.  There are no creases and the corners and surfaces are quite good.  It felt great to win a couple of superstar vintage cards.  I know they aren't super expensive in book value, but I love em anyway.

Grades:

1961 Ernie Banks:  $6  A+  I'll take this deal every day

1962 Brooks Robinson $5  A+  I'll take this deal every day

Cleve's Auction Night: Merry Big Fun Game Eve!

There are less than 24 hours remaining before I randomize contestants for the Big Fun Game, so if you haven't put your name it, well, put your name in.

I'm pretty happy with the prizes this time around.  Without giving away too much, I will say it's a  diverse group of prizes, but all baseball related.  And no eTopps cards this time around, for whatever that's worth.

I won a few of the prizes from Cleve's auctions this week and picked them up today.  I also got a few things for myself.  The prizes will remain a secret, but here are the things I got for moi:

 I'm particularly excited about this 1960 Brooks Robinson.  It gives the 1960 page in my sampler album a huge boost, and the card is in great shape.  I paid a good amount for it, but it was worth it.

 I also picked up this lot of 9 commons for my 1960 page.  It was already full, but had a few raggedy contents.    I'll make some replacements using this page, as these are all in great shape.

Another purchase geared toward the sampler album was this nice lot of 1969's.  That page is just about wrapped up now.  These are all in very good shape.  Gaylord Perry kind of scares me.

I often hear people talk about their patch cards being "sick."  Not this one.  It's very healthy!  The card is kind of boring (yet I kind of like that about it), but the patch is gorgeous. 

Ok, I don't want any snickering about this card.  I'm very appreciative of Matt Jones' contribution to Razorback football and nothing will take that away.   Having said that, I can't imagine why someone sent this card in for grading.  Doesn't that cost, like, $10 a card?  At least it came back a 9.5.  For some reason someone decided to make a mark on the case with a sharpie.  I'm hoping I can remove that.    But I like this card and I don't want any crap about it.

Grades:

1960 Brooks Robinson  $12  A:  It wasn't cheap, but I'm still very happy to have this card.

1960 Commons  $9  B+:  I know $1 a card for EXMT 1960s is a great deal, but I will only need a few of these for my sampler album.

1969 Lot  $6   A+ : These are very good players for $2 a card.  Great additions to my sampler album

Al Leiter Patch  $4  A+:  I'm a big fan of Leiter, and the patch is very healthy!

Matt Jones Graded 9.5 Score Rookie with a Big Sharpie Stain:  I won't give you the satisfaction of knowing how much I paid for this, or what grade I give myself.  Why?  Because I hear you laughing at me even as I'm typing this post.

 

Sunday Cleve-View: Missing Another Good Auction

Open Tuesday nights have been tough for me to come by lately.  Work will take away this coming Tuesday auction, and pretty soon I'm going to forget how these things work.  I'm left to take my chances with write in bids yet again, which is unfortunate because I love the selection this week:

 I didn't bid on the Henderson or Murray rookie, although those are two Rookie Cards I'd love to have eventually.

 This is one write in bid I feel somewhat confident in getting.  I've been tinkering with the idea of building a 1972 set since that's my birth year, and this would be a nice one to have.

 Not suprisingly, Ryan Mallett relics and autos are expensive here in Razorback country.  The bids on these are already more than I want to spend. 

 There are a handful of T206s up this week, and I put in bids on all of them.  I also want the 1959 Frank Robinson.