The Blogger National 2025

Once upon a time, it was a dream of mine to attend The National Sports Card Convention.  Things have changed.  I changed.

Don't get me wrong... if the circumstances were right... I might attend.  I'm just not sure it'll ever actually happen.

The biggest obstacles for me are:

#1:  Money

2002 Topps Gallery Baseball Bucks #NNO

I'm assuming the NSCC will never come back to San Francisco.  What does this mean?  It means that if I ever want to attend the show, I'd have to set aside a lot of money for travel expenses (flight, hotel, car rental, food, etc.) plus a hobby budget for the show.

Now I've talked to a few collectors who have attended and they have all assured me it would be worth the money spent... just to experience it.  Maybe they're right.  I'm just not sure I want to wager thousands of dollars to find out they're wrong.

#2:  Timing

1977 Topps #433

The NSCC always takes place at the end of my summer break.  Now that's perfect timing for some.  Me?  It's terrible timing.  Right before I head back into the classroom, my goal is to recharge the batteries and relax.  Attending the NSCC might be tons of fun, but I don't think it meets my definition of "relaxing". 

#3:  Traveling

2018 Topps Heritage News Flashbacks #NF-5

It would be one thing to hop into a car and drive one, maybe two hours to a card show.  I've done that before.  It's another thing to ask me to fly.  Will I do it?  Yeah.  But it's not my favorite thing to do.  

#4:  Crowds

1992 Pro Set Guinness Book of Records #16

I'm also not a fan of standing shoulder to shoulder with strangers.  Now based on some of the videos I've seen on YouTube, things seemed to be spaced out nicely in some areas.  However I saw one clip that showed a crazy long line to get into the show.  If I have to wait more than 15 minutes in line, I'd rather just hit up my local flea market.

This is the biggest obstacle by far and ultimately the thing preventing me from attending the show.  Money, timing, and traveling are all things I could probably handle... especially if I planned ahead.  Not sure I can say the same thing about the crowds.

That's why I'd much rather hang out in Matt's Blogger National... which is a blog bat-around where I have the opportunity to show off recent purchases I made over on eBay (instead of waiting in long lines at the actual National).

Purchase #1:  An Upgrade for my A's PC

1973 Topps #210

The Oakland A's won the World Series the year I was born.  This card celebrates that event.

Back in 2020, I picked up a PSA 6 graded version of this card for under $5, but I started looking for an affordable upgrade right after that.  4 Sharp Corners has listed a few of these with BIN prices of $39.99 (+ $8.75 tax & shipping) in recent months.  I have been sitting on a few eBay gift cards and decided to use one of them on this card.

I know most of you could care less about graded cards... but I'm really happy to add this to my collection of A's World Series celebration cards.

Purchase #2:  Worst Purchase Ever?

A few years ago, I paid $45 for a Clayton Kershaw autograph.  Unfortunately... it wasn't actually autographed.  I just thought it was when I sent the eBay vendor the offer.  This is arguably my worst eBay purchase of all-time... until two weeks ago.

That's when this listing popped up.  It's for a set of 1984 Smokey the Bear Padres cards.  It's a stadium giveaway set that features a lot of cool cards including a second year Gwynn, the San Diego Chicken, and even a card of HOF umpire... Doug Harvey.  Pretty neat, right?  Well that's why I offered the seller $18 (+ $6.38 tax & shipping) right before I fell asleep that night.

The next morning I woke up and saw that he accepted.  I was stoked and couldn't wait to get my hands on this set.  A few days it arrived... and I realized how dumb of a purchase this was.

The first thing I noticed was that the cards were in rough shape.  They look like they've been sliding around in someone's shoebox the past forty-one years.  But that's not even the worst thing about this purchase.

It's missing four cards!  And yup... the Gwynn and Chicken are two of them.  Garvey and the header card are the other two cards missing.  Well... at least it had the Harvey.  It also has HOF manager Dick Williams:

1984 Smokey San Diego Padres SGA #NNO

Anyways... the worst was yet to come.  After feeling like I had been sucker punched.  I headed over to eBay to see the original listing.  And guess what... the seller totally listed it as a "Partial Team Set".

I've got nobody to blame except for myself.

Purchase #3:  A Different Kind of Rainbow

1986 McDonalds Seattle Seahawks Sets

(Blue, Black, Orange, & Green)

Not gonna spend too much time writing about this purchase, since most of you are baseball fans.  

1986 McDonalds Seattle Seahawks #80

If you've never seen these before, they're regional cards handed out at McDonalds back in 1986.  There are four different colored tabs, but each colored set contains the same twenty-four players.

A eBay vendor had listed this lot of four sets (for $45.55) and was accepted offers.  I sent an offer of $38 (+ $7.55 tax & shipping) and they accepted.  This was part of the same $100 eBay gift card from above.

Well that wraps up my trip to the 2025 Blogger National.  I could have included a few other purchases, but I'm saving those for future posts.

In the meantime let's check out some cards I recently received from a blogger who is actually at the 2025 National Sports Card Convention.  Stuart over at S.R. '75 Cards has been spreading O-Pee-Chee love around the blogosphere the past few weeks.  I was very happy to be included.

But before we get to those Canadian cards, here are a few other items he sent for my collection...

1995 Topps #389

I'm not sure how this card has eluded my Gwynn collection the past thirty years.  But thanks to Stuart... I finally have a copy in my Gwynn binders.

He also sent me two new Gwynn inserts:

1999 Pacific Omega Hit Machine 3000 #11 (#'d 2909/3000)

2002 UD Prospect Premieres Heroes of Baseball #HTG2

It's O-Pee-Chee time!

Let's start with some 1992 singles for my A's and Padres collections:

There are a few big names in this lot, but none bigger than Rickey:

1992 O-Pee-Chee #560

Just look at those career numbers he had already accumulated by the end of the 1991 season.  Can you believe he would go on to play another twelve seasons in the MLB?

Stuart also sent me some 1981 O-Pee-Chee cards:

He included three hall of famers:

1981 O-Pee-Chee #229

1981 O-Pee-Chee #254

1981 O-Pee-Chee #261

And for those looking for the French text...

Thank you Stuart for all of these O-Pee-Chee cards and the trio of new Gwynns.  Hope you're having fun at the NSCC.  And thank you Matt for inspiring and kicking off the 2025 Blogger National.  I hope a bunch of other bloggers will join in on the fun.

As for the rest of you...

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

Apologize in Advance

Back on May 25th, 1977... the Minnesota Twins played a doubleheader against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway.

1977 Topps #120

Rod Carew went 5 for 6 with 2 RBI's in the first game and 2 for 5 with another RBI in the second game as the Twins took both games on the road.

That same day, Star Wars: A New Hope came out in theaters.  I realize May 25th is three weeks away, but due to a play on words.... Star Wars Day is celebrated on May the 4th.

I'll go ahead and apologize in advance.  95% of you have zero interest in Star Wars... that's why I lured you here with the Carew.  My next post will definitely be sports related.

However today, I'm celebrating the media franchise about a galaxy far, far away.  

Let's start with the creator himself:

1977 Topps Star Wars Sticker #53

I've mentioned this a few times over the years, but it's worth saying again.  1977 Topps Star Wars was the first product I can remember opening and collecting as a kid.  I purchased this card a few years ago off of eBay, but there's a chance I pulled a copy from a pack back forty-eight years ago.

Lego #75301

I usually celebrate May the 4th by building a Lego set.  However things have been a little busy and I didn't have time to start the X-Wing Fighter.  If I end up completing it today, I'll add a photo of it to this post.

In the meantime, here are some Star Wars cards I have received from fellow bloggers.

First up is a Japanese CCG card of Kylo Ren from Kenny over at Torren' Up Cards:

2022 Weiss Schwarz Star Wars #S49-054

It's a good thing that I didn't know about this product back in 2022, because I feel like I would have went all in on it.  I'm not even a fan of this character, but I love collecting Star Wars cards, Japanese cards, and gaming cards.  Combine all three and this is something I could have been obsessed about.

By the way... this was only one piece of Kenny's care package.  He hooked me up with a ton of cards from Japan that I'm very excited to share in the near future.

Next up are a pair of sets that John over at Johnny's Trading Spot sent me last year:

2019 Topps Star Wars: Resistance Foil Characters Set

He opened up a case of this product last summer and sent me both insert sets and a complete base set.  I didn't have the patience to scan the entire 100 card base set, but John did.  If you want to check it out, click here.

Here's the other Star Wars Resistance insert set he sent me:

2019 Topps Star Wars: Resistance Pop Up Set

If you're not familiar with this show, it was a cartoon released by Disney back in 2018 and took place right around the start of the sequel trilogy.  I only watched about ten episodes of the first season.  If I get around to building that X-Wing, maybe I'll put this on and watch it from the beginning.

Thank you Kenny and John!  And May the 4th be with all of you!

Happy Sunday and sayonara!