National Convention Goals

Heading to my first National Convention this month - It's going to be by far the biggest card show I've ever attended. The best thing I think I can do is to try to make a plan for myself and make some specific goals.

1 - Finish the 1965 O-Pee-Chee Set.

Only 4 cards to go, but it's hard to know ahead of time how many vendors will have even one card from this set, let alone one of the four that I need. My goal is to find all four, but I would call this a success if I can find at least two.

2 - Make some serious progress on the 1964 Topps Venezuelan Set.

maybe find one of these for less than $100?

I have a long way to go with this set, and similar to goal #1, I don't know that I will have a lot of options of vendors with these cards. This one will be a success if I can add another ten percent of the set (37 cards) and/or find a good deal on some of the big names (Mantle, Aaron, Mays, Koufax, etc.) AND spend under or near $100. Looking online, it seems like the options are limited and the cost too high (for me) to add any of  the Hall of Famers from the set...

3 - Find some vintage packs to bust open.

This, I think, will be the easiest goal to meet. The oldest packs I've ever opened are 1978 O-Pee-Chee, so I will look for something from 77 or 76 and call that a successful goal. This is probably the biggest "waste" of money I will make at the show, too, but it's all relative. I'll be turning a valuable sealed item into loose vintage singles, but to me it is all about the experience of doing it...

4 - Find the "Clear" White Whale - the 2015 Topps Clear Kennys Vargas.

Well, either a vendor will have it, or they won't. I plan on finding out. Hopefully I will find it!


HEY! Are you planning on attending the national? We should hang out, check out some cards, maybe make a trade or two in person? Send me an e-mail so I know which day(s) you'll be there!

A 1964 Venezuelan Update: Dem's Phightin' Words

 Someone smarter than me can tell me where these photos were taken ... Connie Mack Stadium perhaps?

 There's the Senator / Hall of Famer!

 There's the glue on the back!

 Could you call these guys "The Whiz Kids' Kids?"

Not bad, not bad.  Team E.R.A. leader Chris Short was kind of the 60's Matt Wieters. Great Player, but several years he went without a Topps card due to contract wrangling.

Athletics are up next!

My Twins FrankenSet - Page 3

I've seen a few FrankenSets out there - John has a Braves set, Tom has a Cubs set, Nick has the Dime Box FrankenSet, Robert has a serial numbered card set. Jeff's got a White Sox FrankenSet. I'm sure there are many others. Tell me about yours in the comments!

I decided this would be a good way to at least start organizing my Twins cards.

My own "rules" for the set are pretty simple -
1. Each card should be a Twins player in a Twins uniform (and exclude multi-team cards)
2. If at all possible, each page should have 9 unique players and 9 unique sets
3. Have Fun (Mandatory)

Here's Page 3:

 And the backs:

19 - Kent Hrbek 1983 Donruss
20 - Kirby Puckett 1992 Pinnacle
21 - Johan Santana 2008 Upper Deck (First Edition) Starquest
22 - Jim Kaat 1963 Fleer
23 - Chuck Knoblauch 1992 Topps
24 - Joe Mauer 2013 Topps Turkey Red
25 - Cesar Tovar 1970 Topps
26 - Bert Blyleven 1971 Topps
27 - Brian Harper 1993 Leaf Studio

Had to get a Diamond King in there at some point, and a Rookie Cup! Was happy to find some good vintage to add to the FrankenSet for this page. That's Blyleven's Rookie Card.

Cards and Cards and Cards from Cards on Cards : Cards

Kerry from Cards on Cards posted that there were some Series Two cards up for grabs, including this beauty:

 Fortunately for both of us, the very first blaster I bought this year had a Matt Carpenter version of the First Home Run Medallion, so we had the makings for a first trade.

Kerry didn't stop there:

Lots of great stuff, so let's dig in!

 That's a great shot of Shannon Stewart

 Frank'd.

 More great Twins - love that Radke!

 Tiny Puckett Sticker

 Some PC guys

 OH, Nishi... Never quite got comfortable in MN, was really hoping he would find a way to make it work.

 LEAF!

 some parallel Goodness

Rounding it out with some oddballs.

Thanks Kerry, this was a great package!

The Continuing Quest for Kennys

Well, I managed to find another Vargas card numbered to ten - this Donruss Signature Series Gold Card:

 The Gypsy Queen Gold Mini was numbered to 99

46/99 - Familiar, Jeff?

 I picked this one up for $4 while Kennys was still in the bigs, looks like I could have found it even cheaper if I waited... oh well - it's purty!

This one was really cool. There's also a penny, nickle, and Quarter version with the stamp. There's also a signed version ... numbered to ten (story of my life).

Great quote from Kennys, Here's hoping you can find some more fireworks as you work your way back up to the bigs.