cubs

eBay – 1961 Topps Ron Santo Rookie Card

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I made the mistake of looking at older cards on eBay the other day. I’ve always wanted to get some older Cubs cards and I figured Ron Santo would be a good place to start. I stumbled across his 1961 Topps rookie card and put a bid of $16 on it. The following morning I noticed it was about to end so I kept an eye on it. With about a minute and a half to go in the auction, someone bid $20 on it. I bumped up my bid to $20.50 and ended up winning it! Shipping was another $2.95. That is currently the most money I’ve spent on one card.

It was packed pretty well, but the seller used a tad too much tape on the outside package as well as the cardboard surrounding the card. I carefully cut the tape with a box cutter and thankfully didn’t hurt the card. The card came in a card saver type soft sleeve. I removed the card and put it in a penny sleeve inside of a top loader.

As for the card itself, the corners and edges are in really good shape. There is a noticeable horizontal line running across the front of the card from his hands to the right edge of the card. It doesn’t appear to be a fold but something has left a mark. The centering is definitely off-center, but that doesn’t bother me as much as the pesky line on the photo. The seller had it marked as near-mint which seems about right all things considered.

I’m pretty happy finally having a Ron Santo card especially since this is his rookie card. Hopefully the other cards will be a little cheaper as they go up in years. 🙂

Cards in this order: 1961 Topps Ron Santo RC #35

eBay – Sammy Sosa 50-card lot

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I ran across a Sammy Sosa 50 card lot on eBay the other day. I put a bid of $5.50 on it just for kicks as it had not only rookie cards but many cards I don’t have in my collection. I had no thoughts I’d actually win the auction but darn it if I wasn’t the highest bidder. Shipping was another $5, but I was getting 50 cards so not a bad deal.

They arrived today in a small bubble mailer with 2 hard shell plastic cases. I don’t mind duplicates of some cards, especially rookie cards. I was a bit frustrated by the condition of some of the cards. There was a decent amount of corner damage on the Topps and Bowman rookie cards. There were 9 – 1990 Bowman RCs and every darn one of them has multiple corners that are damaged. I know I could buy a lot these RCs PSA 10 graded for around $10-$25, but I’m sticking to raw cards for now.

The seller never stated the condition of the cards nor did I ask, so it’s not worth complaining about. There are still a lot of cards in better shape that came in the package. The only Sosa rookie cards I need now are the Leaf and O-Pee-Chee. (I suppose a nice mint Bowman would be nice since these aren’t very good!) One card I wanted that I didn’t know would be in the lot was the 1990 Star Charlotte Rangers card. Not only did I get 1, but I got 6 of them and most are in decent shape.

Here’s a few of the other cards that came in the package.

For some reason I really like these Sportflix/Sportflics cards that show different images as you tilt the card. (hard to capture on camera)

This final card is a 2004 Playoff Honors Prime Signature Insert #21. It has serial #2197/2500. That’s the only Sosa card I have that has a serial #. Oddly, despite it being called a signature card there is no signature. Still nice to have a ‘limited’ card though.

Here’s the full list of cards I got.

6 – 1990 Star Sammy Sosa #61 Charlotte Rangers
1 – 1990 Donruss Sammy Sosa #489 RC
3 – 1990 Topps Sammy Sosa #692 RC
9 – 1990 Bowman Sammy Sosa #312 RC
3 – 1990 Fleer Sammy Sosa #548 RC
3 – 1990 Score Sammy Sosa #558 RC
2 – 1990 Upper Deck Sammy Sosa #17 RC
1 – 1990 Score Sammy Sosa Rising Stars #35
1 – 1990 Sportflics Sammy Sosa #81
1 – 1991 Upper Deck Sammy Sosa #265
1 – 1993 Flair Sammy Sosa #22
1 – 1994 Sportflics Sammy Sosa Movers #MM7
1 – 1995 Stadium Club Sammy Sosa Extreme Corps #497
3 – 1996 Sportflix Sammy Sosa UC3 #104
1 – 1997 Upper Deck Predictor Sammy Sosa P9
1 – 1998 Pacific Invincible Team Checklist #5 Sosa/Grace/Sandberg/J. Gonzalez
1 – 1998 Topps Gold Label Class 1 Sammy Sosa #83
1 – 1999 Fleer Tradition Going Yard Sammy Sosa #13 (fold out card)
1 – 1999 Topps Sammy Sosa HR 39 #461
1 – 1999 Upper Deck MVP Power Surge Sammy Sosa #P2
1 – 2000 Bowman’s Best Sammy Sosa Best Performers #90
1 – 2000 Metal Heavy Metal Sammy Sosa #GS1
1 – 2000 Paramount Double Vision #23
1 – 2001 Fleer Tradition Diamond Tributes Sammy Sosa #DT21
1 – 2001 Upper Deck Ovation Superstar Theatre Sammy Sosa #ST6
1 – 2004 Leather and Lumber Sammy Sosa #34
1 – 2004 Playoff Honors Prime Signature Insert Sammy Sosa #21 #2197/2500
1 – 2005 Throwback Threads Generations Duke Snider/Reggie Jackson/Sammy Sosa #G1

2017 Topps Series 1 hanger pack

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After yesterday’s visit to the local card store in Peoria, I had the itch to get more cards. Since we don’t have any card shops here, I decided to see what our local Meijer store had. I found a 2017 Topps Series 1 hanger pack which has 72 cards for $10.99, so I had to get it.

I yielded quite a few RCs including Josh Bell, Yoan Moncada, David Dahl and Dansby Swanson. I really dig the 30 year anniversary 1987 cards since that was the year I really got hot and heavy into cards when I was a kid.

I got quite a few Cubs out of the pack as well.

It was nice to buy some cards again and see who I pulled. I forgot how much fun (and potentially expensive) this hobby can be.