It has been a minute! I haven’t posted since March, and we haven’t been to a card show since then either. This past year I sort of lost focus with the collection, and I got caught up trying to keep up on social media. Namely I switched from writing on this blog about building my collection to doing a daily wax pack opening on YouTube. That was going well, but I found myself changing the reason I was buying things was more for supplies/inventory for the YouTube channel than my collection. I have all these unsorted cards from the pack openings it is crazy.
Goal
I want to return writing about each card I pickup in this blog to act as a database for each card, and also a way to look back at each purchase and see the story behind it. This is a journey to collect all the Phillies cards from 1980 – present day, with some cool additional stuff along the way. This is a return to that goal
Black Friday – Championship Cards
We had Phantom Tickets courtesy of our neighbor at 7:05, so around 2:40 I decided to take a trip out to Championship Cards. They moved locations further away, but I absolutely love the new location. In a strip mall with lots of food options and a killer ice cream place. The layout of the new store is better too, a few display cases line the right hand side, on the left one display case of miscellaneous things, then boxes of loose cards, my favorite “Hot Packs” for $1 and more singles and various items.
Topps Update Format Change
I didn’t know what I wanted to get this trip, as u did put my $50 gift certificate in my pocket before I left, thinking maybe I might get the Topps Update hobby box. I’m still upset that Topps changed the format, going from 14 cards in 24 packs to 12 cards in 20 packs. This is such a slap in the face to me, and I’m shocked there is not more outrage in the hobby. Topps Update is one of those releases I like to pickup because I saw over time those are the boxes that retain value or even increase significantly since they have all the rookie call-ups. This year’s class they say is weak, but that is meaningless to me. John has the price at $110, which would be $60 out of my pocket and I still haven’t pulled the trigger. Something is telling me not to give Topps the money for screwing over collectors like me, who value the base card, who collect all the cards in the box, and who aren’t chasing the “hits”. For those who simply want to open cards at a decent price, Fanatics and Topps are trying to pull a fast one by releasing a product under different specifications, and saying deal with it. So I think I’m hesitating on this out of protest. I did notice he still has a 2023 Topps Series Two hobby box for $95 which may be the way to go if it us still there next time. I can buy the Singles of 2023 Update from the Phillies either at a show, or on Ebay, allowing this time to pass on our rule due to Topps’ decision on this format.
Black Friday Pickups
Vintage Discount Cards
- #1 – 1975 Topps – Hank Aaron ’74 Highlights – Aaron Sets Homer Mark
- #382 – 1959 Topps – Curt Simmons – Philadelphia Phillies
- #7 – 1968 Topps – 1967 National League ERA Leaders – Phil Niekro, Jim Bunning, Chris Short
- #1 – 1968 Topps – 1967 National League Batting Leaders – Bob Clemente, Tony Gonzalez, Matty Alou
- #23 – 1968 Topps Game – Rich Allen – this is a cool card
- #185 – 1975 Topps – Steve Carlton
- #207 – 1974 Topps – 1973 Strikeout Leaders – Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver
- #310 – 1972 Topps – Roberto Clemente – In Action – “Mommy” written on back
- #230 – 1971 Topps – Willie Stargell
- #110 – 1971 Topps – Bill Mazeroski
Hot Packs/Grab Bags
Picked up 5 grab bags from Championship Cards as well, he labels them as “Hot Packs”. I will do a separate post for each of the packs. Pictured below is the front and then reverse of the 5 packs.
1993 Upper Deck Phillies Team Set!!
For $1!! The complete set of Philadelphia Phillies from the amazing year of 1993, these are the types of gems that you never know what you will find at the shop!! I think I am more excited about this $1 pickup than anything else that I picked up, although the Hank Aaron card is a significant moment in history.
The next day was an epic adventure of two card shops, and lots of fun pickups on the trip!