5 years ago I was..
Boopotts
Posts: 6,784 ✭✭
I was digging through some commons tonight when I stumbled into a 500 ct. box of 2000 bowman baseball. I have no recollection of buying these specific cards, although I'm sure I bought them 5 years ago when I was just getting back into the hobby. Which got me thinking...
What were the dumbest things I did when I 'got back' into sportscards? I'm not talking about stuff from 20 years ago, like passing up the chance to trade an '87 Topps Tracy Jones blank back for a stone mint '67 Seaver and a NM Drysdale RC. We all have stories like that. I'm talking about the stuff that I did at the beginning of my 'hobby renaissance'.
Here's my list.
1) Bought something like 15 boxes of 2000 Upper Deck retail and put every semi star and rookie into a top loader (with no penny sleeve). I had just learned about card grading, and thought I'd get a 'leg up' on everyone by not tossing these soon-to-be priceless gems into a 50 ct. plastic snap box.
2) Bought no fewer than 9 full cases of '89 Donruss (at between $400 and $550 a pop) with the intention of getting the Griffeys graded.
3) Figured that centing couldn't be 'all that big of a deal', and kicked out around a grand on 9OC and 8OC Boggs, Ripken, Clemens and Puckett RC's.
4) Loaded up on unopened 1990 UD Hockey, since the set contained an astonishing number of future HOF RC's that I was sure would be worth thousands by now.
5) Got a PSA membership and sent in the four best looking '89 Donruss Griffeys that I'd pulled ouf of $3000 worth of wax. All of them received 8's. I then got discouraged and never sent in another card before my membership expired.
Some pretty shrewd moves there. Anyone else have any savvy plays that they made when they rejoined the hobby for the 2nd time?
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In '84 I was 12 years old and traded 1 of my friends a RIckey HEnderson RC for a Tim Raines RC, I remember trying to reverse the deal, but it was sealed and I felt my first sting of a trade gone bad.
I guess it prepared me for e-bay and buying ungraded cardboard... retrospectively speaking of course.
Julen
RIP GURU
back when i was 22 my dad bought me 3 boxes of 99 Fleer mystique football. I pulled Tim Couch and Edgerrin James and thought i was rich!!!! To this day i still remember my dad's excitement when i called him up as i was opening the cards........we thought we hit it rich!!! the going price was 100 dollars a box for that stuff!!! It goes for NOTHING NOW....BUT...i guess we cant take all that money with us when we die right????
loth
<< <i>
Some pretty shrewd moves there. Anyone else have any savvy plays that they made when they rejoined the hobby for the 2nd time? >>
I started a collecting a graded 1978 Topps set ....... and I still am
ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240
1) Bidding on one of those 1954 SI cutouts, realizing what it was, and NOT cancelling my bid because ebay's policy seemed to forbid it. (Today, I would cancel that bid in a heartbeat). I resold it with an honest description and lost a ton of $$.
2) Buying vintage lots off ebay to break up. Good lord, those suckers were overgraded. I remember winning a lot of team cards for around $200 and two of the cards didn't even have borders. I also bought some modern lots. I didn't lose money on those, but I might as well have been greeting folks at Wal-Mart. I later learned that lots can actually outsell their ebay break if they're assembled and marketed correctly.
3) Spending a ton of time going through sellers' feedback and staring at scans from auctions of modern high end rookies because I knew a few somewhat prominent dealers were making good money buying raw cards from those same sets off ebay and grading them. This was before a few chance encounters showed me how the grading game really worked. I actually came out somewhat ahead from this, but it wasn't worth the time and aggrevation.
4) Buying rack and cello boxes from reputable sellers that had an extraordinarily low rate of the key rookies and never had one that was centered. I didn't buy many before I gave up on that, but I should have known that even supposedly honest sellers are going to use their knowledge of sequencing to pull out the packs with premium stuff. Now I'll only buy vending or cello boxes by the case, regardless of the source.
<< <i>5 years ago I was.. >>
In college, managing a bar and getting more ass than a toliet seat.
Did I say that out loud?
Oh as far as the hobby...
...I want to go back to 5 years ago
My Auctions
Stingray
Five years ago is when I got back in the hobby. I picked up a price guide and noticed how much PSA cards went for. Thinking all my cards were mint, I decided I could make a fortune. I didn't have many cards left but sent in for a PSA membership.
As far as screwing up, my first submission included beauties like a 1991 upper deck chipper jones rookie, a 1984 topps mattingly rookie, and a 1987 topps mcgwire NOT rookie.. Needless to say I've learned a lot since then.
Of course, I'm still buying a hobby box or two once a month as well as searching eBay for the next PSA graded card I can buy in the "Top 200 Sportscards of Alltime" book. Just bought another last night. I'm still trying to figure out where to put all this shi.... stuff and I'm already excited about 06 Heritage.
Maybe I haven't learned much after all.
Shawn.
I took every card that was a star, semi-star or rookie and put them in top loaders. Anyone want 20 Kimera Bartee's?
I started stockpiling some can't miss rookies. Orlando Hernandez, Kevin Millwood, Ricky Ledee, Bruce Chen, Randall Simon, Wes Helms, Damon Hollins, George Lombard.....still stuck with these.
I sent every numbered insert that came my way in for grading....whoa, a mint SGC 96 Albert Belle Double platinum diamond. Geez, my Travis Lee numbered insert only got a 92.....darn!
I bought some neat stuff and sold the same on ebay without thinking about keeping it for my personal collection. Bought a Hartland Mantle statue in sweet condition (sans bat) for $75 and sold it for $180.
dumb, dumb, dumb
"I spent 50% of my money on alcohol, women, and gambling. The other half I wasted.
Steve
"All evil needs to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
<< <i>I got back into the hobby in the summer of '84 - I traded a real nice '64 Rose (book @ $90) straight up for 30 Gwynn rookies (booked @ $3). At the time I was buying Mattingly rookies for $3, Valenzuela rookies for $1.50 and Sax rookies for $1.00. Oh, and I started filling in my 60's wantlists with whatever I could find. It wasn't until a year or so later that I learned about condition for vintage cards. >>
Sounds like you're a pioneer compared to the rest of us.
Also sounds like Steve is getting old.
Shawn.
My biggest mistake was buying too much of products like 1999 SP and Finest with the short-prints trying to build sets with wax instead of just waiting to buy the singles instead. It's been a fun ride though and I don't have too many complaints so far.
Do you guys hate 80's and 90's "junk" because you really think it's junk or are a lot of you just bitter still that you bought so much of it at it's height and you're jaded. Seriously, I love the stuff and I'm buying a lot of it back at mere single digit percentages of what a lot of it once was and having fun doing so.
My mother DID send me a check for $30 which she realized from the sale.........
.....it was about four years ago that I started collecting baseball cards again........
1955 Bowman Raw complete with 90% Ex-NR or better
Now seeking 1949 Eureka Sportstamps...NM condition
Working on '78 Autographed set now 99.9% complete -
Working on '89 Topps autoed set now complete
1) consistenly overestimating what my cards would grade so almost always ending up with a couple of worthless slabbed cards after every submission. (Still doing this today).
2) Buying the occasional wax box hoping for the perfect gem to get graded which I almost never found. (Still doing this today).
3) Oh ya, was planning my bachelor party in Tampa which was a lot of fun and worth the multi-stop trip on Southwest across the country! (Today, wishing I lived Zef's life that he mentioned above. Sounds great. Sign me up!)
5 years ago I was NOT collecting any cards or even keeping up w/ baseball cards. I was trying to get more A$$ than a toilet seat though.
Zef (sorry Stingray thought you authored the toilet seat line!) I hope your better half doesn't read these boards BTW...
Julen
RIP GURU
5 years later, Greg "Toe" Nash is in and out of jail on habitual felony charges, and his baseball career was over before it began.
WTB: 2001 Leaf Rookies & Stars Longevity: Ryan Jensen #/25
i bought a reprint 1954 willie mays topps card thinking it was worth somethin (note, I KNEW it was a reprint)
buying a few of those dutch auctions. set me back a few dollars...but the biggest mistake was actually trying to do one of those dutch auctions. I ended up buying quite a few GU and cheap autos (because, that's what dutch auctions use to compensate the fact that the rest of the lot contains todd marinovich and stanley roberts rookie cards). Greed....learn why its taints everything.
worst mistake was buying a 1954 bowman willie mays for NM price when in fact was below EX. I also bought a few 70's jackson cards that were PSA OC...thinking that it still had some value.
i was sitting at a club a friend of mine owned called T & A getting free lap dances