Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!! The 11th Annual Almost the Easiest World Series Contest on the Web is over

 

Ladies and Gentlemen my 11th Annual Almost the Easiest World Series Contest on the Web is over and we have a winner, we have a Braves fan winner!!  We only had two people correctly guess the Braves would win the World Series, go figure they were both Braves fans.  But Colbey, aka Flywheels, correctly guessed that the Braves would beat the Astros.  As a matter of fact, as I stated last post, we had two people correctly guess the match-up.  Which I think is a first. After looking at Colbey's entry looks like he forgot to include the games in the series, but it doesn't matter.  

A fully correct pick with all the correct tie breakers would have been

Braves over Astros, in 6, 13 home runs

Here are the finalists picks.

Brett Alan - Astros over Braves, 6 games, 7 home runs.

AdamE - Astros over the Giants in 5 with 9 home runs.

dayf - Braves over White Sox 13 dingers

flywheels - Braves over Astros - 7 HRs

Ymmat - Astros over Dodgers in 7. 15 homers

Sportzcommish - Astros over Giants in 6 with 12 homeruns.

mfreeman - Astros over Dodgers, 7 games 14 HRs

Colbey will be getting a nice stack of Braves cards to add to his collection.    I'm sure most of you know Colbey, he writes the blog Cardboard Collections (and many other blogs) and also runs the Affordable Group Breaks group on facebook.

But wait we need to figure out who won our door prize.

And...

the...

winnner...

is...

drumroll.....

Bo!! Who writes the delightful blog Baseball Cards Come to Life.

I'll be contacting both our winners to make sure I have up to date mailing info for them.  Congrats to both winners and thanks to everyone for playing!!!

11th Annual Almost the Easiest World Series Contest on the Web - World Series Update

 

My apologies for the lack of update posts. I spent the last 10 days down visiting family in Wisconsin.  It's only been 3 years, but I had a lovely time and got to bring back a big box of Wisconsin delicacies.  But let's see who's still in this contest.

If your following the World Series you already know that the 117th contest has pitted the Braves against the Astros.  And last night the Braves won game one.

As it sits we have 7 people who picked either the Astros or the Braves to win it all and we have two player that will have correctly guessed the correct match up.  I think this is the first time I've had that going into the final round.  Right now Brett has the Astros beating the Braves, and Colbey (aka Flywheels) has the Braves beating the Astros.  Pretty neat.

Again thanks for everyone who entered. I'll have the final summary after the series is over and also announce our door prize winner.

GTT - Rays over Dodgers, 6 games, 17 home runs. Thanks!

OhioTim - San Francisco Giants over Tampa Bay Rays in seven games with 13 home runs

Brett Alan - Astros over Braves, 6 games, 7 home runs.

RJ Sahl - Brewers over the Rays in seven, 16 HR's.

Dion's IP Autos only - Rays over Giants in 6 games with 15 HRs.

AdamE - Astros over the Giants in 5 with 9 home runs.

dayf - Braves over White Sox 13 dingers

flywheels - Braves over Astros - 7 HRs

John Sharp - Giants over the White Sox, 5 games.18 HRS.

Derek - Dodgers over Rays in 6. 17 homers

Ymmat - Astros over Dodgers in 7. 15 homers

Shaw Racing - Dodgers over the rays in 6, 23hrs

Sportzcommish - Astros over Giants in 6 with 12 homeruns.

The Diamond King - Cardinals over Rays in 7. 14 homers.

Nachos Grande - Dodgers over Rays in 6. 24 homers.

Nick - White Sox over Brewers in 6, 19 homers.

Jeff Laws - White Sox over Braves in 7, 13 homers.

sandyrusty - Rays in 6 over Giants with 13 HR

Rounding Thirty 3rd - Rays over Dodgers in 6 with 14 HRs

Matt - Dodgers over Astros, 6 games, 16 homers. PIMP

Adam Kaningher - Giants over Astros, 6 games, 17 home runs

night owl - Giants beat Astros and I don't watch. Grrr. 7 games. 19 homers.

Bo - Rays over Giants in 6 games, 12 HR. 

mfreeman - Astros over Dodgers, 7 games 14 HRs

FiresNBeers - Brewers over Rays, 6 Games, 17 HRs

Jafronius - Dodgers over Rays in 6. 10 HRs. 

Elliptical Man - Dodgers over Astros, 6 games, 12 HRs. 

Lastcall77 - Rays over Brewers 7 games 15 HRs. 

bbcardz - Dodgers over the Astros in 6 games, 14 HRs. 

kcjays - Brewers over the Rays in 6, 19 homeruns. 

Fuji - Dodgers over Astros, in 6, 16 HRs

shanepatrickwrites - brewers over rays in 6, 12 homers

11th Annual Almost the Easiest World Series Contest on the Web - Official Entries Post

 

Well by my count we have 32 people that have put in picks for this year's contest.  Not to shabby, especially since I haven't been posting almost at all.  I want to thank everyone who entered.  No one left a comment about promoting the contest, but if you did please let me know so I can make sure you get a second entry into the door prize. 

Just a full disclaimer, I'm taking a trip down to visit family in about a week and will gone for 2 weeks so updates might be a little delayed and combined.

Here are the official posts, pulled directly from the official sign up post.  If you see something amiss please let me know ASAP.

GTT - Rays over Dodgers, 6 games, 17 home runs. Thanks!

OhioTim - San Francisco Giants over Tampa Bay Rays in seven games with 13 home runs

Brett Alan - Astros over Braves, 6 games, 7 home runs.

RJ Sahl - Brewers over the Rays in seven, 16 HR's.

Dion's IP Autos only - Rays over Giants in 6 games with 15 HRs.

AdamE - Astros over the Giants in 5 with 9 home runs.

dayf - Braves over White Sox 13 dingers

flywheels - Braves over Astros - 7 HRs

John Sharp - Giants over the White Sox, 5 games.18 HRS.

Derek - Dodgers over Rays in 6. 17 homers

Ymmat - Astros over Dodgers in 7. 15 homers

Shaw Racing - Dodgers over the rays in 6, 23hrs

Sportzcommish - Astros over Giants in 6 with 12 homeruns.

The Diamond King - Cardinals over Rays in 7. 14 homers.

Nachos Grande - Dodgers over Rays in 6. 24 homers.

Nick - White Sox over Brewers in 6, 19 homers.

Jeff Laws - White Sox over Braves in 7, 13 homers.

sandyrusty - Rays in 6 over Giants with 13 HR

Rounding Thirty 3rd - Rays over Dodgers in 6 with 14 HRs

Matt - Dodgers over Astros, 6 games, 16 homers. PIMP

Adam Kaningher - Giants over Astros, 6 games, 17 home runs

night owl - Giants beat Astros and I don't watch. Grrr. 7 games. 19 homers.

Bo - Rays over Giants in 6 games, 12 HR. 

mfreeman - Astros over Dodgers, 7 games 14 HRs

FiresNBeers - Brewers over Rays, 6 Games, 17 HRs

Jafronius - Dodgers over Rays in 6. 10 HRs. 

Elliptical Man - Dodgers over Astros, 6 games, 12 HRs. 

Lastcall77 - Rays over Brewers 7 games 15 HRs. 

bbcardz - Dodgers over the Astros in 6 games, 14 HRs. 

kcjays - Brewers over the Rays in 6, 19 homeruns. 

Fuji - Dodgers over Astros, in 6, 16 HRs

shanepatrickwrites - brewers over rays in 6, 12 homers

11th Annual Almost the Easiest World Series Contest on the Web - Final Reminder

 

Now that the wild card games have been played and we are into the divisional rounds it would be the perfect time to get your entry into my 11th Annual Almost the Easiest World Series Contest on the Web.  Seriously, why are you waiting??!!!  You've got till tomorrow at noon Alaska time/4 pm EST.

Don't submit your entry on this post, instead go to my Official Sign Up post HERE.

11th Annual Almost the Easiest World Series Contest on the Web - 1st Friendly Reminder

 

Just a friendly reminder that my Annual World Series Contest is open for picks. Just tell me the winner and win great prizes!!  

Don't put your pick on this post, go HERE to enter.  Contest closes Saturday at noon Alaska time (my time) 4 pm EST.

11th Annual Almost the Easiest World Series Contest on the Web!! Is Open - Official Sign Up Post

While I haven't posted in a while I sure didn't want to miss my annual World Series contest.  It was a great season with a playoff spots coming down to the wire.

This year will be like year's past, but if you haven't played before the premise is very simple.  I just want you to tell me who's going to win the World Series.  That's it pretty simple.  But since it's very likely that more than one person will pick the correct team, we need a few tie breakers.  So in your pick tell me who's going to win, who the opponent will be, how many games in the series and how many total home runs will be hit in the series (both teams combined).  So your entry should look something like this.

Brewers over Yankees, in 4, 15 HRs.

In year's past I've offered a single prize, but I've found that a lot of people are kind of turned off if I offer an auto of a player or team they don't like.  So this year, up for grabs is a special prize pack that will be built specifically for the winner. The prize pack may include autos, relics, inserts, parallel card, rookies.  It really depends on what I have in stock or what I can find on my next visit to my LCS, but trust me it'll be good.  Just ask past winners.

But wait there's more!!!

Like year's past I'm also give away another prize package just for participating. This is my door prize and it too will also be tailored for the winner.  Everyone who enters the contest will get an entry into the door prize drawing and if you promote this contest, on your blog, social media, YouTube channel, whatever, you'll get a second entry into the door prize drawing.  Just leave a comment and link to your promotion on your entry to make sure you get your extra entry.

The door prize winner will be chosen at random but entering all the entries into a random list generator at random.org and the list will be randomized 3 times, person at the top of the list wins.

Without much of a break from regular season to the playoff that doesn't give us a lot of time to leave the contest open, but I'm going to close the contest Saturday at noon Alaska time or 4pm EST.  Feel free to wait till wild card elimination games are over and I will let you change your pick up till the contest close, but amend your pick with a comment on your old pick.

Here are the teams you have to choose from

American League

Red Sox
Yankees

Tampa Bay Rays

Chicago White Sox

Houston Astros

National League

Milwaukee Brewers

Atlanta Braves

St. Louis Cardinals

San Francisco Giants

LA Dodgers

I'll post some periodic reminders throughout the week.

Good luck everybody!!!

 

Cardboard for the Ages - Defining the Ages and Periods within Baseball Card hobby

It's been awhile since my last post, at least on here.  Lately I've been mulling over the hobby in general. Especially this past year with the pandemic and ensuing craziness that has been the sport cards market and collectibles in general.  I also collect other things, but my other main hobby would be my comic book collection.  Comic books have these great Ages associate with them, the Golden and Silver ages, my personal favorite is the Bronze age of the 70's and early 80's.  And baseball cards also have their labels and divisions in their 150 year or so history, although some of them aren't always so clear.  

So as a thought exercise I decided to try to put together my own baseball card timeline and definition of the ages up to present.  

First let me say this is just my attempt to put the hobby, specifically to baseball cards, into some order.  There is no official governing body over baseball cards or the hobby and what I may think is a logical start or stopping point for a historical period in baseball cards might not be what you would choose, but I welcome the feedback.

First let's start at the beginning.  In my opinion and for the purpose of this exercise I'm going to start the hobby at what I consider to be one of, if not the, first baseball card, the 1869 Peck and Snyder Cincinnati Red Stockings ad card.

The term vintage gets thrown around a lot and by some people standards vintage can start as recently as 1985.  That leaves a lot of room in the vintage category and let's face it a 1985 card and 1948 Bowman are not the same breed.  

So let's start at the beginning and work our way forward from 1869.

Victorian/Edwardian/Pre-WWI Period 1869-1917

Officially the Edwardian Period ended in 1910, but I wanted to encapsulate the T206 production period into this category.  I also was going to end this period at 1912 for that reason, but after thinking about it it makes sense to push this to when the US entered World War I  in 1917.  It also gives us a pretty nice break for the next period.

Pre-War (WWII cards) Period 1918-1947

I know what you're going to say what you end the Pre-War era in 1947, but the US joined WWII in 1941.  Yes that's true.  But there also were no major baseball card product produced until after1948 with a few oddball and minor league exceptions, and the next period would be Post WWII so it doesn't make sense to leave a 6 year gap when almost no baseball cards were produced.  If it makes you happy we could call this Pre-War/Wartime but you get the idea.

Post-War (WWII) Vintage Period 1948-1985

I know what you're going to say, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, that's a huge time span.  And didn't you just say you don't think all vintage is created equal and really you think 1985 is the end of the vintage era?"

Indeed I said all that, but we are going to break this Post-War Period into some sub-groups. Eras or Ages if you will. Because while I'm not super comfortable putting the early 80s in the vintage category, mainly because it makes me feel old.  The term vintage is kind of a moving target.  And 1985 is an easy stopping point for the next Period after this.  

So let's break down the Post-War Vintage Period

1948-1959 The Golden Age or Era of Baseball Cards

1960-1969 The Silver Age of Baseball Cards

1970-1979 The Bronze Age of Baseball Cards

1980-1985 The Modern/Aluminum/Zinc (whatever) Age of Baseball cards (edit: The Age of Expansion also as suggested)

Here it's just easier to group the post-war categories using time.  Also in the this Age we get to see Topps' monopoly end.

The Junk Wax Period/Era 1986-1994

Some may argue when to start the Junk Wax Era.  I've seen 1987 as a year people like to use, but up until recently you could find loads of 1986 Topps unopened product for cheap and for me that really is the start of the Junk Wax Era or Period..  Also I put the end of the Junk was Era at 1994 when the MLB strike almost killed the baseball card market.  We also see the start of the Great Expansion at the end of this period.

The Modern Period 1995-2009 (The Age of Consolidation)

The first inserted baseball autograph, and I think the first one in any card product, was the 1990 Upper Deck Reggie Jackson and inserts really started popping up before 1995, so there is going to be some overlap.  But for the most part the modern period of baseball cards ushered in a couple eras, first was the insert era, this started in the early nineties, but really matured in the mid to late 90's.  Next up the rise of hits.  While 1990 may have seen the first inserted autograph they were still pretty rare up until the early 2000s, and the first baseball relic was put into packs in 1997 Upper Deck.  Of course guaranteed hits in a box would be come the norm till the last part of the 2000s.

Also during this time we saw what would be the end of the expansion of the sports card market, where lots of brands and companies entering the market and we get start seeing the Great Consolidation, where companies were going out of business or getting bought, properties and brands were being acquired by other companies and by 2009 when Panini acquired Donruss and all it's brands we pretty much have the trading card industry we have today except for one thing..

The Age of Exclusivity 2010 - Present

So here we are, the Age of Exclusivity.  Topps became the sole MLB license holder in 2010 and hasn't let go of it.  As a matter of fact Panini started it off with their exclusive NBA deal, then Upper Deck took over Hockey, and in 2016 Panini became the sole NFL licensee.  

Within this Age we also can break it down into things like, the dawn of digital cards, online exclusives, print on-demand, and just a few days ago NFT (Non-fungible tokens).  

Well there you go.  What do you think?  How would you divide baseball card timeline?

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner - Almost the Easiest Super Bowl Contest on the Web Finale!!!!

 

Well, well, well.  I have to say I'm at a loss for words.  That was a completely unexpected outcome.  While I have a few issues with some of the officiating and calls, that was a pretty impressive feat by the Bucs and Tom Brady.  I really don't think anyone expected Kansas City to be held to under 10 points and the team didn't score a touchdown.  We had thirteen players going into Super Bowl Sunday and the overwhelming majority favoring the Chiefs, but three intrepid contestants picked the Bucs to take it all.  None of the three that chose Tampa Bay correctly picked the opponent, so we have to move to total points and boy did everyone think this would be a fairly high scoring game.  In the end the perfect pick would have been 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers over Kansas City Chiefs, 40 points, 4 FG 

And the person who picked the lowest combined score is the winner is Paul from Scribbled Ink!!!! So Paul I'll contacting you for shipping info soon!

Josh D. - Kansas City Chiefs over Green Bay Packers - 48 points - 2 FG

John Sharp - Bucs over Ravens, 56 points, 3 FGs.

GTT - KC Chiefs over Saints, 59 points, 4 FGs. 

Scribbled Ink - Bucs over Bills, 55 points, 3 FGs

jlcre2003 - Kansas City Chiefs over Green Bay Packers, 61 points, 4 FGs

KMack - Chiefs over Saints, 34-24. 3 FG's.

Fuji - Kansas City Chiefs over Green Bay Packers - 61 points - 4 FG - PIMP

kcjays - Kansas City over Green Bay - 65 points - 3 Field Goals

Dion's IP Autos only - KC Chiefs over GB Packers total of 69 points 2 Field Goals.

abraham - Kansas City over Green Bay, 69 points, 1 field goal

Ben Morris - Tampa Bay over Buffalo. 74 total points 5 FG

Matt - Chiefs over packers 62 pts

Trevor P - Chiefs over Bucs, 55 points, 1 FG - PIMP

Autographs2000 (TCDB) Kansas City over Green Bay, 60 pts, 2 FG

And let's not forget our door prize drawing.  I added all the entries from the official entries post and gave the four people who promoted the contest an extra entry, I went over to random.org and entered the list and randomized it 3 times.  And the winner is......

Josh D who writes the blog, but hasn't in a while, Royals and Randoms.

I'll be contacting both our winners for current shipping address and choice of team for their prize packs. 

Thanks again for all those who entered and played this year!!  Stay safe.

11th Annual Almost the Easiest Super Bowl Contest on the Web - Conference Championship Knock Out

 

Ummm well.... as a Packer's fan this weekend sucked.  But we've finally arrived at the final round, who all  got knocked out this past week?  A lot.  The overall concensus was for the Packers or the Chiefs to take it all and so we still have quite a few of you, plus we even had a few believe in Tom Brady.  In all we lost 17 this round with a fair number of people also picking the Bills to win.  Technically, all you had to do is pick the winner of the Super Bowl so there are still a bunch of you in it.  However if the Chiefs pull off a back to back only one person correctly picked that match up and that was Trevor P.  Of the 3 people who picked the Bucs none of them picked KC as the opponent so if Tom Brady can pull one more off we'll have to move up the line in tie breakers.  

Josh D. - Kansas City Chiefs over Green Bay Packers - 48 points - 2 FG

The Angels In Order - Bills over Packers, 44 points, 3 FG.

John Sharp - Bucs over Ravens, 56 points, 3 FGs.

FiresNBeers - Packers over Bills, 52 points, 4 FGs - PIMP

GTT - KC Chiefs over Saints, 59 points, 4 FGs. 

Scribbled Ink - Bucs over Bills, 55 points, 3 FGs

bakerybum - Packers over Titans, 52 points, 4 FGs

Robert - Packers over Chiefs. 65 points. 3 FGs

night owl - Bills beat Saints. 55 points. 4 field goals.

Shaw Racing - Bills over Bucs 50 5FGs

jlcre2003 - Kansas City Chiefs over Green Bay Packers, 61 points, 4 FGs

KMack - Chiefs over Saints, 34-24. 3 FG's.

cardboardhogs - Packers over Chiefs 63 total points and 3 FG’s

Fuji - Kansas City Chiefs over Green Bay Packers - 61 points - 4 FG - PIMP

kcjays - Kansas City over Green Bay - 65 points - 3 Field Goals

Dion's IP Autos only - KC Chiefs over GB Packers total of 69 points 2 Field Goals.

RunForeKelloggs - Bills over Packers; 68 points; 3 field goals

abraham - Kansas City over Green Bay, 69 points, 1 field goal

Joseph Blaschke - Bills over the Saints; 53 total points. 4 FG's.

Ben Morris - Tampa Bay over Buffalo. 74 total points 5 FG

Johnny Crim - Green Bay Packers over Kansas City Chiefs, 66 points, 3 FGs

Ymmat - Bills over Packers. 55 points. 3 FG's.

The Diamond King - Packers over Chiefs, 64 points, 4 FG

Matt - Chiefs over packers 62 pts

Alan Deakins - Packers over Chiefs, 69 points, 2 FGS.....

gcrl - packers over bills, 58 points, 3 fg

shanepatrickwrites - Bills over Packers, 51 points, 3 fg's

Trevor P - Chiefs over Bucs, 55 points, 1 FG - PIMP

Jafronius - Packers over Chiefs, 57 points, 4 FGs. Thanks for the contest!

ToddSteb - Packers over Chiefs 59 points 1 fg

Autographs2000 (TCDB) Kansas City over Green Bay, 60 pts, 2 FG

11th Annual Almost the Easiest Super Bowl Contest on the Web - Divisional Round - Up

 

Well what a great weekend of football.  No big surprises really, however Mahomes exiting with a concussion was a big loss to KC especially if he can't play next week.  Man what an upset it would have been in Cleveland could have pulled that one out.  But with KC and Green Bay the obvious favorites we only lost 3 people this week.  The Championship rounds should be fun.  Mahomes (hopefully), Rodgers, Brady, and Allen.

 Josh D. - Kansas City Chiefs over Green Bay Packers - 48 points - 2 FG

The Angels In Order - Bills over Packers, 44 points, 3 FG.

John Sharp - Bucs over Ravens, 56 points, 3 FGs.

FiresNBeers - Packers over Bills, 52 points, 4 FGs - PIMP

GTT - KC Chiefs over Saints, 59 points, 4 FGs. 

Scribbled Ink - Bucs over Bills, 55 points, 3 FGs

bakerybum - Packers over Titans, 52 points, 4 FGs

Robert - Packers over Chiefs. 65 points. 3 FGs

bbcardz - LA Rams over KC Chiefs, 59 points, 5 FGs

night owl - Bills beat Saints. 55 points. 4 field goals.

Shaw Racing - Bills over Bucs 50 5FGs

jlcre2003 - Kansas City Chiefs over Green Bay Packers, 61 points, 4 FGs

KMack - Chiefs over Saints, 34-24. 3 FG's.

Adam - Cleveland Browns over Green Bay, 72 points, 5 FGs - PIMP

cardboardhogs - Packers over Chiefs 63 total points and 3 FG’s

Fuji - Kansas City Chiefs over Green Bay Packers - 61 points - 4 FG - PIMP

kcjays - Kansas City over Green Bay - 65 points - 3 Field Goals

Dion's IP Autos only - KC Chiefs over GB Packers total of 69 points 2 Field Goals.

RunForeKelloggs - Bills over Packers; 68 points; 3 field goals

abraham - Kansas City over Green Bay, 69 points, 1 field goal

Joseph Blaschke - Bills over the Saints; 53 total points. 4 FG's.

Ben Morris - Tampa Bay over Buffalo. 74 total points 5 FG

Johnny Crim - Green Bay Packers over Kansas City Chiefs, 66 points, 3 FGs

Ymmat - Bills over Packers. 55 points. 3 FG's.

The Diamond King - Packers over Chiefs, 64 points, 4 FG

Matt - Chiefs over packers 62 pts

Alan Deakins - Packers over Chiefs, 69 points, 2 FGS.....

gcrl - packers over bills, 58 points, 3 fg

shanepatrickwrites - Bills over Packers, 51 points, 3 fg's

Trevor P - Chiefs over Bucs, 55 points, 1 FG - PIMP

Wilson - Baltimore Ravens over New Orleans Saints, 57 points, 4 Field Goals.

Jafronius - Packers over Chiefs, 57 points, 4 FGs. Thanks for the contest!

ToddSteb - Packers over Chiefs 59 points 1 fg

Autographs2000 (TCDB) Kansas City over Green Bay, 60 pts, 2 FG

The Rules

 I started this post, well not this post, but the first draft of the topic of this post almost 4 years ago.  I wrote a fairly long post and then didn't hit the publish button.  I thought I'd let it cool and then go back and edit the post, maybe see if I'd missed anything I wanted to hit.  And then kind of forgot about it.  It got buried under other posts and other drafts and lost.  I actually found the old draft and reread it.  It wasn't bad, but there was a lot that had changed, timely content that's meaning had been lost, so I thought I'd just start over, because the topic is The Rules.  More exactly the rules about collecting.  And the only rule about collecting is there are no rules. Well other than those that we impose upon ourselves.  

In essence the post is about how we each define our own collections and collecting habits.  What we decided to include and exclude.  Let me say I'm no psychologist so take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt.  

First let's make sure I make this very clear:

 THERE IS NO WRONG WAY TO COLLECT!  

With that I could probably just end the post.  But let me try to define a collector in the broadest sense of  the term.  A collector is a person that accumulates things, usually with an underlying theme, bring them together for their enjoyment.  Now is the guy who waits in the card aisle at Target so he can buy the enter stock of Mozaic and jack up the price on the secondary market a collector?  No.  Is the guy who buys a few blasters of Mozaic, opens the packs, selects the cards he wants, and then sells the rest a collector?  Of course.  Selling trading cards does not not make you a collector.  And I will say this, as both a guy who's sold his fair share, almost all the money I've made selling cards I didn't want has gone right back into the hobby.  Ahem.

Collector's tend to fall into a few categories, just by the way we decide how and what to collect.  You may find yourself in just one category or many, maybe even all of them.  This example will pertain specifically to sports cards, but it could be modified for just about any collecting topic.  I'm going to start from the broadest type of collector and work my way down.  And remember these are just my musing and definitions on the subject.

The Hoarder or the everything collector.  While rare there are those collector's that collect everything.  Every sport, non-sport, food issue, and oddball.  They all have a place in this collector's collection and this collector seldom sells or parts with anything from their collection.

The Sports Collector:  A collector that specializes in collecting one or more sports.  Of course this can also include non-sports topics as well as like Garbage Pail Kids, movie sets, and comic book sets.

The Team Collector:  The team and sports collectors usually go hand in hand. Most of us don't collect everything from particular sport.  We usually focus on a favorite team or two.

The Player Collector:  Again there can always be overlap between types of collections.  But also a player collection can be completely outside a collector's normal collecting theme.  Let's say you collect Tigers cards, but also focus on Brett Favre football cards.  Also while being a team collector you may focus on a specific player from your favorite team. 

The Set Collector:  A collector that likes to put together base or insert sets.  Usually focusing on specific sports and/or brands.  

The Hit Collector: A collector that collects "hits".  Hits being defined as the added value content from sport card products.  Namely autographs, relics, serial numbered cards, parallels, etc.  Which leads us into the...

The Refined Collector:  There is probably a much better title for this, but in my mind it's the type of collector that is very, very selective in their collection.  Almost sometimes to the point of having a very well curated collection.  This would be someone who targets high end autographs, relics, vintage, perhaps with graded examples.  They maybe focusing on a long (or short term) investment.  (We can argue about if prospectors are collector's, but I'm not going too).  But these collections are usually small, but cards in the collection are very meticulously chosen for inclusion.

The Vintage Collector: A collector that focuses on vintage cards (define vintage however you like).

The Theme Collector:  This is a collector that usually within the constrains of another part of their collection they've decided to start a collection with a theme.  Like collecting baseball catchers, collecting cards that feature plays at the plate, card that have referees in the background.  This would also cover collectors who make Frankensets.  

And lastly I have a hard time coming up a type of collector for this.  And maybe it's not so much a collecting type as an allowable exception we make for our collections.  Let's call it the

Oddball Collector:  Not a collector of oddball cards (I mean I guess it could be), but rather this refers to cards we have in our collection that fall outside the rules we impose upon ourselves.  I call these cards my Keepers.  Card that really don't fit in my general collection or collecting style, but are cool, maybe they have some sentimental hold.  

As you can see the categories I came up with are pretty broad and under each of those collector's tend to refine their collections even more.  Also, and I'm just speaking from my personal experience, our rules and habits tend to change over time, sometime shifting completely or become more refined and restrictive.  

In the end though these are still just rules and usually very loose rules on how, why, and what we choose to collect.  But I bet if you sit down and think about your collection you'll probably find yourself in here somewhere to some degree.  

I've been collecting since I was about 14.  So yikes that's been over 30 years now.  I fall into multiple categories and some of those categories merge into each other.  

I'm a sports collector focusing mainly on baseball and football, but I also love non-sports sets.  Under that I collect Brewers and Packers cards mainly.  I also have focused player collections under my team collections, my two main player collections for the two sports being Robin Yount and Brett Favre, but I also PC a couple guys outside my team parameters, like Reggie Jackson and Frank Thomas.  All card types from my team and player collections have a place.  I also consider myself a set collector although now I've refined  my focus to mainly Topps flagship baseball (including update) and when Topps had football a flagship football set.  I stopped set collecting football when Panini got the exclusive license (for the most part).  And I have a bunch of oddball cards, my Keepers, that have a place in my collection as well.  Like this sweet Rod Carew Patch card:

I'd love to know what rules you use for you collection.  Do you have any crazy ones? Also if you think I missed anything leave a comment and tell me what it was.  

In the end your collection is yours and meant to bring you enjoyment.  So here's too all my fellow collector's and all your crazy rules.

A Tour of the Sanctum Sanctorm at World Headquarters

 Come take the grand tour and listen to me ramble.

11th Annual Almost the Easiest Super Bowl Contest on the Web - Wild Card Weekend Round Up

I have to say this was a pretty good weekend of football.  We didn't lose too many people simply because the overwhelming majority of picks were for the #1 seeds in each conference and they, of course, got a bye this week.  And how unexpected was the rout by the Browns! I missed the first 5 minutes of the game and the Browns were up 14 nothing.  

Anyway, we lost four this round, but next weekend should be very entertaining.  Thanks again to everyone who entered, I'll have another update post after the Divisional Games next week.

 Josh D. - Kansas City Chiefs over Green Bay Packers - 48 points - 2 FG

The Angels In Order - Bills over Packers, 44 points, 3 FG.

John Sharp - Bucs over Ravens, 56 points, 3 FGs.

FiresNBeers - Packers over Bills, 52 points, 4 FGs - PIMP

GTT - KC Chiefs over Saints, 59 points, 4 FGs. 

Scribbled Ink - Bucs over Bills, 55 points, 3 FGs

bakerybum - Packers over Titans, 52 points, 4 FGs

Robert - Packers over Chiefs. 65 points. 3 FGs

bbcardz - LA Rams over KC Chiefs, 59 points, 5 FGs

night owl - Bills beat Saints. 55 points. 4 field goals.

Shaw Racing - Bills over Bucs 50 5FGs

OhioTim - Pittsburgh Steelers over Green Bay Packers, 51 points, 3 field goals

jlcre2003 - Kansas City Chiefs over Green Bay Packers, 61 points, 4 FGs

KMack - Chiefs over Saints, 34-24. 3 FG's.

Adam - Cleveland Browns over Green Bay, 72 points, 5 FGs - PIMP

Corky - Seahawks over the Bills 63 total points and 4 FGs

cardboardhogs - Packers over Chiefs 63 total points and 3 FG’s

Fuji - Kansas City Chiefs over Green Bay Packers - 61 points - 4 FG - PIMP

kcjays - Kansas City over Green Bay - 65 points - 3 Field Goals

Dion's IP Autos only - KC Chiefs over GB Packers total of 69 points 2 Field Goals.

RunForeKelloggs - Bills over Packers; 68 points; 3 field goals

Nachos Grande - Steelers over Packers in a Super Bowl revenge. 48 total points, 2 field goals

abraham - Kansas City over Green Bay, 69 points, 1 field goal

Joseph Blaschke - Bills over the Saints; 53 total points. 4 FG's.

Ben Morris - Tampa Bay over Buffalo. 74 total points 5 FG

Johnny Crim - Green Bay Packers over Kansas City Chiefs, 66 points, 3 FGs

Ymmat - Bills over Packers. 55 points. 3 FG's.

The Diamond King - Packers over Chiefs, 64 points, 4 FG

Matt - Chiefs over packers 62 pts

Alan Deakins - Packers over Chiefs, 69 points, 2 FGS.....

gcrl - packers over bills, 58 points, 3 fg

shanepatrickwrites - Bills over Packers, 51 points, 3 fg's

Trevor P - Chiefs over Bucs, 55 points, 1 FG - PIMP

ketchupman36 - Seahawks over Titans. 40 points. 4 FG

Wilson - Baltimore Ravens over New Orleans Saints, 57 points, 4 Field Goals.

Jafronius - Packers over Chiefs, 57 points, 4 FGs. Thanks for the contest!

ToddSteb - Packers over Chiefs 59 points 1 fg

Autographs2000 (TCDB) Kansas City over Green Bay, 60 pts, 2 FG

11th Annual Almost the Easiest Super Bowl Contest Official Entries

 

First off let me thank everyone who signed up what a great turn out.  I did have a couple people email me to tell me they couldn't sign up for some reason, so I've manually added them myself on the official sign up post.  Second I want to thank the few of you that promoted the contest, either on your blogs or social media accounts, I appreciate getting the word out and I've added the PIMP next to your names to remind me to give you an extra entry into the door prize drawing.  If you promoted the contest and forgot to post a link let me know and I'll make sure to mark your entry.

Here are the official signs up, if you see I made a mistake about your entry please let me know, otherwise enjoy the playoff.  As I'm finally getting around to writing this post the Bills have just beat the Colt and boy that was a great game. And it doesn't affect this contest one bit because no one picked the Colts to win.  Overall I see a lot of people predict the two #1 seeds going at it in the big game and that would be a hell of a Super Bowl, but any given Sunday or Saturday.

Josh D. - Kansas City Chiefs over Green Bay Packers - 48 points - 2 FG

The Angels In Order - Bills over Packers, 44 points, 3 FG.

John Sharp - Bucs over Ravens, 56 points, 3 FGs.

FiresNBeers - Packers over Bills, 52 points, 4 FGs - PIMP

GTT - KC Chiefs over Saints, 59 points, 4 FGs. 

Scribbled Ink - Bucs over Bills, 55 points, 3 FGs

bakerybum - Packers over Titans, 52 points, 4 FGs

Robert - Packers over Chiefs. 65 points. 3 FGs

bbcardz - LA Rams over KC Chiefs, 59 points, 5 FGs

night owl - Bills beat Saints. 55 points. 4 field goals.

Shaw Racing - Bills over Bucs 50 5FGs

OhioTim - Pittsburgh Steelers over Green Bay Packers, 51 points, 3 field goals

jlcre2003 - Kansas City Chiefs over Green Bay Packers, 61 points, 4 FGs

KMack - Chiefs over Saints, 34-24. 3 FG's.

Adam - Cleveland Browns over Green Bay, 72 points, 5 FGs - PIMP

Corky - Seahawks over the Bills 63 total points and 4 FGs

cardboardhogs - Packers over Chiefs 63 total points and 3 FG’s

Fuji - Kansas City Chiefs over Green Bay Packers - 61 points - 4 FG - PIMP

kcjays - Kansas City over Green Bay - 65 points - 3 Field Goals

Dion's IP Autos only - KC Chiefs over GB Packers total of 69 points 2 Field Goals.

RunForeKelloggs - Bills over Packers; 68 points; 3 field goals

Nachos GrandeJanuary 5, 2021 at 3:02 PM

Steelers over Packers in a Super Bowl revenge. 48 total points, 2 field goals

abraham - Kansas City over Green Bay, 69 points, 1 field goal

Joseph Blaschke - Bills over the Saints; 53 total points. 4 FG's.

Ben Morris - Tampa Bay over Buffalo. 74 total points 5 FG

Johnny Crim - Green Bay Packers over Kansas City Chiefs, 66 points, 3 FGs

Ymmat - Bills over Packers. 55 points. 3 FG's.

The Diamond King - Packers over Chiefs, 64 points, 4 FG

Matt - Chiefs over packers 62 pts

Alan Deakins - Packers over Chiefs, 69 points, 2 FGS.....

gcrl - packers over bills, 58 points, 3 fg

shanepatrickwrites - Bills over Packers, 51 points, 3 fg's

Trevor P - Chiefs over Bucs, 55 points, 1 FG - PIMP

ketchupman36 - Seahawks over Titans. 40 points. 4 FG

Wilson - Baltimore Ravens over New Orleans Saints, 57 points, 4 Field Goals.

Jafronius - Packers over Chiefs, 57 points, 4 FGs. Thanks for the contest!

ToddSteb - Packers over Chiefs 59 points 1 fg

Autographs2000 (TCDB) Kansas City over Green Bay, 60 pts, 2 FG

11th Annual Almost the Easiest Super Bowl Contest on the Web - 2 Minute Warning

 

Just one last reminder post before the post season kicks off.  If you haven't already please head on over to the official sign up post HERE to enter and you can see the grand prize and all the rules.  

11th Annual Almost the Easiest Super Bowl Contest on the Web - Friendly Reminder

 

Just a friendly reminder that my annual super bowl contest is live on the blog here.  You have until Saturday at 9am Alaska / 12 noon EST Jan 9th (that's right before kickoff of the Indy Buffalo game.

Don't enter here....GO HERE to the official entry post or scroll down through my feed.

11th Annual Almost the Easiest Super Bowl Contest on the Web - Official Sign Up post!!

 

Wow did this season blow by.  I was going to say how cool it was the last game of the season still mattered, but man that game was a stinker, and it did matter for the playoff picture.  And with the end of the regular season comes my annual Super Bowl contest entering its second decade!!

As always I just want you to tell me who's going to win the big game.  That's it.   Well not quite, I'm sure more than one person will pick the correct team so let's set up the tie breakers.  Tell me who will be the opponent, the total points that will be scored by both teams and how many field goals will be made.  So your entry should look something like this.

Green Bay Packers over Cleveland Browns, 47 points, 3 Field Goals.  

If for some reason we still have a tie the winner will be determined by random selection.  

And like year's past there will be a door prize just for showing up.  And if you promote this contest on social media, your blog (if you have one), or some other way, let me know by adding a link to your promotion and you will get an extra entry into the door prize drawing.

So what's up for grabs this year??  Well as always a stack of your favorite team, could contain autos, relic, parallels, it all depends on what I have on hand or find on my next trip to the LCS, but also this beautiful eTopps of the Sheriff Peyton Manning from 2004.

The card commemorates his record breaking 2004 season in which he broke the single season touchdown record set by Dan Marino in 1984. Peyton's record would be broken by Tom Brady in 2007, but Peyton would reclaim the title in 2013, which he still holds with 55.  The card has a print run of just 2844.  I miss eTopps, I'm really surprised Topps hasn't tried to resurrect the brand especially considering the eTopps website is still up and active. 

The contest will close at 8am AST or 12 noon EST on Saturday Jan 9th right before the first wildcard game.

Alrighty here are the teams to choose from:

NFC

Green Bay Packers
New Orleans Saints
Chicago Bears

Seattle Seahawks

LA Rams

Washington

Tampa Bay Bucs

AFC

Kansas City Chiefs

Buffalo Bills

Indianapolis Colts

Pittsburgh Steelers

Cleveland Browns

Tennessee Titans

Baltimore Ravens

There you go, good luck everyone and don't forget to share the contest to get your extra door prize entry.

Throwing it all out the window - a guide to collecting in 2021

 In year's past I've taken the time early in the new year to put together a group of collecting goals for myself and then usually I'll go back and see how I did.  I didn't do that last year, as a matter of fact, it might have been a few year's since I've done it (I'm too lazy to go look sorry).

But this year, this year I am making a concerted effort, no I'm making a major commitment in not doing anything like that this year on purpose.  The last couple year's I think I'd just fallen off the blogging band wagon to put any effort into coming up with a list of the coming year's goals.  This year I'm putting in a major effort to make sure I don't.  This year... this year, 2021 there are no rules, no goals,  no set course!  

I've thrown the road map out the window, the GPS is turned off,  I've cast off the lines (is that enough? yeah probably)

Point is and I've seen this all through out the social medias that lots of people are refusing to set New Year's Resolutions.  That's great and all, I don't usually bother I'm not a resolution kind of guy, but I do tend to be a planner of sorts.  Will I collect the 2021 Topps set?  Probably but I don't know.  Will I be buying sports cards?  Yeah of course I don't see me not, but I could go cold turkey (won't happen).  Will I blog more? Might.  Will I trade more?  Hope so.  

So welcome to the year of whatever. Whew here's my favorite pick up from last year.  

 Cheers CB out.