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November may have been a lighter month, but December made up for it. As you can tell from the title, I’ll need a second part to get through it all. It’s interesting to look back and see how this all shakes out. I can try to speculate as to why I find more on certain months over others, but you’re not here for fake market analysis. You’re here to look at baseball cards. I can provide that service, free of charge.
 The logo was not made negative, just B&W This card should be free for being a bigger assault to the eyes than 1991 Fleer. I hate these negative pictures. They’re creepy, plain and simple.
 Back to normal This is better. I’ll take a standard black parallel any day of the week. I do miss the shimmer of the black borders from years past, but this isn’t bad.
 I don’t see a label in gold I normally don’t bid on cards with this high of a print run, so I can only assume this was part of some batch deal with combined shipping that I don’t fully remember already.
 “When should I talk about the pitching staff…?” These heritage blues are fun to pick off. I like the look of them, although I imagine some might consider them sacrilegious. They are also unnumbered, but have a print run of 50, so I don’t know how many are actively trying to get them.
 Weird that Fowler is not in the regular Donruss set In scans, it’s actually a little tough to tell this “Carolina Blue” apart from the regular holo version. In hand, it’s clear.
 Several Kings on this team Again, here’s another higher numbered parallel, so I think it was from the Baez lot. Speaking of lot. That is A LOT of blue.
 Shitter’s full Just in time for the holidays was this “Ugly Sweater” green parallel #/99. I’m not sure how the holiday Bowman packs were distributed, but evidently the parallels weren’t too popular, or no one thought to search for them.
 I’ve seen very little 2017 Tek so far Speaking of greens no one cares about, I won this for the minimum and have seen a couple others show up in my saved searches repeatedly. Am I the only one that still likes Tek?
 Dude went on a tear recently We’re going to end this round with another #/99, but moving over to purple. These Topps Fire parallels are tough to spot out of the pack if you don’t know what you’re looking for. I’m slowly learning. Colors like this make it easier. Oh, and the auction titles, of course.
If you thought this stuff was good, just wait for the next part. I picked up a few more good presents for myself, including a heavy hitter.
This is part three of a twenty-five part series chronicling my budding collections of the 2016 World Series champion Cubs. Obviously, I’ve already starting showing off some of those cards, but I wanted to offer a formal introduction to the various players. With my legacy player collections, I’m still going to attempt to show every single card on the blog, but with these new guys I’m taking a different approach as you’ll see here where I lump cards in one scan, and will probably skip many of the more basic cards I get unless I can get a good theme together.
Chris Coghlan may seem like an odd choice for the third part, but there are a couple reasons why I thought to do this now. One was that I figured it might be easy to put together quickly while knocking out a role player early. I can’t put all the heavy hitters out front. The second is to act as a little commentary on rookie prospecting since Ohtani fever is catching on (along with Albies and a few other Braves). I’m not so quick to pull the trigger and chase the big money cards. Partly because I don’t collect them, but also partly because I know that just about all prices for the hot new thing come back down to earth.
 A couple rookie cups Chris Coghlan didn’t catch the world on fire in 2009, but he did win the NL Rookie of the Year award that year. He beat out Dexter Fowler (8th) and some dude named Andrew McCutchen (4th).
 He was solid with the Cubs too Baseball is pretty crazy, and anyone can have a really good year. 2009 was Coghlan’s best (as seen in some of these card backs), and it’s possible the league adjusted to his solid start and he never was able to fully adjust back. Plus, you can see that injuries hampered his progress as it took several years to get back up to over 100 games played, but it was too late by then.
 Bought at this year’s NSCC The sad thing is that Coghlan’s story is honestly more common than the other way around. There are plenty of ROY winners that don’t pan out. But it must have been encouraging for Marlins fans just like Geovany Soto’s win in 2008 was for Chicago.
 The rest of these are from COMC purchases Now, cards like this that might have been a little sought after, although maybe not much due to playing for Florida, that are worth less than a dollar now.
 Love the blue refractors Now, in terms of Chris’ time with Chicago, I thought he did well with us. He wasn’t a regular, full-time guy but he played his role well and effectively. Even if he did occasionally show some attitude or “passion” here and there.
 Don’t love the crazy curving He’s also one of the guys that really helped me figure out my limits for the new collections. Originally I thought about adding everyone that played on the team that year (since all contributed to some degree to the year). Then I decided to limit it to the playoff rosters as that would be a lot of random guys with just a couple games. I also added Jason Hammel (removing Chapman) since he really did have a huge part in our success even though he was left off the playoff starting rotation.
 Yup, still cool So, in the playoffs, Coghlan was in the games, but didn’t contribute much offensively for us. He went hitless in 7 ABs, 3 strikeouts, and had one walk and scored a run in the NLCS. That run was important to me and helped that decision to not just collect the starters. As a result, I’m getting some really cool looking cards for cheap.
 Mini gold Chris is already out of baseball. 2017 was his last year (spent in Toronto). It can happen that quickly. So, I’m not buying Ohtani. Heck, I’m not buying high on Rizzo or Bryant even though they’re more established. We’ve seen Schwarber’s prices dip already. Some time or an unexpected injury can turn you from a Trout into a Strasburg with a snap of a finger. Even so, there will always be someone that’s willing to collect these guys, just like I now collect Coghlan.
Alright, it’s been a little while since I’ve posted anything about the National, which isn’t good because I have a lot to cover still. The first two parts of the dimebox focused on what I’ve been calling the “legacy” collections. These next two are about the champs. Looking back, I’m actually surprised I didn’t find more cards for them. Maybe it was picked clean before I arrived, although it was basically the first place I stopped (I arrived on the second day). More likely they thought they could get more than a dime for most of them, and I imagine that would be correct thinking. Regardless, there were some scraps for me to pick up, starting with…
 Looks like Papelbon in this picture John Lackey’s first Donruss card. He had some stuff in 2001 from Topps, but this is one of a handful of 2002 cards released. From my checklist, only 9 cards of Lackey were released in 2002 (3 are minor league), so already more than 10% done!
 That’s the Lackey head I know Skipping forward a few years to 2008 is this super shiny insert. This isn’t like “Crash the Game” but rather more of a league leader type of insert. Lackey was 2nd in ERA in 2007 with 3.01.
 Veteran in Bowman = dime I’m all for Bowman runoffs. So many people buy in bulk and then completely ignore anything that’s not a superfractor or hot shot rookie. It’s no surprise this was in there.
 If 5 wins is the Peak…. This is sort of like the Own the Game but with less flash and a better overall design. Sure, the triggering events aren’t anything great, but Topps wanted a big insert set to stretch across all 3 series and this is what we got.
 I dare you to try to use that code Now we move to another Red Sox pitcher. Topps Attax are tough to identify for some players, because there was a retail product called Attax and then inserts like this in the flagship product, across multiple series. So if someone has S2 and Update Attax cards, it’s hard to tell that apart from any normal Attax code card. This is the 2010 S2 version…I think.
 Nearly my birthday, 2007 This is easier. 2008 Upper Deck Heroes. Boom. Logged.
 Not sure what date, but before my birthday for sure I welcome any Documentary cards. I opened a case of the stuff, and have tons and tons to trade still, but that doesn’t mean I’m not missing some cards.
I realized I forgot to do the Lackey card record on my introduction post, so I added that in now (starting 10-3 with 20 cards total and only 19 representing games). Lester has 12 cards in the set.
Lester Red Sox card record: 1-0
 I love the look of the parallels for this year Just like with the paper gold, veteran refractors are garbage in the eyes of people that open Bowman.
 There is no non-refractor version Jorge Soler was an expected find. Again, only the top rookies and lowest numbers are worth people’s time and since Soler is with the Royals, most Cubs collectors no longer care. I do, so I’ll take this purposeless mini.
 That doesn’t look like Wrigley Expect to see a couple more of these 100 Years at Wrigley cards in the last dimebox post. I think Topps should have increased the odds on this since the overall appeal to collectors is region based.
 Bound to happen sometime In fact, here’s another one right here of Jon Lester with a bat in his hand. Of course this is celebrating Lester’s first career base hit, snapping an 0-67 start to his batting career.
There may not have been any traditional “hits” in these boxes, but they’re all a hit with me. Lame I know. I’ll try to do better next time.
Back in late September, I posted the first part of a significant trade I made with Bill, then in April I got back on track and showed off part 2. As a quick refresher, he responded to some of my Gypsy Queen trade bait posts and we worked out a nice, large exchange – mostly for my budding 2016 WS champ players. Far too many cards for one, or even a few posts. So, this is part 3 of many. As mentioned before, he doesn’t have a blog of his own, but he’s known as minibbcards on the Trading Card Database and his want lists are fantastic (and found here).
In this installment, we’ll be looking at the Topps Heritage portion of the haul.
 Looks a little tired I don’t have any personal connection to the vintage sets featured in Heritage, but I do truly enjoy the purple shade used by the Rockies. I wish the Marlins still used the teal and silver.
 Also looks a little tired Seeing this Braves card, it makes me wonder what color scheme Topps would have actually used for the Rockies, since lime green certainly doesn’t match the uniform.
 Don’t look so happy in that hat! As someone who doesn’t collect vintage, I have to say that sometimes the appeal of Heritage is lost on me. Not all of these designs look great with new players tacked on top.
 That’s a content smile of a man who knows he’ll get a ring Although when they try to match the photo quality to the time period, it certainly helps.
 That’s a weird looking Q-Tip You’re going to see several repeating years here. As mentioned before, Bill knocked off a nice portion of my base card needs (although I have a long way to go!)
 I don’t expect Rizzo to be in the top 3 again It’s fun to look back at these leader cards sometimes, because players will have these really good, unexpected years that seem even more out of place as time goes on.
 Only need about 100 cards total right now It’s great to show off relief pitcher cards. I typically expect no one to look that deeply into my want lists, as it’s not too hard to find stuff from the “bigger” guys, so all of these are very much appreciated.
 Dodger sandwich Hey look, another leader card. Over time, I imagine this is one of the most variable categories in the sport.
 Increasing his value in CF I think this Almora RC is from the high number set, which is still a thing Topps does, but I haven’t bought into since 2009 or 2010. At some point they were releasing them as sets with a random auto, I think. Not sure if this was part of that configuration.
 Hopefully returning to form after injury Just a couple more cards, all from 2016 Heritage. Seeing them all together really showcases how often this posed background was used.
 Delay of game Montero is one of the exceptions with this “action” pose.
 Another posed shot I’m not great at identifying short prints, but sometimes my want list is. Baez is in short supply, and also from the high number set, so I guess it’s not the full set in one box after all.
 He knows something Lastly for the night is another posed shot. Oddly Jason Hammel also had autographs in this year’s Heritage. What a strange choice. I’ll have to chase that later. For now, I’m quite happy to thank Bill for this great batch of Heritage cards. I’ll be thanking him a few more times in future posts, so stay tuned. Next time, we’ll be looking at a couple more sets, including Stadium Club!
[The twenty-eighth in a series: I’m picking one player that I associate with a team (whether they spent the majority of their career there or not) that I would strongly consider adding to my official want lists. They may not always be superstars, or the most popular, and honestly they may not always be my favorite player from the team, but that’s what will make this fun, no?]
The end of this adventure is so close. Only two more after this. These last teams have been tough because of the current team runners-up. I know so little about them and when I look at the rosters, I really don’t see any names that stand out. Plus, in the case of the A’s there’s been quite a bit of turnover so even if I pick someone, it’s hard to find a card in my inventory that shows that guy in the proper uniform. But, I had to pick someone, so let’s get into it.
 Too fast for the camera Rickey Henderson was a no-brainer for me. Normally price would be a factor in my decision, but honestly, Rickey was one of my absolute favorites as a kid. Who cares about price? This is the best base stealer ever and he played over such a long period that he encompasses so much cardboard history by himself. It would be an awesome adventure to undertake and he’s in the top 3 of people I would actually consider legitimately adding to my permanent collecting roster (along with Nolan Ryan and Jackie Robinson).
 First 2018 card on here I think Current player runner-up: Khris Davis
As mentioned before, he’s basically the only one I really know on the team. Looking deeper into his stats, I see that he’s certainly not an average guy, but Khris is a surprising (to me) slugger. He hit over 40 homers each of the past two years and over 20 doubles. As of today, he already has 9 homers for 2018 as well, so looks like the trend is continuing. Could be fun to explore the As a bit more through his cards.
 Honestly not sure if I still have this Retired player runner-up: Dennis Eckersley
I was always a big Eck fan as a kid too. He was a powerhouse for a while there (I guess that’s why he got into the Hall of Fame). I did give brief consideration to Rollie Fingers for the ‘stache and to Dave Stewart for badass-ness, but ultimately Eck got the call.
The Series So Far
Angels – (tie) Jim Abbott & Vladimir Guerrero
Astros – J.R. Richard
Athletics – Rickey Henderson
Blue Jays – Carlos Delgado
Braves – Steve Avery
Brewers – Bob Eucker
Cardinals – Jim Edmonds
Cubs
Diamondbacks – Randy Johnson
Dodgers – Jackie Robinson
Giants – Kevin Mitchell
Indians – Jim Thome
Mariners – Felix Hernandez
Marlins – Giancarlo Stanton
Mets – (tie) Darryl Strawberry & Dwight Gooden
Nationals/Expos – (tie) Marquis Grissom & Delino DeShields
Orioles – Adam Jones
Padres
Phillies – Mike Schmidt
Pirates – Andrew McCutchen
Rangers – Nolan Ryan
Rays/Devil Rays – Evan Longoria
Red Sox – Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd
Reds – Eric Davis
Rockies – Carlos Gonzalez
Royals – Bo Jackson
Tigers – Alan Trammell
Twins – Tony Oliva
White Sox – Paul Konerko
Yankees – Mariano Rivera
November was a pretty slow month. Maybe the sellers were putting less up on the auction block as they prepared for the holidays, or maybe they were pricing things too high to maximize their dollars to pay for the holidays. Whatever the case, it was a light inbound season for me with only 5 new cards. This should go fast, which is good because I need to get caught up on these months.
 I did not pay ebay 1/1 pricing Starting off strong with a power hitter. Black may be slimming, but this still shows him before he lost weight in the off-season.
 Walk, K, or HR Back to back blacks. This one has a higher print run, but more general appeal. Still, you know me, and I only pay bare minimum for my auction wins unless it’s a really special card.
 Topps Splatter Moving up the print run ladder, but sticking with Schwarber. I think his injury really hurt his stock. Also being not so great when he came back. He can still get some power out there. Not enough to keep his prices high, thankfully.
 Topps Vortex (could be a cool set, actually) Baez is a bit of a surprise and a gamble. Sometimes his stuff goes for a lot more than I would expect, and other times, no one else bids. If it shows up here, it means no one else bid.
 Three Stars Lastly, I have the last 2007 Topps Triple Thread auto I needed for Carlos Marmol – although not the last one I will post on the blog – the emerald #/50! It took a while for me to obtain any of them from this year (the 2008s were easy), but then they slowly trickled into my saved search results. It’s exciting to be so close to having all of the Marmol autographs I need and I actually thought this one would be the last one I’d find. Now I think it’ll be the Stadium Club Beam Team auto #/50. We’ll see what ebay brings in the future.
Baseball season is no longer in its infancy. We’re already in the toddler stages and at close to thirty games played, teams are starting to show us what they’ll be when they grow up. Stepping back to the first 20 games, the Cubs have shown that there’s still quite a bit of development left.
I also will have a decision to make. If you recall from my first installment, I plan to pick a player of the game and display a card for each. I was still able to stick to my player collections, but the next post will not.
To focus on the here and now…or the past, I guess, the Cubs won 6 of their second batch of ten games, but they sure couldn’t figure out how to string together more than 2 wins in a row at any point. Thankfully, they also didn’t string together more than 2 losses, either.
 Starting with Optic for big-time game Win #6 – Javier Baez – April was a good month for Javy. Here he went 2 for 4 with 1 walk. Both hits were home runs, giving him 4 in 2 days. Sure, one of the home runs was in garbage time of a blowout, but the first gave us the lead after being down 3-0. He also stole 3rd.
 Howling Werewolf Win #7 – Ben Zobrist – Baez had the game-tying hit coming back from 10-2, with the Cubs scoring 9 runs with 2 outs in 8th, but Zobrist was 3-3 on the night with 2BB, 2 RBI, and a triple. He had the better game.
 Vintage Parallel #/99 Win #8 – Jon Lester – The first pitcher to make the list. Not an amazing performance, but he went 6 innings, giving up 2 hits, 1 walk, and 1 unearned run while striking out 7. That reduced his season ERA to 3.10
 Regular Donruss for only hitting one home run Win #9 – Baez – Continuing his slugging surge, he was a triple shy of cycle. 4-6 on the day, 4 RBI, and a 2-run HR in the first inning to spark the scoring.
 Which team will Almora buy? Win #10 – Albert Almora – He’s been earning a more regular spot in center field and built his reputation with Cubs fans through a couple of really good defensive plays (2 or 3 depending on who you ask). At the plate, he was only 1-6 with an RBI, so this was all about the highlight reel.
 Catcher no more Win #11 – Kyle Schwarber – Lastly for this grouping, Kyle bookends us with another 2 home run game. Those 2 hits were the only two in 5 ABs and both were solo, but it’s still an accomplishment. The bats were pumping overall that day. Stay tuned (or check the standings) to find out if that continued.
Last year, during one of those times where I could find a moment to read other people’s blogs, I found myself reading Night Owl (as we all do, I’m sure). He had an Anthony Rizzo relic pulled from a blaster and was gracious enough to trade it to me.
Back in September of last year, he wrote up his side of the transaction, which you can find here, and now finally it’s my turn (stupid work with its mind-numbing hours).
In that article, Greg talked about how he’s in a card desert while I live in the card oasis that is Chicago. I’m sure some see Chicago as a cardboard haven, but that’s not my personal experience.
Sure, a lot of that is probably self imposed. We have several card shops, but none that are that close to me. I’m also not a fan of going into card shops most of the time, because it’s such an awkward environment. I get anxiety having someone watch my every move because I’m the only person in there, asking me questions, when I just want to dig through cheapo boxes for however long it takes me without anyone’s help, thank you!
Card shows also exist around here, but again they are not close. I think all of them are in the suburbs or surrounding areas, meaning 30 minutes to an hour+. I know that’s still better than most people have it, but I’ve tried to go to a couple here and there and most are very small and didn’t feel worth the drive. I think the east coast metro people have better options and more frequent ones across state lines with so many cities bunched up over there.
 Doesn’t say if he eats Wheaties or not Greg can talk about lack of card knowledge if he wants, but I’ll throw it right back at him with these Wheaties box cut outs he sent. Being a fan of oddballs, it’s so interesting to come across stuff like this and get to learn about these sets. I found out that other cereals also had cards on the back of boxes and was able to add the ones I don’t have to my want lists!
 Wheaties also had Upper Deck boxes this year By the way, in a weird coincidence, my parents found and gifted to me some complete empty Wheaties boxes with some of these cards afterwards. They don’t live in Chicago, but antique malls can be fruitful sometimes.
 Watch that finger! Now, I’m not trying to out-modest anyone, and I’m certainly not trying to complain about where I live, because it’s pretty great (aside from the fluctuating weather). I mean, we have two baseball teams (even though I’ve never been down to see the White Sox play).
 The mud year of Gypsy Queen There’s plenty to do all around, and tons of great food options, although I’m still jealous of that Sonic he mentioned.
 Testosterone supplements give you goosebumps But probably the worst thing, card wise, about Chicago is that even if it is the place where all the cards reside, it’s also a place with a whole lot of competition for those cards. We have a lot of Frank Thomas collectors in this city, and so something as simple as this mini would be “over valued” by shop owners and card show sellers.
 Anger! I know! I’m mad about it, too! How’s a guy supposed to collect when people try to charge $1 for a Jon Lester Stadium Club base card (presumably)? $3 minimum for any Kris Bryant. Sure they have 20 copies of that 2017 Bowman card, but….MVP….so $3.
 Calm! It’s that kind of limited experience, plus the anxiety I mentioned that has me stay in and buy cards online mostly. It makes me wonder how many treasures are hiding in Chicago behind an extravagant pay wall and stubbornness.
 The centerpiece of the trade So, even though it’s certainly not obvious, the point of my tangential story is that no matter where you live trading is very important and much needed. I love that collectors across the country (and sometimes in other countries) can connect and teach other things, share experiences and baseball cards with one another, and argue about which side has the greener grass.
Thanks, as always, Greg for the great trade and the great read!
I’ve been buying and collecting the Topps MLB sticker albums ever since their return to shelves in 2011 (but I haven’t completed one since 2012 – help me out by looking here and trading!). Usually it’s a fun diversion and a little bit of a nostalgia trip as I’m reminded of growing up in the ’80s where sticker albums of all types were in abundance and a good way for my parents to keep a kid occupied for a while.
With this reboot inching closer to a decade of albums, I’m finding myself getting increasingly disappointed in the product. It’s very standardized, predictable, and boring. I know that it’s a budget effort, which is one of the biggest pluses it can claim, but I have some suggestions that I believe would improve the experience without significantly changing the cost and breathe some new life into it.
1) Collation – We’ll start with low-hanging fruit. Doubles are a real problem in the packs. Whether you’re ripping the smaller ones, or going for the jumbo rack pack styles, odds are way too high that you’ll get the same sticker(s) twice in the same pack. This year, I’ve only bought the 45 sticker fat packs and every single one has had doubles. If I’m lucky, it’s usually 3-5 duplicates, but that still negates the supposed savings you get by buying in bulk. At worst, I had one pack with 13 stickers that appeared twice in the same 45 sticker pack. So, 32 unique stickers before even cross-referencing my album to see if any of those were doubles. That really shouldn’t be possible and it’s not a problem unique to this year.
 This costs too much 2) Opening Day Bonus Stickers – This is Topps’ contribution to change and it’s the one that makes me want to stop buying it altogether. This is their effort to switch things up a bit on the album. For 2017 and 2018, they added 4 stickers that can only be found inside of Topps Opening Day packs. There’s nothing wrong with that concept in and of itself. However, the OD stickers are extremely difficult to get. They are case hits. CASE HITS! For a bonus sticker that people like me will want to get to actually complete the album (because there are spaces for them), and many parents would want to get for their kids that would be less likely to understand why they have these empty spots.
I like the idea of cross pollination, but make it attainable. Topps puts so many throwaway cards in packs advertising Topps Now or other projects, so why not do that with the stickers and make them usable in the albums? Expand it to 9 bonus stickers across flagship, OD and maybe another product and drastically increase the odds. No one is going to buy a full case of Opening Day to get one sticker, so the current set-up is just inviting negativity.
 From 1988 Topps 3) Flash it Up – Let’s see some foil. Let’s see sparkles and shimmer. Let’s see holograms! The team stickers used to have a bit of shine, now they don’t. A couple decades ago, some albums would have foil for All-Stars or other special things. Other companies also put secret decoder glasses in their albums or blue/red 3D glasses and incorporated that printing in their non-sports albums. How about glow in the dark? It’s a little thing, but those special stickers are still fun to this guy.
 From Diamond’s Real Ghostbusters album (not Topps) – Glow in the Dark stickers 4) Change the layout – There are a couple ways I would like to see this done. One is to expand the set size and add more pages so you can have All-Stars, World Series & Playoff pages, or stickers for other ballpark happenings. Give the mascots their own pages. What about the food, or the races like in DC or Milwaukee and Atlanta, etc? Think about the inserts in Opening Day and turn those into sticker pages.
 1988 Topps – Highlights page with half-sized stickers The other way would be to increase the set size by shrinking the stickers so that two players fit on one sticker the way the teams currently are set up. This used to be done. You can have more players for each team represented. You can get away from the grid layout with more space, and again it can allow for new pages with different themes.
 Multi-Sticker examples with decoder bonus 5) Multi-Sticker Images – That leads to my next suggestion. I want to see more multi-sticker images. It used to be extremely common for albums to offer little “puzzles” where you had to get 2 or 4 or 9 stickers and put them in the album juuussst riiight in order to form a perfectly aligned picture of a player or scene. It was so satisfying to line them up. I had a lot of fun doing this in the xxxxx album with the World Series page that existed (which were also foil!!!!) but then Topps dropped it from the album for some reason.
6) Fix the sticker windows – Just about every year, it’s a guessing game as to where you should align your stickers to make them look the nicest. For some reason the border on the page doesn’t match the sticker size, so you pick a corner and go with it. I would think a simple re-measuring would fix things. This is especially problematic on the team sticker pages. Those windows are far too small and it takes some effort to plan those rows so that you have enough room. I don’t see why we should be expected to guess on something so fundamental.
 1988 Topps Baseball album bonus offer 7) Trade-in Program – This last one is more of a dream than anything and understandably missing. Many, if not all, albums from my youth offered this trade-in program. You would send in either money or something like 20 doubles to them with an index card/SASE listing your address and set needs and you get 5 stickers back. It’s great to not rely on trading with other actual collectors. Even a program allowing people to buy missing stickers directly from Topps like you see above would be good for those that don’t have a trading outlet and are too far along to warrant buying more packs (which leads right back to point #1).
So…what say you, Topps? Can we get the 2019 Sticker Album to look a little different? I’ll tell you right now, if those case hit Opening Day stickers happen again, I’m not buying a single sticker pack and will end my run.
As the wise poet Ja Rule once said “It ain’t even a question.”
To my recollection, I have not pulled a rip card from a pack. I’ve been very lucky throughout my collecting days, but never had the fortune to land this particular type of card so far. Maybe this upcoming Ginter year will change that.
Either way, the best and most efficient way to get a rip card would be through the secondary market. The biggest problem is that people like to do the thing that the cards are intended to have done to them. I’m not interested in already ripped rip cards. I prefer my cards to be intact. That causes a bit of a cost problem, but it won’t stop me from searching. Obviously I found one.
 Way back in 2007 This was an August ebay win. A little after Ginter came out this past year, I decided to escalate my search. I had rip card fever and I came across this beauty. These older rip cards are a lot tougher to find. Most are either already ripped or in the hands of people that want them unscathed. I’m pretty happy to have this one.
But I wasn’t done!
 Ten years later One month later, I won this guy, too. The seller asked me to let him know what was inside, but I had to break it to him that I’m daring to not. I did at least put a magnet up against it to see if there was a metal mini inside, but there is not. Sure, there may be something really rare in this, but nothing would be more personally valuable than keeping the card just as it stands.
I don’t know how many more rip cards I need overall, but I’ll assume the answer is too many. Still, it’s a great feeling to finally get my hands on the first one (and second).
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