Not So Lost Collector, a Monumental TTM Success, and 33 Gallons of Cardboard Gold!

The Not So Lost Collector

I received a package from AJ of the blog The Lost Collector that makes me think he's not so lost. He knows his way around keeping a great blog and packing heat into a bubble mailer. His blog is one of my favorites because I love seeing him update his Tino Martinez collection. I was a huge Tino fan in the '90s. Also, he updates his blog nearly every night so there is always new material to check out. He was one of the contributors to my "Eff Miggy" contest a while back and sent me a very appreciated, yet not necessary thank you package which I must say is one of the best mixes of Tigers cards I have received. He hit PC guys, Junk Wax era gems and a big numbered hit. Check it out:

Gotta love JJ RC's !

I didn't have either of these Fulmers

Can you believe the Victoria Justice was the one card I was shy of the team set? Lol

Nice Miggy Insert

I really liked Berry with the Tigers. He was a flash in the pan kind of guy unfortunately. He made a pretty big impact for a while though. So much so my friend named his dog after him.

I had sent out a few Miggy "customs" to the contest participants and AJ sent me back one of his own. Is it weird if I put it in a top loader and keep it with my PC cards?

I did not own any Crusade inserts before now other than a more modern Mark McGwire reprinty thingy of one. This one is /250 and is sweet!

There was a bunch of Bubba Trammell that I didn't have that filled a lot of holes. Bubba haunts me a bit. He was then what JaCoby Jones is now; an up and comer talked about a lot but hasn't proven much. I hope upon hopes that JJ ends up a little better than ole Bubba did. He did get some sweet looking RC's in his time though, didn't he? Gotta say; that Casanova is a thing of art. Thanks AJ!

 Hail Mary TTM Return for the HOF of TTM Returns

 BOOM. The card speaks for itself. I saw some people posting returns from Thome recently and was very dubious of their authenticity. A few of the posts were accompanied with "What do you think?" and "Thoughts?" Which always makes me think the guys posting are asking if their forged signatures they practiced in their basement for 10 minutes then scribbled on a cheap card look real. Why else would you post such a question? Nonetheless, I guess those guys probably weren't lying since I got this back. I sent it back in August of 2017. Probably one of my top 3 best returns of all time. I can't think of a better return I could even have from what I have out there.
As far as TTM's go its been a slow spring. I have noticed though requests I mailed last spring are finding their way to the recipients meaning they didn't when they were sent last March. For instance, I got a RTS from Jason Grilli. If they would have given his mail to him last March it would have hit the target but since it sat for a year he is no longer found there. I wish I could follow just one of my letters from start to finish. It would be interesting.

33 Gallons of Cardboard Gold

I spent the weekend at Papa Jack's place "Up North" and came home with another giant 33 gallon tote filled with cards. Most of these are full sets or nearly full. I can fill in the gaps pretty easily. My neighbor was throwing away this shelving unit when I pulled in at home from the trip. Its a little dusty but the Cardboard Gods knew I had 80 pounds of cards to sort and needed it. Lots more "Whats in Papa Jack's Box" posts to come!

 Other Stuff

I've been crushing the TCDB with my cards every night. I am super addicted to it now. I am over 1000 cards at this point and keep my computer logged into the site and have a stack of cards next to it for any 30 seconds of down time I have. I love it. I now have to figure out if I am going to add everything or just some things and how to keep them organized and separated. Ugh. I also want to work out a transaction of some kind with somebody on there so I know how to do it. It will be cool to have another venue for trading.

I picked up some cheap ebay cards recently. The Freehan was way cheap, mostly because some child drew a monster or something on the back in red pen. Pretty funny. Makes the card more desirable to me because it tells a story kind of.

So, the cards below I bought in a stupid Ebay transaction for no good reason. I bid on a Jake Lamb numbered RC that was sweet. I bid $2.00. The card is worth more than that and I didn't expect to win, I just set up long shot auction bids once in a while hoping I win (like the Freehan). Well, I won the auction for .35 with free shipping! I was dumbfounded and looked the listing up and down as to why it went so cheap but couldn't find a reason. I felt bad for the seller so I bid on the cards below to run up the total a little to make it all worth shipping. I won the following cards. The IDIOT seller then marks the four cards below shipped and cancels my Jake Lamb with the reason being "Customer asked to be Cancelled." WTF?! I messaged him and said "Hey, we both know I didn't cancel the Lamb. I only bought the other auctions because of the Lamb card. I would like all or nothing, please cancel the others if the Lamb is not coming. Is there a reason you cancelled it other than the end price was not to your liking?" Of course I got NO REPLY. So these cards showed up to my place today in a bubble mailer. I don't think I paid even 30 cents for any of them so the seller lost money shipping them. I gave the seller positive feedback for these and a neutral for the Lamb. They have many, many negatives and neutrals for the same thing. Eff them, Ebay is so weird. If they would have messaged me and been honest or at least replied to my message I would have been fine with it and could have saved them time and money. I will repeat again; Ebay TIP: Do not list something for less than you are willing to take.

/99 AND /199

/999

I'm pretty pumped; Jordan Lee and Ish Monroe (B.A.S.S. pro fishermen) are making an appearance at Kittery Trading Post in Maine. I messaged my old boss and asked if he could get some of the pics I took last summer signed for me. He said it would be no problem! I am hoping I will receive my Shutterfly order in time to forward it with signing instructions to him before the event. They will look super cool.