Over the past couple of years, I’ve participated in a bunch of vintage set breaks. These types of breaks are when you buy a spot and receive the card assigned to that spot by a blind draw. You are guaranteed a card for each spot purchased. These breaks are intriguing to me because you have a chance of landing some nice vintage cards at a fraction of what they typically sell for. I am a big fan of vintage cards and this is a fun way to add some to your collection.
I found @BurlsSports a couple of years ago on twitter. He generally does one vintage set break each week. He mixes it up with a nice variety of sets from 50s-70s and very reasonable prices per spot. I try to get in a couple breaks each month and have hit a few HOFers. Some of these include ‘65 Duke Snider, ‘66 Ernie Banks, ‘68 Steve Carlton and a ‘69 Joe Morgan. In April of this year, I landed my biggest hit to date. I pulled a 1965 Topps PSA 6 Steve Carlton RC. This sharp looking HOF RC was easily my biggest hit until recently.
Two weeks ago, a set of 1969 Topps was listed. This is one of my favorite sets from the ‘60s. I like the design and it’s loaded with HOF stars and a nice selection of rookies. Each spot was only $6, so I purchased 7 spots. For this set break, both versions of the Mickey Mantle cards were included. I usually do not watch the breaks live, but instead catch the video after it’s posted. The video started and a bunch of HOFers came off the board without my name being called. The biggest easily was card #260, a PSA 6 Reggie Jackson RC. Another batch of All stars, HOFers and stars were shown, then finally it was time for card #500, Mickey Mantle. Burl shows the card first. It’s a sharp looking PSA 5 White Font variation of The Mick. The card has crisp corners and edges, just OC a bit. He slowly scrolled down the list of names, stopped at #500 and the next thing I heard was my name called. I sat there stunned, staring at the screen. Holy Crap…I just won a Mantle! The 1st vintage Mantle that I own. Needless to say, the rest of the video was a blur.
This card is special for a few reasons. Some of the higher number cards in the ‘69 Topps set had a printing error where their names were in white font instead of yellow. This includes the Mickey Mantle card. This variation is more rare. At this time, PSA has graded 8,000 versions of this card. Only 1,040 were the white font variation. And of those, only 574 cards had a grade PSA 5 or better. Also, this is the last card that Topps made for his career. Mantle announced his retirement at the age of 37 in March of 1969. So the back of card #500 had the full career statistics of the future HOFer.
A few days after the break, the card was on its way. I anxiously checked tracking a few times each day. The card arrived on Monday and looks even better in person. Aside from the scarcity of this version, this is a gorgeous looking card. This card has a great photo of Mantle. The design of the card is clean and looks sharp. Also, with this being his last card, Topps lists the stats for each year of his storied career. I am not a Yankees fan, but Mickey Mantle is an iconic player and I’m happy to add this centerpiece card to my collection.
my house. So we are able to get some exercise and fresh air daily. However, it is easy to get overwhelmed when watching TV or reading articles. There’s only so much information and new conferences that you can take before you’re in a dark place. Everyone needs a release or distraction, so I’ve decided to focus on cards. I try to have a Cardboard Therapy session everyday. This helps to clear my head and think about a simpler time during my childhood.
date. It’s easily the oldest set that I will have attempted to complete and could only be done through already opened product. Previous sets, I’ve always used unopened packs or boxes, then filled in with singles. I feel that it adds more personal experience to the set builds. While at the 2018 National in Cleveland, I wanted to pick a vintage set to work on. I ultimately chose the 1974 Topps set due to its design. This is also the 1st Topps set that was released as a whole set, so it should be a bit easier to build. Prior years, Topps sets were released as different series. Later series are more rare and therefore more difficult to put together.
bottom of the photo that lists the city and team name. These are color specific for each team. The player’s name and position is also stated. The set has a mix of staged poses and a few action shots. Some of the action shots are memorable due to the wide angles used and distorted backgrounds that appeared on the cards. The card backs use avocado green as the dominant color, with black as the accent. The card backs are loaded with information. Besides the player’s bio, his full stats are printed, there’s a couple of interesting bits and a cartoon.
want a nice looking set, ideally with all of the cards VG/EX. I’d rather have cards with soft corners or OC, then ones with creases. The toughest cards would be Dave Winfield rc and the Washington Ntl League cards. Starting with the 2018 NSCC in Cleveland and then again the 2019 NSCC in Chicago, I was able to find dealers that sold vintage cards at great prices in bulk. I was able acquire quite a few stacks of commons and semi stars without having a checklist to work off. When I started to binder the set this past spring, I had a good start. After the initial upload on Trading card Data Base, I was around 45% complete. I was able to knock more of the set off from my LCS in Buffalo, Bases Loaded. During the early weeks of the pandemic when businesses were closed, Jeff made home deliveries. I added two 100 ct snap cases of cards for the set. At the time of writing this post and completing a couple of trades, I am 72% complete. I have 480/660 cards and 483/678 with the short print errors included.
While on a visit to my LCS in the Buffalo area, I came across a wax box that I haven’t seen before. It was smaller in size and had a different shape then other wax boxes of that era. Upon closer look, I found out that it was a box of 1988 Topps American baseball cards, also known as Topps UK minis. I did some quick researching of the product and found out that it was a small set and thought that this would be a fun rip. I bought the box and a few loose packs.
packs. Each pack consisted of 5 cards and a stick of gum. The gum threw me at first because it was white. Apparently, gum that was made overseas didn’t have food coloring added at that time. The cards are smaller in size, 2 1/8″ x 3″. The set consists of 88 cards, including a checklist card. This product was made in Ireland and sold in Great Britain in 1988 and 1989. The cards were printed on white card-stock and feature a nice design. The front has a player photo with a thin red border, surrounded under a thicker white border. The team names are at the top of the card, using each team’s script that is on the 
uniforms. The player’s name and position is listed at the bottom. The back of the cards are very unique. The player’s 1987 stats and career stat total are listed and also features a cartoon of the player with a bio stat. Also, there is a baseball with the player’s signature. What makes the card backs unique, Topps included a rule or explanation of a baseball term on each card.
still sitting in the draft folder. Life sometimes gets in the way and I became busy with other things. I started writing this post in June of 2018, but just finished it this week. My interest was peaked again when Matt of the 
It’s 11pm on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and we still need to buy everything besides the turkey. We made a decision to go to the store at that time to avoid the crowds that surely existed earlier. And the plan worked out. The parking lot was nearly empty and since our Wegmans is a 24 hr store, we didn’t have to worry about it closing on us. After getting our cart, I noticed a sign near the store entrance. Buffalo Sabres Captain Jack Eichel was having a signing at the store. It would be a free signing 
with a purchase from their team shop, but only a limited number of tickets were available. After getting more information at the service desk, I found out that I would need to come back tomorrow to get a ticket since the machines were down for the night. Also, there were only 200 tickets available.
The signing appearance was set up really well. The signing was free, but you needed a ticket. Each ticket allowed 2 people to get into the line and each person could get a free autograph. With the storm that was hitting the area, i wasn’t sure if my better half would be able to meet me at the store. However, she braved the roads and made it safely. When we checked it, we were given a ticket that said we were in the “G group”. We waited about 25 minutes in the holding area and then another 10 minutes in the line that moved pretty quickly. I brought 2 items to get signed; a Buffalo Sabres game puck and an 8 x 10 from last year’s All Star game. I 
couldn’t find a photo from this year in this new #9 jersey and the Captain patch. Jack was great with all of the fans. He posed for pictures and interacted with everyone. He was really good with all of the young fans that were in line.
experiences like going to a Card Show. This particular show was my 1st since The National in August. This weekend’s show, Legends and Stars Sports Expo, is the largest held in Western New York. It is typically held in October and February each year at the Batavia Downs racetrack and casino in Batavia, NY. Generally, there are 20-30 vendors that sell a wide variety of sports cards and memorabilia. Also, a promoter brings in a pretty good lineup of former athletes for signings and photo opportunities. The lineup is usually loaded with former Buffalo Bills and Sabres, but also has appearances by national stars from the NFL and MLB. Besides Bills and Sabres stars like Bruce Smith and Pat LaFontaine, this show was headlined by Emmitt Smith and also featured Ken Anderson and Irving Fryar.
over the years. So I generally lean towards the baseball players that make an appearance at the shows. Over the years, I have met stars like Jack Morris, Kevin Mitchell, Bill Lee and Fergie Jenkins to name a few. This show had appearances by Jack McDowell, Andy Van Slyke and Ron Guidry. This was a great lineup for me. McDowell was one of my 
favorite pitchers in the 90s and I still needed to add Van Slyke for my 89 Topps set. Since I started sending out TTM requests in 2016, I have been fortunate enough to receive a few autographed cards from Jack McDowell. This show gave me an opportunity to get his signature on a ball. I also made an impulse decision to get a 8×10 signed as well. I also bought an autograph ticket for Andy Van Slyke. I am working on getting the 1989 Topps set signed and I still needed his base card for my set. Both guys were great. They took time to chat and take pictures with everyone in line. Ron Guidry had a long line, filled with Yankee fans. since I already had his signed card for my set from a TTM request , I passed on getting a signature today from him.
made purchases from in the past and I hoped would be there again. First up was a vendor from the Albany, NY area with a wide selection of cards from the 1960s and 70s in binders. I plan on starting the 1974 Topps this winter, so I flipped through that binder. All of these cards were in mid range condition. Commons were .50 each, while stars and HOFers were $1-3. I picked up a stack of 50 cards for 
$20. My next stop was with a local guy that sells cards on the side. He has a great selection of vintage cards from the 1970s. His inventory is mostly star cards in the lower to mid range, kept in semi rigid holders. I could spend hours thumbing through his boxes. I ended up pulling 6 cards from the 1974 set. They’ll either be for my set or my HOF collection. My final purchase was vintage
hockey. I’m a sucker for vintage hockey. I added 4 cards of HOFers to my collection. Couldn’t pass up adding another Perreault to my collection. I love the look of the 71-72 set. Also, this might be my 1st Stan Mikita.
this past February.
features a single photo of each player, with a facsimile autograph towards the bottom of the card. There are 2 information banners on the card that are color coordinated with the teams; one stating the player’s position at the top and a second showing the team name at the bottom. The back of the card features a blue background with white trim and black text.
and already had a couple of wax packs in my pack collection. I opened these and hit a few HOFers. These cards were crisp and in mint condition. They were a nice start to my set. Over the winter I picked up several small count lots here and there on eBay; Team checklists, rookie cards and series checklists. If I acquired dupes, always checked to see if I could upgrade cards that were in lower condition. Months would go by and not much work would be done on the set. However, in Summer 2017, my LCS handed me a treasure chest. He acquired a 500 count vending box of 1980 Topps baseball cards and sold it to me at a great price. Mostly full of commons, these cards were in really good condition. I do not think they were handled that much since 1980. More than half of the box were set needs and the rest were used to upgrade a lot of cards that I already had. Then at a card show in November, I made another large dent in my set needs. Between the purchases at the show and some trades made on Twitter, I was within 20 cards of completion of the set.
that I put in the binder was card #290 Steve Garvey. When I completed this set, I felt great. This was the oldest set that I’ve built and proved to be the most challenging. I enjoyed the process of acquiring the cards that I needed and always looking for set upgrades. This set was loaded with HOF veterans and young stars early in their careers. I obviously knew those guys going in, but there were a ton of players that I wasn’t familiar with. It was fun learning about players of that era. This set build was a fun experience. For my next challenge, I want to try and build a set from the 70s.
This is a great looking set that has a unique design and a couple of memorable rookie cards of stars from the Big Apple. It’s also loaded with HOF stars that are either late in their career (Reggie Jackson and Rod Carew) or just starting out (Ripken, Gwynn, Sandberg & Boggs). In my opinion, this particular set design is one of the better overall concepts (front and back) produced by Topps. The front of the cards are sharp. They
have two shots of the player, with an action or posed photo as the main picture and a smaller head shot in the bottom left corner. Topps did not add team logos to the front of the cards this year. Instead, the team name is printed in vertical font on the left side of the card. However, it’s the back of the card that really increases the overall grade for this set. The coloring of the card back features a great royal blue with a deep orange-red accent. Most of the stats are printed in blue font inside a light red shaded text box. This is one of the better color combinations that Topps has used for its yearly release. Topps also placed the team logo in the top right corner on each card. The card back design is visually sharp and easy to read.
about ripping wax packs, breathing in the aroma of cardboard and gum and being the 1st person to thumb through the cards. It would be easy to buy singles of this set and complete it quickly. However, that wouldn’t be as exciting. This is why I am 25 cards short of completing my 1987 Topps set build. Although packs of 1984 Topps are harder to find then 1987 Topps, it’s a lot more doable then my previous 1980 Topps set build. There is a decent selection of wax, cello and rack packs to choose from on eBay. You can pick up wax packs for $2-3 each and rack packs for around $5-6 on eBay. Recently, I picked up a couple of lots of these unopened rack packs to get me started with this build. Also, I
ripped a bunch of wax and cello packs of 84 Topps in recent years. I’ve kept these cards un-sorted in 100 count snap cases. Two weeks ago I officially started this set build with a little Cardboard Therapy session on a Saturday morning. I sorted the cards that I previously ripped and also the ones from the rack packs that I just acquired. I picked up a new binder and a box of pages and I was on my way. This past week I made my initial tally to see where I am at. Counting only cards that I personally opened from packs, I currently have 456 of the 792 cards in the set. I have a few of the glossy All Star cards from the rack packs and plan to add them to the binder. However, I do not plan to actively collect these for my set.
home when I arrive. What better time to bust out my cardboard and work on my various collections as a way to unwind. Another perfect time for a cardboard session are Saturday mornings. Before we start our busy weekends, I like to have my coffee and play with my cardboard. And there’s always something that needs my attention. Whether its sorting cards, working on building a set or writing a few letters for TTM mailings, there’s always something that needs to be done.
research players that sign, make lists of the players that I want to send to and then search through the different boxes for their cards. I hand write both the letters and envelopes. This is something I like to do when I get home from work. The entire process takes some time. I often have several stack of cards that are in different steps of that process. I find all of this relaxing. The 87 Topps Jimmy Key card was my 1st TTM success.
Its funny how some of these photos on the cards stick out to you all of these years later. One that I will always remember is the 1989 Topps card #361 of Kelly Downs. This card is special to me and I will never forget it because of the green corrugated fencing in the background of this photo. We had the same plastic attached to our fencing in our backyard when I was little. I remember hitting whiffle balls off of it all of these years later. Its little things like that that always take us back to our childhood. I believe in Cardboard Therapy. Not only is it a wonderful way of decompressing at night, but it can have a deeper importance as well.
and way outside my comfort zone. I am not a writer, but wanted to create something where I could share with you my small part of the hobby. Please ignore any typos and incoherent tangents as I type away, two fingers at a time.
can be purchased cheaply and found easily. My local card shop has a great supply that gets restocked. These cards, that are 25-30 years old, are full of nostalgia and could offer hidden gems. Who needs a Brien Taylor or Todd Van Popple rc?
Collecting Wax 