Pets & Trading Cards...They May Not Mix

If you're been reading my blog for awhile, you probably know that our mastiff, Coqueta, died in January.  She was the perfect dog for us.  She was low maintenance, she didn't cause trouble since she was older and we didn't have to worry about leaving her alone.  Other than the occasionally bathroom accident or getting sick since she was an old lady, she was perfect. 

Our house just seemed empty after her.  After a few weeks we decided that we needed to bring home another dog and we adopted Lola from the local shelter. 

We wend from a 150-ish (she'd definitely lost some weight in the last year of her life) pound mastiff that was an old lady, to a one year-old 15-pound terrier that could get into so many places that Coqueta couldn't.  We doggyproofed a lot of the house. 

With Coqueta, I could leave cards on the table or out anywhere and they were safe.  I didn't think that would be the case with Miss Lola.  All of my cards are in our spare room with the door closed.  The dogs have only been in there a few times, and only when I'm in there doing something.  Never alone. 

Last night I brought a box into the living room to pull some cards for Trading Card Database trades.  I do recall at some point I dropped a few cards but I thought I picked them all up.  I thought wrong.  When I came and sat down on the sofa this morning, I found this. 

Yup, the first card I've lost since we adopted the new dogs.  Obviously, it's far from the end of the world.  It's a ten cent card that was just one of my traders.  I'm thankful it wasn't anything more.  Unfortunately many things have been destroyed in the last couple of months because of the dogs.  I hate it, but we crate them when we are gone. 

It's not Lola doing it.  We know who it is. 

It's okay, you can say it.  She just looks guilty. 

Off the top of my head she's destroyed a dog bed, my fiance's Stars knit hat that she wore A LOT, a highlighter (that was destroyed on the new sofa), two of my hoodies, the TV remote, a tube of chap stick and now a card. 

There have been moments that I've wanted to take her back, I cannot lie.  She's a terror, but at the same time so sweet.  She's become a huge part of our life in just a couple of months and I can't imagine our home without her. 

You know what?  It's worth it to keep all my cards in another room.  It's not always the most convenient thing when I have to clean up at night.  At the same time, I'm sure that my lovely bride-to-be doesn't miss stacks and stacks of cards everywhere! 

So...has anyone ever had a noteworthy (monetarily or sentimentally) card destroyed by a pet?  If so, do tell!

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $150 in a year.  FREE CARDS!

If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  You can also find me on Trading Card Database.  I love trading cards, when it makes sense.  Happy collecting!

Box O' Cards From My Youth - 8

It's been a few weeks, but I haven't forgotten about these posts.  Some seem to enjoy the late 80s and early 90s randomness. 

Each year in the first five or so years of my collecting, it was all about Topps baseball...and Donruss baseball.  I truly believe I opened as much, if not more, Donruss than Topps during the first three years I collected (1987-89).  I ended up with dozen of the complete puzzles, including this treasure from my childhood. 

I thought I was missing one piece when I took this picture.  A few weeks back I found a couple of 1989 Donruss cello packs (and posted on APTBNL) and last night decided to see if I pulled the missing piece.  What I found was that I do have the complete puzzle after all.  I'm just not motivated to take another picture! 

Did any of you ever collect these?  Did you pop out the pieces and use them for their intended purpose?  I didn't, since these were destined to be worth a lot.  It seems I should have tried to have more fun as a ten-year old and worried less about investing.  Oops. 

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $150 in a year.  FREE CARDS!

If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  You can also find me on Trading Card Database.  I love trading cards, when it makes sense.  Happy collecting!

Thanks, @BsblCards!

Just wanted to give a "thank you" and positive feedback to @BsblCards on Twitter.  He sold me this lot of 2018 Heritage SPs at a very good price.  I plan to keep the two Rangers, send the two Brad Zieglers to him to sign TTM and the others are trade fodder on Trading Card Database.  Thanks for the great deal!

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $150 in a year.  FREE CARDS!

If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  You can also find me on Trading Card Database.  I love trading cards, when it makes sense.  Happy collecting!

Sportlots - Members Only

This is a one-card post (and mailday) that was part of my most recent Sportlots order.  I liked the "Members Only" cards in 1991, but these are just "meh."  I had to have it for the Darrell Whitmore collection, despite not being a fan of it.

I pulled for the Marlins in the early years because Whitmore played for them.  I had some shirts (Starter brand, of course!) and a snap-back cap when snap-backs weren't cool.  I was even wearing a Marlins shirt in one of my middle school yearbook pictures.  I may have to dig that up for a future post.  Buying all these Whitmore and rekindling my love for the teal colors actually got me to go to Lids and buy one of the teal Marlins hats!

1993 Stadium Club - Members Only #516 Darrell Whitmore

This card is the 46th unique Whitmore in my collection.  There are just 22 more that I need per Trading Card Database, but I know there are more.  I have at least one card that isn't listed, so I'm going to have to find a checklist and get it entered into the system.

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $150 in a year.  FREE CARDS!

If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  You can also find me on Trading Card Database.  I love trading cards, when it makes sense.  Happy collecting!

2018 Trading Card Database Trades #13 - 16

I've decided to start posting these more in groups when I receive them all at once.  I'd probably stop posting them altogether, but I want to make sure to thank people and also promote what I've found to be a great site. 

Trade #13 - minibbcards

As you might surmise from his name, I traded back some mini Allen & Ginter cards for these.  That's all he collects, it appears.  This was my second trade with him. 

2012 Topps Update - 1987 Topps Minis #TM-144 Mark Trumbo

2018 Topps - 1983 Topps Baseball #83-40 Ozzie Albies 

2018 Topps - 1983 Topps Baseball #83-67 Ichiro

 2018 Topps - 1983 Topps Baseball #83-100 Wade Boggs

All of these are set needs.  On a somewhat loosely related note, my fiance and I have been watching "Cheers" on Netflix.  A few days ago there was an episode that Boggs guest starred on.  He walked into the bar, said who he was and none of them believed him.  Seriously?  I have never been to Boston and I would know him if I saw him.  They also pantsed him.  Good times! 

Trade #14 - SteelPerogie

This was also my second trade with him and it likely won't be my last.  There was a small issue, as one of the cards in the trade was shipped to someone else, but he certainly made up for it by replacing it with the Hank Aaron I needed for my set!

2017 Topps Gypsy Queen #314 Hank Aaron

2018 Topps - 1983 Topps Baseball #83-64 Robinson Cano

2018 Topps - 1983 Topps Baseball #83-35 Nelson Cruz

Trade #15 - 860502

This trade had a slight hiccup, but my trading partner went above and beyond to make it right.  When he went to pull the cards, he couldn't find the Dozier card.  If he'd just let me know, I wouldn't have even given it a second thought.  I've not been able to find cards myself.  However, he purchased it off another site and had it shipped to me.  The people that make things right and go above and beyond are those that make the hobby great. 

2017 Topps - 1987 Topps Baseball #87-69 Kenta Maeda

2017 Topps - 1987 Topps Baseball #87-99 Joc Pederson

2017 Topps - 1987 Topps Baseball #87-162 Carlos Gonzalez

2017 Topps Gypsy Queen #106 Hunter Dozier

Trade #16 - corozco

 2017 Topps Gypsy Queen #239 Asdrubal Cabrera

 2017 Topps Gypsy Queen #108 Giancarlo Stanton

 2017 Topps Gypsy Queen #191 Marcell Ozuna

 2017 Topps Gypsy Queen #12 Greg Bird

 2017 Topps Gypsy Queen #51 Kevin Kiermaier

2018 Topps - 1983 Topps Baseball #83-33 Michael Fulmer

All four trading partners were great and I have no concerns trading with them again.  In fact, I've completed 33 trades on the site since October and there's just been one person I'm not keen on trading with again. 

The best part about these four trades?  They were all PWE trades.  I paid less than $2 to ship my cards to the others and all were received without incident.  I wish I'd gotten active on the site years ago.  Regerts. 

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $150 in a year.  FREE CARDS!

If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  You can also find me on Trading Card Database.  I love trading cards, when it makes sense.  Happy collecting!

Sportlots - Gyorkos from @onemillioncubs

When chatting with @onemillioncubs on the Preserve the Hobby podcast, he mentioned selling on Sportlots and listing a lot of 2018 Heritage.  I needed some Jedd Gyorkos from the set, and who better to buy them from than a fellow blogger?

If you haven't checked out his blog, you should.  If you have excess Cubs that you'd like to trade for your team, you should get in touch with him.  I've seen nothing but good things about his trades.

Anyway, I picked up 11 2018 Heritage and some other cards (since I was already into a particular shipping cost window).  I will send one of these out at some point, as I want to have a run of Gyorko signed Heritage cards.  It's a weird project, but fun.  Even if I'm only batting .250 on it so far.

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $150 in a year.  FREE CARDS!

If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  You can also find me on Trading Card Database.  I love trading cards, when it makes sense.  Happy collecting!

Sportlots - Darrell Whitmore Museum Collection

I didn't appreciate Pinnacle enough in the 1990s.  Partly my own observations and partly reading about Mario's (of Wax Heaven) obsession has allowed me to appreciate Pinnacle more.  My newest Darrell Whitmore card is an example of why.

1994 Pinnacle - Museum Collection #399 Darrell Whitmore 

1994 Pinnacle - Museum Collection #399 Darrell Whitmore (back)

I'm pleasantly surprised about how well the scan of the card came out.  At the same time, I'm looking at it sitting on the table as I type this and the blue pops even more at this angle.  You may not agree that Museum Collection cards were some of the best parallels of the 1990s.  Not everyone can be right! 

The next Whitmore card will put me at over 2/3 complete on his cards.  It will also put me past his stolen base percentable highlighted on the card above. 

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $150 in a year.  FREE CARDS!

If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  You can also find me on Trading Card Database.  I love trading cards, when it makes sense.  Happy collecting!