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Trying to keep on the roll of posts I’ve had going over the past week.  You know, actually contributing a little something to the blogosphere?I decided to go through the small stack of serial numbered hockey cards I have to see if there were any that I hadn’t posted yet.   Sure enough, I was able to find 5 more to show.It was surprising that Dennis Seidenberg didn’t have a NHL contract before the World Cup of Hockey in September.  Some solid play for team Europe got him a job with the Islanders.  This card features him as a rookie with the Flyers, something I barely even remember.  It’s serial #’d 693/950, and is already the 5th card for Philly.If you don’t remember Pavel Kolarik, don’t feel bad, because neither do I.   His NHL career lasted 23 games over two seasons for Boston in 2000-01 and 2001-02.  After leaving the NHL, he went back home to the Czech Republic and played 10 more seasons until age 40 for HC Slavia Praha.  As you can plainly see, the card is serial #’d 766.I had thought that Mike Dunham was originally a Nashville draft pick, but a little research reminded me that he was stuck in the goaltending logjam in New Jersey that was Martin Brodeur.  Turns out that Dunham was selected by the Predators in the expansion draft, and was their starting goalie for several seasons.  This 98/99 Black Diamond card is #’d 856/2000.Another of a large batch of 2002-03 Pacific Quest for the Cup numbered cards if the Dmitri Bykov card above.  Not unlike Kolarik above, Bykov’s NHL career didn’t last very long, just 71 games in the 02-03 season.  Dmitri would return home to Russia and play for several teams in the Russian Hockey League and the KHL until 2012-13.  Dmitri’s card is numbered 918/950.Last up, even though it’s very hard to see is Upper Deck’s attempt to serial number every card that they produced in a set, the 98-99 SPx Finite set.  Garth Snow was the backup goalie for a lot of teams during his career, only getting one real shot to be the man, which happened to be during the 98-99 season in Vancouver.  The Snow card is #’d 944/9500.I believe that I only have a handful of cards left to show before I get my own Hockey Card Expo lot from Canada, courtesy of Doug from the Sportscards from the Dollar Store blog.   Doug seems determined to put a nice dent into the want list for this set.I’m not complaining….thanks for reading, Robert

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From 1981 to 1985, collecting sports cards of any kind was totally off my radar.  Why you ask?High school.  Puberty.  Girls.  Yep, like most young men, I had lots of other things on my mind other than cardboard.  Nope, that’s not the downhill part.During that period, I missed out on purchasing rookie cards of some of the greatest names to play baseball in the last 30 years.  Boggs, Gwynn, Sandberg, Henderson, and Raines to name a few.But this past weekend, I found one name that had eluded me for 3 decades.  For $20, I now have the ’82 Topps RC of the Iron Man in hand.Getting the Cal Ripken RC for the ’82 set build that I just started wasn’t high on my priority list at the card show last weekend, but when the pile of cards I had to purchase from my vintage dealer was a bit small, I saw this in one of his showcases and added it to the pile.Finishing this set should be all downhill from here…thanks for reading, Robert

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One final post in the little series of Just Commons posts detailing my last order from them.  I wanted to get the order above the $15 threshold in order to get the free shipping they offer, so I took a look at some of the vintage cards that they had on the site.The one disadvantage about the site that I discovered with this portion of the purchase is that you can’t see the cards you’re buying, all you get for the vintage is the “book” description of the condition; VG, EX, NM, etc.Not that these cards were bad, most of them in fact for my purposes were more than acceptable…The Corrales and Brown cards from the trio of ’67s weren’t bad at all, but the Barbieri you can plainly see on the left is miscut.  The top border is all but gone, and you can see the start of another card on the bottom border.  It will count as a placeholder for now until I can upgrade.I really hadn’t bought any 68’s in quite a while.  These 2 are about par for the course as far as condition goes for my 68 set.  I had also forgotten when updating my checklist with these 2 cards that I passed the 200 card mark in hand, meaning I’m a little over 1/3 complete. The ’69 set is another one that doesn’t look like much to a lot of collectors, but for me the lack of flash is appealing.  What I really like about the ’69 set is the backs…Ever since I bought the ’69 Steve Carlton card at the 2012 National, I’ve been drawn to the pink backs of this set.  I can’t explain why, the back just appeals to me.  The cartoons are great as well, especially this Larry Dierker card showing him hitting a baseball with a golf club.  I’m a long way off from putting this set together, and I’m sure chasing the Reggie Jackson RC will be a challenge for me someday down the road.  I’m sure by the time that rolls around, I’ll be on year 15 of this blog, and still enjoying the thrill of the hunt.All in all, my first foray into the vintage portion of the Just Commons website wasn’t too bad, but without seeing the cards first, I’m not sure how often I’ll go that route.Time will tell…thanks for reading, Robert

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This post is dedicated to a boy who loves his hometown team, the Toronto Blue Jays, a lot.This boy has a lengthy want list on his blog, endeavoring to try and get as many unique cards of his favorite team in hand. One day, that boy was reading some of his favorite baseball card blogs, and was intrigued when one of those writers mentioned a website called Just Commons.So the boy decided to go on the site and see what he could find. There were lots and lots of cards from his childhood, all priced more reasonably than he expected.  So the boy decided to place an order. Lo and behold, less than a week later, the boy received not one, but 2 envelopes!!  Sadly, one of the envelopes was for another customer who had made a purchase from the same website.The boy, worried that the other customer might be disappointed, sent the cards back to the website (at his own expense) and notified them that he received the cards by mistake.Over a week went by, and the boy didn’t hear anything back from the website, so he shrugged it off and figured that the website was run by some multi-national conglomerate that decided to just blow him off.No matter, the boy placed another order, wanting to reward himself with some more Blue Jays for his collection.2 days after the 2nd order was placed, the boy received this email from the website.Hi RobertI would like to thank you for returning a package we sent you in error.  We were scratching our heads as we werecontacted by the rightful owner of the order and couldn’t figure out where  his package went. Fortunately we wereable to replace his order and im very thankful that a honest person  received it and sent it back to us.I would like to at least reimburse you for your kind deed and am sending  you a Gift certificate for $3 on your next purchase.Again thank you very much and glad there are still honest people out there  going the extra mile .You should be receiving the code within a few minutes. If you are dont see  yourself  ordering from us let me know andill make other arrangements.Thanks again.MemNeedless to say the boy was very shocked, and impressed, that this email came, and that the owners decided to refund the shipping costs he incurred to return their cards to them.A couple of days after that, the boy’s latest order came (the cards are in this post in case you were wondering), and that brought smile and a small tear to his eyes.The cards were all in good shape, packaged wonderfully and arrived even faster than his first shipment!!The boy swore to himself that he would continue to use the website, and recommend it to others for filling out their set needs.   The boy also  believes that the website is probably run by one or two people devoting their time and energy to making boys like himself very happy. Needless to say, that gift certificate will be used before very long.Thank you very much to the folks as Just Commons, the email you sent was appreciated much more than you know.Thanks for reading, Robert

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Progress is slow on writing up these pages so far, largely because I’ve strictly limited these posts to Saturdays.  If I ever can find an entire day to devote to just the blog and cards, maybe I could scare up a few of these posts and make some substantial progress.   Until then, these posts will have to do.The 3 pages I’m about to show will get the set past the 200 card mark, and also feature a card from a player whose uniform is no longer used in MLB.Onward…Page 23Card 199:  Scott Downs, 2011 Topps gold parallel #199/2011.  Los Angeles Angels card #9Card 200:  Brian Stokes, 2010 Topps gold parallel #200/2010.  Los Angeles Angels card #10Card 201:  Michael Cuddyer, 2012 Topps gold parallel #201/2012.  Colorado card #9Card 202:  Sean McAdams, 2013 Bowman Draft Picks orange parallel #202/250. Baltimore card #6Card 203:  Carlos Quentin, 2009 Topps Triple Threads #203/1350.  Chicago White Sox card #4Card 204:  Jon Garland, 2010 Topps gold parallel #204/2010.  San Diego card #11Card 205:  Mike Stanton, 2010 Topps gold parallel #205/2010.  Miami card #9Card 206:  Phil Hughes, 2012 Topps Opening Day blue parallel #206/2012.  New York Yankees card #5Card 207:  Bob Keppel, 2001 Topps gold parallel #207/2001.  New York Mets card #5A rare appearance for the 2001 Topps set on this page, one of only 4 cards that I have recorded for the set.  Also a flashback to the days when Mr. Stanton was referred to as “Mike” instead of the current Giancarlo moniker.  Otherwise, this page is all about the Topps gold for the most part.Page 24Card 208:  Herbert Perry, 2003 Topps gold parallel #208/2003.  Texas card #4Card 209:  Aaron Hill, 2011 Bowman green parallel #209/450.  Toronto card #10Card 210:  Carlos Quentin, 2009 Topps Unique #210/1199.  Chicago White Sox card #5Card 211:  Francisco Cordero, 2008 Topps Triple Threads #211/525.  Cincinnati card #7Card 212:  Darin Mastroianni, 2011 Bowman purple parallel #212/700.  Toronto card #11Card 213:  Carlos Santana, 2013 Topps Opening Day blue parallel #213/2013.  Cleveland card #8Card 214:  Tony Batista, 2001 Topps Stars #214/499.  Toronto card #12Card 215:  Matt Capps, 2004 Topps gold parallel #215/2004.  Pittsburgh card #3Card 216:  Trever Miller, 2011 Topps gold parallel #216/2011.  St. Louis card #14Unintentional of course, but Toronto shows off 3 players on this page, the Tony Batista featuring the only appearance in the set from the 2001 Topps Stars set.  Personally, the blue Opening Day parallels have always been a favorite of mine, so the Santana card stands out for me.Next!Page 25Card 217:  Andres Galarraga, 2003 Topps gold parallel #217/2003.  Washington card #7Card 218:  Carlos Santana, 2011 Topps Gypsy Queen brown framed #218/999.  Cleveland card #9Card 219:  A.J. Burnett, 2011 Topps gold parallel #219/2011. New York Yankees card #6Card 220:  Corey Koskie, 2005 Topps Chrome black refractor #220/225.  Toronto card #13Card 221:  Scott Downs, 2012 Topps gold parallel #221/2012.  Los Angeles Angels card #11Card 222:  Jason Heyward, 2011 Topps Triple Threads green parallel #222/249.  Atlanta card #10Card 223:  Omar Beltre, 2010 Topps gold parallel #223/2010.  Texas card #5Card 224:  Neftali Soto, 2011 Bowman Chrome #224/500.  Cincinnati card #8Card 225:  Josh Hamilton, 2011 Topps Gypsy Queen brown framed #225/999.  Texas card #6  If Topps Chrome were ever to bring back the black refractors, I’d probably chase them.  That Corey Koskie card looks fantastic, and I have a couple of others in my collection that I really like.  Andres Galarraga is the only player/card that is a “crossover”, meaning he is featured in a past version of the Nationals.  Wonder if Montreal will ever see a baseball team again in my lifetime. 3 different players made 2 appearances in this post (Scott Downs, Carlos Quentin and Carlos Santana), and Toronto came close to catching St. Louis for the overall lead so far in cards displayed (14-13).Just 1275 serial #’d cards to go… Thanks for reading, Robert

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