What Happened During My Last Trip to the LCS

My favorite card blog post is the lookie-what-I-just-got post. It's how I find out about cards that I myself might need to have in my possession, and it's how I'm best able to subjectively judge the preferences of the purchaser. I hope that my posts serve as something of a similar salve for you.

Recently I visited my local card shop - Lefty's Sports Cards in Burlingame, CA. They still haven't opened things up all the way, despite Northern California's lowest Covid rate in the nation, but then again, I knew this time period was going to be purgatory, and I accept it. I'm not able to request a box of, say, 1965 Topps to be pulled from the back, and there are many precautions being taken to keep people from lingering. Didn't stop me from pulling some humdingers, though!

When I hit the card store, I've usually got a goal in mind: a set to build, a player to dig into. etc. This time, given the circumstances, it was more a "I dunno, let's see that they have" approach, so I came home with a bunch of cheap custom packs that they made - mostly for trading purposes - and these 12 cards I've scanned here. The 1982 Topps Stolen Base Leaders card was $1.25, and I thought that sounded about right to get these two legends on one card (I also have the '84 stolen base leaders card with the same two guys on it).

Lefty's tends to specialize in Giants and A's cards, which you might expect. I picked up this 1961 Mike McCormick for a low price, due to its not-so-great condition:

A little closer to present times, a 2018 Leaf Joey Bart that I'd never seen before:

So here we are in 2021, and Shohei Otani has just registered the fastest pitch thrown in the majors; the hardest-hit ball; and the fastest measured speed on the basepaths. One man. A lone human. It is a tragedy that he and Mike Trout have to play on the Angels, a team that just seems to think that good pitching is optional. Every year, I think they'll figure it out. Maybe next year. Anyway! Check out these Otani cards!

Speaking of players that are good at baseball, I picked up one card each from these 3 guys:

Finally, any visit to my LCS is going to have Pablo Sandoval cards as a main reason for being there in the first place. I now have so many Sandovals that I'm reorganizing my collection of his into one giant, stuffed binder, with cards broken out by year. He's the gift that keeps on giving. There were 4 that I did not have that I saw at Lefty's, with this first one, a 2012 Topps Finest Chrome, being just outstanding. 

Another Free Card Friday!

Hey folks, why not get another Free Card Friday going again to help close May 2021 down?

I've got 18 cards laid out here. Any one or more of them could be yours. That's right - they're free. There's a two-step process: All you have to do is leave a comment saying "I want this one" or "I want that one", and let me which one or ones you want, of course. If you're the first one to drop in that comment, then it's yours! However, the most important part: I also need you to send me an email to thejayhinman@gmail.com and tell me the card(s) you requested and give me your mailing address so I can send it to you. Also, let me know if you like trading, because if I'm going to send you 1, 2 or 3 cards, I might as well send over a few more, especially if there's a chance you'll might eventually send me some cards down the road.

Get Ready for Heliot Ramos

These exciting prospects are a total crapshoot when it comes to collecting. As regular readers know, I've made my bed with Joey Bart (Giants) and Jo Adell (Angels), just because chasing prospects cards are kind of fun, and you never know which one you track down is going to end up being the Mike Trout 2009 Bowman Chrome Superfractor. 

Anyway, if any of the guys I'm following in the SF Giants' farm system does end up becoming a Posey, a Linecum, a Bumgarner, what have you, I guess I'd like to pay next-to-nothing for their early cards while I can. That said, the word is definitely out on outfielder Heliot Ramos. Though he's only at AA right now, he's doing just fine - better than fine - for the Richmond Flying Squirrels, and I think it's a matter of days/weeks before he's playing in Sacramento (AAA), with a potential September call-up to San Francisco in the making. 

Last year, both Bart and Adell struggled for their respective teams, and both are in the minors now. I, of course, have a ton of cards on each of the fellas. If they end up being cup-of-coffee players, ah well. It is what it is. Right now the new prospect thrill in my world is Mr. Heliot Ramos, and I'm doing a little bit of the legwork to track some of his cards down. Here are the 11 I've got going so far.

Hello, It's Me

Hey folks - back after a bit of a refreshing pause over here at Card Hemorrhage. Not entirely sure what the reason for my relatively brief layoff was. I'll attribute it to a combination of factors.

1. A general sense that the somewhat intimate, dorky hobby of card collecting entered a strange new chapter, punctuated by Topps announcing an IPO and Target announcing that it was removing all cards from their shelves, due to actual violence in their stores and parking lots. This piece captures the whole sordid scene well. I don't collect that way - at all - but all of this mania is forcing even me to alter how - and how much - I'm able to buy going forward.

2. Some ennui after a pandemic-fueled 2020-21 year of extreme set building helped me to accomplish most of my early goals, more or less. I wanted to build complete San Francisco Giants team sets for the complete runs of Topps Heritage, Allen & Ginter and Gypsy Queen - and with the exception of some stragglers, I did just that. The 2019 Andrew McCutchen Phillies card you see here is a funny story. I've now ordered the SF Giants variation of this card (#77) twice, from two different sellers, who advertised that they were selling said Giants variation - and who then sent me the common card of McCutchen in a Phillies uniform. Refunds were issued. A new order was placed this morning from a third seller. Receipt of this card will give me the complete Giants Gypsy Queen team sets, 2011-2020.

3. Finally, having accomplished said goals, I wanted to maybe reassess what I'm truly interested in collecting going forward. I'm by no means just a Giants guy. Many PWE trades with many first-class individuals over the past 16 months has netted me a plethora of terrific Giants cards, yet there are only so many Brandon Crawford and Evan Longoria cards a man needs in his life. I also love colorful, great-looking cards of other players as well, guys like Shohei Otani and Max Fried and other players I don't collect, and I really like the complete vintage sets I'm working on: 1972, 1971, 1965 and 1967 Topps baseball. I'd done my reassessments, and I'm re-energized.

I'm working on figuring out what out of the many cards I've accumulated these past 1-2 years I truly want to hang onto, and what perhaps would look a lot better in someone else's hands. Then I need to figure out how to get it to them. 

Anyway, great to be back here again, and I've got a few orders on the way and new card scans I'll be delighted to share with you forthwith and presently, starting tomorrow!