Compromise or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Print Lines

This has been the year of the Holy Grail here at The Junior Junkie. While for the last few years my focus has been to acquire Griffeys from the bottom up (in terms of price/rarity), in the last few months I’ve been going after top Griffeys, picking off one high-end card after another. I completed my Tiffany rookie rainbow, I landed the beloved ’94 Upper Deck Griffey/Mantle dual auto, and I received an amazingly cool signed 18”x25” 25th Anniversary promo from Upper Deck’s Random Act of Kindness program.

These kinds of cards come with a price tag, though, my friends; and for that reason I’ve been willing to make certain concessions. For example, when I finally landed the Griffey/Mantle dual auto, I got one that was slabbed a PSA 7 – not the highest grade, but one I could reasonably afford. Most of the 9’s I’ve seen have gone for four figures while mine was hundreds of dollars less than that. Perhaps I’ll upgrade one day; but until then, I can tick that box off the ol’ Griffey checklist with confidence.

2012 Playoff Prime Cuts Timeline Triple Game-Used Jersey Relic #29 #/10

Now take this recent addition from 2012 Playoff Prime Cuts. This one is a Timeline triple jersey relic numbered out of only ten – already one of my lowest-numbered Griffeys. I don’t pursue cards like this very actively; but the price was crazy low, and I couldn’t justify not pulling the trigger.

So we have an attractive card bought at a low price that arrived quickly with zero condition issues. Nothing was compromised in this purchase, and all is right with the world. This is our baseline.

1996 Topps Laser Power Cuts #P14

This, however, was a compromise. It’s the rare Power Cuts insert from 1996 Topps Laser, a tough find that doesn’t come up for sale very often. There is currently a PSA 10 specimen on eBay for $499.98 - I landed the one you see here for eight bucks.

Everything about this card is clean and nice apart from the tarnished bits at the top. I’ve taken a magnifying glass to it and there’s nothing that can be done, but for 0.016% of the price of a mint copy, I will not complain. At such a discount, this was a small compromise.

1997 E-X2000 Cut Above #2

You’re looking at my latest and greatest - the 1997 E-X2000 Cut Above #2. Some of you may already recognize it as one of the coolest and rarest inserts the 90’s produced and one heavily sought-after Griffey card. At 1:288 premium packs, I’m pretty certain this is the most highly-prized unsigned/unnumbered insert in Griffeydom. It appears on Cardboard Connection’s list of the Top 10 Griffeys of All Time (of which I have eight), and there is currently one on eBay for $525.00 with no option for a Best Offer. I got mine for less than half that…

…because of a print line.

I’m compelled to defend the card a little here because said print line, despite being seriously intensified by this scan, is not all that bad. In-hand it doesn’t take away from the coolness of the card much at all (and the condition is perfect in every other way it can be), but it is there and it is noticeable.

So how much does a print line cost? Should it cut the value of a card in half? Or by 10%? Or 90? If this card was a BGS 10 in every other way but surface (I assume that’s where print lines would affect grade), what would you grade it? I mean, it came out of the pack like this, right?

Still, this was a major compromise. I fully intend on upgrading someday; but again, until then, I’ve got that Cut Above game on lockdown and for a much more reasonable price than the current eBayer selling one would have you think was possible.

Here’s a compromised purchase with a twist:

1995 Leaf Statistical Standouts #2 #/5000

This is the 1995 Leaf Statistical Standouts insert. These were numbered out of 5000, but it might as well have been 100 because they are not an easy find. Lucky/unlucky for me I scored this one on eBay for a pretty reasonable Best Offer (I’m a huge fanboy of ’95 Leaf and have to have them all). It arrived in the mail looking mint in a plastic snap case. However, upon unsnapping the case (WARNING: this part is not for the faint of heart), several chunks of card back came with it.

Now what used to be a lovely, unbroken field of green and black gloss is a herd of white paper stars in a black sky of disappointment and hidden rage. I e-mailed the seller what happened and he messaged me back that he would send a full refund and I could keep the card. Sure enough, minutes later he made good.

The front of the card is damn near flawless, and the numbering wasn’t damaged; so the card is stored in the binder with the rest of the Griffeys as though nothing was amiss; but am I still waiting to land a mint one at a fair price? You bet I am. Then again it’s tough to beat free. That’s a compromise I can make anytime.

The moral of all this is that while it can be very satisfying to own a flawless copy of any Griffey card, a little compromise can save you several hundred bucks which, in turn, can buy you more Griffeys. After all, a checked box is a checked box.

There. Purchase justified.

Bustin' USA

I recently went a little nuts on dacardworld.com with discount boxes. I got no Griffeys, but I’m showing them anyway because I CANNOT BE DETERRED.

You may have already seen the break of that Beach Boys box which was the focus of this purchase. The other products I busted include:

- A hobby box of 2014 Panini Golden Age
- A blaster of 2014 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions
- A blaster of 2013 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions
- Two packs of Panini USA Baseball (these were free)
- Three hobby packs of 2015 Topps Archives (not pictured here)

The first product I opened was USA Baseball, and lo and behold I actually got something worthwhile:

This pair of Tinos shall remain in my personal collection forever and not be sent out to any Tino collectors out there who could appreciate them more. They are mine. Forevs. (Not really.)

Let’s get to that Golden Age box now because it actually had a few keepers inside.

This box gave a nice variety, including these box bottoms (two of which are slated for other bloggers),

And a box topper which is something I almost never get to see.

It’s pretty nice. Still, it has no place in my collection, so does anybody want it?

You’ve probably seen the base cards by now. This particular card I put into a case immediately because I’m going to give it to someone. There is a McDonald’s in the small Mississippi town of Wiggins where I go camping with my family every year (going on thirty years now). On the way out of town we always stop at this McD’s and eat breakfast. Not that we’re big McDonald’s people, but it’s gotten to be a tradition at this point. Anyhoo, in this McDonald’s is a large display case full of Dizzy and Daffy Dean memorabilia (Dizzy lived nearby). This card is so recent that I’m positive they don’t have one, so when we go there this Summer I will hand-deliver it to the manager of said McDonald’s where it may be enshrined for all time amidst the Big Macs and McGriddles.

An eclectic mix to say the least. I think the Richard Dreyfuss is my favorite base card. Everybody knows him in Jaws and Mr. Holland’s Opus, but take my advice and see Let it Ride. It’s in my top 10 list of all-time favorite movies.

I recognized Angela Cartwright immediately as Leisel from another one of my favorite movies, The Sound of Music. This is one I can watch literally any time. She was also the daughter from the original Lost in Space TV show (the son has a card in the set as well) which I never realized.
And yes, I am on the lookout for a Mary Tyler Moore card to go along with that Buddy Holly (see what I did there?).

I don’t know what it is, but I can’t bring myself to let go of anything with Don Knotts on it. The man is a dynamo.

The same with Josh Gibson. He's a legend of whom few people have heard. I think more people are aware of Mr. Gaedel there. Speaking of Eddie, I’m starting to think that was a gimmick and he wasn’t really as skilled a ballplayer as St. Louis originally claimed. His grand nephew (I think?) Kyle, on the other hand, was drafted by the Devil Rays. I even have a few of his cards.

Let’s peep some inserts:

I got a pair of these Headlines-style cards. This Beatles one is by far the better one – the other was something football-related regarding the Packers beating the Giants and lost my interest entirely. Also, while Jackie O is not an insert, I am quite proud of how cleanly I was able to remove the card from the box bottom since Panini perforated the edges. It’s a shame Topps and Fleer didn’t bother doing that when they were putting out box bottoms.

My hits were okay - Cindy from the 'Bunch and Jim Bouton, inventor of Big League Chew. Have you ever had grape Big League Chew? It's like the perfect gum. It turns me into an animal. Really, I fight eating it outright.

As for the Goodwin blasters, this pair of Clarks is probably the best thing to come out of them, I think that may be Will's high school baseball uniform because it was also my high school, and the colors are blue and white. And his college team is red. Did Will play for any other blue and white teams?

I don't really collect football or basketball either, but these are keepers. Hee-hee - remember that fake Internet girlfriend thing that happened to Te'o? It's the only reason I'm keeping this card. Is that mean?

More non-baseball keepers. A Michael Phelps is a pretty good drink. It's made from Jeremiah Weed sweet tea vodka and water. Weed and water. Get it??? But seriously, he's a hero 'n stuff.

Here are the better baseball cards I pulled. I really like Frank Thomas' jersey here and the fact that Abbott got a card in the checklist. The Olerud is probably going to a fellow blogger who collects autograph photos (You can guess who that is), but before it does, check out the mug on that gray jersey kid in the background. He looks like an adolescent mutant Babe Ruth.

These are reasonably neat. I'd like to see more.

I don't actively pursue presidential cards, but I keep them. Both are nice, but I think I prefer the Panini set a little better.

I'm not going to show a bunch of Archives because I didn't pull anything fancy, and everybody's already shown most of them. These were the ones that stuck out for me. The stock is thinner than the last few Archives sets, but it's hardly keeping me from liking the cards. 

I ended up with a few of the Griffey base card from the Nachos Grande case break, but I didn't pull one from these packs.

I guess I'll just wait for the group break cards to arrive. Or give in and buy a blaster. Probably the second one.

A Box of 2013 Panini The Beach Boys

Yeah, yeah, I'm really off track tonight Griffey-wise, but I'm a die-hard Beach Boys nerd, and we need to talk about this.

These were recently reduced in price pretty drastically, and I went ahead and pulled the trigger.

The box is beautiful. Here's hoping we find an autograph or two...

I wanted two things out of this box: a complete base set and a few cool relics. Luckily the box did give me one complete base set plus a nice little stack of duplicates to share with all my Beach Boys fan friends. Which is two dudes.

I'm not going to sit here and show you a ton of Beach Boys base cards. Suffice it to say that fans should love it. Let's go to the inserts and parallels:

The foil parallel is indicated by the little surfer guy in the bottom-right corner. This parallel carries over to the inserts which kind of confusing. And the surfer logo is cool, but some of the best things this band did had nothing to do with surfing. Just sayin'.

This seems to be the rarest non-hit insert in the set with only two per box. These are essentially be-foiled base cards. I am huge fan of five of the seven official Beach Boys, and these happen to be the other two. Nuts to the Etchings insert.

The "On the Record" vinyl album cover cards, on the other hand, are the bee's knees. I didn't get the best albums overall, but Smiley Smile made up for all of them. It's a personal favorite among Beach Boys albums. It's made up of some of the songs and parts of songs from the Smile album that never got released as well as a bunch of other, well, stuff. It's kind of sloppy and loosey-goosey, and it was not well-received by the public. I love it.

I'm considering picking up a few more of these, especially "Sunflower," "Pet Sounds," "Holland," and "Surf's Up."

Here are the "In Their Own Words" insert which features quotes and "Sounds of Summer" which features singles. The designs are fun and colorful.

I also like the "Top 10 Hits" insert, but it pales compared with "Honors" which is really a mix of honors and accomplishments. Solid photo selections. "Pet Sounds" up there is the album that got me into these guys.

This was the single Artist Proof in the whole box. It's numbered /99 and features one of my favorite Beach Boys, Carl. His vocal on "The Trader" from the album "Holland" is ice cold, especially the second half of the song. Seriously - listen to it on headphones.

Carl passed away in 1998, and his brother Dennis also passed away in 1983. That means that there remains only one Wilson brother, Brian, left to sign autographs for this set. The other possible autographs are Mike Love (meh), David Marks (meh), Bruce Johnston (getting there), Al Jardine (oh hell yeah), and Brian Wilson (that's the one you want).

So did this box hold a Brian? Let's go ahead and see those hits:

Nope, and again with the freakin' Mike Love. At least his relic is interesting. Bruce I'm cool with. He wrote a little song called "I Write the Songs" which was made famous by Barry Manilow. Let me say that again: Barry Manilow did not write the song "I Write the Songs." You see the disconnect?

I'm okay with no autographs, anyway. I already have the one that matters most:

I should get that properly framed one day.

So I'm pretty happy with the box overall. The complete base set carried it and Mike Love's excellent taste in shirt patterns put it over the top.

Thanks for reading.

Johnny On the (Trading) Spot: a Trade Post

You know that thing of when you’re reading someone’s blog and you realize they have a card that you desperately want, and you post a comment to that effect not even knowing that the blogger already mailed you said card? Then it comes in the mail a day later and you’re like, “Awwwwww! What a guy…!” That happened to me recently.

John of the positively delightful blog Johnny’s Trading Spot was on his game. He’d found a rare Chuck Finley and immediately sent it out to yours truly no questions asked. These Leaf Preview cards are a tough find, too. I only recently completed the Griffey Leaf Preview rainbow and at somewhat heavy expense which I justified only with the fact that hey - it’s a Griffey, and I must have it. I didn’t even know there was a Finley to be had.

On top of that, John proved once again why he’s got “trading” right there in the title of his blog. He’s one of my most prolific trading partners. Here’s a bunch more stuff he sent my way:

A really fun pitcher-on-defense action shot from Upper Deck with Chuck bracing for impact. It’s a little annoying that the answer to the Fun Pack trivia question is right there in the illustration. How ‘bout letting me guess, guys?

Here’s a bevy of micro-Buhners and an itty-bitty Dan Wilson Star Attractions kinda-rookie.

And how ‘bout that elusive Leaf Gold rookie? With the addition of these cards from John I’m now a tad closer to having all the Dan Wilson rookies (he had “rookie cards” for three years, all from the Reds). His rookie year years were right in the middle of the early 90’s collecting explosion, so there are plenty.

John sent me so many cards, he gave me a Buhner. (rimshot)

Here’s a bunch of new-to-me Javy Lopez cards (including one of my favorite Topps Future Star designs). Javy is another guy with far too many rookies.

And a fabulous Drake’s Kittle, now one of the earliest Kittles in my collection.

And some just-for-fun photography from ’91 Upper Deck. That giant baseball glove has really made the rounds on cardboard. Somebody make a post about it.

And apparently there’s something else on the way – a “surprise” as he calls it. Chomping at the bit am I.

Thanks a ton, John! Looking forward to the next one, though it is most decidedly my turn.