A Card Collector’s Worst Nightmare

This is a TRUE story about an event that happened to me in the summer of 2006.  This single event culminated in me purchasing my own house.  This event was so terrible that the apartment complex let me out of my lease…
 
One summer morning, I awoke and began my daily workday routine.  I took a shower, shaved and got dressed, then headed to my kitchen for breakfast.  Entering my main hallway, I noticed the air was thick, hot and humid.  I immediately thought I had left the balcony door window open all night, which I tended to do, and the North Carolina summer had invaded my apartment.
 
I looked at the balcony door and it was closed, then I heard a dreaded “drip.”  I turned and headed down the hallway to the second bedroom, then felt the carpet squish beneath my feet.  I looked up towards the ceiling and could see water streaming on the plaster.  Then a drop hit me on the head.  It was HOT.  “Oh no,” I muttered and burst into the second bedroom.  The floor was wetter in there and the ceiling was alive with water.  My attention immediately turned to the closet, which was where my baseball card collection lived and where the hot water heater was located.
 
I flung open the door and water was streaming everywhere.  I looked at my water heater and everything was intact.  In fact, I had prepared for this very tragedy and had encased my water heater to prevent a catastrophic rupture that would soak my cards.  Turns out, I didn’t plan for the water heater upstairs failing…
 
I knew it was a possibility, but every water heater I had seen in this complex had a tub and drain beneath the water heater, so I wasn’t overly concerned about a spill upstairs.  It turns out, which is why I got out of my lease with a little cash in my pocket, was that the water heater upstairs did not have a tub and drain as required.  To make matters worse, the girl who lived above me , beastly little thing, was out of town for the week.
 
I started for my front door to get management and was met by my downstairs neighbor who was irate at me.  Apparently the water damage was bad in his apartment, two floors beneath the leak.  We made our way to management, who finally turned off the water to the leaky apartment.  All the while, I was frantically moving 5,000 count boxes out of the closet at a manic pace.  All of the cards were moved to my room at the other end of the apartment.  Damp and wet boxes were dumped on my bed.
 
Amazingly, 5,000 count boxes can absorb a LOT of water, so most cards were saved.  I still lost more cards than I care to remember, but I consider myself lucky, as junk wax was stored closest to the water heater.
 
Enjoy the car(d)nage…

If anyone needs some GI Joe or Star Wars toys, drop me a line!

Background Noise - 1988 Topps Mark Gubicza

This is the second in a series dedicated to the everything people do not focus on when looking at a baseball card.  Therefore, this new series is aptly named Background Noise. 

The holidays are over, and I spent most of the time sick with a nasty stomach bug.  I will not go into those gory details.  Needless to say, it is a quick, albeit painful, way to lose 10 pounds.  I digress...

Since the last time we left this new feature, I was diligently going through my 1988 Topps.  During that foray, I found another Background Noise gem.  While it does not reach the same pinnacle as the infamous Billy Ripken 89 Fleer card, this one does lend itself to similar pastures.

In this new background addiction, I having been paying close attention to billboards.  Look just to right of Mr. Gubicza's left arm.
 

 

I would venture to say this is the only baseball card with the word Hooter's scrawled across the background.  The 12 year old in me giggles.  Tee-hee.

I tried to figure out which Hooter's this sign was for, but the Royals are in their road uniforms, so it would almost be impossible to figure out the stadium locale.  If anyone can figure it out, post a comment!

What do you do with your sets? – Top Loaders, Penny Sleeves, 9-Pockets

Since I am now able to actually view my collection, I have come across the same old dilemma I have faced for years:  How do I store/display my sets?  In the past, I have always treated special or “high dollar” cards as favorites, adorning each one in a top loader and then storing them in a special place (a fire safe, old toolbox, etc.).  I do not keep them with my complete sets, thus really making the sets not complete in one location.

To combat this, if a set is in 9-pocket pages and kept in an album, I made color scanned copies of the cards and then placed the “copied” card in the album.  Silly, isn’t it?

 
I know I should keep the cards all in one album or in one box, but for the life of me I can’t seem to do it.  The reason being that 9-pocket pages tend to have that one row that doesn’t quite fit the cards (i.e., the top sticks out) or with the new Ultra pages, the cards will tend to work themselves out of the pocket.  Do you know what I mean?

So, how do you keep your sets organized?  Do you keep them all in one box or one album, or am I the only lone crazy one who keeps the “high dollar” cards separate in their own top loader in a bomb shelter?  Not that I’ll follow what anyone has to say on the issue, but I am extremely interested in how you maintain your collection. 

Perhaps I’ll learn something new and try to rearrange my sets, or perhaps I’ll keep Willie Mays and Hank Aaron stuck in top loaders.  What’s a collector to do?

Background Noise - 1988 Topps Billy Hatcher

This is the first in a new series dedicated to the everything people do not focus on when looking at a baseball card.  Therefore, this new series is aptly named Background Noise.

Well, it has been a long time since I last posted.  Many of you may have thought me a quitter, when in actuality I have been trying to not lose my job.  Government and budget woes have kept me quiet as I didn't think it prudent to blog during work hours, nor do I have the time to blog at home because I'm too busy playing husband and daddy.

Alas, I have a few spare moments and thought I would unveil a new series.  Three weeks ago I was finally able to get to my collection stashed in the closet.  My wife said goodbye to her side business/hobby of stamping and crafting, so I was able to claim the shelves and the accessible portion of our shared hobby closet.  Being able to access my collection, I have been furiously reorganizing my cards and consolidating three or four collections into one. 

During my consolidation process, I have been paying attention to the background of each card.  My first foray was working on 89 Topps.  Yeah, woo hoo.  I never realized how bad that set is until I focused on each card.  Not much background noise in there, but I will get to those later.

Today's subject is Billy Hatcher.  I knew that this one had to be my first post  in this series after reading Night Owl's Boogie Monster post.  Take a close look at the background of Hatcher's card. 

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Three faceless Expos.  What's even more disturbing is that Topps found it necessary to blur out the leftmost Expo's hand.  The first thing that crossed my mind was of course Thing.

 

Also, EVERY Hatcher card I have from 1988 has the disembodied blur above Thing. Even all  the cards I've seen online (yes, I'm the only one searching for this card online) have this weird ghost blur.  

And why would Topps want to blur out Expos?  Plenty of players are shown in the backgrounds of other cards.  The only reason I could think of is that since this is obviously a spring training game, perhaps those were visually recognizable players that did not make the Show, or did not have a contract with Topps.  Just like Tootsie Pops, the world may never know.

So, I hope this doesn't give any particular blogger another nightmare about brain-eating Canadian zombie monsters.  At least these "Canadian" brethren are probably nicer than those Phillie-fan zombies.  Don't-cha know, eh? 

PS - Does anyone need any 88 Topps?  I may post a want list for 88 Topps (ugh, why you ask?) because apparently I only need about 50 cards to complete four more sets.

Topps Cards That Never Were: 1975 Topps - Night Owl

100th post.  Yeah me!