Blog - Tan Man Baseball Fan

My Journey in … Comic Book Collecting?

If you have read my book Confessions of a Baseball Card Addict, you know that I have also bought and sold perhaps 40,000 or so comic books. I never knew much about them, though. I just bought several collections at good prices and flipped them. I really did love them, though - I've flipped collections of paintings, rings, shirts, etc. Comics were on a different level for me. I love the art on the front, and superheroes. Who doesn't love superheroes, right? Here is my garage once upon a time with about 20,000 comics. It took a guy hiring an

1998 E-X Essential Credentials and the Importance of Online Presentation

Have you ever had a card that looks ugly on the computer, yet when you see them in hand, they look incredible? I've had it both ways, but nothing as eye popping as these: The 1998 E-X Essential Credentials parallels. Tidel144 posted online that baseballcardpedia.com had been updated, most notably (to me) the E-X set. They are doing the Lord's work over there, and I gotta give them props! I have always been curious about a few things from the E-X cards, so here is essentially (credentially) a run down from their site. The 101 card set was ordered by placing

$1,000 + PSA 10 common card prices! Will they hold their value?

For starters, we'll use 1986 Topps as our subject. The black portion of the card at the top can make it a bit difficult to find a PSA 10 worthy card, but since it is a junk wax era card, you have millions of shots at each card. A fellow collector that goes by the name of jordangretzkyfan has a quest to build PSA 10 sets of all the 80s sets by busting box after box. He has documented it here and it has been a real treat to follow. Many times, it looks as though he can open an entire box,

Lost at Sea & Dying of Thirst – My Tri-Star Card Show Review & Musings

The Tri Star baseball card show is in town this weekend, and I decided to take Atticus on Friday to check it out. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect since it has been a couple years since I last went, but I had visions of going through dollar boxes and pulling out some fun 90s-00s inserts & parallels for my binder. I've been working on this binder for the past month or two - not with any fervor whatsoever, but just grabbing some fun cards that I love. Here is the first page of it : On the way

Bonus Chapter: The Art of Rebuilding

Just because my book Confessions of a Baseball Card Addict is finally finished and available, doesn't mean that my journey is over. On my walk last night, I thought it would be a fun idea to add a thirteenth chapter and post it online for everyone to read who is interested. Think of this not as an online post to be read while skimming over a thousand other posts, but rather as an online chapter of a book to be enjoyed when you have time to do so. That almost doesn't need to be said, because ... well ... look who's

The $107,868 Lesson, My Book, and Starting Over

If you haven't noticed, I haven't been very active anywhere online for a while. In fact, November marks the first month in SEVEN YEARS that I didn't write at least one article. There is a reason for that. In October, my family suffered a terrible loss by losing my father. Life tends to stand still when something like this happens - especially when you are as close to someone like we all were to him. While things are getting better a little day by day, dad passing away left a huge hole in all of our hearts. We are very

In Memory of My Dad

For those of you who didn't have a pleasure of knowing him the way my family did, I'd like to tell you a little bit about my dad. Duane Jones was born on August 12th, 1954. If you knew him as a child, you may have pitied him. He had a rough childhood, enduring abuse and neglect. He even lived in a tent on the beach for a while. As a teenager, you may have known him as a druggie, a thief and a street racer. His car was equipped with a police scanner, which would be useful to "exit stage right" if

Canseco Card Curator Cries Card Collecting Can Curb Counting Calories

My name is Tanner, and I love food. Growing up, I simply didn't know calories existed, so I didn't know they mattered...until I became an adult. Boy, did I come to an ugly realization of what happens when you replace playing basketball with a desk job! Weight can be put on quickly. Especially if you weren't living at home with mom & dad telling you an IV drip of Dr. Pepper isn't exactly an ideal lifestyle choice. Goodness ... A McDonalds Supersized #4 with Dr Pepper easy ice while watching a movie ... perfection! Don't lie to yourself and say that

How to Sell a Collection of Baseball Cards

If you knew me before I created customs and "The Canseco years", you knew me as a writer / reseller / pseudo dealer. I'd drive around town and buy massive collections, then load the cards up in my cardboard mobile (my minivan) - the ultimate test for the shocks and wheel well clearance. I'd then take pictures, write about the experience and sell. Out of the millions of cards I've done deals for, my Canseco collection is certainly on another level. It has definitely been my biggest sales undertaking from a value perspective - especially considering I haven't done a whole

The 1,622 Day Wait is Over

Do you remember what you were doing in 2014? I remember I was contemplating supercollecting my childhood hero Jose Canseco. Players like Jose Abreu and Yasiel Puig were dominating baseball. Obama was our president, my son 11 years old, a foot shorter than me and his voice was about 3 octaves higher than it is now. Another thing that I was doing was waiting for a redemption. A 2014 Topps Strata jersey / auto #/25 of Jose Canseco, to be exact. A collector from Sweden reached out to tell me he had the redemption card for sale. Rather than spend a

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