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134 Year Old Treasure Hunt Yields an Exciting Discovery!

Here is a link to the audio from my podcast if you'd like to listen instead, though I do hope you read the article and check out the pictures! https://anchor.fm/tan-man-baseball-fan/episodes/My-134-Year-Old-Discovery-e13sbv8 What I stumbled upon feels like the baseball card version of the Da Vinci Code and Indiana Jones all wrapped up into one. Everyone loves a good treasure hunting mystery, and I guess that's why I love baseball card collecting so much.  As a 9 year old, nothing would excite me more than when mom & dad would bring me home a pack of 1989 Donruss or take me to

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Unlocking the Secret of 2011 Goodwin Champions Using 1/1 King Kelly

In 2011, Upper Deck once again resurrected the 1888 Goodwin Champions name a second time to launch a new set in the same theme from its 123 year old predecessor.  The King Kelly is known to many as the most beautiful baseball card from the 19th century, ever.  It has been said that the artist used a stormy background to go along with Kelly's stormy personality.  The Kelly is the 7th card shown in the pic below: 2011 Goodwin holds a special place for me, as well as a good mystery.  First, as far as I know, it is the

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How 19th Century Old Judge & Gypsy Queen Baseball Cards Were Made

To me, searching for a baseball card = treasure hunting.  Can you relate to that? For years, I've written about my treasure hunting finds - I would wait with bated breath for the release of the latest checklist to see if an exciting Canseco card was created. I would (and still do!) get super hyped about a card that was "hot off the presses": Beautiful artwork designed in Photoshop Fresh ink applied to brand new, high gloss card stock by the latest and greatest technology Machines more expensive than my house apply foil, embed a game used relic, and cut

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I’ve Acquired the ENTIRE 1919-21 W514 Complete Set – Babe Ruth, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Black Sox Set & Customs!

The 1919-21 W514 issue is a set of cards that has always intrigued me.  There are a number of key cards, and fantastic stories!  Being that the set is now 100+ years old, it also feels like history. Created right after World War 1, the simplistic artwork and low quality card stock serve as reminders of America dealing with the aftermath of WW1. Due to their meteoric rise in price recently, I sold my W514 Shoeless Joe Jackson and Babe Ruth.  The money was great, but I was sad to see them go.  I caught wind of an auction house

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The Diamond Cutting Stage – Customs, Pickups, and More!

It has been a while since I've written, so I figured I'd write a little bit about what I've been up to!  First, here are some customs I created: This Back to the Future jumbo was created using a signed index card from Lea Thompson. Here is a video showing it (along with Footloose and Roberto Clemente customs). A Braves fan reached out to me with a number of signed baseballs from his collection that he wanted cards made out of. A UFC fan reached out to me with a fight glove from Chris "Lights Out" Lytle.  Here

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A Boy and His Collection – A Parable

Here is a parable that I wrote!  I draw this partially from personal experience, but think and hope you all can connect with this too. Listen to the audio version here!   Let me tell you a story of a little boy who went exploring with his family in the woods. Once upon a time, a family took a trip to go hiking in the woods.  They happened upon a stream of cold, crystal clear water.  The little boy was fascinated by the shallow stream, and crouched down to get a better look at the bed of the stream.  What he

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Custom Card Tutorial and Valentines Day Contest!

For YEARS, I've had people ask if I have a custom card making tutorial available, and I've always said "it's on the list".  Everytime someone asks for pointers, I try to answer questions, but it is difficult to write volumes to everyone that asks - I have loads of questions (and success stories) about baseball cards/collecting in general coming in every day!  This is not a complaint - in fact, I'm thankful.  I love talking cardboard and helping others out, but time can be scarce. With that said, I finally walked through a card I created on video.  Someone reached

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Christmas Cards – Showing off the Red & Green

I love the idea of pairing red & green cards together for Christmas, so I did just that with my two PCs: Canseco and Vintage. Here they are! Pictured below is an EXTREMELY rare card ... and the other one is the Red Crusade.  Obviously, the Red Crusade is a grail card, but the other is an Executive Prototype that is rumored to have only had 1-3 copies made of it. Plus, I lurve the green - it matches the Oakland green & gold! Next up are my Christmas Cobbs! The vibrant red and green backgrounds make me melt. One came

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1995 Upper Deck Electric Diamond Gold Rarity Mystery

Did you know that the Alan Trammell version of this sold for over $400 the other day? Heck, Kent Merker went for $22! 1995 Upper Deck Electric Diamond Gold - This set was sold in 2 series. Series 2 is harder to find, but series 1 isn't exactly a cakewalk.  Canseco is in series 1, and doesn't show up often, but isn't as tough as these series 2 cards. This is a card that I never thought much of until researching this set. The wild thing about it is the Electric Diamond Gold cards are stated to have fallen at

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Remember when buybacks were rare?

Remember when buybacks were rare? Take for instance, this - Canseco's most famous Topps card, ever. In 2004, Topps gave collectors Jose's first ever buyback auto, and hand numbered it to 99. (Super rare, considering the they probably produced millions of them.  The 1991 Donruss Elite is numbered to 10,000, so this buyback is less than 1% of those!)   In 2015, they upped the ante and released one numbered to /14.   In 2016, they released it again, but numbered to /97. The only real on card difference being the stamp is on the other side. Oh, and several

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