The HOF Rookie Card so trashed the eBay seller apologized for selling it to me

 Here's a couple recent eBay things really quick.  I got like 3 out of 7 this time, which is OK for a couple bucks.  

You can often count on a good team card to fill up high numbers.  Has only one Robinson on the card, but gosh, which one could it be if they didn't put a letter next to the name.  Alas we may never know.  And you can almost see Zubo's Unibrow from here in the 2nd Row far right.

These were the Rejects by the way, if anyone has a need for any of these you can reach out.  

This Jim proctor card doesn't look worn in he usual way, but it almost seems to have melted.  Some of the ink ran on the front and faded on the back.  

Gene Connelly is folded in half, which you see fairly often.  But they aren't usually folded diagonally.  I'm sort of surprised that its such a clean diagonal line.  

This isn't the most trashed card to go into the binder, but it is just trashed enough to make it.  The seller of Ozzie's RC actually apologized and offered to cancel my order and just wanted to make sure I knew what condition it was in.  Cancel my $2.99 order?  Hell no.  But I didn't even realize the prices some of these go for. 

But obviously not this one.

 I don't actively seek out trashed RC or "big" cards in bad shape, but when they present themselves, I'll give it some leeway in the damage department just to have that moment when someone else flipping thru the binder Gasps at the very idea of that card having been trashed.  Now to be fair, this has never happened because no one has ever come over to look at my cards and my sister won't even pretend to care even if I pay her.  Maybe I'll have to video myself flipping thru pages sometime and post it here and you can all post the moments when you gasped in the comments.  

Tufts of hair, glasses, and civil war beards with gum in them

Coming out of a big collection that came my way I discovered, almost by accident, this Hector Lopez card.  I'm not exactly sure what's going on.  Are those jagged teeth and some kind of jowls?  Maybe it was meant to resemble some period cartoon?  What was Hector doing, smiling, grimacing? The more I stare at it the more I think that's supposed to be a sort of reverse Rollie Fingers Mustache with a jagged beatnik sort of beard.  They must have thought it might slip by and end up in my action shot set if they scribbled a ball in his glove.  Nope.  It'll stay right here.

I did a recent trade with Myrke from TCDB and I was really excited to add a George Brett with a full stick of gum attached to his face, but I guess you can imagine what happens in the mail sorting facilities.  Right now the Penny Sleeve is the only thing holding the gum together.  I'm seriously considering gluing all the pieces onto the card in exactly this pattern.  Or would it be easier to put it in the air fryer for like 22 seconds, so the gum melts to his face. 

He threw in, almost as an afterthought, a Tony Fernandez that "someone drew glasses on" which didn't do anything close to justice by way of description.  Frankly this is a tour de force and the little straggles of hair under his cap totally make the whole thing come together.  You just don't see that kind of subtle attention to detail in art anymore.  

More often you get something like this: Dick Ricketts sounds like a horrible disease to have, but he was both a baseball and basketball star in the late 50s.  Someone clearly thought he was also a long-lost civil war general.  If anyone has a spare Dick Ricketts Cincinnati Royals Basketball card I need to add it to the Dick Frankenset, which is coming on nicely itself.   

I've started with all the Dicks from each year of the Tops run from 1951-85, adding them to the want list.   The general idea is to have a sampling of each year of Topps with room enough to add a sample or two of other brands or oddball inserts. And the name Dick was not attached to any mega stars thus keeping most cards affordable while they also show up easily on a checklist.  Since the pages are double sided and the years are spaced every other page there is room to add other brands like Fleer and Bowman but also add the occasional Football player like Dick Post or race car Driver Dick Trickle.   Luckily, I have a clean copy of this card for the Dick Binder.  If you got something along those lines, you wanna trade you know how to get in touch.

The most insane lot of cards I have ever purchased. And that is saying something.

 I spend an inordinate amount of time trolling Ebay for cards that are damaged enough to go in my Trashed set.  And then I find something I spend time trying to research the numbers on barely readable cards to see if they fill a hole in the set.  And then I spend actual money I could use to pay the electric bill instead on other people's garbage. And sometimes I am met with a collection that is so savagely abused that I start plotting which cards I can sell off in order to finance this...

For Starters it's allowed me to add a half to my opening #1 card.

I've already got a Virgil Trucks 1959 that I thought would be tough to match...

but this '58 just blows the doors off.

For the 5th time now, I found something that was Just Trashed and rushed to its spot to replace whatever inferior specimen was there...

...only to discover that the slot held the same card in just as bad of shape. 

OK. Truth is this is the worst one, but clearly my filing system needs work.

I got some less common sets like the 1960 Fleer

The surprising thing is these cards smell pretty nice, like maybe some poor kids mom put these in with the washing, but this mom relied on an old wash board and tub.  Here he has his dungarees pockets stuffed with all his hero's like...

Don Mincher...

and Dave Nicholson...

...and Johnny Briggs

His mom is past soaking the jeans in the water while continuously spearing the fabric with a broom stick and is now grinding all the dirt out of the backside pockets and the front, where he wipes his filthy kid hands, on her trusty washboard. Her mechanically minded husband has repurposed a cement mixer and old beauty salon hair dryer into a sort of a laundry drying contraption.  But even after 14 hours rolling round in the warmish air she finds she has to hang them in the wind for another day or two.  At least they don't smell musty and moldy like many vintage cards that turn up in this condition, so after all that his mom must have used extra fabric softener.  A lot of it. It's times like this I wish they had perfected such things as Smell-O-Vision for blogs.  Seems like it should have happened by now.

So, as they hung on the line by their feet, something seeped out of the pockets and fell into a glop on the gravel below.  That's how our little friend discovered his prize cards had been through the literal ringer.  

Stay tuned for I have recently purchased the rare modern (1990s) lot that might be described as truly trashed, in a way you probably haven't seen yet.  I can't wait to get that collection and start sorting through it for the 8-10 relevant cards.  

1957 Albino Parallel and the research that goes into my eBay shenanigans.

I got stack of 57's in the mail a while back that would make a good time to discuss how I buy lots on eBay.  Most of the time I can't afford the really big lots that have 100 cards or more (that's where you, my fans, come in). I stick to lots that are small and cheap, especially when they only have 1 year involved.  I like the variety of having 7 or 9 cards from different years on a binder page, as long as they are in the numerical order.  

I'd really love to get some more modern stuff that has been trashed but they are only sure way I know is to make wallet cards out of our slick glossy new stock and that would be cheating if I did it (hint hint).  I would think some of the Old timey sets Topps have done, like Gypsy Queen, T205/6 and Allen + Ginter, would be ripe for getting damaged by water, dirt, humidity, termites, enraged cats and bored dogs.  So far, I haven't had anything like that turn up and the junk wax years had particularly flimsy cards that should not have aged well.  Especially those in the high 400s, 500s and 600s.  This was never a "Vintage trashed card set" it's an any year/brand/player trashed card set.   But I digress.  

(I knew these 2 would be backside cards at best before I paid for them.  In Wally's case he is a 3rd wheel.  That means there were cards that were even more trashed already.)

It was nice to add some 1957s which have been beaten down and faded out.  I've had a few scattered 57s but this will give a nice representation of 1957 amongst the rest. It was 11 cards at a little under two bucks per, once all was said and done.  Now I do a lot of research on the whole lot before I ever take a chance on putting a bid on.  I'm cross referencing the names with their card numbers on TCDB with the numbers that are open in the binder.  I have an envelope back from the mornings mail that I'll write all the numbers on to check and circle the ones that will fit.  Then I'll check the other numbers against the master list to see what is currently sitting in that number.  

 

(Like 36 here, empty and in need of a quality card)

Sometimes I have a card taking up space until something comes or sometimes a new find is just truly a more trashed card.  You can't really do this kind of set without knowing that you could almost always find a trashier card of a bigger star or better player and it may well only end only when I stop.  

(Jim made the cut, but Chico is probably not trashed enough to be more than a placeholder)

(Dixie Slotted right in, Foster was one of the few trashed cards to bump a defaced card to the backside)

So with this lot I knew off the bat that there were 5 cards that filled open slots.  That's a pretty good ratio.  There were another 2 or 3 that ended up being the back side card for the parallel trashed set.  They were sort of equally gnarly and I didn't want to lose them just yet.  

(These 2 got backsided by epic savagely trashed cards)

So I typed up the bunch on the spreadsheet.  The spreadsheet itself is more a record of all the cards I have at each number rather than a binder record.  It's the only way I have figured out how to keep track of extra cards or things that have been replaced and are in the "Rejects Trade" box that holds cards I don't know what else to do with.  

(For now, Bobby holds down a slot, but odds are something trashier may yet come along.  Thems the rules.)

It's ironic that I will take all of your stray junky trashed out card and carefully track them and put them in a binder and then file the extras according to card number.  Since I have other Frankensets maybe I will conceive of a way to cross pollinate them and I want to make sure I can find card #459 or #287 easily.  I won't need to worry about slot #366.

(Trashed and Trimmed glory in a nice empty slot)

The long and arduous task of sifting through garbage to find the worst cards

I just got a monster box of stuff from someone wanting to clear out their trash cards and it gives me a chance to show you the process I go thru when I get an unexpected box of unknown cardboard.  And if you want to get rid of yours there will be an address at which you can anonymously send your trash, if you so desire.

Sometimes someone will reach out and warn me that stuff is coming and occasionally it just shows up.  Even if I know a box is coming it's usually someone who says, "Hope you can use these" and occasionally "Just send me something interesting back" while being vague and mysterious as to what they might want in return.  I'm guessing if someone has enough stuff to fill up a box and send it to me, they have more cards than I ever will (or frankly hope to have).  

The count of total cards was north of 100 by a few. It's a pretty good-sized stack, especially considering it only covers about 5 years.  

Step 1. The first think I do is to put each set in numerical order, because they usually come in in a jumble, but in this case each year was already numerically ordered.  nice.

Step 2. Now that they are all in order, I pull out my ever-decreasing list of empty slots in the binder.  I go thru each year and compare the card numbers to the list of binder numbers and make a list of which ones I need.  

Step 3. I go thru and pull out the numbers that end up on the list.  Sometimes I get different cards of the same number so I pull them both (all).  We'll get to deciding which specimen of a given number gets chosen later.

Step 4.  Now I have a stack of things that will fill actual empty binder slots.  Without giving you a full accounting (for a future post) the stack on the right is going into the binder while the southpaw stack are "rejects".  Rejects are hardly that though.

Step 5.  I then sat down with the binder and a couple years of rejects at a time and compare them to what I have in the binder.  You never know. Maybe #613 I just scored in this anonymously sent box of cards is in much worse shape than my Binder #613 and it can be replaced.  I make mental notes on possibilities.  I've been building a 2nd parallel trashed set by doubling up the best dupes.  I call this backsiding a card.  I'm not looking for dupes but in dealing with random lots it's bound to happen.  I don't have to have a sophies choice card show just yet, although I have gotten a few numbers where 3 cards are equally trashy and those are all saved, numerically for easy trading with other trashed card enthusiasts and/or potential future trashed card sets.

(Dupes have grown since taking this picture)

Step 6.  This is basically 5 backwards, but I check all the reject cards against my spreadsheet of the binder.  I'll compare the cards to what is written in the sheet and see if my mental notes on replacement or dupe cards warrant a change.  Actually, I'll go thru the rejects 3 or 4 times, comparing rejects to binder and then to the list and back. And I make a point to do it in different light, day/night, different lamps, etc and at different times just to see if something pops anew somewhere or if a card holds up to what I thought it was.

Step 7.  In doing this much examining of the cards, and I can assure you it is a lot longer by a order of magnitude than your average grading house will spending looking at your Ozzie Canseco card, you start to notice odd things:

Like this is the 3rd time this guy has shown up.  And they all look like someone tried to put a knuckle thru him. 

(From previous episodes)

Speaking of 3rd time, someone has it in for Virgil Fox. 

And I already had worse copies of these 3

Step 8 Typing into the list. The spreadsheet has all the card info, condition notes, historical notes and such things.  I also doublecheck each card and invariably there are a few that are not as trashed as I thought and don't make the cut. I have to simultaneously make sure they have been added to the Trashed F-set collection of my TCDB and update the wants/haves/trade.  Well, I guess I don't have to update the want list because I never know what card I'm gonna actually want.  You can see what cards I have in the trashed set (or any Frankenset) by looking at my collections called Trashed F-Set on TCDB.  

Step 9 Take pics for you. I mean how am I gonna do this blog if I don't take pictures.  I suppose I could hire one of those visuals for the blind services that describes the action on a TV show or movie to tell you all about the cards, just so I don't have to take them out of the binders, but I don't think as many of you would read this. But there are a few that I don't like to take out.  Not because they have the precious pointy corners and sharp edges but, because every time I touch them, they may very well crumple into dust.  

Step 10 putting them into the binder.  Once they are in the binder...well that's it, they are in the binder...and that was the whole point, if I'm understanding this hobby correctly.  

Step 11 sorting rejects.  Many of the rejects don't meet our low, loooooowww standards.  A lot of them are perfectly nice filler cards.  It'll have the usual corner and edge wear, but the creases are usually light and not across the player.  These seem like perfectly serviceable cards for someone building a well-loved set or who needs a place holder card to upgrade.  I get the appeal of a nice sharp card, but I don't really get why a small ding on a corner will ruin it for many folks. It's a matter of degree; how much you are willing to put up with.  And I'm willing to put up with a lot, I guess.  For now, I've got them in the collection but could swap them to trade if someone wanted to build their own set.  If you are looking for ok serviceable cards, I probably have many of them. I need to raise up a war chest so that when an expertly defaced 1933 Goudy comes on the market, complete with mustache glasses and a beard, I can jump the buy it now with less regard to if it is a good deal.  It's never a good deal when I'm buying folks garbage. 

Now, as promised, here is an address you can send your garbage cards to, anonymously if you wish.  I'll still post some of the best cards, I just won't attach your name to the shame.  If you follow the other Frankensets I'm always looking for Ivy Cards, Guys named Dick and Action Parallels AKA Floating Balls in sparkles. 

Randy Lancelot

3347 S. Kinnickinnic Ave #4

Milwaukee, WI  53207

SirNailhead@gmail.com

They Tried to pick Don Mossi's Nose right off the card!! Who would do such a thing??!?

 I got a pair of cards each from a pair of Ebay sellers.  First up is our old pal RedBirdOctober who had the mockups of Nolan and Thurman RCs.  He did me a major solid on these cards and most of his stuff is in quite nice shape (so go check out his lots of various years at decent prices).  

I just had to have this, Joe Rudi.  It was in another lot, and he was nice enough to pull that one card out of the lot and place it separate so I could grab it.  

To show my gratitude I bought a lot of 60-2 Post cereal cards on which someone had gone to town on this poor chap. 

Stop!  Look at what they have done to Ken Hunt.  I'm mean look at the confidant strokes on the goatee under a perfectly barbered mustache.  The glasses are simple and bold and makes him look like a man of gravitas.  This wasn't some punk 8-year-old kid.  This was his older brother. Greasy long-haired brother who was in high school and carried a switchblade. He knew how to vandalize something quickly and simply while the principal wasn't looking.   A true JD who sniffed glue made this one of the very finest examples of its kind in this whole collection

You really should go check out RedBirdOctober's other stuff on his eBay store.  Their cards are in much better shape, I can assure you.  And he's given me deals that were more than fair.

I scored the Don Mossi for the ages from a fellow state seller.  

Since they deal in high end stuff, I'm not sure if they would want their name to be associated with what someone did to Don.

  They tried to pick his nose off the card!!

Now I would have thought his nose would have been the 3rd or 4th most offensive facial feature on what Bill James wife called the ugliest player of the 50s.

Shortly after that the same anonymous chap got me a dog chewed Casey Stengal to slot in at #29. His own dog, no less.  That's service.

This will mean that I'll have to backside this Tom Brunansky.  I won't pull it altogether because it is the single example that I have of taping things onto a card to make a new card (like RedBirdOctober shared with us).  It would be cool to find more of those types of defacements, should you happen across any you wish to get rid of, dear reader. 

In fact, as I sit here typing this it suddenly strikes me as a brilliant idea gluing Brunansky to the back of Casey so that Brunansky IS the back of Casey.  This would be Frankestiening on so many different levels that is blows right by Ironic and straight into surreal.

And finally, this Bowman gem was used to scrape up the gob after someone hocked a loogie on the dugout bench.  

The look on Cliffs face looks like he got more than a big whiff of the gob of chew, maybe even a taste.  He seem to have one eye partially closed to prevent the juice from burning while his other eye waters and he tries not to yak up his pregame meal.  

Whatever the hell happened this card had quite a story