The “Under-Appreciated” Pile: Scan 26

I couldn’t wait to put the kids to bed tonight so I could put on some preseason hockey. After about 8 mins into the 2nd period of the Penguins vs Red Wings game, I got disgusted and shut it off. The Red Wings had scored 3 straight goals, and I just wasn’t into seeing my favorite team lose tonight. Today was a tough day of work. All I did was deal with problem reports. My production numbers were awful, and right now I could use a Sam Adams beer. 

Hey Bryan, this blog isn’t about beer, it’s about cards! Tell us about Scan 26 man! Ok, well, Scan 26 was a card I had in my COMC cart for well over a month and when I made a sale over $10, I decided to throw out an offer to the seller of $10.31, and it was accepted! The guy on this card had probably one of the most gruesome leg injuries ever in the NFL. I remember watching it sometime in the 90’s at one of my dad’s friends houses. My dad’s friend knew how into sports I was, so any time I came over to his house with my dad he always wanted to show me sports from the 80’s he had on video tapes. After I saw the injury I remember getting sick to my stomach. I was probably 8 or 9 years old. Some tidbits about this guy that you might not know: 1. He was drafted in the 39th round of the 1971 MLB Draft by the Minnesota Twins. 2. Also, in the same year, he was drafted in the 4th round of the NFL Draft by the Miami Dolphins. 3. Instead of playing for the Dolphins, he decided to play for the Toronto Argonauts for $50,000 per season. 4. His rights were traded by the Dolphins in 1976 to the Washington Redskins for their 1st round draft pick. This is all stuff I never knew about this guy. Pretty cool! I know just about everyone reading this knows who I’m talking about. I think I got a great deal on this thing. It’s in great shape!

1975 Topps Joe Theismann RC 

Verdict: Appreciated. I had set this in a pile of stuff waiting to be scanned for my PC, and looks like it got mixed in with the misfits!

The “Under-Appreciated” Pile: Scan 25

Well, today I responded to everyone’s comments on my blog posts. It felt good because there were a bunch. Today I almost bought a card. A buddy of mine told me a card I had been wanting was on COMC. I did take a gander at it, but it was a bit overpriced for me. After work today, we danced with the kids and read some books. It was nice to have a calm night after a mess of a work day. My wife had a client tonight at 7, so I had the boys by myself, and I got them to bed without any hiccups. 

About this scan…well, as I said previously, I love Bowman Chrome Red Refractors. One Sunday night, my wife had her friend from high school over (who I am not particularly fond of). While they were upstairs with the kids, I was downstairs on eBay looking at Red Refractors. I wasn’t sure who this guy was, but I bought it anyway. It was actually kind of cheap for being graded and autographed. This is a card I do regret purchasing. On to the scan (sorry the scan sucks..my laser printer scanner has a hard time with graded cards).

2008 Bowman Chrome Carlos Gutierrez Red Refractor RC Auto /5 BGS 9.5

Verdict: Not appreciated. If anyone wants to trade me the 2008 Bowman Chrome Josh Vitters RC Auto /5 I need for the rainbow, hit me up!

The “Under-Appreciated” Pile: Scan 24

Well, I thought I would be able to get a 2nd post out yesterday, but I fell asleep at 9pm. Sorry guys! Yesterday was a rough day. First, I had to coach my son’s t-ball team. Only 4 kids showed up, and to make matters worse, the 3 1/2 year old on the team had a meltdown after the first inning and checked herself out of the game. My 40 year old butt had to play the field along with a few other parents. I was so thankful for their help. The coach from the other team was a nice girl I went to high school with. We gave each other a big hug and talked for a few minutes, so that was pretty cool. The game, however, was dreadful. Thankfully it only took 1 hour and 22 mins to get through the 3 inning game. To make matters worse, the field was kinda muddy. So, I need to clean out the Subaru when I have time. After the game, I came home to find out my youngest son had peed on his dresser. How does that even happen? My wife had no answers. The last thing that happened was we did a Target pickup for a few last minute groceries and my pretzels were out of stock! Haha. Actually, not a bad day, I just had to vent. Also, thank you guys for all the comments. Once this month of blogging this pile is over, I promise to get back to each and every one of you!

Ok, enough of the life of Bryan, on to the card! The guy on this card was the Tampa Bay Devil Rays first draft pick ever. However, he never made it to the major leagues. I had this card put away at my parents house and when I was searching for that Jeff Leonard card from the previous post found here (insert shameless self promotion), I also found this card. It took me a while to figure out how I obtained this card, and then it came to me. When I was in high school AP English, I did a report on draft picks made by expansion teams. I touched on every sport and I bought a few cards of guys that didn’t pan out and used them as visual references. It was the year 2000, and they seemed like a good idea at the time. Anyways, I bought these cards from an old local LCS that has since closed its doors. The owner of that shop always loved talking with me and would always hook me up with a deal or two. I sure do miss that guy. For the life of me, I cannot remember the other cards I used as a reference. I may have to go search my parents filing cabinets where they kept my school work throughout the years (yes, my mom kept my stuff - even from high school). Since I don’t really have any more to say, here is the card from the scan…

1997 Bowman Chrome Paul Wilder Refractor RC

Verdict: I’m kinda on the fence on this one. On one hand, it gave me a good memory from my high school days, but on the other hand, what the heck am I doing with this now? We will just say “semi-appreciated”.

The “Under Appreciated” Pile: Scan 23

I owe you guys an extra entry from the day I had a migraine, so I will try to sneak in 2 blog posts today. First off, thank you to all the people who have been reading, reading and commenting, or just stopping by and realizing that they stumbled on a card blog and not something that has to do with actual cardboard. This blog of mine is actually coming up on 15,000 reads! Never in a million years would I think that people would actually read this thing. If you are a frequent reader, I apologize if you aren’t into the “under-appreciated” pile entries, but good news, they’re almost done.

This card was in this pile because I actually planned on scanning this for a blog entry that would be coming up when I had more time on my hands. I will go into a deeper dive on this card in that post, I promise. All I can tell you about this card is that it was stolen from me once when I was a kid, and returned to me when I was a teenager. Like I said before, the whole story will unfold in that entry. Well, I will post the card now since I have a t-ball game to coach today. Enjoy your Saturday my friends and enjoy Scan 23!

1985 Topps Mark McGwire RC

Verdict: Appreciated!

The “Under-Appreciated” Pile: Scan 22

Today was a really tough day. My company laid off a bunch of staff that including people I have worked with for over 15 years. It really made my day turn to absolute crap. At 5pm though, the kids put a smile back on my face. After we ate dinner together, we danced to some Koo Koo Kangaroo videos, and then the boys took a dip in the bath. For the 3rd night this week my youngest didn’t want to sleep. Instead of taking him for a drive, we let him figure it out in his crib, and eventually he calmed down and went to bed. Right now, I just sat down for the first time since dinner, and I put on some Ghost Adventures as some background noise.

Ok, scan 22. Well, this card was once previously owned by me. When my wife and I got married, we quickly built a new townhouse. The builder asked us for 10% down so they could get building. They gave us 15 days to do so. So, after we did the math we were $1,200 short. I ended up selling off some of my PC items and raised the money we needed. The card in this scan is one of the cards I let go. Fast forward 9 years later, and I see it hit eBay. It was listed for a 7-day auction, so I just waited until the last few seconds and put a large bid in. I won it for a fraction of that bid and 5 times less than what I sold it for. Pretty awesome win for me. This was one of the cards I did regret selling, so I’m glad to have it back. Here it is, yet another USC quarterback…

2003 SPx Carson Palmer Spectrum Jersey Auto RC /25

Verdict: Very much appreciated and was missed by me. Back to the PC you go!

The “Under-Appreciated” Pile: Scan 21

22 days without buying a single card. Wow! Not searching for cards has given me a ton of time to do other things like decorate my office with wall art, hang up my game worn jerseys in the basement, add some shelving on the outside wall of my office, etc. It’s crazy the amount of time I wasted looking for cards. Today I danced with my kids to Danny Go! songs on YouTube and then I gave those boys a bath. Someone purchased us this organic bubble bath stuff and I was forced to use it since we ran out of Mr. Bubble. The bubbles in this organic formula only lasted a minute or two, so Mr. Bubble is back on my shopping list. My youngest was pretty restless tonight, and at around 8ish I put him in the car and drove around a bit. I have a usual path I take and I will put on The Refreshments album “Fizzy Fuzzy Big and Buzzy”. After 4 songs, he is usually out, but tonight we made it all the way to “Banditos”. Also, I drove past our old house twice. Sometimes I do miss living there just due to memories like my son learning to walk and talk. Well, there is your look-in on the life of Bryan.

On to the scan! I meant to scan this thing a long time ago, but the night I planned on doing it, I had 16 eBay orders. It was rather overwhelming that day. The player on this card was the #1 pick in his draft year and is a player I had on my fantasy team this past season. Sadly, I came in 5th place. Can win it every year, am I right? This player is from Switzerland and was the first ever Swiss player chosen first overall at the NHL level. Pretty cool! At the time of the 2017 NHL Draft though, my Brandon Wheat Kings fandom took over, and I boo’ed the Devils pick because they passed on Wheat Kings forward Nolan Patrick. How things have changed! Well, let’s get to it..here is a beauty!

2017/18 UD The Cup Gold Nico Hischier RC /24

Verdict: If this was 2017, I probably wouldn’t appreciate this, but now, definitely appreciated!

The “Under-Appreciated” Pile: Scan 20

I know, I’m a day behind, and will eventually catch up once I have the time. Tonight, my wife and I took our sons over to the playground across the street. My youngest loves going down the smallest slide, but tonight he turned sideways and bumped his nose. That was the end of our playground excursion. Once they finally went to bed, I had to take out the garbage. I live such an exciting life! 

Scan 20 is of a player who’s college career I followed like a hawk. My friends and I back then were all big USC fans. Anytime they were on, we would get together at my old condo and have some beers and snacks and enjoy ourselves. Sometimes I wish I wouldn’t have taken those days with my buddies for granted. Now, we are all 40 or older with kids or fiancés, and we no longer live near each other at all. After the player on this card was drafted, a bunch of us bought his jersey. I still have mine, I just text my buddy to ask if he still has his, and he does too! Pretty awesome! From what I have heard, this guy on this card now is collecting sports cards! Pretty cool. I wonder if he had this one:

2006 Leaf Limited Phenoms Gold Spotlight Matt Leinart Jersey/Auto RC /10

Verdict: Appreciated! This card was for my PC and I planned to scan before I put it in a box.

The “Under-Appreciated” Pile: Scan 19

Sorry for my absence yesterday. After work I had a massive migraine that put me out for the count, so after putting the kids to bed (because I was still on “daddy duty”), I threw up and went to bed. Too much information, I know. I just wanted to be honest. 

Scan 19 like the previous post was another Green Prizm that came from the blaster my wife bought me from Target. I have heard this guy’s name before, I’m just not 100% sure if he is any good. This is what happens when you’re wife worked a lot of Sunday’s and you have the kids to yourself. In the past 3 years I have maybe seen 8 or 9 football games. Most of those games were due to us being invited to Steelers parties by our family and friends. Sorry for rambling, let’s get to this card. I will actually have to look at it again, but my scan looks to show a huge print line going down the card. With Panini, this doesn’t surprise me. Maybe someone can tell me if the guy on this card is good, or is going to be good. 

2021 Panini Prizm Green Rondale Moore RC

Verdict: Not very appreciated. I’m not even sure who this guy is…

The “Under- Appreciated” Pile: Scan 18

Today my sons felt better. I guess it was a 24 hour bug that they had. Thank goodness that they did feel better, as we had a lot of running around we had to do today. First, we went to Lowe’s for a door knob for our sunroom. The contractor working on our house asked us to do that this morning. Then, we headed over to Petsmart to look at some cats. My cat and my wife’s passed away within 3 weeks of each other in November. I am not ready yet for a new cat, but my wife is. We didn’t find any cats we liked at Petsmart though. Then, we had to grab some groceries for this upcoming week. 

Well, there is the look-in on my day, so here is the story on the scan. This card was the best of a blaster if Panini Prizm my wife bought me. I had set the stack of cards in one of the storage areas on my computer desk, forget about them, then grabbed this card, sleeved and toploaded it and set it in this stack  I don’t collect this player, but someone out there probably does. I’m sure it has value elsewhere, and will more than likely sell it at some point. Here is scan 18:

2021 Panini Prizm Green Michael Carter RC

Verdict: Not-Appreciated. It will probably find its way to a Jets fan at some point.

The “Under-Appreciated” Pile: Scan 17

I have to kinda keep this one brief. We have 2 sick kids at home right now. Both have fevers, and are miserable. Today was a rough day. My oldest didn’t make it to his t-ball game, my wife and I didn’t make it to the Oktoberfest party we were invited to, and we ran out of Children’s Tylenol. Luckily, I grabbed the last one from Rite Aid near my house. Awesome day.

I’ll just cut to the chase on this one. A guy that followed me on social media a while back posted this thing for sale for a low price. It was early in the morning, so I just clicked the “Like” option on his post, so I could circle back sometime after work. Well, I ended up forgetting to do that because “life” happens. Fast forward to 3 weeks later and he posts it again for a little bit cheaper. I jumped all over it. This is for my PC. I like the player (had him on my Dynasty team when I was really into fantasy football). Here is Scan 17 (sorry it was brief guys!):

2016 Panini Prizm Silver Tyreek Hill RC 

Verdict: Appreciated. A PC card I intended to scan.

The “Under-Appreciated” Pile: Scan 16

I can’t believe I made it over 2 weeks without buying cards. This is pretty unbelievable. Today we had 2 people out at work so I was busy all day, and had no time to even think or search for any cards. Staying busy definitely helps. Today when my oldest son came home from school he said he had a headache, so we had a chill night with the kids. He ended up going to bed shortly after his little brother, and I had 20 minutes to do some dishes! Now that you had your daily look-in to my life, on to the scan!

This card is a 1992 Topps Gold card that was in a lot I purchased from a guy on social media that I had previously talked about here. Since I have such a love for 1992 Topps Gold cards, I figured I was going to keep this, but after some thought, it is headed to my buddy in Kansas with the Chris Sanders Zenith Rookie Rising card. I feel like he would appreciate the both of these cards more than me. Most of the time when I have a card I think he might like, I will throw them his way. Back to the card, this particular card is of a player I completely forgot about. He was the #1 overall pick in his draft year by the Colts, and due to injuries his career got cut short (6 years, 50 games). When he was drafted I was 10, and I don’t remember that much about him. The most memorable thing in my mind was when I was a teenager, and my friend Doug started a collection of him. From what I can jog up in my memory, he traded a ton of Brett Favre cards to a buddy of mine for this exact card. My memory is foggy, but that does kinda stick in my mind. We were always making wild football card trades back then. I miss those days. Anyway, I really have nothing else to say about this card, so I’ll get to the reveal. Here it is my friends:

1992 Topps Gold Steve Emtman RC

Verdict: Sorta-appreciated by me, but more appreciated by my buddy.

The “Under-Appreciated” Pile: Scan 15

I got to start 2 hours late at work today which meant I did not have to rush this morning to pack lunches, and get the kids dressed like I do every morning. We actually woke up at 6:42AM. It felt so good to get some extra sleep for a change. My wife and I planned to go to Target for a few things for an Oktoberfest party we are attending on Saturday after my son’s t-ball game. Should be a fun-packed Saturday. However, I didn’t make it to Target. With us sleeping in, it disrupted our plan, and after taking our time with our tasks this morning and finally getting the kids out the door, my entire 2 hours were burnt up. Tonight, I read a bunch of books to my youngest and gave the kids a bath and they both went to bed no problem. 

In 2013, I read a story that can be found here. I was so saddened and moved by the story that I started a mini-PC of this player. I only had 6 cards as of 3 months ago, so this one made 7. A friend of mine spotted it on Beckett Marketplace a while back and clued me in on it. I ended up grabbing it for $1.50, which I thought was a steal. The last time I saw one for sale on eBay for auction, it ended while my wife and I were at a bonfire, and I totally forgot to check my phone. Anyway, that one on eBay ended for like $6.75 or something like that. Normally, I would give a little info about the player, but for this post, I will just refer you to the story at the beginning of this paragraph. Go and read it, it’s totally worth a read. This guy was on a path to greatness. 

Here is Scan 15:

2001 Bowman Chrome XFractor Brian Cole RC

Verdict: Much Appreciated. Read the article…seriously.

The “Under-Appreciated” File: Scan 14

I cannot believe it’s only Wednesday. This week feels long. Our contractor who is building our sunroom and deck showed up today after a 2 week hiatus to work on the deck. He actually made decent headway today and got some of the materials off of my grass. So, after picking up the kids and eating dinner I decided to cut the grass. Now, my wife and I just sat down and decided to throw on some episodes of The Office. Hopefully these entries aren’t getting stale. 

This scan is of a card that I am actually sending to Kansas tomorrow to a buddy of mine. I bought a lot of football cards from a guy on social media who wanted to get rid of a bunch of his stuff from the mid-to-late 90’s. There was a Curtis Martin RC in the lot that I really wanted, so I jumped at the price of $3. Always nice to get a card you want along with a bunch of cards you’re buddy would like. The card in the scan is pretty awesome. Dufex technology I think is what they call it…right? Back in 1996, my mom asked what I would like for my birthday and I told her I would like a box of 1996 Pinnacle Zenith football. At the time of my birthday the cost was around $89.99, so I had to pour it on pretty thick with my parents to cave, but my mom eventually did. Once we got home, my brother and I ripped open the packs within minutes. The coolest card I thought in the box wasn’t the Z-Team Steve Young I pulled, it was the James Stewart Rookie Rising Insert. Right now, looking at this card, I still treasure the crap out of it! Here is my James Stewart that has been in my collection since 1996:

Seriously…so cool. Anyways, in the football lot I purchased there was another card from this set in there…a certain Houston Oiler….no, not THAT one. Here ya go, Scan 14:

1996 Pinnacle Zenith Chris Sanders Rookie Rising Insert

So cool so will even show you the back!

Verdict: I appreciate the set, not the card since it’s headed to my buddy. Enjoy it Chad!

The “Under-Appreciated” Pile: Scan 13

Today, I read my youngest son the book Diggersaurs at least 28 times today. I could probably recite the entire book off by heart now. Today being Tuesday is one of my busiest day of the week. At work, I go over a training doc for my team that I complete every week, then once I clock out at 4:30, I go straight to my parents house to pick up the kids. Of course when I get there the kids are WIRED with too much sugar. They gave the kids ice cream at 2:30…ugh! After rounding them up and getting them into the car, I drive them home while listening to the Trolls Soundtrack. I had a crock pot going, so dinner was ready when we rolled in the door (thankfully). Then I had the kids by myself while my wife worked until 8pm. They both went to bed, I took out the trash, fed the cat and gave her some treats, loaded the dishwasher, cleaned up the kids mess in the living room, and folded some clothes. When I realized I had to blog, I honestly didn’t want to today, but here I am. Tuesday’s and Thursday’s are tough for me some days. If you know any single parents out there, they deserve all the praise in the world. I only do this 2 days a week. I could not imagine doing this every single day. 

Ok guys, the meat and potatoes…the card/scan! This card is something I have wanted for a long time. Have you ever watched a card on eBay for months and even though it’s cheap, you never buy it? I had watched this card for months even with it being on my wantlist, I never pulled the trigger. Finally, one day I was sitting at my desk in my office packing up some cards I sold on eBay and I got an alert that this card was ending in 15 minutes. Well, I decided I just had to have it! I was actually looking for this card and somehow it ended up in this pile. It’s probably because the day it came in was the day my kids came home sick from day care and I went into dad-mode. 

Anyways, this player was phenomenal in college for Texas. He was even a first round draft pick for the San Diego Chargers to be their cornerback of the future. Things really didn’t work out as planned for him, and as a pro had struggled due to pass interference calls and other penalties due to his physical play he was known for in college. Later on in his career he started to get better, and ended his career with 21 interceptions in 12 years. Not stellar, but he did play 12 years in the NFL which is not easy nowadays. It’s possible some of you know who I’m talking about. Here it is, scan 13:

2002 Donruss Rated Rookie Quentin Jammer Season Stat Line Parallel RC /43

Verdict: Appreciated! I love this card! On to the PC it goes!

The “Under-Appreciated” Pile: Scan 12

12 days, no new cards. This is insanity. My wife even said something today about it. Is it weird that I am feeling ok with not buying anything new? I’m not saying my hobby days are numbered, but I think if they were I might be rather content. 

Today was a weird day. I have a feeling something bad is going to happen at work soon (meaning a layoff). It’s really stressing me out. The kids are a nice distraction, but after they went to bed tonight, I started getting a sickness in my stomach. Hopefully blogging will help.

On to what you’re here for, the card! I brought this card out of my baseball box where it had been hiding for a few years or so, because I had never scanned it before and it’s pretty rare. They are also beautiful. Some of my favorite cards are Bowman Chrome Red Refractors. I had purchased a new one on eBay and it struck my interest up in them again, and I was curious on how many I still had. The only reason I have this guys Red Refractor rookie is because it was affordable. I think I spent around $9-$10 shipped for this. The internet tells me this player was a multi-sport athlete from MN, and excelled in baseball and hockey. He sounds like my kinda player! Also, he was a first-round draft pick. I honestly had no idea until today. 

I think since I never scanned this after purchasing this 3+ years ago, it probably means I don’t appreciate this card, and that is more than likely a correct assumption. Why do I do these things? This card is probably being hunted down by some oddball collector of this player and here it is chilling in a box in Pennsylvania. I may throw this back out there on eBay sometime soon. If you collect this guy, I am sorry! Well, here is the scan…

2010 Bowman Chrome Draft Mike Kvasnicka Red Refractor RC /5

Verdict: Not appreciated. If you collect this guy, hit me up!

The “Under-Appreciated” Pile: Scan 11

Today was a long day. Woke up, got the kids breakfast, then headed to Target for some groceries. We were invited to my wife’s cousins house today to watch the Steelers game, and my wife forgot to inform me that we were supposed to bring cupcakes. Since my youngest son needed more Motrin and their Motrin is the cheapest around, I just went to Target to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. After we baked cupcakes, we wrangled up the kids and went on our way for the 40 minute drive to her cousins place. Half way there we realized we forgot the cupcakes. How does that even happen? So, we turned around and went back home to grab them. We left somewhere around the 4th quarter because my oldest son pushed our youngest son off a slide. Luckily he wasn’t hurt, but it was time for us to make our exit. At home I read my youngest every book in the house, but here I am now blogging for all you fine people to read. I love these intro’s and giving you guys a little glimpse into my days. We were so busy today, so I made it 11 days without buying a card! 

On to the scan! This player was a wonderful junior hockey player for the Tri-City Americans in the WHL. In the 2011-12 season he put up 134 points (58 goals, 76 assists)! This would lead him to taking home some hardware by winning the Bob Clarke Trophy as the leading scorer in the WHL and the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy as the MVP of the league! Pretty cool. That is the whole reason I purchased this. Some of these guys that have such awesome junior careers just never really make it in the NHL, and I think that sucks. After writing a few posts on guys like this previously on this blog, it made me intrigued by players like this. So, when I initially bought this card, it was actually to give this guy his own blog post. I snagged this for only a few bucks on eBay a while ago and was pumped for it. Anyways, the blog post I initially wanted to post was supposed to be longer than this, but maybe some day I will do a deeper dive into his career, but for now, this will have to do. Well, on to the card we go! Scan 11 is below:

2014/15 Upper Deck Young Guns Brendan Shinnimin UD Exclusives RC /100

Verdict: Appreciated. This guy is a special player even though his NHL career didn’t show this.

The “Under- Appreciated” Pile: Scan 10

Today my son had a t-ball game. He did awesome! He refuses to use the tee, but he can hammer a pitch. My dad and I have been pitching to him since he was 3, so he has had a lot of practice. We have been trying to work on his throwing though. Today his throws were much better than last season. He has really improved and I’m proud of him. Before every inning, he insists on getting a refresh on his grape Big League Chew. Proud dad here! Also, I’d like to add that I did not search for new cards or make any new card purchases today. This is probably the longest I have gone without doing so since my 20’s!

Now, we’ll get to the card. I have been a sucker for die-cut cards since the 90’s. When I saw this card on a large sale thread on social media, I decided to purchase it for 50 cents. I do remember when this guy was drafted. He was supposed to be a fantastic offensive lineman, but things didn’t really pan out. If I remember correctly, he had knee issues or something like that. Anyways, the seller of this card never pointed out that the card was serial numbered to 50, so it was a pleasant surprise to see it was kinda rare. The serial number was actually hard to see as it was located on the photo of the player on the back. I don’t really have any plans for this card so it fell into that “rinse, repeat” cycle I talked about in my initial “appreciation” post. I scanned and then put it in a box to be forgotten about.

Here it is…Scan 10:

2013 Panini Prizm Orange Die-Cut Luke Joeckel RC /50

Verdict: Not Appreciated. 

The “Under-Appreciated” File: Scan 9

Wow. 9 days without buying a single card. I flipped through some of my PC today during a break from work. It’s crazy the amount of cards I forgot I had. How often do you guys look through your PC? 

As for my day, well today was pretty brutal at work. My boss was off and I am 2nd in charge, so I put out more fires than I usually do on a daily basis. I was so relieved once the work day was over, and headed out to grab the kiddos from daycare. When I showed up my oldest son was riding a scooter outside on their playground and ran up to the fence yelling, “Daddy! Daddy!” Truly made my day! 

On to the scan.. I was actually wondering where the heck I had put this card. I bought this card along with a Brad Fullmer TTM auto. The Fullmer is where it should be with the rest of my TTM autos, but this one was missing. A seller on eBay had put a bunch of his TTM autos up for auction about a month and a half ago, but they were all ending at like 10:45 PM - 1 AM. Since I have kids and have to wake up extra early to get them ready for their day, I usually go to bed around 10 PM every night. I threw bids up on 6 cards I liked, and went to bed. I only ended up winning 2 of the 6, but the scanned card below was the one I wanted the most, so I was happy. Fullmer was the one I wanted the least, but I think I only paid a buck for it. The player on this card was the first captain in Florida Panthers history! Pretty cool. Here is Scan 9.

1987/88 OPC Brian Skrudland RC TTM Auto

Verdict: Appreciated, now that I found where it was!

The “Under-Appreciated” Pile: Scan 8

This was the longest day of my week. The kids were at home again, so my wife and I juggled kids and work again all day. Then she had clients from 5-8pm straight, so the kids were with just me. Some nights like this are fun, but not today. My youngest son’s left bottom molar is coming in and he’s a joy to be around, let me tell ya. Today I was too busy to purchase any cards at all. To be completely honest, I’m spent today. 

Onward to Scan 8. I remember reading some article on this player probably 19-20 years ago saying how he might be “the next ARod”. Obviously this never happened. I stumbled across this card when I went to my parents place looking for that old Jeffery Leonard glove of my dads from my previous blog post found here. In my childhood bedroom, there was a small box of some packs I had opened, and I just threw the cards in it and forgot about them. This card was the best of the bunch. I grabbed the box and took it home with me. When I got home, I put the card in a sleeve and toploader with the idea of eventually scanning it and listing it for sale. In the back of my mind though, I’m thinking, “Would anyone even want this?” I don’t even want it. I didn’t even want it when I pulled it probably in 2003. Someday you might see this thing pop up on eBay. Until that day, it lives here on this blog of mine. 

Well, here it is…

2002 Bowman Chrome Joel Guzman Gold Refractor RC /50

I surely don’t appreciate this card, but I have hope that someone else will someday. 

The “Under-Appreciated” Pile: Scan 7

I feel like this is getting stale with everyone. Well, I am a man of my word and I am going to keep this going. Today, I did jump on eBay, but it wasn’t for a card. I had sent my wife an eBay listing for a Game Used bat I wanted for Christmas and I was kinda snooping to see if any bids were on it. There was one, but I decided to stop watching the auction and just leave it up to surprise. Around the time the auction was ending, she was with me giving the kiddos a bath. So, there’s that. 

Today’s scan (Scan 7) is of a family member of mine. One summer when I was 8, my parents dropped me off at my grandparents house in Eastern Pennsylvania (about 3 hours away) to stay for a week. By this time I was really into sports. I played soccer, floor and deck hockey, and was on 2 baseball teams. My grandfather would toss the baseball around with me in the afternoon and we would get to chatting. One particular afternoon, he brought up a cousin of his that he said played professional football “in Atlanta”. Now, my grandfather only followed local sports like the Pirates, Penguins and Steelers and had no time for other teams. I’m pretty sure he didn’t know Atlanta’s football teams name, but that is ok, he’s a great guy and I love him dearly. He told me stories about how he would hang out with his cousin a few times a year when his parents would travel out to Kansas or his family would make the trip up to Syracuse where my grandfather spent part of his childhood. It was pretty cool to hear him speak fondly about someone who in my 8 year old mind was possibly famous. Everywhere I went I would look out for a card of my grandfathers cousin to give to him. I actually had forgotten about it after striking out at the numerous card shows I went to as a kid and also my local sports cards shops not having one in stock. 

A month or two ago, my brother and I were talking about the times we spent at my grandparents place every summer until we were teenagers. My brother did mostly science experiments, went fishing and played board games. I would go fishing, pick peaches from their peach trees, throw the baseball around and then I remembered! I asked my brother if he knew about my grandfather’s cousin playing for the Atlanta Falcons. He had no idea! That night I did an eBay search and found an autographed card of my grandfather’s cousin. Sadly, when I did an internet search, it was noted that he had passed away in 2020.

When the card came in, I told my grandfather on the phone about it. He was silent at first and then he said, “That is pretty neat! I would love to see it sometime.” I mentioned I would like to give it to him, but he insisted I keep it and pass it along to my kids someday. So, that is exactly what I am doing with it. I feel terrible that I put this card in that massive pile. Sometimes I get very overwhelmed by my cards, and they pile up. Anyways, here is the card from Scan 7:

1970 Topps John Zook RC In-Person Auto

Verdict: Appreciated.

The “Under-Appreciated” Pile: Scan 6

My eyes were crossing when I was typing that title. What a long day. The kids were both home with my wife and I today due to my parents (who watch them on Tuesdays and Thursday’s) being out of town. It was constant back and forth between work and kids all day. I had no time to search for cards, so I made it another day of not purchasing a single card. A friend of mine sent me an eBay link to a card that he said I would have interest in, but I never even opened the link. Willpower wins! I did, however, receive a 2018 Topps baseball set I ordered last month for my son (who was born in 2018). It will be his once I think he is ready for it. Also, blogging every day is tough. I have no idea how a lot of people can do it. If you can, you’re a rockstar!

On to Scan 6. The reason I bought this card is because I wanted to upgrade the current copy of the one I had. Before I get into that, I will tell a little story. One year for Halloween when my brother and I were kids, we went to a house down our hill and street that probably didn’t realize they would get any trick or treaters (we grew up in a rural pocket of our town back in the woods with very few houses). The man at the house fumbled around and came back with a few packs of 1982 Donruss and threw them in our bags. Growing up, my brother and I had this players 1982 Donruss Diamond Kings card, and I remember he had really rosy colored cheeks. We thought his last name was Gravy for the longest time. The 1982 Donruss card is somewhere probably in my brothers collection. A card I still remember fondly to be honest. 

Ok, on to the meat and potatoes. Some time in 1991, my parents took my brother and I to a card show at our local Howard Johnson’s hotel banquet hall. I bought a beat up copy of this players rookie card for $4. It had a small spider wrinkle near his glove and 2 rounded corners. I probably wouldn’t have known who this guy was in 1991 if we never received those 1982 Donruss packs for Halloween. This past July, I ended up selling a stack of my older cards at our garage sale to a neighborhood kid that was 11 or 12 years old for $5. His dad browsed through a bunch of them for 20 seconds and immediately paid me. The beat up copy of this players rookie card was probably the highlight in this lot, and was one of the first cards in the stack. I am pretty sure there was a Trevor Hoffman Bowman RC in there too. Anyways, the young child’s dad flagged me down a few weeks ago while I was outside cutting the grass and said, “Did you realize that you sold my kid a ton of great stuff? Those cards are probably worth money!” I just said, “I hope he enjoys them. It was my pleasure.” He gave me a fist bump, thanked me, and I finished cutting my grass. Maybe I jumpstarted some young persons collection with the goodies I gave up? Hopefully it did.

I’m sure most of you figured out who I am talking about if you are a baseball fan. Here is a card I do appreciate and should have scanned and placed in my PC box. Shame on me. 

1971 Topps Steve Garvey RC

Verdict: Appreciated.

The “Under-Appreciated” Pile: Scan 5

Today was eventful. My 4 year old rode his bike like a rockstar today, and I made some bison stuffed peppers for dinner. I did not purchase a single card. Instead I decided to clean my office, play with the kids in the basement, and I had 3 orders from eBay to pack up. Before bed my son made a castle with blocks and took his Disney fireworks gun projector to give us a fireworks display on our basement wall. It was fun! 

On to the card portion of the post. Scan 5 is of a fantastic junior hockey player. He even won the Michel Briere Memorial Trophy back in 1997 which is the trophy awarded to the Most Valuable Player in the QMJHL. One night I went down a rabbit hole and searched for junior hockey players that had won trophies during their time in junior hockey. I had a bunch of cards of previous winners, but did not have a card of the guy on this post. So, this was maybe an impulse buy. It’s still a nice card, but it’s not really anything I would need to hold on to. Thankfully I did not pay a lot for this card. Even with this card being numbered to only 10 copies no one is running to their phones or computers to buy cards of this guy. Without further adieu, here it is…Scan 5:

2001/02 Be A Player Daniel Corso Emerald /10

This card should be appreciated by someone else to be honest. Corso is not a guy I collect, and I put this card in a box immediately after this scan was done. I will have a lot of new cards for sale after these 30 days are up I think. If anyone has interest in this card, maybe we could swing a deal? Haha. This card is not appreciated and that sucks.

Verdict: not appreciated 

The “Under-Appreciated” Pile: Scan 4

I made it another day without purchasing a single card. I had some help today since I worked 6 hours, and then went to Sam’s Club with the wife and kids. Boy was it packed there today! How is it impossible to leave that place without spending a ridiculous amount of money? We had 5 things on our list and somehow ended up with 22 things in our cart. Ugh, ridiculous...

So, scan 4 is a printing plate. Do you consider it a card? I do, I guess. This card..or plate is of a player I saw play when I lived in California 14 years ago. Hard to believe it’s been that long since I moved back home. I was only there for a year and change because my grandma passed away while I was living in CA and my dad made me feel awful about being away when it happened. Anyways, back to the story. It took me a few weeks to make friends out there when my work transferred me from PA. The first friend I made grew up in San Jose and suggested we hit up a Sharks game after work one day since we were about 1.5 hours away. One random day I was just sitting at work, and I got a text from my buddy telling me to meet him after work at his place, and he would take me to a Sharks game. His sister had won the tickets from her job, but didn’t want to go, so we went instead. I had a blast during this game. Also, that place gets LOUD! The guy on this plate actually potted his first NHL goal during this game! I looked around in my closet to see if I had the ticket stub, but I think my buddy kept the tickets or maybe I lost it? Anyways, I had an eBay alert for his name and have a few of his cards, but I never purchased a plate. Initially the seller had the price at either $30 or $35, but I threw out a lowball offer and it was accepted. I think I paid around $15.

2007/08 Upper Deck Young Guns Lukas Kaspar Magenta Printing Plate 1/1 

Does this card/plate mean something to me? Well, I haven’t seen my buddy from California that I went to this game with in a very long time. We still talk on the phone every so often and text, but haven’t hung out and that sucks, but Lukas Kaspar will be a name that makes me think of my pal. This card or plate definitely means something to me. Although I only lived in CA for a short time, I do miss my buddies from out there. A bunch of weird stuff reminds me of them, like Mr. Pickles sandwiches, Darren McFadden, Reel Big Fish, Magic Hat #9, Joey Harrington and of course Lukas Kaspar. This plate will head to my PC. Someday I would love to get all 4. 

So, to my NorCal crew....

Appreciated.

The “Under-Appreciated” Pile: Scan 3

Boy what a day. My son had his first fall-ball t-ball practice today. A friend of mine is the head coach and I am helping out. It was a decent day and all of a sudden it was HOT! We were drenched at the end of it, but I think the kiddos had a blast. Hopefully I taught them all a thing or two.

Anyways, on to the “under-appreciated” scan. This is a card I bought for just a couple bucks off of a guy on social media. It came via PWE and is in fantastic shape. I don’t have a ton of basketball cards, but if I buy one, then it surely means something to me. I don’t have a single card of Blake Griffin, but now I do! This one was for my PC, and I meant to move it to my PC box, but it fell into this pile. Here it is:

2009/10 Topps Blake Griffin RC

Enjoy your Saturday folks! I’ll be back tomorrow!

The “Under-Appreciated” Pile: Scan 2

I made it another day of not purchasing a single card. However, a buddy I went to college with and his wife stopped by our house tonight. My wife and I hooked them up with some baby stuff (they’re having a baby in October). He ended up buying me a few hockey packs. I might put them away until the end of the month, but we will see if I end up getting the itch. Anyways, it was good to see him as it has been 20 years! I really miss some of my college buddies. Hopefully he and I can hang again sometime soon.

Well, I will get to what you’re really here for…the scan! The reason this card was in this pile to begin with can totally be blamed on my wife. One Friday we were over at my parents house swimming. We had the whole crew, with my parents, my brother and his family, and our kids. After coming home, getting the laundry going, bathing the kids, and getting them to bed, we were spent! I decided to go take a shower, and my wife said she would put something on TV while she typed up some work notes. When I came back out to the living room after my shower, she was watching My Lottery Dream Home. The host of this show (David) looks exactly like Sam Bradford to me. So, when I actually sat down, I looked for a Sam Bradford card to buy and ended up with this one. At the time the purchase seemed like a good idea, but then I received it in the mail and it sat on my desk for a long time. Hey Bryan, what card is it? Well, it’s this one…

2010 Playoff Absolute Rookie Premier Materials Patch/Ball Auto RC /10 (some damage in the football window)

So, do I appreciate this card? The answer has to be no. Total impulse buy on my part. At the moment it seemed like a good idea, but it would probably be more appreciated by someone else. Therefore, this will go into my sale pile. Sorry Sam Bradford!

The "Under-Appreciated" Pile: Scan 1

Well, I’m almost all the way through the day, I scanned all the cards on my desk from the "under-appreciated" pile, and I feel productive. Also, I haven’t browsed any sites for cards. I sold 2 on eBay, but nothing else. 

So, back to the scans…I went through the “under-appreciated” pile and took out 29 cards I felt I needed to appreciate more, and 1 card I have been meaning to scan that was in a box near my computer desk. Here is the first from the "under-appreciated" pile:

2018 Donruss Optic J’Mon Moore Red & Yellow Prizm RC

Recently a friend from social media had a stack sale, and I grabbed this card for 25 cents. If you don’t know what a stack sale is, it is when a person posts a photo of a bunch of cards lined up with a # above them and you have to be the first to claim a card. It’s fun until you lose a bunch of claims on cards you really like. I grabbed this J’Mon Moore card because he reminds me of the last year, I was writing fantasy articles for a few different websites. This one website in particular assigned me to do a deep dive on Moore for their dynasty league drafts article on Rookie Wide Receivers. After watching hours of J’Mon Moore, it was hard for me to come up with a lot of positives about what I just saw, but I did the best I could. What it all came down to was me not really recommending anyone drafting him in their dynasty drafts. While writing this article, my son who was about 5-6 months old was crawling around at my feet, so I picked him up and he watched a bunch of tape of J’Mon Moore with me. This card brought up that memory for me.

So, do I appreciate this card? The answer is, yes, I believe I do. J’Mon Moore will always remind me of when my oldest son was a baby and could fit in my lap. Boy does time fly!