Recent Pick Ups

 Mail Day!  My buddy Phil dealt me six more E98 including an upgrade and a couple Myers.

I'm about as close as I'm going to get to completing the E98 set now.  I just picked up four new players, and upgrade and a dupe.  

I've got all the commons at this point and ten of the HOFers.  Of the remaining HOFers I should be able to get the Lajoie and the Collins, but I don't see me getting the Cobb, Wagner, Young, Mathewson or Walsh any time soon.  Walsh is a tough card in the set, so while I may be able to afford him, he'll be tough to find in my price range.

So, here are the new pick ups...

First off is my Joe Tinker upgrade.  My other one can be seen in past posts where I showed my progress and it was full of paperloss on the front.

If you look closely you can see the overprint of the back on the front of this one.  If this was a T206 that would be really special, but I'm not sure if it is as special on an E98.  I think it is of course. 

Next up are the two Chief Meyers cards I picked up.  Obviously one red and one orange.  The red is the keeper for the set as the orange is skinned meaning the back is missing.  

Then another tough common from the set, the Tenney.  I'm really liking the blue background cards from this set.  The orange and blue are my favorites.  

Then another toughie, and another blue one.  The Coombs.  This one may be a little trimmed, but it counts all the same.

And last but not least is Hall of Famer Hughie Jennings.  This makes number twenty three in my set.

Here is the set as it stands today.  I'm very happy with it and would like to still upgrade a few including the Chase.  But, I'm not going to part with the Chase I have as it's a perfect terrible condition Lionel Carter example.

I think the different colors in this set look great together all mixed up like this.  My current favorites are the Brown, Clarke, Vaughn and Mack.  

I hope you enjoyed following my E98 journey as much as I have.

Enjoy the hobby all...It's a great one.

Custom Cards with Tanner Jones

 Custom Cards are nothing new to the hobby, but what Tanner Jones does is simply spectacular.

What do you do if you want a card of your favorite player that doesn't exist?  Or if you want a custom
card of your son or daughter.  You have a custom card made of course.  And there seems to be no better place to get one than to go to Tanner Jones from Texas.  His work is nothing short of amazing.

Tanner creates game used/relic cards, cut autograph cards, refractors even booklets.  

One of Tanner's favorite subjects is his favorite player, Jose Canseco.  Here is a custom triple booklet he created of Canseco.

As you can see, his work looks very professional.  Here is another angle of the same card.

I had an opportunity to speak to Tanner recently and get some insight into his work.

How did you learn how to make custom cards?

== Trial and error ... and a LOT of it!  I reached out to many custom card creators and no one really wanted to say much, so like a mad scientist, I spent hours upon hours, and countless dollars trying things.   

How long does it take to produce a custom?

== It really all depends upon the custom.   

How/Why did you start making customs?

== I started creating customs because my favorite player Jose Canseco didn't have any new cards when I first got into heavily collecting him as an adult.  I thought not having a base 2010/11/12/13 Topps card of him was a travesty!

How often do you make them?

== It really all depends.  If I'm inspired to, I will crack open photoshop and start creating something.   

Is it a job or just a hobby?

== It is just a hobby. 

Do you get requests from collectors?

== I do!  

What do you need from the customer to make the card?

== Mainly the relics to be used, along with a picture and text.  For example, I just did jumbo relics for a guy recently who sent me some of his old cleats he wore playing softball.  Another sent me relics from their wedding.  Still another sent me a cut signature from a check of their dad.

Cleats Customs

Do you have a waiting list?

== It really depends upon when someone reaches me.   

How do you create prizm/refractor like cards?

== That would probably require a tutorial to say, but to be brief, it takes printing on something clear, then sticking shiny paper behind it.  

What do you collect?

== Jose Canseco cards, high end low grade high eye appeal vintage, super key silver age comics, and custom transformers :)  

How long have you been collecting?

== I first got into the hobby in 1989, and it was my life for a few years, then I got back into it in 2006 or so, and haven't looked back! 

You had an amazing Jose Canseco collection.  What did you do with that?

== I sold off 99% of it, kept a few, and realized I still wanted to collect him, just not go after everything.  Since then, I've invested my money into vintage, comics, and have even bought out a few Canseco supercollectors! 

Do you still collect Canseco today?

== I do!  Just the super special ones.  I'm much more selective nowadays :)  

Where/How do you print your cards?

== Here is a tutorial I put together! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrVt4__mwcQ 

How does someone commission a card from you?

== They just ask me by emailing me at tanmanbaseballfan@gmail.com 

What's your favorite custom card you've done for someone else?

== Oh, man.  That's tough!  Here are a few of my favorites for my collection, though:  Custom Canseco nameplate set (Jose wore each jersey, and signed each letter ... 7 teams / 7 letters), a triple booklet with a jumbo patch, bat barrel, glove and shoe, a few cabinet cards, and finally, a card made completely out of a piece of his game used bat.  Oh, and a card with me and him on the front with a video screen showing a video.   

Are you trained in art or are you self-taught?

== Self taught!  I love all things design.  

Confessions of a Baseball Card Addict:

   - What's your book about?

== It is about my journey in cardboard.  I am never short on words describing all the things I've experienced in this hobby.  

   - Where can someone get a copy?

== Here: https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Baseball-Addict-Tanner-Jones/dp/1731198469/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8  - or they can reach out to me tanmanbaseballfan@gmail.com if they want a signed copy.  

   - What was it like writing a book?

== It was a labor of love.  It was never about selling it (though I'm happy people are buying and loving it!) Writing a book was always a bucket list item for me.   

What's your website where people can see your work?

== www.tanmanbaseballfan.com - I don't have a gallery really, but they are showcased throughout my articles I write.  I will also post them on Twitter @tanmanbbfan  

Well, there you have it folks.  A little closer look at Tanner Jones and his hobby of creating custom cards.  Please check out his book, his website and check him out on Twitter.  If you have an idea for a custom card you'd like done, feel free to email him as well.

Enjoy the hobby all...It's a great one.

New Pee Wee Reese Piece

 I recently pick up this cool piece for my collection

This is a Perez-Steele T3 style cards of Pee Wee Reese that is autographed and slabbed in an SGC slab with JSA Authentication.

I'm really excited about this one.  It's sort of stupid, but I've been wanting an SGC slab this size for a long time and have been looking at T3s lately. But when a friend of mine came into a bunch of Pee Wee Reese autographed items, and this was one of the items in the lot, I had to have it.  

I originally thought someone bought it and I missed out, but it turned out it was still available and I jumped on it.  It arrived today and I couldn't be happier with it.

Pee Wee was a leader and set the example of accepting Jackie Robinson on the Dodgers team and treating him with respect and like an equal.  He was a really good man and great ballplayer.  He was inducted into the baseball HOF in 1984 and passed away in 1999.  He was a great man.

As you can see it has a very nice signature across the bottom of the image and it present really well with the black borders of the SGC slab.  

Well, this was today's mail day, so I hope you like it.

Enjoy the hobby all...it's a great one.

Set Review: 1933 E285 Rittenhouse Candy Co

They was a very interesting set produced in 1933 but the Rittenhouse Candy Co designated E285 in the ACC.

This set has 52 cards in it and each card has a playing card style front with the photo of the player in the center.  The back of the cards have a letter printed on them.  The letters that are supposed to be on the backs are R, I, T, E, N, H, O, U, S, C, A, D & Y.  This makes it possible to spell out RITTENHOUSE CANDY CO which was a candy company out of Philadelphia.  If a kid was able to spell that out they could redeem a prize.

Well, as was the case with several sets from the era, some of the letters were harder to come by thereby making it very difficult to redeem cards for prizes.  To this day, I don't believe anyone has spelled out the entire thing.  

Below is a look at an almost complete spelling courtesy of OldCardboard.com.

Image Courtesy OldCardboard.com

As you can see the H and O are missing.  Those should be very tough letters to find.  I can only image kids in 1933 going crazy trying to get those letters and buying more and more candy in an effort to complete the words.  They must have been so frustrated.

There was also an instuctions back that listed the prizes (show here).

The prizes were as follows:

Fielder's Glove
First Base Mitt
Big League Ball
Skates
Air Rifle
Pearl Knife

This back is harder to find than a letter back.  Apparently there are also some backs with numbers on them and these are extremely difficult to find.  Some people believe the cards with numbers were a separate issue of these cards.

I have one example from this set. it is Dib Williams and he is picture below.  You can see how the cards were designed here with the playing card and center photo.  

These are small cards measuring only 1 7/16 by 2 1/4 inches.  They are made of cardboard stock that is fairly strong but could bend or crease easily.  There is only a small white border at the top and bottom of the card with the right and left sides cut right to image.  You will see examples that are trimmed to have the top and bottom borders missing. These ones are less desirable and can be had for much lower prices than non-trimmed versions.  

The cards can come in three colors: Red, Green and Blue.  There are two Babe Ruths in the set those being the Ace of Spades and the King of Clubs.  There are several other HOFers in the set as well.

Here is an image of three cards showing the three different colors.

Image courtesy OldCardboard.Com

These cards a scarce but completing a set is doable.  There have been several collectors who have done it.  I have no intentions of going for the set, I'm perfectly content with my one type card from this set.  I may pick up more, but only if the price is right and I just happen upon it.  I had two of the trimmed versions but gave them away to other collector friends of mine and kept my untrimmed version.

I highly recommend pick one up even as just a type card as they are really cool little cards.  I think you will like it if you do.

Enjoy the hobby all...it's a great one.

Babe Ruth in Action

Here is a very neat video of the 1920 Yankees vs. Cleveland at League Park.

It features a young Babe Ruth among others, including Tris Speaker, in wonderful action shots.  They used great technology of the day to film several scenes in slow motion using high speed cameras to slow down the speed.  You'll be able to see the Babe's swing perfectly.

The images of the crowds outside the park are really something with everyone in suits and hats.  And the boys chasing one of Ruth's home run balls that went out of the stadium and into a yard across the street.  

The announcer of the starting batteries using a megaphone to shout up to the crowd is very different from today's PA systems and jumbo screens with video and stats of the players.  

The whole style of play is different than today's game, not surprisingly.  The way pitchers throw to the way batters swing.  

Enjoy the hobby all...It's a great one.

Recent Pick Ups - More E98s

 I recently won a lot of E98s in the latest Collect Auction that raises my number in the set to 19 out of 30.

I won four cards, but only needed three of them for my set, so I ended up with one dupe.  I'm very excited with these three new cards.

The first one is Hall of Famer Chief Bender.

This is the only HOFer in the lot, but it's not my favorite of the lot.  The next card is my favorite, the orange Vaughn pictured below.

The E98 Vaughn in a tough card in this set, perhaps the toughest of the commons and I'm very excited that it is an orange example as I really like the orange backgrounds in this set.  This card was where the value laid in this lot.  

The last card I needed for my set was this green McLean.  I used to have a McLean but traded it to a friend who needed it for his set a while back. I'm glad to have one back now.

  

The last card in the lot was this orange Mullin.  Coincidentally the Mullin I already have is also an orange one but it is a nicer example than this one.  This card will be available for sale or trade in the event you're looking for one.  Just let me know.

Here is the new image of all my E98s as the set sits now.  I think they look great with the three blues that I recently picked up as well.  I'm hoping to upgrade my Tinker as well as (hopefully) land a Nap Lajoie in the near future.  I'll update you when/if that happens of course.

Thanks for sharing in my E98 journey everyone.  I'm really enjoying these cards a lot.  

Enjoy the hobby all...I am.