However, my hobby love has been reinvigorated through buying/selling/collecting in other avenues since early 2020. I have started a substantial Lebron James rookie card collection, and have paid for some of it through profits in buying and selling basketball and baseball cards. I had a number of Topps and Bowman base card sets from my kids' birth years (2011, 2013, 2016, and 2018), and I sent off the cream of the crop to PSA to get graded. It has been a very profitable endeavor, including the 2011 Topps Update Mike Trout coming back in a PSA 10 holder. I bought the entire 2011 Update set for $30 back in late 2011. The Trout, Golschmidt, Lemahieu, and Rizzo all came back as PSA 10's. I have thoroughly enjoyed turning a lot of those base cards into funds to purchase other investment cards (Mbappe, Haaland, Zion, Morant, etc.) that I have in turn graded and sold for more profit to start purchasing some Lebron rookies in PSA 10. Even better, my kids and nephews are into it. It is a blast opening packs with them, and helping them start their own card collections!
With regard to the Justin Duchscherer collection, there is not much to tell. Since 2017, additions are few and far between, usually consisting of duplicate SSP /50 or less that I still enjoy picking up cheap.
However, my hobby love has been reinvigorated through buying/selling/collecting in other avenues since early 2020. I have started a substantial Lebron James rookie card collection, and have paid for some of it through profits in buying and selling basketball and baseball cards. I had a number of Topps and Bowman base card sets from my kids' birth years (2011, 2013, 2016, and 2018), and I sent off the cream of the crop to PSA to get graded. It has been a very profitable endeavor, including the 2011 Topps Update Mike Trout coming back in a PSA 10 holder. I bought the entire 2011 Update set for $30 back in late 2011. The Trout, Golschmidt, Lemahieu, and Rizzo all came back as PSA 10's. I have thoroughly enjoyed turning a lot of those base cards into funds to purchase other investment cards (Mbappe, Haaland, Zion, Morant, etc.) that I have in turn graded and sold for more profit to start purchasing some Lebron rookies in PSA 10. Even better, my kids and nephews are into it. It is a blast opening packs with them, and helping them start their own card collections!
2 Comments
I can't believe it has been more than four years since I have updated this blog. Since my last post, I have had two more children, advanced personally and professionally, and remained committed to my pursuit of this Justin Duchscherer collection. Just recently, in fact, I picked up two cards that were on my non-1/1 list! A full update post will be coming soon, as I continue to compile and organize the cards and memorabilia.
Over the last few weeks, I have managed to pick up a few more Justin Duchscherer short-printed cards: 2005 Topps Chrome Xfractor /25, 2004 Leaf Gold Press Proof /25, and 2009 Bowman Chrome Gold Ref /50. Picking up these types of Duchscherer cards keeps my interest until the next big find comes along.
The bigger news is that I finally decided to clean out my old closet at my parents' house, and I stumbled upon a mini treasure trove of sports memorabilia and cards! First, and foremost, I came across an old Santa Clara University basketball jersey that Steve Nash signed for me (back when I was in 8th grade)! A family friend was in a study group with Steve Nash and got him to sign this jersey for me as a birthday present. A definite centerpiece to my collection! Next up was a group of signed basketballs and footballs that I had received as gifts during my earlier years. Here is a picture of the items on a shelf in my closet. The upper-left basketball is signed by Jerry West, although it is slightly faded. The lower-left basketball is signed by Jason Kidd and inscribed "ROY 95"! The red-and-white mini football is signed by Joe Montana. The yellow-and-blue mini football is signed by Steve Young. The full-size NFL football is signed by my father's favorite player, Bernie Kosar (my father grew up in Cleveland and is a die-hard Browns fan)! The third picture, here, is a Santa Clara University game program signed by Steve Nash, and an autographed 8 x 10 signed by Kobe Bryant during his rookie season! The fourth picture, here, is a number of Oakland Athletics bobbleheads my brother and I have collected over the years. This photo also shows several signed OMLB in the background, including Tim Salmon (went with my grandfather to a signing in 1994, back when he was a star), Orel Hershiser, Dave Stewart, and Justin Duchscherer! Last, but definitely not least, is this fifth picture, which shows various cards that I retrieved from the bins in my old room. Across the top are five 1986 Topps Update rookie cards featuring Will Clark, Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, Bo Jackson, and Jose Canseco. The middle row consists of a 1999 Topps certified auto of Dan Marino, a Joe Montana IP auto, and three Santa Clara University basketball pocket schedules signed by Steve Nash! The bottom row is two rookie cards of Kobe Bryant. All in all, it was quite an amazing day of "pickups"! Looks like I need to start working on my wife to allow me to set up the spare bedroom as a man-cave! Time to update the blog again. I have picked up two Justin Duchscherer 1/1 cards in the last couple months! The first was the 2011 Topps Magenta Printing Plate! You can view that printing plate here. I had contacted the seller sometime last year, and he could not find the Duchscherer Magenta plate at that time. Fast forward a year, and it appears on eBay and makes its way into my collection! I also picked up the 2009 Topps Vault Blank Back #285 1/1! You can view it here and here. Topps releases these blank back cards every once in awhile, and it is the first Duchscherer blank back that has popped up. Again, another fantastic 1/1 added to the collection.
As for non-1/1 Duchscherer pickups, I have continued to pickup short-printed copies of Duchscherer cards (numbered to 60 or less). It is a great way to keep my interest going while I try to locate the remaining 15 cards needed to complete the non-1/1 collection. I have picked up copies of Duchscherer's 2009 Bowman Chrome Orange and Gold Refractors, 2011 Topps Black, 2007 Upper Deck Spectrum Patches, etc. I also found three more Duchscherer cards to add to the non-1/1 list! They are the APBA cards, which is a game similar to Strat-O-Matic. I picked up the 2005, 2006, and 2008 APBA Justin Duchscherer cards, which are fun additions to my collection. Another cool find was a 2001 Arizona Fall League schedule for the Peoria Javelinas signed by Justin Duchscherer! You can see the schedule here. I love it because it is so unique. The main non-Duchscherer pickup was a Manny Pacquiao 2011 Allen & GInter mini no-number /50! You can view the back of that card here. That leaves only the Silk /10 to complete my Pacquiao A&G collection (outside of the prohibitively expensive red autographs /10, printing plates /1, and mini wood /1). I would love to extend my Pacquiao card collection to Topps Triple Threads and Topps Marquee, but the autographs are quite expensive. Hopefully, those card prices will decrease when he retires (or loses again). Until next time! It has been far too long since I updated my blog. I have enjoyed many maildays over the last three months, and I will break them up into two posts. This post will focus on the memorabilia maildays, which have brought with them some amazing items!
Around Christmas, an eBay seller listed a Justin Duchscherer autographed 2008 All Star game jersey and a Justin Duchscherer game used hat! Needless to say, I jumped all over that lot. It turns out that the seller lived only a couple miles away from me! I got a knock on my door literally within hours of paying for the purchase, and it was the seller with the jersey and hat. You can view the jersey here, and the hat here. These are two incredible pieces to add to my Justin Duchscherer collection. I thought I would focus solely on his cards, but I've slowly accumulated some cool pieces of memorabilia over the last couple years. On top of the jersey and hat, I also picked a Justin Duchscherer autographed Official Major Leage Baseball, which you can view here. I also picked up some memorabilia items for my Manny Pacquiao collection. If/when I am able to set up a man-room in the house (assuming my wife ever allows it, ha), I want to have a large framed Pacquio piece featuring items from the fight against Miguel Cotto that I attended with my brother back in December 2009. So, I picked up an autographed Time Magazine featuring Pacquiao on the cover, which you can view here. I also picked up a couple of autographed 8x10s of Pacquiao pummeling Cotto. I love that Pacquiao signs so frequently because it keeps his autograph prices very reasonable. The final piece of memorabilia could very well be the centerpiece of my personal collection for quite some time. My good friend in Houston, Erik, let me know in advance that he was going to attend the Tri-Star show back in January. I went online and saw that Mike Tyson was going to be signing at the show. As a big boxing fan, I have always wanted a Mike Tyson autograph. I spent some time thinking about what I would want him to sign. A few days passed and I hadn't thought about it at all, when I came across my old school Nintendo NES and Punch-Out game. Bingo! That was it. I sent Erik some cash via PayPal and he purchased a clean copy of the classic NES game, Mike Tyson's Punchout, along with the ticket for Tyson's autograph. Here is the beautiful result! Erik got a picture with Iron Mike, and told me that people waiting in line with him were commenting about how cool it was to get the game signed. I couldn't agree more. Thanks, Erik! My next post will discuss my card maildays, including two Duchscherer 1/1s! I have had several maildays over the last few weeks, comprising of awesome additions to various collections. First, I traded a Mark Grace TTM auto to a Grace collector for a Justin Duchscherer 2004 Leaf Gold Press Proof /25. That is the fourth copy (out of 25) that I have added to my collection. It is always fun to add SSP cards of Justin Duchscherer.
I added a 1978 Topps Pete Maravich in PSA 8 to my Maravich PSA 8 collection. You can view it here. That leaves only the 1975, 1977, and 1980 Topps base cards in PSA 8 to complete that collection. They should be pretty easy to find and inexpensive. I will be very happy to have that set completed as Maravich is by far my favorite basketball player and the vintage cards look so great in PSA slabs. The next big mailday came courtesy of my friend, Erik, out in Houston. Erik is selling some cards for the owner of his LCS, and I purchased three Rickey Henderson 1980 Topps rookie cards! The three cards are in solid shape and I will definitely use the nicest one to get Rickey Henderson's signature next time I catch him at a card show. The following mailday brought the crown jewel of my Manny Pacquiao collection ... his 2011 Allen & Ginter autographed rookie card! These autographed cards were going for about $900 when they first came out, so I thought owning one would always be a pipe dream. You can view the card here. However, I was able to pick one up for less than 40% of that initial price. I now have the Pacquiao base, mini, mini A&G back, mini black, mini Bazooka back /25, glossy /999, code card, relic, and auto from the 2011 A&G set! I just need to find the NNO /50 and Silk /10 to complete my Pacquiao Allen & Ginter collection. The most recent mailday consisted of a very cool Hank Gathers item in the form of a 1989-90 LMU media guide. You can view the front here and the back here. It is a thick media guide with many fun facts and stats previewing that great LMU team. It is yet another cool piece in my Gathers collection. As for upcoming events, I am looking forward to the impending release of 2012 Bowman Draft as there is a new player (finally!) that I plan on collecting. I just need to decide how deep to go as I may choose to do a little investing in this player in hopes of flipping for a profit. I am also closing in on a Hank Gathers cut autograph! If I did acquire it (Christmas bonus, perhaps?), I would like to repackage it using the amazing custom design skills of a member of the Freedom Cardboard forums. A custom Gathers auto booklet would be one of the pinnacles of my collection. The last few weeks have included some fun-filled maildays featuring a wide variety of items. As always, we start with the Justin Duchscherer collection. Finally, my eleventh 1/1 Justin Duchscherer card arrived from Japan (18 long days for shipping). It is the 2009 Topps In the Name "C" Letter Patch! You can view the card here. I now have the "D", "C", and "S" from that set. I have contacted an individual who has an "E" and "R", but they are currently not for sale. Still, I love adding new cards to the Justin Duchscherer collection, especially now that new cards are few and far between. In order to keep me motivated, I pick up a few cards /60 or less when they pop up. It's fun, and the cards only cost a few dollars each.
I finally finished my Rickey Henderson Basic Topps PSA 8+ set! The last one to arrive was the 2002 Topps #165 in a PSA 9. You can view it here. For symmetry purposes, I may try to upgrade all the PSA 8 cards to PSA 9, but that would be down the road. I'm happy to finally finish that set. I am also closing in on finishing my Pete Maravich Basic Topps PSA 8 set. I picked up both the 1973 Topps and 1974 Topps in PSA 8. I love the vintage look. You can view the 1973 Topps here, and the 1974 Topps here. The 1978 Topps PSA 8 was just purchased a few days ago, so I will have a scan up when it arrives. That will leave just 1975, 1977, and 1980. I decided to make a push on my Manny Pacquiao collection, and I am focusing solely on 2011 Topps Allen & Ginter right now, as that is Pacquiao's "true" rookie card (with variations). I already had the base card, mini, mini A&G back, mini black, code card, and glossy /999. In the last couple weeks, I made two major additions. First, I purchased the Pacquiao mini Bazooka back /25! You can view it here. The second major addition was the Pacquiao A&G fight-worn relic card! You can view it here. These were awesome pickups, and now I am down to just the A&G silk /10, A&G no number /50, and the autograph. I am going to skip the red autograph and the 1/1s because they are far too expensive. Who knows? Maybe one day. A man can dream ... The last couple pickups were for my Hank Gathers collection. I picked up another unlicensed "Millhouse mini" card for a few bucks. You can view it here. It's nothing special, but Gathers had no licensed cards, so I like to pick up a few homemade cards here and there. The cool pickup was a 1989-90 LMU pocket schedule featuring Gathers! You can view the front here and the back here. The schedule is awesome (and in great shape) and is nice reminder of that special LMU team that averaged over 122 points per game. Every basketball fan should watch a replay of the game between LMU and LSU on February 3, 1990. LSU won 148-141 in overtime. Gathers had 48 points and 13 rebounds, and a young LSU freshman named Shaquille O'Neal had 20 points, 24 rebounds, and 12 blocks. It was one of the most entertaining games ever played! Well, I have let another two months go by without posting on my blog. At least I have a pretty good reason for that. My family just moved to a new home and I have been spending all my free time working on home projects and unpacking boxes. Still, I managed to find time to spend more money on cards ;) I have a number of new pickups that are wonderful additions to my various collections.
Starting with my Justin Duchscherer collection, I continue to pick up extra copies of short-printed cards, including a 2011 Topps Black /60, a 2007 UD Spectrum three color patch /50, and a 2001 Donruss Hawaii /10! Oh, yeah, and I picked up this 1/1 beauty. 2008 Topps Update Platinum 1/1! That brings my total to ten 1/1s. I also just purchased what will be eleventh 1/1 when it arrives from Japan --- 2009 Topps In The Name Letter "C"! I'll post a scan of it when it arrives. I also picked up two cool pieces of memorabilia in the form of Justin Duchscherer's opening day locker nameplates with MLB hologram authenticators! The first one here is from Opening Day 2005 at Baltimore. The second one here is the Oakland Athletics' 2005 home opener versus Toronto! I am really pleased with these pickups and they are quite cool in person. With regards to my Kobe Bryant SP/Panini PSA 10 collection, I made some major progress over the last couple months. I picked up this 1997 SP PSA 10 to complete the entire SP base run from 1996 to 2008. I also picked up two Panini base for 2010 and 2011, which only leaves the newly-released 2012 Panini base (and, of course, any base from future seasons played by Kobe). It is nice to be totally caught up on my Kobe collection and I was lucky to find that 1997 SP! I was able to pick up one of the last two cards remaining for my Rickey Henderson base Topps PSA collection. It is the 2000 Topps in PSA 10 here. That leaves only the 2002 Topps remaining ... which I just purchased online in PSA 9! It is on the way to me, and I was very lucky to find it as the population report on PSA shows only 14 graded cards for the 2002 Topps. That will wrap up my PSA RIckey Henderson run, though I may try upgrading certain cards to a higher grade over time. One collection complete! Here is the 1979 Topps Pete Maravich in PSA 8 that arrived a couple weeks ago. That brings my total to 5 out of 11 cards for the Maravich basic Topps collection, with the most difficult cards (1970-72) already in my collection. I'll probably continue to pick the rest up slowly over the coming months. I love adding to my Pete Maravich collection. I am also rapidly expanding my Manny Pacquiao Allen & Ginter collection. I am awaiting the arrival of the relic card and the Bazooka /25, buth purchased in the last 24 hours! I would like to eventually add his autographed Ginter card, the Ginter Silk /10, and the Ginter NNO /50. Manny Pacquiao's cards are pretty expensive, so I am just focusing on his true rookie Allen & Ginter cards. I'll have more scans shortly and I'm happy to be posting on this blog again! I cannot believe it has been two full months since I last updated this website and blog. I have been incredibly busy with work, my daughter's first birthday, and my family's impending move to a new home in San Jose. Despite all that, I have still been checking once a day for any new Justin Duchscherer cards that may surface. Fortunately, I have been able to pick up a number of new cards, not only of Justin Duchscherer, but also Hank Gathers, Rickey Henderson, and 1951 Bowman cards for my raw set!
Starting with the Justin Duchscherer pickups, I was able to knock off one of the remaining cards on my non-1/1 list --- the 2009 Allen & Ginter NNO /50! You can view it here. On top of that, I was able to add two 1/1s and an error card!. I picked up the 2009 Topps In The Name "S", which you can view here. I picked up a 2005 Topps Yellow Printing Plate, which you can see here. I also picked up a 2006 Upper Deck Monte Irvin Error card with Justin Duchscherer's name stamped at the bottom as seen here. I am so pleased with these finds! On top of that, I decided to pick up Justin Duchscherer's Start-O-Matic cards from 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2008. I decided to count them as part of the non-1/1 list, and my total is now at 210/225 (93.33%). Here is the 2004 Front and Back, the 2005 Front and Back, the 2006 Front and Back, and the 2008 Front and Back. It is incredible how close I am to completing the non-1/1 set. However, the last 15 cards could be a long time coming. In order to keep my Justin Duchscherer collection feeling fresh, I have decided to start picking up duplicate copies of cards with a print run of 60 or less. I have picked up about a dozen of these cards, including several 2009 Bowman Chrome Orange Refractos /25, and some 2002 Donruss Elite die-cuts. Looking for these cards has really kept me going strong on this collection, and it keeps it fun. At some point, I may expand the duplicate list, but I am enjoying it for now. My brother surprised me for my birthday awhile back with some 1951 Bowman raw cards! You can see them here and here. I am now up to 90/324 on my 1951 Bowman raw set. Those cards look amazing in the binder. I am pushing along slow and steady with that set, as it will be a very long-term project for me. I also picked up a 1995 Topps Rickey Henderson PSA 9 for my Rickey Henderson Topps PSA base set. You can see it here. I am down to just 2000 and 2002 in that particular set. I also grabbed a couple Millhouse Mini Hank Gathers cards. You can see them here and here. They are not official cards, but I enjoy grabbing them nonetheless. Hank Gathers has no "official" cards, so I'll pick up some unlicensed cards of his when they pop up. All in all, an incredible two months for my collects! It has been about six weeks since I have posted on my blog. The time lapse wsa due to a heavy workload, a trip to Maui with the family, and the lack of any new leads on Justin Duchscherer cards. However, I did receive an awesome gift from my brother on my birthday. He bought a nice 1951 Bowman lot for my collection! The cards look great. I will be sorting them shortly and uploading scans. I am so excited and appreciative of my brother helping me out with the 1951 Bowman set. Of course, the set looks so cool that it did not take much prodding to get my brother to jump on board.
As for the Justin Duchscherer collection, it has been months since I picked up a new Justin Duchscherer card and I was beginning to get a little nervous that the well might have run dry. Fear not, though! I have stumbled across two separate leads for new Justin Duchscherer cards and I could not be more thrilled! I am hoping to land these two cards in the next week or so. One of them does not appear on my want list as it is an error card. I look forward to that fun, new piece for the collection as it would be my one and only Justin Duchscherer error card. I am really, really hoping to land these two cards. A new addition to the Justin Duchscherer collection would be a huge confidence boost. Here's to a wonderful Memorial Day! |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2020
Categories |