Week Recap 4/5/15-4/11/15

First full week back from vacation.  It's been a busy week, but it started off by me getting sick.  I'm much better now.  Let get on with the recap.

Recap 1: Random(or Un-random) cards of the day. 
If you are a follower of mine on twitter you see these every morning.  Sometimes I am able to give a small thought on the cards, but most of the time I do not have enough characters.  Here I can give my thoughts on each of these cards, without character limitations. If you want to see future cards on twitter follow me @gbcardguy on twitter and you can see all of these cards at georgebrettcards.weebly.com.

Sunday, April 5th Unrandom Non-George Brett Card of the Day
1974 O-Pee-Chee #604

What's not to love about vintage OPC cards.  Also its a Frank White rookie card.  Royals lovers will tell you that if defense was a the major factor of the Hall of Fame, he would probably be in it.







Monday, April 6th Random George Brett Card of the Day
1986 Sportflics #64

One of my favorite brand of cards.  3 cards in 1.  If you saw my last blog "The Top Ten Variation Cards" you would have saw that I listed the 1987 Sportflics variation as my number 1.

Tuesday, April 7th Random George Brett Card of the Day
2002 Fleer Fall Classics #93

2 of the best 3rd baseman's ever.  I'm sure others will disagree.  As stated in previous blogs, the early to mid-2000s Brett cards, are not well represented in my collection.  It is an era that I taking a hard look to expanding.

Wednesday, April 8th Random George Brett Card of the Day
1992 Pinnacle Rookie Idols #3

I am not sure why this card is listed for so much money.  Gary Cooper, although he had a good minor league career, his major league career was less than a month.

Thursday, April 9th Random George Brett Card of the Day
1981 Donruss #100

It's the first year of Donruss.  To what some call the beginning to the downfall of the baseball cards.  I know in the early 80s times were different, but it still amazes me that no one had any problems putting out cards with players having a big piece of chaw in his cheek.

Friday, April 10th Random George Brett Card of the Day
2005 Leaf Certified Materials #193
What's up with the "5", it looks weird.  I actual have a good selections of 2005 cards.  With several serial numbered cards and a bat card.

Saturday, April 11th Unrandom George Brett Card of the Day
1981 Ted Watts Postcards

Some might not consider this a card, but I will.  There is actual 2 variations of this card.  This one has black ink on the back.  I am on the hunt for one with brown ink on the back.  Their on eBay, but I'm waiting for one in a price that I'm willing to pay.

Recap 2: New cards added to the collection
Only 3 new Brett cards added this week.  But I am excited for the 3 I got, 2 variations and 1 panel.  You can see them on my front front page of my website georgebrettcards.weebly.com. I do have a 1987 Topps hardback sticker on the way.  I'll get it posted when it arrives.  But I have started collecting 2015 Topps Series 1 cards.  I haven't bought a pack of cards since I was in middle school.  It is fun opening up packs and being surprised what's inside.  I have over 80% of the base cards and several of the related set cards.  I will probably be putting them up for sale sometime.  Not sure which site to put them on.  EBay is the most popular, but since I have been on Twitter I have seen several other areas to sell.  If anyone reading this has any suggestions, let me know.

Recap 3: Life in general 
This week I am a bachelor.  My wife is helping her mother to recover from a knee surgery and our kids are at my moms.  I should get to the honey-do list, but motivation right now is pretty low.  I think it will get done eventually, but for now, this guy is ready for bed...Good night!

Wednesday Top Ten - Variation Cards

It is that time again.  It's Wednesday and it's time for another top ten list.  My top ten lists will mainly be based on George Brett cards, but they might be different players cards or if something else catches my fancy I might do that.  My top ten lists, unless otherwise stated, are limited to cards that I currently own, and front and back scans can be seen at georgebrettcards.weebly.com. The lists are strictly base on my opinion.  Cards might be listed because they have some memorable back story, cool design, or something that simply sticks out about them.  Feel free to comment, I love talking to other collectors.

Today's subject is variation cards.  These are something that I came upon about a year ago.  First I need to define what I determine as a variation card.  My definition is - Any card that has a minor visual difference that was intended or unintended by the singular manufacturer, excluding error/correction, inserts or related sets. I am not a professional collector, not even close, so I am sure that other collectors will have a difference of opinion.  All cards pictured below can be seen at georgebrettcards.weebly.com

Let me give an example of a couple, in my opinion, non-variation cards.

1.     Topps & O-Pee-Chee Cards - Not a variation, because (even though the same picture) technically 2 different companies

2.      Product Brand Cards - Not a variation, because they are usually have its own related set & numbering system.

3.      Different Border/Color Cards/Additional Print - Not a variation, because it has its own related sets

Now on to the Top Ten

GBCardGuy's Top Ten Variation George Brett Baseball Cards

10. What happened to the old printer? - 1991 Fleer #552

According to Baseballcardpedia.com, Some believe these were caused by Fleer's use of two different printers. These cards contain minor cropping, locations of the stat lines, missing dots, amount of white on back.

9. Wax Pack Vs. Complete Set - 1987 Donruss #54 & 1988 Donruss #102

In 1987 & 1988 Donruss did a separate design for the wax packs and the complete sets to distinguish them.  In 1987 they did a reverse back and in 1988 they did a reverse border.

8. Umm...We ran out if paper! - 1981 O-Pee-Chee #113 & 1980 Topps Super #14

Sometimes different color cardstock are used during different printings.  The story I found about the 1981 OPC is that they ran out of white cardstock and used gray on the last printing.

7. Who doesn't love stickers? - 1988 & 1989 Topps/O-Pee-Chee Stickers 

In 1988 & 1989 Topps and OPC turn the sticker cards 2 cards in 1.  But not all of the sticker backs and stickers were the same.  There are over 40 known variations of the George Brett stickers.  Check out georgebrettcards.weebly.com to see several variations of these.

6. Dot the Border! - 1990 Donruss #144

Lets face the facts.  Many of the variation cards are Donruss cards.  Which is probably one of the only reason why I spend a lot of time researching them.  The 1990 base set has up to 2 or 3 known dotted borders.

5. Let make a consensus.  Is it inc or inc.? - Donruss 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992

I can understand that someone had a hard time making a decision, but for 4 years straight.  Both inc and inc. were used each year.  Talk about your indecision, but Donruss is not done yet.

Bonus!!! How do we Denote...*Denotes* - 1989 Donruss #204 & Bonus MVP #BC7

In 1989 not only could they not decide whether they wanted to use inc. or inc, but also how to denote...denotes.  So for both the base card and the MVP there are 4 different variations.

4. Umm...We ran out of black ink - 1976 Hostess #114, 1981 Ted Watts Postcards, 1987 Action Allstars #11

Sometimes you start a project and half way through you realize that you don't have enough supplies. Ink is one of those particular items.  I am not totally sure why some have black ink and some have brown, but it makes the hunt that much more fun.  The Ted Watts also has a black & brown variation.  The Action allstars has a black & blue variation.  The blue is super rare.

3. Are the Stars Out Tonight - 1977 Topps Cloth Stickers #7, 1992 Topps Kids #105, 1992 Topps McDonald's #6

These cards are denoted with one or two stars on the back.  

Bonus!! Now I know my CDEFs - 1992 Stadium Club #150 & #609

Just like the cards before, these cards are noted with different letters.

2. Just because I'm the only card in a set, doesn't mean there is not 2 of me! - 1982 Brett Spotbilt #5

This card is the only one made in this set.  The difference is that the back on the left ends in a 1980 stat line and the card on the right ends on a 1981 stat line.

1. Copyright, we don't need no stinkin' copyright! - 1987 Sportflics #5, #114, #197

In the 1987 Sportflics they did different copyright numbers and some card variations didn't didn't even put a copyright on it at all.  The card on the far right is listed on one website for $100.  I didn't pay anywhere close to that.    

This top ten list ended spilling over into Thursday, but it was fun to do. Do you agree with my top ten? Let me know your favorite cards are and it doesn’t have to be limited to George Brett.  Please comment below and I will respond. 

I have two choices for my next Top Ten list, which will probably be out next Wednesday.

Choice 1: Top Ten Topps George Brett Cards

Choice 2: Top Ten Bo Jackson Cards

or...Something else

Thanks for checking out my blog. This Guy is ready for bed!

2 Week Recap - 04/05/15

Been on vacation for a week and did not get a recap in before I left.  So lets begin.

Recap 1: Random(or Un-random) cards of the day.
While on vaca I did not put up any random (or Un-random) cards on Twitter, but the week of 03/22/15-03/27/15 I did, but have not gotten a chance to recap those.  I will have new starting tomorrow.  To see those follow me on Twitter @gbcardguy.

Sunday March 22nd Unrandom Non-George Brett Card of the Day
1984 Nestle #138 1983 Leading Firemen

All I can say is "Sweet Facial Hair!"

Monday March 23rd Random George Brett Card of the Day
2013 Panini Golden Age #113

Not a huge fan of the border, seems like Topps and Panini like, the vintage vibe.  There is a way to make it cool, unfortunately this isn't one of them.  Even though, when I started recollecting cards back in about 4 years ago I really enjoy picking up the current calender year Brett cards.

Tuesday March 24th Random George Brett Card of the Day
1994 Fleer #149

Beginning of the post retirement cards.  I like the middle 1990s Fleer cards better the 1980s.  Nice action shot.

Wednesday March 25th Random George Brett Card of the Day
1978 O-Pee-Chee #215

I love OPC cards.  Whats not to love.  White card stock, French wording, & usually in horrible condition; what's not to love.  Especially with the huge piece of chaw in his cheek.

Thursday March 26th Random George Brett Card of the Day
2005 Zenith #231

I struggle collecting the early to mid 2000s Brett cards.  There are a ton of them, 90% are priced more than I want to spend on a single card and there is not very many base cards like this one.  Also this era is before I started recollecting.  If you have been to my web page, http://georgebrettcards.weebly.com/, you will see that I have a goal of over 1000 different Brett cards by the end of the year, to reach this goal I realize that I am going to have to start focusing on this era of cards.

Friday March 27th Random George Brett Card of the Day

1984 Star Brett #1 Checklist

I know it doesn't seem random when I had another 1984 Star card the week before, but it is.  I have all my cards listed out in an excel spreadsheet and have an online number randomizer pick out the cards

Saturday March 28th UNRandom George Brett Card of the Day

1988 Donruss #102

This is a un-Tweeted card of the day.  It would have been what I would have tweeted on that Saturday if I wasn't in a car for 10 hours (I'll discuss that later).  So this is a GBCardGuy blog exclusive.  You might be wondering why I would have used a very common card for a unrandom card, but if you look closely it is not like most 1988 Donruss cards.  The border is slightly different.  This is a variation card. I think on the Wednesday Top Ten list I will discuss these more.  Check my website at http://georgebrettcards.weebly.com/ to see both variations and see exactly how they are different. 

Recap 2: New cards added to the collection

Nothing new on the George Brett front.  I supposedly have a package of 3 variation cards on the way, but it is taking forever to get here.  I did add the Bo Jackson M.V.P. 10 card set to my collection last week.  I will maybe some day do a Bo Jackson site too. I have a large collection of oddball and unlicensed of his.  Also, I haven't bought packs of cards since I was in junior high school, but I have recently started collecting the 2015 Topps Series I cards and will probably start listing the specialty cards on eBay or maybe some other platforms.  Check back to my blog or twitter for updates.

Recap 3: Life in general 

As stated before, my family and I just got back from a week long vacation seeing friend out in SW Kansas.  10 hours trip out and back.  Love the trip, got some good rest, and now I am sick.  At least it waited until I got back.  Hopefully I am back to work tomorrow.  A little worried about what is waiting for me.

As a final thought, being that today is Resurrection Sunday, or known to many as Easter, I want to make a small statement, with a huge meaning. I am just a guy, who is in possession of a George Brett collection and likes to talk about that collection, but that is only a small part of me.  I am a follower of Christ.  Not a perfect follower, in fact sometimes I stumble more than I walk, but that is only because I try to follow Him on my own terms.  Hebrew 12:1-2 state "Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne." I probably won't mention too much about my faith on this blog, but I want to let readers know a little about me.  I am happy to talk about George Brett  or cards in general to all readers, but I am equally and even more happy to talk about the "source and perfecter of my faith," to all readers.   But for now, this guy is ready for bed...Good night!