My Top Ten Favorite George Brett Cards from 1975-1979

I have not let it be a secret that 1975 is my favorite Topps set.  I might be a little bias because it is George Brett's rookie year, but I like the design more than anything.  The two-tone color background was drastically different than anything before it or after for quite a while.  There are other things that stand out about this set that makes it one of the more collected sets, but you can go to baseballcardpedia.com to see that and other great resources about different sets.

Several of my favorite cards come from this era of Brett's career.  You can see all the cards from 1975 to 1979 here at the 1975-1979 page of "The Unofficial George Brett Card Catalog"  My top ten lists, unless otherwise stated, are limited to cards that I currently own.  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, too me, about them.  Feel free to comment, I love talking to other collectors.

My Top Ten Favorite George Brett Cards from 1975-1979

10. 1978 Kellogg's #6

It really could have been a tossup between this one or the 1979 Kellogg's.  It's funny how times has changed,  Back in the 70's it was cool to have a cheek full of chaw.  Not any more.  It is a good reason why they stopped, but I still can't see how anyone thought this was a cool, manly look.  At the same time, I can't see why the leisure suit was ever fashionable either.

9. 1975 Topps #228 

I bet this isn't a surprise that it's on the list, but a surprise why it is so low.  The answer is simple and will be understood as the top ten unfolds.  I have 3 of these cards.  This one is in very good condition, but terribly off centered.  The second one has a crease and the third is in absolutely terrible condition.  I have a long term goal to have one that would qualify for a grade 8 or higher, but that will be unlikely ever to happen.

8.  1976 SSPC #589 

Certain cards just make me laugh.  This is one of those cards for 2 reasons.  1st, what a face!  At least George looks like he is having a good time.  The second is Al Cowens name is spelled wrong.  Makes it a classic.

7. 1979 Topps Comics #9

I know...Not technically a card.  This makes it one of the reasons I like it.  Anything that goes away from the standard cardstock, rectangular style of cards, I'm into it.  Also I find it funny, that even though this is a cartoon drawing, they still added the chaw in his cheek.  

6. 1977 Hostess Twinkies #36 

Surprisingly, It took me a while before I found out about this card.  I learned about it after joining "The Trading Card Database". Side Note, if you are into trading cards of any type, I strongly recommend this site.  This card is similar to the regular hostess except for the back.  It has a black line that symbolizes that it came from individually wrapped Twinkies. Much harder to find, which makes them more valuable.  I got very luck on this one.  For some reason I ask the seller, who listed it as a standard Hostess, to send me a scan of the back  Low and behold, it was a Twinkie card.  It was mine shortly after that.

5. 1978 SSPC #217

Half way done.  I have the full team set of these card.  Sorry George, you can't pull off the wide collar look.  I am still trying to figure out why he is wearing a collared shirt under his uniform.  One of my favorites because I do have the full set and the patience I had to wait to get it.  This set actually has a pre-rookie Willie Wilson in it,  You can see the full set here. 

4. 1975 Topps Mini #228

If you are still wondering why was #9 so high on the list, here is one reason why.  I like the mini card better.  According to Baseballcardpedia.com this was the only year that Topps produced a mini card, until 1987, I believe.  It was also only sent to a few test market locations.  Luckily this one is mine.

3. 1977 Burger Chef Discs #71

I decided to put both the front and back of this card.  The back is what I really like and actually it is the backs of the whole set that make this card so high.  The front is not very exciting, but the backs have several different cartoon drawings that are just funny and fun to look at.

2. 1977 Topps Cloth Stickers #7

The cloth sticker card is one of my favorites and one of my most collected cards.  I have several of these.  If you read my variations top ten you would see that there are two different variations.  You can go to my website and see both of them.

Honorable Mentions 

1977 Chilly Willie Discs #7

Mainly because it is fun to say Chilly Willie.

1977 O-Pee-Chee #170

Very similar to the Topps Cloth Sticker card.

1. 1975 O-Pee-Chee #228

Again shouldn't be a surprise that Brett's rookie is my top card.  This OPC card was my top card in my top ten overall all cards.  as I said on that top ten, "Not only is it a rookie card with the classic green and purple background('75 is my favorite Topps set), not only is it an OPC with the white card stock, not only is half of it in French, but also it is a pretty rare card and I still feel lucky to have it in my collection." I still feel that way today, except that I would change one word.  I would switch the word luck, to the word blessed.  More about that later.  For now it is late and this guy is ready for bed.  Good night!

When life give you dilemmas....Do you know who has the water and sugar?

I tweeted a couple of days ago that I got my first George Brett card of 2016.  

Here is it:


1979 Topps with a 2015 Original Stamp.

I know these cards have spurred a lot of controversy in the trading card world.  Is Topps ruining old cards or bringing new life to what were probably never loved cards?  As a Brett collector, which looks at every card with a distinguishing “manufacturer’s” mark as a different entry in the database, I couldn't help but get this card, especially at the price that the seller wanted for it. 

Now here is my dilemma.  Where should I put this card in the database, under 1979 or 2015?  Oh, if life choices were this difficult all the time, think how much life would be easier.  I went back and forth, finally deciding that since it is a 1979 card, that's were it should stay, with a notation of the 2015 stamp.  For me it really wasn't a dilemma, either choice could have been right and there really would have been no negative effects from making either choice.  Except maybe from the collectors that despise these cards, but their beef would have been that I bought it in the first place.

I have been thinking a lot about words & phrases and their definitions lately.  I think the last blog made that clear.  Dilemma is one of those words that meaning has skewed a little of the years. According to merriam-webster.com the simple definition of this word is a situation in which you have to make a difficult choice.  But if you dig deeper in the definition, it really means that none of the choices are particularly beneficial, but the choice still has to be made, that what makes it so difficult.  Most days choices are pretty easy.  What to eat, where to go, or paper or plastic (boy, I must be getting old). In many cases, any choice that we could make, probably would be a right choice.  With dilemma we are always left wondering did I make the right choice.  A lot of times, in the short term, we are left in a lot of doubt.  

Eight years ago I was left with a big dilemma.  My wife and I had an almost 3 year old son and a little girl on the way and our lives got flipped around.  I work full time for the local music store (still do) and worked part time as a music leader at the church that I was attending.  I had been doing it for two years and to say that my time there at that church was all rosy and cheery, that would be a lie.  That church was going through a lot of problems, and my wife, who is one of the smartest people I know (I married up), could see it and if I am being honest to myself, i could see it too.  I had a dilemma: stay there, continue getting paid, hold on to some hope that God had big plans for the church that he just hadn't revealed yet, and be miserable or get out.  Both choices were painful for me.  On one side I was getting a paycheck from them, there are people that were there that I loved dearly, and I have a family that I need to support or on the other side, lose the money, lose a lot of the security I had, lose a lot of dear friends, go find a new church and for the first time in my life not have a church family.  I decided to go with the first choice.  I decided to choose the decision that seemed the most logical.  I'm a logical thinker and try to make most of my decision very logical without putting much emotion into it, sometimes this drives my wife crazy.  But looking back, I made this decision strictly by emotion.  "I can't lose this money!" "What will happen to my family?"  "Will we be able to eat?" "Will we be able to pay rent?"  All of these questions I answered emotionally and, looking back, very selfishly.  You see, there are two people that I never consulted about it.  One is my wife and the other more importantly being God.  I tried to hide the stress that I felt I was under from my wife (I am not a great actor, so it wasn't hidden very well) and it put a big stress on our relationship.  But more important, I had turned my ministry into a job, instead of turning my job into a ministry and left God completely out of all decisions, because I wanted control of my life and my outcomes, no matter who it may hurt.  Well, as I have said in previous posts, God has a way of sometimes taking the reins and screeching you back in the direction that He wants you to go in.  I use to say that I was relieved of my duties at the church, but now I say that God put it in the hearts of those elders to fire me, because He had bigger plans for me that did not involve that church.  God has done a lot of refining me over the last eight years.  I am nowhere close to being done, there still a lot of imperfection.  By God's grace and His discipline I look more like him now than I did 8 years ago.  

You might have scratched your head with the title of this blog.  I can't remember who said it, but "when life give you dilemma, make dilemonade."(Corny, I know)  If you are in Christ, there is a possibility that the dilemma that you are in is strictly a time of God's refinement on your life, that he is bringing you through a time of purification making you more like Him, and it is called the Refiner's fire for a reason, usually there is some pain involved.  The only way to survive it, even if you don't physically, is to know who has the "living water" and bring sweetness to the sourness of life.  

Well it's late and tomorrow is church with the family that has been a part of my family’s life for the last eight years.  So it is time for this guy to go to bed.  Good night!

Auld Lang Syne...Top Ten Goals for 2016

The song "Auld Lang Syne" is sung a lot on this night.  Most people having no clue what the words are.  Which for a lot of people singing it, they honestly don't care.  The song to many virtually has no meaning.  "Auld Lang Syne" is a Scottish term that basically meanings "Old Long Ago".  The song starts "Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind?" meaning should we forget about those who were in the past that were important to us, just because it might of happened a long time ago...in a galaxy far, far away?(Sorry I had too)  The answer is simply no.  We should remember them and hold them in high esteem.  The line "We'll take a cup o' kindness yet, For auld lang syne." means that we'll raise a cup to toast to them, because they were a important part of our lives and they shape how we'll journey on our future. It makes me think why do I have a passion for collecting cards.  It was an important part of my past, a part that I want to remember.  The hunt for the next cool card that I had to have when I was 10. still thrills me today.  My son, who is also 10, has that thrill when he opens not baseball, but Pokemon cards.  I love watching him when he gets excited about getting a certain card.

That was a very long intro for my year end review, but without further ado:

I started the persona GBCardGuy and created the "Unofficial George Brett Card Database" in January.  Up to then I had been, and still do, contribute to "The Trading Card Database".  At one time I was in the top 100 contributors.  I officially unveiled it on March 4th on "The Trading Card Database" with over 850 different cards scanned and had gotten some really good feedback right away.  I also started at that time my Twitter handle @GBCardGuy on Twitter. I posted daily random cards and started getting followers faster than I thought possible,  I had over 100 with in the first month and 200 wasn't to much behind that.

That started a my blog.  I started doing 2 blogs a week.  One being a top ten and the other being a rehash of the random cards that I posted on twitter with a few of my thoughts.  But it took a lot of time and thought to keep up.  More than I anticipated and I just stopped...everything.

A month went by, then 2, then 3.  Finally I ordered some new George Brett cards and put them on the website.  I even post on twitter in July that my database was of over 900 and that I was back, fully intending on picking up where I had left off.  But another 2 months went by, I did another update to the website and then another 2 months went by with little to no updating.  In November finally that's when things started picking back up and I started doing more regular updates to the website and Twitter and finally in December I started blogging again.

So a couple of years end stats.

On "Unofficial George Brett Card Database" I have 962 different George Brett cards scanned and uploaded.  Traffic to the site has been steady, 50 to 100 views a week.  If a would upgrade my Weebly I could probably get better stats on this.

On Twitter I have 350 Followers.  Again, that is crazy to me.  It seems every day I get someone following me, even when I wasn't posting stuff, and I usually follow them back.  I have had to unfollow some of them that choose to post in-poor-taste tweets.

I do have a Facebook page, but that never really took off.

Last but not least this blog, which I done 10 previous blogs with 221 views.

So it is goal time and I thought it would be fitting to do them as a top ten list.

TOP TEN GOALS FOR 2016!

10. I will not take a 8 month hiatus or any for that matter.

      I thought I should make this one simple.  

9.  Over 1000 cards in 2016

      I might as well make 2015's goal, 2016's.  My actually goal is over 100 cards added in 2016.

8.  To tweet atleast 3 times a week that has nothing to do with baseball cards and 3 time about baseball cards. 

      I do have a life other than George Brett and I should share that.

7.  To blog atleast 3 times a month.

      My plan is to do one as some sort of top ten. one as a "whats new" on the website, and a third about what going on in my life.

6.  To spend more time with my family playing games.

      I tweeted this week that Wil Wheaton had a huge impact on my family's Christmas,  That because my wife and I started watching Table Top on Youtube.  A lot of really cool games on there that you will not find on the selves at Wal-mart.

5.  Sell more.

     I have several cards and sets that I have duplicates of that are taking up space that I don't need.  It's time to part with some of them.

4.  Get an autograph card of George Brett.

     This might be one of the priciest goals of 2016, because they don't come cheap.

3.  Expand into other George Brett items.  

     A couple things that I haven't gotten yet are team issued posted cards and pocket calendars that he is pictured in. 

2.  Love and spoil my wife more.

     Even though she doesn't fully understand why I enjoy this hobby, she doesn't make me feel silly or belittling. She is worth spoiling.

1.  Be more of myself and not a fake persona that I think is cooler than me.

Ever since my last post I have been trying to think on how to wrap up the year on this blog.  In March I had such lofty goals with the website, Twitter, Facebook, and this blog.  I was green in all areas and not sure what I was doing.  From different people that I talked too, when I started doing social media, I was surprisingly doing it correctly.  Posting on twitter every day, starting a blog, and doing regular updates to my site.  It didn't take long for me to make that my main focus when I got up in the morning, when I got home from work and before I went to bed.  I wanted to make GBCardGuy cooler than me.  God has a way of steering you back in the correct direction.  I think that is the biggest reason that I took a break.  Look back on 2015 I have had many highs.  My family has gotten a whole year older, my work duties have increased along with a decent increase of wages, and I have been given more responsibilities where I go to church in different leadership roles.  I will say that God has blessed me and my families life in many way this year and I praise him for that.  For that is truly who I am; A husband, a father, an employee, a hard worker, and when there is time and money left a card collector, but above all of that I am a child of the one true king, Jesus Christ.  I will go into deeper details about that in later blogs.  But for now it is after midnight, "Auld Lang Syne" has been sung and this guy, my name is Josh by the way, is ready for bed.  Good night!

It's Here!!!! and, oh yeah, Merry Christmas

It's finally here.  I tweeted it out yesterday, but wasn't able to blog about it.  Without further ado the card that I am most likely ending 2015 on is...

Drum roll please....

1990 Topps #60

Just Kidding!!

1990 Score McDonald's #19

This is one of the rarer George Brett cards produced during his playing career.  This is what www.baseballcardpedia.com/ says about this set:

"1990 Score McDonald's is a 25-card set distributed at only eleven McDonald's restaurants in rural Idaho and Oregon during a three-week period in the Spring of 1990. In addition to the 25 player cards, fifteen "Magic Motion" World Series Trivia cards were also produced. Collectors who purchased an order of french fries and a soft drink would receive a free pack of four cards. The back of the packs mention a contest to the 1990 World Series which suggests that the set might have been intended for distribution on a larger scale.

The front has color action player photos, with white and yellow borders on a royal blue card face that fades as one moves toward the middle of the card. The upper left corner of the picture is cut off to allow space for the McDonald's logo; the player's name and team logo at the bottom round out the card face. The backs have color mugshots, biography, statistics, and career summary.

Because of the extremely very limited distribution, this is one of the toughest food issues of the era. The rarity combined with the blue borders make high grade cards extremely valuable."

It is one that I have had my eyes on since I started collecting and it is finally in my collection.  You can go to "The Unofficial George Brett Card Catalog" and check it out with another rare card to end the year off.  So as the first year of this blog and the tale of the first year as GBCardGuy comes to a close, I would be remiss if I didn't share a couple highlighted cards that I picked up this year.  

1977 Burger Chef Discs #71

I love these 70's food disc cards.

1983 All-Star Game Program Inserts #30

 

With this small card, I now have the complete set George Brett All-Star Game Program Inserts. ('81-'86)

1981 Royals Police #2

 

Same as before, but with this oversized card, I now have the complete set George Brett Royals Police Cards. ('81, '83, '91-'94) 

1983 Perma-Graphic All-Stars Gold #1

Only one card left in this set to complete.  (*Spoiler*) This will be one of my goals for 2016.

1986 O-Pee-Chee Box Bottoms Full Panel

If I would have been smarter a couple of years ago, I wouldn't of had to rebuy this panel.  But collecting is a learning process.

1987 Sportflics #5 George Brett  (1987 Copyright)

This was a hard variation card to track down.

2002 Topps American Pie Sluggers Gold #19

I believe I have the complete color set of this card Gold, Red, Blue, & Silver.

2015 Topps Gypsy Queen #326

I think the Gypsy Queen set is pretty cool, I have collect quite a bit of this actual set.

This is just a small sample of the over 100 cards that I collected 2016 and an even smaller sample of the nearly 1000 cards posted on "The Unofficial George Brett Card Catalog".  Who knows what 2016 will hold. 

On a final note, I want to wish everyone that reads this a belated "Merry Christmas".  I know for many people that phrase has lost its meaning and it might not be the "PC" thing to say, but that is what this guy says.  

I am planning on one last blog in 2015 to say a few thank yous and to set some goals for 2016. But until then, it's late and this guy is ready for bed.  Good Night! 

Race to 1000

Back in January I decided to create a website to show case my George Brett cards and when I launched "The Unofficial George Brett Card Database" in March I had a little over 850 different cards uploaded.  There was really only one goal that I had stated on the website, over a 1000 different Brett cards scanned by the end of 2016.

Will it happen?

If you have recently looked at my website you will see that the answer is not yet, and it probably won't happen.  I'm not disappointed.  Since March I added over 100 cards.  That's really more than I thought I would add.  I have at least 2 more cards that I currently know of that will need to be scanned and uploaded.  Unless I order a card and get it here before the new year i should end with 962.  I am excited about a very rare card that I am ending the year on.  I am (im)patiently waiting for it to get here.  I had to email the seller and remind him that he needed to ship the card that I paid for almost a week after I paid for it.  That has happen way too many times this year.  :-(  But, I have a tracking number and it hopefully should be here soon.  I will do a special blog when it gets here.  

I am anticipating two more blogs to end the year out,  First one highlighting the previously undisclosed card and a few other special cards that I picked up this year and spreading some Christmas cheer.  Then I think I'll also do a year end wrap up with a few thank yous and goals for 2016. But until then, it's late and the guy is ready for bed.  Good Night!

8 Month Hiatus

It has been over 8 months since this guy's last blog.  For the month of March to mid April I was active daily on twitter, 2 blogs a week and updating my website almost weekly.  Then it all stopped.  What happened?  I can make a lot of excuses, some are even good.   But instead of making excuses, I am choosing to do an update of what has been happening to GBCardGuy.  In a simple word, Life!  As I said in my first blog "I am a husband, father, employee & when there is time and money left, finally a card collector."  Well those first 4 things I decided were more important than card collecting.  I still collect George Brett cards and I still have been updating "The Unofficial George Brett Card Database", which currently has 960 uploaded cards and counting; but the fire to go all out on the "social media" has died way down.  Don't get me wrong I loved it.  Doing the daily random card posts on twitter, giving my thoughts on them and doing a couple of Top Tens in this blog for however short a time I did them was fun.  But it started to be an obsession to me and I allow it to take, for a short time, my time away from what was really important to me.  Now 8 months later, I have thought a lot about getting back into it, but on a much lower level and making it fun again.  Not sure what it would exactly look like, but I plan on having fun with it.  I know that this post is fairly short, hopefully I will have a longer one soon with my thoughts on some new (and old) cards.  I just bought a very rare George Brett card on ebay and I'm very excited to get it here.  I will probably do a special blog for it.  But for now, it's late and this guy is ready for bed.  Good Night!

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!