Breaking Out of a Rut

I've been a bad blogger lately. Yeah, I've been writing some over at the 1982 Topps blog, but those are easy -- post the card, research and write about the player, and set the post for publication. Granted, readership there isn't terribly high -- I'm too verbose for most people's tastes, I think, but in many respects I write that 1982 blog almost for myself.  It keeps me writing and researching and reading on a regular basis, and I've learned a ton about baseball in the 1970s and early 1980s in the process.

But I've let this blog -- and my trading -- languish a bit. I've been busy with other things, too -- organizing a 28-team, 2-league fantasy football monstrosity for our local Lawyer's Club, for example, and going to the Georgia v. Clemson game last weekend.  But I also have not been buying or seeking any new cards lately.

That changed today. After a few months away, I went back to one of the local card shows. And today I was ready like I had not been ready before.

The first time I went in January, I was bewildered and confused. I hadn't really dove back into collecting at that point; it was more along the lines of sticking my toe into the water to see if the temperature was okay. I did not know what to expect then, and what I saw was confusing and disorienting.

The second time I went in April or May, I was much further along in my return to collecting. I had started blogging by that point, and I had been sorting through all the cards I had from my youth for a few months by that point.  I may have even been I spent nearly all my time at a couple of tables. But, I also made a major mistake: I had not eaten lunch before going to the show.  So, at some time around 1 PM or so, I started getting so hungry that I had to leave.

This time, I went a little bit later to the show and picked up food before I got there. I've also started making lists as subpages on here of all the cards that I have for each of my player collections.  I've gotten through Ryan Braun and Yovani Gallardo at this point, so it's still in its primordial stages, but it's a start that allowed me to check on my phone to see if I needed cards that I found in my digging. That probably saved me at least a buck or two today, so it's already worth it.

I ended up spending about $100 today. That number surprised me at first, but I stopped at a bunch of tables and picked up a ton of Brewers. I also got some trade bait.  Today, I'll post that, and probably for the rest of the week I'll be posting about the rest of what I got.

The first group of trade bait resulted from wanting a Paul Molitor from a particular set. In 1997, Collector's Choice/Upper Deck had a set of 30 stickers called, imaginatively enough, Super Action Stick Um's, Surprisingly, on COMC, most of these are going for around a buck a piece. If you collect any of these players and want your guy or if you just want one for your oddball set, let me know.

Since I got that whole package for $3, I am glad to share these around.

The other package of trade bait also came from wanting a particular Paul Molitor -- this time, a manu-patch from 2009 Topps.  That one came with the following 8 manu-patches -- all of which are available for trade.

I tried to get this guy to sell me the Molitor patch by itself, but he wouldn't do it. Since the asking price was not exorbitant, I ponied up the money and figured that it gave me some pretty cool trade bait.

So, are there any Mel Ott collectors out there?