Dime Box Additions

For some reason, some bloggers are easier to "buy for" than others. That centers around the fact that some bloggers -- like me, for example -- have huge holes in the collections that they have chosen to pursue. Other folks are much more focused than I am, have been at it for much longer, and/or have want lists that fall right where my card collecting "holes" are located.

Another type of blogger who is easier to "buy for" than most are the bloggers with eclectic tastes. Whether it's because they collect plays at the plate, pitchers hitting, players with microphones, or just oddballs generally, these bloggers are ones who appreciate the random collections of cards that one can harvest from a 1980s-based collection like mine.

I say all that because I really enjoy trading with Nick from the Dime Boxes. I really enjoy reading Nick's blog because it's truly the Forrest-Gump-box-of-chocolates there. You never know what has caught his eye, his dimes, and his attention on a day-to-day basis.

That's a good thing, by the way. 

An envelope from Nick showed up in my mailbox while I was actually in Nick's neck of the woods in Northern Illinois. Nick had shown off some Robin Yount O-Pee-Chee cards that he had bailed out of their dime-box jails, and I asked him if he might send them to me. 

Along with these cards came this note:

I wasn't expecting more, but let me tell you, Nick -- I enjoyed every one of these and needed all of them!

Starting with Eddie Mathews. As I have said on a few of my individual player collection pages, some of these players are ones that I simply haven't focused on in my time back in the hobby. Eddie Mathews is one such guy. It took me until that recent card show to get cards in hand that were from his playing days, for instance. 

Somehow, Nick has found Eddie with his dime box Friends in low places:

To be fair, that 1953 Topps card of Mathews is from the Topps reprint set from 1991. That does not in any way distract from the fact that these are all excellent cards I needed for my Mathews collection.

Nick also ticked a box on the Warren Spahn collection page:

I've only recently mentioned that I added Lew Burdette to the ever-expanding player collections I have. Thankfully, Nick sent these envelopes out after I said that, as this "1953 Topps Card That Never Was" found its way to me. 

I can't leave out Matt Scott's favorite steroid user, though. This Hobby-shop-only card is from 2010. I did not even know this card and a similar Prince Fielder card existed a month ago. Now I have both Prince and the Ryan Braun card.

This Jose Valentin card surprised me because it's one really horribly ugly base set card from Fleer in 1995. 

It's as if the graphics designer who wanted to give ESPN2 that "jaunty, young 1990s look" lost his/her job in Bristol and went to work at Fleer.

Back when Keith Olbermann was viewed as pulling in the "younger" crowd...

Another random gap in my collecting is from the 1980s and involves anything not named "Topps." I think I just haven't broken up the sets from that era that I collected, but I just don't have much in the way of Fleer from that era.  Nick fixed that some, sending a number of members of the PC brigade from 1984 to me.

Charlie Moore

Jim Slaton

Ben Oglivie

Cecil Cooper

Don Money

Bob McClure

Finally, while I'm not a Rollie Fingers "collector" like Cynical Buddha is, I don't mind getting a 2005 SP Legendary Cuts base card of the mustachioed one. Especially since I did not own one before.

As with his blog, Nick's PWE to me displays the gems that people with enough patience and sticktoitiveness to plow through dime boxes can find.  And Nick -- a return package is coming your way soon.

Thanks again!