Not Much Is Left After 20+ Years In The Hobby ...

You'd think after working a good portion of my young life at a card store, and even owning one for a few years - I'd have a ton of cardboard laying around. Well ... I do, but its mostly empty Pepsi and Pizza boxes.

That's okay - what do they say? Less is more! Not sure if that really applies to sports cards. I sure would like a box full of 2008 Stephen Strasburg cards just laying around. Of course they'd be long gone by now which, I guess, is a big reason why I don't have many cards in my collection today.

That has changed just a little here recently when I purchased a 2009 Michael Johnson (not the Olympian) the Bengals version of Adalius Thomas - except our guy is 6' 5" - and spent last season playing DE. In OTA's they are working him out at linebacker. This card I picked up for less than $5 shipped and its serial #2/8. I've always been a fan of the letterman or lettermen cards - not sure what you call them - but they are cool. I'm not really expecting to move this thing for $100 bucks - honestly I'd take $10 ... but you better believe that if this guy gets hot I'll be moving it. Chances are, he will be like 99.9% of all defensive players in the NFL and not make any hobby impact outside the $5 manufactured patch auto sale...but its a cool card to have in the collection.

Speaking of the Bengals ... been seeing that our main guy has been working on his dance moves. Isn't that something guys do when they are retired? Emmitt Smith, Jerry Rice - come on Ocho - you probably just wanted to get in while you still had those studly good looks and had a chance with that cute chic you were dancing with. The diamond ring you bought her probably didn't hurt your chances either. ..... What's that??? .... "don't hate the playa - hate the game" .... gotcha Ocho, sorry bro - back to cards. I've held onto my 2001 SPx Autograph/Jersey rookies before anyone knew who Chad Johnson was, let alone Ocho-Cinco. I think I've had 4 or 5 of these at one point. I never paid over $10 for any one of them. I sold a few when they were hot a few years ago. I still have a 2 color jersey version and the one-color you see here.

I'm all about Baseball Prospects. I'm also all about selling them when they are hot too. Nothing against buying and holding - I do that too, but its usually a Stock or Mutual Fund share over a card. Based on how things have been going, maybe my money would have been safer investing in cards!!! Shoot, a couple of 2010 Bowman cases - and the next winner (if Strasburg autographs can be added) is 2010 Topps Chrome. Even Topps Series 1 is selling for about $90 a box, which is about $30 over the original hobby retail price. Sure wish my baseball prospecting skills could have that kind of turnaround - same with the stocks. But there is one card I've held onto for a while now - probably just 'cause the thing is slabbed by BGS and I'd just rather hold onto it. Hank Conger may get a shot at some point next season - we'll see ... they've been milking this guy along. Probably a decent time to buy him considering you don't have much to loose. Expect to see this thing for sale if he ever does anything.

I actually still own many cards on thePit.com - I remember signing up when this was a Topps venture. Its actually been over 10 years now that I think about it ... man I might actually be getting old. My brother was working this thing a few years ago - buying and selling in the same day - buying cards and immediately putting in a sell price. Funny stuff - he made money doing it too. The thing I remember about thePit when it was still in its early stages was that cards sold for more money than on eBay. Several times I'd buy cards on eBay and flip them on thePit once they arrived in my account. Probably still happens now, but its more on a card-by-card basis and not site wide like it was 6 or 7 years ago. I think I paid $22 for the Andrew McCutchen you see here - too bad he plays for Pittsburgh - maybe the Yankees will come knocking one day!

Sure wish I could go on a bit further. That about wraps up all the interesting cards I've had. Been getting some nice cards from listeners and fans of the podcast - which I'd add here too but I'm too lazy to bust out the scanner. Hopefully I'll grow this list out a bit more over 2010 - I think I might get some basketball singles once the season is over and everyone is on to Football and Baseball .. if they aren't already. There are lots of good deals out there - and typically that's all I'm in the market for. I've been on the other side of the counter since I was about 15 and its nice to be the customer instead of the owner for a change.