A New Plan for 2022 to Complete My Sets - COMC Questions

 In early 2021 I sold lots of basketball cards since I really don't collect them.  I happened to pick some up at flea markets and card shows over a number of years.  I was glad to be able to sell some of them and donate lots of the commons / semi-stars.

Since I am not having any luck finishing some sets I've decided to try to find some of the cards that I need on COMC.  I probably have enough basketball cards remaining to help pay for most of the purchases.

I've been on the COMC site many times but I never purchased anything.  When looking at regular cards it is easy to see the condition of the card.  I am a bit concerned about looking at Kellogg's cards on COMC's site.  Does anyone have experience with this and what I should look out for?  Are cracks easy to hide in these images?

Are there any other red flags when trying to purchase Kellogg's cards on this site?

Is Anyone Building Kellogg's Sets? Do You Want to Trade?

 I've finished making most of my Kellogg's sets.  Sure, a few of them could use lots of upgrades but I am not worried about that.  Since I sorted the extras, I've decided to make extra sets if I have more than half of the cards for another set.  With small Kellogg's sets, that means I am trying to make additional sets for almost every year.  Since I also have a lot of cracked cards, I am working on these type of sets as well.  

I haven't been picking up items, so it has been easy to get my cards organized.  Does anyone else have stacks of doubles / extras to trade?  What do you have?  What do you need?

I have a decent amount of extras without cracks from most years other than 1971, 1975 and 1970 Rold Gold.  For some years I have extra stars, but with my plan of only buying cheaper cards, I don't have extras of the most expensive cards.  

Is anyone collecting unopened packs?  I have a Bucky Dent in the wrapper that could use an upgrade.

Sports Collectors Daily Article on the 1970 Rold Gold Set

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/1970-rold-gold-all-time-greats-set-had-3d-vibe/ 

Nice to see these cards show up on such a great site.  

I am still confused about the 1972 Kellogg's All-Time Greats and their inclusion in the Danish Go-Rounds.   I've been searching for the unopened packs and all I seem to find are the 1970 Rold Gold cards in the clear wrapper.  

Does anyone remember getting these in 1972 out of a box and were they in a wrapper?  My neighbor got them but my family never bought this product and I guess I didn't lobby my mother well enough to get any of these.

Has anyone seen a 1972 Kellogg's All-Time Great card in a wrapper?

Kellogg's Store Display Items - Are They Out There?

One thing that I haven't found much of is store display items for the Kellogg's cards.  I do have this item.

Does anyone remember seeing these in 1971?  Were they on the store shelf, was it a ruler or was it something else entirely?

The players shown are Ken Bowman, Dan Conners, Nick Buoniconti and Andy Russell.  Would this item be a big deal if it had included a few more popular players?

Did they ever make one for Kellogg's baseball cards?  If so, what years?  I would really like to see a baseball one.  

I remember the 1982 Raisin Bran football card displays being on the store shelf but I don't remember ever seeing anything else.  

A Graded Card Goal That I Never Planned

 I have still never sent a card for grading.  I don't collect graded cards at all.  So, how did I end up with an entire box of cards graded by Beckett or PSA?  Here is a sample of some of these cards and how they ended up in my collection.

I remember buying this in the last two years at the National.  I liked the coloring and the price - I paid $7 maybe.  I wasn't finding anything else and I wanted to get a few 1971s that look decent.  Not many 1971s have nice coloring like this one.

This is not the one I bought at a show last week.  I have no memory of getting this one, so it must have been part of a set purchase online.  It is actually not a 1972 Kellogg's card; it is a 1970 Rold Gold.  Since I don't follow PSA much, I don't know if/when they started to properly flag these as 1970 Rold Gold when it is obvious from the back of the card which one it is.  

I bought a handful of Pete Rose cards that were graded a long time ago.  Why?  It seemed like a good price.  

I remember buying a set that had a few cards graded.  Why do I remember that?  Since I don't keep the graded cards with my set, I then had to figure out how to get a Ryan that isn't graded.  Yes, some of you would save that I should crack the card out of the holder, but I haven't done that yet.  Not that there is anything wrong with doing that.  

This Brett was my first PSA card purchase.  I remember wanting to buy it because the colors were so bright and none of my 1975s look to be any color like this one.  If I started by saying I had a 1975 Brett PSA 10 I would probably get a lot more attention to my post. 

Really, I am not a Pete Rose fan.  Since I have so few cards and I want to show one from each year, here is Rose again.  

Sneaking into the newer cards and the "why did someone grade it" part of this post.  I didn't pay any premium for a set that contained this Carlton.    

I remember buying a 1978 set with two graded cards - Ryan and Tanana.  A big Angels fan?  Really, those were the two cards that they decided to grade.  I guess grading was affordable back then, so no big deal.  

I don't have any graded Kellogg's cards from 1981-83.  I was surprised to get this Brett card in a bulk purchase a few years ago.  

Without paying attention, I have at least one graded card from every set of the 1970s except for 1972 and 1979.  Next year I will make it a point to get a card from those sets.  I may even consider getting a graded card from the 1981 - 1983 sets if they can be found for a few dollars.

I have some 1970 football cards that are graded, but I don't have any from 1971.  I might try that as well next year. 

I Haven't Given Up on the 1971 Kellogg's Cards Because I am Chasing Damaged Ones

 Everyone always wants perfect, colorful versions of the 1971 Kellogg's baseball cards.  I just don't see many that match that description.  I am trying to find a handful of damaged cards to complete sets.  I am trying to get a master set, but I am focused first on getting these cards in any condition.  

If you have any of these I'd love to trade.  

Another Box From Years Ago - My 1974 Topps Set

 Since I am stuck home sick I decided to check out another of my 1970s sets.  Now it is the 1974 set. 

I spent many years delivering papers in the morning.  I should have spent more time garbage picking but that never came to mind as we walked along in the dark.  Wait, only twice did I ever bring something home.  I found a Battleship game sitting atop a garbage can one day.  On top of the game was a plastic crayon/pencil case.  I opened it and found about 200 1974 Topps cards including card #1 - the highly-coveted Hank Aaron New All-Time Home Run King card.  

The card seemed difficult to get in packs because we were used to the cards being distributed in a series of 132 cards.  Now we were trying to find a card that was one of possibly 660 cards in the pack.  No matter how hard you tried, no one would trade this card.  

This Tigers team card is sitting atop the set in the box. At some point I must have figured out that it needed to be replaced since it was badly torn.  I think I can get that done in 2022.  I have no idea how long it has been waiting for me, probably at least since the 1990s.

The traded cards were inserted into packs.  Just like in 1976 that was not a blessing because the cards were ugly and too many of them were inserted into the packs.  

The Aaron cards were perfect for an eleven-year-old collector.  I had just started going to flea markets and finding out about old cards from the Wholesale Card Company catalog that a neighbor had.  Seeing every year from 1954 to 1973 was perfect.  Sorry for not putting them in proper order but my brain is working at about 75%. 

Why did the Cubs have pink?  This Kessinger has bad corner ding.   

The batting helmet is his thing.  

The cartoons added to a nicely-designed card back.

A few horizontal cards were nice.  

I like the uniform but what I really like is the view of the left field seats and the picnic area underneath them where I'd hang out at the fence.

My favorite player's card is off-center and titled.  Did I care in 1974?  I guess not.  Luckily, I have another one to switch with this one.

I don't remember needing the A's Mgr card but I do remember trading a bunch of 1974 Cubs to get a 1971 Billy Martin to complete that set.

We wanted to be just like these guys.  One problem - none of our teams had a donut like Carlos had attached to his bat.  

I spent a lot of time memorizing these lists so I could learn who the best players were.  

Gum or wax stains?  Not a problem.  There are plenty of these in my set.

Ouch.  Yes, I knew he was traded, but do you have to show him in a Cub uniform?  I cant even show the Jerry Morales card because it looks so hideous with the Padres uniform and the Cub pink color scheme.

Fuentes and Willie Montanez got lots of air-time on This Week in Baseball for being entertaining.  

At our first (only?) Little League banquet they gave out MLB autograph books for us to use at games.  I think Billy Hunter was at the event because he's the only autograph that ever got in that book, which I still have.  I didn't get a regular card of Hunter for a few years.  

How are those all-star teams?  

We had fun with our cards in 1974.  Who was the 1973 All-Star Game MVP.   If you didn't know that you weren't collecting cards.  The first eight cards could be put together to honor Bobby Bonds, who wasn't a starter in the game.  

The all-star catchers didn't get in on the puzzle.  Instead, they have the box score on the back.

I was planning to just give my first thoughts on these cards, but I am intrigued by the all-star cards so I am going to check a few things out.  Nothing much to report. 

John Mayberry started in place of Dick Allen who was injured.  

 A nice shot of fans in the left field bleachers.

Willie Mays didn't have a regular card in the 1974 set, but since Topps had a card for each game of the World Series, here he is.  

The Indians were the AL equivalent of the Cubs.  At least the Cubs were able to hire some coaches to fill up the manager card.  What happened here?

What is he wearing?  My mom always knew when it was picture day at school to make sure we didn't do something like this.

This is exactly how I picture Ralph Garr - helmet flying as he races toward first base.  

What information did we get about rookies?  Here it is.  No minor league stats, no draft pick card, no minor league card, no Sportscenter breakdown, no prospect rankings, nothing.  

It was easier for us to keep track of the rookies we needed by card number since we didn't know who these guys were.  Does anyone have #600 was the question you'd ask instead of does anyone have the A's Manager card.  

Another Box That I Don't Open Often Enough - My 1972 Topps Set

 I've been sick for a few days (two negative COVID tests) so I needed something to break up the monotony at home.  I decided to check out my 1972 Topps set.  I remember the cards being issued in series.  It was quite a tease to get a checklist of cards that weren't even available until the next series.

Because I watched to Cubs on most days and the White Sox only sometimes, I was always more familiar with National League players.

I had a circle of about 6 - 8 kids who regularly collected cards.  Multi-player rookie cards were never really a big deal to any of us.

I always liked this pose, even though as a left-hander I only put on catching gear once in 10 years of playing.

For the second year in a row I have a tough time getting Billy Martin cards.

I had a few of this card.  My collecting circle went to some teen's house where he sold us a bunch of Aarons, Mays and Clementes for 10 cents each.  Too bad we didn't care about rookie cards or high numbered cards at this point since these guys had about 5000 cards from 1970 - 1972.

Our Chicago Park District baseball hats were better than Pete's airbrushed hat.

I loved to read the lists on the back of these leader cards.  

Which one is better - three players or four?  I liked them all.

Trophy cards.  These guys must be among the best players in the majors.  Trophies were a big deal amongst the kids in our neighborhood.  You only got one by finishing in the top three of a sport.  Everyone kept track of how many trophies they had. 

It is great to see the uniforms on display.

Another classic uniform.  I like to think that he is arguing with the umpire.  My brother was eight years older than me and he was an umpire.  He called my seven-year-old neighbor out on strikes once and then later that day my brother got a crayon-scribbled note telling him about how bad of an umpire he was.

The 1971 World Series was the first one to feature night games.  That was fine, except that I had a normal bedtime of 8:30.  Usually that was extended to halftime of a Monday Night Football game.

No pictures on the back of the cards, but I do like the design.

I loved to see the old stadiums.  I've been to 32 stadiums so far, but not all of the classic ones.  

So there is Larry Brown the football player, Larry Brown the basketball coach but I don't remember much about Larry Brown on the A's.  It makes sense since he played his last game in 1974 when I was 11.  Great uniform.  

He looked like a giant to us, especially in batting practice at Wrigley Field.  As I mentioned before, I was so scared when he hit a BP homer near me as a kid.  

Two of my favorite Clemente cards.

Lots of variety as to what the players wore under their uniforms.  

The first subset that I paid a lot of attention to as a kid.  I still don't know what I think about it.  

I didn't develop the dislike for the Cardinals until they got good a few years later.

The Reds are Dodgers were getting close to dominating the starting lineup in the All-Star game.  Two Reds in 1972, three in 1973 and then six in 1974 and seven in 1975.  I don't even want to look at any more years.  

I agree with some HOF voters that contributions to the game / changing the way the game is played should have some impact on the voting instead of just the numbers.  What about guys who combine playing, coaching, scouting, etc?

No, the answer is still the same.  I will NOT trade any of my Billy Williams cards.

I like to crowds in the background too.

Never heard of this guy in 1972.  

Another of the cards with a collared shirt underneath the uniform.  

More stadiums please.

When our Little League team went to Regional Qualifying for the LLWS we faced a kid who was about as intimidating as Marichal.  When I see we, I was happy to say I ended up on the bench and didn't have to face my fears.

I forgot about the puzzles on the back of the cards.  

Here is a completed puzzle.  This was also a great ploy by Topps.  I had to get these puzzles completed on my way to completing the set.  

My first team was the Tigers and as a new kid I spent lots of time in right field.  So, I naturally cheered for Al Kaline.

None of us liked these cards.  At least a checklist card was useful since we had no other way to find out who was in the set.  YES - NO TCDB.com, NO Beckett, NO internet at all.  We all used the checklists.

Traded to the A's for Rick Monday.   Hard to say that it was a bad trade for either team.   I got to watch him in the World Series three years in a row.  He hit a home run too.  

I love the letter jackets.  

I never wanted a manager card.  

The traded cards were well received since they were part of the regular set.  

Classic pose.  

I look forward to checking out some of my other sets soon.  If I don't do that, why bother keeping them?