January Pickups

[CW]

Steve with the Maris RC, Bob with the sharp Hodges, Chris with the Roberrrrrrto! and Matt with the sweet Rose... closing out January about as good as it started! Nice!

Looking forward to the new arrival, Matt. Nice teaser....

[MattyC]

Well, I warmed up the scanner by taking a proper one of the Ruth Goudey. Here it is. Those of you who know my degree of borderline OCD know I could not let the crooked scan stand...

[MattyC]

And at long, long last, here's what I feel is a true whale. I have to agree with that Top 250 Sportscards book on this one, which placed this card high (#11) and dubbed it, "arguably the toughest Post War card in the hobby." This baby does not surface often, let alone with even a modicum of eye appeal.

I had long lusted after this exact specimen, which had both freakish centering AND registration. That's a combination I did not see, even on examples that sold for five-digits. For me, this was another one of those classic cases of buying the card and not the holder.

I have felt this way a couple times, where you scour all other copies, even on VCP, and keep thinking to yourself, "I know what the stupid stickers say, but damn if this low grade specimen doesn't look the best to me!"

There are certain cards we will always remember adding to our collections. This, for a hardcore baseball card enthusiast like me, is one of them.

Let's end the month with a BANG!

[itjclarke]

Congrats Matt, that's a sweet pickup! I don't subscribe to VCP, but for fun, just googled it to check out some prior sales.. Only one card so far has even comparable registration (those Leafs seem ALL OVER the place color and registration wise). Great score.

Adding: I gotta get me one of those at some point

[MattyC]

Thanks, Ian. You're seeing exactly what I saw when I looked at so many others. With some cards we collectors just gotta throw technical sticker grade out the window and trust our good old eyeballs. As I researched this card, I could not believe how poorly registered they were. The T205 Cobb comes to mind as another notoriously challenged card with focus and color registration. It can utterly destroy eye appeal. And then what are we really looking at for enjoyment, if the central image is busted up?

As a side note, this card put my Satchel Registry Set at Current #1. I will never take All Time as that belongs to a retired hobby legend/whale set. But it's kinda cool because it's the only active set with a Leaf SP in it.

[Harliduck]

Great "Leroy"!! The Ruth is amazing too...man, you are simply KILLING the big guns here lately...awesome cards...

[Bestdj777]

Love it Matt. Glad you were able to get it. And, glad you finally posted it. I've been checking all day waiting for the pickup.

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Thanks, Ian. You're seeing exactly what I saw when I looked at so many others. With some cards we collectors just gotta throw technical sticker grade out the window and trust our good old eyeballs. As I researched this card, I could not believe how poorly registered they were. The T205 Cobb comes to mind as another notoriously challenged card with focus and color registration. It can utterly destroy eye appeal. And then what are we really looking at for enjoyment, if the central image is busted up?

Agree completely... the hobby is already beautiful thing and becomes even better the more you listen to yourself. My personal standards allow for more wiggle room on centering than you and many others here.. but I love nice color/clean registration and really really love clean corners/edges when I can find it. At the end of the day, it's all about what you like. The numerical grade often times is almost more distracting than helpful and it's ridiculous how little it means once you get into sub 5 grades... there are just so many amazing looking 1/2/3s out there... and conversely lots of nasty ones that actually look like 1s and 2s. In these cases, the number couldn't mean less.

[KCRfan1]

Great pickup Matt, that Paige is a nice addition to your collection!