Free Binders, Cheap Pages, and Junk Wax Zen

What happens to a lowly card addict when 1) a show dealer with a trunk full of used pages is sick of lugging them around and 2) your buddy's office is chucking old three-ring binders? You 1) buy the pages 2) buy your buddy a few buckets of beer for smuggling the binders and 3) achieve junk wax zen.

All of us I'm sure have a set of, say 1991 Score or 1988 Donruss or 1990 Fleer just collecting dust in our closests. And by *a* set, I of course mean *several*. These deserve displayed, but not if the display medium costs more than the cards. Well it didn't this time. Here's a tour of my organized binder heaven, complete with custom labels.

N.B. If you have OCD and dislike the alignment of some labels, know that some of it is camera angle shenanigans and some of it is to cover surface flaws in the binders. DEAL WITH IT.

Card shelf 1 of 4

Row 1: Fleer 1989-1992 and 1995, Donruss 1988-1991

Row 2: Leaf 1986 and 1991, Ultra 1991-1993, Donruss 1992 and 1993

Row 3: Score 1988-1992, Stadium Club 1991

Row 4: Upper Deck 1991 and 1992, Sportflics 1987 1989 and 1990, Bowman 1989, Flair 1993, O-Pee-Chee 1991, Studio 1993, Collector's Choice 1995. 

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Card shelf 2 of 4

Balcony: Ticket to Pete Rose's 4192nd hit, 1869 Red Stockings pic, Reds 2003 official game lineup card

Row 1: Topps 1970-1979

Row 2: Topps 1951-1969 (I have a reason for the order they're in, trust me)

Row 3: MLB HoF, Misc. Vintage Baseball, Bengals Autos, Misc. Autos, Reds Autos

Row 4: Topps Football 1956-1979

Row 5: Misc. Vintage Football, Bengals Topps 1968-2014, Reds Topps 1995-2026, Adam Dunn, Columbus Clippers, Ohio State Alums

 

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Card shelf 3 of 4

Balcony: Trade Bait 

Row 1: Reds Opening Day Starting Nines, Baseball Junk Wax inserts, parallels, small sets, and partial sets

Row 2: Topps Basketball 1969-1979, Basketball Junk Wax, NFL/Bball/Hockey HoF

Row 3: Topps Hockey 1969-1979, OPC Hockey 1969-1979, 1992 Topps Gold Winners, 1993 Topps Gold, Non-Sports (Wrestling, Desert Storm, Batman), Ickey Woods/Anthony Munoz/Misc. Football

 

Card shelf 4 of 4

Balcony: Adam Dunn Relics/Autos, Reds/Bengals Auto-Relics, Pre-War vintage baseball

Row 1: Baseball Junk Wax Store/Food Issues, O-Pee-Chee Baseball 1965-1979, Reds Kahn's Stadium Issue 1987-2026, Topps Baseball 1980-1982

Row 2: Bowman Baseball 1953-1955, Topps Baseball 1983-1988

Row 3: Topps Baseball 1989-1994

 

 

Organizational zen is achieved.  Also, here's an actual card, because this post needs one:

 

 

Go Redlegs.

Reds Opening Day Starting Nines - 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

Second installment of the Opening Day starters binder, with all positions in their right places. This was started before the NL DH came into being, which kinda ruined the zen of the whole thing. So let's get through the remainder of the 10-man starting nines, which happened 2020 and 2022-present, but not 2021.

 

This cluster also shows the two card-based problems of the project. Brandon Drury has only 3 Reds cards, other than parallels: 1) A Kahn's stadium issue, which is tough to find solo, 2) A Topps Now with a print run of 304, and 3) A Topps 206 mini, which I have. Minis in full page slots are fugly, but the DH behind it saves the day.

 

The second problem is our 2023 starting first baseman, Jason Vosler. Joey Votto was hurt, as were half of our infield backups. Shuffled everyone around, yanked Vosler up from AAA for 20 games, and then sent him back, never to return. None of the 2023 card sets deemed this worthy of inclusion, even the Reds' AAA team. So 9 non-Reds minor league issues, 7 Topps Now parallels as a Giant, and a dozen Japanese cards are it. Woe be unto the binder. 

 

ANYWAYS. Some cards: 

 

2020: July 24 vs. Giants. Reds win 7-1. 

1. Ervin LF

2. Votto 1B

3. Suarez 3B

4. Castellanos RF

5. Moustakas 2B

6. Davidson DH

7. Senzel CF

8. Galvis SS

9. Casali C

SP Gray

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2021: April 1 vs. Cardinals. Reds lose 11-6. 

1. Winker LF

2. Castellanos RF

3. Votto 1B

4. Suarez SS

5. Moustakas 3B

6. Senzel CF

7. India 2B

8. Barnhart C

9. Castillo SP

 

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2022: April 7 vs. Braves. Reds win 6-3. 

1. India 2B

2. Aquino RF

3. Pham LF

4. Votto 1B

5. Stephenson C

6. Senzel CF

7. Moustakas DH

8. Farmer SS

9. Drury 3B

SP Mahle

 

 

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2023: March 30 vs. Pirates. Reds lose 5-4. 

1. India 2B

2. Friedl CF

3. Fraley DH

4. Stephenson C

5. Vosler 1B

6. Myers RF

7. Steer 3B

8. Benson LF

9. Barrero SS

SP Greene

Go Redlegs.

Reds IP Auto Collection - B

By "IP", I mean "in-person". By "in-person", I mean "someone who wasn't me asked nicely". Most of these are from the hard work of other people, who then sold them for dirt cheap.

About a third are TTM though, and those were indeed by me.

 

I like these much much better than the soulless corporate autographs, especially the sticker autos. These were out in the wild, man. Not soaking underneath fluorescent lights in some dreary cubicle. I, of course, am a hapless hypocrite, as I have plenty 'official' autos too.

 

Here's the current collection, last name B. Two notes: 1) Fret not about the lack of Johnny Bench, I have him covered with a 'corporate' auto and 2) For the eagle-eyed among you, my name is not Butch.

 

Also, B is the 2nd most popular surname starting letter, behind S, so I have a bunch. A bombastic bunch. A bubbly, bombastic, bedrabbled, bombshell bunch of ballers. B-yootiful. 

 

 

 

Auto count: 139

Unique Reds: 62

Biggest name (player): Ewell Blackwell

Biggest name (manager): Dusty Baker

Current roster: None

Oldest: Ed Bailey (1959 Topps)

Quantity champ: Alex Blandino (11), runner-up Todd Benzinger (9)

Certified Cowboy: Jeff Brantley

Keepin' it in the Family: Bob/Bret/Aaron Boone, Buddy/David Bell 

Missing autos I want the most: Dante Bichette, Chase Burns

 

Go Redlegs. 

Big Box Mail Day - Junk Wax Inserts and Such

Junk Wax, bay-beeeeeee. Gimme dem inserts. 

 

I have nothing to say that hasn't already been said about this junk era goodness. Just sit back and enjoy the show. 

 

Quiz lookin' like a P-I-M-P. Perfect closer.

 

Go Redlegs.

Big Box Mail Day - Vintage Football and Hockey

Absolutely zero regrets expanding the collection to football and hockey. Inexpensive vintage. Cool history. And who the hell wants to keep their money, anyway?

 

I didn't even know what these were when I bought em. Just saw old stuff for less than a 1990's phone call. Turns out, these were used to stabilize Fleer Football Patch packs, so they decided to print some info on em. 14 total, and I have 6. Well on the way.

 

 

Some more from '73. Bob Hayes is the obvious standout here. Only player with an Olympic Gold Medal and a Super Bowl ring (1964 100m dash and Super Bowl VI, for the curious). Also an All Pro, so he wasn't one of several Olympic PR hires over the years (Tommie Smith and Bennie Brazell on my Bengals, for example).

 

 

 

Merlin Olson and Ray Nitschke are huge pickups for the '69 Topps set. Also HoFer Floyd Little. NFL gots ta bring back these old hand-drawn logos. And there was exactly one vintage basketball in this box, so there it is.

 

Nice pile of 70's hockey. Hockey cards are absolutely worth it just for the haircuts. Look at all these dapper gentlemen. A couple Hall of Famers in this cluster. Cheers to you if you know who they are. A lot of these old hockey sets didn't have a huge checklist, so completion is realistic. Except for that one '79 card. Yeesh.

 

Big Box keeps a' rollin'.

 

Go Redlegs. 

Big Box Mail Day - Fast Food, Dog Food, Sodie Pop, and Retail Shopping

Some, but not all, of the 80's and 90's goodness from The Box. Trying to complete everything offered from this golden era. Because I'm sick in the head.

 

 

Textbook license-less offering here from the dog food people. Hideous. Zoom right in on their big 80's faces so we don't have to airbrush the unis too. 

 

 

Toys R Us adult checking in. RIP this place.

 

Quick stop for some batteries or cough syrup? Sorry, gotta buy your kid some cards here, too.

 

 

Mickey D's and a Pepsi Big Mac. Pepsi made these a quarter inch too wide. Unforgivable. 

 

These are Long John Silver's cards. Why wouldn't they brand them? I don't get it. But LJS zags when everyone else zigs. Always has.

 

I'm fewer than 10 away from the entire K-Mart run. My parents are very proud of me.

 

 

'92 Sausagefractors! Let's get some logos on the ballcaps, man.

 

 

Kendrick Lamar sang of these, I think. 

 

Grab a Drake's coffee cake and a DQ Blizzard, grab a Trapper Keeper at Ames, some pancakes at Denny's, some erectile dysfunction snake oil at the Circle K, some knee socks at Hills, Rock em Sock em Robots at KayBee, and polish it all off with a PB granola bar. And while doing all this, buy like 200 baseball cards. We ready for summer break 1989, boi.

 

Go Redlegs.