Trading Card Database

Just last year I discovered Zistle.  It was great; I got all of my cards uploaded into my collection, created wantlists, and pulled off a bunch of trades.  Then Beckett came along and took over the site.  Apparently, the plan was just to let it die out.  I had to jump ship.  The site is still alive, and there is some activity happening in the Zistle community, but no new cards are being added to the site.  Anything beyond 2016 (and most 2016 sets, for football) is not available on Zistle.  So I migrated over to Trading Card Database.

To tell the truth, I really miss Zistle.  It's interface was so easy to use.  It was more aesthetically pleasing.  It gave you the ability to export your collection to a spreadsheet.  But it was a bit disorganized and had its share of maddening errors in the database.  TCDB is going to work for me, but it's not ideal.  For those who aren't sure how to keep track of your collection, it's a great option, but it does take quite a bit of time and work to enter the collection initially, but I think it beats typing or handwriting everything out.

So, judging from my experience thus far with TCDB, here is a brief review of its features:

PROS:

The Organization

Unlike Zistle, pretty much everything on TCDB is well-regulated.  Zistle had giant holes in its checklists and duplicate sets because allowed anybody to add sets and checklists.  TCDB is far stricter in its checklists; therefore, it is far easier to find the exact set you are looking for.  You don't have to wonder if the set will be there or if you are actually entering the card into the correct set.  It's also so thorough that I never doubt whether I'll be able to find a card on the database.  I think I only own one or two cards that I couldn't find.

Set Building

Trading Card Database is a set builder's dream.  Organization by set is the default and the easiest way to find anything.  Every time you enter a card from a set into your collection, you get statistics telling you how many cards you have, how many are in the set, and a percentage of the set complete.  The wantlist feature is is created for the ease of set builders.  I'll discuss this more in a future post, but TCDB may well turn me into a set builder mere months after I went on record saying that it wasn't my preferred way to collect.

The Community

In just over a year on Zistle, I completed 40 trades.  That's quite a few, I think.  On TCDB, I receive trade offers daily.  Multiple trade offers.  To the point where I can't keep up and respond to all of them.  As far as I can see, there are more TCDB users and they are more active than Zistle users were.  I don't think I'll have trouble finding trading partners again.

CONS:

The Search Function

With Zistle I could do something as simple as search for "Aaron Rodgers base 5" and it would bring up a list of all Aaron Rodgers base cards numbered 5.  It was great for adding odds and ends to my collection, say from a COMC order or blog trade that only included one Aaron Rodgers and one from that particular set.  TCDB doesn't do that.  With TCDB, I would either need to search out the set, bring up the entire checklist, and select the Aaron Rodgers #5.  Or I could bring up every Aaron Rodgers card, find the right card, and select it.  Everything I want to find is there; it's just harder to narrow it down to a specific card.  Plus, there is an extra click to get from the checklist to the update collection function for the checklist.  I don't understand why I can't edit my collection from the checklist. 

Creating Wantlists

Let's say I want to collect Brett Favre.  But I only want Brett Favre as a Packer, none of that icky Viking purple.  So I bring up every Brett Favre card, filter it out to the Packers, and click "Add Missing Cards to Wantlist."  BOOM, every single Brett Favre card in existence is added to my wantlist.  Apparently the filter means nothing.  The inability to add mass cards at once might not be that big of a deal if it were easier to add individual cards.  But that process is not as simple as checking a box.  It requires a drop down menu and selecting "Add to Wantlist" for every individual card.  It's a time-consuming process that involves too many clicks for my liking.  To be fair, wantlists for sets are really easy to do.  It just doesn't work to select certain cards of a certain player.  Again, TCDB caters to set builders, not player collectors.

Drop-Down Menus

This is my biggest issue with TCDB.  Zistle was so easy with a checkbox or an icon to click and the card was added to your collection, tradelist, or wantlist.  Changing quantities was a simple click of an up or down arrow.  TCDB has a checkbox for adding to a personal collection, but requires a drop-down to do anything else with the card.  Often, the page refreshes after you add a card to your tradelist, or move it from your wantlist to your collection.  This causes some unnecessary delay and frustration for me.

There are more pros and cons to be discovered, I'm sure.  These are just the few I've come across in my first few months on the site.  I really do miss Zistle, but it is nice to know that when I have a card in hand, I should have no trouble adding it to my collection.  TCDB may be require clicks than I would like for adding my existing collection, but it sure beats not keeping track at all.  Once I get everything entered in, I expect adding as I go will be no problem.  I hope this site doesn't shut down just as I do, like Zistle did.

If you've read this far, you deserve to see some cards.  Allow me to share the spoils of my first trade on Trading Card Database, which was proposed to me by user Kaline6.  We worked out a small baseball trade.

A couple of ROYs from different eras.

Some BYU alumni.

This card brings me one closer to completing this Wal-Mart exclusive insert tribute to Cal.

Finally, we have some favorite Cubs.  The little leaguer in the middle is Mark Grace.

Flagship Hobby Box: The End (With a Hit)

It's time for my 2017 Topps Hobby Box to make its curtain call.  I'm down to the final nine packs, and we still have a hit in there.  I love it when I break a box and the hit comes toward the end.  The excitement stays around a little bit longer.  In this particular break, the hit came in pack #33 of 36.  What was it?  I'll reveal that later.  First let's take a look at the best base cards of this round.

I haven't done the 30 Day Challenge set out by Tony at Off-Hiatus.  I just don't post enough to keep up with it.  But Day 1 was a card from the current year that you like the photo.  I think this would be my choice.  I love the angle of the photography that makes Hahn look larger than life and the blue sky in the background.  It looks like a perfect day for baseball.

My other favorite base cards feature a trio of slick-fielding infielders and a great play at the plate.  I'm still not used to identifying Lucroy as a Ranger, but it's a great card, nevertheless.

Got a couple more parallels in this round.

My lone 1987 insert of the final nine is a good prospect card: Alex Bregman.  Bregman hasn't torn the league up at the Major League level, but his career OPS in the minors was .891.  Not too shabby.  I think he'll be a great player someday.

One more First Pitch card, and it's a pretty good one.  It's at least somebody that I've heard of.  Shatner looks pretty good for an octogenarian on the mound here.

My final 5-Tool card is Kyle Seager.  Of the Seager brothers, I like Kyle more than I like Corey.  I think it's an underdog mentality.  Corey was expected to be a star from the beginning, while Kyle has quietly become one of the top third basemen in the league.  I don't think I remember a time in my lifetime when third base was so stacked with talent throughout the league.  Bryant, Arenado, Seager, Donaldson, Machado, Beltre.  And if the aforementioned Bregman pans out, we can see there is still some elite talent in the pipeline.

Two more Then & Now cards.  I don't have much to say about these.

More Topps Salute.  Hammel is definitely a keeper for me.  Benintendi is also a keeper, just because I think there is a good chance I'll be adding him to my ROY collection this year.  I was certainly impressed with him against the Cubs this past weekend.  The Braves blue Father's Day uniform looks pretty cool, I think.  Some solid cards here.

I "rediscovered" 1989 Topps here.  With a Cardinal.  I'm overjoyed.  I'm setting this card aside for Cards on Cards unless Kerry indicates he doesn't want it.

My final ad reprint is a pretty good one.  I will probably never own the original of this iconic card, so I will keep this one in my collection.

And now for the one promised hit in my box.   I have to admit, one of the reasons I broke down for hobby box of flagship is the sheer number Cubs hits available.  I figured if I could build the set and have a good chance to pick up a good Cubs hit, I would be happy.  So, what did I score?

A Dustin Pedroia relic.  Not too bad, I have to say.  This card presents a bit of a dilemma for me, though.  I collect Pedroia as a former ROY, but I'm not too into relics unless they are from my team or a player that I really love to collect.  Pedroia is neither.  So do I keep this or pass it on to someone who will appreciate it more?  Right now I'm leaning toward keeping this one.  Who knows, maybe someday it will become trade bait, but I think for now it stays with me.  It's not everyday that I get one promised hit from a box and that one hit actually does have a spot in my collection.

I've already put these cards in my Trading Card Database and have a couple of trades in the works. 

After the trades, I have 329/350 Series 1 cards, good for 94%.  Here is my need list: 41, 66, 84, 100, 108, 126, 135, 181, 219, 225, 241, 242, 245, 250, 268, 280, 289, 297, 311, 330.

Some of the inserts have been traded, but here are the ones I still have available for trade bait:

1987: Yu Darvish
Bowman Then & Now: Manny Machado, Robinson Cano
First Pitch: Leslie Jordan (Nationals), Lou Ferrigno (White Sox)
Gold: Teoscar Hernandez
MLB Network: Lauren Shehadi
Negative: Chad Pinder
Rainbow Foil: Jordan Zimmerman, Scooter Gennett, Noah Syndergaard
Salute: Noah Syndergaard, Andrew McCutchen
Buybacks: Jose DeLeon (1989), Yankees Team Leaders (1987), Juan Nieves (1989), Jeff Musselman (1989), Charlie Hayes (1993), Mets Future Stars-Juan Berenguer, Hubie Brooks, Mookie Wilson (1981)

If you have any of those cards on my wantlist, or if you want one of the inserts I have available, let me know. 

Flagship Hobby Box, Part 3

Here we are, rounding the third nine packs of this break, and Brett Lawrie is here to cheer us on.

Once again, we'll start with my favorite base cards of this section.  Here we have a little of everything: pitching, hitting, baserunning, catching, fielding, and throwing.  I think that Topps has done a good job with photography the last few years.

I got some more of these cards, though.  I have about 5 that printed this way that came out of this box thus far.  I'm not too thrilled about that.

Here are two more Bowman Then & Now cards.  Eric Hosmer is a PC keeper, while Strasburg is kind of a personal favorite of mine.  Remember when that Bowman Chrome Auto of his was THE card to chase?

 Here is my second Rainbow Foil, and it's a pretty good one.  Thor is about to lay down some thunder on the batter.  Or maybe Mr. Met.  Could be either.

Three more Topps Salute cards, in three different styles.  These cards are really all over the place.  And what exactly is Topps saluting?  Rookies?  Throwback unis?  The more I see of these, the more I think they are just an excuse for creating some inserts.

Here is the first Gold I've seen.  These are Short Printed to 2017.  Once again, I was forced to look up a rookie that I had never heard of.  Hernandez appeared in 41 games last season, and has but one appearance this year.  His hitting stats don't look like much, so I can only assume he makes his living with the glove, but I have to admit, I really don't know anything beyond the numbers I saw on baseball-reference.com.

This is my favorite 1987 insert so far.  I never got on the Bo Jackson train back when he was active.  I think I was just too young to understand exactly how impressive he was.  I have since gained a great appreciation for his athleticism.  He has made his way into my baseball and football collections.

Another 5-Tool card.  Hanley is nearing the end of his career, and has been slowing down for a while now.  It has been years since he was a standout player.  Yet, he seems to be in everything still.  And I still collect him, because he was once a Rookie of the Year.  Although, this is one case where I prefer cards of the player in only one uniform: the Marlins.  Nevertheless, this one will have a spot in my binder.

And we'll end things with a great 1989 buyback.  I've gotten to wondering--Where exactly is Topps getting these?  Who is selling these "buybacks" to Topps?  Is it possible that one of us once owned this card, only to have to make its way back to Topps and cycle back into our own collections with a fancy stamp on it?

I'll leave this post on that thought.  One more post should wrap up this box.  We still have the guaranteed hit, and I really want to see how close I can get to completing Series 1.

Flagship Hobby Box, Part 2

I'm almost this excited to continue my 2017 Topps box break.  Let's take a look at some of my favorite base cards from the second 9 packs.

Zach Britton and David Peralta are ready to play.  I love the dugout shot, but it looks like a lot of empty seats behind him there.

I really like these ball-almost-in-the-glove shots.  The green board behind Lorenzo Cain adds a nice flair, too.  Adam Eaton looks almost out of control to me in this picture, like he's about to trip over his own feet.

And here is a great play at the plate picture.  I wish we could see the ball so we would have a better idea of how this play turned out.  The way the glove is closed already, I'm assuming the catcher has it and he may have enough time to make the tag.

Here is the first Rainbow Foil of the box.  They're kind of neat looking, but nothing we haven't seen before.

And here is an MLB Network insert.  I'm not really in love with set.  It's a good design, and a good idea, really, but just not my cup of tea.  So while the card looks good, it is definitely trade bait for me.

I got two more First Pitch cards, including the only one in the set that I was really wanting: Jon Lovitz.

My first Bowman Then & Now insert.  This card design is a little too busy and crowded, in my opinion.  Plus, I don't understand why they decided to use Bowman cards.  In fact, why use pictures of cards at all?  Why not show a picture from the rookie season to compare to now?  This just feels like some self-promotion masquerading as an insert.  And yet, I'd be hard-pressed to find a better player to pull, so I'm adding this card to my collection.  Well played, Topps.

This is interesting card.  It's a negative parallel and it looks kind of cool.  But for some reason, I was expecting this one to be serial numbered.  It's not, and now I'm wondering what the draw is.  It's essentially a washed-out black & white photo on the card that has no limited print run to make it desirable.  I had to look up Chad Pinder, by the way, as I had never heard of him before.  He got an August call-up last year, started this season in AAA, and was called up again last week.  I don't know much else about him, but here's wishing the young man a good career.

Two more Topps Salute cards.  Both players are pretty good pulls, and both of these cards have already been traded away on Trading Card Database.  Most of my Topps Salute cards have already been shipped out; I came across somebody who was building this set and had some of the base set that I needed.

This is my favorite insert of the box thus far.  Hunter Pence is just goofy enough to be one of my favorite players.  And he is actually pretty close to being a five tool player.  In fact, MLB Statcast says he is.  I like this card.

Two more wood panel tributes, one labeled as a Future Star and another finding himself being labeled a past star.

It's cards like the Mets Future Stars that I don't mind getting in the buybacks, sorry "Rediscover Topps," that is.  It's the Nieves and Yankees leaders that I do mind.  If anybody is collecting buybacks or Brewers or Yankees and wants these, let me know.

Finally, I'll end with one more advertisement card.  Once again, even though the back is only an ad, the player pictured is one that I'll keep in my collection. 

There is one last thing I should note.  In this round, I pulled a Topps Now scratch-off card.  I didn't really want it, so I went to eBay to try selling it, only to find that nobody was buying them.  So I went ahead and redeemed the code.  As it turns out, it was a winner.  So I will be receiving Topps Now card #179 when it is released.  I don't support the idea of Topps Now, but I'll take a free card.  My fingers are crossed for a Cubbie.

We are now halfway done with this box, with two more features to go.

Flagship Hobby Box, Part 1

For some inexplicable reason, I decided to splurge a little on a box of Series 1 last week.  I really hadn't intended to do so, but I did.  Last year, I didn't open a single pack of flagship and planned on continuing that course this year.  I think my reasoning had something to do with the sheer number of Cubs thrown into the base and insert sets.  I know a lot of people have been critical of the past two years' designs, but I haven't really minded them.  As I've said before, they beat 2012-2014, in my opinion.  No, I just focused last on those little sets that I could put together with one cheap retail box (Opening Day and Bunt) and Archives.  This year, I've changed course already, passing on Opening Day and procuring a hand collated Heritage set.  Now, I've gone and bought a hobby box of flagship (for the first time ever, I might add) and I'm going to put at least Series 1 together.  We'll have to see about Series 2 later.

I'm going to present my findings in four parts, as I divide the box break into four days of opening nine packs each day.  I really don't want to show every card, so I'll just show you the base cards I find most interesting and the inserts.

We have some airborne players . . .

Some players keeping their eyes on the ball. . .

and some baseball exuberance.  This picture turned out way blurrier than I expected, but the D-Backs team card shows some great Gatorade drops flying out to Goldschmidt's left.  Great photography.  And I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing the Cubs celebrating a Game 7 win.

We also have Wilson Ramos staring deep into your soul . . .

and Adam Lind doing whatever he is doing.

While it is true that the design does cut out a good portion of the picture, I don't know that it takes out that much more than a border around the entire card.  Plus, I look at certain Panini brands and see that focal part of the card is the design and there are small pictures inside the keyhole of the border.  I think Topps often does a better job than Panini in this respect.

The back is not quite as good as the front.  In this picture, the problem is obviously not the design, but the giant misprinted line down the middle of the card.  I actually pulled a few cards that looked like this.  Was it just my box, or has anybody else seen the same thing? 

Typically, I find an insert set in lower end products that I really like and try to complete.  That wasn't really the case with this year's flagship.  None of the insert sets really stood out to me.

I think the 5-Tool set is the best of the bunch, and I really like the design.  However, I don't like Topps's loose interpretation of "5-Tool."  There are a few guys on the checklist that had me scratching my head.  Truly, I think the number of true five tool players would make for a pretty small set.

Here is an example of what I mean.  From the back of this card, I learned that Miggy stole four bases during his Triple Crown season.  Four bases!  Now that indicates some top-end speed, right?  Pitchers and catchers alike are shaking in their cleats with Miguel Cabrera threatening on the basepath.  Now don't get me wrong; Miggy is unquestionably one of the best players of this generation and I have the utmost respect for him. But does he qualify as a five tool player?  Topps thinks so.

Not a bad group of players for the 1987 insert.  I like the feel of these cards.  They're more of the "real" cardboard feel--a bit thicker and a bit grainier on the back.  And this is not a bad group of players to pull for the first few of them that I got.  Like many others, though, I have seen enough tributes to '87 wood paneling.

The Topps Salute is a decent-looking insert set, but it's all over the place.  Here we see a throwback uni.  Others are Father's Day, Mother's Day, Legends, etc.  When I first saw them on the blogs, I couldn't figure out why there were so many insert sets with identical designs.  They are all part of the same set, though.

First Pitch is back.  These are fun cards and I like the idea.  I don't think I'll ever chase the set, though.  I just don't care enough about non-athlete celebrities to make it that interesting to me.  Honestly, I have to Google most of the people on the checklist, as I had to do for Leslie Jordan here.  He looks like he's doing his best impression of another celebrated Jordan's silhouette in this picture.

Count me among the buyback detractors.  I don't like opening a pack of new product pulling junk wax commons.  Now, if I were pulling vintage cards, that might be a different story.  But stamping an overproduced card from 25 years ago and passing it off as an insert doesn't really work for me.  Maybe it means I'm too old to be collecting, because I could see this being a thrill for a kid who was born in 2006 to get a card from over a decade before he was born.  But for me, I don't get excited about this 1993 Charlie Hayes.

I also pulled a couple of advertisements.  They look great on the front, but the back is just an ad.  These don't bother me much, though, because as far as I can tell, these were extra cards that didn't count toward the number of cards in the pack.  I'll probably keep these, because they are great players whose actual rookies I will probably never own. 

Overall, I like the base set, but the inserts are lackluster.  That has been my biggest beef with flagship for the past few years: the proliferation of unimpressive inserts that have huge checklists.  Personally, I would prefer either smaller sets or fewer sets.  And they have to be attractive enough for me to decide I want to put the set together.  These inserts were not.

Stay tuned for a few more days of this box.  We'll see how much of the set I can complete from this one box.