When I checked my mailbox, the thing I most like to see was inside - a red and white card notifying me that I had a package that doesn't fit in the box. Since I had been buying quite a bit on eBay lately, I figured it was one of those packages - but it wasn't. It was something totally unexpected, out of the blue, with no warning whatsoever, from fellow White Sox fan Steve at White Sox Cards.

When I opened it, there were two full-to-bursting team bags of cards, each containing all sorts of stuff. Have a look:

Some 2010 Heritage for team-set building purposes. Plus, the obligatory Hebrew Hammer, which is nice.



Also a pair of 2011 Heritage Ichiros with razor sharp corners.


More 2011 cards - this time, Opening Day. Steve was obviously paying attention when I talked about being a sucker for cards with throwback uniforms on them. (Green and gold FTW!) By the way, when did the Reds get that mascot? And what the hell was wrong with Mr. Red?


Some 2010 Upper Decks. That set, thanks to the whole licensing kerfuffle, is a mother lode of uniform back cards. The 2010 Bowman Markakis is not part of the set, but doesn't look out of place next to the other two.


Not only is Jose Lopez shiny and bendy, he's also refractory. If that's even a word.


I'll take a Topps Attax card if it has Stubbsy on it. And that is such a pretty picture of the GABP.


Some Moments and Milestones. It's a tie between that and Upper Deck Documentary for the Set That Wouldn't Die. The Radhames Liz is numbered 1/25 - maybe I should sell it on eBay and put lots of exclamation points in the title.


Here's two more cards concerning my monumentally stupid decision to collect all of the Cards Your Mom Threw Out. Did I mention that I want to collect all the original backs, too?



Finally, it wouldn't be a package from White Sox Cards if he didn't include, well, some White Sox cards. Anytime you open a package containing Luis Aparicio, it's going to put a smile on your face...Luke Appling had one of the best nicknames ("Old Aches and Pains") in baseball history...there was a good selection of current and recent Sox players, with Vizquel, TCQ (a National Chicle card I don't completely hate), Ordonez and shiny Manny...when I was a kid, Jack McDowell seemed to be just about the coolest guy on the planet...yes, that is a real 1961 card of Al Smith, and it's in great shape...the Conlon Collection is one of those sets that everybody in the blogosphere should help each other complete. Donate your cards of teams you don't collect to people who do...mini Carlton Fisk, wearing the uniform that made me fall in love with the White Sox. Shame that his hand is covering up the number on the pants leg.

That's quite a haul, and guess what? That's only one of the bags in the package. I haven't even opened the other one yet. See you tomorrow for those results.

(Okay, I did have a peek at the other bag. There's a mojo relic of a Zeppelin tee.)

Now that the season is over, I find myself looking for (and thinking about acquiring) the sets of my youth. I noticed this happen last year, too, when I bought a bunch of old wax from the late 80s to replace or supplant some of the cards I collected as a kid. Now, I'm looking at two sets that are taught of as the "Cadillacs" of junk wax (mostly due to the players contained) - 1985 Topps (the first cards that I actively purchased with my own money and traded with friends) and 1989 Upper Deck

'89 Upper Deck of course has THE GRIFFEY CARD and is the set that I always considered out of my reach as a child because I was too damn cheap to spend a buck on a pack of cards. I mean, come on - that same dollar could buy me two packs of Topps cards. I was always think of quantity over quality back then.

Of course, now that I'm older, I can easily afford to spend some of the prices I see for these sets. But I'm not pulling the trigger for some reason. Maybe it's because I've just placed an order for modern cards (that reminds me, I need to check the tracking on that package) and I don't want to annoy the missus when the bank statement comes. But honestly, I think I'm still just too cheap. The prices of '89 Upper Deck have risen with inflation, almost entirely on the strength of Ken Griffey's sterling reputation as a ballplayer. Who would have thought of Junior as an inflationary safeguard? But at the same time, even though I can pay these prices, I don't want to. I still think a lot of people on eBay have no idea how little their cards are actually worth and I don't want to play into their fallacy.

So I'll just continue to wait for that bargain to show up. After all, I was looking at '85 Topps and '89 Upper Deck last year, too. It's been a year and I have neither. I ended up getting my second and third favorite sets from the era, adding a 1986 Topps set and replacing the 1987 Topps set that I scarred with rubber band marks because I just didn't know any better when I was 11.

In the meantime, you can find me on eBay. I'll be patiently waiting.