The 1998 Topps Tek Thread

shadowking86 · Mar 11, 2015

How did you manage that?

togaman · Mar 11, 2015

1998 tEk

shadowking86 said:
How did you manage that?

I stopped by a local shop is visit 2x a month to help a Roberto Alomar TEK collector I promised as I recalled he had a couple in a box out in my friends shop and after chit chatting about Astro baseball and life in general he said "OH I just remembered and pulled it out and Said "for you Carl.. TEK man... a buck". I buy from him regularly so he said he would pull any TEK card for me to help the TEK collectors out and for me if there is a diffractor or any of the Pattern # 1 and/or Same Card # pattern# TEKs

I also ran into abc the guy who sold xyz some TEK including a couple hundred diffractors. We discussed TEKs at Howard Laus card shop at length the estimated number of cards of each specific diffractor card/pattern. He estimated 10 per card but said that was a guess and said I probably had a better idea than he did. He was not aware either that Pattern# 49 Diffractor does not appear to have been made. The fact that someone has somewhere around 45-50% of diffractors astounding.

rinkrat38 · Mar 12, 2015

togaman said:
He told me that both Rinkrat and some guy he remembered as being from NY has contacted him about more TEKs

Not true. Never recontacted Eddie about buying any more Teks. I bought what he wanted to sell, and I respected that.

Kennesawsportscards · Mar 12, 2015

togaman said:
I stopped by a local shop is visit 2x a month to help a Roberto Alomar TEK collector I promised as I recalled he had a couple in a box out in my friends shop and after chit chatting about Astro baseball and life in general he said "OH I just remembered and pulled it out and Said "for you Carl.. TEK man... a buck". I buy from him regularly so he said he would pull any TEK card for me to help the TEK collectors out and for me if there is a diffractor or any of the Pattern # 1 and/or Same Card # pattern# TEKs

I also ran into Eddie the guy who sold RR some TEK including a couple hundred diffractors. We discussed TEKs at Howard Laus card shop at length the estimated number of cards of each specific diffractor card/pattern. He estimated 10 per card but said that was a guess and said I probably had a better idea than he did. He was not aware either that Pattern# 49 Diffractor does not appear to have been made.

Eddie will be listing a few more boxes of 1998 TEKs soon. I told him not to believe those hokie $ 300+ box prices on ebay as an expectation of sale prices for th TEK boxes but you never know.. so I suggested he put one up at a time and watch. He told me that both Rinkrat and some guy he remembered as being from NY has contacted him about more TEKs but Eddie doesn't really need the money. I was going to buy everything he had four years or five years ago including all diffractors but after thinking about it I saw no reason since I was done with my Master set with no desire to chase after another 8100 card in the diffractors not to mention I was helping putting my daughter through the University of Texas so I thought that was my highest good as a Dad for financial resources than wasting more money baseball cards. Eddie is a good guy and Ive been to his card store a couple times as its quite a little drive there from NW Houston He thinks that Topps may have thrown away a lot of 98 TEK (I doubt it as it not like the 52 Topps startup) but he admitted he has no basis for that. There just is not very much of the product left and we both agree with numerous individual player collectors bidding prices up on their favorite player cards and a couple diffractor set builders adding to their own personal collections it will be pretty much impossible with the limited number of each specific card for anyone to be able to get all 8090. But you know what they say "To Dream the Impossible Dream!!!" The fact that rinkrat is somewhere 45-50% is astounding.

Just curious togaman. I know I sold you alot of teks a few years ago, and just noticed that you are from Houston. What part? I believe I used to go to Howards shop about 20 years ago when I lived there. Bryan

togaman · Mar 12, 2015

tek talk

Kennesawsportscards said:
Just curious togaman. I know I sold you alot of teks a few years ago, and just noticed that you are from Houston. What part? I believe I used to go to Howards shop about 20 years ago when I lived there. Bryan

Northwest Houston since 1989. Howard's shop on Westheimer and Greg's Odyssey Comics and Cards out of I-10 and Fry Road near Katy (both good guys) are about the only two keeping active shops open here in Houston although there is a rumor that another place might be opening soon (details not confirmed). Eddie has a place in Alvin Texas. He and Howard have done business for years.

I read in the Houston Chronicle that long time card Houston shop owner and show promoter Larry Deluey is in the process of shutting his place down in the Bellaire area south of the Galleria. I use to frequent his place back in the early 80s

Carl Tompkins
aka togaman
Houston, Texas

togaman · Mar 12, 2015

rinkrat38 said:
Not true. Never recontacted Eddie about buying any more Teks. I bought what he wanted to sell, and I respected that.

He has some 1998 TEK boxes left (he thinks). He was going to send me a note about some other loose 98 TEKs he might still have if he finds them. I told him I was only looking for 30 or so mint 98 TEKs to replace a few in my master collection plus any pattern # 1 and any Same Card# /Pattern# for a couple nearly finished sets of those and then lists from the diehards on my updated TEK Collector Lists still trying to finish their favorite player sets. IF he comes across them he may or may not remember to contact me but Eddie knows Howard knows how to reach me easily if he does.

Sure somebody has some in a storage unit somewhere that we might find out about on Storage Wars (fake show..the producers seed those units) some day .

Kennesawsportscards · Mar 12, 2015

togaman said:
Northwest Houston since 1989. Howard's shop on Westheimer and Greg's Odyssey Comics and Cards out of I-10 and Fry Road near Katy (both good guys) are about the only two keeping active shops open here in Houston although there is a rumor that another place might be opening soon (details not confirmed). Eddie has a place in Alvin Texas. He and Howard have done business for years.

I read in the Houston Chronicle that long time card Houston shop owner and show promoter Larry Deluey is in the process of shutting his place down in the Bellaire area south of the Galleria. I use to frequent his place back in the early 80s

Carl Tompkins
aka togaman
Houston, Texas

Yes Carl, we have dealt many times years ago( Kabryman in Kennesaw Ga). If Howard's shop is south of the Beltway 8 on Westheimer then I had been there numerous times in 1991 and 1992. I believe the first show I did was Larry's(made a killing on 1991 stadium club) There were actually about 6 or 7 perceived shortprints;Jeff Reardon,Chris Hammond, Tim Crews, and a few others that guys had big posterboards paying 4-6 dollars each. I loaded them up with a few thousand dollars worth. That got me fired up about the business. Good times.

Anyway, I lived at 7979 Westheimer, between South Voss and Fondren. Remember also shopping at Houston Numismatic near Rice University.

Bryan Manko

togaman · Mar 12, 2015

I remember being in Larrys card shop one day in early 80s and a guy came in with a brown baseball card box full of 1962 Topps cards. He was trying to sell them and Larry was grumpy that day and didn't want to mess with it so I asked Larry if it was ok to talk to the guy. He wanted $100 and I offered $80 and it took all of one minute and the deal was done. Best buy I've ever made and I rarely buy collections (Im not a dealer) with 2/3rds of set including the high dollar # 1 Maris (2 of them), Mantle, Koufax and bunch of the High Number star cards in great condition. I love that set and it hard to find in good condition with the cards centered with the odd brown border. One day I will get back to it an finish my 62, 66, and 69 sets. I like the new Heritage that just came out which is in the 66 style

Do you have any 98 TEKs left? Id like to help some of these guys who lists are on my TEK thread as well as find some cards for upgrades for my own 1998 TEK master set and a few common TEK diffractors

I learned my lesson by trading a few of the Teks to someone who was closer than I was to completing the Master set and it took another 18 months to find a final Paul O'Neill card Pattern # 56 that I had traded so I don't do that anymore.

Kennesawsportscards said:
Yes Carl, we have dealt many times years ago( Kabryman in Kennesaw Ga). If Howard's shop is south of the Beltway 8 on Westheimer then I had been there numerous times in 1991 and 1992. I believe the first show I did was Larry's(made a killing on 1991 stadium club) There were actually about 6 or 7 perceived shortprints;Jeff Reardon,Chris Hammond, Tim Crews, and a few others that guys had big posterboards paying 4-6 dollars each. I loaded them up with a few thousand dollars worth. That got me fired up about the business. Good times.

Anyway, I lived at 7979 Westheimer, between South Voss and Fondren. Remember also shopping at Houston Numismatic near Rice University.

Bryan Manko

Kennesawsportscards · Mar 12, 2015

togaman said:
T Hey there Brian.... Howard moved locations a year or two ago but just maybe a half mile or so further west on north side of Westheimer around 4 miles due west of Beltway 8. Dont know if Howard gets any residuals but the former place he leased is now an Asian (legal) massage parlor(lol). You and I have probably met face to face at some point ..... Im a tall distinguished salt and pepper (most salt) ruggedly handsome dude and a OC set builder like most card collector are ( the OC part). I remember being in Larrys shop one day in early 80s and a guy came in with a brown baseball card box of 1962 Topps cards. He was trying to sell them and Larry was grumpy that day and didn't want to mess with it so I asked Larry if it was ok to talk to the guy. He wanted $100 and I offered $80 and it took all of one minute and the deal was done. Best buy I've ever made and I rarely buy collections (Im not a dealer) with 2/3rds of set including the high dollar # 1 Maris (2 of them), Mantle, Koufax and bunch of the High Number star cards in great condition. I love that set and it hard to find in good condition with the cards centered with the odd brown border. One day I will get back to it an finish my 62, 66, and 69 sets. I like the new Heritage that just came out which is in the 66 style

Do you have any 98 TEKs left? Id like to help some of these guys who lists are on my TEK thread as well as find some cards for upgrades for my own 1998 TEK master set and a few common TEK diffractor since Richard seems to have cornered the market to some degree on the diffractors. Good thing is if anyone gets a diffractor Richard has a bunch to trade to it a win-win for both parties. The flipside is that he ends up bidding against the same guys in some cases (I would think) who are looking to trade the card to him if they win th bid. a Catch 22 conundrum. Different story for me in that with less than 5% of the diffractor the likelihood of me getting a new Diffractor dupe to trade Richard that he does not happen to have already for one I need for one of my 5 TEK Diffractors sets is very low. Love to trade to help other set builders out but I don't trade cards anymore that aren't dupes to me or break sets once theve been started . I learned my lesson by trading a few of the Teks to someone who was closer than I was to completing the Master set and it took another 18 months to find a final Paul O'Neill card Pattern # 56 that I had traded so I don't do that anymore.

Who know Carl, We might have met but I was only in Houston 1991-92. I have done a few of the Nationals and will be in Chicago this year as well. I have gone totally gray( actually longer white) and of course distinguished as well.

I only have a few hundred Teks now. I have also sold plenty of Teks to Richard over the years though not recently.

pudge4hof · Mar 12, 2015

togaman said:
T Hey there Brian.... Howard moved locations a year or two ago but just maybe a half mile or so further west on north side of Westheimer around 4 miles due west of Beltway 8. Dont know if Howard gets any residuals but the former place he leased is now an Asian (legal) massage parlor(lol). You and I have probably met face to face at some point ..... Im a tall distinguished salt and pepper (most salt) ruggedly handsome dude and a OC set builder like most card collector are ( the OC part). I remember being in Larrys shop one day in early 80s and a guy came in with a brown baseball card box of 1962 Topps cards. He was trying to sell them and Larry was grumpy that day and didn't want to mess with it so I asked Larry if it was ok to talk to the guy. He wanted $100 and I offered $80 and it took all of one minute and the deal was done. Best buy I've ever made and I rarely buy collections (Im not a dealer) with 2/3rds of set including the high dollar # 1 Maris (2 of them), Mantle, Koufax and bunch of the High Number star cards in great condition. I love that set and it hard to find in good condition with the cards centered with the odd brown border. One day I will get back to it an finish my 62, 66, and 69 sets. I like the new Heritage that just came out which is in the 66 style

Do you have any 98 TEKs left? Id like to help some of these guys who lists are on my TEK thread as well as find some cards for upgrades for my own 1998 TEK master set and a few common TEK diffractor since Richard seems to have cornered the market to some degree on the diffractors. Good thing is if anyone gets a diffractor Richard has a bunch to trade to it a win-win for both parties. The flipside is that he ends up bidding against the same guys in some cases (I would think) who are looking to trade the card to him if they win th bid. a Catch 22 conundrum. Different story for me in that with less than 5% of the diffractor the likelihood of me getting a new Diffractor dupe to trade Richard that he does not happen to have already for one I need for one of my 5 TEK Diffractors sets is very low. Love to trade to help other set builders out but I don't trade cards anymore that aren't dupes to me or break sets once theve been started . I learned my lesson by trading a few of the Teks to someone who was closer than I was to completing the Master set and it took another 18 months to find a final Paul O'Neill card Pattern # 56 that I had traded so I don't do that anymore.

Hey Carl,
Just another note to say thanks for getting me that last Pudge base 98 topps tek card. My son and I still grin when looking at the set. My son was 10 at the time we started it and he is 27 now. His first shop I used to take him to was Bryan's (kabryman) store in Kennesaw when we lived in Conyers Ga. in 1996 - 2002. We went every week. I was just telling Bryan about the story a few weeks ago. Bryan is a straight up guy and have known him for a while. A good bit of my Pudge collection came through him. Anyways, thought I'd chime in since I recently dealt with both of you. Small world it is indeed. Great friends/great memories.

Randy

togaman · Mar 12, 2015

It always make me smile to help out another collector whenever I can especially one who is forming that extra bond with their children with card collecting ..... Always liked that particular pattern # 33 from 1998 TEK and I'm pleased you were able to finish that IVAN Rodriguez set off. Thanks for the nice note Randy.

Carl

u2me57 · Mar 13, 2015

Kennesawsportscards said:
Who know Carl, We might have met but I was only in Houston 1991-92. I have done a few of the Nationals and will be in Chicago this year as well. I have gone totally gray( actually longer white) and of course distinguished as well.

I only have a few hundred Teks now. I have also sold plenty of Teks to Richard over the years though not recently.

Got any Jim Thome Teks?

togaman · Mar 13, 2015

http://www.freedomcardboard.com/for...s-TEK-Collector-Set-builders-Want-Lists/page2

By the way thanks to a TEK collector (Nick) who sent me a list of his available 98 TEKs I have in hand these now for the 1998 TEK set builders collecting these players

Buhner.......Card # 81 Pat# 62
Galarraga....Card # 85 pat# 68
Lankford.....Card # 90 pattern# 64

Contact me at [email protected] (not PM)

and help Nick out with his Robert Alomar 98 TEK Want list..
Roberto Alomar…Card # 67..Pattern #s 1(2),2,4,5,6,7,8,11,13,21,23,29,32,36,38,49R,57R,59R,60,61,63R,64R,66,67,68,70,74,77,79,80,88

PS The ones with R beside them on list above are condition upgrade cards he wants to replace

rinkrat38 · Mar 13, 2015

togaman; By the way thanks to a TEK collector (Nick) who sent me a list of his available 98 TEKs and help Nick out with his Robert Alomar 98 TEK Want list. Roberto Alomar…Card # 67..Pattern 1(2) said:
This will be an interesting test. Nick, I have extras of Robbie Alomar 1998 Tek patterns 4, 6, 8, 29, 36, 38, 57, 59, 60, 68, 70, 74, 77, 79, 80, and 88. That's 16 of the 31 you need. Contact me for payment details etc. at [email protected] or via PM.

togaman · Mar 13, 2015

rinkrat38 said:
This will be an interesting test. Nick, I have extras of Robbie Alomar 1998 Tek patterns 4, 6, 8, 29, 36, 38, 57, 59, 60, 68, 70, 74, 77, 79, 80, and 88. That's 16 of the 31 you need. Contact me for payment details etc. at [email protected] or via PM.

I just sent him an email Richard

rinkrat38 · Mar 13, 2015

togaman said:
I just sent him an email Richard

Carl,

Try sending Nick's email to [email protected]. Verizon.com is only for Verizon employees.

Rich

brian26 · Mar 13, 2015

togaman said:
http://www.freedomcardboard.com/for...s-TEK-Collector-Set-builders-Want-Lists/page2

By the way thanks to a TEK collector (Nick) who sent me a list of his available 98 TEKs I have in hand these now for the 1998 TEK set builders collecting these players

Buhner.......Card # 81 Pat# 62
Galarraga....Card # 85 pat# 68
Lankford.....Card # 90 pattern# 64

Contact me at [email protected] (not PM)

and help Nick out with his Robert Alomar 98 TEK Want list..
Roberto Alomar…Card # 67..Pattern #s 1(2),2,4,5,6,7,8,11,13,21,23,29,32,36,38,49R,57R,59R,60,61,63R,64R,66,67,68,70,74,77,79,80,88

Interesting that "Nick" needs two pattern #1 's.

togaman · Mar 13, 2015

The Roberto Alomar lists are combined.. Why is "Nick" in parentheses? My want list is a pattern # 1 and a # 67...He must already have a 67p67 ..

but for Nolan Ryan fans and for your viewing pleasure watch Nolan give Robin Ventura a major monkey shine.

Don't mess with Texas and definitely don't mess with Nolan Ryan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3niGu9d_pY

togaman · Mar 13, 2015

What test? .. A pop quiz? .. Just a simple email between you two guys should be a no brainer deal

predatorkj · Mar 13, 2015

togaman said:
I stopped by a local shop is visit 2x a month to help a Roberto Alomar TEK collector I promised as I recalled he had a couple in a box out in my friends shop and after chit chatting about Astro baseball and life in general he said "OH I just remembered and pulled it out and Said "for you Carl.. TEK man... a buck". I buy from him regularly so he said he would pull any TEK card for me to help the TEK collectors out and for me if there is a diffractor or any of the Pattern # 1 and/or Same Card # pattern# TEKs

I also ran into Eddie the guy who sold RR some TEK including a couple hundred diffractors. We discussed TEKs at Howard Laus card shop at length the estimated number of cards of each specific diffractor card/pattern. He estimated 10 per card but said that was a guess and said I probably had a better idea than he did. He was not aware either that Pattern# 49 Diffractor does not appear to have been made.

Eddie will be listing a few more boxes of 1998 TEKs soon. I told him not to believe those hokie $ 300+ box prices on ebay as an expectation of sale prices for th TEK boxes but you never know.. so I suggested he put one up at a time and watch. He told me that both Rinkrat and some guy he remembered as being from NY has contacted him about more TEKs but Eddie doesn't really need the money. I was going to buy everything he had four years or five years ago including all diffractors but after thinking about it I saw no reason since I was done with my Master set with no desire to chase after another 8100 card in the diffractors not to mention I was helping putting my daughter through the University of Texas so I thought that was my highest good as a Dad for financial resources than wasting more money baseball cards. Eddie is a good guy and Ive been to his card store a couple times as its quite a little drive there from NW Houston He thinks that Topps may have thrown away a lot of 98 TEK (I doubt it as it not like the 52 Topps startup) but he admitted he has no basis for that. There just is not very much of the product left and we both agree with numerous individual player collectors bidding prices up on their favorite player cards and a couple diffractor set builders adding to their own personal collections it will be pretty much impossible with the limited number of each specific card for anyone to be able to get all 8090. But you know what they say "To Dream the Impossible Dream!!!" The fact that rinkrat is somewhere 45-50% is astounding.

The first bolded surprises the hell out of me. The second one seems more like Eddie. Nice guy for sure. But I've had a hell of a time getting him to sell me anything other than supplies or wax. I go in there once every couple of months and he is very fair priced for sure. I like BS'ing with him as he seems to enjoy the hobby. But it's like if it's behind the counter, or in one of those monster boxes, it's not for sale. Kind of frustrating but I've learned to accept it.

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