So apparently there's a new blog bat-around that's sweeping the interwebs. I didn't even know this one was a thing until I read RAZ's post the other day, from what I've gathered it was started by the Night Owl, but the inspiration came from Fuji - so I guess you could say that this is a Fuji-Night Owl joint production. Since I don't want anyone else's list to influence mine, I'll have to go back read them all after my humble contribution is completed.
The premise seems to be pretty simple, just name the first player that comes to mind when you think of a particular team. I'm sure everybody ended up with a few unexpected choices, I know I certainly did:
Arizona Diamondbacks - Randy Johnson: It's funny, I watched pretty much all of his career with the Mariners, yet at this point in time I only associate him with the Dbacks.
Atlanta Braves - David Justice: David is one of those guys that I will always associate with my early card collecting years, even though most of those memories are just a blur at this point. His rookie cards were hot amongst my age group at the time, and I only ever had about a dozen SLU figures, but DJ was one of them.
Baltimore Orioles - Cal Ripken Jr.: This was just one of those instant associations, a fairly obvious one though.
Boston Red Sox - Oil Can Boyd: How's that for coming out of left field (baseball pun!)? This is definitely another card related association, thanks 1988 and 1989 Topps! Find me a person anywhere who doesn't like his nickname, and I'll tell you that that person is lying.
Chicago Cubs - Ernie Banks: He's Mr. Cub... nuff said!
Chicago White Sox - Frank Thomas: Yet another guy with hot rookie cards when I was a kid, that Topps no-name was such a big deal, I can just vaguely remember going into a card shop where a guy had just purchased like a dozen boxes just to try and find that card... I sure hope he found one!
Cincinnati Reds - Eric Davis: I knew a pair of brothers who were absolutely obsessed with baseball when I was in my early teens, part of this obsession manifested itself with their trying to identify who everyone in the neighborhood's swing reminded them of, mine was Eric Davis.
Cleveland Indians - Bob Feller: I immediately thought of Bob Feller, followed by Satchel Paige, it then took me a minute or two to come up with another name, Jim Thome.
Colorado Rockies - Todd Helton: This pick was no doubt inspired by all of the recent HOF ballot posts that I've read. For the record, I think he should be voted in.
Detroit Tigers - Ty Cobb: One could easily argue that Ty was the best baseball player ever, personally I'd rank him as #2, number one will be further down on this list. Fun fact: Ty Cobb passed away on my birthday (different year though).
Florida Marlins - Giancarlo Stanton: He was literally the only Marlin that I could think of.
Houston Astros - Craig Biggio: No offense to any other former Astro, but in my mind, Craig Biggio is Mr. Astro(s).
Kansas City Royals - Bo Jackson: When it comes to baseball, Bo's hype, and popularity, was second only to Junior when I was a youngster, every kid wanted to be one or the other. And of course he's always going to be one of the great sports "What if's...".
Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim) - Jim Fregosi: Jim was before my time, but every time someone mentions the Angels, I immediately think of his 1972 Topps Boyhood Photos card, you know, the one with him and his giant accordion... that's my favorite card in that set btw.
Los Angeles Dodgers (of Los Angeles) - Johnny Podres: Normally I wouldn't think of Johnny first, but I recently decided to try and collect all of his cards, so his name has been on my mind as of late.
Milwaukee Brewers - Robin Yount: When I think of the Brewers, I think of mustaches, specifically those of Robin Yount and Rollie Fingers, Yount's stache comes to mind first though, so he gets the nod.
Minnesota Twins - Frank Viola: I know that this one is most certainly not the obvious choice, but he's who I thought of first. I can remember opening up cheap boxes of '87 and '88 Topps from Kmart ($5 a box) and still getting excited when I pulled Frank's cards, I say "still" because these cheap boxes were being opened as late as the mid 90's... that's some high regard!
New York Mets - Doc Gooden: Growing up on the opposite coast, the Mets were one of those teams that I rarely got to see play, and knew almost nothing about. What little I did know, was gleamed from cards, and the cards told me that Doc was pretty darn good there for awhile, so I just kind of assumed that he was their best player.
New York Yankees - Lou Gehrig: My choice for the greatest baseball player of all time.
Oakland Athletics - Jose Canseco: I already mentioned that Griffey and Bo were 1 and 2 respectively when it came to popularity amongst the kids I knew at the time, well, if there was a #3, it would've been Jose. I think in general though, he was more popular with kids that would've been a few years older than me, I could be wrong about that, but I don't think that I am.
Philadelphia Phillies - Darren Daulton: The Phillies were another team that I didn't know a lot about when I was young, but they had Darren, a former Portland Beaver, so I could never hate on them too much.
Pittsburgh Pirates - Bob Walk: Thanks for screwing up my thought processes, Matt!
St. Louis Cardinals - Bob Gibson: I don't recall the title at this point, but one of the first baseball related books that I ever read had a whole chapter devoted to Bob's 1968 season, so even though I never saw him play, that chapter left enough of an impression on young me that I have just sort of always identified the team's name with him ever since. [side note: I sure wish I could figure out which book that was, something by Scholastic maybe?]
San Diego Padres - Tony Gwynn: Has there ever even been another Padre of note?
San Francisco Giants - Kevin Mitchell: Other than getting to watch Junior on a regular basis, growing up a Mariners fan kind of sucked. For as long as I can remember, guys that had been having success elsewhere were always being brought in, and almost always ended up being a disappointment. There was an awful lot of hype when Kevin came over from the Giants back in '92(?), and big surprise... he didn't live up to that hype (my memory tells me that it was actually one of his worst seasons).
Seattle Mariners - Ken Griffey Jr.: I don't know how it was in other parts of the country, but if you were a kid living in the Pacific Northwest during the late 80's/early 90's, Junior was your guy.
Tampa Bay Rays - Uhhhhh?: No Rays player came to mind when I tried to think of one, so I moved on to the next team. After a couple of minutes I thought of Wade Boggs, and then Evan Longoria, but since none came to mind immediately, I will be leaving this selection sort of blank... hopefully this doesn't upset Tampa's one fan :)
Texas Rangers - Nolan Ryan: When I was growing up it seemed like the Rangers had exactly two players, Nolan, and Juan Gonzalez. Nolan came to mind first though, probably only because of that Cursed Texas Express that Pacific apparently printed in numbers that would make Michio Kaku's head spin.
Toronto Blue Jays - Joe Carter: I know it's not true, but part of my brain tells me that Joe's walk-off home run during the '93 World Series was the last truly great World Series moment.
Washington Nationals - Bryce Harper: I really hate that his is the first one that I thought of, but the Nationals are just too new for me, I don't have any memories to associate the team, or any of it's players, with.
Wow, that took a lot longer to do than I thought it would, totally worth it though. Because of the fun I had while writing it up, I think I'll do an NBA and NFL version as well, which I will try to sprinkle in between regular posts over the next couple of days.
Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Monday, January 21, 2019
Bombed by Billy
Of the many packages that I received from fellow bloggers (and one non-blogging friend) during December, one stood out from the rest, not because it was better -- I've said it before, but I'll say it again, I consider everything that is ever sent to me to be equally great. The thought behind the mailing will always mean so much more to me than it's contents ever could -- no, this package from Billy, the tireless genius behind Cardboard History, stood out merely because it was only the one that I had no idea was coming.
It's not very often that I get a completely unexpected package in the mail, it's also not very often that someone sends me a package with 100+ cards in it!
Being from Billy, you'd expect it to be heavy on the basketball, and it was, but there were also a few non-basketball surprises to be had.
I certainly was surprised to see a large grouping of 1974 Visual Panographics U.S. Presidents right off the bat, talk about unexpected!
I'm going to go ahead and say that I had never seen these before, even though I'm pretty sure that I have, I just can't remember the when and where. I'm just showing 12 here, but Billy sent along 22 of the 37-card set. I can't seem to find out how these were distributed, other than that they came as two-card panels that were perforated in the middle, anybody out there know how these were sold?
I thought I'd go ahead a scan the back of my favorite president, the only problem is... I don't have a favorite president! So, you get Zachary Taylor. For being such little cards, they sure did squeeze in a lot of info, even if some of them contain more lore than fact.
I am not a NASCAR guy, my dad was, but I've just never had interest in it - so if you're wondering why there was NASCAR card (say that five times fast) included, well, I'll let the penny sleeve that it was in, do the talking:
How wonderful is that? I don't know if I agree entirely with that sentiment, but I certainly do appreciate the thought behind it, and because of that I will be hanging on to the card, which of course will be kept inside this penny sleeve.
And we've reached the basketball portion of the package, of which I will just be showing about half, otherwise I'd have to break this into two posts (normally I wouldn't mind, but I have so much stuff to catch up on).
Nice group of '96-97 Fleer Metal here, I don't have too many fond memories of Sheed as a Blazer, but I was a fan of The Wizard (Walt Williams) during his short stint with the team. And I don't know why exactly, I always get a kick out of seeing Dino Radja.
I already had these two Action Packed cards, but I thought I'd show them anyway, if only because the scan makes it look like Larry Legend just went a few rounds with Iron Mike.
I know that Panini has recently started adding sticker inserts to some of their products again, which is a good thing, but they'll never reach the greatness that was the All-Stars stickers from the late 80's Fleer sets.
I seem to be getting an awful lot of Toine cards as of late, which for the record, I am not actively seeking - that being said, I'll pick up cheap inserts of his anytime I come across them, or accept base cards of his when they're being sent by Billy :)
Inserts, inserts, and more inserts! Billy was kind enough to include quite a few of the 90's variety, and of the 30-40 that there were, I think I needed all but one (although getting duplicates of inserts from this era is okay with me). Since their debut, I have never stopped liking the 1993-94 Skybox Showdown Series, the head-to-head stats on the back are still fun to read - now if we could just go back to the days of Olajuwon vs. Mutombo... sigh.
Getting a Larry Johnson that I didn't already have is always a Welcome Addition.
I was trying to keep all of the base and inserts separate for scanning purposes, but as I'm adding these groups to the post, I see that the Damon Holoview Heroes slipped into this group of base unnoticed - I guess that's what happens when you have to stand up to scan, and you've been doing so for over an hour, weariness starts to officially set in. Some really fun base cards here though, and I think that I only had one other Holoview Heroes, so it's inclusion was greatly appreciated.
It wasn't all 90's inserts.
And finally, a nice group of player's from the past on new-ish cards. I know a lot of people grumble over guys like these being included into newer sets, but for me it's getting to the point where I'm only interested in retired players portion of checklists.
Thank you again for the cards, and for all of the thought that went into them, Billy! Everything that I had for you was in the Secret Santa package, but hopefully I can start building back up the reserves and be able to surprise you with a mailing at some point in the not too distant future.
Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.
It's not very often that I get a completely unexpected package in the mail, it's also not very often that someone sends me a package with 100+ cards in it!
Being from Billy, you'd expect it to be heavy on the basketball, and it was, but there were also a few non-basketball surprises to be had.
Nice group of '96-97 Fleer Metal here, I don't have too many fond memories of Sheed as a Blazer, but I was a fan of The Wizard (Walt Williams) during his short stint with the team. And I don't know why exactly, I always get a kick out of seeing Dino Radja.
Thank you again for the cards, and for all of the thought that went into them, Billy! Everything that I had for you was in the Secret Santa package, but hopefully I can start building back up the reserves and be able to surprise you with a mailing at some point in the not too distant future.
Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Laughing all the way to the bank
As many of you undoubtedly know by now, the non-card collecting portion of society absolutely lost it's collective mind a couple of months ago when the news started spreading that the Menendez brothers had been discovered sitting in the background of Mark Jackson's 1990-91 Hoops card.
To say that things were absolutely bonkers for a couple of weeks during late November/early December would be a massive understatement, as the masses started paying obscene amounts of money to acquire a copy of that particular card, a card that any collector knows, was produced by the millions.
Unable to resist this sudden interest in a decades old piece of "junk wax", collector's everywhere started scrounging through long ignored boxes in search of this new, albeit temporary, holy grail. Many would be found, and subsequently many would be sold on eBay, almost all of which were done so for exorbitant sums.
Normally I'm not one to notice trends, or to pay any attention to what ever the latest viral thing is, but in this instance, I did! Of course you'd have to be living under one of those proverbial rocks not to have heard about it at the time, as it truly was everywhere.
Knowing that this surge in prices couldn't last, I too started searching through boxes of long ignored cardboard, my search would yield six copies -- one from my set (I could replace after the interest died down), two from misc. boxes, and three from a 3200ct box that was slated for the thrift store.
I don't know exactly when the peak of the public's interest was, but I suspect that I was couple of days late when I listed my newly found six copies, that being said, all six sold the day they were listed, and after fees and shipping, each card ended up fetching roughly $20!
This really couldn't have happened at a better time for me personally, as I had almost no play money to spend in December (or January), so it truly was an unexpected windfall.
It also just so happened that had I just started watching an auction (on eBay of course) for an item that doesn't come up very often, an item that I very much wanted, and wasn't going to be able to bid on, but now I had money... lots of money!
With my new found riches, the other bidders on this auction did not stand a chance (even though it ended up selling for much less than I expected), so behold, the latest edition to my Golden Age Historic Signatures collection!
It's been like a month now (or maybe a little more), and I still can't believe that this Jerry Lewis auto was paid for with 3 1/2 1990-91 Hoops Mark Jackson's, in pre-Menendez discovery terms, I got this for 35 cents (or less), see... crazy!
I'm assuming (and hoping) that everyone knows who Jerry Lewis is, and how big of a star he once was, because of this assumption, and the fact that this post ran longer than expected (what else is new), I'm skipping the addition of any biographical info. If somehow you don't know who he is/was, there's always the Google.
When the 2013 Golden Age set was released, this autograph could only be had via redemption, but thankfully he honored his commitment to Panini by signing quite a few cards before his passing last year. It's interesting too that the card came from Panini in this fancy case, it's first Golden Age redemption that I've seen come in such a holder.
I know that a few of my fellow bloggers were able to take it advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity, I sure hope that a few of the non-blogging folks who happen to be reading this, were able to as well.
Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.
To say that things were absolutely bonkers for a couple of weeks during late November/early December would be a massive understatement, as the masses started paying obscene amounts of money to acquire a copy of that particular card, a card that any collector knows, was produced by the millions.
Unable to resist this sudden interest in a decades old piece of "junk wax", collector's everywhere started scrounging through long ignored boxes in search of this new, albeit temporary, holy grail. Many would be found, and subsequently many would be sold on eBay, almost all of which were done so for exorbitant sums.
Normally I'm not one to notice trends, or to pay any attention to what ever the latest viral thing is, but in this instance, I did! Of course you'd have to be living under one of those proverbial rocks not to have heard about it at the time, as it truly was everywhere.
Knowing that this surge in prices couldn't last, I too started searching through boxes of long ignored cardboard, my search would yield six copies -- one from my set (I could replace after the interest died down), two from misc. boxes, and three from a 3200ct box that was slated for the thrift store.
I don't know exactly when the peak of the public's interest was, but I suspect that I was couple of days late when I listed my newly found six copies, that being said, all six sold the day they were listed, and after fees and shipping, each card ended up fetching roughly $20!
This really couldn't have happened at a better time for me personally, as I had almost no play money to spend in December (or January), so it truly was an unexpected windfall.
It also just so happened that had I just started watching an auction (on eBay of course) for an item that doesn't come up very often, an item that I very much wanted, and wasn't going to be able to bid on, but now I had money... lots of money!
 |
| Try as I might, I could not get a photo without the phone's reflection across the case :( |
It's been like a month now (or maybe a little more), and I still can't believe that this Jerry Lewis auto was paid for with 3 1/2 1990-91 Hoops Mark Jackson's, in pre-Menendez discovery terms, I got this for 35 cents (or less), see... crazy!
I'm assuming (and hoping) that everyone knows who Jerry Lewis is, and how big of a star he once was, because of this assumption, and the fact that this post ran longer than expected (what else is new), I'm skipping the addition of any biographical info. If somehow you don't know who he is/was, there's always the Google.
When the 2013 Golden Age set was released, this autograph could only be had via redemption, but thankfully he honored his commitment to Panini by signing quite a few cards before his passing last year. It's interesting too that the card came from Panini in this fancy case, it's first Golden Age redemption that I've seen come in such a holder.
I know that a few of my fellow bloggers were able to take it advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity, I sure hope that a few of the non-blogging folks who happen to be reading this, were able to as well.
Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.
Monday, January 14, 2019
Secret Santa wrap-up post
I can't remember how long after Christmas it was that Matt did the wrap-ups for the two previous year's worth of Secret Santa's, but the middle of January seems like reasonable amount of time to have waited (at least to me), so here it is!
I would like to thank everyone again who participated this year, I haven't heard any grumbling, so I'll have to assume that we can call this year's outing a success. And I know that I've already said it at least once before, but I'd like to say thank you again to everyone who helped promote the Secret Santa on their blog this year, I truly do believe that that was the difference maker as far as people joining in went.
You'll find a list of who sent to who below, with links to everything that has been shown publicly, or at least everything that I've seen that was shown publicly. If I've somehow missed anything, just let me know and I'll update list.
Shane Katz (Off The Wall via Twitter) sent by Kirk (CaptKirk42s Trading Card Blog)
Peter (Baseball Every Night) sent by Brian (Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary)
Mike Matson (Not Another Baseball Card Blog) sent by AJ (The Lost Collector)
Adam (Cardboard Clubhouse) sent by Andy (Stadium Fantasium)
Nick (Dime Boxes) sent by Chris aka ntlwhlr (TCDB)
Adam (ARPSmith's Card Obsession) Paul (Scribbled Ink)
AJ (The Lost Collector) sent by Tim (I Love the Smell of Cardboard in the Morning)
Brian (Collecting Cutch) sent by Angus (Dawg Day Cards)
Bulldog (Nothing If Not Random) sent by Colbey (Cardboard Collections)
Fuji (The Chronicles of Fuji) sent by Matt (Diamond Jesters)
Kirk (CaptKirk42s Trading Card Blog) sent by Adam (Cardboard Clubhouse)
GCA (The Collective Mind) sent by Shane (Off The Wall)
Jon (A Penny Sleeve for your Thoughts) sent by Nick (Dime Boxes)
Angus (Dawg Day Cards) sent by Mike Matson (Not Another Baseball Card Blog)
John Hazen aka Mihome316 (TCDB) sent by Brian (Collecting Cutch)
Andy (Stadium Fantasium) sent by gcrl (cards as i see them)
Colbey (Cardboard Collections) sent by Billy (Cardboard History)
Chris aka ntlwhlr (TCDB) sent by Kin (Bean's Ballcard Blog)
John Sharp (John's Big League Baseball Blog) sent by Roy (Nothing if not Random)
Brian (Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary) sent by Fuji (The Chronicles of Fuji)
Matt (Diamond Jesters) sent by Dan aka vrooomed (TCDB)
gcrl (cards as i see them) sent by Tyler (Rekindling the Cardboard Flame)
Kin (Bean's Ballcard Blog) sent by John Hazen aka Mihome316 (TCDB)
Paul (Scribbled Ink) sent by Chris (The Collector)
Chris (The Collector) sent by Mark Hoyle (Twitter)
Dan aka vrooomed (TCDB) sent by GCA (The Collective Mind)
Mark Hoyle (Twitter) sent by Jon (A Penny Sleeve for your Thoughts)
Tyler (Rekindling the Cardboard Flame) sent by Peter (Baseball Every Night)
Tim (I Love the Smell of Cardboard in the Morning) sent by Adam (ARPSmith's Card Obsession)
Billy (Cardboard History) sent by Jon (A Penny Sleeve for your Thoughts) filling in for John Sharp (John's Big League Baseball Blog)
I didn't know if I should mention it or not, but just in case anyone's wondering about the last entry on this list, John Sharp ran into some difficulties (of the personal variety) not too long after the names were randomized and given out. He sent me an email to let me know that he was going to have to drop out, given who he is and what he was going through (not to mention what time of the year it was), I asked him to stay in to receive his gift, and that I would take care of Billy for him. Knowing most of you as I do, I didn't think that anybody would have a problem with this arrangement, but if I'm wrong and someone does, well, you know where to find me.
Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.
I would like to thank everyone again who participated this year, I haven't heard any grumbling, so I'll have to assume that we can call this year's outing a success. And I know that I've already said it at least once before, but I'd like to say thank you again to everyone who helped promote the Secret Santa on their blog this year, I truly do believe that that was the difference maker as far as people joining in went.
You'll find a list of who sent to who below, with links to everything that has been shown publicly, or at least everything that I've seen that was shown publicly. If I've somehow missed anything, just let me know and I'll update list.
Shane Katz (Off The Wall via Twitter) sent by Kirk (CaptKirk42s Trading Card Blog)
Peter (Baseball Every Night) sent by Brian (Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary)
Mike Matson (Not Another Baseball Card Blog) sent by AJ (The Lost Collector)
Adam (Cardboard Clubhouse) sent by Andy (Stadium Fantasium)
Nick (Dime Boxes) sent by Chris aka ntlwhlr (TCDB)
Adam (ARPSmith's Card Obsession) Paul (Scribbled Ink)
AJ (The Lost Collector) sent by Tim (I Love the Smell of Cardboard in the Morning)
Brian (Collecting Cutch) sent by Angus (Dawg Day Cards)
Bulldog (Nothing If Not Random) sent by Colbey (Cardboard Collections)
Fuji (The Chronicles of Fuji) sent by Matt (Diamond Jesters)
Kirk (CaptKirk42s Trading Card Blog) sent by Adam (Cardboard Clubhouse)
GCA (The Collective Mind) sent by Shane (Off The Wall)
Jon (A Penny Sleeve for your Thoughts) sent by Nick (Dime Boxes)
Angus (Dawg Day Cards) sent by Mike Matson (Not Another Baseball Card Blog)
John Hazen aka Mihome316 (TCDB) sent by Brian (Collecting Cutch)
Andy (Stadium Fantasium) sent by gcrl (cards as i see them)
Colbey (Cardboard Collections) sent by Billy (Cardboard History)
Chris aka ntlwhlr (TCDB) sent by Kin (Bean's Ballcard Blog)
John Sharp (John's Big League Baseball Blog) sent by Roy (Nothing if not Random)
Brian (Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary) sent by Fuji (The Chronicles of Fuji)
Matt (Diamond Jesters) sent by Dan aka vrooomed (TCDB)
gcrl (cards as i see them) sent by Tyler (Rekindling the Cardboard Flame)
Kin (Bean's Ballcard Blog) sent by John Hazen aka Mihome316 (TCDB)
Paul (Scribbled Ink) sent by Chris (The Collector)
Chris (The Collector) sent by Mark Hoyle (Twitter)
Dan aka vrooomed (TCDB) sent by GCA (The Collective Mind)
Mark Hoyle (Twitter) sent by Jon (A Penny Sleeve for your Thoughts)
Tyler (Rekindling the Cardboard Flame) sent by Peter (Baseball Every Night)
Tim (I Love the Smell of Cardboard in the Morning) sent by Adam (ARPSmith's Card Obsession)
Billy (Cardboard History) sent by Jon (A Penny Sleeve for your Thoughts) filling in for John Sharp (John's Big League Baseball Blog)
I didn't know if I should mention it or not, but just in case anyone's wondering about the last entry on this list, John Sharp ran into some difficulties (of the personal variety) not too long after the names were randomized and given out. He sent me an email to let me know that he was going to have to drop out, given who he is and what he was going through (not to mention what time of the year it was), I asked him to stay in to receive his gift, and that I would take care of Billy for him. Knowing most of you as I do, I didn't think that anybody would have a problem with this arrangement, but if I'm wrong and someone does, well, you know where to find me.
Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.
Tuesday, January 8, 2019
Spreading the word... again!
I have been a little under the weather for the last couple of days, because of this I haven't been able to concentrate all that much when it comes to writing a blog post, or posts. So in lieu of the post that was supposed to be, and still isn't, done for today, I will instead try use to my non-existent influence to promote my good friend's new YouTube channel.
I'm sure many of you have already read about it, but just in case you haven't, Oscar, yes he of ATBATT fame, has created a new YouTube channel, NetChucArts. If you're interested in things like baseball cards, art, music, etc., then you should definitely go get yourself subscribed early, that way once Oscar becomes a big-time YouTube star, you'll be able to say that you were there from the beginning... and actually be telling the truth :)
That's about all I got for you today, hopefully I'll have something a little more meaty ready to go in a couple of days.
Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.
Sunday, January 6, 2019
Expected three, got four!
I don't know if Chris, The Collector, feels the same way or not, but it seems like we have been exchanging cards for years now. I'm sure that if I took the time to go back and look, I would find that we've only been doing so for maybe a year, or a little more, but it sure does feel like it's been a lot longer than that.
The most recent mailing between us came from Chris in the form of a PWE back in December, and if there's one thing that I've learned about Chris over the last year (or more), it's that his PWE's always pack a punch, and this most recent envelope was certainly no exception!
Being a big fan of any 90's Prism cards, I was all over this John Elway after Chris made it available to any interested party. I actually thought I already had this one, but didn't mind getting another. Turns out that I had the Taraus Technologies version of this card, so the Prism was new to me -- I keep forgetting that were two different versions of the five-card Elway insert set from that year's Edge.
If you were collecting basketball cards in the early 90's, you undoubtedly remember how big of a deal the first couple of Beam Team insert sets were, well, at least the first two year's worth, they kind of dropped off in quality after that. I've seen people arguing on message boards about which set was better, 1992-93 or 1993-94, it seems a little silly to me for someone to get all riled up over such a trivial thing, but they do. For the record, I like both year's BT sets equally, while certainly different in appearance, I just love them both so much that it would be impossible for me to choose which is "better".
I was surprised to find that I didn't already have this '93-94 Penny, and it looks like I only need a couple more now to complete the set, although one of those is MJ, so I might not be finishing it anytime soon.
Here's another card that Chris made available to whoever on his blog, if memory serves, this Prizm insert came out of a repack. I wanted this card for two reasons, a) It's a pretty die-cut, and b) I actually know who Cameron Wake is, and have seen him play, which is something that's becoming rarer and rarer for me when it comes to players on modern cards. Did you know that Cameron is #2 on the list of all-time sacks by an undrafted free agent? I certainly didn't! He's 39.5 sacks behind John Randle, and at age 36 I don't think he'll be able to take that top spot, but being #2 in that category is still pretty darn impressive.
Oh, and sorry about the partial fingerprint on the card, I didn't notice it until after it was scanned. The question is, who's was it? Mine? Chris'? A Fairfield employee? Since it has since been removed, this will be one mystery that is going to have to remain unsolved!
I knew that the first three cards in this post would be coming, but Chris really surprised me with this 2018 Classics orange Charlie Joiner (which I should have went the photo route with btw). This is only my second orange from the set, and was my first Charlie Joiner parallel. I actually bid on a blue one not too long after the set came out, but didn't end up winning it, little did I know that just a couple of months later I would be the recipient of this awesome consolation prize -- which in all honesty, is much than the blue that I didn't win, if only because someone thought enough of me to send it my way :)
Thanks a bunch for the cards, Chris! At the rate we're going, I can't imagine that it'll be too long before a another package shows up in your mailbox with my name on it.
Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.
The most recent mailing between us came from Chris in the form of a PWE back in December, and if there's one thing that I've learned about Chris over the last year (or more), it's that his PWE's always pack a punch, and this most recent envelope was certainly no exception!
I was surprised to find that I didn't already have this '93-94 Penny, and it looks like I only need a couple more now to complete the set, although one of those is MJ, so I might not be finishing it anytime soon.
Oh, and sorry about the partial fingerprint on the card, I didn't notice it until after it was scanned. The question is, who's was it? Mine? Chris'? A Fairfield employee? Since it has since been removed, this will be one mystery that is going to have to remain unsolved!
Thanks a bunch for the cards, Chris! At the rate we're going, I can't imagine that it'll be too long before a another package shows up in your mailbox with my name on it.
Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.
Friday, January 4, 2019
A rainbow of (Kin)dness
As mentioned in the previous post, I was fortunate enough to receive a number of very generous packages during the month of December, and I am very overdue in giving public thanks. Now that I'm caught up with a few things, blog and life related, I can now start getting everything shown.
Some of these packages that will be shown over the next couple of posts will probably be out of order, as far as when they were received, but I scanned everything in a certain order, so that's the order in which they will be shown -- I say "certain order", but that really just translates to "completely random", I mention this because I don't want anyone to think I'm doing a worst to best, or vice-versa, I could never do such a thing when it comes to items that multiple people took the time (and money) to send to me.
Okay, so first up is, Kin, of many things fame! Seriously though, you can find Kin all over the place, on Twitter, on YouTube, and of course, there's always Bean's Ballcard Blog.
You often hear people on the blogs, and on Twitter, mention that this person, and that person, are great ambassadors for the card collecting community, or "The Hobby". Well, in my mind, there are few people who are more influential in this community than Kin. He rarely gets the accolades for all that he does, and has done, which is a real shame, because he has done an awful lot -- and being the humble person that he is, he isn't one to go around telling people of all the things he's done, heck, he won't even admit to being as important as he is on the rare occasion that someone does acknowledge him (I know, I've tried).
I won't go into everything that I've seen him do, or heard other people mention him doing, but I will say that one of the most important things that he does, is to tweet (and retweet) out links to people's blog posts. Now I realize that this might not seem like a big deal to some, but trust me, it is! Kin's got incredible pull, so when he tweets out a link to a post, he puts eyes on that post, I've experienced this many times, so I know what I'm talking about here. And for any blogger who is not on Twitter that might be wondering how this applies to them, well, it doesn't matter if you're on Twitter or not, if you have a blog, Kin is probably tweeting out links to your posts and you don't even know it... and those tweets are most certainly increasing the number of views on those posts!
Now that I've paid proper respects to the house of Kin, let's take a look at what he sent me :)
As far as the cards at the top of the page go, that Zimmerman is now my first card of him, and the Braun is like the second or third of his that I now own, not a fan of his, but he is a name, so he was added to a binder. While looking at the Braun card, I couldn't help but wonder if he would ever be able to play anywhere other than Milwaukee? I've made it no secret that I don't follow a lot of modern sports anymore, for the most part I just read Rotoworld in the morning to see who did what the day before. It seems like his numbers are still pretty good, but I haven't heard anything about where he currently stands with baseball fans in general, is he still loathed? Would fans in another city accept him, especially if they thought he could help their team win? Anyone?
Thank you again for the cards, Kin! And thank you again for all that you do for everyone else, especially when it comes to your fellow bloggers.
Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.
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