Thankful

I don't know if it's still the same with today's kids or not, but when I was growing up we were still taught that this was the time of year to reflect on the things that we were thankful for. I'd be lying if I said that younger me ever spent even a single second doing this, but it is something that I try to remind myself to do more often as an adult. And while I personally don't believe that such reflections should be limited to just a month or two at the end of each year, this post will probably make it seem like I do.

Sometime during this past summer, my laptop started showing signs that its end may not be too far off. Before going too much further, I should probably mention that it is around twelve years old at this point, and still operating on Windows 8. Its been very good to me over the years, and I've developed more of a rapport with it than I ever would've thought possible. Anyway, after the initial troubles, things seem to have improved, enough so that I, as a non-computer person, started to think that maybe it had just been a temporary hiccup. Unfortunately, recent events have proven otherwise. Seemingly out of nowhere, its operations became considerably more wonked three weeks ago. My mom is more computery than me, and after she told me that its end was nigh, I started scrambling to get all of the important things off of it while I still can. Most of my photos/scans, and more importantly, most of my obscene amount of newspaper related downloads were moved to flash drives (provided by my mom), and the one's that wouldn't transfer (something about them having properties that couldn't be transferred to a flash drive?) have been temporarily moved to an Adobe account that I created. And since I don't trust any of these things, I've also spent a bunch of time printing out hard copies of all of my genealogical research; which is quite considerable at this point. 

I'm done with all of the above as of this writing, which I'm very thankful for, as it took even longer than I thought it would. I feel like I should apologize too, to my fellow bloggers for the lack of comments left on your posts in recent weeks. I can only do so much. I have been reading posts on my phone at night, but it's much more difficult for me to type out longer comments on that little keypad.

I was kind of hoping that my laptop would outlive me, but since clearly it isn't going to, I'm thankful that A). It held up as long as it has. B). That it waited until this time of year to start dying, as sales on laptops are plentiful right now. C). That despite not wanting to have to get a new (and probably inferior) one, I at least have the money to do so (still a bit of a stretch though). If all goes well, I should have a new laptop, or at least have one ordered, by the time this post goes live. Hopefully it won't take me too long to figure out how to start using it.

In other news, the vertigo that was causing me so much trouble at the beginning of the year, that had been mostly under control, has returned. Not quite as bad as it was, but still enough to start making a few things more difficult again. I've already talked about this in multiple posts across two blogs, so I won't be getting into it again; other than to say that since this issue might be permanent now, my posting will probably continue to be highly irregular going forward, as computering seems to be the quickest way to trigger it. I've been told that the vertigo coming and going like this isn't uncommon, and when it's here, blogging is not easy. As an example, the previous post on here took me almost six hours to put together (spread out across eight mornings). That's a long time to work on what to most people was probably consider a throwaway post (after nine years though, I probably should've known better than to spend so much time on a non-sport card post). As sucky as my bouts of vertigo have been, I'm thankful that they haven't been worse, as they very well could be (and might be in the future).

Now that I got the boring, and depressing, things out of the way, I'd like everyone to know how thankful I am that folks still come around here. My posting has dropped off considerably this year (see the paragraph above), but that doesn't seem to stop a few people from showing up and supporting my efforts when I am actually able to get a post out there. Heck, people even still send me stuff from time to time. Unfortunately, because of the lack of posting, I've really really fallen behind in giving public thanks for the items that have shown up in recent months. I won't be able to get caught up by year's end, but hopefully I can get to a decent chunk of it here today.

Chris, aka The Collector, has gone MIA... again! Unfortunately, it looks like it might be permanent this time. His blog is gone, his TCDB account is gone, and as I found out last week, his email address is no longer valid either. Chris and I have had a good relationship over the years, and have spoken many times away from the blog about non-blogging things, so this turn of a events has come as a bit of a surprise. The last time we spoke, which was probably around the time of his last post, he relayed some very good news about the situation that his family has been dealing with, so aside from his losing interest in blogging (join the club), I was under the impression that all was well in the world of Chris. Something's obviously changed though. Since there's no other way for me to contact him anymore, I put a letter in the mail the other day; hopefully he'll reply. 

I received an envelope of odds and ends from Chris right around the time we last spoke, stuff that was held out from the large batch of cards he was sending to another friend to sell for him. 

I think that this was the third copy of this Jim Brown reprint that a blogger has sent me over the years. I'm not sure why exactly, but everyone seems to think that I need many copies of this card.

I like getting sent SLU's, unfortunately I already have a really nice copy of the Boggs (it's currently sitting in a draft), and the Lathon is from one of the sets that I'm not collecting. I've found out recently that it's near impossible to give away free cards on the blog anymore, but if anyone needs either of these, please say so. As for the Bo, that was actually a need. I could've swore I already had it, but apparently not.

Optic is one of those modern sets that's not really something I ever look for, or even think about, but both of these cards are fairly nice for what they are.

The Thomas sticker was a dupe too. The David Robinson Patriarchs was my favorite of the envelope, mostly because I'm working on the set, and didn't already have this one.

I completely forgot to ask Chris about this card when I thanked him for the mailing, as I have no idea what it is. I know what it isn't, and that's an original Philadelphia rookie of Bob Hayes. You can't tell from the scan, but the coloring is right, on the front, and back, but it's got a slight gloss to it, which original Philadelphia's don't have. There's no "reprint" anywhere on the back, and after searching around online, I don't see people selling reproductions (i.e. counterfeits) of this particular card on any of the usual sites, so at the moment I'm at a complete loss as to what its origins are.

Chris, if you're out there, come back... if only so you can tell me what the hell the Bob Hayes is! Kidding aside, I very much hope that you will return to us at some point; the blogs will be a much poorer place without your presence.

Despite having them on my want lists, which are sometimes public, for a lot of years, Bo, he of the always present, Baseball Cards Come to Life!, became only the second person to ever send me a Hostess card. I don't know if it's because I rarely talk about them, or what, but despite all the one's I see exchanging hands on the blogs, they just don't ever come this way. I'll live though. One did, and it was a very nice one at that. I don't think most folks normally associate Bo with basketball cards, but if you collect them, he does send them from time to time. My 1989-90 Fleer set build was helped along with this addition of Chris(tian) Welp.

I've talked about Larry Johnson, and why he was my favorite non-Blazer as a kid, multiple times on this blog, so I won't bore everyone with that again here today. Needless to say though, I still have a strong affinity for him, and his cards, all of these years later.

Many years ago, don't ask me how many, I came across this exact 1977 Argentinian Zorro card on COMC. I can't remember if the price was too high, or if I just wanted to look into the set more, but I put in my watchlist in the morning, and by that night it had already sold. That always sucks when that happens. Fast forward some years, and I had pretty much completely forgotten about it until a semi-recent post of Bo's where he was offering some unwanted stuff from a lot that had been bought; one card of which was this one. Needless to say, I couldn't reply soon enough. My mom and I use to watch the old Disney Zorro series when I was growing up, and over the years its remained a favorite of mine. This card makes an excellent companion to the couple of cards that I have from the Topps set.

Many thanks to Bo for this eclectic mix; those are usually the most exciting for me.

Not too long after I received Bo's mailing, Jim, he also of the always present, cards as i see them, became only the third person to send me a Hostess card, and the first to ever send multiple Hostess cards. And if anyone's gonna have an extra Steve Garvey to send, it's gonna be Jim. Rounding out the Dodgers trifecta was a needed, and greatly appreciated, 1961 Post. Despite it being on my want list, this Roseboro is another one that I could've swore that I already had, but I didn't. I guess I've come across it so many times during my Post searches, that I just assumed that I already had it.

Jim followed up this solid trio with another PWE not more than a week later. There was only one card in the second envelope, but geez was it a fun one...

Jim mentioned that he had found this wonderfully mis-registered Play Ball reprint, and decided to take a chance and see if it met my criteria for such cards. It did. Staring at it too long makes me want to puke, which is usually a good way to tell if it's "off" enough for my collection. As much as I enjoy the card, I appreciate Jim even more just for remembering my little collection of wonked up cards. That's not the sort of thing I expect anyone to ever remember, so when someone does, it gives me the warm fuzzies.

With Chris gone, I think Jim is now the leader of the pack when it comes to active bloggers whom I've exchanged the most cards with. Hopefully he won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

I've mentioned more than a few times that I'd love to participate in Matt's, he of the Diamond Jesters, Time Traveling Trades more often, but stuff that I'm interested in just doesn't show up very often. And even when something does, I'm usually too late to claim it about 50% of the time. A few months back though, I was a bit earlier than normal to the most recent update, and was able to claim what I thought were two very nifty cards.

I already had two copies of the Ed Charles, but it's a card that I really like and could see myself trying to fill a page with, so while I technically didn't need it, I did very much want it. The Butkus game card was new to me though. I only had one other playing days card of his, so it was neat to be able to add another one.

From what I've seen the TTT has been a bit lean recently, but I think that a number of folks are thankful for Matt's willingness to power through the temporary slowdown and keep what's been a very popular blog series going.

I just recently got a surprise envelope in the mail from Randy, who most blog readers probably know from his comments as RJ Sahl. He's not a blogger himself, but can be found on the TCDB as rjsahl.

I've mentioned more than a few times that my original card collecting run stopped around 2000, but it very nearly stopped a few years earlier. I want to say that I didn't buy any packs of cards, or at least any new cards, during all of 1997. I don't remember why exactly, maybe I was done collecting and just hadn't realized it yet, but whatever reason, I went through a brief stretch there where I stopped buying cards and stopped paying attention to any of the new releases. Then, for reasons also unbeknownst to me at this point, I bought a basketball repack at the Lloyd Center (former mall in Portland, OR) Toys "R" Us in 1998. My friend Nate was with me at the time, and even though he had never collected anything up to that point, that repack sparked an interest in him (he was obsessed with basketball), which in turn, renewed my interest in cards. His collecting story is one for another time, but long story short, it only lasted about a year. I hadn't had a friend who collected cards in a number of years, so even though it didn't last very long, it was pretty fun to have one who did, again. As for that repack, I can only remember one card from it, and that was a 1997-98 Hoops Antoine Walker rookie. It was my first time seeing that year's design, and I immediately fell in love with it.

There were a number of shops still around at that time, but I think I was only able to find a couple of packs of Series 2, and with singles being even harder to find in the pre-internet era (that is, the internet as we now know it), I never got very far in my late attempt to build the set. Whatever I had was donated along with the bulk of the rest my collection in the early 2000's (yet another story I've told on here more than once -- I really need to mix in some new stories!). I did acquire a few singles from dime boxes a few years back (an MJ, Kobe, Duncan RC, etc.), and that those set aside, but it wasn't until last year that I decided to try and build the set again. I know that it would be infinitely cheaper to buy as a whole, but I know me, if I did that I'd look at it once, put it away, and then never take it out again. My new build hasn't gotten very far yet, but thanks to Randy, I am now five cards closer to completing it.

My mom bought our first VCR in 1987. And one of the first videos that she bought was Creature from the Black Lagoon. 1987 was also the year that I got chicken pox. And for whatever reason, it hit me hard. Considerably harder than most kids. I was pretty miserable for a couple of weeks, and about the only thing that brought me any relief was watching Creature; which I did, over and over again. I don't remember much from that time, but my mom says that I watched it 3-4 times during that entire stretch (for those that weren't alive at the time, or for those who were, but have forgotten, videos were still terribly expensive at that point, so we only had a couple for the first year or two). Even though she's a big fan of the film to this day (as am I), I still don't know how she dealt with a very sick me, and having to watch/hear the same movie over and over again for multiple weeks. I guess that's moms for you. They're made from better stock. 

It's also worth noting that the set that this card comes from, 1994 Topps Universal Monsters, is one that my mom (she collected cards too) and I were collecting back when it was new; though we never were able to finish it.

These six cards really packed a wallop. As the kids might say, they hit me in the feels. Thank you, Randy!

The most recent surprise envelope to arrive came from, Matt, the rising star across multiple platforms, whose probably best known, at least currently, for Cards Over Coffee. 

A pair of serial numbered Bo's led the way. Unfortunately, both have a mirror finish, so neither scanned particularly well. These are not the sort of cards that arrive on my doorstep very often, as it seems like any slightly rarer Bo Jackson, new or old, usually carries a premium; one which I'm not usually willing to pay.

I have a few of Bo's A&G cards that show him as a baseballer, but never knew that he had gotten in there as a footballer as well. It sure is a neat little card.

The two serial numbered Bo's probably would've been the highlight of the envelope for most folks, but for me it was this pair of needed Golden Age Playing Cards. I just posted about this set not too long, and Matt was the only one to inquire as to which cards I still needed. I appreciated him doing so, but didn't think that he, or anyone else reading for that matter, was gonna have any of my remaining needs laying around. Turns out I was wrong. With these now in hand, I just need seven more to complete the set. I was hoping to get a few more during COMC's Black Friday sale -- which hadn't started yet at the beginning of this post, but now is -- that plan hasn't worked out very well so far, as the discounts on my needed cards haven't been as large as I was expecting.

And speaking of being thankful, only Matt would know what I'm talking about here, but I'm thankful that he and I were able to repair our friendship (quick synopsis: I was an asshole, Matt forgave me, thus proving, not that I had any doubt, that he's the better man), it has been one of the better parts of my year. As much as the cards were appreciated, they pale in comparison to the renewed friendship. Many thanks to Matt for both though.

And with that, I'm about 75% caught up with thank you's now. I have two more people to get to, one that has sent multiple envelopes (too much to fit in here), and one that deserves their own post just because of the sheer magnitude of what was in the bubble mailer that they sent. I'd like to think that I'll be able to get to both before the end of the year, but judging by the way things have been going, I'll be thankful if I can even get one of those posts completed by year's end.

This post is going live a few days later than planned. Now that its going out when it is, I just wanted to wish all who celebrate it a Happy Thanksgiving. And for those that don't, I still hope that you day is awesome too!

Rhymin' and Stealin' (minus the rhymin')

When it comes to blogging, I try not to borrow too much from what others are doing, or have already done. I mean certain things like card show recaps, COMC shipments, trades, etc. are universal, but as far as series' go, I really do try not to step on the toes of others. That being said, with my health thing still negatively impacting my attempts to blog, I'm gonna break my rule for today's post and steal borrow someone else's series; or rather two people's series', Bo's roundups, and Nick's cool pickups. Hopefully neither gent will mind. 

I don't think the items in this post will have quite the same wow factor as can routinely be seen in the two series' that I'm ripping off, but nonetheless, these are some of the things that have made their way South over the last few months; all of which I think are pretty neat.

Since I'm thieving one of his series', I might as well start off with a couple of cards that I got from Bo, he of the extremely prolific, Baseball Cards Come to Life!. Bo got a shit-ton of Long John Silver's cards a few months ago, and in his usual fashion, then asked if anyone was interested in the myriad of duplicates. I probably should've looked at the checklist before claiming any, but instead just went by what I could see in the post. The two guys that stood out, at least for me, were Gregg Jefferies and...

Apologies for the dust on the scanner tray, it'll appear a few more times in this post.

... Eric Davis. Having never owned any cards from this set before, I didn't realize until they arrived that each player in the set has two cards; so instead of claiming two cards, I had apparently claimed four. I really like the color-matching borders on these. The photos are pretty good too. I don't think we ever ate at Long John Silver's when I was growing up. The only two seafood places I can recall going to (aside from one not so great trip to Red Lobster), were Skipper's, and the place that used to be in the food court at the Lloyd Center mall, whose name I can no longer remember. So, aside from seeing a few of these on the blogs over the years, most of this set is pretty new to me; which is kind of neat. 

The Tony Pena up top came along for the ride too. I guess all I had to do to get that one was to comment on how how cool of an image it was. I'll have to remember that the next time Bo shows off a Mickey Mantle 😉

As always, many thanks to Bo!

It seems like there's been a lot of Venezuelans showing up on the blogs on recent years. Did that in any way contribute to me getting my first two? Most likely. If I wasn't always seeing them on the blogs, I'd never even think to look for them. Back-wise, 1966 might just be the most uninteresting year for the Venezuelans, but it also looks like it might be the most affordable set for those cards too. Correlation? Who knows. I just know that I got these two, both of guys who I collect because of their ties to Portland, for a lot less than I would've thought.

It's been a while since I last got an E-Xceptional. Pre-boom, they could be found in dollar (or less) boxes at shows, and I used to buy every one that I came across. They've gone up a bit in recent years though, but even so, I didn't mind splurging a bit for a Grant Hill; which I didn't have any other copies of (I've got 3-4 copies for a few guys in this set). And as usual, the scanner doesn't do this card justice. I should've just went the photograph route. It's amazing how flat the lenticular background looks here.

I got these two Giants, my first two '64 Giants by the way, at the same time as the Venezuelans up above. Having never handled one of these before, I always thought they'd be much thinner than they actually are. That was a pleasant surprise. I didn't realize it until I was cropping the scan, but it looks like there's some weird Siamese Twins action going on here. Would this be the ultimate switch-hitter?

A few people have already posted their gets from Kerry's, from Cards on Cards, semi-recent giveaway that featured some of his off-condition cards. Buck Williams is one of my Blazers childhood heroes, and up to this point I had had zero luck in my attempts to get his '86 Fleer (a set I'm not overly fond of), so I was kind of excited to see it amongst the offerings. There is a bit of edge wear, but I was expecting much worse. I thought it might end up being a filler, but this copy will do just fine for Buck's collection. Thanks, Kerry!

It had been quite a while since I last participated in one of Matt's (of Diamond Jesters fame) Time Traveling Trades, mostly because there isn't usually much there for me, but I knew I had to try and get this card as soon as I saw it. Prior to seeing it, I was completely unaware of the various playing card sets that were put out by Brown & Bigelow in 1953. As much as I like the image of Lou Gehrig, the ad for Filson's Cities Service (which apparently was part of an oil and gas conglomerate) is what hooked me. From what I've read, it seems that anyone could order decks with their company name printed on them. I don't know how many different companies ordered these, but there's a part of me that now wants example from as many different ones as I can find.

The other selling point for me was that this is a coupon card, and not just some random jack of spades or whatever. I couldn't find any information on the coupon cards, but it looks like they might be a bit scarcer than the regulars cards; presumably because most of them ended up getting turned in for decks.

I probably (unintentionally) saddled Matt with more stuff that he'll never be able to move, but I'm really glad that I was able to get this card. Thanks to Matt for the trade (and to John for sending it in).

This 1958 Kane Products Lucille Ball isn't exactly new to me, as I got it sometime last year, or possibly the year before, but until just recently it had, unbeknownst to me, been sitting under a couple of postcards probably since right after I got it -- so I'll call it "newly uncovered". I really like this set, and had wanted this particular card for a number of years prior to getting it. There's still a few more on my wantlist, but this had been numero uno.

It's gonna be slow going, but I'm still all in on the SLU cards. Right now, I'm just trying to pick up the cheapies whenever I can. If I remember correctly, these two were around $1.50 apiece.

Here was another longtime want, and probably my favorite card in this post. Despite being well over a hundred years old, cards from the Ogden's set are still fairly plentiful, it's just a matter of trying to find copies that aren't overpriced just for the sake of their age. Wilma Neruda was a world-class violinist whose prime came, unfortunately, just a little too early to have been recorded for posterity. Being a fan of the violin, I can appreciate the card just because of her reputation alone, but the primary reason I've wanted it so long is because she was mentioned in A Study in Scarlet. I know from past posts that there doesn't seem to be many Sherlock Holmes fans amongst blog readers, but I've been so since early childhood. I have a few cards to celebrate said fandom, this now being the best. 

I've had pretty good luck so far in being able to get both cards at the same time for the players in the 1990 SLU football set. I think these two Bo's might be two of the more expensive cards in the set, so to get them for less than five bucks shipped seemed like a pretty good deal. At some point I'll need another pair for my Bo binder, but I'd rather seek out more needs from this set before spending too much time looking for another cheap pair of these.

As far as player collections go, Sal Maglie is probably one of the ones that I add to the most infrequently. Not by choice mind you, it just seems to work out that way. Knowing that, it always feels like a cause for celebration when I do get something new. Despite my liking them quite a bit, I never really think to seek out exhibits; they just seem to continually be flying under my radar. The only reason I ended up with this one is because I noticed it amongst a seller's other items on eBay. It was one of those times where I had won something else (not shown in this post), and just wanted to see if I could take advantage of their really good combined shipping discount -- and as Sal can attest, I did! I appreciate to that this card comes from the '47-66 release, so the odds are fairly good that he might've still been playing when it was made. At least that's what I'm choosing to believe.

A few other notes:

#1: Almost all of my various minor and slightly less minor health issues seem to have recently decided to band together and create a Super Friends of suck. I don't mention this to seek any sympathy (please don't do that), so much as I am to explain the few and far between posts, as well as the fewer and further in-between comments left on the posts of others. I've got ideas galore right now for all three of my blogs, but trying to execute any of them is proving to be rather difficult. This post alone, which let's be honest, is pretty crappy, has taken me almost five hours to complete (one hour each morning for the last five days), so the prospect of me getting to any of what I hope would be some non-throwaway posts doesn't seem very likely for the time being. 

#2: I finally got around to requesting a shipment from COMC back on January 29th. At the time, the estimated shipping date was 2/26, which seemed a bit far out there given that I waited until after the Black Friday and Christmas rushes, but what are gonna do, right? Anyway, I checked the counter a few times during that period to see how many orders were still ahead of mine, and after seeing that said counter had hardly moved by the middle of February, I realized that my order was probably gonna end of being late. And I was right. 2/26 came and went with no shipment being sent, and no word from COMC. A few days later, just about the time I was thinking I should send them an email, they sent me one instead. It was a generic "we're so sorry about the delay" message, which apparently has been caused by "extraordinarily high demand", and to show how regretful they are, I was given a $5 discount off of my next order, but only if I use it before the end of May. Wow! That's some consolation. It wouldn't even cover the shipping cost. Old COMC probably would've refunded the shipping cost for my delayed shipment, or at the very least, added a few bucks credit to my account to use whenever. New COMC gives me a shitty discount that expires just about the time I'll be getting my original shipment. The best part of this too is that after the my original ship date came and went, I was given a new estimation of 4/4, and as of this morning that's already been pushed back to 4/11. Had I known that this was gonna be such a problem for them, I would've just waited until after the next Black Friday sale to have my shit sent. I really miss pre-boom COMC.

#3: I have had a lot of trouble with the TCDB since around Christmas, namely with the pop-up ads that, well, pop-up at the most inopportune times. I've had two instances where I was out and about and tried to use my phone to see a couple of my checklists, only to have one of those GD ads take over the whole screen and then freeze my phone. So that, combined with the already annoying process of having to click on 5-6 things/pages just to get to my checklists on there has prompted me to start moving all of my checklists over to pages on this blog. Only two screens will have to be clicked to get to them here, and I don't have to worry about any more ads fucking up my phone. I actually started doing this back in January, but like everything else computer related, it's been slow going. So far, I've managed to complete three pages, and figure that I've got 4-5 more to do. I am primarily doing this for myself, but I guess it'll work out well for the occasional person who asks what I collect as well (a few folks were kind enough to do back around Christmas). And, because these will mostly be for me, I will be leaving them up permanently this time. This is probably gonna come across as a not-so-subtle attempt to get everyone to look at my wantlists, but I can assure you that it isn't, in fact, I'm only mentioning it because I was amused to see, while adding to one of the current pages the other day, that that particular page had an obscene amount of views; more than could ever possibly be coming from real people. I don't know which word or combination of words is doing it, but obviously something in that page has obviously attracted the bots en masse. I must admit that I'm mildly curious as to what it is that they've found so appealing, but not enough to try and look into it any further.

I guess that it'll do it for now, as I don't want to be working on this post for a sixth day... five has been ridiculous enough as is!

An Unusual Bat Around

[Here's my entry for Matt's Blog Bat Around]

The Wonders of Time Travel

Why is it that I can remember the lyrics to a 30 year-old song that I rarely ever listen to, but can't remember what I sent to a fellow blogger a little over a month ago? 

Just within the last few weeks I listened to "Rico Suave" all the way through for the first time in a couple of years, and was a tad surprised to find that I still knew every single lyric to it, including the Spanish bits, which is interesting since I don't speak a lick of Spanish. And yet, I sent, Jeff, author and blogger extraordinaire, from Wax Pack Wonders, a card sometime in the last 4-6 weeks, and for the life of me, cannot remember what it was. It makes no sense!

I still have Jeff's thank you note around here somewhere, so I could probably go find that and be reminded of which card was sent, but I shouldn't have to, it wasn't that long ago, I should be able to remember it. I'm hoping it'll come to me while I'm typing, and then I can just circle back and add an update; but until then...

My one card sent yielded around 20-something in return (most of which were scanned). A bit much, but the thought behind them is appreciated. One doesn't expect to get basketball cards from Jeff, and yet that's what most of them were. About half the cards were former Blazers, which is never a bad thing.

I don't go out of my way to seek out Clifford Robinson rookies, but still have more copies of these Fleer and Hoops cards than any sane person should have. I have a few copies of the Hardwood Leaders as well, but since it's one of my favorite insert sets of all-time, I won't ever turn down more, especially those of guys that I collect.

When I came back to card collecting I wasn't that interested in the stuff that I had collected the first time around, paying more attention to vintage, and the many things that had come out while I was away. Now that a dozen or so years have passed since my return, I find myself more interested in cards from my childhood/teens than anything else. I suppose it's normal for one to be drawn towards people/players that you can relate to. It may be a base card from a set that not too many people care about anymore, but the '95-96 Hoops card here is a perfect example of why I continue to find myself drawn to this era more and more. I like everything about it, the design, the photo, David's shoes, and most importantly, I can look at it and instantly identify everyone on the card; and still remember how they played. It's great card for cameo collectors, as you've got your choice of Dennis Rodman, Clyde Drexler, Kenny Smith, and Avery Johnson. Good stuff all around!

I've made the mistake of trying to read through a few basketball threads on Twitter over the last few years, and am constantly amazed at how dumb the NBA's modern fan base is. I don't understand how fans of a sport can know so little of it's history, and what's more, feel absolutely no embarrassment over their ignorance. John Stockton is often a target of these idiots. Sad as that is, it does bring me great joy to know that it'll be a very long time (if it ever even happens) before someone breaks his all-time record for assists or steals. That seems to bother those dummies quite a bit too, which makes me even happier. 

The card on the left was actually kind of rare back when it was new, but is now relegated to the dime boxes. Still a neat card though, one which features a young Gary Payton as well.

Being from Portland, being a good guy, and having had a solid career, I should collect A.C. Green, but I don't; he just doesn't move the needle for me. I thought it was kind of interesting to see him on both of these cards though.

All-Star inserts were hit-or-miss over the years. These weren't one of my favorites design-wise, but as mostly a player collector these days, I do appreciate these for being dual-sided with one guy from the East team on the front, and one guy from the West team on the back. It gives you options, as is the case with the Joe Dumars here, I don't collect him, but if you flip the card over... 

... you get John Stockton, who I do collect! I'm pretty sure that I already have one of the Pippen/Kemp cards, but can't remember who's binder it's in. Once I figure it out though, this one will go in whatever collection that it's not already in.

I got one baseball card too. It looks familiar, but I don't think that I have it. That guy in the background is kind of creepy. I'm not sure if he's supposed to be a ghost or what, but either way, he's appropriate for the season.

Thanks again, Jeff! 

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In other news, I was able to get in on one of the now famous monthly Time Traveling trades from, Matt, over at Diamond Jesters. 

I think that this was only the second or third time that I've participated on one of these, if only because there usually isn't much for me, and even when there is, it's often the sort of stuff that I know someone else will want more, so I just leave it for them to claim. This past month though, I had to get two. The Cliff Branch was a just because card, I like it, and wanted it, so here it is! I don't have a list for my Alzado's yet, but I do know what I don't have by sight, and this was one that I didn't have. Unfortunately for me, I didn't look at it close enough, and missed the slit under his armpit. I just saw the nice corners, and made my claim.

Fingers! You can see the gash much better here. That's the sort of thing that'll bug the shit out of me, so he's gonna need replacing. I wonder if this one would be good enough for Fuji's damaged card collection?

Thanks for doing what you do, Matt! You seem to be making a lot of people happy with this series of yours.

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Well, I've made to the end, and still can't remember what I sent to Jeff. I guess it'll just have to remain a mystery.

Oh, and "Rico Suave", yeah that hasn't aged very well. It's hard to believe that I could've liked that back when it was new.

Blogger, blogger, blogger, Mom!

A few weeks have elapsed (unintentionally) in between posts again. Blogging consistently seems to be getting more difficult the longer I go. At my current pace, I'll probably be struggling to get one post done per month by about the middle of next year.

I've seen a lot of folks start posts in recent months by saying that they've been too busy to blog, which is relatable, but in order to switch things up, I'm gonna say that I've been too tired (from being busy) to blog.

Technically, I have had time to blog, but for the last couple of months, and more specifically, the last couple of weeks, I have just been dead-ass tired by the end of the day. Between work and projects around the house, or rather, outside the house, it's been a busy summer. Small example, I've spent pretty much all of my free time from the last two weeks trying to shore up a long section of eroding creek bank by the house. This is something that has been needing attention for years now, but the opportunities to do so haven't been presenting themselves. This is not something that I've ever done before (and I haven't stayed at a Holiday Inn recently), so I basically just guessed my way through it. I'm finished now, but not before an incredible amount of digging was needed, and a shit-ton of large stones carried from one spot to another. Oh, and there was the sweltering sun, and the fighting off of mosquitos too. I should know by next summer whether my efforts were worth it or not (after the inevitable winter and spring flooding).

So while there have been hours worth of potential blogging time in the evenings, I'm usually done in by the time I've finished with dinner. I could sit down and blog, or even better, sit down and read, but really, I just wanna sit down and watch a Columbo, and call it a day. Besides, you really don't want me to be blogging when I'm tired. Posts "written" while I'm rested are bad enough, just imagine how bad they'd be with one out of every ten words missing, and more misspellings than you can shake a stick at (see my late night comments on other blogs). There's a brief a lull in the action this week, hence me trying to get this post out, but next week I'll be taking on (not by choice) a multiple week chainsawing project, which is going to require just about as much back-breaking labor as the creek project took. With that in mind, my posts will probably continue to be erratic for the time being. The good news is though, that there are plenty of other blogs out there, blogs who's proprietors are more well-equipped to post on a regular basis than I (and there posts are better), so you should never be want for something to read.

[Side note: Please know that this isn't me complaining about having to all of this hard labor. I'm grateful to be living where I live, and to physically be able to do all of the work that comes with living where I live. It saves money, and keeps me in great shape, or at least the outside of me in great shape. Inside, I'm a hot mess, but that's another story...]

Cosmically speaking, I feel like I've been rewarded for all of my hard work by finding interesting things in my mailbox as of late. Sure, some of those have been small purchases, and therefor are less exciting, but a few haven't been - like this book - which came directly from the author, who, in case some of you don't know, is our very own, Jeff, from Wax Pack Wonders. 

I had planned to dive into this the day it arrived, but remember the whole busy and tired thing? Yeah, so now it's multiple weeks later and I've just started it (last night to be specific). The bad news though is that I'm much too biased to do any sort of proper review, but the good news is, that at least through 73 pages, I'm really liking it (not that I thought I wouldn't, mind you). As someone who tends to ramble, and doesn't know how not to when writing, I'm really impressed with the flow of this book. There is a lot of info in here, but not so much that you have to keep backtracking to figure out who did what to whom. And despite the steady flow of facts, you don't feel like your being bogged down by them (Simon Winchester could learn a thing or two about writing from Jeff). I've already learned more about old North Dakota baseball than I ever would've thought possible, and am thinking that by the time I get done with the book, I'm gonna be the second most knowledgeable (living) person on the subject (ok, that may be a slight exaggeration, but not by much 😉). I know that a fair amount of bloggers, and blog readers, are interested in obscure baseball history. If that's you, and you haven't already done so, you might want to give this one a look.

Jeff, sent a long a couple of "bookmarks" (his words) as well, which were in the form of cards for the new Beavers collection. Since all of those cards will eventually be making their way onto the new blog (I've been dropping the ball on that already too), I'm not gonna show them here, as I'm trying not to double-dip, but just know that they were all greatly appreciated. Another trio of "bookmarks" arrived from Jeff last week, and despite wanting to keep the contents of both blogs separate, I've got to show one, if only because of how cool it is...

Spoiler alert: There's gonna be a Roger Bowman post at some later date on the other blog.

I've thanked him many times via email in recent months, but only one other time publically, so, many thanks to Jeff once again for all of his behind the scenes assistance with the new blog, and for the book, and the cards. I'll probably be playing catch-up for the foreseeable future, and beyond!

Free stuff posts seem to have fallen out of favor this year, but that hasn't stopped, Trevor, from Bump and Run Football Cards, from doing a serious of giving back posts, aka free stuff posts. I claimed two cards from the last one, both from the '89 Pro Set set; Howie Long because I needed him, and Reggie Roby because I didn't think anybody else would be wanting him (I have more than a few copies already). It's kind of interesting to see the size difference between the two cards. Reggie is regular sized, and Howie is plus sized. I don't think I've encountered a Pro Set card as big as Howie before, and am kind of amazed that none of his corners got punked up in the pack. It was a Long miracle?

Thanks to Trevor for the cards, and his willingness to give a little something back to everybody.

I went a couple of years without participating in Matt's Time Travel Trading project over at Diamond Jesters, and now for the second month in a row, I have! I missed out on a copy of this card that Bo had up for trade a few months ago, so I was more than a little happy to see another one pop up for trade on the blogs. I'm like 99% certain that I've never mentioned it before, but Frank Lary is one of my favorite 'players of yore' to collect. He had a solid career, and his cards are relatively cheap, what's not to like?

Thanks to Matt for letting me play along again!

It's not from a fellow blogger, but does fit the theme of a mostly sports card blog, so I thought I'd shoehorn a book in here that my mom recently found for me at a yard sale. 

She actually bought a couple of books for me, including what appears to be a fairly rare old one on local history, but nobody is gonna care about that, or the couple of others, so yeah... sports!

This book was published in 1951, and covers various sports happenings from the previous 100 years. I've got a few pages of the table of contents here, just to give you an idea of the variety.

Things like golf, horse racing, polo, and tennis, don't interest me much, so those stories will be skipped -- I fully expect what's left to be worth the 25¢ price tag though. And who knows, I might even get a blog post out of one of them (possibly the man, boat, and horse story).

On a completely unrelated note: There's been much talk about this whole Topps losing their MLB license thing, and even more recently, Panini losing their NBA deal. Everyone seems to have an opinion on this (and you know what they say about opinions, right?), so I thought I'd add my two penny sleeves to the mix. 

I made the mistake of looking at Twitter (a mistake unto itself) the day the Topps thing happened. In less than a minute of scrolling I saw people saying they were "shook", "numb", and "crying" (yes, crying) over the announcement. And that was enough of Twitter for one day! Personally, I don't really care, it doesn't affect me in the least, and call me an a-hole, but I have no empathy for those that were "shook" (or numb, or crying) over such a trivial thing.

I'm not surprised at all that Topps lost their deal, but given how much money Panini has been raking in worldwide on basketball cards, I would've thought that they could've afforded to pony up a more competitive offer -- apparently I was wrong. I fully expect this Fanatics company, who I had never heard of before last week by the way, to buy Topps in a few years, and everything will pretty much be as it is now, except for maybe us as consumers seeing Topps basketball cards being produced again for the first time in two decades. If Panini can hang on to their NFL contract, I think they'll still be okay, and won't lose as much company value as Topps most certainly will in the coming years. I mean let's be honest, social influencers can keep pushing soccer cards to the moon, but those alone are not gonna sell enough in the U.S. to keep Topps afloat, or at least not Topps in it's current form.

Honestly, I'm kind of hoping that Panini and Topps will let their greed get the better of them, and adopt a scorched earth policy by revving up the printing presses in order to get every last dollar they can, while they still can. New sets are already released on a near weekly basis, so I'm not really sure how these two companies could possibly produce anymore, but if they can, they could in theory, truly flood the market. This would severely devalue all of the modern products, and if luck were on our side, force all of the investors/profit seekers who've jumped into the "hobby" in the last two years to seek out their fortunes elsewhere. I know that this is mostly wishful thinking on my part, but greed knows no limits, so let's wait and see what happens before you start calling me out for my erroneous opinion. Either way though, this will be the last I time I ever mention this subject on here, I've got much more important things to discuss, you know, like dusty old books, and cards from online dime stores, and... VHS tapes!!!