Friday, July 31, 2015

The stay at home National, part 1

I'm just 45 minutes or so south of Rosemont, but I will not be attending the National. It's not from a lack of desire, or a lack of time. Simply a lack of funds. A lot of us have that time during the year when it's hectic, and the other times when it's slowly, but work wise and finance wise. For my household, summer sucks. Has for many, many years. While in a technical sense, my wife is the bread winner of the family (I believe she made just under 2 grand more than me this past year), she earns all her pay during the school year. Since is not hired by the district, but contracted out through a firm to work in the school. In the simplest terms: if she isn't working, she isn't get paid.

No money! No money! No money!
I sort of figured the National was out all the way back in April, but I kept holding out hope. In fact, I thought there was a chance I could make it this weekend, But about 10 days ago, that last door was shut. Household bills are far more important than cardboard. I'm not looking for pity - I am completely okay with missing the Nat this year. There is always next year, and it just may be back up the road in 2 years anyway.

So, to have my own National, and to do some scan folder cleaning, let's look at the bevy of awesomeness you, the readers, have graced me with. The first "vendor I stopped by" at my SAH National in run by Brian from HSCA. Brian dropped a nice package.


I was able to add a card to my set completion of Stadium Club. Brian also dropped in the Thomas from this year's Archives, which completes the team set I believe. And a purple refractor from the 2014 Topps.


Who could love a couple nice miscuts HOFers? Great additions to the miscut binder. And just one of for the '64 set of much maligned Sox broadcaster Hawk Harrelson. I'll go on record - I like listening to him on the telecasts. Thanks for the cards, Brian.


The next "vendor" was DJ at Sportscards from the Dollar Store. DJ sent a bunch of cards for the GQ set building as well as a few towards series 2 of Upper Deck. Hoping to get the UD set done before the Hawks home opener. Thanks a bunch, DJ.


The last "vendor" I stopped by today was Tony from Wrigley Roster Jenga. He recently picked up a cheap box of commons from an LCS in this area I have yet to visit. I commented on the awesome throwbacks within, and Tony was more than happy to send them over. The Arismendy is wearing a Cubs throwback from last year's Wrigley celebration, that harkens back to the uniform Mr. Cub wore. If the Cubs were smart, then would dump the current sleeve logo and go with the one you see. These couple were bonuses, as they were not featured on his blog post.


Here are the stars. Man, those old Philadephia A's throwbacks are missed. Some of the finest out there, though Mr. Long on the left should be wearing black spikes. And you can never go wrong with Negro League throwbacks. MLB should really spend a weekend each year celebrating the black pioneers that were refused to play in the bigs. I'm sure a couple days of major leaguers wearing the Negro League uniforms would be a nice vision to see. Thanks for the great binder additions, Tony.

Ok - so that was day 1 at the SAH National. Come back tomorrow to see my haul from day 2.


5 comments:

  1. Glad you liked the throwbacks, I too wish the Cubs would make that look their regular one!

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  2. Sad you couldn't do the National this year, but those are some pretty sweet trade packages. Those old Pittsburgh Grays throwbacks are some of my favorite retro jerseys of all-time.

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  3. I completely understand the whole "summer sucks" thing. I only get paid 10 months a year. I end up working summer school, which gives me two more paychecks, but they're not even half of my normal paycheck. As for the National. I debated on going, but after all of the expenses... I figured there were better ways to spend my money.

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  4. I'm about 2.5 hours away, but I'm staying home for pretty much the same reasons. Between gas and a ticket to get in I'd already be looking at about sinking $50 just to attend, and that's before making and purchases. Maybe next time around when I can budget a little better?

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  5. Hey I have a box for you in case we ran into each other. I think I will finish filling it up when I get back home and I'll mail it out to you. I get out to Chicago every now and then (my Brother lives right on the Blue Line), so next time I'm in town I can try to coordinate better.

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