Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Well that's odd.

I've been called a lot of things, but surprisingly, I've never been referred to as "odd". I cannot remember anyone using that adjective to describe me. It's fitting, if you ask me. So are a lot of the other nouns and adjectives built in sentences where I am the subject. I think the term has fallen a bit out of favor.

Sure, odd, oddball and other words with "odd" in part of the word form are still in use, but far less a description of a person and more of a situation. Besides the more common use of "not an even number", odd doesn't have much use in standard conversation.

3 - 5 - 7 - 9...we use even numbers all the time! GO TEAM!!!
Around cards, though, oddballs is still a pretty well used phrase. With the explosion of the hobby in the mid 80s, everyone was getting into the card business, and some pretty strange one offs, regional, business and other, well, oddball cards were produced. Angus from the always great Dawg Day Cards (and a guy who more than understands Bears fans pain) dropped a mailer on me with a simple note.

"These cards will fit better in your collection."

That's just how I feel right before I mail out cards. So what kind of oddballs did Angus send?


Ok - delicious vintage are not odd by any means. But I wanted to get these out of the way right off the bat. Five vintage all needed for my pre 80s Sox team sets. Though, Morales is wearing an odd uniform (reverse colored stirrups!), only appearing for two seasons at Comiskey. And I think Tommy smelled something odd.


Always thought '88 Leaf was an odd set, looking exactly like '88 Donruss. Finding Leaf packs in my area was a tough search. Also, how odd the Sox were in the Western Division while being the only club in said division east of the Mississippi?


Ok. Now we are in full odd mode. The huge May, about 3.5 inches across, is from a restaurant called Isaly's, who invented the Klondike Bar. I ate a lot of Super Sugar Crisp as a kid (remember the bear that talked like Bing Crosby?), but I do not remember these cards from boxes. Being this is from 1983, I think I moved on to Honeycomb. Or Quisp. And the back of that playing card is a shot of Buckingham Fountain, which tells me the whole deck is Chicago related.


SportFlics are always odd. The Baines pin - who thought pins would be a good idea? I guess the company Fun Foods did. And a mini, MIP (mint in package) of a Big Hurt from Humpty Dumpty. Man Angus - you ate a lot of odd stuff!


5 Sport was an odd release, but an autograph of Dustin Hermanson is not. I sent him a TTM for Project 2005, but it's been over a year now. I don't think it's coming back. So unless it does, this is a perfect addition.

Lastly, there is a short story about the Carlos Garcia. Many blogs have their want lists, as well a specific cards lists. From Night Owls Nebulous 9, to Dime Boxes Dime Box Dozen. HSCA's Arbitrary 8 to Baseball Card Breakdown and his Desperate Dozen. You get the idea. Mine is the Baker's Dozen Commons, and the Garcia you see is the card that prompted the sidebar list. In fact, you see it listed with the lowest possible odd number: 1. When I first learned of this card, I had to have it (need 2 technically), but only saw it a few times on ebay for a couple bucks with ridiculous shipping. I knew it would appear somewhere, and my hope was a reader would find that dime box and think of me. And it worked!

Angus, not sure how you acquired it, but I am grateful. You are not odd, but fantastically generous. And a lot of other adverbs too.

Sunday, January 22, 2017

The post where I clean out the scan folder a bit

mo·ti·va·tion
/ˌmōdəˈvāSH(ə)n/
noun
noun: motivation; plural noun: motivations

    * the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way.
    "escape can be a strong motivation for travel"
    synonyms: motive, motivating force, incentive, stimulus, stimulation, inspiration, inducement, incitement, spur, reason
    "his motivation was financial"

    * the general desire or willingness of someone to do something.
        "keep staff up to date and maintain interest and motivation"
     synonyms: enthusiasm, drive, ambition, initiative, determination, enterprise
     "keep up the staff's motivation"

My posting has been spotty, and my desk is a mess. I have a goal today to have all the cards on my desk sorted and put away. I plan to have all the Tis The Season cards packed up and to start shipping new week, along with a few packages I owe people. Seems like a tiny process when I type it, but it's a big hunk of meat to bite off.

Om nom nom nom.
I also have far too many scans on my PC, with a few more stacks to be scanned. So forgive a blow out of images, but let's knock out some recent mailings here at the headquarters. I can't even think how many months back I am lumping into "recent". Anyhow...


Right around the holidays, Wes at Willinghammer Rising did a claim-away. He posts cards. You claim what you want. Wes mails them. Jumped on just two, but I fine two for my collection, with a super awesome miscut of Beltin' Bill Melton and a swatch of the Big Hurt.


Gavin at the amaze-balls Baseball Card Breakdown sent out some Christmas mailings. Gavin - I love the card you used for your greeting. Well tailored packages for all, and that meant I got White Sox and collection cards, like these three sweet miscuts. BTW - that Big Train card in from the '73 Topps set. That's how you incorporate the old timers, Topps.


A green Paulie for the binder. And as others have shown, Gavin made custom rip cards from junk wax Gwynns. I pulled # 8/25. Let's rip!!!


And by "rip", I mean carefully slice the bottom with a knife. I couldn't bring myself to destroy the fine work Gavin did. Plus I think it will fetch more in this state on the secondary market. Inside it that sweet custom magnet of Billy Pierce. If only I had the time (and motivation) to do customs.


Nice mailer from AJ at The Lost Collector, which is one of the envelopes that is actually ready to leave my desk. What is still on my desk from AJ is a good stack of ChiSox cards. Love when the Chrome high series cards. The background is kind of cool and interesting.


I really should become a Karkovice super collector. And with the dupes I have of him, I could knock out a custom collection. Let me say this: if Topps ever puts his autograph into the Fan Favorites, I'll build a binder of him.


Last up is my local pal Nick from Dime Boxes. We should be paling up at Orland for a show soon. Or at the Rosemont show in March at the very latest. But he recent finds are always my benefit, like a few from the Update series of this last year's flagship. And yes - that T Mobile logo looks f*cking stupid. But get used to it boys. The future of cards will be ads.


Do I have custom collections? Yes. Has Nick contributed many cards to those collections? Yes. Here's a few new ones. I love that Boston and the Yankees still have no name on the back of their home uniforms. I think those are the only two teams, right? Also, when I think of Rod Carew, it's usually in that blue Twinkies uniform dragging a bunt. I don't think I can imagine him on any other team performing any other baseball action.


Ya know why I love Nick's mailers? Two reasons. One, there is always something old within the stack of cards. And two, I don't have to feel guilty for the vintage cuz I know it didn't cost more than a dime for the card. I am not sure why the vendors on the north side never come down south. Then again, maybe a south sider should travel up north into enemy territory to rescue my team's cards.

So there we have it. A big thanks to all four of you guys. Love your blogs. Love your generosity. You know there will be returns shortly, when I actually find the bottom of my desk. Tony Robbins should be stopping by shortly to help.

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Looking back, then looking forward

Yeah - it's been almost two weeks since I have been here. Sorry. Or you're welcome, depending on your feelings towards me.

Bite me.
This end of the year season has been beyond crazy for me. I am hoping it slows down a bit. On the plus side, I don't have many mailings to show off. Hey - I'm cool about that, but at the same time I apologize to those that have mailed me cards and I have not thanked you properly. I suck. But those that are glad I was gone for a while already know that.

Bite me.
Before I get back into the swing of things (I hope), let's look back on my grand 2016 plans. A lot of we bloggers seem to do it. It's nice to have plans for the coming year, but how well did we succeed in our 2016 thoughts. Well, I posted my 2016 direction here - let's break it down.

1 - Organization. I planned on constructing a long, low shelf for holding binders, as well as a temp storage and sorting table. Yeah - I haven't even bought the wood for the thing. I did bring up an unused bookshelf from the basement to help with storing binders. I also wanted to get my Sox Box into Zistle. With the Beckett bullsh*t and Zistle, I am a bit glad I never did this, though I am still torn of what to do in regard to an online organization. But all in all, big ol' D on this one.

2 - Sets. I didn't build 2016 flagship cuz it SUCKED! I am working to complete GQ and A&G. Did a pass on Heritage. So I did okay in regard to 2016 sets. I had planned on hitting hard on my 1964 build, but I didn't secure any of the big cards. Just no money to pick them up. How about a C- on this one?

3 - Player Projects. Petrick is at 93 cards. I added a few, but still short. I did add some to Fox and Aparicio. Plus I started a couple player collections, but moved well on them. I'm hard on myself, but let's score this B.

4 - Cost. F. Moving on.

5 - Blog. I think I am at a little over 100 posts here this year. 2016 was not only rough at the end, but most of the year for me. I have no idea how 2017 will be personally - wait and see. I still have yet to resurrect the 1964 blog. I need to get on that. Low C, high D.

6 - Collection. I think I had fun with it this year. I like my cards and enjoy appreciating them. I can appreciate them more, though. B-.

The frankenset build has stalled. I added some cards, but no big purchases. Well, I did have one purchase of 21 cards that was delivered to the wrong address and the a-hole that received them never sent them to the right address. I hope the envelope had Anthrax.

Overall, I think I score myself a C-. I could do better. So what does 2017 look like?

A - 1964 set. I need to push this forward. I'm being lazy and unfocused.
B - Other sets. GQ and A&G for sure. ZERO flagship, or should I call it flagshit, except for the Sox team set. Doubt I'll work on anything else baseball wise. UD hockey will be a build as well.
C - Player Projects. I think they are fine. Would like to knock out the Fox project in 2017. His '51 Bowman rookie is the big buy, as is the Red Heart. I can also knock out my Lollar project with a couple purchases I just need to make.
D - Blog. Stay on it and stay focused. Maybe I could actually post an average of every other day?
E - Organization. I have other house projects to work on, but I would really like to build that long bookcase. With the right vacation time and sale at the building supply store.....
F - Cost. Hey Jeff - did you know if you built the right purchase at Sportlots or Just Commons, it would be like a repack box mailed to your house with EVERY card an addition to your collection? No - well remember that, you lack of focus dumbass.

I guess when it comes down to it - focus.

(too busy to find the actual card to scan)

Thursday, January 5, 2017

Throwback Thursday - 01.05.2017

Every Thursday, I post a card showing a ballplayer wearing a throwback uniform from my collection. Hopefully, he will be wearing it well, with proper pants blousing. The picture may be from the front of the card, or the back. Enjoy the uniforms from years past.

Eric Hosmer - 2014 Topps Finest - Kansas City Monarchs

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

What's in your wallet?

It's been far too long since I have carried a card in my wallet. I did when Gavin first proposed it. It was fun snapping random images here and there and using Twitter for the posts. Then life got in the way and the card came out of my wallet late in 2015 never to reappear. I never selected a replacement card for 2016 wallet card fun.

Cux you suck.
 But I am going to do my best getting back into the #walletcard fun in 2017. But before I reveal the lucky card (from my White Sox dupe box), lets see how I made space for it to reside upon my buttocks by showing recent ebay purchases that made money leave my wallet.


Unfortunately, to top half of this Fleer sticker is missing. This comes from the cloth patches Fleer released from 1969-1976. According to Fleer Sticker Project, this is one of two variations that were released in 1971 when the Sox went from blue to red uniforms. For two quarters, with the same for shipping, I couldn't pass it up.


Busted Hawks prospects? We got plenty of them for six cents each. Hankinson had all of 18 games in the NHL with the Hawks and Ducks. Larocque played just 3 games in net for the Hawks. Von Arx had 19 games for the Hawks, but was a decent star in his native Switzerland, securing 6 championships and 3 MVP titles. He also played for his homeland in the 2002 Winter Olympics.


Cheapo buybacks. I'm working on the frankenset, but have dropped well behind Shoebox Legends in my build, mainly because I won't pay more than a quarter per card. So 7 for $3 with shipping is slightly over, but I'll take it. I believe I am at about 150 cards into the set build.


Patterson is a Cyberstats bunt that set me back a dime. The Saladino.....I'm torn. Should I put it in the throwbacks binder, or the Eaton PC since there is a cameo? I guess I am forced to find a 2nd. I snagged this for $6 if I recall.


Penny autograph with a dollar shipping? Yes please. Oh, Joe. We had such hopes for you on the south side.

And let's hit the drum roll for the new resident in my wallet......


You can blame Random for this. It told me to select the 4th card in the box, and Mike Caruso is the winner. A nice photo from Pacific, for sure. It won't be as rough on the eyes as the 91 Fleer of Ventura I had in '15. Enjoy my back pocket, Mikey.

Sunday, January 1, 2017

A New Year's box break

I'll need to research my goals for last year and see how bad I failed on them, and probably have a recap soon, but let's have a box break today here. From the same site I picked up my Black Friday Golden Age boxes, that yielded a sweet Yogi auto, they were selling 2008 Goudey hobby boxes.

I LOVE GOUDEY!

Any chance I find Goudey in dime boxes, or loose packs here and there, I will scoop them up. So to find hobby boxes available for a touch over $30, that's a no brainer to put in a purchase. I prefer the '08 release over '07 and '09, but would love to find those two sets as well. But with two hits per hobby, an auto and an relic, I still desired to rip a box. And I'll probably rip a couple more.


In case you forgot what the set looked like, it was a full sized homage to the 1934 set put out by Goudey Gum. Similar look to the player's likeness, the silhouetted figured in the background, and the "Lou Gehrig says" replaced by Jeter and Griffey, though they got the wrong image on the Longoria card.


The initial set is 200 cards. Cards 201-330 are all short printed in different insert sets. The first 30 are retired players. I pulled two with the Robinson and Mr. Cub. You can see the correct Junior image on Ernie's card.


Beyond 230, you have Presidents from 231-250 (I got 2), black and white 1936 Goudeys from cards 251-270 (I also pulled 2) and then the Sports Royalty set from 271-330. Black backs run to 300 and then green backs to 330. The green backs are a difficult pull, but that Bo is one of them. I pulled 4 black backs.


Of course, they have to mini everything. I didn't bother scanning the minis of the base set. Here's a couple Sports Royalty minis in Durant and Reggie. Bring back the Sonics. I also pulled a couple of the Hit Parade of Champions. It's a 30 card set, so you would need 15 good boxes to build the whole thing. But that set is based on the 1951 Berk Ross multi sport set.


Here's my two hits. Hmmmmm......I wonder where the autograph will end up? Hafner was in a lot of mid to later 00's sets. He would kill the Sox each year. Hated the guy. Still do.


BAM!!!! YAY BABY! In random boxes are buybacks of actual 1934 Goudeys. I was afraid they would be redemptions, and as such, long expired. What a surprised to have a pack with a penny sleeve and this beauty within. The back is in perfect condition - no paper loss at all. You can see the slightly damaged corners. I have a feeling a previous owner used photo corners to hold this in an album. Other that that, and the slight discolorization on the right side, this is the finest Goudey I own. Critz put together a 12 year career with the Reds and Giants at 2nd base. A lifetime .268 hitter, he finished 2nd on MVP ballots in 1926 and was with the NY Giants when they won the championship in 1933.

I'm at 84% of the 200 card base set, but would love to secure as much of the SPs as possible. With a nice surprise from my in-laws, I believe 2 more boxes of this will be coming my way. Overkill? Maybe. When has that stopped any of us?