Three Brians and a baby

Apologies. Recent life situations had me disappear for a bit, and I'll get to those later. However, it's important I get back to the blog for many reasons, including the large number of people emailing and texting saying "Jeff, we miss your elegant prose and your strong words of wisdom - please come back".

"There is no life I know, to compare with....."

So a quick rundown: lost my job, found a new job, pandemic crap (no one here got sick)finances, and other things.

Wow - that wasn't really much of an impressive rundown. There will be more later. But enough of my witty prose - on to the cardboard!

Being out of work for a couple month, you would have thought my desk is so clean I can perform surgery between my mouse and keyboard. Yeah, that's not true, but I have done some sorting, scanning and organizing with past mailers that should have been sorted, scanned and organized far earlier than they were. First up is Brian from NY, who I don't think has a blog. Correct me if I am wrong. According to the postmark, I received this PWE in March of 2019 (insert Picard face palm here). 

A fine smattering of Buehrles were found. Mark has an auto in this year's Archives, to which I say "About fricking time". Not sure if it was a Mark thing or a Topps thing, but certified autographs from Mark are VERY few and far between. I will pick one up someday.

Yeah - you can tell this is a 2019 mailer as there is a Luis Robert sighting. I Twitter ranted about all the high end releases and costs of cards recently, with Roberts being one of those guys that price me out of the hobby. I am not sure how many Robert cards I have in my Sox box, but if it's 5 I would be shocked. Anyway, thanks for the cards, Brian.

Next up is another Brian, this one running the awesome HSCA. I misplaced the mailer, but I am sure this is another 2019 package. Let's go to the images.

Look at the colors! While they are pretty to look at, let's be honest - colored parallels are dumb. No matter how amazing that Anderson card looks with black borders (or say any Dodger card looks with blue borders), they are gimmicky and have no place in the hobby. Teams sets are more than complete without color variation, pattern variation, etc.

Juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust a bit outside. A find stack of miscuts. Even the superstars can't avoid being miscentered under the blade.

Autographs and a relic. Gio seems to be the Billy Martin of our pitching staff, leaving and then coming back. Stumm has a sniff of Double A, leaving the same in 2005. And Sale. You know.

The highlights were these beauties. Yoan is the ONLY TOpps Living Set card I have, cuz I won't buy any of the others. I should, but at this point they will all need to be second market, and I have zero clue how many White Sox are out there. (According to a search of the Google, the Sox currently have 14 cards in the set.) And that Al is not a damaged or poorly printed card....

...but the 1st Venezuelan card in my collection!!!! I know Brian has been working on building a Venezuelan set, so I hope this is an extra and not him abandoning hope. Thanks a ton for all the paper rectangles, Brian.

The final Brian on this post doesn't collect cards. He's my son in-law, and besides collecting my daughter's heart, he also created this:

That is my semi decent shot at her first Bowman card because yes - she is a Bowman. Scout Piper Bowman. She has a "3B" designation as she is the third grand daughter for the Bowman side of the family. She's the first on the Wilk side. She's cute, funny, growing SO fast and turned 6 months old a week ago. 

I wasn't happy with the first Bowman card I made for Scout, and I think the 2nd is far better, mainly because of photo selection. I get a real Rivera rookie card feel from it. 

So yeah - been busy, and bit down for a while when I was laid off from my job in July (I had seen it coming for months and months), but hopefully things will be better with my new job and I can get back to a good flow. I'm going to make no guarantees, because life is life and who knows what tomorrow will be. I do know I have been making dents in organization and mailing are starting to go out. 

Yes - watch your mailbox. At the very least, watch your inbox cuz I am confirming addresses before I ship.

Scan folder cleaning, part 2

Let's go back to the scan folder and get another written up. Looking at the names on the directories, I am going to post a single one today, only because I think it's the oldest mailing to display. By the way, for those scoring at home, all these scans are stored on a portable hard drive. And if you are not scoring at home, try flowers.

NO! SLEEP ON THE COUCH!

Many, many moons ago I jumped on a post from Scott at Scott Crawford Cards. How many moons ago? Click that link and realize Scott started a new blog almost 3 years ago. I really suck. So these cards really came from Scott at I Need New Hobbies. Scott was giving a great price on cards, so I took him up on the offer as there were huge sections of my Sox box lacking content. For all the wax put out in the years from 87 to the mid 2000's, some of those years were thin. Scott did a look see at want lists and made me an offer that I didn't want to refuse, so I bought them. I won't go into too much detail on the scans, but here's some of the 500+ cards I got.

My Hawks first, who delightfully (for me) beat up on the Dead Wings yesterday. And yes, the Hawks actually had both Tony and Phil at one time. While we got Pit Martin in the trade with Boston, we got the bad end of that deal, basically building the Bruin's dynasty in the late 60's and early 70's. It was only the Flyers and Habs that stopped them at 2 Cup wins in that time frame.

I think I had the Hull booklet, but never the Tony O. Love the 81-82 Topps in the middle.

Here's a couple pics inside the booklets. No mask. Odd.

On to the baseball portion. These are set builders. So many cards to go in these sets.

VINTAGE!!!!! The rookie Goose still evades me at a normal price. All these and more were cards I could mark off the want lists.

PC additions. Just a sample of them. Rowand looks like he is 9.

Now we hit the cruz of the purchase - junk wax set builders. One day I will catalog non Topps flagship sets to know just what I am missing. I was in the stands when the Sox clinched the playoffs in 1993. I remember Bo's 14 mile high pop up that just kept carrying and landed about 10 feet beyond the fence to seal the win.

Also - Rusty Kuntz.

Two HOF in this image. And a great One Dog snag at the fence.

Score trying to steal UD thunder with the Drabek.

Speaking of Upper Deck.... How great is '93 UD? One of my favorite sets.

Busted prospects for the Sox, though the guys in the middle, Escobar and Holmberg, have had success with other clubs. Ely had a few cups of coffee at the start of the 2010s with the Dodgers.

And the last scan....

I'm now a 1978 Topps Henry Cruz super collector.

Three PWE for me.

I started my vacation today. A week off. No plans at all besides doing some things around the house that need attention. Maybe the wife and I can get a night out. All depends on the pocket book. I've been trying to whittle down the stacks or cardboard on my desk. I'm hoping to get some mailers out this week cuz daaaaaaaaaaaamn - I need to mail some stuff. I'm better than this, I like to think. At the very least, I should strive to be better than this. It's important to have goals and stay on target.

Even if it's only two meters wide

Let me thank three people that sent small but amazing PWEs to me over the past few months. Starting with Matt over at Sport Card Collectors. Matt grabbed a stack from TTS (see comment about needing to mail stuff), and sent a small PWE my direction.

Lots of colored borders, from gold to purple to green and bi-color. I believe that is the first gold border from 2009. Was that foil comment about 56 years of collecting angled like that on all the cards, or did it just happen to be perfectly positioned under Bobby's plant foot? And a card of Quentin doing one of the three things he did: hitting a dinger. The other two were striking out and fighting with Greinke. Who hasn't wanted to punch Zack, though?

Next up is Dennis from Too Many Verlanders. One thing Dennis love to do is work on want lists. always sending me cards out of the blue that knock a few here and there. This mailer followed his standard MO.

I am still working on 2016 GQ base and inserts. SPs are a "get when the price is right" pickup. And another for the one and done Hometown Heroes set. Boxes of that stuff is SO cheap, with 3 hits in it. I really need to pick one up.

Lastly, CommishBob from Five Tool Collector. Not sure where he went for these, but sure glad he did.

Boom. Shacka. Lacka. Technically, box Fox's are in the player project, though that 1960 is a MAJOR upgrade to the current card in the binder. Both make the cut into the White Sox team sets for the respective year, knocking off a couple needs. And no, I am not building the '56 set. Mr. McMillan makes the double play binder with that sweet background image.

A big thanks to all three. I know I have stacks set aside for you all, somewhere on this desk. I need a search party.

Them's the bre.....wait, what's this?

As I was about to put together another amazingly witty and humorous post....

......Well, it's got a lot of laughs and smart thoughts....

....Which, by that, means that people could get a chuckle or two while reading, or gain insight into new....

.....it is my first post in nine days.

Thanks for the support, Michelle. Anyway, as I was saying, I was going to write up one post, until I took a look in a folder and realized I had a tons of scans within that are a few months old, and I venture to say the actual mailer was from sometime in 2017. Let's do a little cleaning, and a lot of thanking, to the sender - Matt from Once A Cub. I am long overdue with a return package (where have we heard that before), and Matt really dropped a hell of a bomb on me with this mailer.

Image heavy post for you dial up users. Also, how about an A/S/L for you dial up users as well.

See that really, REALLY pathetic box on the left side of my baker's dozen commons? The one that has a crapload of empty space? These eight cards made all the white space. I'll need to get eight more into the list. It's not like I don't have filler for the wants. That Garcia at the top is the unique combo of a throwback and a bunt. Considering it was the longest on the list, I put it in both collections on Zistle (RIP). Who knows if a 2nd will come into my possession.

Double Plays. Vizcaino is from Spring Training I am sure. I think the Miller is too, though that could be old Shea in the background. Never been to the park.

Throwbacks as well. I still need to finish the Franchise Flashback set from 2015 Opening Day. I hope the Dodgers bring back the proper powder blues in the future.

Yummy, yummy bunting. If you look close, that Garvey is nowhere near a bunt. However, Matt dropped a note on that card stating "terrible bunting form". I agree. And humor gets it a pocket in the binder.

Sox box!!!! I'll take any Sale rookies out there. You have your standard Pacific scan, which means you cannot see anything on the card in the Magglio. Nice TRU purple (RIP)   ʞıupǝspod ʇʇoɔs :ɐ

These were new additions to their respective player collections. Crede pre high cuffs.

Matt also sent a ton of cards as possible inclusions to the Hidden Gems binder. So let's see who made the cut in each image I scanned.
Bolton: nice image of a ferris wheel in the back ground, but no
Alou: Interesting position, but didn't make the cut. But I may have to revist that decision
Altuve: Nah - bad cropping
Fernandex: ditto
Rodriguez: Also bad cropping, but almost was forgiven
Wolf: Currently no, but another I may revisit

Reddick: Nah. Better for a Stadium Club release.
Ramirez: Maybe for the bad shop job, but no.
Ladd: Currently no, but most likely the first of the revisits to make it. Great afro
Gibson: In. No brainer
Cole: Tempting, but passed. Composition is all off
Buhner: YES! Wait - no. Rules are it has to be on the front of the card. Damn rules....

Guiterrez: Perfect framing - it's makes the cut.
Brett: Are you even asking? How amazing is that photo????? No brainer - in.
Logan: TOTALLY IN!!!! I need to get that card TTM'd.
Cabrera: Currently on the fence. You would think it would be an easy in, but I wish it was not so zoomed in. More green would have made this card.
Blanco: This. This is what I mean about too zoomed in. Plenty of tan to encompass the subjects. It's in.

And a few last randoms words:

Score Gold Rush scans like total shit.

Bunting looks great, no matter how busy the design is.

Matt buried me in Panini Diamond Kings from the White Sox. I'll find a place for the dupes.

BOOM! Hits. The red GQ relics were numbered to 50 if I recall. Trey is currently in AA with the Birmingham Barons. Garcia is a sparkle variation. It's on the bat barrel under hit arm pit. And Buehrle is just an awesome relic of an awesome pitcher.

So a very belated thanks, Matt. You done my collection and my scanner well. No side eye from me.

Lucky 13

I love the number 13. Not always, but it's a number I have turned to for a good 20 years. When I started playing baseball as a young child, I usually wore 7. I was tiny and as most leagues did, the numbers were an indicator of the uniform size. As I grew older, and a little bigger, I wore 14, basically double 7.

Then I moved to soccer, and at first, no number really "spoke" to me, so whatever I got, I wore. But soon I learned of a few players in NASL and MISL that wore 13, and I thought "yeah - that's cool". Most people think you must be a little odd to wear that number, so any ever so slight advantage one can get, you take. So it was 13 from there on out. Any sport that required a uniform, I selected 13.

Today is also the 23rd anniversary of the first time 13 people were in space at one time. How about 13 scans to celebrate?

Angus from Dawg Day Cards dropped a fine envelope loaded with Sox of all kinds. New ones, old ones, sticker ones, insert ones, gold ones. Just a small selection of the contents of the envelope. Thanks Angus - working on a send back.

Among the far too large stack of cards I still need to scan, sort and post is a box from Scott Crawford that he put together for me at a really sweet price. This single Tommy John came in it's own envelope later. Bonus? I'm calling it that, along with calling in another number scratched off the 1969 Sox team set. Thanks, Scott.

These cards put me about 377 mailing owed to GCRL Jim from Cards As I See Them. Couple from the 2017 Update series and a sweet photo from the Sox 2005 World Series parade. It was so long ago....

I believe this is my biannual mailing from Jeff at My Sports Obsession. We spend times sending our Sox dupes to each other. Couple obvious rejects from his Konerko collection, and a nice Eaton rookie for my Adam binder.

Miscuts!!!! I should have scanned the back of that Blue. It was the real joy of the card.

Well, well, well......

WELL, WELL, WELL!!! Six total autographs. Love them!!!! Few rookie autos there too. Jeff - my next box should ship this month.

Fuji did some damage on my 2017 SC needs. So great images there, as always with SC. That Votto is awesome.

The ones not needed for the set build found space in other places of my collection. Appreciate the help, Fuji.

I get Zippy Zapped like the rest of you, and Zippy did another fine job with his out of the blue mailing. I rip so little Bowman, so I am grateful for the ones that do and share the Sox spoils with me.

Did you noticed the miscuts on the side? Me either. Nanami is cute. It's so hard to decide if Zippy's girl card inserts are better than Papoy's Bieber offerings. Coming back at you soon, Zippy.

Last but not least are some '17 Update cards from CommishBob at Five Tool Collector. I'm just a couple cards short of completing the full 2017 Flagship team set.

HOLY

F&%$

I had all but written off the Pierce Swift Meats from my collection. Finding one at a price within my budget was a dream. Granted, my budget is pretty low, but still. So when this beauty dropped from the envelope, my jaw dropped. Bob said the price was too good for him to pass up, and since I gave up it never appeared on any eBay saved search. A couple "I could give a flying crap about" creases in the upper left. No matters. This is amazing. Now what to send back?

The generosity of each one of these mailers makes this group incredible to be a part of. Who says 13 is unlucky?