Getting in under the gun

Ok. The whole plan was to get back to blogging a month ago. And the astute readers will notice that didn't happen. Not from a lack of trying, though a lack of desire definitely played a part.

So where have I been in the past......while. I don't even feel like doing the math to see when my posting really dropped to nothing. 7 months? Probably more. I've thought about how to address my time away, but in the end I determined the reasons don't matter much. It'd be a long chain of words that no one really wants to read. I'm not saying you whom have read to this point don't care, but my life is boring. Trust me - relating been going on in so unexciting a freshly painted bench want to go elsewhere.

Please sit on me.

I'll give you a one sentence rundown of where I was over this past time: no longer working from home, so 3+ hours of commute each day along with Uber driving burnout, daughter's wedding (401k loan thank goodness) and general malaise of life.

And we're done. Told you - boring. You were warned.

In all the free time I have mostly been playing video games because it's easy numbing of the brain after traffic to a shitty job and worse traffic home. Being creative was not on the agenda. But I wanted to get back because so much was received from so many and people we never given a proper due, and I have had ideas I should put in motion if only that I know I did said idea. Thankfully, mailings have stopped, and I cannot be more grateful that you all have lost my address. Reciprocation has recently started up again, and I owe many. Yes - OWE. Just deal with that word. Still a lot of mailing left, so if you were thinking of sending me something, please don't. Not at this time.

I don't want to drag on the start of this first post in forever, so I think that is all I want to say about my time away.....

Hey....remember me?

Oh yeah...... my future wife says hi. Anyhow, I have many cards I've received scanned and posts of them planned, but let's show a few recent pickups here. Nothing great or amazing, but stuff I like. All cards were ebay purchases sometime after my last real post.

Couple autographs of non White Sox, but technically, each one has a White Sox connection. Phil Humber won't be making the HOF ever, but he is one of 23 players to throw a perfect game. He fits into three binder pages where I plan to collects autographs of the perfect game pitchers. A few probably will never appear in there (Cy Young and Sandy Koufax come to mind), but who knows. Now Jamie Burke had a few cups of coffee in the bigs (191 total games in 8 years). He crossed the base paths for 64 total games on the South Side, with a single game in his last year with the Sox. That year, though, was 2005, which makes Mr. Burke a member of Project 2005. Best I can tell, this is the only certified autograph he has in the hobby, so he goes into the 9 pocket as a Mariner.

I am fairly certain these three player collection cards were a buck or less. Bowman had some crazy inserts in the early 2000's. Hard to tell from the scan, but the Petrick is the international edition of his card. 2009 Goodwin is the BEST year of Goodwin. Fight me.

Last is this relic card I snipped for under $10. First relic card of a Black Sox player, Lefty lost games 2, 5 and 8 (was a best of 9 back then), being one of only two pitchers in history to lose 3 games in a single World Series. I'd love to obtain cards from all 8 members of the Black Sox issued during their playing days. Maybe after I score that Cy Young autograph......

I've blabbed enough. Thanks for reading. I'll do my best to get a couple posts a week. At the very least Throwback Thursday should have continued, but I suck and failed to do that. With luck I will suck less in 2020.

Let's light this bottle rocket again!

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.

Pulling a rabbit from a hat, and a contest.

Before I get to the post, if you want some free hockey cards, just visit this post and tell me who you want. I got cards I want to put in the hands of people that will love them. Plus, if you like the Oilers, Avs, Flames, Islanders, Stars, Wild, Canes, or Kings, one of the cards will be an auto or a relic. Hits have already gone out to some people - join in the fun!

I'm not sure how many of you will recognize the name Marshall Brodien. If you grew up in the Chicago area, he should be familiar to anyone over the age of 40. And it's possible, with the super station that WGN was, that others will know the name. For those of you unfamiliar, Marshall Brodien is a magician. He did plenty of shows in the Chicago area in the early 60's, and as he worked through the years, he started getting guest spots on Bozo's Circus in the late 60's. In a few years, his spot appearances as an Arabian wizard turned into the regular character Wizzo the Clown. And Marshall fit right in with Bob Bell (Bozo) and Roy Brown (Cooky), cracking jokes that went far over the heads of the children watching. Marshall parlayed his Bozo Show star into magic cards and kits in the retail market. I know I had a deck of his cards, and I think he had this magic hat too that I owned. For the record, Marshall is still working in the magic industry and makes appearances here and there. Not sure if he dresses as Wizzo.

Not nightmare fuel at all.

So this post is how I did a little magic. How I took two cards that did not fit into my collection and turned them into cards that better match what I like. Here are the two cards that I did not want.

Both are cards I pulled from packs. I just pulled that black McGwire printing plate a few days after GQ was released. The Harper SP variation was a card sitting in a binder and I just didn't care about it. So after all was said and done. the plate went for $56 and the Harper for eight bucks. So what did I do with the cash I received? I added 9 items to my collection. I have actually showed off some of these cards, but there is nothing wrong with posting about them a 2nd time. And when I talk about prices, I am excluding shipping. I understand that I didn't turn these two cards into 9 other items at even money. But when you factor shipping, I basically paid $2.00 per item.

I saw this Andrus relic on Jereon's blog. While not the exact same relic he pulled from a box of GQ, I recognized immediately that swatch was from a Negro League throwback uniform the Rangers wore. It a faux wool fabric, but I had to have one for the throwback binder. Cost - $1.99

This 1947 TipTop Bread card of Ted Wilks is perfect for my player project of him. Of all his cards, I figured this would be the white whale and cost me the most. I was the only bidder for this gem. It is creased? Yup. Do I care? Hell no. Cost - $9.99

Continuing with the Wilks project, this stamp popped up on an ebay search. It's from the 1949 Eureka set. Never knew it existed. Now I don't have to worry about finding it. Cost - $0.99

Last for the Wilks project is this 1953 Topps. It's the most expensive of his cards it seems. Or at least the one they seem to price the highest. This card is in great shape and a snipe pulled it in. Cost - $3.05

Moving to the Fox Project, Nellie has 4 Redman cards out there, and the prices are tough. This one is missing the bottom tab, and it appears a 90 year old blind Parkinson's patient with dull scissors riding out a storm in the Bering Sea cut the bottom, but I was happy to take it in. Cost - $3.25

The same seller as the Fox had combined shipping. All cards for one price. This was the only other card he had for sale that I wanted, but I was going to pay a dollar for it anywhere I went. Might as well get a nice copy. Cost - $0.99

I found the '62 Ed Keegan card in a quarter box at a card show. I couldn't pass it up as I collect cards not only with my last name, but names that are close to my kids. Granted, I have yet to see a ball player with the name of Cera, but Keegan is close enough to my son Keagan, so I scooped it up. Ed only has one other card, and this 1961 release it it. Ed Keegan Project complete. Cost - $1.75

This 1961 Topps stamp of Sherm Lollar was a nice pickup. See, every auction I have ever seen of the Lollar stamp has his partner attached to Sherm's left (our right). And who is that partner? Just the Say Hey kid himself. So you can imagine the price to buy Lollar when you are really paying for Mays. Fortunately, this one was all by itself, and I got it dirt cheap. Cost - $0.99

This was the splurge. The tickets to Paulie's retirement game sold out fast, and this was the giveaway that day. I am sure if I waited a year of so, I could snap this up for less, but who knows if they would all dry up online. BTW - that Xfinity badge looks stupid. I am going to remove it. But I got this to add to my statue giveaway collection. Need Fisk and Thomas to complete it. Cost - $40

So there you have it. I sold two cards for $64 and flipped them into 9 awesome collection additions for $63. I got a dollar left to hit McDonald's!

Ok, I said in the title there would be a contest. Here is is. First off, if you win, you get these two cards.

That's a Jordan Schwartz 749/799 and an Andrew Triggs gold 33/50. Both cards I pulled. The contest shouldn't be too hard. No randomizer or anything. First person to get the answer right wins. Here goes:

As you know, I like to post a YouTube video at the end of each post. Now, with the subject of this post, I have a lot of choices. From a kick ass Heart song, to one from Steve Miller, yodeling from Focus, even this AMAZING version of Bippity Boppity Boo from Louis Armstrong I have posted before (please click that link if you have never heard it). But why did I choose this song?

The postman always hates twice

I've talked about working from home before. It is a luxury for me, with the money saved from avoiding gas, tolls ($5 a day total), vehicle wear and tear, and lost sleep. Not getting up at 5am, to leave by 6 and get to work by 7:30 each day....that got old. Plus I think the dog likes me being here on a mostly daily basis.

ATT-I-CA! ATT-I-CA! ATT-I-CA!

Being in my computer room, I can see the curb. Today, my postman spent a good two minutes getting the mail into the box. As I am watching him, he's playing one large white or yellow envelope in after another. I hustled out to the mailbox to find 9 pieces of mail: one piece of junk and these eight:

EN-VE-LOPES! EN-VE-LOPES! EN-VE-LOPES!

From Ebay, Just Commons and generosity, let's touch on all of these.

Top left, with the big "F" is a Just Commons order.

Set fillers. Knocked out some insert needs for 2013 Heritage and '14 A&G. Also some high numbers for '08 UD Masterpieces, a bunch of 2013 Cooperstown and all but one card for the 2010 UD ball fields. Man....great photo the the Mariners there, eh?

The manila envelope with the "F" leaning on the Just Commons package, plus the white PWE on the lower left, were Ebay orders of 2010 Turkey Red inserts.

The Cepeda in the middle was the PWE. The outside were part of a 40 card purchase. I decided to chase this insert set, and this order put me about halfway. I have a needs list for the rest if you have any of these lying around you don't want.

The other Ebay purchase in the photo is the manila envelope at the far right, in the middle.

Decided Paulie's farewell card would make for a nice rainbow, with the less parallels out this year. Here's the black I scored. Purple is on the way and I should have the gold secured by the end of the week.

So what about the Priority Box? That was a gift from CommishBob from Five Tool Collector. I hate him for all the amazing Pierces he has that I don't. But I think these cards were less a peace offering and more a "shut up and stop being a damn baby".

Just kidding. Bob would say nothing like that. Bob has some great cards in his collection, and it's nice to know someone has secured some great Pierce white whales. The note from Bob said a guy at his show had cheap-o vintage. Oh man are these beautiful! Just the condition I like for the '64 I am building. 30 cards total. Thanks Bob!

Toppish, to the right (as you look at the envelopes) is a manila package with a yellow box containing my address. Kerry from Cards on Cards dropped that one on me.

Stuffed with White Sox and a couple bunting cards, he also added that super sweet Al Oliver miscut from the Milton Bradley game, and a Sweet Spot Paulie for his player binder. Appreciate the awesome gesture of cards, Kerry.

Two left to talk about. Lower right is the other PWE, this one from the great blog Johnny's Trading Spot run by Johnny himself. In it was 2/3 of a 9 pocket page stuffed with a few collections cards.

DPs, throwbacks (seriously Cleveland - how is that not your everyday uniform) and a nice grouping of Negro League players. I need to dig out those cards and binder them up. All former Negro League players deserve better than being in a stack. Thanks again, John.

It just happens that the package in the middle is last. That's a Zippy Zapping from the man responsible for Cervin' Torren' (insert name heren') Up Cards. Four of Zippy's famous repacks were within. But you are only getting one image - some of the cards are being held for a later post.

There were current Sox in the package too, but here's a couple super sexy vintage cards, plus the mini version of the Clemente puzzle. I wonder if Zippy threw it in as filler, but I will gladly take in and find a spot for it. More from Zippy later, but I'll say ありがとう now. (Google translate don't fail me now!)

What a mail day. I was hit hard, but I think I survived.

It's a card I don't have

Sorry about being quiet lately - it's been busy as the 2x3 domicile. My daughter headed off to college in the UP. Work has been a bit of a mental drain. I pulled a nice summer cold into my body that I am still fighting off the coughs from. I have the Night Owl pocket book going, which is known as few dollars for the month of August. That being said, I have a stack of packages to go out in about 2-3 weeks.

I have also received a ton of cardboard into my house, and I am grateful for it all. I need to get posts going to show off and properly thank each person. I promise to get to them because there are some really nice cards I now own, and the sender is due his praise.

I'm just going to keep this post quick. New addition to the Pierce Project. I have been watching a card on ebay for about 6 weeks. Fortunately, no one else jumped on the "buy it now" listings until I had the $5 needed for the cost and the shipping. It took a few times of adding it to my watch list, but then I finally pulled the trigger. New to my collection:

This card completes (to my knowledge) the 1962 run of cards put out by General Foods. Along with this Jell-o card, I have the '62 Post releases from both the US and Canada.  The Jell-o version has the image coloring of the Canadian version, but the biography and stat line of the US version. The "traded" blurb doesn't exist on either of the Post versions. though.

Other things come in the mail

I am blessed to get a lot of mail at my house. Sure, some of it are bills, and I really don't want that stuff in the box. Sometimes you get sale papers and coupons. No, I do not need new windows, tanning sessions, limo service or my air ducts cleaned. Many times I get cards are gifts from you fine readers. That's awesome. Other times the cards I get cards that are not gifts but purchases either from Listia or Ebay. And my newest reason for envelopes - TTM requests.

Buehrle was a cheap Listia pickup. I wanted the Crede the same seller had listed, but I sniped. Young is a virtual dime box from Ebay. Well - dime box plus a penny.

Here was a cheap two quarter pickup from Ebay. I slowly look for Aparicio cards. I should just make him an official project now because 1) he will be soon anyway and b) how can you talk about Nellie without talking about Luis? Speaking of Nellie....

Newest addition to the project. I have missed out on a bunch of inexpensive cards that would fit perfectly in my collection, like a 52 Bowman for under $5 and a 64 Topps for a buck fifty. Luckily, I scored this high number 61 Topps All Star card for just over $4 shipped. Small condition issues, but considering I routinely see these at 5-10 times that price, I lucked out.

I have just started sending out TTM requests. First mailing was 6 to people at Spring Training (and one not), and received back my first two TTM requests ever.

No shock this would be the first one I ever had success with. I had included his 2013 Topps card in the envelope - a TTM would make for a nice rainbow addition. Unfortunately, Gordon just signed the one card. No biggie, because I got lots of stamps.

I've read of great success with Juan Pierre. Even though he wasn't invited to Spring Training with the Marlins, I sent the request through the team at their home stadium. Juan was gracious to sign all the cards and return them pretty quick. Man, I do love that Ginter signed. I think each and every A&G card I pull from a repack are getting mailed for an autograph. And for those that are not sure, here's Juan's Bible verse.

Lots of chances for good mail that doesn't rely on the kindness of bloggers. Keep your eyes open.

eListibay

After yesterday's post about clearing off the desk, the USPS decided to drop three envelopes on me today. Luckily, there was just a single card in each one. So a few quick scans, and little show and tell and into the binders they go.

Stellar addition to my Petrick binder. I have been watching a few off these from time to time on ebay, but the cost has just been insane. This gorgeous patch from Bowman Chrome showed up with a BIN of just two bucks and free shipping. SOLD!!! Shipping cost on the card? $2.07. So I got "paid" a nickel and two pennies to add this card to my collection. The patch is just sweet. The uniforms worn said "United States" on the front, but I cannot quite figure out what part of what letter I have. I got time.

The next two cards I won at Lista for a combined total of 575 credits. Credits earned not by selling but from time spent filling out lame surveys.

Sellers seem to put a fair amount of SP cards on Listia. I scored four from GQ a couple weeks back. I got this SP of Posey for 499 credits ($1.66 in real money) without anyone fighting me for it. 2013 Heritage is slowly coming together.

Oh baby....that is some upper level of awesome. A low score at 76 credits (about a quarter) landed me this card for my bunting binder. I couldn't ask for any better of a card to add. Great photo, incredible blue print diagram - I am in love. They should reprint this card and give it out to ball players nowadays. No one knows how to lay down a bunt anymore.

I've been working on burning off the credits I have on Listia. Then I go, fill out more surveys and get more credits in my bucket. I can't seem to get down to zero.

My daughter appreciated that video.

Listia, eBay and trades....oh my

Let's take some time and clear some cards received recently off my desk...

With fire?

Ummm no. I am going to take some time to scan the cards and show them to people...

 While they are on fire?

What? No, I have no plans to add fire to this post. I have simply had quite a few envelopes show up from Listia, eBay and trades that I feel like showing off to the readers...

 Are the readers on fire?

Why are you here? I'm not lighting up the cards or my readers. This is a post about the mail carrier delivering paper envelopes and boxes that had rectangular pieces of cardboard within. Ohhh.....

I like fire.

Moving on. I picked up these five vintage beauties from Listia for just over 1000 credits - $3.

Only needed the White Sox cards. However, I know where the other cards are going in PWEs. On eBay, I picked up these two cards in two separate transactions.

That quad Museum card is limited to 99 copies. And it has 3 blue swatches from the throwbacks I have talked about before. The Daniel mini leaves me just the Job short of completing 2012's People of the Bible. Who's got my back? Under $5 with shipping for both. Lastly, let's start with this picture.

That is a stack of A&G regular, minis and a few GQ courtesy of Matt at Cardboard Conundrum. He saw the Kenny Stills relic I pulled from my LCS' pack wars and made an ask. He said he could help me out with a few of my lists. Holy smoke - that's a beat down.

Someone say 'smoke'?

 Quick look at the highlights of that stack

Just three 2012 Gyspy Queen - the last three I needed!!!! Set complete.

Lovely minis. That Lord of Olympus? Last one I needed!!! Set complete. 

The best of the regular sized, over the years. Many, many thanks to you Matt for the stack. My A&G want list thanks you. Take care, folks. If you got 'em, smoke 'em.