(sigh).......OK

Six months.

Take away my Christmas greeting, and it's been six months since I have spoken my mind and clicked the publish button. I lot has happened in those 180 days. Not amazing or discussion worthy, but situations none the less. And I have contemplated long about what to say of the recent past: how to phrase it, what to mention, what to avoid.

In the end, though, I'm just going to leave the time to myself. Activities, both positive and negative, took up my time. Emotions, equally positive and negative, affected my days and nights. I am 180 days older than the last post here; that is not up for dispute. But what is up for conversation is what happened and how it affected myself and my family. In the end, though, I am going to keep that to myself. I don't want to present it for discussion. I am not seeking support, shared joy, or words of affirmation. Instead, I am just going to move forward and find my place back into this wonderful group of people. I'm less worried about the blogsphere than anything else.

I have been trying to work through all the cardboard I have yet to give a proper, public thanks towards the sender. From DJ to Night Owl, HSCA, Scribbled Ink, Scott Crawford, Cracked Bat, Carboard Clubhouse, Penny Sleeves and even Wes' Area 40 blow out, I have much gratitude owed. And a few personal pickups that I can interject here and there. Let's not talk about all the cardboard I need to mail. So many of you I owe. You may not feel that, but it's where I am personally. In regard to this blog, and my collection, my failure to ship out is the highest level of embarrassment I have. I am grateful incoming mailing stopped a few months ago, partially for the fact that I am very unorganized, but mostly to avoid the reminder of my failure to others.

Things will change here. I will not say when, because I am famous for missed promises. But I am a man of my word, so in time what I say will become reality.

Anyway, where to start? My thought for this post is to show pickups I made at the White Sox garage sale. Sox hold it 3 times a year, and this is my 2nd trip. When I look at what I purchased with all money donated to charity, I can feel good scoring game used items at 10-15% original cost - retail wise anyway. Without further talking, let's have at it.

First off, for just two quarters each, is the Sox year book and a game program. You see the year book is $5, so a buck total for both is a deal. Would be nicer if I actually went to a game last year so I could score it, but I'll deal.

The running joke at home is how I tend to purchase dollar T shirts. It's a bit too true and I am always looking at the clearance racks for deals. But I did have to double the price for this one. Two bucks for a quality shirt with old school logos? No brainer.

For as long as the line was for the sale, I lucked out on this one. It was a giveaway for Raines making the HOF, and I have been watching a few on ebay for $10, hoping to have someone accept a lower offer. Got this for a buck. That is a low offer.

The first garage sale, I bought a game used ball, so I had to pick up another. As opposed to the first one, though, where I just grabbed a bagged ball, I stood with others and punched the authentication hologram into the MLB site to find a ball I can appreciate. I decided on this one, since I recently started an Adam Engel PC. Would have been nicer if it was a hit and not a foul, but I was getting tired typing on my phone. With luck, I can get it signed.

I have needed to replace my current Sox cap. It's fitted and the logo is too small. It's dirty and sweaty. I should have something nicer on my head. This was the only Sox cap that would fit on my head. However, I need to improve it.....

Looks SO much better without that damn New Era logo. About 30 minutes with a seam puller and you can't even tell it was ever there. The best part of the cap is under the brim....

If this cap was used in 2018, the wearer was either Jose Ruiz of Chris Volstad. Trying to determine whom it was has been a task. At first, considering the size of the cap, I was leaning towards Volstad, him being 6'8" and 235lbs to Ruiz at a teeny 6'1" and 190lbs. Yet, I found this image of Volstad, and that "4" written on his cap for Danny Farquhar does not match the "4" here. Also, a Google search of "Salmo 91" references Psalm 91 in Spanish. So I think it was Ruiz that owned this. And now it's my baby for a cost of a paper Lincoln.

My final pickup was a designated purchase. The last jersey I bought is just a little too small. I can wear it, but it is far more comfortable unbuttoned. It's an Anthony Reinzo jersey from 2014 per the laundry tag. This year I lucked out with the first jersey that met my needs as it fit perfectly.

It's a jersey from 2015 worn by Héctor Noesí. Curiously the number matches the size. But the key of the selection was the sleeve patches.

This would be a game used jersey after August 11th, which is the first game the pinstripes showed the Pierce memorial patch along with the one for Minoso. Glad this jersey has been bypassed is previous sales so I can have it in my collection.

So there you have it. The White Sox garage sale from December 2 of 2018. Pitchers and catchers have reported. Spring is just around the corner. And I'm about to hit publish. Amazing.

LAWIG: Everything has to go!

As anyone that lives in the northern half of the continent can attest to, one of the sure signs that spring has arrived is the sings pointing to a garage sale. You folks down south get those year round, along with flea markets. Here, they usually stop around November and start to reappear come April. For us, garage sales mirror the baseball season.

A couple times a year, the White Sox throw a garage sale (awesome segue FTW!). I have wanted to go in the past, and finally made the trek to Comiskey (I'm still calling it that - screw naming the field for a cellular company you can't even use in the park it's named after without roaming!). One sale is held at the Sox convention in late January. The other is usually not long after the season has ended. A little bit of everything is available at the sale. I should have taken more pictures, so you are stuck with my descriptions.

My wife tagged along, and we got there right when the sale started. Still, there was a line about 150 or so people deep. The sale is held in a break room about 20x100, but they still limit the number of people going in at one time, which is a great idea. Not overly crowded sorting through all the items for sale. Fortunately, for those in line, Southpaw showed up. Or "White Sox Mascot" for those of you following along with Topps Opening Day Cards.

It's not that hard to find my name. It's right on the website.

It took just over an hour to get to the room with all the items. While waiting, they wheeled in 3 turn styles for sale. Two were from the current park ($350 each) and one from Old Comiskey ($1000). Yeah, both were out of my budget range. However, when we got inside, there was plenty to be had. Old, discontinued t-shirts and other items were along one wall, but nothing my size. Abreu bobbleheads, but I am not a bobble collector (bobblector?). Then had unused lineup cards for sale for a few bucks, but I passed as where would I display one. The used cards were also available, but again - out of my budget. Along one wall - nothing but used jerseys. Price range mattered based on the player. I thought for sure a jersey was out of the question, but there were plenty for $40. And these are not replicas.

 
They are the Majestic Cool Base with sewn logos, numbers and name plates. I decided on this one, based on my wife reminding me 64 was the year of her birth.

With the memorial patch on the right sleeve, I know this was a uniform from the 2014 season. There were high hopes for Rienzo, but he just never panned out here, and he's not doing well in Miami either. Still, great uniform. You could have gotten away jerseys, BP jerseys and the 80's Sunday throwbacks.

Across from the uniforms was a square of tables with game used caps (still had the players number written on the underbill), cleats, bats (expensive) and other game used items. The caps were super cheap, $5 for a fitted New Era cap, but I couldn't find one for my head. How does no one wear a size 7.5 cap? Oh well.

Coming around that, you had some autographed baseballs and pictures. I had one of each in my hand. The pictures were just $2 each and certified with the MLB trackable hologram. I picked up one of Brent Morel.

Nice image for the wall. I like Morel and wish he panned out better on the south side. The ball I had was of De Aza, but I put it back when this counter had baggies of game used baseballs. Sure, $20 for a game used seems silly, but since I can never seem to snag one, I need to take one when I can.

Yup, That's a brick next to it. There are still bricks from old Comiskey available, and $10 is a fine price to pay in my book. According to the hologram, the ball is from the April 24th game of this year against KC and was a single by Avasail Garcia off of Danny Duffy in the bottom of the first.

All total, I dropped $72, and each penny is a write off for charity. My main reason for going was to possibly score some of the memorial patches for Billy Pierce from this season, but none were available. But since I scored a DJR patch, maybe the right jersey at the next garage sale will have what I am looking for.