The post where you give ME something.

Yes. I'm gonna do it. I am going to make every single person that comments on this post give me something. So if you are not is the position to give me something right now, go collect your thoughts, then come back and leave a comment. You know you want to.

That something you're giving to me? Your want lists. See, the 3rd annual 'Tis the Season will start very soon, and if you have been around, I give away stuff. Lots of cards. And this year will be no exception. But before I start the freebies, I like to do some prefreebies. Talk about a tongue twister.

I was born on a pirate ship with...

So what I want from you: if you have a want list to fill from any 2014 product. Mainly Topps flagship, GQ, A&G, Heritage or Golden Age, link it to me in the comments. Or you can find my email address here and there (hint: try the A&G wants page!) and shoot me a file if you have it that way. Heck, if you are a team collector, feel free to send me any holes you have. Except for current year, the cards destined to leave the 2x3 corporate headquarters are sorted by team. I'll dig if needed. I would just like to file want lists before I dump a ton of cards on people. 

Speaking of cards, I really should post something other than a photo of a girl grasping her filiform papillae.

Here I am!

Here's a couple cards I picked up a while back for my White Sox relic collection.

If I recall, these Triple Threads set me back $10 total. The Beckham is another card with their Chicago America Giants throwbacks. I'll take all cards with those swatches. The Paulie is light blue - your eyes are not playing tricks. I first thought it was a bad scan of a gray swatch. Then I wondered when the hell the Sox did a one off of one of my favorite uniforms. After some digging, the blue swatch comes from the Civil Rights game they played against the Reds in 2009.

Ok. Now hit the comments and tell me what you need.

Clubbin'!!!!

Clubs. You got bright lights.

Lasers.
 

DJs.

Girls in skimpy outfits.

I was never a clubber when I was younger. 

But I care about Topps bringing back Stadium Club. If you read my post yesterday, I all but finished the base set of Stadium Club via a dime box, picking up 110 cards (though some were dupes for the throwback and DP binders). I had bought one mini box of Stadium Club from my LCS from gift cards my wife won at a pack war night. Otherwise, the rest (and most important) of the SC cards I have came via Chris at Nacho Grande. He ran a two box break, and since I had my chance to snag up the White Sox over all the Abreu hunters, I did. There are only 3 Sox in the base set: Abreu, Sale and Eaton. Luckily, I did very, very well.

The only base I received were two base Sales. One for the set and one for the binder. SCORE! I did luck out with this.

That's not just a die cut insert, but a rare diecut insert. Case hit rare. This are selling at about $75. I'm keeping it. Chris also ripped some other wax in the break and padded out the envelopes.

Just a sampling of what he sent. Compare that Dirty 30 to this year's release. Well done Topps. And then Chris wasn't done, as a few days later he dropped a PWE on me with Allen and Ginter.

Inserts! I am one card shorting finished the Floating Fortresses, and with the six Minds cards, I am now about thousand away from finishing that. Maybe less. Man - it's a huge insert set.

Thanks for the break, Chris, and for the bonus cards plus the A&G.

"I Walked (a show) Alone" sing-a-long post

(editor note: if you need the rhythm, you can start the video at the bottom on the post)

Oh, I drove up to the show
(show, show, show, show) 
And paid the admission price
(price, price, price, price)
Then I strolled down all the aisles
(aisles, aisles, aisles, aisles)
And I found some cards real nice
(nice, nice, nice, nice)

And I pulled out all my cash
And I pulled out all my cash

Now here's the cards I found
Might not be stuff you're into
Yet they make me feel real proud

I found an incredible amount of bunting

To bring into my home

Lay the bunt down

Yeah, lay the bunt down

Lay the bunt down, down, down, down, down, down

Down

Oh, I found a few miscuts

(cuts, cuts, cuts, cuts)
And they made me want to cheer

(cheer, cheer, cheer, cheer)
But most of what I bought

(bought, bought, bought, bought)
Covered Sox thru early years

(years, years, years)

The only dime box I hit had Stadium Club

I all but finished up my set of Stadium Club

 I did get a few DPs

And five vintage mini ChiSox

These two cool mini Helmar

And a few vintage just because

I also got 4 player cards

  

 They are of Sherm Lollar

Yeah, add to project Lollar

I started Project Lollar, lar, lar, lar, lar, lar, lar

-Lar

I walked a show all alone
My legs, legs, legs were wore out
Went to my car, and left
The show, show, show, I walked alone

Throwback Thursday - 11.20.2014

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. I'll try not to duplicate a uniform. The picture may be from the front of the card, or the back. Enjoy the uniforms from years past.

Paul O'Neill - 1991 Studio - Cincinnati Reds

Full of crap

I have a few other packages I plan to showcase, but something arrived the other day that needs to jump to the front of the line. DJ from the cool Sportscards from the Dollar Store dropped a small envelope on me. And I'm not sure where he gets off sending me the garbage he sends. I mean - look at this...

Really? Two 2014 Heritage Minor cards of a couple White Sox? You can do better.

Like some two time Stanley Cup winning Blackhawks will make a difference. And the bottom one isn't even a card!!! IT'S A STICKER!!!! Geeez....

"O Hai. I am a Hawks rookie with a name that is tough to spell and pronounce a supposedly this card with a swatch of my sweater is supposed to impress you". Please.....

Want to know why all the stuff from the inside of the envelope was crap? Check out the mailer...

OH MAN - CHECK OUT THAT STAMP!!! That is frigging awesome! I guess DJ has dropped another of these mailers on Shoebox Legends with an Orr stamp. Damn - I need me a panel of these.

Ok - I seriously appreciate the cards, DJ. I will love them. But you gotta admit those stamps are sweet.

I think age catching up on me

My 49th birthday recently passed. My wife hit the half century a couple days after me (yeah - she robbed the cradle). They say everything starts going downhill at 50. If that's the case, I think I hit 50 back in the early 90's. Thank goodness cardboard still holds up for many years.

However, with all I have done over the past month, at this blog, at home, with family, at APTBNL, I am not sure if my forgetfulness is age or just stupidity. Case in point are these cards from Mark at Battlin' Bucs. I know we have traded. I know I sent him cards. I just don't remember if I posted those cards, and these are new cards from the goodness of his heart. Or am I that forgetful.

Another "perk" of age is laziness. Sure, I could go through past posts and find my answer, but I don't feel like it. And that's crankiness. More aging. So before I yell at you damn whipper-snappers to get the hell off my lawn, let's check out the goodness from Mark.

Sox. And bunting. And bunting Sox!!! I bet Nick is salivating over that pitcher at the plate. Then again, he probably has 11 of them. Lee is sporting my favorite White Sox throwback. They can bring that back anytime.

Turns at two as well. Guess which Pirate double play between Wilkerson and Womack is from a spring training game.

I nice haul of ChiSox too. Many were from years I was sorely lacking in cardboard, so Mark took away some space in my monster box. And I'm okay with that.

My Konerko collection grows almost daily now. The Lil' Luis goes with my Aparicio Project. And a White Sox relic? Why yes, I will accept that. Favorite card in the envelope was this beauty.

Sure. It's vintage. It's a double play. What it is, though, is a wake up. If you visit the awesome Card Junk, you cannot miss this card. It's the background. But in the couple plus years of this blog, I have visited Card Junk a few hundred times but never really looked at this image. When I saw it, I thought "hey - now I have that card from that blog". It was a few more seconds before my brain goes "Oh - it's a double play. I never noticed that before".

Growing old is a terrible, terrible thing.

Because it's cheap, or because you care?

I think I have spoken enough about my love of the PWE. I am doing my best to keep it alive, and maybe get it back in style. That's not to say I love it all the time. See, the PWE can do great things, but protection is not high on the list. Sure, you can put a hard card holder in it, maybe even some cardboard to stiffen the package. But a PWE is always prone to the automatic sorting machine at the post office. Read enough blogs and you can see the damage those suckers can do to an envelope that is not completely smooth.

I have had a couple purchases off Ebay that have charged a couple bucks to ship, only to receive the card in a PWE with a 49 cent stamp. "I use shipping costs to cover my fees" a seller once told me. Hey - we ALL get those fees. If you are not going to be upfront about how you are shipping, then you are being disingenuous in your auction.

But the flip side of a PWE is what it really means. See, to me, a PWE is love. It's someone taking a part in collecting with you. We have all traded. A traded is a swap that both parties work to be equal in some sense. However, a PWE isn't (for the most part) a trade. A PWE is sending cards that you hope the receiver can use, and who cares if you get anything back. At least, I think that way. Seriously - if I never got a PWE back, I would still send out cards I hope the person liked. Done right, a PWE is the "it's the thought that counts" in the collecting world.

Here's a sample of cards I received from Weston at Fantastic Catch (along with a note asking to "keep 'em coming). I have secretly decided to work on that Turkey Red set. Plus, that Ramirez woke me up and realized it was a throwback card. That is Weston caring about my collection. Thanks dude.

Here's one from Jim at GCRL. White Sox? Check. Bunting? Check. Miscut? Check. Jim knows three of my collections, and sent cards to help them all out.

Then about two week later he did it again!!! More White Sox, Konerko collection and a couple more bunts. It sucks a bit I divide my Dodgers between 1.76million Dodger bloggers, but I hope I help enough with his collections as he help with mine. Thanks as always, Jim.

Last here is from Jeff at One Man's Junk (wax). If any scan in this post expresses what I mean, it's this one. Here are three of the 4 cards Jeff sent. I needed all four. But it's not the need part that is best about this. It's the envelope itself. Jeff and I traded once, and I think I may have sent him one PWE. But I am not sure about that PWE. However, Jeff took the time to send ME some cards. Out of his kindness. "Hopefully some Sox you need", he wrote. Conveniently, they are. But I am more touched that he saw some cards, thought of me and sent them off. It reminds me to not forget my Club PWE, as well as other people in spreadsheets I have.

So I challenge you this: In regard to other bloggers or former traders, do you PWE because you have to, or because you want to? If it's the former, make it the latter. You'll like your collection more, because you'll know some of it is being appreciated much more now that it's offsite.

Trust me on this.