So.....uhh.......yeah. Hi.

I have posted a grand total of once in the past 5 weeks. I'm not going to get into excuses or anything. It's what we all encounter - life. Nothing is horrible here in the 2x3 homestead. We are all healthy and safe. Roof over the head. Food in the stomach. Standard struggles everyone has from time to time. It just happens. But we are good and I need to make an effort to get back here. Writing gives me a sense of accomplishment, no matter the grammatical errors and poor spelling.

Let's do this!

Over the past month without posts (I do read and have commented my usual extremely important, life altering comments), a few envelopes have trickled in. Let's look at a couple. First up, Gavin at Baseball Card Breakdown.

Love the Black Jack Illinois parallel from Hometown Heroes, but focus a bunch on the other two cards. In the middle, a serialed card of Frazier from last year's "Gold Label", which I use is quotes because that Paulie on the right is the real Gold Label. Look at the beauty! The way it shines, scans and curls like a true Chrome refractor. For those that liked the "Gold Label" from last year, get your hands on the real stuff. Not the pathetic foil board they are passing off on us. #Resist

Tasty vintage! It may be hard to tell, but the Rollie is a miscut. Just a little it at the top. And I hope not to spoil a certain dime boxer's future short term stops post, but if you have that 81 Fleer, there is an interesting tidbit I never knew about on the back.

As great as the cards were, to get card from Gavin is always a treat. Dig this custom mailer they were packaged within:

Seriously Gavin - you need help. Or better, a beer. Thanks man!

And the other mailer today came from north of the border, DJ at Sportscards From The Dollar Store. The land of hockey must mean hockey cards, right? You bet your bippy!

Toews is all chrome, so all crap on my scanner. I'm guessing the Clout was a dupe, or a reject, from his mask binder. And how about the back of Grampa's 92-93 UD. Decent Blues sweaters that year, and a view of the Blues 25 years patch. Then Doug went a did this....

Thought for sure we would lose Hartman in the Knights expansion draft, but we protected him wisely. Nice big swatch of red and his initials autograph. And then holy sh*t!!! DJ has already gifted me with an on card autograph of Patrick Kane. Now he follows it up with his sweet as hell auto-relic of the Big Hurt from Leaf's Sportkings.

There were two cards I figured would be really difficult for my Project 2005. One was Lee Man-soo, as he is in South Korea. I thought I found out he was involved with the KBO, but not so sure anymore. However, any Korean readers want to help me out, I am willing to work out a deal.

Second was the Big Hurt, for the sheer price I would have to pay. His autos are consistent in price, barring a purely lucky find here and there. This is a fine addition to the binder. And now I REALLY owe Doug. Dangit, but in a good way.

So there we have it. A post from little old me. You thought I was gone, but nope. I am like that cat from Zoom. I'm even typing up this post while wearing a stripped shirt and having oily, unkempt hair and dirty feet.

Throwback Thursday - 06.08.2017

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.

Josh Beckett - 2003 Upper Deck - Miami Marlins (International League)

Age is just a number you can change at will

For as long as I can remember, I have signed up my son for the White Sox Kids Club. Per the rules, you can have up to 5 free kids membership per household, for children 13 and under. Sure, he's 24 and lives in Colorado. And with the way I sign him up, I should really enter his name as Benjamin Button.

Don't forget the zip+4 entry!

Free is free. In all the years, we have never taken advantage of the couple free tickets the membership sends. I really just like the freebies, which have included cards in the past. Earlier this week, I got the 2017 membership in my mailbox. Let's have a quick look.

White Sox Mascot....er....Southpaw welcomes your child to the club. The membership this year mailed in a standard #10 envelope. Love how they integrate the S from "south" into the P of Southpaw's autograph.

The rest of the free membership has some temporary tattoos and two bumper stickers. If you look close, the stickers are die cut around the design. That's a nice touch.

So no baseball cards in the kid's membership this year. I'll have to hit the game on August 11th to snag some of those.

(side note: This video fit the post, but my real thoughts on Ted can be found at this link.)

I'm gonna have fun, and you're gonna have fun...

ZIP-A-DEE-DOO-DAH!

So that famous psycho Wes over as Willinghammer Rising threw another contest, called Big Fun Game. I scored the first spot in the game, and selected in the middle. Fortunately, no one stole my pick, and what I obtained from the fun was a pretty sweet addition.

Wes being Wes, though, padded the envelope.

This trio just goes to show: when the border is black, White Sox cards looks AMAZING! And that Walmart black is a Sale rookie card.

Lots of Franks were found in the envelope. Shiny Franks as always cool. That Topps card in the middle (yeah - Topps) is raised. Think of Action Packed. But the interesting thing is the raised portion is the front and back. How expensive was that process? Far right is an ad card. But to my eye, that is a new addition to the broken bats binder.

Dear Topps, pay attention when photoshopping cards. White Sox road uniforms have a player number on the front of the jersey. Make a guess. Something double digit. Hell, put zeros! But shop in something.

Here's was my fun prize, and loved but still pretty darn excellent condition T-206 of Dode Paskert. Dode had a good 15 year career with the Reds, Phillies and Cubs, appearing in the WS for the Phils in 1915 and the Cubs in 1918. Both times losing to the Red Sox.

Thanks Wes. It WAS Super Big Fun.

Throwback Thursday: 05.18.2017

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.

Paul Molitor - 1992 Leaf Studio - Seattle Pilots

Hidden Gems: OOOOF!

Baseball, by it's nature, is slow. It can minutes before the action starts. Then the ball is in play and the activity goes on for a few seconds before the game slows back down to the pace of pitcher versus batter.

But in those fee seconds, everything is spontaneous. There is no script. No one blocked to be here and there so a certain drama can unfold. Sure, the players have their positions to start the pitch, and may rotate a bit based on where the ball enters the field. But there no no clue where it will enter and who will contact it. It just happens, and the controlled chaos occurs.

While one side of my brain understands the reasoning for the rule, the other side is saddened this is a card disappearing from the collecting world. For 99% of the game, the contact is ball to bat, ball to ground, ball to glove. All contact is between inanimate objects. Sure, there is the tag on a attempted stolen base, but the play at the plate was the only real contact part of the game between one player and another. While the badging on this card really interferes with the action, there is still more than enough to appreciate. Crawford leaving his feet and making contact with Salvador Perez (I believe), the grimace on Perez's face from the force of the play. Something we just won't see anymore.

I still remember the shock I felt hearing that Robert Palmer died, now almost 14 years ago. I liked his music a bit early on, and sure - releasing a huge hit (and video) like Addicted To Love can help out anyone's career. But when you look back on his life, he was always there. Bits and pieces of his brilliance exist in prior years, from Sneaking Sally Through the Alley to Every Kinda People to Looking For Clues, just to name a few. Riptide was the first album of his I bought, and it's a fine mix from song to song of his musical style. Flesh Wound is a great marriage of heavy metal with his hard beats.

My hockey fix

Anyone who watched the NHL playoffs these season saw the too quick exit of my Blackhawks. The Preds have been playing well. I think they caught us during a scoring drought, just as we passed them in the standings before the end of the season when they had a problem finding the twine. But the season ended fast and the papers were talking about blowing up the Hawks and this and that. I get it - it's what their job is. Stir the pot and come up with the craziest click bait possible.

YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT THIS BABY LOOKS LIKE TODAY!

Thankfully, I have DJ north of the border at Sportscards From The Dollar Store to help supply me with hockey. I don't buy enough, mostly because the releases are too expensive. And picking up any Blackhawks in a 250 mile radius will wear out your credit card.

Anyone remember PowerPlay? I picked up a few packs back in the day. Loved the idea. Storing them was a whole other issue (obviously). Paired up with a couple other pieces of junk wax. Konroyd works in the studio for TV broadcasts. You may remember Dave Christian in a far different sweater. Yup, along with Jack O'Callahan, we had a 2nd Miracle on Ice player in a Hawks sweater. Dave played 69 games to close out his NHL career, though he played a few more in the minors after leaving the Hawks.

This is the spot where I post cards that scan like total crap. Thanks Panini!

Three rookies. LeBlanc, Panarin and Dumont. Needless to say, one has been far better than the other two. Dumont did okay with the Sabres and Predators for a few seasons. LeBlanc is doing what he can playing in the German hockey league.

Once again, DJ surprised me with a couple hits. Hawkins is a player that is trying to make it to the bigs, but injuries seem to sideline him often. He is still toiling in AA ball. The Oduya is the 2nd manu-patch from the Championship Rings set dropped on me from Canada, the first being TVR.

Thanks again, DJ. I have to work on a return package, but to start I need cash. I need a trick for free stuff.