2013 Bloggolutions- Ending The Year

Starting off 2013 I did something for this blog that I normally don't do. That thing was creating some goals for not only this blog, but my collecting. Some of these goals were set with the idea that they could be achieved with a little work. Others were set with the idea that it would take a good sized commitment to reach them. The strange thing is when everything is all said, and done the goals I thought might be easy are still sitting undone. While more progress was made on some of the tougher goals. Its amazing how that happens sometimes.

1- Make over 200 posts for the year.

When I thought about doing this goal the idea was it would be much tougher than it actually was. I was just over one month into blogging, and thought that dreaming up ideas to hit this might be a tough one.  As the year got going I started to see that 200 wasn't going to be near enough of a goal. In July when I did the halfway point update this goal was well within sight. By November I had nailed it down, and was looking to see how far over this goal it'd be.

10/10

2- Reach 33 followers.

You ever have one of those things that later on down the road you ask why did I do that? This goal is one of those things for me. Being this blog had just started the idea of getting as many followers as possible was high on my list. Not long into the year it hit me that this was one of those goals that just didn't matter. I personally followed a few blogs when starting out. That all changed quickly as i started going down the blogroll, and reading the posts I find interesting. I prefer going to the actual blogs site rather than reading the posts the way they are presented in the dashboard. Going down the blogroll is just easier to me, and something that currently works. There are tons of posts I will read daily from blogs I'm not following. This has led my current attitude, and that is my focus should be more on putting blogs on the blogs I read list. This will help find some of those awesome blogs out there that aren't on the blogroll, and therefore get missed by me. For the sake of this goal though.

10/10

3- Finish 5 sets or subsets of baseball cards. 

Starting the year out I knew that I had some easy to hit sets, and some tough if not nearly impossible sets to hit. With those two thoughts running through my head I came up with five sets or subsets. Part of me thought that this goal would get hit by mid to late in the year, and I might be able to drop one to two extra. The reality is I started of real strong by completing two sets in one of my first trades as a blogger. From there I added a whole new batch of sets, and subsets to complete as the year moved forward. Even with these new wants it wasn't until going into a local card shop late in the year that set three was finished. Sadly this was the last completed set for 2013, but it won't slow me down in 2014.

6/10

  4- Complete 24 trades of baseball cards.

While I didn't keep a running total I believe this goal was easily achieved. By the halfway point of the year I think this was accomplished. Despite that the trading didn't slow down as I kept things going up until the very end of 2013. As everyone can agree this has to be one of the top goals you'd want to achieve as trading is a good share of the fun when it comes to collecting.

10/10

 5- Improve my artwork for the artelopes

Both the daughter, and myself made great strides in our artwork on these. There were times when we had the creative juices flowing, and did some very memorable envelopes. Other times we were lacking or just didn't have the ability to run with an idea. Overall these have been fun to do, and are something I'm looking forward to doing more of when baseball starts up once again. Until then we have a few that still need finished up, and sent out to a couple bowl games, and a couple hockey teams.

5/10

6- Get all three of my hobbies organized

One of the biggest goals for myself was this goal. If you've been reading my posts you know about the three hobbies. For those that haven't been around as long. Besides the baseball card hobby I collect business cards, and pocket schedules. The main business card collection has been attempting to collect a business card from every baseball team. The third collection of pocket schedules blends in nicely with the business cards. Starting the year off the business cards were in good shape. The baseball cards, and pocket schedules were in complete disorganization.
       Ending the year the business cards are still looking good, and actually getting even more fine tuned than at the start of 2013. Baseball cards are still a work in progress, but made great strides. The two biggest areas needing work were getting the sets together, and the player collections. Each time I traded for a missing card you'd have to send a search party to find where I'd placed the incomplete set. This is still a problem on some sets, but is getting way better. When it comes to players I need to get the Nolan Ryan collection put together instead of total chaos like it currently is. Pocket schedules were kind of the ignored hobby in this organization. Currently there is a batch of stuff in a shoebox that need to be put in pages.

5/10

 7- Get an autograph card of all my favorite players

 Of all the goals this is the one where I failed the most. In all fairness it is the goal I expected to get the least accomplished with. Coming into the year I had the serious collections of Nolan Ryan, and Mark Teixeira. A group of around seven players were added, and most have been tossed to the wayside. When the year was over I whittled the list down to the current four players. Don't be surprised if sometime in 2014 the list falls down to two players with those two being Wilin Rosario, and Mike Trout. Keeping with the theme of those seven players being the cards I needed autos from. Only one card was added, and that is the card shown above. Even though I didn't do well on this goal the one card I did get was a great addition.

2/10

  8- Improve my writing

From a personal side I believe that I made great strides in the writing department. While I can, and will hopefully continue to improve. There are still many things I need to work on. The one thing that the wife got me doing is that on most posts I will proofread before posting. There are times this doesn't happen, and sometimes it means the posts isn't as great as it could be.

5/10

 9- Half my baseball business card wants

 This was one of those I am so glad to have nailed down easily. With the help of the artelopes project the wantlist for baseball business cards took a serious hit. We sent out a real sweet looking envelope to the Washington Nationals, and after years of trying got a card. The Nationals were my last holdout for MLB teams so getting their card had me feeling like a little kid on Christmas. From there the holdouts continued to send me cards, and by seasons end had the remaining list at only a few teams in the Appalachian League, and a couple independent league teams. Luck was so much on my side that 2/3 of the remaining teams were completed.

10/10

 10- Get more involved in the blogging scene

   Out of all the goals set this was a very important goal to me. Sadly I failed at reaching the idea behind this goal. I wanted to comment on blogs atleast 52 times during the year. Speaking for myself I appreciate it when readers take the time to comment about any post. Seeing a comment in my mind says that what I wrote spoke to that person enough that they took the time to let me know. During the year there were so many great posts written that spoke to me, and deserved a comment. Instead I let the procrastinator in me say we will do it later, and never did. If there is anything I need to work on personally outside of blogging the procrastinating would be that. Even with that I still managed to do around 20 something comments so it wasn't a total loss.

5/10 

Summing up I give myself a 68/100 total for my goals. In the end it was maybe five to ten points lower than I had hoped for. When most these goals were set the plan was to have some decent level goals, and some that would be impossible to achieve. I'm a warped soul like that. By mixing in some tough, but realistic goals it keeps me motivated. If all the goals can be accomplished then at some point in the year there is nothing to shoot for. Good thing I did this as some goals were even easier than I thought they would be, and accomplished faster than I ever imagined. While this was a success if you ask me I am currently not sure if I will do goals for 2014 or just go with the flow. 

A Speedy Christmas

While I have been enjoying the getting back into the baseball cards scene this past year. Baseball cards were not on my list of presents. Honestly I didn't have a list of things I would like to have. This made for an interesting search for the wife when it came to getting me something. Then came Christmas morning, and the present I wanted but didn't know until opening this.

A Kyle Busch Foundation Christmas edition diecast. This car is a thing of beauty for a fan of NASCAR, and Kyle Busch. Something we in this house are both guilty of being. According to the wife this is a special limited number car with part of the purchase price going to the foundation. Now all that is missing is a display case to put it in on the shelf. In closing I have to say for not having a list to work from. The wife nailed it!

Happy Holly Daye

I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas, or for the sake of the card above Happy Holly Daye. May you have a wonderful day with the family celebrating.

Happy Birthday Steve Garvey, and A Few More

Today is the birthday of a great baseball player in Steve Garvey. While I was locked into the Cardinals, and Cubs during the time frame the great Garvey played. I too this day still haven't grown to be a big fan of the guy. What I do know is he accomplished some great things during his playing time, and that I can appreciate.
One guy who is a fan is the blogger over at the blog Garvey Cey Russell Lopes. This has led to a contest that if you haven't noticed is flooding the blogger world with posts such as this one wishing Steve Garvey a happy birthday.

Any blog posting a happy birthday to Steve today will be entered into a contest to win a 1952 Topps card. Personally I just love the idea of a contest that gets all of us a bloggers united to write up a special post. In my just over a year I've participated in two of these, and this is the second. Both have been fun to do, and something that I'd like to see a few more of in 2014. Who knows maybe during 2014 I might run one myself. I've had an idea floating in my head, but just haven't figured everything out.

 Until then you get a 1984 Slurpee disc of Steve Garvey.

Happy Birthday Steve!!!

While Garvey is getting all the love today. These baseball players were born on December 22nd as well. Just none of them are cool enough to have a blog bearing their names.

1862 Connie Mack

1936 Matty Alou

1944 Steve Carlton

1955 Lonnie Smith

1968 David Nied (still bummed he never panned out for the Rockies)

There are also some celebrities born today that I want to give some love too as well.

1934 David Pearson (NASCAR Legend)

1945 Diane Sawyer (Good Morning America)

1946 Rick Nielson (lead guitarist, and somgwriter for the band 'Cheap Trick')

1949 Maurice and Robin Gibbs (singers from the 'Bee Gees')

While I know there are a million more they will all have to find another blog to get their love from. These are all that will be getting it from here.

A PWE That's Hall-Of-Fame

Almost a full week ago I had a PWE delivered from Cliff that thrilled me beyond belief.

No... No... No... Not that Cliff. Far as I know the Cliff that sent this PWE doesn't work for the Post Office. I don't even think my mailman is named Cliff. The Cliff that sent this PWE is a member of the online trading group TradingBases. Now with the obvious lame attempt at a joke out of the way lets see some of the greatness sent my direction by Cliff.

Not only did Cliff go with a hall-of-fame player. He went with my all-time favorite hall-of-fame player. Being I stopped collecting cards, in the 1990's anything newer are holes in the collection. So two new cards for the Nolan binder was amazing. The crazy part is this wasn't everything. Cliff kept going big with this envelope.

Another great Ryan, and another great pitcher sharing the card. Sharing a little history about myself here that pertains to this card. It wasn't until recently that I started adding cards like this into my Nolan Ryan collection. I remember seeing cards from the 80's where they had the cards with two pitchers standing together. Those cards were discarded when I was collecting Ryan in the past. The cards for league, and team leaders met the same fate, and are something I still need to see what I have. 2014 will have to be the year I get the Nolan Ryan collection in order. While most the cards are in a lone binder they are still a mess. How a collection could be all in a binder, and still a mess is beyond me but I have done it.

This envelope just kept giving. It also proved to me that there are still a ton of Ryan cards out there. Cards that I am still scratching the surface on even knowing they exist. Once the binder starts to look decent I'll have to see if there are more Ryan's in the subset. Until then this one card will have to sit alone as inspiration.

Closing out what has to be the best PWE ever. Cliff went with the newest Ryan card he could possibly find. Another card that once again shows my naiveness in the latest Nolan Ryan cards. Despite almost being finished with the series 1, and still needing to put up my series 2, and update wants. This card was not on my radar of cards for the collection. It's amazing all the cards out there this envelope brought my attention to.

Thank you just isn't enough for all the awesome cards Cliff. Until I gather up some cards, and send them your direction. A thank you, and a sad joke about you sharing a name with a character from Cheers is all you get.

Marvin Takes Me Out Of This World

Any time I think of the name Marvin the above image is what comes to mind. It must be that I grew up watching Warner Brother cartoons, and not a whole lot of other cartoons. This image might start to change though as another Marvin is starting to put the image of baseball cards in its place.

The new images are courtesy Marvin from the online trading group TradingBases. Out of the blue Marvin blindsided me with a bubble mailer full of 2013 Topps series 1. Then when the smoke had cleared, and I finally picked myself up the damage was 34 cards.

I don't know if I could say thank you enough times for the awesome package Marvin sent. At some point I'll give it a try though. Much like this great package you sent Marvin. The return will come out of nowhere, and will be full of great cards.

Atleast The Junior Junkie Always Delivers

We've all heard the phrase that the U.S. Postal Service always delivers right? Well around here we found that that isn't always the truth. While they did deliver during the snow we had that isn't where this title comes from. On Tuesday the news had a segment about mail problems in my town. It seems that one of the seasonal employees decided to steal any envelopes that appeared to contain cash. When he was arrested they found hundreds of letters in his possession. What led to this discovery I don't really know. From stories they found out though, and set up a sting which this idiot walked right into by stealing the intended letter. The good news for me is that one letter wasn't intercepted, and that letter was from 'The Junior Junkie'.

Not more than a couple weeks ago it was Griffey Jr.'s birthday. To celebrate the junkie offered up two cards from a set of pictures he put up on his blog. Willing to celebrate the career of a player who had some great years up here in the Northwest I took him up on the offer, and got some sweet cards.

While I am not either a Gwynn collector or building this set. I am a fan of logo's, and was a sucker for that big SD on what looks to be a hat sitting behind Gwynn.  Adding into the thought of getting this cards was who knows. Maybe one day I will add this set into the list of cards I'm looking for. Until then this Gwynn will be the lone card.

This second card actually hits two spots in my wheelhouse. While I'm not a Helton collector I do love the Rockies. From reading this blog you might think I was more of a Mariners. The truth is the Rockies are number one, and the Mariners come second. Just living close to Seattle means I get more Mariners news, and access to Mariners collectibles. Secondly I have always been a fan of the minor league sets, and this card is minor league. So how could I not get this card?

Junkie tossed in a third card on his own to make this an even sweeter deal. While the scan doesn't do this card justice. It is a good looking card that I am thrilled to have.

Want to toss out a huge thanks to 'The Junior Junkie' once more, and give a late birthday congrats to Junior even if he won't see this.

Snow, Snow, And More Snow

With the snowstorm we had on Friday it seems like this blog has turned into a constant reminder of that very storm. While I would like to apologize for this happening. There is a reason for all this writing about the snow. Some years snow like this would annoy the crap out of me. Only for some reason this year has been a different story. I'm not sure if it is the getting older, and this snowstorm has brought back memories of snow as a kid. Snow is very rare in this part of the state, and getting both this much, and at this time of year is even rarer.

Making the trip to, and from work on Friday. Then going out on Sunday to do a couple errands around town allowed me to sharpen my driving skills in the snow. Something I haven't done in probably ten years or more. While we have gotten snow in those ten years I usually use the snow as an excuse to take the day off from work. Throw in that while I trust myself to drive in this weather its the guys in their 4x4's driving at normal speed that makes me nervous.

The amount that fell on Friday is more than has fallen in those ten years though. That has helped in me embracing all the white on the ground. It brings back the times of going too wherever we could to go sledding. A distance that got even bigger when I got a drivers license, and my own car. It brings back all the times we used to go outside, and play football in the snow. If you never got to play football in the snow you don't know what you missed. It had to be the most fun playing football I ever had. The only downside was you'd get cold faster so the game ended quicker than usual.

The playing football in the snow is where the idea for this post is coming from. While there might be a ton more of these cards out there. I am going to sharpen my detective work, and see if I can give you information on the game pictured.. Today you get to see five cards from games played in the snow. All five cards came from an e-bay search. So you know up front I don't own any of these cards, but I'd love to one day.

November 27th, 1977

Minnesota Vikings at Green Bay Packers

The game played in swirling snow at Lambeau Field with 56,267 in attendance ended as a low scoring affair. Ending with the Vikings winning 13-6, and all 19 points scored in the first half. Green Bay started the game by scoring first off a David Whitehurst three yard run. The extra point failed leaving the score at 6-0 at the end of the first quarter. On the first play of the second quarter Sammy White scored on a 40 yard pass play to put Minnesota ahead for good after the extra point. Later in the quarter Minnesota added two field goals of 21 yards, and then 31 yards to end the scoring. With the loss Green Bay was 2-9, and would finish the season 4-10 for last place in the division. Minnesota would run their record to 7-3 finishing the season 9-5, and in first place in the division. 

 November 11th, 1979

New England Patriots at Denver Broncos

I will start by saying this card took a little more homework than any other card in this post. The card is a 1981 card, but Denver, and New England played too early in 1980 for a snow game. This led to a search in 1979, and what I feel is the game this card came from. Denver would start the game strong by scoring 24 points in the first quarter to go up 24-0. The Patriots would add a touchdown in the second, but give up two more to trail 38-7 at halftime. Adding a 42 yard field goal in the third New England went into the fourth quarter down 38-10. Denver added a three yard touchdown run by Rob Lytle to finish the scoring, and win 45-10. The game would leave New England 7-4, and become one of the reasons the team would miss the playoffs. Denver's record went to 8-3, and would help them win the wildcard spot. Their season would end in the wildcard game against Houston 13-7.

Janruary 4th, 1981 (division playoffs)

Oakland Raiders at Cleveland Browns

In what would be the coldest game since the 1967 Ice Bowl, with a temperature of 4 degrees. The game would have a wild start consisting of punts, and an interception for both teams. Still late into the second quarter there wouldn't be any scoring until Cleveland's, Ron Bolton would return an interception for a 42 yard touchdown. Ted Hendrick's blocked the extra point to set the score at 6-0. Hendrick's block was the inspiration for this very card. Oakland finally got on the board with 18 seconds left in the half. The extra point was good as the teams went into the half with Oakland up 7-6. The third quarter would belong to the Browns as they added two field goals, and missing a third to lead 12-7 going into the fourth quarter. It wouldn't take long for Oakland to take the lead as Chester scored on a 27 yard pass to go up 14-12. With 49 seconds left in the game, and the ball at the 14. Cleveland's quarterback was told if no one was wide open to throw the ball into the stands. Instead Sipe would throw an interception in the end zone, and end Cleveland's season. Oakland would go on to defeat San Diego in the Conference Championship. Followed by a Super Bowl win over the Philadelphia Eagles 27-10.

December 12th, 1981

New York Jets at Cleveland Browns

In a low scoring game that  showed the effects of snow. New York scored first to go up 7-0 off a Lam Jones touchdown catch. Cleveland countered with a field goal to go down 7-3. Before going into the half New York added another touchdown to lead 14-3. A slow third quarter ended with Cleveland adding a touchdown off a eight yard Calvin Hill catch to trail 14-10. Early in the fourth Matt Bahr kicked another field goal for Cleveland to trail, and end the scoring 14-13. Cleveland would end the game 5-10, and miss the playoffs. New York's record would raise to 9-5 on their way to the playoffs where they would lose the wildcard game against Buffalo 31-27.

November 18th, 1984

Seattle Seahawks at Cincinnati Bengals

In a game dominated by the Seahawks from the start. Seattle would score a touchdown in the first, and one in the second to take a 14-0 lead. Cincinnati would add a field goal followed by a Seattle field goal for a 17-3 halftime score. The third would end with only a Bengals field goal for a 17-6 score. Seattle would finish the game strong with a safety, and a Zachary Dixon one yard touchdown run for a 26-6 final score. The game would leave Cincinnati 4-8 for the season. Seattle would become 10-2, and looking strong going into the playoffs. A wildcard win against the Los Angeles Raiders 13-7 would be followed with a 31-10 loss against the Miami Dolphins in the division game. 

Seeing what appears to be snowballs in the background I did a little more research. Five years, and just less than a month later the same two teams would be playing again in Cincinnati. After what the fans perceived as a bad call they started throwing snowballs at both the Seahawks, and officials. This led to the famous Sam Wyche speech insulting the teams state rivals the Cleveland Browns.

 " Will the next person that sees ANYBODY throw anything onto this field, point 'em out...and get 'em out of here - you don't live in Cleveland, you live in Cincinnati!"

Hopefully I got all these games right or I'll have to work a little harder on the detective skills.

Snowplow Game

Looking outside, and seeing all the snow around here has still been an interesting sight. Then we started to watch some NFL. As we flipped to the FOX game the screen was white from the snow coming down during the Eagles versus Lions game. Despite not being fans of either team, but wanting to see how things would go the channel surfing stopped there. The sight was so interesting even the wife who hates the NFL has been hooked. This watching got me talking to her about the snowplow game between the Miami Dolphins, and New England Patriots.

(2008 Masterpieces card. picture from an E-Bay search)

 

 Remembering the game, and wanting to make sure I wasn't talking crazy. I did a quick search on information about the game. What I learned is that the game was played December 12th 1982. While I couldn't remember the exact date I nailed it on the other facts. At the time I was twelve years old, and really into football. For memories sake, and those who weren't born. 

 

The game was played at Foxborough with heavy snow coming down all game. At the time snowplows were used to clear yard markers during the game. Late in the fourth quarter New England was setting up for a field goal for the first points of the game. With a break happening the Patriots coach ordered the snowplow operator to clear a spot for his kicker. Driving out the operator veered from the yard markers, and quickly plowed an area directly in front of the goal posts for the Patriots kicker.  Despite protests from the Dolphins the officials allowed the kick to happen which ended up being good, and winning the game 3-0.

(1983 Dolphins Fleer action team card)

 

The card above came out the very next year. I'm not sure if the game information is across the back or if another card exists with information about this game. I do remember as a kid hearing about the game from a football card. As kids we were really into football cards, and baseball was an afterthought. Cards like the one above were some of my favorites. One of these days soon I'm going to do some research, and make some wantlists for all these sets. Until then I'll just see cards like this one, and remember having them as a kid.

Ending the snowplow game story. If you have been watching any of the snow covered games today you will notice one change. All yard marking is done using snow shovels now due to this game. I believe the idea is if they are shoveling they can't do a quick turn, and clear a section. Teams can do it themselves by kicking snow around, but no using shovels.

Off To A Great Start

Just over one week ago Milo from the online trading group I am in posted. In his post he was looking for cards to complete his 2013 sets before the year wraps up. Included in those lists were 2013 Opening Day cards which was where most my money went this year. Milo needed some cards that I had, and was more than happy to send his way. Looking to send something back Milo gave my wants a look over, and came up with the following.

Thrilled to add four cards to a subset that has been getting ignored lately on my wants. The offer was more than fair to me as all I actually wanted to do was help out a fellow collector. Part of the new attitude I've developed since starting this blog. An attitude that as I've said many times over, and over is awesome. Milo had some confusion though as I had the cards listed by the wrong numbers. This confusion led to an extra e-mail as I had the cards listed as CH instead of CD. A fix that has since been made thanks to this trade. Who knows how long this might have gone unfixed without Milo letting me know. I'm going to give credit for the confusion to me getting older as my vision has been going downhill every year. Even if the numbers are fairly easy to read I'm going to stick with that story.

During the time frame between the e-mail offering the four cards above, and the next e-mail. Milo showed why baseball card trading is such a great hobby. He also showed that bloggers aren't the only generous traders out there. In his building of sets it seems Milo had accumulated quite a few extras of Topps flagship series two cards. Noticing that there was no list for the cards on this blog he offered to fix this, and drop a starter set on me. What followed is a 135 card starter set.

Being most have probably seen these cards on every blog throughout the year. Today you get to enjoy four of the young guys in the Rockies organization. Just know that Milo hit me with a starter set that had me sitting here stunned. Until his offer odds are this was a set that wasn't going to get started. Now it'll be something I look forward to completing.

This starter sets leaves one big question though. How can you do a complete set of 2013 Topps flagship without doing Topps update? Milo knew this, and sent a 128 starter set for update.

In honor of this you get to see four more Rockies. All I can say after a trade like this is WOW!! Milo, thank you so much for the two starter sets. Hopefully sooner more than later I will be able to repay the kindness for these two sets.

It's Snowing!!

Up here in the part of the Northwest we live in snow is a very rare occurrence.  Today was one of those rare times. Not only did it snow, but we got somewhere between four to six inches minimum. Driving to, and from work was a real experience as it's a 15 to 20 mile drive one way. The morning part was the real adventure as I leave early enough that I was part of the first cars on the road. The return trip was just slow going with nothing too exciting. Growing up in Utah means I know how to drive in the snow it's just avoiding the idiots who don't, and drive to fast. 

  (all cards courtesy of an internet search)

In honor of the snow I thought why not show off cards of players named snow. To fill in with a little more why not learn, and share some information about these players as well. Jack Snow played wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams from 1965 through 1975. The 8th overall pick by the Minnesota Vikings, shortly afterwards Jack was traded to the Rams. During his career in Los Angeles, Jack caught 340 passes for 6012 yards, and 45 touchdowns. After retiring Jack spent time as the receivers coach in 1982, and later a Rams analyst. When the team made the move to St. Louis Jack was one of the very few that went with the team. Sadly it would be short lived as Jack died in 2005 from a staph infection.

A great college linebacker at Michigan State, Percy never made it in the NFL. Drafted 13th overall by the Chiefs in 1990. Percy played his last game in 1993 for the Chicago Bears. Injured in 1991 during training camp while riding a scooter. The injury was the factor in Percy's career downslide as he never fully recovered from the injury. Percy's career stats were a lowly 40 games, with 2 sacks, and one interception.

The son of football player Jack Snow. J.T. was known for his great defense over a thirteen, and a half season career. Originally drafted by the New York Yankees who J.T. played only one season for. J.T. was traded to the Angels followed by the Giants where he spent the bulk of his career. Next came a one year stop in Boston, followed by a return to San Fransisco where he ended his career. Winning six gold gloves J.T. also  batted .268 with 189 home runs, and 877 RBI's.

And Not One 2008- part 2

Included in the bubble mailer from Larry was some real fun little items that had to get a second posting. The big one was this picture which honestly I'm using to increase the post views for today.

Now if a picture full of the Orlando Magic Girls doesn't increase traffic to this site today then I don't know what will. A little detective work has me believing that this is the 1990-1991 dance team. I say this because Larry was kind enough to include a schedules, and a team picture of the 1990-1991 Orlando Magic.

Included as well was some Stuff. If you didn't notice I capitalized Stuff as before getting this great package I never realized what Stuff was. I always thought stuff was well.... Stuff. I never knew that Stuff is, or was the mascot for the Orlando Magic.

What this thing is I will never know. There are just some mascots in all the sports that leave you scratching your head. Stuff is one of those for me.

Despite not knowing what he is this hand puppet, glove, or whatever you want to call it was a pretty cool treasure. It is also the last Orlando Magic goodie in the mailer. It all reminded me of the short time the Magic were one of those teams I enjoyed watching. Something about that Shaquille O'Neal guy just made me like the team while he was there. Basketball has always been one of those weird sports for me. While I always come back to the Utah Jazz as my favorite team. I seem to go through spurts where my favorite team will change from time to time.Must be the fact that I'm not really that big of a fan of the sport so my team loyalty isn't really set like with the the other sports.

Finishing off this fantastic mailer was a sport I can get behind. While I'm only showing two magnets Larry included three different magnets. Not only did he send three magnets he sent magnets that will be making it on the wall in the hobby room. All that is missing is a magnetic board to stick them on. While it might take some time to find the board one day I'll find it, and these will be the first magnets to go on that board.

Closing out this treasure trove of goodies I'm going to give another shout out to Larry's blog 'My 2008 Topps Set Blog'. Go, and check it out as Larry writes about more than just the one set who's name is in the name. He's a Diamondback fan so it's a great place to see how things are going for his team during the season.

And Not One 2008- part 1

Recently I received an e-mail from Larry who runs the great blog 'My 2008 Topps Set'. In the e-mail Larry let me know he had a few pocket schedules from past seasons. Next he offered to send the few as he called them my direction to save them from the recycle bin. More than happy to take them on as what he listed was a great list for the collection. Then came the package.

Included in the picture above is just a small sampling of the goodies Larry sent. As I have learned in the one year I have been blogging. What a fellow blogger tells you, and what the truth is are totally different. If a blogger tells you he is sending you a small batch of cards, or in this case schedules. Get ready for a bubble mailer that will blow your socks off. This package did just that to me.

Not only did it knock my socks off it just kept on going, and going. Schedule after schedule kept popping out of the mailer in droves. Then if all this wasn't enough Larry hit me with some fun items that I'm already looking forward to figuring out how to show them off in the hobby room. These are just so cool I'm saving them for part two next time. Until then enjoy the schedules Larry sent, and go check out his great blog.

Open Up! Its The Police (cards)!!

While I've had these cards for awhile now, and was thinking about giving them a future post. The future is now as these cards will all be finding themselves a new home with a collector I believe will appreciate them much more than I have. A home which is why I sometimes take cards like these in. I'm always hopeful that even if I don't want it, or the person who sent them to me didn't want them. I will be able to one day put them with the right collector who will be excited about the new additions..

As you can tell by both looking at the post title, and the card itself. This is one of the ever mysterious police issues. The cards that you will on a very rare occasion see on a team collectors wantlist. The reason for some these not showing up on their list can be a multitude or various reasons. They vary from not knowing that these exist. To the plain look of the cards which include the message to kids on the back.

Throwing a wrench into the mix with cards like these is sometimes what seems like a little addition can be missing. No place on this card do you see a year on when this card was made or distributed. No number adds to the confusion of trying to figure out how many of these are needed to complete the set?

Even with these roadblocks to collecting police sets. They are a great addition to any collection if you ask me. While I enjoy collecting the oddball stuff I am still one of the collectors who haven't started collecting these gems for myself. Currently there are still too many other oddball sets out there that pop up from time to time, and make the wants. Until then I will continue to just enjoy these cards from a distance.

Beavers, and Ducks Black Friday Special

Luck has went my way so far this weekend. Being on the vacation list, but not getting the day beforehand. Lady luck shone down on me as I ended up getting a half day off, and spending Thanksgiving lunch with the wife's family. The evening got even better as I got to spend some time with the daughter as we headed out to a big brand store to get her a laptop she is really wanted as her big Christmas present. We had a great time talking, and just hanging out as we waited for the chaos to begin. When it was all said, and done we nailed everything on our list as the wife did on her list at another big retailer.

Things looked like they were going to decline a very small bit. Today was going to be another day at work, or so I thought. Going in a group of us got the word our backup vacations were approved. Heading out as fast as I feet would go it was off to do some quick shopping this morning. Along with the wife we got some added extras for the daughters Christmas presents. Once completed it was time for a nap, and now sitting here waiting for the big football game here in Oregon.

(Both these cards were found doing a search on Goggle if you'd like to see more)

Oregon Ducks versus the Oregon State Beavers. While I'm not a fan of either team, and thus don't really care who wins. We will be at the house eating pizza, watching football, and drinking something tonight. If you've been following any college football posts around here you know the wife is a Beavers fan. What I am though is a college football fan so I'm in for the game. Unfortunately I think her team will once again fall short in this rivalry. 

Artelopes Lost Files- Jaguars, and Las Vegas Bowl

Its been a very long time since I've had to do one of these so it's painful to be doing another. While the artelopes have been fun to do every so often a couple never make it home. Sadly two more have been gone so long that I have finally given up hope on ever seeing something.

When I sent this envelope out it was in hopes of getting a business card which I need for the collection. With the way the Jaguars are playing this year. You would hope they would treat anyone willing to send them a letter as a king. I didn't need to be treated as a king though just someone who wanted a couple schedules, and a business card.

Now a little about the artwork. I decided to go all out, and do a jaguars spots over the entire envelope. I enjoy doing envelopes for teams like this as using the entire front is more fun than the usual simple logo. This envelope was sent out the same day as the Cincinnati Bengals envelope that had the same concept except for a tiger instead of a jaguar.

This was sent to the Las Vegas Bowl in hopes of acquiring a couple business cards for the college bowl games business card collection. The same day this was sent I mailed out another envelope to the UNLV Rebels for football schedules. Those came back long ago, but this has never returned. I've been holding out hope for a return, but it's finally time to admit its never coming home.

My idea for this envelope was to keep it simple. The entire picture is the bowl logo only I included the mailing address inside. Most of the bowl mailings use the same concept of just using the logo in some form. Very few times have we deviated from this, but it does happen. I say this as we have two artelopes ready to be going out that are deviating from the regular bowl logo. Strange how we sometimes say we do things one way, and then go exact opposite that very day.

Don "Tiger" Kaiser

After doing one of these back in June while on vacation. I am going to do another post about a player who had a nickname using a cat reference. The plan is I will do one of these every so often with no schedule on when they will be done in mind. This means it could be months before another one of these shows up again. Until then lets all bask in the learning about another baseball cat.

Playing baseball in high school Kaiser was an animal with a 49-1 record, and seven no hitters. Despite the strong showing Kaiser was in college on a basketball scholarship when the Cubs came calling. Signing the 6 foot 5 inch right hander in February of 1955. Due to rules in place at the time Don was required to stay on the roster where he made his debut in July as a reliever. This is where Don would spend the remaining portion of the season as he made eleven appearances from the bullpen.

1956 came with Kaiser not making a start until June 2nd. The start was worth the wait as Kaiser pitched a two hitter, and beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 8-1. The season wasn't fantastic though as in 22 starts Kaiser went a disappointing 4-9, and five complete games.

1957 would get worse as Kaiser spent the season playing between Chicago, and the minor league Portland Beavers. Making 20 appearances, and going 2-6 for the Cubs with a 5.00 ERA. In December Kaiser would be involved in a trade with the Milwaukee Braves. The trade didn't change Kaiser's fate as he spent the next four seasons in the minors before retiring never playing in the majors after 1957.

Still alive Kaiser lives in his birth state of Oklahoma, and went into law enforcement for the following 30 years. If you would like to see a letter from Kaiser then please visit 'Baseball By The Letters' where in 2011 he showed a letter in response to an autograph request.

Superteam

The title of this post is kind of misleading. The cards I'm about to show are from two teams that at the time were anything but superteams. Well one wasn't a superteam, the other wasn't all that bad. I'll go out on a pretty stable limb, and say they still aren't that super. Our first winner is.

This is one of those cards I always forget I even have. The funny part is it's a card I keep thinking about trying to get for the Rockies collection. Maybe instead of putting it back in the hard case I'll finally add it to my general Rockies stuff binder. The card is another of those reminders that the collection still needs some work in getting organized. Something that I should do rather than just sitting here playing around at times.

I wasn't totally upset when I originally pulled this card.The Astros weren't really a bad looking team, and actually had a shot at making the playoffs. This would have meant the card was a winner. It wasn't meant to be though as the Astros finished 2nd in the division, and didn't make the playoffs.

Hope was strong for me cashing this card in when the season started. For those that know nothing about the superteams promotion here is how it worked. This was a promotion for the Stadium Club card sets, and was done in all the sports. Cards for every baseball team were inserted in packs with these being very hard pulls. If the team on your card won their division then you sent the card in, and got a set of team cards for the team with a special division champions logo on each card. If your team moved on, and became the National or American League Champions. You received another team set with the League Champions on each card. Things got very interesting in the World Series. If you were lucky enough to have a card for the World Series Champions you received a full set of Stadium Club for that year with World Series Champions on each card.

I remember these cards well, and that the prices for cards were insane at the time. Even being a new team to baseball the Rockies cards carried a decent price. The Atros were a strong team with a price that still leaves me wondering why I never sold the card when I got it. The cards that could have been added to my collection by selling this card still haunt me. I did have success with one Houston team in this promotion. The Rockets were the NBA Champions, and a card I had pulled buying basketball cards. Unfortunately due to a couple moves, and a divorce the full set of cards disappeared along the way. Odds are they'd still be sitting in their box someplace if I had them so no biggie.

The Grizz

When it comes to my collecting interests hockey comes in as the bottom of what I collect. That doesn't mean I don't have some items from the sport that I enjoy collecting. What it means is what I do collect is very limited. One of those is schedules from the Utah Grizzlies. Thanks to fellow schedule collector Alan these are the latest additions to the Grizzlies schedule collection.

The few hockey schedules I do collect all meet one strange requirement. I have to like the name, and logo the team uses. While there are many teams with cool logos and just as cool names. For some reason only a very small handful of teams speak to me. The Grizzlies hit on the logo thing, and go even farther in becoming one of those teams.

Growing up in Utah they have the added hometown region going for them as well. While the team didn't exist while I was living in Utah. I still collect schedules for all the team from the area. Some get more rooting than others, but I still root for them.

Playing in the West Division of the ECHL which is hockey's version of Double A. Currently affiliated with the Anaheim Ducks. The Grizzlies haven't had a great start to the 2013-2014 season. As of this writing the team is 3-5, and in 7th place. Since joining the league at the start of the 2005-2006 season the team has made the playoff every years except 2006-2007. Hopefully this means the team will regroup, and make the playoffs this season.

Adding 2013

One of my crazy quirks in life is that sometimes I like to collect the things not everyone is in too. On Saturday we added another of those when we stopped in at Kmart to check out the Christmas decorations. While there we came across something that we have been collecting for what currently stands at three years now.

The 2013 Kyle Busch Christmas ornament.

There is just something about Christmas that draws me into stopping at all the major chains to check out their Christmas Stuff. We are huge Christmas fans around here with the wife the biggest fan. This leads us into stores checking to see if there is something we need to add into the Christmas decorations around the house. More times than not we leave disappointed, adding nothing. Since 2011 though we have been finding one thing at Kmart, and it is the Kyle Busch race-car ornament.

The crazy thing is when we bought this ornament the intent was to put it on the tree with all the other ornaments. Like some people we have the black hole in the house where things seem to disappear. That area where things go, and aren't seen for a long period of time. In our house there are two of these spots, and the first ornament fell into spot number two. The first location is on the dining room table. with only three of us living here we use half the table so the other half has become a black hole. Things seem to pile up until the step-son comes for dinner, or we do a big house cleaning. 

Spot number two is what I believe to be a very common location, the ever popular computer desk. Sometimes it runs next to the desk, but we will count that as part of the desk. Bags will be brought in, and placed next to the desk only to be found by accident. This is the craziest as more times than not its just a lone bag sitting there until one day one of us decides to see what is with the bag sitting next to the computer desk. 

Falling into this hole it wasn't until after Christmas before it was discovered. Much too late for an appearance on the 2011 Christmas tree. Failing to make it on the tree it went into what was at the time a possible third black hole. The tricky catch-all-room, now referred to as the hobby room since my taking it over a year ago. Found while clearing the room for my take-over it has since made it onto a shelf with the Kyle Busch collection. Soon afterwards the 2012 version joined the shelf.

Purchasing the 2012 ornament meant this was the start of a collection. If you ask me one is just a curious buy. Two is starting a trend that odds are will continue, and in this case has continued. Now all that is left will be seeing how long these keep being made, and if I keep buying them or finding them.