Outer Space... Or Another Time, And World?

As people have started showing off their treasures from Tribecards Outer Space Giveaway from last season. I have been two weeks late in showing off the cards sent to me. With the fighting off of two colds, one of which I'm still fighting. Who could blame me for the slight delay right?

Despite all this I will trudge onward as it hit me today what the title for these fantastic cards should be. I got to looking at one of the cards, and my first thought was this card comes from another world not space.

That is unless outer space has cartoon cats that try to eat birds. Last time I checked the alien people all claimed that the aliens were little green people.

As for the another time. This mailer was loaded with all sorts of cards from another time.

Not convinced yet. Maybe Dave will help you out.

Still need a little more convincing huh? How about a couple cards of a Cardinal great that are fairly new, but have that classic look.

Not all the players I selected were retired.I had to get in a dose of my current favorite Mariners, and Rockies players.

Then if that wasn't enough I had to finish off my selection process at the time with royalty. Who better to represent that royalty more than The King.

The group I picked for the current pack-a-day fun has some similar names. Ackley, Smoak, Seager, Rosario, and Nicasio are all back. Some players were selected by other participants, and a couple I just plain forgot.

As others who showed their cards have said. When you get the e-mail mentioning this cardapalooza. A feeling you can't explain hits you, and you start forgetting some of the names of players you remembered all year that you were going to draft. Cracking under this type of pressure got me to realize something. I would never survive working for an MLB team. During draft day my mind would leave me, and I'd be a blundering idiot that would forget who I wanted.to select. In the end I'd end up with a team full of guys everyone in the room would be thinking what is that guy doing?

Thanks to Tribecards we all get that feeling, but without ruining a real MLB team.

Still Fighting The Cold

After thinking I had beaten the cold that kicked my butt for the last part of last week. I woke up on Tuesday feeling even more crappy than I had during the weekend. This new version has been even more brutal as this set came with a sore throat attached. Even more brutal was the way it made me feel physically.

I came home two days, and did nothing. No reading blogs, no writing, not even spending the time to catch up with e-mails.

All this came to a head today when I got the chance to leave work early, and took it. First thing on the agenda was to take a nap on the couch. From there it was off to get the two boxes of flooring to complete the daughter's bedroom. Still not completed, but atleast I have what I need the flooring. Starting to feel pretty good I was brought back to reality when we stopped for lunch. While eating it hit me that I needed to get back home, and take another nap.

Arriving at home I began my fall into Neverland. As I was near full sleep I could hear the mailman drive past. Eventually waking up I rushed to the mailbox as the wife has been waiting for some important mail, and I've been waiting for these.

Coming in a trade from fellow schedule collector Kevin that was made during my one day of being cold free. The Saltdogs usually only put out one known cover per season. Having two, and being able to knock them both off at once was a great deal.

Included in the deal were these two Omaha StormChasers schedules. The pitcher cover was the first cover for this season. The hitter version is the third cover for this year. Much like with the Saltdogs schedules, Omaha usually puts out less covers than have already been released. The StormChasers are one of my favorite teams I collect schedules from so getting these was the biggest part of the trade. Luckily Kevin lives in Omaha so if the team releases more covers everyone will know. 

Now if I can just beat this cold, and get back to some normality.

Military Baseball

Doing a few things around the house, and enjoying the three day weekend with the family I wasn't going to do a post today. Then while sitting here it hit me, an idea to talk about the failed venture of the American Defenders of New Hampshire came to mind.

At the end of 2008 the Nashua Pride in the Can-Am league were purchased by American Defenders of New Hampshire, LLC. This groups first move was to change the team name over to American Defenders of New Hampshire. The idea was this new name would draw the fan base from the entire United States instead of just the Nashua region. Helping to keep with the theme the team was comprised of either ex-military or current military personnel. Ownership had players in mind from day one as they already had a tour of military all-stars that played across the country.

Things didn't go well for the team as their ideas of patriotism were not well received. The teams mascot a soldier in fatigues, and war paint with the name of 'Ground Zero', and the number 9-11 was just one of many failed ideas. Another idea of stopping all home games at exactly 9:11 to play 'God Bless The USA' no matter what the game situation was. This idea was crushed fast by league officials. Drawing crowd less than 100 on the average. Things didn't look good for the team, and its future.

By mid-season the team was dumping payroll by trading, or releasing the highest paid players. The GM was replaced with one of the investors to save money as well. In August the city of Nashua evicted the team from their home stadium. Claiming the team owed the city $45,000 in rent, and taxes. A tractor was parked on home plate at the time to guarantee the field couldn't be used.

It's a shame the idea of an all military personnel team didn't work. With everything these great people have done for our country. A team they could play baseball for, and get paid is awesome. Maybe one day it will be attempted again, but without going too overboard.

The Sweep

On Saturday the plan was to try, and finally complete the daughter's bedroom. Sad to say we need to make another stop to the store for two more boxes of wood flooring. What that means is the room still needs work, and will hopefully be finished today. From there we will start getting her moved into the room, and be prepared to start working on my future hobby room in the near future.

Enough about that though, and to the reason for the post title. While heading out to get the new flooring we made a stop at our closest Goodwill. Roaming through the aisles nothing of much interest hit me until getting to the glasses aisle. On the bottom shelf was this goodie.

It's a plastic jar that I would assume had some sort of drink in it you bought while at the race. Normally I would have left this jar there as it doesn't look like much. The reason I did pick it up though was while killing time for a few seconds. I stopped, and did a quick internet search to see who won that very race. That is when I had staring back at me the fact our favorite driver Kyle Busch won. Thinking it would be cool to have something related to a race that Kyle won I thought for 99 cents why not get it.

Heading out to the car, and eager to show off to the wife my new found item. She looked it over, and having a better memory than me dropped a tidbit on me. That was the results of racing for that weekend.

Starting the week off on Wednesday night by winning the Camping World Truck Series race. Kyle set his sights on the Friday night Nationwide Series race. Winning the race, but not without controversy as Kyle later admitted to wrecking Brad Keselowski late in the race. Kyle added salt to the wound by mockingly rubbing his eyes like a crying baby.

Looking for history in the Sprint Cup Series race on Saturday night. Kyle avoided any altercations with Keselowski as the two barely ever crossed paths. When the night was done Kyle crossed the finish line first, and became the first driver ever to pull the NASCAR sweep.

Getting this thing had the wife talking last night about possibly adding another big item from that weekend eventually. That is if we can still find one, and then afford what it will cost. Back in 2010 they did a special Bristol sweep 1/24 set with all three vehicles. The display case runs over a hundred dollars so the cards themselves have to be much more. Odds are that is a pipe dream, but even if those never make it into the collection atleast I have this momento from the week.

A Pedro Quickie

While I am still fighting this cold I had to show off my latest addition. On Saturday we made a quick stop into the Goodwill after getting haircuts. Roaming through I came across this treasure hiding on a shelf behind a bunch of other blue items.

This is a picture from an internet search as mine is still tucked away in the original box. Not a bad find that has me believing my mojo at the thrift stores is back, and in full swing.

Wish I could give a better effort on the post, but this cold is kicking my butt. I'm starting to feel a tiny bit better. Hopefully this signals me being on the downside of this thing, and back to regular posting soon.

Colds Suck!

Colds suck, but this batch of stuff from my friend at work doesn't.

I am constantly writing about a co-worker that has a sister in Colorado Springs. The greatest thing about this is the Rockies triple A team the Sky Sox are in Colorado Springs. Due to these two coincidences I asked him a few years ago if he could talk her into sending a few pocket schedules my direction. While it has been a sow process she is coming around.

The first year she sent three magnet schedules with the plan being one for him, one for their father, and one for me. None of them wanted the magnets so he gave all three to me for my collection. I wasn't about to complain as she tried, but she missed the pocket schedule. Year two or better yet last season. She sent three pocket schedules with the same idea on who to give them to. Each year my friend has went to visit his sister, and brought me back a Rockies shirt. Last year he picked up a Sky Sox fitted hat that I wear quite often. I'm thinking this pick up stayed with her as on Friday he dropped what is by far the best batch of stuff on me.

When he handed me these two bad boys I was thrilled. She finally got it by giving me both a magnet, and a schedule. She wasn't done with the magnet, and pocket schedule though. My friend reached back in, and handed me this.

 (sorry, but it's a scan. Didn't want to take a picture as it would take too much time, and well COLD'S SUCK!)

While I have never been a fan of the rally towel. This beauty will be finding a cool spot in the new hobby room if I ever get it finished. Currently I'm thinking about possibly framing it, but who knows. What I can say is its amazing how an item related to your favorite team can change your attitude on something.

Now I guess it's back to the couch with the dog. As I said in the title, Colds Suck! 

Going Waaaay Back

Just a couple days ago. I say a couple being I've been so forgetful lately, and can't remember which day it was. Ron who hails from the Yahoo online trading group TradingBases dropped his half of a trade on me.

The trade born from a request to the group for the last few remaining cards to complete his 2013 Topps flagship set. Looking though my few doubles I found two of the cards, and let him know to expect them. Ron answered back with I have a bunch of stuff for you so drop a bunch of Red Sox in a mailer, and we will call it good. What came was 38 cards I won't bore you with showing all of. What I will do is toss us all into the waaaay back machine, and show off a few of this great group.

Hold on tight this is going to be a long trip all the way back to 2013! Got there so fast it almost seems like it was just last year. Kind of amazed that with such a long journey the machine held up as well as it did. While we are here why not show off a few of the goodies sent by Mr. Ron, and see how these stars have faired since these cards first appeared.

After 2013 Soriano went back to the team he made his major league debut with, the New York Yankees. Soriano hasn't been doing to bad for himself as he's played in 38 games with a .248 batting average, 5 home runs, and 16 runs batted in. The bad news is Soriano missed out on this great moment when he left the team.

Such a shame he didn't stick around, and be part of the celebration. I'm not sure there will ever be a celebration that equals the one held that entire month when the Cubs won the series.

Next was another player who changed teams for the start of 2014. Fernando Rodney joined the Seattle Mariners. While neither the team he left or the one he joined won the series. Rodney will always be best known for this event which happened July 3rd 2014 against the Chicago White Sox. After getting another save Rodney squared up, and the rest as they say is history.

With no fireworks display scheduled for the night it still remains one of those great mysteries on how Rodney did this amazing feat. Sox fans showing up on the 4th were told that there would be no display that night as nothing could compare to the show from the previous night.

I could go on for days showing off these cards, and sharing what happened to each player. The problem is there were 38 stories to tell, and we need to be getting back. I've seen how these things end if you spend to much time in the past. Someone steals your time machine, and you spend an hour fighting to get back to your own time. That won't happen to us so lets get going.

That was great, but I'm glad to be home. Hopefully you all enjoyed the trip, maybe we can do it again sometime.

The Police Stop Me

After doing the breakfast thing on Saturday I had some plans for the remainder of the day running through the mind. These plans included the usual stop at the antique store just a few blocks from the beach house. From there I wanted to try something new, and hit some antique stores I've never been to in another town.

As we arrived back at the house those plans changed in a hurry. The wife picked up a coast events paper while at breakfast. Reading through the paper she noticed Waldport was having their town wide garage sale that same day. Not one to turn down a chance to hit garage sales, especially ones that only happen once a year. I was hooked, and making my way southbound.

Rather than waste a bunch of time I will sum the whole thing up by saying I didn't buy one single item. Honestly I didn't see anyone buy anything at any of the sales. I summed things up with the wife when I told her "It was nothing, but overpriced junk". Not willing to give up I headed straight for the antique mall.

Starting my search things didn't look good until I hit the lower level. That is when I found two items that will appear in other blogs when I get off my butt, and mail them out. Excited from the find I started searching harder than before. The new found excitement hit an even higher level as I spotted this tucked in a corner.

I had almost missed it as the thing blended in with all the other uninteresting stuff. My thrill level went through the roof as the sticker had $4.00 written on it, SOLD!! There are 26 different cards each rubber-banded by individual cards. Here is my take from the booty.

After doing an ebay search I learned the cards are from the 1994 police set. Taking out a set for myself I have one more complete set if anyone would like it. Not all the cards are in perfect condition though so keep that in mind.

I have quite a few of all the other cards so if there is a player you want, or would like a partial set let me know.

And With The Number One Overall Pick...

With last week being the NFL draft, and these treasures being related to football. I had to go with the post title above as it just made sense.

After a great haul on Friday things were only getting started. Heading over to the coast as the wife wanted to spend her weekend at the beach house. Who was I to argue a weekend away from home? With the plan being made earlier in the week we made our way over to start the fun.

Saturday morning we decided to make our way out for breakfast. Heading to Pig-n-Pancakes as it has become a sort of ritual on coast visits. I really love their chicken fried steak skillet, and order it every time we go. I'll even admit that I never look at the menu as it's what I want.

Walking in I noticed a string of quarter machines with one catching my attention more than any of the others. Inside were some round looking heads with what looked to be football helmets on them. Intrigued I saw two behind the counter, and thought I had to get some before leaving.

Inside the machine they are just a round head which you take apart. From there you find the body which pops into a hole that connects it to the head. It's a cool concept that had me confused until we started buying them.

Finishing breakfast I headed to the counter as we exited to get some quarters for the machine. Heading over I dropped the first three quarters in, and got...

How crazy is that? The very first guy out of the machine happens to be the team that had the first pick of this years draft.

Not fazed as I turned three dollars into quarters I went for the second pick.

Not a bad figure, but not the one I have been hoping for. Guess I'll have to keep going.

If it's anything I'm not it is a 49ers fan. No complaining though as the red color was a nice mix from the darker colors I had just gotten.

This left me down to my last three quarters, and one more shot at a Denver Broncos figure.

After the big loss to the Seahawks in the Super Bowl this year. Getting this figure really hurt more than any of the others. I have a co-worker though that is a huge Seahawks fan, and often picks me up Rockies or Broncos stuff when he visits his sister in Colorado. He even has a trip at the end of the month so maybe dropping this on him will butter him up some.

Not being the biggest football fan I still like these for some strange reason. The remaining three will look good on the football shelf I have going on in the current room. Who knows if the shelf will turn into a second with the addition of these, and possibly more of the college bobbleheads this fall. We have another week long trip to the beach house planned this summer. If we do the breakfast thing I might have to add another four into the collection.

My Luck Is Changing

If you have been keeping up with things going on around here lately you know my luck at Goodwill has been non-existent. This all changed on Friday as I did a half day at work due to some other things I had to do. Mentioning to the wife that my Goodwill trips have been less frequent, and that my luck has been even worse. I let her know the plan included me stopping in to see if I could turn around the bad luck.

Heading in I wasn't real sure of how things would go, but I was still excited about the possibilities. Doing my usual route which goes through toys followed by sports. I rounded the corner, and went deep into the sports section to come up with this gem.

I've been trying to cut back on buying advertising baseballs, but I couldn't turn this ball down. Being a Rockies fan I couldn't resist adding this ball into the collection.

Rounding the corner, and into the aisle that always has binders I came across these two.

While I don't have a clue on what these will be holding one day. I do like to color code the binders I use in my various collections. Keeping things in the same colored binders narrows things down fast. From there each binder has a paper with what is inside. Using this system I can find anything I'm looking for in a matter of seconds. One of these days when the new hobby room is done I'll show off how the system works.

Finding two binders of the same color was a jackpot that I couldn't turn away. I've never seen this sight before other than with white binders. Even if they don't have a set use right now I know they will at some point.

Rounding out this fantastic trip was a find that I already have plans for.

Currently it doesn't have a picture in it, but that will change later this year. We currently have plans for a Disneyland trip this winter. During this time frame Haunted Mansion get s Nightmare Before Christmas overlay. The movie is one of those things I enjoy, and has made me want to see this overlay. Seeing this frame got me thinking about how cool a picture of us related to the overlay would look in this frame.

Overall it was an awesome trip, and reminded me of why I keep going on these treasure hunts. You never know when items like these will show up.

Paula "The Pink Panther" Creamer

With today being Mother's Day I am breaking out a post that I've had in the thought pool for awhile.

Being called The Prowling Cat, I started a series in the past of ball players with cat nicknames. The first three have all been baseball players, and were fun to learn about. Those three have nothing on today's addition into the club.

(Paula "The Pink Panther" Creamer)

Not only beautiful, but deadly when it comes to her golf game she is always a force to be reckoned with. As an amateur Paula started strong by winning numerous junior titles. Those included 11 American Junior Golf Association tournaments.

 

 Moving into the LPGA in 2005 she won the Sybase Classic to become the second youngest LPGA winner ever. The year continued to get better still as Paula was named LPGA Rookie of the Year.

Showing 2005 wasn't a fluke Paula has continued to win 12 more events. The win count includes two wins in the Japan tour, and 10 addition wins in LPGA events. One of those wins came just this year as Paula won the HSBC Women's Champions Tournament in Singapore.

 

Given her nickname by Casey Wittenberg due to her fondness for wearing the color pink. Paula has embraced the name, and has numerous golf accessories all colored pink. During the years of 2006 through 2009 she would even use a pink golf ball in the final round of tournaments. 

We're #1

Going to keep tonight's post fairly short, and to the point.

The latest ranking for college baseball came out, and the Oregon State Beavers are the new #1 ranked team.

When it comes to football, and basketball I am a full on fan of both Cincinnati, and Utah. During those two seasons the Beavers don't exist in my world. In baseball though I have become a fan of the Beavers, and watch games whenever possible on television. Unable to figure out why I'll just go with the wife's influenced my college baseball cheering.

What can I say, I'm a complex person that sometimes can't figure himself out. Either way I'd like to say congratulations to the Oregon State Beavers baseball team for becoming number one.

An Artelope With Bite

So it has happened once again. Actually two things have happened once again, and here it is. The first is another artelope post that keeps the run going of return posts about these. The second thing that has happened once again is I have gotten all my returns, and have absolutely nothing out there.

More than anything this means unless I do something today or Monday my mailbox might start to get lonely when it comes to baseball related things coming in. While I do have a trade that should appear in the next week. Nothing else remains, and I am going to need to fix this, and soon. Nothing sucks worse than heading to the mailbox realizing that 95% of it is going to be junk. I'd give a higher rate except we are waiting for some very important stuff related to the wife's wreck.

With all this mailbox loneliness about to happen here it is in all its glory. The final artelope for atleast a week or possibly two weeks.

The Timber Rattlers are one of those teams I write because for some weird reason I just like the team name. Their logo helps as it's not a bad design either. I chose not to use the logo, and try something different, and honestly easier.

Sometimes I think I should limit my amount that I do in any given day or possibly two days is three or four. To give you an idea the last seven were done in the same day. This can lead to a huge discrepancy in some of the ideas, and artwork on these. There are times I seem to just throw a few together to create some incoming mail. Stretching the amount out by only doing a smaller amount every two or three days might be something I should try. Who knows, maybe it would help with the ideas, and keep my drawing getting better. Doing a bunch all at once then nothing until they all return doesn't improve either.

I do have an idea for a request going out to one of the NASCAR tracks. Look for it to appear in the next couple weeks as I would like to try, and get it done today. My only hold up will be that I am trying to work on the daughter's bedroom starting today. The plan there is to get the ceiling, and closet painted today. Then later this week the remaining walls followed by a new floor.

Like A Virgin

Since starting this blog, and getting back into card collecting I have done a few things that haven't been done for awhile by myself. The list of things being going into a baseball card shop. Before getting back into cards I had gone a few years earlier, but was lost. I had no idea on anything as the experience had changed since my last visit in the early 90's. Another was going to the monthly card shows they hold up in the Portland area. An event that I have enjoyed doing three or four times last year, and twice this year.

Now I can add another to the list of things I haven't done in awhile. On Sunday while sitting around playing on the internet I decided to see if there were any cool Wilin Rosario cards on the bay, and I saw this little beauty.

From the second I saw it I had to have it.There was just one major roadblock between me, and this new card. That block was the fact I haven't bid on ebay for a few years. During that time ebay has gone through a few major changes, and I wasn't very knowledgeable on those changes. My last purchases were when I was just starting the pocket schedule collection, and buying some hard to find stuff. Since those days paypal has basically become the only form of payment. If you can still do checks or some other payment option I haven't seen it yet.

Lucky for me the wife bought something just over one year ago, and had set up a paypal account. With that out of the way I was able to make a bid, and win that card.

All this is what led to the title of this post. Going through the whole thing I felt like an ebay virgin all over again. Now I'll have to watch out so I don't end up being easy, and buying stuff all over the place.

Keeping The Trend Going

It seems like for the past month I have done 75 percent artelope posts, and 25 percent other stuff. Hopefully this month I can start to turn that trend around. While showing off the artelopes, and the returns is fun, so is showing off baseball cards. Keeping that in mind today the trend won't be changing as I am showing off the latest artelope, and return.

Today's winner is the York Revolution from the independent Atlantic League. The Revolution have been very good to me since day one. This treatment, and the fact that I enjoy the logo's used by the team makes them a top request. The big question is will this be the only request I send to the team or will there be a later request? Each year York puts out two covers, and I always get both. Whether I'll be able to trade for the second when it comes out or be forced to write the team again is the question.

Checking out the schedule I do know one thing. If I do end up writing the team again later this season. That claw around the Y logo will be what I use as the drawing.

The Revolution seem to be one of those teams that is constantly changing their business cards. With sweet looking cards like this design I'm not going to complain.

What this return does mean is I now only have one remaining return. The request is for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers who take some time to get returns from. I guess this means that this weekend I'll have to get more ideas flowing, and requests sent out. Until then its time to rack the brain for baseball card related posts.