Sunday, December 28, 2014

I Need To Be Like These Cards.... Faster!

One week ago to this very day. I did a first post for a jumbo sized box of cards sent my direction by the great John, and his spot from Johnny's Trading Spot. Contained within were five of the seven missing cards from the 1993 Milk Bone set. Closing out said post I promised to do a second post for the box, and more of the treasures within. Sadly it dropped to the wayside as I just didn't have it in me to write the planned post on Monday morning. It might have been the errands we ran that day, or the fact that Christmas was close. A day that honestly we were still preparing for the night before.

Yes, I got the Christmas lights up the weekend after Thanksgiving. No, the presents didn't get wrapped until Christmas Eve. I won't get too much into why, but one reason is inside of the house wasn't decorated like usual. We took the shelves out of the living room when I was doing the since put on hold painting project. Hopefully everything will fall in place in 2015, and I can wrap the entire project up.

Enough excuses, lets get back to the real reason for this post. Thanking John for the big box of cards he sent my direction.

As you already know not just by my early ramblings, but if you saw the first post. John couldn't just stop with the five cards he mentioned sending here. John showed that he has been coming around here, and often. Inside were not only NASCAR cards, but cards of my second favorite NASCAR driver/owner.


He might not be one of the best drivers in the sport all time. What he does have is a passion that shines through, and he makes me laugh at some of the things he says. If there is anyone in the sport that pushes his sponsors more than Waltrip I'd  dare you to find them.


Any time you find one of the cars from his team in victory lane you know tons of thank you's are coming. It doesn't even matter if said sponsor is on the winning car they will get a mention.


More than anything I enjoy the work he does calling races. Most of his work comes in the truck series where he does a fantastic job. I'd love to see him do Sprint Cup, but that would probably mean his race team is gone. So, hopefully truck races is all he will ever be doing. Losing such a passionate owner would be a huge loss to NASCAR.

While it has been great writing about Waltrip. More than anything I want to thank John for these awesome cards, and the ones I didn't show. Not only did John send  the eleven cards shown in this post. He sent a decent amount that aren't getting the picture time that these did. When all is said, and done I now have a pretty good sized Michael Waltrip collection thanks to this haul.

I need to say thank you for all the other NASCAR cards that are only getting their mention right now. All the baseball cards that were thrown in as filler as well. I'm honored that you thought of me when you sent out the series of Christmas packages that you sent out.

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Merry Christmas And


Got this at the state fair a few years back. The Portland Winterhawks were clearing out some of their old things, and these were there. Thought it looked cool, and so I picked one up. Adding to all the fun is the ornament inside.

Monday, December 22, 2014

Swimming With The Sharks

On Sunday's post I mentioned that today would be the continuation of the box from John at Johnny's Trading Spot. Sadly I lied as things got a little too busy today for me to finish things up with the box. I'd like to say that I'll do better on Tuesday, but that would be a lie. We have some family Christmas stuff going on so I might not even post Tuesday. What I can do is promise to attempt a Christmas Eve post that finishes the box. Until then you get to see my latest return from the big artelope project.


The idea was a shark ready to eat you for the artwork. Personally I think it turned out decent, but I had hoped for a little better in my mind. I have no complaints as the return was more than I could have expected.


Getting these two big cards was pretty cool. If I had to list the thing I like most about hockey it would be the goalies in their gear. Having one of the cards being just that was cool.


One magnet, and two stickers were also included. These had to be my favorite part of the entire return sent by the Sharks. The shark on the left is a magnet, and will end up in the hobby room displayed in some fashion. I'd like to do something with the stickers, but no guarantees on those.


Closing things out was the pocket schedule which was part of the request. Unfortunately the one thing I wanted most was a business card, and one was not included. What did come is the #48 schedule which is one of the nine different covers put out by the Sharks this year.

Sunday, December 21, 2014

The Spot Goes To The Dogs

Recently I did three posts with the idea of completing a set or two. In the end no sets were completed, but thanks to John from Johnny's Trading Spot I'm close to crossing one off the list.


Not just any set, but to me it is THE set. Out of all the sets I'm building this might possibly be the one set I'd like to complete the most.


 1993 Milk Bone Superstars
If there was one set off the list that I'd appreciate getting cards from the most it would have been this set. Not only that, but getting one card would have made my day. John went further though, and dropped five of the seven missing cards on this old cat.


Now thanks to the help of John, and his spot. One day this set might actually make its way off the wantlist. Until then it will make appearances like it has every so often.

While getting these five cards was an incredible package from John. He wasn't done hitting me up with cool cards, and other items. Inside with the Milk Bone cards was a pile of these

Stamps, or stickers, I can't tell you what these are. What I do know is included was some yellow ones that mention being able to purchase the poster for one dollar. Hopefully either John, or someone else out there will let me off the hook on what these are.


The logo collector in me enjoys these the most out of the batch. Nothing is cooler than some of the retro logo's you get to see in these type of things.

John wasn't done there though. All these came in a huge box that was loaded with cards. So many cards that on Monday I will show more of what John, and his spot sent my direction.

Saturday, December 20, 2014

I'm So Done!

For what has to be over a month I have been getting all three of my collections organized. The baseball cards have been done for months. The business cards got a long needed updating, and were the second project to bite the dust.


Then came the much harder, and more time consuming schedules project. This project was anchored by the ever so tough updating of the traders. Being this was a total reset due to the big schedule trade a few months ago. I dreamed up the idea of putting everything in its place before starting the project. In the end it was a wise decision that honestly made things tons easier.


Best of all is after hours, and hours of going through things. I can now say, "I am so done!" If I have a schedule to offer in trade or have a schedule that I need. It is on the list, and available for viewing. Best of all is now hopefully I can get focused again on doing some writing around here.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

The Lost Files- A Little Hockey

With the amount of artelopes that have disappeared in the last couple months. I'm starting to wonder if someone out there has a collection of my artwork going.

Not long ago I had given up on requests to two bowl games, and the Philadelphia Eagles. Now I'm here once again giving up on two requests. These two have left me scratching my head as these two have been real good to me in past years.


Growing up in Utah, I collect schedules from most of the teams in the area. The exceptions are Utah State, BYU, Weber State and the Utah Jazz. The Utah Utes were my favorites growing up, and so I've never been fond of the other three. As for the Jazz, I will say I'm not big on the NBA, and if I was they would be the team in the collection.

Trying to come up with an idea that represented the team, and was fairly simple. I came up with the idea of doing the bear claw that you see above.


Despite not being a fan of bees, wasps, or yellow jackets. There are teams in all the sports that use these as their team name. I seem to be attracted to collecting schedules from these teams for some strange, and unknown reason. I don't collect the ones from colleges, but when it comes to either minor league or major league teams. I seem to find myself collecting these teams more often than not.

Recently I sent out four new requests, and have more being prepared to head out. Hopefully my luck will turn around, and these will find their way home.

Monday, December 15, 2014

How My Freak Flag Flies... It's My Business

Our resident Junior Junkie is having a contest. Not just any contest, a contest that allows you to showcase your nerdiness. As part of five posts showing off his own personal nerd items over a week. Junkie ended the week with this post, and his contest 'Nerdstuff, and a Very Nerdy Giveaway.'

While T.J. wants to know what that one item is that classifies as your nerd item. For me this is a bit more difficult as that item is actually a collection.

It's a known fact by anyone that stops in here on a semi-regular basis that I collect sports team business cards. What isn't as well known is the business card collection of non-sports related businesses.

Starting to collect business cards when I was eleven by a friend. It took many more years before I was serious enough to not just be picking them up, but having a collecting focus. Over the years some of the businesses have changed, but a few have remained.


The Red Robin cards might be my favorite of the non-sports related. The fronts might seem seem fairly simple, and have you wondering what makes these card so cool then cat?


This cool looking design you get when putting them together is the reason. What doesn't hurt is that we love going to Red Robin every so often.

In what might be the most interesting thing about getting most these cards. Usually when they bring the check I ask for a card, and it comes with a visit by the manager. Explaining to them that I collect the cards, and that they form a picture is quite interesting. Three different responses have followed. First, and the most common are the guys who never looked at the back to see the puzzle piece. Second is the ones who saw the piece, but never put together that it forms a picture. The third, and my all time favorite was from the manager in Albany. He put it together when his cards came in, and went nuts going through all his cards, and any others he could find. Told me in the end it was alot of hard work, but he pulled it off.


Another of my favorites is the KOA or Kampgrounds of America collection. Acquiring most of these has been a process that resembles the sports teams. At one time I was sending out SASE's in hopes of getting cards in return. It has been a few years since sending out any requests so no new ones have been added for awhile.


Rainforest might be my smallest category, but my favorite. With only last I knew 23 locations in the franchise. Currently I have three cards, and have missed out on two others due to either forgetting to stop by when we were in Las Vegas, or the one in Downtown Disney, California not having one at the time. I should have tried again when we were just there in November, but alas I didn't

I could go on for a day or two on the businesses I gather cards from. Instead I will close with a short list of some of the favorites.

Jamba Juice
Best Western
Buffalo Wild Wings
Amusement parks, and water parks

Thanks T.J. for motivating not just myself, but others to throw out nerdiness out there. If you would like to learn more about T.J.'s contest follow the link to The Junior Junkie, and let loose.

Sunday, December 14, 2014

You Complete Me- The Crazies

Today we go to the sets type of sets we all have on our wants. Those sets that you figure will never get completed, or people look at and think what the? These are the sets that you look at, and think how could he not have a complete set of those. A few of these fit into the category of  what the heck is that set? In honor of these either tough or easy sets I'm doing my third, and last 'You Complete Me'.

1992 Pinnacle Team 2000
16- Dave Hollins
24- Bernie Williams
79- Reggie Jefferson

This is one of those sets that I started due to my love of prospects. All the players in this subset were expected to be stars by the year 2000. Even though all the players were in the MLB it still felt like a set I wanted for the prospects.

2014 has been a great year in adding to this set, and getting close to completion. Hopefully throwing this set out there in this post it will join the list of completed subsets.

1993 Milk Bone Superstars
1- Paul Molitor
2- Tom Glavine
4- Mark McGwire
14- Ben McDonald
18- Joe Girardi
19- Brady Anderson
20- Craig Biggio

When this set came out I actually owned a dog, and bought these treats for her. The fact that there was a card contained within the box was an added bonus. In something that will seem crazy, I'm actually more of a dog lover than cat lover. While I love the big cats like tigers, panthers, and mountain lions, give me a dog any day over a simple house cat. The dogs are the real reason I love these cards, and have been committed to completing this set one day.

On one of those crazy side notes about this set. During my time away from cards I came across a box of a few hundred of these at Goodwill, and passed on it. That box will now forever haunt me until the day this set is completed. Despite adding six cards this year from a trade I'm still looking for those final seven cards.

2000 Twizzlers
1~2~3~4~6~8~9~10~11~12

These cards came in packages of Twizzlers licorice in 2000. This was during the time frame that my baseball cards laid dormant, and explains why I only have two cards from the set. With how much I like Twizzlers it is kind of surprising that I didn't somehow buy more, and end up with atleast half a set.

2002 Twizzlers 
1~2~4~5~6~7~8~10

This set was a little more exciting than the first set in 2000. Twizzlers went from a set of baseball players to stars from various sports. The set covered baseball, basketball, football, soccer, and NASCAR superstars in ten cards. As with the 2000 set I can't tell you why I don't have more than the two that I currently have. Hopefully that will change one day as I'd love to complete both sets eventually.

Thank you for checking out not just the four sets from today, but the previous sets that I put out there in hopes of completing. These are just a few of the sets, and subsets that I'm trying to finish.

Even if you couldn't help with any of these there are a ton more that I'd love to take any help you can offer with. Who knows, maybe this will lead to a new trade partner for both of us with future cards.

Saturday, December 13, 2014

You Complete Me- 2013 Topps Opening Day

After not having any luck with the 2011 cards. I thought why not go to something much closer to current day. Using that thinking I came up with the various subsets from 2013 Opening Day.

Since getting back into baseball cards this was the first set that I decided to fully tackle. While I built the 2013 Topps sets, and completed them. I passed on all the subsets that were within the set. With Opening Day though I thought what the heck, and went for it. So help this cat out, and look through your extras for some of these cards. I know these are still fresh in the traders box as it was only a year ago that these came out.

Opening Day Stars
ODS4- Buster Posey
ODS18- Cole Hamels
ODS21- Joey Votto
ODS25- Yadier Molina

Ballpark Fun-
BF5- Matt Kemp
BF13- Albert Pujols
BF14- Jayson Werth
BF15- Derek Jeter
BF18- Darwin Barney
BF19- Brandon Phillips
BF20- Alfonso Soriano
BF24- Hanley Ramirez

Superstar Celebrations
SC4- Joey Votto
SC10- Joe Mauer
SC13- Cory Hart
SC16- Mike Olt
SC22-Miguel Cabrera

Play Hard
 PH2- Bryce Harper
PH10- Miguel Cabrera
PH13- Albert Pujols
PH14- David Wright
PH15- Andrew McCutchen
PH19- Prince Fielder
PH23- Hanley Ramirez

Mascots
M2
M3
M4
M5
M6
M21
M22
M23
M24
M25

So go through your traders, and look for these cards. Anything you can find I'd love to have.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

You Complete Me- 2011 Topps Opening Day

As I've posted about a couple times recently. Doing the Christmas lights on the house got me in a mood to get some things done. While this hasn't been very helpful when it comes to blogging as the mind went south. It has been helpful in other areas of my life, and that includes collecting.

Due to all this the collector in me remembered that at the first of the year I set some goals for the blog. While some of those have been long completed. Others have fallen to the wayside, and odds are won't be completed. All this will be covered at the end of the year when I do my review of goals.

One thing that can go wither way is the completing sets. Thinking I might be able to either come closer, or atleast go down fighting. I have come up with the idea of posting some of my closer to being finished stuff. Hopefully posting them here will get them some views they wouldn't normally get, and in the end yield some sort of results. If you have just one card, and are willing to part with it let me know.

Spot the Error
Missing Card SE10 - (Derek Jeter)

This is one of those subsets that when I started seemed like it would be an easy one to knock off. Sometimes things don't go as planned, and here it sits still missing that one lone card. To be this close after a find this summer of a few cards for the subset has me excited. Being able to cross these off the wantlists would be a great way to finish 2014.

Stadium Lights
Missing Cards-
UL1- (Joe Mauer) 
UL5- (Matt Holliday)
 UL8- (Adrian Gonzalez)
UL9- (Felix Hernandez)
UL10- (Ryan Braun)
When I got back into collecting these cards caught my attention. I'm not going to say the kid in me wanted them, but odds are it contributed. Adding missing cards has been tough going, but I know someone out there has atleast one of these someplace taking up valuable space in their traders. So how about we clear that space, and add them into a collection where they are wanted?

Mascots
Missing Cards-
M3 ~ M6 ~ M8 ~ M15 ~ M17 ~ M18 ~ M20 ~ M25 
Out of all my mascot subsets this is the one closest to completion. I know these are toughies as quite a few people are like myself, and collect these cards. Sometimes it might just be their favorite teams mascot, and other times they are like me, and build the entire set. Hopefully with some luck I can finally cross something off this list.

Some Stuff From The Duff

Out of the blue the great Duff from the blog Bleedin Brown and Gold dropped a PWE on the cat. Contained within were two goodies, and an interesting note of information.


Being Duff lives in Iowa it wouldn't surprise me to find that he went, and watched a few games for the Chops.Throw in the interesting tidbit that Duff wrote about this schedule, and I'd bet he was atleast a fan of the team.

The Chops were an affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks. Not paying their bills to the Ducks, Anaheim pulled their affiliation from the team. Without an affiliate the league had no choice, but drop the team.


The Menace aren't as interesting of a story as the Chops. That would explain why Duff didn't add the cool story like he did with the Chops. So I had to do some research myself.

Founded in 1994, and playing in the United States Premier Development League. The Menace still play today, and according to Wikipedia list the following titles.
  • USL PDL Regular Season Champions 2014
  • USL PDL Heartland Division Champions 2014
  • USL PDL Organization of the Year 2009
  • USL PDL Heartland Division Champions 2009
  • USL PDL Champions 2005
  • USL PDL Central Conference Champions 2005
  • USL PDL Regular Season Champions 2002
  • USL PDL Heartland Division Champions 2002
Thank you for the goodies Duff they are much appreciated.

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Too Focused, and Not Focused At The Same Time

When it comes to doing things at times I seem to get too focused on one thing. During these times I will sometimes ignore other things. That exact thing has been happening with this blog lately.

With four posts in the idea stages, but two having to wait until the end of the year. I have kind of gone into a blank state of affairs in my mind. This blankness would explain why most of the posts lately have been related to either Mariners roster moves or the Kyle Busch update. While I enjoy doing those posts, and will do another once the Mariners make another huge roster move. This blank mind explains why there haven't been anything slightly exciting between these.

The main reason for all this is has been my other focus. That focus being other things going on around the house. Three things make up the work going on, but one has been taking up the majority of time. First is the decorating of the house in Christmas lights last weekend. This should be completed with the decorating of the tree that will be happening once this post is finished. Second is I need to complete the project of getting our pictures from vacation in November completed. Neither of the first two is tough, I just seem to be doing them in small spurts.

Third, and the one that has been getting all the attention is the big schedules organization.


As I've put in a couple posts, and probably starting to get old. I have been going through all my schedules, and getting them organized. Everything has been done except the final row of traders. This row is all my hockey, lacrosse, and soccer traders. The stuff I picked up the most of on the big schedule trade earlier this fall. So getting this done will take up some time as I can't just carry stuff over from the old site. I need to do the explanation of each schedule.

What I can say is please bear with me, and hopefully once all this is done soon. I can get the mind back to writing some baseball card stuff like we all enjoy reading on these blogs.

Thursday, December 4, 2014

All The Kyle Busch News



Today Joe Gibbs Racing announced the new crew chief line ups for the 2015 season for its highest level drivers. Leaving Kyle Busch, and moving over to Denny Hamlin is Dave Rogers. Denny's crew chief Darian Grubb moved from Denny over to new team member Carl Edwards. With Edwards joining the team for 2015, and raising the team from three driver to four. JGR had to either promote someone, or sign a new another crew chief.

Going with the choice of promotion, and a chief that Kyle was very familiar with. Gibbs decided that Kyle should team with the promoted crew chief. Adam Stevens who has been crew chief for Kyle when racing in the old Nationwide, and newly renamed Xfinity Series is the man.

Hopefully this new or can it be called current relationship will net some great results. Kyle has won numerous races in the Nationwide Series with Stevens at the helm. If the two can carry those results over it should be an amazing 2015 for Kyle in the M&M's car.

Another much more fun tidbit that was released on Wednesday. Kyle will be getting a new paint scheme for 2015 that promotes M&M Crispy.


The scheme had an early showing in a commercial last month.On Wednesday though it became official as this picture was sent out to the NASCAR world. How many races it will be used for is still unknown at this time. An interesting note is the car continues a trend with Kyle of racing a green colored car at some point during the year.

Every year during those races here at the cat house we are lost on where Kyle is running. The new color throws us off when he's in the pack. Hopefully this year we will finally catch on to the green scheme as it seems to be here to stay.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Doing Some Swap Meeting

Early in November was the fall version of the three times a year event called Portland's Largest Garage Sale. During the summer version I did very poorly while the wife did great. Despite this I was not going to be discouraged that some treasures would be found.

Preparing for the event weeks in advance as is starting to become the tradition. I was ready, and until that morning thought the wife was coming again. When the clock went off she rethought her position, and made this a solo trip. Unfazed I made the trip north for yet unknown treasures.

Arriving at the fairgrounds ten minutes early, which is great since the drive takes over an hour. Entering the building everyone was greeted by a huge banner advertising the spring sale. Sticking out the most to myself was the announcement that the one building show would be all three buildings. Seeing this had two totally different feelings going through my mind. First was excitement as it means more sellers, and things to go through. The second was oh crap! One building has been just perfect for me in these so two more might be too much of a good thing.

Still dealing with the upcoming change I headed in to begin the search. Coming across the Randy Johnson bobblehead for the Mariners hall-of-fame induction. Priced at five dollars I was pumped at the chance to add this beauty into the Mariners bobbleheads. What it would mean though is odds are another bobbler would have to go.Things weren't done there as the seller had this fun item sitting on a shelf.


For a mere two dollars it had to come home. This might possibly be the first hand held game I ever owned. When I first got it we would play our own full baseball games whenever it was too miserable outside to play. For the cost I had to own it, even if it's just for the memories as a kid.

What you will notice is a missing picture for the Johnson bobblehead. Upon finding the seller he pointed out a flaw I would have never noticed without his honesty. The bobblehead wasn't attached properly to the base, and wouldn't stand correctly. If not for this he let me know that he'd be selling it on ebay for much more.

From there I found an Oreo cookie tin that we use for our Christmas ornaments. Not as much fun or baseball related so lets move on. Next up, and taking some time to find was this bad boy.


A Portland Rockies full sized batting helmet. Costing only one dollar, and containing what is one of my all time favorite logos. How could I not bring it home, despite still not knowing what to do with it? The idea has crossed my mind of putting up some hooks eventually. Could hang it, and the Eugene Emeralds one from this season someplace using this method. Who knows if that will be how it gets done as I'm still open to figuring it out.

Last is what I consider my greatest find ever at these type of shows.





To this very day it is still wrapped just like the picture.

Upon seeing this box I thought to myself that at seven dollars or less it would be coming home. As collectors we all know that ten dollars would be a steal. I just wasn't sure if I needed them enough at the cost of ten or more dollars. Being I still have a decent amount of used ones from Goodwill finds.

Picking up the box, and taking it over to the lady who's booth it was. I asked what she wanted for the box of sheets. She responded with the question of "are you a baseball card collector"? To which I countered with the answer of "No, I collect pocket schedules. They are just perfect for those." What followed was the biggest surprise of my life. Her response of "two dollars" blew me away. Needless to say, I couldn't get the money out fast enough. So for two dollars I might be set for a few years in the category of 9 pocket pages.

Not a large selection of treasures came home, but I'm happy with the results. What all this did though is leave me ready for the spring show.

Monday, December 1, 2014

Cruz, and Mariners Agree

While I spent my entire weekend getting things done around the house. The Seattle Mariners were busy getting things done.

For the cat it was doing the Black Friday thing followed by getting the Christmas lights up on the house. To make that happen required some serious work in the garage. Throw in the huge project of working on trying to get all the schedules for trade up on the other blog site. A project that is going well, and is possibly close to 75% done.

The Mariners were even busier as they got them a Cyber Monday deal. A new player that the team was tied to last season.


If he shows the power that has become a trademark the last few years. This will be a move that will gain some serious wins for the team. Gone will be the chance to avoid Cano in close games. With Cruz in the next spot you might be best pitching to Cano. Having this help I believe will lead to a big year for Cano.

Interestingly I believe this won't be the last we hear from the Mariners. Yes, the team has now gotten the bat they have hoped for. Despite the huge addition there are still some gaps still needing fixed. I'm not going to say that the team will make another huge splash like the one today.

They will make another move or two for an outfielder. If that player is a big name then look out for the Mariners this upcoming season. If that player is a lesser known name this team might still be trouble for the AL west. The biggest news of all this is Seattle might finally start becoming a serious threat for years to come.

The years of players taking less money to play elsewhere could be ending. Cano's contract last season could be what has started this new trend. Having a superstar like Cano coming let people know that Seattle was no longer the unwanted kid anymore. Now all that is left will be seeing if the team can do something with all this new found ability to get stars in town.