Artelopes- Sac RiverCats

If you haven't heard it already a million times recently. With baseball season fast approaching I currently have around nine remaining artelopes out roaming the continent for schedules. As these start coming in I am in the process of sending more out in their place. Until then it is time to share my latest return which comes from Sacramento.

I thought the idea of doing the cat claw holding a baseball seemed cool when I did this envelope. Looking at it now I still think it was a cool concept that turned out pretty good. The crazy thing is it looks somewhat similar to the Northwest Arkansas Naturals envelope I drew the same day. That return should be coming home soon so you will be able to see what I mean when it does. For some strange reason I get that way at times, and will do two or three drawings that look pretty similar all at once.

As with most of the requests I've been doing lately. This was to hopefully get a new business card as the RiverCats changed affiliations to the Giants this off season. The bad news is all that came back was five of the following schedules. Ironically you can tell from looking at the schedule where the idea for my artwork came from.

Hitting The Card Show

Saturday was a kind of bittersweet day when it came to doing something. The wife had talked early in the week about wanting to hit the Disney Store.

When she mentioned it my first thought was to see if the card show was being held at Mall 205. Things looked to be going in my favor as yes, there was a show at that very location. Having the show that same day I was hooked, and ready for action. This was going to be my first card show in I can't remember how long.

The tricky thing was I'd have to go against my usual tendencies, and show later than always. When doing shows I'm the type that likes to arrive a few minutes before the doors open, and go in with the initial rush. I'm like this regardless of it being a card show, or the swap meet type show coming up this next weekend. This trip would be different as we'd be doing the Disney Store first.

As we headed north the wife mentioned that we could stop in at one of my favorite Goodwill's. Normally I would have passed, and waited until the ride home to stay on schedule. Realizing that what is a ten or so minute stop in the morning turns into over twenty later in the day due to traffic. The wife's suggestion was taken, and we made the stop. Besides, this was a good way to initiate me into the slower pace the day was planned to take on.

Walking into the store, and doing the aisle after aisle search. Only one item made its way out the door with me.

Interestingly it won't be getting use as a key chain, but more as another addition to the Mariners collection. I even put it on the shelf after taking this very picture.

From there it was off to the Disney Store followed by a stop into the card show. Much like Gavin from Baseball Card Breakdown I was disappointed in this show. The amount of dime boxes or lower was very limited, and the few there were was over run with fire-starter cards. The one table I'd love to have gone through dime cards of was so busy you couldn't get anywhere near the cards.

Throw in that my player collections are newer players, and this show was mostly older cards from what I could tell. If I was a pre-junk era set builder this would have been the place. So I guess for a collector of older stuff this show was fantastic. The bad news is my collection just isn't at that level right now, and who knows if it ever will be.

When all was said, and done I did manage to make two purchases. One was a bunch of 1980 Topps cards that I bought to send out to some team collectors. With everything going on over the next two weeks it might take a little time, but these will be sent out, and hopefully fill some needs for these collectors. I won't be showing these off, and let their recipients do that instead.

The second was one I wasn't to big on, but wanted to leave with something that might find a place in my collection.

I'm not the biggest of collectors for cards of possible future stars, but had to get these cards despite this. At the cool price of five for a dollar I thought why not pick these five cards up. Dickerson, and Parker have gotten some time with the Rockies while Story, and Rodriguez are still moving through the ranks. More than anything I bought these cards so I wouldn't end up leaving empty handed.

Hopefully the gap between card shows isn't as long as this last one was. Until then this is all I have for the latest show.

Artelopes- Albuquerque Isotopes

With all the affiliate changes that happened this off season. I have my work cut out for me when it comes to putting my baseball business card collection back into current status. Yes, I have business cards of almost every minor league baseball team, but how much fun is that? The fun is adding cards to keep the collection with a teams latest, and greatest card. Kind of like adding a 2015 baseball card into your player collection.

Having some of the 2015 schedules coming out has led to many an artelope requests sent. On Saturday another of the boys came home with their mission completed.

 My idea came from the teams logo. In the actual logo the building is an 'A', and as you can see got replaced by the building used for the ballpark logo. The team logo can be seen in the schedule sent by the team in the return.

As always the Isotopes didn't let me down. Two schedules were included, and four of the teams business cards.Now if just everyone else sent results like that I'd be back to adding new teams in no time.

Goodbye to the 'Hot Rod'

Despite having the no showing basketball cards thing going on here. It doesn't stop me from giving appreciation to the basketball people I've grown to love.

It was just announced during the Utah versus Duke game that the great 'Hot Rod' Hundley has passed away.

As a kid I grew up listening to basketball games, and actually loved playing the sport. During that time I was one of the many people who got to hear Hundley call Utah Jazz games. Sitting here writing this I can still recall his many calls of Karl Malone, and John Stockton running the 'pick, and roll'.

It's sad, and refreshing at the same time that his passing is bringing back that memory. I wish it was under different circumstances that I was remembering those calls. More than anything though it shows the man did a great job during his broadcasting career, and left an impression with atleast one fan.

Artelopes- Rockies, and Kernels

With baseball schedules beginning to arrive at the homes of other schedule collectors. I have continued to put more of my efforts into artwork on artelopes over blogging. Once I get everything sent out, and more consistent returns coming in. Hopefully the blogging will get back to a more normal rate.

I know this has been the promise for awhile now, but it is still the best I can promise.

I've done the Rockies logo in some form the last two years. This year I wanted to try something a little different, and this was what I came up with.

A schedule is all this request was looking for. While happy to have gotten the above schedules I was sad at the same time. This schedule was released back in September as has been the trend by the team for years now. I still needed the schedule, and had planned to try, and trade for one. Why the disappointment is the team usually has a January, February, or March edition out by now. Usually it is March at the latest, and a Spanish version to go with it.

The idea for this one just fell into my head one day. I wanted to do sunglasses that had the lenses look like baseball's. When asking the daughter how to shape the nose for the glasses. She thought up the idea on doing a baseball bat as the bridge. Thrilled with the concept she took control, and came up with what you see above.

The wildest thing about this artelope is it was drawn before deciding who the team it would be sent to was decided. Normally the envelope is addressed before the artwork is decided on. Sometimes it might be an idea that I've had in the mind, and decided to finally use, but this is the only time the drawing was done before being addressed.

In 2014 the Kernels changed affiliates to the Minnesota Twins. An attempt was made to get a new business card for the collection. As you can see by the scan above only containing  a pocket schedule. The quest for a Cedar Rapids business card will continue.

A Weekend Find

After heading to the coast on Friday evening we kept it simple, and stuck to dinner before digging in for the night. On Saturday the rain was coming down with a somewhat decent wind blowing. Not wanting to head past Tillamook as the road gets much closer to the ocean when you go farther north. That wasn't something I was interested in with the breeze blowing. Agreeing that the plan worked for her we started the journey north.

Making our way into Lincoln City the wife showed interest in stopping at a Pirate bakery we have talked about many times, but never committed to. Our thinking was they would have a pastry or something we could do for a quick, and simple breakfast Sunday. In the end we both bought cookies for later on that day, and pastries for the next morning.

Making it less than a couple miles on the right was a huge new Goodwill. I had hoped to visit the old site on the way back south. That was before knowing that they had built this new store, and the wife saying we could stop. Going in I would find something I've been trying to slow down on, but at the same time couldn't turn down.

It's a 'Pirates of the Caribbean' baseball from Disneyland. When we were at Disneyland I had seen this ball, and thought about buying one. At the Disney price tag, I never pulled the trigger. Now thanks to a quick thrift store stop I got the ball. It might be in a little rougher shape than the one I would have bought, but it works.

From there we made our way up to Tillamook, and my favorite coastal stop. Any time we can head to Tillamook, and the cheese factory I am all in. After getting some cheese, and jerky it was back towards the main base.

I can't complain about how great the day was with a new baseball, and lots of cheese. Now all I have to do is figure out how to add the new baseball into my Disney related balls.

Three Baseball Artelopes Come Home

Upon our return from the coast on Sunday afternoon there was a full mailbox waiting for us. Wading through all the ads, and other assorted junk was three returns for recently sent out artelopes.

My first return came courtesy of one of my favorite minor league teams. Tulsa has been affiliated with Colorado since I started collecting pocket schedules. That affiliation led to me making them one of the main minor league teams that I collected at first. Over time I began to add older schedules from their time before the affiliation with Colorado. Now that things have changed with Tulsa joining the Dodgers minor league teams. I just can't give up on the collection that I've had a blast building for 13 years. Throw into the mix how good the Drillers front office has been over the years. How could I not keep this collection going full steam ahead? Besides I needed a new business card that represents the new affiliation.

As they have been doing the entire 13 years I've been collecting schedules Tulsa didn't disappoint. First off the team put out another great looking schedule. I've always enjoyed the different stadium views they have used on their schedules. Call it the stadium fan in me if you want I don't care. Second, they dropped their newest business card on me as requested.

Another of the teams that went through a change this off season. OKC went all out by not only changing their affiliation, but going with the new teams name as well. This has left a huge hole in the business card collection that I was looking to fill.

Finding out that the team plays at Bricktown Ballpark. I thought it would be perfect to go with a brick background for the envelope's artwork. It turned out pretty good with the imperfections that you would have in this type of wall.

The bad news as you can see above is the team sent schedules, but no business card. Who knows if the team has gotten their new cards or not? In past years the team has treated me really good so I'll just giver it a second try later on this season.

Kane County like the other two has a brand new affiliate for 2015. Unlike the first two who joined the Dodgers. Kane County changed to the Arizona DiamondBacks.

The Cougars have been hit, or miss, but always seem to deliver. There have been times it took two mailings to get a business card. Eventually the Cougars send a business card, and I'm able to fill the hole. This year there won't be any second request as Kane County nailed it the first time.

It Still Hurts To Watch 9

The latest version of these was back in November when I was discussing the idea of bindering the cards. Doing this would prevent me from using the same cards over, and over again. That is unless I have multiple copies of the card which would mean all bets would be off. While I haven't finished doing this little project due to not motivating myself enough to get it done. There has been some progress so maybe one day it will happen.

Now onto the reason why we are getting number nine of this popular series.

This past weekend was the closest to our anniversary. What this meant is the wife wanted to do a trip to the coast for the weekend. So in keeping with the ritual created when the idea for these posts came to me. It is time for 'It Still Hurts To Watch'.

For those that have come late to the party for these posts I will give a quick summary. Originally started after a trip to the coast, and storm watching. The concept is I show off three cards from plays at the plate. The first is the build up card, where you can tell a collision is coming. The second card is the collision itself, and the third is the aftermath of a collision. Like all plays at the plate, some of these are better than others, but they are still great to see.

I'm going to share our trip, but not completely through these cards. I'd get a bit more in depth, but on Saturday I picked up something I'll share latter. Once that gets done maybe the weekend will get a bit more in depth.

First I have to say that this might be the most interesting build up card that I've seen since doing all these posts. Looking closely at McCann's face, he almost looks excited for the upcoming collision. If I'm reading it right, it's a huge change from the look of terror the catcher usually has.

Much like McCann we were pretty excited for the weekend. We knew that is was going to be rainy with some wind. Depending on how windy, and rainy was going to determine our plans. Luckily Saturday wasn't too bad, and we went out.

What this did do is lead us into Sunday, and the day that resembled this collision. Early in the day the winds were so crazy that we kept waiting for the power to go out. Things worked out, and we were able to get the house cleaned before making our exit. Thinking we were out of the woods we had to make a stop for gas before leaving town. Opening the drivers side door to reclose the gas door, the wind blew the door out of my hands. Luckily, atleast we hope luckily it didn't break the door. The winds were so extreme that we were both worried it might have bent one or both door posts. The house wasn't as lucky as the back screen door broke loose from the high winds, and will need fixed.

Our drive home was much like this last card. You had tree branches scattered across the road in areas which is represented by the dirt scattered everywhere. In the end we were just like Cabrera, safe at home.

Just like this edition, there is no telling how long it will be until the next. Until then sit back and enjoy all three cards in all their glory.

Artelopes- Fresno Grizzlies 1

Lately the artelopes seem to be my biggest amount of posts. While I would like to say that the trend might slow down. Honestly I can't say that as due to funds these days I am left with two decisions.

One is I can spend the money I get every week on buying a pack or two of cards that might yield one card for the collection. Two is I can use that same money, and buy stamps to mail teams for business cards, and pocket schedules. So it boils down to 64 baseball cards that will mostly be something that I look to trade, or schedules from ten teams. Being I've had some stamps saved from past postal trips when we did have more funds. I have opted to go with the business cards, and schedules. So until something changes in either my thought process, or funds it will be mostly artelopes with some cards tossed in every so often.

Fresno has gone through some huge changes this year, and I tried to run with those changes. The colors used across the envelope represent Fresno's new MLB affiliate the Houston Astros.

Losing their affiliation with the San Francisco Giants, Fresno was looking for a way to relate to the fans. Their answer is the Growlifornia promotion that shows on this schedule. Seems like a great idea that if I was living in Fresno I could see myself getting behind.

Receiving four schedules in the envelope was a good return. The bad news is my main purpose for sending the Grizzlies a request was to get a new business card. This is why the post title has a one inside of it. There will be a part two later in the year with another attempt.

#walletcard- Kyle's February Adventures

Much like the month of January. Kyle card didn't have a very exciting month.

Sadly the real Kyle did, and is out for an undetermined amount of time with a broken right leg, and left foot. This explains for those that actually read them, why I haven't done any NASCAR pre or post reports. Without our driver in the races we have been watching, but not with the same passion as normal. Enough bringing me down let's get to Kylecard.

As for how Kylecard is doing. The left side, or the direction he is looking to make things easier. As you can see it hasn't gotten any worse than it was in January. This is because I rotated the card in my wallet to try, and limit the damage on that side of the card.

What this has done is put the right handed side as the new damage taker.Both the top, and bottom corners have gotten obvious bends to them now. You can see the top one atleast real well without clicking for the larger picture size.

From here things will get a little trickier. Doing this has been a sort of blessing in disguise. I put him in the plastic card holder section of my wallet. The holder is getting pretty torn up, and I desperately need a new one. The pocket Kylecard is in just so happens to be the worst of the holder, and has helped hold the two cards in the pocket. Without this card they would have surely fell out, and possibly lost. Sadly its getting so bad that Kylecard is barely holding the cards in now. This will lead to the big question on how will the new holder effect Kylecard once he is in it, and not the torn up holder?

One thing I need to start doing is taking pictures of Kylecard. In February we did the collectors market, and taking a picture might have been a little more fun than this post I've had to do because of not taking that picture. So training myself to take pictures needs to start happening.

The Lost Files- Ducks, and Pelicans

After holding out for just over two months I've decided it is finally time to give up on these two requests.

At the time this request was sent out I was in a sort of creative funk. Despite this funk there were a few requests that needed to be sent out as I was testing the waters with NHL teams. While the other two came home with pocket schedules, but no business cards. The Ducks have left me holding the bag by not sending any sort of return.

Another of the three artelopes sent out around Christmas. I thought why not give this one some sort of holiday feeling to it. From the fact that I am now writing these two off, sending out requests so close to Christmas might not be the best idea.

These two failures will stay on the mind whenever the idea comes to send out requests close to Christmas. With how bad I was doing when it came to idea's. Maybe staying away from that time of year might be my best idea yet.

First Pack of 2015

It has been awhile since I've gotten to do any sort of a baseball card purchase. With that in mind, and itching to buy cards in some form. On Saturday the wife, and myself were at a big box store where I broke down. Deciding I had to have something as it has been over three months since buying a single card. I picked up a hanger pack.

(1st card of 2015)

Not a bad looking card with the double play turn. Sadly getting Baez as the first card signaled things weren't going to go in my favor. 

With 36 cards in the hanger I was hopeful that I could get a few hits to the player collections. After all there is a decent amount of cards for players that fit the bill. That was the good news, the reality is only one card will be invited into the binder.

I haven't heard to many things said about this one subset. Giving my opinion I personally think the card has a good look to it, and will enjoy putting it into the Trout collection.

As for the other subset cards here they are all their glory.

If you have any interest in one, two, three, or all four card hit me up. They would rather find themselves in a binder, or box with a full set rather than the fate they will have at the cat house. Here it will be in a box of cards looking for a home other than here.