Artelopes- Three Successes At Long Last

When it comes to the artelopes project I've had a great week. With a ton of stuff floating out there I nailed down three returns that are everything I could hope for.

Starting off the returns was what came in due to the artwork above. This year the Hillcats change affiliations to the Cleveland Indians. What this meant to the business card collection is I'm in need of a new card.

Keeping it simple due to my brain starting to struggle with ideas. I went with the team logo minus the cat in the middle. It's not a bad looking logo that makes me wonder with the blog name why I don't collect the teams schedules.

Lynchburg did me right by sending two schedules, and two business cards. They did a decent job with the schedule by keeping it simple, and not to cluttered.

Second up, and coming in the same day was the return from the Tennessee Smokies.

This season the Smokies announced a new logo that honestly I am a huge fan of. For my artwork I decided to go with a secondary logo rather than the new much sweeter looking one.

As you can see from the business card, the team decided to finally embrace their affiliation with the Cubbies. Not only did they do a fantastic job with the new logo, the use of it in their schedules is very well done. I'm not a huge fan of all the internet info, but it doesn't destroy the look that much.

Last up was today's return, and a streak that will hopefully keep going.

Much like the Smokies the Rough Riders went with a new look for 2015. When teasing this brand new look the team posted the logo I used for the envelope sent their direction. I toyed with a few other ideas, but thought the spectacles was a different design that just worked.

In the return category the Rough Riders nailed it as well. The team did a classy looking schedule despite keeping it simple with the ever often used log. Frisco did an even better job with the business card. Using the new logo, and then the 'Speak Softly, And Carry A Big Stick" on the back is pretty sweet. While I've never done a top list for business cards this version would rank in the top 50 I believe. I've always been a sucker for cards that use the back in their design usage.

Overall this was three returns that will hopefully keep going with the few still roaming the country. On a side note I want to let Marc know I got his cards, and will be doing a post in the next few days. Sorry, about the delay Marc.

Hall-Of-Fame Worthy

On Saturday we had another day of errands that needed done. Starting things off they had a paper shredder truck nearby, and with tons of paper we needed shredded that was high on the list. After making the quick stop is was off to the Goodwill where I found this.

Its a dual bobblehead that commemorates the Seattle Mariners induction of Randy Johnson, and Dan Wilson into the Mariners hall-of-fame. Given away when the two were inducted as the fifth, and sixth members on July, 28 2012. This has always been one of those bobbleheads I'd wanted for the collection. Now thanks to this quick stop, and some luck. Randy, and Dan have found a spot sitting on one of the Mariners shelves.

Artelopes- Lookouts, And Sky Sox

On Friday two of my latest returns for artelopes made their way back home.

Keeping it simple I thought it would be fun to just do the team's logo. While it is a simple design there is one thing I've personally come to realize. Looking at it compared to where I was when starting this entire artelope project. My drawing has come a very long way from where it was on day one.

The Lookouts went through an affiliation change this off season from the Dodgers to the Twins. A new affiliation meant the Lookouts were on the list of teams that might change business card designs. In the past the front office staff for the Lookouts have treated me well, and this return was no different. As you can see they included the requested business card, and two schedules. From not just this return, but returns in the past. Chattanooga likes to keep things simple, and their schedules have shown this.

It shouldn't come as any sort of surprise that these two envelopes were sent out the same day. Much like with the Lookouts I went with the less thought out design of the team logo. It did go a little in my own direction as I do still struggle with things at times. Hopefully as time continues to go on that will change, and I'll be able to push creativity to another level in the future. Until then designs like the two today will continue to happen.

Until this off season when the Rockies decided to break ties with the team, and move on to Albuquerque. The Sky Sox had been the teams only Triple A affiliate. Left scrambling, and hurt with the decision the team eventually signed with the Brewers.

Being a schedule collector rather than just a Rockies affiliate schedule collector. Colorado Springs remains one of the teams I'm still actively collecting. The return sent from the team is one of the reasons. Not many teams would include both schedule covers into the return. Toss in the requested business card, and you have a team you can't help, but root for.

With all the requests being sent out constantly, and old returns that are close to being considered lost. There are currently 12 artelopes out roaming the world.

You Say Garage Sale I Say Flea Market Finds

On the fourth of this month they had the first of the three times a year Northwest Largest Garage Sale. I've always said it's more like a flea market, but who cares what they want to call it. Except for the July version where the wife did great, and I came away with only an Ichiro Mariners speedboat. These shows have been a goldmine for finding some real treasures. While I didn't come away with tons of stuff at this show. What I did come away with is probably what I consider my greatest finds ever at this show.

First off a little information about the show. When this show started, and I was going it was a great place to find some good pieces on the cheap. Now the show is starting to become a haven for antique dealers, Avon, and other sales people. Finding things on the cheap is starting to become harder, and harder to do with each show. If the show continues on this path odds are I will eventually bow out of making the trip. Depending on how the summer one runs it might be the last time I do the summer version. Enough buzz-killing lets get to the real fun.

For the second time the wife thought it would make for a fun day to do the show with me. As we started making our way through the show. Going past the first full row at full speed with nothing of interest slowing us down. It was when we turned the corner for row two the wife made a stop after spotting some of the Richie Rich, and Disney comics she enjoys so much. Discussing it with me on whether or not to pay the 75 cent price tag per comic. I let her know that these have been slowly climbing in price so it was a good buy. Being very selective as I really need to make her a list of what she has. She did walk away with four that she was pretty confident were new comics.

As we continued down the row it was near the halfway point I noticed a huge Sterilite bin that had a price of 50 cents for anything in the bin. The paper claimed everything inside to be Portland Trailblazers posters. Curiosity got the best of me as I decided to spend a few minutes seeing what these Blazers posters looked like. Rolling poster after poster open it was in the top third I came across this beauty.

As you can see it is already in a poster frame, and it isn't a Portland Trailblazers poster. Once we got home I got it unrolled, and put it in the frame to hang right away.

For those that don't know about the Forest Dragons. The team played in the Arena Football League from 1997-1999 in Portland. Relocated from Memphis, and moving to Oklahoma after their short time in Portland. Only having a three year record of 13-29 they still hold a special place in my heart. At the time I was living in Bend a full three hours from Portland. A small group of us got together, and made the trip to a game one Saturday. Lucky for us we got to see a last second win by the Dragons. Who they played I can't remember, what I do remember is we had a blast. Ever since then I have tried to collect Forest Dragons items whenever I come across them. Until this month the collection was just a business card in the football binder.

Digging deeper into the bin with a new found sense of hope. It wasn't until the very bottom I found these four books staring back at me.

There was another two I left behind, and now honestly regret a little. One had a huge crease down the middle so it wasn't to hard to leave it behind initially. When I saw these my plan was to possibly frame them all together or something so I picked what I thought where the best four out. If that plan comes to fruition or not still remains to be seen.

From there I was able to add three last items I've eyeballed at a few other shows not related to this one. Until this show I just never pulled the trigger on these. This seller was selling them individually for 50 cents apiece. The other times I saw these they were minimum one dollar each, and you had to buy the entire batch of 5-10 of them they had.

Patience paid off on this deal as I got to pick only the ones I wanted. Originally I went with the Angels, and Orioles hats. The seller offered to throw in one more to make it three, and after much thought I went with the Pirates. Finding a Mariners would have been like hitting the jackpot, but I'm pleased with the three I picked up.

In the end it was a great show with some amazing finds. Like I said it is getting harder to find treasures like these, but when I do it's well worth it.

Threepalooza

Things that have the number or come in three's.

Strikes in baseball

Outs in baseball

Three Stooges

Three little pigs

Banana split (three scoops of ice cream)

Three's Company (watched it as a kid)

A triple in baseball

the band Three Dog Night

Three Musketeers (both the candy bar, and the novel)

Three blind mice

Three bears in Goldilocks

Three ring circus

Three sheets to the wind (the way my wife feeling right now)

Tricycle

Three feet in a yard

Three point shot

Three seconds in the key (does this ever get called?)

The hat trick

Triathlon (will never see me doing this)

A pin in wrestling

Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s number (now used by some idiot related to Childress)

A field goal

Three legged race

Babe Ruth's number

The amount of cards sent to me by the awesome blogger Daniel from the even more awesome blog  It's Like Having My Own Card Shop".

Daniel sent me an e-mail that I basically said I have a card that should be yours. What he didn't say is he had three cards to send my direction.

What an impressive sight of cards it is. Thank you so much Daniel for the amazing three cards.

Missed One

In my run of falling behind in posts I came across a couple pictures in the folder. Sitting here looking at the pictures I realized that these were from a trip south that I never showed off. With that in mind here they are.

Despite swearing off buying new logo, or advertising baseballs. I just couldn't turn down picking up this Eugene Emeralds baseball that is a few years old.

Other than adding this lone ball I have been very good about not buying more, and have turned down a few others. Being a sucker for sports logo's, and this one being gone for a few years I had to get it. Odds are real soon it will be replacing one of the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes balls sitting on a shelf.

Next was the real find of this trip. Over a year, and a half ago I found this bag of football helmets.

As you can see it cost a mere one dollar. Soon afterwards I bought a glass bowl, and put most of them in the bowl as a display piece. It's one of my favorite pieces in the room, and something I enjoy looking at often.

On this day I found the new version of those helmets. Costing a little more at 4.99 I still think I did pretty good on these.

Instead of a potpourri of helmets like the other bag this is one of every current team. I'm still looking for the right piece to display these in, or on. Until then they continue to be encased in the plastic that they were bought in. Hopefully soon I'll find that piece, and can start enjoying these helmets as well.

Two Odd, And End Artelopes

I think it might be time to admit it. Even with a couple posts that need to be written in the barrel. I just can't seem to get back into the flow of posting stuff that I'd be proud of. Waiting in the wings is a trade post, and a post of some great finds. Some of the problem stems from being drained more than usual from work. The other is for some reason I just can't get mentally into the flow again. Hopefully all this will turn around in the near future as I'd love to get back into writing some readable stuff once again.

In the meantime I have two of my latest artelope returns to show off.

This first one was done by the daughter, and sent to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers from the NBA Developmental League. The Vipers are one of the eight teams I was, and still am missing business cards of from the league. I thought she might enjoy doing some sort of cartoon style snake to send to the team that uses a snake in their logo. She did a great job, which makes the return sad.

The Vipers sent only one pocket schedule. I can understand the one schedule as it was late in the year, but it would have been nice to make up for it with the requested schedule. No dice though.

With the MLS starting up I thought why not making a run at a couple of the 11 teams currently missing from the MLS collection. As you will notice from the schedule sent back the idea I used was a version of the team logo. I wish the return would have gotten the result I was looking for as the two MLS drawings were a refreshing change from the stuff we have been doing lately. Maybe the Houston one will pan out, and will remotive a set of two or many more in the near future. Until then I'm kind of cautious of writing MLS teams due to the bad return San Jose sent.

Much like with the Vipers above, the Earthquakes dropped one lone schedule on me. Despite not getting the business card it would have been nice to get a few more schedules for possible trading. Maybe a certain blogger from San Jose that I know mentioned in his blog that he watches the Earthquakes will be able to hook a cat up. I can always hope.

Your Out Of Order!! NO, WAIT! This Post Is Out Of Order

As a blogger I remember someone saying we like to post things in the order they happen to make things easier on ourselves. Since going on my slow posting run I have been on, some posts have been done out of the regular running order. I say this as this post is so far off the path of order that it's mind boggling.

Last Monday I had to head south, and get the back-up camera on the car fixed. After sitting for the two hours I had to make a run to Goodwill, and look for treasures. Normally I'd hit the two in the area, and the other thrift store just down the block from the second. For some reason I just wasn't feeling the second set so did just the lone one I've hit for the last few years. Once inside I hit something that will go down as one of my best finds ever.

It's a beautiful picture with the view of Seattle that I've always loved seeing every time we do a Mariners game.

I'm going to say odds are you are confused right now about that last little bit. Safeco is right next to Centurylink at what would be the bottom of the picture. We even use the Centurylink parking garage when going to games.

This things was so awesome that there was no way I was leaving it behind. That is despite not being a Seahawks fan. Running through my mind was the idea of making it the centerpiece of my main wall in the hobby room. A wall that honestly still needs a centerpiece before I begin hanging things on the wall.

It still needs the centerpiece because my first thought honestly when I saw this was to give it to my friend at work. This is the same friend who has hooked me up with some incredible goodies from his trips. He just so happens to be a Seahawks fan, and now the proud owner of this sweet piece. When I showed him the picture he was instantly in love, and thrilled beyond belief when I told him it was his. It's kind of strange to think that one of my best finds wasn't even for myself, but for a friend. I'll take it though.

Artelopes- Respect The Stache

With two posts that need to be written waiting in the wings I thought to keep things slightly flowing I'd drop another artelope post on you. So without further ado here it is.

Keeping with the mustache theme I've been doing on the envelopes since the Legends started using the logo. This year I decided to go with just one huge mustache instead of the many that I've been doing. It's not the perfect stache, but it worked for its purpose of getting some pocket schedules.

Four schedules were included in the return envelope. Putting the one for my collection in with the other Legends schedules. It leaves me with three extra's that will go into the traders pile.

With this return I have maybe two more artelopes out there roaming that will hopefully make it home. Seven others are very close to becoming part of the lost files, and will appear in the near future.

Artelopes- Three From The Texas League

In my writing to teams one of my favorite leagues has to be The Texas League. During a normal year I write three teams for schedules consistently. This year there were two changes which will be upping the number to five.

Already getting a return from the Tulsa Drillers I sent out these three. Which now leaves me at writing one final team for a business card.

The Rockhounds are one of the three teams from the Texas League I've been collecting schedules from since starting my collection. When starting the collection there were some team names, and logo's I just thought were cool, and have been collecting them. Something about the name Rockhounds just seemed cool so they made the list.

This next envelope is from a team that has been around in various forms for years.

The team has only been known as the Northwest Arkansas Naturals since 2008. Before this they were the Wichita Wranglers. Due to bad attendance, and poor ballpark the team relocated to Springdale to become the Naturals. Originally they were a team I was on the fence about collecting schedules from, but the team has been so generous in returns over the years I became a fan of the team. Northwest Arkansas goes to show how treating fans not in your area can bring in new fans. I've been known to contact a few teams for merchandise in the past so it can pay off. Not with just me, but I'd bet with others as well.

As for the drawing. If you remember the Sacramento RiverCats envelope recently. You can see that the two are very similar only instead of a cat claw this ball has the crown used by the Royals, and often times the Naturals recently.

Unlike past years, and the returns. This was a fairly weak one in the return envelope was only two of the above schedule. The Naturals have had the same card since day one so no request for a business card was included. It would have been nice to have nailed down another one or two for trading, but I'll take the one for my personal collection, and spare for trading.

Last on the list was the San Antonio Missions. This is another of those teams that has been good to me over the years. Why I have never been even slightly interested in becoming a fan of the team is beyond me. Some teams I've become fan of for doing less, but the Missions have just never caught my attention.

The drawing on the envelope is a part of the teams new logo for 2015. Personally I think the logo is a huge improvement over the old logo. It brings the team into 2015 rather than the older style from the old logo. 

With a new logo comes a new business card so that was the sole purpose for this request. I always put in the schedules in hopes that atleast something will head my direction.

As you can see the team didn't disappoint. Included was the one business card for the collection, and it has the new logo. Honestly this new logo did a ton for the team in my mind. Past business cards weren't anywhere near as cool as the one above, and as classy looking. Included with the card were three of the schedules below the card. Another great showing of the logo that in my mind has made for a good looking schedule. Very well done Missions!

I'm A Winner, And People Like Me.

While thinking up ideas for what to both use as a post title, and what to write. I toyed with the idea of 'Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!' The only problem was I was sort of lost at what to write about. Then while sitting here still at a loss it hit me. The post title I came up with suddenly hit me.

My one problem was I couldn't remember the name of the character from Saturday Night Live. A quick internet search ensued, and here we are.

By now I know you are thinking "Cat, what does all this matter?" If you were one of the people that participated in a recent contest by Brain over at Highly Subjective, and Completely Arbitrary. You already know what I am getting at.

Brian held a contest where all the participants had to do was pick a team. If the team you picked matched an autograph he got in a recent pack of Stadium Club. Coming along a little late in the game as many had guessed, and the teams were starting to run short. I gave a fast look, and noticed my favorite team the Rockies hadn't been guessed. Throwing out that guess I was surprised to get an e-mail the next day from Brian announcing the cat as a winner.

If you didn't see this beauty on Brian's blog, or even if you did. Here it is again in all it's glory.

Now that is a beautiful card if I don't say so myself.

As you would expect, a player like Blackmon doesn't travel without a entourage.

Some guys travel with teammates, or other stars. My man Blackmon likes to keep the kiddos happy by traveling with mascots. I might only be a kid at heart, but I'm thrilled with his choice of friends.

You had to know that he wouldn't travel with just two mascots. No he travels with five.

The greatest part about these last two. Other than the fact that the Pirate Parrot is my favorite MLB mascot. Brian didn't even wait for the cat to do a wantlist for 2015 mascots before going after the list. How can you not appreciate a blogger that doesn't wait for a list?

Thank you so much Brian not just for the Blackmon auto, but for his friends. I don't know for sure how many people like me, but what I do know is you made me a winner.

Artelopes- Paw Sox, and Bees

Keeping true to the theme that the cat has been following for most of the year. It is once again time for another artelopes. With so many being sent recently I am going with a Triple A theme, and doing the Pawtucket Red Sox, or better known as the Paw Sox. Keeping with theme is the Salt Lake Bees of the Angels affiliation ranks.

Not long before the start of MLB's spring training the Paw Sox announced a new logo for 2015. Needing the teams new business card which will hopefully contain said logo. I decided it would be cool to draw that logo, and see if it helped get a new business card.

What came in the return was two of the schedules above, and zero business cards. All this means is at some point during the season I'll make another attempt at a business card. The Paw Sox have always been pretty good to me so I will just assume they didn't have new cards yet.

The second, and in my eyes most important out of the two requests. Growing up as a kid I lived in Utah, and thus my sport allegiances are still with most the teams. While the Bees didn't exist as for a short time the team in Utah at the time was the Gulls. I have adopted them as one of the minor league teams I collect items from. In honor of this I send out a request to the team every season.

There was no business card request included as I have quite a stack of the teams business cards already. What the team did send is six copies of the schedule above.

Take The Junior Junkie Test

We've all seen those tests you take that determine your knowledge on a certain subject. If not you haven't trolled the internet much as they pop up on a large scale every so often. In honor of those I have created.

Sorry about the sad little logo, but its the best I could dream up as I'm choosing to spend more time on research for the post instead of logo work.

We've all heard, and seen posts throughout the internet about the recent mass mailing of bubble mailers sent out by TJ of 'The Junior Junkie'. In honor of TJ's awesome feat I have created 'The Junior Junkie Test'. If you have a bad memory you might want to grab a pen, or pencil, and a small sheet of paper. A post it note would be just fine for your answers.

Now that you are ready to go lets get this test started..

1- What is Mike Trout doing on this card?
      A- Preparing to steal either second or third base.
      B- Getting ready to do a squat as it's exercise time.
      C- Preparing to run home to see if he was one of the lucky people on TJ's mailing list.

 2- Mike Trout is looking at?
     A- Noticing where his home run went
     B- The guy in the crowd who is dressed like he's got a role in 'Saturday Night Fever'.
     C- Thinks he sees a fan holding up a banner advertising 'The Junior Junkie'

3- Mike Trout is diving because?
    A- He's a great centerfielder, and all centerfielder's dive for balls when needed.
    B- Sometimes he likes to pretend he's a fish, and the ball is fish food.
    C- He got told that TJ put a surprise for him inside the ball. Only problem is if he dropped it he wouldn't get the prize.

4- Miggy is smiling in the picture because?
    A- He's thrilled that he was the AL batting leader over Trout, and Beltre.
    B- Someone just told him a really good knock, knock joke.
    C- He got one of the packages sent out by TJ, and can't stop smiling. (Notice that Beltre isn't smiling. A sign that he didn't get anything from TJ.)

5- The look on Mike Trout's face can be explained as?
    A- He can't believe that he just stole third base.
    B- He went to an aquarium before the game, and is showing the expression of all the fish.
    C- He's looking into the crowd as one of them is opening a bubble mailer from TJ, and can't believe what he is seeing.

6- After hitting the ball Mike Trout's first thought was?
    A- Is it going to have enough to make it out?
    B- RUN!!!
    C- All those awards, and somehow TJ is still more famous. How did this happen?

7- Upon seeing this card the cat?
     A- Did a quick internet search, and looked up Dizzy Trout.
     B- After the search was left wondering why Topps put Dizzy in a Red Sox uniform being his best years were with the Tigers?
     C- Got a little bit of baseball knowledge that he wouldn't have gotten without TJ putting this card in the mailer.

8- Mike Trout is yelling?
    A- He's excited about a play he was just in.
    B- No one knows this but he's playing Marco Polo, and is yelling Polo.
    C- He's mad at his agent for not telling him sooner about 'The Junior Junkie', and realizes he's missed out on a ton of great posts by TJ. Now he's going to be spending all sorts of time catching up with those missed posts.

9- Mike Trout is thinking?
    A- WOW, that went far! I wonder how many feet that blast was?
    B- What was Yogi thinking when he said "If you come to a fork in the road. Take it!"?
    C- Did TJ really send out all those mailers or has everyone imagined it all?

10- This is photograph of?
       A- The Zephyrs after a big win of a walk off home run.
       B- My New Years Eve party from this year.
       C- DUH! It's a group picture of all the bloggers who got cards from TJ Recently celebrating their amazing treasures.

ANSWERS-- I will keep it simple, and say the correct answer to all ten questions is C

Now add up the total of all correct answers, and this will tell you your Junior Junkie knowledge.

RESULTS
     0-4 ~~ If you scored this low I'm going to say odds are you have never visited the blog 'The Junior Junkie', and need to follow the link to TJ's great blog right now. No need to even read any farther as you should have already gone to his blog. GO! What are you still doing here??

     5-8 ~~ Odds are you know about TJ, and have maybe done a swap with him once possibly even twice. My recommendation is that you go back to 'The Junior Junkie', and work on another trade.

    9-10 ~~ Obviously you were one of the lucky recipients of TJ's awesome mailing. My guess is you were much faster than the cat was at thanking TJ for what he sent. Don't hold it against me TJ as I've got something that needs to be sent your way that will make everything better.

Everything shown above was from the fantastic package sent by TJ. I can't say thank you enough TJ for the cards, and schedules.