Tony Brings Me Off Hiatus

For almost three weeks now I have been on a sort of writing break. This break has been something I needed to recharge myself. Feeling the need to do some writing again I am back, and ready to go.

After taking this short break it's ironic that my first post would be dedicated to a blog with the name Off Hiatus Baseball Cards. You could make the claim that as bloggers we pick the order we post so it's not really that ironic. You could claim that, but you would be wrong in making that claim. Since starting this blog I have always done my posts related to mail in the order that they arrive.

The one thing you would be right in claiming though is that this hiatus didn't need to be so long. Tony sent the mailer with all these goodies on the 7th, and they were received not long afterwards. With so many cool looking schedules sent by Tony I feel ashamed that it has taken this long to thank him for sending these my direction.

Football schedules are way below baseball in my collection, but schedules like this might close that gap. I've always stuck to the Denver Broncos, Cincinnati Bearcats, Miami Hurricanes, UNLV Rebels, and Utah Utes as the lone schedules. These might break into that small collection if I ever learn how long these were issued.

Even better looking than the football schedules is this 1989 White Sox schedule.It's tough to top a schedule that showcases four classic buttons, a bobblehead, and a couple other classic White Sox memorabilia.

Tony showed that you can top the White Sox with some schedules that showed just how cool being a Brewers fan can be. First he hit me with the always tough to come by regionalized re-elect schedule. In some regions, and for certain teams these are pretty popular. Unless you are connected to someone these are usually very tough to find. It'd be insane if you could find how many of these type of schedules exist that very few even know exist due to no collector living in the region the schedule was released..

Not to be outdone by the re-elect schedule Tony dropped some sweet beer sponsored schedules into the mix. With the beer history in the region how could you not have tons of schedules sponsored by a beer?

The Brewers aren't a one trick pony when it comes to their schedules. Other companies got into the action, but with simpler looking schedules. Sometimes the simple team logo works, especially when you are trying to promote your business through said schedule.

Thank you so much Tony for the awesome mailer. Sorry it has taken this long to show off what you sent.

#walletcard - Kyle's January Adventures

When the idea for the walletcard started sweeping the blogging world. I decided that rather than do the constant posting something like this could become. Each month I would end the month by doing the adventures of Kyle card. That leads us to today's post on what happened to Kyle card for the month.

Sadly Kyle didn't have any sort of a big month of travel or anything exciting like some other have shared. This isn't to say that at some point during the year he won't be popping up in other places as I do have some plans for him. Things are just slow around the cat house right now, it happens.

What he did do was make the weekly trip northbound for the daughter's guitar lessons. Those days are behind him now as the lessons will be on hold for a bit. Outside of those trips he's gone to work with me. He's done the weekly ritual of Goodwill visits, and had a blast doing them.

In honor of the not so exciting month we will see how Kyle is doing.

Looking at the left handed side you can see that the gloss is starting to take a hit. Nothing makes it more obvious than the 1, and spade in the upper left are fading. Compare it to the 1, and spade on the lower right, and it becomes a bit more obvious.

Another hit Kyle has taken isn't showing very well in the scan. On the left, and right around the bottom of his sunglasses. There is a bend in the card that goes to the silver design. This isn't the only bend as the entire length of the card is starting to bend from its location in my wallet. Any time I pull out my debit card the plastic card holder section of my wallet gives Kyle some abuse.

It'll be interesting to see how Kyle looks after five or six months of this type of abuse. For now he's holding up, but shwing the signs of abuse that a card takes being in my wallet.

Sticking Around

While my player collections have gone through some changes for this new year. There are still three guys who remain the core of my collecting. When I decided to get back into collecting, and trying to finish old sets. Running with player collections weren't in the original plan. Since then things have changed drastically, and the players have become the part I enjoy the most.

Wilin Rosario

Deciding to get into player collecting I thought it would be best to do two players from my two favorite teams. For the Rockies I chose Wilin Rosario, and the recently taken out of the loop Juan Nicasio. Interestingly Wilin was going to be a kind of side player with Juan being the star of my Rockies collection. Things changed quickly as Rosario has the cooler looking cards in my opinion. Keeping the auto, patch, and bat cards out of the equation. The Rockies purple catching gear worn by Wilin has given his cards a better look than Nicasio's cards.

From things I have been reading this off season. 2015 will be a huge year for Rosario who will be going through big changes. Colorado signed a new catcher to take over the duties behind the plate, and had shopped Wilin as a trade chip. As time progressed the team began reconsidering the idea as right hand hitters are valuable commodities. Deciding to keep his bat the team has had Wilin work on both first, and the outfield. How well he takes to either position remains a mystery.

Kyle Seager

Much like Rosario was in the players section. Seager was kind of a side player that has risen to top of my collecting. As other players for Seattle dropped out of sight, and have fallen off the wants. Seager has stepped up, and become a cornerstone to the Mariners, and their future plans. All this should lead to some interesting cards coming out for the third baseman.

The downside is we live in the Northwest, and Mariners cards have the regional cost added in. This has meant adding Seager cards can be a little tougher than normal. Other than the few I've gotten in packs, and a miracle find or two in dime boxes. The collection's greatest additions came from a trade with a fellow blogger. Odds are this will continue to be the trend with Seager as he establishes himself as a star for years to come.

 Mike Trout

 

One thing I wanted to do most when I decided to collect players is have a superstar in the mix. At the time it was between two young players named Bryce Harper, and Mike Trout. The decision didn't take too much thought before coming to the conclusion that Trout was that player.

A couple things came into play that made Trout the obvious choice. One was he plays out here on the west coast, and odds are would get more exposure around here. Another was related to my pocket schedule collection. Trout was playing in Salt Lake which happens to be one of my favorite minor league teams. It becomes so much easier to collect a player who's currently on a team you root for. Last was I once bought a pack of Topps minor league, and pulled the Trout card above. This meant I had a starting card for the collection.



How the two new players will blend in with these big three is going to be an interesting question. What I do know is that right now these three are something I enjoy right now. Odds are one day the player collecting might even drop down to just these three players, or a new combination of three players. It just seems that for some strange reason I like to have two lesser guys in the bullpen. Maybe as these three keep establishing themselves that thinking will fall to the wayside. Until then I plan on running with the three main guys, and two in the wings.

Artelopes- Canton Charge

On Saturday I was going to finish up the third post about the player collections. As you can tell by a quick look down, it didn't happen. Then came this morning, and the fact it's Super Bowl Sunday. So instead of doing that post my thought was to run with an artelope return.

Still continuing my attack on the NBA Developmental League. I sent out this request to the Canton Charge who are the league's affiliate of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

For some weird reason I had the idea come into my mind one day to do a Pac-Man chasing ghosts. This could have worked for any team, but I chose Canton. Being they are a basketball team I decided to do the pellets as basketball's to keep with the theme. Another add on was the sword being carried by Pac-Man. The daughter thought it would be a cool addition due to the team's logo having a sword. I think it could have turned out a touch better, but overall it came close to my idea.

As for the return I got the desired results. First off the team included the current season pocket schedule.

Included was the much appreciated business card that was the entire reason for writing the team.  Thanks to the Charge my needs list for the NBA Developmental League is now down to 9 teams. There are still five requests lingering with hopes slowly dimming for returns on all but two.