I've been having a rough go of it since my last post. I had a doctor visit a couple weeks ago, just a check-up and to get the ball rolling on scheduling my first colonoscopy. Damn it, I should have masked up. A few days later I got a scratchy throat, and next thing you know I'm dealing with flu-like symptoms. Seems I finally got the covid 19. At this point, I'm just dealing with a lingering cough, and hoping my senses of smell and taste fully return soon. It really sucks not being able to enjoy eating like I used to! My wife soon caught it from me, but at least she was up on her shots, so she didn't get it that bad and retained all her senses.
Anyways, I've been meaning to get this post published for a week or so but haven't been feeling "social" enough to get it to the end zone. Sorry to these guys for the delay in acknowledgement, but I got some cards-- nineteen cards, in fact, which helps justify the post title-- from friends of the blog to post about.
Zippy let me know in the comments of my previous post that I had more cards on the way from Japan, and sure enough they arrived shortly thereafter.
Oh yeah! Here's Yumi Sugimoto and Yu Darvish both looking really nice.
Happy to see rookie cards of current Red Sock Walker Buehler and current Padre Jose Iglesias.
And a selection of Rockies signatures.
Thank you again, Kenny!
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Our mutual buddy known as The Lost Collector also sent a PWE over my way.
It's a bunch of Gavins, providing some PC additions for me. Williams has had a rough start, while Sheets has been playing well and Stone is still injured.
Thanks for thinking of me when you pull Gavins, AJ!
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Last year I entered a Nine Pockets giveaway for a custom Red Hot Chili Peppers card. Tragically, I didn't win. I've had to carry around that loss for a long time, but no longer.
Yeah, Greg generously did another giveaway where the first few commenters could pick from his recent customs, and although he has a bunch of cool stuff available, I requested the '74-style RHCP card, effectively undoing the earlier cold outcome of the randomizer. They've lost me with the past few albums, but up to and including By The Way have some dynamite tunes. Sentimental attachment too, as back in the early 90s, but best friend's favorite band was the Red Hot Chili Peppers and they were the first big "rock show" I attended live, back at the San Diego Sports Arena on the One Hot Minute tour.
Thanks, Greg! If you ever wanna swap customs/cardart, just let me know.
I did a quick swap of unofficial cards with reader David B. who fancied a copy of the Willie Stargell - Braves custom I made recently. In return, I got this pair of old school customs somebody made circa 1970. David didn't have a ton of background into on them, but he had bought a larger lot with several of them on eBay in 2021. The person who originally made them must've gotten pictures from a periodical or book, affixing them onto cardboard and turning them into cards, or close enough. They're just a hair too big to fit in a standard top-loader.
Looks they had been intended to have stats on the back, but the data entry must've ended up being too tedious-- you couldn't just copy & paste back then-- so that section got a purple overhaul instead. But yeah, happy to spice up my Wampum and Hoot PCs with these.
Thanks for the trade, David! Fun stuff.
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I fielded my first trade request on TCDB in quite a while, which is mostly my fault because I haven't added squat to my FT/FS cards there in a long time. But apparently I had a few '72 Topps on there (that I had forgotten about-- in fact I've got a couple different '72 "starter lots" from my dupes that I've been meaning to put on eBay), and a friendly guy with the username aint56cool needed one, offering this pair of 1970 Topps. I gotta admit I haven't been tracking my '70 setbuild on TCDB, I just blanketly added all the semi/high numbers to my wants a couple years back since I needed most of them. And I did in fact need these two. Now just 310 cards left to go. Maybe by the time my retirement benefits kick in, assuming I live that long, I can use that 401k to finance landing a Nolan Ryan and Johnny Bench. lol
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Next up is a surprise mailing I received from Japan.
Imported fresh! Love the early Darvish, and always down for an attractive lady on a trading card.
Zippy Zappy didn't include a note this time, but I'm assuming these were some leftover stragglers from the tail end of his through-the-mail autograph acquiring activity, with his budding Rockies fandom apparent with his lot of fellas. You may recall ZZ decided to tighten up his collection a while back before escaping America, jettisoning his non-personalized TTM returns, much of which has been entrusted to me. Happy to add these to the hoard.
Thanks as always, Zippy!
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Ok, those were the "incomings", now for the "outgoings".
The Mark Fidrych Memorial Bird Feeder (a.k.a. The Bird Birdfeeder) has closed for the time being after about 2 years serving neighborhood feathered friends. Squirrels had occasionally been a nuisance in the feeder, but a recent late night rat sighting forced the closure, as I don't want to be supporting unwanted rodents on my property. I'm hoping to "reopen the restaurant" at some point, perhaps in a different spot. Anyways, the above card was the featured entertainment for the birds to enjoy while they ate. It's faded in the sun somewhat, but there's still some yellow hanging on.
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Sad to hear Val Kilmer passed away the other day, though I know his health had been in the toilet for the past several years. He did a lot of great work, from his early quirky films to the big-budget stuff. I watched his documentary a couple years back and he really was a fascinating dude. Anyways, this above Ginter auto is a cherished piece of my collection, scored in a blogger trade back in 2016. (Bubba, are you still out there?)
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Now an update on my "latest art drop".. the silhouette cards from my previous post. Happy to report I sold out the Rickey Henderson cards within 48 hours! Interest was not nearly as robust with the other two featured athletes, however. So far I've moved just one Bo Jackson and zero Jordans.. kinda surprising to me, as I think they're super cool, but that's just how it goes sometimes. (Update: just sold 4 more Bo cards to one guy but don't feel like rewriting this paragraph.) Both Jordan listings had a weird thing where the listing didn't show up on the site until a day later, despite showing as active on my end. Not sure if that was a technical hiccup, or if perhaps listings mentioning 1986-87 Fleer Michael Jordan have a higher rate of getting flagged for moderation since counterfeits are so rampant with that card. But anyways, they're available now and we'll see if folks eventually start coming around to them.
But my takeaway is that the market for Rickey cardart/custom stuff is strong, which is cool with me. I already had more Rickey stuff in the works anyways, so I'll continue that route, and spend less time on making new Bo and Jordan cards. (I also have plans for more subjects-- already made a Tim Flannery '88 Fleer silhouette card for Rod, plus a few Barry Bonds ideas for my guy who buys most Bonds cardart I whip up. [Though he passed on the pair of Christmas tree ornament cards. Maybe he doesn't celebrate? Fair enough!])
Also, the glowing cards did well-- they seemed to be among the quickest Rickeys to go, and the first Bo sale was a glower-- so I'll likely focus on more g.i.t.d. cards, which are my personal favorite anyway.
In fact, here's a sneak peek of my latest finished item with the lights out...
I'm still coming up with new ideas, as well as sitting on some good ideas that have been brewing on the backburner for years, so even if you don't dig the silhouette vibe, your boy Gav has more tricks up his sleeve, don't you fret. Thanks for following along!
