P-town Tom - Where Are They Now?

Here's an idea I've been kicking around for a while: A blog series checking in with some of my favorite former/dormant cardbloggers. To me, the glory days of cardblogging were the mid 2010s (I hear the aughts were a lot of fun too, but I hadn't returned to collecting yet then). Lots of trading, learning about cool cards, and making new online pals through the hobby.

Keeping a blog active is a commitment, of course, and it's sad but usually not too shocking when somebody decides to give it up. Sometimes they say goodbye, other times the "next post" just never comes. Used to be you could probably keep in touch with them via other social media, but with Twitter getting all musky and Bluesky failing to recreate the better times, those lingering connections are harder to maintain.

So yeah, figured I'd reach out to some friendly names of the past to see if they'd like to be featured in a "Where Are They Now?" post. It's daunting for me because there are probably a hundred such people I'd love to hear from, and I didn't want to just send out a mass email to everyone at once. So for a first batch, I started by narrowing down to the Chicago-centric folks (e.g., Cubs fans, plus Jedi Jeff representing the south side). Looks like I may need to take another pass at drafting the message, as I only got a single response. But the good news is it was a terrific a response.

P-town Tom launched his blog Waiting 'til Next Year in 2011 and kept up posting consistency for a decade or so. Just a solid dude who always seemed to have something interesting to say. Often left thoughtful, encouraging comments on other blogs, too. I think I speak for all of us around back then when I say he's sorely missed on the scene today. The current most recent post on his blog is recapping a Zapping from April 2025, so not ancient history. In fact, after receiving Tom's substantial response, I had to encourage him to turn it into a new post on his own blog, though he generously chose to stick to the plan of guesting here.

Without further ado, let's check in with P-town Tom!

I loved my time blogging and all the friendships I made along the way. When the Cubs won the World Series in 2016 I kind of lost my way for a bit. I had spent so many years cheering on my team to a championship... I didn't really know how to respond when they won it all. My consumption of all things MLB related took a serious step backwards, including card collecting and blogging. Not helping matters, I felt the Hobby was at a crossroads: Collectors vs. Investors. I'm a collector in the truest sense of the word and I felt I was being squeezed out. I miss ripping cheap product, without chase cards, to complete a set. Are there even set builders out there anymore? I digress. I still have all my cards... my Folder of Fun, my HOF collection (which I keep up to date), my Vogelbach collection & ect. I feel the urge to open packs I typically will watch single pack rips on Youtube. 

What have I been up to? I'm still teaching high school math, primarily Calculus and Geometry. I was the math department chair the last seven years, but have taken a step back this upcoming school year. In the fall I coach the 6th grade baseball team at one of the middle schools in the school district. Coaching that age of athlete is so much fun and so rewarding. In the spring I'm the high school assistant varsity baseball coach. We've had a combined record of 86-23 the last three seasons, which I'm pretty proud of. Coaching baseball takes up much of my time in the fall and spring, but I truly love the game and it's the best way for me to personally stay connected to the game. 

 

Team picture from the past spring when we clinched the conference championship (I'm on the far left)

 

I'll be celebrating 22 years of marriage to my amazing wife this summer and we still call P-town Home. We still have the same two cats, Hugo & Holiday, who have been around since I was last blogging fulltime. I became a Bradley University basketball season ticket holder with my sister. NIL and the transfer portal means we're learning a whole new roster next year. I also joined a bowling league and my team, a coed foursome, has won the league championship two of the last three years. I lead the league in average each of the last two years!

 

I still add cards here and there, but it's really slowed since Dan Vogelbach cards stopped being printed. Here's a few I've picked up this year: 

 

 
A) I've been following the Cubs' 6th round pick from the 2025 draft, who was given a record two million dollar signing bonus to pull him away from his college commitment. Josiah Hartshorn didn't make his professional debut until 2026, but the switch hitting outfielder has already been promoted to High-A. Great strike zone discipline, good power, okay defensively. He's currently being comped to Joey Votto. We'll see! 

 

 

B) I've been chasing Vogelmonster whales. Dan Vogelbach retired and is now an assistant hitting coach for the Brewers. Since there aren't dozens of parallels to chase anymore I have spent my limited resources filling in holes in my PC. I've only been able to find three new-to-me Vogelbach cards this year, but one of them is a 2013 Bowman Sterling Canary Diamond Refractor dual auto with Anthony Rizzo. I've been chasing that card for 13 years! It's numbered  3/3, so it's a big get. I bet the other two are with Rizzo collectors. 

 

 

 
C) Ohn Scoggins. I probably should have started with this from the top, but I've played over 180 rounds of disc golf each of the last two years. I love being out in nature, playing with friends, and trying best my previous rounds. I also volunteer each year as a spotter when the Pro Tour makes its way through through the Peoria area. I'm not a big thrower off the tee, but I'm a pretty accomplished putter... much like my favorite player. Ohn is one of the biggest stars on the female side of the tour, definitely the one with the most positive energy, and the one I model my game after. I've bought three cards of hers over the last six years, but only when they strike my eye. 

 

 

Hugo (tan) and Holiday (gray) reminding me that it's dinner time.

 

Big thanks to P-town Tom for taking the time to let us know what he's been up to. With all that going on, it's no surprise he doesn't have much time to carve out for drafting up blog posts these days. But if/when he finds himself with more downtime and drive to blog, us guys still here will be thrilled to read whatever he has to write.

That'll wrap up this inaugural Where Are They Now post. Who do you think we should try checking in with next?

Keepin' at CardArtin'

When Ruby is at doggy daycare-- because otherwise she'll rarely let me focus on a project for long-- I still spend much of my spare time working on CardArt ideas. I'm now in my 4th year of being a dedicated wanna-be "artist / creative-type" and while I would have liked to be in a better position by this point (grown a little fanbase, see consistent sales, etc.), I keep at it. It's humbling when I whip up something I think is really cool, but then I can't find anyone who wants it. I make a sale from time to time that keeps me from getting too down about the situation overall and I'm still optimistic my stuff might "catch on" at some point, but even if this never becomes a financially-rewarding use of my time, it's a hobby-within-a-hobby that I don't plan to quit anytime soon.

Recently it hit me that it's probably some sort of midlife crisis thing driving me. Like.. I never had children, or had a profession/role that really positively impacted anyone, or even done much charity/volunteering. Realizing I don't have much of a "legacy" to remember me by has started to weigh on me as I get older. And so I guess I figure if I can tweak a baseball card in an interesting way and it finds a "forever home" filed away in some guy's massive player collection, then in some small way I'll have made a mark that will live on after my time on earth wraps up. Or something like that?

And as long as I'm opening up...

June 2026 saw some turnover in my extended family. My uncle Ed passed away the first week of June after months of declining health. He had been semi-estranged most of my 20s and 30s, but thankfully reconciled with the family in the past few years. The last time I saw him was at my cousin's kid's wedding last summer. That happy young couple just now welcomed their first child, son Lewis, on June 30th. 

Real "circle of life" vibes for me, losing the family's de facto patriarch and gaining a new baby boy within the same month. And believe it or not, I've been the "baby boy of the family" my whole life. Baby Lewis is my first male blood-relative who's younger than me, after a few girls leading the way for the next generation. I know it's a long shot these days, but fingers crossed little Lewis grows up to be a baseball fan, as it'd be nice to have somebody penciled in to leave my card collection to once I'm no longer around to enjoy it. (It really seemed like my wife's brother was bound to pop out some kids [unlike my wife who's always been quick to shoot down any talk of her ever becoming a mom] -- and I was excited to be the fun uncle-- but now he and his wife are deep into their 30s, and travel the world whenever they have time off, no indication of settling down as parents, so it's not looking good as far as an heir on my wife's side who might want my shit.)

But enough introspection, let's check out some junk wax I've gussied up!

Here's a page worth of Griffey, specifically his 1991 Topps All-Star card reimagined into some parallels-that-never-were.

 
Ryne Sandberg getting the '91 AS treatment too.

And here's fellow Cubs great, Andre Dawson. 1993 Topps Black Gold inserts are fun sentimental favorites for me to mess with.

Here's a page of Robin Yount 1988 Topps remixes. 

Late update to the post: 1987 Topps Ozzie Smith. Love doing the "full wood" treatment with '87 Topps (and they often look better with rounded corners).

 

1988 Donruss like you've never seen it! Imagine back in the day if these things were randomly inserted one per case or something. That'd be a fun chase.

Tony Gwynn minis! Did you immediately clock the source of this Tony? It's from the 1988 Topps "Padres Team Leaders" card, with apologies to Benito Santiago who gets cropt out for the mini refinement.

Maybe you remember a few years ago when there was a stack of 1990 Leaf Tony Gwynn cards making the rounds from Rod to Fuji to me? I've finally started doing something with them!.. 

Only doing a smaller segment like that as opposed to covering the full card means these are quicker and cheaper to create, which should help me work through the stack.. Still like 50 "blanks" left! I think my plan is to make a listing for Gwynn cardart like these where I ask $3.94 for each (maybe $6.19 for the fuller ones), with the majority of the profits going to a San Diego area charity.

 

Your mental health probably just bumped up a notch after seeing that many smiling Rickeys. I might try to keep these together as a 9-card display. Sometimes a group of Rickeys just looks cool together. Like..

This 4-card display of a blinged-out 1992 Score is likely bound for eBay eventually, but I liked it so much that I'm enjoying it up on my own wall for the time being. I need to get better at making videos so you can see it actively shining in the light. It's a treat for the eyes!

There you have it, highlights of my creative efforts from the past several weeks. If something caught your eye-- or you think to yourself, "I bet Gavin could make some cool versions of my favorite junk-era cards for my PC..." and want to trade me something cool to make that happen.. just let me know. The Younts are already up in my eBay store, and I'll likely get around to adding the rest soon enough. (But again, I prefer trading for stuff on my wantlist, and I really only sell cardart on eBay because that seems like the distribution method of least resistance.) And as always, thanks for taking the time to check out my blog.