A lotta Alous

Catching up on some incoming cards. 

I stumbled upon a lot of 2005 Topps Chrome refractors (seller was breaking up a partial set in chunks of 20-25 cards) and I ended up winning the auction for just a few bucks. I'm a sucker for a shiny card, what can I say. Larry Walker was my main interest here.. glad to add another card from his St. Louis days, underrepresented in my collection. Gavin Floyd was another PC need. The cards of Rondell White, Moises Alou, and Tim Salmon are ticketed for my 9-pocket PC binder.. dudes I don't really collect, but maybe collect just a little.

The rest of the lot is available for trade. Just let me know if you could use any of these '05 refractors.

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Back to the Alou...

Check out this trifecta I've achieved of 2005 Alou refractors! All with the Giants, coincidentally. Sadly, Felipe Alou was not included in 2005 Topps Retired so a brotherly trifecta isn't possible, but his son Moises slots right in with uncles Jesús and Matty. Of course Moises isn't an auto and the one-touch is just for show, as he's now in a page near the front of in the 9-pocket binder.

I've now completed Moises Alou' page since starting this draft. Looks pretty good. The three 1990 cards are from my childhood collection-- one of the few prospects I was "big on" as a kid who actually went on to a solid career. If not for missing two prime years to injury, may've had a strong HOF case. (b-r stats) His 39.9 career WAR tops Harold Baines' 38.7, for what that's worth.

Bottom left is a card made of metal-- I figure bottom left is the most structurally sound pocket for a heavy card like that. Center square is my only Moises auto, picked up in 2017 while smitten with colored-bordered parallels of the 1986 Topps design (big improvement matching team name color to lower border, though the player name in white would be more readable). A couple fun Pacific cards on the right. If I had to give one card here the boot, it'd be the top Stadium Club card. Wouldn't mind swapping that out for a Marlins card (1997, his lone championship) or a Cubs card (the Bartman incident is probably what first comes to mind when I think of Moises. That and peeing on his hands for toughness. Well, I don't actually think of the act of him peeing on his hands, rather just the fact that it was something he apparently did.)

But back to the trio of '05 Alou refractors...

Topps slighted Matty on the back, withholding any red ink stats despite a batting crown in '66 and leading the league in a few other categories in '69.

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Ok, that's all the Alou for today. Now a quick trade recap.

Finally did my first TCDB trade of 2021 thanks to user "hershey" proposing a swap. He sent me a few cards I needed for my Ghostbusters II setbuild, plus a needed Dan Walters card.

Looks like user "bronnerea" set his collection to private on TCDB, meaning I just moved up the leaderboard for several of my PCs. With 25 of 42 Dan Walters cards, I'm now his #1 collector on the site. So that's kinda cool.

I still need eight base cards to finish off 1989 Topps Ghostbusters 2, but at least now I've completed the sticker inserts.

Here are the backs of the 11 stickers. 10 form the puzzle, and one to show you what it looks like. This is a very familiar promotional image for me because I had a real, large puzzle of it when I was a kid. In fact, I still own the box...

I remember putting it together at least once as a kid. All the dark background pieces made for a boring puzzle, honestly, but still a decent way to pass time back in the pre-internet days. I seem to recall the last time I attempted to put it together, one of the dark background pieces had gone missing. I ended up throwing away the rest of the pieces, but hung onto the box for miscellaneous storage since it's cool (used to keep cassette tapes in it until getting rid of them a while back).

Looks like it ran me (or more likely my mom) $5.99 at the corner Longs drugstore.

Hey, speaking of the Ghostbusters, I had been thinking I didn't hang onto any of my childhood Ghostbusters guys, but then stumbled across Peter Venkman in a box of my old stuff the other day. I was inspired to take him into the backyard for a little photoshoot.

Look out, Dr. Venkman! There's ectoplasmic activity afoot.

That's it for today. Happy Friday, everybody.

Sentimental Sundays: my old t-shirt collection

One thing that kinda got dug up during the recent move was my t-shirt collection. Ok, I don't really have a t-shirt collection, per se, but I have a dozen or so old shirts that I don't wear anymore yet keep around for sentimental reasons, so I suppose that could be considered a t-shirt collection. I figured I'd take a few photos and get a Sentimental Sundays post out of them before sealing them back up in storage.

Back in July, posted an old photo of me wearing this shirt at Disneyland in that post about my old best friend Doug moving up to Portland. Quick update on Doug, he's settling in great. Happy to see him already hitting it off with a new ladyfriend. She seems cool, though I haven't met her yet.. damn covid putting a strain on get-togethers. (Doug's ex-wife unfriended me on Facebook soon after they split. WTF? I bit my tongue so many times to keep things cordial with that awful woman, not letting her estrange me from my friend like she did with his family,  and she proves herself to be a c*nt to the end. So glad I don't have to deal with her bullshit ever again.)

Here's another Ghostbusters shirt. This one is actually an old pajama top. Both these Ghostbusters shirts  glow in the dark , and I've now got them on display in my fledgling Glow-in-the-Dark Museum/Bathroom I've got going in the new house. I'll do a separate post on that one of these days where you'll get a look at them glowing.

In high school, Doug and I had a band called The Chifaros. And when I say we were a band, I mean we would just bullshit about all the cool/kooky things we wanted to do when we got our band off the ground, while in reality we only jammed music together once in a blue moon, with results that no one would ever want to listen to. But it was fun to dream. At some point I made this shirt with a photo that was slated to be an album cover, probably wearing it to school once or twice.

I've mentioned that I was into The Draw Squad with Capt. Mark Kistler (a PBS drawing show) in elementary school a couple times on the blog in the past, including the first Sentimental Sundays post and the story of my first TTM request. I'd still wear this shirt today if only it fit me!

Haha, despite all the baggage surrounding Michael Jackson's legacy, this shirt still makes me laugh. This one actually wasn't mine as a kid, but rather it belonged to Doug. I used to give him a hard time about it (this was circa Nevermind when Michael Jackson wasn't cool anymore-- Doug never wore it much since elementary school, but I think he occasionally wore it as PJs through middle school), and one day I talked him into giving the shirt to me to preserve it rather than let him get rid of it. I think I even wore it ironically once or twice before outgrowing it.

Another Michael Jackson shirt! This one was mine, but not from childhood-- it was a thriftstore find during high school. I actually wore it occasionally before it started getting too frayed around the collar. And it was only semi-ironic, more like an obscure Star Wars reference (well, from the mind of George Lucas). I saw Captain EO at Disneyland back in the day, so it was a nostalgic thing for me.

Oh man, this was my coolest shirt as a kid! I remember feeling like a badass when I'd wear it, lol. Not sure if T&C Surf Designs is remembered much today other than maybe for the old NES video game, but back in the day, at least in my So Cal neighborhood, they were among the most respected designer clothes on the schoolyard. See also Stussy, Quicksilver, Rusty, Billabong, and No Fear.

Here's the back. Beautiful, right?! I used this as a rag for a while after retiring it from my rotation, so it's got some stains now.

Mickey Mouse. Wore this one a lot in elementary school.

Name ironed onto the back! Gotta love it.

Hey, here's one that could legitimately have a place in a real t-shirt collection. This is an authentic Late Night with Conan O'Brien shirt that I got from an acquaintance who performed on the show. 

He was the drummer in Dig.

Closer look at the embroidery. I'd say I'm a fan of Conan, though it's been years since I've watched him with any regularity. But yeah, cool to have swag originating from his classic show.

This post is getting long, so we'll cut out with these few more old shirts of mine, each rich with memories.

Do you have any old clothes you don't wear anymore but can't bear to part with?

Thanks for reading.

Sentimental Sundays - 5th Grade Confidential

Time to check out some more of my old crap.

I've still got a dozen or so Micro Machines from my childhood toy collection. I loved the things, but always seemed to me they were more expensive than they should have been. So small, after all! I'm not a big "car guy" but this is a '57 Chevy, right? Cool car. If I won the lottery, I'd probably pick me up one of those to cruise around on pleasant Sunday afternoons.

I've had this lava lamp for a long time. Recently brought it "out of storage" and set it up in my little temporary "work station" area where I do much of my work-from-home stuff. Pretty neat. Also works well as a hand-warmer, as it gets quite hot, but not hot enough to burn you if you want to hold it for a moment.

I never really collected stamps, but the collecting gene was strong enough in me to hold onto interesting stamps that might have fallen in my lap as a youth. The 25¢ Yosemite stamp is uncanceled, though by the back you can tell it's been used. Then there are a couple canceled non-US stamps. I'm sure none of this is worth anything (though I might be able to get away with using the Yosemite stamp as a quarter's worth of postage), but interesting enough not to throw away, I suppose. Not sure how I came into these 2 foreign stamps.. probably an aunt of mine or maybe a family friend sent us a postcard with them or something like that.

Hey, it's my old geode! The perennial "show and tell" standby. Speaking of passive collections of my younger days, I also have a rock collection from back then, and this geode is among the few highlights. It's about the size of a racquetball when the halves are put together. Not super impressive as far as geodes go (Google image search), as it only has a tiny flicker of shiny crystals in there. But still cool to a kid.

Ooh, I'm happy to find this thing-- I hadn't seen it in a while and was worried maybe I had lost it at some point over the years. It's a metal bottle-opener from Peru featuring what I'm guessing is a llama.

I think I've told the story here before about how in Mr. Pedrazzi's 5th grade class, when it was your time as "student of the week" or whatever, you got to pick out a neat item from a small box of goodies Mr. Pedrazzi would bring in. Future ballplayer Marcus Giles was in this class with me, and he got a slingshot that was the envy of all the boys in class. (And we're talking a legit slingshot-- meaning it was a real, manufactured, metal and rubber slingshot, not just a conveniently shaped stick with a rubberband that the rest of us had to be content with.)

The item I eventually ended up with wasn't as cool as a slingshot, but I was still pretty happy with the neat old bottle opener from a distant land of long ago.

No markings on the back, but I'd guess it's probably from the 60s or 70s. I can imagine it cranked caps off plenty of pop and suds in its prime. It's not "in service" currently, packed away with my childhood crap, but I might use it to open a beer later today for the heck of it.

Always loved Ghostbusters as a kid. This Stay Puft Marshmallow Man was a way to sneak a "toy" into my pencil case.

See, it's a pencil-sharpener.


That's probably enough for today. Normally I like to squeeze in something baseball related.. but I suppose I mentioned Marcus Giles, so that's close enough.

Thanks for reading and have a great week.

Halloween Spooktacular

Here are some cards "dressed up for Halloween" (photoshopped to look weird).

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Now it's time for a ghoulish pack skirmish.

2007 Topps Hollywood Zombies Trading Card Pack
 vs.
1989 Topps GhostBusters II Trading Card Pack

Got these both in a recent combined-shipping eBay purchase. As for the Hollywood Zombies pack, the only interest I have is trying to hit a glow-in-the-dark card. And I've got 14 cards left to complete the Ghostbusters II set, so I'm hoping to pull at least one of those needs.

Heads-up, these Zombie cards are very gross. Proceed at your own risk.

A fine woman enjoying a glass of wine wins this round.

Here's a quick look at the backs. I thought it was fitting that this Hollywood Zombies card happens to have a Ghostbusters reference on the back.

Gotta go with sexy-times on the couch.

Wow, that "Drew Burymore" is disgusting. Gotta go with the boring logo card here.

The Lindsay seems to be a foil parallel. Sure, let's give a pity point for the shininess.

I'm not even gonna waste my time straining my eyes on that tiny text. The only Ghostbusters sticker I need at this point is #1, and sadly this is #3.

Ok, that George W. might be the absolute worst trading card of all time.

There is no winner here.

More Ghostbusters cards than Zombie cards. Hey, the gum looks ok.

*crunch crunch*

(I ate the gum. That might be the grossest part of the post to some of you!)

Final bone-chilling result?
I pulled zero glowing cards from the Zombies pack.
I pulled zero cards I needed from the Ghostbusters pack.

Well, that was a frightening waste of $3! Boo! All of these are available, so if you'd like to trade for any, please get in touch to take these off my hands. PLEASE! I don't care what you send me in return, just get these out of my house.

I figure it won't hurt to post my Ghostbusters 2 wantlist here:
Needs: 6, 28, 33, 34, 48, 52, 54, 68, 70, 72, 75, 76, 81, Sticker #1

=---->

World Series stuff!

Back in my World Series preview post, I totally forgot to include the Zack Greinke auto I've got. He nearly had himself a Game 7 to remember, but Houston took a chance on going to the bullpen instead of sticking with him out there. It didn't work out for them.

Congrats to my guy Stephen Strasburg on the Championship and being named World Series MVP! Proud times for SDSU alumni like myself.

For the first time in history, out of the four major professional leagues, Kawhi Leonard and Stephen Strasburg are the first players from the same university to be named postseason MVP in the same season. #GoAztecs pic.twitter.com/EyOT7blwDi

— GoAztecs (@GoAztecs) October 31, 2019

OK, that's it for the Spooktacular. (I'm sorry I didn't finish my big "glow-in-the-dark cards" post in time [I had been planning on posting it today], but it'll be done one of these days.)
Happy Halloween!