Go Figure

Hey all, I'm having a bad time at the moment, hating the hobby and everything else, but here's a draft from last November I haven't gotten around to posting yet.

I try to keep my collection cards-only due to storage/space/money concerns, but occasionally I venture out of the 2D realm and pick up a figure-type collectable. I recently scored a couple that I figured I'd show off on the blog.

I gotta say that I generally don't like Funko Pops. It's specifically the dead, black eyes that creep me out. But occasionally they put one out where the eyes get spared that treatment and those ones typically look ok, like this black suit Spider-Man I picked up recently. My first (only?) Funko.

I'm not in it for the investing, so I unboxed. It has some imperfections anyways.

With great glowing comes great responsibility. This guy has now been added to the glow-in-the-dark bathroom/museum I've got in the works. I already had a glowing Venom comic on display, so I figured a Spider-Man version of that would suit me just fine make a good counterbalance.

When I think of my favorite toy lines as a kid in the mid/late 80s, the crown goes to G.I. Joe and (the Real) Ghostbusters, but MASK is somewhere high in the top 10, too. I didn't realize how popular MASK was until joining a FB join with fans from all over the globe actively collecting the things. Sadly, I didn't keep much of my childhood MASK collection (I owned the big Boulder Hill playset and many vehicles), but I dipped my toe into collecting them as an adult by scoring this Condor recently.

MASK was kinda like a hybrid of GI Joe and Transformers. Army guys with regular vehicles that you could change into weaponized vehicles (and the gimmick was the guys had special helmets). Condor was a motorcycle that transformed into a helicopter. I remember having this as a kid and loved it. I might try slowly rebuilding my childhood collection, picking up the toys I remember having or longing for.

I was really into Pee-Wee's Playhouse as a kid, and still like it a lot as an adult. I had a couple of the toys as a kid. But the toy line didn't come out until season 2, and by then production had moved from NY to LA, and with that change, Captain Carl set sail to never be seen again (as Phil Hartman stayed in New York because of SNL). So when these retro toys were released a couple/few years back, I had to pull the trigger on Cap'n Carl here. (Not exactly a recent purchase, but for the purposes of this post...) It's my first of these type of things, but I can see myself coming back for more at some point.

So there you go. Part of me wants to build a toy collection resembling what I had as a kid-- and what I wished I had-- but man, those pieces of plastic ain't cheap today, so barring a lottery win, I won't be going too hard in that direction. But if anybody has any Star Wars, G.I. Joe, Transformers, Ghostbusters, He-Man, M.A.S.K., Sectaurs, Army Ants, Rock Lords, Visionaries, Go-Bots, Bionic Six, or Pee-Wee toys that you might want to part with for some cards, just let me know.

COBRA!!!!

It's been a while since I've secured a new 2004 Retired refractor. Whenever it happens, I slam my hand down on a nearby red button that sounds an alarm ringing throughout my block and I yell "WE GOT ONE!!" at the top of my lungs, as my wife and dog excitedly dash into the room and we jump up and down for an ecstatic moment before falling into a joyous dogpile. Or at least that's what happens in my mind. In reality I just click a couple buttons quickly with a furrowed brow and then raise a satisfied smile once the transaction is confirmed.

Back in May, I got lucky with a double dose thanks to Hammer and the Duke.. but all was quiet on the western front since then. I consider this my #1 collecting goal and these rare occasions that I get closer to completing the '04 refractor set are probably the biggest kick I get from the hobby.

Dave Parker here takes me into the home stretch, bringing my countdown into single digits. Just 9 more of these beauties left to track down. Plus Cobra is a guy I like/collect, so that makes it an even better pickup for me. Put him in the hall, I say!

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.

Sentimental Sundays: The Return

Remember when I did a few "Sentimental Sundays" posts a couple years ago? Been a while, but I'm going to try bringing those back. It's really just an excuse for me to dig out a box of my childhood crap that I've held onto and feature a 4 or 5 items that I think maybe a couple readers might find interesting.

I've kept the bottle of Mr. Bubble I had during much of my childhood.

But actually this isn't the last one I had. We had a bottle in the early 90s that had an updated label, but you know me, I love vintage.. and I ended up keeping the old one around anyhow, and have somehow kept it still today. There's even a couple uses of bubble bath left in it. Please note that I don't typically keep stuff like this-- that would definitely be hoarding!-- but no, this is one of the few things like this I might have still.

Here's the back. Dated 1987.

I don't remember where I got this pair of carved animals. Probably an aunt of mine took a trip to Africa in the 80s and brought me back these souvenirs as a gift. Sometimes I'd play with them.. you know, like having them attacking my G.I. Joe guys. lol

I believe this is the bowtie that my great-grandfather wore at his 50th wedding anniversary. Pretty cool. It's the only thing I have of his. Never met him, as he died before I was born. But seems like a cool guy. He was a big deal in the plastics industry in Chicago back in olden times.

Fifty years is a long time to be married! His son, my grandfather, also got there. I don't think I'll get to there. Well, I think I'd be 86... I guess that's possible. But hey, nobody's promised tomorrow, right?

But anyways, if I do make it to 50 years married, I damn well better remember to put on this tie.

You know how when you're a kid, any little bit of technical crap like this was super cool. Loved this thing. It was from inside our old garage door opener. The little blue box on the left is super fun to clicky-clacky with, if you know what I mean. I believe that is how you set the code for the garage door opener so that you and your neighbor don't have the same wavelength opening garages. Wow, from looking at the date printed on it, this thing is a little older than me! Also, I love how it's camouflage coloring! Fit right in as a "super computer" while playing G.I. Joes.

I try to include at least one baseball-related item in every Sentimental Sundays post, you know, since this is a baseball card blog after all. Don't want to alienate my base!

This is an antenna topper that was available from Jack In The Box in San Diego. Or was it a stadium giveaway? I'm not sure. Maybe both. I rarely eat fast food these days (my wife is awesome in the kitchen), but back in my bachelor days, a Sourdough Jack Combo Meal was my go-to when I wanted to splurge on something special.

I bet Bob from Best Bubble will like this thing since Jack is blowing a bubble. I don't think I was actually the one who originally got this, but I seem to recall a friend of mine had an extra one and gave this to me, back in the mid 90s.

Last item for today is this vintage Hot Wheels car.. whoo! That's a classic, right there!

Well-loved. This is one of my earliest toys ever.. One of those toys that you've had since further back than you can remember. I added many more little vehicles like this in my youth (many of which I still have stored somewhere), but this was one of the original fleet.

My mom did a thing where she painted a little nail polish on the bottom of my cars so they could be kept track of when I played Hot Wheels with other kids and know which were mine. From an adult collector standpoint, that makes me cringe. It's like parents who put their kid's initials on the back of their baseball cards. Not cool! But my mom never messed with my baseball cards, thankfully. And I suppose if I really cared about resale value of my Hot Wheels, I could probably do some restoration on this, and wipe off that nail polish with some nail polish remover. Searching "Auburn 852" on eBay reveals this is not a high-dollar toy-- one in much nicer condition than mine would likely run you less than $10 shipped. Oh well, it still means a lot to me! I wonder if I've got any "valuable" Hot Wheels. I'll probably keep including them in future Sentimental Sundays and eventually check them out. You guys like Hot Wheels, right?

Anyways, that's gonna wrap things up.

Quick update on my situation, after my stressed-out previous post... I was eventually able to work it out to where I can get much of my work done at home, avoiding leaving the house as much as possible. Still have to pop out once or twice a week, but it's a whole lot better than my usual work schedule before Corona. Trying to do my part in staying home as much as I can while still having a job.

Oh hey, if you're worried about getting mail during this pandemic, here's an article that may put you at ease. (Your mail isn't really a danger to you, thankfully.) I'll try to get some card mailings out to some people over the next week since I'll have some free time later in the week. I know Billy said he doesn't want to receive cards for the moment.. is anyone else among my usually trade buddies also not wanting to be mailed anything right now? If so, please let me know. Thanks, and thanks for reading!

Muppet Babies and Me

I loved Muppet Babies as a kid. Maybe never my #1 favorite cartoon at the time, but at least in the top 5 for much of my childhood. I would love to watch thru it again as an adult, but doesn't seem to be streaming anywhere yet. Disney+ has a recent reboot available.. but it's all CGI and pales in comparison to the real deal in my eyes. But I was able to catch an old episode on YouTube the other day. That got me reading the Wikipedia entry for the show, and now I'm going to squeeze a post out of it.. specifically seeing how many voice actors from the show I have an autograph from.



Voice cast

Greg Berg – Baby Fozzie, Baby Scooter, Dr. Julius Strangepork (archive footage, ep. 107)

Do I have his autograph?

No.

Barbara Billingsley – Nanny

Do I have her autograph?

No.

Dave Coulier (1986–1991) – Baby Animal, Baby Bunsen, Baby Bean Bunny, Baby Janice, Uncle Statler and Waldorf

Do I have his autograph?

Yes!

Katie Leigh – Baby Rowlf, Mrs. Mitchell

Do I have her autograph?

No.

Howie Mandel (1984–1985) – Baby Skeeter, Baby Animal, Baby Bunsen

Do I have his autograph?

No.

Laurie O'Brien – Baby Piggy, Captain Black Wig

Do I have her autograph?

No.

Russi Taylor – Baby Gonzo, Baby Robin, Aunt Fanny, and Camilla (occasionally)

Editor's Note: I'm just now learning Russi died last year. Aw man, I'm sorry to hear that.. loved her!

Do I have her autograph?

Yes!

Frank Welker – Baby Kermit, Baby Beaker, Baby Skeeter (1986–1991), Camilla

Do I have his autograph?

Yes!

Additional voices and performances

Bob Bergen – Link Hogthrob (archive footage, ep. 107)
Peter Cullen – Smoggy the Bear (ep. 33), Football-Playing Bear (ep. 33)
Pat Fraley – Announcer
Jim Henson – Kermit the Frog (archive footage, ep. 45), Dr. Teeth (archive footage, ep. 61)
Tress MacNeille – Skater Kat
Hal Rayle – Miss Piggy (archive footage, ep. 107)

Do I have any of these people's autograph?

Yes!

And there you have it! I own a total of 4 autograph cards of the voice talent behind Muppet Babies. Pretty cool!

Thanks for reading and my best to everybody in these nutty times we live in.

Richie Allen 1969 Transogram

Here's another white whale I snagged recently. A Richie Allen 1969 Transogram. I generally try keeping my collection cards-only, but stuff like Dick Allen toys convince me to make an exception sometimes.

Earlier this year, I picked up a loose figure without the stand or anything, but had been keeping an eye out for an upgrade, or even just a cut-out card from the back. This new-in-box figure popped up from a seller who had a decent selection of these things, and I snapped it up.

Kinda looks like they put some eyeliner on Mr. Allen here, though I checked and all copies are like that, so it wasn't the work of some kid. They don't say "Topps" anywhere, though Topps definitely had a hand in them. Many of the cards feature a tighter-crop of the same photo as that player's standard 1968 or 1969 Topps card, though Richie here does not feature a recycled Topps photo (--however this photo was also used on his 1969 Sports Collectors Photostamp which I picked up a few months ago.)

This yellow-tastic card design saw a bit of a resurgence lately thanks to being used as an insert in 2018 Heritage, where they were generally referred to as "1969 Collector Cards". I guess Transogram doesn't fly in today's social climate. LOL.. "transogram" sounds like a singing telegram from a transvestite. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) Nah, Topps probably just didn't want to use the name of that other company they're no longer affiliated with.

There's what could be considered a "mini" card on the top box label. Sometimes these are cut out and sold separately. I've even seen graded specimens of box top pictures, which seems silly to me. Though yeah, if I were to cut out the card on the back, I'd save the "mini" too before trashing the rest of the packaging.

Here's the bottom. See, no mention of Topps. Made in the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong. Wow, fancy. Notice the 1968 copyright, though I guess they weren't on shelves until after the calendar had changed, as I've only seen them referred to as 1969 online. Looks like there was another series that came out in 1970 that is very similar, but less players (No Richie Allen in the 1970 series.)

Oh wait, here's a pretty informative article from a few years ago shedding some light on these things at Sports Collectors Daily.

For some reason I had it in my head that the boxed figure would be kinda large, similar to a Starting Lineup. But nope, it's a small package, about the size of a juicebox. It's pretty cute, honestly.

I'm glad I already have a loose figure so I won't be tempted to open the box. I might be able to make the case that the figures are actually variations: check out the right sock. The boxed figure is wearing an ankle-guard (or, you know, more likely it was just a little hiccup in the painting process on that one.)

I wouldn't mind scoring a cut-out card someday to file away in the PC. But for now, owning the card as part of an intact package is just fine.

So yeah, very happy to finally get one of these things. Thanks for stopping by.

vintage paper n' plastic

The great Lou Brock here was a nice one to knock off my slow-going 1964 Topps setbuild recently. Its PSA 4 grade ties for my highest in the set with Hank Aaron and Pete Rose (the only other graded card in my set is a 1.5 Koufax). The Brock is well centered and has a clean front, looking to be in pretty good shape for only being graded 4 out of 10.

The back isn't terrible, but somewhat justifies the score by being noticeably off-center to the left and having a dinged bottom left corner (that I feel could be improved by grazing the paper to the outside with your fingernail a little, but I guess that's on the person who submitted it for grading for not employing that age-old trick).
Anyways, this is Lou's last Topps card as a Cub, as Chicago foolishly traded him away in June of that year, to join St. Louis and the likes off...

Bob Gibson! Scored this raw '64 last week for single-digits shipped, which I thought was a pretty good deal, even though it's a bit miscut.

Brock and Gibson would bring home rings in '64 and '67 before meeting up in Cooperstown.

My '64 set is now at 71.48% complete with 168 cards left to go. I'll keep at it and hopefully put it to bed within the next 2 or 3 years.

But the vintage set that I consider my top priority is...

1957 Topps! Here's a "free card" I snagged the other day. eBay did a quick promotion where you could get $3 off anything over $3. I searched for '57 Topps cards in that price range and ultimately found this Bill Sarni need for $3.06 buy-it-now with free shipping. I used the $3-off discount code, plus I got 6¢ eBay Bucks (a.k.a. store credit rebate) to bring me back to neutral. I tend to stick to around a buck per common for my '57 set (at card shows or on COMC where shipping cost is less of a factor), but I "splurged" a little thanks to the promotion.

Reading up on him, Sarni had a heart attack during spring training of 1957 that ended his playing career, so this is a sunset card featuring complete career stats. He went onto coach for a little while then became a businessman.

My '57 Topps chase is neck-and-neck with my '64, currently at 71.46% complete with '57 (verses 71.48% for '64), though '57 has less cards left to go with only 119 (verses 168 for '64).

And the "plastic" mentioned in the post title wasn't just referring to the Lou Brock slab, but also this vintage baseball toy I picked up...

This is a Richie (Dick) Allen 1969 Transogram figure. I first became aware of these things because they originally came with a yellow card you could cut out from the back of the box, which was paid tribute to in 2018 Heritage (You remember those super-yellow Heritage inserts last year, right? Those things.). While "new in box" versions are out of my price range, I scored just the loose toy for under a blaster shipped. Still would like to score an accompanying card one of these days.

Normally I try to keep my player collections "cards only", but Allen is one of my top-tier guys (been a fan ever since I got a ball signed by him in-person as a kid in the early 90s), so I make an exception for him. (I also have a Dick Allen marble that Mark Hoyle gave me.) You can move the figure around at the neck, waste, and arms, but seeing as this is a 50-year old toy, I'll try not to fiddle with it too much lest I break it. But yeah, neat little item.

For scale, here's the figure along with another recent PC add-- the /99 black (or "charcoal" if you ask me) parallel from 2004 Topps Retired.

That's it for today. Thanks for stopping by.