Ken Griffey Jr auto arrival! (a real nailbiter)

A couple weeks ago, I pulled an incredible Ken Griffey, Jr. autograph redemption card from a box of 2016 Allen & Ginter X. Since redemptions seem to be sent requiring a signature for delivery, I went ahead and had it sent to my work address. This almost backfired on me when it got scheduled for a Friday delivery, which is Veterans Day.. but turns out I don't get that day off work (it was an odd feeling actually being relieved not to get a day off work!), but that ended up being moot as the estimated delivery date got bumped up to Thursday/today. It worked out pretty well and I'll probably start getting more of my important packages sent to work.

Oh so nice! It's a great card and I'm thrilled to have ended up with it.

It's probably my best pull ever.. or at least after the other Griffey auto I pulled last year. I love the thrill of ripping packs, and I definitely have had more than my share of duds (I recently ripped some high-end stuff that was such a huge bust that I don't even plan to blog about it), so it's nice to hit it big once in a while.

This pull is extra special to me because of the backstory around me hitting it. As you might recall, I was ripping those packs to take my mind off a painful finger injury. At first I thought it was just an ingrown nail that would work itself out, but it turned out to be an infection (paronychia) that got pretty nasty. I'll spare you the details or pictures, but essentially the end of my finger swelled up like a purple golfball that hurt like hell. I've been trying to think of a worse medical issue I've ever had to deal with, but I don't think I can come up with anything. I'm fortunate to have lived a generally healthy life. I've never broken a bone, and the only time I've really been "under the knife" is for dental stuff like getting my wisdom teeth removed.

Anyways, how this relates to the Junior auto is when I was at the doctor's office and they were doing what they had to do (again, I'll spare you the gruesome details, but the worst part was the "digital block" to numb my finger), I tried my damndest to keep my mind on the card and how great it would be when it arrived. As the doctor and his student assistant used my hand like a pincushion, I tried to not think about the pain or what they were doing, but rather picture Griffey's sweet swing (and signature) in my mind. It was helpful and I'm very grateful to have pulled that card when I did!

I'm happy to say my finger is feeling a lot better now after the procedure, treatment, and antibiotics, and while it still looks a little "off" it should be back to normal before too long. I've been a chronic nail-biter since I can remember, and nail-biting is what lead to the infection. I'm hopeful that this ordeal will help me finally kick the habit. Definitely never want to go through that again! I've pretty much stopped biting my nails since this all went down. Today I even had to clip my fingernails because they were getting too long... a very rare occurrence for me!! I'm going to do my best to keep it going and be good, hopefully breaking the habit once and for all. Maybe I'm talking out my ass, but I'd say it's tougher to quit biting your nails than it is to quit smoking. With smoking you have to actually go out and buy cigarettes, but with nails, you've got a free unlimited supply literally at your fingertips! haha

So yeah, this is a very special card for me, not just for being the awesome card that it is, but for its important role in a harrowing experience I'll never forget.

Trade with Sportscards From The Dollar Store

Very sad to hear about untimely passing of Roy Halladay today. By all accounts, he was a great guy. Heartbreaking situation.


Here's a quick trade post. The US Postal Service makes it a pain to send packages across the border, but once in a blue moon I sneak a simple PWE out of the country. I did so recently with a few cards to Canada I had been accumulating for Doug at Sportscards From The Dollar Store and he returned the favor with an awesome 4-card blast.

Here's a very regal addition to my Gavin Cecchini PC. And I know Doug is a Mets collector, so I'm extra appreciative that he'd give up this fancy memorabilia card to surprise me with. It's the "Roger Maris eBay 1/1 parallel" too.

A couple 70s basketball superstars on modern cards. Dr. J on a spiffy Select card, and Kareem on a shimmery rainbow die-cut. Very cool.

Finally, Fred McGriff on his Leaf "one true rookie". Man, this card is a long time coming for me. Back as a kid circa 1991/92, I ripped a lot of this product because my LCS had a box and packs were affordable as far as "old stuff" went. Unfortunately I never pulled the Crime Dog Rated Rookie.. the main card I was hunting for. I eventually got the Donruss version (one of my very first pickups after returning to the hobby a few years ago), but still had a simmering hankering for the elusive Leaf version. Doug came through for me. Big thanks, man!

Take care, everybody, and thanks for reading.

Laundry Day on Sentimental Sundays

Time for another trip down memory lane.

Here're some treasured cards from my childhood collection in the early 90s, three players with their '87 Donruss and Topps cards paired up. I was especially proud of the Bo cards back then. They sure were hot for a while. I never had much '87 Fleer back then, as it seemed to command a premium. Poor Rafael Palmeiro really shat away an excellent career right at the end there with the PED stuff. Funny how Barry Larkin wasn't bestowed with the fancy Rated Rookie or Future Stars logos, yet he's the only one out of them that Cooperstown came calling for when all was said and done.

More Bo. I've featured this old Bo Jackson shirt on my blog before. (Looking it up, wow, it was just my 6th post ever, back in 2013, and it's a downer of a post for me now because it also talks about hiking in Punchbowl Falls, which was decimated by a fire started by a punk-ass teen this past summer.) I've had the shirt since middle school in the early 90s and still wore it several times a year (as a sleep shirt). Alas, that ever-expanding big ol' rip across the chest means this isn't viable as clothing anymore. Just wanted to take a last pic for posterity before it officially crosses over to being a rag for the twilight of its life. Pretty sure it holds the longevity record for anything in my wardrobe, as far as things that I wore with any regularity, at least.

More old clothing. These shorts are from high school, circa 1994, and I still wear them (as PJ bottoms in the summertime). That rip by the elastic keeps getting bigger, but it's probably got another year or two left in it. The origins of this go back to when I briefly tried out for the Granite Hills football team. I was among the fastest sprinters on the track team, so the football coach talked me into giving football a try. I think I lasted 2 tryout practices before giving up. I just didn't have the size, endurance, and hands for it. Oh well, at least I gave it a shot, and I've gotten my money's worth out of these shorts that were mandatory for attending football practice.

Jumping to toys, here's a little dragon clip thing. I named this guy "Googlebobber" as a kid; this was years before Google was a thing. Just a dumb little clip toy, but man, I loved that thing!

And I also really loved these Wacky Wall Walkers! I got these as prizes in cereal back in the 80s. It was like pulling a gold nugget out of the box! Just so awesome to a kid back then. For anybody who isn't familiar with these little octopus-like guys, they're made out of semi-sticky plastic, and you're supposed to throw them against a wall and marvel as they slowly crawl down to the floor.

Wait, they glow in the dark?! Even better! I had forgotten that detail over the years, but that was probably another reason I loved these things so much, since I've always been nuts for glow-in-the-dark stuff.

Let's see if they still wackily walk down walls...

Welp, not so much. Haha.

That's all for today. Thanks for swinging by.

Dwight Evans PC

I rarely have the foresight to plan posts in advance, such as doing a PC post for a guy on his birthday. Today is no exception, but hey, yesterday was Dwight Evans' 66th. He's objectively HOF-worthy, but is kinda under the radar these days. He's a guy I really like collecting, but don't have that many of his cards. So maybe this post will inspire readers to fill some holes for me.

Last weekend, I splurged on a couple nice 2003 Retired autos, both the base, then the refractor, and received them in consecutive maildays this week. Great looking cards!

Here're my Dewey cards from the 70s. The rookie card has some kid's name written on the back, but still nice to have a copy in the PC (also have another one in my '73 set). I'm missing '75 and '79 Topps.

Topps cards from the 80s and up. Lots of cards I'm missing here.

Donruss and Leaf.

Fleer and Score.

 

An Upper Deck and some oddballs.

Here's a good one to end on, a 2004 Team Topps Legends auto I picked up a few years back.

I'd definitely be happy to receive any Dwight Evans cards not pictured here in trade. Thanks!

I'm finally out of Prizm!

With the break I'm featuring today, I've officially depleted my Black Friday stockpile of boxes from last year. I'm very happy with how the plan turned out, and proud that I had the restraint to stick to the schedule I came up with. I really enjoyed having a box waiting for me every month. It's nice to have something to look forward to, ya know? I fully intend to keep it going and replenish my supply this coming Black Friday, assuming I can find enough quality deals to make it financially feasible.

One product I will not be likely to purchase more of, however, is 2014 Panini Prizm Perennial Draft Picks. I snatched up several of these boxes last year on sale for less than the price of a blaster each, with the main draw being 3 or 4 on-card prospect autos per box. But now you can bet I'm frickin' sick of these cards and I'm relieved to be done with the boxes. Let's check out what the final box had for me:

Solid showing of autos, with a base, purple (/149), and 2 blue mojo (/75), but no marquee players really jumping out.
Josh Morgan is an infielder in the Rangers organization. He turns 22 later this month and has so far hit .291 as a pro.
Isan Diaz is a 21-year old middle infielder currently in Milwaukee's system. He only hit .222 this past season in the Carolina Leauge, though he did crank 13 taters.
Erick Fedde made his big league debut with the Nats this past season, though the 3 starts he got weren't pretty. Hopefully he can build off that next year.
Jake Stinnett has shown signs of brilliance, including a stint in AA this year giving up just 1 run in 9 games. Could become a valuable arm for the Cubs in the next couple years.

I've now opened nearly a dozen boxes of this stuff, and I'm bummed I never pulled autos of the 2 big names available in the set: Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber. I also didn't pull anything very low numbered (would have loved a "black finite parallel" [superfractor] of anybody).. they must have printed up a ton of this stuff. Oh well.

My colored refractors included Ross Kivett (currently out of affiliated ball), Justus Sheffield (one of the Yankees' top pitching prospects), and ol' Rusney Castillo (stuck in AAA purgatory with his big contract).

As far as the regular refractors in the box, well there's Erick Fedde again. The Minors Gold insert of Joc Pederson is kinda nice in that it's a known guy rather than a "who?" guy. I know the value of Joc's cards has plummeted from their peak of 2 or 3 years ago, but he did just have an impressive World Series performance, batting .333 with 3 ding-dongs in a losing cause, so maybe that'll bump his collectability up a little.

So there you are, hopefully the final break of 2014 Prizm Draft you'll ever see on my blog. Thanks for putting up with it! Have a great weekend, everybody.

Fulfilling the prophesy with Collecting Cutch

Wow, hell of a Series, huh?! Congratulations to the 2017 World Champion Astros. During Game 7, I was compelled to dig out what George Springer cards I could find in my collection. I'm sure there are a few more left to uncover in there as well. I knew I had that 2015 Stadium Club Crystal Ball card-like-thing, but having a gold parallel of his 1st Bowman Card was a pleasant surprise. I might have to start up a little PC for the reigning World Series MVP. As you probably heard, his 5 dingers tied Reggie ('77) and Utley ('09) for the record. Seems like a good dude, too.

Switching gears...
I'm always looking out for good deals on interesting Pirates cards, because you never know when Bob Walk will strike, and I like to be ready with return fire. But a while back, I caught wind that Brian at Collecting Cutch considered Charlie Morton one of his top PC guys. I took a look in my Pirates booty, and sure enough, I had a 1/1 Charlie Morton mini snagged during a Topps Vault sale. Brian has been generous with me in the past, so I surprised him with it plus a couple McCutchen customs I had been meaning to toss his way.

But where it gets impressive is what Brian wrote about the cards I sent in a blog post dated September 12, 2017:

Wow! Nice prediction there, Brian! As we know, Houston did in fact win the 2017 World Series these several weeks later. And wouldn't you know it, Charlie Morton was on the mound picking up the win as he closed out Game 7. Congrats on that!

Anyways, here are some cards he sent me in return.

The star of the show was this gorgeous Dave Winfield bat relic. This is a double bulls-eye for my collection, because not only is Winfield one of my top PC guys, but I'm also slowly working on an Archives Reserve Master Set. Very happy to have this fall into my ARMS!

Big Dave makes another appearance, this time on his classic '76 Topps card. Cool Padres prospect auto, too. I'm not familiar with Kyle Gaedele, but let's look him up. Well, he topped out at AA, then had a solid 2016 for an Independent team, and apparently didn't play anywhere in 2017.

A few other miscellaneous Padres along for the ride.

And a few more cards, highlighted by a nice trio of Cutches.

Thanks, Brian!

He told me there's also one more card with my name on it, a sweet Padres Pantheon card that didn't arrive in time for inclusion in this package, so that should hopefully show up soon. Plus I won another recent contest of his, so I'm also looking forward to that prize arriving. Generous guy, that Collecting Cutch!

Brouhaha of a trade

Excited for Game 7 tonight! While I'd love to stay neutral and not go through the emotional rollercoaster, I'd be lying if I said my rooting interests haven't manifested themselves as strongly pro-Houston this series. But someone really living and dying on every pitch is Bru from Remember The Astrodome. I was happy when he recently reached out to me about some cards wanted to send my way. I hadn't traded with him nor any other Astros fan in a year or two, so I had plenty of fodder in my tradebox to thin out. He hooked me up with a great flat-rate box of cardboard.

Let's start off with a nice lot of '64 Topps. Always love seeing vintage needs in trade packages! Now that I've nearly put my 1965 set to bed, my vintage setbuilding focus is turning to 1964 and 1957. These above get me passed 45% complete with '64. And these are all high-ish numbers too, so all the more appreciated.

Yes! A brick of 1980 Topps commons probably wouldn't excite many collectors these days, but I was thrilled to see this in the box. I was really wanting one more lot like this before I sat down and collated what '80 Topps I've got so far, and was hoping to do it sooner rather than later, so this was perfect. I've now got a longbox of about 600 unsorted cards from the set, though I'm sure that number will shrink down considerably once I pull out the dupes. But still, that puts me in a good place to start getting serious about hammering out this set. Expect a wantlist to pop up before long.

A blank mini?? Ha, no, it's another 2017 Ginter Constellations mini. Sweet!

There it is in action.

In case you were wondering which dipper this is, it's the little one. That checks off another for me from this 10-card insert set, nearly half complete now.

Ok, here's the Bru "haha." I should have known better, but a while back I posted saying something like if I came across a complete set of 1990 Topps at a card show for $5 or less, I'd probably buy it. I stressed that this wasn't an invitation to send me any '90 Topps cards, as they're not worth the postage. But hey, Bru had some room in the flat-rate box, so here's a stack of them. That little son of a gun!

LOL, but no, big thanks for the trade, Bru. I'll be dropping a nice selection of Astros on you shortly, though I want to make it clear that any return you get from me is only for the '64s, '80s, and the Ursa Minor mini. I will never trade for 1990 Topps. Never!