Austin Hatch

Sad news in the University of Michigan family.  Austin Hatch, who has committed to play basketball at the U of M in 2013, is in a medically induced coma after the plane his father was flying crashed into a residential garage.  His father, Dr. Stephen Hatch and his stepmother, Kimberly Hatch were killed in the crash.  Here’s a link to the story from indiananewscenter.com. 

Austin and his father were in a plane crash before when his father clipped a power pole back in 2003 where he lost his mother, brother, sister and family dog.

They have set up a page for you to visit and I think you can donate on that page as well.  http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/AustinHatch

Michigan is working with the NCAA to figure out what all they can do to help without violating in NCAA rules.  Michigan has done this with another student, actually a brother of a student athlete, Brock Mealer in the past.  They helped him from being told he’d never walk again, to leading the team out on the field.  Read the story here.  I was at the UCONN/Michigan game where Brock walked out onto the field.  I cried at the ovation he received.

These kinds of stories get lost with all the NCAA violations and players in trouble.  I’m sure every school has them, these are a couple of Michigan’s.  Keep Austin in your thoughts as he recovers from this tragedy, both physically, and mentally from losing all of his family.

Contest winner

I got my winnings from Matthew over at “Number 5 Type Collection” for a contest he had in honor of Father’s day.  All you had to do was comment on the post of what your and your father’s favorite baseball team was.  For those that don’t know, my father was a die hard Cubs fan.  It was a great idea for a contest and I really enjoyed reading other comments, some with stories of their fathers.  Here was my comment.

My father was a die hard Cubs fan but he past away when I was 8 and so did his influence on me.

My whole neighborhood used to play sports in accordance to the season outside. During the summer's, we'd be playing baseball and everything would stop so the Cubs fan's could go watch the game on WGN. I never wanted to stop playing so I grew to hate the Cubs.

I stopped watching baseball all together after the strike in 1994. A few years later, when I started watching again, I grew to love the White Sox. And have ever since.

My mom tells me that one day I'm going to wake up and my dad is going to be standing at the foot of my bed, in full Cubs gear with a disappointing look on his face.

That’s pretty much the long and short of it.  I don’t, however, hate the Cubs anymore.  To me, they are just another team.  Most White Sox fans hate the Cubs, and I’ve gotten into this argument with Sox fans before, but if you don’t live in Chicago, you don’t really have the hatred for the Cubs.  I love to beat them, because as I’m not real far from Chicago (100 miles) so there are a crap load of Cubs fans here (including the majority of my family.)  I hate their stadium and I hate a lot of their obnoxious fans, but I don’t hold that against the team.  Personally, I feel sorry for their fans but that’s another story.

Sorry, I got sidetracked there.  Here’s the loot sent over from Matthew.  The prize was some cards from the teams in your comments.

All the Sox are cards are new to my collection and the Cubs cards are available for trade.  I really loved the prize, nice touch with all the vintage especially the 1955, which became my oldest White Sox card.  So, my question to you Matthew is, the 1972 Topps (NL Pitching Leaders) has Fergie Jenkins, so therefore is a Cubs card, but did you notice that Tom Seaver is on that card as well and did you know that he is a player I collect?  Whether you did or not, I loved the card.  As well as all the other vintage.  Everybody check out his blog over at “Number 5 Type Collection”

I like this card, and others

Wife and kids were gone, no one was home. So on my way home from work I decided to stop at a pawn shop that says they buy coins just to look in and see if they had any cards. I walked in and rather than waste my time browsing, I asked the guy behind the counter if they sell sports cards, he started to go on about how the prices had dropped, ect, ect. so they don’t buy them anymore. I looked at him and asked “so that’s a no?” He seemed kind of mad but I know about cards, and all I asked was whether they sell them or not. I don’t need a rundown on why he doesn’t buy them. It’s not like I walked in with a huge box of cards asking him to buy.

Anyway, I left and headed up the road to a place that buys and sells DVDs/games/CD’s. You know the kind of place. He has some cards there as well as comics and previously I’ve bought a 600 count box of 1970’s cards for $8 back when I sold on Ebay, made that money back easy. He was advertising a sale on comic books and when I asked about the boxes of cards he said they were on sale. They are normally $1 boxes but with the sell and nobody waiting on me at home, I figured I’d go through and see if there was anything. And there was.

First I’ll show the trade bait, all are available.

I picked up all these just because who can resist these vintage oddball(?) cards at the price. Stan Musial (1975 TCMA), Carl Yastrzemski and Joe Morgan (1977, not sure what they were cut off of), Hank Greenberg (1974, TCMA), Bob Feller (1975, TCMA (1954 Cleveland)), Tris Speaker (1977, TCMA (1920 Cleveland)), Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio (1977, TCMA), and Ty Cobb (1980, TCMA). Most are in really good condition which makes me wonder whether or not they are fake or something else, but I’m not sure why someone would fake these. Either way, they were cheap.

A couple more vintage, Thurman Munson (1976 Topps & 1978 ?), and the 1972 Dodgers rookies (Charlie Hough, Bob O’Brien, Mike Strahler) All 3 are available for trade.

And some more trade bait. I realize that these aren’t high dollar but I was surprised to see them in a $1 box, just because he’s not really a card dealer, I figured his prices would be higher than normal. Cory Aldridge, Adam Pettyjohn, Travis Hughes, David Espinosa (2002 Select Rookies & Prospects autograph’s), Chris Seddon (2007 Bowman Signs of the Future), Danny Peoples (1997 UD SP prospects autograph), William Bergolla (2004 Playoff Honors autograph #’d /1000) and a Carl Yastrzemski (2005 Upper Deck Classic Season game-used jersey)

But of course, they main reason I stopped was to boost my PC’s. So here they are.

I really liked the Hoyt Wilhelm (1967), and the Al Lopez (1960), both are 1st’s for those years. Both the 1975’s are mini and I’m not sure what the Luis Aparicio is. All it says on the back is his name, No. 6 of 33 photos, and T.C.G. So I have no idea of the year or make of the card. Just that it’s an Aparicio and it’s from Topps. So any help there would be appreciated.

A Sox rookie auto #’d /500 (Ryan Meaux) who I want to say isn’t even in the organization anymore but I’m not positive about that. I seem to remember him getting traded. A Shingo Takatsu jersey, who? Unless you’re a Sox fan, you probably don’t remember him. But he was a very effective closer, for a year anyways. I want to say he closed for us in 2004 and was our starter at closer in 2005 but was replaced, because he sucked. Eventually, we ended up with Bobby Jenks who took us to our World Championship that year. Sergio Santos autograph. Can never go wrong with a Michael Jordan card, even if it is a baseball one. A Tadahito Iguchi refractor. Who was a huge part of our 2005 World Series run at 2nd base. But was our #2 hitter, Scott Podsednik got on, a lot. And Iguchi moved him around the bases, a lot. We don’t win the WS that year without his bat. Jim Thome jersey, who is an all around nice guy. I always wish him well where ever he plays, even in Minnesota, except when they play us. And I can also use your help on the last card. Michael Jordan & Frank Thomas. I’m guessing it’s a 1991 as it has Thomas’ stats from 1990. And under Career Highlights for Jordan, it’s all basketball, and says led the Bulls to a 90/91 Championship, no mention of the other 5. I think it looks a lot like the 1986 fleer but it has no mention of a year or manufacturer on the back. So again, any help would be appreciated.

My favorite card, and if you didn’t notice, I didn’t say anything about it up there is this one.

Sergio Santos. If you’ll notice on this minor league card, he’s listed as a shortstop. He couldn’t make at short so he converted to a pitcher a few years back. And the White Sox are glad he did. He is currently our closer after Matt Thornton’s struggles earlier this season. In only his 2nd year in the big leagues, he has become our closer. I couldn’t believe when I saw this autograph in the $1 box. Love this card.

And I was able to pick up a few for my player collections.

A 1981 Donruss and a 1977 Topps of Tom Seaver. If I remember from back when I used to collect. Seaver has another 1981 Donruss card. Never could figure out why some player got 2 cards but I know I used to have both, as well as the 1977.

And a couple of Konerko’s to finish off this very long post. A HR Kings insert and a rookie card.

These were most of the cards purchased, but I actually purchased other Sox cards (Thomas, Mags, a couple of Fisk’s and a Baines) I also purchased all 5 of the Sammy Sosa rookies (I really didn’t want to, but they were Sox cards) and a couple of his 2nd/3rd year cards. So not pictured, I had another 13 cards. And what did I pay for all this card goodness? Got a guess? Anybody? Answer – Just over $20, $20 and some change to be exact.

So if you want some of the trade bait cards up there or you have some help for me on the couple of cards I was lost on, leave me a comment or email me (jccsst1022 at gmail dot com). Hopefully you stayed with my post long enough to read it all.

My Sports Obsession

     

You may remember a little while back where I wanted to    rename my blog due to I actually have people that read it now, or at least follow it anyways.  So I’ve been thinking for a bit and was trying to incorporate the Chicago White Sox, Michigan Wolverines and the Indianapolis Colts.  And that wasn’t working at all, just couldn’t come up with anything that I liked.  But I couldn’t see past trying to do that until early this morning, approximately 5am when I woke up out of a dead sleep and remembered I hadn’t turned my alarm on for work.   So I got up, turned the alarm on, and now I couldn’t sleep because I was jolted awake.  I just laid there and other ideas started flowing through my thick head.  And I got away from the team names and went another route.  And the final name represents exactly what it is.

My Sports Obsession

It works in a couple of ways, I love sports and my sports obsession would be the cards that come with it.  It also made sense because sports cards have almost always been in my life in one way or another.  I started collecting as a kid, I’d guess in 1981 because I had a crap load of the Topps cards with the hats and team names that we all know.

As a kid, the whole neighborhood collected, along with my brother and 2 cousins who are more or less brothers.  So there was all kinds of trading going on back then.  We used to ride our bikes down to Hooks Drugs in town (about 3 miles) and buy .35 packs of the infamous (now) 1987 Topps.  I had so many freaking wood bordered cards it was ridiculous.  I remember buying packs, coming home, opening them up carefully, taking out the good cards, replace them with more commons and seal the pack back up with an iron and sell them to the younger kids in the neighborhood.  Not proud of it now, but I did do it.  I remember having binders and binders of cards just of the players I collected.  I’d have a whole page of 1 card with some of them.

I’d hit 2 or 3 card shows a month in my later teens.  I’d hit all the card shops through the area every week, buying whatever I could of the players I collected or my all time favorite, opening packs.  Card shops were great back then because you can buy a pack of this, and a pack of that, and a pack of those.  This was before memorabilia cards were so huge and you didn’t have to worry about people taking out the hot packs because there really wasn’t such a thing.

This slowly died as I entered adulthood, I still bought packs and still had a lot of cards but I did little with them anymore.  In 1994, when the players went on strike, I was pissed.  I didn’t understand why it happened nor did I care, all I knew was there was no baseball.  I took all the cards out of my binders except for anything worth $1 or more (back then, those were the good cards), put everything in boxes and cases that I pulled out and then gave them to a lady’s kid that my mom worked with.  He was a youngster and was just getting into collecting cards.  I can’t imagine what his face looked like when he saw the thousands upon thousands of cards that I just gave him.

That was it.  I didn’t watch baseball, didn’t do anything with my cards for years.  4 years to be exact.  Until the HR chase of Sosa and McGwire in 1998.  I started watching with awe at this chase as they were approaching Roger Maris’ mark of 61 and kept watching as they went past it.  I remember watching the last series for both players, it was the Cubs vs. Cardinals, the final weekend of the season, the 2 prolific HR hitters were going against each other to finish the season.  I was rooting for McGwire, never been a fan of Sosa.  McGwire was always a power hitter where as Sosa was a 5 tool player.  That is until he started pounding out homeruns and lost the other 4 tools.  I didn’t like that, HR are impressive, but give me a 5 tool player any day.  He sacrificed his game to have all that power and I didn’t like that.  Of course, we know a lot more about both players than we did back then.

So after that race, I started to buy cards again (1999’s).  By this time I was married but didn’t have any kids, so I just bought here and there and started to amass quite a good collection.  I remember having 30+ binders of players I collected and boxes upon boxes of common cards.  I didn’t have anybody to trade with so what I bought, I kept.  I got back into baseball too, started watching all the time.  I hated being on 3rd shift at that time because I could only watch the beginning of games and then would have to go to work.

Then in 2002, we were getting ready to have a baby.  We had to move into a bigger place and of course, with a baby, becomes a lot more stuff you have to buy.  So I quit buying cards for awhile and it didn’t matter, we were getting broker and broker by the day.  So I checked out this website where everybody was selling stuff to see what it was all about.  Next thing I know, I’m in the process of listing all my cards on ebay.  I ended up selling every one of them within a few months or so.  The money came in handy, but I missed my cards.  Eventually I got over them and moved on.  I still watched baseball with a passion, but I still got the itch to open some packs.  As a kid, I would dig into my cards before a game and layout the lineups to the teams I was getting ready to watch on TV.  Every time I watched a game, even to this day, I think of doing that.  I haven’t, but the thought was always there.

Eventually it got to the point where I started buying cards on Ebay and then turn around and sell them.  I was still getting the rush of buying and having cards but as long as I broke out even when I sold them, I didn’t lose money.  Or that’s how I justified it to my ex-wife at the time.  I did this for many years, I would buy blasters and packs and such.  Sell the good cards and keep the base and inserts until I had 20 or so of a certain player or team, then sell those off as lots on Ebay.  The best pull I ever had was a Hideki Matsui auto in his rookie year.  If I saw the look of the card, I could tell you what year and manufacturer it was but I’ve looked for it and I don’t remember what it was.  It also marked the first time I sold on the international market of Ebay as well.  I ended up getting almost $300 for the card that I pulled from a $20 blaster, probably from Meijer at the time.

I did the buy/sell thing on a limited basis for awhile, really up until I started reading other people’s blogs and started my own as well.  And you should know the rest.  I started to collect my teams and players that I collect and started to trade off the cards I didn’t want.  And I’m having as much fun now as I did as a kid.  I wish I could put more money into my hobby but that just isn’t possible at this time, maybe in the future.  Because as you can tell, past and present, sports and sports cards were there, so they will probably be there in the future as well.

Photo Cleansing #5

Sox and Cubs played this week, first time in a long time that they played during the week that I remember.  Cubs took the 1st game after the Sox took an early 3-0 lead.  They came back and scored 6.  Sox took the next 2, both by 1 run.  Both big outings by the bullpen.  They keep pitching like that and this team can definitely contend for the division.

At the Sox game last night, AJ and Peavy got into something on the field and dugout.  It looked like Peavy pointed to AJ as he was coming off the field and said something, then at the end of the inning, they are seen having a “discussion” in the dugout but before it became more, AJ pulled Peavy back into the tunnel away from cameras and finished.  After the game, during interviews, they both answered questions about it.

AJ’s answer -

“Well, we were talking about Alabama vs. Florida,” Pierzynski said. “He has bragging rights because Alabama beat them the last couple times. That’s about it.”

Uh huh!  AJ, sure it was.  Here was Peavy’s answer -

“Me and A.J. were actually arguing over who is the better hunter,” Peavy said. “AJ went on a safari this winter. I claimed to be a real hunter, although I can’t say I’ve been out of the states. We got in a pretty heated discussion. He’s harvested kudu and a lion. I like to harvest white tail deer. We were kind of going over that. You know how that stuff goes.

“But listen, we are just competing and it’s going to happen from time to time. We are both very passionate people. A.J. won us a ballgame tonight. There was no ill-will, nothing. It’s part of playing the game and being a part of a team.”

Now both these guys are gamers, so I don’t think this was a big deal and this will be the last of it, other than all the questions from the media who probably won’t leave it alone.  I think I read that Ozzie said it had something to do with a pitch call.  Either way, I love that they are keeping it hush, hush just so it doesn’t get all blown out of proportion.  I believe it was just a quick argument and nothing will come of it.  Both these guys go at 100% and play harder than anyone so things like this are going to happen.  But they are both good clubhouse guys and will continue to be that.

Saw this photo on another blog.  This is a really cool sky around a really nice ballpark.  St. Louis’ new Busch Stadium is surrounded with brick and iron fence.  The diamond is below ground level so you walk out close to the top of the stadium.  It has a very traditional feel to it while still being a modern stadium.  I’ve been to the old Busch Stadium a bunch of times, but only the new one once, so far.  My grandparents lived outside St. Louis for awhile, I would call down and have them get my tickets (before the internet was so handy.)  Even went to a Cubs/Cardinals game which is supposed to be one of the huge rivalries of MLB.  I always had a good time there.

This is just hilarious.  If you don’t know what it’s about than you haven’t been following college football at all.

The following commercial is also hilarious.

Coming this fall to DirectTV the Manning brothers star in Football Cops: “Nobody Escapes The Long Arms of The Law.”

….Mike Tahoe (Peyton Manning) was living the dream as a big league quarterback, until a personal tragedy brought him back to the mean streets of his childhood. Vowing to bring those who wronged him to swift justice, he enlists the help of his best friend, and biggest rival, C.J. Hunter (Eli Manning). Both grew up together as orphans in a home for wayward boys. Both overcame the odds to become huge sports stars. Now both are the only hope for the rugged streets they once again call home.

And this wouldn’t be a photo cleansing post without the usual vintage Jordan pic.

For those of you still reading this, and haven’t been following me on Twitter.  I have been on Zistle trying to get all my cards posted.  All my collections are posted and I’m working on all my cards available for trade.  I have my duplicate White Sox up as well as the Angels, Astros, A’s, Blue Jays, Braves, Brewers, Cardinals and Cubs listed.  As you can tell, they are going in alphabetically.  I might get one or two more teams up tonight before bed.  Maybe.  To go to it, click the zistle photo at the top right of the page.

Trade with Thoughts and Sox

Even though we both think the other roots for the wrong colored Sox, we still traded.  I received his trade package in the mail at the end of last week, luckily before we lost our mailbox key but that’s a whole other story.  Adam sent me a whole bunch of White Sox cards in exchange for the Red Sox cards I had sent him.  I can chalk this up to another great trade, I have yet to have a bad one.  Hopefully I never will.  Here are the highlights.

I only had 1 2008 Bowman so to get some more of those is always nice.  I really like the looks of the Fleer Showcase and the O-Pee-Chee.  I also didn’t have any of the 2008 UD Piece of History’s.  I like the background/border on those cards, not to mention 3 of the 4 he sent were rookie cards.  These were just the highlights as he had sent a decent sized stack.  Thanks again Adam for the trade, as always, much appreciated.  Be sure to check out his blog at “Thoughts and Sox”

Card show #3

I saved the best for last.  My player collections and the vintage.  I didn’t get much for the player collections, I thought I’d be able to pick up some Paul Konerko’s cheap but I assume since I’m fairly close to Chicago, they jack the prices up so people pay for them.  I’ve heard other bloggers complain about this in their LCS.

I was surprised to find some of the vintage in the cheap boxes so I scooped up anything I didn’t have.  Which was a pretty good haul.  I didn’t take anything that was completely destroyed but none of these are mint either.

I added 2 more Tom Seaver’s (1 was pictured in the oddball pics) and 3 more Konerko’s.  I already have the National Baseball Card day card but I picked this one up to add to the other collection.  White Sox & Konerko collections both have one now.

These weren’t all the cards I picked up, actually there were 15 more cards but these were the ones I really wanted.  As far as the show, I was disappointed by the volume of tables but all I wanted to look for was cheap boxes and I got those.  I also just enjoyed talking to the dealers and just talking with people in general about cards.  Much like I do with the blogs, but face to face is always nice to.  I definitely wasn’t disappointed in the volume of cards I got for $18 either.  Next show is in August.

Card Show #2

At the before mentioned Card show, I also stacked up on a bunch of Frank Thomas.  I actually put some Thomas cards back because there were stacks and stacks of them in the cheap boxes.  Here are the ones I did pick up though.

Some new, some old.  the 1992 topps is the insert of 60 years of Topps.  A few of these I haven’t had before but most I had.  Here’s some more Thomas cards.

“The Big Hurt” used to be one of my favorite Sox players until the latter of his career when he started wanting more money and he was spending half his seasons on the DL, then trashed talked after he left.  He has since apologized and is working with the Sox here and there.  I have no ill feelings towards him for the most part but when your idol leaves like that, you don’t ever forget.

I also picked up whatever oddball cards I could just because I figured they would be harder to come by.  Not to mention one is a Tom Seaver to add to that collection as well.

One more post to come.  Vintage and player collections left.

Contest plug

Matthew over at "Number 5 Type Collection" is having a contest for Father's day. Just leave a comment about your and your dad's favorite team to enter.

Check it out!

http://number5typecollection.blogspot.com/2011/06/fathers-day-giveaway-2011.html

Card Show #1

Went to our local card show this past weekend.  This was my first show in probably 20+ years so I was excited to go.  I didn’t have much money to spend so I planned on hitting the cheap boxes and boosting my White Sox collection.   I would love if my LCS actually had boxes like this but it sucks.  It’s actually located in this same mall and I still didn’t bother to stop in there.  Back when I was a kid, I used to go to this mall and it was packed solid with tables.  This time I walked in at the center of the mall and didn’t see a card table.  I went right and at the very end of the aisle/hall there was 1 table.  Now mind you, this mall is huge, not just a little run of the mill mall.  I stopped at the table and really was just shocked that there was only 1 table in the whole mall.  I went through his .50 box and pulled a bunch of vintage cards for myself.  Then walked around the other side of the table and found a .25 or 5/$1 box and went through it.  After pulling some more vintage, I realized some of the stuff I grabbed out of the .50 box was also in this box so I took them from the cheaper box and put back the dupes in the .50 box.  I ended up spending $10 there.

By then I had gotten a text from my wife who told me there were a lot more tables on the other side of the mall.  So I headed that way and there was definitely more tables.  Certainly not as many as back in the day but maybe another 10 or so more.  I started hitting their cheap boxes and ended up spending another $8.  So I left only spending $18 total which is around what I was going to purchase.  I did go through some of the jersey/auto cards hoping to find some Sox cards but didn’t really come across anything that jumped out at me.  I’m only an hour and a half from Chicago so I imagine the Sox and Cubs get picked through pretty quickly.  So I left with a bunch more Sox cards and quite a few vintage as well.  Here are some of the highlights.

Picked up some Buehrle (although now that I’m checking before I post, I don’t think that middle card is a Buehrle, oops) who is another one of my favorite Sox players as well as some Rockin’ Robin Ventura.

Carlton Fisk and Jack McDowell are also some favorites.  The McDowell is a rookie.  I realize none of these are worth big bucks, but since I’m just starting off my collection again, it’s great to see the cards I used to have in my hands again.

Stay tuned for post #2, I know you can’t contain yourself.

Trade with Manupatches

I had a trade with Eric over at “Manupatches and Chrome Scratches” and the day I got the cards in, I was listing my cards on Zistle and somehow mixed them in with what I was entering so I can’t show you exactly what he sent me.  I was very pleased with the trade in itself, he sent me a bunch of what some of you consider “junk wax” but a lot of that was the cards I collected as a kid so I still like them.  I feel the same as most of you to the fact that it was overproduced and aren’t worth the cardboard they are printed on, but it takes me back to collecting as a kid so I don’t mind it as much.  And he had sent over a bunch of that, of which I didn’t have so I loved getting them.  I feel bad that I can’t give Eric the post he deserves because I mixed his cards in, but if your out there, thanks for the trade.  It was very much appreciated.  This was my 2nd trade with him and I enjoyed it as much as I did the first.  He’s a great trade partner and was a big help on for me getting started on trading online with fellow bloggers.

One of the cards he did send me, I set aside to scan so I could ask for your help.  I tried to enter it in Zistle and then realized that I couldn’t figure out what it was.  I googled and still nothing.  So I’m giving all of you a shout out, can you tell me what this card is?

There is a TS in the purple diamond on the front.  On the bottom of the card back it says “Photo by J. Daniel / Allsport USA”.  I think you should be able to read the rest.  So if anybody can help me out here, it would greatly be appreciated.

In other news, I’m going to try to get a few posts ready for later this week because I just haven’t had the time to do so during the week.  I had gone to my first card show this past weekend in probably about 20 years or so and I have a post for that.  It’ll be a big one unless I decide to break it up into a couple of posts.  And another trade post as well so I should have a couple of posts this week.

Another quick question you all can answer as well, my wife has trouble reading this white text with the black background.  Is that an issue for some or all of you or is it just one of her many issues?  Let me know in the comments.

Trade with Nomo’s Sushi Platter

And yet another trade last week.  I love getting trade’s in the mail, you get to build your collection and all it costs me is cards I had no use for anyways.  You get to give those cards to someone who loves them in return for cards you love.  And that leads me to my most recent trade with Spiegel at “Nomo’s Sushi Platter.”  I sent him some cards, he sent me some.  And some great cards did he send.  Here’s the highlights.

First off, some Bowman with some gold.  As a set, I’m not a big fan of Bowman because I like getting cards of players I know.  But I do like the base set of the pro players.  I like the looks of most of the Bowman sets.  Don’t get me wrong, I like the draft pick players too, but I much prefer players I know.

I know some people out there aren’t big fans of the Toppstown but I like them.  I don’t play any of the games on the site, but I like the looks of them.

I also like the look of the Upper Deck Signature Stars and of course you should know by now, I like the sets that have the vintage look to them.  And who can complain about 3 different Luis Aparicio’s.

And Spiegel hooked me up with a slew of Paul Konerko’s for my collection that seems to be getting bigger and bigger with each trade.

  

And look at all that sparkle.  Mark Buehrle Refractor and an AJ Pierzynski diamond anniversary card.  I love the shine on that card.

And Spiegel must have been reading my blog and noticed how much I like to post Jordan pictures from his days in basketball.  I know, some of you didn’t realize he played basketball before he did baseball, but that’s why I’m here, to educate.  It just so happened that my favorite basketball player of all time, played his baseball with my favorite baseball team’s organization.  That worked out nicely and thanks to Spiegel, I now have my first Jordan baseball card.  And it’s a nice one at that.

And to top it off, he threw me a little relic love with this Pierzynski jersey card.  And these were just the highlights, he sent me a whole bunch of cards.  A great trade with him, make sure you check his blog out at “Nomo’s Sushi Platter.”  And if you need a good trade partner, look him up as well.  Thanks again, Spiegel

Ebay puchase

Some more of the afore mentioned ebay purchases for $1 or less per card,

Paul Konerko – 2003 Topps Gallery Artist’s Proof

Paul Konerko – 2007 Bowman Chrome Refractor

Gordon Bechham – 2010 Topps Chrome Xfractor

Billy Goodman and Earl Torgeson – 1958 Topps

Roy Sievers – 1961 Topps

Have I mentioned recently that I love Vintage?  In case you missed it, I love Vintage.

I also won a Tadahito Iguchi – 2007 Upper Deck Bronze #’d /75 but I forgot to grab it when I was scanning the cards so you’ll just have to pretend you saw it here.

Another nice haul, most were purchased at $1.00 or $.99 shipped.

Update

As you can tell, I’ve gotten a little bit back to posting regularly.  I’m actually a little ahead of the game as I have a few other typed out and ready to be sent.  (Trades/Ebay, ect)  I didn’t have to work this weekend, first day off in 12 days.  But don’t get to used to it, my daughter is having surgery on Monday and then my wife is having another procedure done on Wednesday.  Then this coming weekend, being father’s day weekend, the whole family goes camping.  I can post from my phone but cell service is pretty shaky there.  It’s in and out.

Change is upon us.  When I started this blog, I never thought I’d have a lot of followers or even views.  I was reading others blogs and thought it would be fun.  But with the trading, and other interactions, that has changed.  I named this originally just quickly while I was putting it together.  I named it for what it was, a blog about “my sports and sports cards”.  Now that I have followers and some of you actually read my drivel, I’m thinking about changing the name.  A bunch of you have really unique names and I want one like that.  I don’t know what I’m going to change it to, I’ve been thinking about it for a little while.  We’ll see what I come up with, if anything.  I’d like to incorporate the White Sox, Wolverines and Colts but don’t know how good that would sounds so I may go the other way.  It’s just a thought, it may not even happen.

I’ve been working on getting my collections posted to Zistle.com.  After I get my collection listed, I’ll start getting my cards available for trade listed and then post the links.

I think that’s about it for now, I’ll talk at you when I can.

Trade with Potch Wheeler

Another trade package came earlier this week from “Potch Wheeler” and I was definitely impressed.  I sent him some Reds and Tigers and have even communicated some via email to find out he lived right here in my area for a few years and is coming back to Indiana soon.  Here are the highlights:

Love this set because it was the start of my collecting as a kid.  I think I started at the tail end of 1981 and 1982 was my first full year of collecting.  Those 2 sets in particular take me back to my childhood.  Not to mention Carlton Fisk who I’ve always been a big fan of.  These were great.

And you can never go wrong with any vintage.  I love vintage.

Why are you showing these cards?  Check out the players.  Joey Cora is now our bench coach.  Harold Baines is our 1st base coach.  Kenny Williams is our GM.  Ozzie Guillen is our manager.  And Greg Walker is our hitting coach.  I love that all these guys came through Chicago in their careers.  And of course, my collection is new so I needed them all, even thought there are millions upon million of all these cards.

Just a few more.  A Vintage feel, a Ventura feel, and a hometown feel.  My local minor league team used to be owned by the White Sox when they first started when I was a kid.  But they’ve sold out to the Arizona Diamondbacks since.  I don’t get out there as often as I would like but I do still enjoy the whole atmosphere.

And the big hit.  Paulie game-used bat.  My 2nd relic of Konerko but my 1st bat.  And he collects Konerko as well so this couldn’t have been easy to part with.

Definitely hook up with DW for a trade.  He will make it worth while.  Thanks for the great cards.

Photo Cleansing #4

We’ll start with a little NCAA football.

Has everyone seen the retro jerseys for the first night game in Ann Arbor this season.  They aren’t as bad as I initially thought they were going to be after the “leak”.  It’ll be better if it leads to a win for the maize and blue but all in all, I can tolerate the jersey for 1 game, I guess.

Just thought it was a cool schedule.  I see it as a big poster in my man cave, if I had one that is.
Next for some baseball.

Good ole Paul Konerko.  He has been on fire for the last few season after most of his years in Chicago have been spent cold as ice until June then heats up.  It seems he has gotten over that the last few seasons and came out of spring training ready to go.

Brent Lillibridge has also been on fire and has come from nowhere this year.  He’s still a supersub off the bench officially.  But his defense and surprising offense has put him in the starting line-up most days anymore.  A guy who has had 3 total home runs in his major league career coming into this year already has 7 this year.  And has been making defensive plays as well. One Chicago sports writer mentions how many saves he has this season, defensively.  How can Ozzie keep him on the bench, he can’t.  He’s had 88 at bats already this year.  His previous high was last year at 98 at bats.

Jackie Robinson sliding into Phil Rizzuto.  Have I mentioned how much I love vintage, oh wait, that was baseball cards.
 
I’m sure you’ve all heard about Gary Carter so I won’t go into it but he was a favorite of mine growing up.  I’m not sure where this came from, I assume a NY paper but I don’t know for sure, it probably isn’t because of the prayer line but I’ll guess it all the same.  Either way, I thought it was pretty cool.
And we’ll finish of with some NBA.

That’s just funny.

Larry Legend.  Also a favorite of mine growing up.  Probably the whole I live in Indiana, he’s from Indiana thing.  Been to his restaurant quite a few times down in Terre Haute.  It’s pretty cool.  And they have food too!

One thing I like about the whole who’s better discussion between Michael Jordan and LeBron James is all kinds of photo’s and video’s being thrown out on the web again.  I know they are out there, but I’m too lazy to go find them, I prefer they get posted on other sites for me to steal.  Much easier that way.

I remember most of these if not all of them.  I used to watch tons of Bulls games.  I probably watched 90% of them in their entirety back in the day.

Lots of highlights here.

I definitely remember this game.  This is what MJ was all about.  He was a competitor above anything else.