Love/Hate Relationship

A large majority of the posts on this blog feature sports teams and players that I love to root for.  Today's post focuses on the opposite end of the spectrum.  I'm going to rank my least liked sports franchises of all-time while sharing a card featuring a player on that team that I actually admire and/or rooted for.

But before I begin, I want to give credit to two bloggers for inspiring this Blog Bat-Around post:  Joe @ The Shlabotnik Report and Mike @ Not Another Baseball Card Blog.  The blogosphere could use more interesting Blog Bat-Around ideas like this one.

Let's get started...

Honorary Mention #1:  Larry Bird

1993-94 Finest Refractor #2

Had I written this post twenty years ago, the Boston Celtics would have cracked the Top 5.  However my interested in professional basketball has tapered off since the early 2010's, so they're now just an honorable mention.

The one Celtic that immediately popped into my head for this post was Larry Bird.  He's one of those legends that I truly respect and admire.  I couldn't stand him while he was in the league, but these days I have no problem adding his cards to my basketball collection.

Honorable Mention #2:  Gordie Howe

1968-69 O-Pee-Chee #29

Back in the 90's, I hated the Detroit Red Wings.  They were essentially the New York Yankees of hockey and one of my buddies was a huge fan.  The Red Wings have plenty of legends and fan favorites worthy of collecting, but if I was going to go out of my way to collect one, it probably would be Mr. Hockey.

Chris over at Diamond Cuts & Wax Stains sent me that vintage Howe over a decade ago.  It's one of the most attractive hockey cards in my collection.

I couldn't write about Gordie without showing off his SLU:

1995 Kenner SLU Timeless Legends

Back in 1996, he was signing at a local card show for only $5, so I went out and purchased this SLU for him to sign.

Moving along, here are my five least favorite sports franchises...

#5:  Barry Bonds

2002 Topps Autographs #TA10

I've always had a love/hate relationship with the Giants.  Being born and raised in the Bay Area, the city of San Francisco will always be special to me.  The memories of attending their games at Candlestick Park with my brother are something I cherish as much as the A's games we attended at the Coliseum.

In fact, down inside... I don't really hate the San Francisco Giants.  It's the fans.  Giants fans outnumber A's fans and when they win, the team climbs these rankings.  Thankfully, they have been struggling lately... so they've fallen down to #5.

As for Barry... he has a love/hate relationship with baseball fans himself.  Personally, I loved watching him play.  And these days... I enjoy collecting his cards too.

#4:  Dallas Cowboys

1992 Beach Sports Autographs #AC1

This is another case of me disliking the fans more than the actual team.  I couldn't really think of any Dallas Cowboys that I would go out of my way to collect, so I went with this autograph of Michael Irvin that I pulled out of a pack back in 1992.  I'm not 100% certain, but I think this is the first autograph I ever pulled out of a pack.

#3:  Jackie Robinson

1956 Topps #30

The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants will always be in my Top 5 list of least favorite sports teams.  But neither creep into the Top 2, because those teams are practically untouchable.  Right now the Dodgers are higher than the Giants, because they're better.  Much better.  Fifteen years ago, the rankings were flip-flopped.

Over the years, I've collected a bunch of different Dodgers:  Fernando, Nomo, Kershaw, Freeman, and Ohtani.  But my favorite Dodgers card sitting in my collection is my favorite card of all-time.  Jackie's 1956 Topps card.

#2:  Lou Gehrig

2004 Topps Clubhouse Collection Relics #CL-LG2

I really, really, really dislike the New York Yankees.  But I loved watching Pride of the Yankees when I was a little kid.  It converted me into a Lou Gehrig fan.

This particular bat card was the highlight from a group break I joined over at Cardboard Collections.  I'm normally not into joining group breaks, but when I looked over the product checklists and noticed that the Yankees were still available... I immediately sent Colbey my money.

#1:  Jerry Rice

1986 McDonald's #NNO 

The San Francisco 49ers are arguably the most popular Bay Area sports team and it feels like they're always good.  And there's never been a shortage of family members, friends, and colleagues reminding me about their 80's and 90's dynasty.  To make matters worse... both of my favorite teams are their rivals.  Damn... I can't stand the 49ers.

That being said... I truly admire Jerry Rice and his career accomplishments.  This particular card is special to me, because I received it in a trade with my buddy Mike.  If you're new to this blog, Mike was a longtime hobby friend who passed away in 2023.  Ironically... he was a huge fan of the #1 and #2 teams in this post.

Well that wraps up this post.  Thank you Joe and Mike for kicking off this blog bat-around!  The Blogfather (Night Owl) himself was the first to respond to Mike.  I sure hope a few others join in on the fun.

Until then...

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

The Run is Complete!

The ball is finally starting to roll again... as I try to start hammering out semi-regular posts on this blog.  I've been busying scanning and stock piling photos for future posts and it's starting to pay off.

Today I'm showing off the final four cards I needed to complete my Dave Stieb O-Pee-Chee base card run that was inspired by Angus over at Dawg Day Cards.  He got the project started by sending me his 1980 O-Pee-Chee rookie card along with Stieb's 1981, 1986, and 1988 cards.  Sportlots dealers handled the rest.

I ordered the final four on the same day from two different dealers.  One of the PWE's arrived within a few days with these three cards:

1989 O-Pee-Chee #535

1990 O-Pee-Chee #4

1992 O-Pee-Chee #320

The last card finally arrived this week:

1991 O-Pee-Chee #460

And here's a look at its entirety:

This was such a fun project to honor one of the best pitchers from the 80's and the greatest baseball player to attend the same high school as me.

Thanks again Angus for inspiring this project.  I wouldn't have even considered attempting it, so I am forever grateful.

Unfortunately... that 1991 O-Pee-Chee didn't only delay the completion of my Stieb base card run.  It also pushed back this Thoughts & Sox thank you post.  Adam sent me more Canadian cardboard way back in March:

Why did I want to include his cards with the cards from my Sportlots order?  Because the coolest card he included was this:

1987 Leaf #72

Now I have to decide whether or not to complete his Leaf base card run.  After checking COMC, it appears as if he only had a handful of Leaf cards (1985 to 1988) that mirror the Donruss design, so there's a good chance that I will accept this challenge.  But for now it's not high on my priority list.

Thank you Adam for the generous care package... and once again... sorry about the delay.

Happy Monday and sayonara!

Free Samples

Costco is insanely crowded in my area on the weekends.  That's why my brother and I hit up the business center as soon as it opens every 2nd Saturday of the month.  It's a routine and it's never failed us.  We're in and out within twenty minutes.  No fighting for parking.  No long lines.  No traffic jams getting out of the parking lot.  But there's one huge downside.  No free samples.

Oh well.  Can't have it all.  Luckily today, I came home to four samples sitting on my office desk:

1995 Select Certified Sample #50

1995 Select Certified Sample #89

The first two are mid 90's samples from Pinnacle that were included in Reader X's January care package.  Sorry about the five month delay Xavier.

Next up are a pair of early 2000's Donruss Diamond Kings samples:

2002 Donruss Diamond Kings Silver Sample #073

2002 Donruss Diamond Kings Silver Sample #077

Both of these were part of a care package that John @ Johnny's Trading Spot sent me back in March.

As much as people enjoy their Costco samples, I'm not gonna lie... I prefer the cardboard versions 100x more.  I was fortunate to have worked at a card shop in the late 90's, so I had access to a bunch of different promo cards.  One of these days I'll sit down, organize them by sport, manufacturer, and year... then slide them into 9-pocket pages.

For now, they're going into my promo box... which trumps my Athletics box.  But don't worry... Xavier and John sent me plenty for that PC.  Unfortunately, I'm a little strapped for time.  So for today, you'll just have to settle for these samples.

Thank you Xavier and John!

I know it's been awhile, but here's your question of the day:

Do you get excited for free samples at Costco?

Do you get excited for promo cards?

If you said yes to both, which do you prefer more?

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Extra Innings

Rough week for baseball fans.  First Ted Turner, now Bobby Cox.  Thoughts and prayers are with their families, friends, and fans.  Both played instrumental roles in my baseball fandom.

1991 Face to Face #668

Turner in the 80's by provided me and millions of others with Braves baseball on TBS.

2010 Topps Tribute Relic Auto #TAR-BC2

And Cox for managing one of the most entertaining teams of the 90's... which we enjoyed on TBS.

A New Hope

Almost five decades ago in a house not that far away... sat a little Japanese boy on his family room floor.  His parents had just bought him a few packs of 1977 Topps Star Wars trading cards at the grocery store in San Jose's Japantown.

That's how my card collecting journey began.  Those original cards from my early childhood are long gone.  But when I started collecting again in the late 2000's, I decided to go after stuff I enjoyed from the 70's and 80's which included that 330 card set about a galaxy far, far away.

I ended up using the cheat code known as eBay and added that dream set to my collection with a few clicks of my mouse.  The stickers were purchased a few months later.

Fast forward a decade or so when I stumbled across a small storage bin of Star Wars cards at the De Anza Flea Market.

My first instinct was to purchase these for the sake of nostalgia and a good bargain.  But after hemming and hawing, I made the decision to relive my childhood and do an old fashioned set build.

I knew that I had pretty significant stacks of 4th and 5th Series singles... and much smaller stacks from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Series.  But after compiling my list, I was pretty satisfied with my starting point:

Series 1:  27/66 (40.9% complete)

Series 2:  13/66 (19.7% complete)

Series 3:  18/66 (27.3% complete)

Series 4:  63/66 (95.5% complete)

Series 5:  59/66 (89.4% complete)

Complete Set:  180/330 (54.5%)

Although this set carries a lot of sentimental value to me, it won't be high on my priority list.  I have come across some cheap singles at the flea market over the years.  If I come across them again, I'll grab them for this set build.  I'll also look for some 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Series starter lots on eBay at some point to put a dent in my wantlists:

1977 Topps Series 1

1977 Topps Series 2

1977 Topps Series 3

1977 Topps Series 4

1977 Topps Series 5

The good news is I'm approaching this set build as if I were attempting to build the 1956 Topps baseball set.  Cards don't need to be in mint condition.  They just need to be in reasonable shape.  Honestly... this might be the first set build in my collecting history where condition doesn't matter.  It's truly like I'm five years old again... and I'm just excited to have cards of my favorite movie sitting in front of me on my family room floor.

Happy Monday and May the 4th be with you!

Post Credits Scene

Sorry that I've been away from the keyboard for such an extended time.  The end of the school year is always a little hectic (much like the start of the school year) with projects, state testing, and leadership gigs (like the final spirit rally and the 8th grade graduation dance).

That doesn't mean I have taken a break from card related activities.  I've been to a couple of flea markets in recent weeks, plus went to a private sale at this lady's house.  I'm currently sitting on bunch of material for future posts.  However I made myself a promise that I won't touch any of that stuff until I'm completely caught up with care packages from Reader X, Woody, John, and Rod.  Plus Greg over at The Collective Mind helped broker a purchase that boosted my Rickey Henderson collection.  In other words, I've got plenty of blog post fodder.  I just need some time to scan and write.

John:  As soon as I have some free time (probably the start of summer break), I will package up the Star Wars duplicates (probably around 200 to 250) and send them your way.  Like my set build, the majority will be from the 4th and 5th Series.