Saturday Night Five: Giving Thanks

In the last two weeks, I received five packages from fellow bloggers and one YouTuber.  I've been meaning to write up individual thank you posts, but between putting in long hours at work, watching WBC and March Madness games, attending San Jose Sharks and San Jose Earthquakes games, and trying my best to keep up with everyone's blog posts... it just wasn't going to happen within a respectful time frame.

I remember hearing that people have a year to send out wedding thank you's.  That just seems insane. I'm not sure what the rule is for sports cards, but I'm reaching the two week mark on some of these packages and the last thing I want is for people to think that I don't appreciate their generosity.

So without further adieu...

Thank You #1:  Tom @ The Angels, In Order

Earlier in the month, I mentioned that I was going to build the 1990 Upper Deck Comic Ball 1 base and hologram set.  Tom left a comment offering me these two holograms.  That leaves me only in need of the Road Runner hologram and three base cards.

In addition to these two shiny holograms, he also hooked me up with a nice stack of Frank Thomas cards:

There was also a 1991 Topps Toys R Us card of The Big Hurt, which I set aside for a future post.  It's one of my favorite Frank Thomas cards in my binder.

Thank you Tom!  Like I said before... I have a few Angels cards set aside for you.  I'll ship them out to you during my Spring Break which happens in mid-April.

Thank You #2:  Chris @ The Pedestrian Collector

Last month, Chris mentioned on his blog that he was going to bust 5 boxes of 2017 Heritage and offered to trade some of his duplicates to fellow bloggers.  I mentioned that I was interested in the Oakland Athletics, so he hooked me up with these:

I was really excited to see the Ryon Healy/Jharel Cotton card.  Both of these guys are young players who have the opportunity to do big things in Oakland with the possibility of being traded for more prospects (insert a sarcastic wink, wink).

There were also these two Rediscover Topps buybacks added to the batch of Heritage:

Maybe I'll try to build a 1987 Topps A's team set of these buybacks.  I happened to pick up one of the bigger names at the flea market today.  Stay tuned.

In addition to the Heritage, he threw in a stack of inserts from various teams/players I collect:

And rounding out the package was this sweet addition to my Hockey Enforcers PC:

2003/04 Topps Tough Material #TM-GL

Georges Laraque is a beast.  A beast who gave frequent beatdowns to challengers willing to go toe to toe with him in the rink.  He's one of my favorite hockey enforcers of all-time.

Thank you Chris for the package of cards.  I don't have a lot of extra Red Sox, but I'll definitely scrape up some New Jersey Devils and extra Green Bay Packers I have laying around.

Thank You #3:  Daniel @ It's Like Having My Own Card Shop

Back in mid-February, Daniel offered up a lot of 57 cards to anyone willing to pay $2.50 to cover shipping.  I took him up on the offer, but he never accepted my money.

Here's a look at the refractors and inserts that were part of the lot:

My favorite non-refractor was this rookie card of Matt Joyce:

2006 Bowman Chrome Prospects #70

Joyce started off hot at Spring Training hitting two home runs in his first two games.  He's been struggling the past two weeks though... collecting only one hit in his last thirteen at bats.  The good news is there's still a good chance he'll be the A's starting right fielder on Opening Day.

Thank you Daniel!  I know you won't accept my PayPal payment, so I guess you'll have to accept some Diamondbacks for your collection.

Thank You #4:  Hackenbush @ Can't Have Too Many Cards

Back in January, I opened up a blaster box of 2015 Panini Rookies and Stars and pulled a Chicago Bears rookie that Hackenbush was interested in.  I packed it up in a PWE and shipped it off. In return, he sent me some cool San Jose Sharks stickers/magnets:

Thanks David!  If I get anymore Kevin White cards, they're yours.

Thank You #5:  Zane the Man (YouTube Card Collector)

Once upon a time, I was really into watching sports card videos on YouTube.  These days, I've narrowed it down to about ten YouTubers.  Zane the Man is one of them.  He's a down to earth, humble high school kid who makes entertaining videos.  He's a great example of a young collector who has a deep appreciation of our hobby.

Three weeks ago, he had a giveaway and I threw my name into the mix and won.  Here's a look at my winnings:

Zane hooked me up with a pair of autographs... one of which was the Atlanta Braves 2015 1st Round Pick.  In addition to these two signatures, he also sent me:

I'll have to check, but I'm pretty sure I don't own the Jackie Robinson or Billy Burns yet.

Thank you Zane!  Keep up the great work... and I look forward to watching future videos.

Well that's it for now.  There's a bunch of games I'll be following over the next few hours.  I'll be watching USA take on the Dominican Republic in the Final Pool F game, while monitoring the San Jose Sharks and San Jose Earthquakes scores.  And in between commercial breaks, I'll be checking in on Purdue and UVA tournament games.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!