Family has always been an important part of my life. I'm not just talking about my parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, and extended relatives. I'm also referring to the closest of friends who I consider to be my family as well.
One of these people is my best friend who prefers to be anonymous, but I've referred to her on this blog many times over the years. She's the person who knows and understands me more than anyone else in the world. This is both a blessing and a curse... because she's not afraid to keep it real... even when the truth hurts.
That being said... it also means she hooks me up with very thoughtful Christmas presents. I wanted to show off two of the presents I received from her this year, because they fit with the content of this blog.
The first one is a signed copy of George Takei's graphic novel, They Called Us Enemy:
I haven't sat down and read it yet, but I am looking forward to it.
Takei is probably most famous for his role as Sulu in the original Star Trek television series, but he's also known for his support for LGBT organizations. This book covers these components of his life... but primarily focuses on his childhood and the impact Executive Order 9066 and his family.
This graphic novel covers a variety of collections ranging from my love for Japanese culture to collecting graphic novels and autographs.
The other present that fits right in with this blog was this pair of Mandalorian Pez dispensers:
The next thing I wanted to share on my blog was my small Christmas display before I take it down this week:
This was the first Christmas I've spent at my house in as long as I can remember, so I couldn't leave it completely undecorated. This display is a combination of this year's and last year's Harry Potter Lego advent calendars with Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus Brickheadz.
I wanted to quickly thank another close friend and co-worker who hooked me up with her husband's Nordstrom discount and acquired both of these advent calendars. Not sure if you're reading this homie... but I truly appreciate you grabbing these for me.
Okay... now let's get to someone you should be familiar with: Ryan a.k.a. SumoMenkoMan. A few weeks ago, he sent me a care package and I'm finally getting around to showing off the goodies.
Let's kick things off with the newest addition to the Tony Gwynn PC:
2020 Topps 206 #36
I've been wanting to add this card to my collection since I read Jongudmund's post about this controversial piece of cardboard back in October. Okay I'm being a little dramatic by calling it controversial, but Jon does make an excellent point about questioning Topps including Gwynn in this particular set.
If there is one downside to not buying cards on COMC anymore... it's that I'd love to snatch up a few of the cheaper parallels of this card. Hopefully I'll be able to pick them up on Sportlots instead.
Ryan also tossed in two more Topps 206 singles:
2020 Topps 206 #16
2020 Topps 206 #44
The big ticket A's item in his care package was this Willie McGee:
But some of you might not remember his short stint with the Athletics back in 1990... when the A's traded for him late in the season to add another bat to their lineup for their playoff run... which resulted in the Cincinnati Reds sweeping them in the World Series.
Like many of you... I haven't opened up a lot of 2020 products, so this is my first card of him. Ryan also sent me this pink refractor of Akiyama's former teammate:
Kikuchi and Akiyama were Seibu Lion's teammates from 2011 to 2018. It'll be interesting to see if either of these guys will be able find success at the MLB level.
Is this card gorgeous or what? Huge props to BBM for producing some fantastic sumo wrestling cards. Here'a a peek at the back:
1991 Topps Desert Shield #280
Anyone who followed baseball back in the 80's and 90's knows who McGee is. And anyone who collected during that era knows this story behind these Desert Shield cards.
Speaking of the Reds... they became the last MLB team to have a player from Japan on their team when they signed Shogo Akiyama:
2020 Topps Update 1985 #85TB-4
2020 Topps Chrome Pink Refractor #48
My Japanese PC is receiving a lot of love. Here are five more cards for my multi-sport binder:
I'm not exactly sure what product these cards are from, but they seem to come from an insert set titled "Amazing". It's a shame that there aren't more multi-sport products on this side of the Pacific Ocean.
Back in the 90's, I remember Signature Rookies released a product called Tetrad which allowed collectors to pull cards of baseball, basketball, football, hockey, track & field, ice skating, and gymnastics from a single pack of cards.
And I'll go ahead and round out Ryan's care package with four very special sumo wrestling cards. At first glance these might just seem like some run-of-the-mill sumo cards... but there's actually a story behind these two wrestlers.
Back in early December, I was getting my weekly fix of Jomboy and I came across this awesome video of this 5'5" sumo wrestler taking down this gigantic 6'3" wrestler. If you're not familiar with this guy's videos... his commentary is always good for a smile and he throws out some pretty interesting content.
Anyways... getting back on track... the first person I thought of when I saw this video was Ryan... so I texted it to him. After going back and forth... he gave me a brief history lesson on Enho who is the shorter wrestler in the video:
2018 BBM Sumo #75
2019 BBM Sumo #62
2019 BBM Sumo #73
As a fellow short Japanese guy... I was absolutely stoked to see these slide out of the padded envelope. And to top things off, he included the guy Enho threw:
2019 BBM Sumo #1
Thank you Ryan for another generous care package... and for your friendship. Hopefully we'll be able to get together when things are safe and hit up some card shows and Del Taco. And once again... congratulations on celebrating your 5 Year Blogiversary last week!
This holiday season has been unique and honestly could have been depressing without spending it with the company of my family. But thanks to things like Zoom making the world a little smaller... and great friendships it turned out to be much more positive experience than I had anticipated.
Happy Monday and sayonara!
Friends are important! I've been reminded of that this year and am blessed to have some lifelong friends that remain close.
ReplyDeleteI am still annoyed at the a's for acquiring McGee when he was leading the NL in batting average. As a result, he won the title even though his total BA for 1990 was lower than eddie Murray's.
I completely forgot about my Desert Shield collection. Man I haven't added one all year, maybe two years.
ReplyDeleteI've got quite a few Desert Shield cards myself.
ReplyDeleteEven thought the A's lost to the Reds that year, they trashed my Red Sox on the way there :(
I added a few Desert Shield cards a few years ago and was inordinately excited about doing so. I should try and find a couple more to complete my PCs
ReplyDeleteSumo wrestling cards are cool! A bunch of nice pickups there.
ReplyDeleteI own exactly one Desert Shield card (Bert Blyleven). I don't know that I've ever seen one in the wild at a card show, and I got lucky finding the Blyleven for a buck or so on COMC because most of the ones over there a bit more than I'm willing to pay.
ReplyDeleteI'd be interested to hear your "review" of the Takei book after you've read it... I had a bit of interest in it but haven't pulled the trigger yet (I've got a big stack of comics & graphic novels to work through before I go looking for anything new).
ReplyDeleteI hadn't realized that the Reds had been the only team which had never had a Japanese player before. I think part of my brain assumed that if the Orioles have had one, then everybody must have had one by now. :-)
I've read the Takei graphic novel (It's actually in our school library) and it's a very nice, if somewhat sobering read - It's definitely worth the read. I love that video of Enho and Hakuho - that solidified my interest in Sumo - and those are some very nice sumo cards - I just added a new page to my blog on some sumo calendars I recently picked up.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, did you see the Padres just picked up Yu Darvish?
Enho is super fun to watch. He got demoted this tournament so actually should be fun to watch since he will be able to dominate more wrestlers at this level. Those Amazing inserts are from this year’s Heisei set which highlights athletes from the Heisei era. Wow, didn’t realize the Reds were the last hold out team on Japanese players. Cool bit of history.
ReplyDeleteI grew up watching Star Trek, and would consider myself a fan of George Takei's work, but sometimes he comes across as a real prick. I try to chalk it up to his background, but in recent years he's been making it harder and harder for me to do so.
ReplyDeleteSo much good stuff in this post. I love the Sumo Wrestling cards at the bottom of the post. Those are really cool looking. I also love the Willie McGee Desert Shield card. He was on the Cardinals for the majority of his career, but I really enjoy some of the cards that came from his time with the A's, Giants, and Red Sox. Always fun to look at. That George Takei book has been on my to-do list for the past year. I love history books like that, while it is likely above my third graders level, I am sure I can probably get my son in upper elementary to read along with me.
ReplyDeletegcrl - that whole batting title thing was so weird. the whole situation is an enigma.
ReplyDeletejohnnys trading spot - how many different cards do you have? i think this is only my 2nd or 3rd.
swing and a pop-up - i guess it all comes down to perspectives. that world series sweep really, really stung
nick vossbrink - i probably should target them more often. i have picked up a some here and there in dollar bins, but they're usually for care packages. i think the only two i have are weiss and now this mcgee
the lost collector - i really do enjoy the bbm sumo wrestling designs. great looking cards
nick - although never found them in dime or quarter bins... i have found them in dollar boxes. picked up a few over the years for care packages
shlabotnik report - i'm not the best at writing reviews, but i'll shoot you an email with my thoughts as soon as i finish. as for that piece of reds trivia, i had no idea either. read about it in an article.
comatoad - you should reach out to ryan if you're interested in sumo wrestling. he's like the sumo wrestling card guru. yeah... i was stoked to hear that they traded for him and his catcher. i was already excited about their upcoming season, but with snell and darvish... it's even more exciting.
sumomenkoman - thanks for the background info on those heisei cards... and thanks for the care package. i just happened to stumble across that information on the reds in an article.
jon - lol. yeah, he has an interesting personality.
the snorting bull - it's always weird to see mcgee wearing anything other than a cardinals jersey... but i do love this desert shield card. i'm really excited to read the book and get more perspective on how life was during the camps.