Big Day, Big Sign

It's officially here.  The first day of the school year with warm bodies filling up seats.  That means going over the class syllabus, the school rules, and introducing my seventh graders to middle school.

It's been four weeks since I've had to talk to a classroom full of kids, so if things went as planned... I picked up a Strawberry Acai Refresher from Starbucks on my way to school.  I'm not one of those people who go on a daily basis (more like once a week), but I go enough where a few peeps working the morning crew know me.

Two of them are former students and one them happens to be a huge A's fan.  Last week, he left a special note on my cup and I figured it was a good opportunity to bust out my wallet card.  The drink sorta dwarfs the card, but I never finish all thirty ounces in one day.  It provides me with two days worth of refreshment.

Speaking of big, last week I purchased this big sign for my Oakland A's collection:

1973-74 Fleer Big Signs #NNO

According to the Beckett, these measure 12"x16" and were distributed in 1973.  However The Fleer Sticker Project, says there are two versions of the California Angels signs... so he thinks they could have been released in 1974 as well.

By the way... the sign is a tad bit smaller than what Beckett states.  I busted out my ruler and it measures 7.75"x11.5".  Anyways... this is an item I've been eyeing for awhile now and a vendor on eBay sent me a reasonable offer ($12.80 + $3.37 tax & shipping), so I accepted.

Well that's it for today.  When this post is published, I'll be in front of my first period class.  Hopefully things go smoothly.

Happy Monday and sayonara!

A Pair of Surprises

Another card show recap... and another surprise purchase.  Back in June, I picked up a Muhammad Ali pack pulled, on-card autograph for my collection.  Three weekends ago, I found another "biggie" for my PC.

Neither are considered super rare, but neither pop up at card shows on a regular basis either.  But before I get to the big find of the day, let's check out another surprise...

Purchase #1:  Dollar Box  $10

2024 Bowman Draft #BD-56

I was pretty stoked to find this Nick Kurtz in a dollar box.  If you're not familiar with this kid, he had one of the greatest games in MLB history on July 25th.  The twenty-two year old rookie went 6 for 6 with four home runs, six runs scored, and eight runs batted in against the Houston Astros the night before and was definitely the "talk of the show".

As expected dealers were pulling his 1st Bowmans from their cheap boxes and marking them up.  This guy had this lone copy sitting in his dollar box.

Here are the other cards I picked up from this vendor:

1971 Fleer Harlem Globetrotters #72

2024 Topps A&G Mini Rookie Design Variation #RD-6

1976 Topps #204

Not sure I'd normally buy this O.J. Simpson card, but I couldn't pass it up after flipping it over:

This card features 25% of card #205... which is the NFL Interception Leaders.

Rounding out the dollar box was this six pack of football and baseball:

Now for the big surprise...

Purchase #2:  Vintage Billy Ball Oddball  $125

1949 Remar Bread #NNO

I got to experience first hand Billy Ball back in the early 80's at the Oakland Coliseum.  That's why I will always have a deep appreciation for his cards.  The past few years... I have been tracking this particular card for my Oakland Oaks collection.  This was the first time I came across a copy at a card show.

I've bid on multiple copies, but always fall short.  It's a good thing I did, because I was able to pick up this gorgeous copy for a slightly higher price.  After purchasing the Ali, I had zero plans of dropping triple digits on a single card at this show.  But I just couldn't pass up this opportunity. 

Purchase #3:  A Kirby Puckett Rookie Card  $18

1985 Topps Rack Pack

The dealer who sold me the Billy Martin also had a few sealed rack packs from the 80's.  Each of them had a key rookie card featured on the back:

I passed on the 84T Darryl Strawberry and 85T Dwight Gooden, but grabbed the Puckett.  It pairs nicely with this cello pack I purchased back in 2011:

1985 Topps Cello Pack

Well that wraps up the final card show of the summer.  I know that there are two more coming up in September, but I don't have any plans on attending them.  On the other hand... maybe I'll need a distraction from the school year.

If I end up going, you guys will be the first to know.

Until then...

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

Back to School

When I was a kid, I always had mixed emotions about going back to school.  Sure part of me was excited to see what friends I had in my classes... and whether or not I got the teacher(s) I wanted.  But there was also the fact that summer break, sleeping in, chilling out in the neighborhood, cruising around on bikes and skateboards, and staying up late were all coming to an end.

The same thing still applies to me as an adult.  Only now I'm checking to see how large my classes are and which prep period my friends have at work.  And although I'm no long chilling out in the neighborhood or cruising around on bikes and skateboards, I still enjoy sleeping in and staying up a little later than usual.

That's all over though, because the Summer Break of 2025 is officially coming to an end.  This Thursday I officially report back for my 28th year in my current district.  But I've actually been going in the past two weeks and working in my classroom.

Not sure if I've ever done this, but here's a peek at some before and after shots:

Every summer, the custodians clean the carpets and wax the floors... so we come back with a clean slate.

All of the student desks are up on the counters and we take them down and set them up.  This is usually when I tweak my back.

But I'm happy to report... no injuries this year.

One of the biggest projects every year is taking all of my toys and collectibles out of storage and creating my display.  This is a collection of items I have accumulated over the years.  Some of the stuff are things I bought... while others are gifts I have received from students, parents, fellow teachers, and others.

Here's a peek at my collection of sealed collectibles:

Luckily my principal doesn't make me take these down every year.  In fact, I don't think I've messed with these in six to eight years.

Anyways, there were three things I wanted to accomplish with this post.  First... I wanted to honor a few people who passed away recently.  Although none of these gentleman were personal favorites, they each played a role in my childhood.

Ozzy Osbourne

1985 AGI Rock Star #2

(December 3, 1948 to July 22, 2025)

It's hard to say what stands out the most about Ozzy.  The story about the "bat" or his MTV show.  Both immediately come to mind when I think of him.  Wasn't the biggest fan of his music when I was little, but I learned to appreciate his stuff from the 70's with Black Sabbath in high school and college.

Hulk Hogan

1987 Topps WWF #3

(August 11, 1953 to July 24, 2025)

There was a time when WWF was more important to me than the MLB.  It was right around 8th or 9th grade... and if it was on... I'd do whatever I could to watch it.  Hogan played a big part of my fanfare.  Today he would have celebrated his 72nd birthday.  Happy birthday Hulk!

Ryne Sandberg

1983 Topps #282

(September 18, 1959 to July 28, 2025)

As a Gwynn fan, Sandberg was always one of the other two big rookies in the 1983 baseball sets.  Their names along with Boggs always seem to go together when you discuss that awesome rookie card class.

Rest in peace Ozzy, Hulk, and Ryno.

Next up... I wanted to honor the Cooperstown Class of 2025:

Dick Allen

1966 Topps #80

Dave Parker

1982 Donruss #95

Billy Wagner

1997 Topps Gallery #178

CC Sabathia

2017 Topps NYY Factory Team Set #NYY-10

Ichiro Suzuki

2023 Stadium Club Red Foil #72

Congratulations Dick, Dave, Billy, CC, and Ichiro!

And finally... I wanted to show off the final care package of the summer.  The same day I receive'd Matt's PWE, I also received a flat rate box from John over at Johnny's Trading Spot.

He filled it up with a bunch of stuff, so let's dive in and check it out.  Let's start with a huge stack of Ichiro cards (including the Stadium Club card above):

In addition to the the sixty to seventy cards in this photo, he also sent me these nine:

Plus there were these three cards from a Topps On Demand Ichiro set:

2019 Topps On Demand Ichiro Legacy #16

2019 Topps On Demand Ichiro Legacy #19

2019 Topps On Demand Ichiro Legacy #20

A large percentage of the box were new additions to my Japanese Athlete PC.  Here are a few of the highlights...

2008 SP Legendary Cuts Destination Stardom Memorabilia #DS-AI

2024 Topps Now Off-Season #OS-13

2025 Topps Stars of Japan #SOJ-6

Saw this cherry blossom decorated insert a few weeks ago over on Cards As I See Them.

Very happy to add five to my binder.  I'm debating on picking up a few more over on COMC before I request shipment later in the week.

2021 Donruss Optic Signature Series #SS-JY

2023 Topps Allen & Ginter Framed Autographs #MA-FS

And here are a few other Japanese athletes who don't play baseball...

John also sent me a stack of Mr. October...

Here are a closer look at nine of them...

He also sent me a a few other A's for my collection...

In addition to baseball cards, he also sent me some MJ's...

1994 Action Packed Minors #23

This card stood out, because I liked how Action Packed kept it real in their scouting report.  

The second half of his care package were a ton of Wacky Packages.  Let's start with two vintage tan backs:

1973 Topps Wacky Packages 4th Series Brute 88

1974 Topps Wacky Packages 9th Series Windstun

He also tossed in a nice starter set...

2008 Topps Wacky Packages Flashback Series 2 Starter Set

Within the starter set was a complete puzzle:

2008 Topps Wacky Packages Flashback Series 2 Quacker Oats Puzzle Backs

I pulled out a few of my favorites:

2008 Topps Wacky Packages Flashback Series 2 Favorites

And rounding things out are some album stickers from the mid 80's:

1986 Wacky Packages Album Stickers

These are smaller than your standard size cards.  Here's a size comparison with the album sticker on the left and a standard Wacky Packages card on the right:

1986 Wacky Packages Album Stickers Size Comparison

Thank you John for another generous care package!  I had a lot of fun going through and organizing the stacks of Ichiro, Reggie, and Wacky Packages.  It was a fantastic way to wrap up my summer.

I hope all of you had a great summer.  After a reasonably mild summer in regards to weather, things are starting to heat up around here.  I might be ready for the students, but I'm not ready for triple digit temperatures.

Happy Monday and sayonara!