Down in the Dumps & in the Books

This has been a pretty rough start to the year.  I'll take my father's advice and avoid discussing politics, but I will say these are scary times and it's hard for me not to stress over what's going on.  The good news is that I can distract myself sometimes and talk about other stuff.

Today I wanted to show off a pair of books and some baseball cards that were recently sent to me.  Let's start with a Christmas present from my nieces in Oregon.  One of them is a huge Lions fan who happens to hate the Packers.  She made me this lovely tree ornament.

Her favorite author is Alan Gratz and they recently had the opportunity to meet him at a book signing.  I don't read a lot of books.  In fact, I'm lucky to read one a year.  But last year, I ended up reading two... and they were both historical fiction stories written by Gratz.   One of them covers the Battle of Okinawa from two perspectives: a young Okinawan boy and an American Marine.  The other one is about three young kids and their families from different countries and time periods forced to leave their homes and seek refuge somewhere else.

Refugee: The Graphic Novel by Alan Gratz

My nieces bought me the graphic novel version of the latter and had him sign it:

Thank you T & K!  I absolutely love it and plan on reading two more of his books by the end of 2026.

The other book I recently added to my collection was a gift from Jim @ cards as i see them:

1969 Topps Stamp Album #18

Here's a peek inside:

He also included a few Oakland A's inserts and parallels:

2025 Topps Chrome RayWave Refractor #67

The stamp book is a huge addition to my collection.  I'm planning on purchasing the final four stamps and fill the book as soon as possible.  I was also excited to see this Butler refractor.  I've really grown to appreciate the 2025 Topps design in recent months.

Matt over at Cards Over Coffee added to the collection of 2025 Topps Chrome refractors by sending me three more for my team set:

This six pack represents the core of the post-Oakland lineup.  I wasn't familiar with Tommy White, but it looks like he's one of their top prospects.

I'm gonna wrap things up with a Zippy Zapping from Kenny over at Torren' Up Cards.  He sent me this Calbee card of Shota Imanaga:

2023 Calbee #99

I'm always excited to add new Calbee cards to my binders... especially when they feature guys who have found success in the MLB.

While writing this post, Kenny sent another PWE with these three cards:

2025 Stadium Club NPB #180

2025 Bushiroad Dream Order #TBP01-L12

Not sure who Takumu Nakano is, but the card on the right features Tatsuya Imai.  He's one of the NPB stars who is bringing his talent to the MLB.  Back in December he signed a three year deal to pitch for the Houston Astros.

2024 Bandai Carddass Gintama

I'm not familiar with this character, but I enjoy collecting any Japanese trading cards... especially when they're shiny anime cards.

Thank you Jim, Matt, and Kenny for these cards.  They were a nice distraction from all of the drama going on in our country and around the world.

One of the things I'd like to do with this blog is return to my roots and begin ending my posts with questions like I did years ago.  So here we go...

Today's question of the day:

Outside of collecting cards, what do you like to do to reduce stress or help you take your mind off of things?

I'm not proud of it, but ever since I got sick back in December, I've been binge watching television shows like Stranger Things, Fallout, and Game of Thrones.  However normally, I enjoy going out for walks or riding my bike.  I'll also hop in my car and take it up in the hills.  If my back ever gets better, I'd love to start golfing again.  There is a really nice executive course a few miles from my place that is loaded with rabbits, deer, and turkeys.  It's about as therapeutic as it gets.

Well that's it for now...

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Take A Look

It's National Read a Book Day!  To honor it, I figured I'd show off some cards related to books...

#1:  1999 Greats of the Game Autographs #NNO

Bouton's Ball Four is one of the most famous baseball books out there.  I haven't read it, but it's waiting for me on my Kindle (which hasn't been turned on in ages).

#2:  1956 Topps #125 & 1962 Topps #153

I've been collecting the cards featured in The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading, and Bubble Gum Book and I discovered two more cards sitting in my collection.

This brings me up to eight different cards from the book out of a possible 241.

#3:  1978 Topps #36

Eddie Murray's rookie card was featured in Josh Wilker's Cardboard Gods:

This is my favorite book involving baseball cards.  Wilker writes about his life while tying in baseball cards from his childhood collection.  In one of the chapters, he talks about Murray winning the 1977 AL Rookie of the Year Award and mentions that Mitchell Page was robbed.

1978 O-Pee-Chee #75

I'm sure some of you are scratching your heads... wondering if Wilker is crazy.  But according to this article, it was a closer race than you might think.  In fact The Sporting News even named Page their AL Rookie of the Year.

#4: 1975 Osato Mini Card #NNO

This card is featured in SumoMenkoMan's book, Sumo Menko & Card Checklist (Fourth Edition):

If you're a sumo wrestling fan or a sumo card collector, you should think about purchasing a copy for your bookshelf.  It contains hundreds of colored photographs of vintage and modern sumo cards, along with detailed descriptions about each of the sets.

The next card wasn't featured in a book, but it's a trading card of one of my favorite authors...

1994 Authorcards #NNO

I've read a few of her books, but The Giver and Number the Stars are my favorites.

And in honor of National Read a Book Day, here's the book I read today:

Barbed Wired Baseball is a children's picture book about the life of Kenichi Zenimura, who is often referred to as the Father of Japanese-American Baseball.

It focuses on Zenimura's time at Gila River War Relocation Center where he built a baseball field and organized a baseball league.

This is the first book I've read in months.  As a teacher, I'm not proud of this.  The sad fact is I'd rather read card blogs than books.  But I do have an ever-growing stack of books piling up on my nightstand.  One of these days I'll start chipping away at them.

What's the last book you read?

Do you have a favorite book?  Sports book?  Trading card book?

Hope all of you are enjoying a safe Labor Day weekend.  Happy Monday and sayonara!

Good Friends & Cool Collectibles

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:

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. 

I haven't sat down and read it yet, but I am looking forward to it.

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:

Thank you Aiko for these thoughtful presents and always being there for me.  You're the best.

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

I'm always excited to add a new Posey to the binder.  He's a fan favorite in the Bay Area and rightfully so.  As for Murphy... did you know that he finished 4th in the 2020 AL ROY voting?  Me either.  But he seems to be the starting catcher for the A's in 2021.

The big ticket A's item in his care package was this Willie McGee:

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.

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.

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

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:

2020 Topps Chrome Pink Refractor #48

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.

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

Is this card gorgeous or what?  Huge props to BBM for producing some fantastic sumo wrestling cards.  Here'a a peek at the back:

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!