Catching Up

One of the best things about the blogosphere is the interaction among people who share a common interest: collecting cards.  If I didn't start reading card blogs and writing my own posts, I never would have had the opportunity to hang out and talk shop with fellow bloggers like Rod, Ryan, Brady, Dan, Greg, and Jim over at cards as i see them.

Two weeks ago, Jim and I met up again at an In-N-Out about a mile from my place, grabbed some burgers, and caught up on cards, blogs, and baseball.  Good times.

 

He also handed me a care package that had some really cool PC items along with some set help.  Let's get the ball rolling with this on-card autograph of Joe Rudi:

2001 Topps Archives Autograph #119

Tonight Rudi is getting inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame for his contributions to this team:

2020 Topps Update Decades' Best #DB-27

Outside of the New York Yankees, the 70's Oakland A's are the only other team to win three consecutive World Series titles.  Yup.  As an A's fan, sometimes I gotta celebrate stuff from half a century ago when I was only an infant.

Next up is a card that was sitting on my sports card most wanted list for several years:

1997 Bowman's Best Preview International Refractor #5

Jim and I actually talked about this card when we hung out.  He mentioned how he found two reasonably priced copies on COMC, so he grabbed one for his collection and the other for mine.

I think the last time I updated this list was about five years ago, because there were two other cards on it that I had already acquired.  Thanks to Jim, it's been completely updated.

Are game-used jersey cards still popular among most collectors?  Personally, I'm still an avid collector of them.

2002 Fleer Authentix Jersey Authentix Ripped #JA-EC

I actually already have a copy of this card for my collection.  However my co-worker's son happens to also be an A's fan, so I'll pass this along to him.

Moving along to the set builds, Jim got me two steps closer to completing my 2024 Topps set:

2024 Topps Series 1 #1

2024 Topps Update #US228

And eight steps closer to completing my 2011 Topps Update set:

Thank you Jim for the generous package and for plugging me into your busy schedule.  One of these days, I hope to make it out to the Land of 10,000 Lakes, so we can hit up a card show or Twins game.

As for all of the other bloggers out there, if you're ever in the Bay Area... reach out to me.  I'd love to hang out, grab eats, and talk about our favorite hobby.  Consider this an open invitation.

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

Extra Innings

Figured this would be the perfect time to catch up and share two recently received PWE's from two more bloggers who offered to help me with my 2011 Topps Update set.

Tom over at The Angels, In Order got me twelve steps closer to completing my set:

If you're wondering why there are only ten cards scanned, that's because there were two that Jim also had in his care package.

And AJ over at The Lost Collector sent over six more set needs:

Here's a look at all of the numbers these three bloggers crossed off:

Thank you Tom and AJ!  Two other bloggers have offered to help me out.  After that... I'm going to turn it over to Sportlots to finish it off.

Baseball Card Therapy

Time heals all wounds.

Okay... I'm sure that many people out there would argue against this.  I'd be more inclined to support this statement if it was:  time heals some wounds.  In fact, I'd say that time has had a way of healing most wounds I've personally encountered.

I'm still going through the grieving process, I've got to admit I'm in a much better place mentally than I was three weeks ago.  As I've mentioned before... family, friends, and work have provided a lot of support and distractions.  But that's not the only thing.  Baseball cards have played a role in the healing process, which includes making a few card purchases, busting some boxes, getting back into the routine of blog post writing, and of course reading and commenting on your blog posts.

Yesterday, I enjoyed another sports card therapy session when I got home from work.  I had a few hours to kill before my buddy and I were gonna grab dinner, so I locked myself in my office, organized my desk, put away some stacks of cards that had been sitting on my floor for over a month, scanned some cards, and opened up a pair of PWE's from fellow bloggers:  Adam @ Cardboard Clubhouse and Jim @ Cards As I See Them.

I received Adam's PWE either earlier in the week... or possibly the week before.  One of the things about having a lot of stuff on my mind is that I tend to lose track of time.  I didn't want to do a rush job on it, so I set it aside until things settled down.

The first card I noticed was this 1973 Topps card of Catfish Hunter:

Obviously, I appreciate any vintage card of Catfish where he's photographed at the Oakland Coliseum.  However it's the photo of him hanging with two dogs that caught my eye.  Although I don't own one myself, I'm a huge fan of our four legged friends.

Last weekend, I went to see Superpower Dogs at the San Jose Tech Museum's IMAX Theater and was really blown away at how loyal and intelligent man's best friend is.

Anyways... getting back to the Catfish that Adam sent:

I learned how Mr. Hunter acquired his nickname.

Next up was this 1982 Donruss card of Billy Martin:

I love this card!  It's a piece of my childhood and captures Billy doing what he did best:  argue with umpires.

The third card that stood out was this 2017 BBM card of Taisuke Yamaoka:

I have no idea who this guy is, but he shares the last name of one of my closest friends.  As soon as I saw this card, I thought of her and my nieces... which immediately made me smile.

In addition to these three cards, he also sent me these:

Thank you Adam!  Sorry it took me so long to open it up.  It helped me take my mind off of things yesterday, which is very much appreciated.

Next up was a three card PWE from Mr. GCRL.  Inside was a card on my Most Wanted List, but let's see the other two cards first:

I'm a huge fan of the 2008 Topps card design and back when this card was released, I gotta imagine this was a pretty popular card since Iwamura and the Tampa Bay Rays were headed to the World Series that year.

The Ichiro is from his 2001 MLB rookie season.  This insert card is from an Ichiro tribute set that came from a special 3 card pack which was inserted into 2001 Upper Deck Rookie Update boxes.  I now own four of the fifty-one different cards in the set.

Last, but certainly not least is this card...

1964 Topps #550

Back in September of 2016, I added this tribute card of Ken Hubbs to my Most Wanted List after I wrote a post on tribute cards dedicated to athletes that passed away during their playing careers.  This Hubbs represents one of the earliest In Memoriam cards that I know of.

The back of the card summarizes the story of the plane crash that took Hubbs' life back on February 15th, 1964.  Other than this baseball card, I didn't know much about the Chicago Cubs' second baseman.  But I was bummed out when I discovered that he was only twenty-two years old when he died.  That's so young and very sad.

Anyways... I don't want to end this post on a sad note.  I'm very thankful that my mother had the opportunity to spend eighty-four long years with friends and family.  I'm also very lucky to have spent forty-six of those years with her.

I'm also truly grateful for both of these very generous PWE's.  Thank you Adam and Jim!  Baseball card therapy might just be the best thing for me outside of spending quality time with family and friends.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!