Calm Before the Storm

Collecting sports cards can be relaxing.  Rooting for sports teams can be quite the opposite.  Today's a big day for one of my favorite teams and I've been stressing out about it for the past week.

I figured I'd try to distract myself this morning, but catching up with a pair of items from Ryan's advent calendar that could be classified as relaxing or calming.

Let's start with the helpful hint that he wrote:

This was one of the most obvious haikus from his package.  It refers to this miniature bonsai tree:

The planting portion was super simple and took less than a minute to complete.  Now the waiting game begins.  I'm planning on taking the pot into my classroom.  Maybe watching it grow will help some of my 8th graders relax too.

The other "calming" present was building block related.  Here's his haiku:

And here's the gift:

It's one of those blind bags that contains one "Space Collection" build.  Here's the one I received:

Building block sets are often pretty therapeutic, but this little sucker was a challenging build due to its small size.  Here's a photo that shows the size compared to the mini bonsai planter, a Lego mini-figure, and a Kenner SLU:

The astronaut will accompany the bonsai pot and join the other Lego builds I have displayed in my classroom.

While on the topic of building blocks, I wanted to show off one more Christmas related gift before discussing the storm that quickly approaching.

My friend's mom gave me this awesome Lego set:

2024 Lego Star Wars #75375

I've thought about buying the midi-scale Millennium Falcon for over a year, but I just never got around to doing it.  So I was blown away to see that this was waiting for me under their tree.  Unfortunately, I haven't had time to build it... but as soon as I do... I'll show you guys what it looks like.

Okay... now let's get to the sports section of this post.  In a couple of hours, the Seattle Seahawks will host the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship Game.  Division games always stress me out.  Division games that involve the winner moving on to the Super Bowl is next level.

On one hand, I haven't been as impressed with the Seahawks defense since these guys:

2014 Prizm Red, White, & Blue #200

On the other hand, I'm not quite as confident in the Seahawks offense as I have been in the past.  I'm predicting a close game... but honestly have no idea who wins this game.  I've watched a ton of analysis and prediction videos... and I feel like even the experts are pretty torn.

At this point the only thing to do is sit back, watch the game, and see how things play out.  Let's go Hawks!

Here are today's questions of the day...

Do you ever get stressed out over your favorite sports teams?

Out of the four remaining football teams, are you rooting for any of them?

If so, who?

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

Flea Market Finds #182a: The Season Isn't Over Yet

After two poor flea market outings in a row, I was mentally preparing myself for the end of the flea market season.  Branham High School had other plans.

The parking lot was full of vendors, including at least two new guys with sports cards.  Plus there were the regulars.  Remember the guy with a dime box last month?  Well he was back.  This time he brought out a dollar bin...

Purchase #1:  Dollar Bin  $5

Memorabilia cards have lost their luster over the years, but I'll happily buy them if they're cheap, fit into my collection, and/or are interesting.

2012 Panini Golden Age Museum Age Relic #21

2012 Panini Golden Age Museum Age Relic #10

2021 Upper Deck AEW Memorabilia #55

The Billy Martin will be added to my Oakland A's PC, while the Hikaru Shida is a nice addition to my Japanese athlete collection.

2021 Topps WWE Women's Division Super Star Logo Patch Relic #SLP-SB

2017 UD Marvel Thor Ragnarok The Armory Dual Memorabilia #AD-10

The other three women fall into the "interesting" category.

Purchase #2:  Vintage Star Wars Puzzle  $5

1977 Kenner Star Wars Puzzle

I saw this puzzle sitting on a lady's tarp and my eyes were drawn to the sticker on the left side of the box.  It states that the puzzle does not include the two characters on the left.  Kenner eventually corrected this and issued a different box with the two gentleman cropped out.

My first attempt at building vintage Star Wars puzzles ended in failure, but this one seems to be much more manageable.  Maybe I'll give it a shot over the holidays.

Purchase #3:  Will Clark Cookie Cards  $1

There's a guy that I run into at every flea market who also collects cards.  We usually hang out a few minutes and talk about our finds or lack thereof.  He told me about a kid who had a binder with some 50¢ cards.  

By the time I found the "binder" I figured it had been already picked through and was correct.  However I found a pair of Mother's Cookies Will Clark cards:

1987 Mother's Cookies San Francisco Giants SGA #2

1988 Mother's Cookies Will Clark Food Issue #1

This is a perfect time to explain the two different ways collectors could acquire Mother's Cookies cards back in the day.  The first card was given away at Candlestick Park in an envelope that contained 28 cards as part of a 28 card set.  The catch was there were 21 different players in the envelope with one player receiving 7 duplicates.  Fans were encouraged to trade with other fans to complete the set.

The second card were inserted into bags of Mother's Cookies.  The set contains four cards and each bag contained one cellophane wrapped card.

Purchase #4:  Vintage Hockey Binder  $20

I found this binder of vintage hockey cards in the last row of the flea market.  The guy was asking a buck per card, three cards for two dollars, or $20 for the whole binder.

I was immediately drawn to the Golden Seals cards:

But after coming across this Bobby Orr, I just bought the binder:

1974-75 Topps #100

Here's a peek at some of the highlights from the rest of the binder:

I'd say 90% of the binder was from the 1974-75 Topps set, but there were a few 1973-74 and 1975-76 Topps cards mixed in:

I was pretty stoked to find this binder on the way out, but little did I know... I wasn't finished yet.

While cutting through rows on my way out to the car, I saw a familiar face with some really cool sets from the 80's.  But that's a post for another day.

Until then...

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Memoirs of a Hoarder: Catching Gators

Some athlete's deaths hit harder than others.  When I read about Mike Greenwell passing away on Thursday, it took me back to the late 80's.  There was a brief period in my life when I was opening boxes upon boxes of baseball cards purchased at my local Costco/Price Club.

1987 Topps #259

I was obsessed with mimicking the shops advertising in card magazines and building player lots of rising stars.  One of those guys was Mr. Greenwell.  As long as I can remember, I've had a deep appreciation for guys who hit for average and that's exactly what he did.

The days of hoarding his cardboard ended when I sold off my collection in the early 2000's, but I have a copy of his Topps rookie card sitting in my set.  I also found this card sitting in a box of cards labeled "cheap, cool cards":

1991 Fleer Pro-Vision #8

This single is on the blogosphere's hot list.  Just saw it pop up over at Diamond Jesters in his Greenwell tribute post.

But my favorite card of his is this on-card autograph I purchased back in 2013 when I was putting together the set:

2013 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Autograph #FFA-MG

Rest in peace Gator.  Although the bulk of your cards that once resided in my collection have moved on to other collectors or landfills, I still treasure these three cards.  They'll always remind me of that special period on my hobby timeline.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Extra Innings

A few weeks ago, I received a care package from Adam over at Thoughts & 🧦.  Like Matt over at Diamond Jesters, he's a fan of the Boston Red Sox.  I figured since I was honoring Greenwell, I I'd also use this post to thank one of Greenwell's fans.

Adam sent me a variety of cards, but I'm going to stick to the unique items in his care package.  Let's start with some Oakland A's and San Diego Padres cards from the 2000 APBA MLB game:

I feel like I've seen these floating around at card shows or flea markets, but I'm not sure if any have actually landed into my collection.

I definitely needed this card for my Gwynn PC:

2000 APBA MLB #NNO

Here are a pair of 70's Oakland Athletics buybacks:

1977 Topps #261

Phil Garner kicked off his career in Oakland, but I remember him more for his time in Pittsburgh and Houston.  That being said, I absolutely love adding 70's and 80's Oakland A's buybacks to my collection.

1979 Topps #224

I'm definitely familiar with Dave Revering.  His mid-season trade to the New York Yankees in 1981 led to him have a very rare card in the 1981 Granny Goose set.

Moving along, here are a pair of cards for a set I'm building:

2018 Sport Kings #14

2018 Sport Kings #17

Adam actually sent me a fairly fat stack of Sport Kings singles ranging for the 2018 to 2022 sets, but these were the two I was most excited about.

Technically, I only need one more card... but Sport Kings created variations for Cobb and Payton.  The good news is neither of these cards are rare.  It's just about being patient.

He also sent me a stack of Japanese baseball players:

You're looking at almost the entire 2006 Upper Deck World Future Stars Japan team set.  I'm pretty sure I have the Dice-K which is the only card missing from the scan.  It's also nice to add three Japanese pitchers who played on playoff teams this season.  Although Yoshinobu's team is the only one still around.

Let's move along to a galaxy far, far away:

2024 Topps Chrome Star Wars Refractor #4

Grand Admiral Thrawn is one of the most interesting characters in the Star Wars Universe.  Adam included a few of these refractors, but this one was my favorite.

I was also surprised and excited to see this slide out of the padded envelope:

2022 Topps Chrome Black Star Wars Autographs #AB-MBJ

Based on my memory, Ranzar Malk only appeared in one episode of The Mandalorian.  However I am very familiar with the actor who portrayed him.  Mark Boone Jr. played a major role in Sons of Anarchy, which is a top 20 television show for me.  I've also seen him in Momento, Batman Begins, and The Last Man on Earth.

I'll wrap things up with the final three hits from the care package:

2002 Donruss Studio Private Signings #143

I wasn't familiar with Mr. Pena and his tenure in Oakland.  According to his Baseball Reference page, he never pitched for them.  I've added him to the Men of Mystery section in my Oakland A's PC.

2008 SPx Rookie Signatures Silver #131

On the other hand, I'm very familiar with Mr. Blevins.  He played seven seasons in Oakland and was a key piece of their bullpen in the late aught's and early 2010's. 

1994 Signature Rookies Tetrad Autographs #XCII

I just commented on Johnny's post about my history with Signature Rookies back in the 90's.  There's a good chance I pulled a copy of this card at some point back then.  If I did, I would have recognized this name because Adam Hyzdu was with the San Francisco Giants organization and briefly played in San Jose.  Although I haven't dove into collecting every single athlete born in San Jose, if I do this card will be part of it.

Thank you Adam for sending me this very generous care package.  I don't have a ton of Red Sox or Virdon cards, but I will try to dig up some stuff for your collection.