Whirlwind of a Week

This past week has been filled with surprises of all varieties that are best broken down into the following categories: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good:  Surprise Road Trip

Last Sunday my friend invited me to join her and her mom down in Pismo Beach for a short vacation along the Central Coast of California.  My lower back was feeling good for the first time in weeks, so I couldn't pass up this opportunity.

We spent a total of three days and two nights there and the weather was perfect for walking on the beach, doing a little shopping, eating delicious meals, and hanging out by the fire pit.

Here are a few photographs from our trip:

Tashi & Me

Wallet Card @ the Fire Pit

In a few days, it'll be eleven years since Gavin over at Baseball Card Breakdown inspired collectors to pick a card in their collection that they enjoy and start carrying it around in their wallets.  I don't go on too many vacations, but when I do... I'll pull it out.  

Wallet Card @ the Beach

In honor of Gavin, I made sure to take a photo of my wallet card in the wet sand.  He usually takes things a step further by allowing his card to take a dip in the water, but mine isn't quite ready to swim.

Another thing I like to do when writing about trips is research famous athletes who were raised in the area.  Unfortunately Pismo Beach's population isn't very high, so I couldn't find any notable athletes that I was familiar with from the area.

Ribeye @ Jocko's

However on Monday night, my friend took us out for a delicious ribeye steak at a restaurant in the small town of Nipomo.

2019 Topps Clear Travel #CP-53

Jeff McNeil went to high school in Nipomo and ironically, the New York Mets traded him to the Sacramento A's on the day of our dinner.

The next day we woke up, packed, ate a yummy breakfast then rushed back to the Bay Area in an effort to beat the rain, wind, and predicted flooding.  Thankfully we got home safe and sound, but this was going to be just a quick stop for me.

The Bad:  Under the Weather

My brother met me at my house and the next morning we drove to Roseville and spent Christmas with our brother's family.  We lucked out and avoided any holiday traffic, because we left at 5am.  But we did hit some rain which made it hard to see the roads at times.  Thankfully, my bro got us there in one piece.

Christmas Eve was pretty relaxing.  We watched some movies and ate a delicious miso salmon dinner.  However, I started to feel a little congested.

We all woke up early on Christmas morning, ate fried rice for breakfast, and opened presents.  At around 10am, my head was throbbing so bad from the nasal congestion that I took some Mucinex and laid down.  I kept hoping I'd feel better, but by the afternoon I had quarantined myself from the everyone.

It rained off and on throughout Christmas Day.  There's a creek that runs behind my brother's property that was slowly rising.  It peaked sometime around 9pm and ended up flooding half of the backyard, but thankfully the water had receded by the next morning.

The Ugly:  Worst Headache in Years

The day after Christmas, we came home.  I loaded up on over the counter cold meds, orange juice, and chicken noodle soup and hoped the road to recovery would begin.  It didn't.

Friday and Saturday were rough.  Every time I coughed, I'd feel a sharp pain in my head.  My main sources of relief were sleeping and taking hot showers.  Fortunately, I woke up this morning feeling a little better.  I still have a cough with phlegm, but the headache is tolerable.

I'm planning on resting one more day to help my body fight whatever it is I'm dealing with.  

Hopefully I'll finally ship out the holiday care packages I've been putting together either tomorrow or Tuesday.

In the meantime, I wanted to recap the highlights from my 2025 Topps Holiday Advent Calendar.  Several other bloggers have covered the day by day contents of their calendars, so I figured I'd just show my favorites...

2025 Topps Holiday Buyback: 1997 Topps #410

The two buybacks were the main reason I purchased one of these advent calendars.  To pull one of my all-time favorite baseball player was a dream come true.

The other card I was really hoping to pull was a Nick Kurtz rookie:

2025 Topps Holiday #H40

The Green Plaid parallels pair perfectly with any of the A's players.  I was fortunate to pull one:

2025 Topps Holiday Green Plaid #H32

It seems like The Nice List inserts were a hit with collectors.  I don't love them or hate them.  I just wish Topps made them a little tougher to pull.

2025 Topps Holiday Making The Nice List #MNL-2

Overall I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this product's design.  My buddy opened a couple of blasters and told me I could have his duplicates.  If I have a reasonable percentage of the set, I might just purchase a blaster and attempt to build it.

Well that's about all the energy I can muster right now for a blog post.  I hope all of you are enjoying your holidays.  As soon as I can ship out all of those care packages (hopefully tomorrow or Tuesday), I will write another post.

Until then...

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

A Trio of BIPs (Blogger Inspired Purchases)

A quick post with a back update and some recent blogger inspired purchases.  Let's start with the back.  I'm still in a lot of pain, but at least it's not constant.  I've had to burn a handful of sick days and a couple of half days, but it's slowly getting better.

One of the most comfortable positions is laying down flat, pillow under my neck, legs bent, feet flat on the ground, with a heating pad under my lower back.  As luck would it... I'm able to still use my laptop (which lays on my belly) to create Google Slides and lesson plans, do some online Christmas shopping, read blogs, and of course buy cards.

Most of my recent card purchases have been inspired by fellow bloggers.  Let's get to it...

BIP #1:  Beastie Boys Custom

2024 Nine Pockets 1982 Topps In Action #3

Regular readers know that the Beastie Boys are my all-time favorite group.  So when I saw that Gregory over at Nine Pockets created a new card for them, I immediately headed over to his eBay store and purchased four copies.  I asked if he'd sign one of them which he graciously did.  Here's a scan of the back:

He also offered to include a free copy of his original Beastie Boys custom:

2020 Nine Pockets 1982 Topps Future Stars #5

I already own a copy, but told him I'd love an extra for my buddy who is also a huge fan.

Thank you Gregory!  And keep up the creation of sweet customs!

BIP #2:  Iconic Hockey Set

1990-91 Upper Deck French Hockey Set

Not a lot of hockey fans out there, so I'll keep it short (not really... so if you need to... just scroll down).  This set was huge back in the 90's and I've always wanted to own a copy of the French version.  It was once considered much rarer than the English version.

1990-91 Upper Deck French #525

The set is loaded with hall of fame rookie cards including guys like Mike Modano, Ed Belfour, Mats Sundin, Pavel Bure, and Sergei Federov.  Plus it's only a matter of time before Jaromir Jagr gets inducted.

As for the blogger that inspired this purchase, that honor goes to this trio.

#1 Gregory @ Nine Pockets (Again):  He got the ball rolling with a post showing off his complete 1991-92 Upper Deck hockey set back in October.

#2 Bulldog @ Nothing If Not Random:  Bulldog wrote a post showing off three packs of 1991 Upper Deck football that reminded me how awesome early 90's Upper Deck products were.

#3 Joseph @ CrazieJoe's Card Corner:  The day after Bulldog's post, Joe showed off a 1990-91 Upper Deck Tom Barrasso hockey card in a post and the search was on.

Two weeks later, I won an auction on eBay for $21.62 (+ tax & shipping).  Two of the cards (#92 & #93) were English versions.  Unfortunately the seller didn't have either of these cards laying around, but he did refund me a few bucks to cover the cost of me tracking them down for my set.

BIP #3:  Barry Sanders Oddball Rookie

1989 Detroit Lions Police #11

Two weeks ago, Greg over at CROCODILE SPORTS CARDS showed of some recent purchases that included an oddball rookie card of one of the greatest running backs of all-time.

That same day, I purchased a copy of my own off of eBay for $11.75 (tax & shipping included).

Anyone who had the pleasure of watching this guy run in the 90's understands his greatness.  It's just a shame he played for the Detroit Lions.  Can you imagine what his career would look like if he was running behind the Dallas Cowboys' offensive line?

Speaking of the Detroit Lions, I'm quietly rooting for them to beat the Los Angeles Rams today.  Not sure if that'll happen, but if it does and the Seahawks can take down the Colts... the Hawks would own the best record in the NFC.  Let's go Lions, Hawks, and Packers!

Thank you Gregory, Bulldog, Joseph, and Greg for inspiring me to add these cards to my collection!

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

The Bulk Box Keepers

It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon and I'm spending the majority of it on my back in an effort to let my lower back relax and return to normal.  As I promised on Thursday, I wanted to write up a post featuring a bunch of cards that Kevin over at The Diamond King sent me recently.

They were part of a giveaway he held on his blog that featured a bunch of bulky cards he was giving away for the holidays.  The catch?  The only thing he requires is that the winning recipient must send out at least one care package you weren't already planning to send.

Well I had a few care packages planned for this holiday season, but thanks to Kevin... there will be a few more.  I even went out and purchased some cards on eBay for these care packages.  As soon as everything has arrived and packaged up, I'll ship them out.

In the meantime, let's look at the cards I decided to hold onto from The Diamond King's giveaway...

Let's start off with a trio of cards for my team collections:

2022 Donruss Retro 1988 Materials #R88M-HK

This is my very first Ha-Seong Kim memorabilia card.  I was a big fan of his during his four seasons with the San Diego Padres.

2007 UD Masterpieces Captured on Canvas #CC-JK

I'm sure most of you remember Kendall for his years with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but he also spend two and a half seasons with the A's.  If you've never held one of these Captured on Canvas memorabilia cards, they're really nice.

2020 Topps Player Medallions #TPM-MC

Manufactured relics like this commemorative coin can be hit or miss.  I like this particular one, because it's heavy and has the density of a paper weight.

Here are a few more manufactured relics from Kevin's giveaway that I added to my collection:

2022 Topps Update Commemorative Batting Helmet #BH-FF

This was the thickest card in the box... and is right up there with the Chapman in regards to weight.  Even though I'm not a fan of the Dodgers, I'm a big fan of Freeman and this card.

2020 Topps Update 20 Years of the Captain

Commemorative Patch #20YCC-13

Another player I admire pictured on a team I dislike.  What's the saying?  Don't hate the playa.  Hate the team.

2022 Topps All-Star Alumni Commemorative Relics #ASA-HAA

I definitely don't hate the Braves.  In fact, outside of the A's and Giants, I have watched more of their televised games in my lifetime than anyone else.  As for Aaron, he had retired before I became a huge baseball fan.  But I learned about his career and legacy early in my childhood.

Kevin actually sent me two really cool Hank Aaron cards, but one of them will be passed along to a fellow blogger who collects the Braves.

Next up are a pair of thick high-end base cards I'm adding to the collection:

2019 Topps Triple Threads #47

2023 Topps Tribute #23

Topps Triple Threads and Topps Tribute are two products you'll never see me opening up.  It's not because I don't appreciate them.  I think both of these cards are really nice.  I just can't justify spending hundreds of dollars on a box of cards.

2021 Topps Update All-Star Stitches #ASSC-JS

I'm not 100% sure, but I think this is my first Juan Soto memorabilia card.  He's such a dynamic player whose career is off to a stellar start.  It's just a shame that he's played with four teams over the course of the past four seasons.  One day he might be remembered as one of the Mets all-time greats, but for now... I associate him mostly with the Nationals.

Next up, a legendary lady...

2008 Donruss Americana Hollywood Legends Materials #HL-60

I don't think I have ever watched one of Hedy Lamarr's movies, but she's a familiar name and ranked #24 on IMDB's list of the most beautiful actresses of all-time.

The next single I want to share is my personal favorite:

2008 Donruss Americana Sports Legends

Museum Collection Materials #MC-4 (#'d 160/250)

This card instantly reminded me of my father and his love of golf.

Although my dad's favorite golfers were Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, Snead's name also came up whenever we talked about the all-time greats.

The final six thick cards pulled from Kevin's box that were put into the keeper stack were these:

Cronenworth and Tatis Jr. have been added to my Padres PC, while Clemente, Trout, and Johnson are cool cards that I wanted.  The Hafner autograph is a keeper for now.  I read an interesting fact about him recently.  He's the only player in MLB history to hit five grand slams before the all-star break.

I'll wrap up this post of bulk box keepers with the only thin card in the box:

1984 Calbee #95

Back in October, Kevin opened up a pack of 1984 Calbee and pulled this sweet Sachio Kinugasa card.  I had never seen one of these Calbee cards before, but I really like the design which kinda resembles the 1981 Topps baseball.

Kinugasa is a member of the Japanese Baseball Hall Of Fame.  His best season was the same year this card was produced.  That year he won the Central League MVP Award.

Kevin was also kind enough to send the original pack wrapper:

Thank you Kevin for sending me this box of bulky cardboard and adding eighteen new cards to my collection.  The rest will be shipped out in care packages, used in a future giveaway, or be added to my box of trade bait that has slowly dwindled in size over the years.

More importantly... thank you for holding these giveaways and inspiring me and others to ship out more care packages during the holiday season.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!