How About That!

My students are in the middle of their Trading Card Project, which means I have baseball cards scattered all around my classroom right now.  Yesterday morning... one of my co-workers stopped by my classroom to see how my weekend went and noticed all of the cards.  He picked up a stack and started reminiscing about his childhood collection.

I'm guessing that we're about the same age, because we talked about collecting guys like McGwire, Clemens, Sandberg, and Mattingly.  He even told me about how he spent his entire savings on a Jose Canseco rookie card... which is something I possibly did myself back in the day.

It was really cool to see another grown man get excited about baseball cards.  He even told me he was interested in going with me to the next baseball card show.  You gotta love the power of nostalgia.

There's just something about opening up my 80's binder and looking at the cardboard I collected as a kid.  It's really magical.  I could be having the worst day ever... and those cards and memories will make things better.

The same thing applies to things like seeing cars on the road or toys I owned for sale at the flea market.  But the two things that make me feel the most nostalgic are music and television shows.  In fact whenever I hear certain television theme songs, it's like taking a trip back in time.

One that I'm especially fond of is This Week in Baseball's opening theme music.  The "dun-duh, dun-duh, dun-duh" instantly takes me back to my childhood days of watching one of my favorite sports television shows of all-time.

The show recapped all of the awesome highlights from around the league in a very interesting and almost poetic format.  The key to the show... at least for me... was Mel Allen, who was the voice of This Week in Baseball.  His iconic voice was made for baseball and his eloquent choice of words were my favorite things about the show.

That's why I've been trying to add a signed baseball of his to my collection for years.  Back in September I treated myself to a belated birthday present when I purchased this on eBay:

The ball has age spots, but overall it's in pretty nice condition and the signature is very clean.  Unfortunately Mr. Allen passed away back in 1996, so his autographs aren't exactly cheap... even though I'm sure he signed for thousands of baseball fans over his career.

I was hoping to find a PSA/DNA certified ball, but ended up settling for JSA because it was a little more affordable.  The seller was originally asking $125, but after going back and forth we settle on $78 (with free shipping).

This is the fifth autographed baseball I've added to my collection over the past three months.  The first one I showed off was the Ted Simmons I picked up at the card show.  Munenori Kawasaki was the second.  I'll show off the final two in the near future.  One of them was signed by my favorite athlete of all-time... Mr. Anthony Keith Gwynn, Sr.  How about that!

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!