This post requires a little mood music...
Decades later... I can close my eyes and hear that tune and Mel Allen's voice whenever I want. And for those who aren't familiar with the iconic show... well... it was exactly what it sounded like: a show highlighting the week in baseball.
Well after reading some blog posts and catching up on sports highlights... I decided to start a new series on here called: This Week in Blogging.
The goal is to highlight some of the things around the hobby, sports, pop culture, and of course our blogosphere from the perspective of a middle school teacher who is perpetually running on fumes due to a busy work schedule. In other words, don't expect every major highlight or big hobby story. I'll be writing about the ones that hit close to (my) home.
In this inaugural post, I decided to focus on these four stories from the past week.
#1: Tom Seaver
1968 O-Pee-Chee #45
This past Monday, baseball fans around the world mourned the loss of hall of fame pitcher, Tom Seaver. As a kid, I knew he was a stud on the mound and headed to Cooperstown.
2000 Upper Deck Kit Young Autograph #TS
However after reading a few tributes and listening to some local radio guys share their stories about Terrific Tom, I discovered a deeper appreciation for him as a player and a human being. My Seaver collection is pretty small and I don't have any plans on taking things to the next level. However there is one card I have set my sights on that I hope to add to my collection in the near future. Stay tuned.
#2: Dave Parker
1974 Topps #252
On Tuesday, Collecting Cutch mentioned a television show that was recently added to Netflix called Cobra Kai. Two days later, I sat down to give it a shot... and ended up binge watching the entire first season and one episode of the second season. I won't bother boring you with a poorly written review, but if you were a fan of the 80's Karate Kid movies... there's a pretty good chance you'll enjoy this show.
Anyways... just typing the word "cobra" made me think of Dave Parker. And since Collecting Cutch is a Pirates fan, I thought the card above was perfect for this post.
#3: Stadium Cards
Based on a few blog posts I've read this week... I learned that Stadium Club has officially hit the shelves. I don't have any plans on buying any packs or boxes, but I might eventually pick up a few autographs and singles. In the meantime, I figured I'd share some stadium cards of my own:
This nine card sheet of stadium cards were carefully cut from this issue of Tuff Stuff Magazine:
Tuff Stuff July1992
This was one of the issues from the giant box of stuff I received from Ryan (aka SumoMenkoMan). Here's a look at what the back of the sheet looks like:
The highlight of the sheet... at least for me... was this card:
#4: 1992 Fleer Rookie Sensations
Outside of your blog posts, one of my favorite things to read when I have some free time are back issues of sports card magazines. I'm currently reading the above issue of Tuff Stuff and while flipping through some of the ads, I kept noticing a set I recently completed. Here are some scans from the magazine:
1992 Fleer Rookie Sensations #1
1992 Fleer Rookie Sensations #12
That being said... it does contain three hall of famers, a handful of fan favorites, and they're definitely a part of collecting history... just like Terrific Tom, The Cobra, Tuff Stuff Magazine, and their unique set of stadium cards.
Well that's it for today.
I hope you enjoyed the first edition of This Week in Blogging.
What about you?
Anything interesting or special happen to you, your teams, or your collection this week?
Happy Saturday and sayonara!
Love the Jackpot / TWIB theme! Every time I hear it I instantly am transported back to the late 70s / early 80's when I would look forward to watching TWIB each week. I get a Pavlovian response waiting to hear "Hello every body, this is Mel Allen. Its time for This Week in Baseball"
ReplyDeleteNicely covered. I remember the Rookie Sensations set fondly, but I never got it completed and I don't know that I ever will. That music is sure nostalgic!
ReplyDeleteI was fortunate enough to catch a couple years of This Week In Baseball before Mel Allen passed away. "This Week In Blogging" is a neat concept. And I have a new appreciation for stadium cards since starting my All-Time Teams collection.
ReplyDeleteYour Seaver cards are fantastic! RIP Tom Terrific.
Cool concept!
ReplyDeleteThat Dream Team Tuff Stuff is incredible.
I walked from Candlestick to SFO once. Long story.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to get my first taste of a new 2020 product tonight when I bust some boxes for my group break. Personally, I'm most excited to see what this year's Stadium Club looks like. I've been trying my best to avoid any "spoilers" of awesome base cards.
ReplyDeleteI loved twib and the theme song. The credits one year featured the cobra nailing brian downing at the plate in the 1979 all-star game which was a huge game for me as a young fan.
ReplyDeleteI only made it to candlestick for a 49ers game, never a giants game. I think the temperature varied within the stick from 40 to 80 degrees while I was there.
You don't need to introduce me to This Week In Baseball. I lived for Saturdays when it was on. TWIB followed by Game of the Week.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea for a blog post! Really enjoyed that.
ReplyDeleteTWIB, great show. Well done post. I went to a card show today, and the very first thing I was given (for free) 4500 (3 shoe boxes) full of 2020 cards. Mainly base, but the stars were all there with the exception of Luis Roberts so far. I still have 1 more box to go through.
ReplyDeleteNothing special over this way although Bryce Harper catching a flyball and pretending to hand it to one of the cardboard cutouts made me chuckle a bit.
ReplyDeleteLoved TWIB and I can definitely hear his voice anytime I think of the show.
ReplyDeleteWe binged Cobra Kai this past week as well. It was pretty cheesy with all the 80's music and such but I can't say I didn't enjoy it.
Highlight of the week was the Mets' amazing double-comeback win over the Yankees on my birthday. It was enough to make me buy the Pete Alonso Topps Now card (from an eBay reseller, less than half price)--the only other time I've done that was when Pete set the rookie home run record last year.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I grew up watching This Week in Baseball. It was a must watch on Saturdays. As for this week, the only excitement for me came in the form of some cards off my lists of Indians team sets coming to me in some trades.
ReplyDeletefleerfan - me too. if i ever created a sounds from my childhood, both of these tunes would make the list.
ReplyDeletethe diamond king - i saw a complete set sell for around $10. they're pretty affordable right now.
chris - thanks chris. looks like tuff stuff created four different sheets of stadium cards. one of them has the oakland coliseum. i'll add that one eventually.
the lost collector - although i'm no longer a big nba fan, i'll always have a deep appreciation for anything dream team related
elliptical man - whoa. hope that becomes a blog post one day. bet you burned off all of the beer and nachos calories you consumed earlier in the day
nachos grande - noticed your group breaks sold really well. stadium club is always a popular product. don't know many collectors who don't appreciate beautiful photography
gcrl - that parker throw is another play embedded in my brain. parker had quite the cannon. i've only gone to a handful of niners games as an adult. still haven't gone to any at levi. maybe one day
night owl - those were the days. loved the game of the week.
jongudmund - thanks. hopefully it doesn't die after one post. one of my goals is to spotlight at least one blog each week, since a large percentage of inspiration comes from fellow bloggers
johnnys trading spot - wow. free is good. can't wait to see what else you got. have fun going through the boxes.
big tone - i didn't get a chance to really watch any baseball highlights this week. i'll have to look for the harper video
jeff laws - one of my favorite parts was how they utilized the same songs from the movies. actually was planning to use young hearts in a future post.
brett alan - i didn't see the game, but i saw the box score. i'll always celebrate a yankees loss. congratulations... and happy belated birthday!
ohiotim - do you have a blog? love to see someone write about 90's indians cardboard.
Tom Seaver was my guy growing up outside Philly and hating the hometown Phillies stars of Carlton and Schmidt both were pretty much A-holes. So I went with the Mets and Seaver & Kingman and I was able to watch the Mets on WOR-TV. My oldest sons middle name is Seaver. So as I knew he had dementia and was probably only a matter of time this was a shock to the system for me....... #RIP #TheFranchise #TomTerrific.
ReplyDeleteNever really watched TWIB, but I heard plenty of Mel Allen as a Yankees play-by-play man in the 60s. That's what i associate him with. They had quite a crew in those days, Allen, Red Barber (one of the all-time best), Phil Rizzuto, Joe Garagiola, Jerry Coleman, Frank Messer.
ReplyDeleteI only ever saw TWIB on the Candlestick jumbotron before the weekend day games so Mel's voice and the theme song bring me back to sitting in the upper deck as a kid.
ReplyDeleteI never saw TWIB but I love the concept for a blog post. I'm glad You enjoyed the first season of Cobra Kai. R.I.P. Tom Terrific
ReplyDeleteGreat cards, particularly that beautiful Seaver auto and the ballpark cards. Love those. Nothing great happened for me or my collecting this week but that's ok. I think I want the This Week in Baseball theme song to be my ring tone.
ReplyDeleteI LOVED those Rookie SEnsations inserts, the Thomas and Bagwell in particular. Great insert set!
ReplyDeleteVery cool, I like this idea for a series! Those Tuff Stuff stadium cards are really neat. I might have to try to find those myself.
ReplyDeleteTuff Stuff magazines are a wealth of blogging material gold.
ReplyDeleteAwesome post, I love it. I need to pick up that Candlestick card, pretty awesome.
ReplyDeleteIt was funny to see the Rookie Sensations set. I have been working on some late 80s/early 90s Fleer insert sets and that is one I still need a few cards from. I have been working to clean off my desk today and have 6 cards left out on it and 3 are from that set needing to be put away. The 3 HOFers you mention are the 3 I still need - I have been picking them up for 18-25 cents/card on Sportlots but I am going to need to open the purse strings slightly for those 3.
The Rockies became the first team to win a series against the Dodgers this season. Sad about Seaver (and Brock), though.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to more of these posts. You don't even need to change the TWIB acronym!
ReplyDeleteAh those 1992 Fleer Rookie Sensations bring me back! My dad and I ran our own little card store in 1992 and I remember us having a case of the cello packs with those in it and it being a very hot item that summer since everyone wanted the Frank Thomas (even though it was two years after he had been a rookie). I was able to pull a Brian McRae and a Chuck Knoblauch which tells you something about how popular they were - 28 years later I can still rattle off the two cards I got off the top of my head! I guess they would both be dime box material now, I think I still have them somewhere.
ReplyDeletedion's ip autos only - yeah, i had heard about seaver's fight with dimentia. it runs in my family and it can be painful to see someone struggle with memories. wow. didn't know carlton was a jerk. had i known that as a kid, i might not have rooted for him as much as i did
ReplyDeletecommishbob - whoa. that was quite the lineup. i'm gonna guess most or all are in cooperstown
nick vossbrink - hmmm. that sounds familiar. i probably saw it there too.
collecting cutch - i finished both seasons of cobra kai. thanks for suggesting it
peter k steinberg - love the ring tone idea. might have to copy that idea
shoeboxlegends - the bagwell was the last card i needed for the set. i would have thought you would like the plantier. i'm pretty sure that was one of the more expensive cards back in 1992
adam - based on my research, there are four different sheets of stadium cards. i want to collect them all too
sumomenkoman - thanks for hooking me up with those three issues. i just finished reading the dream team issue.
arpsmith - best of luck with your set. i think the only expensive card will be the frank thomas. bagwell was the last card i needed. found it on sportlots for a buck. the problem was the shipping. ended up buying a few other cards from the dealer to make it worth it, so by the time i placed my order it was more like $5.
adam kaningher - thank you colorado! need someone to slow the dodgers down. they're clearly the most talented team in the national league. at this point i'll be rooting for anyone in the national league to take them down from this point on
gregory - lol. that's why i went with "blogging" twisc (this week in sports cards) doesn't quite have the same ring to it.
sean - that's pretty cool that you owned a card shop with your dad. speaking of those rookie sensations... i'm pretty sure you were able to search them. it was either those or the 1990-91 fleer basketball rookie sensations. the owner of the shop i worked at put the packs in white envelopes to prevent customers from searching those packs.
Just looking forward to football!
ReplyDelete