30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Sunday, January 2, 2022

Not Perfect... but Better

Natural disasters.  The PandemicBlaster box shortages due to flipping.  Yup.  2021 wasn't perfect.  But like I commented on Nacho Grande's post this morning... 1/2/22 is way better than 1/2/21,

Last January... I was teaching from my dining room table and stressing over what #45 would do during his final weeks in office.  Combine the worst teaching experience in my twenty-four year career with watching people storm the Capitol... and that adds up to some serious anxiety.  Thankfully... the year got better and better as time passed.

Like I said at the start of the post... 2021 wasn't perfect.  Not even close.  But it was better (at least for me) compared to 2020 and I'm grateful for that.  Hopefully in 2022 things will be even better.

While we're on the topic of not being perfect, I figured I'd show a pair of additions to my Damaged Card PC:

2021 Stadium Club Oversized Base Master Photo #OBPFT

John over at Johnny's Trading Spot is the by far the largest contributor to this collection.  I'm pretty picky about what goes into it, but I assure you this Tatis makes the cut.  It features my favorite current player and a giant crease that runs right through his head.

I've commented on a few blogs how I'm tired of Topps reusing old designs.  But I've gotta say, this one isn't too shabby.  It's not perfect, but better than 90% of the other inserts sets they produced in 2021.

The other card headed into my Damaged Card PC binder is this autograph of Marcus Freeman:

2009 Sage Autographs Silver #A17

Wow.  This card is a candidate for my Damaged Card Hall of Fame.  I'm not sure what the story is behind this card, but it looks like someone went out of their way to destroy it.  That's okay.  I'll provide Mr. Freeman with a nurturing home.  He doesn't have to worry about receiving any additional creases.

By the way... if you're not familiar with Freeman, he was recently promoted to head coach at the University of Notre Dame.  Unfortunately his Fighting Irish lost a close game yesterday to the Oklahoma State Cowboys in the Fiesta Bowl.  It wasn't the perfect outcome (at one point the Irish held a twenty-one point lead), but it was better than being blown out.

John didn't just send me damaged cards... he also sent me these two Campaneris cards for my collection:

1969 Topps #423

1995 Sonic Baseball Greats #NNO

The gorgeous TSN All-Star card has a slight smudge running down the left hand side of the card... and the Sonic oddball issue doesn't feature an A's logo.  In other words, they aren't perfect... but they're way better than the logoless stuff Panini produces these days.

Actually... I really like the Sonic card.  Never seen this set before... but thanks to John I've added it to my list of saved eBay searches.

I'll wrap up my first post of 2022 with a very nice surprise.  When it comes to Wacky Packages, John is the super collector among bloggers.  Although not expected, I wasn't surprised to see some 1980 Topps Wacky Packages tossed into his care package:


He sent me twenty stickers in total... with these two being my favorites:


The sticker on the left stirred up a very fond memory from my childhood.  When I was a kid, I spent hours sitting on the living room floor building things out of my cylinder filled with TinkertoysAnd what sports fan wouldn't appreciate a Sports Illustrated parody?

As for the surprise... I was absolutely flabbergasted when I turned over the above nine pocket scans and noticed they were pieces to a very, very, very cool puzzle.  After rearranging them, this is what they produced:


This is my favorite Wacky Package of all-time.  It's absolutely perfect and doesn't get better than this.

Thank you John for the awesome care package.  I hope you and anyone reading this post have a great 2022.  It might not be perfect, but let's just hope it's better than 2021.

Happy New Year and sayonara!

21 comments:

  1. Happy New Year my friend. Hope you have a really great 2022.

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  2. Great Wacky Packages. That is a future project for me. Somehow I didn't store those with my cards as a kid and only the cards survived.

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  3. Happy New Year, I agree last year wasn't perfect, but it was better than 2020. I am ever hopeful the trend continues as well.

    I've never seen those Sonic cards before, so I might have to check them out. I never got into Wacky Packages much, but those do look cool.

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  4. It is a cool puzzle.

    I have some damaged cards set aside for you. Maybe someday I'll get around to sending them.

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  5. Here's hoping that 2022 is much better for you, and for all of us.

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  6. Who would damage a Tatis Jr. like that?! Very cool stuff from Johnny. Also, some of us are very happy that Freeman's team lost their bowl game ;)
    I hope you have an excellent 2022!

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  7. gtt - you too

    sumomenkoman - thanks buddy. you too.

    peter k. steinberg - thank you peter. happy new year!

    runforekelloggs - i didn't grow up with wacky packages, so i'm making up for lost time. best of luck with your project

    johnnys trading spot - thanks again for the care package. happy new year!

    night owl - happy new year! when i think of wackys, you and john are the only two bloggers i automatically think of

    jupitehill - it'd have to take a drastic downturn to match 2020 (knock on wood), so i'm hoping for the best. as for the sonic cards... it's weird because they have another baseball set that i think was released the same year.

    elliptical man - i like it when card companies create puzzles within a 9-pocket page.

    brett alan - thanks brett. hope you have an awesome 2022 as well.

    dennis - i'm guessing the tatis came damaged, because anyone who would purposely damage a tatis is crazy. even if you hate the guy, it's cool trade bait. i saw ohio state and immediately thought of you. happy new year!

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  8. Happy 2022! I'm not a big fan of the Wacky packages but that last grouping is pretty sweet.

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  9. Happy new year! I also enjoyed that Christmas countdown package you were sent!

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  10. Happy 2022 Mark! Sweet cards, but I had never heard of those Sonic cards either. I see on TCDb that it's a 12-card set with two Dodgers, so I mya have to look into obtaining those cards.

    btw, I did meet Pepino Man at my favorite LCS a few years ago--very nice guy who also worked (and probably still does) at Dodger Stadium.

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  11. Happy New Year! I agree, the year did get better. Not perfect...or ever very good...but returned to a little bit of normalcy with a few days in office, kids sports firing back up, etc. Still a ways to go, but hopefully we get there. Hope you have a great 2022!

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  12. I think 2021 was better than 2020, but things still definitely do not feel normal. I am also waiting to get back to that point, especially with work. I also like the looks of that Sonic set, but also had never seen them before this post. Definitely need to check out the checklist there. I also like that Wacky Packages "Beastball" poster/puzzle. I framed all of my old Donruss puzzles, that would be a cool one to do.

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  13. nachos grande - my interest in wackys has slowly risen over the years... thanks to john's blog. a lot of them remind me of my childhood. but my favorites are the ones that are parodies of old wax pack wrappers

    jafronius - happy new year! me too. sumomenkoman's advent calendar was one of the most creative things i've seen in a long time.

    bbcardz - i did some research and sonic also teamed up with coke & upper deck to produce a very cool 20 card set. i did a write up on that set back in 2020:

    https://sanjosefuji.blogspot.com/2019/11/1995-sonic-heroes-of-baseball.html

    as for pepino man... that guy is hilarious. hope to run into him one day.

    the lost collector - happy new year! definitely a ways to go. had a few students tell me their friends had covid today. the district provide test kits for every kid in the district. it'll be interesting to see how many kids are out this week.

    the snorting bull - it's definitely nowhere near being normal. you should reach out to john. i'm sure he could help you with the checklist. i've got all of my completed donruss puzzles in a binder. if i ever get that mancave, i'll frame them up too.

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  14. Happy belated New Year! I obviously can't keep up. Wackys were faves growing up
    and that Beastball is my favorite these days. Agree this is a better start and I have more hope than recent years.

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    1. steve - happy new year! it's okay... i've been playing catch up in multiple areas the past six months.

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  15. Happy New Year from someone who can keep up even less than Steve!

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