30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Sunday, December 25, 2022

A Holly Jolly Post

Merry Christmas to all of the fellow collectors and bloggers who happen to stumble across this post.  I hope each and everyone of you are surrounded by family, loved ones, or at the very least some beloved trading cards.  As luck would have it... I was blessed with all three.

It's been awhile since I've written a blog post, but that's been more about a busy schedule than lack of cards.  I actually have close to 1,000 cards from five or six care packages sitting in stacks scattered around my office.  The plan is to highlight some of those cards in future posts throughout the new year.

However today's post focuses on some Christmas gifts sent to me by fellow and former bloggers.  First up, SumoMenkoMan sent me another custom advent calendar this year.  There was a ton of interesting and cool items that I'll be sharing with all of you later in the week.  In the meantime, here are three Christmas related items he sent...



The first present in Ryan's advent calendar was this awesome pocket calendar from 1898.  Ironically... this calendar matches the 2022 calendar:


Yesterday's present was a sheet of celebrity Christmas post cards that included this:


Check out those bell bottoms that Bruce Lee is rocking!  Now that's a sharp dressed man.

And today's present was a complete set of Japanese women bowlers that included an autographed card.  Here's the one I pulled:

2015 BBM P League Very Merry Xmas Autograph #NNO

I don't actively follow Japanese female bowlers... but I'm stoked to add a set of their trading cards and this autograph to my collection.  If you want to see Ms. Nishimura in action, click here.

Next up are a pair of customs created by Gavin over at Baseball Card Breakdown...


If you were wondering what Benito has been up to after he retired from baseball... now you know.

And by now, I'm sure you're familiar with Gavin's 1991 Fleer cream colored customs that he's been sharing with collectors around the blogosphere.  I was blessed with this new Rickey for my collection:


There's Rickey stealing the star from someone's Christmas tree... and a Blue Jay (possibly Tony Fernandez) holding onto a giant candy cane.

Both of these will go into my Sports Card Smorgasbord binder with all of the other custom cards Gavin has sent me over the years.

Last, but certainly not least was this custom Christmas card from Wes (of Area 40):



One of the best things about the holiday season is reconnecting with people from our past.  Over the past two weeks, I've hung out with an old high school buddy, received a text message from an old neighbor from my childhood that I hadn't spoken to in over ten years, and received this signed Christmas card from a former blogger who was best known for being the most generous Jay Barker Fan in the hobby.

Thank you Ryan, Gavin, and Wes!  And merry Christmas to all... and to all a good night.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

16 comments:

Rebel Coyote said...

Merry Christmas to you

Jeff B - Wax Pack Wonders said...

Merry Christmas!

Jon said...

Bruce had style for days!

Merry Christmas, Fuji! It's really nice to see a new post from you.

RunForeKelloggs said...

Happy Holidays. Enjoy the time off. I love to see those custom cards. I don't have the patience for that.

RR said...

Merry Christmas!!!

The Lost Collector said...

Merry Christmas, Fuji!

Chris said...

Great to see you posting again. I hope you had a great Christmas!

The Diamond King said...

Good stuff, have a great break!

Shlabotnik Report said...

Merry Christmas and Happy Boxing Day :-D

Fuji said...

Thank you everyone. Hope all of you had a very merry Christmas!

Jon & Chris - It was nice to publish a post. Not sure if I'll ever get back to the 3 to 4 posts per week, but maybe 3 to 4 a month. Maybe.

Shlabotnik Report - Happy Boxing Day!

Sean said...

Merry Christmas!!

John Sharp said...

Such cool stuff, as always, hope you had a Merry Christmas!

Nick Vossbrink said...

Oh nice we both posted Bruce Lee cards!

SumoMenkoMan said...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Jafronius said...

Belated Merry Christmas! Glad to see Wes still active. And a set of female Japanese bowlers? That's a real specific fandom.

Fuji said...

nick vossbrink - great minds

sumomenkoman - you too buddy! and thanks again for another awesome advent calendar. shabu shabu on me the next time we hang

jafronius - the japanese have a lot of unique trading card sets... and i love every single one of them.