They're Just Babies, Man

When I'm working in the office... sorting and scanning cards... I like to have something playing in the background.  Sometimes it's Bob's Burgers reruns.  Other times it's music.  Just depends on my mood.

One day back in January or February... I was listening to videos on YouTube discussing Kobe Bryant's legacy.  I honestly never get tired of watching his highlights and listening people talk about his determination and passion for the sport of basketball.

On one of these videos, a 1978-79 Philadelphia 76ers Pictorial Yearbook was mentioned... that pictured Joseph "Jellybean" Bryant and his family:

Sitting in his father's lap is a very young Kobe "Bean" Bryant.  Since he was born in August of 1978, he can't be more than a few months old.

Now I'm not normally into collecting images of babies, but I thought this was a pretty cool collectible for my Kobe Bryant PC.

I immediately headed over to eBay and added it to my daily searches.  Fast forward to this summer and a BIN listing popped up for $10 (+ $5 shipping & 94¢ tax).  A few clicks of the mouse and a week of waiting to see if the picture actually existed... and voila it arrived.

In addition to the Bryant family photo, there was another future NBA player pictured as a baby:

Anyone recognize the infant sitting in his mom's lap?

Brownie points if you guessed this guy:

1998-99 Topps #196

Mike's father, Henry Bibby was Joe Bryant's teammate in Philadelphia for three seasons from 1976-77 to 1978-79.  They played together again in San Diego during the 1980-81 season.

And for those who care... here's the back cover of the yearbook:

Bibby and Bryant's 76ers reached the Eastern Conference Semifinals that season... which isn't too surprising considering they had guys like Julius Erving, Doug Collins, Maurice Cheeks, and Darryl Dawkins on the court with them.

Since basketball posts don't garner a lot of attention, I figured I'd show off a really cool card I pulled from a pack right around the time I purchased the yearbook:

2022-23 Prizm Monopoly Black Gold #73 (#'d 4/5)

I can't remember the last time I received a box of trading cards as an "end of the year" present, but one of my 7th graders hooked me up with this:

It's a box of basketball cards that doubles as playing cards for the Monopoly Prizm board game.  Normally this isn't something I'd go gaga over, but my buddy offered me a stack of singles for $5... which led me to this set build:

After placing a Sportlots order to fill in most of the blanks, I'm down to needing only these two cards to complete the base and Prizm Skills insert set.

Now I should clarify things for anyone new to this blog.  I was a big Los Angeles Lakers fan for most of my life, but after they joined other franchises in building "super teams" back in the late 2000's, my interest in them and the sport has waned.

That being said... I still love collecting Lakers and Golden State Warriors cards.  Reader X is my primary source of their cards these days.

Here are some basketball card highlights from his two most recent care packages:

1997-98 Collector's Choice #64

Holy moly... this card is awesome.  I wonder if Kobe made this shot... or if Marcus Camby ended up blocking it.  In the spirit of Kobe's birthday, I'm gonna choose to believe he made it.

Next up are a pair of shiny Prizms:

2022-23 Prizm Silver #276

2021-22 Prizm Red, White, & Blue #154

I will gladly inherit any unwanted Prizm and Mosaic parallels from any sport.  They are absolutely gorgeous.

And I'll wrap things ups with some 9-pocket pages of Lebron James, Steph Curry, and other big named Lakers and Warriors:

And I'll round things out with the musical inspiration for the title of this post...

Thank you TN for the box of Prizm cards.  And thank you Reader X for the stacks of Warriors and Lakers cards.

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

Same Family, Different Spelling

Seventy-two years ago... Eddie Gaedel made MLB history.

1961 Nu-Cards Baseball Scoops #426

I'm sure many of you are familiar with Mr. Gaedel and his pinch hitting appearance with the St. Louis Browns that made him the shortest person to ever appear in a Major League game.

If not, you can read about it on the National Baseball Hall of Fame website.  Just click here.

Today's post is about his much lesser known grandnephew:

2011 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Franchise Futures Signatures #76 

Back in April, Jeff over at Wax Pack Wonders showed off some new additions to his Lesser Known collection, which consists of baseball players who have family members who tend to be much more famous or guys who share their name with someone more prominent.

While reading his post, I remembered an ESPN article featuring Kyle Gaedele and his family ties to Eddie.  You might be thinking... the last names aren't even spelled the same.  But trust me, same family.  Different spelling.  Don't believe me... click here to read the article for yourself.

Unfortunately they never had the opportunity to meet each other.  Kyle was born nearly thirty years after Eddie passed away and didn't really know about his famous granduncle until he was invited to a special ceremony honoring the famous at-bat in Cooperstown.

As for me and the autograph, Wax Pack Wonder's post motivated me to grab a copy on COMC for $1.23.  Now I own the autograph of a lesser known guy related to the shortest player in MLB history.  The seller was probably just glad to unload the autograph of a minor league player that never made it past AA.

i might not write as much as before, but I'm truly grateful for all of the card bloggers out there for their dedication, passion, and hard work they put into their posts which open my eyes to hobby news, interesting ways to collect, collection additions, and every once in a while... inspiring me to add a card to my collection.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Twenty Six Years & Counting

The Little League World Series will always be special to me, because it's one of the annual sporting events my mom actually showed an interest in.  Like I mentioned before, she was the one who signed me up to play baseball when I was a little kid.  She also volunteered to be the team mom at least once... and played catch with me on our front lawn numerous times.  So every year when it rolls around, I'll monitor the box scores and root for teams from California, Hawaii, or Japan.

The 2023 Little League World Series kicks off tomorrow and to celebrate the event, I wanted to post three books that I've been sitting on since January.  Back in the early 90's, Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo published several books dedicated to professional athletes and their boyhood stories.  Within each of these books, there are five uncut sheets of cards with each sheet containing nine cards.

1991 More little BIG LEAGUERS #NNO

Now I had seen the Mark McGwire card at some point, but didn't really know where it came from.  Then in January, Nachos Grande wrote about his Barry Larkin card... which led me to discovering this book online:

1991 More little BIG LEAGUERS

This book includes the Barry Larkin, Mark McGwire, and forty-three other baseball players including Ken Griffey Jr.:

1991 More little BIG LEAGUERS #NNO

The cards aren't numbered, but they do include stories about the athlete from their youth.  In the case of Griffey, he never made an out at the plate or lost a game he pitched during his first season of Little League.  That's pretty impressive.

I was hoping that Tony Gwynn or Rickey Henderson would be included in the book, but they weren't.  However Gwynn was included in the 1990 book:

1990 little BIG LEAGUERS

Here's a look at the Gwynn:

1990 little BIG LEAGUERS #NNO

He's so young and skinny as a kid, I wouldn't have recognized him without his name being plastered on the card.

According to the back of his card, Tony and his teammates would sneak onto their opponent's home field and practice the day before big games.

Anyways... getting back to the books.  Instead of purchasing the Gwynn for $1.74 (+ tax), I decided to buy the book and all forty-five cards for $10 (+ 94¢ tax & free shipping).  The seller also had the 1991 book for the same price, so I grabbed that too.

I also picked up the football version for the same price from the same seller:

1990 little football BIG LEAGUERS

There wasn't a Steve Largent in the book, but two other Seahawks made the checklist: Brian Blades and Kelly Stouffer.  The lone Green Bay Packer was Perry Kemp.  I didn't think there'd be much interest in any of those guys, so I took a picture of the John Elway instead:

1990 little football BIG LEAGUERS #NNO

I'm not sure how accurate some of the stories printed on the back of these cards are, but at the very least they're interesting.  And the childhood photos are pretty cool too.

If any of you are interested in seeing the checklists for each of these books... I'll add links to them right here:

1990 little BIG LEAGUERS

1990 little football BIG LEAGUERS

1991 More little BIG LEAGUERS

There's also a basketball version of these books, but I haven't been able to land one within my budget yet.  The issue has to do with Michael Jordan being on the checklist... which means they aren't really cheap (at least to me).

Well... with the arrival of the Little League World Series... it usually signals the end of my summer break.  Although i've been going into my classroom the past ten days... I'll be officially returning for professional development on Thursday for the start of my 26th year of teaching.

1986 Topps #230

That's the same number of years that Tommy John pitched in the MLB.

1971 Topps #39

That's the same number of years that George Blanda played in the NFL.

1985-86 Topps #51

1968-69 Topps #29

And that's the same number of years that Chris Chelios and Gordie Howe each played in the NHL.  In case you are wondering... that does not include the six seasons Howe played in the WHA.

Teaching might not be in the same category as playing a professional sport... but just like Little Leaguers... sometimes guys like me need to dream a little and draw comparisons.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Flea Market Finds #158: A Starter Set, Some Singles, & a Pair of Supras

Over the weekend, my buddy and I set up at the De Anza Flea Market as vendors for the first time in years.  I'm guessing it's been five to seven years and it will like be another five to seven before I go back (as a vendor).

In short... it was hot and I spent more money than I made.

That's on me though... since the only thing I brought were six boxes of sports cards I wanted out of my garage.  I ended up selling one box for $5... and giving away the rest to a guy who walked up.  He was excited to get almost 20k cards for free.  I was happy that I didn't have to lug those cards to Goodwill.

Let's check out what I bought...

Purchase #1:  2002 Topps Archives Starter Set $10

As you can see, someone opened up one of these retail blasters and just tossed the cards into it.

Actually it must have been multiple blasters, because there were almost 200 cards in the box.  

After sorting the cards, I discovered the box contained exactly 60% of the set which is right around the mark where I decide to scrap the set build... or go for it.  For now... I'm going for it.

If anyone else is building this set, maybe we can help each other out.  The right side of the box are my duplicates... and the left is the starter set.

Purchase #2:  Die Cast Replicas $6

2021 Hot Wheels #178 (Speed Graphics #5)

2021 Hot Wheels #241 (Then & Now #8)

Whenever I walk around local flea markets, in addition to cards and vinyl... I'm always on the lookout for die cast versions of the MK5 Toyota Supra.  I picked up the yellow version over a year ago... and now I have the white and red versions too.

As for the one sitting in my garage... it's still my favorite toy.  I only recently hit 1,000 miles on my odometer, but actually drive it at least once a week.  Just haven't taken her on any extended road trips or anything.

Purchase #3:  2023 Topps Singles $5

We set up a few stalls down from some friends who are regulars at the two local flea markets I walk around.  One of them is Tony, who is this older guy who is really nice.  He's so nice that I almost feel obligated to purchase something from him whenever I see him.

2023 Topps #471

2023 Topps WBC Stars #WBC-34

The only new baseball he had since I last ran into him were some 2023 Topps singles.  Since I haven't started that set build... I picked out the trio of Yoshida rookie cards and a Roki Sasaki insert.

Well that wraps up the last flea market trip of my 2023 Summer Break.  I'm already back in my classroom setting up.  The school year officially starts next Thursday and the kids will be arriving on the 21st.  But I'll write about that a little more next week.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!