Down in the Dumps & in the Books

This has been a pretty rough start to the year.  I'll take my father's advice and avoid discussing politics, but I will say these are scary times and it's hard for me not to stress over what's going on.  The good news is that I can distract myself sometimes and talk about other stuff.

Today I wanted to show off a pair of books and some baseball cards that were recently sent to me.  Let's start with a Christmas present from my nieces in Oregon.  One of them is a huge Lions fan who happens to hate the Packers.  She made me this lovely tree ornament.

Her favorite author is Alan Gratz and they recently had the opportunity to meet him at a book signing.  I don't read a lot of books.  In fact, I'm lucky to read one a year.  But last year, I ended up reading two... and they were both historical fiction stories written by Gratz.   One of them covers the Battle of Okinawa from two perspectives: a young Okinawan boy and an American Marine.  The other one is about three young kids and their families from different countries and time periods forced to leave their homes and seek refuge somewhere else.

Refugee: The Graphic Novel by Alan Gratz

My nieces bought me the graphic novel version of the latter and had him sign it:

Thank you T & K!  I absolutely love it and plan on reading two more of his books by the end of 2026.

The other book I recently added to my collection was a gift from Jim @ cards as i see them:

1969 Topps Stamp Album #18

Here's a peek inside:

He also included a few Oakland A's inserts and parallels:

2025 Topps Chrome RayWave Refractor #67

The stamp book is a huge addition to my collection.  I'm planning on purchasing the final four stamps and fill the book as soon as possible.  I was also excited to see this Butler refractor.  I've really grown to appreciate the 2025 Topps design in recent months.

Matt over at Cards Over Coffee added to the collection of 2025 Topps Chrome refractors by sending me three more for my team set:

This six pack represents the core of the post-Oakland lineup.  I wasn't familiar with Tommy White, but it looks like he's one of their top prospects.

I'm gonna wrap things up with a Zippy Zapping from Kenny over at Torren' Up Cards.  He sent me this Calbee card of Shota Imanaga:

2023 Calbee #99

I'm always excited to add new Calbee cards to my binders... especially when they feature guys who have found success in the MLB.

While writing this post, Kenny sent another PWE with these three cards:

2025 Stadium Club NPB #180

2025 Bushiroad Dream Order #TBP01-L12

Not sure who Takumu Nakano is, but the card on the right features Tatsuya Imai.  He's one of the NPB stars who is bringing his talent to the MLB.  Back in December he signed a three year deal to pitch for the Houston Astros.

2024 Bandai Carddass Gintama

I'm not familiar with this character, but I enjoy collecting any Japanese trading cards... especially when they're shiny anime cards.

Thank you Jim, Matt, and Kenny for these cards.  They were a nice distraction from all of the drama going on in our country and around the world.

One of the things I'd like to do with this blog is return to my roots and begin ending my posts with questions like I did years ago.  So here we go...

Today's question of the day:

Outside of collecting cards, what do you like to do to reduce stress or help you take your mind off of things?

I'm not proud of it, but ever since I got sick back in December, I've been binge watching television shows like Stranger Things, Fallout, and Game of Thrones.  However normally, I enjoy going out for walks or riding my bike.  I'll also hop in my car and take it up in the hills.  If my back ever gets better, I'd love to start golfing again.  There is a really nice executive course a few miles from my place that is loaded with rabbits, deer, and turkeys.  It's about as therapeutic as it gets.

Well that's it for now...

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

A Strange Photo

Here's my yearbook photo for the 2025-26 school year.  Two of my friends are the yearbook editors and they informed our lunch crew that Stranger Things was going to be this year's theme.  So I dusted off my old costume and pulled out my Dustin sticker for picture day.

That morning I realized that I still needed a few cards for my Stranger Things set build.

That afternoon I placed an order on eBay and crossed off three cards from the Character Card insert set:

2018 Topps Stranger Things Character Cards #ST-4, ST-8, and ST-9

My goal is to wrap up this set before the final season comes out in late November.

Sorry the number of published posts on here have dipped.  Things are still crazy at work.  I've got Back to School Night in a few hours.  Figured I'd write a quick post to catch up with all of you.

What Are The Odds?

A few weeks ago, one of my friends published his first book.  He's one of the most creative and energetic teachers I had the pleasure of working with.  So I'm super excited to support him and read this book.

On a sadder note, I heard about Robert Redford passing away while driving into work yesterday morning.  Here's the only card of his that I own:

Roy Hobbs Broder Card

Not 100% sure I ever watched The Natural, but I know I have seen a few of his other films.  The two most recent I've watched were Captain America: The Winter Soldier and All Is Lost.  Although the news of his passing was sad, I'm happy to hear that he lived to be eighty-nine years old.

Well that's it for today.  I still have a Flea Market Finds post in the works with plans to hit up another flea market this Saturday.  If I'm lucky, I'll finish writing the first one over the weekend and publish it next week.  Cross you fingers.

Until then...

Are you a fan of Stranger Things?

Do you have a favorite character?

Do you have a favorite Robert Redford film?

I look forward to reading and responding to your comments.

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

Not Just for Kids

Life can be full of regrets.  Luckily... I don't have many that keep me awake at night.  However when it comes to collecting... it seems like there are too many to count.

One that stands out is not collecting Sports Illustrated for Kids cards from the very beginning.  These days without a deep pocketbook and a little luck... it's going to be very challenging for me to ever complete the entire run of trading cards.

Every now and then I'll add a full 9-card sheet to my collection.  Last month I purchased this 2005 issue off of eBay for $9.12 ($2.99 + $6.13 shipping & tax):

I targeted this issue after discovering it has early issues of two future hall of famers:

It's cool to Chris Paul and Adrian Peterson in their college jerseys.

One of my favorite things about collecting these cards are the female athletes.

This sheet contains the very first trading card of Lindsey Jacobellis.  She is the most decorated female snowboard cross athlete of all-time.  She won two gold medals while representing the United States at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

The other female athlete featured on this sheet is Paula Radcliffe.  Before writing this post, I wasn't familiar with her.  But according to Wikipedia, she a very accomplished long distance runner from Great Britain who has won the London and New York Marathons three times each.

Unfortunately... outside of my current bi-monthly subscription... I don't add to my uncut sheet binders very often.  However... thanks to the generosity of fellow bloggers, I will add singles to my collection fairly often.

Back in April, Rod over at Padrographs sent me a stack of five:

Four of them are from the early 90's with the very colorful 90's like borders.  Here's a Carlton Fisk from the very first series:

In May... Jon over at A Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts had a huge giveaway and I was able to claim these twelve SI for Kids cards:

The Andre Rison ended up being a duplicate, so it's available if anyone wants it.

In addition to female athletes, SI for Kids also offers up trading cards of athletes outside the realm of baseball, basketball, and football... like tennis and soccer.

My favorite card in the lot is the Pam Shriver, who was one of the tennis players I remember from my youth.

Thank you Rod and Jon for adding a nice stack of SI for Kids cards to the collection.  And thank you to everyone who took the time to read this post.  Just remember... just because "for Kids" is printed on these cards... anyone can collect them.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Extra Innings

This is a little bonus for Rod, Jon, and anyone else out there who have an appreciation of books.

Towards the end of the school year, I was helping cleaning the classroom next door and I came across hundreds of chapter books.  I ended up donating them to a few Language Arts teachers and some of the students who were helping me out.

But I held onto these two:

Mountain of Mirrors by Rose Estes

Return to Brookmere by Rose Estes

These days... I don't add many books to my private library, but I was pretty excited to see these.  When I was a kid... one of my favorite series were the Choose Your Own Adventure books and these reminded me of them.

Now if I could only get my hands on an old copy of The Cave of Time.

Take A Look

It's National Read a Book Day!  To honor it, I figured I'd show off some cards related to books...

#1:  1999 Greats of the Game Autographs #NNO

Bouton's Ball Four is one of the most famous baseball books out there.  I haven't read it, but it's waiting for me on my Kindle (which hasn't been turned on in ages).

#2:  1956 Topps #125 & 1962 Topps #153

I've been collecting the cards featured in The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading, and Bubble Gum Book and I discovered two more cards sitting in my collection.

This brings me up to eight different cards from the book out of a possible 241.

#3:  1978 Topps #36

Eddie Murray's rookie card was featured in Josh Wilker's Cardboard Gods:

This is my favorite book involving baseball cards.  Wilker writes about his life while tying in baseball cards from his childhood collection.  In one of the chapters, he talks about Murray winning the 1977 AL Rookie of the Year Award and mentions that Mitchell Page was robbed.

1978 O-Pee-Chee #75

I'm sure some of you are scratching your heads... wondering if Wilker is crazy.  But according to this article, it was a closer race than you might think.  In fact The Sporting News even named Page their AL Rookie of the Year.

#4: 1975 Osato Mini Card #NNO

This card is featured in SumoMenkoMan's book, Sumo Menko & Card Checklist (Fourth Edition):

If you're a sumo wrestling fan or a sumo card collector, you should think about purchasing a copy for your bookshelf.  It contains hundreds of colored photographs of vintage and modern sumo cards, along with detailed descriptions about each of the sets.

The next card wasn't featured in a book, but it's a trading card of one of my favorite authors...

1994 Authorcards #NNO

I've read a few of her books, but The Giver and Number the Stars are my favorites.

And in honor of National Read a Book Day, here's the book I read today:

Barbed Wired Baseball is a children's picture book about the life of Kenichi Zenimura, who is often referred to as the Father of Japanese-American Baseball.

It focuses on Zenimura's time at Gila River War Relocation Center where he built a baseball field and organized a baseball league.

This is the first book I've read in months.  As a teacher, I'm not proud of this.  The sad fact is I'd rather read card blogs than books.  But I do have an ever-growing stack of books piling up on my nightstand.  One of these days I'll start chipping away at them.

What's the last book you read?

Do you have a favorite book?  Sports book?  Trading card book?

Hope all of you are enjoying a safe Labor Day weekend.  Happy Monday and sayonara!