Another Birthday, Another Memory

Back in 2018, Adrian Beltre passed Rod Carew to become the all-time leader in hits among Latin American born players.  Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera have since passed him, but that's not really the point to this post.

2018 Topps Now #40

I just happened to be at the game with my buddy Mike when it happened.  Sadly he passed away two years ago on his 51st birthday, but there's a special place in my collection that honors him and our friendship.

This Topps Now card commemorates Beltre's accomplishment and is the newest addition to my Mike PC.

It's a reminder of that special day at the Oakland Coliseum:

Unfortunately I don't have any photos with Mike at the game, but here's me with my nachos and soft pretzel:

Happy birthday Mike!  Miss you buddy.

Everyone else...

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Summer Vacation (& Baseball Cards)

This week was my annual Ashland, Oregon trip.  Four days up there with my friend and her family.  Four days of delicious food, gorgeous sunsets, good company, and excessive spending.

If you've never heard of Ashland, it's known for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival that runs from March to October each year.  We've never watched any performances, but we did participate in a Shakespeare inspired "escape room" this year.

We also enjoy walking around Lithia Park in downtown area.  That's where I took this wallet card shot: 

Downtown Ashland also has a bunch of cool stores.  This year I spent more money than usual on Christmas and birthday presents for friends and family.  While my friend and her kids were shopping for clothes and stuff, I spent time in the record and toy shops.

But we would always meet up at the book stores and a comic book shop called More Fun.  This year I promised one of my nieces that I'd buy her a comic book.  She picked out a Godzilla vs. Avengers comic that looked really interesting.  I bought a copy for myself:

Godzilla vs. Avengers #1

I'm a huge Godzilla fan, so I also bought this issue:

Godzilla vs. Spider-Man #1 (2nd Printing)

I couldn't find any card shops in Ashland, but I did manage to purchase some cards in Medford... which is about 15 minutes away.

There's an antique shop I love to visit every summer called Main Antique Mall.  I found two vendors with sports cards, so I supported both.

The first one had this set of 7-11 discs for $8:

1983 7-11 Angels/Dodgers Coins

There are twelve discs in the set with a total of two hall of famers:

1983 was the first year 7-11 created these lenticular sports discs.  Their baseball set was a regional issue released in the Los Angeles area.  Here's a closer look at the front and back of Rod Carew's disc:

1983 7-11 Coins #1

The other vendor I purchased from had a box of 2025 Bowman singles that were priced at two for a dollar.  I grabbed these two:

2025 Bowman Chrome Mojo Refractor #12

2025 Bowman Chrome Mojo Refractor #BCP-114

There were a ton of 1st Bowmans, but I'm not big on prospecting... so I grabbed a Sasaki for my Japan PC and a Kurtz for my A's PC.

The final thing I want to show off is this awesome Thrifty's ice cream scoop:

I have been looking for one of these for quite some time.  A few weeks ago, my friend came across one of these at a store near her house.  She knew I worked there back in high school, so she bought it for me.

I'll go ahead and wrap up this post with one more baseball card:

1990 Donruss #229

Why am I showing off a Junk Wax Era card of a back-up catcher?  Well... he was born in Ashland, Oregon back in 1961:

Now that I'm back home... I'm hoping to continue to organize my collection and hammer out some blog posts featuring some recent card show pickups, flea market finds, and a few care package summaries.

Until then...

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Apologize in Advance

Back on May 25th, 1977... the Minnesota Twins played a doubleheader against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway.

1977 Topps #120

Rod Carew went 5 for 6 with 2 RBI's in the first game and 2 for 5 with another RBI in the second game as the Twins took both games on the road.

That same day, Star Wars: A New Hope came out in theaters.  I realize May 25th is three weeks away, but due to a play on words.... Star Wars Day is celebrated on May the 4th.

I'll go ahead and apologize in advance.  95% of you have zero interest in Star Wars... that's why I lured you here with the Carew.  My next post will definitely be sports related.

However today, I'm celebrating the media franchise about a galaxy far, far away.  

Let's start with the creator himself:

1977 Topps Star Wars Sticker #53

I've mentioned this a few times over the years, but it's worth saying again.  1977 Topps Star Wars was the first product I can remember opening and collecting as a kid.  I purchased this card a few years ago off of eBay, but there's a chance I pulled a copy from a pack back forty-eight years ago.

Lego #75301

I usually celebrate May the 4th by building a Lego set.  However things have been a little busy and I didn't have time to start the X-Wing Fighter.  If I end up completing it today, I'll add a photo of it to this post.

In the meantime, here are some Star Wars cards I have received from fellow bloggers.

First up is a Japanese CCG card of Kylo Ren from Kenny over at Torren' Up Cards:

2022 Weiss Schwarz Star Wars #S49-054

It's a good thing that I didn't know about this product back in 2022, because I feel like I would have went all in on it.  I'm not even a fan of this character, but I love collecting Star Wars cards, Japanese cards, and gaming cards.  Combine all three and this is something I could have been obsessed about.

By the way... this was only one piece of Kenny's care package.  He hooked me up with a ton of cards from Japan that I'm very excited to share in the near future.

Next up are a pair of sets that John over at Johnny's Trading Spot sent me last year:

2019 Topps Star Wars: Resistance Foil Characters Set

He opened up a case of this product last summer and sent me both insert sets and a complete base set.  I didn't have the patience to scan the entire 100 card base set, but John did.  If you want to check it out, click here.

Here's the other Star Wars Resistance insert set he sent me:

2019 Topps Star Wars: Resistance Pop Up Set

If you're not familiar with this show, it was a cartoon released by Disney back in 2018 and took place right around the start of the sequel trilogy.  I only watched about ten episodes of the first season.  If I get around to building that X-Wing, maybe I'll put this on and watch it from the beginning.

Thank you Kenny and John!  And May the 4th be with all of you!

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

Long Lost Canadian Counterparts

Obsessive compulsive disorder can be a pain in the butt.  In regards to collecting... my biggest struggle with it happens to be confronting procrastination.  I totally enjoy sorting and organizing... but sometimes it can be overwhelming to see stacks and stacks of cards staring back at me.  I'll just walk into my office, see them, turn around, and find something else to distract me.

Last week, I took advantage of some extra free time and broke down all of those stacks.  My reward?  I found some long lost purchases.

Today's post focuses on an eBay purchase that was inspired by Stuart over at S.R.'75 Cards.  Last June, he wrote about his new blog banner which included the famous pinch runner card from the 1975 Topps set.  That post sent me on a mission to track down Herb Washington's 1975 O-Pee-Chee card.  Well I found one and the seller had a bunch of other affordable O-Pee-Chee baseball cards from the 70's.  In an effort to save a few bucks with combined shipping, I loaded up my shopping cart.

After going back and forth on which cards were top priority, I narrowed my cart down to ten cards that set me back $25.72 (tax & shipping included).  Two of them were showcased over the weekend, but here's a look at the other eight in reverse chronological order...

1978 O-Pee-Chee #110

Reggie's 1978 Topps card is one of my favorite cards from the 70's.  It features a perfectly cropped action shot of Mr. October and was one of the key cards in the purchase.

1977 O-Pee-Chee #255

Steve Garvey has a lot of great looking Topps cards from the 70's, but this is the only flagship base card that features a well-cropped action shot with all limbs and equipment intact.

If you're a fan of the 1975 Topps baseball card design, then you'll probably enjoy the next four cards...

1975 O-Pee-Chee #561

This card looks great on the front, but that back is marked up:

I'm not sure if I knew about this damage or not.  Based on the price, I'm guessing I did.

1975 O-Pee-Chee #625

This is another classic card from the 70's.  Off-centered or not... there was no way I was pulling this out of the shopping cart.

1975 O-Pee-Chee #463

1975 O-Pee-Chee #465

Not sure if I'll end up chasing down the complete World Series subset, but either way... I'm halfway there.

1973 O-Pee-Chee #500

Gotta admit... outside of a few words written in French on the back, this A's team card looks a lot like it's American counterpart.  I'm not sure even sure if this card is printed on the usual brighter card stock.

1972 O-Pee-Chee

Not a Pirates fan, but I've always liked the Topps version of this card.  Now I have the Canadian version to go with it.

1971 O-Pee-Chee #210

If you needed a good reason to start collecting O-Pee-Chee baseball cards... the 1971 card backs could be that reason.  Seriously.  It's glorious.  Just stare into the eyes of Carew's floating head.

The best part about these vintage cards from Canada is that they're affordable.  These eight cards (plus the damaged Herb Washington and Billy Martin cards) were less than the average price of a Topps baseball blaster.

Well that's it for today.  I found a few more cards hidden in stacks that have been scanned, so you might see them pop up in future posts from time to time.

Until then...

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

Overtime!

Hockey posts don't receive a lot of views, but I wanted to document the fact that I watched the 4 Nations Face-Off Championship Game last Thursday and it was awesome!  It was a back and forth game that was entertaining the entire time.  Unfortunately, I haven't opened up any hockey packs in quite some time.  But back in the 90's... there were years when it dominated my hobby budget.

Here are two cards from that era that represent the tournament in one way or another:

1995-96 Finest Gold Refractor #123

This is a card from my original collection.  Not sure if I pulled this card from a pack or not, but I did open up a fair share of this product.  Anyways... Keith Tkachuk is the father of Brady and Matthew who both played on Team USA in the tournament.

The other guy is arguably the most recognizable hockey player on the planet:

1996-97 Donruss Canadian Ice National Pride #1

Gretzky was the honorary team captain for Team Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off Championship Game.

This die-cut acetate card is shaped like a maple leaf and is from one of my favorite hockey insert sets.

Congratulations Team Canada!  Heck of a game.