Animal Themed Post

Back in 2021-22 in the midst of the hobby boom... I decided to sell off the bulk of the sticker autographs I had accumulated over the years.  I also stopped searching for new ones for my personal collection.  If the athlete didn't hold the card and sign it, I wasn't interested.

Then I heard that Topps inserted Goose Gossage autographs into their 2025 Topps NPB products and I wanted to add one to my NPB collection.  Unfortunately... Topps had him sign stickers which forced me to decide.  Live without one of these autographs... or make an exception to the on-card autograph rule.

2025 Topps Chrome NPB Autograph #AC-GG

After patiently waiting for one to fall into my price range, I ended up adding this Goose to my collection.  It features him pitching for the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks back in 1990, before he returned to the MLB the following season.  

He is one of four former NPB baseball players to be enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  Larry Doby, Ichiro Suzuki, and Andruw Jones are the other three.

While I'm on the subject of NPB trading cards, Kenny over at Torren' Up Cards sent me a pair of PWE's back in April & May that contained a few 2025 Topps NPB singles:

He also included some Bandai and Calbee cards:

Franmil Reyes' name popped out.  He played for the Padres a few years ago.  I was also happy to see a pair of Fujis within the Calbee cards.

But the card that stood out the most was this shiny Munetaka Murakami:

2024 Dream Order #CBP01-S02

His MLB start was pretty impressive with 20 home runs in his first 200 at bats, but he's currently recovering from a hamstring strain.  Hopefully he returns to the batter's box soon... and his home run tear continues.

Kenny sent one more item:

Signed Cheki

I have no idea who this lil' bunny is, but I was very excited to add her to my Japanese Model PC:

Thank you Kenny!

Last month... Brendan over at The View from the Third Floor also sent me a PWE filled with some Japanese athletes:

Hachimura is currently the Laker's starting power forward, but this Gonzaga Bulldog made history in 2017 when he became the first Japanese national to play in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.

He also sent me this SI for Kids card of Vicki Huber:

1990 SI for Kids #136

Huber is a Villanova Wildcat who won multiple NCAA indoor championships as well as the Broderick Award (given to the top female collegiate track and field athlete) in 1988 and 1989.

Thank you Brendan!

I'll wrap up this post with one more PWE with some Japanese athletes:

2006 Fleer Ultra #176 and #169

This pair was sent to me by Greg over at Crocodile Sports Cards a few weeks ago.  Not sure if Godzilla qualifies as an animal, but Matsui was truly a beast during his NPB and MLB career.

He also send me this trio of Hawks:

1991 Action Packed #259, #256, and #260

And this autograph of the 2008 Texas League ERA leader:

2011 Topps 60 Autographs #T60A-VM

Mazzaro dominated Texas League batters in 2008:

He kicked off his MLB career in Oakland and ended up pitching for eight seasons in the Show... including one in Miami as a Marlin.

Thank you Greg for these cards and this very cool sticker:

Started off with a Goose.  Couldn't think of a better way to wrap up an "animal" themed post than with a crocodile.

Happy Wednesday and sayonara! 

Summer Goals

It's been a few years since I have sat down and hammered out some hobby goals.  But since I won't be teaching this summer, I wanted to get three hobby related things accomplished before the start of the 2026-27 school year.

#1:  Target a handful of set builds.

Whether or not I actually complete any sets this summer, I want to at least make the effort to cross as many numbers off of my set needs as I can.

#2:  Inventory my collection.

Two to three times a decade, I like to go through my collection and update my inventory.  This project will wreak havoc on my back, but when I'm finished... I have a better understanding of what I've been hoarding the past few decades or so.

#3:  Clean up my office and catch up on blogging.

I have stacks of cards all over my office.  Some are sitting on my desk.  Others are laying in 5,000ct. boxes.  Plus I have unopened mailers dating back months.  The goal is to sort, scan, and blog as much as I can over the next two months.  Sundays will be reserved for farmer's markets, laundry, cleaning, and sorting.

Being the first Sunday of my summer break, I'm going to hammer out this sorting tray filled with the remaining cards from Reader X's January care package.

Let's start with some baseball players I collect:

Next up here are some PC additions for my favorite team collections:

Xavier always sends some San Francisco Giants, San Francisco 49ers, Las Vegas Raiders, and Golden State Warriors for my students:

Plus he tossed in some San Jose Sharks and a few other hockey cards:

I'm honestly not familiar with any of these guys, but the three Las Vegas Knights autographs are dedicated to my mother who rooted for them in their inaugural season.

Xavier also tossed in some football stars, rookies, and inserts:

Most of these will eventually be passed along to one of my students, but I did end up holding onto the Select rookie card of Caleb Williams.  

Thank you Xavier for another generous care package.  Sorry it took me six months to document it on here.

And thank you to everyone who took the time to read this post as I document the first Sunday Sort of The Summer of 2026.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

The One and Only

Four NFL teams have retired #12.  Three of them honored franchise legends.  One retired it for their fans.*

The Buffalo Bills retired the number to honor Jim Kelly, but have also honored the fans as well.

If you're a fan of football, you've probably heard the Seattle Seahawks fans referred to the 12s at some point.  It stems from the 12th man, which according to Wikipedia originated at Texas A&M in 1922.

In their franchise history, there has only been one player to wear #12.  I wasn't familiar with him until a few weeks ago when I decided to research the history of the 12s.  The name Sam Adkins popped up on Football Reference:

After making this discovery, I immediately headed over to COMC & TCDB to see if he had any trading cards and found a pair of oddball issues, but none were available on eBay.  This signed index card popped up though:

The seller had it up for auction, but I was busy doing something when it ended so I missed out on it.  The auction didn't receive any bids and the seller listed it again with a best offer option.  They accepted my $2.50 (+ $1.48 tax & shipping) offer and the rest is history.

I have no idea whether or not this autograph is legit, but I can't imagine a lot of people are going around forging his signature.  That being said, whoever originally owned this signed index card wrote some notes on the back.

Don't worry baseball fans.  I don't anticipate any more football posts in the near future.  Just wanted to share this not-so-random signature of a guy most of you probably aren't familiar with the day after the 12s got a chance to celebrate the second Super Bowl win in franchise history.

Go Hawks!

Happy Monday and sayonara!

Overtime

By the way, here are two new card blogs to add to your blogrolls:

#1:  Batting Out of Order

The first one is Tom's return to the keyboard.  He'll be showing off his Angels and Patriots PC.

#2:  Divas Hockey Ink

The second one is for hockey and Olympic fans. 

I'm super excited to see Tom back in the mix and happy to welcome RR to the blogosphere.

In the Hands of the Cards

With the Los Angeles Dodgers fielding all-stars all over the diamond, the odds of me seeing the A's or Padres win a World Series title in the next decade or so is pretty slim.  Luckily there's a 50% chance that one of my favorite football teams will win a Super Bowl title tomorrow.

I've been a Seattle Seahawks fan since 1981.  To put that into perspective, that's the year I started collecting baseball cards.

Back in December, I was doing some last minute Christmas shopping on Target's website when I saw some UNO Elite football boxes on sale for $4.49 each.  I picked up a few for my co-worker's kids and set aside two for this post.

I thought it'd be cool to use them for a Super Bowl sports card simulation to predict the winner of tomorrow's game.

Let's start off by looking at the two boxes...

Product Description:

Box #1:  2025 UNO Elite Core Booster Set Plus

Box #2:  2025 UNO Elite Alt Jerseys Booster Set Plus

Each box contains 4 packs and each pack contains ten cards.

Scoring:

In an effort to not only predict the Super Bowl winner, but the final score as well, each player will earn their team three points (like a field goal) each time they are pulled from a pack.  Since there are four colors variations in the game of UNO, I will turn a field goal into a touchdown (seven points) if the color matches their team colors:

New England Patriots:  Red or Blue

Seattle Seahawks:  Green or Blue

There are also foil versions inserted into packs.  If I pull any Patriots or Seahawks, they will receive a 2x multiplier to that card.

Box #1 will represent the first half of the game with the first two packs representing the first quarter and the last two packs representing the second quarter.  Box #2 will work the same way except they'll represent the third and fourth quarters.

Checklists:

I analyzed the checklists for both teams.  After thirty minutes of trying to balance things out, I ended up removing any players (like Kendrick Bourne and Tyler Lockett) who are no longer with the Seahawks or Patriots.

That ended up giving the Patriots a big advantage with five cards listed in each product, while the Seahawks only had three in each.  To make things fair, I added two current Seahawks who are featured with their prior teams from each set.

Here's who I'll be looking for...

Okay.  I think everything important has been covered.  If not, I'll make adjustments on the fly.  Let the Super Bowl LX sports card simulation begin...

First Quarter:

2025 UNO Elite Core #120

Drake Maye gets the Patriots on the board first with a field goal, but a Rashid Shaheed was sitting a few cards behind:

2025 UNO Elite Core #149

Although Shaheed is wearing black and gold for the Saints, this card is a color match to his Super Bowl team.  Seahawks take the lead with a touchdown!

Here are the eighteen other cards in the packs:

I was happy to pull the Josh Jacobs for the Packers PC and my nieces will be excited to add the Cowboys and Lions in this break (especially the shiny St. Brown) to their collections.

After fifteen minutes, the score is:

New England Patriots 3

Seattle Seahawks 7

Second Quarter:

Both defenses stepped up in the second quarter with zero Patriots or Seahawks in these two packs.

Shaquill Griffin made an appearance.  He's played in a pair of games for the Hawks this season, but is currently on their practice squad.  Even if he was on their Super Bowl roster, he didn't make this ten card roster, so he doesn't qualify for any points.

The halftime score is:

New England Patriots 3

Seattle Seahawks 7

Third Quarter:

Twenty more cards.  Zero Seahawks or Patriots.  I sure hope the real game has more scoring than this.

Three quarters down and the Seahawks hold a four point lead:

New England Patriots 3

Seattle Seahawks 7

Fourth Quarter:

I realize both of these Super Bowl defenses are elite, but this is a little extreme.  Eight packs.  One Patriot.  And technically zero Seahawks.  Thank goodness the Seahawks traded for Shaheed in November.

Final Score:

 

New England Patriots 3

Seattle Seahawks 7

If this was the actual score, it'd be the lowest scoring Super Bowl ever.  The current record is held by Super Bowl LIII (Patriots 13 vs. Rams 3).

Sadly simulations and reality are two different things.  We'll see who the real Super Bowl LX Champions are in a little over twenty-four hours.

I was planning to watch the game at my friend's house, but I'm sick AGAIN.  I'm on antibiotics this time around, but don't want to risk spreading it to my friend or her mom.  So it'll be me watching the game at home by myself.  Hopefully the Hawks pull out a victory and redeem themselves after that Super Bowl XLIX tragedy.

I'm sure other blogs have already asked you, but it wouldn't be a Super Bowl post without this question:

Who do you think will win the game?

Who are you rooting for?

I'm nervous about picking the Seahawks (and jinxing them), but I've watched them a lot this season and they look really good.  I'll say they win 24 to 20.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!