Doing Things a Little Differently

Every year my buddy Ryan puts together a thoughtful and generous advent calendar for me.  Normally I try to open it up and recap it in December... which is when it's intended to be opened.  Unfortunately I'm about a month and a half late, but you know the saying.  Better late than never.

After a busy weekend involving my first trip to the flea market this year, a pair of entertaining NFC playoff games, a friend's birthday lunch, and a few other household chores... I was able to sit down and crack open Ryan's advent calendar on Monday.  Let's just say... I was blown away.

He did things a little differently this year by writing haiku poems to help me figure out which gifts were for what days.  I figured I'd do things a little differently too.  Instead of writing two or three large recap posts, I'm going to break them down into smaller, more manageable posts.  I'll also be going against the grain and not following the order he prescribed.

Today's post covers some Yomiuri Giants related gifts including one of the coolest Japanese baseball collectibles I've seen:

What you're looking at is a vintage card game.  But before I dive into the details, here is Ryan's haiku:

The game comes inside of a cardboard sleeve that resembles a box for a Betamax or VHS tape:

Here's another look at the scoreboard:

On the left side of the game, there's an orange tinted box that slides in and out.  This case holds the cards.  There are a total of 72 game cards.  Here's a sampling of the deck:

I'm not sure if any actual NPB players are depicted on these cards, but regardless... the art is really awesome.

The game itself isn't new, but it's in great condition for being fifty to sixty years old.  It even came with the instruction manual:

Next up is the Day 10 present.  Here's the haiku hints for the present:

Do you think you know what he sent?  It was a stack of Japanese baseball card packs.  The first one was this 2025 Yomiuri Giants pack:

2025 BBM Yomiuri Giants Pack

He also sent me these three team specific packs:

2025 BBM Chiba Lotte Marines Pack

2025 BBM Nippon Ham Fighters Pack

2025 BBM Rakuten Golden Eagles Pack

Plus there were these 2025 BBM 1st Version packs:

I've already added the four team packs and one of these 1st Version packs to my Unopened Japanese Baseball Pack PC, but the rest I'm planning on tearing into eventually.

The next Yomiuri Giants present pays tribute to one of the greatest hitters in their franchise history.  Here's Ryan's haiku clue:

Last June, diamond legend Shigeo Nagashima passed away at the age of 89.  Ryan sent me a very cool tribute magazine that contained hundreds of cool photos and full career statistics of Sadaharu Oh's sidekick:

Weekly Baseball Shigeo Nagashima Tribute (6/18/25)

He included another tribute magazine, but it was for a different athlete from another sport.  See if you can guess the athlete using Ryan's hint:

Did you guess Thunder Lips?  If so, you're correct:

Weekly Pro-Wrestling #2269 (8/30/25)

Hulk Hogan passed away last July.  I had no idea he was so popular in Japan, but there were several photographs in this tribute featuring him with Japanese wrestlers.  Although I don't follow wrestling that closely, Hogan was the biggest name in the game when I was actively watching the sport back in the mid to late 80's.

The final advent calendar gift were a few items wrapped in a yellow bag, hence the following haiku:

The first thing I pulled out of the bag was this really cool Yomiuri Giants baseball mug:

In an effort to cut back on soda and sugary drinks, I've switched things up and have been drinking extra cups of hot green tea.  This mug will be added to the rotation.

He also tossed these two Seibu Lions items into the bag:

The jersey doubles as an insulated cold beverage holder and the plastic helmet reminds of the ones you get a ballgames with a scoop of ice cream.  I have a very small display of NPB memorabilia in my office.  I'll have to make more room and add these two items to it.

That wraps up five days worth of goodies from Ryan's (a.k.a SumoMenkoMan) 2025 Advent Calendar.  I'll be sprinkling more of his gifts into posts over the next few months.

Thank you Ryan!  I truly appreciate the thought and effort you put into building this advent calendar.

As for the rest of you, here are today's questions of the day:

Do you have a favorite baseball game?

Do you have a favorite professional wrestler?

Have you started doing anything differently lately?

My favorite baseball game is called Computer Baseball by SSI.  I've referenced this game in a lot of blog comments over the years.  It's a baseball simulator game that I played a lot on my family's Apple IIe back in the early 80's.  It used real players from famous World Series teams, so I learned a lot about guys who played before I was born.

My favorite wrestlers are Ricky The Dragon Steamboat and Asuka.  Grew up rooting for Steamboat.  As for Asuka, I don't watch her matches on a regular basis, but I enjoy collecting her cards.

As for doing things differently, well... I'm trying to watch what I eat and drink.  And since it hasn't been raining, I've been trying to make sure to reach 10k steps during the work week.

Well that's it for today.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

Flea Market Finds #182a: The Season Isn't Over Yet

After two poor flea market outings in a row, I was mentally preparing myself for the end of the flea market season.  Branham High School had other plans.

The parking lot was full of vendors, including at least two new guys with sports cards.  Plus there were the regulars.  Remember the guy with a dime box last month?  Well he was back.  This time he brought out a dollar bin...

Purchase #1:  Dollar Bin  $5

Memorabilia cards have lost their luster over the years, but I'll happily buy them if they're cheap, fit into my collection, and/or are interesting.

2012 Panini Golden Age Museum Age Relic #21

2012 Panini Golden Age Museum Age Relic #10

2021 Upper Deck AEW Memorabilia #55

The Billy Martin will be added to my Oakland A's PC, while the Hikaru Shida is a nice addition to my Japanese athlete collection.

2021 Topps WWE Women's Division Super Star Logo Patch Relic #SLP-SB

2017 UD Marvel Thor Ragnarok The Armory Dual Memorabilia #AD-10

The other three women fall into the "interesting" category.

Purchase #2:  Vintage Star Wars Puzzle  $5

1977 Kenner Star Wars Puzzle

I saw this puzzle sitting on a lady's tarp and my eyes were drawn to the sticker on the left side of the box.  It states that the puzzle does not include the two characters on the left.  Kenner eventually corrected this and issued a different box with the two gentleman cropped out.

My first attempt at building vintage Star Wars puzzles ended in failure, but this one seems to be much more manageable.  Maybe I'll give it a shot over the holidays.

Purchase #3:  Will Clark Cookie Cards  $1

There's a guy that I run into at every flea market who also collects cards.  We usually hang out a few minutes and talk about our finds or lack thereof.  He told me about a kid who had a binder with some 50¢ cards.  

By the time I found the "binder" I figured it had been already picked through and was correct.  However I found a pair of Mother's Cookies Will Clark cards:

1987 Mother's Cookies San Francisco Giants SGA #2

1988 Mother's Cookies Will Clark Food Issue #1

This is a perfect time to explain the two different ways collectors could acquire Mother's Cookies cards back in the day.  The first card was given away at Candlestick Park in an envelope that contained 28 cards as part of a 28 card set.  The catch was there were 21 different players in the envelope with one player receiving 7 duplicates.  Fans were encouraged to trade with other fans to complete the set.

The second card were inserted into bags of Mother's Cookies.  The set contains four cards and each bag contained one cellophane wrapped card.

Purchase #4:  Vintage Hockey Binder  $20

I found this binder of vintage hockey cards in the last row of the flea market.  The guy was asking a buck per card, three cards for two dollars, or $20 for the whole binder.

I was immediately drawn to the Golden Seals cards:

But after coming across this Bobby Orr, I just bought the binder:

1974-75 Topps #100

Here's a peek at some of the highlights from the rest of the binder:

I'd say 90% of the binder was from the 1974-75 Topps set, but there were a few 1973-74 and 1975-76 Topps cards mixed in:

I was pretty stoked to find this binder on the way out, but little did I know... I wasn't finished yet.

While cutting through rows on my way out to the car, I saw a familiar face with some really cool sets from the 80's.  But that's a post for another day.

Until then...

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Back to School

When I was a kid, I always had mixed emotions about going back to school.  Sure part of me was excited to see what friends I had in my classes... and whether or not I got the teacher(s) I wanted.  But there was also the fact that summer break, sleeping in, chilling out in the neighborhood, cruising around on bikes and skateboards, and staying up late were all coming to an end.

The same thing still applies to me as an adult.  Only now I'm checking to see how large my classes are and which prep period my friends have at work.  And although I'm no long chilling out in the neighborhood or cruising around on bikes and skateboards, I still enjoy sleeping in and staying up a little later than usual.

That's all over though, because the Summer Break of 2025 is officially coming to an end.  This Thursday I officially report back for my 28th year in my current district.  But I've actually been going in the past two weeks and working in my classroom.

Not sure if I've ever done this, but here's a peek at some before and after shots:

Every summer, the custodians clean the carpets and wax the floors... so we come back with a clean slate.

All of the student desks are up on the counters and we take them down and set them up.  This is usually when I tweak my back.

But I'm happy to report... no injuries this year.

One of the biggest projects every year is taking all of my toys and collectibles out of storage and creating my display.  This is a collection of items I have accumulated over the years.  Some of the stuff are things I bought... while others are gifts I have received from students, parents, fellow teachers, and others.

Here's a peek at my collection of sealed collectibles:

Luckily my principal doesn't make me take these down every year.  In fact, I don't think I've messed with these in six to eight years.

Anyways, there were three things I wanted to accomplish with this post.  First... I wanted to honor a few people who passed away recently.  Although none of these gentleman were personal favorites, they each played a role in my childhood.

Ozzy Osbourne

1985 AGI Rock Star #2

(December 3, 1948 to July 22, 2025)

It's hard to say what stands out the most about Ozzy.  The story about the "bat" or his MTV show.  Both immediately come to mind when I think of him.  Wasn't the biggest fan of his music when I was little, but I learned to appreciate his stuff from the 70's with Black Sabbath in high school and college.

Hulk Hogan

1987 Topps WWF #3

(August 11, 1953 to July 24, 2025)

There was a time when WWF was more important to me than the MLB.  It was right around 8th or 9th grade... and if it was on... I'd do whatever I could to watch it.  Hogan played a big part of my fanfare.  Today he would have celebrated his 72nd birthday.  Happy birthday Hulk!

Ryne Sandberg

1983 Topps #282

(September 18, 1959 to July 28, 2025)

As a Gwynn fan, Sandberg was always one of the other two big rookies in the 1983 baseball sets.  Their names along with Boggs always seem to go together when you discuss that awesome rookie card class.

Rest in peace Ozzy, Hulk, and Ryno.

Next up... I wanted to honor the Cooperstown Class of 2025:

Dick Allen

1966 Topps #80

Dave Parker

1982 Donruss #95

Billy Wagner

1997 Topps Gallery #178

CC Sabathia

2017 Topps NYY Factory Team Set #NYY-10

Ichiro Suzuki

2023 Stadium Club Red Foil #72

Congratulations Dick, Dave, Billy, CC, and Ichiro!

And finally... I wanted to show off the final care package of the summer.  The same day I receive'd Matt's PWE, I also received a flat rate box from John over at Johnny's Trading Spot.

He filled it up with a bunch of stuff, so let's dive in and check it out.  Let's start with a huge stack of Ichiro cards (including the Stadium Club card above):

In addition to the the sixty to seventy cards in this photo, he also sent me these nine:

Plus there were these three cards from a Topps On Demand Ichiro set:

2019 Topps On Demand Ichiro Legacy #16

2019 Topps On Demand Ichiro Legacy #19

2019 Topps On Demand Ichiro Legacy #20

A large percentage of the box were new additions to my Japanese Athlete PC.  Here are a few of the highlights...

2008 SP Legendary Cuts Destination Stardom Memorabilia #DS-AI

2024 Topps Now Off-Season #OS-13

2025 Topps Stars of Japan #SOJ-6

Saw this cherry blossom decorated insert a few weeks ago over on Cards As I See Them.

Very happy to add five to my binder.  I'm debating on picking up a few more over on COMC before I request shipment later in the week.

2021 Donruss Optic Signature Series #SS-JY

2023 Topps Allen & Ginter Framed Autographs #MA-FS

And here are a few other Japanese athletes who don't play baseball...

John also sent me a stack of Mr. October...

Here are a closer look at nine of them...

He also sent me a a few other A's for my collection...

In addition to baseball cards, he also sent me some MJ's...

1994 Action Packed Minors #23

This card stood out, because I liked how Action Packed kept it real in their scouting report.  

The second half of his care package were a ton of Wacky Packages.  Let's start with two vintage tan backs:

1973 Topps Wacky Packages 4th Series Brute 88

1974 Topps Wacky Packages 9th Series Windstun

He also tossed in a nice starter set...

2008 Topps Wacky Packages Flashback Series 2 Starter Set

Within the starter set was a complete puzzle:

2008 Topps Wacky Packages Flashback Series 2 Quacker Oats Puzzle Backs

I pulled out a few of my favorites:

2008 Topps Wacky Packages Flashback Series 2 Favorites

And rounding things out are some album stickers from the mid 80's:

1986 Wacky Packages Album Stickers

These are smaller than your standard size cards.  Here's a size comparison with the album sticker on the left and a standard Wacky Packages card on the right:

1986 Wacky Packages Album Stickers Size Comparison

Thank you John for another generous care package!  I had a lot of fun going through and organizing the stacks of Ichiro, Reggie, and Wacky Packages.  It was a fantastic way to wrap up my summer.

I hope all of you had a great summer.  After a reasonably mild summer in regards to weather, things are starting to heat up around here.  I might be ready for the students, but I'm not ready for triple digit temperatures.

Happy Monday and sayonara!