Cardboard Medicine

Being a teacher has its perks during the holiday season.  Homemade Christmas cards and cookies.  A handful of Target and Starbucks gift cards.  And of course the annual two week holiday break.

Unfortunately... mine hasn't gotten off to a very good start.  On Friday... with less than ten minutes left in my final period... one of my students revealed a key spoiler in the latest Star Wars film.  In short... I wasn't amused.

Then yesterday, I woke up with a sore throat and a stuffy nose.  Hopefully it's nothing a little Vitamin C and some hot tea can't fix.  Although... I've already missed two holiday parties I planned on attending.

The good news is my body could use the rest... and the past two days I was able to catch up on Elementary, The Blacklist, Arrow, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., plus watch small tidbits of the Packers and Seahawks' games.

I also had the opportunity to finally open up a few packages that were sitting in my office from fellow bloggers.  Tonight... I'll be showing off a nice stack of Oakland A's cards that were sent to me from Julie over at A Cracked Bat.

First up is this beautiful manufactured patch card of Big Mac:

2003 Sweet Spot Classics Patch Card #PMC1

This card is exactly how I prefer my pizza crust... THICK.  Speaking of thick... I was really excited to find these two packs of 1987 Sportflics waiting to be busted:

Upper Deck often gets credited as the industry's first high end trading card.  But actually... Sportflics were my first experience in opening up expensive packs of baseball cards.  If I remember correctly... they were almost twice as expensive as a pack of Topps and you only received three cards per pack.

Julie also threw in a bunch of Reggie Jackson cards featuring him as an Athletic:

Not gonna lie.  I have mixed feelings towards Reggie, because of the time he spent with the Yankees.  But I'm glad that card companies recognize his two stints with the A's.  I especially like how Topps managed to capture most of Jackson's swing in that Topps 60 insert card.

Another former Athletic who spent some time in New York wearing pinstripes is Jason Giambi:

1993 Stadium Club Murphy #200

Although this isn't his true rookie card, I'm pretty sure it's one of Giambi's first cards where he's featured in his Oakland uniform.  My buddies and I had a lot of fun watching him launch home runs back in the late 90's and early 2000's.  Sitting at my desk... holding this card... helped me relive some of those good times.

Thanks Julie for the awesome package of cards.  I hope you and your family enjoy a safe holiday season.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

A New Addiction

A long time ago in a neighborhood not that far away...

A five year old boy opened his first pack of trading cards that commenced a lifelong addiction to hoarding items most people would classify as rubbish.

Thirty-three years later, he'd create a blog to document his hobby experiences and interact with hundreds of fellow collectors who share his passion.  Based on most of his posts and what he shares on the blog, it's easy to identify his love for sports.  

However... only his diehard readers and close friends know his other obsession.  The one that focuses around a super duper awesome, science fiction space soap opera which has the Rebel Alliance battling the evil Galactic Empire.  The same obsession that originated with that first pack of trading cards back in 1977.  Using your context clues, have you figured out what I'm referring to?

Yup... you guessed it.  Star Wars.

The little boy didn't only collect the trading cards.  He was also infatuated with the space ships and action figures produced by Kenner back in the 70's and 80's.

Eventually that little boy grew up and stopped playing with those toys.  His mother gave them away and he moved onto bigger and better things:  sports memorabilia.

But deep down inside... he still loved the greatest movie franchise ever.  Over the course of three decades, he made sure to set aside time to watch the original trilogy... and yes... even the prequels.

These days... that little boy is all grown up.  He's now in his forties and believe it or not, he still treasures his Star Wars trading cards.  Over the years, he's even gone out and picked up a few of those action figures from his childhood days.

In addition to those vintage toys, he's discovered this generation's version of Beanie Babies:  Funko Pops.  Yes.  He fully understands that one day these overproduced pieces of plastic will be worth a fraction of the value originally spent.

But unlike Beanie Babies... the five year old boy trapped inside the body of a forty-three year old man actually thinks these look cool when displayed in his classroom.  And that's why he's okay with his newfound addiction.

Happy Friday and may the force be with you!

Flea Market Finds #99: Dirty, Disgusting, and Ghetto

I've been told a few times just how lucky I am to have cool flea markets in my neighborhood.  And to a certain extent, I probably shouldn't take advantage of my situation.  There's the monthly, middle class, community college flea market that takes place on the first Saturday of every month.  Then there's the small, yet cozy high school flea market that takes place once a month.

And then there's the Capitol Drive-In Flea Market.

The actual drive-in theater has been around my entire life and was a pretty popular place to go watch movies on Friday and Saturday nights when I was younger.  The last movie I watched there was Casino Royale close to a decade ago.  To put it gently... it wasn't exactly how I remembered it from my youth.  But then again... I'm sure the number of drive-ins around the country have slowly diminished over the past couple of decades.

As for the flea market itself... I figured I'd let a few of my friends and family describe it to you.  I asked seven people to tell me the first word that comes to mind when they think of the Capitol Drive-Ins.

Four people called it "dirty" or used a synonym for that word.  My mom called it "disgusting".  My buddy who sets up at flea markets on a regular basis, said "junk", because there's rarely anything of "quality" out there.  The last word that came to mind was "ghetto", which is pretty much how I'd describe this flea market.

How ghetto is it?  It's so ghetto that people who attend need to use The Club on their late 80's Honda Civic hatchbacks.

Oh... and it's not out of the ordinary to find a jug of urine sitting next to your car in the parking lot.

The good news is... if you're looking for a stolen bike, broken VCR's, headless Barbie dolls, or stained wash cloths, then the Capitol Flea Market is the place to be.  But don't get the wrong idea.  I'm not complaining.  It provides excellent people watching and a great place to take your Sunday morning walk.  And as you've seen in prior posts... every now and then you can find something to buy.

I haven't gone in a few weeks, because it's been either too wet or too cold, but I managed to go out there during my Thanksgiving break.  Here's some "junk" I grabbed...

Purchase #1:  1991 Conlon Collection Set  $3

These cards aren't exactly going to help me retire early, but if you love the history of baseball... than this is a pretty awesome set.  It's filled with guys who played in the early 20th Century and it's an affordable way to add some hall of famers to your collection.


Purchase #2:  1991 Space Shots Series Two Set $1

I've picked up a few of the Series One sets in the past and was pretty excited to find a copy of the Series Two set.  After doing a little research on this series of space cards, I discovered there was some controversy behind them.  If you're interested you can read about it... here.


Purchase #3:  1989 World Series VHS Tape $1

Don't laugh.  I was actually pretty stoked to find this.  Oakland A's fans don't have much to celebrate these days, so we live in the past.  Now all I need is get my hands on a WORKING VCR.

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

Costco and The Junk Wax Era

Life was so much simpler when I was a kid.  Back then I collected because I enjoyed sorting my cards into different categories and every now and then discovering a card with a funny photo or a great looking action shot.

However everything changed in 1987.  That's the year that the Costco in my neighborhood started carrying baseball cards and I morphed from a collector into an investor.

Up until that point, I primarily had built my collection from busting packs every now and then.  But that year I begged my mom into loaning me some money, so I could buy a bunch of boxes of 1987 Topps baseball.  I sat there for hours on the living room floor ripping into the boxes and sorting the cards into sets and player lots.

I thought that one day that investment would pay off and make me rich.  Unfortunately... so did millions of other collectors.  I personally believe that Costco and Price Club commenced The Junk Wax Era... essentially changing the way I collect entirely.  Whether or not that's a good thing is still being determined.

But today's post isn't really about Costco or The Junk Wax Era.  It was just an excuse to show of some of my favorite cards from one of my favorite sets of the decade.

You might not remember... but back in 2013, I actually ranked the 80's Topps baseball card designs and considered these to be one of the decade's worst.

I think the sheer number of packs that I busted left a sour taste in my mouth and created decades worth of disdain for this card design.  But time heals all wounds.

Today... it's my second favorite... right behind the 1983 set.  Once upon a time, I though the wood-grain borders were obnoxious and over the top.  However... I've switched gears and now embrace the design feature most associated with this set.  I also like the inclusion of the team's logo and the decision to use the team's colors in the rectangular box that houses the player's name.

What about you...

Did you buy cards at Costco in the 80's?  What are you thoughts on the 80's version of Cardboard Woodies?

Looking forward to reading your responses.  I hope you all have a great week.  Happy Monday and sayonara!

Journey Back in Time

Today we're going on a journey back in time.  Along the way, we'll be making pit stops and checking out sports memorabilia from five different decades.

Our adventure begins sometime in the 1950's, when this tiny pin was sold to an excited baseball fan...

Unfortunately... I wasn't able to find any useful information online about the history of this pin.  However... according to some eBay dealers it's called a PM10 Stadium Pin.  Regardless of what they were called, it's a nice piece of Athletics memorabilia from their days in Philadelphia.

If you're a fan of oddball issues, then you would have enjoyed the 80's.  All three major card manufactures offered something outside of the flagship issues to collectors.

Fleer released a plethora of forty-four card box sets during the latter half of the decade...

In 1987, Donruss released it's first and last Opening Day baseball set.

The 272 card set is comprised of players who were in their teams' starting lineups on Opening Day.  I've always wanted to own this set, because it contains early issue cards of Barry Bonds, Bo Jackson, and Barry Larkin.

From 1983 to 1985 Donruss also released a series of cards known as Action All-Stars.  These cards were larger than your standard size trading cards and as you would expect... the checklist contained some of the bigger names in the game.

Here's a look at two packs from the 1983 set with a pair of baseball legends showing on top.  I'll be busting these in a future Flash(p)ack Friday post.  Hopefully I end up pulling the last Mickey Mantle puzzle piece I need.

Rounding out the 80's is Topps.  In 1989, they released an ultra-rare test issue product called Heads Up.  They were huge die-cut heads with a suction cup attached, so collectors could hang their favorite players on their windows.  I've never actually owned one of the 89's... but here's a Will Clark from the 1990 set:

Topps also released sticker yearbooks throughout the 80's.  Although I never actually completed any of them as a kid, they were definitely fun to collect.  Here's the yearbook from 1985 with rookie phenom, Dwight Gooden gracing the cover:

Time to switch decades again.  Let's return to the present and check out another guy known for his heater...

Darvish was sidelined in 2015... but hopefully he'll bounce back and return where he left off. Okay... let's get out of here and dive into the 60's:

1968 was four years before I entered this world... and Orlando Cepeda was coming off of his MVP season.  Too bad he had one of the worst seasons of his career that year and was eventually traded to Atlanta the following season.  Still... it would have been pretty cool to pull either of these two cards back in the day.

Let's start heading back.  Only two stops left.  The first being another visit to the 80's.  This time we'll be looking at some media guides instead of cards...

The 1982 Oakland Athletics and 1983 San Diego Padres combined for 175 losses.  Yikes.  Sadly... that's better than the 2015 Oakland Athletics and 2015 San Diego Padres.  Together they lost a total of 182 games this year.  Some things never change.

Last stop.  The 90's.

When it comes to this decade, I kinda feel like collectors either love it or hate it.  Personally... I try to focus on the ingenuity that blossomed in terms of our hobby, instead of the number of collectors who abandoned it during this time period.

Holograms emerged and I for one... embraced them.

Parallels also became very popular during this decade... and are still a huge part of our hobby today.  Sadly... the arrival of new cardboard technologies meant something had to give and items like these Topps Stand Ups and other oddball issues slowly began to fade away.

Although... every now and then they'd reemerge in our hobby.  Companies like Pinnacle began issuing cards in cans, producing cards within cards (Zenith's Dare to Tear), and tried once again to bring coin collectors into our hobby with their Pinnacle Mint products...

Kinda makes me want to go out and buy a box of this stuff... to relive the good old days.  Well... there you have it.  I hope you enjoyed our little journey back in time.

A huge thank you goes out to Tony over at Off Hiatus Baseball.  Everything featured in today's post came out of this box...

which happened to come from Tony.  Back in October, he had a contest and I was fortunate enough to have Random.org select my name.  The prize?  $10 worth of card show loot.

Thanks for the memories.  If you were able to buy all of these items for $10 at your local card show... then I'm planning on adding a visit to it to my bucket list.

Happy Flashback Friday... and sayonara!