People Come and Go

People come and go.  I learned that at a very young age when one of my best friends moved away.  It sucked.  That happened right around the time when Rickey Henderson was traded to the New York Yankees.  That sucked too.  In 6th grade, my teacher left on maternity leave at the end of the year and we were stuck with a sub.  That  wasn't as bad as saying goodbye to Rickey... but it sucked too.

Over the years... family member, friends, co-workers, students, principals, Starbucks baristas, flea market vendors, favorite players, and just about every other category of people in my life has seen a fair share of people coming and going.  That's just the way it is.

A few months ago, Jeremy over at Topps Cards That Never Were announced that he was leaving the hobby.  People come and go within our hobby all the time.  I accept that.  But that doesn't change the fact that he'll be missed on the blogosphere.

I'm happy for him, because he left on his own terms and it sounds like he'll be happier making this change in his life.  That's what really matters.

Two days after his farewell post, I received a PWE from him in the mail.  Inside it contained a thoughtful, handwritten note that was much appreciated as well as these three Oakland A's cards:

2021 Topps Royal Blue Walmart #46

2020 Topps Gold #474 (#'d 1360/2020)

Being an A's fan, I've had more opportunities than the average sports fan to get used to people coming and going.  Jesus Luzardo was shipped off to Miami in July, while Canha recently signed a deal with the Mets.

2020 Stadium Club Chrome Wave Refractor #240

Puk is still representing the Green & Gold... for now.  However I'm not holding my breathe.  It wouldn't surprise me if he's gone within a year or two.

1991 Allan Keyes' Sports Card Price Guide Prototype #P3

People come and go all the time.  Heck... even the all-time strikeout king left New York, Anaheim, and Houston to wrap up his career and retire in Arlington.

I realize that some of my posts can be long-winded, which is why I appreciate every fellow collector and blogger who has taken the time to read these posts.  Jeremy was one of those people.  Which is why he knew how much I appreciate magazine cards and promos.

This card combines both of those interests.

I'm assuming, he'll never read this thank you post... but just in case he does...

Thank you Jeremy.  

I truly appreciate you taking the time to support this blog.  I know I enjoyed reading yours... and exchanging care packages with you over the years.  Hope things are going well with you and your family.

As for me... I know I've been away from the blogosphere myself.  But I assure you, I am not walking away from the hobby.  In fact, I've actually been spending a lot of my free time sorting cards, organizing my collection, and cleaning out my garage (where I store part of my collection).  In fact... that project is now officially in the rearview window.

Does this mean, I'll be returning to the keyboard on a regular basis?  Probably not.  The past two days I've enjoyed opening up Blogger, reading some recent blog posts, and leaving comments.  This will hopefully continue into the new year.

But the days of me writing three or four posts a week are in the past.  I'm not going to say that routine won't re-enter my life at some point, but right now I'll be content with one post a week.

Today... I'm spending the day opening up care packages that date all the way back to October.  Plus there were some cards I acquired earlier in the year that I'd like to share with you.

2017 Topps Allen & Ginter Box Topper #BL-CS

I know box toppers can be annoying to some collectors due to storage issues, but not me.  I'm always willing to adopt any unwanted oversized cards.  This one arrived in my mailbox over the summer.  It was sent to me by Reader X and there were plenty of other goodies in his care package, so I have no shortage of writing material.  I figured Seager ties into this post nicely... since he recently bid farewell to the city of Los Angeles and Dodger fans around the world... to hang out and play in Arlington.

Like I said... people come and go.

Happy holidays everyone!  Thanks again Jeremy and Reader X for providing the cards seen in this post.

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

The Golden Arches and an Update on Life

Since March of last year, the number of visits I've made to local retail stores has been cut down dramatically.  But whenever I do get out and about, it seems like every business in my area is hiring.  It's almost comical.

1995 Stadium Club Virtual Reality #51

Last week McDonald's offered teachers a free breakfast, so on Friday I went and received my complimentary Egg McMuffin, hash browns, and iced coffee.  It's been awhile since I've actually walked inside one of their locations, since the one near my house has a very convenient drive-thru.

1992 Topps McDonald's Baseball's Best #22

Unfortunately the one closest to my school doesn't, so I hopped out of my car and walked in.  It only took me a few seconds to realize that there were only two people working: a lady preparing the food and a cashier doing everything else (preparing the drinks, grabbing the hash browns, packing the bags, and collecting the money).  I didn't really pay attention to the woman in the back, but the cashier was very impressive.  A huge shoutout to her and anyone out there who works in undermanned retail stores, fast food chains, or any other business who are trying to hire, but can't find people to fill the positions.  Picking up the slack can't be easy.

1992-93 UD McDonald's #P5

Okay let's move on to cards and the current status of my blog... since I haven't been writing, commenting, or even reading other blogs on a regular basis.

1986 McDonald's Green Bay Packers (Green Tab) #18

First off... I apologize for that.  Like the friendly cashier at McDonald's, I've been working really hard and burning the candle at both ends.  During the week, I wake up early and head into the classroom like I've been doing for the past twenty-plus years.  That part of my life is normal.  It's the second half of the day that's been a wild ride the past few weeks.

Instead of coming home and having the option to write, read, watch tv, cook, grab dinner with friends, nap, or lesson plan... I've been hanging out in my garage sorting cards in an effort to get ready for this card show that took place this past Saturday.  You might think that now that the card show is in my rear view mirror, life will return back to normal.  Sadly that's not the case.

I am not even close to being finished with the sort and with each passing day I grow more and more discouraged at the stacks of monster boxes and piles of trading cards littered throughout my garage.  It looks and feels like I opened up Pandora's Box.

I've narrowed things down to two options.  I could just toss everything back into the boxes and finish the sort when I have a more positive attitude.  The problem is I would certainly lose track of where I put things which would force me to redo some of the work when I reschedule this sort.  Or I can power through this and hopefully finish in two or three weeks.

I'll most likely do the the latter.  Regardless... I'm taking a few days to clear my mind.

As for the blog, I plan on returning as soon as the garage sort is finished... assuming I don't suffer from hobby burnout.  The good news is that when I'm done it'll be much easier for me to find cards for future blog posts, care packages, and card shows.

And when I do return to behind the keyboard, I have plenty of things to write about.  I'm still sitting on a bunch of cards from Reader X as well as a pair of PWE's from Jon @ A Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts and Jeremy @ Topps Cards That Never Were.

I also have a few cards from my summer COMC shipment I'd like to write about and two eBay pickups from the the past month or so.  And to top it off... I made my first hobby trade in a very, very, very long time at the card show over the weekend, so I'm excited to write about that.

Until then... I hope all is well in our awesome hobby blogosphere.  I'll see you soon.

Happy Monday and sayonara!

Sign of the Times

Last week, we took our fall pictures at school and received our new ID cards.  Here's mine:

At first... the photographer wasn't going to allow me to wear my mask.  She didn't think my principal would allow me to use this picture in the yearbook.  Luckily I had my old ID card in my wallet:

She cracked up and told me she wasn't going to be held responsible if my boss didn't approve.  Spoiler alert... a few minutes after I took my photo, I ran into my principal and she asked me who I dressed up as this year.

I told her... I wanted this year's yearbook photo to be a sign of the times.  When I look back at all of my school pictures, it'll be obvious which one represents the Era of Covid-19.

Speaking of sign of the times... back in the late 90's, I was really, really, really into collecting pack pulled, on-card autographs.  At the time Upper Deck had a series of autograph sets called Sign of the Times that spanned all of their major sports licenses.

Today I figured I'd show off some of these oldies, but goodies.  Since most of the people who read this blog are baseball fans, let's start with them...

1998 Upper Deck Retro Sign of the Times #BF

1998 Upper Deck Retro Sign of the Times #WM

1998 Upper Deck Retro Sign of the Times #EM

1998 Upper Deck Retro Sign of the Times #GP

1998 Upper Deck Retro Sign of the Times #FT

Upper Deck had a few different Sign of the Times baseball sets, but this was the only one produced in the 90's.  I always wondered why they chose to put these autographs into packs of UD Retro... instead of SP Authentic.  That's the product that contained all of the basketball, football, hockey,  and racing Sign of the Times autographs from that era.

The 1997 SP Authentic basketball, football, and hockey Sign of the Times autographs were the first ones that popped on my radar.  I remember trading for a bunch of them back then.  However in 2001 or 2002, I sold off the bulk of my collection and most of them were included in the sale.

I'm pretty sure this was the only one I held onto:

1997 SP Authentic Sign of the Times #NNO

Can't stand the Dallas Cowboys, but I sure love this card.

When I returned to the hobby, I picked up a bunch of other 1997's...

1997-98 SP Authentic Sign of the Times #EJ

1997-98 SP Authentic Sign of the Times #CM

1997-98 SP Authentic Sign of the Times #BH

1997-98 SP Authentic Sign of the Times #MB

1997-98 SP Authentic Sign of the Times #MS

Back in the late 2000's and early 2010's... I was chasing a lot of the late 90's autographs, because the market had softened and I was able to buy them for a fraction of the late 90's prices.

1998-99 SP Authentic Sign of the Times Bronze #CB

1998-99 SP Authentic Sign of the Times Bronze #DK

1998-99 SP Authentic Sign of the Times Bronze #MG

1998-99 SP Authentic Sign of the Times Bronze #GR

Here are two from the 1998-99 basketball set that I held onto from my original collection:

1998-99 SP Authentic Sign of the Times Silver #DR

1998-99 SP Authentic Sign of the Times Silver #PN

The silver autographs were tougher to pull than the bronze, so I decided to hold onto these.  I'm glad I did, because they don't pop up very often and the last time I checked... neither were very affordable.

Okay... this post is starting to drag on and when it comes to 90's autographs, I can talk about them for days.  But nobody wants that, so here's a quick look at the rest of the my late 90's Sign of the Times autographs:

1998 SP Authentic Sign of the Times #S4

1998 SP Authentic Sign of the Times #GO

1998-99 SP Authentic Sign of the Times #KT

1998-99 SP Authentic Sign of the Times #MH

1998-99 SP Authentic Sign of the Times #MS

I know autographs aren't everyone's thing.  Neither are ID cards.  But I wanted to document the fact that I'll have to wear a mask to work for probably the entire school year... maybe even longer.  I also wanted to show off some 90's autographs that have become buried and forgotten by the plethora of modern day sticker-graphs.  It's good to dig up some old cards and appreciate them.  Hopefully I'll be around in twenty years to dig out these ID cards and appreciate them as well.

By the way... if you have any ideas for next year's yearbook photo, leave them down below.  I'm always looking for new ways to give my students, colleagues, and principal a quick chuckle.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!