It Must Be Whale Season

Because... I've caught another one.

Anyone recognize this?  It's a 2000 Upper Deck "Kit Young Hawaiian Conference" autograph set.  Each set contained five autographs and one memorabilia card.

Here's a peek at the set:

2000 Upper Deck Hawaii #DR

2000 Upper Deck Hawaii #GH

2000 Upper Deck Hawaii #JN

2000 Upper Deck Hawaii #TS

Upper Deck brought four athletes, representing the four major sports to the conference.  Each of them signed 500 cards for the set.  It's the first time I've owned a Dr. J, Gordie Howe, or Tom Seaver autograph.  So, I'm definitely happy to have on-card autographs of these three hall of famers in my collection.

Once upon a time, I owned a Joe Namath autograph... but I flipped it for some nice money.  If you're interested, I wrote about it here.  It's nice to have a replacement for the other Broadway Joe.

2000 Upper Deck Hawaii #KYA and KYJH

And finally, there's an autographed card and memorabilia card honoring Mr. Young himself.  The completed listings for individual autographs in this set were pretty surprising.  The Kit Young autograph sold for more than Dr. J and Tom Seaver autographs.

I'm definitely excited to add this to my collection.  It wasn't cheap.  I ended up paying $146.50 (+ $4 shipping) for the set.

But I was willing to open up the wallet for a set that's now a centerpiece for my collection.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Yo Knows!

While watching the A's game yesterday, I saw a guy with a "Yo Knows" poster and immediately thought of Bo Jackson's famous 1990 Score card.

Anyways... I remembered seeing this photo of Cespedes holding a bad across his shoulders and figured I'd create this custom in honor of #16... whose Royals helped the Oakland A's clinch the AL West title for the second straight year.

Hopefully Cespedes' current hot streak will continue into the playoffs.  I just purchased my Game 1 ALDS tickets and I'm ready to see how far Oakland will go this year.  Go A's!

Happy Monday and sayonara!

Busted Up Bobbles

I just watched the Green Bay Packers fight back from a 14 point deficit... only to watch them completely fall apart in the 4th quarter.  So I figured it's a great opportunity to show off some of my newly acquired, but busted up Packers.

As you may already know... I love bobble heads.  So when I stumbled across a series of eight Green Bay Packers known as The Legends of Lambeau, I knew I had to have them.

There are a bunch of sellers on eBay with these.  But week in and week out... I ran into three problems:

#1 - The series was broken down into four packages... each containing two bobbles.  While there are plenty of vendors with one or two of the packages, there weren't a lot of people selling the complete set.

#2 - Vendors with complete sets weren't within my price range.

#3 - Buying from different vendors wasn't practical due to shipping costs.

Thus... the waiting game began.  And after a year of searching, I finally came across a vendor who had a complete set with a opening bid that I was willing to pay.

$35 (+ $15.25 shipping) later and I was the proud owner of Legends of Lambeau set:

A few days later, I popped them open only to find this:

Yup... that's Vince Lombardi with a broken neck and Bart Starr with two broken arms.  Well.. I immediately contacted the seller and we came to an agreement.

If I shipped back the bobbles, then the only one who wins is the United States Postal Service.  So he offered me a partial refund and I went out and picked up some Gorilla Super Glue.  Twenty-four hours later, everyone was patched up and looking like this...

2007 Pick N' Save and Copps Legends of Lambeau Bobbles

With that being said... my afternoon is starting to look a little brighter.  The A's just won the West... thanks to Kansas City Royals.  Andrew Cashner is keeping the Padres in it against the Dodgers as they try to beat them in the rubber match.  And if that wasn't enough... the Seahawks are taking care of business against the Jacksonville Jaguars.  However... if they choke like the Packers did... I might need to seek counseling.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

Shiver Me Timbers

Yesterday, I had several students enter my 4th period class talking like pirates.  Things got pretty contagious and it didn't take long before a third of them were saying "aye, aye captain" and "thar she blows".  I let it go for part of the class... but eventually, I shut it down.

Towards the end of the period, I asked one of them... "what's up with the pirate talk?".  He replied "it's Pirate Day".  A quick Google search quickly revealed that it was actually... International Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Anyways... I realized that I never really post any Pittsburgh Pirates cards on my blog.  So even though I'm a day late, I figured there's no better time than to show a few of my favorites:

The Pittsburgh Pirates have had plenty of superstars take the field donning the black, white, and yellow uniforms.  But the first person that comes to my mind is Roberto Clemente.  It's unfortunate that he passed away at such a young age.  But his on the field and off the field accomplishments will never be forgotten.

How many other MLB players have thrown a no-hitter, while on LSD?  

In 1959, Face set the single season record for win-loss percentage when he went 18-1 for the Pirates.

What do Barry Bonds, Dave Parker, Paul Waner, Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente, and Dick Groat all have in common?  They've all won MVP awards as members of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

There have been two Pittsburgh Pirates who have won the Cy Young Award.  Vern Law is one of them.  Can you name the other?

The Mad Dog was one of my favorite players growing up.  Damn... could this guy hit.

The only guy in the history of the MLB to hit a walk off home run in the 7th game of the World Series.  And he did it against the New York Yankees!

The Cobra is another childhood favorite of mine.  I can watch this clip over and over and over again:

Anyone else miss Pena's unique catcher's stance?

I love it when a player spends his entire career with one franchise.  Pops was one of those guys.  Pittsburgh Pirates fans had the opportunity to watch him play for twenty-one years.  

Most people think of The Big Hurt when they hear the name Frank Thomas.  But I'm sure there are plenty of Pirates' fans who remember this guy.  During the 50's, Thomas was a solid hitter for the Pirates and represented Pittsburgh three times in the MLB All-Star game.

Okay... that's pretty much the finest Pirates cards in the PC.  But before I be shovin' off... here's one of my favorite pirate videos:

Okay... maybe favorite is the wrong word.  

Happy Friday and Godspeed!

Getting Suspicious...

Has anyone else ever ordered from Sportsnut Cards and Collectibles?  Have you had any issues?  I have purchased a few cards for my collection in the past without any hiccups, but my latest purchase has left me empty-handed.

Here's a timeline of my cardboard debacle...

August 13th, 2013 - I purchased a 2005 Upper Deck Past Time Signature card of Mike Scioscia for $6 (+ $2.50 shipping).  Payment sent (using PayPal) immediately.

September 6th, 2013 - I emailed the company asking about the shipment of the Scioscia, but didn't receive a response.

September 12th, 2013 - I sent them a second email.  No response.

September 18th, 2013 - I sent another email yesterday.  Guess what?  No response.

Anyways... I was just wondering if anyone had any information on this company.  They added more cards to their website two days ago, so they're operational.

I don't know what else to do, but I'm starting to think that I'm not going to ever receive my card.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!