New and Unique

It took over a week, but I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel in regards to that huge collection I purchased off my friend.  Hopefully by tonight, I will have all twenty-something thousand trading cards sorted into four categories:  cards for my collection, cards for care packages, cards to be taken to my classroom (or donated to Goodwill), and cards to be dumped.

This morning I decided to take a break and open up a care package that Rod from Padrographs sent me last weekend.

He sent me an email a while back stating that some things came into the store where he worked that he though I'd be interested in.  He was 100% correct.  

Let's get things started with Rod's custom card:

I'm a big fan of personalized trading cards.  Either he's playing off Mister Fantastic's real name... or he knows that I've been struggling to read everyone's blogs lately, because he took the time to remind me to "read" which is excellent advice.  This card will go right between my Junior Junkie and JBF rookie cards.

He also threw in this really cool oddball issue of Tony Clark:

2008 Disabled American Veterans

I'm not 100% sure if this is my first DAV card... but I'm really happy to add it to my Padres PC.  I tried researching other Padres in this set, but could only find San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers, and Tampa Bay Rays cards online.  Any idea how these were distributed?  And if cards were made for all MLB teams?

Rounding out the team bag were these six trading cards:

I don't watch WWE anymore... but Asuka might just be the reason I give it another shot.

Okay... it's time to get into the heart of Rod's care package and show off some of the most unique and oversized Japanese PC items I've seen.

Don't believe me... see for yourself:

Yup.  That's a vintage Japan Airlines safety card.  I wasn't able to find a date, but it looks like something from the 70's.  I've flown a lot over the years and have never seen anything like it.  It's laminated in plastic and folds in half like a book.

There was also this JAL safety card as well:

Now this is what I'm more accustomed to.  Although I'm guessing it's at least two decades old, since it says you're allowed to smoke as much as you want except during take-offs and landings:

The third and final piece of JAL memorabilia was this traveler's handbook that included a foldout time table:

As with the two safety cards, I wasn't able to find a date.  However there was lot's of cool information included in this handbook like money conversion, national holidays, and weather information.

If you had asked me about collecting airline memorabilia a week ago, I probably would have said I wasn't interested.  However I'm seriously thinking about buying this JAL barf bag from the 80's that's on eBay to round out this really cool collection that Rod sent me.

Wait... there's more.  He also sent me two sets of Japanese postcards:

I've been going back and forth about starting a postcard collection.  I guess these are the sign I was looking for.

And last but certainly not least, Rod sent three me three complete magazines.  The first two are SI for Kids issues... which happens to currently be my second favorite magazine subscription next to Baseball Digest:

Both issues were complete with cards and posters.  I've already ripped out this Steph Curry which I'll hang up in my classroom on Tuesday:

And the final item is this Japanese magazine from the 70's:

Unfortunately, I'm not able to read any of the text.  But I enjoyed looking at all of the advertisements and photographs.

My two favorite advertisements were the Technics and Honda N360 full page ads.  Growing up... my family had a really nice Technics stereo system that I never really appreciated until I was a little older and my friends drooled over it.

As for the car ad... I've been a Honda guy since I purchased my very first "new" car in 2000.  I had never heard of the N360, but it looks like a really cool car.

As for articles, I was hoping to find a nice full page photo of Sadaharu Oh.  Instead, I found this:

I'm not able to give you any information on this wrestler... but if you're lucky maybe SumoMenkoMan will help us out in the comment section below.

Well that's it for today.  I've got to get back to sorting that collection.  I'm tired of it taking up my entire office.

Thank you Rod for this very unique and generous care package!  It helped inspire me to start a JAL PC... as well as gave me a break from sorting cards.

I've picked up a few extra Padres autographs that I'll be sending your way this summer.  But in the meantime...

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Catch My Breath

It's that time of the year again.  End of the year projects.  Field trips.  Report cards.  Graduation parties.

You'd think that after twenty years, I'd get used to it.  But I haven't.  This year seems especially overwhelming and I'm not doing myself any favors.

Last week I stepped onto the scale, saw the California penal code for murder (187), and decided enough was enough.  I've gotta lose weight.  Although my doctor would love to see me lose forty to fifty pounds, I'll be pretty happy if I lose fifteen to twenty pounds by the start of 2019.

Although I don't really eat well balanced meals, I've started being conscientious of what I'm eating and drinking.

I've also started exercising on a daily basis.  My main goal is to walk 10k steps six days a week.  It's been pretty challenging, but I currently have a streak of 10 days in a row.

I typically get six to seven thousand steps on the average weekday at work, which leaves me with only a few thousand remaining by the time I get home.  One thousand steps for me translates into a brisk 9 to 10 minute walk, so I'll usually head outside and walk around my neighborhood for 20 to 40 minutes before it gets dark.

It feels good to get out there and exercise, however I've gotta admit that it's been pretty exhausting.  I'm sure it'll only get easier as I slowly shed the excess pounds.

If work and exercise weren't enough... I've also been sorting through this collection I recently purchased from one of my buddies.

At first... I thought I was getting a pretty good deal.  However the deeper I dive into this collection, the more I want my $80 back.

So far there's been an equal amount of football and basketball with a little bit of baseball sprinkled into the mix.  Unfortunately it's mostly late 80's to mid 90's over produced Junk Wax that has adhered together due to improper storage.  Ugh.

The worst part is I don't have the space to store this garbage.  As soon as I'm finished sorting through it, three of these 5,000ct. boxes will be headed to Goodwill.  The rest will either be sent out in care packages, added to my collection, or be taken to my classroom for students.

Well... that's an update on what's going on around here.

I apologize for being missing in action.  Hopefully I'll be able to catch my breathe, sit down, read some blogs, and write a few posts over the three day weekend.

Until then... I'll either be grading projects, breaking down my classroom, walking, or continuing to sort through this collection I shouldn't have purchased.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

Bargain Priced Excitement

Like many of you, I acquire new cards in a variety of ways.  Random wax packs.  4 Sharp Corners.  Card shows.  Flea markets.  COMC.  The occasional blaster box.  DA Card World.  Care packages from fellow blogger.  Sportlots.

But without a doubt, eBay is my primary source of cardboard... especially in regards to the money I set aside for my hobby budget.  I've never actually sat down and calculated anything, but I'd guess that 70 to 85% of my monthly budget is spent on eBay.

Some months are worse than others... depending on the deals I find and whether or not eBay offers special promotions.

A while back, eBay was offering up 15 to 20% coupons and 8 to 10x eBay Buck bonuses on a weekly basis.  I took advantage of those deals and ended up with a $38.90 eBay Buck certificate.

I wanted to apply the certificate towards one key addition to my collection, so I targeted the T206 Chief Bender.  Unfortunately nobody accepted my best offers and I kept getting outbid on auctions.  Plus time was starting to run out.  The certificate was set to expire on May 2nd, which meant I had less than a week left.

I widened my eBay searches and eventually found this auction a few hours before it was set to end:

The current bid was less than $30, so I added it to my watch list and set an alarm on my phone.  With only a few seconds left, I entered in a bid and was shocked to see that I won the auction for less than $50.

Now I'm not exactly a Barry Bonds card collecting connoisseur, but I have been targeting his autographs when the price is right.

Certified packed-pulled autographs typically sell in the $70 to $85 price range.  $60 would be considered a really good deal.  $48.10 (+ $3.15 shipping)?  That's an awesome deal!

When you factor in my eBay Buck certificate, I only had to pull $12.35 out of my pocket for this 1999 Topps Autograph of one of the most hated men in baseball who just so happens to also be the all-time home run king:

1999 Topps Autographs #A10

This on-card signature was from an era when most autographs were still pretty tough pulls.  Sure you had products like SP Signature and Donruss Signature that offered one autograph per pack, but those were exceptions to the rule.

In 1999... Topps created a 16 card autograph set that was split into two series.  The first eight cards were inserted into Series 1 packs at a rate of one per 532 hobby packs.  This Bonds was part of the second series cards which were a little easier to pull: one per 501 hobby packs.  That's about one per 14 hobby boxes.

The back of the card points out that Bonds was the only baseball player to hit 400 home runs and steal 400 bases.

Nineteen years later, he's still the only member of that club.  In fact he finished his career with 762 home runs and 514 stolen bases, which obviously makes him the sole member of the 500/500 Club to boot.

I realize this guy isn't going to win a lot of popularity contests, but he was one of the most entertaining baseball players I've ever had the chance to watch and I'm not just talking about his 73 home run season.  Whenever he entered the batter's box, he gave baseball fans a show.

And just in case some of you forgot... he was pretty good defensively too.  Just continue reading the back of this card where it mentions his eight Gold Glove Awards.

Okay... it's time to wrap things up.  Here are today's questions of the day:

What is your primary source of sports cards?

Who is the most exciting athlete you've ever watched in person?

Happy Sunday and sayonara!