Well Damn

Last night I was forced to do something that every collector dreads. It doesn’t matter if you collect cards, comic books or antique furniture but we fear that day when we need to make decisions and our collection comes in second.

 

I have serious health issues, not terminal but to the point where my daily life is significantly worse than I should be at 44-years old. I require a collection of medication daily, some days the pain is so bad I need to use a cane just to walk a few feet and it is possible that in a decade I may not be able to walk. I do have good days and bad days but I have accepted my illnesses and come to terms with all that comes with them but in the past 18 months I have gone through a number of medical procedures, two surgeries, a divorce and in the past six months two moves. The bills do add up and the moves destroyed my savings cushion so part of my collection will need to be sacrificed.

 

The worst is that my Great White Whale, the 1933 Goudey Lou Gehrig, is part of that sacrifice along with Gehrig, Mantle and Thorpe jersey relic cards. I hoped this day would ever happen but it finally did.

 

This decision has not come easily and now that I have listed the cards I feel like I am in a funk and honestly part of me wants to just give in and stop collecting but another part of me wants to soldier on and points to the joy I have of collecting and interacting with the hobby community.     

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Johnny Manziel will be in Houston during the Super Bowl and he will be signing autographs for all his adoring fans. Crave Sports has set up the autograph signing for one hour each day on February 2^nd and February 3^rd at two different malls in Houston. And because Johnny Football is in such high demand you can expect to pay big bucks to fuel his addictions: $99 for an autograph and an additional $29 for an inscription. Want a photo with the train wreck? It will be $99 for a photo op or $50 for a selfie.

 

I am certain there will be hundreds of fans at each signing all willing to pay the $99+ to get his autograph at a live event. Just to break things down, let’s say 100 people show up for each 1-hour session, this means he will spend an average of 36 seconds with each person. Is paying $99 for half a minute with Manziel seem logical?

 

Now if I were even a fan there are plenty of options out there that would save time and money, though you do miss out on the 36 seconds of being in his vicinity and breathing the same air.

 

This JSA certified Johnny Manziel autographed Texas A&M mini helmet and autographed jersey sold for $99 w/ free shipping yesterday.

 

If 8x10 photos is your choice for autographs, this Panini Authentic Johnny Manziel Cleveland Browns autographed 8x10 that was signed at the 2014 National during Panini’s VIP party went for $15.50 w/ $4.50 shipping last week. There are currently two more up for auction for under $40 shipped.

 

If you are more a card autograph type of collector there is a very cool option in this 2014 Press Pass Gameday Gallery autograph #10/25. I think this is a nice looking card, limited and an on-card autograph. You cannot go wrong with this one and it isn’t bad at $20 w/ $3 shipping, this would be my choice.

Why I Don't Like To Prospect But Do It Anyway

I have never really been someone to hunt down prospects, I just seem to make bad decisions and end up with cards that no longer fit in my collection. I was picking up Dustin Ackley cards but then his numbers dipped and I was even fine with that because his card prices dropped too but then he was traded to the Yankees and I was done with Ackley. Not long after that I started picking up Taijuan Walker and Alex Jackson cards but on November 23^rd Walker was traded to the D-Backs and five days later Jackson was traded to the Braves.

What made it worse is that I had both Walker and Jackson cards in my COMC account so it was a painful reminder when I got my order in December. At least Walker made it to the Mariners where he went a “meh” 22-22 with a 4.18 ERA. Jackson toiled away in the minors not breaking the A level and even though he was a Top 20 prospect for the Mariners he was still years away from making the parent team.

So here is what I got that are just going to be packed away with my ex-Mariners collection, luckily they did not cost too much:

2014 Bowman Sterling Japan-Fractor Taijuan Walker

A couple of early Alex Jackson cards

2013 Leaf Showcase Metal Perfect Game Stars

2014 Bowman Draft Picks Asia Black Exclusive

2015 Bowman’s Best High Definition

These cards are thick and use an amazingly beautiful image that looks wonderful in-hand

2015 Bowman Draft Asia Exclusive” Black Wave, Red & Black and Black Refractor

Will I continue to chase Mariners’ prospects? Most likely

Will I get burned again? Yes of course

The Zombie Apocolypse

Last week George Kosana passed away at the age of 81 years old, he co-wrote Night Of The Living Dead with George Romero, he was one of the producers and he also played the sheriff in the movie. In honor of him and his work I am doing this post which includes two Kosana autographs.

Night of the Living Dead has been a favorite of mine for many years. George Romero is the father of modern zombies and if he had not been able to rustle up $114,000 in investments in 1968 and put together what would amount to a student film we would not have movies like Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland and World War Z and shows like Walking Dead and iZombie would be flops.

But Romero and his friends did pull things together and along with the citizens of Evans City, Pennsylvania unleashed Night Of The Living Dead and the zombie world has not looked back.

Actually beyond liking the movie I used to not be a fan of zombie stories but that has since changed. A quick factoid, many of the actors were part of the production company or friends of the production team with the extras roles being filed by the citizens of Evans City.

I have been working on a nice collection of autographs and sketch cards from the 2012 Unstoppable Cards Night Of The Living Dead but there are a couple of other options, not many, available like the 1987 Rosem 50-card set (My next target of NOLD cards) and 1988 Image 10/Fantaco 68-card checklist.

2012 Unstoppable Cards promo card of Karen Cooper, played by Kyra Schon

A couple of sketch cards showing Karen Cooper

A couple of sketches of Harry Cooper, played by Karl Hardman.

A couple of sketches of Ben, played by Duane Jones.

This second sketch card of Ben was drawn on pages from the original script. There were only two of these in the entire sketch set.

A couple of sketches of Johnny, played by Russ Streiner. He was part of the production company (One of the movie producers) and while he was one of the first characters seen in the movie his role was uncredited in the movie. His mother also played a zombie in the movie.

A sketch of the first zombie of the movie, Bill, essentially he is the Godfather of all the zombies on television and in movies now. The role was played by Bill Hinzman, who was a cameraman for the movie.

A sketch of the news reporter, played by Lee Hartman.

I have a 10 autographs from three different sets. My favorite is the Russ Streiner that has an inscription from probably the most famous line to come from the movie. Most of his cards are just his signature so this one cost a bit more than I was hoping to spend but I had to have it.

A Kyra Schon

A John Russo. He wrote the screenplay and had two parts in the movie, one as a military reporter and one as a zombie, which is pictured here.

A double dose of George Kasano. I am not sure why but he signed in both blue ink and black ink, neither seems rarer than the other so they both sell around the same price so I picked up one of each. He was another producer for the movie.

The next three are part of the 1990 Image 10/Fantaco set. Two I already had from the 2012 Unstoppable Cards set; John Russo and Russ Streiner, but the third was a big coup. The man himself George Romero.

The final two autographs come from the 2010 Breygent Classic Vintage Movie Poster Autographs; Judith O’Dea (she played Barbara) and Bill Hizman. What is cool about this one is that he add the inscription “Zombie #1”), most of these cards he just signed his name.

The latest card in my collection is a printing plate form the Movie Poster subset. As far as I know Unstoppable Cards only released one printing plate per card. The back is just a sticker that was added before the plates were packed out.

Wallet Card Volume 2

I love the idea of wallet card and I even selected one, which I ended up making a smaller version to fit in to my wallet. Sadly, I did not take many pictures with Shaq, posting only 7 times, over the two years that he has been hanging around the confines of my wallet.

 

I even have had many many many opportunities, some of my adventures just in the last year; two 12 hour driving trips (passing Hoover Dam and Las Vegas both times), four flights, five road trips to Lake Tahoe, multiple casinos, lots of restaurants which included the best damn burger I have ever had (No joke, if you are in Reno hit Beefy’s, you will thank me later), rode a train, watched the sun set over the Pacific Ocean, saw a couple of plays, a wedding, a college graduation, a handful of art exhibits, saw a custom Seahawks guitar, visited some haunted hotels in Virginia City and I ate alligator. I really could have taken my wallet card out once or twice during any of those times.

 

This year I plan to be more diligent with my photographing and this year I have selected a Ken Griffey Jr card, his 1994 Bowman’s Best #40. I really like this card and at one point had been a ghost card, I now have two so one stays in the collection and one gets to spend the next 12 months hanging out in a wallet.

Someone Selling My Digital Art, Not Cool

Last night I was reading a post on the Blowout Cards forum about a collector being reunited with a graded 1989 Fleer Billy Ripken card that he sold a number of years ago. I took a quick look at eBay to see what kinds of variations there were for the card and I came across an auction of someone selling a copy of the card I created using the Billy Ripken card for one of my What If? posts back in 2014.

Here is the link to my post from 2014: http://packwar.blogspot.com/2014/01/what-if-billy-ripken.html

Here is the auction: http://www.ebay.com/itm/BILLY-RIPKEN-RC-F-F-1988-ERROR-VERY-COOL-CUSTOM-MADE-ODDBALL-CARD-READ-/182408538536?&rmvSB=true

I sent him an email asking politely that he end the auction because I created the image for the blog and only for entertainment, not to be sold. He did eventually respond and did end the auction but he has been hounding me to allow him to sell the card saying that if I had no intent of selling it than he doesn't understand why I wont let him sell it. He has even gone on to claim that his friend owns the rights to the Billy Ripken card and I should allow his friend to sell copies of the card.

The Blogging Community Loses One Of Our Own

Yesterday the hobby and blogsphere lost a major fixture of the modern collecting world with the passing of Bob Lemke, he was 65-years old. There has been no cause of death announced only that he was in the hospital near his home in Pennsylvania.

 

Bob worked at Krause Publications in the 1970s in the company’s coin collecting magazine when he talked the company owner, Chet Krause, in to get involved with creating a sports card pricing guide. In 1980, with Bob as the editor, Krause Publication began printing Baseball Cards Magazine. This was 4 years before Beckett Media was even formed. The following year Krause bought Sports Collectors Digest and essentially handed its daily workings over to Bob.

He always is the one who created the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards over 30 years ago as well as the Standard Catalog of Vintage Baseball Cards. After his retirement from Krause Publication he maintained his role with the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards plus began creating and selling custom “Cards that never were” as well as blogging. He has been part of the blogging community since 2009, which is around the time that I got involved in blogging and part of that was due to him.

I never spoke to him personally but it still hurts to lose one of our own. Rest in peace Bob.

A Couple Of Plaques

On Following Griffey’s induction in to the Hall of Fame the Mariners did a number of stadium giveaways related to Griffey including bobble heads and replica jerseys but the one that caught my eye at the beginning of the season when the SGAs were announced was the replica Hall of Fame plaque given away at the August 6^th game against the Angels.

 

I finally found one in the price range I was willing to spend right before Christmas and I just received it. The plaque is solid and is a little larger than a graded card and is an exact replica of his Hall of Fame plaque. The box has his stats and records on it and the stand was included.

When the plaque first showed up there were pre-sell from some sellers where they were asking up to $100 so I figured I would never get one so instead I turned my attention to finding one of the Griffey’s First Hit plaques that the Everett Aquasox, Mariners Class A short season team, gave away on June 25^th.

 

It is a replica of the plaque that is locate on the sidewalk outside of the Everett Memorial Stadium on 38^th Street where the ball landed. I worked in Everett for years, roughly 2 miles away from the stadium, but never saw the plaque in person but now I have the replica plaque which makes a nice addition to my collection. The plaque has a bronzed look and is weathered, which can be seen in the close up image, to look like the original plaque.

 

It was 1987 and at the time Griffey was a 17-year old playing for the Bellingham Mariners and they were visiting the Everett Giants when he got his first professional hit, a 367-ft homer, in his second game.

Prior to the 1995 season the Mariners and Giants switched Class A teams with the Mariners taking over Everett and renaming them the Everett Aqua Sox. The Giants took over the Bellingham team and renamed them the Bellingham Giants but they remained in Bellingham for just two seasons before being moved to Salem where they are still a Giants Class A team but have been renamed the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes

The Wrong Kind Of Record

In 2006 Reggie Bush was selected #2 overall by the New Orleans Saints and in his first season he wasn’t stupendous but he did put up over 1,300 total yards. He never showed the talent that was expected of him coming out of USC but he did put up three decent seasons in 2011-2013 when he was topping 1,200 total yards each season but after 10 seasons in the NFL it is time for him to retire, especially after the record he set this season.

 

For the first time a running back with 10 or more rushes finished the season with negative yards. He had 12 rushes for -3 yards. His longest rush of the season was 5 yards and he had one rushing touchdown. Will Bush's negative rushing go down in NFL history like Mario Mendoza has done for baseball?

Let The New Year Begin

Happy New Year!

For me 2016 was an up and down year ending on an extremely low low I know the change of the calendar does not make a huge change but I am trying to look up even though I have been sick in bed for the last two days. I did lose 15 pounds so that was extremely on the positive side.

 

I didn’t set any blog goals last year and I do not plan to set any specific goals this year. Former goals included posting so many times a month, continuing certain serial posts and continue to build on my player collections. All of which I already do anyway so to set it as a goal is not necessary. Basically remain active, interact with other collectors and bloggers and keep working on my player collections.

 

My current player collections:

Ken Griffey Jr. 1,255 unique cards

Jay Buhner: 107 unique cards

Ryan Bader: 110 unique cards

Steve Largent: 35 unique cards