Monday Question Day- Your PC?

Today is question day:

Who is your primary player collection? And if there is a story behind it, why do you collect this person?

My main PC player is Ken Griffey Jr. At the time, I had liked the Seattle Seahawks and seeing a young guy coming up for the Mariners who seemed liked he loved the game and not just for the wins made it easy to enjoy watching him play. I didn’t return to collecting until late 1992 so I didn’t start collecting Griffey until early 1993 but he was my favorite player and has been since.

2018 Topps Star Wars Archives Signature Series, Does It Interest You?

Topps announced a couple of Star Wars releases this year; including Finest, Galaxy and a buyback product. I am looking forward to the Star Wars Finest release in October, I just love the original Finest set from 1996.

The first product of coming out will be the buyback set, 2018 Topps Star Wars Archives Signature Series. It is a 1 card per box product and is pre-selling for around $60 from dealers. The set is built with buybacks that Topps had the actors sign and they are serial numbered and while no autograph list has been announced, Topps has said the actors signing will include all three trilogies, animated shows and spin-off films.

The price isn’t too bad when you consider some of the similar products Topps has released as online exclusives but the checklist is going to make or break the product.

Will He Still Be Booed?

When the NFL Draft begins in a couple of hours in Dallas, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will be joined on stage by Troy Aikman, Roger Staubach and Jason Witten. Some reporters have called the inclusion of former Cowboys “boo insurance” I think it is funny, because he gets booed so often and being in Dallas this year he is pretty much hated by everyone in town that he feels he needs some friendly faces on stage.

Care Packages Part Two

I decided to split off the rest of the Mariners cards because there are so many I want to highlight and even this list is cut down from the original 15 card that I had pulled out to post about.

2001 Stadium Club Rickey Henderson (Rickey in a Mariners uni is always a win)

2009 Topps Heritage Ichiro

2012 Bowman Platinum Ruby Hisashi Iwakuma (I love this card)

2016 Topps Walmart/Marketside Robinson Cano

2017 Topps Holiday Robinson Cano

2017 Topps Chrome Reverse Negative Kyle Seager

This was a fun one that Jon included in his package. A 1992 Topps Mike Jackson with a message from Mike himself telling me to turn over his card. Sure Mike, I’ll oblige.

Flip the card… it’s a 1992 Topps Blank Back woohoo!

Care Packages x3

Since the beginning of March my health problems have worsened which has left me in a terrible state. My arthritis pain is significantly worse, I will be returning to my pain specialist soon to begin treatment on my hip degeneration, multiple seizures and migraines have floored me and some days even walking is a struggle, so my body is very strained and I have been dealing with depression. You probably noticed my posts have been less frequent because it is difficult to focus but I am trying to keep myself engaged.

Over the past few weeks I have received three care packages, which have lifted my spirits. They came from Tom at The Angels In Order, Jon from A Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts and Angus from Dawg Day Cards. Between the three there were probably 100 cards, this really put a smile on my face.

Unfortunately, I had the cards in three stacks on my computer desk and I moved a blanket off of the end of my bed, hitting the desk and sent most of the cards to the floor in a big jumble so I don’t remember who sent which card. So I am going to present some of the cards that helped lift me up, know that while I am not posting every card I want to thank all three of them for the care packages and each card is now happily in their place in my boxes and binders.

Tomorrow I will post up the rest of the Mariners cards

Starting with the Seahawks

1992 All World Greats of the Game (Straight off my wants list)

1994 Bowman Rick Mirer (One of my favorites)

1997 Totally Certified Red Chris Warren

2015 Panini Intros Richard Sherman (Still upset about the way things went down)

For my Griffey PC

1990 Donruss Best of the AL

1994 Church’s Show Stoppers

1999 Upper Deck Textbook Excellence

Blog Bat Around- All Autograph Team

This is my first time taking part in a Blog Bat Around and sadly, the one I decide to begin with I can not even complete. But, I have told myself each time I see one go around that I should join and I don’t so no more excuses.

Zippy got it started with an all-autograph team and I don’t have many options and as you can figure they are all Mariners too. I have autographs in other sports, but baseball is limited. I had a Randy Johnson autograph but I had sold it so I won’t count him on the team.

Catcher: Mike Zunino

First Base/DH: Edgar Martinez

Outfielders: Joe DiMaggio, Ken Griffey Jr. and Jay Buhner

Starting Pitchers: Amanda Whurlitzer (Bad News Bears)

Mascot: Mariner Moose

Vintage Card Of The Month: 1910 T51 Murad College Series Buchtel Football

This month’s VCoM comes from packs of Murad Cigarettes and is cataloged as 1910 T51 Murad College Series. The set was made up of sports and sporting events so there is quite a variety of colleges and activities.

This is my second T51 Murad card and I selected it because it is football, the other card being baseball. Because it is a popular sport it runs a bit more than cards like tennis and skeet shooting but it wasn’t too bad because it Buchtel University, which is still around but is now known as University of Akron.

Some of the cards around this era faded or chipped away so even though this card is worn it still holds the color of the illustration even down to the detail of the school’s emblem. The back has held the ink too, but there are scuffs and creases, but they don’t deter from the appearance.

Hop To It

April is National Frog Month, I bet you didn’t know that, nor did I until Microsoft Bing reminded me. Thank you, Bing, for your eternal vigilance. While doing a post everyday about frogs might be have been interesting to research, it wouldn’t be too fun to read. Instead I decided to do a single post mid-month and include all types of frog related cards from around the world.  

The Art Gallery- 2009 Breygent Movie Posters Stan Laurel

This month’s Art Gallery display comes from one of the best sketch artist to have their work immortalized on cardboard, Brian Kong. His work has appeared on base card designs like the 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter’s release, various Topps National Chicle releases and in a couple of In The Game hockey sets and this is in addition to his sketch cards.

This card is Stan Laurel from the 2009 Breygent Movie Posters release. When I was growing up I was interested in old-school slapstick comedy, I went searching for everything about The Little Rascals, Charlie Chaplin, The Three Stooges, Laurel & Hardy and Abbott and Costello. Probably not the standard shows a kid growing up in the late 70s-early 80s would watch but I loved everything about those black and white comedies.

There is not a large collecting base for cards of these comedians, besides The Three Stooges, so I was excited to come across this Laurel sketch card for an amazing price. I am not certain but I would guess that Brian also did a Oliver Hardy sketch to go with this one and if he did I would be happy to add it to my collection too.

Put Phil Coyne On A Card

Topps missed the boat not producing a Topps Now card of Mariners’ pitcher James Paxton with a bald eagle on his shoulder, hopefully they don’t screw up by not giving Pittsburgh Pirate’s usher Phil Coyne his own card.

Coyne is 99 years old and retired after being an usher for the Pirates since 1936, this guy worked for the Pirates organization for 81 years, only missing time when he was deployed during WWII. The team has worked with the Pittsburgh City Council to designate August 29^th, 2017 as Phil Coyne name (that was his last day of work) and the team is throwing a party for Coyne when he turns 100 at the end of this month.

Please Topps, make this happen #PhilCoyneToppsNow

When 10,000 Isn't Really 10,000

Yesterday’s Chicago White Sox-Tampa Bay Rays game had an announced attendance of 10,069 people yet some believe that may be a bit outside on that number (sarcasm). The Tampa Bay Times estimated the real number was 974 people. The photos below were taken during the game, so unless there were 9,000 people in the bathroom I am more apt to believe the Tampa Bay Times.

I know that teams base their “attendance” on actual ticket sales but also tickets that were given away, no-shows, sponsor packages and friends and families in to that attendance number even if they weren’t actually in the stadium.

Goldust Kissed A Card And He Liked It

The Goldust kiss cards from 2018 Topps WWE Road to Wrestlemania are selling for quite a bit more than I was expecting. Since the sets release in January there have been 9 completed sales, there is one with a $149 BIN and another up for auction.

Since they first hit eBay in January almost every card has topped $100 except for one that sold at $66.37 on January 31^st. I am a bit disappointed, the black used on his lips did not come out as well as the pink/red colors that are used for female kiss cards. With that being said, I would be overjoyed if I pulled one from a pack.

Monday Question Day- Sketch Cards?

Today is question day:

Sketch card collectors, do you collect only official releases or do you include ACEO (Art cards editions and originals)/PSC (Personal sketch card)/Commissioned Cards in your collection?

My sketch card collection has now hit 100 cards, not counting my own sketch cards, and I have a nice variety. Most of my cards come from official releases with Night of the Living Dead leading the way (12 total sketch cards) but I have 11 ACEO/PSC sketch cards and 4 that were done at various conventions. In my eyes, if a sketch looks good and fits in my collection I am happy to add it no matter where it came from because they all go in to the same binder.

Forget The CPR, This Card Is Dead

I have a small Rashard Lewis collection and I am hoping to eventually complete a trilogy and add an autograph and I keep an eye out COMC and found this 2012-13 Panini Brilliance Marks of Brilliance autograph card. 

I am going to go out on a limb and say this card will never be fulfilled. This August it will be 5 years since the card was redeemed by COMC so I am willing to bet that Panini has just given up on ever producing the card. What is baffling being that 99% of the set is sticker autographs so I don’t know what the problem is here considering that Panini has include Lewis’ sticker-graphs in sets that have been released since 2012.

When purchasing a card being redeemed by COMC you are not sent the redemption card, they hold on to it. Only when they receive the redeemed card do they send it to you.  So basically, this redemption is in card limbo. 

The Hall Of Fame Will Be Bathed In Sun Light

At least we, Suns fans, can say greatness is part of franchise even though this year is another "Trust the process" rebuilding season.

A Tale About A Jersey

Controversy hit the Tennessee Titans when someone leaked a photo of the Titans’ new jerseys, which were not supposed to be unveiled until a party tomorrow night in Nashville. It may not seem like a huge issue, but the NFL is investigating, and someone will be fired. ESPN was told that the NFL thinks that the photo came from an apparel employee, so I don’t know it they mean Nike or another manufacture involved in the new design and creation of the uniform.

Monday Question Day- Rainbow Collection?

Today is question day:

Do you consider your rainbow complete without variations, printing plates or low numbered cards (#/5, #/3 or 1/1)?

I think that collecting parallels for a card has become so difficult with everyone fighting over the low serial numbered cards. I am only working on two rainbows and they are the 2013 Topps Chrome Marshawn Lynch and the 2015 Topps Chrome Richard Sherman. I went in to it with the intention that I would not be hunting the Superfractor or the printing plates and when I find the final parallels that I am missing I will be satisfied and call them complete.

A Simple Comment To A Person Who Will Not Leave Me Alone

A certain sketch “artist” has for some reason become interested in my post about his questionable talent and has posted 4 comments on that post, which I have deleted all of them and have now set my comments to be moderated because of this.

I don’t understand why he feels the need to continue with his antics and bothering me, even recording himself posting comments on my blog and then adding the videos to his Facebook page. I am not going to lower myself to his level with his comments and calling me “Porky Corky”.

Hepner, I don’t know you nor do I care to know you if this is how you act towards criticism. All you had to do was contact me and we could have easily talked but instead you turn to childish actions.

This is not an April Fool's Joke, he has just become fascinated with my post.  I removed the post hoping he will just move on.