Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

I am thankful for my family, my friends and all the collectors/readers that I have met over the years.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, I hope you all have a happy and safe holiday.

Happy Halloween

Happy 4th Of July

Happy 4th of July to all and I hope that you have a wonderful and safe holiday.

There Is Always The Right Card

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Happy Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving, a time for thanks. I am thankful for my family and friends and I am thankful for the readers of the blog. Writing posts are therapeutic for me, it helps me settle my mind and focus.

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

Have A Wonderful Independance Day

Happy 4th Of July

I hope everyone is having a wonderful, and safe, holiday

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Growing up in an Irish family has always been fun, outside of the corn beef and cabbage, and I still remember my grandfather's brogue as he told me about his youth and some day I hope to take a trip to Ireland to meet my extended family. Today the world is Irish and in honor of the Irish Republic and St. Patrick's Day here is a selection of cards designed with the Irish in mind.

One of the first thoughts about Ireland is of Leprechauns. I do not own the 2014 Goodwin 3D Monsters Leprechaun card on the left, not yet anyway, and the 2015 A&G is in my COMC account.

In 2015 and 2016 Panini included St. Patrick's Day relic cards in National Treasures. The cards contain relics that were worn by the player's during St Patrick's Day spring training games. There are no Mariners in the set so I have not paid any attention to the cards, even though they do look cool I do not own any of the cards.

This will probably surprise a lot of people but there are actually three Irish born wrestlers in WWE and they are all stars. Sheamus, Becky Lynch and Fergal Devitt (who wrestles as Finn Balor) have all held a major WWE Championship at one point during the past year. These cards are from Topps WWE Slam app, I haven't logged on to any of the Topps or Panini apps in months. I lose interest pretty quick.

Robbie Keane is one of the greatest footballers to have come out of the Emerald Isles. He began his professional career in 1997 and has been on the Irish National Team since 1998. This card is from Panini's 2016 Prizm UEFA Euro release.

This card, which is the only card I actually have in hand, is a prop card from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The fabric is from the Irish flag seen during the Quidditch World Cup scenes.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope you all have a wonderful day with family and friends.

Happy Labor Day

Happy Labor Day

Today we celebrate the American worker with our family and friends and there are plenty of parties and BBQs. We headed to the Best In The West Nugget Rib Cook-Off, which is a local event. Think of it as a small country fair where half of the booths are cooking ribs and it smells like a beautiful BBQ the entire time you walk around.

Living on the edge I tentatively ate alligator for the first time, not bad, it was fried with a salty-spicy flavor.

Have a wonderful holiday and stay safe.

Memorial Day, A Day To Honor True Heroes

Today we honor all of the men and women who have given their lives in the service of our country. Since 1775 over 1.34 million U.S. soldiers have died during war and another 1.5 million were wounded. They have given all to ensure that the rest of us have our freedom, for this we thank you and your families

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!

 

I hope you all are enjoying this time with your family and friends.

Happy New Year

I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy New Years Eve!

Happy Festivus

A Festivus for the rest of us!

You may now begin the airing of grievances...

Happy Labor Day

Happy Labor Day

 

Oh wait… not that type of labor.

How about this

Happy Labor Day

 

Oh and apparently today is the last day of the year when it is fashionable to wear seersucker or white shoes. So Ryan is cool today but starting tomorrow he is out of fashion.

 

Memorial Day, A Day To Honor True Heroes

Today we honor all of the men and women who have given their lives in the service of our country. Since 1775 over 1.34 million U.S. soldiers have died during war and another 1.5 million were wounded. They have given all to ensure that the rest of us have our freedom, for this we thank you and your families.

Happy President's Day

On this President’s Day I decided to cover a Presidential card that has eluded me, and at the prices it sells at I do not anticipate picking one up any time soon. The card… 1990 Topps George Bush.

In 1989 then Topps CEO Arthur Shorin presented President Bush with 100 specially made cards depicting him in his Yale uniform. Like a standard 1990 Topps baseball card the back included all of the stats from his two years he played baseball after returning to school following his discharge at the end of WWII.

 It was initially announced that only 100 of these cards were made, though people have pointed out that typical Topps sheets contained 132 cards, and Bush signed one card and gave it to Shorin leaving him with 99 cards which he handed out to friends and family. In late 1990 two different shop owners in Illinois claimed to have pulled these rare cards from packs, when interviewed by People magazine both dealers had a copy of the card in hand. Topps eventually announced that an ex-employee had stolen at least 70 of the Bush cards and was selling them privately.

At this point nobody knows how many of these cards are floating around though it has been brought to the attention of collectors that the original 100 cards given to Bush in 1989 have a special glossy coating unlike other coatings while the cards that were stolen (and some which may have inadvertently been packed out) do not have this glossy coating.

Both cards are considered authentic because they were printed by Topps and only the coating is different. PSA has made the decision to add an additional line on their tag for one of the Bush cards which states “White House Issue”.

I have never even seen one of these cards, glossy or not, in person and while I would love to add this to my collection as a prominent center piece I am not a big fan of the $750+ price tag. Though if I did have the money in my pocket this is one of the cards that I would actually consider purchasing because of how unique it is.

Happy Festivus!

Today is Festivus

 

 

A Festivus for the rest of us!

You may now begin the airing of grievances...

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

If you are out and about this evening have fun and stay safe.

Ho Ho Ho... Merry Christmas Relic Style

It is now a little past Midnight here, I wanted to take this time to post up a few of my favorite Santa Claus cards that I have picked up over the years. There have actually been quite a few “Santa Claus” inspired cards over the years, mainly in the early 90s when companies like Action Pack, Pro Set, Edge and Pacific included various Santa Claus cards through out their releases. In the 1998 Upper Deck took things a step further and released Santa relics.

I will begin with the first Santa Claus relic card, originally released by Upper Deck in 1998; this card is oversized at 3 ½ “ X 5”. This card was created for Upper Deck employees and special customers only. I bought this card 9 years ago for $20 and I thought I was being ripped off at the time but I wanted to have the card for my son’s first Christmas. The card has become very rare and when you can find them now, they are selling for well over $100. < LINK > If anyone knows how many were released please let me know.

The second card is my Ken Griffey Jr “Santa Hat” card. This card was part of a special holiday release by Upper Deck in 1999. The cards are also oversized, 3 ½” X 5”, and I believe there were 3 cards in the set, Griffey, Kobe and Garnett. This set is also rare but if you are interested in buying one I suggest waiting until after Christmas when the prices drop.

About 6-8 years ago I came across a Santa Claus autograph card created by one of the major manufacturers (I have forgotten which company though). The card has popped up for auction from time to time but I have always lost out in the end. While I still hunt for that elusive Santa autograph, Topps has made things a bit easier for me in the mean time when they released the 2007 Topps Santa set which included 18 cards total, including a 1952 Topps Santa Rookie, a Santa Claus autograph and Santa relic card. I picked the set up in Target after Christmas that year for like $5 on clearance.