The other day I did something to a card I had never
considered before just to see what would happen, more on this in a future post,
and it got me wondering if there was anything else that I could do that I had
never considered doing before.
I have come up with a short list of things I plan on doing
so you don’t have to do it but I would like some input to add to the list. A
couple of things on the list include skinning certain types of cards and
removing an autograph sticker.
Question: What is something you would like to see done to a
card but have never done?
Time for a wallet card adventure. One thing that I like
about small towns is that you tend to see some wonderful murals by local
artists. There is a small town halfway between where I live and Phoenix called
Black Canyon City and this mural is on the side of gas station in the area.
I am not sure if it was painted as one mural with the cars
in the foreground and the horses in the background or if they were painted as two different murals at two different times.
Next time I am there I should take a closer look to see if I can see separate complete
levels.
This
month’s Vintage Card of the Month is not officially a vintage card but the
subject began his career in 1926 so I am including this in the vintage series.
The card is from the 2005 Upper Deck Origins release and is a 5x7 tin box
topper of Satchel Paige.
In
2005 I opened a tin of UD Origins, the box contained 20 cards, one was a relic,
plus one box topper. My relic was Randy Johnson so I was cool with that but
nothing else was special besides the box topper of Satchel Paige. Like the box
that it came in the 5x7 cards are also tin with blank backs and really reminds
me of an advertising sign. I am currently not displaying the card and it is
packed away but when I did have a man cave it was included in my displays.
This image
is one of those that has been sitting in my scan folder just waiting for me to
include in a post and now that I am not buying anything new it makes it
appearance as a Vintage Card of the Month post.
Paige
began his career in the Negro Leagues with the Chattanooga Black Lookouts in
1926 and his career lasted 40 years and spanned 5 different decades. His last
official game was 1965 when he played in a single game for the Kansas City Athletics
but his last regular appearance was in 1953 with the St Louis Browns. After the
1965 game, he did play minor league baseball in 1966 and 1967 and even worked
in some time with the Harlem Globetrotters.
Unfortunately,
the stats from his playing days are incomplete so it is difficult to tell how
overwhelming he really was in his career. From the records that were kept from
the Negro Leagues and MLB he went 128-81 with a 3.29 ERA and includes 7
All-Star appearances. He has two World Series Titles, one with the KC Monarchs
in 1942 and one with the Cleveland Indians in 1948, and in 1971 he was inducted
in to the Hall of Fame.
Another case of someone else signing for an athlete, this
time it is Takkarist McKinley’s autographs in 2017 Panini Contenders Draft and
2017 Panini Elite Draft. Panini is offering replacements to anyone pulling a
McKinley auto from either of those products but it should be noted that they
have not stated what they intend to replace his autographs with or when.
I am not sure how they figured it out because he just signs “Takk”
and they all look the same. He did recently have surgery on his dominant arm so I can understand
why he wouldn’t want to sign the cards but he should have just waited instead
of having someone else do it. These people are being paid to sign autographs
and if they accept a contract to sign they should treat this as a job and do
their damn work they agreed to do. He signed for both SAGE and Leaf but that was before his
surgery and both companies have come out since Panini’s announcement and said
their McKinley autograph cards are authentic.
Last week a worst-case scenario happened that many people
who buy in to breaks worry about. The breaker, in this case Dustin Clay of DnT
Sports, stole a major hit and while he was called out on it and did own up to
it the card he is claiming he attempted to steal is not the card that was stolen.
Here is the video with a narration to point out how it
happened:
00:20 seconds He opens the box, notices the huge hit, closes
the lid to hide it and slides it out so nobody can see.
00:25 seconds He sets the major hit on the edge of the table
00:30 seconds Opens the pack, keeps talking about the Mister
Brandon Cooks #/99 card
00:49 seconds Slides the box bottom to the left, you can
hear the major hit card fall
1:00 You hear him fiddling through encased cards while he
searches for a card to replace the major hit
1:09 Moves the bottom of the box over the screen
1:22 Removes the box bottom and you can see that there are
two cards stacked up differently than they were originally
1:25 Claims he was answering an email to explain him not
paying attention
1:34 Shows the Kerry Collins autograph, which is the card he
uses to replace the major hit
1:45 The viewer, who was recording the break on his phone,
switches to the comments section where people watching also figured out the
switch and stolen card
Now that this was caught and went viral Dustin Clay came out
on a FB group and admitted what he did and claims the card he stole was an
Ezekiel Elliot Autographed Honors card. Here is his post:
People have gone to Sherlock Holmes extent to figure out
what card he actually stole using one of the few images of the card. It is
obvious that the card is not the EZE auto card because those cards are all
white along the top edge while this card has a white border down one side and
darker (blue?) along the rest of the card. Currently the three cards that keep
coming up as the card potentially stolen is
1998 Playoff Contenders Tickets Peyton Manning
2000 Playoff Contenders Ticket Tom Brady
2012 Playoff Contenders Ticket Andrew Luck
Here is the 2016 Autographed Honors EZE card for comparison to show it is not the card he claims the card was that he took.
Dustin Clay has since shut down his social media accounts and
deleted videos but some people have done some diligent work and came up with
quite a bit of his personal information, but I won’t include that, but I will
include his eBay account because I am sure many people will be watching to see
if a high dollar card shows up.
This month’s Art Gallery display comes from the comic
artist Lee Bradley, a British illustrator who has worked on comic books like
Spider-man, Transformers, TMNT, Star Wars and Mars Attacks and is currently
doing some side work for Marvel on their “Avengers: Age of Ultron” card set.
The set is the 2014 Historia Sketches of History, a complete sketch card set
that includes sketches of famous people like Mark Twain, King Henry VIII and
various Presidents. The company has seemed to have disappeared and their web
site is parked (meaning it is paid up but shut down by the company). I wrote this post in 2015, yes some posts have been waiting patiently for a long time for me to post, but the company is definitely gone now and their web site is no where to be found and I can only find one sketch card that sold this year and that was in February.
I love the color and detail that Bradley used creating
the Buddha card with the Dharma wheel on his hand, third eye and even the manji
on his chest adds to the overall beauty. The seller had post two dozen cards
sketch cards from the 2014 Historia Sketches of History set and 23 of them
sold. This cost me $5.75 shipped, which was about the middle of the price range
of all of the cards that sold.
Another May 4th
and another unofficial National Star Wars Day. This will be my 7th year in a
row that I post something about Star Wars so this year I am posting some of my own sketch cards.
2016 Yoda w/ green glow in the dark light saber
2017 Jedi Temple Guard w/ yellow glow in the dark light saber
2017 Darth Maul w/ dark light saber also called the black saber
I need to work on some more of my What If? cards, I am down to just one card waiting all lonely in my What If? folder after today's post. But, what if Rollie Fingers was willing to let go of his iconic handlebar mustache? Besides being painful to Rollie, one fan would have the most unique one-of-one player worn relic card.
Lonzo Ball has talent, he proved that this year at
UCLA and is projected to one of the top 3 picks in June’s NBA Draft. The problem is his
father LaVar, a mouth piece that has no filter and he has created his own world so he can re-live his life through his kids.
Things LaVar has said or suggested:
-Lonzo is better than Steph Curry, Russell Westbrook and
LeBron James
-In his day he could have beaten Michael Jordan in a
one-on-one game, please note that LaVar played basketball at Washington State for
one season in 1986-87 and averaged 2.2 points/game while Michael Jordan, in his third year with the Bulls that season, average 37.1 points/game and won the first of his ten scoring titles.
-He claimed the Washington State football coach begged him to
play Tight End but he didn’t make the team because he didn’t want to block and
wanted the ball thrown to him twice every four downs.
-His three sons would only sign a shoe contract worth $1
billion.“A billion dollars, it has
to be there," Ball said. “That’s
our number, a billion, straight out of the gate. And you don’t even have to
give it to me all up front. Give us $100 mil over 10 years.”
-"My boy is going
to play for the Lakers, and I'm going to speak it into existence"
-Most recently the coach of Chino Hills High School, where
LaVar’s two younger sons play basketball, was fired from his job after going
30-3. Who the F**K gets fried after a season like that? Oh, the guy who LaVar
Ball openly stated he did not like the coach, didn’t respect him and said the
coach didn’t know how to handle the team.
So with statements like this where does that get you?
Nike, Adidas and Under Armour all announced that they are no
longer interested in signing Lonzo Ball to a contract. This of course results
in another stupid response from his father who says he will just go to a
Chinese shoe brand instead. I do realize that China is a huge basketball market
and there are some star NBA players who have brands there including Dwayne
Wade, Tony Parker, George Hill and Kevin Garnett so I do realize it is a
possibility but I can not see any major show company in the US or worldwide who
would sign a $1 billion contract for a lottery pick and two high school kids
with LaVar acting as their agent.
Trey Griffey signed a free agent contract with the
Indianapolis Colts yesterday becoming the third generation of the Griffey
family to turn pro. Given Ken and Ken Jr. played baseball while Trey is playing
football but that is neat to see another Griffey on the field.
Trey played at the University of Arizona so I have seen him
play for the last couple of years. Last year he had 23 receptions for 382 yards
and 2 touchdowns so at best he will be a third receiver and at worst he will be
on the practice squad. I had hoped the Seahawks would select him with their 7th
Round pick but I am happy to see him with the Colts.
