Computer Bummer...

While clearing out some derelict files on my computer two weeks ago I accidently removed some files connected to Win 10 which led to some functions and apps not performing properly. When I realized the culprit, I loaded up a restore point from the beginning of July and everything seemed to be going according to plan when I got a dreaded Stop Code. The stop codes are not terminal like the blue screen of death but because I was in the middle of a restore I was out of options.

In the end, I had to reset my system to factory settings. I have an external hard drive where I keep important files but the last time I loaded up my files was February so I lost several recent projects. Ugh…

My Griffey Beast Jr. excel spreadsheet was one of the victims, my Griffey Wants List too. I do have old files from both so I am not starting from scratch but both are now 5 months old and need be updated. I also lost some custom cards, including the finalized  images of the Simpsons set. I do have the .psd files of the Simpsons cards except for Homer and Mr. Burns so it wasn't a complete loss in that case. 

I don’t know how many times over the last decade I lost files when I had a hard drive crash or catastrophic event and that was the reason I got the external hard drive but I need to update those files more than every 6 months.

The Art Gallery: 2008 Topps Star Wars Clone Wars Emperor

This month’s Art Gallery display comes from artist Robert Teranishi who has worked for Image, Dark Horse and WildStorm Comics as well as Marvel and DC. In the card world he has worked almost exclusively with Topps in their Star Wars and Mars Attacks releases. He is best known for his pencil and ink drawings working mainly in black with the occasional red. This specific card is from the 2008 Topps Star Wars Clone Wars release.

I am a huge fan of using negative space and shadows to create a design, it forces the brain to work differently to create the complete image in your mind. The subject of this card is Sheev Palpatine who eventually becomes Emperor Palpatine and ultimately Darth Sidious, the Sith Master to the Sith Apprentice Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader.

I am not a big fan of the Emperor but when there is a relatively cheap Star Wars sketch card I can not pass it up. I got this card in 2015 so I was fine with picking it up, but now I probably would not purchase it, even if I was buying cards.

Trade Completed III

A number of weeks ago Bo from Baseball Cards Come To Life came across a large collection of baseball cards so he offered up a blind trade to his readers. I requested Griffey and Buhner, which he let me know there were not many, so I asked for any Mariners cards. In all he sent 50 Mariners cards plus a sealed 1991 Front Row set, which will remain sealed.

What is cool is that out of the 50 cards that he sent, 49 cards fit right in to a PC or mini PC. A large portion of the cards were my main (can I call a mini-PC main?) mini-PC Edgar Martinez, who will hopefully eventually have his plaque in the Hall of Fame right next to Griffey’s plaque.

My Ichiro and Mike Zunino mini-PCs have some new additions.

There were seven Jay Buhner cards and I was very happy to see three ghost cards reappear, these three cards were trashed in “The Purge” by my ex-wife in 1997 and I am happy to have them back in my collection.

There were three Griffey cards and here are two of the cards right from my dated Griffey Want List.

Thank you so much Bo, I really appreciate the trade and all the time you put in to pulling aside the cards for me. Last trade we made I ended up forgetting to send a return package, I totally screwed up, until a year later so this time I made sure to ship his cards as soon as I got the package ready.

I keep telling myself that I need to work on more trades, this is only my third trade this year. I just worked out another trade yesterday so that puts me at four trades, not a very good average of one every two months. 

Cards With Bonus Packing Materials

Yesterday I received two cards that I had purchased on eBay from two different sellers. One was a Mick Foley card and the other was a Griffey card and it is just interesting how people package items. They both came in packaged securely but the Foley card was in a well-used padded mailer, inside the card was in a card saver with cardboard wrapped around it. The Griffey card came in a large padded envelope folded over for additional safety, inside there was a small padded mailer that was folded down. The card was inside a rigid top loader inside a small team bag. There were two more rigid top loaders around that team bag and this was all inside a larger team bag.

I paid $3 shipping on the Foley card and $2.50 for the Griffey card but the guy who sent me the Griffey card also gave me a size 0 padded mailer, three rigid top loaders and two different size team bags. The guy basically sent me additional brand new packing materials in addition to the card.

Monday Question Day- Hobbies?

Today is question day:

Do you have any other hobbies?

Besides drawing I enjoy playing video games. Now that I think about it, I am just 8-year old me but in an adult body. At the time, I liked drawing Star Wars characters, playing with my Atari 2600 and collecting baseball cards. The only thing that has changed is that my art skills are more developed, I play video games with much better graphics and the cards I collect don’t get thrown against walls or stuck in bike spokes.

Vintage Card Of The Month: 1889 Kinney Brother's Leader George Washington

Last month I posted a beautiful 1889 N222 Kinney Brothers Martha Washington card but I topped it with this month’s VCoM, Martha’s companion George Washington. This 1889 Kinney Brothers George Washington has even better coloring and I prefer the image of Washington crossing the Delaware River compared to Martha’s eagle bearing a flag across a sunrise (or set).

There is staining along the both side edges and the bottom, the corners are rounded and the card is not as solid as Martha’s card. The stains along the edges carried over on to the back but the checklist is in better shape than the other card.

I don’t want to start going down the conspiracy road but I just noticed that the “A” in Leaders at the top of the back looks an awful lot like the Freemason’s symbol.

Another Cavalcade Of Griffey Cards VIII

Everybody loves oddball cards right? OK, well not everyone but when it comes to Griffey the odder the better to me. First up is a DDK Reprint, not sure who or what DDK is but there are plenty of their reprints around. The card is based on the 1963 Topps Rookie Stars cards. I normally don’t like floating head cards but for some reason this one got my attention.

The second card is a magazine issue from a copy of 1990 Baseball Cards Magazine. The card is based on the 1969 Topps Baseball set.

To make this a trilogy of cards the third card is from the 1993 Bleachers Mega Star release. This card came from a time where “Brighter! Shinier! Holograms or Metal!” was the mantra of card companies and with the card #/5000 it was considered a super-de-doper short print (SDDSP?) in 1993.

Is Winning A Genetic Gene?

I started thinking about father and sons who have played professional sports and how they compared to each other. I think that it is almost always more difficult for the son because they will be compared to their father until they over take their father, anything less and they are a failure.

There is the question of success too, is winning a team championship equal to winning individual awards and does a Hall of Fame career trump everything else? 

If you were to pick a dominant family for each sport which would you pick? Here are mine:

MLB:

Ken Griffey Sr. & Ken Griffey Jr.

NBA:

Jellybean Bryant & Kobe Bryant (OK, no comparison but I wanted to write jellybean)

I would actually go with the Barry family for basketball

NFL:

Archie Manning & Peyton and Eli Manning (Based solely on Peyton and Eli's success)

NHL:

Bobby Hull & Brett Hull

NASCAR:

Dale Earnhardt Sr. & Dale Earnhardt Jr. but just slightly over the Lee family

Another Cavalcade Of Griffey Cards VII

The first company to attempt digital cards was Donruss with the 1997 VXP 1.0 release, it shouldn’t be a surprise but there was never a 2.0 release. The set was made up 50 base cards and 6 CD-ROMs and each $10 pack came with 10 base cards and a CD. The CD contains a screen saver and an interactive game and the sleeve is collectible too, it contains the player’s image on the front with the CD information on the back.

I already have Griffey’s base card from the set and I was originally considering just getting the CD but I found a person selling the CD and sleeve extremely cheap so I got the set. The CD itself is about the size of a rigid top loader with rounded corners with your standard silver underside (Pictured at top) Yes, I did try loading up the screen saver but I was denied.

I was not about to be deterred by a 20-year old CD-ROM and went to work. I extracted the video and audio files from the screen saver and loaded them up to my Youtube account. Are you ready to see some Griffey highlights from the Lou Pinnela/Kingdom era?  

The files are not the best quality but this is what you would have seen if you loaded up the disc on your Win 95 system and waited for the screen saver to kick in.

If you are interested in seeing Upper Deck's CD-ROM cards, called Power Deck, Gavin from Baseball Card Breakdown just did a post which includes 8 videos from various stars.

Monday Questino Day- Damaged Cards?

Today is question day:

At what point is a card to “damaged” for you to still consider adding it to your collection?

For me it depends on whether it is a modern card or a vintage card. For this question I consider anything from the junk wax era on as modern and 1970s and older as vintage.

For modern age cards I am ok with the card being a bit off center and I am also ok with a soft corner or two, maybe a couple of edge chips or a scratch or two but that is my extent. As odd as it is, even though I am picky about damage I totally dig printing errors, cards missing foil and miscut cards like diamond cuts, not off center.

For vintage cards, I am ok with off center as well as some soft corners and chipped edge but unlike modern cards I am ok with paper loss on the back and creases. Basically, the older the card the more I am willing to accept damage-wise. One of the biggest stopping points for me is a skinned card where the entire back is gone.