Week in review: A little purging is necessary

Posting this week has been a little sporadic.  An odd work schedule for me this week is a big reason for that.  Having to get up at 3 in the morning on Wednesday, and then 330 AM today has really messed with my sleeping habits. 

So, instead of having 6 posts like I normally would, I sacrificed a couple of posts and got some sleep.  You could say that I purged the need to post every night.

Another need for purging came to me last week.  I felt the need to start cleaning up and organizing the multitude of monster boxes that I have lying around in my bedroom.  There are so many partial sets that haven't been looked at in almost a decade that it kind of made me a little sick to my stomach.  I even have a monster box that is starting to fall apart; even cardboard that gets moved around a lot over a 15 year period is going to take a beating.

My goal was to take the cards that were in that box and either start putting sets together, or get rid of the cards.   I didn't have the heart to throw the cards out, that didn't seem right.  Having become more charitable over the past couple of years (thanks to my wife), I started thinking about donating some of the excess.  I then remembered reading a long time ago about an organization that accepts donations and gets the cards out to children.

Commons4kids.org was the right thing for me.   I gathered about 1000 cards, boxed them up, and sent them off.  For the price of postage, I freed up some room, and did something good (in my opinion) for the hobby.  Hopefully there is a kid or two out there that will get some enjoyment out of these cards and become a future collector.

I'm sure that as I look through more boxes I will find more stuff to donate, but clearing out a little more than one row from a 5000 count monster box is a good start. 

I have to start making room for stuff that comes in that I want to have as part of my collection, like this..

An '84 Fleer sticker of Dave Collins.  The 1984 season was probably the best of Collins' career, hitting 15 triples and stealing 60 bases.  The back of this sticker was an interesting boast by Fleer...

"Collect Fleer trading cards, rated best in '84!"  I went to a more reliable source to see if this was the truth.

Turns out they were right.  What do I know?

Total spent on the hobby this week:  $0

It looks as if I'll be on the cheap for a few weeks (hopefully) until the big Robert Morris card show in Pittsburgh the 3rd week of May. 

thanks for reading, Robert

This guy made the right choice

I can honestly say this, I do get lucky every once in a while.   JBF's blog of the year contest at the beginning of 2014 gave everyone the opportunity to nominate who they thought was the best sports card blog.

So, I put a bunch of names on a dartboard, threw three darts up there, and when the 3rd dart finally hit the board, it landed on the Night Owl.  I know, not the most scientific way of choosing a blog, but sometimes you have to let the chips fall where they may.

Lucky me, the Night Owl won for the 3rd year running, and my nomination scored me some Blue Jay goodies from Wes. 

The most intriguing card in the envelope was this graded card of a fellow whose card you might not expect to get graded.

Danny Ainge's career with the Jays lasted a grand total of 3 seasons, and after the third season he decided to try his luck with the NBA's Boston Celtics.   14 seasons, 2 championship rings and an all star appearance later, Danny sure made the right choice.

Ainge is still hanging around the NBA, as the GM of the Celtics.  In those 12 seasons, the Celtics have made the playoffs 9 times and won the title in 2007-08.

Interesting note about the jersey numbers Danny wore during his playing career.   5 different teams, 2 different sports, 5 different jersey numbers (2 in Toronto, 44 in Boston, 7 in Sacramento, 9 in Portland, 22 in Phoenix).   Usually most players are superstitious about what number is on their jersey. 

I guess Danny was different...

More on this great package from Wes to come.   Thank you Wes!!

thanks for reading, Robert

English Insanity

I guess no matter where you go, insanity follows.   Case in point, the envelope that Martyn sent me last week had a few serial numbered cards towards the SNI set. 

Martyn added 5 more cards to the insanity set; it would have been 7 but unfortunately 2 of the cards he sent my way were Yankees, which have already completed their 50 card allotment.

Here's the latest and greatest to be added to the SNI set:

Starting off is the Will Middlebrooks RC from the 2012 Topps Update set.  This card is serial #'d 919, and is the 40th card out of 50 for the Red Sox.  Middlebrooks is currently on the 15 day DL, and is due to come off on the 20th. 

Another RC card here, this time from the 2013 Topps Update set.   Grant Green's card is serial #'d 703, and is the 48th card out of 50 for the Angels (close!).  Green is a former 2009 1st round pick who was traded to the Angels by the A's last season for Alberto Callaspo.  Green was optioned on the last day of training camp to AAA.

I can't say that I've heard of Marwin Gonzalez before I received this card.  Mr. Gonzalez is already one of my favorite types of players, because so far this season he's already appeared at five different positions, plus DH.  Gonzalez's card is #791, and is the 28th card for the Astros.

Gallardo is off to a great start in 2014, having only given up 2 ER in his first 18.2 innings.  The Brewers looked pretty good in handing the Pirates a 3 game sweep on the weekend, and they are the first in the majors to 10 wins this year.   Gallardo's card is serial numbered 764, and is the 34th card out of 50 for the Brew Crew.

Last up we have Carlos Ruiz of the Phillies.  Surprisingly, Ruiz has more stolen bases than RBI's to this point of the season.   Yes, it is still early, but I'm sure that the Phillies are counting on a little more from him than the goose egg he has for his RBI total.  This card is serial numbered 1302, and is the 35th card out of 50 for the Phils.

1122 out of 1500 so far towards the set.  Just 3 more cards until the set is 3/4 done.

Thank you again Martyn!

thanks for reading, Robert

I even collect ball cards from across the pond

Another batch of great Blue Jays cards made their way into the house this week, courtesy of Martyn from the I collect ball cards blog.  Martyn did a fantastic job hitting various sets on my want list, and he even introduced me to a 2014 set that I hadn't seen or read about.

Let's look at some stuff from a couple years back.

 

Mastroianni is now property of the Twins.  Sean Ochinko is currently serving a 50 game suspension for the use of amphetamines.

Deck McGuire's Bowman Platinum card is an X-fractor, which unfortunately didn't scan very well.  Deck's time may be running out as far as being considered a prospect; he's now 25 and in his 4th season at the AA level.  The Casey Janssen was on my want list, and I wondered why that was the case.  It turns out that I never updated the 2012 sets when I typed out the Blue Jays want list a few weeks back.   That error has been corrected.

Since there were a few humorous comments when I posted my Opening Day Dickey a few days back, here's another one for you.  This Dickey is in gold!!  The tattooed Brett Cecil is now a fixture in the Jays pen, and thriving there.  After struggling for a few years as a starter, Brett pitched well enough in 2013 to earn a trip to the All Star game.

Not sure how much Topps Tribute from 2014 I've seen out on the blogs, but these aren't too bad.  I did a quick ebay search for the Tribute release, and the cards look really nice.   Take a look at this ebay auction of a Steve Carlton auto for an example.   Martyn sent me a couple of more Dickeys (I guess a guy can't have enough of those!), including the blue parallel #'d out of 99.  Great stuff!!

Martyn also sent me a quick fix for the SNI set, knocking a few more numbers off of the want list.  I'm saving those for another post.

Martyn, thank you for the envelope, it's very much appreciated!!

thanks for reading, Robert