6 MONTHS AGO THE JOURNEY BEGAN

               It's hard to believe that I started this blog 6 months ago when I was visiting my friend Greg from Maryland & blogger of The Collective Mind. I am amazed in how well my voice in the hobby is heard in this format. Usually Greg hears a lot of it cause we talk a bunch about cards that we get in the mail or at a show or at shop etc...... We also talk about other things don't get me wrong, but we talk about our beloved sports teams. We also talk about how sometimes my girlfriend drives me insane or I drove her to it.  As well Greg's other passion his beloved old time cars his Buick shown here back in June 

                    That's us in the car. I didn't dare to step behind the wheel cause I didn't want to break his brake or put a hole on his gas pedal with my gigantic big feet. 

                I have a co-worker at Dollar General that is on TikTok & he keeps wanting me to go on it & do a show on my collection & view points. The thing is no one wants to see this old geezer YES!!!! Greg I know you're older than me & so are some of the others like Night Owl, Angels Tom, Fuji to name a few. But the truth is I feel older when I talk about cards to others who were around when the hobby was simpler.  So I just want to say thank you for allowing me to be part of your reading I will try my best to create this blog a fun place to come to whether its having more contests to win some strange prizes from my collection or helping you find some of the things you might be needing. In closing I am leaving my readers to tell me should I change my ending of my post or should I just continue with my usual quote from Rogers Hornsby about signing for kids "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American He's a Communist." 

I'M SURPRISED NO ONE SAW THE THEN & NOW

                   In my last post I talked about the pick ups on Sunday at the show in Livonia funny thing is I was talking with my friend Greg about the posting of the these 2 things & I'm still searching for the blogger responder that's looking for the promotional sheet. If somehow that person doesn't show up I already have someone asking for the sheet & I know it will be going to a great home but I still want this person to step forward before I do anything else. What surprised me was when Greg mentioned that I picked up a Baker/Paciorek/Baylor RC as well a sheet that had both Baker & Paciorek kinda like a then & now type thing.

Rookie Card back in the 1971 is the Then.

12 years later both were still Active but with a different team as the Now.

              With 2025 just around the corner I celebrate my 35th Anniversary of making sets. The other day I found my old spiral notebook that was my first effort in making a wantlists. I would have made boxes of cards I needed then mark them off the list with a red marker once I located them. I would had resorted to having the latest Beckett with me to tell me how many cards were in a set or the yearly annual if it was a set that wasn't featured in the monthly magazine. Now with modern technology & access to the TCDB I can save time in looking up stuff putting in names when needed as well knowing how many are in the sets. I still have a huge massive collection of every Beckett made in baseball. 

Beckett 1st Issue I own Then.

Beckett Latest Issue I own Now.

Back in 1990 I remembered that I was making the 1967 Topps set & I am still now as the time of this posting I didn't know anything about variants then but now I have almost all of them I still like to find that Ed Spiezio as well the Brooks Robinson & Tom Seaver. Other sets I was making then was the 1976 Topps set I finished that set in 1998 another set back then was the 1983 Fleer I recall getting the Ryne Sandberg RC as the very last card to complete my set that winter. 

 I then started to collect hockey as my 2nd sport starting off with the `90/`91 Topps set. Now I am trying to complete my `21/`22 Upper Deck set as my latest set in hockey sets. 

When I can find young guns for a reasonable price I'm excited.

 With only 1 football box given to me by a friend whom I was helping out at a local show as payment for helping him was the 1990 Fleer only to complete it in 1992 when I was able to afford the Update set. Now I am trying to complete my Topps set runs lacking the 2001,2009,2013,2014 set respectively.

             When I made the 1990 Pro-Set set I had a friend who helped me with getting this Dickerson for $20 back in 1992 then just last year I was able to locate a 2nd copy at a show for $5.

           I didn't start making basketball sets until 1993 when I started the `90/`91 Hoops set & the `90/`91 Fleer set the Hoops set still remains not finished cause of variants. But the Fleer set I was able to complete with just 1 box plus I was able to find the update set for a cheap price of $1. As for now I am struggling to find King James `03/`04 Topps & `03/`04 Upper Deck RCs respectively. 

Still 1 my favorite completed sets 

For $1 I though this was a steal.

Well that's my take on a Then & Now type of a post I look forward to what lies ahead of me next year who knows maybe in 2025 I might be able to complete more of my needs until then I am reminded what Rogers Hornsby once said about signing autographs for little kids "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign for little kids isn't an American, he's a Communist."

A GIANT LEAP ON SUNDAY

                      Last Sunday I went to my monthly show outside the Detroit area in a town called Livonia. Usually when I go to this show I am rushed to shop around & try to make it back to work on time. Well....thanks to some fancy talking to a co-worker who didn't work much the weekend before wanted to get a few more hours this week not a problemo in my eyes so he was scheduled to come in at 3 & me at 1 so & even though I have a paper in my bosses office that says Days I like To Start Later If Possible even with the date she still scheduled me at 1pm. I convinced him to switch he was happy about the switch so was I cause I hate rush shopping cause it can lead up to some major goofs in getting gremlins on my lists meaning I get doubles of cards I have or I go blind if I find a vein of stuff I am interested in or don't have enough time to get to certain dealers that have things I might want to look through. 

Not a bad pick up for $5 eh!!!

               The giant leap on Sunday pertains to the find I got one table this dealer had a nice lot of the 1964 Topps Giants set that I am currently working on. He had Hall of Famers at $5 a piece & others at $2.  I was lucky to find 9 of them that I needed including the Whitey Ford as well Nellie Fox in the Hall of Fame pile & in the others I was excited in completing my Tigers team set since there were only 3 Tigers featured in this set Al Kaline,Bill Freehan were the other 2 Tigers I already had, Dave Wickersham was a goal of mine to get cause of being hard to locate Tiger in Michigan. Weird story I acquired Dave a few days after the death of a player he was traded to Detroit for the late Rocky Colavito how strange is that eh!!

Dave to complete the Tigers Team was a good $2 spent.

                          After getting those 9 cards I made my way to another dealer who had some nice vintage complete or starter lots I was debating on getting a nice early basketball set from the `70's (Prices were $120 to $175 range) I wanted the `81/`82 Topps set but he didn't have 1 for sale. I even thought picking up a 2nd set of the 1983 Topps baseball set for $120 but then I would have to try to locate another 1983 Traded Set to go with it so instead I saw the Baker/Paciorek/Baylor RC for $35. I remember that when looking at the last Beckett Vintage issue that this card was at $100 to $150 range I still needed it for my set so I flipped my imaginary coin in the air Heads I get the card Tales pass on it for maybe a better price.  The result came up Heads so I picked it up. Plus its a High Number lucky for me I am not picky on the condition of this set too bad it wasn't my 1967 Tom Seaver I am still trying for to find 1 at that price or better.

At $35 I think I did alright plus 2 out of the 3 became Mangers at 1 time in their careers.

Who Said they wanted this sheet I am here to collect my reward for finding it Sheriff.

               Next I moved on to another table that had this a promotional sheet for the 1983 Fleer set I for the love of the Game can't recall what Blogger was trying to find this exact sheet if you are that Blogger please contact me cause I picked it up for you & like you to have it cause I have it already in my 1983 Fleet notebook & its something special I was surprised to find it for this blogger so please reach out to me if you have any of the 2024 Topps Heritage Box Toppers that I might need that will be great trade for both of us I''ll even accept the box toppers from the `04/`05 In The Game Franchises that I need as well just so you can have this & I get closer to completing my Box Toppers set of sorts.

Time to make the Donuts Tim.

               The final purchase before heading home to make the donuts I had to get Canada's Mr. Donut himself Tim Horton. I was lucky to snatch this Timbit $3 for my oldest Hockey Set that I am currently working on. I just wish I could afford to make either `54/`55 Topps set mainly for the Red Wings cards who won the Stanley cup the year prior plus Gordie Howe's RC or the `66/`67 Topps set where Tim was playing for his famous Maple Leaf Team as well the Bobby Orr RC but I'll stick with my 4 decades of Topps Run of sets the `70s through `03/`04 season for the time being cause those 2 sets I mentioned are out my price range unless someone is nice to unload me them for a reasonable price. 

                Then after I got done with work the coworker who switched with me took me to get some groceries since he had a $100 gift card he said I could spend half it so I picked up $50 dollars in Hanger Update boxes & pulled the Freddie Freeman All-Star Game Relic card to give me my National League representative since I already had the Riley Greene relic to represent the American League so I was happy about getting that pulled nothing else to boast about out of the 4 Hangers he bought for me. 

Sorry Night Owl I am not giving up Freddie for you 

                   So let me know what you thought of my pick ups at the show as well afterwards did I pay too much or should I have focused more on finding the last of my 3 cards still in completing my 1967 set. Until then I am reminded by Rogers Hornsby who once said about signing autographs for little kids "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't An American, He's a Communist."

IS IT ME THAT NOTICED THIS ABOUT THIS YEAR

 

                                         2024 sure was a weird year. Was it just me that noticed this about this year or were my fellow bloggers trying to avoid the similarities that happened this year between two individuals. Both were stars in their respective sports, one in football & the other in baseball. Both played in the `60's & `70's. Both were MVPs in their sport back in 1973. Both played for their hometown teams during their careers. Both had brushes with the law in some way serving time in jail after their playing careers were over. 

       Who are these 2 players you ask. Well judging from the preview picture on my blog you saw 1 being O.J. Simpson the other is Pete Rose. O.J. as you know was a star running back for the Buffalo Bills & San Francisco 49ers (Hometown was San Francisco) 

Pete was with the Cincinnati Reds (Cincinnati was his hometown) player at the start & end of his career as well manage them with stops with the Philadelphia Phillies & Montreal Expos in between. Both of these men died this year O.J. back on April 10th. Pete on September 30th.

I wonder if Judge Ito is going to let me off again. 

                                         

                This is the closest I ever got to meet Pete at a National - that's him in the white hat, his crony (Black Hat backwards trying to do his best Kevin Smith Impersonation if you asked me he failed lol) was very rude to me when I was wondering if Pete could answer a question for me. He said Pete isn't here to answer questions so keep moving. As for my question all I wanted to ask him was Give me the top 5 Managers other than Sparky that you played for from best to worse & you could count yourself cause ya managed yourself. It's a question Ill never get an answer now. 

                The strangest thing about these 2 Gentlemen they actually played a role in completing 2 different sets of books for both my friend & blogger Greg of The Collective Mind as well yours truly. How you may ask simple. Greg was working on his Punt,Pass & Kick books series of 24 books & I from The Little League/Major League Library also a series of 24 books (For more information about these books read my Back to School Reading post from August 9th of this year) Both book series had 1 player that had a biography of the respective sport in the series for the Football was O.J. & Baseball was Pete. When we were close in finishing up our books they were the last 2 books each of us needed. 

                     Well I tell you 2024 has been a weird one this year for sure back in January you ask me if I were to have a blog I would have said sure if I had access to a computer other than my phone. Ask me in June if I had any readers sure I had some doubts but knowing that I have readers it makes me feel that come 2025 I might have more insights to to talk about. Until then I leave you with my quote from Rogers Hornsby "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American he's a Communist".              

YOU'LL SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT KID!!!!

 

                           With Christmas in about 16 days away I wanted to share with you a story of the person shown in the picture with yours truly. This is actor Scott Schwartz he was in Chicago (Rosemont) at The National Sports Card Convention in 2021. This is where next year's National show will be located. Now I had met Scott 2 years prior to this photo again at the same show. He is better known as Flick in the 1983 Holiday classic film known as The Christmas Story.

                          This is Scott in his famous role where he is the kid that gets his tongue stuck supposedly to the metal pole. Whenever I show people his picture they think he's Ralphie & I have to remind them no he's the one that gets his tongue stuck & then they are like oh that's him. Yes that's him alright compared to me hes a short little guy, I am at 6'4" he's at 5'2".  During my first encounter with him I was shocked to learn other than being in The Christmas Story  he was also in the movie called The Toy with 2 comedic legends Jackie Gleason & Richard Prior, as well the movie Kidco where he was a started a kid starting his own entrepreneur business but that wasn't the shocking part the shocker he told me that he was in adult films. 

                      Yes the guy did adult films so we fast forward to 2021 when I was with my friend Dave from Wisconsin who was attending his first National that day & when we bumped into Scott at his booth I told him to ask Scott if he was in adult films & Dave was shocked as well. Now Scott wasn't the only non-sports person whom I have met at a National I was lucky to meet Lorenzo Lamas (Renegade) 1 year along with Penny Marshall (Laverne & Shirley). Lorenzo was nice to talk to even though I had to keep my mother from drooling over him as for Penny Marshall she was very rude even though I said thanks for making the movie A League of Their Own. Later that same day my mother after meeting Lorenzo saw someone being escorted from the show that being O.J. Simpson. 

Anyways I like to hear what is your favorite part of The Christmas Story is. Also if I run into Scott next summer should I mentioned that I talked about him around the holidays on my blog. Until then I am reminded of Roger Hornsby talking about signing autographs "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American, He's a Communist."

WE'RE "ALL"MOST THERE

 

          On Monday I was back at my school job after a week off for the Thanksgiving holiday & my Coworker Tim got me 1 card closer to completing my master 1982 Fleer set leaving me to get the John Littlefield lefthanded pose & Darrell Jackson all Red Hat.  This card I was happy to get after all I figured I could find this 1 before the other 2 considering that everytime someone clearly claims that they have the all Red Hat version of Darrell Jackson, I can still see the slightest sliver of white on the "T" on the card making the all Red Hat practically hard to find. As for the Littlefield everytime I been to a huge show like Chantilly in the Washington D.C. area or the National Sports Card Convention I try to find someone who might have an inexpensive graded copy for me to purchase so I can crack that card out or even if it's in a toploader with a price that I can't turn down I'll get it or if someone in the blogging world has 1 for trade I'll be glad to give it a new home. The same can be said about the Darrell Jackson card I mentioned as well.

         Believe me this another one that I like to locate the Famous Davey Lopes back finger card. I have all the other cards just not this 1 again I hope to find 1 soon. 

        Back in August of last year I was at antique shop saw that they had a 1985 Donruss set for a price of $30 I couldn't believe it was a Factory version that someone opened up took the Don Mattingly Diamond King card out & Razor Shines out a replaced it with error Seaver in its place.

Why take Kirby Puckett or Roger Clemens cards when you can get Razor Shines.

        The corrected Seaver was in the right spot the Puckett & Clemens RCs weren't touched but Razor surprised me being missing lucky I knew how to get that card for a Dime. I was also able to get the other variations for a dime as well with the exception of Jack Perconte shown here.

                                           I had the 4 liner but needed the 3 liner shown here.

                Well during the November show this year I usually go to outside of the Detroit area once a month a dealer had some 1981 to 1987 Donruss singles for a nickel a card so I went through the `85's 5th card in was Old Jack it was the 3 liner that I needed excited that I couldn't believe it I plopped my nickel down only to find out that dealer said since I didn't have any others that I needed that old Jack would be free. I couldn't complain about the price so I accepted it.  

                  In closing I like to announce in my last post no one came close to the correct number of what I had. So I'll try another contest before the new year in case your wondering the answer was zero I mentioned at the beginning of the post to pay close attention & I concluded by saying this  ".....are in All This Post." Last time I counted A-L-L T-H-I-S P-O-S-T didn't have any "Ms".  I also will miss some my fellow blogging reading materials Cards With Coffee & Dime Box Nick to name a few you were influenced me to create my blog & I hope you will continue to check back on this blogger to see how long will I bring collecting cards in the community so I raise my 1 liter of Pepsi to my coffee friend & to Nick as long as I keep digging through 3200ct & 5000ct boxes at shows or shops I will think of you. As I picture my coffee friend as Woody Boyd to my Tavern & Nick I see you as my good friend Paul quiet guy that felt left out from the regulars at Cheers as for Coach just say that honor goes to Greg my friend from The Collective Mind blog sorry but as for the Norm Peterson & Cliff Clavin friends they are quite simple they're Fuji & Bo 2 guys that usually post on most of my posts I'll leave it to them to figure out who's who lol. As for Fraiser Craine well.....that honor will go to the legend himself Mr. Night Owl. I leave now with my usual sign off from Rogers Hornsby about signing autographs for kids "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American, He's a Communist." 

RIVALRY WEEK IS HERE

 

                     This Saturday is the Rivalry week between the Ugly of Manure (That's what U. of M. stands for) team up North against The Ohio State University is here & we have another contest running hopefully someone will pay close attention to this posting. The first person to comment with the correct total will win their choice between a their choice a team lot of 50 cards from various years or a future Game Used card from their favorite team or the complete 1991 High number set of Upper Deck Football. 

              In honor of what is happening at the moment in Columbus, Ohio I have done what every Buckeye fan should do when it comes to a certain letter in the alphabet. Especially with this weeks opponent & as for me as my blog rolls on you can count on year after year especially when it comes to this week against your Arch Rival. Recently a co-worker asked me what I have against my home state. To answer that question is quite simple my Grandmother on my mother's side of the family was originally from Ohio. She taught me at an early age during 1 New Years Day celebration after having our traditional New Years Day Meal of fried oysters & oyster stew *gags* sorry I prefer Ohio beef & homemade noodles my father & little brother as well my grandmothers brother my Uncle Dale prefer the oysters, anyways we were watching the Grand Daddy of all bowl games the Rose Bowl this was in 1985 & she pointed out to me a linebacker on the team by the name of Chris Spielman who was a freshman at the time take down a USC Trojan player. 

                     She explained that player will be a future NFL star if he continues to play like that & that team in Grey is The Best Damm Team in the Big Ten Conference it was a shame that they weren't wearing their Red jerseys cause the Blood wouldn't show. Mind you she was 74 years old at this time she saw greatness in this player & after Chris finished off his senior year she was upset that he fell to the 2nd round of the draft but was happy to see that he went to the Detroit Lions. Why he hasn't been elected to the Hall of Fame in Canton still puzzles me the guy was a beast, a warrior, team leader 4x Pro-Bowler & took a year off to help his first wife & childhood sweetheart Stephanie fight cancer. But a guy like Michael Irvin sure he won 3 SuperBowls for the Cowboys still had off the field problems with Drugs is there & Chris had no bad press isn't.

                Every time I would got a new Spielman card for a set I built I would show Grandma saying got your favorite Buckeye, it would always put an extra smile on her face until her passing in 2006. 

            So then my co-worker asked is there any players that I liked that played for the Manure. There's been a few of those players. Here's my list of players who I think had they been a Buckeye instead Might been had more following in the card world. Mind you they are not any particular order.

Barry Larkin

Chris Sabo

Hal Morris 

Those 3 were all members of the 1990 Cincinnati Reds World Series Champions.

Jim Abbott 

The guy had 1 hand & threw a No-hitter & led the 1988 Olympic team to a Gold Medal against Cuba.

Bill Freehan

Another Underrated player who should be in the Hall based on his reflection of his Gold Gloves in the 1960s at his position.   

Dylan Larkin 

Current Detroit Red Wings Captain leads like his boss Steve Yzerman.

Glen Rice

Even if Glen is a sore to find in completing some of my basketball sets he was a very underrated player which you can read about why I consider him in an older post about him on the blog.

          I am sure that I might get some hate comments back about post but I don't care I won't bash that team no more in it instead the contest is simple just count how many "M's" are in All This Post. Again I am reminded what Rogers Hornsby once said about signing autographs for kids "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American, he's a Communist." GO BUCKEYES!!!!!