INDEPEDENCE DAY CHA-CHING PART I

             It was on this date in 1939 during baseballs Centennial season that Lou Gehrig had his number 4 retired by the New York Yankees. It was due to the fact that Lou was diagnosed in having ALS later due to popularity of Lou it was renamed in his honor.  We have all known the clip of the speech see the entire speech forementioned below. 

       "Fans for the past 2 weeks you been reading about the bad bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. I have been in ballparks for 17 years & have never received anything but kindness & encouragement from you fans.
       Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn't you consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure, I'm lucky. Who wouldn't consider it an honor just to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent 6 years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next 9 years with outstanding leader,that smart student of psychology,the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure I'm lucky.
       When the New York Giants , a team you give your right arm to beat, & vice versa,sends you a gift-That's something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers & those boys in white coats remember you with trophies-that's something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter-that's something. When you have a father & a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education & build your body- it's a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength & shown more courage than you dreamed existed-that's the finest I know.
        So I close in saying that I may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for."

       With Lou's words please keep in mind ALS still remains a disease that has no cure. Scientists as well researchers I hope can find cures like this 1 as well cancer. As writer of this blog I hope you join me in countless others in honoring Lou Gehrig with this special tribute to him.

NEVER WILL I EVER...... Part I

           Never will I ever try to attempt making a set that's nearly impossible to make with cards. A colleague of mine asked me once has there ever been a set request that seem so outrageously stupid to do. I told him there's been countless of sets through the years that would seem impossible to do or make due to the restrictions I have as a set builder. 

           I started making sets back in 1990 when set building was easy to make or try to make if it was a set prior to 1979. I would make sets with the intentions of accomplishments to show my father who well.....kinda didn't understand why was his middle son so into collecting these things called baseball cards while his elder brother was into comic book collecting. Growing up with 2 brothers & being the only sports crazed child who could rattle off stats like a human baseball encyclopedia my father kinda wondered how I could remember that in 1964 was the last time that Mickey Mantle appeared in the fall classic but at the same time couldn't get decent grades in 9th grade English. 

         The very first set I ever made was the 1983 Fleer set I always liked the simple design plus the b&w photo of the player featured on the back. My mother said I should also try to really get my set building a challenge is to make a set of cards that she located once back in 1985 in Royal Oak,Michigan at a Comic/Sports show in a trash can. Yes!!!! you read that correctly someone tossed out a bunch of cards into a trash bin. Not the best shape but pretty much salvageable to a novice collector as myself would say now about myself. The cards I found that day were over abundance of the 1967 Topps set mainly some of the local team the Detroit Tigers names that both my parents heard during those years when they courting each other guys like Bill Freehan, Denny McClain, Mickey Lolich, as well others unfortunately there wasn't a 1967 Topps Al Kaline in the trash but there was a 1957 card of him again not best shape but you could still identify Mr. Tiger really well wearing that famous #6 on his back.

            I finished the 1983 Fleer set that fall after saving my allowance of $5 each week for 2 months to purchase the card that I would show my father card collecting was about that being card #507 Ryne Sandberg. As for the 1967 Topps set well......I still am on the hunt to completing that set I still need 3 cards to complete it they are as follows according to the tcdb.com checklist.

1967 Topps wantlist

128a-Ed Speizio where his named is rubbed out almost

581-New York Mets Rookies Bill Denehy/T.Seaver 

600-Brooks Robinson

        I like to find these 3 cards raw, ungraded, all at a reasonable prices. Every year since 1990 my mother calls it her set & wonders how the process goes in completing it. I keep her updated everytime I go to a show on the process my goal is to have it completed before I say goodbye to her. 

Anyways that's just the beginning of this series. I'll talk more about the process of the NEVER WILL I EVER.........as a set builder for future dates so I hope you stay tuned for them plus any updates on the progress of the 1967 set. Until then remember the famous Rogers Hornsby quote "Any ballplayer who doesn't sign an autograph for little kids ain't an American, he's Communist."