100+ & COUNTING

                        Tonight after I got done with my second job I decided to count how many sets in my baseball wantlist am I currently working on. Well......short story I am over 100 sets that I am working on & that's just baseball. As a set builder of all 4 sports I know that its well over 150 of them.  I have talked about the struggles of being a set builder in the past on this blog. 

                                       My Current Oldest set I am not making anything older.

                   My oldest set that I made was the 1960 Fleer Baseball Greats. After completing it last summer thanks to a friend of mine whom I call Marvelous Marv after the Yankee/Mets first Baseman Marv Throneberry. He located an expensive Ruth card to complete my set. I am not even going to even bother to try for the Pepper Martin card #80 cause it would be hard to locate at reasonable price let alone I would have to try to locate all 3 different fronts of that card so I am happy with 79 of them & most people whom made the set also stopped in the same spot. Now Marv & his brother Jay have been great friends of mine through the last I like to say at least 7 years now.

                        Marv is in the orange shirt Jay is in the plad.

                   Both guys have great vintage stock & it was Marv who convinced me to do the 1960 Fleer set. He said it would look nice to go with my 1967 Topps set its easy to make. After completing it I figured I might as well try to do the 1961 set as well to go with it since I like some of the old time greats of the game & at the time I am posting this post I am down to 16 players from completing my set. Both guys are from Zeeland, Michigan which is the hometown of Hall of Fame Pitcher Jim Kaat. So if your from the west end of my home state you might have run into these guys at shows. Now Marv last summer surprised me after constantly trying to convince him to attend at National Sports Card Convention with me & Greg I was surprised to see Marv sitting at a table going through a binder of 1955 Bowman finding the missing cards he needed. Marv has top notch condition on all his cards plus he's never cheated on me in getting a great deal on the vintage I need after all he gave me 24 out of the 79 1960 Fleer for a great price. Plus I introduced Greg to Marv & well Marv has been his hook up for some of his vintage set needs. So if you like me to see if Marv would like more trading people on older stuff lmk in the comments & Ill check with him the next show I see him at which will be this Sunday in Livonia, Michigan at the VFW Hall.

                                Roy Campanella once said about the game of baseball "....You have to be a lot of little boy in you to play baseball for a living...." I guess both Marv & Jay like me have a lot of little boy in collecting cards of our heroes. I haven't got a clue what sets I want to make for baseball in the future other than flagship Topps like I mentioned before I got a complete run of 1971 to the present I have no means to make a 1970 set cause the Grey borders don't scream out to me another reason I didn't do the Heritage of that year when it was released cause the again it didn't call me to make. I might in 2 years try the Heritage design of the 1977 but that's way off in the future for me to decide on after all I am still trying to finish some of the other Heritage sets that I have made through the years only to maybe completed just the 2004 version. 

                     I can only hope that I can knock out 3 more sets of baseball before the year ends. Also hopefully that people that read my posts can help me out too. I know its a plea that seldom is asked but, I know my lists are outrageous weird like I just hope not to go another 5 years trying to complete a 2024 set of the Heritage Box toppers still. So with that as always I am reminded of the great Rogers Hornsby quote about signing for kids. "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American. He's a communist." 

LET'S ROLL

 

                      Back on August 15, 2001 I got a letter in the mail saying ".....We're looking forward to hearing from you for this internship before August 27th so we can get your flight ticket reserved for your arrival on September 7th & flight back home on September 11th from Logan International....".  Little did I know that I would've been on a flight from Logan International Airport heading home only possibly not returning ever again & my avid reader you wouldn't be reading this blog due to a change in plans. I was excited to check out the Boston area maybe go to Fenway for a tour as well check out the Bull & Finch pub (Made famous from a Television show that renamed the pub "Cheers") for a quick pint. The day I received the letter I got a call from the local school district that I was going into my 3rd year at the time working for to be asked if I was coming back to work & remind me that the first day of school was coming up on August 27th & that a school already requested for me to work on that day. So I had to decline the offer on the internship. Its funny how fate can change ones path in life.

                I worked those first couple of days at different buildings in the district but, then on September 7th I was asked if I could work the 11th at 1 of the local High Schools & to report in at 9:30 AM to get my paperwork done & where to report to do my job that day. So I woke up on the 11th to a phone call my mother reminding me to get up in time to catch the bus on time that was at 9:00 AM with the bus being there around 9:20 for a quick 10 minute commute so I told my mother I had been up already & was watching the Today Show seeing what I thought was a replay of the 1st plane hitting Tower #1. 

Instead what I was watching was the 2nd plane hitting Tower #2 live while talking to my mother & explaining what I just witnessed she then told me to hang up & get my butt to that High School quicker then expected cause who knows what might happened next. So I did what I was told to do only to catch it earlier then expected there at the High School 15 minutes earlier. Upon arriving at the school I broke up a fight as soon I entered the building since the school security wasn't around to prevent it. After that quick scrum I was pointed to the office only to find the office staff watching TV talking about the planes that crashed in New York. 

              They were gasping at the sight of the tower collapsing to rubble wondering if anyone was alive after it fell & they stood there speechless they handed me my assignment. I did my job that day still in shock of what I witnessed & then I quickly headed over to the Michigan State University Campus to the Union building so I could check my email upon getting into my email I saw that I had an email from my friend in Austria. 

               In the email from Stefan (if you want his back story I suggest you read my August 6th post about him) in the email he stated ".......What The HELL is going on in the USA" I shot him an email back that I had no clue on what was going on since the news reports were covering the events as they unfold & they as well didn't have any explanation for what just occurred as well. 

                      I walked home that night after spending 5 hours at the Union watching as the news reports on the events. I had heard 1 of the flights took off from Logan International Airport & it was the flight I was supposed to be on for my flight back home. Shaking my head in disbelief how was it that I spared from being on that flight.

                    The next morning I was woken up with a call from overseas from Stefan who wanted to check on his American family in Michigan I told him check on your Uncle in New York not Michigan cause see if he was near the Towers after arguing with him he said he would check with them.  

                He called me back saying everyone was fine & they were still stunned by what happened on the 11th. I then told him about what might have been he told me I was lucky that my plans had changed cause he wouldn't forget about his American Brother.

                   As I type this post I have been listening to patriotic type music from Alan Jackson,Lee Greenwood to even the late Toby Keith to even taking a listen to the song "Angel Flight".  Also as you read this post I placed the subset from the 2001 Upper Deck Legends of New York United We Stand I did this in memory of those that lost their lives on that faithful date 23 years ago today. 

                         These images should never let us forget. I have friends that are firefighters as soon the call came out they wanted help clearing the rubble from the Towers they were on their way to help out. 1 of my friends back in 2011 the 10 year anniversary told me that it took them 7 hours to drive from Michigan to Ground Zero & after arriving even though they were sleep deprived they were up for the task of the labor of digging through the rubble in hopes that they could find any survivors. 

                Even though I haven't gone to see the memorial I have driven past the final destination of Flight 93 that crashed in Stoystown,Pa. on my way to see my friend Greg. I've sometimes find myself saying a little prayer to those that had the courage to take down the flight like they did that's why the title of this post is dedicated to Todd Beamer & the others who attacked the terrorists with the now famous words "Let's Roll".

2996 people never will we forget them on this day.

1649 out of 2753 victim remains have been positively identified.

           Normally I would quote Rogers Hornsby as I finish this post but in honor & respect I ask you at 9:01 AM EST.  

            Whatever faith your currently guided by let it remind you that we shall never forget those brave Americans. Thank you for taking the time to reflect on what September 11, 2001 means to this person.

STRUGGLES AS A SET-BUILDER

                   On Friday a rare day off for me from both my jobs cause of the holiday weekend I found myself going to one my usual shops to see what I might be able to locate from my never-ending lists of needs. I manage to only find 6 cards that were listed on my want lists & an additional 2 RCs that I already had but put within my Personal Collection. The 6 cards I located I was glad to locate cause it brought me a little closer in completing those sets I found for those few sets. However the 2 Rookie Cards I found the total amount was $4.00 which in some peoples view would say that's not too bad of a price of 2 cards costing $2.00 a piece sure I wish that I could only paid just about $2 only I didn't mind cause at one time those 2 cards were very sought after during those players hey-day.

                   

 

                  The 1st card was the 1985 Fleer Eric Davis #533 again why did I buy a copy of this card was it cause I wanted 3 of them not really even though I do own 3 now.  2 of them are within their spot featured after Reds legend Shortstop of the Big Red Machine Dave Conception & before Nick Esasky a scrappy 3rd-sacker that 4 years later was traded to Boston for Todd Benzinger cause I made 2 complete sets of the 1985 Fleer Set 1 to look through in a binder while the other is in its white box cause I had that many duplicates to make 2 sets worth at the time. As for this latest copy of the card going to my PC is simple I had already the Donruss RC & the Topps RC so I wanted to complete the trifecta cause Eric reminded me of my childhood growing up in the `80`s how he was considered to be the next Willie Mays. Plus back in 1990 he helped the Reds go Wire to Wire to win the World Series against the Athletics with his 1st ever at bat in Game 1 against Dave Stewart he went deep only to exit Game 4 early due to a lacerated kidney after trying to make a diving catch. Eric is 1 of the time of this blog is posted 176 players who played with the Detroit Tigers & Cincinnati Reds. Plus Eric is a cancer survivor which to me shows that anyone who has or had this terrible disease & is willing to fight to find a cure deserves props (Stay Tuned to the blog for a special post in October on what Stand Up to Cancer means to me).

                The 2nd card is of the 1990 Leaf Sammy Sosa #220. Why Sammy I own 2 the 1st is in the binder with his other 527 friends in the set & so the price was worth getting a 2nd copy of to remind me about hidden gems that were overlooked when 1st released. Think about it back in 1998 if you collected then the hottest 2 cards were the 1985 Topps #401 of Mark McGwire and this card even though the 1989 Donruss Baseball best and the 1990 Topps Major League Debut cards featured Slammin' Sammy with the team he broke into the Majors with the Texas Rangers before being traded to the White Sox as a throw in for Hall of Famer Harold Baines. Sure we later found out even if Sammy doesn't want to admit it but the PEDs he took to help him out that great season that he & McGwire battled to break Roger Maris record of 61 Home Runs in a season & yes I am also aware that McGwire also took PEDs as well.  

                  So after buying the few cards I came home put the 2 cards in their new spots of my PC box put the few for my set needs in their respective binders. That's when after viewing all 4 of the sports lists wondered will I ever find anyone that might be able to tackle on some of the needs.  I often look at all the sets I have made through the years as well those that I am currently trying to finish up before I get at an age where I can't remember what is in what album or box. I have a system that I currently use when I put my cards in the binder as you can see this is part of my baseball sets you can see in the picture there seems to be cards that are featured on the spines of the binders. That's so I can tell what set is what, I try to find either a team card that won the championship the year prior example if you look on top shelf 6 binders from the left is the mini 1975 Topps set followed by the regular sized 1975 set then the 1975 O Pee Chee then the 1975/1976 SSPC set depending how you view that year for that set then 1976 Topps I would go on & on but then the blog would take forever so I won't. 

              Now if I don't have a team card so if we look at the second shelf 5th binder from the left is my 1982 Fleer set so I used the MVP of the World Series of the 1981 World Series & since there was 3 of them I went with Mr. Night Owl's very favorite player Ron 'The Penguin' Cey's card if you ask me that's  why I like those binders with the little card pocket on the side so I can put a dupe from the set like that to assist me. I just hope that when people look at my needs that they can see why I struggle in finding my missing pieces. So I wonder if there are any of my readers that I haven't like Bo from Baseball Cards Come to Life!  or Tom from  The Angels, In Order as well Mr. Night Owl from Night Owl Cards or Jeremy from Topps Cards That Never Were that have traded with me in the past & have viewed my lists at one time or another. I never shy away from trading with unless they have some outrageous wants that I am not able to help out with so please if you have time look at my lists & lmk if you can help with any of my needs I like getting packages in the mail as well.  So with that said I am reminded of Rogers Hornsby once said about signing autographs for kids. "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign for little kids ain't An American. He's a Communist."