TRAVELING BACK

 

                  Back in the fall of 1986 I was coming home from a bad day at Gardner Jr High School & needed a small pick me up in cracking open a pack of 1986 Fleer Baseball cards at this place called Lu's & just maybe if I was lucky I could take home the box this week since I basically bought most of the packs & this was the first year Fleer like Topps did the same year unlike Donruss who did it the year before showcased 4 cards on the bottom of it in hopes to get the panel that featured Cardinals/Fisk/Browning/Carter. The reason I wanted the Browning card after he was the last pitcher to win 20 games their rookie season.
                 

       After making my way to the candy area where the box laid I was shocked to see it gone in its place a box that featured packs that are on top of this post. I asked Ms. Lu what happened to the baseball cards she said I apologize in advance to my good friend Marc aka San Jose Fuji from The Chronicles of Fuji Blog in her very thick Asian accent said "No Baseball......Basketball only I charge only $.25 per pack baseball no one want but crazy glasses boy wear red hat all time you buy basketball." Needless to say after arguing who I was to her I was the kid she described for 20 minutes it seemed I left the store no Fleer baseball cause I wanted baseball not basketball & baseball wasn't over with the ALCS & NLCS gearing to start soon. Oh how I wish I could go back in time & beat the living shint out of 11 year old me saying ask Ms Lu if she take $20 for the whole 3 cases she had of them in the backroom open 1 case leave the other 2 unopened & convince Grandma to keep the other 2 cases in her attic.

How I wished I didn't pass on this box then. Or the 3 cases I saw in the backroom.

         I sometimes wonder what would happen I did certain things all over again & I am sure some of you can share your stories of something they could have gotten in the hobby as a kid knowing later as an adult would been worth having in cards let me hear from your comments below. 

      Another time I missed out at a National no less a chance to get a monster box filled with the 2011 Diamond Anniversary cards in it. My friend Greg called me told me about the box & I didn't rush over right away to get it or neither did he purchase it for me either cause we both thought it would still be there when we met up at the show. Needless to say I missed a great opportunity to get even closer then I am already 85 cards for me to complete the set of both the regular set & update set as well the shortprint Legends of the game like #355 is both Justin Verlander 

& the legend is Bob Feller

.

This also including the Mike Trout #US175 card which is astronomical out of my price range at the moment unless I am able to find someplace that has an unopened box of the Update for a cheap price & pull it from a pack or I find someone thats willing to give me the card for decent price. By the way if you can help me with any of these cards you can find my lists of the regular set well as the Update on my Baseball Wantlist part of my site & let me know what you have from it.

Only wished I jumped on the box earlier than later in hopes to get closer to complete my set & how I wish I could find this card as well.

             The only time I am glad I didn't pass on a good deal was in 2001. I was called told about an auction at a card shop that was going out of business & they were going to liquidate everything from graded cards to starter lots to complete sets to showcases basically anything that wasn't bolted down to say the least. Anyways they started on a wall filled with complete sets on it from lots of the "Junk Wax" Era sets to the most recent factory sets that being the 2000 Topps set. I had won the bid of $10 & I could take as many sets I wanted to get for $10 at the time I saw a small 50 card plastic box that featured the complete set of the 1974 Topps Traded set at the time I knew where I could find a bunch of the regular set at an antique store nearby to get me started on the building the set & I picked that cause it seemed like a fair price to pay since most of the time I'd seen remember this was in 2001 the set go from $40 to $70 range. The other set I picked up was a very questionable box labeled 1990 Leaf set so I had asked the auctioneer if I could see if the set was what it said it was he gave me 2 mins to check it out upon opening the box I saw the Grey Header card following right behind it #2 Mike Henneman of the Tigers then #3 Steve Bedrosian immediately I went to the last card seeing that it was #528 Ryne Sandberg Checklist card & prior to the checklist was #527 Greg Myers of the Blue Jays. I quickly closed the box up & then took it knowing & hoping & they were after I got home the 1990 Leaf RCs of Frank Thomas & Sammy Sosa.

Glad I didn't misread the box when it came to this set back in 2001 do you think that I got a great deal.

Anyways as I mentioned before I like to hear from my readers on stuff they passed on they wish they could go back & get &

Oh!!!Yeah!!!! I eventually got the 1986 Fleer baseball box I mentioned at the beginning of my post but sometime in 1989. Until then I am reminded by Rogers Hornsby quote about signing autographs for little kids "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American, He's a Communist."

A NORMal LIFE CHEERS!!!!!!!!!

 

                  On Tuesday when I was on my 30 minute break at Dollar General I was reading some blogs but as I was scrolling down to see what blogs to read at the Tradingcarddb.com site I happened to see the sad news about George Wendt aka Norm Petersen on CHEERS passing away at the age of 76. Lately I have been trying to live a NORMal life but its been crazy in asking for time off from Dollar General cause my Store Manager acts like I am asking for alot as my friend Greg says usually when I comment about my job there "Welcome to Retail working my friend." So if you bare with me I am going to take a couple of beers to share my thoughts on why I am hoping to get my milestone birthday in 19 days from today as well my vacation time to attend the National Sports Card Convention in Rosemont (Chicago) from July 30th through August 9th as well hang out with my collecting partner in crime when he make his trek to Michigan to visit me this year. Don't worry I am not going to be drinking & driving tonight I know my limit. I promise more sports card content next time I post until then just sit back & pour yourself a nice frosty one as well & uh......we'll place the tab on Matt who's busy drinking his coffee today....... just kidding Matt 

Nothing but a Green Lager of Labatt Blue to start drinking tonight.

                   Back in January of this year I had placed a piece of paper in my Store Managers office asking for May 3rd for a show that I was really looking for selling some of my stuff as well hoping to find some 2024 Topps Heritage High Numbers Singles as well other stuff from my lists unfortunately I wasn't able to set up cause my SM said we had to prepare for Inventory even though it didn't occur until the 9th. I also asked if I could come in late or have the day off for the 4th cause I was going to attend the Michigan State University graduation cause I knew someone who was going to graduate from there they asked for me to watch them receive their college diploma only again to be denied cause of the inventory plus my SM didn't like when I went over her head to ask for it off. So I then on the 10th I left my SM a little reminder of my little brothers Celebration of Life party for the 17th only to be told nope you have to work I was angry about it plus my SM later texted me about protocol of asking for time off & wanted me to come in an hour earlier than expected cause a co-worker who wasn't there on Mothers Day no less even cause they were suppose to be sick but they were healthy to work the day before as well be back to work on Monday. I went over my SM head again explaining to my District Manager only to play text tag about getting it off I eventually got it off after explaining the to the DM what it meant to my parents. 

Sorry I need refill 120oz of Labatt in me to fill my personalized mug 3 more times.

My Personalized mug I had made when I was bowling & drinking of the Tower shown in the picture above.


I only have 11 days left this school year at my school job as well & I will say this when I am not scheduled to work at Dollar General this summer Ill be either working on my 3200ct boxes that I mentioned before or maybe if I have any $$$$$ in my pocket maybe hitting some card shops or antique places that might have a good selection of cards but most likely organizing my stuff in the basement or going to the beach for a break. I try to live a NORMal life as you can see in honor of George Ill leave you my favorite scene of Norm & Woody that fits how its been for me so far.

Scene We watch Norm walking into the bar heading to his usual stool at the end of the Bar when the other patrons in the bar see him enter

Patrons:NORM!!!!!!!!
Woody: Hello Mr. Peterson how goes your day today.
Norm: Its a Dog-Eat-Dog day Woody & I am wearing Milk Bone Underwear. Beer me!!!!

George will miss ya be sure to say hi to my little brother & I salute ya with my beer. CHEERS ALL.

THANKS MOM

 

My mom & I taking on the outdoor hockey game at CoMerica Park back in 2013. 

                            Happy Mothers Day to all the Mothers out in the Blogging world. I want to thank my mother for helping me become a great collector of cards in buying me cards whether I deserve them or not. As well going out of her way to find time to take in a sporting event with me or even in finding me rare treasures of the hobby. This year is going to be hard on my mother since earlier this year of losing my baby brother Ethan back in February leaving me the only son left in the family.  So mom this is my way of saying Thank you for everything even though David (whom passed in 2021) & Ethan (as I already mentioned)  are here in spirit know that I hope that we can finish our 1967 Topps Sets (still need 3 cards to complete it) soon.

I talked about this Al Kaline card before so if you want the story of this card I suggest you read the archives to catch yourself up on this card story. I still can't believe she was able to find this card in the trash can.

      My mother with her favorite Detroit Red Wings player Chris Osgood.

My folks on their 50th anniversary back in 2020 this year will be celebrating 55 years. 

      Usually I end my blog by giving a quote by Rogers Hornsby but on this day of honoring mom I will leave you with this HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOM from your loving son S.R. 

IT'S THE CIRCLE OF LIFE

 

                  WARNING!!!!!  The reason for this post is basically to give you my viewpoint on why I hate these people who say they "collect sports cards" when actually they just want huge payoffs for a slab that they might have started in the circle of life in collecting. I plan on proving a point if one of my readers is willing to try to do a little experiment with me on something. If you have read my posts, you know I mentioned I am an anti-graded cards collector I prefer raw cards over slabs. 
                  Thanks to my friend Greg from The Collective Mind Blog he helped with my illustration on this post since I am not that talented to do that sort of thing. Now on to why I hate these types of people, now I am sure if we see these types they're the ones with the suitcases on wheels during shows or have the bullet-proof like cases that they carry all their slabs of players that are featured on the higher spectrum of collecting 9 out of 10 they didn't even pull it from a pack instead they either bought the card after it was graded hence starting the circle. They are also those that wear backpacks cause they want to be trend setters cause they feel like they don't want to carry a suitcase around them so its easier to carry their precious little cargo of a slab on their backs usually rubber banded after all the slab is protecting the card from harming anymore & usually slabs that are 8 or higher if its a modern player like Aaron Judge,Shohei Ohtani,Roki Saski,Patrick Mahomes,Tom Brady,Cam Allen,Josh Allen,Connor Bedard,Austin Matthews,Lebron James,Brony James,etc.....
                 This is where I hope to have someone experiment with me on this part to prove that it is a circle that never will end until the player is either a bust or just the price of the card has dropped dramatically off the face of the planet if it continues to raise in price more & more deeper pockets will be needed to secure that card for that person.  Right now I bet if you walked up to one of those people ask them would they trade their best slab that they are carrying around for a scrub of a player like that has played for more than 8+ seasons at least of the highest level of their sport & you have a PSA 10 of that scrub fresh from a pack graded that they would whip out their phone,IPad,Tablet,etc.....just to find what that scrub is going price at compared to their highly sought after 1/1, rainbow,trifecta, signed with a laundry tag & a picture of the player they think is a winner of a card that they made a deal for 2 days prior to your encounter with them before they replied by saying "Uh........what else could ya throw in for it" or "The latest one sold for blah blah blah Yak Yak & the minor version of this sold for a little lesser but I am firm at Blah blah if ya want it" or even the famous "I am not interested in that guy cause his cards aren't to my range of trading,buying,selling it to someone like you. Cause that player couldn't hold my card guys Jock-Strap." 
                    I am sure most of you are familiar with the website seen on currency WHERESGEORGE.com which basically is a site devoted to tracing down a simple bill & where is it at in the country at the moment so you can see where it started from when someone logged in the serial number of the bill on the site. Well I propose someone to try & see if they take a popular graded card that can be send out & see where it might end up as that card price rises to see if it enters the CIRCLE OF LIFE if the original owner of the card gets it back for a reasonable price. Now I have only had 4 Graded cards in my collection at 1 time now I have 2. The 2 I have are a Beckett Graded 1987 Fleer Barry Bonds RC graded an 8 & the other is a PSA Graded 8 of the `84/`85 OPC Steve Yzerman RC. The reason for the Bonds a good friend of mine by name of Lee Noel who got out of collecting to Persue a higher calling in life & he didn't want to be tied down with his collection so he packaged it all up & mailed it to a collector ala me that would know what to do with it. As for the Yzerman it was the first graded card I owned plus the only way I was able to get the Yzerman OPC RC at the time before I purchased the complete set for a reasonable price & they threw in an extra RC for my PC. As for the other 2 1 was a `08/`09 Topps Kobe Bryant card that featured him with LeBron James guarding him it was a SCG Graded 8 I sent it to an ex-military veteran by the name of Art Rodriguez who answered my call to send me a raw version of the card for my set cause I wanted it raw but I was able to purchase the graded version on a coin flip of a deal during a show for a reasonable price so I could put a request for the raw version instead of breaking the card out of its plastic case. The last but not least of Graded cards is an I want to say its a Beckett Graded I can't recall the grade but hopefully the owner of this card will send a comment to help me out but I know that Mr Night Owl discussed about it on his blog not so long ago but I sent him a graded Hideo Nomo 1997 Score card that featured a small swatch of Nomo's jersey, I figured a Dodger collector like him could use it in his collection & well he was surprised to get it & indeed he had added to his collection. 
                 I guess the reason I want to see this experiment come to life is cause I have seen many of dealers submitted cards to the graded companies only to complain when they thought a certain card would be graded a certain grade only to be disappointed when it came back a different grade then what they expected then after being frustrated they crack open the card & resubmit the card to either a different graded company or they same one only to leave the remains of the old graded stuff in the trash even thought it leaves me wondering about serial #'d cards xxxx/xxxx should a person resubmit that same card would bring up red flags to me if I was a grader cause think about it. If you graded an Aaron Judge red ink 2017 Topps Heritage Autographed card & it came back a 8 but you think it should be 10 they gotta have something that says uh...... how is it possible for Topps to create 2 versions of the red ink autograph that have the same xxxx/xxxx number is one a fake or what. That remains one question that I even asked once to the graded companies they don't have an exact answer for believe me Ill be asking again when I go to the National once again this summer see if they upped the game or not so stay tuned to my blog about what I find out. 
              In conclusion of this long read I will remind you that next month I will be celebrating my milestone birthday so hopefully it gets some of you to look over my lists & try to make my milestone a great one after all its been a crazy of a year so far until then I am reminded by the great Rogers Hornsby who 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."

15 YEARS HAVE PASSED

 

               It's hard to believe that 15 years ago on this date that everyone who followed the Detroit Tigers from 1960 to 2002 was hearing the sad news about the passing of a great man in one Mr. Ernest W. Harwell or simply known as Ernie the radio voice of the Detroit Tigers. I have a total page on my site devoted to this mans remarkable career along with a special video link of his farewell speech at CoMerica Park in Detroit as well a special video that features the vocals of a former MLB Umpire Joe West or Cowboy Joe as he was known for.  

Who would have thought this man would be a country singer eh!!!!

                          I met Ernie a couple of times during some of his book signings unfortunately I didn't get a chance to take a picture of him & I together cause that would surely been a great photo on my People Whom I Met Page. There's not a day goes by in the summer when I need a quick Ernie fix so I try to locate on YouTube some games he called or I just listen to his definition of baseball speech which you can find on my tribute page to Ernie. When summer rolls around & baseball is in its fullest swing of things (No Pun intended lol), is the reason I collect cards in the first place looking at 2 ½" x 3 ½" pictures of players I only heard from Ernie describe to me with visions of baseball. Listening to occasional game on the radio or on YouTube I amazes myself in all the knowledge I learned from listening to him calling the game. I just wonder what your thoughts are when you hold on to a card so until then I am reminded of what Rogers Hornsby once said about signing autographs. "Any Ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American, he's a Communist."