Clubbin'!!!!

Clubs. You got bright lights.

Lasers.
 

DJs.

Girls in skimpy outfits.

I was never a clubber when I was younger. 

But I care about Topps bringing back Stadium Club. If you read my post yesterday, I all but finished the base set of Stadium Club via a dime box, picking up 110 cards (though some were dupes for the throwback and DP binders). I had bought one mini box of Stadium Club from my LCS from gift cards my wife won at a pack war night. Otherwise, the rest (and most important) of the SC cards I have came via Chris at Nacho Grande. He ran a two box break, and since I had my chance to snag up the White Sox over all the Abreu hunters, I did. There are only 3 Sox in the base set: Abreu, Sale and Eaton. Luckily, I did very, very well.

The only base I received were two base Sales. One for the set and one for the binder. SCORE! I did luck out with this.

That's not just a die cut insert, but a rare diecut insert. Case hit rare. This are selling at about $75. I'm keeping it. Chris also ripped some other wax in the break and padded out the envelopes.

Just a sampling of what he sent. Compare that Dirty 30 to this year's release. Well done Topps. And then Chris wasn't done, as a few days later he dropped a PWE on me with Allen and Ginter.

Inserts! I am one card shorting finished the Floating Fortresses, and with the six Minds cards, I am now about thousand away from finishing that. Maybe less. Man - it's a huge insert set.

Thanks for the break, Chris, and for the bonus cards plus the A&G.

"I Walked (a show) Alone" sing-a-long post

(editor note: if you need the rhythm, you can start the video at the bottom on the post)

Oh, I drove up to the show
(show, show, show, show) 
And paid the admission price
(price, price, price, price)
Then I strolled down all the aisles
(aisles, aisles, aisles, aisles)
And I found some cards real nice
(nice, nice, nice, nice)

And I pulled out all my cash
And I pulled out all my cash

Now here's the cards I found
Might not be stuff you're into
Yet they make me feel real proud

I found an incredible amount of bunting

To bring into my home

Lay the bunt down

Yeah, lay the bunt down

Lay the bunt down, down, down, down, down, down

Down

Oh, I found a few miscuts

(cuts, cuts, cuts, cuts)
And they made me want to cheer

(cheer, cheer, cheer, cheer)
But most of what I bought

(bought, bought, bought, bought)
Covered Sox thru early years

(years, years, years)

The only dime box I hit had Stadium Club

I all but finished up my set of Stadium Club

 I did get a few DPs

And five vintage mini ChiSox

These two cool mini Helmar

And a few vintage just because

I also got 4 player cards

  

 They are of Sherm Lollar

Yeah, add to project Lollar

I started Project Lollar, lar, lar, lar, lar, lar, lar

-Lar

I walked a show all alone
My legs, legs, legs were wore out
Went to my car, and left
The show, show, show, I walked alone

Throwback Thursday - 11.20.2014

Every Thursday, I post a card showing a ballplayer wearing a throwback uniform from my collection. Hopefully, he will be wearing it well, with proper pants blousing. I'll try not to duplicate a uniform. The picture may be from the front of the card, or the back. Enjoy the uniforms from years past.

Paul O'Neill - 1991 Studio - Cincinnati Reds

Full of crap

I have a few other packages I plan to showcase, but something arrived the other day that needs to jump to the front of the line. DJ from the cool Sportscards from the Dollar Store dropped a small envelope on me. And I'm not sure where he gets off sending me the garbage he sends. I mean - look at this...

Really? Two 2014 Heritage Minor cards of a couple White Sox? You can do better.

Like some two time Stanley Cup winning Blackhawks will make a difference. And the bottom one isn't even a card!!! IT'S A STICKER!!!! Geeez....

"O Hai. I am a Hawks rookie with a name that is tough to spell and pronounce a supposedly this card with a swatch of my sweater is supposed to impress you". Please.....

Want to know why all the stuff from the inside of the envelope was crap? Check out the mailer...

OH MAN - CHECK OUT THAT STAMP!!! That is frigging awesome! I guess DJ has dropped another of these mailers on Shoebox Legends with an Orr stamp. Damn - I need me a panel of these.

Ok - I seriously appreciate the cards, DJ. I will love them. But you gotta admit those stamps are sweet.

I think age catching up on me

My 49th birthday recently passed. My wife hit the half century a couple days after me (yeah - she robbed the cradle). They say everything starts going downhill at 50. If that's the case, I think I hit 50 back in the early 90's. Thank goodness cardboard still holds up for many years.

However, with all I have done over the past month, at this blog, at home, with family, at APTBNL, I am not sure if my forgetfulness is age or just stupidity. Case in point are these cards from Mark at Battlin' Bucs. I know we have traded. I know I sent him cards. I just don't remember if I posted those cards, and these are new cards from the goodness of his heart. Or am I that forgetful.

Another "perk" of age is laziness. Sure, I could go through past posts and find my answer, but I don't feel like it. And that's crankiness. More aging. So before I yell at you damn whipper-snappers to get the hell off my lawn, let's check out the goodness from Mark.

Sox. And bunting. And bunting Sox!!! I bet Nick is salivating over that pitcher at the plate. Then again, he probably has 11 of them. Lee is sporting my favorite White Sox throwback. They can bring that back anytime.

Turns at two as well. Guess which Pirate double play between Wilkerson and Womack is from a spring training game.

I nice haul of ChiSox too. Many were from years I was sorely lacking in cardboard, so Mark took away some space in my monster box. And I'm okay with that.

My Konerko collection grows almost daily now. The Lil' Luis goes with my Aparicio Project. And a White Sox relic? Why yes, I will accept that. Favorite card in the envelope was this beauty.

Sure. It's vintage. It's a double play. What it is, though, is a wake up. If you visit the awesome Card Junk, you cannot miss this card. It's the background. But in the couple plus years of this blog, I have visited Card Junk a few hundred times but never really looked at this image. When I saw it, I thought "hey - now I have that card from that blog". It was a few more seconds before my brain goes "Oh - it's a double play. I never noticed that before".

Growing old is a terrible, terrible thing.

Because it's cheap, or because you care?

I think I have spoken enough about my love of the PWE. I am doing my best to keep it alive, and maybe get it back in style. That's not to say I love it all the time. See, the PWE can do great things, but protection is not high on the list. Sure, you can put a hard card holder in it, maybe even some cardboard to stiffen the package. But a PWE is always prone to the automatic sorting machine at the post office. Read enough blogs and you can see the damage those suckers can do to an envelope that is not completely smooth.

I have had a couple purchases off Ebay that have charged a couple bucks to ship, only to receive the card in a PWE with a 49 cent stamp. "I use shipping costs to cover my fees" a seller once told me. Hey - we ALL get those fees. If you are not going to be upfront about how you are shipping, then you are being disingenuous in your auction.

But the flip side of a PWE is what it really means. See, to me, a PWE is love. It's someone taking a part in collecting with you. We have all traded. A traded is a swap that both parties work to be equal in some sense. However, a PWE isn't (for the most part) a trade. A PWE is sending cards that you hope the receiver can use, and who cares if you get anything back. At least, I think that way. Seriously - if I never got a PWE back, I would still send out cards I hope the person liked. Done right, a PWE is the "it's the thought that counts" in the collecting world.

Here's a sample of cards I received from Weston at Fantastic Catch (along with a note asking to "keep 'em coming). I have secretly decided to work on that Turkey Red set. Plus, that Ramirez woke me up and realized it was a throwback card. That is Weston caring about my collection. Thanks dude.

Here's one from Jim at GCRL. White Sox? Check. Bunting? Check. Miscut? Check. Jim knows three of my collections, and sent cards to help them all out.

Then about two week later he did it again!!! More White Sox, Konerko collection and a couple more bunts. It sucks a bit I divide my Dodgers between 1.76million Dodger bloggers, but I hope I help enough with his collections as he help with mine. Thanks as always, Jim.

Last here is from Jeff at One Man's Junk (wax). If any scan in this post expresses what I mean, it's this one. Here are three of the 4 cards Jeff sent. I needed all four. But it's not the need part that is best about this. It's the envelope itself. Jeff and I traded once, and I think I may have sent him one PWE. But I am not sure about that PWE. However, Jeff took the time to send ME some cards. Out of his kindness. "Hopefully some Sox you need", he wrote. Conveniently, they are. But I am more touched that he saw some cards, thought of me and sent them off. It reminds me to not forget my Club PWE, as well as other people in spreadsheets I have.

So I challenge you this: In regard to other bloggers or former traders, do you PWE because you have to, or because you want to? If it's the former, make it the latter. You'll like your collection more, because you'll know some of it is being appreciated much more now that it's offsite.

Trust me on this.

But.....why bunting?

Personal collections. We all have them. Whether it's a team, a player or a specific grouping, personal collections move beyond set building into a territory that has no boundaries when it comes to team loyalties. It's those collections that can make the Owl say something nice about a Giants card or Cubs lamenting P-Town Tom collecting a Cardinals bobblehead.

Around the blog, I have seen unique collections like double plays, plays at the plate, night cards, memorial cards, miscut cards and more. Cards showing players singing an autograph. Cards showcasing specific stadiums in the background. Collections of diving players, sliding players and angry players. I have four active genre collections: double plays, throwbacks, broken bats and bunting. I have seen three of my collections run by other people. Hell - I stole DPs from GCRL. But I can't name another blogger that collects cardboard showing a player bunting.

So why do I collect them?

To me, and maybe it's said too much - bunting it truly a lost art. Besides the pathetic attempt at a sacrifice, and those are iffy at best, you just don't see the bunt used as a way to get on base. Speedsters like Hamilton, Reyes or Crisp aren't using the bunt to get on base as often as then should. Hell - most players can't even put down a decent dead ball. That's sad. It's a great way to shake up the defense, and get in the mind of the pitcher.

Even playing small ball and trying to move the runner along is become an act of frustration. Too much is put into the long ball and not enough energy is put into manufacturing runs. I like the bunt because when I was a kid, I used it a bunch. I could hit to all fields, but I didn't hit with power. But I could bunt well, so a successful bunt drew in the corners, and gave me more room to hit for singles and doubles.

Recently, John from Johnny's Trading Spot dropped 40 bunting cards on me. Lots to add to my binder. However, in the frozen moment of the card, you can see how poorly players are trained to bunt. I had some great coaches who knew the power of a ball hit 25 feet and dying in the grass. There are specific rules when bunting.

1) Keep the bat level and parallel to the ground. You never want to drop the head of the bat below your wrists. You're just begging to pop the ball up. Take a look at DeLeon on the left. See the ball? You can tell the thing is not heading for the ground, but up in the air.

2) Let the ball hit the bat. If you move the barrel of the bat forward, you are going to transfer too much power to the ball and knock it right into the glove of a fielder. Plus, back to rule #1: Anderson popped up by dropping the barrel head (see the ball in his armpit), and the ball is hitting the upper edge of Duncan's bat. That ball is heading up.

3) Gentle grip on the bat. Ideally, you are not gripping the bat with the hand you have slide halfway down the barrel. Mainly because you want to deaden the ball (unless you are trying to push it past an inrushing 3B), but also so if you miss the ball, you don't smash the crap out of your fingers.

4) Square up to the pitcher. Unless you are drag bunting, which Brett may be doing on the right, you want to turn and face the pitcher. It allows you to cover the whole plate and gives you the opportunity to move the bat up and down, leaving it parallel to the ground. You want to avoid reaching for the ball, like Lewis is. That's a sure way to pop it up as well. Also, when you square up, bend at the knees to keep your body firmly planted to allow yourself to guide the ball where you want.

PERFECTION!!! That Nied photo should be shown to every girl and boy playing youth baseball. Correctly turned. Level bat. Soft grip with fingers behind the barrel. And he is waiting for the ball to come to him. Gutierrez almost has the turn, but otherwise, great posture.

Er... John also tossed in a card of Manon. I'm not sure why. I can't really come up with a joke about Manon and bunting. Heck - I can't even thing of something remotely dirty in regard to Manon and baseball.

I'll distract them. They won't even remember your lack of comedy.

Thanks again for all the cards, John.

 

Licking the wounds

Midterms were a week ago. Depending on your political leanings, it was really good or not so great. If you didn't vote and liked the outcome, then it's all good in your world. If you didn't vote and you are upset of the outcome, go to the mirror before you start cursing. If you didn't vote and don't give a flying crap about the outcome, let me tell you to please wise up. Maybe read an article about the setup of this country, or take a political science class in college. I'm okay if you vote opposite of me, but to stay home anytime there is an election is saying you want to give control of your life to someone else. Apathy is not an option.

My bud Duane at Democratic Roadkill is feeling how I feel, I'm sure. But we'll get through two years until the next election. Until then, there is also cardboard to take away some pain.

Konerko additions are a good thing for the Paulie binder. Surprising Duane let go of the A&G in the middle, but considering the extras he probably has. I hope these can get me past a fight to raise the minimum wage here is Illinois.

Some really nice Hawks were in the package. The more I see Contenders, the more I like them. Have to enjoy the ice since the drive to protect the rising temperatures will probably get buried.

Some regular White Sox were in there as well. Uribe is trying to steal either your girlfriend or your soul. If he takes your girlfriend, make sure she has enough money for her health concerns.

YUM!!!! 1964s for my 64 Topps set. Which is great, since we'll probably repeal enough laws to take us back to the early 60's.

Sorry - sour grapes. Thanks for the cards, Duane.