A Sunburn and a New Puppy: a Trade Post

So I was gone for a week or so there.  Did you miss me?  I missed you.

I was aboard this floating monument to excess:

In my entire tenure there (outside of the Mississippi River delta, at least) I was without phone and Internet - it was wonderful. 

We had some fun, got into a little trouble, and tore the roof off the sucker in general.  Two of my friends got married (to each other), and I lost a little money in poker but made it all back at the craps table.



My one good hand all week



We stopped off in Progreso and Cozumel, and we drank lots and lots of rum.

I mean lots.

Nearly there.....

Close enough.


But now I'm back on dry land.  The sunburn I picked up at Playa Mia lingers in that stage of healing between itching and peeling; my keys and cell phone once again weigh down my pockets; and I find myself having to occassionally drive a car, prepare my own food, and face the world with steadfast sobriety.

Before I left I pre-wrote five posts to be published in my absence.  All were on cards from 1991.  I wrote them, set the little date dealy on the right side toolbar, and left it.  When I got home I noticed none of them published.  Clearly I missed something.  Anyway, I started publishing those one at a time since my return to civilized society.  Now I'm fully back and raring to write snarky stuff about Griffeys again.


While I was gone I received two trade packages from a couple of Dodgers fans/all-star baseball card bloggers. 

The first is from Jim at GCRL.  The star of his package was this oversized Rusty Staub postcard:

Rusty went to my high school in New Orleans and once signed an autograph for my Dad when he was 10 (my Dad, that is).  My Staub collection is a bit rusty (humor joke!), but thanks to Jim I have this great new addition as well as these:



The technical name for a group of Kittles is a "bench."  A bench of Kittles.



I feel like Chuck Finley cards are incomplete without his trademark Chuckstache
 even though 98% of Chuck's cards are from the post-Chuckstache era.



I believe this is an Angels team set which means Chuck
is in there somewhere.  I'm no seal-breaker, though....




I love Cal Ripken - he's one of my favorite players to collect, and everybody loves the guy.  I find that sending someone Cal Ripken cards is a lot like giving someone a bag of Skittles.  Regardless of whether the recipient actively likes Skittles or not, you know they're going to eat those things at some point.  Skittles are good.



Maddux is more like Mike & Ikes.



I don't know what it is, but I really like mascot cards now.  I've been setting them aside ever since I pulled my first one from a pack of 2012 Topps.  They're all so....furry.




Just a sweet mullet.





I also collect Griffeys.  Were you aware?

Many thanks, Jim.  Everybody should go send him their double-play cards and whatever Dodgers he needs.....


I also got a trade package from Mr. Night Owl, standard-setter for card blogs everywhere.  I scoop up a fistful of '75 Topps minis for Greg at my local monthly card show whenever I can make it.  There's a kindly old gentleman there who has boxes and binders of the things and lets them go for pretty cheap (as far as I know), and you all know how much fun it is to help someone with their want list.

Anyway, here's a fun mix of cards from Night Owl:

I've been wanting one of these since I learned of their existence.  Bonkers card.

Cow, MooTown Snackers.  Coincidence?  That Flair card is sweet.

Chuck has a real "Do you think I'm sexy?" thing going on in that Triple Play card.



Classic Kittle.  This may be my Halloween costume this year.





A beautifully miscut '75 mini, and one of the silliest
names in baseball.  He coached Griffey from the bench
in Cincinnati for a short time.  Didn't do great.



In honor of Mr. Owl: Griffeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeys!!!!

That mid-90's Bowman Chrome is a beaut, but the real star of the show is this guy:

This was one of the few base cards I don't have.  I learned this because I started writing the post for that Topps set before scanning.  Then while scanning I realized I had the Opening Day issue but not the flagship base card.  Derp.  Felt pretty dumb.

Plus that picture is sa-weeeeet........

Thanks, Greg!  Go update your '75 minis want list ASAP.  I think the next card show is right around the corner, and I'm just going to end up printing that thing up before I go. 

Everybody, go send Night Owl some Dodgers.  I would tell you to read his blog, but I bet dollars to donuts most of you already do.  Keep doing that.

Oh, and we totally did get a new puppy.  More on that later.....

My First Card Show in 15 Years

It's Superbowl weekend in New Orleans - and someone decided to have a card show at the airport Days Inn in Kenner.  Admission: $1.00

Let's ride.

I hightailed it over there around 2:00pm, $22 burning a hole in my pocket, sporting my Rated Rookie t-shirt, a hard case full of patch cards in my satch, and a Beckett.  Mama didn't raise no fool.

Everywhere there was football stuff, mostly 49ers and Ravens cards and Superbowl memorabilia, signs advertising Kaepernick rookies and Baltimore mini-helmets.

The problem here was that while the hotel was fully booked with people from the intended markets, they were all out enjoying the city (Saturday was beautiful).  So, it was me, the 8 guys selling cards, and 3 other dudes.

And I still managed to not win the drawing.

Anyway, walking around this card show asking for Ken Griffey Jr stuff was like trying to order a Shirley Temple at Oktoberfest.  I just felt silly.  But the people were nice, and I tried to spend a little something at every table that made a semi-reasonable effort at salesmanship (two didn't).

One of the sellers was a nice old guy with four tables full of vintage cards.  I definitely spent the most money with him.  In the way of Griffeys he only had a single 1989 Upper Deck rookie, but he was such a pleasure to talk to I searched for lots of other stuff to buy.  Here's Don "the Sphinx" Mossi.  I love Mossi cards.  It's a unique look, you've got to admit, and his later cards are downright famous for Mossi's unmistakeable mug.  This is his rookie card - it was expensive at $6, but it had to be mine!

This Waitkus is a tough find.  It's been on my want list for a while because of the deranged girlfriend story on the back.  He was also a heck of a baseman.  I snagged this one for $2.

The guy was a huge Musial fan, and this card was just so cool I had to take it home.  Tommy Davis' squint is also pretty sweet.

 

I bought this card because Rusty Staub graduated from my high school in NOLA.  My Dad met him once when he was eleven and got his autograph.  He didn't have any paper, so Mr. Staub etched his signature into my Dad's 1962 Championship little league football trophy.

The statue broke when we were preparing to evacuate for Hurricane Isaac.  Don't tell him.

 

I wanted a McCovey for an upcoming Griffey card post, and I figured a '72 would be appropriate what with the minis from the Topps set sparking so many differing opinions.  I think it's a cool-looking set.  And McCovey is the man.

The guy was impeccably organized.  Doesn't somebody collect these things?

When they have the show again next month, I'll bring your want list, Night Owl.  Unless you finished it already.

These were $2.  Face value for a set from 1987!  Just mass produced enough to maintain it's value to within a penny.  I couldn't pass it up.  Super glossy, solid checklist.  Plus, free gum.

I bought 2 packs of 2013 Topps, but this pack of Panini Golden Age was far cooler.  Something about cards with hot chicks - I'm going to have to start actively collecting those....

This is a wrestling program from 1980.  The event it was made for featured a match that included Jesse "The Body" Ventura, a fact I didn't know when I bought this thing.  Those pants......

Some great Ozzie's (Smith, not Canseco) turning DP's on the likes of Eric Karros and Craig Biggio.  That's not my first flip card of his, but I couldn't pass it up.  These came from a quarter box, along with a lot a what you're about to see.  I grabbed some duplicates of one of these for a certain blogger who like double-play cards.

That Beckham is the best tongue shot I have ever seen.  But all cards pale in comparison to Ron "Specs" Kittle (no one called him that).

Some Klesko pre-rookies, one of the best Brett Butler pics ever, a wacky-fitting hat on Barry, and Stan the Man for a quarter.  Plus if you don't like Dan Wilson, I don't want to know you.

A nice addition to the president collection.

A very cool-looking card for a quarter.

LSU legends Pistol Pete and Y.A. Tittle.  Also, I was in a few classes with Michael Clayton back at LSU.  Neat seeing him on a card....

That guy's name is D'Brickashaw Ferguson.   Keep saying it to yourself, and eventually you'll want one too.  D'Brickashaw.  These are the guys Key & Peele were talking about.

JaMarcus has expressed an interest in returning to the NFL this coming year, so get in on the ground floor people!  'Cuz when he's not sippin' sizzurp, he's somewhere being terrible at football....!

Morten Andersen is a legend.

Finally, right?  Only three of these are new to my collection, but for 25 cents each, it was a no-brainer.  Here's hoping there will be more Griffeys next month.
 

I'm leaving you with a 1938 "Horrors of War" card.  The guy with all those vintage cards had a stack of these.  This was the goriest one.  I love how this was made right before Pearl Harbor and the U.S.'s entrance into WWII.

Coming soon - an actual Griffey post.  I swear!