Back to Baseball: A Dozen New Griffeys and a Sort

After taking a week off to talk about nerdy things, it's time to get back to the roots of this blog: Griffey cards!  I did a sort tonight, but not before scanning some of the cooler additions to the collection.

I can't believe I didn't already have this one, but it's true.  There are two versions of this pre-rookie, and this is the rarer one.  I have three of the other one which shows Griffey posing in a white Jersey.

This is one of those Skybox Molten Metal cards with the hilariously bad hip-hop blurb on the back. It's a parallel, too, made entirely of steel.

I have very few Topps HD inserts, so here is a fun die-cut one.

This is one of the great die-cut inserts of the 90's.  It's striking and ahead of its time, for sure, and it's probably the most expensive of the cards I'm showing tonight.

I love comic cards, cards with both Junior and Senior, and cards celebrating Griffey's 500th home run.  This card is the center of that Venn diagram of collectability.

A new base card, this one from 2014 Triple Threads.  This card is way too thick for the binder.

I only just learned about these expansion stamped '93 Topps cards.  Here is the Marlins stamped version.  I have yet to acquire the Rockies version and, of course, all the All-Star cards, too.  This will probably end up being a pretty long-term project as many of them are a bit overpriced.  You hear me, sellers?  You want too much for your cardboard.

Just a really neat insert from near the end of the Donruss timeline.  It's numbered out of 250, but I landed it for a song thanks to COMC Black Friday.

I've been chasing this thing for a while now.  Everybody thinks their 90's inserts are still worth a fortune, so I had to wait out the sellers until one of them came to his senses.

One of the most notorious inserts of the 90's ever, and I finally landed one.  Took me a while for the same reason as the Grasskickers card above.

These '95 Donruss Showdown cards are numbered out of 10,000.  I busted numerous packs of this back in the day and landed a couple of them, but none were this amazing Griffey/Maddux combo.  I really love this card.

I purposefully did not edit this scan all the way because I want you to see the massive shadow cast by this immensely thick 2014 Panini Immaculate Collection base card.  It casts darkness in a way comparable to the monolith that cast a shadow on a moon of Jupiter to open a portal to another dimension.  It's certainly thickest card I own that doesn't contain a relic/manupatch/tiny little trophy.  The thing is downright absurd.  I'm currently using it to stabilize a rocky table.  A big one.

The sort was a success with a final count of 81 total Griffeys added, 58 of which were entirely new to the collection.  That's a duplicate ratio of 1.397.  This brings the collection slash line to 6832/3569/1.914.  That's a drop in the dupe ratio of .009 with less than a hundred cards added.  Not bad...

Okay, so we're going back to baseball cards this week, but there's still time to submit your nerdiest thing for the Nerd Giveaway.  I've had some great entries so far, so make it super nerdy!

Nerd Week Day 5 Finale: Nerdstuff and a Very Nerdy Giveaway

So my wife says to me the other day, “You’ve turned me into a nerd!” I was taken aback to say the least, but once she elaborated a little I realized just how true this was. When we met in college my wife was coming from being a popular “jock” of sorts in high school. She ate at Chili’s, drank light beer, and listened to whatever awful nonsense was on the radio at the time.

Now she sips pho and eats salmon sashimi like a champ. She’s seen every episode of Star Trek:TNG and read the entire Ender’s Game series, including the Bean subseries. And she’s seen Neutral Milk Hotel in concert. It’s true – I turned my wife into a nerd, and she loves it.

That conversation was the real catalyst for this series of posts. It made me realize just how much of a nerd I had become, and just how awesome that was. It’s not like I even try and hide it, really. A quick walk around my house will reveal just how big a nerd you are dealing with:

For example, I have an autograph collection, and the majority of the music-related ones end up on this wall. There’s plenty of not-nerdy items here in addition to a healthy mix from across the nerd spectrum:

Not all that nerdy: Brian Wilson, Dr. John, Herbie Hancock, Galactic, Fishbone

Pretty nerdy: Yo La Tengo, Grandaddy, The Refreshments, The Rentals

Indisputably nerdy: MC Chris, They Might Be Giants

There’s also a framed photo from when I got to interview Flansburgh, the bespectacled John of They Might Be Giants. Digital photography either didn’t exist back then or it was very expensive, so the photo is super grainy and my eyes are closed. :-(

My autographs get a lot nerdier as you leave the music realm and enter the Comic Con realm:

My wife got me the Star Trek:TNG VIP experience at Comic Con last year. I met everybody except for Patrick Stewart who was in Canada narrating a documentary. He was nice enough to sign everybody’s poster, but he didn’t make the group photo my wife and I got to take with the entire cast. I will not be showing that photo here because it would melt your screen. Here’s a funny tidbit from the signings:

Crusher’s hand is in Picard’s pocket in the poster photo, and she apparently did not remember that until seeing the poster so she wrote this fun little remark. Super nice lady, too. All of them were really cool. I especially enjoyed talking to John Delancey who played Q (you can see his sig in gold on the bottom) as well as Marina Sirtis and Levar Burton.

Grabbed one of these, too. Levar was a smiley delight, but try fitting that signature on a 2x3 card.  Or a sticker for that matter.  Can you imagine?

In case you’re not sick of Star Trek yet, the folks who ran the Con sent out an e-mail about the VIP package stating that it included a signed 8x10 of Patrick Stewart. I printed that baby out, and when I got to the Con the people in charge insisted that it was an error but let me pick one out, anyway. So, here’s Picard in his dress whites. Can you feel the nerd tonight?

I also met Kevin Eastman who was the friendliest, most accommodating person at the con. He even did some doodles for people if they were willing to wait in the crazy-long doodle line. I had nerdier places to be, so I got the fast-track “To T.J.”

One more Comic Con item: a scale model of the Arrakis Crysknife made from the tooth of the mighty worm. Spolier alert: the worm is the spice. Nerdgasm.

That’s it for the Comic Con stuff. Lucky for you (or possibly unlucky) I took a few minutes walking around my house looking for more things that are nerdy. I took a picture of the nerd-things as I found them. Here are a few of those pictures:

This is a Sailor Moon lunchbox. That’s pretty damn nerdy. What’s inside?

Yeesh: Star Wars and Trek Micro Machines. My God - it’s full of nerd (bonus nerd quote).

Okay, these were all gifts. Friends and family all know I’m a “collector of collections," but I’ve never been a big Pez dispenser guy even though I love the candy. Yet, here they are, mass-produced to the point of being worthless as a collectable. Still, I kinda like them as a big, sealed set, being a nerd and all.

I still have every Mad Magazine my Mom ever bought me at the supermarket. This one I bought long after I stopped reading the magazine just for the cover. Was Mad nerdy or cool? I can’t remember…

This poster is several levels of nerdy, but if you’re a nerd it’s several levels of awesome. My only gripe is that it shows a 20-sided die while the song references a 12-sided one. Other than that, it’s pretty amazing.  And yet...

...this puppy takes the prize as my nerdiest poster not signed by the cast of Star Trek.  It hangs in my office as opposed to somewhere my wife could see it.  It's just too damn nerdy for that girl.

This lives in the man cave with four controllers, always ready for battle. This cartridge along with my Portal 2 disc are in a tie for second place as my most-played video games (Civilization takes that prize #nerdbasedstrategy).

I pity the fool who don’t celebrate his own nerdiness with a blog post!

This is nerdy even for me, but don’t deny it: you want one.

I’m not sure if this is nerdy or just insane. Leaning towards insane. Like, certifiable. But if you ever get the chance to read what this book is made up of, its inherent nerdiness will reveal itself.  (Note: I've tried it.  Doesn't work.)

This is my media wall which resides in our spare bedroom. It used to be two walls and take up a LOT more space. I was strongly encouraged by my betrothed to downsize this collection, so what you’re looking at is about 20% of my former VHS collection, 40% of my CD’s, and about half of my DVD’s. While most of that stuff went to Goodwill, I still have all the DVD’s in bins at a friend’s house. A respectable media collection is one of the hallmarks of a nerdy collector.

Here’s a closer look at the DVD’s in case you feel like judging my taste. Frankly the DVD selection is one of my favorite things to look at when I go to parties at other peoples’ houses. It’s amazing the things you’ll discover, particularly that a lot of people like bad movies.

This is the They Might Be Giants portion of the CD collection. They do not have the most CD's of any band on those shelves (I have more of both Radiohead and the Beach Boys); but they do have the most discs represented of any nerdy band I love, so I thought they’d be appropriate for this post. I also have similar stacks for Yo La Tengo, The Magnetic Fields, and Grandaddy. Nerdy music rules.

Finally: I am the author of a baseball card blog. This is arguably my nerdiest attribute (right up there with that Sailor Moon lunchbox), but it’s also ridiculously fun. It’s tied to sports which is like the least nerdy thing there is, but it’s also tied to statistics which is widely regarded as – you guessed it – pretty nerdy, y’all. The result is an interesting mix of nerds, jocks, and everyone in between chasing the same cards, and some of them bothering to pen a word or two about them. That’s where I (and some of you) come in. Card bloggers are very much a form of nerd, and yet they’re some of the coolest people I know.

Nerd Epilogue and Giveaway

Now, this and previous posts could be construed as gloating. “Hey, look at my stuff! You jelly?” But keep in mind that I never would have shown people this stuff ten years ago, and fifteen years ago I would have buried my head in the sand if I knew a girl might see what I collect (girls were scary).

And yet there’s a certain amount of comfort in one’s identity and confidence of character that comes along with growing up. I guess that’s what these posts are really about. I’ve always considered myself a reasonably cool dude who happens to like nerdy things, but to heck with that. I’m clearly a nerd. In fact I’m damn proud to be a nerd, and you should be, too.

Kids seem a little more tolerant of nerds these days than when I was in school, and why shouldn’t they be? Nerds have higher average incomes, tend to be well-educated and well-spoken, can hold informed conversations, know how to do stuff (besides fix your computer), respect the warning of “spoiler alert” better than anyone, and most importantly they have the best taste in music, film, art, food, and t-shirts. Plus nerd girls are so much cuter than your run-of-the-mill sorority chicks it’s not even funny.

And they all watch Adventure Time

So in honor of nerds everywhere, I’m having a giveaway. I want to see the nerdiest thing you have. One item only, please. It can be an object, a tattoo, a book, a poster, a signed photo, a vinyl record, a report card, a ridiculous Lego creation, a fluffy cat sweater – whatever. A thing that announces to the world, “I am a nerd, world, and you can suck it.”

Here is the prize:

A sealed blu-ray of the final installment of the Family Guy Star Wars homages. I will also throw in other nerdy things and some baseball cards if that’s your thing (which it probably is if you found your way here, ya big nerd).

You can either make your own blog post about your nerd thing and link to it in the comments below, or you can e-mail me a photo at thejuniorjunkie at gmail dot com. Either is fine. If you include multiple images in either method, I will accept the first image by default unless another is indicated as your entry. No shyness. I will be showing some of them in a future post.

So let your freak flag fly, blogosphere. Keep calm, and nerd on.

Nerd Week Day 4: Star Trek Master Series

Not every post can be a Bart. Sometimes there must be a Milhouse post, that being a post that is just a little (lot) bit nerdy. I happen to have a few such posts waiting in the wings, so I figure why not shoot them all over the Internet in a single week of unforgiveable nerdiness I am lazily referring to as “Nerd Week.” Enjoy!

Today’s nerdy post is all about Star Trek, specifically a single set of cards I got from The Prowling Cat when he was cleaning out his closet all Eminem-style.  The set is called the Star Trek Master Series, and it was printed by SkyBox in 1993.  They are 90 really beautiful, finely-crafted cards that span the Star Trek Universe from the original series through Next Generation and ending just before the beginning Deep Space Nine. Personally I was most enamored with TNG, so these are right in my fandom wheelhouse.

The art is extremely solid, just stylized enough to not be considered one of those hyper-realistic paintings of a photograph which, while super neat, are kind of an artistic cop-out. The subjects are the principal characters, ships, races, aliens, and moments from the two series condensed nicely into a fan-friendly 90 cards. I mean “fan-friendly” in that the set is easy for fans of the shows to love. I’m sure there are a lot of fans who can spot glaring omissions from both series in the set. Those fans need to relax. These cards are excellent.

Okay, some of them are kind of silly, actually, but that's part of the charm.  And that Orion Slave Girl belongs in Maxim, or possibly my trunk.  Yowza.

I've picked out a bunch of my favorites from the set to show you.  For example, that card of Reg after he took over the Enterprise from the Holodeck.  And they discover that race of beings who are essentially floating old man heads who are like, "Oh, bipedal motion!  Electrochemical nerve induction!" because they are super observant and stuff.  Great episode.  Also, Q's hat.

I should go ahead and mention I'll be showing a LOT of the TNG cards because they are my homies and because the set is very TNG-centric in general, probably because of its 1993-ness.

Check out the disproportionately massive bat'leth (spelling?) and the goofy depiction of the Traveller who is Wesley's magical best friend (seriously).  These cards a little silly, but the episodes they depict are damn good.  And I like The Traveller, no matter how much I poke fun.  He's in one of my favorite episodes, "Remember Me," which is a fun but disturbing mind-f***.

The Borg are referenced a lot because everybody just loves them.  They're kind of the perfect enemy, and their assimilation modifications gave us an excellent look at Picard's nipples.

Shameless plug for the newest series, anyone?  I'll take it, but I never got as hard into that series as I was with TNG.  This card would be a whole lot neater if they got the proportions and angle of view right.

Finally, here are all the "Theatrical" cards.  The set must have come out just before the TNG movies started coming out, the first of which was Generations.  If you haven't seen the original Star Trek movies, go ahead and give 'em a try, but skip the first one.  If you get really into them, go back and watch.  The story is pretty cool, but it's a terrible first outing,

According to the checklist there are five "Spectra" cards to be had as well as some artist-signed editions of a dozen or so cards from the set.  Do I want all those?  I mean, yeah.  I guess I do.  This is nerd week.  I can admit to that.

If you're a Trek fan, you should probably watch this:

Thanks again for the cards, TPC, and see you tomorrow, fellow nerds!

Nerd Week Day 3: Legos!

Not every post can be an Alpha Beta. Sometimes there must be a Lambda Lamda Lambda post, that being a post that is just a little (lot) bit nerdy. I happen to have a few such posts waiting in the wings, so I figure why not shoot them all over the Internet in a single week of unforgiveable nerdiness I am lazily referring to as “Nerd Week.” Enjoy!

I’ve always been a Lego nut, and as I’ve gotten older they have only gotten cooler. Nowadays we get sets that pay homage to pop culture, TV shows, and movies, the most prolific of which has been the brand’s extensive line of Star Wars vehicles and figures.

The crown jewel of my Lego nerddom is definitely this behemoth Super Star Destroyer. It took roughly 11 hours to assemble.  Please forgive the asses in the top left corner - that's a giant Pink Floyd poster in the back room of my man cave where the Lego shelves live.

At 50 inches, the Super Star Destroyer is so big I can't really even photograph it properly.  The coolest part is this little regular-sized star destroyer shown for scale.

As you can see I have a fun mix of other Star Wars models and figures, too. I’m a big fan of the TIE fighter there on the left.

Below that on my man cave shelves are a few other fun items including the Ghostbusters ECTO-1, the Back to the Future Delorean, and the Simpsons house.

When Lego came out with the Simpsons Minifigures, my buddy Craig and I canvassed the town looking for them. It took several trips to different stores, but we eventually found a full end cap display at Target and bought the entire thing so we could bring them home and take our time feeling through the little packages until we had two of every figure. We returned the rest and called it a day. I’m happy to report that each of us now has the full first series, and we plan on doing the same thing again for the second. We are Simpsons completionists, and the Simpsons-Lego crossover cannot be resisted.

The recent line of Lego Architecture has been a blast to collect as well. Here are the White House, the Space Needle, the Eiffel Tower, and the Empire State Building in all their tiny little meticulously-detailed glory. These sets are kind of pricey, but a fun excuse to play Legos as an adult.  I only have some of the cheaper ones here, but Fallingwater and the Farnsworth House will be mine someday...

In addition to all this stuff, I have two massive bins full to the top with every Lego I’ve ever owned in my whole life. Whenever I come across a loose brick floating around in the world without a home, I rescue it. After Katrina I cleaned and disinfected thousands of my friends’ Legos rather than let them end up in the dump. I am positively anal about those expensive little bits of plastic.

See you tomorrow, fellow nerd!