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Monday, February 10, 2020

Be My Valentine



Ah, the heartstrings. Valentine's Day is rapidly approaching. Another opportunity to sack the consumer wallet with $10 Hallmark cards and cheap Palmers' brand candy. Who can afford good chocolate and a card?

Time gets away from us so quickly. It hasn't been a year since these gems came in the mail but it has been too long.  All are real valentine cards, if you were to ask me. That's coming from a woman.

Scribbled Ink's Paul Dionne may think I've forgotten his thoughtfulness. Not true:

SOME GIRLS LIKE POSIES. ME? BUSTER!

YOU PUT MY HEART IN ORBIT

STEAL HEARTS, NOT SIGNS

Taking this long to share and say thank you makes me a bad girl. Very bad. My face is Valentine Red with shame. {Pretty certain that's a crayon color these days.}




More card-hearts arrived at my door courtesy of Marc Brubaker! He sent some classy customs along with a mix of Astros and Tigers:

HEARTS ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN


YOUR CHEATIN' HEART

Marc isn't around much right now. I'm certain he would weigh in on our national tragedy.  I don't believe every player was involved but all must have known.  What options do players have should they not want to participate in canned signals?  A hitter may know what pitch is coming but he still has to make contact. I seem to remember Curt Schilling mouthing fastball with the hitter swinging at air. Does anyone else recall this?

I found this link quite intriguing:  Sign Stealing Scandal.  Created by an Astros fan, the graphs are broken down by game and player. Tony Kemp and Altuve heard the fewest raps on the can.  Cheating happened, the extent to which we'll never know.  I hope in time, my Altuve continues to prove himself at the plate and on the field. Watching him play brings me great joy. He's the player who brought me back to the hobby.






Baseball Card Lifer Bo knows I like a man with more than one bat! Azocar  had some fun cards. He died of a heart attack at 45 in 2010, much too young.  Bo also stuck me with awesome Fleer, flaunting ballparks on their backside.  Not sure where I am on this set. I still need to enter my small set builds into the Trading Heart Card Database. There's a little throwback and vintage love here too. Thank you, Bo!

LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD


HAPPY TO BE STUCK WITH YOU



OLD-FASHIONED LOVE SONG





Fred Pike trades on the database. He's also quite kind to follow the nimble-minded author of this blog. That's a little self-flattery folks. Nimble is not an accurate description for me but I can say whatever I want, spreading more lies around the internet.  Fred included cards from my want list plus these little green men.

You Don't Have To Be A Star, Baby




Johnny on the spot. He 's always dropping little surprises on me.  Several months ago I received around 3000 catchers spanning 30 years of cardboard. I plan to scan and share every single one. Not really. I'll spare you.  He did send a smaller package which included GQ set fillers:

YOU COMPLETE ME


LOVE IS BLUE

The final card left me speechless. I have a fondness for all things ballpark with hot dogs. All beef only, with lots of mustard. I love hot dogs so much they're part of my blog's name.  I've consider dropping baseball cards and a hot dog  from the title but can't do it. I hadn't seen this gem until John put it in my hands. What was Topps thinking???  Mr. Hot Dog Tie on the right is holding an obscene-looking ostrich neck. At first glance, the beak doesn't stand out. Already dialing the police, I hung up after determining this wasn't card stock pornography. John, you nearly gave this girl a heart attack!


MR. BIG STUFF


Thank you for these valentines, mi amigos.  Spreading love across the whole year is the best way to show others you care. Sharing these little hearties is a lovely way to show your appreciation.


LOVE'S BEEN A LITTLE BIT HARD ON ME.


29 comments:

  1. Altuve is one of my favorite players...and now possibility that he and others wore a buzzer. UGH!

    I hope he and the Astros come out and win games to show that they didn't need to do that stuff.

    Happy 💖💘 Day!

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    1. Happy Hearts to you too! I trust the Commissioners report in that there were no wires or buzzers involved. i choose to be naive for now. ;)

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  2. JUICE!

    Back in the days when you didn't have to worry about video cheating scandals.

    I was watching that 2017 World Series rooting for my Dodgers and I actually thought as the Astros seemingly hit at will "it's like they know everything that's coming!" They just seemed so damn sure of themselves. And they broke my Dodger-loving heart.

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    1. i share in your heartache. it's one thing to lose knowing your team made it to the Series and did their best. It hurts but there is some acceptance. To find this??? It's wrong and sad. Dodger fans have every right to be angry. As do Astro fans. I've seen way too much name-calling on the internet. Here's to 2020 and a fresh start!

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  3. Although I've never seen him live, I've had an unusual fixation on the Crazy Hot Dog Vendor in Reading PA... The general conceit is that he's riding an ostrich (named Rodrigo!) and he's flinging hot dogs into the stand while riding Rodrigo. My friends in Reading can attest to the fact that the CHDV is tremendously popular in the area; the Reading Fightin' Phils have worn uniforms commemorating him, kids dress up like him for Halloweeen.

    Here's a link to a video that's 8 years old, but it gives you a good idea of what he's about:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM9E5vc0NRY

    The other guy is Benjamin Hill, writer for milb.com, the Minor League Baseball website. He's also a favorite of mine partly becauss of his bad wordplay. The "Ben's Biz" subset from Pro Debut is 'curated' by Ben himself.
    https://www.milb.com/fans/bensbiz

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    1. What fun! Looks like I need to get myself to Reading for a hot dog!! I also liked this video: Man Behind the Meat.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vaBvjICFpI Thanks for the background! I wonder if he owns the rights to the costume... Being a fan of wordplay myself, I'll check out Ben's Bizness too.

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  4. "Steal hearts, not signs." Thanks for adding a little humor to my day, Julie.

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    1. <3 thank you Tom, for allowing me the opportunity!

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  5. This is the style of writing (and humor) that was so sorely missed while you were gone... know one else does it quite like you!

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    1. Thank you Jon. That no one else does it quite like me makes shifting the blame elsewhere rather difficult.

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  6. Fun post! And now I have a Hank Williams song in my head. (Related note: Three new eligible hockey bachelors are waiting for you to make your decision over on my blog.)

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    1. thank for reading!!! and singing along... I'm still looking for a valentine date. I'll be along soon to check out the bachelor party!!!!

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  7. Wow, that hot dog vendor card is something like I've never seen before.

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    1. well, that's certainly one way to put it. Well said!

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  8. I love this Valentine's Day post. Everything from the link to the Astros bangin' to Juice Newton. I hope this Friday you enjoy a very special Hallmark holiday!

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    1. thanks Fuj! I reviewed your comment a few times before I actually saw the word 'to' before "Juice.' LOL! Have a nice Valentine's weekend! Do something that says you love YOU! (Card show???)

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    2. Lol. Now I kinda regret adding "to" to my comment.

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  9. Great caption on the Hot Dog vendor card. Intersting card I haven't ever seen. This was a great post to read glad I was able to check it out

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    1. Thanks for sopping by! I'm still watching for your SPX needs!

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    2. SOPPING - this blog does get a little dry at times....

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  10. Great post. Always good to spread around some love and humour. Have a Happy Valentines Day.

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    1. Fred, I do enjoy making others smile or chuckle. When I have someone running to the restroom, it's then I'll know true success! Hope your Valentine's Day is a sweet one!

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  11. That Mookie breaks my heart, but the Fleer Stickers and Azocar 91 Topps bring back great memories.

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    1. My favorite Mookie. It's going to be hard seeing him in Dodger blues but for true blue Red Sox fans, I know it hurts.

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  12. I have about 50 cards with either game used bats or uniform pieces on the,.including a giant card about 10 times the normal size of a regular one.I think that the 1995 Topps Cyberstats set was neat too,and I got a subset of about 12 cards included with the regular 1995 set I have,and it consists of award winners that would have been for 1995 plus highlights from a virtual World Series matchup,in which the Indians won in 7 games,and the MVP was Kenny Lofton I think.

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