Pages

Tuesday, September 29, 2020

The Wonderful World of Joe Shlabotnik

What a wonderful world it must be at Joe's! Shelves full of cards, boxes and binders. Oh my! One can only imagine. I don't know that anyone has ever seen Shlabby's place but I can attest to owning some outgoing contents. Discards, if you will. No. I did not dig through his trash cans. Is that really what you think of me?

Good ol' American Joe is certainly not trying to buy into the Cracked Bat Ballot Box but does have two mail-in ballots noted on my super spreader sheet. Cracked Bat favors multiple voting attempts. July brought a pwe and a fat little mailer. He picked a few cards off my want list; sent a couple I picked from his blog and tossed in some fun surprises.

From the gimmee list: 2017 Archives '59 Bazooka Harper, 2020 Heritage Bazooka Test Posey and Hostess 75 Rico and 79 Whitaker:

Beautiful wood

Gentle Giant

Twinkies!

I love me some big sticks - cracked or not. Black and white Conlons featuring some long gone heroes are perfect for my collection. Foxx, Lou and the Babe. Sometimes I feel I was born too late. Did I ever share my affinity for lounge music? The Rat Pack, Julie London.



I sent Joe some 2020 Big League assistance. He sent back part of a box. Wants me to cut out the card myself. Joe's never seen me with a pair of scissors. I will cut you me.  One of us is obviously lazy. Responsibility, he says.


Obligatory vintage was included.  Say what????? You did not know this requirement?  You risk having your ballot rejected without it. LOL. That's laugh out-loud not  little old lady, wise guy.

Steve had a kind face
My first Permagraphics! From 1983, Larry Parrish - super star, super fun! The few cards I've seen have been scratched up. This is a clean example. Credit card style, plastic card with apparently no credit limit. The backside has a space for a signature.




Here's a card from a set I'd never heard of - 1979 Diamond Greats. Backs are blank. My first thought was TCMA but this is not the case. You can read up on these here. I love the simplicity! Team, position and career stats and a checklist 400 cards deep. Also not cheap.

I WANT THEM ALL

Let me tell you a little about Joe. He thinks he's funny. So glad I'm nothing like that.  Joe tells me he has an old 70s Wacky sticker with my name on it.. Still waiting for him to send it. These fine Altuves came though.




You've made it this point. Almost too much excitement for one post! But let me tell yah, this next one had me swinging from the disco ball:


Stare into the eyes of the Tiger. Closer. Put your nose on the screen. You. Will. Send. Me. 1978 Fleer Glam stickers. All. Of. Them. 


Thank you, Shlabby

*********************************************************

It's that time again! Round Five voting is here. We have another team effort this week. Candidate A  is a Topps Traded duo from years 1987 [checklist]  and 1991 [checklist.] 1987 Maddux extended rookie looks pretty sharp. Matt Williams also has an XRC in this set. 1991 is still sealed. Notable Rookies are Bagwell, Giambi, I Rodriguez and Kennie Steenstra. 

CANDIDATE A:






Also competing for your love and acceptance: 1986 Sportflics Rookies.  Larkin, Bonds and Bo Jackson are popular cards from this set. 

CANDIDATE B:









Look over the checklists. What would you prefer to add to your collection? Review the rules and make your vote count!



PS - Elliptical Man, please email me at the address in labels.  I have a PICK for you. :) 



50 comments:

  1. B gets my vote.

    Joe sent you some awesome stuff!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow - he did indeed. GLAM stickers "got it going on!"

      Delete
  2. Gotta go with B for sure! That'd be sweet!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, I love these too but can't justify keeping them. All three sets are filled with players I never watched and don't collect.

      Delete
  3. I have to vote A. Anyone who denies the awesomeness of a mustachioed Maddux on wood-grain is fooling themselves.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I never liked his stache or wood-grain Topps. Maddux is part of my collection. This is the only copy of the card I own.

      Delete
  4. Before voting. What is that top left Altuve? Print geek in me is mighty curious about the background and how it was printed since it's got a bit of the 1990 Topps thing going on.

    Anyway, I'd lean B on the voting except I actually still "need" a 1987 Traded set so I'm obliged to vote A.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That Altuve is from 2019 Topps Album Stickers... it's the sticker side, rather than the backing side.

      (Julie, I'll be back to properly comment later)

      Delete
    2. What Shlabby said. I was about to share this info but he's quicker to the keyboard.

      Delete
  5. Voting for A.
    Nothing witty to say.
    Woe is me,
    But at least there's a Giambi.

    I like the Big League Joe Altuve that you got from Joe Shlabotnik.

    I already added you as my special lady friend on TCDB, so you should be able to see my address. Thank you. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Awesome load of cards you received! As for my vote, I have to go with B.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joe's one of the most generous fellows out there. I'm fortunate to be included.

      Delete
  7. Man, I have a permagraphics blog post lined up a couple of weeks from now. You beat me to the "no credit limit" punchline.

    As for voting, this is a tough call. But Candidate B has narrowly won my vote. (Plus a bonus point to you for including the Charlie Brown image.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Looking forward to that post! You can still use the line...line of credit?

      Delete
  8. Replies
    1. Topps - the established candidate who fears all challengers.

      Delete
  9. Liking A this week. I also approve of obligatory vintage.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vintage should be written into trader law. Perhaps we should be voting for a new congress here.

      Delete
  10. Voting for A.

    I've never traded with Shlabotnik, which is a shame because he seems to have stuff that's in my wheelhouse.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You two should absolutely made a deal. Joe has not only excellent trade fodder but he is a decent and fun fellow!

      Delete
  11. Glad you enjoyed the cards, Julie! Some of the oddballier oddballs came from one dealer a show last fall, and it's not hyperbole to say that I enjoyed pulling cards for all my tradin' buddies (as well as myself, of course).

    Sorry about the blaster card, but I'm not allowed to have scissors.

    Nobody but Mrs. Shlabotnik has seen Shlabotnik World Headquarters. It's far too much of a unholy mess to let visitors see it, so the door stays closed when people are over. ...Well, actually, that's not technically true... access to the attic is through that room, so our friendly neighborhood HVAC guy has technically seen it when he walks through the room... but it's not like I pull a binder off the shelf and say "Hey, wanna see my Kellogg's cards?"

    I'm going to recuse myself from voting this time around... If pressed, I'd say I would want A for my collection if I didn't already have both.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My friend, vote anyway. The more you vote, the more times you are added to the Randomizer. You know how much fun that is! Thank you for the fantastic cards. HVAC man is missing out.

      Delete
  12. Sportflics take me back to my childhood more than any other card from that era. Easy decision for me.
    Voting for B.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Fibby's! LOL

    Voting for A. Topps all the way. (x2)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I tried not to take Fibby's personally but who doesn't like being called a liar? Wait - did I say that correctly?

      Delete
  14. B gets my vote. 1986 Sportflics was the first high-end cards I ever opened... and that traded set is LOADED and under-appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A man unafraid to go against the establishment, which in this case = Topps.

      Delete
  15. OK, for me, it's about the Mets. The Topps has a David Cone rookie...Sportsflics has only Kevin Mitchell, but there's a Gooden/Seaver card. Hmmm...no, I think I gotta go with the Cone rookie, plus it's two sets.

    A is the vote.

    ReplyDelete
  16. B - Sportflics cards are fantastic. Almost as fantastic as that great assortment of cards you got. "Steve had a kind face." Hey, Don Mossi had kind of a face too!

    ReplyDelete
  17. A very nice collection of cards received. B is my vote. I have always liked Sportflics.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Tough choice this time so I'm going with A because quantity. If B makes it...that's fine as well!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Voting for A.

    That Tigers sticker is cool, as is that Sukeforth card.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Voting is closed ...like all the ballot drop locations in Texas. Well, to be fair - each county still has ONE drop box. Brewster County at 6100 sq mi is the largest county in TX. Not necessarily the most populated but that's a long distance to ride on horseback.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Dang, missed my chance to vote! (Would've went with B, for the record.)

    Joe puts together some great trade stacks - love that Permagraphics card. Not every day you see one of those thrown into a trade package! I found a bunch of those Diamond Greats from a vendor at my local flea market many years ago. It's a strange set, but I love it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love the simplicity of those Greats. Researching the set, I think it's not something realistic for me to chase. Also the fact the cards are often not quite the same size would make me nuts.

      Delete