No Blog? No Matter.

 I've received a few cards recently from non-blogging collectors. Alex emailed to say he had a special card for me but would say nothing more about it. I knew of him only from reading Gavin's blog:

http://baseballcardbreakdown.blogspot.com/2020/09/a-wale-of-tale-guest-post.html

He offered to include a Walewander mentioned in his guest post. To understand the story behind the card's inscription, check out the link above.

I wasn't turning down a Tiger auto. I offered a return trade but Alex does not have an interest in recent cards. 'Recent' is anything after the last Lance Johnson card in 2000 but mostly nothing later than 1988. He's been collecting minor league sets for 30 years. I'm sure he has some fine treasures within these sets.

The 89 Fleer Jim W auto arrived accompanied with a new Dutch for my collection! 

Wow. A Daulton from my TCDB wantlist and one I never expected to come across! Darren remains a fan favorite to this day. That he appeared in a 2002 set a few years after his retirement is no surprise. Now that he's passed, I hope he'll have another card or two in a fan-favorites type tribute. 

Thank you, Alex! What a thoughtful surprise!

While watching the World Series, I took time to go through full galleries of a few sets on TCDB: all years of Stadium Club, 1983 Fleer and 1993 Upper Deck. I built quite a wantlist this way. I have no desire to complete these sets but have been drawn to many of the Fleer and UD cards, thanks to our bloggers! Fred Pike, my pal north of the border, hooked me up with a nice batch of Upper Deck. 

Cracked and broken bats:

Floaters:

The next four are beauties. I love the long dugout shot behind Deer. Both men seem to be unaware of the camera, minds on the game. Gladden of course, is in a throwback uni. Both cards represent the 'reflective' part of my baseball card collection. 

Portugal with a sucker, in shades and signing a mitt - all while wearing a fantastically colorful warm-up jacket! I wouldn't have given two cents for this card in 93! I'm proud to say I've matured as a collector. Knorr of course, is adorning himself with gear in another grand dugout shot.

The next two cards are going into my 'fan shots' stack, headed for a binder spot. Crowd reactions are especially entertaining to me. Lacking the appearance of strong interference, I think perhaps the home team was batting. Any thoughts on this? It's hard to determine by the crowd's apparel, lacking in team colors. It's possible the Reds are playing the Padres as I spy a cap with 'S' and a partial 'res' on a shirt.

I'm adding my full wantlist for both UD and Fleer to my set help tab. Perhaps some of you have these laying around?? 

Thanks to both of you gentlemen! You may not blog but your presence in the blog community is noted and greatly appreciated!

I spend less on new product every year. Heritage and Stadium Club may see a few of my dollars in 2021 but discovering sets like 93 Upper Deck delight me. I'm paying attention to your posts and shares, and watching my wantlist grow. At least I have someone to blame.

The past couple of months have found me less interested in chasing new product. I don't feel like I'm in a hobby funk only that my interests are changing. I've also picked up an old friend which is taking time away from cards - my guitar.  At one time, I was a fairly decent strummer.  It's been a few years now since I played. Certainly sounds like it too. If you see a bit less of me over the next month, don't be alarmed. I'm having a six-string affair. 

Welcome to the Bo-Show!

Not Jackson. The other Bo. The one that matters.

Most of you are aware that Bo Rozny won the Cracked Bat Ballot Box contest in November. He racked up a lot of extra votes with his mail-in bribes ballots. Who says you can't vote more than once? Not a single fraudulent mail-in ballot was received at Cracked headquarters.

October brought in the PWEs like fall puts leaves on your lawn. Every couple of days I'd find Bo's return address on my mail. There were cards featuring PC boys:

Set help for 2002 UD World Series Heroes:

I left the hobby in 2002 so missed out on these beauties. I'd like to have the first 90 cards from the set and still need 60. Hint Hint.  I love the red, white and blue design and pinstriped background.  These will look nice in my RW&B collection. Bo loves his Yankees as you may have noticed 3 of the 4 cards are Bronx Bombers. 

1999 Fleer Tradition:

There's an obvious bat-theme here. I'll be adding more cards from this set to my wantlist. Fleer made great photography choices in 98 and 99.  I'd buy a box now if 'bricking' weren't a concern. Have any of you opened product from 98 or 99 without this issue? Early to mid-90s are a no-bust for me.

Staying with the bat-theme, here's an excellent lot of 70s vintage. A couple were doctored up by a previous owner but we can overlook that. 1971 Clendenon features only one bat but catches him seemingly unaware of the camera. I like shots like this. 

A slew of Tiger vintage featuring greats like Lolich, McLain and Cash:

Bo remembered my love for 70s baseball and catchers with more 73s:

I'd love to one day complete a set from the early 70s. I love 72 and 75 the most but know they can be buggers to finish. While it holds many great cards like those shown above, the 1970 design bores me a little, and 71 is gorgeous but has those tough black borders. 1973 has a classy design with so many wonderful photo choices. I toy with the idea. Bo's already made a dent in it for me! I already own nice copies of Aaron and Clemente.  The Schmidt rookie will be the big one as well as a mint copy of card number one featuring Ruth, Aaron and Mays. How hard is a 73 build? Do tell.

I'm gonna miss election season. We may have to do this again in four years' time!