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! 

Bo Stuffs the Ballot Box

It's hard to avoid election talk. Concerns over absentee ballots and currently slowed mail service have a lot of us voicing our opinions.  I'm here to tell you, someone is out there stuffing the ballot box. I've been the recipient of several bribe attempts recently, with three of these stuffed envelopes coming from our own Bo Rozny, Baseball Cards Come to Life!

With three elections rounds and three envelopes, Bo is leading with six votes. Voting is about to ramp up too because I have stuff to move. I don't foresee Bo missing an opportunity to cast his A or B vote!

I'm not a difficult bribe either. Card from my wantlist are like cash. Here are a few of the bills I found in these envelopes.  Set help for 2011 Lineage and 2013 Topps 72 Minis! These were listed on my Send Help tab. Bo pays attention!  In case I wasn't aware Bo was hitting up my wantlist, he included the Ripken as a big fat hint.

Three of my favorite HOFers!  While I'm not actively pursuing cards for these PCs, new additions to their collections are always welcome! 1995 Stadium Club and 1993 SP were two of my favorite rips in the 90s.  SP was one of my first set builds. I still think it's one of the more beautiful sets from that decade.

2002 Upper Deck World Series Heroes - I love the red white and blueness of the design and the generous use of foil. Backs feature a World Series game stat. Hard to beat the checklist too. With 180 cards, it would appear I have a looong way to go. These three bring my total to 27 cards.  I'm only interested in the first 90 so it's nearly 1/3 complete!

I'm also dabbling in subsets. You would think some much easier to complete than others. I've been battling to find 1991 Score Dream Team cards. Score!?!?  I still need the Alomar, card 887.  All 90s Score Dream Teams and Studio Heritage are going into a small binder together. I can't begin to guess how many of  the DTs I gave away in Salvation Army donations.

I like the overall design of 76 & 79 Topps but only want a few special cards from each year. These include The Sporting News All-Time All Stars  and All-Time Record Holders subsets. Is this too much to ask? Bo didn't think so.  As I'm writing this, Lou Brock has just passed at 81 years of age. Rest in Peace, Lou. Thank you for the memories of a wild 1968 World Series!

Cards near and dear to my heart - OKC 89ers!

A sweet vintage Blackhawk from 76-77 Topps! I like this design. The team name is bold and bright against the white background. WHITE.  Topps just can't let a good thing be.

Bo, thank you for the mail-in votes!!  It's fun adding these totals to my spreadsheet! Good luck on Election Day!

Folks, remember your name will be added to the Great Randomizer equivalent to the number of times you voted. Every vote counts.

CANDIDATE A

Our most recent candidates A) 2019 Optic and B) Contenders Draft Picks were not the match I'd hoped. Shiny Optic won this round 12-6. What this means is only 18 people voted.  Hate to see folks missing opportunities but it does increase the odds that a regular reader will take home the Ballot Box!

I'm gathering new candidates for the next round. Do I hear the sound of ripping in a winner's future?

Bo Knows

I fully enjoy blind trades but appreciate a fellow collector who takes the time to go over the want ads. This can be a challenge, especially when the prospective recipient has a long and very detailed list or spreadsheet with several tabs.  I have trouble reading small print anyway.  It's the 'in my face with your highly organized collection'  moments I find difficult.  

Bo Rozny is one of those guys.  A real Mr. Organization.  I hope to be like him some day, minus the Mister parts.  He found some cards missing from my list of completed Tiger team sets then blessed me with many new additions:

2001 UD Vintage

 During Upper Deck's we will use Topps copyrighted designs period, they put out some really great stuff!  The Vintage release made for some good-looking cardboard.

2006 and 2011 Bowman Heritage

2001 Bowman Heritage

We should wonder why there's no current Bowman Heritage product available with so many new years available now for reprinting.  I'll likely regret that comment in days to come.

BO hit my PCs too:

94 Pinnacle, 2001 UD Evolution, 2002 Fleer Maximum, 2015 GQ

After opening what was easily a case of these, I still love the look of 94 Pinnacle.  Their Dufex Museums were a great chase.   A nice grouping of Piazzas!

Included in the box were at least 50 Masterpieces from 2008.  Looks like I'll have to put the set together now.  Bo insists.

There were two more special cards, both from 1994.  This package from Bo arrived just a short time before Darren passed.

Bo knows baseball cards come to life.  Thanks to cardboard, Darren lives on.    Check out BO's blog for a look at where former players are today.

Posting Issues

Yeah, I've had them.  Catching up isn't easy when you're months behind sharing the goodness of others.  And today, we are doing a little bit of that!  This post features first time trades with a few of our blogger friends.  Months have passed since receiving most of these cards. What better way to say thanks to these Firsters than allowing the scans to yellow with age!

Let me preface this trade with I don't collect hockey.   I was drawn to the Blackhawks Indian logo by chance, just a few months ago and couldn't put it out of my head.  It is quite simply - beautiful art! My Native American heritage at one time called me to collect the old Goudeys.  My stupidity allowed me to sell my collection of these beauties 15 years ago.  So how now, to have a bit of cardboard history in the way of the original Americans?   Baseball Cards Come To Life - Bo Rosny took care of the problem with these:

The color did not come through with my phone as I was between  scanners at the time.  These cards show off the logo!  At some point, I'll likely own a long sleeved-shirt or jersey for the winter months, which in MI is Sept-June.   Thanks Bo!!!

D'back Daniel dropped a mailer on me that included some set needs and a couple of parallels.  Who says no to this??

Highlights of Card Shop Goodness

Oooo, pretty cards include a 2015 Chrome Sepia McCann and 2016 Heritage Chrome Fulmer RC.  He's one of the few Tigers having a good year.  I say we lose this guy!  He's much too good for us. Sell Sell Sell while we Tank Tank Tank.   Daniel, you'll have a return package soon!

GCRL may have forgotten about the fat little envelope he sent me.  If not, he may think that I did. But here's proof of my appreciation:

Jim sent a great batch of Gibbys and attractive parallels! Oh the woes of F-Rod!  He and Miggy look much better on these cards than in their recent performances!  The F'er is gone but Miggy remains, along with  his salary.   Mig has shown signs of coming around only to commit another error, hit into a DP or strike out.  His frustration shows.  Many Tiger fans wonder if his struggles are injury related or perhaps stress caused by fear and uncertainty for the safety of his family in Venezuela.  Jim, there's a return in the works!  Thanks for your patience!

Along with March came a friendly pwe from Oscar - not the grouch - the other Oscar, All Trade Bait All the Time!  He sent an Aloha  with a nice grouping of Tigers:

My first JaCoby Jones RC!   He's a young fellow with some potential, traded from the Pirates for Joakim Soria, and from my home state of Oklahoma, in a little town just outside OKC,  Chickasha - Chik-ah-shay  that's how we Okies pronounce it.  In his first MLB plate appearance, JaCoby hit a three-run homer against the White Sox becoming the first Tiger rookie to hit an Opening Day homer since Kirk Gibson in 1980.   With that began the JaCoby fever of which many Tiger fans and card collectors still suffer .  I tend to steer away from prospecting therefore appreciate having this card sent to me!  Oscar,  Aloha!   You'll be hearing from me!

A more recent package was received as a thank you from Now and Zen's Doe.  I sent her a box of Cubs and White Sox as a welcome to the blogs.  {Fortunately, she collects these teams!}  There were no expectations for a return package but she filled that little box up and sent it back to me.  I found mostly Tigers along with a few hits on my PCs:

CAM and BIGGS

1994 Score with a Gold Rush parallel

2017 Opening Day

Doe had a few fun cards available which I'd mentioned liking.  She put all of them in the box - Posey and Altuve among the mascots! Thanks so much for the trade.  We'll do it again!

It feels good to share - or more specifically- to be organized enough to share these great trades.  This post had its own issues:

I must be held.  No Exceptions!