Hey Blogger! Javascript This!

 It's my little way of saying 'stick it'! I'm unable to make the Pick Pockets page tab live.  The tab is updated but you can't see it. Blogger is aware of the javascript error 'void'.  This means you can't see:

You also don't see:

There should be no need to define a regular reader. I've noticed well-timed comments on a couple of posts each time cards are picked. This does not make the picker a regular reader.  Please don't email to ask if I mailed cards to you as disappointment will ensue. 

I've sent cards to this person a few times, receiving a thank you only once when I asked him to acknowledge receipt. He found my blog by searching for free baseball cards. Wow. Who knew? Maybe we should all give that a try!

And there's this:

Email your address if we have never traded. No email, no cards. Hmmm. Another reason you did not receive your picks. I enjoy being generous but it's time to say 'no'. Boundaries are healthy - like broccoli.

So thanks to all of  you who do read, comment and trade with me. Pick Pockets are for you. We'll have another edition around Thanksgiving. The Ballot Box contest took up a bit of my time. I've taken a small break this week to do as little as possible in the evenings but will be around soon to visit your blogs. 

The Buck Stops Here with Ringside Seats

I have a couple of trade pals north of the border. One of these fine gentlemen runs Sportscards From the Dollar store: http://buckstorecards.blogspot.com/ .  I get a bit of my hockey fix from Doug's blog.  I have no valid reason to collect hockey cards. If I had time to enjoy a second sport, hockey would be my choice, with curling as a third. I hate ice. I don't like it in my water, on my car or the road. Doug's sent Blackhawks in the past, trying to pull me into the trap but his most recent mailer contained zero ice.

There were a nice assortment of Tigers as always. This batch of vintage is divine! OPC Horton is a true beauty!

This package contained a thoughtful, personal touch. Doug knows I'm an Okie - from OKC, not Muskogee which is a couple hours east.  He picked out a few Sooners to help me feel a bit closer to home.

1970 OPC!!

Granville Liggins?  Born in the Big T - Tulsa Town, an OU grad once drafted by the Detroit Lions no less.  A  right defensive tackle, Gran played with Calgary from 68-72. This one time Okie felt at home in Calgary, thinking it so much like his beloved Oklahoma that he became a Canadian citizen.  Perhaps the land in Calgary is flat?  Longer winters than I already experience in MI do not leave me longing to move even further north. Maybe I'll get to Calgary one day to form my own opinion.

Sometime ago, I commented on Doug's blog about my 80s interest in pro-wrestling. My sis was a big fan so I kinda got sucked into taking her downtown every month when the UWF came through.  Tickets were cheap so we always sat somewhere in the first five rows by the ring.  I was naive and quiet, and not much for fighting.  Chairs flying, bleeding foreheads, the figure four moves - I must've been there for the guys. We both were. We were fans of two tag teams - Rock n Roll Express and The Fantastics.  I was a big Tommy Rogers fan, the dark headed half of The Fantastics.

Upper left: Bobby Fulton   Bottom right: Tommy Rogers
Flanked by the Express, Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson
courtesy of googly images

After one show, these tuxedo clad men headed up to Tulsa for a match the next day. My sis and I decided it would be fun to tail their limo up the the highway into far north OKC.  We weren't the only girls with the same idea but happened to be directly behind them.  Their car pulled over into a lot just before entering the turnpike. Seems they wanted a moment with their adoring fans. Actually the blond Bobby Fulton did. Tommy behaved. I know because Bobby waved us over to the limo. He pulled my sis into the car and immediately put his hand up her shirt for ..well you know.  At that point, she was done.  I don't think we ever went to another match after that. We were both a bit disillusioned. Well, at least my Tommy behaved.

Doug included this way cool Leaf auto of Robert Gibson which brought back a lot of memories from those limo chasing days of the 80s.

I'm still not sure where all the time goes. Over 30 years have passed since we stood on the highway peering into that limo but the memories are vivid. I think we've aged a fairly well, all things considered, maybe better than these fellows. Robert is now partial owner of a deep-see fishing tour in Alabama. Ricky operates a wrestling 'School of Morton.'  My Tommy died in 2015, for reasons undisclosed.  A web search reveals Bobby is now a born-again Christian, groping bibles in lieu of boobies.

Thank to Doug for taking me back 30 plus years. Those were innocent times in my life. I'm still a bit naive but that's ok with me.

PSA: Adding a Big One to the Collection

Today's PSA goes out to a couple of bloggers I intended to thank in my previous post. Matt with Diamond Jesters offered recommendations for the Lenovo I was pursuing regarding the drive and processor.  Steve at 1975 Baseball Cards and I exchanged several emails with tips to modify pre-installed software and walk me through some techy steps over my head.  Thanks much guys! What an awesome community we have! I'm grateful to be included among this group!

Gainfully employed again, it's safe to spend a bit more freely. Though I'll be making less, the benefits of  working so close to home freed up funds!  I'll use less than 5 gallons of gas per month! I was filling up 4-5 times monthly at an average of $40 per! A card I once thought unobtainable is now a permanent resident! No sense in dragging out this announcement.  Please meet Mr. Tiger, Al Kaline  in his 1954 Topps card debut:

BOTH SIDES NOW

It isn't perfect, which would truly make this card impossible on my budget. The number of graded cards I own can be counted on Three Finger Brown's right hand. The card being graded gave me confidence to know this Kaline is authentic...and the price was right!

It presents well with no creasing plus good centering and color.  While not PSA, SGC is a well respected vintage grading company. Most importantly, I look at this card and see Mr. Tiger in all his youthful glory, hitting and fielding his way to the Hall of Fame. It's a sweet addition. Only three Topps cards from his playing days are missing from the PC: 56, 66 and 75.  The 71 needs replacing.

 ***

While I have your attention, I want to show off another addition  - this one to my bookcase. It's a rare occasion when Ty Cobb isn't the main focus of my Tiger collection.

A VERY AGREEABLE COBB

This man says yes to everything I ask. What gal wouldn't like that? I can't however, get him to put the bat down. His closest neighbor is the amiable James McCann so I don't foresee a rumble in the night. Although, even a polite and quiet Honus Wagner once busted Cobb in the mouth!     

Thanks for reading!        

TCB On the TCDB

Let's breathe a little life into this blog while the time is available! I've stopped, started, and edited this post  several times. While I've had a new Lenovo laptop for nearly a month, until two days ago it hadn't worked properly. The first week, it wouldn't stay connected to wireless while running on battery power, even after modifying battery settings to maximum performance. I worked with a Lenovo tech who reinstalled the Realtek wireless driver. My problems were solved for about three days.

Windows did an update which corrupted the Chrome browser and created other issues within the machine. I decided to reset the machine to an earlier date. I only had two choices so used the later date with the working wireless. The machine crashed. It would not reboot into Windows, only the blue screen of death. I'd invested a lot of time and money in this laptop and wanted to cry.  I had only one option - reset it to factory mode. This worked but then just a few days later, the wireless problem started again.  Reinstalling the driver didn't work this time. I got online and found a more recent version of the driver and installed it myself a couple days ago. This laptop is finally working as it should.

And I will be too - beginning Monday!  I HAVE A NEW JOB! FOUR MILES FROM HOME! Within two hours of interviewing Tuesday, I had an offer.  I'll be working for a company that applies protective coating to metal components, mostly for autos. The office is small, no more than five persons at any given time. It's just what I'd hoped to find: 8-4:30 with an eight mile round trip commute. No busy roads or stoplights.  NO TRAFFIC!

So what have I been doing? I began this post on January 20th with these stats:

Although the login was created in 2018, I only set up my profile over the summer. I began inventory of my earliest binders in early January. Most contain cards from my hobby beginnings in the 90s with some 80s oddballs too. Adding these quickly boosted my numbers. I also took time to edit prices for many cards, lowering them somewhat. I began a wantlist after discovering some sets missing fewer than 10 cards, a few sets - only one.  How did I let this go for decades?

One thing leads to another. I went poking around, learning to navigate the site when I came across Features:

I just had to click on games. Mistake.  Within one singular minute, I was lost in Card Battles:

Faced with a nice Bowman challenge, choosing one over the other with nearly endless combinations, I lost a full hour of data entry right there. I finally extracted myself from this game but saw another link for Card-ology.  For freakin' Fleer's sake.

Recognize any of these top TCDB gamers?  My guess is they're also without full time work.
Since my last day on the job, I've boosted my numbers greatly:

Altuve and Old Ty are by far, my largest player collections. They share a 3000 count box which is nearly full. I'm saving them for last as a kind of 'reward' for my hard work, which is the reason these two vastly different men do not appear in the player list.

1994 ranks highest on this list because that year sucked my wallet dry. I came into the hobby in the fall of '93.  In '94, I thought I needed to buy every product that came out.

Though players were sorted into PCs, I had no idea which cards were owned or needed. I have been greatly impressed by the lack of dupes found while sorting cards by year and set. It is MY memory we're talking about here!  Here's one of the completely sorted and entered boxes:

While there are smaller spots for Brett, Eckersley and others, I do not intentionally add to these collections. If I come across an appealing card, it goes into the box.  At one time, Catalanotto held a larger place but I've kept only ten of the 100+ cards original to my collection. These smaller lots are denoted by 'all' on the yellow tag.  HOFers are noted as such by their name.  Cards are sorted by year, and set. All are soft sleeved, with loaders reserved for vintage, relics, autos, refractors or numbered cards.

The old laptop worked well on the database, for that I was grateful.  I couldn't upload photos with it or surf the internet at any great length. Blog reading was difficult because pictures wouldn't load, there or on most sites in general. It's still good for a mindless game of Zuma or Peggle.

Thanks for your support and encouragement these past two months. I won't lie. Being off all this time has been nice. Retirement will be sweet some day, ten years from now.  Just maybe, by then, I'll have Altuve and Cobb in TCDB!

Who Needs A Catchy Title: a P-Town Post

This blog would never stoop to puns and word play. I don't have it in me. It would require effort on my part. Dang. I'm lazy. So lazy that I quit my job Friday, three days early. I still gave a full two weeks notice with Feb 1 as my last day.  I plan to spend the next couple of weeks with my feet propped on the desk, nail file in hand.

True story: A new hire with previous experience joined my group the week before Christmas. We had a team meeting to discuss what her responsibilities would entail. Right there in front of her co-workers and our manager, she actually said - and I quote: that's not convenient for me.  Pin drop. WHO DOES THIS?  Manager smiles and keeps talking. How does this go without a comment of some sort? Not even  'we can talk about this later'?  Well...working with you is not convenient for me. Three different team members at three different times have told her to remove the staples before running a copy. Her document kept jamming. Really? Just what is it she has experience doing?

I'm leaving gracefully, on my terms with a little help from Cubbie man, P-Town Tom.

The good Mr. Olson has always kept me stocked with my birthdate-mate Mark and the forever young Sandberg. Ryne is no help here however, in action as I sit pondering my upcoming unemployment. Such a showy second baseman. A tux Ryno? Who you tryin' to impress?

Tom picked up these shiners from a local fire sale. Bragging of his limited availability, Altuve says he's numbered out of 99.  Be humble, little man.  

P-town packages include a nicely written note on a page from a HOF daily calendar. I've wanted one of these for a couple years but wouldn't you know I'd find out about them just when they're no longer in print. Supplementing the note are the team of 61 Post Yost and Burnside. Never heard of this Ty Cobb fellow. 

I'm not sure why I ever began collecting backstops in gear, dressed in their Sunday best. Looking over their cards, I'm severely overcome with the need to nap. Exhausting. Go get that ball guys . I'll just watch from here.

This is just too much. Back in the binder boys. Enough exercise for one day! 

Tom, thanks for these fanatic catcher additions. I'm topped with backstops 1980 and later.  The boys on 92 Score made the design pop. I had to seek out a complete set. 

Keep sending those positive vibes my way! I'm soon without a job, no health insurance. I've been applying around the web. Perhaps I'd improve my chances by taking 'lazy' off the resume. That would require some effort on my part so, nah.

The Quinn Essential Collection

I get a surprise package a couple times yearly from the mysterious Mr. Quinn, non-blogger, non-tweeter. It's harder for me to reciprocate as he collects players I don't find as easily or often: Alex Gordon, Mark Ellis, Hideki Matsui, Zito, Cespedes and good old deceased Billy Martin.  My return packages are always half the size. Folks should be trading with him! He is unbelievably generous. I just can't tell you how to reach him.

Here's a SMALL sampling of cards from the past year.  Jackie Robinsons are always included, even subtly with other players in 42 jerseys.

Tiger cubs sprinkled throughout. In this case a nice blue graph on 2017 Contenders. Not to imply the Tigers are contenders...

The quiet man knows my fondness for the Blackhawks - their jersey in particular. The OPC design featuring Kero is awesomely retro!! Cards like this make me want to add another sport to my inventory.  If you must send these, how can I refuse? Your feelings are important!

Tek-nicolor and gold abound:

Always the shiny stuff:

Always something a bit older than me. [Don't argue. The 1973 date on this card is a misprint.]

These arrived not long ago...cell photos here so quality isn't as nice but oh, the variety is! Shine on, shine on...

Vintage in delightful condition. Please pardon the glare on Eddie's forehead. He forgot his hat.

Hints of Jackie with this good-looking manu-relic.

What's this glorious beast from the Topps Vault? Anyone? I know it's a legit blank back from Topps but I found no place to research the serial number from the card back.

All of this is cardboard at its best, loved and appreciated. Choosing favorites among these children is no simple task but as any good parent must do, the decision was made. POSTERS FROM 1998 SPORTS ILLUSTRATED! Now I know what you're thinking.  These are older than me too. Shucks guys, you are sooo kind.  The only thing I have in common with these are the deep creases right across the middle - of my forehead.

This magical shot of Piazza should've been on cardboard. 

I don't know when I'll hear from Q again. If he happens to read this post then THANK YOU!  Once again, you've added some essentials to my PCs.  I'll never be able to trade with you at this level but will continue to boast of you here!

I QUIT!

Eighteen posts in 2018.  What a year for poor time management.  It feels that way although I know I'm not completely to blame. I traded actively throughout the year but spent little time organizing my collection or being present on the blogs. It's made me sad on more than one occasion.

What will change this year? What can I do differently that will allow more time for the hobby and other worthwhile activities? Do I end all trading activity? Shut down the blog altogether?  Quit my job?

I'm making a positive change in life for 2019.  The answer is ... I quit!  I've shared on numerous occasions that my job responsibilities have become ridiculous: more work for fewer people with an accelerated completion time. The managing partners should stick to what they do best - bring in the business. When they are so out of touch with the processes that complete their client's work it's not long before a collapse. I do not intend to be around for the inevitable.

2000 USPS postcards Cobb and Cochrane
1975 TCMA Colavito and Kuenn
courtesy of my Canadian friend, Fred Pike

I've been off work since Friday, Dec 21st and return tomorrow. This weekend, I applied for a couple of positions locally, both outside the tax business line, that would shave off more than 20 of the current 30 mile one-way commute. Living in the country means most work out this way pays a LOT less. I'm also over-qualified for these positions. I hope to find new work before March 1st because I will not be there on the 2nd - no matter what.

The improvements a change like this would bring are many. Working only 15 minutes from home adds nearly two hours to my day.  A tank of gas will last three times as long. There will be time for little league games, the hobby and most importantly, relationships - friends and family! Blogging?? I'd like to believe weekly posts [for the first time ever] are a real possibility! Ultimately, a new job will greatly decrease the stress I'm under 40+ hours per week. No more tax deadlines.

The downside is the large salary cut I'll be taking.  There won't be a lot leftover for the hobby. Dime boxes will be my besties for sometime to come. My want/wishlist will grow.  In anticipation of these changes, I'm moving towards PWE trades. I've been doing this with Canadian friends for a couple months now.  12-15 cards per envelope is affordable and working well.

Now with all this time off work, you'd think there'd be time for the blog and hobby. I took the down time to step away from the internet a bit; read a couple books and hang out with friends. I spent three days in Northern Michigan, in the Gaylord area. Only over the past three days have I taken time to begin the long overdue card organization. I finally compiled a list of all binder sets - and labeled the binders! Some are short only 2 to 5 cards and have been added to my current set needs. Crazy how I could need only one or two cards from mid-90s sets!  I will continue to eliminate cards from my collection via 3D posts [Dupe Dump or Dwindle] or possibly as giveaways. My house is not growing, even with all the rain. No new space but more efficient use of the space I have, is the solution.

A few featured here are various Kay-Bees, 89 Ames, 1990 Topps Magazine, 87 Hostess Whitaker, 90 BBC mag Biggio
also from Fred - thanks friend!

2019 is hopeful as most new years' are. I have the power to make this change in life. How about you? Are you also making big changes or looking for new opportunities in 2019?  Many wishes for a positive and blessed new year for all of you. Thank you for sticking around, even when I'm not here.

3D ROUND FOUR WRAP with a Visit from Krukberry

Who wins the Gwynns? Round four of Dupe, Dump or Dwindle featured cards from my diminishing collection of this HOFer. Diminishing is not to say dumping.  I'll be honest, and not because my posts are usually filled with atrocious lies because that just isn't true.

Going over my collection, I initially considered dumping him. Gwynn is greatly deserving of recognition but one day may be relegated to a binder page which I'd consider a dump. I simply was not ready to dump him. It felt wrong. It also felt silly to feel wrong about dumping him, even a touch guilty. Perhaps that has do with his premature death. I seem to enjoy collecting mostly the deceased and elderly.

HEADSTONE

A new commenter, Trevor of Bump and Run Football Card Blog was the only one to guess DUMP. I was actually glad to see this guess because one day it will be correct. I do have some good names hitting the dump pile; small PC collections started but never pursued.

A card kept - 94 Fleer All Star

This 3D round was a dwindle. I kept 50 Gwynns, with the remainder going to a new home. We had four correct guesses before comments were closed. These fine gentleman are:  reader Fred Pike, Dimebox Nick, defgav and Jafronius.

Before the winner is revealed - of course you won't jump ahead, will you? - I have a late trade flash. I found a nice little scan buried in my email FROM JANUARY!! Oh the shame. Mr. Peter Steinberg of Baseball Every Night, All the Freakin' Time sent a nice little envelope of Heritage from my wantlist and included A DEAD GUY! See, Steiny knows me!

2003 Heritage

DEAD GUY

{Fleer put out a nice product. Well maybe not ALL the time but Greats and Fall Classic are pretty sweet.}

My dearest Krukberry, thanks for keeping me as a trade pal. I'm addled - er - grateful!

*****

I've kept you waiting long enough, nearly three weeks actually! Our good friends at Random.org have made a decision on my behalf. Four correct comments mean four times around - and away we go!

Jafronius! Jafronius, as long as the link on your blog is correct you'll receive an email from me. If you don't want these cards then Tony goes to defgav.

The next round of Dupe, Dump or Dwindle will feature one of the Bash Brothers.

ALIVE AND WELL