A Cracked Bat Ballot Box: Where Your Vote Counts!

I hate what has become of modern politics. No matter how great you believe your candidate to be, he or she is still quite human. Politicians aren't perfect and many, deeply flawed.  As this election year ramps up, we will hear a lot of ugliness, and maybe some debate. Tuesday, November 4th won't get here quickly enough for many of us.  To take some focus off our political frustrations, I thought it might be fun to have a Collector's Choice election!

PRE-SHOW FUN

There will be two candidates to choose from each time A.C.B.B.B. presents a new election opportunity. It's entirely possible you won't like either candidate. Isn't that just like politics? If you want your vote to count, you will be forced to choose. Only one vote allowed per person per post. Each post will be open for at least two days.  Your comment to choose "a" or "b" is your vote.  I will randomly close voting on each post by commenting on said post. At that time, votes will be tallied. The winning item of that round will be placed into the ballot box. Each voter is added to voter registration. With the assistance of a non-partisan friend, I'll track voters and their choices with a spreadsheet. Please do not share a link on Twitter, Facebook, any blog, Instagram, Wet Noodle or any other form of social media. You are giving your vote away by doing so. I most want to see a regular reader win this box.

Mail in votes are allowed. Any trades RECEIVED between July 5th  and Nov 4th, Election Day count! An additional vote will be added to your vote totals. Please keep in mind, you are trusting your vote to the postal service. Any envelope or package MUST be in my mailbox no later than Tuesday, November 4th.

TRUST ABE

Our US Territories {including American Samoa, Puerto Rico, Guam, US Virgin and Northern Mariana Islands} have no congressional representation and cannot vote in the official US election. These residents not allowed to vote in the A.C.B.B.B. primaries. Disappointing for me since so many of my readers live in these remote locations. Although I cannot afford the expense of shipping to Canada or overseas, I would like to extend the opportunity to all my Canadian and overseas friends to vote in the primaries. In other words, foreign tampering with election results is allowed. Those votes won't be added to the final tallies but they can lobby for the item they'd like most to see win.

Let's fill the ballot box! On the evening of November 4th, each voter will be entered into the Great Randomizer the appropriate number of times. This number is equal to how many times you voted or sent trade mail. The list will be randomized several times - number to be announced prior to the event.  Our first place winner will take home the ballot box, filled with every winning item from the primaries! The first round of primaries will be live next Saturday.

What? You wanna know what kind of stuff is going into the box? I am 'cleaning house' so right now, I don't even know. There may be vintage cards. Small sets. Packs. Books. Baseballs. A blaster. Perhaps other sports as well. Whatever it takes to fill a medium to large flat rate priority box to capacity! I'm getting my money's worth out of shipping costs! Since you choose the contents, it won't be junk!

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!!

As you may have discerned from the photos, my July 4th evening is planned. I'll be outside, sharing loud works of fire with friends. It will be a noisy night but not at the same decibel levels an ear-drum-shattering evening with Kiss produced at Tiger Stadium.

COLLECTING UPDATE: and then there were four

It's a small and temporary victory! For at least the next 30 minutes, my sets and player collections are fully organized. With a few clicks on the Trading Card database, I can see exactly which cards are needed to complete sets or compliment current PCs.

Throughout the course of updating and organizing, I've made decisions which affect many PCs I enjoy. With space a consideration, I determined which collections were completed.  Unless a card is specifically on my Send Help tab, I am no longer adding cards to the following collections:

JEFF BAGWELL
CRAIG BIGGIO
KEN CAMINITI
MARK GRACE
TONY GWYNN
JAVY LOPEZ
GREG MADDUX
PAUL MOLITOR
MIKE PIAZZA
IVAN RODRIGUEZ
CAL RIPKEN
RYNE SANDBERG
OMAR VIZQUEL
ROBIN YOUNT
and CATCHERS in general.

I value my trade pals and realize these changes may make trading more difficult. Blinds trades have always been fun. I've attempted to keep the blog tab lists clean and legible, and most importantly - organized! I've parted with a few players along the way to make space for those which give me the most joy.  Booted were McGwire, Arod, Gonzalez, Palmeiro, Sosa. Among the heavily trimmed were: Bagwell, Biggio, Gwynn, Ivan Rodriquez, Michael Young, Frank Catalanotto, Greg Maddux, Javy Lopez, Omar Vizquel and Eddie Gaedel.

And then there were four...

I am still actively collecting Altuve, Daulton and Cobb. The Astros scandal saddened me greatly. Altuve's passion for the game, and the joy he brings to it, are what drew me back into collecting. The decision to continue collecting his cards took some reflection on my part. This Spring Training interview with Correa was a determining factor.  I don't believe Correa was completely open in his remarks regarding the  2018 season but his commentary to Ken Rosenthal regarding Altuve at the 3 and 11 minute marks made an impression on me.

2019 Heritage SP

Cobb was a man completely opposite in temperament; a fierce competitor. He comes from the Deadball Era, my favorite in baseball history. Players from this period lived hard-scrabble lives. Rarely did the game pay them a living wage. It was small ball, as homers were a rare occurrence in those days, long ago.

1961 Golden Press - my oldest Cobb

Darren Daulton was my first baseball 'love'.  I became a Phillies fan in 93 and still have a soft spot for them. By the time I discovered Daulton, he'd already been in the game several years. He retired after the 97 season. A bit of a wild child, Dutch settled into a quiet life in his last few years. I 'm not ashamed to say, I cried when he passed from brain cancer in August 2017.

1994 Fleer All Star

All cards needed or wanted for these collections can be found in my collection listed in the Trading Card Database, linked here to each name:

  Jose Altuve
  Ty Cobb  {yes, please send that T206, no reprints...lol}
  Darren Daulton

I'm also continuing to add Buster Posey. Cards I'd like to have are being added to the Quad Squad tab above. As for my catchers-in-gear collection, only cards  from 1974 and older  are being added to the binder.  If there is an exceptional new card such as this, then yes, I would love to have it:

2020 Heritage - how could I not like this card?

And of course, I have a bat collection! I like them floating, broken, racked and cracked:

Did I mention cuddled?

I love the seemingly quieter moments of the game most. These cards give me an odd inner peace. In the topsy-turvy world of today, I can look at cards like these for hours. There may also be more bats...

I'm adding more vintage these days, and these are not necessarily expensive cards. Here are a few I've picked up.

1967

1954

I am by no means a condition snob. If I'm going to spend the money however, I want clean, uncreased copies. I chose a unique vintage set for assembly - 1961 Fleer. I love the RW&B with stars design. I'm halfway through the set. These are not mint but fairly well centered with bright coloring. My copy of Gehrig is as nice as those below. I wanted you to see it on its own but managed to delete the original version of the scan while separating from these fellows. They represent the overall condition of my set build.

1961 FLEER

As for my small Blackhawk hockey collection, it's approaching completion as well. I would enjoy adding some refractors, a colorful patch, OPC and pre-1980 cards. I do have a list of cards in mind HERE. I just don't have room for a large hockey collection. Thanks to the generosity of my trade pals, hockey flowed into my home like flood waters for awhile.

I am still collecting Tigers. You can find these needs on the Uncaged Tiger tab. This list will be a continuous work in progress, regularly updated.

If you managed to read this far down the page, you deserve heads up on an upcoming contest which will require your participation throughout the summer and early fall. Yes, I do know how to drag something out. I recently decided to add tickets to each of my Picker Pals envelopes for a drawing later in the year. Johnny's Trading Spot spoiled my idea by coming up with it on his own. The nerve. ;)  He'll be doing this with his Big Fun Friday games.  Please, join him.  What does this mean then, you ask.

Stay tuned. The primaries are coming....