A new wing to my collecting home

 If you've read my blog at all, even just a little bit, it's not hard to figure out that I'm a lifelong Texas Rangers fan. All the way back to 1972 when they played their first game at the old Turnpike Stadium in Arlington, TX. The thing is, I'm not just a Rangers fan, I'm a baseball fan. 

I really like the history of the game. I love reading about the players from long ago. My favorite book so far, is 24: Life stories and lessons from the Say Hey Kid. If you like the history of the game, this is a great book to read. It covers his whole career and it's not just a stats book, but one full of stories. 

On my recent Fall break, I traveled to St. Louis and Cincinnati and was able to walk around their stadiums. I loved seeing the statues of the great players from each team. Some of my favorites from St Louis; Ozzie Smith, Stan Musial, Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, Enos Slaughter and from the St Louis Stars of the Negro League Cool Papa Bell. From Cincinnati, Pete Rose and Johnny Bench. 

Seeing the stadiums, the statues and remembering different players that I grew up watching play has added another wing to my collecting home. 

I've been collecting Topps sets from '72 to present. I collect some of my favorite players, Texas Rangers, Topps player runs from some of my favorites and the last couple of years I picked one or two insert sets to collect. I've also started doing Topps Heritage and the last two years I've added Stadium Club. That's more than enough to keep me busy, but NO! I've decided to add something else to my collection...I'm going to start picking some of my favorite players from each team and collect just one of their cards in that uniform. If I'm doing a Topps run of a player, they won't be included. This is just for those guys that I really like, but don't really collect. For example, I'm a really big Willie Mays fan, but only have a couple of his cards. I love Mickey Mantle and don't own a single one of his playing days cards. (Hopefully, that changes soon after Christmas.)

I'm not going to limit myself to just Topps and I'm not going to just do rookie cards either. I am going to try and pick a card from their playing days, but some will definitely be out of my price range. That being said, there are quite a few modern cards of some of the greats that I like and will fit my budget. I can always change out the cards I choose, but I'm keeping this as simple as I can.  

Some teams will have a bunch of players, while other teams not so much. As I write this my mind is wandering trying to think of any Miami Marlins that would make my list. Anyway, I think this will be fun. 

Hopefully, the first team that I choose will be posted soon. 

Well, I can't have a post about baseball cards and not post at least something that I've gotten recently. All 4 of these were picked up on Ebay. 

     

I've always liked the Topps Black Gold cards and how can you pass up two great rookies? Well, I couldn't.

     

Two more Corey Seager cards for the collection. The first one is is a 2016 Topps Update - Target Retail Exclusive Rookies and the second is a 2024 Topps Update Autumn Tales insert. I really love the Autumn Tales card because it captures one of the best moments ever in Rangers history. Seager's homer in the ninth to tie Game 1 of the World Series and the emotion he showed is priceless to this Rangers fan. I could watch that replay everyday. 

I guess that's it for this post and it didn't take a month to happen! 

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31

Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner!

 If you've read my blog, you know that I like to watch YouTube videos on the hobby. I don't watch breaks because all they do is make me wonder how come I never pull cards like that! 

I don't watch all those "influencers" trying to create demand on certain cards. 

I do watch "Chasing Cardboard" where Ty Wilson goes around the country buying collections. I do get a little jealous of some of their purchases, but then I think, "Dude, you don't have that kind of money to spend on cards." and I get over it. 

I do like to watch "Showcase Showdown" where two collectors,  Mike Moynihan and Chris from Missouri compare their vintage collections of Hall of Fame players. The one drawback is that they are all about the grade. It makes the video work, but I'm not into graded cards. (Side note: I'm always pulling for Chris to win. Sorry Mike!)

I watch a couple of other ones, Graig Miller on MidLife Sports Cards and Mike on Junk Wax Hero. I watch these two when they are answering viewer questions or giving some info on vintage cards. 

So what does my YouTube habit have to do with Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner? Well, I found another YouTuber who posted a video on the passing of Pete Rose that I really agreed with so, I started following his videos. Brent Richards is a fellow Texan who roots for that other team in the state. He started creating videos about 3 months ago. He's an eclectic collector and has some pretty cool stuff. Anyway, he decided to do a giveaway and I won! 

I thought I'd share what I got.

I have no idea what I'm going to do with this. It's cool and I've become more of Jeter fan with listening to him during World Series broadcasts, but still don't know what to with it. 

     

This is a cool Ruth and Maris card commemorating Maris surpassing Ruth's record. I love the back of the card showing them looking out and their images in the sky. Cool card.

You can never go wrong with Nolan Ryan card. Especially one with him holding a Bo Jackson card. 

This is a post card from the Baltimore Orioles. Loved the way Cal played the game. I would say that I'm a fan, I just don't have a lot in my collection. Pretty sure that I'm going to frame this and hang it on the wall.

     

1984 hand-cut from the '84 All-Star program Don Mattingly with George Bell on the back. I never liked the Yankees and really didn't like my Rangers playing against Don Mattingly. I don't think Mattingly gets the props he deserves. He was really good and did it quietly. George Bell, meh...No disrespect intended because just making to the Show, means you can play and I know he had a decent career, but to me he was just another player. 

Bowman's Best Barry Bonds commemorating 756 home runs. I'm still unsure of where I stand on Bonds. No doubt he was using steroids and that was wrong so that puts me on being out. However, he still had to hit the ball which was no easy task. I don't know that I'll ever make up my mind on him. I would have to say right now, that I'm out. 

The first two slabbed cards in my collection. I'm not sure what to do with them. I really like both cards. but not a fan of the slabs. Thought seriously of cracking them, but then wavered because...I don't know, just don't know if it's the right thing to do. 

A complete set of 2000 Upper Deck One for the Ages. Not something I would have in my collection if not winning it in this giveaway. Pretty cool. This will go in my subset collection. 

This is actually a picture of Pudge Rodriguez and Juan Gonzalez looking out the window of the team bus that Brent took and made into a card. It's #2 of 5. I like that he's got his own logo in his card holder. Maybe Dillard's Dugout needs some of those. 

This card was in the giveaway in honor of Pete Rose and his passing. It was pretty fitting as it was Brent's video on Pete that connected us. 

This is the card in the giveaway that I really wanted. I have not ever ordered a Topps Now and have only picked up a small handful of the cards, but this one I wanted. I think this is a great card to remember the 2024 season. 

Thanks again Brent for the giveaway!

It only took me a month to write this. Unbelievable. Life has got to slow down a bit so I can do this more often. 

Peace, 

Michael 

Isaiah 40:31

Ramblings of an old baseball card collector

Some random thoughts...

* It feels good to get back to writing again. I don't know how frequent it will be, but at least its a start. I'm slowly getting everything in order. 

* Well, my Texas Rangers didn't make the playoffs, didn't even reach a .500 season, but we're still 2023 World Series Champions. 

* As busy as life has been I've been able to keep acquiring cards thanks to Ebay and Facebook claim sales. 

      

* So sad about the passing of Pete Rose. If ever there was a player who deserved the HOF it was Pete. I was never a big Rose fan, but I respected the player and how he played the game. I would love to get a little Charlie Hustle in my players today. You will be missed Pete.

* One more comment on Rose, It would almost seem like a slap in the face if they were to Pete Rose in the Hall now. Wait till he passes to put him in just so he doesn't get to experience it? Seems pretty petty to me. 

* A good thing, I guess, is that I've got 3 or 4 ideas for posts on my blog. I've just got to find the time to write them. 

* Excited about my Rangers in 2025. Wyatt Langford, Kumar Rocker, Jack Leiter, and the return of Evan Carter and Josh Jung to go with Marcus Semien and Corey Seager. It should be fun!

* I'm actually writing this in my hotel room in St, Louis, MO. I got the chance to see the outside of Busch Stadium. I love the statues outside the stadium. 

* Shout out to my friend Johnny's Trading Spot for his random act of kindness of Rangers cards!

  
 

Thanks for helping out with the Rangers collection!

* The problem with acquiring cards over a period of time and not doing anything with them is that you get piles and piles of cards. Piles and piles of cards means a lot of time going through and organizing and storing or displaying. There are a lot of worse problems to have!

I guess that's it for now. Hopefully, I will be back soon. 

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31

An Update on this blogger's life and collection

 Obviously, it's been awhile since I posted an update. There has been a job change that has really taken all of my spare time. I'm still teaching a special education math class, but I've added the responsibility as the head baseball coach. 

About 5 years ago I volunteered to help coach the JV team because the JV coach was in the National Guard and was going to be training for a month right in the middle of the season. I coached a couple of games with him before he left and coached 2 games by myself before COVID shut us down. 

When we came back in August for the next school year, the same coach told us that he was going to be deployed for the year starting in September. Once again, I volunteered. This time it stuck. 

I have been the head JV coach and the varsity assistant for the last 5 years. One week before teachers were to report for this school year, the head coach was stepping aside to focus his time on his own family and I was asked to be the head coach.

It really was by default. By this point, there were no teaching positions available at the school to bring someone on board and there really wasn't another person to do it. 

All of that to say, that I'm extremely excited to be the head coach and extremely overwhelmed by all that I have to do. 

At no point in my life did I ever think I'd be a head baseball coach at a high school. It wasn't even on my radar. I was pretty content being an assistant coach. Being involved in the game, having an impact on the players and helping out a friend who needed some help was more than enough for me. 

Until you are in this position you have no idea of the amount of time and energy it takes. Scheduling, paperwork, practices, equipment, weight-training, grades, etc...it seems to be never-ending. I'm sure once I get a better grip on everything it will get better, but now, it's overwhelming. 

Pretty sure it's easy to understand that writing a blog and collecting cards has gotten pushed to the side for a bit. 

To be honest, the card collecting hasn't gone completely by the wayside. I have picked up cards for my set builds through TCDB trades and a few blasters and hangers from Walmart. 

I did manage to grab this from Ebay...

(I had to make sure I at least posted one picture of a card!) Number 1 of 10. I think that's pretty cool to get number one. 

That's the quick update! Hopefully, I can get this coaching thing under control soon and can get back to blogging!

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31

P.S. Johnny's Trading Spot Freddie Freeman relic is headed your way soon!

Well, that's one goal busted!

 I made a goal at the beginning of the year to write at least one post a week. I did pretty good up until about two weeks ago. Life just got too busy and there wasn't too much time for baseball cards. If there's no time for baseball cards, there's no time for blogging. 

Through the busy period, I did manage to pick up some 2024 Topps Series 2. I picked up a hobby box, and several blasters and hangers. I've still got a long way to go to finish four sets (mine, my two grandsons and my niece's newborn boy), but I've got a good start. I still haven't organized all of the cards yet, but what few I've done, I can tell that I'm not close to finishing the sets. 

I did pull a few good inserts...

Nice rookie parallel of Austin Wells '89 insert,

A Freddie Freeman relic,

Gold Mirror Gavin Sheets,

Team logo Carson Spiers, 

Brice Turang sticker auto and...

a short print Wyatt Langford! Best card I've pulled in a long time. There were a lot more good pick ups, but these were the only ones that I had time to take pics of. All of the cards, except the Wyatt Langford are available if anyone is interested. 

That's it for now. 

Peace, 

Michael 

Isaiah 40:31

 

Summer is flying by!

Summer is flying by! The Rangers have hit the halfway point of their season and the All-Star game is right around the corner. Last year there were a ton of Rangers on the All-Star team. This year when it's at home we're going to be lucky to have one on the team. Oh well, at least for a few more months we can still say we're the reigning World Series Champions. 

Not only is summer flying by, I don't feel as if I'm getting as much done on my card collection as I wanted to. I've spent most of my time organizing and putting my player collection in TCDB. 

There have been a few lightbulbs go off concerning my player collection.

First, I didn't have as many different cards of each player as I thought I did. I have a bunch of cards of my players, but more dupes than I thought I had. That tells me I"ve got to do a better job of keeping up with what I have. 

Second, putting player collections into TCDB is not a fast process. I can put a year's cards into TCDB pretty fast, especially compared to a player collection. Putting newer cards in is way harder with all of the parallels for each card. 

Third, I'm trying to figure out the best way to store my player collection. Currently, they are all in top loaders and in boxes. I kind of like it because, I can look through the cards pretty easy and if I add a card, I can put in year order and not have to make a lot of movement. I'm still considering binders, but I just don't know. I'm open for suggestions guys. 

I did pick up some cards that finally came in. All of these were Ebay or Facebook claim sales. 

 

The two Father's Day patch cards move me a little closer, not much, but a little closer on that subset. The other two cards were more throw in cards to the deal. I will probably list them on buysportscards.com unless someone on here wants to trade for them.

All of these go into the player collections. My player collections are pretty lopsided in that I've got way more cards of Marcus Semien, Corey Seager, Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout and Bobby Witt Jr than I do of Mookie Betts and Bryce Harper, just to name a couple. I guess I might need to rethink and decide if I really want to collect these other non-Rangers. I am a big fan of the guys I do collect, that's why I started their collection in the first place. 

I've finally opened a couple of hanger boxes and a couple of blasters of 2024 Topps, but I haven't really gone through them yet. That will be for another post. That's it for this week. 

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31

Ramblings of an old Collector

- With school ending, graduation, losing power for a week because of a storm, keeping grandkids and trying to recover from everything, I've gotten way behind in reading everyone's blogs. If you start seeing comments on older posts you'll know why. 

 - I was at the local Walmart looking for Topps Series 2 and there weren't any out. Instead of leaving empty handed, I picked up a '24 Heritage blaster. Good decision. Every pack had a purple refractor in it! 

 

Not only did I get 7 purple refractors, two of them were Rangers! Not a bad concession prize for not finding Topps Series 2!

- Not to brag or anything, but my son was an assistant coach on the Texas 5A State champion Grapevine High School baseball team. So awesome to see the positive impact he is having on players, not just in baseball but on becoming young men. 

- Now that its summer and school is out, I'm trying to get more organized in my collection. I know, its the neverending battle of collectors. Right now, I'm focused on my player collections and getting them organized and in TCDB. 

- I'm down to 54 cards in my 1978 set. This is going to be my priority once I finish 2024 Topps series 1 & 2.

- Speaking of 2024 Topps, my niece just had a baby boy, so I decided to put another set together for him. I already had a lot of dupes, so it shouldn't be too difficult.

- I've done 3 breaks in my lifetime now and unless I'm really bored, I think I'm done with it. The only good thing about the breaks is I got some Ranger cards I wanted, but it wasn't worth the money. I've heard there are breakers out there that only send out the hits and not the base cards. That would tick me off. Anyways, here are the hits that I did get...all in one break.

- My Texas Rangers, haven't been very good this year. They've had a ton of injuries, can't hit and the pitching has been sporadic at best. It's been interesting watching the number of bandwagon people jumping off. Not me, I'm a lifer. UPDATE: Rangers have won 4 in a row!

- I need some help identifying this reprint. What year is this reprint from? I know its a reprint of '60 Topps, but I can't figure out when it was reprinted. 

I can find the '96 Topps Commemorative reprint with embossed Mickey Mantle on it and the white and yellow back, but not this one. Help!

- I finally got my starter set for 2010 Topps. I've got to sort it and get it on TCDB so I can start trading for it. I'm not doing the update set, so the update cards that I got will be for trade.

- I picked up some cards from Ebay, Buysportscards.com and facebook claims that finally came in... 

All of these are for my player collections. 

These two short prints help me get a little closer to completing the sets. 

These 7 cards got closer to completing the '78 set.

I guess that's all for now. Hope everyone has a blessed week!

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31