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