Ramblings of an old collector

 Random thoughts about baseball, baseball cards and maybe a little bit of life. 

* I was able to attend the March Dallas Card Show on Saturday. Boy, was it crowded. If people say that card collecting is going away, they haven't been to the Dallas Card Show. There are about 700 tables there and the aisles were packed, to the point, it was hard to move around. Plus, there were lots of deals taking place. 

* I subscribe to two or three different newsletters, YouTube channels, etc...pretty much whatever I run across that interests me about card collecting. One of the people that I follow is David Gonos of Happy Hobby Sports Cards. He had a drawing for reaching 500 subscribers to his newsletter and I won!

Obviously off-centered but still I nice looking 63 year old card. That makes 3 graded cards in the collection. Now, I have to decide what to do with the card. Do I keep it, crack it, or flip it to get a different card? Decisions, decisions.

* I completed my 1990 Topps set through TCDB trades. My goal last year was to complete sets and guess what? It didn't happen. This year my goal was...I don't think I made a goal...anyways, got another one done.

     

     

     

            

I like this set. It looks really good in the binder with all of the colors. Some of the pictures are grainy, but overall, I think its a decent set.    

* Trying to rework the card room again. When you have limited space, its difficult to find a set up that is functional and not crazy cluttered. I'm not a fan of cluttered. 

* Have you ever had a card or some cards that you know you've got, but can't find? That's where I am right now. Wears me out. I think this summer, I'm going to have to take time to do nothing but look for those missing cards. 

* Opening Day is upon us. Ready to see what my Rangers are going to do this year. 

* I saw somewhere that a question was asked that I thought was interesting. Have the Dodgers replaced the Yankees as the evil empire? My answer to that is not yet. Maybe it's because the Dodgers have too many likeable players like Ohtani, Freeman and Betts. I know that the Yankees of old like Mantle and Berra, though part of the evil empire, aren't really thought of as evil. However, the Yankees did become the hated Yankees. Maybe, it's just the team and not the players? I don't know.

* Finally got my first round of 2025 Topps! I like the design, but not as much as some others. I do get frustrated with those names that are in black and are extremely difficult to read.

Seth Brown's card is a great example. I have to hold that card in 50 different positions before I can actually read it. Frustrating to say the least.

* Speaking of 2025 Topps...each year, I pick a subset that I like and collect it. This year the subset is the Call to the Hall insert set. I'm not sure what drew me to it, but I really like it. Needless to say that I've got a long way to go, but that's the one for this year.

* I've been teaching high school for the last 25 years. Coaching baseball for the last 5 years and now in the middle of my first year as the head coach. I say all of that to say that this isn't my first rodeo. I've been working with kids my whole life. This current generation is so self-absorbed and self-centered. The hardest thing that I've had to do is try and teach these kids about the importance of teamwork and selflessness. Putting the team before self. What a battle. A battle, I fear, I am losing.

* I got to watch my 4 year old grandson play his first T-Ball game last night. For a 4 year old, the boy was locked in. As you would expect, there were a lot of little ones just playing in the dirt or chasing butterflies. Not my grandson, he was ready to play ball. It was fun to watch the smile on his face and see the joy of just playing baseball. 

* I was able to attend another, much smaller, card show that was actually on my side of town and only 10 minutes from the house. There were probably 75 tables or so, but only about a half dozen or so with sports cards. The rest were Pokemon or gaming cards. I did pick up 5 cards for my '75 set and a nice '72 Bob Gibson. 

I guess that's a wrap for this ramble! Hope everyone has a great Opening Day! Go Rangers! 

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31