Ramblings of an old card collector

 Wandering thoughts about card collecting. 

* It drives me nuts when people say opening packs isn't worth it. Would I be wrong in saying that if everyone abided by that thought, there wouldn't be any singles to buy???

* 2025 Topps release is right around the corner. 

     

I like the design. I think the team name down the side is a little difficult to read, but I like the team color aspect and actually like the position dots. It's different. I will say that I don't love the design like I did '24, but overall, its not too bad. 

* Still working on my favorite players from each team. It's a little harder to do than I thought. I'm sure that it will evolve as I go along. 

* So sad that we lost another great one in Bob Uecker. He loved the game and had the best sense of humor. So many great stories. 

* HOF voting is starting to come out. Ichiro should be a unanimous pick. 

What an unbelievable talent. Not only that he did it for quite awhile without much regression. I just remember every time he came to bat against the Rangers I would say just go ahead and put him on and save time and pitch count. I don't think he gets the attention in the card collecting world like he should. I know he hasn't in my collection. 

* I did manage to complete another set. I made a trade on TCDB and when I was putting the cards away I decided to look and see how many more cards I needed and I was down to 8. I went on Buy Sports Cards dot com and picked up the rest from one guy. I can now check my 1996 Topps set as complete. 

     

     

     

These are just a few of my favorites from the set. I really like the simple design of the cards. There are some cool shots like the Henderson, Jeter and Chipper Jones cards. Who doesn't love tribute cards in a set like the Mantle and Ripken cards. 

* I've reached the point that my current card room set up needs an adjustment to become more worker friendly. Just like about everyone else, there is limited room so I'm going to have to be creative. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but I've got to do something. 

* I'm over all of these so called collectors who want absolutely nothing to do with base cards. I'm big on collecting what you want, but literally, discarding them completely and looking only for the inserts is something that I can't wrap my head around. Okay, that sounded really bad. They aren't so called collectors, they're collectors. They can send me their base cards though! 

* Question: What are your thoughts on the PED players, those that were actually caught, getting in the HOF? I'm of the thought that they don't get in because they cheated the game. I don't know that I'll feel that way forever, but that's where I'm at now.

* Speaking of cheating the game, Jayson Stark wrote in The Athletic That "voters are not looking at the Astros' infamous Bang the Can Slowly scandal as a This Dude Must Never Enter the Halls of Cooperstown kind of "crime"." I think that's worse than steroids. Okay, maybe not worse, but just as bad. Pretty sure that if I had a vote for HOF Carlos Beltran wouldn't get mine. 

* Back to my non-voting for the Hall this year, I think the only ones that I'd vote for if I had a vote would be Ichiro, Sabathia and Wagner. I'd probably vote for a few others to keep them on the ballot, but that'd be it. 

* I've heard that there's a lot of baseball card people moving to Bluesky Social. Any of you on Bluesky? I just downloaded it and thought I'd give it a look. 

I think that's it for now. Hope everyone has a blessed day!

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31

     

Ramblings of an old baseball card collector - New Year edition

*Happy New Year! Okay, okay, I know it's already almost a week into the new year, but time is a precious commodity during the holiday season and there just wasn't time to write. I did start a post before Christmas, but never got it finished. Started another one before New Year's Day and that one didn't get done either. Well, I least I got this one done. 

*My Rangers re-signed Nathan Eovaldi. If deGrom is healthy that's a pretty powerful 1-2 punch in the starting rotation. If either Rocker or Leiter pan out, or better yet if they both do, that would be the best rotation the Rangers have ever had. 

*For the first time since I've started putting together Topps sets for my grandsons I didn't get them finished by Christmas. Still need to get that done. Good thing is they are both so young they won't notice. 

*The golden at bat rule that Rob Manfred mentioned has got to be the worst thing that could happen to MLB. I will say that the other rules, save one, have been good for baseball.

*I had a goal of completing more sets...failed! I did manage to complete a couple of subsets though. 

  

Covering the Field inserts is one of my collecting successes this past year. I'm not sure why I decided to collect this subset. Maybe it was because I had acquired a good number of them opening packs. I do really like the spray chart on the cards though.

*Just read that Rangers are on the short list for Roki Sasaki. Man, wouldn't that make the starting rotation hot!

*Had another goal of writing a post every week. I did pretty good at the beginning of the year, but the new responsibilities of head baseball coach was overwhelming. It's better now, but still failed on the posting to the blog.

*Quick update on the new head coaching job...They never tell you about all of the paperwork and hoops you have to jump through besides the coaching baseball part. I still really love coaching the guys and sharing baseball with them, but if I could just find someone to do all of the other stuff... 

*I've managed to pick up a couple of autographs of a couple of Rangers. I'm not a big autograph collector, but both of these came really cheap and they are two of the young guns that the Rangers have.

When the Rangers acquired Josh Smith and Ezekiel Duran, I told everyone that Smith was going to be the star of the trade. It didn't start out that way. Everyone thought it was Duran. I knew that once he got the chance he'd prove it. I love the way this guy plays. 

This is my second Carter auto. I really like this one more than the other one. The Topps Chrome auto is a nice looking card.

*Back to Manfred and the rule changes. The one rule that I'm still not a fan of is the pick-off rule. After two attempts it's almost like a freebie out there. I don't know if there is a magic number of attempts, but I'm not a fan of three.

*The other subset I managed to complete is the All-Topps Team.

I really like the design of these cards. I didn't hurt that there are two Rangers in it too!

I think that's all for this post. I hope each and everyone had a Merry Christmas and I hope and pray that everyone has a blessed New Year!

Peace, 

Michael

Isaiah 40:31

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