Autograph Pickups

I'm a bit behind on posts about my Luke Hochevar collection, so here are some recently (which means I got them anytime within the past 7 months) acquired autograph cards.

First up is a 2008 SP Legendary Cuts Future Legends Signature card which is serial numbered 69/99.  I really like this card because it is one of the few on-card autographs I have.  Most of the others are sticker autos.

Next is a 2008 UD Premier Rookie Signature card serial numbered 206/299.  This autograph is on a sticker (the outline of which you can see on the card).  It's not the biggest problem in the world, but on-card autographs just look so much crisper and cleaner. 

Next we have a 2009 Topps Career Best Autograph.  This is one of the handful of autograph cards that I have which isn't serial numbered. 

This 2008 SPx Rookie Signatures is another of the non-serial numbered autograph cards in my collection.

This may be one of my favorite autograph cards in my collection.  This is a 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces Stroke of Genius card.  Here are some of the great aspects of this card:

• On-card autograph
• Eye-pleasing card design.  I like the "Stroke of Genius" logo and font.
• The picture is an "action" picture.
• This card has great texture.  It has a "canvas" feel to it, because the "Masterpiece" series of cards is supposed to remind the collector of a masterpiece painting.

All in all, a well designed and executed card.

The final card is a 2009 Triple Threads Emerald card, serial numbered 9/10.  The Triple Thread series catches a lot of flack in the card collecting community, but I don't hate the design as much as other people.  One of my favorite aspects of this particular card is the multi-colored jersey section.  More often than not, the jerseys are all the same color.  But not mine.  Mine has a white jersey swatch, a red jersey swatch (although I'm at a loss as to where on a KC Royals jersey there is red material), and the "CK" section appears to be the jersey label.  Pretty sweet, in my humble opinion.

Recently, my Hochevar collection hit the 150-card mark.  Not too bad considering I've only been actively collecting his cards for the past seven or eight months.

Joey Pos

Before I get to the reason for this post, I want to make a couple of admissions. 

First, I am not a very good writer.  (The fact that I've rewritten this post about a dozen times would be proof enough of this fact, at least in my mind.)  It's not that I don't enjoy writing, I do.  But when I sit down at my computer to compose a blog post, I get often get frustrated that the thoughts bouncing around in my skull do not end up coming out as I want them when I attempt to put them to paper (or in a blog post).  And that bugs me and often keeps me from posting as often as I'd like to my blog.

Second, of the nearly 4000 songs in my iTunes library, I do not own one single Bruce Springsteen song.  I love classic rock, but have never found Bruce's music to be enjoyable. 

So when I read an essay such as this, by my favorite blogger, Joe Posnanski, I am both inspired and depressed.  Reading this post makes me wish I had one-tenth the writing ability of Joe, but knowing I never will write this well is quite depressing.  At the same time, I am inspired to keep trying to reach the bar that Joe has set so very high. 

Joe is a guy who can take a topic with which I have no interest and keep me interested.  I am jealous of his gift, yet am so very glad that he shares it with his readers.  I have no idea how the guy can make me cry with a topic as simple as a Bruce Springsteen song, but I am so very thankful that he did.

(And I may have to give Bruce another chance and buy one of his cds.)
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SONG:  "The Promise" by Bruce Springsteen



CARD:  2010 Allen and Ginter Mini Luke Hochevar Yellow Printing Plate, serial numbered 1/1

Two videos and a card.

My brain has been in a bit of a funk and I haven't been able to finish a written blog post for over a week.  I have a half dozen unfinished rough drafts sitting on my blog-desktop that remain unposted because I can't seem to find the motivation or passion to finish them.

So, I thought I would get up a post that is less wordy and more picturey and soundy.

First, a cat video.



Second, a music video.

See more funny videos and Music at Todays Big Thing.

And, finally, a picture of a recent trading card purchase.

This card is a 2007 Bowman Sterling Duel Autograph of Luke Hochevar and David Price, serial numbered 83/275.

Using words to prey on people's ignorance is fun.

I saw this video over at Althouse's blog.


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SONG:  "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby.  I didn't go out today, but we are now in November, which everyone knows is the start of the Christmas Season, so I'm assuming they have started playing Christmas music in stores to get shoppers in the holiday mood.  I thought I'd get in on the fun. 



EXCITING NEWS OF THE DAY:  One word -- McRIB.

CARD:  2006 Just Minors Duel Signature Luke Hochevar/Dexter Fowler, serial numbered 2/2.

I was able to use some of the money from the sale of my Strasburg Printing Plate to fund the purchase of this card.  I was super excited to find this card on eBay, since it has the autograph of the two players that I'm currently collecting.  I was also glad that the seller accepted an offer that was 1/3 less than their listed asking price.

Gonna try to win me some cards

I stumbled into this "contest" at one of the card collecting blogs I read.  I love when bloggers offer up free cards as incentive to get more people reading their blog.  In this case Georgia Mindset has offered a free hobby box for anyone who will follow their blog and will give a shout out about the contest. 

Well, Georgia Mindset, your plan has worked perfectly.  I am now following your blog and have added you to my daily-read list.  Thanks for the contest and I hope to be the lucky winner.

And the nice thing is, any other bloggers who are interested can enter the contest as well.  Just head over to the Georgia Mindset website for more details.

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CARD OF THE DAY:  2010 Topps T206 "3-Card Mini". 
I love the ToppsVault store on eBay.  They put out unique (and often times, 1/1) trading card memorabilia on a daily basis and their starting bid prices are quite reasonable.  I've picked up three unique Luke Hochevar cards for my collection from them.   Two of them are labeled 1/1 and all of them have "blank backs".  This particular card is of three T206 mini cards, but they haven't been cut apart.  Also, this card has a "blank back" which makes it interesting and unique (at least to me).

1909-11 T206 Honus Wagner

When I was a kid, I strictly collected basketball cards.  Every once in a while I'd buy a pack or two of baseball or football cards, but my true passion was collecting basketball cards.  And, more specifically, I collected the cards of current players.  

This was for a few reasons.  First, I lived 90+ minutes away from the nearest card shop, which meant that I had little to no access to previously released cards.  Second, it was cheaper and more fun to try to pull my favorite player's card from a pack.  Also, by constantly buying packs of cards, I had a nice stockpile of cards to use as trade-bait with my friends.  Third, vintage cards were too expensive for a kid to try and collect.  The best I could hope for was to find some old cards in my grandparent's basement, and that never happened, unfortunately.  In all the years I collected as a kid, I cannot remember ever buying an individual card.  I always felt that I could get more bang for my buck by playing the lottery of ripping packs of cards.

Yet, as a modern-day basketball card collecting kid, I still knew of the legend of the 1909-11 T206 Honus Wagner baseball card.  This card was the first "short-printed" card of importance.  For one reason or another, very few Honus Wagner cards were printed for this series, with some estimating that as few as 200 cards were produced.

Fast forward 80 years to when I was a kid, and these rare cards of a famous and important baseball player were the most highly coveted cards in the industry.  Whenever I was thumbing through a Beckett Magazine for updates on the value of my modern cards, I would always check out the vintage cards to see how valuable they were, and this card always took the cake. 

Today the news spread like wild-fire throughout the card collecting world that another one of these cards had surfaced and was up for auction.  Apparently a man had one of these cards in his safety deposit box since the 1930s and left it to his sister, a nun living in Virginia, after he died.  Current bidding for the card is currently at $180,000, even though the card is in less than mint condition. 

Sadly, I was born many years too late to have my card collection increase in value like past generations have enjoyed (damn "Junk Card" era).  But it's cards like the 1909-11 Honus Wagner T206 that make this hobby so much fun. 

And cards like the Honus Wagner are one of the main reasons why I love tracking down cards that are serial numbered 1/1.  I love knowing that I am the only person in the entire universe with that particular card.  If I can't own a piece of history by shelling out thousands of dollars for a vintage card, then I'll make my own history by owning a unique modern-day card (like the one below), which makes me very happy indeed.
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SONG:  "Hometown Glory" by Adele



CARD:  2010 Topps T206 Bronze "Blank Back" Luke Hochevar, serial numbered 1/1

MOVEMBER:  In the past two days I've received $150.00 in donations, which means that I'm halfway to meeting my personal goal of $300, and MOvember hasn't even started yet.  I couldn't be happier.  Thanks to my wife, my mom, and my cousin Darcey for their donations.  You guys are the greatest!

Honesty is the Best Policy

Let the record show that I do not enjoy nightly walks with my wife and my dog.  It's not the wife and dog part I do not like (indeed, I like them very much), it's the walking part.  I am a 29 year-old man who does not enjoy walks.  I know I had previously posted on this blog that I enjoy evening walks.  That was not true then and it is not true now.  I said those things in an attempt to make myself look good.  Thank you for your time and I will work harder to be at all times honest within my blog posts in the future.

Sincerely,

The Writing Staff of 87 Murphy Squirrels

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SONG:  "Grey Street" by the Dave Matthews Band



CARDS:   my recently completed 2010 Topps Chrome Luke Hochevar "rainbow."

To be or not to be

This week "My Wife Asks..."

Based on your love of theater in high school, did you ever consider doing something professionally in that area?

When I was in elementary school, I was certain I was going to be in the NBA.  I spent hours at the basketball court across from my house practicing to become the next John Stockton.  My friends and I would spend hours having dunk contests on their back yard basketball hoops.  Our junior high basketball team was pretty good.

Then came my freshman year of high school and everyone around me got taller while I remained short and skinny.  Everyone became faster, stronger, and better than me in sports.  This was a very unwelcome wake-up call to me that my dream of playing professional basketball would remain just that, a dream.

During my sophomore year, on a whim, I auditioned for the school drama club Fall production of M*A*S*H.  I had no illusions of getting a role.  In fact, I'm pretty sure that I hoped that I was rooting that I wouldn't get a role.  I am pretty sure that I only auditioned because my cousin Brian was trying out and I was with him at the time.  Yet, for some reason, the drama teacher cast me in one of the lead roles as Hawkeye Pierce.

And somehow I was good.  And I loved being on stage.  I loved getting laughs.  I loved the costumes and learning lines and rehearsing with my friends.  I especially loved being able to escape and hide behind all of the characters I played on stage.   

As high school progressed and I still wasn't growing as quickly as my peers, I found that in drama, my size and speed and strength were irrelevant.  I found that I had a previously undiscovered knack for theater.  And my insecurities were dulled with this success.  On stage, my wise-ass, theatrical, do-anything-for-a-laugh personality was not only encouraged, but I received praise and accolades.  It was a win-win situation.

The summer before my senior year of high school, my friend Brad and I put together an improv/variety show with members of our community.  As much as I loved scripted drama and comedy, I really found my wheel-house with improvisational comedy.  I loved thinking quickly on my feet.  I loved being able to showcase my wit and sense of humor without being restricted by a script (even though I would often go off script during drama productions just for fun and to see how my co-actors would react).  We continued our improv acting in college when we put together a show with some fellow thespians.  It was great fun and my love for getting a laugh never waned, even though it would end up being my last stage performance.

Yet in all of those years, it never occurred to me that I might be a wise decision to try to earn a living in theater after college.  As with sports, acting was always just something fun for me to do.  So while I still enjoy comedy, going to the theater for the occasional performance, and might dabble in community theater sometime down the road, I am certain that I'll never have the drive or ambition necessary to do it professionally. 

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SONG:  "This" by Darius Rucker from his newly release album, Charleston, SC 1966.  A great song from a great sophomore solo country album from Darius.

CARD:  Luke Hochevar 2008 Bowman Chrome Magenta Printing Plate, serial numbered 1/1.

Card Chase, the Dexter Fowler Edition

Last month, while The Wife and I were busting boxes of 2010 Topps T206 baseball cards, she noticed that one card was really cool.  It was a Dexter Fowler Piedmont Mini card.  Here is the card:

One aspect of the T206 series of cards is that they put the player's last name followed by the location that the player plays.  In this case, it was "Fowler, Colorado" which, oddly enough, is the name of my hometown.  At that moment, I knew I must start collecting Dexter Fowler baseball cards.

I liked the idea because Dexter is a relatively young player (which means he doesn't have a ton of cards already out, which means it should be easier to get caught up), he's not a big name player (which means his cards aren't out of my price range), and he plays for the team I rooted for as a kid, the Colorado Rockies.

I looked through some of my older cards and found that I already had one of his cards, a 2009 Topps T206 Piedmont mini.

I then found a handful of his cards on eBay, which I quickly bought using some of the money I made with the sale of my Stephen Strasburg printing plate card.

While browsing through eBay, I noticed that Dexter is one of the players who have Autographed Patch Letters in production, which I've always wanted to collect, but have never had a reason to do so.  So far, I have three of the letters of his last name.  I can't wait to have his whole name.  It will look great on my card collection wall.

I'm very glad to have a new player to collect, thanks to my wife's eagle eyes.

2010 Topps T206 Stephen Strasburg Mini 1:1 Printing Plate

One of the best part about being a kid who collects trading cards was cracking open a new pack of cards.  It was basically the lottery for children.  You throw down a couple of bucks (back then) and roll the dice.  Occasionally, the pack would yield a bunch of junk cards.  But more often then not, the pack would give you enough cards off a want/need list to keep you coming back for more.  There is nothing better then ripping open a pack of cards and finding your favorite player or a rare insert card.  Today, my wife and I recreated a little piece of my youth by ripping open a box of 2010 Topps T206 cards.

When I started noticing a bevy of T206 Hochevar cards popping up on eBay, I decided to forgo the easy route of buying up the cards that other people had pulled and instead try and pull my own Hochevar cards.  And I was very pleased with the results.

The box contained 20 packs of cards, with 9 cards in each pack.  My wife and I each opened 10 packs.  At about pack 5 for me, I pulled the one of the cards I was hoping to get, my first Hochevar pull.  While it was a base card, after finding it, I considered the box a success.

Each box also contains one autograph card and one relic card.  As luck would have it, my wife ended up finding both of these cards.  It should be noted that she found both of these cards before I pulled the Hochevar card.  I'm not going to lie, I was a little bummed that she was the one to find the "hits" of the box.  She ended up finding a Grady Sizemore Game Used Bat relic card and a Gregor Blanco Autograph card.  Both cards are quite nice, but neither would be considered huge "hits" within the baseball card community.

We ended up getting about 120 base cards, which have whetted my appetite to attempt completing the base card set.  Along with the Hochevar base card, my wife ended up finding a Stephen Strasburg rookie card.

We also got 6 "short print" cards, which are different from the regular base cards because the players are wearing baseball caps (the base cards are unique due to all the players being hat-less) and the backs only contain the player's name (where as the base cards have a little blurb about the player).  Here are the short print cards.

The box also contained 20 or so mini cards.  The fun thing about the minis in this set is that there are five different styles of backs.  I ended up getting at least one of each back style.  Here are the five different styles.

The "Cycle" card is serial numbered 21/99.  Too bad it wasn't of a more well known player.

At around our 18th pack, and the ninth pack that I opened, I was under the impression that we'd found all of the "hits" that the box would contain, with which I was content, and I was just hoping to score a Hochevar mini card with the remaining packs.  Imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon this gem.

As the back of the card explains, it's a Stephen Strasburg 1:1 Magenta Mini Printing Plate card.  When I saw this card, I was overcome with joy.  This has to be one of the most coveted cards that can be pulled from a pack.  One might think that a Strasburg autograph card would be a bigger pull, but they didn't put any of his autographs in the packs.  Instead, a person would find a "redemption" card in the pack, which you then have to mail off to be redeemed by the company, and then they mail you the actual card.  So, in actuality, I ended up pulling one of the rarest cards of one of the biggest names in baseball card collecting today.

I hate to imagine how much this card would fetch on eBay if Stephen was not hurt at this time (and his future in question).  With that said, I'm still going to try to flip it for as much money as I can get to help fund my future card purchases.

As much as it probably scares my wife, because of this box of cards, I may have been bitten by the pack-ripping bug.  What a fun box to open and what a nice set of cards Topps has put out.  If my Strasburg card brings enough money, I'll definitely be opening another box of the T206 cards and I'll be chasing more Hochevar cards for my personal collection.

Trading Cards

One of the best parts about collecting cards when I was a kid was trading cards with two of my friends who also collected.  We were constantly sorting through each others collections, finding cards we needed and wanted, and offering up trades.  There were offers, counter offers, and counter-counter offers.  It was a great way to spend countless hours in our boring little town.

Now that I've decided to reenter the card collecting game, I find it's the experience I miss the most.  There is a comradery that develops between card collectors who trade with each other.  By getting most of my cards on eBay and Check Out My Cards.com, I find myself alone on a card collecting island.

So imagine my excitement when I discovered that Night Owl of the blog "Night Owl's Cards" was trying to make a through-the-mail trade with a person from each of the 50 states in the Union, and Nebraska was one of the states with which he'd yet to trade.

Since I've been out of the card collecting game for so long, I don't really have many cards that anyone would want.  But I do have a giant box of old cardboard from the 1980s and 90s.  I spent an evening sorting through my piles of cards looking for Dodgers.  I then compared the Dodgers cards that I had with Night Owl's check list of cards he wants and needs (I should totally get one of those), and found five cards that Night Owl did not already have.  Score!

To make it a trade, both parties need to send cards and since I only collect Hochevar cards at this moment, I asked that Night Owl send any Hochevar cards he had my way.  Here is what he sent:

The top four cards were card I already had in my collection (but I am also working on a set of duplicate cards that I hope to one day get personally autographed).  Of the one hundred plus Hochevar cards that I have, the bottom card ended up being a base card that was missing from my collection. 

While neither of us hit the motherload with this trade, both of us filled a gap in our collections.  More than anything, I wanted to do this trade not for the cards (although I'm very glad to have a new card and am even happier to have helped Night Owl out with his personal collection), but as a way to network within the card collecting community.  I wanted to make connections with people who have the same hobby as me, and I've taken an important step in that direction.  I was also hoping to get a plug for my blog on his blog which has a nice following of trading card enthusiasts, and did I ever get a plug.  Night Owl chose his second year anniversary post to write about our trade.  I'm sure his post will get a few newbies to my blog, which is awesome. 

This trade with Night Owl has inspired me to find more people with which to trade and create a list of the cards that I want/need in my collection.  So, if there are any baseball card enthusiasts out there who would like to get rid of some Luke Hochevar baseball cards (or John Stockton basketball cards for that matter) let me know with an email to brodie.dog87@gmail.com.

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SONG:  "Settle for a Slowdown" by Dierks Bentley.  My aunt-in-law sent me an Amazon.com gift card for my birthday.  If there is anything that I enjoy more than searching for cards on eBay, it's searching for music on Amazon.  My computer runs at about half speed because it is bogged down with more music then I'll ever need.  One of the albums I bought was Dierks Bentley's Greatest Hits.  I've been eyeballing this collection of song for a long while, and, as luck would have it, Amazon had it on sale for $5.    

LETDOWN:  A day after I finally tracked down a box of 2010 Topps T-206 baseball cards on eBay, I got an email from the eBay authorities stating "to help protect you, we removed this listing so we can confirm that the seller is not putting you or other eBay members at risk."  They also told me that I needed to open a case against the seller so that I could get my money back.  I will have to wait 7 days for the case to be closed and I can get my money back.  Bummer.

LOOKING FORWARD TO:  Playing in a four-man scramble with my former coworker Brandon this Saturday.  We'll be playing at one of Nebraska's finest courses, Quarry Oaks.  Apparently the other two guys are good golfers, so hopefully we'll win our flight.

Mail Bag

Recent additions to my card collection.

This first card is a 2007 Bowman Draft Futures Game Prospect Game Worn Patch, serial numbered 34/99.  While the card doesn't have the "Refractor" tag on the back of the card, it is shiny (hence the blue color in the scanned picture), which is odd.  This card is my first "patch" card, and the part that caught my attention is that the patch has part of the "KC" in the KC Royals logo.  Nice addition to my set.

Card number two is a 2010 Topps Heritage Stamps card, serial numbered 11/50.  The "stamps" are actual stamps that are held in place and protected by a thin piece of plastic.  The other player featured is Jeff Francouer of the NY Mets.  I like odd cards like this one (as well as my "silk" card and the mini cards).  They add a bit of variety to my collection.

Speaking of mini cards, my third addition is a 2010 Allen and Ginter Mini Black Boarder card.  I'm a big fan of the Allen and Ginter set and this card is a nice parallel card.  I like the little details on the boarder, which add to the old timey feel of the set.

I'm piecing together the master set of Hochevar cards and as I add cards, it's getting tougher and tougher to track down the ones I'm missing.  So, I think I'm going to enter the box breaking aspect of the hobby.  I'm watching a few eBay auctions for boxes filled with packs of cards.  If I can get a box cheaply, I'm going to crack open some packs of 2010 Topps T206 cards.  There are a handful of Hochevar cards from this set popping up on eBay, and I'm going to see if I can pull any from a pack of cards, which I have yet to do.

Also, after a couple of months on the disabled list, Luke made his first start since June and, as luck would have it, he made the start in Omaha, so my friend Andy and I went and watched.  It was great seeing him on the bump (even though he was only allowed to throw two innings).  Luke's making his second of three rehab starts with Omaha on Thursday, which gives me a good reason to go to the final baseball game at Rosenblatt Stadium.  Hopefully Luke's arm continues to heal and he'll be able to join the KC Royals soon and finish the season pitching in the big league.

While at Saturday's Omaha Royals game, I got to see the Royal's latest prospect, Mike Moustakas, in person.  And the guy is legit.  He hit a homer in Saturday's game and followed that fine performance up with a 11 RBI and 3 home run game in the Royal's 23-5 victory over the Round Rock Express.  I'm excited to see what he can do in the majors next year, as the Royals will not be calling him up to the majors this season.  Kansas City has a lot of young talent (Hochevar, Gordon, Greinke, Butler, Moustakas, Ka'aihue, Getz, Wood, etc.) and they've been able to get rid of some aging veterans who were holding the team back, so I'll be interested to see if they can be successful in the coming years.

2008 UD Baseball Heroes rainbow

I am 95% sure I have completed the rainbow for the 2008 UD Baseball Heroes set (although the checklist claims there is a seriel numbered to 10 beige autograph card, so I'll keep my eyes open for it).

The cards I have are:

Charcoal autograph -- 21/50
Aqua -- 83/99 (received in the mail today)
Navy Blue -- 34/199
Red -- 172/249 (received in the mail yesterday)
Gold -- 283/299
Charcoal -- 205/399
Green -- 6/499
Black
Beige

Collecting a "rainbow" of parallels didn't really exist when I was a kid, as there were usually only one or two parallels in a set (usually gold and/or silver).  Had a set like this Baseball Heroes set been around when I was 10 yrs old, I know I would have spent a fortune buying boxes and packs of these cards, trying to track down all of the different colors for my favorite players.  These types of serial numbered parallel sets are a huge improvement over the junk wax era in which I grew up. 

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SONG:  There is a Fatboy Slim greatest hits album on sale on Amazon that I'm pondering buying.  Its full of songs I know, but I can't decide if I'll ever listen to them over and over (thereby making it worth the purchase price).  Since I'm indifferent on the choice, I'll just enjoy Fatboy Slim's best music video for free (and it's a very good song to boot). 

Mail Bag

A few recent arrivals.

I added my fifth 1/1 card to my collection recently.  This one is a 2007 Bowman Chrome Yellow Printing Plate.  This is my favorite printing plate because it's the only one I have where the card picture is the mirror image of the regular cards.  The other "printing plate" cards that I own have the same picture as the regular cards, which makes me think they weren't actually used in the making of the other cards. 

I bought these two cards together (along with a duplicate red jersey card, for a total of 3 cards in the lot).  I was excited to get both jersey colors at the same time.  They are both 2004 SP Prospects National Honors Jersey cards.  These cards are the oldest jersey cards that I own. 

This final card is a 2007 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Aspirations card which is serial numbered 31/100.  It is hard to see from the scans, but this card is die-cut, which chunks cut out of each side in the shape of the background pattern.  This is the only die-cut card in my collection so far.

With these additions, my collection is now at 111 cards.  I'm getting there slowly but surely.  (I agree, but quit calling me Shirley!)

1981 Topps Basketball Set

In an attempt to move some of my stale product (basketball cards) to earn some money to buy some new product (Luke Hochevar baseball cards), I've listed my Topps 1981 basketball set on eBay HERE.

This set has 66 base cards that were released nationally.  There are also 44 "regional" cards that were released in three regions (that is, 44 unique cards for each region, or 132 different cards total) -- East, Mid-West, and West.  My collection has all of the 66 base cards, all 44 East cards, and all 44 Mid-West cards.  If I also had all of the West cards, I might think twice about listing them, but since I don't mind listing them on eBay with the hope that someone will buy them for a very high price and I'll be able to increase my Hochevar card collection.

The interesting aspect of this (to me) is the fact that I'm not terribly sad about selling off these cards.  I bought them off eBay a few years ago, so I don't have a very strong connection to them.  I didn't invest any blood, sweat, and tears equity into them like I did with, say, my John Stockton collection. 

It's funny how much of a connection can be created between a person and their cards by merely extracting them from a wax or foil wrapper.

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SONG:  "I'm Alright" by Kenny Loggins -- as made famous in the movie Caddyshack.  I've decided that this song will be playing on a loop in my brain as I play my round tomorrow.  Hopefully it'll put me in a chipper (pun intended) mode as I cruise around the course.  Also, I highly recommend you watch the linked video.  It's a live performance of the song from 1981 and Kenny's orange jumpsuit is worth the price of admission.

LIVE COMEDY:  Last night the wife and I went to dinner and a show.  Dinner was at Biaggi's and it was fantastic as usual.  Then we went to the Omaha Funny Bone for an evening of live comedy.  The opening act was funny, although I can't remember the guy's name.  The middle act was a fellow by the name of Dave Landau and he was outstanding.  He delivered a rapid succession of jokes that were top notch.  The headliner was Tommy Johnagin.  If you watched this season of Last Comic Standing with any regularity, then you know who Tommy is and that he's a funny guy.  I highly recommend that you see his live show if he is in your area.

In the Mail

I've received a few cards via email over the past few weeks that I'd like to showoff. 

The top left card is a 2008 Bowman Chrome Blue Refractor which is serial numbered 38/150.  This card is the seventh parallel card of the 2008 Bowman set that I have, which is notable because it is the first set of cards that I have that fills up more than one row of my card display.

The bottom card is a 2006 TriStar Farm Hands autographed card.  This is the earliest autograph card I have so far.  This card has a "book value" of $50.00 and I bought it for just $0.50.  I almost felt bad getting it for so cheap.  Almost.

The top right card is a 2010 Allen & Ginter Blank Back 1/1 card.  As you can see from the picture below, this card has nothing but a Topps halogram and a 1/1 label on the back.  This is a unique card that the Topps Vault was selling in their eBay store.  Every day the Topps Vault puts out dozens of 1/1 cards that have "blank backs".  They also dig into the archives and put up for sale old photos (which were used to make their cards), "proof" cards which were used early in each card's production, and original pieces of art that were commissioned from various artists to be used to make cards.  It is my favorite eBay store to look through.

My card collecting has slowed down quite a bit since most of the cards that I now need for my collection are the more expensive autograph cards and the harder to find lower numbered serial numbered cards.  But, the chase continues.

However, I have come upon a novel idea.  One of my favorite card collecting blogs is Hey, That's Mine!  The interesting (to me) aspect of this blog is that its author has a side hobby of creating his own, home-made cards.  The ones that I've seen are fabulous.  So, I contacted him earlier this week and asked him if he'd make me a custom Hochevar card using a picture that I personally took.  He said he would.  (You can see some of his other creations HERE.)  I can barely contain my excitement at the prospect of owning a card that was created from one of my pictures.

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SONG:  "Spanish Flea" by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass  --  Who knew a trumpet could be so fun? 

LOOKING FORWARD TO:  playing in the two-day, stroke-play Omaha Metro Golf Championship this weekend.  While my goal is to win my flight, I could live with a top three finish.  I also have some smaller goals this tournament which I hope will contribute to my winning my flight. 
1)  No 3 putts.
2)  Shoot between 82 and 86 each day.  With my 12 handicap, I should shoot an 84 (so I'll +/- 2 strokes).  Last year, I went into the tournament not worrying about shooting the course par, but instead focused on shooting my "handicap par", which allowed me to accept the inevitable bogies and (hopefully less inevitable) double bogies.  That mindset was very successful for me, so I'll do it again.
3)  To help me keep my composure during play, I am going into each day "knowing" that I'll probably have one blowup hole, and if/when it happens, I will not lose my temper. 
4)  I will go into each round with a game plan and will not "press" myself if things do not go as planned.
5)  No matter what my Saturday score, I will attempt to shoot a lower score on Sunday (even if it is only a one stroke improvement).

LOOKING FORWARD TO (part 2):  the 1-year anniversary of my blog.  It will be a great time to reflect on what has (to me) been worth writing about over the past year.

New Additions

My wife gave me an early birthday present and let me go wild at Check Out My Cards and I left that website 43 cards richer.  I've also had a nice streak of wins at eBay.  I spent all of last night scanning the cards and adding thumbnail pictures to my card collecting spreadsheet.  I have over 100 cards, but recently found out that there have been 600+ Hochevar cards produced, so I am still a little far from completing my set.  In any event, here are some of my favorites cards that I've recently received.

This first card is a 2007 Just Minors Triple Signature Black.  The three signatures are of Alex Gordon, Luke Hochevar, and Billy Butler, and it is serial numbered 2/3.  I usually prefer to get a card from an auction, but I made an exception for this card because I liked it so much.  I bought it via eBay "Buy It Now" and probably gave too much for it, yet I am super happy to have it in my collection.  It is nicely designed card and the autographs are very crisp.

The next card is a 2008 Topps Finest Gold X-Fractor rookie card.  It is serial numbered 13/25.  I like this card a lot.  I made the seller an offer that I felt was more fair than the price he was asking and thankfully he accepted.  As far as I know, this is the toughest find in this series, so I'm glad I found it when I did.

This card is a 2010 Topps Series 2 Platinum card and is serial numbered 1/1.  When we were in Colorado earlier this month, I was attempting to win this card via eBay auction but someone kept outbidding me.  As I got to my bid ceiling, my mom and wife could see how frustrated I was that I was losing this card.  After I'd left the house to go golfing, they conspired to win the card for me.  So mom made a monster bid and won the card for me.  She's the best.

The final card that I'll show off today is a 2010 Topps Series 2 Silk card.  It is serial numbered 34/50.  If you look closely at the picture below, you can see that the card is a mini card and is printed on a piece of silk.  The mini silk card is housed in a clear window inside of a red and black frame. 

So, as you can see, I've made some nice additions to my collection.  I'm fairly close to completing a couple of "card rainbows" which is when I have all the differently colored cards of a set.  Once I complete my first rainbow, I'll post a picture.

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SONG:  "Sunglasses at Night" by Corey Hart  ---  I spent this past weekend in Denver for my cousin's wedding.  On Saturday night I went to dinner with three of my cousin's and two of their significant others.  We met up at a Mexican restaurant.  The dinner was great, but it paled in comparison to the conversations that pitcher after pitcher of beer encouraged.  Stories were told.  Jokes were told.  Lies were told.  It was great.  At one point, near dusk, two of the participants decided to continue wearing their sunglasses even though the street lights and patio lights were on for the night.  Classic.

Cardboard Couture

I've been spending some time perusing the interwebs reacquainting myself with the card collecting universe. 

One of the big topics in the card blogs is the recent release of the 2010 TOPPS Allen & Ginter cards.  The A&G cards are one of the handful of throwback "tobacco" cards that have become popular with today's collector. 

The original A&G cards were issued in the late 1800s in cigarette packs.  Today's A&G cards remain true to the original in their card design, with the front being a simple picture of the player in front of a pastel colored background, like this:

And the backs of the cards have an old timey feel to them, like so:

This series is facinating to me because it seems to meet the wants and needs of the many different types of card collectors.  The way I see it, there are a few basic styles of collectors who remain in the market for cards:

• The Set Collector:  This person is a throwback whose main goal in card collecting is putting together an entire set of base cards from a company.  With 400 "base" cards to collect, along with a variety of parallel sets to go after, A&G meets this person's needs.

• The Chaser:  This person's main goal is to chase the short-printed, rare cards.  Whether they prefer relic cards with game used materials or they prefer autographs, A&G is chock full of these cards.

• The Flipper:  This person buys cases of cards with the hope of hitting a rare card and then flipping it on eBay.

• Player or Team Collectors:  This is the category I would fall.  If your favorite player is an all-star, rookie, or well-known veteran, you'll have a great time collecting the dozen or so different cards of your player in this set (base, mini, auto, relic, wood, printing plates, etc.)  Unfortunately for me, my player is not featured as prominently this year as he was in years past. 

The Allen & Ginter series also contains some oddities in the set.  The base set contains non-baseball players (this year's set included the likes of Tony Hawk, a frisbee-disk catching dog, magician David Blaine, just to name a few), mini cards, and non-baseball player parallel sets (this year included "Lords of Olympus", "National Animals", "World's Greatest Word Smiths", etc.).

Oddest of all, this year's set included "DNA Relics" which were cards that contained a piece of hair from some historically famous people -- Beethoven, Lincoln, JFK, Dickens, etc.  Weird, but kinda cool.

Another interesting feature of the A&G series is the "Crack the Code" contest.  Each year, A&G hides a code within the set and whoever cracks it first receives a set of 1/1 CodeCracker autographed cards and their own A&G trading card in the next years set (both prizes are insanely awesome).  News broke this week that last year's winner also was the first to crack this year's code.  (GO HERE for an explanation on how he cracked the 2010 code).

The Allen & Ginter set elicits nostalgia with it's simple design and pastel color wheel.  It's as if the Barnum & Bailey Circus or the HBO series Carnival has been condensed and put onto cardboard.  The old style of cards and collecting has become fashionable and, with a few twists and innovation, has become modern.  These cards are cardboard couture.

So, with all this crazy card collecting goodness happening within the Allen and Ginter brand, why have I not bought a pack or two?  Because my primary focus within the hobby is to complete my Hochevar set, and diverting money away from that goal is not fiscally prudent.  Once I have all my Hochevar cards on my display case, I imagine the creative and innovative Allen & Ginter cards will be the first ones I buy.

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COMEDY:  Tommy Johnagin has been killing it on Last Comic Standing.  If you haven't been watching, I highly recommend you start.  The format of this year's competition is much better then in years past (contestants don't live together in a house, for starters.  I will be so happy when that "plot device" works it's way into the trash heap of reality show bad ideas).  I've heard Tommy numerous times on the Bob and Tom show, so when I saw he'd be on LCS, I was pumped.  I was even more pumped to learn that he'd be showcased at the Omaha Funny Bone in August.  I can't wait to see him live.  Here he is on the Bob&Tom show.

New Arrivals

After the wife and I got home from our vacation in South Dakota and Colorado, I had a pile of card packages waiting for me.  I was like a kid opening presents on Christmas morning. 

My Luke Hochevar card collection more than doubled after all was said and done.  I had won two "lots" of base cards (one with 13 cards and the other with 9 cards).  I also added a handful of autograph cards and serial numbered cards to my collection.  Here are some highlights from my haul.

These first two cards are some nice autographs that I bought.

The top card is a 2008 TriStar SignaCuts Autograph card serial numbered 3/5.  I was mildly disappointed that this one was a "sticker" autograph and not a "cut" autograph like the name of the card might suggest.  (The difference?  The "sticker" kind is an autograph on a clear sticker that is attached to the card.  The "cut" variety is an autograph on a piece of paper that is "cut" and placed inside the card.  Not a big difference, but a difference none the less, especially considering that there is no picture on the card.)

The bottom card is a 2008 Upper Deck Premier Signature serial numbered 37/45.  A sharp looking card in my opinion.

These next four cards are also quite nice.

The top left card is a 2008 Topps "Rookie Stars of 2008" Chrome card serial numbered 166/1959.  It is super shiny and is one of the few cards that lists his hometown as Fowler, Colorado (rather than Denver, CO).

The top right card is a 2006 Bowman Sterling "Prospect" Refractor Autograph card serial numbered 15/199.

The bottom left card is a 2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes Grey Autograph card serial numbered 21/50.  This card is fun because I have four other "parallel" cards from this set, each one with a different background color -- Green, Brown, Black, and Yellow.  They look great together as a set.  And looking around eBay, I see that there are one or two more that I need to complete the series.

The bottom right card is another 1/1 card that I've added to my collection.  It is a 2010 Topps Series 2 "Yellow Printing Plate" which was used in the printing of the base set (which would explain the lack of color).  The "card" is basically a sheet of aluminum metal.  I'm in the process of adding all of the cards in the series for which this printing plate would have been used.  I have the basic base card.  I also have another 1/1 Platinum card coming that my wonderful Mother bought for me (and I'll be sure to post a picture of the card once it arrives).  Some people might wonder why I'd want such an unattractive card.  That's easy.  Because I'm the ONLY person with that ugly card.

 Once my collection started taking shape, I decided that I needed a way to display the cards because keeping them in a pile on the kitchen table just wasn't cutting it.  I looked around on eBay for display cases, but they were all either too expensive or too bulky.  I decided to build my own display and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out.  Here is a picture of the finished product in action holding my current cards.

On the top row is a ticket stub from one of the many KC Royals games I've attended.

The middle eight rows are my Hochevar cards.  (Notice the colorful series of cards I was talking about above in the third row.)

The bottom two rows are my favorite basketball cards, including some Micheal Jordan, Shaquille O'Neil, Karl Malone, a 1992 USA Dream Team card (the first cool card I got out of a pack when I was a kid), and a bunch of John Stockton Jersey cards (the very bottom row).  I may need to scan the basketball cards some day.

My wife and I discussed where the best place to hang the display in the house and it was decided that the basement would be ideal.  I think we made a wise choice.

(The display is on the wall behind my drum kit and my electric guitar and amp.)

Because the display turned out so well, I've decided that when we're done with law school and get moved into our next house, I'm going to turn one of the rooms into a "Man Cave" and decorate the walls with numerous displays like this one.  Then I can get my 225 other John Stockton cards out of a binder and out into the open, where every card should grow old.
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SONG:  "I and Love and You" by the Avett Brothers -- One of the great things of having a sister who is hip to the music the kids are listening to these days is that she tips me off to great songs by great bands.  Like this one.  Awesome song.

TELEVISION:  Chuck: Season 2.  I'm finally catching up on Chuck.  I enjoyed the first season, but lost track on it.  I've been watching Season 2 on NetFlix and the one thing that has caught my attention is that this show has a great soundtrack, probably as good if not better than Scrubs.  (Although Scrubs focused on Indie music and Chuck has a lot of 1980s Pop Rock.)  Also, it's a fun show.  And, were it not for my friend Andy, I'd have never known that the Chuck theme song is the instrumental part of "Short Skirt Long Jacket" by CAKE (which is a GREAT song, by the by).

LOOKING FORWARD TO:  August.  I'll be attending a wedding of a friend and his lovely fiance.  I will also (hopefully) be playing in the Omaha Metro Golf Championship for a second year.  This year it's being held at the Council Bluffs Country Club, which should be fun.  I also hope to use my "Tee It For Ten" card to play The Player's Club of Omaha and Arbor Links Golf Course in August.  Also, by August, our local farm market should be keeping us well fed with farm fresh produce. 

Trading Cards

I guess my blogging hiatus was a bit too long.  It took about ten minutes of searching before I could remember/figure out the log-in information for my blog.

Over the past (almost) two months of being between jobs I have had zero urge to blog.  Previously, my blogging bread-and-butter was the political genre.  But, being between jobs, I had way too much time on my hands and spent most of that time reading political blogs, which ended up being not very healthy.  My brain became over-saturated with politics and my "give-a-shitter" went on tilt.  So, I got away from it.  Lately, my blog reading has been 75% sports and pop-culture and 25% politics/news of the day.  This way, I still know the world is going to hell in a handbasket, but I don't get so bogged down in this realization.

I have also given up political radio/podcasts.  When I do listen to the radio, it's 100% sports-talk.  And the only podcast I'm subscribing to now is my daily dose of The Bob and Tom Show.

And I am in a much better place mentally (hence the blog post).

Then what do I do all day?  Well, for a few weeks I obsessed about my golf clubs.  I ended up buying a new set of iron heads from Golfsmith for $50. The building of these clubs ate up a nice chunk of time and energy (and in the future I'll write up a post on them, as it was a fairly intricate process that I'd like to document for posterity's sake, but the details of which are much to lengthy and would side track me from the main point of this post.  See what I did there?  I gave myself motivation for a future post.)

Which brings me to my new (renewed) obsession:  TRADING CARDS.

I've previously written about my childhood passion for collecting basketball cards, so you know I have an interest in the subject.  My interest was renewed when I started surfing around on ebay and found out that there are thousands upon thousands of trading cards that I have missed out on collecting.

Since I don't have a favorite team and I don't have a favorite sport, I decided to restart my collection by focusing on my favorite current athlete:  Luke Hochevar. 

At the same time that I started hunting down baseball cards (and window shopping for John Stockton basketball cards --  I got out my old basketball cards and discovered that I have about 225 unique John Stockton cards.  Since I haven't collected for over a decade, there are a ton of Stockton cards out there that I'd love to have, but I'll wait to collect them until a later date.), I discovered a new corner of the blogosphere:  trading card blogs.  The interesting thing about most of these blogs is that they post scans of their latest finds/pulls/purchases online.  I like the idea so much that I thought I'd do the same.
 
Here are my latest ebay purchases:

If these three cards look the same, it's because they are, kinda.  The card on the left is a 2007 Bowman Chrome Rookie BASE card.  A "base" card is the standard card that each set is built with.  The middle card is an insert card, in this case a 2007 Bowman Chrome REFRACTOR Rookie card.  These insert cards are made in smaller batches, which means they are more scarce than the base cards, and, therefore, more valuable.  The card on the right is even more scarce.  It is the 2007 Bowman X-FRACTOR Rookie card.  This card is marked with a serial number, 241/250, which means that there were only 250 of these cards produced.  The smaller the serial number, the fewer were made. 

Other cards from this series that I'll need for my set are ones that are AUTOGRAPH (which is self-explanatory), GOLD series (in which the frame of the card is gold), ORANGE series (frame is orange), RED series (red frame), and then have them be REFRACTORS and X-FRACTORS of each series.  As you can see, this may take a while, especially as each series is more and more scarce and valuable (which means more expensive).

These two cards are autograph cards.  The left card is a 2008 SP Authentic AUTOGRAPH Rookie card (serial numbered 719/798).  The one on the right is a TriStar Authentic AUTOGRAPH card (28/50) from when Luke played for the minor league Wichita Wranglers. 

Finally, this card is the crown jewel of my collection thus far.  It is a 2009 Topps Triple Threads "Rising Stars" PRINTING PLATE.  There are three parts of this card that make it great.  First, it is autographed.  Second, it has a game-used jersey under the cutout "1st Pick".  Finally, it is serial numbered 1/1 with the words "White Whale" on the back.  It is considered a "White Whale" because of it's scarcity.  The front of the card is actually the PRINTING PLATE that was used to make the other cards in the set (which explains the lack of color on the front of the card).  Needless to say, I love this card.

(And here is the back of the same card.)

My long-term goal is to own every Luke Hochevar baseball card that has been made.  It will be tough, but I believe it is a reachable goal because he is still young in his career.  The majority of his cards have come out in the past 3 years.  It would be a much more difficult goal for me to go back and track down all of the cards of someone at the end of their career or who's retired (like John Stockton).

But, one of the difficulties in reaching my goal is that modern card collecting has changed from when I was a kid, in large part due to autograph cards and "game used" cards.  These inserts (extras) are more valuable than the base set due to their scarcity, which will add to the difficulty in collecting them.

Even more difficult will the "1/1" cards (an example of which is above).  These cards are the most rare (and most expensive) cards because, as their name implies, there was only one card like it made.  And I am in love with hunting these "white whales".  I've already bagged two (the one above and one which is being shipped) and another has slipped through my finger tips.  I believe the ability to be the ONLY person in the world with a particular card is one of the greatest feelings a card collector can experience.

I have a handful of other cards that I've won one their way.  Look for posts of those in the coming days and weeks.  Also, I'll be updating my blog list on the right to show my current tastes and will be listing all of the great trading card blogs that I've discovered over the past week.

So, I'm back to collecting pieces of cardboard.  And, I'm back to writing in my journal.

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SONG:  "Here Comes the Hotstepper" by Ini Kamoze  -- a great rap/reggae song from my youth.  My friend BJ and I spent an entire weekend at his mom's house when we were in junior high school calling MagicFM to request that they play this song.  I can't remember if we ever got through, but it was fun trying.  I'm also 98% certain we never new any of the words to the song (and still don't to this day). 

LOOKING FORWARD TO:  the rest of the cards I've won on ebay to arrive in the mail.

TELEVISION:  "Deadwood" on HBO.  I've been watching this show via Netflix and it is highly entertaining.  The cast is great, the scripts are well written, and I always daydream about what it would have been like to live in the Wild West after watching an episode.  I highly recommend it.