A Very JBF Christmas

The Great Trade Post Catch Up continues today with a great bubble mailer from Wes of JBF fame. Shortly before the holiday, Wes offered to send some cards to folks in return for a message about their collecting preference. I decided to jump on the offer and a very short time later, the previously mentioned bubble mailer arrived.

Nothing but good stuff in the envelopes I've received from Wes. The Kahnle is numbered and I love any blue refractors of a Yankee player since the border color complements the uniforms. I had been missing the base version of the Just Minors Elway until now. I already had the very similar promo version, but I was pretty happy to find this in the stack. That Private Stock Clemens is really nice and quite unique. The card stock is parchment-like, very thin. It's a great card.

Next up are some high end singles. I have never opened any Triple Threads and rarely see them in the boxes I dig through at shows so it is always appreciated when I receive these from a trading partner. It's a bonus that Mattingly and Boggs were two of the best hitters in the AL in the '80's. The Biggs is even numbered. The Mussina is the career stat line parallel and has a nice foil finish, a great new card of 'Moose'.

I could hardly believe my eyes when I flipped to the 1961 Post Booby Richardson. It may have a bit of paper loss on that left side, but I couldn't be happier to add it to the Whitey Ford I was able to pick up a few months back. The Denny's Upper Deck hologram is yet another new-to-me Donnie Baseball. The scan actually came out way better than I thought, but still doesn't do that card justice.

I was digging it when I saw this Classic Clippings auto. It's actually a cut auto and the player brought back some fond memories. There was a time in the early 2000's that I was reading the Navarro was going to be the successor to Jorge Posada. I actively sought his RCs in the last year that I really collected before falling out of the hobby for around 4-5 years. He may not have ended up being the next great Yankee catcher or even a big MLB star, but this guy has put together a solid career and he's still going strong. He'll be suiting up for the ChiSox in 2016. There's actually one more reason that I was happy with this auto: Dioner and I share the same birthday, February 9. While I don't have an official birthday PC, it was still cool to find a 'hit' of someone born on the same day as me.

That wraps up another great package from JBF headquarters. Thanks Wes, I'll keep my eyes open for something that I can send back your way soon.

Merry Cards-mas

I'm going to write this post for the second straight year. When I published it last year, the blog was almost brand new and even a full year in, it boasts the lowest page view count of any post I've written. However, 'tis the season and Christmas is a treasures time in my house. Perhaps even more so this year, having just been blessed with a happy and healthy daughter just one week ago. So, here is take 2, a post sharing my Santa card collection.

I absolutely love that Pro Set Head Coach card showing Santa trimming the tree with some cardboard! I'm happy to have the rest of these in the collection, but most don't stand out like that first one. Though, Santa's Heisman pose is pretty cool. I've picked these up since the last post. In fact, I found a few of these in one if the card show nickel boxes I wrote about previously.

Seems that there a good many cards of the Christmas legend from his playing days. I suppose that Pinnacle card doesn't really count, but if you are a Cowboys fan, you've gotta dig it. Well, it's got presents, bows, and Santa hats, so it's close enough.

This one is really up my alley. It's the 'action variation' here capturing the man doing what he does best(even if he's having a bit of a tough time here).

The final card I'll share in my Christmas post this year shows the man making his (check)list and checking it twice! It's a pretty decent front, but the back is what really gets me on this one.

True, this is deep for something written on a sports card. It really is a wonderful reminder that we should treasure who and what we have and to try to take a moment to show some kindness to others.

Anyway, thanks for reading and to all who celebrate it, I wish you a Merry Christmas!

Merry Cardboard Christmas

Christmas Day is rapidly approaching its end. For those that celebrate it, I hope you had a safe and Merry one. For those that don't, I don't mean to offend. For me, this is truly my favorite time of year. The only way it could be any better is if we didn't have to wait so long until Spring Training, but I digress. Here is some Christmas inspired cardboard that is either from my collection or on the list of items to add to it.

Both of these gems come to you from the fine folks at Pro Set. I've had them in the collection since I pulled them from packs way back in the early days of my collecting career. The first came out in 1989 and I vividly remember thinking how cool it was that I had just gotten a card of jolly ol' Saint Nick! I was young back then and didn't know a lot about our hobby, I just knew that I liked busting packs and finding cards of my favorite players. I had no idea that Pro Set issued another Santa card in 1990. So, I was equally surprised and pleased when I happened to unwrap the second version from a pack of 1991 Pro Set! I'm sure at some point, I will track down a copy of that 1990 Santa.

I had no idea that the following box set existed until I went to the Raleigh card show a few short weeks ago. I would have picked it up, except the asking price was pretty steep, what with the holiday approaching and all.

Check it out though. It includes Santa on multiple historic Topps designs and includes a Santa Suit relic card and an authentic autograph from the man himself! Yes, I realize that we are talking fiction here, but at this point in my collecting career, I've got two young kids(4 and 2 years old). This is just the type of thing that I could add to my arsenal in the hopes of passing on my love of collecting to them. I think something like this in addition to Durham Bulls team sets that include players we have gone to see play(and of course, Wool E. Bull) would help make the collecting connection. I wasn't in the market to pay $50 for this set though. I'm sure after the holiday dust settles, I'll be able to get my hands on a set for much less.

Lastly, I want to highlight a holiday themed card that doesn't star Kris Kringle. Once again, I had no idea this card existed until a short time ago. I happened to see it on Nick's Dimebox blog. Since I started this blog a few short weeks ago, it has been on my cardboard want list. It features the star of one of my favorite Christmas shows from my childhood. Subsequently, both of my daughters have grown very find of this show as well and I'm sure they'd LOVE to see this card.

It is none other than Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer! I used to watch this show once or twice each holiday season. Now that my girls have come along and fallen in love with it, I can't tell you how many times I've watched it over the past few years. For some reason, it never gets old. I absolutely love it!

Anyways, there you have it folks. To some, these cards would never find a permanent home in their collection, but it can say that the ones I already own continue to give me just as much joy today as they did when I stumbled upon them while opening packs over 20 years ago. Besides that, they've been known to help renew my Christmas cheer throughout the year as I wait for the holiday season to roll around again. Once again Merry Christmas to all of you in the blogosphere that celebrate this day.