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Some Customs Of The Kids

I definitely think I’m going to get the ’75s ordered once I start working again!

When Life Imitates Baseball Cards

As some already may know I got myself fired on Wednesday.  No, I didn’t lose my cool and leave the building on an inflatable slide or anything cool like that, I apparently just missed one too many days.  Actually my place of former employment just had a screwy attendance policy that I didn’t pay enough attention to.  It’s all good though, I was planning on giving my two weeks notice next Monday.  I already have something lined up but it’s not going to happen for a few weeks, I just need to find a way to make a few bucks in the meantime.  I’m in the process of putting together a few lots for sale that I’ll post here first and then they will get tossed on eBay if nobody bites.  The thing I hate about doing that is I value my cards more than most are willing to pay for them.  Under the circumstances I may just have to let them go.  It’s kind of like getting hit in the balls!

Speaking of getting hit in the balls, how great is this card?  I saw it on Fail Blog last week and had to do some digging and find one of my own.  It took a bit, and I had to buy the team set, but in the end I may have one of the greatest baseball cards ever made!  The rest of the set aint half bad either.

And Now For Something Different: Vintage Hockey Edition

Last month at the local show a dealer had a binder of near complete sets of ’69-’70 and’70-’71 Topps Hockey.  I showed some interest and he shot me a price.  The price was higher than I’ve ever spent on cards new or old, but it was quite fair.  I told him to let me think it over and I’d check with him the next month.  So the other week the local show rolled around and he still had the lot.  Now what I didn’t know was the lot was for more than just the binder with the sets, it was also for a 800 ct. box of doubles and other commons from the ’70’s.  I decided to pull the trigger and now I have way more vintage hockey than I really need.  Not only did I receive two near complete sets, both are under 15 common cards shy of a complete set, but I also received 2 to 3 partial sets of both years.  Here’s a few highlights of the lots.

Now if anyone is interested in buying or trading for these I would be more than willing to entertain offers.  My plans are to finish off the two sets for myself and finish off a set each and send them to theBay when hockey season gets going.  If you’re interested in singles, a starter set, partial set, or complete set, feel free to offer away.  I also have a ton of singles from ’72-’73, ’73-’74, and ’77-’78.  Again, all are for trade or sale so if you want something just let me know!

A Couple Of Auto’s From A Couple Of People You Never Heard Of

While everyone is raving about the National, I’m sitting in my gym shorts watching the Cubs getting pounded by the Reds once again.  Although I was not able to fly to Baltimore this week, I did manage to attend the Chicago Sun Times Show a few weeks ago.  It was by far the largest show I’ve been to in over twenty years.  Last time I mentioned the show here I attracted a bunch of spammy porn site comments which was interesting.  I also teased a story about the one and only Mr. Mint.  It’s not much of a story, but as you walked the in the door he was front and center.  You would almost think he was the one hosting the show.  The one thing I found odd was that his tables were completely empty.  Three tables, three guys, and a couple of brief cases which I assumed were full of cash.  I went to the show with an older local dealer who has had transactions with Mr. Mint in the past and he wanted to say hi.  Mr. Mint couldn’t have been more rude and dismissive to the old man.  I got the feeling that if you don’t have what he needs, don’t waste his time with chit chat and salutations.  If it was me, I would have told him to get fucked, but the old man said it was nice to see him and he told him to have a nice show.  Apparently he wasn’t because the dealers next to him told me he hadn’t had a single purchase the whole show.  They were also more than willing to mock his buying style, something that other dealers were all to willing to give their best imitation of too.  The over all feeling I got is that he is not that well liked and can be a total asshole to those who just want to say hi.

Enough of the negativity that shrouds this hobby and onto a couple of sweet autographs from a couple of people I had no idea ever existed.  I always try to pick something up for the kids when I go to a show.  Whether it be a pack of Little Mermaid cards or a Spider Man card, I try to get them something.  The first card I picked up was for my daughter.  We recently watched A League Of Their Own together and she immediately wanted to watch it again.  Who knew?  She thought it was really cool that they played in Rockford which is only about 20 miles away.  Which I have to admit is kind of cool to me too.  I was excited to see a booth with AAGPBL merchandise at the show.  There was a former player from Racine running the booth. My first thought was to pick up a t-shirt or a mini bat with the Peaches logo, but I knew both would end up stuffed away somewhere never to be seen again.  Then I noticed these….

At first I thought these were facsimile autographs but then I noticed they were all a little different.  I plunked down $5 and my daughter now has a legitimate autograph of a HOF Rockford Peach!  I’m not sure if she is in the movie at all. They do mention an Alice who was a back up outfielder who neglected to change her socks, not quite sure if it’s the same Alice or not?

The card I picked up for my son was hard not to pick up.  There was a booth near the back of the hall that I walked past a couple of times on my way to grab some food.  I didn’t pay much notice to it until I was getting ready to call it a day.  I heard an older black gentleman telling a story of playing ball with Satchel Paige.  Then it dawned on me that these guys were former Negro Leaguers!  Now you might ask yourself how I didn’t put this together earlier.  The booth had two older black men, a white guy, a younger looking black man, and a women.  They were all surrounded by books and autographed 8×10’s that they were selling.  Apparently the white guy actually played in the Negro Leagues because he wasn’t white enough to play in the Major Leagues?  I didn’t stick around for his story but I did strike up a conversation with this guy……

What made this card so hard to pass up is that for one my son’s name is Weston.  The second is that just before the show my wife’s uncle had just passed away.  His name was Randy but the family all called him Sonny.  So yeah, this one was hard if not impossible to pass up.  He was asking $5 for the autographed card and I was down to my last $10 for the day so I just gave him the $10 and told him and the others thank you for everything they have done for the game of baseball.  If I would have noticed this booth earlier I would have probably pulled up a chair and shot the shit all afternoon with these guys!

So there you have it.  Two $5 dollar autographs from two people who played the game for nothing more than the love of it.  On a day when Hulk Hogan was signing for $130, I think I found the better deal!