Monday, August 31, 2015

Going Junkin' Part One

Sorry for the lack of posts, I've been a bit busy and haven't had much time to be on blogger.  Anyways, today is part one of a multi part post in which I post junk....

Perhaps I should explain.  Last week I went to Midway Antique Mall home of the long forgotten reality show called Truckstop U.S.A. or something like it (really it was renamed 2 or three times).  Anyways, I haven't gone in a while and this time I brought my camera.  I figured I could take pictures of random stuff and so I did.

Thursday, August 27, 2015

More Bang For A Buck?

A while back I was curious if it would be smarter to get the 5 pack of cards at the Dollar Tree versus the 30 pack.  On the surface of course 30 is 6 times more than the 5 cards but the 30 packs have older cards and sometimes multiples of the same card.  In total you might find 5-10 cards out of the 30 that you want.  So I decided to get some and check it out.


I was able to see the top card which was the Alex Gordon.  I also got a glimpse of the back card.  I could tell it was a blue border card but not much else.  I like the Gordon and the Garcia card, and a blue border of the Blue Jays is nice.  Overall, I guess I did okay.  I needed the Gordon and probably would have to pay 50 cents or more on COMC so I broke even I suppose.


Here is the second pack I bought.  I used the Gordon pack to show that you can see the top card.  In this second pack, I could see the Griffey card on top which is why I chose it.  Otherwise, this pack didn't impress me.  I likely have all the other cards or I don't plan on getting them otherwise.  I'm not sure if the Junior card is worth a buck, but it is nice to have.

So in two packs I got 3-4 cards I liked.  I like how they are mostly newer cards and no doubles, but I wish it was a bit more variety among sets.  At least all the cards were licensed so that's a plus.

So how do they compare to the 30 packs?


Well, I like the Harvey card, and the SP Authentics look cool next to each other.


Hey, a Manute Bol card!  Also a nice Vinny Testaverde and Craig Biggio cards.  Out of the 30 cards, I guess 3 were good enough.  They include all sports and all years, but most are just commons.  I could pick 6-10 cards off Just Commons for a buck and they would all be cards I want. However this is more random and a bit more exciting.

How about one more 30 pack.


For reference I showed what the front of the pack looks like.  I believe the Tettleton was on top.  Truth be told though, none of the 30 packs seem to have great top cards so I usually just grab them without looking at the top card.

David Justice and Steve Avery were nice to pull.  As was the Devon White and Bob Walk.  I don't really collect any of those players, but I might hold onto the Avery for a while until I clean my binder out next time.


Hey a Royals card!  I have the Kevin McReynolds card (I actually have that whole team set), but any Royals card I pull is a plus.  I showed the back of the Bagwell because bloggers go crazy for autograph shots.  This pack only had baseball and basketball but a nice appearance by Gary Payton.  I'm not sure if I've ever had a basketball Stadium Club card.  My favorite card of the pack is the Tony Cuccinello.  It's from a set I don't see too often, so its nice to get one every now and them.

So which is a better deal- 5 newer cards or 30 mostly older cards from all sports?  I had a bit more fun with the 30 pack.  Sure most of the cards were junk, but it was a bit more exciting to see what card would be next.  The 5 pack had nice cards on top, but the others were just base cards from sets I mostly had.  The 30 pack also had more variety from all sports so while I don't actively collect other sports as much, there is more of a chance I won't have them some of which I may want or like.

In the future I think I will stick to the 30 packs, but I will look at the 5 packs to see if there are any top cards I like.  My most recent visit to the Dollar Tree I passed on cards completely (I did have to get other things though), as I wasn't impressed with the selection.  Next time I go I might get some just because I need a fix.  My only other local options for cards are Walmart which is really lacking lately and Casey's General Store, which I get cards from since they are the only place in town to get cards and if I want to open something.  I'm hoping to make a trip to a semi-local card shop sometime soon.

Thanks for reading and I hope everyone has a great day!

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Dig In!

It's been a few days, and I think I will need to take action with my computer.  However, I won't neglect my blog so how about some cards.

Friday, August 21, 2015

Succeeding by Failing

"Forces of evil on a bozo nightmare
Ban all the music with a phony gas chamber
'Cause one's got a weasel and the other's got a flag
One's on the pole, shove the other in a bag"

HERE, just watch the video...


I was going to make this a musical post on losing, but after so many depressing songs and not any results I was looking for, I scrapped it and gave the music post the heave ho.  Sure I could have mentioned the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Eminem, Steely Dan, 3 Doors Down and a host of others, but I didn't want my blog to lead to a major onset of depression.  That wasn't the point.

The point of this post was I won a contest by losing.  A while back, The Raz Card Blog held a contest.  I didn't do so well.  In fact I finished last.  Luckily though, he gave a prize to the person finishing last as well.  I'LL TAKE IT!  I'm excited about all the contests I win, but this one was a bit different, I'll explain in a bit.

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Something out of Nothing

I had enough of my laptop so yesterday I did a factory reset.  I figured at worst it would mess up during the reset and it would be a worthless relic.  Maybe I could make a custom card from a piece of computer.  Not sure if someone has done that or not, but not sure why they would.  Hopefully though my computer would be back to normal besides needing a ton of updates.

I came out somewhere in between the two scenarios.  The reset worked without a hitch, and now I have a ton of updates to do and trying to remember all my bookmarks (I thought I saved them).  After an hour though, my computer messed up again.  So nothing really worked and I still need to make updates.  I guess I'll figure something out.  I'm not taking it as hard as I thought I would, but still a bit frustrated.  I read it could just be a problem I could fix by opening up the computer and unplugging and replugging in the hard drive.  We'll see what happens.

Having said that, I haven't been in the mood to write much.  In fact I spent today reading a book (shows how much I'm not in the mood).  Its been a couple days though so I need to write something.  All I have on the computer is some cards I plan to add to the Trading Card Database if I decide to do it.  All of them are NASCAR, but I think I can find something to discuss.


All these cards are from the 1996 Upper Deck "Road To The Cup" Series.  Basically shiny versions of the Upper Deck set. I bought a box last year before I started my blog.  1990's NASCAR was my favorite, I loved the cars, and most of the drivers.  Its fun to look back at old NASCAR cards and see the sponsors on the cars and drivers.  Steve Grissom is rocking a Cartoon Network firesuit from when the Network had good cartoons on.  Classic cartoons, I think shortly before Boomerang came around and they put the good stuff on there.  Now days, neither channel I think show the good stuff, and Cartoon Network has a ratings machine in the nightly Adult Swim programming.


Here we go.  Man I miss that Burger King logo.  I've said many times I love advertising, and I think that's why I'm drawn to NASCAR and these cards.  I rooted for Joe Nemechek a few times but never remembered his sponsors.  Ernie Irvin represented Havoline/Texaco well after Davey Allison's death.  Irvin would drive the #28 for a few years before he was injured as well.

Next is Kyle Petty who doesn't appear to have a sponsor, but I'm sure he did.  For those who don't follow NASCAR, Kyle is the son of Richard Petty.  He never could fit into the King's shoes, but he had a lengthy career.  His son Adam raced too but died in 2000 shortly after debuting in the Winston Cup Series.

Lastly is Johnny Benson.  I always used the line from Little Giants- "PITCH TO JOHNNY, you can't pitch to Johnny, I'M JOHNNY!" Johnny Benson never amounted to much, and he took over the Pennzoil sponsor after Michael Waltrip had it.  I miss seeing Michael drive the yellow Pennzoil car.


The backs of the cards are nice too, as they don't have stats, but then again nobody really checks stats of drivers besides their own.  Some cards did, and sometimes they even showed career earnings, which was fun to see too.  I like the shirt Kyle Petty is wearing under his firesuit.  I presume Coors was his sponsor and possibly why his firesuit looked scrubbed on the front of the card.

For those who collect cards of people signing autographs on the cards, NASCAR sets are great to have for this reason.  It seems there were quite a few cards in each set of drivers signing on cards.  One thing I love about NASCAR is how approachable the drivers are with the fans.  One of a few things NASCAR does right is allowing fans the chance to meet the drivers and it works well.  It builds a better bond between drivers and fans.  It also allows some of the no name drivers a chance to get more fans.  That person getting a Johnny Benson signed hat may not have been a fan, but they might become one after this encounter.


MBNA, K-Mart, STP, QVC,and is that a pre-Jimmie Johnson Lowe's sponsorship on Bodine?  The evolution of sponsors and drivers are also fun to see too.  Some complain when drivers change sponsors, but I liken it to when the same happens in Soccer.  I know people who have to buy new soccer jerseys every year because of new sponsorships.  That seems crazy to me, but then again I could never afford a jersey.

I always found it interesting that Kyle Petty never took over the #43 and STP ride from Richard, even when they had a sting of unsuccessful drivers fill the spot.  That's a nice Ken Schrader card too.  If I had a double, I would put it in my Missouri binder.

I want to speak about Ward Burton for a minute.  Ward is brother to another driver Jeff Burton, and there is another Burton too, but I forgot if he is a son of one of them or brother.  His name is Jed or Jeb or something (true NASCAR name).  What I remember about about Ward is he was the epitome of a NASCAR driver, a southern accent that made him seem like slow but you knew he actually knew what he was talking about.  I liked him when he raced but I never cared to hear him talk.  Anyways a few years ago, a comedian I like very much- Tim Wilson, did a bit on one of his albums called "Southern Accents".  He did an impression of all the southern states, and he did one for West Virginia and the accent was hilarious.  Then he said "day kinda sond like Ward Burton, you don't know what da hell day saying".  It was a gut buster to me because he really sounded like Ward Burton to me.  Tim sadly passed away in April last year, and when I got this box in May or June, as I opened packs, I pulled this Burton card and stopped and laughed for 10 minutes.  It brought back so many memories.  Earlier this year, they talked to Jeff Burton and then had his brother Ward come on.  The whole time Ward talked all I could think about was Tim Wilson, and how he would do this interview.


Kenny Wallace might be another driver I could add to my Missouri binder.  Non-fans may not know Kenny is part of the Wallace racing family which also includes Rusty and Mike among many others.  I think Kenny or Mike once drove a Helig-Meyers car that I liked.  Its fun to see defunct sponsors on these cards.  I notice Schrader has an airbrushed hat too.  Maybe it was Winston cigarettes?  Billy will likely know.  I think Ken also drove Skoal for a bit or Kodiak at one point.

Derrike Cope is rocking the Aaron Tippin mustache I notice too.  Bobby Hamilton transitioned to the Truck Series I believe where he dominated the early years.  I was never much on the truck series.  If I watched trucks, I preferred the Off-Road Truck Series (once called SODA, now not sure what its called, maybe Lucas Oil Truck Series).

Lights are flickering and thats all the cards, so I better go.  I hope to be back to writing better soon.  Thanks for reading and have a great night.

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Catching up on Listia and a MAJOR WIN!

I haven't bid on much on Listia much lately, mainly because I haven't been on the site.  So the good news is that I can catch up on all the winnings.


I won the Johnny Damon card dirt cheap, when I got it in the mail, the other three Royals cards were included.  I like sellers who add bonus cards.  The Damon is on that I needed, but I likely would have bid on it even if I had it.  I think it was under 100 credits.

The Ken Schrader card I got as it was cheap as well.  I wanted to add it to my collection of people from Missouri, even though I have a couple other cards of his.  I like this one as it shows his face so thats good.  When I got it, this card was a lot nicer than it scans and is a nice card for a Racing card.

Next is a Saturday Night Live card.  A lot of them popped up lately, and was a bit more than I wanted to pay, but I bid on it just because I remember the sketch, and think my sister would like it.  This is one of the few sketches I believe Phil Hartman broke up in.  It was always fun to catch.

Lastly is a Kony Ealy insert that I've eyed for a bit, and finally found one cheap enough to get.  Ealy was always one of my favorite Mizzou players and one I knew was primed for success before most people noticed.


The Madison Bumgarner cards I felt I showed already, but were in my scan pile.  They were two separate auctions, but both were real cheap.  I'm still mad at him for preventing KC a World Series, but when you find star player cards cheap, you bid.  The Donruss set has really grown on me.

I showed off a Jeremy Maclin card a few months back from the Clarity set, and didn't plan on buying others, but again, this was cheap and fits into my Chiefs collection, so I bid.  I didn't expect to win, but when I did I was happy.  I'll need to find something to store it in as its too think to put in a nine pocket sleeve.  I'm not ready to move my Chiefs collection to a box yet because its too small.  One day I will though.

Next is the most recent win I got on Listia, but also a huge contest win on Twitter.


The Derrick Robinson card I won on Listia last week for I think 50 credits.  I think there was a mixup though because I was only supposed to get a base set card, but got an insert.  I haven't heard a lot from Robinson, but since he plays for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, he's a Royal to me.  If I tried hard enough, NWA is only a 4 hour trek from my house, I could go see him play.  I could also save an hour and see them play in Springfield and see both the Royals and Cardinals AA teams.  I have plans of doing that one day.

OKAY!  I mentioned a while back I would stop entering contests for a while to spread the love.  I have been on a nice streak, and I think I entered this shortly before or after that announcement.  I made an exception that if it was a super awesome contest I could enter (I have only entered 1 or 2 since).  This was a huge exception because while I admit I'm not the biggest hockey fan, Mario Lemieux is a legend.  A twitter person named Hockey Cards held the contest, and I got it late this week.  Now I thought it was an autograph and a relic, but I'm still happy because the autograph is what I wanted the most.  The Beckett rated 9 card is lovely though.  My first Beckett graded card, and the plastic is thick.  I thought about popping it open, but I'm afraid I'd harm the card, so I'll keep it in the case.

The autograph was the one I wanted though.  In fact if it didn't include a signature I wouldn't have entered.  Hockey Cards (sorry for no link, trying to write fast before the laptop crashes), sent the cards and I didn't realize it was from Canada, so for the second time in a month, I've gotten a package from foreign soil.  Just call me Mr. International I guess.  That is unless Pitbull objects, than I guess call me something else.

That will wrap it up for today.  I alluded to laptop problems again, and I plan on doing a factory reset soon.  If I screw something up, I'll still have the desktop, but likely won't be writing daily.  Until I get the laptop back to normal, it will be spotty when I post new blogs.  Thanks for sticking around, and have a great weekend.

Friday, August 14, 2015

Book To School

School is starting back up for most kids, a sure sign that summer is winding down.  Another sign is that preseason football is upon us.  I haven't even looked at any games already played and not even sure when the Chiefs play their first game that doesn't count.

Having said that, I have fallen behind yet again but this time its over worries of my laptop again.  At least this time I have a flash drive close by for all my scans and can switch computers quickly if I need to.  I finally did some scanning and today have a plethora of items to show, but mostly books, because books are cheap and could be interesting.

These are all books I got from Savvy Seconds who decide 20 for $1 won't draw as many sales as 5 for a quarter, and it works out well for both parties.  I can manage to find 5 books, but not 20.  So let's take a look.


This will be my second Garrison Keillor book, and maybe this one will motivate me to read the first one.  If you are unfamiliar with Keillor, he hosts the long running radio show "A Prairie Home Companion".  They made a movie based on it and it largely got mixed reviews, but I liked it.  Keillor was in it along with Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly, Lily Tomlin, Meryl Streep, and Lindsay Lohan (really a good job in it), among others.  I might have to watch it again sometime soon though it isn't really one I need to watch a lot, but one scene with Woody and John cracks me up where they sing "Bad Jokes" including such gems as:

John: Did you know diarrhea is hereditary?
Woody: No, I didn't.
John: Yeah it runs in your jeans.

Always good for a laugh.  Anyways, I got that along with this Alan Alda book, which I really got to get to 5.  Alda is a good actor, but I can't say I'm a big fan.  I'm not a big fan of MASH, but to be fair, I was born right after the series ended.  I will watch episodes here and there, but nothing I care about too much (though I did my mom the entire series a few years ago, and she's finally watching them again).


Most of the books I get are kids books.  There are a few reasons for this.  Mainly because I don't really read much I did read as a kid.  So the topics and title spark more of an interest to me, plus there are a lot more sports books for kids.  Another reason is because I have two nieces and nephews who I could give them too or have something to read when they visit.

Neither of these books spark a childhood memory, but I gathered The Leftovers to be a book series and a knockoff of the Bad News Bears.  It seems like a good clean concept for a book, so I took a risk (I mean really it cost me a nickel).  I didn't see others in the series, but I might check it out later.  I guess having these books will come in handy if my laptop does conk out since I don't watch much TV these days.

The other book had an interesting cover but a terrible tagline (Perfect Game? Or perfectly lame?  Really, that sounds like a degree of sarcasm I wouldn't even consider).  Why are they playing baseball on a person's hand?  For a nickel, let's find out!  I must say I've already investigated some of the history of this book.  I looked up where Hennepin County is, and while assuming they allowed the sale of this book, I see that it most likely is a county in Minnesota, either including or next to Minneapolis.

Much like a baseball cards journey, books have incredible journeys as well.  Why and how did this book cross 2 states and settle in a resale shop in a town of under 20,000?  That may never be answered but could make an interesting story.  I will say as someone who worked in the school library one year I scanning the books was much easier, but I hated all the labelling on the covers.  I don't get why they couldn't put it on the inside of the front cover, it shouldn't take that much longer to open the cover to scan the book.  Oh well, I don't have to worry about that, but once considered applying at a library for work.  I walked into the place and it smelled and the place just sucked, so I realized it wasn't for me.  I just heard on the news last night a local library (in Columbia, MO) had to be closed yesterday because of a flea infestation.  Only in Missouri.


Now Amelia Bedelia was some books I do remember reading, but I can't remember if I read this one.  This one I got excited to see because I think my nieces might like it, that is once I finish reading it.  Who knows, maybe this will get them hooked on baseball.  Anything to plant the seeds.

Not bad for a quarter.  I also got another book as well.  Mom only had 4 books, so I threw one in with hers, and here it is with another item I got.


This book is from 1994, so it only deals with The Big Hurt's early years, which is pretty cool.  I didn't get it for me though, I got it for a friend.  He is interested in my Frank Thomas cards, and I'm slow at gathering them, but when I get them gathered we'll work something out.  He might buy more too.  I figured I'd get him a book to show that I still plan on working something out with him, plus it gives me something to read first.

CD's I think are now 50 cents each.  They have tons, and honestly if I had room and a bit more money, I would buy a lot more.  This one though is the Greatest Hits of the Violent Femmes, and one I've kind of wanted for quite a long time.  I will usually get a CD for a buck or less if it has at least 2 good songs on it, and this being a Greatest Hits CD has plenty more than two.  It reminds me of once when I got a Greatest Hits CD of The Cars through a music club and only really remembered a couple songs at the time, but when I got the CD, I knew every song.  Next time I might get a few more CD's but I'll see what the selection is.  I enjoy looking at them since people are starting to dump CD's a bit more now, which gives more for me since I don't have an iPod.

Here's one final book I got but it wasn't from Savvy Seconds.  I got it this past weekend in Columbia.


I don't think I got a Mizzou media guide last year, so it was good to get the newest one.  This wasn't used and the price was a lot more than a quarter, but it was still worth it.  The reason I got it was because I was at the Stadium for Mizzou Fan Day, which I'll discuss in a future post, with a small amount of pictures.  If I had this book sooner, I would have gotten a lot of the players to sign it, but I got it about half way through the event, so I just got all the names on a poster.  The only name that signed this book is one I already had, but its been a few years since I last met him.


I mean, its Gary Pinkel on the back cover, why wouldn't I have him sign it there?  I've met him twice now, and has always been nice I will say that.  I hope one day to get autographs of the other coaches (I got a couple a few years ago after a game).

I'll wait to talk about the fan day though, maybe tomorrow.  The problem is that I didn't take pictures, so it will be really word heavy, but I might find pictures from the event to throw in, plus photos of all the signatures too.

Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend.

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

A Second Slice of COMC Goodness

Last time I showed off the mostly non-baseball cards I got on a recent order of COMC.  Today its the baseball portion.  Let's dig in.


Monday, August 10, 2015

A Slice of COMC Goodness

Back in June, yes June, COMC had a special week of free shipping.  I have been accumulating cards on the site since their last free shipping date on Boxing Day (December 26th).  You only needed to ship 30 cards, and I had about 15, so I spent the week working toward the rest.  Thanks to their COMC challenges, I made enough dough where I didn't have to pay anything.  So in essence these were free cards, but my stinginess still prevented me from getting too many high priced cards (plus I tried to reach the 30 card plateau so I had to be thrifty).  I finally got the cards I wanted and had them shipped out, and it took a while to get, but I've been sitting on these since the first week of July ready to show.  Here is the mostly non-baseball portion of the cards I got.

Friday, August 7, 2015

Favre and Away

I was at Savvy Seconds last month and didn't find much.  I'm okay with that, because it is normal.  At worst I can find a picture frame or something or maybe a book or two. I got to the last area of the store and they had a bunch of older looking dolls on display.  I have no interest in them, but I look at almost everything in the store because they randomly put stuff in odd places.

This was one of those times.  I found a sandwich baggie with some cards in it for $2.  It's a bit more than they normally charge, but what the hey.  The top card showed Brett Favre as did the back.  Maybe all of them were of him.  Not likely, probably him on both sides and random 1990 Score duplicates of Dino Hackett.  I took the risk and bought it.

Good thing I did.

Thursday, August 6, 2015

A Rose By Any Other Name...

Don't worry, this isn't a Literature post, but inspired by other bloggers, it will be a musical one.  I don't plan on doing it much, but I like music and it gave me a chance to look up some and find new songs.

Why are we doing this and what is the theme?


Originally these boxes were $30.  About a month and a half ago I went to Walmart and spotted them marked down to $11.49.  On that day I passed on them.  I mean, sure a guaranteed Pete Rose autograph is a nice grab but he signs all the time, surely its not too hard to get one cheap.

I went home, and looked it up.  I haven't found too many cheap ones, and the ones I did came from this set and would be about $30.  Unless you watch ebay like a hawk then maybe a bit cheaper, and found a few for around $15, but they were from this set.  So I decided that if it was still there next time I went, I'd get it.

I went about 3 weeks later and it was still there, so I bought it.


First video is Seal's "Kiss From A Rose".  I also want to say I haven't checked out all these videos, so they may not work to well, I'm just using suggestions given to me from this site.  I've always liked this song and I sing along every time I hear it on the radio, so its a good starting point.


A terrible scan of the wrapper, but oh well.  I got 60 cards total so once I got home I checked and noticed it was only a 50 card set.  Maybe I can get them all, and hey, maybe I could flip them for about ten bucks keeping only the auto and costing under 2 bucks.  Hmmm.


Next song is Bon Jovi's "Bed Of Roses".  Its always been a good song to me, but not one I have to crank up when I hear it. I can sing along to it, but often don't.

Okay, let's see the cards.


These are decent designs, even though no logos appear on jerseys.  For that reason I like the cards without jerseys in them.  Pete must have liked reading the paper a lot, I guess he was looking for the betting lines.


How can I mention Rose and not have Poison?  "Every Rose Has It's Thorn"  will get cranked up 9 times out of 10, and sung along with about the same.  This says its from a show in St. Louis in 2007.  I think I remember wanting to go to that show despite not being the biggest Poison fan (aside from this and a couple other songs). Bret Michaels has been around here a few times since but I've missed him every time.


Aside from the logo-less jerseys, my biggest complaint might be that they are in black and white.  Imagine the color of that curtain on that last card.  These would really pop if they had color, even if it was only half the cards.


I like some Flyleaf music, but I never heard this one before.  I was fairly disappointed as I use to a much harder sound.  "Blue Roses" though is one of their newer songs, and I am curious to see what the rest of the album sounds like.


Even being in black and white, the actual action shots are still pretty good.  I like the variety they used for the set, and in the end I did manage to get the complete set with a few doubles.  After compiling it though, I decided to keep the set, but have no use for the dupes.


Lynn Anderson just recently passed away, but her major hit "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden" is still a staple on many classic country stations. I admit its not one I listen to a lot, but its not a song that makes me change the station so its still good.


I thought I would show the backs of the cards.  They all use the same photo, so there isn't much to it.  These were the doubles I pulled in case someone is looking for a certain number.  I can set it aside for you.  I guess its okay, but I'd prefer to have different back photos on the back even if they were the same as the front side.  For $30 I feel its a little generic.  Glad I didn't pay that much.


I haven't heard this song in a long time, and I'm fine with that.  The few times in chorus we actually sang (and didn't watch Disney Movies) we would sing Bette Midler's "The Rose".  I actually liked the song, and how it was arranged, but we sang it every day, and for no real reason.  I got tired of it after a while.  I could probably sing the song without the lyrics if I tried hard enough.

So, what about the autograph?  Did I get it in the box, or did I get the cool one I had to send off for?


My preference would have been one in the box because I'd have it in hand that day, and that's what I got.  It even came with protection, so it worked out great.  The autograph itself isn't too great, but hey, I can say I have a Pete Rose autograph, I'm not complaining too much.

The card I got was even a nice one too. Sure no logo on the hat, but at least his glove covers what they washed away on his jersey.  I'd rather have an action shot logo anyway.

Did they change the back of the card compared to the regular version?


Nope, not really.  Then again, I doubt many people care what's on the back of an autograph card.

One final video, this one is simply called "Roses".


This is by the group Outkast, and it reminds me of a time when people actually cared enough to make decent videos, even though MTV and other outlets all but abandoned the concept.  I will watch this video in its entirety every time I see it.  It has a good amount of cameos too.

So that will wrap it up today, for under $12 I got a complete set and a Pete Rose autograph.  I won't complain about that at, and if they had another box at that price I'd be tempted to buy it just to maybe flip it (and see if I could get a nicer auto).

Thanks for reading, have a great night, and I hope everything comes up Roses for you guys.  Did I miss any song you expected, or any suggestions for me to check out?  Also did you like how I presented it, if enough people liked it I might try it again in the future.

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Dollar Tree.... or Four

I'm rushing a bit tonight because I was a bit busy today, but thought I'd show off 4 recent Dollar Tree packs I bought on my last trip about a month ago (then I bought others today, which I'll show in the future).  I forgot the order so let's just look at what I scanned.


Sure these are junk wax, but what an amazing lineup of cards to get in just one pack.  I know I have the Strawberry and Ventura, and likely have the others too.  That doesn't take away from a solid scan of stars.  I like the Ventura the most because of the jersey, with the Gwynn being a semi-close second.


This might have been the same pack.  Still more stars with Ripken, and in other sports too.  IT'S LIMA TIME!  Since I have none of him as a Royal, this will work for now.  I also like the Vanover card too, one I wouldn't seek out, but will look good in my Chiefs binder.  The Yankees card shouldn't count as it has an order form on the back, but I still like it.


Who could complain with these cards?  If I got these as a kid I'd be ecstatic. Even today, I'm still happy.  Deion in pinstripes...a double dose of Puckett...Sara Dayley's father!!!! Okay Ken Dayley I liked, but I saw his daughter on St. Louis TV a few years back and I've been a fan since... MOVING ON!

Oh, and a Gubicza too.   Ok, hold up... I need to show you why I like Sara Dayley, she is on my mind now.  That's not a bad thing.


I was sad to hear she left KSDK back in May, along with a mass exodus of others, but since I don't get St. Louis local channels, I guess it doesn't matter.  See what I mean though.

OK, I'll get back to the post.  More cards.


These are some nice cards too.  I like the Bryan Harvey, and miss those Marlins jerseys.  The Ryan Grant card is nice too, and while I don't care for him, the McGwire is nice to pull too.

You may notice a bent edge on the Bryan Still card.  That is my only complaint I've had with these cards.  Since this store opened, the cards aren't in great shape.  Sure I shouldn't expect much, but I do expect some cards in good condition.  Oh well.


A BOB GIBSON!!!! YE... wait, that's the wrong one.  Still kind of cool.  Also nice Nolan Ryan card too.  I might keep this one.  A double dose of Jack McDowell too.  Benny has a nice Pirates hat as well, I would buy one if I saw it cheap at a garage sale.


Now this was a great pack.  Some Royals, some Cardinals, all-around nice.  I liked Willie McGee, so these are nice cards, especially the Diamond King.  I don't have it in front of me, but the Riddle is a reprint card, I forgot the year.  The Royals are likely doubles, triples, or more, but I always get excited to pull a Royals card, so two in one pack was awesome.


How about some more Royals, and some pitchers, and Finley and DeShields.  Another solid batch here, my favorite is the Haney.  I can't complain about the Upper Deck ones either.  The Delino DeShields card is the first card of the Peter Gammons cards that I got that isn't Phil Hiatt, so thats good.

Okay, last scan.  A total of $4 was spent on these, so besides bent edges I can't complain.


A random mix of the good old days.  The Sandberg is likely my favorite, but one I've seen many times.  The Darling and Aase cards might be new to me.  The Clemens card does look nice though I'm not his biggest fan.

So I think I did great.  Next time (which was actually earlier today) I will check out the 5 cards for $1 packs and see if they are worth it.  These packs always give me great joy, so I don't plan on stopping anytime soon.

Thanks for reading and have a great night.  You know what else gives me great joy?


If this was twitter I guess this would be my Woman Crush Wednesday...  I better go now before this gets creepy.

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

If it sounds like a Duck...

I am online quite often, usually because I'm bored or to take my mind off other things.  As a result, I search for freebies and contests. Until I started this blog, it was mainly just for random stuff.  In the last few months, I have retweeted a lot of contests on Twitter.  I have been fortunate enough to win quite a few.  Top that off with the amount of blog wins I've won lately, and I have been blessed.  So much so that I have decided to take a break from entering contests for a while.  I will still try to promote them but I want other people to have a chance to win.  I'm not sure how long this will last, so I could enter one tomorrow, but unless it is something I've been dying to get or something truly amazing (like a win i should be getting in a week or two), I think I'll let you guys try to win.

The reason I bring it up is because recently I got a package in the mail called a Duck Pack.  Duck Packs holds contests on twitter, and I won one a while back.  Since I fell behind, I'm just now showing it off.  You should really follow if you don't, I really enjoy the tweets.

Here is what I got.


I got a drewing! (That's how Simon would say it on Saturday Night Live, never cared for the Mike Meyers character, but I've been saying it a lot lately).  I actually got two drewings (rolls off the tongue doesn't it?) the other is scanned later and is on the other side.

The pack begins with a couple great players I loved watching growing up.  Dennis Eckersley is one of my favorite pitchers ever (well in the top 25- among ones I've seen pitch), and Wade Boggs was so cool when he was in Boston.  He was also close friends with Mr. Perfect, so that isn't a bad thing either.


These aren't really cards I needed, but they are all solid players so I'm not complaining.  1991 Fleer, WILL YOU STOP STALKING ME!!!!  1990 Donruss is more like a creeper, I see them around but they scatter before they get spotted too much.  The Lloyd Allen is new to me, and I like it.  I also love the Joe Carter.  The blue SE version of a Toronto Blue Jays legend really stands out.  That is definitely binder worthy.  Same goes for the Mo Vaughn.  While I whittle down the Red Sox collection, Mo is one I plan on keeping for now.  This pre-rookie is one I've spotted before but never had.  It has found a good home.

So now let's look at some newer stuff.


A nice couple rookies in Chad Jenkins and Dylan Bundy, I'm glad I got the Bundy.  I might already have one or two of his other cards in my others binder, if not, this one is going in.  The Brad Miller might go in too unless somebody wants it, than it won't.  I like the parallel designs, but don't have a lot of them.

The Jackson card is amazing!  That is from the 2015 Topps set, and I am going to look into the rest of the insert set.  It really pops.

Finally is the Max Scherzer Gold parallel.  This is my favorite of the Duck Pack.  Even if I didn't collect Scherzer for my Mizzou collection, I would still collect him because I've always liked him.  He would fit quite nicely next to my Justin Verlander PC, but as it goes, this one will go into my Mizzou collection and since their colors are black and gold, this will stand out even more.

Finally is a couple more great cards and another drewing. I CAN'T STOP SAYING IT!  Typing that in all caps made me sound like Regis who randomly shouts things.


I wish I could draw that good, but I can't.  OK, so the Curtis Granderson is a really nice card.  I don't see him play much, but I think if I had MLB TV I would likely watch a lot of Mets games.  Especially since I couldn't watch the Royals or Cardinals.  I watched a few during my free trial and I kind of like their team.  Next I'll mention the rub-off or whatever it is.  I've seen other bloggers talk about these, but I've never had one.  Now I do.  Nice to have the Gary Carter on it, I wish I saw him play more. I also wish the Expos were still around.  Since its so flimsy, I'll keep this one in the penny sleeve.

Lastly is the Chase Utley relic.  I've always liked Utley somewhat, but never went out of the way to get a card like this.  This one is really nice I must say.  I also like the jersey style he's sporting in the photo.  I always preferred the darker red color for the Phillies compared to the brighter red.

Thanks again to Duck Packs for the awesome cards.

I think I'll post another scan too to clean my computer up before scanning more soon.  These are random ones I've gotten recently.


The two Shane Ray cards were given to me by my best friend.  I had cards for him, and he had extras of these two.  I've been looking for some good cards of Ray, and actually almost bought the Game Day Tickets one a day before.  Now to find the other Mizzou guys with cards in 2015 sets.

The Buck Buchanan card I won on Listia.  Simply labeled "buck"  I figured I'd bid if it was cheap and it was.  One annoyance on Listia is when people don't describe the cards or label them but if it results in me getting them cheaper that way, its a good trade-off.

The last two are of Davey Allison.  I've been buying them up a lot lately, but I really was a fan of his.  Allison cards don't fetch as much as Danica or Dale Jr. cards, but that's fine with me.  I will buy all the Allison cards if they are cheap enough.

So that will wrap it up for today,  I still have a few more posts before I am caught up, but I do like how I'm not pressed for a topic, so this is a bit fun.  Thanks everyone for reading, and have a great night.

Monday, August 3, 2015

Back at it... what's the Score?

It's time to get back to work.  I'm so far behind on posting that I can't scan anything until I show some stuff off.  Today I will show off some 2015 Score Football since its almost Football time.


No photoshopping Dwayne Bowe into a Browns jersey.  I am still a bit sad to see him go, but I am glad I got this card.  One thing is for sure, that wasn't a touchdown catch, unless it was from the year before.

This was a megapack with I think 40 or 50 cards and I can't complain on who I pulled.  The design isn't too bad either.  A little excess white border, but at least they went for a different design this year.  The backs also look nice too.  It's not a bad guess to think I would buy more packs, because I likely will.  I'm not his biggest fan, but I'm glad I pulled a Sherman, same goes for Romo.  I might add Allen to my former Chiefs section of the binder too.  Bowe will go in the regular section since he's still in the jersey.


Rams throwback jerseys, I like!  I'd prefer another Ram over Austin Davis, but oh well.  I like the Mason card.  I also got another Chiefs card.  This time a current Chief.  Cool beans!  Add in a couple big name Texans and a Bucs player, and this is a nice pack.  If this was 2013, I would add Jackson to my Bucs binder, but I abandoned the team I cheered for since 1991 after the 2013 season.  A lot of factors played into it, including poor play, management, and my passion for the Chiefs.  When the Bucs announced new jerseys (which I still don't like), it gave a great time to break away.

Okay, how about some rookies?


I think I did good on these too.  I would have liked to get a Missouri player, but I can't complain.  If I decide to keep my Hurricanes binder, Ereck Flowers will have a spot in it.  Even though I don't get to see Miami play much anymore, I still enjoy watching them play.

Ok, so now onto the inserts.


Let's start off with a bang!  Barry Sanders, heck yeah!  This is my favorite card of the pack.  Sure the jersey might almost bleed into the background, but its Barry Sanders.  I think the reason I loved watching football on Thanksgiving was seeing Sanders play. 

The Franchise cards of A.J. Green and Philip Rivers are okay I guess, but do nothing for me.  Same for the All-Pro of Gronk.  Though I will say if it was a different player I might like it better.  Same could be said for the Sophomore Selections, but despite who is on it, this is a nice card.  I'm not mad for pulling it.

Last are the Team Leaders cards.  The regular version of the Chiefs was nice to pull, but the gold variation of the 49ers really pops.

Overall I'm happy with how this pack turned out.  I may not buy another big pack, but if I find smaller ones, I might get one from time to time.  I hope to find a Maclin card in a future pack.

Since football isn't everyone's cup of tea and I haven't posted in a while, I'll show a baseball pack I got recently.  My mom picked it up at Dollar Tree on her last visit, so here it is.


I guess a quarter a card isn't bad, but I'd at least like to see them licensed for that price.  I told her not to buy anymore of these on future visits as they aren't worth the price.  Anyways, let's see what I got.


I must say for a $1 pack, this one wasn't too bad.  The Kluber and Votto cards make it worth it I guess, but I might like pulling the Santana card more.  So while it's only 4 cards, I could have done worse.

How about a couple more baseball cards?


I won these earlier in July pretty cheap on Listia.  I think I already had the Shields, but even if I did, I could give it to a friend.  the Heaney I knew I didn't have and only bid because it was cheap and I've actually heard of him.  I have no real interest in getting all 100 of the cards, but I have a couple now.  It will be interesting to see how some of them do after being traded at the deadline.  Heaney has had a solid year in the majors this year with a 5-1 record and an ERA under 2.00.  Maybe this card will be worth something soon.  If it is, I'll find a better card holder for it.

Well, that will wrap it up for today, its good to be writing again, and I have plenty more to write about, thanks for all the comments lately, and I've been reading a few blogs lately, I hope to be catching up in the next few days.  Thanks for reading and have a great night!

Oh, by the way, in case you missed it, I posted a new post on the Missouri Sports History page honoring former Buffalo Bills running back Curtis Brown who passed away last week. It's not much, but its got some good feedback from a few people.