No Wonder the Rest of the World Hates Us

I bought a used crinkled up baseball card wrapper from 1979. Yes, I essentially paid hard earned money for garbage, a piece of trash. It will be affixed to the cover of my '79 set binder.

There are kids starving in Africa ya know?

I Am Still Here

Hey everyone...

I have been on vacation for the past nine days. While I was gone, a few bubble mailers made it to my porch.

First, the 2006 UD Artifacts Auto-Facts card of Marcus Giles. This is the first one of these that I have seen since I started building this set last Fall.

Next, a couple of PSA graded cards. 1968 Topps Al Kaline graded 8, and a 1981 Sweet Lou graded Gem 10.

While away, the sewingmachinegal and I took in a game at Chase Field. The Cincinnati Reds behind a great game from Bronson Arroyo beat the home D-Backs. The weather was a bit cool, so the roof was closed.

I found time to hit a sports card shop in Phoenix. The Batter's Box is the oldest in town. The guys working there were very helpful. I knocked off four of the big boys from my 79 want list.

The rest of our trip out west was spent hiking around Sedona.

Cards from the NorthWest

I think I have stated this publicly, but just in case I have not, or you missed it; I am going to repeat it.

Sportscard collectors are the nicest, most generous, and generally helpful people around. I deal with all sorts of people in my life. Quilters are really great people, and rank high, but they can be a little anal about some things. Baseball collectors, as a whole, are great people. Highly trusting.

Last week, I put out a call for 1979 Topps baseball cards. Within a day or two, I had a couple of fellow bloggers agreeing to trades. I am quite close to finishing off the favorite set of my youth.

Today, a package of five bundles came from Larry over at Emerald City Diamond Gems. I will be unpacking them, and loading them into the binder a bit later. Thanks for the trade Lar!

Not the Most Handsome Guys

I put my 1979 Topps cards into 9-pocket pages. I noticed a trend. Many ball players from the era were butt ugly! Highly unkempt, and not very fit.

Farrah Fawcett wants her sunglasses back.

Trade Recap

I pulled off a great trade with Darren of Potch Wheeler fame. Darren knocked off 23 cards from my 1979 Topps want list.

No other card reminds me of the era as much as this Eric Soderholm. The 'stache, the oversized glasses, the lame White Sux uni, awesome. My brother and our friends called him Eric Sodomize.

Hall-of-Famer Willie McCovey. A little rough around the edges, but I don't care. I am building this set as an ode to my first serious collecting days. Most of my '79's look like this.

Two of the best catchers of my lifetime. Both wearing nice powder blue PJ's.

Boone never gets the recognition I think he deserves. 2, 225 games caught. Wow!

Four aces. I love the Pirates hat.

Surprise! A 2011 Topps Verlander. Didn't have it.

Thanks for the sweet cards Darren.

"Boys, Here's a Dollar."

COMPLETED 6/31/2011

I've told the story here before, but it bears repeating. When I was 12, my parents took us on a family trip to Florida. We stayed at my Aunt May's house. When the adults wanted to get rid of us kids for a time, they would give me and my brother each one dollar and point us towards 7-11. We could get a pack of cards, a small Slurpee, and a Jolly Rancher. It was enough to keep us busy for an hour. The year was 1979. I was hooked on baseball cards. I have some cards from earlier sets, but it was in 1979 that every bit of allowance money handed out was used towards the purchase of baseball cards. My Dad had a change can/bin in his bedroom armoire. We would even "borrow" change from there on occasion to buy cards.

I am now on a quest to build the set of my first ball card love.

Mom and Dad, thanks for pushing me towards that 7-11 so long ago.

My 2nd Favorite Player

Trammell and Whitaker, Whitaker and Trammell. Growing up in Michigan and being a lifelong Tigers fan, I have a huge man crush on the famous double-play combo.

For 18 years, these two boyhood heroes of mine solidified two of the most important positions on the field.

Trammell had 2,365 hits Whitaker had 2,369. They hold the record for most games played together, and most double plays turned. Someday I would like to see a Tram and Lou statue at Comerica Park.

When I played little league, I usually played second base. I became a big Sweet Lou fan. Tram was a close second on my list of favorite players.

I scooped this PSA 9 1979 Trammell for $16 bucks shipped on eBay.