Card Show and Contest Time!

I made it out to a card show this past Sunday, and although there was only about ten dealers there I had myself a pretty good time. I picked up a couple of higher end autographs and then went digging a twelve for a dollar box.

The Vogelmonster!  I can't believe he's had cards on the market for four years now.  Where has the time gone?

Dylan Cease was a 6th round draft pick from 2014 who the Cubs drafted knowing full well he would need Tommy John surgery.  He's back now and he's throwing SMOKE in the Arizona Summer League.  I guess the other Cubs pitchers who have the day off from throwing gather around the radar gun when he takes the mound to see when/if he'll hit triple digits. Like I said . . . SMOKE!  That's a great looking patch and I love his autograph.  I may turn into a Cease collector, but only time will tell.

The following were from the twelve for a buck box.  The Cubs, Cardinals, and White Sox each had their own row in the monster box.  Sorted by team?  Thank you!

I still wish Panini had a license, but my guess is I wouldn't have found this Arrieta on the cheap if his hat had a logo on it.  The William Wrigley card is the first card of the former Cubs owner in my collection.  Not bad, not bad.

I spent fifty sense on six Cubs stickers for the first pages of my Cubs binders.  The holograms are my favorite. Because of course they are.

 The Manny Trillo buyback was a nice find and it'll wind up in the Cubs FrankenSet for sure. And, I actually didn't have to open my wallet to acquire this one. 

I was sifting through a dealer's 2015 Bowman parallels and found a 1/1 Josh Hamilton in amongst the other parallels.  I couldn't really tell the difference from the fronts and honestly the only way I new it was different from the rest was because I read the names of the backs of the cards on Bowman product to make things go faster.  Shiny cards in weird hotel lighting are difficult to read.  That's where I spotted the 1/1, on the back.
I handed the 1/1 over to the dealer and he was pretty thankful.  He easily could have sold it for a buck without knowing what had gotten away from him.  I had the Trillo buyback and three 1975 buybacks pulled at the time and he gave them to me as a thank you.  I love me some good Karma.  Woot!

 This is a nice Panini card.  The missing logo isn't obvious and I love the camo on the left.  A new Sandberg added to the collection.  Always a good thing!

On to the contest!

Here's the background:  I'm the assistant coach to the 7th and 8th grade softball squad at one of my school district's middle schools.  I am also the head coach of the 6th grade squad. We have tremendous numbers this year at that level and I'm "blessed" with seventeen rambunctious eleven and twelve year old budding softball stars. My team only gets to play three innings or one hour after the 7th/8th grade game and it is very difficult to get everyone playing time.  We are the only 6th grade team in the area, which can be kind of rough at times. For example, last night we played in Morton and we lost 19-0 against their B-team, a seventh grade squad.  Morton was kind enough to let us bat everyone who hadn't batted already before we called the game. 
Anyway, I have scheduled three intrasquad scrimmages during the season to get my players some more experience.  Last Thursday was the first scrimmage. I told my players that we would switch sides after three outs or when five runs were recorded.  We played six innings in two hours and forty-five minutes and the final score was 28 to 28.  Everyone received at least five at-bats and they all went home happy because no one lost! Personally, I was extremely happy because:
1. the parents were happy
2. the players seemed engaged
and
3. I was able to coach and teach the game I love.

For this contest all you have to do is predict the total number of runs in Thursday's 5-inning contest.  If two are answers equidistance away from the final total, then the tie breaker will be how long the five inning affair lasted (in minutes).  Get your guesses in before 4:30pm (P-Town) time on Thursday, August 27th!

Sample guess: 56 runs, 165 minutes, Cubs (my favorite team)

The prize: The closest total will win the graded card above AND a stack of cards from his/her favorite team.

It's a Gem Mint 2000 Just Lance Berkman sumo wrestling suit pre-rookie card! Can you believe I found this for a dollar at the card show? I couldn't pass it up and now someone within the blogosphere will be able to add this "gem" to their collection.

Good luck in the contest and wish me continued luck with my patience this softball season!