Thoughts on Favorite Players

I was the recipient of one of Fuji's "Cleaning the Slate" packages the other day. It packed quite the punch, but it also got me thinking about my favorite players.

Ryne Sandberg quickly became my favorite when I was first introduced to baseball. He retired after the 1997 season and then a flame-throwing Kerry Wood burst on to the scene in 1998. Wood closed out his career in the spring of 2012, but guess who was already smashing baseballs in the low minors of the Cubs' system?

Vogey rookie cards!

Yeah, the Vogelmonster!

Ogle these Vogels!

I have to believe I'll be Vogelbach supporter until he retires. I'm plenty good with that.

Let's play a quick game of "What if?"

What if I was introduced to baseball a decade earlier? Let's say during the late 70's or early 80's... Who would I have gone crazy over?

The aforementioned players all have some common links: at least one All-Star appearance, Cubs ties, and good human beings.

Here's the card from Fuji which got me thinking:

Bill Buckner and his bushy brows?  I know nothing of his personality, but I think he would be a pretty strong candidate to be my favorite player before Sandberg. Do you know anything about Buckner's persona? Would I have liked him?

Thanks for the package Fuji!  I know it was intended to wipe your slate clean, but we were clean! You just dirtied things up again. Sigh. No matter, I made a weak attempt this morning to balance out the scales again with a package I shipped out.   I hope this doesn't escalate into a Wes vs. BWTP thing. 😜

Silver Pack Mojo

Yes, I still trade. I just haven't bought much new product the last few years so the trade bins are pretty bare. But, some bloggers are super fun to shop for and they pull me back into the cardboard community. Greg, the mind behind The Collective Mind, is such a blogger.

Greg's want-lists are super organized and I love cherry picking cards from his "High Priorities" when compiling a Sportlots order. In fact, I believe I sent him a half-dozen from his Top 12 wants this time around. I always picture my yellow mailer kind of like a wrecking ball smashing his High Priorities into smithereens when it arrives. 😁 Plus, it's always fun to see what he replaces the ones I sent him with.

Meanwhile, Greg's return packages always fit right into my collection oh so perfectly. In fact, every card he sent was brand new to my collection, and that's not easy when I have 900+ different Sandberg cards and 500+ unique Kerry Wood cards.

Here's the card which prompted our latest trade:

This is not the Silver Pack Mojo the title of the post refers to, but it is from a 2020 Topps Silver Pack. The pattern of the refractor still reminds me of tire treads. I'm still not sure why Topps made the 35th Anniversary a thing, but I'm glad they continued it for this year because I think the 1985 Topps design is highly underrated.

I still don't own a scanner and I know bloggers poo-poo others for taking pictures of cards. But...

Good luck showing off the awesomeness of this 2000 eX card with a scanner!

Yep, Ryno is the perfect fit for a card titled, "Forever Cubs."

 Honestly, I didn't know Sandberg was known as "Kid Natural." How did that factoid escape me until 2020?

 Here's one more Ryno for good measure:

On to the Kerry Wood section of the post!

 Eleven new cards of Kid K have been added to my player collection, which is the highest number in quite some time. Many of them are serial numbered as well!

 This Playoff Prestige card would look good with a gold sharpie auto. No?

Alright, time for the aforementioned Mojo!

Wow. Now that is a beautiful card. So much impresses me here from the 2019 Topps offering:
1) I really like the 1984 design
2) The gold behind the player's head is a nice touch.
3) So sparkly!
4) Serial Numbered to /25.
5) Look at that face of determination!
6) His autograph is on point. Wonderful!

Honestly, I have some pretty sweet Vogelbach cards from the 2019 collecting season, but I dare say that this KW auto tops them all.

Thanks for the trade, Greg!

Ha!  I'm sure you will. I look forward to it!

Shiny Vogel Goodness from N.O.

I had a handful of PWEs come in today and my list of bloggers I owe cards to continues to grow. I'll have to get off my duff some weekend soon and make it out to a show to pick up some cards for return packages.

Back to the mail. All but one of the return addresses were foreign to me, so I saved the known PWE for last. Mail from the blogging brethren is the best type of mail after all.

One of the Ebay envelopes contained a silver foil card of the 2020 Series Dan Vogelbach card. When I opened the envelope I could have sworn I heard angels sing.

When I got to the last envelope, which was sent from our local Night Owl, I was pretty amped up to see what he sent my way.

Then, there were more angels singing! Plus, bonus points for N.O. as he becomes the 15th different person to send a Vogelmonster card my way.

I'm seeing double! 

Yep, I now have two of the silver foil cards. So Shiny!

One card, obviously, will be enshrined within the pages of my Vogelbach binder. I'm thinking the other one will slip into the exterior pocket on the spine of said binder. The foil board shininess will look sharp on the outside of the binder.

Thanks for thinking of me Night Owl. I'll try to find some worthy Dodgers goodness to send you way before too long!

When Vogey Comes in 2nd

My wife and I escaped for the Indiana Dunes this past weekend for some amazing hiking. On the way there we crashed with her parents and went out to dinner with friends. On the way back we trekked into the Chicago suburbs for pizza. Mmmmm...

Before we left I received a PWE from Jim, who is also known by the moniker gcrl.

 I haven't been to a card show this year as of yet, but when I do I'll be on the lookout for kiké cards for you, Jim!

These are my first Cubs cards from the 2020 collecting season:

It appears as though Rizzo hit another one to beat the shift. I hope he gets off to a hot start this April, as his last couple have been borderline dreadful. 

Vogey!  Behold, the first 2020 base card of Dan Vogelbach to add to my player collection:

 Such a jovial dude.

 Vogey has to work on his contact rate a bit, but I think 2019 was a nice breakout season otherwise!

Here's the best card from the PWE, and honestly, even the Vogelbach card comes in a distant second. (FWIW, that was not easy for me type.)

I had a 1958 Topps card of Bob Lemon in my HOF Binder, but I'm not a fan of the boring '58 design.  This 1955 Bowman offering is most excellent. I love the light standards in the background and how you can see him gripping the ball in the middle of his windup.

Thanks for the awesome contribution to my HOF project, Jim!

Resolved and a Gift!

Ten days ago I received three Austin Meadows autos from an Ebay breaker who busted 3 cases of 2020 Topps Archives Signature Series.

That was a bummer of a day. I received quite a bit of feedback on that post and I'd thank those who wished me a quick resolution.

Today the cards arrived.

Prepare yourself for super Vogel Mojo!

2013 Bowman, #60/99

2014 Bowman Platinum, #19/47

2015 Topps Heritage Minors, #23/34 -- This one's my favorite. The card design is in my Top 10 from Topps and the uniform top is similar to a throwback. The whole card has a vintage-esque vibe to it, you know, besides the gold foil stamp and what not.

It only took ten days to turn three unwanted Meadows into three VOGELMONSTERS. That's a pretty quick turnaround if you ask me.

It was an honest mistake and I'm just happy to have my cards. Glorious Vogelbach cards!

But, wait! That's not all!  The seller slipped in a pack Topps 2020 Series 1. Not needed, but totally appreciated.

I'm not going to buy and packs this year. That's my thing. I'm forty-four days in to the new year and going strong.  Yet, if someone wants to gift me a pack . . . well, that's something different altogether.

So, here's the highlights. We'll start with my first card from a pack for 2020:

 Hey, a rookie I've heard of before!  Not a bad way to start a pack!

I also found this guy in the pack.

 Two Blue Jay fledglings. Nice.

And then there was this:

I have a feeling this pack was meant for someone north of the border. Wow. 

Here's another checklist.

 I guess I didn't realize last year's All-Star batting practice jerseys were sleeveless. Huh.

How about a second future star?

I liked the brazen future star font of the late 80's. This is way too subtle for me. 

Rookie Cup!

This fourteen card pack is bringing the young talent!

1985 Topps is an underrated design in my book.

The Willie Mays card is a sweet pull if you ask me. 

Photography.

 Topps, from what I have seen, did a most excellent job this year with photo selection and cropping.

Ha!  No Vogelbach in the pack, but I did pull a Kike card!  I don't think gcrl needs the base card, but I'll send it to him anyways.

I tell you what, I'm not into using my blog space as a promotional tool, but here's the business card of the Ebay seller. Yes, he mixed up the packages. But, he fixed it as quickly as possible, owned his mistake, paid for ALL the shipping, and tossed in a free pack of cards to make sure I had a good experience.

If you're looking for an Ebay breaker who does an honest break and treats their customers right, then give Sport Card Breakers a shot.

Have a great Valentine's Day, everyone!

On the Lookout for Vogelmonsters!

It looks like someone has found 2020 Topps Series 1.

Personally, I favor last year's design over this year's edition, but I do appreciate the photo selection for card #99.  Nice one, Topps!

If you wind up with a copy of this jovial masher of taters that you can spare, please leave me a note! I would love to swing a PWE trade!

The Worst Kind of Mail Day

I bought into a 3-case player break of Topps 2020 Archives Signature Series last week. I'm sure you can guess which player I rolled the dice on.

I watched the video on Youtube the next day and was pretty stoked that I hit three cards out of the 60-card break.

Then my package arrived today in the mail:

Last time I checked I wasn't an Austin Meadows super collector.

Meadows?  Hmph. The guy I was expecting hits bombs. VOGELBOMBS!

Cue up the sad trombone sound.

I wonder how long this will take to resolve?

A PWE Out of the Blue

Earlier this week an expected PWE landed in my mailbox. [Honestly, aren't surprise mail days the best?]

Within this PWE was a nice note from a fellow Cub fan and blogger, Matt.

Take a gander at this beauty:

I've been eyeballing this Karl Olson card from 2006 Topps Heritage for quite sometime now. I never pulled the trigger as I was hoping to randomly catch one at below market value on Ebay. Instead, Matt surprised me with the card in a plain white envelope.  Most excellent!

Matt made it up from the east coast to Chicago recently to experience the Cubs convention. He had an extra ticket and he invited me to tag along! Unfortunately, I had all kinds of activities planned for that weekend. Obviously, he's a pretty super guy.

Thanks for the autographed card, Matt. It's certainly the centerpiece of my Karl Olson player collection now!