Sunday, December 1, 2024

A Pair of Cubs from the Far East

 It's not very often these days I feel the motivation to check in on the blogosphere, and even more rare that I feel the itch to scratch out a post. There were times when I would read everything, hit the refresh button on my feed, and cross my fingers that someone else had posted something in the last thirty seconds. 

Times Change. Interests Change. Priorities Change. 

In short, I'm doing well. Really well actually. I'm in a good spot professionally, physically, and mentally. 

As far as cards go, I think I have a handful of Cubs cards from each of the past few years, but not enough to know what the current Bowman design looks likes off the top of my head or even what year of Heritage we're on. I'm still chugging away on my Vogelmonster collection. I recently hit 900 unique-to-me Vogelbach cards, but they aren't all listed in TCBD, which has me at 852. (A part of me wonders if this is the last year we're gifted with the joy of Vogelbach on cardboard. 😢) 

Otherwise, I'm pretty disconnected from the collecting world altogether, which is by design. 

I read more about the Cubs than anything else these days. I'm not sinking money into the Marquee Network, because I just can't commit enough time to watching a game. The Cubs weren't carried by a local radio station in Peoria this year, but the White Sox and Cardinals both were. (The 121-loss White Sox, seriously?)  So, I watch MLB.com's Cub game summaries each morning and search for articles to read about the players. 

I actually feel more connected to the players this way. I enjoy getting to know who the players are and I've come to find that most of the current Cubs roster is comprised of really good human beings. The Cubs may have been underachieving in the eyes of some the last couple of years, but I find them extremely easy to root for. That's important to me. 

Two of my favorites are Seiya Suzuki and Shota "Mike" Imanaga. For those who haven't heard, Shota decided to use "Mike" for his coffee orders to make it easier on the baristas in Chicago. That's just a quick tidbit I unearthed from my daily readings. Fun stuff!

One of my best blogging friends sent me the two cards in this post all the way from Japan. So very, very cool. Thanks, Zippy Zappy!

Thanks for reading and enjoy the holiday season. 

3 comments:

  1. Glad to see you're doing super well personally and professionally. As someone who's been undergoing their own exodus from the hobby it's nice to just step back and focus on other things.
    Still, glad you safely got the PWE and felt inspired to make a post. Reminded me of our old fun trades 10 years ago. Take care Tom!

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  2. You are absolutely crushing the field in the Vogelbach collection race. Glad to hear all is well!

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  3. Glad to read that things are going well for you. I recently added my first "Mike" cards to my collection... and I've been tracking Seiya cardboard for over a year. Anyways... hope you have a great holiday season.

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