I Met My First Blogger!

And, it was a pretty cool experience. Matt, from Once a Cub, did a baseball stadium tour of Wrigley Field Cubs minor league affiliates last year with his sons and I caught him in South Bend on Day #1 of this summer's trip.

As you can tell from the picture above, Matt and I didn't exactly coordinate our seating arrangements in advance!

I've been wanting to go to South Bend ever since the Cubs moved their Low A Midwest League affiliate to northern Indiana.

The stadium was certainly nicer and had more amenities than Dozer Park in P-town. Plus, it had young future Cubs! That's a plus for sure.

Matt and I talked baseball for four plus innings and then I decided to take a quick tour of the park, grab an adult beverage and hit the souvenir store. Before I knew it the game was in the seventh inning and I had just finally grabbed my assigned seat. The Cubs were down 3 to 1 at that point, but my boy Dillon Maples came in to pitch the top of the 8th, which got my attention.

I've attempted to complete two rainbows since I re-entered the hobby and Dillon Maples was my first attempt. I say attempt, because I'm still missing a couple of cards.

The South Bend Cubs scored four in the bottom of the 8th to secure the lead and the next thing I know Matt shows up next to me to watch the top of 9th and sing "Go Cubs, Go!" with me.  Afterwards we headed out to my vehicle so we could make a cardboard/Sports Illustrated/Cereal Box swap. Good stuff!

Before we get to the cards, I'd like to add that it was really nice to talk baseball and the Cubs with someone on my level. I don't want to sound all high and mighty, but most people I bump into can't name two guys in the Cubs bullpen, let alone have any idea of who is injured, who's been called up, who's riding a hot steak, or what the latest trade rumor is surrounding the club. It wasn't like that with Matt at all. He's a true fan, a fantastic blogger, and somebody I would gladly share a beer and watch a game with anytime.

Oh, and he's great trader, too!  Matt's been purchasing all of the Cubs Now cards from Topps and he's sharing with me! The Willson Contreras card is my favorite. The dude plays with so much emotion!

 Card for my slowly growing Conlon set build!

Check out the additions to my Cubs FrankenSet!

 

All of the five cards above were either upgrades or filled a hole. In the case of the Stan Hack, it was an upgrade over the Freddie Bynum card which filled a hole. Nice!

And lastly, we have a new Brooks Kieschnick card to add to my player collection. This one is #54 in the collection, and once again I own the parallel of a card before I own the regular base issue. I live a charmed life!

 Matt, it was a pleasure to meet you and your boys. Thank you so much for the cards and I wish you a safe and fun conclusion to your road trip.  Hopefully the Cubs will get it together and you'll see a win tomorrow before you leave Chicago!

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

I celebrated with friends and family at parents' house on Saturday, and I'm happy to report I set off a slew of fireworks and still have all my digits.

Yesterday I was in South Bend to see the the Cubs' Low-A affiliate play a game. Yes, there were fireworks after the game.

Today I'm following the South Bend Cubs to Fort Wayne as they start a new series with the Tin Caps. And yes, there will be more fireworks tonight!  I hear Fort Wayne has a pretty nice ballpark and they offer a nice minor league experience.  I'm pretty excited!

I'll leave you with one piece of USA themed cardboard from 2004. I picked this one up from Sportlots for less than two dollars shipped the other week. What a steal!

It's my first certified auto of my favorite current Cub and it fits in well with this post to boot!

Have a great holiday, everyone!

Card and a Clipping from Mom

Yesterday was my parents' Fireworks Extravaganza and it was a blast as usual. (See what I did there?) A nice collection of family and friends gathered to indulge in burgers and hot dogs from the grill, watermelon, deviled eggs, my sister's fantastic guacamole, pie and cookie cake! We played some frisbee golf, ladder golf, and we even had a nice bags tournament that involved nearly everyone. As dusk approached we started lighting off the fireworks and we drew quite a crowd from the neighborhood before it was all said and done. I'm happy to report that I have all my digits still attached!

Earlier in the day my mom handed me a newspaper clipping and a yellow padded envelope. Needless to say, I was pretty curious!

 The clipping was the abridged version of an article I read on the LA Times' webpage in late June. The lead pictures were the same, but the Peoria Journal Star's article didn't print much of the original material on Kobe Kawano. Kobe worked for the Dodgers and I suppose the PJS didn't think it's readership would take much an interest in him.

The Kawano brothers, Yosh and Kobe, were both clubhouse managers in MLB for several decades. In fact, Yosh didn't retire until 2008, at the age of 88, after working fifty-five years in the position.

I remember seeing Yosh and his omnipresent floppy hat getting screen time during Cubs games on WGN when I was growing up. If I remember correctly, Harry Caray and Steve Stone would manage to work him into a telecast a couple of times a month. The LA Times confirmed what I had already surmised: Yosh was pretty popular with everyone in the Cubs family.

The article is a fun and quick read and I would suggest checking it out if you have the time this weekend. In the meantime, allow me to borrow an anecdote to tease you into clicking for more:

One time, Yosh followed a young sportswriter outside as the Cubs took batting practice. A grounder bounced their way and the reporter scooped it up, tossing it to a boy in the stands.
“Yosh starts chewing him out,” says Ned Colletti, a Dodgers senior advisor who formerly worked in Chicago’s front office. “He was telling the guy, ‘That’s not your baseball. That’s my baseball.’”
The reporter handed over $5. Yosh crumpled the bill and flipped it into the stands, saying: “Now we’re even.”

 Ahhh, good stuff! Little stories like these are part of the reason I love the game so much.

The card in the bubble mailer?  It's a 1958 Topps Cubs Team Card!

Let's see, there are familiar names there: Ernie Banks, Dale Long, Chuck Tanner and Moe Drabowsky. The 1957 Cubs team wasn't much to right home about, but did you see the last guy on the right in the third row?

Yep, it's Yosh Kawano! I have a card with Yosh!  Score!  This team card will go in my Cubs binder right next to Harry Caray, Steve Stone and Don Zimmer cards.  Thanks, Mom!

Have a great holiday weekend, everyone!

Sweet return from This Way to the Clubhouse

I sent Kaz, the proprietor of This Way to the Clubhouse, a little sampling of Mets cardboard last week and he returned the favor and then some.

Topps Archives Reserve? Whaaaaaat?  Shiny and vintage-esque within the same product?  Wow.

 How in the world did I miss this set? Oh, that's right . . . I was twenty-two, single, and in my first full year of teaching. Priorities, priorities.

I miss Ernie, but time stands still for no man. Luckily we have nice cardboard to remind ourselves of the good times.

 I usually don't show off Sosa cards, but this one is pretty nice. It did not photo well, but I think you can make out the skyline of Chicago in the background. It's a really pretty card to look at in hand.

 Big Z! The one on the left is serial numbered and the one on the right is a refractor (I think).

 Prior and DLee... I was sure these guys would bring home a World Series title before the drought reached the century mark. Now we're 107 and counting... Meh. I'm over it.

This is my third copy of the Prime 9 Ernie Home Run Legends card, yet it won't go in the dupes box. I think it's one of better cards of Banks that Topps has released in the last decade, thus I'll find another binder for this one to go into!

 Arieta needs to reign in that two seam fastball of his. His pitches are moving WAY too much and he can't get past the sixth inning because of elevated pitch counts. Fergie's stare literally looks to be saying, "Get it together man. I went the distance 267 times in my career. What's your deal?"

 Parallels!

 Someday I'll create a binder of parallels of Cubs cards, which will surely raise dilemmas such as, "Should I put this card in the PC binder or the parallel binder?" First world problems for sure.

I have the Chris O'Donnell card from this insert set and now I've got Jeff Garlin, too! I wonder if Eddie Vedder has one?  That would be a nice get.

 Addy!  Part of me hopes he comes up short in the All-Star voting, because Corey Seager is more deserving in my eyes. This card is a repeat, so it'll go in the PC binder. I'm still working the Wrigley Field insert set.  Hit me up for a trade if you have any you can spare!

 New Kosuke Fukudome cards for my collection!  Again, I think the one on the right is a refractor.

 I'm now sitting at 132 cards in the Fukudome collection. That's a nice number, because it reminds me of the size of the Topps Traded sets of the 1980's.

Last up, we have Future/Retro card from 2000 Bowman of Mr. Kerry Wood. I think the Wood collection is probably the one I've enjoyed building the most over the years, because it's been largely blogger supported.

 I have 467 cards in that collection and 228 have come from trades. I actually give credit to the blogger who sends me the card in the spreadsheet each time I log a card. Nearly half are from the blog world. Thanks, everyone!

And thank you, Kaz, for a great assortment of Cubs cards! You really out did yourself!

Venn Diagram of the Baseball Card Blogs (a trade post)

I've been blogging for over five years now and White Sox Cards has been producing quality material since 2007, but for some reason our paths have not cross until recently.  Maybe it's the whole crosstown rivalry thing, but I don't think so. Is it possible there are two cardspheres/blogospheres?

Picture if you will, a nice Venn diagram.

Steve, from White Sox Cards, set up camp in the circle to the left long ago. When I sneaked onto the scene in 2011 slowly built up another circle. There's some overlap in the middle where the bloggers like TLC, Wrigley Wax, BWTP, JediJeff, JBF, gcrl, Off Hiatus, NO, Dimebox Nick, defgav, Tony Burbs and Zippy Zappy reside. They know us both, but I have to figure there are other who only know Steve and some who only know me.

How else do you explain how I didn't learn of Steve's blog until recently? Weird.

Well, I'm glad found White Sox Cards in a blogroll last week, because we were able to set up a quick trade and these arrived yesterday:

 I love the pensive look on Bryant's face, but I really dislike the All-Star hat. The purple Toys 'R' Us Schwarber is sweet! I never thought my first parallel of this card would be the purple variation.

 The Bryant and Schwarber were all I asked for in the trade, but Steve tossed in a couple of my favorite lefties. Lilly was a bulldog and I can still hear Harry Caray saying Paul's last name. Haha!  
Edit: Both of these cards filled holes in my Cubs FrankenSet!  Thanks for taking the time to help me out, Steve!

 Lastly, a coupon for some cards was included in the mailer. Nice!  This gives me a reason to head to a big box store, as does that stack of cards on the right.

Another mailer arrived yesterday and apparently I need to bring back the Pack Wars!  Nice!  The coupon will certainly come in handy.

Thanks for the trade, Steve!