Ebay's Bargain Bins

I follow quite a few members of the baseball card collecting faction of the blogosphere.  And let me tell you something... you sure do know how to make a guy envious.  Not only do you have amazing organizational skills, millions of cards, and pull sweet hits, but you're finding sweet deals all over the place.  I'm not going to even bother linking an example, because it seems like everybody and their uncle are finding deals they're more than happy with.

Well, I had a little down time one evening recently, and I had just finished my most recent book, so I paid "The Bay" a visit.  I typed in a couple of Cubs who I've been following closely as of late and sorted by "Price + Shipping: Lowest First."

I then placed a bunch of small time bids and watched the hands of the clock slowly tick by.  When it was all said and done I was outbid on a plethora of auctions, but I won three, one of which I was completely shocked by.

Let's start with the worst bargain of the bunch:

 I don't have any Kyle Hendricks cards where he's wearing an actual Cubs jersey, but the I-Cubs are pretty close.  This card is from the 2014 Pacific Coast League All-Star Game set.  I paid just a hair under two bucks for this one, but it's only my second Hendricks card and it's the first one of him playing for his current organization.  All-in-all, not the best deal, because I'm sure the entire PCL All-Star set runs around ten dollars, but I'm not regretting this one.

Next up, a 2014 Jake Arrieta sparkly ruby red parallel from Topps.

I was really disappointed with much of the photo cropping Topps did with their 2014 flagship product, but this one is pretty nice.  I love the contrast of the red sparkles with the blue border and uniform.  The horizontal nature of the card is plus as well.  I don't have many cards of Jake in a Cubs uniform and hopefully his name will litter the 2015 checklists.  This one makes me smile.

Off topic side note:  No Shave November is right around the corner and my wife approved an Arrieta-esque beard.  Should be a fun experiment!

Lastly, the auction I was most shocked to win.  And it was only for $3.62 shipped: a 2011 Bowman Chrome orange parallel of the Vogelmonster!

It is pretty darned close to being a Christmas Card, but I'm glad it wasn't because I didn't want to get in a bidding war with Gavin.  I've seen orange Bowman Chrome parallels go for big bucks, but I think this one flew under the radar because it's three years old and is of a Cubs prospect who gets lost in the shuffle.

Dan Vogelbach is one of my favorites in the Cubs' pipeline at the moment and he will be playing in the Arizona Fall League before too long.  With this guy manning first base in Chicago I'm hoping Vogelbach impresses other scouts and he can become a big trade chip.  I'll still follow him if he's sent to another team via trade, but he doesn't have much of a future in Cubs and I'd like to see him make it to The Show.

I have another round of bargains from Ebay to post, but they're still in transit. 
Thanks for stopping by today!

Book Review: One-Handed Catch

Title: One-Handed Catch  

Author: MJ Auch 
Genre: Fictional, Short Story

Ease of Reading: Another quick read, this one took me just a few sittings to knock out.  In all, it totals two hundred forty-six pages twelve-point font.
Synapse: Norm, the twelve year old son of a butcher, loses his hand in a meat grinder.  He struggles with how others will perceive him and he doesn't want attention drawn to himself and his disability.  He feels his mother is out to make things difficult for him, although she is just asking his teacher and coach to not give him a free pass.  His best friend thinks he should give up baseball and his dad, who is dealing with post-accident guilt, won't spend time him.  Norm, who wasn't the best baseball talent to begin with, listens to the radio and reads the newspaper in attempt to glean as many baseball related tips as possible to help improve his game.  As Norm begins to learn how to cope with the loss of his hand he finds he has a solid support network of people who are pushing him to succeed in different ways.  Before long he has learned to tie his own shoes again and is walloping the ball into the gap.
Comments: If I can't find a taker for this book I think I may donate it to one of the middle schools in my school district.  It's a good story about perseverance and relationships through the eyes of a pre-teen boy.  At the end of the book there's a brief segment about the author and I learned the storyline is based loosely upon the author's husband, who lost his hand in meat market.
On a side note, the cover and title are a bit misleading.  I figured the book would climax at the end with Norm making a fantastic one-handed catch.  Wrong.  His friend, Carl, accidentally makes a nice catch in centerfield and Norm pitches the game of his life.  Okay, I didn't see that one coming.
 Grade: Overall, I felt the book was a fairly quick read and it kept my interest.  It was a nice little tale, but I felt I was a bit older than the intended audience.  The twelve year old me gives it an 'A'.  Good subject matter, solid plot, nice life lessons to be learned. If you have a young baseball nut at home this one would probably be right up their alley.

Cubs Convention Calendar: September

"With darkness setting in over Wrigley Field on September 28, 1938, the umpires were set to call the game a tie following one last at-bat.  That's when Gabby Hartnett smacked his famous "Homer in the Gloamin'," an 0-2 fastball deep into the dusk-lit sky off of Pittsburgh's Mace Brown to virtually clinch the 1938 NL Pennant for Chicago. Shown here, Hartnett was mobbed by fans, reporters, and teammates as he circle the bases for home."

What a great shot of Wrigley Field being overtaken by fans!  Ahhhh... post season baseball... it's been some time now!  I'd love to live long enough to see something like this again for my Cubs.

Side note #1: A short video which has the radio call of the homerun can be found here.

Side note #2: Gabby Hartnett, a hall of fame member, had one of the strangest nicknames I've heard of: Old Tomato Face.  Just plain odd.

Side note #3: For those of you who don't use gloamin' or gloaming on a regular basis because you're not familiar with the term...

Work gloamin'  into your everyday vernacular and impress your friends!

Cleaning Out the Photo Folder

No raccoons this week, although I've found the trapped triggered twice and both times the bait was gone.  There's some bad mojo going on for sure.

 Instead, let's clean out the photo folder!

I found this picture making on the rounds on Twitter last week.  Yep, it's September and the Cubs roster is loaded with rookies.  Everyone knows what that means!  Rookie hazing! 

I'd like to think it's all in good fun, but then I caught a glance of Javier Baez in the Superwoman costume.  Man.  What a hot mess.  Emphasis on mess.  Look away, folks, before that image is seared into your brain forever.

Left to right are the fifteen super heroes/gaming characters/movie icons and their secret identities:
Princess Leia = Justin Grimm
Superman = Jorge Soler
Superwoman = Javier Baez
?????? = Arodys Vizcaino (?)
Mario = Kyle Hendricks
Spiderman = Matt Szczur
Luigi = Eric Jokisch
Cat Woman = Zac Rosscup (?)

Wonder Woman = Brian Schlitter
Bat Girl = Arismendy Alcantara
Bain = Neil Ramirez (?)
She-Ra = Rafael Lopez
Witch = Blake Parker (?)
Flash = Logan Watkins
Batman = Mike Olt

A couple of guys, like Rosscup & Watkins, were going through the hazing ritual a second time as they saw some action last September.

Not to be left out, I stumbled onto Gatorade's "League of Captains" website where you can create yourself in the likeness of a sports superhero.

That's my best effort.  Yeah, I wasn't thoroughly impressed either.

Next topic...

My junior high softball coaching duties are over as of yesterday.  We lost in the second round of regional play and finished with a record of 7 and 9.  I was a given a couple of gift bags full of candy and cookie from the parents and players.  Inside were some really nice pictures of me and the team, a couple of gift cards, and some nicely written cards.

It feels really good to feel appreciated.  It's a short seven week season, but I give it my best effort every fall to educate and teach the middle school players the game of softball.  Sometimes my enthusiasm comes across as "a little over the top," and as a result the girls think I'm a big dork, but it's all in good fun.  I tell myself it's okay because teenagers think most adults are either dorks or lame... and I, for one, would rather be an enthusiastic dork.

One side note: I'm probably in the minority on this one, but I hate glitter.  It gets everywhere.  EVERYWHERE.  Please, if you're planning on giving a teacher or a coach a thank you card, please oh please let it be glitter free!

I've been hanging out on Twitter a bit more as of late.  I'm not tweeting, but I've found it's a great way for someone who doesn't have cable to get to know the Cubs.

For instance:

Kris Bryant, the recent winner of Baseball America's minor league player of the year award, tweeted a pic of his newest family member.

Bryant's cat, Wrigley

Although the 1969 Cubs most certainly did, apparently Kris Bryant doesn't care about superstitions, bad luck, and other silly irrationalities.  Good for you, Kris Bryant.  Bad luck?  No way, that guy is too incredibly cute.

I've been dabbling with Listia and eBay a little lately.  Perhaps I'll have some cards to post before too long.

Thanks for checking in! 

He's Scowling, But I'm Smilling

I'm on a self-imposed baseball card hiatus.

 No, Andre Dawson isn't happy with my decision.  But hey, sometimes I have to jump back into life and play the role of an adult.  You guys know how it is.  The school year started about a month ago and we're planning on remodeling the master bathroom.  Translation: no time and no money.

So when I found a PWE in my mailbox it was a nice surprise . . . on a couple of levels.

 I mean, just look at that card!  Panini is finally becoming adept at picking out photos which don't require logo removal.  That's a nice surprise.  I was starting to wonder if they would ever learn.  Blue shininess = a great card!

Rizzo and Fukudome have two totally different approaches at the plate, but they are two of my favorite left-handed batters in recent memory.  Two more winners right here!

You may be wondering who is the responsible party for these Cubs cards? 

Sometime back I sent Brad, author of the Red Sox Fan in Nebraska blog, a small PWE.  You see, I had a card that didn't fit in my collection. Literally. No seriously, it wasn't the traditional 2.5" by 3.5" and it was frustrating me.  I once or twice thought about cutting the panels apart for easier storage, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.  So instead I shipped it off to Brad. I figured he would be the least likely blogger I know to be frustrated by its oblong dimensions.

He must have really liked it, because Brad sent me a thank you PWE and it was absolutely glorious.

 This Julio Zuleta card from the Pacific Invincible 2000 set is amazing.  Not only is it a set that is new to me, but the back is in Spanish and the blue background is translucent.  And the ivy on the front... awesome!

Here's a shot of the card in front of my monitor's screen saver.  Pretty neat looking if you ask me.  This one definitely will find a home in my Cub FrankenSet binder.

Cub FrankenSet binder?   Yep, you read correctly.  In my down time, which is scarce, I've been toying with the idea of building a set of only Cubs.  I'm still working on the logistics, but Dime Box Nick planted this seed with his Dime Box FrankenSet. Number thirty-two is taken by . . . none other than Julio Zuleta!

I wasn't expecting a return package and this one was a doozy.  Thank you Brad for all of the great cards!