So, this is my 100th post!

Not bad considering I started around Christmas of last year and do most of my posts after the fam goes to bed at night.  I was looking back at the earlier posts and was quite amazed at how many little adjustments that have occurred in the past 8 months to get the blog where it is today.  I’ve also noticed that i’ve been lacking in my Top #12 Redskins as well as updating my checklists.  Makes it kind of hard to trade with folks when they have no idea what you’re looking for.  Just like life, everything is a work in progress…including my attempts at getting organized.  Now I have a couple of cards I wanted to share and a couple of fun stories…and great memories.

Like most kids growing up, summer was the best time of the year.  You were out of school, your parents were at work and you could sleep in all day long and be unproductive without being judged…you were just being a kid…and i loved it.  I also loved playing baseball, and this was when i got to play the most baseball.  I had a great group of friends that would get together on a daily basis and ride our bikes to a local park and play some type of made up game that would allow 5 or 6 kids to play a modified version of baseball.  One of the most fun games we played though was home run derby on a tennis court/basketball court just down the street from our homes.  The set up was perfect, a big square roughly 80′ at each side and a 10′ tall fence.  We would always start our mornings out with a few rounds of home run derby and make our way back to the house to cool off with a swim at someone’s pool…it was south Texas…hot and humid as hell!  Swimming was a must.  The games were picked up later in the afternoon…you know…the hottest part of the day.  I didn’t say we were smart.  At some point we realized that playing for bragging rights just wasn’t enough.  We needed to play for something bigger.  Playing for cokes and bags of chips wasn’t going to cut it anymore, we needed a bigger fix.  Being the card collectors we were, we thought it would be great to ante up some of our most prized cards.  The cautious kids we were, we started small.  1987 Mike Greenwells, 1986 Don Mattinglys, 1986 Dwight Goodens.  It was fun and no one really went overboard…until a new group of kids joined the neighborhood.

The Moore brothers.

The Moore brothers were about 2 years apart in age, but acted like twins.  Their father sold gum to the local Stop’n Go’s and 7-11’s, but for some reason these brothers has the most amazing card collection.  I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why my mom, who worked for the United States Air Force couldn’t buy me a box of 1986 Donruss, but these kids has 5 Darryl Strawberry rookies and Don Mattingly rookies with a father that sold gum!  What the HELL!  Gum costs 25 cents a pack?  What could the profit margin be on a pack of Wrigleys Wintermint?  Bubblelicious?  At some point I just gave it up as i always had some big league chew in my back pocket, you know i had that watermelon flavor all the time!  The Moore’s lined my pockets with some sweet gum packs, i was hooked!  Anyways, back to the story.  The Moore’s were super competitive and wanted to bring some big dogs to the homerun derby.  And they brought the big dogs alright.  Like a Dan Marino Rookie, some Walter Payton cards from the 70’s, that’s right, the 70’s!  Cards that were almost 10 years old people!  They also had this guy, a 1984 John Elway rookie.

To this day, I honestly cannot remember the story as to how i won the John Elway rookie card but it is definitely one of my prized collections.  Had I not been such a die hard Redskin fan at the time, my team today would probably have been the Broncos…mostly because of winning this card and mostly because John Elway was a total badass quarterback.

So, the next card is my second favorite card (Rickey Henderson RC is #1!) in my collection.  A 1963 Hank Aaron card in pretty nice condition.  Getting this card in my collection was filled with some major controversy.  Although it started in the hands of the Moore brothers, it was eventually lost to my arch nemesis, Alex.  Alex was a big mouth who could unfortunately for me, back up most of his junk talk.  We had the most epic homerun derbies.  If we ever kept records, he would have crushed me…but i managed to get a few big wins off of him.  This was without a doubt my biggest win.  If i remember correctly, i won on an extremely controversial foul ball call that resulted in his final out…bringing Hamerin’ Hank to my collection where it has been ever since.  There were rematch requests and threats of physical violence that never came about.  There was no way in hell that I was putting this card up against anything ever!

I had a vintage Hank Aaron card that I would never be able to afford…ever!

Those summer days were the best.  I learned how to gamble, pitch a guy high and tight or just drill him in the back for talking too much shit.  I drank way too much soda, chewed too much gum and ate way too many cool ranch doritos.  I won two great iconic cards and destroyed my elbow for the rest of my life.  But it was worth it.  I beat Alex.

Colbey – the A&G cards are in the mail monday morning.  Enjoy!

Sam – send me your address and the Texans cards are yours.