Today was an extraordinarily beautiful day in Portland. The weather was warm and the sun was out…and luckily for me there was a card show that i could spend a couple of hours inside a suburban strip mall…diggin through some lovely dirty boxes. During the week i’ll have a few posts showing off some of the great pickups i had today. Mostly Redskins, but i did manage to pick up a few Nats cards and…some SPURS!
I’ve decided i don’t collect enough things, so the San Antonio Spurs collection is slowly building momentum…slowly. My goal today was to get a couple Gervin cards and maybe a few others if they peaked my interest. This card did some interest peaking. The smoothness of the Ice Man is this beautifully documented in this lovely piece of cardboard.
Growing up in San Antonio during the 80’s and being a Spurs fan wasn’t the easiest thing in the world. The team was mediocre at best for most years although they had one of the smoothest shooters in the game rockin’ the silver and black.
It wasn’t until the Admiral David Robinson was drafted that things really started to change. But for me, my first favorite Spur was Gervin.
One of the last cards i picked up at the show was this acetate auto of Cory Joseph. I got this one from Kim’s table. One of my favorite table stops at the shows because of his more than fair priced high end cards. This one set me back about $3.
I made a quick trip in to our local Fred Meyers on Sunday to pick up a couple of things, donuts, chocolate, soda, candy…the diet of a grown ass child. To make things even more child like i decided to swing by the card section and did my best to avoid the retail fix. You know that feeling kids, you don’t want to fall down the pit of retail despair, but you can’t help it. It’s an addiction and I fell off the wagon. I was doing great too. Going to all my retail anonymous meetings. Following the 12 steps to perfection.
It’s time to start over.
I bought two packs and i feel dirty.
Not back street alley dirty or even midnight NYC subway dirty
But just kinda full of regret and out $9.98 that could have gone to a couple of beers at a show.
Here’s what i ended up with, be sure you are still seated.
The first pack was a jumbo pack of Absolute Football from this past season. Something fun here that i was completely unaware was happening this season was the full pack of die cuts. All the jigs and jags were really cool but made it a lil difficult to sift through the packs quickly, but i guess that’s just a collector problem issue. I also thought it was fantastic to pull these two guys back to back. Almost like panini was trolling the Rams.
I did pull a Redskin, one Redskin and probably the best offensive player from the 2014 season. DJax! Jackson loves Instagram, he’s a huge gram poster and he loves emoticon…or emoji’s? Not really sure. One of his favorites is the 100 one, as in, he’s always keeping One Hunid. That’s cool. The kids say that a lot, sounds fun. I’ma keep it One Hunid for the remainder of this post. One last note, DJax doesn’t ever use a ‘CK’ back to back (bacc to bacc if you are DJax) mostly because gang members think this means ‘Crip Killer’ and i guess he’s a crip. I find this amusing because his last name is JaCKson. Word!
Next pack. Panini Contenders. I’ve always loved this set and have bought boxes in the past but since i’m on a box break…break, i haven’t done that. The best little nuggets i got in this pack was this kid.
Russell Wilson. He’s a pretty fantastic young QB and only getting better. I had my doubts that he was legit until the comeback vs. Green Bay. Thought he was a decent QB on a great team with a great defense. Both seem to be true…
Last card. Brady and Amendola. Touchdown Tandem. I think i would have paired Brady with the Gronk on this one…but i don’t make cards.
I’m going to have to pull for the Patriots on Sunday even though i’ve never cheered for a Boston team in my life…just don’t really want to see the 12th man tell me how amazing their team is…even though they are pretty amazing and I don’t think the Seahawks will lose. Just can’t cheer for them is all.
So, it’s been an eventful week for wallet card Rickey. He’s been a great partner in crime and…lunch. Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t have much protection in the money clip and well, since i’ve been biking to and from work, sometimes in the rain…he’s been getting damaged quite a bit. But that’s cool, that’s what this thing is kind of about anyways right? Carry a card with you and document all the events that happen in your life with the card. Photograph the mundane and the extravagant as well as anything else in between. All the cool kids are doing it!
One of the highlights for wallet card Rickey was Wednesday night!
He got out of the house on a school night to see the Hail Mary Mallon show with Aesop Rock and Rob Sonic…also, Homeboy Sandman. It was a blast…a wonderful time and a highly energized show which an old man like me really loves. Really, really loves. I’ve loved hip-hop and rap music before i loved baseball cards and i’ve always been a fan of both as i’ve gotten older. Now, Aesop Rock isn’t your run of the mill rappers. He’s a sophisticated and verbally dynamic emcee that apparently has the largest vocabulary in Hip-Hop…the findings were based on algorithms so…it’s pretty cool. What’s also really cool is the PBR I shared with wallet card Rickey…that cardboard kid is a lightweight.
Anyways, the show was great and i have a couple of videos i took from the show below…now, you should be warned that there are bad words being used the two videos below. So proceed with caution and…enjoy…or skip it! 🙂
The next day at work was wonderful, i was enjoying the excitement from the previous nights events. By the time Saturday came around though, i was bull dozed by a head cold. Sleeping all day long and doing absolutely nothing king of bull dozed. So me and Rickey shared some Ricola cough drops and took long naps.
During the awake times, i along with the rest of you heard the sad news of Ernie Banks passing. Now, i’ve never really been a Cubs fan but i love baseball and the history of the game. He was one of the players that i’ve always loved. I haven’t pursued too many of his cards in the past but when the wife and I went to Wrigley for a game a few years ago I wanted a shirsey and wasn’t settling for anything but Banks’ #14. I rocked the shirt today with pride and less of a head cold.
I was digging around for some cool photos of Ernie on the internet and didn’t come across any great ones but then found this fantastic photo that Pearl Jam posted on their twitter account. Such a great shot of Eddie, Ernie and Wrigley.
Lastly, i wanted to show the current status of wallet card Rickey. What does your wallet card look like?
Holy Nuts! it’s been a long time since my team was the best in the NFL. I was a junior in high school when the Redskins won their last Super Bowl. Now, i am not a junior in anything at all…nothing. I’m actually closer to Senior in a few things.
That’s all irrelevant to the fact that this lovely piece of junk wax was graded a Mint 9 by PSA. This one only set me back a couple dollars, not enough to buy a lunch with as Rypien isn’t a highly coveted player unless of course you are a Redskins sycophant.
Rypiens’ career wasn’t wonderful, but he had a couple good seasons with the Redskins and, oh yeah, he won the Super Bowl in a season where the offense was nearly unstoppable. Rypien has become quite the golfer and is somewhat of a local celebrity around the Pacific NW. It would be great to run in to him one day and thank him for making my junior year somewhat memorable.
Here is the NFL version of Gary Clark’s rookie card. I did a post of his USFL rookie card that i picked up for free and was a wonderful addition, but as a Redskins collector, I wanted the Redskins rookie! And i got it here. This card set me back around $8-$10 or a graded 9. I saw a couple of 10’s going for $20+ which seemed a little crazy to me…and i don’t like crazy.
I remember Gary Clark being a really intense and passionate guy. This photo exemplifies that personality to it’s fullest. He seems disgruntled or maybe even pissed. I’m guessing Jay Schroeder threw a pick while Clark was wide open down the sidelines…you know how that goes.
Next in line of the Redskins graded cards is Darrell Green. A man of amazing speed and quickness as well as the heart and soul of the franchise for many years. Green is also a Texan which is cool.
He is also graded and in my collection. This little gem was a graded 9 and in very nice condition although as with most of these 80’s cards it’s a tad off center, that’s not just the angle of the photo. It’s a lil off. I love the old school jersey on this card too. Reminds me of the high school football jerseys the kids used to wear with the gigantic shoulder pads. I’m really hoping Breeland can pick up the torch that hasn’t really been carried by anyone in the secondary since Green did it. The Redskins have had some wonderful talent (Bailey, Taylor) in the secondary but haven’t endured like Green has…maybe Bashaud Breeland can be the next guy.
Easily my all time favorite Redskin. Hand’s down, my favorite. I loved his humility and consistency. He is the kind of athlete I would want my kid to be, someone you can be proud of and know that he has a ton of respect for the game and has zero problems in doing the work to be great. There aren’t too many guys like this any more and I don’t think he ever really got enough respect after his career was over. But he is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and when he retired was #1 on the all time catch list. That’s pretty good.
I have a couple copies of this card. One that i’ve had the longest is beaten to crap and actually has a couple of holes in it. I thought of using it for the wallet card challenge but decided against it this year but maybe next year? This card seems to be pretty perfect to my laymen’s eyes but it only yielded an 8. Guess it doesn’t really matter…i’m happy with it being slabbed and protected until i don’t want it to be slabbed anymore…kind of thought of shifting to Beckett graded cards for everything 1980’s and beyond but decided to keep it PSA. Anyone have thoughts on PSA vs. Beckett for grading modern cards? I’ve seen arguments for both sides but modern cards seem to carry greater value and graded with Beckett grading. I wasn’t a huge fan of graded cards for a while but feel that a few in my collection are a nice touch!
Joe Theismann is one of those guys that a lot of people don’t like. He talks a lot and has strong opinions that may not always stay the same day to day. But really, who doesn’t change their mind and who doesn’t like a good story teller. For me, he was the QB for my childhood team and led my guys to back to back Super Bowls. Unfortunately, he only one the first one but should have easily won the second one over the Los Angeles Raiders. But that’s not what this is about. This is about his NFL rookie card, not his CFL Rookie card, that’s a white wale or Holy Grail if that’s what we are calling it now?
This was another pick up over the summer months and was picked up for a fairly good price. The photo is pretty terrible though? It’s dark and shadowy. Wouldn’t fly in today’s hi-tech photography and editing programs that exist, not to mention there is so much noise in the background that it really tends to detract from Joey Sunshine. Either way, it’s a lovely piece to add to my collection.
Since i’ve been getting back in to the whole blogging lifestyle, i thought it would be cool to show off some of the purchases i’ve picked up over the past few months…mostly summer pick ups.
This week i wanted to focus on the graded Redskins rookie cards. Obviously, i didn’t want to blow my budget on all of these cards but wanted something really nice to add to my collection. Initially i wanted to shoot for 9+ cards but realized very quickly that most of those cards were a little ridiculous in price, so as i’ve done with most things in my life, i lowered my expectations.
The first card is of one of my most favorite football players, John Riggins aka Riggo aka Diesel. My very first jersey was of John Riggins and his #44 when i was 7. Now, you have to understand that i grew up in San Antonio and this was the early 80’s. A time when the Cowboys rivalry with the Redskins was serious and fierce. Both teams seemed to meet in the playoffs each year and there was a lot of hatred for the Redskins where i grew up. But i didn’t care. I loved the Hogs and the Diesel.
This little gem is in pretty nice shape although the centering is off just a tad. The 8.5 seems to be a little high maybe? I’m not card grader and i was happy with the price on this one, so I couldn’t pass it up.
John Riggins was one of those players that was kind of a bad ass that would plow through the defensive line and sway defensive back away like annoying gnats. Kinda like what Marshawn Lynch has been doing in recent years. Riggo has managed to take great care of himself after retirement and stays busy. Still a little crazy and an off beat personality but he’s doing well for himself.
Rickey had a great week, not an epic week or amazing, but it was pretty eventful for the wallet card. Rickey as wallet card is a little shy and doesn’t like to come out too often, but when he does, he makes quite an impression. We are working on that though…there were a couple of moments when Rickey didn’t want to be seen with nice old fashioned that was ordered for his photographic purposes…but hey, everyone has their own thing.
After a wonderful weekend, Rickey had to make his way to work on Monday…a little weary and lacking energy to do much of anything. But Rickey is a fighter and did some great things at work. You may notice some other paraphernalia on the desk, the two RGIII’s are from Collector’s Crack from a trade a few months ago. The Ganesh was a gift from an old friend that was brought back from India and i think may not be working too well being that close to Robert’s ligaments…maybe next year I will shift it up a bit. There is also a tiny and outdated photo of our little family along with my vitamin jars. I’m big on those raw, whole food vitamins. Gotta stay healthy and alert! 😉
Rickey got to go on a field trip to my latest completed middle school project. He really liked it! We were doing the photo shoot with a fantastic local architectural photographer and i had to set up some of the staging. Rickey had some thoughts on staging, but they fell on deaf ears. Rickey don’t like deaf ears…but he does like the media center…and those roses, pretty dope eh?
Rickey ended the week with a wonderful date night and dinner with some wonderful friends. We hit up a couple bars on NW 23rd and had a great time catching up with the group. It was a bittersweet meeting though as we found out one of our great friends that both work at Nike are being relocated to Amsterdam. They will be leaving soon and will be greatly missed. We hope to make a visit in the next two years to see them, but who knows. Either way it was great to see the crew again.
