Holy Grail?

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 15, 2015

Well, not quite, but this USFL Gary Clark rookie card (his true RC) has been a card that i’ve always wanted. I realize it’s probably not that difficult to find, but every time i saw the card it was a little too expensive or dinged or a part of set that I didn’t want to buy. Not this one though, it was actually free. Well, free with strings attached. I picked it up at the Mall 205 card show a few weeks ago from my new favorite table, Kim. He always has a ton of Redskins ready for me and i am more than happy to hand over some cash for what he has. I picked up a few gems from him and paid but decided to dig a little more in case i missed something new and exciting when i stumbled across this card.

He just gave it to me. It was only marked at $5 and i would have paid for it regardless, but getting it for free was a much better deal. Nice little addition for the Gary Clark cards.

Rickey’s weekend

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 14, 2015

Rickey went out for dinner on Saturday night…he went to one of his favorite places, Ataula. It’s a tiny Spanish Tapas place near 23rd and close to downtown. The wife and I love, love, love this place and have many great meals here. Most of the time we get to meet up with friends and have a few tapas and a pitcher of Sangria while watching the chef, Jose Chesa, prepare the amazing meals as well as the bartenders mixing up some fantastic drinks. The atmosphere is really cool and family oriented (not really kid friendly though, at least not ours). The chef came to Portland from Barcelona with his wife a few years and slowly built up his place and it’s become one of the more popular Tapas bars in our area.

The visit also gave Rickey a chance to see what’s up in the wonderful world of culinary delights for Portland. One quick look at the menu and he is already pointing to my staple, Tortilla de Patata. I know it’s kind of cliche, but man i love potatoes and eggs. Love them…and so does Rickey. Just look at that smile! He also loved the Albondigas which is nearly impossible to not order. It’s a meatball with beef and pork. WTF!

Rickey wasn’t drinking today, but the wife and I sure as hell were! Our bill is mostly glasses of Sangria. They won’t let us get our own pitcher unless we have a third party and i was like…hello…have you seen wallet card Rickey! Didn’t work.

By the time our first plates came through, i was one drink in and losing focus…i’ve become a lightweight apparently. Not ashamed or proud of that, just a comment on the evenings events. The quickness with which I downed my first glass may reflect on the poor image quality of the croquetas, but trust me, these fried balls of cod was amazing. I found myself cutting them in to little pieces so i could make them last longer. I always find myself trying to convince my wife to let me have half of one of her balls…there’s a joke there somewhere…

Rickey will have some new adventures coming up soon…just you wait and see. Tune in for the next adventures in #walletcard Rickey!

Pre-Christmas LCS visit

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 13, 2015

I had a great holiday break and was able to get a couple of weeks off from work. That also meant that I had the kid with me most of those two weeks and had to plan fun adventures for him. The first and most funnest adventure I could possibly think of was taking him to the LCS down the street. Seriously, what kid wouldn’t want to visit a card shop with expensive pieces of cardboard, wooden bats and autographed baseballs…seriously…The adventure was a bit of a mis step on my part, but Rick was fantastic with him running around the store, plus we got there so early that nobody was in the shop. That was a great way to keep my level of embarrassment down to a minimum. The kid did manage to get in to some trouble, but overall was fantastic and most important, he did not break anything. Well, nothing that I noticed. Haven’t been back since.

Rick has always been generous with me and offers up a few free items each time I go in. Nothing major, but free is always cool. This time though, the free card went to the little kid and it was a very nice Derek Jeter card from 2008. Our kid actually looked at the card in sort of confused/excited sort of way. He tends to keep away from my cards since i’m very protective of them. Not to mention he’s managed to wreak havoc on a couple of them already.

During the slightly chaotic visit i was able to pick up a couple Redskin rookie cards…which, are unfortunately no longer Redskins. Lache is a practice squad Panther last i checked, which is cool. I like the Panthers and hope he gets a chance to shine next season. He is crazy fast and quick but couldn’t seem to make the team this year. If the Redskins have one area of decent depth, it’s at running back.

I also picked up the Cody Hoffman rookie card from Prizm. I thought this kid would make the practice squad this year but was off and on and I believe he was cut just after a few weeks in to the season for good. Not sure if he will pick up somewhere else, but I could use this card for the team set!

During the visit we also managed to finagle a few junk wax packs of 1991 Pacific and 1990 Donruss baseball. Cards which Rick was more than happy to just let us have. I’m sure he would not have minded us taking a few more for the road…maybe next time.

Rickey goes to Powells

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 10, 2015

…but only to browse…

I ~~like~~ love books, especially those big books with lots of images. The books with eye candy, great graphic layouts and really cool images. Sometimes I even read the words that are printed in the books…but that takes more time…so it doesn’t happen as much. One of the great things about working downtown is being close to Powells, one of the greater things about working at the office I work is having Powells right across the street…like, i can see if from my desk across the street…well, not at my new desk, but at desks that i’ve sat in before. Powells is a great place to stroll around after lunch and see what’s out or what’s on sale for that month. Most of my visits are just visits and not purchase visits…you know, to get inspired. I need that as an architect, visual inspiration!

So, Rickey and I went to the art+architecture section which is in a much better spot with the revised layout. they always had a layout table there, but the one that’s in now is much larger and better for laying out books, but this visit wasn’t about laying out books, it was about finding photo ops for wallet card Rickey! The first stop…was…wowza…Not really sure what’s going on here, but hey, Rickey thought it was cool.

Rickey is all about helping and lending a helping hand. Sometimes the greatest of the greats need some inspiration, like LeCorbusier. It’s not easy being an architectural genius and making ribbon windows and pilotis look magical all the time…but Rickey is there to lend a smile and a wave a wand of confidence!

Rickey likes space. I liked Interstellar. So this was appropriate for the moment. This book was pretty cool actually. Lots of great images of different space suits and equipment from a fashion perspective.

My favorite architect is Peter Zumthor. You kids in LA are about to be blessed with his renovation and complete reworking of how LACMA is being laid out. Before the wifey and I got married, i convinced her to visit a thermal spa in Switzerland, which really didn’t take much arm twisting. Anyways, the Therme Vals is a spectacular place to visit if you ever find yourself near Zurich. Rickey likes it lots.

At this point, Rickey wanted to see photos of Rickey’s greatness. Rickey likes him some Rickey…and Donny Baseball.

But most of all, Rickey likes it when Rickey sets records. Unbreakable records. Rickey is also pretty fond of this jersey.

Wallet card Rickey has a hot date tonight.

Podoley Mail Day!

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 8, 2015

Mr. Hog got some mail today from the electronic bay. A very nice copy of Jim Podoley’s 1959 Topps card graded PSA 8. Quite a nice card with no real visible marks or scuffs on the surfaces. I’m guessing it was graded an 8 due to the off centering as the corners are pretty sharp.

Jim played for the Redskins for four seasons (1957-1960) making the Pro Bowl in 1957. He crossed the end zone 13 times which isn’t too bad considering how poorly the team played during that stretch going 13-31-4…wretched! Although you would never know it with a smile like that!

Looking at Jim’s stat’s he looks to have been the old timey version of a deep threat or had ridiculous YAC totals racking up an average gain of 23.8 yards for his 16 receptions.

Unfortunately, Jim passed away in 2010 from melanoma…please remember to get your moles checked, wear sunblock and stay out of the sun as much as possible…for real. That cancer is no joke.

Ode to the Glory days…not really.

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 7, 2015

The Redskins suck. I get it. They are a terrible football organization owned by a man who cannot make a good, sound football decision to save his fans lives. Each time they try something that seems like a good idea, it bottoms out and the wheels fall off way too often. One beacon of hope is the hiring of a legitimate, talent finding General Manager (Scot McCloughan) that has been highly involved with two, currently, well run organizations (Seahawks and 49ers…also Packers). They guy is an apparent scout savant. I’ve always wanted to be a savant at something. But my talent is limited and my skill-set has not reached great levels in anything of relevance. I am a pretty decent collector of things and at one time a great organizer of said things…but those days have been altered by life and the responsibilities of being a grown up.

Collecting cards and organizing them is a huge stress relief for me. I can get lost in them at times and love looking at the dated styes of the card design, jerseys and equipment. As i’ve finally gotten around to organizing my Redskin team sets and realized i have a gigantic amount of duplicates, i thought what better way to organize them then to make a Redskins Frankenset! Yes! A Frankenset. I will take all of the duplicates and numerically add them to a new binder filled with ultra pro platinum sheets purchased from my favorite LCS The Sports Room! Wonderful!

I’ve come up with a couple of basic rules:

1. no duplicates of the same set on each page, don’t be fooled by some of the images here, those are just cards behind missing spots in the binder.

2. all time favorites will get their card numbers, i.e. Art Monk get #81 and John Riggins gets #44. this may be tough as it could be difficult for some players…or not?

3. a unique player on each page, so no duplicate sets or players on the same page.

These are fairly generic as of now and i’ve still got quite a few cards to go through before i can add anything to the Frankenset, but it’s a start.

At some point, i will create a spreadsheet and track all of this wonderful stuff.

side note…Rickey went to Buffalo Wild Wings today for lunch but didn’t really want to make an appearance, Rickey doesn’t like wings apparently…

Record Shop Rickey

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 6, 2015

With my minimal card purchases lately and a revival in the Hogs Blog, i’ve decided to do another wallet card post with Rickey. Now, Rickey can be a moody fella and not always interested in some randomness, so i dragged him along to my annual post lunch Tuesday record shop visit. Working downtown, i have two great options for vinyl digging…Everyday Music and my personal favorite 2nd Ave. Records. Today’s visit was Everyday. Now, I wasn’t on a hunt to buy anything (that’s for my lovely wife) but to see what was out and what may peak Rickey’s interest…Take a look at what we found.

Being an lifelong fan of the rap music i always look down that aisle first. Taking a quick scan, what do i see, but the classic doggystle album! Rickey isn’t a fan of soft core porn so he did his best job of covering up the booty on the cover. Unfortunately, that bat is in an odd location…Snoop isn’t too crazy about Rickey blocking the booty, so he gives him a lil’ nudge.

Sometimes you can look in to the mind of a great artist and see greatness. In this case Flying Lotus’ beam of light is actually Rickey Henderson! The glowing orb from a glowing legend, look at that Rickey smile! Side note, this album is wonderful…my favorite Lotus album to date.

There are a couple of things that Rickey doesn’t like. One of them is the way this dude spells his name…and that suit. Jeezy Creezy! That suit man. I can overlook the finely feathered hair, but that suit! They name though had Rickey up in arms…sorry for all the Ricky Skaggs fans out there, I know there are multitudes of you people.

Now, hanging out in a dusty old record shop (which this isn’t really one of those…), you run in to some Riff Raff. This Riff Raff likes babies and puppy huskies, but who doesn’t really. I love puppy huskies. They are soft and cuddly. Babies on the other hands are crazy work and will pee on you. Whether or not you believe Riff Raff is a Neon Icon or not, this dude is blowing up like crazy…not my cup of tea, but to each his own.

Rickey had a good day…but not as good as Riff Raff’s life right now…

Rickey visits Target

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 5, 2015

First day back at work and the first day of toting a baseball card in my pocket all day long. This is a fantastic way to start the year…in order to save some money around our house, the wife and i have been diligently packing our lunches on a daily basis. Typically i hate left overs, but i hate not having money either…that really sucks, like really really sucks. I also really hate staying in the office all day long so it’s a double whammy for me. My solution has been to eat quickly, not stomach cramping quickly, but fast enough to make a nice little walk around downtown P-Town for 30-45 minutes to look at people and things. It’s also a great time to hit up the Target for few random requirements like lithium batteries and cliff bars. These are both vital to me staying active and healthy. The battery for the bike speedometer and the cliff bars to keep me from donking off mid-day. Today was special though. It was a chance for wallet Rickey to see the world…unfortunately i was in a rush today so we didn’t spend too much time with the photo shoot, but needless to say, Rickey likes transformers…you can’t wipe that smile off his face.

See, he has a huge smile…it’s so great to see Rickey being Rickey in the toy aisle. Rickey will be making a trek to the record shop tomorrow afternoon and just might make an appearance at Whole Foods. It’s a big day for Rickey, so he needs to get some rest…his corners are rounding out. It’s time for a nap.

A New Year, A New Post

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 4, 2015

Man, oh man…it has been a very, very long time since i’ve had the time to post anything here. Not sure if anyone has checked in periodically or just assumed i’ve dropped off the face of the blogosphere earth. I still collect, i still read other blogs and i still am trying to get organized. That has been the main reason for my absence, well, that and a very active and passionate 2 year old exhausting all of my free energy. I love him dearly, but i have cards to write about…

As i mentioned, i am still doing all the things that we do as collectors and i’ve managed to make some great progress in getting organized and up to date on my checklists…thanks to a few late nights on the home computer and an extended vacation from work. My main focus has been on getting everything logged from the 1950’s-1990’s. Everything was sweet until i hit the abyss of the mid 90’s when subsets and serial numbers and various parallels became all the unreasonable rage. This was also the period of time when i put the hobby aside to be a 20 year old male. I’ve regained my focus and will have some checklists updated in the next few weeks to months as they get incorporated in to google docs.

Enough with the words. Here are some photos of a few cards from the 1950 and 1952 Bowman sets i’ve picked up the past 6 months.

Normally, bloggers like to save their best for last. Not me. This one cost a few nickels but was very much worth it to me. It’s a beautiful card and centered fairly well…the corner are in pretty nice condition too. I looked at a few 8’s that were available on eBay and were well outside what i could spend and feel ok with myself. This one wasn’t too bad and it’s in great shape.

One of the things that i wanted to do with my set was get each of the Redskins cards from 1959 and earlier graded, so i searched around and picked up what i could from eBay and from the local card shop just around the corner from me, Hoopla Sports. The guys there are great and have nice deals on what i’m looking for…this isn’t one of them though. This one was scooped from eBay. Love how i drop the curve on you huh? completely unrelated story and then this image.

I love the smaller format cards from the 50’s. The card designers and artists did an amazing job with them and holding these pieced in your had you can really appreciate the amount of work that had to go in to each layout.

Collecting redundancy happens quite a bit in our hobby. You pick up multiple variations of cards…red cards, yellow cards, blue cards…rarely, but sometimes, you pick up the same card that comes in two different sizes like this large Dick Alban…large Dick…

OK, here’s my shot at ending on a high note. Another Slinging’ Sammy Baugh card…1952 Bowman Small. I waited and waited on this card in hopes of finding one at a great price from eBay and finally stumbled across a guy that had it listed as BIN. I made him an offer that he quickly refused and came back with something a little better. After another number from him, i finally got it shipped. A little more than i hoped to get for it, but much less than others had their versions priced at.

We have two shows coming up this month and i’m hoping to make one of them. The Cedar Hills show is much closer to me but tends to be less occupied by dealers and i end up walking away feeling like i wasted my time…but it is closer…if not, i will hit up the show at Mall 205 to see what they have going on…hopefully my friend from COMC, Tom will be there?

One last item, i am going to attempt to do the wallet card “challenge” and see what 365 days in my side pocket will do to a 1986 Topps Rickey Henderson. I chose this card because it has my favorite player on it in my favorite baseball teams jersey…and it was the first set i ever completed. Here is day one, which started yesterday…so 363 days in my side pocket.