A soloist joins a band…

I’ve never been one to join a group, not really a group joiner.  Never wanted to be associated with a specific cohort or any kind of click.  I felt it was unnecessary or just really not for me…partially due to anxiety, partially due to an unwillingness to interact with people I felt might not click well with me.  I’ve always been like that, well, I’ve mostly been like that.  The past few years I’ve shifted a bit and have opened up to others.  There have been a few catalysts for this.  The bride for one, of course.  But also realizing that connecting with people that share your interests is important.  I’ve been able to make some of that happen with the card show guys I stop by each month, well…each month prior to 2020. 

Earlier last year, I was asked to attend a group meeting with other card collectors by Terry Kneis.  He’s been my go to vintage guy through the years.  Not because of his charming personality…because, that isn’t his M.O.  I like to stop by his table because he is crazy organized.  Possibly over the top organized for a card show table at times.  There is a definite sense of needing to ask permission to see his cards.  I think that tends to push people away most of the time…but for me, I love it.  I LOVE that he controls his product to a point that it doesn’t get disturbed by randos.  All of his cards are in order by year.  Every card has a price on the back.  The lesser expensive ones come in penny sleeves and the expensive ones include top loaders.  For me, it’s a time saver that I cherish…plus, he offers up a chair for you to sit and go through your items!!!  That’s right a chair at a card show!!!  I can sit down with my phone, go through my google doc spreadsheet and check off the cards I pull as I put them aside. 

HUGE TIME SAVER YA’LL!!!

When I get home, my checklist is updated and all I have to do is remove the penny sleeves and drop the cards in their respective binders.  Have I mentioned the time saver aspect? 

Back to the club part of this wandering story…Terry invited about 25 gents and ladies to his house earlier last February for the Oregon Sports Card Association meeting.  It was a quaint gathering with a wide variety of vintage card collectors.  I was definitely out of my league, as far as baseball knowledge but had a great time.  At the end of the gathering, Terry hands out a manilla envelope with a special gift for the days participants.  Me being a newcomer to the group, Terry handed me a $100 off any card that he was selling from his house that day.  The caveat was that it had to be from an assortment of cards on a special table.  Well, this was on that table and I had to grab it.  I could not pass this beautiful card up.  It was phenomenal.  Sensational even. 

1956 Jackie Robinson – #30

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I haven’t really dug into the ‘50’s sets yet, so this is about as nice of a first card as you could get…in my mind. 

One of the activities during the meeting was a trivia party where I was teamed up with an older gentlemen, Steve.  Steve has won many of these competitions and wasn’t overly thrilled to have a new jack join his team, but I think I held my own.  We didn’t come in first place, but we did finish tied for second.  Which was great if you ask me.  Having come in second place, were granted the choice of one card from a 1950’s binder with semi-stars and could pick one card under $80.  I went with this beautiful Monte Irvin card…mostly because I had just wrapped up reading Willie Mays biography and Monte was heavily involved in much of that storytelling…plus I thought it seemed appropriate to pick a Dodger and a Giant on the same day.

1954 Monte Irvin – #3

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Today also marks the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.  I hope everyone has had a chance to listen to one of his important speeches or read an article about his life.  He was a great man that fought for change that people are still fighting for today.  Maybe one day, we’ll get a chance to see past our skin color and political viewpoints and move forward as humans.  It’s a lot to ask for, but it’s also something that is very well achievable in our lifetime.  I sure hope for my kids sake that we can get there.  So, Happy MLK day everyone. Fuji shared a couple of his favorite MLK cards over at The Chronicles of Fuji and i wanted to share the first three i could find today.

As always, thank you for reading!

-Cardboard Hogs

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Here’s a video of my favorite speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Last Post…and a farewell to a Villain

This year has finally come to an end.  An unforgiving parallel universe of a year where wrong was right and low was even further lower than we could all imagine.  Maybe it was the end of a bad dream, the kind of nightmare where you’re about to crash into a concrete wall, screeching brakes being hammered to the floor, arms off the wheel to cover your eyes, barreling towards the wall and nanoseconds before impact you wake up.  Sweating.  Shaking.  Breathing heavily.  Saying to yourself, “what the hell just happened!”  The nightmare has ended…for now, but is it really over?  What will ’21 bring for us?  I would love to see an overcorrection from the wrong to the right and some goodness be brought to everyone.  More generosity and kindness.  Less judgement and crassness towards others.  Can we live our lives in a manner that we want to without condescension?  I sure hope so. 

I love this hobby, I love it dearly.  It brings me great joy.  In a world where I have marginal control over things, I can control my collection. 

It’s there when I need it to regroup emotionally…I’m a highly anxious person. 

It’s there when I’ve had a rough day and need to zone out…I worry too much about others opinions.

It’s there when I need a new organizing project and get an idea in the middle of the night…I got some OCD too.

Our hobby is fantastic.  A lot has changed about it this past year. 

I hope it keeps evolving. 

I hope the people that are new are welcomed with open arms.

I hope the new people take some history lessons and learn about our hobby.

I hope we let people collect what and how they want to collect.

For 2021, I will be more involved in helping to make this hobby great.  Reaching out to bloggers, twitter folks, flippers, old-school collectors and the new ones as well.  I plan to buy more from my LCS than eBay, but I also plan to sell more on eBay.  I want to find a happy middle where I can enjoy the hobby without feeling like I am going to strangle myself financially.  Creating a net zero cost of cards is the ultimate goal, not sure how that will get done.  The architecture and build portion of the world is attempting to reduce carbon emissions significantly with the 2030 challenge, but this is nothing like that. 

I just want to have fun with these pieces of cardboard and card stock and shiny whatever the hell they are materials.  I hope you do too!

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With the end of the year usually comes collecting or personal goals.  I’m not going to list anything, I think that’s mostly been covered by the manifesto above.  So, instead, I’d like to take the time to update the annual wallet card and take a look back. 

I started carrying a card in my wallet quite a few years ago.  It was a way to always keep the hobby with me wherever I went.  Every once in a while the card would be exposed to other people and it would start a conversation, or maybe just some ridicule from some colleagues…architects can be a judgmental group, ya know?

At some point along the way, I’ve lost a few cards…but here’s what I’ve got since I started the blog.

2020: Derek Jeter, New York Yankees 1999 Pacific Paramount, card #162

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2019: Dale Murphy, Atlanta Braves 1987 Topps, card #490

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2018: Joe Gibbs, Washington Redskins 1992 Pro Set, card #90

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2017: Derek Jeter, New York Yankees 2014 Gypsy Queen, card #N174-DJ

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2016: Art Monk, Washington Redskins 1985 Topps, card # 185

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2015: Rickey Henderson, New York Yankees 1986 Topps, card #500

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2014: Joe Gibbs, Washington Redskins 1990 Pro Set, card #333

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2013: Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn Dodgers 1991 Topps Archives, card #1

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AND NOW, FOR TWO-THOUSAND TWENTY ONE!  THE NEW WALLET CARD IS (drumroll…)

2021: Santana Moss, Washington Redskins 2006 Topps, card #245

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I know, I know…I can hear the clapping through the keyboard!

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OK, so when I woke up this morning I was thinking about the best video I could share with you all today.  Something fun and positive and light-hearted to ring the new year in.  I was getting distracted during the day and everything was getting away from me.  When I sat down to start writing I first jumped on twitter to get an update on this mad world we’re living in…and my heart sank when I saw that MF Doom has passed away…shit shit shit shit.  He was one of my favorite MC’s…crazy entertaining and a tremendous wordsmith.  Lots of double entendre’s and just some good ol’ hip hop metaphors.  At this point, I’m not sure what took his life as he was only 49 (4 years older than me).  The one thing that can make me smile is that he actually passed away on Halloween of this year.  That’s gotta be the most MF Doom thing ever.  For the uninitiated, he was wore a ‘gladiator’ mask and was well known for skipping out on shows but still having someone perform for him…the mask helped with that endeavor.  Not sure of the reason for keeping his passing quiet for two months, but that’s none of my business really.  If you have the time, please take a listen to the video below of his collaboration with the producer Madlib for the quintessential MC and producer hip hop album.  It’s a classic. 

MADVILLAIN – MADVILLAINY

Also, check out his earlier work with KMD as Zev Love X and music from his other aliases; King Geedorah, King Ghidra, Viktor Vaughn, Metal Fingers, King Dumile and Metal Face.  He also did some work with 3rd Bass back in the day…enjoy.  Have a Happy New Year, hug your loved one, tell them you love them and stay safe out there.

-Cardboard Hogs!