The Last Post…and a farewell to a Villain

Posted by cardboard hogs on December 31, 2020

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!

***

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

***

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

***

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

***

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

***

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

***

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

***

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

***

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

***

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

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

***

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

***

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!

Sons and Fathers

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 11, 2017

Being an adult is a tough thing to be at times. It’s a never ending commitment to things you never dreamed of as a child; bills, responsibilities to loved ones as well as our contemporaries can be incredibly daunting at times. Overwhelming even. When you add children to the mix it becomes even more difficult. Prior to becoming a father, i had a very specific image of what having a child would be like…and to be honest, it’s nothing like what i thought. It is far more difficult than i could have ever imagined. Getting things done the way i want them or even when i want them is close to impossible. Over the past few months or so, i’ve learned to let things go. I had to. My expectations were not realistic or fair for an incredibly curious toddler. His young developing mind was discovering a world he needed to experience…in his very own way. Once i was able to grasp that seemingly simple concept, i was able to become a better father and enjoy the simple moments in life that later become memories we never forget…

The snow we’ve had in town last night and today was one of those moments to stop and let go of being an adult…although i had to make sure my kid didn’t hurt himself :). One of my recent posts was a reflection of a fond memory as a kid, the big San Antonio snow storm. Keeping that in mind, my goal was to make this day off of work and “adulting” as much fun as i could. Not to break an arm patting myself, but i thing we got it done today and made some awesome memories!

When i started out on this post i had an idea to show a few cards from the Bowman Draft jumbo box i bought before Christmas. The theme of the first post would be about sons of former MLB players and their fathers, but i wanted to shed a little personal experience since we had so much fun. So, for those excited to see some cards that i pulled take a look below…and i promise the hits will be exhibited in the next post!

As i opened the packs, i continued to see names that i recalled from my younger days as a collector…first thought was HOLY CRAP! I’m getting old!! I remember thinking, damn i’m old when a guy i remember as a rookie retired, or made the Hall of Fame…but now these guys have raised baseball players and kept the name in the family business.

I’ve always wondered what it would have been like to be the son of a professional athlete. Most of us had idols and a child, and i would imagine most of our idols were professional athletes vs. musicians or actors…or doctors and scientists i guess. My father had no special talents, nor did he have much of a presence in my life as a kid…which i would imagine is somewhat similar for these guys that made it to their 1st Bowman cards. The baseball season is long and there is a significant amount of travel each season. Being a parent is truly a 24 hour job. Really makes me think how amazing their mothers were…not sure they were as amazing as mine was though. 🙂

I hope to have my son share in my passion for baseball one day. Not sure if it will happen or not…it’s not something i ever want to force on him, it needs to be his decision, and i’m sure he will make the right decision…:)

Not sure how many readers out there have kids, if you do, i hope you can understand the sentiments that i’ve shared here today. It’s a little more personal than i normally like to get, but i felt like it was worthy…thank you for your time to read today.

Here are a few more images from our day…along with a zen like dog photo and a couple pictures of Derek Jeter standing next to a snow buried ruler.

Have a great night and give your family a hug! We’re gonna need each other to get through the next four years of this new Trump nation.

and a song for the day…kinda reminded me of being a kid and going on road trips with my mom each summer…or to visit my father.

Rickey goes to a card show!

Posted by cardboard hogs on February 1, 2015

It’s been a very long week over here. I’ve been fighting this sinus infection and dealing with all the fun things that come with that…lots of drugs and kleenex. Lots of coughing and sneezing. Lots of uncomfortable days and bad nights of sleep…but i had something to look forward to this week. A card show, not just any card show, but the first one of the year! We are quite lucky here in Portland to have a show or two each month, but it’s become more and more difficult to make each one with family responsibilities calling. We almost had a scheduling conflict that would have made it impossible for me to attend the show but nana stepped up and took care of the kid for a couple of hours. Good on you Nana!

When i got to the show, i had a plan to take a wallet card photo at each table i visited but then chickened out…or maybe got distracted once i got there. I did manage to get one photo taken while at Tom’s table and pulling a bunch of 2014 Redskin cards.

his was a pretty good show. My favorites were there, Kim and Tom. Both had some great items pulled aside for me…as well as another dealer that always pulls items aside for me although his name escapes me now. He’s become my go to guy for knocking out a ton of my common Redskins especially the years during my non collecting time between the mid 90’s to the early 2000’s. Lots of commons but great checklist items. I will be posting them later this week…hopefully.

Today’s post though, is about Kim’s table. Kim has tons of great relic, auto and serial numbered cards for every sports team in every sport. He also has great prices for the cardboard. The kind of deals you really can’t get anywhere else. He’s often thrown in items at the end of our deals…you know…just to keep me coming back. Since i picked up quite a few items at his table i wanted to focus on the landscape collection. These are the landscape cards from Kim!

This card was essentially a toss in as it’s neither a relic nor an auto…but it is numbered to 99.

Next up is the Roy Helu Jr. card which Kim was extremely excited to show me and REALY wanted me to take it home with me. So I did…i was a little worried that i already have this one but after double checking when i got home i was happy to see that i had not picked this one up yet.

Malcolm Kelly. A very sad bust. Actually probably someone that should not have been drafted as high as he was by the Redskins…but those days are gone and there is no sense in looking at the past. One of the difficult things about obtaining EVERY SINGLE Redskin card made is that you have to make these kinds of pickups. A pretty short print autograph (albeit a sticker) with a game worn jersey that books much more than it should. This is a card show though and the book doesn’t work here…or if it does, you probably won’t have much business at your table. Honestly can’t remember what this one cost but the sticker had it at $18 which i’m certain is not what it cost when the deal was done…maybe $5?

Next in line is this really lovely London Fletcher game worn jersey card from last years Spectra set. I love the burgundy jersey swatch here with a slightly unbound thread coming out of the card…not sure how visible it is, but it’s a nice touch to the card. The shiny blue (purple?) card is pretty sweet too.

Last one and the card that was one of my favorites from Kim is the Jordan Reed Bowman Sterling player worn refractor jersey card. It’s always nice to get a card that has a portion of the number or nameplate in the swatch portion of the cardboard. This one was number 41 of 75.

Rickey gets out a bit…

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 25, 2015

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?

Rickey’s Week

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 18, 2015

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.

We should really clean our mirrors…

What will we have in store for Rickey this week?

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!

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.

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.