Happy Birthday Rickey and Merry Christmas

Posted by cardboard hogs on December 25, 2013

Today is the 55th birthday of my childhood idol. Rickey Nelson Henley Henderson.

The Man of Steal. He was the all time stolen base leader and the greatest leadoff hitter of all time. I can’t think of any position or spot in a lineup where you can say that about a baseball player and not get twenty other names from twenty other people. Maybe it’s a bold statement, but I don’t think there really is an argument for his greatness at the leadoff position. Fielding…eh…not the greatest.

Rickey Henderson 7

He was the reason I became a Yankee fan (but still secretly love the A’s) and the reason why I wear #24 any chance I get. Whenever people asked me in a confused manner, “Why are you a Yankees fan?” They are only more confused after I tell them because of Rickey Henderson…I’m a very loyal fan and hitched my wagon to the Yanks in 1985. I was 9 and there was no going back as far as I was concerned.

Hall Of Fame Baseball

He was also the reason I fell in love with baseball and insisted on stealing as many bases as i could in little league. I also stole them by sliding head first. The coaches never liked it, but the one time I went in feet first I rolled my ankle and got a nasty strawberry…never jammed my wrist sliding head first thank you very much!

He may not have been the greatest teammate of all time and maybe he was a little self absorbed…or aloof 🙂 But he is a Hall of Famer and remains my all time favorite athlete.

This will always be my favorite card. I purchased this with $12 of my allowance money from the West Avenue Card Shop in San Antonio, Texas over the summer of 1986. Funny story about the West Ave. Card Shop…a few years after I purchased this card along with many others through the years, they were busted for buying and selling large amounts of cocaine. I guess they were using the card shop as a way to launder their drug money…and here I just thought they had bad allergies with all the sniffing and wiping of their noses. They were just coke-heads.

Happy Birthday Rickey Henderson as I’m sure you are reading this wonderful post about you on your day of birth that you share with baby Jesus. I hope everyone out there has a wonderful Christmas! Stay safe and keep collecting!

Black Friday Heritage

Posted by cardboard hogs on December 19, 2013

So, I did some Black Friday shopping in my pajamas like a good American.

No, I wasn’t at Wal-Mart at 3am busting down the storefront and trampling mustached women in rascals. Even better, I did it online over at the Check Out My Cards wonderful website. I had been building up my cart for some time, nearly 6 months, and decided I needed to work on completing some sets. Most of what I picked up was 2010 Heritage base cards, but I also picked up some New Age Performers from this past years set along with a couple Then and Now cards.

And here they are!

Miguel Cabrera involved in a deeply personal thought about SABRmetrics

Yoenis Cespedes. It took me about 5 tries to find this card, because apparently Yoenis is nearly impossible for me to spell. Yoenis.

Billy Butler is both excited and nervous about the pitch he just hit…one can only wonder…

Check out the baby faced Aparicio and the babier face of Michael Nelson Trout. I believe the Mathews/Dunn card would have been perfect if we could have gotten some chest hair on the Dunn photo…Taco meat for everyone!

Time permitting, i’d love to scan some of my other pick ups from COMC…but i’m not sure time will permit in the next few holiday days. One cool thing of note is that I have Boxing Day off. This is the second year we’ve had this holiday since we were taken over in a not so hostile manner by a Canadian company. I’ve heard positive things and negative things about the holiday, so i’m not sure if I should let my white guilt reign over me or if I should just buy some more baseball cards. Any thoughts out there from our friendly neighbors to the north?

2013 Topps S2 – Packs 7 and 8

Posted by cardboard hogs on August 13, 2013

I feel like a dope writing about 2013 Topps series two, but i will manage to get over it sooner or later…plus i have another post to go!

I’m not really sure where I left off on the Topps post, but these two cards really caught my eye…plus they were in my to be organized scan folder. So here they are, Trouty and Alvarez. Both amazing photos and both are landscape cards, which i LOVE in base sets! Both cards manage to get the player and ball in the shot…great photography to the photographer.

This sideburn slash sort of neck beard is disturbing…plus he’s a Red Sox guy. Not much for me to like about this card.

Ah jeez. Jackie and the Babe. The only problem with Topps pushing out these old school legend cards is the lack of photo variety. I’ve got 5 other Jackie cards with that same pose…wish they had access to other images, you know, to spice it up a bit?

Bryce Harper. Love this kid. He is the newest addition to my player personal collection and a reason i started following the Nats a few years ago. He seems like he can be quite a jerk sometimes, but he’s intense and he goes all out each game. That is how I would want my son to play.

Rizzo – Italien – Cub.

Joey Belle. Remember how crazy this guy was. Dude had a serious temper and would go off over the stupidest crap. I’ve said too much…

This guy. Love the Cuban players. Did you hear, he won the home run derby over the all star break…it’s been that long since i’ve been blogging.

Good night.

2013 Topps S2 – Packs 3 and 4

Posted by cardboard hogs on July 17, 2013

For the first couple of cards, I’m going to stick with the twofers…and it goes a little something like this, HIT IT!

As usual, I’m late for the bus on this one. I just wanted to add my two cents on the whole celebration card that Topps seems to be putting out more and more each season. I like the concept, and sometimes it works brilliantly as it does with the Francisco Cervelli card. Then there are other times when it doesn’t work well, like this Derek Norris card. It’s more of an Oakland A’s team card and I fully expected to see some team leader stats on the back of the piece of card stock. If the camera man was a couple of inches to the right, nobody would know who this card is for, including the wonderful mlb-baby-making parents of Mr. Norris! I would have thought it was for Reddick or that little dude squatting in the middle of the card. Get it together Topps!

Here are a couple more celebration cards. Am I the only one that thinks Homer Bailey and Christian Bale are twins lost at birth? Maybe they should be doing those cheesy State Farm Chris Paul commercials. This is a good example of a celebration card. You can see his Batman looking face and yet, he is still sharing a personal moment with Chris Heisey after his no-no last year. The Ryan Ludwick card on the other hand is all kinds of terrible. Not only is his face nowhere to be seen, his nameplate on the back is blurry!!! At the very least this should have been a Jay Bruce card because his unbridled enthusiasm is…unbridled (first time using that word on the blog and i drop it twice!).

Alright, enough whining. These making their mark cards are nice and the player selection is great. I love that they went with the young future superstars for this subset. Both of these guys are great players…and I kind of have a baseball crush on Manny Machado…the kid is all kinds of awesome. I’m no Orioles fan and have no idea when he will make the move to short, if ever, but he is going to become their rock for the next 10-15 years like Jeter has been for the Yankees.

Bryce Harper. Stud. Kind of want to do a player collection of him. I think this kid is great and i’m sure i’ve mentioned it here before, but I would love for Bryce to be my sons favorite ballplayer. If everyone played all out each play like he did, the game would be so much more fun to watch day in and day out.

Here is a nice little cut to the chase Ernie Banks card. You can’t ever go wrong with Mr. Banks and some die cut action.

Last card for the night was my autograph hit from the box. Alex Cobb chasing history. I’m going to chase some whiskey with a little sleep. Goodnight collectors of the internets.

Cedar Hills Show – The low budget version ep.I

Posted by cardboard hogs on June 23, 2013

I’ve been away from the blogging for a while. No real reason, other than we’ve been busy with life and work…as well as enjoying life away from cardboard and computers.

There was a show this Saturday at the Cedar Hills mall that i attended after having missed the past two shows…so I have some catching up to do. I’ve also received two boxes from Dave and Adams Cardworld that i need to open and review. So, there will be a few posts coming up in the next few days or weeks. I’ve done a lot of scanning tonight and am getting close to nodding out, so i’m going to do a one card post. It’s one of my favorite all time player and a card that I am happy to have picked up for $12.

This was by far the most expensive card I picked up today as I was really trying to stay in the nickel, dime, quarter and dollar boxes. Steve from COMC had the card at his table and as usual was extremely friendly and more than happy to help look for a couple of cards. I ended up picking a few other pieces from him and the 12/$1 boxes…but those are for another post.

I am going to bed, but will be posting like mad the next couple of weeks…I hope. 🙂

GIANT Man of Steal

Posted by cardboard hogs on June 12, 2013

I feel like the more and more cards I buy, the further away I get from purchasing BASEBALL cards. I have no idea why this has become the norm for me, not intentional…just the way it’s become. Baseball has always been my favorite sport and the sport that I LOVE.

Last week I stopped by The Sports Room and made a big pick up.

A giant 1984 Topps Rickey Henderson.

With all of the mini craze Topps has gotten themselves into the past few years, I’d love to see them bring back these big boys. Maybe do a box topper with 3 or 4 cards in a pack of the Archives set next year…could be fun to get a few of these frame-able cads with Robinson Cano or Hanley Ramirez in a 1987 Topps design, eh? Just a thought.

Silk, Mettle and Zumthor

Posted by cardboard hogs on April 26, 2013

It’s Friday night and i’ve been tracking the NFL draft the past couple of hours and days to see whom the Redskins would pick up. I don’t follow a lot of college football, so most of these guys are complete strangers to me. When it’s all wrapped up and the draft is complete, i plan on doing a quick post of the guys that were selected for the Burgundy and Gold. – HTTR!

I couldn’t really think of a good post, so i am going to dig in the crates a bit and post some cards i purchased a month or so ago. They are of my childhood idol Rickey Henderson and they are all pretty cool.

The first one is the Copper (looking) Proven Mettle card numbered 58/99. The card shows a very young looking Rickey in some classic A’s garb with his patented inquisitive stare/squint. These cards are pretty cool and seem to be very popular on the ebay. Not sure how much value they would hold if the apocalypse hit and coins or metal were the only currency accepted. I’m not worried about that though, but we do have an emergency kit along with some water in the basement…and extra cat litter to make the mother in law happy.

The next card is the wrought iron version serial numbered 16/50. This coin is a little better looking than the copper looking one, but has a little ding on Rickey’s nose…not cool, but that happens i guess. The profiles of these coins sticks out from the plane of the card, so i guess these things happen. Still a nice piece to add to my Rickey Henderson PC.

The last Rickey Henderson card is the silk manufactured version of his 1980 Topps Rookie Card. The card is pretty cool and i like the casing around it, frames the card nicely, plus it’s pretty thick. Also like the fact that they don’t have a plastic cover over the card so you can feel the material. Nice. I know Fuji is putting this set together, hope to see it soon…that could be a pretty cool set.

I’m going to go off on a non sports card or sports card note here, so please feel free to move along if you like.

One last item since i’m talking all time favorites. Today is the birthday of my all time favorite Architect, Peter Zumthor. He turned 70 today. My wife and I were lucky enough to venture to one of his few built projects in Vals, Switzerland…the Therme Vals. As an architect, we tend to plan vacations around what buildings we can visit and my wife is a willing participant most of the time…but she was super excited for this trip as it was one of the most heralded thermal baths in Europe and nestled in a tiny Swiss Alps village. Needless to say we had a fantastic time visiting the various rooms and the views were some of the most amazing sights i had ever experience…truly humbling. Zumthor is a bit of an enigma in the Architecture world. He hasn’t built very many projects, around 20 i believe, but he has become world renown due to his dedication to his projects and the sites they inhabit. Zumthor was a Pritzker Prize winner in 2009, which i guess would be the sports equivalent of the Hall of Fame. He is a true craftsmen and his buildings are works of art. If you are interested, here are a few links to some of his projects as well as his wiki page.

Peter Zumthor Wikipedia Page

Peter Zumthor Interview

Therme Vals

Kunsthaus Bregenz

Saint Benedict Chapel

Rickey and Donny Baseball

Posted by cardboard hogs on April 14, 2013

The only real reason i became a Yankee fan was because my favorite player, Rickey Henderson was traded in the winter to the Bronx Bombers. I was a 9 year old kid that was easily led astray and more than willing to change my allegiance as i saw fit. At the time, the Yankees were ok. They did have the history which I was really not that aware of at the time but something i was more than willing to embrace. Gehrig, Ruth, DiMaggio, Mantle…endless names of a great sports franchise.

Through the years, my friends have given me a hard time about being a Yankee fan and question why i’m not an Astros or Rangers fan. My response is always the same…Really? Astros or Rangers? I couldn’t get down with those rainbow sherbet jerseys that Mike Scott and Nolan Ryan rocked in the 80’s. As for the Rangers, they played in the Dallas area and I associated that with the Dallas Cowboys…and there was no way i was signing up for that team, ever. So, I stuck with the Yankees and embraced the team. Granted, i have always had a little piece of my heart set aside for the Oakland Athletics since they were the first team i followed and the one that Rickey is most associated with.

At our Portland show this past Saturday, i wanted to get some new Henderson cards…and do a little digging through the nickel and dollar boxes. As you all know, there is a certain time and physical commitment involved in searching through these boxes, but it’s always worth it. The thing i love the most about doing the digging is finding cards that i have never seen and were issued at a time when i wasn’t collecting.

It also reminds me of the endless amounts of teams Rickey played for…I honestly forgot he played for San Diego.

I do remember those fun Met years. This is actually a pretty cool card to. The technology and card design in the late 90’s and early 2000’s was special wasn’t it?

The last Rickey card may or may not already be a part of my collection, but it only set me back one nickel…so i couldn’t pass it up.

Here are a couple Donny Baseball cards i was able to find. I LOVED the Stadium Club cards, but was never able to get a Mattingly card. It’s been a long time coming Mr. Mattingly.

As a side note, this is my 42nd post. My wife and I got a little date day Saturday afternoon and went to see the new Jackie Robinson movie, 42. Although there were a few parts that were campy and overly sappy for my liking (it is a family movie after all), I felt the movie was very well done and gave a great description of his role with integrating baseball. It was a 2 hour movie, so there is only so much you can comment on and everything cannot be addressed, but I would highly recommend it if you have time. Jackie Robinson Day is tomorrow, so get your 42’s out!

I gotta Feva!

Posted by cardboard hogs on February 28, 2013

Those immortal words were spoken by none other than the iconic Christopher Walken on the classic SNL skit…and now, I have a fever. I don’t need a cowbell, just some sleep and the ability to breathe through my nose again…such a simple task when healthy. I’ve become one of those neanderthal mouth breathers you find at your local gymnasium flexing in front of the mirror and twitpickin’…you know the type!

Another little bit of fever I caught today was some Spring Fever cards from the electronic bay of two of my favorite players. Both guys are players that i collect and play(ed) for the Yankees, one a legend and one well on his way.

Here they are in all their glory!

Rickey Henderson

Robinson Cano

There are a couple more players that i’m chasing for my PC with this set, but these are great cards for starters. Unfortunately, these cards didn’t scan quite as nicely as they appear in person. These are the first Spring Fever cards i’ve seen in person and am quite impressed with them. I love that Topps has been doing these inserts with their new flagship releases (football kickoff cards). It gets you in to the card shop and supporting your local shop. Unfortunately when i went to the shop last week, i forgot my one redemption card…and as i talked to Rick, he had actually run out of packs. Too slow on my part i guess.

I should have a nice post or two this weekend with some COMC mail but that’s it for now!

Rickey Henderson additions to my PC +1 Jeter

Posted by cardboard hogs on February 26, 2013

Since i’ve gotten the blog up and running again, one thing I really wanted to do was be more proactive in picking up new Rickey Henderson cards, or at least new to me. I’ve been a huge fan of his since I first started collecting in 1985 and was able to collect all of his base cards and some oddball stuff from the 80’s through the mid-90’s. When i gave up collecting for a few years, roughly 1995-2006, i missed out on a lot of his cards and have been playing catch up ever since.

Recently, my targets have been anything that isn’t an autograph or an outrageously short print/low serial numbered card. Focusing on base cards, parallels, inserts and nice looking jersey cards that I can find easily and cost friendly. For some reason or another, his cards are extremely difficult to spot at the card shows I go to as well as my LCS…no idea why. I never have any issues finding Tony Gwynn, Ken Griffey Jr. or Cal Ripken Jr. cards, equally great players from around the same era…but the Rickey Henderson cards are difficult if not impossible to find. I have no idea why this is? Is it that he is such a popular player and people are hoarding his cards? Or maybe people don’t like him as much as the other players from his era?

When he was playing, especially near the end of his career, there was some negativity towards him. He had a rough end with the Mets. Seemingly played one year for every team on the west coast. Tried many times to land with the A’s for a late season push. Whatever the reason, there was some negativity around him. During his heyday, he was an extremely popular player and dynamic player. He was also one of the few guys from the early years of the steroid era that seemed to be clean.

He is also a player, in my mind that is the only ‘greatest ____ of all time’ that can’t be argued with. Maybe I’m wrong on this one, but I believe he is not only the greatest base stealer of all time, but the single greatest leadoff hitter. Maybe i’m biased, but I cannot think of any other player you could say something like this about, much less two things? Who is the greatest Home Run hitter? Greatest Center Fielder? Greatest Catcher, Pitcher? All of these topics draw major debate, but when i comes to the leadoff position and base stealing, There is no one better than Rickey, and that is one of the reasons why he is my all time favorite baseball player. I will keep looking for cards when i’m out and see who has anything new and exciting, I will also check in with the great Rickey Henderson Collectibles website to see what’s new and fantastic in the world of Rickey.

So without further adieu, here are a few images from my latest visit to the ebay and the LCS. (some of these cards may not be that new and exciting to you guys, but they are new to my collection and make me happy!)

The first card is a good ol’ fashioned hologram from the mid 90’s. Upper Deck put all their chips in on this technology and it didn’t quite work out for them…did it? The Denny’s cards are pretty classic though and a must have for your binders. From different angles, it looks like you have a silver-ish card with no image and from others, you can see the Man of Steal! Thank you Denny’s, this one set me back one hundred pennies.

The next two cars are from this years Topps set, The Greats insert and a Game Used Memorabilia Chasing History card. Both were bid on and won by yours truly from the electronic bay. I’m hit or miss on bidding from stuff at ebay as i have found the sellers/buyers difficult to deal with at times. When i do purchase stuff from ebay i go low budget in order to avoid any real issues. Both of these cards set me back about $7 shipped. I love the old and new Rickey on the cards. Classic vs. Legend.

The last one is the Allen and Ginter base card from last years set.

I also picked up this beast, Derek Jeter, from the 1998 Zenith set. This set came out in a period when i was collecting things not on cardboard. I seem to remember Stale Gum doing a box break on these odd ball giants and attempting to find a way to get the mini card out of the big card without damaging the big card…or the mini card. Many attempts were made and a valiant effort was given. I’m just glad these things don’t exist anymore…except with A&G, i guess their stuff is ok, right?