Yesterday was another Super Bowl that didn’t include my Washington Football Team. At times I feel like it will never happen and I should just give up, but then I think to myself…when it does happen (and it will…at some point…it’s inevitable) it will be the greatest thing ever. That’s assuming they win, of course, and not just make it to the Super Bowl.
I know a lot of people really HATE Tom Brady, and I can generally understand it. I just don’t really get why people hate on greatness so much. The guy has been to 10…TEN…Super Bowls in his 21 year career and won 7…SEVEN of them. Just insane. Hate all you want, but that’s Greatest of All-Time material.
Anyways.
When I rebooted the blog, my goal was to make it something more than a “look what I got today” blog. I wanted to be able to find a twist or some other way to make this medium more entertaining or readable…but alas. Work and life. Life is work these days and will be for the next few weeks. So, I’d like to apologize in advance for the dull posts. But, hey. Dull posts are better than no posts right?
One of my favorite guys at our monthly Portland shows wasn’t at the January show. Normally that’s a sign that the guy had decided to give up the hobby or just fuckin died. Well, neither of those were the case with Paul.
Thankfully.
I like Paul. He’s a fascinating guy. Every time I see him, he’s got some new kind of gadgety thing that you get from some mail order catalog. It’s like an Inspector Gadget of card collection. Lots of times he’s there with his kid who seems to be in on the family business. What Paul deals in isn’t your ordinary kinda cards. He’s a parallel man. You know the kind; variations, colors, dots, lasers, patriotic colors, refractors, glossies, not so glossies and super slick glossies. He’s a veritable one stop shop to get your parallel fix. Parallel Paul.
That day, I was planning to spend cash at three tables. Bill, Terry and Paul. Here’s the Paul portion of the morning.
As I mentioned, Paul goes for the gusto on the parallels and all modern stuff. I like going through his stuff because I can pick up Washington guys on the cheap. The majority of his cards are $1. He’s basically charging you for his cost of retail unless there is something really dynamite about the disco parallel you’re picking up. But he’s got ‘em all. Here’s a nice blend of Randy Moss’ kid, Thaddeus Moss.
Ya’ll remember when we used to make fun of blasters and show of a stack of cards for $20? We’d go “…for the cost of a blaster, I got…” Well this stack of cards (minus the baseball and relics) cost a tick under that price point. The sad truth though, if you can find a blaster in the wild it would cost you $20…but you ain’t finding no blasters in the wild. They’re gonna cost you at least $75 for a box of Prizm.
I’ve watched a lot of folks rip those Prizm boxes and to be honest, if I paid more than $20 for them I’d be really really really upset. The hits are rare and the ones you get aren’t that amazing. I like to stand on the sidelines and wait for disgruntled box break investor flipper guy run through a bunch of Washington guys, toss ‘em to the side so I can grab them for a buck.
Like this group of disco sparkles
Prizm does a nice job of the parallels and including a wide variety of great guys from the past. I was able to pick up the Theismann from Paul today, which i hadn’t added to my collection yet. This one is green…i think…
Also picked up some laser show zippity zappity zoom prizms…stupid dad jokes man…
I was able to chat with Paul a bit. Again, super friendly guy and incredibly helpful. I overheard him saying most of what he rips is retail…or something like that. Maybe there was some percentage I missed in the conversation. The point is, he’s got the small sales from small investments dialed in quite well. I doubt he makes a killing each show, but can imagine he’s doing far better than recouping his table and boxes cost. Nice little income for him.
Along with the parallels paul sells, paul puts pride in presenting player worn garments…i really tried to keep that alliteration going.
There were also a few baseball cards ready to be sorted through. I took a quick pass and found a few gems, these were not included in the “…cost of a blaster…” portion of the story, they were a little more than that, but part of the PC. So, felt compelled to grab them.
Honestly, at this point i’m picking up each and every single Rickey Henderson card I can find these days. I’m never certain if he’s incredibly popular or unpopular, but the cards of his that i don’t already have are hard to find.
As always, thank you for reading and extra special thanks to those that comment to let me know your reading. I really do appreciate it. The last few weeks of work have been rough and i don’t see them getting any easier. I’m very happy that i am fully employed, but sometimes…it’s just more difficult to get motivated to something that doesn’t quite interest you.
Thank you,
Cardboard Hogs
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This video is a few years old, but really cool. Made with 100% Solar Power…take a look.
A few years ago, about 14 to be exact, I decided to pursue every card for the Washington Football Team, nee Washington Redskins. For years I had been collecting the cards of my favorite guys on the team, Sonny, Charley, Monk, Riggins, etc…then being upset when those players moved on to other teams…ie Champ Bailey and LaVar Arrington. I had no desire to save those guys cards since they left on somewhat bad terms. I had their cards, but no idea what to do with them…didn’t want them in new unis, save for a handful of guys. So what do I do with all those cards and how can I organize them in a way that will suffice for me. Being a fan of a team means cheering for the uniform more than the player, well maybe that’s just my opinion but yeah…I cheer for the helmet! The way sports are today, guys just don’t spend their entire career with one team…and that’s cool with me. Being forced to work in a place you may not want to work is completely understandable, regardless of the benefits and money you receive.
Freedom of choice matters…man, this is starting to get political…
Anyways, my loyalty has always been to my favorite team’s first. The Washington Football Team…redskins…
So I decided to just do what made the most sense and collect everything Washington Football related! This simplified everything and became clearer…well, far more complicated but at least I had an end game in mind…that said, the mid – 90’s to today’s checklists are out of control with all damn variations.
So here we are, what do I want to share with ya’ll today?
One of the main reasons for reviving the blog was to be more player focused in my posts. I can pick a player that had an impact with the team, like Champ or LaVar, share the cards I have and blog about it. Maybe even do some research and write a bit of a biography of sorts with cards attached. Maybe share some stories of their playing days if they were around when I was watching. Yeah, that sounds like fun to me. Research my favorite team, my favorite players, my favorite hobby…the trifecta of cis-male goodness!
Deciding who to let be the captain of this maiden voyage of Cardboard Hogs Blographies was tough though. Do I go with my favorite player from my childhood? The guy with the most success? The guy with the greatest hair? The guy with the greatest off the field stories and drunken history stories…no, I will not begin with John Riggins. I’m gonna save him for another day, not sure what the day will be…but it will be appropriate…plus I want to make sure I get it right.
I wanted to start with a player that had impact off as well as on the playing field. Someone that would leave a great impression on the world and humanity, not just sports. They had to be an important person, a respectable person and someone I wouldn’t regret being the first post in this series…like…well, I’m not going to shame anyone. If you’re a fan of this team, I’m sure you can come up with a number of names.
The person to get this ship moving in its new direction is:
Robert Cornelius Mitchell aka Bobby Mitchell, number 49 for the Washington Redskins
Born: June 6, 1935 – Hot Springs, Arkansas
Died: April 5, 2020
Drafted: 1958 NFL Draft, Round 7, Pick 84 by the Cleveland Browns
Years with Redskins: 1962 – 1968
All Pro Seasons: 1962 – 1964
Pro Bowl Season: 1960, 1962 – 1964
Pro Football Hall of Fame Induction: 1983
The year 2020 was a memorable one, not a good memorable one…but memorable nonetheless. We all know that…I’m stating the obvious. We learned a lot about ourselves and others around us as well. We found out what’s important to our family and the families of others we don’t interact with on a daily basis. Our political viewpoints have hopefully evolved and gained more empathy towards others. Hopefully we’ve gained an understanding that we all are dealing with something in our lives, life can be tough and filled with challenged but some have dealt with far greater challenges than us. This year those voices became louder and more powerful than they ever have in my lifetime, and I think it’s tremendous. A great step in the right direction for humanity as a whole.
Bobby Mitchell, The player had a impactful role as a versatile tailback and receiver in the NFL…doing just about everything to help the team get in the end zone. As a leader, he was pivotal in integrating the NFL as he was the first black player to play for the Washington Redskins when he donned the Burgundy and Gold on September 16th 1962. The last team to do so in the NFL. To put some perspective on that date, the first African Americans to play in an NFL game were Fritz Pollard and Bobby Marshall, in 1920. Now, to be clear the population of black athletes in the NFL was minimal, only 9 men took the field between 1920 and 1926. Miniscule numbers draped in ignorant racism and segregationists running the league. By the mid-40’s, the NFL would see an increase in black athletes joining teams, albeit a minor population uptick to the league. Like many throughout the country they were faced with endless forms racism daily, not just in public but also in places where they worked.
Mitchell’s path to Washington wasn’t necessarily a long welcoming route as you would imagine. The racist owner, George Preston Marshall, had refused to integrate and ultimately brought in their first African American player in ‘62. Ten years after the last teams integrated in 1952…that’s a decade of segregation added on to the previous lifetime of racism from George Preston Marshall.
As the story goes, early in 1961 Marshall was pushed to integrate his team…or lose his lease to the newly completed and modern DC Stadium (later named RFK Stadium). So, Marshall did the best he thought he could and draft a player in the upcoming NFL draft. The Redskins had the first pick in the 1962 draft and selected Ernie Davis, the 1961 Heisman Trophy Winner. Ernie not being one to deal with some bullshit refused to play for the racist owner and demanded a trade. He, very happily was sent to the Cleveland Browns where he would be a teammate of fellow Syracuse Alum, Jim Brown. A formidable backfield for the Browns. As part of that trade, Cleveland would send their first round pick that year, Leroy Jackson and Bobby Mitchell to Washington. Making Bobby Mitchell and LeRoy Jackson the first African American players to be on the Washington Redskins and in turn making the team the last NFL team to integrate…again in 1962! Again, ten years after the last NFL team to integrate and 15 years after Jackie joined the Dodgers!
Bobby Mitchell retired in 1968, he trailed only Jim Brown for most all-purpose yards racking up over 14,000 as a receiver, rusher, kick and punt returner. After his retirement, he immediately moved into a front office career as a scout with the team that refused to allow black players to be part of their organization. Now, he was helping draft and develop players to be part of the organization. Quite a turnaround for the franchise. He never made it to the position of GM, which could have been in part to lingering racism or hidden biases from the teams owners. He did end up staying with the teams front office for 34 years and on the field for 7. Forty One years as a Washington Redskin…wow. Any fan of the team knows this is an epic tenure, well it is for any sport really.
Bobby is included in the Washington Football Teams Ring of Honor and his number, 49 was posthumously retired in 2020. He is only the second player with a retired number. Sammy Baugh’s 33 is the other retired number.
Bobby Mitchell died at the age of 84 in April of 2020. The team had planned to add his number to their sleeves for the 2020 season to celebrate his life and his remarkable NFL career, but also his impact on the game. He was a legendary player that did a lot of great civil rights work off the field and was a vital part of the 60’s athlete activist group along with the likes of Muhammad Ali, Bill Russell, Jim Brown and many other important figures from that era.
A few months later in July, the Washington Redskins succumbed to the changing world and pressure from various civil right groups to drop the racist image and moniker. These were brought to the organization by George Preston Marshall and held on to for over 80 years. The organization now moves forward, for now as the Washington Football Team.
Not sure if there is anything poetic in all of this. The importance of Bobby Mitchell to the organization and his role is breaking down the barriers of racism seem to blend beautifully with the name change. When you see his number being worn on the chest of every player…it just feels right, especially in this time and this moment…It feels like the time has come to heal and move forward. To look at people as individuals doing the best they can to enjoy their time on earth, respecting everyone and having room for others differences. With Washington being the Football Team now, the importance of unity and working together to make something better is indeed poetic, to me at least…Football Team. A name that represents a group of men from all over the country and from different backgrounds, education, families, traditions, ancestry working together to achieve greatness…as one unit…as a team.
I hope you enjoyed the write up here. My intention is to make it enjoyable, something to learn from and hopefully interest you as a reader. I’m planning to do quite a few of these blogographies over the course of the year and beyond and would love to hear some thoughts from you. Thanks for reading!
I have OCD, ie…having a tendency towards excessive orderliness, perfectionism, and great attention to detail or more generally a fixation on things being where I expect them to be…at all times…you should also read that as control. I like to have control of things. Not to a “Sleeping with the Enemy” level, I’m no psycho.
When I don’t have control of my environment I can get rattled or frazzled. Thrown off kilter to a point where I can’t manage the task at hand and I need to step away, take a breath or a walk, move on to something else…or just take a nap. Yeah. That’s a defeatist perspective, but that’s how my brain works.
I’ve tried to rewire it, but to no avail.
I’ve read books on how to let go of things, but to no avail.
I’ve discussed letting go of things beyond my control with professionals, but to no avail.
Honestly, I don’t really care. I like it. It’s a daily challenge, but something I’m up for. The issue is that most of the world around me doesn’t let me work in this format. I work in an office where you collaborate or die, inclusivity is critical and unilateral decisions aren’t allowed…even if the unilateral decision is the correct one…or so I think. Maybe it’s for the better? Who knows? What I do know is that the world I live in needs to be shared with the people that accompany it with me on a daily basis, and that’s ok. Just as long as I have my cards. I can control those. I can make unilateral decisions and abandon or start a project on a whim. That’s what I’m talkin’ about!
My cards and my card space are the one thing that I’m able to control (…mostly…), and I like that. It brings me great joy. As I’ve mentioned in the past and quite recently, my card space is my respite. My place to get away. There are no windows and it can be cold. It is also a bit dark, read cozy.
The lack of windows are excellent on these mid to late winter days in the Pacific Northwest as it’s mostly dark and gray outside anyways…plus the cards don’t need vitamin D. It’s bad for them, well UV rays are bad for the cards. I’m sure they could benefit from some sort of nutrients.
The cold, on the other hand…that has a remedy. I have an electric gas fire place right next to me that I can turn on or off as needed. There are two problem with this though. It gets really, really, really hot after five minutes and one of our cats LOVES it. Loves it so much that he tends to get a little pissy when I turn it off to cool down a bit. Sometimes, the pissy-ness leads to him jumping on my table and messing up my current stack of work. Freakin’ cats man…
So, how did I get a card room you ask? Well, a few years ago our basement was a mess. A transitional purgatory of sorts. The space became the in-between, where stuff we didn’t want to see in our main living space upstairs would go before it made its way to the garage. The next step being the final death march and the once loved items last trip to either Goodwill, the dump or some other location of no return. That all changed when our then 5 year old son needed the closet in his room for his things…so greedy!
Along with the sign off of my wife, I took over the basement. I moved in! All my cards and boxes were moved downstairs and it was great…excellent. Over the last 30+ months I’ve been fine tuning the space and have it at about 94% where I want it. I’m working on some more lighting in the space and re-allocation of storage areas.
So without further ado, here are some pics of where I write, open, sort, stack, sleeve, label and store my collection.
My Desk Area
Yeah, this is where the magic happens. Artifacts and remnants. Kinda goes against the OCD factor doesn’t it? Well, this was once a well curated shelf of memorabilia and odd ball items that I didn’t want to store away, but rather have for display. It’s gotten out of control a bit, but I’ve been working on other things and it’s ok with me. I kind of enjoy the randomness. When I did the wallet card post, I pulled them from this shelf and discovered so many things I had forgotten about…that’s kinda fun isn’t it?
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So, about the desk. I picked that up at a resale furniture place we have on the central eastside called City Liquidators. I love that place so much, but not as much as I love this desk. It’s heavy as shit and really, really, really cool. Three long sliding drawings on the left side filled with penny sleeves, top loaders and mag holders. I like to have supplies ready to go and hate running out, especially when I’m in the middle of a project.
The desk also has these slide out supports for additional working space on the left and the right. I like to use the one on the right as the box holder that I’m working through. It keeps everything out of the way and tidy…clears up the main desk for working.
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The side desk is also great. My wife had this in her office at one point, but decided she no longer needed it. I added the cutting mat and use this as my main sorting desk…it’s great to have all these spaces so close to each other as it reduced the getting up and moving around bit that slows down progress.
The room came with a shelf nook that I’ve taken over with Washington Redskins paraphernalia…bobble heads, signed mini helmets and some awesome art work from Gypsy Oak and personal heroes of mine – Lou Gehrig, Sammy Baugh, Muhammad Ali and Hank Aaron.
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The Binder Shelves
The binder shelves were the real bonus of moving downstairs to the basement. Before I had all these cards in 600, 800 or 900 count boxes. That was a completely fine solution and I was ok with it, but the thing I love about the cards we all collect is seeing them. I’m not too fond of just owning it. I want to be able to see them. This allows for that. I’ve made these incredibly simple labels a few years ago that make me happy. All the binders (for now…1980’s-1990’s Donruss and Fleer coming soon…) are Topps and they show the year with the Topps company logo for the release, totals for the binder and a QR code that takes you to the Cardboard Collection set checklist for some additional information…I was really proud of that addition as it added a little extra. I’ve also added some “dust collection” binders on top for any update sets and other smaller sets. The bottom row houses my “ultimate Redskins collection”. That’s my biggest project.
Above the 1960 – 2005 shelves are the sealed factory sets from 1986 to present, yeah I like to buy those and keep ‘em. It all started with a Christmas gift in 1986 and I haven’t looked back since. I’ve also got three Redskins helmets of Alex Smith, Mark Rypien and Doug Williams…still looking for Joe Theismann to complete my Super Bowl winning Quarterback collection.
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The next set of shelves covers 2006 – present as well as the Topps Heritage sets I’ve got. The 5000 count boxes above are all my common baseball cards organized by division and by team. Five rows works out nice until they expand…then these will need to be adjusted.
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The Armoir
The armoir is the player PC home. This is where the Rickey Henderson and Derek Jeter cards live along with baseball and football stars. Removeable tabs to allow for adjustments…😊. I also keep my backup stash here and some other very random items that I’ve been working through over the COVID working from home era.
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Below are two pull out drawers that hold the smaller player PC collection that includes; Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy, Bryce Harper, JT Riddle, Yankees cards, Robinson Cano, Steven Strasburg, Trea Turner along with a few other young stars from the Yankees and Nationals.
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The Bookshelves
The bookshelves…another collection of mine. One that probably annoys my wife the most. I read quite a bit and really enjoy reading…just not enough to justify the amount of books I own. Have you ever seen that Twilight Zone where the guy just wants to read all day…that would be me, but also organize my cards. Unfortunately, my job gets in the way of that. This shelf also houses the tins from earlier this year…you know, prior to all this COVID insanity. Remember when these were a thing? Seems like three years ago now.
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Moving down we have some flat files that houses my wifes photography (she’s professional photographer) as well as some of my other posters or large items that I have no wall display for. This is also my photographing station…the black box…along with a hat collection…jeez, I collect everything…
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The Storage Room
Last stop on the insanity train…I’m realizing how nuts this is now that I’m writing about it…I hate to run out of supplies. I also have an issue with buying pairs of things. If my wife asks me to pick up a dozen eggs, she knows I’m coming home with twenty-four. No idea why I can’t control that…it just happens. Everything you see here is supplies. Supplies for shipping eBay stuff. Supplies for storing and protecting cards…just more stuff to hold all my stuff.
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Since I only care about the Washington Football Team, I sell any football cards I get…this is where they live until I move them.
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Here are some more back up supplies. If the box is empty, I store it upside down. If the box has foam core spacers in it, right side up. I have a system ya’ll
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Lastly, some Project 2020 stuff that I’ll share once I’ve got everything in order. Some loved it, some hated it. I loved it and thought the cards were great in hand…coming soon!
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So yeah, lots of stuff and lots of collecting going on here. I do have a problem, but more importantly I have a patient wife that allows me to do what I love. This keeps me sane and refreshes me when I need it most. I really hope you enjoyed the virtual tour of my space and would love to see what you all are working with. I know this has been done to no end before, but it’s always great to see how people are managing their collections and a great way to get some new ideas.
Thanks!
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It’s 2021 and we’re still here. Alive and well. I hope this year is a wonderful year for every one of you out in the blogosphere. I missed you guys and glad to be back in the mix a bit. I have some plans for what I want to write about in ’21 and excited to share once that gets going. Thanks for reading and I’m happy that we’re all still standing…
Hope everyone had a great Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa or whatever you celebrate at your home. The Cardboard Hogs family had a great time…of course it was mellow over here. Not too many family members in the house, but we did manage to have a good amount of family conversation via phone and facetime.
What a year, what a year, man.
During the last few months, I’ve been thinking a lot about the hobby.
The good and the bad.
The collectors and the flippers.
The blah blah blah…
I love the hobby and am all in for whomever wants to join. One of the things about the hobby that I enjoy is the multitude of ways you can collect or be a part of our community. Now with the greater reach of social media and added interest in cards, the gap between old man collector and young kid collector has been filled with so many new characters…celebrities, I mean. That term celebrity is a difficult one to tackle. Who is a celebrity and how did they become celebrated? More importantly…why are they celebrated? The one well-known name, read celebrity, I’d like to talk about today is Steve Aoki. That’s right, this guy
Not sure how many of you have heard of this fella. He’s pretty big in the dance or electronic music scene, I guess… My only real knowledge of him is, as a close friend has described…
“…a knob twisting celebrity-J, like Paris Hilton.”
The worst part about that quote is that I’ll feel compelled to tag Paris Hilton to this post, simply because I typed her name.
A quick snippet of Aoki’s Wiki page notes that he’s a musical renaissance man of sorts, something of each of the following titles.
”…an American entertainer, DJ, record producer and music executive. In 2012, Pollstar designated Aoki as the highest grossing dance artist in North America from tours.”
You can add online card breaker to that list, as well as card designer…and apparently future card shop owner as well. Man, everyone has a shop these days.
When Topps started pimping him out on their site along with his upcoming cards, I said to myself.
“DON’T BUY THAT SHIT…DON’T DO IT!!!, DON’T BE A PART OF THIS COLLABORATION OR REMIX OR WHATEVER THE HELL IT IS. IT’S JUST A CELBRITY GRAB FROM TOPPS!!!” – yes, I was internally shouting at myself…sortofa Shia LaBeouf Just Do It sorta thing.
but then I saw the cards and thought, eh…they’re not horrible…kinda cool even. The photos I saw on eBay looked quite nice to me. A bit trendy with the light blue color and some laser show lights bouncing around and whatnot. I dove into the checklist and decided I would only pick up my PC guys. Here’s a couple for your viewing pleasure. Trea Turner and Bryce Harper. Former teammates and now division rivals brought back together by a knob twisting celebrity DJ, Steve Aoki.
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Now that the cards are in hand, I must admit…a little underwhelmed. I had imagined they would be a tad thicker, something of a nicer card stock. They’re pretty basic. About as basic as a card can be. The backs are something to behold though, self-serving even. Each player has a “REASON TO CELEBRATE” breakdown on the back, which is somewhat self-explanatory albeit brief. Basically, Bryce likes to hit homers on opening day and Trea Turner runs fast. The Aoki bio though, that’s where it’s at…apparently, he likes to “CAKE” people. Topps does a good job of describing the act so I don’t have to google it and potentially come across something inappropriate on my computer. For that, I say thank you, Topps!
I have a few more of these cards coming in; Rickey Henderson, Don Mattingly, Derek Jeter and Juan Soto. They come in waves, their term, not mine. I’ll share them once they come in.
Topic change…
As I type this, The Washington Football Team can clinch the NFC East this afternoon. If they beat the Carolina Panthers and go to 7-8 along with a New York Giants loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the WFT will have a division crown in their first year as The Washington Football Team…with no better than a .500 record…maybe worse. To that, I say who cares! Gimme that NFC EAST DIVISION CHAMP T-SHIRT and a home playoff game!
The great season by the young and exciting Chase Young has me passing on most cards from ebay, but here a few that came home to me this week.
A PATRIOTIC ROCKET POP FROM PRIZM
A DISCOTEQUE BLINGY BLINGY FROM PRIZM…also apropos of today’s main character subject.
A MOODY BLACK AND WHITE VARIATION FROM PRIZM
A BIT OF CRACKED ICE FROM PRIZM
A PREMIER, YET NON-SPECIFIC EVENT OR GAME OR SOMETHING ELSE 1” SQUARE FABRIC FROM PRIZM
A PANINI INSTANT FRANCHISE CARD…I really wanted this one to be a recessed image
Also picked up a Terry McLaurin relic, which appears to be a glove…possibly a shoe relic numbered to /99. I was hoping to get the jersey number 17 for this one, but 12 is close and looks a tiny bit like a One-Seven.
The final card from the week is a JT Riddle Father’s Day card numbered to 50. I had bid on a version of this card when Topps Update came out and lost when it reached $15…I thought, damn…that’s a ton of money for a JT Riddle card. So I waited and waited, then this one showed up and got it for about five bucks shipped. Still looking for the Mother’s Day version, superfractor and printing plates…just in case you come across them.
That’s all I got this week, hope everyone enjoys their Sunday! I’ve been on a bit of Bob Segar tear lately…no explanation for that. Enjoy and please feel free to turn the page on 2020 as soon as you like, doesn’t even have to be over…you know.
After numerous years of threatening to get organized, this year it is truly happening. It’s a slow go, but I’m getting there. How do I get there you ask…well, let me give you an example!
The 2005 Washington Redskins…and google docs. That’s right two things that have nothing to do with each other have come together for today’s post. A post about a team that was anxiety inducing to watch and a blast to look back through the cards from that year.
Now, when I mention google docs…there are layers to this. I like, well…I require and love organization. I can’t stand it when things are not in the place I expect them to be. I also love and require a ‘complete’ version of something. If is buy #3 and #7 of something, it’s only a matter of time before I’m searching for numbers 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6. I could go on too depending on when it all ends, but I think you get the idea. I’m a completionist…not sure that’s a word, but neither was ‘blog’ 15 years ago. I like to have a COMPLETE list of things. That’s an incredible challenge when dealing with sports cards, especially modern sports cards…
Parallels
Rainbows
Inserts
Variations
Serial Numbers
SP’s
SSP’s
1 of 1’s
The list goes on and on and on and I want my list to contain each and every single one of these cards. Now, I know I won’t get everyone. That’s insanity and I don’t have that kind of cash. That’s not the point. The point is the chase. The pursuit of the low hanging Topps flagship vs. the extra hard to find Upper Deck something or another for a specific year with a specific color variation and the SN on the back…or front. (Do we have opinions on where those should be? Front or Back? I’m a back of the card guy FWIW). So, in order to get a complete list, or at least that I can feel is 97% complete I take the inventory of cards from the Beckett database and Trading Card Database and combine them into one google sheet…here’s the Washington Redskins version (name change will happen at some point soon…). Insane I know. The list covers every card, some objects and a few magazines from what I could find from 1935 – Today. That’s upwards of 70,000 cards….seems like there would be more, but 70k is what I like to call – A SHIT TON – of cards. The frightening part is that I’m sure I’m missing a few. I’ve already found a few cards I have that are not in the google doc. It’s only maddening if I know about the missing misses…a bit of Schrödinger’s plates going on…ok, maybe not. So, yeah…the list…it’s insane. I’ve tracked everything up to 2005 and have combined the lists up to 2012. Some more work ahead of me, but that’s part of the hobby I enjoy.
So, the cards from 2005. The team from 2004. The pain.
Here’s a sampling of what I’ve checked off the list, an image of a few of my favorite cards or players from the ’04 season and ’05 designs.
First off, the Quarterbacks. When you have two QB’s that’s ok, because a great backup is hard to come by…but when you have three…that’s too many. It’s like an exponential thing. Two is ok, Three is what the hell are you even doing!
Next player is LaVar Arrington. For a few years he was hands down my favorite player. Never really reached superstardom at Linebacker, but he was a solid player. Then a few injuries piled up and he was quickly overlooked and shuttled off for other players that didn’t really match his caliber. Seeing him in New York as a Giant was a heartbreaker for me…
Chris Cooley was great. He had a tremendous sense of humor and once even showed off his prick while (I’ll let you google that and have it in your search history) snapping a pick of the playbook…not sure what was more egregious…NFL playbooks are sacred.
Santana MOSS! Absolutely loved this guy in Washington…so much so, that I’ve been collecting his Jets cards as well. He was so incredible and passionate, how could you not want a guy like that on your team. He was traded for Laveranues Coles…who, ironically was traded to Washington from the Jets originally. The second trade worked out better for my team.
The next guy, Carlos Rogers was…well…I really thought he would be special. A high draft pick in ’05 that just didn’t pan out as a big time player in DC. He moved on to the 49ers and had a bit of a rebirth, then on to the Raiders where he ended his career.
Ok. Here are a couple Miami guys…I could have grouped Moss in here as well, but these two were special. I love Portis. One of my top 5 Washington guys of all time…Love everything he brought to the team, including Sean Taylor. Not saying that Portis was the reason Taylor came to the team, but he did push hard. To be honest, I don’t think it would have been wise for Joe Gibbs to pass on such a talented player…still miss ST21.
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The last group of guys are Redskins greats, guys that had a huge impact on the organization. All three are in the Redskins ring of Fame. Bobby Mitchell and Charley Taylor are both in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
oh yeah, found this one too…Alex Smith Rookie Card…along with one of the numerous Browns QB draft picks Charlie Frye…and future Browns QB Jason Campbell. Let’s play six degrees of separation with these guys some day.
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Since 2020 is almost done. YAY. I thought i’d share the most 2020 video from one of my favorite groups in the world. RTJ – Run The Jewels. Love these guys!
I thought Sunday night would be a great time to do a weekly recap of the cards that came into my house during the week. Mostly they will be eBay pickups. Some will be from my two close-by LCS’s, Hoody’s and The Sports Room and there may even be a Sportlots delivery or COMC soon…oh yeah, possibly some Topps stuff too.
Sunday’s around our house are normally filled with chores. Chores of all kinds.
Laundry
Vacuuming
Bedroom cleaning
Yardwork
Maybe even some Washington Football Team viewing.
That last one is a must. I’m an incredibly loyal fan, ride or die with a team that’s been killing me for nearly 40 years. The good ol’ days are so far gone at this point that I can barely remember them. Good players have come and bad ones too, it’s just the ebb and flow of a team that isn’t too consistent. You get a lot of turnover during the rough years.
Well, I honestly feel like the team is beginning to make a turn for the better. Yeah, they are now 6-8 after losing 15-20 to the Seattle Seahawks this morning…but they are still in FIRST PLACE IN THE NFC EAST!!! Thanks to the Giants losing at home to Cleveland this evening. What a season, eh?
Bright spots abound for my favorite team and they are centered around this young man, at least on Defense. To see his helmet-less face, you feel the desire to card him and make sure he’s supposed to be here…maybe it’s just me being old, but he looks like he’s still in his teens.
A champion!
A leader!
The cornerstone of a defense that is on the verge of something special. Chase Young ya’ll
Being one of the worst teams the past decade plus you get to collect some great players at the top of the draft. Franchise changing players that can catapult you into a different stratosphere of winning and potentially a dynasty. Now, let me pump the brakes here. I don’t foresee this team being the next Patriots…I’m not nuts. But I do see them gaining some traction and having an impact on the league in the next 5-8 years with their young talent. The coaching staff is doing a great job and putting the team first and winning should hopefully come from that.
Being one of the worst teams the past decade plus you get to collect some great players at the top of the draft. Franchise changing players that can catapult you into a different stratosphere of winning and potentially a dynasty. Now, let me pump the brakes here. I don’t foresee this team being the next Patriots…I’m not nuts. But I do see them gaining some traction and having an impact on the league in the next 5-8 years with their young talent. The coaching staff is doing a great job and putting the team first and winning should hopefully come from that.
Along side Chase is a player that was drafted last year. A guy that I loved watching in college and was drafted in the first round of the 2019 draft. Montez Sweat. His rookie year showed lots of flashes of potential, but teaming up with Young this season has had a tremendous impact on his defensive pressure and overall play. Both are going to be so much fun to watch the next few seasons.
Another pickup from the week is a great young RB that i’m just not sure will make it in the NFL…again, i really hope he does whether it’s with Washington or somewhere else. I’d love to see him healthy and starting somewhere…the Football Team sure could have used him this week with Antonio Gibson out again. Really hoping Bryce Love can get to 100% for 2021.
The last guy I wanted to talk about was the starting QB for the game today. Dwayne Haskins Jr. Quarterbacks these days aren’t allowed to develop like they were way back in the 90’s. They are expected to start from day one and have an impact on day one. Fair or not, that’s the way it has become. Haskins is young, he’s athletic, he’s strong…but he’s young. He also was a one year starter for one of the best college teams, Ohio State. Putting up big numbers wasn’t the greatest challenge you could have every Saturday, and he took full advantage of it.
Now, don’t get me wrong here. I love Haskins and want him to be the guy. I think he can achieve an extremely high bar of success in the NFL. I just don’t think he’s there yet and I’m not sure he will get there next season either. If this was the older NFL days, he’d be on the bench for a season or two before he was thrown into the fire…he hasn’t gotten that chance. I hope he does and I hope he remains in Washington to be part of the rebuild. I would love to see Haskins Jr. hoist a Lombardi trophy next to his college teammates Young and McLaurin.
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Thinking of Sweat and Young, I’m reminded of Keith Sweat…when I was young. Man I loved 90’s R&B.
