Today is St. Paddy’s day, but really…it’s the birthdate of the greatest Quarterback of all-time.
Samuel ‘Slingin Sammy’ Adrian Baugh.
Well, the greatest quarterback if you ask a Washington Redskins fan. Another notable note is that Sammy Baugh was born in Temple, Texas, just a mere 145 miles from my hometown of San Antonio…so, yeah. Why not, let’s go.
Slingin’ Sammy was beyond impressive on the gridiron. He led the way in transforming the game of football from a bruising sport led by fullbacks pounding the pig skin to downfield aerial attacks with wideouts. The game went from three yards and a cloud of dust to the greatest show on turf, mainly due in part to Sammy. His ability to re-imagine the forward pass as a means of attacking made the game exciting, action packed and brought greater scoring to the game, well…quicker scoring. Other QB’s did it at this time, but no one did it quite like Sammy. Sammy was the best.
Beyond being a tremendous quarterback, Sammy was also an accomplished defensive back and quite possibly, his most impressive feat (bad pun…sorry) of being a tremendous punter. Leading the league in all three positions during the 1943 season. That year he was the leader in pass completions, punting yard average (46) and interceptions (11). Who the hell does THAT!!??! Sammy was truly a three way player, offense, defense, special teams. Whatever he did, he did it well, well…he achieved greatness in the game that has been unmatched. Not too many guys in the history of the game have managed to excel on opposing sides of the ball, but Sammy did. Sammy was the best.
Baugh came to the Boston Redskins via the ’37 draft from Texas Christian University where he excelled at football and baseball. (Something, I never knew before was that he got the nickname ‘Slingin’ while playing baseball and not lighting up the Giants and Eagles on Sunday afternoons.) He was the 6th pick overall that draft, an epic slide for such a phenomenal talent. He fell behind Sam Francis, Ed Goddard, Buzz Buivid, Ed Widseth and Mike Basrak. Now, I have no idea where Mel Kiper had him going, but I gotta think his draft slide was kind of a shock for everyone. He didn’t have that Aaron Rodgers kind of slide, but for five other teams to pass on a franchise quarterback must’ve caused a huge stir at the time. To that, I say the Redskins franchise were incredibly lucky that day, because…Sammy was the best.
During his 16 year career (1937-1952) he led the franchise to four football championships winning two of them in 1937 and 1942, both against George Halas’ Chicago Bears. He was also a seven time all-pro and two-time player of the year, in back to back seasons of 1947 and 1948…essentially consecutive MVP’s. Pretty impressive, again…Sammy was the best.
The greatness of Slingin Sammy can’t be stated in this blog, but hey, I’ve got some sweet cards to show off and it’s his birthday. So hope you enjoyed the brief bio and remember…Sammy was the best.
Thank you for reading and sticking with me, deadlines and life get in the way but man I love this blog. Mostly for personal reasons, but l love to share as well. Hope you all enjoy reading.
Let’s go, one more for the road…Slingin’ Sammy Baugh ya’ll!
-Cardboard Hogs
You know who is also the best? Jay-Z. Maybe not to the level of Sammy’s greatness, but excellent in his own right. So, here’s a video of Jay-Z…wearing a Sammy Baugh jersey…because Sammy was the best.
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…
This year has finally come to an end. An unforgiving parallel universe of a year where wrong was right and low was even further lower than we could all imagine. Maybe it was the end of a bad dream, the kind of nightmare where you’re about to crash into a concrete wall, screeching brakes being hammered to the floor, arms off the wheel to cover your eyes, barreling towards the wall and nanoseconds before impact you wake up. Sweating. Shaking. Breathing heavily. Saying to yourself, “what the hell just happened!” The nightmare has ended…for now, but is it really over? What will ’21 bring for us? I would love to see an overcorrection from the wrong to the right and some goodness be brought to everyone. More generosity and kindness. Less judgement and crassness towards others. Can we live our lives in a manner that we want to without condescension? I sure hope so.
I love this hobby, I love it dearly. It brings me great joy. In a world where I have marginal control over things, I can control my collection.
It’s there when I need it to regroup emotionally…I’m a highly anxious person.
It’s there when I’ve had a rough day and need to zone out…I worry too much about others opinions.
It’s there when I need a new organizing project and get an idea in the middle of the night…I got some OCD too.
Our hobby is fantastic. A lot has changed about it this past year.
I hope it keeps evolving.
I hope the people that are new are welcomed with open arms.
I hope the new people take some history lessons and learn about our hobby.
I hope we let people collect what and how they want to collect.
For 2021, I will be more involved in helping to make this hobby great. Reaching out to bloggers, twitter folks, flippers, old-school collectors and the new ones as well. I plan to buy more from my LCS than eBay, but I also plan to sell more on eBay. I want to find a happy middle where I can enjoy the hobby without feeling like I am going to strangle myself financially. Creating a net zero cost of cards is the ultimate goal, not sure how that will get done. The architecture and build portion of the world is attempting to reduce carbon emissions significantly with the 2030 challenge, but this is nothing like that.
I just want to have fun with these pieces of cardboard and card stock and shiny whatever the hell they are materials. I hope you do too!
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With the end of the year usually comes collecting or personal goals. I’m not going to list anything, I think that’s mostly been covered by the manifesto above. So, instead, I’d like to take the time to update the annual wallet card and take a look back.
I started carrying a card in my wallet quite a few years ago. It was a way to always keep the hobby with me wherever I went. Every once in a while the card would be exposed to other people and it would start a conversation, or maybe just some ridicule from some colleagues…architects can be a judgmental group, ya know?
At some point along the way, I’ve lost a few cards…but here’s what I’ve got since I started the blog.
2020: Derek Jeter, New York Yankees 1999 Pacific Paramount, card #162
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2019: Dale Murphy, Atlanta Braves 1987 Topps, card #490
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2018: Joe Gibbs, Washington Redskins 1992 Pro Set, card #90
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2017: Derek Jeter, New York Yankees 2014 Gypsy Queen, card #N174-DJ
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2016: Art Monk, Washington Redskins 1985 Topps, card # 185
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2015: Rickey Henderson, New York Yankees 1986 Topps, card #500
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2014: Joe Gibbs, Washington Redskins 1990 Pro Set, card #333
AND NOW, FOR TWO-THOUSAND TWENTY ONE! THE NEW WALLET CARD IS (drumroll…)
2021: Santana Moss, Washington Redskins 2006 Topps, card #245
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I know, I know…I can hear the clapping through the keyboard!
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OK, so when I woke up this morning I was thinking about the best video I could share with you all today. Something fun and positive and light-hearted to ring the new year in. I was getting distracted during the day and everything was getting away from me. When I sat down to start writing I first jumped on twitter to get an update on this mad world we’re living in…and my heart sank when I saw that MF Doom has passed away…shit shit shit shit. He was one of my favorite MC’s…crazy entertaining and a tremendous wordsmith. Lots of double entendre’s and just some good ol’ hip hop metaphors. At this point, I’m not sure what took his life as he was only 49 (4 years older than me). The one thing that can make me smile is that he actually passed away on Halloween of this year. That’s gotta be the most MF Doom thing ever. For the uninitiated, he was wore a ‘gladiator’ mask and was well known for skipping out on shows but still having someone perform for him…the mask helped with that endeavor. Not sure of the reason for keeping his passing quiet for two months, but that’s none of my business really. If you have the time, please take a listen to the video below of his collaboration with the producer Madlib for the quintessential MC and producer hip hop album. It’s a classic.
MADVILLAIN – MADVILLAINY
Also, check out his earlier work with KMD as Zev Love X and music from his other aliases; King Geedorah, King Ghidra, Viktor Vaughn, Metal Fingers, King Dumile and Metal Face. He also did some work with 3rd Bass back in the day…enjoy. Have a Happy New Year, hug your loved one, tell them you love them and stay safe out there.
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.
Time moves quickly, too quickly and the older you get the faster it goes. I’ve had this blog live for almost 5 years, but haven’t exploited it nearly as much as i should have. Like most things i start, i don’t always finish them well. I get distracted and i get excited about something else in the moment…but i always have a desire to write and share my own stories along with whatever new items i’ve picked up for my favorite hobby and of my favorite team.
As some of you may know, today November 27, 2017 marks the 10 year anniversary of the very sad passing of Sean Taylor. Now, as many have noted time and time again, he was not saint…but he was a young man that was beginning to reach his greatest potential, not just as a football player, but as a man and a father. Something that i’ve struggled with at times. Sean’s greatness on the field was unmatched. His willingness to lay out a receiver that came across the middle was a clear warning that he would always approach the game with a physical mentality…I loved it and was more than excited to have him as a Redskin.
Through his very brief career, i was able to see him live and in person at three different times. Once in Dallas and twice in Seattle.
The Dallas game was a significant one for multiple reasons, it was the Monday Night game when Santana Moss hauled in two 4th quarter bombs from Mark Brunell to win the game 14-13! The Redskins has zero hope of winning that game and then those two bombs…holy shit…holy fucking shit!!! The game started on September 19th 2005 and by the time Moss had caught the two passes, the clock flipped over to the next day and i had turned 30…Moss caught both of those passes for me on my 30th birthday…yup. This was also the game that i got to see Sean Taylor live and in Person…he was everywhere, i did my best t follow him on defense, but man…he was all over the place dominating and it was only his second season in the NFL.
The next game i saw Sean play was later that season in October against Seattle in Seattle. Just a short drive up from Portland…well, at least much shorter than a flight back home to Texas. I “won” the tickets at an office raffle…truth is, everybody knows i’m a Redskins fan so i had a ticket procured and three other people won. Aside from spending the game with three co-workers that couldn’t care less about football, much less the Redskins, i had an amazing time and got to see Sean Taylor in action again…less than a month later.
The final time i saw him play live was the 2006 playoff game against Seattle, again in Seattle. This matchup was completely unexpected during the season…the Redskins were 5-6 and going nowhere in Joe Gibbs’ second year of his second stint with the Redskins…but somehow they managed to win out and finish the season10-6 to make the playoffs, along with the series of Clinton Portis’ characters…my favorite of which was Coach Janky Spanky…and Sheriff Gonna Getcha. They won the last game in Philly with Sean picking up a fumble and crossing the end zone to make it 31-20…sealing the victory. The following week, they played a talented Tampa Bay team in Tampa and Sean had another huge fumble recovery for a touchdown to get things going…unfortunately, this was the game he also spit in Michael Pittman’s face…again, he wasn’t a saint, but damn if could play football. The Redskins ended up losing the Seattle playoff game, but Sean’s impact was enormous on that 2005 season and playoff run…and i was incredibly lucky to see him three times that season.
I also attended the Seattle playoff game in the 2007 season after his death. The season again seemed lost until the Redskins went on another unexpected playoff run to win the wild card, but Seattle was Super Bowl bound that season and my team wasn’t going to win…the hard part was seeing the 21’s all over a stadium that prides itself on the 12th man. Sadly ironic, the Redskins ended up losing 35-14…they lost by 21.
Even though these cards are tons of fun and incredibly exciting to collect and write about, life is short. Enjoy your time with your family and every moment you can…time moves quickly.
*****oh yeah, check out that new Evidence song…it’s dope!*****
Hello out there. I haven’t picked up too many cards lately…been super busy at work. This part of my job is a little tough, the deadlines. They tend to linger on for a while and when you’re on a project like this there are multiple versions of deadlines. At this job, i have to deal with the city as well as clients and consultants. Luckily for me, i’m fairy new to this project type so i don’t have to deal with city people too much. Portland is known in the region to have one of the slower forms of public government and gettin’ shit done…but then again, it is the city where young people go to retire. So, speaking of deadlines…
Kirk is on a deadline of sorts…or maybe it’s the Redskins that are on the deadline. I’m on record as a Cousins supporter and a guy that would love to see him be a Redskin for a long long time. Not sure how the team ownership and pseudo GM feel about that though. I really do hope they get a long term contract done with Kurt Kirk soon. I don’t think he will excel at another place, like oh…maybe San Francisco as much as he does in DC Hyattsville.
Now, i say it’s deadline, but it’s really a soft deadline. One that will probably come and go without much notice. From what i’ve read, both sides are more than content in doing a year to year franchise tag contract. Not sure if that puts the team in the best situation as he will make a ton of cash and potentially bind the team and keep them from paying other players…and young stars on the team.
Don’t get me wrong, i’m not against anyone getting their cash and if anybody deserves to milk their team for all the cash they can, it’s Cousins. He’s always been tied to RGIII for good or bad and i think he’s made a great name for himself, but you always feel like he’s being compared to the electric rookie year Griffin had…even though Cousins has far exceeded Robert’s career trajectory since then.
I’m meandering here…so i’m just gonna post some cards and a music video at the end like i do. Here’s a Jordan Reed card that has serial numbers on it.
Gonna miss this guys, DJacc. Sure hope he does well in Tampa though…so glad he didn’t go back to Philly or Dallas or New York…would of loved to see him go home and play for the Rams along with McVay and Garcon. I might just had to follow the Rams if that was the case.
Last card is a Kerrigan card. It’s a basic card. No serial numbers, No fractators, No autos and No fake jersey. Just a picture of a guy going to work and doing work every. single. game. You know he hasn’t missed a game in his 6 year career! 96 games and no misses…and he’s had some tough, nagging injuries along the way. Solid guy that isn’t represented nearly enough on this blog…i gotta fix that.
That’s all i got.
for today’s music, i’m just gonna go ahead and post this week old Kendrick Lamar video…Humble. Like Kerrigan and all those guys that go to work every day and do their work with out the fan fare or self promotion…Like Captain Kirk.
About a week ago, i received an email out of the blue from a guy wanting to send me some Redskin cards…and i was like “HAIL YEAH MAN!” So i gave the random guy my home address and waited…not really sure what to expect. This is the first time, somebody out of the blue has been so extremely generous to just offer up some cards, Redskins cards no less. I had to quickly update my lists, which as it turned out was a great step for me to…update my want lists.
Here’s the breakdown of the cards sent by Mark Zentkovich, which i received tonight.
A couple of…umm…Swell cards of some old old old school Redskins. Mr. Battles in some shiny, silky pants…or maybe they are some original Zubaz! The other sepia snap shot is of Turk Edwards on the prowl about to tackle someone while wearing a QB’s number…Jason Campbell.
The next Swell card is of Slingin’ Sammy Baugh, who would have turned 103 a couple weeks ago. Not sure what’s going on with my scanner, but this card is in great shape…not cut and jagged like the upper right shows.
The next series of cards are various team cards from Fleer. I don’t believe Fleer ever made individual player cards during their early 80’s run, just team issues. Luckily though, unlike a couple of the early 80’s Topps sets, the logos on the helmets weren’t airbrushed off.
These beauties are from the 1988 Fleer set, which if i remember correctly was the last year Fleer made team only sets…bringing back their sets in 1990. The game against Chicago was notable for me for a couple of reasons. It was the game that Darrell Green returned the punt while hurdling a defender and pulling a muscle in his rib cage. He was visible holding his side with one arm and holding the football with the other as he brought it back all the way for a touchdown, putting the Redskins up for good. The other notable memory of this game was that it was Walter Payton’s last NFL game…although i was a huge Redskins fan. My favorite non Redskins was hands down Walter Payton. His greatness was something special that i thoroughly enjoyed watching in my younger years…man i miss the 80’s.
Next run of cards are not cards, but stickers…unfortunately, they are the then defending Super Bowl champs over my ‘Skins. Also, got some foil action below.
Badass Jeff Bostic, a former Hog and a former-er Clemson Tiger. No idea who the Bill is though…sorry.
Now some Panini stickers from the year 1989. You know, back when the Redskins weren’t a dumpster fire led by the leaderless. This was quite a grouping of studs too Gary Clark, Darrell Green, Kelvin Bryant and Mark Rypien…man, i really miss the 80’s.
Not bad for something so unexpected, thank you Mark! Really appreciate the cards. I will put something together and send it off to you in a week or so. Much appreciated!
Now, for something fun. One of my favorite groups out right now is Run the Jewels, i’ve talked about them a few times here and made it out to the concert last month at the Crystal Ballroom…with the bouncy floor and all. Here are a couple photos from that show.
A new Run The Jewels video!! So many punch lines in this one too, gotta say El-P really brought it with the innuendos here, plus that poor ass bunny went boom!
When i was in elementary school, my grandma would pick me up after class. Sometimes we’d head straight to the house and other times we would make a pit stop for a snack or late lunch. Her favorite spot was the Sonic in Schertz. It was one of those older drive ins, and like they still do today, they would bring the food out to your car…sometimes in roller skates! These were great times, simpler times…easier times.
My grandma was a TV freak and had to watch all of her shows. This was before she had a VCR, so we’d have to get through those burgers, fries and shakes quickly so we could get home to watch Monty Hall and Let’s make a Deal on the tele. Grandma was from England. I loved the show, not so much because of the premise of choosing some random “prize” behind doors 1, 2 or 3, but because of the wacky ass outfits the people wore. Granny enjoyed the show because she liked to go on ‘winning streaks’ of picking the right door…again, simpler times back then. If you are unaware of the show, you should definitely check it out. It’s like a three card molly scam where nobody really walks away a winner…why are they dressed like that!
So, that brings me to some cards…the last show i went to, unplanned, i stopped by a new guys table and chatted him up a bit. He seemed like a nice older guy and kinda reminded me of my grandpops. Had a similar look from what i could cobble together from my cloudy memory…it’s been 25 years since he passed. There was something about the guy that made me want to hang out. I began to sift through his cards and was pleased to see that he had some odd ball cards and a ton of vintage football stuff…mostly 49ers though. Since most of his collection was 49ers, i didn’t get too many cards but was able to pick out a few i needed for my master collection.
DOOR #1
Next stop was Tom’s table. Tom was my original go-to guy at the show…it’s been close to 8 years since i first met him. He works at Check out my Cards during the week and does the shows on the weekends. He’s really helped me through the years with filling out some Heritage set needs, plus he’s a great guy to talk to. Here’s what i picked up from his table at the last show.
DOOR #2
Next table for some Redskins cards. My new go-to guy, Kim. Kim is great. He’s always incredibly nice and friendly as well. Plus he always has way too many cards for me to sort through with incredible deals. He tends to deal more with the big hits and pricier cards but always comes through with a great deal. Here’s what i got from Kim.
DOOR #3
Last stop. Last door. The veteran Marine autograph guy. Not too sure about this dude. Seems friendly…maybe not. Has a ton of autographs from people of all walks of life. Chasing famous people for autographs isn’t really my thing, but it’s always cool to see what he has. Sometimes he has a nice new lot of cards that i can sort through…most of the time i end up passing his table without picking anything up, but today i got a few autograph cards. (i know, i know…it’s supposed to be three doors, but just roll with me on this.)
DOOR #4
Okay kids. It’s time to play LET’S MAKE A DEAL!!!
Here’s the deal, i’m going to do a bit of a game…or a contest as the kids say. The first person to correctly guess the cost of each lot will win a nice little gift pack of their favorite team from my collection. Closest to the correct answers win, along with some kind of tie breaker i guess.
Here’s a list of possible prices for each lot: $5 | $10 | $15 | $20 | $25 | $30 | $35
I’ll post the winner next Monday, March 20th…the first day of Spring…and my mid year birthday!!
Various reasons really. Work overload, tired, old, rainy cold days…and really feeling like my hobby was getting in the way of my amazing family. I was putting cards before my awesome little boy and my amazingly beautiful wife. It’s all about balance, which i’ve mentioned multiple times here. I think it’s really important…you know? The blog is fun and the hobby and collecting are also fun…but family first. The past few weeks, we’ve been able to see the snow at Mt. Hood and the ocean along the Oregon coast. It’s pretty amazing living in the Pacific Northwest…and i don’t want my hobby to get in the way of that.
That said, i do love doing this collecting things and writing about cards. It’s a great way to share my hobby with others…and really, connect with others…just like you!. With the multiple ways of connecting with other collectors, it’s not hard to find trade partners. Now, to be honest, i’ve made a few trades in the past that i’ve felt were not equal in return, so i’ve tried to steer clear of making trades with people i’m not too familiar with. Until one day…Shane from Off the Wall reached out to me regarding a couple Silver Pack cards i pulled…they were Red Sox, so i knew i wouldn’t be too upset to part with them…:) i kid Shane!!! He was nice enough to post a recap of the trade from his end HERE. So, after a very long delay…here is my post!
Shane and i went back and forth on twitter to work through some items i was looking for…i’m a difficult trade partner, because i don’t keep up with my checklist that well. Luckily though, Shane had quite a few cards to help out with my 1960’s set needs. The biggest chunk of cards was the 1969 set needs. Here are a few of the really nice lot of cards.
Next up, was a few cards to fill my 1963, 1966 and 1967 set needs. The way Billy looks at Hal, you would think they hate each other…but they don’t. There baseball cards…i think the whiskey is kicking in now…
The third lot of vintage Topps card needs is the currently popular 1968 Topps burlap set. Go get your Heritage needs filled kids!
Shane also helped out with my 2009 and 2010 Heritage needs…he made a huge dent in my lists, check it out.
It was so great to cross off most of these guys from my list…not to mention a bunch of these guys are SPs or small insert sets. Very cool
In case you don’t know, i collect Redskins. That’s the bulk of what i collect…of course you know that. Most of my card money goes to Redskins cards. Here’s a group of cards that Shane passed along to me in our trade.
I love the Joe Lavender cards. The shades are top notch…plus a Fleer action photo which aren’t the easiest to find!
Last card of the bunch is a card that i have…but love nonetheless. It’s a lovely Don Mattingly card. With Shane being a Red Sox fan, i’m sure he wasn’t too upset to part with the card…:)
Hey, that was a great trade…honestly, might be the best trade i’ve ever made. I was able to cross of a ton of stuff off my lists which these days is a very great thing.
Hope you guys are doing well and getting excited about the 2017 MLB season. I have quite a few things to post in the next few days or weeks, so lets go! Thanks for reading.
