Night(Owl) hits another homerun

as generous bloggers go NIGHT OWL is right up there with the best of them.

A surprise package arrived in my mailbox a few days back (actually on May 16 my birthday, though Greg did not know that). I was extremely pleased to find this bubble mailer / surprise birthday present filled with Cubs cards galore.

Some of my favorites include the Sammy Sosa Christmas 2000 card (second from left in top row with red bow), the 2008 Goudey Kosuke Fukudome Rookie card (fourth card in top row) and two 1992 BCM cards depicting the 1970 style of Matt Williams and the Astro Rookie Stars; Bowen and Juden (fifth and sixth cards second row) .

I have to admit that since my scanner has not been working recently and my camera skills are less than adequate the above does not reflect the true appreciation of what was sent. Over 25 cards from 2008 Heritage to 1988 mini to to 1997 Pinnacle to 2009 UD. A great selection.

As birthday surprises go, it was the best. Thank you Night Owl !

I broke down

if you are a horse racing fan I do not mean what you are thinking . . . for the rest of you . . . I made a set purchase I vowed not to do since I re-entered this hobby several months ago.

Some of you may remember that several months ago at a local card show I grabbed a bunch of Cubs cards from a bargain bin (20 cards for $ 1.00) and two cards (the 1995 Flair Mark Grace #332 and Sammy Sosa #334) made a unique impression on me. Being a vintage kind of guy, this set intrigued me for some odd reason. I was able to pick up a few other cards a month later in another bargain bin find (12 to be exact) and that just fueled my fire.

For the last few months I have been looking at ebay, craigslist, sportlots and checkoutmycards trying to decide how and where I could find or put together the complete set. I sometimes even asked myself "why".

Last week I broke down and found the complete set (432 cards) for sale on ebay, went ahead and put in a bid. After a few days of increasing in $ .50 increments the set was mine for under $ 12.00 (not including shipping). I am not sure if that s a good price or fair price - I dont really care . . . I like this set and am glad I "won".

Now a bit about this set: the 1995 Flair has 432 cards in the basic set; series I and series II with seven subsets (now my real hunt begins). The fronts feature a horizontal border less design with a dual photograph and the backs are the traditional vertical alignment and showcase a third mostly full body, though cropped at the knees, photo.

The stats on the back only show five or six years of play though do highlight some players minor league performances, if only in the bigs for a couple of years. That to me is the only down side from this set, because I do like looking at a whole career worth of numbers but I do like the photography. Every card, as much as I can tell, are single player photos - no one lurking, no one sharing space, no other player on any ones card except for the player themselves.

The Cubs have fifteen (15) cards, part in series I and part in series II. For those who remember, 1995 was the year Ryne Sandberg "retired" and is not included in this set. A disappointment for this Cubs fan but . . .

I will be putting this complete set in nine pocket page protectors sheets and start looking for those subsets. If any of you are interested in my "doubles" let me know (I only have 12 but they are fair game to anyone) . . . I have Garrett Anderson, Rafael Palmeiro, Barry Larkin, Alex Gonzalez, Ron Gant, Ryan Klesko, J T Snow, Javier Lopez, Randy Johnson, Bobby Jones, Dante Bichette and Jim Edmonds - my doubles of Grace and Sosa are going to a special young Cubs fan I know.

I dont breakdown very often and am still not sure why I have taken a liking to this "modern" set but . . . I did . . . break down that is.

Where and how do I start ?

Three and a half months ago I started this blog and had no idea what, where, how or anything about the blogosphere, bloggers or the "new" hobby I had so loved way back when. Today I can honestly say I still have no idea of so many things but one thing is for sure - baseball card bloggers are some of the most generous people around !

Opening Day 2009 (yes April 6th) was a day to remember. The Cubs won and I received a "small" box of cards from Jim at gcrl . A say "small" as sarcastically as I can - it was a 400 count box filled with CUBS cards ! On the day the Cubs win I won too !




From Sandberg to Dawson to Wood, Sosa and Grace- so many swings and smiles to make my heart go beat beat beat. Did you notice the Sandberg and Dawson 1988 Leaf pop ups ? Upper left corner in photos (The ones with the outline around their torso).
Check out Sosa running so fast in his powerful stride that his helmet flies off (1997 Topps # 305) and Kerry Wood showing off his "secret" grip on the ball (2008 UD # 327).
Jim also sent some "vintage", heritage, tradition, archives and cards of stars from yesteryear. A batting champ (Madlock) a Hall of Famer (Jenkins) and half an all-star infield (Santo - Kessinger) plus a few Cubs that could have been somethings.

Did I mention that Jim sent a few cards . . .


So many more Cubs cards and so many 1991's from Fleer, Stadium Club, Topps, Leaf, and Studio 91; all for my daughters binder and did I mention some Cubs cards ? !

Something only a Rangers fan may find interesting; in the Fleer 1991 set, there is a pitcher named Jeff Russell and a catcher named John Russell - did they ever appear together as battery mates making a Russell Russell battery ?

Jim also sent a stack of O-Pee-Chee 1986 Cubs cards and several 1988 Pacific Trading (series 1) to get me closer to completing that set.

All in all, Jim sent me so many cards that as soon as I though I was getting organized, I have more to log in and store.

For me Opening Day 2009 will be remembered for the generosity of a blogger named Jim of gcrl the Dodger fan from Minnesota. Thank you !

Cards from Ryan

I received a great assortment of Cubs cards from a new blogger named Ryan (check out his blog: ryans memorabilia blog.wordpress). He being an Orioles fan should see his package of "vintage" O's arrive shortly.

Included in this group is my first jersey card: Fred McGriff - Stars of 89 from the 2002 Upper Deck.

While I have heard about these cards (and the even newer"pants" cards) this is indeed my first official jersey in my collection. It is somewhat interesting to me to note what other bloggers have also noticed; that being that McGriff is shown as a Cub, the Cubs logo is on the back but the "Congratulations!" clearly states this: "authentic piece of jersey worn by Fred McGriff in an official Blue Jays MLB game". That's right a Blue Jay jersey is what I have.

Nonetheless, I like having my first jersey card - I will just have to keep it front side up and ignore the back.

Also included in this package was another first for me; a 1997 Pinnacle Mint Bronze card of Sammy Sosa 17 / 30. I do like this card, the contract between the color photo and black and white (or in this case bronze and white) really has a nice look. The look on Sosa's face reminds me of his courtroom look.

Ryan also sent me a few of my "new" favorite cards; 2008 UD Masterpieces. I am now on a mission to collect the entire Cubs set of these cards. I like the large picture, the heavy cardstock and the gold thin line border.

Thanks Ryan for sending me two firsts and two favorites. More of what Ryan sent will be featured in a future post.

A Cubs Cornucopia

As you may remember, I attended my first card show in over 17 years yesterday, and to my surprise I was able to find some real bargains. About the tenth table I visited, I noticed a sign that read "20 cards for $ 1.00" and it caught my eye. What was most interesting is that the cards were sorted by TEAM. I naturally looked through the CUBS stack, found 40 cards and walked away incredible happy. Here are some of my finds in this bargain find:

Maddux bunting ('91 UD), Dawson ('92 Leaf) eyeing to throw someone out and a Jenkins ('83 Fleer) ready to take the mound. If that was not enough I also found:

more "modern" players with some great photography in sets I hardly knew existed. I really like the Brooks Kieschnick, top row right ('96 Topps Gallery), with his right leg cocked to stride and left cheek full of chew and the Kerry Wood, bottom row right (2000 SP Authentic). Derek May, Carlos Zambrano, Moises Alou and Aramis Ramirez were also great additions to my find. But that is not all . . . I also found this "vintage '63 Fleer of Mark Grace.

The 1963 Fleer set is one of my all-time favorites (see my wants list) and to find a Mark Grace is nice bonus. One other nice discovery is this 1979 Dave Rader.Rader spent only one year in a Chicago Cub uniform (1978) and was runner-up to Jon Matlack for ROY honors in 1972. A fine defensive catcher, spent 10 years in the majors and had a lifetime BA of .257 with 30 homeruns. A one year Cubbie and now he is in my collection.

My favorite card I found in this bargain bin is this 1995 Flair of Sammy Sosa (I know, steroids, steroids, steroids) but this is a card I had never known about before yesterdays show and I really like it. The Flair could appear on my trade lists very soon (hint hint).

So that is just a small sample of what I found in this team bargain box. Next month I will hit this dealer first and stock up with more Chicago Cubs cards and continue adding to my cornucopia.