What I'm thankful for today

I have so many things to be thankful for that it seems silly to pick just one, but time is short, so here it is.

I'm thankful, this card does not reflect the reality of the current Rangers roster.  There was time when I was out begging for money to keep Cliff Lee in Texas.  Cliff is 0-5 in 13 starts this season.  He has a 4.13 ERA.

I know without a doubt he would have a winning record if he was pitching for the Rangers.  The run support would be enough to overcome the 4+ ERA.

I'm just glad he's not a $21.5 million hit on the Rangers' payroll.

My 2 Cents

A couple of days ago, Robert from $30 a Week Habit wrote an interesting post about where the hobby would be if "the magazine" didn't exist.  Of course, he was talking about Beckett.

There was a time when Beckett was a respected hobby publication, but I think it's become a lightning rod of criticism for what is wrong with the hobby.  Whether it's the over inflated card pricing, the "loaded" box breaks or contributing to the hype machine of such players as Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper, Beckett has outlived it's usefulness.

Accurate card pricing is reflected better on a variety of online resources where the actual buy/sell price of cards can be checked at any given time.  If  you've bothered to check prices on a hot new card, you know that prices start high and begin to drop within a few days.  It seems like Beckett never reflects the drop in card prices.  Sometimes even years after the fact.

One of the things I used to enjoy reading in Beckett was the box breaks they would show in each issue.  Now, I can watch an endless array of box breaks on youtube if I want too, knowing that those breaks more accurately reflect what you might actually get in a box.  We've all heard the accusations of manufacturers sending Beckett loaded boxes for their breaks in an effort to build up excitement for the product.

I don't know about all of you, but I know some of us got sick of Strasmania and Harper fever.  Topps is the main culprit, but Beckett did it's part to fuel that fire too.  I don't have anything personal against either player, aside from that ridiculous eyeblack Harper used to use, but I know I rolled my eyes every time I pulled one of their cards.  Of course, I'm not looking to flip cards on Ebay so I wasn't seeing $$ when I pulled their cards.

Eric from Manupatches and Mustaches commented on Robert's post that childhood card trading was made better by having Beckett price guides.  I had a completely different experience as a kid which I wrote about way back in October of 2009.  Let's just say that chunky little Beckett price guide, the one that was updated ONCE per year, ruined everything.  No longer would my friends and I trade based on wants or needs.  It was all about the bloody book "value".  What a joke.

It's been a long, long time since I bought a Beckett and I can't imagine ever buying another one.  I'm not a case buster.  I'm not a prospector.  I don't really care about the real or perceived value of any certain card.  If I want to buy a card and I feel it's a good value, I'll buy it.  If it's not, I can skip it.  If I go to a card shop or show and the dealer has to get out his dog eared copy of the latest Beckett to tell me how much he wants for a card, I'm not doing business with him because he's out of touch with reality.  One of the very best things about the blogosphere is the fact that almost every single one of us trades with each other without regard for the value of the cards we're trading.

Every time I open a package of cards from one of you, knowing you've already opened mine, or soon will, I'm transported back to my childhood.  A time before Beckett.  A time when trading was fun and all that mattered was two kids happy about the pile of cards they had in front of them.

So yea, Beckett's still here, but I don't need it.

Questionable Border Crossing

Let me start by saying there will no dissing of hockey cards on this post.  That's the very least I can do for Captain Canuck for sending me some Rangers cards from Canada.   Besides, I might actually do a hockey post later this week just for him.  Hello...hello...where did everyone go?

Cap and I trade from time to time and he always send something unexpected.  I think he may have been paying attention when I posted my Score want list recently.  

How skinny can you be and still be a major leaguer?  Is there anyone playing now that is as skinny as Oddibe McDowell was on this 1989 Score card?

I had some childish idea to make a burping joke in my post title because of this 1991 Score Kevin Belcher.  Don't go thinking I'm being mature, the truth is I forgot what title I was going to use since I scanned these cards on Friday.  Just so Kevin doesn't feel totally slighted, I'll tell you he got 15 at bats in 16 games with Texas in 1990.  You don't need to know anything else.

I don't know what year this Juan Gonzalez Hot Rookie is from (1990?) but he went from Hot Rookie to Hot Player to Hot Mess.  I wonder how many major leaguers went from sure fire Hall of Famer to never heard from again like Juando.

How about a little Michael Young to get your Monday afternoon/evening off to a start?

Card of the pack:  a sweet 1997 Skybox EX2000 Will Clark.  I love this card, even if it is overly confusing. It looks even better in person.

Thanks Cap!

The Giveaway Giveaway

Here we go, the moment you've been waiting for all weekend.  More likely, most of you forgot about it the second you entered the contest, but I digress.

These are the cards I got in my final shipment from the Diamond Giveaway.  I could go on and on about how I'll miss the Giveaway and how much the Golden Giveaway sucks, but I guess the fun couldn't go on forever.  If you've been dealing with the Giveaway at all in the last few months, you know trading got to be a huge ordeal as most people tried to consolidate many of their newer cards into vintage.  I tried it as well, but got very few takers.  I don't think I did one trade the last 2 months. Even though it's all over, I won't complain too much since I did get one of the 60 rings.  That's all behind us now so let's just move along.

As we go along, I'll mention anything that's contest related, but for starters, there were 23 of you that got bonus entries for answering all three parts of the contest.

1995 Rusty Greer.  Normally I wouldn't have gotten this shipped, but my son wanted it and I didn't have to leave any vintage cards in my portfolio to get it.  On the plus side, it's one of my favorite Rangers and a pretty cool shot.  Senators/Rangers count: 1.  The cardhobbyist guessed Greer as one of the players I received so he gets an entry in the contest.

1978 Johnny Oates.  I traded for this Oates card in an effort to acquire all of his cards as a player.  I met Oates just prior to his first season as a Rangers manager and got a ball signed by him.  He was very nice and led the Rangers to their only post season appearances prior to 2010.  He was a catcher too so that doesn't hurt.

1977 Johnny Oates.  Mark another one off the non-existent want list.  I'm moderately confused by this photo.  The odd post and fence placement down the right field line is giving me a headache.

1976 Tom Grieve.  This is the second '76 Grieve I've gotten from the Giveaway.  It'll go in the binder (right...) and the other one will be going off for a TTM request.  Senators/Rangers count: 2.  Richard Nebe Jr. and Night Owl both selected Grieve as one of the players I got so they get an entry in the contest.

1976 Walt Williams.  I traded for this card.  I've told the story before, but as a kid, my best friend and I traded this card back and forth at least 20 times.  Eventually, he had it and somehow found out that Williams was playing in a softball game near our town and got it autographed.  I never got it again.  Not that one anyway.  This is the 2nd one I've gotten from the Diamond Giveaway.

1976 Johnny Oates.   You should be sensing a theme at this point.

1973 Bill Parsons.  I've been toying with the idea of collecting the '73 set for awhile now.  I'm bored with modern stuff right now so it only makes sense to go after something vintage.  I love this photo and quirky photos are a '73 Topps staple.  This shipment contained 12 1973 cards.

1973 Tom McCraw.   I like these action photos, even if the designer got a little crazy with the cropping.

1973 Billy Champion.  That is some awful airbrushing.  I think a Topps executive brought his 6 year old son to work one day and he got loose in the art department.

1973 Chris Speier.  '73 Topps has some great play at the plate cards and this is one of the best.  I ended up getting one of these with each shipment this year even though it was almost impossible to get anyone to trade this card.

1973 Fred Gladding.  This photo is all kinds of busy.  People in the background, maybe waiting for an autograph, a cop/security guard protecting the rail and Gladding pretending to pitch in that awful warm up jacket.  He looks awkward, but I like the logo on the cap.

1973 Jim Breazeale.  Night Owl got one of these in his Giveaway package too.  Like his, mine is not in very good shape.  It has a bad crease all the way across the bottom, just above his name and cutting the shadowman in half.  Most of my cards were in remarkably good shape, with this one be the most notable exception.

1973 Fred Norman.  The complete absence of fans makes this an awesome card.

1973 Johnny Oates.  Ah, back to the theme.  I traded for this one and I think I gave up 30 cards, not one of them older than 1988.  Winner!

1973 Larry Gura.  I unlocked this one myself.  Even Gura isn't impressed.

1973 Paul Splittorff.  I think I got one of these in my first shipment too.  I like how his photo almost matches the silhouette exactly.

1973 Pete Richert.  I don't know if that cap is airbrushed, but it almost looks like they photoshopped the entire cap onto his head.

1973 Ted Abernathy.  Whoa, Ted is about to slide off the ball field.  I thought only 1975 Topps had slanting that noticeable.

1970 Buddy Bradford.  I know you were getting tired of all those '73s anyway, so here's a nice, bland 1970 card.  Sometimes I get mad at Topps for making such a boring design for my birth year, but it could be worse, I could have been born in 1990.

1964 John Roseboro.  Now we're talking.  I made a bazillion trade offers on the Giveaway site.  I usually looked for old Senators or catchers to make offers for and one of the few successful trades garnered me this nice Roseboro.  The corners are a little dinged, but it's a great card.

1963 Lee Walls.  How about those glasses?

1961 Bennie Daniels.  Traded for it.  Senators/Rangers count: 3.

1960 Steve Korcheck.  Traded for it.  I know it's not the right Senators team, but it still counts.  He's a catcher too so there's that.  Senators/Rangers count: 4.

1959 Dutch Dotterer.  Catcher...check.  Vintage greatness...check.  What else do you need?

1959 Tex Clevenger.  The final card, which means that The Lost Collector, CommishBob, Richard Nebe Jr. and arpsmith get an entry for guessing the year of my oldest card.  I unlocked this one myself.  I tried repeatedly to trade for a 1956 play at the plate card I didn't already have, but no one was buying.  Senators/Rangers final count: 5.   That means Simons44 gets an entry in the contest for guessing the right number of Senators/Rangers.

Taking into account the 4 people who got the oldest card, the 1 person who got the number of Senators/Rangers, the 3 people who guessed one of the players I got AND the 23 people who entered all three parts of the contest, I randomize 31 names.

Congrats to Chunter who runs the Chipp 'n' Dale blog.  Many thanks to everyone for playing along for July.  Chunter, send me your address and I'll get you a prize out as soon as I get some Ginter!

Beating a dead horse

I get the metaphor, but I don't like the imagery. Before Dayf gets upset by that post title, let me be clear-it says horse, not pony.

Anyway, you've got until around midnight central time to get your entry in for my three contest posts. Sorry I can't link to them when I'm posting with this evil IPhone.

Maybe if I get a new one, SIRI can help me.

Good luck, I'll post a winner tomorrow.

Embarrassed? Sure...

I embarrass myself frequently. Just ask my wife, she'll confirm it.


This incident wasn't really my fault, but I was embarrassed anyway. At one point back in 1994-95, I was contemplating a future "mancave" and wanted a complete game used Texas Rangers uniform. It just so happened that I found a pair of Rusty Greer's game used cleats for a good price so I decided to pursue the rest of the necessary pieces to have a Rusty Greer complete set. I was bidding on, and won, a pair of game used Greer pants when it happened.

The guy running the auction asked me a few questions and when he found out what I was doing, he said he thought he could get a game used jersey and a game used jock strap, without the cup. Well, how could it be complete without the cup!?

I bought the pants from him, didn't buy the rest and ended up selling the shoes and pants later. I never completed the set and was always a little creeped out by the whole experience.

The July Contest...Final Chance!

This is the third of three questions for the July Contest.  If you missed questions 1 or 2, just go back to the last two posts to get your guess posted in the comments.

Name one player I received in my shipment of 25 cards from the last lot of Diamond Giveaway cards.

You can list up to five players and I'll give you an entry for each player you get right.

I'll close this tomorrow and randomize the winner!

Good luck!