Bidding a Fond Farewell to 2025

    Happy New Year, unless it's still 2025 where you are. I'm making it a tradition to publish my New Year's  post at midnight, assuming I'll be awake for it. If it's still 2025, feel free to either come back in a few hours or get an early peak at my post ;)

    This year has had its good and its rough parts for me, but I think I've grown since the start of the year. As for my blog, it was a really boring year, with less than 50 posts, and a topic quite often straying from card collecting. This is mostly due to other things going on in life which have kicked my blog out a little bit. My time management has never been very good, and my blog has felt that the most. I'm not sure how many cards I'll be adding to my collection in 2026, but I'll be more on-topic this time around (in theory). I may not even get to posting 48 times this year, but I guess only time can tell. 

    Other than that, I'm not sure that I have any other resolutions for my blog. I just hope to have some fun with it without completely ignoring the 'card' in card blog. We'll see how that goes down.

    I'm don't reckon I have much else to say here, other than telling you to come back in three weeks, on the 22nd, for my 2-year blogoversary post, where I'll hopefully have a contest for some cards from the LCS. Make sure to tell your friends! (Teaser: the post is called My Blog Has Hit Its Terrible Twos!)

    I think that might do it for my New Year's post this year. It was a little more boring than I was hoping, but that's alright. I hope y'all have a great year in 2026 and don't date anything important incorrectly. 

    And now I'll leave y'all to get some sleep. Thanks for stopping by the blog, have a great YEAR, and, as always, happy collecting. I'll get back to my U2...

A Short Christmas Message

     Merry Christmas to you all and your families! May God bless y'all and your loved ones today and always!

    In those days a decree went our from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be enrolled, each to his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered. And she gave birth to her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
    And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with feat. And the angel said to them, "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

        "Glory to God in the highest,
        And on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!" (Lk 2:1-14)

    Jesus is truly the reason for the season. How lucky we are to have such a merciful and personal God, who loves us so much He is willing to become man, come to us, and to die to save us from our sins. It's incredible to think about. 

    I hope y'all have the merriest Christmas. Thank you for stopping by the blog today, have a wonderful Christmas, and happy collecting!

Getting a letter to an active player?

     This is a question I have been wondering for awhile. Ever since I was a pretty young child, I was writing fan letters to my favorite players. Much to my dismay, I never got anything back, and wondered if the letter ever even made it to the address I sent it. 

    I must have written dozens of letters to celebrities I admired when I was younger, but only got one response. That was when I wrote to the Irwins (remember Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter?) all the way in Australia and got a letter back a full year later. I had forgotten about that.

    Do any of y'all have any experience where you've written a fan letter to one of your favorite active players and got anything back? I don't even know if most stars even read fan mail anymore unless you pay a truck bed full of money for it. 

    Thanks for reading the blog and for humoring me. Have a great week, and happy collecting!

Aiva Arquette in 200 Words

     I first read about Arquette in a baseball magazine and thought he would be a cool topic for a 200-word post. Aiva John Uakea Arquette was born on October 17th, 2003 in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he played both baseball and basketball, and was named the 2022 Hawaii Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year. It turns out he found his calling in baseball however, a sport in which his 6-foot 5-inch frame stands out. Arquette was drafted by the Diamondbacks in the 18th round of the 2022 June Amateur Draft, but opted to play in college instead. He played ball at a few colleges, the most notable of which being with the Oregon State Beavers earlier this year, where in 65 games, Arquette batted .354 with 90 hits, 19 home runs, 66 RBI and 73 runs. Arquette is also an impressive fielder who sports elite range at the shortstop position and a cannon of an arm. He was drafted 7th overall in the 2025 draft by the Miami Marlins, and has played 27 games at High-A for the team thus far. His career is still very young, but Aiva Arquette is definitely a guy to be watching in the near future.

The Latest Grabs

     I went to the LCS a couple weeks ago for the first time in months. It was nice to be able to get down there again. 

    The format of the store is much different than the last time I went. I've mentioned in an earlier post that they've expanded to two buildings now, one of which houses sport cards and the other game cards such as Pokemon and the like. 

    Since the last time I've been, they've added some fun cards like Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Legos are being sold there too, which is cool (but expensive). They also added a dozen or so boxes full of just one player (Mike Trout, Dirk Nowitzki, Patrick Mahomes, and the like). More on that a little bit later though....

    Though the store has changed a little bit, I don't mind it at all and felt right at home going through quarter, dollar, and autograph boxes, and pulling out a number of cool cards.

    Why not start with the first card I pulled? To be honest, I had no idea who Houston Jimenez is, but there are two reasons I ended up grabbing this card. The first is that I found his first name interesting and also strongly Texan. The second reason is that we share last names. The day of my writing this paragraph (October 30th) is Houston's 68th birthday, so happy birthday to him!

    Perhaps it's from a lack of my looking, but I'd never seen the little stamp certifying the authenticity of an on-card autograph before. 

    I had never heard of Anthony Seigler before, but he had a nice autograph and the cards were cheap, so I picked these two up. I was also not familiar with Josh Breaux. 

    Seigler is a 26-year old catcher and infielder. He actually broke the majors this year with the Brewers and hit .194 in 62 at-bats. 

    Josh Breaux is 28 years of age and with the Phillies farm system. So it turns out none of them became franchise futures with the Yankees.

    This is the last autographed card I picked up, and my favorite card of the bunch, which is why it's unfortunate that the camera doesn't do it justice. Y'all probably know my affinity for shiny cards, and this certainly doesn't disappoint. There's a lot going on with the colors in the background of the card, but I'm cool with it. Harris is such a talented player -- I hope he can make an impact for the Rangers in 2026.

    The design of this card is really interesting....it looks as though Jared Jones is about to get sucked into a black hole. The top left corner is dinged just a little bit, but it's still a great-looking card. I'm a big fan of Jared Jones, and thought he and Skenes would make a dominating duo. I was so sad when that didn't happen this season. But, they're both young, so there's plenty of time for them both to assert their dominance in the league.

    Sometimes I love the way lighting affects my pictures. I also didn't notice until uploading this card onto the blog that the words 'Hometown Heroes' continue through Strider's body. He's another young pitcher who had to battle injuries this year, but I have a feeling he'll be just fine in 2026. I also bet that the Braves are headed back to the playoffs.

    I needed a little bit of help from TCDB to identify this card. The kind folks down there helped me to find out it's from 1947-1966 Exhibits. After asking on the TCDB which year the photo is from, users Musclebeech and BuccaneersDen hypothesize it would likely have been from 1948. If this is indeed the case, it would be one of my oldest cards. I made the picture larger to emphasize the dimensions of this card. At 3 3/8 inches by 5 3/8, it's a behemoth compared with the average 2.5 by 3.5 inch cards.

    For anybody (like myself) who isn't familiar with Eddie Waitkus, he was a left-handed first baseman who played with the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, and Baltimore Orioles from 1941-1955. In that time he collected 1,214 hits, 24 home runs and 528 runs. He was a two-time all-star, in 1948 and 1949. He was shot in the lung by a stalker in 1949 and almost killed. Thankfully he survived and ended up playing six seasons afterward. Wild. 

    I don't typically collect graded cards, but this one was priced so well that I couldn't resist. This is one of two graded cards I own. Mike Trout has a history of popularity among my family, which is definitely what induced me to purchase this card. We were pleased to see him play 130 games for the first time since his 2019 MVP season, even if it wasn't an amazing season.

    That'll wrap up my additions from the most recent LCS visit. I can't wait for 2025-2026 Upper Deck hockey to hit the store so I can get a few packs and hopefully pull a Macklin Celebrini card (he's my guy when it comes to hockey). Well, that's for a future post. For now, I shall leave you with this question: is it annoying when they stamp those price stickers onto a top loader or penny sleeve so that it leaves that streaky and sticky residue on the card protection? Just wondering.

    Until next time, have a wonderful rest of the weekend, and happy collecting!

A Surprise PWE From Johnny's Trading Spot

     When it comes to generosity in the blogging world, I have found that it is quite difficult to compare with Johnny of Johnny's Trading Spot. 

    When I went to get the mail two weeks ago, I was more than surprised to see two envelopes from him amongst the rest of the usual potpourri. 

    I wasted little time in opening them up, and there were lots of goodies for me to share.

    We start out with a handful of 2025 Topps chrome Rangers. The photographers came up with some good action shots for these cards. It's always great to add more deGrom, Seager and Semien to the collection.

    More shiny! I wasn't very familiar with Anthony Gutierrez. However, a quick look at Baseball Reference reveals that the 20-year old speedster is currently in High-A with the Rangers. This season he slashed .258/.333/.320 with 48 steals in 89 games for the Hub City Spartanburgers (what a name!).

    We have two A&G cards next, the first being 2021 Allen & Ginter X (had to look that up) Sam Huff, and the second being a 2024 A&G chrome card of Owen White. I always enjoy a good Allen & Ginter card. White is with the White Sox right now, and Huff with the Giants.

    Three more Semiens added in. I've said this once before, but I'm a fan of Bowman's design this year. I'm also a big fan of this particular card. The amount of Marcus Semien cards in my collection that came from John is kinda insane. 

    I had forgotten Leody is with the Mariners now. 

    I like this card a lot. After all, what can be more fun than 'Flashback Fridays?' Young is currently in the Rangers organization as a special assistant to the general manager. Fun Fact: he has a cousin who is a former boxing champion. Who knew?

    Larry Parrish played with the Rangers from 1982-1988. His drop-off from 1987 to 1988 is really sad. He went from Star Sticker (32 HR, 100 RBI in '87) to .190 in 68 games with Texas before he was released in 1988. His career as a whole was a solid one though -- .263 batting average and 256 home runs in 15 seasons.

    As much as I love my current Rangers, this card has got to be the main highlight of an amazing couple of PWEs. I like the dual-colored stripes coming up the left side of the card. But the autograph is what catches my eye, of course. And not the facsimile one.

    Mickey Rivers played an impressive 15-year career which ended with five and a half seasons (though they weren't complete years) with the Rangers. All in all, Rivers batted .295 with 1,660 hits and 60 home runs. He also stole 267 bases.

    We're not through yet. There was one other item included in the PWEs.

    The 1991 Rangers finished the season third in the AL West with a record of 85-77, 10 games behind the World Series winning Twins. The playoffs were so much simpler then. These days it's hard to think only four total teams made the playoffs.

    Along with holding the team's schedule (of course), the pocket schedule contained a list of promotions they did in 1991, and order slip for the tickets you would purchase, and a diagram showing ticket prices.

    Would you believe tickets behind home plate were only $13?!?! Or that a group of 25 tickets were just a dollar each? If you went to a ballgame in 1991, maybe you do. I'm a little too young to know prices that good 😂

    That does it for the surprise from Johhny's Trading Spot. Thank you so much for your remarkable generosity and for the amazing new additions to my collection. I truly appreciate it.

    Y'all have an amazing weekend, and happy collecting!

Perfect for Game 3

    I made this picture of Nico Hoerner using the Comic Book filter on my phone, and.....I really like it. 

    This comes from one of my all-time favorite baseball player photos, and I thought the comic book setting made it look really cool. I've made a lot of pictures using that filter for guys like Tarik Skubal, and will be happy to show some of them off as the playoffs progress, if anybody finds them remotely interesting. 

    

    It's perfect for Game 3 tonight at 5:00 my time. Nico's been a beast thus far in the series, batting .429 through the first two games.

    I didn't realize how much I'm rooting for the Cubs to win it all until I started watching the games (they were the only free ones on ABC). My friend who'll be coming over shortly is a huge Cubs fan, so if they lose tonight we're gonna be sad.

    I said there would be cards for my next post....but I didn't see myself making this one until about ten minutes before it was published. My bad.

    Go cubs go, and good luck to your playoff teams!