I've Been Attacked by Sharks!

     No, I wasn't swimming in the Pacific Ocean; or the Atlantic. No, I was getting a PWE from Fuji. I opened it on January 2nd (much too cold to be swimming). 

    

    Things are starting well with a 2019 Topps Jacob deGrom card. I really hope that he has a healthy 2025 season, so the Rangers can make another playoff run. I think they'll be in trouble if Deggy can't stay healthy (pardon the odd nickname). Fun fact: 2019 was the year I started collecting baseball cards. I had some before, but that year really got me started.

    Fuji gives me a boost to my recently-started hockey collection by adding 17 cards from my favorite team (and an 18th of a guy who played for my favorite team). He added in a bunch of OPCs as well, which is great. 
    Fuji informed me that Pat Falloon was the early 1990s version of my favorite player, Macklin Celebrini. Falloon was the first player to be drafted by the Sharks, in 1992. He was drafted second overall in San Jose's maiden season.

    I really like the backs of the O-Pee-Chee cards. The color scheme is perfect. I also like Paul Fenton's facial expression -- also perfect, as if the puck is flying at his face at 120 mph.

    I don't know very much about hockey, but my hockey-fanatic friends started a fantasy hockey league and needed an extra player; and they played fantasy baseball with us, so why not? Since fantasy started I've been paying attention to the Sharks and Macklin Celebrini (who I just traded for), and learning more about the game, which is just so fun to watch. While I can't say the team (neither mine nor San Jose's) is doing all too well, Macklin has been just fine.

    Thank you for the cards Fuji! deGrom will go into my PC, and maybe Falloon will find himself in the PC in the near future (depending on how many of his cards I can get my hands on).

    Thank you all for reading, have a great start to the week and stay warm out there, and happy collecting!

Christmas Cards From The Diamond King

    I receiced a PWE from the Diamond King's Christmas giveaway. I've said it before, and I'll say it again -- the members of the card blogosphere are extremely generous (I have another PWE to post on later). 

    Han Solo was the card I requested from the Diamond King. I have a few Star Wars cards, and Han makes for a very nice addition. Harrison Ford is in so many good movies, from Star Wars to Indiana Jones to The Fugitive.... anyway, back to the cards.

    

    Han Solo was already a nice card, but he threw in more than just that. I also found that he sent me two PC players. 

    I've never seen the UK edition card before. This is card #75 of the 220-card UK set. There doesn't seem to be much of a difference to the card design other than the Union Jack on the upper left-hand side of the card. While researching this particular card, I found that there are multiple international versions of the cards, but I don't know how many (I only saw UK and Japan, and was too lazy to look any further).

    And we finish things up with the reigning World Series MVP. Oh, I really like this card. This is the first Chrome-Strokes card I've ever owned. 2024 Chrome-Strokes is only 25 cards, so maybe I'll try and complete it sometime in the future. Haha, I say these things, but I'll probably never actually get down to it. I prefer to dig through quarter and dollar boxes at the card store. We'll see how it ends up going. 

 

    A big thanks to the Diamond King for some more great cards! And thank y'all for reading, have a great weekend, and happy collecting!

Sweet Goodbyes to 2024

    At the time of publication, it is only 2025 in about than half the country. Apologies to all those who are still in 2024. Please come back in a few hours and then check this post out....or you can do it now. I mean, I don't care.

    Well that year went by fast. But it was a memorable one, for me at least. For one, my blog started up in January of 2024 (my first blogoversary is coming up). I also got the job of tutoring Latin, which has been wonderful. I've learned a lot of things about card-blogging and life in general, which makes for a worthwhile year. And I'm one year wiser too 🤣 just to name a few  things. 

    If I were to review how the year went from a card-blogging perspective, I likely wouldn't get anywhere, due to lack of material. I'll likely post less than 118 times in 2025 though, because I don't think I'll be adding that many posts worth of cards to my collection. I just don't want to spend a ton of money on cards right now.  

    I don't have a ton to say on the subject of the new year, and am going to be occupied for most of the day, so I'll keep this pretty brief: With the new year comes some New Year's resolutions. I've never really made a resolution at the start of the new year, but as always, I've got some goals. 

    I will have a resolution for this blog though, and that will be to better the quality of my posts. Of course, I'm never going to abandon the bad humor and writing style of the blog -- otherwise it'd be less fun. But I'd like to get better posting material and maybe fix up the writing style a little bit. At times I feel like y'all would be rolling your eyes at what I post. I love to write, whether it be blogging or otherwise, so I'm always in it to improve in that regard. As far as my collection is concerned, I don't know how it will progress in 2025, and I don't really have too many goals, other than the new Topps base set, and completing that Denny's Holograms set I've spoken of on a previous post. Considering the amount I focus on that though, it may take a little while.

    And happy birthday to Dallas Keuchel! C'mon, it's the first post of the new year, I've got to add a card in here somewhere, or else I'd have an existential crisis. Even a regular, boring old base card. 2021 was an interesting design, not my favorite.

    Speaking of base cards, I'm excited to see what the 2025 Topps base set looks like. They really outdid themselves in 2024, and I hope they don't disappoint in 2025, although it'll be difficult to beat the design from what is now last year. I saw an educated prediction of the design from Topps Cards that Never Were, which, if correct, would make an interesting one.  I'm also excited for the new Bowman set, seeing as how I'm one of those weird guys who's a fan of Bowman (I take it it's not very popular). 

    That'll about do it for the first post of 2025! This new year is going to be a very interesting one. Then again, is any year not interesting? Who all stayed/is staying up until midnight tonight? It's always hard for me to do it, but I usually can (last year was easy because it was cold and I was sick). Anyway, thank you, as always, for reading my blog, take care, and happy collecting! I hope y'all have a great 2025. I'm gonna go listen to some U2. 

I Got Humpty Dumpty!

    I never thought I'd be so intrigued by an egg. This card came to me in a package from The Diamond King. And I have to say, I really like it, though it surprised me a little bit. 

    I got the package from Diamond King's last Serial Number Guessing Contest. Along with Humpy Dumpty and the 100 serial-numbered cards, he also gave me a bunch of filler cards. Diamond King warned me beforehand no to get too excited, but the 'fillers' he gave me were full of PC players. Here are all the guys in my PC that were added to the box:

    These nine Ripkens further advance my most-collected player (all were needs). There was also a bunch of shiny, which is always appreciated. The nasty glare messes with the picture, but I took pics about a month ago, so won't bother changing it now.

    Posey's the second-most collected player, and so adding these three was great too. And still more shiny for my collection. Love it!

    And another Pete Crow-Armstrong for the collection. I have high hopes for this kid going forward. (I need to stop photographing cards in their penny sleeves)

    Also some great Corey Seager cards. I also have hopes for the Rangers come next year. I still have my doubts with their pitching staff, but being able to extend Nathan Eovaldi is big, and trading for Jake Burger......I don't know how that will effect their offense. I can do nothing but hope for now.

    I really like the see-through card. I didn't notice it until the picture showed the table I had the card on in the background. And the addition of a parallel will always be appreciated.

    Six amazing deGrom cards. The 2015 Topps design is great, and it's a little bit funny to see deGrom as a 'Future Star.' I sure hope that he can make some magic for the Rangers. Magic mostly meaning that he starts more than ten games. Boy, we could sure use a full season outta him.

    And I'll round things out with a Troy Tulowitzki mini. He'll be getting his first shot on the ballot this year. We'll see how that one goes.

    Apologies for the lack of decent photos. I need to redo them, but all the cards are in a box now, and I don't want to mess with them too much for the time being.

    I think I'll do a top 20 countdown for the serial-numbered cards sometime in January. Thank you to the Diamond King for the awesome cards, and thank you for reading. Happy collecting!

LOOK AT ME! I'M AN AIRPLANE!

    The small things in life that bring a quick smile to the face....

    It reminds me of this:

    

    Well, that's all I got for today. Not really gonna add any context. I hope it brought a smile to your face too. 

Merry Christmas!

     No, no cards today.

    I hope y'all are having a great Christmas. Today we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus, who came into the world for the purpose of our salvation. 

In those days a decree went out 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 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 cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. (Lk 2:1-7) 

    And that is the reason for the season -- The Lord's unselfish love for us. Let us share that love with our neighbors today, and always. Have a great time with family, friends and faith. I'll leave y'all to your holiday. Have a great holiday season, and happy collecting!

Tribute to a Legend

     Quite frankly, I was both shocked and saddened to hear of the death of Rickey Henderson. I'm kinda lost for words, because everything I would have said has already been said. But I'd like to make a short tribute to him anyway. He deserves it.

    Henderson was so good at everything he did -- at the time of his retirement, he was the all-time leader in stolen bases, runs, and walks. He really is one of the greatest (and most entertaining) players of all time. He was quite the sensation, and amazing to watch, even now, when his career has been over for over 20 years. Even better is that Henderson had the reputation as a good guy.

    I have a few of his cards, though not as many as I would like. My favorite card of his in my possession is his 1980 Topps card. I am currently unable to upload photos of my cards (should only be a problem for today's post), so I'll need to get the scan off of TCDB.

    One of the best cards in one of my favorite sets. 

    

    It's still a little bit of a shock that he's gone. I didn't have much to write on the subject, and nothing else is coming now, so I think I'll just leave it here, although this post doesn't give Ricky due credit. May he rest in peace. We miss you.