Happy Holidays

 Wishing you all the best for the Christmas season and a return to normalcy sometime in 2021!

I've been a ghost on the blogs since about September, and haven't even been reading much in the last month.  Still have most of the cards that came in during that time on the desk as well.  But I haven't quit completely.  Just been a tumultuous time for me.  Started a new romance, but it's been tough to get time together, so I'm hoping for more opportunities soon.  Then I'll get back to all the other things I enjoy too.  See you then!

Lay Your Peepers On A Guy Changing Out The Sparkilators

Besides COVID, and the resulting arrangement whereby I work most of the day in the same spot as I write these posts, and the general lack of motivation from social distancing etc. to interact with the world in general, here's one of the main things that has been distracting me from blogging.

Vice Grip Garage is a YouTube channel run by Derek & Jessica Brieri from Minnesota.  

He (or they) go out and buy old cars and trucks and resurrect them from the dead.  There are other channels that do the same kind of thing, but Derek brings a certain laid back comedy to the whole thing that is unique.  He's sorta like a back country Bob Ross combined with John Cleese - all in a Minnesota accent.  And his wife jumps right in with him wrenching, welding, and installing interiors.  She's totally capable (and adorable) and they have a great relationship.  The kids even jump in now and then.

Here's one of the shorter videos from the channel to give you an example.  As Derek would say, "All a guy needs to do is pop open a cold snack and enjoy.  These videos are 32.949% technical know how and the rest is just gunpowder and bald eagles."

I'm fairly addicted.  Check it out.

US History In A Box

Bought a box of 1992 Starline Americana cards from an antique store I've been in several times.  I needed several cards from this set for my Astronaut/Space binder, but since the box was less than $20, I snagged it.  With what counted out to 36 packs of 12 cards, how hard should it be to put a set together, right?

Well, not quite so easy.  The set is 250 cards.  I needed ten astronauts for the binder, and got nine.  Still need nineteen cards for a complete set, including three astronauts.  Here's the list:

42 John Tyler
50 Andrew Johnson
51 Henry Ford
58 Eddie Rickenbacker
62 Benjamin Harrison
69 Stonewall Jackson
71 Warren G. Harding
85 Lyndon Johnson
168 USS Nautilus
169 Challenger
178 Christopher Columbus
186 Robert Fulton
195 Surrender at Yorktown
207 Pocahantas
222 George Eastman
224 Edwin Aldrin, Jr.
225 Neil Armstrong x2
240 Chief Joseph
249 Checklist #2

The cards themselves aren't bad.  Stock is your typical 90's white and rather flimsy.  Centering is off on a lot of them, but not by much.  The stars around the borders make it obvious.  There are a nice variety of subjects - Presidents, Leaders of Industry, Writers, Poets, Statesmen, First Ladies, etc.   Even Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson.

And there's lots of historical informaton on the backs, though the typeface is rather small for my old eyes.  Had the magnifier out while sorting them for sure.  My biggest pet peeve is that the horizontal ones are upside down relative to the backs.

I have plenty of doubles to trade if you have any of the above singles, or anything from my sports wants linked in the upper right corner. 

One post a month whether I need to or not!

Just kidding, I have something else I've been wanting to put up....

A Furious Flourish Of Football

It's just about Week 7 in the NFL season, and it seems like it's been that long since I posted here.  Football is in full force, aside from a few rescheduled games.  I was sure the season was going to shut down about Week 4 or so because I was leading my ten-team fantasy league.  But of course, that subsided and I'm now fifth.  There was even a Tuesday game, which doesn't help me tear away from the TV long enough to get back into the posting groove again.  Three days a week is plenty, but four is just overkill.

And there is still baseball.  I was hoping some smaller market teams would make it to the end, but it came down to the four most dominant teams in this express-lane season.  You could say the Rays qualify, I guess.  Not sure if I'll watch the World Series or not.  I won't mind the Dodgers winning.  It's been a while for them.  And like the Nationals used to be, they keep getting close but can't ever quite finish.

So before it becomes totally irrelevant, I thought I'd throw up the football stuff I got late last month.  (I did actually just go to my local monthly show for the first time since February last weekend, and have Chantilly coming up in a few days.  But most of what I got so far is just A&G and flagship inserts from 2020 and a few '70s football stars, so nothing really eye-catching there.  Will see if I get cooler stuff in VA.)

 

These are all from 2008 SP Rookie Edition by Upper Deck.  It's almost like the Upper Deck version of SP Heritage, because it has the same crop of rookie players in several different throwback designs.  A couple of the series feature retired legends instead of rookies.  The set is a little bizarre in that it is numbered up to 434, but there are several numbers missing, so it only totals 413.

Along with those, I got these 2014 Prestige inserts (and the one base rookie).  Prestige has some nice inserts, but there are so many sets of them, to collect them all takes forever.  I started these when they were new, and got like six insert sets all in one shot, but still have a bunch to go for the rest.  Those NFL sheilds are die cut and clear acetate.

 

The other set I'm still working on for the same year is 2014 Score.  This has most of the insert sets in four different colors.  Makes it even harder to finish those, since you pretty much have to commit to one color for each.  Most of the time the blue versions are listed without the color designation, but I've gotten the wrong color a few times.  They're just too complicated even though they're pretty.  I even just now finished the base set with those above.

 

Next was a set that I'm actually finished with the base and only lack 35 cards for the THREE parallel sets.  It's the 1996 Fleer Ultra Sensations.  These look like they'd be inserts in the regular Ultra set, but they are a standalone product whose base cards are the plain gold, and have parallel sets in blue, marble gold, and pewter borders.  There is a fifth parallel - Rainbow gold, but they're much harder to find.

And finally, I got a big stack of Priest Holmes for my wannabe "Supercollection".

And yes, there were still duplicates.  *Sigh*

But the kicker is, all the cards you see in this post were from the same SportLots order, and they were from one seller.  Most of them were a quarter each or less.  Priests were a bit more.

Yeah, I binged...

3 Boxes Of Ginter, Just For Laughs (cont'd)

Since I haven't seen an overabundance of Ginter breaks on the blogs (I'm probably missing 60% of them since I'm not on Twitter or anything), I'll lead you through a quick look at my other two boxes' contents...

Freeman topped off the second box.  And can top off any trade...

Again the minis, regular and two black ~ again all trade bait.  Some great names.  There's that Dobbins guy again.

All newer guys in the A&Gs.  And that dude from Great Britain.  I didn't need to see him any more.  Probably a delightful fellow.  Just have no clue who he is.  Contest winner?

The best of the inserts this year.  Monsters I mentioned last time.  I like the Booming Cities look, and I finally got one of the "9 Ways to First Base", which is the ultimate example of the twists on the familar game themes that Ginter comes up with regularly that flagship wouldn't ever fathom.  Please trade me more of these!

A stroke of luck in the Field Generals - I was going to have to get an extra Munson to send in trade, but got two in the same box!  Worked out very well for both of us!

Full size inserts flowing right along.  Got a dupe or two along the way, but not a lot, which makes me happy.

Second Bale Of Hay, but it's good trade bait for the ones I didn't get.

Double Debuts and Rocks.  No real tie-in unless Griffey owns some Opals.

Nice dark swatch from Sano.

Red Sox fans!  I must say I like the round swatch designs better.  the "diamond" ones almost look like they're framed in two-by-fours and barbed wire.

Mr. Joc for the trifecta.  Don't guess Night Owl is wanting this one?

And the "bonus" hit (-ish) is this Brooklyn back mini /25 of another Red Sox dude, Verdugo.  Tradeable for Soto, Mussina, Robles, Scherzer, Turner, Palmer, Torre, Fisk, Kieboom, Kendrick, Strasburg, Weaver, or in their absence, any of the HOF'ers.

On to Box 3!

Greg G., ya got first dibs, but I don't think you want this one, unless it's for the PC binder.  Let me know...

Minis - Glavine in mini form before I got the base card.  (Still need 31 base cards after three boxes! And only half that many SP's!)  More Cubs love (vs. Expos etc.) with Dawson.

Robles is staying with me.  Rest are trade bait, as are all the other player minis.

Nobody spectacular in the A&Gs, though I'm decent at pulling David Price over the years.

Monsters still awesome...

And Lagos, Nigeria.  I used to work with a guy from Lagos.  Good dude.

Safaris offset again, and a castle near the Pennsylvania / Jersey border?  Ok maybe not.

Really vivid images of some cool architecture.  Have a double of one of these.

Any home run series would be incomplete without Aaron.

Silos, chickens and an extra Tractor.

A pitcher Debut finally, and more minerals.  Wonder which Labrador dog the first one is named after?

Three users of "the tools of ignorance" and one for my PC...

The Fisk trifecta in one box!

Two non-sport obscure guys as "hits".  Ok, so the one on the right could be a "set-worn" piece, as in comedy set performance, or tv/movie set, but is the other one worn while typing out a Goosebumps or Garbage Pail Kids book?  That's a new twist on "GU".  I think I'd still like non-sport relics to be of babes instead.

At least Andrus keeps it honest with a bat relic.  Don't think this is the first piece of his that I have available.  

My lists are at the top of this page.  Send me your wants and trade offers!

And as a special reward to all those who have made it this far.  Yesterday was a trifecta of Birthday Beauties.  

Monica Belucci from the Matrix movies and several more....

Hallmark Channel heroine Lacey Chabert

(And yes, I watch the Hallmark channel now and then when certain gals are starring.  It's an attempt to increase my belief that all that romantic stuff happens in real life.  Can't say it's worked very much so far.)

And finally, a lady whose beauty I hadn't really discovered until watching a biography about ~ Fran Drescher.