I'm Convinced the Devil Wears Wingtips

Every day I sit in my office, listening for the tell tale click of a falling dress shoe. My body tenses at the tolling peal of hardened leather on a linoleum floor. I bet today they are bone colored. Better yet, oxblood. 

When I hear that tonal harbinger, I wonder if I am next. As the clatter gets closer, I half expect the Vice Principal to appear at my office door, and scold a 12 year old me for throwing berries in the schoolyard. 

The racket draws nearer. Now a doctor appears, bearing what is certainly bad news. The diagnosis? Grim. 

The din continues, then softens, and mercifully halts. Reaping has come, but two doors down. I hear a muffled, one-sided exchange. Next comes a brief, mournful silence soon broken by the deafening echo of hard soled shoes. 

Now I know why Jesus wore sandals.

2013 MLB Tournament - Week #10 Update

Hits Like Teddy Ballgame, Fields Like Timmy Lupus

2013 MLB Tournament - Week #9 Update

If you're reading this, thank you for your patience with my lack of posting.  Life is still too hectic on the job front.  One of my bosses was reassigned, and another announced his "retirement" effective that same day.  Bad days where I work.

Anyways, Round 2 of the tournament is almost finished.  The AL is set with the Rangers (#3), A's (#2), Red Sox (#12) and Yankees (#1) making it into the next round.  In the National League, only the Diamondbacks (#9) have punched their ticket.  The remaining nail bitters will be decided tonight.

 

2013 MLB Tournament - Week #8 Update

2013 MLB Tournament - Week #7 Update

One more week down in the tournament, and one more week of work hell for me.  One massive deadline will come and go for me in the next seven days, and then hopefully I can return to some blogging!

Enjoy the scoreboard!

 

Colorful Characters and Communicable Diseases

Still beyond busy at work, but I've had some time late at night to cruise Listia.  I managed to pick up four cards, but it left me feeling like I was strolling the lot of a truck stop off of I-40 in the New Mexico desert at two in the morning.  A place abound with colorful characters and communicable diseases.  

The sort of place where your mother warned you to keep your hands to yourself, not because you'd break something, but because you'd catch something...

Anyways, here's the scoop on what I "bought" at the Truck Stop:

For the low, low, low price of a half smashed pretzel stick on a sticky tile floor, I now have the great Johnny Mize in my collection:

Moving on to more sophisticated fare, the Wizard of Oz in all his Padres glory is now mine for a Stuckey's Pecan Log Roll.  

 

Now let's get into the Fancy Feast.  For the price of one of those rolling taco-rrito-dilla things that looks like it's been spinning on the broiler since gas was 86 cents a gallon, I landed Don Newcombe, albeit in a Reds uniform.

And last, but never least is Jim "Catfish" Hunter, who cost me the price of one of those roses that is actually a pair of panties.  Hmm, someone's gettin' lucky.  Thank God it's not me (see post title).  

Well that does it for this week's romp at the truck stop. 

The Babe is Still Knocking 'em Out

2013 MLB Tournament - Week #6 Update

Legislature is in town.  Budgets are being drawn.  Just trying to keep my head above water.  Wish me luck and a job come July.  In the meantime, enjoy the Week 6 scoreboard update!

 

A Pinch of Lint and a Random Screw

One of my guilty pleasures is cruising Listia for baseball cards.  In case you've never heard of it, Listia is an auction site similar to eBay, but you "pay" with points, not money.  Points can be earned through surveys, completing tasks, "selling" items or outright purchase using real money.  

I've put a few items up for auction on Listia, and I've done more than my fair share of surveys, so I've accrued a respectable amount of points without having to put a cent into the Listia business model.  However, my main gripe with Listia is there is a lot of garbage to sift through.

Finding a card that you're actually interested in can be quite daunting.  I may not bid on a card for days on end because of poor selection and outrageous "prices."  Which leads to my other problem with Listia, inflation.  A point just doesn't go as far as it used to.  Auctions used to start in the 1-100 point range and would end in the 250-500 point range.

Now auctions usually start at the 499 mark, and end much, much higher.  I guess this is due to popularity of the site, but it is aggravating.  If any of you are Econ majors, it might make a good paper to study the Listia business model.  It some regards it reminds me of a runaway economy in the European Union where the currency has no standard.      

Alright, alright, enough with the economics drivel, let's look at some cards!

Last week, I was able to land three cards of my want lists.  One for a set I'm building and two for my HOFer/Superstar project.

For the equivalent price of two shirt buttons, a pinch of pocket lint and a random screw, I won this card for my 1987 Donruss set.

Next on the block, was this snazzy 1959 Lindy McDaniel card.  For this one I had to turn to the kid's couch cushions for some extra scratch.  I shelled out four cheerios, a piece of congealed milk, six ponytail holders and the lower torso of a GI Joe figure.  

 

Finally, through patience and my lack of card condition caring (paper-loss on the back of the card, meh), I now own a 1971 Catfish Hunter.  I pulled out all the stops on this one, and paid via the household junk drawer.  For this lovely card it cost me two AAA batteries, one of those rubber jar opener pads, a pen from my last hotel stay at the Courtyard Hotel and seven, I said seven!, trash bag twisty ties.  

 

Not a bad haul for worthless points and free shipping!   

May Card Show - Bargain Bin Blowout

Yesterday, I may have caught your eye with my 50 cent vintage pickups.  Well if you thought that was awesome, you are in for a treat today.  At the time, I thought the following pickups were so spectacular that I stopped shopping after I bought them, even though I still had half of my budget left.  I think you'll agree that what I was able to buy at the price I got is almost too good to be true...

At the same Bargain Bin as I discussed yesterday, I was able to land one of the newest Hall of Famers for $1. 

 

On top of that 1965 beauty, I found this gem for $2...

Two really nice cards of Hall of Famers from an iconic set for a whopping $3.  But wait!  I've just scratched the surface.  Now it's about to get really interesting...

For $3, that's right, I said THREE DOLLARS, I brought home this piece of awesome!

 

A 1961 Ernie Banks for less than the price of a pack of Heritage or Allen & Ginter.  I nearly died when I saw this in the bargain bin.

BUT WAIT!  There is still more.  How about these two scrubs for $3.50 a pop.  A POP.

Two iconic HOF third basemen for $7?  I think I just felt some palpitations.   BUT WAIT, THERE IS STILL MORE!  For the sickeningly low price of $4 each.  I SAID FOUR DOLLARS EACH came these two cards...

My chest is starting to hurt.  Unreal vintage at unreal prices.  BUT WAIT!  There is one more card to show.  

A second year Gibson for $5.  That's it, the heart attack is official.  I cannot wait for my next card show in June.  I will make a straight line from the front door to the Bargain Bin on the first day of the show.  Who knows what I'll find next!

May Card Show - 50 Cent Vintage

Back in March, I took my son to a card show.  He had a blast taking pictures of the show, and I managed to pick up some cool vintage in the 30 minutes or so I had before he lost his patience.  Unlike the last show, this time I flew solo, save for a surprise appearance by my friend, Brerskwerl, who has the Nationals in the 2013 MLB Tournament.

This show was just like the others, started on Friday and ran through Sunday.  However, I was limited to Friday, as Saturday was booked and Sunday was Mother's Day, and there was no way in Hades I was going to prioritize cards over my wife.  If I had, I would have come home to no cards in the house...

So, I had Friday to peruse the show.  With a dentist appointment earlier in the day, I had a free pass from 2 pm to 7 pm.  I ended up arriving around 2:30 and left somewhere around 5 pm.  I could/should of stayed those extra hours, as I had half of my budgeted money left, but what I'd already bought felt just too good to be true, so I left.

Just like the last show, I did my ritual.  I walked up and down each aisle, cataloging every vendor and getting a "feel" for how much they were charging for vintage.  Some of the sellers did not like this at all.  Too bad, it's my money.

Eventually, I settled on a couple of tables.  One was the Old as Dirt Guy from the last show, and the others, well, they really didn't matter.  I ended up buying every card from the Old as Dirt Guy, save for one vintage and a special Blue Jay for Buckstorecards.

I did, however, save one dealer a lot of heartache.  I was leafing through a stack of $1 cards, when I noticed this in the pile.  

I said, "Is this supposed to be in here?"  He replied, "Yeah, it's a reprint."  To which I said, "No, it's not."  Needless to say, that card was out of the pile in a heartbeat.  Perhaps my act of kindness pleased the Cardboard Gods because what happened next is something I will never forget...

Once a spot opened up at the Old as Dirt Guy's table, I bellied up to the "Bargain Bin."  Every card is 50 cents a pop unless otherwise marked.  The Bargain Bin is several neatly sorted boxes with cards dating from 1948 to 1970.  Cards are mostly VG to EX, with a few Goods and a rare Poor.  Boo-yah.  My kind of bin.

If you remember, I've recently refocused my collecting on Hall of Famers and players who were in the Superstar Baseball board game.  With that checklist in hand, I found the following cards for 50 cents a pop.

Six HOFers and 12 superstars for $9?  Yeah, I'd say that was a pretty sweet deal.  But if you thought the 50 cent vintage was awesome, just you wait...

2013 MLB Tournament - Week #5 Update

Round 1 is done, and we're about a week into Round 2.  Not much early action going on, but that's why we play 32 games a round!

Posts have and will be sparse for the time being.  I have a lot going on both personally and professionally, so cards and blogging will have to take a backseat.  If I owe you a trade, please be patient.  I know of three bloggers I owe cards, but don't worry, the longer it takes me, the better the cards you'll get.

Also, I did have time to make it to a card show over the weekend.  If you like vintage, you'll love the following two posts.  I made out like a bandit, and yes, I will be bragging.

Hope to be back in full swing soon, but until then, enjoy the tournament!

Wanted! - 1990 Fleer

FYI - I already have a complete 1990 Fleer set.  However, I'm just 7 cards short of finishing off a second set, which would make for a excellent present for my son!  Yet, I'm not really wanting these cards, if you know what I mean.

	268 - Wade Boggs
313 - Nolan Ryan
400 - Jay Howell		508 - Jay Buhner
		564 - Ricky Jordan
	601 - Brian DuBois	623 - Dale Murphy

2013 MLB Tournament - Sweet Sixteen is Set

The Mariners made the final spot into the Sweet Sixteen, and the second round is set.  There are still some final scores to finish in the first round, but it's all arithmetic now.  

For your convenience, I'm posting the finished, yet, not finished first round, as well as the freshly gelled second round.