Another helping of Fuji...

with a side of Baseball Nuttiness?

Baseball Nut asked...

Why do you collect? 

One question, many answers:

The simplest answer, and by far the most popular: O.C.D. either professionally or self-diagnosed. The ever-expanding need to finish things, you can't leave a set un-complete. Even if it's not the complete set of cards, a team set, or insert set, or in the case of our favorite Dimwit, all the mini-relics from 2011's Gypsy Queen. now there's a guy with a possibly somewhat unhealthy yearning for Gypsies!

And he's still working on the autographs from the same set!! Way to go Sam, nice job!


I overheard my wife telling somebody recently that I have to have each and every thing done and in it's place. It scares me a little cause even I can see she's right. That's probably why I'm trying not to buy too much this year in the way of cards.

The second answer, like many respondees, I am a huge baseball fan, much to my wife's dismay. Which is actually only a recent occurance, with the 2009 world series.

Reason #3:
Like Fuji himself and Night Owl, and I've blogged about this before, cards can bring me to a special place, and remind me of other memories and experiences, often bringing a smile to my face, but not always. This card reminds me of my introduction to baseball, the '09 world series.

Ths card reminds me of my first pup, Seven:

I miss her so much some days. 

The fourth reason: Friendship.
Yeah, I know it's a by-product, found after the fact, but it's till true. I first started collecting baseball cards with the 2010 Opening Day set, and ended up with a crap-load of extras. Hitting up the interwebs here, looking to off-load said duplicates, I started making offers of cards, looking to pick up the few I was missing in exchange for ridding myself of space-robbing duplicate cards. This led me to the likes of BA Benny, My Cardboard Mistress, The Chronicles of Fuji, Justin's World, just to name a few of the awesome blogs I found early in my own blog's life.

Honestly, if it had not been for coming across Benny's blog, I probably would not still be collecting baseball cards let alone started my own blog. Welcome back Mike, and thanks for the push.

Reason #5: Learning. Life indeed, is a learning experience. Best lived from the center of the action, not from the sidelines as a spectator. You can learn a heck of a lot from these little cardboard pictures. The biggest thing I've learned is how GReat the blogosphere is. Home to the nicest bunch of geeks this side of the Big Bang Theory. Willing to send cards to complete strangers halfway across the globe, often in exchange for the thrill of finding out you made someone's day with a card. 

this card showed up out of the blue in my mailbox with a bunch of fellow Phillies, but has become one of my favorite relics, mainly because it was not part of a trade, sent to me just because I'm a Phillies fan and Scott thought it would fit my collection better than his! Thanks for the generosity Scott.

then there's everybody's favorite Troll, who always send good stuff out of Southern Florida. Still loving the Roberts vintage I won in your Grandbaby Troll contest dude! Yep, the lesson here is there are still generous folks out there in the world that care for complete strangers, just because they may have a few things in common.

Reason #6: The big Score! Yes, like my fellow bloggers/collectors, I buy packs of cards hoping to find that ultra-rare, super limited, 1/1 card that will pay for everything I ever wanted. Not that I ever expect to find one. Most of my purchases come from Target or Wally World, where every pack searcher who's ever searched a pack, has gotten there before me. But that's OK, cause I get to see what my fellow collectors hit and can live vicariously through them. 

Case in point: Back to my favorite Dimwit. Sam recently pulled an awesome autographed card:

and I'm totally psyched for his luck, and also very glad I did not pull that one! It would have left me in a quandry. Love to have it in my collection, but worth way too much on the open market for me to be able to afford to keep it! Nice pull, Sam, hope you got a bundle for it! 


Zippy Zappy best touched on it, it's the range of emotions when confronted with an unopened pack of cards, from hopefulness to elation or disappointment.


And finally, reason #7:
The Hunt.
I do not have one personally as of yet, but I've read several accounts of white whales and the search for them. That one elusive card, maybe you've been outbid in the last second, by pennies. That guy standing ahead of you in the queue picked your card out of the box right before your very eyes! Whatever reason comes up, you've just not been able to close the deal and add that one piece to your collection.
I guess the closest I've come at this point is the 2011 Topps Heritage '62 Mint Jamie Moyer Penny card:

I'd love to have this card, Moyer is my favorite pitcher, he was born about 5 years before me and impresses the hell out of me, both for his performance on the mound as well as his charity off the field!


Reason #8:
Shamelessly stolen from Play at the Plate:
He summed it up nicely, and I am paraphrasing here;


What was, What is, What could be.


Reason #9: I agree with Stealing Home, It get's us through the LOOONG winter!


Well, there you have it. Several reasons for my obsession why I collect little cardboard pictures of men. As Curt said, "I couldn't think of a better way to waste my time, and money." (oh crap, except I did when I bought the motorcycle!) I may not always collect baseball cards (yeah, right!) but I'll always find room in my life to collect something. Speaking of, time to collect a paycheck... back to work!


Thanks for the question, Baseball Nut.
Thanks for reading,
Have a GReat day!
Dawgbones


P.S. - PATP, I'm glad you at least came back to food, starvation is not pretty and the blogging world would  truly miss your presence!


P.P.S. - Classon Ave, I wish Chicks dug it, cause my wife is most definitely a Chick, she despises baseball with almost as much passion as I do loving it, and sees my card purchases as a huge waste of time, money, and space in her home!!

Fuji, with a side of Kirk Jacobson

What's the most you have ever spent on a single sports related item?


Since you did not specify a monetary sum, How about just shy of 18 years?


As a few of my regular readers know, last February was my 18th wedding anniversary. Well, for Christmas this past year, my presents included several Phillies items:

the coat, given to me by my wonderful sister-in-law, Christine. I imagine this one cost her  a sawbuck or two. It's gonna keep me nice and warm while looking totally cool riding my cycle this fall!


Or the best damned present my lovely wife could have ever given me:

My Phillies Pennant quilt, put together for me by my wife.

yep, you saw this back at Christmas, but it's till the most expensive item in my Sports-related collection. Mostly cause it's frickin PRICELESS to me!! She really out-did herself when she designed and put this one together for me. As I said in my original post for this one, "And that, my Phello Phillies Phriends, as well as the rest of my readership, is why my wife is the best damn friend I could ever hope to have."


As for a dollar amount, if you really must satisfy your curiosity, it was less than $20, and wasn't even for me. It was for a fellow blogger and good friend, Spankee, you know, My Cardboard Mistress. He's a big David Wright fan, and I lucked into finding this card for him at my LCS, which was among a few other items I surprised him with here.

Thanks for the GReat question there, Curt!
Have a GReat Night!
Dawgbones


P.S. I think it would be the end of my 18 year effort if I spent $625 on cards at one time!!

More Fuji-esque-ness, a la Dayf...

dayf asked...


What is the ugliest card set you've ever seen?


I have not been collecting cards long enough to come across any set that is truly ugly to me. I've seen singular cards in a set that are beyond hideous:

Three different versions of one ugly fricking card!!
I've seen downright crappy airbrush jobs on cards.

And I've seen enough con jobs in releases that downright infuriate me.

Here we have the classic con-job, an awesome photo of Jim Thome, in his familiar #25 Phillies uniform, with an obvious star from one of the I's in the Phillies jersey. And they are going to try and convince me that this is a white sox card. I'm throwing the B.S. flag for sure!
)thanks for the scan, Sam, and there still are no hard feelings here). This is probably the reason Upper Dec failed to keep their MLB license!!


Ah, screw that. That damned cheesy, bull-crap, Spot the Error insert set. That wins my vote for ugliest set.

and I still say the error was putting these damned things in packs of cards! At least make it more interesting, put more than one difference on the card. 


There you have it Dayf. Now for the awesomest set, a 1/1 hand painted Phillie:

Still love this card. Gets my vote for my favorite card this year!
even Augie Doggie approves!

Thanks for reading,
Have a GReat week!
Dawgbones

What are your all-time favorite products to collect in each sport?

Another Fuji-esque question for today:

What are your all-time favorite products to collect in each sport?

Well, I no longer collect much NASCAR cards, but occasionally I have been known to pick up a pack or two of Press Pass Elements:

Hoping to pull one of these:

Or maybe even one of these:

but still haven't. the other cards in the set are nice too:

As for the only other Sport there is (at least for me), I love the Opening Day product:

the cost is relatively inexpensive, even though there is almost no chance for a hit, I still love the inserts, especially the Mascots, though I may have mentioned that a time or two.

Oh, there is the coach potato category as well:

from which I did manage to pull:

 and

which helped to pay for the box. Yep, Big Bang Theory wins every time, I love this show!

a close runner up would have been the minor league baseball card products, I have busted one box:

Anything that shows off the minors logos is fantastic in my book:

Thanks for the question there Sam.
Have a GReat week!
Thanks for reading!
Dawgbones