Trade Me Anything XVIII: #4

This is one of those trades that I look forward to each year.  Every time David shows up for TMA, you know you're in for a treat.  His trade package is usually simultaneously eclectic and practical.  I always end up getting a book in the trade, and it's always something I enjoy reading.  Let's not prolong the suspense.

 

Giving:

#US156 Jack Leiter Gold (0513/2024), #MYS-19 Jung Hoo Lee Mystical

Getting:

Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha

My wife and I have recently booked a vacation to Mexico in June.  I look forward to reading this by the pool.  I have the feeling that the cover will make other guests think, "I'm leaving this guy alone, he looks pretty serious about his reading."

A small drawstring bag

What's inside of it?

It's... something.

Perhaps a tealight holder?  It's made of earthenware, maybe something to put plants into?  Or maybe it's something for smoking that I'm just not cool enough to know about.

An empty Topps Inception box

Well, not totally empty, because it's holding...

Some cards!

Some interesting didn't-quite-make-it Brewers in that bunch.

Two Robin Younts and a Prince Fielder

I believe these are all new to me, and will be going in their respective binders.  Woo-hoo!

A San Diego Padres camo can koozie

Much of my brother's wife's family now resides in the San Diego area.  One of these days we will get out there and take in a game.  I'll definitely impress my dude Keshav when I bring this with me.

High Rollers Dice Game

It's a five-die poker game.  Looks easy and fun.  Another thing that might be fun poolside.

Carlos Correa Topps Heritage Puzzle

I was all set to throw this in an envelope and give it to my brother-in-law as a gift.  He's a big Twins fan and would probably appreciate it.  We were all set to head up there Saturday morning, but my wife and I got miserably sick.  I've blown my nose at least five times while typing this post.  The flu sucks.

UC-Irvine Law School Luggage Tag

People seeing this on my suitcase will think I have a law degree and I'm smart.  Joke's on them, I have two master's degrees in education because I'm dumb.

California State Parks 2025 Calendar.

Majestic beauty.

What can I say, this trade brought it once again.  Thanks, David, wishing you a Happy New Year!

Packs That Just Showed Up #6

My archive of posts tells me that the last time I wrote about one of these packs it was July.  If you want to refamiliarize yourself with the origin of this series, here's the link.

This time around we have another pack of 2019 Topps Series 1 Baseball.  Will cards from the correct set be inside?  Will there actually be 16 cards, as the wrapper promises?  It's always an iffy proposition with these.

#231 Joc Pederson, #51 Michael Brantley, #304 Michael Lorenzen

Let's see, Pederson just signed a deal with the Rangers, Brantley retired last January, and Lorenzen reportedly might hit and pitch for the White Sox, though nothing is official yet.

#59 Zack Godley, #179 Jackie Bradley, Jr., #335 Ervin Santana

All landscape format cards.  Odd.

#99 Aroldis Chapman 150 Years of Baseball Parallel

Is it snowing in this picture?

#SSB-100 Kyle Tucker Stars of the Game

#RA-9 Ronald Anuca, Jr. Ronald Acuna, Jr. Highlights

I don't know what else to call this insert set.  Redundancy required.

#202 Sweet Life Checklist, #347 Kirby Yates, #189 Khris Davis, #130 Blake Snell

#39 Richard Urena, #10 Clayton Kershaw, #38 Kolby Allard

Of these last six player cards, only Snell and Kershaw are officially attached to a 2025 MLB roster.  They'll both be on the Dodgers because the Dodgers get to have whoever they want on their team until the end of time.

 

That was a pretty decent pack, especially because it was free.

Trade Me Anything XVIII: #3

Just like Mrs. Arbuckle says that it just wouldn't be Christmas if the family put the star on the tree before the rest of the ornaments, it just wouldn't be Trade Me Anything if gcrl didn't send in a trade package.  Let's check out the goods.

Giving:

A bunch of All-Stars in their universally-agreed-upon shabby-looking uniforms

#89US-2 Ozzie Albies 1989 Topps 35th Anniversary, #89US-30 Mickey Mantle 1989 Topps 35th Anniversary, #US97 Jackson Holliday

So gcrl made a really crafty offer and checked back to TMA 2023 to comb through the leftovers.  I applaud this tactic.

#MVP-DMA Don Mattingly 1985 AL MVP Commemorative Medallion

#US300 Cody Bellinger Gold (1851/2023), #AA-63 Dwight Gooden All Aces, #T88CU-6 Bernie Williams 1988 Topps 35th Anniversary Refractor

Getting:

Baseball: Our Game by John Thorn

Small-format book, perfect for reading in the smallest room of one's house.

Ton of (Mostly) Recent Brewers

That Turang is niiiiiiiiice.  With any luck, he will pissant himself into the hearts of Cardinals and Cubs fans.

2012 Leaf History of Baseball Jim Colborn Cut Signature

First Brewers 20-game winner.

Some various set needs

Lot of 2024 Topps Update Series Set Needs

It still frosts my shorts that you used to be able to get a full set out of a hobby box, and now you're easily a third of a set short.  Madness.

2012 Great Rivers District Camporee Boy Scout Patch

I was never a scout, but my family went camping a lot.  I'd call that another win for Mary.

Cheesehead Pencil Topper

I definitely used to have one of these.  It feels good to have a replacement.  I look forward to being the star of my next IEP meeting.

 A really thrilling set of stuff, gcrl.  I'll wave when I pass the Woodbury exit in a few days.  Have a happy new year!

Merry Lynchmas!

 

And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round them: and they were sore afraid.

 

2024 Card-vent Calendar: December 24

December 24, 2024:

2000 Upper Deck #FT11 Nomar Garciaparra Five-Tool Talents

This is kind of a weird card to end the calendar on.  There's nothing Christmassy about it.  It's just Nomar pointing at a pop-up.  Whenever Nomar is mentioned, I always think about this book.

This was a book from, what, TWO reading series ago?  For those of you not in the biz, this is called a leveled reader.  Back when we used this Houghton Mifflin series, each main story in the reading book would be paired with three different leveled readers.  These were stories that matched the main story thematically and incorporated the same vocabulary.  Each reader was written at a different difficulty level, either at grade level, below grade level for struggling readers, or above grade level for kids who needed something more challenging.

 

Our current reading series is a piece of shit.  We're using HMH Into Reading.  Same company, shittier product.  The basal reader is fairly decent, has interesting stories that the kids seem to enjoy.  But the leveled readers are garbage.  They're just random sets of books that have no relation to the main stories, either in theme or vocabulary.  They're kept in these blue burlap totes that are falling apart despite remaining untouched for most of the year.  I keep them on a shelf for display purposes in case a bigwig with a do-nothing job walks into my classroom carrying a clipboard.  (Guess what, motherfucker?  I carry a clipboard everywhere I go, too!  Your not-working-with-children, haven't-been-a-teacher-since-1999-looking-ass wants to take some notes, I'll take some notes, too.)  Every summer I pick them up and store them on a different shelf, and they leave behind these piles of blue powder that have been shed from the totes.  It's a bit alarming that they're decomposing as such.  I wonder how toxic that stuff is.  During the school year, the children like to put their candy wrappers in the totes as an alternative to throwing them away properly.  I like where their heads are at, putting garbage among other garbage, but I officially discourage this practice.

In any case, I just wish we could have books like Mia and Nomar back.  Not this Rigby Reader crap.

And tomorrow... a savior.

2024 Card-vent Calendar: December 23

December 23, 2024:

2000 Collector's Edge Masters K-Klub #K21 (1272/3000)

As I'm typing this, I'm watching the Packers dismantle the Saints on Monday Night Football.  Playing on Monday night is not the same as it used to be, with the NFL expanding to more night games over the past 20 years.  Still, it's fun to see your team deliver an ass-whuppin' in front of the whole country.  Our receivers played particularly well tonight, and it's not hard to see shades of Antonio Freeman in some of the stars.  Wicks and Reed in particular shined brightly tonight. 

This is a cool see-through acetate card.  Back when there were more licenses, cards were better.  There is no disputing this.  Sure, this may not have been the leading company back then, but they were trying out new stuff.  I just wish that cards were for collecting, not investing.  I don't want to play a stock market, I want to create a scrapbook.

Trade Me Anything XVIII: #2

Yeah, it's been a long time since I've done a TMA post.  There's a stack of unopened packages, and since the trade you're about to see was delivered, some of the guys on the cards aren't on the same team as they were when they were sent.  This long-time-coming trade was courtesy of Brendan, whose patience I appreciate.  (Maybe I should do this in a different season?  Nah, it wouldn't be the same without the breakneck December rush.)

Giving:

#US194 Juriskcon Profar Rainbow Foil, #MYS-9 Juan Soto Mystical, #T89CU-50 Ketel Marte 1989 Topps 35th Anniversary Refractor

Getting: 

Brendan sent a nice stack of cards, and by my logic, they fit into a few different groups.

First up, Guys Who Were Brewers Up Until a Few Weeks Ago.

We're going to miss Willy, but in truth, the Giants overpaid.  Devin caused me more heartache than he will ever know.  I wish them both well.

Next, Yount and Molitor.

I wouldn't be worth my salt as a Brewer fan if I didn't already have these, but you can never have too many.

The MoCo (Missouri Connection)

Two great players.  I'm slowly putting together the 1988 Score set.  I'll have to check if I still need either of these.

FOOBAW

Some new, some old.

And finally, one oddball that fit into none of these categories, 2022 Topps Heritage #NF-15 Watergate Hearings Begin.  My mom was always proud to share that the day Nixon resigned, she put an American flag outside the front door.

Thanks for the trade, Brendan, it was a great mix of everything!

2024 Card-vent Calendar: December 22

December 22, 2024:

2023 Panini Instant #39 Dare Ogunbowale (#/87)

This is a really cool card numbered to a small amount of copies that I'm really glad I got my hands on.

If you've followed me in other spaces, you might have heard that when I was student-teaching back in the fall of 2001, Dare was a student in my class.  He was a really nice, smart kid.  It was a little disappointing to learn that he went to the all-boys Marquette High School, a silver spoon institution in the city if there ever was one, and an athletic powerhouse.  Fortunately, he chose to go to Wisconsin to play football.  He's not a big dude, but he gets the job done.  This card commemorates the game last year when he, a running back, kicked a go-ahead field goal in the fourth quarter against the Buccaneers.  Baker Mayfield and Tampa Bay came back to retake the lead, but C.J. Stroud marched Houston down the field for the game-winning touchdown with under a minute left.  Dare also did the kickoffs during this game after the regular kicker had to leave the field due to injury.  It's always cool when a player succeeds outside of his or her usual position, and doubly cool when you used to teach that kid math and reading and shit.  I also recall several spirited games of paper football (the folded triangle thingy and finger goalposts) during some indoor recesses that semester.

2024 Card-vent Calendar: December 21

December 21, 2024:

2016 Topps Archives Bull Durham #BD-NL Nuke LaLoosh

I have a confession to make.

Bull Durham is not on my list of favorite baseball movies.  Sorry.

It's probably a matter of not seeing it early enough in life.  This doesn't mean it's not a good movie, it just doesn't hold a place in my heart.

That place is reserved for Field of Dreams.  That's a film I know forwards and backwards, and the sentiment gets me every time.

 

My other confession?

I don't think Major League is that great, either.

Bob Uecker!

County Stadium!

I don't know, it just never really clicked for me.  I know it's a classic, and if you like it, I can understand why. It's not you, it's not the movie, it's me.

 

I've never seen The Sandlot. 

At the time, that was a movie for little kids.  Once I saw Goodfellas, there was no turning back.

The Bad News Bears is great.

Am I redeeming myself?

 

While I've got your attention, can I recommend Bang the Drum Slowly and Fear Strikes Out?

I own both movies, great character studies made by Paramount.  See them if you haven't yet.

And how about For Love of the Game?  Just an awful title (the phrase is botched), but a good film.  A guy is having an existential crisis while pitching a perfect game?  Until they make a prestige Dock Ellis biopic, this is what we have to live with.

Go ahead, call me a monster.

I'll have my feet up watching Tom Selleck in Mr. Baseball.