Oddz and Endz

    This post will contain some oddball topics that I've wanted to blog about, but I don't really have much to say about them other than, 'Hey, check this out.'  So hey! Check this out!

    One of the stamp forums where I have found myself loitering, had a FDC give-away earlier this spring, and yours truly won the lot. There were twenty-two 1982 FDCs on Postal Commemorative Society pages. I did not enter the give-away right away because as far as I knew, there was only one first day cover of interest to me. Turns out though, that no one else was interested in any of the free covers, so I dropped my name in the hat to let destiny run its course. In short, no one one else followed my lead and competed for the covers, so they are now here in Chicago. Thanks Dave N.!

    This is the one FDC in that lot that I wanted for my collection. This image is one of two photos that Dave had posted for the give-away. Jackie Robinson. Nice!

    The orange in the photo is not representative of the orange in hand. Although not part of the actual FDC, the orange border is interesting because it lacks the class and subtlety usually associated with philately. Orange was in fashion back in the early 1980s. My parents had orange carpet in the living room, and there were splashes of orange everywhere else. Below is a Jackie Robinson card that I pulled from a repack. It's a 1987 Hygrade All-Time Greats red back promo card. Apparently orange was still a thing in 1987, but by then my parents had moved on to their next interior fashion ensemble. -A matching pair is always nice!

    Moving right along. I have been collecting Cubs on the cards of other players. I was even running a geek list when I was able to identify the wild Cub. I also add to our PCs when I find them on cards not their own. This is my first Ichiro in that flavor. Although this is a Marlins card, finding Ichiro in the photo was not terribly easy.

Peek-a-Boo 

    Next up, laughing. I don't think a book has made me laugh out loud as much as Baseball Eccentrics by Bill Lee. Earl Weaver's kick fight was probably the funniest true life story I've ever read. If you have not read it (and I think most of you have), get it. It had me rolling! 

    Now for yesterday's baseball news. I DO NOT WANT THE NL TO ADOPT THE DH! 

    The AL created the DH hoping to bring in money, because their fan base was (still is, I think) weaker. It was thought at the time that a DH would increase the fan base. However we-I love every player having to stand in the dang batter's box, and go for it. I get extra excited when a pitcher makes a good offensive play.  I know MLB is thinking about money. Well how about this MLB- Reduce the dang prices for tickets, food, drinks, and souvenirs! For crying out load, think about it. People spend more when they can afford more. DH in in NL might (doubtful) help in the really (REALLY) long run, but it will be a big turn off to most current NL fans, and you want more fans right? Nuff said. 

    Last but not least. I was a Gravity Falls fan. I know, I was pushing 50 when it aired. Well I'm over 50 now, and I still love a good animation. Yesterday I found an animation that seems to be scratching my Gravity Falls itch! The Hollow, on Netflix. I'm liking it, and this is coming from someone who cut her teeth on the original Scooby Doo and the best of Hanna-Barbera. So hey! Check it out!

Thanks for reading! Have a great weekend! 

The Tides of Trading

    Sometimes weeks, even months go by without making a card trade. Other times, I wake up to find several trade requests in the inbox. It's rare that I do trades larger than 30 cards, but it does happen from time to time, and this is one of those times. Marc. B. at TCDB proposed one of these bigger trade bundles, and boy was it a fun! Below are some of the treasures that have recently been added to my collection. Thanks Marc!

  An Ernie Hall of Fame card. The hidden plaque script is printed on the back of the card. Nice!

Two Obak cards. My Obak set is in the early stages of being a collection. I dig this kind of stuff.  

A couple Topps Archives. These are always nice cards! Billy with his timid pose, and Fergie with his I need to find a latrine face. Photographers can be cruel!

Bubble gum bubbles. This collection is growing quicker than expected. Yay!

I didn't care for Diamond Kings cards until Panini took over the brand. Abreu DK, I like!

Fleer Tradition. Love the feel of these cards. They are a lot like Topps Heritage, another favorite. Fleer can be classy, when it's in the mood.

Some Heroes of Baseball cards for Zip's PCs.

Some very cool Ichiro cards for my PC. The Triple Play card is one of the puzzle pieces I need to complete the picture. I think I still need six more pieces. I'll know for sure when I put these in the album. I had mentioned in a comment on another blog that I was warming up to these toonish Triple Play cards. I'm pretty sure it's because I think this style suits Ichiro's card design.

Thanks for reading! A great day to you all!

AnalogKid Strikes Again!

      Eric C., aka the AnalogKid and I completed another trade through the TCDB. It's been a bit under a year since our last exchange and again, it was a fabulous experience! My Ichiro collection acquired two new cards,

        and this Mark Grace card is the final card needed to complete the 1993 Leaf Cubs set.

    This is probably my favorite Leaf set. The reason is that I love the back of these cards.

Check it out-

    All the cards have city specific backgrounds. Both the Cubs and the South Sider's cards have images of the Chicago skyline as their background. I also have all of the White Sox cards for this base set, except for the Frank Thomas variant. The same four skyline backgrounds are found on them as well. Their accent color is a dark gray, whereas the Cubs accent color is blue. I mention this because the blue on the Cubs cards brings to mind Lake Michigan and the Chicago River. The blue really works here, and not to take away from the flavor of the Sox color scheme, their cards make one want to look for King Kong or Godzilla in the background. This a very cool set.


    Okay, so those were my favorite baseball cards from our trade. The other baseball cards filled in some of the empty slots in sets that I'm still working on. There was also one Beatles card included as a part of our trade. It is this lovely tea card, a 1982 Brooke Bond to be exact.

 

BUT!

Wait! 

There's more!

     There was a bonus packet enclosed with this trade. An entire handful of Beatles cards! Two of them are from the original set! The AnalogKid not only made the Beatles Honor Roll again, but he is the current valedictorian!

Scope out the newest additions (images) to Zipper's Beatles collection. -  The Beatles Honor Roll 

Thanks Eric!

Baseball in Stereoview

 

   Last year I blogged about an online course I had taken concerning the history of stereoscopes. Every so often I pull up that old blog post and look at the stereo cards. It is a very meditative activity, and because it takes concentration on relaxing my eyes, I feel better for doing it. Anyway, some weeks back I searched Google images for stereo cards related to baseball. I did not find very many, and so I put off blogging about them. Now, I have an urge to look at them, so I'm going ahead with this post of the few baseball stereo cards I've found online.

    If you come across any baseball related stereo cards in your online adventures, please leave a comment (on any blog entry) with the url. I'd love to check them out.

Here they are. 

 

Here's the link to the original Now and Zen Stereoscopy post: Stereocards: Free-viewing 3D Parallel-view 

Thanks for reading!

Assimilation Begins

   

     I received a nifty pwe from fellow blogger Greg, from The Collective Mind. I've gathered up the scans, added these puppies to my collection at TCDB, and now it is time for ...

ShoW & TeLL.

    These top two cards are the first cards in my Cubs collection from the 1983 Topps set.  I'm not sure why '83 has been keeping to the shadows, but they're coming out now.

    My first triple image 1986 Sportflics card. Cub Ron Cey is wearing Rollie Fingers' mustache, and Pete Rose is lurking in there somewhere. The 1986 Fleer checklist is the last card I needed to complete the Cubs set. Yay!

 Aw, and an Ernie. Ernie is a Day Maker.

        There were several hits to Zip's guys. There were these two Yankees for starters.

    A pair of Strawberries, and a pair of Baines. Very nice PC additions. The triple image 1986 Sportflics Baines card is all Baines. I really do prefer one primary player per card, unless it's a groovy action photo. -I love seeing dirty uniforms! 

Last but not least, we have theses two White Sox filling in some holes in the team collection.  

Thank you Greg! I have a pwe with your name on it, just waitin' for a USPS stamp delivery.  

Thanks for reading!