Monday, September 28, 2015

A Bunch of Old Ticket Stubs

I was looking for something completely unrelated to cards while digging through the bedroom closet today and found an old scrapbook I put together when I was in junior high and my first few years of high school. The first four pages of the scrapbook were ticket stubs from various baseball games and other events I've been too. I thought I would share them here ...


One interesting note here is that the Reds/Royals ticket stub is from the game where Pete Rose Jr. debuted and got his first major league hit. There is also a ticket stub from Opening Day 1999, which is one of the few times I've managed to go to Opening Day for the Reds as tickets are extremely hard to get.


My aunt always got Reds tickets from her work in the early 90s and we would always go when she got tickets. The stub from the WWF show was the first live wrestling show I ever went to and it was one of the few events I ever went to with my dad.


See the next scan for a picture of me at the Indians/Orioles game from 1998.


The picture at the bottom is a picture of me taken by my uncle in the summer of 1998 (I was 13 years old) in front of Jacobs Field. We were visiting my aunt and uncle and my uncle and I went to the Indians/Orioles game (see the third scan for the ticket stub).

I've got some more ticket stubs in another scrapbook that's buried in my garage. Once I find that, I might scan some more in and share those as well. Hope you enjoyed this little look back.

Saturday, September 26, 2015

The Mystery Box!


Last weekend, I posted about my visit to Mavericks Cards and Comics. As I mentioned in that post, the shop owner was generous enough to let me have this box of extra cards he was trying to get rid of for his friend for free. Included in the box were a bunch of singles from 2014 Topps football, 2015 Allen & Ginter, and 2015 Topps Series 2.

Random football singles are fine, but considering I didn't know half the players in there it was what it was for a box of free cards. I picked out cards of guys I know and scanned in a few below.


These and the other commons I pulled out are going into my football binder. Not a big fan of these in general since you really have to work to read the name and position on the bottom of the card. I'm working on a trade list for the rest and I'll have them posted up shortly.

Moving on, there was a good batch of stuff from Topps Series 2. Here are a few highlights:


Carlos Martinez and Dellin Betances. Martinez just had a season-ending injury but it looks like he'll be OK for the post-season. Betances has had a good season for the Yankees as well.


A few more "future stars" cards here. To me, Betts is the highlight of this bunch.


Finally, two former Reds that are still kicking around the league.

The rest of the Series 2 batch was mainly commons but with a few stars such as Verlander, Cano, etc. but nothing overly exciting. There were some duplicates as well, so look for those on the trade list that should be up hopefully in the next few days.

Finally, the cards that turned this into a great haul ... 2015 Topps Allen & Ginter! I'll admit, I wasn't a fan of Allen & Ginter when I first saw it this year as I felt it was overhyped from the start. However, the saying "don't knock it 'til you try it" definitely applies in this situation as these cards are great! As with the rest of the box, there were some commons but there were also a bunch of short prints ... as in 18 of them!



I was wanting the Val Kilmer card anyway as he is probably one of the best parts of the movie Tombstone so that's a win for me.

There were also some minis in the box, three different kinds of minis to be exact ...



As you can see, the Tanaka is a no-numbered Ginter back, the Cuddyer seems to be the standard backed mini card, and the Puig is a Ginter back.

I'd say my tune has definitely changed on Allen & Ginter so if I see anymore singles anywhere for cheap or if any of my local shops have some decent prices on packs, then I think I'll definitely pick up some. 

This was a fun box to dig through. For a free box, I wasn't expecting much but with the Allen & Ginter, I feel like I got more than I bargained for. As I mentioned in my Mavericks article, I did offer to purchase these instead of just taking them, but the owner insisted they were free. So, to Jack at Mavericks, thank you for the cards. I appreciate it very much.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Frankenset Update!

Been meaning to post about this for a while now, but I've finally finished one page of my Reds frankenset.

Here are the fronts ...


And the backs ...


Yes, I'm aware there is a double dip of '95 Leaf on this page. It works until I can find a substitute for either card.

In the tradition of set building, I've decided to split this up into series and work on it that way as that will make it more manageable for me. Cards 1-300 will be series 1 and thats what I'm focused on now. I've also posted a new page for my set needs including the remaining numbers I need to finish series 1 of my Reds frankenset.

Speaking of frankensets, I've got tentative plans for a second one with the working title of "junk wax frankenset". That should be fun so stay tuned for that. First though, I'll need to pick up some pages and another binder from the card shop.

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Card Shop Chronicles: Mavericks Cards and Comics (Kettering, OH)



I was up in the Dayton area this weekend and decided to stop by Mavericks Cards and Comics as I hadn't been in there in a while. Jack, the owner, was in and I asked if I could take a few pictures so I could do a write-up on his shop. He gladly said yes and let me snap some photos while I shopped.


Here's the view as you walk in the shop. The cases on the right are filled with packs, boxes, and cards. There are also counters to the right of the photo and to the left (below) that have singles as well with the newest boxes and products up at the front.



As you can see in the picture above, they also have gaming cards and a nice assortment of newer packs.


 The display case featuring a ton of singles, both new and old.


This is just a small portion of their gaming section.


If you're into comics, Mavericks has a HUGE selection of comics and pop culture items including Funkos, figurines, trade paperbacks, and tons of other stuff.

Of course, I couldn't leave without buying a few cards so I picked these up that were in the Reds commons bin:





Ok, well the Iglesias rookie wasn't in the commons bin, but for a dollar, I couldn't pass it up. For the cards above, it was only two dollars, so not a bad haul.

Wait ... did I mention this??


You know how much this box cost filled with 2014 Topps Football, 2015 Allen & Ginter, and 2015 Topps Series 2 was? Nothing!! That's because Jack was trying to get rid of some cards for a friend and said that anything in the box was free. I offered to pay since I was taking the whole box, but he insisted it was free and let me have it. What was in the box is another story for another day.

If you're ever in the Dayton area, make it a point to stop by Mavericks Cards and Comics. Jack and his staff are great guys to talk and chat with about whatever you collect, be it cards, comics, gaming, or other stuff. They have a great selection and will definitely get you what you need. Check them out on Twitter, Facebook, and at their website here.


Tuesday, September 15, 2015

The 2015 Halloween Mood Display

I love everything there is about Halloween ... cheap candy, wacky seasonal foods, fall festivals, the crispness in the night air, horror movies, and the old WCW pay-per-view series "Halloween Havoc". Last year, my spirit was at an all time low though. Looking back on it, I'm not sure why. So, in order to jump start my Halloween spirit last year, I took a page from Matt over at Dinosaur Dracula (where he has already started his Halloween countdown) and made what he calls a "mood table". The purpose of said table is to have one place in your house that is convenient with all things Halloween, be it scary movies, books of ghost stories, etc. and helps the Halloween spirit come alive.

This year, it seems, my Halloween spirit is at an all-time high and I was really excited to put together the sequel to the mood table. However, knowing how my 2-year old son likes to get into things, I decided it was a more logical idea to change it up this year and do a "mood display" instead. Last weekend, my wife and I didn't have anything planned so we got out the Halloween decor and got to work. I present the 2015 Halloween Mood Display ...


I took the archway on the wall between the living room and kitchen and turned it into the center of Halloween in our house. It's got everything you could ever need in one spot ... books, movies, and a Ghostbusters pail that will soon be filled up with candy. And yes, you have to have lights as you want it to be able to glow at night when the lights are off and you're watching Halloween 3: Season of the Witch.

Here are some close-ups going from left to right across the display ...


Here we've got three Funko figures from The Walking Dead, one of my wife's favorite shows, a green monster that exerts an evil laugh when squeezed, and a decorative pail.


Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees hanging out. I'm on the lookout for a Freddy Krueger figure to join them.


On the opposite end, it's Ash from Evil Dead and Army of Darkness and Billy from Saw. If I can find a Leatherface figure, then it'll be a party!


Finally, the fun section where my books of ghost stories and my horror movie collection awaits to be viewed with the creepy clown guy standing guard. Also, you can't have Halloween in my opinion without Snoopy and the timeless Peanuts Great Pumpkin special (which is the DVD in the orange case).

I feel the Halloween spirit more than ever this year and this or display is a big part of it. I hope you enjoyed reading about this and hopefully this will inspire you to do your own mood display, mood table, or whatever else. If you do decide to do one, and this post inspired you to do so, then I feel like I've succeeded in making the world a better place.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Bengals and Stingers and ... Other Stuff!

I had some extra cash a few weeks ago but I didn't have time to make a trek 45 minutes up the road to my favorite card shop. So instead, I picked up a few items from my COMC want list. My budget was $25 (including shipping), here's what I procured ...

 Two 1977-78 O-Pee-Chee WHA Cincinnati Stingers Cards



I finally got my hands on some Cincinnati Stingers cards and not only that, they're late 70s O-Pee-Chee cards, which absolutely no one has around here (believe me, I've asked). These are the best ones I could get for my budget and a good way to get my Stingers collection off to a nice start. My goal is to buy some Stingers cards every COMC order and eventually get all of them as this will accomplish two things ... 1) I'll have a bunch of Stingers cards and 2) I'll have a bunch of vintage hockey cards.

2011 Timeless Treasures Changing Stripes Materials Boomer Esiason


So far I've been pretty selective in purchasing cards for my football collection as I really don't want it to get watered down. This card is not only a dual jersey, but has both a piece of a Bengals jersey and a Jets jersey on it, the two teams that everyone remember Boomer Esiason playing for.

2014 Panini National Treasures Team Trios - A.J. Green/Andy Dalton/Giovani Bernard


THIS!! I couldn't believe this card fit into my budget! Not only is it #'d out of 99, it's three different styles of pieces of three of the top guys right now on the Bengals. Definitely a good find here.

2014-15 Upper Deck Ice Martin Brodeur 


As I've stated before, one of my collecting goals is to acquire all Martin Brodeur cards with him as a member of the Blues. This was the main card I wanted for my collection, and pretty much the only reason I've been wanting to buy packs of UD Ice, however I don't want to spend $15 on a pack. Thinking I'll just buy singles then.

2012 Gridiron Rookie Gridiron Gems Combo Materials Mohamed Sanu


Pretty nice card of Mohamed Sanu here, one that would probably be expensive if I bought it at the flea market or local card show. Double jerseys are always nice and this will display nice next to the triple jersey I mentioned above.

Other Stuff!





To cap off my order, I picked a random assortment of stuff, some UFC (Duke is a distant cousin of mine and Gracie won 3 of the first 4 UFC tournaments), some wrestling (Tazz was always a favorite of mine in the original ECW), an Aroldis Chapman numbered out of 299, a 1986 Boomer Esiason, and Oscar Robertson as a member of the long departed Cincinnati Royals even though I don't collect much basketball. 

I'd say this was a pretty successful order and once some more extra cash arrives, I'll pick up a few more things.

 

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Programs, Get Your Programs Here!

My wife and I were cleaning out our garage a a few weeks ago and buried inside a giant cardboard box were some old Reds programs, the majority of which I got when I went to Reds games as a kid, and later, as a teenager. I'm in the process of scanning in some of the contents of these magazines and will share them here in time. Some of them are very fragile (especially the 1976 and 1995 programs) so I'm having to be very cautious with those. In the meantime, here are scans of the covers of all the programs I found.

1976 NLCS Program
(This was given to me by a family member)

1995 Reds Yearbook/Progam

1997 Reds Yearbook

1998 Reds Magazine Issue 1

1998 Reds Magazine Issue 2

1999 Reds Magazine Issue 1

1999 Reds Magazine Issue 3

2000 Reds Magazine

2002 Reds Yearbook


As I mentioned, I'm scanning in some of the contents of each of these but it's a very time consuming process. I'm not scanning the whole magazine, as that would take forever, just the interesting parts of each one. I think somewhere I have the ticket stubs and some scorecards from the games where I got these. If I can find them, I'll post them up when I do the scans as well.

Hope you enjoy these when I get them posted up! I've got some other ideas I'm working on as well while I work on my next card post.