2024 Topps Flagship is starting to find its way to the interwebs and I finally found a picture of this collector's most coveted card from Series 1.  Behold! The Vogelmonster I called my wife over and asked her what she thought. "That is not attractive facial hair." "He looks pale."  I retort with, "But, that's my guy!" She pauses and adds, "They can't all be winning shots."  She walks away.  Man, I'm so glad baseball season is almost here! Happy collecting ..read more

 It was a pretty muggy day in P-town, but I needed some exercise so I met up with my disc golfing friends at our local course, Bradley Park. Much to my surprise I hit my first ace today on hole 8! I've been playing pretty regularly since May of 2020 and my skill set has improved to where I'll say I'm now an average disc golfer.  Recently I've started scoring below par on this particular course for my rounds, but this was my first bogey free round at Bradley Park. Woo-Hoo! Here's an up close look at the disc which I scored my first ace. It's made by Prodigy Discs and it's the A ..read more

 Twelve years ago I started this blog. I'm not sure if it's a true blogiversary because of my prolonged hiatus. Either way, I'm okay.  There's six weeks left in the school year and the sophomore baseball team I coach is off to a 6-2 start.  This morning I shot five under par at my "home" disc golf course, which is a personal best. Pretty exciting! Family, friends and my cats are all in relatively good health. To cap it off, the Cubs are in second place (for now)! I just wanted to give a quick life update and show off a pretty neat trinket sent to me from Mark. Mark is relativ ..read more

 A few of friends have asked why I'm not as big into baseball memorabilia and cards anymore. My complete answer consists of many layers and is quite longwinded.  The picture below sums up one of my bullet points nicely.  Vogelbach's autograph with a "Dingers & Donuts" inscription Dan Vogelbach is a fun guy. He is big boy and has perhaps an even bigger personality.  Earlier this season Vogelbach notably said, "I hit my home runs in bunches, just like I get my donuts." Again, the Vogelmonster has been a favorite of mine ever since I learned of his fun loving ways ..read more

 Don't get too excited. I'm just checking in to thank a couple of bloggers for dropping some Vogelbach love on me via the always appreciated PWE. Yes, I'm still alive and kicking, but my focuses have changed slightly. I'm still adding Vogelbach cards to my collection, but I'm mostly working on filling the holes in my player collection from 2011-2021. I'm not purchasing newer cards (think 2022) of my favorite current player unless I can get them for less than a couple of bucks. Otherwise, sports cards aren't really occupying my time much.  I'm reading a bit more, trying to get outsid ..read more

Lately, when asked, I've been subbing for other teachers during my prep period. The pay isn't fantastic, but I'll keep a rough record of what I earn when filling in where needed, and the bottom line always goes toward baseball cards or disc golf items. My family refers to this as "fun money!" I found two rare Vogelmonsters.  And, let me tell you, they are FUN. Behold! A "base" card!  (Yes, made with pieces from an actual game used base.) I remember when Triple Threads came out in 2020 and Kyle Lewis was hitting homer after homer on his way to winning the Rookie of the Year award. I ..read more

 The mailbox was empty three days this past work week. Typically, this is an occurrence I can expect maybe once a week, and I figure the big snowstorm which cancelled school for two days is partly responsible.  Today made up for it.  John, from Johnny's Trading Spot, sent me some Vogelbachs to admire. All seven of the cards within the PWE can be easily placed into one of two categories. Above, are the non-shiny cards.  Below . . . HELLO shiny! The Bowman Chrome mini, on the bottom right, shows the brilliance of chrome based cards in the light. I'm probably more of a vint ..read more

 Cats. My wife and I have two cats.  The "Cat Cave" is meant for one cat occupancy. Would I call myself a cat person. No. Holiday. Her favorite follow on Twitter is "cats in places where cats shouldn't be" https://twitter.com/timelinecats Do they fit my busy teaching and coaching lifestyle? Yes.   Hugo. Always the helper cat.  Neither of them demand much attention and if I give them a clean litter box and few cups of food we can head out for the weekend knowing they'll manage just fine. I have 11+ more years in public education, when my ..read more

 It was about three weeks ago when I posted about my futile attempts to secure the last card to the 1986 Larry Fritsch Negro League Stars set. I had preferred to trade for a copy, but after a couple weeks of crickets I finally broke down and purchased the final card from Ebay. Currently, the only set I'm working on building is the Conlon Collection. I haven't scratched a card off my want list for that monster in over two years. So maybe "working on" isn't the right verb-age there.   I'm not sure what set I should build next, but I would love to try another Negro League set or ..read more

 I celebrated a birthday a couple of weeks ago with my family and my sister surprised me with a nice little stash of autographed baseball cards.  All of my autographs and relic cards are housed in top loaders within a couple of sizeable "shoeboxes" within my man room. Up first are a couple of infield prospects who didn't pan out.  Neither Greg Smith nor Gary Scott had much MLB staying power, but Scott hit 0.366 during Spring Training in 1991 and had all of Chicago dubbing him the next coming of Ron Santo.  This is my second autograph of Turk Wendell, who I have privately ..read more