Even though I haven't been very active on the blog and I put my trading on hiatus, I've still got a few cards from my fellow bloggers delivered into my mailbox. First, I have some cards from Tom at The Angels in Order. He ran a giveaway a few weeks ago that I'm just now getting around to displaying. I claimed both of these Rangers oddballs with the thought of giving them away to my Rangers baseball team next year. I didn't realize that they were oversized until they arrived. Now seems like a really opportune time to lead with some Texas Rangers, as they play in Game 1 of the World Series toni ..read more

  Some of the collections I have been working on over the years are starting to get filled out and my goals are being reached. As a result, I'm starting to slow down a little when it comes to acquiring many cards for some of my mini-collections. Now that the collection is feeling more and more complete, I wanted to start showcasing the cards I have, player by player. One such collection is my Rookie of the Year collection. I love collecting players who have won the award as the top newcomer in each league. This wasn't born of hot rookie hype and the desire to prospect. Rather, I became f ..read more

Another football season is here! While my Cubbies are in the thick of a division race with the Brewers, football is officially beginning. This is just one of the reasons that September is one of my favorite months every year. The season kicked off last night, but I'm still saying that I'm not late with this post because I didn't have any fantasy players with my main team playing in the game. My annual NFL kickoff post is to present my work league fantasy team. Without further ado, here are the 2023 Myopic Chihuahuas. All cards shown are cards in my collection. QB: Lamar Jackson, Baltimore ..read more

The Bump and Run household has run into some financial rapids and been bumped around by them this year. Nothing catastrophic, but enough that we've had to take a hard look at our spending. Since April, we've had to replace our garage door, put new tires on both vehicles, had our lawnmower crap out on, then had the one we bought to replace it follow suit, spent a few hundred to fix the ac that went out on the first triple-digit day of summer, and had both my phone and my wife's phone die completely in the same week. My car's check engine light came on; we spent over $700 to fix it, and it ran w ..read more

A week ago today, Major League Baseball played its annual All-Star Game. I've loved this game since I was a kid, but I couldn't watch it this year. We had tournament baseball happening. As a follow up to my last post, both of my boys won their city championships and advanced to compete at the state level. My older boy's team (the one that I was coaching) performed well. We finished second in our group during pool play, but then hit a juggernaut in the first round of the elimination bracket. Our opponent came into the game undefeated and left undefeated. In fact, our 6-1 loss was the closest ga ..read more

Growing up, I was always a football guy. I played other sports, including baseball, all throughout my youth, but I lived and breathed football. It was the one that I truly understood all over the field. When I was in high school, I wanted to become a coach. In fact, one of the reasons I became a teacher was that I wanted to coach high school football. Alas, I still have yet to teach a single day in a high school, and I've had no opportunities to coach athletics.    But when my boys started playing baseball, I started toying with the idea of coaching them. After my oldest passed throu ..read more

Back in March, I announced that this year would have a focus of putting a bow on some of the collecting projects I've been working on for years. I've fallen way behind in my blogging, so I have a few purchases too share to that end. But first, I would be remiss not to share what a fellow blogger sent me recently. Jon of Penny Sleeve for Your Thoughts was kind enough to send this trio my way from one of his giveaways last month. The two outside cards were ones that I claimed. But perhaps the best card of them all is the Cracked Ice Cooperstown of Billy Williams that Jon just threw in out of th ..read more

Last week I posted about some trading cards I made for the teachers I work with in my school. It turns out that wasn't the only card connection my school would bring me. Just a few days ago, one of our 7th grade math teachers walked into my office and asked, "You collect baseball cards, don't you?" Then she left these stacks of cards on my desk. Wow, it's been a while since I saw rubber bands holding cards together! So what prompted this gift? Our 7th grade math team created a fantasy baseball game as their culminating project. I'm not sure about the particulars, but I know they use baseba ..read more

When I started this little tournament, I know that thousands of people took my bracket and filled out their own predictions. Workplaces everywhere have pools of various stakes going. More than a few brackets have been busted with shocking upsets and there may be very few lucky ones who correctly foretold the final face-off: the Minnesota Twins vs. the Washington Nationals. (Or as Matt pointed out in the comments of the last post, the original Washington vs. the new Washington.) Before the pitch clock runs down, let's start this matchup! Championship Round: Minnesota Twins vs. Washington Natio ..read more

With the elimination of four more teams yesterday, we are down to 12. Today will finish off the Sweet 16 round and leave us with an Elite 8. As a reminder, the cards you see today are different from the cards representing the team in the first round. But they are all cards I own. Here is a look at the updated bracket before we move on to the competition: Round 2: Philadelphia Phillies vs. Chicago Cubs 1992 Fleer # 538 Jim Lindeman vs. 2017 Panini Diamond Kings #55 Kris Bryant Two sets I like here, even though they are extremely different. The picture is essentially the same on both: righ ..read more