I'm always down for a Blog Bat-Around.  The topic currently trending around the blogosphere is posting your five best pack pulled hits.  It was inspired by Matt over at Diamond Jesters who utilized TCDB to create a list of all of his relics, autographs, and serial numbered cards in his collection.  He then isolated which ones were pulled from packs and voilà he formed his list. Regretfully... I have yet to inventory my entire collection of anything outside of my Steve Largent PC on TCDB... so my process will be a little more challenging and probably inaccurate (in the sens ..read more

1992 was a big year for me in regards to card collecting.  I worked at the card shop located less than a mile from my parent's house and spent most of my hard earned money on building a master set of 1992 Fleer Ultra baseball. That didn't leave me with a lot of money to spend on other products that year.  Fast forward three decades and I decided to add another master set of 1992 baseball cards.  This time it was Leaf's turn, but I wouldn't be opening up boxes and trading with card shop customers.  Instead... I headed over to eBay and purchased a complete base set as well a ..read more

Clear skies and fresh air have a way of drawing people out of their homes.  That's why the De Anza Flea Market was packed two weekends ago.  Not exactly a fan of large crowds but if it motivates more vendors to set up in the future... it's something I can live with. Made a total of eight purchases... which is more than usual.  So let's get to it. Purchase #1:  2019 Topps Clear Travel Packs  $Free I'll be teaching summer school again for the first time in four years, so I was looking for some cheap packs for a math lesson involving statistics.  I found a vend ..read more

I'm more of an early bird than a night owl... but right now a busy schedule dictates when I can blog.  And sometimes you gotta push through if you want to get things done. That's why for the first time in the history of this blog... you're getting back to back evening posts. I was hoping to join in on the current Blog Bat-Around that has been circling the blogosphere... but I need more time to get my list together.  I also have Flea Market Finds post sitting in my draft folder that's waiting to be completed, but I only have about an hour to hammer out this post and publish it.&nb ..read more

Time has a way with messing with my head.  On this date back in 1994, baseball fans celebrated the 20th anniversary of Hank Aaron breaking Babe Ruth's MLB home run record. At the time... two decades literally felt like a lifetime ago to this twenty-one year old collector. My memory of this historic home run came from baseball highlight videos and baseball cards like his card #1 in the 1974 Topps baseball set or his home run records card in the 1979 Topps set. Unfortunately... it's a school night and today was one of those long days where the hobby got pushed to the side.  So I don ..read more

Happy Easter!  I know today is a very big religious holiday for many of my friends and family members.  When I was a kid... it was more about decorating eggs, baskets of candy, and spring break. I know this year Topps released some Easter themed parallels in their flagship Series 1 boxes.  But since I haven't opened any... nor have I acquired any of those parallels... I decided to celebrate with some candy related collectibles in my collection. As an added bonus, I will rate the candy and players featured on the cards/collectibles using a scale of 1 to 10... with 5 being avera ..read more

In celebration of today being the first day of spring... here are a pair of cardboard firsts. Let's start with this on-card autograph of Masanori Murakami: 2023 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Auto #08FF-MM Back on September 1st, 1964... Murakami became the first Japanese baseball player to play in the MLB.  In his first eight appearances as a relief pitcher, he didn't allow a single earned run while striking out thirteen, walking one, and only giving up four hits in 11 innings pitched.  That's a pretty impressive start to his MLB career. According to this article on History.com ..read more

A little over a decade ago... I decided to put together a complete run of Steve Carlton's Topps flagship base (and traded) cards.  Next up was Thurman Munson.  In 2022, I completed the Steve Largent run.  A month later, the Tony Gwynn run was finished too. After putting it off for far too many years... last month I decided to start another run.  This time, the subject is The Man of Steal.  Before Gwynn, Rickey was my favorite baseball player.  In fact... had he not been traded to the New York Yankees back in December of 1984... there's a chance he still would be ..read more

My classroom is cluttered with cards right now.  The eighth graders are wrapping up the civil rights trading card projects... while the seventh graders are designing trading cards of themselves, the teammates, and for me. Part of the 7th grade assignment is to interview me.  This gives them an opportunity to learn about me while helping them fill the card back with biographical information and other facts.  Almost every group add strengths and weaknesses... along with an assortment of "favorites" to their list of questions. I'm not exactly someone who is particularly stro ..read more

I've written a few posts about Mama Fuji and the positive influence and impact she had on me, my siblings, and my father.  She was he most generous and caring person in my life and I was truly devastated when she passed away nearly five years ago. Thankfully... time has a way of healing the heart (at least for me).  That doesn't mean that every now and then, I don't have my moments where I reminisce and shed some tears.  It still happens.  It just happens on a less frequent basis. There weren't any tears this morning, but I've been thinking about my mom all week as today ..read more