Happy 4th!!! Reminder...

Today at 12 pm est is the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest.

This is one of the greatest spectacles in all of sport, and if you have not seen this yet, and have a strong stomach, you should definately watch.  I laugh hysterically the whole way through.  The lovely wife can't stomach it. 

Joey Chestnut- American Hero

Goodwill Finds

I really wanted to name this post Goodwill Hunting, but even I think that is a little hacky. 

About a month ago, my sister called from the Goodwill store in her city.  Before I could ask her what the hell she was doing in a Goodwill store, she told me she found a bunch of bobbleheads for $2 each.  Long story short, I told her to get one of everything, and get every Piazza, Ichiro and Ripken they had.  I picked them up from her recenty:

I do not know why Blogger rotates this picture.  I don't have time to mess with it, so just turn your head to view.

I guess this was a short lived program from UD.  Obviously I didn't help keep the series going in 2001, since this was the first I ever saw of them.  That's too bad, because these are pretty nice. I actually have a pretty sizeable Startting Lineup/McFarlane collection, so these go quite nicely with them.

Early Fireworks in the Mailbox

Ryan at the outstanding blog "This Card is Cool...My Life in Baseball Cards"  just made my day!   I recently was one of the winners in his surprise package contest.  I had only a vague idea of what I might be getting, but didn't know for sure until today.  What I got blew me away!

First, Ryan sent these 3 non-sport autographs:

Very nice indeed!  He also sent a bunch of entertaining non-sport cards:

My wife is a big fan of the Tudors, so she gets the Tudors card.  I'll keep the Betty Paige for myself.  The Topps Tribute card of the Tortoise and the Hare is really nice!  There were several of the UD Political cards which I think will be really fun to look back on over the years.  The "art card" at the top is a card of original artwork by wretler Jeff Hardy.  And of course, Ginter minis are always cool!

But the best part was the heap of 2011 Bowman inserts he sent!   Here is just a sampling:

There was about 40 insert cards in this package, which really made a huge dent in my Super Duper Checklist needs!

What a great way to start a long weekend, and thank you so much for the generosity to Ryan!

Card Shop Auction Night Part 2:

When I got out to my car after the auction and got a chance to see what all I got, this was the first card I pulled out of the first box:

I had no idea there was a card of Bob Saget out there.  Not that I was looking for it, but I was really puzzled to see this.   Of course I was initially familiar with him from Full House with the Olsen twin lizards.   But, a few years ago I was flipping around the tube and paused when I saw him doing a standup comedy routine.  It was one of the foulest things I’ve ever heard.  It was really hard to reconcile that against the character he played on TV.    Not that I watched Full House, but I know enough to know it was a family show.  Once I got over my confusion with his filthy act, I will admit he was really funny.  He’s also been on Entourage quite a bit, and his plays a complete perv very convincingly.

I need to do something fun with this card, but I don’t know what yet. 

I took a second look through the boxes tonight and I am more and more pleased with my purchase.  There weren't any monster cards, but enough decent material for my own collection as well as trades to make it worth the effort.  I mentioned yesterday that I got some basketball cards in my goody boxes from the auction:

There was large chunk of this SP set.  About 80 cards with some dupes, but not many big names.  If anyone is working on this set, I might be able to help you out.

There was a handful of Chris Paul and Vince Carter cards as too.  These will work nicely in my little side basketball collection, unless anyone out there is interested in them. I didn't scan them, but there were several other mid-range stars (Jamal Mashburn, Shawn Kemp, Glenn Robinson, Eddie Jones, and Tracy McGrady) included.

Yesterday, I showed the Mike Piazza and Frank Thomas cards that came in the boxes.  There also were nice lots of Jeff Bagwell and Alfonso Soriano.

I think my best hits were these low numbered Playoff contender cards.  I didn’t even notice them until my 2^nd look through the box.  Again, there aren’t any big names here, but I’m always happy to have some low numbered cards fall into my lap, although the coloring on the corners on some of these looks a little jacked up.

I included a card from 2006 Bowman Chrome in the scan too.  The box had about 40 of the first 55 cards of this set.  I thought maybe the set only went to around 60 based on this, but apparently it’s a pretty big set.  So I won’t be chasing it. 

There were countless other little single nuggets in the boxes, but I’m going to pass on spending too much time on them.  I’m sure I’ll go through the boxes yet again tomorrow and if there is something that looks interesting, I’ll make a note of it.  Again, if anyone is interested in these, let me know!

Finally, there was a box of old Beckett’s that was about to go up for bid, but Cleve decided to just give them away to anyone who wanted them so I snagged a few.  For me, the price index is useless, but I am interested in the articles.  Just like Playboy.

Card Shop Auction Night: "Oh Great, More Crap"

Those tender words of support came from the lovely wife Tuesday evening as I came floating in from the LCS auction with two 1,600 count boxes full of joy under my arms and a big dopey grin on my face.

Wait, have I not shared with you the awesomeness that is the weekly sports card auction I often attend?  No?  Well, let me fill you in.  Every Tuesday night there is an auction at Cleve's Sports Cards in Springdale, AR.  I discovered it a few months ago when I went to his shop for the first time.  The shop has been around for a long time, but I am rarely in Springdale and didn't know about it.  The owner, Cleve, told me about the auction and showed me the cards that would be up that week.   It was a pretty darn impressive selection.   For a small shop in Northwest Arkansas, the auction is pretty legit.  In fact, about once every 6 weeks he'll hold a "big" auction and sell some REALLY nice stuff.    There usually is anywhere from 15 to 30 people at these auctions and it usually lasts about 30 minutes to an hour.  Short and sweet.

I've gone to several auctions now, and always come home with something.   My best win was a 1958 Roberto Clemente for $15.    I rarely spend more than $30 total.   For the past two months, my boy's T-Ball games have taken priority (rightfully so) over the auctions and I've been absent.  But his season just ended and I was excited to go back last night for the first time in a while.

Here are my most recent Tuesday night treasures:

Vintage cards are the main draw at his auctions, and I was happy to get all of the above for about $8.  The Bench card is in great shape other than the centering, and I got my first vintage Aparicio. 

I have a weakness for goody boxes like these above.    I didn't have time to search them, but I saw a lot of penny sleeves and thought I might be able to fill some sets or at least come up with some trade bait.  What was in the boxes?  Thank you for asking:

Whoever sold this box collected Frank Thomas.  There were about 80 Frank Thomas cards inside.  There were about that many Raul Mondesi cards too.

There was also a handful of Mike Piazzas that will beef up my Piazza pages.

Any Nomar collectors out there?  My guess is that whoever put this up for auction used to be a dealer, or at least tried to sell these at a card show or something.  Notice the prices on all the Nomar cards.  If anyone wants to pay me $2 or $3  (or $9) for any of these, you have a deal.   I remember Ted Williams saying that he thought Nomar had a chance to hit .400.   These cards used to be hot! 
There were also football and basketball cards in these boxes:

 These 2003 Topps All American Foil cards are really nice, and probably my favorite finds in the boxes.  No big stars, but nice cards nonetheless.  And looking at sportlots.com, not common or cheap!

The boxes also had about a half a complete set of this nice 2009 Playoff Contenders set.  Looking at sportlots.com, very common, and very cheap.  It's still a nice looking set, and the cards I got had some good names.


Wow, there actually was a lot of good stuff in these boxes for the puny amount ($4 per box) I paid.  I will need to extend this into two posts to cover everything.   Tomorrow I'll show more football and the basketball portion.

And, this is all up for trade if anyone is interested. 

Checklist Chipaway: 1996 SPX

Received another batch of cards in the mail today.  This time, I was able to clip off a dozen cards from the 1996 SPX set on the Super Duper Checklist.  I am sure these things were super expensive when they came out in 96.  I got all of these cheap off sportlots.com and moved this cool 60 card set to almost 50% complete.   I'll probably grind out getting the next 15-20 cards over the next year or so, but once I get to around 80% complete, I'll feel the momentum and knock it out.   As with most cards like this, the scans don't do them justice although they came out better than I expected:

On the off chance anyone has some of these that they are willing to trade, here are the cards I am lacking:

1	Maddux, Greg
2	Jones, Chipper
3	McGriff, Fred
5	Ripken Jr., Cal
8	Canseco, Jose
11	Edmonds, Jim
12	Salmon, Tim
14	Sandberg, Ryne
15	Grace, Mark
16	Thomas, Frank
22	Bichette, Dante
23	Walker, Larry
26	Fielder, Cecil
29	Bagwell, Jeff
33	Piazza, Mike
34	Mondesi, Raul
35	Nomo, Hideo
37	Molitor, Paul
38	Cordova, Marty
39	White, Rondell
40	Isringhausen, Jason
41	Wilson, Paul
43	Jeter, Derek
44	Boggs, Wade
48	Smith, Ozzie
50	Caminiti, Ken
51	Bonds, Barry
53	Fernandez, Osvaldo
54	Buhner, Jay
55	Griffey Jr., Ken
57	Rodriguez, Alex
59	Carter, Joe

Checklist Chipaway- Hammer Time + Some Cliff Lee

For anyone who checks my blog Monday for the eTopps alert, I apologize for missing it today.   I have been slammed at work lately and the morning passed by before I even had a chance to look up.  I was happy to see a Mike Moustakas offering today, but it was $8 with a pretty high print run so I passed and will get it later when it comes down in price.  I did order a Mark Teixeira at $5 with a 499 print run. 

I am currently on hold with the 12 days of Brycemas project as I patiently wait for key cards for "Day 4" to come in.  These have been on order almost 4 weeks now and I'm getting pretty frustrated.  The seller on sportsbuy.com sent me a delivery confirmation number last Tuesday and said they were on the way.   Nothing is showing up yet for this number on USPS.com.    I still don't have the cards and am getting annoyed.  It was a big order of about 80 cards and my little song is in limbo until they come in. 

A couple of things did come in today though.  First, I sent a card of Cardinals prospect Matt Carpenter to Justin at Justin's World.  He was going to have an opportunity to get the card signed, so I gladly sent it over to help out.  For one card, I was just happy to help a fellow blogger,   However, Justin graciously sent me a handful of cards of one of my all time favorite Razorbacks and current MLB ace, Cliff Lee:

I'm always happy to build my Lee collection, so a big thanks to Justin!

I also wrapped up a small insert set off the Super Duper Checklist:

This completes my Hammer Team insert set from 95 Sportflix. 

I don't care if it looks or sounds like a silly insert set, I love the looks of it.  I also love how Sportflix built this set (as well as the Detonators insert set) in multiples of 9, making it conducive to pages. 

Card Show Loot Part 2

I still can't figure out why I bought this:

1989 Donruss.  PSA 8.  For crying out loud Napkin! The worst part was, after I bought it, the dealer really started working me.  I'm sure he couldn't believe the luck of having a total sucker right in front of him.  Perhaps if I had said, "Sir, perhaps you do not know who you are dealing with.  It is I, Napkin Doon, in the flesh." Well, he would have realized he was overmatched and quit while he was ahead with the Biggio card.

Dammit, I can't believe I bought that card!  Maybe it's like when you decide to get a dog, you go to the shelter with intentions of coming home with a beautiful pure bred.  But you get there, and it's the sad little mutt that steals your heart and you can't resist him.  I've never owned a dog, but I assume that happens to some people.  So, looking back, perhaps that is what I... dammit I just can't believe I bought that card.  And I announced it to the world (or a handful of readers anyway) on my blog like a total jack leg.  Maybe I should put an scan of it on the sidebar of my blog and let it brand me like a scarlet letter so the blogging world knows my shame.


Moving on...  I was pleased with these $1 GU cards:

I normally wouldn't have bought the Prior card, but the little 59 on the jersey swatch caught my attention. I have no idea what it is, but it made the card pretty interesting.  I'm open to trading these by the way.

Perhaps my favorite part of card shows is scrounging through the dime/quarter boxes for bargains.  Here are my nabs:

A little addition to my side project of building a small collection of basketball cards.  I don't know anything about the Jordan UD card, but there were 10 of them and I got them all.  At a dime a peice, I figured what the heck. 

I also added some cool Piazzas for my PC.  I only got the Canseco "Bowman's Best Selections" because it was die cut and I thought it looked cool and wanted to use it as reminder to look for other cards in the set.   Turns out, it is part of a 15 card insert set from 2000 Bowman's Best.  And after a quick look at sportlots.com and COMC,  I see these cards are relatively expensive!  So score one for the dime boxes!

Card Show Loot Part 1

There is a monthly card show in Fayetteville that I try to attend when possible.  I wish I had a picture of it.  It's pretty pitiful.  However, I can usually find something I want,  so I keep showing up each month.  The dealers and selection don't really change that much from show to show.  I'd love to go to a big show sometime, but it's probably better for our bank account and my standing with the lovely wife that I don't.  Here was the best card I got today:

Not a game changer, but a graded Gwynn rookie is a nice addition for me.  At the same table I for some reason purchased this:

I have recently been awakened to how good Craig Biggio really was, which is why the card caught my attention. However, this is a 1989 Donruss card.  Graded 8.  I didn't spend much on it, so I don't have buyers remorse.  I think I was just confused when I saw it.  Someone sent this card in to get graded, and from what I understand, that is not a cheap thing to do.  I don't understand why this was sent in for grading, and I don't understand why I bought it.

So I've shown the best card I bought, the most confusing card I bought.  Here is my favorite card I bought:

Nick Schmidt was one the best Razorback pitchers of all time.  He is currently in the minors dealing with injuries, and has not yet got on track as a pro.  He was drafted by the Padres in the first round in 2007, but I'm not sure if he is still with them.  Regardless, I loved watching him pitch, and this card is really nice.  It's very shiny and numbered to 500 and has a swatch of a Razorback jersey.

Tomorrow I'll subject you to my dime box prizes.


 

Etopps In Hand

As those of you who read this blog probably know, I am an advocate for eTopps.  My portfolio is not nearly what it used to be though- I sold a LOT of my cards on eBay and cardtarget.com to have funds for my re-entry into the cardboard part of the hobby.   My spending balance between eTopps and cardboard used to be about 90%/10% in favor of Etopps, but it’s completely reversed now, and I mostly buy cardboard as I try to catch up and complete a bunch of sets I started working on in the 90s and early 2000s.    But I digress…  

Even though I love all of the online features that come with eTopps, there still is no substitute for having the cards in hand.  So for those that have recently joined eTopps, but have not taken any cards for delivery, here are some images of cards I have had shipped over the years, and what they look like in real life:

One of my eTopps boxes.  Everytime I open this box I get excited.  I just want to spread these encased-and-sealed-in-lucite-beauties all over the bed and roll around on them.  But I don't.  Let's look at some cards.  Pardon the cruddy photography and scanning:

All eTopps cards come individually bagged, encased and sealed with an eTopps hologram sticker.

Etopps periodically issues special Allen and Ginter and T206 cards, which are very popular.  The cards are standard mini sized, and look like A&G and T206 cards, with a high tech style.  They are some of my favorite sets.   I liked them so much, I sold them all except this Jimmie Foxx card so I could spend more money on cardboard.   Eventually I'll get them back.   I do have a Allen & Ginter Football set I will show some other time.

All eTopps cards come individually bagged, encased and sealed with an eTopps hologram sticker. 

Most cards have serial numbers printed on the back.  The 2005 cards had a COA send with each card, which is kind of a hassle.  Glad that was short-lived.

Before doing the Allen and Ginter, Etopps issued a "Classic" set over the course of several years which was pretty nice.  I have almost completed the classic set. 

It's hard to take a half ass picture of these without getting a glare from the flash. 

 Here are some of the big names from the Classic set.   I enjoy all of the features associated with the eTopps but it's the end result- the cards themselves- that make this offshoot of the hobby a success in my book.

Shootin’ Bas-ket-balls… We’re Shootin’ Bas-ket-balls…

I know the title is a real song, but I can’t recall where I heard it.  It’s certainly stuck in my head.  Maybe my friends and I made it up as kids, but I think it’s a real song.    Anyone know the source?    Anyway, I know there has been a pause in my 12 days of Brycemas posts.  I have the posts for pretty much all remaining days written and ready to post, but some cards needed for my  "4^th Day"  post have not arrived…  two weeks after purchase.  The seller finally shipped them yesterday so I should be back on track this weekend. 

Meanwhile, I did use some of my Harper funds to grab a few cheap Finest basketball.  I couldn't fit them in the 12 Days of Brycemas song, but I'll post about them anyway.   I have little interest in the NBA, but I had it in my head the other night I needed a few superstar cards.  These are pretty cool and they were inexpensive on sportlots. 

Joe Johnson was a Razorback, which is why I got more of his cards, in case you were wondering.    

Napkin Doon’s Attic Treasures #6: RO-CKY! RO-CKY! RO-CKY!

At some point in my past, I spent real money on Rocky 4 trading cards.  And I am so glad I did!  How awesome are these?

I wish I could get a job writing these captions.  In fairness, you’d be pretty limited in what you could write with so little room.

My only regret is that these are not Rocky III cards.   I will stop whatever I’m doing anytime that movie comes on.  Late at night I like to pretend Rocky III is about me and interchange Rocky with myself, and boxing with blogging.  It works seamlessly.  My favorite scene is when Adrian snaps Rocky out of his funk before his re-match with Clubber Lang.   In the Napkin Doon version, I imagine I have just been running sprints on the beach with the Dimwit, and I just quit on him.  He’s left in a huff.  It seems as though I don’t have the heart to blog anymore after my mentor, The Lost Collector, passed away (sorry AJ, but you had to be in this scenario).  I’m standing on the beach staring woefully at the waves when the Lovely Wife approaches (if you don't know Rocky III by heart, well skip the rest of this post, and, shame on you):

Lovely Wife: Can I talk to you? I want to ask you something important and I want you to tell me the truth.

Napkin: What?

Lovely Wife: Why did you come here?

Napkin: I just don't want it no more.

Lovely Wife: If it's over because you want it to be over, I'm glad.

Napkin: I do.

Lovely Wife: It's just, you've never quit anything since I've known you.

Napkin: I don't know what you want me to say. I mean, what happened? How did everything that was so good get so bad?

Lovely Wife: What's so bad? Tell me, what?

Napkin: I wrecked everything by not thinking for myself. I mean, why couldn't AJ tell me where I was really at right from the start? He didn't have to carry me and lie to me and make me think my blog was better than it really was when it wasn't.

Lovely Wife: He never lied.

Napkin: Those posts weren't funny. They weren't, Lovely Wife. I never posted anything interesting. There was always some angle to hold on to my blog longer than I should have had it. I mean do you understand what I'm saying here?

Lovely Wife: I understand, but you've got to understand that he read your blog and that was his job--humoring you!

Napkin: Look, but that humoring don't help nothing. It only makes things worse. You wake up after a few years thinking you're a winner, but you're not. You're really a loser. So we wouldn't have had the blog as long. So what?! At least it would've been real, Lovely Wife.

Lovely Wife: It was real!

Napkin: Nothing is real if you don't believe in who you are! I don't believe in myself no more don't you understand? When a blogger don't believe, that's it! He's finished, it's over, that's it.

Lovely Wife: THAT'S NOT IT!!

Napkin: That is it!

Lovely Wife: Why don't you tell me the truth?!

Napkin: What are you putting me through Lovely Wife?! You wanna know the truth? The truth is I don't want to lose what I've got. In the beginning I didn't care about what happened to me. I'd go to the computer, I'd run a Big Fun Game, I didn't care! But now there's you, there's the kids, there’s my Brycemas haul. I don't want to lose what I've got!

Lovely Wife: What do we have that can't be replaced? WHAT?! We’ve got boxes, we've got cards, we've got BINDERS! We got everything but the truth. WHAT'S THE TRUTH, DAMN IT?!

Napkin: I'M BLOCKED! ALL RIGHT?! YOU WANT TO HEAR ME SAY IT? You want to break me down? All right, I'm blocked. For the first time in my life, I'm blocked.

Lovely Wife: I'm blocked too. There's nothing wrong with being blocked.

Napkin: There is. For me, there is.

Lovely Wife: Why? You're human aren't you?

Napkin: Look, I don't know what I am. All I know is I'm a liar, and because of that AJ ain't here no more.

Lovely Wife: You didn't push him into anything! He was a grown man (I assume) and he did what he had to do! And you have no right to feel guilty for what happened. You don't! You were a blogger, and you did what you were expected to do, and you did what I and everybody else thought you should do. And you wanna tell me that those posts weren't real, that you were humored? Well I don't believe it! But it doesn't matter what I believe because you're the one that's got to carry that fear around inside you, afraid that everybody's going to take things away and afraid that you're going to be remembered as a hacker, that you're not a blogger anymore. Well, none of it's true! But it doesn't matter if I tell you. It doesn't matter, because you're the one that's gotta settle it. Get rid of it! Because when all the smoke has cleared and everyone's through chanting your name, it's just going to be us. And you can't live like this. We can't live like this. Cause it's going to bother you for the rest of your life. Look what it's doing to you now. The Dimwit thinks you can do it, so do I. But you gotta want to do it for the right reasons. Not for the guilt over AJ, not for the readers, not for the Gummies, not for cards or me, but for you. Just you. Just you alone.

Napkin: And if I lose followers?

Lovely Wife: Then you lose followers. But at least you lose them with no excuses, no fear. And I know you can live with that.

Napkin: How did you get so tough?

Lovely Wife: I live with a baseball card blogger.

Napkin: I really love you. I love you. [they hug]

Then I imagine a pulse pounding montage of me sorting through cards and doing typing drills.  I don’t know who should play Clubber Lang in this post, but whoever he is, he’s in big trouble now.

Etopps 6/20 Offering

I have to do this from my phone today so I hope Blogger mobile works this time!

This week:

Dustin Ackley
Ryan Howard
Danny Espinosa

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father’s Day to all you Dads out there!  I wonder what percent of you envision a perfect Father’s Day as opening a box of cards and going to a ball game?   That would be right up my alley, but alas, I don’t have any cards to open and we went to a game last night.  Speaking of which, I tried to blog using blogger mobile from the ballpark last night, but my post kept failing.  The San Diego, or I guess it's now "Famous" Chicken was there and put on a great show.  I also got to see Cardinal prospect and former Razorback Zack Cox play.  BTW if anyone has one of his 2011 Bowman Autos, I'd be interested in trading for it.

I try to keep my personal life separate from this blog, but for the purpose of this post, I can let it leak in a little.   Indulge me a minute on Father's Day while I tell you what kind of father I am.   I have a little boy (5 years old), who I hope at some point, will share my love of baseball and baseball cards.   But knowing him as I do, I understand that anything I try to push on him will be rejected without prejudice.    And truthfully, should he decide that his interests lie elsewhere, as long as he participates and is interested in something other than splaying out on the couch with his Nintendo DS, I will be thrilled no matter what he does. 

He doesn’t care too much for baseball cards right now, but neither did I at that age.   He doesn’t want to watch baseball on TV either, unless he thinks he can con a later bed time out of it (which he can).   He does, however, love going the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Kansas City’s AA affiliate that is near my home) games.   Actually what he enjoys is eating snow cones and ice cream, coloring at the picnic tables and plummeting down the huge inflatable slide again and again and again.  The game itself is just background noise to him.   Hey, fine with me as long as I get to go and watch at least some of it.  We usually last 6 or 7 innings per game before he’s ready to go home.   So there are some positive feelings toward baseball in that regard which gives me hope.

He also loves getting things in the mail, which I thought I could use to my advantage.  So I decided one day last summer to write a letter to the Texas Rangers, and ask if they had any sort of kid’s pack, or freebies they could send my boy in the mail to spur his interest in baseball.  I sent the letter off and imagined his excitement from getting a package from a Major League team.   I also thought I should hedge my bets and send a similar letter to the Royals to increase his chances of getting something.  The more I thought about it, the more excited I got.  So I sent more letters.  To all 30 teams.  Only a few weeks later, the floodgates opened.  We started getting package after package from Major League teams.  After about the 7^th day in a row receiving packages, my son threw up his hands and yelled: “Why do I keep getting all this baseball stuff?  I hate baseball!”  Didn’t see that coming.   I began putting his packages away in a box after that.

My wife has a nickname for me: “Too Far.”  She breaks this out when I take my jokes, teases, requests, plans, suggestions, dinner orders and baseball card checklists “too far.”    After my son’s rejection of his mail order bounty of baseball, my wife just looked at me and said, “Too Far.”    I know she’s right.  What’s sad is that I’m really tempted to send out the letters again this summer, completely ignoring the lesson I learned last summer.

Maybe someday he’ll take an interest in this stuff, and if he does it will be waiting for him.  Until then, it’s blog fodder.  Here is some of what he received:

He hit the jackpot with the Rangers.  They sent a nice calendar (not shown), a round, felt pennant and several stickers.

The Yankees also sent a nice package with a coloring book, key chains, pencils and soom cool patch stickers.

Fenway dirt!

Speaking of dirt, the Braves sent a bag of field dirt from Bobby Cox's 2000th win.  Cool!

And he got a lot of stickers....

Some cards...

Some oversized cards...

And of course some pocket schedules.  The Mariners sent one in English, Spanish and Japanese.  These will look cool in some 9 pocket pages. 
This little box of goodies will be fun to go through again some day when he gets older.  Or perhaps my daughter will get some enjoyment out of the stickers.  All I know is: I can't wait to see what we get when I send the letters off again this year!  Happy Father's Day!