NW Arkansas Naturals Fan Fest

The Northwest Arkansas Naturals held their first ever “Fan Fest” a few weeks ago, and I had been looking forward to it for weeks.  As has been the case in many places of the country, we’ve had unseasonably warm temperatures over the past several weeks.  It was expected to keep up that weekend, and a nice warm day at the ballpark, even in March was enough to get my baseball fever thermometer percolating.    The Fan Fest activities included a bouncy house for the kids, tours of the facility, including the luxury boxes, press box, dugout and clubhouse, free hot dogs and discounts on merchandise.    Please, allow me to show you some nice pictures.  Click here.

Yeah, I have to send you to Crinkly Wrappers for an overview of a Minor League Fan Fest, because my day at the park went down the crapper about the minute we arrived.

To begin, the temperature dropped considerably that Saturday, and the wind picked up.  Cool temperatures and wind are not a good combination on an open air, shaded concourse like at the Naturals beautiful park.    It’s great in July.  It sucks in March.  So the 6 year old and the 2 year old were not comfortable from the get go, and even though she didn’t complain, I’m sure the lovely wife was not thrilled with the weather either. 

Undeterred, I thought  I would let the kids get in the bouncy house and let them jump around and warm up.  Unfortunately, already in the bouncy house ahead of them was a wild pack of older animal-children that were completely out of control.  The 2 year old watched them thrash around and wanted no part of joining them, and although the 6 year old made a game effort to get in there, it was not a lot of fun for him and he got out pretty quickly.

So we decided to take the tour.  This was what I was most looking forward to anyway.  We saw David Glass’s luxury suite that was being remodeled and had no furniture or carpet and was basically an empty room overlooking the ballpark.  I didn’t really see a point in taking a picture, and the children immediately started getting bored.

Then we went to the press box.  I have to say, this was pretty inspiring to me.  Is there any chance they would let a blogger come and write about the game from the press box?  How awesome would that be?  I’m going to look into it and see if I can get up there for a game sometime this year. 

I guess the kids didn’t share my enthusiasm for this part of the tour, because they went from bored to downright miserable.    The 2 year old wanted to grab anything that was remotely in her reach, and the 6 year old decided this was a good time to start scaling Mt. Daddy.    That's why I don't have pictures.  As aggravated as I was getting, they weren’t  being bad, they were just being kids.  Kids with ants in their pants.  Kids who couldn’t possibly be interested in luxury suites or press boxes.    As much as I wanted to see the locker room and the dugout, I didn’t want to deal with what I knew would  soon escalate into whining and complaining.     So our tour ended abruptly and we headed home.   Maybe next year.

Check Out My Stanky Pie!

I sniped a couple of nice vintage cards off eBay really cheaply while I was traveling last week.  They were waiting on me when I got home.

This is my second Eddie Stanky card.  It was only few of bucks, and I really like these old Bowmans.    $2.25 shipped for a 1950 card of a pretty well known player/manager?  Sa-weeet.

This is my first 1950 Callahan card.  Pie Traynor was a HOFer so this was another  great pick up for only $3.25 shipped.  I like these Callahan cards.  They are small sized cards, and the illustrations are done with some kind of “dot” process, and are not standard sketches.   You can see the craft of the card better in the scan. 

 

You can also read the back better in the scan.  For a small card, that type is microscopic.  Either that or I'm getting old.

Big Fun Game Final Pick!

daddyohoho puts an end to the game and takes prize #4

Roberto Alomar Triple Threads relic #d to 36

Thanks for playing everyone and please send me your address!  Even if you've already sent it before, please send again so I can avoid digging through old emails.

Big Fun Game Steal

High Five Man, formerly known as piratesfan, steals the Allen and Ginter relics from daddyohoho. 

daddyohoho can steal anything but the 1955 Topps cards or the Ginter relics that were stolen from him.  Or he can take prize # 4.

Big Fun Game Pick #9

Martyn gets us near the finish line by picking #9

UD exquisite lot of 2 #d to 75

Piratesfan731 can now steal anything but the 1955 Topps cards or can pick prize #4

Big Fun Game Pick #8

Who's your daddyohoho keeps the momentum going and picks prize #6:

Lot of 4 2010 Allen and Ginter Relics, including Josh Hamilton

Martyn is up next and can steal anything but the 1955 Topps cards or can pick from the remaining 2 unknown prizes:

1) Gypsy Queen Green Border lot- Ryan
2) misc relic cards- Eric L
3) Eric Hosmer Chrome- Potch
4) Jose Reyes Sterling- Hackenbush
5) Sweet Spot Patch Card- Lost Collector, stolen from Hackenbush
6) 1955 Topps Graded- dawgbones- stolen from Lost Collector and Hackenbush- (Now Frozen)
7) misc relic cards- arpsmith
8) Allen & Ginter Relic Lot- daddyohoho
9) Martyn- ?


  Remaining prize numbers:  4 or 9

Big Fun Game Pick #7

arpsmith is tempted to get some green Gypsy Queen but takes his chances with prize #3

Two more misc relics:  Game Face Gear Lance Berkman, and UD Timeline Andre Ethier

daddyohoho is next and can steal anything but the 1955 Topps or can pick from the remaining unclaimed prizes:


1) Gypsy Queen Green Border lot- Ryan
2) misc relic cards- Eric L
3) Eric Hosmer Chrome- Potch
4) Jose Reyes Sterling- Hackenbush
5) Sweet Spot Patch Card- Lost Collector, stolen from Hackenbush
6) 1955 Topps Graded- dawgbones- stolen from Lost Collector and Hackenbush- (Now Frozen)
7) misc relic cards- arpsmith
8) daddyohoho- ?


  Remaining prize numbers:  4,6,9

Big Fun Game Steal and Re-Pick

The 1955 Topps cards are now frozen as dawgbones steals them from the Lost Collector.  He really "lost" that prize! Get it? Get it?  His name is Lost Collector and I said he "lost" the prize.   Ohhhhhh man, what fun.

Lost Collector takes another stab and picks prize #2:

Sweet Spot Classic Manu-Patch Enos Slaughter #d to 300

arpsmith is next and can steal anything but the 1955 Topps cards, or can pick from the remaining unknown prizes:

1) Gypsy Queen Green Border lot- Ryan
2) misc relic cards- Eric L
3) Eric Hosmer Chrome- Potch
4) Jose Reyes Sterling- Hackenbush
5) Sweet Spot Patch Card- Lost Collector, stolen from Hackenbush
6) 1955 Topps Graded- dawgbones- stolen from Lost Collector and Hackenbush- (Now Frozen)
7) arpsmith:  ?

 Remaining prize numbers:  3,4,6,9

Big Fun Game Re-Pick

Hackenbush must be hacked about the Lost Collector stealing his 1955 Topps cards.  He takes another shot with prize # 5

2009 Topps Sterling Jose Reyes #d to 50

dawgbones is up next and can steal anything that has been revealed or take a remaining hidden prize:

1) Gypsy Queen Green Border lot- Ryan
2) misc relic cards- Eric L
3) Eric Hosmer Chrome- Potch
4) Jose Reyes Sterling- Hackenbush
5) 1955 Topps Graded- Lost Collector, stolen from Hackenbush
6) dawgbones:  ?


Remaining prize numbers:  2,3,4,6,9

Big Fun Game Steal Attempt

The Lost Collector thinks he stole the 1955 cards from Hackenbush but instead....

CONGRATULATIONS!

You've unlocked an official Napkin Doon virtual coin.  You only need to unlock 60 more coins and send me $8.99 for shipping and I will send you an autographed Napkin Doon table napkin.

Ok, ok you can have the 1955s.  Pick again Hackenbush.

Big Fun Game Pick #4

Hackenbush selects prize #10

Pair of graded 1955 Topps cards.

The Lost Collector is up next.

Big Fun Game Pick #3

Potch selects prize #8

2011 Topps Chrome Eric Hosmer.

Hackenbush is next and can steal any prize or choose from the remaining unknown prizes.

1) Gypsy Queen Green Border lot- Ryan
2) misc relic cards- Eric L
3) Eric Hosmer Chrome- Potch

Remaining prize numbers:  2,3,4,5,6,9,10

Big Fun Game Pick Number 2

Eric L declines to steal and picks prize #1:

Two misc relic cards:  Jeff Kent SPX #d to 375, and a Darin Erstad Topps Pristine Bomb Squad.

Potch is next and can steal either of the first 2 prizes or can pick from the remaining doors:

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 ,9 ,10

Big Fun Game Pick Number 1

With the first pick, Ryan selects Prize # 7:

Lot of 6 2010 Gypsy Queen Green Border Parallels.

Eric L is up next and can steal or pick another prize.

Big Fun Game Participant List!

Finally released from the clutches of real life, I'm back and ready to take on my second year of un-remarkable blogging about baseball cards or other random topics that I will arbitrarily pull out of thin air!  As promised, today we are kicking off my 4th Big Fun Game as a show of appreciation for you folks making my first year in the baseball card blogging world a total blast!

Without further delay, here are the participants:

1) Ryan
2) Eric L
3) Potch
4) Hackenbush
5) Lost Collector
6) dawgbones
7) arpsmith
8) daddyohoho
9) Martyn
10) piratesfan731

All I can tell you is that this is not rigged.  Yes, piratesfan731 has said some very nice things and been a good friend of the blog.  Yes, the 10th spot is pretty much the best spot.  I PROMISE I only used the randomizer once.  When I saw he was the 10th pick, I immediately thought folks might find that a little sketchy.  I actually debated doing the randomizer again, but that just would not have been appropriate.  It is what it is.

Ryan, you have the first pick, and need to pick a number between 1 and 10.  Once Ryan makes his pick, I will reveal the card and Eric L will have the next pick.  He can either pick a remaining prize, or he can steal Ryan's pick.  If he steals Ryan's pick, Ryan will pick again, but can't re-steal Eric L's prize.  Once he picks, then it will be Potch's pick and Potch can either steal Ryan's or Eric's prize or can pick something else.  You get the idea.  Once an item is stolen for the second time, it is frozen.

Have fun everyone!

Starting Lineup Sundays

Before I started this silly little blog a year ago I spent a fair amount of time deciding if I had enough topics to write about to keep my blog churning.  I didn’t want to write a handful of posts and then run out of things to talk about and fade away.   I knew I had a couple of safety nets to fall back on if I got desperate for material.  One was eTopps, and the other was my Starting Lineup Collection.  eTopps was a great material source because they had new card offerings almost every week.  I’ve also managed to find enough other things to talk about that I was able to keep my Starting Lineups on the bench.

    

However, with eTopps basically shutting down and becoming a non-source of material for me it might be time to call on my SLUs.  And why not?  These things are so cool.  I don’t understand why there isn’t a greater demand for them anymore.  That used to not be the case.  In fact, there used to be conventions centered on Starting Lineup figures.   

They’ve been out of production for years now, and replaced by the larger, more detailed McFarlane figures.  I find the SLUs a far superior collectible.  Maybe it’s because they are similar in size and function to the Star Wars figures that shaped my childhood.   Anyway, my SLUs are all in boxes at the moment.  I tried to get the lovely wife to let me “wallpaper” one of our bedroom walls with the ones I kept in the blister packs, but shockingly she didn’t go for it.  I guess pictures of our children and paintings are OK, but beautiful blister packs of toy baseball players don’t meet some arbitrary standard of taste.   Oh well, she can’t stop me from showing them off on my blog:

 Daarryyyllll...... Daaarrryyyllll..... Daaaaarryyyylllll...

This was the first figure I bought.  The first issue of Starting Lineups came out in 1988 and was mostly regionally distributed.  Some players had a national distribution, and luckily for me I was able to find all of the Mets that were made in 1988 (I can't find my the Howard Johnson, but I have it somewhere).  That was my team back then.    

I had no interest in keeping these in the blister pack, and wanted to display them out of the package in my room.  I had about 20 of these things lined up along my dresser.    I also had a huge cardboard stand up movie poster of “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3” in my room as well.  Man, I was a loser. 

Cleve’s Auction Night: March Begins With a Whimper

I don’t mean that the card I won at Cleve’s auction this week wasn’t good,  I just mean I ONLY have one good card to show you.  

I guess “technically” I bought the card shown below in February, since I won it at Cleve’s auction Tuesday.  But I paid for it in March and had already posted my February purchase tracker, so this counts toward March.   I’ll fight any man who says otherwise.   With my fists.

Sorry, didn’t mean to get snippy, I guess my research on Wynn is rubbing off on me.  Apparently he had a pretty nasty disposition.   The name “Early Wynn” doesn’t seem like it would belong to a guy with a temper does it?  Every article I found on him said he was as mean (on the mound at least) as he was talented, and many noted that he said he would knock down his own grandmother if she was at the plate.  

I’m sure I’m repeating myself, but this is the kind of stuff that makes me love this hobby.  I knew that Wynn was a HOF pitcher, so I bid spent a measly $3 on a card from 50+ years ago.   I was fortunate enough to win the card, so I wanted to learn more about him.  What I found was that he was a pretty interesting and accomplished player.  I’m not sure why I thought this was fascinating, but according to Baseball-reference.com, Wynn is the most “linked” player in baseball history?  Wikipedia can explain it better than I can:  " (This means that, if a value of 1 is assigned to any player Wynn played on the same team with, and a value of 2 assigned to any player who played on the same team with a player with a value of 1, and so on, and the mean value is found by considering each player in baseball history, Wynn's value is lower than any other player's.)"  There’s some good, solid bar trivia for you, courtesy of Napkin Doon.  

I actually* put write in bids on several items, and really thought I had a good chance at some 1950 Callahan cards of the Tinker-Evers-Chance trio (on separate cards).   I’m pretty disappointed I didn’t get them because they are pretty nifty, yet affordable.  This Early Wynn card was all I managed.   This is my first 1957 Topps card, so that year now has a page in the sampler album.

Grade: 

1957 Topps Early Wynn $3 A:  HOF card that’s in pretty great shape.  This is why I love Cleve’s auctions!

*Does it seem like I use the words “actually” too much?  It feels like I do.  I also think I use the words “just” and “really” too much.   Really, I guess I could just use an actual thesaurus.  See?  There I go again!

Is It Really My Blog Birthday? Let's Celebrate!

My blog's one year anniversary is today!  It kind of sneaked up on me, is what it did, that little rascal!  I had a feeling I was going to thoroughly enjoy this ride, but it's been even more fun than I expected.  I am astonished and humbled that I've managed to attract a nice turnout of readers over the past 12 months.  And I'm grateful and appreciative to the folks I've "met", traded cards with and altogether shared this wonderful hobby with along the way.  It's been equally fun writing this blog and reading your blogs too.

To show my appreciation, I'd like to run another Big Fun Game!  I don't have any rules or requirements other than you need to sign up in the comments below.  I'll have 10 spots open on this game, and I think the prizes are pretty darn good.  No contest plugs on your blog are necessary either.  This is all about me thanking you, and not trying to promote my blog.

The only challenge with this Big Fun Game is that I'm going to be traveling on business from the 7th to the 12th and will not be in a good position to manage this game until I get back.   So signups go from now until the 13th at 1 p.m. CST.

Thanks again for reading, and I look forward to another year!


****UPDATE***** Signups are now closed and the participant list will be released shortly!

Checklist Chipaway: 2005 Topps Gallery Artists Proof and Turkey Red 2010 Inserts

Quick post today-

A got in a handful of cards from 2 of my favorite sets off sportlots.com yesterday.  Three 2005 Topps Gallery Artists Proof:

Seven 2010 Topps Turkey Red:

I'm now 65% done on Gallery Artist Proofs and 42 % done on Turkey Red, although I have a feeling Turkey Red is going to be easier (and cheaper) to complete.

February Purchase Analysis: “Thrifty” Is My Middle Name

I’m pretty pleased with my conservative (at least compared to January) purchase total this month:  $69 (snicker-snicker)  which is 62% less than I spent in January.    I suppose I should give some of the credit to being extremely busy at work coupled with not being that interested in 2012 Topps.  Not only did I drop my spending by 62%, my purchases were more aligned to my goals.  Here is a comparison of January and February of categories as a percentage of where my money went each month:

Category	January	February	% Change
Set Builder	19.6%	31.6%	61.2%
Vintage	20.3%	28.8%	41.8%
Wax	34.6%	28.8%	-16.8%
Relic/Auto	16.7%	10.8%	-35.3%
Complete Set	1.1%	0.0%	-100.0%
Football	1.6%	0.0%	-100.0%
Misc Lot	6.0%	0.0%	-100.0%
Grand Total	100.0%	100.0%

I’m glad to see wax get scaled back and set builders (anything aimed at my Master Checklist) and Vintage take on a higher percentage of purchases.  I expect there to be months where wax is gets the lion’s share  of my money, like when Gypsy Queen comes out, but I generally don’t have the ability to spend that much on wax and still purchase other aspects of the hobby that give me greater satisfaction.

My pace was a little better this month too, with longer periods of non-spending.

I may have similar results in March.  I’m going to be traveling a bit, which is going to force me to miss a few auctions at Cleve’s.  I’m planning on purchasing a sampling of Heritage, but if it doesn’t do much for me, I may coast cheaply through another month.  I’m guessing that no matter what happens in March, when baseball fever starts to hit me in early April, I’m going to go crazy with purchases.