Top Blog Moments- IT'S A LIST, LOST COLLECTOR

Remember that time the Lost Collector wrote a post about how lists were lame, and it rubbed Night Owl the wrong way?  That was funny.

I'm happy to say that for as much grief as I give AJ (The Lost Collector), I consider him a friend and one of the best people I've met as a result of this blog business.  

So before my last post tomorrow, in honor of AJ, I wanted to stroll down memory lane and list out my Top 9 favorite blog moments from the last three years.  Why 9?  Because 7 ate 9.  Wait, no that's a punch line to one of my 4 year old's jokes.  Why 9?  Because.... I couldn't come up with 10.

Here they are, sort of ranked and sort of not:


#9 : Auctions/Gifts From Cleve:

Obviously auctions at Cleve's were a major part of my blog.  My involvement with Cleve's won't end with the ending of the blog thankfully.  And I'm still stunned by some of the incredible cards that Cleve has given me over the years:

Yes that's a Triple Threads dual autograph book card of Evan Longoria and Josh Hamilton.  It is indeed.

I guess these aren't directly tied to the blog, but they are so nice and Cleve is so awesome that they need to be on the countdown.



#8 :  Dayf sends me the best card I ever received from another blogger:

 

As you may recall, I made a lazy, half ass attempt to get George Will, my hero, on a card in Allen & Ginter.  It went nowhere, but did result in me receiving a custom made Will A&G card, courtesy of everyone's favorite Cardboard Junkie.

#7:  AJ Gets Ranced:

Speaking of exchanging cards between bloggers, I was very proud of what I sent AJ after he made a smart ass remark about some tainted cards I had opened.  His post is perhaps my favorite post related to my blog from another blogger.

I also want to send a kudos to Cardboard Catastrophes for the best title of a post about a trade with me:  Paper Products From a Paper Product.  That was brilliant, and Jeff is a fantastic writer and generous dude.

#6:  Etopps Scandal:

This is as close to fame in the baseball card world as I ever got.  I was mentioned on eTopps message boards and it led to a mild scandal.  It's a weak 15 minutes of fame grant you, but it's mine.

#5:  Hot Dog Tournament:

I know this was a stupid bit on my part, but it was a blast.  My stomach didn't appreciate it, and I won't do it again, but it was fun to write.  It's also been fun to re-live all the matchups and the controversies that occured.  What a thrilling tournament!

#4:  The Becky Bridwell Interview:

I was pretty of proud of this one.  It's as close to journalistic "work" as my blog ever got.  Adventures of Napkin Doon is not interview-centric at all, but the interview with Oriole's prospect Parker Bridwell's mom was fun, and she was an awesome person to correspond with.

#3:  Doon Discs:

This was a totally stupid spoof of phiten discs, but it was a wonderful creative release.  I was also able to use artwork from stuff I received from AJ and Dayf to make the "discs".

#2:  My Collecting "Food" Pyramid:

 

Other than my first Big Fun Game, this post was one I got the best response to early in my blogging days.  I think the analogy still holds up for me as a collector.  In fact, the comparison of junk wax to candy was spot on for me personally, because I'm getting to the age where splurging on either really makes me feel like crap.  I think it was my best "contribution" to the "blogosphere."

#1:  George Will Sends Me An Autographed Card:

Sure, this is number one for purely selfish reasons.  But getting an autographed card from George Will, and having his assistant tell me he was amused with my letter still gives me chills.  Best autograph I have by far.  This alone was worth starting the blog.


I'm sure there are a few things I'm forgetting that should make this list, but for now, that's it, that's the list. 

Goodies From Oklahoma

Jeff from Cardboard Catastrophes is at it again.  I saw the padded mailer on the counter today labeled "Napkin and Son Doon" and knew exactly who sent it without even looking at the return address.  Jeff has without a doubt been one of the most generous bloggers that I've met during this little blog project.

And this package was also sorts of cool.  First, and I assume this was intended for the "Son Doon:"

A huge stack of vintage Star Wars cards. These are so cool.  I've got a bunch more of these in a box somewhere, so I need to see if I have the complete set.  I bet if I didn't, this group filled in a lot of gaps.  I think my son wants to take these to school Monday.  I suppose he could take a few.

And there was something for moi as well, and this is plain badass:

I don't have any of these Camo cards of the Rangers, so I was really pumped to get this.  Not sure why my scanner cropped the hell out of it. 

Thanks again for the nice cards Jeff! 

Why Can't You Be More Like Your Cousin Jeffrey?

Quick, for $100 what TV show am I sort of referencing?  If you guessed Seinfeld, you might think you are correct, but I was actually not referring to a TV show at all, but to Jeff from Cardboard Catastrophies.  I'm not sure if he's your cousin though, only you know for sure.  But he's my neighbor (he's in OK and I'm in AR), and I'd like to think, my pal. 

He drives me nuts a little though because he frequently sends these unannounced packages that are always awesome.  Recently, he single-handedly knocked my Topps 2012 Archives want list down several notches with a block of about 30 cards that I needed.

I've heard some negative feedback about Archives, but once you put the set together and look at in in an album, it's a really neat set.  I've got all the inserts and now have most of the base.  I'm skipping the SPs.

Here are a few of the cards Jeff sent:

 Yes, I know there is a glut of Mantle cards out there, but this is pretty cool looking.

 I also got one of these Darryl Strawberry's from Night Owl, which is great with me.  It's a beatiful card and I can put one in the Archives album and one with my Strawberry album.

 Thanks again for your generosity Jeff.  I'm looking forwad to finding something to send your way!

A Card Show In My Mailbox

Jeff, from Cardboard Catastrophes, was up to his old tricks again last week and sent me an unexpected lot of cards.  What was great about these is they included stuff from issues I've never had before:

All three of these are awesome.  The Nelson Cruz card, as it turns out, is  "color swap" SP from Heritage and not that easy to come by.    The Frank Howard is the first vintage Deckle card in my collection.  In fact when I first saw it, I thought it was part of the 2012 Archives Deckle insert set, which shows how illiterate on this stuff I often am.  But it's a true 1969 Topps card, and it's going straight to my vintage album.   Finally  I’m always glad to get cards of Fergie Jenkins, especially in a Rangers uniform.

He also sent a few Obak cards, which are very cool.  I'd never paid much attention to Obak, but dagnabbit (as Jeff and his fellow Okies say)  if these aren't some pretty cards!  The David Clyde card would be fantastic autographed.  These are likewise firsts for my collection.

I could have gone to a card show and just come home with this group of cards and been happy.    That's some solid stuff!

Thanks again Jeff, and let me know when you get together a 1970 Topps wantlist.  I might be able to help a little!

A Long Time Ago...

A very nice fellow, Jeff,  from the fantastic, witty, and  well written blog Cardboard Catastrophes sent my little boy a package out of the blue.  As much as I enjoy getting yellow mailers for myself, it was pretty fun seeing a package addressed to "Doon Son" and seeing my little boy get excited when he found out is was for him and got past the confusion of seeing "Doon Son" on the mailer. 

Inside was a generous helping of vintage Star Wars cards that completely delighted my boy:

 The Tusken Raider card is his favorite (mine too).

I actually am embarrassed that I'm just now posting about it since Jeff sent it a few months ago.  This was a totally unexpected and terrific surprise from him, and further evidence of the type of person he is.  Thanks Jeff!

Cardboard Catastrophes Keeps Making My Day

I can't seem to catch up to Jeff at Cardboard Catastrophes.  It seems like he always has something up his sleeve that I want and he sends it before I can even put together my side of the trade.  He was nice enough to do some finagling on the Diamond Topps giveaway site and came up with the only other Texas Ranger di cut card I needed (I'm passing on Vlad Guerrero and don't want to spend what I'd have to for the Nolan Ryan) for a close-enough-complete Rangers set.   His cards arrived in the mail yesterday.  I haven't even put his in the mail yet.  This same scenario plays out on all of our trades, which makes me wonder how he tolerates me. 

Here is the Beltre.  I love these cards, and I've become a huge fan of Beltre this year.  I'm very excited to get this.

He also sent a few extra cards.  The Ryan Fleer Greats card is a handsome card that looks like it belongs in a leather bound album in a luxurious home office that smells of pipe tobacco. 

Thanks for being a great trading partner Jeff, and I'll get some good stuff out to you soon!

Catastrophe Schmutastrophe

Jeff from Cardboard Catastrophes keeps one upping me. Not only is his blog better than mine in general, I still haven't been able to come up with a better trade post title for trades with him than the one he came up with for trades with me:  Paper Products From a Paper Product.  Brilliant.
Then we sort of worked out a trade where I was going to send him some Red Man cards of Johnny Antonelli.  I say sort of because I actually was just going to send him the cards since I still owed him from our last trade.  I told him not to send anything.  But he went ahead and sent me a bunch of great Ranger cards, and they came in the mail today:

 My first Feliz relic card.  AWE. SOME.

 I'm more excited about this Gaylord Perry 1978 card the more I look at it.  Fantastic vintage.

And there were several current Rangers cards,with several A&G that I didn't have yet, and a couple of great Heritage Minors.  I hear Jake Skole is tearing it up in the AFL.

There were more as well, but these were my favorites.  Thank you so much for the great package Jeff!  I'll keep an eye out for more Antonelli cards!

Conlon Collection Page 2: Good Googly Moogly Indeed…

In the first comment on the first post on this series, Jeff from Cardboard Catastrophes just about nailed it as concisely as possible: “Good Googly Moogly. Those look like they were written by a barely literate, and completely drunk, 1950s ad man.”

That nails it.

Here are cards 10-18  for your viewing and reading pleasure.  

A few thoughts:

•  Despite my having some fun with the backs of the cards, I do want to say the photos on this set are superb.
• My favorite line is the opener for Leo Durocher: “Leo Durocher was probably the smartest manager in game control who put spikes in his walking shoes to ease the pain.”     Were there a whole bunch of managers who put spikes in their walking shoes to ease the pain back then?  
• The story about Dizzy Dean drinking the soda on the train was actually pretty funny.
• I  never knew Lou Gerhig was called "biscuit pants".  I love that at the end of the write up for Gerhig, the writer felt it necessary to answer what clearly was a rhetorical question. “Can you believe he (Gerhig) stole home 15 times as a Yankee?  Well, he did.”  Awesome.

These have been so much fun to read, and the photos are extraordinary!  Can you believe I scanned the whole set?  Well, I did.

Minor Miscue

After some busy days of traveling to Toronto and getting my head back above water at work, it’s nice to be back to the blog!  I didn’t realize it had been almost a week since my last post.  

I also didn’t realize until the other day that I neglected to show off one of my favorite acquisitions from a recent trade I made with Jeff from Cardboard Catastrophes.  Along with the cool cards he sent here, he also sent a team set of the Oklahoma Red Hawks, the Texas Rangers AAA affiliate.  Even if these weren’t from the Rangers organization, sets from minor league teams are a cool change of pace. 

Thanks for the set Jeff!  I promise, your cards on the way!

Lineage Rangers

I don't know what happened, but I very quickly changed my mind on Lineage.  I still love the mini relic cards, and some of the other inserts, but I have no interest in the base other than the Rangers cards.  Luckily,  neighboring state (OK) blog Cardboard Catastrophes (BTS, the more I read his blog and correspond with him, the more I realize we have in common- except I LOVE Star Wars) cares even less for Lineage and sent me the Rangers cards he had from his purchase:

This about covers my needs for Lineage base.  The Cruz card is super cool, and now I think I have all of the mini relics of the Rangers since I also received this Kinsler relic off eBay:

While the base doesn't do much for me, I still am enamored with the mini relics.  Once they come down in price, I will probably fish for a few more online.  I also really want the Josh Hamilton 3D card.

Thanks for the trade Jeff!