Creeping Back In With a New Ian Kinsler Card

Fellas, the fire I have for blogging these days has turned to a weak flicker.  In fact, I've got a retirement post queued up in my drafts and was close to hitting the publish button when the Daily Dimwit sneaked in and pulled the plug on his blog first.  (An aside- Sam, you were a blast to follow and best of luck to you!)

So since I can't be seen as a copycat to the Dimwit,  I'll stick with it a little bit longer.  

Anyway, I got a little boost of cardboard adrenaline this week when I got this sweet Ian Kinsler card on eBay:

I have plenty of Kinsler relics, but none with such an awesome patch. 

I've heard suggestions that Kinsler could be traded this offseason.  I honestly don't see that happening, and frankly, I hope it doesn't.  Kinsler sometimes drives me crazy with his frequent pop-ups and base-running snafus, but I watch a ton of Ranger games every year, and he comes through a lot more than he lets down.

Plus, he's one of the few guys on the team that seems to have a chip on his shoulder, and that is cool with me.   You know, since I'm so edgy and hardcore myself.

Old TTMs- Dedicated To The Lost Collector

I've gone from ignorance, to annoyance, to amusement, to addiction when it comes to Twitter.  I did not get it at first.  Now I'm checking twitter 20 times a day.  I don't tweet much, but I love watching my feed during Rangers games, and I really enjoy watching the little Twitter dust ups that occur periodically.  Sam at the Daily Dimwit, I'm looking at you.

The other night I enjoyed watching the Lost Collector tweet pics of a bunch of random TTM (through the mail) autographs he had collected over the years.  I thought I would outright steal the idea and show some of the TTMs I picked up long ago in my early collector days.  I also thought it would be interesting to see if anyone had any thoughts as to the authenticity of some of these.  I feel pretty secure about some, but others... maybe not:

This is probably my favorite.  I guess I didn't have a Craig Biggio card available to send at the time, so I used the back of one of those Fleer sticker inserts that showed pictures of stadiums.  I hope this is authentic!  If I can reasonably assume it is, I might send it in for PSA/DNA authentication.  It looks pretty close to other autos I've seen of Biggio on eBay.

This looks pretty close too.  I have to say, as a high schooler, I showed pretty good taste in which cards to send for autographs.  If it's real, this is awesome!

I can't tell for sure on this one.  Wonder if Canseco would verify it if I asked him on Twitter?

Wrapping up with another Hall of Famer.  I'd give this one about a 2% chance of being real.  It doesn't look like his signature at all to me.  Maybe I'm wrong.

And be sure to follow me and my non-tweets!  I'm at @napkindoon.  Don't bother following @Lost_Collector or @thedimwit.   They'll just cyber bully you and pollute your feeds with pictures of kittens and quiche recipes.

At Some Point A-Rod Will Go So Far Ridiculous That He'll Be Collectible Again

There's got to be a point where A-Rod becomes such a train wreck that his cards will once again be in demand.  Right?  I kind of feel like that is happening with Jose Canseco.  His cards are still pretty much worthless, but won't we be talking about him 20 years from now?  Won't that make his cards collectible again?  I caught myself looking up prices on some of his '86 Rookies after I read a few of his thoughts on Twitter.  I highly encourage you to follow Canseco if you have a Twitter account.  He's either the world's biggest idiot, or an absolute genius. 

I can see that happening with A-Rod.  You know there is plenty more bizarre/crazy in the well in that guy.  And the moment someone writes a comprehensive biography on him, I'm plunking down my money for it without hesitation.

That's why I was happy to get a few more A-Rod cards from Sam at the Daily Dimwit.

  Please, please, please don't take this as an invite to dump your A-Rod cards on me. 

But you can dump your Rangers on me, and Sam did just that:

There was a lot more in the pack, but these were some of my favorites.  Love the Buckel Topps 100 card, and had been wanting one since the set came out. 

Thanks again for the trade Sam!

A Dimwit 1/1! It’s Mine, All Mine!

I love trade packages where the bonus card is even better than the card you were trading for.  I was fortunate enough to have that happen again recently with a small trade I executed with everyone’s favorite Dimwit, Sam, from The Daily Dimwit. 

He’s been busting some beautiful Topps Tribute lately, and pulled a Yu Darvish base card.  I was all up in that business, and luckily no one beat me to claiming it when Sam said it was available.  I sent a few things Sam’s way, and he sent the Darvish to me:

Man, that is a good looking baseball card, and I am not even the slightest bit gay.  Not even just a tiny bit.  Even when Yu Darvish is pitching and when the camera captures him staring in to the catcher for the signs and it looks like he is staring in at me.   I don’t imagine us playing catch at the Ballpark in Arlington.   I don’t think about us strolling down the beach talking about life and our hopes and dreams.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the other awesome card Sam sent.  Buckle up, because you need to be sitting down for this one:

That’s right ladies and germs, this is an official Allen and Ginter George Will 1/1!  You may recall that the Cardboard Junkie sent me into a tizzy a while back with his take on my wish for George Will to get an Allen and Ginter card.  Well,  Sam has taken this to a whole ‘nother level, with artistry and craftsmanship that defies reason.

Note the glasses, painstakingly drawn on A-Rod’s face to make him look exactly like George Will.  Yes, that’s right, I said A-Rod!  You likely were fooled by the glasses, but incredibly, the original artwork for this gem was an Alex Rodriguez card.  It’s hard to tell that now, what with “Rodriguez” lined out on the card, as well as the helpful note that this is “Not A-Roid.”

As you can imagine, this card has gone straight into a snap case, as well as straight into my heart.

Thank you for a good laugh Mr. Sam, and for continuing to prove that you are not, in fact, a Dimwit.

Ficociello a la Dimwit oooh la la Magnifico

Hey, you like-a the Dominic Ficociello? Is good eh?  He play-a for the... emmm how you say: Arkansas Razorbacks?

Ok, it's taking too long to write this post in Italian, so I'll just go back to my backwoods English.

So, Sam at the Daily Dimwit was giving Topps the what-fer about a month ago for a) terrible collation on some redemptions of Topps Chrome USA autographs (2 of 5 of the autos were of Razorback stud Ficociello), but worse b) mucking up the autographs of one of the Ficociellos, and worst of all c) refusing to do anything about it.   It's actually an unbelievably poor display of customer service, and the above links have to be read to be believed.

I'm a little embarrassed to look back on these posts regarding Sam's ordeal.  If you read the comments on the first post, you'll several offerings of concern and support from considerate folks... followed by yours truly asking if he could have the Ficociello card that wasn't screwed up.    What a guy I am.

Well, what a guy Sam is, because he was willing to send the Ficociello my way.  He liked a couple of Jeff Bagwell cards I had, including a really cool "game used dirt" card and we worked out a deal.  My cards arrived Friday, and the Ficociello is every bit as awesome as I thought it would be.  You never know on  prospects, but I think he's the real deal.  Of course I am a tad biased about my Razorbacks.  Even if he doesn't get to the Majors, I'll still have a great card of a great Razorback.

And I got a few bonus cards too.  You may be familiar with the gentleman on the bottom right.  Yes, that is former Governor of Arkansas Bill Clinton.  I'm thrilled there is a card of him out there.  I know Arkansas is a small state, but Clinton was a pretty high profile governor and made a few appearances on late night shows like Letterman and Leno, so he has some national appeal.

Thanks for the trade Sam!  Hope you enjoy the dirt I sent you!

Gypsy Queen Life Vest- Courtesy The Daily Dimwit

I have been stoked about the responses I've received so far from my "Help Wanted" post for Gypsy Queen.  I've had a few trades and my checklists are shrinking quickly.  The first batch of cards came in from Sam at the bigtime blog, The Daily Dimwit, who was very generous on his side of the deal.  He sent about 20 base cards that I needed.  Being the genius that I am, I neglected to immediately scan them, and instead put them in a box with my other GQ base cards.   I am not 100% sure that what I am showing are what he sent.  I think they are, because I'm pretty sure I remember getting excited about seeing Jackie Robinson in there.  Nonetheless, he sent me about 20 cards, and put a nice dent in my base checklist.  I think these are some of they:

Thanks Sam, and I can't wait to ogle more non sports cards from your new blog sponsor.

I need a sponsor.  I'll shill for anyone.  You hear me out there?  Anyone! 

Thinking Deeply With 1990 Donruss & A Shout Out To The Dimwit

I made some self deprecating comments about my recent purchase of an album bound INCOMPLETE set of 1990 Donruss that I "won" at one of Cleve’s auctions a few weeks ago.  I felt it was a justifiable purchase for $2 because it also came with several back issue Beckett magazines, but mostly because the pages were in good shape and I could remove the pointless Donruss cards and use the pages for later.  It did amount to 83 pages after all.  I finally finished pulling out all of the cards the other day, and a few things occurred to me:

1)       I am never doing this again.  Do you know what a pain it is to pull 700+ boring cards out of 80+ pages? 

2)     Despite the hassle, there is always something of value in any base set if you look hard enough.  Not necessarily of monetary value, but something worth pausing over and thinking about.  For example:



Even though he was commissioner of baseball for a very brief period of time, I have grown to become an admirer of Bart Giamatti.  Some newer baseball fans may not be familiar with Giamatti and his place in baseball history.  But rather than giving an overview of his biography, I’ll partner with Wikipedia just like Topps has done recently with their Allen & Ginter cards. 

My admiration is mostly unrelated to his ruling on Pete Rose (I don’t intend to get into that here), but more due to my perception of him as a thoughtful, literate asset to the game of baseball.  If you’ve never read any of his books or essays on baseball, I highly recommend doing so.

I wonder what the landscape of baseball would look like had he not passed away and remained commisioner?  Would the steroid plague played out the same way?  Would we still have the Wild-Cards and Interleague play?  Would baseball be better or worse than it is now?  I would vote for Giamatti over Selig as commissioner, but that doesn’t mean he would have done a better job than Selig over the past 15 years.   As much as people like Colin Cowherd give Selig grief for being beholden to baseball traditions, would Giamatti been even LESS likely to make changes to the game than Selig?   I am interested in the thoughts out in blogger land. 

Also, if you don't know about it already, the one and only Daily Dimwit is having a really nice giveway, with signups ending this Friday.   Get over and check out a great blog!

Drooooolll........

My pal Sam over at the Daily Dimwit and I completed a small but awesome trade recently.  He was gracious enough to offer up this super awesome Michael Young dual relic card.  He also sent some other good base Ranger cards, but I will leave them off so as not to distract from this bad mother.... numbered to #200 no less.

Thanks Dimwit!

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.

Mail Time (Non Brycemas)

One of the packages I a have been anxiously awaiting was my group break portion from The Daily Dimwit.     He ran a break of 2006 UD Ovation a few weeks ago, and I signed up for the Rangers, and had the Tigers as my randomly selected 2nd team.   The Daily Dimwit is one of the best blogs out there, and the author, Sam, is a great guy to boot.  So, I was glad to be apart of his break since it was the first one I've ever participated in.  Long story short, all the participants received a full set of Ovation base, as well as hits and dupes of their claimed teams.  I was crossing my fingers for a Michael Young autograph.  Imagine my delight when I managed to get 2:

I also got a Chris Shelton auto (available if anyone is interested), and some nice other inserts.
Ovation was a great set from Upper Deck, and I'm thrilled with my full set and hits.  Thanks Dimwit!