tradin'

Another day, another trade. This time the cards come from Jeff over at My Sports Obsession. I sent Jeff some 1973 Topps towards his set that he has recently started, along with some Michigan alums, some Colts and some White Sox. Here is the best of what he sent along:

The Romero relic is actually the second I've gotten in about two weeks. No complaints here though. The Diamond King relic is cool as well. I have only one of these dual relics from this set, that being of Vernon Wells. The Mize and Griffey are for the Player Collections and the Romero rookie is for the rookie binder (I already had it in the Jays box). The Griffey is a great addition due to me not buying any Topps Unique ever. I have only a couple of Jays from the set and a Vernon Wells patch and thats it. I've seen so little of this set, so when I get one it excites me just a little. He also sent some random Jays, and a few other players for the PC, especially Frank Thomas which makes sense, seeing as how Jeff is a Sox fan. Thanks Jeff, you cards should be there any day now!

some stuff

A few things I've been meaning to talk about on the ol' blog here, so let's get to it.

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Ok, so my previous post was just a good excuse to show my new Old Judge card but it actually turned into good debate about what makes a card vintage. I'm glad it did too because its a pretty debatable topic due to it not being clearly defined but then again nor should it. A ten year old may consider 1994 vintage but anyone born in the early 80's (or earlier for that matter) would understand but also look at them like they're crazy. Either way, it's up to the collector to define what they consider a vintage card or set. A good topic for debate indeed.

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I recently completed a trade from Tony over at The (Common) Card Man, aka the Milwaukee Southpaw. Tony helped out with the final card I needed for Update, some Stickers and some Kimball Champions, totally helping me along with finishing up those two sets. Thanks Tony!

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Two new blogs on the 'sphere here that deserve some attention.

First is Dime Boxes -- The Low-End Baseball Card Collector's Journey. He focuses on, you guessed it, dime box cards but looking at them in a new light that most collectors wouldn't; the stories behind them. Most sellers or collectors see a 5000 count box full of commons, he sees countless stories of baseball history and has a vast knowledge of said history as well. He and I have many of the same collecting interests, which is what drew me to his blog in the first place but his writing is a million times better than anything you'll read on this blog here. Check him out, you won't be disappointed.

Secondly, a blog I just stumbled upon the other day, Condition Sensitive. The focus here being the legendary 1971 Topps set and the Colorado Rockies. He talks about the various errors and variations that are abound in the 71 set and makes up his own custom cards too but with a twist. He'll take designs of other cards or sports and makes them into baseball cards. Great idea and I can't wait to see more of them (especially the baseball guys on the football designs)!

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I went a little nuts last week and went on a bender to finish my 2011 Update legends variations set. I kind of neglected it and figured I should finish it up before 2012 hits. I got them wicked cheap too, many for $3.99 and free shipping to boot. The most I paid I think was $7.99 for the Babe Ruth. I'll take it. Guess it was a good thing I waited.

On the flip side though I have COMPLETELY ignored 2009. I really want to finish up that year but some of the cards from series 1 and 2 are becoming scarce. The Update cards are easy enough but searches on eBay for some S1&2 proved to be vapor. Nada for many of them. I did find a Babe Ruth card 1 variation, but was selling for $35. Way more than what I would like to pay. I'll find 'em someday.

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That about does it. It's just a few things I had bouncing around my head and needed to get down here. One last note, if anyone has any Kimball Champions I need PLEASE let me know! I'll trade big for them! I want the set done as soon as possible!

what makes a card old? you be the judge.

What makes something old? Is it something beyond our years, or merely our perception on when something was created?

Take baseball cards. What do we consider vintage? Is it sets that were released before we were born, or is there a cut off point that we all pretty much agree on?

Personally I think vintage, I think of anything before 1980. No particular reason but it seems like a good point to draw the line.

Back when I was younger, my collection had a lot of this:

We all know them well. Of course I was collecting in the overproduction era, as any child of the 80's was. I had 87s for days and I think even more 88s. My collecting really hit my stride in 1991, when I started to purchase packs myself on a more frequent basis.

Back in 1988 though, it was a different story. 1987 was the oldest I had seen, rarely ever did I see these:

To me these were old, even if they were only two years older, my six year old mind thought they were. Look at them! They just look old! Or what ever I would have said at that age. I had maybe two packs worth of 1986 Topps back then.


And even rarer were these:

Somehow a couple of these found their way into my budding collection and I treasured them. I have no idea which cards they were. It didn't matter, I had 85s. Did they even make cards older than that? Are these baseball cards a new thing? Of course not but try telling that to a six year old, who had never seen a card older than three years ago.


Then in around 1993, I went into collecting football. I had a much more vast knowledge that yes, they did make old cards. Much older. I went to an antique show with my mother one weekend and one dealer had some old cards for sale. I'm foggy on what he had for sale but I did pick up this:

This is a 1966 Philadelphia Viking team card. Now we're talking. I think it was just a buck too. The oldest card I think I had ever held at that point would be a big deal for me until I stopped collecting sports cards altogether. This isn't my card, I've no idea where it ended up but I assume it would have been tossed, much like the rest of my cards. I was careless and didn't keep track of them or even keep them in a box. Just thrown about the closet and one day that closet got cleaned out. Yep, everything.


When I got back into collecting in early 2010, I was new to the game once again but only because I had missed so much. Jerseys, autographs, serial numbered parallels? What is the meaning of this? Wow, I guess I missed a lot but I adapted and I obviously never forgot about the vintage. It was shortly after that when I started to pick up some older stuff. Namely for my Topps history binder, in which I dedicated a page to each year of Topps from 1952 to now. I did aim my sights higher though and acquired my first:

Finally! A true vintage card and about 100 years old to boot. It was fascinating and I picked up more. I still am too, in fact you may remember it as one of my goals to complete that T206 page.

What I didn't tell you though is that I did have another goal in mind but I wasn't sure if it would have ever happened.




Well, it did. I aimed and took the shot:

My newest vintage addition and certainly the centerpiece of my collection. I had been looking for an Old Judge ever since I knew about them. I've never come across one being all that affordable and I've even tried bidding on a few here and there. I lost, obviously, otherwise you'd have seen it by now. I really can't get much older than this even if I tried. I wanted an original Ginter but there are very few baseball players in the set and they are all $1000+ cards. I remember bidding on one thinking it might end around $200. Nope, ended at $900. John M. Ward was the card. Surely, this will be the oldest item of anything I'll ever own. Oh and if you'll notice, he is a pitcher holding a bat. Dual purpose card!


So again, what makes a card old? Obviously something from 1887 is damn near ancient but what I consider old is actually pre-1976 cards. Anything after that is usually cheap and easily attainable. Of course perspective is changed dependent on the age of the collector, as anyone collecting 1975 Topps when it was new probably might not consider it old. For now though, we'll leave the cut off at that 1979 mark.

trade winds blowin' again

Jeff from over at Cardboard Catastrophes and I initiated a trade a little while back, revolving around the 1973 Topps set. He is chasing the set as well and I let on that I had a bunch of duplicates. He was interested but didn't have any 1973's to send back. It was perfectly alright though as he offered up some other goodies that were of interest. Take a look:

The Clemente is a '73 and he somehow ended up with two. This one is in way better shape than the one I already have, even with the pen marks on the back. A nice smattering of Kimballs towards my set (down to 19 needed!) and a few Update cards too (down to one!). I have some more Update on the way from another trade so that will be finished soon! The Burnett and Romero relics are good too, as I have neither. In fact the Romero is my first 'keeper' relic from Lineage that I got. I do have the Burnett but it's a bat relic, so I consider this a different card. The Gibson Diamond is cool too, as are any. I decided to scan in the Gallery Jays as opposed to the few other he sent due to the fact that I don't see them that often. I have very little Gallery from ANY year, so when I get it, I'm always appreciative. Seems like a nice couple of sets but I wasn't collecting back then so I had no idea about them until recently. There was also a Tom Seaver short print variation from Update along with a few other Legend Variation parallels in there too. It was all great Jeff, thanks a ton! You'll have the rest of your Update set and a nice healthy stack of 73's plus some other stuff on the way to you soon!

trade winds blow for the first time in 2012

Three times in fact. I received three trade packages in the mail today, all great. I do plan on doing more trade posts like these this year. It's something I've neglected to do al lot last year due to my impatience of having cards sit around. I want them filed away where they go as soon as I get them. Not this year though, I won't be so lazy not to scan and write about them when I get them.


First is a trade from Napkin Doon. Recently he took delivery of all his eTopps cards. Apparently they aren't going to be producing new cards anymore. I'm a little confused as to why I can't take delivery of the three cards I have in my portfolio. I bought them and want them but I can't have them. Frustrating.

Anyway, back to the trade:

He posted up his first haul and I asked him if he would part with the shiny Mathewson you see here. Well, he did and here it is next to my original T206 version of the card, which is why I wanted it. I thought it would make a good complimentary piece to the original. I think it does, being the same picture (he had three different cards in that 1909 set). Napkin, your cards are sitting here all pulled and will be on their way soon!



Next up is a trade from reader Brad. He let me know that he busted a case of this years Chrome and that he had cards to finish my set. He certainly did. Chrome is finished thanks to Brad! He also sent a Kyle Drabek base auto from the set and a few other assorted Jays. I'm hugely thankful that the set is now finished. Brad's brother is Dan from The Other World and doesn't have a blog of his own (yet...) but hopes to soon. A box of Phillies and other assorted goodies will be on their way soon.



Lastly but certainly not least is a monster of a trade from Scott over at Scott Crawford on Cards. Scott and I have exchanged cards on a few occasions and is always a good trade. This one though, took the cake. He sent over a big old box of cards, loaded with cards from pretty much every one of my player collections, along with other collections as well. Here are my favorites:

Love love love the Pilots team card. It's a high number, which explains why I've never seen it. He also included the entire Prime 9 set minus the Jeter, with Hank being my favorite there. The beat Mays is sweet too. Definitely some character to Willie's final card. The Giants Mize card is fuzzy (what a weird set) and the Clemente is really cool too. I hope to one day own the original. The Tulo and Hamilton rookies are just icing on the already sweet cake. There's a ton more in the box too, with a few cards towards the Update set as well.



A big thanks to all three of you for the great cards, they'll go nicely in my collection. 2011 Chrome is the second set I finished this week, let alone this year. Hopefully Update will be finished soon too.

On a final note, this is post number 400 for me on the old blog here. Hard to believe I've had that much to say and you guys to read it (even if a bunch of posts are dedicated to draft breaks). A huge thanks for reading, commenting, trading and all the other facets of collecting to you guys for allowing it to happen! Here's to 400 more!

(hopefully)

retail fun

I had to run to Target today after work for some kitty food. Of course, no Target trip is complete without a trip to the card isle. I picked up one of the 100 card repacks for five bucks. We've all seen them. Some of us have even dared to buy them. I think they're fun, you never know what you'll get inside.


Let's see how I did.

Pete Rose with that helmet and helmet-hair. This is from the 1987 All-Star set.

Tom Tresh Pacific Baseball Legends. I have this set so he isn't much use to me but at least its not 1989 Topps. There were a couple of those.

This nice diamond cut 1987 Donruss Fred Lynn. Yep. We're in repack country.

This set was a super premium set back in 1993. We know that Derek Jeter's most valuable rookie comes from this set (books at about $150) but rarely do you see these in a repack. Sure they're worthless now but in 1993 they were huge.

They were also nice enough to give me three, count 'em THREE Randy Myers rookies from Fleer Update. Should I get them graded?

This was the best. I am all for getting 1990 Leaf. It's a set I never bought as a young'n but really appreciate now. I like it's design and it was a premium set for the day. I surely don't need five of these bad boys though.


It wasn't a total bust though. I did end up with some cards for the PC, like two Blue Jays, a batting pitcher, a guy from Connecticut and a Rookie Cup of Larry Walker from 1991 Topps (I think I have it though). There were also five vintage cards! Well, three depending on if you count 1981 Topps vintage. If not, then three;

1976-221 Jim Todd
1977-559 Alan Bannister
1979-654 Rick Miller


See? Never know what you'll get. Sure I had to wade through 1987, 88 and 89 Topps and 1991 Upper Deck, 1989 Donruss but with stuff like this who's complaining?

guys from connecticut, pt 2

Lets have another look at the local guys.

Today I'm going to feature players that are from the very town I am living in, Southington:

Here is where we are in the darker red part. The lighter red is all of Hartford County and its many towns included within it.

Carl Pavano. Carl started his career with the Expos but was drafted to the Red Sox. From there he went down to Florida to join the Marlins, then to New York for a few (very short) seasons. He played 21 games with the Indians in 09 (which I had no idea until I'm looking at the back of his 2011 card. He is now with the Twins and had a pretty good past few seasons. I had a teacher in high school who mentioned a few times throughout the year that she had Carl in a class of hers.

Oh sure, this card may say New Britain but this is what matters:

See? Home is Southington. Chances are he lived here his whole life. Here is the thing, I was born in New Britain too. If you are from Southington and you have a baby, the closest big hospital for births is New Britain. We do have a hospital here but New Britain General Hospital is the place to have the kids! He is probably right up the street from me as we speak! Well, probably not...

Ah Rob Dibble. Who can forget his fiery fastball and temper. I remember on our main street (Queen Street) there used to be signs on telephone polls stating that Southington was 'The home of Rob Dibble!'. Pretty funny actually.

Originally from Bridgeport, I'm not sure on when he moved here and I'm sure he is gone now but he was here for a little while.

Chris Denorfia. Chris bounced around teams for a little bit. Drafted to the Reds originally, played with them in '05 and '06, then went to the Athletics in 2008. He now plays for the Padres, as you can see on his 2011 card.

Originally from Bristol, the home of ESPN and the next town over. I'm not sure when he came to town but I did graduate with his younger brother. Chris was born in 1980, I was 1982, so I imagine his brother was '82 as well. There was actually just a big article in one of our town papers about him. Talking about his career and journey and such. It was pretty good and I regret not keeping it.


Also in the Connecticut collection I have these:

This is probably the best Skybox baseball card ever. Beehive field is literally 8 minutes away and where the Rock Cats currently play. They built a new stadium for them but its in the same area. Plus I think this field pictured is still there.

I have zero idea where this comes from but its pretty cool. Not much else to say about it other than being a big logo.

Originally I was going to do one player per post but I think I like the town theme better so I'll be sticking with that. Stay tuned for more!

first one down

The first set completion of 2012 has happened. Today I picked up the last two pieces to the 2011 Bowman Platinum set I've been haphazardly working on. The final card?

Yep. A card I already owned. The other was Troy Tulowizki but since he is card 91 and Drabek is 95, Drabek is last. Both cards I actually owned but were in my personal collections.

Usually when working on a set I have a motto I go by, "the set comes first". What that means is even though there are cards I add to my PCs, they go towards the set first then pick up a second copy for said PC. This time though the set was an afterthought and I guess I really wasn't all that intent on finishing it. After grabbing a box and some packs and hitting that Harper auto, that pretty much paid for what I spent on the initial purchases. Even if the Harper did sell for less than it should have (as determined by the market). Oh well. The set is done and in the box put away. I have some trades coming in and hopefully that'll put an end to some of the sets on my want list.


Speaking of want lists, I do intend to have a 1973 Topps list up at some point soon. I do want to thank those that did trade me some of the Platinums towards the set, I'm glad it's finished!

1973 progress

Is anyone collecting this set? Seems like a few of us are. I haven't spoken of it in a little bit so I figured I would update my progress.

According to my calculations, I should be at 488/684. I get the number 684 due to the blue bordered checklists for each team (24 of them). I picked up a few lots on eBay and have been keeping track of everything. Cost per lot, per card, how many cards I received and how many I needed. The cost per card is tallied by what I need.

For example;

I picked up a lot of 190 cards. Needed 118. I paid $29.95 (including shipping), so my cost per card needed was about 25 cents. Not bad. I've been hovering in the 18 to 30 cent range per card needed for most of the lots. I'm getting higher numbers in these too (anything after 528 is the final, fifth series). Not a whole lot of high numbers mind you but a good number.

I want to see what it costs to put it together. I've never done this with a set before but I am also taking a different approach with this set. As opposed to buying it outright I plan to hit shows, buy lots and do some trading.

Speaking of trading, like I mentioned above, is anyone chasing this set? I have a 400 count box full of doubles now and they are all available. Hopefully we can work something out. Or if anyone has any of those blue checklists and aren't chasing them, please let me know, I need 12 more.

top five from the pie

Another late to the party post. Sigh, I guess thats what I get for being lazy.

Anyway, Topps American Pie was released a few weeks ago and I think its a fun little document of American history and pop culture in the past 70 years. Today I will highlight my five favorites in the set, all involving music. In no order except chronological, here we are:

Miles Davis is a fantastic artist. Admittedly, I haven't heard much from him but what I have I really liked. Kind of Blue is a masterpiece in the Jazz medium. A guy I definitely need to hear more of.

The Beatles. What hasn't already been said about them? One of my favorite bands of all time, The Beatles playing Shea Stadium was a monumental event in popular music. Ed Sullivan may have broke them into American homes but this show catapulted them into the stratosphere in popularity. Shortly after this show, they stopped playing live altogether, due to their dislike of not being able to be heard over screaming teenage girls. A point they hated about playing Shea. I think it worked out for the better because after they stopped touring they were able to focus on the music and came out with defining moments in rock and roll with albums such as Rubber Soul, Revolver and the epic Sgt. Peppers.

Hendrix was a master in his art. Tragically lasting only a scant five years in the spotlight, the impact he made remains one of the biggest in music. From his startling American debut at the Monterey Pop Festival (where he smashed his guitar then proceeded to light it on fire, much to the horror of the audience) to his electric performance at Woodstock and the albums in between plus his guitar mastery and studio experimentation. A legend in music, certainly.

This was the card that made me want this set in the first place. I saw the Ramones card and got totally excited and needed to obtain it. The Ramones are another favorite of mine, especially the first four albums (Ramones, Leave Home, Rocket to Russia and Road to Ruin). Sure the songs were simple but they harken back to a fun era in the 50's and 60's pop music, just faster. More legends in their own right.

Nirvana is and always has been one of my favorite bands ever. I don't like how this card focuses on his suicide and would rather them focus on the band instead. Either way, I'm glad this card made it in the set. I still remember hearing about it and being pretty upset. I was 12 after all and this band was huge to me at the time. A definite tragedy for such a young talent (him, not me).


That wraps up the American Pie. I'm almost done with the set and can't wait to finish it off and start reading those cards!

baseball cards around the world- part 1 (of 4)

I spent a lot of time at the card shop last week. The owner went on vacation and had three of his friends/customers watch the store for him. I was one of them and worked about 22 hours over there during the week. It helped that my real job had Monday off, so I was at the shop all day. I went through boxes upon boxes of cards. Namely to see if there was anything good for him to sell, pull any Yankees/Red Sox and rookies. While doing that I'm able to see if there is anything I'm interested in and put it aside. I came across a binder that had a big mish-mash of cards from the early to mid 90's but three cards I put aside (I'll show them in a different post) inspired me to grab a few things off eBay.

I'll call this limited feature 'Baseball Cards Around the World'. Although I am only tackling two countries, I feel they deserve their own posts. Today I'll feature a pack from Australia:

Australian Baseball League Collector Cards from 1993-1994. Apparently this set is put out by a company called Futera. At 131 total cards, this is a small set. The pack tells me to look for Gold Prospect subset collection cards and redemption cards good for a rare picture card of David Nilsson or Mark Ettles. I am sure excited.

A little background, as stolen from Wikipedia; Apparently the Australian Baseball League lasted from 1989 to 1999 and had anywhere from 6 to 9 teams playing in a season. Weird. Seasons were 42 to 62 games depending on how many teams were playing that year. Players also used aluminum bats and they use the designated hitter rule down there. Neat.

Lets see some cards.

Here are the base cards. They look pretty 90's to me. Name going vertical? Check. They are a nice quality though. Not flimsy, nice gloss on the front. Some nice cards here. Check out the backs:

Seems pretty basic, kind of reminds me of a Fleer product. One line of career stats and a little blurb about the guy. Not bad but not great.

This is an awards subset for best of the year guys. Here we have manager and reliever of the year.

Yes, this single pack of nine cards netted me two checklists, crazy. They do break it up by team though, as Fleer did in their sets.

Here is one of the all star cards. With both gold AND silver foil on the front (impressive!) and a full bleed picture, this is easily the best card in the pack. Although, if you notice the background of Mr. Jelks card here, you'll see NO ONE in the stands. Maybe thats why they only lasted ten seasons...


The final three parts will come from the same country but as I said I feel they deserve their own posts. This won't be an every Wednesday sort of thing, so watch for parts 2 through 4 in the future.

it must be said

Topps sucks.


When it comes to baseball, Topps has it...sometimes. Unfortunately they are hit or miss with some of their products but as our only choice in the matter, we're forced to accept it.

Football is a different story. Topps' football products are...not so great. Personally, I feel Panini is MILES beyond what Topps is doing in terms of getting the bang for your buck. Let me explain.

Normally I'm all about baseball but as I stated a few days ago, football has caught my attention. The main reason for this being that the local shop hosts a Super Bowl trade party, where collectors in the area flock to watch the big game, eat some pizza and talk and (once the hands are washed) trade some cards. I went last year and it was a good time. I made some decent deals but nothing to write home about. This year though, I'm going in with a different approach; football. Football cards are huge in that store and while baseball deals were done, it seemed like most were after some good football hits. Here is where Panini rules the football roost. Follow me as I go through a few recent releases from them and why they're good.

First up is their low-end set, 2011 Score. Yes they have the Score name and they sure look like they'd be made by said company. I think its great, a buck a pack (7 cards) or five bucks for a rack pack of 40. They have a good look to them, nice, clean and simple design. Backs are decent too with up to 5 years of stats. Its a good value and they don't focus on hits at all, in fact I'm not even positive there are any in this set save for the factory sets. I could be wrong though. No need for foil, or any trickery or gimmicks, just a 400 card set and some insert sets. This is what low-end should be.

2011 Rookies and Stars: Longevity. This set is beyond a great value. At ten packs a box and 5 cards a pack, its a quick bust but in those ten packs are at least three hits, although every box that has been opened up at the store has had four. Price? $59. Never EVER would Topps give away four hits for under 60 bucks. Never. The cards are so shiny, to the point where I almost hate touching them. This is certainly a mid-level set, to which Topps never has any of, be it baseball or football. Topps is only $75 and higher on boxes and usually for ONE hit. See some of the hits below:

Nice stuff. The rookie manu-patch autos are really nice and the jumbo jersey is cool too. The best part of Panini's hits? They're all numbered! Well, OK maybe not ALL of them but for the most part, most every hit I've gotten/seen has been numbered. I tell you, its way more exciting to pull a numbered jersey card as opposed to a card that isn't.

Now here is the big one. 2011 Certified is one of the best selling products year in and year out at the store. He goes through cases of the stuff, its unbelievable. This is usually the most anticipated football release of the year for many collectors. This is another four hit per box product. Some hits below:

Some good stuff here too. although this was my best:

Two prime jerseys, even though you can't tell on the bottom guy but check out the back:

Hey, there are autos back here! and its 5/5! Ok, so autos on the back is a little weird but I kind of like it. Its less clutter on the front.


My one qualm with Panini is that some of the sets start to look alike and its tough to tell what is from where. Thankfully they all have some sort of logo determining what set they are from. They love foil board too. Sooooo many shiny cards from Panini, you usually need sunglasses. I don't know if football collectors even put sets together, they seem to go for jerseys/autos and rookies mainly but there are some nice looking sets to be had.

I'll stick with Topps for baseball (namely because I have to) but for football its Panini all the way. Kind of really makes me want them to be able to do baseball, give Topps some real competition.

guys from connecticut, pt 1

Let's face it, Connecticut isn't know for its baseball. It's miles behind New York or California or any other bigger state for that matter. We have no professional Major League team (in any sport for that matter) after the Hartford Whalers left.

What it does have though is a small group of professional Major Leaguers that either spent time living here or were from one of our little New England towns (or cities I suppose) and this series of posts will highlight them. I'll also give a little insight on them if I have any and show in relation to where they are (or were) to where I am. It's a small state and I live practically in the middle. I can reach any of the four borders in about 45 minutes, tops, so no one is really all that far.

First for this initial post though, I'd like to go through a few of the teams that we do have in our humble little state. Four teams, at least in the past 15 years, have made Connecticut their home turf. Let's check them out.

First up we have probably the most recognizable of the bunch, the Minnesota Twins Double A affiliate, New Britain Rock Cats. As I have mentioned before, this stadium is 8 minutes from my house and we've attended a bunch of games in the past two seasons. Its a great time every time. That stadium gets pretty packed on a charity night, for an important game or when a Yankee is sent down to their Double A, the Trenton Thunder and they happen to be playing in New Britain. I'm not kidding. Phil Hughes got sent to Trenton and they played a game against the Cats at home and they filled that stadium up. Sure it can only hold about 8000 fans but they did it.

Next up we have the Connecticut Tigers, the Single A affiliate for the Detroit Tigers. I have not made it to a Tigers game yet but I plan to this season. A while back I talked of a missed opportunity to meet Al Kaline at a game and was pretty bummed that I did. They play in Dodd Stadium in Norwich, which is about a good half hour from me. More with traffic. Once I do make it to a game I'll be sure to post up some pictures.

How about these guys? Part of the Atlantic League, they are not affiliated with an MLB team. I haven't been to a game here either and they're another good 30 minute drive but in the opposite direction as the Tigers. I also just read that their manager is Willie Upshaw, of Toronto Blue Jays fame (1978-87). Cool! I am also going to try and get to one of these games this season too.

Now here is one I forgot all about until I ran into a Minor league card at the local shop while rummaging through a box. The New Haven Ravens were the Double A Affiliate of the Colorado Rockies in 1994. Then in 2003 they moved the franchise up to New Hampshire, to become the... you guessed it... New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the Double A Affiliate of the Blue Jays. Thats some neat history right there. I remember hearing advertisements for Ravens games on the radio back in the 90's.

Sure there have also been some others before these teams, like the New Britain Red Sox, the Connecticut Defenders, who were the Norwich Navigators, who are now the Richmond Flying Squirrels (in Virginia). They both used to play where the Tigers play now. Around 1902 we even had our own league, the Connecticut State League, which folded in 1914. We also had one of the original teams to start up the National League in 1876, the Hartford Dark Blues, a team which lasted only two seasons but will forever be cemented in history as a charter member of the National League.

So that about wraps up our little history lesson. I plan on focusing on a single player in these posts from here on out, so be on the look out for part two very soon. I just wanted to do a little baseball background from the state for the initial posting.

what's ahead

A Happy New Year to everyone and I hope that your holiday was fun, eventful and safe. I've been reading on many blogs about collecting goals for 2012. As collectors, I feel that we all should have goals on what we would like to accomplish, limit or buy within this coming year of collecting. I know the winter has us all in a card calm but once April hits, it's hard to say no to new stuff. Goals are important though because while I am unaware of any millionaires in the blog-o-sphere, I'm going to reckon that none of us are. We're just regular Joes (and Janes) looking to get some nice cards in our grubby mitts and add them to our ever growing collections. We can't buy everything, plus who would want to? I haven't run into any collector that likes every release from Topps. We all have our favorites and we all have those sets we just can't get into. Goals are good. They keep you focused. Eyes on the prize. Plus it does away with unneeded spending and piles and piles of cards that won't do anything, as opposed to getting those last 25 cards to finish off a set, or the greatness of adding a really awesome vintage card to our collection. I like reading these goals from everyone and I hope that you are able to stick with them (myself included). As for my little blog here, I have a few new features in store for this year. In 2010 I used to do more 'feature' posts, where I'd show a random card or a couple random vintage cards from my collection, or something in that vein. I plan on debuting one of these features tomorrow, that I will carry into the new year. A few more should follow soon thereafter. I mean why have the bloggy deal here if we aren't showing our collections and why we have them? Most blogs do this already, I'm just a slacker.