Thursday, December 14, 2017

State of the Union

Hey all, who knew as you got older the less time you'd have to blog about sports cards? Truth is I still think about them as much as ever and sneak time here and there to tweet about them but apart from that really the blog seems to have suffered the most. Life is good, coaching hockey, playing hockey and soccer, parenting and working all seem to flow together and in the end I daydream of cards I own or cards I wish I had and then the next day begins.

I still feel a little empty because I don't seem to have as much time as I'd like to record my thoughts or interact with some of my fellow collectors I only see on here so I am working at ways to try and spread my time a little more evenly to help include my comrades out here.

Today's post is how I stay connected to the hobby when  I am not at home and one way is by having a few cards at work. For someone who has 99.999% hockey in their collection, I have a large number (proportionally speaking) of baseball cards at work. I thought I'd share a few of the ball cards I have and share some of the others in another post at a later date. As some of you know, my all-time favourite ball player is Randy Johnson and at home I have his UD rookie and an Artifacts relic card. However at work I have a few other RJ Rookies which include:

1989 Donruss Randy Johnson Rated Rookie
While Randy looks angry or annoyed, I do like this card in terms of design and colouring. Perhaps the most visually appealing of the three I am sharing today.

What the card had going on the front didn't carry over to the back. Here is your standard Donruss backs this time in orange. I don't know loads about Donruss but it appears the back sides of their cards were pretty much the same year in and year out for a number of years.

1989 Fleer Randy Johnson Rookie
Here is happy Randy. This card exists in a few different variations depending on how much Marlboro one could see. I believe this is the most common version and thus worth the least. Still like the design of the front and it comes in a close second.

The backside is a mixed bag for me. I don't care of the design so much but it is probably the most informative backside of the three rookies.

1989 Topps Randy Johnson Rookie
This is thoughtful Randy. This card is pretty much as vanilla as 80's cardboard comes in my opinion. However, it seems to have a nice vintage look to it now but I imagine back in 1989 it had fewer fans than it might have now. I believe the same can be said for Bowman and OPC when it comes to hockey from roughly the same time period.

The backside was a bit of a surprise. A little more life back here and the black border is a neat touch. I do like the back of this card much more than the front.

So there are three cards I keep around my desk at work. I've probably looked at them all a hundred times and still give them a glance every now and again. I picked them all up in a lot deal on eBay probably 4-5 years ago and they've lived at work the entire time. I like that they are only at work and it makes them kind of unique in the sense that it's the only place I get to see them. I also like I only have a few cards at work so the ones that are here tend to get a fair bit of my personal attention. Strange? Yeah probably but that adjective probably has been applied to me on a number of occasions but I am willing to bet if you are reading this you probably might have a few cards stashed away or on display at your place of employment too. Am I right? Do you have any special work only cardboard that you have for the occasional mental break? If so, I'd love to hear about it. In the meantime, thanks for stopping by and I appreciate your patience with this blog!

11 comments:

  1. You know, I don't think I've ever brought a single card to work. A nice trio there though, great to hear from you and happy holidays!!!

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    1. Thanks Shane! Great to be back and Happy holidays to you and yours this season too.

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  2. I'm in the same boat as you---not enough time to do everything--as for cards at work, yes I do--since I work from home, I have my whole collection at my disposal--at my office where I go to once a month, I have a custom made card of ME--and dreaming that I was one of the few to make The Show

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    1. Ohhh that's awesome. Working from home would be pretty sweet but I suspect takes some discipline to balance the distractions. Custom cards are always fun and that's something I wish I had more time for because I'd try and do a set.

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  3. I have a bunch of cards at work. Most of them I use as examples for when we do our trading card project... but I have a box filled with Giants, A's, Warriors, Sharks, Raiders, and 49ers for kids who support the local teams.

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    1. Hey Fuji, that's a great idea. I should do something similar like that with all my extras and stuff. Perhaps it might even get a few more kids into the hobby.

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  4. Dave, it's so hard as we all get older to maintain our personal lives and keep up a fantastic hobby.

    After leaving for a number of years and coming back to my old blog, I found that many, many of the people I had built some sort of online friendship with had left their blogs unattended since 2012/2013.

    Keep up the great work though.

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    1. Hey Michael! Isn't that the truth. I wonder if social media has made it a bit more convenient to just post via instagram and twitter rather than take the time and make a longer post on a blog. For me I get the attractiveness and in some ways might be guilty because of time constraints but in the end still prefer this avenue.

      Thanks Michael, looks like your comment worked here.

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  5. Nice cards man. Check the birthdays listed one say 1963 the other 1964. So one in an error card.

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    1. Great eye!! I don't think I ever noticed that. Did some digging and apparently no one with Donruss did either as it was never corrected. Thanks for pointing that out.

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