October 2015 - Tan Man Baseball Fan

Best Halloween Ever

Halloween is not our favorite holiday. It does boast my son's favorite color though: Orange. I kept wondering how cool it would have been if the card companies from the 80's and 90's made halloween colored variations of cards. Perhaps they wouldn't have been all that boring. I decided to cook up a few myself. Like this 1988 Donruss Halloween version: Oh yeah, that is just 1988 Donruss Baseball's Best. :/ Well, what about if we made 1990 Score look more Halloweeny? BAH! They already did that with 1990 Score Rookie & Traded. (Which, by the way is one of

1991 Topps: The $100 Card, Glowing Backs & More

For many of us, our collecting careers were born in the junk wax era - that sweet spot of 1988 to 1992. It is from this time period which all other collecting periods are measured, and unfairly so. "The hobby isn't like what it was." everyone cries out, remembering when card shops were found at every corner, and packs of cards could be purchased from doctor's offices to petting zoos. Why do so many people say these cards are better used as firewood than anything else? The answer is simple: the card companies simply kept the presses running ... FOREVER.

Is this the future of collecting?

In the late 1990's, I was at a Blockbuster music store, looking for some CD's. As I looked around at all the listening stations, I thought to myself ... "Just wait. Soon, we will be able to make our own CD's filled with only the songs we want." I never saw that prophecy fulfilled ... until about 4 weeks ago. My family and I walked into a christian book store, and believe it or not, there was a station to allow you to add the songs you wanted all onto one CD! While they just might be about 10 years

Epic Pete Rose Photobomb

An epic Pete Rose photo bomb has been the hit of the internet with all kinds of epic memes being pushed out. I thought I'd join in on the fun and let you all jump in as well. The original (which, btw ... Petey saved CJ here from embarrassment ... dude is totally wearing lipstick and no one has caught that.) Here are some fun ones that others made: I figured I'd jump in as well. Remember the Topps Jeter card that had cameos of Mantle & Bush? Have you ever seen this version? Or the MLK speech ... He

1993 SP vs. 2015 Tek

What a difference 22 years makes, huh? 1993 was the tail end of the junk wax era. Card companies started slowing down the presses, and collectors started to find some premium cards were not as readily available as the typical 50 cent packs offered at grocery stores. While some cards from the late 80's and early 90's were produced in mass quantities to the tune of millions ... PER CARD, some were not. 1993 SP, for example. A beautiful set highly sought after - even to this day by collectors, and namely due to Derek Jeter's rookie. The 1993 SP

My $3 Tribute to Zito / Hudson / Mulder

While I was hunting Canseco cards at the Tri-Star card show over a year ago, I started shuffling through several boxes of el-cheap-o game used cards. They were sectioned off by team, so my first stop was the Athletics, of course. Sadly, they didn't have any Canseco cards at all, but they did have several recognizable names. Zito...Zito...Mulder...Zito....Hudson...Mulder... Hmmm, wait a second. "Excuse me, sir. How much are these each?" The dealer responded with "They are $1 a pop." The wheels in my head started to turn. I had my hand in a bunch of cheap cards from Oakland's former

Jumbo Cut Signature Booklet – A Year in the Making

For every baseball fan, the ultimate best feeling you can have is when your team makes it to the World Series - and wins. For me, that point was in 1989 when the Powerhouse Oakland Athletics took their cast of super stars & veterans to beat the Giants. I remember being glued to the television and begging for my parents to put the game on the radio if we had to drive somewhere during game time. I also remember the earthquake - and feeling it, too. I remember Dave Stewart being virtually un-hittable. I remember the swagger that Canseco and

A few more 2015 Baseball Season Customs

Due to the positive feedback online, I figured I'd throw up a few more! ARod Does the Unthinkable, and wins fans back Perhaps the greatest "nice" villain baseball has ever seen, ARod had his team and fans hating his guts after being caught for a second time cheating, then was banned for a year. The 2015 stat-line in everyone's heads coming into April for him would likely be 50 games played while hitting 2 homers, batting .182 resulting in him being benched. Instead, the bronx bomber surprised everyone and smashed 33 round trippers. Strangely enough, a large portion of baseball's

The 2015 Baseball Season Expressed in Customs

As a whole, baseball has been painful for me to watch since the 2014 all-star break. The A's traded away .... well ... everybody. I don't think I'm alone when I say it hurts to see highlight reels being filled up by Cespedes of the Red Sox ... or is it the Tigers ... or wait ... Mets? and Donaldson of the Blue Jays. Yeah, I know there are better players out there, but why oh why couldn't they have stayed put? Still, baseball is baseball. It has its ups and its down. You roll with the punches. First, and

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