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

A few more pickups for the Collection

I got these in last week, but my woes at work still continue. It is like 1 step forward, 3 steps backward! But that is not why I am writing this evening. I found someone online who had a Canseco collection they had been slowly selling off a bit at a time. I asked if he had anymore, and he gave me a link to his bucket, stating that they weren't for sale. Wellllll...I was able to convince him to sell some! Here they are: The good, the great and the ugly. I'll start off with the middle card.  It

Up to my Eyeballs in Alligators

Work-wise, this past week has really eaten my lunch.  I've had all sorts of fires to put out, and am running on very little sleep since Wednesday morning.  For a while, it seemed like one solved issue ushered in 5 more emergency issues.  Not fun! Fortunately, I have some very good programmers and they are tying things up for me.  It has been a long time since I've been neck deep in code, but this week I've been fully immersed in php and mysql.  Fortunately, I do see the light at the end of the tunnel!  I just hope it

$1200 Worth of Cards Lost at USPS?!?!

Remember the fun Fed Ex / USPS picture back & forth post I made concerning a trade with a fellow Canseco Super Collector? That deal didn't come without stress. After that fun back and forth on pictures, we waited. And we waited. And we waited. $21 on insurance for 2 day priority ... and it just said "Acceptance" for the first whole day on the tracking number. It is important to note that there was a message at the bottom saying something similar to "This package is ready to be dropped off." Talk about worrisome! If an employee swipes it

Tools of the Trade Custom & New Website

Have you ever had one of those days where you feel like you have accomplished nothing?  Well, I have had about a month full of them.  Not because I haven't been busy - but because the progress I have been making on everything seems to be so slow.  Heck, I haven't even touched creating a custom for over a month! What started out as a simple checklist upgrade, ended up being a full blown website overhaul.  I was going to write an article of how I transformed my MS Word Document checklist into a fully searchable sortable online database, but

Trading with a Fellow Super Collector

Today, I mourn the loss of 3 great PC cards. No, I didn't spill milk on them, nor did I accidentally drop them in the toilet, admiring them while peeing. After a week of going back and forth with a fellow Canseco super collector (Razor), I gave up 3 cards and cash in return for 6 cards. I will likely show them when they come in, but a fun little picture back & forth ensued that I thought I would share in the mean time. In true James Bond fashion, he sent me pics to update how my package was

Mantle, Maris and Jackie Robinson – Need I say more?

For reasons I do not wish to get into publicly, this past decade has had many years of pain and agony.  It is funny how when life goes smoothly, each day seems to zip by quickly.  These past few years have been filled with those kinds of days (Thank you Lord - keep 'em coming!) Blogging has been good therapy for me, and has become a fun hobby as well.  It really is great - I have been fortunate enough to have received a ton of flattering feedback, and have been able to use it as a way to chronicle