CALLING ALL COLLECTORS !!

Brrrrr...... way to cold to go out today so I decided to experiment a little ! A few new colors and a new header , trying to brighten things up a little.



A couple months ago , in one of my first posts , I outlined a plan to , maybe , get some new collectors into the world of sports cards. David , at Indian cards and then some... , had some nice comments about it and now that I have at least a couple readers once in a while I would like to expand on the whole concept a little.



The first thing you need to know is that I live in a very small community , population about 2500. Although , this idea could work in larger areas , but may take more planning and manpower. We have a committee that is basically in charge of all of our summer baseball programs from t-ball to pony league. I 'm waiting to hear back from the president on my request for a list of managers/coaches for all the teams that sign up to play. Once I have that list I will contact each one and request to have a short meeting with them and all the players , maybe before or after a practice. I hope to have a pack of cards to give to each child and any adults who are interested.I'm trying to get donations from the chain stores and card manufacturers to help out there . I will also be handing out a flyer inviting anyone who is interested , to a meeting about sportscard collecting. There will be an R.S.V.P. so I know about how many to expect. Once we're gathered together and get acquainted , I will explain the fun and enjoyment I've had , and still have , with my sons ( hopefully they will be there too ! ) and how you can make new friends and have a really good time without drinking , doing drugs or playing video games and watching tv ALL the time .I will have samples of various types of collections such as sets , players , teams and explain that your collection is only limited to your imagination. If I have enough packs left , I would also like to hand out another one to everyone who shows up. Then I can explain trading cards to get the ones you really want and to get rid of duplicates. I also want to start sort of a "club" and have meetings or a card show once a month , where anyone can come and look , trade , show , buy or sell their cards and just get together and have fun ! I don't know how much interest I can drum up , but even if I only get a few it will be a start. Any thought , ideas or comments will be greatly appreciated !

CARTOON if the DAY # 5

Poor Charlie !! This is the first in a series starting on April 21 , 2006.

CARTOON #4

Unfortunately , that's what it's coming to !

MORE SNOW , MORE CARD PROBLEMS , MORE DOWNSIZING

Well , this morning I had to shovel 8" of snow before I could go to work and it still snowed 'till about 3 pm. Then there was sunshine and blue sky on the drive home at 5:00 !! Only in Ohio .

At lunch time I saw a little bit of the story about Panini and NBA cards. Now , personally , I could care less about basketball cards but I'm sure they mean a lot to some people. I wouldn't want to lose Topps and Upper Deck in baseball cards either. The biggest thing that bothers me about it , is seeing more production leaving the U.S.A. and foreign companies moving in. Just like foreign cars . ( Don't EVEN get me started there ! ) I really need to find out more about this whole situation before I say to much but I just don't like the sound of it .

As far as baseball cards , I want to see what the recession does to the card manufacturers . As long as there are people out there who are willing to pay $100 and more for a pack of 4 cards , they will keep producing them. But if those investors can't find anyone to pay the big bucks for the auto's and relic cards they will look for some other industry to prey on. On the same note , we have to get more people interested in collecting and buying more of the lower end products so the card companies can still make a profit. Professional sports has to look at the whole picture too and be reasonable with their demands. That's where the greed steps in. Everyone wants to be a millionaire by the time they're 25 . My wife and I have been happily married for nearly 29 years . We don't have much ( and with me in the car business , it may become even less! ) but we raised , what we think , are two great sons and are now doing what we can to help get them through college. My next post will get into the details of my plan to bring more young , and maybe older , collectors into our fold. I touched on it briefly in one of my very first posts last fall.


Now , for more downsizing in the lighter side of the news , CARTOON of the DAY #3 !!!

MORE SNOW STORMS

Got home late tonight , lot of snow on the ground and very slow traffic. Big storm is on it's way. Maybe I'll get a day off tomorrow ! I thought we would try a puzzle tonight , although this one is pretty easy.

Now I have to get ready for inning 4 on the MLB channel !!

I apologize for the poor clarity on these cartoons , I'm trying some different techniques.

CARTOON of the DAY 2

This a another part of my baseball collection. I have at least two albums full of baseball related cartoons that I will share as time goes by.

CARTOON of the DAY

Just for fun , I'm going to try to add a new cartoon each day

PUJOLS & JETER

I realize those two names don't belong on an Indians blog but I just wanted to share these items because I am a huge baseball fan in general , of course ," The Tribe " is always at the top of my list ! This item came out of the Plain Dealer this morning. I AM ready .

This Jeter puzzle/poster is a very interesting item . The 400 pc. puzzle measures 16"x 20" and behind it is a poster of the same design and size. This is a very clever item to me because I like jig-saw puzzles and baseball. I'm still doing some research to find out if any more are still available and if there are any Cleveland Indian themes . Can anyone help here ?

This item is are also very neat. It also measures 16"x 20" and is a 3-D motion picture similar to the old Sport-Flic baseball cards. The modern day technology is much better and the 3-D effect is really great ! The photo does not do this item justice .The white steak through the center is just a refection , the vinyl material is very flexible and is bowed slightly in the photo.These are available here :
http://www.allposters.com/-st/Albert-Pujols-Cardinals-Posters_c67160_.htm

The Pujols I have here is and older version and is now available as a magnet.There is an updated version of Pujols in the poster size. The best part is that there are items available for many different sports , teams and players.

TRADIN' TIME

Marie , over at " A Cardboard Problem " , and some others, are quickly making me see that trading cards with other bloggers may be one of the best ways to add to your collection. For a handful of Pujols ( and a couple Yankees , not many Indian fans want many Yankee cards !) , who is a great player , but has no real "special" place in my collection I received a terrific package of cards that I do collect !! Mostly Cleveland Indians with a few Thome cards too.

I'm pretty sure I need almost all of these cards !!

Thank you again very, very much !!!

CLASS ACT

Through these doors you'll find stories of some of the greatest sports legends and heroes of all time ! All bonded together , after years of refinement , by possibly two of the most common things on earth . A stick and a stone . There are many thoughts , stories and ideas about the real origin of the game , but I don't think anyone really knows for sure. It's gone through many changes , some good some not so good , but the game still goes on. The likelihood of anyone reading this blog and not knowing what this great cathedral is , is minimal , but just in case , it's the...

Right !!

This post is about only one of the many men and women with stories to be told and he can still tell them.

The fireballing farmboy from Iowa , Bob Feller.



This is one of my favorite pieces. Stouffer's created this set of 5 " Legends of Baseball " to promote their french bread pizza in 1995 . Feller was the only Tribesman but was in good company with Yogi Berra (who also has an autographed version ) , Gary Carter , Don Drysdale and Willie Stargell.


The following items were all graciously signed in person by Mr.Feller , at no charge , during several appearances around the area.

I found this book in a small antique store for only $10.00. It's my next item to get autographed.

The 1949 Indians sketchbook with advertising as " The World's Champions ". I hope to see that in my lifetime.

Most of the regular players have a page of their own and Bob signed his for me.

The following is the remainder of my Bob Feller collection. Unfortunately I don't have any original cards but there are plenty of others available.

He even had his turn on a membership card.

I had to through in this final photo for David @ Indians cards and then some...

The Cooperstown chief of police and her Dodge Charger squad car.

YEAH !! IT'S GOT A HEMI !!!!

A NEW SEASON

It's still very cold here in north central Ohio but I'm starting to get excited about the new baseball season . We made some decent acquisitions and if Pronk and Martinez can get back to form , we should have a contending team. There are some question marks , but with all the players going to spring training , they hopefully will be settled. A lot will depend on Travis Hafner. We need a bat in the line-up that tends to worry the opposition when he on deck. Pronk did just that a couple years ago. Not so much lately. If he is as healthy as he says and can get his swing back he should take care of one question mark. Jhonny Peralta can hit the heck out out of the ball but he's so inconsistent . He seems to hit the long ball a lot more often when he's not trying to. Of course , that's a basic fundamental , but I'm sure it's not that easy when your job depends on it and you're facing a 100 MPH fastball ! I guess that's the difference between the better than average players and the long lasting superstars. Pitching. You have to have some bats but most baseball people will agree that pitching and defense win in the long run. Back-to-back -to- back Cy Young winners . Has any team ever done that ? Yes !! Toronto in the AL , '96-'97-'98.In the NL , Randy Johnson won 4 straight with Arizona and Greg Maddux , Cubs '92 and Atlanta '93-'94-'95. The Dodgers nearly did it 5 times in the 60's . So can Cliff Lee make it 3 for the Tribe ? If he can perform like he did last year , and get some more run support , I think so ! But for now we'll have to wait for spring training and see what happens.

Dinged !!

Winter has finally hit us , in North Central Ohio , and it came with vengeance ! Zero degrees when I left for work and snowed all day. After snowing all week-end too , I 'm ready to hibernate 'till spring. But then I walked in the front door tonight , smelled my wife's chili and cornbread and spotted a package in the day's mail and suddenly I was all warm inside ! My first blogger trade package , from Dinged Corners ! They were really fast with this. It was supposed to be the '07 Topps Jeter / Bush / Mantle card they posted a few days ago but the package was very thick ! Upon opening I discovered many treasures :

First the nice thank-you card with a terrific picture by Lucy. Thank you very much Lucy , you will be rewarded !!

Next , the card I was expecting ,with no "dinged corners ".

Then a very small pack of 1989 Topps American Baseball. I hadn't seen any of these for a while ! Produced for 2 years and sold primarily in the United Kindom ,these packs of 5 cards sold for 12 pence.

Walt Weiss -- 1988 R.O.Y.

H.O.F. 'er George Brett !! Nice pack.

Also a traditional 1989 Topps pack.

Cool , a tribe card ! And another H.O.F. 'er - Cal Ripken.

Sparky Anderson has a special spot too. When our sons were about 5 and 8 we got them a kitten. They were allowed to pick a name . They decided on Sparky because they liked Sparky Anderson !! When we told them the kitten was a girl we decided on Sparkle (technically ) but 17 years later we still call her "Sparky" , yes she's still with us ! Also in the pack were Don Baylor , Kirk Gibson -All-Star , Mike Scioscia and others .

Wow ! More Tribe members. " Red " Kress , a coach in the 50's after a playing career with several teams in the 20's and 30's. Chief Wahoo and good old Omar ! We really miss him .

It looks like Grady and Victor will match -up against C.C. in New York on opening day in the new Yankee Stadium. I hate to spoil their opening , but I have to root for my tribe !!

And last but not least , an Opening Day Victor and a nice Elite Extra Edition Beau mills.

Thank you " Dinged Corners " for the very nice package !!!

THE NAME GAME

One great thing about sports cards is that there are so many choices as far as what to collect. Actually , it's only limited by your imagination . Sometimes I like to have a little fun . Who am I trying to kid ! I always like to have fun . My wife tells everyone she has three children , two she gave birth to and one she married !! So here's a little fun with names. No offense to anyone here , remember , I'm just a kid !

I never followed football much , but I would've sworn Terry Bradshaw was a quarterback.

And who knew Pedro was a switch pitcher ! He really looks like a different person when he pitches lefty.

This guy has to be really old. My Dad , rest his soul , told me he used to listen to stories about him on the radio during the big depression. Some sort of space traveling super hero or something...

Sometimes after a storm you need an oil can to keep the hinges and joints free.

Whatever happened to Wonderful Terrific Monds ??

The manager's dream . A player that's always Ready !

And how about a couple of geese .

Some players are a little strange and some are born with a name just made to be a pitcher.

Some guys just have to share their names , like :

Johnny Ray Searage

Dan Wilson Alvarez and their cousins .....

Trevor and ...

Roberto Clemente Alvarez

I have some other subjects to follow !!