Illinois part II . Cards, jewelry, a book and BRS.

It won't be all non-baseball, but there are a couple unrelated topics.

Who doesn't like FREE baseball cards !  Of course, I did have to pay a little for them now, and I didn't even get the mustard.

There was one Triber, Sandy Alomar Jr. But I already had that in my collection anyway.

One dealer had a box full of these packs at $1.00 each. Not exactly worth it but I was on vacation, that makes it all worthwhile!

I picked these up for my sample collection. I assume it was part of a stadium give-a-way.
" This card is compliments of Kansas City Life Insurance Company and distributed by the Metropolitan Chiefs and Sheriffs Association in co-operation with the Kansas City Royals."

Any one out there eat Post cereal in 2002 ? My sons and I did ! We had a lot of these cards.I found several unopened packs.

This was my one Good Will find. A very cool baseball lamp ! I just need to find a shade.

I was never a reader of books.
Then I got married to a bookworm ! A very wonderful one at that.
I read mostly about baseball history, but when I saw this, the first thing I thought about was Snoopy !
For $2.50 I thought it might be interesting, and it is ! I can hardly put it down ! It seems he was only only a little bigger than me. 5' 8" and 160 lbs.

My wife's Mother lost her battle with breast cancer.

My wife is a prime candidate.

So far we have been lucky, but she is very, very high on the awareness program.

We stopped at an American Indian store and my wife purchased a long string of the white beads with the pink bow.

Our daughter-in-law, Liz, makes jewelry.

She incorporated some of the white beads and fashioned this beautiful necklace and bracelet for my wife while we were there visiting.

If anyone is interested, you can contact her at Elizabeth's Crystal Designs or leave a comment here.

One last, MUST SEE, ( if you are ever in the area !)

BRS Baseball Museum.

Jim Bottomley, Red Ruffing and Ray Schalk all grew up in and around Nokomis, Il.

It's only about 30 min. from where Andy and Liz lives so Andy and I had to go see it.We were a little skeptical at first, as Nokomis is a very small town, but it was well worth it ! It's almost like a mini Cooperstown. The hours are limited. It was only open for 2 hours the morning we were there and we spent every minute soaking up the history.

 The little orange pregnant roller skate is a Scion IQ. It was our rental car for the trip !!

Clemente bat. Worth showing twice !!

The walls were covered with posters, pictures and all sorts of memorabilia.

It is a truly fascinating place.

Next up, not that I waited until the last minute, but I finally received my cards from the Topps Diamond Anniversary Give-a-way !