Random updates

 

I have a couple of state-of-the-blog updates to make, nothing that's interesting enough to generate its own post, so let's get to it.

1. THE GIVEAWAY

I thought that I would be at the stage of sending out cards this week, and it's still possible a couple of the first packages will go out by the weekend, but it's more likely it won't start until next week.

I'm still gathering cards for the giveaway. It's one of those deals where you know 5,000 cards is a lot of cards but you don't truly know until you give away 5,000 cards.

I've got more than 3,000 cards set aside and I'm working on deleting a few hundred more out of my TCDB inventory -- this is the real culprit in terms of me not sending out cards yet. Pretty much the dumbest time to run a card giveaway is in the middle of attempting to upload your whole collection on Trading Card Database.

With the majority of my collection tied up in completed sets, or Dodgers, I headed back to Target to grab a few packs to add to the kitty. It's been just a week since I encountered a freshly-stocked card aisle for the first time in two years.

 

From that picture that I showed, the only baseball cards that remained were a few Series 1 blasters. Amazing that things are still being cleared out like that. But the good news is there were some freshly prepped boxes of Series 1 and Heritage packs available.

The Albert Pujols card at the top of the post came out of one of the packs I bought. That will be going to my collection, because I've found out that people notoriously hoard their Pujols Dodgers cards.

2. THE POLL

I haven't done squat with setting up a poll so that we can vote and add another card to the Cardboard Appreciation Hall of Fame.

 

Blogger's removal of the poll option has hampered my ability and enthusiasm. The alternative options make me want to lie down on the floor and cry. It seems like I need to go through Google drive, which is hooked up with my work stuff and I don't want to intermingle (it may not be as bad as I think, but I have a difficult time focusing on stuff like this), or make an account on SurveyMonkey -- I am so sick of creating new accounts.

These are my personal issues though and if I don't want this feature to die, I need to suck it up and tackle one of the options.

So, uh, expect to see a Cardboard Appreciation poll in like October.

3. THE SET BLOG

Nobody's going to like this, but I've decided that the 1993 Upper Deck blog would make the most sense if it started in 2023.

Beginning a set blog so close to the 30th anniversary of the set but not quite, seems tone-deaf to someone who treats anniversaries with a lot of respect.

This gives me plenty of time to figure out how I'm going to run what will be my FOURTH set blog and also what it's going to look like. It won't look fancy, I know that, because I don't have any web-design ability.

So, I'm pretty sure that at some point in January, probably early January, the 1993 Upper Deck blog will make its debut.

4. THE INCOMING CARDS

A card blog isn't worth a thing if you're not going to show incoming cards (well, I guess set blogs are the exception to that rule).

But sometimes you get only one or two cards in a mailing and it's tough to wrap an entire blog post around one, although I've done it more than a few times.

I received another greeting card from reader Dana a week or two ago. He opened some packs with his family and I'm wondering if these were part of that process.

He actually sent three cards but I've gotten the Trea Turner league leaders card a couple different times already. The two above are super-appreciated though. I'm sure you've heard about Clayton Kershaw's aborted perfect game from today. Unlike the previous version of this (that shall-not-be-regurgitated-ruined-perfecto-by-Rich-Hill), the Dodgers actually won the game.

Being removed from possible perfect games make sad, even if I understand the reasons. 

Moving on to something more pleasant -- meaning it isn't modern:

This very cool card arrived as a terrific gesture by Twitter card collector MOReilly_58 who is always gracing us with wonderful vintage, oddball and otherwise.

 

He sent me a message saying he had a 1967 Laughlin card for me. Seeing as I had no '67 Laughlins, that note automatically became the highlight of my day.

 

 

 

My knowledge of the Robert Laughlin cards has grown thanks to writing that Beckett Vintage article about him. These '67 cards are rarer than the ones connected to Fleer. The differences are, obviously, the black & white images, but also the fact that the write-ups mention players by name. That became a no-no later when Fleer avoided violating Topps' exclusive rights.

Honestly if I'm only going to own one of these '67s cards, I'm perfectly happy with it being this one.

 

 

One last new card and I'll make this quick because there's nothing that makes someone shut off a blog quicker than a tennis card.

This is the seventh Martina Hingis card in my collection. She's been my favorite tennis player for the last 20 years, long before doppelganger Daisy Ridley came along.

It's also now one of the thickest cards I own. I had no idea it was going to be anything other than a flat card, but I guess it makes sense because the card also comes in multiple relic forms. In fact, TCDB refuses to acknowledge a base version of this card, which means I can't climb up the charts of Hingis super-collectors (I'm already fifth, but the top guy has like a 130 cards, I didn't even know they made that many of an individual tennis player).

OK, those are all the updates I have.

Well, there are plenty of life updates, but nobody wants to read about those.