'Everything is fantastic' so let's see some cards

 

Longtime readers might know that I was diagnosed as diabetic almost 12 years ago.

It pretty much floored me, but I went to work right away and within three months I was in remission. At the time I was determined to get myself healthy the natural way without medicine, and it worked.

I continued to do that through doctor visit after doctor visit. Warding off diabetes without any pills is not easy. I also did not check my sugar regularly, which has received some blank stares from nurses. It's kind of a tightrope act, I need to be super-vigilante about my weight and what I eat, but the theory on that lifestyle choice is, "that's what you should be doing anyway," so why not?

Diabetes gets progressively worse as you age, and I've been coping with holding it off for more than 11 years. I'm not young anymore, I'm more than halfway to 100, and I've noticed it getting more difficult. A couple pounds over can make a difference. I'm no longer opposed to medicine, in fact in moments when I'm just tired of the diligence, I think maybe it's time.

But it's not time yet. Yesterday was another appointment after yet another blood draw (I used to be horrified over any kind of regular blood testing and now it's ho-hum ritual). I had no time to review my numbers ahead of time because this week has been bullshit, so I went into the appointment blind. What would he say?

This is what doc said: "Everything is fantastic."

He's let me know a number of times that I'm a rarity with this disease, so I think that's worth celebrating with some cards. Yes, I will be buying some this weekend. But it's not that time yet, so how about if I show some?

These are some freebies from The Collector. Chris gave some out just to people who commented on certain posts. I like those kind of giveaways: rewarding commenting just because those people wanted to comment, not because they thought they were getting something, just a quiet giveaway for Commenting Without Ulterior Motive.

So I selected six cards. I have a reason why I selected each one. There's probably more than one reason actually -- one of which is, "these are ones that Brett Alan or Johnny didn't get to first" -- but I'll try to keep it to one.

1975 Topps Bill Lee

Yes, I have a '75 Bill Lee already. But I will take '75 Topps that is free or super-discounted just because I love the set so much. And then I discovered that somehow this version is in even better shape than the one sitting in my '75 Topps binder!?! OK, you're coming home with me.

1979 Topps Paul Splittorff

 

A free 1976-79 Topps card is an automatic opportunity to upgrade the sets I collected as a youngster when I didn't quite know what card condition was. I've taken care of this for most of '76 and '77 but I ignore '79 a lot and there are cards there that need attention. I took a chance on Splittorff, but the one I have is solid. So this Split will become trade bait.

 

 

2001 Fleer Greats of the Game Rollie Fingers

 

Putting in a bid on any card of any player from my childhood is an instinctive reaction. Not the greatest-looking set and Rollie Fingers without a mustache doesn't look like Rollie Fingers at all, but he's a damn legend.

 

 

 2023 Topps Isaac Paredes rainbow foil

OK, I was straw-grasping after I saw some of my most-wanted go off the board before I even got there. I'm not a big Rays fan and I'll be rooting for other teams before them in the playoffs, but for whatever reason I watched a lot of Rays games earlier this season, so I got to know them more than a team with a bunch of weird-named guys. They've got some major professional hitters, I don't know how the O's got past them -- guess it was when I wasn't watching them anymore.

Maybe this card will end up with Jeremy. I can package it with some Francos as he seems to be the only one who wants them anymore.

2023 Topps Heritage Ryan Helsley

Honestly my favorite grab of the lot. You may remember the first blaster of 2023 Heritage I opened on the blog. More than half of the cards arrived with a ding in the lower-right corner. I didn't mind too much at the time because I was so elated with the look of the cards. But as the months went on, and I bought a lot more Heritage, I replaced almost all of those dinged cards until I was down to the final two. One of them was Helsley. Now all that's left is Vinnie Pasquantino.

1985 Topps Football Reggie Roby

I am not the Reggie Roby collector that this guy is, and I'm certainly not a Dolphins fan. Anytime I hear retro appreciation for isotoner-hawker Dan, who was the lamest of the show hosts on CBS NFL Sunday and the QB we hurled expletives (and other crumpled objects) at en masse while watching games at bars in Buffalo, I want to actually hurl.

But Reggie was fun. Those big booming kicks of his seemed like they came out of a cartoon. I loved them. And I love '85 Topps football. One more for the pile.

I'm pretty happy with the health news and I think that deserves a few more cards, here are some that I received from a couple others recently:

Zippy Zappy apparently forgot to add a card to the previous envelope he sent me recently. This is one of those online-only T206 cards, items I decided didn't need to be made, so I don't pursue them. But I'll take the Jackies! This is my 365th Robinson card. Ninety-nine percent of those were not made when he was playing.

 

These recently arrived from Daniel. I think they were to recognize my blog anniversary if I remember right. I also don't recall right now which of these I need/don't need. I know the two Donruss purples are new and one of the GQ cards is new, but not remembering which one.

I may have enough Heritage Dodger stamps to start sticking some though.

Which I could do this weekend. Life is good. I wouldn't say "everything is fantastic". But some of it is.