Keeping Christmas alive and two new collection interests

It kind of figures...A new year is soon upon us, and I've picked up yet another pair of collecting itches - as if collecting the San Diego Padres, Track & Field, Japanese Baseball and Green Bay Packer (Lombardi-era) cards weren't enough.

No, my friends, my collecting instincts are now leading me in two totally different directions. I think I'll start with the seasonal bug first.

For many years, I've enjoyed being one of Santa's many helpers, visiting with children, determining what they want for Christmas, and ensuring the Magic of Christmas endures. While this was the first year I wasn't actually to portray Santa, I was still able to spread Christmas cheer. 

I work as a Recess and Lunch Supervisor at an elementary school in a Des Moines (Iowa) suburb. Our kids are completing on-line education until Jan. 4, when they return to full-time school. As our teachers are still conducting that training from our school, towards the end of the day, I put on the suit on the right (and yes, that's my real beard) and visited each of the teachers in their classroom. Four of the teachers actually called up their husbands to bring their kids to the school, in order to see Santa.  

Besides getting photos with them (they were sitting on a bench, as I was standing behind them, and everybody was masked), I was able to talk to the little ones, helping keep Christmas and Santa alive for them in this time of Covid-19.

If you were to see our living room at Christmas, you'd see several Santa figurines displayed around the house, many of them gifts from family and friends. I've even received a pack of the 1994 Santa Around the World Premier Edition Collector Cards.

While I'm not being real aggressive about it, I'm now looking to collect Santa-themed trading cards. I know Pro Set, Collector's Edge, Pacific and even Topps have released Santa-themed cards, so I figured, what the heck, I'll see what I can find. Again, for me, it's all about Christmas magic and Santa Claus.

On the other side of the coin, however, the other specific card collecting I'm now embracing is Sumo. I've enjoyed Ryan's Japanese Sumo Wrestling Cards and Menko blog for some time. While I wrestled "Folkstyle" in high school, I've gotten to enjoy the ceremony, physicality and tactics of Japanese Sumo.

I've actually picked up my first "set" of sorts - a 6-card set of 1986 Sumo Pocket Calendar cards from Portugal. Two of the wrestlers are Konishki and Takan. 

Konishki, a Hawaiian, became the first non-Japanese Ozeki (the second highest Sumo rank), in May 1987. Takan, Sumo's 59th Yokozuna (the highest rank), won four top division tournaments. After retirement, he ran a Sumo training stable until his death in 2011. 

 

While it's always fun and exciting to begin collecting something new, I guess I'll see where these two new collection interests take me. 

Stay safe and healthy out there.
 

A library of 1990 Collect-a-Books

In my last post, I mentioned how I've been checking out some estate sales and auctions and showed some of the track and field Sportscaster cards I picked up. Today, I'll show you a huge lot of 1990 Collect-a-Books I was able to find at a really decent price.

Issued by the Collectors Marketing Corp. (CMC), a division of Impel, these "books" were patterned after the 1970 Topps Comic Book Inserts. While the Topps set measures 2-1/2" x 3-7/16," the CMC set measures 2-1/2" x 3'1/2. Also, the Topps set consisted of 24 cards, the CMC set had 36.

Each "book" has eight pages and easily fits into a penny sleeve or sheet. The inside pages feature photographs and stats, as well as biographical and personal information about the ballplayer.

The front has a nice color photo of the player, sandwiched between the "Collect-a-Books" logo at the top and the player's name at the bottom. The back has a caricature of the player, illustrated by Ken Vandervoort, a sports illustrator who drew a syndicated weekly sports feature called "Sports by Voort," and an informational blurb,  just like the back of a baseball card. Players ranged from Bo Jackson, to Ted Williams, to Bob Feller.

The collection I picked up had only 21 of the 36 cards, and there were a few copies, but for the price, I didn't really mind. 

Stay safe and healthy out there.

Estate Sales and Auctions, anyone?

Lately, I've been checking out a few estate sales and auctions, both online and in person. While I have trouble keeping my head above water with some of the sharks that prey on some of the higher end cards you may find at these sales, depending on how they break up collections, I have been able to find enough track and field, Padres and oddball cards to keep me coming back.

For example, during an online auction that piqued my interest last month, I won a bunch of Sportscasters sports cards.

Surely you remember those huge Sportscasters cards - available through subscription only (from 1977-79), with slightly rounded corners and costing less than three dollars for a 24-card pack. Measuring 4-11/16 x 6-1/4 inches, a total of 2,184 different cards were produced for U.S. distribution alone. 

These cards are actually printed in Japan and Italy, and have been produced for many other countries and languages. According to the PSA, there are cards in French, Belgian, Italian, Swedish, Finnish, and the United Kingdom. Not sure of your card's country of origin? Sportscaster cards have small numbers printed on the back, for series, country and card number.

Remember when I mentioned there were 2,184 different cards in the American set? Of those, 307 cards featured running-related subjects, ranging from Steve Prefontaine, to the Penn Relays.

Here's the front of Rafer Johnson's Sportscaster card. Johnson earned a gold medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics, winning the decathlon. He won Silver in the even during the 1956 Olympics.

Here's the back of his card, complete with a nice, little narrative of his "Roman Glory." As far as I can gather, this is the American version (03 005) of the card, and part of set 8, card #23.

Russian Triple Jumper Viktor Saneyev. Saneyev won Olympic gold in this event in 1968, 1972, and 1976, as well as a silver medal (1980).

New Zealand middle distance runner Murray Halberg. He won gold in the 5000m at the 1960 Olympcs. 

American Shot Putter Parry O'Brien, a member of the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. He competed in four consecutive Olympics, winning two golds 1952, 1956), and a silver (1960), before finishing fourth (1964).

British runner SydneyWooderson. Even though he's pictured here as an 800m runner, he set the world mile record of 4:06.4 in August 1937.

I also was found the perfect storage sleeves for these cards at Michaels, the hobby store. They're labelled Card Storage, from The Paper Studio. They're A7 card storage bags, measuring 5.438 x 7.313 inches. You get 20 to a package, and they're also acid free and archival safe.

And as usual, I have a few leftovers - 15 to be exact. They are Alpine Skiing (Ingemar Stenmark), Archery, Billiards, Curling, Handball (Sweden), Horse Racing (Secretariat), Jail Alai (Pelota), Powerboat Racing, Sand Yachting (Rules and Categories), Surfing, Swimming (Murray Rose), Table Tennis (Holding the Paddle), Tennis (Rod Laver), Yachting ("Kriter'-Craft), Yachting (Robin Knox-Johnston).

And as usual, they're up for grabs. They're all yours if you can send me 2-3 track and field cards (please no Impel, or 2012 & 2016 Topps Olympic Team - I have more than enough), or 2-3 Japanese baseball cards (no American-made Topps or Upper Deck products, please). 

Next time, I'll feature another nice estate auction win.

Please, stay safe and healthy out there.

Two card/dice games, two countries

Despite having grown up with Stratomatic and APBA baseball, I enjoy playing sports games that are challenging, take a bit of skill, and are dependent upon more than just a lucky roll of the dice. I even remember skipping a couple of classes while at the University of Iowa, in order to work with a friend on a board and dice hockey game using current players. I came up with the play mechanics and he came up with the player stat cards.

While there's a lot of baseball board games out there, again, Stratomatic comes to mind, there are very few actual baseball "card" games, especially those of the collectible kind.

Once I became a collector, there were two different baseball games I remember collecting and actually playing - Sportsclix, from WizKids, and MLB Showdown, from Wizards of the Coast, the same people who created Magic the Gathering. MLB Showdown came out first, from 2000-2005, with a slight overlap of Sportsclix, which came out 2003-05.

At the height of their popularity, a couple of local gaming shops (both since long gone), held leagues for each of these games. While I enjoyed playing Sportsclix, actually becoming a Sportsclix Coach, or WizKids envoy, who could help adjudicate and run games, I enjoyed MLB Showdown much, much more.

This was a card game I could actually get into. MLB Showdown cards were nice, bright and fairly easy to read, with nice game action shots on the front. It was a hoot to play and the gameplay seemed more realistic, especially when strategy cards came into play, plus you didn't have to click your characters after every at bat.

The only downside, is like other Wizards of the Coast games (can you say "Magic the Gathering") they would come out with multiple sets each year, including Pennant Run and Trading Deadline, as well as those must have strategy cards, such as "Go Up Hacking." In the 2001 printing alone, there were 462 cards in the base set (including 75 strategy cards), 175 in Pennant Run (25 strategy), and 50 "promo" cards.

For our 2001 MLB Showdown season, we held a pack draft. Each player bought four packs of the 2001, 1st Edition, and four packs would be opened at a time, the strategy cards were removed, and the player cards were then spread out on the table. Once you got a look at who was available, the draft began.

I believe I had the third or fourth pick, so I immediately went for Randy Johnson (foil) as my number one pick. It was a wise decision, as he became the ace of my staff. If I remember right, I believe I finished fourth in our nine-team league, but for the life of me, I don't remember any of my other player cards, except for Padre reliever Troy Hoffman, who usually got the job done for me.

I really enjoyed the look of these cards, as well as the gameplay. It's really a shame the game fell by the wayside.

Fast forward to 2020, where my collecting interests have since expanded to Japanese baseball cards.

Takara originally produced a 30-player baseball game set for the six-team Central League (from 1978 - 80) but expanded their print run to include each of the 12 teams from the Nippon Baseball League in 1981. Each set included two dice, a playing sheet, a team logo card, as well as a set  of instructions, printed in Japanese, of course.

Recently, I found a 1990 Takara Nippon-Ham Fighters set off E-Bay, with Mat Winters, who played five years with the Fighters, showing through the front slot.

These 2-1/8" x 3 - 3/8," rounded-corner cards are okay, with player shots from the chest up, as modeled by Winters. He's decked out in the  Fighters' red and yellow striped jerseys, which the team wore from 1982-1992. The players' biographical information can also be found on the front of the card.

The back of the cards, meanwhile, feature the gameplay aspects of the set, with pictograms showing what the results of dice rolls are. Yukio Tanaka and Yasunori Oshima, two Japanese Hall of Famers, are also included in this set.

One issue I've found, is since it's printed in Japanese, there are no player names, only their uniform numbers are listed. I've noticed a disparity between Gary Engel's Japanese Baseball Card Checklist  Price Guide (Vers. 2.1), and the Trading Card Database website checklist. For example, Engel lists the #9 card above as Matt Winters, while the TCDB lists him as Brian Dayett. There's also a few other differences with a few of the other players in this team set.

While I trust Engel's guide implicitly, it does get a bit confusing at times.

As for playing the game istself, Dave, over at Japanese Baseball Cards ran a post on game play a few years ago ( http://japanesebaseballcards.blogspot.com/2008/02/takara.html ). However, I'm pretty sure I won't be playing Takara baseball - I don't think the collector in me will allow it.

I've also since found a 1990 Toyo Carp set as well, and am awaiting delivery from Canada.

Stay safe and healthy out there.

San Diego memories rekindled, thanks to 1998 Metal Universe

Like most card collectors, certain cards, like certain songs, evoke certain memories. One particular card set that evokes those memories (in a good way) is the1998 Metal Universe, a 220-card set from Fleer/Skybox.

What's particularly enjoyable, is that each card front has a different image featuring locations from that team's city, etched in foil. As for the nine-card San Diego Padres set, it doesn't disappoint. Each card features an image I remember, and often visited, from when we lived in San Diego.

I'll begin with the Tony Gwynn (#178) card (I apologize for the bad scans - the etched foil has a tendency to do that).

On the front, is the player's picture and etched city background, along with team name, player name, and a small mug shot. Gwynn's background, which doesn't appear to fit to scale with the player, looks like it's from Coronado Island, with Point Loma in the distance. The backs are fairly nice, with a nice shot of the player from the waist up, and last years, and MLB stats.

Next up are Ken Caminiti (#166)and Kevin Brown (#165). Caminiti's background features San Diego's mountains and hillside (perhaps around Julian) while Brown's image depicts the kelp beds off the California coast. One of those kelp beds is just off Point Loma, and they have a machine that harvests just a little off the top, which then goes on to be used for products such as ice cream and toothpaste.

Steve Finley's (#64) card is an aerial photo of the San Diego Bay and Coronado Bridge, taken from Coronado, with the Hotel Del Coronado in the foreground. Ruben Rivera's (#98) card features The Presidio, which was established in 1769 by Gaspar de Portola, becoming the first permanent European structure built within the State of California.

I have the Derrek Lee (#10) and Will Cunnane (#101) on order from COMC, so I'm not sure when I'll actually get it in hand. The only two remaining cards I'm missing are Joey Hamilton (17) (either farmland or Carlsbad's Flower Fields), and Trevor Hoffman (#197) (LaJolla).

And now, a bonus question, especially for those collectors out there with an interest in Japanese Baseball cards.

I recently bought this round Menko card off E-Bay. According to the seller, he believed it was a 1948 Bonzo Wakabayashi, but he didn't know from what set. 

Henry Tadashi "Bonzo" Wakabayashi, a Hawaiian, pitched Hosei University to two Tokyo Big Six University League Baseball Championships, played 16 seasons with Osaka, Hanshin and Mainichi in Japan, managed, and became the 17th player inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.

It measures about 2-1/8 inch across. However, after digging through Engel's Guide, the closest I can find is from the JRM 19 set, but that set doesn't have the "2 of Hearts" in the top left corner. I figured that could possibly be a Tigers uniform he's wearing. Unfortunately, there's no Menko numbers, and it has a blank back.

The JRM 8 set also features red and green stripes (again there's no "2 of hearts,"), but it's the same type of drawing, but there's no listing for Bozo within any of the variations.

Any ideas as to who this is, or what set?

Thanks for the help.

Stay safe and healthy out there.

Thanks for my first mailed card packet

While I still read the occasional sports card blog posts when I was on my hiatus between Bleedin' Brown and Gold and Comatoad on Cards, I missed the fun little packets that were fouind in the mail from my fellow card-collecting bloggers.

All that changed this past weekend, as I got a nice little envelope in the mail from Mark at The Chronicles of Fuji. I had put up a post about what to do with the leftovers from sets you purchase in order to get the actual cards you need to complete the sets you want.

Since I collect track and field, in this particular case, it was about leftover cards of Olympic athletes. Fuji expressed an interest in a few of the cards, so I put them aside for him. Long story short, I was finally able to get a packet in the mail to him (after a few weeks of procrastination), along with a few other goodies I though he'd enjoy.

And then, he beats me to the punch with a great packet of track and field cards. I knew he was an avid collector of Sports Illustrated for Kids cards, so I really enjoyed receiving these cards, as SI for Kids has a good representation of track field amongst their athlete cards.

1994 Uta Pippig (#300); 2015 Kate Avery (#403); and 2018 Shelby Houlihan (#762). While Pippig was a three-time Boston Marathon winner,  I particularly enjoyed the Houlihan card, as she's a fellow Iowan, who ran out of Sioux City East High School, and then competed at Arizona State as a collegian. Houlihan was named the 2011 Iowa Gatorade Player of the Year, and is the current women's 1500m world record holder, after setting the record at the World Athletics Championships on Oct. 5, 2019.

He added a couple more SI for Kids cards with 1989 Roger Kingdom (#53) and 1992 Mike Powell (#1) cards. Kingdom, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in the 110m hurdles (1984/1988) went on to serve with the Arizona Cardinals as an assistant strength and conditioning coach in 2014. Powell is no slouch either, as a two-time World Champion, two-time Olympic Silver Medalist. He also broke Bob Beamon's 23-year old long jump world record, with a leap of 8.95m during the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo.

Next up are a pair of 1992 Impel U.S. Olympicards of Heptathlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee (#88) and Sprinter Michael Johnson (#87); and a 2012 Panini Golden Age Babe Didrikson Zaharias (#50). After watching a 1975 TV movie about Babe Didrikson, Joyner-Kersee decided to compete in the heptathlon and long jump, despite suffering from severe asthma. In 1990, Joyner-Kersee, Sports Illustrated voter her "the greatest female athlete of all-time," just ahead of Didrikson.

And finally, he threw in an autograph and memorabilia card for good measure. The auto is a 2009 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions Autograph Mark Allen (#MA), and the memorabilia is from a 2012 Topps U.S. Olympic Team Relics Jerome Singleton (#ORJS). While Allen specializes as a Triathlete, Singleton, a three-time Paralympian, competes on both the track (100m, 4x100m Relay) and in the field (Long Jump).

Thank you Fuji for the great cards, and I hope you enjoy the packet I sent your way. I'm definitely looking forward to jumping on the bandwagon and getting cards out to my blogging brethren.

Stay healthy and safe out there.

My First Autographed NPB Card

During my last post, I mentioned how I was going to start collection Nippon Professional Baseball cards. I'm finally starting to get a few of my E-Bay shipments, and I think I have a rather nice beginning for my Japanese baseball card collection.

Besides the 1975 Broder Japan Top Star Wes Parker card I had, I discovered another Japanese baseball card of sorts already in hand, which I didn't realize until I started cleaning out my minor league card box.

This particular card was a 1988 Star Masao Kida (#14) minor league card. In 1988, the Miami Marlins were a Class A independent in the Florida State League, as the MLB Marlins wouldn't begin MLB play until 1993. So, in 1987 and 1988, the NPB's Yomiuri Giants sent a few of their players to the States to play with the Marlins, and Kida was one of those players.

Drafted in the first round by the Giants after graduation from Nippon University High School, Kida began his baseball career with the Class A Marlins, going 7-17 with a 3.99 ERA, he returned to Japan to pitch for the Giants (1989-1997), and the Orix Blue Wave (1988). He then began racking up the frequent flier miles, resuming his career in the U.S., where he pitched for the Detroit Tigers (1999-2000), and then returned home to Japan to pitch again for Orix (2000-01). 

From 2003-2005, he began his final U.S. stint, playing for the Mariners and Dodgers (and affiliates), before returning home for good, playing four years with the Yakult Swallows (2006-09), and then the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (2010-12). He retired from the Fighters after the 2012 season.

After retiring, he actually closed out his career by pitching for the Ishikawa Million Stars in Japan's Baseball Challenge League (2013-14). They held a retirement ceremony for him on Sept. 14, 2014, whereupon they retired his jersey.

He now serves as a pitching coach for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.

Karma struck again, as I found a 2018 Epoch Season Achievements and 15th Anniversary Legends Kida autographed card, S/N 40 / 59 (#SGB-MKI) for a very reasonable price on E-Bay. Vying against one other bidder, I actually won it for $1.25.

I'd seen his signature on the 2019 Epoch Fighters Legend Signature card (S/N # / 50), but it wasn't as elaborate and whimsical as this one, as I really like the image he drew of himself. I actually found a website featuring Kida's Painter M's (Ishikawa Million Stars) Stamp that he drew of himself, and it's quite a match with the drawing on this card.

Heaven help me, it looks like I'm now well on my way with my Japanese baseball card collection.

Stay safe and healthy out there.

A 2020 Fairwell to the Iowa State Fair

Well, it's now official.

August's Iowa State Fair - "Nothing Compares" - will not be held in 2020, after an 11-2 vote by the Fair Board, another victim of COVID-19. Besides being held within the throes of a pandemic, it probably didn't help that Minnesota and Wisconsin, two of our neighboring states, also cancelled their 2020 gatherings.

This was only the sixth Iowa State Fair to be cancelled, and the first since 1945. It was shut down in 1898, courtesy of the World's Fair in Omaha, Neb., and the Spanish-American War, before becoming  a casualty of World War II, from 1942-45.

With an estimated budget of approximately $30 million (plus capital improvement projects), it's cancellation loses an estimated $100+ million, worth of economic impact to our state. During the 2019 fair alone, approximately 1.17 million people attended, from all 50 states and about 17 countries.

I have to admit, I am an Iowa State Fair fan. I try to be there as often as I can during its 11-day run.

To say the Iowa State Fair is a hoot, is an understatement. Where else can you find a butter cow, the best livestock Iowans have produced, everything and anything you'd consider eating on a stick, as well as great music. Last year's free acts included Here Come the Mummies, Hair Ball, and Steven Adler of Guns N' Roses, while the Grandstand shows included national acts, such as the Slipknot (an Iowa band), For King and Country, Zac Brown, and Toby Keith.

One thing I really enjoy is roaming the Varied Industry Building in pursuit of the freebies. You'd be surprised at what you might find. For example, Iowa State Secretary of State Paul D. Pate, gave away this #BeAVoter card last year, using Spiderman to help remind Iowans to register and vote..

There's also a guy who has a card booth amongst the vendors under the Grandstand. His prices aren't too bad, plus he has a really nice basket full of 25 cent pack, ranging from the Olympics, to baseball, football and basketball).

While I'm not one for opening packs at a later date, apparently I still had a $1 pack of 2018 Alan & Ginter from his table. I remember it, because it was the last on, and I had to almost arm-wrestle another buyer to get it. After a rock/paper/scissors session, I had the last pack.

 Babe Ruth (#3); Mark McGwire (#212); and Poker Champion Scott Blumstein (#34).

Kyle Schwarber (#249); Exotic Sports - Sepak Takaraw mini (#MES-7); and a Fantasy Gold Mine Pedro Martinez (#FG-17).

As for the Iowa State Fair, there's always next year - Aug. 8 - 18 to be specific. You know I'll be there.

Stay healthy and safe out there.

Japanese Baseball Cards

Heaven help me (and please don't tell my wife), but I think I'm developing more than a passing interest in Nippon baseball and its sports cards. I'm not exactly sure I can point to any one thing that propelled me down this particular rabbit hole, but in hindsight, I probably should have seen the signs coming.

1) It may very well have begun with the odd black and white card I found while digging through some of my old boxes of cards. I'm not sure how I got it in the first place, but it was in one of those boxes.

2) There's some great blogs on Japanese cards I've been reading lately, such as Dave's Japanese Baseball Cards (featuring his collection of more than 60,000 Japanese baseball cards), and Sean's Getting Back into Baseball Cards...in Japan. Both blogs provide a great education on these sports cards and I've been learning something new every time I read them.

3) A few weeks ago, I was invited to attend a "Chatter Up" Zoom event by JapanBall. I was among the approximately 60 participants who got to listen to Matt Winters (Kansas City Royals, Nippon Ham Fighters), Carlos Mirabel (Nippon Ham Fighters) and Kevin Beirne, (White Sox, Blue Jays, Dodgers, Orix Buffaloes and Chiba Lotte Marines) share their experiences of playing professional baseball in Japan.

Winters remains involved with the Nippon Baseball League, serving as a scout for the Fighters, while Mirabel serves as director for the Japan Retired Foreign Players Association. Beirne is now a pitching coach for a Houston-based baseball academy.

One of the comments Winters made which apparently struck a cord, was the fact there were a few Yomiuri Giants and Hanshin Tiger hats. "Maybe we can get a few of you to become a Fighter fan after all this," he said with a grin.

4) And then there was this 2015 article I found from Graveyard Baseball, which brings "commentary on the Seibu Lions and NPB one shift at a time." They had a 12-part post on "Your Guide to adopting an NPB team." It gives a brief history of each team, where they play, their uniforms, their cheer songs, who they compare to in the MLB, and ends up with "Why you root for them," and "Why you don't root for them."

5) What may have been the final straw was when I recently PM'd a high school friend who's currently living in Japan. You guessed it, he's a Nippon Ham Fighter fan, and get this, the Fighter home stadium is less than a block away from his in-law's apartment in SW Sapporo.

I know, it's Karma, right?

So, the prognosis is, I'm certainly digging Japanese baseball cards, despite the fact I can't read kanji. However, while card collecting can prove to be expensive enough on its own, I'm definitely not going to break the bank trying to put together those massive BBM or Calbee sets, and there's no way I'd ever match Dave's extensive collection.

Instead, I'll pick up a few cards here and there, or perhaps a few packs or boxes as they pop up on E-Bay.

As an example, here's a 2000 Broccoli Seibu Lions pack I won on E-Bay from Robert Fitts, an author of five books on Japanese baseball who also sells Japanese baseball cards on E-Bay.

And just to show that I haven't totally gone around the bend (yet), here's an on-card autograph of the Chicken, from the 2020 Donruss set, I won off E-Bay. 

We've been fans of his ever since he began as the "KGB Chicken," re-hatched as the "San Diego  Chicken," and then finally, "The Chicken," and we've crossed paths with him on several occasions. Each time, he's been extremely friendly and actually talks to us, once he finds out we knew him in San Diego.

Here's a photo of my wife getting a peck from the Chicken at an Iowa Cubs game. note her Chicken doll, circa 1976, in her hand. He always gets a kick out of seeing it. One year, he took it from her and cuddled it, before tossing it back to her, and waving his arms like it wasn't his and he had nothing to do with it.

And while we've gotten his autograph before, this is the first time I've actually seen him sign something with his actual name on it. Usually, it's just been "The Chicken," so I was especially happy to win this. Next on my list, is one of those game-used pieces from his costume from Donruss.

By the way, the black and white card near the start of my blog is a 1975 Broder Japan Top Star, Wes Parker. In 1974, he played for the Nankai Hawks, batting .301, with 14 homers. 

Stay safe and healthy out there.