Friday, June 26, 2009

A few updates

First of all, THANK YOU to those of you that have sent me your own gift packs/trades! I am hoping to post pictures later today, but with the cleaning and packing to do before the trip to NYC, I'm not sure I'll get to scan anything.

Secondly, THANK YOU to the McNabb's for the Asdrubal Cabrera Bobblehead!! It's weird, but in the last week, I have gone from ZERO Indians bobbleheads to having THREE!! I now have Cabrera, Sizemore, and Sabathia!

And, lastly, I wanted y'all to know that gift packs will not go out until after we get back from NYC. I was hoping to ship them out before we left, but there are too many other things that have to be done in preparation for our week-long vacation to the city that never sleeps.

I know, very few people are sitting on the edge of their seats anticipating the arrival of their gift packs, but I believe that it's the right thing to do in letting you know your packs will be coming, just a tad later than I had hoped.

Oh, that reminds me, I got one gift pack returned to me: Kevin Mattson's. I think you had sent me an updated address, but, naturally, it has found its way into the cracks of the ethernet... Please send me your latest dwelling location and I'll get yours back in the mail.

I have no idea how much posting will be done during the vacation (in all honesty, probably little to none), but ya just never know with me!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Pics from Wrigley (June 20, 2009)

I took over 200 pictures at the Indians/Cubs game on Saturday, June 20, 2009. These are some of them:

When we walked in, and I saw Ernie Banks hanging above me, I knew I had to take a photo:


I don't care who you're rooting for, when Soriano comes up to bat, it's something special:


This is probably one of my all-time favorite pictures. Mainly because of Skinner's reaction:


What's better than getting to Pronk at bat?


If memory serves, he ended up walking... Or with a single... Yeah, I forget...


So far as I am concerned, Lou Pinella is one of the all-time greats. I may never see him in person again, so it was a great experience:


V-Mart at the plate:


George Lopez was the 7th inning stretch guest. I have other pics of him, but they are on Facebook. :-)


Choo takes his turn at the plate:


Carroll started the game off with a great two-bagger to deep center:

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Random Packs of Kindness (Pirates Edition)


I grew up in the heyday of Black-n-Gold dominating the sports scene. Those were the days of "We Are Family" with Willie Stargell, Dave Parker, and the rest of the gang leading the way. That really has nothing to do with the giveaway, since the cards/items included this time are very widely aged up to current releases.

I am giving away TEN (10) packs of Pirates! Respond here, and I'll put your name on a free gift pack of the Bucs. Please remember, only one request for Pirates per person.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Random Packs of Kindness (Mets Edition)


In honor of my upcoming trip to New York, I am posting the next "Random Packs" pick: The New York Mets! Granted, we are going to a Yankees game, but I don't have enough of those to spit at yet, so I'm going with another New York team!

There are TEN (10) Random Packs of Mets to be given away! So, step right up and sign your name on the bottom line! Remember, please only one Mets request per person!

The other Packs should go out sometime this week, so long as I have the requestor's addresses!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Who's Up Next? (Random Packs Update)


(image from: http://www.shawnmodersohn.com/)


I had no idea just how "popular" the Random Packs Program was going to be!! I am very excited about the emails I've been getting, asking when I would be announcing the next team in the giveaway.

I had fully planned on releasing that information every couple days, even while I am in Chicago. Unfortunately, I left the list of teams that are "eligible" for the giveaway at the house... That's what I get for a) not packing it in my suitcase and b) getting up at 430am for the flight!

The next team to be announced will be posted on Sunday evening/night after I get back home. I appreciate everyone's understanding! Like I said, I had no idea just how popular this was going to be!

(side note: I used the word "eligible" above. What in tar-nation is THAT supposed to mean?? Well, it means that I have some teams with very little to no cards yet because they all went out in the last giveaway. Then again, I may decide that those teams get a 'first-to-respond' single pack. Probably not though.... Y'all should know me well enough now that I am all about getting as many free cards into as many hands as possible!)

Stay tuned and/or keep your feed readers on alert! The next team will be announced Sunday evening/night!

Monday, June 15, 2009

Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Banks

For supper tonight, CDW-G treated us to a meal at Harry Caray's. While we were there, Mr. Ernie Banks sat at the table in the corner behind us!!

I tried to get a flashless, non-obvious photo:



Well, after the meal, a group of us were standing outside, mulling about, and Mr. Banks came out and walked right over to us and stuck out his hand. "Hi, I'm Ernie Banks." I was in awe. I shook his hand, looked him in the eye, and said, "Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Banks." Ernie freakin' Banks!! How cool is that!?!?

I tried to take another picture as he loaded his car, but my camera did not like being flashless at dusk, so it came out blurry - UGH!


I don't care about the picture! I met and shook hands with the great Ernie Banks, and that is more than good enough for me!

Friday, June 12, 2009

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!

If you haven't heard about it yet, you need to get your browser over to Wax Heaven between 8am-8pm on SUNDAY, JUNE 14!

Why would you want to do that, you ask? Because he is giving away a Razor Cut Signature card. So what, you say? How about HAMMERIN' HANK AARON!? Yes, you read that correctly. Mario is giving away the card as part of agreement with Razor.

How do you get in? Stop by the link below and keep on watching Wax Heaven for details!

http://completist.wordpress.com/2009/06/12/2009-sports-icons-review/

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Woodie Held Passes Away


Woodie Held passed away earlier today (Thursday) at age 77. He held the record for the most homers by a Tribe Shortstop until Peralta broke his record this season. Held played for the Indians from 1958-1964 and racked up 85 home runs. He also played for the Royals, Angels, Yankees, Orioles, White Sox and Washington Senators, and was a perennial part of the Indians Fantasy Camp (which I hope to be blessed with attending some day).

He had been battling a long fight with cancer until his death. He will be a very missed part of the Indians family.

Random Packs of Kindness (Mariners edition)


Come rain, come shine, when the compass points to the great northwest, it leads fans and collectors to the home of the Seattle Mariners!

While many fans celebrate the return of Junior, you can celebrate for whatever reason you choose through one of the Random Packs of Kindness containing the Mariners!

There are TEN (10) free gift packs being given away this go-round, so be sure to sign up by replying to THIS post! Remember, if you are one of the ten who make the cut, just send me your name, mailing address, and username you replied as. I'll verify information as needed (I know most of my readers from previous trades, but it is always great to make new friends!), and then get your cards in the mail.

One kink in the plan: I will be in Chicago June 14-20 for training, so these will not go out until I get back. Don't let that stop you from signing up, though - once ten folks claim a free pack, they're gone (until I do this again, heh-heh!).

Please, only one Mariners request per person. Thanks! And thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Mailing Addresses, Please

Hey everyone! I planned to email everyone individually for mailing addresses, but I don't have access to everyone's email (some aren't listed in profiles).

Please check the posts for the Random Packs to which you've responded to make sure you've "made the cut." If you HAVE made the cut, please send me an email (davidinark@yahoo.com) with your name, the username you used to respond, and the address where you'd like your Random Pack(s) of Kindness sent. I will verify your information and then send out the cards.

Thanks!

Random Packs of Kindness (Angels Edition)


By luck of the draw, the next *FREE* Random Packs of Kindness come to us from California - The Angels. I am not picky about Angels cards. If the logo is the haloed "A" then it's an Angel in my book and thus goes into the pot!

As in previous Random Packs of Kindness, REPLY HERE if you want free cards. Only one request per team per person (yes, if you've asked for another team, you can still request these too!).

There are TEN (10) packs to be given away, so sign up quickly to secure your gift pack!

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Free Random Packs of Kindness (Indians Edition)

UPDATE - All the Indians packs have been given away for this round, thanks to an out-of-breath post by Motherscratcher who came stumbling over the finish line after a few hard days of work to claim the #10 spot!

Remember, send me your addresses and I'll get crack-a-lackin on sending out the packages!




I have not given away cards in quite a while, though I do have several packages that will go out on Monday (June 8, 2009).

So, I am starting a new way to giveaway some of the cards I have! I know, regular readers will find it hard to believe that I have come up with yet another way to give away my cards. It must be remnants from my radio days - I love giving stuff away (also the reason I never succeeded in sales).

For the next few weeks, I will create "Random Packs of Kindness" posts that feature one team. I will also post the number of gift packs that will be sent out for that team. All you have to do is reply to the post and let me know that you want one of the gift packs. That's it. Name it and claim it, as it were.

Of course, you might want to know things like, "How many cards do I get?" or "what years/players/brands are included?" or "Do I get any game-used/autos/etc?" or "Do the gift packs include things other than cards?" And my answer is the same for all those: "Ya never know!" And why don't *YOU* know? Because even *I* won't know until I start putting the packages together, and even then, I won't know who gets what until the cards are sorted into gift packs and randomly assigned to each person that made a request. Well, actually, I won't know exactly who gets what then either because I won't be rifling through the stacks looking to see who got what...

All I ask is that we play nice - only one gift pack per team per requester, please. Yes, that means you can ask for more than one team as they are posted. also, please REPLY HERE with your request. We'll get mailing addresses, etc as we go along. Oh, yeah, there is no time limit, just a 'space' limit. Gift packs will be mailed out in as timely a manner as possible - you should not have to wait too long for your free stuff to go out, even if you are the only responder! Likewise, if you are reading this at ANY TIME and there are spots still open, feel free to respond!

Naturally, I am starting with cards that are closest to my heart - Indians!

The first "Random Packs of Kindness" giveaway goes to the first TEN people to respond that they would like an INDIANS GIFT PACK!

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Dick Jacobs, Rest in Peace


83-year old Dick Jacobs passed away Friday, and Indians fans have lost a significant figure in Cleveland baseball history. He is the reason the field was called "Jacob's Field" before the whole Progressive thing. He's the reason the Indians stayed in Cleveland at all. He's the reason many Indians fans will always fondly refer to the current field as "The Jake."

I learned of his passing from Baseball Dad's post on his blog. I've been watching ESPN all morning, and never once had they mentioned it. That's unfortunate, and perhaps they will put together something for later today.

The simple fact is that the Tribe sucked and Jacobs became the reason the Indians remained in town. When things looked bad for the team and their staying power in Cleveland, Jacobs was courted to come in and save the team. A new attitude, a new team, a new field (eventually) and the Indians became a force to be reckoned with. In the early days of his ownership (late 80's - early 90's), he took the full brunt of the blame while building the minor league system up to par. Luckily for the Tribe, Jacobs was more than able to handle the cost himself (having been worth an estimated $500 million in 1986!). There are always growing pains when a new owner comes in, and this was no different. But, like most things in life: where there is pain, there is growth.

The Indians got the players they needed, the branding they needed, and managed to find themselves in multiple post-season (including a couple World Series) appearances - a long stretch from the Tribe of the 80's.

Even though the Indians are struggling this season, as far as I'm concerned, the principles, ideas, and heart that Jacobs put into effect to turn the Tribe around makes all the headache and heartache worth it.

I can only imagine Jacobs was met at the pearly gates by former Tribers tipping their hats to the man who brought back that Indians pride.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Slipping WAAAYYY Behind!

Let me start off by saying this has nothing to do with the real-life ball-playing counterparts of whom I collect little bits of cardboard. This has EVERYTHING to do with mailing out bubbleopes and other goodies.

I know several of you are expecting items that were SUPPOSED to have been mailed off the Tuesday after Memorial Day. Let me assure you, those are still sitting in the center console of my milestone-reaching HEMI (hit 100,000 miles the other day!). But, I can also assure you that since I now have Fridays off from work (summer hours = 4 10-hour days), I can be much more diligent about sending out trades and random packs of kindness!

I appreciate your patience with me, and hopefully you'll find it well worth it!


I am also WAAAYYY behind in one particular trade because, well, I hadn't even started pulling cards yet when I received a package in the mail from Grant (Old School Pack Buster)!

If you have not checked out his blog or if you've missed him on iamjoecollector (in the comments section), you're missing a treat. And once you start emailing, he is a resource of fun-filled information and activity!

During a recent box break (SweetSpot) on iamjoecollector, he had ended up with the Indians and I offered to trade him anything to get whatever cards he ended up with. Well, not only did he send me his Tribe hits from the break, but also a "whole mess of" other Indians cards, too! I've got a lot of catching up to do!


The card in the center is a Jeremy Sowers Auto'd GLOVE card! It is a thing of beauty, and is actually more like a 'box' than a card - this thing is thick, far too thick to fit in a standard 9-pocket page, I fear.

In addition to that card, there are a host of other serially-numbered cards, autographs, game-used and other issues...


I have a list of teams and players that Grant collects which will help get me started, but I have a long way to go in order to feel I have "evened" the trade! These cards are a great addition to my Indians collection!


THANK YOU very much, Grant! This was a great treat to come home to.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Cards from... My Aunt!? (autographs? stamps? and wrestling edition)

This is the last of the ""cards from my aunt" series, and it contains a variety of collectible goodness...

My aunt said there was a 'cancelled Babe Ruth stamp' along with some other stamps. She didn't know if they were 'worth anything' but thought I might find a home for them or sell them on eBay. I don't know stamps from stumps, but where there is Babe Ruth, there is collecting fun:

I have no idea what the rocket-based ones are, but I recognize Marconi from my radio days and my Mass Media classes, so that was a nice touch. The Ruth is a 1983 and was cut from an envelope apparently. There is a small bit of the cancellation mark on it, but any more than that and you'll have to be your own stamp-collecting-type-person. Yes, I know there's a name for it, and I could Google it, but if you are one, then you know the word. If you aren't one, you probably don't care. Anyone collect stamps?

Next up are a handful (almost literally) of wrestling cards. I know all of these guys because these cards are just after (or are near) the days when my Dad would take me and my brother down to the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh to watch the matches. We also saw some matches in various High School gyms and some other athletic clubs. We had a well-rounded childhood...


Finally, scattered throughout the box were "autographed" cards. As you may notice, there is something 'familiar' about the signatures as you look from card to card...


I'm not a genius by any stretch, so of course I recognized the fact that the hand-writing was that of a youngster... But my question is: WHY? Why would my cousin (or whoever signed them) autograph them? Perhaps to pawn them off on some younger unsuspecting collector?


What's even more interesting are the SUBJECTS he chose to sign. No one of superstardom, but rather 'common' players... Perhaps that was part of the plan, though... Sign people that many folks wouldn't necessarily question, right?


All-in-all, I have to say that busting this shoebox full of various cards was a lot of fun! a HUGE thanks goes out to my aunt and my cousin!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Cards from... My Aunt!? (hockey edition)

When my aunt told me there were Penguins cards in the box she sent, I was interested to see what all would be in there, since the Penguins are in the Stanley Cup Finals again this year. I will end up finding a good home for them, since I don't actually collect hockey cards, but it was worth seeing them, for sure:

Ah, nothing like a local grocery store for an oddball set! I have no idea if the whole set is there or not, but there are certainly a bunch of the Foodland cards.

There were some other Penguins cards, too, but the majority are the Foodland:


In addition to Penguins, there was quite a selection of other hockey cards. Evidently, my cousin was into collecting them for a while. I don't know what it means that I recognized more of the hockey players than I did the football players. It probably means there are more 'star' hockey cards in the box and nothing more. I can't remember the player's name, but how about a hockey player whose 'sideline' is riding wild broncos!?


The logo cards are actually non-branded stickers. If you look hard enough (or click on the photos for a better view), you'll see a couple vintage cards from '77 and '78 in there! I thought that was very cool:


In fact, I ended up with TWO 1978 Atlanta team cards!


I hope to find a hockey collector or two out there, eh. They'll be getting some older ice cards for sure.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Cards from... my Aunt!? (football edition)

As I mentioned in me previous post, in addition to baseball cards, my aunt also threw in a bunch of football cards. I've got some giveaway filler for sure with these.

In its own stack were a series of Steelers cards, and here are some of them:

Most of them are 1991 ProSet, but feature legends of the Steel City.

The helmets you see in the can below are sparkly stickers. I don't think there was a brand or anything on them, and to me that look like the kind of thing you get out of a vending machine:


There are several of the VERY orange Tennessee cards, plus a lot more ProSet:


These scan represent a small portion of the cards she sent. Some of the names I knew, but most I did not. They will find their way into some football collector's home at some point, I'm sure of that!