Monday, January 27, 2014

Stale Community Gum #stalegum #communitygum

Last season, I opened more than 200 packs (probably closer to 300 "packs") of baseball cards for the "Tribecards from Outer Space" pack-a-day giveaway. Many of those packs had gum. For some reason, only  known to my subconscious, I saved nearly every piece of gum that came from any packs that had gum (and that I could actually save).  To refresh your memory, some of the packs dated back to 1978 and 1979.

Those packs had gum. And, yes, I saved it. Talk about your "Stale Gum!" And, since the giveaway was shared among 30+ hobbyists, I also submit this could be considered "Community Gum" as well.

I am not so bold to start slipping these bits of nastiness into participant packages. That's just not right. But, I could not let these fall into the trash bin without posting SOMETHING about them, seeing as how I saved them for some reason or another.


Looking at the photo, you can probably guess which pieces come circa the late 70's. Those would be the skinny little grey-ish pieces (concentrated on the left side). The unwrapped darker pieces (like in the upper-left corner) come from the 80's. Notice that some of the gum is actually double-stacked (again, upper-left corner). I guess if we had opened those back in the day, we would have been happy to see a bonus piece of gum in our pack. 30 years later, however, it's pretty gross.  In fact, all of it is gross.  Of course, baseball card gum has always been a little gross, hasn't it?

Could we open the wrapped gum and eat it? Maybe. One thing is for sure: gum has gotten longer, wider and thinner over the years.

I may have shared this with you before, but I can't remember, so I will share it again... When I was a kid, I would take the gum and break into little pieces. Then, I would stick those pieces randomly into an apple. I would try to spread things out so that I could get a bite of gum with almost every bite of apple. The result was something almost like eating a candy apple. I loved it. My friends just thought I was weird. Some things never change, I suppose.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Missing the Obvious #Tribecards

Here's the thing: I read the notes included with every package of cards that comes my way, but sometimes I don't READ the notes.

Such is the case with a box I got from P-Town Tom quite some time ago. You see, he sent a box of cards that have packs ready for busting in the next giveaway and had some Tribecards for my personal collection. In the note, he says, "A thank you (at bottom of box) for all the work you did this year," referring to last season's "Outer Space" giveaway.  I don't know why, but that bit escaped my inner synapses.

While cleaning up a few things for this season's break (and while STILL working through last season's), I removed the packs from the box and found three items at the bottom of the box:


Those are Exhibit Cards issues between 1947-1966! Included are Bob Lemon, Larry Doby and Dale Mitchell! These are awesome! I am a huge fan of actual vintage cards. I love finding little surprises, and this was certainly much more than a "little surprise!"

THANK YOU so much, P-Town Tom for these VERY cool cards!

*Note: Yes, I am still working through last season's giveaway mailouts. Oh, I know I promised Jan 10 as the mailout date, but that ship has sailed. Last season's participants WILL get their cards/packages, I promise. I am just not promising a date. Just know that when they do arrive, it will be like getting a little hobby bonus - or something like that.  For what it is worth, the next giveaway will have a much better, and more frequent distribution system attached to it.  Many of you have probably forgotten what players/cards you snagged by now!

Monday, January 6, 2014

Not lovin Bloglovin

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Evidently, Bloglovin deleted ALL the blogs I was following, including my own. Lovely.

Crackin' Wax: Secret Santa Sweet Surprises

If you've been paying attention to hobby-related blogs lately, you should be fully aware of Crackin' Wax's 2013 Secret Santa Soiree. There were at least 40 people that took part around the globe. How do I know it was around the globe? Well, the person I drew lived in another country. But, as it turns out, my secret Santa lived "down the road a piece" as they say here. My package came from North Little Rock, about 100 miles from my house!  My powers of deduction name my Santa as Patrick Smith, who took part in my pack-a-day giveaway and who, like all the other participants, has been patiently awaiting the arrival of their summer booty. That is coming. Right now, though, we're talking Tribecards Christmas!

Before I get started, I want to say a HUGE Thanks to Patrick for his gift!! I also want to thank Topher at Crackin' Wax for hosting this very cool idea!

The scans below are not in a particular order, though I think they did happen to fall in the order in which they appeared in the package. I can't vouch for that, though!

Let's talk Tribecards! How about an All-Sports USA Autographed Gaylord Perry to kick things off!?  Then, take a look at the different makes and models! This is a great selection of players and styles that kept me saying, "No way!" over and over!


Check out the super-cool "Pizzazz" cards! On top of that, we've got Fleer eX,  Aurora, Ultra, and many more!

There are Alomars, Carters, and Thomes galore!


How about Moments & Milestones, T205, Stadium Shots, die cuts, and freaking Perez sketches, too!


In fact, Patrick included a 1/1 Sizemore Perez sketch card! Holy smokes!  Now, I have to admit, the Chipper Jones threw me off.


Man, I am loving all these Indians cards!! Wahoo!!


Again, THANK YOU so much to Patrick for sending these Tribers my way for the Crackin' Wax Secret Santa Exchange!  I am looking forward to next year!