Bookmarked heroes

This is a series I started last year that I call Bookmarked Heroes.  I have two of the cards signed.  I have made multiple copies of each card and hand numbered on the back.  I typically ask the author to sign one and give them the rest of the cards.
Gregg Hurwitz, is the author of the best selling Orphan X series.  Evan Smoak is a former covert assassin who now helps those who have nowhere else to go.  He has also written for both Marvel and DC, writing both Batman and Wolverine.  He was a student of Jordan B. Peterson, author of 12 Rules for Life, and incorporated some of the rules into the Orphan X series.  I got him to sign a card at an event at the Coos Bay Public Library last year.  
Marilyn Weisenburg is a friend of ours who wrote a book about her experience dealing with her grief upon the death of her son David in Iraq.  I wrote about David on Memorial Day.  For me this was a difficult book to read because he were friends and experience most of the aftermath.  I felt like I was unable to breath as I read the beginning of the book.  I had to put it down to regain my composure before I I could pick it back up.  I don't have a  copy of this signed because it feels strange to ask a friend to sign something.  
John Larison is the author of Whiskey When We Are Dry.  It is his third novel, although he thinks of the first two as practice.  He was a former fly fishing guide and the first two books are about fly fishing.   He is currently a professor at Oregon State University in the writing program.  I emailed and asked him to sign my copy of Whiskey When We're Dry, he agreed and I sent him the book and some cards and asked him to sign one and he did and sent them back.
Carla Hayden is the current head of the Library of Congress.  She was nominated by President Obama and is the first woman and first African American to hold the position.  These are currently in the mail.  
Here is what the back of the John Larison card looks like.  I use the book icon to number the cards.  

Padrographs, What I am Reading and Album of the Week

#1150, Henry Henry was signed by the Padres in 2016 at the age of 17.  He is currently playing at A Fort Wayne.  

I finally finished 12 Rules for Life on Thursday and picked up Marvel Comics, The Untold Story by Sean Howe.  He interviewed lots of people involved in the history of Marvel, Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Frank Miller and more.  It is very comprehensive.  My first exposure to comics was in 1968 in Norfolk, Virginia when I would bike to the 7-11 and buy comics for 10 cents or 3 for a quarter.  

This album came in the mail yesterday, it is the soundtrack from the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie.  It is an Awesome Mix of songs from the 1970's here on earth. 

Now I am caught up for the week.  Check out yesterdays post for details of a contest going on right now here on the blog.  

It's A Contest

My wife went on vacation for a week and took the car, so I took some time off of work and sorted cards yesterday and today.  I sorted by teams so if there is a team you are interested in please let me know.  A few teams are already spoken for, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Dodgers, A's, Cardinals and Padres.  Any other team I will be happy to send you the cards I have.  There is a wide variety of years and products mainly from the last ten years or so.  

So here is the contest portion of the post.  As I sorted all those cards by team I pulled out the autographs, relics and serial numbered items.  Then I thought well I have some blasters around why not open those and sort them by team.  
So the way to enter the contest is to guess how many autographs, relics and serial numbered cards I end up with including what I already opened.  The person who comes closest without going over will be the grand prize winner.  The Grand Prize winner will get to choose first as to what of the relics, autographs and serial numbered cards.  Everyone else will be randomized into a draft order.  The Grand Prize winner will get to choose multiple cards in the first round and then will pick first in each subsequent round.  It will depend on the number of items available and the number of entrants how many rounds there will be and how many cards the grand prize winner can choose in the first round.  
The contest will be open until I get all the blasters opened and sorted and then the draft will be once I get everything scanned.  
Hope to hear from many of you.  
Now I am off to open blasters and watch the Padres and Yankees.

Some Gave All

Normally on Mondays I would write about new Padrographs but on this Memorial Day I would like to share the story of David Weisenburg.  David would be 41 this year.  I knew David from Church, he was in high school and I was on high school staff.  David and his friends, Emily and John, liked my wife and I for some reason.  Once when we came home to a new place there was a birthday cake for me inside.  We never did figure out how they got inside.  They later told me that they thought about TPing the inside of the house but decided not to.  They once forked our front lawn and TPed the tried in front of our house.  Our oldest son had a Tony Gwynn growth chart in his room and the high school kids used to come over for game nights.  I know David and John both marked their heights on it.  We still have it somewhere.  We would play cards at our table and David would cheat.  Everyone knew and David knew everyone knew.  One night he laughed and threw his head back and hit the wall, a little later, still sitting in the same place he did it again.  
David graduated from high school and a little while later he enlisted in the Oregon Army National Guard.  They were deployed to Iraq.  In August of 2004 David, a Sergeant,  came home for his sisters wedding and talked about going back.  When he was asked why he was going back, he said it was because his guys needed him.  David returned to his unit.

On September 13, 2004 David Weisenburg and Ben Isenberg were killed by an improvised explosive device.  My oldest son, Daniel, found out and came and told me as I was getting ready for bed.  I did not sleep well that night.  This is the closest person to me to have been killed in wartime.  Not a day goes by that I don't think of David and what his family goes through daily.  His birthday, the day of his death, Memorial Day and so many other days are constant reminders of the price that some pay for the actions of others.  On this day remember those who have paid the ultimate price. 

Don’t tell me you know how I feel

Cause only I know how I feel

And I’m not sure

Don’t tell me they’re in a better place

A better place to me

Would be with me still

Don’t tell me there is a reason

If there is tell me what it is

I need to know

Roster Mosaics

On Saturdays I will be featuring my roster mosaics.  I did these to see whose signature I was missing from each years active rosters.  This will take almost a year as there are 50 seasons of Padres to cover.  In 1969, The Padres inaugural year, there were four-two different players on the roster.  I have all but two signatures for 1969, Dick Kelley and Roberto Pena.  Dick Kelly I have a signed index card and will be customizing the 1972 card to insert that.  The Roberto Pena card has a signed version on eBay for $135, an amount I have never paid for a card, signed or unsigned.   There are six customs that I made and one that I found on eBay.  The Francisco Libran card was on eBay and the design is from the Topps website.  Joe Niekro, John Sipin and Sonny Ruberto are customs I made and inserted cuts into.  Chris Krug and Leon Everitt I got signed through private signings and the Van Kelly card I tracked him down in North Carolina and sent it to him. 

Well after I wrote this I made an offer on the Roberto Pena card and it was accepted.  I still haven't spent over a hundred dollars on a  card.  

Question for you:  Should I bounce around through the years or just do them in order?

Frankenset update

This week just two additions to the Frankenset. #75 James Lofton of the Green Bay Packers was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2003. This is one of my favorite Topps football sets, 1985.  I purchased this card on Facebook from a member of a through the mail autograph group.
#284 Mark Grant, this picture is Mud being Mud and clowning around.  Can you believe that Mark Grant was drafted in the first round of the same draft that Tony Gwynn was drafted in the third round.
Mark is currently a member of the Padres TV broadcast team, teaming with Don Orsillo on the broadcast on Fox Sports San Diego.    
I had forgotten that Fleer put the members of a team all together, so now I am looking for more 1988 Fleer Padres cards for the end of the set.  

The Frankenset page is updated

Customs, the early years

These are some of my very first customs when I discovered what I could do with publisher.  The four in the center were my very first attempts and you can see changes here as I changed sizes of the signing area and the transparency, (very evident in the Cedric Hunter card).  I got those four cards in the center signed at a game in Portland when the Portland Beavers were the AAA club of the Padres.  It was real easy to get autographs because you saw the players multiple times. 
Colt Hynes was the next style of custom cards I did.  I discovered Getty Images and the ability to find photos from the Padres media days.  I got the Colt Hymes card signed through the mail.  When I send cards through the mail, I usually ask the player to sign just one and include a copy for them to keep.  I also include a sharpie (I tell them to keep the Sharpie), and a self addressed stamped envelope.  When I made a set of the Padres A club, the Eugene Emeralds back in 2014 I also gave each player a copy of the card to keep.  
One day I saw that an autograph dealer had done a signing with Leon Everitt and I tried making a card that looked like a 1969 card.   I made this and the autograph dealer liked it and so did Leon, I got a signed card through that dealer and we have made over 500 cards of obscure players over the years.  

Albums of the Week

On Monday I received the album on the left in the mail. All three albums are by Larry Norman.  These three albums are a trilogy, there are various versions of all three of them, there are the ones the record companies released and then ones that were changed when Larry got the rights to them and reissued them on his Phydeaux label.  I have listened to each of them individually and hopefully soon I will listened to them in toto.  I hope to be able to find the Phydeaux reissues.  I saw Larry in concert many times, in Oakland, California, Portland and Salem, Oregon.  I got to take my sons to see him in Salem not long before he passed away.  We got to talk with him and present him with a piece of artwork that my son had done.  

What I am Reading

I am still reading 12 Rules For Life, this should be the last week you see it here.  I am in the middle of Rule 12.  
I am usually a one book at a time reader but right now I am reading multiple books at the same time although one of them I am reading in bite size portions.  
Every morning when I get up I read the daily reading in The One Year Bible, so each morning I get some from the Old Testament, some from the New Testament, a Psalm and a snippet from Proverbs.  I like this particular book because it has wide lined margins so I can write easily in it.  
After I am done with that I read some in When I Don't Desire God by John Piper.  I typically read a page or less, because John Piper is so deep that I usually have to read things twice before I understand them. 
I am still reading 12 Rules for Life twice a day, at lunch time and before I go to sleep at night.  I think I should finish it tomorrow and have something new to read by Friday.  

Padrographs

I haven't received or picked up any new Padrographs since last week, so I thought I would take you back to where it all began.  Sometime in 1986 when Topps cards came out I started sending cards to the members of the Padres asking for signatures on their cards.  Out of the 29 cards that made up a team set in 1986 I would guess that I had 20 of them signed. I have made roster mosaics of every year of the Padres which are made of every signed card.  These are only the players that actually played in 1986.  Since I only keep one card of each player some of the cards from the '86 Topps set have been traded away.  1986 is one of the few years that I have everyone who played that year on a signed card.  The Mark Wasinger card is a custom that I did a couple of years ago.  There are two members of this team that are no longer with us.  Tony Gwynn and Eric Show.   

TOTAL Cardboard

 I couldn't figure out what to write about today and then it showed up in my mailbox.  I had ordered four pack of 2019 Topps TOTAL and they arrived today.  Each box held two packs of ten cards, each box also held a spongy thing to keep the packs from moving around.  The pack wrappers were nothing special just silver mylar.  As promised I received ten cards in each pack.  I

got one parallel card numbered to ten.  It was the first card in the first pack I opened. It was the Aroldis Chapman, numbered 8/10.  It is a little different on the back also, it is numbered 81A, no other card had the A designation so that must be for the of 10 cards, I wonder if the of 5 cards have a B after the number.  I got one Padres cards and it was a good one, I believe there are two other Padres in the first wave. The backs are pretty generic, the players name, position and team.  A short paragraph of between 3 and 5 lines about the player.  No card in the four packs had anything longer than five lines.  Both the front and the back of the cards are very glossy.  

Out of the 40 cards I got 30 different players, I got dupes of Justin Smoak, James McCann, Chad Bettis, Chris Davis (Baltimore) and Melky Cabrera.  I got just 20 different teams represented.  

Here are the players I got and are available for trade.

Wandy Peralta, Reds

Tyler O, Neil, St. Louis

Chris Davis x2, Baltimore

Justin Smoak x2, Toronto

Devon Travis, Toronto

Chad Bettis x2, Colorado

Tyler Glasnow, Tampa Bay

Willy Adames, Tampa Bay

Dereck Rodriguez, San Francisco

Tyler Austin, San Francisco

James McCann x2, White Sox

Alex Colome, White Sox

Mike Trout, Angels

James Barria, Angels

Kenley Jansen, Dodgers

David Freese, Dodgers

Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers

Night Owl has the right of first refusal on the Dodgers

Stephen Piscotty, A's

Yusmeiro Petit, A's

Fuji has the right of first refusal on the A's

Trevor Rosenthal, Washington

Victor Robles, Washington

Daniel Descalso, Cubs

Steve Cishek, Cubs

Matt Andries, Diamondbacks

Caleb Joseph, Diamondbacks

Wilmer Flores, Diamondbacks

Jeuse Aguilar, Brewers

Neil Walker, Marlins

Pablo Lopez, Marlins

Max Moroff, Cleveland

Trevor Bauer, Cleveland

Trevor May, Twins

Blake Parker, Twins

I am interested in trading for the Topps Totals Padres or autographs for my Frankenset.  

Frankenset Cardboard Update

Last Saturday I went to the monthly card show in the neighborhood and I found someone selling autographs for $1 each, so I took my place in front of his box and started going through it.  I picked up 23 autographs for my Frankenset.  The show was also good in that I picked up three of the five cards I needed to finish my 1952 Bowman's U.S. Presidents set. 
Now to update the frankenset.

#15 W.P. Kinsella is the author of Shoeless Joe, the book which was adapted into the movie Field of Dreams displaced a Warren Newsom minor league card.  I will have to find a different Newt card for the set.  
#24 Dennis Dixon former Oregon Duck quarterback 
#25 Olympian Jake Dalton completes the second page of the set.  So far only the first and second pages are complete.  
#73 Keith Ballard the Florida Panthers will reappear later in the set also.

#86 Clint Irwin keeper for the Toronto FC

#98 Landry Jones, who signed in March of 2019 with the Somewhere Raiders

#99 Matt Mitchell who was formerly with the Royals.  There are way too many Matt Mitchells involved in baseball to figure out what he is doing now.  

#100 Bernardo Flores was drafted by the White Sox in 2016 and is currently playing in their system.  

#105 Franklin Stubbs, I need signed cards even if they are Dodgers. Additionally this card has a cameo by future Hall of Famer Bruce Bochy

#114 Bip Roberts is a player I saw play in High School, the minors and the majors.  Plus he is one of the coolest people ever.

#120 Da'Rick Rogers played for the Colts in 5 games in 2013

#126 Adam LaRoche is also a relic card, see what you can get for $1 these days.

#141 Paul Davis played for the Clippers and Wizards in a 4 year NBA career

#155 Jordan Todman played in the NFL from 2011-2017

#157 Danny Brewer played minor league baseball from 2008-2013

#171 Martin Nance played in one game for the Vikings in 2006

#180 Darius Earvin Johnson-Odom played in 4 games for the Lakers and 3 games for the Sixers between 2012-2014

#229 Michael Bowden played in the majors from 2008-2013 for the Red Sox and Cubs

#236 Derek Holland has played in the majors since 2019 and is currently playing for the rebuilding Giants

#239 Cecil Butler in 1962 and 1964 for the Milwaukee Braves

#245 Matt Barkley is a quarterback with the Buffalo Bills

#252 Pat Neshek Phillies pitcher, former Padre, baseball card collector and friend to autograph collectors.  I got this one through the mail earlier this year.

#256 Patrick Turner played for the Dolphins and the Jets between 2009 and 2012

#268 Wendell Mathis was drafted by the Vikings but doesn't seem to have ever played

#411 Scooby Wright III has a great name and played with the Browns and Cardinals in the NFL.  He played for the Arizona Hotshots in the short lived Alliance of American Football league.

#451 Bud Black is currently managing the Rockies and is a former Padres manager and former major league pitcher.

#505 Keith Ballard from the beginning of the set makes an appearance as a member of the Canucks

#571 Cliff Speck is from Portland.  I used to have an autograph of him in my Oregon collection before I sold it.

The Frankenset page is now updated

Album of the Week in a cardboard sleeve

This was a really good book and the movie was awesome.  While I was in the Navy, way back in 1975-1979, I saw this something like 23 times.  Out at sea back in the day, we had either our choice of watching a movie on the mess decks or watching videotapes in our berthing compartment.  Since we didn't make landfall all that often we didn't get new movies or tapes very often.  So I often had to choose between watching Jaws or Donny and Marie re-runs.  I love Marie but could only stomach so much of the corny humor they seemed to embrace.  So I have seen it many times and always liked the main theme and the rest of the score didn't really register.  I got this from Ebay and listened to it the other night while writing letters to some Padres for TTM requests.  It is a very good orchestral soundtrack, I shouldn't really be surprised since it is by John Williams.   

What I Am Reading

I am still reading 12 Rules for Life, An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson.  I am almost through rule 7.  The book is full of great principles that will help anyone.  It is written with a great deal of humor, but also a large helping of philosophy.  

This is the beginning of my To Be Read (TBR) shelf.  On the far left are the ones I bought yesterday at a store closing sale and then some that I picked up at a huge used book sale a couple of weeks ago and on the right are the ones I currently have checked out from the library.  

What are you reading?  

Padrographs Update

#1147 Esteury Ruiz, this came out in this years Bowman and I picked it up on eBay.  Esteury was originally signed by the Royals as a free agent in 2015 and was traded to the Padres in 2017.  He is currently playing at Lake Elsinore.

#1148 Brad Boxberger, pitched in 42 games for the Padres in 2012 and 2013.  He is currently pitching for the Royals.  I made this card and sent to him care of the Royals, it took just a little more than a week for it to come back.

#1149 Nick Margevicius, is part of the Padres rookie revolution.  Before this year he had never pitched above A except for one game at AA in the playoffs.  So far he has pitched around 41 innings in the majors and has a 4.14 ERA, (mainly cause he got hit hard yesterday at Mile High, I mean Coors Field.  I first heard about Nick before the season in an article in the Athletic.   I made this card and sent it to him care of the Padres, it took about a month for it to come back. 

Just need one more signed card to make it to 1,150 Padrographs.  Wonder who it will be?

The Great Room Swap

 My wife and I bought our first house when we were 50, that was twelve years ago.  When we first moved in we had both our sons living with us and so they each had a bedroom and my wife used the bonus room/laundry room as a sewing room. 

Over the years I have been in a shed in the backyard and upstairs.  My wife decided she wanted the two upstairs rooms for her fabric and sewing space.  So I got the bonus room and have just about finished moving in. 
So here is a quick tour.  The first picture is just inside the door.  It is where most of my hats are and sometimes I read on the couch.  

The next picture is what you see if you are standing in the doorway.  It is one of my book cases and where my Captain America action figure resides. Then there is a closer look at the Captain America collection. Next to the bookcase is my desk, you can see that I am only semi organized and then there is a close up of my desk.  Lastly there is a set of shelves that are just to the right of my desk.  On the top shelf are McFarlane figures representing
each of my favorite teams in the big four leagues.  The Minnesota Wild (although that may change when the Seattle franchise starts, Russell Wilson representing the Seattle Seahawks, Shaq for the Los Angeles Lakers and Trevor Hoffman repping the Padres.  Next are some Disney infinity game pieces I collected because I liked the way they were sculpted.  Next are the library books I have checked out.  

Frankenset Update

#62 Paul Overstreet displaces Padre farmhand Danny Payne.  Years ago Paul played a concert here in Portland and we joined his fan club.  We didn't know person signing us up was his wife.  She took us and introduced us to Paul.  It was a thrill to our boys who were both under ten at the time.  They are 32 and 29 now.

#70 Nate Jaqua.  Nate went to the same high school as I did, South Eugene High School.  Nate was a few years behind me.

#153 Sean Morey.  I am trying to get as many different types of cards in the set, so here is one from the NFL's European League.

#175 Mike Moore,  I used to like the Sharks best, but now I am a Wild fan.  I think San Jose has the second best logo in the NHL.  Plus I need a few die-cut cards in the Frankenset.  




                                                                            #220 Neil Johnson.  Another attempt to get more leagues involved in the Frankenset.  Neil Johnson played for the ABA Virginia Squires.  

#327 Neil Lomax.  Neil is a local player that I met once. I had a signed Sports Illustrated poster of him for years.  

#353 Sean Morey, see card number 70 above.  I thought it was going to be easier to get cards for this set, but I have not been having much luck of finding signed cards inexpensively so I have abandoned my rule about duplicate autographs.



The Frankenset Page is updated.  

Custom Cards

Mike Johnson is Padrograph #891.  I  just realized that I only have Mike on this 1974 error card I made.  I think I only made 3 of them back in my very first time making cards for Mike. I first made cards for Mike back in 2015.  Prior to my friend an autograph dealer getting Mike to sign some 4X6 photos many people did not believe that Mike had ever made it to the majors.   Mike only pitched in 18 games for the Padres in 1974, after that he never pitched professionally again.  From what I understand Mike now has a pest control company in Arizona.  Since he only pitched in 18 games, he doesn't qualify for an MLB pension.  Since I made these Mike has ordered about 600 cards, about every two months he orders 45 more cards.  Once he was being inducted into his high school's Hall of Fame in Minnesota and ordered 99 cards to take with him.  He always orders in multiples of 9 cards because that is how many I can get on a sheet.