Christmas Pack #33

Pack #33 pretty much the same as Pack #6 this was the only card that wasn't a dupe in this pack.  The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band also performed as the Toot Uncommons on Steve Martin's King Tut. 

New Frankenset

I have decided to start a new Frankenset.  I might actually like this one.  It is going to be an all autographed set.  This is the first card in the set, #19, Tony Gwynn.
Here are my rules for this set.
1.  Real autos
2. Have a card number, not a couple of letters
3. Be numbered 585 or less.  585 is divisible by 9 so it will fit exactly in sheets.  (I upped the number to make sure I got the 88 Fleer Flannery in the set)
4. No dupes, unless it is Tony Gwynn, Tim Flannery or Bip Roberts.
5. All sports, non sports, signed custom.  So if you have a custom of your own and you sign it and send it to me I will put it in the set.


So far I have two cards in the set, #19 Tony Gwynn and #63 Huey Lewis from ProSet Musicards.

Here we go.

Christmas Pack #32

Another pack of Country Gold, it yielded the box's first duplicate.  The Billy Dean card is a dupe.  My wife and I got to see Lori Morgan in concert when she opened for George Strait at Memorial Coliseum years ago.   I remember I collected the singing Cowboy set at some point.  I really like the image on the Mark Collie Card.   I had heard of everyone in this pack except for Ricky Lynn Wagner. Hank Thompson and Whisperin' Bill Anderson are well known to us old time country fans.  Tracy Lawrence's song Find out who your friends are is the theme song for us and our best friend's family. 

Upgrading Padrograph #506, New Padrographs #1123 & #1124 and Christmas Pack #31

 Cameron Maybin, was one of my earliest attempts at a custom card.  I used a photo from Photoday and sent him the card on the right.  He signed it and sent it back.  Somewhere along the way it lost the back. When I had the opportunity to upgrade it I did.  I had the chrome card for awhile but it had fallen behind a book case and I just found it yesterday.




I was checking out the Padres card an autograph dealer had and somehow I found two cards I did not have. Richard Steik, played for 4 seasons in the Padres system between 2004-2007.  Played two games at AAA.  Chris Kolkhorst, played for 5 teams in two years (04 & 05) in the Padres system. 







This is my favorite pack of Rockcards so far, because it features Diamond David Lee Roth.  This pack also features more people that I have heard of than any of the previous packs. 

Padrograph #1122 and Christmas Pack #30

Rob Mackowiak, came and went in the US Mail in 15 days, to and from Wesley Chapel, Florida.  Rob played in 28 games for the Padres in 2007.  I made the card and sent it to him. 
On to the Christmas pack, another pack of Country Gold.  Out of nine cards that were only three that I had never heard of .  Jeff Chance, made a couple of albums and sadly passed away in 2008.  Zaca Creek was a band of brothers, the four Foss brothers performed from 1989 to the band's breakup in 1994.  Kevin Welch, is a prolific writer and singer who has been performing since 1990.  Looks like another person to add to my Pandora, between the rockcards, musicards and country cards, I have added lots of variety to my listening.  All of the other acts showcased here are well known.

Padrographs #1120, #1121 and Christmas Packs #29

 Two more custom Padres, sent to their homes and then signed, sealed and delivered yesterday.  (Listening to Stevie Wonder sing Signed, Sealed and Delivered as I begin this post).  I mailed both of these out on January 12 and they both came back January 28.  Miguel Olivo, played in 34 games for the Padres in 2005, he split the season between Seattle and San Diego.  This card went to Sacramento and back in sixteen days.  Ronn Reynolds played in eight games for the Padres in 1990, the last year of his major league career.  Travis (punkrockpaint) transformed Ronn in a Las Vegas Stars uniform into a Padres uniformed Ronn Reynolds.  In the same sixteen days that it took Miguel's card to go to Sacramento and come back, Ronn's card went to Wichita, Kansas and came back.

This American Bandstand pack was chock full of people I knew.  Chubby Checker, Bobby Darrin, Buddy Holly, Fabian, Annette Funicello and Jerry Lewis.  Let's play word association
Chubby Checker-The Twist
Bobby Darin-Mack the Knife
Buddy Holly-Peggy Sue and The Day the Music Died
Fabian-Tiger
Annette Funicello-Beach Party Mouseketeer
Jerry Lee Lewis- Great Balls of Fire.

Christmas Packs #28

It is less eleven months until Christmas 2019 and I am not sure that I will finish documenting all the packs from Christmas 2018 by then.  The box still looks pretty full.  I may be able to see better when I get moved into my new room for my stuff.  So we have two upstairs room that I had one of and the other was a guest room, which didn't get used that often.  One son's family lives across the river in Vancouver, WA so they don't stay overnight and the others son's family lives in Vegas so they don't visit much.  So my wife and I  decided that she would move upstairs and use both rooms for all her sewing and fabric stuff.  I would move into the room that she had been using.  I got all my stuff moved out of the room and it is now stacked on the dining room table.  She has been making improvements to the rooms she is moving into so the room I am moving into is not yet available.  So some of my stuff is not accessible, my printer is hooked up and setting on an end table in the living room. 
With all that said let's dive into a Padre heavy pack of 1988 Fleer.  This pack had nobody that I hadn't heard of.  It had four Padres, one of whom is a Hall of Famer and one who is deceased.  Mark Thurmond, played for the Padres for three years, including pitching in the World Series in 1984.  I remember talking with him in the stands at a Portland Beavers game, when he was with the Las Vegas Stars.  He told me that he had one leg that was shorter than the other due to a childhood bicycle accident.  Mike Aldrete, played with the  Padres in 1991 and is now the first base coach for the A's.  I will make a card for him and send it to him care of the A's this year.  Dave Winfield was the first player identified as Padre when he was inducted into the Hall Of Fame, he played for the Padres from 1973-1980 before joining the Yankees.  He now serves as Assistant to the Director for the Players Association.  Chris Brown played for the Padres in 1987 & 1988.  After baseball he drove tankers in Iraq for Haliburton and came under fire.  He passed away in 2006 due to burns he suffered at a vacant house he owned.  This is the card I have signed for my Padrograph collection.

Christmas Pack #27

The first pack of 2018 Archives to come out of the Christmas box features a Hall of Famer, a Padre and a possible Hall of Famer in a another ten or fifteen years. 
Giancarlo Stanton, has played nine seasons in the major leagues and is a four time All Star, has over 1,100 hits and over 300 home runs.
Duke Snider, signed a volleyball which is in the collection of NightOwl, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1980. Austin Hedges is one of the many catchers in the Padres system.  I like all three years that they used last year but I wish they would use the 1988 template.

Christmas Pack #26

This is my first actual pack of Gallery, I opened a Artist Proof pack earlier.  I know of three of the players.  Trevor Story was a hot rookie a few years ago.  Matt Chapman is a third baseman who I knew of a few years ago.  Ryno is a Hall of Fame member of the Cubs.  Richard Urena, has played in 61 games for the Blue Jays in the last two years.  I don't recall ever hearing of him before.  Some of the paintings are pretty good and others are a little strange.  The Ryno seems a little off to me. 

Christmas Pack #25 and a Turkey

 This is the first actual pack of Stranger Things that I have opened and I am completely underwhelmed.  Six cards that are completely underwhelming, not much action at and the captions are not much help.  I got one sticker and it is of the restaurant owner. 
I picked up this Pedro Avila autograph just because it a strange card.  It is numbered 25/35 and has a turkey on it.  Evidently there are red versions of some of the autographed cards. 

Christmas Pack #24

 In our most recent pack of ProSet Musicards we have a couple of one hit wonders, two Hall of Fame band, two of my favorite artist, two posters and one band I have never heard of.  Colin James is still touring with his special brand of Blues.  Fleetwood Mac started as a blues band and has morphed into a Hall of Fame band that has had many hits across genres.  Tiffany has been seen by many people by in malls all across the country.  Indecent Obsession is a band I don't recognize even after reading their Wikipedia page.  Lenny Kravitz is one of my favorite guitar players, I really like Are You Gonna Go My Way.  Huey Lewis is one of my all time favorites, I got to see he, The News and The Tower of Powers horns in concert back in 1984.  M.C. Hammer is a former Oakland A's  batboy who got his Hammer name because owner Charlie Finley thought he looked like Hammerin' Hank Aaron.  The last time I saw him was on a ad for contact hangers. The Who is another band that started as a blues band and came to define Rock n' Roll and have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  The posters are pretty trippy.

 

Christmas Pack #23 and my Cooperstown picks

 Another pack of Country Gold and mostly people I know.  I have listened to country music for years and going to several concerts over the years.  Pearl River a band I have never heard of. Alan Jackson is a country music superstar who has had innumerable hits.  Eddie Arnold is Old School, he was a member of the original country music superstar class.  Kathy Mattea was a bright flaming country music superstar who had what seems like a brief career.  Restless Heart is a group I remember hearing on the radio, although I couldn't name any of their songs.  Mark Chestnutt had a couple of big hits in the 90's.  I remember seeing Marty Brown's picture before but I don't remember him at all.  Don Edwards is still alive and singing at age 79. 

We already know that Lee Smith and Harold Baines will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this summer.  I think that Mariano Rivera, will be a unanimous or close to it pick. I think Roy Halladay, Edgar Martinez and Mike Mussina will also be elected to the Hall tomorrow.

Padrograph #1119 and Christmas Pack #22

   

 Randy Elliott, made his major league debut for the Padres on September 10, 1972.  He played 27 games for the Padres in 1972 & 74.  He played for the Giants and A's in 1977 and 1980.  He played in a total of 114 Major League games.  I sent this custom to him in Wasau, Wisconsin and it only took 9 days to get there and back.  He is Padrographs #1119.

I opened my third pack of American Bandstand cards today and was disappointed by the collation.  Only three packs in and doubles.  Six of the eight cards in the pack were duplicates of cards from one of the other two packs.  Bobby Vee, was known for the song, Suzie Baby.  He got his start filling in for Buddy Holly, the night the music died.  When Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper died in a plane, Bobby and his brothers filled in at the next concert.  He once shared a stage with Elston Gunn, AKA Bob Dylan, who paid tribute to him at a concert. He had six gold singles and one gold album.  American Bandstand paid tribute to The Beatles, I would guess multiple times.

Christmas Packs #21

It is Saturday morning, watching Three Days to Kill after painting trim for my wife's new sewing room which will give me a new room for my cards.  Right now all my cards and stuff are stacked up on the dining room table.  Today's pack is a Rockcards pack.  I got my first sticker out of the box.  Iron Maiden, Up The Irons.  Unlike the 88 Fleer packs there are more unknowns than knowns in these packs.  I had heard of Sebastian Bach of Skid Row and Nikki Sixx of Crue and Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi and Cliff Williams of one of my favorite bands AC/DC.  Some of the others I had heard of the bands but not the specific players. 

Christmas Pack #20 and Padrograph #1118

 Another day another pack of 1988 Fleer with no surfboard.  A truly unremarkable pack with one Padres player and a Hall of Famer.  Eric Show was a pitcher who was a Padre from 1981 to 1990, who also pitched one year for the A's.  He unfortunately had a few demons, he died in 1994 at just 37 years old.  George Brett played for the Kansas City Royals from 1973-1993 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999.















Ross Ohlendorf is Padrograph number 1118. I just got  this custom back in the mail today.  I sent it out on New Years Eve to Austin, Texas.  Ross pitched in the majors for 9 seasons and pitched in thirteen games for the Padres in 2012.