The Wright State of Mind

So, day three of "3 Concerts in 3 Days" kinda wore me out.  I was so tired from rockin' out to the Plain White T's on Sunday that I just couldn't muster the energy or brain power to post until today.

Nah.  In all reality, I just didn't feel like it.  You've heard of "hitterish?"  Well, I wasn't feeling "bloggerish."  Work has been stressful, I had a lot of housework to take care of... I wasn't in the correct frame of mind.

However, looking through my scans reminded me that I have some kinda cool stuff to show off (at least cool to me); so, I feel some inspiration coming on.

Excepting new acquisitions and call ups, I'm at the point where pretty much all additions to my CATRC have to come from oddball sets - Topps flagship missed quite a few guys and, y'know, didn't always exist.  But, that's a-ok with me because I adore such variety.

For instance, this Canadian snack company issue from 1983 is phenomenal - Expos, French AND English player information and obscure baseball lifer.  Mel coach for the Expos at the time; but, he also had a brief playing career as well - appearing in 58 games with the Cardinals (1954–55) and Chicago Cubs (1960–61), going 2-6 while surrendering 119 hits in 84 IP, and compiling an ERA of 7.61.

You can see why his career was so brief.

Mel during his days as a Cubs coach

Image courtesy of ootpdevelopments.com

After that, he stayed on with the Cubs org as a coach, surviving the craziness of the College of Coaches and rising up to pitching coach under Leo the Lip in 1971.  After stints with the Pirates and Yankees, Mel spent his last season in Montreal.

Sadly, it wasn't his last by his own choice - Mel was hospitalized one week into the '83 season and died of heart failure on May 16, in Houston, Texas, at just 55.

So, here we have Mel Wright's last (and only) baseball card, a final tribute of sorts.

On a less depressing note, here we have a "Diamond Greats" card of Bill Voiselle. The set itself was put together by a card collecting photographer named Jack Wallin,  The budget was pretty low for this home-grown set, as evidenced by the simple design and blank backs.

Also, as you can see, Mr. Wallin was pretty liberal with the term "greats," as Bill's career stat-line on the bottom-front of the card is almost the definition of mediocrity.  It's likely that Wallin targeted players he knew who's rights would be cheap to obtain rather than actual greats.

That worked out for me though; ol' number 96 doesn't have a lot of cards floating around. Sporting the highest number ever used until fellow Cubs Mitch Williams took #99, Bill burst onto the scene with the Giants in 1942 by leading the NL in innings pitched and strikeouts, a career-high 21 wins and making his only All-Star appearance.

 Several decades later, fellow Cubs pitchers saw Bill's #96 and outdid him by 3

After that debut, he regressed back to the mean and became a serviceable mid-rotation type.  However, by the time the Cubs got a hold of him in 1950 in a trade for Gene Mauch, he was unable to record a win in 19 appearances, which were to be his last in the Bigs.

More interesting than his career was why he wore such a high number. It was a tribute to the tiny town of Ninety-Six, South Carolina where he was raised and spent most of his life.

image courtesy of seriousjammage.com

So concludes today's edition of Wrigley Roster Jenga.  I hope this pair of vintage oddballs were as intriguing to you as they are to me.  After all, the major companies have put out some pretty cool sets; but, you need some oddballs mixed in there to spice things up, right?

I wish we could see more like these today but I'm sure Topps current stranglehold on the market puts the kibash on that real quick-like.

Oh well.

Can You Guess the Band?

Day one of three concerts in three nights was a definite success.  Cheap Trick put on an amazing show yesterday despite the fact that a steady rain fell all afternoon and all through the night.  A little rain never hurt anyone though.  That said, thankfully today is sunny and warm; y'know, like summer is supposed to be.

Here are two cards that represent the name of the band that I'm going to see tonight.

It's a two-part name and each one of these Cubs cards exemplifies a singular part.  This group really isn't my cup of tea, but they have one song that pretty much the entire country knows that seems to show up at every bar/dance/country fair.

Here's another set of cards that should give you a hint.  Do you see the pattern?.... Well, besides the fact that (excepting Harden's 2008 season) all of these guys were disappointing/insignificant during their time in Chicago.

The band that I'm seeing might be one-hit wonders, but these two guys were no-hit wonders.

One more because baseball works best in three's (3 strikes, 3 outs, 3-Finger Brown, etc.).

It looks almost as though poor Mr. Gustine took a baseball in his southern region; fitting, because this band is probably much more popular in the southern region of the US.

That's the best segue I've got.

First person to guess correctly... gets the satisfaction of knowing that they're smart - my trade box is in storage at the moment.  I'll owe ya something!

Pulling a Vintage Cheap Trick

Baseball has been a passion of mine since the day my parents suited me up for my first t-ball game way back in the early 90's.  I played through high school, have attended countless professional games and follow the Cubs with a fervent fever that borders on concerning.

But, I'm not one-dimensional.  I love to run and actively compete in road races across Illinois, I'm a bit of a history nerd and I wont turn down a good book.  In addition, I love music.

In college, I ran the school's radio station and, let me tell you, there is nothing better than getting paid to listen to/approve new music and read Billboard magazine.  I've been working on and off in the radio field ever since.

As such, I go to a lot of shows:  OK Go, REO Speedwagon, Train, The 1975, Joan Jett, Shinedown, etc. etc.  I run the full gamut when it comes to anything remotely rock n roll.

Tonight begins a string of 3 concerts in 3 nights at the Taste of Joliet, courtesy of Cheap Trick! I'm ecstatic to finally catch them -  "Surrender" is definitely on my list of top ten songs of all-time and that's not even my absolute favorite track of theirs.

In honor of this momentous occasion, here are a couple of "cheap" vintage cards that I was able to add to my CATRC - it was quite the "trick."

These Sporting News Rookie Stars  cards from 1959 Topps are absolutely fantastic and thanks to some off-centering and a light gum stain on the back, I was able to cross Lou Jackson off of my "to get" list for a buck.

Look how happy Lou is for me!

Unfortunately for him though, he wasn't really that much of a rookie star - after batting .171 in 24 games in 1958, Lou only got 4 PA's in 6 games the next year only to spend the rest of his career in the bushes (excepting a brief 4 game cameo for Baltimore in 1964).

It's not like the Cubs had bunches of young talent ready to come up at this time though; he pretty much was their "rookie star."  

This card is a tad bit worse for wear.  In addition to some more centering issues, Paul Smith has a very noticeable tape stain that wraps around from the front to the back - as you can see here:

However, that's fine by me as it allowed this 1958 Topps card to fall into my price range.  I have always been attracted to this particular set - something about the bold background colors I guess, seeing as it's otherwise un-noteworthy.

That's fitting, since Paul was a pretty un-noteworthy player.

After a promising rookie season with the 1953 Pirates batting .283 across 118 games, he spent the next three seasons out of the Majors. He returned to Pittsburgh for 1957 for 81 games as a reserve outfielder. He was then sold to the Cubs early in 1958 and played his last MLB game just a month later.
I wonder where he went for three years?

The only image I can find of Paul in Cubs garb

Image courtesy of ootpdevelopments.com

That's does it for my recent cheap vintage pickups, which I decided to show off today just because I was desperate for a segue from Cheap Trick.

I do what I can.

My posting will be light over the next couple days; as I mentioned earlier, I have 2 more concerts right after Robin Zander and the boys.  I'll try to make some sort of connection between them and baseball cards; but, I cannot guarantee the quality of that connection!

Let's close things out with my favorite Cheap Trick song, one that I am crossing my fingers that they'll play:

No False Ansons

Part of the reason why I collect baseball cards the way I do is so that I can put a face to each and every name on the Cubs All-Time Roster; so, that there is a tome featuring everyone who was so lucky (or cursed) to play for the Chicago National League Ballclub.

It makes for a nice little artifact.

However, I often take for granted that the photo used on each card is actually that of the intended subject.  You'd think the people getting paid to select photos on baseball cards for a living would at least get the names right, if not the cropping, brightness and overall quality.

Especially so with the information available to us today at the touch of the finger and when the subject is a HOF player and one of the greatest players in his team's history.

But, then there's this:

The scan is a little dark, but that's a 2001 Cap Anson SP Legendary Cuts put out by Upper Deck.  It's a rather sharp card and, for once, I don't find the gold foil that obtrusive; it actually works really well with the dark blues and blacks in the design.

This card was a gift from my father way back when and was the first card of a 19th century baseballer that I added to my collection.  For those that don't know, the player-manager, despite his well-documented bigotry, was perhaps the greatest player of his era and still leads the Cubs' franchise in WAR all-time (84).

So great was "Pop" Anson's stature, that when he retired in 1897, the team's nickname was changed to the Orphans for a few seasons.

A fictionalized logo for the Chicago Orphans

Courtesy of ootpdevelopments.com

So, since he left such a large legacy and since he continues to pop up in baseball card sets pretty frequently, you'd think that this is in fact an image of Cap Anson, right?  Wrong.

A few weeks ago, while looking for old pictures of 19th Century Chicago ball players for use on potential custom cards (more on that in future posts), I happened across a website dedicated to Mr. Anson:  Cap Chronicled.

Within this website, there is a full archive of images of the first man to reach 3,000 hits in MLB history - including one that isn't actually Anson.

Image courtesy of Corbis Images

As you can see, this is the image that was cropped to make the SP Authentics card.  Apparently, the current owner of the rights to this photo is a company called Corbis Images and the have it incorrectly labelled as Cap in their records.  But, examinations by several 19th century baseball experts have identified the man pictured as fellow teammate Fred Pfeffer.

Image courtesy of the Encore-Editions.com

This image sure seems like it depicts the same man - at least to my eye - and, unless Old Judge got it wrong back then too, we know that this is Pfeffer.

Let's also take a look at the card I have in my CATRC binder for the guy, a reprint of his
1895 N300 Mayo issue:

 Same thick and glorious mustache (though styled slightly different), same facial features and same cold stare.

Image courtesy of espn.go.com

Meanwhile, a close look at Cap's face reveal a more rounded nose, deeper set eye sockets that sloped downward and a more rounded chin.  At this point, I would say it's pretty clear that Pfeffer is a Pfaker.

I can't really blame Upper Deck though.  Whoever was in charge of photo selection came across clear, crisp image that was purported to be the correct player according to the proprietor.  That should be trustworthy information.

In addition, this has been a recurring problem.  Several cards have been released using the incorrect image and Corbis has yet to correct the matter.  Will the real Cap Anson please stand up, please stand up?

 Lifted these from Ebay; I do not have them in my collection

When I found all of this out, there was no way I could leave that card in my binder - not with it showing the wrong person.  Thankfully, over the years, I've acquired a few other Cap Anson cards and these do in fact feature the old-timey first baseman:

                          1992 Old Style Team Issue      2007 Hero Deck Playing Card         2006 Topps Allen & Ginter

Now, the card on the left, holds down the spot for Anson in the "player" section of my CATRC and the card on the right represents Cap in the "manager" section of the same binder. 

Meanwhile, the oddball in the middle just sits in my Cubs box, at the ready, just in case one of these images turns out to actually be Frank Chance or something crazy.

Can I see your ID please, Mr. Chance?

To conclude, it's not like image swapping hasn't occurred on baseball cards since the dawn of the industry; but, I am glad that I was able to correct this discrepancy in my own, personal collection.

I guess we take for granted how much information has to be reviewed for photo selection on baseball cards and it's really easy to gloss over and label an image incorrectly - especially for nostalgia sets based on players of yorn.

I wonder how many other issues like this are out there in the card collecting world; perhaps they haven't even been noticed yet?

Fruit From the Dollar Tree

I'ts pretty nice having a dollar store just a few blocks from your place of residence.

Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny summer afternoon, something that's been rare in these parts over the past couple of weeks.  So, it was perfect weather to just leisurely stroll around the neighborhood.

But, I can't really walk around without having some place to go; thus, I ended up at the local Dollar Tree.  It's a perfect way to satisfy my capitalistic urges without making a real dent on my bank account.  Thus, my walk ended with a two bags of candy, a bottle of sweet tea and a small repack of baseball cards.

Because I'm an adult, dammit!

20 cards for a dollar?  I'll take that deal.  Although most of it was junk wax - there were still some cards worth collecting in this plastic pouch, including the one showing through on the back that called me to the pack.

Ok, so Jonny boy probably isn't actually calling out to me; but, a new Lester for my player collection is a good way to start.  How can I say no to such enthusiasm?

As much as I love the celebratory shot on the front, it was something on the back of this 2012 Bowman that really caught my attention:

Seems pretty normal, right?

Enhance:

This year, so much has been made of Jon Lester and his inability to throw to first base - largely because the Chicago was looking for flaws to make his contract seem like a mistake already, but also because he only even made one pickoff attempt from 2013-14, has a couple errors in just a few tries this season & Billy Hamilton has stolen everything off of Lester except his wallet.

Jon Lester is the Steve Blass of pickoff moves.

As I've said before, I adore the blue borders found on 2003 Topps.  It's probably because I'm a Cubs fan and the color scheme works so well with Cubs jerseys; that said, they sure don't look too bad with the Dodgers' either.

Grudzy was traded to the Cubs a couple months before this card went to press, in one of the greatest steals in franchise history. The Cubs were able to give the enormously disappointing Todd Hundley the boot and pick up both Mark AND Eric Karros - two key pieces to their playoff run that season.

Being as the 2003 Cubs are one of my favorite teams of all time and the first squad that really caught my attention all summer, a new Grudzielanek is always acceptable.  Not to mention, it gives me an excuse to embed this broadcasting nugget:

The rest of the pouch contained a few more future/former Cubs for their respective player collections:

It's always a bit jarring to see Mad Dog in a Tigers uniform, so bonus points for being a Short-Term Stop card and a sunset issue for the former batting champion.  The Cubs trading away Madlock for an aged Bobby Murcer, Steve Ontiveros and a minor leaguer is the exact opposite of the Gruzy/Karros trade.

I love thee 1994 Leaf set - there's some great photography, a colorful but unobtrusive design and I have a soft spot for color-coded borders.  As for the guy on the card, Mike Perez, he spent some un-noteworthy time in the Cubs bullpen in 1995-96.

Another bullpen Cub, Kent Mercker was a part of the squad that choked away a playoff spot in 2004, which still leaves a sour taste in my mouth.  Even worse, Kent was the guy who actually called the broadcast booth during a game to cuss out Steve Stone for being too critical of the team.  *Facepalm*

One a better note, the lifetime Tiger and should-be-HOFer Trammell served as the Cubs bench coach under the reign of Lou Piniella.  So, into the coaches binder this one goes.

A Derrick May rookie card!!! I suppose I should get this slabbed right away so I can pay off all of my student loans down the road!!!!

On a serious note, here's hoping I'm not being this sarcastic and mocking Kris Bryant rookie cards in 23 years.

That was it for cards for my collection; but, there was still some other cool stuff to be found within:

With dinosaurs being all the rage right now, courtesy of the money-making steamroller that is Jurassic World (stupid unnecessary sequels and Hollywood's unwillingness to try new things...but that's a rant for another day), this bizarre card seemed to be a timely pull.

Metal Universe is a set that's known for it's bizarre (and sometimes downright dumbfounding) backdrops/features and this example is certainly no exception to that rule.

Who the hell knows why poor Devon White is sliding into a dinosaur's mouth or, for that matter, what that has to do with a "metal universe"; even Devon looks rather confused on the back of the card.  But, I'll be damned if it doesn't look pretty cool.

 

This may just be another piece of worthless junk wax; but, I really appreciate how the slope of the design lines up perfectly with the lean of Len's batting stance.  Everything is working together in harmony on this card.

Hong-Chih Kuo might have spent his entire 7 year MLB career with the Dodgers, but he was kinda, sorta, almost a Cub.  In June of 2012, he signed a minor league deal with Chicago and hung around in the organization for about a month without making a single appearance at any level before being shown the door.

I've been thinking about starting another mini-collection of players who have been under contract with the Cubs without ever appearing on the big league roster; so, maybe I'll make use of this yet.

 Didja know that these two super-stars were once property of the Cubs organization?

To conclude, I would say that was pretty good value for $1 impulse purchase.  I wish that all of the re-packs I've bought in my life could have that excellent of a ratio for card for my collection and money spent.

Now, after this success, I wonder how many times I'll be going back there to try and replicate my luck, only to walk away disappointed.

At least it's just a buck!

Stuck in the Middle

Middle relief is a thankless job - in both the trading card world and the actual baseball world.

First of all, they're performance is based on still-imperfect statistics that make it hard to quantify their true value.  As such, they bounce around from team to team like a superball covered in teflon and are stuck in a cycle of near-anonymity.

Go ahead, ask the casual fan about their opinion on the performance of Zac Rosscup - blank stares will likely greet you, just like the ones of readers of this blog who aren't crazy Cubs fans.

Thus, relievers don't get to make a lot of appearances on trading cards; unless they're big money closers or former marquee starters.  Topps would rather crank out ten new cards of the stars of yesteryear or the latest uber-prospect; but, who can blame them?  Most consumers have no use for a player without any "oooo!" factor.

Therefore, it is often rather difficult for me to locate cards of bullpen dwellers for my CATRC - especially in a Cubs uniform, even more so in today's Topps monopoly.  Like I said, they bounce around so quickly and Topps cares so little, that they often get forgotten.

So, thank goodness I discovered the Authentic Signature brand, released by Leaf in 1996:

Coming out at the end of the junk wax boom and the emergence of the certified auto/relics phenomenon led to this beauty of a checklist, which included a deep roster of unexpected subjects, like Bob Patterson here.

Patterson, who had a long and relatively successful career in the bigs spent his last three years in Chicago (1996-98).  Despite appearing in 79, 76 & 33 games in each of those seasons, one of which included a playoff run in '98, Bob appeared on only one other Cubs card - 1998 Pacific Online.

So, thanks to Fleer for allowing me to fill this obscure hole in my collection and for it being with a certified auto on top of it!

Also, for the record, Robert Chandler Patterson played for the Padres, Pirates, Rangers, Angels and Cubs in his 13 seasons.  Bounce, bounce.

Even less appreciated is the LOOGY, who is not helped by only appearing for one batter at a time.

Mr. Casian spent 2.5 seasons in the Cubby bullpen (1995-97) as their lefty specialist - most of it spent with an ERA under two - and yet his only other Cubs cardboard is also from Fleer ('96 Flagship).

So, Fleer was the only one of the then several companies/brands to throw him a bone; he even looks perturbed here!

At least he lined up his signature better than Bob though.

As you can see, my options were very limited with these two guys when it came to adding them to my CATRC, so I just went ahead and got the best cards available.  Granted, they were only about a buck a pop, but I really appreciate the simple, subdued layout, rare in the era of Pacific, and the colorization of the player on a black & white background adds that extra oomph.

Besides, who doesn't love an autograph?

Anyway, while the pickins were slim for these two, for many Cubs relievers they are non-existent.  For that reason, I pine for the re-emergence of Topps Total or Upper Deck 40-Man or something in that vein.  Let these unsung heroes get the cardboard recognition they deserve.

Though, I'm sure they aren't many others like me wishing for a blue Yoervis Medina rather than another Ryne Sandberg relic.

*End semi-rant*

Greek Gods, Rock Gods and Garden Tools

You never know what you'll find in storage.

The other day, I recovered some pieces of my collection which I had long forgotten about.  I guess that's what happens when you put a large chunk of your belongings in the shed - out of sight, out of mind and all that.

Good thing I get bored pretty easily and rummaging is one of my favorite hobbies!

While waiting on my girlfriend to get home from work, I decided that I was going to look for some stuff that I had packed away way back when I moved to my college apartment in twenty aught nine.  While I didn't find most of that stuff (more on that later), I did find some other cool, lost trinkets:

For instance, this TCMA reprint of a 19th century tobacco card was nestled in a box where I had emptied my old junk drawer.  As I recall, I received this oddball as part of a larger Christmas gift of baseball cards; but, at that time, I had no use for over-sized inconveniences like this and proceeded to stash it away in the same place I kept my electrical tape and pens.

I was such a grateful teenager.

It's a shame too, because William "Adonis" Terry is a guy I've long been trying to locate for my CATRC - his unique nickname caught my attention while perusing the all-time roster and that's really all it takes.  Little did I know, I already had him hidden away; all because I couldn't be bothered with anything that didn't fit in a nine-pocket page.

Short-sighted me should not have limited myself because until I rediscovered this gem, I was aware of only two modern cards of the man: this Target Dodger piece from GCRL's Sunday spotlight and an Ars Longa art card.

Not a lot of wiggle room there.  Also, neither is standard size.  Stupid younger Tony.

As you can see, the back features a detailed biographical write-up and one can infer that this came from a tribute set to the 1890 Brooklyn Bridegrooms; a significant team for being the first NL entry for what would become the Dodgers.  As you can see, they wont he pennant right away.

Terry had been with the club since their very first campaign (1884), when they were known as the Atlantics of the American Association.  Most of his tenure was spent as the second or third starting pitcher; but after their championship in 1890, he was running out of steam.

After a few seasons with the NL Orioles and Pirates, Terry closed out his career with four mediocre to disastrous seasons for the Chicago Colts.  In one 1896 contest, Terry gave up FOUR homers to Ed Delahanty; remember, this is the Deadball era!  By 1897, he had pitched his last big league game.

Typical Cubs.

That said, his peers must have thought William was a pretty damn good looking chap, seeing as Adonis, in Greek mythology, is a Phoenician demi-god of beauty and desire.

Do you see the resemblance?

Image courtesy of George Kibler on Pinterest

Meanwhile, Terry wasn't the only Cubs-related baseball card I found stashed away.  These guys were tucked in the corner of the same box, amongst some old junk wax:

Excepting Kieschnick, none of these guys had anything to do with Chicago when I put them away. Now, they can all find spots in my Cubs player collections.

Although, the only one the elicits any positive memories is Manny Ramirez for the wonderful job he has done as a mentor for the young Wrigley talent.  Just saying Edwin Jackson's name makes me want to cuss out the nearest TV set out of habit.

It wasn't just Cubs stuff that I found though:

A couple of old, stadium give-away team sets for the local minor league baseball team.  I've been working on acquiring a complete run of these, so they fill some gaps in that collection; which I'll have to spotlight on this blog at some point.

The Windy City Thunderbolts are based out of Crestwood, IL and have been around since 2004 and play in the independent Frontier League.  Some notable names for the franchise have been then-future White Sox Dylan Axelrod, former Cub Billy Petrick and former Cub prospect Bo Flowers.

One quick note about Mr. Crosland there on the left (2005 team set).  I always remember this guy because during one game that I attended, he missed a pitch on a Ruthian homerun cut and the bat went flying into the crowd on the third base side, where it cracked a friend of mine's father in the face.  It did some pretty heavy damage and he had to spend some time in the hospital.

Im fairly certain that is not what Jason wanted to be the lasting memory of his baseball career.

The weather here in the Chicago area has been pretty bipolar; but, I certainly wasn't expecting any snow when I started exploring the shed!

This Diamonds in the Rough insert was a card that I begged my grandfather to buy me during a foray to our LCS.  Since this was in the mid-90s, this was one of the fancy, expensive cards on display for a stupid amount of money.  But, what kid doesn't love shiny things, especially when they have the cool hologram thing going on too.

I eventually won out, but if I just waited 20 years, I could have bought it myself for spare change.  I was an impatient little bugger.

That was it for baseball goodies in the box, but that doesn't mean there weren't more cards:

I literally have no clue where these came from; I have no recollection of buying/trading/conjuring them up with sorcery whatsoever.  They must have come with some repack that I bought way back when.

However, I thoroughly enjoy most of Kiss' body of work and these are some pretty nifty cards.  I especially love the poster design featuring the art from their debut album on the top left.  I've always thought about starting a music based card collection; so, if I do, these will certainly be a part of it.

Favorite Kiss song?  I think it has to be Plaster Caster - a deep track from 1977's Love Gun:

If you are unfamiliar with the Plaster Casters, they're an interesting bunch alright.

Speaking of music though, I also recovered this masterpiece from the "lost forever" shed:

An immaculate, vinyl copy of the legendary Simon & Garfunkel's comeback concert!  I grew up with a heavy dose of Paul Simon's solo work and discovered his work with Art when I was in college.  I had no idea that this was in there.

This has made for a fine addition to my record collection and I've already spun it at least 5 times.

This particular cut will always bring me goosebumps:

Oh, one more thing - the whole reason I was even in the shed to begin with was to try and locate my old auto racing card collection.  NASCAR used to be my sport of choice during my junior high years and the Indy 500 an event that is near and dear to my heart.  So, I thought maybe I should resurrect that collection.

I was unable to find most of them, except for this tiny snap case:

As you can see, I re-purposed the case.  The card on top is for a local weekend warrior who raced for a long time in the short track levels of the sport; a cool little rarity.

After all of that, I was able to locate most of the cards in the closet under my stairs the next day.

I would have been mad; but, as you can plainly see, the foray through the shed was immensely rewarding for me.  On another day, I plan to showoff this grouping of cards on the blog.  Much like my CATRC, my collecting goal is to get as many cards of different racers as I can.

I mean - because the massive piles of boxes with forgotten memorabilia already hidden in the shed weren't evidence enough that I need to bring in MORE stuff.

Anybody else uncover any forgotten treasures in their shed/attic/basement/buried pirate treasure chest?