With summer break having officially begun, this school district IT professional is now working a part-time schedule; as such, I have some extra free time on my hands. While most of that time is spent on household chores and "honey-do's," I do still find myself with an unoccupied hour here and there in the middle of the work week. It's kind of nice not to always be running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, like I have been for the whole last quarter of the school year.
This afternoon, after purchasing a rear windshield wiper blade from the auto parts store, buying the city sticker for my car, and scheduling a vet appointment for my cat, I ended up with one of those free spaces in my daily schedule. So, being the man child that I am, I immediately wheeled that newly registered car to my local card shop just to browse away the hour. Honestly, I think I can speak for most of us here on the blogosphere when I say that this is the best way to kill some time.
I wasn't looking for anything specific, but I sure didn't leave disappointed.
Poetically, I was able to check a box off of my cardboard to-get list while taking a break from my to-do list.
Steve Cishek has been one of the most reliable arms coming out of the Cubs bullpen since he was signed in the off-season before 2018. Over the past season and a half, the side-armer has posted a 2.53 ERA in 99.2 innings, largely as a set-up man, but also contributing 10 saves. While the pen has been largely inconsistent during the past few seasons, "Speedpass" has been an exceptionally welcome, steadying presence.
Having been a consequential Cub for a year and a half, it felt criminal that Cishek was represented in my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection by a damn Cardinals card:
Thankfully, this injustice has finally been corrected, thanks to my impulse trip to the LCS. While non-closing relievers don't often get spotlighted by Topps and Co. in their checklists, Cishek has made a few cameo appearances since the end of his first year in Chicago. So far, Steve has true, Cubbie Blue cards in both 2019 (as seen above) and 2018 Heritage, last year's Update, and - somewhat surprisingly - in this year's Series 2. With a fair amount of mainstream options, it felt even more inappropriate that I should force Cishek to wear those Cardinal rags for so long.
Sorry Steve!
In addition to my long awaited "Cubgrade," I made a couple of other additional, "odds and ends" purchases; however, I'll been keeping those cards in the holster for now, in case I need them for future posts. In the meantime, thank you for taking time out of your busy day to read all about my purchase of a inexpensive base card of a reliever.
Speaking of busy, I should probably get back to that "to-do" list. Those carpets aren't going to shampoo themselves!
I totally know how you feel. It's kind of weird having a little free time to kill, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI'll have to pick up a Cishek card for my binders as well. I like what he has done on the Northside so far.
Steve could give Kris Byant a run for his money in the steely blue eyes competition.
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