Carded out

My mom and I have kind of a joking relationship when it comes to my baseball cards.

She's not a huge sports fan and I don't think she fully understands the concept of collecting little pieces of cardboard.

However, she puts up with the massive amount of space my collection utilizes and shoots me a few bucks to put towards the hobby every now and then, something for which I wholeheartedly appreciate.

Sometimes, after I finish up with particularly long blogging or sorting sessions, she'll sarcastically ask me if I'm "carded out" yet, as in "sick of baseball cards". Of course, my answer has always been "no".

If she would've asked me yesterday, though, I may have said yes. For reasons I can't explain, I was "carded out" last night. After finishing up with what I felt wasn't one of my better blog posts, I barely touched my baseball cards yesterday. I can't explain why, but my collection wasn't a high priority.

I'd like to believe that everyone goes through periods of "carding out". It seems to come with the territory of being a longtime collector.

Thankfully, I'm back from my night away, and I'm fully ready to dive into another glorious assortment of baseball cards. This batch comes courtesy of Jeff, author of the awesome blog "2 by 3 Heroes".

Jeff and I recently met up at a local card show and had a jolly good time. The meet-up came on the heels of a terrific trade package he'd sent my way a short time earlier.

The first card to greet me was the Christy Mathewson you see above, a "Colgan's Chips" insert from last year's Panini Cooperstown.

Despite the fact that I don't put circular cards in my binders, this is still one awesome piece.

I don't chase A's.

I don't collect Bobby Witt.

This isn't a clear-cut mini-collection hit, either.

But Jeff still decided to send it along anyways. I'm happy he did, because it's a rather fun-filled piece of cardboard.

These are the types of cards that give me a great deal of pride to receive. I love the fact that when fellow collectors discover a fun, random card that doesn't quite fit into their collections, they sometimes think...

I bet Nick would like this.

And I do.

Sweet shades, bro.

Especially yours, Jeff Bro-well.

I think I speak for a lot of collectors by saying you can never go wrong with oddballs.

Purina, Championship Baseball, Hostess, Woolworth's, McDonald's, Burger King...it really doesn't matter.

Any oddball is a good oddball.

I'm glad people have taken note of my Jim Abbott fandom.

New cards of his seem to fall out of almost every trade package I receive these days. I recently crossed the century mark with my Abbott collection, in fact.

I think that quirky facemask was the real reason Jeff decided to include Mr. Long in this trade package. What he might not have known, however, is that I actually collect Terrence Long. Oh, and that '01 Topps issue (complete with a Rookie Cup) was one of the more gaping holes in said collection.

Call it a happy accident, I guess.

I know Jeff collects "double dips".

He was probably doing so way before I jumped on the double play bandwagon. Seeing Mr. Knoblauch fall out of this trade package made me assume one of two things.

Either Jeff already had a copy of it, or he simply didn't have a place to put this bookmark-themed piece in his collection. I know Jeff is a binder guy, and a card like this isn't exactly ideal when it comes to that.

I'm happy to have it either way.

It's the single largest "double dip" card in my collection.

Here's a couple more mini-collection hits.

The Palmer is a rare '80s "interview" shot.

I'm always on board with "pitchers at the plate".

Though I doubt anyone actually remembers the Zenith brand these days.

I'm almost positive these were doubles for Jeff.

He's not just an avid White Sox collector. He's an avid "throwback" collector as well. And, well, these are White Sox throwbacks.

I can't think of a good reason why he'd want to give up these beauties unless he had other ones around.

Both the Thome and Sale were new to me, though, and I'm glad to give them a good home.

Jeff closed things out with this terrific "autograph" shot of the Iron Man himself, Cal Ripken.

As of right now, recapping this wonderful trade package is the first cardboard-related activity I've taken up in almost twenty-four hours. That's almost unheard of with me.

Absorbing the beauty of an "autograph" shot of Mr. Ripken or a Pete Rose oddball is enough to keep me from "carding out" anytime soon.

With the amount of time this hobby can take up, I guess flame outs are bound to happen every now and then.

Tonight, though, I'm back and better than ever. I'm looking forward to hearty round of filing and organizing tonight, in fact.

I'm sure my mom will ask me if I'm "carded out" at some point.

No, mom.

I'm definitely not.