Watching and waiting

I often feel like there's too much pressure put on the simple flip of the calendar into a new year, but there's no doubting we're in for big transitions thus far in 2022.

We're only five days into the new year, and obviously there's a lot going on. I don't need to remind you of what's happening in the world at large, and you've probably already heard the Fanatical card news that broke recently. It's hard to avoid the fallout of seeing the world scatter away in ten different directions, but for better or worse I try to pride myself as the guy content to sit even-keeled in the corner, watching and waiting. 

Of course, it's easier to watch and wait when you have people like Gregory from "Nine Pockets" sending you customs from movies like "Good Burger" that smack me right in the childhood (a movie not without its sports references!).

I can still see the orange VHS "Good Burger" tape I had growing up - I doubt it's a hugely popular movie with anyone a few years older or younger than myself, but it's one of those treasured bits of pop culture that I was exactly the right age for.

Seinfeld, on the other hand, is timeless, and you can't argue the greatness of a card featuring George Costanza bowling over "Rochelle, Rochelle!" star Bette Midler, can you?

Gregory generously offered up a few more pop culture-ish customs on his blog recently, and I couldn't help but ask for this dueling comedic genius.

"Dumb & Dumber" is a movie I enjoy for no other reason than it makes me laugh ("That's a lovely accent you have...New Jersey?") - and don't tell anyone, but I've never actually seen "Ace Ventura" all the way through...

And in a year of transitions, these two wonderful Major League customs make for an easy transition...

...since I'm pretty sure another card I received recently was the basis for the Willie Mays Hayes/Rick Vaughn combo!

This was a freebie from a flash giveaway over at "The Diamond King" - an amusing placeholder for my Tommy John collection, if nothing else.

Here's a couple other nifty cards I claimed from a "Diamond King" giveaway, and probably one of the few Ohtani freebies you'll see anywhere in the cardboard universe.

Many of you probably remember Matt of "Bob Walk the Plank" fame - he contacted me via Twitter about a few cards he had from my want lists a while back, and here's hoping we get some more posts from him in the near future.

(Dig the Yadi throwback!)

I don't normally deal much in the TTM-auto market, but I couldn't help but fawn over these two I received from friend-of-the-blog Bob of "The Best Bubble" a good while back.

Love the Kessinger, and anything of hometown-hero Jim Walewander is cherished in native Dime Boxedonia - he's become somewhat of a figurehead around here with all the blog copy I've devoted to him the last couple years.

And that wasn't even all the Walewander fun my trade folder had in store!

Some of you may recall a blog reader named Alex who is somehow a way bigger Jim Walewander devotee than I am, and I have him to thank for a good 90 percent of the Walewanders sitting in my collection right now. I can say with certainty that I've never had someone singlehandedly do so much damage to a collection of mine in all my years around here.

So while yet another Walewander auto in a recent package wasn't necessarily a surprise, the accompanying John Kruk auto(!) certainly was.

And because sending me all those Walewanders wasn't enough, Alex decided to shovel a whole bunch of Kruks on me for good measure.

John Kruk is one of those guys I probably should've been collecting a long time ago, but thanks to Alex I'm at least starting to make up for a good decade or so of lost time.

But Alex couldn't stop there - because a mysterious note fell out of this very same package.

The internal dialogue started: why is he sending me a pack of 1991 Fleer??

Now, I'm one of the few who enjoy 1991 Fleer, but I can't say I've ever hooted and hollered about seeing a pack of the stuff, so I couldn't help but wonder what Alex was trying to tell me.

(And yet somehow I've never seen that Burks before - whether you like '91 Fleer or not, you have to admit that's a pretty great card.)

Of course, I soon discovered this wasn't your ordinary blinding pack of '91 Fleer...because a Ben Zobrist autograph quickly came sliding out.

This is somehow a double-dip/zero-year/amateur oddball all rolled up into one single glorious baseball card - to me, the autograph is probably the least notable thing about it.

Then came a pair of Dime Box Dozen needs, including a '92 SC Frank Thomas I could've sworn I had until a frantic look through my binders told me otherwise.

And then, to no one's surprise, came yet another Jim Walewander...only this time it was a card that totally confused me since there's not even a hint of printing info on it.

Of course, Alex quickly filled me in on the details. The Peoria Pacers were apparently a semi-pro team in the Midwest, and they had a set of cards printed as a giveaway to one of their games (which also features future big-leaguer Norm Charlton, among others). I can't imagine many people attended obscure semi-pro ballgames in the early '80s, so it seems like most of these sets were simply lost to history. Alex told me this is one of exactly eight copies he knows of, and against all odds, one of 'em is mine!

With fellow card-buddies like these, I'm more than happy to watch and wait while the rest of the world loses its mind.