The element of surprise

Checking the mail has always been an awesome experience for me.

Whether I'm having the best day in the world or the absolute worst, the rush of opening my mailbox on Monday through Saturday always seems to make things better.

Heck, even if I don't find anything addressed to me on a given day, that "rush" alone is enough.

It might sound a bit dorky to people outside of the hobby, but we collectors know how much joy a "mailday" can bring.

During my trading forum days, I thought that feeling had reached its pinnacle. A packed mailbox containing the "spoils" of a recent trading barrage was the most beautiful sight on the face of the earth, as far as I was concerned.

Until I joined the blogosphere, anyways.

See, although I had a lot of terrific maildays on the forums, I pretty much knew exactly what would be inside every package that arrived on my doorstep.

That's just how it works over there.

In that regard, the blogosphere trumps the forums about a thousand times over.

Why?

Because the blogosphere introduced a new, exciting element to the process of trading cardboard.

The element of surprise.

I literally have no idea what to expect from my mailbox on a day-to-day basis anymore. 

On many occasions, I've gone to check the mail with little hope of finding anything for me inside. Then, lo and behold, I happen to find an "out of the blue" package with my name on it, courtesy of a fellow blogger who thought it'd be a nice surprise.

Anyone who has received one of those "out of the blue" mailers knows how special of a feeling it is.

Lately, those special "surprise" packages seem to be popping up at a blistering rate around here.

The first came from a common suspect in the world of surprise mailers, none other William from "Foul Bunt". 

I've gushed on and on and on and on about William's generosity in the past, so most regular readers of this blog probably know about his legendary unselfish personality.

His latest package definitely continued that trend.

In it, William sent what proved to be my very first cards from the recent Panini Golden Age release. 

The inclusion of the Three Stooges is what originally drew me to the set. Although I haven't yet been able to acquire the likes of Moe, Larry, or Curly, the checklist certainly has a lot of other parts to love.

Take this Gene Tenace card, for instance.

Despite its logo-less limits, this still proved to be one of the best pieces of William's latest mailer.

I mean, When's the last time we've seen Gene Tenace included in a major set?

I can't even remember.

Thankfully, Golden Age also set out to satisfy my love for the non-sport side of things.

The Three Stooges cards are currently my absolute number one want from this set, but the fact that Golden Age included everything from the Titanic to Secretariat shouldn't be overlooked.

There's a lot of fun material for the non-sport lovers in the checklist.

William managed to hit a couple of those for me with this pair. 

Although I'll always be a little spooked out by Edgar Allen Poe.

Let's get back to the baseball side of things, though.

Yes, I'm sure that quite a few collectors simply threw out these used "Golden Giveaway" code cards in 2012.

That still pains me a bit.

While it might not be the most orthodox of the bunch, I still treat this as any of my other Roberto Clemente cards, worthy of a spot in my binders just like all the others.

Although the Golden Giveaway promotion is pretty much over, William still had the thought to hang onto this one for me. 

I think he gave it a good home.

William has informed me of his personal dime box ties on a few occasions.

From what I know, he's been a vendor at his local show for a while. On top of that, he throws a dime bin out onto the sales floor at every single gathering.

And, from what he has said, he always plucks a few gems from his own personal dime box for these "surprise" packages he sends my way.

Although it might not be an actual, tangible box of dime goodies, I do get that familiar "dime box dig" feeling every time I open a package from William.

I have to believe that most of the cards I'm about to show came from those very dime box depths.

Even though the photo selection on this one might not be the greatest, I'm still a big fan of this Jack Morris "Topps Gold" card, one of the earliest examples of today's parallel-infused hobby.

Although Mr. Morris spent two seasons in Toronto (including a 21-win season in '92), I'm still not sure that a lot of people know he pitched for the Blue Jays.

For whatever reason, he just doesn't look right in the uniform to me.

Still, that's what I like most about cards like these.

Never underestimate the power of unfamiliarity, my friends.

Don't be fooled by the photo on that Jack Morris card, though.

The early-to-mid '90s really was a terrific time in the world of cardboard photography at Topps.

Given my longtime fandom of Diet Coke, the subliminal advertising in the backdrop of this one earns it extra points in my book.

So, even though neither Lloyd McClendon...

...nor Derrick May are in my binders, these are still a couple of unquestioned "treasures" for me.

Although many collectors view the era to be a so-called "wasteland" for cardboard, the photography suggests otherwise.

One forgotten "gem" managed to stand above all in William's package, though.

I'll admit it.

I'm not a fan of 1996 Topps.

Although I've never set out to determine such a thing, it may well be my least-favorite year of Topps' long and historic run.

The squeezed faces and impossible-to-read gold lettering makes it a fairly unattractive set, as far as I'm concerned.

Still, I'll give credit where credit is due.

This card is friggin' awesome.

And I'd never, ever seen it before.

Topps did try to compete with Upper Deck on the "multiple exposure" front for a while. Although they didn't do nearly as good of a job with it, Topps still managed to produce a few gems of the sort.

I particularly enjoy this "fold-out" approach to the concept, one that features baserunner Carlos Baerga in his attempt to take a double play away from Chuck Knoblauch and the Twins.

These are the types of forgotten "gems" that make this hobby so much fun for me.

And, needless to say, these are the types of packages that make William such a terrific part of the blogosphere.

Amazingly, the "surprise" package from William was just the first of a trio I've received during the past week.

The second came from blogger Joseph, another of my many "blogging buddies". You might know him better as TTG, author of the fantastic blog "Friars on Cardboard".

He won the first contest I ever held on this blog. That turned out to have a mutual benefit.

Ever since then, Joseph has been absolutely flooding me with terrific cardboard.

However, I still continue to be surprised by every single package he manages to put together for me. They've been nothing short of terrific.

This latest one proved to play a great role in filling one of the more gaping holes in my collection.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned the apparent shortage of Collector's Choice issues in my area. For whatever reason, they just don't seem to pop up too often around here.

Given my lifelong appreciation of the set, I've always been a bit saddened by that.

Thankfully, a few bloggers have already started helping out the cause by sending me their extras.

Joseph certainly did his part, sending me a nice stack of cards from the "Special Edition" side of Collector's Choice.

As evidenced by Mr. Fryman...

...and this pair of gems, the excellent photography is one of the many redeeming features of Collector's Choice to me.

With the possible exception of the "Special Edition" logo in the upper-right hand corner, the designs are fairly clean and un-intrusive as well.

Plus, I don't think I've ever seen a DH hustling harder on cardboard than Kirk Gibson is on that one.

He was certainly an "all-out" kind of ballplayer.

In the end, though, the expansive checklist is probably my favorite aspect of the often-forgotten Collector's Choice brand.

Their regular checklist in '95 consisted of a whopping 530 cards, all of which were packaged together in a single series.

Much like the good ol' days of Topps.

Even the condensed "Special Edition" release was made up of 265 different cards, which is still more than most sets in today's hobby.

Given his brief 17-game performance with the Pirates in 1994, then-rookie Jon Lieber probably wasn't the most well-known player when Collector's Choice hit the shelves.

However, they still managed to find a place for him within their checklist.

Joseph managed to hook me up with quite a few of these base/silver signature "combos" in the package he sent, including this one of a longtime binder member with Lieber.

As I always say, these will look terrific next to each other in a nine-pocket page.

I've long had a fascination with knuckleball pitchers.

Because of that, Joseph definitely hit a "home run" by including this auto of Steve Sparks in his latest "surprise" batch of cardboard.

It'll join the still-meager group of in-person signatures in my collection.

As far as knuckleballers go, Steve Sparks is one of the more overlooked of the bunch.

If anything, I've always associated Sparks as "the guy who dislocated his shoulder trying to tear a phone book in half".

It's true. Look it up.

However, what I didn't know was that the bizarre injury is what actually propelled Sparks into becoming a knuckleballer in the first place.

Joseph included a note which featured that little nugget of information with this gem.

See?

As if the cardboard wasn't enough, "surprise" packages can be informative as well.

People like Joseph continue to enlighten me on a daily basis.

Overall, I try not to make my trade posts too marathon-ish.

This one, as you can probably tell, is one of the exceptions.

There's a reason for that, though.

I'm not sure how many non-bloggers actually read my writings. I'd like to think there's at least a few.

In a way, what I've been trying to do with my lengthy "box o' cards" posts or these "surprise" write-ups is help convince people to start their own blogs.

Even if writing might not be your thing, don't let that faze you. Becoming a part of the blogosphere is a special thing. Although the benefits of blogging extend past simply sending and receiving cards, the amazing generosity of fellow bloggers is certainly one of the bigger perks.

I mean, look at all the great cards I've shown in this post so far. All of which arrived on my doorstep without any warning whatsoever.

And we're not even done with the "surprises" yet.

Just yesterday, a bonus package arrived from my good friend and blogger Mark, author of the awesome blog "This Way to the Clubhouse...".

Yes, I just posted about some cards Mark sent me about a week ago. But, as part of his generous nature, I guess he felt the need to send some more cardboard goodness my way.

As per the note he included, Mark suggested that this latest "surprise" batch be labeled as a "high number" addendum to our latest swap.

I'm on board with that.

Among the "high numbers" was this father-and-son issue of "The Mayor", Sean Casey. It's a card that I've actually been coveting for a while.

These types of family-themed cards are among the more scarce of my many mini-collections. Any I can find are welcome in this household.

Plus, how could anyone not like these types of cards?

It just doesn't seem possible to me.

Mark pretty much knows what I collect by now.

He continues to add "fun" cards to my collection with each passing package.

Whether it's a new "bubble" card or a "behind the camera" issue, he somehow always seems to hit the nail on the head every time.

You've got a long way to go before you reach the likes of Bevacqua, though, Mr. Wagner.

Mark also seems to have a good handle on the type of photography I love as well.

As far as that goes, anything from Stadium Club's tenure is probably a good bet.

If this Winfield is any indication, the checklists are absolutely littered with awesome shots.

Besides Topps Total, Stadium Club is the one brand I wish Topps would revive in today's hobby. It made a brief rise from the dead in '08, but that barely scratched the surface of its potential.

Please, Topps?

Here's another example of Mark's awesomeness.

To my knowledge, I've never mentioned Magglio Ordonez on this blog.

Although he is indeed a "binder inductee", I've never paid much attention to his cardboard.

The sweeping "Oh-wee-oh...MAAAAAAGLIO!" chants at the Sox games I attended as a kid are about the only specific memories I have of him with the White Sox.

Nevertheless, Mark had a feeling that I'd enjoy this one of the former South Side hero.

And that I did.

Although Topps has always been main force in the All-Star department, Upper Deck did produce a few similarly-themed base cards for a couple years as well.

Surprisingly, this Ordonez is better than most recent Topps All-Star issues I've seen, one that features a shot from the 2001 contest in Seattle.

While it'll probably always be remembered as the final All-Star appearance of Cal Ripken Jr.'s hallowed career, the game that year had a few other defining moments as well.

Until I looked it up, I had no idea that Derek Jeter and Ordonez hit back-to-back dingers in the sixth inning of the contest. (Incidentally, those homers came off of then-Cub Jon Lieber.)

This shot no doubt takes place in the moments following Ordonez's "jack", showing the former South Sider being greeted by "The Captain" in the process.

What an awesome piece of All-Star history.

Mark always seems to add a "shiny" element to every batch of cards he sends.

This pair continued the trend.

I'd requested the emerald Nyjer Morgan from Mark in the past. Given that "T-Plush" will be playing in Japan this year, it could very well go down as a "sunset" piece in the annals of cardboard history.

The Pence, on the other hand, was a complete surprise to me.

In that regard, I guess it fell within the overall theme of the package.

A card of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig fishing.

What more do you need?

My home will always be open to well-loved vintage.

Although I can't say I've ever heard of Mike Garcia or Frank Lary, my binders will welcome this pair with open arms.

Whether they're creased, battered, or water-logged, these will continue to have a place in my collection.

Need I remind you of the card I found on a Chicago train platform?

As far as Mark's "surprise" package goes, I think I have to give this one the "Best Of" award.

I've always had an appreciation for the playoff "highlights" cards Topps issued during the '70s. All other "playoff" cards are obsolete compared to these.

Many of my Pete Rose cards feature terrific action shots, but I can't think of any that capture his "Charlie Hustle" label better than this one.

Plus, the fact that the photographer managed to get a split-second shot of Rose in mid-air between steps makes it even better.

Yes, folks, the element of surprise is alive and well in the blogosphere.

Thanks to people like William, Joseph, and Mark, checking my mailbox has quickly become one of my favorite aspects of each passing day. I never quite know what to expect anymore.

In the end, that's one of the best parts of being a blogger.

The surprises just never end.

The makings of a goal-oriented collector

Before I joined the blogosphere, I wasn't much of a goal-oriented guy.

I figured my collection was simply too "all over the place" to have a few single, outright aspirations.

During my forum days, I basically had just one real goal from one year to the next.

All I wanted to do was get my hands on anything from the latest and greatest set on the shelves as quickly as possible.

This time last year, I was very nearly frothing at the mouth for 2012 Topps. Trades here, trades there, trades everywhere!

I acted as if everything from the set would magically evaporate if I didn't trade for them within the first few weeks of their existence.

It was basically like that for 2012 Heritage. And 2012 A&G. And even for sets that I didn't much care for, like Opening Day.

I've seen the error of my ways lately.

While I'm sure the great people of the blogosphere will be able to help me out with my 2013 needs during the course of the year, I've learned that patience goes a long way.

Instead of pulling off dozens of trades and spending a pretty penny on shipping charges, I've adopted a much cheaper and more sane way of doing things.

As has been the case with nearly every year I've collected, much of the base cards from the "latest and greatest" sets will likely find their way into dime boxes in the coming months.

While I'd still love any help I can get with the many 2013 base cards I'll need over the course of the "season", I'm sure the dime boxes will eventually teach me the value of patience.

As for the inserts...well, those have never been must-have cardboard for me in the first place. For the most part, I'll look to the people of the blogosphere to help me out with those. I'm sure dime boxes will have their say in the manner as well.

Sure, judging from what Flagship has shown, Topps may be on the right track this year with the inserts. This Killebrew sure is a beauty.

But I'm just not going to get too worked up over them this year. It's just not worth it.

For those reasons, I'm officially labeling 2013 as "The Year of Patience" for me.

And, also, possibly "The Year of Real Goals".

Yes, my friends, the blogosphere has inspired me yet again.

First, it inspired me to map out a few aspirations for this blog.

Now, it has inspired me to do the same with my collection.

And, yes, I realize that I may be a little late with these 2013 goals, considering the fact that we're closing in on mid-February right now.

But you know what they say.

Better late then never, right?

Although it's still quite early in the 2013 collecting season, I'm going to make a not-so-bold prediction.

This is already my "Card of the Year".

While I'm looking forward to seeing what Heritage and A&G have to offer, I doubt either of them will turn up anything as neat as this.

Call me crazy, but I just don't see anything topping the one at-bat heroics of Adam Greenberg.

Because of that, I've worked him into one of my 2013 goals. 

I am going to chase the Greenberg "rainbow".

Now, do I really expect to fulfill this goal of mine?

Probably not.

Between the scarce black, "camo", and pink parallels of today's world, Topps has made "rainbow chasing" an impossible and very costly task. Certainly not anything a broke college student like myself could ever afford.

At the very least, I guess, I'd like to track down Greenberg's Wal-Mart, Target, Toys 'r' Us, gold, and emerald parallels. 

And, hey, I already have a trade in place for that emerald one.

The wheels are in motion.

This is what I like to call a "mutual goal".

I'm shooting to ship out more trade packages in 2013 than I did last year. Trouble is, I have absolutely no idea exactly how many mailers I sent in 2012.

So I guess you're just going to have to take my word for it.

My "trade stacks" are already growing to monumental proportions. Given the recent influx of Padre fans in the blogosphere, my San Diego stack is nearly spilling over right now.

While my budget is a little thin right now, I do hope to hold a couple "marathon" mailing sessions in the coming months.

The basis for this goal of mine is pretty simple.

I get to clear out some space, and my fellow bloggers get some (hopefully) new cards for their terrific collections.

It's a win-win.

In a way, I guess this is a pretty self-explanitory aspiration.

I'd like to build on my many player collections in 2013.

But...I do that every year, don't I?

While that is certainly true, things will be a little different in 2013.

After all, I "inducted" about a dozen new players into my binders over the course of 2012, way more than I had in any previous years.

As a result, I'm specifically looking to build on my still-budding collections of those select few newcomers. Which means that I'll specifically be on the hunt for all the Pat Neshek and Derek Holland cards I can find.

And, hey, I found a pair of new Bobby Grich cards in another long-forgotten box in my room the other day.

Progress is already being made on that front.

As I've mentioned over and over again during the course of this blog's history, I have an unabashed love for cards that feature "pitchers at the plate".

The people of the blogosphere have been quick to help me out with these over the past year. I've received tons of new additions to this little obsession of mine from fellow bloggers.

In going over some of my newer additions of the sort, a thought hit me.

"I wonder if I have one of these cards for every team in the league?"

Obviously, the National League is the driving force behind my collection of "pitchers at the plate". Although I haven't yet checked, I'm sure I own at least a couple for every team in the NL.

The American League, however, presents a bit of a problem. Card companies only have a few opportunities per year to snap these kind of shots.

The recent demise of hitting pitcher cards in the hobby doesn't much help, either.

Still, I've decided to try and obtain at least one "pitcher at the plate" card for every major league franchise in 2013.

I'm proud to say that I do own at least one of these for many AL clubs. Mark Buehrle is my White Sox representative. "Dice-K" is the face of the Red Sox in this department.

However, a quick flip through my Devil Rays/Rays binder turned up absolutely nothing. Same with the Royals.

Still, I have to believe that there's at least one Ray or Royal "pitcher at the plate" card floating around out there. Finding it is the real problem.

Any "leads" on this topic would be much appreciated.

Until then, though, I'll just have to play it by ear.

Much like "pitchers at the plate", my love for anything and everything Cooperstown-related is a frequent topic on this blog.

Even after about a dozen years in this hobby, I still get a huge kick out of finding anything of greats like Ruth and Aaron for my collection.

However, I've found that I get an even bigger kick out of finding items of the lesser known Hall of Famers.

Guys like Dazzy Vance and Elmer Flick aren't huge names in this hobby. Or the entire baseball world, for that matter.

Yet both of them are enshrined in Cooperstown.

However, I'll be taking my love for the lesser-known Cooperstown-ites to the extreme in 2013.

My goal is to own at least one card of every Hall of Famer by the end of the year.

Obviously, I'll exclude the front-office guys from my quest. Probably umpires, too. While I appreciate their impact on the game, I doubt many of them have ever been featured on cardboard.

I'll admit, going through a complete list of HOFers earlier this afternoon resulted in a few new names to me. Not surprisingly, almost all were of the turn-of-the-century variety.

Thankfully, I found a great ally for this latest goal in a past "impulse buy" of mine.

Thanks to the spectacular 1994 Origins of Baseball set, I already have tougher-to-find names like Jim O'Rourke and Jimmy Collins crossed off the list.

However, the Dave Bancrofts and George Davises of the baseball world have eluded me up to this point.

As oxymoronic as it might sound, some past Cooperstown inductees are relatively "obscure" in today's world.

Because of that, this quest will not be an easy one.

By any means.

All I can do is cross my fingers and hope for the best.

Still, goals are a necessary aspect of the majority of collections in existence.

Mine included.

After all, where would we be without them?

That's a question I've asked myself many times throughout my blogging tenure.

And while a few of these quests might prove to be nearly impossible, I feel confident in saying the following.

Say it with me, people.

Goals are good.

The blogging spectrum

I wish I could know what the future has in store for me.

Unfortunately, though, that's not how life works.

I have a fairly set plan of accomplishments and paths I want to pursue in the next year or two. Most revolve around school. Some involve other aspects of my life.

But, in the end, I can't definitively know how things will work out.

Sure, I'm wishing for some things to happen. I'm hoping for some things to happen. But I can't know what awaits in the future.

Well, with one notable exception, anyways.

I know I'll be collecting cardboard down the road. I can't promise myself that I'll always have the time to collect at the pace I do now, but this hobby has become too big a part of my life for me to just drop it all together one day.

It's just not going to happen.

Still, I could've told you that last year. I've been operating under the "lifetime collector" label since I was about thirteen.

However, one thing I couldn't have promised this time last year was my involvement with the blogosphere.

My "introduction" story isn't all that different from a lot of the other bloggers out there, after all.

I basically decided to start this blog on a whim in late 2011. After a few days of posting, I came fairly close to abandoning my writings all together. However, I forced myself to stick with it over the next couple weeks.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Now, I can honestly say that I have found one of the precious few constants in life.

The blogosphere.

Whether it's posting about a new Vlad Guerrero card for my collection or simply gushing over a "one-year" card of Al Downing, I don't see the proverbial "blogging fire" being extinguished anytime soon.

I may go through peaks and valleys, but that desire to write will always be there in some way, shape, or form.

Still, while blogging has indeed become one of those rare stable forces, the way I've gone about doing it over the past year has been a drastically changing state of affairs.

That's for sure.

The types of cards I've shown on this blog have been fairly consistent.

That's not a coincidence.

About ninety percent of the cards I feature around here are base cards. Dime box material. You probably know the drill by now.

Of course, I see this whole "dime box" concept continuing for as far as I can conceive.

However, unlike quite a few of the dime boxes I've seen over the years, I think I've become a more organized blogger over the past fourteen months.

Back during my early blogosphere career, I'd simply write whenever I felt like it. Three, sometimes even four posts a day. I'd often force myself to publish something, even if I didn't necessarily have the inspiration or energy to write a coherent post.

And, as I documented in one of my earlier write-ups, most of my post ideas in the first couple months were basically spur-of-the-moment concepts. Whatever happened to pop into my head that night was what I ended up writing about.

While those processes may have worked for me at first, I doubt I would've been able to sustain my writings had I continued down that road.

I'm still a big believer in writing whenever the mood strikes. I never, ever force posts anymore. It's not productive, and, frankly, it can lead to some pretty bad writing.

Interestingly, I've started to set aside a specific chunk of time during my day to blog. For whatever reason, that "writing feeling" seems to strike at around five o'clock every evening.

Like clockwork. Literally.

More importantly, I doubt I could've kept up that whole "spur-of-the-moment" thing. The ideas would've run out after a while.

These days, I have a specific list of possible post topics written on a piece of paper. If an idea happens to pop into my head, I simply write it down for future use.

Some, like the idea for this post, have only been on there for a couple days. Others, however, have been simmering for at least a month.

I've had an idea for a post that chronicles my feelings on "chromatized" reprints on there for a while now. I just haven't had the so-called "inspiration" to write about it yet.

Frankly, I don't even think I know which side of the argument I'm on right now.

I'll take a closer look at the shiny Mickey Lolich and Tom Seaver cards in my collection and get back to you.

Like my organization skills (or lack of), my scanning tactics weren't the greatest during the earlier days of this blog, either.

I have an excuse for that one, though.

I hadn't scanned a card for at least four or five years before I started this whole blogging thing. Much of my earlier scan jobs were processed on merely a trial-and-error basis.

Sometimes, I'd feature scans of cards with the edges cut off. Other times, I'd show scans of horribly crooked cardboard.

You can look at some of my earlier posts for evidence of that.

As I got to know my scanner a little better, though, I started to develop a few "scanning policies" for my readers' viewing pleasure.

For one thing, it took me a few months to learn that I could manually straighten and crop my scans on our computer. Given my stickler-like attitude towards alignment, that has been a huge time-saver.

With a few exceptions, I limit my scans to a two-card maximum. Any more than that just seems a bit crowded to me.

And, lately, I've limited my horizontal scans to one-per. For whatever reason, I just don't find two horizontal pieces in the same scan to be all that aesthetically pleasing.

But, perhaps more than that, horizontal cards deserve to stand alone most of the time.

Wouldn't you agree?

Perhaps the biggest change of my blogging experience has been my way with words.

Again, if you go back and read some of my earlier posts, you'll see a lot of simple mistakes and incoherent sentences. I also had an apparent fascination with parentheses during my "rookie" blogging days.

However, while I still think my current writing is far, far from perfection, I do believe that I've gotten much better at it during my time around here.

I put a good deal of thought into each and every post I compose, something that I try to convey in all of my daily write-ups.

As it turns out, this change on the "spectrum" has begun to extend past the blogosphere.

Interestingly, I've found my recent fascination with writing to be beneficial in other areas as well. I still have yet to receive any grade lower than an "A" on any papers I've had to write for school over the past year. I like to think this blog is responsible for at least a part of that.

I really hope I didn't just jinx it, though.

If I had to, I'm sure I could write a whole post about J.R. Richard's 1982 Topps "sunset" card. An interesting one, considering he pitched his last game in 1980 due to complications from the on-field stroke he suffered that year.

Given that actual, tangible writing seems to be falling by the wayside with the primitive "text message speak" of most people my age, I've found my interest in words to be a great source of pride over the past year or so.

I guess I have guys like J.R. Richard to thank for that.

When I first entered the blogosphere, it was on a fairly limited basis.

After reading the terrific writing of Dodger-ites like Night Owl and Mr. Spiegel, I decided to try my hand at this whole blogging thing.

At the time, I only knew of maybe a dozen different blogs. And, despite my interest in them, I didn't comment on many of their writings at first.

In the end, I think the furthest shift on my so-called "blogging spectrum" has to do with this very topic.

While many of those "original" dozen blogs are still among my favorites to read these days, I've widely expanded my sights in recent months. Heck, there are 187 different blogs in my blogroll right now.

And I'm sure that's still not even scratching the surface of all the terrific writing out there.

More importantly, I'm reading and commenting more now than I ever have before. I make it a point to comment on as many blogs as I can, an attitude that is almost the complete opposite of my initial days as a blogger.

It's pretty simple. I greatly appreciate all the readership and comments I've received on my posts thus far.

It only makes sense to return the favor.

That's a major aspect of being in a community, after all.

Needless to say, I have loved every single moment of blogging during my time around here. Not a day goes by where I don't appreciate this thing we call the "blogosphere".

I feel lucky to be a part of it.

Now, like my philosophy on collecting, I can't promise that I'll have the time to blog on a consistent rate down the road.

That'll probably get further out of my control as I grow older.

However, I can promise you one thing.

No matter what, I'll always be a part of this wonderful blogging community.

It's just too big a part of my life to give up.

Dime Box Heroes: Cartoon network

 1980 Laughlin Famous Feats #4 Hack Wilson

Epiphanies don't come along too often in this hobby.

At least for me, anyways.

Although my interests continue to be an ever-expanding group, I've had a fairly good grasp on what I've liked and disliked during my entire collecting career.

On top of that, I've always known what I wanted to collect and what I didn't.

I've always had a deep appreciation for Hall of Famers. Always have, always will. Those select few Cooperstown inductees have been a prime part of my collection for as long as I can remember.

However, I've never liked chasing low-numbered parallels. While I can enjoy the world of serial-numbered cardboard, the unnecessarily scarce pieces have never captured my interest.

They barely even register a "blip" on my collecting radar.

For a long time, cartoonish cardboard belonged to that category as well.

Given all the actual, tangible photos featured on cards in my collection, I often questioned whether or not cartoons were even worthy of a spot in my binders.

For a long time, I omitted them all together.

Needless to say, that train of thought closed me off from spectacular aspects of this hobby. 

These days, I can't seem to get enough of cartoon cards.

Lately, I've taken to crediting Panini's innovative Triple Play release with changing my feelings on the topic.

While the set did certainly play a large role in that shift, I've recently realized that other forces were present in the matter.

In fact, I can trace it to a single moment and place in time.

Specifically, I can draw the line to a flea market dime box from a couple years ago, way before I even started this blog.

One sunny Sunday afternoon, I was scavenging through one of the regular vendor's usual dime box treasures, just like always. I'd already had a fairly large stack of cardboard present in my "purchase pile".

As I was getting ready to pay for my goods, however, I noticed something strange peeking out of the last dime box. Something I hadn't noticed before.

Upon closer examination, I found that I'd missed a fairly substantial stack of cartoonish cards.

The scribbled face of Hall of Famer and not-so-common dime box "hero" Hack Wilson stared up at me. Because of that, I figured they were at least worth a look.

Initially, I wasn't all that excited about them. I'd never even heard of this "Famous Firsts" set at the time. But, since many of the ones featured my precious Cooperstown inductees, I felt a slight obligation to buy them. 

So I did.

For a buck or two, the vendor let me take home around twenty of these strange pieces of cardboard.

In the days following the purchase, I filed the cartoonish pieces away in my binders.

After that, I pretty much forgot about them.

Over time, though, a funny thing started to happen.

As I'd flip through my binders in the following months, I came to appreciate these cartoons more and more with each passing day.

I couldn't explain it. Something about Casey Stengel's elongated face just started to grow on me, I guess.

Besides, a little humor in this hobby never hurt anyone. People need a good laugh when it comes to baseball cards on a fairly regular basis, don't they?

These certainly gave my collection the exact dosage of humor it needed.

"Hack" and "Casey" had done it.

They actually made me like cartoon cards.

Triple Play pretty much transformed my "liking" cartoonish pieces to flat-out love.

As a result, I'm excited to see what Panini's 2013 version of the set has to offer. They're slated to come out next month.

I'm definitely looking forward to it. 

More than almost any other brand this year, in fact.

Yes, it's true.

Whether they feature freakishly large heads on tiny bodies...

...or just provide the collector with a corny old comic strip, I've come to realize what special pieces these are.

Every hobby needs a little humor. These certainly give the world of baseball cards a good laugh.

Because of that, I'm not afraid to say it these days.

I love cartoonish baseball cards.

A box from down under

I don't even know where to begin anymore.

I've already run through all the introductions I could possibly give for a brand new "box o' cards".

So I'll just say it.

Another bulging box of cardboard wound up on my doorstep yesterday. The fourth I've received over the past three weeks, in fact.

Did I mess the memo or something?

Is winter like an unofficial "box season" in the blogosphere?

That's the only possible reasoning I can come up with for the sudden barrage of "blogger boxes" I've gotten lately.

Either way, this box certainly had its fair share of adventures before winding up on my doorstep.

Why?

Because it arrived all the way from Austrailia. 

Yup. A box of cardboard from "down under".

How cool is that?

The culprit for this latest "blogger box" is one of the biggest "fans" I have in the blogosphere, as far as I can tell.

From the comments he has left on my posts over the past few months, we seem like very similar types of collectors. He likes "sunset" cards. He enjoys a good "short term stops" issue. And he can definitely appreciate some stellar photography.

The whole nine yards.

And, as if that weren't crazy enough, this particular collector and I share the same name.

Yes, folks, this box came courtesy of another Nick in the blogosphere, author of the terrific blog "Baseball Cards in Oz".

Okay, fellow readers. The time has come.

I hope you're up for yet another journey through yet another outstanding "blogger box".

Due to our eerily similar collecting habits, I couldn't wait to see what Nick had prepared.

Like with all the other trade packages I've received during my time as a blogger, I just knew there'd be a few gems for me to discover.

What I found inside, however, simply blew me away.

There were quite a few reasons for that. Reasons that I'll eventually discuss in the later reaches of this post.

One of the first "gems" I found was my first card of perhaps the greatest "baseball name" in history.

Wonderful Terrific Monds.

I'm not kidding. That's actually his name. You can look it up. Or you can even look at my newest "Dime Box Dozen" need on the sidebar.

Although he never made it to the bigs, I never thought twice about Mr. Monds.

With a name like that, he's definitely a "binder guy".

Incidentally, "wonderful" and "terrific" are only a few of the adjectives I'd use to describe this latest "box o' cards".

"Quirky" is definitely another term I'd use.

Being from Australia and all, Nick included a few authentic rugby cards in with all the other cardboard.

Frankly, I didn't even know they produced these things. And, even better, I am proud to say that these will always be remembered as the very first rugby cards in my collection.

I've always found it to be a fascinating sport. Although I have absolutely no idea on exactly how it's played, the few times I've watched rugby were quite captivating.

Pretty cool, wouldn't you say?

Having said that, let's get back to the baseball side of things.

Until the box actually arrived on my doorstep, I had absolutely no idea on what would be inside the thing. With one exception, anyways.

This one.

As a former "Dime Box Dozen" need of mine, Nick let me know that it would indeed be included in his "blogger box".

My term for this card, you ask?

Mind-blowing. Simply mind-blowing.

Score certainly gave the collector an "outside the box" take on Kenny Rogers's perfect game during the '94 season.

I could probably write an entire post on this card alone. I bet I will one day.

For now, though, I'll let it speak for itself.

I think it pretty much does that anyways.

As I mentioned before, Nick and I share a mutual interest in "short term stops" cards.

Unsurprisingly, I found quite a few in the box he sent me.

Of all of them, though, I think this Sutcliffe takes the cake. Up until last year, I had absolutely no idea that he ever played for the Cardinals.

To my surprise, I found that Mr. Sutcliffe did indeed spend his "sunset" season in St. Louis, going 6-4 for the Redbirds in '94.

All while still sporting that grizzly facial hair.

While I have often said that rookie cards are "overrated", don't let that fool you.

I still enjoy them a whole lot.

Landing a new rookie card for one of my many player collections still gives me quite a bit of joy. Much less one of the "bat barrel" variety, as we have with the Derrek Lee.

And, although I've never set out to specifically collect cards of Hideo Nomo, I am quite glad to finally have a rookie of his in my binders.

I can now honestly say that I own a piece of "Nomo-mania".

However, the "joys" of player collecting aren't limited to just rookie cards.

Far, far from it, actually.

Whether it's a base card, a "sunset" issue, or a high-dollar insert, any new addition to my variety of player collections is a happy addition for me.

Nick managed to hit quite a few of those as well, adding a variety of new pieces to my ever-expanding John Olerud and Mark Grace collections.

Still, these weren't even close to being the best part of the box.

You may have noticed a trend with the cards I've featured thus far.

1994 Bowman. 1995 Score. 1995 SP.

All cards from the mid '90s.

That was no accident, my friends. After all, the majority of the cards Nick sent me were those of the mid '90s variety.

I could not be happier about that.

I've often lamented about not being able to find cards from the mid '90s anywhere around these parks. My searches at shows and flea markets and such have turned up very little.

Because of that, you can imagine how excited I was to see a whole box of them wind up on my doorstep, ripe for the picking.

If it's possible for an entire era of the hobby to be underrated, I'd say the mid '90s are just that. Due to the fact that collecting was just emerging from the "bust" of the overproduction era at the time, they received very little fanfare in their day.

Despite the fact that my collection was lacking of the era, I'd always known of the amount of striking photography that made up many sets of the mid '90s.

If the above Gwynn is any indication, this box simply confirmed those thoughts.

Stadium Club in particular has been a tough draw for me.

Despite the "little of everything" that dime boxes can hold, they've still been fairly sparse from my experience.

I've always been a little saddened by that.

After all, the photography is arguably the greatest the hobby has ever seen. And, given the big photography nut I can be, I've long dreamt of digging through a big Stadium Club-filled dime box.

While that still hasn't come true, Nick managed to provide something just as good with this "blogger box".

I happily found a few hefty stacks of Stadium Club waiting for me.

This magnificent specimen has grown on my by the minute.

I can understand the slightly exasperated look on Dave Winfield's face here. It's pretty much exactly the look I'd imagine a big-time power hitter would give if he were asked to strike a bunting pose.

For the record, he did accrue 19 sacrifice bunts during his career.

Still, that comes from a career that featured over 12,000 plate appearances, mind you.

What an odd angle for a shot.

I love it.

While I've never had the privilege to sit in the front row at a ballgame, this card does indeed give the collector a view from the "best seat in the house".

I'd still like to see a game from the front row someday, though.

As I dug through the box a bit more, a thought quickly popped into my mind.

"The mid '90s sure had a lot of strange photography."

See?

I'd imagine that Upper Deck's "dated" series were quite the innovation back in 1997.

While I've heard different opinions on the subject during my time as a blogger, I can honestly say that I'm a gigantic fan of these.

Being able to pinpoint the specific moment in time a photo was taken is a remarkable feeling. 

The fact that '97 UD happened to include a great deal of jaw-dropping photography is simply icing on the cake.

I've seen this Hershiser featured on a few different blogs during my time around here. I'd been plotting to make it a "Dime Box Dozen" need for a while, in fact.

It was the very next card in line.

In terms of sheer photography, this may very well be as good as it gets. That "spotlight" effect certainly gives this one a unique feel.

Nick certainly hit a home run with this one.

Here's a similar shot taken from the very same game.

I still can't get over how friggin' awesome these are.

Amazingly, I had never seen this card prior to last afternoon.

Knowing my love for "sunset" cards, I'd guess that Nick never thought twice about adding this one to the box.

And I can't thank him enough for that.

This card of "The Wizard" himself takes its place as one of the more heroic "sunset" cards in my collection.

Aside from that, though, I think this one pretty much speaks for itself.

Although they never quite reached Upper Deck levels in the department, Topps did try their hand at producing "multiple exposure" cards for a few years.

These are certainly a few "trippy" pieces in their own right.

I know I have another copy of that Nilsson somewhere in my room. I've actually been planning to dig through my many "extras" boxes in search of it for a while now.

Thankfully, Nick just saved me a few hours of work.

Design-wise, 1995 might not have been the best year for Upper Deck.

However, the photography was still its usual spectacular self.

Take this one, for instance. 

Robb Nen was a premier relief pitcher for the Marlins back in the day.

Yet, instead of the usual pitching shots we've regularly seen over the years, UD chose to feature a shot of him sliding into second base.

Like so many other cards in my collection, words cannot describe how awesome this one truly is. I think you can pretty much see that for yourself.

I guess the only detractor is that teal Marlins jersey.

Man, those things were ugly.

I've actually wanted to land a copy of this one for a while.

It's Michael Jordan. Technically, that makes it a "zero-year" card as well. It's a new piece for my treasured "interview" collection.

And, to top it all off, the interview is being conducted by Mr. Harry Caray himself.

Well, that just about...

Whoops.

I forgot something.

Vintage?

VINTAGE!

Just when I thought my latest "blogger box" couldn't get any better, I found myself face-to-face with a large stack of sweet, sweet vintage.

My eyes widened in a combination of shock, happiness, and excitement.

Once I calmed myself down, I started to sift through the stack.

Still, try as I might, it didn't take long for me to become wide-eyed again.

Cards of "The Bird" have that effect on me.

Although I've never been that into anything of the "League Leader" variety, this was yet another piece I'd long wanted for my collection.

Incidentally, that kind of became a common theme with this array of vintage goodness.

Between a couple of the more iconic Red Sox cards of the '70s...

...and a couple of the best cards from the 1977 set, the selection of vintage Nick included in this "blogger box" is still staggering to me.

Even so, one particular piece managed to top them all.

Frankly, I'm amazed that I didn't have this one already.

This may be the most well-known card from the famous '77 set. The first card of "Reggie" in pinstripes. Airbrushed pinstripes, but still pinstripes nonetheless.

A card that I'm sure was flipped and traded many times among kids of the 1970's.

My dad has often told me that this was one of his most treasured cards as a kid growing up during the decade.

Now, I'm proud to finally say that "Reggie" is a sacred piece of my collection.

So, thank you, Nick.

For everything.

It's people like you who continue to make this hobby so much fun for me.