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A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

Cards

Baseball cards and Rapid Robert

April 1, 2011

In honor of opening day, I thought it would be a good day to share the rest of my stories from the baseball card show I went to last Sunday.

Yes, I know that Thursday was the official Opening Day for baseball, but today is when the Phytin’ Phils open, which, to me, is opening day!

When looking for baseball cards, I’ve come to the conclusion there are basically two types of people — the collector and the investor. A collector can be split off into a couple different versions — one looking for certain players, teams, types of cards etc. But for the most part, the collector knows what he or she wants, has a certain price in their head and can walk away from a deal if needed. After all, eBay is a wonderful friend to the card collector.

Then you have the investor. These are the people who usually buy things with the idea of reselling, or something along those lines. They spend a little more freely. They want to be able to turn things around into a bigger profit, or have the chance to do so.

Me? I’m a collector.

When I go to a show, I usually am looking for a few things — cards of a player I am collecting (though I do most of that on eBay), players on the Phillies (game-used/autograph), players I used to cover in the minor leagues, or something quirky that really catches my eye.

Being I hadn’t been watching things a lot lately, my goal this past weekend was to pick up a few players and see if I could find something kind of fun.

But before I get to the cards, allow me to show something that was incredibly cheap — 15 bucks — of something I’ve wanted for a while. A signed photo of Bob Feller. For those who don’t know, Feller, or “Rapid Robert,” was one of the best pitchers of all-time and one who gave away four years in his prime to serve the United States of America in World War II with the Navy. This is something he often spoke about as his proudest moments.

I got to deal with Feller twice during my time at the local daily newspaper — both during Hall of Fame events. I found him to be an extremely amazing individual. He spoke candidly and honestly. He had his views and his thoughts and stuck with them. His memory, too, was impeccable. The first time I sat to speak with him, I told him where I was from and the first thing he did was ask me about the former owner of a local minor league team. Incredible.

But, in the line of being a newspaper reporter, you can’t (and shouldn’t) ask for autographs. Most of the people I covered, I took the memories of that and went with it.

Dealing with Feller was quite amazing. Though I got to see him throw to a couple of batters in the Legend’s game at the Hall, I can only imagine what it would have been like to see him in his prime. He went 266-162 with a 3.32 ERA and 279 complete games. He had three seasons with 25 or more victories and six total with 20 or more victories. He finished with 2,581 strikeouts, including 348 in 1946. He was an All-Star in eight of his 18 seasons.

At this card show, however, was a wonderful signed photo of Feller. It was certified, so I felt like it was worth and it listed for just $15. (Even though Bob died this past December at age 92, his autos might not be worth as much as some because he was an avid signer. His autograph is readily available, which is a wonderful thing for a Hall of Famer to do).

Here’s the photo:

Bob Feller autograph

That started the day. What a way to start, eh?

I already blogged about my Konstanty find, so here are a few others.

Rauuuuuuuuuuuul!

Raul Ibanez is one of the only Phillies starting eight (not including pitchers) that I didn’t have an autograph of, so when I saw this I had to nab it as quick as I could. What an ugly autograph though, eh? He’s in the final year of his contract with the Phils and I’ve always been a Raul fan, so hopefully he can have a solid season and help the Phils to another World Series title.

Chase and his bat

Though Chase Utley is starting the season on the disabled list, I have a hard time passing up a sweet Utley card when I see it. This one was really nice and was a really good price, so I nabbed it. Hopefully, Chase will be back in the lineup as quick as possible (as long as he’s healthy) and help the Phils to their fifth straight NL East title!

A quirky find

As I said, I like certain things.

I have seen these before and wanted one. It really didn’t matter the player and this one was, I believe, five bucks. I liked that it was the patch and the autograph. Jeff Kobernus is in the Nationals organization, so maybe it’ll be worth money some day if he makes it big, eh?

Speaking of quirky…

Joe Pepitone!

I’m not a Yankees fan.

Never have been, never will be. But I love the history and tradition of the team. And there’s something about Joe Pepitone. I don’t know if it’s the name, the way he played or what, but I like Joe Pepitone. And I loved this card. Add to it that it was in a half-off bin and I ended up making a bargain to get two cards from that bin for $10 instead of $12, and I was a happy camper!

I picked up a few other cool cards at good prices, too — including two game-used cards of Mike Schmidt and Cole Hamels.

As per normal, too, I broke a box at the show. Me and Rod went half-and-half on a box with three guaranteed hits. Unfortunately, the hits were all game-used and nothing major. Would have been nice to get something really sweet out of it. It’s the 2010 Allen and Ginter, so there were some interesting cards. One in particular I was really happy to get, but I’m going to save that for another time as its own post.

Anyway, the Phytin’ Phils are about to start their season and I’m going to settle into some baseball. Go Phils!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.

Filed Under: Baseball, Baseball cards, Cards, Collecting, My world Tagged With: baseball, baseball cards, bob feller, cards, chase utley, feller, hall of fame, joe pepitone, pepitone, philadelphia phillies, phillies, raul, raul ibanez, utley

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A Phantastic Phind

March 28, 2011

1950 Bowman Jim Konstanty

The image above might not mean a lot to many people. But, it was part of my day Sunday as two of us traveled to White Plains for a baseball card show. These shows are held at this spot every few months, but I’ve been hitting the March one for the past three or so years as my yearly intake of baseball cards. I was a little more strapped this year, so I was just kind of looking for things that caught my eye a little.

Jim Konstanty pitched seven seasons with the Phillies, including being part of the 1950 Whiz Kids. A reliever, Konstanty had 22 saves that season — as well as 16 victories! He also started Game 1 of the World Series against the New York Yankees, but lost, 1-0. The Phils were swept in the Series but Konstanty was named the National League’s Most Valuable Player.

That regular season, he pitched in 74 games and finished 62! He even had a 2.66 ERA over 152 innings — which some starters these days might not reach! And he was a reliever!

I know of Jim Konstanty because I’m a Phillies fan. I also know because his son is a prominent lawayer in our area and I covered his grandson, who also went on to play professional baseball, when he was in high school.

I’m usually not a collector of old baseball cards. First, because they can be quite expensive. Second, because it’s tough to get what you want, usually. Anyway, as we strolled around the card show Sunday, we came upon a table selling a lot of old cards. I’ve wanted to get a few old cheaper cards, just to have as they are really wild, I think.

I peered into the one box and saw several Phillies cards.

So, I started looking through to see if there was a card or something that really drew me in. As I flipped, I saw this one. I knew right away who it was and I was interested. Then I saw the price.

$6.

Holy cow!

I immediately had to buy it. It’s not in mint condition, as you can probably see by the scan. But it’s in pretty solid shape. The colors are still sharp. My worry is that this might have made me want to do something with Jim Konstanty cards.

See, a lot of collectors go after one or two players. I’ve done it in the past with a few such as Larry Christenson, Tom Brookens and Bill Monbouquette. Christenson was my favorite pitcher growing up and I covered Brookens and Monbouquette, so that drew my interest. I have a couple of other smaller collections of players I covered, but their card selections aren’t too massive.

It’s hard trying to collect every card a player has.

With Christenson and Brookens, I have the bulk of their cards. Same for Luis Quinones, another player I collect, and someone I used to cover. Monbouquette is another story, as his cards are older, thus making things a bit more expensive. When I look sometimes, I’ll find something a bit affordable and I’ll grab it. But I knew his cards were going to take time to collect.

And then I had to find this little gem of a card in this 1950 Bowman Konstanty.

*sigh*

I’m a subscriber to Beckett, a monthly guide aimed at the card collecting market. On their website, you can do custom setups for card collections. According to Beckett, this 1950 card is Konstanty’s rookie card. But, also, he has 39 cards listed with the database. Some could be very tough (for example, he has a 2009 SP Legendary Cuts signature numbered to 5… that could be rough!) to get, but I might try.

Why not, right?

I almost had a second card of his at the show. It’s a 1952 Topps. Beautiful card. Clean, crisp… and $42.

In my current situation, I don’t think $42 for a vintage card would have been smart. So I’ll peek around eBay and the Beckett Marketplace. While I’m at it, I think I should pull out my other player collections and see what I’m missing. Maybe I can fill in some blanks.

I’ll have another post or two this week about the card show as I have some things I want to share. But for now, I’ll leave you with the back of the Konstanty card.

According to Beckett, this is his rookie card, but it seems like there were a few before the 1950 card.

More later!

2009 SP Legendary Cuts Legendary Cut Signatures #LC48 Jim Konstanty/5 Buy Pricing Buy Pricing
Item image of 2010 Topps Heritage 1961 Buybacks #479 Jim Konstanty MVP 2010 Topps Heritage 1961 Buybacks #479 Jim Konstanty MVP

Filed Under: Baseball cards, Cards, Collecting, My world Tagged With: 1950 bowman, baseball, baseball cards, bowman, cards, jim konstanty, konstanty, phillies, pitcher

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Cards, caching and cameras

January 19, 2009

This past Saturday, a couple of us ventured to the White Plains area for a card show (also, of course, did some caching along the way!)

The show wasn’t bad. We stayed for a few hours and got some decent items, however, three cards I had specifically looking for, I couldn’t find, unfortunately. For those who don’t know, most of the cards I collect are autographed or game-used and are usually one of the following: Phillies, Phillies prospects or prospects who I have covered/seen.

This weekend, I had been chasing after a couple of my all-time favorites I’ve dealt with — Matt Joyce, Casper Wells and Clete Thomas. Of course, any good Phils cards I could pick up, I’d be interested in.
Anyway, the first table we went to had one of the ones I was looking for, so I opted to pick it up right away in case I didn’t find others.

Thankfully, I got a couple of his cards — this one, which was numbered — and a regular-edition autograph. Each for $5, which wasn’t bad. I tried to grab another guy I covered, but the one guy kept insisting on $10 for it. Considering Beckett doesn’t come close to listing to that price, I passed.

No luck — all day — on Joyce or Thomas. A show with like 200 tables didn’t have those two. I couldn’t believe it! Ahhh well, eBay awaits, I imagine.

I did pick up a Cole Hamels jersey for a decent price, too:

Finally, we spit a box of the Donruss Elite Extra Edition. It’s a prospects-based set, which was nice. The box guaranteed four hits (we got five — four autos and a jersey card) and there were several refractors and parallel cards, which was nice. It’s a pretty sweet set. Here’s a couple of the hits I got out of my “half.”

The set also comes with chances for other sports. I know there are Cat Osterman (softball) cards, but I didn’t land one. I did get an O.J. Mayo 75/75 refractor, which was nice.

The card show was pretty nice, for sure. I like to hit these every once in a while. I’ll keep searching eBay for the other cards I had wanted.

Caching

With going to a show like that, I had to hit some caches, right? After all, we’re traveling down! But with it being so cold, I was looking for some easier ones. Our first was a smaller travel bug hotel in Middletown. It was in a nice little area — an old garden, apparently. I swapped some trackables and all that good stuff. When we first got there, a heard of deer were in there. Pretty neat to see them all in that setting. Didn’t have the camera out, unfortunately.

We then headed toward the show for a virtual. This one, for baseball fans, is pretty wild. It brings you to the grave of Babe Ruth. Arguable the best — and most influential — baseball player of all time, Ruth is buried in a magnificent cemetery that has thousands of graves. Impressive setup. There are many other famous people buried in the Gate of Heaven Cemetery. Unfortunately, there were two or three funerals going on that day, so we just went to Ruth’s burial spot and left.

It’s pretty impressive there, though.

After that, we drove about a mile to another cemetery, where another all-time great is buried. Seems fitting that Ruth is so close, though.

After that, we hit up one more travel bug hotel and then the card show. After the show, we found five more. Mostly quick grabs. However, I also had to DNF two more, likely because of the snow. Unfortunately, it was a bit annoying. Anyway, ended up with eight total on the day and a card show.

Camera

Even though everything else is closed for the National Holiday, the UPS still came.

And today? My new camera! A Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS.  At first glance, this is a really nice camera. I have to play around with it and really check it out, but it’s pretty much everything I was looking for in a point-and-shoot camera. And the price was nice, too. Also, when I ordered, a 4 gig memory card was thrown in, which was nice. I’ll be able to do a little extra video with it now, too.Hopefully that means I’ll be making the blog here a little more colorful and photogenic!

This week

Off Wednesday, so plotting a caching trip. The temps are slowly climbing, so outside of the snow, it shouldn’t be too bad of a day to cache. I think we’re heading to the Ithaca area, which is new territory for me.

Saturday, a couple of us are heading to Rochester for the opening of the GPS Maze. I went to the one in Connecticut and it was pretty cool. This will also hopefully allow me to get a day of caching, fill in some New York Delorme Challenge squares and some other counties for that challenge, too.

There’s a way to double-dip, too, with the “opening” event on Feb. 7, but pretty sure I won’t be able to go up that weekend, so the opening weekend looked pretty good. For you cachers (and even non-cachers) out there, the Maze is pretty cool. If it’s near you ever, it’s worth taking a peek. I’m sure I’ll have photos when I get back this weekend.

More later!

Filed Under: Cards, My world, Photography, Sports, Travel

1 Comment

Au revoir, Lieby

January 28, 2008

One of my all-time favorite Phillies called it a retirement today when Mike Lieberthal opted not to attempt to track down another contract to stay on as a backup and see very little playing time.

So, after basically being pushed out of Philly and missing the chance at finally making the playoffs with his team, he signed for a year with the Dodgers, missed the playoffs and has opted to end his career. I just wish he had the chance to finish in Philly because he had played his whole career there — which is so rare nowadays.

I’ll miss Lieby. He was a true inspiration to me as a catcher. I loved his work ethic and he always seemed to be a good teammate. I could be wrong, but everything I read always painted him in a good way.

In my card collection, I have several autographed cards of Lieby. Seems fitting to post one my favorite ones here.

lieberthal_mike_diamond_kings_auto_front.jpg

More later!

Filed Under: Cards, My world, Sports

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OK, done for now…

January 24, 2008

Went with Darren to Binghamton today. I ended up purchasing a few packs and a box of Bowman Chrome. Spent a little more money that I probably should have or wanted to, but did it.

Got a couple of autograph cards — nobody major.

Either way, I think I’m done buying cards for a while. I’ve invested too much time and coin into them recently.

Filed Under: Cards, My world

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You know, of course, Santa Paws travels with Santa Clause, making sure to find treats and toys for all the good little doggies! (We know they are all deserving, right?) So, Harper put out some milk for the big guy, carrots for Rudolph and the reindeer, and special cookies for Santa Paws! She is ready! 

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Couldn't resist stopping on the way to work to sna Couldn't resist stopping on the way to work to snap this shot. The colors in the sky were fantastic and the scene was nice looking (though, to be fair, I drove by what I think would have been a better scene -- the valley and hills full of snow etc.)

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I look at her and sometimes still can’t believe I look at her and sometimes still can’t believe I have her. It’s been a year and four months and she makes me smile and laugh more each day. It’s amazing how much a dog changes your look on life, and how much joy they can bring. 

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I’ve recently realized how many photos I have to I’ve recently realized how many photos I have to post here, as well as on Harper’s (@harper_dublin) account). So, as I start to transfer photos, I’ll try and catch up. So photos coming could be from all seasons and who knows when. 🤣

This one is recent from the courthouse square in Delhi. We had some pretty good fall colors this year. 

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From a few weeks ago. I was trying to get Harper t From a few weeks ago. I was trying to get Harper to put her paws on the bridge and looked out, but she was more content jumping on me and looking up. I do love the way she seems to be looking at me.
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Couldn’t resist a quick stop this morning with t Couldn’t resist a quick stop this morning with the fog and frost settled in. 

Hamden Covered Bridge 

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Harper’s friend Lucy is around this weekend! #g Harper’s friend Lucy is around this weekend!

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So… @harper_dublin wants to know why she can’t So… @harper_dublin wants to know why she can’t have @mallons_homemade_sticky_buns.
This is why we can’t have nice things. Saw this This is why we can’t have nice things. Saw this on me morning walk Friday with Harper. Likely some college kids, but also as chance at local hooligans. I had Harper so not a lot I could do, but I managed to get the cart off the chair. (See second photo) This was in a local park.
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Finally learning this Canon M6 MarkII before my tr Finally learning this Canon M6 MarkII before my trip starts this weekend. Really like it now that I took the time to set it up and learn the differences between this and my 7D MarkII. This and the iPhone will do most of the work on the trip. 

Photo is inside on a dark and dreary day. Transferred to phone and edited with #snapseed. 

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