Just Check Out My (Not So) Common Birthday Present To Myself.

       Tuesday was my birthday; I hit the immortal Jack Benny number.  Much as 29 sounded much older to me than 30, 39 seems to be bumming me out much more than I imagine 40 will.  My mood increased tremendously, though, when I went to the mailbox and found not one but two fat jiffy packs waiting for me - one from COMC.com and one from Just Commons.  Granted, I didn't actually plan for them to arrive on my birthday but I'll take a thin slice of serendipity any time. 

The stuff I ordered from COMC was pure frivolity.  Like many of you I'm sure, I have plucked away at their Challenge to help reassemble their database.  Over the last few weeks, I've used my insomnia time to squirrel away $42 worth of found money for cardboard.  The next couple of scans show the bounty of my superfluous harvest:

Shiny Mets.  Shiny Mets everywhere.  Normally, these Fan Favorites refractors are overpriced but with a fistful of loose dollars, I made offers on as many as I could.  I got the four you see for between 2 and 3 bucks each.  Speaking of shiny, those Tribute cards finish off a set I started making 11 years ago.  Well, I started making it a couple months ago with some cards I found in a long forgotten box from 11 years ago.  Funny how that works.  Nolan and Roberto there weren't cheap but in my world, they were free.  Those bottom three Finest cards are pre-production models that finish off a page that has had six of them for as long as I have been making pages of sets.  Of course, now I have to figure out what to do with the 3 1994 Bowman promos that have been occupying that page for a while.

Following that trend, I finished off a few other pages that have long eluded completion.  This buying spree was like finding two $20 bills in a winter coat:

Those 1996 Playoff Pennant football cards are not just die cut triangles, they are made of felt, so they are all fuzzy and touchable.  I have had seven of them laying around forever.  Now they have the required nine.  The Donruss Champions sent from 2005 was not a favorite, but I liked the award winners subset and now there is a page of that too.  I had Legends pages of 2002 and 2003 Diamond Kings, so for completistism's sake, I now have 2004.  Half of them are in color and half are in black and white.  I am not certain if that is part of the design or if they are variations or something but I like the B&W ones better.  Lastly, I bought one each of the Heritage buybacks I didn't have so they can hang out on my Topps pages.  I picked those up for $2 pretend dollars each. 

My other spree from mid-May was on Just Commons.  Once again, I blame my current bought of insomnia.  Over three or four nights, I filled up my shopping cart with about 100 cards and $20 worth of stuff.  Sadly, these cost me a real Andrew Jackson.  Happily, Just Commons is a wonderful site to pick up random cards you never thought you'd find and/or refuse to buy for $3 each on ebay.  Aside from the first card on the first scan, nothing was more than 37 cents.

I discovered that Brooks Robinson and David Wright card while I was obsession of one of the same players of a slightly different caliber.  While going through my HOF binder, I noticed I didn't have a Lou Brock card of him on the Cubs, so I rectified that issue.  I recently decided to make a Gregg Jefferies page of cards of him not on the Mets, since that was when he was most successful.  My last package of JC cards had boatloads of Rookie Cup needs, this time, it only has three but it does complete the 1997 team.  The bottom three are some Sandy Koufax cards for his page and a Jim Bunning card to start his page.  I wrote about this year's Gypsy Queen on A Pack to be Named Later; I might have been too kind.

I finished off a lot of player pages, here they are in condensed pile form:

Jimmie Foxx, Joe Torre, Starlin Castro, Luis Tiant, and Bobby Murcer are now all completed (I underestimated my needs and still need one Walt Alston).  I was born a bit too young to have seen Luis Tiant pitch but from everything I have seen about him, I am absolutely convinced he would have been my favorite pitcher.  He's like the best parts of Hideo Nomo, Fernando Valenzuela, and Pedro Martinez all thrown together.  I think we all should worship at the alter of El Tiante.  Right in the middle there is Matt Harvey, I mean, how could go on a spree and not buy some Harvey cards?  The last two piles are of cards with a particular number (527) and of players named Max.  I couldn't think of anything more appropriate to get on my birthday. 

Quirks: The Toss.

       We all have certain quirks to our collection and some of them are of the pictures on the cards.  Hell, there are blogs related to and/or named after such photographic peculiarities.  Let's see if you can figure out which one this post is about...

Got it yet?  Good. 

Did you ever back into a collection?  I don't mean just accumulating cards of a failed prospect or a favorite star but did you ever just suddenly realize you have dozens of a certain kind of card and you wonder, hey, how did that happen?  I noticed on many of my 9 pocket pages of players and sets, I had a bunch of players doing "the toss" - a time tested pose.  I decided a few months ago to gather them together rather than let them breed in the wild. 

Sure, we all have a fondness for plays at the plate, vertical action shots, players leaping at second base during a double play, catchers in gear, etc.  Some folks might like posed shots with bats pointing at the viewer or specific position poses.  But for me, there is something so enjoyably goofy and childlike about The Toss, be it posed or candid. 

I am sure there are dozens more out there that I don't have in my collection - heck just looking at these pages I realize I don't have one of the more iconic Toss photos, the 1989 Topps Steve Avery draft pick card.  This is my first foray into photographically specific oddball collections and I hope to expand on the theme.  If you have any or come across any that you don't see here, feel free to send them or offer to trade them to me.  For now, I am going to go find a low grade 1972 Topps Roberto Clemente. 

Night Owl Trade: Part 2. (or The Night Owl Strikes Back)

       Last month Greg of the indefatigable Night Owl Cards sent me what was promised to be "part one" of what is our never-ending volley of trades.  Part two arrived in my mailbox a week or so ago and, you know the old cliche about sequels never living up to the original?  Well, the Owl outdid himself here and sent me the Godfather 2 of trade parts (or it could be The Empire Strikes Back, depending on your level of film geekiness). 

Turns out ol' Greg was playing possum with me on this particular pile.  He knew all along that he had these cards for me but gave me no indication.  I knew it was you, Fredo, except he didn't break my heart this time.  He made it all a-flutter with shiny Mets cards. 

You have to wonder where this cadre of randomly awesome Mets cards came from...seems he was part of some massive group breaks and he chose the Mets as his secondary team for some of them.  This landed me those shiny ones from before and these Archives short prints that I never would have gotten around to acquiring.  Plus it landed me a Kevin McReynolds autograph which will go nicely on my page of 1980's Mets signatures. 

Look, more sparkly shiny Johan goodness!  Though you will also notice which player I chose to cover up with Greg's nice little note.  And I know how it must have pained him to send me minis, much less hall of fame Tom Seavery minis.  In fact, all those cards on the bottom there are tiny.  Those 1980's league leader minis are held in high regard in my world as I vividly remember finding a big lump of change in the cushions of my couch when I was 12 and buying out the Rite Aid of the 1987 variety.  You will also notice he didn't even Bip me this time around.  And to think I was looking forward to making a page of 9 1989 Donruss Lance Blankenships.  Oh well, you can't have everything.  Thanks Greg! 

I Like(d) Ike.

       Ike Davis could have had it all.  Ike Davis should have had it all.  The son of a major leaguer, he was drafted in the first round by a team in New York and was fast tracked to the big leagues from moment one.  He looked good as a 23 year old rookie in 2010 and wonderful things lay ahead.  Instead, it all went horribly horribly wrong...

His sophomore year was over before it really began after he had a freak injury to his ankle during a collision with David Wright on a pop up.  The wonderful Mets medical team misdiagnosed him at least twice and he never got back on the field.  But he eventually healed and we were all looking forward to his 2012 season.  I insanely predicted big things for him.  He got off to a dreadful start, if by dreadful I mean nightmarish, and if by nightmarish I mean absolutely god-fucking-awful.  In the middle of June he was hitting a buck eighty with 6 homers.  The hitch in his swing that was supposed to be smoothed out by now was bigger than ever.  Then a funny thing happened...he got hotter than the sun.  The rest of June was a supernova and he bashed homer after homer.  He got his average up to .227 and finished with 32 dingers and 90 RBIs.  Now the question remained, which Ike was the real Ike?   Was it First Half Ike or Second Half Ike?

Sadly, we got our answer almost immediately in 2013.  Ike came out hitting a whopping .160 for the first two months and was demoted to the minors by the all star break.  All of our Mets fan dreaming of a homegrown power hitting Paul Bunyan first baseman were being dashed before our eyes.  The Mets even drafted the Next Big Thing at first in Dominic Smith in the first round. The dream was over for Ike Davis as a Met.

By spring training of 2014, the Mets had announced that he was going to be part of an unfathomable and untenable three way platoon at first with the immortal Lucas Duda and the incredibly terrible Josh Satin.  He was sadly third in a two man race.  He got into 12 games and got 30 at bats but it was obvious to anyone who has ever seen one game of baseball in their lives that Ike was on the outs with the Mets.  He did whack one last pinch hit walk off grand slam on April 5th to emphasize those saddest words of tongue and pen.  He was unceremoniously dumped on the Pittsburgh Pirates on April 18th for a middling middle reliever and the ol' player to be named. 

I collected all these Ike cards out of hope, not for profit.  I bought and traded specifically to get most of these cards and hoarded the ones I pulled.  I really had such high hopes for Ike.  I want him to do well with the Pirates, I really do.  But he is yet another in a long line of disappointments for the Mets in terms of developing power hitting prospects.  He's that girlfriend you wanted to move in with and make babies with but instead she flakes out and you just have a little pile of her shit in the corner of your apartment in a shopping bag, waiting for a day to get around to giving it back to her so you never have to see her again.

Solved.

       A little while ago, I asked you fine readers for your opinion about what to do with these super thick, impossible-to-store-and-display 2014 Topps Rookie Cup All Star Relics.  The majority response was to go with the 8-pocket page and hope for the best.  Well, this is result and I must say, it is quite something:

I love these insane cards but I have decided, against all my greater urges, not to try to complete the set.  I think these crazy eight will do just fine.  I bought eleven of the 25 before I changed my mind.  I flipped one for a cool Matt Harvey card (see yesterday's post) and relisted the other two to end the madness.  I am capable of making rational decisions once in a while.  I might, just might, make a page of the low numbered parallels with the vintage trophy on them.  This thought proves I am just as loony as ever. 

Trade with Tony of Off Hiatus Baseball Cards.

       Oh, how could I have waited so long to post this trade?  Last month I ran into a new blog (to me at least) in Off Hiatus Baseball Cards.  The proprietor Tony is a huge Brewers fan, as you can tell from his blog's wonderfully dramatic nameplate and background (makes my blue and orange motif seem understated by comparison). He also is very eager to trade and posts trade bait on a weekly basis.  I just happened upon one of these posts when this beauty appeared...

I immediately commented and emailed him that this card must be mine.  Must. Must. Must.  Turns out I was just ahead of someone else that had to have it too - timing in life is everything.  Tony promised I could have the card and we worked out the details.  I put together what I thought, and luckily what Tony also thought, was a wonderful Brewers-and-Gary-Carter laden package.  The low numbered Black Refractor Matt Harvey Heritage card was mine.  His smiley-smirking visage will see me through until he recovers from his surgery.  

Tony also threw in some random Mets cards, my favorite kind of Mets cards:

That first "card" with the logo is actually a tattoo.  I might put it on my face Mike Tyson style next time I go to a Mets game in person.  Those Heritage cards on the bottom were from my wantlist and completed my (base) team set for the year.  Someone reads my want lists...yay!

Tony also included a little note, like I needed to identify who sent me that awesome shiny Harvey card.

Oh, believe me, I will enjoy these cards.  And since you are a Gary Carter fan, I have a feeling we will be doing it again.

Feeling Blue.

       There is nothing better in this world than watching the Mets go into Yankees Stadium for two days and beat up on the Bronx Bombers by a cumulative footballish 21-14.  There is nothing more depressing than watching the Mets come home for two games and get shutout twice in a row, 4-0 and 1-0.  Because it happened in that order, I am very bummed out indeed.

These blue parallels from this year perfectly capture my mood.  It is a rainy, gray, disgusting Friday morning and it is only gonna get rainier and muggier. 

Of course, last night, my rage may have gotten the best of me.  I woke up this morning and saw what I posted on facebook...

I hope Fred Wilpon is happy with his billion dollar white elephant of a ballpark and the crappy team he has built on the cheap who can't score in it. If there are any terrorist organizations training their members to fly planes into targets, I have a brilliant idea for you. Let me know when you plan the operation so I can show up with marshmallows and maybe to piss on the ashes.

Yikes. 

The Curse of WFAN.

       You wouldn't know it by watching them for the last five years, but the New York Mets won a World Series in my lifetime.  It's true!

On October 27, 1986 at Shea Stadium in Queens, Jesse Orosco struck out Marty Barrett of the Boston Red Sox and the New York Mets were world champions.

That was an amazing team stacked with veterans and young players.  11 year old Max expected to watch title after title roll in for the orange and blue.

They won one other division title in 1988 but that one World Series was all the Mets had to show for that great team.  Was it injuries and age and drugs or were there darker forces at work?

After the Red Sox blew the series in such ignominious fashion, The Curse of the Bambino was born (or at least widely perpetuated).  Mostly an angle for a sportswriter to sell books, nevertheless it became a larger than life theory. If you have lived with your head in a hole in the ground for the last 30 years or so, the curse basically said that when Babe Ruth was sold by the Red Sox to the Yankees, he put a curse on the team that they wouldn't win another World Series. If you were a fan of the team in 1946, 1967, 1975, 1986, and 2003, this seemed as logical a theory as any. 

I mean, it couldn't possibly have been a combination of institutional racism and inept management.  Nope, it was a terrifying hex on the Olde Towne Team from Fenway that kept them from a championship for for 86 years.  That's the nice thing about curses, they don't need any reasons other than belief. 

The Mets also won a Series in 1969 in what some call a Miracle. 

That means the Mets won two World Series in 17 years, not too shabby in the overall scope of things.

That 1969 team was loaded with young pitching and if they had ever developed and/or kept some good hitters, that team should have won more. Sound familiar?

As it was, the Mets also made the Series in 1973 in what was probably what some folks look at as a fluke, but hell, Ya Gotta Believe!

That team took the dynastic A's to a 3-2 lead but then let it all slip away.  Still, the '73 team is held in high regard in Mets fan circles.  And as I was saying before, three World Series in 17 years is nothing to sneeze at especially when you win a couple of them. Ask Cub fans if you think I'm wrong. 

On July 1, 1987, the Mets flagship broadcast station, radio station 1050 WHN, changed its call letters and the wildly popular all sports radio format was born as WFAN.

The New York Mets were on WFAN from that very day.  They have not won the World Series since.

Oh sure, they have come kinda close.  I mean hey, they made the Series against the Yankees in 2000 but were quickly dispatched in five games.  Man, that late 20th century team was a lot of fun to watch.

They also had a great team in the mid '00s, although they never quite made it to the series - and they came about as close as you can without making it.  Carlos Beltran stared at strike three during the bottom of the 9th in game seven of the 2006 NLCS (with the bases loaded even) and the Mets haven't made the playoffs since, painfully so.  They haven't even had so much as a winning season in the last 5 years.  If you are keeping track, that means the Mets made 3 World Series and won 2 in their first 25 years and then made one and won zero in the next 27. 

On April 1, 2014 WFAN began broadcasting the games of the New York Yankees. 

After the 2013 season, future hall of famer and renowned "best closer of all time" Mariano Rivera retired.

Also after the 2013 season, Andy Pettitte retired.

After the 2011 season, Jorge Posada retired.

These three men are 3/4 of the famous Core Four that helped the Yankees win five World Series (and make 2 others beside) from 1996 to 2009.

As an aside, Bernie Williams should have some fucking issues with the whole "Core Four" concept.  He is a much better ballplayer than Posada and Pettitte could ever imagine being and while he might not be a hall of famer, he is closer than they are.  Bernie came up to the Yankees in 1989 and retired in 2006, so he saw four of those five Series titles.  Most teams would be very happy to develop a player the caliber of Bernie.  End Bernie rant.

Back in February, future hall of famer and "class act" Derek Jeter announced that 2014 would be his final season.

These five players - Jeter, Rivera, Williams, Posada, Pettitte - represent a terrific phase of Yankee history when they eschewed big money free agents and developed star players from within.  Back in the late 1970s and all through the 1980s, the Yankees never met a free agent they didn't want to sign.  This worked well in '77 and '78 but not so much through the 1980's when they went the whole decade without a Series title.   Since the turn of the 21st century, this philosophy seems to have returned. 

Right now, the Yankees fans are rooting for formerly great players like CC Sabathia. 

CC is literally and figuratively half the man he used to be.  The Yankees will be paying him $25 million a year through 2017.

Over at first base is the corpse of Mark Teixeira.

Once a great hitter, Teixeira has slowly morphed into a .230 pull hitter who has been overly tempted by the short porch at new Yankees Stadium.  He's also been hurt.  A lot.  To the point where you have to wonder if his family tree includes paper mâché.  The Yankees will be paying him $22.5 million through 2016.  Teixeira was signed because the first baseman they overpayed to get before him, Jason Giambi, didn't work out.  I could also mention Alex Rodriguez, but the less said about him the better. 

Also this year, the Yankees decided to dive into the international free agent pool and sign Masahiro Tanaka.  They paid him the GDP of a small nation to be their ace for the next seven years.

Oh hey!  Look what magazine Tanaka was on for their baseball preview.  Wanna talk about curses...

Sure, he might be another Yu Darvish, but he also might be Hideki Irabu 2: Electric Boogaloo.  Lucky for them, he already has more career wins than Kei Igawa.

The Yankees have slowly become what they were all through the 1980s, a chemistry-less mercenary squad with very little home grown talent.  Think Steve Kemp, Dave Collins, Lamar Hoyt, Eddie Whitson, etc.  The Mets have slowly become what they were in the early 1980s, loaded with great young pitching.  Think Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler, Noah Syndergaard,  Rafael Montero, etc.   There is no rhyme nor reason to how a curse starts, but I am going to pinpoint April 1, 2014 as the official bellwether of The Curse of WFAN.  If billy goats, Lions quarterbacks, KFC spokesmen, Video Game sponsors, and the existence of the city of Cleveland can all be the impetus for curses, why not an all-sports radio station? 

Oh, and who else did the Yankees signed in the twilight of his career?  And who made his first Yankee at bat in that very first WFAN Yankee game on April Fools Day?  Yup...

It'll all make more sense in 27 years, trust me.

There's A Draft In Here.

       Tonight is the first night of the NFL Draft and let me tell you the best part about that: in four days, people will stop talking about the NFL Draft for about 11 months.  Yes, I realize I am part of the problem and not the solution by pointing that out but it does give me the opportunity to also point out that if as much time, effort, meticulous attention to detail, and just pure man hours were given to any number of this countries' problems as is given to the NFL Draft then every Late April/Early May we could solve a problem a year until there were no problems left.  Drugs, teen pregnancy, financial imbalance, racial injustice - all could be eradicated rather than speculating what kind of tools Johnny Manziel has. I am no social engineer, but I am willing to bet I am closer to correct than wrong with that particular hyperbolic speculation.

The NFL Draft boils down to a few simple things.  Your team will take some players and you have no idea how they will work out.  None.  And you probably won't have any idea for at least three years.   The first round will shake out as follows:  2 or 3 players will be superstar to hall of fame caliber studs, around 20 will have anywhere from serviceable to admirable careers, and about 10 of the players chosen will completely wash out.  That's about it.  The rest of it is all mindless nattering and endless conjecture.  The NFL draft make election coverage look subdued and innocent by comparison. 

Want to know why all the attention paid to the draft is useless?  Ryan Leaf.

Sure, there are hundreds of busts to choose from but Ryan Leaf encapsulates every possible bust story.  Leaf was a decent college quarterback in a second level conference (he is the second most famous person from Washington State).  But he looked like an NFL QB. The scouts fell in love with him.  He shot up draft charts.  He looks stupendous in workouts.  People actually once argued over whether he or Peyton Manning would be the better franchise quarterback.  There was no one who came out against him.  A tremendous wave of goodwill washed over Ryan Leaf.  No one doubted him, everyone loved him, he had the world at his feet.  And he booted it.  Badly.  He failed miserably as both a football player and as a human being.  I don't think I need to rehash his entire story here, but believe me, no one has ever crashed and burned so spectacularly.  You can see some busts coming a mile away and some sneak up on you.  Ryan Leaf somehow did both.

So while it was once an interesting little distraction during the spring after the furor of baseball returning died down, I now find the NFL draft a colossal waste of time to follow.  It gives people who have no accountability jobs and encourages the sports media to continue the misguided notion that speculating about the games is more fun than the actual games.

Who knows, your team might draft a game changer of this caliber...

It is that last part that has resulted in me - an absolute sports nutjob - from watching less and less ESPN as the years have gone by to the point where I hardly watch any of it at all, except when actual games are on.  I used to watch SportsCenter all morning when I was at home and now I watch MLB Network and their Quick Pitch show because they actually show highlights of the games.  What a concept.  On the days when I accidentally have it on the worldwide leader, I usually can't change the channel fast enough because all there ever is is people arguing, speculating, some kind of awful cross promotion to a movie, or some kind of tear-jerking human interest story.  Anyway, I have bitched enough.  Wake me up when the Mets actually score a run.

She Comes In Colours Everywhere...

....She's like a rainbow.

Behold the first rainbow page I have ever made using just one product (I have cheated before and used Topps and Topps Chrome combined).  2014 Topps has so many parallels, I had different cards to choose from.  Going left to right, top to bottom we have: Walmart blue, Toys 'r' Us purple, Target red, Camo, base, gold, red hot, green, retail yellow.  If I felt like breaking the bank, I could have gone platinum, pink, or clear as well.   Come to think of it, I might break down and buy a pink one just to break up the two reds.  I chose Juan Lagares because I like this photo and I think he has a chance to be a good outfielder for a long time.  I chose the Rolling Stones as the title of this post with great trepidation as Dio would also fit perfectly.  Maybe for series 2.

Cinco de Mayo.

Cinco de mayo, blowout, denial
It wasn't fun this time, letting you go

What if I never, a bullet forever
Held out my hand to you?
We wouldn't have known beautiful flow

Absolute measure, I ain't no pleasure hound

Bus out of control, ploughing the road
Out on a bender

Just Alice falling down a deepening hole

I'd never been to Rome until you smiled
You're about as old and piled
Used to pray for snow

Now I just wonder what spell I was under

Thinking you thought of me as something to hold

I'd never been to Rome until you smiled
You're about as old and piled

Cinco de mayo, burn-out Ohio

It wasn't me this time letting you go.

(64 silver dollars if you recognized this song without google or my label)

May The Fourth Be With You.

        I am a geek and a nerd, I make no apologies for either.  I long ago gave up the idea that I would ever sit with the cool kids at lunch and talk about cool kid things.  Chances are as a kid, if I was sitting with anyone at lunch, we would sit there and talk about Star Wars.  After lunch, we would probably go outside and play Star Wars (I always wanted to be Han, I usually ended up being Chewie).  When I got home, I would probably turn on the TV, pop in a tape, and watch Star Wars.  If there was anything in this world that I was as obsessed with as baseball, it would have to be well, you know...

These cards are from my original childhood collection.  I am pretty sure these original Star Wars cards were mine, but they may have been my brother's.  He tended to hand me down things like this - whether he wanted to or not.  And I never did collect any of the whole series so a while ago, I pared them down to these single nine-pocket pages. 

The red ones are series 2, somehow, we all missed series 3 so I have none of those orange beauties.  Either that or none of them survived.  The green page is from series 4 and it includes the "corrected" version of the "naughty" C-3PO card.  Some parents have way too much time on their hands to be looking for android dong.

I was born in 1975, so I was just a tad too young to remember going to see Star Wars when it debuted in 1977.  I have been told I did see it as a toddler, but I'll be damned if my little brain can squeeze out the memory of that.  I do, however, remember going to see The Empire Strikes Back when I was five. 
 
I am a huge movie geek in general and if I am feeling frisky with the right kind of audience, I will make the argument that not only is The Empire Strikes Back the best Star Wars movie but it is the best movie of all time.  Around certain geeks, this rant is met with joy and wonder.  Around other film nerds, this line of thinking can make people's heads explode.  I will spare you the details, besides, what are we going to talk about if we ever meet for a beer?

I know I collected these Empire cards back in the day yet somehow, all the Return of The Jedi cards I had are long gone.   Perhaps they were traded for some Garbage Pail Kids at lunch or maybe they were stolen by one of my more nefarious 3rd grade friends.  As a grown up I have never replenished them and I am not sure why considering my most vivid memories of both movie and trading card involve the third installment.  I remember the guy who owned the convenience store at the end of the block telling all the kids that he would be the first to have "Revenge of the Jed-ee" cards.  Yes, he pronounced it with a long "e" at the end.  Lord, we all hated that dude, square old adult that he was. 

On this page of vintage odds and ends, you can see the old Wonder Bread cards from 1978.  I think my grandparents gave those to my brother because we were too poor to even afford Wonder Bread, it was store brand all the way in our house.  Those cards are delightfully mangled, I am not sure if it was from being in loaves of bread or from the overzealous love of an 8 year old.

Believe me, old age has not stopped me from buying Star Wars cards.

I bought these Star Wars Illustrated cards at Target last year and I made a page of them.  There is some pretty nifty artwork going on here.  I especially like the one in the middle since I often use the line "I find your lack of faith disturbing..."

Like most people of a certain age with any sort of taste, I am not a big fan of the prequels.  Oh yes, I waited outside for tickets to Episode 1 for 10 hours (not 10 weeks like some, I am not that big a geek...besides, I had a job then).  But after watching that piece of shit twice, I came to realize that no one could ever trust George Lucas again.  The one thing that came out of that time that was pretty good was one of the few things that Lucas didn't produce, the animated Clone Wars series.

If only such thought and attention had gone into the first two prequels that went into this show, they wouldn't be thought of as the steaming piles of childhood rape that they are now.  If you have never seen them, I recommend them highly.

Topps has put out a few different Star Wars Heritage sets over the years, these are from 2004:

Here you see the only Return of The Jedi cards I have.  Jeez, I am gonna have to make a page of those just so I will shut up about it, huh?

Oh, and look, they did some cards for the prequels too.  I have exactly three of them.  This should tell you everything you need to know. 

The bottom six here are the shiny inserts from this set.  I am always a sucker for shiny. 

Topps also did a Chrome set back in 1999.  I am almost certain I should have the whole set of this somewhere since I bought a bunch of this stuff.  For some reason, I also have this page. 

That Vader card is from the Topps Star Wars 30 set from 2007.  I bought a bunch of that stuff too and I have no idea what happened to it.  This page is a big mystery to me.

This page is a hodge-podge of different cards from all kinds of sets.  The one with Leia running away from the At-At is amusing to me since she never even saw them outside.  Yes, this kind of minutiae is important.

There are a few random prequel cards too. I should get more of these only if Natalie Portman is involved.  Maybe Ewen McGregor as well, his rendition of Obi-Wan deserved better scripts than he got.

Speaking of the lovely Ms Portman, there she is again.  The second prequel was worth it if only for that outfit.

These cards are actually stickers and they come from Germany.  I picked them up from a Listia auction and I have never seen them before or since.  That last card is a homemade card I cut out from the box of the original Star Wars Lego video game.  Man, if they had Star Wars Legos when I was 8 years old, my childhood would have been exponentially better.

This page was made from the Star Wars Galactic Files set from last year.

This set delved into the expanded universe as well as the six films.  I have never gotten too too deep into the comics, though I did read the Timothy Zahn Thrawn trilogy and the Heir to the Empire series of books.  I was very upset when I found out that the sequels will not take much from these stories.  I have my fingers crossed that these movies will be better than the prequels.  Let's face it, they have no where to go but up. 

As usual with these big all-encompassing anthology posts of mine, I start rambling as the pages tick by and never really get to a point.  I guess there isn't much of one other than I love Star Wars and trading cards, so if you put them together, I will eat that shit up.  Even if the cards are oddly sized like these:

These six cover the original three films, though the one with Han and Jabba comes from the Special Edition version.  If the prequels are underwhelming than the Special Editions are blasphemy.  Han Shot First.

I didn't scan the backs of these and maybe I should have, because little gems like these are hiding:

On the right is a price tag from a t-shirt (I believe it was a black on black rendition of Darth Vader with the caption "Sith Happens").  I couldn't bear to throw something that cool away so it somehow made its way into my card collection.  On the left is a coupon for the breakfast cereal C-3PO's.  I found this amazing thing in a coupon drawer while I cleaned out my grandfather's house.  You will notice it is dated 1984.  He died in 2010.  The man was not quite a hoarder but let's just say he never threw anything of value away.  This is obviously a genetic trait in my bloodline