Dilemma.

       Well, I have been home from work for the last 8 days.  I spent the first two exactly how one would expect when they have been furloughed from work indefinitely: I sat around in my pajamas and watched movies and did little to nothing.  And while that certainly sounds ideal, after a while, it gets a bit boring.  So I then dove into my collection and really started working on things; a full spring cleaning.  I did a little documentation of it and it will no doubt show up on a later blog post, but right now I have a specific situation that I was hoping to get some advice on.   

I found in a pile of cards with these two autographed beauties.  A 1972 Carlton Fisk rookie done in ball point pen at a card show in the 1980s and a 1983 Fleer Superstar Special of  Fisk and Gary Carter with the Carter signed in blue sharpie.  I am not a big autograph collector but I am a huge Carter guy and a big Fisk fan so it makes sense that I own these two cards.  So what's the issue?

I put that 1983 Fleer aside a long time ago to send to Fisk to hopefully get his autograph on it.  I believe this was right after Carter had died.  I decided not to for two reasons: I don't want to lose the Carter card and Fisk asks for a $40 donation to a cancer charity for him to sign through the mail.  I am not keen on either thing.  This is not to say I am a fan of cancer (I mean, who is?) but I am not big on paying for autographs, even if it is a donation to charity (I did check on the charity and it is legit and highly rated).  And obviously, the Carter card is not easy to replace since he is dead.  Carter was a prolific signer so I have seen it before but this is one of my favorites and it is a very tight and clear signature.  I can mail the card certified or insured or whatever to make sure it gets to Florida at Fisk's address but things do get lost.  Plus, sometimes when you mail something to a famous person, it gets misplaced or you get a different card back, or it gets lost on their pile of things never to be seen again.  I have seen my stacks of mail so I can only imagine what a hall of famer's looks like.  

I mean, I own a Fisk autograph (above) so it's not like I need to have one.  I own several other Carter autographs on cards, balls, photos, etc. so it's not like I will be losing the only one I have.  But it is a risk and a charitable investment.  I can afford $40 (for now) so cost is not the biggest problem, only principle.  So, what do I do?  Do I take the chance and mail the Carter card to Fisk and hope it gets there and hope he signs and returns this card to me.  Or do I forget the whole thing and enjoy my collection as is and do nothing.  This is not a binding poll or anything, but if you have an opinion or any advice, please leave a comment or drop me an email. And I hope you are staying safe and sane if you are stuck in the house for a while or worse, if you are out in the world dealing with people.

Manic Monday.

        I have been trying for a few days to sit down and write an answer to the pretty awful story CBS ran last weekend about the "decline" of the hobby.  Here it is, in case you haven't seen it.  There are so many things wrong with this story, I cannot begin to describe them.  Finding that start was part of my problem; I had just a non-stop busy weekend and I have an equally busy week ahead of me (including some actual paid work!).  So, while this might reek of the laziness shown in the CBS story, I am going to pass you off to Night Owl who wrote a better breakdown of this story than I ever could have hoped to do.  I should leave journalism to the actual journalists.  Oh, and here are some awesome 1974 All Star cards, since this is a card blog after all.

I promise some better posts later in the week, but I think that page should hold you over for now.

Monthiversary.

       I just noticed I have been at this for a month and I am very surprised...I have no attention span whatsoe...oooo look, cows! - sorry - Anyway, I have never been known for following through on things, so the fact that I have posted (almost) every day and found a small yet loyal audience is pretty amazing to me.  I don't know how long it will last, but hey, like a starry-eyed teenager, I think I have earned the right to celebrate my one month anniversary.  I am still getting my bloglegs under me and I appreciate all the support, encouragement, suggestions, etc.  And if anyone really hates the blog, thank you for keeping that to yourself. 

You may have noticed I tend to write very long, rambling posts, so I am going to try and see if I can reel myself in once in a while.  I have gone on at length about trimming my collection, consolidating all the fluff, etc.  I think I should start to accentuate the positive a little more.  I am going to start more frequently showing you some of my favorite cards, how I got them, and why they aren't going anywhere.  I creatively call this feature "Favorites."

Some people complain about jersey cards, but I think when they are done right, they are spectacular, and this one does it very right:

It is a 2004 Playoff Honors Quad Jersey card, featuring Carlton Fisk, Gary Carter, Johnny Bench, and Mike Piazza (it is also numbered /100, but I couldn't care less about that; I am not a fan of artificial scarcity).  As a failed catcher myself, I have always loved catchers, this badboy has four great ones, including two of my absolute very favorites.  This card has four Hall of Famers on it (three current, one future).  This card has four nice, differently colored jersey pieces, a fantastic aesthetic choice.  Face some hard truth, friends, this card is fucking cool.  My only problem with it is whether to put it with my Mike Piazza collection or my Gary Carter collection - the answer is that it goes into my Piazza collection strictly because he's shown on the Mets and Carter is shown on the Expos...the Mets trump all.  I bought this card on eBay five years ago after seeing it way overpriced at a show (marked $80- talked down to $60- I said no thanks).  My patience was rewarded when I got it for less than half of the price the dude at the show wanted for it ($28 including shipping).  I found this card again recently while sorting my long-neglected Piazza cards.  I thought it deserved some props.  I have about a dozen Piazza memorabilia cards that have someone else on it with him, this one is by far my favorite.