Do You Believe in Miracles?

 Kind of.

This package was waiting for me on my doorstep yesterday:

yes, that is a 1952 Topps #1 Andy Pafko along with 1989 LJN Baseball Talk. Fun Times!

If you cannot read that tiny little print on the label, it came from the glorious Seattle suburb of Redmond WA from a company you might know, COMC.  Remember them?  Well, I requested this package in February and it was scheduled for a May delivery - I doubt you need a calendar to see what today is but I can assure you, it is not May.  I am not saying I completely gave up on ever seeing it but their pandemic combination of horrible customer service and empty promises made me wonder if 2022 was out of the question.  But it did arrive.  They have answered emails faster of late and it was very well packaged when I got it.  You can see a nice tease of the stuff that was on top and I am going to spend the weekend sorting and enjoying the 900+ cards that are inside.  I am not here to praise COMC or bury them right now since the world is still knee deep in madness but I will say to anyone reading this wondering if they will ever see their package: miracles do happen.

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.

Mail Call: Dog Sitters Aren't Supposed To Sit On The Dog.

       I recently spent a week dog sitting my brother's dog Stella.  You have seen her here before as this is certainly not the first time I have done the staycation thing with my favorite canine.  A lot of people think this is not a good way to spend your off time but I honestly cannot think of a better way.  I am not big on travel and adventure; the notion of going to Rome to see the Colosseum or to Tokyo to try to figure out a language that is way over my head sound like more trouble than they're worth.  Plus, going to Disney World with two small children, like my brother did this time around, sounds like pure unadulterated torture.  But spending a week of solitude in a large mostly secluded house with a very low maintenance and adorable yellow lab?  Pure heaven.  In fact, part of my motivation to reignite the blog came from my memories of writing curled up on a couch with the dog sleeping at my feet.

       The only really good part about coming home to real life is the big pile of mail waiting for you. Specifically the cards, the bills can go get fucked.

So let's take a look at the goodies inside these envelopes and packages.

       There is one Listia seller that I really enjoy buying from (he also has a dog as his profile pic. Coincidence? I think not...).  When I order a lot of 6 cards from him, there is always 9 or 10 in the envelope.  I like this both for the surprise and for the maximum efficiency of his mailing as this is about as many cards as you can get into a PWE before you have to add extra stamps.

Can you guess which card I bought this lot for?  Hint, it is not the Bobby Bonilla.  Oddly, it is also not the amusingly named Pete LaCock, who has a wonderful family history.  X for the center square if you knew the answer without clicking.

       There were some players I collect in that pile too.  That is a Frank Thomas I needed as well as a couple of Big Papis. Saints vs. Colts? I always like how that turns out. Also, that's Ron Meyer (no relation).

Joe Flacco has officially been categorized, the verdict is not elite.  But also, still not the worst QB to lead the Ravens to a Super Bowl victory. So he has that going for him, which is nice.

This year is an Olympic year so when I saw this lot, I had to have it to make a page.

These are 1996 Collect-A-Card Centennial Olympic Collection cards and I'd be lying if I said I had ever heard of them before.  The photography is nifty but you would expect that since the Olympics are pretty much the Olympics for sports photographers too.

       Speaking of collections, these are from the famous (and infamously overproduced) 1992 Sporting News Conlon Collection.

While this batch seems to make a tidy page, they are actually destined for other things.  A few name collections, a couple photo collections, and one is going with my Babe Ruth cards.  Your rudimentary knowledge of baseball history should tell you which.

       Okay, now things get a little more random.  That 1960 Joe Cunningham All Star card is bound for a small collection of cards that I will reveal, well, around the All Star Break (I bought that one on eBay).  That Rocky IV card is one from a set I never knew existed and captures one of the more ridiculous moments in a most ridiculous movie. Apollo Creed deserved better, dammit, and Rock should have thrown the damn towel.  I got that lot of Piazza cards for the MLB Debut insert that I didn't have but it included that UD Masterpieces which might be my favorite non-Met Piazza card. 

Lastly, I bought a set of cards on eBay that I ran into by accident looking for something else, but seeing it, I just had to have it.

        I am sure they are going for a Where's Waldo thing here, just another example of manufactured whimsy from Topps Opening Day.  While nine card sets are ideal, I don't mind ten when I can pluck one of the cards for a player collection - in this case, David Wright - and use the rest for the page (even if it includes a Chipper Jones card). 

I do love how busy this page looks and it will find a place of honor in my weird insert collection binder.  There was also a 2020 Topps blaster waiting for me, but that will have to be another post.  I needed something to cheer me up from missing that cute damn dog.

Mail Call: Shiny!

       I am a sucker for free shipping.  Yes, I am the kind of buffoon who will buy extra stuff just to qualify for it.  Like when COMC.com has one of their free shipping promotions there is usually a minimum number involved, but this really isn't a problem for me since I am pretty active buying and selling on their site.  Well, this spring has thrown all sorts of curve balls and I just haven't been as card-centric as I normally am.  So when I noticed they were having a free shipping for 30+ cards promotion a couple weeks ago, I was forlorn to see that I only had 6 cards waiting in my shipping queue.  Do you think this deterred me?  Did you read the first two sentences of the post? 

I delved into my watch list but only saw high priced stuff for the most part.  I did, however, notice two very reasonably priced inserts from last year's Bowman set.  These inserts were not only Mets cards, they were shiny.  Very shiny.  I got swept up in the moment and decided it would be easiest to make a page of each of these inserts to qualify for my free shipping.  Hey, a bargain is a bargain and shiny is shiny.

The first page is of the 1989 Bowman is Back inserts.

The scan does these no justice.  They are glittery and atomic refractor-esque.  They are like the Diamond Anniversary parallels from a 2011.  I picked out 9 of the most interesting photos I could from the first page of the "lowest price" tab and voila!

The other page is from the Bowman Chrome Fire Die-Cut set. 

I cannot express how much I like the concept behind this set.  I like die cuts.  I like shiny.  I am a bit of a pyromaniac, at least I was in my youth when I almost burned my house down once by making a camp fire in the basement (gimme a break, I was like 8).  I had not seen these in real life and it took me holding one to realize that they weren't just shiny and die cut, but the design itself was the base design, only melted.  I am usually not one for prospect cards, but damn, I love this set.  They are amazing.  Once again, I picked 9 off the first page and now I am sorry I didn't build the whole set.

Keeping with the theme, I nabbed some Mets from those two sets, which were the cards I had watched in the first place.  They were the Noah Syndergaard and Michael Conforto to be specific.  I also got the David Wright and Gary Carter BiB and Travis d'Arnaud of both sets. 

The bottom cards here are three of the six I had in my original queue. They are from an early 80's oddball Cramer set of vintage players in sepia tones.  I chose players I don't have a lot of since the six I had were of the Hank Aaron/Willie Mays very-well represented type.  Brief aside: I have an obsession with pie along the lines of Agent Cooper in Twin Peaks so it stuns me that I don't have a whole Pie Traynor page or player collection.  That is a situation I might have to rectify. 

Here are the other orphans from the original six. 

Nothing very surprising here.  A New Orleans Saint.  A Mike Piazza.  Another Michael Conforto card - and with the Mets quite literally scoring only 1 run a game for the last 2-3 weeks, I am bewildered as to why they haven't called him up, he's only hitting like .330.  So I got my free shipping and it only cost me like ten bucks.  My little buying binge left me with .42 cents credit left and while that is a very good number, I just couldn't leave that in there even though I had hit my magic number of 30.  So one last check of my watch list showed me that the most inexpensive card I had was that Topps 60 Keith Hernandez.  Price: 41 cents.  I love it when a plan comes together.

Good Show, Robert.

       Last week, I came back from my mailbox with a mystery jiffy pack from Robert of $30 a Week Habit, one of my favorite blogs and most frequent trading partners.  I had sent him a small PWE in April, but nothing that could expect a girthy padded envelope.  Here is what awaited me inside:

Shiny Saints! Shiny Saints everywhere.  And just to break up the chromium and die cut madness, a Martin Brodeur of recent vintage that I did not have.  He went a perfect 8 for 8 in cards I did not have and he certainly satiated my need for shiny football cards for the time being.

Seems Robert went a little crazy at a card show and shared his madness with me.  Thanks Robert!

If you clicked on his link above, you will notice that he is currently on hiatus and the vague and sudden nature of that last post has me a little concerned.  I hope all is well in Habitland, Robert, and if it isn't that things get better soon.

Reciprocation.

I have ended a long fallow period of blogging and declared this month the one where I settle all draft folder business so I can move on anew without dozens of unfinished posts hanging over my head.  This past week, I have concentrated on trade posts that for whatever reason, did not get completed. 

       In one week of August 2014, I received not one but two packages in return for my sending out unsolicited cards.  The first bunch is a perfect little pile from everyone's favorite chronicler, Fuji.  Apparently, I had sent him a little something in a fit of mass mailing and these are the cards he came back with:

I must say, two game used cards and two autographs is tough to beat.  I especially love the Jorge Toca, one of my favorite Mets prospects that never panned out.  He was supposed to be the Cuban savior and he wasn't even as good as a Cuban sandwich.  Plus, it is hard to beat a shiny Dickey and an even shinier David Wright.  Allow me to extend a 遅ればせながら ありがとう to Fuji for these great cards I know I can use.

The other package that arrived in the dog days was one from Robert of $30 a Week Habit.  I had sent him a stack of gold numbered parallels I had found in a dime box over the summer for his Insanity Set.  Finding cards for this project of his has been one of my favorite altruistic distractions and he always returns the favor in kind.  This time, he outdid himself:

First of all, more than anyone, Robert looks at and follows my want lists.  He sent me a half dozen 1983-84 OPC hockey cards for one of my pages.  And then, not to be out done, he sent a low numbered camo Mets card from 2013 and a Johan Santana game used Heritage jersey card.  Johan will always be a hero to us Mets fan, so this piece of cloth was greatly appreciated.

I always refer to how endlessly polite Robert is, and his friendly note that was included in the package is no different.  Thank you, Robert.

Mail Call: Wes is More.

Yesterday, I declared this month the one I settle all draft folder business.  This week, specifically, I am clearing out the forgotten trade post drafts that got lost along the way. 

The first one of these I did was over two years old (shame on me!), luckily, this one is only a year old.  Wes of Jaybarkerfan's Junk is one of the most generous and prolific traders I have come across during my blogging.  He straight trades, he holds contest after contest, he organizes card drafts that have quality stuff, and sometimes, he just plain gives shit away.  Back in the winter of 2014, he declared that if you sent him a SASE and a team, he would send you as many cards as he could stuff into it.  Pretty sweet deal and of course I couldn't resist because free stuff.

He included a very shiny and see-thru Todd Hundley - one I didn't have - and a recent Gary Carter insert that I had yet to procure (and one that I have received a couple times since, but Wes was first).  There is some junk wax (Mookie is never junk, though) and some Mets cards from one of my all time favorite sets, the 1981 Topps.  All this for nothing more than .69 worth of stamps. 

I really wish I could remember why I scanned the back of that Elliott Maddox card.  I haven't a clue, to be honest.  I do see he played for the Senators back in 1971, which to a six year old in 1981 would have seemed like some kind of dark age, but I digress.  I also see that Wes stuffed that envelope so full, the post office machines tried to eat it.  Damn you USPS but thank you, Wes.  It's nice that this post came up today since yesterday I mailed out the scratch off from 2015 Topps I pulled to Wes because he asked for it.  Enjoy!

***

Since this was designated a Mail Call, there is stuff from Listia as well.  I recall picking up these Mariano Rivera cards to finish off his page (or maybe to start a second?).  Mo is now long gone now;  these old posts are gonna make me sad.

The other cards in this scan were an odd Mets lot, one with a Ron Swoboda card I had never seen before:

Ron Swoboda would have been just another vague Mets outfielder, but he made the wise decision to make an amazing catch in the World Series.  Ask Sandy Amoros or Al Gionfriddo if this is a good idea or not.  Anyway, this oddball card commemorates the catch and I had to have it. 

Last but not least is a card that probably should have its own post, but it was included in this one and it is a shame but hey, I may as well cover it since it is here.  I do remember very vividly the odyssey of this card. 

Yes, that is a brutally miscut 1994 Upper Deck card.  The front is half Frank Thomas and half Cliff Floyd and the back is all Alex Fernandez.  When I saw it on Listia, I immediately became obsessed with it.  I had to add it to my collection, both for the big error and the Big Hurt.  I watched it, I bid on it, I nursed the bids, and in the end, I won it.  Then began a two pronged issue.  One, right after I won the card I got an email from some other dude saying he wanted the card.  He really really wanted the card.  Would I relist it for twice as many credits?  I turned him down.  He offered me $10, then $20 for it.  I still said no.  He must has emailed me 50 times with different scenarios and reasons begging me for the card.  It got so bad, I eventually had to block him.  Then after all that, the card took weeks to show up.  The seller had an impeccable feedback rating, so I found this odd.  Turns out, though, he tried mailing it in a PWE in the screwdown you see in the scan.  Seriously.  Somehow, it found it's way to me in a mangled envelope in the (in)famous USPS 'oops' plastic bag.  Now that I think of it, that might be why I included it with this post since Wes' SASE got eaten by the hungry machines as well.  Let this be a lesson to you kids, pack your cards securely and wisely because those evil sorting machines show no mercy. 

Mail Call: COMC Cyber Monday.

       I trust all of you enjoyed your Christmas.  I trust Santa Claus brought you everything your heart desired.  Me? I got a nice big lump of coal, but hey, free coal!  Anyway, as a certified (if not quite bonafide) "grown up" I really don't exchange presents much anymore.  Oh, I will bring something if I go to a party, and of course the kids in my life got something, but my attitude towards the whole gift-giving component of the holidays can be summed up in this little exchange between my sister and I the other day at lunch:

Sis: Oh, by the way, I didn't get you anything for Christmas.

Me: Don't worry, I didn't get you anything, either.

Sis: Well, you did just buy me lunch at McDonalds...

Me: Woohoo! Big Macs for Christmas!

All this does not mean I do not take advantage of the retail Armageddon that takes place every year around this time.  One of my favorite sites, COMC.com, always has a big Black Friday sale and then a Cyber Monday shipping special.  I used the latter to get a bunch of cards I had accumulated over the last many months to my house for free.  Freedom!  Let's take a look at what the gods of commerce have wrought:

 Those Iooss' make for one hell of a nice page.  The Jimmy Deans?  Well, they look okay, too. These cards finished off two half pages I started at a show over the summer.  It's nice to see the seasons come together so well.  That last vertical Met also finishes a page started at that same show, alas, it did not get a scanning opportunity.

The second batch here is not quite as cut and dry as it is all over the place.  You have a rookie cup addition and some wonderful Mars Attacks inserts to complete a page.  Then it gets even more obscure with a Chico Resch box bottom card that I accidentally discovered while doing the COMC challenge and immediately gobbled up. There is also an obligatory Gary Carter and a Pinnacle Trophy Collection card to fix a page that I had somehow screwed up while building (it happens). Then on the bottom row there is a NASCAR(?) driver and a 1964 Donruss Addams Family card, a must for any non-sports collection. 

But wait, what is that last card?  What's that name?

Buzz Nutter!


BUZZ NUTTER!!!


BUZZ fucking NUTTER!!!!!!!

Look at that, it's glorious.  I might never recover knowing there was once a professional football player, hell, that there was once a human being that went by the name Buzz Nutter.

Christmas In July.

       When we last left off, I was about to open about 7000 pieces of mail that accumulated over my dog sitting staycation.  Of course to do so, I needed a staycation from my staycation (how's that for pealing out the watchword?)  Anyway, I finally got to give The Stack the attention it rightfully deserved.  Let's just hit the ground running...

I bought a very random lot of oddball 90's food issues from an ebay seller and he mailed the cards in 9-pocket pages.  With a few changes for aesthetics, this page of 1993 Jimmy Dean cards is one of the rare ready-made pages in my collection.  We'll get into the rest of the cards in this lot in a moment.

I had to reorganize the pile of mail into something I could handle.  It went from this to this:

I am going to need a second cup of coffee...I mean, there are 35 PWEs alone here:

Included amongst the Jiffy packs were some trades and contest entry winners and they will get their own write ups soon.  In fact, Night Owl already got his. 

Okay, that is enough Postal Porn, let's get back to the cards.

Also included in that madcap food issue lot were some 1992 Jimmy Dean cards, and...

...a 1992 Score P&G All Star Set.  I already have this set broken up into a page and players, so if anyone wants this one, just shout.  It has a wonderful early 90's look and checklist. 

The reason I bought this lot was it had some of the 1992 Mr. Turkey cards and I couldn't tell you why, but I find this to be one of the great all time oddball sets: the name, the design, the airbrushing, this set has it all.   I still need three more to make a page but I am working on that.

The other set in here was a 1992 French's set, something I had never seen before.  Even though this is an 18 card set, I am going to go against my best instincts and break this badboy up into a 9-pocket page and for player collections.  A few of the leftovers might even find their way to you in trades. 

I was on a real Mr. Turkey binge and also bought the 5-card 1993 Baseball Greats set. 

I nabbed this particular one, over all the others on eBay, because it came with an official Mr. Turkey Baseball Greats notepad.  All of my correspondence will be done on its pages from now on. 

I got a little carried away with my 527 eBay purchases:

The top three all came from the same seller, you know, to save on shipping.  The others all came in a combination of low price or short impulse.  I have four binders full of low price and short impulse buys on that front.  Where else can nameless/faceless rookies hang out with the likes of Mario Lemieux and Brett Favre?

Going back to early 90's oddballs, here is another set I only recently found out existed, the 1992 Upper Deck Heroes Highlights.  It is ten cards of early retro vintage goodness:

I immediately put nine of the cards into its own page courtesy of the other oddball seller.  This set is wonderful in its Upper Deck-ness: the player selection, the terrible computer color adjustment on otherwise awesome photos.  Given my love of the Upper Deck Heroes series and faux-vintage, it had to be mine.    What happened to the other card in the set, you wonder?

It is none other than Reggie Jackson and that card will go into my player collection.  It was a hard choice between his and Ted Williams but the Splinter's card just looked better on the page. 

The other cards on this scan all come from those PWEs and Listia.  I have decided to jump on the Yasiel Puig bandwagon.  I figure anyone who makes traditional sportswriters that uptight must be doing something right.  I will need six more; please check the player page want lists for further information.  Also there are two Mike Piazzas I needed and one that I didn't.  Also some nifty Goudy reprints and a 1963 Topps Dal Maxvill.  I am not 100% sure why I bought these, but hey, the price was right. 

Here are some more puzzling cards from Listia:

The top three cards were all bid upon at the very last minute for 200 credits or less.  My motivations were nothing more than "oh, look, card!"  I figure, any OPC card with a trade line is fun and the blue parallel of a Kansas City Royal is quite good looking.  I also got lots of 2010 Topps and 2014 Opening Day with the similar thoughts and theories.  I love that photo of Big Papi and not only is that EY card have a fine photo, it is his "rookie card."  Sold and sold.  While looking for a few Roberto Clemente cards, I found one Listian with a bunch of small faux-vintage lots of different players.  I won the Clemente, Al Simmons, Tony Gwynn, and Buck Leonard lots.  I am willing to bet that is the first time those four players have ever been in the same sentence together, much less the same envelope.  A simple search of Google proves my suspicions on that front to be correct, at least in the online world.

Sorry folks, we aren't even close to being done.  Did you see that pile?  I mean, this scan is just the "bonus" cards I got in all those envelopes:

I find that a lot of Listia sellers throw in random bonus cards or use non-baseball cards in as toppers.  None of these cards remotely goes with anything I bought but they are appreciated nonetheless.  The Rickey and Buster Keaton cards are especially appreciated. 

I didn't get a lot of other sports cards, but there was just enough to make up a single scan:

Those hockey cards were all nabbed last minute while I was browsing.  I bet you'll never guess why I got that first one?  That 1992 Dave Krieg finishes my Topps page for that year.  Would you believe I finished my 1960's pages before I finished the 90's?  I really didn't buy any football cards back then.  Those bottom two Prizm cards are very very shiny and those scans do them not justice. 

Speaking of shiny blue Prizm cards:

I picked up a lot of seven baseball cards and now I have to decide whether to get two more of that year or make a Frankenstein page of those shiny wonders.  I lean towards the hate side of Prizm, but shiny is shiny and those blue cards are good looking.  Of course, they don't hold a candle to the Topps Blue Refractors.  Maybe I should just send them all to Chris at View From the Skybox and be done with them.  I also picked up a huge lot of 2013 Allen and Ginter dirt cheap.  The big cards are not shown here, the minis are.  While I don't want all cards to be mini, there is something just so enjoyable about those little devils. 

Wait, where are all the Mets cards?  Don't worry, they're coming...

All these 2014 cards come from Listia, including that camo parallel Jon Niese.  I might have to do his rainbow now that I have one of his low numbered parallels.  While I usually like Mets parallels to be in blue or orange, there is something organic and baseball-appropriate about the green parallels.  Topps has used a lot of white for the base the last decade or so, but I think a light green color like this might also do nicely.  I was always a fan of the 2001 Topps set for this reason, though the color on that border leans a little too teal for what I am talking about.

This Matt Harvey comes from that Opening Day lot from earlier, but he migrated down here.

The other cards on this page are random and diverse.  The second card is a rare shown-as-a-Met Richard Hildago card.  The Orosco, Kingman, and the bottom three were all in a couple of random Mets lots I got on Listia for nothing more than I like to tear open envelopes and pull out Mets cards.  The two Tom Seaver cards are the oddest of oddballs.  The middle one is a Sportsflics-esque card from Kellogg's back in the early 90's.  I remember actually pulling this card out of a cereal box.  I couldn't remember if I still had it or not, so I picked it up for nothing on Listia.  The other card comes from eBay.   It is from 1995 and not only have I never seen it before, I can barely find any information about it.  It's a cool looking card, so my $2 was well spent.

Last but certainly not least, let's look at the non-card items:

I got a couple of 1987 Mets schedules on Listia, which actually document the fact that the Mets once won a World Series.  Stop laughing, it's true!   I also got a free Saints car air freshener on Listia because hey, free air freshener.  The other thing here that I picked up is a Mets 101 board book for my niece's 1st birthday.  Even though I am aware that indoctrinating your children as a Mets fan could be considered child abuse, please do not report me to the authorities.

Mail Call to End All Mail Calls.

       I was down in PA for a little over two weeks dog sitting for my brother and when I returned to Starting Nine World Headquarters, look at the pile of correspondence that was waiting for me:

The baseball coffee mug on the right is to show scale.  Literally, this is a mountain of mail waiting for me.  I know I like to order stuff from Listia, but it appears I went a little overboard lately.

This pile alone came mostly in plain white envelopes from fellow Listians for the grand total of zero dollars. 

This pile is from ebay:

Funny how most of these came in padded jiffy packs.  Nice how people actually take time and effort when there is actual money involved.  Well, mostly. 

My favorite of the bunch?  The 5 Mr. Turkey Baseball Greats cards complete with the notebook that was available. 

That's an oddball's oddball. 

Plus, I won not one but two contests recently (not shown...yet), and of course there is some trade stuff in there too.

These Ballpark Fun cards come from Night Owl, who put nine of these aside for me after he opened like six(!) blasters of last year's Opening Day.  I think this might be the first pure reader page ever built. 

He included a few other Mets and a lament that he didn't send more.  Trust me, that page alone is worth it, not to mention the Rusty Staub mini.  Thanks, Greg.

I am going to sit here and watch the late West Coast Mets game and try to sort through all these cards.  Needless to say, I have only scratched the surface of what I had waiting for me.  The weekend will write itself.