Old and New Business on a Pretty Good Good Friday.

   First things first, you will have noticed that the header has changed, I figured the blog could use a spruce and little more color plus the other photo was not a good example of social distancing.  While I am not sure if the new one has the guys 6 feet apart, it is still a better graphic for this day and age. 

A couple packages have come to Starting Nine central recently, one was from a new reader eager to share; Tom from The Angels in Order looked at one of my my wantlists and satisfied some missing base Mets, especially from series 2 of 2018 Topps, from which I purchased exactly zero packs:

One of the last posts I did before I disappeared was a harsh yet fair critique of the 2018 Topps design (and what they could have done about it).  I stand by my thoughts 1000% though I must say, those vertical photos of d'Arnaud and Thor looks great regardless of their borderless nature.  I never did get to say what I thought of the 2019 look, but I liked it more than most; 1982 Topps is one of the first sets I remember and it definitely invokes that look.  Anyway, I have a bunch of Angels stuff to go out to reciprocate these so thanks Tom!

The other came from Nate of The Bucs Stop Here, who read about my glut of 2020 Heritage and wanted to trade.  I sent him the Alvarez/Aquino rookie I had and he sent me some Mets that will be far more appreciated around here:

It may not look it, but that Granderson is shiny foil and rookie cup cards are always appreciated especially when needed. My completed trades column to the right has been updated.  Thanks Nate!   Also in the right column, you will see the "followers" and "blog roll" - if you aren't following me, you may as well click on the button now and rectify that.  Also, if you want to be on the blog roll, just let me know and we'll do the old quid pro quo (and not even get in trouble for it).  I usually don't worry about such things much, but with the blog being dormant for so long, I figure I'd like to see more readers and know who they are, especially if they're new.  Hell, I have now posted more in the last month or so than in any of the last four years.  I am also pleased to see that one of the few bright spots of this current lockdown situation we all find ourselves in is that a few blogs that had gone down have started up again.  Let's hear it for the blogosphere!!!

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A few belated thanks need to also be delivered to some altruistic displays of cardboard giving.  Last November, Jeff from 2 by 3 Heroes sent a random email to me verifying my address.  This email had no other information whatsoever but I told him I hadn't budged, address-wise.  A few days later, a package arrived full of goodies:

I am pretty sure it was this long forgotten post that inspired his delivery, but full of Firefly cards it was.  He even gave it an international header card.  There was also a bunch of Mets cards in there too and it is rare that they are relegated to second tier in a scan, yet here we are.  Firefly is streaming on Hulu right now and we all have nothing but time on our hands, so I suggest highly that if you have never seen it to go watch it.  And hell, now is as good a time as any to watch it again if you have seen it.  (belated) Thanks Jeff!

While I was irregularly (then not) blogging, one person I kept trading with was venerable veteran Night Owl Cards.  We have probably sent 40-50 packages to each other in the last 10 years or so and because we know what each other collect so well, we just kept doing it regardless of online status.  At one point last year I scanned this batch:

Matt Harvey?  Sheesh, this is old.  Remember that guy?

These are some fabulous Mets cards and inserts, then there was this vein of oddities (from NO at least):

The note answered my questions when it said "I didn't suddenly become a Bo-Chro collector, the cards just kind of landed in my lap."  It is probably the strangeness of the rookies in there and the gloriously dismissive abbreviation that made me scan them for future use in the first place.  Well, thanks as always Night Owl, I already have plenty in my pile for your next package.  I even looked at your wantlists for a change.

And speaking of piles, lastly I need to clear up a few unresolved trades.  I keep the outgoing cards on my bookshelf close to my mailing stuff and right now there is a bunch of things I need to figure out.

A few, like those Orioles and Blue Jays, I just need to verify addresses before I send them out.  But I also have a rare Barry Larkin insert that I can't recall whom I was going to swap with.  I also have a bunch of blue parallels, do you collect blue parallels?  Let me know, I think those are for you.  I also have a couple of 1990 UD Marquis Grissom rookies that I know there is a blogger who wants to collect 1000 of them or something but I can't remember who it is.  Is it you? Do you know who it is and if he's done collecting his grand of Grissom?  Please leave a comment or drop me a line. 

So now it's back to the grand Spring Cleaning, in between playing with stuff I find of course...

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. 

Giving Thanks.

       We all have a lot to be grateful for here on this Thanksgiving.  Personally, I give great thanks to the fact that I am relatively healthy and happy while living comfortably in a first world country.  I have lots of great friends that enrich my life and a loving and supportive family. Most of all, I am very thankful for the fact that a couple of weeks ago, the Mets bought out Jason Bay's contract so I never have to look at him on my team again.

Of course, I guarantee that he will go to another team and put up a .300/30/100 slash line.  But hey, I give thanks that that is many months in the future.

And to all of you, my faithful and loyal readers - for whom, of course, I am tremendously thankful for - enjoy your turkey and stuffing and try to avoid any horrifying family dysfunction.  As for my plans, I am currently in the airport about to fly off to New Orleans to drink away my holiday and enjoy the Saints game on Sunday. Gobble Gobble!

Football Week 10: Veteran's Day.

       My grandfather was a Lieutenant Colonial in the army during WWII.  My uncle served in the navy during Korea and Vietnam.  My father was an airborne ranger in Vietnam.  My brother was a specialist in the army.  My sister was in the air force intelligence division.  My very close family friend was in the Marines and served in Afghanistan.  I would like to thank each and every one of them on this Veteran's Day for their service to our country.  I cannot express how proud of the members of my family that have been in the armed forces. 

       We just got over a rather nasty election where a lot of rhetoric got thrown around about what is important and what isn't, but without the men and women down in the trenches, all of that stuff is moot.  No matter what your opinion may be of our most recent wars, if you see a veteran of any of them today, thank them, salute them.  I told you this week I didn't care if you went out to vote, but I most certainly do care about our veterans and how you treat them.  They chose to serve and protect us to the best of their ability and they deserve our utmost respect.  I get to sit in my living room in my pajamas on a Sunday with two televisions playing at the same time watching football and talking about football cards on the internet because of them.

These are by far the most patriotic football cards I could find.  I always thought these were Upper Deck cards, but it turns out they are UD clones from 1992 by a company called AW.  I never heard of that company before and I have never seen anything else by them (lemme know if you have) but they seemed very appropriate for the day.  I believe they are a relic of the surge of patriotism from the first Iraq war.  It seems like a slight bit of overkill, but hey, the American flag is actually a pretty nifty piece of design, so I like it.  It helps that the pictures in this set are crisp and are cropped well to fit the smaller open area. 

In case I didn't bang it home enough in the opening paragraphs, I'd just like to say one more time, thank you vets!