Moving Right Along

A simple phrase that can mean so many things.  In April, when I started this draft, I initially intended it to talk about the progress I was making moving into our new house.

I could write about the flurry of moves the Cubs have made recently.  Tonight saw Matt Garza go, but prior to that, we saw one of my player collections shipped off to the Dodgers in Carlos Marmol.  I suppose I’ll have to write more about that later.

No, instead “moving right along” really has to do with my state of mind.  The absence from the blog really hasn’t been totally intentional.  Sure the move to our new house throughout April didn’t help matters, but as readers of my previous post (from way back in May) know, there was another reason for the break.

Like I said in that post, even though we only got to spend a little less than a week with our puppy, when she passed away we felt completely lost.  I really want to thank everyone for their kind words and support.  I know I’ve left similar comments for some of you in the past and it’s nice to know that it’s a two-way street.

Unfortunately, that didn’t stop me from falling into a depression that I simply haven’t been able to fully shake.  Things like this have happened before and I know myself pretty well.  I usually can tell when I’m about to turn the corner and pull out of things.  The problem is I’ve been “about to turn the corner” for about a month.

Some of you can probably relate.  You see a pile of work or chores and you know you have to start and chip away to accomplish something.  You even know that doing a little will make you feel better to some degree, but you can’t pull the trigger because you’ve turned it into an un-climbable mountain in your mind.

This blog, among other things, became that.  I would look at all the cards I moved over and it would be too overwhelming to think about.  There was the added bonus that anytime I thought about cards or collecting all I could see is the money required.  I can’t buy new cards. I can’t spend money anymore.  I can’t follow ebay auctions. I can’t spend money anymore.  Goodbye National Card Convention in my backyard for the second time. I can’t spend money anymore.

It wasn’t fun.  Nothing was.  Honestly, most things still aren’t, but I don’t have any plans to stop collecting all together.  You’ll see that group break that was already paid for many months ago (need to recoup some of that expense) and you may see some card sales on here in the near future, but I’m keeping my player collections.  They’ll just progress slowly for who knows how long.have to push forward.  Simply put, I have to move myself along.

Let’s just dive back into our regularly scheduled programming, shall we?  Sorry to do this to you all, but it’s gotta be a trade post.  With no new purchases in the recent past, and none expected in the near future, that’s about all we can get.  I’ll try to mix it up as I go, assuming I keep the motivation to write.

Anyway, I completed a twitter trade with Robby T several months ago.  I don’t really remember what I sent him.  If I had to guess it was either Tigers minis from the 2012 online exclusives or some 2013 Topps from my blaster binge or a combination.  No matter.  I sent him stuff, and he sent me some much needed cards in return.

Off with a bang

A few of the cards in the package fell into the “How do I not have THIS already?” category.  Well, now I do and I must say it’s one of the best ordinary bat swinging photos I’ve seen.

Thinking about his March Madness bracket - back when that was relevant

So, Score released a Rookie & Traded set, but evidently decided they needed to throw some star power in there to sell packs.  One of the methods was through this spring training subset.  Looks fantastic, doesn’t it?  Really captures the thrill of spring training.

Will we see non-white borders next year?

2001 may be my favorite colored border set.  I’m discounting black borders, parallels, and wood borders like 1987.  I don’t know how or why Topps chose the teal, but by golly it actually works.  Never would have thunk it.

Yes, we know it's Topps. Don't need to say it twice on the front

2002 doesn’t land.  The Colonel Mustard border ruins the sweeping banners that otherwise would have made for a fun little theme.

Awesome alliteration

I don’t know if this picture is from the game mentioned, but my initial thought would be no.  I don’t see any playoff patch on the uniform that has become standard.  Maybe they didn’t do that in 2006?  Ah, who cares.  Any card that uses the word “taters” is a-ok by me.

That Zito is unstoppable. Future HOFer for sure, right?

Take that, White Sox!  You didn’t want Frank? Fine.  He’ll just go ahead and lead his team in RBI to show you he still has the goods.

Green Jays

I’m reminded of a time when I was a kid visiting my Great Aunt’s house.  Her TV was old, even by 1980s standards and the color was controlled by a separate knob on the front.  Watching that TV was my first exposure to blue M&Ms.  Granted, they didn’t exist at the time, it was simply that the green M&Ms were showing up blue thanks to bad knob placement.

Locked-in

I know a lot of you aren’t fans of seeing the back of the featured players, but this picture looks pretty good to me.  I sometimes get bored seeing the same old mid-swing image over and over.

The red ain't too bad on the Blue Jays card. This time.

Although, signing the ass is a little strange.

People tolerated a lot of bad color schemes 30 years ago

Ah, 1986.  The year I started collecting.  A gentle reminder that you’re behind in your goals from day one.

Turning over an old Leaf

Of course, getting this Leaf card means I’m one step closer to finishing off the 1986 Gwynns.  Only 25 more to go.  This was even before the days of endless parallels.  Good lord!  You people want more card companies again??

Is that a split-finger fastball he's gripping?

Before the days of foil overload, we had gradient borders.  Remember, this was pre-Terminator 2.  Computer graphics were still very primitive.  We’re lucky to have full color when you think about it.

Voltigeur would later become the name of a Pokemon

Now we’re getting closer.  Gradient borders and “gold” ink.  And French!  And unimpressed guys in dress shirts lurking in the background!  Ooo-la-la.

Tony's so life-like

Okay, Jurassic Park had come out by now.  If they can put realistic looking dinosaurs on a movie screen, card companies can sure as hell put some 3-D graphics on their logo and nameplates – just like Upper Deck did 4 years earlier. Way to push the boundaries, Donruss.

Look at the depth of field on this shot

Someone gets it.  Upper Deck wasn’t here to try to impress you with fancy graphics and borders.  They kept things simple and elegant with their minimal foil and stimulating photography choices.

Shaggin' some balls (TM)

Here’s another one of those Spring Training subset cards.  It may be an action card this time, but I’m still not impressed.

Smile! You're going to be a Hall of Famer!

To close things out, we have a newer card that looks old.  I guess it’s not that new.  2001.  What we have is a rookie reprint-type thing, but I think the picture may be different.  I don’t have his Fleer rookie (or any Gwynn Rookie for that matter), so I can’t be sure.  But I do have this glossy inserty sucker and it’ll do the job just fine until I can really think about diving back into collecting on all fronts.

I’ve been ignoring twitter recently, too.  Part of that has been avoiding as much of life and human interaction as I possibly can.  The other part of that is a phone that isn’t as good at staying on or charged as it used to.  At times I miss it, but most of the time I don’t.   Luckily, my new job will be allowing my wife and I to join the company plan to reduce our monthly bill and upgrade our phones, so I’ll be rejoining that world some at some point.

That’s good, because one of the things I miss about twitter is the trading partners like Robby.  If you have some extra Tigers laying around, please consider hopping on the tweet machine and hooking my boy up.

Thanks for reading and for keeping us in your blogrolls and for the thoughts, comments, support and everything else.  I’m hoping this will be the jump start I need to get moving again.

2 comments to Moving Right Along

  • Play at the Plate

    Man oh man, I’ve been there Jon. I never experienced anything like it until I hit 40 and it related to my age, but it hit pretty hard. Shoot me an email if you need to “talk”.

  • gcrl

    Hang in there, man. Also, I would guess that the 06 Thomas does feature a photo from the playoffs. He is definitely in the metrodome, and the bottom of the special occasion bunting is visible.

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