Pack Rats are Collectors Too

My mom is a hoarder. She got it from her mother and father, who got married and had their first children during the depression. And it's not like they got rich after the war either -- they lived a hard-scrabble life. That led them to keep stuff because either (a) they might need it some day and they would not want to have gotten rid of something that they might need, or (b) it might be worth money some day.

There is one good side to that for me. It meant that all my cards, magazines, and other tchotchkes that I had as a kid and teen were still in her house. Add in the fact that my younger brother has similar hoarding tendencies and, for a while, collected cards and baseball items because I had done it, and my trip back to the cold, white north allowed me to sort through some things that I had no idea were right there for the taking or that I had thought were long gone.

Now, I only brought back a few random items with me on the plane. I should be getting two or three smaller FedEx boxes shipped to me in a week or so with a bunch of 1980s Brewers items and magazines. I can't wait.

But, for now, here's what I brought back with me.

First, here's a small little pin that I know nothing about other than that it must be from 1954 or before.

This guy on eBay doesn't know much more than I do about it, but he wants $50 for it. His might be in better condition, though. All that said, it was a fun find.

Two more fun finds came in the form of two 1964 Topps Coins. 

The first one is Vic Davalillo. I remember him for his second career for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the late 1970s because he showed up on a 1978 Topps card. Here he is in his second full season (first as a starter) in the major leagues at the age of 27 with Cleveland.

The second coin is Elston Howard. In 1964, he was coming off an MVP season at the age of 34. It's like he got better with age, as in 1964 at 35, he his 15 HR, 94 RMI, and slashed .313/.371/.455.  

Now, all of those items are pretty cool items. But, as much as these are practically family heirlooms, I have no real love for these items. So, I'd love for them to go to a happy home that wants them. So let me know if that is you.

Here's another random item I found in these boxes. This one's personalized:

True gentleman Dick Williams sent me this postcard with a group of cards that I sent him to have autographed. I didn't ask for a postcard, nor did I ask for a personalization, but Mr. Williams was kind enough to give me both.

The rest of the items are absolutely things that I know I did not have as a kid, so these must be items that my younger brother and/or my mother picked up many years ago and kept hoping that they would be worth something someday.

The Brewers give these out for free (I think) like a theater does. As the cover in the lower right-hand corner says, this was from the second homestand of the 2009 season against Arizona and Pittsburgh.

A fun reminder of what these two teams looked like 5 years ago in the form of their rosters:

Wow. Look at the black hole behind the plate in Milwaukee.  Wow.  For the Pirates, I love the fact that the LaRoche boys were on the club at the same time, along with future Brewer Tony Plush a/k/a Nyjer Morgan. 

And those are just a couple of the items I brought back. More tomorrow.