Jaybarkerfan's Generosity

It's dangerous to stereotype, but in my life I have found that Southerners tend to be generous people. Some are more generous than others, and some of the worst behavior on the planet is exhibited in certain reality shows based in Georgia (yes, Honey Boo Boo and Real Housewives of Atlanta....I mean you). But, when you get down to it, true Southerners will give you the shirt off their back and off their kids' backs if you were truly in need.

In the blogging world, there are plenty of us who live in the Southeast. I know of at least three bloggers who live in the Atlanta area alone. It is not a stretch, though, to say that the man who is truest to the sense of generosity about which I am speaking is Jaybarkerfan -- the man from Hazel Green.  Indeed, JBF was named the blogosphere's most generous blogger at A Cardboard Problem in the Bip Awards, so it's not just my opinion.

I was surprised last week when I saw my ZIP Code on the massive list of packages that JBF sent out after he used his own vacation time to send out cards. I was thankful, but surprised.

This post contains some of the highlights from the package.  Like this highlight:

That was a weird little addition to my collection. It is a 1-inch tall figurine of Ben Sheets from a game called MLB SportsClix from WizKids Games. Made in conjunction with Topps, this game company is no longer around and can be found only by going through the Wayback Machine on Archive.Org. I found a decent amount of information at Board Game Geek as well about the game.  

To give you a feel for the number of cards that JBF set me along with that little Ben, here's another photo:

It was a typical JBF package, I suppose -- a priority mail box filled with about 6 or 8 team bags.  

The box featured a ton of cards that I needed for my Brewers team collection. I'll may show some of those here, but I'm going to focus on that right stack above -- because that stack are all the cards I needed for my player collections!

Let's start with the player who had the most cards and the biggest hit in the box: Ryan Braun.

Yes, it was an unlicensed hit, but any card that is serial numbered to 25 and has a big swatch like that on it is a hit I will take every day. 

The first one of these celebration cards from 2011 I got went into the Carlos Gomez collection because he's featured most prominently. This one goes in Braun, the next one goes in the Hart collection, and one last one goes in the team set.  

I get a bit obsessive at times with my collection's organization. When I organize my player collections, I sort them between the "major releases" and "oddballs & parallels".  Yes, it can take away from that rainbow effect you get with 12 different parallels, but it works for me. One thing I hate doing, though, is moving cards more than once in a binder. So, I put little blue squares of paper with the set year, name, and card number written on it as a placeholder. 

This 2008 season documentary set nearly killed me when writing those little squares out.

Unlicensed cartoon madness.  All it needs is a visual sound effect a la the Adam West Batman series from the 1960s.

That's better.

These two cards reminded me how good a pure, full-bleed, top quality photo can look on a baseball card. Even if they were probably taken on the same day, these two cards are just excellent.

More tomorrow, because this package has so much in it that I can't put all of it in just one, or two, or even three posts!