Cards from Robért of $30 a Week Habit

Out of the blue last week, an envelope from Robért of $30 A Week Habit arrived at my house carrying a multitude of great cards. If you know something about Robért, you know about his Serial Insanity Frankenset. As best I can tell, he is still four cards away, maybe three (there's some cognitive dissonance going on there) from completing that set.

His love of counting and numbers and such gave the inspiration for me to go for a numerically themed music post. That's right -- these songs all have numbers in their title to honor Robért's insanity.

"Song 2" -- Blur

Woo-hoo, indeed. This song comes straight from the "Creep" by Radiohead book of songs that sound nearly nothing like most of the rest of the band's catalog. I wonder if it came about in the same way as "Creep" -- that is, that someone heard a guitar lick and created a song around it. 

Of course, "Song 2" got sampled and played at nearly every NBA game from 1999 through about 2012 to destroy the hearing of every patron in the building, all in an effort to create fake excitement midway through the third quarter of a game between the 2006 Bucks and the 2016 76ers.

NBA Fever: Catch It!

Of course, I like "Song 2" and only wish it hadn't turned into a stadium cheer. I like these Triple Threads base cards too. I just wish Topps would give up on the charade of base cards mattering in a set like Triple Threads and just go to the Dynasty plan of all relics all the time. That way, I could ignore it.

This way, though, I have to try to pick up two of each of these cards (still need one more Braun!) to satisfy my player collection and my team collection.

"Four Horsemen" -- The Clash

I've liked The Clash since 1982 when, as a 10-year-old, I fell in love with the song "Rock the Casbah" off Combat Rock. I sort of forgot about them during the rest of the 1980s as I noodled through any number of different genres of music -- everything from Oingo Boingo to the Psychedelic Furs to Soul II Soul and Metallica and Anthrax. 

I got to college in 1990, and a guy who lived in my dorm whom I hung out with a fair amount got me back into The Clash. I gave him a tape, and he dubbed London Calling onto it for me. I wore that tape nearly out. The guy ended up being my roommate my senior year and, later, through his wife, I got my start in construction law through him. 

So, in a way, The Clash made me what I am today.

I guess, in many ways, the same can be said about 1982 and the Milwaukee Brewers. I was a fan before 1982 -- definitely. We watched games on TV when we could get them; that meant usually about 15 to 20 away games a year on a UHF station in those days. I never went to a Brewers game that I can remember, though, until baseball cards led me there in 1982. 

Thanks to Brewers Police Card day in May of 1982, my love for the Brewers and baseball cards was cemented. That wild ride through that magical season -- and getting to see the Brewers' last home game in 1982 in Game 5 of the World Series -- was spearheaded by the MVP and Molly.

"Three Little Birds" -- Bob Marley and The Wailers

While many people hear "The Clash" and think "punk," the reality is that Joe Strummer (in particular) and the rest of the band were influenced a great deal by reggae. That's particularly obvious on The Clash's first self-titled album in their cover of "Police and Thieves."

So, following The Clash with Bob Marley makes complete sense.

In fact, those two together make much more sense than some of the tribute sets that have come out over the years. Did we need a clear Pinnacle insert? Probably not, though they look pretty good. Did we need short-printed Goudey photos in 2008? Almost certainly not. Did we need blue-bordered Heritage in 2014? No, but for the Brewers I'd argue that the blue-border is a definite improvement on the original.

"Six Underground" -- Sneaker Pimps

I've always been a sucker for British bands. I've always been a sucker for bands with female lead singers whose voices are strangely sweet sounding, like Kelli Ali of Sneaker Pimps in this song. It's sort of like Mazzy Star, though Mazzy Star was more like "hey let's get high and put on a CD and listen to the whole thing on repeat and 7 hours will pass and we won't even notice because every single song sounds nearly the same and the music is just ethereal and where the hell are we now?"

You know? I don't, but Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star was pretty hot in that video 22 years ago when she was 28 and I was 22.

I'm now officially rambling.



Minis from Gypsy Queen kind of strike me as being a good idea in a Mazzy Star sort of way rather than in a trip-hop Sneaker Pimps sort of way. Sure, I needed the Lucroy for my player collection and all, and the Jungmann -- well, there's no need to feel down, Taylor. But they just seem like they would have been a better idea when I was 22.

"One Hundred Punks" -- Generation X

This song came out in 1978 from a band named for a sociology book from 1965. If that lead singer's voice sounds familiar, well, it should -- it's Billy Idol. I first heard that song on a compilation album of punk songs called Punk You! Songs for the Discerning Slacker Punk that also featured such awesome songs as "Oh Bondage (Up Yours)" by X-Ray Spex and "Alternative Ulster" by Stiff Little Fingers. If you like punk music at all and haven't heard of those songs, you need to check them out.



I could have sworn that I had this Eddie Mathews already. It's a Gypsy Queen insert this year, I think, but it marks approximately the 79th straight year that Topps has used this same photo on one of its cards for Mathews. 

Okay, that's an exaggeration. But, it's got to be close to at least 15 years running that that photo has appeared on a Mathews card. Heck, it even appeared on a TCMA card in the mid-1980s. Maybe instead of a rainbow, I should do a "Mathbow" of as many cards as possible with that photo. 

Naw. I'd go broke.

The other Braun insert looks suspiciously like a mugshot. Maybe that is what some unlicensed card issuer should do -- issue a set of baseball mugshots. 

But, then again, Braun was never convicted of a crime. Just of steroid use.

Thanks for the great cards, Robért!

$30 A Week? If I Could Keep to *that* Budget...

I love getting mail from Robért from $30 A Week Habit. Mailers from him often are small but pack quite the punch.

I mean, usually, it's enough of a punch to make LL Cool J jealous. This most recent one was no different.

I'm in a musical mood today too -- I think it was playing an 80s lyrics game on Sporcle during my 20 minute lunch break (it was a busy day...) that got me there. It got that horrible Aerosmith song "Angel" -- horrible because it's an earworm that reminds me of high school -- stuck in my head until I passed it along to my paralegal by telling her about it. For some reason, that worked.

To introduce each card, let's look at some songs that Robért has posted on his blog!

Payola$ -- Eyes of The Stranger

That's a very 80s sound coming off that vinyl. One of the coolest things I noted about that record is that it was produced by the legendary Mick Ronson. Mick was one of David Bowie's backing band members that became The Spiders from Mars, but he worked with Bowie on The Man Who Sold The World and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, among other albums. Then, as a producer, he worked on and arranged John Cougar Mellancamp's first massive hit -- "Jack & Diane."

And, let's also not forget that Ronson also worked with the legendary Morrissey as a musician, songwriter, and record producer. 

Basically, music in the 1980s is nothing without Mick Ronson...

...just like the Brewers of the 1980s were nowhere without Paul Molitor. The worst season that Milwaukee had in the 1980s was 1984. The team finished 67-94, dead last and 36-1/2 games out of first place. Molitor missed most of 1984 thanks to Tommy John surgery. The team only won 71 games the next year, but that year was the year that Robin Yount missed forty games due to back surgery that forced his move to the outfield. The next time the team won fewer than 70 games? 1993, when Molitor left for Toronto.

By the way, a good trivia question is to name the first Tommy John survivor to make baseball's Hall of Fame. You're looking at him (and the only other one as of 2016 is John Smoltz).

Hall & Oates: "Out of Touch"

I don't remember that weird introduction, for some reason. I watched the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction for the band. In retrospect, it's easy to see them as "blue-eyed soul," but at the time, I just thought of them as, well, music. 

Parallels are sometimes like "blue-eyed soul." They purport to be something special -- different, even. In reality, they are just, well, cards.

Golden Earring: Radar Love

In the 1980s, Golden Earring had a pretty big hit with "Twilight Zone." I liked that song a lot. But, when I heard "Radar Love," it really hit me in a more visceral way. "Radar Love" seemed more original -- almost dangerous, at times, with its driving bass line and minimal guitars. Yes, there are plenty of guitars, but the song is really the bass line, along with the drums.

However, the lead singer's attire in this video is positively embarrassing for future generations to see. And, the crowd here looks bored to death. Some even look pissed off. What's all that about?

Because I barely pay attention these days to any checklists -- especially checklists for retail exclusives -- I sometimes miss out on things like parallels of retail exclusives. Like those "First Home Run" cards last year, for example -- I don't think I could tell you what the parallels were or who had them or whether I have any parallels or not. So, when I saw this card, I thought, "dang, I just got that card from The Card Chop!"

Then I looked at them side by side and realized that the one from Idaho is either a gold or bronze parallel (don't know which, to be honest) and this one is the silver version. So, there we go.

The Who: Won't Get Fooled Again

A few weeks ago, I saw that The Who's concert from Hyde Park from last summer was on some random TV station that appears on my cable listings.  The Who played -- okay, definitely Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend played. Townshend still windmilled a bit, and Daltrey swayed around some on stage. 

I suppose I'd like to see them in concert, if only to say that I have. The show was decent, but it was a little sad to see the now 70-year-old Pete Townshend giving little hops on stage as a sort of homage to his more acrobatic past.

A straight-forward homage to the past from Topps here. The great thing about baseball cards is that though they get older, the faces of the men on the front are almost always between the ages of 18 to 43. In other words, these are guys in their prime, for the most part, and our mind's eye remembers their prime as opposed to what happens as they age.

Though it might be fun to revive the Senior Baseball League and allow everyone to take as many drugs as they want.

Billy Joel: New York State of Mind

I have times when I really like Billy Joel, and other times when he just gets on my nerves. Getting a video of Joel with Tony Bennett playing "New York State of Mind" at Shea Stadium, though, is never a bad thing.

Just like getting a new Ryan Braun card is never a bad thing for me either.

And, finally:

Triumph: Magic Power

Robért mentioned this song in a text-only post in 2011. The blogosphere must have changed in the past five years; these days, the only way you get away with a text-only post is either when you are quitting as a blogger or when you are pimping someone's contest.

My best segue here is to say simply that it is always a triumph for me to get a card package from Robért. To get a nice blue swatch of Prince Fielder from Allen & Ginter is especially cool.

Thank you very much, Robért -- your generosity is greatly appreciated, and I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for 1959 cards for your set at my next card show that I attend!

$30 a Week spent $15 on me -- and Packages Hit the Post Office

Okay, maybe it was more.  $30 a Week Habit is one of my favorite blogs to read, and Robert is one of the genuinely good people that populates the blogosphere.  I was very surprised when I received a package from him recently, and I was even more surprised with what the package contained:

Straight out of the box came a 2011 Topps Chrome insert called "Vintage Chrome" of Prince Fielder. It is a nice, shiny card that I did not have -- and those are the best kind!  Then, there is the relic from the 2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes set.

And these were the cards about which I was least excited.

Why?  Because the other cards in the envelope hit my "Primary Players."

For instance, that is a gen-u-wine Ryan Braun Rookie Card from Fleer Ultra in 2007 along with a gold parallel Bowman Braunie from 2011.

But, my favorite card from Robert was not even a card:

I find myself liking the old Braves players' cards and items more and more as I get more of the current or more modern cards. I think it's just the awe of having an item of Warren Spahn that is just cool to me.  Spahn was a legend before I even was born. I think that's the lure of the retired players showing up in sets -- the legends' cards just feel more special.

As long as we don't get so many of them that they become commonplace.

Robert, thank you very much for these cards and the Collect-A-Book.  I really appreciate these.

Finally, I promised that packages have gone to the Post Office.  The following Postal Codes should have cards showing up soon:

97213
26505
75227
35750
76126
16101
48910
...and a package for which I had to fill out a Customs Form.  In triplicate.

Have a great weekend and stay warm!

$30 Habits

Before I jump headlong into this post, I wanted to thank all of you for the kind comments about my dog. It really does mean a lot to me to know that a lot of you cared enough to comment and read that post. I didn't have a lot of desire to write anything the past few days other than to talk about that, so thanks for your patience.

Thanks again.

Before the upheaval last week, I had scanned and planned a bunch of posts to try to catch up on all the great packages that have been arriving from bloggers across the country for me. It's been a great month in that respect, and I have a huge pile of envelopes that will be going out in the next few days to try to catch up on all the trades I've been working on over the past couple of months.

One package came in to me from Robért at $30 a Week Habit.  It's such a good package that it needs musical accompaniment:

Yeah, that's one of Pearl Jam's most repetitive songs with a bit of an anti-drug (probably) bent to it. Last year, Rob Neyer mentioned it as one of the songs that Fox probably would not use in its baseball coverage -- especially with respect to, as he put it, "a certain power-hitting shortstop who joined the Seattle club in the 1990s and became addicted to the fast life and the easy availability of certain (supposedly) performance-enhancing drugs?"

I was a huge Pearl Jam fan about 10 years ago or so -- I spent a bunch of money on collecting their bootlegs from their shows on their 2000 and 2003 tours -- and I still enjoy their music a great deal. That said, "Habit" is, to me, just an okay song.

That does not describe the package I got from Robért. It was excellent.  

It started with a big plastic screw-down holder:

Richie Sexson is a guy who might have been a PC for me if he'd lasted longer in America's Dairyland. A big home run hitter with prodigious power and a birthday two days after mine (though he is 3 years younger than me), the Brewers got him for Jason Bere, Steve Woodard, and Bob Wickman in 2000.  

Then, after the 2003 season, Doug Melvin traded him away to the Arizona Diamondbacks (with Shane Nance and Noochie Varner) for half a team -- Chris Capuano, Craig Counsell, Chad Moeller, Lyle Overbay, Jorge De La Rosa, and Junior Spivey. Sexson played 23 games in his one season in the desert before heading to the Pacific Northwest and hitting 105 homers in three-and-a-half seasons for the Mariners.

Sure looks like the Brewers won both of those trades to me.

I also got a shiny golden K-Rod, happily celebrating a save in 2011:

Now, don't get me wrong. Those two cards were awesome and made the package a very good one.

But the final two cards in the package were what made it an over-the-top ridiculously great package for me.  I mean, how do you top receiving two cards from the 1960s of the greatest third baseman not named Mike Schmidt to play major league baseball:

Mr. Ed Mathews, ladies & gentlemen. Mathews definitely was the player who made putting a strong-hitting and decent fielding player at third base part of the requirements for baseball teams. I mean, the only one close from Mathews's era would be Brooks Robinson -- and Mathews was a far better hitter than Brooks was (Mathews OBP/SLG: .376/.509; Robinson: .322/.401).

Before Mathews came along, the best third-baseman in the HOF was Home Run Baker. Baker now would be hard-pressed to make it to the Hall. He's been surpassed (using the JAWS methodology) by Graig Nettles, Edgar Martinez, Adrian Beltre, Scott Rolen, and Chipper Jones -- and that just the players who either are active, not yet eligible, or not yet elected to the Hall.

Yes, Mathews was better than Boggs, better than Brett, better than Santo, better than Robinson, and better than Molitor. More importantly, he was a pioneer of sorts in the way that Robin Yount and Cal Ripken were -- showing that you could play an important fielding position and still be a power hitter.

Robért, thank you very much for these cards. I've got my eyes peeled for some good Jays cards that you need!

Mailday Post: Robért Went to the National Convention

I have another shorter post for tonight, and then I will try to get to the four massive packages that I have been scanning diligently over the past week.  I love the huge packages, but they do take some time to sort through, don't they?

I'm not complaining, though. It beats the alternative -- nothing.

Some drivin n cryin from 1986 there.  A little throwback to what I listened to a lot a few years later when I was in college.

So, on a far more upbeat theme, Robért from $30 a Week Habit went to Cleveland for the National Collectors Convention this year.  

I wanted to go since I've never been to Cleveland, and there really aren't that many things that would give me such a compelling reason to go there as the NCC -- but I didn't get there. I think I'll save up for Chicago/Rosemont next year and use it as an opportunity to visit my mom up in Wisconsin.

Robért went to the National with a Plan and told us about it. I did not see a category on there for "randomly buy Brewers cards" but, once again, I'm not complaining.  Maybe it was out of pity, but he bought three cards and sent them to me with the following note:

So, part of the National did make it to me!  Here's what Robért was kind enough to send:

I really like the cracked ice (or whatever it was called last year by Topps) Chrome of Ryan Braun. Heck, I really like all three of these cards.  The Gallardo white fabric swatch from Gypsy Queen is just cool, and the serial numbered Braun from the Museum Collection from this year is just icing on the cake.

Thank you very much once again, Robért -- you've outdone yourself.  I definitely need to send you a package again soon.

Trade Post: $30 a Week Habit

About two weeks ago, Robért from $30 a Week Habit ripped through a hanger box of Topps Series 2 and found a Gold Parallel Sean Halton.  While I've set some limitations on how far into the parallels I am going to go with my team set collecting, I decided that the Gold Parallels are numerous enough to chase in a cost-effective manner.  

One cost-effective way to chase these was to see if Robért would send me the Halton.  He was kind enough to do that.  

When I got the envelope, though, it was a bubble mailer.  The first thing to pop out was this note:

Pad the envelope? What you sent, Robért, was more akin to making the Halton padding! Here's what I saw next:

Every one of the cards was serial numbered, and each one had a lower population number than the Halton did.  

Now, certainly, the Carlos Gomez was just 3 fewer, but that one works well because Gomez is a guy I include in my player collections and, further, is a player who is once again tearing up the National League at the plate and sometimes when sliding into base (right, Ian Desmond?).  My only worry with Gomez is that his outbursts and his acting out is becoming so frequent that I fear he might end up going down the Luis Suarez path:

Maybe he won't bite anyone, but Carlos does need to simmer down just a little bit.  He's becoming a magnet for controversy.  It makes it too easy for a team to get rid of a player like that when the performance isn't among the best in the league.  So for his career's sake, he should tone it down.

Thank you, Robért, for the excellent cards.  I promise that you're getting some Blue Jay beauty soon from Atlanta, and it will not include an upside-down Canadian Flag.