I'm Thankful for a Package from The Home Run Apple

It has been an up-and-down time -- particularly in sports for me -- since I last wrote a blog post here. I watched on Friday as the Arkansas Razorbacks chose a poor time to revert to being Bert [sic] Bielema's little babies in not being able to run the ball and relying on a quarterback who was less mobile than a lamp post trying to scramble around for a comeback against Missouri. Bert's Backs' loss caused Georgia to be shut out of the SEC Championship game.

Then, there was Saturday's debacle against Tech. Despite a first half in which Georgia's two freshman running backs -- the incredible Nick Chubb and the speedy Sony Michel -- both fumbled inside the 5-yard line, Georgia had come back to go ahead of rival Georgia Tech with just 18 seconds to go. It's easy to second guess coaches, even if we all do it, but Mark Richt's decision to squib kick rather than kick it long on the kickoff goes down as one of his dumbest decisions as Georgia coach. It's right up there with his decision in his first year as head coach of running the ball into the middle of the line with no timeouts on the clock against Auburn...no touchdown meant no time left to try another play.  But that was, as I said, in his first year as head coach.

Gack.

From all that ridiculousness came the Packers incredibly impressive victory over the Patriots on Sunday. Aaron Rodgers is playing as well as any quarterback in the game, and it is a joy to watch him run the offense.

Into this roller coaster ride stepped a couple of packages that I got at Thanksgiving time. The first one came from Keith at The Home Run Apple. Keith's blogging has been interfered with by real life imposing itself on him. But, he found the time to send me some cards and a Topps Chip!

Let's start with the Chip -- which looks to be what Keith thought it was...a gold version of a Ryan Braun 2013 Chipzzzzzzzzz.

I have not sought out the Chipz or Ponch and Jon from Chips or any other chips actively at this point, but it is getting to the point that I need to figure out what I have and what I don't. Of course, I've also been lazy lately so I haven't updated my player collection lists for these cards yet, so that's not going to dig me out here.

As Keith said in his note, he also sent me some shiny Chrome surprises. Three of those surprises were Brauns.

You get the X-Fractor on the top right, the die-cut on the bottom, and the pretty black one serial numbered to 100 on the top left. That black-bordered one in particular is just awesome. As much as I get on Topps's case for all the parallels, many of them are very attractive cards. I just don't want (and tend not) to chase 30 or 40 parallels from one set for one player.

I'm a very bad supercollector, I guess.

Wrapping up the Bruans was this Triple Threads Purple Drank parallel serial numbered to 650 and inspired by JaMarcus Russell.

On the whole, I'm not 100% opposed to parallels. The parallels from the 1990s were not all that bad. I mean, two or three parallels are kind of fun. It's when we get to things like the prospects in Bowman, where we get 8 or 10 parallels of the paper card, 8 or 10 parallels of the chrome parallel, 4 or 5 parallels of the mini parallel, 4 or 5 parallels of the autographed parallel, and then some die-cut parallels of the insert parallels of the chrome parallel -- that's where things go off the race track.

Which is a segue, of course:

When I saw this Jaime Navarro card pop out of the team bag, I was starting to wonder if Keith was just reading my mind when I saw this motorcycle card on Dimebox Nick's blog. It's a good thing that is not the case -- no one deserves the misery of reading my mind! -- because Keith simply sent me a number of the 1995 Stadium Club Brewers.

In the past, I have said that Jose Valentin often got the best card photos by virtue of his being a middle infielder. Now I understand that those other cards were making up for what may be one of the least attractive cards I've seen in recent memory.

In keeping with the team-set theme, Keith also sent me a few of the 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter Brewers.

JJ Hardy's card here is apparently an homage to the Jeff Cirillo 1995 Stadium Club from above.

Finally, Keith cleaned out some of his 2009 Topps 206 cards, including a couple of rookies who (in true 1990s Brewers fashion) turned out to be nothing but hype:

Sometimes the throwback cards work, and sometimes they don't.  These don't. But, they are from a major release set from Topps, and, as a result, they are needed for my collection.

After all, I could collect only the sets I really like a lot, but where's the fun in that? Without Topps's decision making process to second guess, the hobby would be a much more boring place!

Keith, thank you very much for this package. It was a surprise and it was and is greatly appreciated.

Make-up Call

Everyone knows that referees -- particularly in basketball (just ask defrocked NBA referee Tim Donaghy), but certainly in other sports as well -- will give a make-up call on one play to make up for an atrocious call on another.  Whether it is to shut up a yapping player, to appease a complaining coach, or to soothe a referee's own conscience, it happens all the time.

Bloggers can need make-up calls too.  It's not as common, but it becomes necessary when one blogger highlights a particular item that they sent to you as part of a trade and you either forget, misplace it, or otherwise space out and don't mention it in your trade post.

Some might call it eating crow, apologizing, or what have you, a make-up post becomes necessary.

A minor musical digression introduces this post:  So. Central Rain, by R.E.M.:

Back when R.E.M. had their edgy fastball in the 1980s, that song -- with Michael Stipe's plaintive cry of "I'm Sorry" as the chorus -- was the first single off Reckoning.  I liked R.E.M. a bunch in the 1980s and early 1990s, but then once I spent three years of my life in Athens, Georgia, for law school, I gained a new appreciation for their earlier songs.

Anyway, all that is a typically long introduction for a mea culpa: I owe Keith at The Home Run Apple an apology.  If you read his trade post about the trade we worked out, at the end of the post is a reference to hoping that I liked "the Braun Coin card."  If you look at my trade post, you'll see that there is no Braun coin card.

That's because I missed it.

In the middle of two eBay envelopes showing up with a couple of small team-set purchases, I mistook the Braun coin card for being from eBay.

Then I compounded my mistake.  I asked Keith about it. He could not find it, and both of us were scratching our heads.

Last night, though, I went to my bookshelf to grab my uniforms book to fact-check myself on when the Brewers got rid of their wonderful powder-blue away uniforms, I looked and saw...the Braun coin card....

...there, in all of its glory -- even in an eTopps sticker-closed protective case.

That was truly a lesson to me.  I learned that it is a bad idea to open envelopes at the kitchen table before going to my card room.  I learned that it is a bad idea to have two or three gin-and-tonics before scanning things in to show them off.  And, I learned that it is a bad idea not to look around your own room before asking someone else to do the same.

Keith, thanks again for the great trade.  And, my humblest apologies.

Trade with The Home Run Apple

For those of you who have read this blog for a month or so, you'll know that I bought a box of the Topps Museum Collection with its four packs inside and was slightly underwhelmed.  Okay, really underwhelmed. I did get a case hit, though -- a /10 redemption for a Museum Collection Auto Silver Frame of Allen Craig. I tried to sell it on eBay with an opening bid of $70 -- thinking that it looked good next to the other redemption for the same item on which the seller was asking $100.

During the time that the auction was listed, Keith G. from The Home Run Apple -- a Mets collector in West Virginia -- reached out to me and said that he'd be interested in the redemption if the auction cratered.

The auction cratered, and, to be honest, I'm quite glad it did.  Keith sent me a little money by PayPal (which, of course, I've spent on more Brewers Team Sets....surprise!) and some great cards by mail.  Without further ado, here's what Keith shipped southward.

Let's sweat the small stuff:

 

Let's start with what I've decided is my favorite of the throwback sets, Allen & Ginter.  This trifecta of minis from the 2009 set -- with then-Brewers Prince Fielder and "Back in Black not Hell's Bells" Trevor Hoffman setting up shop next to current Brewer and then-Ray Matt Garza.  I think that is pre-tattoo Garza.

So, I collect Robin Yount? Keith has that covered too.

To go along with the mini-theme, Keith sent a Robin Yount Gypsy Queen Mini, which was nice.  But, it wasn't the next addition, which is the Yount Gypsy Queen Bat Relic.  And, adding to the fun is the Canvas Collection reproduction from this year's Museum Collection.  All three are great additions to the Yount/Brewer collection.

Could it get Better?  Oh yeah, definitely.  Keith didn't limit himself to minis or Younts -- he went the next step with autographs and relics too.

Mike Fiers 2013 Gypsy Queen.  I hope he keeps pitching well at AAA and helps the big club this year.

Whoa, that's a really cool Aramis Ramirez relic from the 2014 Museum Collection serial numbered 65/75. That's what I was hoping for when I got the box I bought.  I know, that's a lot to ask, but that's what I wanted....wait, there's more?

Another quad relic of a Brewer?  And this one is a guy who is a player collection of mine?  Serial numbered 18 of 75?  Excellent!  That's a great trade for that Cardinal redemp...what?  No way!

An autographed relic of a guy whose cards I've been loading up on ever since I got back into collecting because, apparently, I have some kind of shortstop and catcher fetish?  Really?  Segura serial numbered 134/299 is just plain cool.

Keith, you definitely exceeded my expectations -- thanks for the trade, and hopefully we can work out another trade in the future!