Let’s meet up and trade

Just a really quick post before my vacation starts. I probably should’ve posted something like this before, but didn’t think of it. So just in case anyone who reads my blog is close to Michigan, my family and I will be heading up to Grand Rapids, Michigan starting Saturday after I’m done at our local card show in Florida. Our trip will take roughly 18 hours, not including stops, and we plan to stop in Louisville tomorrow night and sleep, and visit the Slugger Museum Sunday. Then we should arrive in Grand Rapids sometime Sunday night, and be there until that next Sunday when we will leave. We are also going to the Tigers/Reds game on Wednesday. If anyone who reads my blog is close and wants to meet up to trade cards, I would love to. Please leave me a comment or email me, and I will try to round up some cards I think you would enjoy. Sorry it’s such short notice, but I figured it was worth a shot. The last chance I will probably have to go through my cards is probably early tomorrow morning, so if you can let me know by then, I should be able to bring some good stuff up.
Thanks for checking out my latest post.
-Jeremy

What I have so far: 2002, 2003, and 2004 Topps

Just a quick post. I will be going on vacation in less than a week, and I definitely won't have time to post in the next 2 weeks or so. I have decided to spend less time blogging/doing customs, so while I still want to post, don't expect these at near the same rate I have been posting. Here is what I have done in the 2002, 2003, and 2004 Topps sets to tide you through until the next post. 

2002 TOPPS

 Bret Saberhagen by Richard

 Tony Fernandez by Richard

 Wally Joyner by Richard

 Harold Baines by Richard

 Ken Caminiti by Richard

 Darryl Hamilton by Richard

 Charlie Hayes by Richard

 Lyle Overbay by Richard

2003 TOPPS

 Tim Raines by Richard

 Darryl Kile In Memorium by Richard

 Joe Maddon Coach by Richard

2004 TOPPS

 Rickey Henderson by Richard

 Steve Avery by Richard

 David Cone by Richard

 Joe Girardi by Richard

 Ozzie Guillen Coach by Richard

 Bobby Dews Coach by Richard

Vacation should be fun, with a trip to the Louisville Slugger factory and a Tigers/Reds game at Comerica Park planned. I may be going to a card show this Saturday, but that may depend on if we are all packed or not and what all is left to be done. I hope to post all about the trip when I get a chance, but for now, I am probably only going to post every other Tuesday, but we'll see.
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog.
-Jeremy

Idea for a Blog Bat Around Post: The people who have put up with my collection

So I don't quite know how these Blog Bat Around posts work, seeing as I run a mainly custom baseball card based blog, and I don't have quite as much interaction with people that I probably would if I ran a baseball card-only tpye blog, but here goes. I would love to see others take this topic up if it hasn't been the subject of a Bat Around post already.

While reading a post from Tanner of Tan Man Baseball Fan about how he was quitting super-collecting Jose Canseco, it got me thinking. He had mentioned in the post about how he run future purchases past his wife, and although she allowed them, she could see that she was a little annoyed. He also mentioned how collecting, for whatever reason, had been the subject of the breakup of more than one marriage. While I hope my collecting will never get to that point, the post made me think of how appreciative I am of my wife, and also to a lesser extent, my parents, who have made many purchases of packs to add to my collection, and also put up with the time that I sort my cards, and the never ending hassle of where to store them. I would like to submit a Blog Bat Around post topic of highlighting the people who lovingly put up with our collections.

For me, number one would be my loving wife, Karen.

That is myself, our 19 month-old Kyler, and Karen. Karen has never been overly excited about my card collecting habit, but she has never tried to change it. She sweetly tries to learn all of the products that I buy packs of, and how they come out each year (Series 1, Series 2, Update, etc.). She goes to games with me, and goes early to get autographs, which is really a chore now that we have a little one running around. Every now and then, I will come home from work, and she will have a blaster or a hanging box waiting for me on the bed, just letting me know how much she appreciates me. She has let me take over our garage, and a bookshelf or two where I put my card albums, posters, autographs, and anything else baseball related. Finally, usually around Christmas or tax return time, she gives me a nice budget that I have been using the last few years to make some nice additions to my Player Collections. She just goes above and beyond letting me collect, and embraces it just like it were herself with the hobby.


My Dad and I at the Cowboys locker rooms.

My Mom and I at my wedding reception.

The other two people I wanted to highlight were my mom and dad. While I really haven't gotten any packs of cards from them in a while, they did put quite alot of money into my collection when I was growing up in the form of cards, pages, binders, and taking me to games to try to get them autographed. From around 1993 on, I went to one Spring Training game a year, from about 1996 on, I went to countless minor league games (at least 100 from '96-'11), and countless Major League games from 1998 on (probably at least 50 through this year). They probably share the highest percentage of cards in my collection from the sheer amount of packs they purchased me growing up. They wasted probably 2-4 hours every game staying late and coming early for me to get autographs (that's not even counting the time wasted going to the game and driving to and from). This was in an era before cellular phones were big, so they couldn't get any work stuff done, or really do anything productive other than read a book or help me. I'm sure they loved my company, but dang, they gave up alot of their time for me. My parents never got involved in my collection like helping me sort cards or looking for cards for me at card shows or anything (which I really wanted them to), but with 3 other kids, they had enough on their plate, and the sheer number of cards that I have in my collection now, as well as the time they took taking me to games is totally worth more than that. It's crazy the stuff that I see now that I have a child of my own. They gave up so much for me. I am forever indebted.

So that wraps up this post, I think. Do you have people in your life (parents, siblings, wife, girlfriend, whoever) who are, or have been gracious with your collecting cards? If you think this is a good topic, feel free to take it and do  your own post, and let others know. Thanks for taking the time to ready my latest post.
-Jeremy

2001 Topps: What I have done so far

Well guys, I'm almost there. Off today, then hopefully just a day where I have to bake a lot of stuff and not set up too much, and then I'm just gonna coast my way to a vacation at the end of the month. There are also some fun spots along the way before then, including planning on what to stop at on the drive up (I'm kind of wanting to tour the Louisville Slugger plant if we are close enough on our drive from central Florida all the way up to Michigan). I have a card show on the 29th (technically it's part of the vacation since I'm taking that day off), and later today, I am meeting my friend Jim, who is a big Cardinals autograph collector. I'm hoping we can make some trades in the future, and that I can boost some of my Player Collection, as well as my Rays, Devil Rays, and Tigers collections. 

I have been working on the 1998 Topps set, getting through the Orioles, and now I'm at card #1449, maybe midway through the Boston Red Sox team. I have completed getting the 1990's set pages kind of uniform, and I have marked off the teams which are completed, made basic template cards to show proper fonts, and added links to the completed card posts, as well as posting any MS Paint templates that I have. I have to say it, I don't think there is much more I could add to the pages to make them more complete, other than to post each card that gets finished, but that would take way too much time.

Here is what I have done so far in the next set on the list, the 2001 Topps set. 

 Orel Hershiser by GCRL

 Ned Yost Coach by Richard

 Billy Williams Coach by Richard

 Ken Griffey, Sr. Coach by Richard

 Julian Tavarez by Richard

 AJ Burnett by Richard

 Julio Lugo by Richard

 Rod Carew Coach by Richard

 Mookie Wilson Coach by Richard

 Bronson Arroyo by Battlin' Bucs

 Jesse Orosco by Richard

 Alan Trammell Coach by Richard

 Alan Embree by Richard

 Dave Righetti Coach by Richard

 Robby Thompson Coach by Richard

 BJ Ryan by Richard

 Karim Garcia by Richard

 Eddie Murray Coach by Richard

 Rod Beck by Richard

 Lou Merloni by Michael

 Jim Rice Coach by Richard

 Joe Maddon Coach by Richard

 Jon Garland by Richard

 Mark Buehrle by Richard

 Bobby Witt by Richard

 Dave Roberts by Richard

 Grady Little Coach by Richard

 Jeff Weaver by Richard

 Lance Parrish Coach by Richard

 Jack Cressend by KOD

 Bob Wells by KOD

 AJ Pierzynski by KOD

 Casey Blake by KOD

 Johan Santana by KOD

 Jason Maxwell by KOD

 Luis Rivas by KOD

 Chad Allen by KOD

 John Barnes by KOD

 Denny Hocking by KOD

 Ron Gardenhire Coach by Richard

 Paul Molitor Coach by Richard

 Dwight Gooden by Richard

 Jake Westbrook by Richard

 Scott Brosius by Richard

 Chris Chambliss Coach by Richard

 Lee Mazzilli Coach by Richard

 Willie Randolph Coach by Richard

 Don Zimmer Coach by Richard

 Mike Magnante by KOD

 TJ Mathews by KOD

 Jim Mecir by KOD

 Luis Vizcaino by KOD

 Mark Bellhorn by KOD

 Mario Valdez by KOD

 Ryan Christenson by KOD

 Ken Macha Coach by Richard

 Ron Washington Coach by Richard

 Paul Abbott by Richard

 Carlos Guillen by Richard

 Cory Lidle by Richard

 Michael Young by Richard

 Bucky Dent Coach by Richard

 Josh Phelps by Richard

 Cito Gaston Coach by Richard

 Dave Stewart Coach by Richard

 Jeff Bagwell Season Highlights by Richard

 Wrigley Field by Richard

 Coors Field by Richard

 The Astrodome by Richard

 Shea Stadium by Richard

 Busch Stadium by Richard

 Fenway Park by Richard

 Yankee Stadium by Richard

 The Kingdome by Richard

 Skydome by Richard

 Joe Mauer Prospects by Richard

 Adam Dunn Prospects by Richard

 Austin Kearns Prospects by Richard

 Josh Hamilton Prospects by Richard

 Mark Teixeira Prospects by Richard

 Adrian Gonzalez Prospects by Richard

 Carlos Pena Prospects by Richard

 Albert Pujols Prospects by Richard

 Ichiro Suzuki Prospects by Richard

 Rocco Baldelli Prospects by Richard

 Adam Wainwright Prospects by Richard

 Chase Utley Prospects by Richard

 Yadier Molina Prospects by Richard

 Jose Bautista Prospects by Richard

 James Shields Prospects by Richard

 Mike Napoli Prospects by Richard

 Carl Crawford Prospects by Richard

 Rally Monkey Mascot by Richard

 Bud Selig Commissioner by Richard

 Cecil Fielder Turn Back the Clock by Michael

Aramis Ramirez by Battlin' Bucs

I wanted to have this day pretty much free to do customs, but with my mom unexpectedly deciding to come over on the 4th, and having to straighten up the house a day or two earlier than expected, I probably won't get many customs done today, but hopefully during the afternoon the rest of the week I will get some done. Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy