Enough Negativity: Post Something Fun!

[Exhibitman]

This place has been as amusing as a morticians' convention lately. Let's get back to fun with this thing of ours. Post something you haven't shown before that makes you smile.



"In 1955, there were 77,263,127 male American human beings. And every one of them in his heart of hearts would have given two arms, a leg and his collection of Davy Crockett iron-ons to be Teddy Ballgame."

[gnaz01]

Ruth Wrapper

[begsu1013]

and oldest living hof:

[Runscott]

I brought the popcorn!!!




...

[Leon]

.




("." an empty message won't post)

[z28jd]

I decided to collect the 1951 Bowman Pirates team set, only to make three multi-card purchases and get it over with in less than two weeks(which I'm even including the shipping time to get to me).

I actually started it because I wanted something cheap to collect, which would be easy to finish, but I planned to buy 1-2 at a time so it was fun. It spiraled downhill quickly when I saw a bunch of them for sale 30% off on Ebay and my brother asked me what I wanted for Christmas while I was looking at them. He bought nine of them, then I went back to the sale for six more. Got the rest about a week later.

I at least had the right idea, I probably just needed something a little more expensive, or a bigger set

[bbcard1]

I have not posted this in a pickup thread yet, but it's my happy story of 2016 so far as sportscards go.

When I was a boy back in 1978, I bought a set of 100 Grand Slam baseball cards. They came with an address list and you would write the players, all of whom had agreed to sign the cards. I probably did about 60 of them before I discovered girls, but I got DiMaggio, Musial, Joe Wood, Rube Marquard and tons of other good names.

Last year I was reorganizing my collection and found them. My first though was that it would be fun to complete the set, but I was missing several that were very difficult. I also discovered that a second set of 100 had been issued.

Anyway, I poked around and found a seller of some of them so we corresponded. As there was a decent amount of money involved and autographs are often forged, I decided to do some googling on the seller.

Turned out it was Jack Wallin, former Donruss photographer and original publisher of the set. We have worked out a deal and i will soon have a complete autographed set of 200 in its glorious black and white graininess (including the Walberg and McQuinn, both of whom died shortly after the set came back from the printer) and a reconnection to the days I sat in my room in Dickson, WV, writing letters to baseball legends.

While the set is cool, I have also enjoyed getting to know Jack very much. He has great stories about the players he had photographed and his travels. I suspect we will remain friends for a long time.

Did I pay a little more than I could have? I'll never know. But I am sure that I feel like I got a great value in the friendship I gained through the negotiations.

In our search to acquire small pieces of cardboard, it is often lost that we are also collecting friendships and connections with other collectors. Maybe that's the point.

[ALR-bishop]

[dclarkraiders]

A game at Camden Yards puts a smile on my face.

[gregr2]

I bought my 2016 MLB Spring Training tickets the other day. We live on the east coast of Florida so we have the Nationals about 10 minutes away and the Mets about 45 minutes south and we usually go see them. This year I talked my wife into a 3 day weekend on the west coast. We got a hotel in Tampa and on 18 March we're going Orioles vs Yankees, 19 March Phillies vs Toronto and 20 March Tigers vs Braves. My wife is not a baseball fan at all but she is sweet enough to go with me and hang out, as long as I buy her a beer and a pretzel!!

[Runscott]

The only card I saved from my childhood collection:

[brianp-beme]

Until I got the magnifying glass out, I thought I had the world's only T213-2 Coupon of Mike Donlin with a caption reading ".200 hitter 7 years".

Brian

[brian1961]

ADAM, RARELY HAS THERE BEEN SUCH A GOOD SUGGESTION AS YOURS. NOT THAT I'M STICKING MY HEAD IN THE SAND, BUT TRYING TO KEEP OUR HOBBY ON AN EVEN KEEL IS REALLY COMMENDABLE AT THIS MOMENT.

I DON'T HAVE A PHOTO, BUT I HAVE A REASONABLY SHORT YARN TO SHARE.

BACK IN 1981, I WAS IN A MAJOR TRANSITION IN LIFE. I WAS ABOUT TO GO TO A DIFFERENT PART OF THE COUNTRY TO WORK TOWARDS MY MASTER'S DEGREE. A VERY NICE FAMILY FROM OUR CHURCH HOUSED ME FOR A FEW WEEKS' TIME. ANYWAY, THEY HAD A SON WHO ENJOYED BASEBALL AND COLLECTING CARDS. A REALLY NICE, POLITE, QUIET GUY, HE. I WAS PARING DOWN MY STUFF AND DECIDED TO GIVE HIM A PORTION OF MY CARD COLLECTION. I GAVE HIM SOME OFF-CONDITION STARS LIKE 1960 TOPPS MICKEY MANTLE AND 61 MARIS, AMONG OTHERS. I REALLY TRIED TO INCLUDE CARDS I THOUGHT HE'D GET A BIG KICK OUT OF. I REMEMBER HE REALLY LOVED THE CARDS, AND WAS THRILLED BY ALL THE STARS I INCLUDED.

THIS FAMILY WAS VERY SWELL TO ME AT A CRUCIAL TIME OF NEED. SADLY, A FEW YEARS LATER, THE WIFE DIED OF A SUDDEN ILLNESS. NOT THAT THOSE CARDS WOULD BRING ANY REAL COMFORT, BUT I WAS GLAD I HAD DONE AT LEAST SOMETHING FOR THE FAMILY AT THE TIME I WAS WITH THEM.

GIVING CARDS AWAY IS NOT SOMETHING I'VE DONE VERY MUCH, BUT AM GLAD I MADE THE DECISION THEN. --Brian Powell

[baseball tourist]

Makes me smile every time I see this.

My daughter Millie at 4 months with her Jays hat and "jersey/onesie" this past season.

[Neal]

48LeafWILLIAMS.jpg

[mark evans]

Originally Posted by gregr2

I bought my 2016 MLB Spring Training tickets the other day. We live on the east coast of Florida so we have the Nationals about 10 minutes away and the Mets about 45 minutes south and we usually go see them. This year I talked my wife into a 3 day weekend on the west coast. We got a hotel in Tampa and on 18 March we're going Orioles vs Yankees, 19 March Phillies vs Toronto and 20 March Tigers vs Braves. My wife is not a baseball fan at all but she is sweet enough to go with me and hang out, as long as I buy her a beer and a pretzel!!

Lucky guy. My wife is an avid fan but, although I share season tix to the Nats, she limits her watching to the living room couch.

[scooter729]

I took part last year in the Red Sox fantasy camp, which was a fantastic experience. A great aspect of it was getting to play a game on the field at Fenway, which was super cool.

The extra special part of it was that my baseball-loving son turned 3 that day, and he got to celebrate by running around and playing catch and hitting with me on the field at Fenway. It's now 8 months later, and he doesn't remember too many things from that long ago, but he frequently talks about the day he got to play baseball at Fenway Park for his 3rd birthday. This picture is a special one for me, and fits the topic better than any card I own.

[gregr2]

Originally Posted by mark evans

Lucky guy. My wife is an avid fan but, although I share season tix to the Nats, she limits her watching to the living room couch.

Funny thing is my wife won't watch a game on TV, only at a stadium.

[Laxcat]

Two Turkeys in a car. And they aren't my brother & me. This postcard makes me smile.

[ullmandds]

ty is fun

[RichardSimon]

Funniest guy ever.

[pete zouras]

[sycks22]

Here's my favorite little softball player who is 5 months old tomorrow

[tjb1952tjb]

Originally Posted by scooter729

I took part last year in the Red Sox fantasy camp, which was a fantastic experience. A great aspect of it was getting to play a game on the field at Fenway, which was super cool.

The extra special part of it was that my baseball-loving son turned 3 that day, and he got to celebrate by running around and playing catch and hitting with me on the field at Fenway. It's now 8 months later, and he doesn't remember too many things from that long ago, but he frequently talks about the day he got to play baseball at Fenway Park for his 3rd birthday. This picture is a special one for me, and fits the topic better than any card I own.

Your son will treasure this "Fenway photo with dad" forever. GREAT photo!!

[scooter729]

Originally Posted by tjb1952tjb

Your son will treasure this "Fenway photo with dad" forever. GREAT photo!!

Thanks Tim - appreciate it!

I took him to a couple of Sox games later in the year after that day, and had to try and explain to him why Dad wasn't out on the field playing in those games. Hopefully he'll be out there playing for real some day!

[tedzan]

I thank GOD that I was born in time to see some of the greatest baseball and baseball players during the 1940's and 1950's.

And, what is presently nice about being my age is that my memory of those years is very clear in my mind.







TED Z
.

[pokerplyr80]

This picture made me smile. Half way to a t206 Cobb run.

[almostdone]

Only original Graig Kreindler I'll ever have the pleasure of owning. (If you don't know who that is 1. Shame on you and 2. Check out his ongoing thread in the memorabilia section.)
Drew

[ValKehl]

Greg, the difference between my wife and yours is that my wife likes to go to (Nats) games, but I still have buy her a giant pretzel and beer. In fact she is often more enthused to go to games than I am - one big reason being that it is a pain in the butt to get to Nationals Park from the distant VA suburb of DC where we live. So, like Mark's wife, I'm quite happy to watch the games on TV (and save the $$ to purchase baseball cards)! But, we've just come down to FL (Sebastian-Vero Beach area) for 2 months, so we'll be going to see some Nats games at Viera and other locations.
Val

[DaClyde]

People think it odd that I collect Hensley Meulens. Now he's a Hall of Famer!

[jerrys]

anorexia1.jpg

[KCRfan1]

Great thread Adam! I have enjoyed looking at the cards everyone has posted, comments about their wives, pictures of the kids, and their memories of years ago collecting cards or great experiences involving cards.

[iwantitiwinit]

Originally Posted by Runscott

The only card I saved from my childhood collection:

Great choice, one of my favorite cards growing up as well as one of my favorite players.

[53Browns]

Me in front of the little corner store (no longer there) where I bought my first pack of baseball cards and then diligently put together a 1982 Topps set by hand.

[bocca001]

Here's a card from my early days that always makes me laugh.

[Exhibitman]

Good responses, all; keep it going.

My first vintage card. I've had it since I was under 10 years old:



Hey, let's give up other successful careers and go into boxing:




Chairman: Item six on the agenda, the Meaning of Life. Now Harry, you’ve had some thoughts on this.
Harry: That’s right, yeah. I’ve had a team working on this over the past few weeks, and what we’ve come up with can be reduced to two fundamental concepts. One, people are not wearing enough hats. Two, matter is energy. In the Universe there are many energy fields which we cannot normally perceive. Some energies have a spiritual source which act upon a person’s soul. However, this soul does not exist ab initio as orthodox Christianity teaches; it has to be brought into existence by a process of guided self-observation. However, this is rarely achieved owing to man’s unique ability to be distracted from spiritual matters by everyday trivia.
[Pause.]
Max: What was that about hats again?

[TheBig6]

[SAllen2556]

Posted this before but I think it captures the essence of the thread better than anything

[ALR-bishop]

[arcadekrazy]

Good ole Al looks like he's having some fun

[Rich Klein]

URL="http://www.comc.com/Cards/Baseball/1989/O-Pee-Chee/327/Dave_Henderson/1944652"][/URL]
1989 O-Pee-Chee #327 - Dave Henderson
Courtesy of COMC.com


But he's smiling on almost every card. And more of us need to remember

1) It's only cardboard

2) It's only a game

Rich

[53Browns]

I agree with you Scott, that pic of the boy with the baseball cards in 1955 captured the heart of this thread like no other! - IMHO.

[Bob Lemke]

Two of my favorite things . . .

1950s baseball and Yuengling

PC110099.jpg

[cool-vintage]

The Royals won the World Series, and I was able to attend an ALCS and an ALDS game.




Something else that always will put a smile on my face is this card.

[ALR-bishop]

[tschock]

Does this look like fun?

[djrhanover]

Taylor, that photo is just outstanding!

[jason.1969]

Went to a show in college around 1990 and saw these two Life mags for sale. Couldn't even come close to affording them back then.

Imagined someday being successful enough to buy them for my office. Looking at them when I get to work does more for me than coffee.

[curch]

My 15 minutes of fame on NFL films presents with my starting lineups!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=...&v=Os4e_u3yBvU

[4815162342]

Originally Posted by curch

My 15 minutes of fame on NFL films presents with my starting lineups!



https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=...&v=Os4e_u3yBvU

Wow, that's awesome!