Got my package today
Wasn’t sure about the box as I didn’t know the
Sender on it nor any mention of SSNet54
But figure that what it is

All good this come in small packages - Santa/mailman just dropped off something from someone call (ss Net54)

Have the best Holidays everyone!!!

now we know your secret and who ever gets it will know it is you. :)
Love the idea we should have all done it that way

mailed
 

Mailed out yesterday via USPS priority mail.

UPDATE: received my package today!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Just got mine in mail. And the one I sent was delivered so mission accomplished
And now the hardest part is the wait.
I am excited and tempted
Feel like a kid in the canabis store. Oops meant candy store. Times have changed

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6 PM East is a good time. And I know one person who might not yet receive his gifts unless Fed Ex's sleigh arrives today. (i do have the tracking on that one)

Rich

Haahhahahaahahaa!!!!!

Hey Rich. Just sent you an email.

Rich and I spoke. MS Teams (like Zoom) invite will be for later this week. Not today.
DM me your email if you would like an invite.

Less than 10 minutes to go
 

So if you are able, start getting ready to show the GOODIES

Sorry I could not join you

But I opened mine with the family and Santa nailed it

I got this great 1910 T212 Obak James Whalen and a great 1933 News photo of the A’s (but sadly the uploads kept failing)

Exceeded my expectations and talk about rare not only is the T212 Obak Whalen rare but as a player Whalen was even more rare. Only 1 at bat as a pinch hitter for the St. Louis Cardinals in April of 1913 for his entire MLB Career.

Thanks Santa

Loved it

Secret Santa Sign up and Dates
 

I apologize for not being able to join the Teams meeting, but I wanted to post the amazing gift that my Net54 Secret Santa sent to me.

I have admired and collected Ryne Sandberg off and on since I was a kid. There wasn’t anything better than having my parents drop me off at the mall on Saturday morning to take a few bucks into the local card shop to search for any Sandbergs I did not already have. At one point, I had every major issue in Beckett except for the virtually unobtainable early 90s inserts. As an aside, speaking of Beckett, one of my fondest memories was seeing my name in an issue one Summer in the mid-90s when I won a 6-month subscription for sending a small list of prices I was seeing from that same LCS.

It wasn’t until my parents bought our first computer with dial-up internet access that I discovered additional Ryne Sandberg cards beyond what was printed in the monthly Beckett. The earliest card I ever owned from that extended checklist was the 1982 Red Lobster issue. I only could observe the early minor league issues online and drool, especially the 1980 TCMA Phillies pre-rookie, which is his earliest card.

I regrettably sold my original Sandberg collection when I left home for college, but as I gotten back into the hobby off and on in my adult life, collecting T206 first and later E105 Mello Mints, I have bought back some of those Sandberg cards and memorabilia for display in my office. I even placed a few bids on a 1980 TCMA in Collector Connection earlier this year, but bowed out early.

Well, I was absolutely and pleasantly surprised at the unbelievably generous gift my Net54 Secret Santa sent to me, along with a terrific personal note:

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This is now, by far, the centerpiece of my Ryne Sandberg collection. It has also motivated me to take a bit more seriously the project to rebuild the collection of my childhood. Thank you very, very much, Secret Santa!

Merry Christmas,
Daryl

Great Sandberg card. Reminds me along the dumb trades Paul Owens made as our GM. Love this card.

Too much!
 

Knowing I'd love some tobacco, Santa was TOO GENEROUS.

I got this beautiful Hal Chase. Only my second T206. And I will be honest, I did not know how good of a player Chase really was. Also, something I did not know, sounds like personality wise he was quite a complicated person (putting it mildly). Really happy to add this card to my collection.

Glad you like it Phil. I still need that one (& the pink portrait) for my own t206 Hal Chase collection. Yeah, Chase would probably be in the HoF if he weren’t gambling degenerate & supposed game fixer
very happy it arrived on-time. Merry Christmas.

Hal's story makes Pete Rose's gambling habits seems trivial :)

I found this interesting online article on him:

https://jacobpomrenke.com/black-sox/...-of-hal-chase/

Thank you, Secret Santa
 

My Secret Santa put a lot of effort into gifting me six different cards. I am always happy to get any Phillies cards, especially a pre-war Hall of Famer. I was only marginally familiar with the W516 set previously, so I was not even aware that poor Dave Bancroft was misnamed in the set.

You can't get much different than pre-war baseball and modern Formula One racing, but thank you, Secret Santa, for including one of my other interests. Ayrton Senna is one of my favorite drivers to collect because he was such a compelling (and tragic) figure, but I did not have any cards from the 1992 Grid set. I love any Senna cards that I did not have.

The Senna card is also the first time I have had a CSG slab in hand. They feel a little more substantial to me than some other slabs.

Thanks again for all your effort, Secret Santa. :) I love the cards.

My other four cards from Secret Santa
 

I had to post my other four cards from Secret Santa separately. I kept getting a "failed" message. The top two cards are a pair of 1968 Topps cards. The bottom two cards are a pair of Upper Deck Hall of Famers. Thanks again, Secret Santa.

That is a great memory. Maybe Secret Santa was touched by that story when looking at your previous Net54 posts. ;)

Keep the posts pouring in!

Merry Christmas to all!

I unfortunately missed the arrival of my package by a day. I’ll have to post on the 27th.

Love seeing these awesome gifts so far!

Thank you Secret Santa for the great varirty of autographs

some really cool stuff so far

Love the variety and the quality.

Glad I did it this year

Got some nice cardboard
My brother loves the unopened box
Pulled some nice refractors
Thanks Santa 🧑*🎄

My Secret Santa got me this:

But wait ——— somebody has a humerus prankster side to them. Of course I have never had a pack of cards in my hands that I didn’t want to rip open right away! And to my surprise inside of each 1990 UD pack was a special insert from my favorite team. Nice job of resealing those packs. I tip my Santa cap to my SS for the ingenuity and generosity.

Greatly appreciate the thought/work put into my gift from Secret Santa. I'm building a binder with each page being its own theme. Santa was able to hit on something I hadn't considered, that being the incredibly talented athletes the sports world lost in 2024. This will go great with my collection, so thank you very much. Also, a great reminder we only get to celebrate Christmas so many times, so hopefully everyone is enjoying the day with friends and family!
Thanks again Rich for making this happen!

First, I would like to wish everyone in this amazing group a very Merry Christmas and I hope you’ve been able to spend it joyfully with family.

My wife can attest that I got pretty emotional when opening my secret Santa gifts. I’m not sure if I was suppose to, but I received two packages and both took my breath away. I love old photos and tickets because I learn something new every time I look into them, and I truly feel more attached to them because I can almost feel the stories of the photographer or game attendee. So my first Santa sent amazing Newark Bears photos, a Cedric Durst photo, and a few other amazing gems including the Muesel brothers being treated to a kings return after being in the World Series, and the Yankees listening to the Red Sox on the radio to determine their pennant
fate in 1947. Thank you so much for these visuals and a smile that is hurting my face!

My second Santa sent me a picture of the Glassboro College ‘Profs’, as well as a truly special 1938 Yankees Vs Tigers ticket that has the original matching streetcar ticket! I mean, come on!! As I am a professor myself and former college baseball player, the Profs photo hit close to my heart.

I am truly thankful for this whole group and for this special Christmas tradition with Net54, and will add another thank you for my Santa’s gifts.

With gratitude,
Dan
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My Secret Santa sent me a couple of nice Washington Senators related cards...a T206 Piedmont 350 of Jesse Tannehill, and a 1914 T213-2 Coupon card of Bob Groom. The T213-2 of Groom, although identified as being with the St. Louis Terriers of the Federal League (now my 5th Federal League T213-2), has a 'W' on his uniform, which probably was meant to indicate that his team is the St. Wouis Terriers (or then again perhaps just an ignored letter left over from his T206 Washington uniform artwork). It also has the appreciated addition of a 'Oct 30 1914' stamp on back.

A couple of great cards...thanks Secret Brian Santa!

Santa Spoiled me also not pictured is a 2023 Topps update

That is awesome!:D

Thank you Santa
 

A huge thanks to my secret Santa who took the time to peruse my website and find multiple items for my collection!


First, Santa sends a 2004 game used bat relic card of Lou Brock commemorating his HOF induction year - 1985 (also the year I started collecting cards). Lou Brock who was the first HOFer I ever got an autograph from at a card show and this is a great add to my Lou Brock player run.

Then, Santa sends a 2023 Topps 1988 style autograph of Darryl Strawberry. Strawberry was my favorite player when I first started collecting back in the mid 1980s. I am so happy Darryl has turned his life around and is now making a difference in the world through his ministry.

Next, Santa sends a nice 1953 Bowman Color of Harry "Suitcase" Simpson who came over to Cleveland from the Negro Leagues. I love the '53 Bowman Color set, but only have a few cards from it so far. This one is nice!

And finally, Santa sends a starter lot of 13 cards for the 1950 Bowman set. I plan to make progress on a couple of 1950s sets in 2025 and 1950 Bowman is at the top of that list, so these are perfect for that goal.

Thanks again to Santa and Merry Christmas to all of Net54. This site and the people on it makes card collecting truly wonderful!

I got to tell you all
 

I was ready NOT to do this in 2024 until I received some emails separately asking me to shepherd this project.

Seeing the great gifts everyone who posted has received makes me feel even more pleased I did this again in 2024. You guys are great and basically run this without very much guidance which I truly appreciate.

Thanks again Rich, and thanks to those who emailed you.

And on another note those sealed Upper Deck packs were gloriously inventive. Just glad they got opened and not sent to the thrift store.

Brian

Appreciate all you did for us

+1

Thank you to Rich and all the Secret Santas. Can't wait for next year

I agree with the earlier sentiment of thank you to Rich for again organizing this. I am amazed at how creative some of the Secret Santas were this year.

I think we need to get Rich to Do it at Different Holidays since he is so good at it

Secret Baby New Year
Secret Leprechaun
Secret Rabbit for Easter Etc:D:D:D:D:D

Everything worked perfectly this year. Thank you Rich.
You have been on my Hobby Mt Rushmore along with Dr Jim for years.

Coming in last but hopefully not least, as I've been traveling over the holidays, my secret Santa sent me the full Monster reprint set, with an original T206 Senator that I added to my collection! I'll edit this post when I'm back home with pictures, but a huge thank you to both my Secret Santa and to Rich for organizing!