Now that I'm down stirring up trouble with Panini, it's time to return to the 30-Day Baseball Card Challenge!
Card: One of your favorite cards from the 1980s
1989 Topps - #647 Randy Johnson
Music: A song from your preteen years
Rosenshontz - Crazy for Dinosaurs (1988)
My affinity for 1980s cardboard is not that high. I was not a collector during that era. Any cards I received were after the 80s ended.
I selected this card because it's a Randy Johnson rookie card. Although he was traded away from the Mariners far too early, I will always remember watching him pitch for Seattle.
A song from my preteen years? It is really hard to think back that far and remember what I was listening to. The only thing that sticks out in my mind is Rosenshontz. Rosenshontz was a children's music duo from the 70s and 80s. I had (and still have) a couple of their tapes while I was living in New Hampshire that I listened to regularly.
The music and lyrics are obviously kid friendly. At the same time, the songs are not so obnoxious that adults' ears would bleed. The songs range from are a mix of folk and rock. The song above sounds like it could be a Van Hallen song.
This song doesn't have it but sometimes it sounds like Bob Odenkirk is singing. Unfortunately, that's not the case.
Like clockwork, fall is here. The Mariners are out of the playoffs (17 year running) and the Seahawks are off to a sluggish start. At least one bright spot is the play of the WSU Cougars Football team, who have played to an impressive 4-0 record. As always, the true test will be the start of conference play.
Card: One of your favorite cards from the 1970s
1973 Topps - #43 Randy Moffitt
Music: A song that you never get tired of
Phoenix - 1901 (2009)
If it is apparent by the past two posts in this challenge, I am not a vintage card collector. This is not due to my aversion to vintage cards. Instead, it's more related to the fact that I have not had much exposure to vintage cards.
I've become more aware of vintage cards though thanks to the blogging community. There are a lot of nice vintage sets out there and maybe some day I'll track down a card or two.
I do have a couple cards from the 1970s, mostly thanks to Topps' buyback program. I know that some collectors dislike the stamping of cards. I agree it's not the best but at least I can say it helped me get some of my first vintage baseball cards.
The Randy Moffitt card earns the nod for today's entry due to it's bright color photo, simple design, and those sideburns.
Speaking of timeless, today's song choice is actually my #1 most listened to track according to last.fm. I've been scrobbling with last.fm since 2006 and while it can't account for every song I've listened to over the last 10+ years, it comes close. If I listen to a CD in the car I will make sure to play that album through iTunes overnight so I get the credit on last.fm.
The album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is more synth driven than their previous albums and marked a successful musical change. 1901 is likely the best representation of old and new Phoenix up to that point. It gets me moving for sure.
Another decade that is entirely absent from my collection. Like the last post, I'm going to call an audible and borrow from a 1993 Upper Deck set, this time it is All-Time Heroes.
Paul Blair made his debut with the Orioles in 1964, became a starter in 1965, and won a World Series in 1966. In Game 3 of the 1966 World Series he was the sole offensive contributor, hitting a solo home run, in the Orioles' 1-0 shutout over the Dodgers. As he was known for his defense in center field, he also contributed to the World Series victory by robbing the Dodgers of a potential game-tying home run in Game 4.
All in all, Blair is a solid player to represent from the 1960s for today's card.
Sadly, Blair passed away in 2013 the day after Christmas at the young age of 69.
Unfortunately, death is all around us.
The lyrics describe the physical and emotional heartache I've felt with the passing of my father:
Every day is basically the same now Get so sad when I think about you All the things you showed to me All the things I couldn't do without you
Only one verse in this song as no other words need to be said. The drum machine and guitar loop throughout the song, never changing. Only toward the end of the song with the addition of a synthesizer do we get some feeling back into the song. The repetition sets me into a daze making me feel like truly, every day is basically the same now.
I don't own any 1950s cards. This card will have to act as my best substitute, featuring Willie Mays from 1951. I've had this card since I was a kid and it was one of my most prized possessions. At the time it was booked in Beckett as something like a $4 card! That is a lot of money for an 8 or 9 year old.
The card scans flat looking. In person, the card has a holographic effect with what I'm guessing is the San Francisco skyline.
After playing on a Sega Genesis, the Nintendo 64, in particular Super Mario 64, was revolutionary. 3D graphics! Huge worlds! Freedom! When I saw footage of Super Mario 64 I knew I wanted that game. For my 12th birthday my parents gifted me an N64 along with a copy of Super Mario 64. I was the happiest kid in the world.
The most iconic song from the game is the overworld theme for Bob-Omb Battlefield, the first level in that game. I spent a lot of time riding around on a Koopa shell like it was a skateboard just because I could. That kind of experience was entirely new with Super Mario 64.
Another contender for today's song was the Hyrule Field Main Theme from the Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. OoT was highly anticipated as it was the first Zelda game on the N64. Zelda simillarly promised expansive worlds with freedom to go wherever you wanted.
The first hour or two of the game was spent in the tightly controlled Deku Woods. Once you make your way through the woods you reach Hyrule Field. Hyrule Field was where the game opened up. As such, hearing the Hyrule Field song takes me back to the feeling of awe when I first made it there.
If I had not recently moved my N64 up to the attic, I'd probably go play some right now.
If you're in the path of the solar eclipse, quick get outside! Don't forget your glasses!
Card: A card that reminds you of a family member
1983-84 O-Pee-Chee #131 Ken Solheim
Music: A song about drugs or alcohol
Green Day - Geek Stink Breath
I've posted this card before so nothing more to say about it.
Except, look at how horribly miscut this card is!
Fittingly Day 8 is about family because I am 99% sure it was my parents who bought me my Green Day CDs. I don't recall exactly the age I obtained my first Green Day CD. All I can tell you was that it was before I ever had a job.
I don't know if my parents knew the lyrics to the CDs but I bet if they did know they would have taken them away. For instance, the song below, Geek Stink Breath, is about methamphetamine use and the phrase "geek stink breath" refers to the poor dental hygiene methamphetamine users have.
My parents DID take away my Adam Sandler CD for being too vulgar. Fair enough. His comedy is rather profane.
I often wonder how strict of a parent I will be when I have children. Would I buy my 13-year-old son a Green Day CD? I think so. As long as they like the music for the music and not because it's glorifying drug/alcohol use, I think I would allow it.
My wife on the other hand...I would trust my kid would be smart enough to recognize that just because you hear something about "adult" things, does not mean you should try it. Also, maybe my kid will be just as ignorant as I was about these kind of subjects.
Growing up I was ignorant about a lot of "adult" things. For instance, I loved going to Winston Cup (NASCAR) races. I had no idea that Winston was a cigarette brand until I started hearing controversy about a cigarette company sponsoring NASCAR.
Similarly, with the Busch series. I did not know it was a beer company. I just thought it was the name given to the stock car series. I can safely say that these sponsorships did not corrupt me in any way. I never started smoking and I only drank Busch Lite in college because that was the popular beer on campus. I didn't drink Busch because I had some fond connection to when I was 10 years old watching NASCAR.
Happy Fourth of July to all the Americans out there! By the time you are reading this I should have hopefully finished a 5K race that I decided to run at the last minute. Why not preemptively burn off those hot dog calories?
Card: A card you bought in person and the story behind it
1994-95 Sports Stars USA - #123 Ken Griffey Jr.
Music: A song to drive to
HOME - Resonance
I can tell you exactly two things about this card:
I bought it at a card shop in Concord, New Hampshire off Main Street in the 1990s
I paid $5 for the card, with the screwdown case
There is no particular story behind this card. My parents took me to the card shop to buy probably some Magic cards and I spotted this card behind the display case. The big price tag (for a kid), the shiny lettering, and the fact that it was in a special case were all highly influential in my decision to buy this card.
Unless I am mistaken, this card is unauthorized. I had no idea back then though. All I knew was that it looked cool. It is well made and I don't think I will break it out of its case any time soon.
Griffey ruled the 90s. There is no doubt given his influence on a little kid that couldn't even stay up to watch his games on the West Coast.
The Simpsons have been deeply ingrained in the cultural fabric of America ever since the show took off in the 90s. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise that the 90s was the best and only good decade for the show.
A while back I stumbled upon the musical genre of ＳＩＭＰＳＯＮＷＡＶＥ (the stylizing is intentional).
What the Hell Is Simpsonwave, you ask? Simpsonwave is a genre of Youtube music videos consistent of classic Simpsons footage overlayed with a VHS quality filter and washed out colors. The soundtrack to the videos is exclusively vaporwave, which is a type of electronic music that has many other influences I don't know even bother to know outside of looking it up on Wikipedia.
The genre is perfectly encapsulated in the above video.
The essence of the song is distilled into this 6 second clip originally posted on Vine. I recommend watching the Vine as the music quality is better and gives you a nice bass: https://vine.co/v/eYrrPU2wbul
The Vine clip is what I'm really into most about this song. During the course of drafting this post I listened to the above video twice. That's a six second clip, looped for 10 minutes, twice.
I can picture it now: open road; windows down; summer weather; no destination. I can drive to this song.
1993 Topps Batman The Animated Series - Autograph #NNO Danny DeVito
Music: A song that makes you want to dance
Here We Go Magic - How Do I Know
Initially, I was going to post about a single card purchase that was over $10. I didn't find any single card purchases I wanted to show off, so I thought about another way of going about it. There is nothing preventing me from showing off a card that was part of a larger purchase. Loophole!
Card is actually 1992 Stadium Club Batman Returns #2
I spent more than $10 to buy this Batman card but it was part of a lot. For $20 I purchased a complete set of 1993 Topps Batman the Animated Series. Included were several bonus cards, including this Danny Devito autograph on a Stadium Club Batman Returns card. I don't recall knowing that this card was part of the original lot so it was a complete surprise when I found it.
1993 Topps Batman The Animated Series #22
At first I thought my autograph was obtained through an aftermarket request since this card is completely different from the animation cards (see above). According to my research at the time, the autograph card was randomly inserted into packs for Batman the Animated Series with a print run of 2000.
I have no proof the autograph is authentic but according to my untrained eye, it appears to be real. There is no Topps autograph guarantee on the card itself. To be safe, I would like to have the autograph authenticated by PSA someday.
Dr. Mantis Tobaggan
A complete set with a bonus autograph card of Dr. Mantis Tobaggan himself? What an eBay score!
To celebrate a most wonderful eBay score, it always makes me want to dance!
The music video for this indie-pop song, directed by Sean Pecknold (brother of Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold), tells the story of an older man who is forced by his jealous wife to get rid of a robot. Perhaps the wife is jealous of the robot's primary skills: dancing and philosophy. The man takes the robot out to the desert for one last escapade where they can time to the desert where they can dance outside of a watchful eye.
Card: A certified autograph card of one of your favorite players
2012 Topps - Golden Moments Autographs #GMA-FH Felix Hernandez
Note: this song contains liberal use of the word "mothafucker." Do not play this song loud if at work or near children.
I first heard this song on local community college radio, KGRG 89.9. I would listen to it in my 1971 Chevy, wishing I had more than a paltry single speaker. With a song about having a trunk full of amps, it only makes sense that this song should be played loud. I can feel the bass pulsing through my body as I imagine what it's like to play this song over a properly decked out sound system.
The lyrics wouldn't come close to winning a Grammy in the "Best Songwriting" category but that's part of what makes the song so fun. It's a silly, carefree song. The song is even better when played loud.
2012 Topps - Golden Moments Autographs
The loudest player on the Seattle Mariners is no doubt Felix Hernandez. He plays with such passion that he is always cranked up to 10. A loud, home crowd is the ultimate motivator for Felix. That makes his pitching more electric to watch.
His autographs are not cheap and the ones that are on the lower end of the price range are not the best looking cards. When I was looking at buying a Hernandez autograph I wanted it to be worthy of display. At $25 on COMC, this was a suitable entry-level autograph of King Felix.
Despite being a sticker autograph, his signature remains one of my favorites in the collection.
It's time to jump back into the 30-day trading card challenge. As always, I am simultaneously doing to the 30-day music challenge. Here are the topics of the day!
Music: A song that reminds you of someone you would rather forget about
Stars - Ageless Beauty
Card: A rookie card of one of your favorite players
2013-14 Panini #161 Kelly Olynyk
I'm at a point in my life where if there is someone I want to forget about, they have been forgotten. I would rather forget about moments than people. (although I don't think there is someone who I would rather forget).
This song by Stars evokes heartache from a time during college. Without getting into the details (this is a card blog, not my Livejournal), all I can say is that the love lost cut me deep. Even though this song reminds me of her, I harbor no ill will. Thus, I don't care to forget the person this song reminds me of but I would like to forget the moment associated with it.
---
Attending law school was a similar experience to attending college. Thrust into a new environment, having to form new social circles, all the while trying to conquer the challenge that is the first year of an experience like no other. One of the ways to form a bond with new classmates was to coalesce around a common interest: Gonzaga basketball.
2013-14 Panini
One of my favorite players is Kelly Olynyk who played at Gonzaga during my time there. He's a tall center at 7 foot even who is not afraid to shoot from behind the arc. At the beginning of his college career he was small for his size but the way he played I knew he had something going for himself.
After his sophomore year, he took a redshirt year to develop. It paid off as Olynyk returned a completely different player. He hit the gym hard and filled out his frame.
Pre-revolution
Olynyk in his junior year
All grown up
Olynyk not only had a radical physical transformation before and after his redshirt season; he played remarkably better his junior year. His stats were up all across the board.
Season
PPG
FG%
FT%
RPG
Freshman
3.8
50.0%
59.6%
2.7
Sophomore
5.8
57.4%
61.8%
3.8
REDSHIRT
Junior
17.8
62.9%
77.6%
7.3
His play propelled Gonzaga to it's first ever #1 AP & Coaches Top 25 ranking and Gonzaga's first #1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
After declaring for the draft following his junior year, the Dallas Mavericks drafted Olynyk in the first round before shipping him off to the Boston Celtics. Without the Sonics, the Celtics are my favorite NBA team so I could not have been happier that Olynyk would get to wear the Celtic green. His rookie cards all look wonderful.
2013-14 Panini Court Kings - Art Nouveau Jerseys
With his combined his play style, skills, and teams played for, Olynyk is one of my favorite players.
Here in Seattle it's universally understood that summer doesn't unofficially begin until after the Fourth of July. Until then, the weather makes no guarantees. I don't know if I can wait that long for a nice, sunny day. Seattle recently broke a 122-year-old record for the rainiest winter.
I'm ready to get out of the rain. Fortunately I will making a trip to San Diego soon. There I know I'm guaranteed some sun. I'm also guaranteed a San Diego Padres game. This will mark the sixth different major league stadium (four if you exclude defunct stadiums) I have visited. I'm excited.
All this talk about sun fits nicely into today's categoires:
Music: A song that reminds you of summertime
Minus the Bear - Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse
Trading Cards: A card from the first set you tried to complete
Magic the Gathering - Revised (3rd) Edition
Finding a song to remind me of summer was hard. Way back in 2005 I remember trying to come up with songs/albums that reminded me of each season and I could never come up with anything for summer.
The song I picked doesn't remind me of any specific for summer but the feeling it gives me is a hot summer evening, windows open, a cool breeze wavering in. Perhaps one of the reasons why this song, and really the album it's from, reminds of summer is that I first discovered the song in the summer.
Back in high school I went to a LAN (Local Area Network) party at my friend's house. LAN parties were necessary in the days of dial-up internet. In order to play multiplayer games with each other on our computers, we needed to be in the same room on the same network. After we would play a few hours of Counter-Strike we would all download music and movies from each others' computers.
Minus the Bear's Highly Refined Pirates was one such album I picked up as all the songs titles were unusual like "Monkey!!! Knife!!! Fight!!!" and "Thanks for the Killer Game of Crisco Twister." I became a big fan of the band for their next two albums Menos El Oso and Planet of Ice.
I stopped tracking the band when their album Omni focused less on the technical, math rock and veered toward synthpop. Admittedly, I only listened to one song from Omni as wasn't the direction I was expecting or wanted. I love a good synthpop album but not when it's from one of your favorite bands who should not be making such an album. As I write this I decided to put on Omni to see if I can fairly judge it. Stay tuned.
When I think about summertime, I often think about summer in New Hampshire growing up. The summers there were hot and humid. They were also a lot of fun. I had no school. I had no responsibilities. I could play all day. Simpler times.
When I think about New Hampshire I also think about collecting Magic the Gathering cards. I don't recall how I became hooked on Magic; maybe because other kids at school were playing the game. At one point, you had to get special permission to play the game at school. I also think Magic cards were banned at one time, too.
I collected Magic cards during the time of the Revised/3rd Edition. One of the best birthdays I had was when my parents gave me a WHOLE box to open all by myself while everyone watched. Thank you Mom and Dad.
I had so many cards that I decided to put together the whole set, which was the first time I tried to complete a set. I did complete the set but the cards have been lost to the universe. I even asked my dad if he knew where they were and he didn't know. I have some mana cards but that doesn't count.
If they ever turn up I will be very happy. Until then, I'll live off the memories.
I went to my first Mariners game of the year on Friday. The game turned out well with Felix Hernandez putting in a great effort and the bullpen held the slim lead that the offense gave them. A 2-1 victory is about right for any game that Felix pitches.
The main highlight of the evening was the stadium giveaway. The day before the Mariners installed a statue of Ken Griffey Jr. After being inducted into the Hall of Fame this was inevitable as he is one of the most, if not the most, beloved players in Seattle history. On game night the Mariners gave out a replica of the statue, which features Griffey with his signature swing.
Onto day 2 of the challenge!
Music: A song with a number in the title
Coheed and Cambria - 33
Trading Cards: A card with more than one player on it
1996-97 Collector's Choice Mini #M135
Coheed & Cambria are often compared to Rush both musically and lyrically. The lead singer of Coheed has a high falsetto voice much like Geddy Lee of Rush. Coheed doesn't lean too hard into prog-rock like Rush but Coheed is definitely inspired by the genre.
Both singers wrote about the fantasy genre. Part of the appeal of Coheed was that each album was a concept album part of a larger story. I never followed the story to completion (if it even ever happened) as I dropped off from the band before that. Still, I can appreciate a band with a larger vision.
"33" can either be interpreted as part of the overall Coheed story or it can be interpreted as a song about Patrick Ewing. The story I heard was that Claudio Sanchez (the lead singer) was at a Knicks game watching Patrick Ewing play from the upper level and was inspired to write a song about him.
I'm willing to believe that the song is about Ewing. Ewing wore number 33. Lyrics include such phrases as "Patrick short flip and outside / boundary lines" as in he's throwing a pass to the out of bounds. Another lyric includes "well nothing looks right from up here / i'm still unclear about the things you might have said." Since Claudio was watching the game from high above in the arena, he could not make out what Ewing was saying on the court.
No matter the true meaning, it's a fun theory.
I could not pass up the opportunity to post a Patrick Ewing card after writing about a song that may or may not be about Patrick Ewing. I only have eight cards of his in my collection so it was a difficult choice to pick out which card I would feature. Actually, it was an easy choice, a Collector's Choice.
The minis from Collector's Choice were always a treat to pull. The fact that this one features all elite players who are part of the Hall of Fame makes it even better now.
I would not be opposed if this type of three-panel card made a small comeback. In baseball there seems to be some fatigue over true minis as neither Gypsy Queen nor Diamond Kings had minis this year. Although I could envision card companies seeing this type of card as too labor intensive (not to mention acquiring three separate photo rights) to reproduce a similar card noways.
Before I get into the topic at hand I wanted to give a quick aside and say that the beginning to the Mariners baseball season has been soul crushing on a whole new level. High expectations going into the season and the roster looked good on paper. As it stands right now, the team is 2-7. If they don't start to creep back up to .500, it will be a long season.
When Tony from Off Hiatus Baseball posted on Twitter about making a 30-Day Baseball Card Challenge to mirror the 30-Day Music Challenge he had been doing, I was excited to take part. Not only would it provide great blogging material but it would be a fun way to re-examine all my cards. I won't be limiting myself to only baseball since my collection spans all sports. Regardless, baseball will likely take up a lot of these posts.
The music challenge piqued my interest as well. I decided to give myself some extra work and take on both challenges at the same time. As can be seen on Tony's blog, talking about music and cards makes for some interesting connections and discussions. As I've been planning out my 30 days, I've found some great links.
Since I'm going the blogging route instead of posting these topics on Twitter, I'm going to spread the posts out every few days or so.
Without further ado, I present to you the topics for day 1:
Music: A song you like with the color in the title
Kishi Bashi - Bright Whites
Cards: A card from the current year with a photo you like
2017 Topps Now - Team Dominican Republic #W-26
Unlike most bands, the leading instrument here is the violin. Kishi Bashi manages to craft delightful pop. His solo performances are a treat as he does a wonderful job creating looping samples of his violin and vocals to replicate the experience of a full band. I've seen Kishi Bashi play only once but it was one of the most fun times I've had at a concert.
With baseball season just right around the corner [I drafted this the weekend of opening day], there is nothing like the bright white of a brand new baseball. Fortunately, baseball fans were treated to some early, meaningful baseball this year. The World Baseball Classic took over in March and provided a lot of memorable moments. From USA Baseball winning it's first WBC title, to Adam Jones making a spectacular leaping catch at the wall, and to Jose Bautista making a dead-on throw to the plate.
As the Topps Now card indicates, the throw to the plate eliminated a game-winning run to send the game into extra innings. The Dominican Republic would go on to win the game.
The picture captures the moment perfectly. It's photos like these that I hope to see more of from Topps Now this year. [Two weeks into the season and Topps Now has been underwhelming].
That wraps up day 1 of the challenge. Like I said, I plan to put up a post on this topic every few days. Catch you next time!
