Garage Sale Find: Dunking Gorilla

My Father-in-Law found this at a garage sale, and it set him back fifty cents. I have to admit, of all the teams in the Valley, the Suns get the least amount of fanfare from me. I enjoy basketball, but it is a sport that I can only watch in person. Regardless, I was happy to add this to my collection because it is a really cool concept. I have no idea why the Suns chose a gorilla as their mascot, but I am sure that it is just a Google search away.

Garage Sale Find: Todd Helton

My Mother-In-Law picked this up at a Garage Sale for a quarter, and I love it. My sister lives in Colorado, and although they are an NL West team, I have to slightly pull for them (If they are not playing the D-Backs). Todd was a great player for the Rockies, but overlooked by many due to the fact that he played at Coors Field. I don't really care where he plays his home games, the guy was great the other 81 games on the road, also. Glad to add this to my office collection.

Josh Collmenter Bobblehead Day- Saturday, May 9th.

This past Saturday was Bobblehead day at Chase Field, and although it was not a big name player, it was a fan favorite. Josh Collmenter has his second bobblehead (First was Star Wars) in as many years, and is well deserving. Josh signed this bobblehead for me, and his Topps 2014 card for my wife. I did not realize until after he signed it that this bobblehead has a slightly crooked head!

I recently joined a bobblehead trading community on Facebook, and can't help but notice the complete lack of desire for Arizona players. Many people looking to trade actually mention *No Dbacks/Brewers* on their posts which can be frustrating. Lately, I have been really wanting to find people that just want to trade, and I thought I found it, but then I realized that these people on the community were exactly what I tried to avoid. For example, the picture below. Tonight is Kershaw CY Young night, and this guy is selling them for $60 each. I get that it should not matter to me what they do with them, but I guess I just wish he would want to trade to help other people. I tried working out a deal for the most recent Longoria bobble, but the guy wanted 5 D-Backs bobbles, and $10... Sorry, but I guess i'll get it off eBay. When you buy/trade from fellow collectors, it is always cool to build a personal relationship, and that does not seem to exist in the online bobble world.

Alex Cobb Bobblehead

Alex Cobb has been one of my favorite Rays players since he came up from the minors in 2011. Since his call-up, he has consistently gotten better, and really has done a great job filling the void that both Price and Shields left. He did not pitch a game this season, as he was recovering from a "minor" strained forearm, which has since left to him scheduling Tommy John surgery. So he will likely be gone until the trade deadline next year, and have one more season under Rays control.

This bobblehead commemorates his dedication to military members in the Tampa Bay area, and it is one of the better crafted Rays SGAs. Cobber is joined by my Toothless piggy bank... Yes, I am a 28 year old man with no kids that has a piggy bank.

Gonzo Goodwill Pickup

I have been scouring just about every secondhand store across the valley to find bobbleheads or other little tidbits of sports memorabilia. Yesterday while looking for a cheap radio for my back patio, I found something that I never knew existed!

This picture does it way too much justice, as it might be the ugliest hand painted figure I have ever seen. Apparently it was given out as a SGA in 2006. Still pretty neat, and at $3.99 it was exactly what I was looking for. 

Pawnee Print

Wow, it has been a long time since my last post.

 I have realized two things in my long absence from blogging:

1. I think I have ADD or something, because I just can never sit down and post, even though I get excited to do so.

2. I buy far too little to post only about cards and stuff, so I think I will have to change it up a bit going forward. 

Anyways, my first post in sometime has to go to one of my favorite new additions to my household:

This is a Pawnee National Park print by Mark Englert. It is based off of the show 'Parks and Rec' that recently wrapped up in February. It is one of those shows that takes a bit to get off the ground, but does a great job of storytelling. Mark Englert has gotten some recent fame due to the fact that he was picked to create the first Jurassic World movie posters. His work is exceptional, and I would recommend him to anyone looking for a good looking print. Check him out at http://www.tacobelvedere.com. This print is also 175/225

Birthday!T

Well, my birthday has come and went once again. This year I turned 28, and although I was scared to get older, it was an awesome day. Over the past few months, I have been planning a wedding, going to school, working a stressful job, and purchasing a home. I do not think I have ever done so much grown up stuff in a year, and I really never want to again! I am all for being responsible, but I need balance too! 5 days before my birthday day, my fiance messaged me at work asking what I really wanted for my birthday, as I was a bit mum about it this year. After much deliberating, she asked me if I would want to fly out to Tampa to be with my brother for my birthday. He is not a brother by birth, but I have known him since the day he was born, and his mom raised me through my teen years. Anyways, I immediately checked prices on flights, and the Rays schedule to see if they were in town.  The ticket prices were super low, my brother had the weekend off, and the Rays would play the Tigers at home. How perfect! I was fortunate enough to get to see David Price vs Alex Cobb, my two favorite pitchers go head to head. They did not disappoint one bit, with Price pitching 7 innings of no hit baseball. 

This was his stat line: \

David Price Line vs. Rays: Aug. 21, 2014

IP	H	R	ER	K-BB	Game Score	Pitches (Strikes)
8.0	1	1	0	9-0	87	100 (73)

Me(left), Ben (right)

Then I get back to work, and my good friend Dan @ It's Like Having My Own Card Shop surprised me with some awesome cards! Thank you so very much Dan, I truly appreciate everything you have done for me! Dan knows that my favorite Ray to collect is Alex Cobb, and also that I will gladly accept any and all Longo or Myers. In addition to these 3 awesome cards, Dan also gave me some really cool Rays cards that I did not have. Two of them were different parallels of Alex Cobb's first year card.

Gypsy Queen Alex Cobb Printing Plate
The first one I have ever gotten

Wil Myers Jumbo Boxtopper.
Super cool vintage looking card.

Once Dan got me back into the hobby a few years back, I was unaware of relic cards. The first one I bought was a Longo bat card. Now I have another Longo bat to add to the collection.