Productive Weekend

I really had a great weekend. And, of course, you want to know what I did! So I'll tell ya.

Friday night was a Dwight Yoakam concert. The tickets were a Valentines Day gift to my wife who, a vaquera at heart, is a huge fan of the "Bakersfield Sound" icon. And, truth be told, I'm a big fan as well. He never disappoints in person. Terrific band, great stage presence, plenty of great tunes which he plays back-to-back with barely a breath in between. He did a couple of Merle Haggard standards which made me very happy. And the Arena Theater is a nice venue for him. It's one of those music-in-the-round places with a revolving stage. Everyone in the place is close to the front. Great show!

Saturday was the hotel card show day. Coming a week after the TriStar show I didn't feel like spending a lot of time there but it was productive. I went through my friend Darryl's 1971 box and pulled about forty needs.

The '71 set will change your mind about being condition-conscious. Luckily I already had my senses dulled by chasing the '62 set.

I did something I rarely do at Daryll's shows, I looked seriously at other dealers' table. One guy had tubs of minor/obscure/pointless autograph and relic cards. At a couple of bucks each, I figured I could spare ten minutes playing through some of them. I found a couple of Topps Archives baseball sigs that are already in a PWE headed east. I got this Calvin Borel signed Panini for myself. 

I'm not a huge collector of racing stuff but I do follow the thoroughbreds in the spring leading up to the Triple Crown races and I used to hit Sam Houston Race Park with some friends pretty regularly. This card of the Hall of Famer and three-time Kentucky Derby winner is just the second racing autograph I own. I have a Ron Turcotte photo of him riding Secretariat that I got when he appeared at a  charity event about a decade ago. 

I also found this Chief Bender oddball card from the 1975 Sheraton Great Plains Greats set. You can't tell by the scan but it's a bit bigger than standard card size.

Back at Daryll's tables, I found a pair of 1975s that I needed. I'm down to three cards to finish off that one. If you have a spare Yount rookie hanging around, hook me up, would you?

Keith Hernandez looks odd without any facial hair. Here's an odd fact: Hernandez is the only player to lead his position in Gold Gloves and not be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Jim Rice IS a Hall of Famer, though. And here's a Jim Rice fact: He is the only player in major league history to record over 200 hits while hitting 39 or more HRs for three consecutive years.

Sunday was a stay-at-home day and I spent it clearing card office clutter, consolidating my fantasy baseball spreadsheets and card collection into one file and one binder respectively. I figured it was silly to maintain more than one of each. I now have a pretty big stack of current and recent player cards since they previously had slots in multiple binders. Trade bait!

I hope you had a fun weekend, too.