It was a busy day for my mailman after a three-day holiday weekend. Thinking it would be a slow mail week, the mailbox was stuffed today.

First, a large flat rate box was on my porch courtesy of Mick in Naperville, Illinois. He found a plethora of Bowman Mega Boxes last week and was kind enough to offer some up at cost plus shipping. Ten mega boxes arrived, and I had enough time to rip one open. No hits in box one. Recently, I wrote about usually opening some Topps Archives blasters in my hotel room during my first night at the state tournament. With Archives’ release date pushed back, I was looking for an alternative. Well, it’ll be a Mega Box rip on Thursday night in a hotel room in Peoria, Illinois.

On the trade front, Dennis in Virginia sent a beautiful vintage oddball for the collection. It’s a 1953 Red Man Warren Hacker. I sent a few Gleyber Torres cards his way.

Another trade came from Daniel in Georgia that included a few hundred cards with plenty of Rizzo and Schwarber, and a Carlos Zambrano Allen & Ginter relic. And from eBay, I picked up a 2015 Topps Heritage ’51 Collection PSA 10 Kris Bryant rookie card.

A non-card mailday from Crawly’s Clubhouse. It’s a “Team Chemistry” Javier Baez shirt – Baezium, a play on the periodic table of elements. Crawly wore the shirt to the Javier Baez event at Club 400 a couple weeks ago, and I had to have one. There are several Cubs available in this line.

I’ll try to post somewhat regularly this week, though time will be short. One blog post coming up will detail some tips for new collectors, as I have corresponded with a few rookie card collectors recently and will try to answer some basic questions.

Things have been busy lately, and only getting busier over the next couple weeks, hence the lack of blog posts recently.

Trades were light this week, though I did get packages from Ben in California, Chris in Pennsylvania, Jacob in Texas, Bob in Pennsylvania, and Ryan in New Jersey.

A few eBay packages came in. The 1986 Unocal set that surprised me when it arrived. Read why I was surprised.

Since the 2018 Bowman checklist was released, the David Bote retail exclusive autograph was high on my want list. Of course, the prices were at a premium as it was newly released. Those prices have since dipped and I jumped. Prices will continue to fall, but I was a bit impatient and pulled the trigger.

Mega Box Mania

The red hot 2018 Bowman Mega Boxes were released this past Wednesday exclusively in Target stores. The boxes actually started popping up in various Target stores late last week.

I made multiple stops to Target stores each day this week and came up nearly empty. On Friday afternoon I asked one Target employee who said they came in on Monday and sold out immediately. The second Target I visited had four boxes left and I scooped them up. Finally, I stopped at a Target one mile down the road from my house. It’s a store I visited both on my lunch break and on my way home from work each day this week. An employee said they came in on Wednesday and were sold out quickly. The employee said he wanted to get a couple and was even working that day and never saw them.

Organization and Clean Up

A few weeks ago I picked up another truckload of cards. This puts me at nearly two million cards total.

That many cards covers every square inch of my card closet as well as my card room. Well…they still don’t all fit.

So, this week I have also had to do a bit of clean up in the card room. My supplies and binder shelves came crashing down last weekend.

It was good, because it forced me to do a massive clean up in this corner and throw away empty hobby boxes (I’ll admit that’s hoarder status), purge my binders, and make some room for my Cubs collection. My supplies are now more organized as well.

Busy Weeks Ahead

In a former life I was a sports broadcaster, and still dabble from time to time. Next weekend begins my 10th year broadcasting the Illinois high school state softball finals. Beginning tomorrow, I’ll be cramming to prepare for the next two weeks of tournaments.

My trades will be limited over the next two weeks, but I’ll try to post regularly. Typically, Topps Archives has been released the week of the first weekend of tournaments, and my first night in the hotel was spent opening some blasters. Archives has been pushed back this year, so maybe I can find some Bowman or Heritage to rip.

A few days ago I was perusing Cubs checklists on the website, Team Sets 4 U. I was looking for some oddball sets that weren’t in my collection that I could scour eBay.

One set I found on the site was the checklist for a 20-card set from 1986. It was the Unocal set. Unocal (76) was a gas station. It’s logo is a throwback to the 80’s, and reminds me of my early childhood as we had a 76 station in the small town I grew up.

I found a complete set for just $9.50 shipped and it was purchased. It arrived today, and wasn’t what I expected. It’s a 20-POSTER set. The posters are 8×10 size.

So do I count them? I shouldn’t, but I am going to. After all, they were listed on the Team Sets 4 U website, and most importantly it’s my collection and I make the rules. Final verdict: they count.

Maybe the name that fits images more than any other Cubs player in history is Jay Baller. I say that because of his 1988 Topps card featuring him wearing a gold chain with chest pair popping out of his jersey like Tom Selleck. These images on the 1986 Unocal are a bit more subdued, less Baller.

Great action shot of Thad Bosley. Unlike cards where I dislike horizontal images, I’m a big fan of horizontal images on these posters.

The Penguin! Another image mid-swing here of Ron Cey.

Not sure if I’m going to insert these posters into plastic protectors, or if I’ll attempt to get some signed at the Cubs Convention. Many of the players featured in this set are regulars at the convention, including Jody Davis.

Some of those regulars I’ve had the luck to get to know. None more than Bobby Dernier. I spent more than an hour with he and his wife this past January at the hotel bar. Dernier let me try on both his World Series rings, and his wife was giving me many tips about Italy, where my wife and I plan to honeymoon.

Shawon Dunston was a fan favorite. Great fielding shot with the Wrigley ivy in the background.

Here’s Leon Durham looking to get on base.

Dennis Eckersley throws a pitch in a game against the Cincinnati Reds.

Probably my least favorite image of the bunch. Here’s pitcher Ray Fontenot.

I don’t remember George Frazier ever sporting a full beard, but apparently he did here in this action shot.

Speaking of facial hair, check out the bushy mustache of Davey Lopes.

One of my favorite pictures, just because I can scan the Wrigley Field crowd behind Gary Matthews. I love studying the backgrounds on old pictures. It’s a quirk.

Studying the background on this Keith Moreland poster I spy Marla Collins. She’s the famous 1980’s Cubs ball girl.

Did you know Jerry Mumphrey had the highest WAR of the 1986 Chicago Cubs?!

Best picture right here. Ryne Sandberg hurdling a sliding Willie McGee. Plenty of dirt flying up in the air. Wrigley ivy in the background. And those powder blue Cardinals uniforms were pretty sweet.

I actually bought this Scott Sanderson poster at this past Cubs Convention for $5 to get autographed. I miss the Sanderson signing for some reason. Funny that I paid $5 (plus shipping) for the entire 20-poster set.

This Lee Smith poster would look really nice signed.

How about the seasons Rick Sutcliffe had with the Cubs. He was on.

Another former Cub I spent some time with at the hotel bar of the Cubs Convention. Steve Trout bought us pizza and had a pizza party with him this past year.

At first I was disappointed that these arrived as posters and not a trading card set. After looking through them, I really like them. I will probably put them in a binder for now and take them to the Cubs Convention next year in an attempt to get many signed. Usually, I just collect autographed baseballs, but I have a signed baseball of most every player in this set (and some I have multiple signed balls).

Oddballs arrived Monday. Twenty-one cards from TCMA’s 1976 set, “1938 Chicago Cubs” came via eBay. I bought this partial set at a decent buy it now rate.

The 1938 Chicago Cubs reached the World Series, but were swept by the New York Yankees, 4-0.

Charlie Root appeared in 44 games for the 1938 Cubs, posting a 8-7 record in 161 innings with a 2.86 ERA.

In the outfield, Carl Reynolds played 123 games with a .302 average. He hit three home runs and drove in 67 runs.

Vance Page tossed 68 innings with a 3.84 ERA and won five games.

Behind the plate, Ken O’Dea hit .263 with three home runs and 33 RBI.

Joe Marty scored 32 runs and drove in 35 runs appearing in 76 games in the outfield.

Bob Logan pitched 23 innings with a 2.78 ERA.

Billy Jurges played 137 games at shortstop. He scored 53 runs and had 47 RBI.

Roy “Hardrock” Johnson was a coach. He did have a playing career with the Athletics where he appeared in 10 games in 1918.

Kirby Higby only threw 10 innings for the 1938 Cubs.

Third baseman Stan Hack hit .320, scored 109 runs, and drove in 67 runs. Hack also stole 16 bases.

Charlie Grimm was the manager, leading the Cubs to a 89-63 record.

Bob Garbark was a catcher that played in 23 games. He hit .259.

Augie Galan hit .286 in 385 at bats. Galan hit six home runs.

Larry French went 10-19 with a 3.80 ERA. French threw 201 innings.

Frank Demaree hit eight home runs with 62 RBI in 129 games.

Red Corriden was another Cubs coach. He played for four different teams from 1910 to 1915, and coached the Cubs from 1932 to 1940.

Ripper Collins appeared in 143 games and hit .257 with 13 home runs and 61 RBI.

Phil Cavarretta only played 92 games in 1938. He hit .239 with one home run and 28 RBI.

Tex Carleton played 33 games with a 10-9 record on the mound. He posted a 5.42 ERA with 80 strikeouts.

Jim Asbell hit .182 in 17 games.

I’ll be looking to fill some other Oddball sets, as well as searching for more pre-war Cubs in the near future.

Last week I acquired another 200,000 cards filled with more trade bait. A majority of the cards are from the early to mid 1990’s and cover the four major sports.

There are plenty of the early 90’s Classic sets and 4-Sport sets.

Additionally, there is a lot of hockey cards.

These boxes give you a view of what is available for trade.

There are also several boxes of Alias cards.

I also still have well over 100,000 Oklahoma Sooners Upper Deck cards, as well as Texas Longhorns Upper Deck cards.

Let me know if anything here interests you. Send me an email or reach out via Twitter and let’s do some trading. I want your Cubs cards!