HBO: Proof Positive

As I move into Hoch's rookie season, the cards are going to come fast and furious.  Let's start with a TSC Photographer's Proof blue parallel, numbered to /99.

And the rest of the TSC Hochevars from my 2008 drawer.  Yes, all of my 2008 Hochevars take up an entire drawer in my card cabinet.  And, my Hochevar collection has absorbed four drawers.

Also, I just noticed that I've passed the 25,000 page-view mark on my blog.  I've also recently passed the 500-post point.  Both are numbers that I never would have guessed I'd reach when I first stared the blog.  So, a hearty thanks to all of you who continue to stop by and read my posts.

I Don't Have the Heart to Tell Him

 That the 2012 Olympics have already started because he's been working on his back stroke all day.

 He's got great form, but, because he's a dog, has no idea how to work a calendar and no idea he'll have to wait till 2016 to go for the gold. 

Speaking of the Olympics, in a couple of months, when Olympic fever has died down, someone needs to remind me that swimmer Missy Franklin is a Colorado resident and has a certified autograph (for the Colorado Collection, should I ever revive it) and a manupatch American flag card (for the Manupatch Collection).

In the Olympic spirit, here is one of the few remaining Murad cards I've not yet shown off that features an Olympic style sport: shooting.

Hedrix College, 83/150, 55.3%

HBO: Seeing Red

Ugggg.  This card has me so angry.......that it took me so long to get it into my collection.

Numbered 3/5, this 2007 Bowman Chrome Draft Picks and Prospects red refractor is a welcome addition to my BDPP collection.

Semi-formed rainbows like this one are why I'm going to go through the Hochevar catalog on Beckett to find out which cards I'm missing in my set.

HBO: I See Your True Colors

A nice sticker-graph from Hoch's Tennessee Vol days to add to the collection.

HBO: Fifty-Two Card Pickup

Adding a #/52 black bordered 2007 Bowman Heritage Hochevar to my set is pretty kickass, since I've never seen one in the marketplace. 

Frank Drebin Lives?

So, I went to the KC Royals webpage to see how Hoch fared against the Angels and was greeted with the headline, "Hochevar ejected in fourth after plunking Trout".  Well, consider me intrigued.  I love a good hit-by-pitch, especially when it's a retaliatory one.  Then my eyes scrolled down and saw this picture,

I'm no body-language expert, but that doesn't look like the reaction of a guy who intentionally drilled a batter.  So, I watched the video.  


Man, that umpire overreacted.  It was an inside pitch that got away from Hoch, but when Trout instinctually tried to get out of the way, his hands dropped down to his waist and the ball hit the end of his bat.  I would love to hear the ump's explanation as to why Hoch deserved to be tossed from the game for that play.  It wasn't a head-hunting pitch.  It wasn't a pitch to the center of Trout's back.  It was an inside, hip-high pitch that probably would have hit Trout in the thigh had the bat not been in the way.  Above all else, it was a foul ball.  Has a pitcher ever been ejected for a foul ball pitch before?


In my eyes, the ump got the call wrong, which happens.  Then I realized the game was in LA/Anaheim, which made me wonder, was Frank Drebin back behind the dish?  Because that is the only way that call makes sense to me.

HBO: Besties for Life!!!

I had a huge gap in the 2007 Bowman's Best Prospects section of my Hochevar collections.  Turns out, Josh didn't, as he sent me all of these, all of which I needed.

And with the one version of the card I had that Josh didn't, the golden autograph.

Oddly enough, the one un-numbered card turns out to be an autograph card.  Odd.

HBO: This Double Fits Me to a "T"

It took me ages track down my first 2007 Donruss EEE Collegiate Patches manupatch card, so I was super pumped when I picked up a double of the card in the HBO.

As the old saying goes, two manupatches are better than one.

Round at the Ends and Hi in the Middle

O-HI-O!!!

HBO: Fifty Carats of Gold

Continuing down the 2007 Hochevar drawer, how about a #/50 gold autographed parallel from the 2007 Bowman Chrome release.

And the rainbow isn't looking too shabby either, including a bunch of doubles, which arrived in magnetic cases, thanks to the HBO.

Golf Cart

I bought a golf cart last week.  It's a 2004 Yamaha G22 gas engine cart, which is a much needed upgrade from the 1985 EZGo my dad and I have been putzing around the course in for the last dozen years.

Then only problem with it is that it's from a golf cart fleet, which means it's not very flashy in the looks department.  Beige and black. Plain Jane.

Well, I've solved that problem in the only way I, as the owner/operator of Manupatches and Mustaches, know how.

Booyah!!!  Mustache Cart!  Now I just need to get back to tracking down some "duckies and bunnies contact paper" like dayf suggested.

HBO: 2007 Showtime

And here are the other two cards that cued me in to how great a collection of Hochevar cards Josh was offering to me.

These two cards are absolutely gorgeous in person.  How could I go wrong with a #/5 and a three-colored patch? That's right, I couldn't.

These two cards join my newly acquired relic card that I got from AJ the Lost Collector.

I can't think of a better way to kick off a week's worth of Hochevar additions from the year 2007.

Deliverance

This card was clearly the inspiration for the movie Deliverance.

HBO: 2006 Sterling Base

Surprisingly, of the two 2006 Bowman Sterling Prospect autograph cards that I already had, neither of them was the base card.  But, now I do have it thanks to the Hochevar Buy-Out.

The base, refractor (#/199), and black (#/25) cards all together as a happy family.  And, other than the four printing plates and red refractor (all of which are 1/1 and none of which have I ever encountered), I now own the 2006 Bowman Sterling rainbow.  Pretty sweet.

Now THAT'S A Big Flag

Imagine how much fabric it must have taken to make the flag flying above the Navy ship.

Naval Academy -- 80/150, 53.3%

HBO: 2006 Farm Hands

When Josh sent me his Hochevar card spreadsheet, this was one of the cards that helped me know his collection was one of high quality, and I had no idea it was graded (not that it matters to me, but it is a nice bonus). 

Numbered to /25, I've only ever encountered one other card from this parallel set, and it's listed for $125 on COMC, which lead me to believe that I'd never have it in my set without winning the lottery, which is exactly what happened when Josh contacted me. 

It goes well with my base version of the card and there is now one less white whale for me to kill in the Hochevar Card ocean.

WRU

Pretty sure this is the first card to feature snowshoes. 

Western Reserve University -- 79/150, 52.6%

As an aside, is anyone else watching the British Open?  It is MAGNIFICENT to have 8-hours of golf coverage for four straight days.

HBO: 2005

I'm going to begin showing off the cards I received in the "Hochevar Buy-Out", henceforth known as "HBO".  But before I get to the cards, how about a little information about their former owner, Josh.

During our emailing back and forth, I learned about Josh and his Hochevar collection.  I believe he sums it up best.

"I've been collecting Hoch for around a year or so. I started collecting him for two main reasons, I always wanted to have a player collection of a baseball player (as I've mainly focused on football cards in the past), and I've been following Luke as he's progressed in the majors for the past few years. I always admired his raw pitching talent, which I believe once he gets a firm hold of it (on a more consistent basis), he's going to be a star.

I'm definitely sentimental with my cards and having to make this decision was a hard one I no longer found myself to have the big passion I had for collecting his cards as I once did, coupled with the fact that the extra money will be of much use when school starts up this fall. But I could tell you have had a consistent passion (plus the personal connection with Hoch) and I am more than happy passing these cards onto your great collection. They're going to a good home."

I'm so very glad that Josh contacted me about buying his collection, and, as you'll see over the next few weeks, it contained a ton of great Hochevar cards.

Since I've already sorted and filed them, I thought it'd be fun to go through them chronologically.  Let's start at the beginning with the card from 2005 that I needed.

Added to the collection:

Since I've already written a song about a "red sharpie auto", I'll just let the card do the talking.

The parallel rainbow the card was added to:

Also, as you'll notice, I knew these cards were from a loving home because a majority of them arrived in magnetic card holders, and every other card came in a toploader, including the base card duplicates. 

Stay tuned tomorrow as we move into the 2006 cards.

No Louis? What Is He, Chopped Liver?

This has to be the best picture of my collection to date.  I'm assuming a modern day version of this card would include hillbilly handfishing/noodling of a catfish.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Trade Report: Who Are You Calling a Fathead?

I'm pretty sure all of the puns/double-entendres have already been made about Spankee and his Cardboard Mistress blog, so I chose to take the high road and pretend that he called me a mean name during our trade. 

Well, he didn't call me a Fathead, but he did send me one.

I've placed it next to a Gypsy Queen mini and base card of Moose and Country Breakfast, respectively.  Since it won't fit inside my library card file cabinet, I found it a home on top of the cabinet and it looks great.

And, since he already included one "tradeable", Spankee decided to add a few more Royals and a couple of CarGo Rocks.

And, the pieces de resistance, a couple of cards that I'm glad to add to two of my severely neglected collections.

Annika and John.  There's a joke to be made about the shorts in these pictures, but I haven't stumbled upon it just yet.  Help a brother out?

Thanks for the great cards Spankster!

And don't forget to (shill) bid on my current card auctions!

Trade Report: Restarting a Collection Thanks to PTSIA

After I bought out the Hochevar collector, I decided to try to recoup some money by selling some cards from my lower-tier collections (of which, the second round of auctions are ending in about a day) which included all of my manupatch cards except for my family name-plates.

Well, Greg Z. of Plaschke, Thy Sweater is Argyle was going to have none of that.  So, he restarted my ABC manupatch collection with a great "V".

Greg also sent along an avalanche of golden nuggets.

And, because he's awesome that way, he also tracked down some Mustache Portrait cards that I'll be using during this year's Movember.

Thanks again, Greg!  And I hope everyone takes a moment to wish Greg a happy 23rd birthday and to vote for him in the Sandy Koufax autograph give-away. 

Trade Report: Sometimes You Don't Know a Card is Lost Until It Is Returned Home

I love when Hochevar cards hunt me down instead of the other way around.  In this case, AJ The Lost Collector let me know that he had a Hochevar relic card that I needed for my collection.  YAHTZEE!!!

Getting this card in my collection opened the TriStar Elegance parallel floodgates because right after receiving this card, I added two of it's parallel brethren to my library card file cabinet a few days later in the "Great 2012 Hochevar Collection Buy-Out".

And, in true blogger-trade fashion, AJ threw in a few extras that are much appreciated.

It's always great seeing a mustache on a contemporary player's card.

Thanks for the great trade AJ!  I can't wait for our next one.

Ghost Stories

I love the scene depicted in this Penn College card.  It reminds me of all the camping trips my family took when I was growing up. 

Penn College -- 77/150, 51.3%

Probably my favorite clean joke to tell around the campfire is a version of a joke I heard comedian Jon Fox tell on the Bob and Tom show years ago. 

A magician was on a cruise ship doing a gig when he noticed in the front was a passenger with a parrot. He didn't make much of it until he did a trick where a dove appeared magically out of thin air.

"It was in his sleeve!" cried the parrot.

The magician, somewhat annoyed, played the remark off, and continued on with his show.

The next trick he performed involved making his assistant disappear from one side of the stage, and magically appear on the other side of the stage.

"He's using twins!" yelled the parrot.

"Ok, this is getting a little annoying," thought the magician, as he went into a third trick, which involved making a metal sphere float in mid air.

"The ball's on a wire!" blurted the parrot.

At this point, the magician is absolutely flumoxed...He thinks "How can I continue my show? This bird is giving away all my secrets?"

Just as he's getting ready to go into his next trick, a terrible shaking from hitting an iceberg rocks the boat, and the ocean liner suddenly sinks like a rock, leaving the magician and the parrot clinging to a piece of wood.

For the next two days, the parrot and the magician cling to this piece of wood, just staring intently at each other. Sitting and staring, staring and sitting. At the end of the second day, the parrot says "Ok, I give up. What did you do with the ship?"

My favorite dirty joke is also one I heard on the Bob and Tom Show during a skit called "Elevator Talk".

As a man boards an elevator, he notices that a gorgeous woman is already riding the elevator.  They exchange pleasantries and then silently stare forward for about ten floors.   It is then that the man sheepishly asks, "Um, excuse me, miss, but, can I smell your panties?"

She gasps, "Of course not!"

"Oh", he replies.  "Then it must be your feet."

So, what's your favorite joke or story to tell around the campfire?

A Banner Mail Day

I'm too tired of scanning the cards I'm selling on eBay, so I'm a little behind with my trade posts and, surprisingly, I've not yet shared my newly acquired Hochevar cards, although I did get them sorted and filed within 24-hours of their arrival.  My plan is to begin showing them off next week.  I'll also sprinkle in trade posts (finally) and Murad cards.  I should have plenty of material for the coming month or so.

Until then, I was able to take a couple of pictures of the recent additions to my man-corner of my office.

First, I snagged a signed USA mini-helmet.  The price was perfect, so I grabbed it.

But, as happy as I was to receive the mini-helmet today, it got overshadowed by the bigger package I also received.

Yes,  I now own a 5' vinyl double-sided banner of Hoch that was hanging from a light pole in Kansas City and/or The K.  I've seen one other banner listed on eBay in the past three years, so when this one came up, I sent the buyer an offer which was accepted within a couple hours of it being listed.  My wife was less than jazzed when I initially told her what I'd bought and how much I'd spent because she had no idea it was a 5-footer.  But, when she saw it hanging by my library card file cabinet when she got home from work tonight, she had to admit it was a cool piece of memorabilia.

For now, it's hanging from a couple of nails, but I would eventually like to fashion a nicer hanging apparatus from which to display it.  Until then, here's hoping I'm not startled by it over the next few mornings as I catch a glimpse of it out of the corner of my eye as I stumble into the adjacent bathroom.  I'd hate to think it's an intruder hiding behind the office door as it probably looses some of its appeal if it's filled with buckshot.

Chattenooga

What a great word -- Chattenooga.  It's almost as great of a word as Chattahoochee.

Chattenooga University -- 76/150, 50.6%

This card is going to inspire me to petition the Olympic Committee to reintroduce the saw-horse jump back to the Olympics.