Day of Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  Here are some things for which I am thankful.

I'm thankful that mustaches don't make you creepy.  Being creepy makes you creepy.



I'm thankful that, after four years of participation, Team Lame-MO has finally raised over $1000 for cancer research.  We're currently at $1107 this MOvember with over one-week left to donate, so if you'd like to help us climb even higher please go HERE.

I'm thankful for such supportive friends and family that have helped me be the leading fund-raiser for Team Lame-MO again.

I'm thankful for mustache cards.

And, most importantly, I'm thankful that I have a wife who will put up with this ugga-mug for an entire month in the name of raising awareness and funds for men's health.

I hope this Thanksgiving season finds all of my friends in the card-o-sphere healthy, wealthy, and wise. 

Halfway There

Today marks the halfway point of MOvember which means I'm currently sporting the in-between stache.



Let's just hope that Nick Offerman's words of wisdom hold true.

Even if they don't, at least I have portraits of men with mustaches that I can attempt to emulate.

And then there's me.

I've continued to receive pity donations, $225 as of today.  And my teammates and I have raised $855, which is a team record.  With our goal of $1000 creeping closer and closer, I'd love it if you'd consider donating toward this worthy cause HERE.

UPDATE: Many thanks to Dennis of Too Many Verlanders for making a generous donation toward my Mo. It is greatly appreciated.

A Little Tobacco in My Mustache

As promised, I'm here to give a MOvember update and show off some of my "Portraits of Guys with Mustaches on Cards" Set that I built sporadically over the past year.

Coincidentally, this week also marks my two-month anniversary of being tobacco-free (although, thanks to daily fistfuls of nicotine gum, I'm not yet nicotine-free).  After a dozen years of using chewing tobacco, my wife finally persuaded me to give up the habit in exchange for a new golf cart. 

I've already put thousands of yards of golf on these wheels so it's definitely been a great trade in my book.

So, to tie it all together, mustache cart - tobacco = tobacco-era cards featuring guys with mustaches.

Dr. Livingstone, I presume?

And, by scanning these gorgeous cards, the tobacco card itch may be the one that needs scratching to get me back in the game.  Maybe I was being a bit hasty in my wanting to sell off the Murads.  Guess I need to think it over a little more before I pull that trigger.

And, what I'm sure you've all be waiting for, the unveiling of my week-old mustache.

Isn't it fabulous? 

*crickets*

My MOvember team, Team Lame-MO, has grown to a robust 14 participants and has raised a team-record $660 so far this month.  Our goal is to raise $1000 for prostate and testicular cancer research, and I'm very proud of how we are progressing.  If you would like to donate to this very worthwhile cause, please go HERE.

Selling the T51s & MOvember

I'd like to sell my T51 Murads.  That's right, I'm giving up my quest to track down the entire 150-card set, even through I'm over halfway there (88/150, 59% complete).  I've recently emailed with a guy who is two cards away from completing the set, which he's been working on for nearly a decade.  Obviously I don't currently have the funds or desire to spend the next 8 years trying to finish the set, so I'm going to try to cut my losses.

Therefore, I'd like to give my blogging friends the right of first refusal on them.  I want to sell the entire lot and not break them apart if at all possible (and unless it's a rare Hochevar card, I don't want to trade them away).  If I don't hear from anyone within the next week, I'm going to throw them up onto eBay.

Send me an offer.  Thanks!

 ___________________________

In unrelated news, I'm once again doing MOvember, wherein I grow a mustache to raise money for testicular and prostate cancer.  If you'd like to donate toward the cause, please go HERE.

In the spirit of MOvember (and in an attempt to reignite my blogging fire), I'll be posting weekly MOvember mustache progress updates throughout the month, complete with cards featuring mustachioed fellas.  Stay tuned.

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.

Yard Sale "Junk"

My in-laws love yard saleing (as do I, but I've yet to find anything blog-worthy at a yard sale in my small town) and since they know I love cards, they always keep their eyes peeled for something to add to my collection.

About a week ago, they stumbled into four big boxes of cards and snapped them up for me.  I finally got around to sorting them out (of course I did a cursory flip through the boxes the moment my wife brought them into the house) and I was quite pleased with their purchase.

Of course the boxes were filled to the brim with "junk wax" era cards, but I am pumped to add them to my library card file cabinet.  The tall piles are made up of your usual late-80s and early-90s Upper Deck, Topps, Leaf, Pinnacle, and Donruss.  And everyone knows what that means:  MUSTACHES!!!

The above beauties will be immediately filed in my 2012 Mustache Portraits Set drawer.  And I am certain that the four boxes of yard sale "junk" will give me the last three mustache cards I need to complete the 2011 Mustach Franken-Set.

I can't wait to dig deeper into each pile of cards and I definitely can't wait for my in-laws to stumble into more cards for me.  Thanks for the cards Sandy and Richard!

Trif-ECK-ta

Thursday was a good day.  It brought an end to the third quarter of my school year.  It brought me to within one week of the return of Community.  And it brought all three pieces of a Dennis Eckersley trifecta into my life.  Two of the pieces were eBay purchases and one was included in the trade package* I received from the Wicked One The Cardboard Don. 

*The trade package was jam packed with Royals and Rockies goodness.  I'll probably be able to get a bakers dozen posts out of that one trade alone, which I'm sure my wife will love.  :)

In one fell swoop, I knocked off my number one collecting goal for 2012.  I guess I can now focus one a few of the goals that I've yet to address this year (I'm looking at you Goal #2 -- Denver Bronco Super Bowl Rookie Cards).

Without further ado, I present my first Hall of Famer Trifecta.

THE RELIC

 Nothing fancy about the piece of fabric, but I love the photograph that UD choose.  Classic.

THE ROOKIE

Sure he's sans-mustache, but the awkward face and pose and the fantastic jersey font and wind-breaker under-shirt make this card a definite icon.  It was never important to me to have the rookie be graded, but when I saw this one bundled with two other graded 1970s-era cards of star players and it was in my price range, I wasn't going to let it slip through my fingers.

And, the piece de resistance.

THE AUTOGRAPH

On-card.  Great photo.  Dual autographed.  On-card.  By two Cy Young Winners.  Both mustachioed.  Serial numbered.  Epic and stylish signatures.  ON CARD!!!!  Fifteen bucks shipped.  

This card is 100% in my top three favorite autograph cards that I own. 

Thus completes my trif-ECK-ta.  I love these cards and I am excited to continue to build up my Eckersley collection.  I think I may need to pick up one of those 1000-card lots that I occasionally see listed.  Or maybe someone wants to trade a huge pile of them to me?

Close, But No Cigarette

Sometimes it pays to gamble on eBay and sometimes you just miss out.  This time I missed it by that much.



I was surfing the tobacco card section of eBay and found that someone was selling a pair of 1888 N29 ALLEN & GINTER'S CHAMPIONS tobacco cards and they were sitting at a buck a piece.  I couldn't for the life of me figure out why. 

Then I read the description which stated, "May have been clipped off of original advertising poster or one of the premium albums."  But for a buck I was willing to gamble that their backs looked like this:

because they were clipped from an album and not an advertisement.  Once I got them in hand, I fear they are advert clippings.  And while they seem to be pretty old, I can't be certain that they are pre-1900 cardboard pieces. 


Be that as it may, these fellas are gonna look great in my 2012 Mustache Portraits collection.

Fave Five: 2012 Collecting Goals

Sure, it's a touch early to be making plans for next year, but I thought I'd get a head start on setting my 2012 collecting goals.

Obviously I'm going to keep picking up Hochevars, Fowlers, and Stocktons whenever possible and I'm going to try to get organized by getting my cards filed away in their library card file home.  But I need specific collecting goals to keep me motivated over the next year.

The nice thing is, unlike most of my new year resolutions (i.e. lose weight, read more than 2 books in a year, stop killing hobos, etc.), I really want these goals to come true and I will have fun accomplishing them.


So, here are my Fave Five 2012 Collecting Goals

FIVE:   Vintage Cards

 I want to get my 1910 Murad T51 and 1948-49 Leaf (baseball) sets to at least 50% completion by the end of next year.

FOUR:  Mustache Portrait Collection 

Yikes, that's some bad scanning

I want to build a mustache portrait collection that is at least 100-cards strong by the start of next MOvember.

THREE:  Manupatch Collections 

 I want to complete both my letter and logo manupatch collections.  The MLB logo collection is 66% complete and the letters collection is just under 50% complete.

TWO:  Denver Broncos Super Bowl Rookies

Obviously this isn't a rookie card, but it's the only Broncos card I had scanned at the moment.

A rookie card of every player on the Denver Bronco's 1997 Super Bowl winning team.  When a rookie can't be found, I will make due with any card that can be found.  HERE is the 1998 roster.  Key players include Elway, Davis, McCaffrey, Sharp, Romanowski, Atwater, and Elam.

ONE:  Eck Trifecta

A rookie, a relic, and an autograph of the greatest mustache/mullet combo in history, Dennis Eckersley.  I also wouldn't mind getting my Eck collection above 100 cards.

There you have it.  Even if I don't reach these goals, even attempting them is going to make 2012 a great year of collecting in the Manupatches and Mustaches house.

Mustache Set Donations: Night Owl

I always think of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia whenever I think about the Night Owl.



Along with a few 2011 Mustache FrankenSet gap fillers, Night Owl also sent along some great golf cards.

I definitely need to make an effort to strengthen my golf card collection and these cards were just the kick in the pants that I needed to motivate me to do so.

Thanks Owl!

The 2012 Mustache Collection

Today is December 1st which means that I'm clean shaven for the first time in a month.

A month's worth of work went from this...

...to this in a few seconds.

It also means that it's time to start the preparation for the 2012 Mustache Set.

It took me a little while to decide what my inspiration for the 2012 Mustache Set would be.  Then I saw this card.

If 2011 was the Mustache FrankenSet, then 2012 will be the Year of the Mustache Portrait.

That's right, I'm doing a "portraits" set featuring portrait-style cards with mustaches, so start stockpiling your Diamond Kings, A&Gs, Collectors Choices, Masterpieces, Kimble Champions, and any other drawn card that has a mustache.

I'm not going to worry about card numbering next year, I just hope to be able to get about 100 portrait cards.  I'm going to think of them as the insert set to the 2011 base set.  Should be pretty fun to do.

Also, since I have a year to put together the 2012 collection, I'm thinking I need at least one autograph and one relic mustache card in next year's set, so if you see one on eBay or have one for trade, please let me know and we'll work something out.  Bonus points if they are portrait style cards!  Super-awesome-double bonus points if they are Eckersley cards!!!

Thanks for all your support with the creation of the 2011 Mustache Set, and I would greatly appreciate your assistance with the 2012 Mustache Portrait Collection.

MOvember Fave Five -- Prolific Mustaches, Card of the Set, and a HOFer PC

Since the end of the month snuck up on me quicker than I had anticipated, I'm going to wrap up MOvember and the 2011 Mustache Set with the Card of the Set and a Fave Five of the Most Prolific Mustaches of the Set.

Card of the Set

Honestly, how could it not be?

Now for the Most Prolific Mustaches of the Set, but be warned, I did a very lazy job of checking the following totals.  I would estimate that the following card totals are off by a plus/minus of thirty-seven (give or take a dozen or two (seriously, guys, I did not spend much time counting these cards)).

FIVE:  Boggs made 6 appearances in the set

FOUR:  Goose made 6 appearances in the set

THREE:  Gibby made 7 appearances in the set

TWO:  Robin made 8 appearances in the set

ONE:  Eck walked away with the crown this year filling at least a baker's dozen slots in the Mustache binder.

The odd part is that there are a minimum of 5 more of his cards that didn't make the set.

Since I've basically run out of Hochevar cards to chase (at least ones that are within my price range), I need a new player to hone in on, so I'm officially becoming an Eckersley collector.

The guy knows how to rock a mullet and a mustache and a HOFer to boot.  With over 2000 cards spanning four decades that I'll need to track down, I'm willing to trade for any and all Eckersley cards with which you are willing to part.  I'm also excited to try tracking down my first HOFer trifecta (rookie, auto, relic).

Thanks for your support this MOvember and be on the look-out for an announcement tomorrow about the theme of the 2012 Mustache Set.

MOvember Fave Five -- Mustaches Of Which I'm Jealous*

*Like Mom always used to say, "Never leave your participle dangling in public."

The best I can hope for this MOvember is that my mustache is

FIVE: 1/8th as hip,

FOUR: 1/8th as walrus-esqe

THREE: 1/8th as creepy

TWO:1/8th as iconic

or

ONE: 1/8th as manly

as the above mustaches.

My MOvember team -- Team Lame-MO -- has raised a cool $500 for cancer research this month.  I'm hoping to round up a few more Warren G. Hardings over the next couple of days, so if you'd care to donate toward a worthy cause, please go HERE.