The Masters

By far, this is my favorite event of the year in professional golf.  

In fact, I would even venture to say that it may be my favorite sporting event of the year, overall!

I wasn't fortunate enough to obtain passes for this year's tournament, so I'm currently on an 0-2 streak there.   But that's okay, these are tough, tough tickets - and very expensive, particularly this year with Tiger's return to strength.

I can't wait to make it back, though.   I love Augusta National.   Last year's tournament was a true treat, as my old high school and junior golf circuit nemesis Bubba Watson earned himself his own green jacket.   When it comes to amazing "what ifs" and vicarious athletic dreams from high school glory days, I can't see how it gets much better than last year's experience.

But the tournament is THAT great - it marches on, creating new history and legends each year.   When I DO get back, my first stop will undoubtedly be the "spot" in the woods on #10 where Bubba fashioned that hooked wedge onto the green, securing his place in history.   Good stuff.

One of my favorite memories from my two trips to Augusta was when I was able to attend the Wednesday practice round and Par 3 competition.   I believe this is THE best day to attend The Masters other than Sunday's final round (which I haven't attended, yet).   The mood is festive, friendly, anticipatory and pure.   And let me tell you - for us memorabilia & autograph hounds, Wednesday at The Masters has no equal in the game of golf.   The best in the sport are THERE and they are, traditionally, in a very good, generous mood.   The Par 3 competition allows patrons to get very close to the players for an up-close look at our heroes and even some great signing opportunities.   It's practically a tradition, which is what Augusta is ALL about.

When I visited, I had a tremendous autograph experience during the Par 3 competition.   Historic.   Epic.  Once in a lifetime kind of thing......I'll definitely share the results of that experience at some point on here, but not today.   No, today, I want to share a great moment that occurred after the competition was over.   In fact, it happened after all play was done for the day and the Augusta grounds crew had begun to swarm the course for final preparations before the opening round.  

I was with my dad, brother and cousin.   My brother and I were enjoying a couple of cigars that a fellow patron had offered to share (he was nearby for a part of my epic moment) and we were quite content.   "Life was good" as we strolled by the pines and azaleas, heading back to Amen Corner for a final gander and moment of zen before heading for the parking lot.   We sat there in the shade, sending soft puffs of aromatic goodness into the pine-coned canopy above.   We recounted the day's experience, comparing notes about what we saw and what we liked.   At some point, I got up and walked towards the edge of the woods at the actual "corner" boundary of patron access.   This was the closest point to #12's green, my favorite part of the course.

It was then that I heard the voice.

THE voice of my sports-watching childhood.   Whether is was the NCAA men's basketball Final Four, The Masters telecast itself or just the weekly PGA tourney......this guy delivered the shot-by-shot recaps, summaries and glorious introductions.

Mr. Jim Nantz.

He was speaking to a young man in a golf cart - HIS golf cart, as the name plate explained -  recounting some great stories of individual shots at Amen Corner and tales of tournaments gone by.   Barely above a whisper, I stood nearby and listened to the master weave his tales.   His voice was just as it sounds on TV.

After a few moments, I couldn't help myself and decided to give it a shot.   I didn't want to impose myself into a private moment, but hey - I was there and so were they and, well, we were all "patrons" to some extent.

"Mr. Nantz?   I hate to bother you but I couldn't leave without introducing myself and thanking you for all of the memories you have provided over the years.   I'm a huge fan of yours and a fan of the game.   This is my first time at Augusta.   My name is Ryan LaMonica."

"It's great to meet you, Ryan," he said as he shook my hand.   "Thank you very much for your kind words - it's been my pleasure."

"Could I trouble you for your autograph?"   I held out my Masters Guide Book and a sharpie (of course!).

"Sure thing.   Thanks again and enjoy the tournament."

"Thank you, Mr. Nantz."

"A tradition like no other....."

Awesome experience that really capped off an amazing FIRST time at one of my favorite sporting events!   Augusta National is a special place and I look forward to our chance as fans to 'visit' every year, in person or on TV.

This year is no different.   Thank you again, Mr. Nantz.   Enjoy the Masters, everybody!

Thanks for reading.

Exhale

Even though I'm devastated that the pace for 162 home runs has been shattered.....

I'm interested to see how well Chris Davis can continue the amazing start to his 2013 season!

I also really love his card from 2013 flagship.   It's a great design and Topps utilized some very interesting and high-caliber photography.   I was tempted to chase the set by hand and build towards another completion for my son's stash.....but I've decided to just hold off and pick up a factory set in December.

Baltimore Brotherhood

Thanks for reading!

Reflections: Virgil Trucks

Virgil "Fire" Trucks (1917 - 2013)

Baseball lost a great man nearly two weeks ago in Virgil Trucks.   It's been well documented by so many of my fellow bloggers with beautiful tributes and fantastic encounters - both 'through the mail' and even personally - that if there was any doubt as to how well he lived his life and how much of an accessible friend he was to baseball fans......it has certainly been laid to rest with 'ol "Fire" Trucks, himself.

I wanted to make my own contribution.   Not so much as to reiterate what others have already said so well, but to share my own little piece of baseball treasure from my own correspondence with Mr. Trucks.   I think it would be shame not to and not in line with how "Fire" treated the Game as something to be cherished, shared and learned from.

Mr. Trucks at Rickwood Field, Birmingham, Alabama in 2012
(photo courtesy of Randal Crow)

A little background.....

As some of you know, I began my professional career as a naval nuclear propulsion officer in the submarine community.   I have a rich family history of military service but I was the first one crazy enough to go willingly underwater - on purpose.   Other than being a husband and father, I am certain it will be one of the most worthwhile things I'll ever do.

You also know by now that I am a huge baseball fan and collector of baseball cards and memorabilia.   I love the history of the game and have a great deal of respect for the players of the past that achieved greatness of a binary nature, both as professional ballplayers and citizen soldiers who put their lives on the line for the life and liberty of others.   In comparison with the prototypical professional athletes of today, the incredible nature of these heroes' stories become more unbelievable and more distant as society and time roll forward, but no less powerful.

Mr. Trucks at Rickwood Field, Birmingham, Alabama in 2012
(photo courtesy of Randal Crow)

It was a natural progression, therefore, that my memorabilia pursuits and collecting goals leaned towards these veterans of the Game and the service.   I've reached out to dozens over the past six years with some terrific success.   Sadly, the timing of my pursuit has taken on tremendous urgency due to simple timing - our heroes are dying.

But that's okay.   These men and women lived full and meaningful lives, accomplishing so much to deliver the advanced and comfortable world that we live in today.   I've referred to my own grandparents on this blog from time to time.   Three of them served in the military, during World War II and the Cold War's first days.   They raised families and worked hard in successful careers that stretched more than 50 years.   They were baseball fans, too!

Like Mr. Trucks, all of my grandparents are now gone.   I lost the last three of them in a little more than three months towards the end of last year.   I miss them terribly - but it is certainly bittersweet.   I'll reiterate what I said above; they lived wonderful lives.   And now, more than ever, I understand that dying is simply a another part of life that we will all endure.   What's important is how you live and what (and whom!) you leave behind for the world to enjoy and, hopefully, become a better place.   So that's my urgency - to capture as much beautiful life experience from these heroes, whomever they may be, before they're gone with their stories that are OH so worth telling!

I like to think that I try every day to make the world a better place as a tribute to my grandparents and as a part of their legacy.   I also feel like I have a little piece of Mr. Trucks' legacy to share - so let's talk some baseball!

I reached out to Virgil Trucks with a letter and some pictures from my navy days.   He was a sailor himself, serving in the Navy towards the end of World War II in the Pacific theatre.   I would recommend to anybody that they check out some of the stories regarding the service league baseball tournaments held in Hawaii (and elsewhere) during the War (read more about that here: http://www.baseballinwartime.com/service_games/service_games_pacific_1944.htm ).   "Fire" Trucks utilized these opportunities to keep his hurling skills fresh, boost morale for his fellow servicemen and create terrific sports stories for an entire nation in war time.   Is there a greater gift?   He also has a GREAT story of how he re-joined the Detroit Tigers to pitch in Game 2 of the '45 Series only TWO WEEKS after being discharged from active duty!

Add all of these tales to his accomplishments on the diamond from 1941 through 1957 with the Tigers, Browns, White Sox, Athletics and Yankees.......and you have quite the legend!   I only wish I had enough time to go through his career and life in its entirety.   He did have one highlight for which he is very well k nown.   Rightfully, Virgil was a proud member of the elite club of pitchers to fire two no-hitters in the same season.   He adorned nearly every autograph he signed with custom-made stamps that reflected the dates of his two "no-no's" in 1952.   I am personally fascinated by this feat and have actually made a collecting goal of obtaining autographs and collecting cards of each of the pitchers that have achieved this feat:

• Johnny Vander Meer (1938)
• Allie Reynolds (1951)
• Virgil Trucks (1952)
• Nolan Ryan (1973)
• Roy Halladay (2010)

My first vintage Fire Trucks - 1956 Topps #117

I'll keep you posted on that quest, of course - but back to my letter to "Fire" Trucks!

I shared my own experience in the navy and the service connection to my grandparents with Mr. Trucks and thanked him for his own service.   I briefly described my favorite feats from his amazing career and peppered some questions about his experiences throughout my diatribe.   I thanked him for his contributions to the game, asked very politely for his autograph and even enclosed a donation to his church, something that I had been told, though not a requirement, would mean a lot to him.   Heck, it was the least I could do.

Mr. Trucks signing a baseball (photo courtesy of Randal Crow)

Within a week, Mr. Trucks replied with an amazing 'package' of baseball treasures.   He was quite generous with everyone who reached out to him over the years but I couldn't believe my eyes as his generous reply unfolded before me.   A picture, book jacket, cards and the ball I had sent - all fell out of the envelope with Mr. Trucks' inscriptions, stamps and well-wishes.  

"To Ryan M. LaMonica, My Navy Partner With Best Wishes Always, Virgil 'Fire' Trucks"

  

Most amazing to me though, was the personally written letter from Mr. Trucks, himself.   Two whole pages of kind words and incredible recollections from his playing days.And now I'd like to share his words with you!   I've partitioned the letter into paragraphs for ease of reading but left most of Mr. Trucks' own prose intact.

                                                  _______________________________

Dear Mr. LaMonica (mate),

It was nice hearing from you.   And my pleasure to sign your baseball, I hope I didn't mess it up with all the stuff I put on it.   Also enclosing a photo and four small cards for you.   I'm sorry my writing is bad and won't write much.   I'm having a carpal tunell done the 28th of this month and will write more after it heals which is estimated about a month.

Your whole family is service people and that's terrific.   I also thank you & family for your participation in the service for our country.   Bless you all.  

Well, as I pitched every game was treated the same.   But the two no hitters were special.   As for being calm in the bottom of the 9th inning against the Yankees was no more than the other 8 innings as it was a bad year for the "Tigers" & me.   We finished last that year winning only 50 games and losing 104 in a 154 game schedule.

As for Mantle being the leadoff hitter in the bottom of the ninth, I was just going to give him my best, power against power.   I struck him out.   I'm also enclosing a lineup of both no hitters.   I also had a 1 hitter that year.   I almost had three.   The leadoff hitter that game hit a clean single between 3rd and short.   I then retired the next 27 hitters.

Well Ryan, I hope you don't mind me using y our first name.   As I get a lot of mail and am used to doing that.   I also enclosed a cover of a book I wrote.   Which were sold out of 2 printings.   And may have a third.   Not sure yet.   Thank you for the church money.   And they do to.   I'm sorry I can't write more but hand is a little tired & weak.   My best to you and your family.

                                                                                 Sincerely,

                                                                                 Virgil Trucks

P.S. Thank you for the sub photo.   I had to patch up your envelope.   It  got scuffed up.   So I patched it up with tape of your address on the one you mailed me.

Congrats on the upcoming son.   Bless him.

                                                  _________________________________


No, sir.   Bless you.   Rest in peace, Mr. Trucks.   Your legacy lives on.  

I've included a couple more beautiful portraits of Mr. Trucks below.   These were taken by photographer (photo-journalist?) Randal Crow.   His website/blog can be found below and I would encourage you to view his work.   It's beautiful.   These photos were taken in 2012 at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama.   Wouldn't you know - Rickwood Field is the oldest standing professional ballpark in the United States.   It opened in 1910, just seven years before "Fire" was born.

Thanks for sharing, Randal.

Thanks for reading.

Photo Credit(s):

http://www.randalcrow.com/blog1/category/image-blog/

One Of My Favorite Cards: 1953 Topps #138 George Kell

The 2013 MLB season is almost here!

Let's take a quick break from the modern day excitement and enjoy some 60 year-old cardboard, shall we?

I can't recall exactly how I acquired this old '53 Topps card, but I'm sure glad I did.   Yes, it's technically a Red Sox card......but hey, it's a '53 Topps card of a Hall of Fame slugger George Kell!

The Player

Mr. Kell played professional ball from 1940 to 1957 with the A's, Tigers, Red Sox, White Sox and Orioles.   He was one of the most successful players to emerge during the player shortage of World War II.   Though not known for slugging home runs (78 for his career total), the third baseman was a tough out and captured the batting title in 1949 - displacing Ted Williams from the top slot during the final week of play by a margin of .0002!   His "2 for 3" performance on the season's final day prevented Williams from earning his third Triple Crown.

He finished his career as a 10-time All Star with a .306 average, 2,054 hits and 870 RBI.   he is probably best remembered for his time in Detroit, where he played for six years from 1946 to 1952.   Replaced by some up-and-comer named Brooks Robinson, George decided to hang up his spikes and became a broadcaster for the Orioles in 1957.   He began his broadcasting career in Baltimore but soon returned to Motown and joined up with the likes of Al Kaline to call Tigers games almost continuously from 1959 to 1996.   He was elected into the Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee in 1983.

Two of my favorite stories about Kell showcase both his grittiness and humility.

Keeping in mind the 'delicacy' of our modern day heroes, George missed some games during the 1948 season when he broke his wrist on a Vic Raschi pitch.   A few weeks later - YES, a few weeks later - misfortune found Kell again when a line drive off of the bat of Joe DiMaggio busted his jaw.   Kell recalled the DiMaggio smash play later on, "...I got up, made the play at third and then passed out."

And all of that was without deer antler spray, I suppose....Can you imagine that timeline these days?   By the way, George Kell won that batting title the next season, remember?   The other memorable moment of humility came during his Hall of Fame acceptance speech in '83:

    "I have always said that George Kell has taken more from this great game of baseball than he can ever give back. And now I know, I am deeper in debt than ever before."

   Awesome, awesome stuff.

The Card

It's a 1953 Topps card.   Classic design - a baseball card.   The painted portrait here doesn't give us any action but you can get a good sense of the country man from Arkansas who probably made a few folks smile in Boston back then.   It was a sunny day for this portrait, with the traditional puffy clouds drifting by in the skies beyond as Kell gazes forward.....we also get a sneak peek at the corner of the stadium's roof down the first base line.   A crumpled up Sox cap.......good stuff.   My favorite part of this vintage card is probably the old school Red Sox logo featured in the lower left corner:

Delightful

The card is pretty well centered with some touched edges and corners....okay, some rounding of the corners.   I don't really care too much.   The coloring is great too and the original gloss/surface of the card is fantastic.   No major creases that take away from the overall appearance either - I'm a happy camper.

Here's the back:

Efficient

My labeling of this year's card backs as efficient is not a slam!   I love everything we get here.   The biographical information up top (Clyde!) and quick synopsis of his career easily gives us a sense that Kell had already established himself as one of the game's highly regarded players by this time in his career.   The ode to his fielding abilities is a nice touch.   I love having the facsimile autograph but it makes it a tiny bit frustrating to read the write-up.......yeah, I'm nit-picking.   I just don't want to be 100% fan boy, you know?

The streamlined 'past year & career' stat columns is easy to review and a cartoon/trivia opportunity is ALWAYS welcome in my collection!   This one is no slouch, either, as the card quizzes the collectors of 1953 on who "participated in the greatest number of consecutive games?"

Of course, the answer to this question became outdated on September 6, 1995 when Cal Ripken Jr. played in his 2,131st consecutive game.   But this is George's post - so I'll keep it at that.   The back of the card is in great shape for me, too.   Some hairline crease action in the top right but no paper loss and some more great color on that wonderful, wonderful old card stock.

Have a great weekend and thanks for reading! 

A Baseball Card: 1992 Fleer Ultra #11 Cal Ripken Jr.

One of the original premises of Ryan's Pitch was going to be the exploration and appreciation of some of the gems in my collection.   It's very easy to adore the vintage and most recent additions.   But there's a whole bunch of cardboard goodness that was gathered by yours truly back in the....oh, you know it well - 1988 to 1993 time frame that deserves some attention as well.

Sure, these cards haven't panned out to be the most coveted in terms of value, design expertise or general collectability......but they're still my baseball cards!  

Here's a '92 Fleer Ultra Cal Ripken Jr.   It's #11 from the set and I clearly liked the card 'back in the day'.   It was separated from the other Cal's in my "Star Players" binders, having earned it's very own top loader along with the other apparently special cards.   I think these cards were originally quarantined due to expected value?

No matter. This Cal was special and I still kind of dig it today.   Here's the front:

I love the design.   It's got that early 90's flash of extravagance with the slanted gold-foil stripe towards the bottom and the shiny "92 Fleer Ultra" stamp in the upper right......but I think it works. It's a great shot of Ripken after a decent cut at the ball.   It almost seems unreasonably posed with the fully extended leading leg, precariously balancing on the heel. How about that grasshopper-like finished form with the right arm, perfectly level with the ground and all fingers extended together? He's all business with the "thousand-yard stare", peering over the traditional strips of eye black.......and best of all?   Why, it would have to be the Iron Man's ripped pants!   We all either saw for ourselves or have heard about the durability of Ripken and his reputation for playing - no matter what.   Yeah, he holds that record, right?   And ripped pants is a pretty good indication that somebody was playing some gritty baseball on this day.

Wait! The stirrups visible on the back leg are awesomely retro (awesomely retro?), too!  Okay, maybe the rip and stirrup should be considered a tie.

Can anybody tell me if this is a regular season or spring training shot?   It looks like 'away grey' jerseys....but there sure is a lot of Orioles Orange in the stadium seating background.   And I wonder who could be on deck....this might call for some cardboard detective work!

Here's the back.  because this is how we roll around here:

More homage to the Tron-like tendencies of the early 90's is evident in the graph paper grid background.   Not to be too accused of being one-dimensional with the graphics, some ROCK ORE imagery was used to bookend the infrared grid like a good truck commercial or something.   Yes!   I love the view of Ripken in the field, shades up, in the ready position.   Cool Adidas kicks, Cal!

Interestingly, 1992 would be one of ONLY two years that Ripken pulled down a gold glove.   I didn't know that?!   I also don't remember him as being a prolific home run hitter.....but apparently, he won the Home Run Derby for the AL in 1991 by mashing 12 dingers!   Second place, you might ask?   Cecil Fielder with 4!   Womp, womp........

I really kind of like this card so I wanted to share it with you guys.   I think the design is fairly sharp and bet the whole set would be kind of nice to flip through in binder presentation.   If I remember correctly, these Ultra's had a great smell out of their packs, too.....

Thanks for reading!

Real quick note - thank to all who have recently conducted trades with me lately (or just sent over cards!).   I've enjoyed getting back into the trading aspect of our hobby these past couple of months and it has helped to bridge the gap as I venture through my 2013 challenge of limited card buying.  So far? Two blasters (Series 1 flagship and Heritage).    Hanging in there so far.......

Review: BrentAndBecca

This one is long overdue - but I figured it's never too late to give a recommendation or provide feedback for fellow hobby enthusiasts.

Brent Williams is a very active, energetic and enthusiastic player in the sports card hobby.   Most of us know him and his business - "BrentAndBecca" - in several different mediums.   He regularly reviews Topps products and comments on the various attributes of the product breaks he conducts from the perspectives of both a collector and "dealer".   Is that term accurate?   Topics such as profitability, overall enjoyment and collectability are usually the heart and soul of his articles and I enjoy them a lot.   I try not to get too bogged down in the financial details of our hobby but with the varying costs of different products and conservative status of most family budgets these days (including my own) - a little reading and research can go a long way towards maximizing our enjoyment and comfort as the consuming collector.   His reviews can be found at the Cardboard Connection throughout the year as the 'collecting calendar' progresses through various sports and Topps releases.

BrentAndBecca also has a very active presence on Twitter as, wait for it.......... @brentandbecca  (https://mobile.twitter.com/brentandbecca)!   Looks like some great minds think alike when choosing twitter handles and website and blog names!   He tweets pretty regularly to promote upcoming products or highlight interesting items in his inventory.   He's a collector like us, so some of the cardboard he encounters finds its way into his own collection but the rest of it is packaged up nicely and available for the rest of us via his Ebay Store.   One thing that I find to be really useful is Brent's frequent twitter banter with the folks at Topps.   I can usually gleam some very insightful information and updates from their conversations, thereby saving both time and money on my end.   That's a win-win - and absolutely free.

You can read much more about Brent and how his business got started in an archived CC article, so I won't get too bogged down in the details of recreating that wheel.   Let's move on to my own experience with BrentAndBecca.

I tried out several different collecting approaches last year, as I was on a mission to compile a very diverse assortment of the year's sets for my son's future enjoyment.   Even though I enjoy hand-building complete sets pack by pack, it's way too expensive for me to do that with every release.   So, I tried to save some funds by buying one of the complete sets from a dealer (Seller?) like BrentAndBecca.   The set I was looking for?   2012 Topps Heritage.   I had purchased several blasters of '11 Heritage the year before and, while I am now closer than ever to complete my building of that set (YES!), I had a run of bad luck and suffered through a high duplication rate and lack of "hits" amongst the blasters I bought.   It's all random and part of the chase, but it left a bad (placebo effect) taste in my mouth.   Therefore, 2012 Heritage would be bought outright as a complete set.   My E-Bay searches provided plenty of options, as you might imagine.   I considered several but definitely felt very comfortable with the company I was most familiar with, B&B.

His prices were never THE lowest - depending on how you look at it, how much time you were willing to spend and how much risk you wanted to eliminate.   Sure, there were some sets up for bid that were a few bucks lower than B&B's no-haggle, "Buy It Now" price point.   But most of these came with shipping costs that were just as much if not higher than B&B AND......they were open bids.   So you never knew where the final sales price would fall.   Brent Williams and his team conducts an incredible amount of research and is usually quite fair with their assessment of value and price for the sets they collate and sell from their break efforts.   In the end, price was definitely a big PLUS for B&B and it carries the largest weight with me for consideration.

But what about quality?   Will the cards be packaged well?   Shipped quickly?

Since this was my first experience with BrentAndBecca, I would have to find out for myself when my Heritage set arrived.   The good news was that customer reviews and Ebay feedback scores were all very positive and I detected no negatives for them when it came to collectors' experience with purchasing collated sets.

So, I rolled the dice and took the plunge.  Within 7 working days of the product's release date, the package arrived!   Here it was:

Highlighter Provided By Ryan's Pitch

Exactly what you want to see from a dealer.   It doesn't have to be an official USPS box - but that certainly doesn't hurt.   And while it's common practice for us individual collectors to recycle packaging supplies in an effort to keep costs down, I didn't want to see my Heritage set arrive in a shoe box.   The box was neatly and thoroughly sealed.   Looking good!

Amongst the packing worms and bubble wrap were these two card boxes.   The exact "count" sizes elude me but I am sure some of the astute collectors out there can size them up pretty easily.   The fact that two boxes were used threw me off a little bit as I had ordered one complete set.   Had there been a mistake made?  

Beautiful

Of course not!   The two boxes contained my complete base set of Heritage.   The 'breaking up' of the set into two separate boxes allowed BrentAndBecca to fit my order into the USPS box pictured above and may very well have saved them (and therefore, me) some shipping costs.   I would like to point out that both card boxes were brand-spanking new and in perfect condition.   That counts.   And while I will definitely have to say that dealing with two boxes is a hassle for me, it's because of a personal preference for having sets in a single box.   A reason for visiting a card shop or ordering card supplies?   Always welcome.   In the end, definitely not a deal breaker - particularly if it saved everybody money.

Collector Weirdness - The Smell Was Even Better Than You Think

Finally, here's a peek at how the cards were collated and packaged inside.   They were VERY neatly handled and placed into both boxes, resulting in perfect alignment.   While that's a fantastic sight for my OCD, I think it provides some legitimate support for the cards as they are shipped and helps to prevent the damage of edges and corners belonging to cards should they have been out-of-line with the rest of the set and poking out.   And just for good measure, BrentAndBecca surrounded the wide-side of the cards with strips of bubble mailer, to secure the set even more.

I'm still assessing my enjoyment of the various collecting methods I used (and continue to use!) for chasing last year's sets.   I have every intention of going through the entire '12 Heritage set and checking out each card for appreciation...but I have yet to do so.  I can't say the same for the other sets I am building for 2012.   Might be something to that!

But as for my experience with BrentAndBecca - it was a great experience and I would recommend them without hesitation to my fellow collectors.   Great quality control with their products and it's obvious they appreciate the cardboard just as much as we do.   Again, I would also encourage you to follow @BrentAndBecca on Twitter and check out Brent's columns when he takes a break from busting cases of Topps to put pen to paper.   I think you will find it to be both enjoyable and well worth your collecting time.

Thanks for the excellent service, Brent.

Thanks for reading!      

 

Milestone

One year!

Actually - one year and one day, sort of.   The date on this blog's first post, "Jellybeans", was officially January 31st, 2012.   Ha!  I missed it.   But just like one of the most important lessons I learned during the first year of Ryan's Pitch - nothing is perfect; nor should it be!   SO.......

Happy Birthday!

Blogging has been everything I had hoped it would be - and more.

• I was told it can be an outlet.   It certainly was.
• I was told it would connect me with other collectors.   It did.
• I was told it would be gratifying.   It has been.
• I was told that it would be difficult and that I would lose motivation to continue.   Damn straight.
• I was told it would help me explore our hobby.  It has.
• I was told to not take it too seriously and to make sure it was fun.   SO true.
• I was told it would be fun.   Bingo!

There were a couple of times over the past year when I wasn't sure if I would ever write another post.   It was never for lack of ideas, that's for sure....and I suppose that's the most important thing.   So many ideas and [random] thoughts - so little time.   Here's to hoping there's more time for all of it, for all of us, in year #2.

I ended up enjoying a much more robust "collecting interaction" experience on Twitter than I thought I would a year ago.   I thought that the @RyansPitch presence on twitter would serve purely as a way to spread the word about the blog and find more collectors.   It did both of those things but it also provided an alternate and more succinct method for sharing collecting thoughts, pictures, hobby-related stories and executing trades.   The posts/stories were, of course, limited to 140 characters at a time.....but that can often be a blessing in disguise for a long-winded gabber like me.   I would encourage anybody to check it out and join the fun if you haven't already.  Look me up.

Thanks to everybody who spent just one of your precious moments to read any part of Ryan's Pitch.   I hope it gave you something in return, even if it was just an urge to never read it again!   Which would mean you aren't reading this......errr.   Thank you to everybody who spent the time to comment on a post or email with thoughts and trade proposals - interaction with fellow collectors is a true joy for me and something I just don't have an outlet for or access to outside of THIS blogging and online community.   The support has been amazing and was particularly overwhelming in the beginning.   I am sure that some of my tremendous trading partners were lost in the shuffle when I realized I didn't have the time for complete reviews of every trade - if I missed you, please accept my apologies!   

In virtual essence - thanks for letting me hang out with you guys and gals.   I hope you continue to enjoy Ryan's Pitch in Year 2.

Thanks for Reading!

Ryan