I'm Back from Hiatus with a Heavy Heart

Tuesday, 24 September 2013

Hey guys and gals.  I hope after my eight month hiatus that I have at least a couple of readers remaining.  I hope that you are still out there and still collecting.  I have been reading blogs and even commenting on occasion, but I never really had the desire to post for most of this year.  I have no real reason for it other than life getting in the way.

As a quick catch up with what I have been doing, 2013 has been thus far the most personally difficult year of my life.  As some of you may remember I found out last year that my estranged father had passed away several years ago.  Surprisingly it was hard for me even though we hadn't communicated for over thirty years.  However, that was nothing compared to the gut punch I experienced on August 1st of this year.  On that day, my grandmother passed away at the age of 79 following a stroke/heart attack combo.  I lived with my grandparents for the majority of my childhood and for past ten years I was paying my grandparents back by moving back in and trying to make their golden years as easy as possible.  She gave me many things throughout her life, but the most important (at least for this blog's purpose) was my passion for collecting.  Not my passion for baseball cards, that came from my grandpa, but the passion for collecting in general.  My Mamaw loved to collect things and I saw that love for building collections from an early age.  She had a salt shaker collection, a figurine collection, a coin collection, and several other various types of assemblages.  Some people (even loved ones) would call her a packrat or a hoarder, which was true, but I could see beyond the obvious to the why.  All of her "junk" made her smile and she passed that love down to me.  My cards and baseball in general makes me smile and smiling is something that has been in short supply around here for the past two months or so.

It has been a rough couple of months, but I hope to get back to semi-regular posting at the least.  If anything just to keep myself busy.  Obviously, the big news for my team is the upcoming retirement of longtime franchise player Todd Helton.  I am not going to get into that today because I don't want to cheapen the previous paragraph with the relative triviality of my hobby, but I will discuss that among other things later this week.

I also want to mention that for the majority of my hiatus, I have been working on the 2013 Quarry Unlimited virtual custom card set.  I will be getting into that more following the season as I have once again made 1500+ cards featuring every player (plus some) that participated in Major League Baseball this season.  For those of you that may have missed it, last year's set was based on 1986 Topps.  This year's set is based on 1977 Topps with a few changes that (IMHO) improve upon the original design.  Again, I will get more into that in the future.

I know there are a few of you that I owe some packages to and rest assured that I will be getting those taken care of as soon as possible.  I will be contacting those of you that will be getting stuff in the mail this week and I hope you forgive me (and possibly even understand my reason) for being late.  If you do not hear from me this week and I owe you some cards, please email me and let me know.  I do not want anyone to be left hanging or shorted in any way whatsoever.

I hope I still have some readers left and I plan on getting back into the exploration of baseball in general and specifically the Rockies.  Until then, thanx for reading.

comments | | Read More...

I'm Back Yet Again...For a While Anyway

Friday, 12 October 2012

A couple of months ago, less than a week after I posted last, I experienced something that I had not experienced since 1997.  I was forced to live without the Internet for an extended period of time.  Finances alone forced that difficult decision.  It was not nearly as bad as I expected it to be.  I read the morning paper for news and box scores much as I did prior to 1997.  Surprisingly, life went on exactly as it used to without the information superhighway.  I didn't have instant access to any needed information anymore, but I learned that it wasn't necessary to have the information that instant anyway.  But I digress.

I was able to get my Internet access re-enabled due to a nice birthday windfall.  (Oh, by the way, today is my 36th birthday)  I got it back at the beginning of October and spent the last couple of weeks on a massive project that will appear on this blog throughout the winter, but more on that in a few days.


I want to take a little time to comment on a few happenings since I was last here.

1. The Rockies complete their worst season in history at 64-98.
All I can say is ugh.  Injuries were devastating in Denver this year, but that is no excuse.  Of all the 2012 offseason acquisitions, only Tyler Colvin performed better than expected.  Everyone else, from Cuddyer to Guthrie to Moscoso, was average (Cuddy) to horrid (Guthrie).  This season was just horrible and I have to hope that the Rockies have hit bottom.  If not I foresee the trading of both Tulo and CarGo (and probably more) next year to have a complete reboot of the franchise.  I don't think it is time for that now though.  Another 90 loss season in 2013 and it might be necessary.

2. Jim Tracy resigns as Rockies manager following the 2012 season.
Glory, glory hallelujah.  I have always hated the way that Tracy managed a game and the Rockies have steadily gotten worse since he started in mid-2009.  That being said, I would have preferred the franchise taking a stand and firing him rather than letting him resign.  This way makes it look like the Rockies ownership is cheap (which is probably true) and that Tracy was not really at fault for the poor performance (not true although it wasn't completely his fault).  I think it is time to get a first-time manager in Denver preferably from outside the organization (i.e. not Tom Runnells or Stu Cole).  I am holding out hope for Ryne Sandberg, but Sandy Alomar would be great as well.

3. The first images of 2013 Topps are released.
My first reaction was that I liked it, but it could be better.  The lack of positions on the front and a little bit too much border are the downsides in my mind, but it is still better than the average Topps set.  At least so far.  The pink and camo parallels tell me that it is time something new in cards.  The parallels have jumped the shark.

4. The story break that relic cards may not be what they appear to be.
I don't care in the least.  All of my relic cards have a picture of said player on the card along with a piece of cloth, wood, whatever.  As long as the player's picture is still on the card then it is what a baseball card has always been.  A photo of a major league baseball player.  Anything else that is added I consider part of the design anyway.  I understand why some folks feel cheated, but relics never meant that much to me anyway.

5. Blogger Chris Stufflestreet passes away way too young.
Obviously this is horrible news.  I did not know Mr. Stufflestreet personally, but I did enjoy reading his vintage blog.  I have never been as big on collecting vintage cards, but I always enjoyed reading the stories about the sets from long before my time.  I wish I had the chance to know him better because he had more knowledge of a subject that I love than just about anyone.  The world is a sadder place with one less card collector in its midst.


I don't want to make this a long winded post (well more long-winded anyway), so I will say that the 2012 edition of Quarry Cards featuring the complete 2012 Rockies roster will start as of tomorrow.  I have been working on it since spring training and was practically finished at the time of my Internet loss.  The design is 100% my own this year, after borrowing from the Topps site last year, although I was inspired by several sets.  49 players were active members of the Rockies roster this year along with a manager card and a team card for a total of 51 in this year's set.  I will start tomorrow with the first eight cards from this year's Quarry Cards.  I hope to see you then. 

Thanx for reading.

comments | | Read More...