Random & Reflection #4

Happy Day Off Day!  Everyone needs a day off every once and a while.  A day off helps you remember why you work so hard the rest of the week.   The older I get, the more I appreciate day off naps.  But until it’s nap time, how about some R&R.

The Random

2014 Topps Allen & Ginter's Mini A& G Back #159

 

This card was added to the collect fairly recently.  The Allen & Ginter’s sets have a cool, vintage concept.  I wonder if anyone, other than collectors, knew that Allen & Ginter used to be a tobacco company.  I'm surprised parents aren't outraged.  Hmm...it has been 126 years since they rolled their last cigarette, so I guess the term “too soon” does not apply here.

The Reflection

Proverbs 23:24

The father of a righteous son will rejoice greatly, and one who fathers a wise son will delight in him.

One thing to remember with Proverbs is that they are generalities, not promises.  I think that we get hung up on a lot of Proverbs and hold them as dear promises from God and when they don’t happen like they are written we get angry with God.  With that being said, many Christian parents raise their kids to be kids of Christian parents rather than with the vision of them being Godly adults.  That’s one of the things that I pray for my children the most, that they would grow to be Godly adults.  Meaning, that one day my kids are going to leave our house and go out to this big world outside of the protection mom and dad.  My prayer is when this happens, that they will not just remember what they have been taught, but it is a part of their lives and they live what they were taught.   When I see that, I will rejoice not in my child’s abilities, but in what God has done in my their life. 

Have a great, blessed day.    

Click here to visit "The Unofficial George Brett Card Catalog"

Random & Reflection #3

It’s Monday.  Everyone is trying to get ready for the morning and scurrying around.  I think it is time for some R&R.

The Random

1988 Star Brett Platinum #93 George Brett/Major League Stats

 

It’s Pink!  Love this set of 10 GB cards.  The have a parallel set in orange that use the same heading on each card, but a different picture.  I have not been able to find out a lot about the star company, but it appears that they love making player sets.  I have all 3 GB sets and several Bo Jackson sets.

The Reflection

Luke 11:13

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

As parents we want to give is best for our children.  Isn’t it awesome that the best gift that God have given us is His own Son?  A gift I don’t think that I could give.  That is a gift that He has given all of us, and we just have to believe to receive it.  But the gift of the Holy Spirit is also an awesome gift.  It is a helper that directs us and shows us Gods will for our life. Sadly, I fight this great helper a lot.  I want to go my own direction and it says, “I don’t think that’s a good idea”.  It is a lot like my wife, which in the bible a Godly wife has several of the same descriptive words describing the Holy Spirit. Just remember, though, a good Godly wife is similar to the Holy Spirit, not the Holy Spirit.  ;-)

Have a great, blessed day.    

Random & Reflection #2

Good afternoon all. I have the day off today and enjoying some very hot and humid R&R.  Some might call it rest & relaxation. I am calling it Random & Reflection.  

The Random

1986 Donruss Pop-Ups #12 George Brett – card size is 2.5”x5”

I have always been fascinated with these types of cards that were design with the intension to not stay in the standard flat card format.  Interestingly, when I first got back into collecting I bought a huge lot of George Brett cards and there were 2 or 3 of these cards in there, but they had all had there tops cut off so they would fit in a standard size card holder.  I still have one of the cut off cards, but shortly after I realized that there was something missing got the real thing. 

The Reflection

Psalms 46:10

“Stop your fighting—and know that I am God, exalted among the nations, exalted on the earth.”

I think we all have this feeling of fighting a losing battle.  Whether it is with our children, our work, our spouse, or even our government.  As a people, we enjoy putting the weight of the world on our shoulders and then even more enjoy complaining that our burden, put there by ourselves, is too heavy to bear.  Chapter 46 starts with the phrase; “God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble.” But when trouble comes, we like to take on the trouble ourselves first.  When we can’t fix the trouble, we like to blame it on anything and everything.  Finally blaming God for the trouble, as well as blaming Him for the additional troubles that we added to the initial trouble.  When all we needed to do was go to God first.  This verse says STOP FIGHTING! Stop trusting in your own power.  It is only going to fail you and make things worse.  God says, “Know that I am God.  Know that I was at the beginning of this, I am in the middle of this, and I will see you through this, but no matter where you are in this struggle, if you seek Me, I will always be found!”

That’s a great reminder that if we seek Him, He will always be found.  God does not hide Himself, but many times He will not reveal Himself to us unless we want to find Him.

Have a great, blessed day.    

Random & Reflection #1

Good morning all. Yesterday's blog I talked about a new format and here it is.  I am calling it Random & Reflection.  It consists of 2 parts: the random, which is a randomly picked George Brett card with my thoughts, and the Reflection, which are my thoughts on the Bible verse of the day from Biblegateway.com. So without further ado. 

The Random

1988 Topps Sticker George Brett #259 w/Mark Langston #63 on the back

These sticker cards are 2 cards in one.  I love cards that have variations and the 1988 sticker cards had several for Brett, because he had both a sticker and a sticker back variation.  Each variation has several different players on the opposite sides.  I don't know much about Mark Lanston, but I bet this has to be one of the most collected of his cards.  

"Way to piggy back off of George's success, Mark.  My hats off to you!"

The Reflection

Colossians 3:12-13 HCSB

 12 Therefore, God’s chosen ones, holy and loved, put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13 accepting one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive.

Whenever you see the word “therefore” in scripture, you have to look at what it is “there for”.  This is pointing back to the earlier passages stating that we are new person in Christ and should not want to go back to the way we were because of what Christ has done for us.  In Gods eyes, His followers do not have geographical, geopolitical, or social boundaries.  He sees them as His children and we should see them the same way, but our flesh keeps pulling us back to our bad habits. 

When as followers of Christ will we stop using our flesh as an excuse?  We are told to put off the old self, because we are new.  We are different!  One of non-Christians biggest complaints against Christians are that they are fakes.  They go into church and act all high and mighty, but outside of the church walls they talk, walk, and act just like everyone else as if Christ has made no change in our lives.  

My challenge to myself, and to you if you are reading, is to put on the heartfelt self to others, just as Christ did for me.  Not because they are deserving of it, because I am worthy of what Christ did for me, but because I have Christ in me.

Have a wonderful, blessed day

Short and sweet with new news!

I finally posted a new card and writing a new blog today.  It has been over a month for both.  The reports of my demise have been grossly exaggerated.  I just wanted to do a short update about whats going on with me and some news about this blog.  First, I haven't post any new cards for a month simply because I haven't ordered a any new cards in a month.  Money has been a little tight and everything else comes first.  I hopefully will be able to get some new updates throughout the summer.  Second, since I haven't posted any new cards for over a month, the blog updates suffered as well.  Also, along these lines, I feel that I have been making my previous blogs way too long.  Most previous blogs usually take me about 2 hours to write, proof read, edit for formatting before I publish them and because of that they get rather draining, mainly because all of my blogs are written at night when I am trying to settle down for the night.  So I am going to start a new format of blogging.  I am going to get up in the morning and blog, tentatively a couple times a week and the blog is going to consist of 2 parts.

Part 1.  A random George Brett card, a picture of it's front and back, and my thoughts on the card.

Part 2. The Bible verse of the day from my Bible Gateway app and also my thoughts on the verse.

I am hoping that this will shorten up my blogs quite a bit and make them more manageable and easier to read in one setting, while still writing about the 2 things that I am very passionate about.

I still plan on doing a top ten monthly, which seem to be very popular.  

Please check out my website "The Unofficial George Brett Card Catalog" to keep up to date with all of my updates.  But until the next time, have a wonderful, blessed day.

Top Ten George Brett Cards GBCardGuy is Content About Not Being in the Database

There comes a time in every card collectors life when they come to the realization that there are going to be certain cards that will never be in their collection.  You can have two reactions to this.  One, be whiny and complain that someone has something you don't.  Two, say "oh well" and move on to the next card.  There are several cards that I have come to that realization that will never be in "The Unofficial George Brett Card Database", ultimately because they will most likely never be in my possession.  I know that I should never say never, but as you can see with the following top ten list, you might understand why.  Usually My top ten lists, unless otherwise stated, are limited to cards that I currently own.  This top ten list falls under the "unless otherwise stated" category.  The lists are strictly base on my opinion.  Cards might be listed because they have some memorable back story, cool design, or something that simply sticks out, too me, about them.  Feel free to comment, I love talking to other collectors.

Top Ten George Brett Cards GBCardGuy is Content About Not Being in the Database

Honorable Mention: Any One of a Kind Cards
I typically do not start with an honorable mention, but this is not a typical top ten list.  My funds for purchasing cards is very limited.  I do not have hundreds to thousands of dollars to spend, and if I did I am sure that my wife would find better thing to spend that money on than George Brett cards.  Cards that would fall into this category would be any cards that only one or very few cards were printed in that series or was a printing plate of a series of cards.  Most of the times these cards are made for someone in particular or an event, and were mostly produced after 2000.  This top ten is going to be, for the most part,limited to cards that were produced while George Brett was an active player.

10. 1995 Tombstone Pizza Autograph #AU2

(photo courtesy of ebay)

Technically not from his playing days, but pretty close.  When I first started re-collecting George Brett I saw one of these on auction on ebay and I told myself that I will see it again, but never have until recently.  From what I understand, there were about 2000 of these made.  I am really surprised with the quantity that were made that this card doesn't show up for auction more frequently.  There is one currently on ebay for $59.99, if anyone wants to buy it for me.







9. 1993 Topps Finest Refactor #63

(photo courtesy of ebay)

According to http://baseballcardpedia.com/ there were approximately 241 of this card made.  Although not the rarest on this list, they sell close to $200 on ebay, ungraded.











8. 1984 & 1991 Topps Gallery of Champions  

(photo courtesy of ebay)

(photo courtesy of ebay)

From what I understand, these where produced as a box set with a total of 12 "cards".  They are actually quite small. and made out of precious metals. The 1984 Topps made 2 different series, one being made out of bronze and the other sterling silver. In 1991 3 series were made out of aluminum, bronze, and sterling silver.  I have a 1986 Bret Saberhagen aluminum one.





7. 1990 Donruss Aqueson Test #144

One of the most treasured for the most serious of collectors.  I could not even find a picture of one online.  I have been told that there are only 2 or 3 of these in circulation.  I might be wrong about that. One sold on Ebay 5 years ago for over $3500.










6. 1982 FBI Discs #3

(courtesy of psacard.com)

These have nothing to do with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but it was apparently a soft drink company.  I have only seen one sell on Ebay and I believe it sold for well over $200.







5. Topps Blackless Error Cards

(photo courtesy of ebay)

baseballcardpedia.com states that sheets of the 1982 Topps card were accidentally printed without any black ink.  They are very rare.  3 of the 4 1982 Brett cards have this variation.  There is apparently also a Blueless variation too.










4. 1981 Donruss Test Issue Panel

(photo courtesy of ebay)

This is a three panel set.  There is a mini, regular, and jumbo set of each.  About the only thing of Donruss worth collecting.  Sorry, that might have been a little harsh.








3. 1980 Topps Pepsi

(photo courtesy of thetoppsvault.com)

This is a panel that Topps put up for auction several years ago.  The individual Topps Pepsi cards that I have seen on ebay are not nearly this nice.  Some of these cards from this set have made it out into the general population, but no one is certain if the George Brett card did.



2.  1977 Venezuelan League Stickers #162

(photo courtesy of ebay)

So apparently something that was made in Venezuela is hard to find in the USA.   Normally the stickers for these sets focused mainly on players in Venezuela, but in 1977 they did a small run of about 50 MLB players using the 1977 Topps design.  Most of these that one would find are in terrible condition, but they are so rare that it hardly matters.









Honorable Mention: Any Vault Cards
Every year Topps will sell some of their old, original card scans.  Whether it is a negative of the original card or the original scan that the card was based off.  Most of the time its way out of my price range and only the serious collectors pick them up.

Honorable Mention:Graded 10 cards
I have not bought any graded cards yet.  If I do, I would probably only go after cards that would receive a grade of 10, but it is very low on my priority list.  I almost bought one last year, but stopped myself.  I could not bring myself to spend $10 on a card that would normal sell for less than a quarter if it was ungraded.

1.  1974 &1975 Royals Team Issued Post Cards 

(courtesy of imageevent.com/)

These pop up every once and awhile on ebay and the bid always goes very high.  Would it be nice to have, yes.  Is it worth going broke over, absolutely not.











Like I said before.   I should never say never, but it can be safe to say that these cards will most likely never be in my possession and I am ok with that.  That being said, if anyone out there that is reading this top ten and owns one of these cards and wants to give up their ownership to me as a early birthday gift.  I wouldn't say no.  But anyway, it is getting late and this guy is ready for bed.  Good night.

Post 17, Where Are You?

So it's been almost a month since I last blogged.  I really wanted to do blogs 3 times a month, but things happen.  So what has been so important in the life of GBCardGuy that I can't take an hour out of my busy life to blog. The answer...nothing...but don't think that my life has not been busy.  It has...at least busy enough for me to put my internet social life on hold for a little bit.  Saying that, I want to let you into my life a little bit and tell you how God has been active in the past month.

In the real world of GBCardGuy, I separate my life into three distinct categories: Family, Church, Employment.  All 3 categories are branches from a bigger tree that is called "Christ Follower".  To say that I have always been a stellar example of Christ in these three categories of my life would be very false.  I allow frustration and circumstances that are out of my control to dictate my mood, much of time.  Its funny when I say that, because when I let God lead, all of the circumstances are out of my control and strictly in His control.  It is usually when I try to take the control back that my frustration kicks in.

So what has been going on in the family life of GBCardGuy?  My wife and I have decided that we are tired of being Big Daddy and Big Mama and would like to be a much slimmer form of our present selves.  I have always been a larger man.  About 6 years ago, my wife and I went on a trip to D.C. and I knew that we were going to do a ton of walking, so I went on a major diet and started to walk/run on a fairly regular basis.  I called it the "Don't Be Dumb Diet", because everything that I did before that was dumb.  I was really faithful to it for almost a full year, and lost around 85 lbs.  At my lightest, I weighted less then I did my freshman year of high school.  After I lost all of that weight, I found out being dumb was way easier then not being dumb and sadly I am back at the weight I was before.  So I am starting the process again, but this time my wife is doing it with me and hopefully we can keep each other accountable.  Also we upgraded vehicles.  Car shopping is something that I try to avoid.  I know some people love it, but not me.  I have only had to do it twice in my adult life.  I own a 1998 Ford Ranger pickup that my dad gave me when I got out of college.  Well a truer statement would be, he had me take over the payments.  It is still running pretty well, but its starting to show its age.  I am dreading the day that it finally dies.  We try to be very financially savvy with our money and we know that a car payment is not very feasible for our budget.  3 years ago we traded my wife's(the family) car, which was completely dead and got a 1997 Ford Explorer.  I know...it was new when I graduated high school, but I digress.  Well it finally made its last family trip and we upgraded to something in the 2000.  2007 to be exact.  We had been blessed with the ability to pay cash and so far we are very pleased with the new member of our family.  My kids were so excited because we "let them" have a say in which vehicle we got.

My Church life is also very busy.  I alternate every month in being the music leader at my church, which I am enjoying.  I love the men and women that I have the privilege of worshiping with and making music with on a weekly basis.  Especially the hand and auxiliary percussion player(a.k.a. Big "soon to be slimmer" Mama), she's pretty hot if I say so myself.  I have also entered into the elder mentoring process at my church.  Me and another gentleman are meeting regularly with the elders of the church, studying a book and doing a workbook on biblical eldership.  I am not a sit down and read type of guy.  I don't get lost in good books easily.   I have enjoyed studying this series, but reading to me is a chore.  I think that God puts things in our path that we know are important, but we also know to get His desired outcome we have to do things, that normally in our flesh, we don't necessarily enjoy.  It is a purification process.  Are we willing to submit to Him to achieve His purposes?

My work life is probably where it has been the craziest.  I work for a small mom & pop music store.  After working there for 14 years I have been given a new title.  I am now the Sale Manager.  What does that mean?  Apparently more work and responsibilities.  :-)  I am enjoying my new title.  I am approaching this title of management in the same way that I am approaching the job of elder at the church.  An elder is an overseer, teacher, protector, and mentor and in my mind that is what a manager is suppose to be too.  I know that the two promotions in the work force and at the church, coming pretty much at the same time, was not a coincidence.  I stop believing in coincidences many years ago.  Gods timing is perfect.  Well in the last 3 weeks we have had one of the people that I manage quit and we are currently looking for a new employee and I have been very active in the interview process.  I feel honored that my boss has the confidence in me to be involve in this big decision.  But saying that, because of all of the excitement of the last couple weeks I really have not had the time to focus on the Ebay sales and in that area of my employment I feel very behind.  The problem is, when that area of the store gets untouched it starts to pile up, overflow and disrupt the flow of the entire backroom.  I am praying that God brings not only the right person, but quickly too.

Rarely have I seen, while in the present, parallelisms between what God is doing in my work life and church life.  While I try to be the same guy in both, I tried keep them separate.   God is showing me more and more that He is the same God while I am at both church and work and I should be a the same follower for Him at both places too.

Well that is a small look at the current "what's going on" in the life of GBCardGuy.  You might have noticed that "The Unofficial George Brett Card Database"  was not listed as one of my branches.  That's because as I said in my first post, when there is time and money left, I am a collector.  Saying that, I have recently updated the website with some new cards and have some more new cards coming that I will be uploading in the next couple of days.  One of which, just arrived today all the way from South Korea.  I really should look where certain cards are coming from before I order them.  Also, I eluded to a Top Ten in my last post about being content.  I haven't forgot about it and I am hoping to get it out in the next couple of days,  But for now it is late and this guy is ready for bed.  Goodnight!