Friday, December 28, 2018

Kris Bryant and Bryce Harper

Kris Bryant and Bryce Harper. Do the Cubs need both, either, or neither to get to another World Series? How much are either player really worth? First lets look at their stats:
Kris Bryant
Year  Age  Tm   G    PA   AB   R    H    2B  3B  HR  RBI  SB  CS  BB   SO   SO%  BA    OBP   SLG   
2015  23   CHC  151  650  559  87   154  31  5   26  99   13  4   77   199  36%  .275  .369  .488  
2016  24   CHC  155  699  603  121  176  35  3   39  102  8   5   75   154  25%  .292  .385  .554  
2017  25   CHC  151  665  549  111  162  38  4   29  73   7   5   95   128  23%  .295  .409  .537  
2018  26   CHC  102  457  389  59   106  28  3   13  52   2   4   48   107  28%  .272  .374  .460   

Bryce Harper
Year  Age  Tm   G    PA   AB   R    H    2B  3B  HR  RBI  SB  CS  BB   SO   SO%  BA    OBP   SLG   
2012  19   WSN  139  597  533  98   144  26  9   22  59   18  6   56   120  22%  .270  .340  .477
2013  20   WSN  118  497  424  71   116  24  3   20  58   11  4   61   94   22%  .274  .368  .486
2014  21   WSN  100  395  352  41   96   10  2   13  32   2   2   38   104  30%  .273  .344  .423     
2015  22   WSN  153  654  521  118  172  38  1   42  99   6   4   124  131  25%  .330  .460  .649 
2016  23   WSN  147  627  506  84   123  24  2   24  86   21  10  108  117  23%  .243  .373  .441
2017  24   WSN  111  492  420  95   134  27  1   29  87   4   2   68   99   24%  .319  .413  .595
2018  25   WSN  159  695  550  103  137  34  0   34  100  13  3   130  169  31%  .249  .393  .496
Only three of 7 years could Bryce Harper give 145+ games. Kris Bryant has given three out of four. But there is concern over Kris still. Kris needs his swing back and some question if that is part of his injuries in 2018. Will 2017 be Bryant's last productive year? Both players have had two seasons 99+ RBIs. Harper has had two +300 seasons. Bryant has had none. In 2018, Kris Bryant's strike outs felt as bad as in 2015, but he continued to keep them down below 30%:
36% strike out % in 2015
25% strike out % in 2016
23% strike out % in 2017
28% strike out % in 2018

Four or Five year contract with Harper if affordable? Give Bryant another year and see if there is a sufficient upswing in his next season and he can stay healthy? I look at all the HoF Cubbie stats, and I'm not impressed with the amount of money these two want for the numbers they produce. No matter what, Rizzo will continue to be the face of the Cubs with most likely Baez be the the other clean up guy. If the Cubs could have 4 or 5 hot bats through out the season, yes the Cubs will make it. And something needs to happen, because everyone in central division has made off season changes to significantly make their teams better.

Thursday, December 6, 2018

New tires for the Crosstrek


I can Cross one item off the to do list for my Crosstrek. I purchased four new Milestar All-Season Radial P225/55R17 101V XL all weather tires for only $410.80 (with tax). Yep, traded my Japanese tires for Korean. That price included Installation and balance from Jesse's Tire Clinic replacing my original Yokohama Geolandar P225/55R17 95H. I specked these tires every place I could think of and Jesse's beat everyone for the price. They ordered the tires for me and let me come over with no appointment and done in a little over a half-hour. So I saved money and time and have better weight, speed, and mile rated tires. That makes me happy. The Geolandar tires are notorious for their short life.

Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Cubs Topps 65 [updated]

I'm excited about two new adds for my 1965 Topps cars

I acquired another Larry Jackson card

And a place holder Ernie Banks

Monday, November 26, 2018

Decline of Cars

GM, Ford, Mitsubishi, Subaru are all companies that publicly say car sales continue to plummet while trucks, SUVs, and crossovers rise.

In Oct of 2018, Subaru release this chart.  Overall sales are up, but sports cars BRZ and WRX are down.  Sedans/hatchback Impreza and Legacy are down.

Carline
Oct-18
Oct-17
% Chg
Oct-18
Oct-17
% Chg

MTD
MTD
MTD
YTD
YTD
YTD
Forester
15,981
13,430
19.0%
137,905
145,460
-5.2%
Impreza
5,499
6,733
-18.3%
65,039
71,322
-8.8%
WRX/STI
2,277
2,416
-5.8%
24,234
26,572
-8.8%
Ascent
6,008
0
0.0%
22,588
0
0.0%
Legacy
2,752
4,538
-39.4%
33,832
41,999
-19.5%
Outback
11,574
15,786
-26.7%
149,566
156,277
-4.3%
BRZ
254
271
-6.3%
3,184
3,578
-11.0%
Crosstrek
11,049
10,871
1.6%
122,464
87,685
39.7%
TOTAL
55,394
54,045
2.5%
558,812
532,893
4.9%

Ford's passenger car segment sales are down 14.5% through July 2018 compared to the prior year 2017 -- and getting worse with July's 27.1% year-over-year decline.

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Ford says

What can we expect from Ford concerning the future of the Mustang?

March 2018 Ford published [edited/shortened]:
All-in push on hybrid-electrics to bring new capability and features to customers on high-volume, profitable vehicles the Mustang; battery electric vehicle rollout starts in 2020 with performance utility and six BEVs by 2022. The Mustang Hybrid will be all about delivering V8-like performance with more low-end torque.

Does V8-like performance translate to 350 plus horse power?

Hybrid cars don't come across and impressive or cool. How will Ford market this aspect?


Ford announces Ford Co-Pilot360™, a package that includes standard automatic emergency braking, blind spot warning and other driver assist features.

I was expecting to see this on future Mustangs, but I wonder, why is Ford so behind on this package compared to several other car companies?

Sunday, November 18, 2018

Crosstrek todo?

I have made myself a part necessity and part dream list for my `15 Subaru Crosstrek.

Crosstrek todo:

In order of importance for me:

  • Rust repair
  • This is a must and short term goal. I just posted about this a few day ago. At 22K on the odometer, there should be no rust, but there is.

  • New tires
  • Another must. Still have factory tires on from my Feb 2015 purchase. Only rotated once (I know, I'm a horrible car owner) so the rear tires are more heavily worn than my current front tires.
    The car came with P225/55R17 95H. So many choices and still comparing.

  • Seat detailing
  • Something I need to do for having the car as an every day beater
    .
  • New Infotainment system
  • I have one of the blah-est Infotainment systems ever put out by Subaru, or anybody else for that matter. I would love to upgrade this. A couple of photos from my current system.


  • Inside door handle replacement
  • I have significant wear on this door handle. This is the only interior piece of trim that has worn this badly. The silver coating looks to be worn off. I''m looking to see what it would take to purchase/replace this part. Maybe a solid black that would not show wear as bad.

  • Carbon filter delete
  • Honestly, I believe my Crosstrek has better acceleration that most and I don't know why. I would like to try this simple mod and see if I can make it even better.
  • Engine detailing
  • This is how I would like to make my engine look. This is almost completely cosmetic, but none the less love it.

  • Spoiler
  • Enough said.
  • New dual or quad exhaust

Monday, November 12, 2018

Rust issue to fix

I have what appears to be a rare factory defect on my paint job. I say rare, because my previous daily Subaru car has zero rust on it still and no other Subie owners out there I know has this issue. The rust is in the driver's door jam and still easily fixable, right under the trim.

Pulling up the trim and it looks to be surface rust.

I have purchased the following items. for the removal, 80 grit sanding paper. All based on other's work and experience on similar tasks.


to be continued.....

Saturday, November 10, 2018

Rumors of new Ford Mustangs.

I would love Ford Motor Company to address any of these Mustang rumors:

o There is an AWD version of the Mustang in the works

o There is a four door version of the Mustang in the works

o 2019 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 will be 700HP and better performance than the Camaro ZL1 and Challenger Hellcat.

o There is a performance version of the Mustang in development that outperforms the Dodge Demon in multiple aspects.


Friday, November 9, 2018

My Subaru XV Crosstrek

Below are my first two Subaru vehicles I wrote about in my last posts. On the left is Premium Impreza and on the right, 2015 Premium XV Crosstrek. So similar at first glace, and yet truly from the same platform, but could not be much more different vehicles. [see previous blog https://elfstones69.blogspot.com/2018/11/subaru-owner-topic-snow.html]

After having the Crosstrek through several winters, I can tell you this car is a beast in snow. Even in serious snow storms.



I actually like the looks of the back-ends of '13 thru '17 better than the '18+


The center console was never top end, but not low end. Newer Subaru's, like my '19 Accent, have much better systems.

Monday, November 5, 2018

Subaru owner - topic snow...

When driving in snow, what matters?

Experience has taught me there are 5 primary factors for a vehicle that matter. I had assumed 4WD or AWD is what mostly mattered. I was very wrong. Hopeful, I can explain clearly in this post. So, I'll start at the beginning, where I learned this valuable knowledge with my first disappointment with my first Subaru car.

In February 2013, I sold my last Jeep, a trail Jeep Commander. I loved the vehicle. Great storage, power, and mud and snow handling. Better than my Jeep Grand Cherokee. What I didn't like was that I lived 12 miles out of town and gas was at a all time high. Additionally, the windshield was constantly being repaired or replaced because it was so vertical (I drove behind a lot of big trucks). Like always, I did a ton of research and in the end purchased my first new Subaru. I wanted something more sporty, better gas mileage, and would handle snow like my Jeeps had always done. I was told all Subaru's were awesome in the snow. So a salesman talked me into what he said would be the perfect car for me; a 2013 Subaru Impreza Premium hatchback. It was a nice looking car and over all was not a horrible car, but as I soon would learn, far from the perfect car in snow. Most certainly not as well as my previous Jeeps had done in snow. The first big 6 inch snow that we had in central Illinois with the car and I was stuck. I was so disappointing and mad. How could this be? I was told this be a great AWD car in snow and it was not. Additionally, just driving around, snow slush would just throw the car around (side to side).

I start looking around and asking people about their cars. What I learned was there is more to a good snow car than 4WD, FWD or AWD. First thing I learned was that the wider the tires, the better. Larger, wider tires moves the snow out of the way and has more surface for traction. The Subaru Impreza had fairly narrow tires. P205/55R16 on the Premium I purchased. Another issue was the car sat so low, that I had actually become high centered in the snow. So, yeah, height/clearance was an issue too. Other Subaru owners were raving about how well their cars did. Then I realized, their Subaru's sat higher and hand much better tires/wheels.

Just like when my Nissan Xterra could not live up to my Jeep's capabilities, and I could not climb the same off road hills, I didn't forgive this vehicle either. I wanted something better. I gave the car to my son who was wanting an AWD car that was better than the car he was driving. That said, my son has loved the car and still drives it.

In February 2015 I purchased the XV Crosstrek Premium after much research. The car looked a lot like my Impreza (as it is based on the same platform). Yes, I had seriously considered going back to Jeep, but the numbers and research pointed back as Subaru. The Crosstrek had bigger, wider wheels (P225/55R17), was lifted (8.7 inches clearance), trail ready, cost less, and a was really cool looking car. And unlike my Impreza, it pleased during the first big snow I drove with it. In fact, time and time again in the ice and snow, it performed well. I call the car my little beast. The vehicle actually handled as well as any Jeep I had owned. I also love the small factor of the car for parking and driving.

Was that all the factors in play? Nope. The Impreza is light compared to the Crosstrek. The Impreza weighed in at about 2,911 lbs. My Crosstrek weighs somewhere between 3,109 to 3,208 lbs. That little extra weight also helps with snow.

To summarize and back to the point.
1) Tire width size matters. Why? Surface traction and the ability to push away the snow. Don't believe this makes that much a difference? Compare driving with different sized tires.
2) Car weight matters. Heavier the vehicle, better the snow is displaced. But weight is a double edge sword. The heavier the vehicle, the harder to stop on snow and ice.
3) Multiple wheels that have traction matter. In other words FWD (four wheel drive) or AWD (All wheel drive). Many cars say AWD, but it is very misleading. Unless the car has at least a 40/60 distribution at default, your car will probably not be giving you the traction that is useful when you needed. Most manufacturers are getting better at making AWD but Toyota, for example, has made some horrible AWD in the past.
4) Lastly, clearance matters. This factor mostly matters when driving in very deep, wet snow. As I learned and other people I know, if you become high centered, good traction becomes impossible.
5) Tire tred matters. This is probably obvious to most people. Winter tires will perform better than All-season tires in snow. All-season tires will perform better than summer tires. If you can afford to have an extra set of winter tires just for winter (and can store them), do so. If you can't, you should have all weather tires if drive in snow.

Thursday, October 18, 2018

The case for MVP

The case for Javier Baez
https://youtu.be/Z1ZWOGGAOlo
176 H, 40 2B, 9 3B, 34 HR, 83 XBH, 111 RBI, 21 SB, .290 AVG, .326 OBP, .881 OPS

The case for Christian Yelich
187 H, 34 2B, 7 3B, 36 HR, 77 XBH, 110 RBI, 22 SB, .326 AVG, .402 OBP, 1.000OPS

Friday, August 17, 2018

Big BTRFS announcements

The big BTRFS announcements this week.  First, if you don't know what BTRFS is, then here is the definition:

BTRFS (pronounced as "butter fuss") is a file system based on the copy-on-write (COW) principle, initially designed at Oracle Corporation for use in Linux. It is a fairly new file stystem. The development of BTRFS began in 2007.  As of August 2014 the file system's on-disk format has been marked as stable, but coding and development continues.

Btrfs is intended to address the lack of pooling, snapshots, check-sums, and integral multi-device spanning in OS file systems.

The August 15th, 2018 BTRFS news can be summed up by this sentence:

Red Hat and Microsoft shun BTRFS, while ReactOS and SUSE Linux embrace this file system.

As of this week ReactOS (ReactOS.org) has announced that they support BTRFS and released developer issues of the OS with working BTRFS.  They have also released a YouTube video demonstrating BTRFS on ReactOS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ystmr5L9PU




The very same day, one year ago, Red Hat announced "Red Hat will not be moving Btrfs to a fully supported feature and it will be removed in a future major release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux."
Stating that hey did not see enough development for their taste.

Does Red Hat have better reason's for not supporting the FS? Filip Bystricky from Google and developer for android, wrote that the file system's “lack of native file-based encryption unfortunately makes it a nonstarter."
What about Microsoft? Microsoft Windows continues to ignore the file system and relies only on 3rd party drivers from open source community.

Sunday, August 12, 2018

Cubs snap shot

Oops never published on the 29th of July. Doing so now, although these numbers have shifted a lot.

Every year at this time (since 2013) I do a snap shot of the Cubs at the end of July. The obvious Stars are Baez, Almora, and Rizzo. Bryant has been injured much of the season. The power hitters are Baez, Rizzo, and Schwarber. Schwarber happens to have the most walks and a .364 OBP, 3rd highest RBIs - so really should probably be ranked higher.

RK   Player       G    AB   R   H    2B  3B  HR  RBI  BB  SO   AVG   OBP   SLG   OPS
1    Baez         103  383  65  113  27  6   21  79   14  100  .295  .326  .561  .887
2    Almora Jr.   98   310  50  96   21  1   4   30   18  55   .310  .346  .423  .769
3    Rizzo        95   361  44  95   17  1   15  69   44  53   .263  .360  .440  .800
4    Contreras    91   324  36  90   19  5   8   37   37  80   .278  .367  .441  .809
5    Heyward      89   314  54  87   16  3   7   44   32  39   .277  .344  .414  .758
6    Russell      94   326  48  86   19  1   5   34   34  74   .264  .335  .374  .709
7    Bryant       76   304  46  84   21  3   11  44   39  75   .276  .380  .474  .854
8    Zobrist      87   276  46  84   14  1   7   40   40  41   .304  .391  .438  .830
9    Schwarber    94   301  49  72   11  1   19  46   59  99   .239  .364  .472  .835
10   Happ         93   265  43  67   13  1   12  30   51  112  .253  .375  .445  .821
11   La Stella    84   117  14  32   5   0   0   17   12  16   .274  .341  .316  .657
12   Caratini     42   99   13  27   6   0   0   10   8   22   .273  .336  .333  .670
13   Bote         23   52   9   17   4   0   2   11   9   14   .327  .422  .519  .941
The Cubs sit in 1st place a game and half above the Brewers. Starting pitching has been their weekest link all season, but I would say there is somewhere between 87% and 95% chance they will make the playoffs again this year.

Tuesday, July 24, 2018

GEDXchange XML 1.2

I have updated/expanded GEDXchange XML to the newest level of 1.2.

Changes are updated Military and Baptism Elements.

Documentation can be found at:

http://mrgibson.com/table.html

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Day 10 of yard work

The lights have been installed into the wall and the pergola has been mostly built. Click on the images to enlarge.





Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Day 9 of backyard work

New lumber arrived today and the wall is getting close to done.

Click on the images to enlarge:




Thursday, May 10, 2018

MCU

How to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) list of movies/shows in chronilogical order:

Phase One

 - Movie: Captain America: The First Avenger
 - TV   : Agent Carter (seasons one and two)
 - DVD  : Agent Carter (one-shot — Iron Man 3 DVD)
 - Movie: Iron Man
 - Movie: Iron Man 2
 - Movie: The Incredible Hulk
 - DVD  : The Consultant (one-shot — Thor DVD)
 - DVD  : A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Thor’s Hammer (one-shot Captain America: First Avenger DVD)
 - Movie: Thor
 - Movie: Avengers
 - DVD  : Item 47 (one-shot — Avengers DVD)

Phase Two

 - Movie: Iron Man 3
 - DVD  : All Hail the King (one-shot – Thor: The Dark World)
 - TV   : Agents of Shield (season one: episodes 1 — 7)    (ABC)
 - Movie: Thor: The Dark World
 - TV   : Agents of Shield (season one: episodes 8 — 16)   (ABC)
 - Movie: Captain America: The Winter Soldier
 - TV   : Agents of Shield (season one: episodes 17 — 22)  (ABC)
 - Movie: Guardians of the Galaxy
 - Movie: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
 - TV   : Daredevil (season one)                           (NetFlix)
 - TV   : Agents of Shield (season two: episodes 1 — 19)   (ABC)
 - Movie: Avengers: Age of Ultron
 - TV   : Agents of Shield (season two: episodes 20 — 22)  (ABC)
 - Movie: Ant-Man
 - TV   : Jessica Jones (season one)                       (NetFlix)
 - TV   : Daredevil (season two)                           (NetFlix)
 - TV   : Agents of Shield (season three: episodes 1 — 19) (ABC)

Phase Three
 - Movie: Captain America: Civil War  - TV   : Agents of Shield (season three: episodes 20 — 22)(ABC)  - TV   : Luke Cage (season one)                           (NetFlix)  - Movie: Doctor Strange  - TV   : Agents of Shield (season four: episodes 1 — 8)   (ABC)  - Web  : Agents of Shield: Slingshot (web series)  - TV   : Agents of Shield (season four: episodes 9 — 22)  (ABC)  - TV   : Iron Fist (season one)                           (NetFlix)  - TV   : The Defenders (season one)                       (NetFlix)  - Movie: Spider-Man: Homecoming  - TV   : Inhumans (season one)                            (ABC)  - TV   : The Punisher (season one)                        (NetFlix)  - TV   : Runaways (season one)                            (Hulu)  - Movie: Black Panther  - TV   : Jessica Jones (season two)                       (NetFlix)  - TV   : Agents of Shield (season five, episodes 1 — 14)  (ABC)
 - TV   : Cloak and Dagger (season one)                    (ABC)  - Movie: Thor: Ragnarok  - Movie: Avengers Infinity War Phase Four..... to be continued

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

5k training

I'm going to start tracking my running via this blog

My short term goal is to run a 5 K in 35 minutes. that is a 11:15 mile:

Friday April 13th - trail - el gain 8 feet
  46:02 min - 2.88 mile(s)
  Avg 15:58 min - 1 mile

  365 Cal


Sunday April 15th - treadmill - incline 0
  13:15 min - 1.000 mile
  20:00 min - 1.427 mile(s)

  205 Cal


Monday April 16th  - treadmill - incline 0
  12:33 min - 1.000 mile
  20:00 min - 1.500 mile(s)
  27.40 min - 2.000 mile(s)
  29.58 min - 2.143 mile(s)

  292 Cal

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Cubs have struck out NL-record 58 times through 1st 5 games

Here is my first whinny post of the season. The Cubs have struck out a NL-record 58 times through 1st 5 games.
Who are the strike-out problem players? Heyward. nope. Schwarber. Wrong.
Happ for 8 strike-outs, Contreras for 8, and Rizzo for 6. Rest of the hitters for 5 SOs each.

Worse, the Cubs have been blanked twice in those five games by sub-par teams.

You can't win games if the lead off hitter (Happ) can't get on base, even by a walk.

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

10 facts as a collector

Seven Facts about me as a collector

- Fact 1. As a kid, I Started Collecting baseball cards in 1977.

In 1982, I was making a habit of collecting cards.

In 1989, I started purchasing cards in bulk.

In the mid 90s I stopped for a while and picked it backup up in 2007.

I'm not the usual collector.

- Fact 2. I buy locally, don't do much anymore with eBay.
  Why?
  I have two nice card shops where I live.
  Plus there are many private sellers around.
  Normally I see better prices, no shipping, I see the product. I just enjoy it more going in person to shows and shops.

  So like most collectors today, I don't have "mail day"

- Fact 3. I only have 15 K cards.  Most collectors who have been collecting as long as I have, well have many more.
  In fact, I'm looking at getting rid of many of my excess cards so that I can stay in that range.


- Fact 4. I don't use binders.
  Why?
  I don't trust them.  When I was a teenager, I used them.
  But they hang, bend, and are heavy. Plus they don't really protect the cards.

- Fact 5. I don't slab any of my cards.
  Why?
  It's not important to me.  I have never been into this hobby for investment or profit.

- Fact 6. I catalog and file all cards.  If they are not filed, they are hanging on walls on display
  Why?
  I want to enjoy my cards.  I want to know exactly what I have and be able to find them, view them,
  why have them.  I simply want to be able to enjoy them.

- Fact 7.  I'm not a very focused collector.   Other than collecting Cubs, HoFs, certain sets, years,
Cardinals, White Sox, Red Sox, All-Stars .... well you get the picture.

- Fact 8.  I was a huge Cardinals fan until Andre Dawson and Ryne Sandberg played together on the Cubs.  I was forever converted.  As a cardinals fan in the 70s, I was even trading many of my Cubs baseball cards to other kids.

- Fact 9.  No one else in my family like baseball or baseball cards like I do.

- Fact 10. I wrote all my collecting software myself.  Why, so I could have a product that could do what I wanted, display data in a way I wanted.

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Revisiting my baseball card room

Another short post on my card room. I do have my new card cabinet in full use now. Still wish I had a better one, but for the money it is much better than many of the other options. 99% of everything on display is still Cubs based. I made this new video on YouTube for the blog to show what the room looks like as of today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=357zh_zMCYQ

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Cubs and Cardinals autographed

I made a video today re-highlighting my Cubs and Cardinals autographed photos and baseball cards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riUwZT_JLN8

Here is a photo I did not put into my video:

Signatures
Bill Buckner signing group Cubs photo.

Saturday, March 10, 2018

took all 36 packs

I had to open all 36 packs of Topps 1988 Big Series 1 cards to obtain every card in the series. Have a ton of extra cards I don't need now. And even though I have not cataloged 100% of the cards of Series 1 (all 252 of them), I have started on Series 2.

I have made another video blog here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpoDFepruTQ

My cataloging effort of this set can be found here:
here http://mrgibson.com/baseball4.php?year=1988&seri=Big&bran=Topps

Despite all my complaining, if I get the full set for $5, I will be pleased. I will be up for trading my excess cards from this set for other holes in my collection.

Thursday, March 8, 2018

Still working on 88 Big cards

Yes, I'm still opening and cataloging Topps 1988 Big cards. I have a long way to go.

How is the set so far? Probably the worst distribution of cards that I have ever seen. For example, I opened an entire case of Series 1. Some players kept coming up, over, and over, and over. Some players did not show in the entire case. Of the whole case, I only opened one Ryne Sandberg. If I had not at least got that card, I was going to be horribly upset. The worst part is that after opening all these cards, not a single #2 Milt Thompson card. But I need 8 Cal Ripkens?

My prize from the case

Monday, March 5, 2018

New bulk packs purchased

Made another bulk purchase for $5 again. Although I did not get as many cards for $5....(for example, more than 2400 cards), I did get 756 Topps 1988 "Big" unopened cards for $5. Still a good deal in my humble opinion. I also did something different, I made a video of me opening some of this cards. 

Watch video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oH-2pu1l34

Once again, not a very good video, but I'm going to give this a shot with video blogs. Hopefully my video will get better. :)
Topps 1988 Big

As for the 1988 Topps Big cards, I love them.  I never knew these cards existed in 1988.  I did know of the 1989 Topps Big cards though.  I purchased many packs of them because I loved them.  That said, I think I like the 88`s more than the 89`s.  So I'm glad I made this purchase.

I have given dealing shout-outs before when I have like purchases, so I'm giving Busted Wax a shout-out for the good deal.

Monday, February 26, 2018

Nights of sorting cards for new cabinet

I have not much to blog about other than I have spent days sorting through 15 thousand baseball cards. With the purchase of my new cabinet, came a lot of work. I now have a way of sorting cards more effectively. I took tonight off so I'm blogging about it and having TV night with the wife. The Hello Kitty with the Cubs shirt in the photo is an addition from the kids. Not sure how I feel about having that in my card room. lol
Days of sorting cards for new cabinet
I have been going through the contents of every box. Slowing down the process is the fact I have less than 9 thousand card cataloged. What I did have cataloged was not cataloged in any means other than random.
Days of sorting cards for new cabinet
Days of sorting cards for new cabinet
I did finalize the contents of the drawers as the following (basically most of my favorite small collections):
Days of sorting cards for new cabinet

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Cubs and Cardinals Rankings

MLBN’s Top 100 Players and Sports Illustrated Top 100 lists are out. Currently Cubs only have 5 Cubs players in both of the lists. A total of 8 Cubs players make a list. Cardinals only have 4 players to make top 100 for either list. Even worse for the Cardinals; the poor Cardinals don't even have any top #25 players. This is why the "experts" are claiming the Cubs will trample the Cardinals this year. I have some opinions and the season will say if I'm right or wrong, but I believe that Willson Contreras should be a little better in the rankings for both lists.
I'm guessing the gap between Kris and Anthony is due to projections based on age.


Here are the Cubs and Cardinals rankings:
Rankings
AVG  SI   MLB   Player            Team
#6   #3   #8    Kris Bryant       Cubs
#23  #23  #23   Anthony Rizzo     Cubs
-top 26-50
#38  #45  #32   Marcell Ozuna     Cardinals
-top 51-100
#60  #53  #67   Yu Darvish        Cubs
#55  #51  #59   Tommy Phram       Cardinals
#61  #49  #73   Carlos Martinez   Cardinals
#69  #72  #66   Kyle Hendricks    Cubs
#75  #91  #58   Willson Contreras Cubs
#77  #92  #62   Matt Carpenter    Cardinals

-Players that did not make both lists:
​---  #70  ---   Jon Lester        Cubs
---  #80  ---   Jose Quintana     Cubs
---  ---  #95   Kyle Schwarber    Cubs

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame players

Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame players

                                        At least 1 item
Name               Years                in collection          
Pete Alexander     1918-1926  
Cap Anson          1876-1897            Yes
Richie Ashburn     1960-1961
Ernie Banks        1953-1971            Yes
Roger Bresnahan    1900, 1913-1915 
Lou Brock          1961-1964            Yes
Mordecai Brown     1904-1912, 1916      Yes
Frank Chance       1898-1912
John Clarkson      1884-1887
Kiki Cuyler        1928-1935
Andre Dawson       1987-1992            Yes
Dizzy Dean         1938-1941
Hugh Duffy         1888-1889
Dennis Eckersley   1984-1986            Yes
Johnny Evers       1902-1913
Jimmie Foxx        1942, 1944
Goose Gossage      1988                 Yes
Clark Griffith     1893-1900
Burleigh Grimes    1932-1933
Gabby Hartnett     1922-1940            Yes
Billy Herman       1931-1941            Yes
Rogers Hornsby     1929-1932
Monte Irvin        1956
Fergie Jenkins     1966-1973,1982-1983  Yes
George Kelly       1930
King Kelly         1880-1886
Ralph Kiner        1953-1954
Chuck Klein        1934-1936
Tony LaRussa       1973                 Yes
Tony Lazzeri       1938
Fred Lindstrom     1935
Greg Maddux        1986-1992, 2004-2006 Yes
Rabbit Maranville  1925
Robin Roberts      1966
Ryne Sandberg      1982-1997            Yes
Ron Santo          1960-1974            Yes
Al Spalding        1876-1878
Bruce Sutter       1976-80              Yes
Joe Tinker         1902-1912, 1916
Rube Waddell       1901
Deacon White       1876
Hoyt Wilhelm       1970
Billy Williams     1959-1974            Yes
Hack Wilson        1926-1931            Yes
North wall frames
Gabby Hartnett

Fergie Jenkins
1977 Topps Bruce Sutter
Bruce Sutter
Greg Maddux
Greg Maddux
North wall frames
Cap Anson
Cap Anson
1964 Topps Ernie Banks
Ernie Banks
1969 Topps Billy Williams card
Billy Williams

Lou Brock
1960 Mordecai Brown
Mordecai Brown
1973 Topps Ron Santo Ron Santo

Andre Dawson

Ryne Sandberg

New office/computer lab done!

My new office/computer lab is done! This is my 7 to 1 KVM setup that I spent only $83 on. It manages all but two of my computers and soon m...