39 thoughts on “May 22, 2020: Poet On Payday”

  1. Just had three cards arrive in the mail from someone on The Bench that had a 4/01 postmark on it! That beats the old record from last October of just over a month for cards to arrive from someone. Yeah, me neither.

    1. Hey Runner (and others), did you see that Gleeman had a Michael Jordan rookie card with a 9 rating, that he literally sold for 5 figures in a parking lot this past week? He wrote about it in the Athletic. He has a number of high valued cards he's selling, basically through Twitter.

          1. Definitely. Plus the 9 rating really shot up the value. Apparently it is estimated only 2,000 or so 9 rated Jordan rookie cards out there. He writes about all that.

        1. I have two rookie cards in high level condition: Kirby Puckett and Emmitt Smith. Think I could maybe sell those and pay for a dinner or two.

          1. Kirby'll maybe get you a Spicy Chicken Sandwich meal at Popeye's, maybe, which is cool. Doesn't help that it came out in the middle of the Junk Wax Era (think glut).

            1. yeah, that's what I found. My Emmitt Smith card might get me a meal at Murray's. Which would be 10 times what I paid for it

          2. I found a Joe Montana rookie in my collection. Definitely not a high level condition but decent. Probably worth a few bucks.

            1. I was really into the 1995 EMOTION cards from Fleer.

              I could probably scrape together half a car payment across my whole set.

                  1. Someone from Canada is asking ~$90 for the set + three subsets, but he won't get it. Saw another for $67 for the set + one subset and missing 10 cards from the others.

      1. I need to look through my cards to see if there's anything of value. A Skybox Jordan Dynamic Dunks (worth maybe $10) might be the highest and we might be at peak Jordan right now with the ESPN documentary. It turns out buying the Canadian Kirby Puckett rookie many, many years ago didn't do much for the value of it.

        1. There is the 1984 Fleer Update "extended rookie card", then there's the 1985 Topps, 1985 Fleer, 1985 Donruss, 1985 O-Pee-Chee (Topps Canadian).
          There's also a Topps Tiffany version.

          1. RR: Of the cards you own, what's your 1) favorite(s), and 2) most valuable?

            1. 1) any card, no matter the value, that I've managed to track down after X years of hunting
              2) no idea. I'm a collector, not a "prospector". None of my cards are graded (no need to if I'm not selling/trading them), and I haven't actively looked up any of their prices.

              Not the answers you were looking for, sorry.

              1. Modified #1

                What is the card you've sought out for the longest with no luck, ie your White Whale?

                What card did you seek for a long time that you finally found?

                1. Good questions. One that comes to mind is a special Kmart insert in their hanging rack packs in 1990 and 1991 that featured ~16 top active career batting leaders, and had Puckett and Hrbek. One of the years is tougher to find and I don't have them (I forget which year). I think the Puckett could be picked up for maybe $10, but what's the fun in that? It's not going up in value, so I'll keep looking for a better deal.
                  Back in the early 90s I traded most of a complete 1972 set (minus the Twins) for $400, a 1968 card of Mays, Mantle, and Killebrew (~$100 card at the time), and help connecting a new basement circuit to the breaker box. I spent the money on carpet to help complete the basement finishing project.

  2. We have baby robins! The parents built a nest on one of the downspouts, and yesterday the boys caught their first glimpse of the chicks--they're only visible when a parent brings a worm, which prompts them to stick up their wide-open beaks up for food. The boys also noticed the babies passing white blobby things to the parents, which led to some fascinating research into fecal sacs.

    1. I found an empty robin egg in two different spots on our property last week.

      Hopefully, they were hatched and alive.

    2. I found (at least part of) a nest in our drier vent, which is 2nd floor above a sloping side yard. Might have to stretch social distancing a little and have the neighbor hold the ladder.

    3. Here's the Cape May Warbler I had in my yard a couple days ago:

      In Spoiler, since I'm anticipating the picture being too big, and every time I try to resize I break things SelectShow
  3. RIP, Jerry Sloan. I was a fan of his Chicago Bulls team (him and Norm Van Lier in the backcourt, Bob Love and Chet Walker at forwards, and the two-headed monster of Tom Boerwinkle and Clifford Ray at center). They won between 51 and 57 games four straight seasons (1970-71 through 1973-74) under Dick Motta, but never made the finals (falling in the Western Conf finals in both 1973-74 and 1974-75.

    He was a major hard-ass as a player and as a coach, but for the most part inspired loyalty and success.

  4. With expanded rosters coming and bench players having a bit more flexibility in playing positions, I wonder which AL manger will be the first to use double switches as a strategy. Im surprised Joe Madden didnt do it in Tampa.

    1. I thought I read that wouldn't be allowed under the new "must face at least three batters" rule.

  5. Local station here has been counting down the local "most underrated sports figure" in the area. It's coming down to Roy Sievers and Michael Spinks.

  6. Gave Dr. Chop her second covid buzz cut. I've gotten pretty good with the clippers, and I've avoided taking off all of her hair twice now.

    1. Nice!

      I'm due for my first home-bound hair cut this weekend. My wife's been trying to order me a set of electric clippers for weeks, but everyone was out of stock. One came in a couple days ago, so my mop is about to get a lot smaller. I'm looking forward to having my hair all up above my ears again.

  7. I got recalled to work with less than two days notice. Enjoy your holiday. Come Tuesday I have to report into a job site that doesn't have a full time cleaning crew, where the break rooms (including the fridge and sinks) are off limits, there is no drinking water on site (bring your own, you'll be working in 90+ degree heat and 85% humidity), and you have to work in groups to ensure the safety of the precious objects you're handling and transporting. Sincerely poor planning on my bosses part.

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