Coins Beat Us Out

My wife asked if I'd start using Swag Bucks as my search engine. Swag Bucks is a search engine, but I think that they place ads above what you're really looking for. I prefer Google. But, as you search you can earn Swag Bucks. Think of them like points that you get playing SkeeBall and then you can redeem them for stuff when you have enough of them.

What can one do with Swag Bucks? One can trade them in for magazines, books, electronics, baseball cards. Yep, baseball cards.

You can also get Swag Bucks for taking part in their daily poll. The other day's poll was interesting.

I guess we're better than Salt Shakers or Comic Book collectors.

There's some sort of Mid Level Marketing going on. I signed up "under" Angie. When I get points, she gets points. She has enough points that she's converted into Amazon gift cards that she's going to make a serious dent into the new sewing machine that's on the very near horizon.

I don't get it, but it seems to be working for them.

UPDATE:
Since at least one of you has signed up for this already, why don't I get a piece of the pie? If you'd like to sign up, click the banner below. I'll get in on this pyramid scheme Mid Level Marketing promotion.

Winnings from Rain of Error

Some time back, Jon, over at the always enticing Rain of Error blog, hosted a custom card contest. The subject was Damon Rutherford. Here's my entry (and the story of its creation) ...

I was a winner. Along with Matt, of the also enticing, Number 5 Type Collection blog. I think that Matt had the better entry but Jon didn't want to hurt my feelings.

Anyhow, on to the haul.

A book. Not surprising, since Jon seems to obsessed with them.

This tied in rather nicely, I thought. I like mysteries. I like baseball. There's an owl in the title and on the cover. That made me think of Greg. The author's name is Wolff. Reminded me of Kevin. They share the surname. Already, about 120 words in, I've named four of my favorite bloggers. That's got to be worth some suck-up points for any upcoming contests.

I'm currently juggling about four books right now. I've already told Jon that I need to finish a few before starting this one.

A postcard of Satchel Paige. You didn't know that Satchel collected antiques, did you?

Neither did I until this postcard from NoirTech Research came in the mail. Larry Lester is helping to put on the 13th Jerry Malloy Negro Leagues Conference in the middle of July in Birmingham, Alabama. I'm planning on being there.

Then, to put a nail in the coffin of the 1989 Topps cards, Jon provided me with the last two that I needed for that set.

1989 Topps, Gregg Olson (card #161)

1989 Topps, Rock Raines (card #560)

1991 Fleer, Orel Herhsier (card #208)

Three packs of wax. Rather, three packs of plastic enclosed cards. I'll open them later.

Thanks, Jon, for the winnings. Enjoy your time in Cooperstown.

Memorial Day

Eddie Grant, infielder for a variety of teams, served the US Army during the first World War. He enlisted and then became a Captain. He was involved in the Meuse-Argonne offensive where he lost his life.



Please take a moment to remember Eddie Grant, both for his baseball career, but more importantly for the sacrifice that he made on the battlefield.

Then remember the other service men and women that also lost their lives during their time in the military.

Images lifted from the Library of Congress

1972 Topps Milt Pappas

I have been working on restoring the email service to my wife's BlackBerry for the last 2 + hours. I don't have much to say except that it took two Sprint tech reps and myself and lots of frustration. It now works.

Celebrate with me by looking at Uncle Milty...

1972 Topps, Milt Pappas (card #208)

Others are collecting this set. I just happened to find this in one of my binders this evening.

Again, I am drawn to the colored glove. I feel better now.

Early Ty Cobb Box Scores

I was poking around issues of the Sporting Life at LA84 Foundation. I was doing some research on the 1904 Tennessee Alabama League. I found the box scores for Ty Cobb's first two games with Augusta, of the Southern Atlantic League.

I captured portions of the .pdf image, then pasted them together to preserve the paper's name and date. Click on the boxscores for clearer images.

This is not a new discovery to the world. But it is new to me and I thought that I'd make it a bit more widely available.


This is just a nice image of a player that accompanied an advertisement.

Huggins & Scott May Auction Catalog

Time for another auction catalog post. The latest Huggins & Scott Internet Auction will be held on May 26th and 27th.

I received this catalog a about a week and a half ago. Quite a nice selection of cards, uniforms, signed balls. Not only from baseball, but several sports. They also offer an interesting selection of Americana. Movie posters and broadsides, revolvers, swords, longarms. Well, just one revolver. But a lot of swords. And a few lots of rifles. Hartland figures. And much more.

The catalog is 116 pages of gloss covering 740 lots. As usual, they divided the auction to end on two dates. I'm guessing that it is easier for them, and the bidders, to have a separation so all parties aren't scrambling at the end.

I've looked at auction catalogs in a variety of ways before. This time I'm going to focus on games. Games of games.

First up, a 1962 Roger Maris Baseball Board Game.

Lot # 287
Opening Bid: $200
Current Bid: $200



Next up a 1940s-1970s Multi-Sport Games and Cards Collection
Lot # 290
Opening Bid: $150
Current Bid: $170



And finally a 1950s "Knockout" Electronic Boxing Game
Lot # 195
Opening Bid: $100
Current Bid: $130

Crack open the bank accounts and keep the browsers open.

Bids current as of the afternoon of Monday, May 25th.
And yes, I lifted the images from their site.
Images used with permission.

Prizes From Last Month

I won a contest from the guys over at Community Gum.

Okay, I'm a slacker. It has been over a month since I won and I'm just now posting about it. I'm such a slacker that I stole the image from Community Gum's site.

They bought a boatload of junk wax and invited readers to guess how many Andre Dawson cards would be in the haul. I guessed 5. I was correct, sir.

The guys over there got my cards out the door right quick.

Now, I'm wondering if I add them to my cheapo HoF cards. They aren't player relics, but it would fill two spots that I'm trying to fill. At this point I'm going to declare them HoF relic cards and go on with my life.