Sports Cards Ate My Brain

Both of my parents got degrees from the University of Michigan and we lived in Ann Arbor when I was in early elementary school.  This means I grew up a Michigan fan and still am.I've collected Michigan player cards over the years as part of my PC, Tom Brady being the obvious recent player that I collect.A few years ago I was browsing e-bay and came across an orginal Murad cards.  I was familiar with this set because of the Topps Murad themed basketball set from a few years ago, from which I have a Russell Westbrook mini variation.I decided to pay the buy it now price because I wanted this card so much.  It is now, by far, my oldest football card.

I've been waiting for something in the mail and it finally arrived today.It's not any type of cards, however.I like all sorts of music and recently rediscovered someone on Facebook that is doing some live shows during the pandemic.I signed up for a membership on a Patreon fan site he started and as part of that I got a signed copy of a CD. I don't think I ever listened to any of the songs on the CD before I started watching the live shows but now like several of them. Shawn Mullins was a year behind me at my high school and I'm pretty sure we never met.  Probably saw him in a talent show or chorus show.My favorite song on this album is Pandora's Box.He had one top 40 hit in the 90's and I think he appeared on the Grammys.Shawn Mullins - Lullaby
If you like this song or his other hit "Shimmer"or just like listening to acoustic music check him out on Sunday evenings on Facebook.  https://www.facebook.com/ShawnMullinsMusicI like having a mellow early evenin…

Any collector that is remotely interested in the history of baseball cards should have at least one T206 card.  I'm not talking about the various modern Topps sets.  I'm talking about the original tobacco set.
If I ever become a billionaire I might pursue collecting the who set but I lucked out a pawn shop almost 20 years ago and came across this beauty.

I don't see dirt, corner or edge wear, a slight crease, etc.   I see a beautiful baseball card.
This is Rube Geyer from the St. Louis Cardinals.  He played from 1910 to 1913 and went 17 and 26.  So not a household name.  Still, it's a freakin' T206.
It has the common Piedmont back so nothing major there.
Oh, and the pawn shop was selling it for $3.

My dad taught me how to golf while I was in elementary school and he and I would play occasionally at local courses around Athens, Georgia.
We also watch a lot of golf coverage on TV.
The big three were all around when I was young but Jack Nicklaus quickly became my favorite player and I would imitate him in the yard with wiffle golf balls.



Over the years I've purchased golf cards as they've come out, starting in the early 90's with the Pro Set releases.
I really enjoyed the Upper Deck releases and bought a few of the more expensive packs when I could.
When I pulled this card out of a pack I almost fell out of my chair.
Having a card with three of the all-time greats represented tops my memorabilia card list.

After my rant from the last post I'll start highlighting my personal collection.
This will be one card at a time and I'll explain why the card is special to me.

1976 was the first year I bought a pack of baseball cards.  I bought the pack at a convenience store on the way back from my first Braves game.  My friend's little league team had reserved the left field picnic area at Atlanta-Fulton County stadium and he took me along.
We got there well before game time and watched batting practice.  One of the kids on the trip was standing on a picnic table and got hit in the face by a line drive by Jerry Royster.  I retrieved the bloody ball but, of course, had to give it away.  The kid went to the hospital and, as I understand it, was given Braves and Dodgers uniforms.
Dusty Baker had moved from the Braves to the Dodgers over the winter and he was signing autographs.  I had no real idea who he was but I had a piece of notebook paper so I got in the line.  He stopped at the kid righ…

I had to go out and about yesterday to run a couple of errands and I decided to stop by the Target in the area to see if they had any cards.  I have to go to Target to look because my local Wal-Mart stopped stocking cards about a year ago when they put in about 1 million self checkout lanes.
The situation at Target was dire as, unless I wanted Pokemon, it had been picked almost clean.  I did manage to get a couple of things just because they were there.

It's hard to see but that is 2 fat packs of Prestige football and a Topps Opening Day blaster.
I left the other Opening Day blaster on the shelf besides some Star Wars: The Mandellorean ones.
It tells you how determined I was to buy some cards that I bought the blaster.  Opening Day is just completely pointless to me.  Topps claims it's for kids but it's just really a reason to put out some clones of their base cards to get more sales.
Here are the highlights of the blaster:

The left most card is a blue Opening Day parallel of Oh…