To say that this blog is what it was six years ago when I started it would simply be untrue.  The industry has changed. My life has changed.  I was married for a mere three years when I started this thing, and I didn’t have any kids.  I now have two kids who are 6 and 4 and my wife and I will be celebrating our tenth anniversary later this year. Oh, and I had a career change some four years ago. Yeah, time flies.

There was a time when page hits were important to me; when I felt the need to publish something everyday.  But the more that I let that motivate me, the more this hobby became like work. Over time I did my own thing.  I branched out and got published elsewhere and used this site to do what I initially set out to do, chronicle MY collection and share MY thoughts.

One of the things that has developed through this site is ‘Thrift Treasures,” which has been my constant theme in which I chronicle sports items — usually cards — I find during trips to thrift stores, antique stores, flea markets, etc.

It came as a surprise to me this week when I learned that the “Thrift Treasures” series has been nominated for “Best Recurring Subject,” in the “2014 Bip Awards” as hosted by fellow bloggers over at A Cardboard Problem.

I’m humbled by the fact that I have even been nominated. The other candidates are among some of the stronger and more popular blogs in our hobby.  Anyway, I’ll quite rambling. If you’re so inclined go vote for somebody — even if its not me.

And in case you missed it or care to read them again, all of my Thrift Treasures posts can be read HERE.

Some of my favorites include:

* A 1971 San Jose Bees (Royals Single-A affiliate) signed baseball (read)

* Sealed 1984 Donruss set (read)

* A signed George W. Bush book (read)

* a Cal Ripken Jr. signed book (read)

* A signed Harry Caray book … which I returned to the owner (read)

* A full game-used bat that might be photo-matched to a card (read)

* a team-signed 1997 USA Baseball jersey (read)

* A signed Casey Stengel 1963 Topps card (read)

* And of course, the legendary find of a game-used Earl Weaver jersey (read) which has been the gift that keeps on giving. The find led to new opportunities within the hobby for me, including a chance to meet Earl and have his sign the jersey before he passed away in 2012. (Beckett first-hand piece from 2012)

This entry was posted on January 21, 2015 at 5:00 am and is filed under Thrift Treasures with tags baseball, baseball cards, hobbies, sports, Thrift Treasures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.