I'm back and now I need a vacation from my vacation

Wow it's been a little over two weeks and now I'm back.  I know I posted a couple mobile posts from the three ball games I got to go to, but they weren't real posts.  I also hate to call what I just did a vacation.  I never consider visiting family a vacation.  But it was good to see everybody and get out of Alaska for a few weeks.  Of course I was hoping for better weather, but what can you do.  This is just a summary of the trip, minus all the boring family stuff.

When the wife and I flew into Chicago we ended up spending the night at my wife's aunts house.  We got in early so we crashed and later that night took in the second home game for the Cubs.  And it was cold, really cold!

We lasted till the 8th inning and then sought refuge across the street at a bar for wings and beer and to watch the rest of the game.  Oddly enough two years ago we ended up going to Wrigley for the second home game as well.  The Cubs won both times.  They were playing my beloved Brewers.

We also took a trip over to Minnesota tothe  Mall of America.  My wife had never been and the weather was nice for the drive.   I also got to go to my first Lego store.  It was a little overwhelming for a Lego fan.  I'll post about that over on my Lego blog.

I ended up getting sick half way through our trip and finally felt good enough for the drive.  If it had worked out better we might have stayed the night and gone to a Twins game while we were there, but we ended up just driving back to my folks house in Northern Wisconsin.

After about 10 days with my folks we headed south again to visit another one of my wife's relatives in Oshkosh and along the way we stopped at Lambeau for lunch.

I highly recommend the bacon beer cheese burger on a pretzel roll, unbelievably good.
I ended up going through the Hall of Fame again and my wife went shopping for me at the gift shop.  There was quite a bit on clearance so I am now fully stocked on Packers apparel.
I also wanted to see all the Lombardi Trophies together.

They also had a new exhibit featuring the photography of the late Vern Biever the Packers' official photographer from 1941 till he retired in 2006.  It was really cool.

Then we hoofed it down to Milwaukee to take in a couple Brewers games at Miller Field.  I had yet to make it to a game there and was pretty excited to see the place.  Both games were against the Cubs and the roof was closed for both, which was probably a good thing as it was still pretty chilly.  This was also right in the middle of the Brewers 9 game winning streak, I do believe the two games were 6 and 7 of that streak.  I also got to see my favorite Brewer prospect Logan Schafer make an appearance in both games, replacing Aoki on Saturday and an ejected Braun on Sunday.
The first game we were close to the worst seats in the house.

The worst seats would have been two seats over from mine on the left there.  I also got to see a few old college friends I hadn't seen in about 9 years, just by chance.

Here's a view from the very top row of the 4th level.

That is a long way down.

On Sunday it was bobblehead day and we scored a pair of George Scott bobbleheads.  I think half the folks there were like "Who the hell is George Scott?"  Luckily I know exactly who George Scott is.

George played with the Brewers from 1972 to 1976 and racked up 5 Golden Glove awards while with the team. Hence the gold gloves on the bobble.

Both games were a lot of fun and we had great seats on Sunday.  Second Level row two on the third base line.

We ended up back in Chicago for my wife's birthday and had great weather so we headed downtown to the sky deck of the Sear's Tower, now called the Willis Tower.

I also have a large cache of baseball cards and comic books at my folks house.  I've been meaning and planning on eventually moving all that stuff up here, but haven't.  I did dig through it and mailed a bunch of stuff up to myself and I'll have a few posts on what treasures I found buried.

Good to be back.  CB out.

Better seats today!

Hoping the boys can make it seven in a row

At Miller Park

And loving it. Hope they can make it six in a row. Cb out

At the friendly confines

And it's a little chilly

Be Right Back

Off to the land of beer and cheese and Brewers baseball.  I'll be gone till the end of April, carry on.

cb out.

TTM Success - Ray Searage

Well it's snowing like it's winter again up here.  Luckily I only have 2 days till I head south.  But the weather forcast for Chicago the day we fly in is for thunderstorms and Northern Wisconsin ain't much better.  Anywho, I was pleasently surprised to find one of my TTM return envelopes in my mailbox this afternoon.  With a return address from Pittsburgh.  I wasn't quite sure who it was from, as I hadn't sent anything to Pittsburgh this year.  And well that's because I got a return from one I sent last year.

Ray Searage played with the Brewers from 1984 to 1986 when we was traded to the White Sox.  Rays only Topps card in a Brewers uniform is his 1986.  He has a couple other cards from Fleer and Donruss, but I didn't have any of those lying around so I sent him his 1982 "rookie" card. Ray is currently the pitching coach for the Pirates.  Ray also holds the distinction of being the only Met with a 1.000 batting average and 100% winning percentage.  Look it up.

 Ray's got a great sig, I just wish he had had a fresher Sharpe.  This also took about a year to get back, not my longest turn around, but close.  Needless to say I had kinda written off Mr. Searage, but I'm glad to be able add his signature  to my autograph collection.  I also already have a couple autos on 1986 Topps cards, but it's good to have some back ups.

Thanks again Ray

TTM Stats
Date Sent 5/10/12
Date Recieved 4/6/13

Address used
c/o Pittsburgh Pirates

• PNC Park
• 115 Federal Street
• Pittsburgh, PA 15212

A big thank you.

You'll notice I put up a counter for this years trades.  I did one last year too.  Right now I'm sitting at 13 with a few more probably coming up soon.  Most of those came from trading stuff out of my Series 1 Jumbo box with a bunch of you.  Most of the trades were pretty simple, not that they weren't great. Just some stuff I needed or wanted for stuff they needed or wanted.  I did snag a few great cards out of the deal though.  I've since put all the cards in their respective spots in the collection and I've quickly forgot to do a trade post or even a thank you, although most of the time I do email to say that I got the cards and thank you.  So I just want to say thanks to all 13 of you who traded with me in the last couple of months and I look forward to more trades.

Next week I'm headed down to the lower 48 to see some family.  The wife and I will be taking in a Cubs game and a couple Brewers games.  It just worked out that the Cubs play the Brewers when we are going to Wrigley and that the Brewers are playing the Cubs at Miller Park.  It should be fun.  My wife is a terrible Cubs fan, but swears that they are her team, she has hats to prove it, but I doubt she could name a single person currently on the team.  I've never been to Miller Park, so I'm excited about that.  I'd been to plenty of games at County Stadium, but have yet to make it down to a Brewers game in their new home.  This will be the first time in a long time I'm down in Wisconsin during baseball season.

So I'll be hanging up the Be Back Soon sign for a couple of weeks, but hopefully should have some good stories to tell from the trip.

Thanks again everybody and thanks for reading.

cb

Breaking News!!!!!! Upper Deck and Panini to get MLB License.

I can't believe I just heard this over the interwebs.  In an unexpected and unpredicted move Major League Baseball has decided to grant both Upper Deck and Panini  full MLB licensing rights.  In a move I largely attribute to my masterfully crafted letter to the Commissioner of Baseball, both long time competitors of Topps will now be able to use logos and team names on all their products.

When asked for a quote Mark Sapir from Topps said that it was, "Not cool."

Representatives from Panini and Upper Deck both released almost identical press releases that amounted to a giant raspberry and na-nanny boo-boo while sticking their tongues out at Topps.

Both companies plan to release new sets as soon as the ink dries on the contracts.....





























































April Fool's you're still stuck with just Topps!!!