Sunday (Cardboard) Verse: Philippians 4:13

 If you've followed my blog or Tweets on Twitter X (@flywheels), then you know that I'm a Christian and I collect cards of Christian athletes. While I don't own a lot of autographed in person type cards, I do have a few where the player added their favorite Bible verse. I've often thought about trying to craft a series of posts on these cards and spotlight the verse they shared for those who may not be familiar with said verse. However I'm bad about starting something only to not follow through after a few weeks...so will this post be a one off or the beginning on something that will see sporadic updates?

I came to know Matt Diaz when he joined the Braves organization in 2006. I often do a Google search on players, especially new acquisitions on the Braves to get a little more insight as to who they are and what they've done in their career and what they could possibly be bringing to Atlanta. At some point in my searches on Diaz, I discovered that the was a brother in the faith. Shortly after I noticed that he would add different Bible verses to his autographs he'd sign for fans at games. One such is this auto on this 2005 Multi-Ad card for the Triple A Omaha Royals, Philippians 4:13.

" I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. "

I believe a good way to sum up this verse is that 1) it's not just for Christian athletes, it applies to every child of God (you, me, our neighbors, the guy standing at the intersection holding a cardboard sign) in every different life situations, especially the hard situations. Nothing is too hard, nothing is impossible with Jesus and His love. When we are dealing with tough times and going through those trials, God is more content with us than when we are just sitting idle and happy with the blessings we've been given.

Oh My! How the local card shows have changed!

The other weekend I noticed a card show was being held a small church, hosted by the closest LCS to me. For once I didn't really have any plans so my oldest daughter (14) went with me. We had a 30-40 minute drive to get to the venue. On the drive there I asked what my daughter was going to be looking for, since I was a little surprised that she wanted to go with me in the first place. She told me she would like to find some wrestling cards, particularly of a few of the female wrestlers she likes. For me, I wasn't looking for anything in particular.

Growing up I used to attend card shows all the time. I have vivid memories of all the boxes, packs and singles on the table from various vendors. I would place the "dice game" for that change at a lucrative card (and usually lose). I'd search for cards of some of my early PC guys like Tim Salmon and David Justice. This was before I was a Braves collector, so it was fun hunting cards of a few guys.

Fast forward and the card shows began to get bundled in with general "collectible" shows. Cards, comics, toys, die-cast vehicles, that sort of thing. There the dealers would always have nickel and dime boxes. I loved browsing through those boxes as at that time I was still into quantity over quality. I could walk away from a table with a huge stack of cards and that was always a great feeling.

When I wanted to the gymnasium of this small church for this card show I guess I was expecting more of the same. Boy was I wrong. Just about ever table had slabs, slabs and more slabs. All the cards were modern, flashy, shiny stuff. If the dealers had boxes of cards to sort through, they were a minimum of $1 each. Are those the new nickel and dime boxes? I barely saw any sealed boxes for sale, instead everyone was trying to sling overpriced retail boxes...except the one guy that had $10 NASCAR blasters. I was tempted for a moment, then I came to my senses and kept walking!

I like modern cards as much as the next guy, but I've never got much into the grading game. Now I have to say it was nice looking at so many different grading companies' slabs laying all side by side. Some of these companies have some very sharp looking labels, HGA for instance stood out to me, but I'm a binder kind of guy so if I have a card of one of my PC guys I want to either put it in a One Touch to display on my card shelves or put it in a binder with the other cards. I guess I was surprised that I didn't see older stuff being offered. I go to a lot of comic book shows and you always have a good mixture of 80s/90s books available with all of the modern/slabbed books. Not so much at this show. Perhaps I just picked a bad show to go to? Since then I am seeing more card show ads for the Columbia, SC area so I may have to give it another shot and this time lower my expectations.

I didn't walk away empty handed. I managed to find a 2008 Upper Deck A Piece of History Lance Berkman Stadium Scenes jersey card numbered 89/99 in a dollar box I just happened to thumb through. I also grabbed a 2000 Fleer Tradition Ken Griffey Jr. Halls Well insert card from the only dealer I could find that was offering "older" cards. I'm a sucker for cards from that era, especially acetate stuff. However once I got home and was ready to log these two cards in my collection using TCDB.com, I noticed I had the entire Halls Well set. I had no clue!

My daughter did end up finding some wrestling cards in a small box, next to the guy I got the Griffey from. She loves Charlotte Flair and not-Sasha Banks and these cards were priced at 3 for $5. Probably overpaid, but all 3 are Refractors/Prizm parallels. She likes the shiny stuff. I'm just happy we share a common interest in wresting and trading cards!

All in all we had fun, though I think we were in and out in maybe 30-45 minutes? It was a small show, but it just wasn't what I was expecting. I know finding junk wax singles and boxes at shows now days may be a little tougher to find as the Hobby has changed quite a bit since I first entered it. I'll give it another try at some point, but as I said before I guess I'll just have to adjust my expectations next time.