2019 National Pickup - Ichiro Signed Baseball

He's not a Hall of Famer, yet, but in five years, he will be.  I saw an amazing deal on a certified Ichiro baseball, and bundled it with the Chipper Jones that I picked up.  Ichiro routinely runs with a Sharpie and signs on the side panel of most baseballs, so getting a blue ink pen, sweet spot signed baseball at the price in which I got it was amazing.

Ichiro Suzuki (b. 1973) played in the majors from 2001 to 2019 for the Mariners, Yankees and Marlins.  He had 3,089 hits, 117 home runs and a .311 batting average.  If you add in his state from nine seasons in the Japanese league, he has 4,367 hits, 235 home runs and a .322 batting average across 28 seasons.

Based on his Major League stats, though, Ichiro was an All Star 10 times (2001 to 2010) and the AL MVP and Rookie of the Year in 2001.  He was also a 10-time Gold Glove Award winner.  There is no doubt that Ichiro will make it into the Hall of Fame when his first ballot comes up in 2025.

Another Topps Now Pickup - Ichiro Edition

I imagine that when the idea for Topps Now was being proposed, moments such as Ichiro's 3,000th hit were big selling points on the idea.  Well, Ichiro picked up the historic hit on August 7 and I made sure to partake in the 5-pack of the Topps Now card.  I sent one of them off to my good friend, Ryu; I'll keep one for myself, and I gave my wife one, since she loves Ichiro.  The others, I will probably sell at some point at a show.

As of tonight, Ichiro stands at 3,018 hits, 27th All Time.  The Topps Now card is really nice, and I am glad I decided to pick it up.

National Pickup - 2001 Topps Chrome Ichiro RC

While I was looking for the 2001 Topps Chrome Albert Pujols rookie, I stumbled upon a card I needed, but hadn't really thought about picking up.  One of the vendors who I had asked about the Pujols had this Ichiro RC for $20, and I grabbed it up.

I already had his base RC, but not the chrome.  That put this card low on my priority list, but I figured at that price, and with Ichiro about to break the 3,000 hit barrier, I went ahead and picked it up.

I'm glad I did.  Ichiro has now passed 3,000 hits and should be a first ballot Hall of Famer.  I now have his 2001 Topps and 2001 Topps Chrome, which it nice. I need to think long and hard about the next rookie cards that I want, because I have so many now, it is hard to think of what I need.

Pleasing the Mrs.

Although my loving wife STILL feels like my card collecting is 'just a phase' that I will apparently grow out of, I have been trying to get her interested in collecting. I have foolishly tried to pick up cards for her from time to time (mostly Detroit Red Wings hockey cards). They all end up in my card room with me having to file and sort them away... I'm not too big a hockey fan, so with them being left in my care, they pretty much get buried in a 5,000 count box alongside former Orioles I stick in there like Sam Horn, Mike Devereaux, Adam Loewen, etc. never to be seen again. For Christmas, I decided to go 'all out' in my attempt to get her interested and filled her stocking up with nothing but Ichiro cards (her supposed favorite player). They currently reside in front of my china cabinet in the card room awaiting her to add them to the old lock box that my Ripken collection has out grown. She was surprisingly very happy with the assortment of Ichiro cards that I, P.A. and Pete put together for her, and I think she finally has some interest in folowing a player and looking for his cards. It all paid off for me when I ordered 2 boxes of 2001 Topps from bbcexchange.com (and told her about them WHEN I ORDERED THEM...). When they arrived several days later, she grills me 'When did you order these, how much did they cost, do I look fat in this outfit, etc.' I told her: 'Dear, you DO realize that the series 2 box right here COULD have an Ichiro rookie card in it?' She stopped nagging and said 'If you find it, its MINE.' SO, when i pulled the card, I shout into the kitchen: "Mal, would you like to see what an Ichiro Rookie Card looks like?" She stops in the middle of making the 50 pounds of ham she was making for dinner and RUNS into the living room to see... Naturally, I already had one, as I purchased it from some kid selling a collection at the shop, so I held it over her as if I didn't have one at all. "Dear, I need the card to complete my set..." and her response: "like hell you do, you probably already have one and are just being an ass..." We know each other too well.....