Éirinn go brách! We're Celebrating Where??!

Public Service Announcement: As we celebrate St. Patrick's Day, please remember to celebrate responsibly.



(Please note that a lot of what is written below has been written before, with a bit of changes to make it relevant for the events transpiring today).

Today is St. Patrick's Day. It is the day that honors St. Patrick, who is the patron saint of Ireland. It also commemorates the arrival of Christianity to the Emerald Isle. In fact, it is said (thanks Wikipedia) that he used shamrocks to explain the Holy Trinity.

The Chicago River will be dyed a nice green this year. And it is said that they do a fantastic job of it as it pretty much stays that color for the rest of the year. And for the first time in a few years, the South Side St. Patrick's Day Parade will be happening today. This, along with many parades happening today, will make the Chicago area THE PLACE TO BE to get into the Irish spirit. For my part, because I (and I'm not kidding when I type this) love Irish and Celtic music, my CD player will be playing a few Irish music CD's. I like the Celtic Twilight series and need #'s 5 and 6 to catch up. I also have a number of NatureQuest CD's with music set to nature (from the days I needed to relax unless I wanted to suffer nervous breakdowns). My family enjoyed the corned beef dinner on Thursday night and unless we find a restaurant serving it, won't be having it tonight.

Why???

Because it's a busy day for the Anama family. This weekend is the big Sun-Times Card Show at the convention center down the street from the house. My daughter and I went to it last night. It was the first time I ever attended a show on a Friday. I was told beforehand that the show on Friday night is relatively quiet compared to the hustle and bustle of Saturdays. And tonight was no exception. Many of the usual vintage card dealers were there, a few of the big box dealers too. The auction houses were there showing off items that they plan on putting up for sale in the near future. And even a certain Mr. Mint was there to greet customers as they began their walk through the show aisles. I found only one or two dealers in the entire show dealing catering to set collectors working on current sets. As 2012 Topps Heritage is the set of the moment, I was able to see many of the variations and...ahem...gimmick cards up close. I don't buy the Heritage line of products, but the cards did look nice in person.

I did manage to buy a grand total of 32 cards to knock a tiny dent to my want list. I would have bought more, but my favorite dealer from New York AGAIN did not set up for this show. As disappointed as I was about that, I still managed to spend some refund money. I am focusing right now on four sets (in order of importance to finish the set):

• 2012 Topps Update ToppsTown cards
• Legend SP's from 2009, 2010, and 2011
• Original Back SP's from 2010 and 2011
• Everything Else on the Wantlist on the Sidebar of this blog

How did I do?

• 8 ToppsTown cards
• 13 Legend SP's from 2011 Topps
• 11 Original Back cards from both years
• One Complete Set of 2010 Topps Allen & Ginter w/SP's and the 75 card This Day in History set

Not a bad haul for a Friday night.  My daughter is after the 2011 Topps A & G mini set of haunted houses and we were able to get a dealer to hold onto some cards for us for when we come back today.  That said, the highlight of her night was (don't laugh, she will kill me) buying a card from the 2010 A & G set of...The Revolving Door!

That's right...The Revolving Door!!!

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! And she's proud of it too. Hey, whatever works, right?

Today, I go back to the show.  This time, with my son.  My wife and my daughter are going to make a trip to Chicago to help out an uncle clearing things out from his storage facility for sale.  Then after that, we all get together and drive down to Governor's State University, where my daughter will meet up with her dance troupe and perform in a competition.  Governor's State is located way south of my comfort (meaning "I won't get lost because I know the area") zone (which is EVERYWHERE south of the 290).

Now for the baseball portion of the program. If you're wondering, while there are many players of Irish descent in both the Major Leagues and the Minor Leagues, the last native born Irish player was Joe Cleary. Born in County Cork, Cleary only appeared in one game (08/04/1945) in 0.1 inning of work for the Washington Senators. But in that eventful inning, he struck out one batter (the good news), but allowed five hits, three walks, and seven earned runs to score. Saving time for the math, but seven runs in 1/3 innings equals an ERA of 189.



If anybody says, "Top of the morning to you," to you today, make sure to respond in kind, "And the rest of the day to yourself."

So now, a quick toast...

May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be at your back.
May your cards collections grow to unmeasurable heights in both volume and value.
May the quest for new cards be swift.
May the journey of life treat you well today and always.
And may a certain North Side baseball team win it all this year.
If you catch my drift.

Sláinte!

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama