Hang It In The Louvre

I picked up an incredible custom art card this past week. Mark Mosley is the artist of the card and can be found on both Twitter and Instagram under the user name IDrawBaseballCards.  Mark also has an online store where he sells both single custom art cards as well as small sets. He is a great follow on social media. You will enjoy his work.  

I discovered Mark's work a few years back when I stumbled across The Baseball Beyond Batting Average Podcast. Mark is one of the podcast hosts along with Andy from Baseball Card Backs on Twitter. Besides beyond a great podcast, they are both locals. Meaning the Triangle region of North Carolina. There are roughly 75 episodes of the podcast. If you enjoy baseball statistics, it's worth a listen. Mark and Andy interact heavily with the listeners of their podcast and favorite all my tweets criticizing Andre Dawson's 1987 National League MVP Award.  

I'm drifting.  Back to custom art cards.  

Mark frequently will post custom cards of players on their birthdays. Longtime Cardinals outfielder Willie McGee turned 63 a few weeks back and got a custom card of his 1986 Topps card on the IDrawBaseballCards accounts.  

Happy Birthday Willie McGee! pic.twitter.com/L9pY7ZHTjJ

— IDrawBaseballCards (@mosley_mark) November 2, 2021

I commented on the Tweet about getting Mark to making a custom card of a Topps proof photo from sometime in the 1980s featuring Willie McGee. The picture is truly bizarre, a complete head scratcher.  I have seen this several times as a "Caption That Photo" on Twitter and in baseball card groups on Facebook.  

The picture speaks for itself in a way.  Nobody really knows what is going on here, but there are so many questions that run through my mind about Willie McGee's half home and half road uniform.  Oh, there is also Mike Ramsey in the background.  What happened here? 

A day later Mark posted a custom card of the odd Willie McGee photo.  

I’m not saying Willie McGee had anything to do with it… but I’ve got questions. (Special request by @TheSnortingBull ) pic.twitter.com/sACaB4drZO

— IDrawBaseballCards (@mosley_mark) November 3, 2021

I was surprised that he made the card, but the best part was that a made me a copy and stuck it in the mail.  Any odd spots on the photos are from my scanner.  It's smudgy at the moment.  

This is just simply an amazing baseball card.  It is definitely going to find a prominent spot in my baseball card room.  I have a sweet Willie McGee bobblehead in there.  This would look good next to it.  

As an added bonus, Mark also sent a custom 1989 Topps All-Star Ozzie Smith card.  

This is a phenomenal card too.  

I would like to thank Mark for providing some great cards to look at online and for his generosity in creating and send me the custom Willie McGee card.  My baseball card room is not exactly the Louvre, but these cards have instantly become two of my favorites.  

Love That Instagram Account

Do I have social media accounts that I use in conjunction with my blog? 

Yes.  

Am I good at using social media accounts to promote your blog?  

No.  

It really boils down to a matter of consistency.  Blogging is not super high on the priority list of my life, so it usually happens late at night when I am trying to wind down, or early in the morning before other people in my house are up for the day. Don't get me wrong, I like doing this, but life has its priorities. I guess if I had more time for blogging, I would probably do a little better with posting links and picture are social media.  I am not much for self-promotion.  

I actually do a decent job of using Twitter.  I am there frequently, which is not true of other social media.  I talk about baseball cards on there, but I also know that I do not stay in my lane all the time.  Beyond baseball and baseball cards, I have also tweeted this past week about school calendars, people getting thrown out of my local grocery store, the number of miles I walked on Wednesday (it was 9), and how King George is the best character in Hamilton.  

Not always on brand.  I am also fine drifting onto other topics.    

This is the best King George song, if you want music for the rest of the post.  

On Facebook, I spend no time promoting my page.  I am almost sure I have been on the same number of likes for the past five or six years. The page is there. I will post links to whatever I write on here, but it does not go much beyond that.  I am not begging people to look at my page.  

I also have an Instagram page too, the feed is on the side of this blog, but I am not really good about posting pictures consistently.  Sounds like a theme of sorts.  I know a lot of collectors hang out there.  I try.  

Which reminds me, once I won an award for my Instagram account.  

Long ago, when I first started blogging, there were organized awards amongst card bloggers.  I got tagged in a tweet at some point saying that I got nominated for having "The Best Instagram Account".  I was a little surprised, and I am not sure what I did to even be considered.  I voted for myself.  Being me, I spent approximately zero tweets promoting people to vote for my account.  That's what I do, or what I don't do.  

The results?  

I am glad that every liked the 2014 version of my Instagram account and took time to vote for me.  I was more consistent about posting at that point, but still not great.  I was surprised to win to say the least.  

My social media accounts have won other things along the way beyond awards.  

A few years back I won a Joe Montana autographed 8x10.  Apparently, I just followed an account who was giving away an item that was pulled out of a Heroes of Sport box.  I did not even know what I had won until it showed up in my mailbox.  

In fact, I did not even know I followed this account.  I do not follow very many breakers, the ones I do are usually very deliberately picked.  Again, a little surprised to win something.  Especially because I did not retweet, favorite, or tag two friends.  None of that.  I am not a "retweet to win" type of person.  

Well....

Unless its basketball tickets.  I will retweet to win those.  

Which brings me to this past week.  

The last time I time I posted on Instagram was a roughly a month ago.  The post was a picture of a 1994 Upper Deck Bernard Gilkey card.  I also got a DM around the same time from some one offering to sell me an Austin Meadows autograph.  There are no Austin Meadows posts in the works.  

I had a notification on my Instagram account the other day.  I was half way debating whether or not it was worth my time to even look.  I eventually went and checked it out fully expecting it to be someone who looked at all my cards from five years ago and alternated the comments "want", "fs?", or "trade?"  Apparently, I followed some case breaker and won a baseball card.  It felt similar to the situation from above with Twitter.  I can be a little skeptical about dealing with people on Instagram.  Not my favorite place to buy, sell, and trade.  Free card sounded pretty low risk though.  

Here is what I got.....

I am not collecting Project 2020 Trout cards, but I do not turn down free.  In fact, now that we have finely reached the point where people aren't flipping the cards for huge amounts of money, or trading them for other really expensive cards (I regret nothing), these are a little bit more enjoyable to talk about with other collectors.  

Beyond not collecting Trout, I have also not done anything with the artist of this card, Jacob Rochester.  It looks like he does all types of art, but also makes music.  He describes himself as an artist's artists on the back of the card.  

I have never heard the term "artist's artist", but sure.  I am more a rapper's favorite rapper type of person.  

I am sure that I will enjoy the new card, and love that Instagram account.  

Turkey and 1989 Bowman

I hope all of my readers have a great Thanksgiving.  Not writing up any cards on here today, but if you have an Instagram account I will be opening a box of 1989 Bowman over the course of the day.  Should be a fun way to pass the day.

House is full of people and food. I'm open a 1989 Bowman box over the course of a day. Pack 1 Highlights- Tom Henke former Rangers, Blue Jays, and Cardinals closer. After enduring a cornucopia of blown saves from Lee Smith, Henke played the final season of his career with the Cardinals and pitched really well. Too bad the Cardinals came in last. George Brett- Pretty self explanatory. Hall of Famer and 3000 hits. Tom Lawless- I don't remember him as a Blue Jay, but the back of the card says he signed with them as a free agent after he spent 1988 with the Cardinals. Had a cool bat flip against the Twins in the 1987 World Series.

A photo posted by The Snorting Bull (@thesnortingbull) on Nov 26, 2015 at 4:50am PST