1956 Topps Mickey Mantle

Here is one of the Mick's early cards.

2 More Rub-Offs!!!

My quest to complete the set of 1966 Topps Rub-Offs got a little closer to fruition recently as I picked up two more.  I got Earl Batty and Felix Mantilla.  Here are the fronts:

And here is the reverse.

There were my 105th and 106th in the complete set of 120.

Only 14 more to go!

2016 Tour of Somerville

Well, once again I made my annual Memorial Day visit to watch the tour of Somerville Bicycle Races in Somerville New Jersey.

It was a little different this year as we moved from Bridgewater to Garwood last summer.  So my usual 10 to 15 minute drive is now about 45 minutes but it is a nice ride.

It turned out to be a great day weather wise as the predicted rain showers ender early in the morning and the day was dry.  There was not a big crowd there this year so I went to the finish line to watch one of the early races.

Here is a video of the racers going by.

 

 

What is interesting is the pack of riders actually create their own mini "jet stream" of wind!

 

 

MATCHBOX Motorway No. 12

Went antique shopping with my wife today and found a great item related to Matchbox Cars.

It is this Matchbox Motorway from about 1967 or 1968.

 

It was a really great price and when I got home, I checked it out and other than the boxes for the cars, it appears to be complete.  There were even 4 extra cars!

 

 

 

Basically, a motor pulls a spring that is under the track.  A pin is attached to a car and the pin fits in a grove in the track that catches the spring.  The car is then pulled around the track.

 

I will be testing it out soon and will let you know the results.

I Have Moved

Well, it has been almost a year since my last post.  We moved about 25 miles from where we were in New Jersey.  We are closer to our new grandson (within walking distance) and I'm also closer to work.

Moving is a tough time along with selling and buying a house.  My wife did a great job in quickly setting up the house and got everything up and running in spite of numerous setbacks!  I, on the other hand, took a bit longer.

Here is a picture of my new room about 3 weeks after we moved in.  We were on vacation for a week so I had not yet begun to set it up.

It looked worse the week before! 

It took me a couple of months to get things set the way I wanted them but here is the same view today.

I had fun setting up my displays as I added some new items and rearranged others.

Happy that it is finished. 

2015 Tour of Somerville Cycling Races

A beautiful weather wise Memorial Day Weekend here in central New Jersey.

I made my annual trek to downtown Somerville for the bike races.  Not really a trek but less than a 10 minute car ride!

There are about 5 or 6 races for different classes of riders.  All are very entertaining and the riders put in many weeks are hard work, some even a lifetime's worth.

Here is a video I took as the riders in this race approached the home stretch in one of their many laps around the course.

I only saw one accident during the day and it did not appear that there were any significant injuries.

1968 Topps Empty Baseball Card Box

For Christmas, my step-daughter and her husband got me a gift certificate from Ebay.  I recently found an item that I've been looking to acquire  at a decent price and ended up winning it.

It is a 1968 empty box that contained the individual packs of baseball cards that year.  I am especially fond of it for 2 reasons:  The first is that as an 11 year old in 1968, it was at the peak of my collecting youth.  Second, there is a picture of Mickey Mantle on the box.

Incidentally, the packs I put in the box are not from 1968 but rather 1979.  I can't afford even one 1968 unopened pack of baseball cards.

The box will forever be special to me for another reason.  I won it on the day my step-daughter gave birth to her first child, a precious baby boy named Wyatt.

Thank you Jason and Laura for both gifts!