Maybe this is just me, but when I think of Christmas there are often memories that pop up that (in most people's perception) have absolutely nothing to do with Christmas.
When I was in grade school during Christmas break my family never went on vacation. My aunt's, uncles, grandparents all lived within 25 minutes of my home so I didn't even have to travel far for gatherings. Oddly enough what I remember most about Christmas break from my preteen years were Chris Webber, Autobot Blaster (the Transformers boombox), and Disney animated movies.
Let's start with Chris Webber. It was Christmas 1993 and my parents got me a full box of unopened packs, the first time I remember getting a full box. The box was 1993-94 Topps Stadium Club. In that box, I pulled a rookie card 1st Day Issue of Chris Webber. It was easily a $100 card at the time according to Tuff Stuff or Beckett Basketball. Unfortunately I traded away all my 90s basketball cards for a piece of furniture about a decade ago.
Transformers was one of my favorite cartoons growing up. As an adult, I think the themes of Thundercats or Voltron were better, but as a kid seeing robots beat up other robots and transform into cars, jets, and boimboxes was MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE. I know I had more Transformers as a kid, but there are only a few that resonate with me. One toy I distinctly remember receiving was Blaster. Blaster was a boombox that transformed into a massive robot using some mass changing property and battled the Decepticons. He was my favorite of the Autobots.
Fun fact: as a kid I couldn't pronounce Autobot. I called them Ottobots.
I mentioned watching a lot of Disney movies above. Well, there were two that I used to be able to recite word for word, albeit with a little boy New Jersey accent. Both those movies were rooted in England literature heroes; King Arthur and Robin Hood.
The Sword in the Stone is my favorite Disney movie ever. Not far behind is the anthropomorphic telling of Robin Hood.
There was a dog that Robin Hood tried to help out by giving money to Friar Tuck.
I always liked the way the dog tried to swindle some money from King John by staging money in his foot casket.
That dog's name was Otto and oddly enough, according to Disney Wiki, he also appears in the best animated Christmas movie ever, Mickey's Christmas Carol.
The poor dog always plays the role of....a poor dog.
If you were sitting on a case of 2010 Bowman Platinum, you would not be a poor dog. You would have the chance to get an autograph of some very good baseball players. An average box of these cards sells for $1,100 now and guarantees 2 prospect autos (including a chance for Mike Trout) along with 1 relic autograph in every box. I have completed the rainbow of the Andrew McCutchen relic/auto sans the Superfractor.
Strangely enough, I don't call an autograph, a Ottograph.
This is today's pair of red and green parallels. They are from 2010 Bowman Platinum.
Christmas is often associated with the colors red and green. The theory of these two colors representing Christmas are because of the reason we celebrate the holiday in the first place.
It is because of Jesus Christ that we "deck the halls" with red and green.
The green represents Christ's eternal life just as the evergreen trees remain green all winter long. The red represents his blood shed during the crucifixion
What words do you know you pronounce wrong?
Are there any TV shows or movies you associate with Christmas for any reason?
This product was originally scheduled prior to the All Star Break 2021, but kept getting delayed until it finally came out in the late winter months of 2022.
Former Miguel Cabrera and hobby shop owner, JT of TripleCrown24 sold me these two cards. Visit his eBay store here.
