Theme Week: Better Know a Blogger (Stealing Home )

Welcome to "Better Know a Blogger" Theme Week (week 3!) here at Nachos Grande.  A few weeks ago, I put out a call to any interested bloggers to answer a short questionnaire that I had prepared.  The goal of the questionnaire is for all of us to get to better know some of the various personalities on the blogs!  I hope you find this Theme Week as much fun as I did - and hopefully you'll learn something about your fellow bloggers as the week progresses!

1. Your name (or alias):  Stealing Home
2. Your blog website:  All Trade Bait, All the Time
3. What kind of collector do you consider yourself (team collector, player collector, set collector, etc.). Why do you collect that way? 

First and foremost, I’m a Dodger collector. The individual Dodgers I collect are too many to mention here, but if you drop by my site, you can see my list there. I also collect legendary and HOF players from other teams as well. Finally, I absolutely love collecting vintage cardboard in general. 

4. In your opinion, what could the major card companies (Topps, Panini, etc.) do to make your style of collecting better for you?

First off: Topps, please stop recycling the same tired photos of past greats. I love tribute cards, but c’mon, Duke Snider took more than two photos in his career. I would like to see less luxury product, and more bang for my buck in traditional packs. Kudos to the card companies for using some great photography. 

5. What is your favorite part of your collection?  This could be one specific item, or a binder of cards, etc.

My favorite part is equally divided between my two top binders – one is strictly Dodgers, the other is everybody else. I love to flip through those binders which contain my favorite cards. When I page through them, I feel I’m looking at a history of baseball, and a history of our hobby. 

6. Most of us have a favorite song that we like for no good reason – heck, it might even be embarrassing.  Do you have a favorite baseball card that might fit that bill?

Way too many favorites to try and narrow it to one. But if I must, it’s a shot of a guy in a wheelchair.

It’s the ’59 Topps Roy Campanella Symbol of Courage tribute card. I hunted this card for years, trying to find a copy in good condition, and that I could afford. Finally, I got it.  

7. If you were forced to part with your entire collection except for one card, which card would you keep?

That would be the lucky pull that the guys from Crackin’ Wax pulled for me in a group break. They pulled a Topps Archives Sandy Koufax autograph. Really, it was a redemption card, which I then redeemed for my first and only on-card Koufax auto. At first, I planned to flip it for some quick cashola, but I wanted to live with it for a while. It’s now sat in my collection for over a year, and I don’t think that baby is going anywhere. 

8. Many of the blogs (including my own at times) seem to decry Topps’ lack of vision and creativity.  Can you think of something creative that could be done for an upcoming card set?  

Lots of my fellow collectors like oddball photos on cards. How about a set, or a parallel set of players in something outside of the usual posed or action photos? Getting doused by Gatorade, or signing autos, goofing off in the dugout, etc. 

9. What is your profession?  How did you end up there?  If you are in school, what do you plan to major in and/or what job do you hope to get after graduating?  

Right out of college, I took a summer teaching job and never left the profession – until recently.  I taught for 15 years, and ended up as a university professor (yay!) and administrator (boo!) who ran an ESL department for 5 years.  Unfortunately, due to the recession, I have to reinvent myself yet again. I’m now trying to stretch my wings as a writer and an online entrepreneur. Time will tell how that all works out. 

10. What is your favorite place that you’ve ever visited?  Why?  

My previous university sent me on a recruiting trip to Taiwan back in 2009. I was there for 10 days and I LOVED it! What a beautiful island full of cool people. I almost didn’t want to return. Hawaii is a clooooooose second. 

11. Many of us have favorite foods or customs that are somewhat local to where we live.  Do you have any such things that you particularly love?  A website link to specific products would be spectacular.  

I love Mexican food in general, and huge burritos in particular. Nothing beats the original “Manuel’s special” at El Tepeyac in E.L.A, my old stomping grounds. You may have seen the place on Guy Fieri or Anthony Bourdain’s TV shows. 

12. Do you have any other hobbies besides card collecting?  

I love playing poker with my buddies. We’ve got a poker group that has been playing once a month for 12 years! We’re playing this Saturday! I also love sampling new craft beers. You’ll be seeing some kind of fusion of these things in my upcoming entreprenurial pursuits. 

13. Tell me something interesting about yourself (that we haven’t covered in the first twelve questions).

I previously mentioned becoming a teacher after college, but I didn’t study teaching. I studied art. In my 20’s I was a promising, up-and-coming artist in the L.A. art scene. My love was abstract painting, but I also worked with installations, photography and other art collaborations. I was considered one of the top 100 Chicano artists in the country! (Toot Toot!) 

As always, a huge thanks to Stealing Home for being the latest person to be spotlighted in my ongoing Better Know a Blogger theme week (which has turned into a theme month)!  Although Stealing Home isn't a teacher any longer, we can still chalk up yet another teacher in our blogging community!  

Moving on to SH's answers, I think the choice of one card to keep was cool - how often does one acquire their favorite card in a group break?  As someone who hosts group breaks, I always like when that happens for people in my break...good stuff!  The Roy Campanella card is pretty neat as well, I actually have never seen that card before so I learned something new!

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Stealing Home's love of Mexican food.  My wife and I go on Mexican cooking kicks every now and then...and after seeing that massive burrito, I'm ready to start another one of those kicks!

Since tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and then the day after Christmas Day, I figure most people won't be reading the blogs so much so in fairness to my other Better Know a Blogger participants, I will NOT be posting a BKaB post for the next two days.  Don't worry, I'll still post something if all goes well, just not a theme week post.  

Merry Christmas everyone!