Secret Santa and a couple of related matters

As I posted before Christmas, I went to visit my mother in Arizona. Needless to say I wasn't too happy with having an over 80 degree shift in temperatures when I flew home on Friday. I should have stayed in the desert.

In any case, I left before my Secret Santa gift arrived and was just able to drive the hour to my US P.O. Box to pick it up. Before revealing my Secret Santa, a big shout out to Matt at the Bob Walk the Plank blog for arranging this endeavor again this year.

So with almost all the blogs being baseball related, and mine pretty much being a football one, and narrowed down to the Cleveland Browns at that, which sucker got stuck with me to act as Secret Santa for? Why it turned out to be one of the first bloggers that I had any contact with, and who actually convinced me to start this blog in the first place, Tony at the Off Hiatus Baseball Cards blog.

Tony obviously decided to take my mind off the current Browns (PLEASE, let them win their final game of the season!), and send me a few cards of two Cleveland Browns Hall of Fame Running Backs.

2003 Donruss Classics - Timeless Tributes #125 (#/150)

It was nice to get this Timeless Tributes parallel card of the great Jim Brown, especially since I don't own the base version.

A funny thing about this parallel set compared to today's sets? It was the only parallel set for 2003 Donruss Classics. Can you imagine only having one parallel to chase? How much easier to track that would be.

1968 Topps - Poster #2

It must have been a tough challenge to follow Jim Brown as the starting Running Back after his surprise retirement, but Leroy Kelly rose to the occasion with his own Hall of Fame career.

I'm always amazed to see these paper posters in such good shape after nearly fifty years. With card companies always reaching back to old ideas, have paper fold-out posters been included in any products recently? The last time I remember seeing them was in O-Pee-Chee baseball cards in the mid-80s.

1970 Kellogg's #31

Doesn't everyone love Kellogg's cards? Tony knows that I share his love of oddballs, so this card and the poster sure brought a smile.

In Tony's note with the cards he added information about Leroy Kelly's baseball tie-in, also mentioned in the personal info above, that he is the brother of outfielder Pat Kelly. That is a pretty talented family - a Hall of Fame running back, and a 15-year MLB player.

Tony, thanks for the cards, and since I'm so behind on posting, I hope you don't mind that I add a couple of other things to the end of this post. I can kind of relate them to you, and this post.

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After messaging with Tony for a while, I volunteered to offer some foreign assistance in a war he was involved in. How nice it was to help add to the chaos and not have to worry about my own turf being bombarded. Of course this war was with Wes, who I short-changed a bit last week when I posted about a package that he sent me. Two more cards that he sent me were from the 2015 Topps High Tek set:

2015 Topps High Tek - Tidal Diffractor #65 (#/75)

Okay, I'm using the parallel names found at the Trading Card Database, but I have no idea how Topps came up with all of these names and concepts. Nevertheless, I do like the acetate cards from the set. The big surprise, though, was the next card he included.

2015 Topps High Tek - Red Orbit Diffractors #60 (#/5)

I'm sure I share my amazement with other bloggers, but it still shocks me when out of the blue you get sent a card with a short print run. I was shocked to see this rookie card of the Browns 2015 first round draft pick numbered out of five. And I can't believe that I forgot to add it to my post. Sorry about that Wes.

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So, Tony sent me cards of two Browns Hall of Fame Running Backs, but I'm currently reading about their third Hall of Fame Running Back.

No, not Motley on the cover - it is Kenny Washington of the Rams

I was looking for something to have available to read on the plane to Arizona if I couldn't sleep so I popped into a local Chapter's book store and spotted this book discounted to CDN$8.00.

This book was released in September 2016, but I was not aware of it and although the book's spine may have been showing on the shelf, I didn't notice it during past visits. The old photo on the cover, however, did catch my eye, and upon closer look I realized the book was about both the Browns and the Rams and how they broke the color barrier of professional football, which I have discussed in the past.

I read about half the book on the way down to Phoenix, but didn't read any on the way back as I was able to nod on and off on the flight home. I've really been enjoying the book and should finish it in the next day or so. It's always good to learn more of the early history of the Browns.

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To finish off this post, I want to offer best wishes to everyone for 2018!

And may 2017 end on a good note - a Browns win! (Whether or not it is against Steelers backups - I just want a win.) And if it doesn't end on that good note, I really can't wait for that calendar to turn the page.