If You Build It, They Will Come

 When I was growing up, select baseball wasn't a thing yet.  You played for your little league teams, and when you got to high school you played for the high school team.  However, since then select teams have sprouted up and are now the way to go.   I remember when select leagues first started that they seemed in some way wrong.  They changed the way things had gone for years, and now the amount of money needed to stay in the game just went up a ton.  But now I can see some of the positives as well.  Improved competition for players in smaller communities which leads to better development of skills.  The showcases gives players visibility with colleges and pro scouts and that leads to a more efficient system of finding the best players. Regardless of your feelings on them, they are here to stay... and provide new Iowa Connections.  Now, baseballreference.com doesn't track select leagues (nor should they), but there is one institution th...

 So like most of you, I missed going to card shows in 2020.  Being able to dig through dime boxes and pulling random cards that someone thought of as worthless that is priceless to my collection is just awesome.  But like so much, COVID took it, and I was left scrambling. Well, off to Target to pick up some boxes....except there are none there.  Hobby boxes have skyrocketed as collectors chase those high priced signatures.  Where could I find cards? For my birthday, my brother sent me a flat rate box with my gift.  But it didn't fill the box, so he just filled it with a bunch of cards he didn't want anymore. I loved digging through those, as I found a bunch of stuff for my collection. So then, I found out that you can just buy boxes like this on eBay (of course).  A wide variety of cards can be found.  Baseball, football and basketball cover most of them.  Some are just a mix of whatever, some are boxes of "I just opened a ton of Bowman, so h...