Candlekeep Mysteries

Dungeons and Dragons released its newest book last week, and while all their books are wonderful, this book, Candlekeep Mysteries, is absolutely amazing!  In brief, here is why: 

1. The variant cover is beautiful.  It is a deep red with shiny gold art and lettering.  It has a mystical stamp on the front center with a fairy looking on just to the left and from above the title.  When you flip the book over, there is a terrifyingly beautiful Beholder staring at you with all 11 eyes! The standard-issue cover isn't too shabby either with an image of a couple of adventurers pouring over a book in the library as they attempt to solve some great mystery.  Look carefully, there is danger looming right behind them!  

  

2. There is a great pullout map of Candlekeep that shows the Inner Ward and the Great Library. That's a big deal.  

3.  The book has 15 adventures (there might be one more, it was a quick count) that are "bite-sized" quick adventures for different levels.  What is really cool about the adventures is it appears that each one is based on or revolves around a different book.  How awesome is that?  

4. Let's be real, as a librarian in real life, I have been waiting for something about the greatest library in Faerun!  We get titles and the structure of Candlekeep's curators like The Keeper, The Council of Eight Great Readers, Master Readers, the First Reader, and more.  What may be the best detail is that there are 13 Modrons that escaped from Mechanus who now are part of the library staff.  They catalog and shelve books, but it is noted that they shelve one book at a time.  

This book, upon a quick viewing, is an amazing work.  While I haven't read any of the adventures yet, the description of Candlekeep with its extradimensional meeting rooms and study areas that have permanent silent spells so students aren't disrupted, leave so much to be discovered. I can't wait to dive in to some of these mysteries.  Another aspect of Candlekeep is for characters to gain admittance they must provide a unique book that the librarians of Candlekeep don't already have or it must be a highly valuable and rare copy of something they already have.  It will be fun to send characters on a hunt to find something unique before ever heading there.  This book has so many possibilities and so much fun in store.  

If you make a visit to Candlekeep, let me know in the comments below or tag me on Twitter @draftline

  

Baseball Cards: How much are they worth?

To be able to answer the question of how much are baseball cards worth, I think we have to explore to whom are baseball cards meant?  At first, I think about when I fell in love with baseball cards, and that was when I was a kid.  Is that who the cards are meant?  It seems, thinking of packaging, placement on the shelves, and the stick of gum inside (old school, I know), that they were intended for kids.  If we go far enough back, however, some of the most famous (and expensive) baseball cards came out of cigarette packs.  That changes the audience a little, even in those times.  This makes the answer simple; baseball cards are for baseball fans. 

I love the idea, though, that cards are a great way to introduce kids to the game.  I happened upon a blaster box (I'm not even sure I know what that means) of 2021 Topps Baseball cards at Target a few weeks ago, and with the excitement of the new baseball season and a few extra dollars in my pocket, I picked it up.  But who seemed to be as excited about the purchase was my nine-year-old daughter.  She knows I love the Cubs and watching baseball, so she seemed interested.  She convinced me to let her open the packs with her.  So what is the value of baseball cards?  I have no idea in this case.  How do you put value on your child asking to spend time with you to open baseball cards?  Dare I say that these packs of cards are priceless when it inspires time with our own children?  

As she was opening the cards, she was tossing them in a pile on the ground, then sliding them together and using the floor to create a nice stack.  The instinct in me was to say, "Careful!  Don't bend the corners!"  I stopped myself, what was I thinking?  This is supposed to be fun.  She is supposed to enjoy looking at them, opening them, organizing them, not get yelled at because she isn't being "careful" enough.  Heck, I used to stick them in the spokes of my bike!!  What is the value of a baseball card?  The value is looking at them, checking stats and stories on the backs, organizing them then reorganizing them, talking about the players and the teams.  

I am sure this treatment makes some collectors cringe, but what is the value of a baseball card?  Ninety-five percent of the cards will be worth less than twenty-five cents years from now!  Heck, my Topps Rookie Ken Griffey Jr. card from the 1990 set is only worth $1.00.  Is that what that card is worth?  Heck no!  That card is worth the stories and my history with the card, my history of watching Ken Griffey Jr. play baseball, my history of trading that card with friends.  That card and set is a history book when I open it up with my kids.  I share those cards and tell stories of the season and the players.  They look at the backs of the cards to discover which players were the greats of my time growing up.  What is that worth?  More than any money, that is no doubt.  

When the season starts, I can't wait to put these new cards into sleeves and a binder.  But this year, my daughter will organize them.  Knowing her, she will ignore the numbers on the back.  She will probably organize them by team, or by position, or maybe by which uniforms she likes best.  But the most important part to me, is that she wants to organize them with me.  What is the value of that?  

The MLB is back! My Top 5 Reasons for Being Excited

One month ago the temperature around here barely got above 0 degrees.  Today, we topped out at 71 wonderful degrees.  That might mean lots of different things to people, but to me, that means baseball is just around the corner.  

It shouldn't be any secret that I love the game and have since I was a little kid, but like many things in 2021, the return of baseball just seems to be extra special.  Yes, we got a bit of a season and a World Series in 2020, but the prospects of a full season, postseason, and World Series with fans in the stands seems different.  

Here are the top 5 reasons I am excited for the return of baseball: 

5. The exciting young players in the game: 

This is a great time to be a baseball fan.  There are some really exciting veteran players out there who put on a show every game: Aaron Judge, Javy Baez, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts to name just a few.  The exciting young players in the league; however, may be the reason to tune in to games this year.  First there are the sons of former baseball stars: Vladimir Gurerro Jr. Cavan Biggio, Bo Bichette, Fernando Tatis, Jr.  Then there are the other exciting young players like Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert, Randy Arozarena, and Ke'Bryan Hayes. I could keep going on there are so many to watch.  

4. Fantasy Baseball:

I have been doing some sort of Fantasy Baseball since 1988.  It started with pencil and paper and digging through the USA Today team stats that would publish on Tuesdays (I think), to Sandbox, to now, Yahoo Fantasy Baseball.  I have been in the league I am with now for several years.  I am not particularly good at Fantasy Baseball because I draft with my heart and loyalties and I draft who I "feel" will have great years.  I rarely draft stars of the game.  I don't know why, but it has turned out well a few seasons.  In our league of 10 teams, I am one of four of us who has won the league at least twice.  I will never have a dynasty Fantasy Baseball team, but I do look forward to putting a team together and seeing how it does.    

3. Long Saturday and Sunday afternoons with a ballgame on: 

Oh my goodness, how is this not number one or two?  There is nothing greater than a warm weekend afternoon, turning on a game, laying down, dozing off in the third or fourth inning to wake in the seventh or eighth inning to watch the end of the game.  What is better than that????  

2. Watching my favorite teams the Detroit Tigers and the Chicago Cubs: 

I have always been a Cubs fan.  I grew up in a football house where the Chicago Bears ruled, but somehow I fell in love with the Cubs.  Was it that they were on WGN?  Was it that they played at 1:20 (2:20 on Fridays) and were on when I came home from school?  Was it the visits to Wrigley Field with a church group once or twice a season?  Was it the pinstripes, the success of the 1984 team?  I have no idea, but I don't remember a time in my life when I didn't love the North Side Cubbies.  Why I follow the Detroit Tigers is a story for another day, but it goes back to Sparky Anderson, Allan Trammel, Sweet Lou Whitaker, Jack Morris, Cecil Fielder, Ivan Rodriguez, and more.  

1. Sitting in the stands watching a ballgame in person: 

Any other year, this would be fourth or fifth on my list.  I don't go to many games anymore.  Two years ago, I was able to take my oldest daughter, who is a loyal Cub fan, to Wrigley to see the Cubs play.  They lost that game, and I turned to her and said, "Well, now you are truly a Cubs fan."  

This reason to be excited is that I didn't feel that I missed much in the pandemic.  I didn't miss going to school functions like choir or band concerts, eating in restaurants, attending graduations, stuff like that.  I am not generally a crowd kind of person, but I did miss sitting in a stadium, small or large, watching the most perfect game.  I miss seeing a live double play develop in front of my eyes.  I miss hearing the bat hitting the ball on the sweet spot and knowing that is a home run.  I miss the announcers and the cheesy music. I miss spilling overpriced beer on the toes of my shoes.  I miss filling out the scorecard and being possibly the only one doing it for fun.  I miss it all.  I can't wait to sit in the stands of our local high A minor league team.  I hope to visit a large stadium in Chicago or St. Louis and take in the sound of the crowd on a pivotal moment strikeout or home run, or third out in the ninth inning.  That is what baseball does for me.  It brings me hope.  Hope that everything will be okay.  Win or lose, it will be okay.