In Memory of Oscar Martinez

(Content warning: death, plus this will probably be a downer and rambling, so I won't be offended if you skip this one)

Happy New Year, friends. This post isn't how I wanted to kick of 2025, but that's what I get for procrastinating post-holidays when it came to get back to writing. Sure, I could put this off for a bit longer and throw up some card content, but this has been on my mind since Sunday evening and it's important to me that I get it done.

The year didn't start out particularly well for folks in the LA area due to the out-of-control fires that spread there a week ago. That became clear to me when a member of the collecting/blogging/TCDb community, Andy of Stadium Fantasium, created a post on the TCDb forum titled "Putting my TCDb activity on hold." He was unfortunate enough to lose his entire house in Altadena and most of his possessions including his collection.

I'll give Andy a ton of credit for coming across with a good attitude given the situation, taking stock of the fact that he and his girlfriend are alive and safe when others out there weren't so lucky. It's obviously a huge life disruption that comes with challenges like looking for new housing, reacquiring the essentials, dealing with corrupt insurance companies (sorry being redundant), and much more, before even beginning to spare a few seconds to think about rebuilding a collection built over a lifetime.

I also want to note that today, a week later, he posted a very encouraging update that mentioned a huge group of volunteers enthusiastically stuffing his SUV with way more supplies than he expected thanks to some very generous folks. He's got a long road ahead of him but it's nice to see the occasional ray of hope.

And now that slowly brings me to the main point of my post. Having read of Andy's troubles I immediately thought of old blog friend Oscar (former blogger at All Trade Bait, All the Time), who I happily praised late last month for a card/art package he sent me last September. He and I sometimes DMed back and forth on Twitter, especially after I sent him some cards and posted that trade recap I just mentioned, and I thought to check in on him since I hadn't heard from him in a few days. That wasn't out of the ordinary at all, but I wanted to make sure he was fine given that his address wasn't all that far from Andy's.

That was last Thursday, the 9th. I mentioned Andy's TCDb post and told him I figured his area was fine but was asking just in case. Again, I wasn't too surprised when I didn't hear back. I also noticed this post from a mutual, @chaysonjayson, but didn't really think much of it:

Oscar would have really dug this. He loved the Tattoo You album. @omsports42 💔 https://t.co/4zkAtgV4We

— chaysonjayson (@ChaysonJayson) January 12, 2025

But later in the evening I thought to search his Twitter handle just in case, and my stomach dropped when I read this:

Oscar Martinez Memorial Tribute-Close Friend And Colleague Will Be Sorely Missed https://t.co/91XmRENZz2 via @Ladodgerreport

— Ladodgerreport (@Ladodgerreport) January 10, 2025

To say it was a shock, a gut punch, or something worse would be an understatement. It hadn't been that long since I'd talked to him and I had no idea he was sick (for how long, even?) and now one of my closest friends in the hobby is gone. Worse, he'd passed away a few days earlier and I had no idea.

I'm fortunate to have met a lot of amazing people through collecting, and though I've only been able to talk to a few in person, it doesn't make them any less important to me.

I think this also hit me hard because I'd really come to respect him as a fellow sports fan and music enthusiast, an artist, a teacher, a father/grandfather, and politically-aware person. We called each other "hermano" and I can promise you there was no hint of irony, teasing, or pandering there. He was my brother and I value the time I had with him, sad that I may be that it was cut short.

Having explained my shock at reading about Oscar's death, and maybe having made some of you who also didn't know about this aware, I want to dedicate the rest of this post in memory of him. I don't know how many of you who follow me or read TMV sometimes were familiar with him, especially after he left the blogging game and mostly stopped actively collecting, but whether you knew him or not, I hope you enjoy some of my memories of and thoughts about the man.

From ladodgerreport

First, I highly encourage all of you to read Scott Andes' LA Dodger Report tribute to Oscar which I thought was beautifully done. It was nice getting a perspective of Oscar from one of his fellow writers: a friend who's also (obviously) a fan of the Dodgers and was honored to be part of his Last Chip poker games. This is an excellent eulogy for a guy that naturally drew people to him.

As for me, I'll start with what comes most naturally here: collecting. The first time I posted a trade recap from him was almost 10 years ago now, at the end of May 2015. He was still blogging at the time and went by "Stealing Home," and he sent me a fun PWE of Tigers (including an autograph of Curtis Pride) plus a Barry Larkin RC.

Later that year in December I was one of a solid group of people gifted another envelope of cards by him just in time for the holidays. He called it "Operation PWE" and I certainly enjoyed the contents of mine, including more Tigers and a couple Griffeys to go with them. (By the way, note the updated logo from that point, starring a quartet of his Dodger favorites!) I can't say this for sure but it may have been part of the inspiration for my yearly Christmas cards.

Jumping forward a year, I received a very similar PWE that included some Tigers greats like Fryman, Gibby, Kaline, Tram, and Sweet Lou. Perfection.

In April of 2017 I posted the contents of yet another PWE. This may have been the first time I knew his name and referred to him as Oscar instead of just "Stealing Home." (Speaking of which, that would be the fourth different blog header so far.) I threw in a mention of LA Dodger Report which he appreciated. As for the cards, a Marketside Miggy joined the famed double-play pairing in this one.

Given that he stopped posting at ATBAtT in 2020, I'm guessing he was winding down collecting then, but that year he bucked the trend with a bubble mailer in September. What didn't change was the quality of the players included: besides Miggy, Tram, and Whitaker, this one added Ty Cobb, Curtis Granderson, Jack Morris, Ivan Rodriguez, and more. And he tossed in a trio of oversized '86 Donruss Action All-Stars (including "free agent" Wade Boggs, which got a laugh out of me).

And of course the last time I received a couple envelopes from him was this past September, when he sent me a generous mix of cards and then went above and beyond with a full set of signed prints of his "Tromperia" series. I think the latter was the result of some very good political discussions we had over Twitter messages, talks that made it clear we both cared more about people than the tribalism of political parties.

Next, I want to highlight something I always appreciated about him when he received cards. Oscar's Youtube channel, Netchuc Arts, was an eclectic mix of his many interests, but one of the things he was best at was expressing his appreciation for anything sent to him in his videos. Nothing was staged about it--he'd rip the envelope for the first time after hitting the record button, carefully go through each item, talk about his favorites, and really go out of his way to thank you. I loved his calm demeanor and standard opening of "Well, hello everybody" and peace sign.

In flipping through his channel to find the videos I wanted to share here, I just realized that the first one he uploaded after creating that channel in 2019 discusses an envelope I sent his way. I don't remember that being the case and now I'm honored to find that out. It was his first foray into separating his Dodgers/baseball opinion content (for LA Dodger Report) and other stuff, which ended up being beer reviews, cards, music, record collecting, and of course, his art.

Here's that video:

I'm not sure if I'm missing any but I was able to find these as well:
January 2020
July 2020 (part 1) (part 2)

January 2022

September 2022

October 2023

May 2024

December 2024

Oddly enough, a package from me was the subject of his final video as well. But in between, he showed the same amount of appreciation and thanks to many others who sent him cards, and I hope they value those videos as much as I do.

Outside of the hobby, I'll forever remember Oscar as a friend, and many other things. He was a teacher before retiring, and of course that's a very important and difficult profession. I wish I could have talked to him more about that, and many other things. He didn't go into too many details (understandably), but he was a proud dad and grandfather, and if you followed him on Twitter you'd see the occasional picture of his son's daughter, taken by a proud grandfather.

He loved music, and besides record collecting you could expect to hear him talking about seeing his favorites like the Rolling Stones in concert. There was a summer in the past couple years (I forget exactly when) when Los Lobos was playing a free daytime concert in Ann Arbor and I managed to swing by for a bit on my lunch at work. I grabbed a couple videos knowing that they were another one of his favorites and shared them to him, happy to have made his day.

Art is obviously a very personal thing and also something I'm not remotely qualified to judge, but I admire the bravery of someone creating something and sharing it with the public, not to mention expressing yourself creatively. That's why I'm grateful he sent me those prints, which I still plan to frame and hang prominently in my house so I can tell visitors about the artist.

He was a baseball fan, giving us some very easy common ground to be friends. It didn't matter that we rooted for different teams, especially when we could share complaints about Dave Roberts screwing with Rich Hill's chances at history, or rage at the cheating bastard Astros. I'm happy he got to enjoy his Dodgers winning it all multiple times during his life, including two recent titles, most prominently this past season. I'd like to think he's out there somewhere rubbing elbows with Jackie, Campy, Vin Scully, Tommy Lasorda, and of course, Fernando Valenzuela.

And lastly, he was an hermano to many. I hope he wouldn't be mad if I shared his final words to me via Twitter messages. He sent these after being touched by my trade recap that largely discussed and praised the art he sent me. It was the morning of New Year's Eve:

If you read this far, thank you for taking the time to look over my rambling tribute to Oscar. I'll remember him for many things, in and out of the hobby, and for being my friend and hermano. I'll miss him terribly and know others that knew him will as well. May he be eternally at peace and may his memory warm the hearts of everyone that cared about him.