diggin' the archives

I know the LAST thing you want to see is another post about 2012 Topps Archives but I figured I'd share the results of my box.

On Wednesday, I asked my local shop when he anticipated Archives to be in and he responded that they would be in after 11AM, meaning right when he opened. I was at work and as the day went on, I had pretty much talked myself out of buying a box. I did however go to Target and saw they had Archives surprisingly on the shelves. Really, it takes my local Target weeks to get new product. So I grabbed a blaster.

What I found was that I really enjoy the set as a whole. Fun inserts, nice base cards, etc. I really like that they have no gloss or foil on any of the base cards, as it isn't needed. I suppose one complaint could be that they should have used a Heritage stock, to give it that old time feel but we know Topps has been taking the cheap route to produce things lately (see: Gypsy Queen). I know anyone who prominently bought Topps Baseball in the 80's is sick of that wrapper but I really like the nod to the era with the pack design.

After busting the blaster, I decided to head down to the local shop and grab a box. I won't bother with the base cards but here are the two autos:

Funny thing was that these came out of my first (Buhner) and third (Luzinski) packs.


Out of the fourth pack, this fell out:

Hey a plate! Not too shabby at 1:777 odds. I have already sold the plate on eBay, in fact I posted it that night.


I didn't stop there though. I ended up grabbing 12 more packs (half a hobby box) and ended up with these:

Both the autos from the box. Good names too.

Plus this:

A relic! Relics fall 1:120 and couldn't have been of a more appropriate player for me to pull.


Overall I really like the set and will be collecting it. All 240, so the short prints are needed. I'll have a list up soon and I have plenty of doubles for anyone looking to complete their set.

where i've been, where i'm going

First off, a huge welcome back to BA Benny! We haven't heard from Mike since September and it's great to see him back. If you're a newer blog and haven't checked him out yet, go ahead and do it. He's a great trader and blogger so give him a try. Welcome back to the insanity friend!

Second, remember the card Napkin Doon posted, the one I traded him? Well, this is what he sent in return:

Great stuff! The Hill is even nicer in person and the '59 Doby is killer! I'm not sure if it was intentional but great going on the matching Doby/Tulo pair, they're both sweet. The Batista relic marks my third from this Pacific relic set. Wasn't this the set they found that corked Manny bat? I think it was.


Third. Where I've been.

Well, physically I've still been here. Commenting and reading your posts as usual but I've not written anything. Why not? Well, the first part of that has to do with the lack of things to say/lack of baseball cards obtained. Although I saw some 2012 Topps Archives on eBay and they look pretty cool. Can someone who bought some confirm that they have stat backs or failure backs (like Lineage)? I'd love to know. Also I picked up a few packs of this year's Bowman and I ahev to say I'm kinda impressed. I really like the white border and design overall. I'd probably collect it if it weren't, you know, Bowman.

Card-wise though I've been here:

Yep, back to my old ways. Magic has been around since 1993 and will be celebrating its 20th anniversary next year. I've played on and off since 1995 (it's been 'off' since 2005).

But Magic hasn't just provided me entertainment over the years, it's done so much more.

Back in 1995 I was in middle school. I had very few friends and was more of a loner due to my social awkwardness. One day at the local comic shop (which I ended up working at in 1999-2000) I decided to pick up a pack of Magic just to see what it was all about. At first it didn't click but then I was at that same store a different day and I got to talking about the game with a player. He donated a few cards to me and I was hooked since.

You see, Magic is a game for two or more players, you can't play it by yourself. If I wanted to play, I'd have to get out there and meet people and play with them. And I did. We spent many a summer at that shop, playing the days away, trading, getting big ten player games going. It was good times. In fact most all the friends I have I can attribute meeting through that shop and the game. The game forced me to be social, to come out of my shell if you will and it did. Sure I'm still a little awkward sometimes but I'm way better off now than I used to be. Granted that was 17 years ago but still.

So how does this translate to now? Well a friend of mine is going through a really rough period in his life right now and I had him over one day just to talk about what's been going on and such. We made our way to Target that day and I checked out the card aisle. Definitely not unusual. We both saw the new Magic set packs and decided to pick some up and since then it's been back on for both of us. It's good because its a nice distraction from reality in what he has going on and good for me because its just good to play the game again.

Does this mean I'm done with baseball card collecting? Certainly not but I have scaled back what I buy, which I wanted to do anyway. Too much just sitting around of sets I'm not collecting. I'll try Archives and will definitely be in for series 2.

That being said, do any of you play or used to play Magic? Anyone with cards laying around that you don't want, let me know and maybe we can trade for some baseball for Magic or something.

check out

In case you haven't noticed I've completely checked out. I lost my interest in collecting for the time being, probably until series 2 comes out in early June.

I'm not sure what it is really. Maybe there is just a lot going on right now. Or I'm completely turned off by new sets. Who knows.

So I'm on a bit of a blogging hiatus.

I'm still reading, trading and the like, I just don't have much to say up here. I seem to get this way around this time of year for some odd reason, even though I should be fully focussed on baseball, seeing as how it is the beginning of the season.

I am still watching games and paying attention to the sport, I'm just burnt out on cards.


Break guys I haven't forgotten about you, I'm going to the post office tomorrow. I've been under the weather all week and It's been slowing me down on all fronts (I even left work early last week, three days towards the end of the week).


I haven't bought anything since my grossly disappointing Gypsy Queen blaster when that came out, with the exception of one card.

Behold, my 100 year old boner:

I won it on a whim, as I searched for '1909 t206' on eBay and ending shortly was a guy who had a bunch of Hall of Famers and significant players from the T206 set. Merkle was ending in about 25 minutes so I threw in a bid and I won. It came today. Great card of a very interesting player from baseball's historic past.

I'll be back, hopefully sooner than later but for now, I just need some time to regroup.

break, wrap-up

A big thanks to you three who participated in the break and I hope you all had some fun.

I'll be sending these cards out to you within the week but first I need an email from each one of you, with your address and top two favorite teams. I will be adding in the bonus stuff based on these teams. Brad you sent an email with your address but I need teams and Derek, I know you're a Braves guy but I need an address. Mike I need both teams and address.

I'll make it good stuff too. Some old stuff, some new stuff, some shiny stuff. You know.


Maybe I can get the want to get some regular posting done because I sure don't have it right now. There is pretty much nothing interesting me in the card world right now. The 1971 set has come to a screeching halt. I'm buying zero new product (Gypsy Queen was a total letdown if you ask me) and pretty much won't be until Series 2 hits. No I don't care that Harper is in it but I also don't mind that Topps is doing it either. Harper can sure drive a product to sell and thats what Topps does, sell cards. Sell cards to make money. It's the simplest explanation that people seem to forget.

Many collectors flock to Harper's stuff and Topps knows this so they cater to it. We all saw it in 2010 when Strasburg was in everything. Should we not buy a product because either of these two are in them and Topps is pushing them both really hard? No. Buy the stuff. If you get something of theirs, sell it! By all means sell it. If someone wants to pay $100 for your Harper 661 SP from series 2, let them! It certainly won't be worth more than that EVEr so do it while you can.

Anyway, enough rant. Maybe I'll drop my GQ disappointment post soon. Who knows.

Anyway, thanks you three and look for your cards soon!

break rds 19-20-21

Final rounds guys. I'll do a wrap up post on Monday.

1-derek-kimbrel
2-mike-walker
3-brad-coghlin

1-brad-howard
2-derek-jays
3-mike-fowler

1-mike-morrison
2-brad-feliz
3-derek-valencia

break rds 16-17-18

Everything in these rounds are numbered

1-derek-rizzo
2-mike-dejesus
3-brad-noesi

1-brad-hanley/rollins
2-derek-couglin
3-mike-glaus

1-mike-halladay
2-brad-kennedy
3-derek-wells

break rds 13-14-15

Some mixed stuff here. Lucky 13 is that bonus round I talked about:

1-derek-lynch
2-mike-jablonski
3-brad-kemmerer

1-brad-diering
2-derek-walker
3-mike-lind

1-mike-gibson
2-brad-hernandez
3-derek-lind/young

break rds 10-11-12

Relics a plenty:

1-derek-ackley
2-mike-romero
3-brad-revere

1-brad-hardy
2-derek-webb
3-mike-giambi

1-mike-guerrero
2-brad-hernandez
3-derek-andrus

break rds 7-8-9

Manu-things are up next:

1-derek-bench
2-mike-roberts
3-brad-dean

1-brad-hamels
2-derek-mauer
3-mike-larkin

1-mike-aparicio
2-brad-jackson
3-derek-lind

break rds 4-5-6

Next rounds are some autos:

1-derek-cabrera
2-mike-bradley
3-brad-crabbe

1-brad-romero
2-derek-bonaficio
3-mike-gamel

1-mike-tallion
2-brad-lind
3-derek-simpson

break rds 1-2-3

Let's get it going shall we?


Three participants is the least amount I've had to work with but I think I have a system that both works and is fair.

Each "round" will have three cards. Each post will have three 'rounds'. One each of these posts, you'll pick first, second and third.

Simply pick which card you'd like when you pick first and your top two picks when you pick second. The third round the card not picked will fall to you, so that doesn't matter anyway.

Each post will probably be ordered the same due to all three of you getting to pick first, second and third. It's just the order you guys signed up in and has no bearing on what will appear when. The best cards aren't posted first or last or anything, it's quite random on which round is where.

Any questions you have just shoot me an email and I'll try to clarify as best I can.

Let's start with some relics:

Round 1:

1-derek-reyes
2-mike-weaver
3-brad-axford


Round 2:

1-brad-rodriguez
2-derek-gonzalez
3-mike-fukudome


Round 3:

1-mike-zimmerman
2-brad-gordon
3-derek-billingsley

trade time

Jim over at GCRL and I completed our first trade. I sent him some 1971's he needed, as we're both working on the set, along with some Dodgers.

In return, he sent one heck of a box of cards.

There were a big stack of Jays, along with cards from my various collections; batting pitchers, broken bats, team cards, stickers, retired players, the lost goes on. Also included were 5 cards for my 71 set as well. He definitely put a lot of time and effort into what he sent.

There's so much going on in the box, that I decided to show the top two of the box:

A Jimmy Key IP auto. I have a couple Key autos but this one is really cool because it's on the All-Time Fan Favorites card, which as a set intrigues me. I've always kind of liked this set and wished it would come back.

The next card just blew me away and was hiding at the bottom:

A 1952 Topps Larry Doby. Doby is one of the players I collect and having a few of the reprints of this card, I always wanted an original and thanks to Jim, I have one. Just incredible and I definitely owe him a little something for these. This also marks my second Hall of Famer from 1952 Topps (remember the Mize from a few weeks back).


A huge thanks to Jim for the great trade and you'll be seeing something from me soon!

card show report

I went to the card show today with the intention of finding some 71's I needed for my set. I noticed the guy I had wanted to hit up wasn't there today. Such the disappointment.

But.



I did not walk out empty handed. The opposite in fact. Remember the dime box finds I had from the last time this show took place? The massive amount of retired players and rookies and such I picked up?

Well, that dealer is a mainstay at this show and I hit his boxes again. I had a slightly different agenda today once I started pulling out what I was.


Rookies.


Rookies galore I picked up from him and it was about a third of what I grabbed from him. I got approximately 180 cards from him total. I picked up some more retired guys from the same sets as last time, a couple players I collect and some great vintage (from his vintage quarter box). The vintage was filler for my Topps binder. I had a few holes in the 50's and 60's stuff I needed to fill and I almost finished the binder.


The best part though and the biggest steals, were the rookies. Here is a small sampling:

Yes, FIVE Kershaw rookies. That Jay Bruce? I found three. Two Longorias, two Gonzalez (plus a different one) and a couple more I didn't scan. Two Piazzas, two Mauers, a Morneau, Russ Martin, David Price, David Wright, Andrew McCutchen, the list goes on. Great stuff for a dime each and impossible to pass up.




On a final note, I plan on emailing the three of you who entered into the break. I am going to go on with it but with no one else wanting to enter, it'll be you three. Expect an email soon, with details on how I plan to go about it.

break update

Only two slots left in the break, grab 'em fast!

Thanks to those that have already claimed a spot and once we fill the last two we will make it a go!

Again the draft will consist of 12 rounds, all of which are autos or relics. Some great stuff in there so be sure to sign up quick if you are interested. See yesterday's post for all the full details!