seemed inevitable

...sigh. As the baseball season winds down, I find that my interest in collecting has taken the same turn. Update is the last set I have to buy until February, and its almost disheartening. I could care less for Bowman so I won't be picking any up. I still may pick up stray packs here and there but it won't be what I've been doing since the spring. Plus its probably for the better anyway. I have too many cards as it is. Speaking of which, I'll be giving some away very soon, good stuff, but stuff that doesn't fit into my collecting needs/goals right now. I bought the master set of Update on eBay along with a jumbo box at the local shop. Its probably all I'll do. I'm picking up the Vernon Wells stuff online, and I don't need more than two full sets of base cards. I'll still be posting, but it will be less frequent (ie; not daily) but will have more substance. So while I may post only a few times a week, I'll have better posts to put up, as opposed to just finding and racking my brain over something to put up here. I know some of you have gone through similar spats of disinterest and it looks like I have joined you folk with the same feelings. I'll still send out packages, and of course, will still accept them gratefully. I'll still fill want lists when I can and still love to trade. So keep those Jays handy! Until next time...

what-cha gonna do brother?

I got a few packs of Obak today and this guy fell out. Pretty sweet. TNA is on tonight also for you wrestling fans!

watch your back!

Well, not literally of course. While in a sports shop the other day, I picked up some packs to scratch that itch to tear open some cards. I picked up a series 1, series 2, Chicle and a Chrome (all from this year). Nothing fantastic in any of them, but something was interesting with one of the Chromes. See below:

Seems innocent enough right? No shiny, no refraction, no serial numbers. Until you look at the back after flipping it over:

Alexei Ramirez is not Brad Hawpe. This is the first error I have run into from Chrome but I have also yet to check the rest of my set. I'm sure the rest of them are fine. Anyone else run into this yet?

buisiness as usual

I have returned to the blog-o-mania, and I would like to express a HUGE thanks to everyone who wished me and my new wife well on our wedding day. The ceremony was great and went off without a hitch. Fun times had by all!

Many of you guys ask if I have a want list. Well, I now do and here it is:

2002 Topps- 95, 205
2005 Topps- 368
2009 Topps T206- 13
2009 Topps T206 short prints- Beckham, Munson, Porcello, Pujols, M. Ramirez, Rasmus
2010 Topps Chrome- 104

Its short, but its is what I need to finish sets. The Chrome was missing from the set I bought on eBay, and the 2002 and 2005s were missing from the factory sets. Any of these would be greatly appreciated and I will trade well for them. Send along an email or comment on here if you have any of them.

Again, a big thanks to the community here who wished us well, we are both very appreciative!

non baseball related post

This post will be my final one until Tuesday, as I am getting married this weekend. Things are beyond hectic here and while I love to commit to my daily posting, I just won't have the time. Sigh...Life just sometimes gets in the way of baseball...


...Seriously though, I know you guys understand, I just didn't want to post everyday, then suddenly not post and have people wondering where the heck I went. After the wonderful events of this weekend take place it'll be back to regular old posts!

2010 obak

2010 Obak. Has anyone seen these yet? I picked up three packs while at Target the other day. Its no secret I like minis so this set is kind of cool in that aspect. I've also noticed some weird cards, like the hot dog guy next to Heyward. Another one I got was the beverage founder. That is some great baseball history right there, no joke. You won't read about those guys in most areas of baseball history. The packs state that they are printed on recycled paper, so I guess they are environmentally responsible. No MLB license obviously, but it doesn't stop them from putting in MLB greats. I got Hank Greenberg, Dwight Gooden and Denny McLain. Nice non-Topps set here. I may buy more if I find 'em.

the great topps chrome experiment

Topps Chrome. We all know what its all about. Refractors, tons of parallels, autographs, etc. etc. Having bought Topps Chrome from earlier years, I knew collecting 2010 would be a hard, wallet draining task. Four cards in a pack and one maybe two is an insert/parallel? Nuts to that. Packs are not the way to go for Chrome. Well, I wanted a set, and decided to try something different that I normally do. I was going to buy a box for the trade fodder, and then I would buy the set and the couple of cards I wanted and see if I could spend less on the set than the box. How'd I do? Lets take a look.

The box I purchased cost $75. Ended up with a refractor auto and a redemption auto. One Blue Jay card. ONE! Out of a full box. This certainly would not do.

Here is the list of what I wanted out of this set and what I paid on eBay (with shipping, because I did pay for shipping so I count it as cost for card):

220 card set - $37.49
Jays team set (5 cards) - 4.00
Mike McCoy auto (non-refractor) - 6.48
Vernon Wells Parallels:
Refractor - 3.98
X-Fractor - 2.99
Orange - 1.99
Purple (599) - 4.24
Blue (199) - 10.00
Gold (50) - 13.51
Red (25) - 14.61
Printer plate (black) - 25.52

Total - $99.29 without plate, $124.81 with the plate.

I would consider the plate an option due to it not really being part of the rainbow but I knew once it popped up, I wanted it. So I didn't spend less on the cards I wanted, but I would have spent a fortune to get all that in packs So I would say it worked out in my favor (kinda). This method may be what I may do in the future to save myself some headache and more importantly, cash. I would totally miss the fun of ripping packs and putting a set together myself, which is why I bought the box. Plus you never know if that box had the Strasburg superfractor auto.......right. Well, it was a hobby box, so it is a possibility. Speaking of hobby boxes, Topps is super conservative on the parallels this year. I seemingly got almost none. Not true of course, but it was very little.

That being said I have many Chromes for grabs if someone is trying to finish a set. BA Benny has laid claim to some Yankees, but other than that they are for trade. If you have a want list, let me know.

personal collection is decided!

Its later than usual, and I'm being extremely lazy. I have decided that my personal collection will consist of Hall of Famers (Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, Jackie Robinson, etc.), but not particularly original cards. New cards work just as well, as the 2009 T206 cards look fantastic for all the HoFers they added into the mix. Those are in. Players from my hometown of Southington (Rob Dibble, Carl Pavano), team cards like I mentioned before and other cards that just catch my eye. Cards that make me think: If I were to seel my whole collection, what would I want to keep? I may branch out to guys that are from the surrounding area, and I did think about the same birthday idea, but only came up with one player so far. I was also thinking pitchers who threw perfect games as I think its such an incredible achievement. We'll see what else I come up with. Tomorrow SHOULD be the Topps Chrome experiment as long as I'm not busy (I shouldn't be).

another quick post (but not my fault!)

The printer is on the fritz right now. Well, its not, it just doesn't have ink, so it won't let me do anything else such as scan things. Hence why this is just a silly post such as this instead of a real one. Well, some of you who were expecting cards from me should be getting them very soon. I sent them out Friday after work. If you do get one, please let me know in an email confirming that you have. I just like to keep track of who got what. Tomorrow's post should be better, sorry gang.

quickie post

I wasn't in the state today, and I didn't have much of anything to post. The Topps Chrome experiment is over, and I'm just waiting on two cards to get here to have everything (the 220 card set, a Jays team set, Mike McCoy auto, and the Vernon Wells rainbow; regular, refractor, x-fractor, orange, purple, blue, gold, red, and plate). Money-wise it worked out pretty good in comparison to how much I spent on the box. I'll break it down probably tomorrow, if I've the time. If not then, then Tuesday.

score!

Being primarily a Topps collector, I tend not to buy much from other companies. Well, now I have no choice, but if things were different, I'd still feel the same way. Not when I was a kid though. Baseball cards were baseball cards, no matter who made them. Anything and everything was what I wanted. When growing up I had an overabundance of 87, 88 and 89 Topps, but I also had a ton of these:

1988 Score. I had so much of this color explosion, that I probably had a set and had no idea (or the patience to assemble it, I was 6 or 7). So this set holds a fond memory of collecting for me just as 1987 Topps does. Years later came this:

1991 Score. This set is so BORING! Personally this design is one of the most boring sets ever released and I had so damn much of it! Plus it had like 73,925 cards! Its not all bad though, some of the sub sets were kind of neat...in a 90s sort of neat. very colorful. That was Score though. So much color in every set, that with every 110 cards or so in a year, you got a new color! Red to blue to green to white for rookies! so much color! Well, that was the 1990s decade. Ever seen these:

Released in 1992, they were a Procter & Gamble giveaway. SO LOUD! So many colors just screaming at you! Then they released these:

1992 Pinnacle. This set just looks bad-ass with all the black. Kind of plain now, but I remember seeing them at first when they came out and thought they were great. Its really too bad about Score (or Pinnacle Brands). They were sold off to Donruss in 1998 and now used for Panini's low end football set. Just not enough room in the dwindling but rapidly expanding card business of the late 90's.

nineteen seventy-three

As I sit here listening to my beat copy of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon on vinyl (complete with cracks and pops and full warmth that only vinyl can bring), it makes me think that 1973 was a pretty damn good year. Look at these:

1973 Topps is where its at. I know I talked of how good Upper Deck photography was, but this set is definitely the innovator in the picture department. Very weird though, it seemed as if this set were just an experiment. Why? Well look at the years that follow. In fact, look until around 1992, because Topps did do action shots but it wasn't until that year that they stepped it up (this time probably due to Upper Deck directly). 1973 had so many action shots, that it really stand out as a fan favorite. I know its more than a few of you guys favorite year for Topps baseball. Seems that it was a year of change for Topps, as it was the final year for the series release format. The design was simple, yet classy and clean all at once. Nice big picture on the front with a great photo to go right in there. While they aren't all action shots but the ones that are really stand out. Too bad Topps didn't follow suit with the next 20 years of releases, otherwise we wouldn't have to have so many cards like this:

Three superstar players, and this is what they give us? Come on, Henderson was stealing bases in his sleep! I am digging Eddie's 'stache though. If these guys were playing and in the 1973 set, I'll bet their cards would be awesome.

1973 - a year of innovation in music and baseball cards.

thanks

A many thanks to the folks that commented on my last two posts. I figured I'd address them here, rather than in comments. Everyone made good points on the Upper Deck subject. While their photo quality was above and beyond everyone else, they did have collation issues. I've run into that many times with their products and sometimes their sets seemed...irrational. They took the Topps excess with parallels to a whole new level of absurdity. Topps was more complete with their stats too, and most of the time have better backs to their sets. Upper Deck's seem to all feel the same really when you compare their stuff through the years.

The other topic was of my (lack of) collection. You are all right. I thought of the birthday thing and even was thinking about a hometown/state sort of thing. The OCD thing stops me, but I plan on telling it to shut up and sort some damn cards out that I want to keep! I did find some stuff when I looked after I posted. I pulled all my Jackie Robinson, Lou Gehrig and Hank Aaron cards, as I feel these guys are the true heroes of baseball and I probably don't want to trade their stuff off anyway. The other cards I did pull were something I've spoke of a couple of times:

Team cards! I really like these and decided to pull them out of my Topps box. They stayed in the sets, and the Jays stayed in the Jays box, unless I had a duplicate, then it went to my new team card pile. Collecting, here I come!

my collection

I don't have a collection. Well, I certainly have baseball cards but excluding my Blue Jays box and my sets, I have no collection. I have cards in boxes or stacks on my table here, some trade boxes next to me that NEED to get out which will probably tomorrow or Friday. I apologize for the lateness of getting these out, but things are hectic around here with my schedule ramping up like it normally does this time of year until December is over and planning and getting ready for the wife and I's wedding the 24th of this month. Yeah shes not technically the wife yet, but I'll still call her that due to it feeling like we are married already. Anyway, back to what I was saying about a collection. I see many of you guys having good collections like plays at the plate, awesome beards, funny names, pitchers holding bats, etc. Its almost like I can't have the cards out of their proper order. I have sort of an OCD and can't allow things to be out of order, it just bugs me until they are arranged numerically. Maybe I need to tell myself to shut up and take some great cards out for me to keep. Well, regardless of the hectic household, I'm still trying to do a post a day. The 2010 Chrome experiment is almost finished and I'm just waiting to get the cards here. I'll keep you posted with that plus if I allow myself to start a collection of my own and what it contains.

its sad really...

Business is business. Topps won. Yeah yeah yeah, we all know Upper Deck is a ghost in the baseball card industry, but here are three fantastic reasons why they shouldn't be:

Bar none, Upper deck KILLS with their photography. Yes, I've stated this before, but recently I got a box of 2007 UD really cheap and cards like these make me want to finish this set off. Maybe someday...

topps chrome

So Topps Chrome has hit store shelves. Initially I was kind of put off on buying any, due to the very small 4 card packs at 3 bucks per pack. Almost impossible to collect a set that way. Well, unless your wallet is fat, and mine ain't. So I decided to conduct an experiment. I did buy a box and two blasters. I didn't want to but I couldn't help myself. I didn't get anything spectacular. More base cards than I imagined though. I bought a bunch of 2008 Chrome for real cheap at a local store, they were on clearance. Each pack had at least one parallel, and sometimes an insert on top of that, leaving only two base cards. Needless to say I don't have a 2008 set. The hobby box I got had few parallels and even fewer inserts. The retail blasters had some better luck, with usually 6 parallels out of the 7 packs. Some of you have mentioned that was the case as well. So the experiment I am attempting is to see if I can get a full set, a Jays team set, the Mike McCoy auto, and the Vernon Wells rainbow (regular, refractor, xfractor, orange, purple, blue, gold, red, superfractor and print plate). The box cost me $75. I want to see if I can get all that for less than or equal to the box. With the exception of the superfractor, that'll be some money. I have already started it, and is well underway. When its completed I'll post up the results. Until then, if there is anyone going for a set, I have a bunch of duplicates due to the box and set coming.

rumours...

Word on the street...well...the internet....street, is that the Blue Jays organization interviewed Don Baylor as a potential manager for next season. His first managerial position was with the then new Colorado Rockies in 1993, and led them to their first winning season in 1995 (77-67). He stayed until 1998, then became the Chicago Cubs Manager for the 2000 to 2002 seasons. He worked mainly as a hitting coach in between and after those two tenures. I think he would make a good addition to the Jays as their skipper. They have the talent to play, and Cito led them in a great direction, and I think Don could do the same. We'll see what happens. He isn't the only name being thrown around, nor are the Jays the only team to be looking for a new manager. They join the Braves, Brewers, Pirates and the Mets in that category.

vintage week- day final

As I wrap up vintage week here, I would like to thank all of you who came on to read and enjoy this themed week of posts. So without further hesitation, here is the final card:

Another T206, making this number 6 for me. I really like this set and is probably my favorite vintage set ever. The simple design, the color, everything. I've gushed enough about this set over the whole time of me posting on this blog, so little explanation is needed here. Again, a big thanks to everyone who read and kept coming back to see the next vintage greatness day after day.

vintage week- day 6

Today's vintage cardboard is one of my absolute new favorites:

1911 Zee Nut. I knew nothing of it, but knew I had to have it. The size is also weird, making storage difficult. check it out:

Taller than standard, but thinner as well. I know next to nothing about this set, but I love the fact that its an actual picture from 100 years ago. the card is definitely not perfect and yes, that corner is almost missing. The back is blank, like the '31 Zee Nut, and maybe all Zee Nuts are, I don't know. The photo has a nice sepia tone to it. I haven't seen many of these on eBay, but I'm sure if you looked you would be able to find one too. Tomorrow's card is the final post for the vintage week so come on back to check it out!

vintage week- day 5

Today's vintage card goes way back to 1922. E120 (or E121, I have seen them described as either) put out by the American Caramel Company:

Clarence 'Shovel' Hodge, pitcher for the Chicago White Sox. Apparently he only played from 1920 to 1922. This card is very thin, almost paper thin. Think 2 pieces of printer paper together, but well worn and 88 years old. The back says there are 120 cards in the set. I assume these were distributed in candy, but I have found no evidence to support that (namely due to me not researching, so very lazy...ha.). The size of the card itself is almost the same exact size as 1951-52 Bowmans. Tomorrow's vintage card is my favorite of the bunch, so come on back to see what it is!

vintage week- day 4

Today's vintage pick comes from a different whole different league entirely:

A 1931 Zee Nut Pacific Coast League card. Fred Berger (mmm...berger...) who played for the Mission Reds in 1930. As you can see below, this card is small, a little taller than a T206 and about a quarter of an inch wider. Zee Nuts cards have an interesting history. They produced cards from 1911 to around 1934 and were sold in packages of candy (I believe, please someone correct me if I'm wrong). They depict the Pacific Coast League players. The PCL eventually evolved into the AAA league for the west coast for Major League Baseball. During the time of this card, and Zee Nuts others, I believe they were another competing league and not minor league at all. Here is that size comparison:

The back is blank and the card has a nice feel to it. I'm not sure if its due to age or what, but its got a kind of gloss to it. Not Topps 2010 gloss, but an old-timey gloss. There is another Zee Nut to be posted, but it won't be until Friday. I'll let you wonder what year its from. Come on back for day 5 of this vintage week!

vintage week- day 3

For today's vintage classic, we take the way back machine to 1936 (or 1934, I'll explain).

1936 Diamond Stars put out by National Chicle. These cards were put out from 1934 to 1936. This guy played for the Detroit Tigers. I like the conversation going on in the background between number 4 and what looks to be a manager. These cards have a great feel to them and are pretty thick. The printing and color also look spectacular on these cards. Here is a shot of the back:

Topps issued the National Chicle set earlier in the year and they look just like the originals, as you can see. Smaller size but other than that almost identical. These cards book really high, with commons in the first run (the '34s) being the easiest to find, still booking at 50 bucks. You can find them much cheaper on eBay as I did, so don't let the price intimidate you. If you can find some of these, pick them up. They are a very interesting, high quality vintage set. Come on back for tomorrow's vintage card for Wednesday!

vintage week- day 2

For today's vintage card we hark back to 71 years ago for a 1939 Play Ball card.

This is Stanley Bordagaray of the Cincinnati Reds. 1939 was the first of three years for Play Ball. This is actually the second card I have from this set. I'm a big fan of the Play Ball cards from any year, but their first year may be my favorite. These cards look like old photos at first glance, until you flip 'em over and see information on the back. This set also features some tremendous rookie cards of the era, such as Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio. Upper Deck would buy the name in the early 2000's to make some cool retro sets. Come on back for tomorrow's vintage card for day 3!

vintage week- day 1

Today I'm kicking off a full week of recent vintage pick ups that I've gotten recently. It started out with a few but then I found a few more really interesting cards to make it a full week. As many of you know, I really enjoy collecting vintage cards and definitely fit the bill. I like having at least one card from a vintage set, unless I'm actually able to get more. At least one card to represent is good enough for me, and five of these seven are new representations of sets for me. I'll be doing them in order from "newest" to the oldest. All of them are pre-Topps era stuff with the sole exception being today's post.

Before I get to this though, there are a few things I'd like to mention. Yesterday's Mets/Nationals game was really fun. The Mets seem so appreciative of their fanbase, much more than I've seen from any team thus far. Very great fan service and a good game too. Many back ups out there, with only a few starters. It makes sense though, neither team is in the running for the playoffs, so you might as well start a few guys you normally wouldn't, rookies and such. The other thing I wanted to mention was that Can't have too many cards is holding a cool contest celebrating his 500th post. So get on over there and win some great cards!

On with the vintage!

Today we begin with a 1953 Bowman color. Mel Parnell of the Red Sox is the example here. I have seen some of this set before and I've got to say that the photography and color on these cards is amazing for 1953. Incredible color that pops out at you immediately. Bowman must have used the best, most expensive film out there for this set and it really shows. when you look at this set, then the 1954 Bowman pictures its almost a huge letdown. Bowman did do a black and white 1953 issue as well, but that set is much smaller (64 cards as opposed to colors 160) and the cards seem a little harder to find. With this pick up I only need a card from 1948 and 1950 for at least one of each original Bowman set. Stay tuned for tomorrow's vintage!

where we'll be

I will be attending today's game between the Mets and the Nationals at Citi Field. I bought these a little while ago with only a few weeks of baseball left, I wanted to get tickets for one more game. Then there was an issue with the tickets not shipping, yadda yadda, and here we are! Today is the day for baseball. I saw the Yankees in early Sept., and wanted to try another stadium. Plus it is the Nationals and they are a new favorite. It'll be a good day, plus its another excuse to get to the city.

almost complete

I almost completed this base set. I got my two boxes from Blowout Cards today (at an awesome price by the way, if you need some of this set, get 'em now while they're cheap), and I sorted them all out and found that I need 7 cards to finish. I have 19 of the short prints so far. Those won't be easy, if you have some for trade please let me know. The final seven cards I need are: 1, 13, 30, 31, 38, 59, 219. Roy Halladay is card 219, I can't believe I don't have him (I have the bronze thick-o card though). I would like to complete a mini set, with no preference to the backs. In spirit of the original T206, I would like a complete 300 card mini set with varying backs. Kind of a 'Frankenset' if you will, like some of you guys do (which is a really awesome idea by the way), but only for 2009 T206. I don't have a wantlist for that yet, as I don't have all that many. So any minis would be gladly traded for. If anyone has seen those seven cards, let me know, and also let me know if you need some base cards to complete your set, I have a bunch.