maybe it was a good idea...

...to leave the house today.

Nuff said!

currently...

As I sit here sorting out the cards of what will become the team lot break, I check the net every now and then to see what is going on with the trade deadline, which ends tomorrow. Some pretty big trades have gone down so far. Hunter Pence to the Phillies (do they even have room for 'good' players any more?), only adding great strength to their already stellar line-up. Colbey Rasmus was traded to the Blue Jays after a huge 8 player deal between three teams. It's almost too bad they couldn't keep Edwin Jackson, seeing as how they can use some pitching power. Alas, the higher ups wanted Rasmus (still don't know how I feel about it yet) and Rasmus they got. Carlos Beltran is now a Giant and it seems that the Mets are slowly dismantling their team (Francisco Rodriguez went to the Brewers a few weeks back) but will probably end up being for the better. Who knows who else will be moving on. The remaining hours in the deadline should surely produce some good (bad?) trades.

Now, onto other, more local things. I have shipped EVERYTHING out to you guys waiting on stuff. The last draft break, the claimed sets, it is all sent out as of this morning. While I am also sorting out these cards, I'd like to propose the next break I hinted at on Wednesday. No, not the team break. This break involves unopened packs. I have unopened Topps flagship packs from 1982 to 2010. Series 1 and 2 if a year had series' (1993 to now) and both types from 1991 (wax paper and plastic) for a total of 48 packs. What I want to do is have 4 participants, at $20 a slot. For the price of a blaster, each participant will end up with 12 packs (and a surprise at the end). I'll do it draft style but will go chronologically, as it will make it more fair. I checked which packs will be with which and it ends up working out pretty well. If you are interested in this, let me know in the comments. First four get in and once the four are confirmed I'll let you know what to do next (it'll work out the same, Paypal, etc). The team break will probably end up happening in a couple weeks, once I've sorted out everything and gotten organized.

ideas, potentially.

So I don't think anyone will be too upset if they miss out on these sets I posted yesterday. I'll start filing them away by team. I am currently doing so and I've added 2009 Topps stuff too. Sets like Heritage (which there is a bunch of), 206, Ticket to Stardom and the base and chrome. What I am thinking for the team idea is like a group break but without opening stuff. Cards will come from 1976 to now, from any manufacturer, with the majority being newer stuff. Very little late 80's/early 90's stuff. If there is, they are star cards (generally). Teams will average probably 200 or so cards. I'm thinking 15 picks of teams then randoming off the rest of the unpicked teams. Inserts, parallels and what ever else I have will go in here. I am also planning on doing another break/draft, using the remaining relics, autos and pre-1976 stuff I have. I also have another VERY good idea for another draft/break as well (more on that another day). While it seems I am giving up on collecting, I am indeed, not. It has come to a point where I have accumulated more that I've collected. I just have cards here doing nothing, from sets I won't collect and teams I don't collect. Oh and on the previously mentioned team break, anyone who picks the Blue Jays can also pick their team as well. I have so many, that I would have to at least do that for someone willing to take them, as opposed to just putting them on as a random team. Plus there are a bunch of really good cards in there, they just happen to be Jays.

For said team break, I'm thinking $15, for the two teams. That will cover shipping and what ever supplies I'll need. If you think you might be interested, let me know in the comments section below. Just a gauge to see if it'll work.

downsizing part two

Many sets were claimed yesterday but there are a few left. Here they are:

1994 Upper Deck Collectors Choice- Two retail boxes worth, silver and gold sigs included.

2007 Upper Deck- About 700 or so (I'm just kinda guessing here, its a pretty full 800 ct. box)

2008 Upper Deck- About 150 cards.

2009 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes- 30 or so cards.

2009 Upper Deck Piece of History- 30 or so cards.

2009 Upper Deck Signature Stars- Maybe 50 cards out of 100 card set.

2009 Upper Deck Spectrum- 40 or so cards.

2009 Upper Deck Timeline- 30 or so cards.

2010 Upper Deck- 125 or so cards.

Really what I did was take the sets I had a decent number of cards for, or the sets that seem to have a following, even if they didn't have too many cards (Goodwin, Masterpieces). If none of these are claimed by Thursday, I'll just sort them by team and add them to the other cards that are currently sorted by team (about 2000 cards right now). After Thursday, I'll offer up teams for the picking. I may have an idea of what to do with them too, it may be a break type style. We'll see though.

the downsizing process

I think what may be best for this process is to list by sets, then by teams for unclaimed sets. I am not sure on how to work this though. I'll start by listing the sets I have a bunch of cards from and approximately how many.

***claimed***2008-2011 Bowman- These can fill up maybe an 800 count box, I do have some from earlier years too.
***claimed***2007 Fleer Ultra- 250 card set, about 200 here, 201-250 are short prints, I have about 30.

***claimed***2007 Topps- I have an extra full factory set. It is open and in numerical order but is complete.
***claimed***Topps Heritage- All pre-2009 sets, about 200 cards
***claimed***Topps Chrome- Mostly 2008 but some from earlier, about 100 or so. Inserts, refractors, etc.
***claimed***Topps Allen& Ginter and Turkey Red- 2007 to 2009, maybe 40 cards between both brands. I also have plenty of 2011 Ginter I can include too.

***claimed***1990-1992 Upper Deck- Mostly 1990, about 400 cards here.
1994 Upper Deck Collectors Choice- Two retail boxes worth, silver and gold sigs included.
2007 Upper Deck- About 700 or so (I'm just kinda guessing here, its a pretty full 800 ct. box)
2008 Upper Deck- About 150 cards.
***claimed***2008-09 Upper Deck Goudey- 40 or so cards between the two years.
***claimed***2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces- 30 or so cards, two framed parallels.
2009 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes- 30 or so cards.
***claimed***2009 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions 30 or so cards.
***claimed***2009 Upper Deck Icons- 100 card basic set, maybe missing 2 cards. Some rookie short prints and inserts.
***claimed***2009 Upper Deck O-Pee-Chee- About 70 or so, with black bordered parallels
2009 Upper Deck Piece of History- 30 or so cards.
2009 Upper Deck Signature Stars- Maybe 50 cards out of 100 card set.
***claimed***2009 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts- Very close to a full 100 card base set, missing maybe 15 or less. Also a few short prints.
2009 Upper Deck Spectrum- 40 or so cards.
2009 Upper Deck Timeline- 30 or so cards.
2010 Upper Deck- 125 or so cards.

I suppose cost will come down to how much it will be to ship. You can claim what ever sets you'd like and once you're done, I'll figure out a price for shipping, supplies, etc. (boxes and such can get expensive), prices will be very fair.

downsizing

'Ello all. I just want to thank everyone who participated in my two draft breaks. It is a lot of fun and I'm trying to see what I can do to get another one going. They do seem to generate a good deal of interest and that's great! I'm not sure what happened to day but I came to a thought that I want/need to downsize my accumulation of cards here. I just have way too many and other things are starting to take priority over here. So that's two things going for the need to downsize. I think essentially I want to keep my collection to 2009 to now and only Topps stuff. I'm really not collecting anything else, so really it is just taking up space. Now, I am not including anything pre-1980 here. I may do another break featuring mainly stuff from before 1980 (let me know if this is a good idea), so pretty much everything that isn't 2009 Topps made stuff is going to go. How do I do it though, is the question. I don't want to give away 4000 or so cards to the local shop, nor do I want to ship someone that many cards (imagine how much shipping would be??). What to do. I know a few other bloggers put together clearance lots and shipped 'em out for a couple bucks to cover shipping. What can I do though?

Some ideas that I just kind of thought of:

Name off sets and see if someone wants those by set/year/brand/whatever.
Put together team lots.
Random X amount of cards.

Any ideas? If you have some, I'm definitely open to them. A couple bucks to cover shipping and supplies would be great due to the still current lack of work (we had two weeks of 40 hours, now next week is back to 25 and probably August too :\ ). So I guess where I am now is taking ideas on what to do with all these and thinking of a good/fun way to get them out there. Here is what I am working with:

Very little over production era (anything 1986-1994).
Mainly Upper Deck, 2007 to 2010 but some 1989-1992.
Some Bowman, 2007 to 2011.
Not too much Donruss, Fleer or Score and if they are present, it is relatively newer stuff or older stuff (like I said, not much OP era)
Duplicates of whatever I have duplicates of. This does include Topps stuff.
The Topps I do have from before 2009 that isn't base, is Chrome, A&G and Heritage from 2008. A few before 2008 but not much.


Ideas? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

round (nineteen-oh) nine

The final round, it has come. Thanks for everyone who participated, it went by quick! After you make your pick in the comments section here, please send me an email with your address (I may have it but this is just easier) and I should be able to get these out on Saturday. On to the picks, you know about these:


1- diamond king- hunter
2- commishbob- lennox
3- ba benny- merritt
4- hiflew- shannon
5- ryan- dygert

round eight

Whew, last round was a doozy. Please check which card I associated with your name just to make sure I read everything right. Ok, now we're down to the nitty gritty here, the vintage Hall of Famer round:

Really, you cannot lose with any of these cards, just great all around guys.

1- ba benny- kaline
2- diamond king- mathews
3- ryan- aparicio 65
4- hiflew- robinson
5- commishbob- aparicio 62

round seven

Truckin' right along. Seeing as how it was All-Star week, this round will focus on 2011 All-Stars. Yes, there are two Tulo's but I had no other AS relics. He is a great player though, and I know at least one of you wants 'em.


1- commishbob- castro
2- hiflew- mccutchen
3- ryan- weaver
4- diamond king- tulo stripe
5- ba benny- tulo bat

round six

Movin' at the speed of light! On to 1953-1956 vintage:

A Bowman!

1- ryan- diering
2- hiflew- thompson
3- ba benny- garver
4- commishbob- lepcio
5- diamond king- paula

round five

We will keep it going with some vintage picks. This time from the first Topps years using the now standard card size, 1957 to 1959:


1- diamond king- narelski
2- commishbob- harshman
3- ba benny- kiely
4- hiflew- ennis
5- ryan- smith

round four

Rolling right along here. How about a round right before I hit the hay. Let's go with the Hall of Fame relics:


1- ba benny- ripken
2- ryan- spahn
3- diamond king- red
4- hiflew- aparicio
5- commishbob- gwynn

round three

The Soriano I just posted about is here if you would like to see it on the 'Bay. This does actually mark my first true 1 of 1 pull. I don't know if I really consider printing plates to be true 1 of 1's (as many collectors don't) but they are still kinda cool to pull. Of course even that has only happened twice. One was a Jose Reyes from 2010 Chicle and the other was a 2011 Ruben Tejada from Gypsy Queen. I know, both Mets. Weird. Anyway, we are on to round three. This round will be the autos of non-scrubs. At least I think they aren't anyway. Oh, and if McCutchen is a scrub (I honestly don't know, I know nothing of the Pirates), then he is only in here because Opening Day autos are 1:746 pulls. It's crazy.


1- commishbob- kemp
2- hiflew- feliz
3- diamond king- mccutchen
4- ryan- billingsley
5- ba benny- ruiz

some luck

Well, I know that I hadn't intended on buying much Allen & Ginter but I picked up a few packs at my local Target today and was impressed with what I saw. The cards look way better than online. So I headed to my lcs to pick up a box. The Soriano above came out of it. Yep, thats the wood mini, numbered 1/1. A 1:3436 odds pull. The three relics I got were pretty pedestrian but this made up for it. Its on eBay right now, so if you come across it, that's me.

Back to the break, I still need Benny's pick and I can start the third round but no rush, it's going quite smoothly.

round two

See? Went by quick like, we'll be done in no time. Obviously due to a smaller amount of people. I really like seeing who picks what card, it really makes it interesting to watch. Anyway, what is up next:

A relic round. The one that I mentioned that guys could or should be in the Hall of Fame. Well, maybe not Burdette but it is a sweet relic.

1- ryan- santo
2- ba benny- murphy
3- commishbob- burdette
4- diamond king- chipper
5- hiflew- thome

round one

Let's start this thing! Fire it up! Benny, I still need your payment but I know you're good for it so whenever you can get it over here is good. Let's start with some early 60's Topps cards:

1960 to 1963 in fact. This will work the same way as last time, I'll have an order here and just go right along with your picks. If you want to make the list again, feel free. Makes things easier if you think you may not be able to get to check up at a later time.

1-hiflew- cardenas
2-diamond king- bressoud
3-commishbob- callison
4-ba benny- kindall
5-ryan- schilling

sign-ups? maybe?

Ok, I knew it wouldn't be 'internet crashing' interest in my proposed draft/break (maybe we should dub it a 'group draft break' and call it a day) and I know fifty bucks is a bunch of cash. I would like to stress however, that this one will be much bigger in scope and will include better overall cards, as opposed to just random relics. I'm culling most of the bulk of this break from my personal collection (see yesterday's picture; the 67 Kaline, Cal pants relic, Tulo relic, Santo relic, etc.) because I wanted to make it really worth the money. Plus well, drafting 100 year old cards is just plain crazy. I left the number of people at four to make it that much more special. I might, MIGHT be able to stretch it to five but I'll have to do some real pulling of strings here with my collection and what I've pulled and what I wouldn't mind parting with. If I can make it to accommodate another slot, I will lower the cost to $40. I know Ginter is dropping as we speak and that is always hugely popular, so I am directly competing with that, I suppose.

*****UPDATE*****

While writing this post, I checked to see if I would be able to pull off a fifth slot, and I can say that I definitely can. So here is how it works, just another small summary:

Same guidelines as last time, random picks from the posted cards.

Nine rounds:
1- relic - 2011 All-Star
2- relic - Hall of Famer
3- relic - An overall great that may soon be in the Hof, or could be (Santo, Thome, etc.)
4- vintage - 1953-1956 (the big card years)
5- vintage - 1957-1959
6- vintage - 1960-1963
7- vintage - Hall of Famer card
8- auto - Good players, or at least decent ones
9- T-206 - Your choice of one of five 100 year old cards

I will also include 3 relics and 2 autos of my choosing (like last time). This is pretty the absolute end to my relic/auto collection that isn't in my personal collection (and even some of those too), until I manage to pull some more or pick some up at a show. Also, with the extra fifth slot, I am lowering the entry to $40. I'll start sign-ups now but you can wait on payment. I want to see if I can get five people first before all that happens.

1- commishbob (paid)
2- Ryan (paid)
3- hiflew (paid)
4- BA Benny
5- The Diamond King (paid)

Again, it'll be well worth the cost of entry (the 206 alone is almost that) and it'll be super fun and will be much quicker with less people. If you are interested, simply leave a comment and I'll place your name up there. First five get in!

testing the waters

Now that the breaks packages are sent (some of you have gotten them already) and Wicked's break has wrapped up, I have been toying with doing another. This time though, I plan on making it big. REAL big. Well, it'll be small but big. Allow me to explain.

It will follow the same guidelines as last time but it'll break down like this:

Four participants, $50 each. I know fifty is a big deal but it will fully be worth all the while. Here is what the cost of a pack of Topps Tribute will get you:

9 draft rounds consisting of:

Three relic rounds: a HoF round, a greats round (with guys that will be or should be in the Hof) and a round with 2011 All-Stars.

Four vintage rounds: a round with cards from 1953-56, a round with 57-59, a round with 60-63 and a HoF vintage round.

One round with autos, all non-scrub players

I will also include 3 relics and 2 autos at random per lot. Making for a total of 14 cards. You may have noticed that what I mentioned here is only 13 of those 14. Well for the final round, please consult my header.
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...back yet? Yes, the final round, round nine, will be an original 1909-11 T-206 card. Now, I'd say that's much better than Tribute has to offer (plus Tribute costs more than that now anyway). I want to make this one fully worth the time and cost and with four people it will go very fast. I wanted to go above and beyond with this one and hopefully you'll enjoy it too. If anyone is interested please let me know in the comments and if I do have enough interested, I'll start sign ups tomorrow.

Here is some of what will be available:

an update, of sorts

I have been rather busy as of late, hence the lack of a post in about a week. Also the lack of sending out the break cards. Right now, what is going on is work has finally gone back to a full 40 hours. We'll see how long it lasts, which most likely won't be too long, as it is convention season so we usually get pretty mobbed with work around then. I am also helping my wife's aunt and uncle redo their deck. They decided to buy the wood, get the wife's father (the man knows everything about carpentry, machines and pretty much everything else) and do it themselves. I don't blame them, they will end up saving around $7000. All it takes is a little sweat and hard work from the five of us and it is all good. They have been very good to us, so we could do nothing but help in anyway we can. So there we have it. That's what is going on. Right now I have half of the break packages finished. I plan on doing a few more tonight and the rest tomorrow, to have them all sent out on Saturday morning. The business explained above plus me taking my time with these (so I don't screw anything up), and pulling the extra cards makes me behind. Fear not, they will be sent Saturday. I am also selling a few things on eBay (here.) and if you see anything you like, let me know. If you'll notice, the Heritage set is up. I am giving up trying to finish it off, it's too much hassle. I know now for next year not to buy too much and feel as if I have to finish. There is also the Bowman set I quietly finished also due to me buying too much. I have also cut back on purchases severely due to lack of funds/interest. Thankfully I have enough series 2 and there isn't much else on the horizon. I have seen some previews of Tier One, that is due out in November. Looks OK but seems like its a sequel to Tribute and will probably be just as (if not more) expensive. It DOES have on-card autos though. All of the autos are. I guess that is a good selling point but then again, shouldn't they all be? I mean, I understand why Topps uses stickers. It's just way easier. Get Hank Aaron to sign a thousand of them and you can use his signature all year round in 12 different products, then you can leave him alone throughout the year. It's excellent business but they look pretty ugly. Thankfully they have switched to the white-ish/clear stickers, which look a little better. Oh and one last thing. If I have any current pending trades with any of you, I will address them next week when things slow up a little. If we were in the middle of a deal you'll probably see an email from me shortly.

topps diamonds

I can't really say I had high hopes for the Topps Diamond Giveaway. After last years Million Card Giveaway and the lack of great things I pulled from that, I expected more of the same. More 1993, 1988 and 2007 Topps were on their way to my digital file. Well, I did end up with those but I also ended up with a few diamond die cuts. I managed to trade them away, plus pretty much all of my other cards (until I had all five I needed anyway) that I unlocked to trade for the Blue Jays team set:

I had mentioned before that the Hill came off of eBay, cheap. The other five I traded for on the site. I took delivery of these on Wednesday night and I received them today. An awesome turn around rate for Topps. Well actually I've always gotten things from the very quick. Probably helps that they are in New York and I'm here in Connecticut. Oh, I also unlocked this guy too:

I figured I would take him too. Why not right? I haven't decided if he is for traded, although I haven't run into any Twins fans either. All thats left in my account now is about 15 cards I want nothing to do with and 58 different rings (missing Mantle and Ruth, which is not rare btw but people refuse to trade it). I also took delivery of the anniversary set but they said it won't ship until August. Still no idea what it is.