Crinkly Wrappers

baseball cards around the world- part 2 (of 4)

2012-01-30T12:50:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to my sporadically updated 'Cards from around the world' posts. Today we'll look at cards from Japan. In case you missed part one, check it out here.

This set is from 2002 and put out by BBM. I believe BBM is the "Topps" over there, as they seem to be the most abundantly found cards. At least from what I can tell anyway. If I'm wrong, please correct me.

Here is a base card or a parallel of a base card. Fukudome is one of the recognizable players out of the two packs I got. This is a really cool card due to it's silver signature, which I have to assume is a parallel because they all aren't like this.

More base cards:

They split up the set into the Pacific League (above) and the Central League (below).

The backs are pretty basic and unreadable to me (Ryan G will soon be able to read them though!). The base cards are nice though and you can see a second signed card above. They were one per pack, maybe it's like the old Collector's Choice, with a one per pack signature parallel. Team logos are on the bottom left and the team name is also running down the left side.

Team card!

A team checklist on the back. This was the only team card I got, so I don't know if they all are posed like this, would be cool though.

The cards are on a nice stock. It's thinner but not flimsy. Hard to explain but makes for nice cards. Both of the next two posts (parts three and four) also feature Japanese cards but are different in a bunch of ways. You'll see once I post them. Stay tuned!

I also received two trade packages in the mail today, one from Potch and one from Matt (from Card Anathema). Both included some Kimball Champions that I needed for my set, bringing me ever closer to finishing it up! Thanks guys and I actually just sent out both of your packages today, so look for them soon! Only six Kimballs left!!

trades and thanks and stuff

2012-01-27T12:15:00.000-08:00

First off, I want to thank everyone for their comments and reading my previous post about the 2012 phenomena. At nearly 100 views, its one of my most read posts ever. Funny, the past three posts I've done were very highly read. Seem thats when I get topical about the hobby, people actually read what I write. Now, I mentioned in that post that I had gotten some trade mails, so here they are.

First up is my first trade with Baseball Dad from All Tribe Baseball. I sent him some wrappers, Indians and some 2011 Stickers he needed. In return he sent:

Some Jays and even some checklists (some good oddball stuff at that). He also sent along a few Stickers for my book, which is slowly creeping on being complete. Thanks and I'll be sure to save some of my wrappers from now on!

A little while back, the Cardboard Don himself, Wicked, had contacted me about trading off his Adam Lind collection. I showed him some stuff I had available and soon a trade was born. You can see what I sent him here. He is notorious around the blogg-o-sphere for being an awesome trader. This time was no different:

So. Much. Lind.

Seriously, I've become an Adam Lind supercollector overnight! Many autos and relics and even some with both! Awesome stuff all around and a HUGE thanks to Wicked, you never disappoint man!

I also received two more envelopes from Julie at Things Are Funner Here and Robert over at $30 a Week Habit. Both were in response to stuff I had previously sent out to them and they were saying their thanks. Julie sent some Jays parallels from 2011, some Triple Threads from 2009 for my player collections (Mize and Speaker). Robert sent along an Adam Lind auto, the very same one above in the first picture from Wicked, the Solo Shot from Topps Unique. Having two is no biggie for me, the more the merrier! Thanks guys!

I'm making great headway on the Kimballs and the Stickers, so please if you have some, let me know! I'll trade huge for them! Let's finish those suckers up!

please...help me to understand

2012-01-25T11:47:00.000-08:00

Alright, I got three trade packages in the mail today but they're going to have to wait until tomorrow.

Everywhere I look there is a ton of hate for 2012 Topps Series 1. Blogs, forums, comments on Beckett.com, whatever be the medium, it seems that everyone is hating on it. I can't see why. So Topps didn't deliver on what we presumed a 'game changer' would be. So they've resorted to using the same formula they have since 2006. So they have more short prints and gimmicks. Let's see if I can get to the bottom of this.

See, this is what people tend to forget. Baseball cards are the gimmick!

Ever since the dawn of baseball cards in the late 1800's, they've been a vehicle to sell things. Cigarettes, candy, caramel, gum, pizza, ice cream, dog food, etc. They were inserted one per pack of cigarettes until around World War I. Various candies until around the Korean War. Then Topps comes around in the fifties and oh look, they want to sell gum so they package them up with baseball cards. The gimmick to sell the gum was the cards. It wasn't until the 70's that people really started to collect and save them. Baseball cards are the gimmick.

What about 1992, when Topps added in the Topps Gold? Wasn't that a gimmick in itself, getting people to buy more packs to get the gold cards of their favorite players and teams? Aren't insert cards themselves gimmicks? A card that is rarer than a base card, thereby getting people to buy more packs in order to get them? Didn't Fleer have insert cards in the 80's? In 2001 Topps introduces the Heritage line and load the back end of the set with short prints, a tradition that continues to this day. No one complains, they still collect the set. Same thing with Allen & Ginter, another set that is widely loved and collected. 2007 saw the first short print in the flagship set, the Derek Jeter with Mantle and Bush photoshopped in. 2008 saw the Rudy Giuliani card with him celebrating with the Red Sox. 2009 saw the Obama card and CC Sabathia in a Yankees uniform. Plus the Legends short prints. 2010 followed with Granderson in a Yankee uniform plus more legends. 2011 followed suit with Crawford and Gonzalez in Sox unis. Short prints have been de facto in the base set since 2007 (2006's Alex Gordon was not a short print, his card was pulled due to him not being able to be on the card before his MLB debut, as per then new MLB rules for cards).

Another thing people forget is that Topps is a company, in their business to make money. That's why businesses exist, to produce a product or service and make money from it. They don't cater to collectors. Never have and never will. Being a company they are only in it for the money, why would they start listening to collectors when people still gobble up all their stuff? They loaded 2010 with Strasburg stuff, people scooped it up, no one complains. They load 2011 with future scrub Bryce Harper and people scoop it up, no one complains (I call them Harpersuckers).

So the 2012 base set has more short prints. So what. Let the Harpersuckers have them. If you don't like them, don't collect them. See, the great thing about this hobby is that we have the ability to collect how ever much or little we want. Want to just collect your favorite team? Do it. Want to get the 330 card set? Do it. Those two short prints don't count towards the set.

I'll be busting my two jumbo boxes come the first. I can't wait. What I plan on doing is selling off the Golden Giveaway codes plus the wrappers. Let them deal with them, plus it'll go towards my cost of the boxes. I'll ahve my two sets and that's all I'll need. See, collecting what I want out of it.

I get that Topps should have changed their game plan, even just a little. They didn't, oh well. Why though, would this year be the year that everyone hates on Topps flagship, when gimmickry has been around in the hobby since the beginning?

Again, please help me to understand!

sorry but it's time to go... (we hope you enjoyed your stay)

2012-01-23T13:26:00.000-08:00

Don't worry, your favorite blog isn't going anywhere...

...and neither is this one.

I've been thinking the past few days about blogging in general. Most of all though, I've thought of the blogs that have come and the blogs that have gone (and the few that have come AND gone) in the time that I've been around the 'sphere. I've been reading for almost two years and writing myself for about a year and a half. I've seen many blogs cease posting since I've started up and you can't help but wonder where they went. Sure, life happens. Reality is much more important than cards or blogging will ever be. I've seen this community grow quite a bit since I started reading in April (or so) of 2010. Some blogs that have been around for years just simply vanish, without a trace of what happened to their owner. I've even seen a few start up, then just stop after a few months. Do they still read our stuff? Are they still in the hobby? Did something major happen and they can't do it anymore? We hope the first two and not the last one.

We've all helped build up this great little community and one way or another have let these others into our lives. Sure we're still at the basic core of it, strangers but based on reading some of the blogs out there, I feel I know some bloggers fairly well. Sometimes we get personal and its good to know that we're not just card sharks but real people behind each one of these screens.

Which brought me to my latest thought.

Wouldn't it be simple courtesy to let everyone know that you're leaving? I know we owe no one anything around here but knowing that many people would be wondering where you went or what happened to another blogger that left the community for what ever reason, would be reason enough to let everyone know with a final post. Even if life gets so hectic, all one has to do is just pop on and jot down a quick explanation of what's going on. Not even a need for detail just a "Hey, see you all later, I've got life to take care of right now" type of thing. We would all wish them well I'm sure. Just a thought.

Now that all that is out of the way, I have a box to give away. I have some mail to send out tomorrow and I'll fill a 400 count box up with cards and ship it to the first person who wants it. Inside will be the most random assortment of cards. All brands, styles, colors and types. Baseball only, one commenter only. After you comment, shoot me an email with your address and I'll have it out.

trading

2012-01-21T08:47:00.000-08:00

There's been some talk lately about trades gone wrong. Trading is one of the best aspects of blogging, well for me anyway. You can walk into any card shop and see boxes upon boxes of base cards, left discarded in lieu of the hits from the box. Most people I've run into at the local shop could care less about anything that doesn't have a signature or a piece of something in it. Thats what makes this community great, we all seem to care about the cards themselves. players or teams we like, or even the odd stuff like guys who won awards in their careers, guys from our hometowns or even something as silly as a pitcher holding a bat. I've always felt that we're the true collectors. The ones that appreciate the effort that goes into making a card set. Not just who signed what or what piece is in what low numbered card. Those are great too but surely not our focus. Where am I going with this?

There are no rules persay about trading here. Though we do all follow an unwritten 'code' of sorts that maintains an order of balance in the blogging world. More or less it's just morals and knowing that if someone send you something, usually you send something in return. It's just good manners. About the part above though, no where else that I've been to, can I send someone a stack of base cards and that person be completely happy with what they have found in their mail box. Cards they may have needed for a set or simply just their favorite team, filling in team sets or player collections. It's incredible really and truly is an example of "one man's trash is another man's (or woman's) treasure. Not that base cards are trash. In fact any set put out by Topps before 1995 is nothing BUT base cards and we were all happy with that. I'm merely referring to the guys who think base cards are a "waste of their time" and leave them in a box to rot at that local shop.

Back to the trading front though, I've run off on a tangent for too long here and I hope you're still with me.

Community. That's what it all boils down to. Trading is a wonderful experience and again, the best part of blogging. I haven't been burned in a trade and I do feel for those that have. I would like anyone who has ever felt that they have gotten the short end of the stick by me in a trade to please let me know. I'll do what I can to make it right. That or if you were expecting a package from me and it never came, I'd also like to know that as well. I've sent everything out that I've promised but sometimes things do get lost in the mail, you just never know. This is an open letter for anyone who may have felt wrongly about a trade we've done either recently or the past. I love blogging and love trading even more, so I'd really hate to risk any wrongdoing of fellow traders by sending an inadequate package of cards. There is obviously a certain level of trust associated with trading with essentially, strangers. Thankfully I don't feel anyone is out to screw anyone over around here but sometimes trades just go wrong.

mail day- trade winds and completion

2012-01-20T12:16:00.000-08:00

A couple of trades in the mail today.

The first comes from Sam over at The Daily Dimwit. He had expressed interest in collecting the Hollywood manu-relics from American Pie. He and his wife are completing the word "Hollywood" out of them, no matter the person on the card. They had two 'O's but needed a third, which I had. He recently held a Chrome group break and pulled a refractor Drabek auto, which I expressed interest in:

He also posted a regular, which I also expressed interest in and a trade was born. I found some cards from his want lists plus some Astros to send over his way. Sam, I haven't been to the post office yet but I will be and you should have your cards fairly soon! Thanks!

Speaking of Drabek, these autos mark my 13th and 14th of his:

4 regular Chrome
1 refractor Chrome 123/499
1 gold Chrome 25/50
4 Triple Threads auto/relics 60/99, 23/75, 66/75, 37/50
1 Bowman Chrome
1 Topps 60 (from series 2)
1 Topps Next 60 (from Update)
1 in person auto (from eBay, looks legit though)

I'm no prospector but he is the only Blue Jay with a ton of affordable autos in recent products. If you have any, I am definitely interested, especially Chrome colors I don't yet have.

The second trade comes from Brian over at Play at the Plate. He wanted an American Pie relic for his wife. Seems that the American Pie set is a favorite of the wives eh? In return he sent these:

Kimballs!! I did only need one but it's one closer to finishing.

Some sweet parallels from the Pie. The Hendrix is especially awesome, due to the refractor quality mixing well with the colorful 60's era. Gary Cooper is numbered to 76 but I have no idea who he is, save for the reference in that 'Puttin on the Ritz' song from the 80's.

A Vincent Pastore relic. I have never watched The Sopranos, even though I know I should. Someday I will then I'll be able to fully appreciate this card.

The best part! I got his now (in)famous UPC card from American Pie. Card of the year!

Like Sam's cards, I haven't been to the post office yet but I will be soon and you'll have your cards shortly! Thanks for the trade!

The final piece of mail contained this:

The Roberto Alomar short print variation from Update. Why is it significant? Well, it just so happens to complete my Legends Variation set from Update, meaning I now have all 74 from 2011. It joins 2010 as being fully complete and I may now start on 2009 fully. Well, until two weeks from now when 2012 comes out...

Speaking of 2011 variations, should I scan them and show them like I did 2010? I seemed to have a positive response to the 2010s but that could be that no one really saw those. 2011s seemed pretty familiar to all of us, seeing as how they were everywhere in Update and we all bought a ton of 2011 flagship. Let me know if you want to see them and I'll post them in the future.

waiting it out (or when redemptions don't work)

2012-01-19T12:54:00.000-08:00

The dreaded redemption card. The bane of many collector in search of some sweet hits from their hard spent cash on wax. I understand why they happen. Athletes have busy schedules, especially during the active season so it's not always the easiest thing to do by getting them to sign 1500 stickers. But eventually they find the time to sign and collectors get their cards a few weeks after release.

Only sometimes they don't.

This is my first experience with not getting a redemption when they suggest that it will be mailed. If you see the above picture, it shows every redemption I'm waiting on. Eight total. Four from Topps, four from Panini. I have gotten some from Topps before and were filled in a decent amount of time. These are the first from Panini, so we'll see how they do. Let's take a look at the middle one again:

From Allen & Ginter. That means I've been sitting on this since early July. As you can surely read, it is an autograph of Ron Turcotte. I had no idea who he was until I Wikipedia'd him. Turns out he is one of the most famous horse racing jockeys and rode the horse Secretariat to the Triple Crown in 1973. A unique autograph indeed. I was notified in November (11/16) that this card was past it's projected date of shipping. I've emailed Topps and asked them what the status was in late December (12/26) and got the usual automated response the next day:

"Thank you for contacting Topps Customer Service. Your question has been received and you should expect a response from us within 2 business days. For more information regarding our products, please review our FAQs at www.topps.com/contactus/faq.aspx. For assistance with finding our products or a hobby store near you, try our new Store Locator at www.topps.com/StoreLocator/stores.aspx. We thank you for your patronage, and hope you continue to enjoy Topps products! Sincerely, Customer Service Team"

I didn't get a response until today. Now they want me to either wait it out or switch my card for something else of equal Beckett value (about $25).

It's just how it worked out. Unfortunately Ron was in a racing related accident in 1976 that left him a paraplegic, so fault is definitely not placed on him. Oh and he lives in Canada. I suppose fault would lie with Topps for attempting to add him to the set, even if he would make for a cool card. It just seems like Ron has bigger and way more important things to do than sign some mini baseball cards and Topps should have probably figured this beforehand.

I would really like for this to be filled, in fact I was kind of counting on it. My wife's uncle is a huge horse racing fan and I know he would absolutely love this card. I hoped that the card would be here before Christmas but I suppose I'll have to wait a little longer.

I don't know maybe Topps and Panini need to get on the ball with the autos and not make promises on things that seem too difficult to accomplish. Or maybe I'm just being cynical. It happens.

tradin'

2012-01-18T13:39:00.000-08:00

Another day, another trade. This time the cards come from Jeff over at My Sports Obsession. I sent Jeff some 1973 Topps towards his set that he has recently started, along with some Michigan alums, some Colts and some White Sox. Here is the best of what he sent along:

The Romero relic is actually the second I've gotten in about two weeks. No complaints here though. The Diamond King relic is cool as well. I have only one of these dual relics from this set, that being of Vernon Wells. The Mize and Griffey are for the Player Collections and the Romero rookie is for the rookie binder (I already had it in the Jays box). The Griffey is a great addition due to me not buying any Topps Unique ever. I have only a couple of Jays from the set and a Vernon Wells patch and thats it. I've seen so little of this set, so when I get one it excites me just a little. He also sent some random Jays, and a few other players for the PC, especially Frank Thomas which makes sense, seeing as how Jeff is a Sox fan. Thanks Jeff, you cards should be there any day now!

some stuff

2012-01-16T13:41:00.000-08:00

A few things I've been meaning to talk about on the ol' blog here, so let's get to it.

==========
Ok, so my previous post was just a good excuse to show my new Old Judge card but it actually turned into good debate about what makes a card vintage. I'm glad it did too because its a pretty debatable topic due to it not being clearly defined but then again nor should it. A ten year old may consider 1994 vintage but anyone born in the early 80's (or earlier for that matter) would understand but also look at them like they're crazy. Either way, it's up to the collector to define what they consider a vintage card or set. A good topic for debate indeed.

==========
I recently completed a trade from Tony over at The (Common) Card Man, aka the Milwaukee Southpaw. Tony helped out with the final card I needed for Update, some Stickers and some Kimball Champions, totally helping me along with finishing up those two sets. Thanks Tony!

==========

Two new blogs on the 'sphere here that deserve some attention.

First is Dime Boxes -- The Low-End Baseball Card Collector's Journey. He focuses on, you guessed it, dime box cards but looking at them in a new light that most collectors wouldn't; the stories behind them. Most sellers or collectors see a 5000 count box full of commons, he sees countless stories of baseball history and has a vast knowledge of said history as well. He and I have many of the same collecting interests, which is what drew me to his blog in the first place but his writing is a million times better than anything you'll read on this blog here. Check him out, you won't be disappointed.

Secondly, a blog I just stumbled upon the other day, Condition Sensitive. The focus here being the legendary 1971 Topps set and the Colorado Rockies. He talks about the various errors and variations that are abound in the 71 set and makes up his own custom cards too but with a twist. He'll take designs of other cards or sports and makes them into baseball cards. Great idea and I can't wait to see more of them (especially the baseball guys on the football designs)!

==========
I went a little nuts last week and went on a bender to finish my 2011 Update legends variations set. I kind of neglected it and figured I should finish it up before 2012 hits. I got them wicked cheap too, many for $3.99 and free shipping to boot. The most I paid I think was $7.99 for the Babe Ruth. I'll take it. Guess it was a good thing I waited.

On the flip side though I have COMPLETELY ignored 2009. I really want to finish up that year but some of the cards from series 1 and 2 are becoming scarce. The Update cards are easy enough but searches on eBay for some S1&2 proved to be vapor. Nada for many of them. I did find a Babe Ruth card 1 variation, but was selling for $35. Way more than what I would like to pay. I'll find 'em someday.

==========
That about does it. It's just a few things I had bouncing around my head and needed to get down here. One last note, if anyone has any Kimball Champions I need PLEASE let me know! I'll trade big for them! I want the set done as soon as possible!

what makes a card old? you be the judge.

2012-01-14T15:17:00.000-08:00

What makes something old? Is it something beyond our years, or merely our perception on when something was created?

Take baseball cards. What do we consider vintage? Is it sets that were released before we were born, or is there a cut off point that we all pretty much agree on?

Personally I think vintage, I think of anything before 1980. No particular reason but it seems like a good point to draw the line.

Back when I was younger, my collection had a lot of this:

We all know them well. Of course I was collecting in the overproduction era, as any child of the 80's was. I had 87s for days and I think even more 88s. My collecting really hit my stride in 1991, when I started to purchase packs myself on a more frequent basis.

Back in 1988 though, it was a different story. 1987 was the oldest I had seen, rarely ever did I see these:

To me these were old, even if they were only two years older, my six year old mind thought they were. Look at them! They just look old! Or what ever I would have said at that age. I had maybe two packs worth of 1986 Topps back then.

And even rarer were these:

Somehow a couple of these found their way into my budding collection and I treasured them. I have no idea which cards they were. It didn't matter, I had 85s. Did they even make cards older than that? Are these baseball cards a new thing? Of course not but try telling that to a six year old, who had never seen a card older than three years ago.

Then in around 1993, I went into collecting football. I had a much more vast knowledge that yes, they did make old cards. Much older. I went to an antique show with my mother one weekend and one dealer had some old cards for sale. I'm foggy on what he had for sale but I did pick up this:

This is a 1966 Philadelphia Viking team card. Now we're talking. I think it was just a buck too. The oldest card I think I had ever held at that point would be a big deal for me until I stopped collecting sports cards altogether. This isn't my card, I've no idea where it ended up but I assume it would have been tossed, much like the rest of my cards. I was careless and didn't keep track of them or even keep them in a box. Just thrown about the closet and one day that closet got cleaned out. Yep, everything.

When I got back into collecting in early 2010, I was new to the game once again but only because I had missed so much. Jerseys, autographs, serial numbered parallels? What is the meaning of this? Wow, I guess I missed a lot but I adapted and I obviously never forgot about the vintage. It was shortly after that when I started to pick up some older stuff. Namely for my Topps history binder, in which I dedicated a page to each year of Topps from 1952 to now. I did aim my sights higher though and acquired my first:

Finally! A true vintage card and about 100 years old to boot. It was fascinating and I picked up more. I still am too, in fact you may remember it as one of my goals to complete that T206 page.

What I didn't tell you though is that I did have another goal in mind but I wasn't sure if it would have ever happened.

Well, it did. I aimed and took the shot:

My newest vintage addition and certainly the centerpiece of my collection. I had been looking for an Old Judge ever since I knew about them. I've never come across one being all that affordable and I've even tried bidding on a few here and there. I lost, obviously, otherwise you'd have seen it by now. I really can't get much older than this even if I tried. I wanted an original Ginter but there are very few baseball players in the set and they are all $1000+ cards. I remember bidding on one thinking it might end around $200. Nope, ended at $900. John M. Ward was the card. Surely, this will be the oldest item of anything I'll ever own. Oh and if you'll notice, he is a pitcher holding a bat. Dual purpose card!

So again, what makes a card old? Obviously something from 1887 is damn near ancient but what I consider old is actually pre-1976 cards. Anything after that is usually cheap and easily attainable. Of course perspective is changed dependent on the age of the collector, as anyone collecting 1975 Topps when it was new probably might not consider it old. For now though, we'll leave the cut off at that 1979 mark.

trade winds blowin' again

2012-01-12T12:26:00.000-08:00

Jeff from over at Cardboard Catastrophes and I initiated a trade a little while back, revolving around the 1973 Topps set. He is chasing the set as well and I let on that I had a bunch of duplicates. He was interested but didn't have any 1973's to send back. It was perfectly alright though as he offered up some other goodies that were of interest. Take a look:

The Clemente is a '73 and he somehow ended up with two. This one is in way better shape than the one I already have, even with the pen marks on the back. A nice smattering of Kimballs towards my set (down to 19 needed!) and a few Update cards too (down to one!). I have some more Update on the way from another trade so that will be finished soon! The Burnett and Romero relics are good too, as I have neither. In fact the Romero is my first 'keeper' relic from Lineage that I got. I do have the Burnett but it's a bat relic, so I consider this a different card. The Gibson Diamond is cool too, as are any. I decided to scan in the Gallery Jays as opposed to the few other he sent due to the fact that I don't see them that often. I have very little Gallery from ANY year, so when I get it, I'm always appreciative. Seems like a nice couple of sets but I wasn't collecting back then so I had no idea about them until recently. There was also a Tom Seaver short print variation from Update along with a few other Legend Variation parallels in there too. It was all great Jeff, thanks a ton! You'll have the rest of your Update set and a nice healthy stack of 73's plus some other stuff on the way to you soon!

trade winds blow for the first time in 2012

2012-01-11T15:29:00.000-08:00

Three times in fact. I received three trade packages in the mail today, all great. I do plan on doing more trade posts like these this year. It's something I've neglected to do al lot last year due to my impatience of having cards sit around. I want them filed away where they go as soon as I get them. Not this year though, I won't be so lazy not to scan and write about them when I get them.

First is a trade from Napkin Doon. Recently he took delivery of all his eTopps cards. Apparently they aren't going to be producing new cards anymore. I'm a little confused as to why I can't take delivery of the three cards I have in my portfolio. I bought them and want them but I can't have them. Frustrating.

Anyway, back to the trade:

He posted up his first haul and I asked him if he would part with the shiny Mathewson you see here. Well, he did and here it is next to my original T206 version of the card, which is why I wanted it. I thought it would make a good complimentary piece to the original. I think it does, being the same picture (he had three different cards in that 1909 set). Napkin, your cards are sitting here all pulled and will be on their way soon!

Next up is a trade from reader Brad. He let me know that he busted a case of this years Chrome and that he had cards to finish my set. He certainly did. Chrome is finished thanks to Brad! He also sent a Kyle Drabek base auto from the set and a few other assorted Jays. I'm hugely thankful that the set is now finished. Brad's brother is Dan from The Other World and doesn't have a blog of his own (yet...) but hopes to soon. A box of Phillies and other assorted goodies will be on their way soon.

Lastly but certainly not least is a monster of a trade from Scott over at Scott Crawford on Cards. Scott and I have exchanged cards on a few occasions and is always a good trade. This one though, took the cake. He sent over a big old box of cards, loaded with cards from pretty much every one of my player collections, along with other collections as well. Here are my favorites:

Love love love the Pilots team card. It's a high number, which explains why I've never seen it. He also included the entire Prime 9 set minus the Jeter, with Hank being my favorite there. The beat Mays is sweet too. Definitely some character to Willie's final card. The Giants Mize card is fuzzy (what a weird set) and the Clemente is really cool too. I hope to one day own the original. The Tulo and Hamilton rookies are just icing on the already sweet cake. There's a ton more in the box too, with a few cards towards the Update set as well.

A big thanks to all three of you for the great cards, they'll go nicely in my collection. 2011 Chrome is the second set I finished this week, let alone this year. Hopefully Update will be finished soon too.

On a final note, this is post number 400 for me on the old blog here. Hard to believe I've had that much to say and you guys to read it (even if a bunch of posts are dedicated to draft breaks). A huge thanks for reading, commenting, trading and all the other facets of collecting to you guys for allowing it to happen! Here's to 400 more!

(hopefully)

retail fun

2012-01-10T12:36:00.000-08:00

I had to run to Target today after work for some kitty food. Of course, no Target trip is complete without a trip to the card isle. I picked up one of the 100 card repacks for five bucks. We've all seen them. Some of us have even dared to buy them. I think they're fun, you never know what you'll get inside.

Let's see how I did.

Pete Rose with that helmet and helmet-hair. This is from the 1987 All-Star set.

Tom Tresh Pacific Baseball Legends. I have this set so he isn't much use to me but at least its not 1989 Topps. There were a couple of those.

This nice diamond cut 1987 Donruss Fred Lynn. Yep. We're in repack country.

This set was a super premium set back in 1993. We know that Derek Jeter's most valuable rookie comes from this set (books at about $150) but rarely do you see these in a repack. Sure they're worthless now but in 1993 they were huge.

They were also nice enough to give me three, count 'em THREE Randy Myers rookies from Fleer Update. Should I get them graded?

This was the best. I am all for getting 1990 Leaf. It's a set I never bought as a young'n but really appreciate now. I like it's design and it was a premium set for the day. I surely don't need five of these bad boys though.

It wasn't a total bust though. I did end up with some cards for the PC, like two Blue Jays, a batting pitcher, a guy from Connecticut and a Rookie Cup of Larry Walker from 1991 Topps (I think I have it though). There were also five vintage cards! Well, three depending on if you count 1981 Topps vintage. If not, then three;

1976-221 Jim Todd
1977-559 Alan Bannister
1979-654 Rick Miller

See? Never know what you'll get. Sure I had to wade through 1987, 88 and 89 Topps and 1991 Upper Deck, 1989 Donruss but with stuff like this who's complaining?

guys from connecticut, pt 2

2012-01-09T13:24:00.000-08:00

Lets have another look at the local guys.

Today I'm going to feature players that are from the very town I am living in, Southington:

Here is where we are in the darker red part. The lighter red is all of Hartford County and its many towns included within it.

Carl Pavano. Carl started his career with the Expos but was drafted to the Red Sox. From there he went down to Florida to join the Marlins, then to New York for a few (very short) seasons. He played 21 games with the Indians in 09 (which I had no idea until I'm looking at the back of his 2011 card. He is now with the Twins and had a pretty good past few seasons. I had a teacher in high school who mentioned a few times throughout the year that she had Carl in a class of hers.

Oh sure, this card may say New Britain but this is what matters:

See? Home is Southington. Chances are he lived here his whole life. Here is the thing, I was born in New Britain too. If you are from Southington and you have a baby, the closest big hospital for births is New Britain. We do have a hospital here but New Britain General Hospital is the place to have the kids! He is probably right up the street from me as we speak! Well, probably not...

Ah Rob Dibble. Who can forget his fiery fastball and temper. I remember on our main street (Queen Street) there used to be signs on telephone polls stating that Southington was 'The home of Rob Dibble!'. Pretty funny actually.

Originally from Bridgeport, I'm not sure on when he moved here and I'm sure he is gone now but he was here for a little while.

Chris Denorfia. Chris bounced around teams for a little bit. Drafted to the Reds originally, played with them in '05 and '06, then went to the Athletics in 2008. He now plays for the Padres, as you can see on his 2011 card.

Originally from Bristol, the home of ESPN and the next town over. I'm not sure when he came to town but I did graduate with his younger brother. Chris was born in 1980, I was 1982, so I imagine his brother was '82 as well. There was actually just a big article in one of our town papers about him. Talking about his career and journey and such. It was pretty good and I regret not keeping it.

Also in the Connecticut collection I have these:

This is probably the best Skybox baseball card ever. Beehive field is literally 8 minutes away and where the Rock Cats currently play. They built a new stadium for them but its in the same area. Plus I think this field pictured is still there.

I have zero idea where this comes from but its pretty cool. Not much else to say about it other than being a big logo.

Originally I was going to do one player per post but I think I like the town theme better so I'll be sticking with that. Stay tuned for more!

first one down

2012-01-07T17:09:00.000-08:00

The first set completion of 2012 has happened. Today I picked up the last two pieces to the 2011 Bowman Platinum set I've been haphazardly working on. The final card?

Yep. A card I already owned. The other was Troy Tulowizki but since he is card 91 and Drabek is 95, Drabek is last. Both cards I actually owned but were in my personal collections.

Usually when working on a set I have a motto I go by, "the set comes first". What that means is even though there are cards I add to my PCs, they go towards the set first then pick up a second copy for said PC. This time though the set was an afterthought and I guess I really wasn't all that intent on finishing it. After grabbing a box and some packs and hitting that Harper auto, that pretty much paid for what I spent on the initial purchases. Even if the Harper did sell for less than it should have (as determined by the market). Oh well. The set is done and in the box put away. I have some trades coming in and hopefully that'll put an end to some of the sets on my want list.

Speaking of want lists, I do intend to have a 1973 Topps list up at some point soon. I do want to thank those that did trade me some of the Platinums towards the set, I'm glad it's finished!

1973 progress

2012-01-06T15:00:00.000-08:00

Is anyone collecting this set? Seems like a few of us are. I haven't spoken of it in a little bit so I figured I would update my progress.

According to my calculations, I should be at 488/684. I get the number 684 due to the blue bordered checklists for each team (24 of them). I picked up a few lots on eBay and have been keeping track of everything. Cost per lot, per card, how many cards I received and how many I needed. The cost per card is tallied by what I need.

For example;

I picked up a lot of 190 cards. Needed 118. I paid $29.95 (including shipping), so my cost per card needed was about 25 cents. Not bad. I've been hovering in the 18 to 30 cent range per card needed for most of the lots. I'm getting higher numbers in these too (anything after 528 is the final, fifth series). Not a whole lot of high numbers mind you but a good number.

I want to see what it costs to put it together. I've never done this with a set before but I am also taking a different approach with this set. As opposed to buying it outright I plan to hit shows, buy lots and do some trading.

Speaking of trading, like I mentioned above, is anyone chasing this set? I have a 400 count box full of doubles now and they are all available. Hopefully we can work something out. Or if anyone has any of those blue checklists and aren't chasing them, please let me know, I need 12 more.

top five from the pie

2012-01-05T13:32:00.000-08:00

Another late to the party post. Sigh, I guess thats what I get for being lazy.

Anyway, Topps American Pie was released a few weeks ago and I think its a fun little document of American history and pop culture in the past 70 years. Today I will highlight my five favorites in the set, all involving music. In no order except chronological, here we are:

Miles Davis is a fantastic artist. Admittedly, I haven't heard much from him but what I have I really liked. Kind of Blue is a masterpiece in the Jazz medium. A guy I definitely need to hear more of.

The Beatles. What hasn't already been said about them? One of my favorite bands of all time, The Beatles playing Shea Stadium was a monumental event in popular music. Ed Sullivan may have broke them into American homes but this show catapulted them into the stratosphere in popularity. Shortly after this show, they stopped playing live altogether, due to their dislike of not being able to be heard over screaming teenage girls. A point they hated about playing Shea. I think it worked out for the better because after they stopped touring they were able to focus on the music and came out with defining moments in rock and roll with albums such as Rubber Soul, Revolver and the epic Sgt. Peppers.

Hendrix was a master in his art. Tragically lasting only a scant five years in the spotlight, the impact he made remains one of the biggest in music. From his startling American debut at the Monterey Pop Festival (where he smashed his guitar then proceeded to light it on fire, much to the horror of the audience) to his electric performance at Woodstock and the albums in between plus his guitar mastery and studio experimentation. A legend in music, certainly.

This was the card that made me want this set in the first place. I saw the Ramones card and got totally excited and needed to obtain it. The Ramones are another favorite of mine, especially the first four albums (Ramones, Leave Home, Rocket to Russia and Road to Ruin). Sure the songs were simple but they harken back to a fun era in the 50's and 60's pop music, just faster. More legends in their own right.

Nirvana is and always has been one of my favorite bands ever. I don't like how this card focuses on his suicide and would rather them focus on the band instead. Either way, I'm glad this card made it in the set. I still remember hearing about it and being pretty upset. I was 12 after all and this band was huge to me at the time. A definite tragedy for such a young talent (him, not me).

That wraps up the American Pie. I'm almost done with the set and can't wait to finish it off and start reading those cards!

baseball cards around the world- part 1 (of 4)

2012-01-04T12:25:00.000-08:00

I spent a lot of time at the card shop last week. The owner went on vacation and had three of his friends/customers watch the store for him. I was one of them and worked about 22 hours over there during the week. It helped that my real job had Monday off, so I was at the shop all day. I went through boxes upon boxes of cards. Namely to see if there was anything good for him to sell, pull any Yankees/Red Sox and rookies. While doing that I'm able to see if there is anything I'm interested in and put it aside. I came across a binder that had a big mish-mash of cards from the early to mid 90's but three cards I put aside (I'll show them in a different post) inspired me to grab a few things off eBay.

I'll call this limited feature 'Baseball Cards Around the World'. Although I am only tackling two countries, I feel they deserve their own posts. Today I'll feature a pack from Australia:

Australian Baseball League Collector Cards from 1993-1994. Apparently this set is put out by a company called Futera. At 131 total cards, this is a small set. The pack tells me to look for Gold Prospect subset collection cards and redemption cards good for a rare picture card of David Nilsson or Mark Ettles. I am sure excited.

A little background, as stolen from Wikipedia; Apparently the Australian Baseball League lasted from 1989 to 1999 and had anywhere from 6 to 9 teams playing in a season. Weird. Seasons were 42 to 62 games depending on how many teams were playing that year. Players also used aluminum bats and they use the designated hitter rule down there. Neat.

Lets see some cards.

Here are the base cards. They look pretty 90's to me. Name going vertical? Check. They are a nice quality though. Not flimsy, nice gloss on the front. Some nice cards here. Check out the backs:

Seems pretty basic, kind of reminds me of a Fleer product. One line of career stats and a little blurb about the guy. Not bad but not great.

This is an awards subset for best of the year guys. Here we have manager and reliever of the year.

Yes, this single pack of nine cards netted me two checklists, crazy. They do break it up by team though, as Fleer did in their sets.

Here is one of the all star cards. With both gold AND silver foil on the front (impressive!) and a full bleed picture, this is easily the best card in the pack. Although, if you notice the background of Mr. Jelks card here, you'll see NO ONE in the stands. Maybe thats why they only lasted ten seasons...

The final three parts will come from the same country but as I said I feel they deserve their own posts. This won't be an every Wednesday sort of thing, so watch for parts 2 through 4 in the future.

it must be said

2012-01-03T15:24:00.000-08:00

Topps sucks.

When it comes to baseball, Topps has it...sometimes. Unfortunately they are hit or miss with some of their products but as our only choice in the matter, we're forced to accept it.

Football is a different story. Topps' football products are...not so great. Personally, I feel Panini is MILES beyond what Topps is doing in terms of getting the bang for your buck. Let me explain.

Normally I'm all about baseball but as I stated a few days ago, football has caught my attention. The main reason for this being that the local shop hosts a Super Bowl trade party, where collectors in the area flock to watch the big game, eat some pizza and talk and (once the hands are washed) trade some cards. I went last year and it was a good time. I made some decent deals but nothing to write home about. This year though, I'm going in with a different approach; football. Football cards are huge in that store and while baseball deals were done, it seemed like most were after some good football hits. Here is where Panini rules the football roost. Follow me as I go through a few recent releases from them and why they're good.

First up is their low-end set, 2011 Score. Yes they have the Score name and they sure look like they'd be made by said company. I think its great, a buck a pack (7 cards) or five bucks for a rack pack of 40. They have a good look to them, nice, clean and simple design. Backs are decent too with up to 5 years of stats. Its a good value and they don't focus on hits at all, in fact I'm not even positive there are any in this set save for the factory sets. I could be wrong though. No need for foil, or any trickery or gimmicks, just a 400 card set and some insert sets. This is what low-end should be.

2011 Rookies and Stars: Longevity. This set is beyond a great value. At ten packs a box and 5 cards a pack, its a quick bust but in those ten packs are at least three hits, although every box that has been opened up at the store has had four. Price? $59. Never EVER would Topps give away four hits for under 60 bucks. Never. The cards are so shiny, to the point where I almost hate touching them. This is certainly a mid-level set, to which Topps never has any of, be it baseball or football. Topps is only $75 and higher on boxes and usually for ONE hit. See some of the hits below:

Nice stuff. The rookie manu-patch autos are really nice and the jumbo jersey is cool too. The best part of Panini's hits? They're all numbered! Well, OK maybe not ALL of them but for the most part, most every hit I've gotten/seen has been numbered. I tell you, its way more exciting to pull a numbered jersey card as opposed to a card that isn't.

Now here is the big one. 2011 Certified is one of the best selling products year in and year out at the store. He goes through cases of the stuff, its unbelievable. This is usually the most anticipated football release of the year for many collectors. This is another four hit per box product. Some hits below:

Some good stuff here too. although this was my best:

Two prime jerseys, even though you can't tell on the bottom guy but check out the back:

Hey, there are autos back here! and its 5/5! Ok, so autos on the back is a little weird but I kind of like it. Its less clutter on the front.

My one qualm with Panini is that some of the sets start to look alike and its tough to tell what is from where. Thankfully they all have some sort of logo determining what set they are from. They love foil board too. Sooooo many shiny cards from Panini, you usually need sunglasses. I don't know if football collectors even put sets together, they seem to go for jerseys/autos and rookies mainly but there are some nice looking sets to be had.

I'll stick with Topps for baseball (namely because I have to) but for football its Panini all the way. Kind of really makes me want them to be able to do baseball, give Topps some real competition.

guys from connecticut, pt 1

2012-01-02T09:19:00.000-08:00

Let's face it, Connecticut isn't know for its baseball. It's miles behind New York or California or any other bigger state for that matter. We have no professional Major League team (in any sport for that matter) after the Hartford Whalers left.

What it does have though is a small group of professional Major Leaguers that either spent time living here or were from one of our little New England towns (or cities I suppose) and this series of posts will highlight them. I'll also give a little insight on them if I have any and show in relation to where they are (or were) to where I am. It's a small state and I live practically in the middle. I can reach any of the four borders in about 45 minutes, tops, so no one is really all that far.

First for this initial post though, I'd like to go through a few of the teams that we do have in our humble little state. Four teams, at least in the past 15 years, have made Connecticut their home turf. Let's check them out.

First up we have probably the most recognizable of the bunch, the Minnesota Twins Double A affiliate, New Britain Rock Cats. As I have mentioned before, this stadium is 8 minutes from my house and we've attended a bunch of games in the past two seasons. Its a great time every time. That stadium gets pretty packed on a charity night, for an important game or when a Yankee is sent down to their Double A, the Trenton Thunder and they happen to be playing in New Britain. I'm not kidding. Phil Hughes got sent to Trenton and they played a game against the Cats at home and they filled that stadium up. Sure it can only hold about 8000 fans but they did it.

Next up we have the Connecticut Tigers, the Single A affiliate for the Detroit Tigers. I have not made it to a Tigers game yet but I plan to this season. A while back I talked of a missed opportunity to meet Al Kaline at a game and was pretty bummed that I did. They play in Dodd Stadium in Norwich, which is about a good half hour from me. More with traffic. Once I do make it to a game I'll be sure to post up some pictures.

How about these guys? Part of the Atlantic League, they are not affiliated with an MLB team. I haven't been to a game here either and they're another good 30 minute drive but in the opposite direction as the Tigers. I also just read that their manager is Willie Upshaw, of Toronto Blue Jays fame (1978-87). Cool! I am also going to try and get to one of these games this season too.

Now here is one I forgot all about until I ran into a Minor league card at the local shop while rummaging through a box. The New Haven Ravens were the Double A Affiliate of the Colorado Rockies in 1994. Then in 2003 they moved the franchise up to New Hampshire, to become the... you guessed it... New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the Double A Affiliate of the Blue Jays. Thats some neat history right there. I remember hearing advertisements for Ravens games on the radio back in the 90's.

Sure there have also been some others before these teams, like the New Britain Red Sox, the Connecticut Defenders, who were the Norwich Navigators, who are now the Richmond Flying Squirrels (in Virginia). They both used to play where the Tigers play now. Around 1902 we even had our own league, the Connecticut State League, which folded in 1914. We also had one of the original teams to start up the National League in 1876, the Hartford Dark Blues, a team which lasted only two seasons but will forever be cemented in history as a charter member of the National League.

So that about wraps up our little history lesson. I plan on focusing on a single player in these posts from here on out, so be on the look out for part two very soon. I just wanted to do a little baseball background from the state for the initial posting.

what's ahead

2012-01-01T13:51:00.000-08:00

A Happy New Year to everyone and I hope that your holiday was fun, eventful and safe. I've been reading on many blogs about collecting goals for 2012. As collectors, I feel that we all should have goals on what we would like to accomplish, limit or buy within this coming year of collecting. I know the winter has us all in a card calm but once April hits, it's hard to say no to new stuff. Goals are important though because while I am unaware of any millionaires in the blog-o-sphere, I'm going to reckon that none of us are. We're just regular Joes (and Janes) looking to get some nice cards in our grubby mitts and add them to our ever growing collections. We can't buy everything, plus who would want to? I haven't run into any collector that likes every release from Topps. We all have our favorites and we all have those sets we just can't get into. Goals are good. They keep you focused. Eyes on the prize. Plus it does away with unneeded spending and piles and piles of cards that won't do anything, as opposed to getting those last 25 cards to finish off a set, or the greatness of adding a really awesome vintage card to our collection. I like reading these goals from everyone and I hope that you are able to stick with them (myself included).As for my little blog here, I have a few new features in store for this year. In 2010 I used to do more 'feature' posts, where I'd show a random card or a couple random vintage cards from my collection, or something in that vein. I plan on debuting one of these features tomorrow, that I will carry into the new year. A few more should follow soon thereafter. I mean why have the bloggy deal here if we aren't showing our collections and why we have them? Most blogs do this already, I'm just a slacker.

what can a buck fifty-nine get you?

2011-12-28T12:11:00.000-08:00

I've been dabbling in football cards as of late. With nothing left to grab in the baseball season, football has caught my attention slightly. All these new products on the local shops shelf, with stories of big pulls of guys I've heard of only in passing. I am a casual football fan, to say the least. I used to follow it a lot more in my youth. I collected baseball cards, then "graduated" to football card collecting in the mid-90's. That was around the time the sport itself grew in popularity. The baseball strike lured people to a more (seemingly) stable sport in football and it's popularity exploded. So did its trading card market. I think there may have been as many football sets released as there were baseball. Which is absolutely bananas because when looking back at the mid to late 90's card sets there were a literal ton of sets released yearly. Thats not even including basketball, hockey and non-sports releases.

Anyway. So football has my attention and I picked up some packs at the local shop. Not much, just a sampler of whats out there. Lots of Panini (more on that in a second). I worked the shop on Monday, all day, as the owner is on vacation and he has three of us watching over the store for him. I have Monday and Saturday. Monday I knew would be dead (it was) because he isn't normally open Mondays but it was the day after Christmas so there was a possibility of people. Well, like the many many baseball card boxes I went through weeks ago, I did the football this time. I missed a lot. It was almost like when I started baseball again in early 2010, I saw so much I hadn't seen before.

I ran into a set that seemed familiar but in a different way.

We know the 2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes right? Well, they did it for football too:

Same concept. A good set too, I'm a fan of the baseball version so this seemed appropriate. While rummaging through those boxes I came across a few of these, this card in particular caught my attention:

One of the greatest (if not THE greatest) heavy metal guitarists ever, Tony Iommi. Founding and only constant member of Black Sabbath, one of my favorite classic rock/hard rock/metal bands.

I was in Target today and I strolled over to the card aisle and found a lone pack these in their $1.59 a pack bin so I grabbed it. The scanned pack above is the pack and Tony came out of it. I was pretty psyched because it was a card I really wanted but then after Tony, was this:

Another Tony! I thought the pack felt thick but I knew that the base cards were a little thicker than basic Topps so I chalked it up to that. Nope. A relic and no slouch either. I'm no Dallas fan but I know Romo and how good he is.

A great find for a buck fifty-nine. A sweet relic and a card for the PC. Awesome.

merry christmas!

2011-12-25T03:00:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday!

blog bat around

2011-12-23T09:00:00.000-08:00

I may be late but I suppose I'll give it a go for the blog bat around.

There wasn't too much I was disappointed in set-wise this year. Everything had its ups and downs, which is par the course for Topps every year. I'll start with what forced a change in my collecting and buying habits.

Bowman:

I bought way too much Bowman this year. Getting caught up in the Bryce Harper lottery really took a toll on my sensibility. I shouldn't have but I did. I bought too much, put together a set and sold it for way too cheap. Never again. Bowman will be sampled from here on out and won't be bought in mass quantity again.

Heritage:

Another set I bought way too much of. I attempted the set but the short prints really got to me. 75 of them is a tough assembly. I think from now on 50 short prints is my cut-off (stuff like Ginter, Gypsy Queen, etc.). Heritage is a solid release every year and I won't say that it isn't, it's just too much for me to want to collect and have to chase down. Another set that I'll be buying limited amounts of.

Now that thats out of the way, lets get on with what I really liked from 2011.

Flagship:

Topps had a very solid design this year and I really liked the look even more than 2010 (which I'm a big fan of). Most of the card being used for the picture, nothing being obstructed by logos (2010) or a huge top and bottom name plate (2007 and 2008). The parallels were fun and at least a little different than last year. The inserts were where Topps kind of faltered this year but there were at least a few that were good.

Diamond Stars:

Case in point. I loved the Diamond Stars insert set. It has 90's written all over it. In an age where inserts are one a pack, as opposed to one a box in the 90's, this looks like something I would have been pulling out of a pack of 94 Fleer. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know but I think its 90's all the way in terms of design.

Kimball Champions:

Now here we go. Before series 1 hit, I had actually never heard of the Kimball Champions set from 1887. I would love to get an original but haven't found one cheap enough yet. The set from this year spanned all three flagship issues, meaning I had something to collect all year round. I love the look of the set although I don't think they should have doubled up on some players. I'm still collecting the Update set so if you have any let me know!

Allen & Ginter:

I said before Ginter came out that I wouldn't be picking up too much of it but once it dropped I quickly got sucked into Ginter madness. I seem to be in the minority that really likes the design of the base set. The inserts were interesting and the minis are always fun. I did manage to complete the full 350 card set and even went as far to grab that nice binder that Topps offered up through their website. It wasn't the cheapest but the coupon from the Diamond Giveaway helped with that. The set looks great in the binder too.

Stickers:

This was a nice surprise this year. It definitely brought me back to my kid collecting days, when I collected Panini baseball stickers and MASK stickers (remember MASK toys? Mobile Armored Strike Kommand? They were awesome) and putting them into their respective books. Another set I haven't finished but hope to before the 2012 comes out.

That about wraps it up. Again, a good year for Topps as a whole complete with its ups and downs. Mistakes were made this year by me (namely buying too much) but will surely be corrected this year. As for Topps' mistakes well, let's just hope they learned something too.

2011 collecting goals? did i hit them?

2011-12-22T14:18:00.000-08:00

I know the year isn't over yet but its close enough for me to analyze. Way back in January I posted up this. Its a short list of collecting goals that I had for 2011. This post will see how I did. Lets see, shall we?

Goal 1- Finish the T206 page. This didn't happen. In fact, I regressed and ended up with fewer than I started with earlier in the year. It wasn't a waste though. They got used in a group break and I was able to give a couple collectors their first taste of 100 year old cardboard. I did procure the Christy Mathewson though, which is gigantic and one of the cornerstones of my collection, so thats a plus.

Goal 2- 2011 Topps series 1, 2 and 3. This did happen. Almost twice in fact (just need to finish Update). I complete two sets of the flagship. One to put away and one to shuffle through. I usually sort it by team so I can familiarize myself with whos who. Although guys tend to get traded even before series 1 hits but its ok.

Goal 3- 2011 Heritage. Definitely did not happen for me. I did try to complete the set but the short prints got to be too much for me. They really dried up in the trading ring here and I didn't want to have to get them at shows for a couple bucks a card or fight with people on eBay for them. I won't be chasing Heritage ever again. I'll buy it but not build it. Oh, I never got that Hank Aaron auto either. Total sadface.

One out of three. Pretty crappy if you ask me. Although I should have made a few more then maybe I would have hit more targets but what am I going to do?

Oh, I know, how about make some goals for 2012?

2012 goals:

Goal 1- Spend less on cards. I don't know how much exactly I spent but I made a lot of dumb purchases this year card related. I intend to change that this year. I spent way too much on boxes and sets that amounted to nothing. Bowman, Heritage and even though I liked and completed it, Allen & Ginter. In 2010 I spent wayyyyy too much on finishing that Opening Day set and I totally bought one blaster of OD this year and haven't looked back since. See? I can learn from my mistakes.

Goal 2- Complete flagship. I shouldn't even count this as a goal because it seems to be automatic. I did get way too much series one, less series 2 and even less Update but thats how 2010 worked too.

Goal 3- Actually finish that T206 page. Yes. I WILL do it this time around. I am currently at 8 so I only have 7 left. My absolute favorite vintage set will finally get its proper due this coming year. You'll know when it happens.

Goal 4- Finish up the 1973 set and start a new vintage set. I know I just started the 73 but I am really excited about collecting and finishing it up. I put the cards I got from the local in order and got a couple lots from eBay on the way (as of this writing) and hopefully aren't too far away from finishing off this classic issue. As for starting a new set, I've no idea which it'll be but it'll be pre-1982.

Goal 5- Finish the sets on the want lists. Yep, Chrome and Kimballs need to be finished up soon. Hopefully with your help I can put these sets to rest sooner than later.

So those are the goals I have for 2012. Hopefully I can look back about a year from now and say that I hit at least 4 of the 5. I'd like it to be all 5 but you never know what happens.

i'm a criminal

2011-12-19T12:32:00.000-08:00

Or at least I feel like it sometimes when it comes to eBay and vintage cards.

The Cardboard Junkie posted a while back about obtaining Hank Aaron cards from his playing days. I had a few but the post definitely inspired me to grab some more. Here is what I came up with:

Ebay is a funny thing when it comes to cards. Some sell for high amounts and the next day the same card will sell for half that. A week later its back to the original price, then drops. So much fluctuation that its almost impossible to gauge a proper price on a card. Its those lows though, that you have to watch for. Case in point, the six fine Hank Aaron cards you see above. Yes, they are far from perfect but dammit, thats how I likes 'em.

Now, what did I pay for these fine pieces of cardboard? Check the price list below:

1974- $3.25
1961- $10.76
1964- $7.99
1967- $4.40
1969- $1.53!
1975- $1.99

I feel like I robbed these guys at these prices. Hank's LOWEST booking card was his final card in 1976 at $25. Obviously thats high book and mint but still. The 1969 gets the ! because it was graded a 2. I was sure to free him from his plastic prison. At a buck fifty-three I didn't care if it was practically torn in half. The lesson here? Go grab yourself some Hanks, every collector needs some vintage Hanks (he said Braves collector, I say every collector).

goin' for it

2011-12-18T13:48:00.000-08:00

I'm a set builder. A terrible one but a builder none the less. As it stands I have every Topps flagship issue from 1982 to 2011. Want to know how many of those I completed myself? Three. A paltry three sets I completed myself. Those being the years 1987 (due to childhood significance), 2010 and 2011 (out of convenience for being recent and buying a ton). Oh sure I've put together a few others, 2010 Chrome and Opening Day, 2011 Allen & Ginter and 2009 Topps T206 (which is my greatest victory yet, some of those short prints were tough finds) but those were merely because again, I overbought and decided to finish it up. Others I've failed at were 1954 Topps and 2011 Heritage. the 1954 just became too costly and I had to sell off most of the bigger cards (Aaron, Banks, Kaline) to get by when it got rough in the summer. The Heritage just became way too annoying with 75 short prints at the end. Like I mentioned way back while it was fresh, I really didn't want to pay $3 a card for a no name player just because he was a short print. That set got sold too, in its incomplete state. Let someone else worry about it. I won't be doing Heritage ever again.

Today though, my local shop had asked me to open up and keep watch until he got there (opened at noon, he was there by 1:30). I decided to rummage through and sort out his two vintage boxes. Being around 6000 total or so, I had my work cut out for me. Thankfully most of it was labeled and kinda sorted. Meaning I'd find chunks of 1977s then some 75s and so on. While going through all these I had a moment of clarity and thought about set collecting and how fun it is. It was then that I decided I was going to try for a new set to collect. Which one you ask? See below:

Thats right. Good old 1973 Topps. What a set. These are the top nine cards I got today along with a few other stars (Carew, Palmer, Carlton, Fingers, Garvey) and around just under 200 commons. I already had the Hank Aaron and in the above picture I got what is my first Clemente card in his playing days, his final card, sadly. Why the home run and strike out leaders? Because they "book" for $40 and $25 respectively. Crazy right? Well as far as the commons go, they are all in various conditions and I won't be too critical in that regard when collecting this set due to the age. 1973 has no significance for me as a year but as a set it has a bunch of it. Its the final year for individual series, it has great action photography even still and it has a ton of Hall of Famer and all time greats. A solid year for Topps. I did toy with the idea of collecting this set a while back but never acted on it. Now is the time while I've become a little jaded with recent releases. Plus I think it'll be a great venture into collecting a set thats awesome and not difficult to find but still does represent a small challenge to complete. If anyone has some extras, let me know and we'll work something out. I'm watching a few lots on eBay that end tonight so I hope to score some more of the commons that way.

I do plan on getting around to my take on the Blog Bat Around, so keep an eye out for that soon. Work isn't as bananas this week so I should have some time to post a little more regularly.

still here

2011-12-15T12:44:00.000-08:00

Over a week with no post. A new record. Maybe.

Not much different is going on here. Still working the grind, although this time its 3am to 3pm this week with just one more day left. Next week seems to be the same. It's really crunch time at work, although it always is around this time of year. Plenty of silly shirts to be had for Christmas this (and every) year. As of right now, I am typing this but as soon as its posted and done, I'll be packing up cards. I got a Rush album on (Hemispheres for those curious), cards sorted out and envelopes to fill. Yes, I've been slacking on getting the break cards out but its tough to get the will/want to drag myself to the post office after a 12 hour shift. I am tomorrow though, no ifs and or buts about it.

Seems that the new American Pie set is the buzz right now. With no real baseball set until February I suppose we have to quench that card appetite somehow. I picked up a few packs from the local shop. Got a Hendrix which is awesome. I also got the founding of Motown Records and the introduction of the Atari 2600 (I really like the music base cards). I also got a relic of Susan Lucci, you know, from All My Children? Yeah, exactly. Anywho, its a neat set and I'm pretty bummed I didn't get the UPC code card but I may dabble in a few more packs but won't go nuts on it. If I need a card fix I'll stick to picking up criminally low priced Hall of Fame vintage cards. Which you'll see quite soon.

it's not over yet...

2011-12-07T15:38:00.001-08:00

True, the break is over but there is still one thing left; the signed Hall of Famer baseball! I said in the initial post for the break that it would be randomed off to one of the participants of the break. It still will but I have a question. Should I random the names and post the winner here, or should I leave it a surprise and send it to the person picked and have them surprised when they get the package? Everyone who took part in the break, let me know if I should reveal the winner or not.

Other than finishing up the break, I do apologize for the lack of posts but this week is absolutely hectic. The wife is prepping for finals next week and things have picked up tremendously at work and I am working 2AM to 1PM shifts all week. Yes, there is apparently a 2 in the morning now. Reason being that we're still with one car. We would have had it back Saturday but ran into a snag at the DMV, so we have to try and get it back this week. So I needed to do more hours but had to drive her to work and pick her up when she is done, which wouldn't allow for more hours to be picked up. So my only option was to go in and leave with my co-worker and he does 2 to 1. Gotta do what I gotta do. So thats whats going on with the lack of posts (and more or less everything else around here, except sleep) but it should only be this and next week. I have been reading but haven't had the focus to do any posts. I do have some ideas so they will get posed eventually. So, uh, thats that.

threads break, final

2011-12-05T10:22:00.000-08:00

Yes, just like last round's Gonzalez, there are two Castros. No idea how I managed to obtain two of them but there they are.

1- the dimwit- 3x auto/relic
2- kevin- castro (star)
3- cheap card collecting- castro (avg)
4- wickedortega- gonzalez
5- daddyohoho- drabek
6- stealing home- wallace
7- arpsmith- scherzer

I have everyones info and their extra cards ready. I should have these out hopefully soon. Thanks to everyone who participated and I hope it was fun!

threads break part 7

2011-12-04T07:11:00.000-08:00

1- stealing home- bench
2- wickedortega- team leaders
3- arpsmith- speed power
4- daddyohoho- a's
5- kevin- gonzalez (gold)
6- the dimwit- gonzalez (green)
7- cheap card collecting- reyes

threads break part 6

2011-12-02T12:35:00.000-08:00

1- wickedortega- morrison
2- arpsmith- cueto
3- daddyohoho- byrd
4- kevin- sizemore
5- the dimwit- cashner
6- cheap card collecting- mccutchen
7- stealing home- pagan

threads break part 5

2011-12-01T12:23:00.001-08:00

Alright, here we go. The meat of the break. Here we have the beginning of the Triple Threads portion of the break. Single unity relics for this round. Oh and one more thing. We have eight rounds and seven participants. What I planned on doing was randomizing the final round due to everyone getting a chance to pick both first and last. As you've noticed what is happening with the order is that you are being moved down one slot in each round. Therefore, if you picked first the first round, you'll be picking seventh in the seventh round. Seems the most fair to me to randomize the last round, therefore it would be an equal chance for everyone to grab that top slot again, as opposed to a pre-determined order. Thanks for listening, now pick your card!

1- arpsmith- Posey
2- daddyohoho- rodriguez
3- kevin- ramirez
4- the dimwit- bell
5- cheap card collecting- roberts
6- stealing home- hunter
7- wickedortega- tabata

threads break part 4

2011-11-30T18:43:00.001-08:00

Round four. Final round then the Threads cards start! Two Chrome autos are both refractors.

1- daddyohoho- dejesus
2- kevin- teheran
3- the dimwit- wallace
4- cheap card collecting- walker
5- stealing home- walden
6- wickedortega- gee
7- arpsmith- crain

threads break part 3

2011-11-30T17:36:00.000-08:00

Keepin' it goin'. I have no idea how I ended up pulling two Sogards but I did.

1- kevin- bell
2- the dimwit- walden
3- cheap card collecting- sogard
4- stealing home- sogard
5- wickedortega- storen
6- arpsmith- barney
7- daddyohoho-mcgee

threads break part 2

2011-11-29T12:28:00.000-08:00

Round two. Oh, just to let you know, the final four rounds will be the Threads rounds, in case you were wondering.

1- the dimwit- sleater
2- cheap card collecting- sandoval
3- stealing home- strawberry
4- wickedortega- mccutchen
5- arpsmith- morton
6- daddyohoho- league
7- kevin- de los santos

threads break part 1

2011-11-28T16:10:00.000-08:00

Let's begin. For those of you who have not seen or participated in one of my breaks, or you just forget, allow me to explain how it works. I'll post a picture with the cards available for picking and an order of participants to pick them. You do choose in order but are allowed to have a top X list of cards you'd like. For example, say you're picking third, you choose a list of the top three cards you'd want and once it comes around to your turn, you get the top card on your list that hasn't been picked yet. I hope I worded that alright. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Have fun!

1- cheap card collecting- smoltz
2- stealing home- schilling
3- wickedortega- ramirez
4- arpsmith- verlander
5- daddyohoho- upton
6- kevin- sizemore
7- the dimwit- johnson (there you go!)

break happening....shortly!

2011-11-28T15:41:00.000-08:00

Everyone is ready to go! I'll post the first round of picks shortly!

1- cheap card collecting (paid)
2- stealing home (paid)
3- wickedortega (paid)
4- arpsmith (paid)
5- daddyohoho (paid)
6- kevin (paid)
7- the dimwit (paid)

I also need the email with your address and top three teams as well, from those same two.

In other news, one of the new kids on the blog, Kyle (over at Juuust A Bit Outside), is hosting an interesting draft break that you should check out if you haven't already. The rules and all the other info are on that link right there, so check him out. He's got a good blog too so be sure to add him to your reading. Oh yeah, tonight is the FINAL chance to sign up, so go now!

triple threads break update, filled! with an update!

2011-11-26T18:47:00.000-08:00

The break has been filled, plus one! We now have seven participants which means that we will go ahead with the $5 drop. I have some new details about what the picks will be. We're still doing Triple Threads 4 hits like the box configuration but the other four rounds will be slightly different. See below:

There will still be 8 hits.

The "Threads box":

1- unity single relic
1- unity single auto relic
1- triple relic (single or multiplayer)
1- triple relic/auto (single or multiplayer)

As for the other rounds:

1- auto round
1- relic round
1- Marquee/Finest/Chrome auto round
1- refractor auto/auto+relic combo round

I apologize if this seems confusing typed out but it'll make sense when you see it. The base cards I mentioned in the original post are still here and unaffected. You'll still get:

5 Triple Threads base (1 being a parallel)
5 Finest
10 Chrome

All from 2011.

Everyone has signed in, so the next step is payment. Send the $35 via Paypal to my email (krustytheclown138ATyahooDOTcom), use the 'gift' option. Once everyone is done with that, we'll get rolling! I also will need an email from each of you that includes your address and three top teams. I will try and sway the base cards I divvy towards those three teams. I'll update right below when you've paid and again, once its complete we'll start!

Those who are in:

1- cheap card collecting
2- stealing home
3- wickedortega
4- arpsmith
5- daddyohoho (paid)
6- kevin (paid)
7- the dimwit

if you wanted to bust triple threads...

2011-11-25T12:26:00.000-08:00

...here's your chance!

Kinda.

I am gauging interest on a group break. I want to do a Triple Threads theme break. With the couple of boxes I busted, the trades made at the local shop and the couple I picked up on eBay, I've gained a nice healthy amount of 2011 Threads. I know we can't all buy boxes of the stuff but I can try the next best thing.

Here's the details:

For 1/5th the price of a box of Triple Threads you can make your own from the cards I'll post. It'll work just like my older breaks, with a list of pickers going in order.

A fifth of the price of a full box means $40, and for that you'll get just like a box:

1 Unity single relic
1 Unity single auto/relic
1 Triple relic (single player or multiple)
1 Triple relic/auto (single player or multiple)

Other than those, I'm also including the following to pick from and everyone will get:

1 2011 Chrome auto
1 relic
2 autos

The one relic and one auto will be from different sets, being what ever I have in my box here. I will also add in the following base cards:

5 Triple Threads base (the reds, numbered to 1500), with one being a parallel
5 2011 Finest
10 2011 Chrome

Thats a total of 8 hits of your choice. Here is a sample of what will be included:

Interested? Let me know in the comments below. I will only have five spots open so act fast if you do want to participate. If interest is big, I can do another slot and if we do get 6 people, I will knock the $40 to $35.

Oh and everyone who participates will be entered into a random drawing to grab an autographed ball of a Hall of Famer. I won't say which player but if we get 5 to 6 people, thats a pretty good chance you have to grab that ball.

1- cheap card collecting
2- stealing home
3- wickedortega
4-
5-
(6)- kevin (if 6)

other than baseball...

2011-11-24T06:59:00.000-08:00

Being a blog about baseball and baseball cards, not many other topics come up around here. With baseball being over (please come back soon!) and baseball cards taking a small back seat (due to lack of releases until 2012 series 1 and playing through The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim), maybe it's time for something different. Not a change in the blog mind you, just a different post.

Music!

I haven't discussed music much on here. I'm not sure what everyone else is into but I've decided to make a top five (well, four) list of the best albums of the year. In my opinion of course.

Five- Well, I was going to make a top five list but I only had four. About 8 years ago I bought many many albums in a year but that has slowed down a considerable amount due to the lack of solid albums coming out. Maybe its my cynical nature in my old age but music sure isn't what it used to be. I've discovered a ton of great music from the 60's through the 80's in the past 10 years and I couldn't be happier with that. We listen to Sirius/XM satellite radio at work, so thats how I hear some of this stuff.

Four:

Foster the People- Torches. Released 05/23. This is a weird album. Its very electronic heavy, so there isn't too much crazy guitar work or anything but its really catchy. They released the song 'Pumped Up Kicks' to radio, which I'm sure you may have heard. A good song but what really caught me was 'Helena Beat'. I don't know why but I can't stop listening to it. Catchy, good beat and a little dance-y (which I don't mind). Be wary, the singer has a higher voice than Geddy Lee of Rush, so there's that (I love Rush, btw).

Three:

The Joy Formidable- The Big Roar. Released 01/24. I heard one song on the radio (Whirring) and it hooked me instantly. I have a thing for female lead singers and love a great band with one. This is no exception. This is a great rock album, through and through. No fancy guitar solos, not much on the electronics, just three people rocking it out but good. Not heavy metal or punk or something like that, so its not crazy. A great listen all the way through.

Two:

Foo Fighters- Wasting Light. Released 04/12. The Foo Fighters have been around for some time now. After forming in 1995 from the ashes of Nirvana, they have released 7 (including this one) albums. Dave Grohl wrote, played, produced and basically did the entire first album himself. After that, he hired a band so they could tour and continue making albums. This album is a very strong release from them and dare I say it's in their top three best. Great rock and roll as usual from Dave and the crew and personally they have never disappointed. Every album is a solid release but some stand out more than others, this is one of them. The song 'Rope' was the first single to radio and the song 'Walk' was used for the closing credits of the movie Thor. The radio plays these two songs plus 'One of These Days', so maybe you've heard at least one of them. The song 'White Limo' is probably my favorite and definitely rocks the hardest of all the songs on the album. The video is cool too with them driving around in a limo, being driven by Lemmy from Motorhead. Good stuff. The album even came with a piece of the analogue tape they used to record the album on. Neat!

One:

Florence and the Machine- Ceremonials. Released 10/28. Of the four albums on this list, this is both the newest release and the newest for me. I heard the two radio singles (Shake it Out and What the Water Gave Me) and thought they were good so I decided to download it on iTunes. I was floored by how incredible this album is. The use of so many instruments (a harp!), layers of depth not heard in many albums and an incredible voice from a small, young woman, all adds up to a very interesting and unique experience. Some of the songs deal with ghosts, of the past I presume. Hauntingly beautiful. Listen to it if you want something different. You won't be disappointed.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

cleanin' up

2011-11-21T13:21:00.000-08:00

I am on one of my patented random cleaning adventures again and I figured I would try here to see if anyone wants something. Periodically I'll go on cleaning sprees and feel like I have to downsize the stuff I own. Usually it ends up on eBay or to local friends but maybe some of you would like a chance at something, right? Essentially I am giving the stuff away but I would like to at least get the shipping covered from the claimee.

First thing: anyone into comics? I have a bunch I'm willing to let go, mainly newer Marvel stuff. If you'd like a box of comics, let me know. I'm not exact on a number yet but it's got to be at least 30 books. First to claim them and send $10 to cover the shipping can have them.

Second: I have a bunch of cards (baseball) that don't fit anywhere. I've separated all the stuff I'm not collecting by team and some cards don't fall into one single team. These are those cards. Two to four players from different teams, non-baseball subjects from Ginter, minor leaguers, checklists, etc. Again, first to claim them gets them. $5 to cover shipping would suffice.

Third: Anyone have an Xbox 360? And like baseball? Cheap baseball? I have MLB 2K9 (Lincecum on the cover) and MLB 2K10 (Longoria on the cover) up for grabs if you'd like them. Both minty clean with no scratches. $5 per game shipped (or if for some reason you want both, $7).

Let me know if anyone would like any of this stuff. Otherwise I'll have to think of something else to do with them and I don't want to have to think too much, it hurts sometimes :P .

final threads, part two

2011-11-18T13:00:00.000-08:00

On to part two!

Its a little different this time around:

Johnny Cueto auto/relic, numbered 29/50. The auto/relic first? Well I feel in this box this was the lesser of the four hits. Still not bad but not the best.

Justin Verlander relic, numbered 7/9. See what I mean? The 2011 AL Cy Young winner, numbered under 10. What's not to like? Sure its a single gray jersey but I'm certainly happy with it.

Johnny Bench triple relic, numbered 34/36. Here we go. Now I do feel that this is a Bench bat. Bench played in the 70's, so I would imagine that relics of his would be more plentiful. The thing is, I would think that relics from this era to now are authentic. I mean, they would have to be right? I'd hope.

Adam Lind auto/triple relic. numbered 3/3. CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY. I could not believe that this fell out of the pack. Its certainly the best Jays card I've ever pulled and the new cornerstone of my Blue Jays collection. Sure I have a few plates and some low numbered jerseys and stuff but nothing this nice. Plates may be 1/1's but ehh...they just don't have the luster of a nice patch low numbered like this. I got a bunch of stuff from eBay and the shop from other people's boxes that they traded to the owner for other stuff and in return I'd trade him. Maybe I'll show it off soon.

final threads, part one

2011-11-17T13:00:00.000-08:00

Here is box number one of the final Triple Threads of the year. Unless by some huge miracle involving time travel happens and the shop gets more Threads at a good price, this is it for this release.

The base cards in both boxes weren't anything low numbered like the sapphire Cabrera in the previous box except for an Alex Rodriguez numbered to 25. I didn't bother scanning it because it seems like everyone hates him. Let's begin shall we?

Again like last box, from "worst" to best. Worst is kind of the wrong word here but since I can't think of a better word, we'll stick with that.

Rogers Hornsby "bat" relic, numbered 5/9. Lets say this is a real bat from Hornsby for arguments sake. If this is my worst hit, you know great things are coming afterward.

Jason Heyward auto relic, numbered 23/50. An awesome hit here. Heyward had kind of an off season this year but I'm very sure he will make a fantastic comeback in 2012.

Ichiro triple relic, numbered 01/18. Damn. What a card and the only thing that would have made it better is if that had patches in those windows as opposed to a nice blue jersey. I'm not complaining though due to it being my first Ichiro relic.

Bob Gibson/Felix Hernandez/Josh Johnson triple auto/triple relic, numbered 01/27. What a card. Sure its the smallest jersey piece with the smallest picture of the depicted players but when else can you get auto/relics of a Hall of Famer, a sure-fire superstar and an up and coming player? The only thing that would have made it perfect is the Johnson auto being on the clear stickers like the other two. Oh well. At least this combination of players makes a little sense, in that they are all great pitchers. Some triple combos I've seen make little to no connection unless its something random.

Stay tuned for part two!

we'll just call it a 'grand finale'

2011-11-16T15:43:00.000-08:00

So I worked the card shop on Saturday. The owner went to a wrestling convention in New York and asked if I would be able to watch the store while he was gone. I had to work my regular job 6 to 12 that morning so I let him know I'd be there for 12:30. The shop closes at 5 so I got in a few good hours there. I went through some boxes, found some more cards I liked and put them aside for us to discuss at a later date. When he had returned to the shop we were talking for a bit. I had expressed my disinterest in Tier One but he decided to bust one anyway. He ended up with a Thurman Munson dual bat relic (which he was pleased with, Yankees do well for him), an Albert Belle auto and a rookie auto I forget the name of. While discussing Tier One, I had compared it to Triple Threads and he informed me that the last two boxes on his shelf, would be the FINAL boxes on the shelves. The price had gone up through his distributor so he decided to stop carrying them. Too high a price point scares some buyers off and he didn't want those boxes sitting on the shelf forever (even though I doubt they would have if he did buy them). So I decided to go for it. The hours I worked and the rest on the credit card (man, I hope I don't regret these card purchases later), equaled two more boxes of Threads for me to bust. I was able to justify it by knowing that I won't be doing Tier One, or anything for that matter until around February, when Series one hits. Plus I've been pretty good as far as card purchases have gone in the past couple months, save for the tow Threads before and a few misc. singles on eBay. All I can say about them is that both were great and one box included a questionable bat relic (like I had talked about a few days ago) from a Hall of Fame player and the other box included a new cornerstone to my collection. It's not a 1/1 but it's damn close. I plan on showing these over the next two posts and I realize talking about them now and not showing them isn't very fun of me. I would like to go over the cards in at least a little detail with nice big scans to show them off (and they're pretty much all worth showing). You will see some crazy stuff come from these boxes, as I could barely believe what I had myself. Easily one of the best products of the year and I hate to say it but I'm kind of hooked on them. Too bad there aren't any left for the season.

well, it's not office furniture but...

2011-11-14T15:59:00.000-08:00

Remember a few posts back when I talked about the legitimacy of relics and how there is the possibility that they aren't what they are perceived to be? Remember it started with this card:

My sweet sweet Ty Cobb "bat" relic from Triple Threads. One of the nicest cards I've ever pulled, being questioned about its very existence and its possible deception about being what could be 2 cents of desk wood.

I went on to question the process of obtaining these bats and relics and such, wondering how many bats could Topps have used by Cobb, Ruth, Mantle, etc. Especially Mantle seeing how they give relics of his away with factory retail sets. How absurd and totally de-valuing a Hall of Famers relic in the process. Well all this started by my nature to question most everything and just wondering how Topps could have all this authentic memorabilia stacked up in their warehouse. It came into question again two days ago.

Topps recently put out their Tier One set. Curious of course, I decided to check out some stuff on eBay and found myself quite unimpressed by the results. Seven cards per box, about $80-100 per box. In said box, you get two autos (both on-card) and one relic. Well, I know what you're thinking, grab two of these and you equal a box of Triple Threads with two more hits! Well, that may be true but the relics are beyond dull. The design isn't horrible but single white/gray swatches? No thank you. On-card autos are nice but the odds of getting a great one are way high, so you end up with two OK autos and one dull relic. While with Threads you may only get four hits but triple relics are way better than single gray ones. Plus everything is pretty low numbered too.

Being unimpressed I decided to check out the BlowoutCards forums to see what the buzz was. I came across some guys questioning the authenticity of the relics, specifically the big timers like the Hall of Famers I mentioned above. Then someone posted a link to an article:
http://www.beckett.com/news/2010/01/topps-details-stadium-seat-relics-offers-replacements/

Apparently this isn't the first time it's come up. If you don't feel like clicking the article, or you can't here it is:

This just in from Topps…

Topps has confirmed that the following five memorabilia cards in the recently released 2009 Tribute Baseball include pieces of stadium seat:

Babe Ruth Dual Relic — Bat/Old Yankee Stadium Seat

Babe Ruth Triple Relic — Old Yankee Stadium Seat/Uniform/Old Yankee Stadium Seat

Ty Cobb Dual Relic — Bat/Tiger Stadium Seat

Jackie Robinson Triple Relic — Ebbets Field Seat/Bat/Ebbets Field Seat

Mickey Mantle Triple Relic — Old Yankee Stadium Seat/Uniform/Old Yankee Stadium Seat

Topps will replace any of the above cards with a pack of 2009 Topps Tribute Baseball or comparable product for collectors that are not satisfied with their card(s).

In addition, every card in 2009 Topps Sterling Baseball features game-used bat and game-used uniform except for one subject — Carl Erskine, which features Erskine’s autograph with stadium seat. Topps will replace this card with a pack of 2009 Topps Sterling Baseball for collectors not satisfied with their card.

Moving forward, to ensure no confusion, stadium seat pieces will not be used as memorabilia pieces unless it’s part of a special stadium seat-specific insert.

Please send all items intended for replacement to the address listed below. Please allow 2-4 weeks for delivery.

The Topps Company

ATTN: Seat Relic Replacement

401 York Avenue

Duryea, PA 18642

INSANITY!!! Imagine pulling a Babe Ruth triple relic only to find out that its a uniform with two pieces of Yankee Stadium seating?? WTF?? Honestly, I lost so much faith in Topps after seeing this I almost debated on quitting the hobby. Oh and in case you may be wondering why I'm taking it so personally:

I own two of the relics they state in the article. I paid good money for both these and to find out they're stadium seats? Just totally disheartening. I don't even know what to say about it. I really don't. I'm sure that relics from current players are authentic but I have to totally question wether or not I have actual relics from guys that played 80 or so years ago and it totally shouldn't be that way. It's such BS but maybe instead of putting a Babe "bat" relic into every set numbered to 399, maybe get an actual damn bat used by him and making it actually rare. Like numbered to 18 rare. That goes with any older player. People aren't going to avoid a product because you can't pull one but pulling one would be all the better. I don't know. I know its cheaper but Its pretty bad that Topps has to mislead its customers like this.

andre ethier

2011-11-13T08:18:00.000-08:00

I know there are a few Dodgers collectors but does anyone collect Andre Ethier exclusively? I have a couple of great cards of his and I feel they should probably be in someone else's collection who will appreciate them.

Here is what I have (sorry for the lack of picture):

All 2011:

Bowman Platinum red parallel
Bowman Platinum green parallel
Chrome Heritage black refractor 21/62
Finest green refractor 108/199
Lineage Diamond parallel
Series 1 gold parallel 1696/2011
Triple Threads base card 0351/1500
Wal-Mart diamond (from series 1, I think, the hanger boxes)

I'd love to trade them to someone collecting him but would want at least something decent in return, namely for the difficulty of the Finest and black Heritage Chrome cards. Let me know if you're interested and we'll see if we can work something out.

perhaps the most interesting card in my collection

2011-11-07T16:20:00.000-08:00

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I really enjoy the history of baseball. I sat through and enjoyed thoroughly Ken Burns' Baseball. It ran probably 20 hours or so and I loved every minute of it.

Baseball is full of memorable moments. From the perfect games to the records broken. The home run races of 1961 and 1998. The years 1904 and 1994 in which a World Series was not played since it was introduced in 1903. Individual moments like the shot heard round the world. The catch. "The Giants won the pennant!!". Jackie Robinson taking the field in early 1947. Lou Gehrig's heartfelt and emotional farewell in 1939. The Babe's 'called shot'. The earthquake in 1989 before game three of the World Series. So many memories of a wonderful and glorious pastime.

Aside from the moments I have described above that are more than likely defining moments in many peoples lives who lived around the time they happened to witness them themselves, there have been a few moments that are oddities.

Canseco getting hit in the head by a fly ball that ends up fair and a home run. Larry Walker giving away a live ball to a fan. Merkle's boner. The list goes on.

One moment stands out for me as a real oddity that we will never see again.

Behold, Eddie Gaedel:

Eddie Gaedel played for the St. Louis Browns as a pinch hitter and had one major league at bat on August 19th 1951. He was 3 foot 7 and his jersey number was 1/8 and it is said that his strike zone was about a one inch square. As you can imagine he was walked on four pitches and was replaced with a pinch runner at first. He was also told that if he swung at any pitches he would be killed. I suppose Brown's owner Bill Veeck was serious. Here is a shot of him batting:

Eddie is known as the shortest player in history and has a 1.000 on-base percentage. His jersey is on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame. Sure it may have been some dirty play to get a man on base to hopefully win the game (they didn't) but it sure made for a memorable moment in baseball history. It's moments like this and the ones mentioned above that stand as the reasons why I love this game and its rich and colorful history.

On another note, Kyle over at Juust A Bit Outside is holding a 8 box break with some interesting boxes. Check it out, its cheap ($15) and should be a lot of fun. Go now!

the cold, the frustration and the hit of a lifetime

2011-11-03T15:59:00.000-07:00

We have power. After four and a half days of cold, darkness and no running water, we finally have light. The power went at 11:30 on Saturday night and came back some time today. Power at work came back Wednesday morning around 9:30, so I went in for 10. Thankfully we knew people who didn't lose power and were willing to help us out. I also want to thank you guys who expressed your concern towards our situation. I mentioned on Tuesday that we spent some time at the card shop on Sunday and the better part of Monday (to catch Walking Dead Sunday night and Monday Night Raw on Monday). Tuesday and Wednesday we spent time at my grandparents house. On Monday evening, bored, cold and pretty frustrated, my emotions and curiosity got the better of me and I made a spur of the moment purchase to quell my sanity:

Yes, Triple Threads. Part of the reason I busted this was due to what had been pulled right before I got this one. He had two, sold one to a customer who busted it in the store and pulled a triple relic of Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle, numbered 03/27. Ruth and Mantle were bat relics and Joe was a nice jersey with a pinstripe. Being numbered Ruth's jersey number doesn't hurt either. The other part was just wanting to go out on a limb and try my luck again. So I said screw it and put it on the credit card.

Well, as you can tell from my post title, I did hit something. I'll go in order from "worst" to best. I use the term "worst" very VERY loosely because all four hits were really good.

I'll start with the one base card that is of significance:

Miguel Cabrera 06/25. This is the sapphire parallel, which I haven't seen in person. The lowest numbered parallel I've seen before this were the golds, numbered to 99.

Aaron Hill 16/36. A single relic and it's gray but it is a Blue Jay and one I sort of collect so it worked out pretty well.

Mike Minor 10/75. An auto relic of a good Braves pitching prospect (or in the rotation, I'm not sure).

Clayton Kershaw 49/99. Auto'd triple relic. Now here we go. A great card of a great young pitcher, I was super excited to pull this card. Clayton is going to have a great career so long as he stays healthy.

Now the hit of the box:

David Wright 1/1. Dual jersey with the logoman patch from his All-Star game jersey. You can't tell from the picture but it does have a refractor-like quality to the front. It is also plastic as opposed to heavy cardstock or paper at all. I really couldn't believe it. This makes the fourth 1/1 I have pulled myself, Jose Reyes plate from Chicle, the Soriano wood parallel from '11 Ginter and the Mets plate from Gypsy Queen and this. Notice something odd? Yeah, three Mets. Plus a Cub. I seem to have a knack for pulling Mets 1/1s. This is way above all of the put together though. The others are merely parallels. This is a card that there really is only one of and of a bona fide star player. They didn't make this in copper numbered to 50, sepia numbered to 75 and gold numbered to 100. They made one. That kind of blows my mind a little bit and can say that this is the only true 1/1 in my collection. I highly doubt I'll ever pull a bigger card in my collecting lifetime.

So the long week is now over and did have some bright moments including this card but more importantly being close to family and friends when we all had a little less to work with in our daily routine.

an update

2011-11-01T17:13:00.000-07:00

Things are kind of dark here. Literally. The freak snowstorm we had Saturday night totally devastated the area. Heavy snow combined with the leaves still on the trees plus 20-40 MPH winds produce some very bad conditions. Trees down everywhere cut power to well close to 1 million households in Connecticut. Currently, we are without power and I am writing this from my grandmother's house. She is luckily one with power. My parents, wife's parents or ourselves have been without power since Saturday night. We thankfully are always welcome here at grandmas place, plus the local shop has somewhat amusingly become a shelter for those without power. He has power at the shop but not at home so he decided to stay open on Monday (he isn't open on Mondays) and stay opened later than usual on the two other days (today and Sunday). We charge our phones and such there but we sleep at home. It's quite cold without heat and boring at home without electricity. The town is at about 60% without power, including my work. It's not an issue because I'll make it up later. So for those wondering about my lack of communication or disappearance on the blogsphere, this is why. I've been trying to respond to emails on my phone but I get practically no signal at home. The time at the shop yesterday did produce a focal point for another post but once I get power again, which is hopefully in the next few days, I'll be sure to share it.

tradin'

2011-10-27T14:45:00.000-07:00

I have updated my wantlist and 'what I collect' pages to the right. In the 'what I collect' area, I have added a few players that I have decided to start pulling out of my collection and add them into my personal collection.

These are:

Kirby Puckett, Tony Gwynn and Frank Thomas for retired players.
Josh Hamilton, Danny Valencia and Chris Coghlin for active players.

Why Coghlin? Well, I have a few nice hits of his plus he was the 2009 NL Rookie of the Year, that has to count for something right?

I have also updated my 2011 Topps Chrome list. I still need a decent amount to finish it off and maybe you can help. I have a plethora of 2011 cards over here and perhaps you need some. I am willing to trade up to ten cards per one card you send me off my want list.

I have a bunch of these sets available:

(all 2011)
Gypsy Queen
Allen & Ginter
Chrome
Series 1 and 2 (tons of 1, decent amount of 2)
Update (a small stack)
Lineage (limited)
Stickers (unstuck, obviously)
Pro Debut

If you are trying to finish off a set, send me a want list and I'll see what I can do to help out your set. All I ask in return is something off my want list (not what I collect list, although those I will trade for too). Say you have two cards from Chrome I need and you need some in return, I would be willing to send up to 20 Chromes for those two (or any number lower, if I have only say, 13 of them). It works for any set I just named though so if you need something, let me know and we will work something out. I will have my Update want list up shortly too, probably after I post this.

the good side of ebay (for me)

2011-10-24T13:41:00.000-07:00

Remember last post when I was talking about the Triple Threads I had ripped? Do you also remember the post I had before that one talking about that seller on eBay that expected too much for his card? Well, this post will sort of tie them both together.

I had mentioned that I had grabbed some Triple Threads and Marquee singles and that I would show them when they came. Well most of them have so I may as well show 'em off.

First up some Triple Threads Unity relics and two Marquee autos:

Some Triple Threads Unity auto/relics:

Marquee Titanic Threads and a lone Finest auto/relic:

Some Marquee Gametime Mementos and Acclaimed Impressions:

Note the Drabek. This was the card I was chasing from the seller who wanted too much (he relisted btw, with a $19.99 buy it now and it didn't sell, now he has it up again with a $29.99 buy it now or best offer, whatever dude). Like I had mentioned this cards patch wasn't as nice but it is a little more unique. I can't tell what its from but maybe a fellow Jays fan (or even a non-Jays fan) could tell me where the left patch comes from. The Danny Valencia is also my new player to collect. This card is absolutely sweet with the left patch being the Majestic logo. I'm watching a triple relic/auto of his from Threads this year too.

Finally some Drabeks and a triple relic:

Yeah, I went a little nuts but at least they are parallels! Well, one is numbered to 99 and the other two to 75, so technically I do have a duplicate. The Smith/Jeter/Rollins seems like its a huge card but it really doesn't go for much on the 'Bay. See? Thats why eBay is great. I snagged all these for super great deals. Now sure some of these aren't great players but they are nice hits from super premium products. Some I looked for, some I caught them right before they ended and got lucky with a really low bid. I took the stance 'if I win, I win cheap, if I lose, no biggie'. There are still a few on the way but nothing big. If I come across something big, I'll be sure to post it here.

the big gamble and the burning question

2011-10-17T12:39:00.000-07:00

Topps puts out many sets throughout the year. I'm willing to bet Triple Threads is the one that gets the least amount of attention around here, and with good reason too. It's hobby only (try finding a hobby shop these days), its definitely not cheap and sometimes the risk isn't worth the reward. I've always had a tough curiosity with this product. Sure we've all seen cards online or at shows and maybe even we've bought some cheap online (I know I have) but it isn't the same. There is something about busting a box and pulling the cards yourself, hoping for the best to appear in your grubby hands.

Well this years set comes out and the curiosity got the better of me. Its not hard to see why most of us don't bust this set. $200 for 14 cards is really tough to swallow and even harder on our wallets. At my local shop, after some cash (well, a credit card), some trade fodder and some hours owed at a later date, I found myself with a box of 2011 Triple Threads. Thankfully he was able to work out that trade/work/cash deal, otherwise this is WELL out of my price range for a box of cards. I've seen these busted at the store last year but not this year. If you aren't familiar with how its packaged, it's a small box, with two smaller boxes inside. Inside those are a blank, shiny silver pack holding your cards. Each 'pack' has three base cards, two parallel base cards and two relics/autos or combination thereof. We all know the base cards are numbered to 1500 and the parallels get smaller numbers from there. Here are the base cards:

Nothing to blog about but NO ONE is buying this set for the base cards. They don't look bad, just too much border going on. I should note that the Pee Wee Reese was traded to me for an Adrian Gonzalez by the shopkeep (Sox sell better than Dodgers 'round here). The Jackie is going to the PC. Here are the parallels:

I did pull a Derek Jeter numbered to 99 but that was also traded to the shopkeep. I like the green of the Stanton and think they probably should have went with that color for the base set. Now onto the hits:

I really can't complain here. I really can't. Two relics of guys I collect (Cobb and Tulo), a great up-and-coming player (Gonzalez) and....Hank Conger. The Cobb and Conger came in the same pack and the Tulo/Gonzalez were in the first pack. I did manage to trade for this too:

Don't know much about him except that it wouldn't sell in the shop so I got it for a good deal (thats where Jeter went towards).

Overall, was the risk worth the reward? Did I end up winning in the end? Did I beat Topps?? Probably not but this did produce one of the best pulls I've ever pulled from a pack of cards. This Cobb certainly rivals the 2009 T206 Ruth bat relic I pulled and may even be better due to it being numbered so low. How do you think I did? I did even better online for stuff I was actually seeking out from both Marquee and Triple Threads, which I'll show once it all gets here. Some up and coming Jays, a new guy that started a new PC for me, and some other various (a Met, a Phille and two Cubs and a few others) cards I got almost embarrassingly cheap.

Oh and two things: The dope I was going to get that Marquee Drabek from reposted the card but this time with a starting price of $19.99. Second; when someone sells a Triple Threads relic card, it only has three pieces in there. I have no idea why they feel the need to point out that it has 27 windows or whatever. Its three damn pieces! I guess my Cobb is an eight piecer! (if periods count)

The burning question stems from this very card:

Sure its possibly my best pull ever but how am I to know thats bat in there? How do I know its not Patty from accountings desk in there? Now, I'm not one to call Topps a liar or to say that they are just screwing us with these relics. How am I to tell that this was once part of a bat that Ty Cobb once used to probably hit one of his 4189 hits? How are we to tell that they aren't just chopping up old office furniture and calling it a bat piece? I mean sure it's a long shot and certainly they could be in a heap of trouble if found out but one has to think, "How many bats do they have from guys like Ruth, Cobb, Wagner, etc?" Eventually they have to dry up right? I mean a current player all they presumably have to do is say "Hello, Ken Griffey Jr, we are making trading cards with bat pieces, please hold and swing each of these 12 bats for us." and call it a day. Is it right? No but far cheaper. I don't know maybe I'm just being a conspiracy theorist but its just something I think about here and there when I get an old timer relic. I'm willing to bet that relics are the real deal but somewhere in the back of your mind you have to doubt it even for just a little.

sometimes card people are the worst...

2011-10-13T15:27:00.000-07:00

Not you guys. The eBay guys. You know the type, rip n' flip, not a real collector but someone who buys up cards and packs and cases just to make a buck. More than likely uses Beckett as the be all end all of pricing? Yeah, those guys. I feel that eBay is the best type of forum to determine a cards real value. Sure auto/relics of semi-stars and no name players go for five bucks and they probably shouldn't. If it's not a hot rookie, a player from the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers or Braves or an old timer, that card probably won't go for much. Thats where we step in. When we can grab our favorite players at a steal of a deal, it's just plain awesome.

Now here is what spurred this. I was trolling the 'Bay for some high end, just released autos/relics of Jays. Stuff from Marquee and Triple Threads, you know. I had came across a sweet Kyle Drabek auto dual patch from Marquee. Problem was, the auction was over. I checked the other ended items just for ha-has (more on that in a second) and found that this seller had listed this card twice. It didn't sell either time, so I decided to send him a message.

Dear XXXXX (seller),
Just curious if you still had the Drabek from 2011 Marquee. I didn't see it until tonight and the auction had already ended. If you're willing to sell, I'd be good for $14.00 including shipping. Let me know, thanks.
- XXXXX (me)

Now, keep in mind that this card was listed at a starting bid of $12.99 and $3.00 shipping, which I would totally be willing to pay (its a sweet card) and it didn't sell twice so I figured $14 was reasonable. Here was his response:

Dear XXXXX (me),

Yes still have the Drabek... I will sell it for $25 shipped.

TY,
----

- XXXXX (seller)

Huh? What happened here that doubled the cards value? I know that Marquee isn't cheap but a card goes for what it goes for. Here is what I responded back with:

Dear XXXXX (seller),

Are we talking about the same card? You had it at $12.99 starting bid, it ended twice with no bids. I figured if I caught it before it had ended I would have gotten it for $16 after shipping, so I thought $14 was a fair offer seeing as how it didn't sell twice.

- XXXXX (me)

Am I being out of line? I don't think so but here is his response:

Dear XXXXX (me),

Oh damn...sorry I am going to hold onto that card...He might turn out to be awesome.

Thanks though,

----

- XXXXX (seller)

So....you're willing to potentially sell for $12.99, until I show a little interest? Now, I checked the completed items. This exact card, not a parallel or anything, went for as low as $2.25. The last six that ended went for this (that sold, that is):

$12.99
$7.99
$7.50
$2.25
$3.25
$12.07

The two that ended around $12 were just as nice, if not nicer than his. Meaning one window had a multi-color patch and the other a white swatch. The other four were white swatch/grey swatch combos. This guy clearly wants too much for his stuff as soon as a little interest is shown. Looking at his other items, he has other cards up for way too much (all buy it nows). Its guys like this that kill this hobby, that follow Beckett's every word and whim and sell for as much as they feel a card is worth as opposed to true market value. Hey, whatever, I'll gladly buy from someone else once the opportunity arises. I just figured he may want the sale. Sure he may someday sell the card for $25 but after relisting it so many times, eBay gets their cut each time, thus lowering his overall profit. Good luck with the $25 dope!

Here is the card (but not his):

See, its awesome. His has a black/blue/silver patch on the left. Something will come up and I'll grab it for the right price.

patterns and updates

2011-10-12T13:14:00.000-07:00

Man, I really wish I could get this scanner/printer to work right. I'd really love to have pictures accompany my thoughts on 2011 Update. I haven't purchased much. A few racks, a $9.99 Target box and some loose packs. With $$$ being a bit tight I'm forced to cut back a little. It's entirely alright though and I'll explain why (I'll get to Update in a second).

This being the second year that I have come back into collecting, I have noticed a pattern with my buying habits. First off, I have cut out a lot of the impulse packs and such that I bought so much of early on in 2010. When I got back into collecting, I had nothing, so naturally buying up anything and well...everything, seemed right. To see what I had missed. It was certainly a good lesson in past years of sets and players and so on but it left me with a mountain of cards. Thankfully I found blogging and fellow collectors on here that were willing to trade for their favorite teams and players. Or maybe they just wanted to finish off a set and I was more than glad to help. Topps flagship is a different story though. I have noticed that in both 2010 and 2011 a pattern has definitely made itself apparent. What I do is buy up a TON of series 1. Probably because it is a new year and the lack of baseball has be frothing for some cardboard goodness. Then series 2 hits and I buy a bunch but it is always significantly less. I'd say about half of what I did for series 1. Maybe it is due to the glut of products Topps puts out in between that kills my wallet and I'm a little burnt on cards at the moment. Or in the case of this year, little work=little money. Then Update hits around now and I end up buying even less than series 2, roughly half of that I'd say. I finish off the sets but then in the case of series 1, I kept buying. I have no idea why but I did. I know that last year in the case of Update, I knew it was hitting in mid-October and I was getting married about a week later. Little time for cards. This year its the summer lack of cash hitting again. So is my pattern due to circumstance or is it just how things work? I would say a little of both. Circumstance certainly has more to do with it but by the time Update hits I'm burnt on collecting and just want to finish off the set and be done with it. Topps releases so much during the year and I try to sample it all (high end not withstanding) so it just kills my drive. I did buy less this year than last year, which is good. Less stuff I don't need and more of what I set out to collect, which is something I wanted to focus on in the 2011 collecting year.

Anyway, enough of my silliness, how about some Update?

Again, I would love to have pictures but I almost don't need them because its Update and we've all seen them. When the set hit eBay I scoured to see if they had added any more legends variations and found that they had. 25 more to the fray, bringing up the total to 74 for all three series. If you need the list, I added them to the checklist on baseballcardpedia. I would like to collect them all again, so If you come across any, I'll definitely trade for them. I did manage to pull one, Paul O'Neill. I will trade for any of them but I won't be actively chasing the parallel versions just the regular white border ones.

Speaking of parallels, Update is FILLED with them and I don't mind. The congnac parallels are pretty nice and the Target red border are really cool too. Wal-Mart has a blue border (of course) and the Hope Diamond blue I haven't seen in person yet but I'm sure they look nice too. Speaking of Wally and Target, did anyone buy an blaster from either place? Do they still have the throwback and all black parallels? I hope not. As cool as the throwbacks are I think the red/blue borders are much nicer and I hope that blasters replaced the old parallels with the new ones.

As far as inserts go it seems that there are only Topps 60, Kimball Champions, and Diamond Duos, which are numbered the same as series 2 and have NO distinction as to which set it comes from. No idea why Topps did this but if you get a DD-22 from series 2 and DD-22 from Update, they look identical save for the players, making set building that much harder...if anyone even bothered collecting them. Sure ToppsTown are there but no one cares and thankfully are a little harder pull. I will be collecting the Kimballs too and will have a list up soon on my wantlist page.

Other than that Update is filled with some great action shots from the summer, All-Stars and some new rookies and is pretty much what you expect from series three at this point. I would like to finish off a set and if you find yourself with some extra Update you don't mind donating over, I'll gladly take 'em.

now that all the cranky fans are gone...

2011-10-09T08:11:00.000-07:00

We can finally get back to some baseball. Around here I usually have to listen to Red Sox fans complain about the Yankees and Yankee fans gloat about how they're so much better than Sox fans. While I do lean to the Yankee side of things, I still don't need to constantly hear about it. Now that both teams have been eliminated it's almost as if no one cares what is going on with the playoffs over here. Damn them. This is the most exciting postseason I've witnessed. No, it hasn't been many but I'm sure if I had seen others and paid attention to them they way I am this year, I am positive this year would still be best.

When the wild card race was winding down and that night where there were four very important games deciding who was going and who went home, I was glued to MLBNet (the channel) until well into the midnight hour. The greatness just wouldn't end. The Cardinals won their game easy, so as long as the Braves lost, they were in. The braves did lose but not before going to extra innings and giving it all they had. Well played Braves. Same thing with the American League. I was SURE I would see the Sox as the wild card but they couldn't get it done and the "never-count-us-out" Rays beat the Yankees in an EPIC comeback for the ages. Just incredible.

When it broke down to there being eight teams, I was sure it would end up like this:

Rays over the Rangers
Yankees over the Tigers
Phillies over the Cardinals
Brewers over the DIamondbacks

Well, I got one right, although I thought the Brewers would take them in three. I am glad that all of these series (except the Rays/Rangers) went to five games. So much more excitement when the series is tied and everything is on the line down to the final game. Man were we all sure around here that it would be a Phillies/Yankees rematch in the World Series. You know what? I actually glad it's not. The Rangers, Brewers, Cardinals and Tigers all worked really hard to get here and they all really deserve to be. The interesting thing about the NLCS this year is that it is a rematch of the Brewers and Cardinals from the 1982 World Series, that the Cards won. The Brewers know this and I'm sure would LOVE to stick it to the Cards and go all the way. They're who I'm rooting for. All the way too. I'd love to see a Tigers/Brewers series.

Well, we will see what happens over the next couple of days and heres hoping these series go to seven games as well. It just shows that all four teams are playing there best and want it that much more. The worst is seeing a team get there and lose all four of the first four games to then be eliminated. With all that said, let's go Brewers!

finals

2011-10-06T16:57:00.000-07:00

Final rounds. For these next three, pic three cards from each picture.

Matt- Morgan, Baylor, Hunter
Dan- cullen, bando, alomar

Dan- Fregosi, Gamble, Spikes
Matt- roberts, rodriguez, sudakis

Matt- Petrocelli, Santo, Patton
Dan- jarvis, fiore, mcmullin

And for our finale, pick any one of these.

Dan- Snider
Matt- Ford

A big thanks to you two for participating. I hope you had fun choosing your cards. I should have them out to you soon (Matt I still need your address).

rounds 8, 9, 10

2011-10-05T17:56:00.000-07:00

For this round, pick two:

Dan- lane, rivera
Matt- thies, wright

For these next two, pick four cards from each picture.

Matt- boozer, alley, crandall, williams
Dan- richert, valespino, gardner, chance

Dan- wynn, northrup, conigliaro, brown
Matt- knoop, santiago, ortega, mcloghlin

After this, only four rounds left, which I'll probably do tomorrow!

rounds 5, 6, and 7

2011-10-04T17:13:00.000-07:00

For these first two, pick one from each picture.

Matt- Bailey
Dan- Harrison

(the horizontal hard to read one is Andre Dawson, in case you can't tell)
Dan- Carter
Matt- Dawson

For the vintage cards pick three each. At the end of the break, you'll both end up with 20 pre-1976 vintage cards each.

Matt- Williams, Piche, Jackson
Dan-Phillips, Walker, Daley

rounds 1, 2, 3 and 4

2011-10-03T16:19:00.000-07:00

Let's begin. First off, I went through a computer issue about a month ago and I had to wipe my hard drive and install a new copy of OSx. In that process I did lose everything (which wasn't much) but I also lost the ability to connect my scanner/printer to my computer. I tried to get it to work but I have to trick the comp into letting it install (it worked before but won't now). So for all the pictures in this break I am using my phone camera and sending them to my email and posting them here. I apologize if they come out not so great but if you can't make something out let me know and I'll let you know what it is.

Now, for each of these rounds, pick one card you'd like. Actually with the Legends Variations you can pick from either picture, I just split them up between the verticals and horizontals for the pictures but you can pick any two you like.

Dan- Schmidt
Matt- Roberts

Matt- Smith
Dan- Robinson

Dan- Santana
Matt- Simpson

Matt- Carter
Dan- Braun

I'll try and keep the rounds quick, happy pickin's!

break is closed

2011-10-02T09:13:00.000-07:00

The break is closed. Matt and Dan will start taking their picks tomorrow, once I post the first batch of cards. Now would be the time to send the payment (Paypal, krustytheclown138ATyahooDOTcom, gift option) if you have not done so already. Each post will have X amount of cards and I'll let you know how many to pick. Since there are only two of you I imagine this to go rather quickly.

Oh and for those of you who grabbed some of those teams in the team break, I have shipped them. I shipped on Thursday and I imagine they should be arriving this week. A couple of things about those:

The bad news: I couldn't really fit the multi-team cards into any of the boxes.

The good news: I couldn't fit them into said boxes because I stuffed those boxes so full of teams you picked that I simply ran out of room. It looks like I underestimated the amount of cards on some of the teams (especially on teams I've never traded away before) but thats only better for you guys.

I do still have a bunch of teams left and if anyone is interested, let me know and I'll see which teams I have left and we'll go from there.

the break

2011-09-30T18:21:00.000-07:00

Sunday will be the final opportunity to sign up for the break. The two of you who have (Matt and Dan), please send me an email for some additional details concerning the break. For those of you who may have forgotten what is involved:

For $60:

1- 1954 Topps card that books at over $100 ( Warren Spahn, Duke Snider, Ed Mathews and Whitey Ford)
11- Vintage rounds
2- Legend variations from 2010/2011
3- autos
1- relic

18 rounds or picks. I'll do some of the stuff in multi-pick style like I've done before. Same as last time, if you want in, let me know in a comment. (pay via Paypal to krustytheclown138ATyahooDOTcom,use the gift option).

Signed up so far:

1- Dan
2- Matt
3-
4-

2010 legends variations part 3

2011-09-24T06:11:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to the final installment of the 2010 legends variations collection of posts! Today I will go over the Update series batch. There are 22 total.

661 Bob Gibson / US-15 Willie McCovey / US-45 Steve Carlton
US-50 Reggie Jackson / US-85 Andre Dawson / US-100 Robin Roberts
US-175 Bruce Sutter / US-185 Jim Palmer

US-203 Tony Gwynn / US-214 Dave Winfield / US-225 Brooks Robinson
US-276 Rickey Henderson / US-317 Babe Ruth / US-318 Bo Jackson
US-330 Johnny Bench

US-25 Philadelphia Athletics / US-58 New York Giants / US-200 St. Louis Browns
US-220 Boston Americans / US-320 Washington Senators / US-330 Cleveland Naps
US-260 Brooklyn Dodgers

Another fairly easy batch to complete. Nothing eluded me too badly. The Ruth was probably the most expensive to obtain but is pretty cool seeing him in a Sox uniform. I pulled a few of these myself also. I like the inclusion of the teams in this series. Great teams in history that have moved to a new city or simply turned into a totally different team altogether. I love the Brooklyn Dodgers card, although the back of the card is upside down. I believe they are all printed this way. You'll notice that 661 is Bob Gibson, who parallels the 661 Strasburg. Well Strasburg may be good and all but he's no Gibson, nor will he end up being (probably).

2010 legends variations part 2

2011-09-22T13:01:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to part two of the legends variations collection! Today I'll be showing the cards from series 2. There are 20 total.

331 Eddie Mathews / 354 Johnny Mize / 369 Jimmie Foxx
370 Mel Ott / 403 Ozzie Smith / 409 Richie Ashburn
476 Thurman Munson / 479 Dizzy Dean / 489 Roy Campanella

532 Dale Murphy / 549 Pee Wee Reese / 569 Tris Speaker
590 Ernie Banks / 600 Honus Wagner / 615 Nolan Ryan
650 Ty Cobb / 652 Mickey Mantle

377 Tom Seaver
400 Frank Robinson
559 Eddie Murray

Series 2 was not nearly as difficult to finish. The only one I had a tough time with was Mantle but that was due to me not wanting to pay too much for it. I pulled a few of these myself, including THREE Eddie Murrays. They have been since traded but I pulled three myself. What are the odds? Some of the better pictures they used were Nolan Ryan (a funny little tribute to his Upper Deck card), the great Ozzie Smith picture doing what he did best and the Ty Cobb, where if you look closely above his head, you can see a fingerprint in the picture itself. Probably from being handled for maybe 100 years or so. Stay Tuned for the Update set next!

2010 legends variations part 1

2011-09-20T14:27:00.000-07:00

Ah the legends variations. I still remember coming across my first one, Ryne Sandberg, in the early days of my re-entry into the hobby. Sure it was only about a year and a half ago but it seems like forever. I had no clue what I had and assumed that Topps put in older players in the mix of the base set. A short time later, I pulled Robin Yount. Both of these are featured below. I know these tend to be the bane of some collector's existence with them being short prints and all but you don't have to collect them nor are they part of the set officially. I like them though and I made a valiant effort to collect them all.

Today, I begin the legends variations series of posts, with the offerings from 2010 series 1. There are a total of 20.

1 Hank Greenberg / 20 Warren Spahn / 50 Cy Young
56 Whitey Ford / 80 Christy Mathewson / 85 Jackie Robinson
90 Rogers Hornsby / 94 Carlton Fisk / 95 Rickey Henderson

110 Willie Stargell / 116 Robin Yount / 125 George Sisler
200 Walter Johnson / 250 Lou Gehrig / 294 Babe Ruth
300 Ryne Sandberg

100 Stan Musial / 130 Reggie Jackson
165 Joe Morgan / 175 Roger Maris

Like I had mentioned a few times before, series 1 is the most difficult to finish. I assume it could be due to a lower print run than series 2, or that it is older and most were probably discovered and sold shortly after release. I'm just late to the party. I noticed the hardest ones to get were Greenberg, Musial and Maris. The Hornsby, Morgan and Reggie don't appear too often either. The best pick up I had in this lot (and out of every vintage legend I've ever obtained), was the Whitey Ford. I found him in a ten cent box at a local show. Ten cents. Obviously it was a mistake on the dealers part but who am I to argue? Stay tuned for series 2 next!

a halladay auto!

2011-09-16T17:11:00.000-07:00

...plus many more. Today I received a very interesting item from the local shop today. Well, first let me give a little background info. I started working there part part-time. What that essentially means is that when he needs me, he asks if I can work. Well flash forward to Wednesday (I think it was Wed.), he sends me a message saying he got something I'd be really interested in. Well, this is what it was:

Eighteen signatures from the 2009 team. Included are Roy Halladay, Vernon Wells, Jose Bautista, Adam Lind, Aaron Hill and the reason it's even here, Jesse Carlson. Jesse is from Berlin, Connecticut which is the next town over and the location of the aformentioned card shop. Apparently the high school baseball coach received this a gift from Carlson and went on over to the shop to see if he was interested in either buying or trading for it (I'm not sure which). Being that I'm a known Jays fan, he said 'of course' with me in mind. He gave me the ball (and holder) as a payment for my first couple of shifts. Shifts have only been two hours long so far (on days when he wants to leave early) so this worked out pretty well. I haven't identified each signature yet but I know a few others on here. Once I figure them all out I'll document it but a sweet piece to my Jays collection.

clearance closed, second team picks

2011-09-14T13:10:00.000-07:00

The break is closed. No one else wanted in. Those of you who have claimed a team, please claim your second team from the list below. I also need the final two participants to send their payments as well. Here are the teams: (X teams are claimed)

Angels
Astros
Athletics-X
Brewers
Cardinals-X
Cubs-X
Diamondbacks
Giants
Mariners-X
Marlins
Mets
Nationals/Expos-X
Padres
Rangers
Rays
Rockies
Royals
Tigers-X
Twins
White Sox
Yankees-X

Just let me know which team you'd like in a comment.

last chance

2011-09-12T16:40:00.000-07:00

This is the last chance to claim a team for the team clearance. If you have claimed a team and have not paid yet, please do so now or as soon as possible (Paypal to krustytheclown138ATyahooDOTcom, use the gift option). I would love to get these out by the end of the week and I really only want to make one trip to the post office. If you haven't claimed at team, you can by stating which team you'd like from the remaining teams in a comment. The cost is $20 for your first pick then once I close the break, you will all choose your second team from which are left. I plan on closing the break on Wednesday. Whoever is in, is in. Those who are, if you could have the payment by then, that would be great. Like I said, I'd love to get these out by the weekend.

Remaining teams:

Angels
Astros
Athletics
Brewers
Cardinals
Cubs
Diamondbacks
Giants
Mariners
Marlins
Mets
Nationals
Padres
Rangers
Rays
Rockies
Royals
Tigers
Twins
White Sox
Yankees

teams are a goin'

2011-09-08T15:30:00.000-07:00

Eight teams have been claimed so far and four have been paid for. The four that have not can do so now (Paypal, krustytheclown138ATyahooDOTcom, use 'gift' option). I will be waiting a little longer to see if anyone else who missed it would like to join, then I'll start prepping these for delivery. I will post the remaining teams and those who did pick a team will pick their second.

Claimed teams:

Blue Jays
Braves
Dodgers
Indians
Orioles
Phillies
Pirates
Red Sox
Reds

Everything else is available. Some surprising teams (Yankees, Mets, Cubs) are still left. If you want in, its $20 for two teams, shipped. Let me know if you want in and which team you want.

once they're gone...

2011-09-07T14:18:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention before that when this is over, it's over. I can only do this once (unless I build up some sort of huge collection a year from now) and once I clear these out that's it. For the teams that don't get claimed, they will end up somewhere that isn't here. Not sure where yet. I have just thought of something as well. I will allow everyone who did pick a team, to pick their second team once I close this out. This seems a bit better than just getting a random team, as everyone will have two picks but one pick at a time.

Here are the claimed teams an details:

1- dominicfdny- Red sox
2- jason- Indians
3- spiegel83- Dodgers
4- sortingbyteams- Blue Jays
5- daddyohoho- Phillies
6- commishbob- Orioles
7- dogfacedgremlin- Pirates
8- chris mays- Braves
9-
10-
11-
12-
13-
14-
15-

Plenty of teams left. The breakdown is:

$20 per team, which includes your team, shipping and a random team. I will pick the teams for the random teams after the 15 slots are filled or until the time is long enough where I know no one else will miss out. I also forgot to mention that if your team was a different team at one time, you get that team too. There aren't many cards that fall into this category but some examples are:

Washington Nationals get the Expos
Twins get the Senators (pre-1961)
Orioles get the St. Louis Browns

Those are just a few I know that are in there.

Again, included are most everything I have pre 2010. Some 2010's and 2011's are in there but that means that I have doubles or I'm just not interested in the set. Everything. Parallels, inserts, base cards, oddballs, etc. If it can be assigned a team, it's in there. I also have a pile of cards that are either non baseball people (ie; Allen & Ginter stuff) or cards that have two or more players on them both from different teams (stat leaders cards for example). Those will be distributed evenly across every box that gets sent out. In other words, everybody gets some. I'll make the cards with two or more players include at least one from your team if I can.

For those of you who have already claimed your team; you can pay the $20 via Paypal to my email address (krustytheclown138ATyahooDOTcom). Use the 'gift' option. Please also send me an email with your address. Thats it! You're done! If you haven't claimed youe team, do so now!

team break clearance

2011-09-05T05:50:00.000-07:00

The group break will be put on hold for the time being. I want to change a few things before I offer it up again. I do want to start the team break though. For those of you who don't remember or just don't know, I sorted out all my cards by team. Well, everything that isn't from this year and last year (unless its a duplicate). Everything from 1976 to 2009 is in there with some '10 and '11 mixed in. Each team came anywhere from 100 to 200+ cards. I am offering up a team of your choice plus a random team for $20, which includes shipping. Shipping these won't be too cheap so the $20 is covering mostly that, its really just clearing out some excess.

Now, what I want to do is fill 15 slots, then the 15 unclaimed teams will be randomed off. Or maybe once the 15 are claimed, the 15 others can be chosen by you guys. I don't know, I'll figure it out. You may claim as many teams as you like for the $20 each and if you claim more, see the list below for cost.

Like this:

1 team: $20
2 teams: $30
3 teams: $40
4 teams: $50
etc.

Remember, thats CLAIM, if you claim 3 teams, you will still get 3 random teams for a total of six. Included is everything that I'm not currently collecting. Meaning inserts, parallels, base cards, oddballs and the like. I will also include some cards with multiple players on them, as long as at least one player is from your team.

To claim a team, simply leave a comment stating which team(s) you'd like. Once 15 slots are filled, I'll deal with the remaining teams. I'll also let everyone know when to send the payment along to get it going. Any questions feel free to ask away, just in case I may have worded things weird. I do that often.

1- dominicfdny- Red sox
2- jason- Indians
3- spiegel83- Dodgers
4- sortingbyteams- Blue Jays
5- daddyohoho- Phillies
6- commishbob- Orioles
7- dogfacedgremlin- Pirates
8-
9-
10-
11-
12-
13-
14-
15-

break details (for those on the fence...)

2011-09-03T07:45:00.000-07:00

For those of you on the fence about the latest break, what can I do to sweeten the deal? Here are the details I released the other day:

Four slots, $60 per slot.

Rounds: (in no particular order)

- 1954 Topps $100+ (featuring the four cards I posted previously)
- four vintage rounds, with cards from 1954 to 1973 (grouped by decade)
- two auto rounds (one with veterans, one with current players)
- one relic round
- one round with legends variations from 2010 and 2011
- one 'mystery' round (not sure what it will be yet but it will be fun)

Ten rounds so far. Do I need to add more rounds? I may be able to come up with some. If any of you have ideas, lay 'em on me, so we can get this started.

1- dan (if you are still interested, let me know)
2-
3-
4-

another possible break

2011-08-30T12:02:00.000-07:00

The household is in one piece. Irene didn't hit us nearly as hard as it could have, thankfully. I do hope that everyone who did experience worse than we did up here is doing good and are all unharmed.

Now, I may have an idea for another break. This would probably be my final one for a little while due to the good stuff running low. I want to make it a good one though:

Uhh...not sure why they are sideways but you get the idea. The cost this time would be $60 but I'll have four entrants and each of them can pick one of these. They all book (yes, Beckett) at over $100. Sure book value is meaningless but it is just there for example. Along with these I'll have an auto round, a second and better auto round (with a couple Hall of Famers), a few vintage rounds and maybe some more depending on what I can come up with. Yes, $60 is high, my highest ever but then again, I wasn't giving away $100 to $200 cards. It will be worth it, I'll be making sure of that. If you are possibly interested in this one, let me know in the comments and once I get a few people on board, I'll lay out the details. Namely it will give me time to gauge interest and pull some good stuff out.

2011 a&g relic set

2011-08-26T11:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, some things accompany this post:

One, I know A&G has been out seemingly forever but I had an idea to finish up a "set".

Two, it's not a full set, as it is only one team,

and
Three, I know it's almost 'the thing to do' around here but hate on the Yankees is something I don't do. I'm a Jays fan first and a Yankee fan second.

Now, with all that out of the way, I'll get on to what I'm talking about. I admittedly picked up too much Ginter this year. I said I wouldn't but I did. I did finish off the set last week, all 350 cards. No extended minis for me. No insert cards either. Out of all the Ginter I did pick up, I managed to get four Yankee relics. Yes, horrific pulls for some (not you AJ or BA Benny) but not for me. I then decided to see how many Yankees there were in the set, saw that there were 12 and figured I could pretty easily get the rest. I pulled arguably the most pricey one (Jeter) along with three others I'll point out below. Oh and how much I paid for them too.

Burnett- pulled / Cano- $3 / Cervelli- pulled
Chamberlain- pulled / Gardner- $2 / Hughes- $1

Jeter- pulled / Martin- $1 / Posada- $2.30
Rodriguez- $3.25 / Swisher- $2.25 / Teixeira- $2.77

So as you can see, the most expensive one was Alex Rodriguez at a whopping three bucks and change. If you can finish off the Yankee portion of this set so cheap, every other team should be pure cake. I was also very thankful there wasn't a Mantle relic. I really didn't want to have to shell out for that. Some of these come in two variations, those being either a bat or jersey. I would prefer jerseys but I took bats where I did to get them on the cheap.

an anniversary!

2011-08-23T10:59:00.001-07:00

Normally I only talk baseball and cards on this blog. Every now and again, something happens and I feel the need to write about it. Today is one of those such days.

Today, 20 years ago to the day, Nintendo released this:

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Quite possibly the best system ever released. The expansive library, awesome graphics (for their time), faster processor, better sound chip and many more colors, gave this system the definitive edge over Sega's Genesis. Everything I just mentioned, the SNES did better. By this day in n 1991, the Genesis was already two years old, having been released on August 14th, 1989. Obviously this gave Nintendo some time to really wow consumers with their incredible hardware. A huge leap over the NES and a big step over Sega, the SNES was really a power to be contended with. The system ceased production in 1999 to make way for the newer hardware, that being the Nintendo 64 (released in 1996). The final game was a port of Frogger, put out in 1998. A good 7 year run produced a vast and excellent library with many, many classic titles of new and old franchises. Lets look at my top five favorties:

1) The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. My favorite Super NES game is also my favorite game of all time. The world is huge, gameplay perfect and a timeless story of a plucky young hero off to adventure and save the princess. I actually play this game pretty much annually and I still always cherish every moment.

2) Super Mario World. Building on what was the best Mario game for the NES, Super Mario Bros. 3, Mario World took that idea to a whole new level. MArio could fly with his new cape, ride Yoshi and explore 96 very different levels, full of platforming perfection.

3) Super Mario Kart. This game seemed kind of a sleeper until people played it. Sure the premise is a little weird but it started a whole new genre of games (the cute mascot kart racer genre) that would last until today. This game set the bar and few have matched it since. I may enjoy Mario Kart 64 a little more but this one will always have a special spot on the shelf.

4) Super Mario All-Stars. Containing Super Mario Bros. 1, 2, 3 and Lost Levels (Mario 2 in Japan). Sure its a compilation but its a compilation of four of the best games ever released on the NES. Personally I like 1 and 3 the best but you can't lose with any of these classics.

5) Super Metroid. This game took the Metroid idea and blew it away. Not only was the game bigger, better and more story oriented than the first but it also brought the franchise to new lofty heights that no other Metroid game has ever perched. The depth and exploration alone makes this a must play. Add in perfect controls, a good story and so much more and it all adds up to instant classic. Truly, a must play.

So there you have it. My top five Super Nintendo games. I got my system for Christmas in 1993 along with Mario World in the box and a copy of Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose! There was a coupon in the box for a free copy of Mario All-Stars that we promptly sent in. Waiting that 6 or so weeks to get it was seemingly forever but I had plenty to keep me occupied until then. Anyone else have a SNES? Or remember playing some classics way back?

my take on his take

2011-08-22T11:28:00.000-07:00

Chris over at Stale Gum made some excellent points on the hot topic of 2012 Topps. If you haven't read his latest post, click the link in the first sentence there to get right to it. I'll wait.

Back? Good article right? While I do agree with many of his points I do have to address some of them. I know he has a much bigger reader base than I and that it really doesn't matter what I think or say but I thought I would throw my 2 cents in.

He first mentions that the gloss and foil should go away. Topps will never do this and I'm not sure they should. Topps has had foil names on pretty much every issue of the flagship set since 1995 (1992 if you count Topps Gold parallels). Personally I don't mind it because I really don't want all my cards looking like Opening Day. Can they be hard to read at times? Yes, but as a company that makes things we look at, it is their responsibility to make cards easy to read. Some years are better than others. I really don't see foil or gloss going away.

He goes on to mention he would like to see a base set larger than 330 cards per series. I couldn't agree more with this. In fact, I have no idea why they cut the base set down to 660. 2004 was 733, an odd number sure but at least more players got cards than now. Almost mind boggling really because they are out to sell cards. If they make the base set bigger, wouldn't that make us buy more?

Next he addresses the wood-grain. I would love to see Topps go out on a limb and reproduce the 25 year gap with the wood style. 1962-1987-2012. Maybe it looks too much like Heritage this year and they think we're stupid and we'll get confused? Come on. Personally Topps hasn't made a bold statement with their base set since 1990. As ugly as it was, it sure sticks out in your memory, right?

Inserts, Oh the inserts. Yes, Topps has WAY too many inserts for a basic set. Most of them aren't even that great. I collected (or am collecting) two whole insert sets from 2011 (Diamond Stars and Kimballs). The rest were either just rehashes or just plain boring. 2012 seems no different. The walk-off subset is good but I could care less about the rest. Plus Chris makes another great point in that there are too many inserts AND they are too big. Yeah, they are. There shouldn't be more inserts than the base set, that is plain absurdity. I suppose you do have to sell packs and making huge insert sets seeded 1:8 packs does sell more packs. Pointless if you ask me (well, not if you think only of money), why not make 3 good insert sets and we will want to collect them all.

Gold huh? Well for some reason Topps has a huge thing for gold this year. Why? I suppose we'll never really know, except that they have to use themes and gimmicks now just to sell their base set. A sorry thought indeed, that they feel that just simply collecting the biggest set year in and year out just isn't enough. A shame, a damn shame that they feel that their flagship product can't carry it's own weight. Sure the hobby has changed but how many boxes of 1989 Topps did you tear through just trying to finish off that set? Did it have parallels? Or hits? Or even inserts? No. To all three. Did we care? Hell no, because it was Topps. It didn't matter what it looked like we all collected it every year. Some of us still do. Well, it is kind of our only choice now but whatever. Its TOPPS!!

His final point is about hits. Come on, no one buys Topps series 1 for the hits. Yes, they are nice to get but they don't need to be one per box. This is again, Topps' lack of faith in their product. By guaranteeing one hit per box, they know some would be more inclined to buy it due to the possibility of it being something big. A small possibility, yes but it is still there. Seems you can't buy ANY box without there being a guaranteed hit in it. Some sets it works. Allen & Ginter is good with the three but the mini relics and autos are part of what make that set fun.

Overall what Topps needs to do is get their head out of the clouds and get with the program. They will ruin this hobby with their overproduction and their overcalculation of they think we want. In reality, what ruined this hobby are the speculators. You know who I'm talking about. The guys that buy a case of what ever new set is out and doesn't care about the cards, just sells the case for (hopefully) a profit. They are the ones who are ruining the hobby, not Topps. Topps is just catering to them because they buy the most product. If it doesn't have the hits, it's not worth it. Sure, many of us bloggers here may not have the funds to buy cases or even boxes at times but we sure do love to collect and we cherish our cards. We go through them, read them, build sets and do the things you're supposed to do with baseball cards. You want proof? Just go onto the Blowoutcards forums. Supposed "collectors" who trash everything they can't make money on. Lineage? Topps' biggest bust in five years. Bowman Platinum? Pure trash. If they can't make bank on a case or a set, it is automatically the worst thing ever released on cardboard. Pure scumbags. As you've no doubt seen, I don't use profanity on this blog but I'm really having a hard time not using it when describing these people. Topps' only mistake is listening to these people and not us! They want the guaranteed hits and parallels and 1 of 1's, purely so they can profit from them.

So this post has taken a different form than I had imagined (I seem to be doing that a lot as of late) but just take a second to think about where your place in the hobby is. Then take a second to think about how it's not Topps ruining the hobby and that it is these people, nothing else. Yes, it is their right as citizens in a democratic society and Topps doesn't have to cater to them but they do. It was never about us, it was always about the money.

rippin' wax

2011-08-21T09:22:00.000-07:00

Lets rip some wax...well, plastic. While going through my box of packs, I decided to open one up.

A 1993 Topps rack pack. 45 cards of early 90's goodness. Normally I wouldn't even bother showing what I got out of a pack of cards from 1993 but this pack had so much star power, that if I had opened it up in 1993, I would have squealed with delight.

Here are the first nine:

Griffey, Dawson, Yount, Sandberg, all Hofers now (well, Griffey soon). HoJo, Glavine, Sosa, Martinez and Sheffield are all just icing on the 1993 cake.

The second nine:

A rookie cup! Hrbek, Kruk and Finley are some good players. Blyleven in what seems like it may be his final card (I forget if he is in '94 or later) and a great picture of Mack. I like the casual Karkovice with his catcher gear on in the dugout. The gold is Mike Scioscia, another quality pull. The other two golds were Jeff Parrett and Chad McConnell, a draft pick for Philly. Wow. What a rack pack. Seriously, five Hall of Famers and a gaggle of other good players. Too bad 1993 Topps is so overproduced...

what happened??

2011-08-19T10:20:00.000-07:00

So by now I'm sure many of you have seen and read about 2012 Topps flagship. I don't mind the design at all. Sure it is a little pedestrian but it doesn't look horrible. Simple really. A clean and simple look. However my gripe isn't with the design. What happened to the rumors of Topps releasing seven series over the course of the year? Bumping up the base set to 792 in the first six series and then a 300 or so card Update set? What foul and cruel person dangled this rumor in front of us, only to have it dashed by Topps themselves? OH CRUEL FATE WHY DO YOU MOCK ME??

...anyway.

Seriously, what happened? I was really looking forward to collecting a smaller set each month going toward the larger goal. It sounded great. Buying a hobby box would almost net you a full series X set, needing to buy less and collect more. Topps talked about 2012 being a 'game changer' and the seven series plan WAS a game changer. Well, more like a throwback to pre-1974 Topps baseball but it would be new to me and everyone else born after 1980. Again the cards look fine but seriously, what's different about another 330 card series 1 with a bunch of inserts and parallels? Oh, and another giveaway online. Ok, so hobby boxes have less packs (24 now as opposed to 36). Maybe the 'game changer' is that we will have to buy more. More like a 'wallet changer' if you ask me. I'll buy it though, as will most everyone. It also seems a tad weird that they are announcing this in August, as opposed to October/November when they first released images of 2011.

I just don't get it. Hopefully Topps has something else in store in this 'game changing' year for them. I mean, its not like they won't release the same stuff next year too. Allen & Ginter, Bowman (which were rumored to be inserts in 2012 flagship, remember?), Chrome, Heritage, Tribute, Triple Threads, etc. Just take this year's release schedule and put 2012 in place of all the 2011 and the 2012 release schedule is all set. Nothing will change. They won't release less product. Man, I just can't get over how disappointing it all is. Only in the hobby for under two years and I'm already dejected and disgusted with it. Good thing this blogging community exists because if it weren't for that, I would have lost interest long ago.

hank's missing!

2011-08-18T10:57:00.000-07:00

Corner that is. Before I went into the vintage legends scans, I wanted to touch upon what happened to my Hank Greenberg and why it needed to be replaced. Hank was card 1 in 2010, mirroring Prince Fielder, an accurate paring I suppose. Although normally Topps tends to pair up Hank Greenberg with Ryan Braun or Ike Davis (see 2010 Legendary Lineage subset) or other players based off of the fact that they are all Jewish. While there is nothing wrong with being proud or even just celebrating religion, I feel the comparisons should stick within the realm of baseball stats. The thing being that Hank was persecuted and treated differently due to his beliefs and was probably why it took him so long to get into the Hall of Fame, unfortunately. Players of today don't have the social issues that players of his day went through. No one is out in the stands shouting racial slurs at Carl Crawford as they did Jackie Robinson. Things are very different today and obviously for the better. No one need be persecuted or treated different due to who they are. Anyway, this post has turned into something completely different than I envisioned so before I go on and on, here is what I was going for.

I needed Hank for the collection and his card is one of the tougher ones to come by. I was very pleased I won it for around $12. The card came quick but when I opened the envelope this is how I found it:

Now, I open my packages with a boxcutter. Maybe not the best way, (obviously I need to be more careful huh?) but it gets the job done. I slit the top part of the envelope about an inch down from the end and I noticed I had cut the corner off of poor Hank here. Of course, it is my fault for feverishly opening up the envelope with total disregard of its contents but would it have killed the seller to tape up the top of the top-loader? No. It wouldn't have. Needless to say, I had to get another one. Luckily I found one on Check Out My Cards for $9.95, so I snapped it up and now Hank is in good standing with the rest of the binder. The cut one above is in my doubles section. I open packages much more careful now. Or at least I just pay attention.

round 13 (final)

2011-08-16T11:30:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are in the final round! I hope this break was as enjoyable as you had hoped. This being the final round, with the most fun cards, I am doing something different. Everyone still gets two picks but only one pick at a time to keep things fair. See the order below.

Now let me explain what these are:

Top Row: 1939 Play Ball/1941 Play Ball
Middle Row: 1949 Bowman/1951 Bowman/1969 Topps Deckle Edge
Bottom Row: 1975 Topps/1975 Topps/1961 Fleer

When choosing your card, just say the year and brand (unless its either of the 75s), I'll know what to grab. Like I said before, do you go with the Hall of Famer or the old cards? A motley bunch for sure but there is some interesting baseball card history here. The reason I wanted to make it one pick at a time is for fairness. Just so one person doesn't end up with both 75's or both Play Balls (unless it just happens that way). I wanted a nice mix with equal chance for everyone to get something kinda old. I do want to thank everyone for their participation. I believe I have your addresses but if I don't you'll be hearing from me asking for it so I can get these out.

jeff- 75 topps aaron
cardanathema- 41 playball
shadytwine- 51 bowman
ryan- 39 playball
jeff- 49 bowman
cardanathema- 61 fleer
shadytwine- 75 topps kaline
ryan- 69 deckle

round 12

2011-08-16T10:18:00.000-07:00

Next up, the fifties! 1953 to 1956 to be exact: (two picks again)

shadytwine- young/moore
ryan- runnels/jacobs
cardanathema- janowicz/addis
jeff- brewer/lennon

round 11

2011-08-15T14:36:00.001-07:00

Another random round, with two picks each:

Sorry about the sideways Danny, he wouldn't fit on the scanner.

ryan- chipper/delgado
cardanathema- valencia/d'arnaud
jeff- thomas/austin
shadytwine- johnson/chico

round 10

2011-08-15T11:36:00.000-07:00

Some more fun stuff. The Braun is from 2011 Lineage, the Topps Giants set, Chapman is also from 2011, one of the N43 toppers, the Jordan rookie is, well, Jordan and the Baseball Bucks Hanley Ramirez is from this years Heritage. One pick per this round.

cardanathema- hanley bucks
jeff- chapman
shadytwine- braun
ryan- mj rookie

round 9

2011-08-14T15:31:00.000-07:00

Here is a...different round. These are all my non-baseball hits. Each of you gets one pick.

jeff- noah
shadytwine- palmer
ryan- hughes
cardanathema- prokop

round eight

2011-08-14T09:27:00.000-07:00

Next up, 1957-1959:

shadytwine- pignatano/cerv
jeff- bell/ricketts
cardanathema- piersall/lynch
ryan- porterfield/jurges

round seven

2011-08-13T14:24:00.000-07:00

More vintage, gettin' older! Some 1961 to 63's:

jeff- clendonon/lopat
cardanathema- mcbean/johnson
ryan- o'dell/ws highlight
shadytwine- muffett/romano

round 6

2011-08-12T17:23:00.001-07:00

Just did relics, so why not autos?

cardanathema- fowler/martis
ryan- mcdonald/freese
shadytwine- schafer/kottaras
jeff- jepsen/crowe

round 5

2011-08-12T09:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, lets get back to business, shall we? Time to break up this vintage party with some relics.

Again, still choosing two here.

ryan- pence/pena
shadytwine- lee/reynolds
jeff- sandoval/feliz
cardanathema- lowrie/ramirez

my apologies and a d'oh!

2011-08-11T11:26:00.000-07:00

I know I'm in the middle of a draft break but I just had to get this off of my brain. I am a dope. There I said it. Here is why:

I had the chance to meet a living baseball legend. I even heard it on the radio, so it was totally a go. Except that I either heard it wrong, or totally processed the information I heard wrong.

Story is that Connecticut has two minor league teams, the New Britain Rock Cats (Twins double A affiliate) and the Connecticut Tigers (Tigers single A affiliate. The Tigers held a game at HOME (more on that in a second) on Monday. Well at this game, signing autographs and cheering on his grandson was none other than Tigers legend Al Kaline. The way I heard and misinterpreted what I heard on the radio was that he was going to be at a CT Tigers game, in support of his grandson but for some reason I thought the game was an away game. WHY THE HELL WOULD THEY ADVERTISE AN AWAY GAME?? I believe they played the Lowell Spinners, not a Connecticut team. Why would I think that?? Then I totally forgot all about it until this morning, when on the Blowout Cards forums, there was a guy talking about what he had gotten signed. Kaline limited autos to two items but still. ARGH...Talk about missed opportunity. What a schmuck I can be sometimes...

In some good news though, I have managed to complete THREE sets this week. I completed 2011 Allen & Ginter (all 350, in the new fancy binder, with a big help from Chris over at Nachos Grande), 2011 Topps legend variations (all 49 of them) and the 2010 Topps legend variations (I have a story that I'll share at a later date about this one). The 2010 spans series 1, 2 and Update and it is finally complete. I run some scans of everything soon, along with my steals and deals (and not so deals). I know we've all seen 2011 but some of the series 1 2010 guys are pretty tough to come by (Maris, Musial, Greenberg), so maybe you haven't seen them before. 2009 is kind of underway, although I don't seem to be as aggressive with it. Maybe due to me not liking 2009s design so much.

round 4

2011-08-10T16:32:00.000-07:00

Moving right alog, some cards from 1964 to 1966.

shadytwine- heffner/malzone
jeff- abernathy/power
ryan- johnson/sherry
cardanathema- fowler/altman

round 3

2011-08-10T14:03:00.001-07:00

Well whatta ya know? Here is Mr. Longborg again. Cards from 1967 to 1969:

jeff- longborg/hendley
ryan- mccarver/haller
cardanathema- short/klaus
shadytwine- bateman/quilici

round 2

2011-08-10T12:26:00.000-07:00

Some cards from 1966 to 1969:

ryan- lonborg/hargan
cardanathema- patterson/zimmerman
shadytwine- dierker/johnstone
jeff- napoleon/merritt

vintage break round 1

2011-08-10T10:57:00.000-07:00

Lets start this thing! Everyone will get the following number of cards from these years:

1970- 4
1971- 2
1972- 4
1973- 8
1974- 4
1975- 4

Ok. That covers the 70's, now on to the earlier stuff. We'll start with 1960 to 1965:

Here is the first order of picks. For all these rounds pick TWO cards, unless otherwise noted.

cardanathema- ramos/white
shadytwine- rice/bailey
jeff- allison/leaders
ryan- nichols/semproch

closed

2011-08-09T16:34:00.000-07:00

The break sign-ups are now closed and we will begin the picks tomorrow! Certainly there will be fun and surprises so stay tuned!

vintage draft break sign-ups (halfway there)

2011-08-08T12:30:00.000-07:00

We're halfway there. Four have signed up, four slots left! See the details below. On another note, everything is sorted out for the team break that will happen a little while from now. I want to get the packing material and such before I begin that. Take part in the vintage draft for now and for those of you who this is your first, I'll go easy on you ;). Kidding, it's all very good fun.

***Details***

Eight slots here. This break will consist mainly of vintage, ranging from 1952 to 1969. There will be seven rounds of picks from those years. Everyone will get some cards from 1970 to 1975, just for participating. I have divvied up and divided them evenly over the eight slots. It was done by year, so everyone will get the same amount from each year. There will be an oddball vintage round as well, featuring cards from 1939 to 1975. Not crazy oddball but the choice may be tough. Do you pick the old card due to it's age, or the more recent card with the Hall of Famer? You decide. There will also be a relic round (all 2011 Ginter), an auto round and a random round. The random round will feature stuff that didn't fit into the other rounds. Could be relics/autos/other cool stuff.

It'll be just as fun as the past few have been, I'll see to it. Cost is $20 and if you want in let me know in the comments and you can send the payment via Paypal to my email (krustytheclown138ATyahooDOTcom), using the 'gift' option. I only have enough for eight participants, so unfortunately I cannot extend the number of slots in this break, so sign up quick!

1-cardanathema (paid)
2-shady twine (paid)
3-jeff (paid)
4-ryan (paid)
5-
6-
7-
8-

2011 topps lineage (update)

2011-08-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

As I noted on the bottom of yesterday's post, 2011 Topps Lineage is in stores. Well, hobby stores anyway. I think everyone forgot about this set, or they just didn't care. Hot off the heels of Allen & Ginter and last weeks Bowman Platinum, Lineage seems like a fun set collector's set. Here are the base cards:

Personally, I think these look awesome. I believe they could have held this design for 2012 Topps and I would have been happy with that. A 200 card set, that has an excellent mix of stars new and old. Even some faces we haven't seen in a while make a return here (see Belle and O'Neill). As you notice in the bottom row...Rookie Cups! They took 10 guys who never got a rookie cup card and gave them one. They are the final 10 cards in the set (191-200) and the trophy on the front actually says their rookie year, which was a nice touch. Seeing Ripken with a rookie trophy is pretty cool. My one complaint about the set is the backs, which I'll get to later.

Here are the parallels of the set:

These follow suit for the 1975 mini issue. Same size and everything. The players do have the same picture on the mini and the regular card, which different pics from the base set would make this parallel set a 'must collect'.

These are modeled after refractors essentially. Super shiny goodness.

These are just like the series 1 and 2 shinys. Nothing wrong with that at all. These look good with this.

Here are the Topps Giants. These come one per box and have a relic parallel. There are 20 of these and seem like they are the same size as the originals.

Now, on to the inserts:

These are the 3D cards. Kind of hard to tell on here but they look pretty good in person. Kind of like the Topps 2020 inserts from last year. There are 25 of these and they are un-numbered.

Anyone collecting in the 80's surely remembers these. These look awesome with modern players on them and look pretty true to the originals. I think there are 20 of these as the back indicates but the checklist seems messed up and says 19. Topps QC strikes again.

These are Stand-Ups. Fold 'em and see your favorite players come to life!...or something. Kinda neat. 25 un-numbered cards to collect here. (did I mention I hate things that are un-numbered?)

The cloth stickers. May be hard to tell but these are kind of flimsy, as they are actually cloth. 50 of these suckers to collect and stick everywhere!

Now, here is the card back. Yes it is in Spanish, as these are the Venezuelan inserts. The fronts are the same as the base set but they are numbered TV## and have Spanish on the back. 25 cards here. See, the back is the only fault in this set. I would have preferred lifetime stats on the back (and even more preferred would be a vertical back with a tiny pic and vital info and stats but oh well) but the writing is at least interesting.

The hits:

Here are a sample of the hits. The McCutchen auto is a reprint auto, where Topps reprints a card and has them sign it, on-card. They range from 1952 Topps to 1990 Topps for Nolan Ryan (as used on the sell sheet) to Andrew's 2010 here. Nice idea, I say. The middle auto is from the 1952 autograph set and features current players in the (now kind of droll) 1952 design. Decent names too like Posey, Jimenez and Freeman. The final card is the relics. They come in the 1975 mini style. Not much more to say there. They also have a jumbo relic too but I haven't pulled one.

In conclusion, I think this is a really great idea and I think Topps has done a fine job capturing some of their oddball heritage that we may (or may not) fondly remember during our collecting in the days of yore. The base set has a slick design that I feel outshines many of their flagship releases with its simple yet modern approach. Again my only complaint is the backs but when the fronts look this good and the rest of the inserts and parallels are this fun I can't really say too much bad about it.

Gasp!! A different picture!!

***UPDATE***

After a little research, I have found that this set will come to retail stores too, like Target and WallyWorld. Blasters come 7 packs per box plus a guaranteed mini relic (for the assumed $20), which seems pretty good once you look at the relic checklist. Some duds but some big names on there too.

The 80's looking rookie subset is in fact, 19 cards. Apparently card 15 was skipped but there are all 19 players that are listed on the checklist. So cards 16-20 are really 15-19.

Also, some folk on the Blowout card forums are bitching about this not being a set to make your money off of. Clearly this is a true collectors set and not a Bowman product just to make money off of. I feel that Topps put some good effort into this release and it should appease real collectors (not those looking for profits) in a good way.

poll time (plus)

2011-08-03T10:06:00.000-07:00

Time to take a little poll. For those of you who are interested in the next draft break and the team break (or both), read on.

The team break will have 15 entrants. Each person picks their team, then gets a random team. Like I had mentioned, if you pick the Blue Jays, you can also pick your team as well. Teams are topping out at about 200 cards and have roughly anywhere from 100 to that 200. Some teams that I've never traded with fans of, like the Padres, Twins and the Pirates have more. I'm thinking $20 per slot, breaking down to $10 per team and covers shipping.

The draft break will be mainly vintage from 1953 to 1975. There is an oddball vintage round featuring cards from 1939 to 1975. Eleven rounds to pick the cards from 1953 to 1969 and I have split up the 70's cards to have an even number of cards from which ever year, to be equal for each participant. There will be an auto round, a relic round and a random round (different things like autos, relics, manu-things, etc.) plus what ever surprises I may be able to conjure up. Eight slots, at $20 per slot.

If you are interested in either of these let me know which which one you'd like, which will determine which I do first. If you are interested in both, let me know which you would like to do first.

PS- Anyone remember these:

2011 Lineage is OUT. It snuck into stores today. I'll give my love/hate diagnosis probably tomorrow or Friday.

topps is tops!

2011-08-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not a 'set-in-a-binder' type of guy. My sets get relinquished to that white box hell that is card storage. I just simply don't have the space to have binders for every set. The sets rest on the top shelf of my closet, in their respectively labeled (or factory set) boxes. Namely Topps flagship sets from 1982 to now. Oh sure, there is the 2009 T206 set and that 2007 Fleer set. Even that 1991 Upper Deck set too. I think most all would agree that a set looks way better in a binder. You know, displayed for viewing as opposed to sitting in a box. Well, some sets look better than others and I think Allen & Ginter to be one of them. Choose your year, any year would look great complete in a binder. Well, this year Topps went and made these:

I think themed binders are a good idea. Too bad you can't get them for 1988 Topps but from Topps website you can get one for at least the past two years of the base set, Heritage and A&G. I know those of you who bought A&G this year got some of these:

We all did. In droves. They do make good packing material though. The coupon is pretty useful too. Colbey of Cardboard Collections fame, recently posted about these, asking about quality. Well, his post prompted me into looking into them and I remembered the coupon and that I had the $10 off code from the Diamond Giveaway to use in the Topps Shop. These combined brought the price down to a more reasonable amount. They want $16.95 for the binder with ten pages. Not bad but then you factor in the $9.65 for shipping (UPS) and it makes it a little harder to swallow. Well, I ordered it on Sunday and it arrived today. Topps turn around time to me is quick, as they are in New York. After the item was placed into the cart and shipping was added, it came to $26.60. Add the coupon and the $10 and it dropped to $14.41. Surely an acceptable cost. The binder itself is well made and is padded on the top and bottom. A D-ring setup on the inside, some old-timey art that looks like a hobby box on the front and a nice black cover and inside, all adds up to one classy looking binder. So if you guys on the Diamond Giveaway site that it that $10 code, with an Allen & Ginter set (and coupon), may want to look into grabbing this. I may even want to grab the 2011 series 1 and 2 binder just to have that set in it. Bravo Topps, bravo.

topps...(sheesh)...again.

2011-08-01T11:16:00.000-07:00

As most of you know (mostly due to me mentioning it numerous times), I am putting together the legends variations sets from 2009, 2010 and 2011. I've worked the most on '10 and '11, as I figure I'll do '09 once these are done. Now, being that we, the collectors, have only one company to rely on for our cards, we are no stranger to Topps. Topps likes to reuse photos on their cards, or even just use older photos for a current release. Just check out Luke Hochevar from 2011 series 2 (card #620), you'll notice that on his arm is a 40th anniversary patch for the Royals organization. Seeing as how the Royals debuted in 1969, I believe this photo was taken in 2009. Used on a 2011 card. They couldn't get another picture of him? Or at least airbrush the patch out? Or look at Aaron Hill from 2010 and 2011. Both the same picture, taken probably in 2009. Seriously. This however, was the one that takes the cake:

George Sisler. Certainly one of the greats of the game but they had no other photos of him? Every one of these came out in 2010! Two short prints on top (series 1 and Update for the team card) and two inserts on the bottom (Turkey Red and Vintage Legends). I know he played from 1915 to 1930 and photos were limited back then but really, find a new picture. I know they exist, I've seen them! Conlon had a couple. Even a few Topps cards from other sets or years had different ones. Just laziness I guess. That or money. They probably have the license to certain photos from his estate and are limited to them. Ah, well.

On the legends variation front, I am almost finished with 2010 and 2011. As of right now, I need 4 for 2011 (3 are on the way) and 5 for 2010 (4 are on the way). For the 2010, some of the series 1 cards get tough to find. Roger Maris and Stan Musial proved to be the toughest and I had to get Musial off of checkoutmycards.com because it never really surfaces on eBay. Maris also rarely appears and I still have trouble locating one. 2011 I only need the Mantle but it's not a matter of finding it, I just don't want to pay $20 just because its Mickey. Once these two years I'll work on 2009, which I have about 8 of so far.

maybe it was a good idea...

2011-07-31T13:10:00.000-07:00

...to leave the house today.

Nuff said!