triple threads break update, filled! with an update!

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...

...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)

final threads, part two

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

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'

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.

the cold, the frustration and the hit of a lifetime

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.

the good side of ebay (for me)

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

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.