the break

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

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

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

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!

...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

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

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'

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...

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

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...)

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

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

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!

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?