Available for Trade (3/14/2010) Cards I Need (12.10.2010)

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Cool pull from 2009 Heritage Hi# Retail

Went to Target tonight with the crazies. Not because I needed anything but that's just what I do when I'm in Kernserville. I got a couple fat packs and 4 retail packs.

I was waiting in the car for Kim and I couldn't wait so I opened a fat pack and got nothin. Then I opened one of the retail packs and I got something pretty damn cool.

It's a piece of seat from the old Seals Stadium.


The thing that really excited me about this is that I knew who the San Francisco Seals were. Three of the DiMaggio brothers (Joe, Vince and Dom) played for the Seals. I remember a very long time ago, I wrote a report about Joe Dimaggio and I thought his time (as well as his brothers') with the Seals was intriguing.

Having a piece of that stadium is pretty cool. I like it way better than the Adam Jones relic I got out of a hobby box. It isn't exactly a Roger Maris pants jersey. But getting a piece of baseball history in a retail pack is pretty frickin sweet.

Merry Christmas to everyone in the blogosphere. I'd like to give a shot out to William of Foul Bunt,PA of The Player To Be Named Later, Marie and Sooz of A Cardboard Problem, Happy Holidays to you and your families.

Black Friday Booty: Part 2

Part of my order from Blowoutcards were 2 boxes of 2008 Masterpieces retail. I was hoping to get some of the 5 short print cards I needed. Also the boxes contain Yankee Stadium Legacy cards which is a plus and there are some neat inserts in there.

These are the cards I pulled. I didn't get a single short print I needed and the inserts were "meh." I needed almost every Yankee Stadium Legacy card I pulled.

The cards below are available for trade EXCEPT THE OZZIE SMITH. That one goes in my personal collection. The Sizemore is #/125 and the SPs are: 95,96,99,108,113,117,117,118.

Box #1


Box #2
The box would've been a total loss except for the YSL cards I pulled and I like the Ozzie Smith card.

And I went ahead and bought the rest of the SPs I needed for 2008 Masterpieces so that set has finally been completed.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Black Friday Booty: Part 1

I'm going to try to show off some of the cards I acquired from my purchases from Blowout Cards during Black Friday.

These cards were part of the 2009 Topps National Convention VIP 1959 Retro Card Set.














I really bought this set for this card. What could've been a 1959 Roger Maris card as a Yankee.



The set is sold out at Blowout Cards but Dave and Adam's sells it for 24.99.

I was able to purchase this set for $9.99

I've wanted them ever since I've seen them but I wasn't going to pay $25. For $10 I get all 5 cards even though I only wanted the Maris.

It would've been pretty interesting if there were traded sets back in the 60's. I'm trying to think of a big name player who would be the most popular traded player but I'm drawing a blank.

If you can think of any I'd love to hear them.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

My Masterpiece of Mattingly Obsession

I've just spent an hour or so scanning about 30 Mattingly cards. I feel a sense of accomplishment and am very proud of myself. Most people will think I'm crazy for doing this. I found a set that had inserts that were obtainable and that I actually liked. So I kept a watchful eye on eBay for the cards. I have to admit that once I got to the final 3 cards I went way overboard to get the cards. But I was so close to having every single card that I didn't care.

I like the 2008 Donruss Threads set. When I returned to the hobby I was upset to learn that Donruss didn't have a license. I was a Donruss collector back in the 90's and I really enjoyed their 94 and 95 releases. So I bought a box of 2008 Threads and pulled a Pete Rose auto relic and a Don Mattingly base card. But I didn't stop there. I kept going.....

Mattingly jersey relic (#/150) and bat relic (#/250) and base card

Green Proof (#/250) and Silver Proof (#/100)

Gold Proof and Gold Proof Signature both (#/50)
Platinum Proof and Platinum Proof Signature both (#/25)

Prime Jersey # to 10

Century Collection Prime (#/10) Regular (#/75)

Baseball Americana
Relic (#/100) Position Relic (#/50) Regular (#/500)


Relic Auto (#/25) Auto (#/25)

The Diamond Kings
Silver (#/250) Gold (#/100) Platinum (#/25)
Diamond King Framed Red (#/100) Blue (#/50) Green (#/25)
Diamond King Black Border (#/10)
Diamond King auto (#/25) and base
Diamond King Relic Cards
relic (#/150) Prime (#/25) relic auto (#/25)

And the grand finale the Prime relic auto (#/10)


Well there you have it. It took a year but I finally collected every available Don Mattingly card from the 2008 Threads set.

I double checked my cards with the checklist found here (it was the only one I could find).

So this is my obsession.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

That card "you'd like to own someday"

We all do it. We scout over eBay looking for cards we'd like to add to our collection. Some cards are "must haves." We've seen them before and always wanted to add them to our collections.

Then there are those really awesome looking cards you would love to add to your collection. You didn't know it existed. But once you saw it, you knew someday you would make that card yours. I'm not talking about a short print Derek Jeter/Albert Pujols auto card. I'm talking about something attainable but might be too much for you to shell out at the time.

I found a card like that not too long after getting back into collecting. It was a Mattingly card from a set I'd never seen (nor will ever open a pack of).

2005 Upper Deck Ultimate Signature Edition Don Mattingly and Yogi Berra


I just thought it was a really cool card and it features two Yankee LEGENDS. Not only that but something that made me even happier when I finally got it was that the autos are ON CARD! That means both Yogi Berra and Don Mattingly had to touch that card to sign it. So I could do a NCIS analysis of the card and see both Yogi's and Donnie Baseball's finger prints. That might be taking it too far.

But I was able to get this card for HALF of what I've seen it go for before. Thankfully it's a buyer's market. I'm extremely happy to have this piece added to my collection.

Is there an awesome card floating around eBay that YOU plan on adding to your collection someday?


Wednesday, November 4, 2009

2009 World Champions!!!!

The new house has been christened!


Congratulations to the 2009 New York Yankees, THANK YOU FOR AN AMAZING SEASON!!

Monday, October 26, 2009

YANKEES WIN THE PENNANT!!!

We are going to the World Series and I am so excited. I hope it's a great World Series and we can pull it off against the Phillies. I wouldn't be surprised if it goes down to 7 games and it's a dog fight the whole way. Can't wait til Wednesday. (image courtesy of Sooz)


Thursday, October 15, 2009

My not so exciting first ever 1/1

It's been a long time since I've blogged but I haven't had much to blog about. I significantly curbed my card purchases, well at least in my eyes. So I haven't really come across anything interesting until now.

A few weeks back I bought a few packs of ticket to stardom to see how I'd do. Sometimes packs are like lotto tickets. You buy the $1 scratch offs and you might win a free ticket, $1 or $2 but every so often you'll get that $20, $40 or $100 ticket. That's the one we're always looking for.

Well, needless to say I pulled my first 1/1 card. At least that's what Topps says it is.


While I was excited to pull the card, I'm a skeptic at heart. So we look up 2009 reagan on eBay and see what we have:

This one is available on ebay

And these have already sold


So 1/1? Doesn't seem like it. Not sure what makes my card a 1/1 vs all the others that have sold on eBay. It's a rather disappointing end to something that could've been epic and exciting for me. I don't believe in artificial 1/1's. If a card is someone's jersey # that doesn't make it a 1/1 anymore than any of the other numbers in the sequence.

I'm sure one of these days I'll pull a 1/1 card that's unique and exciting. Either that or win the lottery, whichever.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Two Packs of 2009 Topps Chrome

I visited the local hobby shop today to pick up some binders (I've been on vacation all week). They finally got 2009 OPC and they had the new 2009 Topps Chrome. The OPC packs yielded nothing that stands out. But I thought I would show what I got in my Chrome packs.


I got a Brad Hawpe #/25 and a Manny Corpas WBC card. Check out the ghost figure behind Orlando Hudson. Oohhhh spooky!

I will at least go after the Yankee cards, specifically the parallels for Nick Swisher and Xavier Nady. If I feel ambitious I'll collect the set. I've probably stretched myself thin with all the sets I'm collecting this year. But now that Topps has exclusive rights for 2010, I think I'll have plenty of time to finish out my 2009 sets.

Waking up to a nightmare

I was sleeping on the couch with the puppy at about 2:30am. I awoke not knowing what time it was nor where Kim was. The only thing I knew is that the puppy, at some point in time, snuggled up underneath me to join me in my nap. I took her out to the bathroom in the dead of the night picking her up and carrying her out over the water. It had rained. She did her business and I brought her back in the same way I took her out. I went and got a soda and sat down to the Internet and checked the scores. The Yankees had won and the Red Sox lost so it was a good night. Checked my fantasy stats and saw I was up 6-1-3 and Thome hit 2HRs. I was feeling real proud of myself for taking him off the bench and starting him.

Then I checked the blogs.

I first saw this headline from Gellman and didn't think anything of it:
Topps Exclusive Is Bad For Business

Then I saw this one and hit the panic button:
Breaking News: Topps gets exclusive rights to MLB cards

This has to be some sort of baseball card nightmare. While I enjoy Topps products this year, I've always found their offerings campy at best. With the exception of Heritage and Allen & Ginter (which is wearing out its welcome apparently), their products have left some things to be desired.

I do have to admit though, Topps Chrome is growing on me. I bought a box of 2008 Chrome and enjoyed busting it way more than any box I've busted this year. And I've considered collecting the 2008 Topps base set now that I have Topps 2009 base set. I'm also working on the 2009 Heritage set and 2009 Allen & Ginter (with Kim....sorta).

All that aside, that doesn't mean I've turned my back on Upper Deck. I still enjoy their products. I'm working on the 2009 UD set and the 2009 O-Pee-Chee set. I'm sure in a couple of months I will be buying packs or a box of Goodwin cards. And I'm still collecting the ultimate Yankee fan set the Yankee Stadium Legacy (1256 and counting).

My point is that I enjoy the offerings from both companies and I don't really pay much attention to Donini because of their lack of license. I liked 2008 Threads but since then I haven't payed any attention to anything they've released lately. Part of that is the lack of a license and the other part is the unappealing design. But to be honest, the lack of license is a really big part of the turnoff. I can't fathom Upper Deck not having a license next year. I can't stand seeing that New York (AL) on the card and glaring bright flashes over the logo or magically photoshopped jerseys and helmets that have no logos.

I read the New York Times article on this and all I could think is what a crock. "Confusion" on what products are out there? Most of what I've seen at Walmart and Target are Topps and Upper Deck base, Heritage and Allent & Ginter. Too many products? Too confusing for kids? And the article talks about the last 30 years when other products entered the market and confused people. Which makes me think of the cards from the 50's, 60's and 70's when the game was great. It was America's game. But much like the game itself today, baseball cards aren't what they used to be. Our game is riddled with PED and 20million dollar a year players. Our game is modern and so should our card collecting.

Giving Topps and exclusive contract will utlimately hurt the hobby. Many collectors, and by collectors I mean grown ups, will leave the hobby or turn to older cards. I know they want to bring kids back to the hobby but I just don't see that happening. Baseball cards reached their pinnacle during the golden age of baseball. Baseball isn't that same game anymore. And if you look at the products that come out, the hobby is geared toward the people who collected back then. Think about it. Goudey, Heritage, O-Pee-Chee and other retro-styled sets flood the market. Even players depicted on cards are from that golden era of baseball. They could gear sets toward adults with kids so they adults could try and get their kids involved. But to be perfectly honest, if I was a kid in this day and age and my dad wasn't into baseball or card collecting, I wouldn't spend a dime on baseball cards.

Then there's the concept of competition. If you think about products in the world that exist almost completely uncontested the you realize how they charge whatever they want. Your choice is whether to buy or not to buy rather than just picking an alternative. My world revolves around computers so when I think of competition I think of AMD vs Intel and nVidia vs ATI/AMD. When one company has large technological gains over another, prices get high and they stay there. The minute the other company picks up the slack and closes the gap, then both companies have competitive prices. How threatened did Upper Deck and Topps seem when Donruss reared its head again? I didn't see anyone running for the hills.

The bottom line is Topps can produce whatever trash they want. They have the exclusive license. They can create Triple Threads, CoSigners, Sterling and whatever else they want. While we won't have UDX anymore, we'll never see Masterpieces again unless Topps creates a cheap knockoff. And remember that MLB wants to get kids back into collecting. So 99 cent packs will be the norm which means cheap cardboard and unappealing designs. You might as well take a picture of the player and slap their name on the front in white font and call it a day. More worthless jersey and auto cards of players who you never heard of will be the "hits" in boxes.

Like most people, I don't know where that'll leave my card collecting for next year. Even when I was a kid, I always leaned toward non-Topps products. Donruss, Pinnacle, Score, Fleer, Upper Deck were usually my first choices over Topps. I still can't believe they're all gone and only Topps is left.

Thankfully as a player collector I can focus on Don Mattingly cards and YSL even more. And I won't have a lot of Phil Hughes cards to collect because there will only be one company producing cards. The only set Topps will produce with Mattingly in it is Sterling and that's pure garbage. It's essentially the same card over and over again in different configurations for an extreme amount of money. That product makes me dread the future with Topps.

I expect every collector (except Topps fanboys) to be livid about this news. The hobby will not be the same until that multi-year Topps license is up and more competition is allowed to enter the playing field. But what can we do? Petition MLB to stop this and allow Upper Deck and other companies to enter the field of competition? They'll never listen, they've never listened to the fans before so why would they listen to collectors now?

Really, did anyone ever listen to the collectors?

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Yankee Stadium Legacy HELP!

I'm looking for Babe Ruth card #6 from the Yankee Stadium Legacy set. That card has eluded me and it currently goes for way too much money on eBay. I'm trying to stay strong and not try to buy it.

I'd rather trade for the card. Especially if someone really doesn't want the card.

Contact me and we'll work something out.

Thanks blogosphere!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Perfection

Mark Buehrle just pitched a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays. Centerfielder Dewayne Wise, who replaced Quentin in the outfield, made a spectacular catch that will probably be the defensive play of the year.

Through the marvel of modern technology that is the MLB.TV package, I was able to watch the 9th inning and enjoy a few minutes of perfection.

Happily, Mark is on my fantasy team and helped me out in what looks to be another week where I get pummeled by my head-to-head competitor.

A big congrats to Mark on his perfect game.


FYI My primary computer is dead so I don't have my scanner which is usually the tool I use to blog. I had a whole lot of cool things I got from fellow card shop visitors that I wanted to show off. When I fix it I should be back up to blogging on a fairly infrequent basis yet again.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Evan Longoria gets DIRRRTY

I pulled this relic card from a box of A&G this past weekend.

That dirt was on the card when I pulled it. I remarked to Kim (who was helping break our two boxes) that it had dirt on it but it doesn't look quite like dirt to me if you catch my drift. But I'll take it.

I also pulled the Unstoppable Upton brothers:

Two batty Camerons, no relation:
And all well that ends...Wells:



6 relics in two boxes. We got a bunch of minis but nothing overly exciting. The hoodwinks are good fun. And Kim went squee when she pulled the Milky Way. And we're both big fans of the Pi hoax.

I've seen a lot of heat on 2009 A&G. This is Kim's second year collecting these cards and my first. This is a set Kim and I can do together because it appeals to us both. It has baseball players, parallel inserts, autos, relics. For Kim it has art, history, science and cultural appeal. It's fun discovering this set with Kim. And when the blasters hit Target and Walmart, we'll get those too and build our set.

We'll be working together to complete the set as well as most of the blogosphere. Just some good old fashioned set building fun.