Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Dime Box doozies



Goose looks like he should be a real life Texas Ranger with that cold stare and rockin 'stache.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

"Charity" break?

So last night I posted again about wanting to do a "charity" group case break. View From the Skybox suggested that I drop a couple boxes from the break and thus drop the slot price since with Christmas approaching some collectors may not be able to find the money to take part. This hadn't occurred to me but it makes sense. So I dropped two boxes from my shopping cart on Dave and Adam's. A third is now out of stock so I added a new box to the mix. Here is what I am looking at now.

1999 Topps Gold Label
2004 Upper Deck SP Prospects
2006 Upper Deck SP Authentic
2008 Topps Finest
2011 Topps Lineage
2012 Upper Deck SP Signature Edition
2012 Panini Prizm
2013 Bowman Platinum

Slots are now priced at $40 for the first and $35 for each slot after that. What do you guys think?

You can read about why I want to do this break here: http://needmorecardboard.blogspot.com/2013/10/would-you-take-part-charity-break-of.html

"Charity" break?

Recently I posted about possibly doing a break to help raise funds to go towards my summer missions internship in Ukraine. I didn't receive any responses before so I'm going to try again. You can read about it here:

http://needmorecardboard.blogspot.com/2013/10/would-you-take-part-charity-break-of.html

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Contest winnings

So a couple weeks ago Play at the Plate ran a contest to guess how much he spent on cards from a former LCS owner. I won the contest and he sent me a nice stack of great cards of some of my favorite Braves players from sets I had never collected. Here's what he sent.


2002 Donruss Originals


1999 Topps Gold Label

I really like the look of these cards. They have a nice refractor sheen that didn't show up in the scan. I may need to hunt down a box of this to break.


1999 Fleer Brilliants


1998 Flair Showcase


1998 UD SPx 0635/4500


1998 UD SPx 4216/4500


1998 UD SPx 4499/4500


1998 UD SPx 3050/5000


1998 UD SPx 1681/7000


1997 UD3

When I first looked at this card it was sitting flat on the table and I thought the right side was just a mirror of sorts. Then I picked it up and realized that it was translucent and had another picture of Dye. It didn't show up well when scanned as you can see, but it looks pretty cool in person.


1997 UD3


So, a great set of Braves cards from Play at the Plate! Thanks!!!










Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Allen & Ginter box break Pt. 3

And it's time to wrap things up!

Pack 15
195 Derek Norris
82 Roberto Clemente
287 Bill Mazeroski
99 Barry Zito
AGA-SD Scott Diamond Autograph
290 Eddie Murray mini

ATY-JC Across the Years Johnny Cueto


And there is our second hit of the box and a nice looking sig at that. 


Pack 16
91 Carlos Ruiz
48 Starling Marte
282 Tim Lincecum
87 Ken Griffey Jr.
235 Carlos Beltran
281 Cliff Lee
82 Roberto Clemente mini A&G back
ATY-DP Across the Years Dustin Pedroia


The kid just looks better in Mariners garb. One of my all time favorite players. I'm glad Topps is still including him in sets.

Pack 17
59 Joey Votto
251 Frank Thomas
286 Alfonso Soriano
25 Ernie Banks
89 Michael Brantley
271 Prince Fielder
318 Eric Hosmer mini SP
ATY-DJ Across the Years Derek Jeter


Pack 18
20 John Smoltz
277 Paul Goldschmidt
5 Albert Pujols
42 Jackie Robinson
197 Dexter Fowler
OLC-CM One Little Corner Comet
115 Stan Musial mini A&G back
320 Shaun Marcum SP


Pack 19
193 Josh Hamilton
73 Tim Hudson
166 Jim Johnson
40 Will Middlebrooks
233 Starlin Castro
MM-ZU Martial Mastery Zulu
232 Andre Dawson mini black border
317 George Brett SP


When I look at this card all I can think of is "What year is it?"

Pack 20
160 Brian McCann
182 Cody Ross
84 Jason Vargas
293 Jim Palmer
AGR-HI Hisashi Iwakuma mini relic
230 Derek Holland mini A&G back
ATY-WS Across the Years Willie Stargell


And there is our final hit of the box. With four packs left I was hoping I would get lucky and get more than the promised three. But really...its Topps. They don't provide nice little surprises for collectors in that way like our friends at Panini do ala my box break of USA Champions last month.

Pack 21
274 Raul Ibanez
248 Mariano Rivera
163 Don Mattingly
8 Gary Carter
292 Yovani Gallardo
88 Clayton Kershaw
233 Starlin Castro mini
ATY-RHO Across the Years Ryan Howard


I despise the Suckees. LOATHE THEM. But I have nothing but respect for Mo. What a great career. And much like Jeter I have tons of respect for a guy that stays with one team his entire career. It would be nice to see him coaching pitchers somewhere in a few years when his bust has been added in Cooperstown.

Pack 22
250 John Calipari
278 Mike McCarthy
187 Scott Hamilton
139 Red Schoendienst
227 Fernando Rodney
OLC-CT One Little Corner Centaur
211 Jacoby Ellsbury mini black border
322 Robin Yount SP


This might be the first "baseball" card I have of a guy I've actually met unlike Crackin Wax who has had the fortune to meet a lot of players and coaches because of his job. 

Story time: My Uncle taught high school math in Pennsylvania for thirty-some years and coached the basketball and tennis teams. When he first started coaching basketball, Coach Cal was his ball boy. Fast forward to the late 90's when Coach Cal was hired by the New Jersey Nets. During the summer my family was up in PA visiting and one evening we were at my Uncle's house and who should stop by to say hello? Coach Cal! When he first introduced himself my sister thought he said he coached the New York Knicks and she got all excited cause she'd actually heard of that team. But when he corrected her and said it was the Nets she immediately lost interest. A funny memory now. I need to ask her if she remembers that. I haven't had the fortune to run into him since then but he and my Uncle still keep in touch. 

And now we return you to your regularly scheduled box breaking...


Pack 23
61 Alex Gordon
242 Robinson Cano
146 Vida Blue
14 Ben Revere
199 AJ Burnett
MM-SP Martial Mastery Spartans
122 Jay Bruce mini
314 Avisail Garcia SP


Pack 24
240 Mike Leake
207 Troy Tulowitzki
144 Torii Hunter
181 Wade Boggs
54 BJ Upton
CAP-IN Civilizations of Ages Past Inca
HHH-SLM Heavy Hangs the Head Solomon
328 Alex Fraudriguez SP





Well that wasn't a bad box. Not a spectacular one either. No glossy lid card. Trust me, I checked, rechecked, and checked again. No luck. But this was the first year that I've done an A&G box and I definitely will again next year.


If there is anything you see here that you are interested in feel free to shoot me an email!



Finis







Allen & Ginter box break Pt. 2

Here is some more A&G goodness!

Pack 7
300 Bud Selig
185 Guillaume Robert-Demolaize, Ryan McCabe, Frank Lattuca
152 Anthony Rendon RC
234 Death Valley
AGFR-TH Todd Helton Full size relic (road pinstripe gray)
94 Billy Butler mini

ATY-AR Across the Years Anthony Rizzo


My first hit of the box. It was nice to pull this card just a few days after Helton announced his retirement.

Pack 8
279 Gio Gonzalez
24 Anthony Gose
190 David Murphy
115 Stan Musial
189 David Freese
PS-NC Palaces & Strongholds Neuschwanstein Castle
127 Doug Fister mini
350 Bill Walton SP



Why does Bill Walton have a regular base card and a short print? They both look exactly the same and have the same info on the back. I don't get it.

Pack 9
296 Ekolu Kalama
15 Julia Mancuso
231 Artie Lange
180 Nik Wallenda
116 Lindsay Vonn RAWR!!
17 Roy Jones Jr.
HHH-CON Heavy Hangs the Head Constantine
ATY-JP Across the Years Jurickson Profar



Hmm, another pack without any baseball player base cards.

Packs 10
256 Rickie Weeks
170 Hanley Ramirez
221 Salvador Perez
159 Jose Altuve
150 Reggie Jackson
OLC-JPT One Little Corner Jupiter
HHH-CTG Heavy Hangs the Head Cyrus the Great
311 Bob Lemon SP


Pack 11
33 Nana Meriwether
27 Shelby Miller RC
298 Evan Longoria
156 Jurickson Profar RC
191 Bryce Harper
MM-RM Martial Mastery Romans
PM-DL Peacemakers Dalai Lama
331 Tommy Milone SP


Pack 12
65 Jose Reyes
93 AJ Pierzynski
74 Yu Darvish
39 Desmond Jennings
172 Jon Jay
224 Brett Lawrie
40 Will Middlebrooks mini
ATY-RC Across the Years Robinson Cano


Pack 13
264 Adam Dunn
218 Zack Cozart
109 Asdrubal Cabrera
32 Aaron Hill
203 Adam Eaton
PS-HP Palaces & Strongholds Hohenschwangau Castle
22 Bob Feller mini
306 Carlton Fisk SP


Pack 14
258 Billy Williams
294 Johnny Cueto
107 Trevor Bauer
183 Ryan Ludwick
76 Jim Abbott
69 Jake Peavy
317 George Brett mini SP
ATY-TB Across the Years Trevor Bauer



As a side note, I have noticed that on the short printed base cards the blue frame thing is darker than on the non-SP base cards. 


More to come later...






Monday, October 21, 2013

Allen & Ginter box break Pt. 1

So when A&G came out I bought a few loose packs here and there, then a rack pack, then a blaster. Most all of which I shared the contents of here. But at my recent card show visit I decided that I loved this year's edition of A&G so much that I had to pick up a hobby box. Here are the contents.

Oversized Box Loader: OB-MK Matt Kemp


Pack 1
98 Darryl Strawberry
128 Joe Mauer
9 Giancarlo Stanton
265 AJ Ellis
94 Billy Butler
CAP-MY Civilizations of Ages Past Mayans
178 Carlos Gonzalez mini
301 Tommy Hanson SP


Pack 2
6 Chanel Iman
100 Bill Walton
176 Abe Vigoda
112 Ziggy Marley
85 Phil Heath
223 Matthew Berry
19 Bobby Doerr mini
ATY-PG Across the Years Paul Goldschmidt

A pack without any baseball player base cards, interesting.


Pack 3
122 Jay Bruce
22 Bob Feller
127 Doug Fister
178 Carlos Gonzalez
19 Bobby Doerr
290 Eddie Murray
Codes, Ciphers & Cryptographs The Phaistos Disc
ATY-AJ Across the Years Adam Jones


Pack 4
219 Freddie Roach
254 Lou Brock
23 Adrian Beltre
154 Mike Morse
245 Mark Buehrle
179 Bonnie Bernstein
CAP-SD Civilizations of Ages Past Shang Dynasty
2 Derek Jeter mini A&G back
335 Andrew McCutchen SP


Pack 5
114 Yasmani Grandal
50 Willie Mays
165 Felix Hernandez
3 Babe Ruth
2 Derek Jeter
135 Vance Worley
Austin Jackson mini Red Bats Back 03/25
ATY-JWR Across the Years Jayson Werth


Pack 6
95 Curtis Granderson
60 Yoenis Cespedes
257 Michael Young
64 Neil Walker
194 Juan Marichal
PS-SP Palaces & Strongholds Summer Palace
165 Felix Hernandez mini A&G back
338 Marco Scutaro SP




A great start to the box with the bats back Austin Jackson mini! More of the contents to come soon!



  



Sunday, October 20, 2013

Dime Box Doozies


"I only look angry because my trainer stuck a needle in my ass 10 minutes ago."

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Dime Box Doozies



Ohhh Mark Lemke...

When I became a baseball fan Lemke was the Braves everyday second baseman. He was always a pretty decent fielder with a .984 career fielding percentage. I guess thats why he was able to stay in the lineup seeing as that in 3664 career plate appearances he hit .246 with 32 home runs. 

But really, I would've paid a dollar for this card simply for the hi-larious big glasses picture in the corner. Ohhh the 90's...

My first Listia listing


2010 Topps Turkey Red Miguel Cabrera



My first Listia listing! Check it out HERE if you're interested. Now I think I'm going to listen to some Franz Liszt.

Dime Box Doozies



I don't think I have ever seen a card where the player being featured took up such a small portion of the picture. Interesting choice by Topps for this Gabe Kapler card from the 2010 Update Series.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

My first foray into the world of Listia

Recently I received an email invite to join Listia. I honestly have no clue who it came from. Didn't recognize the name of the person who invited my via Listia's system but I figured it was someone from the collecting blogosphere. I figured I would give it a shot and I got two nice cards to show for it.


2006 Upper Deck Special F/X 
Eric Bruntlett Green Parallel 51/99



2007 Upper Deck SPx
Yuniesky Betancourt Winning Materials Blue 003/175


Neither one of these players were/are stars. Both have spent their careers as mostly middle infield defensive plugs with Betancourt spending a little more time starting for bad teams than Bruntlett did. Nonetheless, I got these for very low amounts of credits. I believe I got the Bruntlett card for 50 and the the Betancourt for 250. 


Now that I've had some experience with Listia I'm going to use it to get rid of some of my duplicates.


Cheeeeeeap auto

At my most recent card show visit I found one vendor who had a box of autos and relics for a whopping $1.25 a piece. As you might expect most of the cards in the box were from non-star players, one hit wonders, and sets from Panini that focus on amateur players. But about halfway through the box I encountered this gem.


2012 Topps Tier One
Ricky Romero On the Rise Autograph 55/75


Romero was showing quite a lot of promise as recently as 2011 when he was an American League All-Star. Last season things went south for him in the second half and this year was even worse with him spending most of the season in the minors. I doubt Romero will be back in a Blue Jays uniform next year but some team will likely give him a shot at a roster spot. 

So despite Romero's recent disastrous performance it was still an on-card auto, and a nice looking sig at that, from a high end Topps product. For $1.25 I had to jump on that. I even asked the guy selling it if it was really priced that low and he said he had considered putting it in a $3 box but decided not to. Worked out in my advantage I think.


Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Yeah right, maybe if it was Panini

Recently I picked up some old wax packs at a card show. One was a pack of 1991 Topps that I got for a quarter. I guess that is about what it would have cost back then, so factoring in inflation I got a good deal. I hastily tossed the 22 year old stick of, what was even back then, not very good chewing gum. Of course it had left a nice oily imprint on the back of the card it had been sealed against for so many years. Ozzie Martinez I believe or some such other 4th outfielder that merited a card in the eyes of Topps back then. The gum imprint makes the card more notable in my collection now than his stats ever did. The pack as a whole was filled with forgettable players who I had either forgotten about or never even heard of in the first place. Robin Yount was the only player of particular note in the bunch. The pack did however include this.


Obviously I didn't win. If I had been an instant winner I wonder how hard it would have been to convince Topps to honor it 21 1/2 years after it should have been claimed....heh..yeah right, maybe if it was Panini. But nonetheless, what a nice prize! The first 40 years of full Topps baseball sets. Wow! I wonder who won it back then and what they did with it. I wonder if they sold the sets or if perhaps they're just gathering dust in someone's attic in suburban Ohio. For some reason that is how I picture it.

I wish Topps still did giveaways like this.



Monday, October 14, 2013

Dime Box Doozies


Only The Big Unit could have fielded that ball.

Topps Chrome blaster break

Recently I felt the urge to get some Topps Chrome so I picked up a blaster from the local branch of Walton's Conglomerate. Contents are as follows. Most everything is available for trade so if you're interested shoot me an email.

Pack 1
68 Paul Konerko
67 Ryan Vogelsong
162 Donald Lutz RC
138 Yasiel Puig RC


I am not a Pweeg fan. At all. So if you want this card I would love to get rid of it. But I also know how much its going for. So make me a fair offer and its yours. I like pretty much anything Braves. =) 

Pack 2
47 Jake Peavy
182 Paco Rodriguez RC X-fractor
172 Mark Teixeira
185 Kevin Youkilis


Pack 3
179 Aaron Hicks RC
21 Carlos Santana
120 Jason Kipnis Refractor
108 Rickie Weeks


Pack 4
208 Cliff Lee
136 Albert Pujols
46 Mike Napoli
105 Casey Kelly RC

I scanned these cards a few days ago and I'm not sure why I didn't scan one from this pack.

Pack 5
133 Will Middlebrooks
122 Adrian Beltre
CC-JV Justin Verlander Chrome Connections Die-cut
215 Domonic Brown


Pack 6
30 Adam Warren RC
150 Justin Verlander
119 Michael Wacha RC Refractor
55 Mike Olt RC


Pack 7
85 Bruce Rondon RC
DY-EL Evan Longoria Dynamic Die-cut
135 David Freese
166 Jackie Bradley Jr. RC



Bonus Purple Refractor pack
134 Kendrys Morales
170 Carter Capps RC
153 Dan Straily
27 Rob Brantley



Pretty good blaster. Pulling the two die-cuts was nice. I'll probably be picking up some more Chrome in the near future.