Time For Some New Cards

Here it is March and I still haven't bought any new boxes of cards.  Not sure why, I should really have at least picked up a box of Upper Deck Hockey by now, but I haven't.  That doesn't mean I haven't picked up anything new.  Time for another COMC "Blaster Box".  For roughly $20 I picked up some cards I need....well...want is probably a better word.  No autographs or relics in this batch.

On a side note, I would like to thank the US Postal Service for forwarding this package to me.  See, despite graduating with honors I am kind of an idiot.  I actually mailed these to my old address in Chicago.  After not seeing them for a month I had actually given up on seeing these and was going to reorder them.  And then boom - here they are.

So what did my four Abraham Lincoln's get me?

Some Heritage needs.  Hey 2016 Heritage is out!  I'm still working on 2009 and 2012.  I've been putting 2009 together for 7 years?  Crap, I'm never going to finish this damn set.

A couple of Vinny cards for my personal collection.  Any card of Vinny in a "rain" jersey I will buy without even looking at the price.

Have you ever traded away a card you actually needed to complete a set?  Yeah, I've done it a few times.  This Bergeron completes my 2013-14 Upper deck set.  Well at least the non-Young Guns part of it.

Just a random card of two of the greatest players in Lightning history.  I really, really like the Chemistry on Canvas set.

Speaking of canvas - how about some Upper Deck Canvas?  What a nice memory of Jonathan Drouin in a Lightning uniform.

Sometimes I just start adding random Lightning cards.  All of these were under a dollar.  So, at least one of those "Hot Prospects" has panned out for Tampa Bay.  Gudas is currently in Philadelphia trying to figure out how many match penalties he can get before getting suspended.  Korobov is back in the KHL as far as I can tell.  The lesson?  You can't have too many prospects.

Some Young Guns for the collection. A former Lightning prospect, a current Lightning prospect, a Duck who as kind of rumored to be a future Lightning player and Jesper Fast.


Yea new cards.

Some Lower Tier People (Well Me) are Still Chasing Heritage

As I mentioned in my last post (has it been a week already?) I went on a bit of a card buying binge. I also managed to pull off two trades during that time. The first one happened just after I finished my order on CheckOutMyCards….you know that 20 second period of guilt you feel after you hit the “Submit Order” button?

It seems Marcus over at all the way to the backstop... had some spare Heritage cards on hand that he needed to get rid of.  Luckily for me, about 47 of them I needed.  Based on the ratio of doubles to cards I need I’ve been experiencing lately through retail buying, Marcus saved me from buying about 136 packs.

In exchange I sent him some extra Padres cards that I had lying about and a couple of cards he needed off of his want list.

A quick sample of some of the cards in the package.

Not a clue who Blake Beavan is.  There was a time when I knew every player that appeared in a set.  Now, not so much.

Not sure why I selected the Santana card.  Oh well, here it is.

Had to have at least one card rockin' the Orange and Black!  Vlad is currently surfing the free agent waters after getting released from the Toronto organization.  Perhaps it's time the best bad ball hitter of the last generation retired.  Borderline Hall of Famer? Definite member of the Hall of Guys You Didn't Want To Face When the Other Team Needed A Hit.

"Carl, imagine if you had signed with the Angels instead of the Red Sox"  Look, I was a CC collector back when he was with the Rays, I think he can still turn it around in Boston if his wrist heals correctly, but man was that the wrong place for him to sign.

Thanks, Marcus.  I'll be keeping an eye out for Padres cards at the Rosemont card show next week!

2012 Heritage Trade Brait

Hey folks....got some extra 2012 Topps Heritage cards for trade.  If you need them, check out my "wanted" list somewhere on the right hand side of this blog and get a hold of me. Help me help you.

Updated 6/5/12 (Italics are pending trades)


17 Mike Moustakas
28 Josh Beckett
31 Jeff Samardzija
45 Jimmy Paredes
51 Alex Gordon
58 Marlon Byrd
63 Cincinnati Reds
84 Doug Fister
90 Joey Votto
102 Ron Washington
104 Danny Duffy
105 James Loney
117 Vernon Wells
119 Matt Downs
131 Kevin Gregg
179 Shaun Marcum
197 Ian Kennedy
206 Lance Lynn
209 Chris Iannetta x2
220 Rickey Romero
232 Kevin Youkilis
233 Terry Collins
236 Salvador Perez
241 Johnny Cuerto
257 Jacob Turner
267 Nick Hundley
274 2012 Rookie Stars
280 Brett Lawrie
291 Stephen Strasburg
305 Ryan Roberts
306 Star Receivers
310 Jerry Sands
320 Zach Greinke
325 Brian Wilson x2
333 2012 Rookie Stars
340 Russell Martin
349 Alex Gonzalez
360 Chad Billingsley
368 Andrew Bailey
397 Kansas City Royals
419 Casey Janssen
421 Kyle Farnsworth
493 Josh Willingham
Chrome -
HP32 Neil Walker (Pirates)

Black Border (Non-Chrome)
HP86 Carlos Santans (indians)
HP92 ALBatting Leaders
HP98 2012 Rookie Stars

Then & Now
TN-YC Yaz and Miguel Cabrera

Topps Heritage - I Have No Clever Title

As 2011 turned into 2012 I made a resolution, no a declaration, that I would only chase two sets this year.  No longer would I waste money that I don’t have on packs at Target on sets that I’m not going to complete.  Nope, I would be strong, I would be resolute and stick to my guns.  So far I’ve done that. 

To reward myself for my self-control I went to the Local Card Store and bought myself a box of 2012 Topps Heritage.  That’s right, why chase a base set when I can chase a more expensive one with a ton of short prints?  My parents would agree that common sense was never my strong point (much like the proper use of commas).

John at Elite Sports Cards got his shipment of Heritage in on Wednesday and promised to hold a box for me till Thursday.  So, I jumped on the El and headed up to his shop (by the way if you’re on the North Side, check his shop out.  He has a pretty decent selection of boxes and packs for sale and his prices are reasonable. I walked out paying a fair price (cheaper than online when you factor in shipping costs) and headed home to rip some wax, paper, whatever they’re sealed in these days.

Here’s what I pulled in.  First up the regular base cards:

Mirrored on the 1963 Topps set, this year’s Heritage features a nice use of bold colors on the bottom edge. Several cards have funky backgrounds that off-set the mostly posed pictures of the players.  The images have that nice faux-painted look that collectors seem to enjoy.  Jeff Samardzija is going for which look:

A.      Swashbuckler

B.      Tow-Truck Driver

C.      Guy bumming a cigarette at the bus stop

D.      Over-rated middle reliever

Players on new teams do get the airbrush treatment as new Oriole DH Endy Chavez shows:

Look at the hat!  So glad it’s back!

Everyone loves floating heads for rookies:

As you notice, Wasteland Hall of Famer Michael Taylor is featured on two different cards.  Apparently, this is a nod to the original 1963 set.  It’s cool with me, I guess.

Some rookies got their own card and the big All-Star Rookie Trophey is back:

I have at least four cards in the set with Jared Hughes on them.  I have no idea who he is.  On the other hand big trophies are awesome.

I have no problem with manager cards and team cards, either:

Now we move on to the inserts.  Most Heritage collectors don’t bust boxes looking for hits.  Sure, they have some nice on-card autographs (spoiler I didn’t get any), but they are rather hard to pull compared to other sets and it’s hard enough to put together just the base set.  I couldn’t imagine someone wanting to do a master set.

First up News Flashes and Baseball Flashes:

JFK cards usually move well on the secondary market and who doesn’t smile when they pull an Ernie Banks card.

There is shiny:

I pulled two Chromes (numbered to 1963) and one Refractor (the unflattering portrait of Zach Greinke) which was numbered to 563.

There is the “meh”

Two New Age Performers and a Then and Now.  Not really feeling those inserts.

Stickers:

I pulled three of these and have resisted the urge to stick them on anything so far.

The “Hit”

A grey swatch of Nick Swisher’s jersey.  A certain editor for a certain Collectibles magazine may be interested in this card.  Twitter-negotiations are underway.

Oh and then there was this.

At first I thought it was just another base card, it would have been my only duplicate, and kept sorting.  Something in the back of my mind made me look closer.  Let’s compare the two.

Regular Base

Eh?

Hey wait, they have different color schemes.  Did I just pull a super short print color swap of the Yankees captain?  As Lana Kane would say, “Yuuup”.

I did what any unemployed blogger would do - post it on eBay as fast as possible.  Then I went shopping with the Duchess.  By the time I got back my “Buy it Now” price had been met. The final price easily covered what I paid for the box with a little left over to spend how I feel fit (totally spending it on cards). So I would say it was a decent box.

Even without the Jeter short print I would have been happy with this break (which is what everyone says when they actually make back their investment).  People who collect Heritage will be happy with it even with all of the variations and “error” cards.  I’ll probably throw some more money at it in the form of jumbo packs, but one hobby box is enough for me. Much like the 2009 set I’m sure I’ll be chasing this until I die.  For those other unfortunate souls chasing this one I’ll have a “wants/haves” list posted sometime soon.

A Lazy, Rainy Quick Hit Post

Some quick hits for this rainy Tuesday afternoon:

* If you have a question on if you should start a quarterback who has broken ribs, a punctured lung and no receivers to throw to -- don’t do it. That’s how you lose your match up by 4 points.



* Mayweather vs. Ortiz - Protect yourself at all times. Ortiz wasn’t going to win that fight, but by losing the way he did, there is a good chance he gets a re-match and Mayweather gets to dodge the Pac Man for a few more months. Oh, and why isn't more being made of one of the most blatent headbutts in the history of boxing? There is no excuse for what Ortiz did in that round, and amount of hugging or kissing is going to change that.

* Red Sox collapse - Couldn’t happen to a better fan base Of course, now we get to hear about how tortured they are for the entire off-season.

* Hockey season is right around the corner. It’s AWESOME! There will be previews coming up some time in the next week or so.

* I just saw the preview for 2012 Heritage. I think I might be collecting that set instead of the base set this year. Even with the short prints and the higher sticker price it’ll be more fun to collect. So, I’m starting to save my pennies for a box come next winter.

* The Ravens are 2-1 after three games (just like I thought they’d be if not in the way I thought they would be). However, I’m still not sold on their secondary. Great game for Torrey Smith, but he’s still a rookie. There will be weeks where he disappears.

*Ozzie Guillen talked his way out of Chicago. I would be surprised if he makes it all the way through his new four-year contract down there. The Cubs need a GM and the White Sox need a coach, at least the hot stove will be steaming in The Windy City this winter.

* Bloggers out there - are there any posts that you wrote and didn’t post after thinking about it?

* Survivor - Russell’s nephew - annoying or most annoying? Hey, kid why not focus on being your own person?

And a bonus photo from the greater Chicago-land area



The view from Starved Rock.