Trade with Dustin of Coot Veal and the Vealtones

I first want to say that Dustin of Coot Veal and the Vealtones is a great trader. His blog is relatively new, but he has been around the blogosphere for a while now. I traded with him before when he was just know as blog reader Dustin. Check out his blog and if you end up trading with you you won't be disappointed. Here's a few of the great cards he sent me:

This 2007 Fleer Ultra Iron Man insert shrinks my needslist for this set down to a lucky 13 cards. I can see the end of the tunnel now. Here's the ones I still need: 1, 2, 6, 13, 15, 16, 17, 30, 31, 35, 38, 46, 47.

Here's a 2008 Upper Deck Red back mini of Nick Markakis I didn't have before. Nick is staring straight into 2011 Opening Day, looking to having a big year. I'm gonna go ahead and call it now: He's going to have a MONSTER Season!

Here's a card I never knew existed. I can't believe that I have never seen this relatively common Diamond Kings Brady Anderson card. I think Dick Perez nailed Anderson's likeness on this card. I'm happy to have this card in my collection.

Here's a trio of cards I have also never seen before. I've seen plenty of the actual HOFers pictured, just not on these cards. I'm now very interested in the 1986 TCMA Orioles set that Brooks and Jim are pictured on. I'm going to do a little more research on this set. I'm also pleased to have the 1981 Kellogs card that Steady Eddie is pictured on. On the back it has a nice write-up about how he is quickly becoming a superstar in the league. It also has a retro looking Tony the Tiger printed there too. I had never seen retro Tony before a few weeks ago when I walked down the cereal aisle at Target!

And I'll wrap up this post with a couple of minis. The Brooks is a shortprint from 2007 Goudey that I needed for my set. The Jones mini is the Ginter Ad back from 2010. I already had that one so it is for trade if anyone needs it. The last card is apparently a Sticker from a set made by Topps in 1981 (at least that is what the copyright says on the back). That one is going straight into my Eddie binder beside the Kellogs card above.

I want to thank Dustin again. Thanks for the thoughtfull package that you sent. Look for something coming your way soon!

Finally, My Last MCG Arrival!

Topps finally came through with my last card from my portfolio today. I requested my cards to be shipped on 11-15-10. I originally got 12 of my 13 cards and today the final one showed up in my mailbox! I'm pretty pleased with the card because it is in really good condition considering some of the other beat up junk I've seen shipped out from Topps HQ.

On another note, now that I have this card in my possession, I'm considering ending my boycott of the Diamond Giveaway... We'll see!!!

Continuing Adventures in Retail

This past weekend when I went to the card show, I didn't buy any packs to open when I got home and Chuck and Beardy made the pack ripping itch come back when they busted that box of 2010 Bowman Draft at the dinner table. I ran to Wal-Mart earlier this week and was able to pick up this discounted blaster of 2009 Upper Deck O-Pee-Chee for 12 bucks. Lets see how I did:

Here's a good shot of what the base cards look like. There are several subsets in the regular set. What really surprised me was some of the photography on the cards. There are some really good shots. I'm really digging the horizontal Hamilton card and the Lee card is just an all around interesting picture you don't see all the time.

Here's the 4 inserts I got out of the box. Nothing to special but it's definitely a Cubs fan's dream (or horror depending on their opinion of Soriano). All of these are for trade if anybody is interested.

Here's the best black bordered parallel that I was able to get from the box. It's a nice shot of former Royals Cy Young winner Zack Greinke. I'm really interested to see how he does with the Brew Crew this year when he gets healthy. In my last pack, I pulled this black bordered mini parallel of Hank Blalock. The odds on these minis are definitely not in the collector's favor at a staggering 1 in every 216 packs (1 in every 13 and a half blasters). These are both for trade if anyone is interested.

Overall my impressions of this set are pretty high. It has some good photography and it is printed on real cardboard. The large 600 card set size is a plus for me being a set collector. Its big enough to be a challenge but not too big to make it a burden. The only thing that left me scratching my head was the number of cards per pack. You only get six cards and one of them is a black bordered parallel. Why wouldn't UD have more cards per pack with less packs per blaster. It seems like such a waste of packaging. It would seem more "vintage" if there were more cards in a pack to me. So with perfect collation, it would take 120 packs to build the set (7 and a half blasters) so I'm kind of on the fence right now about completing it. I do vaguely remember seeing some rack packs not too long ago but I might be mistaken. Rack packs are usually a better value in my book but they might be hard for me to find at this point in the game. If anybody knows for sure, please comment below and let me know how many cards were in those.

So my pack itch has been scratched for now, and my interest in building another vintage themed set has been piqued.

Trade with Beardy from The Mojo Beard

A short while back Beardy posted a box break of 2007 UD Masterpieces. One of his featured hits was this Cal Ripken Captured on Canvas GU jersey card. Since he already had one, he made it available for trade. I quickly sent an email, and before I knew it we were talking trade! I sent him a pretty good size stack of some of my extra Orioles inserts, parallels and refractors and in return I got the Ripken GU:

A shiny new Markakis Blue Refractor I didn't have:

And a GU bat card of a Hall of Famer:

I wish that my collection was as vast as his to have doubles like this laying around! Thanks for the great cards Mr. Beardman!

Card Show Report: Show at Chantilly March 2011

So I went to the Show at Chantilly this past weekend (Friday) with part of my federal tax refund money ready to spend. I went armed with my normal binder of Orioles and set wantlist, and my Cal Ripken and Nick Markakis havelists but I really had one main objective: buy Vintage Orioles. I was also very privileged to meet two fellow bloggers while at the show. Greg from Mojo and Beardy's fantastic card blog and Chuck from the HamRamMobtown blog drove down from the Baltimore area to spend some of their hard earned dough on some of the great cards that were to be had. I really think that Collector's Showcase of America does a great job at putting on this show every 4 months at the Dulles Expo center. They are even expanding their shows to Philadelphia and New Jersey this year. Well onto the loot of the day:
I love featuring 1954 Topps on my blog because it was the first year the Orioles were in Baltimore after their move from St. Louis. I am getting a lot closer to the team set. I was able to add these 2 cards for less than 5 bucks so hopefully tracking down the remaining cards won't take me too long or cost me too much coin!

I did most of my shopping at one particular dealer's table that had a box of off-condition vintage hi series and star cards for very reasonable prices. I had been searching for the right 1971 Topps team card to add to my team set for a while and this one came to me at the reasonable price of 3 bucks. Sure its not Near Mint condition but this is one of the better ones I've seen for the price I paid. Its become my favorite Orioles Team card because 1971 Topps is awesome and 1970 was an awesome year for the Orioles (obviously because the card says World Champions!) The Brooks and Gus cards were in the same box at bargain basement prices of 4 and 3 dollars, respectively. These are the just some of the wonderful vintage Orioles I was able to get from this one vendor. I walked away with a stack of about 40 pre 1973 vintage cards (mostly hi-numbers) to knock of my list for about 100 dollars. Not too shabby!
This Boog Powell Rookie card was sitting in the aforementioned dealers case. Its been pretty high on my wantlist and now its mine, mine, mine! I've been trying to track down this card at the right price so when I saw the price tag, I had to jump on it!
I didn't spend all of my money on vintage at the show however. Right inside the front doors was a vendor that had tons of game used and autographs at blowout prices. I remember this particular guy from the last show I went to at Chantilly. He admittedly has "bad math skills" and really doles out the good deals to all his customers. He has great people skills and engaged all his customers in conversation. I was wearing my cartoon bird O's hat so he obviously knew what I was digging for. He pointed to his "Tower of Value" where I found the Brooks and Frank jersey and bat cards. Beardy found the Crown Jewel of my Chantilly experience in the Autograph/Jersey card of Brooks. My eyes lit up and I had to have it! It's numbered 6/15 and only 25 bucks. Also not pictured with this trifecta of HOF cards are 2 autographed cards of Orioles Top Prospect Matt Hobgood that I also added to my stack as "throw ins". So, How much did this purchase cost me? 50 bucks? nope! 40 bones? no again! 35 dollars is what I paid for the 5 cards! I told you this guy did some crazy math!

I was able to pick up this Nick Markakis cards I needed along with this relic card for 3 bucks. I know these Goudey relics are a dime a dozen but I just like this card! I'm not too fond of Jeter being on the front of the card but for the price, I'll deal with his grin.

I think the best part of my Chantilly experience this time was spending some time with beardy and Chuck. It was really nice being able to walk around the show looking at random boxes and showcases of cards with guys that share the same interests.

Beardy and Chuck actually bought a hobby box of 2010 Bowman Draft Picks to split so after the show, we headed over to the Hooters for some wings and burgers. Before we got knee deep in wing sauce, I volunteered to split the box up between them. I took all of the packs out of the box and dealt them out Vegas style (except for the dealing from the bottom of the deck! haha). I actually feel bad for Chuck because I didn't deal him a single dang refractor or the promised hit from the box. He did get a Chrome Heyward Rookie card but that still doesn't make me feel any better about my shuffling skills. Sorry Chuck!

I can't wait until the next show!

2011 Spring Training TTM Success #6

I got this beauty back last weekend. I really like how the blue sharpie pops on this card! A fairly legible autograph (At least you can make out some letters!) and a sharp photo make this card a great addition to my Orioles autograph collection.

TTM Success

This isn't a Spring Training success because I sent this custom to Luuuuuke in June of 2009. That was before I even met my fiancee! I had even sent Luke a second TTM and a card for him to sign last year and got it back in about a month. I am truly blessed with plenty of Luke Scott autographs. I have 1 card, 2 custom postcards and a signed picture in the 2009 O's Yearbook of him I got at Camden Yards!

My 2011 Topps Series 1 Pack Redemption Cards

I pulled a bubble mailer out of the mailbox earlier this week from Topps. I was really hoping that it was the last card of my Million Card Giveaway. I've been waiting more than 3 months for my 1972 Topps Jim Palmer to arrive (I traded 23 other virtual cards to get Jim). I wonder if I will ever see that card....

On to what Topps sent me:

Apparently these are the cards from the (36) 2011 Topps series 1 hobby pack wrappers I sent in. I really think that this package was supposed to go to a Phillies Fan. I have no real connection to any of these cards so all 5 are for trade!

2011 Spring Training TTM Success #5

I got this David Hernandez card back sometime last week. I sent it to him c/o the Diamondbacks and got it back in about 3 weeks. It was hard to see David get traded to Arizona for Mark Reynolds but I think the O's may come out on top of this deal. If you pay attention to OBP instead of batting average and strikeouts, you'll see why. Maybe Reynolds becomes a fixture in the Orioles lineup for years to come, because we sure need the power.

Trade with Matt of Cardboard Conundrum

I did this trade with Matt of The Cardboard Conundrum about 2 weeks ago and I am just now showing some of the fantastic cards that he sent me. Life has been pretty busy with my adult baseball league team starting practice and I've been playing more Xbox 360 lately. Here's the highlights of the cards I got from Matt:

I got these two shortprints from 2007 Topps Heritage. The original 1958s are not a favorite of mine but I do like them more just because they are vintage. On a side note, the recent release of 2011 Topps Heritage does nothing for me. I'm also not a big fan of 1962 Topps in the first place and I'm just not that impressed with this year's Heritage offering. Gimme the Orioles Team Set and an extra Markakis base card and I'll be done with it. I doubt I even buy a blaster box of this stuff. I've made a liar out of myself before though!

This is a true Black Bordered parallel from 201o Topps. I don't know why everyone calls the Wal-Mart parallel "Black Bordered" . It's Black background and far inferior to the Target Throwbacks. Everything Wal-Mart is inferior to Target come to think of it.

I remember these Collect-A-Books from the early 90s. I remember my cousin traded me this "card" back in the day for the Nolan Ryan book from this set . I just don't know what I did with it since then. I remember when I stayed at his house for a week one summer and we rode down the the country store on our bikes. We spent our money on packs of 1991 Fleer and Collect-A-Books. Thanks Matt for igniting this memory and replacing this card in my collection!

This card really scares me. It looks like Albert is going to smash the catcher and/or umpire with the bat. The crazy look on his face and his hothead reputation don't make me think otherwise. More than likely he's just taking a pitch on the inside of the part of the plate.

Thanks for the great cards Matt! I hope to trade with you again soon!

Trade with Richard of Dawgbones: a Phillies Phan

Since I'm a real sucker for a wantlist, I was searching through Richard's list on his blog Dawgbones: A Phillies Phan! and saw that I could help him out with some of his 2010 Topps Update and 2011 Topps Wantlists. In return for the cards he needed he promised to send me some Orioles cards. Here's just a few of the great cards he sent me:This 2011 Topps Gold was a total surprise! Matusz is probably my current favorite Orioles pitcher at the moment. He struggled most of last season but really came alive at the end of last season winning his last 6 starts! Many baseball people are picking him to really break out this year and become a reliable arm for the O's to lean on for years to come.From the front, these O's cards look like run of the mill Topps flagship. But look closer and you can see the "throwback" logo in the upper left hand corner. Turn them over, and you definitely know they are the Target Exclusive Throwback Paralell set. I like the feel of the cardboard on the backs. It really takes me back to when I was a young boy ripping packs of 1991 Topps and 1991 Donruss. Anyways, back to reality, I would love to make the team set of these. If you have any of them, please, please, please let me know!
Next up are these two Will Clark cards from 1999 or 2000 Fleer Brilliants. The card on the left is the base version I think and the right has a "b" next to the card number on the back. There aren't many O's cards featuring the Thrill so when I get one (or two!) I can't help but to post them up!

Thanks Richard for the great lot of cards. I hope to trade again soon!

Trade with Erik of Manupatches and Chrome Scratches

I recieved this really nice patch card from Erik of the new Manupatches and Chrome Scratches blog. I sent him a 2011 Justin Upton Manufactured hat relic patch and a good little lot of Rockies and Royals. He saw the Upton on my first ever trade bait post that I put up a few weeks ago. That post led to three trades for me so I'm going to call that a resounding success! Look for another Trade Bait post soon!

This is my first ever real "patch" that I have ever acquired into my collection. I've got several different grey and white swatches of Orioles players but no patches until now. Take a look:

Javy Lopez 2005 Donruss Prime pathes #d 32/56

It looks like to me that this patch comes from the first "O" where it does the loop through the top to the "r". I might be looking at it upside down or backwards, though! Unless somebody else has an idea, I'm gonna go with my theory.

Thanks Erik for the trade!

Card Show Pick Ups From this Weekend

I went to a card show this past weekend and got some great cards and didn't have to spend a whole bunch of money to get them. This was a smaller show that I found out about on the Beckett online show listings. This was the last card show that will be held at this venue because the organizer is retiring (there was a nice ceremony/tribute during my time at the show). I hope somebody else steps up to the plate and continues the shows here because there are few and far between near where I live. Anyways, you came here for cards so I guess I'll start showing them off:

Both of these Don Baylor cards complete their respective year's Orioles Team sets for me. I think it's odd that I needed the same player for both!

I picked up this Robin Roberts card for a buck. It's in great condition for it's age and plus it's a vintage HOF'er!

This is a card I've been really coveting for a while. This is Gus Triandos' rookie card from 1955 Topps. While Gus was never a huge star like Mays or Koufax, he was the best player the Orioles had in the late 50's and early 60's. Upon learning more about him, he has become one of my favorite Orioles of all time!

I did a fair amount of digging in the nickel boxes and found these 2 shortprints (among other great cards I "rescued".

These are just a few of the Cal Ripkens and Nick Markakii that I found in those same nickel boxes. Both of the Nicks are from 08 UD Baseball Heroes, a set that has grown on me as time goes by. The Ultra Ripken is a Gold Medallion so that one definitley had to come home with me! The 1988 Fleer Ripken is actually from the limited Glossy sets that Fleer put out for a few years. When I first looked at it I thought it may have been fake until I thought about it some more.

Also in one of these nickel boxes was a giant stack of 2010 Topps series 2 Gold cards. I personally didn't believe they should have been in that box so I grabbed all 50 or so of them! I haven't decided what to do with them just yet. I might put them up as a big lot on eBay or send them to COMC. If anybody is looking for a specific team or player, let me know and I'll see what's in the stack!

While this is just a small sampling of what I got at this show, I ended up spending less that 40 bucks. I am really saving my money to head to the CSA (Collector's Showcase of America) show in Chantilly in about 2 weeks. I'm not quite sure which of the 3 days I will be there just yet, but if anybody else who reads my blog is going, let me know, I'd like to meet up with you!

Trade with Ryan of The Great Orioles Autograph Project

This trade started out with a post that Ryan S. who runs the ambitious blog The Great Orioles Autograph Project. I enjoy his blog being a big O's fan but I think he appeals to everybody because most of his posts are very factual. Anyways in Ryan's post, he mentioned that he too was going to Orioles Fanfest and had some extra autographs that he was getting that day. He didn't need Brad Bergesen, so I hopped on the chance. I sent him this 2010 Topps Heritage card and Ryan sent it back with Brad's signature on it!

Brad has a legible signature and he actually put his jersey # on it! I was there the night Brad made his major league debut and so was Ryan. He has season tickets but I live 3 hours away from Baltimore. Small world I tell you!

When the package arrived at my house it was larger than the normal bubblemailer or card shoebox. I was anxious to open it up and what was inside was the Reimold bobblehead (pictured on the left of the trio). Ryan acknowledged my OCDness and completed my trio of O's outfielders! As I said before in my FanFest wrap up posts, I wasn't able to get a Reimold because of the shear # of people in line, plus I was getting autographs at the time they were giving them out.

Also Ryan sent along a nice envelope of Orioles cards. While sifting through them I came across this card:
I wonder if this guy will ever make the Hall of Fame. When he retired he had the all-time saves record. It boggles my mind why he hasn't gotten more support from the voters. What do you think, does he deserve to be in or not?

Thanks Ryan for the great package. As a set collector, I really appreciate the Reimold bobblehead! Hopefully we can trade again sometime!

2011 Spring Training TTM Success #4

It looks like Joe signed this card with a dried up sharpie. Oh well. Hopefully if Joe fulfills his potential, I will have plenty more opportunities to get his autograph.

Trade with Chris of Nachos Grande

This was a quick and easy trade with Chris from the world famous Nachos Grande blog. I sent him a couple of the 2011 Topps Diamond Anniversary Parallels along with some inserts from he needed for his master set. In return, I asked for a starter set of 09 Upper Deck Goudey and this card:

This is the Target Throwback version of Nick's base card. If I could only get my hands on a Black Bordered #'d to 60 I would have the entire rainbow of 2011 Markakii. Obviously not counting the 1/1 Platinum, 1/1 Canary Diamond, or any of the printing plates. I'm not made of money! I really do like the feel of the old-timey cardboard. Like I said before, that is one of the main reasons for me to build the entire 3 year run of UD Goudey baseball.

Thanks Chris for the trade.

Box Break: 2009 Upper Deck Goudey

This is the final box I purchased with a portion of my Virginia State Tax Refund. After my great success with my 2007 Goudey Hobby Box, and the disaster 2008 Goudey "Box Break", I had no idea what to expect with my 2009 Goudey Hobby box. I ended up being pretty satisfied with it overall.

I addition to pile of base set cards (the real reason I am building all 3 UD Goudey sets), I have a nice selection of SPs for trade:

208 Nolan Ryan, 216 Robin Yount, 226 Reggie Jackson, 227 Carl Yastrzemski, 253 Chipper Jones, 279 Ryan Howard, 265 Ernie Banks, 278 Manny Ramirez, 292 Derrek Lee, 296 Vlad Guerrero

Here's a list of the minis that I have for trade too:

Green Back: 100 Ethier, 102 Penny, 114 Hardy, 186 Kazmir

Blue Back: 65 Fowler, 120 Liriano, 208 Nolan Ryan

Here's the 4 in 1's that I got. I like the idea of these. Most of the foursomes make sense (young lefties, Asian players) while others make me scratch my head.

Red: 5 Jeter/Jackson/Berra/Ford, 29 Schmidt/Howard/Yount/Fielder, 38 Reyes/Rollins/Ramirez/Guzman, 53 Sizemore/Hafner/Martinez/Shoppach. 62 Wright/Zimmerman/Upton/Maine, 74 Matsuzaka/Wang/Fukudome/Ichiro, 77 Liriano/Kershaw/Price/Hamels, 89 Berkman/Lee/Tejada/Oswalt

Blue: 79 Beltran/Lee/Quentin/Guillen, 91 Zambrano, Johnson, Halladay, Hudson

Green: 52 Hamilton/Kinsler/Byrd/Young

I was fortunate enough to get this Jeremy Guthrie Autograph card from one of the first packs from the box. This is the first time in my pack ripping career that I have pulled an Oriole auto from a pack. I've traded for O's auto's, gotten them in person, gotten them TTM and even have had other bloggers pull them in some of the Group Breaks that I've been in, but never pulled one myself. It took a minute for it to sink in and after the initial shock in the very next pack, I get a Green Back Mini of Guthrie. Wow!

The outside of the box boasts one Autograph and one Relic card per box (on Average!).... This box was not average. I ended up with 3 relic cards from the box:

These relics are ones that only BA Benny could love (just kidding of course!). If you can look close enough, Saito is pictured as a Dodger but listed as a Red Sox player and Hoffman is pictured as a Padre but listed as a Brewer. And sticking with the tradition of me pulling Orioles AL East rivals GUs and Autos I get this UD 20th Anniversary Jason Giambi. For BA Benny's Sake, I think Giambi had already moved back to the A's and onto the Rockies by the time this card was produced! Alas, at least he was listed and pictured with the correct team! All 3 of these are for trade if anybody is interested.

Since I am pretty far away from having the complete set, (1 thru 200) I might buy another box or just try to complete it by trading with all of my great readers. I should have a want list up really soon so keep an eye on my wantlist (linked to the right, in my sidebar).

Contest over at The Daily Dimwit!

Head over to The Daily Dimwit and get signed up for Sam's contest:

http://www.thedailydimwit.com/2011/03/this-contest-is-easy-and-hopefully-fun.html

Everybody likes free money!

"Box Break": 2008 Upper Deck Goudey

Well this is a "quasi" box break of 2008 Goudey. The "Diet Coke" of box breaks (just one calorie!). Due to a SNAFU at the internet company where I bought my 2007 Goudey hobby box and forthcoming 2009 Goudey hobby box, I was refunded my money for the 08 hobby box. I was told they were sold out when I placed the order. So being the impatient collector that I am, I basically took the money that was refunded to me and went to my local Dollar General Store and bought 24 packs (the same amount of packs in a sealed retail box but reatailing for about 20 bucks more) of the 08 Goudeys. In hindsight I should have just shopped around the internet a little more and found another Hobby Box.

So now I feel kind of stupid by basically wasting 20 bucks and not ending up with much more than a chunk of the base set and a couple of Shortprints.

Shortprints: 208 Ryan, 213, Molitor, 214 Yount, 226, Gwynn, 227 McCovey, 232 Thomas Jefferson, 239 Grover Cleveland, 246 James K. Polk, 255 Utley, 270 Guerrero, 279 Cynthia Cooper, 279 Cynthia Cooper (Yep a double shortprint!), 294 Josh Beckett, 327 Terry Bradshaw

Minis:

Red Back: 6 Scherzer, 43 Dye, 85 Towles, 87 Hochevar, 98 A. Jones, 113 Perkins, 137 Catfish Hunter, 146 Bay, 165 Ichiro, 279 Cynthia Cooper (AGAIN!)

Blue Back: 30 Youkilis, 104 Fielder, 160 Cain

I guess the only thing "good" I got out of these packs was this numbered parallel of James Monroe:

I also won a nice lot of 08 goudeys from ebay and ended up with these Parade of Champions cards:
Woot! I got my first LeBron and Tom Brady cards. Oh yeah and the Rocket. 3 of my least favorite athletes of all time. Please for the love of God, somebody make a trade offer for them.

So there you have it, a "box break" of 08 Goudey. Maybe since I did so well with my 07 box, fate is kicking me in the ass right here. Why do I continually fall into the retail trap?

Box Break: 2007 Upper Deck Goudey

I'm just going to start this off saying that this was one of the best boxes I have ever busted! Stay with me till the end and you'll see why.

I used part of my tax refund from the Virginia State Government to treat myself to some wax. I used all of my Federal refund to pay off my credit card so I needed to do something nice for myself!


I have always been interested in the Goudey line that Upper Deck put out from 07 to 09 but the shortprints really turned me off. I HATE SHORTPRINTS. I decided to swear off the shortprints and just collect the base sets, cards 1 thru 200 for each year, and use the shortprints as trade bait.


I like the o7's because they are the same size as the original 1933 Goudey cards. I really like the feeling of the cardboard in these cards. It just feels old timey and UD did good job of capturing the charm of the original set. Though I am a little perplexed at why UD made a parallel set of Red Lettered Backs that are basically the same collation as the Green Lettered Backs.


Here's the list of shortprints that I have for trade: 207 Fisk, 209 Kaline, 215 Mattingly, 222 Gwynn, 234 Maddux, 237 Santana, 252 Pujols, 254 Howard, 260 Wright, 270 Igawa, 278 Howard, 286 Verlander. If you need scans of any of those, just ask!


Here's scans of the two BIG MOJOZ HITZZ promised on the outside of the box:
Uninspiring at best. I can't complain about on card autographs and not everybody gets a Ripken Autograph in their box. These are for trade.

Now, this is where the box gets good. There are two box loader packs that are promised on the sell sheets for this product. One (1) card pack that is inserted on top where you are promised a Sports Royalty card. I got Peyton Manning. Not bad. He's for trade if anybody is interested.

The second box loader pack is inserted in the bottom of the box underneath all of the regular packs. These packs are inserted 1 or 2 per 12 box case. I was very lucky and got one! The outside of the pack promises 1 buyback and one insert #'d to 15 or less. Here's the Goods:

I got 2 inserts! BADASS!

The Yogi and Reggie insert is part of the Doubleheader insert set. I have no idea what kind of value it may have. The Teixeira is part of the Diamond Stars insert set. Both are hand-numbered and are great looking cards. I have no idea what to do with them at this point.

And now without further delay, the 1933 Goudey Buyback:

I've never heard of Fred Frankhouse but I could really give a crap! IT'S AN ORIGINAL 1933 GOUDEY Card. This becomes the oldest card I own by about 25 years. I nearly fell out of my desk chair when I saw this beauty! Sure the corners are rounded a bit but it doesn't have any creases and the color is fantastic. I LOVE THIS CARD!!! It's definitely not for trade and is going straight into my personal collection.

So there you have it. One of the best boxes I've ever opened. I hope you guys and gals out there share in my excitement about the Goudey Original I pulled!

I'm gonna work on the Green Lettered back set along with the Red Lettered Back set. I won a lot of about 300 of the Red and Green backs on eBay for nothing more than shipping costs so I should be pretty close on both sets. Look for a wantlist later this week.

Cal Ripken Cardboard Appreciation #11

1993 SP #8

It's been a while since I've done a Cardboard Appreciation, so here goes. I remember going to a card show way back in 1993 and getting this card. I think it was at The Showplace in Richmond, Va. Back when then I was 10 years old and getting to go to a card show 80 miles away was a big deal.... Now I live about 15 minutes down the road from venue! Anyways, I remember my dad and I going. He was searching for racing cards while I was searching for Cal. I distinctly remember buying this card. This was the first "premium" card of the Iron Man that I owned! I think I paid 50 cents for it and according to Beckett Baseball December 1993 it was worth 75 cents (The famed Jeter Rookie card booked for measly dollar!). This card has been quite an investment for me because in Beckett it goes for $6. Even more so, it is one of the great memories that I have of my dad and I going to a card show.

Tomahawk Chopping - A Contest Shout-Out

Derek over at Tomahawk Chopping - Carboard and More is running a contest! He's going to buy cards for you! Here's the link my fellow bloggers:

http://tomahawkchopping.blogspot.com/2011/03/contest-time.html

You must enter by the 3rd of March! Good Luck!