Trade with Robert of $30 A Week Habit

I posted the results of my 2012 Topps series 2 hobby box one day last week and within a few hours my "crazy", old trading buddy Robert from $30 a Week Habit contacted me with some cards I needed to complete the set.  I'm only down to just a few cards left for series 2 and I can put this set to rest until Update comes out in about a month.

Here's the numbers I still need for series 2: 360, 438, 475, 574, 581, 584, 585, 603, 644, 647.  Can you help me out?  Also do me a favor and check out my other wantlists above to see if you can help me out with any of my other needs.

Robert also put 2 Orioles minis from Gyspy Queen in the package.  Both JJ Hardy and Mark Reynolds have been crushing the ball lately after both were in nearly season long slumps.  I'm glad their bats are waking up at the right time of year!  The Hardy is a normal mini and the Reynolds is one of the exclusive minis that only come in hobby boxes (I think).

Thanks Robert for the quick and easy trade.  The help on my set and the minis are much appreciated.

Box Break: 2012 Topps Series 2

I doubt anybody really cares about 2012 Topps Series 2 at this point in the year.  Updates is right around the corner, and A&G, Finest, and Chrome is already out.  I actually bought this box at the National at the bargain basement price of 38 bucks.  I've noticed over the last few years that series 2 goes down in price over the summer so I didn't preorder like I used to.  I was thinking I'd find the box for about 45 bucks and was shocked to find a vendor selling the hobby boxes for 38 clams.  Hobby box for less than the cost of 2 blasters?  Yes Please!
I'm not going to bore you with base cards because I'm almost 100% certain that all 330 cards have been scanned and posted across the blogosphere.  Only the hit and new inserts from series 2:

Here's my one hit of the box and it came in the first pack.  Talk about taking the drama out of the rest of the packs!  Porcello seems to be a middlin' kinda hit but it is Flagship, not Triple Threads!  I'm sure Dhoff might be interested in this one.

Mound Dominance makes its debut in series 2 and I guess these are just OK.  Good to see Topps is still making inserts out of relic cards. I guess they are just keeping up with the continuity of series 1.  I was happy to get Jim Palmer's card from the set so I have one less card to chase!

Topps has brought back the Diecut cards this year and I'm pretty happy about it.  They just add an extra angle (pun intended) and level of interest in the card for me.  I chose to show Stan the Man because he was such an awesome player that doesn't seem to get the hype of some of the other players of his era.  Why is that?

I like the idea of the insert set but the execution is damn near awful.  "Career Day" doesn't even fit on the card bottom and there is    tooo      much       empty      space       on      the     right    side       of     the    card.  Braun looks worried that he is going to be swallowed up by the blue fade.

I did get several damaged cards in my box but I think that is a self inflicted wound.  I carried the box in my back pack for about half the day at the National.  They may have gotten damaged just by me picking up and putting down my bag all afternoon.  Even so, base cards of Joakim Soria, Juan Uribe, Jacob Turner,  and a Golden Futures insert of Chris Sale shouldn't be too hard to replace.

So, I'm glad I was able to get this box on the cheap and to fill out a lot of my set.  Including the couple of retail packs I bought, I only need a handful of cards to complete it.  Flagship is always a fun break so I'm now looking forward to Updates to release in a couple weeks.

Here's my wantlist of cards I need to complete the set:

333, 358, 360, 374, 387, 432, 438, 445, 475, 499, 571, 574, 581, 584, 585, 603, 629, 642, 644, 647

Here's the list of Trade Bait I have available for cards from my extensive wantlists:

Gold Sparkle Parallel: 347 Gentry, 357 Harang, 394 LaHair, 469 Pestano, 494 Barney, 511 E. Santana, 516 Morton, 544 Collmenter, 569 Hafner, 591 Huff,
Target Red Parallel: 434 Motte, 341 E. Encarnacion
Gold Standard: GS-33 Gibson, 37 McCovey, 43 Seaver, 44 A-Rod, 45 Jeter, 49 Clemente
Gold Futures: GF-32 Storen, 34 Beachy, 42 N. Feliz, 43 Strasburg, 46 J. Weeks (2)
Mound Dominance: MD-1 Seaver, 3 Koufax, 8 Ryan, 10 Galaraga
Golden Moments: GM-7 Sandoval, 16 C. Gonzalez, 18 Hamels, 24 Brett, 32 O. Smith, 33 R. Jackson, 45 M. Cabrera, 41 A. Dawson, 50 Griffey Jr.,
Career Day: CD-1 Pujols, 3 Kaline, 6 DiMaggio, 10 Braun, 11 M. Cabrera, 17 Votto, 20 Hamilton, 21 Kemp
A Cut Above: ACA-1 Fielder, 2 Pujols, 8 H. Ramirez, 12 Musial, 15 J. Bautista, 19 Cano, 23 Kemp
1987 Minis: TM-52 M. Cabrera, 54 J. Upton, 62 Lincecum, 65 Teixeira, 73 Gordon, 79 Wilson, 83 Mauer, 87 Musial, 92 Koufax, 96 Mantle, 99 Clemente

Trade with Jack the Baseball Dad

A quick post of thanks to Jack the Baseball Dad for sending over a few Orioles cards.  I'm running around packing up the house and working extra shifts at work so there isn't much free time lately.

Jack seems to have a penchant for pulling purple bordered parallels from Toys R Us.  He sent me an Adam Jones earlier this spring.  So far this season, Chris Davis has been playing great and showing the power and on-base ability that he had in the minor leagues.  Hopefully he's got it figured out and will be a fixture at first for the O's for years to come.

Another Topps parallel from 2009 Topps Update.  I think this is the exact swing that Adam Jones made to break the tie in the All-Star game that year and ended up being the game winner.

I stashed this card down at the bottom since everybody's seen enough Gypsy Queen to make their eyes bleed.  If you're a loyal reader and made it this far, thanks for reading!  This is the initial card that started Jack and I's trade.  It's too bad that the scanner cut of the right side though, it really is a sweet mini!

Thanks again Jack, I really enjoyed the cards!

My Final 2012 Topps series 1 Purchase

I think this is my last purchase of series 1 for this year.  I've nearly got the whole set and I only ended up with one card I needed for the set out of the 72 in the hanger box.  I've got 10 of the Golden Giveaway Code cards that I'm going to stash away for now.  Well, at least until series 2 comes out and the Markakis gold 1/1 becomes available for redemption.  It's a complete longshot to redeem that one card but you gotta increase your chances any way you can!

I know I've spent less on series 1 this year than I did the last 2 years.  I've bought 1 hobby box, 2 hanger packs, 1 jumbo rack pack, and 3 retail packs.  So overall I've spent about 85 or 90 bucks on series 1.  Not too bad I don't guess.

Overall, I've noticed many of the bloggers have spent less on Series 1 this year and have said so in their respective posts.  If you have spent less this year than years past, leave a comment below stating why you have chosen to spend less.  Is it the design, too many inserts, too little cash or another factor?

So onto the cards I got from my last hanger:

I think the Gold Standard cards are the best inserts from series one because of the gold stamped medallion.  I'll admit they aren't perfect because of the blank space under the medallion but I'm willing to forgive that fact.

I can't seem to get away from Yankees cards lately.  I think the Gold Parallels have grown on me a little bit as I like them more now than I did when the product first dropped so long ago. 

Here's my 2 Target exclusive red borders. I wish they were a little more red though.  They look more maroon to me.

 I was pleasantly surprised to pull a relic from a hanger pack because they are a 1:18 packs pull.  See what I mean about the Yankees cards though?  This is my second Cano relic from the same Target in less than a year (I got a mini framed GQ relic last spring).  Does Robinson's mother shop at my Target?

All of these cards are for trade.  If you see something you can't live without, gimme a shout.

2012 Topps: Observations, Hits, and Tradebait

I know everybody is sick of hearing reviews of the not-quite as new as it was last week 2012 Topps series 1.  I'm going to spare you a review but I do have a couple observations.

One thing I didn't touch on though is the black stripe behind all of the last names on the base cards.  It really makes the cards scan like crap.

I don't feel like I'm swimming in insert cards like I was last year.  There's a good little stack there but there wasn't 4 or 5 in a pack.  The most I ever got was 2 in 1 pack.

No reprint sets.  WOOHOO!

No ToppsTown set.  Double WOOHOO!

Moving right along, I didn't get any crazy mojo hits from my box, which I'm OK with... It's Topps Flagship, not Tribute or Triple Threads. I was fortunate to get this "Celebration" Shortprint of Ryan Braun.  I feel like an idiot.  Since Braun was the first base card everybody saw in the promos for series 1 way back in 1997, you would have thought this card would have made me look twice at it.  I didn't.  I skimmed right on past it and onto the next pack.  I didn't think anymore about it.  Then I was searching Baseballcardpedia.com the next day and looked over the variation list and this one was on it.  

It's still a thrill to pull a Cal Ripken card out of a pack after all these years.  Its the same photo they used for his Marquee base card last year but I don't care.  Its CAL!  I really wish they would have gold stamped the coin like they did the Gold Standard inserts.

Here's my hit.  Its a player I have a slight interest in since I see him play on MASN  when the O's aren't on and he went to UVA.  I'm still a little confused as to why Topps has the disclaimer on the back that says: "The relic contained on this card is not from any specific game, event, or season."  I wish they would do it like the old days when it said: "Congratulations, you've received a card with a piece of Jersey worn by Ryan Zimmerman.  Upper Deck Topps pledges to bring you closer to the game!"

So here's the rest of the inserts that I got if you are inclined to trade for them:

Gold Parallel: 29 Active NL Wins Leaders, 53 Cardinals WS GM 7, 90 Chambers, 91 Active AL HR leaders, 128 Duda, 170 Ellsbury, 231 Fowler, 292 Revere, 308 Leake

1987 Minis: TM-15 Cano, 42 Hamilton, 46 Price, 49 Weaver

Classic Walk-Offs: CW-12 Alex Gonzalez, 13 Podsednik, 14 David Ortiz(2), 15 Jeter

Gold Futures: GF-4 Freeman, 5 Hosmer, 9 Hellickson, 13 Rizzo, 21 Vizcaino, 22 Lavarnway, 24 Goldschmidt

Golden Greats: GG-2 Gehrig, 3 Gehrig, 8 Ryan, 15 Mays, 32 Mantle, 48 Koufax, 61 J. Robinson, 67 Pujols

Golden Moments: GM-3 Jeter, 8 Dawson, 10 Fielder, 15 Braun, 29 Pujols, 32 Maris, 42 Kaline, 46 Pedroia, 48 Aparicio, 49 Shields

Gold Standard: GS-3 Molitor, 8 Banks, 12 Kaline, 10 R. Jackson, 15 Cobb, 20 Jeter, 23 Seaver

Timeless Talents: TT-2 Utley/Ackley, 12 Pettitte/Lee, 16 Dawson/Upton, 19 Musial/Berkman, 23 E. Martinez/D. Ortiz, 24 Maris/Granderson

"Had" to stop by Target on the way home

I stopped by Target on my way home from work today and, lo and behold, brand spanking new 2012 Topps was sitting on the shelf.  I looked Friday just in case they had snuck it on the shelves early but no luck.  Today was a different story.  I arrived in the card aisle at the same time as another collector also strolled up.

"You're looking for the same thing I am aren't you?" he said.  "Yup!"

This is the first time since the Target opened (in 2008) that I actually saw somebody else perusing the card displays at the same time I was.  We talked for a minute or two about cards and how we each did with the Diamond Giveaway.  He got 2 Diecuts, the same as I did.  I asked him what his thoughts were on packsearching and he made it clear he was definitely against it and he had never run across any at this Target.  So after exchanging pleasantries and forgetting to pimp my blog, I grabbed a hanger box and hurried towards the register with 1 person in line buying 3 bottles of Hydrogen Peroxide.

You're not here for shopping stories or missed opportunities to grow my blog, you're here for the breakdown:

Adam Jones makes a cameo appearance on this card.  This is a perfect opportunity to throw this idea out there.  I think I'm going to start a binder of cards that Orioles make a cameo appearance on.  O's in the background, breaking up double plays, sliding into bases, play at the plates.  If you are flipping through cards and see an Orioles cameo, let me know because I want it.

This is just too cool of a card not to post up.  I think its from Nolan's walk-off HR against the White Sox.  Or, he just flied out and Buck is giving him "the business."

 These look almost like the liquorfractors just a little more gold in coloring and smaller speckles

 The 87 minis are kinda neat.  I don't know if there are any Orioles in the set.

 Bleh, done before, twice.

 These look pretty cool but I think I've seen the design similar to it in a UD product.

 These look great with the gold foil stamp, but the 3000 hits is too light.

 Why didn't they gold stamp these like the card above.  It looks cheap without it.

 Too much empty space on this card.

 Too much empty space on this card.

 My 2 Target Red Bordered Exclusives are 2 former Oriole 3rd basemen.  Hopefully Bell will run with his next big league opportunity and he won't be "former" anymore and possibly more "future".

So my impressions of series 1.  I think the base cards are pretty nice looking.  Some of the inserts are just "OK".  It really looks like some of them are clearly designed for relic pieces or sticker autographs (too much empty space).  I can't wait to bust more when my hobby box comes on Wednesday.