Card Show Report: The Big Mistake

Well 12 hours is just about long enough to hold you all in suspense.  Now, you will see what my big mistake of the show was:

I bought a pack of 2011 Bowman Sterling.  I swore that I would never buy a pack of cards that cost more than 5 bucks.  This pack of 5 cards went for 8 times the maximum that I said I'd ever pay.  I'll just say that my buddy that rode along had something to do with the purchase.

It wasn't all that bad though since I got 6 cards out of a 5 card pack.  Here's the damage:

 This guy was so highly regarded by the Red Sox that they sent him to the Astros.  He was also ejected in his MLB Debut this past season for hitting Vlad Guerrero with a pitch.  Way to leave your mark on your first day on the job!

(See what I did there?)

 I know a lot of prospects but I can't say I'm familiar with Lamb.  I haven't heard a Little Bow peep about him.

(Comedy is all that's keeping me from crying about flushing 40 bucks down the toilet)

 I have heard about this guy since he's a potential #1 pick in this years draft.  I'm not sure if he's going to be the best of the bunch though.

(I'm not sure where these awful, cheesy jokes are coming from tonight)

 Never heard of Goeddel either.  This STICKER autograph was signed with a dried up sharpie apparently.  Get with the program Topps, Staedler Lumocolor pens is where it's at!

Why the hell does a 40 a pack product have sticker autographs?  Seriously somebody answer that with an insightfully witty and funny response in the comments below.

 Jungmann is fairly highly regarded as a future big league pitcher.  I would have been pretty excited to get his graph (even though its another sticker, sigh) if I hadn't pulled his 'graph from one of my 2011 Bowman Draft Picks boxes.  At least that one is on-card.  BDP came out around Thanksgiving and Sterling came out in late December.  What's the problem here?

I think this is a bonus hit of the box or case or pack or whatever...  The box says 2 autographs and one relic card in every pack.  I also have Fontana's autograph too.  I got that one from a box break that The Daily Dimwit did a little while back.

I guess I wouldn't have been as disappointed if I hadn't already had 2 of the autographs already.  The design of the cards is nice but the Sticker autos should not be in a $40 a pack product.  There's no excuse.

I'll probably not buy another product with as high a price point of this again, but never say never.  Peer Pressure can be a bitch sometimes.

There's Gold in Them There Packs...

...But no autographs.  I got my redemption pack of Gold Rush redemption cards yesterday.  I think the cards look great.  Nice thick card stock and pretty decent design. (I apologize for the bad scans but somehow dog hair gets on the scanner bed even though its closed 99.999999999 percent of the time.)  But I'm a little puzzled at the player selection.  

Why does Salvador Perez get a card for playing 39 major league games?

 Chapman throws really hard but he has no idea where it's going.  Look out in the on-deck circle!

 I understand why Edgar got a card.  One of the greatest DH's of our time.

 Yeah, Ian Kinsler.  I get it, he's one of the better young players right now.

Miggy Cabrera. Yeah another great player.  He deserves to be here.

I did a quick search of ebay and there are no Orioles in the set.  No Ripken, Murray, Palmer, Robinson, Markakis, Jones, or Hudson.  Hudson, yes, Kyle Hudson.  He deserves to be in the set because he scored the tying run in the Orioles last game of the 2011 season.  If Salvador Perez can get in the set, why no Orioles?  WTF TOPPS?

2011 Bowman Draft Picks Errors, Omissions, and Just Plain Awful

Here's the 3 Orioles Prospect cards that came out for 2011 Bowman Draft Picks this year:

Here's Dylan Bundy's mugshot.  What an ugly ass card.  It's so low quality that it looks like it was either taken with a cell phone or a TV still.  

Yes, Mike Wright is an Orioles Prospect, NOT a Nationals player!

Obviously Nick was photoshopped into an O's uniform because of his hat.  Bowman Draft Picks was released on November 17th, which is exactly 2 days after the Orioles unveiled their new look for next season.  Out of the 3 cards though at least it isn't a crappy photo or the wrong photshopped uniform.  


I'll go ahead and say that Topps really screwed up on Bowman Draft Picks this year.  It's usually a crowd pleaser (at least those into prospecting and rookie cards) but they really delivered a clunker this year.


The black border on the base prospect cards looks terrible.  Why did they tinker with what worked with the regular Bowman release in May?  I thought the prospect cards looked fine then and I thought the general consensus was kind of in line with my opinion.


There are no Orange bordered parallel or International parallels like there were with the regular Bowman release.  Even the gold bordered parallels are only found in retail packs.  It just doesn't create continuity between the 2 releases.  Maybe that's what Topps is shooting for?  If that's the case, then change the design completely!


The numbering system is completely screwy this go around.  The regular base set (all MLB Rookies) are numbered 1 through 110.  There is no prefix this time around like BDP or BD or anything like that.  Just plain 1 through 110.  So concievably at some show, a person not knowing any better would look through some boxes and pick out both regular Bowman and regular Draft picks and make a set combining the 2.  Makes no sense.  But, the Prospect cards all carry the normal BDPP prefixes just like in past years.


The Kolten Wong  numbering situation: Overall Kolten is supposed to be card #BDPP90 in the base Prospects set and base Chrome Prospects set.  HAHA, not even close.  F-up #1: In the base Prospects set, he is numbered BDPP91 so that makes 2 versions of #BDPP91: Kolten Wong and William Abreu. F-up #2: In the base Chrome set he has the right card #90 but the prefix is BDP, not BDPP like it should be.


A weird thing about the card backs that I noticed.  On Dylan Bundy's base and chrome prospect card it says that he is the Orioles #1 pick from this years draft.  On the back of all his autograph cards, he is the Orioles #4 pick.  Apparently all the autograph cards show the actual draft position that he was taken by that team and the regular prospect cards show the number pick he was of his team.  It's kind of stupid they would do this.  To make matters worse, there are shady ebay sellers getting premium prices for these "error cards".


The picture quality of the cards is laughable especially on 2 of the top picks the aforementioned Dylan Bundy and Archie Bradley.  Regular plain-jane mugshots work for Pannini and Leaf and unlicensed crap but not for a mainstream release like Bowman Draft Picks!


There are several cards that the photoshop job is just horrible like Taylor Jungmann (look at my autograph card a few posts back. The angle on his hat is just all wrong!)  I'm willing to forgive that but there are not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 players photoshopped into the wrong uniform.  John Hicks is shown as a Diamondback but is actually a Mariner.  John is also shown as a pitcher when he really plays catcher.  Levi Michael is pictured as a Ranger but is actually a Twin. Mike Wright (above) is pictured as a National but is an Oriole.  Dan Gamache is shown as a twin but is actually a Pirates player.  These errors are just plain lazy.  I don't like the photoshopping of pictures in the first place so this brings out the glaring weakness of the whole process.  Wrong position is one thing but the wrong team is just unforgivable.  Do some damn research for the players you put on your cards!


Another gripe about the product is that the Aflac autograph cards aren't numbered and it supposedly makes them easy to fake.  I've never gotten one so I don't know too much about this problem but it shows how rushed Topps was to get this product out the door.


Everybody has seen the box art either in the Target card aisle or on an online card retailers website.  Mariners rookie Michael Pineda is shown in an action shot throwing a pitch. HE IS NOT ANYWHERE TO BE FOUND IN THE PRODUCT!  Why not put Mike Trout or Mike Moustakas on the box art?




So to sum it all up in one sentance:  




TOPPS REALLY PUT OUT A STEAMING PILE OF CRAP AND CALLED IT BOWMAN DRAFT PICKS!

Topps Redemption Fail

For Thanksgiving this year, I present you with my turkey of a redemption.  Sorry but a Jed Lowrie autograph isn't equal to a Alexei Ramirez autograph. 

Craigslist Ads

I keep scouring the local Craigslist ads hoping to find that one big haul like some other bloggers and collectors have been able to get for a reasonable price or even free.  Maybe the stars will align one day but today wasn't it.  Check out these:

http://richmond.craigslist.org/clt/2560723166.html
http://richmond.craigslist.org/clt/2550676996.html
http://richmond.craigslist.org/clt/2557429595.html
http://richmond.craigslist.org/clt/2531485559.html

Wow some great deals to be had, I don't know if I can pass these up!

Curiosity Killed the Cat

I should have known better.  I saw some 2011 Bowman Platinum cards hitting eBay so I thought I'd hit Target on the way home and maybe by chance they'd have some packs and blasters.  No luck today.  Somebody really straightened up the card section and there was nothing even remotely interesting on the shelves... Piles of series 1 and series 2 though.  Even the Power Packs reduced price box was gone.  But I did something stupid though.  I bought one of those 3 packs plus a GU card 9.99 deals.  You know, for science.  Here's the resulting carnage:

1 pack of 2007 "Fleer" Ultra 5 card pack (haven't seen one of these in a while!!!):

Conor Jackson, Lance Berkman, Carl Crawfish, Freddy Sanchez and

Jesus Flores Rookie Shortprint!


1 pack of 2007 Upper Deck (only 5 cards, like the Dollar Tree version packs!):

Jose Valverde, Moises Alou, Jason Bay, Ryan Franklin and Jeff Baker Ticket to Stardom Insert


1 pack of 2003 Upper Deck Victory.  I was initially a little happy to see this pack since it was something different.  Then I opened it and realized that it was the year they made a "card game" and was let down again:

Mike Sweeney, Ben Sheets, Barry Zito, Sammy Sosa, Junior Spivey green border (don't get excited, 1:1 packs) and a

Jim Thome Clutch Players insert (1:5 packs)

And the moment we've been waiting for, the GU card:

2006 Topps Update Jermaine Dye Workout Jersey Card.

It has 4 dinged corners and obviously has been well loved.  I don't love it though.


Hide your kids, Hide your wife, and Hide your husbands too.



Stay far away people, I open this crap so you don't have to.

Box Break: 2011 Topps Series 2

I really don't have much to say about my break of Topps Series 2. I broke a hobby box, 2 Target retail hanger boxes and a couple of the retail rack packs so that I could hopefully complete the entire 330 card set in one felled swoop. Ha! The bad collation bug has bitten me lately because I'm a handful of cards short.

On a side note, I spent close to 250 dollars on Bowman this year and didn't even get a complete base set!

Back to Topps series 2 though. I even pulled doubles of inserts before I've completed the entire base set. Something about this just seems wrong.

Anyways, there were a few notable cards that I got:

I pulled this Diamond Anniversary card of Smoltz in my first hobby pack. I really thought I had a decently rare card but I did an ebay search and it seems to me that there are 2 to 3 times as many of these out there than there are of the regular legends parallel. I'm going to hang onto this card for a while (sorry Derek and Colbey!)

I'm getting really sick and tired of the reprint phase that Topps is going through right now. Regardless, I got these Original Back cards of Duke (hobby) and Yogi(retail) that will probably fetch me a pretty penny (yeah right!).

I'm not sure what I am going to do with these redemption cards. I think it is a good idea for Topps to drive some traffic into hobby shops. My options are really limited in Richmond, Virginia when it comes to places to buy cards.

A DIAMOND SPARKLE!!! Oh, nevermind, its just a reflection of the sun off of Morgan's helmet. The whole Diamond Sparkle gimmick really grinds my gears even though I made 50 bucks off of the Jeter I pulled from Series 1. It paid for my hobby box but it irks me just the same. I was tolerant of the gimmick until I first saw the Dominic Brown card from series 2 and the Double Sparkle bounty Longoria, Heyward, and Lincecum. Now it's just taking a ridiculous gimmick to the next level.

I really don't have more to say about my hit other than Kung Fu Panda 2 is playing in a theater near you!

------------

I apologize for being such a downer in this box break/review. I can't help but to feel like I just wanted to "get it over with" when I got my hobby box. I really don't think that's the way I should feel about opening a new box of wax packs. But I did with Series 2.

I think the design of the cards (We've seen Series 1, Opening Day, Pro Debut, Series 2 and will see Chrome, and Update) is just getting tiring to see.

The boring insert sets this year (Diamond Duos, Before there was Topps, Topps 60) and there sheer mass quantity of them just pisses me off. Please Topps, just do one insert card per pack, not 3 or 4! And Please no more reprints after 2011 because a reprint of a 1991 Topps Larry Walker card is scraping the bottom of the barrel no matter how you slice it.

Please don't do another Million Card / Diamond Giveaway promotion either. We bloggers know it doesn't cost 15 to 20 dollars to ship 8 or 1o cards. Don't insult our intelligence!

I've updated my wantlist in the upper right hand corner and I've listed all of the inserts I have for trade below.

Kimball Champions (why are they all retired players? So much for continuity between series 1 and 2!): 52 Koufax, 53 Fisk, 55 Musial, 56 Carlton, 58 Ott, 65 Gibson, 70 Campanella, 74 Murray, 76 Brock (3!), 83 Mattingly, 84 Sandberg, 94 Yastremski, 95 Gehrig, 97 Molitor

12 Diamond Giveaway code cards ( I still have about 12 or 13 from series 1 I haven't bothered to redeem yet)

7 Topps Golds: 337 Walden, 340 Longoria, 407 Broxton, 527 Ka'aihue, 569 Maybin, 651 Morales, 656 Ibanez

15 Diamond Anniversary Parallels: 354 Baker, 388 Jansen, 390 Valencia, 428 Myers, 451 Hernandez, 453 Saunders, 490 Holliday, 535 Harden, 568 Royals, 583 Spilborghs (2!), 588 Davis, 596 Sanchez, 608 McGehee, 656 Ibanez

21 60YOT reprints (Just Stop It, Topps! Really!): 62 Robinson, 67 Ashburn, 69 Musial, 70 Cepeda, 72 Yastremski, 74 Maris, 80 Ryan, 85 Sutton, 88 Guidry (2), 90 Garvey, 94 Mattingly, 97 Molitor, 99 Walker, 102 Ramirez, 104 Jeter (2), 107 Halladay(2), 112 Jeter, 113 Butler

2 Before There Was Topps: BTT1 American Tobacco 1909, BTT3 American Tobacco 1911

12 Diamond Stars: DS-3 Mauer, 8 Wright, 9 Ramirez, 10 Pujols, 12 A-Roid, 14 Cabrera, 15 Lee, 17 Holliday, 23 Johnson(2) 25 Gonzalez (2)

11 Toppstown (What's with the numbering? Continuity with series 1?): TT2-1 Lincecum, 4 Morrison, 7 Gonzalez, 11 Morales, 19 Martinez, 20 Kershaw, 30 Crawford, 31 Lester, 33 Jackson, 43 Carpenter, 50 Hughes

17 Topps 60 (These are so stupid) : T60 51 Johnson, 54 Zimmerman, 59 Campanella, 61 Seaver, 64 Posada, 68 Votto, 70 Carpenter, 71 Stargell (2), 77 Winfield(2), 80 Munson(2), 82 Victorino, 89 Weaver(2), 91 Ortiz, 95 Lester(2)

19 Diamond Duos (numbering system again! Why did Topps use actual numbers instead of letters this time? Do we get a hybrid of both series with Updates? Makes no sense to me...) : DD-2 Utley/Cano, 8 Greinke/Gallardo, 12 Tulowitzki/Ramirez (2), 13 Chapman/Sale, 15 Lincecum/Wilson, 16 Hamilton/Votto(2), 17 Posey/Feliz, 19 Cabrera/Martinez, 20 Kershaw/Bumgarner, 21 Price/Lester, 23 Lee/Sabathia, 24 McCutcheon/Alvarez, 25 Teixeira/Gonzalez(2), 27 Johnson/Verlander, 29 Aaron/Heyward, 30 Koufax/Kershaw

2 Target Red Ruby Exclusives: THP21 Zimmerman, THP24 Tulowitzki

I called this one!

That is all..

"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?

Trade with the Daily Dimwit pt.2: Game Used Edition

Samuel and I have traded twice in the past month. He is the first trader on the blogs that I have been able to dump some Astros cards on. If you look back on my last few box breaks you can see why this is a good thing for Sam because it seems like I have some major Astros-jo going on. Anyways, on to the spoils:

2008 Upper Deck X Materials Jeremy Guthrie. This is my favorite (also only) Jeremy Guthrie Game used card I own. "Guts" as he has been nicknamed has been a lone constant in the Orioles rotation for the last 4 seasons now. The Elder Statesman if you will. I'm glad he had a bounce back season. He does a lot of charity work in Baltimore and he even signed a card TTM for me earlier this year!

2009 Upper Deck A Piece of History Box Score Memories Materials Melvin Mora. I can't say that I was a giant fan of Melvin while he was in Baltimore but he was a solid player for the O's for a long time and will by my estimation be enshrined in the Orioles Hall of Fame some day.

2006 Upper Deck Game Materials Corey Patterson. This is a really disfunctional Card if I ever saw one. We have an Orange and Black color scheme to the card, Corey wearing Cubs pinstripes, a blue pinstripe jersey swatch and the Orioles listed as his team. They can't all be winners but this is my first Patterson relic card.

Thanks again Sam, if I continue on my Astros hot streak I'll be sure to let you know!

Box Break: 2 Blasters of 2009 Upper Deck Icons

I should have stayed far, far away from these. I paid 12 bucks a piece at Wal-Mart. What a waste of money. I guess I was hoping to get lucky and pull a Wieters Rookie or a good jersey card (1 was promised per box). I already got the one card in the set I really care about (Legendary Icons insert of Cal Ripken) but it's just another throw-away, mail-it-in, junk set from Upper Deck. Hell, UD didn't even care enough to write anything on the card backs. The guy that writes those things must have been on vacation that week!

Here are the so called "Hits" of the box

Box #1

Tony Gwynn Legendary Icons #971/999
Cole Hamels Foil Parallel

Joe Mauer Future Foundations GU Jersey swatch

Box #2

Roy Oswalt Icons #636/999
Roy Oswalt Foil Parallel
Billy Wagner Icons GU Jersey swatch

I got no, I repeat NO rookies out of the boxes and the Wagner jersey card is dinged on the upper right hand corner. I did nearly get a complete set but I feel no obligation to finish it (81/100 base cards) Why do I continue to fall into this retail trap when buying cards?

Both Oswalts are already spoken for but everything else is for trade for stuff on my wantlists.