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.

Card Show Wrap Up: Part 2

Here's part 2 of my card show wrap-up (if you couldn't tell from the title!)

5. 2010 Bowman Chrome Draft Picks Buster Posey Refractor. I think this card was mistakenly in the wrong box. It was nestled deep in the 7 for 5 dollar box so I couldn't refuse to pick this card up. It looks awesome in person and its in great condition. My Scanner refused to pick up the refractory shine this time.

4. 2009 Upper Deck Signature Stars USA Star Prospects 18U National Team UD Game Jersey Manny Machado. What a mouthful to say! I got this card on the cheap from a guy who had a ton of Team USA cards. Most of the higher end Manny stuff was out of my price range but I did drool a little bit on the glass!
3. 2001 Pacific Private Stock Brady Anderson bat card. I've been looking for a Brady Anderson relic card for some time now and I finally got one! He doesn't have many but this one looks awesome! There is even a short bio on the back along with stats. When was the last time you saw a relic card with those on the back?
2. 2007 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts Legendary Materials Brooks Robinson. These last two cards I got for a combined 20 bucks a triple relic card #d to 99 of a Hall of Famer and.... you'll see. This is a great looking card. Maybe one of these days I'll feel bold enough to open a box of Legendary Cuts.
1. 2009 Topps Chrome Blue Refractor Autograph Nolan Reimold. I'm sorry if you feel a little let down by the top card on the countdown. I really have a soft spot for Nolan for some unknown reason. Maybe its because he is one of the few legit prospects the O's have in the Upper Minor leagues right now. Regardless this is my favorite card of the show. It doesn't look like it but the autograph is actually on card!
I hope everyone enjoyed seeing my favorite cards from the show!

Card Show Wrap Up: Part 1

I went to the Chantilly card show last weekend and I am just getting around to posting up the results of what I was able to pick up. I'm going to show my top 10 favorite cards over 2 posts (the second post will be tomorrow). Without further ado:

10. 2008 Bowman Sterling Prospects Zach Britton. I've been looking for this card for a while now and I found it in none other than a bargain bin for a quarter. That's right Bowman Sterling for a quarter. It makes me wonder why "collectors" will pay so much for a "box" of cards and end up selling the base cards for peanuts. I personally will never pay more than 5 dollars for a pack of cards no matter what.

I feel bad for Zach though. He was demoted to double-A which he was none too happy about. I was expecting this sort of move by the Oriole front office at some point during the year to stave off his free agency another year (like the Rays did with Longoria and Royals with Hosmer and Moustakas this year.) The Orioles officially say that it was performance related (he has been getting knocked around the park lately) but O's fans are smarter than that. The O's front office wasn't going to bring him to the big leagues until late April/ early May just for the reason of keeping him under team control for another season. I think McPhail was just waiting for Zach to have a bad outing and use that as an excuse for a demotion. The mid-summer circus has truly arrived in Baltimore and won't be pulling out until the end of September.

9. 1967 Topps #1: THE CHAMPS. I did pay a little more for this card but it is totally worth it. This card really is a classic combo card. Not like the garbage of Jose Reyes and Hanley Ramirez standing around in the outfield with their hands down the front of their All-Star warm up jerseys.
8. 1954 Bowman Dick Kryhoski. I like 1954 Bowman better than the 55 version. Period. It just seems more classy than the woodgrain TVs.

7. 2010 Bowman Chrome 18-U USA National Team Manny Machado. This is one of my Top 10 Most Wanted Orioles cards. I haven't figured out a replacement for this one on the list yet.

I'm trying to get in on the ground floor with this guy before he really turns into the mega-prospect all the scouts think he'll be. I picked up a few other of his cards at the show and you might see him later on in this countdown.

6. 2001 Upper Deck SPX Brian Roberts Rookie Card. I have other Rookie cards of Brian but not as nice as this one. It has a low serial # which is cool but not like it matters. It was a little pricier but I'm happy with the purchase.

There are 2 schools of thought on Brian right now. There are a lot of people saying he is done and others say he still has some fuel in the tank. I'd like to say that I think he still has some good years left in him. Injuries have totally messed up his last 2 seasons but when he gets fully healthy(and stops sliding head first into 1st base) he will be fine.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the conclusion of my card show report.

Trade with John of The Pursuit of 80's(ness)

This is my first international trade that I have completed. I had the pleasure of dealing with John from The Pursuit of 80s(ness). He had some feelers out for a bunch of different team collectors and I bit on the Orioles. I think he is still looking for a couple of other team traders so you might want to check him out. Anyways, here's my take:

Here's a sweet looking Jim Palmer Mini from 2008 Goudey. It's undeniably 2008 because of Derek Jeter's mug taking up most of the bottom of the card.
Another version of Orioles Obscure Cards of Obscure Players. Omar Daal, wow, he was terrible while donning the black and orange.
Damian Moss wasn't much better as an Oriole. Both had ERA's in the 6's. Geez!

Aubrey Huff was a decent player for the O's for a couple of years. As I continue to obtain more cards for the base set, the Black Bordered Orioles continue to trickle in! Maybe one day soon I'll have the entire set.

And I'll close out this trade post with a neat card from 1994 Upper Deck Fun Pack. This card folds out (obviously!) to show an action shot on the inside. Pretty ground breaking stuff for the mid 90's!

Thanks for the trade John, your return package is in the mail. I hope you like what I found for you!

June Group Break Cards from Cards from the Quarry

I know these aren't great scans of the cards I got from Johnny's June Group Break but I'm getting lazy from the summer heat. I'm really enjoying these cheaper breaks because it helps me fill out my team collection at a cheaper price than going to a card show.

All three of these Cal cards bolstered my PC as I didn't have any of these three. I'm really loving the stained glass insert on the right. I was very lucky in regards to Johnny actually pulling it from the box. It actually is a diecut card that is see through. I took it and pointed it towards the sun and it really is a neat concept for an insert set. I wish we could see that creativity in todays card market.

Trade with David the Rhubarb Runner

David (AKA Rhubarb Runner) of the famed "e rayhahn, rayhahn" blog and I just recently completed a trade. I sent him a bunch of Twins he needed and he sent along some really nice Orioles in return. Lets get right into the goods:

By the way that Vladimir Guererro is swinging these days, its only appropriate that I get a card of another creaky kneed DH in Harold Baines. The only thing is that Harold actually could still hit for some decent power in his 3 stints with the Orioles. Meanwhile Vlad Guerrero seems to be done with his career on life support.
The runner of rhubarb found several cards from my set want lists. I am slowly buy surely knocking out cards from the Goudey sets and O-Pee-Chee. I thought this card of Jake Peavy is an interesting card showing him getting ready to round 3rd Base. Also I like the Santana card with the cityscape in the back. I really hope he can bounce back from injuries because I enjoyed watching him pitch.
Apparently either David has a great amount of Vintage cards laying around or he did some shopping for me at his LCS. I was able to add the Orioles Team card from 1973 Topps to my collection. I only need Dave McNally to finish out the team set.
I didn't used to like 1966 Topps that much but it has grown on me over time as much as any set has from yesteryear. I'm happy to add these two semi stars to my team set. I'm really getting close to completing some vintage team sets so I'm getting pretty excited about that.
And this wouldn't be a true post if I didn't show an obscure card of an obscure player for the O's. Looking over Juan's stats as an Oriole, they look pretty crappy. At least when we traded him to Cincinnati, we got BJ Ryan in return and he was good for us for a few years.

Thanks David for the nice trade. I look forward to trading with you again in the future.

Cal Ripken Cardboard Appreciation #15

2000 Upper Deck UD IONIX Atomic

As always, the scanner doesn't do this card any favors, it looks great in person.

Trade with Bob of '59 Topps Blog

Bob of the '59 Topps blog and I just completed an awesome trade. Awesome as in I don't think I have ever recieved such a great amount of collectables in one package. He really outdid himself when he sent my package. Lets get right into the good stuff.

Everybody has seen Starting Lineups before. I even have some myself but they are not in their original packaging anymore. I think I have the first year Cal Ripken at my father's house somewhere but I know for sure that his glove arm is broken off! I am very proud to have this one from 1990. I am thinking about starting a collection of just Cal SLUs. We'll see!

I have never seen one of these before. Heck I didn't even know they existed and was puzzled when pulling it out the box. Obviously its a stand up plaque with the Iron Man on it but it really is a cool collectable.

Here's the extent of my Cal Ripken sticker card collection. I didn't realize the one on the right was upside down until I had already binderized the trio. So laziness prevails and they will remain this way in this post. I hadn't really paid much attention to Odd ball Cal stuff in the past, but now I know that kind of stuff just doesn't exist anymore. It just makes them so much cooler.
I distinctly remember seeing this card at the show I went to a few weeks ago. I wanted to buy it but ran out of cash and couldn't get it. Two days later it shows up in my mailbox! Everything happens for a reason.
I believe this is my first Ron Hansen card. He was a good player for the Birds but had mixed success after he was traded from the Charm City.

And this is probably the favorite card of the trade. Im a big fan of 1960 Topps and I might build the set one day. For now this Brooksie with have to just fill a gaping hole in my O's team set.

I want to take this opportunity to than Bob for the awesome cards and collectables that he sent. Also, go check out his blog, its very well written and you'll be able to learn alot about 1959 Topps and the players in the set.