Trade with Michael of Nomo's Sushi Platter

I had the pleasure of completing another trade with Michael of Nomo's Sushi Platter the other day.  I might have said this before but Mike and I have hooked up on multiple trades over the last few years and each and every one seems to be awesome!

I think this autographed 1988 Topps card of Lee Lacy is from one of the Dodgers' alumni autograph signings that they do at the park on select game days.  The Orioles have a similar ongoing promotion but they usually only do that on Mondays and Thursdays which means I can never get to the park to get some free autos.  I live 3 hours and some change away from Baltimore!

I never tire of getting cards of Will Clark in an O's uniform.  I don't remember that much of his tenure in Baltimore since it came around the turn of the millenium.  This card is an ebay 1/1 (which I've been on a streak of getting lately) since it is numbered 221/250.  2 is the numbered position of the catcher which Will never played on a major league game, 21 is Nick Markakis' jersey number and 250 is one less than 251.  A true gem!

I think this is a time appropriate card.  This card was actually the base version before I threw up Listerine all over it.  Many O's fans are get green in the face when they see Johnson trotting out of the bullpen with a one run lead.  He's blown 10 saves this year.  10!  Where would the O's be if they had won 10 more games.  First Place!  Where would they be if they had won even 5 of those?  The first Wild Card slot!  Even Brandon League only has 4 blown saves on the year and he sucks!  I'm not a Dodgers fan and even I know that!

Thanks Michael for the nice stack of cards and the conversation pieces!

Another Group Break Update

It seems like forever ago that I got the ball rolling on my 2013 Topps Mini group break.  After a week and a half delay of actually putting the boxes on sale (from July 31st to August 9th)  I was finally able to put in my order for the 3 boxes last Friday.  I've been waiting ever since then to get a tracking number from Topps or Fed Ex and it finally showed up in my email box today.  Yes, that's right, it took a whole week for Topps to put 3 hobby boxes in bubble wrap and into a larger box and put my address on it.  I think that's pretty piss-poor when it took less that 3 days to get my Bowman blue wave refractors a few weeks ago.  Just because I got a tracking number doesn't necessarily mean that the cards have been shipped my way yet though.  The box could sit on the loading dock for a couple weeks.  I'm hoping to receive the cards sometime between Monday and the time 2014 Topps Series 1 comes out.

I'm really sorry to keep everyone waiting so in all honesty, I hope to start busting some of the packs as soon as they arrive (whenever that may be).

Pack Break: (4) 2013 Topps Allen & Ginter's World's Champions Jumbo Packs

It took me a few years to get struck by Ginter fever but last summer I finally warmed up to the set.  If you've been reading my blog at least since the beginning of last summer you might recall that I made a Craigslist purchase of a complete '07 A&G set as well as a near complete '06 and '08.  I even worked hard through last fall and winter to complete the '09, '10, '11, and '12 Allen & Ginter sets too with a lot of help from generous traders here in the blogosphere.  I think all of the quirky insert sets and the clean design just finally clicked in my brain that made me say "Hey, this is a pretty interesting set!"

Anyways, I've decided to cut back on the number of sets that I build and unfortunately A&G was one of the casualties of that decision.  That doesn't mean I can't bust some retail packs though!  I had to make a run to Lowes (I can't stay out of that store) the other day to get a couple things and Target is in the same shopping center.  Hmmm, didn't A&G come out a few days ago?  Maybe they have some in stock!  Here's the results of the 4 retail jumbo packs:

Let me first say that from my few packs that these retail jumbos are chock full of inserts.  I ended up with 4 Across the Years (expected), 3 Civilizations of Ages Past, 3 Curious Cases, 1 Martial Mastery, 2 Heavy Hangs the Head as well as the 1 Codes Ciphers and Cryptographs card of the creepy ass Zodiac Killer.  14 insert cards in 4 packs.  If you are building the insert sets, I would buy a bunch of these jumbos.

 It has been said in the few days that Ginter has been out this year that there is no "babe" like last year's Kate Upton or Erin Andrews.  While she won't be 18 until December 9, she's still a very attractive young woman.  I sound like a total creep here being 13 years and 4 days her senior but I must give credit where credit is due.  How could you not love the "McKayla is not Impressed" photo taken of here on the medal podium at the Olympics last year.  She even has baseball links (Attention: Spiegel, Night Owl, Zakwin, gcrl) since she parlayed a gold medal into throwing out the first pitch at Dodger Stadium. Not as impressively as the Korean gymnast's first pitch but still it bares mentioning.

Speaking of Dodgers I did get this Hyun Jin Ryu black bordered mini.  Not too shabby.  Apparently he's a good pitcher but I know little about him.  I probably know more about MaKayla Maroney (in 2 minutes of internet searching to find out how old she is) that I do about him.  For you mini card freaks out there, I got 8 total in my 4 jumbo packs.  And the best one is yet to come!

I popped open the bottom section of the last pack and the mini slides out.  Sweet! it's an Oriole, so there's one less mini I have to track down for the team set.  I've learned to take a look at the backs of these minis cuz you never know what "back" you might get.  I flip it over and I see this:

 Yep, hand numbered to 7/25!  Probably my lowest numbered serial numbered card that I've pulled from retail.  It's an ebay 1 of 1 because 7 is Mickey Mantle's number and 25 is Jim Johnson's newest teammate Bud Norris's number!  That will definitely bring a premium!  Not that It's for sale though.  So that makes it worth at least a million bucks.  Allen & Ginter has made me very rich all of the sudden.

For the rest of you commoners, the total list of inserts I got:

Mini Regular Back Parallel: 54 BJ Upton, 136 Panama Canal, 160 McCann
Mini Black Bordered Parallel: 246 Hyun-Jin Ryu
Across the Years: ATY CG C. Gonzalez, JH Hamilton, RS Sandberg, TSV Seaver
Civilizations of Ages Past: CAP-BAY Babylonians, PER Persians, PH Phoencians
Curious Cases: DA Denver Airport, FM Faked Moon Landings, MK MKULTRA
Martial Mastery: MM-ZU Zulu
Mini Heavy Hangs the Head: HHH-AUG Augustus, RAM Ramses II
Mini Codes, Ciphers, and Cryptographs: Zodiac Killer

2013 Topps Mini Group Break: 2nd Team Randomization

Before I start the randomization, I still need payment from a few of the participants.  Send your Paypal payments to ryanhughes12 at yahoo dot com.

I've traded with many of the participants recently but I want to make sure I send the cards to the right place.  Please shoot me over your addresses as soon as you can.  Thanks.

Here's the most anticipated 2nd team randomization in history:

The list of the 15 teams that weren't picked:

List Randomizer

There were 15 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. Padres
2. Athletics
3. White Sox
4. Rays
5. Brewers
6. Mariners
7. Pirates
8. Marlins
9. Reds
10. Royals
11. Red Sox
12. Blue Jays
13. Yankees
14. Twins
15. Diamondbacks

Timestamp: 2013-08-11 18:39:15 UTC

You have randomized this list 3 times.

Here's the randomization of the 15 participants:

List Randomizer

There were 15 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. Kerry B
2. Patrick W
3. Sam P
4. Brian S
5. Chris M
6. Tom O
7. Greg G
8. Brian S
9. Tim B
10. Ross M
11. Dan R
12. Ryan H
13. Richard N
14. Doug C
15. Jack H

Timestamp: 2013-08-11 18:40:10 UTC

You have randomized this list 3 times.

So pairings:

Name                     1st Team                      Random Team

Kerry B.                 Cardinals                     Padres

Patrick W.              Tigers                          Athletics

Sam P.                    Astros                         Mariners*

Brian S.                  Rangers                       Rays

Chris M.                 Braves                         Brewers

Tom O.                  Cubs                            White Sox*

Greg G.                  Dodgers                      Pirates

Brian S.                  Angels                         Marlins

Tim B.                    Rockies                       Reds

Ross M.                  Giants                         Royals

Dan R.                    Nationals                    Red Sox

Ryan H.                 Orioles                         Blue Jays

Richard N.              Phillies                        Yankees

Doug C.                 Mets                             Twins

Jack H.                    Indians                        Diamondbacks

*After Confirmed Trade

If you wish to trade your teams, please do so in the comments below.  I will leave team trading open until the first packs are busted.  (Hopefully later this week)

Pack Break: 2013 Bowman Platinum

Since I'm a pretty big Bowman fan, I somewhat look forward to new releases of the Bowman name.  This year's Bowman Platinum is no exception!  The cards are shiny as each card in the set looks like a refractor.  I'm attracted to shiny like a mosquito to a bug buster.

I made a dumb mistake at Target when I bought these.  I bought 4 of the value packs because the rack thingy it was hanging on said "Excell MLB Baseball 4.99".  Everyone knows that Excell stocks the cards in the section so I did a little math in my head and figured that either Topps was selling these rather cheaply or Excell made a mistake.  Plus with the cards literally being on the shelf for a day or 2 I wouldn't think they would have gotten stocked in the wrong spot.  WRONG.  I got to the register and they rung up at 9.49 a piece.  I should have put 2 back but I'm glad I didn't (I think).

I'll start off with my mojo autograph hit of Tayler Scott of the Cubs.  I seem to pull Blue Jays, Astros, Yankees, and Cubs hits out of everything I buy at retail.  WTF.  The autographs aren't too terribly hard to pull out of retail at 1 every 31 packs.  

Here's a gaggle of top prospects.  Notice the Cubs, Yankees and Astros are prevalent here!

Here's another one of the blue sapphire rookie reprints.  Not my cup of tea but I think somebody in the blogosphere is collecting these but I can't remember who.  Anybody know?

Here's one of the Baseball America inserts.  It's nice to see a prospect-centric set partnering with a prospect-centric magazine/organization to create an insert set.  Not that the design is groundbreaking or anything, just nice to see.

I guess these are called the gold diamond/ice paralells.  I also got a Braun but nobody wants to see his lying picture on my blog.  I should tape some of his cards to a bottle rocket and do a video feature here on the blog.  Any interest in seeing that?

I got a good pile of Purple refractors (12 to be exact) since they came 3 per value pack.  I'm really lucky and happy to get 2 of the Orioles brightest young farmhands.  I imagine if I would have put 2 of the value packs back on the shelf that knowing my luck it would have been the 2 that contained these cards!  I've had total crap luck this year when it comes to pulling O's cards from packs.  I didn't get any of the base cards from Bowman Platinum of the Orioles (there's only 3: Jones, Bundy, Machado).  Every card you see on this page is for trade except for the Gausman and Schoop.

Here's a visual list for all of the cards I have for trade from the product:

Bowman Platinum Prospect Autograph: BPAP-TS Tayler Scott

Gold Ice Parallel: 9 Braun, 32 Arcia, 78 Cano

Bowman Blue Sapphire Rookie Reprints: Chase Utley

Prospect Refractors: BPCP3 Brinson, 20 Dahl, 70 Nunez, 71 Choice

Prospect Purple Refractors: BPCP21 Lindor, 39 Sanchez, 57 Nicolino, 65 Hawkins, 68 Lee, 76 Hedges, 80 Davis, 87 Heaney, 90 Ozuna, 94 Hensley

Diamonds In The Rough: DIR-LM Merejo

Top Prospects: TP-JSO Soler, JB Baez, JS Singleton, GS Sanchez

Multiple Trade Post pt. 2

Continuing from yesterday's trade post, I have a couple more smaller scale trades to show off. Lets jump right in:

This was a classic PWE deal.  Oscar from the All Trade Bait, All the Time blog sent me these 2 Orioles legends for a coupe cards he saw from my trade page.

Judson from the My Cardboard Habit blog sent me a nice stack of Orioles cards I needed from my wantlist well as a few for my PC's including this Blue Dylan Bundy card from Topps flagship.  I sure wish there were more than 3 images of Dylan floating around because Topps has pumped out his cards this year with the same 3 pictures taken nano seconds apart all year long.

  See what I mean.  He needs to get back to pitching soon so they can snap some more pics of him!

Doug from the Buck Store Cards sent me some much needed help on 2013 Bowman as well as a few cards from 1979 Topps!  In the last 3 images, you have nearly seen the entire Topps library of Dylan Bundy Photos.  

Jack AKA Baseball Dad sent me this 2013 Bowman Hometown paralell. Man, I hope this guy comes back strong.  If not, I'm going to be sitting on a pile of useless cardboard.  While his injury caused his cards to take a small hit in terms of value, it means that I'm picking up all I can while he is rehabbing at a discount.  I love discounts!

Chen has come back strong from the DL.  He just seems to have trouble pitching in the 7th inning.

Thanks again to all of the great trades you guys have sent me!

Multiple Trade Post

I've received quite a few smaller trade packages in the mail lately.  While the volume of cards received might have been small, each and everyone of them filled a hole in my collection.

First up a Nick Markakis from 2007:

This one came from Dennis of Too Many Verlanders.  This package showed up in my mailbox as an unannounced surprise.  He was digging through some boxes at a card show an though I would like the card!  Boy, was he right!  When I'm dime box digging, I always try to think of my fellow collectors too.  Nothing beats trade bait on the cheap! BTW, this is the refractor version of the insert set and it's numbered 434/500.  It's tough to see the refractory finish in the scan.

Tom from the nice blog Waiting 'til Next Year sent me this Pro Debut from this years set along with a nice stack of 2013 Bowman to help with my set.  Schoop is probably the most advanced offensive prospect the Orioles have now that LJ Hoes is now an Astro.

Next, is a spanking-new Manny Machado Insert from 2013 Topps Series 2.  I think the Chasing History set is pretty well designed, but I think the "records" that are being chased are some what coincidental.  Manny never had a multi-HR game in the minors and on his second day after getting The Call, he smacked 2 dingers in a game.  So I guess that means he'll be chasing that record now....  I dunno, just seems like they had to get the best players in an insert set so they had to think up some off-the-wall records for them to "chase".

I think I will be forever chasing the UD Documentary set from 2008.  162 cards for the team set will keep me busy for quite some time.  BTW, the Machado above and the Markakis are from a reader of the blog named Kyle.

Next is a Gold parallel from this years Bowman that was delivered from Brian of Play at the Plate.  I still don't have the base version of this card though.  I'm sure with "Crush" hitting so many dingers this year, we'll be seeing more and more of his cards in products.

This Machado comes to me from Bryan of Golden Rainbow cards.  I've seen several cards that are in this insert set and I like them a lot.  I love action shots on baseball cards more than posed shots so the Chase it Down insert set is right up my alley.  I won't be collecting the set, just picking up the Adam Jones and calling it complete.

Bryan also included this sweet Miguel Gonzalez gold parallel in a later PWE in the trade.  I'm not quite sure why Topps didn't put the rookie card logo on any of Miguel's cards this year.  As far as I can tell, he hadn't had any cards issued before this year.  If Topps isn't going to put the designation on all of the cards, then don't do it at all!

Thanks to all the great traders that sent these awesome cards!

2013 Topps Mini Group Break Update

I know it seems like a million years ago since I announced that I would be holding a Group Break for the 2013 Topps Minis.  Well, only about 2 weeks but you get the idea.  All 15 regular slots have been claimed and I thank each and every participant for doing so.  I have not requested payment yet since I wanted to get the cards ordered first before I could accurately calculate all the costs.  I seriously have been checking the Topps website like every 2 or 3 hours for the last week and a half trying to figure out when they would finally be released for sale.
 I originally thought that they would be released at the same time the National opened this last Wednesday.  Made sense but I was wrong.  OK, give the customers that went to the National the first crack at the product.  I understand.
Then I thought maybe the next day since Wednesday was the sneak peek.  Nope! Wrong Again!
OK, How about Monday when the National was over and the customers that showed up there's exclusive buying opportunity was gone.  HA!  Wrong Again!
Maybe Tuesday when new release movies and CD's come out.  Longshot, but I was still wrong!
Wednesday, the traditional release date for most of Topps' card releases was most certainly going to be the day.  Strike 5! BUT!  I finally found out the release date!

The boxes will be available for sale on Friday August 9th!  So I guess once I make the order on Friday, they probably won't be shipped until Monday.  I'm hoping to start busting them by the end of next week (if everything goes as I hope it does).

So to all the participants, expect to see an email from me at some point on Friday with the total cost for your slot.  I think I can finally do the second team randomizations at some point on Sunday.  I will allow trading of those second teams right up until the first batch of packs gets ripped later next week.

Remember, some of you earned a dollar discount for joining both mine and Judson's breaks.  By my count, it looks like he's got 2 more slots open but I'd hurry because it looks like his A&G boxes are on their way to his house right now and he's ready to bust some packs!