Gold Glove aquisition

I went to trade night at one of the local shops last week. I was expecting a lot of hockey talk. The season is well underway, and a lot of new products had been released recently.

While there certainly was that, there was also some baseball being opened. And wouldn't you know it... a card appeared that as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have it.

 

So much for my poker face. And they knew it.

 

Ah well... $20 later and this little beauty became mine.

 

 

I really like the card. A lot of jersey, the pic being in the center, the cut out logo, not to mention the sweet on card signature. A beauty.

I'll just concentrate on the good aspects of the game right now, and completely ignore the idiocy that is going on in ATL right now....

Al Dark (Jan 7, 1922 - Nov 13, 2014)

Al Dark passed away this past Thursday. He was rookie of the year in 1948 and placed 3rd in the MVP race. A 3 time all star in his 14 year career that ended in 1960.

 

He only played for the Braves in '48 and '49 (plus 15 games in '46) before being traded away to the Giants with Eddie Stanky for Sid Gordon, Buddy Kerr, Willard Marshall and Red Webb.

I didn't know too much about Al, but thanks to trading for this card at a local trade night last year, I did some research on him.
That's what this hobby is about for me. Not how much my card is worth. Not the mad mojo rush to get the latest prospect card graded in hopes of a 10. Not having every single card ever made.
But acquiring a card of a guy who played on my team, and reading up on him. Finding out about the past.

Most people, including Braves fans, would not even notice the passing of a 92 year old ex-ballplayer. But thanks to a trade with a fellow collector, I did.

R.I.P Mr. Dark.

Topps owes me.... I hope.

So at the last trade night I caved into peer pressure. My drug of choice? Shiny 2013 Topps Chrome.

It was either that or Shiny 2013 Bowman Chrome. Why did Topps put out two nearly identical products in the same week??? Who knows? They have a monopoly, so they can do whatever they want.

 

A couple of friends of mine spent about 10 minutes talking me into busting this box... I think it was because they wanted to see one but didn't want to splurge themselves........... Hmmm.......

 

Anyways, you all know about The Shiny. 24 packs, 4 cards per pack, and TWO autos GUARANTEED per box. (that's called foreshadowing kids)

 

I only managed to pull three Braves in the box, so you're going to get to see them all.

 

This is the first card of El Oso Blanco that I've pulled from a pack myself.

 

 Evan became the first player to win back to back Rookie of the Month since Jason Heyward in 2010.
It'll be a tight race between Evan and Jedd Gyorko for rookie of the Year. I think Gyorko will win it though.... too bad, evan had a helluva year. The most RBI's by a rookie, second by two in homers to Gyorko.

BMac! Maybe the last card of Brian in a Bravos uni....

 Of course, what are shiny cards without even shinier cards? Refractors everywhere...

And of course, Xfractors.... that black line is not visible on the card itself, but every Xfractor I pulled scans this way. It looks like a fault in the cards... there's a line on the card that looks like it's missing the Xfractor dust.

There are coloured parallels as well.... purple, red, orange, black, gold, and blue. Maybe more, I dunno. I got one gold, and one blue in my box.

The blue I pulled was Jon Lester. Jon thinks like my cat.... if I can't see you, you can't see me....

The scan of my gold parallel seems to have disappeared into the depths of the world. Sorry, my bad.

As for inserts, we get more of the 1972 reprints. I got two in the box, Pujols and Jason Heyward.

Topps also made a couple of odd die-cut insert sets. I pulled three of these monsters... Ortiz, Lincecum, and Gonzalez. Very colourful.... it's like the 90's again.

And then this thing.... the only one in the box. Evan Longoria.

Now we get to the autos. Or should I say, auto. Yeah. In big block red letters it's printed on the box THREE times, TWO autographs per box.

I got one.

*sigh*

But, at least I got the probable rookie of the year, the previously mentioned Jedd Gyorko, on a  black bordered card #/100

nice looking card.

Now to email Topps about my missing auto.
Anyone out there have experience dealing with Topps??? Sound off in the comments if you have any tips.

Something old, something new....

I haven't picked up a lot of new baseball other than trying to desperately complete my Braves team sets from throughout the years. You'd think a lot of these 'common junk wax' cards would be plentiful to find, but no. Not so.

 

If you have Braves cards from the '90s or '00s, let me know.

 

But I've still managed to acquire a couple of new to me autos... they must really be valuable as they both came factory sealed in plastic prisons.

 

Tommy Holmes.

 

Tommy played almost his entire career for the Boston Braves. (1942-1952) He finished runner up for MVP in 1945. His career batting average was .302. And he his ratio of 28 home runs for every strike out is one of baseball's all time best.
Tommy passed away in 2008 at the age of 91.


 If you like a little more modern feel to your cards....

Julio Teheran

Julio is one of the top young arms in baseball... Baseball America's #1 RHP prospect.
For whatever that's worth.
But he's got a great sig.

Hope you like 'em... I do. And now they're mine.

my latest three way...

 

as most of you may know, I dabble in the ttm autograph world. I've been fairly successful, despite the U.S.P.S's attempt to send all of their children through college via my postage needs.

 

one of the people who is known for his generous signing habits, is baseball legend, Dale Murphy.

 

Being a lifelong Braves fan, I have written to him several times for an autograph. I've sent photos, cards, a ball once... all to no avail. While Mr Murphy signs anything that isn't nailed down for EVERYONE else on the planet, he avoids, nay, shuns my requests.

 

Although that restraining order looks great framed on my wall..... it's his auto I want.

 

Enter in a plain white envelope I received in the mail awhile back. It had familiar writing on it, and the name of the sender was familiar. You know him, the master of the lack of capitalization, gcrl.

 

Now gcrl lives in Minnesota. How a Dodger fan ended up in Minnesota is a story best left for him to tell, but he's there nonetheless.

However, the return address / postmark was from Salt Lake City, Utah.

 

I know gcrl isn't a travelling vacuum salesman.... and it's doubtful he took some cards along with him on vacation just to mail them away like postcards.... so wtf?

 

Curious, I open said PWE.

 

Out pops this.....

 

Now.... Mr Murphy DOES live in Salt Lake City.... So what we have here, is a good blogger friend writing to Dale Murphy, and asking him to take pity on me and send me an auto.

And that's just what he did.

If only everything in life was this simple.

Thanks Jim.... and Dale.

Are you hungry??

most of you know about the big hootenanny that went down in Las Vegas a week or so ago. All the cool kids were there. Which may be why I wasn't.

It was the Industry Summit, or some such nonsense. Most of the card manufacturers and a whole whack of card shop owners in one place.

Chaos ensued.

But my point is, and I do have one, honest, is that my local shops were well represented.

Well, at the bar and craps tables anyway.......

But throughout the slot machines, video poker, and disease infested strippers, my local card shop thought of me. I'm not sure if I should be flattered or not.

Anyways... as we all know, it's not whether our friends have a good time on vacation or not, it's whether they brought us anything or not.

Am I right?

Well I got something.

and like I said, Are you hungry? Too bad because......

 

HA!

 

Thanks Darren, this is awesome.

Who wants some free stuff?

How about some free autographs?
Or some free addresses for TTM requests?

Who wouldn't want that? Well, I'll also throw in some free advice. Sign up for the best online resource for TTM autograph requests....

and yes, for right now, it's free.

Star Tiger has over 370,000 active celebrity addresses. Feel like writing Red Kelly? Henri Richard? Ken Dryden?

How about James Garner? Brigitte Bardot? Heather Locklear?

Maybe Virgil Trucks or Al Hrabosky? Dale Murphy?

Or George R.R. Martin? Dean R. Koontz?

Whatever your interest, Star Tiger has it. I have autographs from all of the above mentioned to prove it.

Right now Star Tiger has a free sign up. Enter the coupon code FREE-5E52-5ACC and you get 4 weeks of access. A whole month of access to all of those addresses.

If you've ever wanted to try a TTM autograph attempt, or are currently doing it by need better addresses, you have to try this.

What do I get out of this? Well, there's a 99.9% chance I'll get nothing. The site is giving away free autographs, but the chance of me winning one is negligible.

So why do it? Well, when I first started out, I didn't know what to do or where to write. I finally found this website and it changed everything. So if I can help someone new to the hobby, I'll do it.

Here's how to get access.....

• Go to http://www.startiger.com
• Click on "Join Now"
• Enter the coupon code in the coupon code field
• Enter your valid e-mail address and click on "Next"
• Select your username and password on the following page and click on "Next".
• Enjoy your free access to StarTiger!

Please note: The coupon is only valid for new accounts
and accounts for persons that have not been a member for at least 12 months.

If anyone has any questions, ask away, I'll do my best to answer them. Good luck and have fun!

Premier League Contest - Week 13

Welcome to Week 13... let's not have another week last last week, okay?

Hopefully the 5 injuries to my United squad have had time to heal. My apologies to QPR for hopefully bearing the brunt of revenge this week.

Hopefully.

Onto the lasses...

Jessica Landon thinks it's funny that her kit has shrunk in the wash.

Yvette Nelson does not. Yvette is all business.

Lana Kinnear's kit has not only shrunk, but it's torn as well. Perhaps a new trainer is in order.

Sweet mother, a red head. Me and Gibbs baby.... we know... we know...

Laura Marie Buka.... what red head? Yummy.

Bonus pack! Jennifer Korbin sends her love.

All games are this weekend, so let's get your posts in by monday lunchtime please.

By the way, if your teams are participating, how are they doing in Champions League?

Go United!!!

Cardboard quality over quantity...

not too far back I decided, conciously or subconciously, to veer away from my normal buying habits at card shows. Oh sure, I still pick up cards that aren't on my lists, (always bring your lists kids!) and I tend to buy too many cards with other people in mind.(that's my greedy alter ego talking) But I wanted to try and 'upgrade' my player collections. At every show, pick up at least one high end card, instead of just dozens of cards from the dollar box.
So at the last two card shows, I have done just that. I'll show a baseball related one here, and later a hockey item on my other blog, Just A Bit Offside.

From this year's Topps Tribute, Mr Tommy Hanson.

Tommy is smiling because he's about to strike out the side with one pitch. This shiny beauty set me back $15. That may not be high end for some of you.... but for someone like me who spends their time scrounging through quarter boxes... it's high end.

Nice to have you home Tommy.... now if I could only touch it......

They tried naming a street after Tommy Hanson in Atlanta, but they had to change it because nobody crosses Tommy Hanson and lives.

A Star Trek box break... Yes. Star Trek.

It's been a long time since I bought a box of cards. If you subtract hockey from the equation, it's been almost 2 years since I've bought a box of cards. I think other than 2010 Topps Chrome football, it was 2009 Ginter for baseball.

Yeah.

I've been feeling what a lot of you have been expressing towards the latest offerings from Topps.

Meh.

And until they get their act together and release something worthwhile, I'll concentrate on my wantlists for vintage baseball, and buy other offerings from other companies who aren't just phoning it in.

One of those companies is Rittenhouse. While you will never find a Chipper Jones or Josh Hamilton in anything they do, that doesn't mean it isn't worth checking out.

I've always been a fan of non-sports cards. From the Star Wars release in the late '70's to the great sets out today. I've enjoyed seeing sets of movies and tv shows that I've watched.

Today's box break is of Star Trek: The Next Generation The Complete 1987-1991 Series One.

This is limited to 6000 waxboxes. Each box has 24 packs, 6 cards per pack.

The base set is 90 cards (including two checklists) and covers the first half of The Next Generation series run. Series Two, which will be released in February, 2012, will cover the latter half of the series in another 90 card set.

Each base card features 5 full colour pictures. Yes. Five. The fronts look like this....

 I really like the feel of these cards as they are not the typical full high glossy lacquered card you find in most sets today.
Each base card tells the story of one episode. A summary, as well as two more pictures, appear on the back.

 I really enjoyed sitting down after putting them in pages and reading the backs. Something I did as a kid with my sportscards, but manufacturers have all but eliminated. Did I mention you always get a full set in a box?

There are four different insert sets to chase. They have a foil front parallel set at 1:3 packs.

 An 'Aliens' insert, featuring, in alphabetical order, every alien race shown in the series. There are 13 different cards at 1:8 packs. Each card feautures 6 alien races.

 A 'Tribute" series, 18 cards featuring those actors that have passed on in the years since. 1:6 packs. Can you believe it's been 25 years since Captain Jean-Luc Picard first appeared on screen?

 Nine cards showing off artwork of one of the main characters. The U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D. 1:9 packs

 But the real allure of the set, besides those awesome base cards, are the autographs. You get four per box.
Rittenhouse has different levels of autos in this set. Very Limited, Limited, and Normal.
Very Limited is around 200-300 total available. Limited is between 300-500. Normal is listed as 'Over 500'.
Knowing how many boxes/packs etc are available, I figure if everything is equal and balanced, Normal means around 580.
Rittenhouse changes the checklist of their autos from set to set, so not all of the cast is available in this series. Out of the "big" characters, Data, Doctor Crusher, and Commander LaForge are in Series One. I didn't get any of them. Surprise!
I pulled two Normal and two Limited autos in my box. None of the big names, but some memorable characters.

 William O. Campbell came on board the Enterprise and in less than five minutes had a young Ensign Terri Hatcher in the sack. Well done sir.
Now known as Billy Campbell, he's starred in Once and Again, The 4400, and The Killing

 Richard Lineback played a powerful slave/drug addict. He's been in Speed, Varsity Blues, Natural Born Killers and The Jackyl.

 Nehemiah Persoff is 92 years old and retired in 1999. He's been in so many shows I couldn't possibly list them all. You all know who he is, if not, IMDB or google is your friend.

My best auto, character on the show wise, was of the mysterious Traveller. This is the dude that kept popping in every other year to help Wesley Crusher evolve into an energy state. One of the more obscure plotlines of the show for sure.
Played by Eric Menyuk, who was the runner-up to play Data. Eric is now a trial litigator in Los Angeles where, according to his firm's website, "he has been keeping the world safe for Fortune 500 companies."
I think that's lawyer-speak for he's rich with a nice car and even nicer house.

Anyways... I had a blast breaking this box... so much so I'll definitely pop on Series 2 in February.

Redemption at the Plate

Awhile ago I received a small package from my buddy who runs Play at the Plate. In it, he enclosed this piece of cardboard....

 3-4 weeks later, another small package arrived at my door from Topps.

Nice.

Now if only Panini and Upper Deck would return my redemptions.....

Thanks Brian!!!

btw... please keep Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos in your thoughts.... LINK

Delayed Trade Night posting...

I'm only three weeks late in posting this. Which means.... I'm catching up!

I managed to acquire two Braves 'hits' at this trade night. The first is an Alvin Dark auto on a Topps Heritage card.

 The second piece is this Hank Aaron card. It says "Game Used Memorabilia".

 But what does that mean?

You have received a Topps Memorabilia Card. The relic on this card is not from any specific game, event or season.

What the hell does that mean?????? Does it have anything to do with Hank Aaron even??? This could be a floorboard from the dugout from Three Rivers Stadium for all I know.

Does anyone know what Topps has said about these? Anything?

I had to give up a DeSean Jackson '08 Masterpieces auto, a Carlos Ruiz sticker auto from Moments and Milestones, and an '09  Ginter Chase Utley grey jersey.

you want Bryce Harper autos? I have Bryce Harper autos....

Sothe other night was trade night at Maple Leaf Sports, my local card shop. I'm not even going to make jokes about it being 45 minutes away in light traffic. This is serious business.
2011 Bowman had made it's appearance. And believe it or not, there are a few baseball collectors coming out of the woodwork up here in the Great White North. Especially the hit chasers.

The jumbos got ravaged first. I had thoughts of picking up a box. Just for the Braves. And some guy named Stras... Harper. But by the time I cleared the mothballs from my wallet, all the jumbos were gone. Sold. Cracked. Wrappers everywhere. A bunch of hockey collectors walking around confused why they don't see ice or skates on these guys....

I looked at the "hit ratio" for regular hobby, only one auto per box, and said to myself, Nah........

So my buddy Mike stepped up and grabbed one. A few packs in he pulls his auto. Yeah, if you've been paying attention, it was Bryce Harper chrome rookie auto.

Euphoria ensues... the heaven's part, angels are singing, doves are let loose as everyone gathers around to see the magical card that has just paid his next two months mortgage payments. As Mike goes to show off his prize, and if you've been paying attention to the title (look again if you need to, now back to me), he notices another card stuck to the back of th Chrome Harper auto.

As he seperates the two, his Chrome Harper auto becomes a Chrome Harper auto and a Blue Bordered Chrome Harper auto.

Make that his next 6 mortgage payments.

Surprisingly, Mike made it out of the shop safely.

If anyone wants to see the magnificent glory that is The Harper. Please check out Maple Leaf Sport's Hit blog.... HERE. You can magnify the pic if you dare by clicking on it.....

TTM success, Casey Daigle's wife!!!

Leave it to the Canuck to write to a ball player's wife, instead of to him. That's just the way I roll. Besides, as Casey tries to catch on with the Giants this year (good luck with that) his wife may be a better pitcher than he. At least, underhanded, anyways.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I am speaking of Team USA's Ms Jennie Finch. Yeah, the one with 235236346636 no hitters. That one.

 Mrs Daigle was kind enough to sign two photos for me.

Sweet hey?

oh yeah, and if you want the chance of free cards, go here and follow the instructions, like I did.

TTM success! Here kitty, kitty, kitty.....

One of my latest TTM success stories.

 Super softball pitcher Cat Osterman.

Cat nicely signed two 8x10's for me.

For an even better return, check out my other blog; Just A Bit Offside

Hot Dog!

First off, I hope everyone had a safe and happy hallowe'en. I see that most of Detroit is still standing, so that's nice.

Apparently the Giants won more than the pennant. Proving the theory that if no one watches, will there still be a winner. Speaking of Canada of course. Or am I? Apparently regular season football games drew a bigger audience than the World Series. Interesting. I wonder if Bud Selig even noticed.

But enough of that. On with bigger and better things. Like a contest!!!!! Relax. It's too late for you. I already won it.

Justin from The Hopeful Chase held a contest awhile back. Go HERE for the link. He showed a picture, and it was up to us to come up with a caption.

Well wouldn't you know, I won. Sweet. What did I get? First, I got an on card hand signed in person auto of none other than Steven Stamkos. Effin sweet.

 Next, he really threw me for a loop. He sent a Joey Chestnut auto. Now I must confess that although I had heard the name before, I had no idea who he was.

Everyone needs a hobby I guess.

Thanks Justin!!!!