JD's Wild Cardz

Dead Duck?

2011-01-10T13:24:00.000-08:00

Still high off of an improbable Seahawks victory this weekend, I am now getting geared up for yet another huge contest for the Pacific Northwest, Oregon v Auburn for the National Champion of the free universe.

I began thinking of how long it has been since the Ducks have last played. I tried to think of how long the insufferable radio and television coverage leading up the event has been. I get it, Oregon is fast, Cam Newton in the MVP, and neither team is remotely prepared for what the other team is going to give them tonight. There are only so many ways that you can slice and disect this thing and quite frankly, I am tired of it all. Get these kids on the field and lets be done with it!

So when thinking about the long layoff, I did not think of its effects on...

1) Cam Newton
2) LaMichael James
3) Darren Thomas

Nope, the first thought that came into my head?

...dead duck.

You see, while the 30+ day layoff may or may not affect the timing or flow of either teams offenses, I have the most concern about the mascot of the Oregon Ducks....whatever the hell his/her name is.

You see, one of the things you will see tonight is that every time Oregon scores, the Duck with do that many pushups....except it is progressive. So the duck will do seven pushups, then fourteen, then 21, so on so forth. Problem is, Oregon puts up about a bajillion points a game, so the Duck was a python by the end of the season.

Until the layoff. The holidays, the food, the candy, cookies, the sloth....

So pray for the Oregon Duck tonight to make it out alive. Perhaps a low-scoring game is the best solution. Save a Duck.

How the Wild Code was broken...

2010-11-18T08:09:00.000-08:00

As a mentioned yesterday, the 2010 JD's Wildcode has finally been broken!

Samuel, of "The Daily Dimwit" sent me the image of Leonardo de Vinci, the answer to the final clue, yesterday afternoon. After the bells and whistles stopped sounding, and the confetti was finished falling from the sky, I informed Sam that he had won the entire contents of my 2010 Topps Chrome box, plus he has chosen the Alex Rodriguez Dave Hobrecht personally signed Chicle card, plus I am going to do some searching for something special in the card pile.

I asked Sam to write an explanation of how he solved the code. Reviewing his work, it is apparent that he utilized technology to get the job done. Though the code is certainly solvable without heavy computer work (though very useful for the trivia section), there is definitely no reason not to use any resource you can!

I want to clarify one section of the puzzle, as Sam was able to interpret the PDF section of the puzzle, thus skipping the step before it! The email with the PDF included a code that explained what to do with the PDF. In order to solve that code, you needed to have each card from the trivia questions. There was no need to reorder them in any way, but to simply line them up, and using the names, start counting letters. Once you decipher them correctly you will read

"TRAVEL TO MUDVILLE! FIND FAMOUS POEM. START AT THE SNEER. SOME THINGS DO NOT BELONG…"

Thus you pull up the PDF, start at "the sneer" which is the 2nd to last stanza, and cross out every word up to the end of the poem!

ANYWAYS, congratulation to Sam! If you have any questions about the code, feel free to leave a comment and I will answer all!

The Wild Code has been broken!

2010-11-17T13:01:00.000-08:00

More to come!

Status of the Wild Code

2010-11-12T15:15:00.000-08:00

Unsolved! Call Robert Stack.

Seriously though, it's time to get this pony moving right along and solve this code! Now I can tell you that there are THREE of you that have reached the second to last step in the process. It took some doing, but if you look back to how you got there, it should have been pretty straight forward.

The area that you are stuck is also straight forward. I by no means created advanced algebraic algorhythms to trip you up. If you look at what is presented to you, there is only so much data you can pull from it. Think about what you see...or read. These connect somehow, and when you see it, it will be incredibly obvious.

I am open to questions below.

Keep pluggin!

We interrupt this program...

2010-11-09T07:30:00.000-08:00

This blog is currently experiencing video game interference. Please check back soon for our regularly scheduled broadcast.

Something to be excited about!

2010-11-08T15:07:00.000-08:00

I am definitely not above doing a free plug for TBS and Conan O'Brien! After a ridiculous ordeal with the goons at the Tonight Show, Conan has been cleared for launch on his new network. It's going to be great to see him on the air again.

What else am I excited about? You'll see tomorrow!

A set that continues to impress

2010-11-08T07:30:00.000-08:00

Way back when, I opened up a single box of 2008 Allen and Ginter. This box was opened after I had already experienced the 2007 and 2009 sets, and after seeing the cards in the box and the wide variety of subjects and spot-on artwork, I really felt that the 2008 set was the heyday for Allen and Ginter.

Nowadays I am focusing on collecting a massive vortex binder of minis, and through occasional trades I continue to stumble upon subsets from the 2008 Allen and Ginter set. These are like little windows that continue to open on yet more cards to pursue.

Here are a couple new subsets that I knew nothing about...

2008 Allen and Ginter King Arthur...in itself a pretty raging card, though I had no idea that it was not a base mini...

Nice! The Worlds Icons! Check out this list of cards in the set. Confucius, The Sphinx, Quetzalcoatl....HERCULES?!?! NICE. This is definitely a set worth pursuing.

Here is another card sent to me in trade earlier this month (or last?)...the Aerodrome.

This card belongs to the Pioneers of Aviation, which I believe is a secret subset, along with the shark set. I have never even seen any of these other cards, but I imagine that they look pretty fantastic.

I am putting the call out there. If any of you might happen to have any of these subsets, or any other random minis that you have no idea what to do with, shoot me a comment or note and we'll see if we can strike up a brown envelope exchange!

Choose your own adventure Friday!

2010-11-05T07:30:00.000-07:00

By the hair on my chinny-chin-chin, you have selected JD to go to Target with me to pick out a random pack for review. This can go several ways, as JD is pretty familiar with the looks of the packets that I typically open, at which point you would be subjected to yet another ginter pack bust...OR perhaps some colorful Pokemon cards this time? Jacoby is also pretty into " 'ockey" as this is always the first word out of his mouth when I flip on the tv after work for some sporting event to watch.

But no. I completely forgot about Jacoby's other favorite past time over his 23 month career, and that is CARS! Loves em. And seeing a bright yellow Dale Sr. #3 made him make an instant grab for this...

NASCAR trading cards! I believe this is by a company called Press Pass Inc, and this product is called Stealth...but it is all rather unclear. Don't expect a lot of excellent NASCAR tidbits here, I don't really follow the sport, though I am not too incredibly ignorant about it either. Kind of in the middle, in a hazy, uncaring state is the best way to describe.

My first thoughts is that Dale does not look good here. I don't want to go the undead Dale route, but have you ever seen the scene in Blues Brothers where the Blues brother cop car throws a rod during a chase scene and they all end up covered in oil. That's what this reminds me off. Make it a cover shot I guess......Maybe I SHOULD just go with undead Dale.

Card #1 - Kyle Busch. Kyle is propped up for winning the Ray Asbestos Rookie of the Year honors in both circuits. He is credited with "throwing down the hammer" all season. Git er done Thor.

Card #2 - Kasey Kahne. Mach 10. HOLY SH&*!!!!! That's fast! Much respect.

Card #3. Lap Leaders Laps! FIVE LAPS! Woo-hoo! Excuse me while I go redeem some cool cards!

Card #4 Juan Pablo Montoya. Great great great grandson to Inigo Montoya. Has won races in NASCAR, Formula One, Indy Car, and Wally's Family Fun Center go-cart league. Proudly sponsored by Max Headroom sunglasses.

Card #5 - Brian Vickers - Fueled by Red Bull, Vickers won the most poles in 2009 (six), proving that when you don't have 42 other cars to deal with, you can achieve anything! On a serious note, Vickers is receiving treatment for blood clots, which is no laughing matter. I had the same thing happen to me and am on blood thinners for the rest of my life, so I wish him well with his issue and hope doctors can find a solution.

#6, Kurt Busch - Throwing down the hammer! Maximum Velocity! Mach 10! These cards sound a little too dangerous for me to collect. I tend to be a little more conservative....though I did drive today while eating an egg mcmuffin.

So not hits (you get sheet metal relics in NASCAR cards!) no auto of Danica, just five cards and a few laps. i will say that the quality here is pretty good. Each of these is a refractor, each looks smooth and shiny, and each has some quality tidbit on the back. Certainly a niche product, but a lot of effort has been put into these.

Your Daily Horoscope

2010-11-03T07:30:00.000-07:00

This came courtesy of another rack pack of Ginter. I have had remarkable luck with uncommon cards out of retail and blasters, and the luck continues. Your horoscope for Pisces:

You will spend ridiculous amounts of money purchasing hobby boxes and ebay auctions, trying to obtain the entire set of celestial stars "case hits" because it is widely believed (wrongly, of course) that these cards hold the secret to the Ginter Code.

Ah, alas it was all just blather, as the code had nothing to do with anything card-related at all. Regardless, these are really sweet cards and that brings my grand total up to two so far, with feelers out on a third. If you have a celestial mini that you would like to trade for something more your speed, give a shout and lets see if we can work a trade!

Random post World-Series Musings...

2010-11-02T07:30:00.000-07:00

Congrats to San Francisco. You won. woooooooooo-woooooooooooooooooo! .....on enemy turf. Bummer. I have always been a huge antagonist about the 2-3-2 final series in both basketball and baseball. At least in my recent memory, it seems that the away team often cliches, and a somewhat subdued celebration takes place. Kind of a bummer because you wait all season for a big finale, and it is suddenly over, and you are left with a bunch of old owners in funny suits standing around awkwardly accepting a trophy on national television. Of course, you certainly cannot guarantee with a regular 2-2-2-1 or 2-2-1-1-1 that it will increase the chances of a home team celebration, but it just feels like too many of these puppies happen on the road.

Of course, something that Fox apparently decided to do was to wait to interview the players until after they have celebrated inside the locker room, and come out half-lit onto the field. Timmy had a classic moment.

Announcer "What do you think is going on in San Francisco right now"

Tim Lincecum" Well, I hope that the beer is flowing free and there is smoke in the air!"

I am sure that he meant fireworks.

Holy crap! Is that the old woman from Titanic? What is she doing here. Actually without actually footage to grab for this post, I remember the scene in some square in San Francisco where the fans were "celebrating" after the final out. Actually they were looking around awkwardly until they knew the camera's were on them, and THEN they celebrated.

But mixed within the crowd was an extremely short, elderly woman, fully decked out in a fuzzy orange hat and orange coat. And she was dancing, and just having a blast. I started thinking about that old lady, imagining just exactly how long she has supported this team...maybe back to the days in NY? Maybe she goes to every home game and could tell some amazing stories.. She was a true fan amongst confused people and I bet that this World Series means so much more to her than anybody else. Keep rocking.

And my final thoughts. My Cliff Lee. Conspiracy time....WHY did he shave his beard prior to the game? Superstition? Itchy? My guess (which is lore) is that he was already taking his media photos wearing his Yankee pinstripes. Gotta be clean-shaven, right? Betcha he threw on the pinstripes, even had a few baseball card photos taken for Topps 2011.

It's all over!

Shameless self promotion...a mini collector's dream

2010-11-01T07:30:00.000-07:00

Just recently, across the continental divide of this mine continent, a misguided Yankees fan by the name of Drew had a rather remarkable box break of T206. Out of his box he not only pulled an auto redemption for some dude named Strasburg (sell high), but he also pulled his second hit, as well as a couple snazzy minis that I had no idea even existed.

Shhh! Secret sets ahead!

When I first saw this image, I thought it was the most ridiculous thing that I had ever seen...and it was a must have for the mini vortex binder. Topps T206 brand manager Chris Holmes. It has a nice little bio of yadda yadda yadda on the back and is serial-numbered to 206. I love these self promotion cards. I have heard of, but have never seen the Ginter autos of the Ginter staff that seem to be all the rage...this is another example of that type of shameless self promotion. But unique it is, and traded for it, I did.

Yet ANOTHER unknown mini hit out of the magic box was this Willie Keeler gold-bordered /#50. Scanner is a little dusty, but this has a nice shine to it. As I was reading up on Keeler to toss you some sweet historical facts and look super-smart (Baltimore Chop), I did notice a bit of an oddity here that I thought you historian buffs might be able to make some sense of...

This is the original Keeler from 1910. NOTE: the league is different on each of these cards. The reprint says NY Natl, and the original says NY Amer...hmmm, Now the originally might indicate Keelers time with the New York Highlanders, OR perhaps Mr. SP T206 Brand Manager might want to explain what happened here...hmmmm.

New feature...coming next week

2010-10-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

what? You actually thought that I had the capacity to bust out a new feature today? Whoa now folks, I am recovering from a debilitating viral infection here...any creativity in my brain is currently covered in mood slime.

Actually though, I do have a bunch of scanning to do over the weekend and I will get some new stuff up right quick.

In the meantime, I did come up with an idea that I will give a trial run to see if it sticks or if it sucks.

Choose-your-own-adventure Friday.

I clearly have trouble sticking to just baseball cards in my postings, so I figured maybe I could let JD's followers help chart the course for my Friday efforts.

On Monday (or maybe Sunday...depends on how poorly my NFL picks are doing) I will post a survey at the top of the screen. I have to decide if it will choose specific topics or just subjects that you would like to see a blog about. Vote for your favorite and Oila! See the results on Friday.

Of course you could not vote at all and break my wee little heart. You control my fate!

But I don't want to cop out completely today. I did notice something of interest watching the World Series. I think that being in the big show allows for crazy new sets of cameras to broadcast angles and viewpoints that you would not normally see on a 162-game regular broadcast. One of the most stunning revelations I have seen is this... This is the view from WAY up in a plane or something of AT&T Park. I have always know that this stadium is just magnificent, BUT if you watched during the game between innings they would have some low, sweeping camera from just outside right field on the bay side and it is just jaw-dropping. Looking in from the Bay at the multi-tiered decks is quite the view. One of the questions that I had when I saw that was "Is that field below sea-level". How do they keep the water out?

Either way, I now have a much greater appreciation for all those boaters that choose to hang out there each night. New perspectives.

Alright. Have a weekend!

Trivia questions revealed!

2010-10-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

Dyno Data

Q - Where have the oldest dinosaur remains been found?

A - The oldest dinosaur fossils have been found in South America--in Argentina and Brazil.

The more you know!

What's that?

You thought this was answers to the 2010 JD's Wildcode?

Okay, so I am just messing with you a little bit. I want to use today to open it up for more of your questions. I want to say that I am pretty impressed with the number of you that have muddled your way through the gauntlet. Several are getting really close to pay dirt.

So feel free to shoot me your questions. Note, if you are further along in the code, you might want to phrase you questions carefully so not to tip off your competitors!

For those not partaking in the code, feel free to fire any general questions my way as well. Lets have some fun!

And your Texas Rangers!

2010-10-27T13:20:00.001-07:00

Back in the trenches for day 3 of the viral infection from hell (yes, it has been categorized that by my doctor...omitting the "hell" part of it". I woke up feeling like crap so I decided it would be nice to head out of the house for a few hours to diagnose my condition and get a Whopper meal. So today is chest pain (from coughing so much) and the more recent "stab-me-with-an-ice-pick headache. Although I must say that a 32 ounce Sprite seems to be working quite favorably on that. After this I am off to play some Call of Duty. Lets give them a headache of bullets.

I have been meaning to introduce the Rangers through cards though before tonight's big matchup. I am pretty excited about this series, I like the idea of a nice, close, strategic series. I challenge anybody who makes the ridiculous statements that the best teams are not in the World Series. Both of these teams won their divisions, both took down last year's beasts to get here. They deserve their moment.

Had to dig deep for some Rangers cards today...up here in the NW we don't speak Texas, ya'll.

2007 Strokes of Genius Cliff Lee

2007 Strokes of Genius Ian Kinsler (love this auto).

2009 T206 Michael Young. Tried to find his wacky O-Pee-Chee card to no avail. You know the one.

2009 T206 Josh Hamilton (Old Mill). he eats pieces of lumber for breakfast.

Elvis Andrus

Ron Washington

Enjoy game one!

The rotted gut award goes to...

2010-10-25T12:58:00.000-07:00

It's no coincidence that the theme of this post is inspired by my current stomach virus malcontent. Nothing worse than an upset stomach and general all-around ick when I say to myself "but I got the flu shot!", like it is some magical shield from all illness. Viruses don't play that.

Anyways, I am getting geared up for the World Series, which in of itself is pretty remarkable considering that my team did not make the post-season this year. Typically when that occurs I drop all things baseball and head for my nearest NFL or NBA outlets for another team to root for. This post-season has my attention though, and strangely I have probably watched more playoffs than I watched Red Sox the entire month of September.

I want to be a bit more specific though, I really watched mostly the NLCS because:

1) I can't stand watching the Yankees, even if they are losing
2) I REALLY can't stand Craig Sager and his ridiculous outfits.
3) see 1 and 2

So the NLCS it was. And because of their absolute commitment to their team in both the NLDS and the NLCS, I present this...

...to you, the fans of the San Francisco Giants!

Let me explain a bit further. You see, back in 2003, I made a major decision in my life and decided to quit smoking. Why, you may ask? Well, I had other reasons as well, but I remember clearly when the Boston Red Sox were battling toe-to-toe with the Oakland A's in the ALDS. Every game was tight, and Boston dropped the first two, and then found a way to push it to a 5th and deciding game in Oakland. Boston ended up winning the game in an absolute nail-biter 4-3 and and I puffed away shaky-handed after the game I said "If I am going to make it through this type of series with the Yankees, I have to give this #$%@ up". So I did, quit cold turkey. To this day.

Back to Giants fans. I understand the playoffs stress. Every wait between pitches can be agonizing. Your Giants played in games with scores: 1-0, 4-5, 3-2, 3-2, 4-3, 1-6, 3-0, 6-5, 2-4, 3-2.

Out of 10 playoff games, 6 decided by 1 run, 30 runs scored to 29 allowed. The were a couple take a breath games in there and Giants fans definitely needed that breath. I remember when the Sox were taking it to the Cards for the championship and my friends and coworkers asked me if it wouldn't be more entertaining if the games were closer (repeated again with the Rockies series)...um....no.

So for stomaching all the runners in scoring position (especially in game 6), the one-run games, and Craig Sager's suits in the NLDS, I salute Giants fans with some Mylanta. Now get some rest.

Being a card blog, how about some SF cards? 2010 Heritage Madison Bumgarner Rookie Chrome card. Stylin.

2009 Heritage ridiculously photoshopped Lincecum and Bochy. Uni-shoulder.

2010 Topps Turkey Red Pablo "Kung Fu Panda" Sandoval. The card technology takes off 20 lbs.

We'll take a look at the other guys tomorrow.

My 2009 Mystery Cut Redemption is.....

2010-10-22T14:04:00.000-07:00

Whoopee. A brown envelope, right?

Well, yes, but not exactly. you see, inside of this envelope that I scanned just moments ago, is the culmination of a eight-month wait for my SP Legendary Cuts Mystery Cut Redemption. Seems like a long time to wait, but some people have waited over 15-months for their card.

So I am writing this before I open up the package because I don't want the results (I expect to be disappointed) to skew my excitement, because I definitely AM really excited to see what is inside.

A few weeks ago Upper Deck released a video showing some of the amazing cuts up for grabs. These were clearly the best of the best, and Upper Deck clearly did not show what a vast majority of us lottery ticket holders will ACTUALLY receive.

I have been following a chat board for several months and have heard just about every complaint possible towards Upper Deck, followed by elation that the cards were finally coming, followed by very vocal discontent at what was received. I am not kidding here, this is the equivelant of a Simpson's lynch mob, folks.

So, I am just going to keep everything in perspective, be happy with whatever I receive, and hope for some serious mojo...

...so here we go...my 2009 Mystery Cut Redemption is....

Here is one for you football historians. The Legendary (guess that is the name of the product right?) Paul Brown, founder of the Cleveland Browns (obviously) and the Cincinnati Bengals, (Paul Brown Stadium).

I have heard of some other pulls and overall am pretty thrilled with this pull. My only wish is that is had some sort of cool paper or date or stamp on it (check out the Harry Blackstone magician auto), but all-in-all this is a pretty dang cool addition to the collection.

Have a great weekend. Go crack a code or something!

Famous Showdowns

2010-10-21T07:30:00.000-07:00

Coke Vs. Pepsi

Big Ern Vs. The Rubber Man

Rocky Vs. Drago

Man Vs. Wild

Lincecum Vs Halladay!

Tonight, we will once again be treated to round two of a title bout between Big Time Timmy Jim and Doc Halladay. While the opening round did not top the preliminary series results for either pitcher, it nevertheless resulted in a stellar atmosphere and great television.

Now with an elimination game on the line, the crowds should be pumped and the drama and nerves should be high. Must-see TV.

Oh....did I forget to mention that #1 Oregon plays tonight also?

Got code? STILL not too late to join the fun.

Keep to the Code!

2010-10-20T07:30:00.000-07:00

Marooned?

If ye has yet attempt JD's Wild Code, it is never too late join. If ye is already on board and the code has led your judgment askew, show no fear, as CEO and swashbuckler Cap'n Jacoby has granted Parley.

The captain will answer but three questions pertaining to the code to help you chart your course. Please submit a comment below and await response.

Arg.

No Pricing Due to Scarcity

2010-10-19T07:25:00.000-07:00

These five words have become some of the the most dreaded words to me in the collection world. The baseball card hobby prides itself in makes variations upon variations of unique cards that keep us running back for more, finding a gem, throwing on a top-loader, and then scurrying to the nearest Beckett (you know you look) to see what the beauty is "worth".

And then you hit those words "No pricing due to scarcity"...and the balloon deflates. You stare at your card like it was some four-eyed alien and shrug your shoulders as you case it up and throw it into a box somewhere to vanish into obscurity until you find it and write a post like this.

Of course you could always toss it up on eBay to see what the card is worth. Of course you could also be severely underwhelmed as the card goes for WAY less than your "book value" and you are left feeling empty AND without a nice card.

Here are a few examples of some fortuitous pulls over the last year that qualify under the WTF pricing dilemma.

Topps Chicle Pablo Sandoval. Okay, one of the nicer auto's of the Chicle set...mmm....maybe $20 bones give or take a world series championship this season? But then...

BAM! Black umbrella back, numbered 12/25. One of two or three variations, this being tier two. Go to pricing guide..."No pricing due to scarity" DOH!

Ah, Evan Longoria Auto Relic from Topps unique. My first auto-relic. Go to the guide....BAM "no pricing due to scarcity". Seriously? Apparently there were only so many relic autos even produced that the dreaded words must apply.

> This one is the biggest mystery because neither of these guys really ring the bell for me, yet Beckett cannot even muster up a guess. While the auto subjects are not fantastic, I will say that the on-card TTM look to it, along with the horizontal scheme, really makes this a great card. I believe this subset is only 10 subjects (2 per card) and 25 cards each, so basically 125 total cards exist...sounds like it should be worth something, right? "No pricing due to scarcity".

It's not that I really want to sell or trade any of these. I guess my main argument is that a lot of us by a lot of product seeking unique treasures (yeah there are some base-hunters out there too, but I personally could not maintain the beast that became Mt St. Cardboard).

I just think that part of the fun of collecting is finding a great card and being able to thumb though a pricing guide, see a massive number, and feel like you beat the odds. "No pricing due to scarcity" really ruins that for me. I just think it's kind of lazy. Beckett feels they can throw a dart and put a price on more common cards, why can't they just do something like say it is worth a "gazillion" dollars or something...ANYTHING. Yeah sure, eBay market will dictate the price, but only at the cost of having to give up your card.

I just think in a hobby that is already rife with poor quality check standards, overpriced wax, and loads of worthless hits and autos, that somewhere and somehow you should have a rewarding feeling for pulling something great instead of question marks, a shrug of the shoulder, and tossing the card into a box.

Am I alone on this? What are some of your "no pricing due to scarcity" gems?

Corrections to Trivia Quiz

2010-10-18T16:13:00.000-07:00

Hi folks,

I noticed a couple small blunders in the trivia questions portion of the code. Please read them again and note the highlighted changes to a couple questions. I fired that editor too.

If you have made it this far, you know what to do next...

2010-10-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

...and if you have no idea what to do next, consider visiting here to get in the know.

NEW PRIZE ADDED! The winner of the contest will now also receive a specially signed TTM of Chicle Artist Dave Hobrecht! The winner will be able to choose from either

1) David Wright
2) Jayson Werth
3) Alex Rodriguez

Good luck!

1. This player is the only player to have his number retired in every ballpark. What is his jersey number, and how many career homeruns did he hit?

2. Stay Fair. This object was named after a famed Portland, Oregon native. In which section does it sit?

3. This self-professed “ringleader” of the Chicago Blacksox scandal had how many RBI’s during the regular season of “the fix”

4. On the evening that the Iron Man broke LG’s 2130, he also hit a home run. Multiply the inning he hit the homerun times his jersey number

5. In the 2004 ALCS Game 6, Curt Schilling underwent an experimental procedure in order to secure his recently injured ankle tendon. How many sutures were inserted into the ankle? There seems to be some variation depending on where you look...refer to "pitching in stitches" for the answer

6. He hit the “shot heard round the world” in 1951. Multiply his jersey number by the number of runs his team scored in that game.

7. After many years of day games only, Wrigley Field finally hosted its first official night game. What was the combined win total of the two competing teams for that season?

8. The “Earthquake Series” showed the winning team’s dominant performance amid the dramatic real-life events that unfolded. Multiply both teams combined homeruns by the World Series losing team’s total runs scored. Editor note: I misread the stat line and accidentally included two Sac flys, thus throwing off the math. Please use card #182.

9. Smoke and El Toro both tossed no-hitters on the same day. What was the day of the month ,and how many hits did each give up that year? Editors note: of the two cards, use the lower number first...

10. He was Lynn's last strikeout victim, but how many career HRs did he have?

11. Take Cy Young’s career wins total, minus his career losses total, and add his number of career shutouts.

12. Bobby Cox will be retiring at the end of this season, ending a remarkable managerial career. Despite his impressive record on the field, Cox as has an amazing stat for getting thrown OFF the field. How many ejections (as of 9/17/10) has Cox received?

13. Last player to strikeout four batters in one inning? His jersey number. Oh and can you believe how many times Chuck Finley did this? How many?

14. His latest walk-off homerun has him tied with some exclusive company, Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Frank Robinson and Babe Ruth.

But how many career stolen bases does the big man have?

JD's Wild Code begins...

2010-10-15T07:30:00.000-07:00

Remember the 2010 Ginter Code?

Yeah, me neither because it came and went so quickly, and if I remember quickly was just a bunch of letters and symbols needing to be shifted into the right position. Kinda dull eh? '

I have always wanted to take a crack at creating my own code, but have only recently mustered up the motivation and creativity to do so.

My goal was to create a puzzle that is also a scavenger hunt of sorts, something that has some codes to it, but is more accessible to casual readers looking for a fun way to burn a little time and learn a bit about this great sport that we love so much.

As a side note, yes, I am aware that this type of contest does not appeal to everybody. But I will say that I have gone through efforts to make this more fun than challenging. Yes, parts may be tough, but it should not be tough enough to make you want to throw your computer off the balcony (our windows don't even open, so this would be exceptionally frustrating). And as Bill Cosby said on Fat Albert "if you're not careful, you might just learn something too".

Prize! You betcha! For starters the winner will receive all contents from a recent Topps Chrome box bust. Yeah, it's been opened, and there was no Heyward auto (sorry), but there are two autos, and a bunch of serial-numbered pretty refractors and chrome, including a couple T206, Topps Heritage versions special to this product.

I am also working on some other surprises as well.

Any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below. I will answer all questions in free forum.

That being said, I present to you "JD's Wild Code.

The first part of the puzzle is below. It is 165 characters long. HOLY TOLEDO! Too many, right? Take a breath though. I will include several hints that will prove to you that the first step is a bit of a softball...just a large softball! :)

JD's Wild Code Begins.....NOW!

Take a look at your first giant hint...

All RIGHT, it's time to get down to business!

(editors note- due to formating confusion,look way down at the bottom...good luck!)

3	9	12	21	20	5	19	18	12	24	13	11	7
5	20	21	14	15	5	5	15	3	1	6	2	15
9	8	5	4	19	12	20	13	1	14	15	1	15
22	20	19	23	5	5	24	18	18	19	18	3	4
5	8	24	9	3	4	11	5	4	23	14	11	10
14	5	5	20	18	6	5	7	14	5	5	13	15
5	11	13	8	5	15	5	9	21	18	24	15	2
24	5	1	9	20	18	16	19	13	19	20	14	24
20	25	9	14	11	8	5	20	2	5	8	4	3
3	20	12	20	5	9	25	15	5	17	9	1	8
12	15	10	8	25	14	5	16	18	21	14	25	5
21	18	4	5	6	20	19	16	19	1	20	1	3
5	5	23	3	15	19	16	19	6

An Important Announcement

2010-10-14T15:44:00.001-07:00

This blog is now sponsored by CBS! (editor's note....actually this is CBC...I fired the original writer...what a lunch box).

No, not really, but I needed a special image for a special announcement that something cool will take place on this blog starting with tomorrow's post. JD and I have conjured up a little fun that (hopefully) you will enjoy.

See you tomorrow!

My ACTUAL 2010 Topps Triple Threads Hits

2010-10-14T07:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I mentioned how my long shot 2% chance of purchasing a box of 2010 Triple Threads quickly became a 100% reality.

Yesterday I did not have the scans available, so I got a little cheeky and found some pretty cool replacement hits (wasn't that Gehrig amazing?). So last night I took the time to scan in the REAL 2010 hits for your approval.

Mike Schmidt. Hindsite I probably should have kept the auto hit, but as I said yesterday, Schmidt just really isn't my deal, and I don't really care for the image nor the powder blue jersey, or pants, or whatever it is. What part of that Phillie's uniform had blue? Schmidt collectors deserve it more than I.

Now this one I kept and the more I look at it, the more impressed I am. First of all, the scanner makes reflective images look dusty and blurry. Rest assured this card really pops. I really like the three color jersey scheme, and I like the font of the word "Nationals", AND I really dig the stitching on the letter "I". I am happy to add this to my binder as the representative of 2010 Triple Threads (pending birthday insanity....but there is only a 2% chance I will buy another box :)

Here are some base...

There is base in this product?? Funny thing is I think there is five more cards floating around the cave somewhere, but I could not find them. I might have "lost" them as I screamed in frustration and hucked them down the garbage disposal when I did not hit my 1:1 Superfractor White Whale Triple Auto Tri-Fold 3D DNA card of Stras, Heyward, and the Babe. Dammit.

I double-dipped: My 2010 Topps Triple Theads pulls

2010-10-13T07:30:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks back I did a post regarding my weakness for high-end product. There is something about the thrill of the unknown, which is also why I like playing slot machines and bingo...both of which have better odds than pulling something decent out of this product.

I don't know if it is the cool triangle package containing the two equally cool triangle packages within. Maybe its the design of the box itself, which incorporates material that is better than most relics (must be where all the the extra money goes, because you certainly don't get your money's worth (except for that one guy that bought a case on some youtube box break...you tore it up...nobody else did).

There are also four phases to the purchasing of Triple Threads.

1) Anticipation - "I'm gunna get a white whale of Strasburg Superfractor, black bordered, 3D, DNA Triple relic tri-fold book"!

2) Reality - "A Shin-Shoo Choo Hanes T-Shirt Relic"? (Sorry Shin-Shoo, you a kinda my example whipping boy...I am sure you are a great guy...with a hefty Topps contract."

3) Denial - "Oh man! I am eating Top Ramen for months!"

4) Acceptance - "You know, if you turn out all the lights and don't look directly at these, these hits are actually pretty sweet!"

This is pretty representative of my birthday Triple Threads box. Nothing to shabby about a Kemp auto, and an Utley Rastafarian relic, but both were pretty high-numbered and all-in-all a disappointing box for my first suaree.

Enter 2010. I double-dipped. I dipped in April...and I dipped again.

A new year, a new lottery ticket. I better mentally-prepared myself this time. One, I had the savings so no need for Ramen rations, two, I really didn't go in as an investment opportunity this time. Three - Could I really do worse than last year?

So I went in to Cranky's store and did not hesitate to buy a box. He throws three out in front of me. I hate it when he does that. To me it is kinda like the shell game...except at Cranky's shop there in not a shell under any of them. I grabbed the shelf model. Why? Because I wanted to make cranky put a price tag on another box!

So I present to you my hits. I did not have the time to scan these last night so I have scoured the Internet to find images....

Box one: Mike Schmidt Relic-Auto #/18. Okay, so I will start my saying that I sold this card on eBay, which I sorta regret, but not terribly. I fully intended to keep whatever I pulled, but really of all legendary HOF's, Mike Schmidt really just does not do it for me. Typically I would rather somebody who really likes that player get the card, just like if I was to go out searching for a low-numbered Ellsbury card....Except for the jerks who keep outbidding me on Jacoby rip cards and then ripping them and trying to sell a stupid shell of a card for .99 cents......AAARRRGGGGH!!

Seriously though. Sweet card...just not for this hombre.

Box 2: Washington National's Adam Dunn Relic #/36. Spells out "Nationals". Pretty cool. Don't really have much else to say....it's a relic. It does not even have hacky-sack material in it. But it's ALL MINE (item is for trade) :)

So really, not too disappointed. Every now and then you have to stick your neck out there and roll the dice and get an adrenaline boost doing so.

Will there be a birthday repeat?

*Pictures represented may not resemble actual items described

The beginning and the end

2010-10-12T08:30:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants, who continue to shake the Barry Bonds cloud by defeating the Atlanta Braves (sorry DayF) and heading for a date with the Philadelphia Phillies Buzzsaw in the NLCS.

The final game was significant in that it signaled a welcome mat for a couple of Giants rookies. Madison Bumgarner, rookie (phenom?), who pitched an average 6 innings of 6 hit, 5K ball, but considering this is Madison's first rodeo, and an elimination game, AND pitching against a veteran ace, this one was special.

I really want to say that the Giants hit the pedal when Posey found his way into the every day rotation. Last night Posey was reasonably quiet, but did score the go-ahead run in the 7th to put the pressure on Atlanta.

Of course the end of the series is also bitter sweet as baseball says goodbye to one of the greatest managers in the history of the game.

Hell, Cox was managing when I was a teenager. Back in the days before Internet and satellite sports, I was a Braves fan and followed Bobby as he brought his team to the playoffs EVERY SINGLE YEAR... I will never forget the euphoria when the most unlikely fellow, Sid Bream came rumbling around 3rd and beat the tag to take out the hated Pirates and Barry Bonds.

Have a happy retirement Bobby!

The CEO loves him some Cosby Sweaters!

2010-10-10T21:19:00.000-07:00

Occasionally, the CEO and Founder of JD's Wildcardz makes a surprise appearance in the office to do some quality checking on the products that we purchase and write about. This particular day, his interest was in 1992 Skybox Basketball.

We devised a little collection system for Skybox a couple months back (yes, this box has really lasted us THAT long). We like to scour the packs for ex-Blazers, and Cosby Sweaters.

You see, this set of Skybox was fantastic because it was the mullet of card sets...business in the front and party in the back. Anything from Carl Malone riding a horse to Michael Jordan golfing, to David Robinson looking like he was posing from his senior photo, this set is like two cards in one.

Of particular interest are the great sweater shots found on some of the cards. Below are a few examples....

Danny, Mark and Rex sport the latest 1992 fashions. I really need to get that hair off of the scanner.

We'll keep you posted on future sweater spottings!

On a side note...JD and I have been busy working on something special for you all, and at this point all systems are go to give it a big kickoff this Friday, so be sure to check back in!

Tek-nically speaking...

2010-10-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

...this will be the end of the road for Jason Varitek, longtime captain and veteran backstop of YOUR Boston Red Sox. Tek-nically he is still on the team, but the odds are looking mighty stacked against the mighty captain returning to the team next season with guys like Martinez and Saltelamachia (sp?) in the wings.

I can't help but get a little misty-eyed at the end of an era. This became even more evident when I watched ESPN's "four days in October" the other night which did an excellent job on chronicling the Red Sox historic comeback on the hated Yankees.

It's hard NOT to love that 2004 team, no matter who you root for, that was an amazing story full of stories within the story. Drama at it's best and an unforgettable experience. Tek was right in the middle of it that season...and up in A-Rods face as well.

Should this be the end of the road for Varitek, I thank him, wish him well, and hope when he does choose to retire that he will return to the Red Sox in some sort of coaching position.

Accidental Treasure

2010-10-06T08:15:00.000-07:00

We have all done this.

You know when you go to your hobby shop and go up to the front counter to pay, and the dollar amount just looks a little too odd. Your total is something like $23.00 and you want to round it up to an even $30?

So you quickly scan the counter and look at all the point-of-purchase displays that you typically would never ever give a second thought.

Last spring I did just this. I had gone to the shop and snagged a box of SP authentic, the latest Beckett magazine, a few binder sleeves, and I felt that my total just was not even enough, absentmindedly grabbed three packs of Panini basketball, because they were closest to the register.

Typically I tend to avoid open boxes laying on the counter. You worry about pack searchers and maybe the owner doing some shading pack-swapping, but that day I figured what the heck.

Accidental treasure is when you open up some foreign product and you pull out a nice auto or relic totally unexpected. I nailed two hits in three packs (the third pack had some weird OJ Mayo cardboard jersey that looked like an air freshener).

Admittedly, I really had no idea who Brandon Jennings was until I looked him up. The Bucks have fallen into obscurity and he simply was not on my ROY radar (nor did he win, but he came close)! The second hit speaks for itself.

What were your accidental treasures?

Rock Solid Blaster

2010-10-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

A lot of people think you are crazy when you say that you would rather buy a blaster than a hobby box.

THAT'S CRAZY!

Yeah it is, but here is the deal. I get a crazy grin on my face every time I throw down for some Ginter Blaster and receive something like this... Ain't that a purdy diamond? Have you even SEEN this card, much less is a hobby box? I gotta hand it to Topps, they find a way to keep you buying long after you already have about 10 of every base card. I have said it a million times, the base is horrifically boring this year, so why do I keep buying the stuff? The minis of course. And I am under a strong belief that some minis are either blaster and retail exclusive, or just way higher-seeded in retail than hobby.

Now I had no idea that World's Biggest even existed until I started seeing some blaster break posts. I have since purchased three blasters of Ginter and have pulled...

A Prince Fielder Celestial Hobby box case hit, the Tooth Fairy, and various dinos and Lords of Olympus have been added to my collection from blaster and retail packs, and then along with the diamond card...

Three short print mini cards!

Sure, I am passing up my chance at a Shin Shoo Choo pair of pants by not getting a hobby box, BUT you would be surprised at the frequency of hits in blasters. I got two hits out of three blasters.

Same story goes for T206. Finding lots of minis and short print base cards, as well as two hits, a caramel auto of some Oakland rookie, and a decent Curt Schilling Diamondback jersey relic.

Anybody else out there have decent luck with retail and blasters? I was raised believing that odds are pretty heavily stacked against you, but I am starting to think otherwise.

Fantastic Sunday Finales.

2010-10-04T08:16:00.000-07:00

My heart goes out to you fans who had to endure a walking-on-pins-and-needles final MLB weekend to see if your team made it to the dance. While most fans either jettisoned baseball for football, or watched a casual game knowing that most players were already packed and had thoughts of vacation in their heads, some teams were fighting all weekend for their post-season lives. Here are the survivors... Way to go Giants! After a completely grueling series with the San Diego Padres, the Giants found a way to take the final game in the set. The strategic move to move Timmy up one game in anticipation of a playoff game today nearly came to fruition, but the Giants finally found a way to shut the door.

I am excited for this team. I am excited to see Lincecum get his first post-season run, and I am excited to see this team finally move out from behind the cloud that was Barry Bonds. This is definitely a rag-tag bunch, but the atmosphere in SF should be electric.

Meanwhile on the other side of the nation, have you ever heard of this guy?

Jason Heyward and the Atlanta Braves are headed to the playoffs thanks to a massive effort on Sunday. They needed every run they could muster too, as they barely held on and nearly face a one-game playoff with the Padres today. Phew!

Atlanta is having a Cinderella season. While they no-doubt have been in this position before, something just feels more solid about this bunch, who have a great mix of veteran and youth leadership on the team. It's hard not to pull for Bobby Cox, talk about a great way to end your career.

Overall, I am really excited about the playoffs this year. Typically it is hard to get motivated when your team does not make it, but everything is just so DIFFERENT this year. Cincinnati, Texas, Atlanta, San Francisco, talk about a bunch of teams that you can really root for.

Nielson ratings...count me in!

2009 Mystery Cut Pending?

2010-10-01T14:07:00.001-07:00

Gather 'round children and let me tell you a tale that started a looooooong time ago, like all the way back in March, at least that's where my tail begins. Many others have waited a might longer than I.

Back in March, when I began my "nine-spot" project, I was enjoying filling up binder pages full of 2009 SP Legendary Cuts inserts. To this day this remains my favorite product of my short 1.5 years of collecting. I love the auto's, I love the relics (say...whaaaaaaat?) and I even love the base, which often-times these days end up as an afterthought and bird cage line. Hell, at one point I even had 2/3 of the shortprints and foolishly sold them away to finance finishing up 2009 Topps Heritage...only to have them release a high-numbers set a few months later....grrrrrrrr.

Anyhow...one day I was wandering through my hobby shop and decided to purchase the sole SP Legendary Cuts box on the shelf, it had been collecting dust and I knew I could knock 20 bucks off the price so I snagged it.

The last pack shook out this baby...

Debate ensued. Keep or sell, sell or keep?

It became readily apparent to me that opportunities like this don't come around often, so I kept it, scratched it, and redeemed it....right before Upper Deck virtually went belly up.

So then the questions began...would I ever see this card, or is it going to get swallowed up like it never happened.

I called once, on a sick day and eventually got a rep that told me they were about a month out...this was last April. I wrote once from the trouble ticket address. Got an auto response that they were still another month out and that we would receive some free product for out troubles. I got two free autos from UD. Let me tell you, they was FAAAAAANCY! If you knew who the hell these players were I mean.

So I pretty much put it out of my mind, figured it was not meant to be, when suddenly this week I get this email...

Dear Valued Customer, (moi)

The Mystery Cuts are currently in house and are being hand numbered now. They should be ready to ship by the end of the week. Please expect to receive the Mystery Cut by mid October. If you have any further questions please feel free to reply to this email; I hope you have a great day!

Sincerely, Upper Deck Customer Service

YES! An awesome development. I keep thinking of all the time and effort that UD put into the bug cards, and am hoping that the cuts have the same quality. Hand-numbering is a good sign, could be a 1/1, or could be a 1/1000. could be a Ty Cobb, or could be a Ty Law. A Judge Judy, or a Judge Reinhold (god I hope not).

Either way, when I know you will know, so keep your fingers-crossed (if you support me, or want me to get hosed, either way just keep em crossed!)

UPDATE: looks like UD posted a video of potential hits going in the mail. Don't know exactly how many of these cuts redemptions there are, but I am stoked at the possibilities of a Thomas Edison in the mail...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_JXsbN3O9s

Speaking of Dancing....

2010-10-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

For your Friday grind, I submit to you nearly six minutes of entertainment by this guy...

I know, I know. The battle of the bad shirts continues. Where do these shirts come from? My suspicion is that Judson showed up in his Orange Crush shirt, and due to copyrights, he had to settle for something in the Topps wardrobe closet. And those guys at Topps, they likes to boogie!

See example B...

Topps even matched up ol' Cap'n Sig with some pink vapor. Poor Fella. But we are talking about Judson!

This last week a few mini cards came floating my way from Staton Island and our friend SpastikMoose. Anomalous cards are always welcome into the vortex and this one certainly qualifies.

So who is Judson Laipply. Well he is an Internet sensation, that's who! Judson received a 2010 Topps Allen and Ginter card for having the number one viral youtube video ever, called The Evolution of Dance. He has since released sequels to his popular video. This morning I decided to check it out and also include it here for you to burn some time on a Friday. While skeptical at first, he had me at the Brady Bunch. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg

Dance, Dance!

2010-09-30T08:25:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night welcomed in three more clubs into the post-season fun. Two of them are from the *yawn* AL East, so congrats to them I guess, but no card lovin's today for ya.

Let's go back to Sunday's clincher though. YOUR Philadelphia Phillies!
Howard and the boys are quickly becoming a perennial post-season participant (or a PPSP). While it looked like they were in a world of hurt in late July, they slammed the pedal to the medal and ran away with the NL East. They consistently are winning because they are aggressive in trades and get who they want, when they want them....

Which makes this next team a lot more fun to root for, YOUR Cincinnati Reds!

This team is a blast. They are even my MLB the Show team. The best thing about this bunch is that they are young, talented, and have just the right sprinkle of veteran leadership mixed in. The Reds are playing with massive confidence right now and have plenty of arms and pop at the plate to make some post-season noise, but will lack of experience hold them back?

In so far: Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Texas, Minnesota, some AL East teams.

On the bubble: San Diego, San Francisco, Atlanta,

Bigfoot Spotted in Oregon!

2010-09-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

Creature of Legend, Myth and Terror, Bigfoot himself was recently spotted kicking it with a Pina Colada, sunhat (or umbrella, depending on the moment) and a sweet pair of shades in the warm climate of Tampa, Florida or somewhere round them parts.

He was being housed by a fella who called himself Troll, a particularly troublesome young man with a borderline infatuation with deadly sea creatures, Rays they call them.

Anyways, Troll and I, we got to talking about this and that, and he brought up that he was currently housing Bigfoot himself..

"Bigfoot belongs in the Pacific Northwest" said I.

"He retired out here in Florida" said Troll.

A long, tedious summit occurred lasting at least two emails, and eventually we had worked a deal where I would trade him some deadly Rays for the elusive Bigfoot himself (along with quite the entourage that came across the country with him...Bigfoot travels well).

Anyways, along the way, several spotting's occurred as Bigfoot left his mark.

And last Saturday, after a week of bigfooting it across the country, Bigfoot arrived in Oregon.

I love this subset and am slowly starting to piece one together...like really really slowly...I think he and unicorn are the only ones so far! Thanks again to Troll for adding to the Mini Card Vortex, Bigfoot will be quite happy next to Tiger Shark, the Peruvian flag, The Revolving Door, and Julio Lugo!

You Shall Not Pass!

2010-09-28T08:09:00.000-07:00

Stick it, Yankees and Rays. While I concede that one of you's buggers is gunna win the division and the other of you's is going to be the wild card, you are going to have to do it on somebody else's dime, cuz we ain't rollin over and losing to help you out. You want the prize? You are going to have to win!

BTW, Evan Longoria hit the nail on the head with Tampa attendance, and is calling out fans to show up to the games. Now I will say that I like the Rays as a team, they have some great talent and seem to be a generally likable bunch of guys, but my lasting impression is the ALCS two years ago when out of nowhere, suddenly the whole city showed up with cowbells. Many looked confused as to how and when to cheer for the sport of baseball, but looked like they were having a grand ol time....until one game went into extra innings....and a good majority of them left the ballpark! In the playoffs! in the ALCS! In extra innings! On national television!

Seriously, Tampa, shape up. Go see the Troll on how to be a good fan. Better do it quickly though, as payroll cuts are looming for your team, and it will never look the same again.

Post-Season Heroes!

2010-09-27T08:25:00.000-07:00

EDITORS NOTE: This posting was created yesterday morning, so Phillies love is still pending.

Congratulations go out to the first official participants in the 2010 MLB Postseason!

First off, we have the welcome addition of the Texas Rangers to the big dance. after a preseason with stories about Ron Washington and Josh Hamilton, and the addition of the aging bat of Vlad the Impaler, it seemed almost a forgone conclusion that that AL West was going to once again go to the Rally Monkeys of Anaheim. Here are a few images pulled from the vortex...the Kinsler is a numbered cycle that is still looking for a cycle for cycle exchange.

And then the AL Central. YOUR Minnesota Twins! I have always said how Minnesota magically seems to fall off my radar like most teams "in the middle" but I have to tell you, the crazy antics of Jim Thome make this one special team and its hard not to cheer for them, especially when they are put into the role of Yankee/Rays killers. I am definitely looking forward to some deep fall baseball in the new outdoor stadium, it should make for some great television.

Torii Hunter?? Okay, so he is not really a Twin, but I gotta find ways to throw in the card whenever I can :)

Phillies love tomorrow, and perhaps Cincy love as well????

2010 Topps Triple Thread Temptation!

2010-09-24T12:40:00.000-07:00

Ack! The temptation begins! I have this ridiculous tendency to covet high-end product. My first swaree into high-end was with 2008 Sweet Spot, which eventually eventually my gateway drug into Ballpark, 2009 Sweet Spot, Topps Tribute, and Topps....somethingerather from this year where you got two packs and a couple rookie patches. Must have been really memorable stuff.

I got burned in the past with 2009 Triple Threads. I wanted to treat myself to something nice for my burfday, and the shop owner gave me a prince of a deal on his way inflated price. Translation: I probably still overpaid by about 20 bucks on a box. No words can really describe the euphoria of being on a roller coaster, nor describe the incredible disappointment when you don't hit a white whale, or other 1:1, or a patch booklet of multiple materials made into some insane phrase. While initially in the gutter about my hits, I have made some amount peace with the packs. If you would like to take a gander, the posts are located here and here.

I am 98% sure that I won't ever take a stab at 2010 Triple Threads. My love of minis has caused a nice little distraction from all products not containing minis. Never say never though, and with some of these cards, can you blame me?

J Hey! I still believe that his Ginter auto is one of the nicest cards OF THE YEAR.

Jersey patches....(drooooooool)

A couple of happy-go-lucky Giants.

1/3 patch PLUS jersey PLUS bat? Droooooool.....

Forget an auto, a bat-knob book would just be sick! These hits are ridonkulous!

Oh hey....it's......Chris Getz.......it has...um, and on-card auto and some jersey....its sorta nice.....nah, i'm over it!

Congratulations, Ichiro

2010-09-23T15:07:00.001-07:00

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations to Ichiro who stepped up to the plate and bashed his 200th hit of the season, which breaks....his own.....record of 9 consecutive seasons of 200+ hits, and now extending that record to 10 straight seasons! Way to go, tickle-me-Ichiro!

You just never know who is reading...

2010-09-23T08:30:00.000-07:00

Way back when Chicle first came out, I decided to get get a little cheeky with some of the artists of the set with my review of 201o Topps Chicle

I was having little fun with some of the artistic tendencies of the various artists and dubbed the work of Dave Hobrecht "The Closer" because I felt that his cards were pretty spot on amazing and possibly the best of the offerings in Chicle.

Not even a couple hours after that post I get an email...from Dave Hobrecht! What? Yep, Dave was checking out blogs and wanted to deliver a kind word in return for my kind words about his Chicle work. Wow! Maybe Dave Matthews and Quentin Tarantino will write next?

Anyways, Mr. Hobrecht was very kind to offer his autograph on any cards that I wanted to send his way. I happily took him up on this offer and sent several cards including my box loader from my single box o' Topps 2010 Chicle.

Here is the returned product of Dave's post signature. Unfortunately somewhere in the fold, either Jacoby or I got a tiny grease stain on the card. Dangit! Oh well, still is a great card and a great auto. I also sent out some cards for signature that might please my 2010 World Cup winners . Grand Cards, the Grand Prize winner should have his package any moment now, and I have Night Owl's ready to go. Darkship, I need your mailing info!

Thanks to Dave for taking the time to sign a few cards!

Check out my virtually amazing pulls!

2010-09-22T08:30:00.000-07:00

This week my attention was drawn to a new Topps release called Bowman Platinum. I like to think of this as yet another pointless product to cash in on a bumper crop of rookies using the same images, and adding a sprinkling of autographs and relics that chances are overwhelmingly against you ever seeing in your collection.

Platinum. Platinum? Really? We are out here talking about Bowman Platinum even before the highly-touted and no-doubt overpriced Bowman Chrome takes the stage? And unless Topps has been scurrying around in Tallahassee or Tuscaledo, or Cuca Ranchera clicking additional photos of baseball prospects, my guess is that you are going to once-again be getting the same images that you have already gotten out of regular Bowman...when you threw down $200 a box to get those images.

Oh well, at least the price point is reasonable. A mere $120 bucks will get you a couple autos, and some dinged up "Platinum" cards with roller marks all over them.

Stay tuned in November for Bowman Platinum! Then wait until December when Bowman Titanium comes out quickly followed by Bowman Mercury, sent tentatively to release in January, pending EPA approval.

Nah, not for this hombre. I am still content with my half chewed-up box of Bowman from this Spring (granted I jumped before the price jump), and am not falling for this trick twice. Or thrice.

So instead I have decided to vitually collect a couple of the outstanding hits that Topps includes on product sheets that you are guaranteed to never pull*, and never be able to afford once it hits Ebay**. Well I got em right here, and they are beautiful!

Steven Strasberg/Jason Heyward Dual relic auto. Enjoy it here, because you probably have a better chance of winning Powerball, and getting struck by lightening while standing in line to claim your prize.

Sweet, this is my first virtual book pull ever! I think it's a beauty. I will virtually trade it to anybody for free if you want to add it to your virtual collection as well. Has anybody even seen one of these IRL? My guess is that you are looking at the only one....and I virtually own it. Are you jealous?

Have a great virtual day! See you back here for my review of Bowman Cobalt!

Just what are they eating in Chicago, anyways?

2010-09-21T11:30:00.000-07:00

This one has been sitting in the can for a few days, but is certainly well worth mentioning, however late it be. All I can say about those tough guys in Chi Town is WOW! Rewind a little back to season's opening day... Mark Buerhle gave us the play of the year on opening day! (Editors note: I searched high and low for the video, but it is now official property of MLB, which has the slowest web site on the planet...so if you are one of the three people who have NOT seen the play, I urge you to hunt it down and watch it a hundred times). For everybody else, we all know this as the play that spawned "The Buehrle Meter" that has become a staple on ESPN. It was that good. Foreshadowing that he flipped that ball to Konerko?

So now last week, when things didn't look like they could be any Buehrlier, in the first innings of a matchup with Carl Pavano and the Minnesota Twins, takes one to THE FACE, stays in the game, takes his base, and then in his very next at bat, stroll up to home plate, puffy lip leading the way, and proceeds to knock THE VERY NEXT PITCH right out of the park! Now THAT is Buehrle. Hat's off to the man for adding another reason to why baseball is great fun...now go get some ice for that lip, kid.

whoops, I scanned his card twice....oh well, he deserves it.

What's eating Cronos, anyways?

2010-09-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

Or more specifically, "What's Cronos eating?" Why, children, of course!

Move over Mike Tyson and your desire to eat Evander Holyfield's children, cuz Cronos has you beat...he eats his own children!

Yep, that's right, according to our historian friends at Ginter, Cronos was "The leader of the titans, reigned during the golden age" and "To protect his throne, he ate his childer as they were born".

Agg, no wonder he looks sick to his stomach on this card! Luckily for humanity, his wife Rhea (who no doubt was getting a little tired of Cronos eating all of her children "Oh come on Cronos, not this AGAIN! Really??), found a way to hide "some" children from him, and eventually led to his demise as one of these children (Zeus of all people) did him in. crazy.

Can you imagine how this would go down?

Cronos: "Honey, isn't your baby due soon?"

Rhea: "Umm, false alarm, I am not pregnant"

Cronos: " What? But you have had a belly for months!"

Rhea: "Oh....well that was just a couple of pillows, haha, April Fools!"

Cronos: "Hey, haven't you used that joke on me before? It sounds vaguely familar."

Rhea: "Huh? Oh, I don't know. Here, have a beer. Hey, what do you think of the name Zeus anyways?"

So how exactly did Rhea hide Zeus from Cronos, you might ask? WELL, it would seem that when it came time for some baby eating, Rhea served up Cronos a nice, fatty ol rock instead! Fooled you Cronos.

Did I mention that Cronos became Leader of the Titans by castrating his father, Uranus? Another story for another day.

Obak #45....Hulk Hogan?

2010-09-16T20:47:00.000-07:00

That's right, Brutha! You gotta hand it to Obak for relishing the obscure by adding a wrestling champion into a decidedly baseball-oriented product. While Allen and Ginter is full-fledged and blatant in their oddball card additions to the product name, Obak opted for a more subtle, artistic approach covering baseball players as well as others associated with the game. Adding a Hulk Hogan mini, and a rather bright colored one at that, is a very curious decision that has led me to ponder its meaning. How does one get in the Obak set.

To me, the answer is simple....it's all about a powerful fu manchu

Dr Fu Machu was a fictitious character that wrecked havoc on anybody that crosses his path. The symbol of his moustache...the fu manchu moustache is a symbol that says, "don't mess with me".

Hmm, well based on that criteria, who else might deserve an Obak card?

Perhaps Paul Sr. is the next 2011 Obak #45? Sr. definitely rocks the fu machu, and I certainly don't want to be anywhere near the guy when he is in the red. I have to admit that Sr. is actually starting to look a little worn and tired these days and has lost a bit of that badass edge, but he is most definitely #45 worthy.

Kevin Youkilis? Mm, perhaps....I will give Youkilis this much, the guys scares the living crap out of me and I am glad he is one our side. When you see Youk turn beet red and see those veins throbbing in his head, I don't think that you want to even be in the same dugout with the guy. Plus the Hulk has the public won over. I can't say this for fact, but I am willing to wager that anybody who is NOT a Sox fan probably can't stand this guy. #45 worthy? Not so much.

The back of Hulk's card also states that Hulk is often imitated, never duplicated. Imitation is the highest form of flattery? Well then I recommend...

Ah-nold! Get to the choppa!!!!! AAARRRRRGGGGGGG!!!!

I still contend to this day that life is a lot more fun if you know how to do a good Arnold impersonation, which I cannot. Arnold impersonations never get old...ever! Is he #45 worthy? I would have to say so, and would love to have a Governator mini in my collection some day...but perhaps he needs just a bit more of a boost to secure his chances...

mm, maybe not.

So who would be my #45? While minor points should be deducted for a less than Fu, Fu Manchu, Danny Trejo is my hands-down pick of Badassery...

Who would be your #45?

The original error card

2010-09-16T06:45:00.001-07:00

When I jumped back into collecting just over a year ago, I came back into the hobby with the idea that error cards were still valuable. I remember opening up a box of Topps 2009 Series one and excitedly pulling a "Sharon" Martis rookie card. I knew this spelling was incorrect, and wrote a few other bloggers to see if I had a valuable "error" card (I know I know). What I got was basically polite responses that it was just basically shotty work by Topps and no more valuable than any other base card. Rats.

But back in 1909, error cards were still all the rage, and during the 1909-1911 T206 print run, this little beauty was produced... 1909-1911 T206 Sherry Magee....or in this instance Magie. This particular card is amazingly rare, and is often compared to the famous Honus Wagner card in terms of scarcity. Since the error was caught early on in the print run, only 55 of these cards have ever been graded (compared to the 25 of Honus). A recent sale of a PSA 3.5 Mag(ie) sold for over $18000.00!

And it happened again!

As I was logging in some minis to my spreadsheet (excuse me while I push my glasses up the bridge of my nose) I realized that I had two 2010 Tristar Obak Sherry Magee's in the collection. Dups! No dups allowed!

but upon further inspection...

Ahh! The wily cleverness of Obak continues to impress. It turns out that one of the minis is a circle variation, is a tip of the cap to the famous misspelling of the famous card shown above. Very good, Obak, very good indeed.

I am interested in learning about some of the more famous error cards in history. I am overly versed in the Fleer Billy Ripken card, but would love to hear from you all on some others that you know of or have pulled in your day.

Can you top a 2009 Sharon Martis?

mmm, crow...tasty.

2010-09-15T08:30:00.000-07:00

Close you eyes for a moment..(keep reading this at the same time...come on, multi-task, multi-task!). Imagine your baseball card lair. The area where you..ahem...organize your glorious collection.

Some of you have nice, clean binders full of neatly collated cards from each set, organized chronologically by release date. Others have a multi-tiered spreadsheet where you can easily reference a particular card and know exactly which binder and even which SLOT to find that card in.

Still, others have this... Or perhaps this...

How many of you are looking at this right now?

Or maybe this?

While none of the above are actual photos of my card-sorting station, believe me, these are not far from the truth. Since the laptop and scanner are located in the upstairs living room, a vast majority of hobby boxes, packages, cards of interest, toploaders, penny sleeves, and what-have-you's all tend to centralize on the china cabinet table.

It is a definite eyesore to be sure, and it is a constant accordion of material, it expands, it contracts. It is never-ending.

So finally a week back we were going to have some company over for dinner. The mandate from the high commander was to clean off that china cabinet table so you could actually, you know, SEE the china cabinet.

This was a reasonable request, as it allowed me to break out my archaeological gear and pick through the rubble hunting for buried treasure long since forgotten.

So here is the crow. This is your big payoff for visiting today. While I typically will feel excited about finding some cards that I have tossed aside to scan later, these particular cards gave me that, "uh-oh" and "Doh!" Homer slap-to-the-head feeling...

Topps '52 Yovani Gallardo Red-Auto Hand-Numbered #28/52. Hand-numbered autos are the best. On card autos are even better, and an auto of a pitching phenom is the best! What happened when I received this package that caused me the distraction to pitch it into the rubble that is my workstation, I cannot say. But I REALLY like this card and it is long overdue to thank Beardy for taking a great hit and sending it my direction.

Beardy and me have a bit of a competitive edge to us when it comes to negotiations. It is really hard to explain, but it has been there since the beginning. I strongly suspect that we have a common personality type that causes us to dig in and stick to our guns. I suspect that a game of Monopoly between us would end badly! I appreciate Beardy for his conviction, and also for putting up with mine. Negotiations were fierce and drawn out, but we ultimately came to a agreeable accord and Yovani headed out west to chill with the likes of Lincecum and Tommy Hanson.

Now the "doh" and the crow!

Also included in the package was this...

Oh no.........it's the Hot Tejada. I feel really horrible about this. Back in April Beardy devised a fun little game where he wanted to take a mysterious Miguel Tejada relic and have it included in trade packages to bounce back and forth around the country in a "hot potato"-like manner, where ultimately the music stopped at the end of the season and whoever had the Tejada had...something...happen.

Either way it would have been a fun thing to track throughout the summer and to watch people post about it, and do to my lack of organization, I ruined it. Beardy, I sincerely apologize for ruining the Hot Tejada and am prepared to receiving my flogging as a result.

Sigh, what can you say? This hobby can eat you up alive, and sometimes you gotta face the music. The beat goes on!

Sharpe Since 92 Cipher Solution

2010-09-14T12:17:00.000-07:00

SPOILER ALERT AHEAD!

Ha! I have always wanted to write that, but have never had any information that would really spoil anything for anybody since normally when you have a kid you are three steps behind in anything pop culture. Example? The last movie I saw in the theatre was Harry Potter 6.

But now for the spoiler alert. Anybody who might attempting to crack the cipher at Sharpe Since 92 and does not want to know the solution to it, please leave now...but come back soon! After a week or so of starting, quitting, and starting again, I finally broke through and figured out the solution to Jim's diabolical code. Jim has asked me to share the solution with you.

So who is this guy...much like Ginter 2009, a card and a name is the answer to the cipher. I will tell you how to get there.

So Jim included a couple pieces to his puzzle. Initially he listed 17 baseball cards

Leon Durham
Gorman Thomas
Bo Jackson
Kent Tekulve
Andy Van Slyke
Bip Roberts
Dennis Eckersley
Steve Lake
Rickey Henderson
Dave Magadan
Jim Fregosi
Dave Concepcion
Eric Davis
Floyd Rayford
Donnie Hill
Tom Seaver
Enos Cabell

Jim also include a 100-character number code consisting of digits 1-18.

This here already represents a problem. The first thing I did, and probably everybody else was to assume that there were 18 cards and each card represented one letter for the number part of the cipher. Unfortunately 17 does not equal 18, no matter where you are from.

So my next step drove me crazy for the next week. How do you organize the cards? Alphabetical by first name? Last? Team? Mascot? Color of square? Color of text? Also, knowing the Codemaster himself only made it harder for me, because Jim dives into some pretty serious sh*t when it comes to codes and I had to assume he was making it much harder than the rest of the "normal" population could deduce.

I figured that there had to be a way to spell words from the cards that would give instructions on how to do the numbers, but how? Hmm, these are all reasonably random players from the 1987 Topps set, what is the common denominator?? Wait.....1987? Could it?

I took the numbers 1-9-8-7 and placed one digit next to each of the 17 cards...

1 Leon Durham
9 Gorman Thomas
8 Bo Jackson
7 Kent Tekulve
1 Andy Van Slyke
9 Bip Roberts
8 Dennis Eckersley
7 Steve Lake
1 Rickey Henderson
9 Dave Magadan
8 Jim Fregosi
7 Dave Concepcion
1 Eric Davis
9 Floyd Rayford
8 Donnie Hill
7 Tom Seaver
1 Enos Cabell

I then took the corresponding letter from each card based on counting that many letters in to each card...

1 Leon Durham = L
9 Gorman Thomas = O
8 Bo Jackson = O
7 Kent Tekulve = K
1 Andy Van Slyke = A
9 Bip Roberts = T
8 Dennis Eckersley = C
7 Steve Lake = A
1 Rickey Henderson = R
9 Dave Magadan = D
8 Jim Fregosi = O
7 Dave Concepcion = N
1 Eric Davis = E
9 Floyd Rayford = F
8 Donnie Hill = I
7 Tom Seaver = V
1 Enos Cabell = E

LOOK AT CARD ONE FIVE.

Sweet! Finally some plain english after a week of gibberish. Hmm, card one five. Here was a major fork in the road because there is a card in this bunch of Donnie hill of the A's, that not only does Donnie have the number 15 written on his bat knob, but he is also the 15th card of the bunch! This had to be it, right?

So I jumped back on the computer to head back to Jim's code to take a look at the Donnie Hill Card. When I scrolled through his site, I bumped into this...

A checklist from a post after Jim posted the code. I had a though and decided to take a quick glance at the numbers...sure enough this card is for cards 1-64 (totally odd numbering total by the way, but that ginormous yellow box took up space for #65).

Whoa...speaking of ginormous, check out the length of the name for card #15. I quickly jotted down the name and counted the letters and...yep....18 letters! Take that Donnie Hill and your red herring. Jim later told me that Donnie Hill was a complete coincidence with his bat number and his position on the board.

Okay, so here we now have card #15...

Claudell Washington, and a damn Yankee at that. 18 letters. So here is now a simpl(ish) substitution where C=1, L=2, A=3 etc...to apply to the 100-character digit code. Here it is all jammed up...

ENNAILNINECODETWOATGNNAILDOTCONNWITHASCAN
ADDCLAUDELLSEIGHTETWOHITTOTALTOHISGANNES
NNINUSHISWALCSTOWIN

A few things don't quite make sense here, but with a little common reasoning you can determine that "NN" equals "M" (Jim needed to find some creative ways to use certain letters that were not part of Washingtons name)

Basically here is what you get....

EMAIL NINECODETWO@GMAIL.COM WITH A SCAN. ADD CLAUDELLS EIGHTY TWO HIT TOTAL TO HIS GAMES MINUS HIS WALKS TO WIN.

Any player state page from google will get you the information you need. in 1982 Claudell had 150 hits in 150 games minus the 50 walks = 250. Thus is you look up card #250 online, you will find...

# 250, Teddy Higuera! I told Jim I have no idea who this guy is and I am being dead serious, back in 1987 I was into GI Joe, and Lego's and Star Wars and Top Gun. It would still be at least a couple more years before Organized professional sports became what it was all about. I have since learned a ton about the history of this great game, but alas 1987 was not on my "to-do" list :)

I want to thank Jim for organizing this cipher. He knows that these things just bug the hell out of me as to where I cannot quit until I know how it is done, so I just kept plugging along after quitting about eight times! This is pretty impressive stuff for a regular ol Jim who decided to throw something together in about an hour. It has several layers to it and if anything, was more satisfying that any ol word scramble that Topps could conjure that nobody would even how to find.

Make sure to drop Jim a comment of thanks for organizing the puzzle, and get him motivated to make another!

A Sharpe Looking Package of Minis

2010-09-13T21:13:00.000-07:00

Horrible...did I just fall into the "write a clever title that includes the name of the blog that made the trade" trap? Well, indeed I did.

Jim at Sharpe Since 92 is more than familiar with JD and my sudden obsession with mini cards. Jim is one of my regular daily emails, and he gets a continual earful of cards I find interesting, or lots that I am bidding for on eBay. With each passing filled binder page and entry log in excel (rapidly approaching 500 non-dup minis strong, I get more crazy to find the unique minis that will both stand out and blend in to my card sleeves.

While this card is admittedly one of Jim's favorites...he graciously traded it to me for a pick to be named later, knowing that it would be a great addition to our collection...
Unicorn! Sweet! This is the one and only Creatures of Myth and Terror card in our collection thus far. Finding these available on eBay has become somewhat difficult and I am thrilled to add it to the binder

Jim also decided to include some surprises in the package. A few more minis are always welcome into the collection, but I certainly did not expect to find THESE minis...

Wow! This first one is my personal favorite and automatically shoots to one of my favorites of our entire collection. There is a lot of unanswered questions about the origin of this card. Clearly it is a reprint, but it is pretty unclear WHEN exactly this was issued. Jim suspects somewhere in the late 80's but is unsure. The original was produced in 1888, so perhaps a 100 year anniversary set of Ginter? What I love about this is that this card has seen a bit of rough times and really has the look and feel of the original, all the way down the the original back. Great, great card.

Here are some more fantastic and mysterious additions...

Again, I am unclear where and when these were produced, though I suspect it is the same set. The Lewis card has an original Piedmont back on it. Again, these three cards are a bit worn, as Jim no doubt decided to use them in his bicycle spokes and sent them through the washer a few times as a kid. These are great.

This last bunch was a trade that we had talked about long ago that tagged along for the trip west. My original concept was to keep a page of each Polar Bear, Old Mill, and Piedmont...the rules have since changed, as that collection method is far too organized. Regardless the top three are polar bear, and the bottom three old mill.

These are great, Jim. I have gone back and looked at these several times since they have arrived. Soon they will be logged and sucked into the random binder vortex, and will make great additions. Thanks again!

More Friday Fun Returns...

2010-09-10T11:24:00.001-07:00

In case you are playing catch-up, go here...

So who is this guy?

Alex sez: Either of the Walton Boys

Yeeeeesssss! Very nice indeed. I would tend to lean towards Papa Bill on this one. Just slap a Dodger cap on him and there he is!

Funny story about Bill Walton. About 10 years back during the JailBlazer era the Blazers decided to host an ill-advised Bill Walton beanie baby night at the Rose Garden Arena. This was either a nationally televised contest, or Bill was a special guest announcer because he was present and adding his stuffy, proper commentary to the game.

So all the fans are loaded with beanie babies, and crabby enough because these were Jail Blazer days, and at some point in the 4th quarter, Scottie Pippen got called for an extremely controversial foul, causing a chorus of boos....then beanie babies to be thrown on to the court!

Walton was totally speechless, and totally offended that such precious gifts from his adoring fans could be hucked away so half-hazardly and without regret. In your face, Walton!

Friday Fun Early Returns

2010-09-10T11:06:00.000-07:00

In case you are playing catch-up, go here...

So who the heck is Clayton Kershaw this year? Modine? Damon? Tossing it out to you to decide. Here are a couple early entries...
Clayton Kershaw resembles...

Sharpe since 92 sez: Gary Busse! Right on target straight down to the teeth.

Priceless Pursuit sez: Candice Cameron???????? DJ Tanner...Perhaps the rosey cheeks?

Friday Fun!

2010-09-10T08:19:00.000-07:00

Friday's are just too precious to waste on the same ol' baseball collecting dribble. After a night where I lost my first Pigskin Pick Em' pick of the season, which is an almost Punxsutawny Phil-like predictor of how the season will go, and my number one fantasy pick Drew Brees was decidedly sub-par, and ALSO a night in which the comeback code at The Show reared it's ugly head ONCE AGAIN...after all of this, I think it's high time we had a little fun around here.

I have always been fascinated with Clayton Kershaw cards. I have been continually amazed at how Kershaw images always appear to be a spitting image of a celebrity. He is quite the chameleon!

Take, for example, potato chip-stained card below (by the way, this image was ripped from eBay, so I have no idea what the seller is thinking...grease stain 1/1?). Regardless, when you compare the 2010 Topps T206 mini Kershaw to... Cutthroat Island's Matthew Modine....

...then you (hopefully) see what I am talking about. No, I don't have an unhealthy fascination with Mr. Modine, although his speed-reading ability in Gross Anatomy and his able abilities to captain a World Cup sailboat in Wind are certainly enviable. BUT, if I did have a fascination with Matt Modine, then explain this...

2008 Topps Allen and Ginter Clayton Kershaw toilet paper mini. Perhaps a spitting image of...

Matt Damon???

Look again, and again, and again, until you agree with me. Something strange is going on here and it is not a fascination with guys named Matt.

Here is where you come in. I present the 2010 Topps Allen and Ginter Clayton Kershaw...

Now I KNOW that his appearance in this card is vastly different than the last two cards. He looks nothing like either Modine or Damon. So I throw out to you, my dedicated readers, this challenge...

WHO does Kershaw look like this year. Click on my email and send me a JPG and I will post them throughout the day. Go with accuracy, go with creativity...just go with it because you know you have Friday apathy and need something to burn a few minutes off the clock

Enjoy your Friday!

Proof Positive

2010-09-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

When I charted a new course for my collection, a much smaller, compact variety of collection, I made a point that any and all minis (non-dups) would be welcomed into JD's mini collection binder. Here is proof of that.
Oh yeah! Check out my boatload of Yankees minis, courtesy of Joe at The Priceless Pursuit! Joe was very gracious to part with his handful of minis in his collection and donate to my quest...whatever it is. Of course, we are definitely going to need to be splitting these fellas up, as there is simply too much gag reflex factor if you keep them all together. I am thinking about scattering them among sharks and Ponce De Leon and Julio Lugo.

Also included in the package was Higby, you friendly neighborhood yo-yo-man.

This is without a doubt one of the cheesier of the Ginter mini cards out there (though the fire-man from this year's set is giving some serious competition to that claim). Thanks again Joe for helping me out!

Anybody want a Kinsler Cycle Mini?

2010-09-07T07:33:00.000-07:00

Hi folks.

This image was pulled from Ebay because the original is at home, and this image by no means is representative of the type of parallel, but rest assured that over the weekend I snagged a second blaster of T206 and pulled a cycle mini of Ian Kinsler #/99.

I am perfectly content to stick this card in a binder sleeve with the rest of the mish-mash, but I know you Texas fans might prefer to have it in your collection instead.

SO I thought I would toss out the offer of my cycle for another cycle from the set. While it would be nice to have a cool player, it does not really matter to me. If you would like the Kinsler, and have a cycle card to trade straight across for it, let me know and we can do a tidy little one-stamp trade!

Grudgematch part 2: The Blaster

2010-09-05T10:32:00.000-07:00

*ALL CARDS FOR TRADE, MINUS THE MINIS

During my Target run the other night I could not choose between retail Topps T206 and Blaster Topps T206, so I decided to try a bit of both and run a product comparison. My summary? The cards all look alike! Actually it should also be noted that you get the same odds out of Blasters as Retail boxes. I don't know if they have a wall-hanger product out or not...if so those might have tougher odds.

So here are the highlights of my blaster. Remember that my five packs of retail pulled an Ellsbury NNO and a Strasburg Caramel mini, so that might be a bit tough to match.

Pack #1

Colby Rasmus
Tim Lincecum (with hat!!!)
Gil Meche Polar Bear Mini
Ryan Dempster Bronze
Chris Volstad
Andrew McCutchen

Pack #2

Frank Robinson
Yogi Berra
Hanley Ramirez Caramel Mini
Andy Pettitte Bronze
Curtis Granderson
Alex Rios

Pack #3

Jayson Werth
Brandon Inge
Jason Heyward Piedmont Mini
Lou Gehrig
David Price Bronze
Justin Upton

Pack #4

Ken Griffey Jr
Orlando Cabrera Caramel Mini
Jason Heyward Bronze
Ty Cobb
Adam Jones
Chris Coghlan

Pack #5

Jason Bartlett
Willie Keeler
Geovany Soto
Miguel Montero Piedmont mini
Travis Hafner Bronze
Kurt Suzuki

Pack #6

Jorge Posada
Adam Lind
Raul Ibanez
First Jet Engine plane mini
Dexter Fowler Bronze
Vernon Wells

Pack #7

Rafael Furcal
Matt Cain Piedmont mini
Melky Cabrera Bronze
John Danks
Kevin Millwood
Babe Ruth NNO

Alcides Escobar
Placido Polanco
Yunel Escobar
Troy Glaus Bronze
Nolan Ryan
Some Mini Card Currently On The Lamb (last seen hitching a ride down I-5)

Summary: I am a big fan of what Heyward is doing this season, so it is nice to pull a mini, and the Ruth NNO is pretty cool, albeit not necessarily unique. Some of these cards are reasonably nice, and some need to be put out to pasture. I guess that is probably about the same story with any product though. Nolan Ryan sure has pretty teeth, don't he?

Winner? I am going to have to go with the loose, retail box. Pulling a Strasberg Caramel, while no doubt not nearly as exciting as it would have been two months ago, is a nice little historic piece to add to JD's collection. "This is the guy that everybody emptied their pocketbooks to get a card of and made eBay very happy".

This will be a fun product to buy some occasional packs. The mini parallels and reasonably interesting card subjects, should make pack rips pretty exciting. I am uncertain why a continuation product is so vastly different than its predecessor, but I will give Topps this much, at least the set seems free of recycled images, at least from what I have seen in these packs.

Remember, all cards for trade, except for the minis! Speaking of mini's, here they are, except for the one that has gone mysterious missing. I wonder if JD knows anything about that.

Topps T206- Retail vs Blaster Grudgmatch!

2010-09-03T21:16:00.000-07:00

Last night I made a trip to Target. I wanted to get my hands on a few packs of Topps T206 and see if I could score myself a few new minis for the collection. I was also curious to see if Topps was loading up retail packs with unique cards like Ginter was this year.

When I got to Target I was presented with two options. T206 retail at $2.99 a pack, or a Blaster at $19.99. Firstly, I think that $2.99 is crazy-steep for a retail pack, but since these were all nicely organized and don't look like they had been ruffled through by pack searchers, I decided the right course of action here was to grab a Blaster and five packs of retail. Mathematically I guess I could have grabbed one more retail, but my grubby little paws only snagged five. Either way I thought it would be cool to compare the two products and see if either has the advantage over the other.

Today, lets take a look at the offering from the five retail packs

Pack #1

Bryan Anderson
Jacoby Ellsbury*NNO back
Brian Roberts Piedmont Mini
Cristian Guzman Bronze
Glen Perkins
Victor Martinez

Pack #2

Kick Strass!

Ben Zobrist

Gil Meche

Stephen Strasburg Mini Caramel

James Shields

Koji Uehara Bronze

Daniel McCutchen

Pack#3

Carlos Ruiz

BJ Upton
First pro (minor league) game played under lights mini

Ricky Nolasco Bronze

Miguel Montero

Tom Seaver

Pack#4

Johnny Bench

Worlds first female cop mini

Jackie Robinson Bronze

Travis Snider

Chad Billingsley

Hideki Matsui

Pack #5

Ryan Zimmerman

Ryan Howard

Ryan Dempster

Jon Danks Polar Bear mini

Todd Helton Bronze

Edinson Volquez

And here are the new minis for my collection.

So that was the retail break. I now understand people's comments on the "hat's off" cards. It is literally ALL the cards. Whether this is accurately representative of the 1910 counterpart I do not know, maybe I should jump in my son's matchbox DeLorean time machine and find out. When you look at the cards as a whole, it kind of reminds you of a bad high school yearbook.

I do like the looks of a few star players cards and a few of the legends cards, but overall nothing really jumps out at me about this set. It was cool to pull a SP Ellsbury out of the first pack and although the Strasberg hype has died down, I am happy to add his RC mini to the collection.

No hits out of the retail...not a huge surprise but I am sure they are out there to be had. White frames though?

Next post I will give the results of the Topps T206 BLASTER. Does it hold enough punch to challenge the retail Stras/Ellsbury pulls?

Also, I plan on only keeping the minis and the Ellsbury from this break, so feel free to stake claim on anything else you may like.

Whoa, what is this?????

2010-09-03T15:02:00.001-07:00

It appears that Mr Sharpe is holding a code-cracking contest! Great swag at stake. Go check it out here!

http://sharpesince92.blogspot.com/2010/09/blog-post.html

Tally Ho!

Hunting for a cover model

2010-09-03T13:00:00.000-07:00

Either tonight or tomorrow I will be heading out to the local neighborhood Target in search of some Topps T206. I am interested to get an up-close look at the new set, as well as add a few brand new minis to the collection.

In the meantime, the eBay hunt continues for lots, singles, players, oddballs...basically anything not regular-sized. I bumped into an auction for a single mini last week that I immediately knew needed to be lost in my collection. Not only was he featured in the 2007 Topps Allen and Ginter set, but he was also on the front of the box. The face of the product, the point of purchase display! Joey Chestnut?

Nope

Abe Lincoln?

Noooooope.

Enter the Dragon!

Bruce Lee. Awesome card. I especially enjoyed the packaging on this card. I love the creativity that people put into justifying highly-inflated shipping costs. A top loader, a heavy chunk of cardboard, and some USPS packing tape...none of this can keep Bruce Lee down.

What I want to be when I grow up.

2010-09-02T08:30:00.000-07:00

I recently dove into a fair sized lot of 2007 Ginter mini cards on eBay. a vast majority of them are base player cards, but there were a handful of oddball cards mixed in to the lot. The groundhog card is pretty sweet, the horse owner card is just pointless and then the card below...
Mike Aponte. I flipped it over and read the back and quickly realized that Mike is one of the MIT blackjack team (kinda like glee or chess club except you get to make mad mad money), that is a subject of the quasi-fiction/nonfiction "Bringing Down the House" about a group of MIT students that count cards and take Vegas and other casinos by storm.

I remember seeing the movie version of this, "21" a couple years back and just becoming enamored with the card counting system. Plus any movie with the Fishburne is worth checking out.

The system itself is pretty straight-forward. If the card count is high, time to bet, if it is low, time to seek greener pastures or order a drink and bet the minimum for awhile. Surely any ol schmo can do this, right?

My wife had a weeklong conference in Vegas coming up, and OF COURSE I had to tag along, so I figured between lounging around the pool and playing some 3-6 Texas Hold Em, that I can count me some cards and...........BRING DOWN THE HOUSE....YEEEEAAAAHHHH!

I practiced in my free time for a couple of weeks. It basically is learning how to flip though a deck of cards...or two....as quickly as possible while keeping count in your head. In my own head I got pretty fast!

So I hop the flight to Vegas and take the cab to the MGM Grand. My wife is on the flight behind me because she is flying with her corporate cronies, so I have about an hour or so to burn. I head to the bar and order a drink, play a few round of video poker, and then decide its time to put my plan into action.

I head out to the Casino floor. With my luck it is the Country Music Awards weekend and there are 10-gallon hats everywhere. If there were country music stars around I would not know them anyways, though I did see Jason Alexander playing poker and I shared an elevator with Seth Rogan rambling about $1000 bottles of champagne...gotta love Vegas.

ANYWAYS, I head for a table and plop down just in time for a new shoe to start. A shoe contains (I think) about 10 decks of cards. The deal begins.

And I kid you not, no matter how fast I thought I was out counting, and no matter how fast I was was at flipping cards during practice, I guarantee that the dealer was 10 times faster! The table became a blur of cards, arms, chips, and some annoying heavy drawling country bumpkin roadie who was trying to impress the dealer with all of the country singers that he knew personally.

So while I came in guns-a-blazing and feeling like this , in reality it ended up more feeling like this and that expression on his face? yeah that was pretty much what I felt like after about 20 minutes of sheer terror, in which I had NO idea what the count was, I had NO idea when to bet up, and apparently NO warning system in my head that I should walk away quickly, nay, run away quickly.

All things said and done, I think I lost about 1/2 of my week-long allowance in just over 20 minutes. I quickly decided that my card counting days were behind me and stuck with the pool, Pai Gow Poker, nickle slots and LOTS of watching television in the hotel room to pass the time. Heed this advice, never stay in Vegas for more than a few days tops.

Nevertheless, A salute to Mike Aponte for getting a Ginter card, winning the 2004 Blackjack World Series, and being able to count much fasterer than me!

Bamboozled! Pi

2010-08-31T08:30:00.000-07:00

When the CEO of JD's Wildcardz decreed "We shall have minis!" (actually he probably said "ball ball" but being the President of the company, I am required to have a keen ear and I interpreted his statement as "We shall have minis!". Thus, minis we shall have.

I have been having a blast searching around the country for mini cards, ANY mini cards that are not dups to add to my ever-expanding mini-binder. No, it's not a really tiny binder, but a regular binder full of minis.

So what is the master plan with the minis? That's the beauty of it...there is none! Have you ever seen that episode of South Park where the underpants knomes come and continually steal Tweeks underpants? The business plan for the operation was:

Phase 1: Collect Underpants
Phase 2: ?
Phase 3: Profit

While step three is highly debatable, this is the general plan. I want Jacoby to some day look through the binder and be totally perplexed by the baseball card collecting hobby. "these are baseball cards??" I also want to some day make a wager with him that my name is on the back of one of those tiny little cards, have him take the bet, lose, and then have to paint the fence or mow the lawn!

Wanna know another magical thing about minis? The wife somewhat approves of collecting them. Wait.....WHAAA? Yeah, it turns out that Easter Bunnies, World's Tallest Tree's, sharks and Dennis Rodman are actually interesting to her! It makes it easier to justify the envelopes that litter the kitchen counter. "But look honey....it's the groundhog!"

JD and I thank everybody who has offered of a smattering of minis to help grow our humble and confusing collection. Please let us know if you have any mini-clutter that you would like trade. We would be happy to find something you like!

Here then is a tiny lot that I found on Ebay the other day. It was just four cards, but it was by far the most random offering that I have jumped on yet...

Pi! 1998 April Fools hoax claiming Alabama's state legislature had rounded the value of pi to the "Biblical value of 3." A nifty little card from a nifty little subset. Did anybody ever find a Madoff? There has to be a prototype out there somewhere!

Louis Braille. Inventor of...well...braille. Cool card, but totally off-centered as the scan shows.

Mark Twain. The artwork on the earlier Ginter minis is really amazing, and this is one of the best.

Have a great day!

Topps Relief: 2010 Obak Box Break Highlights

2010-08-30T08:15:00.000-07:00

Back from the land of San Jose, where taxi drivers make a killin'.

My wife and I flew back from seeing Dave Matthews Band over the weekend. We witnessed a really high-octane performance where the lights, drums, singing, and jams just beat our senses into pulp for over three hours. Highlights were a raging "All Along the Watchtower", a 17-minute jam of "Jimi Thing" featuring the opening act, and an encore finale of "Two Step" which is one of my favorite songs and one that I have always wanted to see live.

We got really lucky on the theme of the show. I have read some reviews of the show the night before in Concordia, and as can happen, Dave and his mates decided on a milder, more mellow set. The band definitely excels at both, but it was nice that the group decided to kick it into another gear for our show!

The only minus of the trip was that our hotel, while nice, was basically placed in the middle of a loop of freeways, so therefore there was really nowhere to walk to. So we were either at the mercy of overpriced hotel food, or a $15 taxi ride to somewhere else. We'll have to rethink that one next time. Regardless it was an amazing weekend.

Before we left on the trip, I had the pleasure of a dinged-up package appearing on our doorstep. Last week I jumped on Blowout Cards just in time to see that they had a new shipment of 2010 Tristar Obak re-appear in-stock. I happily jumped on the purchase. Obak is some different stuff, that much is certain. But after a Spring and Summer of Topps products and re-circulated images, it was high time to try something different. Right off the bat when you look at the packaging you know that you are going to be in for an experience. If you care to read about the history of Obak cards, it is right there on the package for you. Plus "hit" cards and parallels galore as well as a 1/24 chance at a "Hot Box" made me itchy to bust this thing open.

Here's a pretty cool feature of the box. This particular box is numbered 1935/3000. Pretty cool that only 3000 of these boxes were made. I wonder how that compares to Ginter?

Away we go, starting with the Heyward express. I am really excited to add a different brand of mini to my mini-madness binder that is taking shape. Always nice to add a few Heywards to the binder, but I do have some questions on these parallels...

The difference between the regular cards is pretty obvious, with a different photo and one referencing the Atlanta Braves. However, what is going on with the minis? I have a circle-backed mini and a....triangle-backed mini?? I don't really see any difference with the fronts. There is a different logo on the back, but I turn to my readers to help explain the variation difference on the these cards.

Here are a couple serial cards, Chicago rookie Starlin Castro numbered to either 50 or 75, and a Hank Greenberg numbered to 50.

Here was a nice little surprise to the box...

Here are the auto's for the box...

It's pretty cool to have a Jim Abbott and Don Baylor auto to add to the collection, but overall there is nothing too exciting about these. The autos kinda look like somebody scratched a blue pen through a thick chunk of white-out. There are some nice autos to be had in the set, but temper your expectations a little bit.

And we'll finish off with a couple nice minis

The Chick Gandil is a nice edition to the mini binder, and it was not until later review that I notice that there seems to be an alternate logo and back to this card. This is yet another unexplained mystery to this obscure baseball card box. It definitely makes the card feel unique though, and that I like.

This was a really fun break when you consider the wide-variety of subjects and stories that are covered on the back of each of these cards. I am going to definitely go back through these cards and discover the interesting stories that I may have passed over on first glance. This product is definitely a breath of fresh air after all of the same-old, same-old that has been passing through shops for the last few months.

I am basically only interested in hanging on to the mini cards, so if anything caught your eye or if you are curious about another base card that I might have, feel free to give me a shout!

Dear Topps:

2010-08-27T07:56:00.000-07:00

Dear Topps:

Sorry the cash cow dried up. Perhaps you have a goose that laid the golden egg up your sleeve next? Please lower the prices of all your 2010 products back down to regular human prices again so we can all begin enjoying collecting again without having to put a second mortgage on the house.

Thanks!

JD's Daddy

Taking a DMB weekend

2010-08-26T14:19:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow, my wife and I will be taking a parenting break from our budding prodigy JD, and are hopping a short flight down to San Jose to catch the Dave Matthews Band in concert at the Shoreline Amphitheatre on Saturday night. This is actually a birthday present from my wife's May birthday that I actually had to purchase online back in March. So having to keep the present a secret for three months, and THEN have to wait nearly another three months to actually attend the show has been a brutal wait.

As well, our plans to spend the entire day at the hotel pool soaking up that warm, California sun may seem to be on hold since (after near-record setting heat) the temps are expected to be in the mid 60's all weekend :(. Oh well, maybe they have a hot tub.

Either way, I refuse to let the weather get me down and I am jacked to go to another DMB concert. The best part of a live DMB concert are the crazy, original, and unscripted jam sessions that break out every show.

One of the best jammers, in my opinion, is Boyd Tinsley (above). Watching this dude fiddle will absolutely blow you away. Dude has MASSIVE arms and when you see him rocking out on that fiddle you will understand why. Just an absolute master at his craft.

Combined with an excellent album release this year, a nice venue, and some reasonably close seats (not body surfing close) but not out on the lawn either, both Stacy and I are very excited about our brief, but exciting adventure.

Plus when I get back, The Red Sox will only trail the Rays by 2 1/2 games, right....right?

Ginter Nine....DONE

2010-08-26T08:15:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I have posted a competed nine, so I thought I would share with you my completed page of relics/autos from Ginter 2010. Whoops, looks like we have a Drew duplicate in the binder (why didn't I notice that earlier??). As you can see, my pulls included my first red auto, a supposedly popular auto of a professional bowler and a yet-to-be-redeemed auto of latest Pirate talent Andrew McCutchen. I am looking forward to that one. As relics go, I could have had worse luck I suppose.

Since I originally scanned these, I have dived (doven?) into some retail packs and have actually pulled a couple more shiny relics to add to this list. They are not scanned yet, but let me jump on eBay to see if I can find them...

Ah yes, the perpetual Aramis Ramirez pulling-ability has reared it's ugly head once again. He was my very first hit pull ever, and the hobby continues to remind me that Aramis Ramirez does, in fact, play for the Cubs. Maybe there is a hidden Lincoln etched into the bat.

Another Cubby from a retail pack, Jeff Samardzija, who is currently mired in AAA but is expected to make a call-up before next week. I don't know a whole lot about the pitcher, but a smurfy blue jersey is a welcome change of pace from the rest of the pack.

Of course I only have room for nine relics, so if any of these are jumping out at you and you want to make the swap, I would be happy to discuss with you! Leave a note or send an email.

Timmy!

2010-08-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

This 2009 T-206 is a beauty, and was yet another hidden away treasure in the game room, now safely stored in a binder. I'll have to check my snazzy mini-database, but I believe that this is the only mini of Lincecum in my collection so far.

While I have not talked a ton about the Red Sox this year, I definitely have not talked much about Big Time Timmy Jim either. Last spring, after the joint Ginter Codebreaker sale of Michael Phelps card, I decided to get myself something that really wanted, a Bowman Tim Lincecum Graded Rookie Auto. I love that card and it is displayed proudly on a shelf in the man cave. Timmy has gotten off to an amazing start to his career and I had visions of a third straight Cy Young...especially competing in the weak NL, and especially against the weak NL West.

Things started off swimmingly enough, Lincecum jumped out of the gate to the tune of a 4-0 start and eventually 8-2 by mid-June.

But things have changed in the NL this year. The teams are better, the pitching is better, and by far the division is stronger than in past years. Ubaldo Jimenez is suddenly hot sh#t and is having a mammoth year for the Colorado Rockies. Timmy has now lost four straight decisions and six of the last nine. The make things worse, he relinquished the NL Strikeouts leader title, and currently trails that category by 16 K's. Difficult to make up, but not impossible.

One of the biggest alarms that went off about Lincecum this year is batters began to discover his inability to hold base runners. Basically if you can find a way to make it to first, you can make it to second on a steal. So three years in, batters have found a chink in the armor.

Regardless, I like what the Giants are doing this year, love pulling for the Freak and hope to see Timmy reach the post-season and pitch on the big stage soon!

Red Sox Minis...FOUND!

2010-08-24T12:15:00.000-07:00

This is another set of minis that were hidden away in a crevace in my game room as I shuttled out hobby boxes for the garage sale last weekend. I am really glad that I found these, logged them and put them safely away in the binder. Goodwin Champions was just a top-notch artistic offering that also, fortunately, became a reasonably affordable offering due to bad word-of-mouth from reviewers. "Ginter Light" What I love about the current players is the rich, deep coloring and shadows that a lot of the Goodwins demonstrate. Then they also threw in a smattering of historical figures, champions, HOF's and animals and really made a nice product.

Finding these cards really got me thinking about the Red Sox this season. I have not really blogged much of my thoughts on the team this year. My gut reaction would be to say that I have been disappointed, mainly because the Red Sox have not acquired that necessary piece to push them through post-All-Star break play. Both the division and the wild card are RIGHT THERE, and yet the Red Sox do nothing. If I could describe it with metaphor, I would say it is like chasing a dollar bill attached to a string.

But then again, that is really not fair to this team. Here is why.

Back in 2006, and more specifically in August of 2006, the Red Sox were decimated with injuries...Captain and team leader Jason Varitek was out with Knee Surgery, Jon Lester was diagnosed with cancer, Tim Wakefield had a fractured rib, Alex Gonzalez had a strained oblique...all on the disabled list. Manny claims his knees hurt, and Youk, Beckett, Loretta, the then-closer Keith Foulke....all injured in some manner or another.

Each night I would flip on the games and it would feel like watching AAA. And the team floundered, badly. A hotly contested AL-East quickly became a foregone conclusion as the Sox ended up 11 back of the hated Yankees. Boo.

THIS year, things could not be more similar, or opposite. You name the player, and they have most likely been hurt this year. Ellsbury (sniff), Pedroia, Youkilis, Martinez, Varitek, Beckett, Buchholz, Dice-K....need we keep going? The major difference is that the replacement players that have been called to duty to fill in for fallen heroes have played amazingly well together. It is a true testimate to the quality of the Red Sox farm system that a bunch of players are hurried up through the ranks and have actually found a way to continue to tread water when this team could have easily mailed this season in back before the All-Star break.

Frustrating chasing that dollar bill? YES, without a doubt it is never any fun to consistently be 5.5 games back. But there are tons of teams that would kill to be in this position with a month to go, and i'll be darned if the Red Sox don't continue to weather the storm and find ways to win.

Also, the fact that the last generation of Red Sox champions are slowly fading into team lore (sniff) is really making me feel confident that they have a solid, talented young core to be the next Red Sox heroes.

All they have to do now is get rid of those rookie baby-faces, grow some facial hair, learn a few creative hand-shakes and the next gen will be ready to rock and roll!

Garage Sale!

2010-08-22T19:11:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, the wife, Jacoby, and me decided to hold a garage sale and make a little extra space around the house...more specifically the garage, where most of this stuff lived. It was a mediocre profit day, and almost half of those profits were spent that evening anyways as when we left the house to drop off remaining items at Goodwill, we realized that we had locked ourselves out of the house. Easy come, easy go...but the garage looks much better.

A nice little slap of reality hit that day as well. I had about 8 random hobby boxes laying around my game room with some random base cards from each product. I decided to clean up a bit and set the boxes outside with a sign listing them as "5 cents per card or $5.00 for the whole box). I figured there would be some kids filtering though as the day went by and I could at least make a marginal amount before sending them to Goodwill.

Negative.

In fact, not only did I not sell a single base card all day long, but NOT ONE PERSON EVEN LOOKED AT THEM! Kids walked right on by, adults had blinders on. I even faced up great players like Ryan Howard and Mickey Mantle, and nothing. It's enough to really make you think about our little collector's niche and all of the money we throw into the hobby every weekend!

Regardless, Cleaning up the game room did give me a chance to locate some MIA mini cards for my mini-madness binder. The card above is Cy Young from 2009 T206. I am glad I found this card, hidden away in a top loader, as it is definitely one of my favorites of all minis. This particular card is quite the enigma. It has a regular back, regular base card number, and all-in-all seems to be a regular set card, but for months I have searched for others of Cy, and have come up empty. So while all logic dictates that this is a regularly product mini card, it sure seems pretty mysterious. Into the binder it goes.

World's Biggest

2010-08-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

MICRO

Micro-organisms

Micro-film

Micro Machines

Microwave

MINI

Mini-Me

Terrell Owens

Minnie Mouse

Mini-Cooper

Winnie Cooper

BIG

Le Big Mac

Big

Biggie

The Big Bang Theory (new night and time)

The Big Show

The Really Big Show

WORLD'S BIGGEST!!

Blue Whale

Skyscraper

Castle

Mountain

Tree

As the mini-craze continues for my collection, I stumbled upon a lot of five "World's Biggest" minis that I could not pass up. Of the secret sets, this one is pretty impressive and seems to be mostly obtainable in retail and blaster packs.

SIDE NOTE: I have purchased two blasters of Ginter and HAVE pulled a couple hard to find minis, but not World's Biggest. That's a later post though.

Tribute Pack(s) Summary

2010-08-19T10:30:00.000-07:00

High-end stuff is my weakness.

Ever since SP Legendary cuts, which is not TRULY high end, but pretty spendy for 12 packs of cards, I have had a taste for the upper-tier sets that come out each year.

I started out with Sweet Spot 2008, which I assumed was the MOST that I would ever spend for one pack. I was thrilled to pull a Sweet Spot auto of Hideki Kuroda out of my very first pack, and loved it. Never mind that I totally defied the 1:6 odds of hitting it...which ultimate resulted in me buying more and more Sweet Spot packs and being utterly perplexed that I could not repeat the feat.

Alas, there were more expensive packs to be had.

Ballpark. Okay, this stuff was just ridiculous. I am proud to say that I bought one and only one pack of 2009 Ballpark. Multi-swatches just were not enough of a payoff for my pretty penny. Some people really love swatches that have front and back subjects. I am mostly just annoyed by it, especially with the extra card that comes with it that implores you to keep it with the card as proof of authenticity. I threw it away. Rouge swatch.

Sweet Spot 2009 came out, and my luck was absolutely terrible, as I pulled nothing but bland and uninspired swatches pack after pack. Plus the prices of 2009 skyrocked so quickly that it was not even worth my money. Pretty sweet looking base cards with the baseball stitch-raised design, but base cards are pretty pointless in this box anyways.

Onward I went to 2010 Topps Finest (or is it 2009??) Anyways, LOVE these cards. I bought the dual-box, so it guaranteed some nice refractor cards and two Rookie Letter Patch auto refractors that are fantastic looking. I had two problems with this set, in that glossy, shiny cards are impossible to keep clean of fingerprints and are often suffering the wears of the manufacturing process, with scratches and dents etc. Plus you get a bit worn on serial numbered parallels. But since I was only getting the two boxes, I was pretty happy with what I got, put my nine favorite in a binder and called it good.

NOW Topps Tribute comes along, and while I have had plenty of fun sniping some great auto-relics off of eBay, I think there is just a part of me that needs the thrill of the unknown. Yeah I know that whatever I pull will most likely only net me 1/2 to 2/3's what I paid for it at the the shop, but again, since I am only looking to complete a hybrid page of autos and relics, I don't really care what I pull because I plan on keeping it.

So I must confess that I started with two packs....that then became four packs. I could not help myself. The cards are really beautiful, even if they do attract fingerprints and there are definitely some factory flaws as well.

Here, then, are the highlights of a couple of the packs. While the relics and autos are off the market (unless you REALLY can convince me) I am not particularly attached to the base, and some are quite nice. So make yer offers!

Here are some shiny old-timers.

Stargell, McCovey and what I guess is Tributes answer to the obscure subset..Rivalries or something like that.

Here is a smattering of current talent as well as my "always pull this guy" old timer Dizzy Dean. He is my Shin-Shoo-Choo, and my Aramis Ramirez (whom by the way I pulled ANOTHER relic of last night) of the HOF group.

Typically I don't get too fired up about relics, but being a fan of the "Flying Dutchman", if this truly is part of a Honus Wagner game-used jersey, then I am thrilled to have it. Eddie Matthews Jersey just looks and feels old, plus the color-scheme is really nice on this card.

Pack 3 had a nice Kung Fu Panda Auto Relic that is suspiciously missing here.

Pack 4? Well, let's just say that it was a sign that I am to call it quits on Tribute for the year. You play with matches, you get burned!

It's here!

2010-08-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

...The mini of all minis has arrived safely at JD's house. I proudly give you.....Easter Bunny.

Hopping merrily along, from apparently New Jersey, the Easter hopped his was out West, depositing Easter eggs to all the good little children of the World and spreading joy while shunning the "creature" moniker that has been unfairly bestowed upon him at the Topps compound.

The Easter Bunny is probably my MOST sought after mini from this year's Ginter set. I have not even sniffed a creature card this year (last year I pulled Dragon), and have tried several boxes and a blaster in an attempt to pull one of this subset.

Alas is was not to be so I went to the good ol' eBay backup and the previous owner sent the bunny merrily on his way. Of course with my new found love of minis, Mr. Rabbit will end up random sleeve and will quickly be "out of sight, out of mind", but for the moment this is BIG news (a hint for what else is on the way).

Here is a little of Charles Schulz' Easter Beagle and some dancing bunnies to get your day going.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6w566K4Bw0

2010-08-17T14:56:00.000-07:00

2010-08-16T15:24:00.000-07:00

While you were out...

2010-08-16T11:35:00.000-07:00

Last week, it would appear that a great number of collectors migrated East...at least East of Oregon, and attended the great Mecca that was the National. I have to admit that I was initially jealous of such a fantastic show. I don't think we have anything anywhere near that caliber out here in the Northwest.

But as the blog reports and reviews came in, I felt a lot better, as most people seemed to report that most products were vintage and slightly high-priced. I am a newer collector who is focused on newer products and would be looking for killer deals to be had, so while the spectacle and the sheer entertainment value may have been there, the bargains probably would not have been worth my time.

HOWEVER, I did take advantage of the general collecting populous being away from their computers to jump onto eBay and find some outrageous deals on Topps Tribute that would have easily been double the price that they were going for on eBay that week. Here are a few of my lucky snags...

Carlos Pena Auto-Relic 23/99. My goal is to fill up a sheet of Tribute...five autos and four relics. There is nothing overly outstanding about this particular card, but I have always like Pena, and wish Boston would have kept him around. I also like these single-relics because the display both a team logo and a player number. The double relics have just the logo, and the triple relics...well, you better know your players. Of course, this is Tribute and not Obak, so player recognize SHOULD not be an issue.

Anyways, the fun of this find was that I discovered it with a mere 13 seconds left and somehow found a way to get in an absurdly low top-bid and Carlos made his way to Oregon.

From here things got a lot shinier!

Ah, Big Papi! Gold #5/25 double-relic auto. No scanner does justice to any of these cards, but the gold cards especially. If you thought that Pena's auto was perplexing, check out Papi's.

And if you though Papi's auto was perplexing, Check out Fielder! #4/25. I Like GOOOOOLLD! This is my first Fielder autograph and definitely a quality snag.

I also threw down for a couple packs. Not the most economically sound decision, but you gotta have that thrill factor from time to time, right? Results were not all that shabby. I will post those soon!

JD's Wild Cardz is getting smaller!

2010-08-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

Mini-small that is...

Piggybacking on yesterday's post regarding the lack of originality and card subjects in recent products, when I assess where the "wow" factor really comes in to play (at least in my collection) is with the various product mini cards...

For the longest time, as long as time gets when you only have been collecting for a year...I found that mini cards were a bit of a nuisance because I had no way to store them, as well as mini cards were a bit of an enigma because I could not wrap my noodle around why somebody would clammer over a scale-version of a base card.

Of course over time both of these issues resolved themselves. I have since found tobacco card binder sleeves, and actually find that the mini cards look pretty fancy all lined up together...and I also have discovered that there are a ton of mini-exclusives produced, especially in the Ginter set. Salty sailors, world's biggest, creatures of joy, national animals, dinosaurs!!

So at least to me, it appears as if the originality that I feel has been lacking in regular sets has appeared to be pumped into mini production. That being the case I have decided to sleeve up all my minis and start a new binder!

My sleeves came in the other day and my first dilemma was "how do I organize these"? I have several greek gods, dinos, wordsmiths etc, but do I organize numerically by set? What happens when I acquire another card, do I shift them all? Which set do I like best and where do I put those.

So for now I just decided to randomly throw them all into sleeves and figure it later...hey, it's the collectors way, right?

But then I noticed something when I flipped though my sheets...I LIKED the chaotic look to it. One one page I had a shark, a greek god, a Jim Palmer, a Cougar, a Kurt Suzuki, the atom card, and a horse.

On another, a dino, a sheep, William Shakespeare, Coco Crisp, The Parthenon, Mike Aviles...

Hmm, and after I flip through the 10 or so pages I flipped though again and on each of these pages I found my attention drawn to different cards each time! It was like looking through a page for the first time.

I kinda like this mad-scramble of chaos. I realize now that lining up an entire set of mini's side-by-side tends to make them all blend together and I scan right over the top of them. Having no display pattern makes these cards infinitely more interesting! I also threw in my magic 8-ball goodwin of Vlad, my hand numbered Heinrich Hertz...just sleeve em all up and let em mingle!

So I am going to turn some of my attention towards mini cards, with Obak being my next target. I don't really care for full sets, or particular cards...as long as they are not a dup, I want em! Occasionally I will share some of my favorites of the moment with you.

Oh yeah...and I have my APB out for any of the World's Biggest mini cards as well as the Easter Bunny and the Invisible Man. If you would like to do some mini swapping, please let me know.

Here are a couple of my current favorites...

This card is RAGIN'! I love the black border on this card, it really gives it an extra creepiness factor that really makes this card original.

I have loved this card forever, but finally broke down and sprung for it on eBay. So far, this is my hand's down favorite of all mini-time. More minis to come!

The definitive voice of the industry...

2010-08-12T11:26:00.000-07:00

...all hail me!

Just kidding.

Actually when it comes to commentary on the hobby, I often keep my thoughts internalized since I have only been collecting for just over a year now and there is still so much more to this hobby that just escapes me due to lack of experience.

However (and unfortunately) over such a short time, I have definitely learned much of the pitfalls and negatives that come along with the hobby...from financial recklessness to blog politics, to one's man trash is practically everybody's else's trash as well. I still learn something new every day and having now opened enough product, I am able to form some of my own opinions about what is going on with products, especially since Topps became a monopoly.

This week I have seen several blogs that have expressed displeasure about Topps products and the lack of originality from product to product. Others have mourned the loss of Upper Deck, which seems odd to me to hear these types of stories NOW, since this has been old new for several months. My suspicion is that now that products are coming out, the reality of a monopoly is finally starting to sink in.

If you will so indulge me, I would like to pitch in a few thoughts based on a greenhorn's perspective...

When it comes to the Topps product line this year, I would have to say that where my greatest displeasure lay is with having the same card subjects in every product. What I mean by this is that because of long-term contracts signed with athletes, I can guarantee that generally the same list of B-level players, unknown rookies, and a smattering and incredibly difficult to pull superstars are in every product. I tire of seeing Shin-soo-choo, Josh Outman, and Aramis Ramirez in every Topps release.

As well, I also get tired of cards from Legends like Ty Cobb, Christy Matthews, Honus Wagner, Dizzy Dean, Tris Speaker, Cy Young....These are legends and heroes of the game, but often times the image is just recycled from set to set and just digitally placed on a different card design. I really feel that Topps should mix up the Legends a bit more and teach us about some of lesser known players of the era. Again, I am fairly new to collecting, so maybe this is all blasphemy to you, but if I tire of seeing these images over and over again after only a year, that can't be a good sign.

Recycled images of current players is also a major problem. Not so much from the same year, but looking at this year's Ginter release, how many of those images look familiar from LAST year? Combine that with dreary gray Peak Performance relics from Topps Flagship some odd flat olive-grey base color on Ginter and you are left feeling a little gloomy after a box break, to be quite honest. Thank goodness for the shiny Topps Tribute for those willing to pony up.

Also, from a new collectors perspective..."HOLY MOLY, easy on the pricing there, fellas!" I understand that Strasburg is white-hot, and everybody wants a piece of the action, but these ridiculous mark-ups are starting to take a toll, at least on this collector. When I entered this hobby I had visions of being a set collector, but with these outrageous prices for hobby boxes, I have learned to be happy with what I get out of one box and a smattering of ebay purchases, and then move on to the next product. Simple economics explains why Topps is taking advantage of Washington's new talent, and short-term it is a fair strategy, but you can sense the angst of collectors out there...at least the 99% of us that DON'T pull a Strasburg! IMO, I feel that Topps has had the ultimate opportunity to win over collectors by offering a family of quality releases at reasonable prices that would grow a happy customer base...but they are blowing it by going for greed and the quick bucks. If I could draw a parallel, it almost feels like Exxon or BP Jacking up the price of gas to $4.00 bucks a gallon for a few months, and then releasing massive bonuses to all their employees every December. Does not leave you with a very good feeling at all.

And as for customer service, this is unfortunately another area where Topps is failing, but it does not matter because they are the only show in town. I have had my negative phone experience with them regarding a horribly damaged box of of Bowman (overpriced Bowman at that) as well as a few unreturned emails. Again, it feels like Topps is thinking short-term, and don't care about the long-term effects of poor customer service and (apparently) quality controls

So in summary, while I don't HATE Topps and think that they are destroying the hobby and should be marooned on Mars with Beckett representatives, I do think that the creativeness could use a boost, the repetitive card subjects need a shuffle, prices needs STABILIZATION, and customers relations could use a bit of a refresher course. Treat your consumers well, for not every year is going to be a Kerry Wood...er...Stephen Strasburg year.

Thanks for listening.

Kirk out.

Legendary Nine Wrapped!

2010-08-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

Last week on Ebay, the opportunity came up to find one more legendary player to fill out my SP Legendary Cuts Legend relic binder page. This is without a doubt one of my favorite completed pages thus far. These relics are all of really nice quality and the look fantastic all lined up side by side by side. Here is the end result...
Who was lucky number 9?

1998 HOF inductee, Don Sutton!

Included also in the lot were the a couple Generations dual swatches, including a nice-looking green swatch (complete with white fuzzy) from Don's days with Oakland.

Thanks to these two additions, I am now only three short of completing THIS page as well. I love it when a good plan comes together.

Happy Shark Week! Bull Shark

2010-08-06T10:13:00.000-07:00

---------------->--}--*C---------------------------------->--]-O

duuuuuu dum......

------------->--}--*C--------------------->--]-O

duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu dum.....

------------->--}--*C----------->--]-O

duuuuuuuuuuu duuuum........

------------->--}--*C------>--]-O

du dum du dum du dum du dum du dum du dum du dum du dum du dum........!!!!

------------->--}--*C-]-O

AAAAAAGGHGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHPPPPPPHHHHHHHHHHBBBBBBHHHLLLLLLLLLLLLLTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH........................................................................

--------------->-(>--]-:)--}--*C--------------------

Mmm, refreshing. Nummy nummy.

Shark Week! Mako Shark

2010-08-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

--------------------->---]---*C------>--}-O

I like my meat extra rare...nummy nummy nummy.

Happy Shark Week! Great White Shark

2010-08-03T10:16:00.000-07:00

--------->--}--*C-------------------->--I--O

Crazy diver try to put me in tonic state, I put him in tobasco state...nummy nummy.

Happy Shark Week! Tiger Shark

2010-08-02T07:45:00.000-07:00

--------->--}--*C----------------------------->--I--O

Mmm, human chops and applesauce...getting closer...nummy nummy.

Happy Shark Week! Oceanic Whitetip Shark

2010-08-01T10:17:00.000-07:00

--------->--}--*C-------------------------------------->--I--O

Mmmm, human, nummy nummy

Some disturbing news...

2010-07-23T14:27:00.000-07:00

Ba-Ba-Bum!!!!!!!!!!!!

No better way to draw you into a post, eh? No I am nervous because I gotta deliver the goods...

Topps Allen and Ginter is full of wonderful surprises each and every year. You never know when the next hidden variation is going to pop up and become the next craze.

One of the most popular of staples of parallels each year is the Topps mini 1/1 wooden cards. These are truly one of the most unique of all cards and go for massive dollars on eBay. I have always wanted to find one of these beauties, regardless of the card subject, just to say that I have one.

But then I hear a dirty little rumor about the wooden cards. Perhaps I am one of the last to hear such things because I am neither an experienced collector, nor have my own (live) eyes ever laid themselves on a wood card.

Wanna know the truth?

They aren't wooden at all!

Nope, in the precious 1/1 unique, fabulous, sell-my-milk-money-for-a-month cards are actually just regular cards with a wooden design photoshopped over the top of the image. REALLY? This is very discouraging new indeed. But hell, instead of crying in my pillow, I figured I might as well have a little fun with it.

With the concepts of Mike and the muscle of Joe at Priceless Pursuit we proudly introduce you to several designs that we feel Topps should seriously consider for the 2011 set..

Bacon mini! Yadier Molina proudly sports a card made purely of the best...food...product...ever! Glorious sizzling bacon really bring out the qualities of this card and is sure to be any carnivorous collectors top must-have card of 2011. I also recommend a nice bacon-scent...but alas this may encourage pack searching by dogs, raccoons, bears, and Bigfoot.

Bubble gum mini! Nate McLouth is sported out on the card you can chew! As you are hard at work placing that shin-shoo-choo base card between your bike spokes, pop in a refreshing piece of McClouth before riding to the ol' hobby shop to drop more money on that Strasburg that you will never pull.

Banana mini! Produced with only the finest from our tropic jungles, enjoy this card on an ice cream sundae, or on toast with peanut butter. Just make sure to enjoy it quickly before it turns brown and attract fruit flies and is only good in banana bread.

So the next time you read a forum post where people are nervous about bending a rip card because they don't want to accidentally "snap" the wood card in half, have a little chuckle knowing that they have never seen a wood card either.

More fun with math!

2010-07-23T07:50:00.001-07:00

My Latest Nine

2010-07-22T10:18:00.000-07:00

In actually following suit with the theme of the website, I thought it might be necessary to actually display some evidence that I am making some headway in my mission....therefore, I give you my latest 9...

2009 ( and sadly, most likely the last year) Goodwin Champions relics.

I really disliked these relics when I first pulled them from boxes, but as a group they actually look pretty nice. I love Goodwin because you can absolutely make out like a bandit finding this stuff on Ebay. For absolutely ridiculous reasons this product was not very well received, and "value" of the cards plummeted. Their loss is my gain. Take a looksy.

The cool part of this nine is that a good portion of these came via trade, which is a dying art in my household these days. Vlad is part of my rainbow that is just missing a foil card, Shields was the final piece. Probably the Martinez and Utley are my faves.

I just somehow found a way to find my 9th and final SP Legendary cut relic last night, so I should have that post up soon!

A Gift from Beantown!

2010-07-21T13:00:00.000-07:00

You might or might not remember a blog entry several months back about the 2004 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox Masterpiece card that I mailed in to the Red Sox, care of Theo Epstein. I had this wacky idea that it would look pretty cool to get the auto of the guy who engineered that team.

Unfortunately, as anybody new to the hobby eventually learns, most TTM's never come back. And unfortunately I really liked that card!

One day I was trolling around Redsox.com and I came upon a "contact us" link. I am a firm believer of "what's the worst that could happen" and decided to contact the Red Sox to see if they knew what became of this card.

I sent the email and moved on with everyday life. Never thought about it again, and actually forgot I had sent it at all when suddenly one afternoon last spring, a representative from the team named Jackie sent me an email out of the blue with a response to my email.

She and several others actually LOOKED for the card, but unfortunately it was not to be found. She asked if there was anything they could do, to which I responded that just the fact that she took the time to contact me back about a CARD was good enough.

Nevertheless, we got talking more about being west-coast fans and going to Seattle when we could to catch our team, and the story about naming our son after Jacoby and Dustin.

Then a couple months later I got ANOTHER email from Jackie that there was a surprise on the way from the team. I could not believe it! A few days later this came...

WOW! A signed 8.5 x 11 photo of my two favorite Sox (plus Manny's arm). Jackie told me that she circulated the photo herself and that both players were pretty inquisitive about little JD and were happy to sign a gift for him. Jackie was extremely generous with her follow through and showed amazing customer service by going above and beyond. What an awesome job that must be!

THANK YOU BOSTON RED SOX!

Just for summer fun, please participate!

2010-07-20T10:29:00.000-07:00

This idea is completely stolen from the latest Entertainment Weekly but as I read the piece, I had one of those "moments of clarity" where events of your childhood come flooding back to you.

Remember when you were a kid, how exciting everything would be. How you would totally look forward to even the stupidest things?

The Entertainment Weekly was talking about Summer popcorn flicks. Blockbusters. Unforgettable experiences. These days movies can tend to be long, expensive, and for the most part, forgettable. But what came flooding back to me, was the memories of seeing summer movies at matinees, riding my bike in the scorching heat across the city to catch a double-feature. Watching the same movie 5-10 times before it left town! Thinking back to when I was a kid, I watched A LOT of movies MANY times each. This day and age I am lucky to get out of the house once every few months, or even have enough time to watch a movie on-demand.

So I thought it would be kind of fun to take a blast to the past and list my top-5 all-time summer blockbuster flicks. Feel free to pop up your list, I would be interested to see which movies I omitted!

1. Jurassic Park. I am talking about the original! Firstly, I love the book, and can read it over and over again, but the move, OMG. Check your history books folks, this was THE FIRST digital sound picture. I still remember the preview at the beginning of a giant CD that zooms on the screen, then writing scrolls its way onto the disc "The Digital Experience" and then BAM, the disc explodes all around you! Then you are rewarded with LOUD awesome dinosaurs for the next two hours. Absolutely unforgettable movie-going experience and that flick still holds up today.

2. Die Hard with a Vengeance. YEAH! My best memory of this movie was that was the first movie shown at Bend's (Oregon, look it up) first, stadium-seating, all-digital movie theatre. I love this movie because I thought it was a pretty original idea, lot's of smart twists, and great chemistry with Willis and Sam. I do NOT like the second movie, but this one I probably saw at least 10 times at the theatre and about 25 times overall! The bomb explosion at the very beginning rocked that place.

3. Pulp Fiction. Eh, I am actually unsure if this was a summer pic or not, most admittedly these were hazy days for me, but regardless, this movie sets a new standard, started my love of Quentin Tarantino movies (I later saw Reservoir Dogs, which some argue is better, but I think "Pulp" is the pinnacle). So because I saw this at least seven times (one of which my Dad actually made us walk out!), this is a classic and makes the list.

4. Back to the Future. I was about 7 or so when this came out, so hands down this movie was THE BOMB and I cannot wait until little Jacoby is able to watch these with me for the first time. All three are actually decent, but this one, plus blasting "Power of Love" all summer long, makes it the most memorable for me.

5. Ghostbusters. Why such a small pic? Anyways, THIS movie scared the crap out of me the first time I saw it (I was 6 or 7). I remember the library ghost seen absolutely freaked me out, so much in fact that I would LEAVE THE THEATRE for a few minutes as that scene was played and then go back in. I loved this movie though and probably saw it about 20 times or so...I actually remember seeing it with a double feature of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, as well as View to a Kill, and I believe Back to the Future, once.

If I was to add a modern summer blockbuster to this list I would have to say "Pirates of the Caribbean". This movie came out of left field and blew everybody away. I did not include it because I was in my mid-20's when I saw it, and only twice in the theatre...but I betcha some little kid rode his bike to the theatre and saw it tons!

So what are your top summer blockerbuster flick memories?

Ellsbury Additions

2010-07-17T09:51:00.000-07:00

As discretionary income decreases and disapproval continues with the big Topps machine, I have narrowed my collection needs dramatically in the last several months. Yeah, I snagged a bunch of dino cards and greek gods, but that's just cuz mini cards are cool and they look good in a binder.

By the way (also increasing mal feeling towards Topps), did you see how they hid the Ginter Code this year? Ri-di-cul-ous! A code that totally favored the desperate and paranoid..."OMG, I need to mail Topps to make sure that nobody has cracked it yet!" Whatever, total cop out and I feel really sorry for those people that were misled on "code cards" online and paid a pretty penny for nothing. I can grouse about it more if you would like but would rather talk about Jacoby....Ellsbury that is, not the other guy, and not my kid, who is NOT named after the other guy, but rather after Ellsbury....got all that?

Latest Ellsbury's to hit the binder after the rip card got away...

Happy 4th of July....late. This is the one commemorative patch that I wantded from the set. I really like the patches from Series One much better, but you can't beat Boston, Ellsbury, and some crazy CHP's glasses going on.

Topps Finest Green Jacoby Refractor. I received this in trade. Finest is most shiny!

Still the centerpiece of my Jacoby collection, but sorely missing his 2010 counterpart is an unripped Jacoby 2008 Ginter Rip Card. To remain unripped so long as I am the owner and until I hand it to my son for his collection some day.

Ah! I discovered this subset in my one and only box of 2008 Ginter, still my favorite set of the several years of Ginter fun.

Got any random Jacoby's (Ellsbury's) clogging up your collection? Let me know!

Better Late Than Never: My Ginter Results

2010-07-15T12:57:00.000-07:00

Various what-have-you's have kept me too busy to do my write-up on Allen and Ginter 2010, so I finally have some free time to do some scans and get caught up.

So I purchased two. boxes this year, thus far. Well, check that. I purchased the master set of cards 1-350, and THEN two boxes (cuz you gotta have them minis and a shot at something really special, right)?

I won't linger on the base, nor will I show any of them. I have already decreed that the base set looks rather bland and boring and seems to be a step back from previous sets. The pea-green just created a bleek atmosphere for the images and drags down the entire set. Just imagine a box of chicle and how awesome that set looked because of the explosion of variety and colors! Not to be found here.

But really, it's all about the mini-sets and the hidden subsets, and the case-hit sets...oh my.

Starting off with the dinos! Love them, though of the four of these I have only heard of the Spinosauras, and I still really have no idea what I am looking at with the dilophosaurus. These are pretty cool though. I am pretty sure the ginter code is hidden in the rocks!
World animal set! hmmm.....animals are cool and all, but I am not sure that I am digging these as a concept. Animal mug shots. I am pretty sure that the Kangaroo is hiding a Ginter Code clue...

These Sailors of the Seven Seas are ROCKIN! Very cool cards. I definitely am in to collecting these and the much more hidden Saltiest Sailors collection. I think the dragon might know a thing or two about the code...

Wordsmiths are pretty cool cards, though not exceptionally exciting. It's cool to snag a Bill Shakespeare though...and I can even understand the writing on the back!

And six glorious red hits. Right on target per average. I heard a lot of stories of shortage, and it looks like Beardy got all the "overs" so mine works out even-steven. Feel free to throw out some offers if something grabs your fancy!

And the Winners of JD's World Cup Tournament are...

2010-07-13T10:58:00.001-07:00

Well folks, sorry for the one-day delay on the results of the competition. I was still mourning the loss of the Ellsbury rip card that I could not muster the energy to run the 470 entrants through random.org....and then when I did finally run them the first time...Internet Explorer crashed! I just stared dumbfounded at the screen hoping there was a loophole. And sure enough there was...type them again! That god for Excel.

And as it appears, parody has once-again seized the day and all three winners turned sub-par performances by their World Cup team into JD's Wildcardz contest GOLD! Let's meet the winners.

Representing Mexico, and first place in the contest is.....GRAND CARDS!

Representing Nigeria and taking second place is.....Night Owl!

And wrapping up the top-three and bringing a little justice to a decidedly sub-par powerhouse of Italy......DarkShip!

I have held off finalizing prizes since it will give me a chance to customize them a little for you...Grand Cards and Night Owl, I know your collection interests just fine, but DarkShip, I need to hear from you with some ideas on who you collect please.

Congrats, and thanks to everybody for taking part in the contest!

A Heartbreaking Waste of a Card.

2010-07-12T12:41:00.001-07:00

As I have gotten further into this hobby, and the prices of hobby boxes continue to rise thanks to Michael Eisner returning this hobby to the kids, I have been forced to continually modify my collection quest. While I feel really comfortable with my "To the Nines" (TM, all rights reserved), I have also pretty much decided that I am going to target mainly Jacoby Ellsbury cards since I have already amassed quite a stack of them and it also limits my needs to one or two cards per set, which is great for a man on a budget.

So to my joy, last week on Ebay, a Jacoby Ellsbury rip card /25 surfaced! Actually two of them did. This is a great looking card! The reason I so desperately wanted this card was that, just like my 2008 Jacoby rip card received through a trade, I intended to keep this card fully intact with mini safely encased inside for all of eternity, or pretty darn close. My philosophy is that if you receive a Rip of a regular ol Joe that you don't really care about...rip away! Or sell high. But if you collect em, keep it together, man!

Sadly, however, this card (and it's friend) quickly slipped away as this card rapidly escalated in price and sold for nearly $160 bones. The other card was a BIN for over two bills and it vanished quickly.

Even more sad...................this image......................(sniff)................this image that you see above.............(sniff sniff)........is currently posted on Ebay..............as a RIPPED Jacoby card!

Utterly disrespectful!

I equate this travesty to the equally devastating hunting of elephants to cut off their tusks, hunting buffalo for their hides, throwing away the outside of an Oreo cookie just because you want to get to the cream, and letting your Bowman prospect cards pile up unnoticed as you search in vain for a Strasburg auto.

And look up at that card again. Jacoby don't look happy about it either.

RIP, rip.

Viva Espana! JD's World Cup Tourney Has Come To A Close!

2010-07-11T15:58:00.000-07:00

Well, you can't say I didn't warn ya.

Yesterday's 3rd place game between Germany and Uruguay was full of excitement and back-an-forth action that came down to the absolute last shot of the match. It was a match that would be a perfect ending to the World Cup...except it was the consolation final.

Today we had Spain and Netherlands, in what was absolutely guaranteed to be a defensive battle. Spain had only allowed one goal the entire cup...and had scored only eight. As the TV analysts were going around the table giving scoring predictions, I nearly choked on my coffee when one of them pronounced "3-2". Apparently he had not been watching these two teams much over the last month.

So as predicted by Swami earlier in the week, Spain walks outta here with a 1-0 overtime (late overtime) win over Netherlands and wins its first World Cup title in its first appearance.

I gotta have a little more time to wrap my brain around the last month that I basically dedicated completely to the beautiful game. I am definitely ready to get back into some baseball, but am going to miss those repetitive world cup commercials, the World Cup jingle at the beginning of each match, and of course the gentle hum of the vuvuzela! More tomorrow on final thoughts though.

This is also to announce that the JD's Wildcardz World Cup Tournament has officially come to a close and all the entries have been tallied! The is still a chance for some major parody, and tomorrow I will announce the winners of the competition! Check in tomorrow for the results!

From Dumberer to smart

2010-07-07T16:17:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have not already heard the the World Cup Finals match-up, turn away!

Unfortunately I heard the result of today's game before I could make it home to watch it tonight. So be it, it's only the semifinals...grrrrrr.

I am, however, thrilled to see the Spain made it through. I feel pretty dang smart now after making the predictions way back when Spain lost their first game three weeks ago. I predicted that they would not only make the playoffs but be a major contender the way that they get a massive number of shots-on-goal per game.

Unfortunately the offense has not always been consistent, as todays 1-0 result showed yet again, but what HAS been consistent is the defense, and shutting down powerhouse Germany, thus crushing the hopes of BABenny for another 3 entries, just shows that this team is legit, albeit not always a ton of fun to watch.

So this weekend we have the finals between the Netherlands and Spain and my prediction is for a low-scoring affair, maybe 1-0 or 2-0 on a stretch goal near the end of the game. I don't want to predict a winner, but am going to be pulling for Espana.

Since I am rolling on predictions, lets go ahead and tackle this whole dramatic Lebron James ESPN must see television event tomorrow night. This is just my take on the situation, but if I were Lebron and I had the whole nation watching, wouldn't it be the biggest F U to the entire fan base of Cleveland if my hero went on TV and basically step on my and squashed me like a grape in front of a massive audience? I think that would show no class and is not the proper venue.

Instead, how does this story sound? The nation watches as local hero and phenom Lebron James gathers at the podium and slips on his.....Cleveland Cavaliers hat....much to the surprise and joy of his fans and the city of Cleveland. A feel-good ending. James is immortalized. A statue is erected in his honor, and everybody writes about Lebron's commitment to his community over fame. He would become Paul Bunyan-like.

Now, do I really think this is how it will go down? Not especially (how does a team afford Wade, Bosh and Lebron anyways?), but in my eyes, while for charity, this hour-long charade, if not staying with Cleveland, could really stand to hurt his image...even if he spends 45 minutes sincerely apologizing the Cavs fans for ditching him, which I fully expect to see should he leave.

Swami has spoken.

Dumberer video

2010-07-07T10:35:00.000-07:00

When I first heard about a youtube video titled "Gandalf goes to the World Cup", I had a sense that something great and humerous had been produced.

I was completely wrong.

This video is terrible and completely lame.

I am going to post it anyways since I took the time to research into it. Go ahead and watch it...but be forwarned that you will feel much stupiderer for doing so...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B2LPxggvqY

Go Spain!

JD's World Cup Update!

2010-07-06T13:38:00.000-07:00

What's this? A new entry? Wherz e been, eh?

Based on a whole lot of factors, I have either not alloted myself enough time to blog, or have I really felt like it for that matter. It's been pretty much World Cup all the time lately with a sprinkling of Ginter Code and a dash of stickers, that pretty much sums up my time. Let's get caught up!

Allen and Ginter Spoofed! Alright, you caught me, there really is no JD Gellner card in the set this year...but I still stand firm that his "faux" card is much better looking than anything that I have seen pulled this year. Those pea-green backgrounds and recycled images don't really do it for me. I still stand by the 2008 brand as the Pinacle of the brand. Special thanks to Joe at Priceless Pursuit for his excellent design-work on these cards, as well as a few of the "special" variations. Am I a bit jealous that me and JD did not make the Ginter (front) cut? Yeah a bit, but we are still proud about making the back of the card, it's better than a poke with a stick I guess, which is why...

I Am collecting variations of our card! I am reaching out to my loyal 39 readers to help me in gathering the different variations of the Jacoby (and that other guy) card #165 I believe. I will just flip em upside down and stick them in a binder sleeve! I have the main version, but thats about it. I am looking for mini's, NNO minis, hand-numbered mini's, silk, wooden...you get the idea. If you would be willing to help me gather these up for a keepsake for my little boy, that would be greatly appreciated and we will try to return the favor however we can!

My Ginter review! Bleh! pea-green, tattered edges, no bueno. Although the mini subsets are pretty cool. Who doesn't want dinosaurs and greek gods? that's what I figured. I bought one box of Ginter and I think I am applying the breaks at this point. I am definitely going to seek out the subsets though, and I gots to get me a Sig Hanson auto!

Sticker Mania! I have been working feverishly to complete the World Cup sticker book. It is a definite grind peeling stickers and getting them centered just right, but I am over half-way through my box of 50 packs on top of the 25 that I snagged from Dollar Tree before they sold out forever! I have some pretty big plans for the book, but I need to finish it up before I get to plan B. For those of you that need some of these in trade, hang tight just a bit longer and I can let you know what I have. Just leave me a comment and I will contact you.

World Cup! I have my side column updated completely all the way through the Netherlands/Uraguay that just wrapped up! Thanks to everybody for participating and stay tuned for the results on Sunday evening of the big contest. I am still wrangling up the prizes, but rest assured it will be worth it. Top three win big.

Red Sox! OMG! The injuries! It's 2005 all over again!

A Jacoby variation only Eisner could love

2010-06-29T12:39:00.000-07:00

Ginter 2010 is filled to the brim with Nick Jacoby variations as yet another has crossed my radar.

Those of you who have visited the Magic Kingdom no doubt are aware of the "Hidden Mickey's" that are scattered throughout the theme park and it's rides. Since Michael Eisner has sworn to bring the hobby back to the kids, no doubt by including Stasburg autographs in all remaining Topps products, thus inflating the cost of ANY hobby box to well over 100 bills, I am not surprised that Topps decided to include a "Hidden Mickey" variation in Ginter this year...

Can you see the Mickey?

Where will the Jacoby variations end?

2010-06-28T20:45:00.001-07:00

We all know that Barack Obama is a big sports nut somehow finds his way into baseball sets. Hey, I love me an Obama card as much as the next guy, but I think Topps is reaching a bit on this one....Bizzaro.

Holy smokes! A Jacoby hot box!

2010-06-28T19:58:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the get network of Jacoby Ginter searchers, The two fabulous additions have already surfaced and found their way to lil Jacoby's collection...

Wow! A Jacoby #/50 framed silk variation! It is hard enough to pull a regular silk, but the fact that It was a Jacoby is even sweeter!

What is better than a #/50? how about a 1/1.....BOOOOOOOM!

Yes! a 1/1 Jacoby wood variation! This sucker is MINT!

A reader also sent me an email pointing me to a couple of those Nick SP variations that are making the rounds. Gotta hand it to Topps for going off-the-cuff with some of these....perhaps they are clues to the code this year?

Old Planter Pipe variation! What better way to get into the spirit than the Planter himself. Very coy indeed!

Where will the variations end?

3	9	12	21	20	5	19	18	12	24	13	11	7
5	20	21	14	15	5	5	15	3	1	6	2	15
9	8	5	4	19	12	20	13	1	14	15	1	15
22	20	19	23	5	5	24	18	18	19	18	3	4
5	8	24	9	3	4	11	5	4	23	14	11	10
14	5	5	20	18	6	5	7	14	5	5	13	15
5	11	13	8	5	15	5	9	21	18	24	15	2
24	5	1	9	20	18	16	19	13	19	20	14	24
20	25	9	14	11	8	5	20	2	5	8	4	3
3	20	12	20	5	9	25	15	5	17	9	1	8
12	15	10	8	25	14	5	16	18	21	14	25	5
21	18	4	5	6	20	19	16	19	1	20	1	3
5	5	23	3	15	19	16	19	6

3	9	12	21	20	5	19	18	12	24	13	11	7
5	20	21	14	15	5	5	15	3	1	6	2	15
9	8	5	4	19	12	20	13	1	14	15	1	15
22	20	19	23	5	5	24	18	18	19	18	3	4
5	8	24	9	3	4	11	5	4	23	14	11	10
14	5	5	20	18	6	5	7	14	5	5	13	15
5	11	13	8	5	15	5	9	21	18	24	15	2
24	5	1	9	20	18	16	19	13	19	20	14	24
20	25	9	14	11	8	5	20	2	5	8	4	3
3	20	12	20	5	9	25	15	5	17	9	1	8
12	15	10	8	25	14	5	16	18	21	14	25	5
21	18	4	5	6	20	19	16	19	1	20	1	3
5	5	23	3	15	19	16	19	6

3	9	12	21	20	5	19	18	12	24	13	11	7
5	20	21	14	15	5	5	15	3	1	6	2	15
9	8	5	4	19	12	20	13	1	14	15	1	15
22	20	19	23	5	5	24	18	18	19	18	3	4
5	8	24	9	3	4	11	5	4	23	14	11	10
14	5	5	20	18	6	5	7	14	5	5	13	15
5	11	13	8	5	15	5	9	21	18	24	15	2
24	5	1	9	20	18	16	19	13	19	20	14	24
20	25	9	14	11	8	5	20	2	5	8	4	3
3	20	12	20	5	9	25	15	5	17	9	1	8
12	15	10	8	25	14	5	16	18	21	14	25	5
21	18	4	5	6	20	19	16	19	1	20	1	3
5	5	23	3	15	19	16	19	6