A Wicked trade

A little over a month ago, Wicked Ortega of My Past Time.......I Love It!! posted the cards I sent him in our trade.  It started out with his massive trade bait posts and a few cards I was interested in.  Several emails later it turned into quite a good size trade.  I sent him a Hanley Ramirez Sweet Spot Auto some 2010 Allen & Ginter needs, a 2010 A&G Pujols Celestial Stars, and a bunch of other stuff, and he sent me some great PC additions.  In additon to some 2008 UD X, 2008 UD Masterpieces, 2009 UD APOH, and 2009 A&G Nat'l Pride, he sent along some awesome David Wrights:

The three cards that really made this trade happen were a 2010 A&G Scott Sizemore Bazooka Back #/25, a 2010 A&G David Wright Celestial Stars, and a 2008 Sweet Spot Justin Verlander Auto:

I now have the Red Stitch/Blue Auto #/299 Verlander and the Red-Blue Stitch/Red Auto #/125 shown above.  Wicked is the king of trade bait, so everyone be sure to head to his blog (who am I kidding, if you read my blog, you probably read his as well...he's a big fish; I'm just a sardine in the Blogopond). You might even call him the master baiter...but I wouldn't recommend it.

Thanks again, Wicked, for a great trade.

Speaking of trade bait...I just posted a new page on the sidebar with some football stuff for trade.  Check it out...

Football Trade/Sale Bait

I finally got around to listing some football trade/sale bait.  It will take me a while to get baseball and other stuff listed, so it's just football for now.  Click the link above, or the link that will stay in the sidebar.

2008 Sage Hit Football

It's college football Saturday.  Desmond, Kirk, and Lee are making their picks.  The country is reeling from the massive games yesterday, ending with Boise State's pair of the worst field goals ever kicked.  It's beautiful. 

VT looks to go undefeated in the ACC, a feat that hasn't happened in a long time.  Not to mention we get to do it against UVA, our rival.  State bragging rights are up for grabs today...GO HOKIES!!!

Anyway, here is a pack of 2008 Sage Hit Football:










Rashard Mendenhall - Always good to get productive players in college packs
Teammates Darren McFadden and Felix Jones - Hey, two productive players on one card, even better
Jonathan Stewart - This is turning out to be a pretty good pack
Justin Forsett - Apparently I got the running back hot pack.
Dan Connor Autograph - Who doesn't love pulling an auto from a loose pack. 

Any PSU collectors out there?

Well, that was probably the best Sage Hit pack I've had in quite a while. 

GO HOKIES!!!

Gobble Gobble

I bought two packs of 2005 Pros and Prospects a few weeks ago.  I got two inserts...parallels of Jimmy Gobble.  The one on the left is #/999, and the one on the right is gold, #/150.  I had to save this post for Thanksgiving...getting to use Gobble Gobble on Thanksgiving almost makes up for getting two Jimmy Gobbles in two packs. Almost.

Oh well, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

1999 MLS Cards

I picked up some random packs at the card shop a while back, including some 1999 Finest Series 1 & 2, 2000 Justifiable and 1999 Omega, as well as some PC pickups.  I also picked up a few packs of 1999 Upper Deck MLS, because they were $0.25 a pack and I couldn't resist. 

I didn't really know what to expect, other than coming across some names I hadn't heard since FIFA on Playstation One.  The Stars inserts looked pretty nice:

I recognized three of the four names: Tony Meola, Tab Ramos, and of course Raul Diaz Arce. The other is Ronald Cerritos.  One of the biggest names I remember from late '90s soccer is Marco Etcheverry, and I got a World All-Stars insert of his:

This is probably the best card I got, but the next one is my favorite, just because it made me go to youtube to lookup awesome goals:

This card commemorates Brian McBride's spectacular goal that won him MasterCard Goal of the Year.  The video below, which also shows goals by Etcheverry and Diaz Arce, shows McBride's goal as #1 for the year.  Personally, I think #3 by Damian is just nasty, while #7 is probably my favorite.

Trade with...hey, where'd you go?

Well, my inability to get a trade post up in any reasonable amount of time has reached a new low.  I am no posting the cards I got in a trade with someone whose blog no longer exists.  I think his post of the cards I sent him was one of, if not the last posts he made.  I am talking about TJ of "All Your Base Cards Belong To Us" (yes, I know that link doesn't go anywhere, I just said it doesn't exist anymore...). It sucks...I enjoyed his blog, especially since there aren't many basketball blogs out there.  I sent TJ a stack of 09 Panini Basketball needs and a load of Blazers and Patriots, and in return he sent me a couple of cards from his tradelist that caught my eye. 

2010 Topps Chrome Football Tim Tebow RC
2010 Topps Allen and Ginter Josh Willingham Autograph














I wouldn't qualify these as guys I collect necessarily, but I had cards TJ wanted, and I don't get many requests for basketball cards, so I wanted to make the trade happen.  I like Tebow because he works hard, shows emotion in a positive way on and off the field, and seems to do things the right way.  I don't know that he'll ever be too successful statistically in the NFL, but to work your ass off and overachieve is a successful way to live in my book.  I'd consider collecting him after his cards come down a little.  As far as Josh Willingham goes, I'm happy to keep or trade this card.  In July, my wife and I attended a couple of Nationals - Mets games in DC (including a Strasburg outing that included 41 first-inning pitches) and before the second game I caught a batting practice home run hit by Willingham.  Until I get a trade offer, this card has a nice home next to the ball.

Thanks again for the cards, TJ...hope to see you around the blogolandosphere...or whatever the cool cats call it these days.

2008 Press Pass SE Football

The other day, I posted a couple of packs of 2008 Press Pass I picked up in the $1.59 Power Packs box at Target.  I also picked up some Press Pass SE packs, though they didn't yield anything like the Chris Long Auto I pulled from regular Press Pass.

Pack 1:
Erik Ainge (My college roommate was from Knoxville and was a big Tennessee fan.  Naturally, I don't care for Tennessee.  I think Ainge is in rehab right now?)
Matt Forte (Underwhelming Bears RB)
Kevin Smith (Freshly back from knee surgery last year, only to hurt his thumb the other day)
Leodis McKelvin Gold Parallel (Backup CB for the Bills...if I was a pro player, I wouldn't want to be on the Bills.  I especially wouldn't want to be a backup on the Bills.)

Pack 2:
Colt Brennan (cut by the Raiders...ouch.  This guy has Arena Football written all over him)
Jacob Hester (finally...a starter.  He's a fullback, so his numbers aren't exciting, but he gets the job done...if there are any Hester collectors out there, I have a couple decent cards of his, as well as an auto.)
Rashard Mendenhall Gold Parallel (now we're cooking)

DeSean Jackson Class of 2008 insert (By far the best card in the bunch. It's so fun to watch him and Vick play together)

That extra gear Jackson hits to burn Landry when he sees the ball is insane.

A Bearded Trade

Just a quick post to thank Beardy of The Mojo Beard and show off my newest PC addition.  A while back, Beardy showed off some cards he wanted to put on the trading block before sending them to COMC.  I saw a 2010 A&G Ryan Zimmerman Relic I wanted so I contacted him with an offer.  I sent him a sweet Joe Flacco Rookie and a couple of 2010 Ginter mini needs.  This is my second Zim relic, but the first of just him, as the other one is a dual relic with Chipper Jones. 

 





















Thanks again Beardy, I hope you enjoy your cards.

Harry Potter

Seriously, don't quit on my blog because I am making a post about Harry Potter.  I promise this post will be well worth it...if you don't give a crap about Harry Potter, at least skip to the last picture.

So the night my wife has been waiting for for quite a long time has finally arrived.  We will be attending the midnight showing of the newest Harry Potter movie: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.  I like the Harry Potter movies, but, having to work today and tomorrow, I could really live without attending a midnight showing.  However, I do not make the rules.  Instead of dwelling too much on how tired I will be Friday (and how Friday afternoon we have to drive 5 hours to her parent's house),  I will just show some relevant cards.

I doubt anyone reading this even owns a single Harry Potter TCG card, but I actually own a number of them.  When I introduced my wife to the HP movies (she hadn't seen the first two when we met), it sparked a HP craze that included taking up the TCG.  I'm not going to lie, the game is pretty fun...until I win. 

The Star:

















The Comic Relief

The Enemy (and I should note that this card almost led to my death.  You see, the deck I play with this card is unbeatable.  She hasn't even come close.  Which is not healthy for me):

And of course, the girl:

Ok, so that Hermione picture doesn't do her justice.  The Emma Watson version is much better:

Seriously, Hermione is hot.  I think the witch thing could be fun...

2010 Topps Chrome Blaster and 3 Packs of Ginter

I may have mentioned before that I am taking a break from purchasing cards for November, and possibly December.  I have a backlog of posts, however, so I will still be posting some new stuff throughout this time.  My birthday was early in October, and I got one late birthday present toward the end of the month.  I decided, naturally, that I should spend it on cards, as a last farewell for a while.  I used the money to pick up a 2010 Topps Chrome Baseball blaster and 3 retail packs of 2010 Allen and Ginter.  I hadn't opened Ginter in quite a while, so I figured a few packs would be fun.  The three packs yielded one SP and three TDIH cards, one of which was Ichiro, so not bad.  The minis were two "World's Biggest" and an A&G back Jason Bartlett:

I love the two World's Biggest cards.  The first is "The World's Largest Collection of The World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things".  Some of the things in this set are a little bit of a stretch, but this one is perfect. The second card is "World's Biggest Mountain", which you really can't argue with for the set.  If anyone is working on that set, let me know as I have 3-4 of them, including the ones I posted in my first ever blog post. Even if you aren't interested in those cards, go and check out my first ever post, I don't think anyone saw it.

The Chrome Blaster didn't yield anything particularly special, but the highlights are:
XFractors of Jered Weaver, Brian McCann, and Dodgers rookie John Link (which is headed to TomSuzuki as part of his prize package.)
Refractors of Placido Polanco and Stephen Drew
Purple Refractor of Braves rookie Brandon Hicks
Strasburg base card. I don't really consider Strasburg base cards to be a big highlight, but it is the first Strasburg I have gotten other than the Wal-Mart Value Box Refractor.
































The cards I was happiest about were the ones for my personal collection: base cards of Verlander and Cuddyer:

Crinkly box of cards

I usually take lunch around 11:30, but the other day I was on a roll at work and actually being productive, so I ended up taking a late lunch around 1:30.  As fate would have it, I stumbled upon Crinkly Wrappers's lunchtime blog post about his first annual year end clearance at just the right time.  I was the third commenter, thus claiming a lot of cards.  I picked Lot #2, described in his words as:

"Oddball sets and inserts. This lot will consist of oddball sets and odd sized cards. It will also include insert cards and parallels (ie; anything not a base card), from various sets, years and manufacturers. This lot will also include some of your favorite team."

 Who doesn't love odd sized cards?  A few days later, I received a 200-count box of randomness that was definitely an adventure digging through.  I have sent him some Jays to say 'Thanks!', because this box was awesome.  To give you a taste of what was included:

A couple Toys'R'Us cards, including a sweet Bo Jackson.  Abunch of Topps Kids, including a psychadelic Nolan Ryan and a very roidy Bonds.  A Billy the Marlin Tattoo that I'll put on my wife while she sleeps.  Is it just me, or did that Sportflics card scan in awesome.





















Several mini/offsize cards including a Doc and a Sailor

Some nice cards for my PCs.  I actually have a few of the Wright 2020 card, but it's such a great looking card that I don't mind.

A few serial numbered goodies

And the highlight of the box...a Robin Roberts Topps Commemorative Patch

These cards are just a taste of the awesomeness that was in the box.  Thanks a ton Crinkly Wrappers!

2008 Press Pass Football...big kick in the face edition

A while back, I picked up a few packs of random cards from the $1.59 Power Pack box at Target, including two packs each of 2008 Press Pass and Press Pass SE.  I love college football, so I figured I would post the first two packs, regular Press Pass, on a college football saturday.  VT is playing right now, and it seems our offensive coordinator wants our placekicker to have a career day, so we can't do jack in the red zone and come away with field goals.  Anyway, it's coming up on halftime, so I figured I would make a post. 

The first pack was okay, but the second was a huuuuge kick in the face for a VT fan.

Pack 1:
Dan Connor Trophy Club Chuck Bednarik Award
University of Kentucky Teammates Andre Woodson and Keenan Burton
Chris Long Trophy Club Reflectors Ted Hendricks Award (I hate UVA...and we'll call this foreshadowing of pack 2)

Jonathan Stewart Power Pick (this is a pretty nice looking card)

Pack 2:
Darren McFadden All-American
Early Doucet
Matt Ryan All-American Reflectors (one of my most hated players of all-time, I was in Blacksburg when he burned us for two touchdowns in 2 minutes to win the game.  I agree he is a very good player.  I hate him.  It's a nice looking card though.)

Chris Long Target Limited Edition AU #06/25 (yes, one of the biggest hits of my life, and it's a UVA guy.  Another of this card went on ebay not too long ago.  But, you'll notice that the one I pulled is not a standard signature.  No, I got the extra special "C Long Go Hoos!" version.  I'm not sure how many of the 25 of these are signed this way, but my guess is not many.)























So, I picked up 8 cards, where the three of the four best cards (and they are pretty damn good cards for $3 total) are of guys I hate.  All of these are available. 

More 2008 Topps Chrome

I've picked up a ton of 2008 Topps Chrome Baseball from the $1.59 Power Packs boxes at Target in the past year, mainly I love the set and the price is right.  Most of what I picked up was before I started this blog, but I did post some back in August.  I picked up some more in the past two months...maybe like 10-15 packs.  Here are some of the highlights:

Teixeira/Francoeur Trading Card History
Pat Burrell Blue Refractor (I love the blue refractors, I think those, along with the blue wrappers are why I've bought so much)
Chone Figgins Heritage Chrome
Manny Ramirez 50th Anniv All-Star
Ichiro 50th Anniv All-Star



















 Hideki Matsui Trading Card History (I love this design)
Luke Hochevar T-205
Manny Ramirez T-205 Refractor (the T-205 refractors look really nice...too bad it's Manny)
David DeJesus Heritage Chrome
Mark Teixeira Blue Refractor


That is still some of my favorite stuff to open.  Too bad I bought all of the packs at all of the Targets around me.

Happy Veteran's Day

Of all the wedding presents I got back in February, one in particular stood out. I never got to meet my grandfathers as they both passed long before I was born, but on my wedding day, I married in to two grandfathers. Now, I had always heard people tell great stories of all the things their grandfathers had done, but I didn't really get it until that day. I gained two grandfathers who had some of the most incredible stories ever.

To keep this short, one of the greatest days in my entire life was actually a little bit before my wedding day. I had the honor of attending the 65th Anniversary of D-Day at the D-Day Memorial in Bedford, VA with my soon-to-be grandfathers. Both of them proudly served in WWII. One was in the Air Force and was flying on D-Day, and flew several bombing runs over Germany in the war. The other was in the Navy and was among the many who stormed the beaches. Just having the opporunity to be at that memorial with the two of them is one of the greatest experiences of my life.

Take time today to appreciate those who proudly served.

Winnings from Sports Card Info

Two weeks ago, while checking out Sports Card Info, I saw a contest for 2010-11 Panini Certified Hockey.  Aparrently, I was one of the few who read the rules and saw that you could enter once per day, so I did.  After four days, I was the leading entrant, and my ballot-box-stuffing paid off as I was the big winner.  The cards arrived the other day, and here they are:

I don't have many hockey cards, as one pack of 2009-10 Collector's Choice is all I have opened in probably the last 15 years, so I was happy to quadruple the value of my hockey collection.

Roberto Luongo Faces of the Game Jersey #12/25
   - A nice idea for a card, though it is evidence of Panini's inability to produce great relic cards.  I like the idea of the cutout being the player's jersey number, but if that number is 1, please make it bigger.  This card is tied for lowest serial numbered card in my collection, and is in the outright lead for smallest swatch I have ever seen.

David Backes Mirror Blue Autograph #38/50
   -Yep, go back and look at the picture, it actually does have an autograph in there.  This card is almost incredibly awesome.  A blue mirror card of a Blues player with a blue autograph...if only it was on-card.

Dustin Penner Mirror Gold #06/25
   -No complaint here, typical Panini low numbered parallel, but a nice card nonetheless.

Jason Spezza Mirror Red #065/250
   -Red card, red team color...I like it.

Scott Gomez Mirror Red Dual Jersey #145/150
   -My favorite card in the lot.  It the Backes auto was on-card, it would take the cake, but this card is still very nice.  There are better ways to design dual relic cards, but this isn't bad.  I like the symmetry while not just using plain square swatches.  The red swatches look good, especially on a red mirror card where the jersey in the picture actually has red on it.

Ryan Miller Masked Marvels #220/250
   -A goalie insert set seems obvious and overused, but I still think it's pretty necessary for a full set.  I really like the overhead view of the crease.

Philip Larsen Potential #307/500
   -I understand this insert set, but it's just not that exciting

Sidney Crosby Top Choice #044/500
   -This seems to be a weird insert set.  I think if you go with this concept, you should have a picture from the draft, not just a random action shot.


Well, thanks a ton to Sports Card Info for running the contest and sending me the cards.

If anyone is interested in any of these cards let me know.

2009 O-Pee-Chee Blaster

Ok, so I have a ton of trade posts to do, but I wanted to at least post some new cards since I haven't done that in a while.  I have taken a vow to not spend money on cards in November (with the exception of shipping trades), but I have a number of backlogged posts to get me through for a while.  Money's tight this time of year, so I might have to extend the cardless streak through December, and hope I get some for Christmas. 

For now, it's a Wal-Mart discount 2009 O-Pee-Chee Blaster.  The blaster has 15 packs of 6 cards, which is pretty sweet for 12 bucks. 

I'll spare you the run down of base and black parallels, since there are some many cards, and get straight to the highlights.

Midsummer Memories Ken Griffey Jr. 1999 HR Derby
Award Show Yadier Molina NL Gold Glove
UD 20th Anniv Dr. J.
New York, New York Oliver Perez
Face of the Franchise Roy Oswalt

All are available for trade.  I also have a ton of base and black parallels (about 3 blasters and a few rack packs worth) as well.  As for my personal collection, I added these:

I don't know if it's the shading or what, but that is a goofy looking Wright card.  I wanted to buy a few more of these blasters and maybe go after the base set, but it's not looking that way for now.

On another note, my wife just called me at work to inform me that I got a bubble mailer today from "Ortega".  I love how she calls me to let me know...which brings up a question:

If you have a significant other, what is their take/involvement in your habit hobby?  My wife hates when I spend time on cards (hence the blog name), but she is coming around to seeing it as a necessary evil for my sanity.

I got Fuji'ed

I recently contacted SanJoseFuji of The Chronicles of Fuji because he had some cards I wanted, and I had some cards that fit into his collections.  We went back and forth a few times and finally reached a deal where some cool cards changed hands, including an Akinori Otsuka Autograph that did double duty for his Padres and Japanese player collections.  He posted his end of the deal, which turned out to be his second blog trade ever.  I have been called #2 before, but never in a good way.  What better image to start my post with than a 2008 Topps style Fuji custom on-card Auto:

This card is soooo much better than the Stale Gum Chris Harris sticker-on-an-87-Topps-Galarraga Auto I got earlier this year.  Fuji sent me a couple of relic cards












The Vladimir Guerrero card is a 2001 Fleer Platinum Lumberjacks Bat Relic, with Vlad as an Expo.  I believe that is the oldest relic card I have now.  It is also up for trade if anyone has a good offer, but I have no problem hanging on to it because it is just awesome.  The quad jersey card is from 2008 UD Ballpark Collection and features Carl Crawford, Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla, and BJ Upton.  I like the layout of the card and it is a nice, unique addition to my BJ Upton PC.  The next two cards are the main reasons for the trade in the first place, as it is rare to come across two former VT Hokies from the '90s. 














The first is a 1998 Collector's Edge Jim Druckenmiller AU, though the signature kinda looks like "2008".  It was the first Druck addition to my Hokie collection just as the next card was the first Corey Moore addition.  The Moore card is a 2000 SP Authentic Sign of the Times AU that just looks awesome.  I might have to set a collecting goal of one autograph card for every Hokie to play in the NFL. Thanks again, Fuji!



On another note, I would be remiss to make a post at this time without mentioning the great Sparky Anderson.  His manager cards were the only manager cards I was ever happy to get.   His 1988 Topps card is one of the cards I remember the most from childhood.

RIP Sparky

Giants win, and so do TomSuzuki and Play at the Plate

Well, the 2010 Playoffs came to an end tonight, and so did my 2010 Playoffs Contest.  On the home run side of things, Nelson Cruz's 7th-inning blast proved to be the last of the playoffs.  Since no one picked Nelson, the next closest selected player was Josh Hamilton, who homered in the 5th inning of Game 3.  Thus, Play at the Plate will receive a small prize package including Hamilton and some Rangers.  I am sure it is only a small consolation for the Rangers loss, but nonetheless, I doubt he will be disappointed with free Rangers.  Play at the Plate, I will be sending you an email soon arranging for you to receive your prize. 

The big winner of the contest was on the strikeout front.  tomsuzuki00723 originally chose Rafael Soriano as his pitcher, only to find out he was already taken.  The stars would be aligning for tomsuzuki, however, as he then chose Giants closer Brian "Fear the Beard" Wilson.  Well, Wilson did not let him down as he recorded a big K for the final out of the 2010 Playoffs.  tomsuzuki00723 will be receiving an excellent prize package including Wilson and some of his favorites.  I need tomsuzuki00723 to email me (adam.l.cowling at gmail.com) and let me know who his favorite players/teams are so I can figure out his prize.

Congratulations to PATP and tomsuzuki for bucking the Phils/Yanks/Rays trend and winning the 2010 Playoff Contest.