Christmas Pack: 2010 Upper Deck Hobby

Anyone who has ordered anything from Dave and Adam's Card World for more than $75, knows what this pack means.  When you order that much from them, they include bonus packs or boxes.  Since my Father-in-law got me two hobby boxes for Christmas, I got a bonus 2010 Upper Deck pack.  That means this is the last post before I start posting my big Christmas presents: Hobby Boxes of 2008 UD Masterpieces and 2009 UD A Piece of History.  I only opened one other pack of 2010 Upper Deck, so I was excited to see what the hobby pack had to offer.

Base: Ryan Franklin, David Ortiz, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Ervin Santana, Glen Perkins, Chris Iannetta, JP Howell, Mitch Stetter, Adam Kennedy, Koji Uehara, Zach Duke, Taylor Teagarden, Clay Buchholz, Luis Perdomo, David DeJesus
>>> Nothing special to talk about here. 

Yankee Stadium Ballparks
>>> I like the ballparks set in 2010 UD, it never gets old paying tribute to the great buildings of baseball.

Carlos Zambrano Portrait
>>> The portraits cards seem really bland to me.  I could live without a bad picture of an angry man.

Ryan Howard Biography
>>> The Biography inserts are a good way for UD to add substance to the set without a license.  Ryan Howard lit up Shairon Martis in this episode.

Adrian Gonzalez Biography
>>> Adrian Gonzalez goes 6 for 6.  That's ridicutardedly good. 

Hanley Ramirez Baseball Heroes 20th Anniversary
>>> These are great looking cards.  The layout begs for an autograph, though.

I have to say I think 2010 UD turned out pretty good for an unlicensed set.  But, who am I to judge card designs.  After all, I'm just a collector. 

Well, that does it for the random Christmas packs.  Next up is the hobby boxes, so be on the lookout.  Don't forget to vote on the sidebar for the random packs you most want to see in the future.

Christmas Pack: BIEBER!!!!!!!

My sister-in-law is hilarious.  Among the 5 hobby packs of 2010 Bowman Chrome was this little gem:






















I know the suspense is killing you.

Really, a 150 card set and you get 2 cards per pack?  I got some kind of crazy harnessfractor, with a picture of him latched in to a contraption that keeps him falling when attempting to dance, I guess.  The second is a puzzle piece.  There is more than one puzzle in the set.  One puzzle is too many puzzles.  I got his elbow. Yay.  Of course, the big mojo of the pack is the sticker.  I hope I never say mojo again.  Apparently "Runnin' Outta Time" is not even a song title.  It's one of the lyrics.  Seriously, and we wonder why kids are idiots these days.  Since I don't want this blog to have any credibility, here is the song:



I'm sorry.  Even if that little girl is the new sensation, I can't get into it.  I prefer music by talented folks.

A Travesty

The NCAA should be embarrassed.  Only two teams get to play for the "Championship", and after they both suck for four quarters, we crown the winner "National Champion"?

Christmas Packs: 2010 Bowman Chrome

My sister-in-law and her boyfriend picked up 5 hobby packs of 2010 Bowman Chrome for Christmas.  It gave me a unique opportunity to explain the Chrome Curve to non-card-people.  Anyway, I was very surprised to get hobby packs, so I was excited.

Here are the packs:

Pack 1: Starlin Castro RC, John Simms USA, Yan Gomes Prospect, Kyle Gibson Prospect
>>> Not bad to start with the Castro RC and a USA card

Pack 2: Brian McCann, Elvis Andrus Refractor, Jeremy Barnes Prospect, Tim Pahuta Prospect
>>> Refractors should be the base cards with colored refractors as the inserts.

Pack 3: Derek Holland, Aramis Ramirez Refractor, Thomas Di Benedetto Prospect, Gary Sanchez Prospect
>>> Another refractor, not bad

Pack 4: James Loney, Matt Garza, TJ McFarland Prospect, Tyler Chatwood Prospect
>>> A newly traded Matt Garza

Pack 5: Mike Stanton RC, Matt Garza Refractor, Rossmel Perez Prospect, Bryan Mitchell Prospect
>>> Stanton RC is always nice, and Garza shows up again, refractively.

Well, I didn't get anything spectacular, but I love Christmas packs nonetheless.  If anyone sees anything that tickles their trade fancy, let me know.  Thanks again to my sister-in-law and her boyfriend!

 

Joy of a Completed (First) Page

I've had the pleasure (and pain) of seeing many others out there show off their completed pages, all while I was chasing a couple sets and hadn't put a single card into pages.  My collection was housed as follows: Baseball mostly sorted into 5,000 count boxes and some smaller boxes, Football unsorted in several old blaster boxes, and basketball in pages, by team, in binders by divison.  In the late '90s, I switched to mainly basketball cards for some reason and I had them all in pages, even the dupes.  I have recently been taking the basketball cards out and using the pages to house some of the sets that you guys have helped me complete.  I now have my 2008 Masterpieces (w/out SPs unfortunately) and my 2009 A Piece of History in pages.  The set I really want to complete is 2008 Upper Deck X Base, Die Cut, and Die Cut gold.  I finally completed my first page of the set:

The set is perfect for displaying in a binder, so I'm now dying to finish it.  Let me know if you can help!  Dawgbones has already let me know he can help.  I have my Die Cut and Die Cut Gold needs on my want list.  Fortunately I have two of the big three cards of this set: Pujols Gold and Longoria RC Gold.  The Jeter gold might be a challenge.

Tools of the Trade #1

Welcome to my first Tools of the Trade post.  The title is probably a little more literal than most of you expected.  I intend to showcase a new collection of mine: Antique Tools.  My wife's grandfather heard me talking about how much I enjoyed my new garage/workshop, and he decided it would be a good time to start passing on to me his antique tool collection.  He is a very unique man, and a passionate collector of many things who collects the way we all wish we could.  Perfect example: He once bought a farm because he wanted a farm.  The farm had an old workshop on it, so he decided to fill it with all of the appropriate hand tools.  When they moved from the farm, the tools went into storage, until recently when he started giving them to me. 

I want to make this a regular feature, as it is a way for me to diversify the blog, perhaps introduce people to something different, and also motivation for me to learn about my new (or old, i guess) tools.  I figured I had to start out with something many people may be familiar with: a level.  This, however, is not just any level.

Stanley Rule and Level Company No. 4 Level

Not all of the tools are identifiable as this, but I wanted to start of with a name that many people would recognize.  This level is absolutely beautiful. The level measures 28 1/4" x 3 1/8" x 1 3/8".  It has metal endcaps and metal plates at the two glass tubes.  A closer look at the plate with the markings:

The markings read:

STANLEY

RULE & LEVEL CO.

NEW BRITAIN CONN. U.S.A.

PAT. 6-2-91. 6-23-96.

There is also a "4" imprinted into the wood.  The bubbles still work, though they would need to be adjusted with the adjustment screws to be level. 

It seems like every piece I look at in the collection quickly becomes my favorite piece, but this one is pretty special being a Stanley level.  If anyone knows anything more about it, please let me know. 

Well, I hope you enjoyed this post!

Christmas Pack: 2010 Bowman Platinum Retail

I recently opened my Best of Chrome box which yielded a hobby pack of 2010 Bowman Platinum that was pretty boring.  Well, I also picked up a retail pack just to see if there was anything good to be had there.  The retail pack was 10,000 times better than the hobby pack. The contents:

100. David Wright
>>> A new Wright PC addition, ok, you've got my attention, pack.

PP38. Brian Johnson
>>> Always happy to pick up the AC/DC legend.  Anyone else think he should start a band with Carlos Santana?...they could be called AL/NL...get it?!?!?

70. Jimmy Rollins
>>> A former MVP, this is shaping up to be a great pack.

40. Johan Santana Gold Refractor #440/539
>>> Right now, BA Benny is wondering why every refractor/parallel I pull is a Met or a Yank. I'm sure he's not complaining, though, seeing as how most of them get sent his way.

Well, that was a great pack. I wish Bowman Platinum didn't scan so crappily.  The Wright is a great addition to the PC and the Gold Refractors look awesome.  Hopefully I can get the rest of my Christmas posts done before February.