Busting Wax

Blogger’s Guilt

Tony — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:30:13 +0000

The other day, I was working on some of my behind-the-scenes tasks for my other blogs, when I was looking at some of my Feedburner stats. I noticed that over fifty people are subscribed to this blog. That may not seem like a lot, but it filled me with a sense of guilt, knowing that there are people out there actually wondering what I might write next.

I actually have a lot of things I’d like to comment on. I just don’t seem to have much time. One of my other blogs, Men of the Scarlet and Gray, is a mostly college football blog and we’re right in the thick of football season, so that takes quite a bit of my blogging time. And when I actually have free time, I’m mostly likely playing video games (which I blog about at Buttonmashing.com). So I have been neglecting this site, which makes me sad.

On top of that, I haven’t really been busting any wax. I mentioned it in a previously blog, but the inevitable lack of interest that has caused me to stop collecting has reared its ugly head again. But I still have a strong attraction to the hobby, it keeps pulling me back in. That, and I’m a huge sports fan. So I’m coming to grips with what I want to write about. I wish I would have started this blog about a year earlier, because as I was getting back into the hobby a couple years ago, one of my childhood dreams came true (about twenty years too late) when my father-in-law gave me an old shoebox full of his old cards for me to catalog and protect. It was really cool going through those, and if I have time, I’d like to share some of those with you.

I also had to come to grips with why I collect. That deserves more time and probably will take multiple posts to really flesh out how I feel about this hobby.

I’m not making any grand promises to start churning out posts at Mario’s pace, but I do hope to get some time this winter to work on some posts and share with you guys what I’ve been doing. Hopefully I haven’t lost everyone’s interest in the long delay between posts. Won’t happen again.

Very Cool Tech

Tony — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 03:15:07 +0000

I know I have updated the blog in like whoa, but I just came across this little story in the NY Times about Topps new 3-D cards that you hold in front of a webcam to get a holographic? 3-D? virtual reality? image of the player on the card:

While this isn’t going to rekindle my fading interest in the hobby, it is cool to see nonetheless. It may turn out to be gimmicky, but they could do some very cool things with these.

I knew it was coming…

Tony — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 02:31:26 +0000

Deep down, I knew this day was coming.

Sorry to be so cryptic about it, but if you’re still reading, I am working on a handful of posts that will fully explain what I “knew was coming” and what I’m planning to do about it.

Don’t Call it a Comeback

Tony — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:43:42 +0000

Yes, I know it’s been a while. I apologize to you all, because I realize that there are still many of you out there reading my site. I’ve fallen into a funk of card collecting ennui, but I seem to have broken out of it. I’ve busted some wax recently that has renewed my faith in the joy of the elusive, valuable bust.

More on that once I get a scanner up and running. I hate to tease, it’s the oldest blogging trick in the book, but it’s all I’ve got right now.

Stalk me

Tony — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 02:16:30 +0000

So I’m still working on a video I shot a couple weekends ago of my first box-break. It’s taking longer than normal (mostly because I’ve been lazy and putting it off) but I wanted to check in after having a flurry of posts recently. I don’t want to squander the good will.

Also, I wanted to post a couple ways you can “follow me” and the other online activities I do (other blogs I post to, music I listen to, etc). The first is Twitter. You can follow me here. Twitter is basically micro-blogging site where I post random updates throughout the day, I post stuff that may bore you, but will probably exhilarate you.

The other site is FriendFeed. You can follow me on Friendfeed (my FriendFeed feed) here. FriendFeed basically aggregates almost all my online activity. That includes posts to my different blogs, activity on sites like Digg and Reddit, Flickr, Last.fm, items I share on Google Reader. Basically, it’s my online life.

So feel free to get more regular updates by following me on either of these sites. Let me know if you use them, as well. If you have any questions about the services, feel free to ask.

2008 – Upper Deck Baseball – Bust #0022

Tony — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 02:26:55 +0000

This is the last post in my last burst of wax busting that ended a few months ago. I put a bunch of posts together with the plan to slowly post them over a period of time. Of course, best laid plans always work out, right? Either way, I’m now all caught up on my past wax busts and it’s now time to move on to some actual current products. But before we can get to that one, let’s bust one more pack of 2008 Upper Deck Baseball.

The Contents

22 – Lenny DiNardo – We have to point out Mr. Dinardo’s card here, with the close-up on ol’ Lenny’s OH! face. That is some high quality photography there. Catching Lenny in the heat of the moment gets a highlight in my book.

205 – Shawn Chacon
139 – Ichiro
217 – Hank Blalock
98 – Mark Reynolds
293 – Mike Mussina
230 – Coco Crisp
266 – Brandon Inge

97-AP – Albert Pujols Game Used Jersey – This is a pretty strong pack (Ichiro, Chamberlain, Fielder) but this Pujols GU takes this pack from strong to absolutely solid. Sure, game used cards like this one are becoming common place, but it’s better than 90% of the common GU’s out there.

57 – Prince Fielder
18 – Ty Wigginton
291 – Andy Pettitte
255 – Joel Peralta

294 – Joba Chamberlain

316 -Alberto Gonzalez RC
343 – Seth Smith RC
352 – Lance Berkman Team Checklist
340 – Clint Sammons
394 – Justin Verlander Season Highlights

108 – Nomar Garciaparra Gold (84/99) – This is the first numbered UD 08 card I’ve hit, and I do love me some numbered cards. Numbered Nomars if you will.

To recap:
Pack: 2008 Upper Deck Baseball (Hobby)
Cost: $5.60

The pulls: 97-AP – Albert Pujols Game Used Jersey, Prince Fielder, 294 – Joba Chamberlain, 108 – Nomar Garciaparra Gold (84/99)

The verdict: This is a hobby pack, so some good cards should be expected, but a Game Used and a Numbered in the same pack makes this pack buster very happy.

2007 – SP Authentic Football – Bust #0021

Tony — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 02:17:40 +0000

I’ve almost caught up with my pack busts. Here’s another 2007 SP Authentic Football bust. Another nice pick up on the cheap!

Another side view forgotten

56 – Marion Barber III

21 – Derek Anderson

242 – Zach Miller Rookie Autograph (715/999)

6 – Ben Roethlisberger
62 – Matt Leinart

To recap:
Pack: 2007 SP Authentic Foobtall
Cost: $6.00

The pulls:
242 – Zach Miller Rookie Autograph (715/999)

The verdict: This one is a little harder to gauge. Again, a rookie Auto is nice. But it’s of a tight end. That’s hard to stand out in the collecting public eye.

Sweet Mullet of Gaetti

Tony — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:51:26 +0000

Deadspin has up an excerpt of a new series of online “webisodes” coming to Topps featuring the Sklar Brothers called “Back on Topps.” It doesn’t look like I can embed the video Deadspin is showing, so you’ll have to go to their site to check it out, but here’s an excerpt from the post:

Enter the Sklars, whose Back on Topps follows the fictional Topps brothers, heirs to the Topps card fortune who are muscled to the sidelines at the last minute and are struggling to, well, get back on top. It’s one of several web series that Eisner has in production, this particular one an attempt to revitalize the card industry by reaching beyond sports.

I’m a fan of Sklar Bros. and their sports humor, so I’ll be interested to see how “Back on Topps” turns out. It may not be directed at us hobbyists, but who knows!?

Summer Doldrums

Tony — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:00:14 +0000

Usually during the summer, my interest in and the time I devote to my collection wanes. The time I spend with my collection is proportional to the how nice the weather is. When it’s cold, rainy or miserable, I’m more likely to be in the basement ripping packs, organizing cards and doing the blog thing (taking pictures, writing words). If the weather’s good, I’m usually in the back yard, playing with the kids or doing some kind of yard work. If I’m lucky, I’m golfing. I just never have enough time to get to my cards.

This summer, though, I’ve been given a break from the wife and kids (even though I’m missing them now) and a few extra bucks to spend, so I went to the hobby store and got myself a nice little stack of goodies:

This is the first hobby box I’ve purchased since I picked the hobby back up. I’ve already busted the entire thing, but this time I caught the whole ordeal on video. This is my first attempt to do a video box break. I’m still doing “post production.”

One thing I’m debating is putting the box break on Vimeo or YouTube. I know Mario does his videos on Vimeo and other bloggers use YT, but I’m not sure. I know I’d get more “exposure” on YouTube, but I’d also be exposed to the dregs of the internet there. Vimeo always seemed a like the high-rent district. Any suggestions?

I taped myself busting the other packs above as test runs, so we’ll see if any of those are worth putting up here, too. I’ve got a couple old pack breaks in the queue to post, and then I’ll be mostly caught up. I am without my camera right now, but once it gets back, I’ll get some higher quality pictures up of some of my recent pulls. And of course the pulls I got out of that 2008 Legendary Cuts. I am SUPER excited about that one.

So again I thank all of you who’ve stuck around to read my site. I know I haven’t been as prolific as other bloggers, but I appreciate all the comments and feedback I’ve got so far. I’m looking forward to a lot more!

A Piece of Artifacts?

Tony — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:05:20 +0000

Dear Lazy Web,

Could you clear something up for me? I am confused about this year’s Upper Deck Artifacts line. I’ve purchased a couple blasters of 2008 UD Artifacts at the big boxes already, but just last week I was in one of the local Hobby stores that was hocking boxes and packs of 2008 UD A Piece of History. I was confused. They appear to be the same card. Are they? Have Artifacts gone the way of the dodo? Is “A Piece of History = Artifacts” the new math?

I’d investigate this further on Upper Deck’s website, but it’s so woefully unusable that I’d rather eat a handful of mulch than look for anything useful there. I’m counting on you, my smart, intelligent readers to clear things up. I haven’t been following this very closely, so I may have missed a glaringly obvious announcement. Any help is appreciated.