The Daily Dimwit

A Big Hitter Knocked off the List!

2012-05-16T18:31:00.001-05:00

I got this in the mail today from eBay... I knew this one would be tough to get, and thanks to the Cal Ripken Jr. auto/relic I sold, this one is all mine!!!!

WOW! Just an awesome card!!!! Can't believe I own a piece of jersey that Lou Gehrig wore!!! So awesome!

Anyways, after a bunch of COMC and eBay snipes, it looks like I'm down to just two relics to complete the 2011 Gypsy Queen Full and Mini Relics collection!!!! Munson and Ruth from the mini relics. Those are going to be tough to get as the Ruth is ridiculously expensive, and the Munson rarely shows itself anywhere... if any of you awesome readers have either of these for trade, PLEASE let me know... I'd be more than generous in a trade for either of them!!!!

Trades!

2012-05-15T19:17:00.001-05:00

I got a couple of trade packages to report in on... first up is Eric from Manupatches and Mustaches! I sent him a manupatch and he sent me a recent pick-up from his Napkin Doon Big Fun Game...

Numbered 6/375, this is an awesome Jeff Kent Astros card! The mini base is just awesome, making this an extra thick card! Love it!

Next is blogger Curtis... I can't remember how exactly I stumbled across his want list, or which of the many blogs I read that is his... I've tried to research it and I've failed... I'm a horrible blogger buddy... I sent GQ his way, he send GQ back my way... a great trade...

Lots of mini's!

I even out the deal in the end, I picked one of the autos he pulled, not a bad auto at all from the kid Seager. I've got another of his autos if I remember correctly (literally the binder is two feet away and I'm too lazy to check at the moment) but if anyone is interested, it's trade bait! Mariners fans??? I know, just as seldomly encountered as Astros fans these days...

Well, thanks Curtis and Eric! Love the trades...

If anyone has GQ needs, PLEASE let me know... heck at this point I've got base cards coming out my ears... if you want a team set of non-SP base cards, let me know the team and I'll either make a trade with you or give you a flat $X shipped price in them once I pull them and let you know who all I have to send your way. If you're looking to complete a set of 2012 GQ, PLEASE LET ME KNOW, I've got dups or trips of most cards in the set at this point...

Alright, have a good night everyone...

I can't be stopped...

2012-05-13T13:47:00.002-05:00

Happy Mother's Day to all...

My wife disappeared at the end of our trip to Wal-mart and returned with two blasters of GQ... if you want to see the video break, here you go...

After the page break, the hit pulled is scanned in...

As always, for trade...

Crazy Day of Purchases and Trades!

2012-05-12T19:03:00.000-05:00

Alright, first and foremost, TRADES!!!

Matt Perry (DocHoloday)
Matt recently purchased a bunch of Gypsy Queen and one of his hits caught my eye... he's a guy I've always wanted a "hit" of but figured there weren't many out there. I didn't realize he was sending a me a buttload of mini's as well but here's the loot!

The Maris is just a sweet card, and it's definitely staying in my Keepers collection! Lots of mini's! I love it! Thanks Matt!

Jeffrey (Blog Reader)
Jeffrey was so kind to send this awesome card my way!

SWEEEET! Now I just need the blue border!!!! I know someone out there has it! The retail brown borders are awesome, just as much as the blue! I haven't seen a 1/1 black pulled yet but I'm sure they are ridiculously awesome!

Purchases... hold on to your seats everyone, this is going to be a long one!
First up, Kyle from Jabo's pointed this card out to me and I was able to pick it up at auction for $2.75 w/ free shipping!

/50! Sweeeeeet!

Next up, I picked up two rack packs of GQ the other day... here are the highlights!

Again, the brown borders are awesome... in the top row, a couple of SP's!

J.P. Arencibia... not the worst auto one could pull this year!

Next up, I bought some cards from the LCS today... picked up a couple Berkman relics:

And a card I had my eye on at the shop for some time...

A guy from the classic, Tinkers-To-Evers-To-Chance triple play combo! And a relic that dates back 100 years!!!! I finally pulled the trigger and happy I did... another non-Astro going into the permanent collection!

Finally, I knew I needed to get some retail GQ in order to get the Retail insert sets going... I picked up a total of 23 of the 30 I needed... here's the highlights of everything I got that I was able to remove from my want lists from the bunch of blasters I picked up! - Plus the black border, green border and sepia mini's I pulled...

Inching closer and closer to the mini set!!!! I need more mini's!!!!!!!!!!!

Delgado auto, can't say I know of him... Gallardo, I now have his full and mini relics... three more base SP's I needed!

Well, that wraps it up everyone! Please see my Want/Have list for 2012 Gypsy Queen if you want to make a deal, link is in the side bar! If there is a team you're collecting and want mini's I can go through and pull all the ones I've got for that team and let you know if you'd rather not go through all the numbers!

Topps Team USA Contest Randomization!

2012-05-11T15:22:00.004-05:00

Congrats to the winner!

High-Five Man is the winner!!!! Justin, get me your address so I can get your Team USA cards in the mail soon! Thanks to everyone who participated!

Trade Report - Dennis and Marcus!!!

2012-05-11T04:46:00.003-05:00

A couple trades to highlight this morning... First up is Dennis from Too Many Verlanders! I thought we had worked out a nice little one-for-one swap and well of course I was mistaken as my mailbox was flooded with a bunch of cards above and beyond our agreed upon trade... Dennis, you're too good to me... some Astros and Nolan Ryan cards:

Nice bunch of odd ball Ryan's there, some of which I remarkably had never seen before! The three across the bottom say "Home on the Range with Ryan" on the back. The Bagwell is a freakin' sweet foily-refractory goodness kind of card... just sick...

He also sent me a small stack of basketball cards, including 30 of the MOST UNDER-RATED CENTER OF ALL TIME. I will accept no arguments, Hakeem was underrated his entire career and the media never gave him his due... he embarrassed every other center in the league at least once, and David Robinson many time. Had he played in LA or NY, he would be on Russell & Kareem level of fame, but alas, since he played in only the 4th largest city in America, he's largely overlooked... rant over...

No, I don't collect basketball... yes I'm keeping these... GREAT cards of Hakeem in action!

And for the card we originally based this trade around...

A freakin' sweet Biggio /50 swatch!!!! SWEEEEET!!!! Thanks Dennis.

Finally, a small trade... hehe... between me and new blog-that-I'm-following writer Marcus from All The Way To the Backstop...

He sent me mini's!!!!! YAY!!!!! I love me some mini's!!!!

A Ridiculous "Care Package" from Andrew

2012-05-10T04:46:00.000-05:00

Blogger commenter and group break participant Andrew sent me a "care package" yesterday and man, is it ridiculous! I never knew anyone cared about me so much!!! Check out these cards!

The Berkman patch is AWESOME... /99 and again is awesome... Josh Anderson is a prospect we shipped over to Atlanta in some long forgotten trade (Oscar Villareal???) Anyways, a nice selection of vintage and current Astros as well!

Next up, I'm sure initially you'll think, why is the Dimwit highlighting a stupid Brett Myers base card from Gypsy Queen, I'm sure he already has about 20 of them... and why the heck does he have it in a hard snap down case? What's going on here...

All that would be true, except it came with this:

And the back looked like this!!!

Yes, that's a 1/1 blank back straight from the Topps Vault!!! These are only available on eBay via the Topps Vault!

Thanks Andrew, awesome stuff and truly appreciated!!!!!!

May 2012 Group Break - Box #3 - 2012 Topps Gypsy Queen

2012-05-09T19:30:00.000-05:00

Here's the video... third and final box of the May Group Break!

Scans after the page break!

Here are your scans!

First up, the mini's!!! My favorite!!!! The first row and first four cards of the second row (as well as the last horizontal card) are from the mini box!

The one-per-hobby box Green mini goes to the Reds! The Giants get the /99 Sepia mini while the Yanks and Orioles add a black border mini to their collections!

Ok, this gets a bit complicated, but follow me... the first four cards on row one are all GQ Red Backs, the first 4 cards on the second row are all Straight Cut backs, and all the rest are regular backs. If ANYONE doesn't want any or all their mini cards (because you're prejudiced, just think they are stupid, or are benevolent in the knowledge I'm collecting these bad boys) please let me know, I'd love to use as many towards my collection as possible!!!! Plus, I'll definitely compensate you with a card or two thrown in your lot for the exchange!

We got 5 short prints in the box and a nice selection of teams as well. We got a Gypsy King, which I think fall one every two boxes. The Murray and Gibson blue border /999 are sick!!!!

On to the inserts!

Sliding Stars are great shots of, well, stars sliding...

Moonshots shows off prodigious HR hitters! Notice the Hamilton in there... nice 4-HR day yesterday there buddy...

Glove Stories, the much maligned insert set this year, I'm not a huge fan, but I do gotta say it's about time that Griffey catch gets a card!

And finally the HITS!!!!

Adam Jones has quietly resurrected his career a bit in Baltimore, I won't complain about landing a hit in the final box and congrats to the Cardinals and Nats for a couple of sweeeeet autos!

Well, there you go everyone! Hope everyone enjoyed the break!

May Group Break - Box #2 - 2012 Topps Heritage Hobby Box

2012-05-08T20:20:00.000-05:00

Here's the video!

Pictures after the page break!

Here's the break down scans!

Three very nice looking Chrome inserts! Angels-centric New Age inserts and Giants-centric Flashbacks.

Some more great inserts! The Senators card does go to the Rangers, as the Senators who were around in 1963 moved to Arlington, TX to become the Texas Rangers. Congrats to The Dutch Card Guy on the first hit of the break!

I Interupt This Group Break to Bring You an EPIC Card...

2012-05-08T04:34:00.000-05:00

The end of eTopps came about just about 1 week after I bought my first ever eTopps card, darn my luck. Anyways, I finally took shipment of that one card... and I am SO glad I did... scans do it no justice...

The Front...

And the back... This card is super impressive in hand...

Anyways, the group break will continue tonight!!!!

May Group Break - Box #1 - Topps Opening Day

2012-05-07T19:37:00.001-05:00

Here's the video if you choose to endure it...

Here's the scans! Inserts a plenty!

My favorite insert set, the mascots!

Some very nice blue bordered cards!

"Elite" skills... really? Ummmm... yea, maybe not the most elite but whatever... haha...

Another great insert set, the Fantasy Squad!

And the insert set that, in my opinion, makes Opening Day worth buying! The 3D Opening Day Stars!!!!

Here's the scan of the celebrations that I thought my computer had eaten, it mis-filed it for some reason, who knows...

We didn't beat the odds with an auto in this box :( but I was pretty happy with it overall!

Tomorrow we have the 2012 Topps Heritage Hobby Box!

Product Review - 2012 Topps USA Summer Olympics

2012-05-06T20:25:00.002-05:00

Topps finally did what should have been done for years and years, produced a set centered on the Olympics! The fan base for the Olympics goes well beyond the boundaries of the hobby. This is a set that has a chance to rope in a much wider audience. So, the wife being such a big Olympics fan that she is, and with the chance of some pretty cool autographs and relics, I picked up a box for her to bust this weekend.

Here are a bunch of the base cards... there may or may not be a theme here...

My wife has already said it, I'm a pig. But these are some nice looking cards, don't you think???? Most of the cards are action shots, with some of them being medal ceremony shots and a few being posed (see Morgan, Alex). Each hobby box is said to contain a complete 100 card set, and that rang true from our box, with a total of 25 duplicates (more on those later, you'll want to read to the end...). The scan above are all duplicates.

Next up, there are various insert sets, here's our loot:

The top 6 show off some of the current Olympic champions and their sports; on the back it gives a nice little snippet detailing the sport as well as the current all-time leading medal winning country. The three cards across the bottom are the Gold, Silver and Bronze parallel sets (the theme continues). In our box we got 8 gold, 12 silver and 24 bronze. Putting these 100 card sets will be a challenge, but if someone does it, that is going to be a really nice set of cards!

The top card is the manufactured relic. There are several different kinds of these in the set and we got the manu-patch for the US Olympic team highlighting the Water Polo team. I've seen some nice American Flag patches and then some pretty cool pin relics as well. Gotta give Topps credit on these, they are pretty slick. The other relic is a piece of Athlete Worn Relic from Alicia Sacramone of the Gymnastics team. It was nice to get a least one name I had heard before! Below that are some more inserts, with the chronological Olympic History cards being my favorite. It's really cool to see where all they've been through the years. The Opening Ceremony card I could do without, but the Event Venue cards from the 2012 London games REALLY piqued my wife's interest as she LOVES English royal history and was very excited to see a card with Hampton Courts Palace on it (a place she's been and loved). Needless to say, she's excited for the 2012 games!

The highlight of this product is the autographs, with Phelps and Solo among the most sought after and with every other hobby box getting the hot box treatment with 2 autos instead of just one. At the shot the other night, a guy had a Phelps and Shawn Johnson auto in the same box. Needless to say, he'll make his money back on that box... we got this guy:

Tony, I didn't know who you were before today, and I probably won't remember you a month or two from now when the Olympics begin, but I hope you score a billion goals and make our country proud... or something...

Anyways, my overall impression of this set: Pretty Cool. Not quite AWESOME but you can't beat the fact that you get a complete set from 1 box, and that the parallels, hits and inserts are pretty decent. I don't think we'll be buying any more boxes, but the wife may track down an auto or two she really wants.

I told you to keep those duplicates in mind. Because here we have a little contest for anyone who read this far, and who cares about Olympic cards... leave a comment on this post mentioning your favorite Summer Olympic event, your favorite Summer Olympian or favorite Summer Olympic moment. At the end of the week, I'll randomize all the entrants and the winner will get all 25 of the duplicate cards we pulled!

Have a great week everyone!

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Trade Night

2012-05-06T08:47:00.004-05:00

Well kids... before I get started with the story that is alluded to in the title, I have a couple trades...

First, is well, not a trade... but a "just because" from Derek over at Tomahawk Chopping (who's redesigned blog is THE BOMB)... He shot over some GQ and a nice Caminiti/Bagwell card:

Thanks Derek!

Next up is an actual trade. I pulled a BUNCH of Gypsy Queen for Adam over at ARPSmith's Sportscard Obsession... which are still sitting on my desk because I'm a horrible blogger... I promise Adam, your cards are going to the PO tomorrow, I swear it upon all that's good and holy in this world...

But here's the SWEEEEET swag he sent my way:

The Biggio and Caminiti are from Fleer Brilliants with the Caminiti being a /99 parallel. I'm telling you know, expect to see this set in a group break in the future, it's AWESOME. Some great game used cards in there, I really like the Berkman dual jersey from UD Essential Elements. Sweet lookin' card! Thanks Adam...

Ok, so the card shop had their trade night last night.... on the wave of my Cal Ripken Jr. auto relic 1/5 having sold at auction for $408 dollars (SWEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!) I went a little bit Gypsy Queen mad... I am well on my way to the mini set I'm looking for at this point, and have plenty of base to trade. Including what I think is a complete set 1-300 of non-variants and all 3 hobby insert sets. Anyone want to make an offer on it? I'll need to go through and verify but I'm pretty sure I've got all of it.

Anyways, out of the 2+ boxes I busted last night, here are the goods:

So I now have a duplicate auto of Moreland, and a duplicate Rivera (w/ stitch patterns) relic. The Zimmerman auto is very nice, as is the Cueto. The guy next to me got Peacock and Benson so I consider myself pretty darn lucky. I seem to have a penchant for pulling Braves relics from this set as well, as I now have McCann, Hanson, Heyward and Hudson... yo Braves fans, I need you to start makin' some offers! Haha!

Have a great day everyone!

Group Break 2nd Team Randomization

2012-05-03T18:55:00.005-05:00

Hey everyone! The break is full after I bought the last slot myself (Kansas City) and the boxes have been purchased... hopefully Monday or Tuesday I'll be busting packs o' wax!

For now, I'll do the second team randomization.... the claimed teams and their owners:

1. Atlanta - Chris Mays
2. Baltimore - jaybarkerfan
3. Boston - Matt Perry
4. Chicago (NL) - Tom
5. Detroit - Jeffrey W
6. Kansas City - The Dimwit
7. Los Angeles - Johnson
8. New York (AL) - The Dutch Card Guy
9. New York (NL) - The Dutch Card Guy
10. Philadelphia - Team Phungo
11. San Fransisco - Johnson
12. Seattle - Derek Hill
13. St. Louis - jamicfan
14. Tampa - Hairylemon
15. Texas - The Dimwit

The remaining teams:
Arizona
Chicago (AL)
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Colorado
Florida
Houston
Los Angeles (AL)
Milwaukee
Minnesota
Oakland
Pittsburgh
San Diego
Toronto
Washington

The number next to your team above will correspond to the numbers below:

Thus:
1. Atlanta & Chicago (AL) - Chris Mays
2. Baltimore & Minnesota - jaybarkerfan
3. Boston & Miami/Florida - Matt Perry
4. Chicago (NL) & Washington - Tom
5. Detroit & Houston- Jeffrey W
6. Kansas City & Toronto - The Dimwit
7. Los Angeles & Cleveland - Johnson
8. New York (AL) & San Diego - The Dutch Card Guy
9. New York (NL) & Los Angeles (AL) - The Dutch Card Guy
10. Philadelphia & Pittsburgh- Team Phungo
11. San Fransisco & Arizona - Johnson
12. Seattle & Cincinnati - Derek Hill
13. St. Louis & Oakland - jamicfan
14. Tampa & Colorado - Hairylemon
15. Texas & Milwaukee - The Dimwit

Alright... feel free to trade around however you like between now and the ship-out date! Just make sure that both participants agree via comments or e-mail to me.

***I'd be interested in trading for the Astros and/or the Twins (Jeffrey and jaybarkerfan). If anyone else would like my randomized teams, I'm pretty open to trades for them, just let me know...

Card of The Day - For Trade Edition

2012-05-02T04:53:00.000-05:00

I picked up this card a while back thinking it'd make good trade bait. So far, I've received no interest... anyways, it's a solid HOFer and hopefully future HOFer.

Hope everyone has a great day!

I have 3 slots left in my group break... head on over and claim them... lots of great teams left! $15 for two team slot...

May Group Break Sign-Ups Are LIVE!!!! 3 Boxes of 2012 Product!

2012-04-30T20:34:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone, it's that time of the month... well, not THAT time, but it's Group Break time!!!!

I've got three great products from Topps for this break... all hobby boxes... and a big thanks to Atlanta Sports Cards for their sponsorship of this break!

1) 2012 Topps Opening Day - Hobby Box - 36 packs; 7 cards per pack. Lots of fun cards in this product, I threw this one in just for the fun of it! A very remote chance at an auto, but nothing guaranteed.

2) 2012 Topps Heritage - Hobby Box - 24 Packs; 7 cards per pack; box loader - One auto or relic guaranteed per box. A popular set with lots of variations, SP's and great hits.

3) 2012 Topps Gypsy Queen - Hobby Box - 24 packs; 10 cards per pack (1 mini) - 10 card mini box - Of course I couldn't do a break without GQ being involved. You've seen great cards from this set on this blog! In my opinion this is another "home run" by Topps (although I would say the autograph and relic checklist is a bit too long compared to last year) but there are great cards available. 4 hits guaranteed and a good chance at bonus hits with lots of printing plates and new this year are autographs available in the mini's boxes which are exclusive to the hobby boxes.

Alright, I'm not going to take the Astros this time around, as I already have most of their cards from these sets and will probably trade with whoever gets them as their second randomized team if no one buys them outright. I have decided to take the Rangers, as I really want a chance at the Darvish base variation. Sign-ups are first come, first serve... $15 per 2-team slot, as usual one team is your selection, the second team is randomized to you. If you want two slots, that'll be $28. If you want more than 2 slots, e-mail me for a quote. As always, please make payments to my paypal account: samuelpair AT yahoo.com as a GIFT.

Sign up via the comments below. As usual, all multi-team cards will be randomly assigned, if it's one of the "hits" this will be done via video, if it's involving one of the teams I've claimed, it will be done by an independent 3rd party via video and posted to their blog. All cards from "moved teams" such as Montreal will go to the current version of the team (Washington-Montreal), you know how it goes...

Alright, here are the teams... sign up via the comments.

Arizona -
Atlanta -Chris Mays - PAID
Baltimore - jaybarkerfan - PAID
Boston - Matt Perry - PAID
Chicago (NL) - Tom - PAID
Chicago (AL) -
Cincinnati -
Cleveland -
Colorado -
Detroit - Jeffrey W - PAID
Florida -
Houston -
Kansas City - The Dimwit - PAID
Los Angeles (NL) -Johnson - PAID
Los Angeles (AL) -
Milwaukee -
Minnesota -
New York (NL) - The Dutch Card Guy - PAID
New York (AL) - The Dutch Card Guy - PAID
Oakland -
Philadelphia - Team Phungo - PAID
Pittsburgh -
San Diego -
San Francisco - Johnson - PAID
Seattle -Derek Hill - PAID
St. Louis -jamicfan - PAID
Tampa - Hairylemon - PAID
Texas - The Dimwit - PAID
Toronto -
Washington -

If this fills up within 24 hours, I'll throw in one blaster of 2012 Gypsy Queen as well. You all have until 8:35pm tomorrow, May 1st to get this break filled!

Ripken Auction Posted

2012-04-30T19:24:00.002-05:00

The Ripken has gone onto eBay for anyone who wants to watch... or bid... or just buy it now...

Yes, I realize that I went kind of on the high side for the opening bid and the BIN price... but we'll see how it goes... Fingers are crossed that some rich Orioles collector (or 2) feel they just HAVE to have this card... :-D

Gypsy Queen... with MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR MOJO!!!!!!!!!

2012-04-28T17:56:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm a sucker for Gypsy Queen and after making a couple of sales on eBay... I had the bread to pick up a couple more boxes of my drug... errr... favorite product... well worth my time and money. Still shaking...

First box... highlights shown here, as I'm sure you all are tired of seeing scan after scan of GQ cards...

Not too shabby... the Mo Rivera mini relic is pretty nice, stitch marks and all... Castro is a nice auto but I have no clue who this Peacock fellow is; he better start throwin no-hitters though for sure...

Brett Anderson? Ok Topps, stop with the crappy A's pitchers... geez... Heyward is a nice relic, and didn't Avila make an All-Star team????

Alright, I'm sure you noticed that I'm missing an auto from the second scan! I'll tell you... this card I pulled has a pack pull odds of 1:11,300.... it's numbered #1 out of 5!!!!! It's a HOF'er....

...

...

...

keep scrolling... this is fun...

...

...

drum roll...

...

...

OMG!!!!!!!

I could not believe it... I opened these in the store, and when I pulled this out there were fist bumps and hand shakes all around!!!! FREAKIN' SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Diamond King Strikes Again... and the conclusion of a forgotten contest...

2012-04-23T21:43:00.003-05:00

The other day, Kevin over at The Diamond King (belongs in the HOF of blog names, for sure)... posted some discount hits he got at a local card show for about a $1 each... included were a Bagwell and Biggio that I thought were pretty darn cool... he sent them without really requesting anything in return, claiming he owed me cards in a trade (of course I don't remember this debt) but anyways... as you can see from him cryptic message at the bottom, he threw in a few extras...

Great cards... the Wagner and Lane are both serial numbered /99 and /25 respectively. Kevin, you're awesome... expect a return package of thank you cards soon...

Finally tonight... I realized I never made good on my contest that I was running in the side bar for the Gypsy Queen Bronze bordered /999 cards. I completed the set (with about the last 15 cards bought on my own... but who's counting.. hehe)... and now I need to give away the promised prizes to the participants who either traded or freely gave me their cards! So... I entered everyone's name into random.org (one entry for each card, a total of 39 entries)... and randomized it three times... remember, 1st place gets the Brooks Robinson, 2nd place gets the Justin Smoak and 3rd place gets a "hit" from my collection from your favorite team... no duplicate winners, one prize per person... here's randomization #1:

And the second randomization...

And finally the third!

Congratulations to Brian over at Play At The Plate... Charles over at Lifetime Topps Project... and Matt H. over at Ten Yards (which I think is his family blog...)

Winners, please send me an e-mail with your address... even if I may already have it... this will serve as a reminder to get these out in the mail later this week! Matt Hickes, please let me know what team you are a fan of and I'll pick out a card or grab one for your from my LCS

Thanks to all who helped put my set together! It kills me to watch this Brooks Robinson go out the door, but it's well worth it considering I was able to put the gold border set together complete... I know I have 1 of only 999 possible sets!!!

I secretly wished BA Benny would have won one of the prizes... I miss his blog and maybe this would have spurred his glorious return to the blog-o-sphere... I haven't heard from him in a while... Mike, if you're out there, let us know you're alright.

I have a problem... her name is Gypsy Queen...

2012-04-22T09:10:00.001-05:00

Ok, so let me preface this by saying that what you see in the picture below, I did NOT buy all of this...

Ok, so here's the story... the wife and I went to the card shop yesterday over in Spanish Fort... she told me to go ahead get a box and just put it on credit and be done with it, and so I did... then another... and while I was standing there, a guy I'm familiar with named Kevin started busting a box. Kevin is a case buster and high dollar guy, he busted a CASE of National Treasures football at the last trade night, and for those of you who don't know what that is, the boxes are $500 each and contain one pack. Anyways, he's a great guy as well... as he opened these boxes he pull the hits out to one stack, the base in another and the mini's in a third stack. Well, after two boxes he was rather frustrated and said that if I wanted all the base and mini's I could have them since he know I was a set builder. Of course I jumped at the offer. I also saw the open box on the shelf with about 10 packs left in it and snagged those also... unfortunately those 10 produced no more hits but I got some good mini's and the like from them!

Let me go ahead and give a recap here of what I got overall...

298/300 base cards towards the complete set.
26/50 SP Variations - No Yu Darvish unfortunately...
Complete sets of 2 of the 3 hobby inserts (except for Moonshots, I'm one card short!)
1 Gypsy King insert (lame cards in my opinion, Kevin pulled a Gypsy King Manu-Relic /25 but then was pissed to see they were only selling for about $20 on the bay of E.)
Mini's GALORE... I have no idea what all the parallels are and don't understand at all why some of them are numbered higher than 300 and then the various backs associated with those... it's a confusing world of mini's this year for sure. But, I'm wanting your REGULAR BACK 1-350 mini's if you are willing to part with them. Regular back only, not really chasing the variation pictures, but will take whatever I can get to make the set 1 through 350.
255/300 towards a second complete base set, probably won't complete this just because I don't see myself buying many more packs of this product.
Hundreds of triplicates and more... LOTS of cards if people are looking to complete their sets... PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU NEED!!!! I have WAYYYYYY more base cards than I'll ever need!
5 Blue Borders.... I collected the /999 bronze border set last year, but since they made them a smaller run and seeded them even shorter in the packs, there's no way I can collect all of them this year... dang it... But the 5 I got, pretty good names
8 hits... only two of which I'm really excited about... Looking at the checklist online, I realize Topps screwed us all over by expanding the relic checklists astronomically. No way this collector is going after them all...

Alright, so you want pictures??? You're about to get a bunch!

Here are the blue borders I pulled:

Can't really argue with Young, Fielder, Clemente, Mays and Berra... solid...

Next up, the mini's I thought I should highlight:

From top to bottom, those are the /99 sepia, the unnumbered green border and the unnumbered "black" bordered.

Insert mini's from the "mini-box":

These are all for trade as long as regular back mini's are coming in return.... :)

I could go on forever posting mini's... I really could... but I won't... here are the SP Variations I managed to get...

You would not believe how "not fun" it is to find these among stacks of cards totaling 4.5 boxes of base cards... I spent all night last night collating and sorting... ok, I lie, it was fun... I'm a baseball card nerd...

Here are the Mini Photo Variations I got from the mini boxes:

I'm going to count these among the mini's for my main set... I'm not going to go out of my way to get the original and then the variation... maybe some day if my OCD is really getting to me, but I doubt it... haha!

GYPSY KING!

I have nothing to say... you want it? Make me an offer...

Ok, I lied again... more mini's!!!!! These are the "Straight Cut" back variation...

I got exactly 20 of these and exactly 20 of the "Gypys Queen Red Back" below...

Again, these mini's are for trade, as long as I get some regular back mini's in return! On these variations, I'd say for the most part I'd be hoping for 2 regular backs in return for a variation back... there may be some where I may want a bit more (like Ripkin) and of course the subject of the mini's in return would factor in as well...

Alright, so what you've all been waiting for... my hits... here's box #1:

Alright, the first box was very "meh"... Moreland and Walker autos weren't my favorite names on that checklist... Hudson is decent I guess, but no one is really going to be confusing him as a HOF'er... and Sandoval is still young enough that he could put a solid career together... Box 2 was much nicer to me...

Mariano Rivera! I believe this is the first relic of his I've ever pulled! The Freese is nice and if you look closely, there is a bit of dirt in the lower right hand corner of that swatch! Escobar = meh... Belt = Heck ya!

So, my Gypsy Queen adventure begins this year... thanks to basically 2 free boxes of base, mini's and inserts...

I will have a Need List posted soon!

Any Oswalt Super Collectors Out There????

2012-04-21T09:35:00.000-05:00

My posting has been a bit sporadic lately. I'm having to leave for work earlier so that has severely cut down my blogging time unfortunately! But I'm still here and will be trying to catch up soon on trade proposals and the like!

As for now, I am hoping to pare down the collection a bit... I was hoping that there is a reader who is a big Roy Oswalt fan/collector! Please, if anyone is interested, make me an offer on the following collection that I'm trying to move at a reasonable price...

That's 28 game used, auto, patch, manu-relics. I'm not trying to break the bank on these... there are a couple I know are worth a bit more, but something around an average of $3-4 each for these would help me out. Let me know if you have any interest... samuelpair@yahoo.com

My apologies... I'm a bad blogger...

2012-04-18T04:43:00.001-05:00

Things have been hectic for me this week and I need to apologize...

1) Group break participants... packages still haven't been mailed, I'm working on getting those out tomorrow.
2) Tom - your Napoli hasn't mailed, it'll go out with the group break stuff tomorrow... sorry...
3) TheBrooklynMet - still working on finding a replacement prize for the Tri City Sports PL disaster/contest. I've got 5 cards from your GQ 2011 Want list (4, 18, 46, 247 and SF10) but am trying to think of something else to send. Apparently I'm going to be just as slow as TCSPL on this, but hopefully your reward will be much better from me than them.

Hopefully things will settle down a bit after today and I can also get back to regular baseball card posts as well... oh and how about my Houston Texans???? 4 prime time games and Thanksgiving against the Lions... going to be a great year!

Final Group Break Box - April - Topps Gallery

2012-04-15T09:52:00.001-05:00

Here's another word from our sponsor!

And here's the final video of the break!

Scans after the page break!

Here are the foil board inserts, they didn't scan great, but they look GREAT!!!!

And here are the originals inserts and the "Topps Gallery Cash" insert.

Finally, here are the hits!

Man Ram!!!

And the Big Hurt!

Finally the coin card! Congrats Brad's Blog!

Hope everyone enjoyed the group break! I am frantically sorting cards this morning and after a run to Big Lot's I'll have enough envelopes for everyone's packages! I am hoping to get them all packaged up today, but if not they'll go in the mail Tuesday at the latest!

Thanks for joining everyone! Can't wait until next month!

April Group Break - Box # 4 - Fleer Game Time

2012-04-14T05:16:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Baseball Card Exchange!!!!!

Here's the video:

Here are the scans!

Inserts first:

And our two hits from the box!

Congrats Wes!

And congrats Ike's Cards!

Tomorrow we'll wrap the break up with the Topps Gallery!

April Group Break - Box #3 - 2001 Topps HD

2012-04-13T18:36:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! Another box, another plug for Baseball Card Exchange!!! Thanks guys!

Alrighty, here's your video for the day... as always, scans after the page break...

Here are the inserts and cool stuff from the Topps HD box... no hits, but some great looking inserts for sure!!!

The Bagwell is a refractor parallel... I really like this 20/20 insert set!

Here are the base parallels, SP's and Images of Excellence inserts...

The Williams is the foil insert parallel. The Giles is numbered /199!

Congrats, this box was more for the stunning base cards on quality stock and the great looking inserts, so I'm not too bummed about not getting a hit out of it... I guarantee, we have 5 hits left and I can say with certainty that those five are all of different teams (and no Astros or Giants, so I struck out, but that means some of you get the hits!) I'm ok with that, since I kind of kicked butt in the last Dimwit Group Break! I did realize while sorting the cards, somehow the Bazooka didn't yield a single Giants card (my second team...) and was only represented in the box as one panel on a 4-player card (A.J. Pierzynski)... crazy how that works out... alright... tomorrow night, we get some Fleer Game Time!!!