Gint A Cuffs IV: Packs 13-18

Packs 1-6 can be found here.
Packs 7-12 can be found here.

Running total from first 12 packs:  100 points

Here we go!!

Pack # 13:

13. Drew Stubbs
96. Gavin Floyd
150. Norichika Aoki
228. Dexter Fowler
251. B.J. Upton
20. Miguel Montero Mini

345. Nolan Ryan (SP, +2 points)
BH-5 Baseball Highlight Sketches Brooks Robinson (Insert, +3 points)

Pack total: 5 points
Running total: 105 points

Pack #14:   (pack contained 7 cards including relic)

131. Jim Palmer
230. Evan Longoria
271. Mark Reynolds
280. Brandon Belt
21. Matt Moore mini

WIN87.  What's in a Name Joey Votto (insert, +2 points)
AGR-KF  Kosuke Fukudome jersey relic card (+10 points)

Pack total: 12 points
Running total:  117 points

Pack #15:

16. Rulon Gardner (would have been cool to see one of the Olympic competitors be a +1)
58. Ryan Braun
101. James Loney
164. Ike Davis
233. Shaun Marcum
272. Jose Tabata

101. James Loney mini A&G back (+2 points)
WIN70. What's in a name Jon Lester (+2 points)

Pack total: 4 points
Running total: 121 points

Pack #16:

87. Desmond Jennings
119. Asdrubal Cabrera
173. Jay Bruce
245. Hank Haney
294. Elvis Andrus

325. Frank Robinson (SP, +2 points)
318. Mike Moustakas (SP mini, +3 points)
Murder in Willow Cove "Back Alley" (Code breaker, +3 points)

Pack total: 8 points
Running total: 129 points

Pack #17:

17. Lonnie Chisenhall
129. Michael Phelps
135. Michael Morse
258. Doug Fister
290. Derek Holland
144. Joe Benson mini

19. Bob Knight (-1 point.  Was sorry to hear that the guy he choked on court years ago recently died)
WIN75.  What's in a Name Cole Hamels (+2 points)

Pack total:  1 point (lowest total so far)
Running total:  130 points

Pack # 18:

87. Annie Duke (I wouldn't want to be at the other end of that stare down)
115. Carlos Santana
133. Carlos Beltran
299. Jeff Niemann

269. Mike Schmidt (FP list, +2 points)
342. Ryan Dempster (SP, +2 points)
Murder in Willow Cove Max Mann (Crack the Code, +3 points)
225. Roger Maris (Mini A&G back, +2 points, Damn Yankee -1 point...net +1 point)

Pack total:  8 points
Running total:  138 points

Thanks for reading, Robert

Gint A Cuffs IV: Packs 7-12

Post #1 can be found here:

Running total from post 1, 63 points.   Here we go with day 2!

Pack #7:

24.  Paul Goldschmidt
141. Vance Worley
265. Chris Parmelee
277.  Jesus Montero
293.  Cliff Lee

274.  Derek Jeter mini (Damn Yankees, -1 point)
307.  Jhonny Peralta  (SP +2 points)
HTP18.  Historical Turning points Charles Darwin (+3 points)

Pack total:  4 points
Running total:  67 points

Pack #8:

68.  Rickie Weeks
119. Asdrubal Cabrera
294. Elvis Andrus
297. Justin Morneau

110.  Heath Bell (Favorite Player list card +2 points)
348.  Chase Headley (SP, +2 points)
272.  Jose Tabata (A&G back mini, +2 points)
HTP9 Historical Turning Points Discovery of the New World (+3 points)

Pack total:  9 points
Running total:  76 points

Pack #9:

63.  Zach Britton
95.  Felix Hernandez
100. Troy Tulowitzki
103. Alexi Ogando
144. Joe Benson
160. Shane Victorino mini

176. Babe Ruth (Damn Yankee, -1 point)
WIN50 What's in a Name Mike Schmidt (Insert +2, Favorite Player List +2, +4 points total)

Pack total:  3 points
Running total:  79 points

Pack #10:

56. Jordan Pacheco
90. Roy Halladay (he's not anyone's fave player??)
94. Geovany Soto
215. Dan Haren

279. Brett Gardner (D--- Yankee..sorry can't spell the word out, there's a biblical figure in this pack, -1 pt)
346. Lefty Kreh (SP +2 points)
WTB7 World's Tallest Buildings Chrysler Building (+3 points)
PB-8 People of the Bible  Peter (+3 points)

Pack total:  7 points
Running total:  86 points

Pack # 11:

75. Erin Andrews
195. Jhoulys Chacin
211. Keegan Bradley
238. Austin Jackson
285. Ryan Zimmerman
95.  Felix Hernandez mini

199.  Ricky Romero (Favorite team +1 point)
WIN27  What's in a Name Starlin Castro (Insert, +2 points)

Pack total:  3  points
Running total:  89 points

Pack #12:   (This pack contained 7 cards, due to auto)

55. Colin Montgomerie
100. Troy Tulowitzki
103. Alexi Ogando
63. Zach Britton mini

176. Babe Ruth (Damn Yankee, -1 point)
WIN11 What's in a Name Torii Hunter (Insert, +2 points)
AGA-CNE  Curly Neal Auto (+10 points, needless to say, I really was excited to pull this auto!!  It is a beautiful looking graph as well)

Pack total:  11 points
Running total:  100 points


Thanks for reading, Robert

Gint A Cuffs IV: Packs 1-6

Since I was just starting out as a blogger last year when this contest was rolling, I had no idea what "Gint A Cuffs" was, or what everyone was doing.  Well, once I figured it out I told myself that if the contest was run again this year, I wasn't going to let the opportunity to play pass me by.

Hopefully, I will not butcher the scoring of my hobby box as I go here.

With all that said....a Gint A Cuffs we shall go!!

Box-topper 

This was quite the start for me.  I opened the box on Friday and this was the only pack that I cracked.  Needless to say it made my day.

Tony Gwynn N43 Auto!!  # 5/15!!  30 points

Pack 1:

10. Dustin Pedroia
134.  David Freese
178.  Wei-Yin Chen
185.  Starlin Castro
218.  John Danks

23.  Yogi Berra (Damn Yankee, -1...a recurring theme for this box)
GD-14.  Giants of the Deep  Bottlenose Whale  +3 points
WIN-64 What's in a Name?  David Ortiz +2 points

Pack 1 total:  4 points
Running total:  34 points

Pack 2:

12. Bryce Harper
42. Justin Upton
65. Alex Rios
86. Nyjer Morgan
125. Ben Revere
253. Jorge De La Rosa

58. Ryan Braun Mini A&G Back +2 points
WIN63. What's in A Name Rod Carew +2 points

Pack 2 total:  4 points
Running total:  38 points

Pack 3:

80. Brooks Robinson
167. J.J. Putz
201. Tommy Hanson
282. Carlos Quentin

225. Roger Maris (Damn Yankees, -1 point)
324. Cal Ripken Jr., (SP, +2 points)
327. Jon Lester Mini regular back (Mini SP, +2 points)
WTB 9.  Worlds Tallest Buildings Woolworth Building +3 points

Pack 3 total: 6 points
Running total:  44 points

Pack 4: 

118.  Carl Yastrzemski
146.  Josh Beckett
152.  Ryan Vogelsong
189.  Lance Berkman
194.  J.J. Hardy
244.  Brett Anderson
296.  Mark Trumbo Mini

WIN 39.  What's in a Name Monte Irvin +2 points

Pack total:  2 points
Running total:  46 points

Pack 5: 

20.  Miguel Montero
21.  Matt Moore
160. Shane Victorino
296. Mark Trumbo

274. Derek Jeter (Damn Yankees, -1 point)
336. Gio Gonzalez (SP, +2 points)
266. Carlos Ruiz (Black bordered mini, +3 points)
WTB4.  World's Tallest Buildings Willis Tower +3 points

Pack total:  7 points
Running total:  53 points

Pack 6: 

41. Clayton Kershaw
55. Colin Montgomerie
73. Jordan Zimmerman
165. Alex Avila

113.  Meadowlark Lemon  (Harlem Globetrotter +1 point)
Becky Guttman Murder in Willow Cove (+3 points, crack the code card)
333.  Kelly Johnson (SP + MY Favorite team!!  +3 points)
MBF-15 Mans Best Friend Cocker Spaniel mini  +3 points

Pack total:  10 points (best pack so far)
Running total:  63 points

All scoring is of course subject to verification and adjustment if necessary.

thanks for reading, Robert

Sakic Sunday: Two years of OPC Premier

As any collector knows, the early 90's was the overproduction era.  Baseball was not the only sport that fell into this trap, hockey cards ran through the presses at a high rate of speed as well.

Two sets that were part of this were the OPC Premier sets of 90-91 and 91-92

90-91 Premier on the left was the hottest set for hockey collectors at the time.

Not a whole lot of difference in the cards over the two years in terms of design.  The main difference is the prices.  Even though the card on the left is only a year older than the one on the right, the rampant overproduction of the '92 set is the main reason that the Sakic is 'listed' at 50 cents, while the other card is 5x more expensive. 

As you can see as well, Joe Sakic was already wearing an 'A' on his jersey by his 3rd season, and the 4th season saw him assume the captaincy full time.  Joe remained the captain of the Nordiques/Avalanche franchise for the rest of his career.  (Joe actually became captain towards the end of his 3rd season in the league, which you will see on the next post)

Over the next few weeks you will see a lot of early 90's Sakic cards, which are the genesis of my player collection for Joe.  I can still remember pulling a lot of these cards from packs, or buying them from the LCS that I frequented at the time.  It's going to be fun post and looking back at these cards, I'm looking forward to it already.

thanks for reading, Robert

Time to start showing off my PCs: Joe Sakic 89-90 OPC

I've wanted to do this for quite a while, namely start showing off the collection of Joe Sakic cards I have.  There has been many a time that I have talked about him on the blog, and the reasons that I collect him.  As with most player collectors, my favorite card of Joe is his RC, from the 89-90 OPC set.

I miss the old Nordiques jerseys

As with many posed shots, Joe looks really impressed to be there.  This is also the only year that you will see a card featuring Joe wearing a number other than his traditional 19.

Joe wore #88 in his rookie season in Quebec, as #19 was taken by Alain Cote.  Alas, 1988-89 was Alain's last season in the NHL, and Joe took over the number the next year and kept it for the next 19 seasons.

For those who were wondering, Joe wasn't the first player to wear #88 in the NHL, he was actually the fourth to don the double snowmen.  Ken Hodge wore #88 while playing for the New York Rangers at the tail end of his career.  The other 2 players who wore #88 before Joe played for the New Jersey Devils in the early 80's (Garry Howatt and Rocky Trottier).

Oh yeah, and some guy named Lindros wore the #88 the longest in NHL history...13 years.

Now that I've added a 2nd Player to collect (Jim Thome), I'll be able to post more often on these collections.  Mind you, my Thome collection is only at 6 cards right now, but I've got a lot of cards to pour through to get that collection going.

Thanks for reading, Robert

You can never have enough memories about your favorite team

Once again, I've received a solid dose of generosity from a fellow blogger.  Marcus from All the Way to the Backstop sent me a ton o' Blue Jays recently, and it was fun looking through all the different years of cards that were in the package.

Of course, a little humor, observation and reflection goes a long way for me....

First, Alfredo Griffin always looked old, even when he was young (he was 26 on this card!)

The start of the Toronto shortstop factory...

Continuing on with the late 70's early 80's theme, Tom Underwood's '80 Topps card had a slight typo on the back:

In '78 he led the Jays in K's.  One part of the card says 139, another says 140.

I'd forgotten that Glenallen Hill carved himself out quite a decent career in the majors.  I will always remember him for a stint that he had on the DL because of a violent dream about spiders....

I wasn't aware that he is the 1st base coach in Colorado

I do remember that Devon White used to have problems keeping his equipment together:

I wouldn't surprise me to find out that he may have lost his glove as well

Somebody told me once that Brett Lawrie had the biggest cup on the Jays....not sure how they knew...

that's one helluva cup there Brett!!

Finally, I have decided that when I grow up, I want to be a baseball player and have a nickname like "Hard Hittin"

Should have been nicknamed "suitcase"...played for 7 teams in a 6 year span

Marcus, thank you very much for the cards, they are much appreciated!!

Thanks for reading, Robert

Intrigued by Ginter so far

I managed to hold out a whole 10 days before I dove in and bought a blaster and a rack pack (gotta keep the spending at $30..you know).  I will say that the border design is all right, nothing overly flashy.  The only complaint I have so far, and it's a very minor one (due to the limited amount of cards I have in hand), is that I would like to see more of the in action shots. I just may have been lucky (?) and the 11 packs that I opened just may have had more of the posed shots than expected.

I do like a lot of what I opened, such as:

World's Tallest Structures: 

Do I find Mr. Woolworth's office on the 5th floor, or the 10th?

What's in a name?: 

I like the card within the card here.

This next card may be my favorite card this year:

Now that's a highlight!

I guess this card is going to represent this year's code?  The back directed me to this blog in which the line below the blog title asks me to "Please be courteous to your fellow Cougars".  Hey, if they're good looking, No Problemo!!!

The pack of minis contained these 3 cards. 

Finally, this next card would cost me points in the Gint-A-Cuffs scoring system, which is a shame because I actually like this guy as a play by play man.

I guess it could have been worse, the sports caster could have been Joe Buck, in which case I would have publicly burned the card and posted it on You Tube.  (yes, seriously)

I was able to pull 6 SPs out of the 11 packs as well, keeping in line with the 1:2 pack ratio. 

Time to start looking for a hobby box.  Gint-A-Cuffs IV awaits.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Random Jay Monday: 92 Fleer Ultra Roberto Alomar

It's hard to imagine that Robbie played for 7 teams during his 17 year major league career, but look up his stats and you'll see that San Diego, Toronto, Baltimore, Cleveland, New York Mets, Arizona and the White Sox all had their turns with the Hall of Famer. 

There are two events that are burned in my memory when it comes to Robbie.  December 5, 1990, the day that the single most important trade made in Blue Jays history was completed, when Alomar was acquired with Joe Carter from the Padres.  You don't really see a 2 for 2 swap of big name players like that anymore.  (McGriff and Fernandez went to the west coast)

The other memory that still clouds my mind when it comes to Robbie was the spitting incident with umpire John Hirschbeck.  That incident is still the reason many believe that Alomar didn't get into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot (he missed by 8 votes). 

Even though he spent only 5 seasons in Toronto, Roberto became the first Jay to earn the distinction of having his number retired, ahead of such Blue Jay greats as Dave Stieb, George Bell and Tony Fernandez.

I guess when you have 5 seasons where you average .307, win 5 Gold Gloves, appear in 5 all star games, finish 6th in MVP voting three straight seasons, steal 206 bases, and win 2 World Series, I guess you're going to get pushed to the head of the class.

I can only hope that Alomar isn't the last Blue Jays player that I'll see inducted into the Hall of Fame in my lifetime.  The only other player currently in the game that has a shot in my opinion is Roy Halladay, but I fear that if he spends an extended period of time in Philadelphia, he'll be elected wearing the Phillies cap.

Only time will tell.

Thanks for reading, Robert

The joy of another completed page, serial insanity style

When I started the serial insanity set on my 44th birthday, I never imagined that I would receive as many cards from such a wide variety of sets that I have.  I thought that the majority of cards I would pull in would be strictly from the Topps base set.

Shows how naive I was huh?

Bowman.  Triple Threads.  Opening Day.  Co-Signers.  Chrome.  Finest.  Heritage. 

Serial numbering of cards is a helluva lot more prevalent than I ever thought.  Now, it's just a matter of amassing them in the crazy, screwed up format that I've chosen to pursue.

I never said that I was sane...did I?

Moving right along,  I received quite a haul of serial numbered cards from Weston over at the Fantastic Catch blog earlier this week, and one of those cards allowed me to complete a 3rd page towards this set.

I give you page #22, cards # 190-198

A great variety of colors and sets. 

Love the variety that I've been able to get on these pages.  Heritage.  Chrome Purple refractor.  Finest green parallel.  Co-Signers Bronze.  Bowman Green.  I was worried that after a while that these pages may have been a little drab to look at.

So far, so good.

Thank you for the trade Weston, the extras were very much appreciated!  (Nice guys finish first in my book)

Thanks for reading, Robert

Let's start the last week of year 1 with a simple trade post

I recently completed another trade with Charlie over at Lifetime Topps which netted me quite a few cards towards a couple of the many sets I have on the go.

First, I received 36 cards from a set that just seemed to disappear overnight from the blogosphere, the '12 GQ set.  I'll spare you from having to view all of them, but I thought you might like to see the retired players that came my way:

Charlie also had a ton of '86 Topps cards that he sent my way (was there a fire sale on 86's?  I seem to get these by the hundreds!!)  As I have lately on the blog, I'll have a little fun with a few of them now.

Let's start with the classic story of Rags to Riches:

I couldn't find a second Rich, so maybe Rags to Rich?

These next two guys could write their names backwards and still get it right:

No, palindromes are not medieval knights...

Dodgers fans of the late 70's / early 80's may want to turn their heads before looking at the next two cards:

Blasphemy?

Charlie also sent me my first two Gold Blue Jays from the 2012 set:

these cards just scan horribly in my opinion

Finally to finish the post off, people would say hello to this next guy by saying "bye-bye"

All or nothing for this guy...

Thank you for the trade Charlie, the cards were very much appreciated!

Thanks for reading, Robert

Maybe the Golden years aren't what we thought

Don't get me wrong, I'm far from my "Golden Years".  I'll only be 45 (lol...only) in a couple of months.  There are days when I feel old when I wake up, and there are others where I awaken ready to attack the day at hand. 

Most of us know this feeling however; the feeling we get when we arrive home and there are envelopes in the mailbox waiting for us.  Yes...this is 2nd to coming home to my wife, but only just...

The emotions that flood us when we get ready to open those envelopes and dig through the stacks of cards sent to us.

Speaking of E-Motion, stop on by and add yourself to the many who have already started following Tom's new blog, detailing the 1995 Skybox E-Motion set.  Tom is running a contest to promote/jump start the new blog, so go check it out....quickly!!  (This blog author received no paid compensation for the previous public service announcement...we now return you back to your regularly scheduled posting)

Then a post that I viewed Thursday morning set me afire....I saw a card I hadn't seen in maybe...30 years??
Take a look at this post from Dave over at Wax Stain Rookie to read about the card below.

Image borrowed from the Wax Stain Rookie blog.

This set, 1976-77 O-Pee-Chee, is the first set that I ever purchased packs of.  Seeing this card triggered a flood of memories, along with a purchase of a great deal of cards from this set (thank you Dave, can't wait for these to arrive!!).

I know what's going to happen when they do arrive.  I'll get that flood of emotion, the same one that I got when I opened an envelope last week and saw this card below:

I don't know what hit me.  It seemed like when I saw this card, the memories of purchasing packs at the corner store back in 1977 came racing back to me. 

The thought back then was the same as it is now, "OMG, not this guy again" as I pull Carl Morton for what seemed to be the umpteenth time.  Now, I needed him for my '77 set that I'm putting together, and it was awesome just seeing this card again.

But seeing these cards again 35 years later just fills me with a feeling that's hard to describe.  The feeling a 9 year old boy gets when he rips open a couple of wax packs looking for players from his favorite team.

Having these memories come back to me again made me think.  The Golden Years, as far as this collector is concerned, are those as a kid running down to the corner drug/convenience store and blowing their entire allowance on a couple of packs of cards, looking for that elusive card of your favorite player.

At the very least the mid to late 70's are my Golden Years.  I'll never be able to top those memories.

Thanks for reading, Robert

I could never do this to somebody...even if I tried

It's been a little while since I have bitched and moaned on the blog.  I think the envelope I received in the mail yesterday gives me the opportunity to do so today.

I was thrilled to find out I won a 9 card '73 Topps lot from Sportlots recently, for the winning bid of $0.25!!  Throw in $2.50 for shipping, and even though the cards were listed as VG-EX condition, I was still quite happy to win the auction.

Well, like I said, the envelope (notice the word bubble isn't before the word envelope) came yesterday, and I opened it, and saw all 9 cards packed in this.

No penny sleeves, no other protection at all.  Yes, there was only one of these as well.

Wow....what the $%@$....(add your own 4 letter word here)

Maybe it's me, but if I'm going to charge somebody $2.50 for shipping, I'm going to come close to giving them their money's worth.  Maybe I'm wrong here?  Should I expect something like this for an auction that went for $0.25?  Sure, I'd be disappointed as a seller that a 9 card vintage lot went for a quarter, but hey, those are the chances you take when you list something in an auction format.  I've been on the other end.

I also learned a little something about Sportlots today, and that is you cannot provide negative feedback without filing an issue first.  For the amount of money I paid for this auction, the time and hassle of filing an issue would not be worth it in my opinion. 

OK...before I continue my rant, let's at least look at the cards:

2 of the cards have significant creasing, but in all, I was happy with this lot.  Borbon, McAuliffe and Blass are all players that I've heard of, and was happy to pick these up on the cheap. 

This will not discourage me from buying on Sportlots in the future, largely because this is the first incident I've had from any of my purchases on the site.   I will also not publicly post the name of the seller as well, but I could be convinced to provide the name in a private email to anyone who asks.

After all, somebody earlier this week mentioned caveat emptor (let the buyer beware), but if somebody uses Sportlots and wishes to know the name of a seller that is maybe less than desirable, then who am I not to provide that info?

Rant over....that wasn't too bad, was it?

Thanks for reading, Robert

A little Tradition, a little Insanity and a Masterpiece

I recently completed a trade with blog reader Tim, who had a mixed bag of goodies to add to my ever growing collection. 

First up, a long forgotten set here on the blog, but still in the "I want to complete" category, 2001 Fleer Tradition.

Remember when Hermansen was supposed to be the next big thing in Pittsburgh?

Still need 140 cards to finish that set.  Gotta get this one off of the list.

Next up, 5 more cards towards my insanity set, some great stuff here too:

No scrubs here...Justin Upton I heard today is going to be traded by the D-Backs.  It's not if, it's when.  Sounds like they're starting a house cleaning in the desert, because I also heard that Stephen Drew is on the block as well.   I would have liked to have seen Manny come back and give it a shot with the A's this season, but alas I fear his career may be over.  


Finally, in exchange for a Todd Helton relic I sent his way, Tim sent me my 24th jersey card towards the 2008 UD Masterpieces Captured on Canvas set, Travis Hafner.

This is another project that has kind of taken a back seat over the past few weeks, but still remains a set that I am wanting to complete...someday.  Hopefully, I can get lucky at the National and find a few of these on the cheap.  Still have to make a plan for that trip in a couple of weeks...

Tim, thank you for the trade, the cards are very much appreciated!!

thanks for reading, Robert

Jim Thome gets it

Over the years that I've collected, I've tried to become a player collector.  Really I have.  I'm the type of person though that just doesn't collect a player just because of great stats, or the team that he plays on.  What draws me to a player is that the player "gets it".

What do I mean by someone getting it?  Well, the first and only player that I've ever collected in any sport, Joe Sakic, was able to "get it" at a very young age. Joe learned how to speak French so he could conduct interviews for the Quebec market that he played in.  For a man in his early 20's, learning another language as quick as he did, showed me that he was willing to do anything for the team he was on, and the market he played in.  Watching him conduct an interview in French without any slip ups just impressed me to the nth degree.

Joe "gets it".   I've enjoyed collecting his cards over the past 20+ years, and to be honest I really need to start beefing up his collection again.

Today, I read this article on Yahoo about another player who I now know "gets it".  For me, Jim Thome is someone who has character that goes well beyond a baseball field. 

I guess that's what it is all about for me as far as being a player collector goes.  I like people with character.  Those who value others before they value themselves. 

It doesn't have to be a body of work to impress me.  Five minutes is all it really takes to size up a person.  You know right away whether that person is going to like you, and whether you are going to like them.

The five minute article I read about Jim Thome today.  The five minute interview that Joe Sakic gave a French reporter over 20 years ago.  Those events told me that these guys are worth collecting.

Yes, I will be starting a Jim Thome collection.  Don't all rush to your trade boxes right away looking for Thome cards.  Player collections are usually lower on the totem pole for me as far as keeping up with them.

Yes indeed, I am collecting the same Jim Thome with 609 career HRs.  Jim has hit those HR's off of 400 different pitchers, against 30 different teams, and in 38 different ball parks.  Jim's first HR came off of Steve Farr of the Yankees in October of 1991.

Jim has had more career hits vs Roger Clemens (22) than any other pitcher.  Rick Reed was his biggest victim HR wise, 9 of Thome's 12 career hits vs. Reed were long balls.

I think I'm going to have some fun writing about, as well as collecting Mr. Thome. 

I already know that the man has character.  Five minutes told me so.

Thanks for reading, Robert