By the page: Carlos Delgado

I have a mountain (OK maybe a small hill) of Carlos Delgado cards that need to be put into pages. So much so that it should be easy to get a few pages of cards together for him to display on the blog.

Let's knock out the first 9, shall we?

Top row:  Vintage style

How easy was it for me to put together this row?  A real no-brainer.  I especially like the '55 Bowman knock off in the center.

Middle row:  Shiny

A nice contrast to the vintage in the first row, the shiny cards in the center are more representative of the era that Delgado played in.  I especially like how the HoloGrafX card on the right turned out on the scan.  Every Skybox Metal card that I've ever scanned has come out real dark...has anyone had any luck getting a good scan on any of those?

Bottom row:  Baby face 

If Carlos didn't have a mustache on a couple of these cards, I would have said he wasn't old enough to shave.  It's amazing how thin he was on that Upper Deck Top Prospect card.  Carlos really bulked up as his career went on..

A happy accident that the horizontal cards appeared in the spots that they did (kind of a triangle).  I have another 6 or 7 pages worth of Delgado cards on my desk, and probably more in the monster box sitting in the closet.  Time to get working on putting cards into binders...

thanks for reading, Robert

What is the difference between Gypsy Queen and A&G?

I bought a couple of rack packs of Gypsy Queen a couple of weeks ago.  Not a lot, just enough to satisfy my pack ripping jones that I had when I visited Target.

I like the cards.   The design isn't off the wall fantastic, but it's better than the past couple of years for my tastes.

Of course I'm starting off showing the Blue Jays cards I pulled.   The Glove Stories Kevin Pillar card becomes an instant must have for any Blue Jays card collector.  The TD Bank advertising in the background is a nice complement to one of the many acrobatic catches that Pillar has become known for while patrolling center field for the Jays.  It will be interesting to see what the Jays do with their infield when Devon Travis returns.  Darwin Barney and Ryan Goins have done a decent job filling in, but Goins doesn't have the bat that Barney has had, and Barney doesn't have as much versatility as Goins. 

The parallel addict in me loves the blue parallels, and I would love to have each of the Jays in the set.  These 5 are up for trade if anyone wants them...

A&G used to have the black bordered parallels which were really nice (especially in the earlier releases), I'd love to see those 

These are available if anyone wants them

The minis in both sets is a feature that pushes me away a bit.  Having 1/6th of a pack that costs ~ $3 be something that you're forced to get but absolutely don't want to collect can be tough to stomach.  But for some reason, I'll take the hit when it comes to Ginter, but I won't bite on Gypsy Queen.

Seeing the images for 2016 Ginter here makes me want to chase it again this year.  Come the 3rd week of July, I'll definitely have it in mind where as Gypsy Queen was only a thought because I'd seen posts about it in the blogosphere.

So what's the difference.  I am wondering to myself what is the difference when the two sets are relatively the same type of offering.  Design?  It certainly isn't price point.  Name?  They both have classic names, so I don't think that's it. 

Maybe it's because A&G has been more widely accepted than GQ.  I don't know what it is.  But the set builder in me doesn't have time for Gypsy Queen, but is ready and willing to chase after the '16 A&G release.


Do you have a preference, and if so, why?

thanks for reading, Robert

Overdue

If this post were a library book, I'd owe a couple $$ in late fees.  About a week or so ago, I received an envelope from the Night Owl full of Blue Jays that prompted me to get some new want lists on the never ending Blue Jays page.  How many times have Greg and I swapped cards back and forth?  His is the only website URL that I have memorized...

Will always remember the summer that Olerud flirted with .400

Love when cards show players signing for the fans!!

Many people have showed their enthusiasm over Stadium Club, and these cards showed me why.  Great photos, inclusion of some great Jays from the past (Alomar and Olerud) and solid card stock remind me of why Stadium Club was so great when it first started in the early 90's, and remains solid to this day.

I had picked up a couple of rack packs of Opening Day a few weeks ago, but didn't bother saying much about them.  Greg added a couple of Jays to the trio I pulled out of the packs.  Now there's a want list up for 2016 OD.

Doesn't it just seem like yesterday that the term "liquorfractor" was coined in the blogosphere?  Can you believe it's been almost 5 years since these came out?  I still need quite a few of these, but now I need 2 fewer from the Update series because of this package.  I never knew much about the Co-Signers releases until a couple of years ago, but I liked the idea.  The Burnett/Overbay bronze parallel is numbered 139/150, and is a great add to the Jays collection.

If I had collected back in the 90's the way I do today, Shawn Green probably would have been one of my PCs.  I really liked him as a player, and was very disappointed when he went to the Dodgers.  This Donruss Silver Press Proof is a pseudo numbered card, as the back says this is 1 of 1500.

Finally, Greg sent me a card that has been on his blog for what seems to be ages.  It kind of surprised me to see it when I opened the envelope...

2009 OPC black bordered parallel of Roy Halladay!  Glad to have this beauty in the collection.  2009 OPC was probably my favorite set to build when I first started blogging a few years ago, and seeing Blue Jays come my way from that set always puts a smile on my face. 

Great stuff Greg, as usual.   Thank you very much, the cards were really appreciated!!

thanks for reading, Robert

The monthly card show haul

Normally, you'll see card show posts from me on the weekend, sometimes dragging them out to Monday if I picked up a bunch of cards that was worthy of multiple posts.

This month's card show is this coming weekend. 

You're probably wondering what I'm talking about now.  Well, my wife and I have plans this coming this weekend, so I will not be able to attend the show.  Knowing this last weekend, I decided to hit ebay and pretend like I was at an actual card show.

I spent more than my normal weekly budget like I always do at the shows.  But I didn't go crazy.  $45 brought home the following ebay goodies.

Two high number Rookie Stars cards on the cheap.  $8 for the pair. 

Two of the remaining handful of RC's that I need to complete the '64 set.  Considering that I've seen the LaRussa going for $20 or more, and the Freehan going for around $10, getting these 2 cards for $9 was quite encouraging.

I needed 4 team cards before picking up this Orioles team card for $3.50.  Dodgers, Red Sox and Twins team cards are all that I have left. 

A random trio of high number (Hoeft) and semi high number cards.  I've seen the Pumpsie Green card for anywhere from $8 and higher.  These three cards total cost $9.50.

Finally, one of the bigger names that I still needed came my way...

The Giant Gunners card was one I've hunted for at shows for quite a while.  I had a hard time finding it for less than $25.  I bought this on ebay for $12.  Wow.

So before hitting my pseudo card show earlier this week, I needed 34 cards to finish my '64 Topps set.  For $42, I dropped that number by 9.  Finding just the Mays and LaRussa cards for that $42 price tag would have been a big win.  Getting 7 other cards towards the set was just icing on the cake.

With 25 cards to go, the end is in sight.  Finding deals on the Niekro RC, AL Bombers and the tops in NL cards on the cheap is going to be a little bit tougher than what I found above. 

Maybe I might be able to find another online card show again next month...

thanks for reading, Robert

Typing sure is a lot easier