23 down, 7 to go

The Brewers are done.  They become the 23rd team to be completed, and now the NL Central is complete as well.  The 3 cards you see here are #48, 49 and 50 for the Brew Crew, and in total the set is down to 28 cards left.  I actually have 8 of those 28 in hand, they just need to be taken off the list.  This will happen sometime this weekend, as I imagine I'll have some time to spare with my first tropical storm as a resident of S. Florida on its way. 

I'm guessing part of the weekend will also be spent verifying that I actually have all the serial #'s that I say I do.  Going through the spreadsheet and the 3 binders of cards will be a tedious process, but I believe it's better to do this now than after I "finish" off the set.  Finding out that I am missing a serial # or 3 would be very depressing once I thought the set was complete.

Updates to come....

thanks for reading, Robert

Commonality

Not a word I would use too often, commonality.  A shared feature or attribute.  The more I think, the more I believe that I've heard a commentator use the word on a telecast.   No matter, this is an attempt to show off another dozen cards I bought for the Jim Thome collection on Sportlots. I decided to divide them into groups of 4 based on commonality (now I'm using the word a little too much).

Let me know what you think...

First group of four:

Give up?  How about four things that baseball players do every game.   Throw, hit, run the bases, and drink water in the dugout. 

OK, maybe that was a little bit of a stretch.   How about group #2?

Simple again, 4 cards featuring Jim in a Phillie's uniform.  From four different sets no less.  One of them is even a dreaded "pictured in one team's uniform while shown as a member of another team" card.  Do I include cards like that in my Jays collection?  No.  It just doesn't make sense, right?  The blue foil on the '05 Opening Day card in the upper left scanned really well, and looks just as good in hand.

OK, final group for today.

If you said "poorly scanned horizontal cards", you'd be correct.  I don't have a whole lot of Thome cards from his brief stay with the Dodgers, so the '09 Heritage high numbers card was a cool pickup.  The Turkey Red instantly becomes one of my favorite cards.  The infamous bat extended pose that is probably more famous on the 2008 A&G card (#87) is a classic. I still have to get that A&G card....(note to self).  How about another fun fact.   The two Heritage cards in this post list Thome at 6'3".  The rest of the cards list him at 6'4".  I wonder if he shrank towards the end of his career...

There's 12 more cards to add to the collection...I'll be at 200 before I know it.

thanks for reading, Robert

I even collect ball cards from across the pond

Another batch of great Blue Jays cards made their way into the house this week, courtesy of Martyn from the I collect ball cards blog.  Martyn did a fantastic job hitting various sets on my want list, and he even introduced me to a 2014 set that I hadn't seen or read about.

Let's look at some stuff from a couple years back.

 

Mastroianni is now property of the Twins.  Sean Ochinko is currently serving a 50 game suspension for the use of amphetamines.

Deck McGuire's Bowman Platinum card is an X-fractor, which unfortunately didn't scan very well.  Deck's time may be running out as far as being considered a prospect; he's now 25 and in his 4th season at the AA level.  The Casey Janssen was on my want list, and I wondered why that was the case.  It turns out that I never updated the 2012 sets when I typed out the Blue Jays want list a few weeks back.   That error has been corrected.

Since there were a few humorous comments when I posted my Opening Day Dickey a few days back, here's another one for you.  This Dickey is in gold!!  The tattooed Brett Cecil is now a fixture in the Jays pen, and thriving there.  After struggling for a few years as a starter, Brett pitched well enough in 2013 to earn a trip to the All Star game.

Not sure how much Topps Tribute from 2014 I've seen out on the blogs, but these aren't too bad.  I did a quick ebay search for the Tribute release, and the cards look really nice.   Take a look at this ebay auction of a Steve Carlton auto for an example.   Martyn sent me a couple of more Dickeys (I guess a guy can't have enough of those!), including the blue parallel #'d out of 99.  Great stuff!!

Martyn also sent me a quick fix for the SNI set, knocking a few more numbers off of the want list.  I'm saving those for another post.

Martyn, thank you for the envelope, it's very much appreciated!!

thanks for reading, Robert

Anyone ever write a post before coming up with a title?

I'm definitely not in attack mode right now.  I tried to get interested in 2013 Bowman, but it just wasn't happening.  I don't have a great deal of money to go out and hunt for the key cards I need to complete my '64, '73 and '75 sets that I'm working on.

So, as you saw the other day, I bought a "best of 2012" repack box.  I promised to show the rest of the box in my next post, so here you go!

First, the Gypsy Queens:

Pack 1, outside of the Frank Robinson moonshots insert, nothing to see here.

The Albert Pujols mini is a straight cut back, and I like the Future Stars card of Starlin Castro (must be that it's blue...something about that color with me....not sure why....)

Again, not a whole lot to see here.  The Johnny Bench mini is also a straight cut back variation.  If you need any of them, don't be shy, let me know.

The Topps Archives release in the end turned out to be a product that didn't particularly excite me.  It makes me wonder if they are just testing future Heritage releases to see if they'll work (I'm sure they will).  I think part of my reason for the lack of interest in this set is that it's kind of small at only 200 cards +SPs. 

The Singleton in the middle is a SP, card #204.  There might be somebody out there still trying to get all the SPs.

Starlin Castro seems to be another name that I keep pulling, no matter what the brand.  The floating head Mickey Mantle is pretty cool, and up for trade if any Yankees fans are in need of it for their collections.

The 2012 Heritage set was something that I swore off, and amazingly for me, I did.  I don't recall for sure, but at most I think bought about 1 blaster, and maybe a handful of rack packs. 

 

The only thing that I found interesting in this pack was the arm patch on the Vlady Guerrero card.  I can honestly say I have never seen it before, and to me it looks like the Orioles trying to copy the Ravens logo. 

Hey kids, guess who that is in the center again?  Yep, Starlin Castro was in each of the products I showcased today.  I wonder if that is somebody somewhere trying to tell me something.  The Ricky Romero Chrome in the lower left goes into the Blue Jays collection, as the serial number is not one I needed for the Serial Insanity set.

Anyone ever write a post before coming up with a title?  I just did....

I promise it will get better....at least I hope it will...

Thanks for reading, Robert

Grubby Glove's cool project

I recently completed a great trade with Michael over at the Grubby Glove blog, and of course when I see a new blog, I have to dive in and get the gist of what the writer has to say.

This guy is hardcore.  When looking up his website today in order to provide everyone with a link, I came across Michael's most recent post, dated February 1st.  It seems that Michael is in the process of trying to give a 50th anniversary stamped card back to a former MLB player, Lenny Green of the Minnesota Twins.

That folks, is a fantastic idea.  That alone will have me checking his blog regularly in order to find out how he is fairing.

As far as the trade front goes, I received a great lot of cards from Michael in return for a bunch of 2010 Topps inserts that he wanted.   I figured the best way to treat this lot that is now in my possession was in the form of a 5-4-3-2-1 countdown.    Here we go....

Let's start with a sticking point of mine a couple of months back.  The 2012 Heritage High Numbers set.  Michael sent me all the Blue Jays...

Colby, come on man, it ain't that bad!!

Michael is in tune with what is going on here at the habit, because he sent me 4 1975 Topps cards..

Chris Chambliss was a Blue Jay for a short time, but never appeared in a uniform.  The Jays acquired him from the Yankees in the off season of 1979 as part of the Rick Cerone trade.  5 weeks later, Chris was on his way to Atlanta in a deal that brought the Jays Barry Bonnell and Joey McLaughlin. 

Next up, 3 players whose names I try to avoid spelling as often as possible...

Rzepczynski's nickname is appropriately  "Scrabble"

I love purple bordered cards, and one of the two Tony Fernandez cards you see here is a good example of why.

Yes, I know it is a card from the '88 Score set, but I think the purple border works, on just about any card. 

Finally, we have the greatest Jays player to ever wear the #30....Todd Stottlemyre..

Michael, thank you very much for the trade!!  The cards are very much appreciated.  Best of luck with getting that card to Lenny Green as well, I'm looking forward to how that will turn out.

Thanks for reading, Robert

What I could buy for $100

Loved the post by the Night Owl the other day regarding the latest "cash grab" from Topps, the $99.99 Topps Heritage High Number set.  I can totally understand his criticism of the release.  A $100, 100 card release that promises one autograph is a little much to take, even with signers such as Darvish, Harper, etc.

What I'm skeptical of is only 1,000 sets being released.  How are we, the collectors, going to know that this is the case?  I didn't see any indication that sets are going to be serial numbered.  (Yes, I can be cynical)

Don't get me wrong here, I know that there are some out there who have already plunked their hard earned money down (Kaz, I hope you pull something really good!), and they are entitled to spend their collecting dollar how they see fit.  

I, however, am inclined to agree with Greg on this one.  I can't see myself plunking down a Benjamin on this set.   I like shiny new toys just as much as the next guy, but this endeavor just doesn't sit right with me.  Not that I had planned on finishing the '12 Heritage set anyhow....

If I read correctly, this set is going to ship November 3rd, so the month of November is going to be fun for me.

I'm actually going to use eBay for the month, and chronicle what the $100 is going to buy me.  Here are my 3 rules for what the purchases must achieve by the end of the month:

1. Since Topps is guaranteeing an auto in the box, I will purchase one auto as well.
2. I must finish the month with at least 101 cards (1 more than what the Heritage set provides)
3. The purchases must fit in with my collecting goals (set completion, SNI, Jays/Leafs, PCs of Sakic,Thome)

 Who know, maybe I'll finally get around to starting a collection of this guy:

The 2012 Heritage card of Thome?  Yea, that was done on purpose...

thanks for reading, Robert

Out of touch

I'm back.

For the first time since I moved to the States many years ago, I went four straight days without the internet.  Away from the posts, the blogs, the cards, and the collectors.

After spending the better part of 9 1/2 months reading, writing, and collecting on a daily basis, I went cold turkey for 4 days.

It wasn't easy, but I made it through.

The place where we were staying on the west side of Florida was gorgeous, and I spent the better part of 4 days baking in 90 degree heat, watching the fish jump out of the water, and generally relaxing.  I listened to a lot of music on the radio for the 4 days, and one of the songs that I heard was the inspiration for this post.

You're out of touch, I'm out of time, but you're out of my head when you're not around..  (Hall and Oates, Out of Touch, 1984)

Hall & Oates was on the radio, and the song made me realize just how out of touch I was for the first 4 days of my vacation.  It's amazing how little I had thought about the blog and writing.  (In case you were wondering, I didn't run into Potch here in Florida as well.)  I only stopped at a store that had cards just once, and naturally I picked up a few packs.

I had never seen a 2012 Heritage blister pack, and what piqued my curiosity was the three packs with 3 black parallels.  I wasn't aware of any black parallel version, only the Target reds and the Wal-Mart blues. More on those in a later post.

I am looking forward to a trip to a card store here in the Ft. Lauderdale suburbs tomorrow.  I'm hoping to find one of the legendary dime boxes that I'm hearing about on other blogs.   This will also be one of the rare posts that you will not find any scans/pictures of cards, since I really haven't pulled anything of note. 

I should be back in the ball game as far as posting regularly again; hopefully I've not lost anyone along the way.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Week 37 begins with a trip to the LCS

I love Saturdays.  It's that simple.  Saturday is the one day of the week where I really do get to do what I want to do.  That of course includes a trip to the LCS.  Aside from some supplies that I needed, I also picked up a few packs of fun.

First was three packs of Heritage.  I hadn't bought any hobby packs as of yet, and of course there really isn't much difference between the hobby and retail packs that you can pick up anywhere.

I did catch one SP (485, Mike Napoli), and I now have a couple of stickers to trade:

These are cool to look at, but I will not be collecting them, so if you're interested at all, just let me know.

I also bought some Opening Day as well, which is a purchase that I have never made before.  I found a couple of different inserts in the 1/2 dozen packs that I bought that I hadn't seen on blogs before...

Lind=X-fractor

I don't recall seeing the Fantasy Squad inserts before, but they are good looking cards.  The borders blend in with the background of the card, which is kind of cool.  The blue bordered Victorino is a numbered parallel, alas the number is too high for me to use for my insanity set, so it goes into the trade pile for a Phillies fan out there.  The Jered Weaver card in the top center is reminiscent of the Topps 2020 insert set from a couple of years back.  The card has that same kind of feel and look, and if there's an Angels collector that is interested, again let me know.

The only two cards from the scan that I will be keeping are the Jays cards (of course), anything else is available.

I also stopped a K-Mart and picked up a 3 pack of '11 Chrome, hoping to get lucky and pull either of the final 2 cards I need to complete the set (#'s are 20 & 170 in case you're wondering).  No luck there, but I did land some other decent cards.

The purple Matt Garza does fit into the insanity collection, so that's one more number I can strike off of the list.  The 3 orange bordered refractors are up for grabs, just let me know about those as well. 

I also have plenty of '12 Heritage base for trade, if you're looking for any specific numbers, or if you are interested in any of the cards I've mentioned above, send an email to rmitchell6700 AT yahoo dot com

Guess you could call this a trade post, without the trades....yet

Thanks for reading, Robert

Week 34 begins with purchases....yea it's Heritage

So I'm reading all the blogs this week, and seeing boxes and packs of Heritage flying off the shelves and into eager collectors hands.  I"m seeing all the great pulls, and some posts on aspects of the set that are absolutely mind boggling (at least to me anyways....).

Well, the wife and I were out and about today, and I decided to grab my share, 6 packs worth.

I can honestly say now that I will not be collecting 2012 Topps Heritage, at least in set form.  It's not because I didn't pull any SPs or card variations or error cards or RCs of players that are on 14 damn cards.

Maybe it's the fact that I see "the first card" that guys have been pulled from packs are guys like Jeter, and here's the first card I saw:

Sign me up!!  (sarcasm, in case you weren't paying attention)

Don't get me wrong here, I pulled a couple of cards that I really did like.  Like this Chrome card of Yovani Gallardo that will fit right in with the insanity set (I've not forgotten about that just in case you're wondering)

I was also very intrigued by the sticker cards, I pulled one of Starlin Castro of the Cubs, which is earmarked for Potch...

I also pulled a couple of inserts, one a Derek Jeter NAP card (AJ, I sent you an email), and a Then and Now card of Yaz/Cabrera

Topps Heritage 2012 for me, will be trade bait.  I'll add it to the 2012 Topps tab at the top later tonight, and if you're looking for an easier way to complete your set, or cherry pick your favorite teams cards, just let me know and I'm sure we can swing some kind of trade.

I'll probably buy a few more packs here and there, but for me this year, Heritage is just going to be 3 things:

1. Blue Jays to add to the collection, of course I didn't pull any today.
2. Chrome cards that will add to the insanity.
3. Trade bait in order to try and complete other sets that I'm working on.

Nothing wrong with the cards, but for me, just not my cup of tea.

Thanks for reading, Robert