Blue Yu and other musings

To be honest, I really haven't felt like writing about anything serious.  Nothing has really happened lately that has given me cause for alarm.

OK, maybe one thing....the piles and piles of cards that surround me each time I write a post.  Ever since, oh let's say the middle of July, I have felt very little motivation to put things in their proper place.  It seems that every time I do sort out one group of cards, another group or 3 arrives to replace that .

So to punish myself, and maybe you too, I've decided to hunt through some of the piles and, well, try to muse on some of the cards I see.

Cards such as Blue Yu.  Yu Darvish has been around for several months now, and I have not taken one opportunity to use his name in a play on words.  Awful lines such as...

I'm calling Yu

Me and Yu and a dog named Boo

Yu Betcha!!

We all live in his Yu-niverse

Yu can't always get what Yu want...

He's in the prime of his Yuth.

OK, I know, that's enough....here's the Blue Yu at least  (It's funny, lately I've wound up with a lot of cards that belong in Texas.)

Brian??

 (HEY Dave Stewart, what did you think of all those Yuisms???)

Ahem...moving onwards... 

You will all see a post from me next week about a certain autograph card that I pulled recently (contest), but in the mean time here's an auto that just doesn't make sense.

Please tell me how "Erik Gustafsson" turns into an auto with the letters    S  V  S.   What???

All right...let's see what else is on the desk here...how about we run to the Hills and get some cards?

Are there any Hills stores left?

Another part of the package that my wife found me at the Goodwill a few weeks back.  I had never seen any of these glossy Team MVP cards released by Topps in 1989.  There were a few decent names in the pile, such as Mark Langston, Fred McGriff, and Dale Murphy to name a few.  Oh and those Dodger players above as well....they'll do in a pinch.


Come on Topps, you waited until Series 2 to put his card out, couldn't you have at least used the name that the guy wants to be called??  Giancarlo if you need help spelling it.....

Mike Pelfrey wants him banished

Finally, a little love for the 64 Topps set that I'm putting together.  I would love to see more cards like this in modern sets (I know that Heritage is doing it...)

Wonder what those 2 people in the stands are doing there?

For all of you that made it to this portion of the post, be thankful for one thing...

I didn't dip into the piles of GQ and A&G....have a great weekend!!

Thanks for reading, Robert

Group breaks, card drafts and PEDs oh my!!

While enjoying the spoils of a couple of card drafts and a group break this evening, I decided to look a little harder at the cards I received from Wes, Greg and Matt and see if there were any tidbits in there that I could share.

Sure enough.

I found a couple of cards of guys who all of a sudden have become trendsetters and they didn't even know it.

why guys with their ability felt they needed to.....nevermind

I also found a couple of guys who weren't allowed to root for each other during a baseball game.

Let's go 'Dre!!!

I found another guy who may have been one of the top 5 pitchers in the NL before the break, but now should have a missing persons report filed on him...

Come back James, the Buccos need you!

This card is of a man who left this Earth way too soon..and is of a set that would be the only one that I would collect if I got back into football.

How many times did you see this during his playing days??

Moving on to the sport of hockey, I was very happy that Matt was very generous and sent me a couple of extras to ease the sting of my poor luck in his group break.  This Dion Phaneuf is a great addition for me, but it also led me to ask 2 questions...

Matt, thank you for the extras!!!

1.  When did the Leafs have brown in their unis?
2.  Was it a sign when the person who designed this card actually cut out the groin area of the picture to insert the swatch?

The next time you wonder about the reasons why we are going to experience another lockout in the NHL this year, take a look at this guy's contract as one of the reasons. 

12 years, $64 million contract for a 31 year old goalie...and it's the players that have to bite the bullet...

Now that I've regaled you with a bunch of cards from the present and made a little light of the current state of sports, let's enjoy a little bit of the past....who doesn't like vintage??

All well loved, just like a lot of 60's cards

Wonder if these guys ever thought they would hear the terms collective bargaining agreement, performance enhancing drugs or albatross contracts.

Nah, they were just having fun playing the game they loved.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Yep, still working on Gypsy Queen

While out running errands with my wife on Saturday, we decided to stop at Target on the way back home.  Target is a rare stop for me since it's about 20 miles from my house (over the state line no less).  Naturally, I poked around in the card area, and since A&G wasn't particularly interesting to me today, I decided to go for another set that I had mentioned a couple of weeks ago on the blog.

Gypsy Queen packs of various types were still in full force there.  The rack packs were actually buried in behind a bunch of Bowman Platinum (no, I will not be touching those), so I dug a couple of them out.  Combined with a couple of loose single packs, my pack ripping jones was cured.

I didn't fare too badly either.

First, the minis...

The top row are all regular backs, the Martinez and Thames are Straight Cut, the Oswalt, well he speaks for himself.

I did pretty well on the brown framed cards as well, no slouches at all.  All the cards above except for the Thames mini are up for trade.

Of course, there are the usual inserts and variations as well.   I was lucky enough to pull a Mariano Rivera variation card that I needed for my set.

In addition, I snagged an auto today from the first rack pack I opened, and it's a nice looking auto if I do say so...

Gaby Sanchez, now of the Pittsburgh Pirates, has a decent looking signature...he uses his full first name Gabriel (or a form thereof) in his signature.

Yes, I still am going to build this set.  Gypsy Queen for me became like a lot of the early season releases among a lot of collectors...lost in the shuffle. 

I still need a little over 100 cards to complete the set, including 38 of the variations....this one is going to take some time to complete for sure.

Want to trade for any of the minis/inserts/auto?  Drop me a line...email or comment always works.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Two more insanity pages complete

Yes indeed, after playing a little bit of catch up with all the purchases from the National, I finally put away all the serial #'d cards I purchased there.  While doing this, I discovered that I completed two more pages, bringing the total number of completed pages to 5.

This is page #6, cards 46-54.

I had never seen a Topps co-signers card until I started this project.

This is page #9, cards 73-81

the atomic refractor of Heath Bell scanned out really well.

I have picked up 638 cards towards the set, only another 112 cards to the 50% mark.  Two teams still lead the way with 29 cards out of the 50 (New York Yankees, Washington Nationals), while there are three teams that still lag behind with 14 apiece (Baltimore, Houston and Milwaukee).  Eighteen of the 30 teams are at 20 cards or better. 

I can honestly say that picking up those 40 cards at the National was one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had while putting together this set.  The only thing that would have made it even better is if the cards were a quarter apiece, instead of 50 cents...

Keep em coming guys (and gals), always love bringing them in, even if it's only a couple, they are always welcome.


Thanks for reading, Robert

Sakic Sunday: Don't you just love Pacific?

Yes, you all remember Pacific out there.  They of the multitude of sets with a multitude of parallels.

Omega, Paramount, Crown Royale, Revolution, Dynagon Ice,Private Stock, Titanium.  Don't forget the base Pacific set as well.  I'm sure that there may be other sets that I've forgotten over the years.

Pacific definitely made things interested for the collector back in the late 90's/early 2000's, didn't they?  A myriad of sets, many of which contained several forms of parallels.

Base, Ruby, Copper, Ice Blue, Gold, Premiere Date just to name a few.  Each of them listed in the magazine with varying levels of attainability, and in turn varying levels of multipliers increasing the "value" of the card by sometimes crazy levels of multipliers.  Here's an example for you all:

1999/2000 Pacific Paramount.  I have staring you in the face 3 of the various parallels from that year.  The base is on the far right.  The middle card is the Gold parallel (not to be confused with the Holo-Gold!!), available in retail packs, and holding a multiplier of 2.5 to 6x the base card's value.  The card on the far left is the copper parallel, available in hobby packs, with a multiplier of 2.5 to 5x. 

The best part of this is....to complete all the variations of the Joe Sakic base card from this year, I only need six more.  2 types of Emerald to start, an Ice Blue, and various other levels of insanity. 

I could honestly see a lot of player/team collectors saying "screw this" and forgetting about the various parallels.  Imagine if you are an Avalanche team collector?  Nine players in that set, including names like Sakic, Roy, Hejduk and Forsberg. 

To be honest....these cards bring back a lot of memories for me, back to a time when collectors had choices.  Yes, there were tons of sets on the market, but at least there were no monopolies.  Maybe I'll start a bring back the Pacific brand campaign...when I acquire all the Joe Sakic parallels from all the Pacific sets over the years.

I'm guessing you will not have to worry about Pacific coming back any time soon then....

thanks for reading, Robert

Adam Dunn proved me right, for once

Back in May I posted about Adam Dunn and all the negative ink that he received over the winter about the rough 2011 campaign that he endured..  I made a prediction on that post that by the end of the 2012 season he would hit his 400th HR.

Wow....he actually proved me right!!

I realized this morning that the event happened last night after reading an article about the fan who was arrested last night after going into the fountains in Kansas City to retrieve the ball.  The article also goes on to state that the fan might be fined up to $2,500 for diving after a small piece of history.

I think I'd rather pay a few dollars and get myself something like this instead.

Add caption

Must be the fear I have of being surrounded by tattooed men who are looking to show me the meaning of the phrase "jailhouse love" that prevents me from diving into fountains.

Thanks for reading, Robert

28 days

That's all there is before the NHL imposes a lockout on their players if a new CBA is not reached.

I can see the writing on the wall now.  It's going to happen.  We're going to lose significant time again this year.  (I'm praying that the two sides prove me wrong, but they just waited too damn long to start talks)

The problem now is what it was in the past, the owners.  The gulf between the haves and the have nots in the ranks of ownership is just way too wide.  Teams that can bury horrible contracts in the minors (Toronto and the Rangers to name two) have a big advantage over teams that are scrambling each season just to spend to the floor (Phoenix, Florida).  Sadly, the owners have to "band together" to figure a way to do it in order to save the poor clubs.

Who takes the hit?  The players....

I'm sure this guy wasn't going around to the owners with a gun to their heads and saying "give me a 13 year contract"...

 

The league has a real problem on their hands.  The divisive shift isn't within the players; if anything they seem to be more together on the issues than they ever have been.

The players are the driving force of the game, and there are a lot of great young players driving the skill level upwards at an alarming rate.

No sooner do I hear in talks that ownership wants to limit contracts to a 5 year term then I see not one but two players (Pacioretty and Simmonds) sign 6 year contracts.

The problem (at least how I see it) is the owners battling within themselves.  The rich doing their best to drive the poor ones out of business by forcing them to either put up or shut up.  Yes, I know it's the classic business model, but when you have a finite amount of teams in a sport you're trying to expand to the entire North American market, it just doesn't make sense.

Nearly $8 million (on average) per year for Shea Weber?  Come on folks, it's getting a little ridiculous.  Weber is a very good defenseman, but to pay him near what Crosby, Malkin and Ovechkin are making is ....nuts.

This type of spending has forced teams that are "middle of the pack" like Carolina to overpay for players (I'm sorry, $6 million/yr for Jordan Staal is a little much..again just my opinion).

It's obvious now that the lost season of 2004-05 hasn't shown the ownership group anything, because they've gone and created the same problem as they had 8 years ago.  Out of control spending.

I'm not paying good money to go and see Ryan Suter play hockey.   Ryan Suter is a very good hockey player, don't get me wrong, but to pay him the kind of money that he received (13 years, $98 million) is crazy. 


Gary Bettman...you need to get your ownership group together....offer the players 51% of the revenue, put in an impartial mediator to hear appeals on player suspensions...and for the love of all things good, contract this league by 4 teams. 

Do not put a 2nd team in Toronto, do not give a team back to Quebec City unless an owner chooses to move there, and put no more teams south of North Carolina.


I also want to watch Nashville Predators games on the off chance that the cameras will pan and show me the visage of this very lucky hockey player's wife....

Mr. Underwood?  Nah.....

I'm sorry that you've been forced to read a very long winded and choppy rant, but when I see my favorite sport 28 days away from another lockout, well it really just fucking pisses me off.

28 days....you think I'm upset now, wait until the lockout happens....then I might go spinning out of control on the NHL....

lol....I love blogging...

Thanks for reading, Robert