Group Break from Cardboard Collections

I recently participated in a group break put on by Colbey at Cardboard Collections. Jumping at the chance to grab the Cubs, I was VERY happy with what came up:

The first box Colbey busted was 1996 Topps Laser. The set is composed 100% off die-cut cards, which have a really cool look to them. Truthfully, I'm surprised that this concept didn't catch on. The cards look fantastic, and since the Twins went unclaimed in the draft, I was able to claim a Paul Molitor in addition to my 2 Sandbergs, 2 Graces, 2 Sosas and 1 McRae.

Next on the agenda was 1994 Leaf. I've always like the Leaf offerings that came about after they quit emulating the Donruss designs and I was still able to get myself a Sandberg (along with, like, 5 cards of Rick Wilkins) which was great.

The final box was 1996 Leaf Limited. I got 5 different card from 3 different player, including 2 Sandbergs and a Sammy Sosa gold parallel.

I also got a few other cards for player collections I'm working on.

I was lucky enough to get eh big hit of the break, a 1996 Leaf Limited Lumberjacks insert of Sammy Sosa. The card is actually printed on a piecde of wood and numbered 621/5000. I know nowadays with the 1/1s and low-numbered cards, it may not seem like a big deal, but in 1996, this was quite the pull.

Check out Colbey's blog here and join in his next break. Thanks for the cards, Colbey.

Group Break at Cards From the Quarry

If anyone is looking for a good group break to get into, there's one at Cards from the Quarry that will feature 1998 Bowman Series 1, 1998 Bowman Series 2, 2003 Topps Bazooka, and 2004 Topps Bazooka. Check him out and give him a shot if your team is open.

More Topps

Yeah, I have more Topps cards to post. I just can't seem to keep myself away from the value packs. It's just too good of a deal. I really like the refractors that come with it, but the only problem is that there are only 3 in the set, which is reasonable, but the problem is, I seem to be able to only find 2. As many as I have gotten, I can't seem to find me a Ruth. If anyone has one to trade, let me know. I have plenty of Jakies and Mickeys to swap.

The Topps cards were ok for me. I didn't get any of the base cards I need, but then again, thanks to a trade I should be getting in soon, I'm only 2 away from completing the set. I did get 3 inserts I needed, though, plus a few decent parallels, including a Cliff Lee diamond and Paul Konerko gold.

Heritage wasn't bad at all. I got a Lucas May refractor, Jeremy Hellickson RC and a rookie parade SP. A few other inserts and players I collect came along with it, too. I really like this set and if it weren't for my commitment to Topps flagship and Allen & Ginter, I might invest on putting this set together. Still, it will definitely be one I pick up when I'm at the store with a few bucks burning a hole in my pocket.

Items Added to Trade Bait

Hey, traders. I picked up a few items that I know some of you will be interested in. Let me know if you are.

2008 Upper Deck Ballpark Collection Dual Swatch Memorabilia Ben Sheets/Roy Halladay
2008 Upper Deck Ballpark Collection Dual Swatch Memorabilia Nick Markakis/Melvin Mora

2010 Allen & Ginter Jersey Matt Kemp
2010 Allen & Ginter Bat Carlos Lee
2008 Upper Deck Timeline Jersey Chipper Jones

The Rest of What Came From the Topps Value Packs

Apart from the big one, I was able to pull a few other cards out of the Topps value packs I purchased the other day. Nothing too spectacular, but I was happy with it nonetheless.

These refractors bring my grand total to 2 Jackies and 3 Micks. If anyone has a spare Ruth, I'll trade you either for it.

I'd say I made out pretty well on the diamond parallels. A potential hall-of-famer in Hoffman and one of the hottest young players today in Posey. Plus, trade bait for Orioles and Jays collectors.

While card companies today seem to be pretty decent with their quality control, the Pujols and Tulowitzki cards are severely miscut. Luckily, I already had both of them. The Cueto is an original back reprint.

In addition to the SICK Robinson/Stanton card, which I have since listed on ebay, I also pulled 2 shortprints and 2 historical inserts. As underwhelming as it may be, it's still nice to pull a few.

The second best Heritage card I pulled was an Aroldis Chapman rookie. It's too early to tell what kind of a career he will heave, but there's plenty of high hopes for this Cincinatti Kid.

Of course, there's plenty of other decent cards, but that's all I felt like scanning in at the moment.

So long and happy trading!

Prize From Napkin Doon's Super Fun Game

A couple of weeks ago, a "Super Fun Game" was held over at The Adventures of Napkin Doon.Basically, there were 10 participants and it was similar to a Secret Santa, in that one person gets a card (or cards) and the next person can steal it or select another mystery card. I had a few items stolen from me, but it was all good at the end of the game, as I was left with a die-cut insert of A-Rod from 2000 Topps HD. Thanks for the game, Doon. Hope to play again.

Big Pull Put On Ebay

Well, after taking some input from my fellow bloggers, I've decided to put my Frank Robinson/Mike Stanton  card on ebay. If anyone is curious about the item, it can be found here.

Target Gives Me the Pull of a Lifetime - What To Do???

Went a little crazy yesterday at my friendly neighborhood Target store. They had three of the Topps value packs I have become a big fan of, especially since pulling a Topps relic card out of the last one I purchased, so I decided to buy all three. I may have spent too much money, and upon seeing the receipt, my wife promptly informed me that it would be my father's day gift, but after what I pulled, I'm perfectly happy with that.

Now, I never have considered myself to be lucky when it comes to hits. I'll get the guaranteed numbers when I buy a box, but I usually end up with nothing more than cards to trade to other bloggers. Yesterday, though, my luck changed. I noticed that one of the Heritage packs was just a bit thicker than the rest, so I figured I'd find a jersey card of some player from the Braves or Dodgers that I could trade away for a Cub. Not quite.

Here's what greeted my surprised eyes:

Wow. Luckily, I was home by myself, so my 2-year-old wasn't exposed to the stream of "HOLY S***s" that escaped my mouth. A dual auto/patch relic of Frank Robinson and Mike Stanton, numbered 2/10. Out of all the cards from all the years I have been buying, I have NEVER pulled anything quite like this. Both autographs are on-card, it has an INCREDIBLY low serial number, the Robinson swatch is clearly from a well-worn jersey and that Stanton patch is just GORGEOUS.

So, now the question is, what to do? Keep it? Sell it? Trade it?

The sheer fact of who it is makes me want to save it in my collection. However, if I can flip it on ebay, I might be able to take care of my card collection for the rest of the year. Depending on what it sells for, I might be able to get me 2 boxes of Allen & Ginter, a box of Topps Series 2 and a box of Topps Updates and highlight, but then again, I might be thinking WAY too optimistically about it. I know if I want to sell it, I need to do it now, while Heritage is still a hot product and Gypsy Queen is about to kick it into gear.

What do you guys think? Sell it? Keep it? And if I decided to sell it, what could I realistically expect? The baseball historian in me wants to keep it, but the collector in me is looking at what I might be able to turn it into.

Discounted WWE From Target

I was at my local Target the other day and found some discounted WWE packs. I picked up 4 packs of Heritage III and 4 packs of Heritage III Chrome. I think these were produced in 2007 and if anyone knows anything about WWE's revolving door, I'm expecting about half of these to be active WWE wrestlers. Here's what I got:

Heritage Pack 1:

Nothing too great here, apart from a mini Allen & Ginter insert of Ric Flair.

Heritage Pack 2:

The Austin card is pretty cool, but I find it odd that he's formatted with the "active" design. The current wrestlers are featured in the 1980 design and "legends" are in the 1987 design, but Austin had long been retuired when these cards were issued.

Heritage Pack 3:

In addition to the Allen & Ginter inserts, there were also magnets inserted into packs. While it was nice to pull one of these, getting one of the Great Khali was, as Carlito would say, "Not cool."

Heritage Pack 4:

Another Allen & Ginter insert, but what I really liked from here was pulling a John Morrison, one of my favotite wrestlers. It'll be cool seeing him main-eventing at Extreme Rules, even though he is included to take the pin, so the Miz and Cena don't have to.

Chrome Pack 1:

Not much from the active wrestlers, but I did find a Bruiser Brody, who nowadays is mostly known for being a guy murdered in a shower in Puerto Rico by another wrestler.

Chrome Pack 2:

Pulled a card of recently-retired Edge, plus I got cards of both members of the World's Greatest Tag Team.

Chrome Pack 3:

Now as cool as the Allen & Ginter minis were in the regular Heritage set, I thought the full-sized Chrome ones look even better, plus it's of "Rowdy" Roddy Piper.

Chrome Pack 4:

Move along, folks. Nothing to see here.

For a buck a pack, this is definitely worth a pick-up for any WWE fan.

MCG Cards Are (Finally) Here!!!

A full month and a half after requesting delivery of my Million Card Giveaways from Topps, a bubble mailer arrived in my mailbox yesterday. While some people have seen some poor conditioned cards from MCG, I was prepared for the worst, but for the most part, mine weren't too bad. I'm not a person who expects 50-year-old cards to be in perfect condition, so the only problem I ran into was miscuts, as seen below, but it was only really bad on one card.

 

Outside of those six cards from the '50s and '60s, I also took a few from the '70s, all the way up to 1999.

Well, there you have it. My "free" cards from Topps. I'm looking forward to this year's Diamond Giveaway. I've already got some winners and the year has just begun.

Trade with Democratic Roadkill: Relics, Framed Masterpieces, and Set Builders

My trade package came in the mail yesterday from Duane at Democratic Roadkill. I was pleasantly surprised to see a white box (300-count variety) and opened it up to see it FILLED with cards. I didn't expect to get near as many cards as I did, but I was very happy with what I found.

Three Allen & Ginter relic cards were included in the deal: a 2009 Joe Mauer jersey, a 2010 Carlos Lee bat and a 2010 Matt Kemp jersey. I've always been a big fan of the look of the Allen & Ginter relics and this is my first Mauer hit.

I've always had a difficult time pulling framed cards from Upper Deck Masterpieces, but apparently, Duane doesn't have that problem. He included five red-bordered Masterpieces and a blue-bordered Soriano, numbered 22/50.

Duane also threw in a whole lot of overproduction-era Cubs cards, as well as plenty from the past couple of years.

 

The bulk of the box contained various Allen & Ginter cards to help complete my 2009 and 2008 sets. After putting together the 2010 set, I decided to go for them all and this is a BIG step in the right direction for me. What I did not expect, though, was to find 26 cards from the tough-to-find 2006 set. While they have been forced to adapt the original concept the past couple of years to give Allen & Ginter a fresh look, it's really cool to see the set as it was originally intended.

I absolutely love all of these cards and I REALLY appreciate the set-building help!

Trade With Nomo's Sushi Platter: Castro, Cubs and Set-Builders

I recently worked out a trade with Spiegel from Nomo's Sushi Platter and received my end of the trade in the mail yesterday. What started it all was a Starlin Castro jersey card he pulled from 2011 Topps. Me being a Cubs fan, he figured I'd be interested in it, which I definitely was. The card commemorates Castro being #2 on the list of rookie batting average leaders.

In addition to the Castro, I also found plenty of Cards for my Cubs collection, most of which I did not already have.

There were also a few cards to go towards my various Allen & Ginter sets, a couple for my Goodwin Champions set and a variety of 2011 Topps base and inserts.

Thanks for the trade, Spiegel!

Trade With Baseball Cards Rule: A Pocket Full of Rynos

I got a trade package in the mail a few days ago from Ben at Baseball Cards Rule. A few weeks ago, he posted about the need to reduce his overall collection (post can be found here). I contacted him, thinking I could get a few Cubs cards from his expansive collection, and he cam through in a big way. Ben sent me 46 cards of my all-time favorite player, Ryne Sandberg, and as many cards of his as I already have of Sandberg's, most of these were cards I did not already have. Here's a few of the gems:

Thanks for the trade, Ben!

I made a big trip to the post office yesterday to get a bunch of trades out. Packages went out to Ben from Baseball Cards Rule, Spiegel from Nomo's Sushi Platter, Colbey at Cardboard Collections, Duane at Democratic Roadkill, and Adam at Thoughts and Sox. Hopefully, these will get to you all by the end of the week. A big thanks to all of you.

Diamond Card Giveaway: Got Me A Santo!!!

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday upon checking in on my DCG account. I noticed that my proposed trades open were cut down severely and was thrilled to discover this card now in my account:

A1973 Ron Santo!  All I had to give up was a 1973 Jim Breazeale, a 1973 Jose Cardenal and a 1974 Jim Beauchamp. The trade knocked down my 1970s DCG collection, but I was more than happy to do that for this card.

Trade With Thoughts and Sox

There's nothing like receiving a trade package in the mail to tell you "Get off your ass and get your trade packages together!" I opened up my mailbox today and found a considerably-sized envelope containing a large amount of cards from Adam at Thoughts and Sox.

Adam sent me a TON of cards off my want lists, but the big surprise was this one:

A Ron Santo All Star card from 1969 Topps. I was not expecting anything vintage, so it was quite the surprise.

Adam also sent a cool looking refractor from 2010 Topps Finest of Ted Lilly numbered 340/599.

Apart from these two singles, there was also a few cards from 2008 Allen and Ginter and 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces, as well as a TON of cards from 2009 Alloen & Ginter.

Thanks for the trade Adam. Your cards will be on their way soon.

Topps Value Pack From Target - It's A Hit!!!!!

Went to jury duty this morning, which is never fun,. but every case either pleaded out or got dismissed, so I was on my way out at 11 AM, which was nice, especially since as juror #14, I had a good chance of getting picked. On my way home, I stopped by Target and picked up one of those Topps value packs. I've opened one up already and absolutely love the idea. Let's see what I got:

Topps Pack #1:
321 Jeremy Guthrie
215 Edwin Encarnacion
37 Vincente Padilla
129 Lucas Duda (RC)
53 Arizona Diamondbacks
KC-46 Mel Ott Kimball Champions
60YOTLC-5 Stan Musial Lost Cards
TT-24 Josh Johnson Toppstown
226 Jose Guillen
225 Josh Willingham
300 Roy Halladay

 128 Manny Ramirez

Topps Pack #2:
172 Lyle Overbay
163 Carlos Pena
252 Michael Saunders
88 Brian Bogusevic (RC)
80 Desmond Jennings (RC)
114 Russell Martin
14 Randy Wolf
DD-JC Derek Jeter/Robinson Cano Diamond Duos
60YOTLC-3 Mickey Mantle Lost Cards

 TT-13 Chase Utley Toppstown
256 Tyler Colvin
58 Edgar Renteria

Topps Pack #3:
257 Travis Hafner
111 Kevin Gregg
223 Gregory Infante (RC)
304 Jim Tome (Checklist)
146 Roy Halladay (Award Winner)
T60-15 Jason Heyward Topps 60
T60R-TH Torii Hunter Topps 60 Jersey

 TT-20 Ichiro Toppstown
147 Jon Niese
308 Ian Desmond

Topps Pack #4:
133 Miguel Tejada
25 Carl Crawford
237 Jason Vargas
211 Joey Votto (Award Winner)
317 Yonder Alonso (RC)
192 Cincinnati Reds
DD-BY Wade Boggs/Kevin Youkilis
60YOT-34 Steve Garvey 60 Years of Topps (1985)

 TT-1 Miguel Cabrera Toppstown
22 Barry Zito
101 Gregor Blanco
48 Andrew Cashner

Topps Pack #5:
263 Joel Pineiro
115 Jason Varitek
272 J.J. Hardy
70 Kyle Drabek (RC)
157 New York Mets
109 Josh Hamilton/Miguel Cabrera/Joe Mauer League Leaders (Batting Average)
TDG-2 Jackie Robinson Diamond Giveaway (Redeemed for 1988 Dennis Eckersley)

KC-33 Martin Prado Kimball Champions
TT-2 Dan Haren Toppstown
266 Richie Weeks
271 Adam Dunn
86 Carlos Silva


Topps Heritage Pack #1:
1 Josh Hamilton

 182 Cody Ross
88 Joe Girardi
336 John Lackey
314 Miguel Cabrera "Cabrera's Power"
69 Cory Luebke (RC)
354 Hunter Pence
101 Jacoby Ellsbury
291 Bobby Cramer (RC)

Topps Heritage Pack #2:
64 Nick Markakis
247 Jonathan Lucroy
353 Neil Walker (Rookie Cup)
C87 Carlos Zambrano Chrome (1410/1962)

251 Texas Rangers
269 Lance Berkman
30 Chipper Jones
386 Michael Cuddyer
184 Kurt Suzuki

Chrome Refractor:
MBC-1 Mickey Mantle

TDG-2 Jackie Robinson (Redeemed for 1992 Jeff Montgomery (Picture shows Denny Martinez. Who Knows))

TDG-6 Roy Halladay (Redeemed for 1984 Phil Niekro)

Super thrilled with this pack. Pulled a relic, a Heritage chrome and an extra Diamond Giveaway card. Seriously, if anyone has some money burning a hole in their pocket, give this package a try. It's cheap, it has some quality stuff, and above all else, it's fun!

So long everyone, and happy trading!