Video Post - 2 Blasters

This is the point where I once again admit that my name is Sam and yes, I'm an addict to opening wax packs... sorry, but buying a card off ebay doesn't do anything for me, I want to open it out of the pack myself, to own it by being the one who released it from it's temporary asylum... so I keep buying blasters. I would complain more about the GU-jersey card I got, but after pulling the Lincecum cabinet loader relic auto from 2010 A&G this year, I guess I have a long time before I can really complain about a pull... here's the video... I apologize about the glare, if you want to see any cards specifically let me know and I'll scan them in. I also apologize about the HORRIBLE audio... gotta see if I can get that fixed... this was just a horrible video overall... but I can't re-do it, so watch at your own risk...

Oh and the card I ended up with from the MCG code was a 1963 Gene Mauch card, to believe he was still managing as last as 88 is pretty remarkable... not too shabby on my MCG luck, I've got 29 cards and only 2 of them are newer than 1986. Again, I can't complain...

If you see anything you want, let me know, pretty much everything is trade bait and negotiable...

2007 Breygent Movie Posters Collector Cards

My wife got her 2-boxes of these cards in the mail today and got 3 complete sets and lots of doubles out of the box. If anyone has doubles of the Gone With The Wind, Maltese Falcon, Key Largo or Top Hat inserts, please let me know and we can set up a trade or two. We'd like to get a full set of the inserts! Thanks everyone! Also, if you have any of the sketch cards, we'd love to trade for those as well!

Trade and Contest Swag

Alright, I got a shipment of cards in today from various traders and I thought I'd show off a few of the cards... The Jackie Robinson card was from a contest at Mojo and Beardy's, while the rest are from trades... Sadly, I'm ashamed to admit this but these are the first two Colt .45 player cards I've gotten. My vintage collection is severely lacking. Enjoy!

Jim Umbricht has a rather interesting but sad story, and if you have a chance check out his Wikipedia page. His number is retired by the Astros and is remembered by way too few. Thanks for the trades Rhubarb_Runner from rayhan rayhan and Chris from fanofreds!

2010 Topps Series 1 Need List

Alright, here we go, I finally got around to my series 1 want list for 2010 Topps:

Base:
COMPLETE!!!! THANKS!!!!!

2010 Topps Series 1 Blaster

So, for my birthday (today... yay, I'm 30... joy... onward with the baseball cards now) we went to several Targets and Wal-Marts looking for deals... we found 21 packs of Donruss American II for $.99 each at one Target and snatched them up for the wife, we were very excited because at the card show on Saturday, there was a dealer selling the same packs for $5.00 each. If anyone can find more packs of these, I will gladly trade for them, they are getting scarce around our Targets here in Houston.

I was able to pick up a Topps Series 1 blaster box in my continuing effort to complete both series... so here are a few highlights. (Sorry, the scanner cut off the right edge of these!) The patch card is pretty cool, but what excited me was the SP Mantle Gold border and the Cy Young SP. Also, I got both the real back and regular version of the Yaz "Cards Your Mom Threw Out" card. Then my two Turkey Red cards ended up being Yankees as well, so overall a very East Coast blaster!

2010 Allen and Ginter Need List

COMPLETE!!!!!

2010 Topps Walmart Value Pack and 2009 Upper Deck Blaster Highlights

So the wife and I stopped by Wal-mart and picked up a Topps "Value Pack" which we had seen Mr. Olds open on the Beckett blog, I was curious to see if I could get the Strasburg refractor (FAIL) and I picked up a 2009 Upper Deck blaster for 40% off. Apparently Wal-Mart is trying to clear out 2009 stuff and has all kinds of blasters on sale... here are the highlights, (by the way, the only card here not for trade is the Johan Santana Turkey Red card, need it for my set)...

First is a Blake Smith jersey swatch from USA Baseball, then a 2009 Goodwin Champions preview of Jeter, then the Cal Ripkin Jr refractor (WHY COULDN'T YOU BE RUTH OR STRASBURG?!?!?!) from the value pack. Second row is a Jayson Werth copper card (66/399), then an Emerald (super rare) of Carlos Beltran and finally the Santana mentioned already. If you have any 2009 Upper Deck needs, I'm not keeping much so let me know.

Trade Swag!!!

A BIG shout out to Mike from BA Benny's We agreed to a trade last week and I got the cards from him today... boy am I'm impressed with the over-abundance of awesome Astros cards... Mike, I'm in your debt, truly very generous... Here are the highlights - I absolutely LOVE the Morgan Ensberg auto Diamond Kings, he used to sit two rows behind me at church here in Houston and was always a stand-up guy in my books. I never even thought to ask for an auto from him due to being in church and all, but a great guy (it was him, Jason Lane and Adam Everett, their families would always sit together, very cool). Too bad his career fizzled out the way it did, he deserved better! The White Sox/Astros flashback card of Carlos is pretty cool too, just wish he wasn't a gigantic turd out in left field these days... but the best card is the Biggio game-used. Mike, maybe I'll have a chance to meet you in a few years when Biggio gets inducted into Cooperstown!

3 Random Packs from Target

Stopped by Target to get some food for dinner and I couldn't resist the random packs of cards... so I grabbed three and am forcing you, my loyal readers, to sit through the video of me opening them! Get excited for three packs-o-crap... let me know if you want any of them...

After doing the video I went back through the cards and found that in the 2005 Upper Deck All-Stars, while there were (2) Ryan Howard cards, one of them was actually a parallel numbered 415/499 with gold foil instead of the silver on the base set. So, if you are a Philly fan who wants the base and parallel, I've got 'em both! 

Houston Card Show - August 21st 9am-4pm

Any collectors in the Houston area actually read my blog?!?!?!?!

I'll be having a table at the monthly card show run by www.houstonsportsconnection.net at the Ramada Inn North on I-45 this coming Saturday the 21st from 9am-4pm. See their website for address and map.

Mention my blog and you'll get a free pack of cards. I've got about 50 boxes of late 80's and early 90's Topps, Donruss, Score and Fleer baseball and football. I'll have a lot of (675) packs of 90-91 NBA Hoops; as well as some random boxes of stuff like Topps & Pro Set Desert Storm trading cards. Additionally, I've got about 60 long boxes of mixed cards and some sealed complete sets to sell as well. By the way, my name is Sam so if you come to the show be sure to stop by and say hello at least!

First Ever Video Post!

Alright, so the wonderful wife decided to oblige my whim... I grabbed a $10 "value pack" of cards from Target to test out the video camera and do my first video break. The results were not very good, it probably wasn't worth my $10. Any cards you want from here, let me know. There is only one I'm going to keep, and that's a Bowman Chrome rookie card of Wesley Wright:

She also decided to buy me a Topps Series 1 Blaster despite my protests to the contrary. Got a couple more Million Card Giveaway cards, one of which netted me a 1970 Don Wilson card, another Astro! I'm getting pretty close to being able to put up a Series 1 want list as well. If anyone has doubles they feel like getting rid of until then, feel free to email me! The patch card from the blaster is an Ozzie Smith World Series 1982 patch. Pretty nice looking card. If anyone wants it, let me know b/c it's available for trade!

Biggest Idiot on eBay...

Another blogger already posted about this guy but I couldn't help but post it as well. This right here is what infuriates me with casual, un-informed and ignorant collectors. If someone buys that card at the "buy it now" price then they are a bigger idiot than the guy who posted it. I've seen multiple bloggers pull cards with similar manufacturing defects, and in some places I've seen a card completely cut in half by the crimper. This isn't an "error card", it actually destroys the card of any worth it had. To call it a 1/1 just shows how stupid this guy is... This has gotten me angry...

UPDATE: APPARENTLY EBAY HAS SOME BALLS AND TOOK THIS IDIOTIC AUCTION/SELL-IT-NOW OFF IT'S SITE!!! WOO-HOO!!!!

Additional Scan...

Alright, I promised it and here they are... the Al Hrabosky and Ken Holtzman autos... plus 3 minor league cards: Lance Berkman from AA Jackson, Matt Holliday from the Asheville Tourists (really? Tourists is the best you can come up with Asheville, BOO!!) and an Auto I don't remember even pulling of Bubba Trammell!!!
Both Topps Autos have the hologram certification logo on the back!

2010 Topps Series 2 Need List

Base:
COMPLETE!!!!!! THANKS EVERYONE!!!!

Random Pack Friday

So, I went to Academy to look around and waste some time and bought a couple of random packs they had sitting around: 2007 UD Masterpieces and 2007 Fleer Ultra and a pack of Upper Deck from 2006. I've scanned in the entire pack of the UD Masterpieces... I got a nice jersey relic of Michael Young, but as you may be able to see the bottom left corner of most of these are dinged, the relic card worse than the others... but nonetheless if you want any of the, they are for trade!

As for the Upper Deck, I got one card that really amused me... mainly because of how crappy it is and the obvious flaw of the card... see below... the card is for a Cubs jersey swatch of Corey Patterson, but obviously the set was put together after he was traded to the Orioles, so it lists him as an Oriole on the front of the card, but all the pictures and text on the back indicated Cubs... interesting and different... and available to any of you die-hard (you'd have to be) Corey Patterson fans out there!

Finally, I went out to the storage room this morning and found a couple of cards that I was looking for, I'll have to get them posted later, but it's an Al Hrabosky Auto Topps reprint of some kind, and out of the same set (I think) is a Ken Holtzman Auto as well.

Later!

Specific Collections... 1978 Topps

Alright, so I've been asked by several traders, "What do you collect other than Astros and Nolan Ryan?" and to that question I haven't really had a specific answer. Nothing really connected with me, until I had a chance to wonder around eBay for a bit. Seeing some vintage cards, I started remembering a bit from my childhood, and the day I got a BUNCH of 1978 Topps gifted to me from one of my half-sister's boyfriend.

I was maybe 7 or 8, and once she started dating this guy he realized that I was a bit obsessive about my card collection. Having not collected since he was a kid, he decided to just give me his collection, about a shoebox full of 1978 Topps!!! I didn't know at the time what luck I had stumbled into... but he was from Alvin and grew up down the road from a ranch owned by a certain new current co-owner of the Texas Rangers and I was gifted both the Record Breaker and base set Nolan Ryan cards, except they were AUTOGRAPHED! They were the prize of my collection instantly and the Record Breaker still is, because the base set was stolen from me a few years later by my "best friend" Juan Walker (yes, you are still on my SH*T list, send back the card, we'll call it even). We haven't spoken since. It still pains me that I let him get away with it... I didn't realize he stole it until several days later, and uncovered it at his house. His mom swiftly kicked me out and like I say, we haven't spoken since. He may have moved back to Puerto Rico... who knows...

ANYWAYS... sorry for the slightly unnecessary tangent... I have decided that my new collecting goal is going to be to obtain the complete set of 1978 Topps Baseball. I know this will be tough due to the awesome rookies of Molitor and Murray, but I think it's definitely do-able. So, from here forward, if you want to trade and have any 1978 Topps then that will definitely help make a deal happen! At some point soon, I'll go through which cards I do have and put together a want/need list. If any of you have bulk base commons you wouldn't mind trading/selling, let me know. Finally, here's a great card of the Hawk which I can't wait to get into my collection as well!

Topps 2010 Series 2 Blaster Box

Picked up another blaster on my lunch break... let's look at the quality... or lack thereof...

This think would look much better if it was centered... and not misaligned... willing to trade it...

I'm loving the look of the "Cards Your Mom Threw Out" and the "Prominent Base Ball Players" inserts... The Eckersley is also a "real back" card, again another cool thing about this set, in my opinion...


Alright, so the Heyward card was actually from the hobby box I got last week, but I forgot to post it. It's numbered 815/2000. The Mauer card, well I sorta like the 2020 set, but really I just like the photo, good action shot.

Any and all cards posted today are for trade.

Topps Million Card Giveaway

Alright, so I've got a few cards on Topps' Million Card Giveaway. I've made a few trades, picked up a nice 1970 Larry Dierker and a 1974 Preston Gomez Astros' Manager card (with a dapper Roger Craig head). Here's my dilema: I've got a 1953 Jack Dittmer card. I have no idea who Jack Dittmer is or was, but it's the only '53 I've ever owned so I've been thinking about taking delivery. I'm not sure what to do? Do I hold out for a great offer? I've had a couple of 17:1 and a 15:1 offer. But that consisted of bulk players of the Cubs and Dodgers that I wasn't interested in. So, I guess what I'm saying to you readers is that if you want a 1953 Topps Jack Dittmer, make me an offer I can't refuse consisting of late 60's and 70's Colt 45's and/or Astros players of note.

I apologize for the lack of images here, but at work I can only use igoogle.com's Blogger widget to post and it doesn't allow pictures. Maybe I can try and get some posted tonight.

2010 Allen and Ginter Hits - Autos, Jerseys, etc...

Alright, finally, here's the 2010 Allen and Ginter hits pulled... all are available for trade... got 2 of the Brian Roberts bat relic... sorry, had to break it into two scans...





Sorry they are disproportionate... couldn't help it and didn't want to try and fix it... The last two are the Cyan printing plate for the X-Rays card and then the Black printing plate for the Lance Berkman SP# 363 card. It will take a heck of an offer to get me to part with the Berkman printing plate, but go ahead Yankee fans, we all know you love him at this point... right?.... RIGHT????? hahaha!

And if you are short any of the base, This Day in History or mini's, let me know because I've got oodles of duplicates at this point!

2009 Goodwin Champions by Upper Deck

Two jersey cards, Albert Pujols and Jose Reyes... and an autograph card from Mark Zupan, a wheelchair rugby champion... you know how it goes, any and all available via trade!!!!

2009 Allen and Ginter Hits

Here's the hits from 2009 Allen and Ginter... any and all are for trade... let me know if there's something you want... again, will trade for similar items related to Astros current and former!

2010 Topps Series 2 Box and Target Blaster

Alright, so the Dimwit has gotten full fledged back into baseball card collecting. 2009 and 2010 Allen and Ginter has got him hooked and so here it goes. In the past 24 hours, he bought a box of 2010 Topps Series 2 and a Blaster pack of the same from Target. By the way, for all trades, the Dimwit is a BIG Houston Astros fan (including resident juicers Clemens and Pettitte). Just thought we'd share the hits and interesting cards from this opening...

Ok, so a pretty cool card from the blaster. Any Cubs fan out there who wants to trade for it, make an offer. Continuing with the Cubs theme, here's this "beauty"... ug Carlos Zambrano is a loser...

Same goes here, make me an offer... Next is a silk card that would be much better if I were a Twins fan... however it IS 20/50, so not too shabby...


Also pulled was a cool Tom Seaver SP, and many of the Vintage Legends set which The Dimwit thinks is a pretty sweet set. A total of 7 Million Card Give Away cards were pulled, the most exciting of which was a 1953 Jack Dittmer and a 1975 Luis Tiant. May have to get those delivered, doesn't have any of the '53 or '75 sets in his collection... might as well start with these two!

Overall there are some really cool insert subsets in 2010 Topps... may have to go back and buy a couple boxes of series 1 and see if he can get the complete set.