A Second Box of 2008 A&G!!!!!

Here we go everyone, I got another box of 2008 Allen and Ginter in the mail from CSNStores.com. This is not a sponsored post however, as I used a discount code that I won from a contest by Sports Syzygy; I feel like I need a pronunciation guide for that blog! Anyways, I used the discount code last weekend and the box shipped on Monday! Got it in the mail yesterday and broke it! Only got one hit this time (cue the sad music) but I knocked off a total of 73 base cards that I needed out of a total of 122 base cards in the box. Enjoy the video!



Also, looking in the mail today, it looks like I got a surprise shipment from Ted over at Crinkly Wrappers sent me over a package of 2 cards I needed from my 2010 want list. He had posted that he was trying to help people out with lists of cards that they needed from last years set and he was able to help me out. Ted, the good karma you're sending out will make it back to you some day, you're a good man, sir. If any of you readers don't follow Ted, get on over there and check out his blog because it's good readin'!

Astros Preview 2011: The Pirate/Astros Slapfest

As I am sure you can tell by the title of this post, I do not foresee good things for the Astros this year and I’m sorry to drag the Pirates into this, but if they aren’t going to get out of the cellar then they deserve all the ridicule become of a team that can’t find a winning record in more than a decade. Yet, I digress; the issue here is that the Astros are going to be either cellar dwellers this season, or pretty darn close to it.

FIVE CARD FRIDAY!

The first Five Card Friday begins! Here's how it works: want the 5 cards shown below? Claim them via comment on this page AND by offering me just (1) card from my need list on the right hand side of this page. I'm going to start this one off with a bang! Check out at least 4 cards with HOF'ers!!!!

Ok, so two cards are of Gaylord Perry, but those two cards are 20 years apart! If the cards aren't claimed by Sunday then they'll get added to next weeks stack! Have a good Friday everyone! It's going to be busy here in Houston, I've got to get out taxes filed today and then I'm expecting a box of 2008 Allen and Ginter in the mail! That break probably won't get posted until tomorrow or Sunday!

Trades!!!!! Two more packages in the mail today! Including some contest winnings!

I got two packages in the mail today... the first from Matt over at Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius! He sent me a slew of 2011 Topps Inserts that I needed and I sent him a slew of Kimball mini's from 2011...

Thanks Matt! Next up we have Julie from over at Things Are Funner Here sent me my contest winnings, a rack pack of 2011 Topps, and some cards for trade. I've now got to package up some cards to send back! Here are a random selection of cards she sent over off my want lists, including quite a few Kimball Champions!

As you see she also sent me a 2010 Update want list card as well. There are also 17 total Upper Deck 20th Anniversary Cards. The rack pack didn't yield much that I needed, however I did get another Diamond Giveaway which got me a 1987 Randy Bush - CHA-CHING!!!!! Oh wait... but I did dig out my 19th ring, only 29 more and I get my set from Topps!!! Finally, here's the cornerstone of the trade, a freakin' sweet patch card!

I'm still on the hunt for the Hunter Pence patch card, so if anyone has one let me know!!! Thanks Julie, I should be able to get your cards out in the mail early next week as I have a post office run scheduled for Monday or Tuesday!

Have a great evening everyone! Stay tuned tomorrow for the first ever Five Card Friday!

Trade post and eBay pick-up!

Alright, I owed Chris over at MadduxGlavineSmoltz some Allen & Ginter and before I had those in the mail, he contacted me regarding my Trade Bait post... he offered me the following cards for a couple of Smotlz jersey swatches and I put it all together with the A&G I owed him! Here's the loot!

Great cards, a Berkman relic with a stripe in it and the 'roider's bat! Plus a few off my needs list, I can't complain. The Biggio metal disk/card/medallion thing is from 1990... pretty sweet, thanks Chris!

Next I have a few of the cards from a lot that I bought off eBay last week. I paid $0.50 for the lot of Mike Scott cards, including his RC with Jesse Orosco... it came with 3 of the 1981 cards, so if any Mets collector is interested in those, the extras are available! Here's the highlights!

Alright, I have an announcement about a couple of new weekly posts... first of all my "And now for something completely different..." is going to become a regular weekly post where I highlight a song, video, artist, something that I'm either watching, listening to or enjoy; just to bring a little culture into this dark underworld of baseball card collecting...

The other regularly occurring post will start this Friday and I will be calling it "Five Card Friday!". This will work a bit like Nachos Grande's Trade Stack but a bit different. Here's how it will work: I will pull 5 cards from my collection rather randomly from my collection and scan them in on Friday at some point during the day. The first person to offer me 1 card from my want list will get the cards. If no one has claimed them by Sunday at 11:59:59pm, then those 5 will be added to the next Five Card Friday. Will there be relics? Will there be autos? Will there be total crap?!?!?! You never know...

Trade... eBay... and Topps Diamond Dig Loot...

I'm back and I got some mail today that I thought I'd share! First up is David from Cardboard Junkie who sent me the two Diamond Duos and the Lance Berkman jersey card in exchange for the Lou Berdette relic I pulled from 2011 Topps. In the top left corner is a card I bought off of eBay, a 1978 Topps Bill Virdon Auto. I've got another Bill Virdon Auto coming in the mail from another package I bought, so I think I remember there's a reader out there collecting all things Bill Virdon, if you're interested I'd be willing to trade one of the autos once I get them both in... finally at the bottom is my Verizon iPhone SkinIt skin that I got for free for finding 15 rings in the Topps Diamond Dig! Once I get my iPhone next month, this thing is going to look pretty flippin' sweet on it!

Well, that's all folks. This week I'm looking forward to a few things... 1) I've got a big trade package or two headed my way... 2) I've got a second retail box of 2008 Allen and Ginter that should be here by Friday... 3) I've got a slew of eBay auto purchases headed my way and 4) I've got a couple of ideas brewing for the blog that'll show up in posts later this week...

I did want to let those who responded know that I AM working on getting a podcast or some semblance of that put together. I've got a format kind of written out in my mind (I need to get it down on paper, I know!) but the next big step is buying some equipment and possibly some software. I'll update you as soon as I know something. Anyone who would like to help sponsor the podcast by helping with the purchase of said hardware and software, please e-mail me. I can offer plugs for your business and/or personal blog at the beginning and end of each recording.

I've got a e-mailer who lives here in Houston who has contacted me about buying a case of Gypsy Queen with a total of 5 slots available. Each slot would be 2 boxes, each slot at this point would be estimated to be around $200, hopefully less if we can find a cheaper case. We would find the cheapest case possible and then split it evenly and add some postage for those outside of Houston who will need their boxes to be mailed. The cheapest case I found with some preliminary research was $1,004.99 over at Blowout Cards. They may be cheaper elsewhere, and the price may drop leading up to release but we won't collect money until we have a firm price secured. I may also be able to find some cheaper cases here in the Houston area if I'm able to pay cash. Email me if interested. This way, one out of 5 of us will be guaranteed a Case Hit and this product is going to be full of hits with each box guaranteed 2 autos and 2 relics.

Thanks everyone!

And now for something completely different...

Just because I like the song. The wife and I recently stumbled upon the group and really dig 'em... it's been a while since I posted anything other than something baseball or card related... so here's for a little change of pace...



Remember, there is still trade bait available...

TRADE BAIT!!!

Alright everyone, it's time for my first real TRADE BAIT post where I just throw up some scans of hits that are up for trade! A very small few number of these cards are in various levels of being offered and/or already secured as part of a trade or something (the Fukodome jersey relic). So, just send me an email and I'll let you know if it's available or not...

We're all good here, if you want any of these, just offer...

The Joe Morgan auto is actually a dual auto, the other side is Bobby Doerr, it is a "1/1".

All of these are up for trade...

All of these as well...

(Sorry, everyone, I didn't intend to post the Clemens, short of a Nolan Ryan auto, it's not going anywhere! Sorry for the trade bait tease!!!!)

The Jacoby is not for trade... the Milky Way mini is no numbered, serialized 29/50 and the Felix Hernandez is from a Rip Card so it's an EXT mini #392.

These are all fair game except for the Fukodome, there are two printing plates in there...

All good to go... the Masterpieces again may be part of a pending trade, but I am not very confident of that going down, so offer away for them!

And finally, the only one here I'd be reluctant to trade is the Eddie Matthews.


There you go everyone, if you have any interest, I'm always after Nolan Ryan and current/former Astros. If anyone has a Berkman Bat relic from 2010 Allen and Ginter I'm definitely interested in that one as well! Thanks!

Trade Post! Mark and Chris from Nachos Grande! Plus a contest pimpage!

Hey, I got a couple of trades in the mail today! First off is Mark M. who is a fellow Houston fan. He contacted me via e-mail about some cards and we worked out a trade! So, as you see below, he was able to cross off some of my 2011 Topps Inserts that I needed!

Next up is Chris from Nachos Grande... this was a bit more complicated. I had 14 Diamond foil parallels and he had a trade stack as well as some cards he had already agreed to send me. So we went back and forth with a couple of offers and in the end I got the cards below, plus the trade stack cards (non-Astros are not shown) and 14 entries into his Diamond card collection giveway! So, here's the cards I got from my needs list and a Jeff Bagwell which was the clincher of the trade stack!

Thanks for the trades guys! I do appreciate it! On an unrelated note, there's a pretty cool contest going on over at Crinkly Wrappers, so go join the fun!

Group Box Break - 2009 Topps Finest

Hey guys, I'm going to do my first group box break. This one is going to be a little different. I can get a discounted box of 2009 Topps Finest and I know I'm not going to want all of the cards. I'm thinking I'd get 5 other people together, which would divide it out to 2 packs per person. I'll do a live break, randomize the participants and then draft off two packs per person. The cost would be $20 per person INCLUDING shipping. Once I get all 5 people, we can work out a schedule for getting everyone together. Please leave a comment on this post if you wish to participate and I will email each person with the PayPal address. I won't collect any money until all 5 people have committed.

Here are the box breakdown details:

Configuration: 2 mini-boxes per box. 6 packs per mini-box (12 total packs per box). 5 cards per pack.

EACH MASTER BOX CONTAINS:
- NEW! 2 Numbered Autograph Rookie Patch Cards
- 10 Numbered Parallel Cards
- One 2009 Rookie Redemption Card

PRODUCT HIGHLIGHTS:
Base Cards
- Veterans (125)
- Rookies (25)
- Autographed Rookie Letter Patch Cards (10) - Featuring an on-patch autograph and #'d to 299 or less

Refractor Parallel Cards
Veterans/Rookies (150)
- White-Framed X-Fractor - One of one.
- Red - #'d to 25
- Gold - #'d to 50
- Green - #'d to 99
- Blue - #'d to 399
- Refractor

Autographed Rookie Letter Patch Cards (10)
- White-Framed X-Fractor - One of one.
- Red - #'d to 5
- Gold - #'d to 10
- Blue - #'d to 25
- Refractor - #'d to 75

Finest Moment Autograph Cards
Finest Moment Autograph Cards (16)

Refractor Parallel Cards (16)
- X-Fractor - One of one
- Red - #'d to 75

Rookie Card Redemption Program
Rookie Redemption Cards (10) - Can be redeemed for an actual 2009 rookie card

Refractor Parallel Cards (10)
- Gold - #'d to 50
- Refractor - #'d to 199

The redemption cards expired last April, but maybe Topps feels generous and honors it if it's still available. Of course after the draft, anyone who wants to make specific trades will have a day or two to work those out and inform me before they ship. E-mail me if you have any questions!

Let's Temper Our Expectations...

Alright, for all of those who have started typing away and entering Topps "Diamond" Giveaway (why did he put quotes on diamond? Read and find out...) I just wanted to warn everyone to take a second and go read the official rules for some travashamockary that's going on. We've been led to believe that the "diamond" part of this deal involved actual diamonds. Even the bling bling ring that Chris Olds is pimping out over on the Beckett blog looks rather blingy with diamonds, but I warn you all, looks can be deceiving. The Approximate Retail Value of the 60th Anniversary ring is $200, which makes me think those "diamonds" on the ring are actually cubic zirconium or just mirrored glass. There are true diamond solitare rings that are part of the instant win category worth $10,000 each, but both the 60th Anniversary ring and the diamond solitare are at 1:1,500,000 odds of winning instantly. It is not clear if the "prize baseball cards", i.e. the ones with the diamond embedded in them, are real or fake diamonds, but they are valued by Topps at $100 each. So, there's that...

I did all of my "diamond digging" for the 17 codes that I received via my two boxes, plus the 1 extra card you get when you hit 5 rings, for a total of 18 digs. I unlocked 16 individual rings, 3 prize levels - the free SkinIt telephone skin, the $10 gift certificate to ShopTopps.com and the free card & dig. My free card was a 1996 Jeff Bagwell... woo... hoo... So here's a screen grab of my rings:

There are three categories: MLB Teams, Legacy Teams and Player Rings. So it was cool to get the Astros and Nolan Ryan rings. The Expos and Senators rings look cool too. I figure with series 2 and some trades, there's an outside shot that I can get to 45 rings and the free anniversary set, but I'm not going to hold my breath on that one. I think I may have gotten lucky in that I only got 2 duplicate rings as well, who knows... anyone have any experience with doing a bunch of digs and getting few or lots of duplicates? It's an interesting concept and all, but once I get the few cards I want shipped, I'll be done with Diamond Topps "Giveaway".

Alright everyone, there's my obligatory post on 2011 Topps Diamond Giveaway... oh yea, and I forgot to mention, there's no trading until April 1st so there'll be a lot of sitting around since a vast majority of collectors have already gotten their boxes...

A big Dimwit "Welcome" to www.BuildASign.com

I was contact a couple of weeks ago by a nice young lady from www.BuildASign.com with an offer I just couldn't refuse! A free sponsorship deal in exchange for some of their nifty handy work. As I'm sure many of you have noticed, I recently changed the headline banner on my blog and this was due to getting a custom sign designed by me on the Build A Sign website. So here are the scans of the decals and bumper stickers that I received:

I plan on using these decals and stickers as part of my mailings, to seal envelopes and throw in from time to time to keep my blog on you reader's minds! I put the first one on my "hits" binder and it looks AWESOME. Easy to peel off and put down on the cover!

The quality of the printing is A+, and the delivery from start to finish was just as high quality. I received my order a full 3 days sooner than promised and I couldn't be happier with the product. Follow the link on my sidebar to design your own graphic and see if there is a sign, bumper sticker, magnetized car sticker or any other product you can use! They have a wide selection of products and uses! Thanks Megan and the rest of the team over at www.BuildASign.com!!!!!

Topps Diamond Giveaway Results and a TRADE!

Alright everyone, the results are in. I had 17 Topps Diamond Giveaway cards and redeemed them all today because I didn't feel like waiting around and probably losing them somewhere in my disorganized mess... so, here's the breakdown:

Junk wax and/or cards there's no way I'm PAYING to get delivered (1985-present):
Jose Valentin - 2007 - Mets
Damian Easley - 1995 - Angels
Mark Wohlers - 1994 - Braves
Melido Perez - 1993 - Yankees
Andy Benes - 1991 - Padres
CHECKLIST 4 - 1990 - What the hell TOPPS?!?!?! REALLY?!??!?!!?
Cal Ripkin - 1990 - Orioles
Pedro Guerrero - 1990 - Cardinals
Charlie Hough - 1989 - Rangers
Rafael Ramirez - 1986 - Braves
Jay Tibbs - 1986 - Reds
Cesar Cedeno - 1986 - Cardinals
I will trade all of the above cards for (1) Houston Astros or Nolan Ryan card from 1970's - let me know once trading opens if you have any interest. These cards anger me and if I had them in hand now, I'd take a lighter to each and every one of them... this was Topps basically giving me the middle finger... just sayin'...


Vintage Cards to be used to trade for similar year Astros cards:
Mac Scarce - 1975 - Phillies
Chris Arnold - 1974 - Giants
Ron Bloomberg - 1973 - Yankees
John O'Donoghue - 1967 - Reds

The GRANDDADDY of the entire pack of 17 redemption cards will not be traded except for another card of the same year:
Ken Holcombe - 1952 - Chicago White Sox - My first ever card from 1952.

So there you go... there's my haul of mostly crap cards from Topps... I understand it's a free giveaway, but Topps, do you not realize that 90% of the collectors participating have absolutely NO interest in late 80's, early 90's and 2000's cards? I guess I shouldn't complain too much but I really had higher hopes than 12 out of 17 being total crap cards. Maybe I can package them all for an Astros card I want. Maybe there is someone out there still collecting 1990's Topps checklists. Can't wait to use my "digs" to see what other crap Topps has in store for me...

Now onto some better news... TRADE package came in the mail today from Joe over at The Sandlot he recently posted some trade bait for 2011 Topps and I was able to pull out some inserts that I am chasing! So, without further ado, here are the cards I got! Thanks Joe!!!

Monday IS mail day!!!

Alright, so the packages got sent out in the mail this afternoon, and when I got home from work I found three packages in my mailbox! Sorry everyone, but my scanner is buried under a pile of taxes, bills and other miscellaneous junk and I don't really feel like unpiling it all... I hope you understand!

First of all, there is Chris over at Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz. I contacted him a little while ago regarding some trade bait from 1978 Topps that he was offering up and I got a total of 7 cards that I needed. I do believe I still need to pull some cards for him to complete the trade, so Chris I'll get those pulled together for you soon!

Next up is Sarah from A Rookie (baseball) Card Collector, one of the rare women baseball card bloggers, and I'm always glad to see diversity in not only the blog-o-sphere, but within our hobby. I think we can always do better to draw more people in! Anyways, off my soap box... Sarah posted a break of some Topps 2011 a little while back and I claimed a lions share of the inserts for my personal collection, with any duplicates going into my "for trade" stack. You can find scans of the cards here. Mainly I was going after the Kimball, T-60 and Diamond Duo cards; as well as some of the reproductions... I was able to send her back a BIG stack of 2010 Update that I had laying around as well as some Topps Town cards.

Finally, there is Matt W. who contacted me via e-mail to let me know he had a bunch of Topps Update (enough to finish off my need list!) for me and I was able to send him back about 27+ cards from a needs list he e-mailed me. **UPDATE: I AM a DIMWIT... my need list was wrong for 2010 Update, there are still three cards I'm missing... so my totally cards needed to kill my 2010 Topps needs, is 4!!!! Help a collector out people!!!!***) haha...

Well, everyone, have a great Valentine's Day... enjoy your candy, may all your chocolates be bug-free!!!

Monday will be a mail day!!!

Hey guys, if you're name is in the list below, it means you've got mail that I'll be sending out in the morning...

David C -CARDBOARD JUNKIE
Chris R - NACHOS GRANDE
Joe M - THE SANDLOT
Nathan H - Not sure of the blog, but he's my most recent contest winner! I think this is his blog at SWININ' A'S
Paul H - PAUL'S RANDOM BASEBALL STUFF
Mark M - Not sure if he has a blog, but he found mine recently and he's a local Houstonian as well.

On the "local Houstonian" front. Mark and I have been exchanging emails regarding getting 3-4 guys together to go in on a cases of cards at a time, splitting up the hits, yada yada yada for major set releases (I'm thinking Allen and Ginter for sure this summer).

Anyways, what I personally would like to do is get 3-4 guys together here at my place, do a video of the break and highlight the hits. Each person would open their share of boxes, then the hits would be pooled and snake drafted (order determined by random.org). The case hit, if valuable enough, would be ebay-ed to recoup cost or negotiated/randomed if it's something like a rip card or something. Each person would keep all the base cards from the boxes they personally opened.

For a product like A&G, the mini's would be pooled and split evenly by type, rare mini's would enter the hit draft. Lots of details would have to be agreed to beforehand, but I think it could be worked out and everyone would have a chance to get the hits they want from the break and each would be in for about the same price as 2-3 boxes or less. If there are any Houston area readers who would be interested, send me an e-mail. We could do this for Gypsy Queen, Topps Series 2 or others once we get organized. Ideally it would be the number of guys that's divisible by the number of boxes in each products case, so it might change from release to release.

Have a great week everyone... I'm sure there'll be trade posts a-plenty this week as they show up in the mailbox!

TRADE POST!!!!! Phungo and Dayf: Come on down! You're the next contestants!

Alright, so this really isn't a game show or competition, but I'm always a sucker for the Price Is Right... So I got two trade packages in the mail, one from David over at dayf at Cardboard Junkie; I'd seen his name all over the place and was finally able to work out a trade with him after my two Topps 2011 blasters yielded me some shiny-ness. I sent them his way and in return I got a bunch of cards from my want lists including THE HAWK's second year card, in total 19 cards scratched from various needs list (including getting my 2010 Series 1 list down to 1 card! 1 CARD PEOPLE, HELP A DIMWIT OUT!!!!!):

Next we have Paul, A.K.A. Phungo! I got my first ever pack of the rare Phungo cards. I was very excited to open the pack and find these treasures:

Sorry about the sideways Berkman down there, but that's the only way I could fit him in with all the other awesomeness going on. The Bourn, Boon and Schilling are great because they  are all former/current Astros. The Golic is great because I listen to his morning show every day on the way to work. The fact that this pack is loaded with Astros makes me wonder a bit about Phungo's collation, but by all means I'm not complaining... just glad I didn't end up with a pack of Cardinals or Cubs... Haha, thanks Phungo... also, he sent me along a few hits in exchange for the few autos I was able to send his way. I saw the Castro as his card of the month and sent him an email to work out the details... it turned into a much bigger trade! Thanks again Paul!

I really like the look of the Bowman Sterling, especially since at it's price point I probably will never buy it! The Carlos Lee auto is the first of his that I have and since he's now stealing millions from the Astros on the backend of his contract, I guess it's about time I add him to my collection.

Thanks for the trades guys, and if anyone would like to wheel and deal, I'm always up for taking in any lonely Astros cards you have in exchange for whatever team/player you collect!

I'm sure some of you may have noticed a new sponsor added to my blog. I have a package of goodies coming my way from them, and as soon as I get them I will be doing a review. Additionally those who trade with me will be getting an extra prize in/on their packages... more details to come! Have a great weekend!

Sponsor Post for CSN Stores!

Hey everyone see the video for what I got this time courtesy of CSN Stores, I guarantee it's a video you'll enjoy watching or your money back! Haha!


Review:

Shipping - It was free shipping, so I can't complain! It took a day longer than expected but that was due to cold weather and no fault of CSN Stores. Shipped with plenty of padding, in original shrink wrap. A+
Product - Came exactly as described and unadulterated. The price was EXTREMELY fair, even if I had paid full price, it was listed at around $65 per box, which I was very happy with. A+
Website - As with all my dealings with CSN Stores' websites this experience was simple, easy and quick! They provided a UPS Tracking number that was linked to the UPS Site for easy tracking. Communication regarding the order and shipment was excellent as always! A+

The only problem I had was that two cards in the product were mangled pretty badly (again, no fauly whatsoever with CSN Stores) because Topps' quality control measures aren't the greatest. It shouldn't be a problem replacing these two at some point, it was Ian Snell and Kelly Johnson so I'm not too terribly worried that I'll be out big money in replacing them. Overall I got 120 base cards toward the 350 card set, two relics and as this was a retail box I was guaranteed only 1, 12 base minis, 5 A&G backed minis, 1 Baseball Icons mini, 2 black bordered minis, 3 world leaders minis, 1 warrior king mini, 1 World's Greatest Victories insert, and 10 player/state inserts. Overall I'm very happy with the cards I got. If there are any people out there who want to trade for any of the inserts or relics, please let me know! Thanks again to CSNStores.com for providing the sponsorship!

2011 Topps - TRADE-A-THON!

Alright, so some of you may have watched the videos, some may not have. Whether you have or not, they may be worth a second look, because if you give your FULL attention, you might find something worthwhile... ;) ;)     ****UPDATE: WE HAVE A WINNER! CONGRATS NATHAN H.!**** (Note: the clue to winning the unannounced contest was at the very end of the second video!)

So, here's the results of what I got from my boxes: 1 complete set of Series 1! WOO HOO! Won't have to trade for any! I got probably 275-ish cards of a second set, so if you're looking to fill out your set, let me know I've got plenty of duplicates! A complete set of Topps Town cards. Excited about this because these are the best looking (in my opinion) Topps Town cards yet and I wanted a complete set! 11 gold border inserts and 19 diamond foil inserts! And of course a plethora of other Topps inserts.

Here's what I'm keeping - 1 full set of Topps Town, All Kimball Mini's, assorted Astros and player collection cards, non-duplicate of the vintage reprints, Lost Cards and Dynamic Duos. Here's a want list.

Here's what I'm making available to trade:

All diamond foil cards** - I know several are chasing these. There are 14 that I am offering up, as I have kept a few and other have been spoken for. So, these 14 will go as a LOT to whomever offers me the most cards from ANY of my currently posted WANT LISTS in the side bar. I wait and see what the various offers are in a few days and let everyone know individually if I took their offer or not.(AL ERA Leaders, Headley, Ichiro, Ordonez, Oswalt, Halladay CY Award, AL Batting AVE, Duke, Descalso, Hudson, Eckstein, Garcia, Dempster, Wolf)

All gold border cards** - There are 7 which are not already spoken for. Same deal, they go as a lot to whomever shows the most love and offers up the most cards from my want list for them. (Trumbo, Sale, Arroyo, Jimenez CL, Gee, Morneau, Morel).

All other inserts and base cards - Let me know which insert set you're collecting and I'll work out a trade with you for specific cards you may want or provide me a want list and I'll pull what you need.

Hits - The Fukudome has been claimed by Matt at Cardboard Conundrum but the Lew Burdette is up for trade, let me know if you're interested.

Please e-mail me if you want to work something out or to make an offer on my diamond foil and/or gold border inserts. (*Note: I will take cards from any of my want lists for these deals*)

I will also trade for the Commemorative Patch of Hunter Pence if anyone has pulled one that they are willing to trade! Thanks everyone!

**DISCLAIMER: I don't want to come across as a jerk or anything, I just can't think of a fairer way to offer up these insert cards to those who are trying to collect the full set. I want all of my readers to have a fair shot at them if they want them, while also acknowledging the fact that these cards did cost me something and I'd like some kind of return-on-investment, I sincerely hope no one is offended and that I don't come across as greedy, which certainly isn't my intent.

Oh the sweet joy of busting wax!!!!!!!! 2011 Topps vs. ME!

There was much wax bustin' today... they didn't stand a chance! My local card shop FINALLY got their shipment of 2011 Topps, and since I got my paycheck situation sorted out today, I also finally had some money to burn. I picked up two boxes, here are two videos... one for each box! Also, I used my camcorder and converted the files on my PC rather than using my webcam and methinks I finally got it right! So, enjoy!



Here is the video for box 2:



For any of you looking for a free contest to enter, head over to Things Are Funner Here for a chance to win $50 gift certificate or other great prizes!

Monday Will Be a MASSIVE MAIL DAY!

Provided I get things worked out with my employer (who just happened to forget to approve my time sheet and delay my pay check) I will be making a BIG trip to the post office on Monday to mail out 10 packages! There are a few of you who have been waiting, but I'll get these out soon enough. So, Phungo, Ben H., Captain Canuck, Dawgbones, dayf, Matt W., Jonathan from Australia, Colbey (flywheels), Sarah and Wicked Ortega... you should be expecting mail this next week!

Thanks everyone! These are either contests or trades so I appreciate your readership either way!

Thoughts on several subjects... and "Electrocuting Cheerio Bowl" is armed...

Waiting for my local card shops to get their shipments of cards in is driving me crazy. I want to open packs of cards... I want to do it now... I do not have the patience for this. Tomorrow I will not be able to go to the store, as there is supposedly 1-3 inches of snow on the ground here in Houston and we all know that snow to Houstonians is like kryptonite to Superman. And I may not be Superman but I am definitely not going to go play in the snow with a 1/2 ton lump of metal and flammable liquid. I'll just stay at home and enjoy the fire and/or rolling blackouts. Gotta love living in a southern city so unaccustomed to dealing with snow. I've been going back and forth on whether to get the hobby jumbo box, or just the regular hobby box. 3 guaranteed hits or 1? $120+ or $70-ish... hmmm... can't decide...

Alright, I want to set a few things straight. I'm a huge Andy Pettitte fan. He was a great pitcher. Yes, he did admit to using HGH. Do I believe he only did it once? Doubtful, but that's not the point. Ever since the word of his impending announcement came out today, the first few articles and radio talking-head conversation was centered around one question: Is he a HOF'er? Here's my one word answer: NO! Alright, let's take Andy and move him from New York to say... Kansas City. Take a look at Bret Saberhagen's career stats. Now, I'm NOT saying they are the same pitcher. But with a hundred more games than Bret, Andy's career stats aren't THAT dissimilar. I'd say Andy has a more historically significant career, especially since he was part of actual championships in New York and became one of the best lefty starters in NY history. But the facts reamin that he was never the most dominant pitcher in the league any year of his career, no Cy Young awards. He rarely led the league in any relevant or significant statistical category. He'd be a great candidate for the "Hall of Greatness" but definitely falls short of the Hall of Fame, in my humble opinion.

Regarding the title... I've read a bunch of blogs the past day or two that are very critical of the 2011 Topps set, both the cards and the collectors who are buying them. Well, STOP PISSING IN MY CHEERIOS! It's ok not to like a release, believe me I've been there, but why SO negative peeps? Is it a perfect set? No. Is the Diamond Giveaway going to end up being a pain in the rear at some point? Probably. Are we going to have to pay a second time for "free" cards? Most likely. But so what? It's a new set! It's the next domino to fall in the grand journey from depths of winter to the start of spring training, and ultimately the season! Just open some packs, put a smile on your face and enjoy the bling-bling diamond foil! 

Alright, I'll wrap this up by letting you all know that I got a LOT of positive feedback regarding the idea of doing a collector's podcast. So, once this 2011 Topps craziness dies down, I'm going to start getting the hardware and software needed to pull this thing together. I would like to know if any of you have ideas for a name for the podcast. At first I thought "The Dimwit and Company" but I figure for iTunes purposes, it may be smart to have the title related to sports cards collecting. Also, I am planning on doing it in segments... the first of which would be a sort of interview with the weeks co-host. The other segments, well I have no clue. I was thinking of doing a "my greatest pull" or "my favorite set" or "how I got into the hobby". Anyways, I guess it can be fluid, but do any of you have ideas about what kind of segments you'd like to hear on a regular basis.

That is all... have a great evening.

Group Break Package Recieved!

I got a package in the mail today containing the contents of my group break prizes from over on Too Many Grandersons! Dennis does a great job on these breaks and if he does another one, I'd definitely recommend you all getting involved. They are a lot of fun and you get to draft the cards that you want!

I was lucky that 4 either current or former Astros were part of the set and each of the four were pulled. The big catch was Jason Castro, but there were also Brett Wallace, Jay Austin and our next big prospect Jordan Lyles who happens to have an outside shot at the 5th starter slot in Spring Training. I picked up Justin Smoak mainly because of his Texas Ranger ties, but also thinking there might be a Mariners collector interested (yea I'm talking to you Mariner 1)! The last card I picked up was Brett Devall from Atlanta. I honestly know nothing about him but it was numbered 14/20 and was one of the few numbered cards left so I took it. The Smoak and Devall are up for trade (with magnetic card case included) if someone would like to make a deal!

Dennis was also very kind and included two Jeff Bagwell cards that I know I don't have and hadn't even seen before! Thanks again Dennis for the great break!

Highlights from the Blasters of 2011 Topps plus a Trade Vid...

Just a quick post to show off a picture of the highlights from the blasters I opened last night... most of all the Roy Halladay patch card. But the diamond foil cards sure do scan well! See below, enjoy...

I'd also like to post a quick trade video, this time with Spankee over at My Cardboard Mistress (awesome blog name by the way)... this was his part of a three way trade between himself, Rhubarb_Runner and myself! I needed to test out some new video software due to the problems yesterday and this was the perfect time to do so! Enjoy!

2011 Topps... 2 Videos, 1 Post...

2011 Topps is here... and there's free cards at stake...

****UPDATE: FREE CARDS HAVE BEEN CLAIMED**** Congrats to Captain Canuck (Walmart cards) and Dawgbones (Target cards)! 



Oh but wait... the wife granted a dying man's wish... (ok, so I wasn't dying but I was going through withdrawal already...)



LET ME APOLOGIZE, I'M HAVING COMPUTER PROBLEMS WITH MY VIDEO AND THE LAST 2 MINUTES OR SO OF THE SECOND VIDEO WAS OMITTED SOMEHOW. I RECEIVED A ROY HALLADAY PHILLIES MANU-PATCH CARD THAT I'LL SCAN IN TOMORROW SO YOU ALL CAN SEE IT'S AWESOMENESS! It also cut out that I was going to give away the black borders in the same fashion as the Target cardboard-backed cards. However, I went ahead and gave the black border cards away to the second responder. I apologize for any confusion.



Overall impression:

1) Collation - out of 3 blasters and a rack pack, I only had 30 duplicates/triplicates while getting 119 of the base set, roughly a 20% duplication rate. I got a few duplications of inserts (16 total including ToppsTown inserts). Not too bad and about what I expected I guess.
2) Inserts - LOVING several of the insert sets in this year's set. The Kimball mini's are SWEET and with only 50 of them in the set, shouldn't be too difficult to collect them all, same with ToppsTown cards. Their design is the best ever in my opinion. Finally, my absolute favorites are the manu-patch cards. Sure they are manufactured, but they look freakin' SWEET. Can't wait to find a checklist to see if they have an Astros (doubt it) patch and if they do, please take notice, I will TRADE FOR IT!!!!
3) Diamond-a-tion - I do like the diamond foil cards and can't wait to redeem my diamond giveaway cards. Out of the 3 blasters and 1 rack pack, I pulled 5 cards which beat the odds on the guarantees on the boxes. I'm happy! Hopefully they unlock something nice.

In conclusion, I give this 4 out of 5 stars... can't wait to get the hobby jumbo box on Friday and hopefully complete my 2011 series 1 set early!

Gypsy Queen WANT List

Gypsy Queens - Tarot Back:
13

Gypsy Queen Autographs:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19

Green Framed Parallels:

2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 27, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 32, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47, 49, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 60, 61, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 74, 75, 76, 78, 79, 80, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 92, 93, 94, 98, 100

AUTOGRAPHS - Here's a google spreadsheet with what I have and need. Please let me know if you see any errors.


Updated 3/7/2017