2012 Topps Gypsy Queen Want List & For Trade

WANT LIST
Underlined NUMBERS/PLAYER NAMES indicate a pending trade.

Full Sized SP Variations:
288

FOR TRADE

BASE - I have a full 1-300 base set for sale - No variations plus all three Hobby Insert Sets Complete. $60 plus shipping. Please e-mail me if interested. Thanks!

I have TONS of base cards for trade... send me your want list and I will let you know what I have available!

A Sort-of Group Break from Derek

Derek over at Tomahawk Chopping had buyers remorse over a box of Opening Day and Heritage that he bought at his LCS and rather than keep all the awesome cards for himself, he did team sale style group break. I picked up my Astros of course and he threw in a bunch of extra cards... here are the highlights!

 Some great cards of current and hopefully future Astros, plus a nice blue parallel of our new closer, Brett Myers.

I do like the look of this year's Heritage. But only enough to collect my Astros team set and move on. The Polin Trinidad cards is awesome. I had almost bought it on eBay a while back and glad I didn't as I now have a copy all my own! Thanks Derek!

Dayf does it again...

Our favorite pony um... baseball... um pony blogger Dayf over at Cardboard Junkie totally hooked me up... with 1991 Donruss...

That's a bunch o' base... I haven't looked through it all, but that's a lot of '91 Donruss... what did I do to deserve such a fate? Well, I offered up about 3 group break's worth of White Blocker cards for his pony drawing delight!

Well, to be fair to our pony loving friend, he also sent along some great Astros cards too!!!!!

Biggio and Bagwells for everyone! Or just for me... Any day I get some Biggio and Bagwell cards is a good day for me... speaking of Biggio...

 Awesome landscape orientation cards of Biggio... the guy knew how to turn a double play and get dirty doing it! Can't wait for his enshrinement in the Hall of Fame...

And he threw in a couple random Astros as well... good ol' Dave Bergman, and then Lance Berkman... did you see what I did there?

Wait, there's more? I got more stuff for my blockers? Yes, yes I did....

A SWEEEEET numbered relic of Roy Oswalt!

Finally, it wouldn't be a package from Dayf without a drawing, of course... and well, he out did himself on this one... I'm proud to be the owner of this 1 of 1, original sketch art card w/ artist autograph... of me...

How cool is THAT?!?!? If you know my name, it's not too hard to find the picture drawn above... great job David.... you're an awesome guy... even if none of us can figure out your obsession with ponies. Keep up the good work sir!

Free cards from Matt!

Matt over at Number 5 Type Collection did a big spring training giveaway and merely asked people to rank 5 teams in order of interest. I forget my rankings but of course the Astros were #1, followed somewhere down the line with the Rangers and Rockies and 2 others I don't remember. I don't remember them because I didn't win those teams! I got a big package in the mail yesterday with cards from the three teams I won... here's the loot:

Rangers (all the cards):

The Nolan stays with me... the rest are up for trade for sure...

Rockies (highlights):

All tradable cards... this is about half of the Rockies stack, so Mr. Hiflew, if you're interested in a healthy stack of Rockie base cards, by all means...

Astros (highlights):

And here are my beloved Astros! A nice smattering of Bagwells, a Berkman relic!!! And a vintage Nolan to round it out... there were a few cards of Carlos Lee, but I decided for the 2012 year will be a Carlos Free Year on the blog. There will be no Carlos Lee cards scanned or posted from here forward, no matter how awesome or awful a card you send me, if it involves Carlos Lee I will utterly refuse to post it. If this new ownership group re-signs Carlos, my head will certainly explode.

Matt, thank you so much for the free cards! You're a good man sir!!!!!!

And Now a Word From Our Sponsor: Breygent Marketing

I am really starting to develop a great rapport with the guys and gals over at Breygent Marketing and I'm getting more and more excited about their upcoming releases! They recently sent over some promo material, so I thought I'd show it off a bit, and do a giveaway, as they sent me plenty of extras!

First of all, here are promos from a set I wasn't aware of yet: Warlords of Mars!

That beast on the left is pretty dang intimidating. The backs of the cards say that the set will be feature 72 base cards, autograph cards (artists I assume), Sketch Art Cards and "other exciting chase cards". If you're a fan of art on cardboard, Breygent has the cards for you.

Next up are cards I've previewed before on this blog, first is Red Sonja:

Does this chick look like a total bad@$$ or what? Again, I'm not a reader of graphic novels (although the wife is reading The Walking Dead at the moment) but I may have to preview this Red Sonja series just to see if I like it.  Again, great artwork!

Finally, we have our favorite lady vampire... Vampirella:

Wow, again I love the detail and artwork on these cards. The skull in the second one just looks awesome, as does the monster in the 4th... oh yea, and that Vampirella looks kind of hot too! Haha! A big thanks to Breygent for sending these over... and for sending me 10 complete sets of these awesome cards!

So, as for that giveaway I mentioned... I want these cards to go to people who appreciate them, not just the first 9 (I'm keeping a set for myself) to comment. So, what I'll do is make you work for it a bit. The first 9 people who comment and tell me what they collect as far as graphic novels, comics and the like, will get a set. Tell me a bit about your collection and if you think you'd buy a box of any of these sets.

Thanks everyone!

My Loot from Kyle's JABOs Group Break #4

I got in on both of JABO's #4 and #5 Group Breaks! I got Group Break #4 cards in the mail yesterday... here's my heritage loot:

 I think that may be a whole team set!!! Sweet!!! Nice looking cards!

And then some other random Astros-ness! Thanks Kyle! Can't wait for my loot from break #5! I did even better in that one! Great break and if you want in on Kyle's breaks, you better move fast, he does a bunch and they fill quick! He's got one going on the cheap for 2 boxes of 2012 Gypsy Queen! Lots of teams available!

Trade Bait Draft Results

We completed the Trade Bait Draft last night and it was a GREAT time! It went off without a hitch and I think everyone got quite a few cards that they actually wanted for their own collection and then a few to trade.

This was a bit of a unique draft since the host (myself) wasn't using his own cards, rather BigHit Sportscards in Spanish Fort, AL was offering up the trade bait for the draft... so I was able to enter it myself and pick up some cards as well. I'll separate it between keepers and trade bait... first up, the cards I drafted that'll be trade bait:

Some nice cards! Carpenter, well I have a Cardinals guy I know I can move this with, and the Britton & Kennedy are just nice looking cards. Joel Zumaya may be a bit harder to move but it's a nice looking card. Cobb is another nice auto and Cordero, well that Zenith card is just all shiny and awesome!

Here are the keepers I was able to draft:

All are new cards to my collection. Three new Bagwells, a Biggio and a Beltran! I would have had another Bagwell but that pesky Matt from Cardboard Conundrum snagged it right before it was my pick! Haha!

It was a fun time for all. Everyone else will have some inserts and relics to show off, oh, and a full set of these:

A very nice refractor set of the redemption Home Run Legends set from Topps this year!

Thanks again to BigHits Sportscards for making this an awesome draft!

For anyone who wasn't able to make it, and I drafted for you based on your preferences, if you'd like to know what you got, just shoot me an e-mail and I'll let you know!

I'll work to get all packages put together over the weekend and dropped in the mail by Monday, Tuesday at the absolutely latest!

Live Trade Bait Draft Tonight - 7:30pm CST

Hey everyone, I'm already in the chat room while I do my prep work for the draft in a couple of hours. Feel free to stop by early or when it gets time to start.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/thedimwitcards

I have spreadsheet galore to sort through and get prepared for those unable to make it live...

Once you get to the channel page via the link above, click the "CHAT" tab on the right hand side to join in on the chat. I won't be doing video, so it's going to say I'm not broadcasting, but I've got the chat window going for sure!

Another Blaster of Opening Day

At only $10 at Target, these Opening Day blasters are kind of fun. Very little expectation of pulling a BIG hit (as autos and printing plates are the only "hits" and they are at best 1:528 packs) but lots of fun opening packs! Here are the inserts I got, along with a bunch of base:

 I got two blue borders! Young and Verlander - the Verlander is already traded... All other inserts besides the Hamilton are up for trade.

I gotta say, the mascots are fun cards for sure. They have been dealt as well to Mr. Dawgbones. I'm not a fan of the superstar celebrations... but oh well, can't win them all, eh Topps?

How about Topps announcing they are going to release Five Star for baseball???? Any of you guys going to throw down $400-500 for one pack of this cash-grab... er... product? It'll be one I have to review without buying... for sure!

Only one more day 'til the Trade Bait Draft! I still need info from a couple of you guys and have sent some inquiry e-mails to that effect! Have a great day everyone!

Another Day, Another Card

Today I show off a card I got from my own group break... one of my favorite base cards to have pulled:

What's so great about this card? It's 2003 Playoff Portraits!!!! I really like this set first off for many reasons. The relic set is awesome, and they don't ruin the artwork on the front by putting the relics in the middle of them. They are cleverly put on the BACK of the card and even in a pull down tab embedded in the card! As for the artwork, these cards are great. And this card in particular just cracks me up. It's like Lance is both pisses and about to crack up laughing at the same time. The artist (real or photoshop) captured his facial expression at just the right moment. It's a great picture of a player I have really good memories of!
Here's the back of the base card if anyone cares!

Just a reminder for the Trade Bait Draft, if you aren't going to make it Thursday evening and you haven't turned in your preference spreadsheet, PLEASE get those to me ASAP!

Product Review: 2012 Topps Tribute

Let me start off by saying 2 things: 1) There is no way I can buy a whole box of this stuff. 2) My wife is awesome for letting me snag two packs instead of just the one I was thinking about doing. Hotwit, you are awesome!!!

Alright so I stopped by my local card shop this afternoon to pick up the (10) sets of Prime 9 Redemption Home Run Legends cards for the Trade Bait Draft! And we got them all (actually he has about 75 complete sets, and knows he'll never get them all redeemed, so that's why he didn't mind using them as incentive to join the draft!!!) So it is confirmed, all participants will get a full 9 card set!!!! YAY!!!

 I digress... there was a box of 2012 Topps Tribute on the shelf with 2 packs left. I was tempted, I gave in and figured since I've never opened even a pack of this stuff (let alone own even a base card from the set) I'd give it a shot! The wife, as previously mentioned, indulged me and told me to snag them both.

Here are the base cards from the first two packs!

 Pack 1: Schmidt, Upton and Utley. WOW, great looking cards! If you get the whole base set collected, that'd be one hell of an impressive looking binder!

Pack 2: Jeter, Gonzalez and Feller. Can't complain about a Hall member, a future member and a current star for the Rockies. Again, I'm REALLY impressed with the quality of the cards and subjects for the base set. Maybe I got lucky, ok, yes I got really lucky, as you'll see...

Here are the parallels I pulled from each pack:

 Pack 1: DROOOOOOOOL...... WOW, the GOLD parallels are disgustingly AWESOME!!!! 45/50! Gehrig! Awesome! It's a sweet looking card that should help me recoup at least half of my pack cost!

Pack 2: Another HOF player for my parallel! This Sandberg will make any Cubs fan drool with it being a blue parallel /199!

Now for my two encased hits.... before I show them off, let me say that I LOVE the fact that Topps is putting these in magnet hard cases with a sticker seal! Awesome job Topps. Now, I didn't pull a Darvish auto, oh but if I did I'd be ordering my own case of 2012 Topps Gypsy Queen! Haha! Onto the hits:

Pack 1: A SWEEEET Ozzie Smith relic card numbered /99! The relic is not from a World Series game (thanks for clarifying that Topps) but a very nice card nonetheless! Again, this should help me recoup about the cost of half a pack on eBay!

Pack 2: WOW!!! A blue parallel /50 Don Mattingly autograph! Again, I have no complaints whatsoever with this card! It's amazingly shiny and a great auto of the Yankee legend and current Dodgers coach. Based on currently sales, I should definitely expect to make a pack-worth of money plus some for this card.

I only mention the value in this review because this is a higher end product. Sometimes you get burned on this product and sometimes you beat the house. I think I beat the house on these two packs and just wanted to show my readers that it is possible. Now, did I get incredibly lucky to get both the Mattingly and the Gehrig? Of course! But thems is the breaks!

I hope you all enjoyed this little review. I will be posting the parallels and hits on eBay to help me recoup some cost. So the base cards are definitely for trade, and if you have a monetary offer on the parallels/hits, then I'd definitely rather sell to a reader off eBay, but I do need cash for these, as I bought them with the sole intention of running this little experiment to see how much of the cost I can recoup from a high end product. Anyways, again I hope you enjoyed, these are some GREAT cards!

Trade Bait Draft Set and today's card!

Alright everyone, after hearing back from a majority of participants in the break, it looks like Thursday March 22nd at 7:30pm central is going to work best. I've got everyone's money at this point, and we'll start the draft promptly at 7:30pm. I'll post the ustream link once we get closer to actual drafting!

If you're not going to attend, I'll need your spreadsheet back by that time or else I pick for you!!!!

Today's card of the day (since I've slacked off on posting lately, work has been hell this week):

With Heritage coming out this week, I saw this card and thought I'd post it:

2001 Upper Deck Vintage... otherwise known as: Hey Topps We're Going To Rip Off a Vintage Design of Yours and You'll Just Have To Be Ok With That (but we added a black bar across the bottom!!!)

Here's the back:

Yea, so for all intents and purposes, they ripped off the design in my opinion. But hey, that's the kind of crap that led them to lose their license, right?

It's a great card in my opinion! It's classic Craig and there's no doubt he's a first ballot HOF next year. It's going to be a tough year for voters as there are a BUNCH of guys eligible with strong resumes. However, Craig is well liked and doesn't have any hint of scandal that many of the others do. I'm really hoping he makes it in as the voters choose to go with a guy who not only has the numbers to back-up his election, but was a squeaky clean guy on & off the field!

Have a good day everyone!

A Product Review: 2012 Topps Opening Day

Normally I wouldn't open this product, but I've committed this year to reviewing major releases as much as possible... so here's the busting of the blaster:


And here are a selection of the inserts pulled from the blaster:

Anyone collecting this set? What do you like about it? What do you dislike? Set builders out there? Or do you stick to team sets? Let me know what you think!

Personally:

Likes - Mascot cards = awesome; I really like the insert sets, I wish Topps would do more of the 3D cards, they look great! Cost $10.49 per blaster, not too bad for 11 packs!

Dislikes - Very tough to pull a "hit" but that's a given going in at the $10.49 price tag.


That's about it for dislikes, not a bad set overall in my opinion, it's fun to open and I'm sure kids really enjoy opening it as well since it's definitely a low cost product for parents to pick up. Would I buy it on my own if it weren't for the review? Probably not, but it could be a fun product to buy up on the cheap and bust. If I remember correctly, 2011 Topps Opening Blasters spent quite a bit of time on the shelf and ended up getting the 50% discount sticker around here, at that price, I may be forced to buy up a few more blasters!!!

Trade Bait Draft Order

Brian over at Play At The Plate did the randomization and here is the ODD numbered round draft order:

1) Jon (Community Gum)
2) Dan
3) Matt Perry
4) Wicked
5) jaybarkerfan
6) The Dutch Card Collector
7) Hiflew
8) Matt Pederson
9) The Dimwit
10) Ryan G

It will be a snake draft so of course the even numbered rounds will be in reverse order of this list.

As soon as I hear back from everyone on a live draft date availability, I will get it rolling...

Thanks Brian!

Trade Bait Draft Update

Alright, the draft is full!

I've sent out notice to all participants on getting a date and time in for the draft, and hopefully we'll get this thing rolling pretty quickly!

I got word that the first person received their group break cards yesterday! Man USPS can work fast when they feel like it, I put those packages in the mail drop box on Saturday afternoon!

Thanks for all who signed up for the draft, I'm really looking forward to it, and we'll be doing it live via UStream chat for anyone who will want to drop in and say hello or just make fun of us while we're drafting...

Have a great day everyone, sorry I don't have a card to show off this morning, I'm out of time!

Trade Break Draft --- MORE CARDS ADDED! 3 MORE ROUNDS! PLUS A BONUS!!!!

Ok, if this doesn't fill it up, then I don't know what will....

I talked to the owner of BigHit Sports Cards... he said to add 3 rounds to the draft for a total of 11 hits per person!!! PLUS THERE'S MORE!!!!

(Pending verification that he has 9 sets available) Everyone who participates in the draft will get a full 9 card set of the 2012 Topps Prime 9 Homerun Heroes Giveaway cards! I've featured these cards in a giveaway on the site before. You get them via redemption cards in 2012 Topps Hobby that you're supposed to take into your local hobby shop.

Only $30 to join. $30 for 11 hits plus at least 8 insert cards! Come on, you can't beat that with a stick... well, you could literally beat it with a stick, but that'd just damage the cards...

Sign Up Here  <---Click the link and leave a comment on that post... Thanks everyone!

Trade Bait Draft Update and a Trade

There haven't been any additional sign-ups over the weekend for the Trade Bait Draft, so I'm assuming that means that the price may be a bit higher than people are looking to pay. I've talked it over with the parties involved and we've agreed to drop the price to $30. This is a blaster and a half for 8 guaranteed hits plus at least 8 selections of what I consider to be pretty decent inserts. I need 5 more people to join, so please sign up!!! Those who have already paid, you will be refunded $5.

I recently completed my first trade ever with Arno over at the recently resurrected I'm Ballsy blog. We swapped autographs and here's what I got!

Two AWESOME autographs of (hopefully) future Astros phenom Delino DeShields Jr.  Two great autographs and I'm a huge fan of the signed manu-baseball. Thanks Arno, your cards left Mobile on Saturday and should be well on their way to you! 

Trade Bait Draft Update - Half Way There

Well, we've filled half the Trade Bait Draft (if I stay in)! We only need 5 more brave souls to join up! Here are the cards that will be available from the "inserts, parallels, & rookies" half of the draft:

Once you sign up, I'll send you a spreadsheet with all the details for all the cards. If you'd like to see this spreadsheet before you sign-up, just let me know and I can e-mail it to you!

Trade Bait Draft - Dimwit Style

I am hereby announcing and opening sign-ups for the first 10 people to respond to the Dimwit's Trade Bait Draft, sponsored by BigHit Sports Cards. They were looking to move some cards, I'm simply facilitating this request (and making ZERO money off this endeavor).

For $30 you will get a total of 16 cards. The first 8 will be drafted from the following pictures of "hits". The second 8 will be scanned in later, and consist of inserts, parallels and rookies from my own personal collection. All participants will be randomized by an independent 3rd party (as I'm still on the fence as to whether to join the fun or not) to determine draft order and then the draft will be a snake style draft from there. There are plenty of great cards here.

Commit by leaving a comment, and I will then send you a spreadsheet via e-mail with details for payment. I will try and secure a time for a group chat to do the draft with as many people as possible. However, I will be sending a spreadsheet with all hits listed in detail. If it turns out you won't be able to make the live draft, I'll ask you rank the cards in preferred order and then return the sheet to me before the draft (or give me permission to pick for you!). Thanks everyone!

1) The Dutch Card Guy - PAID
2) jaybarkerfan - PAID
3) hiflew - PAID
4) Matt Perry - PAID
5) Matt Pederson - PAID
6) Wicked - PAID
7) Jon - PAID
8) Dan - PAID
9) Ryan G - PAID
10) The Dimwit - PAID

Here's the scans of all 110 "Hits". Only 80 of these will be drafted, so 30 will be returned to the card shop once we're done: