Platinum is very very good to me...

Let's do this one more time...

That's a ruby parallel Johnson, emerald Pedroia and gold Upton... not too shabby!

And a couple of GREAT inserts...

Verlander die cut! Awesome! And can't complain with a 1st round draft pick autograph... alright Taijuan let's start dealin' a few no hitters and stuff! Haha!

Will have a want list and very limited "duplicates" list prepared soon, I've been pretty lucky so far with a lack of duplicates! (UPDATE: Yea, so 3 blasters in, I only have 2 duplicates and those are the prospect section: BPP76 (Simmons) and BBP87 (Hellweg), so maybe there will be more dups for trade once I get my hobby box!).

 All the cards in this post are trade bait!

Another Blaster of Bowman Platinum...

Nothing too exciting on this one... I opened it in the car so no video, I'm sure you are all disappointed. Here's the highlights...

As you can see, the Yorman Rodriguez is numbered /399. Marte is not a bad "Top Prospect" to pull either! The Ichiro is emerald, while the Lester and Castro are gold parallels. Anyways, I like the product and will probably buy some more, may see about going for the full 100 card base set at least.

Hope you all enjoyed!

A Couple of Blasters... and some other stuff I got...

Well, here's a short video with a couple of blasters.... 2012 A&G and Platinum... got me a 1:1,982 pack odds card!

Here is a scan of the good stuff from Platinum...

Also the Pablo Sandoval was a gold parallel and the Leonys Martin was a green parallel... anyways, fun blaster and got me a decent hit... nothing money making of course but nice. The Williams above is an x-fractor, and the Wheeler and Perez are some type of refractor. I really like the Top Prospects insert set. Not sure I'll buy much more of Platinum but it is a nice set for sure. Nothing remarkable from the A&G, so no scans...

Here is a recent Nolan Fontana purchase:

NICE!

Let's see how this goes... trying some "in post ads".... see what blogger is trying.... so only click below if you want to go to wayfair.com to check out the ad below... if you hate this, please say so in the comments...
"Mark McGwire Topps USA Baseball Card Photograph"

Have a great day everyone!

eBay Pick-Up of the Day

Got me a nice card in the mail today! A great pick up!

Nolan was a 2nd Round pick of the Astros and is already at A-Ball and doing well. I think I got in a bidding war the other night with a fellow blogger over one of his autographs, was that you napkindoon? I think I remember that Napkin is collecting Nolan as well and it was only afterwords that I saw the bidder being n***n and thought maybe it was Mr. Napkin... Anyways, a nice prospect addition to my collection, which is unusual for me, as I rarely get into the prospecting business!

Just another Massive Monday Mailday...

Apparently Monday is my day... tons of packages! Just the way I like the mail box to be! This is going to be an exciting post... a big card from my want list is included... so stay tuned!!!

First up, we have a trade with Brad, he's got a blog called "Brad's Blog" but I can't seem to find it out on the interwebs to link to it! But we sent some cards back and forth, yada yada yada, here's my loot:

Brad also sent a healthy stack of base and SP cards I need for Allen and Ginter! Thanks Brad!

Next up, I participated in Kyle's latest group break over at JABO's and along with my usual Astros I got victimized errrrr randomized the Arizona D-Backs... hehe, sorry D-Backs fans, but you all just outscored us 2,384 to 3 in a sweep and I think Kubel hit 73 home runs in the process this weekend, I'm a little bitter... anyways, I ended up with some great cards. Included in this, Kyle and I made a trade for some A&G mini's I pulled...

Clemens looks very large on that card... how about that Arizona mascot, gotta say that's one of the cooler lookin' mascots in the league.

The Bagwell and Sutil, I believe, are the trade portion, the rest is just because Kyle is awesome and nice! The Farrell is a claim from his points redemption program! Great idea Kyle, great trade and great group break!

Alright, next up I have a random stack of Astros and because I'm a horrible blogger, I can't remember who it's from because I threw the envelope away and it's already in the dumpster... yea, I'm an idiot... if you remember sending me these cards... wait I just remembered, it was Ryan H... yea, definitely Ryan H... anyways... thanks Ryan!

Onward... the next thank you goes out to Chris over at Nachos Grande whom I must also apologize to because I collated the 41 cards he sent me into my 2012 Allen and Ginter stack before I started scanning, because, again I'm a dimwit and I do that kind of thing from time to time! Anyways, Chris sent me a nice healthy stack of A&G base in exchange for a bunch of my mini's and such! Thanks Chris!

Alright... that leads to the big reveal...

You all may be wondering, "Sam really hit it big on his A&G boxes this year... probably sold that Schmidt for quite a bit of dough... what ever would such a great and awesome person do with such funds????" I know it's all on the forefront of your minds, so I'll go ahead and answer that quandary of the soul:

No no no no no... that's not it... that's just an extra card that the seller threw in, maybe for padding purposes, maybe because he was tired of using it as a REALLY light paperweight, or maybe because I spent so much on this that he felt obligated:

IT IS FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY QUEST FOR ALL 2011 GYPSY QUEEN MINI RELICS IS DONE!!!!! WOOO HOO!!!!!!!! 
One may also wonder, is he REALLY going to keep it in that ugly PSA case???? How about hellz to the no...

Ahhhh.... much better.... What, you want to see gratuitous Gypsy Queen relics? Like I need an excuse!

There you go... that's EVERY mini and full sized relic from 2011 Topps Gypsy Queen!!!! WHAT?!?!!??!?!?! I really can't believe I got this pulled together... the Ruth was the one card I spent at least $100 on, the Gehrig was the other big cash expenditure... most of the others I got through trades... Thanks to all who helped!

Now I'm just working on the autographs from 2011 GQ... if you have any to trade, I'll gladly make it worth your while. Have a great week everyone!!!!!

A Blog To Follow!

Hey everyone, I'm posting to another blog from time to time, I think you all should head on over and follow... or add it to your RSS Feeder or whatever you use to follow your favorite blogs.

Card Contests, Box Breaks, ETC

This blog will keep you up to date with the latest breaks, contests and other fun things going on across the collecting blog-o-sphere. There are at least 5 of us bloggers who are assigned to post to this site and by all means, if you want to promote your contest or break, just shoot me (or any other writer) an e-mail and we'll get it plugged!

The more followers we get, of course, the more promotion all of us will get for the contests and breaks that we run, it's a win/win for everyone, so please make sure you get it added to your list! Thanks everyone!

A Trade With The Commish! ---And a reader survey question at the end...

Lost in the excitement yesterday, I also got a trade package from CommishBob and I couldn't be happier. You see, Bob lives in the Houston area so he's got a bit of a pipeline to Astros cards and he's not a purely Astros collector. So he can send me awesome Astros cards like these:

But here's the real linch pin of the deal, another Gypsy Queen auto to add to my modest collection of GQ autos from 2011... yes, I'm trying to put the autograph set together (short of Aaron, Koufax and probably 2 or 3 others who are out of my price range):

Alright, someone needs to have a little talk with Shane about this thing called an "autograph". It's not just your initials and a squiggle. Then again, as long as it's consistent from product to product then I guess we can't complain too much, right?

Alright, exciting news coming to the blog later this week about a card I've been chasing for quite a while... and it'll involve freeing said card from some mightily stubborn plastic... I may need some advice... what's the best way to free a graded card that you don't want to have trapped in a slab???? You know, without damaging said card...

Two More Boxes of A&G...

The wife and I went to the card store today and I picked up two more boxes of A&G... So I started a whole big post with a bunch of scans... but then I figured you all were absolutely sick of seeing A&G and if you were going to read this post, it was only going to see what hits I got... so here's the hits...

Box #1... or as I call it, the box of non-baseball crap...

Pfister, Hurley Sr and Phelps... ok so the Phelps isn't crap... but still...

Box #2... or as I call it, "ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME?!?!"

So yea, I managed to hit the 2nd Rip Card pulled from my LCS... this one of the big Prince... well, did I rip it????? Hellz ya I ripped it. As much as I'd love to sell this for $75-100, I'd be pissed if it turned out there was some awesome HOF'er auto or redemption within... so, let's see what's inside...

 RIP...




And....

Ok, it could be worse... a Ryan Howard EXT mini should sell alright and I have no qualms ripping the card. That's what it's meant for, right? This is the third Rip Card I've gotten in all my years collection Allen and Ginter and so far it's been EXT mini's each time. I am not complaining at all, as I know many of you would relish the chance to make the choice whether to Rip or Sell!

All cards for trade here... I may stick the Howard and Phelps on the e-Bay, but let me know if you're interested!

I am going to be updating my For Trade and Want list accordingly this evening... all mini's and inserts will be added for those going after sets!

Three Cards, One Purchase

So I picked up these three cards... for $8 shipped!!! SWEEEEEEET!!!!

The Lowrie and Martinez are staying in the personal collection! The Reynolds is for trade!!!

Hope everyone is having a great week, sorry for the lack of posts, life has been hectic with work and some health issues...

My 2012 Topps Allen and Ginter Want List and For Trade List

BASE SET & SP Needs:
GREEN = Pending Trade

12, 152, 194, 303, 307, 308, 310, 315, 329, 342, 343, 350

MINI SETS NEEDS:
Man's Best Friend: 2, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 13, 16, 17
World's Greatest Military Leaders: 1, 3, 6, 11, 12, 15, 19, 20

INSERT SET NEEDS
Baseball Highlight Sketches: 2, 3, 4, 10, 19, 20, 21, 24
What's In A Name: 5, 10, 14, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, 31, 32, 34, 38, 51, 52, 54, 55, 57, 59, 65, 73, 79, 80, 86, 90, 96, 98

FOR TRADE
Base Cards: I have tons because Topps can't collate their distribution... if you need base, send me a list or point me to your list! Plenty of inserts and mini's as well!

My Second Box of 2012 Allen and Ginter

Well, here we go... I'll go with the same format... here's the box topper and first third of the box...

Again, these box toppers need to go... Topps, let's just agree that next year, these are cut from production. I've yet to read anyone that likes them, just sayin'...

I really want to get all the "What's in a Name" cards. But I didn't realize there were 100 of them... eeks...

Good ol' George Washington... and I should be able to trade the Loney for sure... but why, you may as, is the normal looking Montero included here and not in the previous scan?

Well there you go... the first hand numbered card of this box! Now the challenge of finding a D-Backs fan...

Second third, here we go!

Things got a bit out of wack in the 2nd third... 5 What's In A name and only 3 SP's... no worries, it corrects itself in the third third...

The culinary cards are great, but Muktuk sounds disgusting. I really like the Man's Best Friend mini's as well, but tough to get the set at one per box. Kinsler should be an easy trade as well. If any of you fine men or women pull a JD Martinez autograph, please let me know!

Alright, more shenanigans in the third third. The SP's evened out, but got shorted 2 mini's... BOO, but picked up an extra card shown below...

Yep, two highlight sketches and two pretty dang good ones at that!


Ok... now for the hit in the third third of the box!!!!

It's better than the rip card...

It's hand numbered...

It's RED INK!!!

It's a HOF'er!!!!!!

It's one of the best 3rd baggers of ALL-TIME!!!






I love doing this...





Keep scrolling, it's worth it!!!

MICHAEL JACK SCHMIDT!!!!!! SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!!!!

This most undoubtably will not be the last of the 2012 A&G that I buy... but I doubt I'll top these two boxes this year. It's been a lot of fun...

Outside of the rip card and this ridiculous autograph... the collation on the base set has been horrid. I'm going to be posting a want list and you'll see I have a LOT of the base set still needed. Although I do have 26/50 of the SP's already! I will also let you all know what insert and mini sets that I am chasing and which ones will be available for trade.

Hope you all enjoyed my bit of A&G madness. I should have Gint-a-Cuffs but alas I disparaged A&G enough on their site that I'd be a hypocrite from crawling back... although I'd have gotten a hell of a lot of points for my Nolan Ryan EXT mini for sure!!! HAHA!

Have a great week everyone!!!

My First Box of 2012 Topps Allen and Ginter

Alright everyone... after my post this morning... you can mock all you want, but I LOVE this year's Allen and Ginter, and you're about to see why... I went to Big Hit Sports Cards this morning... keep in mind, this is the WORSE of my two boxes... this is going to get ridiculous!

Here are the highlights from the first third of the box...

The N43 box topper... I despise these, but whatever...

Inserts and mini's! Got me a nice regular back Yu RC mini!

And I got Carlos Pena for my relic in the first third... very "meh" box so far, right? It gets better... trust me...

Again, the inserts and the mini's again...

Carlos Zambrano? Really? As a Cub? Really? Sheesh... again, dumping ground for left over jersey relics, I'm convinced. Anyone want to trade for this? Anyone? I hear crickets chirping... I didn't lie, I PROMISE it gets better in the third third of the box... :-D

A Nolan Ryan sketches card, SWEEEET!!!! Ok, nothing huge to see here... let's move along...

What is that? A RIP CARD?!?!??!?!!?!? (Let's not gloss over the "black border" George Brett, I know a Royals collector who would love to get his hands on this one, eh Kyle?!?!) A RIP CARD?!?!?!?!?!? A RIP CARD!?!?!?!?! Numbered 8/25!?!?!?! A case hit?!?!?!? SWEEEEEEET!!!!!

Now, the better question: Did I rip the Rip Card? OF COURSE I DID!!!! I'm addicted to this stuff, I have to rip it... there could be something completely AWESOME inside it...




So here it is, ripped in all it's glory...

And what sort of magic appears from within?!??!?!?!?!??!!!?!?!

UN-FREAKIN'-BELIEVABLE!!!!!! 

Topps couldn't have planted a better card in this pack for me to get!!!! (Unless it was autographed of course, but I'm not complaining AT ALL!) Holy crap! This was an awesome box (even if the relics were piss-poor!) I have an Ext Mini of Nolan Ryan! How many of you can say that?!?!!? I'm sure there are a few, but seriously, this card ain't goin' no where!

Stay tuned tomorrow for an even more exciting box of Allen and Ginter... this one will contain not just one, but two hand numbered cards... :-)

My muse returns... oh I'm screwed...

So, I had resisted... I saw the posts... I remembered my 12 step programs... I knew that nothing would get me back into the mess. I knew that there was no thing as "just one more". I struggled on the precipice, telling myself not to take that first leap. That no matter what, I would end up jaded and hurt in the end. This blog has been a wasteland of non-coverage of a certain product since it's abysmal release 12 months ago... but alas, Topps went and un-screwed-up what they screwed up last year so magnificently. I broke my vow. I ended the promise I made to my wife a year ago. I bought 2012 Allen and Ginter...

Two blasters... $40 worth of shame...

Here are the highlights...

The Short Prints... of course, you all know my love for all things Nolan Ryan, and there couldn't possibly be a sweeter looking 2012 A&G card than this one... I'm tearing up a bit... I'm verklempt... talk amongst yourselves... here's a topic: a chickpea is neither a chick nor a pea... discuss...  (if any of you get this reference, you are awesome)...

Do  I like these cards? No, not at all...  I LOVE THEM! Am I going to collect them? Most certainly... as an avid researcher of my own family name, I really like the histories of the player names they give on the back side of these cards...

Mini's... yes, that's a "regular" Adam Jones front, next to a "red bat back" hand numbered /25 Adam Jones. Out of a blaster! Very cool. It's already been offered up to CommishBob, as he's one of the bigger Orioles fans I know, plus he's a Houstonian (ok, Channelview but who's counting) as well! He's excited about the move to the AL for the Astros because it means he'll get to see his O's at least once a year in Houston. Anyways, onto the mini's... I like the famous generals, and the base mini's are great. The only mini's I don't like in this set are the "black border"... which they should just call the "slightly darker than regular border". Giants of the Deep = awesome. Worlds Tallest Buildings insert = Great. Historical Turning Points = meh. Baseball Highlight Sketches = Classy, much better than years past, love the gold border.

The best thing I haven't posted, the Murder Mystery Cards. My wife is intrigued, she loves these kind of things. When I inevitably buy my box, we'll see how many I end up with and we may start working on the code, who knows, maybe we'll solve a murder... hahaha!

No hits from my two blasters, but I honestly wasn't expecting one. It would have been great, but I know Topps seems to be reducing the amount of fun in retail, don't know why. I really like the design on this product, it's leaps and bounds better than last year. I do still wish they'd cut the relic list in half (especially for players who are no longer on the team they are represented on the cards). Has A&G become the dumping ground for left over jersey swatches or what?

Here's hoping I pull something epic out of whatever box I end up with. And A&G, I'm sincerely apologetic for the bad-mouthing I've done over the past year, but you know, you kind of deserved it.

July Group Break - Box #3 - 2008 UD SPX Baseball!

Sorry for the delay everyone... my wife and I just left a doctor's appointment after I got off work and my brakes went out on my car... after more $$$ on the credit card, I have functional brakes! YAY!!!

Alright, I know why you all are here...

Scans after the page break...

Box 3

Box 3 will be delayed as I am stuck at PepBoys after my brakes went out... not fun...

July Group Break Box #2 - 2009 Topps Unique

Here's the second box... 2009 Topps Unique...

Scans after the page break...

July Group Break - Box #1 - 2009 UD Goudey

Alright everyone... here we go, here's the first video/box of the July break!



Scans after the jump!

2nd Team Randomization

Alright everyone... the boxes are here... but before I open anything, I am going to do the second team randomization and allow everyone some time to swap teams. I didn't expect to get the boxes until much later in the week...
OK, so here's the list of names & teams:
1) Atlanta - jaybarkerfan
2) Boston - Matt Perry
3) Chicago Cubs - Matt Pederson
4) Cincinnati - Spankee
5) Detroit - Jeffrey
6) Houston - The Dimwit
7) Los Angeles Dodgers - Arno
8) Minnesota - The Dimwit
9) New York Mets - BA Benny
10) New York Yankees - The Lost Collector
11) Philadelphia - Richard N.
12) Seattle - Kyle4KC
13) St. Louis - jamicfin
14) Tampa - Spankee
15) Texas - Matt Pederson

And here is the results of the randomization:

Alright here are the assignments:

1) Atlanta & Kansas City - jaybarkerfan

2) Boston and San Diego - Matt Perry

3) Chicago Cubs & Arizona - (TRADE WITH KYLE4KC) - Matt Pederson

4) Cincinnati & Washington - Spankee

5) Detroit & Pittsburgh - Jeffrey

6) Houston & Colorado - The Dimwit

7) Los Angeles Dodgers & Chicago White Sox - Arno

8) Minnesota & Milwaukee - The Dimwit

9) New York Mets & Los Angeles Angels - BA Benny

10) New York Yankees & Baltimore - The Lost Collector

11) Philadelphia & Cleveland - Richard N.

12) Seattle & Oakland (TRADE WITH MATT PEDERSON) - Kyle4KC

13) St. Louis & Toronto - jamicfin

14) Tampa & Miami - Spankee

15) Texas & San Francisco- Matt Pederson

Alright, there are the team assignments! Anyone wanting to trade, just post in the comments and once a trade is agreed upon by both parties, have one of you e-mail me with confirmation. I will not be trading my second teams at all, so I may go ahead and start video'ing the breaks tonight and get the first video loaded tomorrow as soon as I get home from work. SO... if you want to make deals, you have 24 hours! The clock starts now!!!!!

That was fast...

Ok so the boxes are going to be here TODAY!!

ONE slot left if anyone else is interested. I will randomize tonight and then give everyone 24 hours to trade teams before posting the first video tomorrow.

Have a great day everybody!!!

Group Break Boxes Bought!

I'm doing something I've never done before... I bought the boxes to the group break today, despite having two slots still unclaimed. I will begrudgingly keep the last two spots if no one else buys them, however I would greatly prefer for one of your readers to claim the last two spots. There are plenty of good teams left... if you want to join in the fun, head on over here and sign up! The boxes should be here by the end of the week, if no one has claimed the slots by the time they get here, I'll go ahead and do the randomization the day before I start busting boxes so you all have enough time to trade teams if you want!

On a side note, when we bought our box of 2012 Topps Olympics the other night at trade night, we ended up with an additional complete set. If anyone would be interested, I'll sell it to you for $14 shipped. Let me know.

Can't wait for the All-Star game... I'm betting on Jose Altuve winning the MVP!

Trade Night - Purchases, Winnings and a Trade

Only 3 slots left in my July group break as of this morning... go sign up... do it... you know you want to!

So last night was the monthly Trade Night over at my LCS Big Hit Sportscards. It's an awesome atmosphere and with their new location, much more room to move about, talk sports and trade cards. Well, the wife accompanied me for the first time and she had a blast, as one of the pack wars was the 2012 Topps Olympics set. We got a box, and not only did we score a couple of awesome autographs, but one of them won us the pack war... first off, here are the two autographs that we pulled from the box!

CARL FREAKIN' LEWIS! As some of you may know, each box is guaranteed 3 hits, but Topps seeded an extra auto in every other box! Wieber is the 2011 All-Around World Champion and one of the bigger names on the squad for this year's Olympics. We've put both on eBay already and hopefully will get us enough to flip for something even cooler for her collection. As for the pack war, with Jordyn Weiber's card set number being #78, it was the highest numbered auto pulled so we won this:

Yep, a Brooks Robinson autographed baseball!!! SWEEEET! I now have walked away from trade night with this baseball and a Hank Aaron autographed baseball! Very cool!

I also ended up buying some series 2 (why do I do this to myself??) and here's the "highlights" from my 3 jumbo packs and 5 regular hobby packs:

The Buchholz jersey will make for some trade bait, as will the #02/61 Volstad. The flagship product earns a big "meh" from me these days... oh and I got 4 code cards, which earned me 4 more stupid coins, which got me one of the "prizes" for getting 3 HOF'er coins, which got me another stupid coin. Boo...

While on the subject of cool stuff from Big Hits, I bought my dad a box of 2012 Leaf Autographed Golf Balls for his birthday. It was fun and cool since he spent most of his adult life buying me stuff for my collection. He doesn't collect much, but he does play a LOT of golf and I figured he'd enjoy the thrill of opening a box and seeing what popped out... I figured/hoped it would be a golfer he at least knew or had heard of, and for $65 it was a fun diversion from the usual gift card or certificate for a round of golf. Well, we beat the hell out of the odds...

WILLIE MAYS?!?!?!?! I get my dad a box and he pulls a WILLIE MAYS auto from a GOLF PRODUCT?!?!?! I couldn't be happier, but I'm just saying that if I bought it for myself, it would have been some golfer ranked #1,000 in the world or something... it turned out great because my dad got an auto of a player from his era of fandom! He was really excited, as was I... it turned out to be a great gift!

Alright, there was a trade that I made during the evening... here's what I ended up with:

A SWEET /100 Berkman patch! I really miss Donruss, they knew how to design a card...

A plethora of Nolan Ryan inserts and such... The '85 Donruss is not actually from '85, but rather is a 2004 Donruss Playoff reprint numbered /1985... and is very glossy... the Berkman insert is numbered /25. A nice trade and I made a new friend up at trade night as this was the first time I had seen this guy up at the shop.

All in all it was a great night!

Don't forget to sign up for the group break!!!!