Another Post Already????

Yes, I am posting again... because I've added a new feature to the blog... if you are actually on the blog, you'll notice along the top of the banner, there is a new "The Daily Dimwit Top 20 Most Wanted Cards". And if you click on that, you'll see the current list... there is a noticeable theme... ;)

Here's a link for those of you using a feed aggregator.

These cards are the ones I want most in order to move forward with current collecting goals. Most of them are kind of high dollar but there are quite a few "harder to find" ones that I just need help getting! Anyways, all of these cards will be traded for TO YOUR ADVANTAGE!

I did pick off one card from this list after publication, so I can't wait for it to get here and show it off... it's a GQ Auto and one I think is going to look amazing in the binder... only 9 autos from 2011 GQ left to complete the set, only one mini and it may be in the mail on the way, and 5 of the tarot card backed Queen cards. Getting so close, I want to show off all of these cards when I'm done, but I'm not quite sure how.

I don't know if I qualify as a "Gypsy Queen Super Collector" but I gotta think that I've got one of the most complete collections of this set out there. In a world where money was no option, I'd totally go after several of the other parallel mini sets, but I don't know if I should... I almost spent $220 on a hobby box last month and in hind sight would have probably regretted it especially since I probably would have been shorted an auto and there's likely no chance in hell that Topps would replace it at this point. Hell, they haven't even replaced our missing auto from the 2013 Case Break of GQ we did here on the blog. Jerks.

Alright, have a great Sunday everyone!

Some Trade Bait Additions...

Here are some more trade bait additions:

A quartet of GQ autos. Nothing spectacular but maybe one of you out there needs one of these.

Brett Marshall for the Yankees, made his MLB debut this may, picked this up on a small eBay lot.

I have verified and double checked my Trade Bait Photobucket. All cards are in hand and available for trade...

A TDD Top (Insert Number Here) Most Wanted Has Been Captured

Yes, the headline is correct. There is one less card on the street causing mayhem. TDD Top (Insert Number Here) Most Wanted card # "Who knows..." is now securely in its assigned binder page. Ok, so I don't really have a "Most Wanted" list but I really should. And if I did, this card would have been in the Top 10.

At this point you may be asking yourself, "GREG HALMAN?!?!?!?! WHY DIMWIT, WHY?!!?!" Well, I'll tell you. For over two years now, I've been working on the 2011 Gypsy Queen "Regular Back" mini set. Mr. Greg Halman here is the penultimate card in my chase. I bought a 5 card lot from eBay and this one card was the only one I actually needed from said lot. But well worth it as it's the ONLY regular backed mini of this SP card I've seen on the web in the last two years. So, that just leaves me with one more "Regular Back" mini needed to complete the 350 card set.

I'm looking at you #324 - Jay Bruce of the Cincinnati Reds! And I think I may have found you lurking on Amazon... I have placed my order... let's hope that when you get here you are the base mini and not the Red Back. There was no picture, but for $1.74 I had to take my chances. There could be a chance that by the end of next week, my chase is complete.

On a side note, I have also decided to start putting together the GREEN BORDER parallel set that was inserted in Retail rack packs. So, Napkin Doon if you ended up with any duplicates, please let me know! Also, if you all have any laying around, let me know... I have about 1/3 of the set already so I have plenty to chase! Will have a needs list posted to the site soon! Thanks everyone!!!!

More eBay Pick-Ups!

So my LCS has an eBay store that they run for both their own cards, and as a consignment shop for all of us loyal customers. So I try to go through every once in a while and see what deals lurk within... The first card in the scan, I just got off ebay, the rest are all BigHitSportsCards purchases!

First up, the #2/5 Altuve Hometown Currency card from 2013 Gypsy Queen. This was the only "hit" the Astros had in the product. With only 5 produced I thought my odds were not good in getting one of these, luckily I found an auction that ended mid-week and sniped it. There is one currently at auction (#4/5) which is already $12+ more than I paid for mine! Ok, as for the rest, a couple of Tribute base cards for my set! Followed by two cards from the past two #1 overall picks: Appel and Correa! I had ZERO cards of either, now I have a couple of GU. Still not a fan of the Donruss Elite Edition no logos look but I do like this card! Next up, currently injured pitcher Alex White for the Astros and then a dual relic of Roger and Roy. Finally, I got the '75 Topps Highlight card for 99 cents! Woo hoo!

Now for the non-baseball section, an autograph of current Texans TE Garrett Graham and a relic for injured receiver DeVier Posey, who came on strong at the end of last year but then tore his Achilles in the last game of the season. Hopefully he heals up. Finally an auto I wanted for a long time. Brian Ching. I don't watch a lot of soccer but I did enjoy seeing the Houston Dynamo play from time to time. Ching has been a mainstay of the team since they came to Houston, so I decided to pick this one up on the cheap!

Thanks for stopping by everyone!

eBay Pick-Ups!

A couple of pick-ups from eBay to show off this morning! First up, a printing plate that now gives me half the plates needed to start mass manufacture of the following card! :)

Yes! That's 2/4 plates for the Altuve base card in GQ... speaking of GQ, here's an odd one from 2011:

I still don't know why the put Topps employees on cards as a gimmick, but whatever... it was $0.99 cents!

Tomorrow, some pick ups from my LCS's eBay store!

Astros Lot Pick-Up Part 4

Here we have cards of guys who either are in my PC or who are very close to being guys who I chase after:

Castro has been having a breakout year, now that he's healthy, I'm expecting big things. DeShields is a prospect I'm keeping my eye on because he's got a lot of speed and may be the answer at 2B if the Astros trade away Altuve. And two Bagwell relics that I haven't researched enough to see if actually have them already or not.

The final card in this Lot Pick-Up is one I'm fairly certain I already have, but is pretty awesome nonetheless. It's one of those great two-sided Quad relic cards from Absolute Memorabilia:

A HOF'er bat relic, even if it is Joe Morgan, and a piece of glove from Wade Miller. Wade fizzled out after a neck injury but for a few years there he was just as good (if not better) as Roy Oswalt.  On the back side of the card:

A nice Berkman and Hidalgo bat relic. Personally I'd have liked Berkman to be on the front of this card with Morgan but maybe Playoff decided they needed to force a reason for people to look at the back of the card! A nice low numbered quad relic out of just /150.

Overally, I'd say the lot was definitely worth the $15 I paid for it overall. Some nice second-tier additions to the Astros binders and a couple that I definitely think I can use as trade bait with fellow Astros collectors! Thanks for stopping by everyone!

Question: Do you guys miss the group breaks here at The Daily Dimwit? I'm starting to miss it just a tiny bit.

Astros Lot Pick-Up Part 3

The marginal Astros... these are guys who played significant time with the major league club but are far from my PC guys...

I know I have the Reynolds and Wallace already, but maybe they'll make good trade bait. The reset will go into Binder C of my Astros "hits and vintage" collection. Yes, I am up to three binders now. The first one consists of Nolan, Craig and Jeff. Binder B consists of guys like Roger Clemens, Lance Berkman, Jose Cruz, Mike Scott and other guys who I would actively trade for. Binder C is my binder of misfit Astros. Prospects and random hits of guys I don't actively trade for, but whose cards have ended up in my grubby little hands. The trio of Bogusevic autos is nice as it shows at least a little bit of consistency in signing his name, but is ultimately another reminder of how bad the Astros' front office was at drafting talent.

One more day of this series, it will show off cards that'll most likely go into my A and B binders... I really should come up with better names for these three binders... A, B and C is rather lame...

Astros Lot Pick-Up Part 2

For Part 2 of this series, I'm going with guys who never really made it... prospect autos, failed prospect autos to be exact... at least one of these guys got a cup or coffee or two in the bigs but the rest fizzled out in the minors:

Nick Gorneault was an Angels draft pick who was signed as a free agent and played one season at the Astros' AAA team. Somehow this deserved a card in Bowman. Ginter was a utility guy, Gothreaux is a guy who never made it past AAA with the Astros... and Iorg, had the name but not the talent. One of the Astros all time worst whiffs in the draft as a supplemental 1st rounder.

Topps TOTALLY did NOT Redeem Itself... Jerks...

So I was supposed to get a 2012 Bowman Platinum Auto/Relic Refractor of Jose Altuve. Here's what I got instead:

 So basically Topps explains that instead of providing the card they PROMISED IN THEIR PRODUCT, they are manufacturing a card... then slapping a sticker auto on it, and calling it an fair deal. And guess what, it's a guy from NY!!!! BECAUSE WE ALL KNOW THAT THE ENTIRE BASEBALL UNIVERSE REVOLVES AROUND THE STATE OF NEW YORK! 

Don't get me a wrong, it's a nice card of a HOF player who, sadly is gone way too soon. I have no doubt that I will be able to trade it away to someone who actually collects Gary Carter, as it has no place in my collection. There is no card number on the back, no serial number, nothing about Gary Carter. Just a short statement on how all Topps Autograph Cards are witnessed by a Topps Rep. This is an absolute sticker dump. I'd rather they had used this sticker to make cards that actually make it into packs!!!! I wonder if there are any Gary Carter redemptions floating around... muahahahaha, that'd be rather poetic. Anyways, Topps you can go suck a golf ball through a garden hose. I wish you had even the slightest understanding of what collectors REALLY WANT, not just spend your time throwing crap on the market and expecting us all to gobble it up and call it wonderful. I have two more redemptions I'm waiting on. One is for The Dutch Card Guy and the other is for myself. I'm hoping I don't end up with two more of these Gary Carter cards.

Astros Lot Pick-Up Part 1

So a Facebook friend posted a lot of 25 Astros autos and relics while I was on vacation and eventually dropped the price to $15. I jumped on it. I thought I'd break them down from the ones I needed/wanted least, up to the ones I really am digging the most. So, for the first post I have two TTM style autos. I am not always a fan of TTM-style or in-person autos that I didn't arrange or get myself. Just because I never know if they are authentic or not.

Richard Hidalgo was the guy we kept in the expansion draft instead of Bobby Abreu. Big mistake. Hidalgo had a couple of decent years but may very well have been a PED guy. He fizzled out and got traded away and never really regained his power stroke. Truby was your typical grinder, undrafted free agent guy who spent nearly 7 years in the minors working his way up to the big leagues. He stayed around for a little while and was traded to the Expos for Geoff Blum in 2002. Geoff is now one of our play-by-play guys in the Astros broadcast booth.

Random Group Break Loot

I picked up a few slots in a break or two over at Crazy 8 Sports Cards breaks and got a few decent cards. Most of what you see is for trade and I've got base cards available from these sets for the Rangers and Rockies available as well...

The Rosario is the highlight of course. Glad I was able to get a Correa card as well. I really dig the Bowman Chrome mini's, a nice addition. If I was Yu's PR people, I'd be upset about the picture they used for the Canvas Collection but still a sweet card. Anyways, thought I did all right considering how late I jumped in on these teams and the price I paid. Of all the above, only the Ryan and Correa are staying in my collection.

Our mail should be re-started today, it was supposed to re-start on Saturday but our USPS here in Alabama is a bit on the "special" side. So hopefully I have some more cards waiting for me once they finally get it delivered!

Vacation Time

Sorry guys, I've been away for about a week and a half on a MUCH needed vacation...

I'll be back to regular-ish posts soon enough...

The wife and I flew to Seattle and then drove down the Pacific Coast Highway all the way to Los Angeles. It was an amazing drive and a trip of a lifetime. Couldn't be happier about the way it went!

Sucks I have to go back to work tomorrow!

Mail Call!!!! eBay and Group Break Loot

A few more items picked up off eBay and in a group break or two...

That Wallace is numbered /10 while the Dominguez is /30. It wasn't until a group break pulled the Dominguez that I even knew he had a card in the set. All my saved eBay searches for "Astros" and "Museum" had somehow not picked up on a single one of his cards. So, good to get one, I may have to go after the parallels now. The Heyward is for my slowly growing 2011 Gypsy Queen Auto set. Finally, two Rio Ruiz autos, he was our 3rd round pick last year and we went over-slot to get him. He's doing ok at low A-ball this year but he was a high school kid so he may take a year or two to develop.

Thanks for stopping by!

eBay Makes No Sense...

So I picked up another Biggio auto... this one from 2013 Topps Museum Collection. It's numbered out of just /25 copies. There is another auto in the set that's numbered out of just /10, there's no way I am getting that one, so I went for this one. I ended up paying even less than I did for the Tribute /50 and the /99. Did I get crazy lucky, or did bidders just REALLY like the Tribute autos more? I think I like this one a lot!

SWEEEEEEEET!!!!

It's RANT TIME:

So, this leads me to another point of discussion. Chris Olds tweeted something about how awesome 2013 Topps Archives is, I responded with the counterpoint that it's pretty awesome for 29 teams, sucks for the Astros. Because there are exactly the following cards with Astros on them in Archives: (1) Base card, (1) Insert card and (1) Autograph which is conveniently numbered "out of /5 or less" per the checklist. A former Topps executive then responded, "get over it bro".  It floored me, and also gave me insight into the mind of Topps, even if the guy doesn't work there anymore. That's the response from the industry... you don't like something? Well, "get over it bro". So, I'm going to "get over it bro" by not buying a single card from Archives. If someone wants to send me an extra copy of the insert and base card, that'd be swell and all, but I'm not even going to the secondary market to buy those two. There's no way on this earth I'd end up with one of the /5 Nolan Ryan autos anyway. In the mean time, my Astros are not THE worst team in baseball and we're not too far from being better than the Brewers to not even be the 2nd worst team in baseball. Suck it Topps.