Trade Post!

I made a trade with Ryan over at "O" No!!! Another Orioles Blog a little while back. He waited to ship his part with my group break results from 3 boxes of Topps Mini. I didn't get anything too exciting from the break, other than the fact that the Astros had a TON of cards in these three boxes, a big surprise considering Topps hates us right now. Thanks for the break Ryan and thanks for the trade, got to add this beauty of a refractor to my collection:

Andrew was a 5th rounder in 2012 and has had a very good year in 2013 with 104 RBI, 9HR and a slash line of .280/.380/.429 through 124 games. He's also stolen 24 bases while making only 1 error all year in CF. Not too shabby, could be a guy to look for in a few years. This one is numbered 221/500.

Really? More A&G???

Ok, so the wife and I stopped by the card shop the other day, and were antagonized by our friend Bobby to buy some more A&G. Well, it was Bobby and the store owner Nathan, who kindly informed us that the first half of the case he had seen opened in the store didn't have the case hit pulled... so here's what we ended up with (and yes I know we have a problem) after busting 4 more boxes:

More jersey swatches! I've gotten the feeling that the bat relics are shorter printed than the jersey relics. Has anyone read or seen anything to verify this? Seems like the bat relics are selling a bit better than the jersey relics as well, don't know if I'm just reading into things too much or what...

And I got autos!!! 5 out of 4 boxes. The odds of this happening (much like the autos in our case) are not in our favor and I gotta say I'm pretty happy with the results of these boxes:

Cain, he of the perfect game against my Astros, is a nice auto to pull for sure! Harvick? I'm not a NASCAR guy but it's a nice auto nonetheless. Heath? I had literally never heard of him before this set, but the auto seems to be selling well in the secondary market. Cingrani is a good rookie to grab this year, seems to be having moderate success with Cincy. Finally, Axl Rose redemption #2 in my pocket. I have them both listed on eBay and they haven't sold quite as fast as I thought they would. I'm hoping if people get wind of him actually signing these cards, that they'll start moving again at a brisker pace. The Rose is the only one I have on eBay right now, everything else is up for sale/trade if you want to make an offer!

Box Break - Packs 22, 23 and 24...

By the way, I have reposted my Want List. I didn't bother re-listing what I had for trade, just because I have an ENORMOUS pile of duplicates. I do have (4) full sets of "Martial Mastery" and (1) full set of "Civilizations of Ages Past" available as well if anyone is going after those...

Let's get this over with... all the hits are gone, so who is really going to read these last three pack posts anyways... hahaha...

There's some nice cards in there! I like the last one though, the King Tut card, that's a nice insert mini for sure!

This box was pretty blah, and if I had been in Gint-A-Cuffs I'm sure I'd have scored about 80 points.

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter - Box Bust - Pack #20 & 21

Another day, another pack or two... ready to be done with these posts... lol... so I am doing two packs in this post!

Two decent packs! Love the Abe Vigoda card! Not so hot on the Chanel card, stop A&G, just stop. Kimbrel relic to round out the hits for this box. Rather "meh" across the board. Love the Kershaw mini as well!

Box Break Interrupted... again...

Got a couple things in the mail.

First up, from blog reader and twitter friend Trey (@treyjyert) held a twitter contest and I won this awesome Brandon Barnes autographed 8x10!

Brandon is one of those high energy/crazy guys. I love what he brings to the team and he plays an amazing defensive CF. Thanks Trey!

Up next is something I saw and just had to go after. I thought it was pretty cool, and no one was bidding on it. So I got it for the minimum bid of $10 and was pretty dang happy. For some reason, I really like printing plates. I think they are very unique and as an engineer's son, I think I have a mind that is intrigued by the way things work, the process and understanding how things are built...

That's the yellow printing plate used for the boxes of Panini USA Baseball Champions 2013. What am I going to do with this? No clue whatsoever. But I had to pick it up. The seller didn't do a great job with shipping protection and it got a healthy bend in it (you can't see it in the picture) but nonetheless it's a cool piece of 1/1 awesomeness. As far as "how things work" I still don't understand the process of how these plates are used, as I would think the lettering should be mirrored on a printing plate but 99% of the plates I see show regular text... if someone can explain, you'd be my hero!

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter - Box Bust - Pack #19

Here we go with pack #19...

We have hit number 3 of the box... rather unimpressive, and a bit damaged on the bottom edge, just like the Starlin Castro I pulled as well. Damnit Topps, you had one job: get the relic in the pack without damaging it! Oh well, it's not like I was going to sell it or even find a trade partner for it... lol...

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter - Box Bust - Pack #18

This afternoon's pack has to be better than this morning's, right?

Definitely, with Cal and Johnny Bench included in the base. The black border mini is nice as well. I was able to complete my insert set of One Little Corner, as well as one more which Dawgbones has already purchased. Was certainly hoping to complete a few more of these...

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter - Box Bust - Pack #17

Another pack this morning...

Kind of a blah pack. Amazingly, from 2+ cases, I'm still short on the mini insert set of the Codes, Ciphers and Cryptographs. I'll be re-posting a new wants list soon. Thanks for stopping by!

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter - Box Bust - Pack #16

Here we go, another pack this afternoon...

The Bastille!!! And Teddy Ballgame mini, not too shabby. Bonnie looking great in the blue dress. Bud Selig looking like a big . Boy I really hate they put him in a set, I really don't like him... booo...

Have a great afternoon!

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter - Box Bust - Pack #15

Wow, so we busted our case last night, and if you weren't following on Twitter, you missed out for sure...

I am going to try and get some posts up about what all the Hotwit and I got from our case, but I think those who have seen the twitter feed will agree we got a hot case. With autos supposed to fall one per 49 packs (so about every 2-3 boxes) we went gang busters and got 9 autographs total... it was ridiculous. Some great autos in there as well.

As for pack 15, compared to last night it is very "meh"... :)

But I can't complain too much about an all baseball pack! Seaver twice!

Hope you all have a great day!

Holy crap! I just realized this is my 1000th post on this blog! Wow! Can't believe I've been blogging this much for this long... it's a minor accomplishment, just goes to show you that I have a lot of drivel... :-D

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter - Box Bust - Pack #14

Good afternoon... within an hour or two of your reading this, the Hotwit and I will be elbows deep in a case of Allen & Ginter... pray to the cardboard gods that they shine favorably upon our endeavor...

But until then, here's pack #14:

Not a bad group of baseball players here, except for the unproven Eovaldi, all these guys were or are stars in their day! How about that Taj Mahal card? I like it. The Palaces and Strongholds insert set is definitely in my top 5 of inserts this year. The Civilizations of Ages Past is the worst in my opinion, although the Across the Years isn't too far just due to it's bulk. But that's what A&G does I guess, one massive insert set a year, so I guess there isn't too much to complain about.

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter - Box Bust - Pack #13

Another morning, another pack... as much as I enjoy these posts, I'm ready for this box to be done with already... only 11 more packs!

Not too shabby, the full sized baseball players are all great players... well, except for Bronson Arroyo... Bill Walton? Meh... Nova? Meh... The Zulu dude? Awesome!

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter - Box Bust - Pack #12

Here's another afternoon pack. Decidedly different from this morning...

So this morning was 100% baseball players, and here we do an almost complete 180 from that pack. Joy, Melrose and Monty Hall, not too shabby. I think they should have just had a card for Melrose's hair. I love the One Little Corner insert set; and I'm liking the First Americans set as well. Talk about a set that really could have been a part of the original A&G sets. 

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter - Box Bust - Pack #11

Pack #11 this wonderful morning... Monday, blech...

How about a bunch of baseball players! An entire baseball pack!!!! It's a miracle! Can't say there's a card in here I don't like. The Clark is great, like the inclusion of Will the Thrill on the checklist. Wish they'd put a guy like Mike Scott in as well some day. The Clemente mini is awesome too!

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter - Box Bust - Pack #10

Well, moving our way through the box, here's pack 10!

Lots of a baseball in this pack! And some Romans! I needed most of these and the Martin SP for sure.

Went to the card shop yesterday and the wife and I went a bit nuts... posts to come, but basically we ended up busting a ridiculous amount of A&G... and didn't find a single auto, but we did get a rip card and some other fun stuff.

Commenting Issues

Guys, I just figured out today, that for about the past month Yahoo! has been sending all the e-mails for my blogger comments, and any conversations that are RE: or FW: of these conversations into my Spam folder.

I think I've solved the problem. But if you feel you've left a comment that you wanted me to respond on and I didn't, I really do apologize. Please e-mail me with anything you were wanting to make a trade on or whatever... sorry guys... my e-mail is samuelpair@yahoo.com

Thanks!

My Third Box from Last Week

So, last weekend I picked up three boxes... one I video'ed, one I am posting pack by pack and well here's the hits from the third:

That Castros is DIRTY! But it's also damaged along the bottom edge (by Topps, not me). When I was at my LCS yesterday, a guy pulled a similarly dirty swatch with the same damage on the bottom edge. You would think Topps' QC department would catch their machines damaging hits, but no that's an unrealistic expectation. I'm sure Matt would still love to deal for this one though! Haha! The Jones is going on eBay... the Sabathia, well I now have two of them... but that's a whole different story involving the LCS yesterday...

Let's just put it this way, with the boxes I had already bought, the wife and I have busted a case in total, and we have a case on the way. It's crazy A&G town in our apartment right now. I don't think I'll be posting all the results, there's just too many cards. But the really good stuff, you can find on eBay. I'm posting a bunch to recoup some money. My eBay seller name is samuelpair. So, go take a look... if I was smart enough to link it, I would but my brain isn't functioning right now.

If anyone is interested in a 350 card set with SP's, please let me know. I can do those for $35 shipped via paypal gift. I believe I'll have 2-3 more of those to sell. Let me know if there are any full insert sets you'd like, I'll give you a price on those. Will also get to a point of selling/trading singles and filling in people's set needs. Just let me know what you might be interested in. Needless to say, this year's A&G has rekindled my collecting fire a bit.

Rippin' Retail BIG TIME and some Hobby Fun Too...

So, over the past couple of weeks the wife and I have been stopping by Target from time to time and we always check out the discount blaster area for fun pick ups for the both of us!

First up, a hit for my wife from 2011 Donruss Americana, discounted to $12.99 for the blaster!

Nice! Numbered out of 250 and a big name like Bogart! Awesome.

Next up, I always wanted a Pete Rose auto but I didn't want to pay more than $12.99 for it. And I succeeded! The "Pete Rose: A Living Legend" blasters were discounted to $12.99 so I grabbed one knowing it guaranteed an auto!

Great picture and it doesn't look horrible with the lack of license. It's going in the PC. Great pick up for a great price. I'm sure there are enough Pete Rose autos for every collector to have one super cheap these days.

Finally, on the retail splurge, I grabbed a 2013 Allen & Ginter blaster at full price! I got EXTREMELY lucky...

Wow! Fantastic autograph and the pack odds were 1:141, so out of an 8 pack blaster I say I did pretty dang well for myself! When I saw the thick card in the stack I figured, "Hey I got a jersey relic!" But when I flipped it over I couldn't believe my luck! Awesome! Shelby apparently decided to take his time with this auto, it's a great looking signature!

Ok, finally, a couple weekends ago I bought my 3 boxes of Allen and Ginter, I also picked up a box of Golden Age. What can I say, I like the set...

I managed to add a couple of cards for my wife's collection! It's ok, the box she bought netted us the Gil Hodges relic and the Tommie Davis auto last month. Of all the Bad News Bears to pull, Tatum O'Neal is definitely one of the best! Lombard looks so angry, why so angry Carole? Is it because of the unnecessary "e" at the end of your first name???? 

Hope you all are enjoying the increased activity on the blog. Is anyone reading this drivel????? 

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter - Box Bust - Pack #9

Pack #9 on record now:

I will start by saying I love the Death Valley card, although the picture leaves a little to be desired. Why is Gio Gonzalez trying to give himself a hug? Gose could have been an Astro, we traded him to Toronto for Brett Wallace. Oy vey. Love the code breaker card as well, wish I was smart enough to do such a thing, but I am just a dimwit...

eBay Pick up... another interruption...

I've got to get better about updating trades and eBay purchases when they happen... so I interrupt the box break again to show off this awesome plate.... I may have overpaid a bit for it, but I missed out on a /10 silk due to FieldLevelView outbidding me at the last moment, so I rolled that into this one...

Another Altuve plate! I think this brings me up to 5 total. I know a lot of people have soured on these but I think they are awesome. I have the piece of metal used to make the card! How awesome is that!

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter - Box Bust - Pack #8

Here we got with the 8th pack... 1/3 of the way through the box!

I love the Cobb and Carew, it kind of goes south from there in a hurry... I have a duplicate of the Forbidden City now. Needed the Miley for my SP's.

Box Break Interrupted - Part #3

I have a trade to show off with Matt over at Cardboard Conundrum. I sent some Cubs and other cards his way... here's my loot in return:

Some sweeeeet Texans mojo for sure! DeVier Posey may be coming back in time to play in the pre-season and build on his great 2nd half last year before the Achilles injury. Hopkins already looks like a beast! Vasquez is the guy we suckered the Tigers out of in the Veras deal. Finally, the Pickford and Gardner were picked up for my wife's growing Hollywood collection!

Finally, I got another eBay package in!

That gives me 2/3 of the Astros hits in this product. It remains to be seen if I'll actively go after the now released Carlos Pena relic. Thanks Topps, Pena's already gone and Martinez isn't too far behind him. You really couldn't have found a couple better guys to throw in the set? I guess I can't complain too much, this is more representation than we had in Gypsy Queen by far... sadly... geesh...

Have a great day everyone!

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter - Box Bust - Pack #7

Good afternoon, here's pack #7 so far... some thing more than just base cards and inserts on this one! :)

Solid non-baseball guys & girls here. Wallenda, Vonn and Roy Jones Jr! Not too shabby! Again, the Across the Years could be tossed and I'd be fine with it. I like the red background behind Brock, even if he's a cardinal.

We have the first hit of the box...

Could it be more "meh"? Marcum is carving out a decent journeyman career but hardly who I want to see on a A&G relic. Maybe there's a Mets fan out there just clamoring for this card, maybe not...

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter - Box Bust - Pack #6

To try and get through these a bit quicker, I'm going to try and start posting a day and evening pack... two packs a day... hmmm, seems like there is a blog out there with that name. :)

Pack #6 of the box!

Pretty much all baseball again! The George Brett is an SP that I needed! YAY! I am definitely collecting the One Little Corner insert set, I love space themed inserts! The Lincecum is a regular back!

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter - Box Bust - Pack #5

Another morning, another pack...

An all baseball pack! How is Bundy still getting RC's, seems like he's been in sets for over a year now, maybe it's just perception. Nothing to get overly excited about there. The Blyleven is a A&G Shield back. Thanks for stopping by this morning!

Box Break Interrupted - Part #2

Alright, I ran out of time yesterday morning, so I split up the post! I had stopped with the loot my wife made off with at trade night, here's what I got!

I picked up another box of 2013 Team USA Champions from Panini. I REALLY like the set and the auto checklist. Most of these are most likely for trade!

Next up, I swung a trade on Trade Night (novel idea, I know) and picked up this beaut from 2013 Panini Prizm:

That's Lance McCullers, who the Astros picked up as a steal of a supplemental 1st round draft pick and threw enough money at him to get him to sign. He's done well at low A ball this year and hopefully should be part of the rotation in a year or two!

Finally, my buddy Bobby and I split a box of 2013 Bowman Platinum with him taking the National League and me the American league. Here's what I ended up with from the box... I was hoping for Springer or Singleton but ended up with:

A Red Sox prospect auto and a Mariners auto/relic. If you can't see the serial numbering on the C.J. Cron that's #'ed 2/10! NICE!

The McCullers is the only card in this post that I consider off-limits! Feel free to shoot me offers on anything else!

Whoa, just realized this is 4 posts in the past two days... next thing you know I'm going to be contemplating a group break again...................

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter - Box Bust - Pack #4

Pack #4 on this wonderful Wednesday morning!

Another great mix of non-baseball and baseball! Schoendienst, Rodney, a black border Kinsler and an SP I needed in Bob Lemon. I had never heard of Kalama or Mancuso but I am sure we've all heard of Artie Lange whether we like him or not. I am not a huge fan of the Civilizations of Ages Past but I guess it does kind of fit in with A&G's quirkiness.

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter - Box Bust - Pack #3

Another pack today... just for the heck of it...

Heath, that's one scary lookin' dude. I am the antithesis of "buff", but I just don't get wanting to be THAT muscular. I'd like to be in better shape, but I am not prepared to work out that much. I love the Berry card, just awesome. How about Nana Meriwether? Loving all the non-baseball love in this pack, including the Marley at the end. Shelby Miller is a nice RC pick-up even if he is a Cardinal. I like the horizontals in the A&G set, but I really wish they'd save them for variations or SP's. And this is now three packs and 2 Yankees mini's... I don't like where this is headed...

Box Break Interrupted

I interrupt this box break to show off some trades, pick-ups and other stuff...

First up is a trade with Scott Crawford of the aptly named Scott Crawford on Cards. This trade was involving a BUNCH of Texans cards but really the centerpiece of the deal was this beaut:

Cush has had his ups and downs, but he's coming back again this year in a contract year, expect big things!

Next up, an ebay purchase or two...

What's better than one Altuve relic? Three for the price of one! YAY!!!

A sweet dual auto of Jason Castro and Jordan Lyles. Also, a silk to add to my Silk Collection of Astros. This one of short time Astro Carlos Pena... we all knew he wouldn't live out that contract.

Next up, some Trade Night fun from a couple weekends ago. The wife bought a couple of boxes of Goodwin Champions... here's her loot:

That's TEBOW!!!! And Natalie Gulbis is nothing to frown about :) and this may be bad but I have no idea who Dave Casper is and I'm ok with that. The autos are a female skate boarder and a minor league prospect. Meh. Finally she got one of the Animal manu-patches! All for trade, and she's prefer Hollywood stuff in return!

Tomorrow, I'll show off what I got from trade night!

2013 Topps Allen and Ginter - Box Bust - Pack #2

Here's pack #2

Nothing to get too excited about there. Three horizontal cards. I am not a fan of the Across The Years inserts. Mine eventually will all be for trade, but not before I so something with them first. Worley mini is a regular back...

I posted my need/want list for this year's set, and I've accounted for all the cards in this box. Yes, I've busted the whole box already, but I've kept them all in their wrappers as I opened them, so they'll all be scanned and posted in order of opening... no shenanigans here... other than the fact that I know what base and insert cards I now need and have available for trade!

Pack by Pack 2013 Allen and Ginter Break - Box Topper & Pack 1

With my second box of 2013 Allen and Ginter... I'm going to do, much like Topps Chrome the past couple of years, a pack-by-pack showcase of the box... these will be in the exact order in which I busted the packs. So without further ado, here is the box topper and Pack #1 of the box!

I really do like these box toppers over the themed ones of years past. Or even the other types I've seen thus far this year.

Not a horrible first pack. The Strawberry gives me flashbacks to the mid-80's. I like the Across the Years insert set, but it may be too massive for me to even consider putting together. I don't even want to discuss A-Fraud.

2013 Allen and Ginter Box Break

I'm back everyone... and I've got a series of posts to keep me blogging strong through the next few months! I've regained my collecting desire and I'm excited about some of the Astros that are showing up in Bowman and other sets. Hopefully you all have been pulling lots of Astros for me and we can get the trades flowing once again. Speaking of, I've got about 5 trades on my desk that I'll be getting out in the mail this week, I promise! Plus my photobucket needs some mass updates, as I've got all kinds of new trade bait!

So I grabbed some A&G to see if it would re-kindle my love for the set... actually it kind of did, it's a MUCH MUCH MUCH better looking set than years past, although I do miss the chance to actually get an autograph every once in a while... so hard to pull...

I got three boxes, video'ed opening one of them, so here you go... scans after the page break...

Before I go much further, I know I said the phrase "crazy Catholics" in there... I'm just saying, they are a very devout bunch and I'm sure one of them will think the card I referenced is the bee's knees...

TeenyMates! Series 2 - Hockey and KeyChains!!! It's Contest Time!!!

Watch the video everyone... contest rules are included within...

Thanks again to the great folks at TeenyMates for allowing me to promo these items! Lots of fun!

2013 Allen and Ginter Wants and For Trade

Wants:

Curious Cases
CH
JFK
UVB

People On Bicycles
A
NH
PF
QT
T
WE

All In A Days Work
Clergy
Nurse
Paperboy
Police Office
Soldier

Across The Years
Ian Kinsler
Nick Swisher

Oversized Box Loaders
Joey Votto
Miguel Cabrera
Mike Trout

Wonders of the World Box Loaders
1 - Giza
2 - Hanging Gardens
4 - Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
8 - Channel Tunnel
11 - Golden Gate Bridge
15 - Grand Canyon
16 - Great Barrier Reef
19 - Aurora

Mini's - Regular Back, no variations:
13, 27, 28, 30, 40, 43, 55, 59, 72, 73, 138, 143, 149, 166, 189, 193, 196, 225, 228, 233, 238, 257, 260, 263, 284, 322, 332

FOR TRADE

I have HUNDREDS of extra base cards, inserts (full and mini) and box toppers. Shoot me your want list, I'm sure I can help you somewhere on your list!!! Thanks!