Anyone interested in a group break? 3-5 hobby boxes. Two teams per spot - one you pick, another randomly assigned? Guaranteed "hit" per person from my personal collection of trade bait if you get skunked. Let me know what you think. Would need at least moderate interest to proceed.
Thanks for stopping by!
A baseball card blog for the hopelessly addicted wax pack opener...
Tuesday, August 7, 2018
Thursday, August 2, 2018
My Osuna Thoughts
This post will absolutely fall into the category of "unsolicited opinion" and I absolutely agree. No one ever has ASKED for my take on this. However, there has been a twitter war amongst my friends (and probably enemies at this point) on #AstrosTwitter. To this point, I've remained Switzerland as best I can. I do not feel comfortable stating any strong opinion one way or another on the actual situation Roberto Osuna put himself (and more importantly, his girlfriend) in many months ago. Obviously, and this shouldn't have to be stated by ANYONE, but I do not support or condone domestic violence in any way. Please keep in mind, that this is all opinion and from the life of a person who has not been witness, subject or perpetrator of domestic violence. There are a few factors in play here that prevent me from jumping out there with a pure take on the issue:
1) Differences in laws - Canadian law is vastly different than American law in these matters. The way the arrests take place, charges files and cases being resolved just has a different process and procedure. There are laws in place to protect the victim to the greatest extent possible by police and prosecutors. This is a good thing, but it leads into my second point.
2) Lack of information - With the protections in place, this whole situation is vastly different than an American incident. There are no released photos, witness statements, officer's accounts of what happened, etc. We don't know the context or severity of what happened. Based on a couple of articles I've read, it could be as little as a verbal threat, or as severe as physical bodily harm. The severity, to me, matters but it's not the primary factor. The primary factor is that SOMETHING happened. So unless a prosecutor drops the charges and comes out to say "Nothing happened, this was a complete boondoggle, we are sorry to have besmirched the good name of a fine young man." then we have to conclude that enough happened to support a charge being not only filed, but pursued to this extent and not dropped already. There is a possibility that the record of what happened that night may never be known publicly.
3) Misinformation - There's a lot of rumor, innuendo and such being spread around - like Jeff Passan saying he's seen "horrific" photos of the victim - which I find hard to believe considering the systems in place there in Canada. Again, I want to know the truth and form an informed, rational opinion on the matter. I don't want to shoot from the hip and be all FIRE AND BRIMSTONE. If there ARE horrific photos, I don't want to see them to be frank, but I want that information coming from prosecutors - not a source like Passan.
If all the charges are 100% true and he's convicted or if the charges are dropped because of lack of victim cooperation, count me on the APPALLED and WILL NEVER ROOT FOR HIM side of things. I'm just not there, yet. I do want due process to be held before I add my voice to the cacophony.
So, if I don't have an opinion on the actual events that took place, why am I writing this blogpost? Well, there are several facets of this story that truly do bother me. Prepare yourself, some of this may be counter intuitive and seem to cause some cognitive dissonance - but that's the crux of this situation: it's cause a lot of mixed feelings and thoughts for a lot of us that are hard to reconcile:
1) Public Relations - This is a PR nightmare for the Astros. No way around that. You don't go out and make a trade at the deadline and frame it ANY other context than "Winning is our #1 priority". There is literally no other reason for this trade, and to try to spin it any other way is disingenuous, at best, to the fan base. We have trusted Luhnow and Crane through the rebuild, through the worst years of baseball I've ever witnessed to come out of the mire with a WS trophy and a clubhouse of guys that we all LOVE. Seriously, there are so many of them that we'd walk across fire for... so adding this type of guy, with this kind of baggage and try to play it off as a "second chance" redemption story in the press, well, it doesn't sit well with a lot of fans. This guy doesn't have the public perception of a "high character guy" whether he is or not.
2) Timing - I do believe that the timing of when the trade was made is very telling. Trades at the deadline are intended to give your team a boost towards the playoffs, especially the Astros with the back end of the bullpen being a bit shaky. The fact this happened at the deadline tells me it was done for purely baseball reasons, to win games, at all cost. I don't necessarily care that we got a "discount" for damaged goods. The fact they made the deal, when they made it, tells me the motivation. If it was all about second chances and a fresh start for a 23 year old guy, it could and in my opinion, should have waited until the off season. Even if that meant paying a higher price. By the time the season is over, the case should be resolved and I would think the context of the incident would be public knowledge and there wouldn't be a need to "spin" the acquisition to make it more palatable to a fan base. Keep the guy in the Toronto minors for the rest of the year, let there be resolution and then define a path forward to give him a fresh start elsewhere, as it was obvious he would never wear a Blue Jays uniform in a game again.
3) Media Reaction - A few weeks ago, there was more than one article I read that proposed that a Giles-for-Osuna swap would be ideal for both parties. But as the trade deadline approached and more rumors picked up, it became divisive. More an more media members then came out of the woodwork to slam the trade and the Astros in the process. In a vitriolic way that I do not recall reading about when the Yankees traded for Chapman, the Cubs traded for Chapman, or when Jose Reyes continued to get contracts, or when Julio Lugo was dismissed from this team and given a huge payday with Boston. Times have changed, even since the Chapman situation and the media has taken a pretty hard stance (as they should) against domestic violence and other off the field issues. I do feel it has been a pretty heavy handed attack on the Astros from the national columnists - to a degree that I think it borders on unfair (this is where some of the dissonance kicks in). Some have gone so far as to express regret for not covering the Chapman situation as harshly as this one. I don't feel the media needs to be excusing or making any apologies, but it is a bit frustrating to keep reading basically the same anti-Astros rhetoric daily - reiterating the same points with no new information, just more hatred.
4) Being a Villain - For YEARS, the Yankees were known at least jokingly as the "Evil Empire" - they were and probably always will be cast in a villainous role for the way they operate, "buying championships" and winning at all costs. Never, ever, have any Astros fans felt the ownership or management to take that role. To be the ones who would sacrifice the "good" for purely the sake of winning. But here we stand, in a role we are completely unfamiliar with, and a fan base not ready to put on the bad guy mask. Yes, some of our players dealt with demons in their past, but we all acknowledge the role media and social media has played over the past 5-10 years in making things much more public and keeping them in the spotlight. When other guys had a DUI, drug use, or DV issues, it was dealt with and moved on from pretty quickly. This will not happen this time around. Osuna's baggage is a huge black cloud over the remainder of the season - and it absolutely puts the villain mask on the team, whether us fans want it or not. We want to be the good guys. We want to root for guys we think we'd want to have a family dinner with in the off season. Guys with bad attitudes typically haven't lasted long in Houston. And I'm not so naive to think that there aren't more skeleton's in the closet, guys who truly are bad people, abusers, cheaters, etc who have player or may still be playing with the Astros. But ignorance is bliss right? What we don't know, doesn't hurt us. But we do know now, we know enough about Osuna to know SOMETHING happened that night. And by acquiring him in the manner we did, ominously puts the Astros in bad company. We sacrificed our "good" name for wins. And I don't know if I agree with that type of move.
5) The Clubhouse - for the last 3-4 years, the Astros clubhouse has taken on a sort of legendary tone - of dance parties, WWE style belts being passed out for best pitcher and hitter each game, for antics and solid friendships amongst our guys. When Verlander came over last year, it seemed to solidify that clubhouse even more. 25 guys who all had the same "Let's win this" mentality and had each other's backs. Adding Osuna surely will change that, and I can't see how adding him HELPS any team chemistry. There will be guys who don't want to associate with him, as many have voiced strong opinions on past DV circumstances. We probably will never get to see behind the curtain, but I do believe that the way Osuna joins this clubhouse will be noticed and seen on the field and in the dugout/bullpen.
6) Suspensions in general - another comparison being thrown around is the differences in the lengths of suspensions. None of us are privy to the details known by MLB or the method they used to come up with 75 games. I firmly believe that if the Chapman situation happened today instead of several years ago, he'd probably be facing 75 games too. I think the timing and slow moving court processes in Canada may have had an effect too, knowing there wouldn't be any kind of immediate resolution to the case, better to keep him off the field through it all. But I don't think we can compare any two suspensions and draw any equivalence. There are years between the suspensions where culture and society has shifted their views on these issues, MLB may have shifted their opinion on how severe punishments should be, there are a lot of factors here. And again, MLB may have seen evidence we haven't and been able to draw their own conclusion that it was in fact "horrific" and deserving of 75 instead of 30. All scenarios are still in play here. But the fact there was no appeal to the suspension is another note to be reconciled. What does that mean? I don't know if I can answer that without making a lot of assumptions I'm not willing to make yet.
7) Other Options - There were other closer/bullpen guys out there available. Sure, maybe not with as much team control or such a pitching repertoire - but solid guys who can get outs. And who would be welcomed with open arms into this clubhouse and city without having to spend a second spinning anything. Keone Kela comes to mind. Plus, I really haven't had a problem with the job Hector Rondon has done thus far in the closer role. He's sporting a 2.35 ERA with 10 saves thus far. I liked adding Ryan Pressly. We've got Forrest Whitley who may be a September call-up. Heck, Brenden McCurry and Buddy Boshers are both having pretty good seasons at AAA. There were just so many other options available. Why go after damaged goods?
8) Community Impact - I'm not going to be the one talking about "these guys are role models, etc." That's not my soapbox. I firmly believe that kids will learn infinitely more inside the walls of their own home than they ever will by watching a sport or participating in one. However, I will say that this addition sends the wrong message to fans of the Astros who have experienced domestic violence - whether they like it or not, it sends the message that the organization condones the behavior at a certain level as long as the player is able to help win games. And there's the problem, any time you elevate "winning" to a higher priority than anything else, you will face backlash. I am not sure that Luhnow or Crane correctly estimated the level of goodwill they would lose by making this deal. In fact, I think they may have gotten cocky and over confident in this matter. It's not all about the analytics. And for fans, while championships and trophies are amazing experiences, to many of them there is more to it than the final W-L record. Especially those who invest their time and money significantly to attend games. You vote/support by where you spend your money, in many ways. Do I think there will be rows and rows of empty seats because of this deal? No. But there will be a subsection of fans who will no longer attend spontaneously, it'll no longer be an option or a go-to when there's nothing going on.
Alright, that's a lot of words, and I hope that I did a fair job of expressing my disgust towards what has been alleged to have happened, while balancing it with my desire to wait things out a bit for actual resolution of the case. As for Osuna in a card/memorabilia collecting sense - he will note be part of my collection. My team sets will be complete without his inclusion, I don't want his autograph. Again, unless he's proven 100% innocent and that the whole situation is a complete lie/fabrication (which I HIGHLY doubt). See, I'm conflicted still, and will be for a while. I will root for my team to win games. I will root for my team to win a World Series. I will root within the context of hoping all 25 guys do their job. I cannot change the fact this guy is on the roster. Booing him will not improve the way I feel about the whole thing, and cheering for him specifically will only make me feel dirty about the whole experience. I will celebrate team wins, as conflicted as it may feel. I believe you can support the Astros without being an Osuna fan. I am not going to hate the other 24 guys in the dugout for a decision that they didn't make.
Finally, these are my thoughts and feelings on the matter. There will be many a fan that says, "So what, I don't care, let's play baseball." And that's just as valid an opinion as "Well, I'm never spending another dime or minute on the Astros." And every opinion in between. There is grey area within the context of this whole situation. I support all my friends who are disgusted by this all. I support all my friends who just want to watch a game and escape from every last nasty non-baseball issue that already plagues their life the other 21 hours of the day. I don't find it hard to straddle that line.
Have a great day everyone.
1) Differences in laws - Canadian law is vastly different than American law in these matters. The way the arrests take place, charges files and cases being resolved just has a different process and procedure. There are laws in place to protect the victim to the greatest extent possible by police and prosecutors. This is a good thing, but it leads into my second point.
2) Lack of information - With the protections in place, this whole situation is vastly different than an American incident. There are no released photos, witness statements, officer's accounts of what happened, etc. We don't know the context or severity of what happened. Based on a couple of articles I've read, it could be as little as a verbal threat, or as severe as physical bodily harm. The severity, to me, matters but it's not the primary factor. The primary factor is that SOMETHING happened. So unless a prosecutor drops the charges and comes out to say "Nothing happened, this was a complete boondoggle, we are sorry to have besmirched the good name of a fine young man." then we have to conclude that enough happened to support a charge being not only filed, but pursued to this extent and not dropped already. There is a possibility that the record of what happened that night may never be known publicly.
3) Misinformation - There's a lot of rumor, innuendo and such being spread around - like Jeff Passan saying he's seen "horrific" photos of the victim - which I find hard to believe considering the systems in place there in Canada. Again, I want to know the truth and form an informed, rational opinion on the matter. I don't want to shoot from the hip and be all FIRE AND BRIMSTONE. If there ARE horrific photos, I don't want to see them to be frank, but I want that information coming from prosecutors - not a source like Passan.
If all the charges are 100% true and he's convicted or if the charges are dropped because of lack of victim cooperation, count me on the APPALLED and WILL NEVER ROOT FOR HIM side of things. I'm just not there, yet. I do want due process to be held before I add my voice to the cacophony.
So, if I don't have an opinion on the actual events that took place, why am I writing this blogpost? Well, there are several facets of this story that truly do bother me. Prepare yourself, some of this may be counter intuitive and seem to cause some cognitive dissonance - but that's the crux of this situation: it's cause a lot of mixed feelings and thoughts for a lot of us that are hard to reconcile:
1) Public Relations - This is a PR nightmare for the Astros. No way around that. You don't go out and make a trade at the deadline and frame it ANY other context than "Winning is our #1 priority". There is literally no other reason for this trade, and to try to spin it any other way is disingenuous, at best, to the fan base. We have trusted Luhnow and Crane through the rebuild, through the worst years of baseball I've ever witnessed to come out of the mire with a WS trophy and a clubhouse of guys that we all LOVE. Seriously, there are so many of them that we'd walk across fire for... so adding this type of guy, with this kind of baggage and try to play it off as a "second chance" redemption story in the press, well, it doesn't sit well with a lot of fans. This guy doesn't have the public perception of a "high character guy" whether he is or not.
2) Timing - I do believe that the timing of when the trade was made is very telling. Trades at the deadline are intended to give your team a boost towards the playoffs, especially the Astros with the back end of the bullpen being a bit shaky. The fact this happened at the deadline tells me it was done for purely baseball reasons, to win games, at all cost. I don't necessarily care that we got a "discount" for damaged goods. The fact they made the deal, when they made it, tells me the motivation. If it was all about second chances and a fresh start for a 23 year old guy, it could and in my opinion, should have waited until the off season. Even if that meant paying a higher price. By the time the season is over, the case should be resolved and I would think the context of the incident would be public knowledge and there wouldn't be a need to "spin" the acquisition to make it more palatable to a fan base. Keep the guy in the Toronto minors for the rest of the year, let there be resolution and then define a path forward to give him a fresh start elsewhere, as it was obvious he would never wear a Blue Jays uniform in a game again.
3) Media Reaction - A few weeks ago, there was more than one article I read that proposed that a Giles-for-Osuna swap would be ideal for both parties. But as the trade deadline approached and more rumors picked up, it became divisive. More an more media members then came out of the woodwork to slam the trade and the Astros in the process. In a vitriolic way that I do not recall reading about when the Yankees traded for Chapman, the Cubs traded for Chapman, or when Jose Reyes continued to get contracts, or when Julio Lugo was dismissed from this team and given a huge payday with Boston. Times have changed, even since the Chapman situation and the media has taken a pretty hard stance (as they should) against domestic violence and other off the field issues. I do feel it has been a pretty heavy handed attack on the Astros from the national columnists - to a degree that I think it borders on unfair (this is where some of the dissonance kicks in). Some have gone so far as to express regret for not covering the Chapman situation as harshly as this one. I don't feel the media needs to be excusing or making any apologies, but it is a bit frustrating to keep reading basically the same anti-Astros rhetoric daily - reiterating the same points with no new information, just more hatred.
4) Being a Villain - For YEARS, the Yankees were known at least jokingly as the "Evil Empire" - they were and probably always will be cast in a villainous role for the way they operate, "buying championships" and winning at all costs. Never, ever, have any Astros fans felt the ownership or management to take that role. To be the ones who would sacrifice the "good" for purely the sake of winning. But here we stand, in a role we are completely unfamiliar with, and a fan base not ready to put on the bad guy mask. Yes, some of our players dealt with demons in their past, but we all acknowledge the role media and social media has played over the past 5-10 years in making things much more public and keeping them in the spotlight. When other guys had a DUI, drug use, or DV issues, it was dealt with and moved on from pretty quickly. This will not happen this time around. Osuna's baggage is a huge black cloud over the remainder of the season - and it absolutely puts the villain mask on the team, whether us fans want it or not. We want to be the good guys. We want to root for guys we think we'd want to have a family dinner with in the off season. Guys with bad attitudes typically haven't lasted long in Houston. And I'm not so naive to think that there aren't more skeleton's in the closet, guys who truly are bad people, abusers, cheaters, etc who have player or may still be playing with the Astros. But ignorance is bliss right? What we don't know, doesn't hurt us. But we do know now, we know enough about Osuna to know SOMETHING happened that night. And by acquiring him in the manner we did, ominously puts the Astros in bad company. We sacrificed our "good" name for wins. And I don't know if I agree with that type of move.
5) The Clubhouse - for the last 3-4 years, the Astros clubhouse has taken on a sort of legendary tone - of dance parties, WWE style belts being passed out for best pitcher and hitter each game, for antics and solid friendships amongst our guys. When Verlander came over last year, it seemed to solidify that clubhouse even more. 25 guys who all had the same "Let's win this" mentality and had each other's backs. Adding Osuna surely will change that, and I can't see how adding him HELPS any team chemistry. There will be guys who don't want to associate with him, as many have voiced strong opinions on past DV circumstances. We probably will never get to see behind the curtain, but I do believe that the way Osuna joins this clubhouse will be noticed and seen on the field and in the dugout/bullpen.
6) Suspensions in general - another comparison being thrown around is the differences in the lengths of suspensions. None of us are privy to the details known by MLB or the method they used to come up with 75 games. I firmly believe that if the Chapman situation happened today instead of several years ago, he'd probably be facing 75 games too. I think the timing and slow moving court processes in Canada may have had an effect too, knowing there wouldn't be any kind of immediate resolution to the case, better to keep him off the field through it all. But I don't think we can compare any two suspensions and draw any equivalence. There are years between the suspensions where culture and society has shifted their views on these issues, MLB may have shifted their opinion on how severe punishments should be, there are a lot of factors here. And again, MLB may have seen evidence we haven't and been able to draw their own conclusion that it was in fact "horrific" and deserving of 75 instead of 30. All scenarios are still in play here. But the fact there was no appeal to the suspension is another note to be reconciled. What does that mean? I don't know if I can answer that without making a lot of assumptions I'm not willing to make yet.
7) Other Options - There were other closer/bullpen guys out there available. Sure, maybe not with as much team control or such a pitching repertoire - but solid guys who can get outs. And who would be welcomed with open arms into this clubhouse and city without having to spend a second spinning anything. Keone Kela comes to mind. Plus, I really haven't had a problem with the job Hector Rondon has done thus far in the closer role. He's sporting a 2.35 ERA with 10 saves thus far. I liked adding Ryan Pressly. We've got Forrest Whitley who may be a September call-up. Heck, Brenden McCurry and Buddy Boshers are both having pretty good seasons at AAA. There were just so many other options available. Why go after damaged goods?
8) Community Impact - I'm not going to be the one talking about "these guys are role models, etc." That's not my soapbox. I firmly believe that kids will learn infinitely more inside the walls of their own home than they ever will by watching a sport or participating in one. However, I will say that this addition sends the wrong message to fans of the Astros who have experienced domestic violence - whether they like it or not, it sends the message that the organization condones the behavior at a certain level as long as the player is able to help win games. And there's the problem, any time you elevate "winning" to a higher priority than anything else, you will face backlash. I am not sure that Luhnow or Crane correctly estimated the level of goodwill they would lose by making this deal. In fact, I think they may have gotten cocky and over confident in this matter. It's not all about the analytics. And for fans, while championships and trophies are amazing experiences, to many of them there is more to it than the final W-L record. Especially those who invest their time and money significantly to attend games. You vote/support by where you spend your money, in many ways. Do I think there will be rows and rows of empty seats because of this deal? No. But there will be a subsection of fans who will no longer attend spontaneously, it'll no longer be an option or a go-to when there's nothing going on.
Alright, that's a lot of words, and I hope that I did a fair job of expressing my disgust towards what has been alleged to have happened, while balancing it with my desire to wait things out a bit for actual resolution of the case. As for Osuna in a card/memorabilia collecting sense - he will note be part of my collection. My team sets will be complete without his inclusion, I don't want his autograph. Again, unless he's proven 100% innocent and that the whole situation is a complete lie/fabrication (which I HIGHLY doubt). See, I'm conflicted still, and will be for a while. I will root for my team to win games. I will root for my team to win a World Series. I will root within the context of hoping all 25 guys do their job. I cannot change the fact this guy is on the roster. Booing him will not improve the way I feel about the whole thing, and cheering for him specifically will only make me feel dirty about the whole experience. I will celebrate team wins, as conflicted as it may feel. I believe you can support the Astros without being an Osuna fan. I am not going to hate the other 24 guys in the dugout for a decision that they didn't make.
Finally, these are my thoughts and feelings on the matter. There will be many a fan that says, "So what, I don't care, let's play baseball." And that's just as valid an opinion as "Well, I'm never spending another dime or minute on the Astros." And every opinion in between. There is grey area within the context of this whole situation. I support all my friends who are disgusted by this all. I support all my friends who just want to watch a game and escape from every last nasty non-baseball issue that already plagues their life the other 21 hours of the day. I don't find it hard to straddle that line.
Have a great day everyone.
Sunday, June 10, 2018
Amazing What You Find
So I've been cleaning up my card desk, sorting and stowing away cards. As I started through a stack of cards that I received months and months ago from a personal box break from BigHits in Alabama, I came across a card I had forgotten about. Here's the front:
Richie Ashburn from 2013 Panini Golden Age. Black border, nice looking card. What's the big deal? Well, check out the back!
Well that'll open your eyes on a Sunday morning! 1 OF 1 mini! We really liked the Golden Age products around here because it had a good mix of sports and Hollywood, we never knew what "hits" we'd get between us. If there are any Phillies fans out there, let me know if you're up for a trade.
Speaking of trades, I'm desperate to move this massive pile of trade bait, but I'm not getting a lot of offers. I'm feeling tempted to ship it all off to COMC, but want to hear about your experiences with it. Is it worth it? Let me know you're thoughts/experiences/opinions. Thanks everyone.
Speaking of trades, I'm desperate to move this massive pile of trade bait, but I'm not getting a lot of offers. I'm feeling tempted to ship it all off to COMC, but want to hear about your experiences with it. Is it worth it? Let me know you're thoughts/experiences/opinions. Thanks everyone.
Monday, June 4, 2018
eBay Driving Me INSANE
So, my goal was to get some cards listed on eBay tonight, and while I got all the pictures taken, prepped and ready to go. However, eBay isn't cooperating. So, rather than post them for sale, I'll throw the pictures up here and see if anyone has any interest.
Where are my Yankees fans at?
Mr. Harmon Killebrew! HOF Vintage, how about that?
Future HOF'er Jeter in his RC glory! Yes, it's 7.5 but I understand this is one of the harder cards to get a good grade on, and is probably in the $125-150 range.
The Acetate cards are very hard to take pictures of. Should have gone with a solid white background. My bad. But it's a Cal auto /50!
You've seen this one before, but I decided to sell/trade it
Shane Baz? Hopefully he makes it up to the big leagues soon and you Pirates fan will rue the day you didn't jump on this card, lol...
Another HOF'er!
Speaking of HOF'ers, we have a dual front/back auto of Bobby Doerr and Billy Herman. Nice!
Jorge Soler wouldn't be still sitting in my collection if he hadn't been traded to KC, I swear.
These are two different cards. Yes, I have two of them. Long story, no I didn't submit them myself.
Michael Conforto from his USA days!
A very nice Julio Urias 1st Bowman 9.5!
TY COBB ALERT! And a Pristine 10!
Why would someone grade a Bo Jackson base card from a Panini product? I dunno. Glutton for punishment?
Randy Johnson from Prizm? Apparently the Bo Jackson guy just didn't know when to give up.
Finally, we have a cut autograph from Roosevelt Brown.
Well, I'm not saying I'm getting rich off most of these, but I eventually will get them listed if eBay ever cooperates. If you're interested in any of these, throw me an offer or trade proposal!
Thanks for stopping by!
Well, I'm not saying I'm getting rich off most of these, but I eventually will get them listed if eBay ever cooperates. If you're interested in any of these, throw me an offer or trade proposal!
Thanks for stopping by!
Friday, June 1, 2018
The Bowman Autos!
So my total Bowman experience this year has been the total of a hobby box, a few blasters, some hanger packs and a handful of Mega boxes. I was lucky enough to get an few autos, and I don’t think I’ve shown them off yet, so here you go: 
The Ruiz was in my hobby box. My wife actually pulled the Knapp from a hanger pack unexpectedly. And the Johnson was of course from a blaster!
The Ruiz was in my hobby box. My wife actually pulled the Knapp from a hanger pack unexpectedly. And the Johnson was of course from a blaster!
Thanks for stopping by!
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Trades, I need Trades
Guys and girls, I need your help. I am up to three shoe boxes worth of trade bait. It's over flowing. At this point, I'm willing to trade at a slight loss to get this stuff out of here. What do I want? Astros, Nolan Ryan and Texans.
Leave a comment, email me, tweet me. Just make sure you leave me a way to get back with you. Tell me what you're looking for and I'll shoot you back pictures of what I have available. If we can't work out a trade and you'd rather offer cash, I'm ok with that too.
Leave a comment, email me, tweet me. Just make sure you leave me a way to get back with you. Tell me what you're looking for and I'll shoot you back pictures of what I have available. If we can't work out a trade and you'd rather offer cash, I'm ok with that too.
Thursday, May 24, 2018
Some Bowman Color!
So, as I understand it, people really love the color parallels within the Bowman product. Well, after picking up some blasters, a hobby box and a few of those new fangled Mega boxes, I have some color to show off. Unfortunately, I didn't get any of my beloved Astros in the color spread. Here's the good stuff!
Top row is all paper, as is the Cano/PED card on the bottom right. Purple /250, Dark Blue /150, Light Blue /499 and aqua /125!
All the green are /99 of course. The Guzman is the only non-Mojo refractor. Kingery and Mieses are Purple /250 again.
And the best of the bunch is this beautiful /25 orange!
This will most likely end my participation in the world of Bowman. I learned this year that it gets a little crazy with the prospectors, especially when a guy like Ohtani is involved.
And the best of the bunch is this beautiful /25 orange!
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Another Video and A Giveaway
Well, I think I know why you're all here, but you must suffer through another one of my infamous videos. This time, some fun 30 year old cardboard getting to see the light of day!
How about that? I'm sure we'll do some more packs from those boxes soon enough!
Alright, so there were 15 people who followed all the steps of the giveaway instructions for the Jackie Robinson. So, here's the results!
Congrats Sports Card Collectors! Email me to claim your prize and work out shipping!
Thanks for stopping by!
How about that? I'm sure we'll do some more packs from those boxes soon enough!
Alright, so there were 15 people who followed all the steps of the giveaway instructions for the Jackie Robinson. So, here's the results!
Thanks for stopping by!
Thursday, May 17, 2018
A Video Post
Would this be a video blog? A vlog? A blog with video accompaniment? Who knows... all I know is that you must now suffer through watching me show off cards... have fun!
Alright, that wasn't so tough, was it? Let me know what you thought was the best! All cards other than the Astros cards are FT/FS! Thanks for stopping by!
Alright, that wasn't so tough, was it? Let me know what you thought was the best! All cards other than the Astros cards are FT/FS! Thanks for stopping by!
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
A Group Break & A Contest
A couple months ago, I joined a great group break at Cardboard Collections. I love his affordable breaks, as they are usually oddball products and/or nostalgic products. Also, you pick your team and then randomly get assigned another team in each spot. So for this one, I picked the Astros and Dodgers, while I was randomly assigned the Padres and Rockies. I wanted to show off the the Padres and Dodgers hits that I got in this post. The "big" product in this one was 2004 Clubhouse Colleciton, which by itself promised 20 hits!
Stay tuned to the end, there's a contest brewing!
So, here's the lone Padres hit:
Ramon Hernandez - all I remember about him is that he was a serviceable catcher who spent most of his time with teams in in the west: Oakland, Sand Diego, Colorado and LA were all stops in his 14 years.
Now, the Dodgers:
Kaz Ishii, another one of those Japanese pitchers that came over to MLB that we all thought would be superstars. It didn't quite work out for Kaz, he only spent 4 seasons in America before heading back to Japan. My one memory of him pitching against my Astros is not a good one for him, as he was hit with a line drive in the face off the bat of Brian Hunter. It was very scary to see any pitcher have that happen to them.
Alright, here's the mack daddy of them all!
Jackie FREAKIN Robinson! WOW! The box overall had some great cards, and I was very happy my gamble on the Dodgers paid off! Thanks Colbey, greatly appreciate the break!
So, a contest. Here's the deal: I'm not sure people realize I'm blogging again. I need to create some awareness. So here we go: You see that Jackie Robinson card? I'm GIVIING IT AWAY. Yep, that's right, it won't stay in my collection long. Here's the rules:
1) Comment on this post. Doesn't matter what you say, you can call me an idiot or a dimwit or just comment on how much you dislike the color scheme of the blog.
2) Tweet or blog about this post with a link to this post included.
3) Return to this post, reply to your own comment with a link to your tweet/blogpost.
4) Wait until Wednesday the 23rd, as I will take all entries and randomize the list of entries, first person in the list gets the JACKIE ROBINSON RELIC!
Well, how about that? Thanks for stopping by folks.
Stay tuned to the end, there's a contest brewing!
So, here's the lone Padres hit:
Now, the Dodgers:
Alright, here's the mack daddy of them all!
So, a contest. Here's the deal: I'm not sure people realize I'm blogging again. I need to create some awareness. So here we go: You see that Jackie Robinson card? I'm GIVIING IT AWAY. Yep, that's right, it won't stay in my collection long. Here's the rules:
1) Comment on this post. Doesn't matter what you say, you can call me an idiot or a dimwit or just comment on how much you dislike the color scheme of the blog.
2) Tweet or blog about this post with a link to this post included.
3) Return to this post, reply to your own comment with a link to your tweet/blogpost.
4) Wait until Wednesday the 23rd, as I will take all entries and randomize the list of entries, first person in the list gets the JACKIE ROBINSON RELIC!
Well, how about that? Thanks for stopping by folks.
Monday, May 14, 2018
Some Goodwin, A Redemption and eBay GOLD
Hey everyone, it was definitely a Monday but I'm home and ready to watch the Rockets and Astros tonight!
A few months ago, the wife and I opened up some 2017 Goodwin Champions. We love Goodwin (although I'm not happy about the 2018 iteration, more on that in another post). One of the "hits" I wont be showing here, because it was a redemption that I'm still waiting on - and that I'm hoping will be AMAZING, fingers are crossed.
So, there are positives and negatives of Goodwin. They have a cool checklist of non-sports stuff, which draws in the wife for sure. Especially this year as they had autographs of Stephen King available and all kinds of military relics. However, the down side is that they have some really crappy "manu-relics". If you understand going in that you are most like going to end up with one and possibly 2 CRAP relics per box, it helps get over the disappointment. When they take random maps, cut them up and put them in a card with a national monument or tourist attraction = meh. When you get a manu-patch of a dog = woof. When they make "3-D Lenticular" cards a "hit" = infuriating. I get they are cool looking cards, but they should be an insert, not a "hit". Ok, rant over, here are the cards:
Well, here you go with a couple of said "3-D Lenticular" cards. Don't worry, they are just as disappointing in person as they are in these pictures. They have different rarities, but ultimately, no matter how rare, you hate seeing them in a pack. lol...
And here are the relics and auto:
Not the most aesthetically pleasing photo, I know. My bad. Nice Kobayashi autograph, dude can EAT! I don't know who Chrissy Blair is, though the card says she's a model. And Eddie Huang? Had to look him up, but apparently he's a big media personality. So, those three definitely represent some of the odd ball stuff you'll find in Goodwin. And of course that final card! Tiger Woods relic! NICE! The Goudey Sport Royalty subsets are pretty sought after and generally, of course, contain some pretty lofty names in the checklist. These are all for trade/sale, but that Tiger will be tough for me to let go of!
Alright, the other day I showed off a Jerry Lewis auto redemption. Pulled at the same time was a redemption for the below:
Fred Biletnikoff! Sweet auto, I love autos from anyone older than about 40, they all actually sign their name rather than just squiggle some characters and call it an auto. Again, defintitely for trade!
Alright, here is the glorious piece of eBay snipping that I ended up with this week. The auction ended midday on a weekday. I was able to get this for $15!!!! I couldn't believe it!
Carlos Freakin' Correa, 5/5 relic from 2016 Prime Cuts. And look at that 5 color patch! WOW!
Thanks for stopping by folks! Have a great day!
If you have Astros for trade, please e-mail me here. I'd love to work out a deal.
A few months ago, the wife and I opened up some 2017 Goodwin Champions. We love Goodwin (although I'm not happy about the 2018 iteration, more on that in another post). One of the "hits" I wont be showing here, because it was a redemption that I'm still waiting on - and that I'm hoping will be AMAZING, fingers are crossed.
So, there are positives and negatives of Goodwin. They have a cool checklist of non-sports stuff, which draws in the wife for sure. Especially this year as they had autographs of Stephen King available and all kinds of military relics. However, the down side is that they have some really crappy "manu-relics". If you understand going in that you are most like going to end up with one and possibly 2 CRAP relics per box, it helps get over the disappointment. When they take random maps, cut them up and put them in a card with a national monument or tourist attraction = meh. When you get a manu-patch of a dog = woof. When they make "3-D Lenticular" cards a "hit" = infuriating. I get they are cool looking cards, but they should be an insert, not a "hit". Ok, rant over, here are the cards:
And here are the relics and auto:
Alright, the other day I showed off a Jerry Lewis auto redemption. Pulled at the same time was a redemption for the below:
Alright, here is the glorious piece of eBay snipping that I ended up with this week. The auction ended midday on a weekday. I was able to get this for $15!!!! I couldn't believe it!
Thanks for stopping by folks! Have a great day!
If you have Astros for trade, please e-mail me here. I'd love to work out a deal.
Sunday, May 13, 2018
An Oriole Legend Arrives
A while back, I joined a group break a friend of mine was promoting. It had a variety of boxes and while it was random teams, I figured "why not". Well, I got the Orioles and the proceeded to get just one card from the entire break. I guess I can't complain too much, a HOFer on-card autograph and it's numbered 3/10!
Let me know where you're at Orioles fans! Definitely for trade! You all have a great Mother's Day!
Saturday, May 12, 2018
A couple of Box Pick-Ups
I was able to pick up a couple of boxes. I have always liked the 2016 Legacies of Baseball set, not sure why it was a 1-and-done, as I thought it was better executed product than most of the random stuff Topps has done lately. The price point was a bit high, but what's new? Let's start with the "Metal" vault card:
Phil Niekro? Well, ok, not such a strong start to this box. At least it's #'ed /50? Any Niekro collectors out there?
Next up, the #'ed parallel, I couldn't be happier:
NICE! A Nolan Ryan /50 parallel. Love the picture they used, that is classic Nolan leg kick!
On to the first autograph... and it's a doozie!
I spent a good portion of my Astros fandom hating this guy, mainly because him, Maddux and Smoltz contributed to so much of my Astros' playoff misery in the 90's. And /199, not too shabby.
Finally, the hit of the box!
Francisco Lindor! /99! Woo hoo! Lindor along with Correa and Gregorious at SS in the AL is going to make All-Star voting very tough the foreseeable future! On card too! Awesome pick up!
All these, except the Ryan, are for trade or sale!
Finally, one of those single Cut Auto products from Leaf caught my eye!
Lloyd Waner, the Pittsburgh HOFer, /50! Certainly a lot worse names you can get from these Leaf products.
Thanks for stopping by everyone! Let me know if anything catches your eye.
Next up, the #'ed parallel, I couldn't be happier:
On to the first autograph... and it's a doozie!
Finally, the hit of the box!
All these, except the Ryan, are for trade or sale!
Finally, one of those single Cut Auto products from Leaf caught my eye!
Thanks for stopping by everyone! Let me know if anything catches your eye.
Friday, May 11, 2018
The Dawning of a New Age... and it's Golden
For a couple years now I've been wanting to move off the social platform we all know and love: Facebook. Once I started doing the breaking, I was forced to keep the account. Thus when I stopped breaking, it was time. Goodbye Facebook.
Alright, so you're not here to read about Facebook. You're here for cards. And what better than an amazing card that came in the mail today. Several weeks ago, we picked up a couple boxes of 2013 Golden Age from an online shop. Of course, typically a redemption from a product that old would be expired. And, well, it was. But Panini isn't Topps. I entered the code and it worked and there was no rejection notice. Wouldn't you know, a few weeks later I have a Fedex notification? What? Signature required? Color me impressed Panini!
Wow! Jerry Lewis, shipped in a mag loader and all. Jerry sadly left us in August. I am very happy to add this card to the collection. Thanks for stopping by... oh my, 4 days in a row... WOW
Alright, so you're not here to read about Facebook. You're here for cards. And what better than an amazing card that came in the mail today. Several weeks ago, we picked up a couple boxes of 2013 Golden Age from an online shop. Of course, typically a redemption from a product that old would be expired. And, well, it was. But Panini isn't Topps. I entered the code and it worked and there was no rejection notice. Wouldn't you know, a few weeks later I have a Fedex notification? What? Signature required? Color me impressed Panini!
Thursday, May 10, 2018
Metal and Draft and Metal Draft
In the card world, Leaf has an odd reputation. People love their products at draft time, but with a complete lack of licenses, their products leave you feeling like they are JUST short of great. Their "Metal" line is their answer to "Chrome" and I gotta say: I like it. Especially their "SportsHeroes" line, very cool set and very good execution that doesn't fall off due to lack of logos.
Also, it seems almost every body in Colorado Springs collects football. I am not typically a football collector, but I need trade bait... so I picked up a few boxes of 2017 and 2018 Leaf Metal Draft. One card, I've already traded off before I took pics - an OJ Howard printing plate auto, traded to my good buddy Bobby from Alabama. So, let's see what I have left!
Kerryon Johnson, Christian Kirk and Ito Smith. Three SEC guys! The Ito is /16/20! Not too shabby!
In three boxes, I ended up with three Cooper Kupp cards! The purple is /25. Any Cooper Kupp super collectors out there?
Ford is out of /50, Carrington is /20 and Folston is /50. Folston has seemed to disappear after going undrafted last year. Ford is still with the Dolphons and Carrington looks to be an undrafted free agent.
Here are some offensive skill guys, Njoku, Williams, Pumphrey and Chesson! All are NFL guys with the Browns, Packers, Eagles and Chiefs! Not too shabby!
Next up, the Dural is /15. I do like the "State Pride" cards with Switzer and Dural! Travis Randolph and Ruben Foster redemption round this one out.
Finally, we wrap this up with a nice Bo Scarbrough /35 and Troy Fumagalli /15 State Pride! Somehow, I also got a 2016 Corey Davis /20 auto - I'm assuming this was kind of buyback or extra throw in? And lastly a John Kelly State Pride redemption!
Well, sorry for such a long post, but wanted to get all these out there. If you're a football fan, all are available for trade!
Also, it seems almost every body in Colorado Springs collects football. I am not typically a football collector, but I need trade bait... so I picked up a few boxes of 2017 and 2018 Leaf Metal Draft. One card, I've already traded off before I took pics - an OJ Howard printing plate auto, traded to my good buddy Bobby from Alabama. So, let's see what I have left!
Here's probably the highlight of the boxes, the JT Barrett is numbered just 2/5! The Royce Freeman is /35! Another Ito Smith for my apparent Ito Smith Collection. lol.
Well, sorry for such a long post, but wanted to get all these out there. If you're a football fan, all are available for trade!
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Prospecting for Gold
One of the things I used to rarely do was go after prospects. These days, the collecting market seems to be focused squarely on them. Ohtani cards and through the roof. Big name prospects' Bowman autos go for hundreds or thousands. I was at a little card shop here in Lake Charles and noticed they had some Leaf Valiant. I figured "why not"? Here's the prospects I ended up with, not too shabby:
This Edwin Rios is # 3/25! Nice and shiny! He's currently the #12 prospect in the Dodgers system and is listed as a 1B/3B/OF. He's currently at extended spring training after getting dinged up during spring training. Once activated, he should be a starter at AAA.
Coleman Brannen 3/15! Cole is currently at A ball in the Red Sox system after being drafted in 2017! Struggling so far with a .157 average through 26 games.
Who is Norge Ruiz? Well, this one #'ed /35 is an Oakland prospect signed out of Cuba. He's worked his way up to AA ball, and is 2-3 this year with a 4.55 ERA.
If you're a prospector, you absolutely know who Heliot Ramos is! One of the headliners in the 2017 draft, went #19 to the Giants. 6 triples and 6 homers in the Arizona Fall League has Giant's fans excited about his future! This one is 34/35!
Finally, each box guarantees one graded 9.5 or 10 auto. I was pretty happy with mine.
Shane was a guy who I thought the Astros might target in the 2017 draft, being he was from Cypress but the Pirates snatched him up at #12, three spots ahead of us. He is already the #3 prospect in the Pirates system. He was held back for extended spring training as well, but more out of the Pirates' conservative approach to young pitchers. He's expected to finish the year in low A ball. But in talking to some Pirates fans, the thoughts are Baz could shoot up through their system very quickly.
Overall, it was a fun box of Valiant and I think I did better than most considering 2 were 1st round picks in the previous draft. Certainly could have been a much rougher box, especially the graded card being such a highly touted prospect. Not sure if I'd buy much more, as I'm typically not a prospector, but who knows...all for trade or sale.
Have a great one everyone!
Finally, each box guarantees one graded 9.5 or 10 auto. I was pretty happy with mine.
Overall, it was a fun box of Valiant and I think I did better than most considering 2 were 1st round picks in the previous draft. Certainly could have been a much rougher box, especially the graded card being such a highly touted prospect. Not sure if I'd buy much more, as I'm typically not a prospector, but who knows...all for trade or sale.
Have a great one everyone!
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