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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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

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.

 

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.

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!

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!

Don't Call it a Comeback

Well, the breaking thing was fun. I won't get too much into it, but I will say it was my decision to step away.

So, I'm back to being on the collecting side of the hobby! And I'm actually pretty happy about it. I haven't been stagnant in collecting over the past 6-8 months, but I've been pretty focused. I've picked up quite a bit of Astros stuff focused on picking up Biggio, Correa, Bregman, Ryan and Altuve. I also managed to pick up a nice 1/1 Deshaun Watson relic.

Anyways, I've also picked up quite a bit of trade bait and interesting cards. I need to get reorganized and while I do have team trade bait pages on the side bar, they aren't incredibly accurate right now. So, that'll be my goal in the coming days. In the mean time, I'll keep showing off some stuff that I have picked up, as well as some trade bait. Here's the first batch:

A nice Cody Bellinger /49 auto dual relic. Cody struck out a lot in the World Series, but he was a threat at the plate each time he was there. He isn't going anywhere.

Next up, an AWESOME Cal Ripken Jr. auto from 2016 Topps Tribute. The surface grade of 8.5 really drags this card down, but it's still a great looking card. 

Finally, this beautiful Kris Bryant auto from Elite Extra Edition /324. Why /324? Who knows with Panini, they like weird numbers. But a 9.5 grade makes it even better!

I'm always open to trades, and it's something I want to get back into more than anything really. I miss getting and sending packages full of cards. If you have some Astros or Texans, let me know you're team and I can let you know what I have for trade!

I know it'll take some time for people to find my blog again, but I'm going to do my best to be consistent, write and blog my collecting!

Rumors

There's a crazy rumor floating around out there... ok, I started it... that the Dimwit is back... stay tuned.