And now for something completely different ...

I have posted this before, years ago... and I do always enjoy watching it.. TED does some great stuff. If you haven't ever heard of TED, head on over there and check out some of the videos. Very smart people talking about very important things...


Speaking of very important things, there are still teams available in my first ever GROUP BREAK!!!!!! Only 7 teams left... and one person has said that if it gets down to just one team left, he'll claim it, so really I only need 6 more teams claimed and those are only $10 EACH!!!!! Two boxes of Gypsy Queen and a third mystery box if all teams are claimed! YOU CAN'T BEAT THIS!!!!

Have a great rest of your week everyone!

Massive Monday Mailday!

Alright, it was a crazy day with the mail today, got lots of great packages in. First of all, I got a 2007 UD Masterpieces box loader Victor Martinez 5x7 that I bought off eBay. At this point, the only one I need is Lou Gehrig to complete the 20 card set. SWEEEET....

First up is a trade with Mr. Fuji over at The Chronicles of Fuji. This is the most massive relic/auto trade I've done to date. A total of six cards went his way, and seven (plus a Mr. Fuji card!) came back my way... see the loot:

That Berkman refractor is numbered 001/350! My first "first" card from a series like that... An amazing trade, I think I wiped him out of almost all his Astros "hits", but we both agree that this was a great trade! We both feel like we ended up with the best cards from the trade! Thanks Fuji!

Next I have a trade with Cam over at The Bullpen Cardboard. He's a fellow Astros fan, and while he coveted my Hunter Pence Triple Threads, I was able to send him a few cards in exchange for these two Bagwell beauts:

Unfortunately for me, I don't have very many Bagwell autos or relics, so these are very welcome additions! Thanks Cam!

Alright, now I have a contest winning from AJ over at The Lost Collector who ran a cool little contest for the Big East Tournament. I somehow ended up winning this Alonzo Mourning card:

Thanks for the contest AJ, I really do appreciate it! If anyone is interested in this card, I'm open to offers since I don't really collect much in terms of basketball.

Finally, we have the cards I received from the Topps Wrapper redemption. I'll say now that there's no surprises, I did not get an auto. There are only 9 cards in the picture because that's all that would fit on the scanner. The 10th card is Adam Jones of the Orioles. If anyone is interested in these, please shoot me an e-mail as they are all up for trade! I would be interested in any Astros cards from the wrapper redemption for sure!!!

Thanks for reading everyone!

ZERO!!!!! Teams Left in the 2011 Gypsy Queen Break

Alright, we're down to two teams to fill the break. I'm on a pretty razor thin margin here to cover costs, but for these final ten teams I am going to offer a small discount, down to $10 per team for the final ten only:

Arizona Diamondbacks
Chicago White Sox
Colorado Rockies
Kansas City Royals
Los Angeles Angels
Milwaukee Brewers
Oakland Athletics
Pittsburgh Pirates
San Diego Padres
Toronto Blue Jays

The offer still stands, if all teams get purchased then I will throw in at least one more box into the break. After doing some looking around on the eBay, I have found I may be able to do multiple boxes if I go outside of my original projection of 2008 A&G or Topps Heritage. I want to get the most bang for the buck and the most possible hits, so please feel free to drop me a line if you have any suggestions for boxes for less than $80 that will provide good value. 2007 Masterpieces maybe?

If you want to claim one of these ten teams, please leave a comment on the original post and send your paypal "gift" to samuelpair@yahoo.com.

I am projecting to do the break on UStream (if I can get it figured out) on the evening of Monday April 25th. Thanks everyone!

PAYMENT FOR GROUP BREAK!

To everyone involved in my group break, please go ahead and start sending in your payment. My paypal address is samuelpair@yahoo.com. Please mark as "GIFT" and include the name you signed up with in the comment field as well as the team you claimed. Thanks everyone!

There are still 11 teams available, so please let anyone who might be interested know that they are still available. I really would like to get it full so that I can bust a 3rd box for you guys and increase the number of hits available to all participants!

Once I receive payment, I will mark you as "PAID" in the original post! Have a great weekend everyone!

FIVE CARD FRIDAY and GROUP BREAK REMINDER!!!

Here we go, another Five Card Friday, or Ten Card to be accurate... once again if you wish to claim these cards, just offer me any one card from one of my many Need Lists located on the right hand side of the page. Since there was no claimant last week, this week is for all the cards shown below (plus the two additional diamond shinny's I added on Saturday, so a total of 12 cards!!!) I went with another theme for this weeks cards, no not just 2011 Topps Heritage, but there's another theme as well, see if you can figure it out!

And another reminder, at the time I'm writing this there are only 14 teams remaining unclaimed in the group break!!! Get over there and claim your team now before somebody else does!!!! I'm not too far from starting the e-mails to have payment collected, but need a few more commitments! Thanks everyone! Remember, if all teams are claimed, there's going to be a THIRD BOX of another product added at NO ADDITIONAL COST!!!!

And now for something completely different...

Baseball season is here... well, it was here a month or so ago when pitchers and catchers reported, but with rosters getting cut further and further (see Oliver Perez) it is getting very close to opening day. So, I bring in the legend to serenade us... gotta love the baseball cards...


Alright, a reminder to everyone, I've got a group break going, there are PLENTY of teams remaining. While I cannot offer a discount, I can offer more cards, so if you are already in the break and you post a pimping of the break on your blog I will throw in some extra cards with the cards you claim from the break out of my collection. One person will be randomly chosen and they will get a "hit" out of my collection. So, get out there and pimp this break!

2011 Gypsy Queen GROUP BREAK!

Hopefully we pull this sweet stamp card!

Here's the deal: I'll be buying 2 Hobby Boxes of 2011 Gypsy Queen and it will run as your usual group break. The price will be $12 per team, including shipping. Please leave a comment to claim your team and include your email address, I will email you to confirm your selection and give you details on PayPal payment.

THE BONUS: IF all 30 teams are claimed, I will also bust a box of either A) 2008 Topps Heritage or B) 2008 Allen and Ginter. Once the teams are claimed, I'll do a poll to determine which box everyone wants to bust.

Payment will not be due until 3/4 of the teams are claimed, at which point I'll send out an email to all participants! Thanks everyone!

Arizona Diamondbacks - (CLAIMED and PAID BY SPANKEE)
Atlanta Braves - (CLAIMED and PAID BY COLBEY)
Baltimore Orioles - (CLAIMED and PAID BY RYAN)
Boston Red Sox - (CLAIMED and PAID BY DAN IN MAINE)
Chicago White Sox - (CLAIMED and PAID BY SPANKEE)
Chicago Cubs - (CLAIMED and PAID BY DARKSHIP)
Cincinnati Reds - (CLAIMED and PAID BY MU)
Cleveland Indians - (CLAIMED and PAID BY MU)
Colorado Rockies - (CLAIMED and PAID BY HIFLEW)
Detroit Tigers - (CLAIMED and PAID BY PATRICK)
Florida Marlins - (CLAIMED and PAID BY MU)
Houston Astros - (CLAIMED and PAID BY THE DIMWIT)
Kansas City Royals - (CLAIMED and PAID BY DARKSHIP)
Los Angeles Angels - (CLAIMED and PAID BY HIFLEW)
Los Angeles Dodgers - (CLAIMED and PAID BY PLAY AT THE PLATE)
Milwaukee Brewers - (CLAIMED and PAID BY SIMON)
Minnesota Twins - (CLAIMED and PAID BY DAWGBONES)
New York Mets - (CLAIMED and PAID BY BA BENNY)
New York Yankees - (CLAIMED and PAID BY BA BENNY)
Oakland Athletics -(CLAIMED and PAID BY NATHAN)
Philadelphia Phillies - (CLAIMED and PAID BY DAWGBONES)
Pittsburgh Pirates -(CLAIMED and PAID BY MATT H.)
San Diego Padres - (CLAIMED and PAID by ROD)
San Fransisco Giants - (CLAIMED and PAID BY RYAN G)
Seattle Mariners - (CLAIMED and PAID by Colin T)
St. Louis Cardinals - (CLAIMED and PAID BY 82REDBIRDS)
Tampa Bay Rays - (CLAIMED and PAID BY SCHWANG17)
Texas Rangers - (CLAIMED and PAID BY PLAY AT THE PLATE)
Toronto Blue Jays - (CLAIMED and PAID BY DENNIS)
Washington Nationals - (CLAIMED and PAID BY MU)


****While I cannot offer a discount, I can offer more cards, so if you are already in the break and you post a pimping of the break on your blog I will throw in some extra cards with the cards you claim from the break out of my collection. One person will be randomly chosen and they will get a "hit" out of my collection. So, get out there and pimp this break!****

Went to the monthly local card show...

Well, I took my binder of trade-able "hits" to the local monthly card show at the Ramada Inn conference room today... and I think I made out pretty well considering all I did was trade one card away and spent $6 total for all of the following cards...

The scans don't do all the cards justice. But here's what happened, I traded for the two Pence cards, the Mier auto, Sweater swatch from "Capote" and 3 "hot packs" of 2011 baseball (thus the Baumgartner 53/100 - 1:5,200 packs card, Carter & Rollins cards. In exchange, the dealer I traded with got my "X-Ray" printing plate card I had never even gotten an offer on, and then I spent $6 on the "Black Snake Moan" and Jim Wynn card. My wife collects the Hollywood memorabilia so the Black Snake Moan and Capote cards fit in her collection. That Triple Threads card of Pence is just sweeeeeet if you ask me: auto, jersey, bat and lettering from the uniform. It doesn't scan well, but on the first white pen-striped piece of jersey, the white is actually considerably dirty. It's my first ever game-used jersey that actually has the dirt on it to attest that it was actually used in a game! It's awesome. Needless to say it was a great trip to the local card show for me!

Additionally, in the three "hot packs" of Topps 2011, I also go 2 more Diamond bling bling cards, Kerry Wood and Jered Weaver. I am going to throw these two cards in with the cards from Five Card Friday, so whoever claims the stack will get a total of 7 cards with 3 being diamond bling bling cards! Have a great rest-of-the-weekend!

Contest Winnings from Bad Wax

Recently I went head to head with Mike over at Bad Wax in a Battle of Crap. My cards won by a handy margin and well, about 2 weeks ago I got the cards in the mail, and since then I've failed to make a post about it. I ran across the cards under a pile of others on my desk today and figured I needed to get these posted ASAP! Here you go, my winnings from the Battle of Crap (Mike's crap...)

Wait, you may be wondering what a Tris Speaker card is doing in the winnings... well, the original card included in the battle was a Kwame Brown jersey card, and since I don't really collect basketball I told Mike he could keep it. He was kind enough to include this Tris Speaker Bad Wax Custom Card and how SWEEEEEET it is! It is a relica signature, but it is still an awesome card. I LOVE what Mike does over there at Bad Wax in creating his custom cards and cut signatures. Hopefully this is the first of many cards of his that find their way into my collection. This one's a keeper! As for the other cards, as crap-tas-tic as they are, each is available for trade if they mean more to you than me (which wouldn't take much! HAHA!). Thanks for reading! Also, keep in mind you still have time to claim the Five Card Friday cards!!!!

PLEASE READ - SHIPPING ISSUE - PLEASE READ!!!

Hey everyone, first of all thanks to all of those who trade with me and who hold contests that allow me to win stuff... it's very much appreciated and my collection wouldn't be the same without you all. I've had a problem in the past few weeks that started with a $50 eBay purchase coming up missing with a "delivered" delivery confirmation and the mailman saying there was no large package delivery on the day in question. Since then, it seems my baseball card packages have been disappearing in the mail, either at the post office or after it's been delivered. I cannot determine who is stealing my stuff, so I'm going to change my address for deliveries to my work address. If you currently are waiting to ship me something, please contact me via E-MAIL to get my new shipping address. (BA BENNY, I know you'll need this for the group break in progress, please don't let me forget!!!). I'm not sure exactly what all I have out there that hasn't shipped, so I apologize for any inconvenience, and for living in the ghetto where thugs think stealing mail is funny. If you really feel you'd rather ship to my home address, let me know and I'll PayPal you some money to get Signature Confirmation so that I'm sure I'll get it. I'm also pondering getting a P.O. box, but then again I don't know how much I trust my local post office. Grrr...

What I think happened is that the eBay package was delivered to the wrong address, and the person that got it thought "WOW, this person gets baseball cards in the mail! I can sell these! YAY! He's not home during the day, I can go steal from his mail box now too!!!!" Jerks!!!! It was a complete set of 2007 Allen and Ginter with 91 mini's and the Dick Perez insert collection. I got a steal of a deal on eBay and well, now I'm sitting here angry with no recourse. Ebay won't refund my money because it was confirmed as delivered, and USPS won't pay for it because it wasn't insured. I'm pissed. I've gone around and around with the post master and filed a complaint but got no where with it. There's nothing that can be done at this point.

Thanks, you can now return to your normally scheduled programs/lives.