Trade... eBay... and Topps Diamond Dig Loot...

I'm back and I got some mail today that I thought I'd share! First up is David from Cardboard Junkie who sent me the two Diamond Duos and the Lance Berkman jersey card in exchange for the Lou Berdette relic I pulled from 2011 Topps. In the top left corner is a card I bought off of eBay, a 1978 Topps Bill Virdon Auto. I've got another Bill Virdon Auto coming in the mail from another package I bought, so I think I remember there's a reader out there collecting all things Bill Virdon, if you're interested I'd be willing to trade one of the autos once I get them both in... finally at the bottom is my Verizon iPhone SkinIt skin that I got for free for finding 15 rings in the Topps Diamond Dig! Once I get my iPhone next month, this thing is going to look pretty flippin' sweet on it!

Well, that's all folks. This week I'm looking forward to a few things... 1) I've got a big trade package or two headed my way... 2) I've got a second retail box of 2008 Allen and Ginter that should be here by Friday... 3) I've got a slew of eBay auto purchases headed my way and 4) I've got a couple of ideas brewing for the blog that'll show up in posts later this week...

I did want to let those who responded know that I AM working on getting a podcast or some semblance of that put together. I've got a format kind of written out in my mind (I need to get it down on paper, I know!) but the next big step is buying some equipment and possibly some software. I'll update you as soon as I know something. Anyone who would like to help sponsor the podcast by helping with the purchase of said hardware and software, please e-mail me. I can offer plugs for your business and/or personal blog at the beginning and end of each recording.

I've got a e-mailer who lives here in Houston who has contacted me about buying a case of Gypsy Queen with a total of 5 slots available. Each slot would be 2 boxes, each slot at this point would be estimated to be around $200, hopefully less if we can find a cheaper case. We would find the cheapest case possible and then split it evenly and add some postage for those outside of Houston who will need their boxes to be mailed. The cheapest case I found with some preliminary research was $1,004.99 over at Blowout Cards. They may be cheaper elsewhere, and the price may drop leading up to release but we won't collect money until we have a firm price secured. I may also be able to find some cheaper cases here in the Houston area if I'm able to pay cash. Email me if interested. This way, one out of 5 of us will be guaranteed a Case Hit and this product is going to be full of hits with each box guaranteed 2 autos and 2 relics.

Thanks everyone!

And now for something completely different...

Just because I like the song. The wife and I recently stumbled upon the group and really dig 'em... it's been a while since I posted anything other than something baseball or card related... so here's for a little change of pace...



Remember, there is still trade bait available...

TRADE BAIT!!!

Alright everyone, it's time for my first real TRADE BAIT post where I just throw up some scans of hits that are up for trade! A very small few number of these cards are in various levels of being offered and/or already secured as part of a trade or something (the Fukodome jersey relic). So, just send me an email and I'll let you know if it's available or not...

We're all good here, if you want any of these, just offer...

The Joe Morgan auto is actually a dual auto, the other side is Bobby Doerr, it is a "1/1".

All of these are up for trade...

All of these as well...

(Sorry, everyone, I didn't intend to post the Clemens, short of a Nolan Ryan auto, it's not going anywhere! Sorry for the trade bait tease!!!!)

The Jacoby is not for trade... the Milky Way mini is no numbered, serialized 29/50 and the Felix Hernandez is from a Rip Card so it's an EXT mini #392.

These are all fair game except for the Fukodome, there are two printing plates in there...

All good to go... the Masterpieces again may be part of a pending trade, but I am not very confident of that going down, so offer away for them!

And finally, the only one here I'd be reluctant to trade is the Eddie Matthews.


There you go everyone, if you have any interest, I'm always after Nolan Ryan and current/former Astros. If anyone has a Berkman Bat relic from 2010 Allen and Ginter I'm definitely interested in that one as well! Thanks!

Trade Post! Mark and Chris from Nachos Grande! Plus a contest pimpage!

Hey, I got a couple of trades in the mail today! First off is Mark M. who is a fellow Houston fan. He contacted me via e-mail about some cards and we worked out a trade! So, as you see below, he was able to cross off some of my 2011 Topps Inserts that I needed!

Next up is Chris from Nachos Grande... this was a bit more complicated. I had 14 Diamond foil parallels and he had a trade stack as well as some cards he had already agreed to send me. So we went back and forth with a couple of offers and in the end I got the cards below, plus the trade stack cards (non-Astros are not shown) and 14 entries into his Diamond card collection giveway! So, here's the cards I got from my needs list and a Jeff Bagwell which was the clincher of the trade stack!

Thanks for the trades guys! I do appreciate it! On an unrelated note, there's a pretty cool contest going on over at Crinkly Wrappers, so go join the fun!

Group Box Break - 2009 Topps Finest

Hey guys, I'm going to do my first group box break. This one is going to be a little different. I can get a discounted box of 2009 Topps Finest and I know I'm not going to want all of the cards. I'm thinking I'd get 5 other people together, which would divide it out to 2 packs per person. I'll do a live break, randomize the participants and then draft off two packs per person. The cost would be $20 per person INCLUDING shipping. Once I get all 5 people, we can work out a schedule for getting everyone together. Please leave a comment on this post if you wish to participate and I will email each person with the PayPal address. I won't collect any money until all 5 people have committed.

Here are the box breakdown details:

Configuration: 2 mini-boxes per box. 6 packs per mini-box (12 total packs per box). 5 cards per pack.

EACH MASTER BOX CONTAINS:
- NEW! 2 Numbered Autograph Rookie Patch Cards
- 10 Numbered Parallel Cards
- One 2009 Rookie Redemption Card

PRODUCT HIGHLIGHTS:
Base Cards
- Veterans (125)
- Rookies (25)
- Autographed Rookie Letter Patch Cards (10) - Featuring an on-patch autograph and #'d to 299 or less

Refractor Parallel Cards
Veterans/Rookies (150)
- White-Framed X-Fractor - One of one.
- Red - #'d to 25
- Gold - #'d to 50
- Green - #'d to 99
- Blue - #'d to 399
- Refractor

Autographed Rookie Letter Patch Cards (10)
- White-Framed X-Fractor - One of one.
- Red - #'d to 5
- Gold - #'d to 10
- Blue - #'d to 25
- Refractor - #'d to 75

Finest Moment Autograph Cards
Finest Moment Autograph Cards (16)

Refractor Parallel Cards (16)
- X-Fractor - One of one
- Red - #'d to 75

Rookie Card Redemption Program
Rookie Redemption Cards (10) - Can be redeemed for an actual 2009 rookie card

Refractor Parallel Cards (10)
- Gold - #'d to 50
- Refractor - #'d to 199

The redemption cards expired last April, but maybe Topps feels generous and honors it if it's still available. Of course after the draft, anyone who wants to make specific trades will have a day or two to work those out and inform me before they ship. E-mail me if you have any questions!

Let's Temper Our Expectations...

Alright, for all of those who have started typing away and entering Topps "Diamond" Giveaway (why did he put quotes on diamond? Read and find out...) I just wanted to warn everyone to take a second and go read the official rules for some travashamockary that's going on. We've been led to believe that the "diamond" part of this deal involved actual diamonds. Even the bling bling ring that Chris Olds is pimping out over on the Beckett blog looks rather blingy with diamonds, but I warn you all, looks can be deceiving. The Approximate Retail Value of the 60th Anniversary ring is $200, which makes me think those "diamonds" on the ring are actually cubic zirconium or just mirrored glass. There are true diamond solitare rings that are part of the instant win category worth $10,000 each, but both the 60th Anniversary ring and the diamond solitare are at 1:1,500,000 odds of winning instantly. It is not clear if the "prize baseball cards", i.e. the ones with the diamond embedded in them, are real or fake diamonds, but they are valued by Topps at $100 each. So, there's that...

I did all of my "diamond digging" for the 17 codes that I received via my two boxes, plus the 1 extra card you get when you hit 5 rings, for a total of 18 digs. I unlocked 16 individual rings, 3 prize levels - the free SkinIt telephone skin, the $10 gift certificate to ShopTopps.com and the free card & dig. My free card was a 1996 Jeff Bagwell... woo... hoo... So here's a screen grab of my rings:

There are three categories: MLB Teams, Legacy Teams and Player Rings. So it was cool to get the Astros and Nolan Ryan rings. The Expos and Senators rings look cool too. I figure with series 2 and some trades, there's an outside shot that I can get to 45 rings and the free anniversary set, but I'm not going to hold my breath on that one. I think I may have gotten lucky in that I only got 2 duplicate rings as well, who knows... anyone have any experience with doing a bunch of digs and getting few or lots of duplicates? It's an interesting concept and all, but once I get the few cards I want shipped, I'll be done with Diamond Topps "Giveaway".

Alright everyone, there's my obligatory post on 2011 Topps Diamond Giveaway... oh yea, and I forgot to mention, there's no trading until April 1st so there'll be a lot of sitting around since a vast majority of collectors have already gotten their boxes...

A big Dimwit "Welcome" to www.BuildASign.com

I was contact a couple of weeks ago by a nice young lady from www.BuildASign.com with an offer I just couldn't refuse! A free sponsorship deal in exchange for some of their nifty handy work. As I'm sure many of you have noticed, I recently changed the headline banner on my blog and this was due to getting a custom sign designed by me on the Build A Sign website. So here are the scans of the decals and bumper stickers that I received:

I plan on using these decals and stickers as part of my mailings, to seal envelopes and throw in from time to time to keep my blog on you reader's minds! I put the first one on my "hits" binder and it looks AWESOME. Easy to peel off and put down on the cover!

The quality of the printing is A+, and the delivery from start to finish was just as high quality. I received my order a full 3 days sooner than promised and I couldn't be happier with the product. Follow the link on my sidebar to design your own graphic and see if there is a sign, bumper sticker, magnetized car sticker or any other product you can use! They have a wide selection of products and uses! Thanks Megan and the rest of the team over at www.BuildASign.com!!!!!

Topps Diamond Giveaway Results and a TRADE!

Alright everyone, the results are in. I had 17 Topps Diamond Giveaway cards and redeemed them all today because I didn't feel like waiting around and probably losing them somewhere in my disorganized mess... so, here's the breakdown:

Junk wax and/or cards there's no way I'm PAYING to get delivered (1985-present):
Jose Valentin - 2007 - Mets
Damian Easley - 1995 - Angels
Mark Wohlers - 1994 - Braves
Melido Perez - 1993 - Yankees
Andy Benes - 1991 - Padres
CHECKLIST 4 - 1990 - What the hell TOPPS?!?!?! REALLY?!??!?!!?
Cal Ripkin - 1990 - Orioles
Pedro Guerrero - 1990 - Cardinals
Charlie Hough - 1989 - Rangers
Rafael Ramirez - 1986 - Braves
Jay Tibbs - 1986 - Reds
Cesar Cedeno - 1986 - Cardinals
I will trade all of the above cards for (1) Houston Astros or Nolan Ryan card from 1970's - let me know once trading opens if you have any interest. These cards anger me and if I had them in hand now, I'd take a lighter to each and every one of them... this was Topps basically giving me the middle finger... just sayin'...


Vintage Cards to be used to trade for similar year Astros cards:
Mac Scarce - 1975 - Phillies
Chris Arnold - 1974 - Giants
Ron Bloomberg - 1973 - Yankees
John O'Donoghue - 1967 - Reds

The GRANDDADDY of the entire pack of 17 redemption cards will not be traded except for another card of the same year:
Ken Holcombe - 1952 - Chicago White Sox - My first ever card from 1952.

So there you go... there's my haul of mostly crap cards from Topps... I understand it's a free giveaway, but Topps, do you not realize that 90% of the collectors participating have absolutely NO interest in late 80's, early 90's and 2000's cards? I guess I shouldn't complain too much but I really had higher hopes than 12 out of 17 being total crap cards. Maybe I can package them all for an Astros card I want. Maybe there is someone out there still collecting 1990's Topps checklists. Can't wait to use my "digs" to see what other crap Topps has in store for me...

Now onto some better news... TRADE package came in the mail today from Joe over at The Sandlot he recently posted some trade bait for 2011 Topps and I was able to pull out some inserts that I am chasing! So, without further ado, here are the cards I got! Thanks Joe!!!

Monday IS mail day!!!

Alright, so the packages got sent out in the mail this afternoon, and when I got home from work I found three packages in my mailbox! Sorry everyone, but my scanner is buried under a pile of taxes, bills and other miscellaneous junk and I don't really feel like unpiling it all... I hope you understand!

First of all, there is Chris over at Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz. I contacted him a little while ago regarding some trade bait from 1978 Topps that he was offering up and I got a total of 7 cards that I needed. I do believe I still need to pull some cards for him to complete the trade, so Chris I'll get those pulled together for you soon!

Next up is Sarah from A Rookie (baseball) Card Collector, one of the rare women baseball card bloggers, and I'm always glad to see diversity in not only the blog-o-sphere, but within our hobby. I think we can always do better to draw more people in! Anyways, off my soap box... Sarah posted a break of some Topps 2011 a little while back and I claimed a lions share of the inserts for my personal collection, with any duplicates going into my "for trade" stack. You can find scans of the cards here. Mainly I was going after the Kimball, T-60 and Diamond Duo cards; as well as some of the reproductions... I was able to send her back a BIG stack of 2010 Update that I had laying around as well as some Topps Town cards.

Finally, there is Matt W. who contacted me via e-mail to let me know he had a bunch of Topps Update (enough to finish off my need list!) for me and I was able to send him back about 27+ cards from a needs list he e-mailed me. **UPDATE: I AM a DIMWIT... my need list was wrong for 2010 Update, there are still three cards I'm missing... so my totally cards needed to kill my 2010 Topps needs, is 4!!!! Help a collector out people!!!!***) haha...

Well, everyone, have a great Valentine's Day... enjoy your candy, may all your chocolates be bug-free!!!

Monday will be a mail day!!!

Hey guys, if you're name is in the list below, it means you've got mail that I'll be sending out in the morning...

David C -CARDBOARD JUNKIE
Chris R - NACHOS GRANDE
Joe M - THE SANDLOT
Nathan H - Not sure of the blog, but he's my most recent contest winner! I think this is his blog at SWININ' A'S
Paul H - PAUL'S RANDOM BASEBALL STUFF
Mark M - Not sure if he has a blog, but he found mine recently and he's a local Houstonian as well.

On the "local Houstonian" front. Mark and I have been exchanging emails regarding getting 3-4 guys together to go in on a cases of cards at a time, splitting up the hits, yada yada yada for major set releases (I'm thinking Allen and Ginter for sure this summer).

Anyways, what I personally would like to do is get 3-4 guys together here at my place, do a video of the break and highlight the hits. Each person would open their share of boxes, then the hits would be pooled and snake drafted (order determined by random.org). The case hit, if valuable enough, would be ebay-ed to recoup cost or negotiated/randomed if it's something like a rip card or something. Each person would keep all the base cards from the boxes they personally opened.

For a product like A&G, the mini's would be pooled and split evenly by type, rare mini's would enter the hit draft. Lots of details would have to be agreed to beforehand, but I think it could be worked out and everyone would have a chance to get the hits they want from the break and each would be in for about the same price as 2-3 boxes or less. If there are any Houston area readers who would be interested, send me an e-mail. We could do this for Gypsy Queen, Topps Series 2 or others once we get organized. Ideally it would be the number of guys that's divisible by the number of boxes in each products case, so it might change from release to release.

Have a great week everyone... I'm sure there'll be trade posts a-plenty this week as they show up in the mailbox!