January Group Break Box #4

Here's the video:

Scans after the page break...

Here's the hits. Normally I do inserts and yada yada yada, but A&G just has WAY too many inserts... plus this box kind of, well, sucked... sorry guys...

Congrats thought to Matt, Dutch Card Guy and James...

Well, that wraps up another break. Thanks everyone for joining in the fun!

I do have a question, would anyone be interested in a football break? I'm thinking of doing a football product break soon and wanted to know if anyone would have interest. Same format, 16 slots, 2 teams per slot. I'd pick the Texans of course for my team. Anyways, please leave some feedback if this is something you'd be interested in.

January Group Break - Box #3 - 2011 Topps Chrome

Here's the video:

Scans after the page break...

January Group Break - Box #2 - 2011 Topps Lineage

Here's the video:

Scans after the page break...

January Group Break - Box #1 - 2006 Ovation

Here's the video:

Scans after the page break, as always...

Monday Mail Day!!!

Got a few packages in the mail today!

First up, we have a package from Nomo's Sushi Platter... I am holding some cards for him and he went ahead and sent his part of the trade. Your part will go out with the group break cards Michael! Thanks!

A nice Bagwell jersey and Hector Gimenez auto... that's the third Gimenez auto I've gotten in the mail the past 2 weeks... too bad he didn't pan out!

Next up, a package from The Diamond King! He mistakenly sent a package to my old address, a month later it made it's way here, he felt bad and sent a "I'm sorry" package. Well, this good deed will not go unpunished! You're getting a "You had nothing to be sorry about!" package headed your way soon... meanwhile, he packed it full of AWESOME cards!

These are just the highlights folks! Lots of shiny!!!!! Awesome die cuts of Biggio and Berkman! I love seeing all that reflective silver!!!!

More shiny stuff!!! See that last card, seem a bit small and odd? Well it folds out, see below!

Biggio on the outside, Bagwell on the inside! A perfect card!!! I really hope they both get elected to the HOF on Wednesday. They deserve to go in together! Awesome Bagwell jersey relic to wrap it all up!

Finally a trade with Coot Veal and the Vealtones. I sent him a Trammell auto that I picked up recently just for him, as he had contacted me about a trade! I wasn't expecting the big stack of extras he included in his package! Here's the highlights:

More shiny!!!! Almost all of the cards he sent were numbered! Great stuff Dustin, you're awesome!

Here's the meat of the deal though:

Awesome Berkman, great Biggio relic and a 2011 GYPSY QUEEN STAMP CARD #2/10!!!! WOO HOO!!! My affinity for 2011 GQ is well known at this point. This is my second Stamp Card, as I previously picked up the Hunter Pence stamp in a trade as well. Would love to get all the Astros but at this point I don't think it's going to happen! People put an unnecessarily high price on them on eBay. But this one is AWESOME! Great Skylab stamp and a cool Spring Training pic of Myers. Thanks Dustin!!!!

I can't post without a note of sadness regarding Richard McWilliam. I know he has been vilified in the past few years, but I think many should thank him for revolutionizing card collecting in the 90's, when it started to go stale. He introduced many of the things we love today: relics, autos in product and even redemptions. In my mind he's an innovator and should be appreciated as much for the good as he is vilified for the bad. The hobby takes a hit with the loss of an industry leader. Hopefully Upper Deck can rise from the ashes a bit and get back on solid ground. RIP Richard McWilliam.

2nd Team Randomization!

Alright everyone, here are the list of the claimants, note the number next to your team and name will correlate to the number next to the team in the randomization:

1) Atlanta - jaybarkerfan
2) Boston - Martyn
3) Chicago Cubs - Matt P
4) Chicago White Sox - Jeff Wilk
5) Detroit - Jeffrey
6) Houston - The Dimwit
7) Kansas City - Bobby
8) LA Dodgers - gcrl
9) NY Mets - buckstorecards
10) NY Yankees - Dutch Card Guy
11) Philadelphia - Richard N.
12) San Francisco - Jared
13) St. Louis - jamicfin
14) Texas - The Dimwmit
15) Toronto - Roy-Z

And here is the randomization result:

So the final pairings are:

1) Atlanta & Arizona & Non-Baseball - jaybarkerfan

2) Boston & Minnesota (Trade with Roy-Z) - Martyn

3) Chicago Cubs & San Diego - Matt P

4) Chicago White Sox & Oakland - Jeff Wilk

5) Detroit & LA Angels - Jeffrey

6) Houston & Seattle - The Dimwit

7) Kansas City & Baltimore - Bobby

8) LA Dodgers & Tampa - gcrl

9) NY Mets & Cincinnati - buckstorecards

10) NY Yankees & Milwaukee - Dutch Card Guy

11) Philadelphia & Washington - Richard N.

12) San Francisco & Colorado - Jared 

13) St. Louis & Pittsburgh - jamicfin

14) Texas & Florida - The Dimwmit

15) Toronto & Cleveland (Trade with Martyn) - Roy-Z

Alright everyone, feel free to trade away in the comments. If anyone is interested in either Seattle or Florida, I'll consider trades for them.

Thanks for joining everyone, can't wait to get to busting the boxes!!!!

Another Great Trade Night!

Well, the first Saturday of the month is here again. I spent most of my day at the LCS, as they catered to my demands of watching the SHSU-NDSU FCS National Title game, which sadly my SHSU Bearkats lost for a second consecutive year, and then it was Texans time! It was a close game but ultimately our D stepped up, and our offense did just enough to win.

The baseball pack wars and products are a bit slim this time of year, so there was a lot of football product opened. Here's is everything I pulled across all products this month:

I bought a whole box of Sweet Spot because it was a bit cheap. I got lucky on the Strata as I only bought a few packs. The Fried is the hit of the night, as it's going on eBay for about $50!!! SWEEET!

Next up, we have some cards that I traded for...

The Moon is actually a gift from a friend at the shop, he bought a case of Goodwin last year and he had a couple extra Moons. The Beltran is a trade with my buddy James at the shop who also runs Unabashed Interest. I parted ways with a Patrick Wisdom Bowman Sterling auto. The two bottom cards are my favorite. I gave up the Drew Brees auto I won a month or two ago, and I may have overpaid but the Brees drew no interest and I was ready to part ways to pick up two sick autos of Mr. Watt!!!!

I'm going to do the group break randomization tomorrow! Boxes should hopefully be here by Wednesday!

January Group Break Sign Ups Are FULL

Alright everyone, it's that time of the month... Group Break sign-ups are LIVE!!!! This month we've got 4 boxes of great products that total at least 11 hits!!!

First up:

2006 UD Ovation - a favorite of mine, at least 3 hits and featuring 6 serial inserts per box! Any international cards will be given to either the team that drafted/signed that player originally, or randomized amongst all stacks if they never made it to MLB.

Second box:

2011 Allen and Ginter - 3 more hits, lots of possibilities... this break will be a bit different as I'll sell the "non-baseball" cards as a separate 16th slot all on it's own specifically for these and any other non-baseball cards.

Third Box:

2011 Topps Lineage - Three hits here as well, with a least 1 on-card auto, a total of 2 autos and a relic card. Some people love this set, some hate it. I thought it was somewhere between those two extremes.

Finally:

2011 Topps Chrome - One of my favorite Chrome sets. Two autographs per box and we have a chance at a Team USA redemption. If we do pull one of these redemptions, I'll do a randomization of all slots (excluding the non-baseball) who go hit-less as long as there are at least 5 hitless slots, and distribute the 5 cards to those participants once it's redeemed and mailed to me. If there are less than 5 hitless slots then I will randomize the unredeemed card amongst those slots who didn't get a hit.

Alright, those are the boxes and parameters. Here is the answer to the question you're all asking: $16 for a two team slot! Any additional slots are $14 each. 

International will be $19 per slot, $17 for any additional slots. 

The Non-Baseball slot will be $10, $12 International, or $8 as your second slot, $10 International as your second slot. 

Payment to be made as GIFT to paypal address samuelpair (at) yahoo (dot) com

Claim your team via COMMENT below. Please do not e-mail me directly but leave a comment with the team you want to claim. First to claim gets the team by the time stamp on the comment. 

Arizona

Atlanta - jaybarkerfan - PAID

Baltimore

Boston - Martyn - PAID

Chicago Cubs - Matt Pederson 

Chicago White Sox - Jeff Wilk - PAID

Cincinnati

Cleveland

Colorado

Detroit - Jeffrey -PAID

Florida

Houston - The Dimwit - PAID

Kansas City - Bobby - PAID

Los Angeles Dodgers - gcrl

Los Angeles Angels

Milwaukee

Minnesota

New York Mets - buckstorecards - PAID

New York Yankees - Dutch Card Guy - PAID

Oakland

Pittsburgh

Philadelphia - Richard N. - PAID

San Diego

San Francisco - Jared - PAID

St. Louis - jamicfin - PAID

Seattle

Tampa

Texas - The Dimwit - PAID

Toronto - Roy-Z - PAID

Washington

Non-Baseball (single slot, no second team) - jaybarkerfan - PAID

Cards in the Stocking

The wife did not disappoint with some cards in the stocking (and a few blasters after Christmas morning). Here's what I got on Christmas morning...

The Nolasco is from a discounted A&G blaster... meh... the Anderson is from one of those $7.99 repack specials where you are guaranteed a hit and a couple packs. The GQ starts with a couple of SP's, the Lee /599 blue border and then a bunch of mini's! The GQ blaster and repack were in my stocking.

Next up, I picked up a couple of Panini Cooperstown Collection blasters... I really like the base cards, but the insert sets... yuck... I believe the first card was originally intended to be a manu-patch but they went cheap-o with the faux woodgrain feel. Stupid inserts abound!

I would be really interested in putting the base set together, but the overwhelming quantity and poor quality of the inserts have soured me on this set. If anyone has base for trade, I wouldn't mind making a deal to complete out my base set, but other than that, all the inserts and all my base dups are for trade!

January Group Break announcement coming soon!

What Did The Dimwit Buy With His Christmas Money?

Baseball cards of course... duh!

Alright, we stopped by the LCS this afternoon and I snagged up a box of 2012 Bowman Sterling. This is new and improved. As they got rid of the mini-boxes from years past and loaded it with ONLY autographs. No cheap relic hits and such now a days. You get 18 autographs! Last year I was shorted my promised dual auto or relic and it was replaced. This year there is no such promise, but there are some available.

Here's my loot:

The six base cards/inserts:

Let me be the first to say, these cards are ridiculously nice! The top row are all numbered. They are all kinds of shiny and the scan (as great as it is) doesn't do it justice. Awesome looking cards and yes, they are all for trade!

Next up, my autographs!

 These are 15 of the base autographs, plus the redemption for the Montero refractor! Most of these guys, I've never heard of... some like Fried, Travieso, Walker and Cecchini have a bit of recognition factor. Slick looking autos, all on-card the card stock + shiny factor make me very happy. Great looking set of cards. It'd be pretty awesome to put together the set of these autos. It'd look awesome in a binder!

The two refractors I pulled:

I don't know nothing about this Haniger fella, but Parker looks like he's going to be a force to deal with in the AL West! Crazy how the Diamondbacks keep trading away such great arms with the recent Bauer deal to Cleveland. They know how to pick 'em! 

Well, unfortunately there's not a single card from this box that fits in my collection. There are some Astros in this set, so if any of you pull one I'd love to swing a deal!