Blog Dog Semifinal Match 2: An Injury On The Field!

I knew this hot dog competition would be intense, but I wasn’t expecting one of the contestants to sustain a serious injury during it.  More on that later.

Yes, I have put this little project to the side for a bit, but that is mostly due to a very hectic work/travel schedule these past 3 weeks.  But I hadn’t forgotten about it, and was kind of excited to pick back up where I left off, which was semifinal match #2:  Five Guys Burgers vs. Chicago Dog.  The contest between these two is probably the de facto championship, since I can’t imagine either of them losing to White Oak Station.  But, as we’ve seen before, and as you'll see in this round, ANYTHING can happen in an amateur baseball card blogger’s regional hot dog tournament.  ANYTHING.

Five Guys was up first.  I placed my order online (the absolute best way to avoid the ridiculous lines that are still occurring at the Five Guys here).  One hot dog:  regular mustard, regular relish.  No more, no less.  The lovely wife picked it up on her way home from shopping.  I sat down, peeled back the foil, with much the same anticipation I sense when I peel back the wrapper on a pack of cards, and…

No relish.   I checked the receipt, and there was “relish” listed plain as day.  I looked at my hot dog again.  No freaking relish.  What a boneheaded move Five Guys!  Well, this did not bode well for them, who I  considered a favorite to win this tournament.   I went ahead and ate it, since I just don’t want to keep dragging this series out.   To me, it was like sending out your starting 9, but forgetting to field a shortstop.   You can do it, but you are going to suffer for it eventually.  And no, Lost Collector, this wasn’t the same situation as what occurred at White Oak in the other semifinal.  Don’t ask me to explain why, it just wasn’t.   

Yes, the hot dog, even with only mustard,  was  $&@*%-ing  delicious.  But Chicago Dog now had a total cake walk toward a championship match  against White Oak, and likely just were handed the crown by Five Guys because of an unforced error.

Today at lunch, I decided to drive over to Chicago Dog and get this formality out of the way.  I was very much looking forward to another Chicago Dog hot dog I must say.  I parked, walked up to the front door and saw:

One of the most unbelievable turn of events in the history of amateur baseball card blogger hot dog tournaments!  What a shame for Chicago Dog, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.  I’m a patient guy, but I am not waiting until November 1 to resume this tournament.  Five Guys wins, and will face White Oak Station for the first and only Napkin Doon Hot Dog Tournament Championship.   Will Five Guys shoot themselves in the foot again?  Will White Oak pull the upset?  Hold onto your butts everybody!

eTopps Football 2011 Value Tracker Update

I'm still in the black on my eTopps Football tracker, and have mostly been right on the cards I've declined to buy.  A couple of cards are new to the tracker this week:

I added Ryan Mallett and Adrian Peterson.  The Peterson is up as I suspected, and the Mallett is down as I suspected.  I normally would have waited to get Mallett later, and cheaper, but decided the former Razorback was worth buying at IPO price.  And he's only down 20 cents.  I missed the boat on Andy Dalton, but I just didn't want to pay $7 up front for that card.
Overall, the cards I've bought (up 47%) are above the overall average (up 26%).    Brees should be allocated on Tuesday, and I completely expect his card to stay above IPO as well.  As far as tomorrows new offering, I have a feeling we'll be seeing Cam Newton, and that one will be huge.

Cleve’s Auction Night: Shhh Don't Tell The Lovely Wife

Somehow, the topic of Cleve's weekly auction hasn't come up this week with the lovely wife.  Bless her heart, she had two sick kids to deal with while I was traveling.  So showing off my latest grabs from Cleve's probably wouldn't be a great idea.  But she shouldn’t get too mad, since I only spent $12, which was the least I’ve ever spent there I think.  I once again had to miss the auction while traveling, but put in a few write in bids.  I didn’t get a lot this week, but did win the auction I was mainly targeting:

 

I am slowly building 2011 Chrome, which may be my favorite set of the year.  I’m only interested in the base set and some parallels of Rangers and a few other players.  One of the auction items was a lot of Chrome, with about 45 base cards and a handful of parallels, peppered throughout with Rangers.  I figured I could feel good about putting down a write in bid for the same amount I would pay for a rack pack, and sure enough, it was enough to win.

The base was what I was after, but the inserts will pay for this auction.

I also got this sweet magnet snap case for $2 that happened to have an autographed card from the super nice UD Exquisite set inside it.  I figured the snap case was worth the $2 alone, and the auto would make good trade bait.

To round my haul out,  I picked up a shiny autograph card of Andre Brown.    I don’t know who he is, but it came in a screw down case (not magnet) and was a pretty card.  It will make good trade bait too, I bet.

Grades:

Topps Chrome Lot $8.00:  B+  This pushed my chrome set from 26% to 39% complete, and I have some extra parallels to sell or trade.   Since I couldn’t attend the auction, I had to put in a write in bid, and thought $8 would be enough.   I wonder if I could have got it for less had I been at the actual auction.

UD Exquisite Kelvin Jimenez $2.00:   A-  It’s hard to argue with a autograph card from a premium issue that’s numbered to 75.  The nice magnet card holder made it a no brainer, and I’m frankly surprised I got it.
 

Topps Platinum Andre Brown Auto $2.00  B-:  It’s a shiny autograph in a screw down holder.  I guess I would do it again, but I’m not real excited about this one.  I remind myself it was only $2.00 and that makes it ok.

Blink + Moneyball= Texas Rangers Power

This is a long post that has nothing to do with baseball cards.  You’ve been warned.

I just finished Malcolm Gladwell’s excellent book “Blink” while traveling.  It's a book I've meant to read a long time and thought my most recent trip to Canada would be a great opportunity to knock it out.   The general premise of the book is that as a species, we are designed to be able to make quick decisions and judgments (thin slicing what the process is called in the book) based on conscious and subconscious data we have accumulated in the internal computer of our mind.  If we can avoid certain pitfalls that sometimes accompany this process of thin slicing (personal prejudices, stereotypes, misinformation etc.) our ability to make snap judgments and decisions is often more reliable than if we seek out external data.  That’s a pretty gross oversimplification of the book, but you get the point.    Normally, I would not have tied this book into a discussion of baseball, but I also just recently went with the lovely wife to see the excellent movie, Moneyball* and it occurred to me there was something interesting to talk about between these two books.   I was a big fan of the book Moneyball since it came out several years ago, and recently re-read and enjoyed it all over again.  

*On a side note, I was a little disappointed  my favorite part of the book was left out.  There is a scene in the book that depicts the 2002 draft and the A’s war room.   They basically go into the draft expecting to get a few players they really want, and experience joyous disbelief as other teams skip over other top players on their list resulting in a windfall of picks.  Anyone who has ever had an awesome fantasy draft can relate to this euphoria on a small scale.  Yes, I know many of the picks did not pan out, but that’s not the point.

One of the general tenets of Moneyball theory is that it is faulty to only judge a player by what you see on the field in a short sample size, especially in baseball, where the value of a player is realized over the course of a long season.  Stats- not just stats, but the right stats, are needed to help evaluate a players potential value to the club.

Both Blink and Moneyball philosophies make sense to me, and perhaps are not as conflicting as they appear.  One of the chapters in Blink discussed the opportunity for failure when our eyes deceive us and we don’t know it, which goes along with the Moneyball approach.   

The Texas Rangers seem to think both theories have value too, although it seems they lean more to the “blink” way of looking at things.  In the front office sits Jon Daniels, Cornell graduate, and seemingly the kind of new breed of GM that would place a heavy emphasis on stats.  However, Daniels has shown a commitment to scouting that seems to be somewhat counter intuitive to the Moneyball approach.  "From Day One, I think people thought I'd be a numbers first, second and third type of guy," Daniels said.”But I always kind of described myself as a centrist.We were going to use objective analysis and we were going to use the evaluation skills of our best people. But the more I've grown into this job, the more I lean towards the scouting end of the spectrum. And not by a small margin."

In the dugout sits the epitome of the term “baseball man”, Ron Washington, who I am not really sure has ever looked at statistics to determine his decisions.  If he does, he certainly isn’t beholden to them.  I read a quote from Washington the other day that I wish I could repeat verbatim, but it was something like, “The lineup will be whoever’s name comes out of my pen that day.”  Not, “We’ll take a look at the matchups and see what the numbers tell us to do.”  Ron Washington is a “Blink” manager personified, in my opinion.  That’s not to say that he isn’t well informed, or that his “gut” decisions are random.  His ability to make decisions has been honed over years and years of playing and watching baseball, and that is when the blink ability is at its best.    Keep in mind; these are my impressions as a fan, not an expert.  I would be interested in Joey Matches take on this at the greatest blog of all time, Baseball Time In Arlington, a site that has as good a handle on the meaning and importance of statistics as any.  

It occurred to me that I needed to quantify Ron Washington’s in game decisions by writing an algorithm to calculate his success rate.  While my blink side tells me he generally makes good moves, my Moneyball side says I just test it to be sure.  The first thing I had to do was learn what an algorithm was.  Once I saw an actual algorithm, I realized I would not be writing algorithms any time soon.  It would be cool to tell people I wrote an algorithm though.  I would like to publish an algorithm in a scholarly journal, or present it at a board of directors meeting.  Or, I’d just like to write one on my office window with window markers, like the Gladiator guy did in that math movie.

I think the Rangers have the perfect blend of smarts and instincts at the operational level.  The farm system is still brimming with talent, they recognize value in the market (Mike Napoli) and are willing to spend (Adrian Beltre) like the big market club they really are.

I don’t know what’s going to happen the rest of the way this season, but the Rangers are a power, and they are not going anywhere for a while.

Oh baby are those Naturals?

They're Naturals, and they're spectacular! (Seinfeld)

I didn't think much of the Topps Heritage Minor League set that was recently released, but I was surfing around on eBay and saw that there were a handful of relic cards from Northwest Arkansas Naturals (KC Royals AA) prospects.  I still won't do much with this set, but I really wanted these and got them all for under $10 shipped. These cards are especially fun because my boy and I were able to meet all of these guys at a pre-season autograph session this past year.

I still remember how nice guy John Lamb was to my boy.  He was a top 50 prospect according to Baseball America (#18), but had Tommy John surgery and won't be available until late next season.  He seems like a really decent guy and I hope he gets back on track and has a long career in the bigs.

Christina Colon seemed like a typical college kid.  He was late to the autograph session and was pretty sheepish about it as the other players ragged him.  #51 on the prospect list,  he will probably start the season in AAA next year.

And finally, the prospect that many have said has as bright or brighter future than Eric Hosmer or Mike Moustakas is Wil Myers #10 on the list.  He's really young, and didn't exactly tear it up this year in Arkansas, but had his moments.  I'm hoping we get to see him one more year before he heads to AAA.

Getting relics of Naturals jerseys was fun, and I hope Topps keeps this set going.  The best part?  I can pretend the blurry guy in the seats in the background of the Myers card is me.

A Trade With Plaschke, Thy Sweater Is Argyle

Man, I got nothing tonight as far as clever post titles are concerned.  But I did just complete a sweet trade with Greg of the high end, sophisticated, professional looking Plaschke, Thy Sweater Is Argyle, and I am excited to show you the loot he sent.  The only thing I didn't like about Greg is that looking at his blog reminds me how amateurish mine is.  Geez, what a nice blog he has...  It must be nice to have brains and talent.

I recently picked up a really nice auto/relic of Clayton Kershaw at one of Cleve's auctions.  Greg must have really wanted it because he offered up a huge lot of nice cards for it.  It was a tough card to lose, but his package offer was too hard to turn down.   If you can get over me ending that sentence with a preposition, allow me show you what he sent.  First, we have a couple of Tony Gwynn relics:

I don't have either of these, and they are both really cool.  Love the pinstripe on the one on the left.  Next, we have some Pudge:

Ivan Rodriguez is one of those guys I've always followed and liked but haven't aggressively sought to collect. But when I come across his cards, I wonder why I don't collect him and intend to make it a point to beef up my collection.  He is one of the greatest catchers of all time, and should be a first ballot Hall of Famer.  These are a great boost to my small I-Rod collection.  The SPX card is a beaut!

Finally, Greg added in some nice cards of star players I collect, and an interesting low numbered card of former Hog, Ryan Mallett.  The back of the Mallett card describes it as a "make ready" card:  "A make ready is one of the first printed sheets.  It is used to adjust colors and registration.  4-color cards are a combination of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black.  Once all of those colors are combined, you have the color combination seen on printed cards."    My first "Make Ready" card!

Thank you for a great blog and a great trade, Greg.  Look forward to another one down the road!

More Delicious Spiegel Stew

I don't know why, but that title sounds dirty.  It's not like I wrote "Spiegel Spew" though.  Anyway, I really enjoy my trades with Spiegel from the always entertaining blog: Nomo's Sushi Platter.  He always sends good stuff, and this trade was no different:

The Jeter numbered Chrome card was the top card of the pile- what a way to start!  There some other nice cards of non-Rangers I collect.  The Fleer Mini card of Piazza is cool, and something I've never seen before.

I didn't have the 85 Gwynn card, so this filled a big hole in my Gwynn binder.  I actually had one of these unlocked on the Topps Diamond Giveaway program, but traded it, among other cards for a Di-cut diamond card.  Spiegel also sent a couple of 2011 Pujols cards- Topps base and Lineage.  Whoop whoop!!

Last but certainly not least, here were the assorted Rangers in the package.  The chrome Michael Young cards are slick, and I really like the two Kinsler cards as well.  I've had a bit of a man crush on Kinsler lately.

What a super trade package.  I actually don't even remember what I sent for my end of the deal, so this is like a free lot of cards!  Thanks for the trade Spiegel, and get back to blogging soon!

Checklist Chipaway- SPX Winnng Materials 2003

First of all, sometimes I love being wrong.  The lovely wife thought I'd thrown quite a pity party for myself with that post, by the way.  I'll spare you all extended recaps from my teams this weekend, but the Rangers and Razorbacks made Saturday a very fun day.  I will pat myself on the back for calling a disastrous start for the Hogs, but they showed a ton of fight and put it on the Aggies after halftime.  It also looked bleak early for the Rangers, but it's hard to keep all those bats silent for too long.  I'll just give a big "whatever" for the Cowboys gift wrapping that game for the Lions.  I'm not even going to pile on Tony Romo.  Some targets are just too easy (unless you are Tony Romo-  oooh, rim shot).  I was absolutely dead on about my kids though- they were total animals all weekend, but it's not so aggravating when your teams are winning.
Here was something else that made me smile on Saturday:

I am now about 70% done with this 2003 SPX Winning Materials set.  This Tejada card is very sharp, with the cool A's logo and the green jersey.  I'm going to be extremely proud of this small but tough set once it's done.

My Patented Crappy Sports Weekend Had Begun..

I started seeing it coming a mile away.  Every year, there is at least one weekend where all of my teams take beatings, some of them unmerciful.

First, the Rays announced they were starting a rookie phenom pitcher in game 1 of the ALDS.  The Rangers seem to ALWAYS have trouble in situations like that.   Then, in looking at the expert picks today on the various sports sights, too many people were picking the Rangers to win this series, with Jayson Stark even picking the Rangers to win the World Series.  I knew Matt Moore would put the Rangers bats to sleep, and I knew they would lose this game. I just didn't think CJ would lay such an egg. When he got shelled early, I knew my annual crappy sports weekend was knocking at my door.   So let me go ahead and call James Shields dominating game 2 tomorrow, too and taking the Rays up 2-0 and heading back to Tampa.  Don't be surprised if Shields throws a shutout.  I won't be.

I might as brace myself for a Hogs loss tomorrow too.  They are likely still reeling from the Alabama debacle, and Texas A&M is going to be sky high for this game, after losing to the Hogs the past two years in a row, and wanting to prove they can compete in the SEC.  I can see this unfolding much the same way as the Rangers game today: a major catastrophe will happen early.  It might be a quick touchdown from A&M followed by a 3 and out, or worse, a turnover from Arkansas. Or it might be a pick six on one of Arkansas's first plays of the game.  Something terrible will happen early, mark my words.  If you are an A&M fan, welcome to the SEC, but get off my blog.

And then my Cowboys will finish off the weekend with an uninspired performance against the upstart Lions.  I don't yet have a feel for how it will unfold, but I'm sensing a blowout.  This will be the least painful of the games this weekend, but it has the spotlight on Sunday and I will already be depressed from 2 loses from the Rangers and one from the Razorbacks.

My only solace is that I can now at least call this all out on record beforehand and have some proof my prognostication skills.

My kids are going to be animals this weekend too.  Crappy weekend here I come.

eTopps Football Value Tracking

One of the great things about eTopps is that you have a pretty solid idea of what your cards are worth.  At least, you do for the cards that are in port.  Since the IPOs from the first week are just now starting to hit portfolios, please follow along with me as I track the value of what I purchase throughout the football season.  I will maintain a worksheet of the cards I purchase, updated weekly, at the top of my blog.  For comparison’s sake, I’ll also keep tabs on what I didn’t buy.    I will list the current best price for immediate sale from cardtarget.com as the current “value” of the card.

Along the way, I will likely sell or trade some of these cards, and will update the worksheet to reflect those changes. 

Week 1 Summary:

Since this is the first week of running this report, let me walk through it for those of you not familiar with eTopps.  Here is a quick primer of the basics.  Last week, the first offering of 2011 football was posted.  There were 3 cards you could request for purchase: Tom Brady for $5, Titus Young for $5 and AJ Green for $6.  I chose to purchase the Brady and Green and passed on the Young.  Cards were allocated this week (Brady was not allocated until today, which was very frustrating- but I won’t complain since I got one and not everyone did.  In fact, the feeling is the Brady card was sold out in about 10 minutes).  Once cards are allocated to your portfolio, eTopps states the value of the card as the average of the 10 most recent sales of the card on eBay (not including the highest and lowest price sale).  There is also a site called cardtarget.com that coordinates directly with eTopps where you can purchase/sell eTopps cards, but using an instant purchase/sale method.  To me this is a better indicator of the current value of the card. Here is where I am so far:

I've listed the cards that were offered this week as well as last week, but since they have not yet been allocated, I've left off the values.  After one week, my portfolio is up 90% over the cost of IPO!  I could sell my Brady card and have a $10 profit.  Of course, that would take all the fun out of it, so I will decline the opportunity to quit while I am ahead.  The Green is slightly down to IPO, but unless he really tanks, his card should stay close to IPO cost.  And even though the best offer for this card on cardtarget.com is $5.89, the best sale price is $6.35. In other words, to purchase this card, so far getting it at IPO was the cheaper option.  It looks like I was wise to pass on Young since this card is already $1.05 under IPO.  

The Brady card significantly put me in the black this first day of its availability on the secondary market, and should stay there though the season.  It will be interesting to document the peaks and valleys of these cards along the way.  Interesting to me anyway- some of you likely got bored two sentences into this post and bailed. 

Doonboggle Of The Week: Courtesy of The Lost Collector

One of my favorite blogs out there is the Lost Collector, run by one of my favorite dudes.  He was gracious enough to provide my first "Doonboggle of the Week" material and answer a few questions about his blog and himself as a collector.

Blog Name: The Lost Collector

How long have you been blogging? Since Feb., 2011.

What do you enjoy most about the card blogging world? Trading with other bloggers. I've grown my Yankees collection vastly. After middle school, I wouldn't have imagined I'd ever trade a baseball card again. Now I make trades on a nearly weekly basis.

How long have you been collecting? Like most bloggers, I started when I was a kid, stopped in high school and college, then recently picked it back up again.

What do you collect? Yankees cards, Tino Martinez, Yankees prospects, and currently 1968 Topps Game. I'm also a fairly avid TTM (Through The Mail) autograph collector.

 The Bungles

How did you come to own these Doonboggles? Frustratingly enough, I was born a Cincinnati Bengals fan. It's the only sport where I follow a non-NY team, and it's horrible. After years of being irrelevant, the 2005 Bengals exploded onto the scene with young talent and an exciting team. They even won the AFC North. I was so inspired, I went on eBay and bought a few lots of Carson Palmer and Chad Johnson cards. I grabbed a few rookies and inserts. I have never collected football cards and I literally had no idea what I was buying at a time when I wasn't even collecting (I was in college). I thought it would be a sound investment. I even told my dad about it while I was home on winter break, and I remember him saying, "you better hang onto those ones, buddy." I didn't spend crazy amounts on autos or game used or rare cards, but the fact that I felt the need to stock up on these guys when I knew nothing about the product I was buying certainly makes me a doonboggle. Just six years later, Carson is sitting out the season because he doesn't want to be associated with Mike Brown or the Bengals, and Chad Johnson has a new last name and is struggling to put up remotely decent numbers in New England's high-powered offense.

He even saved his invoice.  No Credit Cards?  This was old...

What advice would you give to someone who is starting a blog, and/or starting a sport card collection?  For someone starting a blog, I'd say do it for yourself and find your own identity (I'm still looking for mine). Everyone has their unique spin - some guys are team collectors, others player collectors, and others just offer insightful thoughts on the hobby in general. Personally, I like showing off cards I get from other bloggers and showing off TTM successes. It's very Yankee-centric, which probably turns off some potential readers, but I can't please everyone and if it's not to their liking, and that's ok. I use it as a way to stay interested in collecting and I would encourage anyone else to do the same.

For starting a collection, find something you like and don't go overboard. Pick a team or player to focus on and start small. There is always set building too. Try a few different areas of focus and then it'll be easier to narrow down what to collect.
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Thank you for participating AJ!  I would love to do this weekly, so please shoot me an email if you would like to share your Doonboggle story.

30/29? Good enough for me..

Why are no Rangers being mentioned as AL MVP candidates?  I take that back.  Michael Young has sort of been mentioned, here and there and deservedly so.  But the guy who I think has been the most valuable to the team this year is Ian Kinsler.  Part of that is my own anecdotal evidence from the many times I've watched  the Rangers play on TV.  It seems like every time I happened to be watching and something positive happened for the Rangers, Kinsler was in the middle of it.  Twice I saw him end a close game with a spectacular defensive play.    Seemingly every time I watched him hit, something good happened as well, whether it was a leadoff homerun, an extra base hit, or a stolen base to turn a single into an extra base hit.  

Kinsler just needs one more stolen base tonight to put him in the 30/30 club (30 HRs and 30 steals) for the second time in his young career.  With only two games to go, he might not get it.  But 29 steals is close enough for me.  I’m not suggesting that he should win the MVP, but from my eyeball test, he’s one of the best players in baseball.  

And my Kinsler collection is building up pretty nicely I must say.   This little beauty came in the mail this week:

 

Doonboggle: My Contribution to the Cardboard Lexicon

 Doon-bogg-le: [doon-bog-uhl, -baw-guhl]  noun,verb

noun
1.  A serious misjudgement regarding the potential value of a sports card.  Usually occurs as an over-reaction to a hot streak by a player, in which the collector freaks out and buys an expensive card of said player and soon realizes he/she made a big mistake.  
2.  The point after purchase or trade in which a collector asks: "Why do I have this card?"

verb
1.  The actual act of misjudging the potential value of a sports card.   This can include overspending of money towards a card, or the act of submitting a worthless card for grading, among other actions.  The failing end of the process of prospecting.

Perhaps there already is a term out in cardboard land for what I am getting at above.   I like "doonboggle" myself, and hope it catches on like "bipping".  What was my inspiration for this post?  I was petting my cards this evening and came across this thing: 

It's a graded card of Kris Benson.  Keep in mind, it is not my motif to make fun of players, past or present, if I can help it.  Benson was a darn good pitcher for a while,  so I don't mean any disrespect towards him.  And it's a sharp looking card, too.  But.... what in the holy hell am I doing with a graded card of Kris Benson?  I didn't send it in for grading, but obviously I bought this along the way somewhere in my collecting life.  I don't remember when or why I bought this, and I really hope I only got it because it basically a gimmee on eBay or part of a lot or something.  Whatever the back story, there it was, sitting with some other graded cards in one of my boxes.  I needed a word to explain what I had here, and doonboggle seemed to fit.


I am comforted by the thought that I can't be the only person out there that has committed at least one doonboggle in my collecting life.  So I invite you all to submit your doonboggle stories.  I'm going to tie this into a blogger/reader profile series that will have a place on the sidebar of my blog.  If you have a doonboggle you would like to share (it's cathartic, trust me) please shoot me a note. 

eTopps offering 9/26

Great week from eTopps this week.  The Ingram and Peterson are great buys for the game, and of course I'm stoked about the former Razorback Mallett getting a card.  It's a little strange to offer Mallett a week after Brady, so I won't be totally shocked if the Mallett gets nixed between now and IPO time (1 pm est).

Contest Winnings From Cheap Card Collecting

I'm a little slow on the draw, but I wanted to send out a big thank you to Anthony at  Cheap Card Collecting.   I entered a drawing a few weeks ago at this wonderful blog, and the randomizer smiled upon me.  My winnings arrived and they are beauties:

These are from 1991 Topps Archives, reprints of 1953 Topps, one of the great sets of all time.  The above were my favorites that Anthony sent.   These are really neat cards!  The backs are great too:

Cards or no cards, reading the Cheap Card Collecting blog is a prize itself, with great posts and lots of good "heads ups" of the best pricing for cards on the Internet.  Thank you for the much appreciated cards!

Rangers are the 2011 AL West Champions!

And it's all because I went to the game tonight... 

Luck, nay, destiny had your pal Napkin in Dallas this weekend on business.  When the opportunity to see the Rangers and Mariners play Friday night, I was all over it like a guy... who likes baseball... is on tickets for a baseball game..

I could sense some magic in the air as I approached this gorgeous baseball cathedral..

I love the Ballpark in Arlington.  It's a really pretty place to look at, and it is humongous.  Well, I guess humongous is a relative term.  to wit-

Right across the way from the Rangers Ballpark is Jerry World.  This thing has to be seen to be believed.  A little picture from my cell phone doesn't come close to doing it justice.  I hear parking is $75 here.  Parking for the Rangers game was $5.  But I digress.

Since I was on the company's dime, we shelled out dough for good seats and sat up a little ways behind home plate, in a covered section.  It was a great view of the field.  Unfortunately, my tale will not have the benefit of compelling photos, because the camera on my phone stinks.  But here are a few pics:

 We didn't get to see the Rangers take BP, but saw the Mariners "sluggers" lace some singles around the outfield.

 It was pretty cool seeing Ichiro up close.  He's a charismatic dude, and still had lots of fans screaming for his attention.

It wouldn't be a post from me without a picture of a hot dog would it?

The game went along pretty quickly.  I kid you not, before the game I told my co-worker that Adrian Beltre would go deep.  Bottom of the second, he proved me right.

Here's Beltre crossing the plate after his home run.  This would have been so much more fun to write if the picture won't so crappy.

Soon after, Josh Hamilton followed with a blast of his own.  But the best part of the night was former Razorback, Craig Gentry, hitting an inside the park home run, his first home run of his career.  Gentry is a fast mother.  He almost caught Nelson Cruz who was on base and running home ahead of him.

After the bullpen followed up a pretty solid outing by Matt Harrison with 3 shutout innings, we headed back to our hotel, the haunted Adolphus, and saw the A's finish off the Angels, at least as far as the AL West is concerned.

Bring on the playoffs!!! 

I'm so happy right now...

Rangers Mariners

Shiny Rangers

I'm headed to Dallas on business today.  I'm hoping to see the Rangers play Friday night.  I intend to go by the stadium at some point no matter what, and hope to have some good blog material while I'm away.  In the meantime, I received some new set pickups in the mail this week:

I picked up the sepia, black and blue Michael Young chrome parallels.  The sepia is nice, but I have to say, I think I like the plain ole' base card of '11 chrome the best.  I'm anxious to see one of the atomic refractor cards though.

This is my first look at Topps Marquee, and I'm kind of relieved that it doesn't do anything for me.  The photo is pretty cool though, with Ichiro horning in on the action.

Cleve's Auction Night: "Nice cards, babe!"

I couldn't make the Tuesday night auction at Cleve's this week, but I put in a few write in bids beforehand.  I was thrilled to see today that I won most of what I wanted (last week I was shut out).  I picked them up this afternoon and brought them home.  My wife blinked, smiled a pretty little smile and said "Nice cards, babe!"

Wait... what?

Could it be that the lovely wife now realizes what a shrewd purchaser I am and is coming around to my auction power?  Nah... I don't think so either.  She is either feeling guilty about something she bought, has something she wants me to do that she thinks I won't want to do, or she is SO REALLY, REALLY mad at me that she has skidded all the way off the anger charts and being nice is the only way she can express her feelings.  Like a fire that is so hot it becomes blue and looks cool to the touch.   The supportive words above may have been dripping with sarcasm and I was too dense to figure it out.  But, I'll take it all the same and enjoy the non-scolding.

And who wouldn't be impressed at this haul?  LOOK AT THIS!!!!

 Michael Young Triple Threads Auto/Relic Bonanza

This card instantly becomes my best Michael Young card.   I am so excited to get this I may not be able to sleep tonight.  In fact, I'm still in a bit of shock that I have it.  Numbered to 18, it has 4 pcs of jersey and 2 pcs of bat, PLUS and auto.  Awesome, awesome, awesome card. 

Topps Tribute Clayton Kershaw auto/relic

 

I really did not expect to get this card with a $6 bid.   But here it is.  This guy will be good great for a long, long time I think.  I'm not sure yet if I want to keep it, flip it or trade it.  Maybe I can use this to spur a trade with the famous Night Owl.

 

 1960 Fleer Lot of 3

I don't consider a haul from Cleve's a success unless I pick up some vintage.  I got these three 1960 Fleer for $1 each.  The Cochrane is mis-cut but I don't care.  

Topps Pristine Uncirculated Robinson Cano

From the "why not" category, comes this uncirculated Robinson Cano.  I figured $3 would be a steal for an uncirculated, numbered refractor of a superstar.  And Cano is a superstar.  

Grades:

Topps Triple Threads Michael Young auto/relic $10:  A+  Instantly my best Michael Young card, and a beautiful card to look at.  I would have been happy paying $20 for this awesome card of my favorite player.

Topps Tribute Clayton Kershaw auto/relic $6:  A-  A tremendous value in my opinion, that will only get better as he gets more recognition.

1960 Fleer Lot $3:  B  I'm actually a bit on the fence about building this set now. But these are still cool cards that didn't cost much at all.

2003 Pristine Uncirc. Robinson Cano $3:  A-  I'm a sucker for uncirculated cards, and don't have any great rookies of Cano.  This covers both wants.