Now How Much Would You Pay?

Hey, everyone, my pal AJ over at the Lost Collector isgiving away a TTM autograph of All Star Heath Bell that he received in the mail the other…..  wait.

No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No Lost Collector. 

I’m sorry I can’t let you mess up this opportunity.

The master of TTM autos should not so cavalierly dispose of the fruits of the art he has mastered.  There is no one in the baseball card blogosphere as good as you at TTMs.  Nobody.  You have a gift, and have  mastered your craft.

I want you to learn a little something from this guy*:

I used to stay up late at night and watch Don Lapre infomercials about making money all the time.  I don’t recall all of the get rich schemes he was up to, and I was never really tempted to call and order his money making kits.   But man, he could talk a dog off a meat wagon.   I do remember he was always talking about placing “tiny ads” in newspapers across the country and making a killing doing it.  He seemed to have mastered this art.    The thing was, he told you what to do, but not how to do it.  To learn that, you had to fork over some money. 

That is what you must do Lost Collector.   If you’re good at something, don’t do it for free.   You need to begin producing your TTM infomercial immediately.  I for one would gladly fork over $19.95 for your secrets.  If you really want to, you can offer the Bell card as a bonus to whoever purchases your TTM Kit first, but don’t give it away dude.  Don’t give it away.

*okay, so this post was written before I found out Lapre was a fraud and wound up committing suicide in prison this month.  That's actually incredibly sad, and not funny at all.   I tried to change the post to feature  Ron Popeil, but he didn't really convey the slickness the Lapre did.  I just had to leave Lapre in. I'm sorry.  

Etopps 1956 Topps Tribute

 Besides the standard current season offerings, eTopps will pepper some special sub sets through out the year, usually between sport seasons.  One of the small sets they offered that I really liked was this 11 card tribute set to 1956 Topps Football.  I didn't buy these when they were first offered while back, which was a good move since they pretty much have all fallen below the IPO price.  In fact, I put the whole set together through trades of other cards and points. 

This is a really underrated set, and looks great in hand.  As with all eTopps cards, they are slabbed, numbered and sealed.  The cards are sharp looking, and the checklist is strong, with Pierre Garcon being the only mediocre card.

Etopps Football Tracker 10/21

The trend for eTopps football was down a bit this week from last week:

Looks like I really whiffed by passing on the Andy Dalton card, which is up 28% over IPO this week.  Tom Brady and Cam Newton are carrying my portfolio, although Brady keeps ticking down each week.  I would bet this card settles in around $10 by the end of the season, so I might think about trading it now and getting it back later.  My purchases are still above the overall set index, even with Ryan Mallett and Julio Jones pulling me down.  I'm really surprised by the weak performance of the Jones card out of the gate.  Maybe it will pick up steam as he gets healthy. 

Checklist Chipaway: 2011 Topps Chrome

It’s fun to grind out the completion of the set, slowly but surely, a few cards at a time.   But sometimes you just have to go for the kill when a good deal comes along.  I posted some progress toward my 2011 ChromeBase set the other day and had a comment from Mike from Sports Syzygy saying he had busted a case of chrome and could help fill my set.    He also said he had a complete set that he would send for $25 shipped.   (He also posted on his blog that he had another one for sale at the same price the other day.  Not sure if it’s still available, but that beats anything you will find on eBay).   The more I thought about that deal, the better it sounded.  I was still only about 50% done, and even thought I only needed about 100 cards, that would still be at least $18 plus postage if I got them all off sportlots.com at $.18 per card.    Plus, this would give me an additional Eric Hosmer.    So I decided to skip Cleve’s auction this week, as well as the Etopps IPOs, which weren’t that great this week anyway, and spend that money on a set from Mike.  They arrived quickly and in pristine condition Tuesday.

I’ve already placed the cards in pages and a nice binder, and spent some time admiring them last night.  Sometimes I forget how enjoyable it is to read stats on the back of a card.  If the comments are interesting, even better, but the stats tell a better story anyway.

I was tempted to scan all the pages, but I’ll keep it to the front and back of the first 27 cards.  

 

And check out Mike’s blog.  He’s a neat guy.  One of his hobbies is collecting pressed pennies, which I find incredibly interesting.  Check out this post about it and you'll agree!  Thanks for the deal Mike!     

Lineage Lateness

I really had no intention of building Topps Lineage.  I didn’t think I had bought very much, at least not enough to get a foothold on completing the set.  But, I guess a rack pack here and there over time adds up quickly for a 200 card set, and after sorting my cards, I saw that I was over halfway home on the base set.   However, the set is just not doing it for me.  I decided to choose either Lineage or Gypsy Queen to collect, and I guess I like Gypsy Queen better. 

 

I do like these minis, but I've already got the Rangers I wanted from Cardboard Catastrophes and don't really need these.  

 

Not sure how I ended up with two each of Cain and Gallardo, but they are for trade if anyone is interested.  My favorite insert is the 3D set, and I only have the Heyward.    I don’t have any of the pop ups, and only a couple of cloth stickers. 

If anyone is interested in these in trade, let me know.  Ideally, I'd like to trade for equivilant GQ cards, but I'm open to offers.

R.I.P. Doonboggle

Sometimes you just have to admit when an idea  doesn’t work.  My “Doonboggle” of the week program was met with some serious yawns and disinterest.  Thanks to the Lost Collector for giving it a shot and participating, and thanks to Josh at Royals and Randoms for giving it a shout out on your blog, but this program just didn’t get any traction.  

Maybe I’ll start a graveyard for my unsuccessful blog gimmicks.

I Am The Smartest Man Alive…

Let’s look back at my predictions for the 2011 baseball season:

AL West -  I refuse to pick this division as I do not want to jinx the Rangers. 
AL Central- The Royals, with the help of some young ultra talented Naturals are 2 years away I think.  And I can't get a feel for this division at all, so I'll pick the Twins.
AL East-  I'll take the chalk and pick the Red Sox.  Although, I think the Orioles will make some noise this year. 

NL East-  Even with the injuries, I'll go with the Phillies.
NL Central-  The Brewers look good to me on paper, but I've said that before about them.
NL West-  Giants again, but the Rockies will be tough I think.

World Series-
What the heck:  Brewers vs. a team whose name I will not mention so that I do not jinx them.

AL MVP:  Someone who plays in the outfield with last year's MVP whose name rhymes with Pelson Pooze.
NL MVP: Ryan Braun

AL CY Young:  Felix Hernandez
NL CY Young:  Roy Halladay 

I was a measly two games from nailing the World Series contestants.  I only went 2 for 6 on my division picks, but, the Red Sox were headed toward winning the division until injuries decimated their lineup.  That would have been a .500 mark.  I also may have picked the NL Cy Young and MVP award winners, although I bet Kershaw takes the Cy Young.  I missed on Nelson Cruz winning the AL MVP, but he did with the ALCS MVP, which I would rather have any day since it means the Rangers ARE AGAIN IN THE WORLD SERIES. 

I wonder what my payoff would have been had I placed $5 on every prediction I made?  Surely I would have made a profit. 

I’m telling you, when my brain isn’t preoccupied ogling the lovely wife, it is capable of inhuman power.  All hail Napkin Doon.