Checklist Chipaway: SPX Winning Materials

Quick post to show a lot of 4 2003 SPX Winning Materials cards I received this week.  Got all of them of eBay for pretty good prices.  I am now only 7 cards away from completion. 

Ho Ho Hogs...

Hope everyone is enjoying their day.  I had to take a moment to show off this awesome painting the lovely wife got me for my office.  The more I look at it the more I love it!

Also I keep forgetting to mention 2011 A&G blasters and rack packs and Topps Chrome 2011 blasters are all on Rollback 25% off at Walmart.  FYI.

Texas Rangers Stocking Stuffers

Well, these weren't really in my stocking, because that would be insane unless they were well protected.  But I got a few nuggets in the mail this week:

Jurickson Profar relic card-  I'm not necessarily a huge prospector, but I do like to keep an eye on minor league talent, which is partly because of the Royals AA team in my area. Since they are a Texas League team, every year I get to see the Rangers AA team come to town a few times.  I think Profar may get to AA this year, and everything I hear about him leads me to believe he could be special.  In fact, one scout said Profar had Hanley Ramirez's physical skills with Dustin Pedroia's makeup.  He's really young and several years away (and blocked up the middle by Kinsler and Andruz) but I'm still excited about his future with the Rangers.

 Speaking of Kinsler, I also got this graded Turkey Red rookie card this week.  It was only around $3 shipped, and I love the way Beckett Graded cards look and feel.  So sterile and organized.

I now have 8 variants of the Michael Young 2005 Finest Card.  I don't know why I decided to do a rainbow of this card, but I did.  I do like the looks of the card, I just can't really explain why I need a page full of different color versions of the same card.  I just need it.

I wish everyone a safe and enjoyable Holiday season! This experience in the blogging world has been a gift that has kept giving all year long through the contact and interaction I've had with all of you, and I appreciate it!

A Trade With A Guy Much Smarter Than Me

Yes, I could title all of my posts about trades with this same title, thank you very much mister smarty pants.  I secretly always hoped I could avoid a trade with David at the brilliant blog "e rayhahn, rayhahn", but not because I didn't think he seemed like a good guy, I just didn't want to get further exposed as a hack by someone who new what they were doing.
He certainly knew what he was doing with the cards he sent me:

I didn't have either of these relic cards of Young and Kinsler, and they are very welcome additions to my Rangers collection.  The Young card is numbered to 75, and is a really pretty card in hand.

He also added a couple of bonus cards.  Actually, this is my first Attax card that wasn't an insert with the Topps base card packs.  I actually kind of like it, and sort of have an interest in picking up some more and trying to play the game.  Has anyone played Attax?  Is it fun?

Thanks for the great cards David, and I hope you enjoy what I sent you.

eTopps Football Tracker 12/23- eTopps Jumps The Shark

Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh, but I'm pretty bummed about the direction eTopps is headed.  This week eTopps posted the following update on their website:

Dear Valued eTopps users,
Due to rising costs of doing business and increased costs to our shipping partners, eTopps will be raising its shipping rates beginning early next year. This is the first price change for eTopps in several years. Also at this time, eTopps points will no longer be accepted for shipping.
If you would like to take advantage of today’s current shipping rates, please be sure to visit your card portfolio in eTopps.
Thank you for your continued business!
The Topps Company


Being in the business world, I understand that sometimes things like this have to happen for a business to stay profitable.  But using points for shipping cards was a huge deal to me.  With shipping costs now from eTopps being $6.95 for the first card and $.85 each additional card, I shudder to think what the new higher costs will look like.  I was able to tolerate these exorbitant charges because you also had the option of using points (1 point= $1 of shipping) to pay to ship cards.  And while I like having cards in my port, eTopps cards in hand are really nice and at the end of the day I want real cards, not virtual ones.

But what really bugs me about the timing of this is that 2011 MLB, MiLB and T206 cards were stated to be available to ship on Dec. 8th.  Dec 8th came and went and 2 weeks later these cards are still unavailable to ship. 

With the unavailability of 2011 cards and the recent vague announcement about shipping costs/terms, I was curious if the 2011 cards would remain unavailable to ship until the new costs/terms went into place.  That seems like a reasonable question and I sent eTopps a polite note asking just that:

Hello

I was wondering when the cards that were scheduled to be available for shipment a couple of weeks ago will be available?  I was planning on getting them in for Christmas, but it looks like that will not be possible.  How much longer do you anticipate the delay lasting on these? Will they be available before the new costs and shipping terms take place?

Thank you

Here was eTopps reply:

Thank you for taking the time to write with your question, and please accept our apologies for any difficulties you have encountered while attempting to use our service.

In order to determine possible causes, at your convenience, please contact our Customer Service team (toll free) at 1-800-489-9149. A Customer Service representative will be available between the hours of 8:30am-4:30pm (ET) Monday through Friday to help troubleshoot and resolve any problems you may be experiencing.

Thank you once again for taking the time to write. We look forward to speaking with you.

Sincerely,

etopps Customer Service team


Somehow, I don't think my message was actually read.  I simple "yes they will be available before the shipping changes take place," or "no they will remain unavailable until the shipping changes take place," or even "we had a problem with the printing of these cards and we are not sure when they will be available" would have been good.  I'd even settle for, "the cards are available but we just don't want to send them out unless we can get more money for it."

I'm not dicking around on the phone all day over this, so I'm not taking their suggestion and calling customer service. 

The response on the message boards has been intense.   There have been a ton of minor issues with eTopps this past year, and the attractiveness of the final product may be starting to lose its leverage.  Who knows how this shipping chage will impact the way the cards are purchased.  Points were a big deal in eTopps world, but they just lost a ton of their importance, and it will impact the value of cards going forward.  Case in point, here is my tracker for the week:

Aaron Rogers took a big hit (down $5), and I expect his card to continue to drop.  Once of the reasons for the demand of his card up to this point was the expectation he would pull in a ton of performance bonus points at the end of the year (MVP, Passing Leader etc.).  With points now having significantly less value, I'm not surprised the demand for his card is going down.  On a positive note, I was able to trade my Jake Locker on the upswing and get an Eric Hosmer baseball card. 

There were a couple of new cards this week, Tim Tebow and Victor Cruz.  I didn't buy either, and it doesn't look like I missed out on anything:

I'm not a doom and gloom guy by any stretch of the imagination, but it's getting really hard to keep promoting and celebrating  eTopps lately.

Doing Some Business W/ Sports Syzygy

I can't pronounce his blog name, but Mike from Sports Syzygy and I just completed a small trade to go along with a small purchase I made from him.  First the purchase:

Mike was selling team sets of 2011 Topps Chrome at super cheap prices.  I picked up this set of Royals for $2 shipped.  I bought it for the Hosmer, which is now my 3rd such card. 

And here was the trade.  The Elite Gwynn (numbered to 10,000) and the Chrome Lee (numbered to 99) I knew about.  He snuck in the other Gwynns.  I'd never seen the "This Day in History" Tradition card, but I really like it.

Thanks for another great transaction Mike!

Cardboard Catastrophes Keeps Making My Day

I can't seem to catch up to Jeff at Cardboard Catastrophes.  It seems like he always has something up his sleeve that I want and he sends it before I can even put together my side of the trade.  He was nice enough to do some finagling on the Diamond Topps giveaway site and came up with the only other Texas Ranger di cut card I needed (I'm passing on Vlad Guerrero and don't want to spend what I'd have to for the Nolan Ryan) for a close-enough-complete Rangers set.   His cards arrived in the mail yesterday.  I haven't even put his in the mail yet.  This same scenario plays out on all of our trades, which makes me wonder how he tolerates me. 

Here is the Beltre.  I love these cards, and I've become a huge fan of Beltre this year.  I'm very excited to get this.

He also sent a few extra cards.  The Ryan Fleer Greats card is a handsome card that looks like it belongs in a leather bound album in a luxurious home office that smells of pipe tobacco. 

Thanks for being a great trading partner Jeff, and I'll get some good stuff out to you soon!

If I Could Have Moment Of Your Time..

To show you what I won at Cleve's Christmas Auction:















There.


Didley squat.

Even with all my preparation,  I came away empty handed for the first time ever at a Cleve auction.  The stuff was just too rich for my blood, and the fact of the matter is that I am a small timer with this stuff.   There were guys there Tuesday night dropping several thousands of dollars.  I just can't do that.   But, I still enjoyed myself and got to see some really cool pieces.  The Turkey Red vintage cards were simply awesome.   The Michael Jordan litho was incredible.  And the vintage Cracker Jack cards were super cool.  It was just all out of my range.  There was a Triple Threads 2011 6 PC relic book of HOF pitchers that I made a feeble attempt to buy, but once it got past $30 I chickened out. 

Cleve was kind enough to give everyone who attended a nice pack of baseball or football cards.  I got a free pack of Allen and Ginter, but didn't hit anything.

So I'm sorry I don't have a more compelling story to tell.  I'm hoping to get back on the small-time saddle next week when the standard auctions resume.

Prepping For Cleve’s

I’m sure you people think all it takes to participate in an auction at Cleve’s is just showing up and bidding on what you want.    I wish I could type the sound of me scoffing at that notion.  These auctions are attended by some of the most cut throat mercenaries known to man, especially the junior high kids.    Preparation is important, nay, essential for success.

I have to start getting ready at least a week in advance, and the day of the auction, my preparation is especially intense, starting a good 12 hours before the auction starts.  Since I am taking that day off from work, my preparation schedule is a little different than usual.  I thought I would share my plan with you, just so you can see what all goes into this thing:

6:30 AM-  Offer moral support to the lovely wife as she gets out of bed to take care of the 2 year old who just woke up.  Then, go back to sleep.  This is not as easy as I make it look.

9:00 AM- Wake up and see what the lovely wife has made me for breakfast.  Once “Nothing” has been confirmed, make a cup of coffee and check Words with Friends.    Request rematches with the Lost Collector and The Daily Dimwit after verifying yet more beatings from them.

9:30 AM-   Check Gmail for comments on my blog.  That takes 5 seconds.  Then I read any other new blog posts that show up in Google Reader.

10:00 AM- Actually, I don’t do a whole lot from here until around 1.   I’ll probably eat some lunch or something.  But don’t get me wrong.  This period of relaxation is crucial toward my preparation.

1:00 PM-  Right arm stretching.  My right arm is my preference for raising my hand to acknowledge I want to bid on something.    I usually have my phone in my left hand at the auction, and am able to play Angry Birds while bidding.  I try to do 3 sets of 10 reps of right arm raises.  I might get tired after one set though, and I try not to push it too hard.

1:30 PM- Recovery from right arm stretching.  While I’m recovering, I am able to think about baseball cards at the same time since I’m pretty adept at multi tasking.

2:00  PM-  Ice cream usually sounds good about this time.  Again, I think about baseball cards while I’m eating.

2:30 PM-  Recovery from eating ice cream.

3:00 PM-  Neck stretches.  Once you’ve been outbid on something and no longer wish to continue bidding, it is good form to slowly shake your head “no” when Cleve looks in your direction to ascertain if you will continue to bid.  Severe neck cricks are a legitimate threat if your neck is not adequately  loose.  

3:30 PM-  Recovery from neck stretches.

4:00 PM-  Crunch time approaches.  Time to look at my favorite baseball cards to get myself psyched up.

4:30 PM-  Request make-out session from the lovely wife to get my confidence to peak levels.  

4:31 PM- Try to figure out another way to get my confidence to peak levels after rejection from lovely wife.

4:45 PM Recovery from not being able to come up with anything else.  As I’m recovering, my trainer (my 5 year old boy) will help tape my ankles and fingers.  Taped ankles help me keep from twisting my ankle as I climb the 3 steps up to Cleve’s.  The taped fingers don’t help with anything, but they look cool.  I had thought about wearing some eye-black or a mouth guard, but realized that would be absurd.

5:00 PM Time to go over auction checklist with surgical precision and make sure I have all the necessary tools:

a)      Wallet

b)      Phone

5:30 PM Once I verify I have both of those things, I get in my truck and drive to Cleve’s.

6:00 PM Verify seating location of my nemesis.  Shoot dirty looks in his direction.  Make sure he sees my taped fingers.

6:30 Auction begins.

eTopps Football Tracker 12/17

I'm starting to get a similar feeling toward this tracker that I did near the end of my hot dog tournament.  When is this going to end?  It was a little tiresome doing it this week.  But, I'm sure there won't be many more weeks of eTopps football, so I'm going to see it through.  Not much to note this week other than the spreadsheet has grown to the point where I need to save it as 2 separate JPGs for showing on the blog.

I guess the other reason I am losing interest in this is that I haven't purchased any of the new cards in the past few weeks.  The cards just haven't been strong.  And I haven't been trading or selling lately either.  I need to dump the Jake Locker card now while it's up.  I've been trying to trade it for an Eric Hosmer card and have not had any luck. 
Otherwise, it looks like I was right to pass on the latest cards:

The latest cards have all immediately fallen below IPO.  Tebow was offered this week and will be in ports by next Tuesday, so that may liven things up a bit in eTopps world.  However, I didn't get a chance to buy one on Monday so I'll be shut out on Tebow unless I trade for it or buy it on the secondary market, which I doubt I'll do.

This Card Is Cool... You're Darn Tootin It Is

Before he heads to the land of the rising sun, Ryan from the powerhouse "This Card Is Cool" blog and  I worked out a small trade and today I received my cards.  And I now have one of the coolest cards I've ever seen:

This Pacific Crown insert card of Tony Gwynn is di-cut, but even more awesome is that the cards has actual netting built into it.  I had to make sure to get it in a snap case before I screwed it up by playing with it too much.  I've never seen this card and didn't know what to expect when Ryan offered it up.   Super, super cool card.

He also sent this Biggo relic card which is really sharp.    Two fantastic cards! 

Thanks for the trade and the great blog Ryan.   Good luck with your new position in Japan.  I hope your world travels do not distract you from what should be your main priority in life:  entertaining and informing us in the blogosphere.   Don't let us down.  If I have to, I'll fly to Japan and drag you back myself.

Destiny Awaits At Cleve’s Tuesday Dec. 20th

There comes a time in every man’s life, when he has to look himself in the mirror and see who is looking back.  If that person is looking back… no wait, let me start over:   There comes a time when a man should look at the opportunity knocking and see if it’s in the mirror or the door… I mean, wait.  I almost had it.  Here it is:  A man is only as good as his good deeds in the words that impact others and when that opportunity comes…  That’s not it.  Hold on a minute.  How much wood could a wood chuck….  no, no, no.

Ok, what I mean to say is that Cleve is holding his annual Christmas auction Tuesday Dec. 20^th and there is going to be some BIG TIME stuff available.  I am going to preview as much as I can here tonight.  And then, I am going to that auction on the 20^th and I am going to… probably get outbid on most of what I want.  But I’m going to try to get something by God, and I’m going to have fun.  And I’ll tell you this:  I’m packing a tazer, and if my nemesis get’s in my way, he’s going down.  I’m taking that day off from work, partly to hang out with lovely wife and kids, but mostly to get myself mentally ready for the most epic auction of all time.   

 There are a ton of vintage cards that I've never seen in person before.  I had no idea the original Turkey Reds were that big.  Same with those Murad college cards.  I'll need to check with the resident expert on this set.  Eric, are these the size of the cards you are collecting, or are these like box toppers?

There are also plenty of autographed pictures and jerseys.  The Jordan litho is incredible.  No way I'll be able to even sniff affording it.

The Cracker Jack cards are very cool, but have ridiculous Min Bids.  Actually, many of the cards from this particular seller have min bids that are way out of my range.  I guess the guy who's putting them up figures if he can't get top dollar for them he'd just as soon keep them for himself.  Actually, the cards in the last picture, including several Mantles are about the only ones that have no min bids, and thus the only ones I have much of a shot to buy.   The more I think about it, the more I realize there is a good chance I walk away with squat Tuesday night, but it's still going to be a blast.

Checklist Chipaway: Gypsy Queen Green Border

I recently won a nice little eBay lot of 7 Green Framed Gypsy Queen, pushing my checklist to 47% completion.  I'm actually on a faster pace to compete the Green Paper parallel set than the base.  I imagine when I get to about 80% it will start to bog down and get tougher to complete though.  At the same time, I picked up a few Red Paper cards on sportlots.com that a guy had for only $.18 each.  One of them was Ian Kinsler so I REALLY had to have it:

These are just beautiful cards.  And that Kinsler card is fantastic.

That's all.

Gypsy Queen Life Vest: Courtesy Reader Ryan

When I started this blog, I had no preconceived notions about the level of trading in which I would participate.   In fact, I don’t think trading was on my radar at all as I timidly stepped into the blogging waters. But lately, it seems like that’s all I’ve been doing,  and I’m happy to say it’s been a blast.  But how can you not enjoy coming home from a hard day of reading blog posts work and finding a nice padded envelope with your fake name on it.  That’s just what I got from reader Ryan L.  the other day.  He sent a very nice stack of cards and yet again pushed my GQ master set toward completion.  I’d spend a minute extolling the virtues of his blog, but as of yet, he doesn’t have one.  Based on my correspondence with him, I think he should.  He’s got some really nice collecting goals and it would be cool to follow his progress.  Just do it Ryan, quit screwing around.  What, do you have a life or something?  Anyway, onto the goodies:

 12 Base Cards including some SPs.  I'm now at 53% complete for the base set.

Ryan also snuck in a couple of Green Framed cards of two superstars, and minis of 3 of my favorite players.  I suppose if I really wanted to have a master set of GQ, I should build the minis.  After looking at these, I just might.

And finally, a few other cards of some of my favorite players.  The Halladay is a numbered refractor. Sa-weeet.

Since Ryan doesn’t have a blog to cover his end of the trade, let me do it for him.  Actually, I don’t even remember what I sent him, but I’ll cover the gist of what I think he would have said about me:

“I’m sure by now you are blissfully aware of the highly entertaining, edgy and relevant ‘The Adventures of Napkin Doon.’  If you haven’t read his blog yet, what the %@*% are you waiting for?  Imagine if Cormac McCarthy, Thomas Pynchon and Mark Twain had a baby and that baby grew up to write a baseball card blog.  That’s the essence of Napkin Doon.  But be warned, unless you are prepared to be challenged mentally, don’t read his blog.  Certainly, the subject matter of his blog is baseball cards, but if you read between the lines you realize that he is actually holding a mirror up to society and saying “This…. This is what you are society.’  Plus he held a tournament for hot dogs too.”

Thank you for the kind words Ryan.  I’m blushing, but I graciously accept what your post about me would have said.

A Cool Deal From Coot Veal- Part 2

One of the great things about getting a large trade package in the mail is that it can be stretched into two blog posts, and requires very little thinking on my part.  I am always in favor of very little thinking.  Today I’ll show the cards of my favorite non Rangers/Razorbacks, courtesy Coot Veal and the Veal Tones:

Darryyyylllllll….. Daryyyllllll……. Darryyllllll…..  Darryl Strawberry was the man.  Period.  Oh, what could have been with that guy. 

A group of cards from two of the smarter players I collect.  At least I know Keith Hernandez is smart.  It seems like Al Leiter is too.    The Hernandez Fan Favorites card is numbered to 199 and is really sharp.

I probably shouldn’t root for Torii Hunter, him being an Angel and all.  But he is an Arkansan, and he’s just hard not to like. 

And finally, some Tony Gwynn.    He was good.

Dustin, thank you for a great trade, and I hope you enjoy what I sent!