Spiegeling with the Stars

Spiegel from the awesome blog Nomo’s Sushi Platter has become to trading with me what Alec Baldwin is to hosting Saturday Night Live:  a frequent guest who never disappoints.

I just wrapped up my third (or was if fourth?) trade with Spiegel.  He posted his end of the deal on a cool video post on his blog here.    I love video posts.  I would love to do my own.  But alas, I dare not unveil the shroud of secrecy that must not speak it’s name for, I Napkin Doon, shall forsooth not seek ye… something… under a cloak of secrecy…  um…  perpitude, or something.

Sorry, lost my train of thought.    Anyway, I got a thick stack of superstars from Mr. Spiegel and I’m giddy about it:

The Fleer Ultra Kinsler is sharp.  I may have to look into building that set.  

Since he’s a Razorback, I’ll root for Cliff Lee no matter where he plays.  But it still hurts a little not seeing him in a Ranger uni.

 How about that Jeter Gallery card?  Very nice.

Fill those Halladay and Ichiro pages Spiegel, fill them full my man..

Spiegel, once again, you are an awesome trade partner!

Happy Vietnamese New Year!

Aside from being exquisitely beautiful and talented, the lovely wife is of Vietnamese descent (eat your heart out suckers).  We spent this weekend celebrating the Chinese Vietnamese New Year with her family.  It's always a nice time, and our kids will love it more and more as they get older.  One of the traditions that I'm sure they will be especially fond of is the handing out of Li Xi (lee see).  Li Xi are little red envelopes containing various amounts of cash and are meant to bring good luck.   I got a red envelop myself this weekend:

See if you can guess what I spent it on, less than 24 hours after getting it.  Yep, just like Play at the Plate, I'm Weak. 

In my defense, these value boxes were marked down 25%.   $11 for these value boxes is too much for me to pass up.  Each box contains 5 packs of 2011 Topps Traded, 1 pack of 2011 Bowman Chrome, 1 Bryce Harper card and 1 Diamond Giveaway code card (I got 4 total codes out of both boxes, but the site has been down a few days so I don't know what my codes will bring yet).  Do you want to see how the little red boxes bought with my little red envelope turned out?  Sure you do.  First,here are the two Bryce Harpers. 

Yes, I'm drinking the Kool-Aid on this guy, and I actually like these cards.
I guess my little red envelope did bring me some luck too:

I don't know much about Guyer, but this Bowman Chrome auto is numbered to #50, so I'm geeked out over it.
Other than that, I didn't get much to write home about in the 2 Bowman Chrome packs.  Here are the highlights from the Topps traded packs:

 Lot's of shiny, and the Ethier is #d to 60. 

I also got a few Kimball minis and another Hosmer to add to my PC of former Northwest Arkansas Naturals.

Aside from the Hosmer and the Silver Harper, everything is for trade! 

Ficociello a la Dimwit oooh la la Magnifico

Hey, you like-a the Dominic Ficociello? Is good eh?  He play-a for the... emmm how you say: Arkansas Razorbacks?

Ok, it's taking too long to write this post in Italian, so I'll just go back to my backwoods English.

So, Sam at the Daily Dimwit was giving Topps the what-fer about a month ago for a) terrible collation on some redemptions of Topps Chrome USA autographs (2 of 5 of the autos were of Razorback stud Ficociello), but worse b) mucking up the autographs of one of the Ficociellos, and worst of all c) refusing to do anything about it.   It's actually an unbelievably poor display of customer service, and the above links have to be read to be believed.

I'm a little embarrassed to look back on these posts regarding Sam's ordeal.  If you read the comments on the first post, you'll several offerings of concern and support from considerate folks... followed by yours truly asking if he could have the Ficociello card that wasn't screwed up.    What a guy I am.

Well, what a guy Sam is, because he was willing to send the Ficociello my way.  He liked a couple of Jeff Bagwell cards I had, including a really cool "game used dirt" card and we worked out a deal.  My cards arrived Friday, and the Ficociello is every bit as awesome as I thought it would be.  You never know on  prospects, but I think he's the real deal.  Of course I am a tad biased about my Razorbacks.  Even if he doesn't get to the Majors, I'll still have a great card of a great Razorback.

And I got a few bonus cards too.  You may be familiar with the gentleman on the bottom right.  Yes, that is former Governor of Arkansas Bill Clinton.  I'm thrilled there is a card of him out there.  I know Arkansas is a small state, but Clinton was a pretty high profile governor and made a few appearances on late night shows like Letterman and Leno, so he has some national appeal.

Thanks for the trade Sam!  Hope you enjoy the dirt I sent you!

Just When I Thought I Was Out… Cynical Buddha Pulls Me Back In

I really like 2010 Topps Finest and 2010 Topps Turkey Red inserts.  I originally had them listed on my Master Checklist and had a modest portion of each set complete (about 25% each I guess).  I went through a “paring down” phase several months ago and started taking another look at my master checklist, which had bloated itself to nearly 100 sets at one point.  I decided to put my pursuit of many sets (including 2010 Turkey Red and Finest) on pause while I focused a little more on others.  I decided that I didn’t have enough headway on the aforementioned sets to continue building them and they dropped off my master checklist cover page, although I kept the actual checklists up for the future.

Mark from Collector's Crack, (and other blogs) stepped up and gave me some new momentum on both sets.  Not only are they back on my checklist radar, I have a new appreciation to just how nice these sets are.  They are a nice contrast in styles- modern, shiny, slick Finest goodness and classic, artistic Turkey Red goodness:

As awesome as these two lots were, they weren’t even the best part of the trade.  He also sent me these sweet Ranger cards:

The Young card is now one of the best cards I have of him.    I didn’t know it until I saw the card, but this Young is numbered #1 of 100.  I like to think that since this was the first one of this card, after it was printed, all of the printers and executives at Leaf stopped the press and held this card up to the lights with rubber gloves, rotated it around, sniffed it a few times and then as a group walked it over to the machine that wraps the cards and said goodbye.  That’s why it’s important to get  #1 of a serial numbered card.  It’s probably treated with the most care.

Like my trade with Crinkly Wrappers, I’m pretty sure Mark outdid on me the trade... maybe.   Mark was the recipient of the lot of stamp stuff I won at Cleve’s the other day.  I’m hoping it’s worth something, or at least there is something in there Mark can use.  It's probably a bunch of garbage, but I hope not.  I had already committed away the 1909 postcards I wrote about before he asked about them, but the rest was packed off to Mark in beautiful Alaska.  I also sent several assorted Brewers cards as well.  

Perhaps the best part of the trade was taking an opportunity to explore Mark’s blog(s) a little more closely.  You should really check out his work on this blog.  What a talent!  I have always been envious of people who can draw.  There is no shortage of them in the card blog world either apparently.  But Mark is extremely talented and has a really entertaining family of blogs.  

Thanks for the great first trade Mark!  I look forward to many more!

Conlon Collection Part 6: Wrapping Up A Fun Set

Unlike me, the writer of these cards didn’t seem to be losing steam as he neared the end of this entertaining set.  Below are the final 6 cards and the write ups.

I’ve made fun of this writer several times, but I have to admit the use of ( ) parentheses to describe how Honus Wagner’s legs looked was pretty clever.  I also thought it was interesting that the author noted the T206 card of Wagner as part of the write up and stated that the card was worth “above $20,000 today.”

I also love the photo of Hack Wilson, diving out of the way of a pitch.  I don’t know much about Wilson other than his 191 RBI record, but I thought the footnote about how his fondness for “the bubbly” had kept him out of the Hall of Fame for a period of time was interesting.    After a cursory search, I discovered that Wilson was elected by the Veteran’s committee in 1979, well after his death.   He did appear to be a heavy drinker (and fighter) by the accounts I read.

Checklist Chipaway: 2011 Bowman's Best Prospects

I love this set.  I managed to get the Harper in a blaster, so the rest were not too difficult to get cheaply.  These were the last two I needed.  No, I am not going to include the new additional cards that were tacked onto this set when Bowman Chrome came out.  I just wanted 1-25 and that was it.

Glad to get the Trout card.  I hate to admit, but he is a stud and will probably be a thorn in the Rangers side for years to come.   I was able to watch him play in person a few times when he came through AA and played against the Naturals here in NW Arkansas.

Taken to the Woodshed By Crinkly Wrappers

I recently sent Ted from the supreme blog Crinkly Wrappers a single card.  It was a nice eTopps T206 card of Christy Mathewson, and I kind of hated to part with it.  But he had a real T206 card of Mathewson, and wanted to display the cards side by side.  I thought that was a nifty idea, and I was glad to be able to send the eTopps version to someone who would really like it.

It was a nice card, but it was one card.    Ted said he would send me a lot of stuff in return.  He wasn't kidding.

Today I received my part of the trade.  It came in a box.  Holy schnikes, there was a lot of great stuff in that box:

To start, he sent me over 70, yes I said 70, Gypsy Queen base cards. 

Did I mention I sent him ONE card?

He told me he had a "bunch" of GQ cards, and I said I'd take whatever he thought was fair.  My base checklist went from 50% to 73% complete just like that.  That would have been more than enough for what I sent, and would have left me feeling guilty enough on its own.  But there was more in the box:

There were a couple of awesome Nelson Cruz numbered cards.  That Marquee Cruz may be my favorite card of 2011.  My scanner frustrates the hell out of me.  Sorry about the weird scan.

And a Finest Alexi Ogando, and a Marquee Ian Kinsler with Ichiro trying to hog the spotlight.  Again, sorry for the weird scan.  Again, I just sent him one card.

And he sent a bunch of 2011 Topps parallels.  Did I mention I only sent him one card?

And finally, a handful of 2010 finest base sets, a couple of Turkey reds and some Attax Rangers.  Actually, he also sent a couple of A&G code cards and two other Rangers cards that I wanted to scan but when I went to our bedroom to scan them, I saw that the lovely wife (who is sick) was already asleep.  I didn't have the heart to crank up the scanner again and risk waking her up.  But the code cards are very nice, I assure you.  Speaking of the lovely wife, she was being nosy and checking out my box of cards from Ted.  When I assured her I wasn't spending money and that this was a trade, she looked at the amount of stuff I got for one card and said, "What the hell did you send him?" 

Not nearly enough lovely wife, not nearly enough.  Ted, thank you so much for the awesome trade.  I won't be able to get over my guilty conscious for this lopsided trade until I even it out at least a little.  Be on the lookout for another package.  You didn't get confused and think I sent you the original T206 Mathewson did you?

Trade With Juuussst A Bit Outside

Even though I only missed 3 days of posting, it feels like I've been in a slump for a month.  I sort of got back yesterday with a modest card pickup post, but I feel like I'm in a funk still.  I think the eTopps announcement got me down a bit since it was always a good source of material.  A good trade certainly can help and I received a few cards in the mail this week from Kyle at Juuuust a Bit Outside.  This was my second trade with him.  I sent him a Evan Longoria eTopps and he sent back the following:

The Jeter Tek card is clear plastic and looks great in hand.  I also didn't have the Michael Young mini yet, so I was very happy to get that.

If you haven't been to Juuust a Bit Outside, go check it out.  Kyle always has something interesting up his sleeve.  I especially like his barter auctions, although I don't see any up at the moment. Still going with this idea Kyle?  I hope so, it was a good idea... unless you only got crap offers for your stuff.

Checklist Chipaway: 2001 Topps HD Image

I've kind of hit a wall lately on the blog, and things may move a little slow over the next few weeks.  I continue to grind away at my master checklist though, and found a 2001 Topps HD Nomar Garciaparra Image insert that has been eluding me for some time now. 

This takes me to 70% complete on this set, with only McGwire, A-Rod and Griffey to go. These remainders will be expensive, so further patience will be needed on my end. 

Man, I am struggling for material....

Cleve’s Auction Night: Back In the Saddle Again Part 3

Yesterday, I showed off the stamp stuff that was in the $6 goodie box I got at Cleve’s.  I hope someone out there has an interest in it.  As much as I enjoyed the old post cards that I found, that’s not why I bought the box.  I bought it for the assortment of cards, some of which I’ve never seen before.  Namely, these:

I’d never seen Topps 3D up close.  But there were 9 of these in the box, including a Tony Gwynn for my Gwynn album.  I love ‘em and am not embarrassed to say these were one of the reasons I grabbed this box.

There was also a handful of lineage base cards, and some inserts:

I don’t have any interest in these, so if you are building a set and need them, let me know.  The Teixeira is a Venezuela parallel.

It didn’t take long to detect that whoever sold this box was a Tigers fan.  There were lots of Tigers cards, including a small handful of shiny Tigers:

And there were several other Verlander cards too that I didn't scan.

I got a few other cards for my Tony Gwynn album in this box too:

There were also several of 2011 Topps inserts, including some Kimball Champions, Diamond Cards, Topps 60 and vintage reprint cards.

 Excuse the lopsidedness, I left these Kimball Champions in the sleeves when I scanned because I was lazy.

 Wait, that Bunning card looks different.

Whoa, it’s a real 1958 card!  How did that get in here?  It was the only vintage card in the box, so I think it was put in there by mistake.  This card is in fantastic condition, and Bunning is a HOFer.  He is a current  US Senator too, but he may be a bit of a nut.  Whatever. I got a 1958 card of a Hall of Famer basically for free.  Or I bought  a card of a Hall of Famer and got the rest of this crap for free.  You can look at it however you want.

I was going to extend this out to 4 posts and show the football and basketball stuff that was in here tomorrow, but truly none of it is that interesting and I've dragged this out long enough.  Here is my final purchase grade:

Goodie Box $6:  A+  This box was a lot of fun with the old postcards and the unexpected Bunning 1958 card.  The 3D cards were cool, and there was a small Score Football complete set that I didn't show.  One of my favorite purchases ever from a Cleve auction.

Cleve’s Auction Night: Back In The Saddle Again… Part 2

As promised I’d like to show off the cool non sport stuff I got at Cleve’s Tuesday night.  First, I should cover two other minor purchases quickly:

First I bought this box of 1995 Donruss commons.   I spent $5 on it.  I should have left it alone.  I was hoping a Puckett or Clemens Rookie might sneak in there.  Or at least  a Darryl Strawberry.  Nope, just commons.  So if anyone is building this set, I’m sure I can help you out.  Maybe I’ll see how much of the set this box fills and complete it myself.  I’m not thrilled with this purchase.  The box  they came in was nasty, and I’ve already tossed it.

On a brighter note, I got this 1992 Topps set for $2.  I know the 1992 set is nothing great, but try to find a complete set for $2 and not pay shipping.

Here is the best purchase of the night- a 2,400 count goodie box:

One row was filled with baseball/football and basketball cards, and the other was filled with miscellaneous stamp collecting stuff.  Does anyone know anything about stamp collecting?  I don’t and have know idea if any of this stuff is worth anything.  Here is the stamp stuff a little more splayed out:

 

I was digging through everything and came across what I think is my favorite find in this whole goodie box:

These are postcards from 1909.  I don’t know why,  but I’m enamored with these.  I especially like the one with the picture of the horse.   I can’t read what’s on the back of it, but I can read the back of the other card  and thought I would share it with you:

“Dear sister:- I sent you a letter at Christmas time.  Thanked you for Martin’s tie he was very much pleased with it. did the draft take any of your boys or did any of them enlist.  every single man physically able has been called from here.  Martin has a silo filling outfit and has been very busy filling silos.  we are milking 12 cows.  Have a 5 J silo.  love Sadie & Martin."

How awesome is that?  What a sobering conversation to witness from that point in history.  The question regarding her boys being drafted asked so casually gave me chills when I read it.  I feel like I have an artifact that belongs in a museum.    

I'll give myself a grade on the goodie box after showing the rest of it in my next post.  Here are the other grades for the above purchases:

1985 Donruss Box $5= D:  Eh, this was a waste of money, as much as I like '85 Donruss.

1992 Topps Set $2= A:  A complete set for $2 has to be an A 

Cleve’s Auction Night: Back In The Saddle Again… Part 1

I’ve been in a bit of a slump at Cleve’s lately.  The Holiday Auction was too rich for my blood and I didn’t see anything I had to have at the auction last Tuesday.   But, I got back on track in a big way this Tuesday night.  Well, let’s not get carried away, it wasn’t that big of a night, but I’ve got good blog material for at least 4 days now thanks to this auction.  I got some good singles, sets and a goodie box that was loaded with little treasures that I can’t wait to show, some of the most interesting bits having nothing to do with baseball cards. 

Ironically, I was just yesterday bemoaning to the lovely wife the fact that with eTopps apparently slipping into the night, I was going to have to find a new source of topics to take it’s place on the blog.   At least temporarily I have plenty to write about from this auction.   I almost have so much, I don’t know where to start.

I guess I’ll start with the singles I picked up:

 Yes, this Duke Snider has seen better days, but I’m pleased with it anyhow, especially for $5.

 

For $2 I couldn’t resist this dual relic Diamond King card of Scott Rolen.  It’s also numbered to #25.

This may have been my only “mistake” of the night.  My hand was a little slow on the draw and I got snared with a $4 bid rather than $3 for this Marshall Faulk/Steven Jackson dual relic.  But it’s numbered to #230 and has a current and perhaps future Hall of Famer on it.

Another $2 purchase.  I’m pretty proud of this one.  Both cards are of Jeff Bagwell, who better get in the HOF next year.  The “Play at the Plate” card has batter’s box dirt in it, and the other card is numbered to 1,000.  Plus they both came in screw down holders which I can always use.

Finally, I picked up an autographed card of Eddie George.  I think this is a rookie card as well.  I’ve always been a fan of Eddie George, so this was a steal at $2.

Not a bad way to start huh?

Here are my self given grades:

Duke Snider 1958 Topps $5=  B-  : I probably should have passed on this given it’s condition, but I wanted to make sure I got a good vintage card, and I don’t have a card of the Duke.  

Scott Rolen Relic #25 $2= B+ :  I hope I can get a good trade out of this.  I don’t care that much about Rolen, but this is a nice card.

Panini Jackson/Faulk Relics $4= B-  :  I spent more than I meant to on this, but it’s still a nice card.  

Jeff Bagwell Lot $2 A :  I love the stadium dirt gimmick, and getting two screwdown holders is a plus.  

Eddie George Auto $2= A+:  This is a steal in my opinion.  I’m sure I could triple my money on it, but it makes a nice addition to my small autograph collection.

Tomorrow, I’ll cover the non-sport treasures that I’m extremely excited about!