Wantlist Help From Another World

I received an awesome package in the mail today from Dan of "The Other World" blog, a great read, especially if you are a Phillies fan, which I am not, but I like his blog anyway.

He contacted me about helping out with my 2011 Gypsy Queen set and sent a huge group of cards for it, as well as an unexpected stack of 2011 Kimball Champions cards.

Here are some of the Gypsy Queen highlights:

These are awesome!  I'm going to start fining people who don't like Gypsy Queen, especially the 2011 set.  How could anyone not like that Bob Gibson card?  The Valencia card up top is a SP, too.  The Speaker "Great Ones" insert gets me to 93% done with that set, and thanks to Dan's shipment, I now only need 32 more of the base set (not including SPs).

My momentum on the Kimball Champions set had pretty much stalled out, but Dan gave it a nice kick start with these:

Yeah, these are pretty darn cool, and I'm going to have to jump back on building this set since I now can see the finish line.

Thanks for the great cards Dan!  For those of you looking for a different kind of box break, check out his high end offering that is filling up now.  Tell him Napkin sent you and you will get a $0 discount, and a "who is that?" response, but you should say it anyway.

Cleve’s Auction Night: Turning The Pages

I got a little bid happy last week when I went into Cleve’s to check out this week’s auction items.  There was just so much good stuff, and I’m in one of my dangerous “Baseball Card Fever” modes where I can’t seem to get enough of baseball cards.  

I put in a lot of write in bids at Cleve’s.  

A lot.  

There were several pages of 1965 and 1966 cards that were in supreme, mint condition.  I wanted them, and put in what I thought were reasonable bids…on…every…. single…. page.   I assumed, reasonably, that several other bidders would also want them so to increase the odds of one or two slipping to me I needed to bid on all of them.  I also understood for the condition these were in (they were so crisp that I had to look at the backs to see if they were part of some reprint set I didn’t know about) my modest bids had only about a 5-10% chance of winning at best.

Apparently, those other bidders I was counting on were all out of town this week.  I know this because when I called Cleve on Wednesday to see if I won anything, and he said, “Oh yeah, you won a bunch! The usual vintage buyers were all out of town.”   My heart skipped a beat, and I’m not sure if it was from excitement from winning this sweet loot, or fear of how I was going to explain this to the lovely wife. 

Don’t get me wrong.  She’s completely supportive of my hobby and is fine with whatever I buy.  Except she’s not fine with whatever I buy and she’s a little bit crazy and frankly I’m pretty frightened right now.  

But I won’t let that stop me from sharing my treasures with you.  And if this is the last post you see from me, please know that I have enjoyed working with all of you and wish you well in your future endeavors.

Here are the 1965s I picked up.  This is a beautiful set in my humble opinion, and my favorite from the 60's.  A few nice names are here including Hall of Famers Mazeroski, Santo, and Fox.   It's also neat to get a card of Jim Bouton, author of Ball Four.  

I think these are my first cards from 1966.  Not a bad design and these cards are in ridiculously good shape.  Not really a lot of big names, but the Curt Flood and Richie Allen cards are nice to have.  From the small amount of research I've done on Richie Allen, he sounds like an interesting person. 

 Finally, I picked up a page of 1968 cards of mostly commons.  All of this will be great filler for my sampler album.

I'll grade the purchases in groups by year since I don't feel like grading every page:

1965 18 Card Lot $20-  A   This probably is a little pricey, but the cards are in superb condition and there were 3 HOFers that I know of included. 

1966 27 Card Lot $20- A   NRMT cards from 1966 at least than $1 per card is pretty good I'd think.

1968 9 Card Lot $5-  B   No big names other than the Frank Robinson checklist, but still got them for less than $1 each.

A Feast From The Platter

I love trading with my pal Spiegel of Nomo's Sushi Platter, a splendid blog.  He's by far the person I've traded with the most since I started blogging, and it's always an enjoyable experience.  We typically do a blind 20 for 20 or 30 for 30 trade and he always sends great stuff.

For instance:

Ahhhhh, look at that awesome card!  This is the first base card from Topps Museum I've seen, and I really like it.  It is just a flat out good looking card.

He also sent some nice cards of current players I collect.  The Hamilton Lineage 3D card is very cool.

I love getting Pujols cards, but the reminder of his 3 Home Run game against my Rangers in the World Series was a little painful. 

Spiegel also sent several 90s Rangers and a nice lot of Mike Piazza cards.

Thanks for another great trade Spiegel!

Checklist Chipaway: 2003 Donruss Diamond Kings

I've added a couple of cards to my master 2003 Donruss Diamond Kings set this year, which ain't bad.  I recently picked up this Roy Oswalt jersey card:

I've now got 34 of the 50 jersey cards from this set, 68% done.

Gettin' Crinkly With It

A few weeks ago, I showed a nice Aaron Hill card I won auction.  I was hoping Ted from Crinkly Wrappers could use it because he is an awesome trader and an awesome blogger.  And he has an awesome Fred Merkle card that I am insanely jealous of.

Turns out, he did want the Hill card..  I said, “It’s yours,” and he said he would send me a scan of what he was going to offer for it. 

The next day, he sent a scan and said “How’s this for a start?”

 

A “start.”  

A "start" he says.

That’s the start, middle and end, and then twice more around the track.  Of course I said “hell yes” and the trade was set.  

Perhaps it’s from marrying into a Catholic family, but my conscious really started bothering me.  No way could I accept such an incredible card for (nothing against the card I had) something not as good.  So I sent Ted a note and said I couldn’t accept the Hamilton, as nice as the gesture was.  However, I was smart enough to wait a few days until after the trade was done and the odds were good that he had already mailed the card.  My plan worked.   Ted advised me the lopsided trade was no big deal and the card was already sent anyway.   Now I look like a good guy for “refusing” the card, but because it had already shipped, I still get to keep it.  I am a genius. 

Thank you for the great trade Ted!

Quick Cleve's Post

This week is going to be pretty busy for me, so posts will likely be even more half-assed than usual. 

I only picked up a few write-in wins at Cleve's this week, one great and one I don't even remember bidding on and don't know why I did it.  First the one I'm happy about:

Elvis Andrus just gets better and better and is one of the most fun players to watch in MLB.  I've been wanting an auto of him for a while now.  I'm not sure I see Elvis Andrus anywhere in that scribble on the card, but I'm not his penmanship teacher.

I also got this, although I don't faintly remember bidding on it:

This game used bat card of pitcher Early Wynn is fine and all, but I don't have any idea why I bid on it.  I know I did because I saw the bid card with my writing on it.  I've got another vintage card of Wynn so maybe I wanted to get something else of him.  It was only $3, so no harm no foul.

Grades:

GQ Elvis Andrus Auto  $5:  A    Now that I have an Andrus auto, I have autos of all of my favorite Rangers. 

UD Ovation Early Wynn Relic $3:  B   Can't complain about a relic of a HOFer for $3.  I just don't know why I needed this card.  It's up for trade if anyone is interested.  (Maybe I got it as trade bait?)

Happy Mother's Day

I know there is at least one mom that reads this blog, and that's the lovely wife.  Happy Mother's Day honey- I love you and appreciate all you do more than you could ever know!

Speaking of mothers, Wallace Spearmon is a bad mutha. The former Razorback track star was bad lucked out of the bronze medal in the 2008 Olympics, but is ready to make another run in 2012.  I've actually met Wallace a few times.  He lived down the street from my brother in law and used to spend quite a bit of time at his house playing World of Warcraft.  He's a nice guy, and a freak of nature athlete.  Jerry Jones told him to come try out for the Cowboys when his track career was done. 

So when the Topps Olympic set came out, I started scouring eBay for cool cards of Wallace, and made sure I got the coolest one of all:

Here's hoping for better luck for Wallace in 2012!  And here's hoping he someday can master walking on water:

A New Favorite Player In The Doon Household- Addendum Part 1

Not everything that happened over the weekend was glorious.  I mentioned Monday there was a dealer at thecard show that some readers of this blog may recognize, and I guess I should tell you what went down with him.

 After getting autographs from the Naturals, my son and I went to peruse the dealer tables.  One table looked especially interesting, with tons of high end autos and relics spread out.  In fact, it was basically a dream table of mine, with copious amounts of vintage and high end Texas Rangers and Razorback cards.  I was immediately impressed and intrigued and impressed again.  I was drooling over the cards when I heard a soft, evil chuckle from behind the table.  I looked up and there he was, dressed in black and stroking a white cat:

My Nemesis

“Do you like what you see Napkin?” he asked.  “You should, because these are all the cards I outbid you on at Cleve’s!”

And with that, he threw his head back and laughed hysterically.  I could feel my fists clench, and my heart began to race with rage.

Then my nemesis looked down at my boy.  “Perhaps you would like to come hang out with me for a while and see what a real baseball card collection looks like.” Then he looked up at me again and flicked his forked tongue out.  “Or maybe I should just show my stuff to your lovely wife?”

I let out a primal scream and dove across the table and plowed into him.  I must have looked like Ronnie Lott delivering a bone crushing hit because I heard the crowd at the card show go “Ooohhh!!!”

I began raining blows to his face and blood began to go everywhere.  He finally went limp and I eased up.  That was my first mistake.  He made a quick move, and I felt something sharp go into my side.   I couldn’t move due to the sheer pain I was in.  He grabbed me and slowly began lowering me to the ground, whispering “Shhh, shhhh, shhhh, shhhh.” Then he removed the 6 inch blade from my side and showed it to me.  I could feel my body get cold.  I hoped my boy wasn’t watching.

Then my nemesis knelt down and put his face mere inches from mine.  “I’ve always wanted to tell you something Napkin,” he said with a sincere look on his face.  “ George Will is a hack and will never get an Allen & Ginter card.”

I don’t know how it happened, but suddenly I felt a surge of strength and reached up and grabbed his head with my hands.  “Hack this mother f’er!” I said and twisted his head until I heard his neck break. His body collapsed to the ground.   I slowly got to my feet and staggered to his table.  I looked the cards over again.  “These cards belong to me now,” I said and began bagging them up.

Thankfully, due to my incredible healing powers, my wound was not life threatening.  The medics were stunned with my strength and mental toughness.  The told me my body seemed to defy science.  I stayed and answered the questions from the cops as the medics sewed me up.  I was thankful to the other folks at the show who verified I acted in self defense.   

I watched  the paramedics wheel my nemesis out on a stretcher.  It was over.  He would never outbid me again at Cleve’s.   Or would he?  As his stretcher rolled past me, I am almost certain that I heard a whisper from under the sheet that covered his body.  

A whisper of “Dooooooooooonn”  

We’ll meet again Nemesis, we’ll meet again.

Bowman 2012 And The Art of Spending Wisely

I happen to be a fan of Bowman products.  Not because I consider myself a prospector, but because I live in AA baseball country, and it's fun to get cards of guys I see come through here.  It's with Bowman cards that my son has been able to get real baseball cards (sometimes autographed) of players he sees play live. 

I've built, or should I say, am in the process of building complete sets from 2010 and 2011 Bowman still, which I mostly put together through blasters.  2010 yielded me a few Strasburg cards, and last year I had monster luck with Bryce Harper cards.

I'm in for the 2012 set as well.  However, one tries not to go through life without learning how to do things better and smarter.  I realized that it could be so much easier and cheaper to pass on building the 2012 set through blasters, trades and sportlots.com.  A quick scan of eBay reveals that I can buy a master set (220 card base, 110 card prospect set and 110 chrome prospect set) for about the cost of 3 blasters.  Or, I could be patient and wait for the inevitable lot of Bowman cards that will surely be auctioned off at Cleve's from someone who buys a hobby box or two for the big hits and sells the rest for a steal at the auction.  It happens all the time.

Today at lunch, I had to go to Walmart for business purposes.  Seriously, I did.  Before I went in I reminded myself of my wise strategy:

• No blasters- maybe buy one pack to see what the cards look like
• Buy a master set online and be done with it and then chase a few good cards that I really want (i.e. Ranger parallels, autos of guys who might play for the Naturals soon, etc.) or..
• Wait to get the bulk of the set from a Cleve auction, and finish off the rest through trades

I was proud of myself for such a level headed, disciplined approach to my collection.  Confident, I went into Walmart.

Let's take a look at the blasters I bought:

 Mr. 4 Home Run- Josh Hamilton and other Rangers

I like the base set design just fine.  It's simple, and I like the placement of the team logo.  The font size of the player name is a little small though.

Of course, there are the obligatory parallels.  The orange (#d to 250) and the gold do nothing for me, but I have to say I really dig the "silver ice" parallel and the international parallel with the player's home country flag as the backdrop.  The silver ice cards have a hologram/3D look to them, and are really neat under lights.  The flag cards are very sharp too.  I'm seriously considering building a 3 pronged base set with the base card, silver ice and international parallels as well.  That would look great in a binder with 3 cards of each player layed out in rows in 9 pocket pages.

Each pack contained 2 Bowman Chrome cards.  I didn't get any big prospects as far as I know, although I've heard some good things about Josh Bell.

One thing I was pleasantly surprised about this years Bowman offering was the lack of inserts.  From what I can tell, the Bowman's Best set is the only one.  That's fine with me, as it will make building a master set much simpler.  The Bowman's Best cards are pretty nice looking I think.

Oh, I almost forgot the hit I pulled in blaster #2.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any Yu Darvish cards, which is what I was really hoping for.

Now the question becomes, do I still go ahead and just buy a master set online, or do I do this the hard way again? 

Joshhhhhhhhhhhhh......

You sir, are ridiculous.

Great excuse to show this puppy off again too:

Save a few of those HRs for May 27th when I'm at the game!

A New Favorite Player In The Doon Household Part 2

I mentioned yesterday that my little boy and his little league teammates were going to be guests of the Naturals for Sunday’s game.  When they arrived, they were treated to a tour of the press box, a luxury suite and the PA announcer room.  I’m not sure how impressed the kids were with this stuff, but I thought it was pretty cool.  

 Views from the suites

 Inside the suite

Lining up pre-game

Next the kids (and accompanying adults, yours truly included) got to go down below to the indoor batting cages and walked the tunnel leading out to the field.  They didn’t get to go in the dugout or locker room, but who’s complaining?

Once out on the field they assigned the kids a position so when the Naturals took the field before the National Anthem, the kids would run out there with the players to their spots on the field.  I had my fingers crossed that my boy would either get centerfield and run out with Wil Myers, or shortstop and run out with Christian Colon, who he met the day before.

 Colon warming up pre-game

An aside- Wil Myers is a big dude.  He’s thin, but not frail looking at all.  I’m glad we’ve got to watch him play a few times, because I think his AA time will soon be ending.  

Turns out my boy was given shortstop!  Actually, he was given second base, but I may or may not have convinced the kid that got shortstop to switch with my boy when no one could hear me…

Oh, what?  Like any of you Dad’s wouldn’t have done the same thing!  It was totally harmless, and trust me, the kid that switched had absolutely zero interest in anything that was going on.  Don’t look at me like that!

So, the players started getting announced and running to the field, and when Colon was announced and took the field, my boy took off and followed after him to the infield.  I had my video camera and was soaking up every minute of it.  The best part was when Colon saw my boy.  He did a double take and squatted down to my son’s eye level and said “Hey, I remember you.”  I couldn’t hear this of course from where I was in foul territory, but could tell by Colon’s body language and the huge smile on my son’s face that Colon recognized him.  My son later confirmed the conversation to me.  Then Colon shook my son’s hand and had him stand right next to him during the National Anthem.

Once the anthem was over, kids zipped off the field.  It was insanely cute.   Take a look at the expression on Wil Myers’s face on the below pic.  Even he got a kick out of it. 

So that was our weekend.  I'm not going to get sentimental and make sweeping statements about sports and their impact on our lives.  It's just really nice when nice moments like this happen even on a minor league level.  And the athletes that take a few minutes and do simple things to make kids happy deserve appreciation and credit.

A New Favorite Player In The Doon Household Part 1

This past weekend was very special for my little boy, which made it very special for me, too.  A few weeks ago, we found out his little league team was going to get to participate in a "Field of Dreams" program with the NW Arkansas Naturals, meaning he and his teammates were going to get to be special guests of the Naturals before yesterday's game.

Before I get into that, let me take a step back and mention that there was a card show on Saturday, and I heard that some of the Naturals were going to be there signing autographs.

So the boy and I lit out Saturday morning and stopped by the show.  There were only two guys signing, but that was just fine.   Last year, the whole team held an event at the Fayetteville Mall, but I think since the Minor League season started so much earlier this year, and because the Naturals began the season on the road, an event like that was hard to coordinate before the season started.

I don't think that quantity of players matters in the eyes of little boy for something like this, as he was just excited to see some of the players in person.  The two players were Christian Colon and Buddy Baumann.   I've written a few times about Colon before, and he was at the event last year and was nice to my son then.  I happened to have a card of Colon with me Saturday (courtesy of the blog Cheap Card Collecting) and Colon signed it for my boy.  There is a card out there of Baumann (Bowman of course- a Bowman Baumann), but I don't have it.    Anyway, both of them were exceptionally nice to my son and he beamed the whole time he interacted with them.   They were also kind of enough to let me take a crappy picture with my phone.  I have slightly altered my son's face as you can see:

Colon is on the left, and Baumann is on the right.  My son is in the middle.  By the way, I cover my son's face out of an unhealthy obsession I have with privacy, not because there is anything wrong with his face.  He is an extremely good looking kid (gets it from the lovely wife), and I'm not exaggerating in the slightest. 

We mentioned to them that my son would be on the field with them a bit for Sunday's game, and they made him feel like it was a really big deal.  He was grinning from ear to ear and I'm sure I was too.

I almost forgot there was a card show going on behind me.  Actually, I didn't buy a single card at the show, but I do have a post to dedicate to one of the dealers later this week.  It's someone you are familiar with if you read my blog.

Here is the only card I cared about that day:

This is going to be something my boy treasures for a long time I hope.  Even more than the card, I hope his interaction with these very decent gentlemen is something he remembers for a long time.  I know I will, and I'm forever a fan of both of them now.  And with Colon, it got even better on Sunday and I'll post about that tomorrow.

Olympic Pins

This has nothing to do with baseball cards, but I thought it was worth a post.  I came into possession today of some really cool Kellogg's Olympic pins:

The above is actually a group of 9 pins (8 triangle pins of different sports and one large Red Cross pin), and it is quite cool.  Put together, it's the size of an index card, and would look really neat displayed in a shadow box, surrounded by the pins below: 

These were the standard pins I got.  I like the Keebler Elves riding the double decker bus.

I have a modest pin collection that I've built over the years unintentionally, but it's one of those things that I think I could really get into.  Maybe one of my kids will take a shine to these things and it will be a hobby we can get into together down the road and the few pieces I've accumulated will make a nice start. 

Cleve's Auction Night: Sheer Trade Bait

I was a little rash in my write in bids this week.  I only had two wins, and I think I spent more than I should have.  These are pretty sweet cards though, and I'm hoping someone out there has a need for them and we can make a good trade.

Isn't there some blogger out there who is an Aaron Hill collector?  I thought it was Crinkly Wrappers, but maybe not.  This is a pretty serious card though, with an auto, jersey piece, plus it's numbered to 9.

I may actually want to keep this one, since I kind of like Zimmerman.  Numbered to 25, this also has a piece of jersey and an auto.  I'm going to skip giving myself grades for this auction as, since my intention is to trade these out.

Please let me know if you are interested! 

Gypsy Queen Autos

Hey, I got a couple of Gypsy Queen Autos.  Hey, here they are:

Hey thanks for looking.

I've Been JABO'd.

I recently participated in one of JABO's ever popular group breaks, buying the Royals on a two box Gypsy Queen break.  I don't do a lot of group breaks, but the Royals were cheap and I thought I should gamble on getting a big hit.  At the time I bought my slot, it was not common knowledge that Eric Hosmer would be one of the redemption signatures available.  Once I found out this was a possibility, my excitement level rose to new heights thinking I was about to make a major score.  My cards arrived in the mail this week, and......

drat, no Hosmer auto.  But I did get two Alcides Escobar cards, and isn't that just as good?  Kyle was also kind enough to throw in some extra cards of the Royals, including a Topps 2012 Hosmer, which rather surprised me since Kyle is a frustrated Royals fan.  Don't worry Kyle, they'll get there eventually!

First Trade With Fuji

I had the pleasure recently of completing my first trade with Mark from the wonderful blog The Chronicles of Fuji.  I had a Pete Rose SLU that caught his eye and he sent me some great Ranger cards in return:

The I-Rod helmet card is di-cut and looks fantastic.  I've never seen this set before, and wish stuff like that was still being made.

Not only is Fuji's blog extremely well done and entertaining, his calling card is inspiring!  Thanks for the trade Mark, and I look forward to more!

Cleve's Auction Night- Consolation Prizes Are Good Too, Part 2

I mentioned yesterday that there was one other item I won at Cleve's.  I was pretty surprised that I won it since I thought my bid would easily be beaten.  It was an album full of 1970 and 1971 Topps cards, with several decent stars.  The cards were not in pristine shape, but they weren't in bad shape either.  Very few creases and no major damage to the cards with a few insignificant examples.

Here are the 1970 pages:

There were 12 pages total, with cards on front and back giving me about 216 cards.

Here are the 1971 Pages:

18 pages here, front only, for about 162 cards.

So, there are about 378 cards altogether, and the album cost $10 total so these guys cost just under $.04 each.  If these were all commons, that would still be a good deal, but like I said, there were some pretty good players included.

Here are the cards I liked the most of the 1970 group:

 I'm especially excited about the Killebrew and Aparicio cards, both of which were in pretty great shape.

The Bill Buckner rookie is cool, and there are a few good superstars on the league leader cards.  I'm always glad to get a Clemente!

Here are the highlights of the 1971 pages:

 A couple of Hall of Famers, although the Carlton has crease in the corner.  There's something I like about the Brooks Robinson card, but can't put my finger on it.

The Stargell has a crease also, but that's ok.  Tom Grieve does the Rangers broadcasts, so I may see if I can get this one signed by him since I know where to send it.

Grade:

1970 and 71 Topps Lot $10:  A+  This is a great value and was loads of fun to look through.  If anyone is working on these sets, let me know and maybe I can help.!

Cleve's Auction Night- Consolation Prizes Are Good Too, Part 1

Last week I gave a preview of some of the big ticket items that were up for auction this week at Cleve's.   A cruel few of you tried to lay peer pressure on me to get me to bid on the 1933 Babe Ruth Goudey card for $1,500.   My desperate need for attention and acceptance by others wass only overpowered by my need not to be thrown out of the house, so I was able to abstain.  The bids I wrote in for the stuff I could afford and wanted mostly were defeated.  I'm still bummed I didn't get the Tony Gwynn Sterling card, but I think it went for way more than I wanted to spend.   A few things did slip through to me, one of which in my opinion is one of the best values I've picked up at Cleve's yet.  That one I'll save for tomorrow.

Of the few items I did win, I think they are gems.  Starting with this sucker:

These retired ring cards are pretty slick, and I was able to get this one for $5.

I also picked up an auto of one of my 80's heroes:

I remember in 1987 a friend of mine bought a pack of 85 Topps and Eric Davis's rookie card was inside.  You would have thought he had won the lottery the way we freaked out over it.  Eric the Red was a mad mother.  I got this auto for $4.

I also got back on the vintage train.  This was the only single card I picked up:

It's not in perfect shape, but there are no creases, and a Steve Garvey Rookie for $2 is a great buy, and will have a nice spot in my sampler album.

Speaking of 1971 Topps, that was a big part of my other win at Cleve's, and I'm excited enough about it to give it it's own post tomorrow.

Grades:

Topps Retired Rings Sandberg $5:  A   These things are pretty expensive, and they are very cool.  Not sure if I'm going to flip it or not.

UD Auto Facts Eric Davis  $4:  A   A great value here.  He's not a Hall of Famer, but had some brilliant seasons in the bigs and was an electric player to watch.

1971 Topps Steve Garvey  $2:  A nice solid rookie card of a perenial all star.