Cracker Jacks and Updates

I was recently going through the collection down in the cave when I came across some neat stuff that I hadn't looked at in a few years.  It started making me appreciate just how diverse my collection has become.

It all started with baseball cards, but eventually cards turned in to pictures and pictures turned in to bats and bats turned in to magazines, and so on and so on...  What I'm saying is that eventually I went from just collecting baseball cards to collecting basically anything that caught my eye. 

When I started my junior year of college Cracker Jack had come out with a line of baseball cards as their prize and I just had to collect the whole set.  It was ten cards in the set but I'm pretty sure I ended up buying at least 20 boxes of Cracker Jacks to get the whole set.  Here is that set below.

At the time I didn't think they'd be something I'd hang on to as a collectible and so I opened them up and removed the top cover pages because they were usually sticky from the carmel corn and had been perforated to be removed so that the cards would stand alone.  However, these little flaps had mini bios of each player and I now regret that.  This set is the Cracker Jack Ballpark Legends II and includes Johnny Bench, Harmon Killbrew, Fergie Jenkins, Rollie Fingers, Jim Palmer, Juan Marichal, Brooks Robinson, Ozzie Smith, Gaylord Perry, and Orlando Cepeda.  Note that this is called Ballpark Legends II... Once I collected it I had to find Ballpark Legends I.  It took me a while, but eventually I found a set that popped up on the electronic bay and it had the flaps in tact and I decided to not remove those.  Here they are below...

This set included some of the greatest old time players including Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Satchel Paige, George Sisler, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, Roy Campanella, Lou Brock, and lastly Thurman Munson.

Cracker Jack didn't do a follow up set the next year so I happen to have a complete set of both Legends I and II.  Eventually I'll figure out a nice way to display them or who knows... maybe in 75 years they'll be worth a little something and some crazy person will offer me a boat load of money for them!

(I'll never sell... but maybe trade)

On a final note I also stopped by one of my old card shops and was able to pick up some of my missing short prints for the Lineage project for only a couple dollars.  I've already updated the list, but here is a pic of them below...

Well that's all for now

Until next time...

The Lineage Project

So it's officially under way and I've got two potential trades that will help me along the way... I just sent off two emails with pics of stuff I'm willing to deal and hopefully I can pull in some nice cards.

If or When i complete this project I plan to write Topps and Beckett of my accomplishment.  If anyone feels like they would like to donate any of the cards needed to complete the master set I'll be sure to give credit/praise for helping make it happen and like i've said already... reimburse any shipping fees.  I'd like to be able to trade my way to a complete set, but eventually i'll just run out of things to give up.

If you have any stuff (relics or autos) and you want to sell, then i'll also strongly consider, but I'd like to accomplish as much by trade as possible.  Just buying the complete set seems like a cheap way to do it after all.  Let me know!

Draft Results and Futures Update

So my draft took a lot longer then I expected.  It's been over 8 years since I last played Fantasy Baseball.  How did I do?

Introducing The Reisterstown Woogies

C	Buster Posey, SF C						46/162	17	4	21	3	.284		--	100.0	+0
1B	Eric Hosmer, KC 1B						153/523	66	19	78	11	.293		--	100.0	+0
2B	Robinson Cano, NYY 2B						188/623	104	28	118	8	.302		--	100.0	+0
3B	Pablo Sandoval, SF 3B						134/426	55	23	70	2	.315		--	100.0	+0
SS	Starlin Castro, ChC SS						207/674	91	10	66	22	.307		--	100.0	+0
OF	Jayson Werth, Wsh OF						130/561	69	20	58	19	.232		--	100.0	+0
OF	Jason Heyward, Atl OF						90/396	50	14	42	9	.227		--	100.0	+0
OF	Melky Cabrera, SF OF						201/658	102	18	87	20	.305		--	100.0	+0
UTIL	Derek Jeter, NYY SS						162/546	84	6	61	16	.297		--	100.0	+0
UTIL	Kelly Johnson, Tor 2B						121/545	75	21	58	16	.222		--	100.0	+0
Bench	Chris Davis, Bal 3B, 1B						53/199	25	5	19	1	.266		--	6.6	-0.6
Bench	J.P. Arencibia, Tor C						97/443	47	23	78	1	.219		--	52.4	+2.4
Bench	Brandon Belt, SF 1B, OF						42/187	21	9	18	3	.225		--	59.9	+7.9
Bench	Yoenis Cespedes, Oak OF DTD			Sea	6:10 AM (Hernandez)		--/--	--	--	--	--	--		--	88.7	+2.9
Bench	J.D. Martinez, Hou OF

Pitching Staff

P	Yu Darvish, Tex SP						--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--		--	100.0	+0
P	Hiroki Kuroda, NYY SP						202.0	196	69	49	161	13	0	3.07	1.21		--	100.0	+0
P	Colby Lewis, Tex SP						200.1	187	98	56	169	14	0	4.40	1.21		--	100.0	+0
SP	Cliff Lee, Phi SP						232.2	197	62	42	238	17	0	2.40	1.03		--	100.0	+0
SP	James Shields, TB SP						249.1	195	78	65	225	16	0	2.82	1.04		--	100.0	+0
RP	Cory Luebke, SD SP, RP						139.2	105	51	44	154	6	0	3.29	1.07		--	100.0	+0
RP	Daniel Bard, Bos RP						73.0	46	27	24	74	2	1	3.33	0.96		--	80.8	+10.7
Bench	Aroldis Chapman, Cin RP

I feel like I did pretty well.  It's a 12 team league and there is no money involved... just bragging rights.  I figured I should spend a season getting re acclimated instead of throwing my money away.  I mean if I'm going to throw money away on anything it's going to baseball cards.

Lastly, I updated my Lineage Project Page.  This has my complete check list of what I have and what I need.  Please Please Please take a look at what you have and let me know what you may be able to help me out with.

Next time I'll update my trade bait page.

Until next time... 

Fantasy and Futures

So I know it's been a little while since I posted anything, but I'm still so new to the blog community that I'm not even sure what is regular and what's not.  I assume that some guys post every single day and some once a week.  I guess I'll just post when I've got something relevant to post.

The title of this post refers to two things...

Fantasy refers to Fantasy Baseball of course.  I'm about to draft my team in the next 30 minutes and it's been at least 8 years since I've last played Fantasy Baseball, so I'm just going to use a top 300 cheat sheet and use the Ozzie Newsome method.  BEST AVAILABLE.    I'll be sure to do a follow up after the draft is over to let everyone (all 15 of you) know how I did.  Hell, you can even tell me what you think!

As for Futures... well that refers to future posts.  I've had a few things I've wanted to do, but just haven't had the time.  Life happened I guess.  Anyway, here are the topics I want to throw out there.

Topps Lineage.  I've got the base set already and now I'd like to complete the master set.  Or should I say master master set.  I've never done anything like it before.  I would like to collect all 200 of each parallel (platinum, diamond, and 75 minis).  The 75 mini set is the one I want most.  I would also like to collect the whole entire relic check list for the minis.  This isn't going to be easy and is a LONG term project.  The Wagner, Mantle, Ruth, and Koufax all have book values of $200.  I'd like to acquire as much as I can via trade. As for autographs, sure... why the hell not?  I won't be upset if I never complete the auto check list, but I really want to complete the mini relics and would even like a go at the jumbo relics.  Just saw this one on ebay...

That is likely one of the most Bad Ass Brooks Robinson cards I've seen and want it... but not for the price tag! $400!?!  Everyone has a dream... this price must be his.

I'll post a check list of what I have and need so anyone who has anything they want to give or DONATE (yes I'll take any dups you have that I still need and will reimburse any shipping charges).

I also have taken out a good portion of cards I'm willing to get rid of via trade and just need to snap some pics and post them on the trade bait page.  So much to do and so little personal free time.

Well the draft starts soon so I'm going to post this and turn my attention to Best Player Available.  Wish me luck...

The Crown Jewel

So every collector has one right? 

The Crowning Achievement of ones collection... The one you hang your hat on...

Well, obviously this can represent a number of objects and it's all in the eye of the beholder.

Being a Baltimore kid mine of course is an Orioles piece.

How I got said piece makes it all the more special.  I feel a flash back coming on...

(cue Wayne and Garth's "dudallo dudallo dudallo dudallo", you'll have to just picture the hand motions...)

It was about 3 years ago

My sister, who works as a teacher at my old high school, was hanging with one of her co-workers who at the time was cleaning out some of her desk drawers.  She pulled something out that caught my sisters eye and she was getting ready to throw it away when my sister protested.

"It" was this...

This was a card in a laminate holder commemorating the night Cal broke Lou's record of 2130 consecutive games played.  Given to all fans who attended the game.

So, apparently this person went to the game and held on to it up until the point that my sister saved it from the trash bin and then gave to me.

I couldn't believe how lucky I was.  A real piece of history.  I mean I was a kid and was lucky enough to just be aloud to stay up and watch the whole game.  It had this beautiful picture of Cal with his arm around Lou and the whole thing was pristine.  It was as perfect as the night it was given out. 

I'm not sure how many of these survived but I don't see them online very often.

Cal Ripken Jr. was raised in Aberdeen, MD and co-owns the minor league team Aberdeen Iron Birds.  I happen to work for a rental car company and at the time I got the 2131 card I was working in Aberdeen of all places.

The Baseball Gods were with me when I gained possession of this artifact.  Cal Ripken was hosting a golf tournament in Aberdeen and was flying in a couple of retired ball players that would need transportation.  Because of the status of the occasion we actually had our Branch Manager drive these gentleman to and from the event.  As payment he was told he could have some items autographed by Cal.

I freaked.  I couldn't believe it.  I had literally just been handed this item less than a week before and I suddenly had the opportunity to have it signed. 

I got a silver sharpee and a black sharpee and gave it to my manager and hoped for the best.  He wasn't sure he would really even get the chance but it was worth a shot.

He told me the next day that it had been almost the end of the night before he finally got to meet Cal and have his items autographed.

The story he told me was epic... to me anyway.

Cal took one look at the 2131 card and said "Wow, I haven't seen one of these in years!"

My manager told him the story of how I acquired it and how I would have liked a silver signature under the photo of him and Lou.  He obliged and signed under the photo in silver...

and a nice close up of the signature...

But when Cal looked at the final product he said "That's not going to be good enough", and he flipped it over and signed it again on the back, this time in black sharpee.

and another close up

When he handed it back to me the next morning I nearly chocked up.  I know... it's lame.  I mean how often does someone get handed something so amazing like this and not have done anything extraordinary to make it happen.  I spent zero dollars on it.  Not a clue what its worth, but to me it's priceless... and my Crown Jewel.

Whats yours?

Until next time





BOX BREAK: 2012 Topps Tribute

So as you know I picked up a box of Tribute yesterday and although I said I'd bust it this morning I ended up doing it last night after a few drinks with my wife.  We opened them together and had a lot of fun. 

I was really surprised this year with Topps... I'm not sure how long they've been doing this but all of the hits came encased in plastic already.  Talk about stepping up the quality control!

So my box break had some nice hits and a couple of duds, but lets hope those guys end up having great careers taking the value of their cards with them.

Each box of 2012 Topps Tribute contains 6 packs, each with 5 cards including 3 base cards and serial numbered variation card and one autograph or relic card.  Each box will have 3 autographs and 3 relic cards. 

My box had 2 Bronze short prints (/299) 2 Blue short prints (/199) and a Green Short print (/75) and a Black short print (/60).

So without further ado... 2012 Topps Tribute box break!

Base cards: Evan Longoria, Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson, and Ryan Braun

Orlando Cepeda, Hanley Ramirez, Jared Weaver, Ryne Sandberg

Mike Schmidt, Ryan Zimmerman, Duke Snider, King Felix Hernandez

Willie Mays, Paul O'Neill, Matt Holliday, and Ty Cobb

lastly, Carl Yastrzemski and Willie Stargell

My 2 Bronze Parallels were

Carl Yastrzemski 31/299

Prince Fielder 254/299

My 2 Blue Parallels were

Robinson Cano 194/199

Dustin Pedroia 147/199

My Green Parallel was

Roberto Clemente 29/75

and my Black Parallel was

Jared Weaver 15/60

My Relic cards were:

Paul O'Neill World Series Swatches Orange Parallel 6/25

Eddie Mathews World Series Swatches 48/99

Troy Tulowitzki Position of Power 74/99

My Autograph hits were:

Mark Trumbo Tribute Autograph Blue Parallel 47/50

(2011 Rookie of the Year 2nd place finish)

Eduardo Nunez Tribute Autograph 39/99

(possible future replacement SS for Derek Jeter)

Starlin Castro Tribute Autograph 80/99

Well, this wraps up the total box, and as you can see I got a couple of nice hits and some that may have a future value if those players pan out.  Now, I was hoping I'd get a Griffey auto or some other ridiculous pull and I failed, but we all know that's the game we play!  I plan to buy a couple of other boxes of new product this summer, but this will likely be the only Tribute I pick up this year.  All cards are up for trade if anyone is interested (except the Eddie Mathews... unless you really want it and can give a nice card in return).

Until next time...

Tribute... A taste

So 2012 Topps Tribute dropped today and I decided to swing by my local hobby shop to see if he had any in stock.

He did and only had 3 boxes left.  He had an excellent price and told me that once this was sold out that he would have to raise the price $100 the next week due to the price just to reorder.  Because it was so pricey and popular he also decided to go ahead and not pack it out, meaning he would only be selling whole boxes.

Well I decided to beg the wife and put the ball in her court...

The good wife gods were with us today fellas... she said "okay"!

Naturally I will be doing a lot of yard work in the next couple of weeks to pay this debt off, but I went ahead and picked one up!

I decided to wait until the morning to bust this open... first Saturday off in a few weeks... Gonna get up and have some coffee and pray that the fates are with me.

Full Recap Tomorrow and possible video break if I can figure out how to post properly.

As Promised...

So I got out of work early today and decided I'd just go ahead and post this.  I bought this Time Magazine online a few years ago because it had a picture of Hank Bauer on the Cover and at the time I was really in to the Orioles history (imagine that... an Oriole fan hanging on to the past).

I thought it was a great looking cover and decided I'd like to frame it for the Cave which is where it hangs now.  However, before doing so I decided to get in the time machine and read the articles to get an idea of what was going on at the time. 

When I got to the Hank Bauer article I about fell out of my chair laughing.  Lets just say I don't think managers and media have the same relationships now then they did back then.

Here is the article in an easy to read and understand format, but I also posted pictures of the article as well...

Go Ahead and read for yourself!

It was a ritual to which he had become accustomed and which he accepted, unwillingly but gracefully.  Grouped around the desk in the Baltimore clubhouse were half a dozen reporters for the usual post-mortem.

They watched Hank Bauer reduce an empty beer can to tin foil with one quick crunch of his hammy fist.

"They gotta catch us", Bauer announced. "And if we keep winning, they can't, can they?"

Silence

"But Hank," somebody wanted to know, "is the long summer starting to get to your players?"

Bauer's mashed-potato face flushed crimson. Muscles rippled malevolently in his chest.  Beer from a fresh, full can splattered on the desk.

"What the hell kind of question is that?" he rasped.

A longer silence

Finally, Bauer smiled and hoisted the dewy can.

"Naaaah," he said

"The heat don't bother them, 'cause they drink this here good beer!"

And with that, the Manager of the Baltimore Orioles marched off, stark naked, to the shower.

I only hope you found this as entertaining as I did.

Until next time friends

MAIL DAY!!!

Lets face it... the older you get the less you look forward to getting the mail.  99% of the time it's filled with bills, junk, and more bills.

However... there's always that 1%.

That 1% of the time that you know something extraordinary is coming and you just can't wait to rush home to get to the mailbox first so you can get the mail before anyone else... like in high school when you had to get your report card before your parents. (We've all been there... right?)

Naturally my 1% is Baseball Cards... but it can be anything really just so long as it's something you're really looking forward to... or dreading. 

My 1% came today baby!

The cards from my first trade were sitting in a small manila envelope on my dining room table when I walked in to the house this evening.  I couldn't believe how fast they had arrived.  I debated if I should film me busting them but thought better of it as my words are much better written then uttered... apparently I have a thick Baltimore accent and am quite nasally. (I don't hear it though)

But I digress.

Up first is my most favorite card from the deal as he happens to be my favorite current Oriole and is my first autograph of him...  Nick Markakis 2007 Topps Co Signers Solo Sigs SS-NM

Followed by a very close second

2010 Allen & Ginter Autograph Koji Uehara AGA-KU

I love that this is an oncard auto and not a sticker and Greg wasn't really sure or not but thought this was a SP.  Can anyone verify that for me as I have yet to look it up?

Next up is a nice Jersey Card to throw in to the HOF collection

2007 SP Legendary Cuts Eddie Murray WG-EM

If that weren't enough I also got a few bonus gems in the mix including a few Oriole commons but more notably a pair of Clayton Kershaw rookie cards.

In the end I think it was a good trade for all parties involved... all cards found new homes and I trust will be well taken care of.  Again, a special thanks to Plaschke, Thy Sweater Is Argyle... Thanks for reading and being the first to throw out a trade offer.  It was a lot of fun for me.

Now some of you may be wondering what happened to the Hank Bauer post...

Next time folks!

BasicWoogenomics states: You gotta D.I.Y.

So I've already hinted in this blog that I do in fact have a Man Cave and that it is in fact already Baller, but still very much under construction.  Today, I am proud to report that progress has been made on this front.

At approximately 6:15pm last night my wife and I armed with a bag full of material from a Jo Ann Fabrics and a fridge full of beers went to task on an old beat up table with the hopes of resurrecting it into a handsome poker table.

Here's the table as it previously sat in the cave and below is our bounty from the land no man should ever grace... Jo Ann Fabrics

The table had previously belonged to my parents and I had remembered it as being this glorious octagon poker top table that I just needed to have once I left home. All it would need was a little felt on top and it would be perfect for my future man cave. (Yes, I knew then that I would one day require my own unique space to house all of my bullsh!t.  I have amazing foresight)

The table however fell on some hard times and may have had one too many beers spilled on it.  My brother had taken it from the house as temporary furniture and once he met his wife had no longer been using it and it sat in his basement. 

The time finally arrived for me to lay claim to the table as my wife and I finally bought our own house equipped with a unique space for my now massive collection of bullshiz.  However, I became horrified at the sight of the table when I went to pick it up from my brothers house. 

It had been ravaged by house parties thrown by my parents kids and each being more popular then the next (yes... yes I am the youngest) the punishment it received became more and more severe.  The table had keg labels completely adhered to the surface and the octagon center had become warped and brittle.  But as many collectors will relate the sentimental value of the table was too strong for me to pass up and I took it home anyway.  I was going to re-felt the table as promised but I decided I would just have to do the entire table top instead of just the octagon center.

Now, before I really get down to the nuts and bolts I have to put this out there... Non of this would have been possible had it not been for my partner in crime... Mrs.Basicwoogenomics.  She's a real catch fellas and broke alotta hearts when she said Yes to me!

So we went out and picked up green felt for the top as well as some extra material to lay beneath the felt to help reduce the effects of the warped table top and also picked up some brown felt to place under the table to cover up the felted material.  Below is the project in picture form... Enjoy!

First we laid out the batting and trimmed it to fit the table.

Next we stretched and attached the batting with duck tape to the bottom of the table.

We then stretched the felt out and took extra care to iron out the creases.

After it was nice and pressed we put the table on top and trimmed the felt to fit.  The next step was tricky and we really weren't to sure how to attach the felt to the table.  At first we started to try and use a staple gun but it wasn't working out too well.  Eventually my wife mastered this pleating technique and we used small wood nails to attach the felt to the table.  The final product looked great... check it out!

Once we finished the pleats we trimmed away the excess around the base and duck taped it down.  We then took our brown felt and trimmed it to fit the bottom to cover up the pleats.

I decided that instead of trying to cut a neat circle I would trim the felt to match the octagon pattern underneath the table.  The result looked very clean and turned out much better then we expected.

We then decided to use a hot glue gun to attach the brown felt to the base of the table and use furniture tacks to attach the corners of the felt to the corners of the octagon underneath.

Here is a shot of the Mrs. attaching the fabric to the base.

And here is a shot of the table with the furniture tacks.  The completed bottom looked great but we had no idea what the top would look like...

Now for the big unveil...

Wow!!!  It turned out great!  Check out the before and after and get a load of the Poker Corner in my Man Cave!

Before

After!

Stay tuned for my next post about Hank Bauer and Time Magazine...