Monday, April 30, 2012

Trades, Calling Cards, and more Lineage!

Well I've been averaging 10 posts a month and with today being the last day of April I am getting post 10 in under the wire to keep my average nice and clean looking.  To be honest I'm kinda phoning it in really.  This is a bogus record.  Fact of the matter is that I recently had some trades and I owe it to those guys to give a shout out and flash what I got.  However, if it weren't for that I'd prolly be laying low for a little bit.  Personal matters recently make collecting cards seem kind of foolish at the moment.  I know its not true... but presently non of it seems to matter.  I'll snap out of it soonish I'm sure, but you just may not hear from me for a few is all.

That being said... Let's make this one count!

When I got back from vacation I had wrapped up the final touches on two trades I had in the works.  One helped me with my Lineage collection and another helped someone else with a collection of their own.  Both trades had something strange in common and turned out to be the highlight of each.  It's a two part puzzle... one part from each trade.  So check it out...

First trade came from Fuji over at sanjosefuji.blogspot.com

He recently started following me and being that I have such a low follow number (20 as of today... a new milestone!) I checked him out and saw that he started a neat collection about Japanese players in order to get in touch with his roots.  I really dug that and am big in to history and looking for all those small connections that help make us all become who we are.  The fabric of life so to speak.  Anywho, I had a few cards that I thought he might appreciate more then what I currently did and offered them up in a trade based off of a card I saw on his trade bait page that intrigued me.

I initially offered him my Iwamura auto and a Sasaki jersey card I had, but he already had another version of the Iwamura, but liked the Sasaki.  So instead I threw in the Koji auto I acquired via trade as I already have a different one that I liked better.


In return I got a 2008 Captured on Canvas Ivan Rodriguez Jersey Card.  I Rod was my role model growing up and all I wanted to every be was a catcher just like him.  This was an easy trade for me and am stoked to add another Irod card to the collection while helping another in his collection as well.


Thats not the best part of this trade.  Attached to the back of this card was this little gem.  Those who know Fuji and have traded with him before are most likely aware of this, but for those not in the know get a taste.

Dude has his own baseball card for his blog.  Too sweet man, Too sweet!  All I can say is that it better be a real auto and that this is getting locked in the card catalog... welcome to the collection Fuji.

My second trade came from my newest blogger buddy Nachos Grande @ fanofreds.blogspot.com and was strictly a lineage trade.  He has some Lineage needs of his own but was able to help me out with some of my needs and I hooked him up with some Gypsy Queen and Chicle that he was looking for.  A great trade for both involved and I'll be looking to hit him up again soon.  However, he too had an excellent throw in that too was the highlight for me. 


Thanks for the trade and even more for the sticker!  It'll hang in the cave for many years to come!

This all got me to thinking... am I missing the boat on a calling card here?  Do alot of Blogs do this sort of thing?  As i've said in the past, i'm still really new to all of this and am just now coming to realize that it might be nice to throw in a little note when I send people their cards in trades... I don't do it, but everyone else has, so I look like a dick.  Not anymore peeps.

Should I do a baseball card myself or perhaps my own stickers?  What would they look like?  I did once pose for a baseball card idea I had called "Business baseball cards".  The idea was to make baseball cards of yourself and put your business contact and personal stats on the back as a way to stand out in the pimping game of personal promotion.  Here is that shot...


I'm not trying to rip Fuji off... its a starting point I guess. (PS: Topps, if you find this photo be in violation of some sort of law or statue, let me know and I'll take it down... and burn it or something... just don't sue me)

Maybe when I get back in to the swing of things I'll have something ready to go... 

Before I head out I wanted to give a quick update on the Lineage relics.  I've got 19 now and counting.  I've recently picked some up off ebay in lots of three for cheap.  At this point I'm just bargain hunting what I can and not over paying for anything since I'll always have a chance to trade for it anyway.  I'm not sure which ones everyone knew about so I'll just post a shot of all of them together.  Good looking group!  Just wait till I get all 100!


The Murray and R.Jackson cards are my favorite since they have the nice color variations.  If you have one I already have, but consider it an upgrade because it has a multi color or pin stripe let me know and lets make a deal!

Thats all I got for now.  Be sure to check out my trade bait page as well.  Its been completely updated and is loaded with goodies I have available for the right trades.



See you in a while...








Sunday, April 22, 2012

Vacation Schwag!

So, I've been married for over 2 1/2 years and took my first vacation with my wife since our honeymoon.  We went down to Deep Creek, MD and stayed at my Aunt and Uncles cabin and had an excellent time. 

The main goal was to just relax, because frankly I was going to lose my shit at work if I didn't take some real time off.  Don't get me wrong, I've had days off from work, but when you spend your day off cutting grass or doing some other household project you aren't taking time off at all really.  So with that in mind we went to the middle of no where and unplugged the phones and just spent time together doing nothing.

And I mean nothing... I read a whole book.  I don't think I've ever read a whole book in just three days but I did.  It was a good read and if you're looking for something to pick up go check out The Caddie Who Knew Ben Hogan.  I'm not in to golf at all, but this was an excellent read and was the only thing they had on the shelf that caught my attention.

Anywho, while we were down there we went in to downtown Oakland and went to some antique shops.  I wasn't looking for anything in particular, but came across some items I couldn't pass up.  I didn't actually buy anything "Antique", but I did get one oldish item and a couple other items that weren't old at all, but looked the part.  Check out my vacation schwag!

Up first is a tin sign of a Topps Advertisement... looks old but is from 2006.  Check it...


next up is a repro of a Lou Gehrig Glove Ad by Ken-Wel... not sure when it was made but I'm guessing mid 90's.


and here is the oldish item I got... a 1969 Anniversary Bottle of Jim Beam commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Baseball... America's Past Time.  Make no mistake about it... Baseball is America's Past Time.  She just needs a revival of sorts is all.  Check it out.


Above is the front of the bottle complete with stopper.  Looks really cool and is something I couldn't pass up on.  Who knows... in 50+ years this could be the most valuable thing in my collection.  Here is a shot of the back of the bottle.


As soon as I got home I took my new treasures down to the Cave and put them up.  As you all may know... I plan to do a post when the Cave is complete, and it's almost there.  Here is a rough shot of the "Accent" wall where I placed the card catalog and hung up the new items I've picked up in the last couple of weeks.


Non of the placement is permanent and I still need to get the Wagner art matted properly.  Let me know what you think...

Till next time...



Wednesday, April 18, 2012

More Lineage

So I picked up a few packs of Lineage out of a loose box and hit another autograph.  Gotta LOVE getting the milk without buying the whole cow...

of course you get steak with your milk when you buy the whole cow... but I digress.

Check out what I landed...


3 Diamonds, 2 Platinums, and a 1975 mini


Posey Venezuelan, Minor Rookie, and Zimmerman 52 auto!


 Lastly I picked up the sweetest looking 75 Mini Relic I've added to my collection yet. Its of Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson and is the only relic i've seen of his that had a multi color swatch.  I mean I've seen the gray, yellow and green and white, but this one had the green, white, and green again.  If I hadn't gotten this one I would've picked up an all yellow swatch.  Check it out...


I've gone ahead and updated my master list to reflect all the new additions.  Thanks for keeping up with me.

See ya'll next time...

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Lineage Project Update - Box Topper Lot!


So I recently acquired some more cards in my quest for the complete set of Lineage including a relic card, an auto, and a box topper lot!

I went to my card shop a couple of weeks ago with $10 in my pocket so I decided to grab a few packs of lineage.  The shop I go to had just opened a new box to sell by the pack and I grabbed one of the two autos in the box with my three pack picks.  Its not a monster hit, but it covered the cost of the packs and I had also grabbed a couple other inserts I needed so it was a good deal.  Check it out.


Ivan Delock 52 auto reprint.  Played his career mostly with the Redsox, but ended it with the Orioles playing 7 games in 1963.

Then not too long ago I won an auction on ebay for a lot of 7 Lineage Box Toppers and I had zero of them!  The price was right and I set my max at the listed price.  No one else bid and I won!  Total Book Value (BV) of the lot was $56.  I won the lot for $.99!  Very satisfied with that transaction.


Topps Lineage Box Toppers (Top to bottom, Left to Right)
A.Gonzalez, E.Longoria, T.Lincecum, T.Tulowitzki, C.Santana, V.Guerrero, M.Stanton

and lastly I had the chance to pick up this from my local shop as well


Evan Longoria Box Topper Relic 7/64

Still a long road ahead! Any help you guys can find me would be greatly appreciated!

Till next time...


Thursday, April 12, 2012

Honus Wagner Art

Today was another Mail Day, but a different kind because while it's baseball related, it wasn't baseball cards... It was baseball Art!

Sometimes I just go on the electronic bay and surf around for interesting stuff and I found something a while ago that really caught my interest.  I should say I purchased it a while ago... over a month ago to be matter of fact.  However, I just got the item today.  Turns out that the seller was in a hospital and hadn't been able to ship it for a few weeks and when I got it today I actually found a little bonus... check it out.

This is an original print of the famous Honus Wagner T206 card as painted by artist Angelo Marino done in 1979.  For a bio of the artist check out his website: http://marinoart.com/biography.html

First here is a shot of the actual famed baseball card


Here is a shot of the painting I received


Pretty neat looking I think...  It was also signed and numbered out of /900


Angelo Marino


656/900

Oh yeah, that bonus item happened to be an extra copy also signed, but not numbered.  Both are the same in size and measure 30x17 and are printed on 120lbs Paper with a semi matte finish.  Being over 30 years old, both are in great condition.  I plan to hang the numbered one up above the card catalog in the Cave. 

The other is available for a trade if anyone is interested.  Let me know!

Until next time...





Saturday, April 7, 2012

Opening Day!

If you live in Baltimore and listen to talk radio you can't escape it.  It's become the norm.  Everyone here thinks the Orioles are going to stink, and you're treated like a leper if you believe any differently.

I know my team isn't a contender this year, but do I need to feel bad for thinking they have a chance at all for a miraculous year?

You listen to the talking heads on the radio and their voices are filled with sarcasm any time they talk about the Orioles in a positive light.

Well for one day the Orioles made believers out of all of us. 

Nick Markakis hit an opposite field home run in the first inning to take the lead and the team never looked back.  Jake Arrieta threw an excellent 7 inning shut out with some real nasty pitches that baffled the Twins.  They didn't score until the top of the 9th and while it would be easy to ridicule the Orioles for trying to squander the game at the last minute, they didn't and we won!

Last night I also had my opening night for the new softball league I've joined.  One of my co-workers who washes cars and picks up my customers plays and is the only person on the team I really know.  Boy did I knock the socks off the rest of the team when they saw me play.

I'm not the most modest guy I know so I'm not going to try and play this off at all...
I hit two homeruns (one a 3 run and the other a 2 run) and went 7 for 8 in the double header altogether.  I played left center field and played all around good ball, making several nice catches, but more importantly keeping everything in front of me and hitting my cut off everytime.

It felt great!  I haven't played on a team in a few years now and it feels great to be able to just step out on the diamond and produce.  We ended up losing both games (the second by only a run) but we had a blast and I feel like its going to be a fun season.

When I got home I saw I got a comment from a buddy of mine who basically got me in to the blogging community altogether.  You can check him out over at Eutawstreetcardboard.  He sent me a list of Lineage cards he would hook me up with and I basically needed everything he had to offer except for about 8 cards.  This is going to be a huge help to the project and he basically wants nothing in return.  Kirk is an amazing guy and I certainly won't forget his generosity.  I WILL be paying it forward to him when I get the chance.  Once I acquire said cards i'll update the Project page and stats. 

For all those who celebrate it... Happy Easter and have a great holiday!

Untill next time....

Thursday, April 5, 2012

MAIL DAY X2!!!


You guessed it!  Today was a MAIL DAY!!!

Interestingly enough the two trades I pulled off come from opposite ends of the continental US (that's the 48 states that all touch each other for my friends who ignored geography at any level of schooling) and surprisingly they both arrived together today!



Even better is the fact that this was all I had in the mail today...

NO BILLS!!! (However, I know they're lurking out there somewhere... bastards)

First I'll start with what I received from Dodgerbobble.  His trade strictly helped me with the Lineage Project.  I only gave up the two cards (the Tampa auto and Dodger bat) but got a bulk of parallels in return.  Some might feel it to be a little lopsided, but I didn't mind as those cards would have just sat in the catalog completely useless to my collection.  I was very happy with what I got in return and was even given some bonus cards which I appreciated very much!  Again, Thanks Dodgerbobble... always open to trading again in the future!  Check out the swag...

I'll start off with the extras he threw in.  I told Dodgerbobble that I liked HOF players and of course my beloved Orioles.  Here is what he sent me in regards to those.

Naturally I had the Snider from the Lineage Project, but the rest are new to the catalogue.  I really got a kick out of the Mantle.  I love the card design.

Here are the Orioles.  Of course Eddie Murray could have gone in either group but I put him with the Orioles since he's rocking their uniform in this card.  Really love the Tettleton card also... Weird that the two cards from the extras I liked best were both Mickey's. 

Here are the Lineage Cards I received from this trade.

4 Diamond Parallels (Hamels, Damon, Young, and Johnson)

Platinum Zambrano

and lastly (and most favorite)

Ripken and Campanella 75 minis

This trade alone brought the base set and parallels from 32.6% to 33.5% or almost a whole percentage point!  Not too bad at all.


So here is what I got in return from Section 36.  Section 36 hooked me up with not only a great amount of Lineage help but most importantly my first Lost Card has been returned.

That's right folks... the whole reason I started this blog.  To get those sweet cards back and I'm happy to say one of them has come back home to my collection.  Check it out!


1994 Nabisco All Star Legends Frank Robinson.

I can't thank Section 36 enough for getting Frank back to me.  I know for a fact that this guys hasn't been reading my blog since I started, so not only did he keep up with my new stuff, but he went back and read my old stuff.  It means a lot getting these cards back and Section 36 now has a trade partner for life.

Now lets get Jim Palmer back and the Nabisco Boys are complete!

Section 36 also crushed it in the way of helping out with the Lineage Project.  Check out these other cards from the trade!


3 more mini relics to add to the collection brings the total to 8 out of 90.  Obviously a long way to go but nearly doubled what I already had.  These mini relics are the whole reason I decided to go for the whole entire set!

4 1975 mini parallels (Dunn, Morel, Alvarez, and Bazooka Jones!)

4 Diamond parallels (Nichioka, McCann, McCutchen, and Cruz)

Platinum parallel Carlos Santana (the 3 rookie cards I also received in the trade but already have and are available for trade if anyone needs them)

and lastly
Venezuelan Castro and 3D Pence

Section 36s total impact came out as follows

Base and Parallels = 270/800 or 33.75 (+1.15%)
Inserts = 43/164 or 26.2% (+1.2%)
Relics = 8/135 or 5.9% (+2.2%)


I know... this is really gripping stuff.
So let me get to the conclusion of this long ass post.

The two trades have helped me take my total Master Master Set Completion from 27.9% (307/1099 cards) to 29.8% (328/1099 cards)


Almost 2% increase in my total collection.  Not too shabby!


Again, Thanks to Section36 and Dodgerbobble and anyone else who stayed awake long enough to read this entire post.

Good night!

See you next time...










Pre Trade Post = I Hate Math


So as you know from your unwaning attention to this blog that I have recently pulled off two trades that significantly helped me with my Lineage Project.  As I sat down this evening to post about the trades I decided that it would be good for me to break down just how much of the collection is complete.  A couple hours later and I've finally broken it all down and can report pre trade what percentage of the Lineage Project I had complete.  This way I can report the total impact of these two trades and show how they've helped me.  I have yet to tally the cards I've gotten, so even I'm not sure just how much these two trades have helped, but it gives me something to look forward to, as well as something to lament.  Did I mention I hate math?

So here is how the Lineage set breaks down.


Topps Lineage Base Set and Parallels = 800 Total Cards (200 Base, 200 Platinum, 200 Diamond, 200 1975 minis)

Total Base Set Completed = 261/800 32.6% Complete

Diamond = 20/200

Platinum = 21/200

1975 Mini = 20/200

Base = 200/200

Topps Lineage Insert Set = 164 Total Cards (20 Giant Box Toppers, 50 Cloth Stickers, 25 Stand Ups, 25 Venezuelan, 25 3Ds, 19 Rookie All Stars)

Topps Lineage Insert Sets Completed = 41/164 25% Complete
Cloth Stickers = 9/50
Stand Ups = 7/25
3Ds = 5/25
Venezuelan = 7/25
Rookie All Stars = 10/19
Giants = 3/20
Total Master Set = 302/964 Cards 31.3%

But Woog... Didn't you say you were building a Master Master Set? 
Too True buddy...
I also want to try and complete all the relic cards from this set as well.  Here is how they break down.

Topps Lineage Mini Relics = 5/90 Cards
Topps Giant Box Topper Relics = 0/20 Cards
Topps Jumbo Relics = 0/25 Cards
Total Relic Master set = 5/135 Cards 3.7%

Total Master Master Set = 307/1099 Cards or 27.9% Complete

Note: I haven't included autographs in this project.  I will collect them and update the autograph check list as I get them, but just don't feel like reporting on them.  Maybe if I collect all of them I'll call it a "Master Master Master Set"

Stay tuned for the follow up post...



Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Gone but not forgotten

So I recently teased about the two trades I pulled off.

One trade is going to help me in my cause for the Lineage collection, the other is going to help me acquire back one of my "Lost Cards".  I'm excited to get these cards in the mail and once I do I plan to share what I landed... on the internets that is... of course you can't have my cards!

As excited as I am to get new cards, it required me to give away some of my collection.  Never an easy thing to do for a hoarder like myself... but for the most part I wasn't overly attached to any one of these cards and because of this I will not be adding them to the Lost Cards File.  They just plain didn't make the cut!

I will however pay my respects and show you all what I gave up...

(At this point I would ask you to dust off your old Boyz II Men record Cooleyhighharmony and play track number 5)

But Woog... I don't have Boyz II Men Cooleyhighharmony!

WHAT!?!  Well you at least have Cooleyhighharmony 93' right?? Track 6...

WHAAATTT!?!

Well I know you bought Legacy in 2001 right?? Greatest Hits... Track 2... NO!?!

Ahh for crap sakes... just youtube "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday" and keep reading... unbelievable.

Now that the mood is set... without further ado...

Gone but not forgotten... to Section 36

A group of Red Sox Nation from Topps 206

2 parallels as pictured above

Pedroia World Series Pin card from 2012 Topps Series 1

and the possible long term future SS for the Sox. Jose Iglesias Auto


And to fellow blogger Dodgerbobble


Topps 206 Sean Rodriguez American Caramel Auto (pictured bottom... top 2 cards not in trade but available to anyone who is interested)


Donruss Champions Cesar Izturis Bat Card (Pictured Top... Pee Wee Reese SP available for trade as well)


At this point in the blog Boyz II Men should be going strong and I encourage you to listen to the song in its entirety... these cards will be missed, but will be enjoyed more by their new owners I'm sure.


Until next time friends...





Sunday, April 1, 2012

Breaking News

I have urgent and breaking news and I need everyone to stop what they are doing and read this blog...

Okay, it's not urgent and no one reads this blog...

I have just finalized not one, but two trades today!

One of them is going to get me my first "Lost Card" back and both of them will assist me in my Lineage Project!

Stay tuned for the full trade details in my next post!