It's official: I'm collecting 2010 Topps Chicle and a quip about integrity in the hobby

You know, I've finished up most of my packing, with the exception of a couple, which I'm waiting on addresses for.  While I was going through my email and checking out Ebay, something triggered me to look up 2010 Topps Chicle, which I promptly did, looking at the Beckett Blog for the break down on the checklist:

2010 Topps National Chicle Checklist from the Beckett Blog

Nice.  Really nice.  I couldn't help the hoopla surrounding this set when it was first announced, with people bitching and complaining about the set and how some of them looked "ugly."  Well now, that's in the eye of the beholder, no?

I have EVERY intention of completing this set.  Here's why:

#1 - it's a good looking set - Babe Ruth in a Braves uniform?  That's called innovative.

#2 - the Relics and Auto Set is actually not filled with uber stars; don't get me wrong, it's a strong checklist, but not strong enough where a collector would severely struggle in completing the set.  The Relic and Auto set is also HALF of what Ginter and Goodwin had in their checklists; out of the Auto's, the only challenging ones I could foresee would be the Musial and the Beckham; unless they mysteriously (a la Goodwin) do SUPER short prints, both auto and relic set could be had at a fairly reasonable price.

 #3 - no mini's.  Thank God.  I've had my fill with the mini's and after I complete the Goodwin and Ginter set, I doubt I'll ever chase another set that has mini's in it again.  I can deal with the printing plates, but I've never considered them the part of the actual set (unless you refer to a master set).  Hey Topps and Goodwin, the fad is kinda over, so move along and let's slow down with the mini's, ok?

I'll do a much more thorough review of the set when it comes out :)

Now, referring to my earlier post about my mail outs.

I asked BA Benny from Benny's Card Buffet for his address to send him out a stack of Met's cards that I had.  He wrote back and gave me his address but told me he didn't have anything that I needed.  My response was, in a nutshell, "Hey, don't worry about it, when you pick up some stuff that I might collect in the future, save a few of them for me."  That simple.

Benny had some kind words for me in return and I appreciated that.

I started this blog to make a few friends in the blogosphere, have a few trading buddies, and progress the hobby forward.  I knew this was important, more so than ever, reading and being a part of the Net54 forum.

Some of you all should go take a read over there; it's mostly about cards that I would gather 90% of the collecters in this world know about, but do not touch - only because one card found at the forums can be equivalent to what you spend an entire YEAR on cards.  I'm talking about the guys that can spend $30,000 on a Sherry Magee error T206 and not blink an eye.

These guys are about integrity in a hobby that's about as American as it gets.

And when you lose that integrity....whew.....read some of the forum posts; these guys will tear up, spit out, beat on any jerk trader/collector that tries to hose, lie, cheat, or steal from the hobby that we love.

It's an absolute honor and pleasure to be part of that forum and I'm on it constantly to see what's going on with our hobby on the Vintage side. What makes these guys also different is that they are made up of Attorney's, Executives (ahem), Doctors, etc. a uniquely different breed of collector and it's just awesome seeing what these guys have and the pics they post up of stuff that most of us would only dream of.  (why spend $100's of dollars on Ebay for a bat-card of Joe Jackson when.....hell....just buy the whole bat.  $100K for the bat?  Meh, no problem).  As a matter of fact Keith Olberman, who is a hardcore T206 collector is a member of the board too (he doesn't write anything, but he's quiet lurker).

So anyway, I'd like to believe I'm on the safer side of the hobby and with the blogs I read, looks  like most, if not all on the blogosphere are safe to trade with and this is a very good thing; it's good because if there were shady people, guess what?  I'm pretty sure most of the blogoshpere would light up the person in question (like SCU's blog - that guy is all over those counterfeit cards in Ebay lol).

With that said, I hope everyone enjoy's the rest of the weekend, have a great and happy week of collecting and mail days, and try to stay warm (for those of you up in the NorthEast).

I'm grabbing a glass of wine (BevMo is the shit),  my PS3 controller, and I'm going to make a valiant attempt to Prestige up in Call of Duty.

Ok, more later!

PS - Have any of you played that game Dead Space?  Is it any good?

Mail-Out Day anyone?

It's Sunday, my quiet day.  My only day out of the week where it's relatively quiet, I can unwind, relax, not worry about work or anything else, and just do some fun stuff.

For me, lately it's been why I started this blog - Sports Cards.  I didn't say JUST baseball cards, but sports cards because I really do like all sports, as I'm sure most of you all do as well; I just have an affinity towards baseball :)

So, within 10 minutes I was able to accumulate this:

And this is just 10 minutes worth of going through my stuff.  I have a few more boxes to go through and then I'll have the joy of trying to pack all of this together, which I haven't figured out how I'm going to do yet.  What's more funny is that there's a few stacks that are being assembled that will require MULTIPLE envelopes because they're too fat to shove into one envelope.  Rawr!!!

All I ask in return is your 2009 Goodwin and 2009 Ginter;  and that's ONLY if you have any to spare.  By the way, I'll be asking for some of ya'll addresses today as I didn't get everyone's last time and for some of you who didn't get stuff, not to worry, it's round robin style, so there should be some stuff going out.

I'm hoping to have everything ship out tomorrow :)
lol ok, more later!

Ah, a small mail day and some retail!

Moving on with the fun factor, I received a small Ebay mail day:

The Ichiro is pretty damn cool - it's my 3rd Moonlight card I have, so that leaves me with about 12 more to go.  I'm super slow in the Moonlight hunt as there's plenty of common cards I'm lacking, so no rush there.  Needed the two short prints towards the set, which leaves me almost 95% complete.  I'm thinking I'll be completed with the base, sp, ssp, and mini set by no later than the end of March.  At that point, I'll shift over to the Gypsy Queen set and the other wierd-o inserts (Citizens, Animals, etc) all of which have dropped in price, as expected, so it's a good thing I waited to complete the set as it will now cost about 40% LESS than what it would have cost me just 3 months ago.  Don't you love it when the new stuff comes out and people forget about the old stuff? I do muwahahahahahaha

From the retail packs, I picked up a few more Topps Platinum and picked up a gorgeous Glen Coffee white refractor, number 53/499.  Again, scans simply do not do justice to this set!

From a few UD packs, meh....good god, I do not know why I keep buying this stuff - I truly am going to stop.

Carlos Beltran All-World.  All-Whatever is more like it.

Ok,  more later!

I just figured something out with the Million Card Giveway.....

I'm a numbers guy.  Well, actually, I hate numbers, but I happen to be good at it. I dreaded math of any shape or form, but due to strict parents whom were unrelenting, I had no choice but to master the art of arithmetic.  And because of this, I was looking around at some blogs and I recalled yesterday that someone had posted some information that they found on Topps' Facebook account in regards to the Million Card Giveway - they were able to locate the quantity of cards unlocked for the promotion.

***Warning: Nerd Alert!!!***

So, I trolled around and I found the site, which is here:  Numerical Valuation of Actual Cards Unlocked and % of The Topps Million Card Give-Away Promotion.

Like my link line?  Nifty huh? lol

Anyway, I'm looking at the numbers and they're staring back at me just like as if I was in the Matrix, staring at the hot blonde girl in the red dress (come on you nerds, you know who I'm talking about).

Then I pulled out the calculator.

As the english would say, "Good show!"

I crunched a few numbers - you see, what YOU ALL see on the website are the actual unlocked number of cards.  But what I see is something completely different -I see the ACTUAL number of cards involved in the give-away.

Uh huh.

Bet you didn't think about that, did you?

I can gather, assuming the information is correct on the site, about how many 1952 cards are in the promotion.

Currently, there are 674 cards unlocked, with a percentage of 0.4% - in other words, less than 1% of the 1952 cards have been unlocked.  What does this mean?  It means that 674 have been given away - but another (approximate) 16,850 cards have NOT been unlocked.

Topps set up about 17,524 cards to give away.   This is also interesting because the 1952 Topps checklist accounts for 407 cards to complete the set (here's the checklist: 1952 Topps Checklist).

Well, let's do some more math:  17,524 divided by 407 = 43.056, or in other words, with this promotion, they are giving away the equivalent of 43 complete 1952 Topps sets.  Actually, it's more like 3 I believe as only 3 Mantles will be given away.

Again, I WARNED YOU of the Nerd Alert (hey, I'm bored at the office and I'm about to go home, so I needed something to use up the time, so bite me).

Anyway, what's the point of this post?  2 things.

#1 - You can now gauge about how many total number of cards they're giving away based on the year; they've given away a little more than 12% of the cards (21,839) total from year 2000 till now, so that translates into about 185,000 cards from the year 2000 till now that they HAVEN'T given away yet.  So out of the million cards they're giving away, nearly a quarter of them will be from the year 2000 to now.  For those of you who don't want to do the math, in other words, 500,000 out of the 1 million cards will be from 1980 to now (half the total number of cards for the promotion).

AND the 2nd point:

#2 - No point at all - again, just bored and felt like being a geek for a few minutes.

Ok, more later!

Am a Goodwin Expert?

Apparently, I am considered (by at least ONE person) to be a Goodwin expert.

And I'm ok with this; I guess in the pursuit of a complete master set, I've focused more heavily on Goodwin than Ginter or the T206's.  I'm somewhat knowledgeable of the T206's, but nowhere near an expert.  As for Ginter, I know enough to get by.  So that would leave Goodwin as my bread and butter. 

I've helped update the Goodwin section at the Baseball-Card-Pedia site and I'm religiously scouring the various boards about Goodwin.

And I have every reason to believe that I'll be the 2010 Topps National Chicle expert as well - I've seen even more pics at the Beckett Blog and reviewing the checklists, not only is this set attainable, but it's not NEARLY as obnoxious in size as the base 2010 Topps or Upper Deck sets.  In fact, there are LESS autos/relics in the Chicle set than there are in Ginter.  In addition, the numbers are somewhat similar to Goodwin's in regards to quantity and checklist.  So, with that said, I'll be pre-ordering a box of the stuff from either Adam and Dave's Cardworld or Atlanta Sportscards - whichever has the lowest price (I'm guessing Atlanta as they always seem to have a better price and their boxes seem luckier - great, I just jinxed myself).  And there'll be a review once I get them.

In the meantime, some of you will notice that I've dropped the number of needed Goodwin relics to.....

Yah!  Only 10 more to go.  Actually, it's a little bit higher, but I've ordered/won some cards that are on the way, which leaves me with 10.  I'll do a post, probably around mid-March, with the last, few, mythical Relics that I'll be chasing and it may be a very long time to obtain them.

I've gone as far as to contact Upper Deck about them (which they never responded - not even with a courtesy email) so I guess I'm on my own - and with ya'lls help, I might be able to track them down!

Ok, more later!

Epic Fail - no mail and lost snipes and lost "other things"

Meh.

Epic fail yesterday on the hobby front. I went to Target, but restrained myself from buying any packs because I need to save up my money for something else (and I need to pay down a credit card lol).

AND to top it off, I didn't get to get on my comp very much last night due to my tiredness, so a sorry needs to go out to Drew as I didn't check for any Yanks.

AND I didn't get any mail loot - which really didn't surprise me as most of my Ebay mail days are dwindling as I'm getting ever so close to completing the Goodwin relic sets.  I've been waiting on a few cards to come up for auction, but I think I'm going to go ahead and just BIN as the prices are fair and it'll allow me to knock off a few from my list immediately.

I'm also working on updating the link on my right for my wants/needs list.  Thanks again to Drew for pointing out how to do it off of Gmail Docs, so I'll work on that later today.

I may run out today, but most likely not as it's suppose to be miserable here today in California - but then I guess it's not nearly as bad as Marie and Sooz have it over at A Cardboard Problem.

Ok, more later!

Holy Cow...now THAT'S a pitcher I'll be betting on....

You know, the game of baseball, and with baseball card collectors, has always been a breeding ground of pseudo-stock brokers, a la the baseball card route.  Collectors have always been prospecting and certainly it hasn't changed since when I left the hobby and now.  The only major difference is now, the prospecting is done with cards that are deemed higher-end (thus the higher possibility of return) - of course, there's always the risk vs reward factor when doing this.

Anyone remember Big Ben McDonald?  How about Jerome Walton?

The busts are there - always have been, always will be.  But on RARE occasion, you just want to gamble because, well, damn it, a player is just THAT good.  Case in point:

 

I was reading a few blogs and ran across The Writer's Journey and he had posted a link to a video showing Aroldis Chapman doing some live batting/pitching practice.  You can find the vid here: Aroldis Hammering Away (watch the change up).  

Amazing.  Simply Amazing.  This kid has got a serious arm, pretty decent control - some of the balls furiously hurtling to the catcher are simply a BLUR - the only reason you know it's a baseball flying by is because you know what the sport is. 

I'm not a prospector, but now after watching him throw (and this is on the freaking internet - I can only imagine what it must be like to be a batter and go a few rounds), holy cow - if he can stay healthy, he could easily be a dominating force on the mound.  I have a few of the Bowman cards of him, but now I'm beginning to itch to pick up his Donruss Elite auto.

Hmmmm.....if I go that route, better do it now before the season starts.

Or he could be a bust. 

Or not.

Decisions, decisions.

Ok, more later!

Yuppers, still kickin

No post lately as yesterday was a massive meeting day for me at work - that and no cards as of now.

What I can post is that I'll be going to Target today - again....grrrrrrr..... and I think I'll have a mini-mail day today.   Also, I'll be spending a portion today putting together numerous packages and stuff so this should be fun.

Ok, more later!

Finally, a few packs, mail-days, and cool cards

Ok, I'm home, after a 2 hour, traffic filled drive.  I'm cold, tired, and I've been dying to play Call of Duty.  So, let's get to business, alright?

First up

Brian from Play at the Plate came through and hooked me up!  You're Chicle cards are in the mail (or rather, were in the mail cuz I sent them out last week lol)  I snuck in a few other cards too ^.^!  Incidentally, I'm going to package up MORE stuff to mail out this weekend which will go out next Monday.  What cracks me up is that  I've had these packed up, but need to add MORE cards to the mix hahaha  Even Waxaholic is getting stuff - gotta go to the post office for that one cuz it's heading up north to Canada.

Some cards to mark off the old checklist.  Ya know, I seriously cannot wait to get to my loot back in Texas...I keep talking about it....sigh.....I have a ton of fun stuff that's dying to be mailed out lololol.

Thanks again Brian!!!  I'll keep sending you loot :)

Next up!

Pimp.  Just Pimp.

Paul Molitor? A Pimp?  Hells yeah.  As I stated before, I don't mind outing my auctions every once in awhile - this just so happens to be one that I refused to out.  And, out of all the short print relics in Goodwin, I intentionally left this one out.   Why?  Because in the last 6 months, I've seen exactly 3 of these come up.  The first time, I let it pass because I wasn't aware it was a short print and I wasn't sure if I was going to collect the relics.  Well, we all know where I am with that now, don't we?

This one finally came up again - actually, two of them, about 1 day apart.  Although not terribly expensive, I knew it would carry a premium.  BECAUSE THIS MOLITOR RELIC CARRYS A PRINT RUN EVEN SMALLER THAN THE DIMAGGIO!  The Dimaggio has a print run of only 20.  The Molitor has a print run of only 15!  In other words, NOW I know for a FACT that for those collectors out there trying to complete a 2009 Goodwin Relic set, there is exactly 14 other people out there that can complete it - because I took one of the 15 cards.  Muwahahahahahahahaha!

Ok, enough evil laugh. 

Next! Mr. James Shields

For some strange reason, Mr. Shields here, although not a short print, sells fairly well - that is, there's a demand for the card, but because it's relatively available, I always seemingly got outbid on this card by a staggering $0.25.  This shit pissed me off.  Ok, no it didn't lol.  But I did pick it up for like $2, so no complaints :)

Next!

Sickness.  It must but a Paul Molitor Day.

Wow, what a kick-ass group of autos.  First up, the Molitor - yet another SP with a run of 25 - major score!  I have several SP cards now with limited runs, so I KNOW I pissed off a few set collectors out there with this score.  Hella good price too, so I'm happy.  The Atkins, not a short print, but another card that I was constantly losing at no more than a quarter or $0.50 cents.  Annoying.  The Roy White - now I LIKE this card.  Undoubtedly, NY fans were buying this card, not set collectors and on the secondary market, this card has a pretty strong price.  I noticed the seller was selling all 3 of these cards, so with the Molitor being my chaser, I said to hell with it and bid up all 3 - and won all three.  I am uber excited about these cards and they make an awesome addition to my collection.

On a side note, the auto cards collection chase is going to be a major pain in my ass and I am beginning to doubt my wanton desire to complete that set; the secondary market on marquee players is amazingly painful to even look at.  There's a Jeter up on the Bay now, with a BIN price of $500.00.  There's no way I'm squandering that kind of money on a modern day card - in fact, in a few seconds, you'll see why.  I'm noticing the same thing on the Jordan, which I've seen go for $800, and the Lebron, going for a strong $400.  Just not my cup of tea with modern day cards.  But what WOULD I spend that kind of money for?

This:  (which came in the mail yesterday)

I know what you're thinking - Ganley?  What's a Ganley?  WHO's a Ganley?

It's Bob Ganley.  It's an original T206, not a buy back.  Which by the way, Topps can't "buy-back" this card because they never made them to begin with.

Believe it or not, I don't only look at the modern day stuff on Ebay and around the boards, but I ALSO keep a keen eye out for my beloved T206's.  The Bob Ganley, including several other common T206's, are considered the most difficult to find a good condition.

Imagine a 1988 Bo Jackson Topps card that you need to complete your set, but the only ones you seem to find up for sale are piss-poor, beaten the hell up, kind of cards.  So when a NICE condition 1988 Bo Jackson comes up, book guide states it's worth $.10 cents, but bidding has skyrocketed the card to $20.  You're thinking, "WHAT THE HELL??!!"  Yuppers, that would be Bob Ganley's T206 card.  Although you can't do a search for it now because none of have sold recently other than the one I bought for $30, you'll see that this card, even in modest condition, have spiraled upwards from anywhere from $75 to $125 ranges.  So I figured I would bid, no snipe, and just let it ride, and I won it.  I'm super happy about this purchase and now if I can hit up some Ty Cobb's......sigh......

HOLY CHIT! A SNIPE I SET UP JUST WENT OFF AND I WON A MAJOR CARD I NEEDED!!!! HOLY CHIT!!!! I'LL SHARE IT WITH YA WHEN IT COMES! I'M BETTING SOME OF YOU ALREADY KNOW THOUGH!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!

Oh damn, that was awesome.  Um.  I think I had one more thing to post....Oh yeah, my Target packs.

Meh.

I did buy four packs of Topps and two of them had the million card giveway cards - meh, so much for the 1 in 6 odds.  I did NOT however redeem them - I noticed that the cards are NOT predetermined; in other words, the code on your card does not have a card on the Topps end that's been determined already. I'm fairly confident that it's all randomized.  So check the main redemption page and if you see a string of older cards, THEN redeem.  If not, hold on to them.  At least that's what I'm thinking.  So I'll wait to redeem those later this week ^.^!

Jeesh, I just shoved my cards in my pantry and.....grrrrrrrrrr....I have major freaking mail-out day for many of ya'll next week, so for those of ya'll who got cards in the mail already, imma send some more.  I gotta clear this stuff out!

And I'll update my needs list this weekend fo' sure!

Ok, now I am SERIOUSLY needing some PS3 time, so imma go play.

More later!

Wicked "I just sniped yo' momma, how you like that?" Liquids

Awesome mail day, but not right now lol

I feel a bit better than yesterday so this is a good thing.  I left work early yesterday, checked the mail, got to the apartment, opened the envelopes - had a great mail day - thanks Brian from Play at the Plate! - took a shit load of meds, popped in some Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (which is kick-ass in HD by the way) and zonked out. 

I remember the cards I got in the mail and they were just awesome - and I can't wait to post them so I'll do that first thing when I get home

I need to do my weekly Target run, so this evening's post might be a longer one as I'm sure I'll end up picking up a few more packs.

Ok, more later!

Wow, I'm still sick....

I'm still sick and actually not feeling any better; I'm about the same, maybe a little worse.  Clearly, I have late seasonal flu symptoms, coupled with allergies, so it's been a eye-watering, lack of sleep, congested feeling for me as of late.

I did muster up the energy to go to Target to buy crap that I normally need and I asked my GF to pick out a few packs of Topps 2010.  I got some of the normal insert cards but I also got a Giveaway card - 1 out of 6 sounds about right, but I've been a bit more luck and I've been pulling them 1 out of 4 or 5 packs.  So, with that said, here's what I got:

1965 Sonny Siebert - you know, I really do like the give-away part of this years Topps.  More specifically, I really enjoy getting the older cards, not because they may, or may not, have any value, but it's introducing me to a time period of ball play that I don't really pay attention too.  I most pay attention to vintage and the Goodwin and Ginter stuff, so it's fun to get cards like this and look them up online.

Incidentally, speaking of Ginter, I saw some pics of the new 2010 Allen & Ginter.  Other than for a few other cards to be part of the insert set, the 2010 Ginter release is going to be fairly close to last years.  With that said, since I'm still trying to complete last years set, I will NOT be chasing 2010's release.  Will I buy a few packs?  Meh, we'll see :)

 Ok, more later!

Another quick mail day - Yama who?

What a busy day!  So busy, I have the Thanksgiving sickness right now - that is, my tummy is full and I want to take a damn nap, but I can't because I have so much stuff to do.  You know, I was under the impression that your days off, the weekend specifically for me, are for rest and relaxation.  Not-uh. Not in this world.

So, here is my mail-day stuff for today - 3 cards that I needed and 3 more to mark off my checklist:

Chris Young - this card is quite possibly my vote for the BEST card of 2009!  Why?  Well, as other people have agreed, look at the dudes face!  Really??!!  He looks like he's about to take a shit in his pants.  I laugh, smile, or chuckle (not in that order) whenever I see this card - hilarious!

And the Griffey  relic - a no-brainer there.

And oh yeah, the Yamaguchi - never thought I would bid on it, but I realized that in order to complete the set, I'm going to need it.  It actually really is a farily nice card.  And with only 49 made of these, I thought it would be a good investment, even if I didn't complete the auto set.

Ok, more laters!

Added these two nice cards to cross of the list.....

I'm still feeling like shit and my head and sinus' are whupping my ass right now. I'm making a run to Target later to pick up some medicine because this is just now starting to get a bit ridiculous. 

Anyway, I added these two super nice cards to mark off my checklist.

The Longoria is awesome and for $32, I think I got a pretty damn good deal.  It's a short print auto, I believe at 249 total, so inline with the rest of the other short prints.  The Ripken, although NOT a short print, sure as hell is priced like one lol.  It wasn't too bad and he was definitely one I needed to cross off.

I'm inching closer to finishing the Relic set, very close actually, and I think I'll have it complete sometime in March, with the exception of a few.  Once I do finish it, the best way I can anyway, I'll move immediately into the base, mini, foil, Gypsy Queen, and auto set.

Ok, more later (I'll probably pick up a few packs at Target)

JOE DIMAGGIO VHS VIDEO CARD??~!! TOO COOL!

I have never in my life seen one of these things and I never in my life wish to own it, or anything like it, but it sure is cool to know that it exists - a real-life JOE DIMAGGIO VHS BASEBALL CARD!  Ugh...so ghetto-ass 80's

Owie...I got sick....

I got super sick yesterday and couldn't do anything worth a crap.  I feel much better today, just slightly under the weather.  I has a small mail-day yesterday, but I decided to forgo posting.  But I will be posting later tonight as I should have a pretty cool mail-day within the next few days.  Also, I think I'm going to run out this afternoon and hit the Hobby shop; I don't like to buy too much at the brick & mortar places because around here, at least, the cost of buying packs is just stupid.  But I''ll probably pick up a few tops and look for some vintage.

Which reminds me, I picked up another vintage card yesterday that I'm excited about and I'll do a brief write up on that when I get it.

Ok, more later!

Ugh, so tired, so quickie here....

Got back from a very long day of corporate meetings and I'm not feeling so good at the moment. My mail-day today was kind of week - good cards that I needed, but I didn't get a jam-packed mail box like I normally do:

I think Felix Hernandez has become THE player for me to watch out for this spring.  I don't watch too much Mariners ball, but this guy has been all over the place; his numbers aren't bad, so I'm certainly going to catch a few spring training games with him.

Ok, more later...ugh....I'm sick!

Large Mail Day, Sick Card, and closer to the set!

Well, you know, when the Postal Service decides to take a day off, I can only imagine what's going to happen - and it usually does;  A LARGE MAIL DAY!  Let's get started!

Envelope #1
OJ Mayo and Derrick Rose; I needed the Rose, so that leaves me with a double of the Mayo - and one less card to chase down.  And why do both look like they just got out of church?

Envelope #2
Mr. Jeter - I don't buy up a whole lot of his stuff because, well, I don't want to  jump on the band wagon.  But I did need this card and one more off the list.  And it's a pretty nice card I have to admit.

Envelope #3
Rawr!  Another McCann that I accidentally bid on....lol...BIP-icide!!!

Envelope #4
Mr. Thome - this card is actually pretty cool - great shot of him....watching someone ELSE run the base? Meh, I dunno.  And one more check off my list!

Envelope #5
Eek - accidental BIP-icide; bid on another Thome thinking I wasn't going to win...then I won.  Damn it.  But hey, I got the Carlton which I needed muwahahahahahaha :)  Also, I think I like this Thome card than the one above - it has a stripe, so dual color? Whatever.

Envelope #6
Brad Hawpe!  Imma be honest here, I don't think I caught a single Rockies game last year because......I just don't like purple.  I mean blue, green, white, etc, but I can't do purple.  Wait, I'm lying, I have one purple shirt that I paid an obnoxious amount of money for....and now when I look at it, I think "obnoxious" and I won't wear it.  Grrrrrr........

Envelope #7
Another Craig Nettles - inadvertent BIP-icide again.  Grrrrr....right about now, I feel like I'm doing the Topps Million card give away thing, just getting the same damn jersey card over and over again.

Envelope #8
Oh HELL yah, now we're talking - Bo Jackson and Mike Schmidt.  I LOVE Bo Jackson - this fucker ruled the shit when he was playing both football and baseball.  And I watched Mike play too - but I hear he's somewhat of a jerk now for autograph seekers.  Whatever - I think I wanted a mustache like his when I was 12.

Envelope #9
Oh yeah, another great card!  Yogi Berra!  I LOVE this card - for only one simple reason - the size of this guys head!  Man, look at that melon!  I think the artist rendition of this card is great; I wonder what they used to make this card; would love to have a copy of it.  It's like his head is barely proportionate to the rest of his body lol

Envelope #10
Well not all of them can be relics lol  I am actually still short from finishing the base and mini set, but not by much.  I'm 92% done on the base (missing SSP's) and 83% on the mini's.  I've been taking my time with the base and mini set because they're more readily obtainable than the relics and autos; but more importantly, I don't want to end up paying for each card separately, so what I do is pretty much wait for lots to roll around, then I buy up the lots - this leaves me with a lot of extra SP's and SSP's which eventually I'll trade away.
I need Sr. here, so that's one more off my list.

And lastly, envelope #11
Just grossly sick!  I can tell you, I WAYYYYYYY overpaid for this card.  But the fact of the matter is, there are only 50 copies of this card, which makes it one of the major short print auto's in the set.  Also, I probably  paid more than I should have because now I can clearly see that when collecting Goodwin, or any other set, I'm going to run into two major problems:  #1 - other collectors trying to complete the set #2 - other collectors that are player collectors.  This is a major challenge for me for the auto set as nearly half of Goodwin's auto set is short printed.  The good part is, not that many are of players that are widely sought after, so picking up the cards at a reasonable price is very much do-able.  I really liked this card and I felt strongly about paying what I did for it - it's a short print of a pretty damn good player, it's on-card, and it's a beautiful card,  and this one is staying in my personal collection for a very long time :-)  (and yes, that's  just tape on the top-loader, not on the card lol)

I have some more sick mail days coming, so stay tuned!

Ciao!

Wicked "Imma on-card yo' momma" Liquids

My Million Card Give-Away Loot

Well, finally made it home and I took off a little early because I wasn't feeling that all great.  I log onto the Topps website and do the million card give way code thing

Card #1

Ok, I'm not impressed.  1987 was great - for Donruss and Fleer.  Not so much with the fake wood-grain paneling around the card.  In other words, I'm not off to a great start:  Yay for Tracy Jones!

Card #2

Nice - MUCH better!  Other than the pre-war stuff I have (1909 to 1911), I don't own a SINGLE card from the 50's, 60's, or 70's (Although I do have a very nice Bud Padgett Remar Bread card - if you're a higher-end collector, you know what I'm talking about - I should do a post on that card - I think some of you might really like how I obtained it).  I actually like this card - kinda neat:

Card #3

Steve Avery, 1993.  This card is going out the door to a Braves collector whom can be found on my sidebar.  In fact, I think this was the last year that I bought cards before I quite the hobby.

Card #4

Sigh....another 1987.  Good god.  I'd burn every card made in 1987 if I could - or at least find a way to grind them all into some kind of pulp and recycle the freaking paper. I remember Dempsey as a kid.  Barely.

Card #5

Salazar.  From the 1988 set.  Which I spent all my lunch money completing.  I GAVE UP A LOT OF REALLY GOOD TASTING FUCKING CAFETERIA BURRITOS FOR THIS TOPPS SET.  Ah, regrets...to live and learn.  Never ever do a base Topps set again......

Card #6

Stan Williams - much better.  Kind of makes up for the 1987 Dempsey, BUT DOES NOT MAKE UP FOR MY LOST BURRITO FROM THE 1988 SALAZAR CARD!

Card #7

Tommy Helms - you know, I've always had a fascination with the black bordered cards - I remember as a kid seeing this at card shows, but most were beat up or in bad shape because of the black border.

Card #8 (last card)

Sigh...I give up...I'm putting the rest of these stupid cards up on Ebay or for trade. 

 

Ciao!

Wicked "I bet yo momma's got some codes" Liquids

Quick Million Card Give-away update!

Ok, so I realized that many of you, after reading some blogs, haven't even been able to get on the website.  I was fortunately able to read nearly all of it before it went down again and I was able to snag a few more screenshots.  I'll show those to you now, in addition to adding on to what the Topps contest consists of.

First of all, when you click on a player that had been redeemed, you'll get this screenshot:

So you can see clearly, someone scooped up their redemption with a 2005 Jeter.  What you can't see on this screenshot is at the bottom of this card, you'll see a rolling menu that goes left to right, or right to left.  The menu shows what other cards related to the player, or series, above has been redeemed.  I do recall seeing his 1992 Topps Draft Pick rookie card there - the one with the green background.  So it appears that card has been redeemed.

I also noted that a PLETHORA of cards from 1980 to 2008 have been redeemed.  In so much, that it appears that you will have a 1 in 10 chance of getting a modern day card.  I've seen a handful of cards from the 60's and 70's, but most of the cards being picked up right now are all modern day.

Here's another screenie:

On this screenshot, you can clearly see the rolling menu at the bottom and several of these cards, the 1967 Rookie Stars cards have been redeemed.

It goes without saying that the probability is SUPER high you're redemption card will be a modern day card.

Topps has a unique feature with this program where you'll be allowed to choose to have the cards mailed to you, which will take 4 - 6 weeks, OR you can allow Topps to hold onto them and enter them into a trading program that they will have ONLY FOR THE CARDS THAT WERE GIVEN AWAY FOR THE MILLION CARD GIVEAWAY.  I thought this was a pretty cool idea, so you're not inundated with a bunch of cards you don't collect and can swap them out with fellow collectors.

Now, lets get back to the actual cards you'd be getting.  As I stated, at least for the initial run, it's fairly evident that you have a 1 in 8 to 10 chance of getting a modern day card.  If that's the case (because I know we all want those 1989 John Olreud rookies - which I liked him by the way), why on earth would you want to buy this?

You do realize that the modern day cards you're getting have a street value of about 1 cent per card?  Other than the rare occasion of picking up something super nice.  In other words folks, don't buy into the "I'm going to get a Mantle" hype- you're going to get burned.

Now, the ACTUAL contest being put on by TOPPS - starts in April.  In a nutshell, starting April and every 2 weeks after that, they're running varying contests based on what's in your portfolio of redeemed cards, like who has the most catchers or pitchers, or something along those lines.

IMPORTANT: these cards MUST be in your portfolio to have them count towards the contest.  So let's assume you redeem a Nolan Ryan rookie and you opt to have it mailed to you.  Once it leaves Topps' hands, they are considered no longer part of your portfolio and that card is no longer eligible to be part of the contest.

Ok, that's all I can think of now - I see NOW that the site is up, but it will probably go back down in a few minutes and definitely go back down again later tonight.  If I catch anything else, I'll post accordingly.

Ciao!

Wicked "Imma Topps your mom!" Liquids

Toppscards.com is a bit slow....

Just an FYI and as expected, www.toppscards.com is being as slow as predicted.  I  haven't registered or inputted any cards (because they're all at home anyway) but to simply navigate through the website isn't working.  It's coming up, then offline, then up, then offline - which would be as expected as I'm sure, and without a doubt, that there are probably close too 100,000 cards that are already able to be redeemed, which means 1/10th of the million cards are already spoken for.

For those of you looking for a high-dollar card, I can say that I haven't see anything of tremendous value come across before I got booted.  I also wanted to clarify something about this contest.  One of the coded cards does NOT have the '52 Mantle. The '52 Mantle is part of a contest near the end of this Million Card program.  Although there are many other cards you can pull, like a Hank Arron, Nolan Ryan, Roger Maris, tons of fantastic players, but the Mantle card is not one of them.  Just an FYI.

I think I'm going to wait later in the week to try to redeem my cards - makes no sense now since you can't even get to the front page.

Ciao!

Wicked "Yo momma's slow as hell" Liquids

Topps Million Card Give Away is now live....

Hi all, Topps 2010 Million Card Giveaway is now live:

If you look to the right of the page, you can see what cards have been redeemed, which I think is a very cool option.

Good luck to everyone!  And again, post what you get!  I'm super curious!

PS - I like hitting the refresh button and seeing all the cards change as they get redeemed.  So far, the oldest card I've seen come up is from 1957.

Topps Million Card Give-Away!!! Let's see'em!

Well, it's officially February 15th, the day after Valentines.  For those of you without a significant other, Valentines is irrelevant.  What IS relevant for you is this:

So, I'm at the office and I plug myself into the website on the card and.............it's not working yet. :-(

I'm sure it'll go live soon, so when it does, do me a favor and post up what you got, if you have a blog, or message/leave a comment on what you got - I'm super curious!

Ciao!

Wicked "Imma give yo' momma away" Liquids

I'm scanning in the trade cards....

.....as we speak.  Hit refresh a few times - this taking a bit longer than I thought, so you may want to check back a few times.  I have quite a bit of cards to scan and I want to provide high-res scans.  The cards that I'm scanning in now are a mix of all sports.  I'll also provide a list of cards that I have available for trade, but that list won't be very long as I'lll probably send them out to various fellow bloggers in return for their Goodwin and Ginter stuff.  Again, call out your teams or players so I can list them :)

If you see any cards you would like to trade for, please check on my needs list and let's do some trading!!

Oh and I'm trying to knock out my football and basketball cards first with my scanning, so just check back and you'll see the baseball stuff pop up.

Ciao!

Wicked "Ok, your mom's hot" Liquids

Yo! Need addy's so I can send you cards!

Sup gang - I'm putting together cards for a mail out tomrrow - need your addy's - I have a few of ya'll already, but for those of you who haven't sent me your addy's, please do :)

And for the rest of ya - read the sidebar and you'll know what I'm talking about - plenty of teams haven't been called yet.

All I ask in return are some crap cards from Goodwin & Ginter :)

Ciao!

Wicked "Imma Goodwin and Ginter your mom" Liquids

Mail Day (on Sunday) and some packs!

Sup playa's & ballah's!

Here are some cards that I got in the mail (and a few packs from a Target run - needed Draino for my tub grrrrr)

Envelope #1:

Brian Roberts - he had an OK year with the O's - I don't know if he'll ever be a superstar, but he's got a long career :)  And I just checked him off my check-list!

Envelope #2
Moving forward on my auto-set, I picked up, yet another, Rick Cerone.  I'm going to commit Bip-icide with Alex Hinshaw and Rick Cerone....because I have ANOTHER Cerone on the way, which makes for a total of 3 so far.....and of course, these go off my checklist as well

Envelope #3
Ah, Miggi himself.  Another impulse Ebay bid and another win at $0.99 cents.  I needed to check him off my list for the Ginter set, so this certainly helps.  And what's with the 70's geri-curl hair style? 

 

Envelope #4

I needed all three of these, so the timing was good - took'em off my checklist.  I'm not sure why, but Beltran looks hella pissed in that pic - or super focused.  I think it's my favorite of the 3 cards.

Envelope #5
Mr. Patterson - not really a fan, but needed him.  This is turning out to be more of a Ginter mail day than a Goodwin mail day...grrrrr but that's ok - I'm still marking off stuff from both checklists, so I'm content.

Envelope #6 last one for now :)
Alright, now I like this one!  I got a great deal on both cards - the Utley I needed to mark off my list and the Wang was a straight-up impulse bid.  What's bizzare is that I should NOT have won that Wang - it's the Moonlight SP version of his cards and if ya'll do a search for any of the Moonlight variations, they simple sell VERY well, sometimes in upwards of the $20 - $30 range, especially for the Tiger Woods version (don't ask me why).  So I got a super good deal and won this one for $0.99 cents.  I guess no one paid attention or saw it as I put the bid in on the first day it was listed and  it was up for a better part of a week and no one bothered to bid against me.  Love it when that happens!

Ok, now on to a few packs that I picked up:

Wow, talk about mojo, I picked up a pack of SP Threads 2009 football - I needed some variety and break from baseball, and I actually got a hit from retail.  This is so far and few between for me - it was awesome!  The fact that it's a University of Texas alumni and Longhorn, I was very happy to pull the Vince Young Game Day Gear card - very sweet!  I've only picked up maybe 3 or 4 of these packs ever and the photography on these cards are outstanding.  I just didn't buy them often because the price point per card wasn't that interesting to me.

Another impulse buy to break up the monotony - nothing spectacular and the normal 2009 UD basketball cards are as dull as the 2010 baseball cards.  I won't be buying these again.  And yes, they are available for trade, including a Vince Carter base and Carmelo Anthony base.

I picked up a few packs of 2010 UD Baseball and quite frankly I can say in all honesty, these will be the last 2010 UD baseball packs I'll be.  The design is SO dull and lackluster, it's quite un-inspiring.   Although I DO like the predictors a WHOLE lot so if any of you want to trade for those, I'd love to have'em!

Ok, that's it for now - holla at ya'll later!

Ciao!

Wicked "I'll predict yo' momma!" Liquids