It's not a hot box, and it's not even baseball.

I wanted to share something completed unrelated yet hilarious. I laughed so hard when I watched this on Friday and if you missed it, you will be glad you clicked here even if there was no hot box.

I am a big fan of Jay Leno and think he's funny, but I am a bigger fan of stupid people amusing me and this definitely did.



I am watching the Cubs/Dodgers game and it is not that entertaining at a score of 6-0. I will probably put some cards away and head to bed early tonight, nothing too exciting. Anyone get to any games this weekend? Let me know what you think of this video.

P.S. I'll have a blog tomorrow (I hope) with the contents of the Goudey blaster from last week, I just opened it last night.

Dual 2009 Upper Deck Box Breaks (Psst...hot box!)

I ordered two boxes of 2009 Upper Deck hoping for one of two things. A Jeter buyback, which I would have taken over everything, or a hot box. When I got the package, I opened one of the UD boxes.

I opened the buy back. Boring.



So I got to ripping. Here are the highlights from that box:

20th Anniversary Buybacks
Kevin Gross

UD 20th Anniversary

Cal Ripken Jr.

Carlton Fisk

Jimmy Rollins

Shaquille O'Neal

Ken Griffey Jr.

"I Love You" email virus

Michael Young

Opening Day in Japan

O-Pee-Chee Preview

Ichiro

Dustin Pedroia

Brandon Webb

Matt Holliday

USA Baseball

Chris Hernandez

Matt Den Dekker

AJ Griffin

Tyler Lyons

GU Jersey

Josh Barfield

Derek Dietrich USA Baseball

Inkcredible

Greg Smith

At this point, since I need to go to work, I don't have time to open the other box. I figure let me just look at the buyback because I have no patience. I open the other box and see there is no buy back and got annoyed. I think I got hosed.

I go to work and I'm reading card blog (because that's what people do at work) and I read a comment on Wax Heaven that you'd know a hot box by the buy back. There wasn't more specification than that, but I think I got one box with a buyback and one without. I wonder if that's the difference.

About three days go by before I remembered about the Upper Deck box again.

Last night, after I got home from work after midnight, I remembered the other box.

Sure enough, it was a hot box. It wasn't great, but it is what I asked for.

Here are those highlights:

Jonathan Herrera auto

Kyle Gibson USA Baseball auto/jersey /225

Tyler Lyons USA Baseball gu jersery

Chris Hernandez USA Baseball auto

Joaquin Arias Inkcredible auto

Christian Colon USA Baseball auto

Kevin Hart Inkcredible auto

Mike Minor USA Baseball auto

Steve Holm Inkcredible auto

Matt Kemp auto/GU /25 (best card of the bunch)

Blake Smith USA Baseball auto

Matt Den Dekker USA Baseball

Gregorio Petit Inkcredible Auto

Harold Baines 20th Anniversary buyback

Ross Ohlendorf Inkcredible auto

Mike Leake USA Baseball auto

UD 20th Anniversary cards

Denver Broncos

Michael Jordan

Gov. of Minnesota

Mars Pathfinder

Detroit Red Wings

FDR Memorial

Tampa Bay Devil Rays (Wade Boggs)

Chicago Bulls (Michael Jordan)

USA Baseball

Chris Hernandez

Mike Leake

Tyler Lyons

Matt Den Dekker

O-Pee-Chee Preview

Derrek Lee

Vladimir Guerrero

Adrain Gonzalez

Carlos Lee

GU Jersey

Josh Barfield (Again, but this was with a white jersey)

That's the break of the two boxes. While the cards weren't overly impressive. I still had a lot of fun opening this break.

And, really, isn't that the point of all this.

Joey Votto: Before and After cards

I have been trying to clean my desk off since there are about 12 piles of 300-400 cards stacked all over it, and was putting some in boxes and others in my binders. Votto is one of the players that go in my "Rookie" binder. Players that I like start there and after a season or 3 move into another binder to call home (this is providing they don't mail it in and suck).

At any rate, I was putting a 2009 UD Series 2 Votto away when I noticed through the 9pocket sheet that the same card was behind it, or was it? This is what I was seeing, a 2008 UD Timeline SP of Votto.



Now I know I have said before that these companies use the same photo's and so have many other blogs, but I just figured it was worth pointing out. I never actually checked all my Pujols cards to see if any were blatantly obvious like this one. I think the jersey in this photo makes it even worse.

I am still trying to find the bottom of my desk. There are small patches that are clear but not enough. I want to open something here, but I feel like I should try and put away some stuff first. Collecting is messy sometimes.

eBay and Stale Gum mail day

Today I went to the post office and saw my favorite two things: an eBay bubble mailer and a surprise bubble mailer. The surprise came from Chris at Stale Gum and was awesome of him to send me something out of the blue.

I'll cut to the chase.

2009 Series 2 Career Best auto Robbie Cano



I had my eye on these Cano auto's watching to see where most of them ended and they were fairly reasonable (less than $10) for the most part. I ended up getting mine for $5 which seems to be below the average selling price, which is awesome for me.

Now for the surprise bubble mailer. I was opening my mail at the table and started cracking up instantly because of this:



Now, I show it to my mom and she's like, "You hate Matsui." Yes, I do and that is why I was laughing in the first place. Chris made me day because his autograph is more valuable to me than Hideki, but this is all a story for another day. I don't believe I mentioned this to Chris, but you made my day with that card being signed.

Chris also included 2 Pujols cards, and a nice chunk of YSL cards. Let the rummaging begin to find some stuff for Chris. Thanks dude!

Now I have to move onto the not so fun part of collecting, logging everything in. The sad thing is, collecting would be really hard without this aspect of it. Who knows how many doubles and triples we might end up purchasing or trading for without a list of some sort.

2009 Topps retail (it's boring)

Let me start by saying I had no hopes of anything great for two reasons, 1. the Goudey packs I opened, and 2. because it's Topps retail. So I am not disappointed by the packs.

To go along with Sooz's last blog about bad photography, I scanned three more examples.


We know the first one is Kouz because of his shirt, not that this couldn't have been some dude playing softball down the road (poor Sooz). Next, Nelson Cruz eating dirt. Glad I don't collect him. Then David DeJesus, or is it.... ???

Here were the "hits" if you will.






I am looking at these scans now realizing I missed sending some cards in packages today. Oh well, they will go out next time.

I am also too lazy to look on Beckett and it keeps forcing Firefox to restart, but if there is a blue Pujols ToppsTown please send me one (yes, that means you). I like blue, and I like Albert so that will work out quite well.

If anyone is looking to finish off Series 2 and needs cards, almost all my base cards are available for trade.

I am watching the O's/Tigers game right now and one of the announcers had no idea that Wieters was being brought up tomorrow. Why do I know that and they don't? I can watch lots and lots of baseball and not get bored. I will probably watch the Dodgers soon and I am hoping that I get the L.A. broadcast so I can listen to Scully.

Who takes the worst photos?

We've probably all agreed that Russ Martin has the best baseball cards. It just seems that the guy can't take a bad photo. However, there's a guy out there who seemingly just can't get a good card.

Maybe it's awkward lighting or just bad photographers. Maybe he just has a weird face, but poor Ryan Braun can't win when it comes to baseball cards.

Here's a look at some of his more recent cards. I know there are crazier ones.

First up:
This is one isn't really his fault. You can't even see his face on this Bowman card. The only way you really know it's him is because of the name on the jersey. But how do we know this isn't JJ Hardy pulling a prank?

Up Next:


This one isn't bad. It's a season highlight card showing him running after a pop up. It's not the worst card, but it doesn't show any creativity at all.

Maybe on insert will help:

Oh ... um ... he just looks scary there. That could be an image from an old black and white horror film.

Perhaps more updated cards will work:

Again, this isn't bad, but boring. You really see his face, and I guess that really isn't a bad thing. But his leg looks really weird. It has a weird bend in his calf.

How about this one:

Well, apparently, the photographers don't want to show his face. It's probably because of that crazy-eyes card.

It's almost like they pulled Braun out of bed for this head shot.

They took it just after this one:

Or maybe after this one:

Poor Ryan looks half asleep in half his cards.

Good thing you play baseball because life as a model probably wouldn't have worked out.

Trade with Cardboard Junkie

As many of you know a trip to K-Mart a while back landed me a '34 Goudey buyback of Baxter Jordan. dayf from Cardboard Junkie e-mailed me about trading it to him and I was willing to entertain trading it since it really didn't do much for me, other than look cool and end up a trophy pull from a blaster.

I was offered a boatload, and by boatload I mean over 40 YSL cards PLUS a Pujols GU jersey card for the '34 Jordan, some cards to help him complete a set and some Braves that he was interested in (at least I think that's how this went down). dayf was also kind enough to throw in some free Pujols cards that are making new friends here on my desk for now.





Thanks dayf this trade got me a few centimeters closer to that far, far away finish line on the YSL set.

P.S. I opened the 2009 Topps Series 2 packs and they were uneventful, which was more or less expected after the luck on the Goudey. Stay tuned.

Someone get me a card of this woman

I want a baseball card of Justine Siegel.

A few weeks ago, the Can-Am League’s Brockton Rox apparently hired the first female coach in professional baseball.

I know the Can-Am League isn’t a big deal, but the Quebec team did just sign Eric Gagne.

As someone who loves the game so much, I’m proud and envious of this woman. There are so many nights were I’m watching the game and thinking about the different decisions that can affect the game. Spiegel will be one of those people that will have her voice heard in the clubhouse.

Here’s a story by The Enterprise of Brockton (Mass.) on Siegal. There are a few typos, but don’t worry about those. Just read the story.

And, if you’re in the area, go check out the Rox and tell the manager Chris Carminucci I sent you. Nooch is the man.

A slice of heaven: eBay style

I have mentioned here and there that I picked up some good bargains on eBay with Pujols Goudey cards and some of them have rolled in. I'm still waiting on a couple more but I have amassed quite a little Goudey collection so far. Here is what I managed to get from the bargain bin of eBay:

(I say bargain bin because most of these were less than $1 or they had $1/free shipping)

Green
Blue
Blue

This next card is probably my next best eBay steal. This one was $2.59 with free shipping, in a bubble mailer.

2009 Bowman Orange Parallel 071/250


I said on Sunday I was going to update my list, yet I haven't logged in a single card nor updated my want list so stay tuned... I may get to that someday this week. I am still trying to sort through all my mail at this point, and I still have one more trade to highlight later on.

My Target haul

I spent my Memorial Day washing my car and told my mom I would wash hers as well. In the middle of my washing, my brother came outside and offered me a trade- a clean truck for a blaster. You know I took that one. Despite the nozzle on my hose breaking in half, I still finished the job. The pollen around here is so bad that you can wash your car one day and in an hour or two it's covered again. I like washing my car, which is not very "girly" but no one said that was my personality in the first place.

I went to Target yesterday while in errand mode because we needed detergent, not baseball cards though I left with both. I probably should have remembered while I was there to pick up a nozzle, but it's supposed to rain all week anyway so it won't matter. The 2009 blasters were slim pickens today, they had 2009 UD Series 2 blasters and 2009 Goudey. After the last UD, I'm done with those and considering my luck with Goudey I opted for that. My mom felt compelled to compensate me for my free car wash with a couple of packs, and who Iam I to turn it down? I grabbed a few loose Goudey and 09 Topps Series 2. I opened just the loose Goudey so far and was pleasantly surprised and thrilled. The only reason I grabbed these is because the boxes were full and all packs were facing the same way indicating no micrometer action.

Here are the highlights from the loose packs of Goudey:


4-in 1 Green




Mini Burrell, blue back

Major score on all accounts here, and if I end up with air in the blaster I won't complain. Promise.

The Papelbon will be going to Ron since it's make me mad just existing here, and if anyone wants to trade for anything but the 4-in 1, I'm listening. I didn't list the base cards because there was nothing fun, just the same ol'.

Mail day: I made a new friend

Today turned out to be errand day for me. It wasn't supposed to take up my whole day but it did for the most part. In an attempt to stop my brain from turning to mush I have decided to go back to school. For now it is just one summer class to see how this goes since it is a completely different area than what I got my bachelors in. I had to go to the school to pay for the class and get some books. I tried to register for another class later in the summer but needed a transcript, which I don't keep in my wallet and needed to go get from the college I graduated from. All of which meant driving 15 minutes back to another school, asking for a transcript-I was the only person I saw in the whole school- and being told that they couldn't do it today, but I could pick it up Thursday. Apparently it takes 2 days to punch in a SS # and it CTRL P. I managed to convince them to let me pick it up tomorrow.

I got my books... I am not kidding when I say the textbook weighs at least 8-10 pounds, and the workbook isn't flimsy. Textbook has 1,000+ pages and if I'm supposed to know this book in 4 weeks, I may never leave my room. If the blogging is a little slow on my end in June, I apologize up front and at least you will know why.


Anyway, to get back on track (and fast forward 3 hours worth of errands and shopping) I had a hell of a day at the post office. I went to mail out some cards I had promised people and got the yellow card in my mailbox indicating there was more that didn't fit. Yes! That is the best thing that can happen at the post office.


Yes, there is a white envelope in there but that is an eBay item that I paid $1 shipping so I am not going to complain about that one.

The reason for the blog title is that the first piece I am going to feature in all this mail is from "the Drizz" over at Totally Cecil, the Cecil Fielder blog. He is new to the blog scene and is just starting out. If he is trying to make a friend in this blogosphere, he now has one here. Dave had e-mailed me telling me he got 2009 Topps Series 2 packs earlier than the release and was going to send me some Yankees he got if I wanted them. I thought that was very nice and gladly accepted. I later saw that he pulled a Cano GU bat card and politely asked what might it take to snag that, or if he could hold onto it for me. He said I'll send it to you because it would just take up space... HOORAY!! Fun for me.




I had not noticed that the Cano card was serial numbered /99, which made me even more happy when I opened it. Given that he seems to collect Tigers cards I am going to have to start rummaging to find some cards that he needs. I don't always have cards on hand that people want or need, but I always remember to send things later on. (Moral: send me stuff, I'll send you stuff. Promise.)

If you get a chance, stop by his blog and look around. Make a new friend too since he's a nice guy.

I have some other mail as well as some eBay auctions that I got today which I will post later tonight or tomorrow.

Yankee game is on a delay still...

Is this Heaven?

No, Just K-Mart.

A few notes on the blog and my status on life support

Well, I'm back to work for the first time in about five or six days. The sickest (sick in a good way) is I didn't have to take any personal time. (I really hope my editor isn't reading this).

I did some work while I'm my recovery trip, but not enough. Now, I'm spending most of the day catching up on everything I missed. Some of you have asked -- others just don't care and I'm fine with that -- but I am feeling better. Not 100 percent, but definitely much better than I was this weekend.

So anyone that I had any trades to go out, I should be catching up on them this week. It's been long enough that I've had your cards.

Here are a few notes on the blog itself. I found them interesting enough to share with Marie and she thought we should let you guys know how much we appreciate everything we have here.

1. We hit over 50K total visitors this month, since we started keeping track. We didn't always keep track of the total. I think that's 50K since January. Not too shabby.

2. Two posts ago was out 500th blog post. I didn't know or else it woulda had flashing lights or fireworks or something.

3. My Jeter collection thanks you all for the great additions.

Not the best 502nd post on here, but I do have to get back to work. These articles aren't going to write themselves. If only I had that pen from Harry Potter that wrote the articles as the person talked.

-Sooz

2009 Upper Deck Series 2 Blaster

On Saturday I got a text from Sooz who crawled out of the house and went to Target to discover they had 2009 Upper Deck Series 2, and 2009 Topps Series 2. As I got the text I was tying my sneakers about to go get an iced coffee and decided to make a detour to Target on my way to Dunkin Donuts. My Target had an empty box of 2009 UD Series 2 packs, 4 rack packs, and 6 blasters. There were no Topps Series 2, and Bowman were gone but they had them a few days earlier. I was debating on which one I wanted to pick up and checked my wallet to see what I had in there. I found $14 bucks from 2 scratch off tickets and decided that a blaster for $6 bucks was the way to go.

Blasters contain 10 packs, with 8 cards per pack*.

Pack One (6 cards and jersey card)

Jose Veras (sucks)
Brian Bruney
Carl Crawford Starquest (Silver Common)
National Team Game Jersey Andrew Oliver

Chase Utley

Seth McClung

Pack Two (7 cards)

Bronson Arroyo
Pat Burrell Team CL
Justin Morneau Starquest (Black Ultra Rare)

Michael Jordan Goodwin Champions Preview (sweet card)

Chris Volstad
Wandy Rodriguez
Paul Maholm

Pack Three (7 cards)

LaTroy Hawkins
Tom Glavine
Carlos Quentin Starquest (Silver Common)
Carlos Gomez
Doug Slaten
David Dellucci
Jason LaRue

Pack Four (7 cards)

Luis Rodriguez
Michael Young Award Winners
Cliff Lee Starquest (Blue Uncommon)
Scott Olsen Team CL
Brandon Boggs
Steve Holm
Masahide Kobayashi

Pack Five (6 cards)

Dustin Pedroia
J.P. Howell
Geovany Soto Starquest (Gold Rare)

Chan Ho Park
John Buck
Alex Rodriguez


Pack Six (wow, all 8 promised cards)

Tim Byrdak
David Riske
Matt Joyce
Carlos Quentin Starquest (Blue Uncommon)
Yorvit Torrealba
Todd Coffey
Jonathan Papelbon
Dioner Navarro

Pack Seven (6 cards)

Joey Votto
Mike Jacobs Team CL
Trevor Crowe
Jimmy Rollins Starquest (Silver Common)
Kosuke Fukudome
Cla Meredith

Pack Eight (another one with all 8 cards, the Astros pack)

Danny Ardoin
Roy Oswalt
Koji Uehara
Mars Pathfinder UD 20th Anniversary (zzzzzzzz)
Ian Kinsler Starquest (Silver Common)
Kevin Jepsen
Humberto Quintero
Carlos Lee

Pack Nine (8 cards)

Chad Durbin
Jon Rauch
Kevin Kouzmanoff (Soooooooz)
Kerry Wood Team CL
Brian McCann Starquest (Emerald Super Rare)

Michael Young Team CL
Cliff Lee
Evan Longoria

Pack Ten (had 12 cards)

Alexei Ramirez
Shawn Hill
Edinson Volquez
German Duran
Jonathan Broxton
Dallas McPherson
Jerry Hairston Jr.
Scott Kazmir
Kevin Youkilis Starquest (Silver Common)
J.J. Putz
Gabe Gross
Heath Bell

Was this thrilling? Not by any means. The most excitement I got was opening the first pack, seeing the jersey card yet thinking the superthick pack still in the box had another jersey card. That was a real tease, though I am not sure why I thought I was going to get 2 game used cards when half the boxes don't even have one. The other reason I went for the blaster was the one in a million chance of getting a Jeter RC auto. If I did get one I am really not sure what would have ended up happening with that, but now we don't have to worry about it.

For $6 bucks I got to open a bunch of packs and had some fun, even if I only got one (crappy) game used jersey card. I will probably head over to Target tomorrow to see what they have.