2009 Topps T206 Packs

I don't really know why I needed these, then again who knows why I buy half the things I do but I picked up some packs. Target doesn't have any blasters yet, so I ended up at the local hobby type shop that I normally hate. However, I think perhaps me and the manager/owner have turned a new leaf over the course of the last 2 or 3 trips.

I went to pick up some of these cards and the packs were inside the case, and there were only 6 left. I looked at him and said, "how many hits per box, and how many packs per box?" Once it was determined that the hits were 1/7 roughly, I decided my luck wouldn't help me here and to buy 2 packs. Then.... he offered to open a new box so I can take whichever packs I wanted. Happy day! Day turned to night, night turned to day, and 2 packs turned into 6 packs.

The excitement was better when the cards were still in the packs. While the cards are cool simply because they are retro, and I like retro, I think I am going to stick with buying the cards I need for a buck on eBay or trading for them. I opened 6 packs from a fresh sealed box and essentially got air. There was only 1 card that made me happy, and it was a Francisco Cervelli RC.

The design of the cards is what you would expect of a vintage design, bland and boring with the player picture. The oddest looking card I got was Ian Kinsler, and why they chose this pose for a card I will never know but you will see it when you scroll down.

The Medlen card was a Polar Bear back, the rest Piedmont.



There are 7 checklists, I got #1, and #5

Well, now I can't blame the store for my crappy pack picking luck. I picked the bottom 3 packs from each side of the box and got owned. Next time I will try my luck in the middle, although I am not buying anymore of these... or so I said....

Anyone break any boxes of T206?

Sunday Question

So today is the end of the big weekend that kicks off holiday shopping and for some of us that meant waking up super early Black Friday to get great deals from Blowout Cards. Then there were some of us that were crazy enough (like me) to be up and out of the house at 3am to start shopping at American Eagle and JC Penney before Target opened at 5am.

What we want to know is.....

What did you get?!

I know Sooz got a couple of things, which she can share with you later.

I didn't get any baseball cards because I was out, but I got some great DVD's for $4 for the kids in the family, Monk Season 7 for $12.99 for myself, a new gym bag for 9 cents after coupons and gift certificate, and some down pillows for half price.... there is more boring stuff but we are supposed to talk sports. Oh wait, I did get the Yankees World Series set from Topps for me and my brother as stocking stuffers.

I wrote a letter to Santa last night, maybe he will bring some cards.

27 cards for 27 championships

Hey, don't blame me I didn't write it. The phrase actually came out of my mail and believe it or not, from a Red Sox fan. The only good Red Sox fan is a ..... well, nevermind. Ron, who happens to be the only Sox fan I like, sent me a package of cards. The note inside had that phrase which made me laugh.

Ron sent me 27 Yankees, I scanned the old school ones that were in there and I don't think I had any of them which made it super, super awesome. I have some other mail that I need to share with you guys but I have been all over the place the last 2 days shopping which is a story in and of itself.

Here are 9 of the cards Ron sent, I love them all, but these made me most happy.

Thank you Ron, I will be working on a similar shipment for you. Luckily for me the Sox haven't won as many championships.... =) I'm a booger.

Black Friday Plug

Word on the street is that Atlanta Sports Cards will be running some sort of special on Friday. So make sure you take a peek over there and check it out.

I checked out some of their prices and they are competitive with all other companies, and you can even request a price match on their site.

Click on the link under our sponsors / advertisers on the sidebar to get to them.

Hooray!!

I know for many of you out there tomorrow may be the last day of your work week, and well HOORAY! This is the beginning of the best time of year, starting with Thanksgiving, and Black Friday sales both at the card wholesalers and the stores. While it is tempting to stay home and buy baseball cards Friday, no one but Sooz wants any so I need to be disciplined and buy presents. Though if there is a Foot Locker coupon for Friday, it's on because I'd love a new pair of gym sneakers. If there is one thing I get my money's worth out of it's gym shoes and workout gloves.

And soon enough..... it's my birthday!!! Hooray for fun. Not really, I have class that day and a presentation. But someone named Sooz might make me brownies!!!!

Anyway, as you can see by scrolling along our posts for the entire year during baseball season things are slow going around here and pick up in the winter. I have been busy all week studying for a test, and I am so glad that it is finally over and I can maybe enjoy doing something with myself like logging in piles of cards, or watching my soap opera.

If anyone is looking for a laptop or any electronics, there are some great deals to be found. Best Buy has an HP laptop for $197 bucks on Friday morning. Here is a link to some of the Black Friday ads if you (or the wife/girlfriend) want a sneak peek.

I may watch A Christmas Story, or Elf tonight. Ohhh.... maybe even National Lampoons Christmas Vacation!

What is everyone doing for Thanksgiving? Anything exciting?

Upper Deck with the stranglehold

Upper Deck just announced on its Facebook page (at least that's where I read it) that they signed New York Yankees catcher Jorge Posada to an exclusive deal for memorabilia and autograph cards.

In the last week, UD signed Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte, already adding them to the stable of stars, including Derek Jeter.

Even though UD does not have an MLB license for next year, they are signing some of the biggest Yankees stars, which is a big deal. These four guys are the core for the current Yankees fans. They watched them (at least three of the four) win five World Series Championships.

Even middle-of-the-road guys like Pettitte and Posada aren't cheap when their cards come out.

UD isn't taking the no-license thingy lying down and I like it.

C'mon Upper Deck! Show MLB the huge mistake it made and how despite not having an MLB license, you're still going to create great cards.

I like Upper Deck. I like Topps.

But, what I really like is competition.

This is getting good.

Sunday Question: Do you ever get cards for the holidays?

With the holidays coming up, I wonder if anyone ever gets trading cards for the holidays. The only person whoever gets me cards is Marie.

Otherwise, it's sheets.

Do you have someone who gets you cards or are you left scrounging after the holidays to get what you really wanted.

How did this happen?

Since you all hate Derek Jeter, I am fairly sure that there are probably only 3 of us that have seen this card on eBay. For such an expensive (at least to me) product, I would like to think that the cards would be assembled correctly.

Check out this card.

Back later...

New York v. Boston

I saw these on someone's facebook and I stole them. The pictures tell a tale that is rather entertaining, at least to me.

Great news for Rivera and Pettitte collectors

According to Upper Deck's news release, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte will be signing for the 2010 baseball cards. This is huge for Upper Deck and Mariano/Andy fans because to my knowledge there are not many autographed cards of these guys floating around. By not many, I mean by comparison to most Yankees (Jeter, A-Rod, Teixeira, Cano, etc.)

To read the full new release click here.

Does this mean I can't sign up?

Many of you received the email today from The National about HGTV looking for "messy" sports collectors. They want to find people whose collections are unorganized and a bit crazy and help them make it oh-so-pretty.

Wonderful. Sounds like fun and I am sure there are several collectors out there who would benefit from this type of makeover, including our very own Marie-bay.

However, the email starts with this:

The HGTV Network is looking to power up with some strong "male" dominance by picking a sports super home to do a fabulous TV "Make Over". Do your sports collectibles grow like weeds instead of flowers? Is it one mess from the doorway to doorway? Then you might be the lucky person who becomes a hero to your wife and family, as HGTV comes in and gives you the ultimate home makeover.

Yeah, so I'm a bit annoyed because I have a collection of sports memorabilia and cards. But, guess what HGTV? I HAVE BOOBS!!!!!!

You don't have to be a guy to be into sports and collect. I get that the majority of collectors are men, but what about The Hamiltonian, Kimaloo and the women of Dinged Corners.

Don't we count for something?

I have boobs. I like sports. I collect baseball cards and am damn proud of it!

Mailbag: Question from a reader

A while back I did a story about the only local hobby shop in my area, Mike and Dave's Baseball Card Store, in Midland Park, NJ. Apparently Dave had taken notice of the blog from my write up and sent one of his customers over to see if we knew anything about a problem they had. Thanks for the referral Dave, I am going to try and stop down soon to pick up some packs so have a nice stash of Pujols ready ;)

The problem that Joe (the writer of the e-mail) had was with 2009 UD Goodwin Champions. Here is his dilemma:

"Bought a box from said store and over half the cards were cut having no border on the top. Saw Dave and he sent the whole load back to UD. Did anyone find any like this? Also have you found any card fronts different.In the box was Evelyn Ng auto card plus her regular card and the mini. On the front of the mini was a club royal flush. On all the other cards that had both the regular and mini were the same. Has anyone found any different ones?"

Personally I have not encountered any problems with the borders either in the hobby box I opened or in any retail.

Have any of you had this problem, or seen a store that did? Please help us to solve this Scooby mystery, and maybe, just maybe there is a Scooby Snack in it for the person who uncovers "old man Withers" aka the underlying story here.

Sunday Question: What do you do in the offseason?

There are plenty of you who love football, so the baseball offseason is taken over by another sport.

But what about us who love baseball? What do we do for the next 20 weeks?

Sooz: I work and catch up on everything that I didn't do during the season. My spring cleaning is more like winter cleaning.

I hate the cold weather and leaving the house, so it works out well for me.

I like football, but not to the extent that I love baseball.

2009 Ballpark Collection Box Break

As most of you know I write for the Upper Deck Blog week to week (lately bi-weekly because of the Yankees games) and I got my box of fun from them yesterday. This installment was a 2009 Ballpark Collection box. Normally I wouldn't be able to afford such a high end product so this was very exciting for me to open. Though it was only 4 packs, I opened them very slowly to to enjoy it for as long as possible.

I must say that when I opened the first pack of this I can totally see why the high dollar thrill seekers love $50 packs. I pulled the first pack out of the box and was amazed at the thickness and very anxious to see what "mojo" was inside. The thrill of high end stuff is something I could probably get used to if I were to win the lotto one day. Sadly I will have to stick to blasters and the occasional hobby box for now. I scanned each pack in the order I opened them, with individual card scans so that you can see how the packs were, and get a good look at each card.

I am willing to part with most of these cards for Pujols or other guys I like.

Pack 1:

Pack 2:

I wanted to buy this card on eBay so bad, and did a jig when I saw it. Hi Adam!
I am considering burning this card...




Pack 3:





Holler @ the Hamiltonian...

Pack 4:

Sooooooozzzzzzz



Nick Swisher.

If anyone has something from this set, SP Authentic, or Triple Threads that they might be interested in trading for any of these please let me know.

Blowout Deals on Black Friday

I have spoken to some of you about the whole going out and shopping on Black Friday and we were all skeptical of any internet card deals. I have just learned that Blowout Cards will be hosting a Black Friday sale starting at 6am Black Friday 11/27.

Sadly I am sure I will be at the mall buying crap I don't necessarily need, or stocking stuffers. I love the rush of running around a mall at 4am for no real reason with a bunch of other lunatics. Hopefully when I get home there is something fun left for me to get, but it's the season for giving not getting so I won't be upset if I miss out. If I hear of any other card companies hosting sales I will keep you updated.

Jeter homeless?

The good news for Derek Jeter is at least he has all those meaningless postseason awards to sell if he needs food.
But, really, he shouldn't be homeless. All he did this season was break Lou Gehrig's franchise hit record, win a gold glove, a silver slugger, helped the team to a World Series victory and date Minka Kelly.

Jeter has one year left on his contract and he's trying to show the Yankee brass what will happen to him if they don't start working on a contract and give him more money soon.

Do you think the Yankees (Brian Cashman) hope this season was flukey and that Jeter won't put up the same numbers next year? Jeter hit .334 with 30 stolen bases and 107 runs.

He also turned 35 this season.

C'mon Cashman! Help him out. You don't want Jeter to be homeless. He has to pay that mortgage on his mansion in Tampa!

Ok, ok. The truth is Jeter made a cameo in a Mark Wahlberg/Will Farrell movie as a homeless bum. (Thanks for yankeesfans livejournal for this)

His pristine white teeth would make me feel sorry for him.

Adam Lind wins 2009 Silver Slugger Award

Ahem... Your 2009 American League Silver Slugger for DH is Adam Lind. (crowd roars and applause follow) As what is probably his token female collector and follower I am very proud of him, and very happy for him as well. Last season wasn't that great for him, going up and down, and being kind of a misfit as far as playing left-field. Despite his limited role as a DH, he has done what not many people can do as just a bench player and that is come up and smash the ball.

Being just a DH is not something many players can do even on a temporary role, they find it hard to stay in the game or to keep loose being that they are not in the field. Lind seems to have found his niche and become an anchor in the 4 spot on the Toronto line-up. So in honor of Adam Lind I am showing off the latest addition to my collection of his cards:



Enough about Adam, and onto another great player whose name also begins with an A, Albert Pujols. He took home the Silver Slugger award for the National League at 1st base for the 5th time in his career. Derek Jeter also won his 4th consecutive award at shortstop.

Here is a full list of the awards:

American League
1B -- Mark Teixeira, New York Yankees
2B -- Aaron Hill, Toronto Blue Jays
3B -- Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays
SS -- Derek Jeter, New York Yankees
OF -- Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Mariners
OF -- Jason Bay, Boston Red Sox
OF -- Torii Hunter, Los Angeles Angels
C -- Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins
DH -- Adam Lind, Toronto Blue Jays

National League
1B -- Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
2B -- Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies
3B -- Ryan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals
SS -- Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins
OF -- Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers
OF -- Andre Ethier, Los Angeles Dodgers
OF -- Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers
C -- Brian McCann, Atlanta Braves
P -- Carlos Zambrano, Chicago Cubs

Delivery Time: Trade with Nachos Grande (mmmm... nachos)

Nachos Grande (fanofreds.blogspot.com) had his own clunkers deal. He got rid of a few cards he had no need for while I did the same with cardboard that was just sitting in a box.

Card for Clunkers was a great deal.

I sent him two cards he was missing from the 2009 Topps Heritage set.

In turn, I received a Joba Chamberlain gold 2009 Topps /2009.

A Phil Hughes 2008 Topps Chrome xfractor

and other assorted Yankees

Have I mentioned how much I love nachos?

Why I love Wawa

Anyone who lives in the mid-Atlantic region knows about Wawa. It's like 7-11, but better. Much better.

You get fresh sandwiches, soups, salads and more. The coffee is pretty good (I've heard, I don't drink coffee) and it's open 24 hours.

However, Wawa just jumped up a notch in my book when I walked on Sunday and saw baseball cards. They weren't any of the expensive packs. They had a retail box of Topps Series 2 and Updates and Highlights.

But the fact that I can walk into a Wawa and buy baseball cards makes it fun.

So, I did just that on Sunday.



Here's what came in the packs.

Pack 1:
Jake Fox
Mark Lowe
Ben Francisco
Mike Sweeney
Albert Pujols ASG
Cliff Lee
Torii Hunter ASG
Honus Wagner - Legends of the Game
Mariano Rivera - Topps Town
Matt Stairs
Randy Johnson
Chan Ho Park

Pack 2:
Chris Perez
Kyle Blanks
Edwin Maysonet
Kris Benson
Prince Fielder ASG
Roy Halladay ASG
Julio Lugo
Ichiro - Lead us to Victory! #PP14
Carl Crawford - Topps Town
Edwin Encarnacion
Brett Cecil
Mariano Rivera (500th save and Jeter is on the card)

Where has Covered in Wrappers been?

(If you hate the Yankees either stop reading or keep quiet.)

This past week has been so much fun for me, and I think I can speak for Sooz as well when I say that. Though Sooz was working the whole World Series I know she enjoyed being there to watch the Yankees beat the Phillies.

I have been waiting since 1996 to see the Yankees win the World Series. Long story short, me and my brother were apparently "too young" to be dropped off at the game at 15 and 10 to see them win, so we have both been waiting since then for another opportunity. Needless to say I took my brother to game 6 and we had a great time.

Sooz and I went to the parade in NYC yesterday and then hung out with some of the Bleacher Creatures after. We had a good time despite both being exhausted and kinda grumpy in the morning. We're not morning people so a 6am wake-up call (at least for me) was a bitch and a half.

I will probably write a little bit better of a synopsis of my experience at a later date, but you will probably be able to read about it on UD's blog. I have been catching up on blogs and schoolwork now that I have nothing to watch on tv.

On a semi-related note, a collectors edition of Yankees cards was brought to my attention today and I don't know if I will be ordering it but I figured I would share it in case someone is interested. QVC is offering a 2009 World Series Champions 27 card set of great Yankees moments from the post season made by Topps. You get the 27 card set for $16.32 on an introductory price with release/shipping on 12/11. I may cave in and request this as a Christmas gift from someone but I must say I really don't see how these cards, which appear to just be Topps base card quality are worth $16.32 plus shipping.

Here are a couple of the better pics that I ended up with from the parade:

While you were sleeping