Trip to the shop- I caved.

So today I went over to the card shop with the intent of donating/selling about 4,000 cards. There were cards from our old case breaks that were left over I wanted to sell plus some of my own stuff. Since some of it was half Suzy's, I saved her half and took my part of the money in cardboard.

The shop sometimes buys cards, obviously only if they can re-sell them so two of the boxes were cards I told them to just give to kids because I didn't want them. The rest were mostly complete sets of Masterpieces and some parallels and autos that were left.

This cleared out 5 boxes from my house and I came back with ONE card (plus two bonus cards).

2003 Bowman Chrome First Year Robbie Cano (I didn't even have a raw one of these.)

2003 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Joe Mauer
2001 Topps Stadium Club Grady Sizemore

I am so happy that I am rid of all those cards.

Trip to the Card Shop

After my workout yesterday I went over to the Baseball Card Shop because Dave had sent me an e-mail that he had a 2010 Ginter mini black Lind for me. Yay =)

(The scanner cropped the card, it is perfect.)

I ended up meeting a couple of young kids with their dad, and they were buying baseball cards! Bless that guy for teaching them to collect baseball cards and getting them started just like my parents did for me. Mike gave them our site address so hopefully they will stop by from time to time to read my goofy ramblings. Even though they were Mets fans, they were cool cats.

Then some familiar dude walks in and starts talking and I knew I had talked to this guy before. He looks at me and goes, "You used to work at BC Sports, right?" I said yeah, and he was like, "How did you like the Pujols shadow picture auto you were ordering?" Then it all came back to me. He used to rip a lot of high end packs in the store, always threw me the Yankees, and also told me when I was trying to decide on a Pujols autographed picture which one was cool. So that was what I ended up buying.

Long story short on Joe, he decided to open some Ginter from a fresh box so I waited to see what he pulled because he had ridiculous luck. Mike (the owner) gave me the box topper. I opened it and was very pleased.



Joe picked his packs, and then I grabbed 3 because I had to play, too. Plus, I need wrappers (yes, that is my excuse). First pack I opened, I pulled this card.



I'm a big fan of the Hebrew Hammeri, so this was awesome. Nothing in the other two packs except a Vlad mini and a Reimold mini. I left some of the base cards at the shop because I didn't want them and maybe someone can use them to complete a set. Joe opened his packs and wanted nothing so I went through them and found this:

(Another scanner crop, pos)

Love it! Ginter mini black Alex Gordon. As I said a few weeks ago, I'm a fan of Gordon despite his lackluster performance in the majors. I think he'll come around once he gets accustomed to the outfield.

I also took all the This Day in History cards because I think I may have 1/2 or 3/4 of that set and it might be fun to complete (read: she will get bored and not bother).

I also opened a pack of 1993 Upper Deck for the hell of it. Any mojo? Yep. John Kruk.

2009 UD Signature Stars Packs

After class today I started sweating and shaking and knew what it was from. I headed straight to the card store because it was withdrawal. We have all had symptoms at one time or another and we all know the cure is to rip some packs.

I had e-mailed Dave of the Baseball Card Store to see if they had any 2010 Upper Deck Series 1 in, and their shipment was delayed for legal reasons apparently, and would not ship out until today. Schucks, I will have to go back tomorrow or Monday, how will I ever deal with that?

They had a hobby box of 2010 UD Signature Stars still sealed so I popped it open and starting opening packs. Odds were good, 1:4 packs would get a hit, but my luck I figured I'd have to open 10. I picked the bottom pack, top right, and got air. I picked the bottom pack, top right, and got air. Bottom right pack, you see where this is going.... Finally bottom left, I got a hit if you want to call it that.

Dave then decided to open a pack, and he gave me the cards out of pity for my pathetic display of luck I think. I didn't get a single Yankee, Pujols, or Lind. I don't care about Lind or Pujols because I had already bought them on eBay figuring I wouldn't be opening any packs.

I scanned all the cards, wrapper including for the purpose of showing that the wrapper states TWICE that they are not licensed, and so do the back of the cards which you will see on two that I scanned the backs of. I scanned the back of one guy because I hate him, and the other guy was just who was left so poor Giles. I also kept one wrapper from this fiasco in case Tribe Cards wants it.




Despite the logos of the teams missing, the cards are like any other card they put out in years past. The one thing I don't like about this particular set is that they used a color Upper Deck logo in the upper right that reminds me of a cheap set like First Edition. This is supposed to be a higher end product so I think the logo should have blended in more, but what do I know I don't make cards.

I'm willing to trade all of these except Braun and Gordon. Here are the cards I got in 5 packs:






There you have it, 1:5 packs there is an autograph. They never guaranteed it would be good, nor a guy that you have heard of.

I am holding out for Upper Deck Series 1 for now. I went to Target today also to see if they had anything and zippo so far. I will be vigilant in checking for our loyal readers because I want you all to know when they hit the shelves.... yeah that's why. I'll keep telling myself that.

Sticking to the plan

Since I said I was going to try and only buy singles I have been doing such a good job of that and I'm pleased with the early year pick-ups so far. The one thing I hadn't thought of in this "great" plan was that if I don't buy any packs, blasters, or boxes, how will I trade for the cards I want? Yeah, so this plan will be easy until something new gets released. We all know once 2010 Series 1 comes out, I'll be the first one on daily Target checks.

Anyway, while I am still behaving I took a trip to the Baseball Card Store to see Dave who was holding a nice Pujols for me. He also showed me a a video of Shaq challenging Pujols to a Homerun Derby. If you are interested in watching it, it's pretty amusing and the part when A.J., Albert's son is in the cage was my favorite. He has his Dad's swing down to a T. Look out MLB. There are a bunch of different segments but I'm pretty sure that is the one I liked best.

I picked up this beauty.....

2001 Donruss The Rookies R97 Albert Pujols RC

I had also brought in some game used jersey cards that I no longer had an interest in to see if I could trade a few for something fun. Indeed, I had found something fun. I traded a Ron Guidry Sweet Spot GU Jersey card and a Johan Santana Legendary Cuts Jersey card for this:

2004 Fleer Authentix Albert Pujols game used jersey card

Pretty damn sweet. I also got an e-mail yesterday that there are more Pujols cards there for me to thumb through so hopefully I make it over there tomorrow or Monday.

Anyone looking for game used jersey cards I have a ton to unload so if you are looking for a specific player to add a card or two to your collection let me know, chances are I may have one.

Trip to the card shop

Since I seem to have trouble sleeping lately I was able to be at the gym bright and early yesterday, leaving me the day to do with what I wish. Well I wished to take a ride to the Baseball Card shop, and little B a.k.a. my car, granted my wish and took me there.

I walked in and Dave offered me gum, and then pulled out some piles of cards so I could entertain myself. We chatted for a bit about my issue with Topps and the Bowman card that never was. Dave knows the guy I bought the Bowman from and said he is a good guy, etc. etc. I also picked up a box of fun that one of our readers dropped off for me. There were a ton of cards in the box, Pujols, Cano, Russ, Jeter, some Yankees prospects, Hughes, and a bunch of Kouz cards for Sooz. (I am too lazy to scan all of them, but believe me there were a ton.)

I'm putting together something for you in return Dan. Thanks again for all the cards, they were a ton of fun to flip through and there were many that I don't have.

I found a nice pile of cards I wanted, along with a couple of random packs for funsies and a storage box. I happened to have been in the shop around the time school lets out and all the kids stop by to see Dave on their way home for a piece of gum. Some just stayed for gum, others used their lunch money to buy candy. If this store was on my way home from school, I'd have been the thinnest person in school because all my lunch money would have been spent on cards not lunch or candy.

Here is the pile of cards I picked, sadly there were no Pujols cards in the bunch.




Secretly I want to collect more Jeter cards, but need to focus on Pujols. It is too much to collect two of the most expensive players, on top of every other player I like. I have a decent size collection of Jeter, but want to build that up as well. I usually give Sooz my Jeter cards since I get her Pujols and when there are doubles of Jeter... I snarf them. As long as I can eventually have more Jeter cards than A-Rod, I will be a happy person.

I also noticed a Pujols RC in the case at the store that I was interested in, however it was a little out of my price range. The card belonged to a friend of Dave's so I asked Dave to let me know if he could give me a break on the card and I just got an e-mail with a nice price. I will probably go pick that up next week, so I am excited about that. I lost 3 times on eBay this week trying to win this card so now this saves me aggravation of losing a card by a freakin dollar again.

Fun at the hobby shop

The day after my birthday I decided to take a ride with my birthday loot to the Baseball Card Store in Midland Park, NJ. I was armed with cash and some trade bait in case they did that kind of thing. I wanted to just find some cards I needed to fill holes in my collection, and pick up some Ultra Pro sheets for the T206 mini and Goodwin mini cards.

The shop is a decent ride from my house, about a half an hour so me and my Dunkin Donuts coffee were well prepared. I got to the shop and the owner was like, "hey, you're the girl that collects Pujols, right?" I was amazed considering I had only been there once before and said yep, that is me. He proceeded to tell me he had put some Pujols cards aside for me but didn't know where they ended up. That sounds like more or less everything in my room that needs organizing. We talked for a good while, I rummaged through plenty of cards in cases and boxes and pulled out some cards I liked a heck of a lot.

We also got into a whole conversation about receiving damaged cards and the course of action to be taken afterwards. I explained my Yankee Stadium Legacy damaged cards from a case break of UD Heroes a while back and Dave kindly emailed his UD contact with the story and forwarded my information which was way cool of him to do for me. I also proceeded to show him my "big hits" from the 2009 Unique.... Obviously he thought I got hosed as did everyone else on Earth.

When it came time to pay up for my loot I asked if he would consider a few cards for trade in the deal and he said to show him what I brought. He took 3 game used cards out of the bunch, a 2008 UD Heroes Pujols GU (I had 2 of those), a 2009 Icons Jorge Posada GU, and the T206 Ichiro GU. I suppose you want to see my loot? I didn't scan the Ultra Pro sheets, but I left with those as well. I will be going back to the shop either Friday or Monday for more sheets and probably more cards.

Loot:

Awesome!!



Can't resist one of the best prospects in the system

Serial numbered /2199

And..... 2008 SP Legendary Cuts Phil Hughes ON CARD auto 79/99

I saw the Hughes card as soon as I walked in and noticed the auto was on card. I am a sucker for on card stuff because it means the player actually had the card at one point, and that there is no sticker (duh). Dave also gave me a 2009 Legendary Cuts Pujols and 5 or 6 YSL cards to see if I needed them, and if not to just bring what I don't need back to him. Clearly he took pity on the crazy person trying to complete a ridiculous set.

Overall the trip was a "great success" and I will definitely be going back within the next week. If anyone wants the address to the card shop please e-mail me. I also have their e-mail if you are looking for something specific I am sure they can help you out.

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.

My hobby pack

So I had mentioned I picked up one pack from the Baseball Card Shop, and it was a... Bowman Jumbo pack. Nothing too exciting, at least not to me anyway. I did get an Adam Lind base card which is always nice to get. I like jumbo packs simply because you have 3 shots per box at an auto, which I didn't get but still like the odds. I scanned a couple of each type of card to show everyone in case you haven't seen them yet.

The design on the base cards is par for the course in the Bowman sets. The first year and the chrome cards look like video game screens to me, between the design and the lettering it just makes me think of video games. The font reminds me of Pac-Man. You can judge for yourself though.

Here is what I got in my pack (I can guarantee I will not buy another one of these simply because there aren't many others I want out of this set):

- Cole Hamels
- A.J. Burnett
- Adam Lind
- George Sherrill
- Carl Crawford
- Carlos Quentin
- Mike Aviles
- Carlos Pena Gold
- Colin Balester Blue
- Alfredo Figaro FY
- Jose Barajas FY
- Will Atwood FY
- Don Mark Owings FY
- David Genao FY
- Christian Beltre FY
- Gift Ngoepe FY (WBC)
- Tao Bu FY (WBC)
- Chenhao Li (Chrome) (WBC)
- Jordan Walden (Chrome)
- Robert Brooks (Chrome)
- Anthony Ortega (Chrome)
- Esmil Rogers (Chrome)
- Chris Johnson (Chrome)
- Juan Miranda RC
- Will Venable RC
- Jacoby Elssbury
- Matt Garrza
- Clayton Kershaw
- Derrek Lee
- Tim Lincecum
- Ken Griffey Jr.
- J.J. Hardy
- Checklist 2/3

I also stopped by Target yesterday and they had no 2009 UD Series 2, or Topps Series 2. They did have one full box of 2009 Bowman, and by full I mean all 24 packs were there so I know the micrometer had not been used yet. Hmm.... that is a tale for later.

I finally got my eBay auction that was purchased on April 30th. It only took 20 days for them to sort it out, and in the meantime I got one of the cards I was waiting for from someone for free. Wonderful. I will show you my mailday at some point over the weekend.

I'm going to the game tonight, and Sooz is as well but she is going for work. So things may be a bit quiet around here til late tonight or tomorrow. I'm sure most people are going to be outside enjoying the weather and the holiday weekend so I doubt you'll miss us that much. 'Cept for Captain Canuck, he loves us so much.