I'm going to keep my promise

I will not post anymore O-Pee-Chee blaster or box breaks for fear of being stoned by most of the blogosphere. However, I will be posting a highlight of things I find here and there. This gem was too good not to showoff, and I also wanted to point something out on it.

Clearly, this card is freakin' awesome!! Not sure why Bedard is pictured wearing a Baltimore uniform, but that is not what I wanted to point out. If you click on the picture and enlarge it, you can see that around the letters is a brownish color like it was stained or burned when putting the card together. It's like the old treasure maps we all made as kids, that brownish type color on the edges. The fact that I got 2 stripe swatches on the card made it that much sweeter.

Currently at 501/600 of the set complete, which makes me happy. Anyone by chance pull the Cano triple?

"Honey, about that car ..."

This week's SI cover story features Cole Hamels ... you know that guy, the 2008 World Series MVP. He had a great performance throughout the playoffs and looked unstoppable.

As far as the article goes, there wasn't much in there I didn't know about Hamels. Although, I suspect that those who don't know about the Phillies as well as I do will learn some information, including the bar fight he got into when he was in the minor leagues.

The story was mostly related with his relationship with his wife Heidi (people might know about her than him) and how she has helped him come out of his shell and embrace the media. Apparently, he is striving to be the next Derek Jeter or Tiger Woods.

His celebrity status has gotten him spots on David Letterman and The Ellen Generes Show. He's also been to book signings, autograph signings and Q&A sessions.

But the new found fame doesn't get him a car, at least not right away. According to the SI article, Heidi is still waiting for that Camaro.

And the misunderstanding over the 2010 Chevy Camaro he won as the World Series MVP and promised in a post game interview to give to Heidi. ("I kept waiting for them to deliver it, so I finally called and they said you have to order it online, and it'll take eight months. I was like, I thought I just for the one that was on the field!")




Oh yeah, and they plan on adopting an Ethiopian and his sibling.

It's Your Fault

No, really it is. To the people who mentioned bargain packs or shopping to me in the comments yesterday, and you shall remain nameless I went and bought packs. Though it's really only half your faults because I still had my $4.00 left today from not spending it yesterday.

After I worked out, I went to the rip-off card store around here to grab some packs. They have a box with packs that are half price, so I like to rummage and see which ones are marked for less than the rest of the same packs and buy those. I grabbed 3 packs of 2001 Victory because they were $1 (marked $2), then found a pack of 2003 Topps Series 2 Jumbo marked $2.99 instead of $4.99 like the rest and took those for $1.50, and while flipping the rest I saw one 2003 Topps Chrome Series 2 marked $1.99 instead of $3.99 like the rest, and finished the day with that $1 pack. I spent a whole $5.50 plus tax.

I opened the Chrome pack first, and it sucked as far as I'm concerned. Sooz will beg to differ because this is what she got for my $1:


The rest of the cards in that pack were Quentin McCracken, Eric Brynes, and Felipe Lopez.

The 3 Victory packs weren't great, but they scratched the itch. I scanned a couple of the better cards for the blog, the rest are too many to list (and most of you would not care, trust me).






Now for those of you who are still with me, here is where I thank the people who tempted me to look for sale packs of cards.

The 2003 Topps Series 2 Jumbo pack for $1.50....


That was enough for me. That card made my whole trip worthwhile. I did get about 12 team picture cards (snooze), and some others I scanned for your viewing enjoyment.




They also had some 2002 or 2003 Topps Gallery packs marked $4.99, but I couldn't see them really being worth $2.50 a pack. Maybe I'm just cheap. There were 2002 SP Authentic marked $5.99, and I couldn't bring myself to spend $3 a pack on those either. I would have liked to have bought a couple of those, but I'm happy with Cole.

Hamels inks deal with Phillies, but I have a problem

I like Cole Hamels. I'm actually a HUGE Cole Hamels fan ... at least as much as one can be as a Yankees fan. If he was on the Yankees, my Hamels collection would end rivaling my Derek Jeter collection.

But since his pinstripes are red, well, then he just goes into the binder and I don't actively look for his cards.

I'm happy for Hamels. However, here's my problem:

The new deal will pay the Phillies' World Series hero $4.35 million this coming season, then $6.65 million in 2010 and $9.5 million in 2011.

Hamels' base salary also will increase by $500,000 in any season after he wins a Cy Young Award and by $250,000 if he finishes second or third in Cy Young balloting.

See that part about where he finishes in the Cy Young voting. Now, as a reporter I would like to think people are more ethical, but what's to stop Hamels or any other players from bribing reporters who make next to nothing to vote for him in the Cy Young.

This was a big problem too when Curt Schilling signed a contract and he had an incentive that included getting just one vote for Cy Young. He didn't even need to place or show. He just needed a vote.

Something needs to be done for all these types of clauses in contracts because all it takes is one controversy to make the voting even more flawed than it is now. (Any time humans are involved, there are always going to be mistakes such as Rickey Henderson not getting 100 percent of the vote for the Hall of Game).

Maybe I'm alone in this thinking, but you have reporters who don't know if they are going to have a job tomorrow, have to take mandatory unpaid days off and aren't getting raises. A couple of grand could go a long way for those people and that's just pocket money for ball players.

Cole Hamels World Series MVP

Cole Hamels was named World Series MVP last night. He won Game 1 and pitched a heck of a game in the first half of Game 5. He was still up for the win, but when the Rays tied the game in the seventh inning, he got the no decision.

Hamels is a great young lefty who will be around for some time. He's media savvy and has a wife who appeared in Playboy.

Check out the baseball cards we have of him in our store. It's decent number of base cards a couple of inserts to start a collection.