An extra $10 and some gas - well worth the trip

I went between looking at prices on the Internet and calling hobby shops for prices. Online, I could get a hobby box of Topps Chrome for $65. At the hobby shop, it was $75.

I thought about it. Do I want to purchase a hobby box, pay for shipping, then wait two days to get a box? Or drive to shop, talk to the nice guy who owns the place and open my cards immediately.

It actually didn't take that long to make the decision. Since the BF had never been to the hobby shop – that Marie and I found during one of our escapades – we drove about 45 minutes. Yes, so there was gas money involved as well.

But nothing beats the shop experience. It was worth the extra $4 (that includes shipping from the Internet) and gas money.

Topps Hobby Shop Promotion

Most of you have opened some 2011 Topps Series 2 by now, and seen that there are special anniversary cards floating around. If you haven't taken a minute to click over to eBay and see how many places are just trying to cash in on the HTA Diamond Anniversary cards rather than give them to kids, allow me to show you what they look like.

They are numbered HTA-# and there are 25 cards total in a set.

(Note: I have two
Jeter cards, one for myself and one for Sooz.)

Unlike many hobby shops and or dealers, my local card shop actually hands them out to kids and customers who have the cards and they are FREE. This seems to be an issue with these give away cards each year, where dealers decide to sell them rather than give them away. Even when I worked in a sports memorabilia store, anything that came from Topps to give away, or box toppers all had to be sent back to corporate to be opened and priced to sell. Pretty lame.

The other big issue with the redemption cards like the Prime 9 seen in the 2011 Topps Series 2 packs promotion is that there are hardly any HTA hobby shops left to buy cards from and even if you find one, they might not "have" them a.k.a. they are on eBay. There is one card shop within 30 minutes of my house, everything else has closed over the years. My "local" card shop is a 30 minute ride from my house.

I did notice that on the back of the cards when you redeem the card you can enter a contest to win a trip to the World Series. Pretty awesome.

I think these kinds of promotions where you can get a harder to find/rare card of a player you collect are great for the hobby and great to draw people back to the shops where you pulled the redemption. I just wish there were more hobby shops for people to go to because the people that are stuck with retail only can't exactly walk into a Target and try and get the card of the week.

Maybe next year the back of the card can also be used both for a contest entry and to get your card mailed back to you if you don't live near an HTA shop.

Anyone get to redeem their card yet or were told that the shop doesn't have any left? Also, if you are wondering where to find a designated HTA shop you can go directly to Topps website to obtain a list of stores.

NOTE: This blog was edited after Stale Gum informed me that I had incorrect information on the post. The actual cards from the hobby shop are from something different that I am awaiting the correct information on. My apologies everyone.

New Retail Store Opening!

Most of us are very familiar with the Freedom Cardboard website, and message boards by now. If you are not, well you need to crawl out from under your rock and make your way over there.

The site owner recently started working on opening a retail location in addition to being able to purchase items online from the site. The store is scheduled for a Grand Opening on Saturday June 4, 2011. So if you are in the Atlanta area, you will not have a new favorite hangout and place to buy cards. Here is the information that was in their press release.



On Saturday June 4th at 11:00 AM FCB will open it’s doors a bit early to
accomodate one of the best prospects in all of baseball. Atlanta Brave
Julio Teheran will be signing autographs live in the store from 11:00 AM to
12:30 PM. These autographs are free on a first come, first serve basis.
We will hand out tickets as people arrive insuring that no one waits in
line for a couple hours only to get turned away.

The event is brought to you by the good people at Onyx Authenticated, hobby
new comers who offer up a mystery balls type product called The Preferred
Players Collection. They also have an extensive roster of young players
signed as autograph exclusive such as Yankee super prospect Manny Banuelos,
the previously mentioned Julio Teheran, and Mariner flame thrower Michael
Pineda. A full list of clents can be found at the Onyx Authenticated
website. Game used and autographed items can be purchased via thier online
store.

We will also have an absentee mail order program. You may send in your
item to get signed for a flat rate of $15 plus return shipping cost.
Please note that inscriptions are not allowed, but personalizations are.

We will also offer special FCB Retail Store grand opening items. Item one
is a Rawlings Major League Baseball autographed on the sweet spot with a
special COA from Onyx and FCB. The ball will be limited and serial
numbered to only 100 copies. The price for this item including a ball cube
and shipping is $39. The second item is an autographed 2010 Bowman Black
Border Julio Teheran rookie card with an Onyx and FCB COA. Copies of this
card are limited to 20 copies and will cost $20 each. These items can be
purchased on the FCB Blog. They will
be shipped out Monday after the signing.

Thank you for your support of FCB, it's been a fun ride. I look forward to
more years of growth and milestones.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What I learned today.

I went to The Baseball Card Store today because I got a message last week that they had a card for me. Unfortunately with my final and school I didn't get a chance to go over there until today. Dave hooked me up with this Adam Lind auto because I'm super.

However, the lesson I learned today was not that Dave and Mike are super awesome (I knew that already). I learned two things:

1. Dave sings weird things.



2. The old alphabet song.




I love my card shop. (In case you were wondering, they have plenty of Bowman, if you are looking for it. Call them up, tell them Super Marie sent you.)

Card Shop Directory

When I was down at Sooz's house this week we were trying to find card shops to check out and there are very outdated lists and phone numbers online. There are a couple of places that attempted a directory, but I would like to put together a list of shops and keep it posted here for reference.

Having a list of shops that are actually open and sell cards would be super helpful to those of us that travel or visit friends in other areas. My intention here is to compile a list of shops, and I would prefer if you have visited the shop you provide in the comments section so we all know what they sell. Some places are predominately comics, hobby items (model building, etc.), or cards and supplies. I will add the shops you guys tell me about to a running list to keep posted on the blog for reference.


I will start the list off here with shops that I have visited. (UPDATED with reader submissions)

New Jersey

The Baseball Card Store
45 Prospect Street
Midland Park, NJ 07432

Store sells all packs and boxes of all sports as well as supplies. Singles available- mostly baseball.

The Backstop
2018 Route 37 E
Toms River, NJ 08753

The home of Dr. Wax and Friday night Pack Wars. Store sells everything from packs to singles, and plenty of supplies. All sports available, great selection of single cards.

J&J Sports Cards
205 Bellevue Ave
Hammonton, NJ 08037

Store has high end singles, wax boxes and supplies available. They broadcast on blog.tv, and sell singles and auto's on eBay as well.

New Concept Cards, Hobbies and Mental Skate Shop
676 Stokes Road
Medford, NJ 08055

Store sells mostly non-sports cards items, but keeps a nice stock of sports cards available all the time. Store usually has new releases the day of release. They sell card supplies as well as singles.

Rookies and Stars Sports Collectibles & Memorabilia
1350 Route 35 North.
Woodbridge Twp, NJ 07001
Phone-732.396.3870

They have supplies singles packs and boxes. Baseball and all sports. Good pricing and friendly staff.

New York

Toy Wiz
253 W Route 59
Nanuet, NY 10954

Store sells mostly comics, action figures, and non-sports cards. They have a solid selection of packs from the major sports, and some singles (very expensive singles).

Maryland

Baseball Card Outlet & Sports
7502 Eastern Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21224

Store has a huge variety of sports cards packs, boxes, and singles. Tons of supplies, and memorabilia of the local teams.

Burton's Cards and Coins
5831 Buckeystown Pike # D Frederick, MD 21704
301-663-3223

Lots of vintage and newer singles - both baseball and football. Current packs and boxes. All kinds of storage supplies. Bi-weekly 'bid board' auctions (items brought in by collectors).
Shop has been there since the early 80's and still going strong.

Florida

Orlando Sportscards
9476 South Orange Blossom Trail
Orlando, FL 32837-8321
(407) 240-0384‎

They sell everything you can think of Packs, boxes, supplies. Been in business for a long time. The owner is very knowledgeable and courteous and touts himself as "the king of singles" I love going through the boxes and boxes of singles. all prices are very reasonable.

Ohio

All Pro Sportscards
492 Graham Rd
Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44221
(330) 922-4642

They have a huuuuuge selection of singles, all ranging from 25 cents and up. They also have a relic/auto bin separated by sport which is $5 each or 4 for $20. TONNNNS of packs, TONS of cases, and also some memorabilia. A little pricey but the selection is amazing! Also they trade with buyers. The owners seemed pretty friendly. NOT open on Sundays!

Ohio

Cardboard Dreams
2467 Canton Rd
Akron, OH 44312-5050
(330) 699-2881

Much cheaper than All Pro, but the selection for everything is a lot smaller, as is the shop in general. 10 cent cardboard cases of cards, which is cool, though many of those cards are of the "we busted such and such expensive product for the hits, here are the base cards" variety. A few $1, $2, $5 bins, but nothing much in them (not even relics or autos), and no real hits to be found as singles. Decent amount of cases and packs at lower prices than All Pro, but again, selection isn't as nice. They do stay current though and have the latest stuff, and the owner was nice.

Collectors Palace
9274 Ohio 43
Streetsboro, OH 44241
330-626-2464
This shop sells sports cards, comics, coins and gold. They usually have a good selection of newer wax packs and boxes. They don't open very much product, so it's just packs, boxes and some vintage singles. The prices are fair and they are open seven days a week.


Chapel Hill Sports
2000 Brittain Road
Akron, OH 44310-1823
330-630-3160

This shop is located inside the Chapel Hill Mall in Cuyahoga Falls. They carry sports cards, supplies, apparel and memorabilia.
They have some singles and a very limited selection of wax. Despite being in a mall, their prices on wax are very reasonable. The owner is very friendly and likes to talk sports.

Grand Slam Sports Cards
17800 Chillicothe Road
Chagrin Falls, OH 44023
440-543-2758

This shop is one of the best on the east side of Cleveland. Joe's shop is literally jammed full of cards. Boxes, packs, singles, supplies.... his selection is the best. Lots of wax boxes, dating back to the 70s even. Good prices too.


Dream Chaser Sports Cards
874 East Aurora Road
Macedonia, OH 44056
330-467-0105

This shop is new, just opening in the summer of 2009. He has a good selection of singles, low-end and high-end wax. Prices can be a bit high at times.

California

All Star Cards
8781 Cuyamaca Street
Santee, CA 92071-4216
(619) 562-1975

Singles on consignent, boxes and packs (almost everything dating back 10 years), junk wax, supplies... Baseball heavy but has stuff from all sports and large selection of non-sports. Great prices, especially on supplies, run by a guy and his daughter. Very friendly.

Colorado

Mike's Stadium Sportscards
4022 South Parker Road
Aurora, CO 80014
(303) 699-9808
mikesss.com

They offer all new wax, gobs of restocks and a massive selection of recent years wax including a considerable amount of higher-end products. We also offer weekly and monthly drawings, case breaks and loads more promotions.

Arizona

Batter's Box
2855 W. Cactus Rd.
Phoenix, AZ 85029-3350
(602)942-9156

Mostly vintage cards.

Washington

Swell & Wacky Collectibles
9960 Silverdale Way NW Suite 11
Silverdale, WA 98383
360-698-3550

Glenn Watchmen is what I would consider the perfect Sports Card shop owner. He was my goto guy when I was still living in Seattle, I would drive an hour out of my way to go buy from him even though I lived down the street from West Coast Sports Cards.

West Coast Sports Cards
2008 South 314th St
Federal Way, WA. 98003
253-941-1757

They carry everything and I mean everything from cards to comics to beenie babies and Pokemon cards.They hire people off the street that know nothing about sports cards and you just point to what you want and they will grab it for you.I would only suggest this place if you are looking for something specific that you can not find elsewhere.

Arizona

Hot Corner
6750 E Main
Mesa, AZ 85205
480-396-0442

The owner, JJ Genzale, opened the store in 1990 and has been in the same location the whole time.He knows his stuff.

Connecticut

Dugout Dreams
45 Padanaram Rd
Danbury, CT 06810

High end and low end wax. He also probably has the best selection of vintage memorabilia in the country. Tons of autographs and he is priced better than any sports memorabilia show.

Pennsylvania

The Baseball Card Shop
1891 East State Street
Hermitage, PA 16148
724-981-4443

The Baseball Card Shop is the best shop in this area. Jim, the owner, has been running the shop forever (since 1989). This shop is the go-to shop for both low-end and high-end wax. He has one of the largest selections of packs I've ever seen at a shop. The cost of new packs and boxes are fair, but his prices on old wax boxes are high.


Bennie's
462 Sharpsville Ave
Sharon, PA 16146
724-347-3390

Bennie's has been open since the mid-80s. They sell comic books and sports cards. Bennie who ran the comics side ran the shop with his wife Mary who handled sports cards up until about 2003 when they sold the shop an it's all the contents. Currently, the shop is open under a new owner and they have many singles, in random boxes which aren't organized. They don't sell high-end wax, just your Topps 1 & 2, Heritage, some UD. They also have sets and 90s wax boxes for sale.

Thelma & Louise escaped

Sooooooooo.......... We were let out of the home for the day to go play in the local card shops. We had a couple of shops in mind when we started the day, some didn't answer the phone and others didn't even sell cards (what nerve).

Our first stop was J&J Sports Cards in Hammonton, N.J. which was closed when we got there so we sat outside on a bench like two nerds waiting. We have no patience so we went somewhere else in the meantime.

We went on over to New Concept Cards, Hobbies and Mental Skate Shop in Medford, N.J. We had called them before we went and checked to make sure they had new stuff because we have a problem and needed more cards. The dude said we have everything, and we said see you in 30 minutes.



We walk into New Concept Cards and meet Dennis, the owner, who is very nice and asks us what we collect. We rummage through the selection of singles in the cases, and decide to try our luck with some 2010 Bowman Jumbo packs. We each picked 2 packs, and opened them while we were in the store. Suzy pulled this Stubbs card, and I pulled one a Flowers card. Were we done you may ask, and you may know the answer is no. We each picked up another pack. Sooz pulled a Strasburg card, and I got a refractor of some dude. We also got a free pack of 2010 Topps for being new customers. Ohhhhh yeah, I also got a free silly band. For those of you that don't know what they are, these are Silly Bandz. It's a 10 gallon hat band that strongly resembles the Arby's logo hat. We had fun talking with the shop owner and his prices were super reasonable. He also knows my main guys at The Baseball Card Store, which shows how small this little card universe kind of is in a sense.


We leave there and go right back to the first shop to see if we can buy things there. J&J Sports Cards had tons of singles, and plenty of game used and auto Phillies if you are into them. They put a lot of singles on eBay, and told us that they did a case break last night of 2010 Bowman and would be listing the autos and the good cards up on eBay. I found 2 Pujols cards in the boxes that were out and picked them up for $1 each which made me happy. Sooz found a serial numbered Jeter/Reyes 2008 Baseball Heroes dual relic card for $10 which was awesome. We then began talking with the guys that were in the store and learn that one of them opened a hobby box of Bowman and, I swear I'm not kidding, he threw out the entire box except the chrome, chrome refractors, and auto's. I almost had a heart attack.

Who throws out cards?!!! Well, I am not ashamed to say that I asked him to look through his garbage and take some cards. He gladly retrieved the "garbage" from the pail and me and Sooz went through the box and took what we wanted for nothing. I'm pretty sure the rest went back to the pail. The guys were awesome, really nice, and LIKED baseball cards. I say they liked baseball cards because the more and more we hear from people it seems like everyone hates everything no matter what it is. We talked with them for a while, and looked through boxes of singles that had base cards and inserts. We grabbed some fun cards as we talked. They do live breaks on blogtv, and I'm sure they won't be hard to find on there. We will post a link once we find it or get it from them.

I may scan some cards when I get back home, but you have all seen most of them already anyway so.... don't hold your breath on it.

We highly recommend both of these shops. If you are looking for a particular product and you live in the area, by all means call them.

Support your (or my) local hobby shop

As you all know there seem to be less and less hobby shops around, and well if we don't support them that is what happens. Now I know we all get great deals from the guys over at Blowout and such, but the Mike and Dave at The Baseball Card Store take equally good care of me, and their other customers.

Since they look out for cards for me, give me free gum*, and hook me up with good prices I thought I would put their name out there this way if you are within driving distance you take a trip over and check out their store. Plenty of supplies, singles, boxes, packs, etc. to make you spend the day in there. I was there today for an hour or so and on my way there I thought about writing this post. Nothing beats hopping in the car and taking a ride to just hang out and open a few packs and BS.

I know not everyone lives in the northern New Jersey area, and that's cool but I hope the fact that Topps is eating competitors alive sparks people to look out for the shops and make sure the wholesalers and internet places don't eat them all up. I like having somewhere to go and play.

If you are in the area, or even want to call and see if they can help you complete a set or find a card here is their information:

The Baseball Card Store

45 Prospect Street

Midland Park, NJ 07432

(201) 445-9007

They are open until 6 TWFS, and until 8 MThurs, closed Sundays. Just tell them the crazy addict sent you.

Trip to the Hobby Shop

Saturday I was in the gym and I noticed my phone had the blinking red light indicating a message. It was an e-mail from Dave over at the Baseball Card Store saying they opened a pack of 2010 UD and decided not to leave it out because I would want it and to stop by when I had time. We all know what happened next. I finished up my workout, grabbed a shake, and hit the road for the card store.

You can't send me an e-mail like that and expect me to not run there immediately. I have no patience, and no will-power. I hauled tail to Jersey and no one was surprised that I was there so fast. Dave throws me the pack and I flip through them somewhat slowly to enjoy whatever I was going to find.

Here is why they saved the pack for me:

However, the pack also contained these pretty awesome cards...

I have to say this is the most hilarious card I have seen. I might even like it better than the Pujols card. It is perforated down the middle for separation but I'm leaving it intact. Awesome card. They could really make a whole set of these caricatures but as baseball players, I think they are fun.

Oh yeah, and instead of a thick cardboard filler I ended up with this:

Ichiro 2010 Exquisite serial numbered /75. These cards are super thick and very nice if you ask me.

I may make a trip to the shop after class since I am anticipating being snowed in tomorrow I will need something to keep me occupied. Oh and I will need something to blog about, which is always a great excuse right?

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.

2009 Goodwin Champions

For those of you that follow me on Twitter you probably already know that I have been running around like a mad woman since Monday trying to locate packs or blasters of Goodwin. I was and still am hellbent on finding a blaster and will mow people down to get one (half kidding). Well, since Target had yeilded zero results I took myself to ToyWiz against all better judgement and sure enough they had them. They were in their display case so I had asked to see the packs so I could pick my own and count them. 18 packs were there. I am not going to go off on a tangent about this, draw your own conclusions. I did have a conversation with the owner/manager (not sure which) about why they are in the case along with some of the other higher end packs. He told me that they put those types of packs into the case so that customers can't search them. I can understand that completely, and it makes sense. I did mentiont that I have never seen a complete box in the case ever, always a pile of loose packs. I was assured the boxes are not searched, and I will take that information and pass it along to all of you in the local or not so local area.

The conversation I had with the manager/owner was not in any sort of argumentative way. We spoke about the packs, and the storage of them and briefly discussed the pros and cons of buying online. He also mentioned a dislike for Beckett which may make the masses cheer and throw beers, but it was more of a $10 price tag that makes him not like it as well as the flimsy thinness of the pages recently. He didn't give me the impression that they sell many issues.

My method for choosing packs was simple. I piled them into piles of 4, took the bottom 4 packs, and then picked just 2 since they were $4.50 each (box was $85). So me and my Goodwin Champions were finally united. I jetted to the supermarket and then to class after that. I opened my packs while waiting for the professor to show up because I couldn't wait any longer. Here is what I got:

More than pleased with the way the cards look. I love the design, and the colors are amazing. One thing I thought was kind of odd was that the David Wright card has Mr. Met in the lower corner. I wonder if that is some sort of variation, or that they are all like that. There is no Phillie Phanatic on the Chase Utley. I got a mini Robbie Cano card which made my day.

I am working on posting the results of my OPC hobby box... It may or may not happen, lol.

My first and last Bowman blaster

Let me start by saying I didn't expect a gold refractor autograph, or anything close to that. What I did expect was maybe, just maybe ONE serial numbered card, and at the very least a blue card. All I wanted was one "cool" card. Anyone want to know what I got in my blaster? Oh, I got air.

It was a box of air. I got the one gold card per pack, and the rest of what was promised, but nothing cool. I was debating last night on finishing the BCP set since I used to do that each year but I don't really see myself buying anymore of these. I have some doubles that I would be willing to trade for cards I don't have. There was no Jeter, no Pujols, and no A-Rod in the whole box. I did get a Burnett card in the worst photoshopped Yankee uniform ever. The "New York" on the away uniform on the card goes straight across, but on their real uniforms it is curved. Bowman was released in June. Burnett has been a Yankee since March. Are they really that lazy to not have taken a single picture of him in 3 months? Stupid.

I also made a small, yet stupid detour on my way home from class today at the rip-off store as I call it (Toy Wiz). They were charging $67.99 for a hobby box of OPC. That tells it all. I'll be back with that story, I just got home from the gym and need a shower.

I finally found a hobby shop

(picture taken from my phone and through the sunroof, when I remembered I was already in the car.)

I had written a post a while back about ToyWiz, and how it was the only local place left that was selling hobby products. I don't like going there, and if you read the post I think it was fairly obvious. On the advice of DannyW in the comments section I decided to take a ride to Midland Park, NJ and see what the Baseball Card Store, Inc. was all about. I was headed in that direction anyway to check out an organic supermarket in Paramus so I figured why not have a little more fun. What's more fun than food and baseball cards?

According to mapquest it was very close to where I was going, yet my car took my on a wild goose chase through NJ and on 2 unneccesary highways. Next time I am relying solely on my spidey senses to know where the cardboard is. What should have been about 20 minutes ended up being around double thanks to navigation thinking it knows everything.I finally arrived at the card shop, and it was very exciting to finally find one. And it was open, if you ask Suzy about the day we went from store to store (that's literally all we did one day in southern NJ and PA) more than half of them no longer existed. So the fact that it was still in business, and was open was a great start.

When I walked in a guy and his son where discussing baseball with the owners, or the owner and his friend (I didn't ask them). It was a small store that had everything one could want. They had single cards (bonus) that were not insanely overpriced, supplies (I think were a buck or two high on what I bought, but I hate giving ToyWiz money), hobby boxes and packs. They were still waiting on Topps Series 2, but just got in Upper Deck Series 2 and Bowman.The store had countertop cases filled with various singles from all years, all teams, and some graded cards as well. I didn't bother looking at the graded ones because unless I do it myself I'm not interested. I asked to see the pile that had Albert Pujols on the top, and he was like, "A Pujols fan, in that shirt?" (I'm wearing a blue ringer t-shirt with a ginormous interlocking NY) I said yeah, he's my boy. So we began chatting about the Yankees and the stadium and baseball. My mother was dragged with me since she had to go to the supermarket, she was only mildly entertained by most of this banter though she was actively participating in the conversation when it was about the Yankees. After I finished with that pile he said he had more Pujols cards. Sweet.

Now, I didn't have my checklist with me so I was on a wing and a prayer picking cards out here. After I picked a couple (my favorite is probably the double header card because it flips, despite Drew being inside), I saw Robbie Cano in the case and snatched some of those, and then throwing in a Joe Girardi RC for the win. Why did I go here? Oh, I needed a binder, some team bags for eBay, and some hinge cases if they had them. Binder, check. Team bags for the store, check. Hinge cases, no dice I didn't see any and forgot to ask.

Here was the pricing on packs on the items I can remember. Goudey was $7 per pack or 3 for $20, UD Series 1 $7 per pack, UD Series 2 $8 per pack, Topps Series 1 $3 per pack (I didn't get that considering they were $1.79 in BC, then again maybe that's why they are out of business...), Bowman $4 per pack, and Bowman Jumbo $12 per pack.

Sadly the last few places I have been to had prices like this on hobby packs. I remember when UD Series 1 first came out I was down by Sooz's house and we went to a store in the mall and the lady told us $7 a pack, and we were like, I'm sorry what? I did pick one pack up. Well, actually mom did. I always pick the bad packs that have nothing good so she got one. I told her I dont care which one, just not Allen & Ginter or Topps. The Hobby boxes were on shelves so you could pick what you wanted, along with some vintage packs of 1991 Topps Series 1 and 2 for $2 bucks each. You'll have to come back later to see which one I left with.

All of the loose cards you see that I picked up were $5 total. Take that eBay! Sometimes it's nice to rummage through cards and pick some out in person rather than poking around on eBay and waiting, and in some cases still waiting 19 days later. I just spoke to the eBay seller on the phone and my items were shipped today, apparently there was an employee that was fired for some reason, etc.

As we were leaving something hanging on the wall caught my eye. I am hoping Sooz doesn't have this, but if she does my binder will give him a home. There were 4 pocket sleeves hanging up with jumbo cards. One of those jumbo cards was a 2000 Topps Derek Jeter. The card is the size of a team bag in width, and a hair smaller top to bottom. Happy Wednesday Sooz!



Will I go back to this shop? Absolutely. The guys in there were friendly, it was an actually hobby type of shop. At least when I picture a baseball card shop, it resembles what I was just in. It reminded me of Baseball card heaven in Tampa, only on a smaller scale. They seem to have tons of cards though, and before I left both guys said to call before I come by next time and they will bring tons more Pujols and better ones. I think my car will have lots of miles on it once I have some money to go back there.

If anyone lives in the northern NJ or NY area, make sure to check them out. Stay tuned later for my pack break.

P.S. When I got home I checked my lists and I only had 2 of the cards I picked, the Pujols 2006 AS and the Cano Feel the Game. Still can't beat all of those for $5 including a green bordered Pujols and a serial numbered Robbie.