Chapman makes his presence known on the mound and on eBay

Aroldis Chapman made his debut on Aug. 31, but what's the big deal? Many guys are showing up around this time (but interesting that the Red called him up before Sept., eh?).

Chapman’s cards have doing well on the secondary market since he was called. A 2010 Bowman Chrome red refractor /5 BGS 9.5 sold for $1,775 (link) and a red raw refractor sold for $900 (link).

the big deal is the the 22-year-old flat out throws heat. In his two Major-League innings (yes, just two), he has done enough that his cards have spiked on eBay. A simple search of his name yields more than 1,400 auctions. In those two amazing innings, the Cuban-born pitcher struck out three guys and has yet to allow a runner.

But that doesn’t matter. What everyone is talking about is the speed gun. Chapman hit 103 mph in his debut and apparently hit 105 before that in the minors.

Which card of his would you rather have?

- 2010 Bowman Chrome
- 2009 Bowman Chrome (where the superfractor is up for sale)
- 2009 Topps Chrome
- 2009 Donruss Elite auto

Nationals pitcher getting his shot on the show - not THAT pitcher

The Washington Nationals plan on calling up pitcher
Drew Storen, according to Mark Zuckerman of Nats Insider.

The Nats have two big pitching prospects in their organization with Storen and Stephen Strasburg. The latter has received much of the hype as of late with dominating performances in the minors, and among card collectors because of his addition in 2010 Bowman.

In 40 minor leagues games over four levels, Storen is 2-1 with a 1.70 ERA and 15 saves. He should provide a boost in the bullpen with Tyler Clippard and Matt Capps. Other than those two guys, Washington doesn't have many other options in the bullpen.

According to Zuckerman: "Storen's promotion will come about two weeks before fellow first-round pick Stephen Strasburg's expected big-league debut, in part because club officials wanted to reward the reliever for signing immediately after the draft. Strasburg didn't sign his record $15.1 million contract until two minutes before the August 18 deadline."

 Storen has about 60 current cards with some of the big chase cards being in 2009 Bowman Chrome (like the one pictured eBay link to the auction).

Other cards to find of his are 2009 Bowman Sterling and 2009 Donruss Elite Extra Edition autos.

Do you have any fun Drew Storen cards or memorabilia in your collection?

Do you buy or sell now?

Starlin Castro made an impressive debut on Friday night. The 20-year-old showed up in a Chicago Cubs uniform and blasted a home run and six RBIs.

There aren't many cards of Castro on the market. He has prospect cards from last year's 2009 Bowman set. He has a few cards in 2010 Pro Debut.

So which of the cards are collectors trying to snatch up now that he burst onto MLB with his thrilling debut?

Pretty much any type of refractor from 2009 Bowman will do. (Note: There are no Castro autos in 2009 Bowman. NONE.)

There is this xfractor that ends soon. Last I checked, it was already up to $90 with 13 hours left.

But there are no autographs of his just yet ... yet. Will he have one in 2010 Bowman? An early checklist says there will be a card, but not an autograph, but there it looks like there will be a triple relic card of his in the set.

2010 Bowman comes out next week. What cards do you think are going to be the hottest and who has any Castro cards to sell on eBay?

Don't forget out contest where every comment you leave on the blog is an entry to win a 2010 National Chicle Johnny Mize cabinet card.

Update: There will be an autograph in 2010 Bowman that is released next week, Chris Olds from Beckett said on his blog.

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.

Weekend 6 pack

No, I am not going to show you beer even if you beg. My idea of a 6 pack is totally different, on two levels but we shall only showcase one here. My idea for the purpose of the blog are 4 packs of 2009 Topps Series 2 and 2 packs of 2009 Bowman for a total of 6 packs. Couple of interesting cards were found amongst the rubble that are base cards. (all packs are from Target)

Here are the goods from the retail 2009 Topps Series 2 packs (which will be the only packs I buy of this):






Nothing great, but I did need the Cano. Has anyone noticed how some of the Topps from Series 2 have the letters with no silver in them? Did they run out of foil and just didn't care to replace it, or was it intentional? Maybe I am a little behind on this topic but was this intentional? I haven't been doing much reading online this week due to classwork. If you wrote about it on your blog and I missed it, I'm sorry I suck.

2009 Bowman packs were fun, at least I had fun for the 3 minutes it took to rip them. Here is what came out of those:

Blue refractor out of a retail pack!! Zoinks!

I was at K-Mart this afternoon and for those of you that follow me on Twitter, you saw a few pictures of what they had to choose from. One of the packs they had were 2009 Topps Heritage 'jumbo' packs, if you will. These packs had 14 cards plus gum for $5.99. They also remained in the store after I left because that is more than I care to spend on something I don't really need anything out of. More on the K-Mart story later on...

2009 Bowman: Thumbs up or down?

As most of you know, I opened a jumbo pack of 2009 Bowman the other day and listed the cards on here (if you don't know, you should scroll down and read it). The other day I picked up 4 retail packs at Target simply because there are 24 packs per box and all 24 were there when I got to them. The reason for the title of the post is because of all the WBC cards inside.

I personally have no need for these players, nor do I want them in my packs. I couldn't care less about getting these. If they are actual prospects for MLB teams, then I guess that's fine but the ones I have here are not. What am I going to do with these? I don't know, but I am curious what you guys think about this.

I scanned some of the cards I got out of the 4 packs. I don't think I did terrible as far as inserts go. I ended up with 4 gold, 1 blue, and a refractor even if it is a WBC card. I only pulled one rookie card.







I am probably done with picking up packs of Bowman only because it makes more sense to just jump on eBay and grab Pujols, Lind, Cano, etc. and end up spending less money.

Anyone pull any of my guys yet from this set?

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.