2025 National Card Show Paid Signer - Albert Pujols

Last year's National feels like it happened yesterday. Not because I was at THIS year's National yesterday (and today... and the rest of the week), but the year did fly by. So much so, I still have a couple baseballs I had yet to post, including this one I got signed by Albert Pujols.

I paid a good bit to meet Pujols in person and get a ball signed, but he was one of the two big ticket guys I chose to get. He grunted when I said hello, signed my ball, and rhat was it. Oh well. 

Pujols (b. 1980) played in the majors from 2001 to 2022 for the Cardinals, Angels and Dodgers. He had 3,384 hits, 703 home runs and a .296 batting average. He was a 3-time NL MVP (2005, 2008 and 2009) and NL Rookie of the Year in 2001. He was the NL batting champ (.359) in 2003. He batted over .300 in 10 straight seasons. He led the league in home runs twice. Pujols is eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2028.

Top Ten Wishlist Pickup From The National

I spent the entire 2015 National Card Show looking for this card, and I spent MOST of the 2016 show looking for it as well, but I finally found it!  I finally have the 2001 Topps Chrome Albert Pujols rookie in my collection.

I was walking around the show on the last day and was looking down quickly at the showcases when I saw it.  I had walked around the entire show the whole time asking people if they had it and had come up short.  So much so, I ended up buying another big rookie from that series just because the dealer had it over the Pujols.

I got it for a really nice price ($20) and am so glad I can take it off of my Top Ten Wishlist.  I'm really going to struggle finding new cards to search for once the year is out.  I definitely have met my goal in the amount of cards that I wanted to cross off of it (more to come in a few days on that).

Summer 2014 Vacation Recap

As you may have been able to tell, my posting on here has been really spotty at best these last few weeks.  I usually post every day, but I know that hasn't happened recently and here's why: I have been on vacation.

We (my wife, son and I) left the house on July 4th and headed out of town.  We stopped in Winston-Salem, at my parents' house to spend the 4th.  After night swimming with my brothers, sister, nieces and nephew, we went to bed, only to get up at the crack of dawn to head to Michigan.  The trip to Michigan served two purposes, my wife grew up in Michigan so she wanted to take my son and I around her old haunts and we also were invited to my very good friend, and fellow blogger, Dustin's wedding.  As a wedding gift to Dustin and his wife, I bought them Tigers tickets, but since the wedding was days away, his wife wasn't able to make it to the game.  Luckily, Dustin's 10-year old brother, Deacon, was visiting from Germany and was able to take her place.  I'm glad Deacon was able to go, since he had never been to a MLB game before.

I had taken a photo of Dustin and Deacon together at his first game with my digital camera, but, unfortunately, later on along our way, my camera disappeared.  I'm so sorry, Dustin and Deacon, I really wanted to print out that picture for you guys.

Our game was the Tigers vs. the Dodgers.  Miguel Cabrera was not in the game that day, but we got to see Max Scherzer pitch against Zack Greinke.  We also got to see several of the facets of Yasiel Puig's game.  He hit a one-out triple, then was thrown out at third on the next pitch, a grounder to third.  Bonehead play, but we weren't surprised.

I couldn't help myself in picking up some cool memorabilia at the Tigers game.  I got this game-used rosin bag from the game where Albert Pujols hit his 498th career home run.  The bag is MLB Authenticated, so I figured $100 was a great price.

After Michigan, we made the trip to Mt. Carmel, Illinois to see one of my best friends, and fellow blogger, Andrew.  We had made plans to meet up, finally, after many years of blogging, trading, tutoring and chatting on Skype.  Andrew's family was so welcoming to us and I felt like we made some great friendships.  I am, however, a terrible influence on people.  Andrew and I got his dad hooked on Instagram, and we also awoke the beast within him by reconnecting him with his collecting roots.

Andrew and I went halves on some juno wax from bbcexchange.com so we could play pack wars.  I'm not going to go into the rules of pack wars, but the main principals in the game were (from left) Andrew's Dad, his brother Caleb, my son Chris and Andrew.  Also, you can see my wife supervising.

We exploded some boxes of 1990 and 1991 topps.  Everyone had a good time and a few decent rookie cards were pulled.

Finally, after watching the All Star Game on Andrew's family's TV, we left Illinois and headed to Memphis, Tennessee for what I thought was going to be a minor league game (and a bobblehead giveaway).  What I missed was that the Memphis Redbirds weren't even playing Wednesday and the bobblehead giveaway wasn't until Friday.  So, I lost my camera (somewhere between Andrew's house and our hotel in Mt. Carmel), and I botched the MiLB schedule.  What I didn't expect was that the time we would spend in Memphis would be amazing anyway.

We were able to walk around the city, and get into the concourse area of AutoZone Park (home of the Redbirds).  You can see Chris above posing for a pic.

We also took a horse and buggy ride around the city, which we wouldn't have done, otherwise.

We ate an amazing dinner at Blues City Cafe, then walked along Beale Street down to the water front.  The weather was amazing, low 70s in the middle of July.  We sat by the river for a while and watched the sun set.  Above, you can see the bridge lighting up and the sunset.  Oh man, it was beautiful.  I was so glad I screwed up the schedule, but even more pissed that my camera was gone.

So, here is my awesome steak that I had.  A 20oz ribeye that cost $25.00.  Around here, something like that would be about $10 more.  It was an amazing meal, probably one of the best that I have ever eaten.

My wife and I decided that Memphis was definitely going to be one of those cities on our list of vacation destinations in the future.  What an awesome place.

Finally, I wanted to show off some pickups from the trip.  We got one IP autograph at the game, Dodgers reliever, Chris Perez.

Also, here are all of the cards I picked up.  The cards on the left are the ones I got for myself, 42 cards (which I will show off another time) and the cards on the right (60 cards) are ones I picked up for other people.  Mostly Instagram folks, with a few in there for Andrew and a few others.

So, that was our trip.  I met two more bloggers in person and both made me feel so welcome.  I was glad I was able to make the trip to be able to spend time with both of them, and meet their respective families.  It really is nice to see folks who welcome people into their lives and are willing to spend time together.  I know Chris and Caleb will be writing letters back and forth to one another.  They were off and running, playing together, not 5 minutes after we got to Andrew's house.

I did 90% of the driving, and we put some miles on my Cobalt.  I'm so glad it made it through the trip.  I hope to be able to do it again soon.  I'm already trying to figure out what vacation 2015 will entail.

2012 Topps Gold Rush Wrapper Redemption

I came home today to find out that my 2012 Topps Gold Rush wrapper redemption packs had come in the mail today.  I had enough wrappers to qualify for 2 packs of the special cards.  Each pack contained 5 cards with the possibility of pulling some autographed stuff (I think).  I know last year Virgil Trucks autographs were something you could pull from the redemption packs.  I didn't get any autos, but I got some pretty nice cards:

Sandy Koufax

Warren Spahn

Koufax and Spahn were the best of the HOF/retired players that I was able to pull.  I also got Tony Gwynn and Albert Belle.

Albert Pujols

Josh Hamilton

Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton were the highlights of today's players that I pulled.  I also pulled: 
Tim Hudson, Allen Craig, Aroldis Chapman and Felix Hernandez.

I plan on keeping the Spahn and Koufax cards.  I think I might keep the Hamilton, too, unless someone overwhelms me with an offer.  I bet I could get a decent amount from the Pujols.  All of the other cards not mentioned will either be trade bait or sold at the April card show.

If any of these cards interest you, please shoot me an email and let me know!!

Thoughts on 2011 Topps

I had intended on having the results of my 3 jumbo boxes of 2011 Topps posted earlier (like, Friday), but because of my craptastic connection here at the apartment, I have only now been able to get the pictures loaded. So, here are my thoughts on 2011 Topps. I will post my 'by the numbers' breakdown later on (the way my connection has been going, it looks like it may be posted just in time for 2012 Series 1).

First off, I like the design. I'd be happy if Topps strayed from the plain white border once in a while, but the cards do look great. I pulled 2 of the Legends Short Print variations out of my 3 boxes, one being the above Yogi Berra.

My second Legends SP variation is Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks. Both of the legends cards look great. Some people are tired of these variations, but I enjoy them. I'd be happier if they were Brooks Robinson cards, but with Berra and Banks, I sure won't complain.

Speaking of Orioles, I got my first Adam Jones auto. I wouldn't have known it was his auto without the card telling me so... His signature just looks like a bunch of loops.

One of my favorite Orioles Prospects - Brandon Snyder. He looks to spend the season at AAA Norfolk due to the signing of Derrek Lee, but that may be a good thing for him. I think he could use more seasoning in the minors. I've met him in person several times and he is a really nice guy. I hope he puts up some good numbers and becomes the O's first baseman of the future.

Hey, look, someone tied all of the O's outfielders together. This is a really cool picture of all the O's outfielders. Most of the pictures in this set are amazing. There are a few that are suspect, but for the most part the photos are great.

Speaking of great shots, here is one of Russell Martin. I really like all the action in the shot and also the depth that is shown. I wish Topps put in this kind of effort with all of their products.

I got a couple decent relics, the best of which was this CC Sabathia jersey. I also got Daniel McCutcheon and Justin Upton relics.

Here is one of the not-so-amazing shots. Again, here is CC Sabathia, and CC's belly. It appears that his stomach takes up 25% of the card. Yeesh. Maybe if he was wearing pinstripes, they'd have a slimming effect?

Now we have the leather nameplate cards. I definitely don't like these as much as I liked the Hat Logo patches from last year, but these aren't as hideous as I've heard. I was excited that I pulled Lincecum. I like him, of course, but he has quickly become my son's favorite player as well ('cause he throws nasty, Daddy'). So, this card is definitely spoken for.

I got Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw. My best friend is a Dodger fan. Card spoken for? Yep, you got that right.

Finally, I got the Pujols black variation. This is pretty cool, I guess. May try to sell it at the next card show. We'll have to see. I imagine that this will be a decently popular card. I'm hoping so at least.
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Anyway, there you have it, my 2011 Topps jumbo results. What do you guys think? Overall, I was satisfied, mainly because the photos are great. I wish I didn't have to wait for a new Roberts card until Series 2, but oh well. Patience is a virtue, or something like that.

Snow Day!

So, we walked down the road to the Sheetz station this morning to get some coffee and hot chocolate. I've had just about enough snow I can handle. I remember being in school and loving it when it snows. My brothers, sister and I would play outside in it from the time we got up until well after it got dark. Nowadays, not so much.

So, I'm stuck inside with not much to do. I paid bills, cleaned up a little, took a nap, watched some TV, talked to some people on facebook and now, I'm about to begin partaking of some adult beverages and find a good movie to watch. Long story short? I'm effing bored, haha. So, let's catch up on a blog why don't we?

A couple weeks ago I bought a pack of UD Icons and Topps 206. I do not pack search, even though it would be quite easy to do so. I ended up getting two awesome GU Jersey cards out of the two packs I opened.
First up, UD Icons Legendary Icons Ozzie Smith. I really wasn't a big Icons fan this year. I really didn't feel that the cards were worth $11.00 a pack. I was very happy with this pull, however. You can never go wrong with an Ozzie jersey.

Next up, the 206 Polar Bear Albert Pujols GU Jersey. Wow, I just realized, I pulled jerseys of two Cardinals icons. Not bad. I'm a big fan of the 206 relic frames. I blogged the sweeet Nick the STICK jersey I got last month. Not bad, not bad. What do you guys think? Stay warm!!!

...I don't wanna come back down from this cloud...

There isn't a whole lot I can post now that will measure up to the awesomeness of my previous post. I still can't believe it, I actually did meet Brooks. WOW. Still hasn't hit me. Anyway, a nice productive week, in more ways than one. I met Brooks on Monday, got an offer on my house Wednesday night, negotioated and accepted the offer on Friday, had a Yu Gi Oh PreRelease at the shop on Saturday, met up and went to dinner with my best friend in the world today... very very productive week. Oh, I also opened a few packs and got a little mail... Here are the highlights... Effing wow to this one... 4 pc jersys, Ken Griffey Jr the 5th (inside joke there), some guy named Derek Jeter (never heard of him), Josh Hamilton and Albert Pujols. Pretty dang good pull, if i do say so myself.

Next up is a little bit of mail from Sportlots. Yay to sportlots. I have a good bit of stuff coming from them over the next few days, so hopefully more blog updates to come...

F Yeah, a NICK THE STICK jersey. Always a good pull for me. Stick is awesome and will continue to be for the Orioles for a long time.

Thanks to Jim, one of my favorite people to watch a game with, I got a 1970 Topps Pagan to knock another high number off my set. Im slowly chipping away at this set, as well as my 55 set. Soon, though, they will be complete and I will move on to 1959!!! Yaaay.

Finally, pulled a by the letter Chris Volstad from 2009 SP Authentic. I like the teal from the Marlins and this card shows up so nice on the scan. What do you guys think?

Finally, in some personal news, we have signed the contract on selling the house, so soon, my finances will have recovered and we will be able to have some cards flowing through here!!! Im so excited! In celebration, I am going to make a purchase off ebay and will share with you all shortly... Thanks for reading, please comment me up. Also, if you haven't, please check my previous post about my trip of awesomeness to see Brooks Robinson!!!!!!!

Some nice autos...

I consolidated some stuff today and scanned these two cards. I love the Markakis/ Roberts dual Auto. What would be even nicer, would be if the Orioles would get off of their butts and sign both these guys to extensions... I can only hope. The Pujols is just awesome. It is one of my favorite autos (I still love my Johnny Cueto where he signed it 'Johnny.' I'll scan that one for you guys later on. Check these out first...