Cards From Drew

I completed yet another trade with Drew the other day by sending him a Robinson Cano relic in exchange for this Russell Martin relic. Of course this card is about to be flipped on to someone else (Max), but its always fun to be able to complete a trade.

Drew also sent me some Oriole cards (completely unnecessary, but appreciated nonetheless).

Yay, a GOLD Jones/Markakis. Sweeet.

A 2009 Purple Spectrum Roberts. I'm pretty sure I don't have this one yet. Its a nice card. I kind of miss Spectrum, a little.

AWESOME another Reimold! Can't have enough Reimold cards. He should be back in Baltimore soon! I really hope so. The O's need him to come back and hit some homers.

Finally, definitely a Roberts I didn't have. 2009 Topps Chrome Blue Refractor Brian Roberts 199/199. So, I guess that makes this a 1/1. Haha, just kidding. But it really is cool that it is 199/199. I have his black from 2009 that is serial #1. Pretty cool.

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Thanks Drew!

Cards From Pete

Last time I worked at the card shop (which feels like forever ago), Pete gave me a good sized stack of cards, including a bunch of 2010 Allen and Ginter I needed for my set.
He was also kind enough to hook me up with some 2010 Bowman, since I can't afford the boxes and can't find the packs anywhere. Here is Oriole prospect Josh Bell (who just got called up to replace the recently traded Miguel Tejada).

I have met Caleb Joseph a couple times, most recently in Bowie. I saw him play for AA Baysox as well as A Frederick Keys. He's a pretty good player, but it supposedly blocked by Matt Wieters. With the season Wieters is having, Joseph needs to step it up and sieze the opportunity. He could at least have a chance to be a productive backup catcher...

You can never go wrong with Brooks!! I didn't have this card yet, so that's good.

Here is a card of O's prospect Mike Flacco. Yes, he is related to Baltimore Ravens Quarterback Joe Flacco. Mike is his younger brother. He is having a really good year. Let's hope he keeps it up, the Orioles could use as many position player prospects as they can get.

Thanks for the cards Pete. Its always nice to get stuff I need when I'm at the shop. I'll have some 2010 A&Gs for you when I see you again!!

Mail Day - Dream Warriors. Plus Thoughts on 2010 Topps Finest

So, I think I'm running out of awesomely bad sequel titles. I may need some help with those down the road, or abandon that idea all together...

Anyway, I put an order in over at Sportlots because I kept seeing that sad, lonely single card I needed to fill my 1998 Topps set. I don't like only buying $0.18 worth of cards on there, so I usually tack on a few things to get to a respectable amount of around $10 or so... I ended up getting a SWEET RC I have been wanting as well as a few 2009 Allen and Ginters to push that set closer to completion.

Ahhhh, the 2010 Upper Deck Brian Matusz RC. I know I have said this a billion times already, but seriously, look for Matusz to bust out this year and nab the AL Rookie of the Year award. No, really. He's damn good.

I also had company in town (Babe-O-Licious, my good friend who got me started working at the card shop way back in 2006) for my epic fail of a Wrestlemania party. We went to lunch yesterday and after lunch, I took her to the Greenville card shop. The shop owner there is really nice and he let me go through a box of 2010 Topps Finest. He let me pick out/buy the cards I wanted, so I grabbed a whole bunch of them.

This is a pretty sick Russell Martin. I love it. Too bad its not mine haha. I like the 2010 Finest design. One of these days, I'm going to buy a box of Finest and bust it.

Yeah, the cards were in order and the Roberts was near the bottom of the stack. I was sweating a little toward the end until I happened upon the Roberts. Just a good looking card. Thankfully Roberts' neck has healed and he is slated to be leading off on Opening Day. I'm looking for 50+ doubles again this year. That is definitely not too much to ask.

I love the black jersey on STICK. He has beefed up a little in the offseason and has been tearing the cover off of the ball so far in Spring Training. I look for STICK to hit 30+ homers this year and lead the O's in that category.

What do you all think? I think Finest is pretty sharp this year. Now I need to look for some of the refractor variations....

First Taste of 2010 Topps

Much like last year, someone brought me in a few Target packs of Flagship Topps the week before my Jumbo boxes were set to come in. Last year, it was P.A. bringing the cards in; this year, that honor went to Pete. I opened 8 Target retail packs and, so far, was pretty pleased with what I saw...

First off, the design is pretty cool. I really liked last year's design, and this year is right up there for me. I'm one of those people who kind of get tired of the white bordered cards, and it is always nice when they throw in a change-up, but the last 2 years have been really nice. I like the above card for one reason only. It shows one of my best friends favorite players (Russell Martin) without it being Martin's actual card. I always thought it was fun identifying the unnamed players on other cards, and this one was no exception.

Hooray. Topps. Town. Has. Returned. I. Can't. Contain. My. Excitement. I like that they have players on these, otherwise, I'd throw them in the trash...

I got a good many of the Red Back inserts. I was going to scan the Mantle I got, but I figured all 5 billion Yankee fans on the blogs would do that, so I scanned ole double X. Jimmie Foxx. Man, he was awesome. That'd be a sweet cut auto to get sometime... hats another blog for another day, lol.

Which brings me to 'The Cards Your Mom Threw Out...'

I pulled two of them, the 1977 Topps Reggie reprint:

Here is the reverse of the card: And here is the 1976 Mike Schmidt. Now, I had no idea, but apparently the ones with the actual card backs on them are short printed or something, and since this was the first of these I pulled, I had no idea until Pete caught a glimpse of the back.

See, I wasn't lying, stats on the back. Cool, huh? Anyone else know about this variation??
Now, I thought this next one was pretty cool, I am reading the book (off and on) called After Many a Summer, which talks about the move of the Dodgers and Giants from New York to California. Yes, I got the book to familiarize myself with my best bud's favorite team, but it really is a good read, and I always like to read about the history of the game.

So, I opened 8 packs of 2010 Topps and got only one Oriole. Freaking Ty Wigginton. Really? I mean, hes an ok player, but why couldn't I have pulled Roberts (who I think wont be in until series II), STICK, Reimold, Wieters, etc etc.

I really like the next Tales of The Game card of the Wizard doing one of his trademark flips. Really nice ptoto!

Speaking of nice photos, I like this POV show of Jose Valverde. I'm so glad Topps has taken initiative lately to have some great shots for their cards. I think the hobby got away from that for a while, its nice to see some of what has come out between last year and this upcoming year.

Prince Fielder must have thought Ryan Braun was Guillermo Mota for a minute...

Ahh, pulled a Lincecum. Can't go wrong there. Nice card of him.

So, after all this, man I can't wait until I get the call from Blake saying 'Your box is here!' I ordered a case + 1 box so I will get 3 boxes, Pete gets 2 and Max gets 2. It sucks Max probably won't be there for our box busting party, but when he gets here to open his, it will be just as nice. I'm just glad that after everything, he still enjoys doing this kind of thing with me!

I also really want to thank Pete for bringing the packs in last night. I hate that P.A. was watching George Strait and couldn't make it, but he hopefully will be there when we bust the case... I really can't wait, I hope I get some sweet pulls and have stuff to blog for a while haha.

Set Complete: 2009 Topps

A by the numbers blog will follow, but I have completed my 2009 Topps set. This is by far, one of my favorite sets that I have ever completed. Along with the great photography that was featured this year, it will have sentimantal value as well because it has brought me together with a special group of friends in putting this together. P.A., Pete, Kim and Max, its been a blast working together getting this set put together. I will have more on this later as well!! Since I had all the cards for this set in the 6 total Jumbo boxes of Series I and Series II, I get to pick the completer card... I chose Russell Martin because I think it symbolizes the group effort that this set became.

Upper Deck Series 2 - Witnessed the opening of a 'hot box'

Yesterday was interesting at All About Sports (397 Jonestown Road, Winston-Salem, NC) [Ok, that wasn't a shameless plug at all...]. I opened a pack of series 2 Upper Deck and pulled an auto, and didn't think anything of it. Pete and Kim come in and open two packs and each pulls an auto. P.A. calls later and says that he pulled a jersey card out of his pack... Anyway, this kid Jeremy who comes in sporadically (he goes to NC State, so he comes in when he isn't at school) with his dad, heard about all the autos we were pulling and buys all the packs left in the box...

Of course, I suggestive sold the crap out of that box to him, and my main selling point was 'Hey dude, you could get that Stephen Strasburg card thats going for $350 on ebay right now...'

Of course, he pulled the card. He will put it on ebay, I'm sure. Sad thing is, it quite possibly was the pack that Kim put back in the box... AND, Pete was seconds away from asking Jeremy if he wantedto split the box... OUCH Kim and Pete... Oh well, we'll get to bust our Topps Series II boxes this weekend... Yes, the suspense is KILLING me.

I was able to skim some free cards out of the deal, Pete gave me a nice Roberts while Jeremy gave me two Dodger cards that will become [someone else's] we all know who that is....