2009 Heritage Set...

Man, my skills with MS paint are absolutely horrible. For the life of me I could not figure out how to drag the DONE symbol on top of A-Rod dumb face without having a massive white block around the image. It was going to look really dramatic and it was going to make eyes weep. But not, we are left with two separate images that don't quite tell the story. Oh well :) I am sure that you have connected the dots by now anyways.

So I received a package the other day from an eBay vendor that had sold me a few cards. We got to emailing and he found out that I was very close to completing this set. As luck would have it I needed 11 more short print cards, while I had exactly eleven duplicate short prints in my collection. I was completely thrilled when he offered to swap out the 11 I needed for the 11 I have! He also had the elusive #28 Nick Markakis, the final base card need. So after a long journey, this Heritage set is complete, and is without a doubt the set that I am most proud of finishing.

Really though, this has been made even more humbling by the fact that so many of you contributed to this project when I announced it on August 8th. Many of you were completely willing to send anything you had to contribute to the set, whether it be just a few cards, or a whole lot of them. In the end it all added up, and after a few tricky negotiations, the elusive short prints fell into line as well.

I can't you all enough for helping to compete the project. This box is stuffed to the brim and is now closed as put away for a long time. I hope to pay it forward where I can, so if any of you have any projects that you wish to work on, please contact me and I will contribute where I can.

Thanks again!

Goodwin 8-pack!

WARNING: MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF GOODWIN CHAMPIONS AHEAD!

Last night I ripped eight packages of Goodwin. I normally would only do one or two at most, and have now paid the price by scanning in every single card in order to appease your voyeurism, so you don't have to go out and spend your hard earned money on these. I am actually enjoying this set quite a bit, so I really don't mind taking the time to share them!

Why did I rip so many? Turns out that pack ripping is associated with stress relief! Yeah, true dat. Since I am on bloodthinners (again, another story for another day) I can't drink (well at least more than a couple), so basically Call of Duty and pack ripping are my release from the real worlds.

Why stressed? Well, starting yesterday I begin my capstone project for my Masters degree. I have been slowly working my way through the program for the last five years, and this is the end of the road. And its gunna be a bumpy road. Learning to balance work, family, hobby, and sports is going to be precarious at best, so I figured that it is best to just shelve my troubles for the night and open up a few packs!

Pack #1

Matt Garza. Yet another TB pitcher that gave the Red Sox kittens last season. This season? Not so much.

Dick Allen. Classic Phillies third baseman

HIT! Cole Hamels Jersey. Perfect addition to my phenoms, and to top it off a Tim Lincecum mini card in yet another contorted position.

Pack #2

Phil Hughes....next...

Mini Garza! Equally hated, 1/3 the size.

Cal Ripkin Jr Gypsy mini - AKA Black-bordered mini. I have never heard of this guy...wait...is he the one that used to do backflips all the time? That dude was cool!

Another retrospective card of the White Sox World Series team that plowed through the Red Sox, but announced the arrival of Jonathan Papelbon. And of course the Great One. You know, the guy with the wife with the betting problem.

Pack #3

Start out with a couple of Florida boys, Hanley Ramirez and Evan Longoria. When you look at the revolving door which is the SS position for the Red Sox, you wish you had this guy back. But without him, Beckett and Lowell would not have been around to help the Red Sox with a Championship.

Evan Longoria is just a straight up stud.



Cap Anson! At first I was hoping that this was a buyback card or at least redemption for a buyback card, but alas this is a subseries called Citizens of the Day. Unlike Ginter, I do like the subseries that I have seen thus far and would love to work some trades with you to get more of these.

Holliday! Celebrate...the fact that you were lucky enough to get traded to a contender. See you in the Series Mr Holliday!

Francisco Liriano Mini - I pull more of this guys Twins card than any other Twin. Do they have other players?


Pack #4

Following the tradition Yankee in each pack I pull a Joe Pepitone. It says he was amongst the leaders in HR's for three straight years, hitting a career high 31 in 1966! Kinda puts things in perspective, eh?

Some poker women. Took second place at Ladies Night in 2005.

OOPS, I just hit delete one too many times and erased Koji Uehara and some mini...too lazy to retrieve the shot...apologies.

Buffalo Bill Cody! Has anybody ever been to Cody, Wyoming and been to the Buffalo Bill Cody Gun Museum. It is quite the spectacle with more firepower than you can possibly imagine. Gatling guns galore!



Pack #5

Joe Alexander, Bareback Flying Horse Riding Champion

Brandon Webb - Tough breaks for him this season, but still a dynamic pitching talent.

Tony Blaair - Stuck his neck out there to support Bush and ultimately suffered the consequences of doing so. Nice of Upper Deck to rub it in.

Hockey Player Mini! Hamilton Gypsy Back Mini!


Pack #6

Thank Goodness, more Yankees. Here is an extremely unflattering imaging of Joe DiMaggio scratching himself. Nice work UD.

Hunter Pence and fluffy clouds.

Ah, the Poker Brat Phil Helmuth, self-proclaimed best poker player ever. I get irritated with guys like Phil that get upset because you did not play the hand the way he thinks it is supposed to be played. Too many players get so wrapped up in the "proper" way to bet, that they lose track of their own game and ultimately get beat.

YAZ! Right on, finally another Red Sox has appeared. Hit a little dry patch after the Lowrie auto...

Joey Votto Mini! I dig the camo uniform. I was unaware that any other team than San Diego breaks these out from time to time.


pack #7

Carmona, Grienke (phenom, future Cy Young??) and A Tiger Retro card.

Nice couple of minis here, Price and Gomez Gypsy back.


Pack #8 (the finish line!)

Eck, Big Z and Matt Ryan fluffy clouds card. Dang, Zambrano is a big dude, fills up the whole card. No room for a single fluffy cloud, so throw some curtains behind him instead!

The dodo bird. Does anybody know how rare this card is? Because...it...is...a....dodo bird.....thanks everybody, I am here all week.

Chad Billingsly Mini!



What is blazes? More cards? Hmm, maybe I opened nine packs? I dunno, I always forget to carry the one...

Joe Lewis - heeeeee-Ya!

Ian Kinsler - One of a number of rising star 2nd basemen . I remember when the only 2B anybody could think of was Chase Utley, nowadays the position is flush and Kinsler has had an amazing year, even though he has been injured a tad this year.

Phil Niekro and his 3342 career K's

A yankee of a different color is still a yankee.

And finally a foil version of Joakim Soria. Another great story of a pitcher marooned in KC. I like him though and this is my first foil card to boot!

Thanks for hanging in there!

I Hate Tupperware

Why I hate Tupperware, by JD's Daddy

1) it gets all crusty and stained with microwaved on whatevers that never come out even if you take an industrial brillow pad to it.

2) it gets warped

3) you can NEVER find the right lid for the container. Where the heck do all those lids disappear to? It kinda reminds me of the underpants knomes in "South Park".

4). When you wash them in the dishwasher, the never dry! You have a whole shelf of tupperware with beaded up drops of water on them (it's like the plastic has turtle wax in it). So then you have to shake off as many beads and dry them anyways. What a pain.

I almost just want to take the whole box of tupperware and check them in the recycle bin, throw down the extra 5 bucks, and just go get a new set!

...We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

I received a package from Chris at Budget Baseball Cardboarding.

Chris and I have aligned lately in our collection needs, no we have been mailing across the country quite a bit. While having an interest in certain players, Chris also is turning into a set collector like myself, so this works out really well when it comes to helping each other finish out sets.

For this particular trade, I sent out a stash of 2009 Topps Chrome duplicates for a handful of phenom cards. Normally when people offer up phenoms, I already have many of them, but in this instance I needed each and every one!

Felix Hernandez - 2008 Topps Chrome and Base had a different photo apparently. Depending on pricing, I may get a wild hair and try to collect this set prior to the 2010 flagship set in a few months. Chris also included a couple of Upper Deck Felix' with this group. Future Cy Young? I still look at the numbers and have trouble believing it, but it's a funny world and anything is possible.

If you can say anything about Lincecum, all of his cards are highly entertaining due to his dramatic pitching motion. His cards are quickly becoming some of my favorite and thse are two fantastic additions to the phenom wing.

Yo! Hey Brewers, thanks for shutting Yovani down during the championship week of my Fantasy season.

This gives me an excellent opportunity to sneak in a quick Phenom Report: Clay Buccholz into this post (kill two birds).

Once again, my favorite Red Sox Work In Progress took to the mound against the hapless Kansas City Royals, and once again he looked golden as he has now allowed only 2 ER in his last 26 2/3 innings. The magic number falls to three and all systems appear to be go for a run at the Fall Classic.

Atta boy, Buch!

Topps Chrome APB

Ay Carumba! In my haste of tying off all my loose ends on older sets and packing them away into the secure storage bunker (AKA the closet top shelf) I realized that I am still three measly cards short of completing 2009 Topps Chrome. Being a set collector, of course this is non-compliance! Can any of you help me out with these tiny little needs?

#37-Carlos Delgado

#184 - Shairon Martis

#196 - Colby Rasmus
Please let me know if you can help me remove one more cardboard box from the living room China cabinet!

Thanks!

Goodwin Rip #3 and #4

Now that the milestone ballyhoo is out of the way, it is time to rip a couple more packs of scrambled Goodwin!

Carlos Quentin. My first blue, fluffy cloud hit of the night...
Clayton Richard...hmm...I have been staring at his career stats for a couple minutes now and trying to figure out exactly what makes him a Goodwin Champion. The back of his card says that he threw six scoreless innings against Seattle last year, which with last years team, that was certainly no large feat.

Albert Pujols Retrospective garbage...I will at least say this though. At least I am getting GOOD retrospective cards...none of that Y2k garbage. Of course, pulling Prince Charles yesterday was nothing to write home about, but the Boggs was classy.

Yogi! My first classic player card. Apparently UD forgot to get his signature on this card, I will have to write them about that.

Surfer Brah Mini! I like the mini cards in this set for some reason. And surfer legend just looks happy. My wife and I go to Maui occasionally and there is a dude that owns a shaved ice stand. He gets there in the morning and sells snowcones. When the ice sells out, he shuts down shop and goes surfing the rest of the day. Best...Job...Ever.

Pack#4

A couple of Mets. i am unsure what Mr. Met is doing on the front of this card, but it still looks nice none-the-less. Sheffield is a jerk though!

Tulo, most likely a comeback player of the year.

Chase Utley 3-time silver slugger. Got some hardware to go with it too.

and completely a cloud-themed pack is the rags-to-riches-to-rags Josh Hamilton. Again, a very nice looking mini card.

Having a blast! More tomorrow!

200th Post Celebration!

Welcome to the 200th post celebration party! JD and I started this little project way back when in order to start him a collection that is going to be worth millllllllllions some day...or maybe depreciate horribly, who really knows! Lots has changed in the last several months. Jacoby has gotten older...
Umm....yep, that's my boy.....sucking on a catnip bag.....next to a power outlet.....sigh. It was nice of Wally to stop by for the photo shoot though! We also decided to invite a few guests over...

We all talked about it, and the general consensus of this blog after 200 posts...

...but we are working on it. It gets tougher as the seasons change, as well as the sports interest. I may need to start covering the cactus league to find some material to get me through the winter!

200 posts seems so long ago. Here are a few highlights from way back when I first started this humble little blog...

On June 2nd, 2009...

Wayne Brady, Dana Carvey, and Jerry Matthers celebrated birthdays

The average gasoline price was $2.67

The average cost of a gallon of milk $2.67 (amazing coincidence eh? Its as if I could not really find this information so I just made up the number to be the same as gas!)

Top box-office movie: UP

Top Television show: Law and Order: SVU

Mike's Savings account balance: HEY, NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! (but significantly less since I started collecting!)

New to DVD rental: Revolutionary Road

The Sims 3 is released on June 2nd...as if have two fake lives is not already challenging enough, why not throw on a 3rd...seriously, I tried that game, and the lazy punk would not even get up and go to work!

Well, you get the idea. Not a ton has happened in the last couple of months. All I know is that thanks to the blogosphere, I have met some great people, made some great trades, learned a little bit about card collecting, and have in turned helped others start their hobby.

Though I definitely feel a little less green than I did when I started, I know that I still have a ton to learn about this hobby and look forward to soaking up even more of the blogospheres vast knowledge for a long time to come. Thanks for welcoming me into your neighborhood. I have had a blast!

Goodwin Scramble!

Well, this evening (late this evening) I finally had a chance to bust a couple of packs of Goodwin Champions. I have been pretty excited to get going on these cards, and to enjoy some of the beautiful artwork that went into the set. I am a little late getting started, so I have had the chance to hear many a scathing review of the set. I have heard that it is just a cheap knockoff of Allen and Ginter, but (GASP) I didn't really care for Allen and Ginter that much anyways other than the base set. All my other Ginter cards have moved on to other homes.

So that brings us to Goodwin Champions. Because there is so much time before any new product hits the shelves again, I am going to take my time with these couple of boxes and do some nice scans for you. Right off the bat I came up with a wacky idea of dumping out the two boxes into a pile, scrambling them up, and then re-inserting them into their boxes? Why? I just felt like adding an extra element of surprises into the pack rips. I know that I am due two autos and four relics, but instead of knowing when they are coming each box, I am going to install a bit of extra randomness into my day. I know they are coming, but who knows when? Bwa a a a aahhhhhh! Here is the mad scramble. JD was pretty amused at the display.

AND resorted and ready to rip! Lets open up a couple and see how we did.

Right away I can see how transparent the packs are. I mention this because of the dude that is selling a guaranteed Red Refractor hot pack on ebay. I can clearly see the first card is a Brave. Who could it be?

"Wow" were my exact words as I pull out my first card, A Larry Chipper Jones. The artwork is truly something in this set, and my "wow" just goes to show that Upper Deck has already found a way to surprise.

Pronk is next up. He batted a Mendoza-like .198 in 2008 after a massive couple of years for the Indians.

I can only chuckle as I pull a Johnny Damon mini card. Of course, it just had to be. Damon will continue to haunt me forever.

My first pretty cloud card is an Eli Manning card from his days at Ol Miss.

And the final card of Pack #1 is a stupid memorabilia card that have no business in this set, BUT it is a Wade Boggs so I am a bit more lenient. Still hate these things though, but I already have a nice home picked out for them (except this one, of course).

Pack #2


ICHIRO! Cool man, I have seen some images of this card online and it is pretty sweet. I have seen the night variation which is even cooler. I gotta believe that somewhere in this box is a night variation of SOMEBODY, so I look forward to that.
I am ashamed that I really didn't know who this guy was until I looked him up and figured out why I don't know him. It appears that he is a middle reliever. Middle relievers always seem to get lost in the shuffle due to lack of visible stat lines. I like the fade design on this card quite a bit.

Johan Santana cloudy mini! I have had some crazy Santana-pulling mojo lately for sure.

And of course the useless retrospective card of the Prince and Camilla.

One more card in this pack though....

HIT! Sweet, a Jed Lowrie Auto! Is it going to fetch me millions of eBay? No, but that is just fine because he is staying right in my collection. He is from Oregon, he is an up and comer in the league and he has a very nice autograph to boot. Did you know that this is my first Red Sox auto pull?

I did notice one thing about these cards tonight. When I slipped Lowrie into his toploader, I notice that it drop right and and can slide right out. So this card stock IS a bit skinnier than other sets. No biggie though. Won't ruin my experience.

More rips tomorrow!

2009 Phenom Inductees

Due to their success this season...but mostly due to the fact that I have cleared out some binder sheets...I am happy to announce this year's inductees into JD's Phenom Binder! Please keep these players in mind when we are working out various trades. I currently have very few cards of these guys, so any additions would be much appreciated!
Matt Cain. Takes second banana to Tim Lincecum, but it very quietly making a name for himself in SF.

Zach Grienke. I still think he looks like a 14 year old in an oversized ballcap, but he certainly does not pitch like one. It's time to give the man his due, even if he in marooned in KC.

Hamels did not have that spectacular a year, but he is still a massive talent in the league and the few Hamels cards that I have seen are pretty nice, so I would definitely like to add some more of him to my collection.

Dan Haren. This is a pretty obvious one, and I have been quietly setting his cards aside, but have just recently made room in the binder.

Max Scherzer - I think the jury is still out on Mad Max, but I think I would like to store up a few of his cards just in case. I find it pretty painful to follow the NL West, so I really don't know how he has done this year, but maybe a diamond in the rough.


Congratulations to this year's inductees! More to come as binder space allows :)