I'm on a mission from Mark Bellhorn

So I have been trying to figure out where I want to take my collection besides just working on the 2009 Topps sets. I decided that I would really like to start a collection of 2004 Boston Red Sox cards, the dream team. Bellhorn, Caveman Johnny (not that other turncoat), Schilling, Pedro, Lowe, Fulke....basically anything related to THAT YEAR or any commemorative cards from 2005. I would be very grateful if you all would help me locate some nice cards from them days!

In other news, I have found an ingenious way to dispose of unwanted cards...
RIP Kendall Gill (well, kinda). Jacoby has also been known to dispose of a New York Yankee from time to time.

In even more news, going through some randoms my wife brought home from the office, I have apparently assembled a 1996 Seattle Mariner Team set. I have cards P1-P20 in good condition, but have no idea if it is the full set. Contains, Griff, A-Hole, Randy Johnson, Edgar Martinez, Jay Buhner, etc. I cannot seem to find any info on this online...rather odd. What have I got here and does anybody want it? Just let me know.

Pack opening is going well. I was thrilled to find a Jackie Robinson short print within the first 5 packs of the box, so hoping the luck continues. Will let you know more later!

Time to get crackin!

Ah, no better feeling than coming home on a Friday to find that (finally) not one, but TWO hobby boxes show up, one more still on the way. Two little viles of crack just waiting to be explored. I will be tackling series 1 first to try to complete my base set, then move on to series two. Over the next several days I will post some of the pack highlights as well as start loading up my trading post section, so check back often!

JD's Rookie Cards

Well, another day passed and no cards yet. I am told at least one hobby box should be arriving today, so this weekend is all about the grip and rip! In the meantime I thought I would share with you a couple cards that I acquired for my 6 month old boy Jacoby Dustin (JD, you humble blog host). We live out here in Oregon and I have watched Jacoby Ellsbury play since his days at Oregon State. Unfortunately he missed out on the back-to-back titles by one year, but we was definitely a main part of the out-of-nowhere run that Oregon State made back in 2005.


Every season, my wife and I head up to Seattle to represent Red Sox Nation up at Safeco field. The atmosphere is pretty amazing and I almost feel sorry for the Mariner fans having to deal with such a raucous crowd (though EVERY time the Sox play there, Seattle has their number). We got some great shots of Ellsury and Pedroia at the plate (Papi was in time-out that weekend, and Youk was still aching) which gave us a chance to see guys like Rocco Baldelli and Jeff Bailey go 0-fer whatever that weekend.


Anyways, we thought it would be nice to frame the photos along with an Ellsbury and Pedroia rookie card. I visited homeruncards.com (hey my first link plug!) and was hooked up with these...

Both look great, came very quickly, and were hard-cased, so thank you to Chuck for your efforts.

So, these rookie cards bring me to a discussion question. This year and moving forward I intend to put away each and every rookie card in the series. My question to you is, which rookies do you think will make a big impact this season. David Price is an obvious pick, maybe Mat Gamel, Matt Weiters, Tommy Hanson (Braves had better hope so)....so who else do you think is going to be the Ryan Braun or Evan Longoria of 2009?

Trading Post: Available for Trade

Please email me at yinchuan2005@yahoo.com for trade offers as leaving comments may get lost in the shuffle. I am very good about responding to my email.

NEW! 2009 Turkey Reds

TR7, 17, 37, 38, 44, 45, 48, 51, 53, 54, 55, 57, 59, 64, 65, 66, 70 ,71, 72, 73, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 87, 88, 89, 92, 93, 96, 98, 99.

Mashed potatos sold separately.

Come back tomorrow. Wife and Jacoby are sleeping in the card room, sorry!

3- Evan Longoria (2)
4- Brandon Phillips (2)
5- David Wright
7- Jose Reyes (2)
8 - Ryan Braun
9 - Jim Thome
10 - Chipper Jones
11 - Jimmy Rollins (2)
15 - Carlos Beltran (3)
21- Carlos Delgado
23 - Adrian Gonzalez
25 - Mark Texiera
27 - Vlad Guerrero (2)
30 - Magglio Ordonez
31 - Cliff Lee
32 - Josh Hamilton
38 - Carlos Zambrano
39 - Max Scherzer (2)
43 - Alexei Ramirez (2)
44 - Jake Peavy (2)
45 - Trevor Hoffman (2)
46 - Ryan Dempster
47 - Francisco Liriano
49 - Joakim Soria
51 - Ichiro (2)
52 - Francisco Rodriguez (2)
57 - Johan Santana
59 - Geovany Soto (2)
62 - Joba Chamberlain (2)
63 - Rick Ankiel (2)
65 - Chin Wang Chung
67 - Roy Halladay
68 - Ian Kinsler (2)
69 - Scott Kazmir
70 - Miguel Tejada
71 - Carlos Lee (2)
75 - Pat Burrell (2)
80 - Carlos Quentin
81 - Lance Berkman
82 - Randy Johnson
83 - Matt Holliday
85 - Miguel Cabrera
87 - Troy Tulowitzki (3)
91 - BJ Upton (2)
92 - AJ Burnett
93 - Carl Crawford
94 - Nate McClouth
99 - Manny Ramirez (1)








NEW! Ring of Honor Topps 2009

RH-23 Mariano Rivera
RH-25 Lou Piniella
RH27 - Kevin Mitchell
RH29 - Francisco Rodriguez
RH31 - Tony La Russa
RH39 - Gary Carter
RH41 - Andy Pettitte
RH42 - Jim Leyland
RH45 - Albert Pujols
RH47 - Roger Clemens
RH49 - Ryan Howard
RH52 - Tyler Johnson
RH57 - Jayson Werth
RH58 - Garret Anderson
RH61 - Luis Aparicio
RH62 - John Smoltz
RH66 - Mark Buehrle
RH68 - Brad Penny
RH69 - Joe Torre
RH72 - Jonathan Papelbon
RH73 - Joe Girardi
RH74 - Aaron Rowand


Topps 2009 Inserts:

Career Bests

Mickey Mantle
Walter Johnson

Legends of the Game

Ty Cobb
Ted Williams


Commons coming soon, as well as gold parallels and more inserts!

Trading Post: Wanted

Please contact me via email at yinchuan2005@yahoo.com for any trade offers or requests. Comments are starting to get buried and I want to respond to everybody who wants responding to! I am very good about checking my mail numerous times a day.

Also, please take a look at the sidebar of my blog, as my most important wants are listed there in the SP legendary cuts #101-200 and Turkey Reds 2009. It is my priority to complete these series. Please help me finish this quest!


Currently my set needs are taken care of except for the SP Legendary Cuts and Turkey Reds listed on my main page on the sidebar. For regular cards I am interested in Yovanni Gallardo (really want a rookie card), Tommy Hanson, Ryan Braun, Johnny Cueto, Mat Gamel, any Red Sox GU or autos.

Thanks!

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting

Geez, they must be delivering the mail on horses again, because I continue to wait for some hobby boxes to show up so I can get back to work. I know for sure that a Topps 2008 series 1 hobby box is coming tomorrow, just in time for the weekend, but I also have one of each series from ebay that I cannot tell whether they have even shipped (I assume it would be somewhere on the transaction, but nothing yet. The seller gave me positive feedback for quick payment...thanks bud, but how bout that shipment??



So basically I am in a holding pattern at the moment for what I have available for trade. I really want to get through these boxes to see how far I am from completing certain series. Once I have a better idea where I stand I will create a link with wants and tradeables. In the meantime I bought several packs a few days ago and have been slowly opening them up to tide me over until the big shipment arrives. So last night I find:

Sweet...another one for my Sesame Street collection. These are kinda fun just for the thrill of the unknown, might end up being my first signature card...probably going to be a throwback Mike Greenwell...anyways since 7 comes before 10, I should have this one by late next fall, so that is pretty exciting! :)

Not much else to report currently from the card front. Just twiddling my thumbs waiting for those boxes to show up...hang in there everybody!

Relic Cards and Short Runs

I thought I would share what special cards I have come upon thus far. I know that none of these are of great value, but since they are my first set of cards, I feel okay about what I have so far. I think the best part is that I have obtained 3 relic cards, even though I have only purchased one full hobby box. So basically I had the luck of the pack draw for the other two. Not too shabby I guess. So here is what I have so far...

This was pretty exciting to pull because I had just read about these in a blog that day. I have no idea how common they are, but it is pretty exciting to know that I might receive an autographed rookie card. Who knows, might even be David Price. I logged this baby in, but was dismayed to learn that it is the last in the series of 10, so will be late fall (or beyond) before I receive it.

This is the relic that I pulled from my hobby box. Since this was my first "special card" I was pretty stoked, although I am not much of a Cubs fan. Either way, in the sleeve it goes...I have a blue stripe on the B, does that help?

I went to a hobby shop and grabbed five packs and scored this relic. The guy allows you to pick out your packs, but you cant squeeze them for thickness, so felt pretty lucky to get this.

Different hobby shop, another 5 packs, another relic. Same player? Oh well, still pretty lucky pull.

This was probably the most exciting (and addicting) moment so far. As I said before, I open the packs and place them face down so I can log the name and card number into my spreadsheet. I had already gotten past the middle section (Red Turkey, Ring of Honor, that stupid hobbytown card etc, and started to log....waaa? Ryne Sandberg? Card #350...hmm, already have Dustin Pedroia...holy crap, is this a short run??? That was pretty much the conversation going through my head. Pulling short runs is FUN!

Again, this is my first rodeo, so some of you may role your eyes, but I am excited to know that at least I am off and running and starting to get my feet wet! When those 3 boxes arrive, if I pull a sketch card or another SR, I may wet myself like JD.

My (sound?) strategy

Well folks, being new to collecting, I have been immersing myself in websites and blogs learning about the art of collecting. What I have pretty much determined is...

A)There are a ton of blogs out there doing exactly what I am doing
B)There are a ton of sites on collecting methodology, basically collect what you like.

So based on all of this knowledge in hand, I initially went out and bought one hobby box in hopes of gaining MOST of a base set, then I went online and purchased a base set for series 1. My initial thought was to just complete the base set, put it aside and see about pursuing those Turkey Reds or Short Run cards. Pretty sound strategy, right?

But NOOOOOO, I had to discover the joy of ebay and found myself the happy winner of a series 2 hobby box for half of what I paid at the hobby store. I did not mean to win, just got lucky I guess. Anyways I figured there is a good chance that I will pull all (or most) of the 33 cards that I am short...but what to do with the rest...I know.....buy another series 1 hobby box! Hurray for ebay cuz I got one of them too (I was curious on this one though as I was the only bidder, though the description looks sound, and the seller is spotless). Anyways, new strategy has evolved...

I now think that I am going to form two complete base sets, put one away, and then find the scraps to complete a second set, and use that set to possibly trade for a hobby box of another series or something. Plus with 3 more boxes on the way, I should gain a considerable amount towards my Turkey Red set or maybe luck out and get a cut sig or sketch card (I am learning quick).

Does this method make sense, or am I just throwing way too much money into this already?

Subset talk

So I thought that this might be a good idea to open up a discussion forum on the subsets of the Topps 2009 Series 1 and 2 sets. One realization that I have come to in just the couple weeks that I have been doing this, is that it is going to be pretty impossible to collect them all. Economically speaking it is just not a realistic goal. But from what I know so far, here are my thoughts.

Turkey Red - I really like the look of these and figure that after my base set is complete, this will be my next gathering challenge. Apparently there are 50 per series, so I definitely have my work cut out for me.

Career Legends - I also like the look of these quite a bit. Felt good to pull a Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth, although I am fairly certain everybody has them, but they look nice. I will try to complete this as well.

Legends of the game - I am on the fence here, I kind of like these, but also kind of don't. I might use these for trade value.

WBC cards - Definitely not interested in these. Have a few, but if you want them, just holler...

Ring of Honor - Again on the fence, but these don't really interest me much either. After my next couple of hobby boxes, I will see how close I am and maybe try to complete it, but it is definitely not a priority.
Gold Cards - Okay, these are pretty cool, but what are the chances of getting an entire set of these? Maybe these have better value as individuals? Don't know, but there is no way I can collect all of them, so most likely these are on the trade block as well.

So what are your thought? What sets do you enjoy/are seeking out? What types of strategies do you use to decide what to collect and what to trade or sell? The floor is open...

Topps 2009 Series 1 and 2 Trading Cards

I am going to just jump right in and say that for the immediate future, these posting will mostly be around Topps 2009 trading cards since this is the collection that I have decided to attack first.

So the first thing I did is go to the local hobby shop, look completely overwhelmed at the sheer number of cards available for sale, and then proceed to the counter for advice (greenhorn). I then grabbed a 660 card cardboard box and 400 soft sleeves, as well as a hobby box of Topps 2009 Series 2 trading cards.

At this point, another little bit about myself. I love Excel. I love creating spreadsheets, and the first thing I did was create a Topps 2009 Series 2 spreadsheet, numbered 331-660, and left a field for name, team, and quantity. Also color coded quantity so I can easily determine if I have a dup...you get the idea.

I open up that box and...WOW, look at all those packs for me to open. I let my wife open the first pack, she pulls a Dustin Pedroia...lucky girl. I then meticulously take a card one at a time, log it in the spread, and then softsleeve it.

Several packs in I realize that there is more than just player cards, the inserts start to appear...

Turkey Red
Ring of Honor
Legends of the Game
Career Legends

Whoa, so now I create a spreadsheet to list those as well, one sheet for each type. I keep those separate from the base set (see I am already learning the terminology). then I discover...whats this?? Gold cards? So I create a field for those. At the end of each session I have gathered and placed the cards safely in there box in numbered order. At this time I am 33 cards shy of completing base set for Topps 2009 Series 2). Did I forget to mention that I have already run out to buy more packs, and now I have collated duplicates? Also another hobby box (thank you ebay) on the way as well as a hobby box for Topps 2009 Series 1. I am in deep already :)

This is just general information, my next posts will be more specific to insert series and relics etc, but just wanted to point out the level of my madness. Though I guess the point would be, if any of you is looking for a particular card, I can easily look it up and locate it for you!

To be continued!

Go for launch!

Hello, and welcome to JD's Wild Cardz!

This being my first post, I should tell you a little bit about myself, and about this blog and what I envision it to become.

Well, for starters I am 32 years old and live in or around Portland, Oregon. As time goes by I am sure my personality will come out in my postings, so I will not bore you with the details, just keep reading!

This blog is being created around the interest of collecting baseball cards. A few points to add to that...

1) I am a rookie collector (the last time I even thought about cards was when I was eleven, and back then I had no idea what I was doing and somehow ended up gathering a bunch of Mike Greenwell and Kevin Mitchell cards...nuff said.

2) I am not a nieve collector...I have had a growing passion for the sport of baseball and consume myself with my MLB package, my MLB video game, play fantasy baseball, and now my MLB card collection. I understand the players well enough to know who is more valuable than others, and the value of short run cards, special inserts, etc...so please dont try to peddle any more Greenwells on me!

3) Who is JD? He is my newborn son, Jacoby Dustin...yep, THOSE guys. I suggested it to my wife in humor and much to my surprise it grew on her pretty quick and there ya go! Your first little piece of info on me...I am a Red Sox fan (left coast fan to be exact), but...

4) I am also an objective fan, so I appreciate the game as a whole and dont consider myself to be a homer. I have learned that in Fantasy Baseball, sometimes you do need a Yankee or Ray on your team to be competitive.

5) I want to LEARN! I am absolutely amazed by the knowledge and the kindness of those who collect cards and I am looking to soak in your knowledge on the subject and help guide me with my collection. Ultimately, these cards will all go to my son some day, so I want to get started in the right direction and also be able to teach him when he is old enough (I already purchased a Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia Rookie card for his room :)

So where do we go from here? One of the reasons that I am starting this site is because I have visited several other card collector blogs and have been amazed at the details, the community, and the generosity of those that visit the site. I would really like to be a part of that community. Please take the time to peruse my site and drop me a comment to let me know you are out there. All advice and ideas are welcome.

Well, on to the show!