Hey everybody. Long time no blog. First of all Jacoby is back up to full speed. He was knocked out for a couple of days but slept it off and is back to destroying everything in his path. Kids get over things so much quicker than adults.

I stopped in the old cranky's hobby shop to get some old packs to rip, and ended up grabbing a few of these...

Cranky was a bit thrown off. he had re-ordered Sweet Spots 2008, and was all set for me to drop minimum 40 bucks yesterday. I basically gave him the "eh, not worth it, i'll check ebay", paid my six bucks and hit the road. I am still holding a grudge for him not selling me individual packs of SP authentic because "they are too easy to tell which packs have the hits", but was more than willing to sell me an entire box for over 100 bucks. Whatever dude, sell your pokemon cards.

So one pack rip for you today! This is World Series Heroes. Lots of foil and presentation going on here, but I think these were pre-Tron laser backgrounds so they actually seem decent. First up is a couple of Yankees, Shef and Tino. Shef is actually a Marlin at this point back in 1997, and if I am not mistaken was part of the fire-sale that immediately followed a seven game victory over the Cleveland Indians.

Tino Martinez is represented in the 1998 World Series against the....San Diego Padres??? How the heck did the Padres make the World series? I was knee deep in college '"stuff" at that point so must have been distracted. Either way, the got swept out and Tino started out the beginning of the end with a grand salami in the first game.

Tom Glavine is next up representing his two victories over the Cleveland Indians to help in winning the series in 6 games.

Finally we finish of with the Wizard of Oz. This card is funny is a couple of ways, firstly this represents the 1982 St Louis win over the Milwaukie Brewers?? Were the Brewers in the American League back in the early 80's? I never really followed ANYTHING when i was five years old. The other fun part of this card was that he only bat .208 in the World Series, BUT played stellar defense! See, you can make anybody look like a hero!

Well, we are off to tour the boy through Halloween festivities. I hope he does not hate us by the end of the day!

Oh No! The CEO is sick! A home report.

Today I am tooling around the house taking care of Jacoby, who has come down with...something. We took him to the doctor yesterday and he tested negative for pig flu, but the doctor said something was coming on and she was right. So my wife and I are taking turns staying home with him. Its pretty crazy. Its the first time he has really been sick and his little body wants to play play play, but he wears out pretty quickly. It does give me a bit of a chance to play catch up on some scans though.

I have most of my boxes put away at this point, but I do have a small pile of cards from trades, packs, and what-have-you's that I have been meaning to write about. These next couple cards came from a good trading friend, the Collective Troll

Troll sent me a couple of great cards in separate packages (that is how far behind I am).

Lets hear it for the scan!! Very rare that my scanner makes anything look half as good as it does in person. this one came out great. this ricky Romero auto is a fantastic sticker card. I know it was hard for Troll to part with, but I trust that he got a good deal on his end of a three-way trade!

A few days later this classic arrived.

I had not realized that part of the sketch card set from Ginter included this great moment in Red Sox history. I became pretty disenchanted with the sketch set when I realized all of the Yankee and Tampa Bay cards (Aaron Boone was the final straw), and I gave them all away. I am happy that Troll posted all 25 for viewing or else I never would have known.

Sorry for the tardiness on this post, but I love these cards and send thanks out to you!

Tengo Miedo!

I come here seeking knowledge. The more I think about this, the more I am filled with dread that in order to officially have the full 2009 Heritage set (which I THOUGHT I had knocked out), I am starting to believe more and more that I will need to collect the entire high number series in order to still have the full set.

My reasoning is that these cards are numbered from 501-720, which is a continuation of the original 500. This is unlike Topps Updates and Highlights, which have a completely new numbering system including the "UH" before each number.

So I ask you all who would know from experience...do I need to collect these cards if I am to officially have the 2009 Heritage complete set?

The Worlds Most Hated Red Sox

Or so Joe from The Priceless Pursuit eluded to as he hinted of a surprise package headed my direction. Immediately I thought "Kevin Youkilis", hell, if he were not on my team I probably would hate him too simply because of his livid intensity. But being a Sox it O-Tay!

So I was a bit surprised when I saw a couple of relics by one of my all-time heroes and gas-bag in chief, Mr Curt Schilling!

Sweet Spot 2007! Pretty cool. These swatches definitely have more personality than the regular swatches of Sweet Spots 2008. Curt is no doubt pondering his next 5000 word blog entry...

And then a cool 2007 Allen and Ginter relic, which is officially the ONLY 2007 Allen and Ginter relic in my collection. I can see how much the frame design has improved over the last couple of years. It still has the Margaritaville thing going on here, but the black framed 2009 edition lend a bit more contrast to the enclosed mini card. Curt here is looking a little haggard, no doubt AFTER typing his latest 5000 word blog entry. I love both of these. Thank you.

Then we move on to a bit of a legend that I have created up here in O-Re-Gon. Last week you may have noticed that I got in a tad of a squabble with the cranky store owner because of his unwillingness to sell individual packs of SP Authentic because it was "too easy to tell which packs had the hits in them", so he would only sell me a whole box at $118 bucks or something ridiculous. So my ability to purchase single packs is out the door, so Joe smuggled me up a couple of cards from Cali...

Beckett and Bay. Shiny! There is one other shop in the city that I can check out that might allow me to buy a pack or two, so we'll see how it goes. I really like the lettermans that I have seen on Ebay.

Then on to the Tickets to flimsy-dom. These are special edition though because of the perforated edge. sweet.

Last, and absolutely not least, Joe has tried twice to surprise me with my first TTM, since I have bet o-fer on all that I have tried. Apparently Mark Buehrle also has caught wind not to sign for me since Joe has sent out two cards to supposedly one of the most generous signers on the planet and zippo! So included in the package...

Joe took his own TTM and sent it my way! A completely unnecessary, but much appreciated gesture by a stand up guy. I promise to take good care of it and should one of those TTM's come my way, I promise he will come back to you with additional "interest".

Thanks Joe, and everybody, check out Joe's site and help me convince him that he is not a set collector!

Another Trip to the PO, and a Surprise Package!

Well, I spent another Saturday in the library yesterday, knocking out another section of my paper on Google. It was relatively non-event yesterday minus the guy listening to a CD with headphones on one of the library computers. He decided to start singing...something, in some language, at various times throughout the day. yesterday was also "take a tour of the library day, so as I packed up and headed out, there were about 40 adults and children lined up for library cards waiting for three frazled librarians to help them out.

Typically I head to the card shop after working on my paper, a small reward for sacrificing yet another Saturday...but I have grown tired of the cranky man, and I gambled that something would be waiting for me at home...sure enough there was one little packet....


Ah, my Tommy Hanson auto has arrived! Its a nice looking card, the sticker is slightly crooked, and the paper stock is not nearly as thick as the autos and relics from the flagship set, but Topps is pretty good at cool color schemes that make the stickers work, and this card looks pretty sharp.

Completely out of order, before going to the library I had to go to the post office, AGAIN to pick up a parcel. Little did I realize that the next card came from Taiwan, so therefor the sender required my signature to complete the transaction. Here is what arrived...

This is my first Dustin Pedroia auto and what an auto it is. Looks a bit like hyrogyphics to me, but I still think most of the autos on this card are pretty nice, and you can get them for cheap too cuz nobody else likes them but me!

I finish up to today with one of my favorites...surprise packages! Chris from Budget Base BallBall Cardboarding. sent a few pitching phenoms my direction. My favorite of which is the Blaster exclusive X-Fractors. It is my mission to try to find a way to make refractors and chrome look decent on a scanner. This really is a fantastic card, and Hamels may become a two-time world series winner in short time. Thanks for sending some phenom love my direction, Chris!

Alright, off to football!