A few more SP Highlights

I grabbed a few (okay, more than a few) packs of SP Authentic to rip open tonight. No 3rd and (final?) hit quite yet, but I did pull quite a wide variety of inserts tonight worth displaying to my dedicated readers. Your guess is as good as mine how Sean West ended up with a Rookie Card in 2009 SP Authentic. His rookie contributions turned out less than stellar with a paltry .338 avg to lefties and a more reasonable but unspectacular .267 to righties. Perhaps Wicked Ortega can help shed a little light on the upside of Sean West. I included this card because it was the only gold (or on my scanner...black) variety parallel of a rook.

NOMAR!! I wish you could see this card live. Apparently there is a refractor version parallel. In this card the SP authentic, Name, serial number, and 1B all refract nicely. I find it pretty hard to relate to Nomar these days because he has moved around so much and been pretty hit and miss, but he still finds a way to make the highlight reel a few times each season and finds a way to contribute when healthy. This card is particularly cool because Nomar is sporting the Ed Rooney!

This is another insert that took me by surprise, the pennant run heroes featuring Clayton Kershaw. Clayton is another one of those quasi-phenoms that I like to keep an eye on to see how they develop. I used to have a nice lil Kershaw auto..gotta get that thing back some day! :)

The platinum power cards are a nice insert. Adam Dunn, 40 HRs...YES! 100 RBI's...YES! .236 batting avg................uggg. keep swinging for the fences, kid.

I'd like to finish up this post with a little math less on for you all... WARNING: A-ROD RANT AHEAD.

young talent

I, Robot

And a star is born. For the record, I really like the Future Watch Flashbacks idea, and this particular card gave me pause. Back in 1994, before the advent of Internet/MLB Extra innings, the only shows in town were the Atlanta Braves and the Seattle Mariners, so I definitely got my fill of the A-Rod, Johnson, and Griffey show. That team had a bunch of young guys that you could really get behind and root for. Rodriguez looked starstruck being surrounded by the veterans of the game, and just looked like he was having a lot of fun out there....then came the contract...then the pressures to perform....then a trade to New York and even more pressure...only to finally have an opportunity to get out at the end of his contract and instead....SIGNED ANOTHER HUGE CONTRACT WITH THE YANKEES. At that point A-Rod was just dead to me. He could have gone somewhere far, far away from the AL East, somewhere quiet and far away from all the media scrutiny he faced on a daily basis. But nope, money talked loudest, and now as far as I am concerned, he deserves any criticism that people throw his way. Sure, he finally got his ring, but at the end of his career I doubt that's how his legacy will be remembered.

However you view A-Rod, this is a pretty nice tribute card to an amazing talent from a more simple time. If anybody has any other cards from this subset, I would love it if you could throw some scans my direction.

SP Authentic Hit #2 has arrived

Last night I played "Call of Duty" until my contacts felt like potato chips in my eyes. As I dragged my butt up the stairs to head off to bed, I decided to make a quick stop over to the ol china cabinet and snag one pack of my SP authentic to open up. I figured " at least I will have a few base cards to discuss today". I noticed immediately that the cardboard dummy was regular colored, so no patch in this back, but three cards back I pulled this... This is apparently a gold variety of Matt LaPorta's rookie auto #/125. I had no idea that there were so many variations on each card, but this one trumps the standard #/250 silver variety. Adding LaPorta to Jacoby's treasure chest has intriguing potential. LaPorta is the highest drafted pick (7th pick, first round) in the box, but that does not necessarily mean much when you have a guy like Tommy Hanson (22nd round pick) proves that a high draft pick does not a star player make. Regardless, Rookies autos are money, and I will definitely keep my eye on

The Wahoos to see how LaPorta develops.

The second card of mention from the pack was a Faces of the Game Dustin Pedroia. This is the third of this subset that I have ripped so far and I really like the look of these cards quite a bit. I love the gritty look on Little Pony's face complements a list of his accolades on the back of the card (MVP, ROY, Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, World Series Champion). Without a doubt, Pedroia has made quite a name for himself in his young career and I can't wait to see what he will do next.
More ripping to come!

Relics I Don't Hate (Part II)

Moving on to the exciting conclusion to the "relics I don't hate" cliffhanger! I know that you lost a ton of sleep overnight pondering how the autograph junkie could possibly even have a handful of lowly little relics on hand. Here are several more that I am happy to have in my collection...

Let's start you off with a little bit of a curve ball.
Ballpark Collection! Say What?? This from the man who ripped the octo-swatch just yesterday? Well let me explain a bit. Its not that I don't like multi-swatches if they make sense. This particular octo represent four former (and world series champion) players, and four current players on the opposite side, not to mention a couple current Red Sox to boot. I don't get the whole serial number sticker, but left in on the card to match it up with its serial number receipt to certify the authenticity of the card.

Kevin Millar! I love this card for several reasons. One I love Kevin Millar. Every team needs a guy like him on the squad to keep things fun and loose. Two, this is a massive chunk of bat that is well defined. Three, the color scheme is very visually appealing and four, I saved this from Joe's Red Sox card incineration pit.

This is one of two sweet swatch patches I have in my collection (the Roy Halladay from Sweet Spots 2009 was downstairs at time of scanning). These cards are nice and thick, numbered to 25, and have a good chunk of meaningful patch in them.

Here is another nicely themed swatch, although it is a bit of a joke because a collector from either side is not going to be happy with the second man on the card. I look at it from more of an investment purpose. We already a guaranteed an HOF with Rivera, so its good to keep an eye on Papelbon to see how his career finishes. This could wind up to be a pretty unique card down the road.

While I am not crazy at all with the relics in Goodwin, I took a bit of a shining to this one just because of the rich-coloring and color scheme as well as being a newly-minted Red Sox. The swatch itself is pretty bland though.

And I will finish up with my new favorite of the bunch. This one is an outstanding replica patch from the Brooklyn Dodgers and an old timer Campanella. I promised Joe that I would display this card often so he won't miss it too much, but have a pack of Yankees and a few relics ready to go to help ease his pain.

That's a wrap on Relics I Don't hate.

Oh, by the way, if you have not done so already, go see Avatar. It is an experience like no other, and even my wife, who dragged her heals and rolled her eyes when I made her go with me, came out of the theatre raving at how cool it was. Don't go in expecting a masterpiece, and DO expect to come out with a mild headache, but this movie was well worth the price of admission just for the sheer spectacle of it all. The sold out crowd on are way out of the theatre reminded me of people waiting in line for "Return of the Jedi". Crazy hype.

Relics I Don't Hate (Part Eye)

It has been long documented in the books of lore that I am opposed to "relics", or the tiny pieces of fabric that might have been worn by the actual player in an actual game at some point in his career. Much like Santa Claus, you just need to put doubt aside and just believe. as much as baseball card companies would like to make these their promised "hits" in each box, for the most part I believe that they are pretty gimmicky with little to no value other than sentimental (Ebay prices will confirm this, as will the "relic bin" that Joe often refers to in his blog).

Their are certain factors that make a relic worth owning, and I do have a small handful from my 2009 collecting that I enjoy viewing occasionally. There are certain factors that will make me want to collect a relic. First, it helps if they are on my favorite team, or are a favorite player. Secondly, it's all about the design. Some are very creative (Topps Flagship) and some just mailed it in (Bowman Heritage), and some are just crazy over-the-top (Upper Deck Ballpark) with octo-swatches of various players that have no theme whatsoever.

So, for fun, I decided to go through the ol' swatch box and share some of my favorites with you. Verrry nice!

Carlton Fisk - SP Legendary Cuts #/50. For obvious reasons this card is a desirable add to my collection. Catchers add so much value to an organization (otherwise the ball would just hit the fence after every pitch) and I would have loved to have been around to see Fisk in his prime.

Ernie Banks #/125. Another classy shot of a classy player. I also love the dot in the middle of the swatch, though I have yet to determine what it might be. Probably just came off the shirt of the guy packing the card.

Ryne Sandberg #/125. Yet another brilliant SP Legendary Cut of a legend. I fell pretty hard for this product and had delusions of completing 1-200 (came within 40 cards), but fell short and ended up with a few relics, autos and 1-100.

Mark DeRosa silk #/50. This remains my one and only silk pull and was one of the "surprise" hits from Flagship that still make me drool in anticipation of the 2010 set. If there is a Cubs fan out there that really wants this silk and has a silk in exchange of a desirable player, I would be happy to swap.

The following three cards are courtesy of Topps blasters. What a great idea to add a guaranteed patch to each box. Yes, they are manufactured, but I still love the design, the recessed (I think that is the word I need) silver platform with the patch attached. This one came out of my first-ever blaster where I didn't read the stinkin UPC label and came up with a bunch of throwback borders. Great patch though.

This Jimmie Fox came out of Topps Update and Highlights...and believe me, the only highlight of the box was this patch. Other than that, just a bunch of smelly base cards (seriously...did anybody else notice the distinctive smell of this set?) Even when I get these in the mail, you can SMELL what product it is. Very odd.

The last of the patches is an obvious choice. Yaz in the 71 summer classic. I received this in trade from Crackin' Wax, who has not posted in several months. Hopefully he comes back in the spring because it was a heckuva site.

One more for today. Believe it or not, this is one of only two relics from Allen and Ginter in my collection. I don't even have any autographs from this set. Because I am a Lincecum nut, this is a nice fit. I still don't get the Jimmy Buffet-esque borders on this set, but bordered mini's in general are pretty sweet.

More relic fun tomorrow! Off to see Avatar and gotta take my Dramamine first!

Special K Edition

This morning I decided to rip a couple more packs of Authentic and test out the pack searching technique as presented by Joe. I gently squeezed all remaining 21 packs and I can now openly confirm that I would make a terrible pack searcher. They all felt the same to me, BUT I did pull two prospect packs that I MAY have felt a little divot, but it was most likely my imagination. Turns out the packs did contain some K related cards...

Started out in pack #1 by pulling a Dice-K serial numbered "gold" card. Apparently the scanner interprets shiny gold as dark black instead. I hope Dice comes into camp ready to do some big things because I suspect he and chien-ming wang trained together last season.

Thought I would through in this K as in KRAP! STOP PUTTING THESE IN PACKS! They are a huge waste of space, nobody likes them, and they also count as one of my five cards??

The second pack held the gem...

Nick Markakis #/30 Letterman Patch auto. I have been looking for a Markakis patch to add to JD's box for months and finally gave up. Every time I would be in the chase on Ebay, some phantom bidder would swoop in with a ridiculous max bid that would top anybody with some sanity. Same guy too, without a doubt looking to spell out the full name. I really wanted the K also, so one hit in I already feel like the lucky card shop has struck again. More rips to come.

SP Authentic Pack Break #1-3

I am definitely excited to rip into some of the "forbidden" cards. There is a lot of potential out there, and after reviewing the hits received by Mr. Scott, I am definitely having dreaming of some nice, short-printed letter patches. But we got a lot of packs to get through, surely there could not be a hit in the first three packs...could there? Um, no. But some nice cards to display nevertheless. Please ignore the odd distortion caused by my scanner, it seems to have some real troubles with odd numbers.
Pack #1 features the ever-present New York Yankee representation with a Chien-Ming Wang, who took a break from falling off of the planet to make an appearance in pack #1. Grady Sizemore in full motion about to learn how much money he can save by switching to GEICO, Vlad the Impaler pre-dread shave, A rookie card of Jess Todd in full Cardinal glory...minus the fact that it's a Cleveland Indian card..and the always impressive Hanley Ramirez.

Pack #2 Jair Jurrjens, rumored future Red Sox Adrian Beltre, whom I am ever suspicious about the random spike in his numbers during his season with the Dodgers. On the other hand, it is the NL West...Speedster Jose Reyes who already holds the Mets career steals record, Sandman Rivera, and a faces of the game insert of super slugger Ryan Braun.

Pack #3 - Little Pony! To this day I swear that were he not a rookie, he would have been named World Series MVP in 2007. Sorry Mikey. Marc Rzepczynski (pronounced zep-chin-ski...obviously), we'll just call him Marc. The much more pronounceable Andy Pettitte, and the easy to pronounce if you do it phonetically Dice-K, and finishing off the pack with marooned Padre talent Adrian Gonzalez. It was rumored at trade deadline that he was on the block and I imagine he will find his way on to a contender at some point next season.

So three packs in. I like the look of these cards and it is clear that Upper Deck is showcasing marquee talent with a sprinkling of "who's who of minor league" rookies. I normally complain about the cut-and-paste look of most Upper Deck cards, but these are pretty decent.

Oh, just one more thing before I go. Each pack comes with a nice, thick piece of dummy cardboard, so I have serious qualms with Cranky being so sketch about pack searchers. Granted this set does not have the three layers of security that Sweet Spot uses, but just sell single packs already.

Jacoby's Treasure Chest

Happy New Years to everybody!

I am going to be adding some new features to the site starting this New Years Day. Starting today, and every Friday from here on forth I will be introducing "Jacoby's Treasure Chest", which is a way to celebrate the reason that this blog came into existence in the first place.

When I first started collecting, my goal was to complete sets and to find cards that I could top-load and stick away in a box for several years in the hopes that some day some of these might be worth something, and I can pass them along to my son JD to enjoy and someday teach a kid of his own how to collect.

I found out quickly how easy it is to become sidetracked with this hobby, and to collect the cards that dear' ol dad finds valuable to him (Go Red Sox! Go Old-Timers! Go Phenoms!). Upon this discovery, I immediately refocused, and purchased a top loader shoebox to stuff full of a wide variety of unique cards of all teams.

So starting today I will reach into the box and randomly select three cards to spotlight each week to share Jacoby's bounty with the blogging community. Here is today's random three:

David Freese Rookie Card Auto. "Allow me to break the ice. My name is Freese. Learn it well. For it's the chilling sound of your doom". David is just a baby and played in 17 games last season with 31 AB and a .323 Avg. Blew above a .08 on a December 14th DUI. This auto was one of the many great cards that I pulled from 2009 Topps chrome. I really love the chrome look and the on-card signature design. I learned quickly that there are a billion rookie cards in the world, so I am focusing on the rookie-autos to put away for JD.

YO! This card got be absolutely hooked on 2009 SP Legendary Cuts and in turn took a good chunk out of my wallet. Its like the manufacture knows when you are a greenhorn, and puts a nice autograph in the first pack of your fresh $100 box. Nevertheless, I still say that SP Legendary Cuts had some of the nicest autographs and even some decent patches (are you listening, Joe?). Plus I love the design and it's serial numbered to boot.

Ah, Short Prints! This was one of my favorite surprises out of Topps Flagship this year (this one is actually from Updates and Highlights). I loved how just when you think you have mathematically received all of your hits and inserts, something like this pops up. I love the design of 2009 Topps and the photo is a beauty. Into the shoebox it goes!

More next week!