Coming down the stretch...packs 29-32

This is not looking good, folks. Joe has found a way to sustain his lead for the last several breaks. I held a meager 5 point lead after 8 packs, but that has long since gone away thanks to the Nick Swisher death card. lets see if tonight help the cause a bit...

Pack 29

Marco Scutaro (shades) +5
Twins team (horizontal) +5
Ryan Howard Toppstown(leaders) +5
Rick Porcello TR (current player) +5
Jonathan Sanchez
John Smoltz
Scott Kazmir
Tyler Flowers (GOLD) rookie
Kenshin Kawakami
Jeff Samarozija

Pack 29 total = +20 pts


Pack 30

Seattle Mariners (horizontal) +5
Adam Jones Toppstown (cellar dwellar) -5
Vernon Wells (shades) +5
Tim Hudson
Garrett Jones
Ivan Rodriguez CYMTO
Ricky Nolasco
Mark Teixeira
David Price

Pack 30 total = +5


Pack 31

Angels (horizontal) +5
Tex, Bay, Lind (horizontal) +5
Wade Davis
Giants history
Tony Gwynn CYMTO original back !
Roger Maris HOTG
Todd Helton
Jason Bay (Sox) +5
JA Happ
Orlando Hudson

Pack 31 total = +15



Pack 32

Shairon Martis
Dodgers and Giants HOTG
Johnny Cueto
David Hernandez
John Maine
Adrian Gonzalez TR (current player) +5
Miguel Cabrera Toppstown Gold
Milton Bradley (horizontal and shades) +10
Athletics history (horizontal) +5
Mat Latos (horizontal) + 5

Pack 32 total = 25 pts



Total packs 29-32 = 65

Man, another grind. Had one gold card but could not utilize it this time around. Still waiting for something to go horribly wrong for Joe, but it has been pretty smooth sailing on his side. Well, what can you say. Looks like I will be writing much praise about the Yankees this year after all! Still four packs to go though!

12 Cards in a Million!

Okay, I have to admit that this promotion is turning out to be a lot of fun, and the user interface on the website is pretty slick as well. This promotion is also like crack addition, snagging a code at any cost in order to see that moment of anticipation right before your junk wax card pops up on the screen. Dangerous stuff, and should only be used in small dosages! I am certainly not going to go running out to the store to get some extra codes, and the BIG TIME winners of this whole promotion are the Ebay sellers pimping these out for about $1.00 to $2.00 each! Of course, should you be one of the lucky ones to snag a '52 Mickey Mantle, then the joke is on the rest of us!

I gotta say, I barely know any of these guys. I am more-or-less a modern generation fan (although I am reading up a lot on baseball history these days...first impressions...was Ty Cobb a total prick or what?)

Being that I don't know a lot about most of these dudes, I am going to rank them in descending order from least favorite to most favorite based solely on my excitement when that card popped up on the screen!

#12

1991 Franklin Stubs

#11

2005 Jason Frasor

#10

1998 Roberto Alomar

#9

1986 Greg Walker

#8 (isn't this exciting???)

1986 Greg Walker

#7

1993 Jose Melendez

#6

1985 John Castino (this card just makes me uncomfortable)

#5 (let's get to the goods!)

1971 Pat Dobson. Love the autograph and design of the '71.

#4

John Henry Johnson. Future owner of the team....I think.

#3

1972 Rennie Stennett. I wonder if they got a lot of crap for this design in '72, but today it looks fantastic. I love the "Superman" font at the top, the chain link fence, and whatever is going on behind him...either a construction zone or a massive substation. Sweet card.



#2

1971 Earl Wilson. Another nice '71 base design and legible auto. Very nice!

and #1

....ready for this one?

1979 Mark Lee! This dude is rockin it with the styling brown and yellows, Holmgren moustache, and Some early version of blu-blockers! Easily my favorite of the bunch!

There you have it. This is what two hobby boxes will get you. Come to think of it, maybe it does make more sense to buy a lot of 10 from ebay for about 1/5 the price. I'll let you make that decision! I have no idea how to do it yet, but these are up for cyber trade if you REALLY want one of them bad enough.

Of things balloons and baseball

I feel really guilty.

A couple weeks ago I felt bad about writing a baseball blog about the Super Bowl. One sport had nothing to do with the other and I had committed a major crime as a blogger...staying on topic.

Well today I AM going to talk about baseball...but again I feel guilty.

You see, over the last several posts, I have had a shocking lack of photographs in my blogs. Blogger rule #2, paste lots of pretty pictures to keep people from falling asleep! Between updating the medal counts in my Olympic contest, to keeping up with the scans for Topps-O-Cuffs, the Rip Off! (which, by the way, I am losing....horribly), I simply have not had to bandwidth (I HATE this expression, by the way) to scan any cards. I will make it up to you though with some pictures...

This is a balloon doggie. Did you know that when you google image "balloon animals" a vast majority of them feature balloon doggies? There are also a smattering of balloon animals engaged in dirty acts, but for the most part, it would seem that either doggies are the most popular balloon animal, or there is a shocking lack of ballooner talent out there to expand their portfolio. Most likely the same can be said about the origami crane.

This is a drawing of Jacoby and myself. This is the picture that we intend to send to Topps to use for our Allen and Ginter card in the next set. Most likely we will need to sell Phelps for a boatload in order to cover our legal expenses.

This is hungry going to town on some donuts. This represents me at the office today because I did not have enough time to eat a decent meal because...

Yup, I got to work this morning and was shot out of a cannon and it did not let up until semi-late afternoon. you always feel kinda guilty taking a super-late lunch. But there is me, sitting at my desk playing golf and doodle jump on my iTouch while people are wondering whether I am sluffing off or not.

So there are your pretty pictures!

Now lets talk some Topps baseball.

Last night I decided to take advantage of no new comedy Monday night to do some serious ripping. I decided to jump on my second hobby box of 2010 Topps Flagship Series 1. I did this for a couple of reasons...

• I was not super-happy with my Cal Ripken pants relic from the first box...show me the autos!
• I did not receive a SP card in the first box
• I wanted some more Million Card crack cards to enter
• I wanted to give a serious assessment of the product as a whole since only opening a couple packs a day really slowed the process and tainted my perspective.

With these goals in mind, I settled in from of the TV, turned on the Olympics and started to rip. Good Olympic coverage last night, by the way. Downhill skiing and snowboarding rip it up. The snowboarding reminds me of excitebike for those of you old enough to give a "hellllll yeah". Figure skating is just killing me though....and by the way, speaking of skating "Hey Shani Davis, thanks for quitting yesterday and making my Shani Davis card that much more useless...might as well be a Goodwin auto at this point". But I digress.

So I got to ripping. Goal number one got shot out the window. I pulled a Shin-Shoo-Choo-Choo jersey relic out of this box. I am feeling a lot better about those pants all of a sudden.

Goal number two DID get achieved as I pulled a very fancy Lou Gehrig SP. Nice looking card. I love these, even if they are Yankees.

Goal three also achieved as I entered six more million cards entries...though I have to say that the first six were much more entertaining results with a couple 1971 and 1972 cards.

So goal number four is assessing the product. Wanna hear it, here go!

Base Product: Not a big fan. Sorry Topps, but for the most part I think that the design with the arching color border and the enormous logo just seem to really botch up the effectiveness of a vast majority of these cards. Some of the landscape shots work nicely...I think my favorite goes to the Randy Johnson card, as well as the Prince Fielder "Bowling Pin" shot (card #1), but for the most part, the shots are crowded, sometimes blurry, and repetitive. And that Hunter Pence and Lance Berkman is just terrifying. Verdict: C

Cards Your Mother Threw Out: This set remains one of my favorites, even if they are not the original cards. I am a new collector and never had ANY of these card, so it is fun to pull a crazy Manny or a Johnny Bench, or last night I even pulled a Carl Yaz with original back! Yes it is still a reprint, but its as close to a Yaz rookie I have been and I'll take it. One of the reasons I wanted to bust another box was to see how these look side by side in a binder, and these look good together. A great idea (for a novice collector). Verdict: A-

Peak Performance: Speaking of cards that look good side by side, the peak performance really looks nice together in a binder. While some say that the facts on the back are retreads, I still think they are pretty interesting anyways, plus the mixture of new and old-timer players looks great. I am normally not a fan of computer generated backdrops, but these work pretty good. Verdict: A

Topps Turkey Red: Dammit, these look fantastic again. They have a nice soft quality to them this year that really enhances the most minute details. I am upset that I like these so much because I made such an effort to collect all of last years, and got tripped up in the Updates and Highlights, that I swore I would not go for a continuation set this time. Well...balls because I think I want them again. A perfect insert set! Verdict: A

Ticket to Toppstown: Probably one of the most laughable inserts last season actually looks kinda decent this year. Good enough to keep in a binder. I can't really explain why I like these. Maybe its because there is only one player from each team, so a fairly easy set to collect. Can't say I see the point of the gold variation, but they look decent as well. Its still a shabby promotional card, but way better than last year. Verdict: B-

When They Were Young: This is where it starts to get hairy. Initially when the product came out I thought this was a neat idea. And for the first few I pulled, I still thought that. But the problem is...Topps mostly used players you A)have never heard of, or B) don't care about. Yeah there are a few big name players in the bunch, but for the most part I am not impressed with a picture of a young player turned struggling middle-reliever. Verdict: D

Tales of the Game: Not a big fan, and I will tell you why. I like the concept and the stories, but I have to say that I don't like the whole "Ripleys Believe it or Not" (look it up, kiddos) font to the titles, and also in a binder the mixture of horizontal and verts don't jibe well. If you are going to do a mixture, thats fine, but at the very least when you at the stupid looking title, make it uniform in a corner so it lines up in a binder. Aesthetically, its garbage, content its decent, therefor: Verdict: C-

History of the Game: At least the title of the card is always at the top, but the problem with this series is that they are BLAND. The colors are dreary, and I swear that most of the "history" involves a shot of a stadium or baseball diamond. Very little variety here. There are a couple of exceptions in the bunch, but overall, sucko! Verdict: D+

Legendary Lineage: At risk of being too crude, these look bitchin' in a binder. All horizonal, awesome design that looks good side-to-side with another card, these cards are stylin. A slight deduction for having a couple questionable pairings (not nearly as bad as Upper Deck Ballpark though), but the subjects are all interesting and the photos are fantastic. Verdict : A-

Topps Attax (or whatever): Bottom line, these are dumb and a waste of a card. Nuff said. Verdict: F

Topps Million Card Giveaway: I don't know what else to say that has not already been said. This is a pretty nifty promotion, that allows you to swap cards online and get the thrill of the pull every time you enter a code. Who knows, you might win a Mantle card. I guess rumor is there is more than one being given away. Plus the card itself is pretty cool looking as well: Verdict: A

Finally, the "Hits". Yeah, I did not get an auto, or a hat relic, or a jumbo patch, or a silk, or a plate, or a sketch card. These are all out there to be had. I got a couple relics and you know how I feel about those. I have to say, the odds of pulling a group A auto are pretty ridiculous, and from what I have seen for sale online, most auto subjects tend to veer towards the garbage end of the spectrum Not to say that there are not total gems out there to be found, but will you get one? As for the use of them on the Peak Performance design...not a huge fan. While the design works on its own, it is a bit too drab to house a relic or a sticker auto. I loved the bright color contrast of last years relics and autos, the deep blues, reds, and greens in the U&H. These just don't pop and are pretty boring looking. I would have to say...Verdict: C- (unless you snag a jumbo patch or something cool).

So there you have it. Am I going to complete the base and several subsets? You bet, and I will post my needs list soon to get some trading going, but for the most part I am less-than-enamored with the base cards, but when 8 out of 1o cards are base, you might as well finish the set, right?

Well, time to settle in for some more Olympic fun, plus LOST tonight!

Pack Rip...A New Hope

Pack # 23



Colby Rasmus (horizontal + shades) +10
LL Seaver and Halladay (horizontal) +5
Jason Kubel (shades) + 5
Jeff Baker (shades) +5
Mike Cameron
Texas Rangers
Johnny Bench CYMTO
Evan Longoria Toppstown
Brian McCann
Rod Barajas

Pack 23 total = +25




Pack # 24

Daniel Hudson (horizontal) +5
Kurt Suzuki (umpire!) +5
Juan Uribe (shades) +5
Andy Pettitte (yanks scum) -10 +5 for umpire + -5
Josh Johnson Turkey Red (current player) +5
Ryan Dempster
Adam Lind
Lou Gehrig History of The Game
Eric Byrnes
Miguel Cabrera ticket to Toppstown

Pack 24 total = + 15

Pack 25

Pedro Feliz (horizontal) +5
Joe Mauer GOLD (oops the ball scooted away) 5x5=25 pts
Drew Stubbs (lost my bat!) +5
White Sox franchise history
Adam Wainwright
Nate Schierholtz
Scott Olson When they were young
Miguel Tejada Ticket to Toppstown
Leo Nunez

Pack 25 total = +35

Pack 26

Rocco Baldelli (Sox) +5
Juan River (flying bat) +5
Phillies team (horizontal) + 5
LL Gywnn/Mauer (horizontal) +5
Bloody Sock! +5 horizonal
Billy Butler
Carlos Ruiz
Cesar Ramos
David Wright Toppstown
Nyjer Morgan

Pack 26 total = +25


Pack 27

Sabathia Toppstown (leaders o the pack) +5
Will Venable (shades and horizontal and mad air) +10
Howie Kendrick GOLD (shades) +5x5=25
David Wright Turkey Red (current player) +5
Justin Masterson
Brandon Allen
Tommy Hanson
Cole Hamels
Manny Ramirez
Madison Bumgarner (orange....very orange).

Pack #27 total = +45



Pack = 28 (This scan vanished and if I add it now...spaces galore, so just trust me!

Willy Tavares (bonus player) +5
Carl Crawford (horizontal + bonus player) +10
Ted Lilly
Justin Duchscherer
Josh Bard
Braden Looper
Julio Lugo
Roger Maris Tales of the Game
Stan Musial Peak Performance
Timmy gold variation ToppsTown

Pack #28 total = 15

Packs 23-28 total = +160!

Also, it was discovered at a later time that the golds count for ALL cards and not just sox and yanks...so below is an additional 25 points for shades on Juan Uribe! Woohoo!




So, basically while this baby is virtually wrapped up, these gold cards are helping me chip my way back into the competition ever so slightly. Joe pulled his black bordered card and it was a no-point card, so not a lot of wiggle room left for him to get any negative points. It may be time to start waving the white flag...other that or guy buy some gold paing and start doctoring some of these babies up!

Just eight packs remain. WHAT will happen next?

Olympic Contest Update!

Everything has been updated in the sidebar to reflect current entry standings based on medal winnings. I think most of the kinks of the operation are worked out at this point and it should be smooth sailing from here on forward. Not too many surprises so far...the US team is leading the medal count, followed by Germany and France, with host Canada creeping into the top 5. Those of you who drew those countries are sitting pretty, but anybody can still take home top prize!

I was stoked this morning to award a silver medal and two entries to Estonia! I am not sure exactly where Estonia is, but I am pretty certain that's where Encino Man came from. Either way +2 entries and bolly for you, MMosley!

Keep on truckin!

Breaking up is hard to do...

Unfortunately, sometimes it just needs to be done. In the instance of the Ginter Prize, Nick Jacoby and myself were dealt the challenge of how to divide up 70 autograph cards, while trying to be fair in assessing the worth of each. For a couple of days we tossed around using Beckett, Ebay completed listings, and astrology (I still think going to a palm reader is an excellent way to gauge value). But when it came down to it, really the best way to split up the cards was just to do a good old fashioned draft!

We had (and still have) a slight hitch...we only received one Michael Phelps auto. Technically the prize does say "one autograph for each autograph SUBJECT", therefore technically ONE Phelps is within those parameters...although it makes things substantially more difficult for us! We'll figure it out, and will most likely just sell that one on Ebay and split the cash as it really seems the only fair thing to do.

So the great Ginter summit of 2010 took place. There was some from readers in seeing how the negotiations all went down, so I kept a script of emails spanning two days. It's not the most interesting reading on earth, but it will give you an idea of which cards went when and to whom. At the end of this entry is a summary of the split. Trust me, this was 100 times more intense than any fantasy draft that I have ever done!

A couple more things to note. Pre-draft we determined a few "Must-Haves" that we did not want to fight over. For example he really wanted a David Wright and Jose Reyes, and I really wanted Big Papi and Ryan Howard, so we pulled those out. He also wanted two of his beloved Reds Jay Bruce and Johnny Cueto, so I countered with Jon Papelbon and Clayton Kershaw. We also snagged three negro leaguers apiece based on Beckett value.

Alright! So then those aside, this is how it went down...



Mike: Alright. Here goes nothin...
While not the most valued...I will take Evan Longoria.

Nick: Okay, I would go with Miguel Cabrera.

Mike: I'll take Matt Holliday

Nick: Darn, that was my next pick! I’ll take Werth.

Mike: yeah, it was between the two of them...again not as much worth...but I will take Hanley Ramirez

Nick: I’ll take Billy the Marlin… (This was the first separation from ballplayers to oddball cards)

Mike: I take Ryan Braun!

Nick: I’ll take Survivor Champ Bob Crowley! (This starts to become a recurring theme in picks)

Mike: Gotta take Joba for the block, Bob.

Nick: I’ll take Cat Osterman…

Mike: very nice, she was next on the list. SHOW ME THE YUTO! (My favorite of the oddies, I decided to reach for it).

Nick: I wanted him a few picks back but you seem super pumped about it (and your son has a pretty cool name) so I figured I’d let you have that one. Let me go with Steve Wiebe…

Mike: thanks. Dustin IS a pretty cool name :)
Opendahl (or whatever it is) for me.

Nick: Phil Hughes…

Mike: Kristine Armstrong

Nick: Matt Kemp

Mike: A new day! Denard Span! First pick of day #2, where a bunch of mid-level baseball cards and several oddies remain).

Nick: I’ll take Michael Phelps. Kidding, I’ll go with Red Moore.

Mike: okay, I take Frenchy Jeff Francouer.

Nick: I’ll go with Brian Berg.

Mike: Hannah Teter.

Nick: John Higby

Mike: You're a yo-yo....I'll take Josh Johnson.

Nick: Troy Tulowitzki (things at this point start to get short and to the point as we each already have our favorites at this point).

Mike: Maybin.

Nick: Lowell (sniff)

Mike: Aww, bye bye Mikey! I'll take Dick Fosbury.

Nick: Darn, I was going for him next! I’ll go with LaShawn Merritt

Mike: I'll take Mad Max.

Nick: I’ll go with Brian Cappalletto, scrabble guy.

Mike: it is getting down to garbage time! Ah hell, I'll take the bearded man. (things now get super-quick and the picks are flying. How do you really decide between an Australian stuntman and a "never-quite-gunna-make-it AAA prospect"?)

Nick: Santana.

Mike: Masterson

Nick: Conor Jackson

Mike: jack cust

Nick: Juan Rivera

Mike: Zagunis (Beaverton native)

Nick: Carlos Gomez

Mike: Kolan the barbarian!

Nick: Lynne Cox

Mike: I'll take stupid Shawni Davis next, but he better win a ton of golds at the Olympics

Nick: Robbie Maddison

Mike: brock Yates

Nick: Brown Trafton

Mike: Dude with the horse.

Nick: Tunnicliffe

Mike: Glenn Eller

Nick: Dewitt

Mike: continuing with scrap players, I regretfully take Ryan Church.

Nick: Metzger

Mike: Rich Hill (Unsure if this is even his correct name, too lazy to care).

Nick: Olsen

Mike: Alexi Casilla…BAM!!! (Jubilation as I learn that mathematically Nick gets the bodybuilder. Technically he ends up with one extra card in the split, but when THIS is the extra card, no worries :)

Nick: No pick needed, as he ends up with the final card, the extremely disgusting image of body-building champion Kyle. Booby prize!

So here is the summary:

Mike
David Ortiz
Ryan Howard
3 Negro Leaguers
Jonathan Papelbon
Clayton Kershaw
Evan Longoria
Matt Holliday
Hanley Ramirez
Ryan Braun
Joba Chamberlain
Yuto
Ophendah
Kristine Armstrongl
Denard Span
Jeff Francouer
Hannah Teter
Josh Johnson
Cameron Maybin
Dick Fosbury
Max Scherzer
Burke Kenney
Justin Masterson
Jack Cust
Zagunis
Kolan
Shani Davis
Brock Yates
Simpson/Bunker
Glenn Eller
Ryan Church
Rich Hill
Alexi Casilla

Nick
David Wright
Jose Reyes
3 Negro Leaguers
Dominque Wilkins
Jay Bruce
Johnny Cueto
Miguel Cabrera
Jason Werth
Billy the Marlin
Bob Crowley
Cat Osterman
Steve Wiebe
Phil Hughes
Matt Kemp
Red Moore
Brian Berg
John Higby
Troy Tulowitzki
Mike Lowell
Leshawn Merritt
Brian Cappalletto
Ervin Santana
Connor Jackson
Juan Rivera
Carlos Gomez
Lynne Cox
Robby Maddison
Brown Trafton
Tunnicliffe
Blake Dewitt
Mike Metzger
Scott Oleson
Creepy body builder

One a late note, Nick had a soft spot for Kolan the bowler, so I traded him for Mikey Lowell, so Mr MVP will actually be joining team red after all.

I am curious to take the vibe of the readers about what should be done about the Michael Phelps card. Yes, I am opening up a window for some really ridiculous comments, but I am hoping for some semi-serious thoughts on how to handle the split. How much do you think this card might go for if plopped on fleBay? Thanks for the input!

Olympic Update!

Alright competitors, the first update has been made to the sidebar of the blog reflecting changes though Saturday's events. You'll notice that the countries at the top all have received medals and the first number indicates the pre-games entries while the second number represents the entries due to medal winnings...this will be the number that changes throughout the games. I will keep them in order of most entries total.

The second group is the non medal winning teams, and I will get around to grouping those in order as well at some point. Again, the medals number is 3 entries for gold, 2 for silver, and 1 for bronze (ex..USA had 1 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze, so the USA entry has an additional 7 points added to the score).

Good entertainment so far. The skating and moguls last night were definitely good entertainment, though I am not so geeked about figure skating tonight. "Amazing Race" anybody?

Enjoy the day!