Budget Baseball Cardboarding

99cent Longo Lot

2011-03-06T10:10:00.004-05:00

Just adding to my Longoria collection, shocking i know :)

The mini is what caught my attention
it is something i needed
and has been on my radar
just never able to find one for the right price
so i checked out the rest of the lot
pretty bland on first glance
but then i noticed some things

first i noticed the different symbol on the Longo/Price card
aquafina
thats different
not something i would chase or really intentional pick up
but it makes this lot a little more special

then i noticed the Timeline has a little extra gold foil
20th anniversary logo
that makes for something new too

plus the 08 Target insert i love
even though i already have it
its just so awesome

okay lets bid one dollar

so two for shipping
makesthis lot equal a pack of cards
not to bad for three new additions

thanks for reading TWIC
have an AWESOME week
:)

Relic OVERLOAD!!!

2011-02-27T10:10:00.005-05:00

Why overload, because i am not a fan of relic cards generally. The whole taking something and breaking, cutting or chopping it up. Seems so wrong. Especially when that something would have been a centerpiece item in someones collection.

That said, at less than two bucks a piece i wasn't passing up some new cards

10 Topps Tribute
shiny me like
itty bitty photo me no like
unique photo makes up for it

09 A&G
it took dozens upon dozens of auctions to finally land this one
rare it is not
but finding it for less than two bucks = really hard
again i went by the mantra of if someone else already had it at 99cents
i wouldn't jack it up
and i saw many go for 99 cents
to bad not every else lives by that credo
good design
photo nothing special but it works well

09 Solo Shot
i love it
wish it was blue and not red
but i understand the red
the stitches of a baseball = red
shot like a gun fired usually characterized with red
it works really well
nice photo too
my second fav of TWIC

09 UD Flashback
i like it
again even without the fabric its a nice card
photos are strong and the design works

10 AllStarGame
love it - even without the jersey i would want this card
great design nice photo
my fav of the week

10 Peak Performer
super lazy design just cutting a hole in the original card

10 Heritage CC Bat
a good design unfortunately the photo isn't unique

09 The Heritage CC Jersey
eh design but nice action photo
props for using different photos from the bat CC

10 The Chicle
overall design works
even with being the same art as the base card
the C is a nice little touch

09 Future Foundations
ummm boring
its like a manger photo or something

09 etopps
really another jumping longoria card
wasn't that last year's photo

Nine Relics, an eTopps and a Numbered card makes for a beautiful week cardboarding :)
The total 21.58 shipped

Thanks for checking out TWIC and i hope you have an awesome week :)

Another 99 Cent add

2011-02-19T10:10:00.005-05:00

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
i got the the base for less than the white parallel numbered to 50

While i won it for 99 cents
it cost
3.68 shipped
the white /50 was
4.81 shipped

ya-Hooooooo!!!!

This and my BJ Bat made for an AWESOME cardboarding week
hope yours was

Melvin Emmaunel BAT

2011-02-16T17:55:00.002-05:00

Oh yes I acquired a Melvin Emmaunel Bat Barrel card
4.75 shipped is a joy for such a fun card :)

PHOTO = GOOD
works well with the design
DESIGN = NICE
love that it looks all wood grainy along the bottom
THICK = FUN
so thick it as cracked open the top loader
COLORS = BLUE
my fav
AUTO = ORIGINAL
BJ usually signs BJ Upton and its pretty nice and clear
but now i want an auto of his real name
ETCHINGS = FUN2TOUCH
need i say more
EQUALS = AWESOME!!!!

RETRO Cardboarding

2011-02-13T13:11:00.003-05:00

Nothing super fancy this week
just some old school cardboard
that is just sooooo AWESOME!!!!
cost about about a buck twenty each after shipping

I so wish Target Blasters were full of these and not just two packs
In 09 series one when Topps did Walmart and Target exclusive cards
every pack in the blaster was filled with exclusivity
the main complaint back then wasn't the cards
but the fact you couldn't tell if you getting the exclusive cards
or the plain vanilla topps cards
but by series two we were down to just two packs
i think topps misunderstood
bring it back
bring back the complete blaster of retro awesomeness

please

pretty pretty please
with cherries on top

or

have exclusive packs/wrap packs of just the retro cards

or

how about when you release the factory sets you make a factory set of retro cards

STRETCHIN' that Budget

2011-02-05T10:10:00.002-05:00

A massive haul all for 20.90 shipped:

i love blue
the gold and chrome refractor were also new to me
love the AS documentary card
talks all about Evans AS experience
and the photo really captures it
not sure if its actually him at the AS game or not
(but it feels like it)
the ALCS card, i like but it says Longo & Pena hit back2back jacks
and shows him running off the field
just not the same
the rest are just blahh because of the generic image for each
but that's my whole grip with the set
UD great idea - unfortunately horrible execution
on the seven Longo cards i received
Evan is only mention once

an AWESOME black border masterpiece
2 t206, the mini i was missing
some four panel, at least one is blue

the last nine
are lots of shiny foil
the spectrum although not blue are very nice
i polished off the starquest cards that i didn't have
and never really cared about
but having them now i like the super rare and turquoise
the other two i still feel the same for
i really like the last three
the SP T206 is sweet great contrast in the background
i like everything about the stars of the game card
the pose is solid and the design and colors are fitting
and the baseball heroes card is AWESOME

PRICE was RIGHT!!
Not that i am becoming a Price collector or anything but i do like Mr. Price and to add some rookie logos to my collection of him was very nice

i was super excited to score such goodies
44 cards for 20.90
=
.48 per card
very cool

Thanks for reading TWIC and as always have an awesome cardboarding week :)

HAPPY additions :)

2011-01-29T10:10:00.000-05:00

the mini was my favorite win
the week earlier there were two auctions
one climbed to eight dollars and the second just past five
i scored this one 1.99 shipped
makes me HAPPY

the 2009 Topps Sterling
A base card that goes to 250
i lost out on about a dozen of these last year
so to finally score one
makes me HAPPY

the PoH has 23 Longo cards listed in the product
technically only four different
this wraps up what i want from this product
just the blue
mine for 2.60 shipped
makes me HAPPY

the three triple threads
were from the same seller and scored each for 99 cents
with combine shipping
HAPPY days

HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY
what fun collecting can be
:)

WHO Cardboarding??

2011-01-27T10:10:00.002-05:00

while at Target i picked up a five dollar wrap pack of Bowman Draft Picks
anyone know any of these players?
did i do well??
i have no idea

Fantasy Keeper League

2010-12-31T12:09:00.001-05:00

Well its almost 2011 and thoughts of my keeper league have been popping into my head occasionally. With Emily's arrival i am thinking it will be my only team this year. Last year didn't pan out so well, finished right in the middle at 6th place. My big gamble on pitching was a bust, my middle infield never got going (Lopez, Beckham and Andrus), and Morales cele-breaking didn't help any, but i picked up Huff and at least that became a moot point. So its off to 2011 and just like last year i would like some help. My league has added an extra keeper for the 2011 season, so we are keeping six players, the poll is up and feel free to let me know your thoughts.

Santa Cardboarding

2010-12-30T15:33:00.002-05:00

Its funny to be so occupied, with baby on the brain, that you don't recognize the shape of a blaster. Well, while the shape of DVDs was obvious enough, this one brick looking one, sparked my interest because i couldn't place the shape of it. So i ripped that present first, and felt a bit silly not recognizing it, but happy to have some cardboard on this special day. So here is my cardboard from Christmas, one blaster of chrome:

Pack 1

Mr MVP Votto
Soriano Refractor

Pack 2

Xfractors are always nice but not some i really collect
four out eight are doubles, amazing

Pack 3

McCutchen nice
two sox not bad

Pack 4

Hanley all X style
still at 50% with getting doubles

Pack 5

Lee shiny
soto double

Pack 6

Vmart bending the other way, weird
two more doubles

Pack 7

Helton Shiny :)
two more doubles

Pack 8

Yankee X style
two more doubles
Topps pretty much batted .500 for doubles
so two previous blasters = 16 doubles in my third
so half the blaster was completely wasted
that's wonderful collation topps (insert massive sarcasm)

Well i feel this was a better blaster than my last two but still the cards just make me sick with the centering issues and the warp problems, uuuggggg and the amount of doubles is so infuriating that it almost ruined a fun activity. I did say almost :)

As always, have an awesome cardboarding week and thanks for checking out TWIC.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

2010-12-25T00:25:00.003-05:00

Wishing you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas :)

All I Want for Christmas....

2010-12-24T00:01:00.001-05:00

is this sweet auction.

So if you happen to be insanely rich
and want to get a complete strange something for Christmas
feel free to bid a couple thousand
and mail it to me, i won't mind in the least :)
or
win it for yourself and blog about it
that would work too

oh yeah, i almost forgot link to auction

Surfing Cardboard

2010-12-23T10:28:00.001-05:00

Here are two cards I stumbled into, while surfing eBay

Both are SHINY :)

I was amazed i scored the Longoria for a 2.81 with 2 for shipping. I have been trying to get a base Sterling below five and have been coming up on the short end of the bidding emails. So when I won this, i was dumbfounded. I still like the base better, ya know the blue, but i guess beggars can't be choosers. Still really unsure what the big deal of sterling is, its just thick cardboard, yet people go crazy and throw away lots of good money for it... i guess its a gambler thing.

The Crawford was .95 and i really only put the bid in because there was also a Longoria eTopps card that the seller was also selling, hoping to combine shipping. Only i got outbid on Evan, so of course i won the card i wasn't go for. Go figure. So sad to see Crawford leave Tampa but everyone knew it was coming, i am still perturbed that Tampa didn't even make an offer. At least he went way of the Red Sox, so i can still enjoy collecting his cards.

Have an awesome cardboarding week and thanks for checking out TWIC :)

Carl Crawford

2010-12-20T10:28:00.000-05:00

YEP!! I am still hung up on him leaving the Rays. So here is another attempt at me to try and expel the demons, so to speak, so i can move on :)

So for some reason i wanted to check out CC 99 Autos and see if they were jumping to insane heights with the Boston faithful now salivating over their latest addition.....

...not to bad, all under a hundred dollars, but wait what is this CC actually knows how to sign his name, OMG!!!!

I am in shock, this pretty autograph went for 82 bucks,
well out of my price range, but i actually wanted it

Now the above card sold about a week ago and this is the litter now on ebay (give or take an auction or two)

DO YOU SEE THE ALL THE VARIATION!!
How does one person sign their name so vastly different?????
lazy? absolutely no pride? or someone else did the signing?
you pick

*also why would anyone pay money for those crappy autos????

RK Cardboarding

2010-12-18T10:28:00.012-05:00

I have been putting off buying from RK Collectibles for a while now. He just seems to always be a tad higher than Bleacher Seats, and since i wasn't sure how he packages and Bleacher does such a bang up job, i prefer to go with what is proven. Well i really wanted the Longoria All-Rookie Team card from o-pee-chee and they have been the only ones selling it for months now. So i finally broke down and placed an order, also the bowman chrome team set was cheaper than Bleacher :) and i picked up a few extras:

two Longo additions i needed and

2010 Bowman Chrome Rays Team Set

SHINNY :)
so glad they went with different photos
now if Topps would do that with all there product :)
BJ is so close to the same photo (feel free to compare here)
but the rest are much improved over the Bowman base

2003 Topps Rays Team Set

going with a set from the past that i really enjoy
and genuinely sad i wasn't collecting when this came out
Crawford and Hamilton definitely the highlight
followed by the BJ, Gomes and Huff

2006 Topps 52 Rookie Edition Rays Team Set

picking up some fun cards, the classic 52 design, nice
for some the scan of the Zobrist looks better
than the actual card, go figure

Some sweet additions, still on super hubby detail, so cooking, laundry, cleaning and trying to get baby Emmy in a sleep routine is life. Its great having cardboard as my one minor escape. Have an awesome cardboarding week and thanks for checking out TWIC.

Crawford and Fenway

2010-12-17T23:35:00.003-05:00

A match made in ______

So Sooz at A Cardboard Problem, posted the above pic and it made me sad, and kind of stung a little, seeing the change so fast, ouchie.

It got me wondering how Crawford has performed at Fenway Park so far:

2003 Games @ Fenway 9 - 8/42 .190avg 0HR 0RBI
2004 Games @ Fenway 10 - 10/43 .233avg 1HR 3RBI
2005 Games @ Fenway 9 - 13/38 .342avg 1HR 6RBI
2006 Games @ Fenway 8 - 12/34 .353avg 2HR 4RBI
2007 Games @ Fenway 9 - 10/39 .256avg 0HR 3RBI
2008 Games @ Fenway 6 - 4/22 .182avg 0HR 2RBI
2009 Games @ Fenway 9 - 13/38 .342avg 0HR 4RBI
2010 Games @ Fenway 9 - 12/37 .327avg 0HR 4RBI
------------------------------------------------------
Total Games @ Fenway69 - 82/293 .357avg 4HR 30RBI

Well, great average, but hasn't hit a homer since 06 (and i didn't include steals because Boston had issues throwing anyone out, so the numbers were skewed)

Will Crawford perform well at Fenway??? Is the past any indicator?? Will Boston be to much pressure??

Whatcha think??

102 Rays

2010-12-15T15:46:00.005-05:00

I received an awesome assortment of Rays cards courtesy of Mets Collector's Attic. Sorry I won't be showing everyone of the cards. That would be a lot of scanning :( but also because many i have already shown and he sent doubles and triples of the same card. Which didn't really bother me as much as i thought it would. It is fun having extra of cards, i am not worried about dropping them, (which i did) or scratching them or letting Emmy or the kitty (which stepped on the stack :) around them. So what awesomeness did he send, here is a look:

First up some Team Sets:

2008 Topps Update Rays Team Set

2009 Topps Series 2 Rays Team Set

and here some of the singles that floated my boat

i really like the O-Pee-Chee stadium card
i have wanted it for a while so THANK YOU
also the Crawford Target is Sweeeeeet!
Definitely would love to chase the Target sets
or better yet the sets sold by Target were these
My first card with Hellickson on it, nice
THANK YOU! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!!

Hope you enjoyed the show, please check out Mets Collector's Attic when you have a chance :)

Bleacher Cardboarding

2010-12-11T10:28:00.001-05:00

Yeah after two horrible blasters i just went to Bleacher Seats and picked up some cards i knew i would like.

A&G Rays Team Set

T206 Rays Team Set

Update Rays Team Set

Chrome Rays Team Set

and i guess you could say these were my hits :)

the 20/20 and Gold were from Bleacher
the Chrome Blue was from some random eBayer

I was going to write all about each set, how much i liked them, what my favorite cards were, and all that jazz, but i just can't seem to find the time. The wifey is still going through physical ailments and so i am on super hubby detail taking care of the three of us and the kitty. Hope you enjoy the the show without the tell. Have an awesome cardboarding week and thanks for checking out TWIC.

Emmy not happy with RAYS :(

2010-12-10T02:22:00.001-05:00

Questions Emmy would ask if she could:

Why did the Rays let their closest bet at a HALL OF FAME player sign with their DIVISION RIVAL??
I don't know sweetie, it baffles me too.

The Rays complain about not having enough fans but then why did they let go their player with the longest playing time and most of the club records, and and most recognizable face???
I don't know sweetie, I guess they don't understand fans.

How many fans did the Rays just lose????
I don't know sweetie, probably a lot.

Did the Rays even make an offer???????
I don't know sweetie, I would hope so.

How do the Rays expect to build a fan base?????????
I don't know sweetie, it baffles me too.

More Chrome Cardboarding

2010-11-28T10:28:00.003-05:00

Welcome to This Week in Cardboarding!! Contined... More from my chrome spree, aka spending bday money :)

Pack 1

Crawford, off to a great start
Felix refractor

Pack 2

Lee looks so wrong in a Seattle uniform now
Xfractor

Pack 3

Purple, to bad its someone i don't like

Pack 4

Wandy xfractor

Pack 5

Carpenter refractor

Pack 6

Pack 7

Tex refractor
another Allen Craig - Dang DUPS!!!! >:(

Pack 8

Manzella Xfractor

Sweet i actually got 3 xfractors, noone i really want and i guess that's why there was no insert. Some nice Rookies with Boesch, Desmond and Stubbs, but still none of the big names :( The Schwartz is not with me this year.

Thanks for checking out This Week in Cardboarding, hope you have an awesome cardboarding week :)

Chrome Cardboarding

2010-11-26T10:28:00.007-05:00

Welcome to This Week in Cardboarding!!! Just had to pick up some chrome blasters to get my fix for this year. Back when it first hit retail stores. So these cards have been sitting for quite awhile collecting dust while life was happening. Will i be going crazy this year, like last year? Chasing down all the cards, collecting the entire set, ripping pack and blaster with no regard, just enjoying each and every insert and parallel i would get. Nope, probably not. Thank heavens i used some birthday money on my chrome this year, which essentially means they were gifts and not my money blown. I was really excited about this set, like i am every year, but topps definitely dropped the ball on this one.

Pack 1

mclouth refractor - great photo
former Ray Edwin Jackson

Pack 2

i am liken all four photos of this pack
another former Ray Kazmir
Tulo with the best photo of the bunch
and a Dice K
no refractor - bad topps!!

Pack 3

Wainwright refractor

Pack 4

santos xfractor

Pack 5

Werth insert

Pack 6

Howard Xfractor

Pack 7

yadier reractor
another Texiera , a DUP! :/

Pack 8

Roberts blue
and another Kila and Russo, DUPS!!! >:(

I know many have already commented on the miscuts (which i am sure was intentional by topps, because how many years have they gone without it happening) and the major warping (which is just a sad pathetic effort by topps). But the biggest faux pas, was changing the Xfractor, it just doesn't have the sparkle to it, it looks like a really bad bitmap photo from when the internet first came out and photos would load slowly and you get this really weird pixelated image until it finally loaded. The fact that there are such major issues with the cards leaves me to just skip this set and i am in no way spending the money i did last year on this poorly executed product. Okay Positives, it is always fun opening packs (even if i didn't get anything i really like/want), i like most of the photography from the set (even though i have seen it on the base set, but it is way better on the chrome) and i like how i got the Roberts Blue and regular card along with the Werth regular and insert. But to get doubles of three base cards (Russo, Ka'aihue and Kanekoa) is horrible. I mean I only got 32 cards overall, so technically i got 29. Thanks topps :(

Thanks for checking out This Week in Cardboarding, hope you have an awesome cardboarding week :)

My Little Rookie

2010-11-21T16:44:00.000-05:00

In case you wondered why I have been away

WORLD, WELCOME

EMILY OK

I missed every second of the World Series, and was happy to do so. Life has gotten so AWESOMELY AMAZING thanks to this little girl. The entire series I was held up in the hospital, two day labor and the typical two day stay plus and extra day for some light therapy. But everything is good and she is a healthy growing little bundle of awesomeness. Now three weeks in and the misses and I are still sleep deprived but getting the hang of things. Heck I found time to make a blog post, a custom card and some cookies today. Even with the wifey still at less than a 100%. I am happy for the Giants for winning it all but I was definitely rooting for the Rangers after they crushed the Yankees which I did get to enjoy. The parentals living in the Big D brought a Rangers hat for me when they came and visited, to funny, since it will never be used. Well maybe when we move there (which is strongly be considered) ..... naaah, I think its safe to say that it will never be used. I have acquired a few things in the past weeks, that I will be sharing, when time allows. Nothing legendary but when has my collection hit that status :)

and to cover a long over due TWIC

I picked up this bad boy for .99 and 2.50 shipping making me very happy. Pretty much the same price as a pack of chrome from Target with tax. I am definitely drawn to the Xfractors and Blue parallels even though 2010 Xfractors are not as sharp as years previously. Thanks for reading and have a HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!!!!

99 cent Cardboarding

2010-09-18T14:59:00.001-04:00

Welcome to TWIC! Patience is awesome sometimes, I have watched a few of these go at 99 cents in the last few months but instead of jacking the price up on some one else by bidding a 1.50 or two dollars. I let it go with the hopes that i too may score one for 99 cents. Mission Accomplished :) Of course shipping was three dollars but i am very happy to have such a sweet card for less than four dollars.

Thanks for checking out This Week in Cardboarding, hope you have an awesome cardboarding week :)

Turkey Cardboarding

2010-09-10T09:10:00.002-04:00

Welcome to TWIC! I finally missed a week, yep last week, i held on for entire year, but at long last i let a week slip by. oh well :) I am truly amazed i lasted a whole year of consistent weekly posts but i will probably be missing a bit more as our little bundle of joy will be on the scene in the near future. The nursery consumed last week as the guest room disappeared and all baby furniture moved in. Well enough on the life update, on to TWIC which happens to be another discounted blaster from Walmart, this week Turkey:)

Pack 1

two dead guys one baseball related
a biggio, sweet
Hanley checklist card, nice action shot

Pack 2

Crawford stealing on another checklist
and an Upton
WOW two Rays fun pack
and the Tulo is nice

Pack 3

former Rays Hamilton, my first RC of Josh
Pujols and Manny sunset cards

Pack 4

Utley and Rollins both great action

Pack 5

another Mantle
i swear topps is owned by the Yankees
they say repetition is good for the brain

Pack 6

ugggg more Yankees
and my hit is one

Pack 7

Bonds imagine that
and Kent both now retired
and a nice Dice K

Pack 8

finish with CC base card
and Felix looking all bright and orange

Fun blaster, i think the checklists are my favorite cards followed by the sunset cards. Thanks for checking out TWIC and have an awesome week and hope you score some most excellent cardboard.

Silk Cardboarding

2010-08-29T11:11:00.001-04:00

Welcome to TWIC, this week (actually tomorrow) is my blogs first anniversary and I have celebrated with my first silk card.

It is thick, kind of expected that
there is plastic surrounding it
so it slides around, wasn't expecting that
and there is a square opening
so you can feel the silk
very interesting and nice to have
probably will be my only silk card though
as i am not blown away by it

I guess that about does it for This Week in Cardboarding, thanks for checking TWIC out and i hope you have an awesome week and score some great cardboard :)

Late Cardboarding

2010-08-23T19:45:00.001-04:00

Welcome to Last Week in Cardboarding, this is a late and will be another discounted blaster from Walmart. Went with a Masterpiece blaster, just for the fun of it :)

Pack 1

Braun trotting

Pack 2

Utley, sporting the shades

Pack 3

The Wizard, nice
poor Berkman no longer an Astro
just doesn't seem right

Pack 4

my first frame card, pleasantly surprise
just wish it was someone i liked
Young great action and Vladdy sporting the orange :)

Pack 5

Bench, sweet

Pack 6

Pence and Bruce
really like the photos

Pack 7

Helton, you go legacy player
Johnson great moment

Pack 8

Still really enjoying these cards, the photos, the thick cards, and the old timers, really give a fun break. I really like how the Yankee inserts don't take the place of a regular card. Thanks for checking out this late edition of TWIC.

Actual Mail, Woo Hoo!!

2010-08-19T13:11:00.001-04:00

One More Pack! was kind enough to offer some cards up for my Heritage set, just a few so I signed up at Zistle to check out his player collections, then gathered a few cards together to send him back some player collection cards he was missing.

some nice cards, hope the Thomas wasn't meant for someone else
because i really like it :) but let me know and i'll return it if you need it

Only he didn't just send some set help. He also sent some awesome player collection cards.

First up, the Rays:

CYMTO Longoria, sweet
Opening Day Upton, nice
and my fav of the bunch
also an 09 A&G and 2 Documentary
featuring Upton,
THANK YOU! Very much

Then a Just Minor card of CC
looking all kinds of young, at age 18 not to shocking
then 2 03 cards of CC, very fun
great additions
THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!

But wait he wasn't done because then there were some ICHIROS

Did i say some, i meant a whole plethora of ICHIROs

WOW!! still going

The 71 style UD Vintage is by far my favorite card of the package
i have seen it a few times but just never picked it up
so thanks for solving that problem

THANK YOU! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!!

Wally World Rolls Back

2010-08-16T16:50:00.000-04:00

JUST FYI

There was a plethora of discounted blasters at my local walmart

The normal section.... but wait another register had a whole other section

eeh gads the blasters are expanding

All are 40%

Hope they make to your area :)

WOW! Check This OUT

2010-08-15T19:01:00.000-04:00

Just had to share this, A 2008 Masterpiece Black Framed Set, there are many photos with this listing too.

For under $40 shipped, what a great deal, i really thought about placing an offer but just couldn't pull the trigger. If a fellow blogger or reader won this, kudos.

Hero Cardboarding

2010-08-13T10:25:00.002-04:00

Welcome to TWIC!!! I found some blasters i was actually interested in at the local Wally World and the best part is that they were 40% off, not as great as 50%, but good enough for me. I decided to go with an 08 UD Baseball Hereos Blaster for nine bucks. These are the first packs i have ripped of the product but i am a little familiar with the cards since i have received some of the cards via trades. On to the break:

Pack 1

Stan the Man
and
Mattingly
UD is letting us know they are MVPs
ummm... DUH!!

Pack 2

Wade "claims 5th Batting Title"
impressive
Wright "Climbs into 30-30 Club"
nice
Trio of Young Pitching Stars
agreed
Alex Gordon "Connects for First Homer"
really UD what is heroic about that?

Pack 3

Peavy "Captures NL Triple Crown"
remember when Peavy was a super stud
Bench "Wins Second Straight WS Title"
superbad
Buchholz "Throws No Hitter"
i remember that

Pack 4

McCann "Homers in Fifth Straight Game"
really a fielding photo, maybe a hitting would have made a little more sense
Yount serial numbered and odd color background
my hit

Pack 5

Ozzie
great photo
Kenji
why are two homers Hereo worthy?
a new Reggie for my collection
Carlton 3000Ks
love the history

Pack 6

Mags "Bangs Out AL Batting Title"
and helped me win my NFBC Fantasy League
an Ichiro
wish the photo was a little larger

Pack 7

Bill Hall "Makes Mother's Day Special"
to bad UD couldn't make the card special
and actually use a photo of Bill with a PINK bat
Robinson MVP
vintage photo, great
Upton "Nearly Swings for Cycle"
what? seriously?

Pack 8

Gibson "Earns MVP and CY"
amazing
Stras-who?

Pack 9

I really like these cards, i find the facts a nice touch, its just when UD reaches to include someone, they should have realized that maybe they shouldn't be in the set. The cards are thick and the pictures are sharp along with a classic design, very fun blaster.

Thanks for checking out TWIC.

This Week in Cardboarding

2010-08-08T11:11:00.003-04:00

Welcome to This Week in Cardboarding, I am sooooooo exhausted, this week i have been stripping a 30 year old hutch and have been very consumed in the garage and far away from the cardboarding world.

Here is what i picked up thanks to the bay of e:

nothing witty or silly, just to tired, sorry
09 Ultimate 0.50
09 Tribute Blue 1.50
10 Tribute Blue 0.49
10 A&G Celestial 0.99

Thanks for checking out TWIC, hope you have a wonderful week :D
*Sorry but my Sunday comic will be skipped this week and this is why my Rays Sketches have been on pause.

If I Ruled the World...

2010-08-01T06:25:00.005-04:00

there would be a salary cap.

Since the Rays and Yankees are going head to head again, I figured why not finally post this thought. The thought originated back on May 19th, while watching the Rays and Yankees game. Now that my drawing side has surfaced again, I was inspired to do a drawing to enhance my opinion. Of course living in NY, the game was broadcasted on the YES network - which I usually don't mind, actually I usually have it muted, too much Yankee propaganda is bad for the brain, but this time I was actually listening, and the commentators started saying that Crawford will not be resigning with the Rays, like its a forgone conclusion, and of course Pena will have to take a huge cut if he wants to stay and there is no way they will be able to afford Soriano if he continues what he is doing, well he is continuing to pitch very well. The good news is, not only did the Rays beat the Yanks but they only brought it up that one time. I really hope the Rays keep Crawford and sign him. Its good for baseball when there are legacy players, you know the players that are only associated with one team, ie Sandberg, Ripken, Gwynn, Biggio, etc.

Here are some random facts and my argument for a salary cap.

Based on the 2010 Salary Budget. There are eight teams over $100 million, that means there are twenty-two not yet spending $100 million or put another way, two-thirds of the MLB teams are spending less than $100 million. One team has a salary above $200 million. That one team is more than double two-thirds of the league, and triples twelve teams. Pretty easy to tell things are not balanced and favor only a few teams.

Now imagine if you were in a fantasy league where one owner had a budget that is twice as much as two-thirds of the owners and triples on-third of the league.

So if this was a 12 team fantasy league

1 team has $200 budget
3 teams have $110 budget
4 teams have $90 budget
4 teams have $65 budget

Would you play in this fantasy league?

I wouldn't.

It isn't set up for fair competition.

MLB needs a fair and balanced system and therefore should have a salary cap.

* data taken from cbssports
Current 2010 Salaries by division
AL East
New York Yankees $206,333,389
Boston Red Sox $162,747,333
Baltimore Orioles $81,612,500
Tampa Bay Rays $71,923,471
Toronto Blue Jays $62,689,357

AL Central
Detroit Tigers $122,864,929
Chicago White Sox $108,273,197
Minnesota Twins $97,559,167
Kansas City Royals $72,267,710
Cleveland Indians $61,203,967

AL West
Los Angeles Angels $105,013,667
Seattle Mariners $98,376,667
Texas Rangers $55,250,545
Oakland Athletics $51,654,900

NL East
Philadelphia Phillies $141,927,381
New York Mets $132,701,445
Atlanta Braves $84,423,667
Washington Nationals $61,425,000
Florida Marlins $55,641,500

NL Central
Chicago Cubs $146,859,000
St. Louis Cardinals $93,540,753
Houston Astros $92,355,500
Milwaukee Brewers $81,108,279
Cincinnati Reds $72,386,544
Pittsburgh Pirates $34,943,000

NL West
San Francisco Giants $97,828,833
Los Angeles Dodgers $94,945,517
Colorado Rockies $84,227,000
Arizona Diamondbacks $60,718,167
San Diego Padres $37,799,300

Sticky Cardboarding

2010-07-31T18:20:00.001-04:00

Welcome to TWIC, and I mean Sticky has in you bought something on eBay and received it but the top loader is covered with scotch tape, making for a messy top loader, I have tried cleaning them with alcohol, but most time they are just ruined and off to the plastic recycling bin they go. Why am I getting charge so much in shipping when the sellers are ruining part of what i am paying for? So I have devised a feedback method which i hope catches on, somewhere, anywhere, please leave the following:

TLwTape - Top Loader with Tape, which of course leaves sticky residue and nastiness
TLwSlv - Top Loader with Fold over Sleeve, which of course is sticky free

Hope to see sellers being called out and get them to change the way they are shipping, it would be nice to be sticky free :)

hehe - thats some of next weeks cards :)

Now on to this weeks acquisitions

Finally found some Target and Walmart parallels of Mr. Longoria and and an SP i needed, along with the hobby give away card

All of these had been sticky-fied from two different sellers :(

The Target is definitely my favorite of the base Longoria because it is true cardboard, now to just find the Celeb"Rays"tion Target version.

and my last week's missing quarter will just be moved to this week, since the above just broke ten bucks

I first saw this card on Fielder's Choice Blog when I perusing some of his later posts, a fun thing to do when i have the time, if your a Rays fan. I have been watching ebay for a while now in hopes that this would pop up and it did about a month ago in a multi-card Longo lot, but it went for six or seven plus and i had to let it go because the cards i needed didn't justify me spending that kind of coin. Then i found a buy-it-now at six and offered half because the scan showed something that looked like a scratch and the seller agreed, not to mention informing me the card was just spiffy and that it was the scan and not the card. Well after much waiting i am happy to have this very cool looking Target Exclusive 400 series from the 2008 Topps Update. A very nice addition to my Longoria collection.

As always , thanks for checking This Week in Cardboarding and I hope you have an awesome week!!

If I Ruled the World...

2010-07-25T06:00:00.008-04:00

there would be blood testing for everything.

Serial Number Cardboarding

2010-07-22T20:08:00.001-04:00

I was all set..

but, I just couldn't find anything to buy

so off to eBay

This week i went with some numbered cards, shipping really makes things add up quickly

two blue and a black parallel
PoH /299 - blue marble, Rocks!
Finest /399 - blue and shiny - ooooh!
Black Tribute /99 - wish it was blue
the black actually was the cheapest
at a penny short of three dollars shipped :)
kind of funny, since its the rarest
the other two and the below cards were
a penny short of four dollars shipped

Well maybe not all serial number cards, but i did score an assorted 25 card lot of CC,BJ and Longo - i got eight new cards to add to my CC collection, and two new cards to my Upton collection, the other 15 were doubles, but some pretty nice cards.

This only spent about 3/4 of my budget, i am still waiting for the last quarter of the budget to arrive.

Thanks for checking out TWIC.

Set Cardboarding

2010-07-15T10:10:00.006-04:00

Hello and welcome to This Week in Cardboarding. This week has a bit of a story to go with my acquisition. So while searching the bay for Longoria cards I came across an 08 Topps card I had never seen before, so I go to Longoria authority, Fielder's Choice Blog, and check out his list and sure enough, a 08 Topps card number17 is sitting there on his list.

Since I have no idea what this will go for, I must decide the value to me and bid with what I would pay. I decide nine dollars with three dollars shipping, is what I will venture. Outbid pretty fast, no worries, but what if I never see this card again. Well, what should i do ...., I place another bid 11.75, keeping it under $15 dollars is how I justify the bid, two more bids with seconds to go and I am no longer high bidder. I guess a few others were thinking the same thing because it ended at 12.25. Thank goodness I did not win. It is so easy to get wrapped up in an ebay bidding frenzy. I'll have to keep an eye out for another one, because it is a sweet photo.

Two days pass and the seller gives me a second chance offer for my high bid, he has another one, now I am suspicious. Are these not that rare, so I look up 08 factory sets and on every set is extra rookie pack, most say five then I spot this:

Yep, ten exclusive rookie variation cards, so I compare the different sets, look at every description for the auctions posted. Most are Buy-It-Now for 35-40, plain ridiculous. Then I find a real auction 9.99 with no bids, I put in a bid, make sure I watch it, and win it for 14.24, eight for shipping. If I would had won the first auction at 11.75 plus 3 for shipping, I would have spent 14.75 on one card, not really that good when I got a whole set for less than that. So, for about the price of that one card I get my first factory set since 99 and I win the set and ten exclusive rookie variation cards.

Here are numbers 11-20 (minus Longoria #17)

Some great names Votto, Bruce, Cueto (all the Reds are together, nice) and Scherzer and Buchholz.

The original seller has since sold two more Longoria Variation cards (both ending around 5.50) with a third ending shortly, well below what the first one went for. He obviously has an untouched market since nobody else is selling these but I think he is wasting a prime opportunity by flooding the bay with all three so soon, I personally would have trickled them out trying to get top dollar for each. I guess he was absent the day they taught supply and demand.

I am truly amazed Topps does this, its like slapping all the set builders out there in the face. Not to mention there are twenty cards, so you need multiple sets and a whole lot of luck to get all the variant cards. Bad Topps

What did I learn from all this? EDUCATION is sooooooooooo important.

Two dollars and 24 cents over budget, but I was about eight dollars under budget last week so I am all good :) Are you asking yourself, did he just buy a whole set for one card, not at all, I love the 2008 Topps set and have wanted to buy it for awhile now. It is actually one of the things that helped me return to the hobby. The Design is a favorite of mine, it is has that classic vintage feel but of course it is a recent set, the cards are glossy but don't stick together like 07, and have foil names that are easy to read, and along with some nice photography, makes for a fun set. I actually bought more than one blaster in 08, because I genuinely like the cards so much. When the sets were released at Target, I really thought about picking one up, but thought $50 is truly to much money for a base set, so I am very happy with my twenty-two dollar pick up.

A fun thing I like to do is put all the little gold trophy cards together

They are in card number order

At first I thought they had four Outfielders and no third-base man, but a quick look up and Braun played 3B in 07

* Carlos Ruiz, C, Philadelphia Phillies
* James Loney, 1B, Los Angeles Dodgers (unanimous selection)
* Dustin Pedroia, 2B, Boston Red Sox
* Ryan Braun, 3B, Milwaukee Brewers (unanimous selection)
* Troy Tulowitzki, SS, Colorado Rockies
* Delmon Young, OF, Tampa Bay Devil Rays (unanimous selection)
* Chris Young, OF, Arizona Diamondbacks (unanimous selection)
* Hunter Pence, OF, Houston Astros (unanimous selection)
* Brian Bannister, RHP, Kansas City Royals
* Hideki Okajima, LHP, Boston Red Sox

One thing that shocked me about this factory set was that it wasn't in order, at first I was perturbed, but as I went through the cards arranging them in order, getting to enjoy each one, I quickly became happy that the cards weren't in order. I just pretended I bought an unique blaster that had every card plus 10 inserts and I had to put them in order :) Fun time!

Here are some Rays cards I enjoyed coming across

As always, thanks for checking out TWIC and please check out my Sketch Cards at chroko cards. Take care and have an awesome week, and best of luck in your cardboarding endeavors.

This Week in Cardboarding

2010-07-10T13:11:00.002-04:00

Welcome to This Week in Cardboarding, I found some clearance packs at Target. Three 08 Materpieces packs and an 08 Heritage Hi pack. Nothing spectacular but it is the first Masterpieces I have ever ripped. I really like the cards but only four cards is a big negative in my book, that may be why I never bought any til now, but never mind that, on to the break:

Pack 1

no set help :(

Pack 2

Gwynn sporting the vintage Padres uni, nice
J-Roll looking like a stud, with good reason
07 he posted 30 HRs and 41 Steals, with 139 Runs

Pack 3

Longoria, Sweet, even though I have like three of these already
its was still fun and exciting pulling one
Wright, sporting a nice little home run trot
and Vtek looking all captainish

Pack 4

Felix showing the pain of pitching
Hideki watching a homer
and poor Asdrubal having to share his card

By far the Gwynn is my favorite of the bunch, but only because the Longoria is a dup.

I still have been watching the bay, hoping for some cards to slip by on the cheap, I got a five card lot for a 1.25 which added two new Longoria cards (the Expotential and Icons) and I scored an 09 Chrome Xfractor for 99 cents. Very happy, with my pick ups

Thanks for checking out TWIC and don't forget to check out my Sketch Cards at chroko cards. Take care and have an awesome week, and best of luck in your cardboarding endeavors.

Present Cardboarding

2010-07-02T07:02:00.005-04:00

Welcome to This Week in Cardboarding. Here is part two of my pre-Father's Day Father's Day presents. I guess, me mentioning Strasburg and Bowman quite a few times made it easy for my wife to go with a Bowman blaster, never mind my one blaster a year rule, i have to be nice and open it up, such a shame :) On to the break:

Pack 1

the Rizzo is a Refractor

Pack 2

anothe Sox prospect
Love the Throwbacks, Utley looks a little lost in the photo
but I am sure he is just calling it

Pack 3

Buster Posey Gold
Jamie Topps 100, having a nice season so, can he keep it up?

Pack 4

A Rays sighting
Starling Chrome
Pujols Throwback, pounce albert pounce
and a USA

Pack 5

Starling base
Iglesias Topps 100

Pack 6

another Rays with Upton
the Votto photo is really nice
and Beckham Throwback, he really needs to adjust
Hanley with Stanton on the back is also nice

Pack 7

a Sox in purple
its probably not good that topps talk about the scout and his hometown
more than him though

Pack 8

another USA card, is it bad that i have no idea who they are?

Nothing spectacular but still a fun break, got a Beckham i wanted and my first Posey card with the little RC on it, the 2020 is from the future and he is a grizzly veteran then and the Turkey was also missing the logo. A few Rays doubles and a bunch of Sox in this blaster. As always, let me know if you need or want something. Thanks for checking TWIC.

clue, maybe?

2010-07-01T12:32:00.000-04:00

Do you see any similarities??

How about now??

green is present, but what's it mean???
if anything

Are these the code cards???

2010-06-30T23:12:00.014-04:00

Are these the 2010 Allen & Ginter Code Cards?
Just Curious????

1-3

Apr 11, May 9, June 15

4-6

June 26, Aug 17, Aug 30

7-9

Oct 7, Nov 19, Dec 20

10-12

Jan 16, Feb 9, Mar 13

Backs

*added birth dates of each player
*tried seeing if other players sharing same birthday have cards - Guerrero and Iwamura (SP)
- but couldn't find matches for Pujols and Santana, so stopped that theory

Celestial Longoria

2010-06-30T17:15:00.005-04:00

i had some spare time and decided to look up A&G

Pretty Cool Card
One seller wants $35 and the other $50
not worth it in my book,
definitely to many weeks of budget for one card
not sure if these usually go for so much
hopefully i can score one cheaply in a few months

i thought these were the code cards, but now i am not sure, hence the edit to the post

Wooo Hooo!!! Set Complete :)

2010-06-30T11:22:00.001-04:00

Tim from The Great Sports Name Hall of Fame sent me the final two needed for my 2009 Topps Chrome Set. This is the first set I have collected and completed since 1989. THANK YOU! Very, very much:

Mr Mantle and Mr Hudson
Great Cards
Set COMPLETE!!!!
Happy happy, joy joy, happy happy, joy joy!!!

He also included a little extra, and i really appreciate it:

Two Pre-MLB BJ Upton Cards and a shiny rookie card
Super Sweet
the back of the 03 card compares BJ to Jeter, mmmmm..., NOT!
but does say hitting is his weakest skill, they got that RIGHT,
still he is only 25 and turns 26 this August
so here is hoping he gets his head on straight and figures out this thing called hitting
Go Upton! Go Rays!!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!!

Just Wondering???

2010-06-28T12:16:00.001-04:00

I have no followers for my Rays cardboard blog and wondered if anyone was checking it out?

If not here is the past week:

Don't Call Me Out!

The Stripes are Back

Congrats Edwin!

It's Gotta be the Stripes

Me too

Lone Jaso

EXTRA! EXTRA!!

2010-06-25T10:00:00.010-04:00

READ ALL ABOUT IT

Some Life news happening at Budget Baseball Cardboarding and I am not just talking about my second blog. My wife and I are expecting our first little bundle of joy! We have been tentatively told its a girl, even though neither time they were certain, but the fact that two different ultra sound technicians have said the same gender, has us pretty sure we are having a girl. So I imagine things will be getting insane come late October, early November, but in a good way. We are both very excited, and since I made Mother's Day special for the Mrs., she decided to make this past Father's Day special for me. We went to see Toy Story 3, had dinner at Fuddruckers, (where we picked up two extra movie passes, on the cheap with their meal deal, mainly for the upcoming Twilight movie, the movie for her, the discount for me :) and last but not least, she also picked up some cardboard for me :) Part one is five packs of Topps Series Two, so without further ado:

Pack 1

A Ray :) a Red Sox :) and two Yankees :(
the Campanella Vintage Legend is nice
the Lineage is about nicknames, sweet
Baby Bull vs Kung-Fu Panda

Pack 2

BJ sporting a diving catch

Pack 3

Giants insert score

Pack 4

WOW! a three Rays pack, nice
and another Target Red back
and whats a rip without Mr. Leake
that's three in a row
Z-Man is original back

Pack 5

Franchise History, very Cool photo
not sure why Perez is included
on the back Bench is All-Time leader in HR and RBIs
Perez is no where to be found
but still its a very nice photo

Thanks for checking out my Extra edition

Part two I will be saving for next week's TWIC

Bay Cardboarding

2010-06-24T10:10:00.008-04:00

Yep, Bay, as in ebay, I can't help myself. First stop, Bleacher Seats, love that cheap shipping for all you want, and they package so well. The first thing I picked up was some more team sets.

2010 Topps Series two (11 cards)

the Upton & Garza photos are different from Opening Day, nice

and a 2010 Bowman (10 cards)

and the reason i pick up the team sets is because they are cheaper than a pack from the store and its free shipping because the blue and gold parallels are the real reason for the order

Check out the back of the Throwback card

What a great photo
if I ever get a "you sketch it" card
i think i found my photo

Well under budget, i found two other cards i needed

a die cut and pretty blue insert
its funny how it says pennant run and talks about the playoffs
but there is a huge empty section in the stands
which leads me to believe the photo is definitely not from the play-offs

Thanks for checking TWIC

Reader Steve Sent Goodies :)

2010-06-23T07:59:00.001-04:00

What a fun package, here is what I found in my surprise package:

BOWMAN RAYS!!

Sweet like a whole team set
and a Gold Wade Davis, very nice

and a Beckham
Pedroia and Ellsbury
along with a gold Youk
Bowman DiceK, Lester and Lackey

and then
Red Sox Prospects

THANK YOU! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU !!!
very kind of you, Reader Steve

Blast from the Past

2010-06-22T18:31:00.000-04:00

Since the Rays had a day off I decided to pick a random game that I had missed since I just started my endeavor and do a sketch card from a past game. I am still trying to figure out how I want to handle these. I am trying a border today along with some ink pen for the text, also using new color pencils, instead of just the blue col-erase. Feedback is always welcome :)

New Blog!!

2010-06-22T15:55:00.001-04:00

In an effort to keep my collecting separate from my sketch cards, I have created a spin off blog called ChrOko Cards. I will be posting my sketch cards there from now on. Please feel free to let me know if you think this is a bad, good or silly idea.

One Run

2010-06-21T12:01:00.003-04:00

Horns Bad, Me NO Likey

2010-06-20T13:35:00.001-04:00

Ouch!

2010-06-19T15:20:00.001-04:00

Good Try Zo!

2010-06-18T23:15:00.000-04:00

Props Mr. Hanson

2010-06-17T22:10:00.001-04:00

Bowman Cardboarding

2010-06-17T11:55:00.000-04:00

Welcome to This Week in Cardboarding, this week will be my annual Bowman Blaster. That's right i usually buy one, and only one Bowman Blaster a year, have since 07. Nice little streak i got going :) I decided to go with photos this week since there are chrome cards and ten cards per pack, so i didn't need to scan each pack twice or not show all cards. Enough details, on to the break:

Pack 1

A Rays Prospect, SCORE!
my second Leake card, in consecutive blaster purchases
a streak is starting
Bo Bowman in Bowman, funny
an Orange prospect, nice
off to a very nice start

Pack 2

Starlin Castro
throwback Soriano, like these
way to many for me to chase
Pablo expectations

Pack 3

v mart as a sox, great photo
Reyes throwback and Howard expectations

Pack 4

another Ray, Shields, score
nice photo of wright
USA card,
Gamel insert, no idea what is going on with him
is he hurt? down in the minors? to lazy to look up

Pack 5

wow a third Ray with Pena
z-man throwback
sox prospect

Pack 6

Ray Gold, Garza, that's four so far
this is unusual for me
Tate Chrome, some hype for him, i think
Micheal Taylor heard of him too
Mauer with Posey on the back
unique photo of Braun
nice pack

Pack 7

Yen-Wen Kuo chrome and Purple Chrome
just makes me think some where out there
someone may get this with Strasberg

Pack 8

Final pack, and 5th Ray, ZO! Sweeeet!
2nd USA card

Very fun break, I really enjoyed the inserts and this year i actually heard of a few of the prospects, amazing. Five Rays cards is by far my best from a blaster, and Leake, Castro and Tate gave me some nice young-ins. I am glad i bought this when i first saw it and decided to saved it, because Strasberg mania hit and a week later all Bowman was long gone from Target and Walmart. Thanks for reading my TWIC.

They Missed Me

2010-06-16T10:38:00.002-04:00

Please Sir, may I have...

2010-06-15T21:09:00.005-04:00

When these were first announced, i posted the news of the you sketch it cards, and was hoping to call dibs on a few. So I thought i would try asking again, if you have any of these and don't want them, pretty please with cherries on top, can we make a trade.

Here is what i was thinking of starting, inspired by, My NY Mets Journal Blog, i would like do the Rays Proud and create a sketch card a day, chronicling the rest of the season. This hopefully will help me keep my artistic side sharp and get me a little more motivated again. I figure since this is my Cardboarding blog that i should make them small. I am still not sure what style or medium i want to use but here are some practice sketches to help me get a feel for some of the Rays players and get an idea of where i am going, with doing this.

If you happen to have more than one blank sketch card and would like me to do a sketch card of a specific player in return, i would gladly hook you up, i just would like some blank sketch cards, or i could send you some cards that you collect, which ever you prefer. Look forward to any offers, thanks.

WINNER! WINNER!!

2010-06-11T11:33:00.001-04:00

Thanks to everyone who entered, i really enjoyed your collecting history. I even got five more followers, bringing me to the big five zero, very odd because i don't believe any of them even participated. Oh well, and only BA Benny made a post on his blog, so i rewarded him with 5 extra entries, for being the only one who tried to spread the word.

So with out further ado, the Winner is:

BA BENNY!!!!!
please leave a comment which set you would like
Cam you will then get the other

Thanks again, to everyone who entered.

Parallel Cardboarding

2010-06-10T16:50:00.002-04:00

Welcome to This Week in Cardboarding, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!!! I'm soooooo excited. They just came in the mail today and they are beautiful.

What better card for me to have?
Longoria, check
BJ Upton, check
fun moment captured, check
great caption "Celeb"Rays"tion", check
AWESOMELY AMAZING!!!

and if that wasn't sweet enough, i put a bid in, so not expecting the result, but guess what i won :)

happy days, singing about happy day
:)
:)
:)

Never, i repeat NEVER thought i would be able to afford any Black parallel cards but I scored both for under ten dollars shipping include, the Combo was 8.50 total and the Longoria was 9.50 total, aaaaaaah, love that free shipping. I really like the photo for Longoria this year, I liked it in Opening Day, but with the up close crop topps did, i find myself enjoying it even more, well done Topps. Hopefully they go back to full body shot for Chrome to change it up a little bit or a new photo would be even better. Hope you enjoyed my musing, and please don't forget to enter in the contest below.

PS
small confession.....

i went over budget..

not on purpose..

its just, i didn't expect to win the Longoria Black Parallel or really this card because i only placed a $2.00 bid on it:

NO First Day logo on this beauty
:)

but I won it for $.99 with 2.50 for shipping, so i went a dollar fifty over budget but it was so worth it. Thanks for checking out This Week in Cardboarding.

My 111th Post and my 1st Contest!

2010-06-08T01:11:00.004-04:00

Even better than a 1/1 is three 1's in a row. Yep, i completely missed my 1ooth post and since a few other fellow bloggers got to 100 recently, it made me realize the error of my ways. Now it might seem silly to celebrate 111 but really its way cooler, because it is the number one, three times, no odd circle shapes, making it a true milestone. But enough of my silly ramble, in all seriousness, I have really enjoyed my time blogging and want to thank everyone for making it a fun and pleasant experience. I am very grateful to all the friends I have made through this and hope to make many more. I have gotten up to 45 followers, which still amazes me, and have made 38 trades, definitely bringing back the true joy of the hobby for me. I hope you enjoy my TWIC and other rambles and i greatly appreciate all the people who stop by and keep coming back.

As a BIG THANK YOU to all those who check out my blog out, i have decided to hold my first contest. Up for grabs will be one 87 Fleer Update Glossy set and one 1990 Update set. Yep that means there will be two winners :)

Totally taken from BA Benny's contest with a slight tweak to a few questions. All you have to do is leave a comment on one or all of the following subjects and I will random off a winner from the list of all the comments.

What do you like about my blog and want to see more of?
What is your favorite card when you were a kid? (if you didn't collect back then, tuff noogies :) you lose an entry or you could lie to me, how would i know :)
Who will the Rays beat when they win the 2010 World Series?
What is your favorite card you received through a trade with a fellow blogger?

For each question you answer you will get an extra entry. I will also give an extra entry if you are a follower, new or old, and another two extra entries if you post a link on your blog to this contest.

That makes 7 possible entries. The contest will end Thursday June 10th around 6 o'clock NY time.

Thanks so much for reading my blog

GOOD LUCK!!!

GO RAYS!!!!

Oh, Well

2010-06-07T11:11:00.001-04:00

The 2010 Topps Series Two Platinum 1/1 Longoria has come and gone. Not that i expected to be able to afford it but i was still pretty amazed when i woke up this morning and saw it went for $127.50. Last night, it was at $60 with an hour left, that was the last i saw it, so that was quite the jump in an hour. That would be one card for 6 weeks on my budget. Its a great looking card but I actually feel the black border is a better looking card, and at one-tenth the price, well within my budget :) But as we all know some cards just look better in hand, so i guess i should assume this is one of those cards, because honestly i have never seen a platinum in person before.

Looking at other platinum auctions on the bay - Zumaya and J. Zimmerman were the low side at around $40 and Longoria was the highend at $127, most were around the $80-90 range. Good Luck to all, hope you score one :)

Hobby Cardboarding

2010-06-04T10:35:00.002-04:00

Yep, I found a nice little card shop and bought some hobby packs. Amazing, right? Nothing to special, just some Series Two Topps, but it was fun little experience. It was a small little shop, with lots of vintage all around, and stacks of cards all over place, it was exactly what i expect in a card shop. Only problem is, it is very out of the way and unfortunately I will only be able to get out there on the rare occasion. Without further ado, here is my cardboarding of the week:

Pack 1

Miggy is really on tear right now,
here is hoping for a Triple Crown in Detroit
The Ruth History of the World Series
talks about him pitching 14 innings
Sherry Smith also matched his 14 innings but took the lose
so sorry Sherry, no 2010 card for you
Ruth needs another card

Pack 2

BJ and Rickey, nice
talks about the straight steal of home
really not that "ultra rare" when i looked it up
Jackie Robinson stole home 17 times
and its been done 16 times since 2000 (ref)
great photo of Helton about to make contact

Pack 3

Gold card of Mazzaro
also got his base in pack one
favorite photo of the bunch,
Markakis and Jones chillin on the wall
nice moment captured

Pack 4

Ubaldo, amazing season so far
nuff said
Buster in Turkey, missing the Rookie logo?
just need to shred the card that shows what a half a billion dollars buys

Pack 5

Longoria and Upton Celeb"rays"tion
Classic card for me, since its the two main players i collect
also got Leake, very under the radar Rookie
skipped the minors and has hardly any hype
very curious
also got a Hermida in a Sox uni
another card i need to shred
they were suppose to win, its not that special
seriously topps is owned by the yankees
i don't remember this many Phillies cards last year

Pack 6

2020 Kershaw, really like these
fav photo is Martin, it just has a classic feel to it

Pack 7

Gold Laffey
Vintage Legend Cobb, fun card
comparing Cobb 40 years after a particular season

Pack 8

i actually flew into st louis this year
and got to see the arch from the plane
very cool how cards spark memories

Pack 9

a Ray, nice photo of Navarro
another 2020, did i mention i really like these
i'm just sayin
and another Vintage Legend, fun cards

Pack 10

Gold Hoffman
is he actually hurting his legacy
sticking around to just get 600 saves?

Three Gold, two 2020, two turkey, two vintage legends, two million card giveaways and two player collection additions. Overall very fun little rip, although I didn't show both off, I got two Topps Million Card Giveaway cards and won't be redeeming them in hopes of trading for some blank Sketch cards. So as usual, let me know if your interested in anything. Thanks for checking out This Week in Cardboarding.

Clearance Cardboarding

2010-05-27T16:44:00.003-04:00

No luck finding Topps (s2) or Bowman this week but i finally found some discounted blasters at Kmart. I have seen a few posts over the last few weeks, that other fellow bloggers have been finding them, so I was pretty happy when they final made it to upstate NY. My local Kmart had a bunch of 08 Timeline and one 09 Chrome, as well as two 07 SP Rookie blaster (not really sure if it was clearance since it was still $19.99). I went with the Timeline in hopes of the elusive Longoria SP.

Pack1

A Relic Card and Votto in cameo
funny how the Taveras says Rockies but show Astros
which was wise since the square is definitely not of Rockies descent

Pack 2

Barton SP variation
this style seems more rare than the die cuts
last blaster i didn't get any, but scored four die cuts
and this blaster i also got more die cuts

Pack 3

Longoria, Yeah, dup, Boo
die cut Nyjer Morgan

Pack 4

Pack 5

Pack 6

Pack 7

Pack 8

Pack 9

Pack 10

With a Relic card, three die cut cards and two other short prints, making this blaster more successful than the last one i found. Unfortunately, even though I liked my rip, i still seem to have buyers remorse. I think its because, all i really wanted, was one of the two Longoria cards i am missing. I hope to find someone to give these to but since no one wanted anything from the last blaster of timeline, i won't hold my breath. Now the real decision, should i try and buy another blaster or just breakdown and buy the Longoria cards I need?

Since this was a discounted blaster, I picked up two Longos off the bay to get a little closer to the twenty dollar budget

both serial numbered
i really like the blue
Longoria looks steamed

Thanks for checking out TWIC and have a most AWESOME weekend!!!

More on Chicle Art

2010-05-26T13:15:00.004-04:00

Continuing with the theme of Chicle art

Many auctions have ended

Walter Johnson at $272 was the highest so far, and few are going for just over fifty dollars
other art pieces that went for over $200:
Honus Wagner $254
Dale Murphy $215.50
Han-Ram $204

Seeing others selling their art work for some nice money, is inspiring, maybe I will try and pick up the itch again and do some sports art. Here are some of my high school art works, they are done in ink-pointillism and are pretty old (about 17 years ago). Definitely showing some signs of age.

Can you guess who they are????

Own the Chicle Art

2010-05-25T16:10:00.000-04:00

Topps Vault is selling off the actual art work done for the cards, very cool.

Here are some examples:

Carlos Pena, very nice from Don Higgins

Bumgarner looking all vintage

Zimmerman from Jeff Zachowski

Mike Kupka showing of Hanley

Why Topps, Why????

2010-05-21T14:22:00.004-04:00

Do you tease me with such a great card?

So, this is a bit of a silly post, but while at Target recently I saw a 2008 Topps Heritage Pack in one of the value packs and it reminded me of my reaction when I realized that the Evan Longoria card they show on the wrappers and box, are vastly different from the actual card.

Here is an example:

Box

Actual Card

I remember buying three blasters before final scoring the Longoria card and man, was I thrown through a loop. I looked at my box and then the card, then the box, then the card. You get the point, I was dumbfounded. Then I hopped on the computer to see if I got a variant. Nope, I got the actual card, but I want the card that is on the box. Still do, so why Topps, why????

Now I think Topps used this pose in 09 Bowman but not the exact photo or angle as the box art, you be the judge.

09 Bowman

side by side comparison

Longoria Cardboarding

2010-05-21T10:05:00.001-04:00

Back to the bay for some more Longoria additions (Sorry Troll, I can't help myself)

The first four were from rhetrick59, another ebayer that has a standard $2 shipping for as many cards as you want to buy from him. I was really against the Goudey 4-in one cards as it is the same photo of each base card, so really what's the point, but I found a blue version with Upton and CC along with Longoria and since I have been goo goo over blue, I decided to get one to cover all versions of that type of card. So with that 4-in one card, I do believe I completed all I want from Goudey 09. Then I added the O-Pee-Chee Preview card, A&G highlight and Bowman Chrome since I need them as well and shipping wasn't a factor. The Highlight is my favorite of the lot. Se Magnifique!

The bottom four and next photo were a lot of 14 Longoria cards without much of a description. There were three cards in the photo I was still missing (Unique Uni, Ticket to Stardom, and Pure Heat), so I figured for 2.50 and shipping I would take the chance and hope for some extra new cards. Well I scored three other new cards the 09 X die cut, the 2010 UD, and the 2009 Topps base. Yes, I was still missing the base of 09 Topps, but not anymore. Hi there, little gold trophy :) The rest are dups but just wanted to show most of the lot off.

and I also picked up a Chicle Rays Team Set from rhetrick59

So overall eleven new Longoria card and another Rays team set,
Go Rays!
Even with shipping I was just under 15 bucks, so I found a slightly off named commemorative patch auction that wasn't getting a lot of views and bidded on it and with shipping got it for under five dollars.

I have seen some go as high as eight dollars and as low as three and then add shipping to those, and I think I got an okay deal. Just FYI, Topps has started commemorative patches in Bowman 2010.

Thanks for checking out my player collection additions for This Week in Cardboarding. Hope to find some Bowman or at least Topps series two somewhere for next week. Wish me luck!

Rays Cardz

2010-05-20T22:38:00.005-04:00

Some Rays additions courtesy of JD's Wild Cardz

If you don't know yet, he is trying to collect a page and only a page of certain types of cards. This lead him to inquiry about 09 Chrome Xfractors since they are a retail exclusive thing and I pretty much only buy retail. He wondered if I had any that I could send his way, which I did and I did. The coolest part of the trade was when he called me the "Blaster Master", which is an awesome name and I wish I thought of it. What a great name for a blog :) Much better than my current one.

First up, a complete Rays SP Authentic Team Set - the Longoria was new to me, and maybe Shields, Sweeet!

Five T206 Rays Cards (Longoria is the one not shown), Price and Sonnestine were new to me

Lastly a complete Rays Team Set of Topps Unique with a bonus Red version of Shields, all but Upton and Longo were new, most excellent!

i messed with the levels to show off the names on the side
only draw back is enhances the dust particles also

Very nice cards and I appreciated the additions to my collection

THANK YOU! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!!

BIG D GOT GAME!!!

2010-05-20T13:30:00.000-04:00

I would like one of these

Big D did this for the Collective Troll

if you want your own personalized

Awesomely Amazing Custom Card

Head over to

and add a comment
before Sunday

Thank You BaseballCardPedia.com

2010-05-20T12:55:00.000-04:00

From their Topps 2010 Series Two Checklist

Evan Longoria has Nine cards

Base #354
Gold /2010
Black /59
Platinum /1
Printing Plate (4)
Silk #S-140
Topps 2020 #T10
4th of July Commemorative Hat Logo #MHR-206
Peak Performer Dual Relic #PPDR-WL (with Wright)

I will probably only get the Base, Gold and 2020 cards but want to try for the silk since I have never owned a silk card and maybe the Hat.

also
BJ Upton has Thirteen Cards

Base #555
Gold
Black
Platinum
Printing Plates
Silk #S-171
Legendary Lineage #LL-55 Rickey Henderson/B.J. Upton
Toppstown #TTT39 B.J. Upton
Peak Performer #PP-89 B.J. Upton
Turkey #TR80 B.J. Upton
4th of July Commemorative Hat Logo #MHR-209 B.J. Upton
Peak Performer Dual Relic #PPDR-UU B.J. Upton/Justin Upton
Legendary Lineage Dual Relic #LLR-HU Ricky Henderson/B.J. Upton

BaseballCardPedia.com is becoming a really great resource, good work, and thank you.

Sketch your own Topps Card

2010-05-20T10:39:00.000-04:00

These will be in Series Two Topps as extra cards in packs

The Beckett Blog explains this way better than I could. I just wanted to post this because I am interested in trying it out. So, if you get one or even a few of these cards and you don't want them, I will gladly take them off your hands.

Back in the Day

2010-05-18T12:04:00.000-04:00

Like I mention previously I deemed the A's my favorite team back when I was a kid, mainly because Florida had yet to get a team. It was really cool checking the paper everyday with a purpose, instead of just reading all the box scores with the attitude of I wonder who did well today. It seemed like everyday McGwire had another homer and to see how the A's did, really made being a baseball fan a lot more fun. The A's had a nice mix of veterans and up and coming young players. So in the off-season between 87 and 88 I decided that I was going to get a rookie card of all the players of my favorite team. I do believe this activity took over a year and ran into 1989.

Lets start in the infield

First Base

I had the standard 87 Topps card but wanted showed off something a little different.

Second Base

Hubbard wasn't a favorite of mine I preferred Mike Gallego and Tony Phillips, but I enjoyed getting the older cards since I had so few.

Third Base

Carney was a favorite of mine, he had his distinct stance and was a great hitter.

Did you know Lansford was the highest paid Athletic in 1988 at 1.3million dollars?

Shortstop

Walt made three million dollars his last season playing in 2000 and made just over 19 million dollars in his career. That is freaking amazing considering he only hit 25 homers his whole career and batted .260.
*facts courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com

Super Utility Man

Moving to the outfield

Leftfield

I know Rickey didn't come over till 89 but I don't have a memory of anyone else at this position.

"If my uniform doesn't get dirty, I haven't done anything in the baseball game." - Rickey Henderson

Centerfield

Hendu had a great 88 .304 24 HRs and 94 RBIs, random fact Hendu was a 1st round pick in 1977.

Rightfield

Catching

The things you learn doing something like this, is amazing, at age 34 Terry hit 35 homers and had his only 100 RBI season. Before that 1987 was his best year with 16 homers .284 and 56 RBIs at the age of 25. I wonder if he experiment with anything that year? His highest salary was 4.2 million in 95 and 96 and he made 25 mill over his career.
*more facts courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com

On to the Pitchers

My favorite card I acquired was Eck's rookie card, it introduced me to the 1976 card design. One that I like very much, even to this day and it is just a great card over all. With him going into the wind up, even though I'm sure it is a pose, it is unique enough that I don't care. The card is a little off center, but I got it for like two dollars and it wasn't like the internet was available back then to shop around.

Then the rotation

The thing I remember most about Stewart was how intimidating he was. He had the I'm going to kill you face. Stewart started a streak of four 20 win seasons in 87 but did you know he had 14 complete games in 88. Dave had a career high 22 wins in 1990 but was out done by Welch who had 27 wins and earned the Cy Young Award that year.

Unfortunately, I never got a 1980 Rickey Henderson, so that is a 2010 CMT, and the players that cards are MIA are Mike Gallego, Luis Polonia, Storm Davis, and Rick Honeycutt, I know I have them, just not sure where they are.

* All facts and quotes not specified are courtesy of Baseball Almanac, they have a page dedicated to the 88 A's - very cool

My First Vintage Card

2010-05-17T22:19:00.002-04:00

When I first started collecting, way back in forth grade, I didn't really have a clue about baseball, baseball cards or anything really. Lucky for me, some friends that I shared the same class with, were really into baseball. They taught me all about card collecting and baseball, usually during lunch time. I never played little league because I was to busy playing soccer, so while they played baseball in leagues I waited till summertime. It was the only time I played baseball, if you can call it that because we never had nine on either side. So we often played pickle, and the best way to play pickle was on a slip 'n slide. It was a blast, definitely one of my favorite childhood memories. As for collecting, they all loved the Braves and Dale Murphy, I for some reason gravitated to Pete Rose and Reggie Jackson. I think it was because they were established players that were already great and they both had great nicknames. Charlie Hustle was a player that played hard, was a great hitter, and who had won a few championships. Mr. October was the guy who swang for the fences every at bat, had some attitude, and also won a lot. I was young what did I know. Although I had a few cards of each from opening packs in the mid-eighties, the first vintage card I got came from the card store in the mall and was this beauty.

I still remember looking in the glass case and picking it out between a few other 70s cards of Reggie. I loved it so much I eventually saved up for this. One of the other cards in the case.

Because there were no MLB teams in Florida at the time, I do believe these two cards are what lead me to being a fan of the Athletics, along with the Bash Brothers coming along. Still to this day I like their name, the Athletics or A's, its unique and quintessential to a sports team, the elephant logo on the sleeve was a design I liked, and I love their colors. The bold colors of green and yellow are a welcome contrast to all other teams.

Chicle Cardboarding

2010-05-15T10:07:00.000-04:00

I finally found some Chicle at a Target that was near a store my wife wanted to go to, made it all worth it for me. This week I was jones to rip some new product, with Bowman and Chicle still eluding me, I actually went to two card stores this week and neither had Chicle or Bowman. One I knew didn't carry any new product, so not so shocking, but one had 85 Fleer (wax and cello) and the other had 85 Donruss. Maybe another week, I was on a mission. So one blaster of Chicle found and ripped:

Pack 1

WOW! I really like these
the Sandberg is awesome

Pack 2

two old timers and a rookie
nice

Pack 3

Roy a Chicle back
Really like the Hanley, well done Mike Kupka

Pack 4

V Mart is by Dave Hobrecht, I really like how he shades
very unique
but I must say the Werth above is done much better

Pack 5

Great collation with Sisler starting it off
and Ichiro ending it
that can't be a coincidence

Pack 6

BJ Upton - Go RAYS!
Dice K
Venable is Bazooka back

Pack 7

That Seaver needs a little more TLC
something scares about that card
I really like the Pedroia
it is drawn by Chris Felix
he also drew the Rizzuto below

Pack 8

a batch of old timers
good fun

I really like these, not going to go crazy for them, but i may pick up another blaster or some more packs. Really shocked that there are not any sketch cards of these, I figured this was the perfect marketing tool to promote sketch cards and make them more popular. There is only one being posted on ebay and it is from the artist, apparently he got his own card back - Jackie Robinson.

I got two SP cards with Ryno and Stoner, and two variant backs with Hallady and Venable, and over all a very fun rip. Some nice additions to my player collections and I really like the cards overall. I have sorted them by artist. Fan of Chris Felix who I mentioned earlier and Jeff Zachowski (the Dye above as well as Zimmerman and Christy Mathewson) really like his style - Not a fan of Paul Lempa responsible for Seaver, Stoner, Crowe, Eddie Matthews.

Thanks for checking out This Week in Cardboarding.

The Other World

2010-05-12T14:22:00.000-04:00

I made my first trade in what seems like forever with The Other World.

He had the Beckham New Age Performer posted from a rack pack break. So naturally, I inquired if it was available and let him know I could help him with his 09 Heritage set for it. He agreed and he included a some extras, thanks. By the way, I really like the extras:

Three Ichiro cards
and
Three Red Sox cards
love the Target cards

He then included some really nice 80-90s of my All-Time Favs

I have a few but they are just so nostologically awesome
I had to show them all off
The Rickey Highlights and UD
are both new and are great action shots
The Biggio Stadium
is my fav
a catcher with wheels
He also included three 08 Heritage for my set :)

THANK YOU! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!!

This Week in Cardboarding

2010-05-09T15:55:00.000-04:00

Just a few new Longoria cards this week and one Upton

The 08 Chrome is a card I have been wanting for awhile, and nobody seem to be ebaying any for last few months. It is a one per box insert in the 08 update hobby boxes and there are fifty different cards so I imagine the odds of actually pulling this if I were to try and bust it out of a box, would be crazy. Back when these seem to be readily available, I was constantly bidding on this beauty only to always be out bid. So to finally score this was very exciting :)
Then I decided to get a 2010 Finest Blue which was another must have. After getting the Upton and constantly admiring its awesomeness I decided I should get the Longoria one.
And since I was adding to my Longo collection I decided to find another card I wanted. I choose the 09 Goudey SP, which is a very fun card with the drawing of a generic body with Longo's head blooped on, and sprinkled with random facts all around. The bottom three cards were add-ons from the same seller who didn't charge extra for shipping.

Thanks for checking out TWIC

Combo Cardboarding

2010-04-28T11:28:00.000-04:00

Found another 2009 UD Combo blaster featuring the update cards along with series one and two. Still hoping for Beckham and just a fun break. Each of the ten packs has 18 cards, the first five or six cards are from series one, then they alternate between update/generation now for two cards each, followed by a 20th Annv card, then series two for another five or six cards. I chose to do one scan per pack this time to save a little time. Without further ado:

Pack 1

Hermida, now a Red Sox and getting playing time
figure Boston will be letting Drew go
Holland an update, pretty unique pose
Ichiro a needed player collection card
love the Rollins photo, classic
off to a great start

Pack 2

Reimold and Pordora are updates
got a DiceK, very slight difference from the other version
anyone want a football card, i don't

Pack3

SCORE!! Beckham Oh, YEAAAHHH!!!!!
Great photo of him swinging away
and wait 3 updates and 3 GN
eeeh gads, what a great mistake
especially because Beckham was the extra
the other two updates aren't to shabby either
Bailey, 09 ROY and speedy Bourbon

Pack 4

ZO! Great photo of Mr. Zobrist
Tampa please get him out of three hole
he isn't your best hitter
don't put that pressure on him
Longoria is your man

Pack 5

the Griffey GN is Sweeet!,
the colors really make this card nice
sorry the scan isn't doing it justice
BJ Upton GN - Awesome!!! - another needed PC card
and a third GN - is there a third update?
nope but its gold and has a serial number
i didn't know these had parallels
sweet - what fun
LaPorta and Garrett Anderson are update cards

Pack 6

Obama
Wait Obama,
so didn't know he had a card in this set
very unexpected
funny he is wearing a White Sox jacket
to a Cardinals game
and Gore makes 3 political 20th Annv cards
since i got Obama i'll just consider it a theme

Pack 7

Rzepczynski bringin the big leg kick back
him and Shef are the updates
a nice photo of Wright
and a 20th Annv of Cal
nothing wrong with a HOFer

Pack 8

Tulo in action
Zimmerman great follow through
and a Red Sox with Bard for the other update
baseball continues in the 20th Annv with Gwynn

Pack 9

Marson and Wilkin are the updates
Braun on the 20th Annv card
three baseball cards in a row
joy
Alexi fielding, nice
Grienke looks like he is posing 60s style

Pack 10

Mazzaro and Pudge are the updates
Dallas Braden is off to a great start
so is Gutierrez
although Dallas has a way better photo
Katrina ruined my streak of baseball 20th Annv

Awesome break!! by pack three i was happy, by pack six i was blown away with what i pulled. I got the main card i wanted, along with a few additions to my player collectors, an Obama card and a serial numbered card both of which i didn't know existed, and lots of rookies, great blaster. Thanks for checking out This Week in Cardboarding.

This Week in Cardboarding

2010-04-22T18:00:00.000-04:00

One 2010 Heritage blaster courtesy of the Parentals

Pack 1

Got Ian Kinsler in the first pack
Only significant because i was in texas at the time of rip
Manny SP
two Yankees

Pack 2

three Yankees
eeh gads the virus is spreading
love the McCann photo

Pack 3

a checklist but yes it has a Yankee on it
does Steinbrenner secretly own Topps?
at least Ray is in this pack

Pack 4

Rookie Performer card - awesome design
Magglio - i read the first week of the season
that last season his wife was battling cancer
hence the off season statistically last year
he is definitely back
where was the media?
to go a whole season and be clueless
all they talked about was
his contract and he had to play so many games
is it really that hard to say the guy is a family crisis
and its affecting him?
any one with a family would understand

Pack 5

two more Yanks and one is a SP version

Pack 6

Sweeeeeeet! Gordon Beckham
i'm happy with the blaster now
love those giant trophies
..... yes another Yankee

Pack 7

Hideki, your saved
Yankees photoshopped
the virus has been contained

Pack 8

Rasmus is off to an insane start
so should have taken him over Blanks in fantasy

Can't believe I pulled 9 Yankee cards and no chrome. I love me the chrome. 2009 Heritage High blasters had three chrome in each blaster i got, four in one. Hence why i am avoiding spending my money on these, and why i only bought the essential cards this year on the second hand market. To go from three chromes to zero is insanely stupid Topps, way to slap your customers in the face. You just lost the sale of about three or four more blasters this year. More if you do the same thing in the high series. Thanks for checking out This Week in Cardboarding.

This Week in Cardboarding

2010-04-16T14:45:00.000-04:00

For some odd reason Target had a blaster of 2006 Ultra, then the next day i see that A Cardboard Problem also found one and made a contest out of it. I however decided to use it for TWIC. I have received two Crawford cards from this set so i was familiar with the base and actually liked it and since i never ripped any before, i figured for a dollar a pack why not try it out.

This blaster got me thinking about the problem with free agency. After all it is a 2006 blaster, four seasons ago, and the amount of players that are no longer with the same club, was astonishing to me.

Pack 1

Totally forgot Soriano was with the Nats
remember the 40-40 Soriano
the lead off man
i wonder if the Cubbies put he back at lead off
if he would be super productive again?

Swisher has since been a White Sox and is now a Yank
Bagwell has since retired

and Hafner COUGH, Ster.., COUGH, ..oids
no proof, just a theory
Big contract, now unmovable, locked in til 2012
poor Cleveland
Shouldn't they be able to sue Hafner for misrepresentation
or being conned, can he be arrested?
after all he is making millions for a contract
he really isn't keeping up his end
breach of contract, something, anything?
unless they knew ...
things that make say mmmmm...
yes big Papi should face the same fate

Pack 2

Tex and Abreu both have seen LA and NY since these
Rogers has retired
and Andruw Jones COUGH, Ster.., COUGH, ..oids
again my theory, no evidence to back it up
except when testing started he went from All-Star to zero

Pack 3

Yeah Chipper, Legacy Player
the rest have seen to many teams to even bother

Pack 4

Wells and Grienke, WOW! two players still with the same team
Matsui now in LA and CC a Brewer now a Yank
LA and NY, a coincidence, i think not

Pack 5

Another two more players still on the same team
with Lee and Oswalt
Abreu i already discussed

Pack 6

Pedro lets say retired
Street traded not his doing
Mulder, not sure what happen to him
(to lazy to look up)

So out of 30 cards - 6 players are with same club, 6 have retired, 3 are rookies that never panned out, and 14 are on a different team (i got two abreu cards but didn't count both)

So my hypothesis on the problem of free agency thing is that free agency only benefits NY and LA (Boston too, although no evidence from this blaster) and for my conclusion, i really think that MLB needs to change things for the integrity of the game and not the betterment of 5 teams.

My suggestion is to have a Legacy Rule, where a team and player agree to a legacy contract and that player becomes a permanent player with that team. What about money? I pitch a salary step structure, starting from his previous year salary whether from arbitration or their last contract. Simple structure that automatically increases 2 million a year until over 15 million and then a million a year after that. Of course there would be insurance clauses for the team and players. Such as a no trade clause that the player has to approve, and for the team, a playing clause could be if a player is injured and they miss a whole season the player would only be paid 5 million. That way the team can still fill holes. My example will be - Carl Crawford - His contract is for 10m in 2010, so the Rays and CC agree to a Legacy contract, then in 2011 he makes 12m, 2012 14m, 2013 16m, 2014 17m, 2015 18m, etc... Well what happens if he starts to decline? No longer batting .300 or 10+ homers, no longer stealing 40+ bags? Have clauses per player, if he bats less than .280 with less than 20 steals go the other direction in two million dollar increments. If he is not productive in 60 days the team is allowed to bench him, things like that. Just my thoughts, feel free to share your own. Come on MLB, For the Integrity of the game.

Back to the break - Nothing really to exciting, Grienke looks young, i mean, like he doesn't fit in to adult cloths young. Fun little break, i do really like these cards just wish i would have got a few players i like. Thanks for reading.

Rays Cardboarding

2010-04-09T15:31:00.001-04:00

Still addicted to ebaying some Rays team sets, Bleacher Seats has a pretty nice shipping deal, so i raided his Rays selections

First up 2009 Topps Update Team set, i needed the Longoria, so for a practical reasons, instead of buying just Longoria for a dollar, i went with the team set for 1.50. The surprise was the Zobrist AS because i didn't know he had two cards in the set

Then i picked up two other 09 cards for my player collections

I have really like blue parallels
the red Longoria was just to tempting not to buy

Then i moved on to 2010, with another Topps team set, i still needed quite a few from series one, so in one 1.50 purchase I got the Zobrist and Wade Davis along with the Team card i really wanted, Price was the other i was missing

Then i also picked up the gold version of the Rays Team card along with the CC, still hoping Crawford decides legacy over green, money, greed - your choice on word usage

Two Upton blue parallels, scanning just does not do the Finest justice. The Finest is so choice. Then the two Longo cards i was still missing from Opening Day, i love the Superstar Celebration card, great moment captured. If anybody wants the code on the toppstown, feel free at it, i don't use them.

Then i grabbed a 2010 Topps Finest team set

Very nice packaging from Bleacher Seats, all individual items were in penny sleeves inside a top loader wrapped in bag with the fold over sticky part (not sure if there is a name for these little guys), each team set was also in in a bag then the top loaders acted like a shield around the team sets and everything was divided in to two larger bags. With foam peanuts in the bubble mailer, i imagine to prevent sliding around. Very nice. Well done sir.

Thanks for checking out TWIC

This Week in Cardboarding

2010-04-02T17:12:00.000-04:00

Welcome to TWIC! One of the local Targets had a blaster of 08 Timeline for $15, not a discount, but better than a $20 blaster. There are still two Longoria cards i need from this set, so i figured, why not. On to the break:

Pack 1

Close up on Martin's swing is a nice photo

Pack 2

Blackburn Die Cut
nice to get a variation of Kemp

Pack 3

Mauer Gold now i have two of the same Gold card
kind of funny

Pack 4

Great shot of Braun
Votto Vintage and Bruce Die Cut
Definitely, Pack of the blaster

Pack 5

another Jeter, so soon?

Pack 6

never mind the Jeter, Hunter, Utley and Thome
consecutive pack doubles - Ughhh
National Die Cut

Pack 7

mmmm...
nope, i got nothin

Pack 8

another die cut

Pack 9

a Sox rookie

Pack 10

A Longo, just not a new Longo, still nice :)

Fun break, i was craving ripping something after a few weeks of ebaying, the Topps blaster last week was ripped a few weeks ago but i wanted to show my Rays team sets first. If anyone is trying for this set, feel free to let me know. Thanks for checking out TWIC.

Unlock, Number Two!

2010-03-30T12:51:00.000-04:00

From Topps Million Card Giveaway, i unlocked my second card. Another player i had never heard of, so off to Google to educate myself, about Mr. Howard, here is what i found out:

He got to play his first major league game at age 20 in 1963 with the White Sox. He remained a White Sox for five seasons and his best years were 1965 (9-8 3.47era 120K in 148IP) & 1966 (9-5 2.30era 85K in 149IP) very respectable numbers. Then i am not sure what happen in 67 he went 3-10 and then in 68 he got bounced around on three teams, to call it a career at the age of 25. The highlight that caught my attention was in 1966 he had four complete games and two shut outs.

This Week in Cardboarding

2010-03-26T15:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to This Week in Cardboarding, this week i went with a blaster from Target minus the Commemorative Patch card since i already sent it off to Roll Out the Barrel and forgot to scan it. I really wish the Target version of 2010 Topps were the standard Topps card. The cardboard just feels like a baseball card should, and i love the classic logo with the giant hook. I really wish that the whole blaster was full of these instead of just two packs. Oh well, on to the break:

Pack 1

got a Johnny Bench, but i got the original so ...

Pack 2

Eleven target style cards in two packs, not bad but since they are pretty much an insert set themselves, why not have all 16 cards be the Target style cards?

Pack 3

Topps, please, enough with this pose for Ichiro cards
my first Pablo card - Kung Fu Panda - great nickname

Pack 4

Turkey card, nothing else exciting

Pack 5

Crawford-Rickey insert
Sweeeet!
and a Reggie :)
best pack of the blaster

Pack 6

Ichiro about to be attack, but in a good way
my second redemption :)
Butler looking the ball in the glove, fundamentals baby

Pack 7

Palmer original back and Pujols Gold

Great and unique photo on the Twins team card
Ruiz nice action shot

Pack 8

Turkey Lincecum, looks like Topps took two steps to the left, back when they took the photo for the 2009 Turkey and said that will be next years Turkey - so pathetic

Pack 9

Thomas-Fielder insert, REALLY Topps
an insert double in a blaster :(
Rangers team card showing off the fun of playing
Yunel getting some air - nice photo

Pack 10

McCutchen :) with the Uuuuu-gly trophy :(
why Topps, why such a horrible change????

I don't know why but i slammed Topps quite a bit this week, i still enjoyed opening the blaster. Though looking back and writing up the post, the negativity just flowed out, but i guess when your the only company you deserve all the criticism. I guess they should step up their game or the hobby will die or maybe and hopefully, MLB decides against a baseball card monopoly. I still really like the base cards but the little things are adding up and the reprints (cards your mom threw away) just bug me, i would rather have another base card. As always, thanks for checking out This Week in Cardboarding.

Milestone

2010-03-24T16:00:00.000-04:00

I have reached a 100 different Evan Longoria cards. THANK YOU! to all you wonderful bloggers who helped me get here. Roll out the Barrel posted a blaster break of 2010 Topps Heritage and a Longoria SP he pulled. I sent an email and a deal was struck. Over the weekend I counted my Longoria cards because I knew I was getting close to the milestone, so when it came up 99, i was like sweet i didn't miss the 100th card to my collection (i even doubled checked to make sure). So yesterday when a package arrived from Barrel, i was psyched. I knew that my 100th Longoria card was inside, but the package was a little bigger than expected. I was amazed when i opened it because there was a plethora of player collection cards, tailored made to me. He definitely went above and beyond and i will be putting together another package to even things out. Thank you, that was very nice and i really appreciate it. On to the goodies:

The New PC

My 100th & 101st Evan Longoria Cards
SWEEEEEET!!!

three BJ cards
and
three Cl Cf cards
GReeeeat!! additions
THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!

The Dups

You may notice the 07 Ultra CC in both the new and old
(he sent me two :)

Random Rays

My first Delmon Young Rookie cards

All Time Favs

two Reggie cards
the A's one talks about 1969 but features a photo from 1987
Silly Topps
Reggie set his career high in runs in 1969 with 123

six Ryno cards
favs - 2002 Topps Gallery and Fleer Greats
PROBLEM - they both have different career stats on the back

Topps 270 HR and Fleer 282 HR
(all numbers are different)
Winner Fleer
according baseballreference.com
and baseball-almanac.com and cubdom.com
Really Topps
that's kind of sad

fourteen Kirby cards (all shown are new)
fav - UD CC Checklist - Stylin Art Card
WOW! a checklist, now that's a checklist

second fav of Puck - 96 UD
Kirby playing infield
Great action shot, too

three Rickey cards
and
four Carlton cards (all new)
fav - Goodwin, amazing color
and shot of him about to pitch
great classic feel to it

four Bench cards
fav - Legends of the Game
Great photo
THANK YOU! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!!

Thanks so much, and like i said earlier, i will be sending you another package

This Week in Cardboarding

2010-03-19T14:00:00.001-04:00

Welcome to This Week in Cardboarding! This week i ebayed another Rays team set and three extras - the Mascot insert, Longoria Blue and Longoria Bazooka insert. Upton and Longoria weren't in 2010 Topps series one, so i was really excited to see them before series two came out :) I had a slight problem with damage to some of the cards, the bottom left corner of every card in the team set was dinged. I imagine because they weren't protected by cardboard. My Heritage set was sent protected. Not sure if anyone has dealt with TNT Sportscards, but they did replace the team set. The interesting thing about it, is i sent an email when i first got the cards and then i wait three days which i felt was an adequate amount of time and sent another requesting some service. They actually snapped at me like i knew they were sending me a replacement set.

we replaced the team set. We have been rather busy. Would you rather have had me send you repeated emails and not replace the item? Please send back the damaged goods.

I honestly didn't know how to respond to that, so i didn't, but i kind of wanted to tell them they wouldn't get multiple emails if they responded to the first email and probably wouldn't get any if they protected the cards they send out. Neither time did they put cardboard with the cards for protection. Needless to say i won't be shopping them anymore. The Longoria Blue upper left corner is white, it was shipped in thick top loader with the other two inserts without penny savers, so they were sliding around quite a bit when i got them. Its not worth the hassle of dealing with them anymore so i will just move on and enjoy my pretty blue Rays card and the rest of the Opening Day goodies i got.

I really like the Longoria photo, the ball about to hit the bat
the Upton is nice too
but what i really like is that almost all the cards have the same uni
that makes for a really nice overall look

Thanks for checking out TWIC.

Mets for Player Collection

2010-03-18T19:34:00.000-04:00

Mets enthusiast Rob M. contacted me asking if i had some Mets i could send him for a few Ichiro cards. Well for some odd reason i kept forgetting to email him, not once but twice, but he was patient with me (much appreciated) and he even added a bunch of cards i could use for my other player collections.

First up, BJ - a great vintage look with 07 Bowman Heritage
my first card from this set and me like
the black outline with the airbrush effect uni
nice

Rob then followed up with 5 Crawford cards
an 03 SP Authentic - very nice card
and my second 07 Bowman Heritage
the 07 AS mentions that CC
was the first Ray to hit HR in the AS game
TAMPA DON'T LET HIM GO!!!!
then the base Topps in 09 and 10
Thank you very much, all are cherished

and he bumped up the Ichiro cards from two to ten
Sweeeeeeet!!

Starting off with a 2001 Nestle card - oddball cards are always fun
the shiny 02 Donruss Elite is also great
the design of the 03 SP Authentic is very clean
i like the font on the Artifacts card
Ichiro accepting his AS MVP Award in full suit
two 2010 inserts,
showed the back of the card that my mom has never seen
and the Commemorative Patch
finally i got one that i want
THANK YOU! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!!

Thanks for the Greeeeeat additions!!
Your package is going out Saturday

You voted, and I Kept

2010-03-18T11:12:00.000-04:00

I LoVe Fantasy Baseball, after all it was the gate way that brought me back into collecting. So i wanted to share some cool news since this post will be all fantasy.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Fantasy Baseball TV SHOW

MLB.com's Fantasy 411 to Air Daily on MLB Network and MLB.com
Starting April 6 - 5pm ET

------------------------------------------------------------------

A TV show all about Fantasy Baseball, truly amazing and super exciting. I have been listening to 411 since 05 and enjoy the show immensely. If you don't get MLB TV they will be broadcasting live via MLB.com at the same time.

My 2010 Keepers
Decided by you wonderful people who read my blog
according to mlb.com all five are in their top 30
A Rod 4, Kemp 8, Wright 14, Holliday 18, Morales 27
(not to bad)
The League is a
12 team standard 5x5 28 man roster
C (2),1B,2B,3B,SS,CI,MI,OF (5), U, P (9), B (5)

After last season i asked for input on my keepers. I have left the results in my sidebar and last night was my draft. The draft started off with three or four people having trouble signing in and staying in the draft room, but we made our way through it. Two no shows but one was a little expected because he did the same thing last and lead for most of the season only to finish in second. Pretty amazing considering he finished last the season before. So i imagine he figured he was really good at pre-ranking players and decided to do it again. You do what works :) The other was there for two picks but said jet lag was killing him and called it a night. He ended up with three DHs Matsui, Guerrero and Ortiz, should of had preset, (Forrest Gump voice) that's all i have to say about that. The most shocking thing was Heyward went in the seventh round and Strasburg went in the eighth. I took Chapman in the 24th.

I had a plan and pretty much stuck to it but i got greedy early. Which sent me a little out of whack but i think i recovered nicely only to be overwhelmed after the 20th round with to many choices never feeling i choose correctly. I went in with the plan to get two solid closers in the first ten rounds and go heavy in hitting. By round 16 have three starters and two catchers. That way i would only be missing two outfielders and my utility.

I went in with two plans for my strategy, plan A was starting off with elite closer, cough..Broxton and if someone grabbed him before me Plan B was to grab a Second baseman in the sixth. Well Broxton got grabbed quickly, I was afraid of that, so off to Plan B. I had the choice of Zobrist and Beckham, a Ray or a Player collector, decisions, decisions - so natural i went Gordon Beckham.

Here is where i got greedy, i was planning on taking Pence in the seventh, imagining McCutchen wouldn't be available but i was afraid that maybe both would be available and sought out professional help from Cory Schwartz of Fantasy 411. I am huge Schwartz believer and value hitting way over pitching. I even earned two Yoo-hoo Showers last year thanks to that logic.

So i grabbed McCutchen because I needed speed a little more and wasn't planning on drafting it later. Back to being greedy, i was really hoping to grab Pence in the eighth round. Like i said i was being greedy, well it went to the spot right before me, i'm getting all excited and then Pence disappeared, gosh darn it. I really wanted Pence, like really, age 27 year, i think he is going to be a monster and go off.

So instead of sticking to my plain and taking a closer, i am thinking hitter because i wanted Pence, so hitter is on the brain, so i grab Elvis Andrus, early, not crazy early, but still early. Now i am off schedule and out of whack. Eight rounds and no pitching okay focus, take Heath Bell in the 9th, got a solid closer with good strike out numbers. Then Alexi goes, golly gee willikers, there goes my round ten guy. Do i go pitcher or grab MI, Billingsley is my rd 11 plan but Brian Wilson sitting right there, this will put me back on track with two good closers in the first ten rounds. I go for power with Jose Lopez, why? i am still unsure, Wilson is snatched up on the next pick. Fudge :(

I straighten out by taking SP 11, 12, 13 Billingsley, AJ Burnett, Dela Rosa. This was part of plan A taking SP 11-13. Billingsley and De La are in their second year with my team. 14 and 16 i got my catchers Suzuki and Napoli.

I really wanted to grab Ian Stewart in the 15th but i needed a second closer, so i opted for Qualls. Good thing too, because M Gonzo, Aardsma, and Lidge were the next 3 closer taken in 6 picks. I guess grabbing a closer was a wise idea. Back on schedule.

17 Floyd (4th SP), 18 Blanks, right where i wanted him (4th OF), 19 Nunez (not crazy about him but wanted a third closer), 20 Harang (lets hope for 200ks again).

There is so much luck in the late rounds that i never really sweat it, just fill in holes. Just hope i get lucky with a few of my picks and if not i usually just drop guys and play pitch or ditch, or pick up a player to fill the roster on off days. That said, I wish i would have got Magglio i kept saying next round, only to lose him in the 22nd.

21 Glaus (early i know but he has been looking good so far this spring) 22 Barmes, Magglio went the pick right before me (this was a filler since Beckham won't have 2B for the first week or so)

23 Austin Jackson (why not take a chance on the young lad)

24 Chapman (why not this late) 25 Cameron (got me a Red Sox)

26 Sean Rodriguez
(had to have a Ray and why not someone who is killing the ball)
27 Ryan Madison and 28 Randy Wells

Here is what my team looks like

Kurt Suzuki, Oak C
Mike Napoli, LAA C
Kendry Morales, LAA 1B
Jose Lopez, Sea 2B
David Wright, NYM 3B
Elvis Andrus, Tex SS
Clint Barmes, Col 2B
Alex Rodriguez, NYY 3B
Matt Holliday, StL OF
Matt Kemp, LAD OF
Andrew McCutchen, Pit OF
Kyle Blanks, SD OF
Austin Jackson, Det OF
Gordon Beckham, CWS 3B

Heath Bell, SD RP
Chad Billingsley, LAD SP
A.J. Burnett, NYY SP
Jorge De La Rosa, Col SP
Chad Qualls, Ari RP
Gavin Floyd, CWS SP
Leo Nunez, Fla RP
Aaron Harang, Cin SP
Ryan Madson, Phi RP
Troy Glaus, Atl 3B
Aroldis Chapman, Cin SP
Mike Cameron, Bos OF
Sean Rodriguez, TB OF
Randy Wells, ChC SP

Wish me health and luck and i hope you enjoyed my first fantasy post. Good Luck to all of you Fantasy Players.

sruchris strikes again

2010-03-17T19:32:00.000-04:00

sruchris made a comment on a recent TWIC, that he needed some help with the 09 UD Update. Once on his site, i got into a zone of looking through his need list for UD sets, and offered up a bunch of 07 help along with some 06 and 09 and even included a few 2010 Topps cards. Here was my return, some great additions to my player collections:

Longo looking so mad, the orange doesn't help
a beautiful BJ chrome refractor
a great looking Flair card

Beckham time, uuuuu-gly trophy, but nice photo
had the mini now have the regular
Awesome cards
Thank You, Thank You!!

Cl Cf additions
the 2000 Bowman chrome is a very nice shiny
great swinging shot of CC with topps total

Great dive on the Turkey
i love how they kept the hat with shades in frame on the mini
another Documentary that doesn't mention
the player in the photo - baffling
the A&G has great contrast with the red
and the 2010 topps is an amazing action shot
THANK YOU! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!!

Addict supplying

2010-03-16T19:37:00.000-04:00

Pack Addict had a three pack break of Opening Day and pulled a Topps Attack Longoria. I inquired with some 2010 Topps set help for it and then found the Piece of History Longoria further in his blog and offered up some Ichiro cards for his player collection. He included a great surprise and i am truly thankful for it.

Some sweet additions to my Longoria Collection:

The Documentary is interesting
because it doesn't even mention Longoria on the back
Tampa Bay fell to 1-6 to start September as Boston climbed
to one-half game of the Division leaders. Carlos Pena smacked his 20th double of the year.
but regardless its a great photo
and very welcome addition to my PC
The Piece of history marks October 2, 2008 when
he became just the second player ever to homer in each of his first two postseason at-bats.
The scan doesn't do the Topps Attack justice,
it really has a nice shine to it
THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!

Thanks so much they are all great

Redemptions

2010-03-14T15:45:00.000-04:00

I scored an Autograph Redemption of Emmanuel Burris from a blaster of Stadium back in late October. Then in February i got an email saying they were behind and if i wanted a replacement i should call. So i called only to be told they finally got it and it would ship out in three weeks. Well yesterday i finally received it and for the life of me, can't understand a single part of the autograph.

the E, i guess its an E, since it is the first letter,
looks like an S or an incomplete 8
then i can see a lower case L or is a giant lower case e
then he drew a star, well almost a star
then he started a B but made another eight followed by a z
WTF!!!!
the back of the card says
he was former NCAA swipes leader (42) for Kent State
he went to college and still can't even write his name

I have had high hopes for Emmanuel in fantasy, especially last year, only to be completely wrong. What was i expecting from someone who can't even write his own name.

Mr. Burriss, Topps this weak, really really weak.

So i decided to do some research since i am slamming Topps - yep Topps deserves it - never is there a Z at the end - a phone call will be made this Monday to see what happens. I seriously question the authenticity of this redemption because of all the variation compared to the other autos i researched. The player is lazy but why blame Topps? Simple, doesn't Topps pay the players. Shouldn't they be setting some kind of standard? I believe Topps should have some integrity and pride in the product they are putting out and since they are paying the player they have the power to decide if the player is doing the job and earning the money.

Why i am i so upset, because it is suppose to be an autograph not a mark. I, as the consumer, want an autograph not a mark. Since when is writing 5 random letters a signature, where is the pride in your autograph. Hate to be the bearer of bad news but this is a mark not an autograph. Players have become laaaazy and disgrace themselves with such antics. I usually avoid autographs because of what i expect the price to be, but players using marks instead of actually autographing is definitely another reason. That is why i don't have a Carl Crawford auto yet because Cl Cf is not an auto in my mind.

Autograph

Mark

Why do collectors put up with this? This really amazes me.

Opening Day Blues

2010-03-13T23:30:00.000-05:00

No i am not sad, actually i am super excited about Opening Day!

Even more excited about Topps Opening Day.

Topps has Gold, but 2010 Topps Opening Day has Blue and Rays cards look magnificent in the Blue. A match made in cardboard heaven. So when BA Benny's Baseball Card Buffet had a Blue Wade Davis posted from a break of his, I immediately inquired when i saw such a beautiful card. He said sure and off went a bunch of Mets and here is what i received:

Along with the fabulous Blue, he include the base and an extra Ray

He then added three very nice Aki cards
Thank You, Thank You very much!

BA Benny also added six more 2009 Topps Chrome i needed - taking my need list down to 2

two promising Rangers rookies
two Red Sox cards
and Mauer and Lowe

Great bunch of cards - THANK YOU! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!!

This Week in Cardboarding

2010-03-12T15:58:00.000-05:00

This Week in Cardboarding i found a discounted blaster of stadium at my local Target. There weren't any hits but each pack did have one card i needed. So instead of posting each pack i will just feature the eight new cards, here they are:

Kazmir is my favorite photo of the bunch
would probably look better on a landscape card
and i finally got an Ellsbury
a pair of Astros with Berkman and Tejada
Berkman back handing a grounder with the shades on
definitely a unique photo
Webb and Young illustrating the leisure moments of the game
i've said before and i'll say it again
i love the photography of this set

and some of the doubles i got that i like - just to add some more pretty pictures to the post

Thanks for checking out TWIC.

This Week in Cardboarding

2010-03-05T12:05:00.001-05:00

Three packs of 2010 Heritage.... sort of. Actually, seeing many bloggers buying packs at four dollars, made me think, maybe i should take a different path with heritage this year. For the price of three packs twelve dollars, here is what i scored:

one base team set and a chrome refractor Longo

Although I don't usually chase team sets, it was nice knocking off so many player collections from a purchase that was the equivalent of a hobby pack. The only bad thing was that shipping for the two buy it now auctions was essentially the price of a pack or what i will call the invisible third pack. So pack one was the nonSp Team Set and pack two becomes the Longoria Refractor 066/561. For the Rays I am still missing the SPs, which are Price 426, Garza 435, Longoria 439, Madden 461, Garza (ALCS MVP) 485 and for my player collections I would still like the Gordon Beckham and maybe all the cards that feature that giant trophy. I am really diggin the trophies in Heritage - I hate the base Topps trophies this year, they are Uuuuuuu-gly. I will be passing on Ichiro this year in Heritage at least the base because I already have the photo from the card like ten times. Seriously Topps take/find a new picture of Ichiro . I don't care if it is a technically a different stadium, the same shot/pose in five straight years (probably more, my collection isn't all that extensive) of cards is cheap, pathetic, insulting and uncreative. Way to show you have no integrity Topps.

Hey MLB, this is something collectors would be happy about. Next time you make a monopoly, try and set some guidelines that would actually make collectors happy. Since you seem all proud that you know what makes them happy, by the way you obviously don't. For this collector, having ten cards with the same photo makes me not so happy, actual it's very irritating. Having ten cards with ten different photos makes me happy. That said the Sporting News Ichiro is very cool and i hope to acquire it sometime. Rant over.

Thanks for reading This Week in Cardboarding.

Mail is Magical

2010-03-01T23:30:00.000-05:00

A very nice surprise package came this weekend from A Fan in Wisconsin. He did let me know something was coming but what it was, was unknown.

a unique Longoria and Upton

four 2010 Topps Longoria Inserts
two 2010 Upper Deck Longoria Inserts

They are all great and much appreciated
i'm actually shocked i like the ud over the topps inserts
(turkey excluded)
although i do like the topps inserts
they just don't seem the same quality as ud
i think its because the linage and peak cards are just extra base cards
(numbered as inserts)
my fav has to be the ud potraits
but the blue shiny is a close second
THANK YOU! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!!

This Week in Cardboarding

2010-02-26T15:50:00.000-05:00

Continuing with the second half of the 2009 UD Combo blaster

Pack 6

A fun pack with some nice photos and some good players. Poor Scott Hairston traded back to the Padres after being moved to Oakland. Talk about bad luck, for being destined to the worst hitting ball parks. I think its a strange move for the Padres since they have Will Venable and Kyle Banks two promising young outfielders who showed a lot of upside last season. Snell with one of those pitcher hitting (or really bunting) shots that are always fun. Andruw Jones and Brett Cecil are the update cards. Thome now a Twin, i wonder if he is trying to get to the 600 HR club?

Pack 7

A great pack thanks to Matt Wieters, other than that i got two Rays and Pedroia insert. Schneider carrying his gear is a different shot of a catcher. Latos and Wieters are the updates.

Pack 8

Pack eight was so-so with just about about everything, no real stand out players, the photos are pretty generic and no biggies on the inserts. It did contain two pitchers from the World Champion Marlins club right next to each other, just something fun to point out. Aki sliding is my favorite card of the pack. Colon and Mills (Blue Jay rookie) are the update cards.

Pack 9

Score another needed Longoria and he is sporting the shades, definitely not at the Trop. Some really fun photography with this pack, the Dallas Braden playing with the ball is classic, (i wonder if he knew he was being photographed, i say no) and the K-Rod shouting really captures the moment. I also like the Vlad and Adrian photos. West and Pena are the updates.

Pack 10

Pack ten got me another Ichiro to add to my PC. Future HOFer Randy Johnson, wow those studio photos really stand out, compared to all the great action shots. Rollins makes my 5th Phillies Generation Now Insert, just an observation i thought i would note. Kapler and Cervelli are the update cards.

So i went 50-50 on the 20th Annv inserts being baseball related. If anyone collects the 20th Annv cards please let me know, i will gladly send them your way (all but the Longoria, of course). Also if anyone needs the Generation now inserts anything but the Longoria is available and as usual anything not going to my player collections is available for trade. Just let me know you want it. Really fun blaster overall, thanks for checking out This Week in Cardboarding.

My first 2010 Longoria

2010-02-22T21:40:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Sewingmachineguy i got my first 2010 Evan Longoria Card.

quoting from the back of the card
"Longo" was no one-year wonder.
Turkey Cards are so choice

Thank you for the great addition :)

My one lone redemption

2010-02-22T11:38:00.001-05:00

I know it is nothing new by now, but i finally got around to redeeming my lone card

Never hearing of Mr. Robinson, i decided to do a quick google search to see if i could find anything fun to share. Drafted by the Phillies in 1970 (11th round). He played from 1972-1977 never hitting a homer. His big year was 1974 where he was allowed to play in 145 games and had 104 hits in 452 at bats giving him a .230 batting avg. In all the other years he never got more than 46 games played. He played for the Phillies, Braves and Giants.

This Week in Cardboarding

2010-02-19T20:48:00.000-05:00

Welcome to This Week in Cardboarding :) This week i decided to try some 2009 Upper Deck, since i really don't buy much UD. I usually end up buying a blaster of the combo packs when they go on clearance. At least in 2006 and 2007, never found a 2008 blaster on clearance. Unfortunately, the 2009 aren't on clearance yet, but i decided to pick one up anyways. Mainly because i have wanted to pick up one of these for awhile, now. Ten packs of 18 cards for a total of 180 cards, made it seem worth it to me. Stating the cards cover both series one and two, but what the box fails to mention is that it also has some update cards. Actually two per pack giving 20 Update cards, not a bad deal at all.

I'll use the first pack as an example of how the packs are set up
Pack 1

the first part is Series one

the next part is the updates and inserts

The third part is is series two

Pack one was awesome with McCutchen and the promising Fernando Martinez for the Updates, two Red Sox guys and a future HOFer with Glavine, definitely a great start.

For the rest of the packs I will be hitting the highlights. Since three scans for one pack is a bit much.

Pack 2

Joe Crede #83
Roy Oswalt #152
Johnny Damon #265
Johan Santana #250
Jeff Clement #338
Kevin Kouzmanoff #318
Padres Team Leaders #438
Generation Now - Albert Pujols
Russel Branyan #U26
Generation Now - Jose Reyes
Miguel Cairo #U17
20th Annversary - Manny Ramirez #2482
Travis Ishikawa#843
Chad Qualls #512
Kosuke Fukudome#570
John Buck #677
Ian Stewart #629
Brandon Phillips #961

Pack two was o-bee-kay-bee with a Pujols insert, and some nice regular cards of Damon, Santana and Phillips in the cameo.

Pack 3

Pack three had some really nice photography basically everyone but Madson is a really nice photo. Utley is definitely my favorite photo of the pack, and McLouth a close second, i can just feel the action in both. McLouth and Carpenter were the Updates.

Pack 4

Pack four was Sweeeeet, and by far is my favorite so far. Two Longoria cards i needed for my player collection and an Ichiro i needed. Some more great photography, Varitek is my favorite photo of the pack, seeing the ball come off the bat, very nice. Another Red in cameo with Bruce. Tony Gwynn and Schlereth the Update cards

Pack 5

Pack five was pretty good, leading the way were two rookies Elvis Andrus and Mat Gamel. I love the Frank Thomas card, great shot of him. Swarzak and Pedro are the Updates. The 20th Annv card is a football card, i was on such a role with four straight baseball 20th Annv cards. Dag nam it! This is why i don't buy UD much, i hate getting anything that is not baseball. So, someone please take it off my hands.

Well i am going to divide this blaster up, since i am still budgeting. So next week will be the other five packs. Definitely feel good about the blaster so far, lots of great photographs and i got a McCutchen and two Longoria cards along with an Ichiro. Very fun, thanks for checking out This Week in Cardboarding.

I wouldn't mind hearing from you on my format of posting, i know most bloggers only include hits, or a list of the pack. I tried a few different formats in this post since there were so many cards per pack. I don't care much for typing out the pack, it feels more like a chore to me. I think i found a nice way with the last three packs, but i would still like to hear others opinions. So please let me know if you like to view TWIC with all cards scanned, or as a list, or just the few cards i like or even let me know you don't care.

This Week in Cardboarding

2010-02-12T17:15:00.000-05:00

Welcome to TWIC - This week is two packs from Wally World - I actually got a blue back out of each pack - making it a very pleasant rip - since i am doing this week super fast here are just a few of the cards from each pack, pack one top row, pack two bottom:

two peak performers and two blue backs for inserts
Utley stylin at second
Topps, why no SP love for Halladay
i respectfully request a philly version
and the batting champ card with three future Hall of Famers

Another fun couple packs from 2010 Topps, thanks for checking out TWIC