Fantasy Keeper League

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

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!!!!

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

All I Want for Christmas....

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 :(

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

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

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 :)