Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Combo Cardboarding

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.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

This Week in Cardboarding

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.

Friday, April 16, 2010

This Week in Cardboarding

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.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Rays Cardboarding

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

Friday, April 2, 2010

This Week in Cardboarding

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.