My Memorial Day gift to you.
Now go out and have fun and watch fireworks and drink beer* and remember our troops and forget about stupid baseball cards for one day.
*if you are 21 or over in the US**, or somewhat younger than that in a civilized nation
**Or under 21 if you have an older brother or cool friend who can hook you up***
***But that would be WRONG do cards not drugs
Monday, May 30, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
I've been waiting for this day for over two years
Ordinary 2009 Topps, you say? Au contraire, mon frère...
I almost passed them up thinking that they were 2009 Philadelphia football.
Looks like I'll be hitting every single Target in the Southeast this holiday weekend.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
My Trip To Target
Rage comics = The advanced stages of terminal writer's block.
This comic is dedicated to the poor schmuck who bought five blasters of Bowman and didn't even get one crummy base card of Bryce Harper.
This comic is dedicated to the poor schmuck who bought five blasters of Bowman and didn't even get one crummy base card of Bryce Harper.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Virtual Hobby Pack
R.I.P. Atlanta Sports Cards.
No, not the online seller, they are still around. Their brick & mortar store up in Alpharetta is gone. My 'work' local card shop has sold out and is no more. I will never again scrounge for Allen & Ginter box toppers in their 50 cent junk box. So it goes.
All is not lost, however...
Chris, the guy behind this little corner of the interwebs has moved in and started his own retail store. They got their own sign and everything. Ya know what else they gots?
They didn't have any Gypsy Queen packs though. No worries, I was able to scrounge through the dime (and quarter(and fifty cent)) boxes and put together my own little virtual hobby pack. It was a bit overstuffed, actually. Remember kids, always buy the thick pack even if it is a virtual one. Here's the results:
Only three base cards in the virtual pack. Well, four actually. I got doubles of Jason Heyward. Doesn't it just suck when you get doubles in the same pack? I might need to drink me a nice cool refreshing Budweiser to get over my disappointment. Mmmmmmmm.... Budweiser. I wonder why I'm craving Budweiser all of a sudden? Probably because I also got a card of Andre Dawson, who played for the Cubs, who had Harry Caray for an announcer, who drank his weight in Budweiser every 6 and a half innings. I can't see any other reason for it. Oh yeah, random Chipper.
Short prints are inserted one in every four hobby packs. I slightly beat the odds in pulling ten in mine. There ain't but ten cards in every pack! The virtual card collator must have been on the fritz that day. I got another double too - this time of B. Anderson. You may wonder why I didn't write out Brett Anderson's full name, but the truth is I almost called him Brian Anderson. I went and double checked the back of the card and discovered my mistake, which is why I typed out "B." instead to cover myself. Then again, if I have just replaced the "B." with Brett in the first place I wouldn't have had to type out three unnecessary sentences and I'd be lying in bed with a cold beer watching the A-Team on the retro channel by now. Man, that was kinda dumb. Wait, the A-Team doesn't come on until 11. Never mind, B. Anderson works. Oh yeah, also got short prints of Soriano, Hanson, Garland, Elvis, Dexter, Sinkbeil, Castro and Shin Soo-Choo. Man that'a a lotta short prints. But wait! There's inserts!
Is it just me or are these things hard to come by? They are supposedly 1:4 packs like all the other inserts but I'm finding far less of them out and about than all the other inserts. Maybe that's because unlike all the other insert sets there isn't really any bad cards in the set. No really, the worst card in the set is probably Rollie Fingers or Thurman Munson. Those are the klunkers, people. Compare that to the 14 Jason Bartlett Sticky Fingers cards I have. Blecch.
Mendoza, Cheech, Cripple and Hawk. I find it odd that Andruw Jones is a Brave in this set while Troy Glaus is an Angel. It makes sense since each card is commemorating a great season for each player, but I still find it odd considering that Troy was a Brave last year and Andrew was not.
Jeez, how many Heyward cards can I pull from one pack?? Dang you, virtual hobby pack collator! Oh wait, I just danged myself. Dang a lang lang a ding a dang ding... Did I mention how much I like the blue design on these cards? It's like if 1992 Fleer Rookie Sensations were made in 1892. Or something like that. They shore are purdy is what I'm trying to say.
HEY HOW DID CRUMMY RETAIL INSETS GET IN MY HOBBY PACK?? Rajai Davis? Now come on.
Here's some sticky ickys that I uploaded incorrectly but I didn't bother to fix because Teixeira's a jerk. Rangers and Angels fans, amirite? Shush you Yankee lovers. Let us enjoy our hate.
Woooo! the big hit in the pack! A numbered Bronze Framed Parallel Chipper insert! And... a Green Framed Retail Parallel too... somehow. How the heck did 27 cards manage to fit inside one virtual hobby wrapper... Wait a sec, what the deuce?
Hey! I got stiffed on the mini card in the pack!
No mini cards in my virtual pack. I guess they couldn't squeeze it in there with all the other cards. I did walk out of the store with a mini J-Hey from 2010 Topps206, but that's another post. So how much did my virtual pack set me back?
6 cards @ 50 cents each = $3.00
11 cards @ 25 cents each = $2.75
10 cards @ 10 cents each = $1.00
Grand total = $6.75.
If anyone can tell me where to find an actual Hobby pack of Gypsy Queen for $6.75, let me know. And just like your hobby pack, I didn't pull a relic or auto!
No, not the online seller, they are still around. Their brick & mortar store up in Alpharetta is gone. My 'work' local card shop has sold out and is no more. I will never again scrounge for Allen & Ginter box toppers in their 50 cent junk box. So it goes.
All is not lost, however...
LONG LIVE FCB SPORTS CARDS
DIME BOXES
Base cards
Only three base cards in the virtual pack. Well, four actually. I got doubles of Jason Heyward. Doesn't it just suck when you get doubles in the same pack? I might need to drink me a nice cool refreshing Budweiser to get over my disappointment. Mmmmmmmm.... Budweiser. I wonder why I'm craving Budweiser all of a sudden? Probably because I also got a card of Andre Dawson, who played for the Cubs, who had Harry Caray for an announcer, who drank his weight in Budweiser every 6 and a half innings. I can't see any other reason for it. Oh yeah, random Chipper.
Short prints
Short prints are inserted one in every four hobby packs. I slightly beat the odds in pulling ten in mine. There ain't but ten cards in every pack! The virtual card collator must have been on the fritz that day. I got another double too - this time of B. Anderson. You may wonder why I didn't write out Brett Anderson's full name, but the truth is I almost called him Brian Anderson. I went and double checked the back of the card and discovered my mistake, which is why I typed out "B." instead to cover myself. Then again, if I have just replaced the "B." with Brett in the first place I wouldn't have had to type out three unnecessary sentences and I'd be lying in bed with a cold beer watching the A-Team on the retro channel by now. Man, that was kinda dumb. Wait, the A-Team doesn't come on until 11. Never mind, B. Anderson works. Oh yeah, also got short prints of Soriano, Hanson, Garland, Elvis, Dexter, Sinkbeil, Castro and Shin Soo-Choo. Man that'a a lotta short prints. But wait! There's inserts!
The Great Ones
Is it just me or are these things hard to come by? They are supposedly 1:4 packs like all the other inserts but I'm finding far less of them out and about than all the other inserts. Maybe that's because unlike all the other insert sets there isn't really any bad cards in the set. No really, the worst card in the set is probably Rollie Fingers or Thurman Munson. Those are the klunkers, people. Compare that to the 14 Jason Bartlett Sticky Fingers cards I have. Blecch.
Home Run Heroes
Mendoza, Cheech, Cripple and Hawk. I find it odd that Andruw Jones is a Brave in this set while Troy Glaus is an Angel. It makes sense since each card is commemorating a great season for each player, but I still find it odd considering that Troy was a Brave last year and Andrew was not.
Future Stars
Jeez, how many Heyward cards can I pull from one pack?? Dang you, virtual hobby pack collator! Oh wait, I just danged myself. Dang a lang lang a ding a dang ding... Did I mention how much I like the blue design on these cards? It's like if 1992 Fleer Rookie Sensations were made in 1892. Or something like that. They shore are purdy is what I'm trying to say.
Retail Inserts... in My Hobby Pack?
HEY HOW DID CRUMMY RETAIL INSETS GET IN MY HOBBY PACK?? Rajai Davis? Now come on.
Here's some sticky ickys that I uploaded incorrectly but I didn't bother to fix because Teixeira's a jerk. Rangers and Angels fans, amirite? Shush you Yankee lovers. Let us enjoy our hate.
Parallellochips
Woooo! the big hit in the pack! A numbered Bronze Framed Parallel Chipper insert! And... a Green Framed Retail Parallel too... somehow. How the heck did 27 cards manage to fit inside one virtual hobby wrapper... Wait a sec, what the deuce?
Hey! I got stiffed on the mini card in the pack!
No mini cards in my virtual pack. I guess they couldn't squeeze it in there with all the other cards. I did walk out of the store with a mini J-Hey from 2010 Topps206, but that's another post. So how much did my virtual pack set me back?
6 cards @ 50 cents each = $3.00
11 cards @ 25 cents each = $2.75
10 cards @ 10 cents each = $1.00
Grand total = $6.75.
If anyone can tell me where to find an actual Hobby pack of Gypsy Queen for $6.75, let me know. And just like your hobby pack, I didn't pull a relic or auto!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
I got nothin'
I've come to grips with the fact that I'm not going to write a post of any quality this week and I'm just going to have to accept it and try again next week. I also ripped my first objectively awful Gypsy Queen blaster today that netted no less than 20 base doubles and six - count 'em - six doubles of bloody inserts. It is very demoralizing when you have doubles of a card of a random model dressed up in hippie clothes that is supposed to represent the queen of the Gypsies. The only thing in the box that could even conceivably be regarded as a 'hit' is a framed card of Stephen Strasburg numbered to 999. This ain't July of 2010. I shall now post a small pile of Qypsy Gueens with pictures of Braves on them in a feeble attempt to lift my flagging spirits.
Strasburg... why'd it have to be Strasburg???
Yay! I have four out of five Braves short prints! Boo! The last one is a rookie!
Jair is pitching otherworldly right now. Since he's on the fragility chart between Heyward and Chipper, right now I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Murphy! Just jacked one out of Wrigley! Check out the Cubbie ball girl in the background. Holy Cow!
With Freddie here, the only Brave insert I lack is the Home Run Heroes card of Andruw Jones. Someone care to explain how Hank Aaron is not in that set? Or the Great Ones set? Oh, they got an autographed card of him though.... Thanks Topps.
Strasburg... why'd it have to be Strasburg???
Yay! I have four out of five Braves short prints! Boo! The last one is a rookie!
Jair is pitching otherworldly right now. Since he's on the fragility chart between Heyward and Chipper, right now I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Murphy! Just jacked one out of Wrigley! Check out the Cubbie ball girl in the background. Holy Cow!
With Freddie here, the only Brave insert I lack is the Home Run Heroes card of Andruw Jones. Someone care to explain how Hank Aaron is not in that set? Or the Great Ones set? Oh, they got an autographed card of him though.... Thanks Topps.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
In play, run(s)
BIG
MAC
ATTACK
In other news, I have three out of the five Gypsy Queen Brave short prints pulled out of packs because I am a lucky bastige.
So, um... all you guys voting for Yadier Molina and Buster Posey... Howzabout some Mac love this year???
Hobby vs Retail
The spastic squiggle above is purportedly a Marlon Byrd autograph from Gypsy Queen. I pulled it out of a blaster. When I bought it, I had by that time spent roughly half the money it would take to get a hobby box on retail packs and blasters. In those packs and blasters, I pulled three relic cards and two autographs. Granted, one of the relics was a duplicate, but I did get the promised two autographs that Topps failed to deliver in their Hobby product. Of course now that Bowman has been released, we'll soon see Hobby boxes of Gypsy Queen selling for half of what it did when it first came out. So it all evens up, eventually.
Monday, May 16, 2011
The Washington Senators of the NHL
1979-1980
1980-1981
2010-2011
All thanks to some remarkably shitty owners. RIP Atlanta Thrashers, slowly and gruesomely murdered by Don Wadell, Patrik Stefan's flop (not this one), Steve Belkin, Dany Heatley's driving, the stupidest lockout in the history of sports, Kari Lehtonen's groin, 400 draft picks for 18 games of Keith Tkachuk, Ilya Kovalchuk's insane contract demands, Joe Johnson's dumb contract and the Atlanta Fecking Spirit Group.
Of course we are talking about Bettman's expansion-era trainwreck of a league here. It sure won't be long before one of the other half dozen floundering franchises takes a long hard look at an empty Philips Arena smack dab in the middle of a city with a population of over five million and decides to become the next
Of course shitty owners tend to migrate to new cities along with their ruined teams, unfortunately.
My new Gypsy Queen game
Let's see how many Jason Heyward cards I can get before pulling a J-Hey base card out of a pack.
In other news, how the hell does this happen?
At least it's Ty Cobb...
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Wyrd Sisters
I think Granny Weatherwax is the elusive GQ20 card.
(Esme's gonna kick my ass for putting her on a Gypsy Queen card but I'm not MSPaint talented enough to change the card header to Wyrd Sisters)
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
You just can't avoid doubles
I have been extremely lucky in pulling goodies out of Gypsy Queen retail packs. I mean, an autograph and a relic card in the same rack pack? (and a mini sepia too) That's just ridiculous. I haven't quite reached that level of success in a rack pack again, but in one of 'em I did get this:
Yep, Stan the Man bat card in a retail rack. Framed, even. GOTTA love the frames. I think Topps sells 50% more product in any given set when there are framed cards in the set. Even cheesy unnecessary sets like 2010 Topps206. Framed cards are just that cool. So is Stan the Man, who is probably one of the most underrated SuperDuperStars out there. Cy Young? Got an award named after him. So does Jackie and Hank. Babe Ruth has a candy bar named after him (don't give me facts, my grandfather insisted it was named after Babe) and so does Reggie and The Kid.
Stan Musial has no award named after him. Why? Because no one else is THE MAN.
Stan Musial has no candy bar named after him. Why? Because no candy bar is as sweet as his swing.
Stan Musial has won the Presidential Medal of Freedom! Why? For saving the world from an invasion of communist bug-eyed aliens from the planet Skylar with one mighty swing of his bat. Or something like that. It was pretty awesome, that's all I know. Do you have a Presidential Medal of Freedom? Then shut up. Stan is more awesome than you. He won the World Series three times which is two more times than that Albert character has.
So I'm extremely happy with this. Stan in a rack pack! How is this possible! I figured at this point that I had completely used up all my luck with rack packs and went for a blaster instead. Guess what was inside.
FREAKING DOUBLES. What are the odds. About 1:56 for Framed Relic Group A according to the wrapper. Anyone know who's in Group A? No one will give me an empty hobby box because of that stupid redemption gimmick so I really don't know.
So how is this even possible?
A) Retail Queen is frikken loaded. (see: 2008 Mayo)
B) Dayf is a lucky bastige
C) Both A and B
D) Topps Spies are planting goodies in my path so I'll give their crummy product free advertising
So yes, I have pulled two Stan The Man framed relic cards before I have pulled my first Jason Heyward base card. Probability is weird.
Yep, Stan the Man bat card in a retail rack. Framed, even. GOTTA love the frames. I think Topps sells 50% more product in any given set when there are framed cards in the set. Even cheesy unnecessary sets like 2010 Topps206. Framed cards are just that cool. So is Stan the Man, who is probably one of the most underrated SuperDuperStars out there. Cy Young? Got an award named after him. So does Jackie and Hank. Babe Ruth has a candy bar named after him (don't give me facts, my grandfather insisted it was named after Babe) and so does Reggie and The Kid.
Stan Musial has no award named after him. Why? Because no one else is THE MAN.
Stan Musial has no candy bar named after him. Why? Because no candy bar is as sweet as his swing.
Stan Musial has won the Presidential Medal of Freedom! Why? For saving the world from an invasion of communist bug-eyed aliens from the planet Skylar with one mighty swing of his bat. Or something like that. It was pretty awesome, that's all I know. Do you have a Presidential Medal of Freedom? Then shut up. Stan is more awesome than you. He won the World Series three times which is two more times than that Albert character has.
So I'm extremely happy with this. Stan in a rack pack! How is this possible! I figured at this point that I had completely used up all my luck with rack packs and went for a blaster instead. Guess what was inside.
FREAKING DOUBLES. What are the odds. About 1:56 for Framed Relic Group A according to the wrapper. Anyone know who's in Group A? No one will give me an empty hobby box because of that stupid redemption gimmick so I really don't know.
So how is this even possible?
A) Retail Queen is frikken loaded. (see: 2008 Mayo)
B) Dayf is a lucky bastige
C) Both A and B
D) Topps Spies are planting goodies in my path so I'll give their crummy product free advertising
So yes, I have pulled two Stan The Man framed relic cards before I have pulled my first Jason Heyward base card. Probability is weird.
FEILDER
Really, Topps? You realize you could have a hundred people begging to proofread your entire product line if you just offered them just a single pack of Opening Day, right?
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Gypsy Queen Sticky Fingers
Someone has to have done this already...
You know, collecting the Gypsy Queen set is turning out to be a real bitch.
You know, collecting the Gypsy Queen set is turning out to be a real bitch.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Hey Hey
So, uh, yeah. I know everyone is as completely sick and tired of Gypsy Queen posts as they can possible be by now, but I just wasted my hard earned money on acquired some more retail Queen and feel the need to show it off. Well, that and these are easy posts and I don't feel like doing the research required for an actual good post right now. Once I stop being lazy you will stop seeing Gypsy.
In the meantime...
It's phat Jason!
I only need the Murph for my retail parallel Braves set now. I'm assuming Topps parallelled cards 1-100 for that set. I'm tempted to spend the mortgage money and buy every rack pack in Atlanta so I can build the full parallel set, but my wife just might not completely approve of that idea. Someone please take away my debit card...
In the meantime...
HEY
HEY
HEY
It's phat Jason!
I only need the Murph for my retail parallel Braves set now. I'm assuming Topps parallelled cards 1-100 for that set. I'm tempted to spend the mortgage money and buy every rack pack in Atlanta so I can build the full parallel set, but my wife just might not completely approve of that idea. Someone please take away my debit card...
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Me and Julio down by the ballyard
Forget no hitters, we've got the debut of a future legend right here...
What is it with the Braves throwing out kids to pitch at Citizens Bank Park? It didn't screw up Brandon Beachy, I doubt it will phase Julio.
His last name is apparently pronounced like the capital of Iran if you hiccuped in the middle of saying it.
What is it with the Braves throwing out kids to pitch at Citizens Bank Park? It didn't screw up Brandon Beachy, I doubt it will phase Julio.
His last name is apparently pronounced like the capital of Iran if you hiccuped in the middle of saying it.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Joy of a Completed Page - 2011 Heritage
First page completed in my 2011 Heritage binder. The Sinkbiel that filled the last empty pocket came out of one of those Value Boxes that everyone's been hyping to death. While you all are getting good stuff out of your boxes mine was a complete pile of garbage. Nothing good in the Topps packs. All base cards in both Heritage packs, no SPs or inserts. The three codes I got netted a '67 card of a nobody and two junkwax crappers. Even the Collector's guide was screwed up as the middle page wasn't stapled in the book and was just hanging loose. The refractor was Mantle of course. Bluh. This page and that lone '67 card were the only good things to come out of that mess. It's a good thing I completed a page now, because I'm not going to be acquiring much more Heritage now that GQ is out.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Band of Gypsys
I miscounted when scanning and now I'm one card short for my 24 hours of Gypsy.
So, um, here's some Hendrix.
This kicks the living crap out of some stupid ol' baseball cards anyway.
So, um, here's some Hendrix.
This kicks the living crap out of some stupid ol' baseball cards anyway.
2011 Gypsy Queen Tommy Hanson Relic
Yeah I pretty much got the best rack pack of my life the other day. The Sisler framed card was in there too. I dare anyone to pull a relic, auto, sepia mini and framed card out of one Hobby pack. Rack packs might be cheaper than Hobby soon anyway.
2011 Gypsy Queen Mel Ott Mini Sepia
I was very surprised to get a card numbered to 99 in a rack pack. Even better, this was in the rack I pulled the Chris Sale auto from. Even even better, this was in the same pack as the next card I'm gonna post.
2011 Topps HTA Hank Aaron
Ok, this isn't technically a Gypsy Queen card but I got it when I purchased a Gypsy Queen Hobby pack. This is card number 1 of this year's Hobby Store promo set.
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