BIRTHDAY BOOLSHEET BLASTER: PART 2 - METS

LIKE I SAID IN THE PREVIOUS POST, WELL OVER HALF THE BOX CONSISTED OF A BUNCH OF RANDOM STUFF THAT LOOKED LIKE REFUGEES FROM A FAIRFIELD REPACK CIRCA 2003 SORTED BY TEAMS. WHEN I REALIZED WE HAD TEAM LOTS THROUGHOUT THE BOX THE GEARS IN MY POSTER BRAIN STARTED GRINDING AND THAT'S WHY I AM TAKING HUNDREDS OF PHOTOS AND CROPPING AND UPLOADING AND WRITING ALL THIS MESS INSTEAD OF CHILLING OUT AND WATCHING A MOVIE BECAUSE I HAPPILY SORTED ALL THE JUNK IN THE BOX I GOT A WEEK AGO. STRICTLY SPEAKING I NEED ALMOST NONE OF THIS STUFF, BUT I FOUND A COUPLE INTERESTING THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR AS I SORT ALL THESE CARDS PLUS EACH TEAM LOT HAS A FEW COOL THINGS SPRINKLED IN AMONGST THE GARBAGE. ENOUGH STUFF TO SHOW OFF AT LEAST. THE FIRST TEAM TO POP UP IN THE BOX WAS THE NEW YORK METROPOLITANS

STARTING OFF WITH 1987 TOPPS WHICH MAY SEEM ODD BECAUSE I AM FAMOUSLY SICK AND TIRED OF 1987 TOPPS. I HAVE ALMOST TWO FULL MONSTER BOXES FULL OF 1987 TOPPS DOUBLES I'VE ACCIDENTALLY ACCUMULATED BECAUSE IT GETS THROWN IN EVERY SINGLE REPACK AND JUNK BOX AND I'M PRETTY SURE IT SEXUALLY REPRODUCES IN DARK BASEMENTS WHEN WE'RE NOT LOOKING. HOWEVER THIS IS NOT 1987 TOPPS, IT IS 1987 TOPPS TRADED. DESPITE HAVING THE OPPORTUNITY TO BUY THE SET DIRT CHEAP SEVERAL TIME I NEVER DID AND AS A RESULT I HAVE WELL UNDER HALF THE SET, AGAIN THROUGH RANDOM ACCUMULATION. LOOKING THROUGH ALL THESE TEAM SETS IT BECAME APPARENT THAT THERE IS MOST OF AN '87 TRADED SET IN HERE. PROBABLY NONE OF THE BIGGUNS LIKE MADDUX, REGGIE OR MCGRIFF, BUT I FEEL LIKE MOST OF THE SET IS IN HERE WHICH IS GREAT BECAUSE I ALREADY HAVE ALL THE STAR CARDS AND I MIGHT ACTUALLY COMPLETE THE SET NOW. I'M PUTTING A COUNTER ON ALL THESE POSTS TO SEE HOW CLOSE WE ACTUALLY GET. WE'LL START IT OFF WITH TWO METS (AND I NEED THE MCREYNOLDS!)

1987 TOPPS TRADED COUNT: 2/132

THE OTHER THING THAT WAS GLARINGLY OBVIOUS IS THERE IS A WHOLE LOT OF 2002 TOPPS CARDS IN THIS BOX. LIKE SO OBVIOUS THAT IT WAS EVIDENT JUST LOOKING AT THE RAW CARDS IN THE BOX. THERE'S A WHOLE LOT OF ORANGE IN THERE. THIS IS SOMEWHAT UNFORTUNATE FOR ME AS 2002 TOPPS IS ONE OF THE FEW POST JUNK ERA SETS I'VE ACTUALLY COMPLETED. AT FIRST I THOUGHT MAYBE A FACTORY SET GOT BROKEN UP AND DUMPED BUT THERE'S WAY TOO MANY DOUBLES FOR THAT. I'M ALSO KEEPING A COUNT HERE TOO AS I'M INTERESTED SO SEE JUST HOW CLOSE WE GET. I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING - ANY TRADED CARDS? NOPE, WHICH ALSO MEANS NO SHORT PRINTED TRADED CARDS SADLY

2002 TOPPS COUNT: 21/718

WE NEED AN AVERAGE OF A LITTLE OVER 23 CARDS PER TEAM FOR A COMPLETE SET SO STARTING OFF A LITTLE UNDER. ALOMAR IS THE ONLY STAR OF NOTE IN THE PILE SO I'M GUESSING THE OTHER GOOD CARDS ARE ALREADY IN THE STORE'S 50 CENT BOXES RIGHT NOW

NOW FOR THE "GOOD" CARDS. THE CRITERIA FOR BEING GOOD IS KIND OF SQUISHY. BASICALLY I WANT ENOUGH CARDS TO PAD OUT THE POST BUT NOT TOO MANY BECAUSE I GET SICK OF TYPING QUICKLY. A CARD FROM UPPER DECK VICTORY WOULD NOT NORMALLY MAKE THE CUT BUT I GRUDGINGLY ADMIT THAT ALOMAR WAS GOOD AT BASEBALL AND YOU DON'T SEE A LOT OF TRADED BLURBS ON 21ST CENTURY CARDS

YOU WILL BE SEEING EVERY SINGLE PACIFIC CARD WITH SHINY FOIL ON IT THOUGH. THIS 1999 PRISM CARD IS SUPER EXTRA SHINY. IT'S ALSO ANOTHER CLEVELAND MIDDLE INFIELDER TO THE METS CONNECTION. HEY WAIT, THEY'RE STILL DOING THAT! NO FRANCISCO LINDOR CARDS IN THE BOX THAT I CAN RECALL

YES! I LOVE THE ODDBALL CARDS. THIS CARD IS FROM LONG JOHN SILVERS BUT THERE IS NARY A FISH ANYWHERE ON THE CARD. JUST A STARLINE LOGO ON THE FRONT AND A COCA-COLA AD ON THE BACK. I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY LONG JOHN WISHED TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS BUT I LOVE THIS SET AND DIDN'T HAVE THE STRAWMAN

1983 TOPPS HUBIE BROOKS DEFINITELY MAKES THE GOOD CARD CUT. THIS WAS ACTUALLY THE FIRST OF THE TOPPS SETS I COMPLETED SO HUBIE'S A DUPLICATE. BUT THINKING IN FAIRFIELD REPACK TERMS, AN 83 TOPPS CARD IS BASICALLY A HIT. I WILL NEVER NOT LIKE GETTING A CARD FROM THIS SET

1990 UPPER DECK IS ALSO COMPLETE BUT A DOCTOR K ART CHECKLIST KICKS ASS

SPEAKING OF FAVORITE SETS, 1995 LEAF IS DEFINITELY MY FAVORITE LEAF SET THANKS TO THE HOLOGRAPHIC FOIL TEAM NAME AND INSET PHOTO. THE BACK LOOKS GREAT TOO AND IT HAS ONE OF THE BEST AND MOST EASILY READABLE CARD NUMBERS OF THE DECADE. I UNFORTUNATELY HAVE THIS ONE ALREADY BUT IT'S STILL WORTH SHOWING OFF

NOT SURE I'VE SEEN A CARD WITH TIMO'S FULL NAME ON IT BEFORE. FLEER PREMIUM WAS A PREMIUM SET MOSTLY BECAUSE IT ACTED FANCY AND NOT BECAUSE IT COSTS $500 FOR THREE CARDS LIKE NOWADAYS. I GUESS IT WAS SLIGHTLY CLASSIER THAN MOST SETS DUE TO THE CHIPPY BLACK BORDERS AND SPOT FOIL BACKGROUNDS THAT SCRATCH EASILY

MINOR LEAGUE CARDS IN THE 80S AND 90S WENT ON THIS WILD ROLLERCOASTER FROM CHEAP TEAM SETS TO CHEAP LEAGUE SETS TO CHEAP DRAFT SETS TO NOT-SO-CHEAP SETS WITH AUTOGRAPHS AND BELLS AND WHISTLES THEN EVERYTHING CRASHED AND BURNED AND WE ENDED UP WITH STUFF LIKE THIS. THE "GRAPHIC DESIGN IS MY PASSION" OF MINOR LEAGUE SETS I SEE THIS JUNK EVERYWHERE AND IT'S SO BAD. AIRBRUSHED UNIS AND DREADFUL DESIGNS THAT ONLY SERVE AS AUTOGRAPH RECEPTACLES. AND THEY HAD THE COLOSSAL NERVE TO USE MONEY AS A DESIGN ELEMENT! TOTAL TRASH SET. THIS EARL SNYDER CARD ALWAYS CONFUSED ME TOO BECAUSE WITH ALL THE LOGOS PURGED HE LOOKS LIKE HE'S IN A BRAVES UNI

AND HERE'S ALL THE REST. THE PLAN WAS TO PUT THE REST OF THE COMMONS IN A PILE AND THEN JUST SHOW OFF THE ONES I NEEDED BUT... I DON'T NEED ANY OF THESE. WELL, TECHNICALLY MAYBE THE TRIPLE PLAY OR FAN CLUB CARD BUT I DON'T HAVE THE DESIRE TO CHECK ON THOSE. OH WELL, AT LEAST I HAVE MY FIRST PILE OF DOUBLES OUT OF THE WAY. UP NEXT IS A PILE OF FIFTY CENT REJECTS, THERE'S WAY MORE SHINIER STUFF TO SHOW OFF IN THAT POST

Back to the Mets

I am a bad blogger. I have almost two dozen posts in various states of doneness I need to finish, I've got two  videos I need to edit and post and a couple more I need to record, I've got a pile of packages I need to send and countless wantlists to pore through. So last night instead of doing all this stuff I watched the Braves-Future Stars game online until it rained out*, hassled some innocent souls on Twitter for a while and then watched the Angry Video Game Nerd until I was forced to go to sleep. All after leaving you stuck with a meme post. Bad blogger! Bad, bad blogger. As penance, here's a Met:

This is no ordinary oddball Met. Sure, it looks like a typical unlicensed card from the early '90s. No logos, a busy design that looks like clip art in MSPaint, way too many colors. The painting of HoJo is a nice touch as you normally only get generic photos on these things. So what's so special about this card?

It's a card from the Metz Baking Company of Sioux City, Iowa. That's right, it's a Metz Met. Which amuses me to no end.


(hey, I told you I was a bad blogger, you should listen next time)


* I've seen exactly two preseason games this year, both were rained out. I'm cursed. Good thing I don't have cable or The Braves would never finish a game all year.

Sketch Card #18 - Mascot Edition

Ok, time for more sketch cards. I'd like to get into 2012 before Opening day (the real one, not the thing going on in Japan) at least. PROBLEM: I still need to get more packages out and to do so I need to draw more sketch cards and right now I don't feel like drawing anything so thing are getting backed up in here so I'm procrastinating by actually writing a post for my now completely-off-the-rails blog. Must be something about February and March. As I recall the blog went off the rails at this time last year too. I'm hitting the Braves Open House this weekend so maybe that'll snap me out of my baseball doldrums.

Ok, so onto the sketch card. One thing I like doing now that I'm all artistic and sh!t is experimenting with stuff I haven't done before. Sometimes it works out well, like this future sketch card post I did for Long Fly Ball to Because. Sometimes it's an abject disaster like when I tried using oil pastels for the first time. Note that both pieces have a black background. I'm somewhat obsessed with black right now for some reason. I've switched from graphite to charcoal for quick sketches recently. I really like the deep black color of the charcoal and it forces me to be very decisive where I put a line. With graphite (that's pencils for the non-pretentious) I get all fiddly and uncertain and I erase things 27 times and try to make things perfect and get frustrated when it isn't. Charcoal lines? You draw it and it's there. Ain't no getting rid of it. You screw it up, you work around it.

Sometimes it's a trainwreck,

Sometimes it turns out pretty ok.

Either way I can knock out a quick drawing or sketch without having to sweep away a pile of eraser crumbs.

So now that I've established that I am obsessed with the color black (and Pinkie Pie, but you already knew that) and like to experiment we can discuss today's sketch card. This nightmare version of the '60's style Mr. Met that heads up this post.

Dem eyes just burn away your soul, don't they? So basically what happened is between the last Sharpie Sketch card and this one I finally got brave enough to start painting with acrylics. Like everything else I've ever done while learning art, I didn't just check out a nice "how to paint with acrylics" book from the library and do a nice simple painting of a vase or some strawberries or something, I have to do something weird like paint ponies into baseball cards and spraypaint decoy cards black to use as a canvas. Important safety tip: Painting on glossy cards with acrylic is a gigantic pain in the butt. The paint slides around and doesn't cover properly and you have to use a ton of coats to make it look even kinda right. So what happened when I spraypainted a bunch of decoy cards black so I could paint on them?

That's right, I used glossy paint.

I have since bought a can of flat black spraypaint for spritzing decoy cards. I also bought the crappy cheap paint so I have to use 7 coats just to make the card grayish but every failure is a learning experience and at this rate I'll be Albert Einsten by the end of the year.

Ok, so onto this sketch card right here. This was painted for Jacobmrly. I have a second project in mind for him but I'm having trouble getting it down onto paper. A little fear combined with a lot of lazy. Just need to do it. Digressing again. So, Mr. Marley has a habit of sending me Chippers unannounced so I wanted to repay the Met fan with something nice.  He got this. Seeing as how this was my third painting since I started back up again all I can see is where I screwed up. Lines are really uneven. Paint sliding everywhere on the glossy surface. The stitches on Mr. Met's head look like a giant flesh wound. There's a definite creepiness in the face that was actually a lot worse before I repainted it almost completely. Not happy with the bat. The body is kinda cartoonish, but I actually kinda like how that turned out. In other words I see this work as a hot mess.

So, I think it's a disaster. What does Jacobmrly, the guy who actually received the card, think about it? Well, it's now on his Mets binder and has become the header and favicon of his new blog.

I really need to relax, quit being so critical and just draw.

metsbluh

Two more packages inna mail. I have three or four almost ready to go. Mostly waiting on sketch cards at this point.

Sean L.
Edgar G.
Scott C.
James R.
Andruw K.
Max M.
Matt F.
Tom O.
Paul B.
Jeremy S.
Jeff C.
Rod R.
Paul E.
Marck B.
Captain C.
The D.

I think if I can get the sketches done and get some packages out the door I'll allow myself to cut it out with the Mets a little early. You don't really wanna see more Mets do ya?

I don't care what anyone says, I like the burlap. Reminds me of canvas. which I should be painting on right now but I'm lazy and sleepy. Maybe tomorrow.

Been lazy lately

Well it was my week off. Actually I've been semi-productive by putting together some packages, organizing some junk and getting sketch cards done. I should really post something though so you all don't think I've turned into a Twitter-bot. Here's a Met.

I'll try to get something real posted tonight, assuming I don't get caught up in painting again.

Weis does this keep happening to me

Scott and Marck's packages are in the mail! That just leaves...

Sean L.
Edgar G.
Scott C.
James R.
Andruw K.
Max M.
Matt F.
Tom O.
Paul B.
Jeremy S.
Jeff C.
Rod R.
Paul E.
Marck B.
Captain C.
The D.

The plan is to get three sketch cards done this afternoon so I can get another batch of packages out tomorrow. Until that happens though.... well, you know the drill:

At least the airbrushed cap softened the blow a bit on this one.

Marketing Mets

In honor of the Sport and Gaming Collectible Industry Summit that all the cool kids are discussing on Twitter, I dug up some old school cards from way back when the industry gave a crap about marketing to kids. Here's some cards given away with...

chocolate

breakfast cereal

granola bars

fake cheese squares

All junk food items that kids tend to like. Here's some more giveaways in products geared towards kids:

ice cream

cheese sticks

snack cakes

slurpees

fast food

pizza

meat snacks

more snack cakes

bland yellow mustard

even more snack cakes

Man, that's a lotta junk food. Might be a good thing cards aren't being included in that anymore. The last time I remember seeing cards in any product was when Sunkist included a card in a bag of oranges that promptly bent the thing all to hell. So now that the Industry is trying to figure out how to get the kids who got hooked on cards through some of these giveaways to spend more money on cards as an adult, I wonder what they have in mind to hook those guys' kids? Maybe they can sneak baseball cards into packs of Pokemon and Squinkies...

Happy Hangover Day!!!

I know for a fact you bastards were all boozin it up all night even if the closest you've ever been to being Irish is eating a Reuben sandwich. You feel like crap now dontcha? Hair of the Dog just bit ya in the ass, didn't it? Well watch this bit of stupidity, it might make you feel better.




At the very least you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that you're not stupid enough to video yourself while smashed to the gills in an attempt to honor your ancestors and put it on the internet.

Oh and here's an obligatory Mets card since there wasn't one in the video:

And here's a pony JUST BECAUSE

Gotta post something green today I guess

 posing Mets is easier atfer youve drunken 17 green beers

Erin go BLAAUUUUGH

Tiiiiiiin ROOF

Rusty.

Paul's package is innamail. Gettin' at least three more out by Saturday or I'm not watching the new Pony episode. EVER

Sean L.
Edgar G.
Scott C.
James R.
Andruw K.
Max M.
Matt F.
Tom O.
Paul B.
Jeremy S.
Jeff C.
Rod R.
Paul E.
Marck B.
Captain C.
The D.
P. Go

Again, Mehts

If I'm lucky, I'll have Paul's package in the mail by the time this posts. If not, it'll go out in the mail with a couple other packages tomorrow. If I'm truly unfortunate, I'll fall asleep on my commute today and get smashed to oblivion on the interstate. I'm going to be heavily leaning on coffee today, which truth be told is a major factor on why I didn't get any sleep last night. Oh yah. Mets.

Get comfortable folks, it's gonna be a while before we move out of Flushing.

Mailday from Slangon

I sent his cards so I can open his package. Besides, where do you think all these Mets are coming from?



And if you're too damn lazy to watch the video here's the goods:

(seriously, what the hell is that cutie mark supposed to be???)

Mo Metsie

Nothin got mailed, nothin got packaged, but I have all the cards together for Scott, Marck and Captain and a sketch card finished for Paul. It's time to pay the price for sleeping in on Saturday though...

AAAARGH.

This is a pain that shall linger.

More Mets

Slangon, Edgar and Matty Heartbreak's packages are in the mail! That just leaves...

Sean L.
Edgar G.
Scott C.
James R.
Andruw K.
Max M.
Matt F.
Tom O.
Paul B.
Jeremy S.
Jeff C.
Rod R.
Paul E.
Marck B.
Captain C.
The D.
P. Go

oh gawd don't make me do this......

OW. MY SOUL. 

the pain....

Sketch Card #17 - Pony'd

I'm over 3 months behind on the sketch cards and I'm drawing like a fiend right now so I should probably get a postin'. A major theme in my pony-drawing portfolio is turning unsuspecting hapless schmoes into ponies again their will.

The Collective Troll got ponified back in September. I'm not sure at the moment but if he wasn't the first to get transmogrified by me into a man-horse he was dang close. Why would I do such a nefarious thing? I just think the "X is now pony. What do?" meme is friggin' hilarious. Seriously, I'm laughing at it right now and it's making it hard to tpye.  Marck isn't the only Mark to become Pony.

Mark over at Stats on the Back also got a blast from the Pony Ray.  I basically did a piss take on his blog header (an actual 1973 Topps cartoon) and turned him into a bubble blowing workhorse. Poor guy has a foal to feed and I've gone and made him a pony.  Oh well, gotta expect disaster to hit when you're a Met fan. As usual, I did a little preliminary sketch to try to figure things out:

Glasses on ponies ain't easy. Their eyes are half of their dang head which makes things awkward. After doing this, I did it again on the actual card and ended up erasing  way too much. This is important later. For some reason I'm obsessed with doing Sharpie Art on these glossy decoy cards people send me but I never quite like how it comes out. I'm not comfortable with my lines yet, I guess. Here's the black and white version:

Lettering is shaky as usual, I smudged up the bubble and the Sharpie decided it didn't want to cooperate on the bottom border and I had to dig up the Marks-a-Lot to get the bkack I wanted but the pony turned out pretty ok in my opinion. Even the glasses! I decided I wanted to color it with the '73 back ink colors but I wasn't entirely sure what color to use. After rummaging through my kids' marker box I found some candidates and did a test on a security decoy card:

I ended up using the color on the top right. The only problem is the color didn't really want to go down evenly so I ended up doing a couple of passes to try to smooth it out. Even then, drops of color globbed together whenever I picked up the marker so I tried to push them towards a border. This is why there's a dark spot at the tip of the hoof. Even worse, the parts where I erased had enough of the gloss removed so the ink soaked in through to the paper underneath when I took a second pass. This is why Pony Mark looks like he has acne on his chin. I couldn't figure out what the heck to put on the back so I found an old sports page in the basement and got some Mod Podge and...

Stats on the back, naturally. The Mets even won! That should take the sting of abruptly switching species away for a bit. (who am I kidding, everyone wants to be a pony) Oh, and Tom, it was about 11 hours before I posted a Met Pony, so the Under is a winner. What's the over/under of when someone posts the date of this box score?