The best card I pulled in 2013

This isn't quite as awesome as SUPER CAT from 2012 but it's pretty nice. On October 28th, I went to Wal-Mart to buy something or other and ended up snagging a couple of packs of 2013 Topps Update. Inside was this:

Very nice! But redemption. Who knew when it would arrive? Who know if I would get that card at all? All redemption card stories online are nothing but tales of sorrow and woe, how could I avoid this miserable fate? I entered the code in the Topps redemption thingy and hoped for the best. Last Saturday this arrived:

Tom Glavine mini autograph card numbered 3/10. I never seem to have problems with redemptions. The only time in the past 10 years I didn't get what I was supposed to get (a Jesse Ventura relic) I got something equally cool (an Erik Estrada relic). I guess if I have to complain then, um... the edges are a little chippy? I guess? Like every other card with black borders? But honestly, who cares. It's an on-card autograph of a Hall of Famer that I'm never going to sell and will rot in my collection until my heirs dump all my cards on Craigslist when I croak. 

This is a hella nice looking card, too bad there's only 10 of them. Tom's not in the mini base set, so take a good long look, this is the only one you're likely to see. I like that career stat line on the back, and also the authenticity legalese that is cleverly integrated in the '71 design. Can you find it kids? The only thing that could make this card better is one of those old hologram stickers that Topps used to plaster on their autograph and relic cards 10 years ago.

So a pretty good pull for 2013 considering my pack buying habits dropped drastically last year. Will I find anything this good in a pack in 2014? Will I even buy any packs in 2014? We got 11 and a half months to find out.

Presented without comment

(for the 5000th time in the past day, probably, but who cares)

Hall of Fame - Tom Glavine

I know what you are all thinking. How can I be happy that Glavine is being inducted after all the crap I gave him on this blog. Easy. I'm a dirty hypocrite and since Liberty Media is slowly but surely turning the Braves into the Marlins North, I'll take what happiness I can get.

Tom Glavine.... PLAYING HOCKEY. Madness! Score knew how to make super-cool cards. I wish we had a Score today.

I have a lot of crazy looking '90s inserts of Tommy Glavine, but the Dufex Stare is just too cool.

Yes, yes, yes. This is technically a Mets card. It's also numbered 5/10 and has two of the more interesting patches in my collection. I'm pretty sure the Braves patch is from a throwback uniform they wore, but I'm clueless on the Mets patch. Pretty danged interesting at any rate.

44-21-41-35-3-42-31-47

Mailday isn't as fun without the impending dread

I keep getting packages without Bips. I guess I scared everyone off with my threats of using the Nuclear Option. Don't fear the Bipper, besides my aresnal of enough Todd Helton cards to cover Coors Field just landed upon a certain Rutgers grad. One of these packages was expected, the other came out of the blue. Since I'm already horribly behind and the next 72 hours look insanely busy I'll get these two out of the way quickly with my one card rule.

Robby from Detroit Tigers Cards and Stuff offered a 2010 Topps insert trade on his blog and I bit. The meat of the trade will be posted in its entirety in a seperate post, but he also threw in a couple of other things. I'm bending my one card rule in this case as I have to post them both or I shall die. Here's the first:

Eddie Mathews '57 Championship Patch

 

My first 2010 patch and my first patch with a Brave on it period. The patch is a bit, um, looser than the ones last year though. I friggin love this card, but I still don't think I'll be getting any 2010 Topps blasters until they start hitting the 50% off bins.

Chipper Jones '51 Red Back

i didn't even know that Chipper was in the Red back set until Robby offered it up to me in the deal. I really really like this set even though Topps already did it in a Bowman Heritage release a few years ago. Igot one question for Topps though... Balk?? Really?

Chris from Project '62 also sent me a package of coolness even though Mr. Roberts was nowhere to be seen. The items were pretty random, but this O-Pee-Chee card stuck out to me:

I like the way this Glavine card turned out, extreeeeme closeup and all. It kinda sucks for him how his career ended but when you think about it, it was either him or Tommy Hanson getting called up. I've gotten mostly over my Glavine Mets Derangement Syndrome, and that's a good thing too. Now that Tom is in the front office I give it about ten years before he's sitting in the GM's chair for the Braves. In the interest of equality, here's a second item from the package.

Awwww YEAH. Donkey Kong Fever, baby. Three stickers and rub off cards. I just about rubbed off when I saw this. Forget the Wiebe auto, I coveted this pack even more in his contest. Looks like #23 was my lucky number! Methinks this pack may make it into a future video break...

Thanks guys!

Totally worth it

So I Bipped Ben Henry with some 1959 Fleer Ted Williams cards. He sent me a double shot of packages which arrived yesterday, I don't have time to show 'em off right this minute, but I did want to stick to the one card rule and show off something (unlike the Dinged Corners package which waited a week and might have caused them to go off sulking. I'm sorry! Come back Dinged Corners!).

Ok, so it's two cards, but they are a package deal.

I'm not sure if I like the Good Cap'n or the "mini" version of Tom better.

Awww yea, I totally ripped off Ben with this one...

New Additions to the Blogroll

First, some Eye Candy.



Ok, a bunch of new blogs (or new to me) caught my eye tonight and I've been reading them instead of writing up my Bip or No Bip post. I've been teh s uck at keeping up with new blogs and adding them to the sidebar (and at sending out packages, keeping up with posts, acknowleding e-mails, etc. etc.) so I'm going to take the time to add 'em now and link 'em here for the hell of it. If you want your blog on the sidebar, go over there ------------>
and leave a comment in the News box. Does anyone even use the News box? I can spend the time updating it on playing Tecmo Bowl instead if you wish...

Baseball Card Recollections
It's midnight, I'm sick and I need sleep, so I'll keep the descriptions to a minimum.
THIS POST RIGHT HERE IS AAAWWWEEESOOOMMMEEE

Rookie Card Collector 
AKA: McCann Can Triple. More Braves bloggers, yeehaw!

All Tribe Baseball
AKA: Baseball Dad. WHY DON'T YOU FREQUENT COMMENTERS TELL ME ABOUT YOUR BLOGS?? If you did, 8 months ago, and I completely ignored it, um, tell me again, please.
Dad pulled a Million Card Giveaway code card! Nifty! Wait... if Topps is giving a Million cards away... and this is the first one of hese cards I've seen ever... then... HOW MANY FREAKING PACKS OF TOPPS IS OUT THERE??!!?!
Sorry, didn't mean to yell twice. moving on

1207 Consecutive Games
This fine chap (or chapette, I'm no sexist*) apparently has an unhealthy obsession with Mr. Stephen Garvey, esq. Good for him.

Reliving the 1976 Baseball Season
I so wanted to do this for the 1983 season a couple of years ago, but I didn't have the time. I am a lazy sod, MattR is not.

First Day Issue: Baseball Cards and the Never Ending Pursuit of Everything Ken Griffey Jr.
Hits and Griffeys, Griffeys and Hits.

It's Like Having My Own Card Shop
That statement could describe the entire Internet. Or my basement.

Last one, I was all done and then I found this one on the blogroll of the link above.

2008 Allen & Ginter Card-Scape
How did this man get checklists on his sidebar?? Tell me how you did it, and I'll  help you out on at least 2 or 3 of those collecting goals. I'll even sign your card of Pluto, 'cause I'm a space case.

* Note: yes I am.

Trick or Treat II - Electric Boogaloo

After getting my pants scared off by SlangKo's Halloween Contest cards, I figured there was nothing in Tribe Cards' Trick or Treat package that could phase me anymore. It couldn't possibly be any worse than last year, could it? I mean, Sandy frickin' ATE Bruce Hurst! Let's open 'er up and see what we got.

Oh Lord, the first card is an Indian. Here we go again...

Ah, Kenny Lofton. Well, nothing wrong with that, Kenny's pretty cool. Wait... Oh No!

Kenny's got that crazy look in his eyes again! Kenny noooooooooooooooo

Oh wait, I forgot. Kenny's the devil. Well, at least in Atlanta he is. If you are the guy that came over in the trade that sent David Justice away you better expect some backlash. Let's see what other horrifying things are in this package.

Aaaaah! A POG! Quick, someone throw a heavy metal disc at this thing. What the hell is a Daemonite anyway? Is that what happens when a daemon enters the Earth's atmoshpere, burns up and crashes to the ground? Huh. I'm not too far off. Looks like a bootleg Xenomorph to me. Anybody heard of this critter before?

Wildstorm comics. That's one of those independent companies that popped up in the early '90s comic boom which quickly turned to bust. I think they got gobbled up by DC and put out some good stuff from Warren Ellis later on. It's a nice POG, I'll say that, there's some chrome stuff over on the side that probably would be utterly destroyed the first time this was used in an actual game of POGs. That's enough of that, let's see some cards!

Oh noes! Greg Maddux is stuck on a tiny island in the middle of a raging flood and it's hailing baseballs and two mutant Gojira-sized Cy Young awards are about to attack! And Greg looks BORED. Because Greg Maddux is the most cold blooded badass on the planet. I wish he'd come back and pitch for a couple more decades.

Frightening things about this card:
1) The amount of money the Braves could have ended up paying Andruw.
2) The amount of money the Dodgers did pay Andruw.
3) That he will likely be a free agent again this offseason.
4) That the Braves need a cheap power-hitting righty outfielder so badly that be might end up being a good fit.

Aaaaah! I skeered myself! I mustn't think about such things. Next card.

Hm. Glavine. So what's scary about this card? I guess you could pretend those lavender splotches on either side of Glavine are The Blob closing in to munch on poor Tom. The embossed stitches could be seen as teeth about to gnaw on his bones. Tom could actually try to make another comeback next season... *shudder* Scared myself again.

Nothin' scary 'bout Dave Justice! The scary thing is how many 1991 Score cards I have. I bought packs right and left back then and when I almost had the entire set I went and bought the factory set for some reason. I have enough of these cards for about four sets now. Why? I have no idea.

Of course that means I have lots 'o Chippah rookies. I think this one is univerally regarded as his worst rookie card, which of course means I have enough of them to wallpaper my garage.

There were four other cards in the package, but they weren't scary at all and are in fact awesome enough to deserve their own post.

Yay! I got treated and not tricked! Thanks David! The scariest card in the pack was just Kenny. Nothing wrong with Kenny. Of course the Braves have never won a World Series since they traded off Marquis Grissom. Maybe it's the Curse of Kenny?

Naaaah, nothing scary about Kenny Lofton.

Bad Wax is giving away the ugliest Tom Glavine card in the history of forever

And you can win it! Just go to his site and explain why you want it. While you're there stay a while, browse around, check out the archives. There's a whole lotta good stuff on that site. I would enter the contest but I'm finding it hard to get past the fact that:

• Glavine's a Met
• Die cut number jersey openings are awkward
• The outfield wall design is ugly as sin
• The yellow and green combination reminds me of phlegm
• The New York Mets
• There are three different fonts on that card
• One of the fonts has Bs that look like As
• The jersey doesn't fit in the die cut window
• Spooky ghost Glavine on the right side of the card
• AAAAH METS

Somebody out there could love that card though, so click on that link and express your true feelings for that hideous card. Ugly cards need love too!

Recap

Just so we're all clear on this:

IN

CF Nate McLouth

OUT

SP Tom Glavine

UP

SP Tommy Hanson

GONE TO PITTSBURGH

SP Charlie Morton

CF Gorkys Hernandez

LHP Jeff Locke

Hope you were paying attention, because there will be a quiz next period...

(and why can't I find a single card of Charlie Morton??)

Tommy G. Released

Wow.

This I did not expect.

I don't even have a card scanned and ready.

No Comment

Until the deal is finalized. If/when it is, then I will have a comment. Hoo-boy will I have a comment.

Package from Steve

As I said yesterday, out of the blue a package shows up from Steve of White Sox Cards. Steve is on my short list of "People I just send random crap two when the mood strikes me" with Mario and Lucy, so not a big surprise to see stuff coming back, but a pleasant surprise nonetheless. Since Steve always (and I mean always) lists out every card he receives in the mail, I'm going to do the same.

2001 Press Pass Optima Terry Labonte #12

I have no idea what this card is doing in here, unless it's a "He's from Georgia, he must like NASCAR" kind of thing. I dunno, I just never got into it. I used to like Indy Car racing before they screwed it up, but that's another story. The card looks good though and I got a kick out of Eet and Ern on Terry's race suit. I have no idea how I knew what the names of those two characters were.

1991-92 Hoops Kenny Smith #33
1991-92 Hoops Alexander Volkov #34
1991-92 Hoops Dominique Wilkins #36

This... is an AWESOME looking photo on this card.

2008 UDX Greg Maddux #83
2008 UDX Greg Maddux die cut #83

2008 UDX John Smoltz #6
2008 UDX John Smoltz die cut #6

2008 UDX Mark Teixeira Xponential X-MT
2008 UDX Mark Teixeira Xponential^2 X2-MT

Every time I see these Xponential cards I want to run out and buy a blaster of this stuff. 10 shiny cards and a jersey is not worth twenty bucks though. I must stay strong...

2008 Topps Updates & Highlights Omar Infante UH104
2008 Topps Updates & Highlights Brent Lillibridge RC UH4
2008 Topps Updates & Highlights john Smoltz 3000 Ks Highlights UH125
2008 Topps Updates & Highlights Casey Kotchman UH306

2008 Topps Updates & Highlights Vladimir Nunez UH96

That Kotchman card is Bee-You-Tee-Fool. I'm surprised by some of the players selected for U&H, I guess Topps is saving rookies like Charlie Morton for the 2009 release. Expect to see a Charlie Morton signature in every single product until June if that's the case. That Smoltz card showcases his last good start before the shoulder blew up. Hopefully he'll get a chance to take the hill at least one more time.

1992 Ultra Tom Glavine #6
2007 UD Future Stars Jeff Francoeur #6

The Glavine and the Frenchy are case studies in great card design and horrific card design.

2004 Leaf Chipper Jones Gamers G4

I bought a ton of Leaf in '04 but this insert eluded me.

2008 Allen & Ginter Mark Teixeira Jersey AGR-MT

LAST CARD NEEDED FOR THE A&G RELIC TEAM SET! I'm still missing Kotchman, but I have all the Braves now. You'll see me show the whole thing off soon.

2008 Moments & Milestones Tom Glavine 74 Career Wins #137 serial numbered 083/150

Only five lefties have ever won over 300 games. He still wasn't worth 8 million and our first round draft pick this year.

1992 Pinnacle Steve Avery Grips #612
1994 Donruss Steve Avery Special Edition #41

Why aren't there cards like this one of Ave's fastball anymore?

2008 UD First Edition Chipper jones Green StarQuest SQ-10
2008 Topps Opening Day Andruw Jones #55

Looks like Christmas with all the red and green on these cards.

2003 Upper Deck Javy Lopez Star Rookie #29
1990 Best Vinicio Castilla#278
2004 Bazooka Andruw Jones Tattoo
1996 Stadium Club Roberto Kelly Best Seat inthe House #219
2006 Upper Deck Andruw Jones World Baseball Classic #40

All of these cards are awesome in their own ways, but it would take forever to scan all of them so I'll just just sum then up. Javy - '93 Upper Deck is the best set they will ever produce. Vinicio seriously looks like he's 14 on this card. Big head tattoo of 'Druw will never be attatched to my skin. Roberto slides at Eddie Taubensee in a close play at the plate. Andruw looks like the Great Pumpkin in his WBC Netherlands Jersey.

2005 Finest Chipper Jones #26

AKA'The Hypnotist's Set"

2008 SP Legendary Cuts Tom Glavine Destined for History Jersey #DH-TG

This must be that card he saw pop up in a previous trade. Anyone need a Glavine? I swear this is a Mets swatch, I don't care about the new rules about the picture matching the jersey.

2008 Topps Heritage Brian McCann Chrome Refractor C91 #374/559

When Steve says he was procrastinating, he meant this. I remember him e-mailing me about this card a while ago and now it's here. Good things come to those who wait.

2008 Goudey Mr. Hockey Gordie Howe Hit Parade of Champions HPC-10

I freaking love this set. Gordie shows off his trophy of Audrey II in this photo. Feed me, Gordie!

2007 Allen & Ginter Flags of all Nations - Bulgaria

I'm gonna finish this set. Maybe in 2032, but I'm gonna finish it.

2003 UD Victory Greg Maddux Winning Formula #197

This was such a weird set. this plalying card lookign ting had holographic superfractorish foil on the back of the card. No really.

Last card- 1990-91 Hopps Dell Curry Stay in School #387

Seriously kids, stay in school. If you drop out, you'll end up digging ditches or living on the streets or designing card sets like Upper Deck X or UD Victory. No one wants that.

Thanks Steve!