Dafuq is this??

Backdoor unissued Evan Gattis BlueWaveyFractor Bowman unautographed autograph card?

Seriously, how does this exist?

WHY does this exist?

Does Topps have a contract issue with Gattis?

Will I never get a 2013 rookie card of El Oso Blanco because Topps pissed off the janitor?

I NEED ANSWERS

OR AT LEAST EVAN'S HERITAGE MINORS CARD

hat tip @BravesGasm who retweeted @TradingCardBlog

Sketch Card #9 - Maddux Pie

This one went to Jon over at Community Gum. Jon had a couple of stickers I needed and I had a few to send over his way. Jon is the first person I asked if they wanted a specific subject on their sketch card. This was the response:

Would you be able to do Greg Maddux riding on a pony of your choice?

Riding ponies? In My Little Pony? Whaaaaaaaa???? Filthy humans riding Equestrian ponies?!?! Blasphemy! Jon could get sent to the Moon for a thousand years for such insolence! I quickly devised a way to get him off the hook though:

WHEEEEEEEEEEEE!

(everypone out there should already know the joke that's coming so let's just get it over with)

So here's Pinkie Pie getting a piggyback ride from Greg Maddux (Cubs edition). Greg looks a little surprised and maybe dismayed at his situation. Honestly I don't get it, Pinkie Pie is the best pony, and giving her a piggyback ride should be a great honor. Maybe Greg is just a little worn out because Pinkie ate too much fudge and got a pudge and couldn't budge. It would explain why she's riding instead of prancing around like she usually does. She sure is having fun at any rate!

This one was a bit of a challenge as I rely heavily on reference photos when drawing and there isn't really a single photo of Greg Maddux giving a piggyback ride to anyone out there on the web, let alone giving one to a horse. So I found one of some random dude on a beach giving a piggyback to some chick and went from there. I made Greg a little more knock-kneed and the girl switched species, but it's about the same pose as in the picture. Greg's face I based on that grimace he makes when he pitches that can be seen on about 50% of his cards. I experimented with a multi-colored crosshatch background and ended up liking how it turned out enough to use it again. The only reason I did it in the first place was to cover up a mistake. Can you tell what it was?

Ok, I have at least three or four more cards I still need to draw so I better get a-drawin'. Ride 'em cowgirl! (oh wait, that's Applejack, not Pinkie Pie)

Not enough sleep + Waaaaaaay too much caffeine =

HAPPY TIME!!!

OBEY MY DOG!!!

How the hell did I miss this

The London 2012 official Olympic mascots are Cyclops Terminators.

No, for reals.

You know what? Fuck y'all, Izzy was a good mascot. At least Izzy didn't want to kill all humans.

Omar Infante is an All Star??!?!!?!

What is this... I don't even...

Wait, Prado, Mac, Huddy and J-HEY are in too!!!


WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Topps fesses up

Via Stale Gum:

"Topps is confirming that it randomly inserted special “BLACK” cards (the entire front of the card is black except for player image) in 2009 Topps Baseball Series 1 $19.99 value boxes found at Wal-Mart.

"The exclusive limited edition set includes each of the 330 subjects found in the 2009 Topps Series 1 Base Set."

Ok, so they are a stealth retail parallel. Ok, I can see that. There have been plenty of retail exclusive parallel cards in the past with every manner of border and foil color and gimmickry. This is what I don't understand.

WHY THE SMEG ARE THERE ENTIRE BLASTERS OF THE STUFF??!?!

Seriously, dude! Insert one per pack! Maybe a special 'bonus pack' of all black cards! But the entire freaking blaster?!? What are they thinking???

I'm heading to the card shop for some recon work. Heritage is pushed 'till at least Friday but I will not come home empty handed.

Found Today at Wal-Mart

A Pack of 2008 Donruss Elite Extra.

At Wal-Mart.

Does Hobby Exclusive mean something different from what it used to?

Does it now mean "This pack is exclusively purchased by people who collect baseball cards and not people who collect WebKins, stamps or beer cans" instead of "This pack is exclusively found at hobby stores"? I don't understand this business any more. Gimme a minute and I'll rip the sucker and see what we got.

7 Beau Mills - One of Cleveland's top 5 prospects according to Baseball America.
82 Rolando Gomes - 11th round pick of the Angels. This is the first '08 Draft pick in two packs for me.
37 Gerardo Parra - Top outfield prospect for the D-Backs, he played in this year's Futures game.
33 Edgar Olmos - Third round pick of the Marlins. He chose Florida over a scholarship to Arizona. His family is still proud since he got $500,000 to sign.
87 Scott Green - 3rd round pick of Detroit. He rejected a $800,000 offer from Boston to go back to Kentucky for his Junior year. Oops.

Well, this pack was a lot better than the one I busted on A Pack A Day, that's for sure. This is the last pack I buy of this stuff. There are only three Braves in the checklist and the Gordon Beckham card that I want is autograph-only. That's probably a good safety tip for Draft Pick sets this year since the exclusives are so goofed up. Don't buy any of 'em without going over the checklist first.