THE TWELVE DAYS OF CARDMAS: LAUNDRY EDITION - DAY 1

 OH BOB IT'S TIME FOR CARDMAS AGAIN AND I'M NOT READY AT ALL. USUALLY I START PREPARING POSTS ONCE THORZUL KICKS OFF HIS CARDVENT CALENDAR BUT THIS YEAR I WAS ON A ROLL WRITING UP ACTUAL POSTS SO I PROCRASTINATED AND NOW IT'S HERE AND I GOT NOTHIN. PLUS I HAVE TO DO A LOT OF STUFF TODAY! GO TO THE GYM, WASH DISHES, DO THE LAUNDRY

WAIT 

LAUNDRY

IT'S SO CRAZY IT JUST MIGHT WORK

ALL RIGHTY FOLKS, LET'S KICK OFF THE HOLIDAY FESTIVITIES WITH SOME OLD DIRTY LAUNDRY

THIS HERE IS A 1996-97 UPPER DECK HOCKEY GAME JERSEY CARD OF MARK MESSIER. THE BACK BOASTS IT IS ONE OF THE FIRST-EVER GAME WORN JERSEY CARDS FROM UPPER DECK AND THIS PARTICULAR ONE WAS THE FIRST-EVER JERSEY CARD OF ANY TYPE THAT I PULLED OUT OF A PACK. I GRABBED SOME PACKS AT TARGET ONE DAY, DISCOVERED THAT THE ONE THIS WAS IN WAS LUMPY AND OPENED IT UP TO FIND THIS. I'VE PULLED A STUPID AMOUNT OF RELIC CARDS FROM PACKS SINCE THEN BUT YOU ONLY GET ONE CHANCE TO PULL YOUR FIRST BEEG MOJO HITTTZZ AND MINE WAS AN INNER CIRCLE HOCKEY HALL OF FAMER WITH A PRETTY BLUE SWATCH

OBVIOUSLY WHEN I PULLED THIS CARD I WAS FREAKED OUT AND HAD LITTLE SPINNING DOLLAR SIGNS IN MY EYEBALLS. I TRIED TO SELL IT AT A HOCKEY MEMORABILIA STORE IN THE MALL, BUT THE BOOK VALUE AT THE TIME WAS $160 AND I WANTED EVERY PENNY AND THE BUYER WOULDN'T GO THAT HIGH SO I KEPT IT. THIS ARTICLE FROM PUCK JUNK A WHILE AGO SHOWS OFF HOW THE BOOK VALUE HAS CHANGED THROUGH THE YEARS, BUT THE THING IS NO MATTER WHAT BECKETT SAYS I STILL HAVE THE CARD AND IT'S STILL GONNA BE PRICEY IF I TRY TO MOVE IT. BESIDES I WOULD HAVE JUST SPENT THE MONEY ON CRAPPY NEW CARDS BACK THEN ANYWAY OR WORSE, BOUGHT SOME PACKS. THIS WAY I GET TO SHOW IT OFF AND AND ENJOY THE FACT THAT NOT ALL MY CARDS ARE JUNKY BASE CARDS. ALSO, I HAVE ABSOULUTELY NO IDEA WHAT THE SECOND JERSEY CARD I PULLED WAS SO THIS POST WOULD BE MUCH HARDER TO WRITE

NO TREES HAVE GONE UP IN FLAMES YET THIS YEAR, ONLY SOCIETY, SO LET'S LIVE IN THE PAST WITH THE NOSTALGIA BAIT CHRISTMAS SPECIAL. I DON'T REMEMBER THAT KID IN THE BACK THOUGH. AND I AM NEVER GOING TO FIT ALL THE ORNAMENTS ON THAT SHITASS LITTLE TREE CHARLIE GOT. OH WELL, CHRISTMAS ISN'T ABOUT ALL THAT, IT'S ABOUT SHEPHERDS BEING SORE AFRAID OR SOMETHING. I'LL FIGURE IT ALL OUT LATER TIME FOR THE JINGLE BELLS AND THE HO HO HO AND THE MISTLETOE AND PRESENTS FOR PRETTY GIRLS

Ginter Relic

I am having an EXTREMELY difficult time posting on blogger right now as the formatting keeps going wonky on me. As a result I have three huge Ginter posts in the works and can't get any of them written because I'm spending all my time trying to fix the HTML. I don't think it like me having 20 images in one post. I may need to scrap the whole thing and just do little mini posts. Here's a little mini post for you, a Rick Porcello relic card pulled from a rack pack.

If this post ends up with white blanked out text or an upside down image I may just need to pack it in and move to WordPress or Tumblr.

A&G Blaster Breakdown

No pack by pack commentary on this one, You're getting plenty of that with the hundreds of Gint-A-Cuffs posts out there. I ripped this sucka with extreme prejudice and here's the final autopsy. I will begin by stating that this might be one of the finest blasters I've ever ripped.

Base cards: 25

The base cards in this pack were practically an All-Star team by themselves. Check out this group of nine:

Ryan Howard: MVP
Joey Votto: All-Star
Dustin Pedroia: MVP
Trevor Hoffman: Future Hall of Famer
Ichiro: Future Hall of Famer
Johnny Damon: All-Star
Brian McCann: All-Star MVP
Chase Utley: All-Star
Troy Tulowitzki: All-Star

You're thinking the rest of the base cards were a bunch of slouches, right? Wrong. Check out this list:

Shane Victorino
Joakim Soria
Matt LaPorta
Mark Buehrle
Dan Uggla
Dan Haren
Alfonso Soriano
Rick Porcello
Kendry Morales

Kendry's hurt and Porcello and LaPorta are 1st round picks still trying to figure out the league, but there's not a stinker card in the bunch. Here's the rookies:

Madison Bumgarner is a good pitcher with the misfortune of trying to break into a ridiculous Giants rotation. Tyler Colvin is playing rather well for a crummy Cubs team. Dustin Richardson has a spot as a LOOGY out of Boston's pen. All three are producing in the league right now. Not bad.

Two Champions were in the box including Meb Keflezighi who is anaccomplished marathon runner with a name as difficult to type as Pierzynski and Samardzija which is no easy feat. When I first saw the name Johnny Strange in the checklist, I thought it was strange. That's a character in a book about 19th century British magicians, not a Champion. Then I looked on the back of the card and saw that Johnny climbs mountains. In Antarctica. When he was twelve. I am now thoroughly impressed with Mr. Strange.

Two Negro leaguers in this box, which is fantastic.

Mahlon Duckett played for the Newark Eagles and Homestead Grays and is the Secretary and Treasurer of the Negro League Baseball Players Association.

Jim Zapp played for the Atlanta Black Crackers which is awesome. I don't have many cards from the ABCs, if any at all. I'm very happy about this card here.

Base card short prints: 4

Pretty much every blaster is going to have 4 short prints in it. This one was right on target.

Adrian Beltre was a pretty nice pickup for the Sox. It seems there are a lot of players in their new uniform among the short prints.

I still firmly believe that had the Braves signed Bobby Abreu instead of Garret Anderson, Atlanta is in the playoffs last year.

Austin Jackson is a nice consolation for Detroit after losing Granderson. Why the heck the Tigers traded Granderson in the first place I'll never know.

Alcedes Escobar scared the heck out of me a couple of times during tonight's game. That guy can hit.

This Date in History: 8

One per pack means eight per blaster. Luckily this set is extremely interesting or I'd be complaining about how it eats one card out of a 6 card pack. The subjects:
Stephen Drew
Andre Ethier
Dan Haren
Ichiro

Yovanni Gallardo
Justin Morneau
Miguel Tejada
Alexei Ramirez
I unfortunately recognize many of these from my hobby box.

Baseball Sketches: 1

Pretty sure I pulled this Daniel Murphy card from one of the loose hobby packs I got. Murphy got the sketch in honor of a behind the back fielding play of some sort. I really hope Topps does this insert set again next year, I can think of three Braves moments worthy of a sketch off the top of my head right now: Heyward's homer on his first swing, Wagner's 400th save and McCann's bases clearing double in the All-Star game. I want these cards next year Topps!

Ok time for the minis. Pay close attention here.

Base mini short print: 1

This card emphasizes a problem with this year's design. Now that there is an actual border, we can now see miscut cards very easily. This one is certainly miscut in a way that is not really acceptable with today's technology. If this was a Strasburg, there would be many torches and pitchforks waved about online. But imagine for a second that green border didn't exist. Just focus on the image of Huston Street. By itself, it doesn't really look all that off center does it? Maybe the logo at the bottom, but who would notice that? It makes me wonder how many other A&G cards I have from previous years that are miscut but I didn't notice or care due to the borderless design.

A&G back minis: 2

Rick Ankiel and Travis Snider. Not sure if they've made the FrankenSet yet, that will probably have to wait until tomorrow as it is getting late.

A&G back short print minis: 1

Angel Pagan will probably make the binder due to the relative scarcity of the high numbers. He's apparently having a really nice year for the Mets, not that I would ever pay attention to such a thing.

Black Bordered minis: 1

This card looks freaking amazing with the black border. In my Piggy post, Dinged Corners wondered if my Three Little Pigs card was a candidate for the Modern But Vintage-Like Mini list. I don't know about that one, but this one here is pretty dang close to an original Allen & Ginter N14 card.  This one goes in the binder regardless of what other card #152 might be in there.

National Animals: 1

The Markhor is the largest goat in the world and the national animal of Pakistan. It is extremely endangered, but Pakistanis are still hunting them for food. You'd think the people of Pakistan could maybe hold off on killing the last specimens of their national animal until their numbers recovered. Even Colonel Sanders shut down his Kentucky Fried Eagle franchises and retooled the recipe for chicken instead.

Lords Of Olympus: 1

Here's yet another mini set I adore this year. Speaking of Eagles, now that Zeus isn't really the top dog amongst world religions anymore, you think Prometheus got pardoned? I'd hate to think the poor guy is still getting his liver eaten every day.

World's Biggest: 1

YES!!! I desperately wanted one of these since first seeing one on Hand Collated. Got #1 in the set too, Blue Whale. I don't even know why I love this insert set so much. Probably some kind of instinctive PT Barnum ZOMG LOOKIT THAT BIG THING OVER THERE attraction. I was contemplating picking up a second hobby box of this stuff but after seeing this is a retail-only insert, methinks I shall be putting that money towards a half a dozen blasters instead.

Ok, were you paying attention to the minis? Notice anything? Notice anything... missing? Where are the base minis? I got an entire blaster without one single base mini. Considering I got exactly one in the first half of my hobby box I'm starting to think the extreme scarcity of base minis is not just a fluke. Has Topps added so many inserts and parallels that the base minis have been squeezed out of the set? What was once ridiculous is now plausible. Oh yeah, also a certain player can only be found as a base mini card, no parallels. Food for thought, that.

Almost done with the blaster, just one card to go:

Jackpot! A hit in a blaster is always welcome. Mat Latos isn't a big name now, but he is starting to look like the guy who will make people in San Diego forget all about Jake Peavy. 10 wins already this year for the Padre prospect. Of course right when I type those words I find out he's been put on the DL after pulling a muscle after stifling a sneeze. Don't laugh, as someone who has dealt with back pain, I know damn well that a sneeze is nothing to sneeze at. Let the kid get a little rest, it's a long season.

There's the blaster. A Code Ad card (anyone figured that thing out yet?) and Checklist three of four was also found therein. I have to say this blaster completely exceeded expectations. I seem to remember that in years past that blasters that were opened early seem to have some very good results. I may be scrounging around for a few more tomorrow now.

Card of the Week 5/11/09

Also known as Flea Market Finds part 3.

I got this jersey card of the Rajah, Rogers Hornsby at the flea market this weekend for a measly five bucks. Five bucks! For a jersey card of one of the greatest players ever in the history of base and ball! Ok, so there's a bit of a ding on the top right corner. The corners aren't the point to these cards, the mystical piece of cloth dripping with the essence of baseball is what everyone cares about. The baseball card turned into a fetishized religious relic of the Holy Church of Baseball. Even with its supernatural powers this card was still a lot cheaper than most of the fake manufactured patches floating around nowadays.

[Note: A biographical paragraph on Rogers Hornsby will be here once I have time to write the thing in between all the important stuff I really have to get done. I should have it knocked out by August. In the meantime lmgtfy]

Ok, I have time for a quick bio now. Rogers Hornsby. Greatest second baseman ever. Possibly the greatest right handed hitter ever. Led the NL in batting average six times and in homers twice. Won two MVPs, got robbed of a third, and would have won more had the award existed before 1924. Hit over .400 three times. Averaged over .400 for the years 1921 to 1925. Managed for fifteen seasons, winning the World Series in 1926. Was as big a pain in the ass as Ty Cobb. Atood up to Kenesaw Mountain Landis when confronted about gambling on horse races. Was mentioned in a poem by Ogden Nash. And finally, called Jimmy Dugan a talking pile of pig shit the very day Jimmy's parents had drove down from Michigan to see him play. But Jimmy didn't cry.

There's a Cardinals logo on there, but Roger was a Brave for a season so he's a Brave forevar in my book. The only thing I'm mildly concerned about is the legalese on the back. Rich McDubya certifies that "On the front of this card is a piece of memorabilia that has been certified to us as having been used in an official major league game." Now, my first instinct would be to assume that is means that Roger himself used the aforementioned memorabilia in a game he played in, but with all the shenanigans going on with lawsuits and autopenned signatures and UD/Razor collusion my trusting nature has become a tad jaded. For all I know this is a bit of a throwback jersey that Ray King wore while he hung out in the bullpen and ate a hamburger during a spring training game he didn't appear in. Hmmm. Maybe I've just figured out why it only cost five bucks. Ah, who cares. It's a card of Rajah with a bit of old looking cloth embedded within it. I'll suspend my disbelief for the time being. I won't pay a few hundred bucks opening the tins that these cards of dubious provenance come from, but I'll take a cheapo old relic any day.

Speaking of Buy Low....

9 cards @ 3 for $5 at the Flea market this past weekend. Ya think I did good?

2005 Diamond Kings Travis Hafner auto #94/100

All the rest I can see trading off at some point. This one might be a keeper.

2007 SP Legendary Cuts Mike Schmidt Legendary Materials #104/199

Someone please tell me what the hell a Schmidt jersey is doing in a $2 box. The PACKS this came out of were $10!

2007 Co-Signers Tom Mastny & Brian Slocum dual auto

I've seen a lot of bloggers despair at the crappy dual auto pulled in their box of Co-Signers. This one here would make anyone not an Indians fan despair. I thought it looked cool though so I got it anyway.

2007 UD Masterpieces Johan Santana Captured on Canvas

A great pitcher and NOT a Mets jersey! Woohoo!

2007 UD Masterpieces Justin Hampson Stroke of Genius

I'll buy any Masterpiece hits cheap. Even middle relievers.

2005 Bowman Reggie Brown Signs of the Future

Which of these things is not like the others? Reggie's a Bulldog alum so I picked him out even though he's having a lousy season in Philly.

2007 Fleer Ultra Boof Bonser UltraGraphs

I got this simply because his name is Boof. No other reason.

2007 Fleer Ultra Doug Slaten

You can get boxes of '07 Ultra Hobby dirt cheap nowadays. Kinda like '08 Stadium Club in about 6 months.

2006 Turkey Red Jeremy Hermida White Border bat card #53/99

I want to give this card to a certain blogger but I'm afraid the Marlins will trade him before the package arrives.

Damn, I love flea markets.

2001 Upper Deck Legends - Relic Cards

There are a few reasons why I chose 2001 Upper Deck Legends as my 'designated Upper Deck set to fawn over and stick it up Topps' butt for screwing up my '08 set with needless short prints' feature this month. I love pretty much all the Upper Deck Legends sets, from the 1999 Century Legends set that started it all by counting down the Sporting News' Top 50 players, to last year's SP Legendary cuts set with the gorgeous black borders. It's a shame this years' set screwed it up by short printing all the legends. The 2001 set might be my favorite though. The wood grain and black borders look great, there are legendary players along with current players in the set, and best of all I've got a few of the relic cards out of the set to show off. Here's a Chipper Bat card:


Check out the little stitches burned into the bat chip, now that's classy. You don't see that on today's bat cards. Actually does anyone even do bat cards anymore? It seems like everything is jerseys and autographs nowadays save the autographed quad relic cards with a bat chip along with a pice of a jersey, a patch and a Mitchell Report used urine sample cup that you only get in $300 a pack products. Come to think of it, Allen & Ginter had bat cards last year and Heritage had 'em this year. They didn't have no little burned in stitches though! Here's a jersey card:


No stitches except for the ones in the cloth here. I like the long skinny swatch at the bottom of the card, it looks a lot better than the square chunks that are usually used. The design looks better without the swatch eating into the player photo. Both relic cards are well done, the variations on the basic wood/black/red theme really look nice. The Chipper card here is pretty spectacular what with his smirk and all. It looks like Chipper is desperately trying to keep from spewing sunflower seeds in laughter after Smoltzie tried ironing his shirt again. Here's a more serious looking bat card of Andruw:

I want to pull out my bat cards and my old wood burning kit and start putting little stitches on all the round bat pieces now. I think homemade stitches or maybe smiley faces on bat cards should improve a card's PSA score at least two grades. Do they still sell wood burning kits anymore? Apparently so! I remember being given one for Christmas. What a wonderful gift for a child - a toy designed to get so hot that it actually chars wood. I was never creative or destructive enough to try mine on the wood paneling though. Those were the days... Wood burning kits, model rockets, junior mad scientist chemistry sets, Jarts and The Visible Woman model where you got to see her boobs from the inside. You give those toys to a kid today and you GO TO JAIL. FOREVER. This bat card isn't as interesting as that stuff, but if you look closely, the wood on the bottom of the card looks like it was left out in the sun or something and it's faded to pink. The card has been buried in my Braves box in the basement since I got it, so the eBay seller I bought it from must have been the one performing dastardly experiments on the card. See what happens when you let kids grow up with crazy educational toys? Give your kid a nice safe art toy instead like some Aqua Dots. Or maybe not. Just get the kid some bat cards and a wood burning kit and get ready to submit some cards to PSA. Gem mint 10s, baby!