Joy of a completed page #12

Timelines edition.

The Month-Long Wheezy Cough is wearing me down, folks... I may need to take a few days off to recover.

Moar Mail - Heartbreaking surprise

I can't even call these packages from Matt trades anymore because it's been forever since I sent him anything. Matt seems to be of good cheer about it though as evident from his note:

I like Matt's packages, they're always stuffed with notes. I didn't quite understand about sending cards a person never wants though.. Who wouldn't want free cards? I looked through the package and understood. There were cards in there that this person never wanted. Matt is as wise as he is generous.

THE CARDS NO ONE COULD EVER POSSIBLY WANT:

2008 Timelines Brent Lillibridge

Nothing against the perpetual 12-year-old, but I have literally about eight of this card already. Dude's in the White Sox organization now anyway.

2008 Finest Mark Tei$eira

I'm pretty much done with Tex. I suppose I could copy Thorzul and try to get every Teixeira card in a Braves uni, but I'm just not interested. He's like the Braves version of Danny Manning to me. Blech. Ok, enough negativity.

CARDS A PERSON DEFINITELY NEEDS:

2008 Timelines Evan Longoria

One more X on that Timelines checklist is always appreciated. The pact that it's the rookie of an all-star caliber player is a bonus!

2009 Whatever the heck Upper Deck is calling this set James Parr

This is my very first A Piece Of Artifact History cards. Now thanks to Matt, I can finally review the set.

MY OFFICIAL 2009 APOH/ARTIFACTS REVIEW:

Meh. If I wanted to stare at vast expanses of marble, I'd fly to Athens and visit the Parthenon.

BACK TO THE AWESOME:

1995 Stadium Club Virtual Reality Mark Lemke

This card is awesome because not only is it a Lemmer sporting the flip up shades with full computer generated stats on the back, it also caused the song Virtual Insanity to pop up in my head. Imagine Lemke sliding around all over the place like in the video! Dodge that couch, Mark!

Awesome stuff from Matt and the cards I plan to send him are still in a pile far away from any bubble mailer. Oh well, they'll get out soon enough. In the meantime:

I KISS YOU

Junie looks on in approval. Thanks Matt!

More Timeline Stadiums

Dang I love the backs of these cards. And apparently hobby boxes of Timelines are now thirty bucks a throw. Niiiiice.

Cardinals

Marlins

Tigers

Twins

The only problem with this subset is that I'm pretty sure there isn't a Pirate card in there as Jason Bay got traded to the Red Sox. It would really suck if there was no PNC Park version of these backs.

Catching up on trades - A Cardboard Problem

Marie over at A Cardboard Problem recently pulled something out of a blaster that I had to have At Any Cost. If you follow the blog closely (and if not, why not?) you'll know what it was. It will be the Card of the Week for 6/01/09 so you'll get to see it soon enough. I traded an Albert Pujols jersey card and a big stack of Yankee Stadium Legacy cards for it, and Marie was nice enough to throw in a lot of Braves and stuff along with the presssioussss.

Yes, the card is that good.

Anyway, I got a big stack of cards, about half were 2009 Braves which I will post separately. Here's my top 3 out of the rest of the stuff and I omitted a 2008 Goudey Berk Ross card of The Great One so you know I like 'em.

This... thing... that didn't scan nearly as well as I hoped is a 1994 Bowman's Best card of Greg Maddux. Bowman's Best is basically Topps looking at how batshart everyone went over Finest and deciding to try to cash in a second time. The design is absolutely horrible, they stole random marble highlights from Leaf and then put this awful red textured mess in the background that looks like the money shot from a slasher flick. But check out that photo! It takes up about 85% of the whole card! There's not enough space for the awful background to show through! compare that to some of the photos on cards today... The companies just don't have the huevos to to fill the whole card up with a picture like this one anymore. There was a second Best card in the package, featuring Fred McGriff and Brooks Kieschnick. Be honest - who here remembers Brooks Kieschnick. The same people who remember Kevin Orie, right?

This one didn't scan well either due to the blue foil. I think that's why I love vintage and retro cards so much... no dang foil. This is my first Photographer's Proof from '08 Stadium Club and I may very well have close to a complete set of Brandon Jones cards from that set now. My new favorite TV show is watching the Gwinnett Braves play on the local Comcast station. It's fun watching Brandon and Tommy Hanson and Gregor Blanco and the rest of the prospects that will be up soon on TV. Plus Brian Jordan is an announcer! How cool is that?

Finally a bunch of cards I needed from my 2008 Timelines set. I'm down to needing 80 cards for the complete set with SPs. Not too bad. Can you still pick up boxes for about 30 bucks now that people know the Steven Strasburg auto can be found in them? If someone opens a case looking for the auto, shoot the SPs my way please. These two cards above are ones I needed for my Timelines Stadium Gallery. I'm still missing a few teams (and I don't think the pirates have a card at all) but they'll turn up eventually.

Great stuff Marie, thanks! I'll keep looking for those YSL cards and I also need to pick through my Jeters to send Sooz a package soon. I don't want her to feel left out.

Flea Market Finds part 1

The flea market dud was back for the first time in months today. I've been tryign to be good about buying cards, but this opportunity may not happen again for months, if ever. I was reasonably good and didn't spend too much. I still managed to get some neat stuff that I'll show off this week. First up, two bucks worth of 5 for a dollar cards.

2008 Razor Gordon Beckham

This was the steal of the day. I've been wanting a card of Gordon in a Dawgs uni for months, but most of them were short printed autographed nonsense that were too expensive. Now I got one for two dines. Brilliant!

2009 Topps George Sisler Turkey Red

I love the Turkey Red cards of subjects that could have plausibly been in the original set. George middes it by a few years since he debuted in 1915, but it's close enough. Sisler finished his career with the Braves (hitting over .300 all three years) so I've claimed him as a Braves even though he did his best work with the St. Louis Browns.

2009 Topps Duke Snider Ring of Honor

This card of Duke honors the Dodgers' first World Series victory in Los Angeles. Duke hit his last World Series home run against the White Sox that year. Is it just me or does his jersey look a bit green? It looks like Ted Turner colorized this card.

2009 Topps Carl Yastrzemski Legends

I can never pass up a Yaz cards when sideburns are involved.

2009 Topps Garret Anderson Turkey Red

Now that I'm home I somewhat regret not getting a few more Turkey Red cards. I can't remember which ones I had already so I probably would have ended up with a bunch of doubles. I'm happy with Garret though. He's finally back in the Braves' lineup and none too soon. Chipper can't carry the team by himself.

2009 Topps Francisco Cervelli Bleck Border #19/58

I know the card market is somewhat depressed right now, and parallel cards aren't what they used to be but twenty cents for a black border numbered to 58?? Heck, I'll take it. Thanks to injuries, Francisco is up with the big club and got his first major league hit yesterday.

2008 Topps Ichiro WBC

Any Ichiro card is good, but a WBC Ichiro in the Japan uni is better.

2008 Timelines Alexei Ramirez 2004 subset

I wasn't sure if I needed this card or not, but it turned out that I didn't have it yet. I don't mind cards from certain teams (Both Sox, Indians, Royals, Reds, Mets among others) because I know that I can get rid of them very easily.

2009 Topps American Heritage Benjamin Latrobe & Treaty of Versailles

These two cards complete my American Heritage short set. I don't have all the SPs, but I don't really need a few more variations on Obama and McCain anyway. If they come to me they'll have a home in my binder, otherwise I won't miss 'em.

Not bad for two bucks, eh? I got at least one other bargain to show off later this week.

Timelines from....

Well, that's a good question. You see, what, what had happen... is I took all the packages I received over the past couple of weeks, wrote down the names in my notebook, numbered them for reference, wrote the number on the team bag for reference, and them promptly forgot where I put the notebook. So, while I know these cards are from package #3, I can't place a name to them at the moment. Hooray for organization! I'm sure I have an e-mail saved and will figure it out, but I'm going to post them anyway. This the giver of said Timelines sees this post, I apologize for my statterbrainedness and urge you to make yourself known in the comments.

There were three SP rookies in there including this one of Alexi Ramirez. I'm not sure if I've pulled an Alexi yet, this might be my first. He looks like a good young player for the Sox.

Man, Berkman is now the grizzled vet on that club...It doesn't seem right that Bags and Biggio are gone. For the record, I like floaty heads and don't think they are creepy.

Hambone! This was the last card needed for the die cut subset. I'm so happy I don't have to bother with these ugly cards any more. Josh has the requisite massive roller marks right down the center of the cards. Is anyone else sick of UD and Topps mangling half their cards right out of the pack? More importantly, am I the only person on earth who feels compelled to call Josh Hamilton 'Hambone'?
Yay! Another Flopudome rookie! It's a short print so I am extremely happy to check one more of those off the list.


Along with the timelines, there were three black back Heritage cards in the package. I'm so glad they didn't do that mess this year. This one is my favorite of the three (and Tim Hudson was in there) simply for the cartoon. Kitty with a baseball glove!

Thanks to $Loyal_Reader for these cards. I'll figure out who you are soon enough.

2008 Stupid Year In Review - Part 13: Timelines

I haven't done one of these in a while...

Ok, this is uncharacteristic optimism from the card curmudgeon, but Topps is live, UD is scheduled to drop today, the Super Bowl was freakin' awesome, it's Groundhog Day and I think I'm shaking my cold. I can be not grouchy one day a year.

First Box Break of the Year: 2008 Timelines - Bonus Round!

So, After I ripped my box I immediately went out and bought four more packs. Why the heck would I do that? This is why:

The local card shop finally got these promo cards in after I pestered them for a couple of weeks before Christmas. I had to buy four packs of Upper deck product to get it though and these were my choices: SP Authentic (meh) Heroes (double meh) Upper Deck X (barf) Masterpieces ($6.75 a pack!) Hockey (no thanks) and Timelines. I still needed a good chunk of the set so four more packs of Timelines was worth it to me. There were only two packs left in the box though, so I grabbed the leftovers and had the owner pick out a couple more when he opened a new one. Here's what I got:

Pack 1:

31 Manny Ramirez
12 Jimmy Rollins
98 Clayton Kershaw RC
120 Jonathan Van Every RC '92
70 Jeff Niemann RC Gold
148 Chase Utley '94
182 Brian Bocock RC '95
252 Alex Gordon '04

Note the two Dodgers. This will become a trend. Disappointing pack, as I only needed the Van Every card. I also don't have the Niemann card, so the gold version becomes a filler for the time being. Gordon is sporting the powder blues which is quite awesome.

Pack 2:

4 Pedro Martinez
87 Wladimir Balentien RC
102 Brandon Phillips '92
YSM-SL Sparky Lyle jersey
146 Felix Hernandez '94
194 Jeff Keppinger '95
275 Hideki Matsui '04

Case hit Sparky-Jo! I'm not sure if I picked this pack out of the remains of the box, or if the owner picked it out for me. Either way, it's pretty cool. I love jersey cards from players who retired before jersey cards became common. Sparky is doubly cool for the name and the epic sideburns. Not quite as cool as this pull, but I like it. Two more Reds is a good thing, because I've got at least three people who want 'em. Also two Yankees and two Mariners in the pack, all of which I didn't have before.

Pack 3:

34 Nick Markakis
79 Josh Banks RC
124 Nick Swisher '92
YSL3556 Joe Pepitone
383 Wesley Wright '95 SP
136 David Ortiz '94
183 Brian Bocock '95
258 Blake Dewitt '04

Here's the danger of buying packs out of two boxes. I've gotten two Brian Bocock die cuts in two packs. I'll let it slide since I got Sparky. The Wesley Wright card is nice since the 1995 SP die cut short prints are harder to get than the other two types, but this one have a slight crimp, on the right corner where it got caught in the wrapper. Oh well. I didn't have a YSL card of Joe Pepitone yet, so that's a cool pickup. Speaking of the Yankees, Nick Swisher would look mightly nice in a Braves uniform. I wonder if the Yanks would be willing to give him up?

Pack 4:

16 Lance Berkman
34 Nick Markakis
98 Clayton Kershaw RC
127 Rico Washington RC '92
333 Clayton Kershaw RC '93 SP
155 Carlos Zambrano '94
205 Ross Ohlendorf RC '95
298 Jeff Clement RC '04

More doubles between the four packs. How in the world did I manage to get two Clayton Kershaw cards in the same pack? Now Reds and Dodgers fans hate me. Trade list will be up soon... I'm not positive, but Ross Ohlendorf might be the only Pirate in the entire set, and all his cards have him in his Yankees uniform. Sad. I only got a pack's worth of cards I needed out of the four packs, but the Sparky and Obama cards more than make up for that. I think I'm going to lose my mind a little bit and try to complete this entire set. I just got a package in that went a LONG way towards that end, which I'll post about soon. Wantlist and trade bait will be up by the end of the weekend.

First Box Break of the Year: 2008 Timelines - Packs 15-18

Last four packs. Let's have a big finish!

Pack 15:

19 Prince Fielder
28 Derek Jeter
58 Kosuke Fukudome RC
128 Russell Martin '92
23 Matt Kemp Gold parallel
145 Alex Rodriguez '94
201 Nick Blackburn RC '95
244 Troy Tulowitzki '04

COMPLETE BASE SET! Yessssssss. I think I sent Prince to Thorzul, but now I got him back. Sweetness. I'm so happy I'm not even irritated by the useless gold card or 80 billionth Kosuke rookie I've pulled out of UD packs.

Pack 16:

46 Torii Hunter
10 Chase Utley
90 Brian Bocock RC
109 David Murphy '92
63 Masahide Kobayashi RC Gold Parallel
136 David Ortiz '94
183 Burke Badenhop RC '95
258 Blake DeWitt RC '04

The problem with completing the base set is that now every one of them from now on is a double. Tons of doubles for me in this pack, as well as one more useless gold card. I got a Papi I needed at least.

Pack 17:

36 Jim Thome
54 Jeff Clement RC
118 Hernan Iribarren RC '92
329 German Duran RC '93 SP
YSL4747 Willie Randolph
163 Joe Mauer '94
206 Russell Martin '95
272 David Wright '04

Good news for Yankee fans: I found all my YSL cards, or at least most of 'em. I'm sure there's a few more hiding in my collection somewhere but I've got 68 of them all in one place now. Well, now it's 69. Giggety. I'll figure out what I want to do with them soon and disperse them as needed. Apparently my Reds mojo has run out, only to be replaced by Dodgers. That's four in three packs including 2 Russell Martins. Nice to see half the pack knocking out needs on my want list after only one in the last pack. Let's finish the box.

LAST PACK:

9 Mark Teixeira
27 Alex Rodriguez
63 Masahide Kobayashi RC
127 Rico Washington RC '92
346 Justin Masterson RC '94 SP
147 Brandon Webb '94
184 Calix Crabbe RC '95
286 Ryan Howard '04

A pack with no Reds or Dodgers! Amazing! four more for the set too including the normal Kobayashi card, a short print, another Brewer I probably gave away and a Ryan Howard Timeless Teams. Strong finish. Let's look at the stats for the box:

Base cards - 28
Base Rookies - 18
1992 design - 18
1994 Heroes design - 18
1995 minors design - 18
2004 Timeless design - 18
1993 SP design - 6
1994 SP design - 5
1995 SP design - 3
Yankee Stadium Legacy - 4 - Don Baylor, Lou Piniella, Ron Guidry, Willie Randolph
Gold Parallel Base - 4 - Johan Santana, Justin Verlander, Matt Kemp, Masahide Kobayashi
Gold Parallel 1994 - 2 - Max Scherzer, JR Towles
Autograph - 2 - Brandon Boggs '95 Minors, Micah Gibbs USA Baseball

Well, I'm pretty happy with the box. Even though they seem to be ubiquitous, the autographs are pretty good. I got a bunch of stuff off my wantlist and finished the base set. I'm not crazy about the Gold parallels, but Upper Deck has to waste cards with something. I might get another box of this one of these days. 80% of the box is subsets or short prints or inserts which ain't bad at the price. I'd end up with a hell of a lot of doubles since I already have well over half the set, but it's a fun rip and the autos and short prints might be worth it. This set isn't for everybody to be sure. The ridiculous amount of short prints will turn off most set collectors. The hits aren't very spectacular. The checklist has a ton of duplication. But, hey, I think it's fun. If you think you're finally at the end of Timelines though, you're wrong. I have a surprise for you this weekend.

First Box Break of the Year: 2008 Timelines - Packs 11-14

Good news! Reader DaveH as informed me that Brandon Boggs not only played at Georgia Tech, but also at Pope High School in Georgia! So that makes the auto out of this box pretty cool as far as I'm concerned. The other 40 bloggers who have pulled the same card will have to find their own bliss. Could there be bliss in these packs? Blisster packs, perhaps? Let's find out!

Pack 11:

26 Randy Johnson
35 Roy Halladay
94 Brent Lillibridge
125 Paul Janish RC '92
311 Evan Longoria RC '93 SP
151 BJ Upton '94
209 Steve Holm RC '95
292 Justin Ruggiano RC '04

Man, am I on a Randy Johnson run. I got three of the big galoot in two packs. I'm also pulling Rays like crazy. How many Longorias in this box so far? This one's a short print too... At least I got a Brave. That I already had. That isn't actually a Brave any more. I couldn't decide which card to post other than the unscannable Longoria, so I went with the Janish to taunt all the Reds fans out there who are jealous of this box break.

Pack 12:

17 Ken Griffey Jr.
76 Greg Smith RC
107 Corey Hart '92
358 Clayton Kershaw RC '94 SP
171 JR Towles RC '94 Gold parallel
160 Matt Holliday '94
200 Micah Hoffpauir RC '95
306 Russell Martin '04

BARF. I hate J.R. Towles. I've gotten a ton of his cards in every single set this year including THREE '95 short prints from Timelines. Now I get another stupid foil parallel. I've also gotten multiple doubles of Hart and Hoffpower er Hoffpure um Micah. The rest of the pack kicks ass though, five more for the set including Griffey and short printed Kershaw. Reds and Dodgers and Rays are all over this box aren't they? Where are the Braves?!?

Pack 13:

1 Jose Reyes
67 Justin Masterson RC
101 Bobby Wilson RC '92
YSL4772 Ron Guidry
382 Bobby Wilson RC '95 SP
142 Albert Pujols '94
210 Travis Hafner '95
216 John Smoltz '04

Lucky 13. I've gotten three straight packs with a base cards I needed, that's pretty lucky. I'm getting reaaaaly close to a complete base set now. I finally got a Brave in Smoltzie. OH WAIT. Hold on, what does that say on the back? The veteran lefty? Shoot, the Red Sox can have him if his shoulder is so bad that he has to pitch with his other arm. The '95 SP cards look really nice although I don't know who Bobby Wilson is (or why I got two of him). I'll take the Yankee cards as long as they have an short print like that along for the ride. Guidry looks really old in his photo however. Steinbrenner must've wore him out. The Reyes and the Pujols cards look mighty nice too.

Pack 14:

37 Grady Sizemore
85 Rico Washington RC
110 Edinson Volquez '92
USA-MG Micah Gibbs USA Autograph
320 JR Towles RC '93 SP
154 Magglio Ordonez '94
192 Jay Bruce '95
230 Alfonso Soriano '04

JR TOWELS!!!!! DUPLICATE!!!!! SHORT PRINT!!!!!! AAAARRRRGGGHHHH

I'm going on eBay, buying a "Who Shot JR" t-shirt, getting tickets for the Astros series at the Ted right behind home plate and I'm gonna just stare at him the whole damn series. JUST STARE AT HIM. GO AWAY AND TAKE YOUR CARDS WITH YOU. AAAAAHHHH


Oh hey! Look, an autograph. Of some USA Baseball guy. Looks like he plays for LSU. Well, we'll know if he's any good by 2015 I suppose. What's a future player doing in a retro product? Makes no sense. I got another base card I needed for the set, I need exactly one to complete it now. Two more Reds puts my total to 98 for the box.

Well, the box, she is dead. But there are four more packs to go! There could be a surprise yet!

Base cards - 21
Base Rookies - 14
1992 design - 14
1994 Heroes design - 14
1995 minors design - 14
2004 Timeless design - 14
1993 SP design - 5
1994 SP design - 4
1995 SP design - 3
Yankee Stadium Legacy - 3 - Don Baylor, Lou Piniella, Ron Guidry
Gold Parallel Base - 2 - Johan Santana, Justin Verlander
Gold Parallel 1994 - 2 - Max Scherzer, FRICKIN TOWLIE
Autograph - 2 - Brandon Boggs '95 Minors, Micah Bowie Owings Mouse Gibbs USA Baseball