Not the Americana Blaster We Need, but the One We Deserve

A quickie post on the 40%-off Americana blaster I picked up at K-Mart the same day I hit the first Mantle.

There were no inserts, so you'll just have to make do with hotness. 😛

One pack had 8 cards and was just as thick as the hit pack, but the cards were mostly dupes from the very next pack!  Lame.  Anyway, the hit.

Police Woman!

That was a short & sweet post.  Not much of note besides the hit, but the hit was pretty cool, if mildly dinged.  Any version of Americana is great fun regardless of pulls though.  I can’t explain it, it’s just… fun.

Truck Tomatoes

Trade Bait Preview

I finally got some stuff shipped from COMC.  Here are a few scans.  First up some stuff that may be to Shot Not Taken‘s liking, since I’m way overdue on trading with him again.

The Happy Warrior and Mike "Quicksand" Pyle.. I believe the former is already a done deal.

A “scan/picture doesn’t do it justice” Allan Houston & a high end Gallinari #’ed /99..

NBA Legends.. I assume Ray won't want Gervin, but the Frazier may be to his liking.

Amare 2-color (I'm calling patch; the white part is slightly raised) & Nets Brook Lopez/Ryan Anderson/Chris Douglas-Roberts triple jersey..

I didn’t forget the rest of you though.  There’s plenty more good basketball stuff to be had too (especially if you’re a Hawks fan).  Baseball is more most bloggers thing though.  Well, I might be able to hook some of you up too.  Have a looksie:

Shawn Green, Maury Wills, Rick Ankiel..

Not a Cardinals fan, obviously but as Night Owl has eloquently noted a time or two, having something around to trade with your rival team’s fans is never a bad thing, even if neither one of you will ever understand why the other would ever willingly support such a loathsome team, lol.

V-Mart and the Sarge bat cards..

Buchholz & Astro Andy..

And that will do it for now.  Shoebox Legends has dibs on Clay.  Let me know if you see something you like, and remember, this is only a preview.  There are quite a few more where these came from.  And I’m slowly getting drawn back into the trading thing, so there’s a fair chance you will get your cards before the world ends next December, haha.

Until our next..

Mantles a Trois… What Happens Next?

After spending too much time being made paranoid in the Blowout forums, I’ve decided… I don’t care anymore.  I’ve no less or more faith in any licensed manufacturer than I do vintage, and as has been pointed out, the swatches look and feel like they should.  So with that said, I’ve come to terms on a trade with Project ’62 entirely via twitter (it’s even more useful than imagined!) for one of the Mantles, the second will available be for sale shortly, and the one with the most dinged up frame I am going to crack open myself, to have a look at the swatch.  Then I’ll be getting in touch with Condition: Poor to see about having a custom card made for the swatch.  I think this is Project ’62’s plan as well, except, without spoiling it, his plan may be even more ambitious.

That’s about all there is left to say on that front.  Shoot me an email (sidebar, link, google account page, etc…) if you’d like to make an offer on the for sale Mantle.

In other news, I’m on a sketch card set again.  It’s not paying, but I’ll have five or so Artist Proofs I can sell.  It’s to promote (and help fund?) a cool indie comic a couple facebook art peeps are in the process of creating called FATSA: Lord of the Dragons.  I’ll let you know when it drops, because from what I’ve seen of it, it’s going to be awesome, and my nerdier readers may well want to pick it up.

FATSA hisself..

I also had $10 worth of COMC inventory shipped, which includes all the trade bait I’ve picked up here & there on that funderful site.  So I’ll have plenty more scanning to do again soon.  Heck, maybe this blog will start posting regularly for awhile again in the near future… Well, maybe. November is NANOWRIMO and possible jury duty and I have a sketch card set that, while having plenty of time to work on, I’d like to get through with plenty of time to spare.

That’s it for today I guess.  Thanks for stopping by!

Yes I am exceedingly proud of the title of this post.  Why do you ask?

And Then Things Got Weird…

Tonight I went back to K-Mart to pick up the paper towels I didn’t get the other day because I was lacking coupon for extra special savings (what, 75¢ is a big deal!), but I also planned to grab the other two baseball Jersey & Card Set frames I didn’t get yesterday.  Fortunately, they were still there.  so I scooped them up before I left.  I opened them in the car, so I have the parent lady as a witness, because quite honestly I don’t even believe it myself.  Have a look for yourself.

You are seeing the same thing I'm seeing right?

Yeah, they were both Mickey’s too.  I… I don’t know what to say or think.  Is this legit?  Are you for real?!  How could there have been three in one store like that??  I just… I want to be excited as I should be about this, but I don’t know now.  If anybody has any idea what’s going on or knows who I can talk to find out what’s going, let me know, because I can hardly believe this.

Is this too good to be true??

An Epic Jersey & Card Set

$3.99? Eh, sure why not?

I’ve been on a bit of a hot streak since Topps Updates and Highlights dropped.  I’ve pulled a Carlos Beltran jersey and a Cognac(?) Legend Variation of Brooks Robinson from loose U&H retail packs, hit Sandberg on the Diamond Giveaway site yesterday, and now this.

The envelope layer...

I don’t normally go for the Jersey & Card Frames, having had absolutely no luck with the few I’ve picked up myself over the years.  I know there are good ones and that Shot Not Taken has pulled most of them, lol.  I’ve traded for a couple of his in the past (Warrick Dunn and Fergie Jenkins are somewhere in the archives), but that’s as close as I’ve ever gotten to any good ones.  Seriously, my best pull was probably Mo Vaughn.

The back. Almost there...

But this pack was there (there being K-Mart) and a relatively inexpensive $3.99 for just the hit itself.  They also had the three packs + Jersey & Card Frame/Set packs for $7.99, but that’s too rich for my blood.  So what did I get that was so great?  Well, are you ready to have your mind blown?

Oh... Oh my...

Th-That’s… Mickey Mantle!  Feel free to insert colorful language here.  I know I blurted out a few joyous expletives myself.  The swatch is super old school in look and feel.  Oh you know I had to rub that glorious little swatch.  Wouldn’t you?  A hit like this doesn’t come along every day.  Love the odd card they chose/had on hand to use too.  Um… I’ll stop talking now and let you bask in the glory that is Mickey Mantle.  I’ll post this “pack” over at A Pack to be Named Later too.  They might get a kick out of it.

Until our next…

Ryno Get!

So I stopped by the Diamond Giveaway site like I do at least once almost every day, to clear out most trade offers & accept any I might like (there are two definite accepts today, for the record).  In recent days, I’ve also been checking to see if the final three Die-Cuts had dropped yet.  Ryne Sandberg is among the last three, so I decided to hold back any extra codes I might end up with until the last three dropped so I could take as many shots as landing him as possible.  I ended up saving back three of the four codes I picked up in that time, but it turns out I only needed one.  Behold!

Yes!

With the first code card (which will be forever encased in a top loader), he appeared.  And my jaw went slack in a way usually only reserved for impossibly beautiful women, impossibly beautiful art, impossibly bad puns, and impossibly delicious and gigantic sandwiches.

The other two codes didn’t score much (’85 common & ’90 Carlton Fisk), but anything else would’ve just been gravy anyway.  When I first looked only two Rynos had been unlocked, & five after I finished unlocking cards and digging, so I got him early.  Aaaand with my big late need already out of the way, I can concentrate the 228 (roughly 200 available for trade) cards in my portfolio on reclaiming Ichiro and Beltre and landing Ernie Banks and the other two Cubbies I need (Marmol and Colvin).  Hopefully there will be enough to score a few guys from my third tier list too (revised as follows: Andrew McCutchen, Mike Stanton, Reggie Jackson, Jackie Robinson, Carlos Santana, Miguel Montero, Dan Haren, Jered Weaver, Carlos Quentin, Clayton Kershaw, Jose Reyes… I’m not too picky, lol).

And yes, 228 is not a typo.  Someone offered 150 cards for my Ichiro, with a majority of it being solidly tradable based on other trades I’ve made.  So… I took it.  Thus also my reason for needing Ichiro again.

These are the Diamond Die-Cuts I have now, all keepers minus the extra King Felix, and I have specific plans for it.

Ryno

Starlin

Shin-Soo Choo

King Felix (x2, using the second to try to land Ernie or Ichiro)

Vlad

Big Papi

Winfield

Aramis

Marlon Byrd

Buehrle

Romero (Black Diamond)

Guess that’s all for this one, folks.  As ever, thanks for stopping by!

Until our next…

New Title, Same Mediocre Blog Reading Experience

I’ve been meaning to change the name of my blog for awhile now, and as luck would have it, today I finally figured out how. No more silly pseudo-pretentious song title name for a blog that always has been and remains mostly about the cards. What was I thinking? “Life and Baseball Cards” fits much better, I think.  And to celebrate, here’s a pack off topps Stickers!

King Felix is mine, Mitch Moreland is spoken for, and the rest are available for trade.

Also check out what name the stats are under.  I just found out I could change that too.  It’s not quite having an actual Shawon-O-Meter to display it, but it’ll do. Look for other lil tweaks and updates here & there as well.  Guess that’s all for now.  Seeya.

Until our next…