The Last Hit I Pulled

From a loose pack anyway.

From a 40%-off, $2.99 Lineage fat pack. Clayton Kershaw ’75 Mini Jersey (and Ty Cobb Cloth Sticker)

Didn’t feel like saying much today, but still felt the need to post something for some reason, so there ya go.  Start the bidding (err, trade offers), Dodgers fans!  I’m sure someone out there in the ether has use for Mr. Cobb here too.

The boring backs.  Shades of blue are nice at least. And the anagram is kinda brain asplody..

That’s all I got for today.  Thanks for stopping by.

More Collection Tweaking

I’ve been playing with the direction of my collection again.  After seeing a post on someone else’s blog, I was inspired to try something a little different.  Thus, Single Page Sensations was born.  As I said on that page, I think collecting single pages of random players and sets feeds into my random scatterbrained collecting habits while also reigning them in a little and giving them a certain degree of focus.

It also allows me to drop a few collections without completely getting rid of them.  As such, I downgraded Felix Hernandez, David Ortiz, and Shin-Soo Choo from baseball, Luol Deng and Hakeem Olajuwon from basketball, and Steven Jackson, Thomas Jones, and Julius Peppers (as if I ever traded for hardly anything from the latter two anyway), as well as putting a few relatively recently deactivated collections into the single page category.

The ground rules for the single page project are thus:

• Oversized cards do not count toward a Single Page Sensations player collection.  Tobacco card-sized minis don’t either unless I decide I really like it or something.

• For sets, a regular player I collect can’t be included.  Single page players are fair game, but the card used for the set does not count against the player collection.

• For sets I’m collecting a regular and parallel version of (2011 Legend SPs), each page must have an entirely different group of players.  No overlap will be permitted.

• The number of cards for a set depend on the dimensions of the set in question.  Standard cards (and larger minis) fit 9 to a page, but pages for bigger sets don’t fit as many, and the Tobacco-sized minis stuff fits more.

• These single page collections are malleable, and I may be willing to away trade certain cards from them, or trade for certain other cards as to replace what I already have as they become available, so don’t be afraid to ask.  I’ll also try to note what cards are locked in and what might be tradeable as collections fill up.

And that’s about it.  Here’s to some joyfully completed pages.  Come at me, bro.

The key return from my trade with All the Way to the Backstop.

~~~~

Finally, in other news, does anyone out there have any damaged or super fugly relic cards of decent-to-great players you don’t care about getting much in return for?  I have a few options of my own, but I could use more for when I start trying to make my own relic cards.  I could also use any thick blank decoys anyone has on hand as well.

That’s all for now.  Thanks for stopping by!

Forever a work-in-progress…

Another Great Shot Not Taken Trade

The card that got this trade rollin’. A certain Olympic-obsessed someone on twitter will be so jealous when I twitpic this card. 😀

Hey there, stately gents and comely wenches, time for a trading post!  These lovely cards come to me from my most frequent trading partner Shot Not Taken, if the title didn’t clue you in.

The Back of Mr. Lochte. #’ed to a medalistic (I bet there was a ’90s insert called Medalistic :P) /75 copies..

The above Lochte started things, but when Ray bought basically the saddest pack of SportKings in the world, the deal fell into place.

Pictured: The backs of an entire pack of cards that cost $100. Yes, $20 a card.

Despite the fact that even though I still wouldn’t touch a pack of high end stuff myself even after I become a rich & famous YA genre fiction writer (what?), I’ve still been contemplating trying to piece together an entire base set of all the SportKings series’ (because I am insane, but you probably already knew that).

Old school runner..

I greatly enjoy the silhouettes playing sports, but as you’ll see on the David Robinson on down, they can get lost if the depicted player is wearing dark colors that don’t have much in the way of highlights or shading or whatever.  Franco gets it a bit too on the darkest parts of his jersey.

NASCAR legend and inappropriate ponytail enthusiast..

The base cards are really nice.  Clean & simple look & they feel super sturdy.  I think I’m in double digits after this trade, so I’m not completely starting from scratch.

Not even high end can avoid Mini Mania!

I do loves me some minis, but if you have a two or three of the base cards I need, I may be willing to deal Franco here.

The Admiral..

This is the S back, which I’m also willing to deal for base cards, on the off-chance anyone has any.

As the hit of a 5-card, $100 pack, “The World’s Most Famous Ultramarathon Runner” doesn’t come close to cutting it, but it’s a damn cool card to me..

This card I decided I was interested in entirely because I’ve become a lot more physically active this summer and I thought a hit of a famed ultramarathonner would be good motivation to keep me getting after it.

Rajon RC..

I… have nothing interesting to say about this card.  Just thought my PC could use a nice Rajon Rondo RC.  That wall behind him is… odd.

Hehe, 4/20. Heh..

We basically put the whole deal together via twitter.  I remembered this late and tweeted Ray, hoping he still had it.  I was hoping he would set it aside for our next inevitable trade if he did, but he threw it in just before he sent my stuff out.

Meredith Salenger cut auto..

Just before I sent out that fateful tweet to Ray in regards to this card, I somehow stumbled onto Meredith Salenger, or someone posing as her, on twitter, which reminded me of this card, which prompted me check her out on IMDB, where I found out that, in addition to appearing in all sorts of things, she has also done a bit of voice work, which is what made me want this card.  I’m a total geek for great anime & western ‘toons alike, so voice actor autos is another possible new PC I’ve been considering that may or may not become a thing.

Well, there ya go!  Another successful trade, and I’m sure we’ll deal again soon.  I love when I can send out a lot more stuff than comes back my way, because that means great stuff like this comes back, and also because I’m forever trying to shrink my collection down to somewhat manageable levels (still got a loooooooong way to go).  Seeya next time, when I don’t know what I’ll jibba-jabba about.

I still don’t know how to pronounce “Lochte”…

Cardboard DIY?

Just a quick thing tonight.  I know a few people out there know how to put together their own relic cards, so can any of y’all teach me how to do it?  Like a step-by-step breakdown of the process and materials needed or something?  I have a cool idea, but it’s something I need to do on my own.  Any help on the matter would be greatly appreciated.

Diamond Gallery #2: The Diamond Die-Cuts

As mentioned last time, my first Diamond Giveaway order (of four full 25-card orders total) arrived last Friday.  It was the free one, and contained most of my Diamond Die-Cuts. So here they are now.  Enjoy.

Shin-Soo Choo..

They are nice & shiny all over.  The only thing that could make them better is if they were in the much prettier blue or purple Walmart or Toys B Fun versions. They are great as is, but red doesn’t do it for me.  Give me the darker, cooler colors any day.

Andrew McCutchen..

The  diamond in the background glows almost as much as it shines.  This is especially true of the black diamond.  But we’ll get to that in due time.

Big Papi..

I ended up with most of what I was after, but I never was able to land Ernie Banks, and I’m still a little tweaked by that.

Dave Winfield..

There were way too damn many Yankees in this set, but it’s hard to argue with most of them.  Only Swisher and Teixeira are really debatable, and the latter only because he’s sucked in 2012.  Still, I’d have taken out both of them and either Maris or Munson and a few of the lesser Braves and added Johnny Bench, Joey Votto, and Matt Kemp, amongst others.

CarGo..

I’m not sure what I’m going to do with CarGo and the others that aren’t players I specifically collect or are otherwise spoken for.  Ya better bring it if you want one though.

Longo..

I’d like one of the few of these I still want or need in return (Ernie Banks, Carlos Marmol, Tyler Colvin, Jackie Robinson, and Reggie Jackson, amongst others I potentially accept).  In lieu of that, make a specific offer of something pretty darn nice.  I sunk way too much time into this and I’m not just going to accept any ol’ thang for these bad mamma-jammas.

Chris Sale..

Alexei..

These are the two White Sox I picked up for my dad’s little collection of things I pull or pick up cheap.  I miiiiiiiight be able to let one go if you have the ammo to deal, but I’m not moving both.

Adrian Beltre..

2012 All-Star starter, future Hall of Famer?  After the unspectacular-yet-steady early years and lone monster contract season with the Dodgers and somewhat awful stretch with the Marinerds, he’s really turned it on since leaving the M’s and seems to be getting better with age.  The numbers are starting to look Hall of Fame quality for 3B.

Aramis..

Speaking of guys closing in on Hall of Fame numbers at the hot corner.  Aramis maybe isn’t aging quite as gracefully (or perhaps it’s just the Brewers relative irrelevance when not in the playoff hunt), but he’s still playing fairly decent up there in Milwaukee.  And if the Brew Crew completely fall out of playoff picture, look for Aramis to catch fire and look and make people take notice of his offensive prowess again.  It’s what he does, kinda.

Ichiro Suzuki..

To hell with that one name BS.  It doesn’t matter if how amazing someone is, this ain’t soccer!  And “Fred” ruined it for soccer anyway.

King Felix..

And now the pitching half of what was a two man team for most of the last few years, King Felix.

Vlad..

Why is this guy not in the majors right now?!  He had his worst season last and still hit .290!

David Wright..

One of two die-cuts likely bound for Long Fly Ball.  Don’t worry though Wright fans, because I have another on the way.  For the same reason I couldn’t get Ernie, I’m a little tweaked to still have the second David Wright.  I tried EVERYTHING to deal the second Wright for Ernie, but no matter how ridiculously lopsided in whoever the offers were going to’s favor, I got jack and diddly to show for it.

RickyRo Black Diamond #’ed 48/60

Check the black diamond’s dark, ominous glow.  This is what made this order free, and the other die-cut most likely bound for Long Fly Ball.

Starlin Castro..

Goin’ bigtime with the last two.  2011’s NL Hit (and error) King, Starlin Castro!

Ryno!

Finally, one of the only two die-cuts I actually hit myself (though I guess I only unlocked 34-ish cards total), Ryne Sandberg!  Although, come to think of it, I hit this and the Black Diamond Gaby Sanchez that eventually became RickyRo in just 30-some shots, so I actually did incredibly well, I guess.

That’s it for this one, sports fans.  The Diamond Giveaway (which I keep wanting to hash tag and not space…) is over, so please make your final selections and proceed to checkout.  Thank you for shopping your local Diamond Giveaway.

Until our next…

Diamond Gallery #1: Fresh Vintage Sox (and Other Things)

So my first Diamond Giveaway order arrived, and while it was mostly Die-Cuts, I did pick up a little vintage this time too.  Have a look, won’t you?

1969 Topps ’68 HR Leaders Frank Howard/Willie Horton/Hawk Harrelson..

The back..

The card is beat to heck all over, easily the worst of the bunch.  Yet for some reason all the creases & things are easy to miss at first glance if you aren’t paying attention.  Also a previous owner of this card underlined all the Orioles on the back of the card, which is amusing and gives the card an interesting character and backstory that I’ll likely never know.  I picked this up for my dad, a big longtime White Sox fan, because Hawk is the longtime television voice of the team (and gets an undeserved bad wrap, in my rarely humble opinion).

1969 Bill Melton RC..

The back..

The bottom corners on this are a little worn, and the entire top edge is rough.  Also intended for my dad, but currently sitting in the one of the rookie pages in my random keeper binder just because I’m bringing back so much Diamond Giveaway White Sox stuff for him.  More on those later in this post and future posts as well.  Also another card back cartoon showing how easy players have it today.  Even the lowliest major leaguer doesn’t need to work for an engineering firm in the offseason.  If anything, they’d be doing local commercial endorsements for it today.

He doesn’t care too much whether or not I get these for him, but the jolly fat man does enjoy them once he has them.  So I pick him cool (and very cheap) White Sox cards when I come across or occasionally pull them.  He’s got a shelf with some no-name prospect that never did anything auto, Ron Kittle & Darryl Boston autos, a Luis Aparicio stadium seat relic, a ’70 Topps Aparicio & ’78 Wilbur Wood, and a couple recent shinier cards.  Also that Gordon Beckham Topps Heritage auto still hangs out there.

1975 Topps ’52 MVPs Bobby Shantz/Hank Sauer..

The back..

This one’s for me.  One of my first ever vintage cards was a 1961(I think?) Hank Sauer MVP card, so he holds a special place in my collecting heart.  The card is a little rough around pretty much all the edges and corners, but considering the shape my other ’75s are in (the couple minis I own notwithstanding), this one isn’t really that bad at all.  The walks per 9 innings and total bases were probably still relatively deep statistical measures of greatness in 1975.  The former may still be.

1976 JR Richard..

The back..

Great card of a guy that didn’t play real long, but was so damn good while he did.  Definitely should have tried to pick up another card or two of JR.  The cartoon tidbit is rather interesting as well.  Good on ya, New York Press.  Minimal damage on the card, but it doesn’t look or feel very sturdy (basically the opposite of the clearly loved but still structurally sound ’75).

1977 Beltin’ Bill..

The back..

Man did Bill age fast or what?  He looks like he’s still in high school on his RC, then less than 10 years later he’s a grizzled old vet with a halfhearted pornstache and perm just playing out the string.  You can almost see the wheels in his head turning, wondering what became of his once promising career.  And now that I’ve depressed everyone, this card is in pretty decent shape.  I’m also open to dealing for more Bill Meltons and JR Richards (and Richie/Dick Allen, but that’s another post entirely) if you got ’em and don’t need ’em.

’78 George Foster..

Or Geroge, as one of the many Diamond Giveaway typos referred to him.  Not much to say about this suh-weet card other than that it’s condition is fine and I knew I was bringing it back the second it ended up in my port.  Those sideburns are badassss.

Fisk In Action..

The back..

What an outstanding photo.  I knew I had to get this one when I saw it too.  Also for dad, it will look GREAT with his little collection.  One card did get back ordered, and that was a ’71 Bill Melton.  So if it takes awhile, let’s hope it looks okay whenever it decides to come.

And with that, we’re done for now.  As ever, thanks for stopping by!  We’ll check

Next time, Gadget…

Soul Writer

I can do this

And I will do this

And I should have done this

A long time ago

Fuck the pride

And fuck the pain

The tedium and the strain

This is who I am

What I’m meant to do

Who I’m meant to be

I am a writer

I write for myself

I write from my soul

This is what I do

And now it’s time prove

I’m more than the mess

That stands before you today