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…

I Have No Idea What This Post Will Be About…

… Until I start writing it.  I’m barely mentally coherent and can’t quite think of anything specific to say (I for one blame this ridiculous heat and dis brokeass recliner hurting my back for my total lack of posting energy), but I feel the need to say SOMETHING.  So, here goes whatever.

Nothing has happened as yet with my Black Diamond Die-Cut on the topps Diamond Giveaway site.  Haven’t even gotten many offers on it.  I’ve picked up three regulars via trading though.

I had to let my ’75 Bill Madlock go earlier today when someone offered a Yovani Gallardo for it.  Just couldn’t refuse that.  I also scored a Ricky Romero a few days ago from haphazardly offering up my ’67 Dick Schofield, ’74 Walt Williams, and ’91 Luis Rivera for just about any Diamond Die-Cut I had even marginal interest in and/or could easily trade once I have it in-hand if I can’t get one of my needs on the site.  I sent out a mess of only slightly more focused trade offers for each when the sun was going down.

Before that, doing the same incoherent-but-effective trade offering with a ’73 Johnny Briggs and ’69 Chuck Cottier landed me a Billy Butler which over the course of a single day became a Carlos Santana which finally turned into my first definite keeper in Vlad Guerrero.  Very nice.  I’d like to land another Santana for myself at some point, but I’m not counting on it.

(EDIT: Just checked.  I’ve landed another Carlos Santana.  Got it for Gallardo.  Lulz.)

Aside from that, I’ve picked up four packs of this year’s A&G.  The first two (from Walmart) were weak.  No inserts, plain ol’ regular back minis (one was a Cub, but I’ve never been a fan of Dempster), and a shortprint of stinkin’ Cardinal.  Only saving grace was Cheryl Burke hawtness.

The second two (from Target) were outstanding, however.  A code version of an SP, a Jason Heyward mini SP, a Most Mysterious Man in the Iron Mask, and an Ascent of Man, which I can confirm are as awesome as advertised.  Plus more cool random people base cards in Kristi Yamaguchi and  Stan freakin’ Lee!  I’ll be keeping Kristi, Stan, and maybe the Ascent of Man (for now at least), but the others are available.  I’m interested in Minds that Made the Future, Highlight Sketches, and Portraits in Penultimacy in return.

I also picked up a few things the on COMC the other day, much of it trade bait.  Flying Spaghetti Monster only knows when I’ll have money to get any of it out though, especially if the government turds out.  Seriously, fuck the GOP.  Right in the ear.  Because God forbid the rich and big businesses start paying their fair share of taxes, amirite?

Anyway, if you like BJ Upton, Jose Reyes (2B?), Victor Martinez, Garrett Atkins, or… Joseph Addai (eh, why not?), or the teams they play/played for, you might be in luck.  Also Carlos Lee and Andy Pettitte.

Also slowly gathering specific things for specific people.  Got at least one thing I owe Ray now.  I’ll set about getting ahold of the rest pending government bullshittery.

Finally, for the love of Tommy Oliver, my email is on my blogger profile which is linked on my sidebar!  Ahem… Sorry, but it’s there.

In the meantime, here’s a picture of a thing (via my first trade with Cards on Cards that I never posted because I don’t know what became of most of the scans :():

The original Shawon-O-Meter?

Seriously though, I have no idea what this is and have been too lazy and/or unfocused to look it up as of yet.  It’s kinda cool though.

Guess that’s all for this post.  Needs more pictures, but it turned out better than the post I had originally planned.  Baseball cards are much more enjoyable than b*tching about government incompetence, DC Comics incompetence, and… “Unicorns”.  It would’ve been… weird.

It’s too hot for pants…

Black Diamond Get!

It took more than 20 tries, but it finally happened, on my fourth and final Diamond Giveaway Code from today (and most likely for the foreseeable future).  I hit paydirt!  Feast your eyes…

It's Gaby Time!

Not bad eh?  Not just a Diamond Die-Cut, note the darkness of the diamond.  Yes, daddy got a BLACK Diamond!  I may possibly be the last card blogger actually playing the Diamond Giveaway game to unlock, or at least successfully trade, for a Diamond Die-Cut, but I guess some things are worth the wait.  Now, I’m not here to gloat.  I’m just wondering what I should do with it.  I have a couple trade offers for regular versions (Carlos Gonzalez + 1954 Arnie Portocarrero RC and Evan Longoria + 1962 Bob Lillis), but I dunno ’bout that.  Any suggestions on what I should do with this gem (heh)?

Amusingly, I didn’t even realize this was a Black Diamond for awhile (I suppose the two trade offers above coming within 5 minutes of the card being unlocked should’ve told me something was up).  I hadn’t ever really noticed the difference between the regular and Black Diamond version.  I’d seen them before, but the difference apparently never clicked with my brain.  So it took a random forum post and a stop at Check Out My Cards before it hit me and even then I still had to see the regular version to be sure.  I guess it didn’t seem that dark before I compared it with the regular.

Anyway, I suppose I should get some screen grab technology or something for the new computer when I get a chance, so I can start posting trade offers as they were meant to be seen.  Any suggestions on what free screen grabber I should pick up?

Guess that’s about all for tonight.  Gotta rest up for a busy (well, what qualifies as such for me) and stupidly annoying week.

Until our next…