Card Draft II Countdown Part 1: 25-16 + Extras

Lovely parting gifts..

With Scott Crawford on Cards‘ Trade Bait Draft III probably happening tonight (If you got $20 or a good trade to offer him, and an hour or two free, hit him up!), I thought it was way past time to start showing off my stuff from my first go-round in his draft’s second iteration.  With the five bonus rounds and five extra throw-ins, I ended up with a total of 30 cards, but I’m only going to count down the drafted cards.  The extras are at the top of the post.  And now, without further adieu, let’s count ’em down.  In my opinion, here are 25-16:

#25

2011 Bowman Mike Moustakas Bowman’s Best Prospects..

A late-round set need pick for a set I’m waffling pretty hard on whether or not I want to finish.  My love of Bowman’s Best stems from 1996-1999, not from the product’s first year, which this set is aping.  Keeper (for now I guess).

#24

1974 Topps Goose Gossage..

Chosen entirely for the sake of “Hall of Famer in a White Sox uniform”.  I don’t even particularly like Goose, because his opinions on baseball invariably annoy me on the mercifully rare occasions he voices them.  Available for trade, because I don’t want to look at Goose every time I pass the shelves the White Sox cards I give my dad are on when I’m at the parents’ place.

#23

BowChro Jameson Taillon die-cut..

I like Taillon and think he is going to be very good.  The only reason this one is so low on the countdown is the card itself.  Topps has gone crazy with the die-cuts the since 2011, but these are one of the very few that don’t really do it for me.  Available for trade.

#22

Kurt Suzuki Heritage Chrome Green Refractor..

Although I like that the refractor color matches the player’s team, Suzuki is pure trade bait, most likely for Shot Not Taken if he needs it.  He has no less than a dozen hits I have varying degrees of interest in, and three I absolutely have to get whenever we trade again.  Plus he always seems to pull a few wrestlers I like when he busts pro graps cards, so it’s no wonder we trade so often.

#21

1969 Topps Johnny Podres..

It’s a cool card, no doubt, but mostly a case of picking the best card still remaining on my draft board.  Available for trade, especially if you have a fairly equivalent Cub from the around that time.

#20

Laser Emmitt Smith Sample..

Even though I don’t actively collect samples and promos anymore (or think that highly of Emmitt Smith as a football player), I can’t say no to a little blinged out ’90s greatness.  Available for trade.

19

1974 Topps All-Star Catchers Fisk/Bench..

Chosen for the Carlton Fiskiness of it all.  Goose started it off, and here is the second appearance in a long run of ’74 Hall of Famers (and one all-time what could have been) in varying degrees of rough condition.  Many more to come.  Reluctantly available for trade.

#18

1986-87 Fleer Maurice Cheeks..

This is a great card, and it only fell this far down the list right before I started writing the post.  It was #12 when I got the list back out to start this up.  Oddly, I’ve only ever owned three cards from the legendary ’86-87 Fleer set, and all three of them have been 76ers (Dr. J and Moses Malone were the others).  Reluctantly available for trade.

#17

2013 Topps Yu Darvish ’72 Mini..

YU!  I dunno about these mini sets of sets that were never mini in the first place.  I think Topps may be scraping the bottom of the barrel of their endless nostalgia crazed wankfest.  Yeah, wankfest.  They are clearly in love with themselves and their history, despite how INCREDIBLY MEDIOCRE that history is.  Yeah you never made a bad set from 1971-1985, but a lot of what came before is only well thought of because it’s old, and you’re still spotty as hell and losing ground in modern times.  You NEVER even innovated a damn thing in 25 years of relatively uncontested ruling over baseball cards, and really cards in general.  So, I think you and your history kinda suck!  And I will never, EVER stop resenting you for your current exclusive deal, or MLB for giving it to you.

What can I say I’m a Paul Heyman Upper Deck Panini anyone willing to put up a decent alternative to Topps guy.

But I’ll take a YU! every chance I get.  This, despite my rant, is a reluctant keeper.  At least until I finish and can start upgrading my Yu Darvish page.

#16

2011 Score Colin Kaepernick RC

What a thrill to watch last year.  Even Kaep’s early struggles were of the rather epic variety (the infamous halfback toss to nowhere that, iirc, eventually cost the Niners that game).  Can’t wait to see what he can do over a full and hopefully healthy season.  I’ve never seen a running QB with such deadly timing on designed runs.  Just unreal what he can do.  It is never a good idea to anoint a team, but the 49ers are built to compete for championships for years on end, and it will be a huge disappointment if they don’t get at least one.

That’s it for the first of what will most likely be three of these countdown posts.  If Card Draft III does end up being tonight, I will hopefully be able to get the countdown done before the next bunch of cards arrive.  Thanks for stopping by!

Until our next…

Back to the COMC Order

Heyo.  More keeper goodness for the pleasure of visual stimulation today on the show while I continue making trade offers on the Diamond Giveaway site in the background.  Still about 180 cards to move to get me down to 40 that I want, but that’s another post.  We were on baseball, yes?  Well then, to the scans!

YOU try scanning warp-assed chrome cards straight. EX-ARod sample, and an early American Ichiro, from Cardboard Icons' COMC, no less..

I require a sample..

$1 well spent. 🙂

Big Dave. I dunno why, but it amuses me greatly how much he absolutely dwarfs everyone else whenever he's playing analyst..

My inner-WBC wonk got the best of me. That's my first ever quad jersey though. It's niiiice..

Classic SPx, scanned spectacularly..

A crazypants Vlad insert, an early '80s oddball, and a Nomah #'ed /173..

Ol' Rock is plastic like a credit card. This is the back..

And here's the Vlad & Nomah backs. Vlad was also from Cardboard Icons..

Always hate on manu-relics until you have one in-hand. This is freakin' suh-weet..

GQ Papi jerseys..

Starting to think breaking the scans down before I posted was a really dumb and definitively time-consuming idea.  I mean, it probably makes for better viewing and reading this way, and it’s easier if you need to download or link to a particular card, but man does it take forever.  So let’s just get to the end of the (not Cubs) baseball keepers already.  I’ll give my Cubs and Bears a post of their own next.  Moving on down the line, we veer off course and take a side trip to funky(card)town.

The On-Deck Circle swatch featuring borderline Hall of Famer Carlos Delgado..

The swatch feels plastic and rubbery at the same time.  If the crazypants of the swatch isn’t enough for you though, it gets a little weirder still when we turn it over.

Foilboard shine on the back, but not the front... Cuz why not?

Foilboard doesn’t exactly work in scans, but you can tell it’s different than the front.  I dunno, it’s hella strange, but I likes it.  It’s unique, that’s for sure.  And it has rhyme and/or reason to it at least.  Who doesn’t love All-Star-related cards and swatches (besides roughly half of you)?  Can’t say the same for this next (and mercifully final) one though.

I... What? What is this, I don't even..

But... but why?

I don’t understand the point of this card at all.  Not complaining though, I must admit I enjoy the quirky weirdness of it all.  I’d be delighted if some could explain what the meaning of this is.  Blue archer needs background info badly.

And that is hopefully it for this one.  If I missed anything, I’ll throw it in with the Cubs and Bears next time, unless I decide to post up something else tomorrow.  I do have a couple other directions I could go if I feel like it.

Till then, mi amigos…