A Trade Post You Say?

Yep, and I think I’ve about got a return package ready for this one finally.  It comes to me from Baseball Card Stuff, and it is awesome as can be, so let’s get right into it and check out the majority of what was sent!

That 20-10 topps card isn't part of the trade, for some reason I combined them with scans of this trade (twice as you will see). Poor planning on my part.

Why does Opening Day get so much crap for being the same as the base set when almost every year, the little tweaks actually make it BETTER looking than the original??  The blue foil is better (or at least more interesting) than the regular silver on the ’06s, and the white border completely and utterly destroys the black-bordered design of the ’07 set.  I’m not normally all about the white borders (if you’re going plain white borders, just make it full-bleed, cuz that’s much less boring), but it actually makes the ’07 design look nice.

Also, Derrick May!  And a nice Upper Deck design, which brings me to my next rant.  To the people that dislike Upper Deck’s general lack of base set design, I strongly disagree with you (and they change it up enough to tell the difference from year-to-year, so come off that BS).  An analogy: I watch my wrestling for THE WRESTLING, not the silly skits & promos and crap.  The extracurricular crap only works to raise the interest in a match when it’s good, and quite frankly, it usually isn’t.  This is the same reason I generally prefer Upper Deck’s flagship base sets over topps’, they tend to be free of the frequently not very good design clutter of topps and let the great photography do the talking.

To each their own I guess, and it’s not like I’m a set collector anyway, but topps, ehh… I can take ’em or leave ’em.  They may have the history, the tradition, but I think tradition is overrated, especially when it comes to baseball.  I may catch heat for that, but I’m not saying it all willy-nilly.  There are reasons for it.

Rant mode off.

For now.

Maybe.

No rants here, just some good ol' quality Mark Grace action. This is the other one I foolishly combined with 20-10 topps scans that I'll probably never use, though I managed to put a keeper up in the same row as the trade cards this time.

I guess the lack of mid-’90s baseball card collecting (I was all about the basketball back then when I was first starting out) is why I have so few Mark Grace cards in my collection, so these are all greatly appreciated.  The ghostly Graceface on the Pinnacle card is foilboard I think.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I have sudden urge to go grab a bottle of RC.  Dunno why… 😛

Now we're gettin' to the nitty gritty. Griffey, Dawson, Bell, that Fukudome I have about a half dozen of now...

Yeah, I have a lot of that UDX Fukudome.  If anyone has a spare Heritage or Goudey Kosuke Rookie, I’d gladly send a UDX (or two!) for it.

I’m planning to pare down my Griffey collection, but the Profiles and Record Breakers will be staying.

I think I might have to make a player collection for George Bell, since I’ve been keeping the few pre and post-Cubbies I have of him too.  He’s just cool.

Speaking of cool, Andre Dawson, ladies & gentlemen.  I think that Hawk is my first very first Leaf card of that year.  I don’t even recognize the design, though I’m sure I’ve seen it before.

And wow, I never realized this, but ’84 topps is like the unholy offspring of ’83 and ’86 topps, lol.

This scan is so full of win!

A Kosuke parallel #ed /99 flanked by two different ’83 Fergie Jenkins’!! ~ Win x3

My first ever ’80s Sportflics! ~ Win

The total mindblowage that is Eck & Lee Smith being on the same team at the same time combined with the fact that I’m pretty sure I’ve never even seen an ’85 Donruss card before! ~ Win x2

And as my dad noted when he saw the card, not only the is mustache above Buckner’s lip impressive, but the mustaches above his eyes are pretty amazing too! ~ Win for my dad’s sense of humor.

And that’s not even getting to the fact that I need both the Hawk & the Ryno. ~ Yet more win.

See?  Full of win.  Thank you very much, Jake.  Awesome cards.  I will get stuff sent as soon as I can.

Oh, I almost forgot.  Jake also sent this lil guy along:

Andre Dawson Coin! I was pretty geeked up to find this in the package. 🙂

Now then, though the interest has been better than I was really expecting, we’ve still got 9 or so more spots still to fill to make the Opening Day Group Break happen.  It will be a max of $25 for two random teams and the boxes busted will most likely look pretty similar to the rough draft from a couple posts ago.

Next time, Gadget…

I Like Ticket to Stardom

It’s true.  I’m serious.  I bought two fat packs at Walmart, and there is just something about it.  Getting a retail hit helped, but regardless, I can confidently say I would have enjoyed them anyway.  These cards have a certain charm about them I can’t deny.  Maybe I am just a sucker for ticket themed cards; I have always thought highly of it.  Maybe it’s because everyone else seems to hate them with a passion.  Maybe it’s because the base cards look out-freakin’-standing.  Maybe it’s these admittedly pointless, yet absurdly awesome, parallels with perforated looking top(p)s and bottoms that subtly and excellently further the ticket theme (the very definition of a Hidden Highlight).

I dunno if it’s any one thing.  It might well be all of the above.  No matter what it is, if nobody else will give topps any dap for this great set, I absolutely will.  The relic, and especially dual relic, tickets may be wonkily designed (though I happen to find how they look endearing, in a Wrestlecraptastic Pirate Paul Burchill kinda way), and tickets may come from meaningless games or don’t match the blurb on the back, but those are the only flaws we’re dealing with here.  When the base cards and auto/jerseys are so nice looking, the flaws aren’t fatal.

The worst I can call it is a Jeckyll & Hyde-type set, where the good is great and the bad really blows.  To me, the highs at the very least equal the lows (and most the lows I find quirky and endearing), so to call this set a mess or total failure is bullsh*t to me.  It may have it’s problems, but there are plenty of redeeming qualities too.  Seeing all sides of a situation and the positive side of things is kinda my specialty though, so if your mileage may varies, I understand.

Alright, enough jibba-jabba.  Let’s get to the packs, shall we?  Second pack first (because the hit was in the first pack).

2009 topps Ticket to Stardom fat pack (14 cards)

Pack 2

190 Andy Sonnanstine (Rays)

34 Rich Harden (Cubs)- Keeper!

141 Jeremy Sowers (Indians)

10 David DeJesus (Royals)

177 Alexei Ramirez (White Sox)

109 Gary Sheffield (Mets)

155 Jered Weaver parallel (Angels)- I don’t know what these things are called, but they are awesome.  The top and bottom of the card are cut to make it look more like a ticket.  Ya know, they say that it’s the little things that make something great, and this otherwise meaningless thing that would normally be a bother (if I were a set builder) goes a long way towards doing that for me.  It’s the best kind of genius: subtle.  Not everyone will appreciate it, but the ones that do will think it’s fantastic.

TTS-1 David Price (Rays) Ticket to Stardom- 1:4 fat packs

188 Adam Jones (Orioles)

139 Andy Pettitte (Yankees)

95 Ryan Doumit (Pirates)

151 Derek Lowe (Braves)

83 Vernon Wells (Blue Jays)- Reminds me of the autograph of him I pulled back in the day from one of the two packs 2005 topps Pack Wars I ever busted.  Also reminds me to let you know that I have five more packs on the way that I hope attempt a youtube break on.  Even if I can’t figure out how to do that, I’m sure there will be some nice new trade bait to offer up. 😉 /cheap plug

148 Akinori Iwamura (Rays)

Three evenly spaced Rays in that one.  Cool beans on a chilly night.  Might there be a certain Troll who could use them?  NEXT PACK!

Pack 1

126 Jason Varitek (Red Sox)- Someone jacked most of the contents of the huge trade package I sent to JD’s Daddy somewhere along the way to him, so this will probably go into a new one.

162 (hehe) Conor Jackson (Diamondbacks)

197 Ian Kinsler (Rangers)

165 Vladimir Guerrero (Angels)- Keeper!

62 Cameron Maybin parallel (Marlins)- I’ve pulled several Cabreras and Maybins (including a Goodwin mini of Maybin tonight) ever since I sent out the trade to Wicked Ortega.  Guess I might need to get another package ready.

I guess these cards count as die-cuts?  That’s how to find ’em on eBay anyway.

TS-9 Albert Pujols Ticket Stub #’ed 065/110- Hi Marie. 😉

Image yoinked from eBay...

That isn’t mine.  I’m plenty lazy on my own, but even still, my chances to scan stuff are… severely limited (which is why I have so many trades that haven’t been blogged about yet).  You can click on the pic to get to the auction it from wence it came.

For the record, mine has a different pic if Pujols in the corner.  The ticket in mine comes from April 6th, 2008.  Pujols went 0 for 2 with two walks and a stolen base on April 6th, 2008 in a 3-0 win over the Washington Nationals.  Nothing special for Albert, but at least it was a win for his team, and the stolen base is nice.  Also, the ticket in mine is better positioned, with Baseball Heaven being fully visible right below the top.  I will make sure I scan mine soon so y’all can see if you think the ticket position makes it look as cool as I think it does.

#’ed Ticket Stubs fall at pretty nice odds in fat packs (1:11 packs).  It looks like they may be the only hit available in retail packs.

111 Carlos Beltran (Mets)

155 Jered Weaver (Angels)

100 Adrian Beltre (Mariners)- Maybe a keeper, I’m waffling on whether or not I want to collect him.

107 Bobby Abreu (Angels)

115 Mark Buehrle (White Sox)- Do you need either of the Sox I pulled, Steve?  I’m still trying to put something together for you for all that cool stuff you sent awhile back.

44 Mat Latos RC (Padres)

Checklist 1 of 2

Like I said, I really like these cards.  To some, I may have overhyped them up top, but that’s how I roll.  Gotta give some love to the things I like as passionately as I can, since I’m so often misaligned with what the general public likes, or dislikes, in this case.  Eh, what do they know anyway? 😛

Oh, here’s the pack of Goodwin Champions I also picked up tonight.

125 Chris Johnson- Tennessee Titans star running back, in his collect uni.  Ayyy, there be a pirate on the back.  Yarrr, I guess it be East Carolina’s logo.

190 Alex Hinshaw SP (Giants)- Cool, this is an SP.  I finally just now got around to looking at a checklist, lol.

234 Cameron Maybin Mini (Marlins)- Ohh, so this is a Mini Exclusive.  That’s cool.  I’m doing quite well with Goodwin minis.  DiMaggio, Lebron, Steve Carlton, a near triple crown racehorse, and this.

That animal insert is cool too, although it’s a killer whale and not a panda.  Meh, they got the same color scheme.  Honest mistake. 😛

118 Bucky Dent- Pfft.

Okay, time to sketch some cards.  I’m falling behind already.  Later gators. 🙂

Can’t We All Just Get Along??

I was about to crash.  I really need to sleep.  I’ve slept MAYBE two of the last 30+ hours.  Not for any reason other than I have trouble sleeping sometimes, but still, I was just going to check my blog links real quick, read my friend’s column, and then, mercifully, go to sleep.  Had I not had stomach *issues*(saying any more would be TMI) stemming from the cream of mushroom soup I had for dinner, I would have been asleep sooner still and never even made it to the blogosphere tonight.

As you know from a couple posts ago, I’ve got bigger things on my mind right now.  A new post on that will be coming tomorrow probably.  Oh lordy is that business ever getting interesting.  But back to my SCB links right now, which haven’t been touched in probably close to two days.  It seems I missed out on a pretty big s***storm while I was away.  All the big names, the stars and unlisted stars of our little corner of cyberspace as it were, as well as pretty much everyone else that hangs out around here, got their say.  How exciting.

I don’t know if it’s too late to have my say, nor do I care.  What I read is bugging the crap out of me, so I will give my entirely unsolicited thoughts; I won’t be able to sleep well if it’s still on my mind anyway.  Wouldn’t be the first, and won’t be the last time I’m late to the party with an entry.  Maybe if there’s not closure for everyone just yet, this’ll be it.  With everything tediously said, here’s what I have to say.

In the red corner, we have Wax Heaven, the numero uno sports card blog on the web, recently sponsored by Upper Deck, run by Mr. Hard Luck himself, Mario Alejandro.

In the blue corner, JV of Treasures Never Buried, actually inspired by much supported by Wax Heaven itself, and quite possibly the most well-written sports card-centric blog going today.

I wonder if I didn’t put them in the wrong colored corners in regards to their political stances.  Oh well gentlemen, my blog, my rules.

Anyway, the problem between them… Mario, for whatever reason was less than forthcoming about three boxes of cards in question in the past few months.  JV noticed this and brought it, all but kicking and screaming, to the forefront.  Mario skated around the issue, seemingly frustrating JV to no end.  I think we all know Mario didn’t say where they came from because it would have started the controversy train early.  And clearly becoming Upper Deck’s box breaker was meant to be a surprise.

We should’ve all been aware that there was a certain Upper Deck-ness to Mario’s blog, because people within the company had the foresight to send him press releases and such, while Topps hasn’t seemed intrested in our existence out here in blogland at all.  It didn’t seem to be any big secret that people within Upper Deck were droppng the knowledge.  I recall mention of ol’ boy Mario knowing someone there, and people from UD have popped up in comments section more than once.  Perhaps it is ultimately Topps who were the ones with the foresight, for once, to not even bother messing around with it.  Maybe I’m giving them too much credit though.  They do have that doofy “Rip Master” guy after all, so I probably am.  They don’t factor into this anyway though, so whatever.

Ultimately, what matters here is Mario DID in fact lie, whether intentionally misleading or not, and JV called him on it, and for skating around the issue, which was entirely just, but in a way that was oddly loud and harsh.

When Mario said that he had in fact received the boxes from Upper Deck, I admit I felt something go off in my head, but it didn’t register as suspicion.  It was just “Huh, that didn’t seem to make sense.  Oh well…”.  I pretty much completely missed the suspicious elements of the boxes in question when they appeared.  They seemed vaguely amiss for some reason, but didn’t come close to raising any red flags.  Honestly, I was more concerned with the fact that something good actually happened to Mario and family for once.  It has been one helluva year for them.  But back to the matter at hand…

What we have here is Mario being less than truthful for what seem to me to be fairly obvious and somewhat justifiable reasons, and JV justly calling him out for lying and then (fairly succussfully) trying to take the focus off himself and his actions, if harshly and not in a very appropriate way.  That’s all there really is to what happened.  The why and reactions though are what we need to look at now though.

First of all, for the people calling JV jealous… um, no.  There is literally NOTHING I can think of that he’s said to back up that claim.  It reads more like heartbroken to me.  JV said it himself, Wax Heaven was an integral part of him becoming a blogger in the first place, and giving him many of his hits.  The guy that “made him”, for lack of a better term, betrayed his trust.  Yes, as JV has repeatedly stated, Mario’s blog is #1 and should be held to the highest standard amongst us so long as he is THE MAN amongst us and continues to post regularly, personal life hell or not, Tatiana.

Really though, it feels more like the reason JV really went the extra mile on all the research and effort he put into things… is to call out his (sorta) “mentor” because his actions, which WERE questionable, really bothered and perhaps even hurt him.  The reason he’s all but cussing you out in the comments, Tatiana, is because this was a quite possibly very personal thing for him.  If the person that was the reason you did something meaningful… and helped you get to a point where you were a fairly big deal in that field, did something that really bothered you, and wouldn’t even give you the time of day… who wouldn’t feel hurt and betrayed by that?  And as right or wrong as the reason(s) and the way JV went about everything may be (pretty much all wrong, in my opinion), JV did shine a light on something that someone less self-aware *cough*like me*cough* needed to know about.

Remember, the whole steroid thing in baseball didn’t start for the good of keeping young people off the juice, it was because hallowed records were being straight up OBLITERATED at a nigh-impossible rate.  The real positives didn’t come until later.

Lest you think I’m bias towards either, I feel both were at fault, Mario for not being truthful in the first place and then skewing the issues, JV for acting on impulse, being way too rash and hotheaded.  However, while they may never be on especially friendly terms again (not to mention them with me if they don’t like this post…) there is a quite simple thing to do next that may ease whatever hard feelings remain *gets out his Mario and JV hand puppets* (No I don’t really have puppets of them, smart***… :P):

Mario- “I should have said where the boxes came from in the first place.  I shouldn’t have tried to downplay it, making you look like a hater jerk in the process, either.  I’m sorry.”

JV- “I should have gone to you to find out what the deal was first.  And if I still felt the need to go public, I should have been less rash and more focused in the explanations for my arguments.  I’m sorry too.”

*Mario and JV hug it out*

… Yeah, don’t expect that to happen, but just admit *to each other* what you may have done wrong, even if you may not have realized you done wrong at the time.  Let bygones be bygones and don’t hold any ill will toward each other.  Maybe it can’t go back to how it was before, but there is no need for there to be a grudge held by either of you afterward.

I try my best to stay positive and focus on the positive aspects of others, so this won’t change my opinion of either of them.  I can only hope to become close to as good a men as they both are.  I’m sure they will both come out of this a bit more jaded and untrusting, but they will still both be aces to this little chump.  I like and respect both Mario and JV and enjoy reading their blogs.  I hope neither loses any readership over this and that they both continue to prosper.  They are two of the best at what they do, and I wish them well.  I still hope be able to trade with both of them (again in Mario’s case) sometime, as well as Dayf, who I had my own little issue with.  Maybe I’m weird, but unless I’m attacked personally and in mean spirit, I can deal with you.  Let’s all just try to get along and trade some cool cards, shall we?

Can I please go to sleep now?  I’m missing out on dreaming about someone dear to me.

Until our next,

Me