Collection Transactions, Part Whatever of Infinity

Finist Prodigies Yu Darvish..

Since I don’t really have anything interesting or useful to add at the moment (haven’t scanned anything since 2/15), but still feel like I should put something on here, I’ll toss up a few scans from January’s COMC shipment that have don’t really have anything to do with anything, and make note of a few updates to the ol’ collection.

First up, now that Robinson Cano has proven playing 82 games a year in a ballpark not designed around his particular set of skills isn’t a hindrance in the slightest, thus strongly negating the Yankee taint of one of the few Yanks I’ve ever really liked, I have added him to the Single Page Sensations page.

The only card relevant to the post.  This is staying on the 2014 Canvas Collection Single Page though..

I’m also adding Kenny Lofton, because he had a stint with the Cubs and is on the all-time underrated team.  He is yet another Hallworthy player that got knocked off after his first shot on the ballot.  Not surprising, since it’s going to be a monumental struggle to get an even better player in Tim Raines in, but still total BS.  Nearly 70 career WAR?  Piss off, jabroni.  Screw the Hall of Fame.

Forget scanned, I don’t even own any pageworthy Loftons yet.  So here, have an Archives Frank Thomas Triumvirate..

I made quintet of new set additions to my Single Page Sensations wantlist: 1996 Fleer Ultra Gold Medallions, 2014 Topps Upper Class, as well as 2015 Topps Spring Fever, purple Toys ‘R Us parallels, and Gallery of Greats.  I’m also making my need of a page apiece of base for every year of Panini Golden Age (non-baseball subjects preferred) a priority, so if you got a pack of any of them laying around, hit me up, I might be able to use some of them.

After getting my hands on a couple, my lone full set addition I’d like to get my hands on is the 40-card, Walmart Exclusive Sting insert set from 2015 Topps WWE.

Gallery of Heroes Vladdy..

Finally, the big one.  Taking a page out of Gavin’s playbook, I want cards of any and all players named Caleb, as well as any variations on the name (Kaleb, Onterio McCalebb, etc).  There are a surprising number of players and a couple non-sport cards bearing the name, but none who have really done anything of note at the pro level, so this shouldn’t be a hard collection to do.  The reason I’m finally breaking down and doing this, without going into details, is a neurotic, therapeutic one.

The only players I know I have a card or two of are Gindl, Clay, and the aforementioned Onterio.  I have no set limitations or expectations on this collection yet.  I’m just going to wait and see where it goes for now.

Ending on a sexier note, with two very talented NXT gals on very different trajectories..

And that’s all I got for now.  Will try to be less half-assed in the future.  Thanks for stopping by!

Gonna fly now…

Chavez Ravining Trade

Today, we have the second of the trades from the tale end of 2014, this a much smaller swap with Chavez Ravining.  USPS ate my tracking code, but he assured me the cards I sent arrived.  So let us have a looksie at what came in return, shall we?

Yelich & Darvish GQ White Frames, Bowman Keenan Allen relic, Future Stars Nomah gold /99..

Like I said, just a small trade.  Sweet cards though.  I think this Yelich is good enough for my Single page collection of him.  Darvish is a full player collection now, so I just outright needed that one.  The Keenan Allen is meant for someone else, but heck if I can remember who it is at the moment.  Nomar is from the infamous disaster that is the 2007 UD Future Stars.  Shame it was so poorly conceived, because the parallels and inserts & stuff look fantastic.

Guess that’s it for this one.  Thanks for stopping by!

Play on, playa!

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…

2009 Allen & Ginter Official-ish Wantlist

A specific wantlist for 2009 Allen & Ginter has been requested by a couple of fellow bloggers, so here it is.  I need all of the following:

Base- 23 Kristin Armstrong, 24 Steve Wiebe, 33 Florence Nightingale, 34 Ryan Dempster, 39 Hanley Ramirez, 45 Derrek Lee, 96 Geronimo, 97 Art Pennington, 116 Charles Darwin, 128 Red Moore, 136 Mickey Mantle, 141 Carlos Zambrano, 143 Robbie Maddison, 146 Rich Harden, 213 Stephanie Brown Trafton, 220 Suez Canal, 228 Will Simpson/Archie Bunker, 234 Wyatt Earp, 238 Vincent Van Gogh, 246 General Custer, 255 Aramis Ramirez, 257 Heinrich Hertz, 259 Napoleon Bonaparte, 260 Louis Braille, 275 Vlad Guerrero, 289 Milky Way, 300 David Ortiz

309 Kosuke Fukudome SP, 310 Old Faithful SP, 331 Jeff Samardzija SP, 340 Richard Gatling SP, 346 Dominique Wilkins SP

Minis-

9 Ryan Theriot, 18 Clyde Parris, 23, 24, 34, 35 Geovany Soto (maybe, card sorta unnerves me), 39, 45, 57 Frank Evans, 95 David Patton, 97, 100 Ichiro Suzuki, 112 Millito Navarro, 128, 132 Anna Tunnicliffe 136, 141, 142 LaShawn Merritt, 146, 175 Alfonso Soriano, 186 Adrian Beltre, 212 Mariel Zagunis, 213, 228, 243 Alexander Cartwright, 255, 275, 276 Michael Phelps, 278 Herb Simpson, 280 Shin-Sii Choo, 290 Cat Osterman, 297 Kolan McConiughey, 300

309 SP, 331 SP (maybe, already have Ginter Back)

Also want any and all parallels of said minis.

Mini Exclusives- Specific ones I want are 358 Hanley Ramirez, 373 Geovany Soto, 381 Rich Harden, and 396 Ryan Howard, but I’ll take any of these if you don’t want them.

Inserts (These are what I have, need the rest…)-

National Pride- NP4 Geovany Soto, NP5 Ryan Dempster, NP29 Alfonso Soriano, NP32 Rich Harden, NP33 Hanley Ramirez, NP39 Shin-Soo Choo, NP68 Ichiro Suzuki

Brian Kong Baseball Highlights Sketches- AGHS3 Randy Johnson, AGHS16 Alex Rodriguez, AGHS17 Chipper Jones

National Heroes- NH1 George Washington (USA), NH19 Vasil Levski (Bulgaria), NH34 General Jose de san Martin (Argentina)

Creatures of Legends, Myth, & Terror- I have none.

Extinct Creatures- I have none.

Inventions of the Future- I have none.

World’s Biggest Hoaxes, Hoodwinks, & Bamboozles (Lowest Priority)- HHB10 DB Cooper, HHB15 The Bathtub Hoax, HHB16 The Cottingley Fairies

Hits-

Relics- AGR-IS Ichiro Suzuki, AGR-VG Vlad Guerrero, AGR-JRH Rich Harden, AGR-IS2 Ichiro Suzuki, AGR-DO David Ortiz, AGR-HR Hanley Ramirez, AGR-AS Alfonso Soriano, AGR-KF Kosuke Fukudome, AGR-MM Mickey Mantle

Any and all of the other sports champions/oddballs/mythical creatures as well.

Autos- AGA-DO David Ortiz, AGA-HR Hanley Ramirez

Any and all champions from other sports/Negro League Stars/oddballs as well.

Boxloaders-

Cabinet Boxloader- CB1 de Caster/Kingsale, CB2 Cepeda/Gourriel, CB3 Wright/Roberts, CB4 Aoki/Matsuzaka, CB5 Iwakuma/Ichiro, CB6 Jefferson/Hancock, CB8 Truman/Pearson, CB9 Lincoln/Grant, CB10 JFK/Krushchev

N43 Boxloader- N43-RH Ryan Howard

N43 Relics- N43BR-VG Vlad Guerrero, N43BR-YD Yub Darvish, N43BR-JY Jin Young Lee, N43BR-YG Yulieski Gourriel, N43BR-NA Norichika Aoki, N43BR-FF Fei Feng

Pipe Dreams- Kosuke Fukudome Dick Perez Originals, Cat Osterman Auto, Yu Darvish N43 Relic, Any Unripped Rip Card

I think that abouut covers everything.  I’ll knock stuff off (or add, for the inserts) as I trade for it or pull it or buy it myself. Cards in italics are in the process of being traded for.