Attic Insulation

Frustracija

2012-01-28T21:36:00.003-05:00

It's very much my luck to get nostalgic for memories from your youth. Hell, I would even guess that nearly all of us who collect sports cards and collectibles do it for nostalgia. Yes, many do it for profit, but they are few and very disillusioned. FYI, there are easier and better ways to make money.

My nostalgia has hit hard lately in the form of 1990's NBA cards. Unfortunately, everyone else has decided to rekindle their love of 90's NBA cards, namely the inserts. I've been wanting to buy a box of Fleer Metal around the time of 1996 through 1998. It won't happen unless I give a kidney up (note: I would).

Having said all that, I decided I would head to my local card shops. By local, I mean ones located within 50 miles of me. Essentially, this boils down to a bazaar, ~~six~~ three card shops. One sold all his cards and now does memorabilia. Unfortunately, this shop was my favorite, which was a shame because the guy is awesome and had the 86 Fleer NBA set for $599.00. Shoulda, woulda, coulda. the other two were near Canton, and are completely gone. No idea what happened to them, but the last time I visited it was 2008 and I bought a box of Moments and Milestones rather then spend $60 on a box of Fleer Metal from 96-97. Again, shoulda, woulda, coulda.

the bazaar is hit or miss. A few guys set up shop there and always take my name and number saying they will call and sell me their miscellaneous junk common/non rare inserts for dirt cheap. I've never received one phone call. If you are a bazaar worker in Cleveland, leave a comment and you will get my number. Use it please.

Other than that, I'm nearly out of options. It shouldn't be this hard, right?

It's a threatt

2012-01-18T19:51:00.001-05:00

to the Moon

2012-01-16T23:13:00.002-05:00

feat. Jamario

Highlights

2012-01-14T17:46:00.003-05:00

I love All Star Jerseys. I rarely ever watch the game. But the jerseys are some of the best things to ever be in sports, mid 1990's NHL third jerseys aside.

Shawn Bradley above epitomizes the sports landscape in the 1990's. How do we get fans excited and put butts in the seats, all while maximizing revenue even if the team is complete shit? Answer: Make the jerseys some form of teal. Brilliant. Countless teams did this. A few NBA All Star Games suffered from this epidemic. Ironically, I love both of those years (1994, 1996).

Shawn's photo is odd in that he was not elected to play in the Game in Minnesota. the photo is from the Phenoms (Kukoc, Radja, Lindsey Hunter!) played the Sensations (Bradley, Penny, Popeye Jones!, Calbert Cheaney!!!). No surprise the Phenoms won the game by 6.

Blue

2012-01-12T13:12:00.003-05:00

What You Know About

2012-01-04T22:58:00.003-05:00

Just push play.

People still come here?

2012-01-02T23:26:00.002-05:00

In the last 3 months I've blogged maybe for a total of 10 minutes. And yet, I still get people coming here. Nothing of any substance has been pasted here since probably 2009. Maybe this year I'll give substance another go.

Until then, keep checking out whatever brought you here, and enjoy the random sports card images.

Also, if you have any Fleer Metal from the NBA in the mid 90's, I'd love to take if off your hands....not looking for Kobe RC's....I want Brent Barry doing a layup in the middle of a space robot battle against alien octopuses.

And of course, any and all Champion NBA Jerseys.

Alex

2011-12-15T00:08:00.002-05:00

Hey. Hi. Hello.

2011-11-06T00:15:00.003-04:00

My interest in a lot of things I do dwindles. I barely do anything for more than 10 minutes. Chalk it up to ADD....just like everyone else in the USA. On the bright side, this means everything is still relatively new when I do go back to whatever I feel like doing. Case in point, this blog. Also, Football Champions cards. I really don't think I've paid them much attention on here or in general in nearly 2 years.

What hooked me back in was a conversation with a friend about who the best player of the last 20 years in soccer/football was. I said Zidane. It has to be him. I also mentioned Roberto Baggio, if not for his skill, surely his mullet wins him something. So thanks Roberto, I'm back into Football Champions again.

Above is pretty much all extra cards scattered about. Italian, French, and English.

2011-10-13T00:34:00.000-04:00

Je Volim

Here, Sunday:

2011-09-22T23:16:00.003-04:00

Watched NFL here ^

Almost bought this ^^

And drank a lot of these ^^^

Heaven

2011-09-16T21:51:00.007-04:00

...on Earth.

Andre

2011-09-15T22:37:00.003-04:00

SWAG

Card Show Pickups

2011-09-12T22:24:00.004-04:00

Damn, two shows in a week? this must mean i will not find another show to attend in the area for at least a month. As mentioned before the mall show was just that, a mall show. Nothing spectacular but then again, I wasn't expecting much.

the show I attended yesterday was a hotel show. I grew up going to these so they hold a special place. Sucked I could only attend for an hour due to the Browns game. Regardless, there wasn't many tables (I'd say 10-12) so I only needed 30 minutes or so. Would love to have looked through the vintage stuff a lot longer though. Next time.

In my 30 minutes, I spend $50. So for my wallet's sake, a half hour would suffice.

My pickups are below:

Freddy Lynn. Now up to 11 autographs...only 82 more to go!

One dealer had this card for $3. I have no idea what it came from, but I'd like to find out (hint: help me out here!). All of these current "vintage" sets like Ginter all have flags in their sets, but this one is really cool. Completely defunct country and still the cause of many problems in that region of the world. Not to mention my ancestry is Yugo.

I love the back because it isn't entirely true. Many languages were spoken in Yugoslavia, I guess Croatian was the decision though. Serbo-Cro or Cro-Serbo would have been better, but whatever. I should try and flip it on Ebay talking about Beograd and Djokovic.

I hope I make it out alive

2011-09-11T09:36:00.004-04:00

First game of the season for Browns Football. Below is a summary of my day. If there are no more posts after this one, just want everyone to know I died doing what I loved....drinking PBR.

Card above sums up my day perfectly.

(And there's a card show I'm stopping at before the game....SWAGGGGG)

Mall Card Show

2011-09-10T00:26:00.000-04:00

Northeast Ohio usually has a Mall Card Show somewhere, at least a few times a month. Generally, it's run by one of three people, and everyone who is a "dealer" there also works the other shows. Basically, it's an exhausting circuit for both buyer and seller due to lack of change in product. And I bet for the sellers, it must get real annoying when nobody wants to buy stuff. Either way, I go to all of these expecting to see different things....(I should learn by now that I won't).

By far my favorite thing about Southpark Mall's shows is the dude who trots out over 100 McFarlane figures. Whenever I see his stand I say to myself, "shit, i really need to buy all of these and put them on my walls. Immediate thought after is when I have to explain to someone why I have plastic figures of dudes all over my wall....I'd like to try and steer clear of that situation, as much as possible. Unless a Drazen figure is ever made, then it's game over. Best figures ever made are the NHL Goalie figures, so good.

Most of the tables have a mixture of current and vintage product, along with the game used and autographed cards for sale at Beckett prices. No thanks. Give me the single cards for $0.10 all day....which is exactly what I had spent my money on today....for a total of $1.00.

My purchase was 12 of the greatest (if not greatest, top 5) basketball sets ever made. 1990 Hoops. I've been trying to complete this set for about three weeks now, ever since I bought 3/4 of the set a few weeks back for $1. I had no sympathy to the card shop owner at the bazaar who tossed away a National treasure for $1. I came out of there feeling like Pat Riley when he signed Lebron and D. Wade (Bosh is worthless).

Picture time:

siah! Great player, completely inept front office worker. How he can still get a job with the Knicks is beyond me. More power to ya dogg.

Did not know his middle name is Lord. Pretty legit if you ask me.

Dude was a baller in my video game world in the early 90's. Enough said.

KJ was really fast in NBA Jam for Super Nintendo. Other than that, I got nothing.

Larry the Legend. Never forget when the Celts played the Yugoslav team in the 80's and Drazen and Vlade tore them up. I pulled a solid base card of him a few years back where he looks like a total hick. Made me like Bird even more.

Patrick Chewing. Greatest Snickers commercial ever. Would love to have a Knicks 33 jersey someday.

Hot Rookie card comin' thru!

Basketball God. Greatest player to ever play (in Europe, sorry Sabonis). Any time I find a Drazen card, it's going to be purchased, end of story. I will visit Zagreb within the next 2 years to see his Museum.

Problems arise when you think you need cards for the set but don't have your checklist. Said problem is usually called "doubles". In this case, these are doubles. Whoops!

Karl and Clyde also happen to fall under the "doubles" category. Still great cards though!

Four More

2011-09-07T01:24:00.003-04:00

I purchased these awhile back but never got around to showing them off. Adding these to the collection puts me at a total of 10 autographs from the 93 card set. For those keeping track (lol nobody) that's 10.75% of the autograph checklist done.

Cool Photo. Shitty signature. In total fairness, I couldn't careless, he's just another dude I need for my set. Also, a short print (/600).

El Presidente. When I first saw this card I had to have it. I love and miss Montreal, and Dennis was a former Indian.

I grew up loving this dude. Cubs games in the early years of my life were a staple and this guy played a prominent part. I also had never heard of a guy named Andre before and thought it was the coolest name.

Cleveland Legend/God. Sad he passed away last December. I had the pleasure of meeting him several times. He could talk for hours and all I could do was listen. A lot of people said he was a grumpy old man, and I'm sure they were right. But for all the shit he had seen in his life (not to mention fighting in WWII), he had every right to be short with some people. I'm really sad I never got to ask him about his barnstorming days, eventually I'll get my chance.

Pretty Paper

2011-08-30T00:29:00.004-04:00

I don't know when this card was made. I'm assuming the 60's. Doesn't really matter much. How was Robin able to get away with fighting crime in the most homo-erotic outfit ever? I'm certain this is why kids grew up liking Batman and forgetting who the Boyhood Wonder was. Card would be good for some shaved leg commercial though.

One of my favorite movies. Unfortunately I have not been able to find any JP cards with Jeff Goldblum on it. I really hope such a card exists.

Can't tell if who the caption of the card is talking about, dinosaur or Ellie.

Help the Aged

2011-08-27T11:50:00.000-04:00

Help the aged,
One time they were just like you,
Drinking, smoking cigs and sniffing glue. Help the aged,

Don't just put them in a home,
Can't have much fun in there all on their own.

Give a hand, if you can,
try and help them to unwind.
Give them hope & give them comfort 'cos they're running out of time.

In the meantime we try.
Try to forget that nothing lasts forever. No big deal so give us all a feel.
Funny how it all falls away.
When did you first realise?
It's time you took an older lover baby. Teach you stuff
although he's looking rough.
Funny how it all falls away.

Help the aged
'cos one day you'll be older too
- you might need someone who can
pull you through
& if you look very hard
behind the lines upon their face you may see where you are headed
and it's such a lonely place.

Diiiinnnnaaamoooo

2011-08-05T20:15:00.003-04:00

Lately, going thrifting has been a horrible decision. Nothing really worthwhile to purchase (lol surprise surprise!). Absolutely zero retro basketball jerseys, unless you want a Shareef Abdur-Raheem Hawks shirt, which was found twice in two days. I suppose the lack of jerseys is due to hipsters/hoopsters who are finding them and getting paid off ebay. Granted, it's not like I'm [i]not[/i] trying to do that either.

What I did find was a real sick jersey of Croatian soccer club Dinamo Zagreb. Now known as GNK Dinamo Zagreb (nod to their rich history within the Balkans), this club is currently in Champions League qualifying rounds and are up against Swedish club Malmo FF.

BBB forever, Mamic out.

In other Cro soccer news, Hadjuk is out out of the Europa League. Stoke and their anti-footy bullshit sucks.

Oh andddd uhhh Happy Croatian Victory Day today to all Hrvats everywhere. :) :) :)

Happy Birthday Hajduk

2011-07-23T20:56:00.003-04:00

100 years old this year. Earlier this year torcida around Split celebrated by showering the coastal city with red flares. Watch the video below.

da života iman dva ja bi oba tebi da :)

10 years ago....

2011-07-12T22:48:00.003-04:00

It was 2001. Holy shit, it really was 2001. I'm 14, most likely watching Baseball tonight in my room with no air conditioning. Aside from the tv, the only light comes from a desk lamp situated on my massive desk. this light also doubles as flood lights for a baseball game. My room is dark and very humid, which to me always added to the darkness of the room.

I honestly didn't care to ever turn on a light. I was too busy playing MLB Showdown with the 2001 Base Set. A 462 card set broken down into 400 commons and 62 foils. And yeah, I completed sets. And this month 10 years ago marks the release of 2001 Pennant Run.

Pennant Run was a set composed of 175 player cards and 25 Strategy cards. I'm gonna turn back the clock with the rest of this month and breakdown this set.

Even if you didn't play Showdown, there's some really fantastic names that make you go "did this guy really play pro baseball?"

Hope you enjoi

And then there were 2

2011-06-29T23:19:00.002-04:00

Shawn Green. Ichiro.

two of the final pieces to the puzzle that is the 2002 MLB Showdown DCI Promotional Card set. I've never seen either in person.

Kerry Wood was the third puzzle piece, however he was acquired in the last week from a former boarder at the best website ever, Showdowncards.com. Brycie, if you read this, reopen the forums.

I traded 2001 Promotional Cards of Richie Sexson and trot Nixon. Both of the Future Stars set. Never traded away cards I only had one copy of before. Always thought it'd bother me to lose them and get further away from the goal of having every card. Guess it takes a little loss for a gain, right?

I'll find them all eventually. Just adds more a bit more chase.

Still Impossible, Very Expensive

2011-05-17T12:30:00.005-04:00

Still have the itch to open a pack/box of cards. Lack of funds are making this hard to do. However, if I did have money, I'd buy these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/2001-GREATS-GAME-AUTO-LOT-38-CEPEDA-MOLITOR-FISK-/280678195821?pt=US_Baseball&hash=item4159b9626d#ht_500wt_1156

Would help my goal by about 38 cards.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370509364984&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_500wt_1156

Just hope I can go to a LCS and pick some of them up for cheaper. Although opening packs would be A+.

Blown Chance

2011-05-09T02:32:00.004-04:00

Work until 6. See my Mom after for an hour or so. Go home, make a quick bid on Ebay and then go help a friend move. It's Sunday, I want to do none of those things, except see Mom of course.

So I end up placing the bid via phone and that is super confusing. Some real slow browser that I assume I'm hitting the buttons but the screen doesn't change. So I hit again, this time shoots me ahead 2 pages and I'm about to confirm a bid for $6,500 instead of $65.00. Shit, costly mistake.

Luckily I was able to sort the phone out and placed a bid. I changed it at the last second. $66, Mario Lemieux. Get home later, check Ebay.

$68 final. Fuck. Crushed..I had been watching this auction for a week debating should I BIN for $75 (I didn't). At least I saved about $75. No idea what I want to put that towards. And what was I bidding on....

1,500 new Showdown cards.

SWAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

How Long is too Long?

2011-05-04T00:08:00.003-04:00

NOTE: This post is going to be about MLB Showdown, sort of.

With the start of MLB under full swing and me being bored, I've started searching for MLB Showdown again. I never understand why I still do it. Outside of maybe 10 games played against ghost co-blogger James, I barely touched my cards. I have easily over 10,000. Add to the fact I moved in November and all my cards are still at my parents house.

Anyways, my goal is to find and personally own every printed MLB Showdown card. Promotionals included. Some of the 2000 promos are hard to find. 2001 somewhat harder. 2002-2005, simple. Except for the 2002 DCI promos. Occasionally Sammy Sosa or Kerry Wood pops up on Ebay. A few are for sale on Beckett Marketplace. The most ultra rare is the Ichiro. Beckett Marketplace had one for sale for $30.00 a few years back. I balked. Something about spending $30 for a single card (especially Showdown) didn't seem right.

Not only that but if I were to buy that card I felt my whole search (which at the time had spanned 4 years) would be cheapened by such a simple click of a mouse. I guess I really enjoy the chase. Once you find and get your item of desire, what happens next? Ichiro would just become an afterthought collecting dust in a binder at my parents?

I didn't buy the card. My search, now nearly 7 years in the making is still going on. I'm searching for the shark that ate my best friend. Steve Zissou style. He found his shark eventually, I should too.

I guess my question for anyone who comes across the blog or still reads this is, what do you do when you find your white whale (Jaguar Shark)? Do you move onto something else?

I'm honestly not sure what the next step would be.

This is the card in question, except it isn't a foil. There's a silver DCI stamp on it.

....I also lied, this is totally about MLB Showdown. And I guess my weird collecting/search habits. OCD I suppose.

Sports Cards, Boring.

2011-04-26T00:10:00.005-04:00

You know when card collecting becomes truly fun? It's not really about pulling that huge hit, 1/1 super refractor, Hottest Prospect X, none of that stuff is more than a pissing contest. Who gets that first scoop on the newest product...Beckett or Blogs? Who fucking cares. Cards now are filled with such bullshit it's insane. Hype, flash, re-sell value, new reprocessed vintage set...big deal. Why did you or I get into cards?

I got into it thanks to my dad. I have fond memories of him taking me to card shops/shows/fests when I was real young...shit was surreal. Trading, buying, selling...of baseball players? I wanted some of my own.

Which is why when I played MLB Showdown I got that same feeling. A card game featuring baseball players...bye Pokemon. Tons of trading, all the time, and everywhere too. Online, in person, tournaments, friends. Thoughts of should I trade my Pedro for Ivan Rodriguez and Randy Velarde? These were my worries back in 2000. ...Wait, time out...I'm not sure who'd get the better part of that deal...like honestly that's a pretty solid deal.

I really miss this that the most. People just trading and enjoying it. Cards weren't worth much and we all knew it. And what reminds of that is an email I received recently. I wish more people were out there trading, I'd really love to get that 2003 Mark Grace Super Season.

Bring Back MLB Showdown.

2011-04-25T00:23:00.000-04:00

Playoff Hockey

2011-04-14T23:10:00.002-04:00

I always forget how much the onset of warm weather and playoff hockey goes hand in hand. I barely watch a regular season game yet I will watch every single playoff game. Hands down, the best playoffs in north american sports.

2011-03-28T23:49:00.000-04:00

Lebron James for MVP

2011-03-07T20:22:00.005-05:00

Yeah, why not? Should I hate the dude for what he did to my Cavs? Sure. A player of his caliber doesn't come around that often and when they do, you must watch. Lebron even said with joining the Heat his MVP votes would take a hit due to playing with Wade and Bosh. Honestly though, who else should win it? Dirk? Dwight Howard? Kobe? Rose? If you need any confirmation on why Lebron should be MVP watch these clips:

Fackin Wolves

2011-03-06T13:13:00.003-05:00

3-3. Defoe finally scores (twice!) for the first time this season. I was honestly hoping JD wouldn't get a tally to his name all season. Probably not the most "fan friendly" wish, oh well. Learn how to beat the offside trap and maybe you'd have more than 2 goals all year.

Hutton as RB. Makes me want to rip my hair out. Gave up a penalty for a tug in the box (hah!). I already miss Corluka. To be fair, Hutton does link up well with Lennon, so at least there's that....I suppose.

Frustrating to only get a point. Fuck it, we're saving the magic for Wednesday at the Lane.

48(ish) hours till another Glory Glory night of European Football.

COYS

El Pocho

2011-03-03T19:04:00.003-05:00

Finally after a month I got my new shirt in from Indonesia/Malaysia/Oceania. I've been about this dude for quite some time now. Ezequiel Lavezzi. The patch on the sleeve is 100% legit as are the badge, name plate, and numbering. Surprised to say the least.

It's not this year's shirt, from the 2008/09 season when he was number 7. Rather have 7 than 22 anyways.

It's been awhile...

2011-02-27T23:57:00.002-05:00

Haven't purchased a single card or pack since August. Hit that "I really don't understand why I spent so much on this stuff" periods. Eventually I'll go back into the "Cannot have enough sports cards" phases, but for now, could not careless about them. Shame really.

Still big into buying Old Champion NBA jerseys though. Gotten quite a few nice ones. Plus started buying old soccer jerseys, certain players/teams only though.

Still looking for a Petrovic Nets jersey. If you come across this blog and have one, email me. Will pay nicely.

Finally

2010-11-21T19:36:00.002-05:00

Nearly a month since this blog had a post. In that span of time my computer died, I didn't have cable and internet for 2 weeks, and I also moved.

But now I'm back. Rejoice.

Whoops

2010-10-24T23:29:00.004-04:00

The last time I booted this computer up it was Friday morning. I was about to eat some breakfast and then go to work. Instead, I ended up spilling orange juice on my laptop, which shut everything down.

Luckily it started working again tonight, and no more problems arise.

However, if any of you whom read or frequent the blog, I just wanted to post about a local card show coming up on Saturday. Generally the show is primarily vintage items, however I would venture to guess that new items will be for sale.

Here's the advert, hope to see you there!

Card Shop Lesson

2010-10-17T21:32:00.006-04:00

A smile, greeting, simple small talk, those are the key ingredients to having a successful business where you offer a service or amenity to customers. Right? Personally, I don't even care if you smile, just a hello followed with "do you need help" usually suffices.

That should be a lesson that is MANDATORY to all card shop owners or people who sell cards in a public setting. How do you expect to make sales or generate interest in what you have to offer if you're a complete jerk? You can make quick assumptions on each customer that walks in, but you might have just blown a huge sale by not talking to that 15 year old kid who wants to buy a box of 2010 Triple Threads. Instead you spent 20 minutes re-hashing the "gold old days" of the 80's with the 45 year old dude who wants to know if his cards are worth anything.

That sale you *might* have blown would have probably made your sales plan for the day, possibly even week. But chances are, you don't have any sales forecast for your store at all.

---I also realized this now, but his sign spells collectibles incorrectly. I've never caught this until now. Fantastic.---

I visited a local card shop this past weekend. Brooklyn Sportscards and Collectables. This guy has been in business for quite some time. And he's always been cold. Maybe I'm reading him wrong, but honestly he's a dick. I'm not in the minority with that sentiment. I always like to talk to card shop owners and the conversations are this:

Card Shop Owner: "Where are you from?"
Me: "Suburb of Cleveland"
CSO: "Ah, you ever go to stores around there"
Me: "Yeah not much is left, All Star and Brooklyn that's it"
CSO: "Brooklyn is still around huh"
Me: "Hah, yeah, I don't buy much from him"
CSO: "He's not the nicest guy, I'm surprised he's in business this long"

Now, I don't know how he stays in business or what he sells, but he does. I've been in there maybe 5-10 times in the past 3 years. Nothing is ever changed. Maybe 3-5 new boxes of stuff, that's it. Hell, the last thing I bought was a Jurassic Park pin for my buddy 2 years ago.

My reason for visiting this time was to see if he had any of the 1985-86 Fleer NBA set for sale. AS has the full set for $550. Unfortunately, there was no mid 80's Fleer NBA cards to be had. Zero Petrovic cards either. A lot of what is in the store has to do with our local clubs, mostly the Indians. And speaking of the Tribe, the walls are adorned with awesome mid 90's posters of former Tribers. I'm talking Lofton, Belle, Justice, Baerga, Fryman. I did ask if he was willing to sell them and I'd be willing to pay a decent amount for them. His response, "no, not for sale, what do you expect me to have a ladder to get them down." I just said, ok, shook my head and walked out. A simple, "no they aren't for sale" would have sufficed.

I urge any collector with any self respect to not visit this place. Unless you want to see an archaic shop stuck in time. Or you want to pay $5 for a base card of Brian Anderson sporting a Tribe jersey.

Having said all that, what are some experiences you've had with Card Shop or Card Dealers in the past that have made you shake your head. And what would you suggest in terms of customer service?

30 for 30

2010-10-12T22:22:00.003-04:00

Once Brothers was on tonight. Been looking forward to watching this documentary since I found about it in August. Simply put, it did not disappoint.

There's really no words that I can describe this 30 for 30. Granted Once Brothers meant a bit more to me than others. Everything was done perfect. Vlade's story arc, the War, Petrovic's time in the NBA, all done to a T.

If you haven't watched this or didn't get a chance to watch it, do yourself a favor and DVR it or watch it tomorrow night (10/13) on ESPN2 at 8PM EST.

87 Left....

2010-10-11T22:33:00.003-04:00

87 more cards.
87 more autographed cards.

That's all I need before I finish collecting the 2001 Fleer Greats of the Game Auto'd set. Not too bad, right?

Now for the good bit. I'm 6.45% done with the set!! Picked up two off Ebay last week.

First was Carl Erskine of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Moments later Alan Trammell of Detroit became a part of the never ending set build.

Mini "Card Show"

2010-10-02T12:10:00.005-04:00

A guy on Craigslist last night had a post where he was going to be selling a lot of sports cards at a local Community Garage Sale. Mostly 70's, 80's, and 90's. Junk wax, my favorite kind.

I arrived to find just a mess of stuff for sale. You know, your average garage sale crap....only this time strewn everywhere in a gym. Walked around to scope out any other sports items (NBA Champion Jerseys) but nothing else seemed worthwhile.

The sports card guy had about five 5,000 count boxes full of 70's-80's cards. One box was dedicated to the 1992 Fleer Baseball set alone...which was fantastic. A few binders were of the local Cleveland teams, some sets from the 70's and 60's football reprints. He did have a 1961 Jim Brown card which I had interest in. My father already owns this card and the condition isn't the greatest so depending on how much the guy wanted, I'd be willing to upgrade. I shouldn't have asked. Guy said "high value is $200, low is $75.....I'll uhh go with $60! Everything I got is under BV." I understand everyone would love to make money off this hobby, and I'm not knocking him at all, but paying $60 for the Jimmy wasn't going to happen, especially since it had pen marks on it, off center, and corners were a bit ragged.

All the boxes did have various sports. I was only through his boxes for early 90's basketball for any new Petrovic cards. I got lucky and found 2 to add to my ever expanding collection (NOW UP TO 4!!!).

Before today, I had never seen this exact card, and probably for good reason, the design is real boring. For all the really awesome card designs from the 90's, there were soooo many awfully designed cards. This is one of them. Great job Score.

Let me tell you about this photo. Lafayette "Fat" Lever isn't going to get around the offensive pick which is going to allow Drazen to cut to the top of the key and hit a wide open 3. Don't believe me, look at the box score.

I'm glad to have picked up two more Drazen cards, but I'm pretty upset I didn't get there about 10 minutes sooner. The vendor also had a few pennants for sale and one was a 1948 Indians World Series Pennant. It was probably made in 1998, but it would have been really awesome to have.

Another guy had a few small boxes of cards for sale, which I had overlooked earlier. The prices weren't listed on any and totally arbitrary. I hate this method. He had a few auto's I would have liked to pick up but didn't want to pay his off the head prices. Longoria A&G for $30, a few Bowman rookie auto's for $15. I did eventually bite the bullet with this guy and picked up two cards.

First, 1959 Tito Francona. I'm almost positive my dad has one of these lying around, but the condition of this one was really good, it could not be passed up. Guy wanted $5. Second was a 2008 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects of Lonnie Chisenhall. Chis will be the rookie of the year in 2011. If not 2011, 2012 then. He wanted $18 for Lonnie. The hometown team inflation is my mortal enemy. I offered $20 for the pair. I could tell that he was probably going to take it, but then he replies "how about $21". A dollar more, are you kidding? That's so inconvenient. If I give you $20, that is one bill. I do not want to give you two bills. Safe to say, he took the $20.

All in all, a bunch of solid pick ups. This weekend there is a Browns Backers autograph event in Akron. It's at a Flea Market which has three card dealers. I've been looking forward to this event for about a month now.

1962 Topps

2010-10-02T00:43:00.004-04:00

Blog has been quiet over the last week due to work. However, sorting and organizing has been happening. The only problem stalling any new posts was the fact that I lost my little phone adapter. All that has been sorted out thought, and I'm back.

First up, 1962 Topps. I have quite a bit of these and saw a blog post a week or so ago where someone was putting together the set; solid idea, so I went for it.

Not including error cards that totals the set to 688, I went for the base set of 598. I'm missing 360 cards. That totals to me having about 60%. The majority of the condition of the cards is average at best. Not my fault that my dad was real little when he collected the cards.

For me, I have said before that I don't really care much about slabbed cards. I'd rather be able to physically feel the cards I own. The unique smell of the old cards cannot be matched. Not to mention slabs are bulky. Overall worth of the card goes up, but I couldn't really care about that.

After sorting the set I took this photo. Thought it was pretty cool to see just how much of a collation was within these cards. From left to right you are looking at cards 1-99, 100-199, 200-299, etc. In the background you have some MLB Showdown 2005 strategy cards and my badass Creed mug from The Office.

Two poses that I've always loved with vintage cards are these. I just feel that the after the swing pose is the best. The way the body has wrapped around itself, position of the feet, and the player's eyes watching the ball to see just how far he hit it. Perfect.

This is somewhat similar to the full body pose; just a bit more up-close. I feel like Dale's bat was cut short in this photo. Optical illusions I 'spose.

And of course, for any vintage card post, the Legends need to make an appearance. I'm not going to lie, whenever I'm sorting, I hope I come across about 5-6 Mantle's. It usually never happens and instead of Mantle, I'm pulling Roy Face and Bob Friend. Nothing against either player, just don't care to have that many Bucco's.

Unless that Pirate is Clemente. I can never get enough of Roberto.

I love the 1962 design. It's plain and effective. The overall condition of this card isn't great. Gloss has started to fade and the corners are semi dog eared. But with this card, I feel those issues make this card perfect. Everything about this card seems so natural. No pine tar, batting gloves, and his look away from the camera is fantastic. This card should be in museums of art.

Instead of Mantle, sometimes another Legend is found. Henry Aaron.

Or maybe a Legendary Coach? THAT JUST SO HAPPENS TO BE A TOPPS ALL ROOKIE?!?!?!

When it's all said and done though, some people just like their Mantle cards. I'm one of them and so was my dad, sort of. He has some big money cards. And they are all in screw down cases together. I've started to break up the exclusive club of screw downs and put them with their right sets. Mantle was the first of the lot to go.

Every time you gaze at this card, you become even more of an American Patriot.

Switching it up from the Bronx Bombers to a Triber and house hold favorite, Tito Francona.

My dad's favorite player growing up along with Colavito. This card features another great pose. I believe that I'm a huge fan of the overall vintage look of each photo. Pretty sure this photo was taken at Fenway.

Sadly not all cards in this set have good photography. Poor John Anderson is case in point.

WHAT IS UP WITH THAT STRAND OF HAIR? FIX IT. PLEASE.

Golden Age of Baseball

2010-09-22T22:12:00.015-04:00

Have you ever been to a place where Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Cy Young, Bob Feller, Tris Speaker, and Nap Lajoie were all present in some form? You cannot say yes if your answer was either “Card Show” or “Cooperstown”. While both places are great, they are not historic landmarks. Okay maybe Cooperstown is, but none of them played ball there.

I’ve been in a baseball nostalgia for quite some time. Starting to sort all the early 60’s cards has only made the hunger for vintage even stronger. I’m starting to get into pre-war baseball. Watching “The Golden Age of Baseball” shows makes the hunger that much more insatiable. I could try and buy a bunch of pre-war cards, but I want more history. What I want is actually in my backyard.

(Re)Built by Osborn Engineering in 1910 (whom also built Comiskey, Fenway, and Yankee Stadium among others) League Park had 21,414 seats. Originally it was a wooden facility that had 9,000 seats prior to 1910. The Tribe called it home from 1910 through 1946. From 1946 till 1951 the Tribe split their games between League Park and Municipal Stadium. Much like older stadiums, the dimensions were incredible; 290’ to right, 385’ to left, and a fantastic 460’ to dead center. Many would think that lefties had a power alley. Nope, if they wanted to hit a homer the ball had to clear a 60 foot fence onto Lexington. Good luck with that lefties.

Unfortunately Municipal Stadium won and League Park was completely demolished in 1951.

So what happened to this forgotten relic of baseball’s past? Let me show you my adventure to League Park….

But first a little prologue…

All last night I psyched myself up for this small trip with the thought of “shit, I’ll be on the same land that Ruth, Gehrig, Feller, Lajoie, Speaker, Young, and many others have played ball….how the hell would I pass this up?” Pretty easy actually, it’s not in the best of neighborhoods.

The east side of the city isn’t the best place to be. In fact, coming home from a concert a few years ago, I was stopped at a red light maybe 10 blocks south of the park when a cop pulled up, looked at me and said “You should probably get the hell out of here as fast as possible.” Thoughts of what might happen raced in my mind as to what could happen. I flip flopped all day whether I wanted to go or not. I gave it the green light after I saw photos and stories of past accomplishments of Young, Joss, Lajoie, Speaker that all took place at League Park.

Driving to League Park is pretty simple if you know the city, which I do. I parked on a one way street just north of the park, which back then would have been the third baseline. Although League Park is simply a field now, I got nervous walking up. Ghosts from years past I suppose. First thing I noticed and walked directly up to was this:

Home Plate. I actually had thought there was a plaque in the ground to dedicate the former field, but I guess not. Kicking some dirt up around home plate, the same dirt former members of the hall did was neat.

Two things remain, the first base wall and the former ticket office.

The 1st base wall is held up by metal supports that were put in. I'm not sure when, but they look pretty recent. The ticket office was supposedly turned into a recreation room. Ideally I wanted to go inside, but there was various groups of youth football with parents and all the doors were either boarded up or sealed. I will eventually one day see the inside of the building. Maybe.

Here's an closer view of one of the supports found on the length of the wall.

More supports down the first baseline all the way to the ticket office. You'll notice the lighter molding that runs down the wall. I believe that was part of the grandstand that ran down the line and turned into field box seating. Not entirely sure though.

After I checked out the wall and walked up close to hopefully find a lose brick on the ground for a keepsake (no luck) I walked out the exit gate onto E.66. Turning around and checking out the architecture from 100 years ago was amazing. Imagining what I'd be looking at with a full park surrounding the exit was even more special.

Another small detail I really enjoyed about League Park was the brickwork on the outside frame. The patterns of the bricks was fascinating and definitely gave the deserted and demolished old park some character in it's afterlife.

Taking a brief walk down the street I was able to get to the ticket office. Trust me, I glanced everywhere for a possible way in. Not entirely sure if I found an entrance what I would have done...I didn't want to risk getting arrested for trespassing, but something this old and the history behind it might be semi worth it. But then again, probably not.

Finally I reached the front of the old building, at the corner of E.66 and Lexington.

Next to the building (which had some fencing off done, but was mostly falling apart) was this Historic Landmark and RENOVATION sign. Supposedly $1.8 million was put aside for a renovation project in which the grounds would house softball/baseball fields and a new ticket office. Again, supposedly the whole project would cost the city $18 million. It never happened, and honestly will never happen. Too much corruption and other issues at hand. And with the economy the way it is, who wants to fix up an old park, for no solid reason?

After seeing League Park and not really being able to poke around as much as I would have liked to, I decided to check out the wall one more time. That and take a photo of my personal favorite area of the former park. The player's tunnel.

The player's tunnel was connected to the dugout on the first base side. Here's how I think the dugout tunnel works: First pair of stairs connects to the dugout which leads down to the tunnel itself. It angles left and another pair of stairs leads the players up behind the tunnel to the dressing room. Again this is my estimation so I'm not 100% sure. Here's the photos, you tell me what you think.

Dugout to the tunnel stairs well.

Pretty sweet hole that leads to the middle of the tunnel. If you didn't know it was there, that'd be a bad fall.

Back stairwell that I assume leads to the locker room.

One last photograph of the ticket office, which I will re-visit eventually.

While many dedicated baseball fans know what's located at Yawkey Way or Waveland and Addison, I believe E.66 and Lexington tops them all.

If I were commish....

2010-09-21T19:58:00.004-04:00

Blog Bat Around. Never participated in one of these. David over at Tribe Cards posed the question, "What would you change about baseball?"

I've thought about this for a few days. What do I hate the most about the sport? A lot.

1. Get rid of the DH. I live in an American League town with the Tribe. I've grown up knowing nothing other than the DH. My childhood was during the McGwire-Sosa race. Looking back, it sucked. I absolutely hate waiting for the long ball to score runs. I want double switching, stealing, sacrificing guys over, ya know, real baseball. I don't care if it makes some guys not able to find work. You shouldn't be in the league if you cannot field a position.

2. Re-align the divisions. 2 Divisions per league. Go back to the way things were prior to the 94 strike. I loved taking the stickers off my back door and rearranging them in order of the standings. Looking up at the top and waiting for my club to be number 1 in baseball.

3. 140 Games. Start in May. End in September. Playoffs October. Northern clubs get wrecked in April and early May with rain/snow outs. So eliminate April.

4. Eliminate the Minor Leagues. Yup. Get rid of them. Allow clubs to fully be independent of their parent clubs. All levels of baseball will be their own leagues. Which segways into my new idea...

5. Promotion/relegation. Don't want organizations fielding garbage teams and making profit? They lose, they are relegated. The levels of baseball are similar to that of the English Football System. Low to highest levels are Rookie, A, AA, AAA, Majors. Teams who are promoted will receive large cash sums for winning their league and being able to field a competitive team in the new more talented league.

Granted, all the players playing for their minor league clubs will still be owned by the Major League clubs. This is somewhat of a problem to overcome. However, to eventually overcome the problem, the MLB Draft will be disbanded. There is no point for the draft, at all. Players will be scouted and able to sign with whatever club they wish.

6. Playoffs. Top two of each division move on. The winner of each division plays the second place club in the other. 5 games. 7 game league championship. 7 game world series. All playoff games start at 1, 4, or 7.

7. More day games. 5-7 weekday games in a 162 game season? How is the schedule formed, by computer? In my 140 game season, I'd want a max of 30 games to be during the day.

8. Bye interleague play. You served your purpose, now there's no reason for it. For all the Mets/Yanks, Sox/Cubs games, there are always Pirates/Indians or KC/Arizona. It was fun, memories were had. But now it's time to say goodbye.

I gurantee barely any of these ideas would happen, but it'd be cool to see some of them enacted. If I were the Commish, of course.

Petrovic

2010-09-20T20:43:00.004-04:00

The majority of my posts are about cards from either the late 80's or early 90's. This is when my foundation of card collecting started. I didn't care what sport it was, packs were being opened.

After learning about Drazen Petrovic years ago I took big interest in Petro. I really wasn't into cards much during that time. After coming back to the card world 3 or so years ago I just assumed that since I collected like crazy back when Drazen played, I would surely have some of his cards. In all the time I've searched, I've come across zero. How could I see his arguably best performance ever (dropping 40 on the Cavs in a playoff game) and never have a basketball card of his?

This wasn't right and I was about to make sure I had some Petrovic cards. I made the situation right last weekend.

Drazen Petrovic collection is up to 2.

Upper Deck 93. Pretty wild to think this would have been his last card. Cutting in the lane against Dallas.

Score 91. His first year with New Jersey. So far, this is my favorite card I own, depicting his great jump shot.

One day, I intend on visiting Croatia to see Sibenik (where he grew up) and Zagreb where his memorial center is located.

Bazaar Find

2010-09-18T23:55:00.006-04:00

Having prior knowledge that a sports card/memorabilia dealer set up shop enticed me to go visit a Bazaar. And let me just say they are aptly named. Tons and tons of crap people try and sell. Things you'd never expect. This one is essentially a glorified garage sale, all day every day.

Unfortunately the card dealer guy was not there, and I'm not even sure he runs his stand anymore. But in it's place were two more dealers.

The first dealer was odd. I don't know what sort of impression I give off, but he did not acknowledge that I had walked into his stall. I'm not a heavy set or tall guy at all. So when two people are in a 10x10 space, you think some sort of "hey what's up" would happen. None. Basically, if he didn't want to notice me, I wasn't going to say anything to him. This made me not want to spend any money in his store. Simple customer service goes along way.

Side note: I do realize that a lot of people probably come in and browse without buying, but how are you going to try and make sales without simple greeting?

This guy had about six 5,000 count boxes of commons. Just garbage. Foiled 2000 cards, gross. No MLB Showdown. Another one of his 5,000 boxes was full of 60's gold. I might bite the bullet and purchase a few if I need to fill sets. Lots of McFarlane and Starting Line Up figures also.

The best part of his little stall, two T-206's. Bill Clymer (VG 3, $55) and a Tris Speaker (VG 3, $500). I asked to see them and he sort of gave me an odd eye. Look man, I know it's odd that someone is asking about your product, 10 minutes after stepping into your store. He pulled them out from the case and mentioned how they were his friends. I always feel that the majority of vintage cards aren't 100% authentic. So I had my reservations. I thought about purchasing Clymer since it was around my budget. Looking at the letters and font color, I deemed them real. Asking over at FreedomCardBoard, one of the boarders felt they were authentic also. Pretty badass to be holding cards that are 100 years old.

You be the judge about their authenticity, I'd love to hear more input.

After thanking him for taking the time out of his busy schedule of deciding where to put his Joe Montana McFarlane (lol), I left and walked across the tiny hall to another "card dealer". I hesitate to call this guy a "card dealer", I'd rather say a hustler. Guy was my age but had the ghetto accent. When I walked in he was trying to hustle an older gentleman into purchasing one of those old NBA 3 rookie players per card. This one had Bird and two others. I wasn't really listening too much, instead I was trying to find the rhyme or reason about his layout. Why was a Pat Listach insert one of the main cards this guy had to show. Why does this guy have probably 500 Donruss 1988 Stickers? Wait a minute, are those early 90's NBA team sets? HOLY SHIT DO THEY HAVE NEW JERSEY? YESSSSSSSS THEY DO. I picked it up and looked at the last card hoping it was a checklist. Instead, I was staring at my soon to be first Drazen card. MONNNEYYYYYYYY!! The older guy left and the kid explained to me how he buys massive collections from card shops in hopes to sell them off later to make money. The guy he was just dealing with was a "big time collector". From the bits and pieces of their conversation, I really think neither of them had any idea what they were talking about...most of the words were "book value". Long story short, Drazen and his buddies cost me $0.50. The kid asked why I wanted that set and I explained to him who Petro was and how he was one (if not the) best all time 3 point shooters and a HOF'er. Not to mention, my ethnicity.

I was about to leave when I decided to check out the rest of the place. Odd shit everywhere, why not? Last but not least, heaven. One older guy with just tons and tons of random sports stuff and cards strewn everywhere. And also probably one of the nicest card dealers I had ever met. We talked for literally 20 to 30 minutes about anything. My favorite part was two randomly placed MLB Showdown 2000 starters. They were not purchased.

Seriously, completely odd place.

After browsing some more, I found these gems. If there was a Petrovic pin, it was being purchased. Instead these were all from 1995-1996. Drazen's former Yugo teammate Vlade shows up 5 times. Speaking of Drazen and Vlade, ESPN's 30 for 30 is doing a special on them October 12. Watch it. It will be the best 30 for 30.

Hiding in a corner of a display case were some very old cards. I thought at first they were late 1950's. Come to find out they are 1935 Goudey 4 in 1's. Unfortunately they had been cut up. No problems with them being cut up, they were awesome regardless.

These are Card C and Card D.

The dealer also mentioned how he had tons of other vintage at his house and that he is running multiple card shows within the next few months. SCORE!

And on top of all of this, he had a stack of early 90's NBA Cards. Flipped through, last card, Petrovic. 2 BRAND NEW DRAZEN CARDS!!

Total cost at his stand: $5.

Overall, great place and I'll probably stop by his stand again once he brings in all his vintage items.

Overproduced, Underappreciated

2010-09-17T10:22:00.007-04:00

Nostalgia has set in here at Attic Insulation. Searching for that first real full time job and not having much cash to blow doesn't leave one able to purchase new boxes or packs. Instead, I'm digging through cards from 1955-1996. Plenty of winners to be had in the lot.

I bring you the third and final installment of the WAX RACK SEARCH. When I see some of these cards, I feel like I've been digging through the ocean floor and have just found the Titanic. Actually no, not the Titanic. More like the Hope Diamond.

Seriously, so many people just see 1980's-1990's cards and say "junk wax". And in all honesty, that is so true. I see posting on Craigslist all the time about "please buy my cards, plenty of rare ones, 1980-1990's! Ken Griffey Rookies!!!". Unfortunately for these people they will never sell that Griffey ($3 value) along with the other 10,000 cards for $300. In fact, I doubt I'd ever purchase cards from that era again, but I'd be a liar to say it's not so much fun digging through them seeing how goofy those dudes looked.

Although, to be fair, I'd never pass up a box of Fleer Metal. Unless the store owner wanted $40 (LOOKING AT YOU GUY IN CANTON).

Enough about junk wax, let's get to the hope diamonds.

First up, Milwaukee Brewer's golden child BJ Surhoff. I really like the photo used. There was no way to get a shot of him doing anything else? Running away from the play. No hitting, fielding, sitting on the bench with gum on his hat? This card reminds me of Eddie Matthews MLB Showdown card, except that card is so much worse. At least you can see Surhoff's face in this. Solid effort Donruss.

This has to be the most basic card I've ever seen. It is also one of the best cards I have ever seen. This card could be pulled today and nobody would blink an eye. The best part is Ryno's card is from the tail end of the 1990 Score set. Yes, Score used to make good looking cards, I had a hard time believing it. I hope that I have more of these lying around somewhere. Cardboard perfection right here folks.

While I joke about how much care I didn't take with my cards growing up, sometimes I surprise myself. This Canseco is in a penny sleeve! I knew Canseco and his home run hitting power. I also remember him as the guy whose head helped Candy Maldonado hit a homer at the old Municipal Stadium. I was also there for that game. I was little, but I was there. Going back to the card however, not even a penny sleeve could handle my youthful strength. A beautiful solid bend tarnishes this card forever. Or gives it character, you tell me.

This card is heavy. It is also embossed. AND VERY VERY ACTION PACKED. (Also creased, lol). I didn't know embossed cards happened in 1992. But here's living proof that yes, yes indeed, embossed cards happened in 1992.

My favorite Indian growing up prior to my Kenny Lofton lovefest in the 90's. I really don't have an explanation for my fandom of Brook. I think it was his name. Anyways, I used to have a small card book that was given away to all kids of the Indians Fan Club back in the early 90's. It allowed for 4 cards per page, with probably 5 pages in it total. I remember nearly half of that book was Brook cards. Then Jesse Levis and some Joey Bells. I'd love to find that book one day.

Holy shit, this guy played baseball. A watered down version of Rod Beck, in style only. I love the background of his photo. The "FANTASY DRAFT" icon. What I really want to know is, if given a chance at a "Fantasy Draft", would you take Bryan Harvey? For me, 1,000 times yes.

Mike Benjamin. I had no idea he had played in this time. I only know him as the On Base 5 Shortstop with a +5 arm from 2000 MLB Showdown.

I really believe Matt Stairs is why EastBound and Down exists. Everything Matt Stairs has done in his career has been perfect. My only wish is that he played for the Indians. Matt you are a legend and one day I will visit Cooperstown and tell my kids "yes, I saw Matt Stairs hit many moonshots in my life", as memories come rushing back and tears swell up and I choke on every word of that sentence.

This card really wasn't going to be included. I have no idea what Bottenfield's life stats are. I didn't bother looking at the back to see if he had a good year. I didn't care. I just remember he somehow got 2 MLB Showdown cards in 2000. The first one was a Control 0 with Saint Louis. The second a Control 3 with Anaheim (hey remember that team?).

Up until finding this card, I forgot all about Damon. He was another favorite of mine growing up, simply for his last name. Berryhill. God, imagine how good a hill full of berries would be. Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries. I'd make so many PBJ and pancakes filled with berries it'd be unreal. I want a Berryhill.

At first, I thought this was a Valentine's Day card that I forgot to give out in 2nd grade. The goofy banner around the photo confused me. The photo of Babe is real cool, but everything else was straight Looney Tunes. So then I flipped to the back.

Apparently this card came with a Collector's Plate? I honestly have no idea where it came from or what it came with. It is a baseball card, goofy looking, and now is on the blog. Common sense pick really.

And you probably thought, what could top Babe Ruth? Of course the logical answer is Hipolito Pichardo. James, if you ever read the blog again, I posted this card with you in mind. That and all the Hipolito Pichardo super fans out there. I GAAAAA-RUNNN-TEEE that blog traffic just went up 200%.

And finally we have come to the Hope Diamond. Everything about this card is perfect. The Expansion Draft. The photo. It being our former failed grinder manager Eric Wedge. And certainly the mustache. Holy shit that mustache. Any dude who has or have ever had that mustache cannot be taken serious. This ladies and gentleman, is the best card in my entire collection.

This is beyond baseball, this is mustache.

1991-1992 NHL

2010-09-16T13:19:00.005-04:00

Welcome back to the garbage wax rundown! After dropping some hot cards in the last post, I've found some other gems. This time, it's from the Coolest game on Earth...or, when the NHL mattered.

I like a lot of people played the hell out of the NHL series from 1994-1997. Nothing else to me mattered. I could run through a season in under a week. The addiction was high. My dad was a big hockey fan, which lead me to follow the sport. I really have no idea why he was so big into it, we didn't have an NHL team. Our IHL team (Lumberjacks) were real good though.

So all that love like everything else sports related translated into sports cards. A lot of them. All of them mishandled by my small feeble peanut butter filled hands.

This guy was awesome. One of the best last names in any sport, ever. And a good goalie. He was real sick in NHL 1994. As I said before, the NHL isn't the same. Quebec not having a team is a reason why.

I don't think any early 90's hockey blog post is worthwhile without Gretzky. Wasn't much of a fan of him, I loved Super Mario. Fact: After this photo was taken, Wayner purchased the T206 Wagner.

I don't know why, but I've always liked Nolan. So much so that I would always include him in my second line from 1994-1997. My teams were stacked and I cheated in a lot of trades to have the best team...who could blame me, I was 7 years old. I also own a McFarlane of Nolan.

I LOVED THIS GUY TOO. First line, legendary defender. On a side note, I hate those striped sweaters that the 'Hawks are wearing in this photo. I also really really really want this sweatshirt.

The Minnesota Wild are okay, but they are no North Stars. One of the coolest names in any sport. Great sweater. I miss this team so much. Eventually I will own the chase Mike Modano North Star figurine.

My favorite player of all time. Lil Theo. He could do all the coke he wants, he's a legend. And really, he's the only reason I even had an interest in Calgary. Dude was 5'2, didn't care about his body, and was quick as hell. When I played roller hockey, I thought I was Theo...except I wasn't fast, and couldn't really roller skate all that well.

The best cards on Earth...

2010-09-15T01:20:00.007-04:00

...are always found right here at Attic Insulation. No joke, read some of my previous posts.

Nah, I'm kidding most of what I have isn't anything good or special, I'm just a dude who likes mediocre baseball players, hilarious names, awesome mustaches, or in the best case scenario, a baseball card featuring all of the above.

And this post is continuing the grand theme of mediocrity in sports card collecting.

Over the last few weeks I've been assembling my dad's cards. I've put together most of the 1969 and 1966 sets. Then I found a box of about 200 or so 1966 cards, became pissed that I sorted some already and still have more to sort. I decided no longer to sort and instead just pull out all cards and sort by sport and year. I've been overwhelmed. One man can only handle so many Roy Face or Bob Friend cards. If you must know that threshold, it's 10 of each.

But there comes times when you are thinking you are opening a wax rack figuring you'll come across some 1973 Topps. Instead you end up finding your own cards somehow buried deep in the 1960's.

Here is one of those times:

The glorious inside.

The first card noticed is in a screw down holder. Must be worth a bit to be kept in such a fool proof case, right? WRONG!

Greg Millen? I have no idea why he is in this. I don't care, it's awesome. I debated taking this apart and letting him go loose. Instead it was decided to keep the card in the screw down and when (if) I have kids they will ask who Greg was and how good of a goalie he was. My response, "I have no idea who he is". Cannot wait for that day.

Underneath Greg was quite a few of the 1992-1993 Cracker Jack Mini's. I vividly remember going to Myrtle Beach almost every summer of my first few years in my life. My dad would always buy Cracker Jack and we'd then open the prize, which were these cards. This has always been one of my favorite memories, and I wish Cracker Jack would start putting cards back into their product. On the topic of Cracker Jack, it blows now. Barely any peanuts, tastes like shit, and I cannot find them in boxes anymore. To top it off, the prizes blow. I don't want some shit ass monster tattoo, I want a Matt Mantei mini, make it happen Cracker Jack.

Recently, I've been very interested in the vintage pre-war cards, after reading "The Card". While they are all nearly out of my budget, these cards will suffice. From top left to bottom right: Speaker, McGraw, Wagner, Matthewson, Mack, Plank. No idea if Nap got a card, but I want it.

On the other end of the mini spectrum are these two. Matt Williams and Chris Sabo. I sleep better at night knowing I own two mini versions of Sabo and Williams.

After being really excited about everything seen so far, I became annoyed. Here is why:

Why were oversized cards created? They serve no purpose. Usually I try to enjoy cards in some way. I just cannot get behind oversized ugly ass cards. Why did Topps do this to collectors? I'm glad I was 1-2 years old when these came out. I most likely would have wanted to collect cards if I saw these shitpiles non stop. The best thing these goofy ass cards have to offer is the paint streak from the 1988 set. Only way this can be redeemed is for Topps to send me the 1988 and 1989 Dan Plesac cards. I would gladly accept your apology in Plesac form. Thanks :)

Don't worry, there's plenty more to come!!!

Larry Doby and Pancakes

2010-09-11T12:15:00.004-04:00

I love breakfast foods. I could eat breakfast foods any day of the week at any time. Pancakes are the stand alone favorite. I also really like baseball cards, as evidenced by this blog.

1997 was the ultimate climax of passion between pancakes and baseball cards. The place was Denny's. I was 10. It was magical.

I do not know how I got this card, but I'm sure it had to do with a promotion going on TV or the paper and my dad catching wind of it. 1997 was Cleveland's duty to the sporting world to host both the MLB and NBA All Star Games. The MLB All Star Game was the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby breaking the color barrier in baseball. If you care to read how I feel about the lack of support Larry gets from MLB, click here. If not, keep reading.

Like I said, I'm a big fan of breakfast foods. Denny's was the one stop shop for breakfast all day errydayy 24/7. And they were the primary place for a Limited Edition Larry Doby card.

I have never seen this photo of Larry before. I love everything about it. The jerseys, old Municipal Stadium in the back, the 3D feel, the black and white aesthetic.

The back makes the card even better. It states what Larry did over his career. His stats line lists Total Bases and On Base Percentage, but has dashes. Why even bother putting that if it won't be listed? Disregard the smudge on the card. Pretty sure it's glue. It's on the wrapper anyways, no big deal.

Nothing could make this card better. Well, actually something could. CAN U SAY 1/1 DENNY'S BREAKFAST MOJO HIT??!?!?!? I bet if I put this up on Ebay I could easily get $500, if not more. PANCAKE CASE HIT.

Before I made this post, I did look on Ebay and Checkoutmycards.com and found out that some dude in Chicago has this card on Ebay for $4.98, lol. Too bad this awesome card doesn't double as free pancakes for life.

Support Your Local Card Store

2010-09-07T19:04:00.005-04:00

I've had the itch lately. You know the one. Have some money burning in your pocket and ready to purchase anything. Usually, I do just that. I've made some pretty crappy purchases due to this problem.

However, knowing full well I'll probably buy something useless I've given myself one ultimatum, don't buy any packs. If I want a chance at a hit, just buy the stupid hit. Even if what I buy is garbage, I'll have saved some cash on purchasing just a hit rather than the pack. You could argue that "well, why even buy the hit, you could just save that money towards something you really want". While very true, I enjoy getting some goofy mediocre hits sometimes.

This is one of those times.

Ideally, I was going to make this post on Saturday night after work. However, both card shops were closed. Knowing I can stop by either (or both) of them today, I'd give it a second go around.

My first (and only stop) today was to All Star Collectibles just outside of Cleveland. This store has been around for awhile, longer than I can remember. I first vividly remember going with my dad in the mid 90's. The store itself hasn't changed at all. Plenty of nice cards to look at although time is slowly catching up to most of the inserts and autographs. But with any card shop, that is expected.

If you want to purchase wax, there isn't much of a selection. There are plenty of display cases, 8 I believe, full of autographed or game used cards. 3 of the cases are given to vintage cards from the late 50's to the mid 70's. Basically, my closet.

The owner, Steve, is one of the nicest card shop owners I have ever dealt with. He always asks what I'm looking for, if he can help me find something, and what kind of collector I am. These simple customer service qualities are so rare around here. After letting me look through the basketball rookies (no Petrovic) I mentioned how I'm trying to collect the 2001 Fleer Greats of the Game Autographs. He laughed when I mentioned that I have 2 of the 93. Luckily for me he had two and said he'd sell them both for $15 total. Deal. Welcome to the collection Ron Cey and Lester Lockett. Lockett is my first autograph of a Negro Leaguer. 4 of 93 done. 4.3% completed, baby steps.

I also mentioned to him how I really wanted the Jordan rookie. I don't know what got me hooked on this card, but I want it, bad. He was quick to get my attention and said "You missed the whole set when you walked in!" $550 takes the whole 1986-1987 Fleer set out the door. I don't have that much cash to blow, but I seriously considered it for a second. On the brighter side, I got to hold the Jordan for a few seconds, and right now, that's good enough for me.

But, I still had that burning sensation in my wallet and asked to see the Game Used/Auto'd $3 box. I'm a sucker for these. Lots of random football cards, which I'm not real big on. Then I found the crown jewel.

ZAZA PACHULIA, THE LEGEND FROM GEORGIA. I really like the shiny part of the card and the back is cool too. Best part is the back where the card says "In an 02-03 EuroLeague game he shot 10-13". I guess to the card that is a huge fact for Zaza.

This is a Top 5 card purchase of the year for me. $3, wanted $10. Enjoy my $3 Steve.

If you still read this,

2010-09-05T12:49:00.005-04:00

great job! I'm proud of you that you are still (somewhat) reading this fantastic sports card blog after the soccer card post.

And for that, I'm giving you a gift....

Enjoy!

**Just so you know this post was created with heavy sarcasm, not to be taken seriously, etc. HOWEVER, THE LANCE PARRISH MVP DONRUSS CARD IS VERY SERIOUS BUSINESS.

Trade from Brazil

2010-09-03T15:24:00.006-04:00

Football. The real football. Or as everyone in this country calls it, soccer. It's the world's game. The beautiful game. Whether you are a die hard footy/soccer fan, a casual watcher (World Cups only), or simply do not understand or care to ever follow the game, football/soccer is the most popular sport.

And with that in mind, I always thought I'd be able to complete my Football Champions Trading Card sets with ease. With the game being created in 3 countries and spanning nearly 6 years surely the fan base and collector's are still out there. Wrong. All wrong. I personally know 2 people whom I talk to somewhat frequently that collect. There are maybe a handful more that collect and play the game here Stateside.

The rest of the world is no different. However, there are the odd chances of being contacted out of the blue about possible trades. Over the summer I was in contact with a collector from Brazil. After much deliberation we exchanged wants/needs lists and went from there. Shipping to another country is an ordeal in itself, but when you finally get that package a few weeks later, it's all worth it.

Below are a few of the cards I received in my deal.

Poor Leeds. This was the glory years for Viduka and Leeds United. Champions League, challenging for titles. And within a year they are free-falling down to the very bottom of English Football thanks to bad cash management. They are slowly coming back though, but I doubt they'll see the glory glory years of the late 90's.

Owen has been around for quite some time. Currently with Manchester United and actually contributed to their cause last year with some late late goals.

Plodding his trade in the Northwest of the US with the Seattle Sounders. As a Spurs fan, I really hate to say it but the Arsenal team from the 2001-2002 Football Champions CCG is one of the best. Veira, Henry, Freddie, Pires, Gio, etc....formidable lineup.

Although he's in the Aston Villa kit, he's a Tottenham boy. One of the best players to put on the Lilywhite and Blue and helped Spurs win the 1999 League Cup. Everytime I see this card, I imagine he's wearing the Spurs kit.

Croatian legend. Boksic finished his career with 'Boro. He was a part of the Yugoslav squad prior to the War. Boksic also played for two other clubs I have interest in with Juventus and Lazio.

Dude was a baller. I don't even know if he plays anymore, but he last was in the Premier League with Portsmouth...and then that ship sank real quick.

I cannot read this, can you?

No difference here with Inter. They still do not employee Italian footballers.

As mentioned earlier, here is another Gunner for their juggernaut club from the 2001-2002 Football Champions team. Gio was also in the Dutch 2010 World Cup squad.

Of course this blog post wouldn't have a Spur in it. Sullivan was the last member of the club I needed to finish off the Spurs Base Set. He's also the third foil in the club next to Teddy (legend) and Rebrov (lol).

I've mentioned this countless times, but if you collect, own, or know where to get Football Champions, leave a comment or shoot me an email.

Enjoy this....

2010-09-01T19:13:00.004-04:00

because I did when I found it last night.

This was from the Secret of the Ooze, or Turtles 2. Ya know, the cinematic masterpiece where Vanilla Ice does his Go, Ninja, Go Rap. You don't remember that? Shitttt, well just hit the play button below.

You can thank me later.

The Year was 1990

2010-08-31T13:07:00.006-04:00

I was 3. The store was K-Mart. Within the next 5 years both K-Mart and I would be going through dramatic changes. K-Mart would eventually move out of my area and into a "nicer" suburb; change it's name to Super K-Mart and start selling groceries. I would continue to collect cards but instead of being excited about all the players, I only wanted Indians (Lofton) and Ken Griffey Jr. cards.

Anyways, I recently found a bunch of 1990 K-Mart Super Stars cards. For some odd reason, I love when baseball cards are technically made by a company (in this case Topps), but branded by someone else (K-Mart). Hell, 2 years ago I bought 40 Duracell battery cards from a shop in Canton...until the owner wanted $30. I offered $5, which even then was pretty generous.

The set itself has 33 cards. I currently have found 11 and am going to search for the remaining 22. It's a free and easy way to collect a set and not having a lot of money, I like it.

Now onto the cards:

Tony Gwynn. I loved these San Diego uniforms. Miss u Tony :(

Doc Gooden. I'd write something here but I'm high as hell on coke.

Glenn Davis. A DH/PH...in the National League? He never played in the American League at this point in his career, so I don't get the DH bit. Either way, nice mustache.

Jose Canseco. Bash Brother. Excellent Mullet. The most honest man in baseball. This one's for you Mario.

Craig Biggio, the catcher. Also about to strike out in this photo.

Ryne Sandberg. I loved watching Ryno play. The best memories of my childhood were spent watching day games on WGN with Harry broadcasting. I miss 1990.

Don Mattingly. For some real odd reason, I was a big fan of Mattingly also. Had a huge bat coin bank of him in my room. Even though I knew who he was and what team he played for, I still got him confused with Wade Boggs all the time.

Tony LaRussa and Roger Craig. I know nothing of Roger except that he looks like a very nice man. Tony is Satan. I'm convinced. I will gladly explain to you why and how I have come to my conclusions. (Please don't sue me for slander/libel Tony)

Howard Johnson. Your hotels suck, dogg. For a second I thought David Wright was hitting in this photo what with that big goofy ass helmet.

Jay Howell. Back of card reads "Jay pitched scoreless inning in 1989 All Star Game". Great Job! Any relation to J. P. Howell?

DAN F'N PLESAC. Yes, I saved the best for last. I felt like a little kid when I found this card. Card of the year material right here. Dan should be in the Hall of Fame.

Final note, I don't know if it's telling or not in the photos, but these cards are beyond bent to hell, which makes them that much more awesome. It adds way more character to the cards.

Champions League Draw

2010-08-26T13:05:00.003-04:00

Group A: Inter, Werder Bremen, Tottenham Hotspur, Twente
Group B: Lyon, Benfica, Schalke, Hapoel Tel-Aviv
Group C: Man Utd, Valencia, Rangers, Bursaspor
Group D: Barcelona, Panathinaikos, Copenhagen, Rubin
Group E: Bayern Munich, Roma, Basel, CFR Cluj
Group F: Chelsea, Marseille, Spartak Moscow, Zilina
Group G: AC Milan, Real Madrid, Ajax, Auxerre
Group H: Arsenal, Shakhtar, SC Braga, Partizan

Bolded teams are the ones I think will go through to the knock outs. What do you think?

Spurs v Young Boys Champs League Leg 2

2010-08-25T14:10:00.003-04:00

Tonight is the night many Spurs fans have been looking forward too for years. Last time we've been in Europe? 1960-61. Every Spurs fans knows (or should know) their history.

But everything we and the club have fought and cheered for over the course of the last 122 years is just that, history. Tonight is arguably the biggest game in Tottenham's history.

And we play a team named Young Boys. Fantastic.

They took it to us early last week. Did Harry and Co. (and everyone else) underestimate them? Of course. Within 30 minutes we were down 3-0. Young Boys are a decent side, shit, they beat Fenerbache just to get this far.

There's one gigantic difference tonight. We are at the Lane. 36,000 screaming fans are going to let our boys that we are behind them, no matter what. I really wish I didn't have to work tonight. To hear the singing from the terraces will be amazing. Watching our lilywhites play the most beautiful football (hopefully) and stick a few early goals against Young Boys will be immense. I could only imagine what Seven Sisters will look like after our secure place in Champions League Group Stages. Downloading of the game will suffice for me tonight I guess.

So how are we going to do it? Our forwards have been banged up lately. Defoe, who will go under the knife by weeks end can only play 45 minutes. BBC Sport right now is saying Defoe will start up top with Crouch. When Defoe comes off, I think Gio should come on for him. If that link up isn't working, Keane should come on to play the 9 role and hopefully those two up top can link. Then, bring on Pavy if all else fails.

Mids should be Palacios and Huddlestone in the middle. Shame about Luka. He cannot stay healthy. As much as we need Luka as the playmaker, THudds is turning into the quarterback of the field. Palacios needs to demolish every midfielder in challenges. Let Bale and Lennon run wild on the wings, terrorizing their wing backs. If we need to bring others on, Niko should get a go. If Harry does want to try and run a 4-5-1, let Jenas come out (shudder) and play an attacking front in the middle of the park. Now that I think about it, how ironic would it be if Jenas gets our lone goal to put us through to the Groups? For as much shit and flack JJ takes from all Spurs fans, I wouldn't care if he never did anything else for us, so as long as he scores.

I'm not worried about our defense. Bassong and Dawson looked lost last week. SeBass will be on the bench for this one to start. Daws and our King will be the two in the middle. Ledley King, Champions League match, at the Lane. He has deserved this for years.

To dare is to do. Ping that ball, play total football, put a bunch past them and move on with it. No hiccups on defense, no stupid giveaways.

Tonight is what every Spurs fan has waited for, and I for one, am not ready to quit hearing the Champions League anthem.

COYFS

2/93....2.15% Done

2010-08-24T00:35:00.004-04:00

As I've mentioned before (nearly a year ago) I wanted to try and collect the whole 2001 Fleer Greats of the Game Autographs. Figuring that I'd continue my card quest and nothing would happen to side track me I would have a decent collection going a year later. In that time, I've purchased ZERO of the autographs. My count still stood at 1, a lonely Harmon Killebrew that I've owned for 9 years.

Harmon as of two days ago has a new pal. Paul Blair. Paul only cost $6.49, shipping included. Having wanted to get back into my quest, he was the first (and cheapest) autograph to purchase. In all honesty, I had no idea who the hell this dude was until I Wiki'd him. Blair spent 17 years in the majors, 4x World Series Champ, dominated on Defense with 8 Gold Glove Awards (had a solid run of consecutive GG's from 1969-1975), and also works out at Triangle Fitness is Eldersburg, Maryland. Paul also bowls at Kings Point Lanes in Reisterstown, Maryland. FUN FACTS!!!

So there you have it, number 2 on my quest to 93. After reading Guy's Basketball Blog and seeing his Murad chase slowly but surely happen, I wanted to try something that is a bit easier than finding the 2002 MLB Showdown DCI Promos....and I'm not sure I picked the right thing. It's a chase, but it will be worth it. And sorry for the bad picture, the auto isn't cut off, I just took a bad photo. Kill me.

Stuff My Dad Collects: Pt. 2

2010-08-17T21:30:00.009-04:00

I was going through a drawer yesterday and found an old shoe box. Not too sure as to why or when the box was put in here I decided I'd pull it out and take a peek.

It turned out pretty quick that the contents were going to be baseball cards. On top were some 1970 Topps cards. The dead give away: 1969 World Champion Mets card.

I know my city is championship deprived but any Mets fans that read this blog, you can get a second look at this card...since ya know, your team hasn't been worthwhile since then aside from '86.

There were a few other 1970's strewn about in the box, however most of the box was from the 1960's era. Overall I'd say there are about 150 cards in this small box.

Why have one Boog when you can pick 3 Boog's?

A little Braves love in with Hoyt and Phil. I wish Phil got a MLB Showdown card.

This is one of my favorite cards of the box by far. I'm a huge Ernie fan and him with the All Time Homer Champ makes this card awesome. Not pristine mint, but who cares it's not going to be sold.

Legend. If I could go back in time to watch one person play baseball, he is almost at the top of my list....Pete Incaviglia is number 1.

Dear Topps,

Fleer doesn't exist anymore, I suggest you steal this deign and then make a set with on card autos. It'd look fantastic.

Love,
Attic Insulation.

This is Joe Pettini. He played baseball in 1981. I don't know what else to say other than this is the best card I have ever seen in my life.

....and then I see this card. Sorry Joe, but Darrell is pulling the hipster look back in the 80's. Goofy black rimmed glasses, v-neck shirt. All while hitting .246 in 118 games, no big deal.

Pfister? I barely know her.

Nice mug Yogi. I was never a fan of close up face photos. I also am not a fan of Yogi, the only redeeming part of him is his first name.

Obligatory Cookie Rojas shout out. What a good looking man. Great pair of glasses. A++

I hope you enjoyed Part 2 of Stuff My Dad Collects. I hope to do these more often, especially considering I have a whole mess of 1980's cards waiting to be posted with goofy looking dudes.

FIBA

2010-08-14T08:34:00.003-04:00

The World Basketball Championships are starting soon and there's no better way to get excited about International Hoops than by checking out Guy's The Basketball Card Blog. He's having a contest for an autographed Alonzo Mourning Box Topper. All you have to do is guess the correct amount of overall points in the US-France game on the 15th.

I've been checking out the site daily for a few months and it's a great read.

2010-2011 English Premier League

2010-08-13T14:32:00.004-04:00

Tomorrow morning starts the best time of the year, soccer season...7:30am to be exact. Spurs v City. Would love to see Spurs trounce City 3-0. And in a few weeks, Serie A, Bundesliga, La Liga will be in full swing. However, this post is going to be dedicated to my predictions of what the final table EPL will look like come May. I along with Paul the Octopus predicted the winner of the World Cup...although that wasn't really hard to do considering they've been the best team since 2008.

Anyways, here goes:

1. Manchester United
2. Chelsea
3. Arsenal
4. Liverpool
5. Spurs
6. Man City
7. Everton
8. Aston Villa
9. Bolton
10. Fulham
11. Blackburn
11. Birmingham
13. Stoke
14. Wolves
15. Newcastle
16. Sunderland
17. Wigan
18. West Ham
19. West Bromwich
20. Blackpool

Post your predictions. At the end of the year the person with the most correct guesses can win a prize. Most likely, it will be some soccer cards.

Unique...Sort of.

2010-08-12T13:10:00.008-04:00

I had to run a few errands back to my old University so I made the decision to stop by the old card store I used to frequent back in 2008, All Pro Sports Cards. I browsed the shop for nearly 30 minutes not really saying anything to the owner. Not to sound rude, but I really didn't have anything to say to him past the "Hello" phrase. Although I did try to make small talk about how I used to come to his store years ago while at University, but he wasn't really having it...whatever.

Like I said, I was walking about the store looking at all the game used cards, regular filler cards, and miscellaneous sports memorabilia. All of the prices were a bit inflated, but you'll have that with the overhead cost associated with having to rent a building and pay utilities. Then I started looking at the filler cards. The guy had TONS of baseball, but limited quantities of every other sport. No luck finding Drazen here, which honestly, was the reason I went.

Back to the baseball cards....the guy had 1954 Topps for sale. Not many were available and none were in very good condition. However, the first one I saw was former Pirate pitcher John Hetki. John wasn't a stellar player, however the desire to purchase the card was very high. Main reason: John is the grandfather of my best friend. He used to come to our little league games and cheer us on all the time. I haven't seen him in a few years, but would have loved to purchase the card and get him to sign it. The only problem: The owner wanted $60 dollars citing Book Value!! Sorry bud, but I'll go to Ebay and pay $10.

Instead my purchase consisted of 2 packs of 2009 Topps Unique. Having never seen or heard of the product I figured at $5.00 a pack, it was worth a go. Card Shop Owner showed me the sell sheet, saw some awesome looking cards that I was not about to get, so I took the bait.

Pack 1:

Akinori Iwamura
Joe Saunders
Clayton Kershaw
Jermaine Dye
Kenshin Kawakami /2699
Jose Lopez /1199 RED
Braden Looper

WHATTTTTT BRADEN LOOPER IS STILL ALIVE???

Yes, apparently he is. It's been a long time since I've last actually paid attention to him. In fact the only card I can think of is his 2000 MLB Showdown Marlins card. His little blurb on the back mentions how he finally started a game in 2007 after having 572 trips from the bullpen. That's good for third all time behind Todd Jones (racist), and Chuck McElroy. Braden, you'll always be a Control 4 1-15 no double in my heart.

Second Pack:

Andre Ethier
Russell Martin
Aaron Cook
Dan Uggla
Alfonso Soriano /1199 RED
Victor Martinez
Willy Taveras Alone At the Top Insert

All but one in this pack come from the NL. The Taveras insert is 1:12 packs...not bad.

Still real weird seeing this guy not in a Tribe uniform. Speaking of the uniforms, this Red Sox shirt sucks.

Overall, Unique isn't that bad of a product, neat design overall. Reminds me of the Impact cards from earlier in this decade. On a random note, that was the first bunch of 2009 cards I bought....apparently I skipped all last year.

RAZZLE DAZZLE

2010-07-29T14:32:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was awesome in terms of purchasing shirts. Again, fellow non blogger James and myself went to some thrift stores to see what we could find. First store, had two Brett Favre jerseys, both of which were with the Packers. I don't collect NFL jerseys, money saved. A few shirts down was an unreal find.

89 cents, 94 cents paid (Tax included). I've never seen an authentic Champion jersey in my life. In all honesty, I didn't know they existed prior to a few weeks ago due to an Ebay search. Not only was the shirt dirt cheap, it is in great condition, and to make it worth more, the NBA logo is gold, signifying the NBA @ 50 Anniversary. Dayyyyuummmmmmmm!!!!

Next up was to meet a guy off Craigslist who was selling Champion jerseys for $10 a piece. Seeing as how the majority of the jerseys sell for around $20 on Ebay, I was going to purchase at least 1.

Instead, I purchased three.

I can now finally fit in with all my friends back in 1992-1994. 7-9 year old me is very excited. Good condition, great color, dead team. I'd rather have 'Zo than LJ. Now only need to get a Vancouver jersey to complete the dead team tri-fecta.

Next up had to be Mighty Mouse. I've had this exact jersey for about 3 years now, just in the larger size. Ever since that purchase, I've told myself that I needed to find the same shirt in my size. Excited to have this in my collection, but the jersey itself isn't in the best condition, no big deal. Sorry for the dark photo quality, don't really know what happened.

Finally, I purchased this jersey:

Yep, Champion made Jim Jackson jerseys. I always liked the Dallas uni's in this color scheme. Usually non star players shirts sell for a decent amount on Ebay, so I picked this one up hoping to flip it. The jersey itself is a size 48, and doesn't fit me, so hopefully I can flip it, or trade it for a jersey in my size.

I'm still patiently waiting to find that Drazen Petrovic Nets jersey in a 44 size. If anyone reads these posts and has jerseys to trade, shoot me a message or post a comment.

Eventually I'll have all the 1990's NBA in my closet.

HE'S ON FIRE!!!

2010-07-21T10:48:00.005-04:00

I haven't had a post in about a week due to work being real busy. However, after I was done yesterday, I took some time to browse around the city to a few stores and came to find this:

HORACE. GRANT. How could anyone give this shirt up, ever? Two things can top this shirt, the first would be that it's size was 44, the other would be a Bulls version. I'm not going to complain though since it was $4.00.

Back when my family went on vacation to Orlando when I was 10, the Orlando Magic had a team store in the Orlando airport. The walls were full of jerseys, and I wasn't sure if I wanted a Penny Hardaway reversible jersey, or a Horace Grant. I was wayyyy more a fan of Penny so that was an easy decision. Penny it was. I don't even know why I wanted a Grant jersey, but now 13 years later, my 10 year old self is at ease.

Hopefully I can continue the streak of solid jerseys.

Champions League Qualifying

2010-07-14T12:22:00.003-04:00

Dinamo Zagreb

Dinamo 5 NK Koper 1

First leg went well against the Slovenian side. Mandzukic (2), Slepicka, Sammir, and Etto all scored for Dinamo. Tomislav Barbaric also was subbed in at the 60th minute. Second leg is July 20. at NK Koper.

Buying in Lots

2010-07-11T23:50:00.003-04:00

I recently won a rather large lot of MLB Showdown cards on Ebay about a week ago. The majority of them aren't cards I need at all, in fact I need very few considering there are 40+ sets ever printed.

The main reason I purchased this lot was due to a rare promotional card of Luis Gonzalez from 2002. The set this card comes from is known as the Showdown Stars card set. I already had the other 4, and Luis Gonzalez was the remaining card for the completed set.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED:

The binder these all came in was stuffed full of cards, with more than 1 of each player in the same pocket. I happened to pull out the Gonzalez to take this photo, and it just so happens, this lot contained two of these promos, crazy luck.

Not all is lost....

2010-07-09T17:20:00.004-04:00

As everyone knows by now, Lebron left my hometown of Cleveland. Dan Gilbert then sent out a memo (in Comic Sans!) that made him sound like a 14 year old boy who just lost his girlfriend. However, yesterday overall wasn't a complete waste. Ghost writer Jim and I played 4 games of MLB Showdown 2001. Then hit up some thrift stores where he purchased a Nick Markakis and Steve Nash jersey shirt. Why were these in Ohio...I don't know.

The news in the basketball world happened for me...around 5:15 PM. One year ago I was about to go on vacation down south and wanted to bring an NBA jersey. Unfortunately the seller on Ebay didn't want to end the auction early and take my $25.00. Fast forward to now and $2.14 later and I am now the proud owner of this jersey:

Probably my favorite thrift store jersey purchase to date. Another guy there had a Sonics jersey in his cart, but it was the mid 90's one, not the one pictured above. Maybe it wasn't his size...I don't really know, nor do I care. Totally bad ass shirt to have. Now hope my luck keeps on the upswing and I can somehow grab Petrovic, Kukoc, and Radja.

Lebron

2010-07-09T02:23:00.003-04:00

Gone. Miami Heat.

It's still surreal. I expected it, but was still shocked when he said the words "South Beach". Shocked isn't the right word...gutted, is. Enjoy being the Scottie Pippen of this decade Bron.

Tonight you left the Cavs. That's fine and all. What's not fine is how fucked this city is economically. And I hate to say it, but we might not have a basketball team 5 years down the road if we continue down this path.

Thank you ESPN for again showing Cleveland's sports failures. I would love to have checked ESPNCleveland.com but you cocksuckers don't even have a site for small cities. Sorry we aren't Boston, New York, Chicago, LA or now ESPNMiami.com. After the his decision the show cut back to the panel and I had never seen Wilbon look as ghostly white as he did. He could barely form a sentence. He understood what just happened. The death of a franchise on National TV.

Lebron, if you really understood the history of basketball, you would not have left Cleveland. No LEGEND has ever left his city.

You will never be Michael, Kobe, or Bird.

NFL Showdown

2010-06-29T20:50:00.003-04:00

Fellow (non) blogger Jim and I have started to play NFL Showdown 2002. Jim has the full set while I'm missing most of the foils from the 2002 set. However, neither of us have ever played the game. We both always played MLB Showdown. I have a few extra booster boxes of the 2002 game, so James and I opened one and drafted teams. 18 packs, each pack we'd pick a player until the pack was over...repeat the process 18 times.

After we drafted the teams, we created the teams using the 5,500 point rule. Honestly, I don't have a rule book so I have no idea how many points and how many players you need to play the game. We both had pretty average teams with no more than 3 foils per team.

Within the first half it started to drizzle so we quit playing for the day. We picked up where we left off the next day...this time moved into the garage so we couldn't get rained on. I ended up winning the first game thanks to Steve McNair's QB skills....rest in peace dogg.

We both are pretty big nerds and enjoyed drafting teams more than playing the game...so we drafted again out of the remaining 18 packs. This time I had Brett Favre as my QB because for some god-awful reason Elvis Grbac is 700+ points. Our second game was eventually called due to a rain storm. This time the power went out so we were stuck in a garage with no power for 30 minutes. Play resumed and thanks to Super human John Parrella and his 4 sacks, I picked up another victory 10-7.

My only defensive lapse was thanks to 20 pointer Kwame Lassiter. He was called on to scan on a play route and ended up nearly breaking the scanner. Thanks Kwame.

And yeah, that's a 99 yard gain.

If you like football, you'd probably enjoy playing this game. Just make sure you use the play scanner from the 2003 year...it's the only one that works. If you really enjoyed the 2001 NFL Season, this game will be the best purchase you ever spent money on.

NBA Jerseys

2010-06-27T12:12:00.003-04:00

I always have been around sports items. My dad got me hooked when I was younger. Throughout my life I've collected sports memorabilia. And not just cards or autographed items....I'm talking goofy stuff. For instance, at the 2001 National, I bought 6 boxes of MLB Showdown and 2 Beanie Baby Bears of....Preston Wilson and Carlos Beltran. I wasted money on that. I don't even have a rationale for the purchase of those two bears. In all honesty, I don't think there is a logical explanation.

However, one of my favorite things growing up were NBA Champion Jerseys. All the kids in elementary had to have a jersey to be cool. My first one was Michael Jordan. The second Champion jersey I bought was Jason Kidd (Mavs). Third and final for a long time was reversible Penny Hardaway (Magic). Those would be the three jerseys I had throughout my childhood.

During high school I'd go to thrift stores to buy clothes and come across the Jerseys. I loved going through them and laughing at some of the names. Usually it was a Lakers Nick Van Exel. I'll always kick myself for not buying the USA Dream Team Mark Price though. I ended up adding Jalen Rose (Nuggets), Damon Stoudamire (Raptors), and most recently a Sand Knit T-Wolves of Tyrone Corbin.

My ultimate goal would be to have the largest NBA Champion Jersey collection. However, three of my most prized possessions would be to own Drazen Petrovic, Toni Kukoc, and Dino Radja. Ebay lists Kukoc quite a bit. I've never seen a Radja listed. Petrovic has tons of knockoffs....until this hit today:

BIN: $99.99.

That's a lot of money. My favorite player and the jersey is my size. And to top all that off, the guy who listed it lives 20 minutes away from me. At the bottom of the auction he lists his photobucket account. This guy has done what I want to ultimately do. And holy shit, it's awesome. Check it out for sure.

I contacted him about how he got all the jerseys and where he found them at. I always ask at thrift stores if they have jerseys and one man told me "I get these requests in daily from people". I was pretty shocked to hear that I have competition around the Cleveland area...and I think I just found my main competitor.

I tip my hat to this guy.

What's Better Than the NBA Draft?

2010-06-24T23:31:00.003-04:00

This video.

If you don't want to watch the whole video, just load it until 3:35 and watch the next 10 seconds. Drazen>God.

One Week Later...

2010-06-22T23:57:00.004-04:00

A week ago I posted about the Beckett interview featuring the guy who won the auction for the Strasburg Superfractor. Words like "dream card" "great investment" and "collector" were tossed around.

Now for many of us, we realize the complete absurdity for someone to spend so much money on an unproven rookie pitcher. To the remaining population that does not care or collect about Sports Cards, $16,000 is a huge purchase...on anything. When the term Sports Cards is tossed into the conversation the reaction is "what the hell?"

I personally think the best part of that whole interview was the fact that the man who bought the card is an accountant. Dude, you just wasted $16,000 on a cardboard picture. There is no way you can re-coup that money. If he used his practice in everyday life he would have stayed away thanks to the term "depreciation"....or simply, "this card is not worth a new car". And I would venture to guess that any accountant does their homework before a purchase is made...right?

Well now I come back after a vacation and find out the guy has put the card back up for sale. So much for that dream card. In all honesty, I am laughing at this whole ordeal and at insane some people are with impulse purchases. And don't tell me winning that card was not, I will not believe it. But yeah, good luck with selling that card for anywhere near what you paid for it, especially with the Red Parallel Auto on the market (doubling your total in price lol) and the fact that Bowman Chrome is coming out in a few months.

Simply put, you should have just bought your Rookie Roberto Clemente like you always wanted and saved yourself nearly $15,000.

Homer Collector Interviewed by Homer Writer

2010-06-15T13:42:00.003-04:00

h/t Beckett Blog:

Read it here.

I feel bad for the guy. You purchased a card for 16,000 dollars. And consider it as an investment...in this current collecting climate? In all honesty, there is no way he did his research into past hyped cards (Alex Gordon, Joba). And he is an accountant, lol.

Mr. Power goes on to mention how he got into collecting and used to collect Clemente, however lamenting the fact that he never did purchase Roberto's rookie. Maybe instead of purchasing the Strasburg you should purchase the Clemente instead. Then again, with the purchase of the Superfractor, he did get his "dream card". Yikes.

If I could get one card as my dream card, it'd be this card.

MLB Showdown: 2000 Promotional Cards

2010-06-14T01:15:00.002-04:00

I've covered this game before in this post. These cards pictured were prizes given away in MLB Showdown Leagues. All cards shown below are from the 2000 MLB Showdown set. To receive these promotional cards, or promo cards managers who had the best overall record or ranked as the best team in certain stat categories (HR, RBI, Pitching Wins).

I actually never participated in the Showdown Leagues in 2000. All of these came through trades or purchases from Ebay.

In 2000, there were 3 seperate Promo Sets:
Home Run Hitters (14 Cards)
Future Stars (13 Cards)
Diamond Stars (22 Cards)

I miss having Manny on the Tribe. Complete offensive monster at the plate. His last at bat at Jacobs Field before leaving for Free Agency, a homer. Salt in the wound.

My childhood officially ended when Griffey retired earlier this month. I can try to relive it by playing Ken Griffey Presents MLB for Super Nintendo, or play Showdown with this card.

A highly rated prospect in 1999 who quickly flamed out. The Future Star cards were essentially rookie cards that tried to lure sporting card collector's into purchasing MLB Showdown.

Warren Morris. MLB Showdown's Base Set was 462 cards. That leaves a lot of space for scrub guys to make the set. At 13 cards the Future Stars set really didn't give a lot of leverage for scrubs. Somehow Morris made the set. Either way, he's a Showdown legend, and Future Star forever.

Cleveland legend and current first base coach for the Tribe. This card was an odd one. As mentioned before, the Showdown Base Set was massive. However, Sandy didn't have a card. In fact, before purchasing a lot of promos off Ebay, I had no idea this card existed. In the 2000 Pennant Run expansion Alomar was given a card, with the exact same stats as this card.

I love this photo. The Crime Dog was a favorite of mine growing up too. Shame he never got to 500 Home Runs.

World Cup Predictions

2010-06-10T12:17:00.003-04:00

4 years of waiting and it's finally here. The best time of the year, World Cup 2010. I'm a huge soccer/football fan and contemplated taking a month off of my work to watch it (seriously). Not many of the sporting card blogs talk about soccer as much as I do, so I've offered up my predictions for this year's World Cup. My two surprise picks in this WC are Uruguay and Serbia. Comments, predictions, questions about the game, post below.

group a- Mexico, Uruguay
group b- Argentina, Greece
group c- England, USA
group d- Germany, Serbia
group e- Netherlands, Japan
group f- Italy, Paraguay
group g- Brazil, Ivory Coast
group h- Spain, Honduras

Second Round
1 Mexico beat Greece
2 Serbia beat England
3 Netherlands beat Paraguay
4 Brazil beat Honduras
5 Uruguay beat Argentina
6 Germany beat USA
7 Italy beat Japan
8 Spain beat Ivory Coast

Quarters
Serbia beats Mexico
Brazil beats Netherlands
Germany beats Uruguay
Spain beat Italy

Semis
Brazil beats Serbia
Spain beats Germany

Final
Spain beats Brazil

Golden Boot
Fernando Torres (Spain)

Bowman 2010

2010-06-10T00:22:00.003-04:00

After reading about the Bowman craze, seeing Strasburg prices on Ebay (Base included), and not having bought a single sports card since July of last year (Toni Kukoc!) I decided I'd break the streak.

I intended on buying maybe 2-3 blasters from Target. Target does not carry any 2010 cards except for Opening Day. I will never purchase anything called Opening Day again after buying a box of the stuff in 2001. I leave and now it's on to Wal-Mart.

Apparently Wal-Mart moved their card section because it was now filled with batteries. About to leave I spot the new card area and find zero blasters. They instead have a huge rack of retail packs and two Jumbo packs. I decide on purchasing the two Jumbos and a few handfuls of Retail.

Back into the fire:

After opening plenty of packs and not hitting the Strasburg cash cow, I noticed a few things. First, I pulled a bunch of Indians, including 3 Sizemores.

Grady, 1st Card Bo Greenwell, and Masterson who pitched a hell of a game tonight against Boston.

These might be my favorite cards out of this whole Bowman set. Growing up and collecting the hell out of these cards brings back some good memories. For me, this is a Top 5 design along with the early 90's Donruss Green and Blue backgrounds and the 1995 Collector's Choice sets. Awesome that I got a Sizemore out of the sub-set.

And then there is this card. Bowman Expectations. I am not entirely sure if the guys they picked for the front of the card were the right choice. Given that the Tribe isn't the best of teams, I suppose Sizemore is the right choice. But the back? Jordan Brown? He did good last year, but if I could pick anyone, it'd be Michael Brantley. Ironically, I love the kind of player that Jordan Brown will eventually pan out to be, but in a Bowman Expectations cards, I just think a 26 year old wouldn't be the best route..especially when the guy he is being compared to is about 2 years older than him.

Another Bowman Expectation I love is the Royals version. Alex Gordon is used. Yikes. I know the guy on the back, Moustakas is supposed to be pretty good, but man in comparison to Gordon, goodluck. Unless Bowman means that his expectation is that he'll be super hyped, have a card released in a set that it shouldn't and then command top dollar in retail packs at Wal-Mart. If that's the case, 2011 will be fun.

The refractors are neat, but nothing I haven't seen before. The Purple refractors are the best looking in my opinion. Here are the guys I got from each:

Serafin reminds me of Dennis Sarfate. And that name alone brings back horrible memories of 2007...thank you $20 SPX pack with the Sarfate auto. Gross.

Also pulled was one blue parallel. The blue isn't that vibrant and makes the card seem cheap.

These all were pulled within the first Jumbo's and about 9 retail packs. So out of Harper, Strasburg, Chapman, and Heyward, I was 0-4. I did like what I was pulling so I wasn't too upset, but let's not kid anyone, I wanted a Strasburg or Harper.

Instead of pulling any of those 4, I got something better. AUTOGRAPHED ERIC BERGER.

Out of all my years of collecting, I have never pulled a Cleveland Indians autographed card in any pack. Eric Berger, congrats on taking that virginity. Add this to the great memories of Sports cards for me. Meh.

Finally, I pulled one of the big 4.

AROLDIS:

And then......

STRASBURG:

Really excited to have pulled this. However, I've mulled over whether or not I want to sell this one or keep it. I've also debated on going back to Wal-Mart and picking up some more Bowman later this week. Also thought about waiting for his start Sunday vs the Tribe to see if he dominates again and the value will go up a bit more.

What would you do?

Stuff My Dad Collects

2010-06-08T10:03:00.002-04:00

The idea for this blog series came from the one Twitter, ShitMyDadSays. Basically, this one guy tweets everything his dad says, which usually is some goofy thing about sticking to his old set of ways. It's real funny to read. Also, NBC (or ABC, I forget) picked up his Twitter and are making a show about it. Hey TV Networks, read this blog and then shoot me an email about my impending TV Contract. Alright, here goes.

My dad has collected sporting items since he was little. Being born in the mid 1950's he was gifted with the chance of collecting cards in the golden era of baseball. His friends and himself would go to a small card shop and numerous packs of cards, usually baseball and football. His group of collecting friends would all trade cards to try and finish sets...but usually it ended up them trading all the hated Yankees away for the beloved Cleveland Indians.

The majority of these cards are all in a closet, in my room. I have never used this closet, it's stacked with sports cards and other miscellaneous items from bottom to top.

Here is the closet in all it's glory. There is minimal organization overall. The top shelf are a few boxes and a wax rack holder. Nothing special really. Unless you are into 1994 Classic Sports. Or Space Jam cards and Jurassic Park cards. My dad never collected those, they were mine.

This is the middle or heart of the closet. The majority of cards are here. Anything from 1950's Topps Baseball to 1980's Unopened Hockey Boxes. In the back of the highest row pictured, there's about 16 wax sleeves of cards.

Tired of hockey wax? How about some football:

Here's a little mix of 1980's football and baseball:

What's the best part of these wax boxes? Probably this ad:

Ring Pop. The newest and coolest candy on the market. Why not have one or two when you are opening packs featuring these legends:

For those of you who have seen or played the best game of all time, MLB Showdown, I bet that Jim Palmer photo looks pretty familiar.

Here's a random Cleveland Indians legend:

The man, the myth, the Incaviglia:

Or how about the best bearded man in baseball, Bob Sykes. This is in contention for my favorite card of the year.

The combination of the beard, trucker hat, tight coat, and tighter pants makes this card fantastic.

Or if you are into cellophane wrapped 1980's cards, this one is for you:

There will be plenty more from Stuff My Dad Collects, be sure to check back later.

Welcome back to Attic Insulation.

2010-06-06T19:21:00.000-04:00

2009-08-31T20:15:00.001-04:00

I bought a new camera today. Some classy little black Fuji film piece. This blog will now have photos once more.

I was going to write another piece about my soccer club Tottenham Hotspur and how we should sign Niko Kranjcar from Portsmouth. A third Croatian on Spurs would be insane. He'd be able to fill in the gap left by an injured Luka, give time off to Palacios and Hudds and allow us for even more depth at midfield. Instead of that, I sit patiently awaiting the transfer news of him to Spurs. My buddy texted me around 1:30 pm telling me Niko was all but signed. There goes my Niko Pompey shirt I've had for 2 years now.

Also, for those of you who read Beardy's Blog you know he's done the Gint A Cuffs. I wish I had gotten into it as it's a great way to collect cards with people and try and fill in the gaps via other collectors. However, I don't really like A&G at all. So instead, I'd much rather find some people who'd like to bust a few boxes of Goodwin Champions when that hits in about 2 weeks. Anyone down? The few who probably don't read Beardy, I suggest you go check it out.

Spurs, 4 Games, 12 Points.

2009-08-30T18:39:00.000-04:00

I've only been a fan of Spurs for about 4 years now. I have knowledge of the rich history at Spurs. The 60's era, the 80's, Ossie, Greaves, Hoddle, Villa, Bill Nicholson. All legends. One of the few clubs who've never been relegated since the Premier League was founded. Lilywhite and Blue. The only heartbreak I've felt since aligning myself with Spurs was at the end of 2005/2006, and to be honest, I didn't feel much as this was my first year following them.

With that said, starting a season out with all 3 victories and being the best start in club history since 1960-61 is something of magic, even a curse. I do often say I understand the troubles and woes all Tottenham fans share being that I've grown up in Cleveland and felt the pain and misery (albiet not as long as many others have felt).

Birmingham at home. Spurs off to the best start in nearly 50 years. Haven't lost at home since November of 2008. Something has to give, right?

Overall play was iffy, at best. No goals in the first half. Ledley King would leave with a groin injury and Hutton would come on. Our defense is already bare bones, but luckily for us Woodgate is going to start training and should be ready soon.

Then in a blink of an eye, Luka Modric, our creative force gets hurt. Reports are now that he is out 6-8 weeks, with Luka saying only 4-6. Either way, that's quite a bit of time to be out. The team will have to adapt without him, something that needs to be figured out in training, soon.

Although those two injuries are a black eye for all Spurs fans this week, there cannot be enough emphasis put on the positives from Saturday. Crouch scoring his first goal. And then, there's Lennon. The lightning fast Aaron with a much needed end product. A gift of a 95th minute and Aaron's end product came to fruition at the perfect time. This is why I love soccer/football. This is Tottenham.

COYS

West Ham, London Derby

2009-08-24T12:38:00.001-04:00

The Cup Final. Where to Hammers fans this is the match us Spurs fans look forward too all year. To us, we play it off the same exact way. If the Hammers beat us twice in a year, it makes their season, regardless of their finish in the table.

During our fine 2005/2006 campaign, we needed to win our final game in order to qualify for the Champions League. Probably the biggest game in our most recent history. That day our whole team came down with flu-like symptoms due to some bad lasagna. This game was in West Ham. We lost and the rest is history.

However, Sunday we were again at Upton Park for (one of) our London Derbies. Highlights below.

3 Games. 9 Points. Best start since 1960/61, which was one of our legendary Spurs squads that ended up with the first ever double. Birmingham at the Lane on Saturday.

Player Collection: Sowers

2009-08-23T23:55:00.000-04:00

I am a player collector for the most part. I did the whole MLB Showdown bit since 2000. The cards I need now don't even exist anymore (read: super rare promos). This left me with collecting Grady Sizemore cards, which I've done since 2004. I honestly haven't purchased any since probably the middle of last year. None of the new cards are even worth the time or the price. So I decided to re-start my Jeremy Sowers collection.

I started collecting his cards around mid 2005, I believe. My grand total for Jeremy is 6 cards.

2005 Carolina All Star Card with the Kinston Indians

2004 Bowman Sterling (which I paid $15 for in 2005 at a card show)

2005 Bowman DP&P Signs of the Future (lol) Auto

2005 Topps Personal Endorsements Auto /497

2005 Topps Turkey Red (Red Version) Auto /300

2005 Bowman Chrome X-Fractor (4x) /225 (177, 123, 062, 036)

All in all that's not really that impressive. Then again, neither is Sowers career to date, but he's my favorite player, so he gets a pass. Within the last two weeks, I've added quite a few nice cards to my collection.

The first being the card in the upper left hand corner. Yes it's a parallel. Usually I don't like parallels at all. However, I do think the Topps base design this year is quality. The red border I think also adds to the picture of the card, along with our "retro" themed jerseys. Here comes the homer part, it's serialed to 25 too.

This card has two different versions. This one is serialed to 299. The other is a die cut which is serialed to 61. I haven't seen the die cut on ebay in quite some time. I've always like the design of this card and the simplicity of it all. I'm not sure if it's an on card auto or not, but it doesn't matter, no ugly silver sticker, so that's a positive.

Last but not least is this one. I've always wanted to own an Exquisite card. They are the Ferrari of the sports card world. And when I saw that Sowers had an autograph in any Exquisite product I got excited because a) it's exquisite b) it's Sowers and c) it's going to be relatively cheap. The card ended up selling for a bit over $12. Ironic that it's with Andrew Miller, WaxHeaven's main man, who himself has been bounced around quite some time after being touted as the next big thing. The fact that there is only 10 of these cards is neat too. Add a big plus to the fact that both of these dudes are lefties, and I'm sold.

Defoe v Hull

2009-08-21T12:14:00.001-04:00

Hull Away. Hightlights Here. Write-up below.

The swagger was there for Spurs and you could tell by the opening 10 minutes of play. Spurs controlled the ball, passing was great, and we were pushing up. The Hull backline (lead by Anthony Bambi Gardner himself) had their hands full the entire game. Jermain Defoe scored just 10 minutes in with a beautiful pass from superstar quarterback Tom Huddlestone.

After the first goal Hull tried a few efforts, mostly on the back of Stephen Hunt who did give Vedran Corluka trouble (which was a recurring theme all game). However shortly after that Wilson Palacios scored his first goal of the year. Just 13 minutes in, Spurs are up 2-0. Lovely way to ease that 1 goal pressure off. Unfortunately within a minute Hull would be on the attack and send a ball in the box that Gomes would punch out, but upon coming down to the ground would have to leave the game due to landing odd. To me it seemed that his ankle was rolled pretty hard. Cudicini the Italian Stallion would come in.

Hull would get a goal in the 25th off the dead ball kick by Stephen Hunt. I honestly though Geovanni (Super Sub) got his head to the ball but the goal was awarded to Hunt. 2-1 Spurs. Cuidcini was out of place, but the marking of Hull attackers was horrible. Corluka should have covered one of the runners, while T. Hudds was racing back to try and cover someone.

After Hull's first, I got that feeling in my stomach I always do when Spurs are up by a goal. I could sense that Hull might come back, and in usual Spurs fashion, we'd let them. Fans were alive again and Hull seemed rejuvenated. However Spurs pushed up and Hutton made a great run down the right side only to be stopped by what some thought was a handball in the box, but it wasn't intentional at all.

Much like Defoe, Lennon, Huddlestone, and even Keane were giving Hull nightmares early on, Geovanni and Folan were giving Corluka nightmares. The two paired up a few times and almost capitalized on a Corluka error but Hutton came from behind to make a fantastic tackle to save what could have been an equilizer. The kill sense wasn't there for Spurs nearing the end of the half as the passing tried to be forced instead of going with what was working early on. And then right when I thought we might be sluggish, Defoe puts one in for his second before half. 3-1 Spurs.

Second half went on and nothing really of note happened (at least to me) until the 77th when Robbie "dream move" Keane scored on a header. 4-1 Spurs. Honestly to hear the words Robbie Keane and goal in the same sentence gave me chills. Yes, he scored a few when he came back last year, but that didn't seem like the same Keane. Hopefully Keane is rejuvenated and we get the Robbie of old...you know the one who scored 100 goals for us.

Shortly after Keane's goal, Crouch came on. Had a decent chance from a cross by Lennon but was right at the keeper. Modric was subbed off in the 84th for Bentley. Luka had a decent game. Gave Hull some problems but wasn't able to push into the middle as much. Not sure if Keane dropping deep had anything to do with it. Did have one decent shot from about 24 yards out, but really that's all I can remember from Modric. Actually I take that back, I remember a few of his runs where he was almost bossed off the ball but held onto it and held off defenders nearly twice his size.

Credit: Nick Potts/PA

The star of the show was Jermain Defoe for sure. Lead the team in our offensive charge all game and just gave hell to the Hull defenders, mostly Gardner. You could tell he wanted that third goal. His effort was relentless and his energy was fantastic through the whole match. And right as time was expiring, he did a nice little 1-2 layoff with Lennon and fired a rocket of a shot into the net for his third and final goal. 5-1 Spurs. MOTM.

Positives of the match:

Defoe. Hands down best player on the pitch that day.

Huddlestone. Read the game well and made some brilliant passes to set up goals.

Midfielders. Excellent passing and distribution. Set each other up well and the score showed.

Hutton. Saved Corluka quite a few times and even got up and made some nice runs. Glad to have him back.

Negatives of the match:

Gomes. I hope his injury isn't severe. Not saying Carlo Cudicini isn't a decent keeper, but he's not our number 1 and if he goes down, yikes.

Corluka. I don't know if he is just rusty or unsure of himself at CB, but he cannot play there. I hate to make that rash of a judgement, but if he errored this much against a team that had a bit more quality (sorry Hull), they'd have probably put us out of the game.

Bentley. No real negative here, but there isn't a place for the guy anymore. I hear some Red team up north is having problems with their midfield. Maybe Fergie will want the "next Beckham" in his squad.

2 games, 6 points. If we continue this pace Top 4 will surely be ours, no? No thanks, I'll settle for 6th this year. Not reaching too much and a nice building point for us.

More Philadelphia!

2009-08-19T15:56:00.000-04:00

Pack 6

Marion Barber III

Ladianian Tomlinson

Brian Urlacher

Stars in Action Donovan McNabb

Matt Hasselbeck

Eli Manning

Donovan McNabb

Bobby Wade

I love the Stars in Action cards. Very sharp. Pack full of stars too.

Pack 7

Karlos Dansby

Patrick Willis

Jamal Lewis

Santonio Holmes

Jerod Mayo

Isaac Bruce

Anthony Gonzalez

Aaron Kampman

Second Brown! All that's left is probably Edwards and maybe Quinn/Anderson. The more I open these cards the more I love them. I love non-glossy basic cards.

Pack 8

Aaron Rodgers

Zach Miller

Terrell Suggs

Stars in Action Steven Jackson

Steve Breaston

Maurice Jones-Drew

Tom Brady

Lance Moore

Two #12's in this pack. Solid. I doubt I'm getting any SP's other than the Rockefeller, but I need to find a complete checklist for this set. I'd love to try and complete the set and then work on a master set. Last "master" set I came close to was 2000 NFL MVP. Crappy set but was so pumped when I finally got that last card to complete my main set. Went through about 3 boxes too.

Pack 9

Marcedes Lewis

Dallas Clark

John Abraham

Alex Karras Retro

Greg Camarillo

Antwaan Randle El

Devin Hester

Reggie Wayne

First Retro card. Other than that, I got nothing for this pack.

Pack 10

Brian Westbrook

Kevin Williams

Lamarr Woodley

Lockheed AC-130 Airplane

1965 Paul Flatley Buyback?

Percy Harvin (Rookie) Mini SP

Phillip Rivers

Hank Baskett

Cool History card. I'm big into those. The Percy Harvin Mini is solid too. But I honestly have no idea what this Paul Flatley is. It came in my pack in a penny sleeve, and at first I thought it was an auto. The card that came with it says "You have received a previously released collector's card!" The back says "Congratulations! You have received a trading card that was originally released in a previous product, re-purchased and is now being re-released for your collecting pleasure. Enjoy your card!" Uhhh, so is this a buyback? And I'd love to see how much UD paid to purchase this card to later put into this product. Pretty cool idea though. Hopefully there's a Jimmy Brown floating around out there somewhere.

2009 Philadelphia Football

2009-08-19T14:03:00.000-04:00

I went to a local card shop today to buy boxes for all of the 1950's-1970's sports cards my dad has in our attic. I bought 3 boxes and then the itch to open packs hit me. I now have a box of Philadelphia Football cards. I honestly do not really like Football cards at all. Even though I go to every Browns home game, I really am not super into football. This is my first box of NFL cards since 2001. The last set I got was UD Vintage. I'm a sucker for vintage sets, what can I say.

I'll get one auto and two memorabilia cards per box (average). Plus my one jumbo.

Jumbo first:

Hines Ward

Pack 1:

Steven Jackson

Derrick Mason

Jamarcus Russell

Everette Brown (Rookie)

Philadelphia Fabrics

Julius Peppers

Drew Brees

Laveranues Coles

LenDale White

Randy Moss

First pack and I get one of two supposed jerseys. My second team is Carolina simply because I've always loved their color scheme and when the Browns left I supported them due to Kerry Collins. I was even Collins once for Halloween. Glad the little swatch is blue and not white. Makes the card look nicer.

Pack 2:

Oshiomogho Atogwe

Tony Scheffler

Dwight Freeney

Stars in Action Marshawn Lynch

Michael Turner

Chansi Stuckey

Chad Johnson

Kevin Walter

UD Ad for an Adrian Peterson Auto'd Jersey Mystery Discount

Lynch is a cool card. I refuse to ever acknowledge Chad Johnson as Ocho Cinco. It's stupid. Oshiomogho Atogwe. Just look at that name for a second. I gurantee I have like 10% off that jersey. It's probably $5,000 so I'd still be paying $4,500 for an elite back, although I couldn't really care. Just for fun I'm going to see my discount. Apparently UD's website is down.

Pack 3:

Cortland Finnegan

Julius Peppers

Arnaz Battle

Rey Maualuga (Rookie)

Nelson Rockefeller Mini SP

Brandon Marshall

Jared Allen

Kyle Orton

Mystery Discount Ad

I love having non sports cards in my sports cards. Unless it's some dumb bullshit like what Allen and Ginter did this year. No, I don't want some Yo Yo Champion string relic. It might sell for a decent price but it's stupid. The buyer of the card is even more stupid for buying it, unless he's the person on the card, then it's acceptable. Mystery Discount Ad's Coupon code is the same as the past one, so I'd assume that I'm getting 0% off.

Pack 4:

Eddie Royal

Jeff Garcia

Josh Reed

Barack Obama Story Card

Philadelphia Fabrics Willie Parker

Jon Beason

Donnie Avery

Willie Parker

Santana Moss

A Barack Obama card. I own a card with Barack Obama on it. Incredible. I also forgot Jeff Garcia still plays in the NFL. I'm not sure which of those two is more shocking. 2nd Fabrics of the box, unfortunately it's of a Steeler. Then I pull his base card shortly after. White swatch. I really think the design of the jersey cards are incredible. Big picture of the player and the patch location on the card is perfectly placed. Great design overall. Unlike some horrible abortions out of Triple Threads.

Pack 5:

Greg Jennings

Asante Samuel

Zach Thomas

Justin Fargas

D'Qwell Jackson

Matt Leinart

Jason Campbell

Ray Rice

First (and probably only) Brown! Matt Leinart is oddly enough playing in an NFL game. I for sure thought his photo would be of him on the bench. I got another Mystery Ad Coupon with the same code.

Round 1, Spurs v Liverpool

2009-08-17T18:17:00.000-04:00

The Football started yesterday. Not the American one either. If you've read any of my past blogs I follow soccer pretty hard and cheer for the Cleveland equivalent in soccer, Tottenham Hotspur FC.

Spurs opened the campaign with a rare home game (first one in honestly 5 years) to none other than Liverpool (a Sky Sport Top 4 Club). Going into the match I wasn't sure exactly who would start where and more importantly, who would be our starting strike pair. Would Robbie Keane be up for it, facing off his "boyhood dream" club? Why wouldn't he be up for it? Start Roman next to him? Nah, bad idea. Defoe? He's on form (netting two in a World Cup Qualifier) but it's rumored him and Keane don't exactly see eye to eye. Granted they've played together in the past and had good results (remember 2005-2006....something about lasagna...yeah I remember it real well). Or would our new signing of Frankenstein be paired up with Keane? I wanted Defoe, and we got Defoe.

A lot of people had reservations about Sebastien Bassong. Former Toon player, rated highly, but could he handle the pressure? Could he handle possibly covering for Ledley if his knee started to act up? Can he handle Torres coming at him? Corluka doesn't worry me at all (strong bias there). He's a bit slow yeah, but he doesn't play outside of his skill set and that makes up for his lack of speed. I honestly thought we'd see Bale play at left back. Instead we are treated to Benny Assou-Ekotto. I always love when BAE plays. I get frustrated because I always remember his performances of old where everything he did was surrounded by question marks. To his credit, he solidified his spot late last season with some strong showings.

Credit: Getty Images

Taking in the first 20-25 minutes, I ignored that I was watching complete garbage footy. Both teams played like garbage, but I honestly was just happy to see Spurs playing. I liked the choppy Internet feed I had that made it almost seem that our home kit was all-white. Until the zoom in's where the yellow reared it's ugly head. But in all honesty, I think the yellow isn't bad and I might get used to it. Come next year though, I hope it's gone.

I was laying in my bed watching the game while my girlfriend had the TV on the Food Network, so when I saw Huddlestone's free kick get deflected and the goal, I was excited to go 1 up on 'pool. When I saw exactly who made that incredible shot, I almost cried laughing. Immediate texts. This goal I can almost gurantee is Benoit Assou-Ekotto's career goal. Just a minute before half, a great way to deflate a team. However, this just meant we could (and usually would) sit back and let Liverpool come at us for the whole second half.

Sure enough, 10 minutes into second half Glen Johnson earns a penalty and Mr. England Stevie Gerrard (overrated) ties it up. Not to discredit Spurs, but Liverpool didn't look up for the game at all and played the way until the final 10 or so minutes. However, Spurs looked solid. Modric seemed out of place and wasn't able to get into the game the way we are used to. However his one free kick a few minutes after Liverpool's tying goal would be the goal to win the match. Luka's kick found Sea Bass' head for his first Spurs goal in his first game with Spurs. More texts come pouring in at this point. Even though that would be the match winner, I had my doubts that we'd eventually let them equalize within the last 3 minutes. They pushed hard from the 85th or so until the final whistle but Spurs held strong.

Credit: Getty Images

Lennon didn't really do much this game as neither did Modric. Luka did get some space and was able to pass but didn't have much room to work with. Central mid was completely bossed by Palacios and Huddlestone. All of you T. Hudd naysayers from the past few seasons are going to be proved wrong. I've always said Huddlestone is going to be quality for us. Our back 4 were incredible. Torres didn't do anything except stay on the ground as Huddlestone gave him a few words. If anyone can get me a .gif of that clip, I'll paypal you $10. No joke. I want that clip. Keane had 3 chances and honestly should have put one in. Defoe I really didn't pay attention to. The other two forwards didn't have any effect in the game. Gomes was solid except on his one challenge that lead to the penalty. But that's alright.

Also, when did Liverpool become so thuggish? That was a text my buddy sent me. And after watching a few challenges from Lucas, I wondered the same thing. Dirk Kuyt was an offender I believe late in the game on Assou Ekotto. Just seemed a bit dirty, which is odd for Liverpool.

After 1 game, we've got 3 points. That's more than we had after the first 8 last season. Triffic. Here's hoping to a solid performance Wednesday away at Hull. We need at least a draw, anything less there's no excuse. I don't mean to sound like a Top 4 or broke kinda fan, but no offense, it's Hull. Luckily, I have an off day from work, so I'll be watching the match for sure.

Lennon's gonna find his end product Wednesday and bag two. I feel it.

C'mon you Spurs!

Topps Series 2 Part 4 Extravaganza

2009-08-12T23:14:00.000-04:00

Lucky 13:
Bill Simas ROOKIE
Steve Trachsel
Roy Halladay
Bobby Howry ROOKIE
Draft Picks Matt Belisle/Matt Roney
1998 All-Topps Pitchers Clemens/Maddux/Wood
1998 All-Topps Catchers Piazza/Pudge/Kendall
1998 All-Topps Outfielders Vlad/Greg Vaughn/Bernie Williams

Two stud rookies. A solid Draft Pick Card. And then stupid All-Topps crap. I always thought Bill Simas was like 35 when I got his MLB Showdown card in 2000. Apparently that was his second year, oops. Any time I pull a Clemens, I die a little inside.

Pack 14:
Bernie Williams
Shane Reynolds
Curt Schilling
Sandy Alomar
Mark McLemore
Reggie Jefferson
Preston Wilson
Carlos Guillen

If it wasn't for Sandy Alomar, Preston Wilson's smiling face, or Carlos Guillen's meth addict needing more drugs face, this pack would easily be ruined by Curt Schilling. Thanks a lot Curt.

Pack 15:
Ryan Klesko
Jeremi Gonzalez
Paul O'Neil
Tom Gordon
Rico Brogna
Joe Fontenot
Record Numbers Insert Curt Schilling
'99 Rookie Rush Marlon Byrd

RIP Jeremi. Rico Brogna is a legend. This box sucks. This makes me feel 100x worse than when I bought a pack of 2007 SPX and pulled Dennis Sarfate. Actually I had fun doing that. I don't want an insert of Schilling. Give me McGriff, Mark Grace, or Griffey. Not some asshole like Clemens or Schilling. The Marlon Byrd card is really shiny so it takes my attention away from the shitty Schilling card.

Pack 16:
Eric Chavez
Mike Hampton
Wilson Alvarez
Scott Elarton
Juan Guzman
Dennis Reyes
Ryan Minor
Charles Nagy

Wilson Alvarez is fat in his photo. Honestly there really isn't a whole lot to say about this pack. Although looking at the names I just pulled makes me miss 1999 so much. This was pre-Y2K, these baseball players were so young and naive and now it's assholes that take steroids that knock out the true heroes like Ryan Minor. Thanks a lot you steroid ridden dicks. Charles Nagy's card shows he has bleach blonde hair.

Topps Series 2 Round 3

2009-08-12T10:23:00.000-04:00

Here is some more 1999 wholesome goodness.

Pack 9:
Omar Daal
Chili Davis
Jim Parque
Ramiro Mendoza
Draft Picks Matt Holliday/Jeff Winchester
Draft Picks Brad Lidge/Mike Nannini
Draft Picks Nate Bump/Nate Cornejo
Draft Picks Austin Kearns/Chris George

Pack sent straight from God himself. Chili Davis, Jim Parque, AND Omar Daal? And then the rest of my pack was draft picks!!! I honestly don't know which draft pick is worth more, but my favorite one by far is Nate Bump with Nate Cornejo. Gives the Jung Bong/Brandon Puffer 02 card a run for it's money.

Pack 10:
Jeff Conine
Jeff Abbott
Ricky Ledee
Mike Lansing
Strike Out Kings Kerry Wood
Strike Out Kings Roger Clemens
2 Checklists!

2 Jeffs. Former Indian. Kerry Wood ROOKIE INSERT. And then a douchebag who is on the level of douchebag-ness of Curt Schilling and two checklists to finish off my pack. Excuse me while I get the taste of crap out of my mouth. Honestly this box is already ruined due to the Curt Schillings and Roger Clemens.

Pack 11:
Jason Giambi
Tino Martinez
Alex Rodriguez
Henry Rodriguez
Rick Helling
Tony Womack
Dave Mlicki
Alex Gonzalez

Pack is full of steroids. Only wholesome thing in this was the Tony Womack card, and he's even in a Pirates uniform. Or Dave Mlicki, I can't decide.

Pack 12:
Mike Blowers
Matt Morris
Gregg Olson
Tony Saunders
Rafael Palmeiro
Brad Ausmus
Steve Finley
Dustin Hermanson

I had never heard of Mike Blowers. Apparently he had been playing in the league since '89. I also had no idea that Matt Morris had played in the league before 2001. I did know that Greg Olson played for the Indians (3 Games, 2.2 IP). And that Dustin Hermanson is an alumni of THE Kent State University.

I have to find some way of getting pictures up here soon.

Topps Series 2 Part 2!

2009-08-10T10:36:00.001-04:00

Welcome back again to the most exciting box break (without pictures!) this year. I decided that since I'm going to be playing in a wiffleball tournament today I might as well get in the mood. And honestly is there really any better way to get ready for a wiffleball tournament than by opening Topps Series 2 1999 Baseball cards? Nope.

Pack 5:
Scott Spiezio
Jeff Shaw (Tribe Legend)
Fernando Tatis
Randy Johnson
Mark Leiter
Draft Picks Pat Burrell/Eric Valent
Draft Picks Adam Everett/Chip Ambres
All Topps Mystery Finest Refractor Sosa/Griffey/Juan Gonzalez (1:200 packs!)

I really think my favorite card in the pack is the Mark Leiter. He just looks really confused in the photo. The Mystery Finest is easily the best card I'll pull out of this box. The only problem is that there is a solid black coating over the front of the card that I cannot seem to pull off. I just thought it was a error card until I looked on the back and saw it said "REFRACTOR". I can see through the film though and the player is Sosa. I guess that's what happens when you don't open cards for 10 years.

Pack 6:
Kerry Lightenberg Rookie ($$$$$$$$$$)
Adrian Beltre
Bernard Gilkey!!!
Brian Hunter
Randy Johnson Strikeout King
Curt Schilling Strikeout King
HR Parade Sammy Sosa
1979 Nolan Ryan Reprint

Kerry Lightenberg. Solid start to any pack. Brian Hunter's photo is amazing. He's holding two bases and has a black Batman-esque villian mask that just covers his eyes. Creativity at it's finest. Unfortunately I got another Curt Schilling card who I just despise. The Sosa card is cool though. On the back it has a picture of Roger Maris, which I don't really understand. The Ryan Reprint is just that, a reprint. I'm sure my dad and I have the actual card somewhere around here.

Pack 7
Cal Ripken
Tom Glavine
Tony Clark
Andy Ashby
Ugueth Urbina
John Burkett
Shane Monahan
Bill Mueller

Average pack. Pulling the Tony Clark reminds me of the times when I'd go to Tribe games and we'd play the Tigers and I was always afraid Clark would hit homers. Ugueth Urbina is always another great card to pull. Wait scratch that. Shane Monahan's only contribution to MLB is when Griffey raffled off his car during a game.

Pack 8
Matt Franco
Lance Johnson
John Jaha
Alex Gonzalez (Canadian version)
Luis Gonzalez
Jose Offerman
Edgar Renteria
Roger Clemens

Pack was fantastic with Lance Johnson and John Jaha. Then I got the douchebag Clemens and now I don't want to open any more packs ever again. Thanks a lot Roger.

Unreal

2009-08-10T00:55:00.001-04:00

Words cannot even begin to describe this auction.

If I had the money needed (I'd say at least 50K) I'd quit everything and move to Cali to run this shop. In all honesty, I don't care about the cut auto's and stuff like that, I'd just want to own my own card store.

Topps Series 2

2009-08-09T11:52:00.000-04:00

NINETEEN NINETY NINE EDITION.

Unopened box. Only difference is this is a Super Value Box. 20 star studded packs with a bonus 2 extra packs of pleasure. 8 cards per.

Clemens is on the cover in his Yankee/Steroid Ridden Shirt along with a small insert of Nolan Ryan. Apparently in this edition I can pull Nolan Ryan Inserts, Refractors, and Autographs!

The odds on pulling inserts are:
MVP Promo 1:694
Record Number Silver 1:11
Sequentially Numbered Cards
1:200,000 (approx)
Nolan Ryan Reprint 1:25
The rest of the inserts are pretty much 1:600+ packs

I'm going to pull an MVP Promo.

Cards I hope I pull:
Ben Grieve
Tony Womack
David Justice
Bubba Trammell
Enrique Wilson

I did not know they put Box Toppers in boxes back in 1999. Pleasantly surprised by a Barry Bonds Box Topper. Weird part about the card, he's running. Should not be doing this.

Pack 1:
Ron Coomer
Fernando Vina
Marquis Grissom!
Blog Sponsor Marty Cordova
Robin Ventura
Ken Caminiti
Devon White
Topps All 1B Men Big Mac/Bagwell/Galaragga

Pack 2:
Miguel Cairo (All Topps Rookie)
Brian Anderson
Chuck Finley
Mark Grudzielanek
All Topps 1B Olerud/Thome/Tino Martinez
All Topps SS A-Rod/Nomar/Jeter
All Topps 3B Castilla/Chipper/Rolen
Strikeout Kings Pedro Martinez

Pack 3:
Tim Salmon
Jeff Kent (Douchebag)
Kevin Young
Andy Benes in a hitting pose!
John Franco
Pete Harnisch (Legend)
Hideo Nomo
Todd Zeile

Pack 4:
Jarrod Washburn
Eli Marrero
John Thomson
Matt Stairs
PROSPECTS Carlos Lee/Mike Lowell/Kit Pellow
Rickey Henderson
Brian Jordan
Delino DeShields

I saw that prospects card at the National at least 10 times. No joke. I'm glad I finally have one to call my own.

More packs to come later.

World Series Fever

2009-08-08T11:12:00.000-04:00

1998. I'm about to open packs of Sports Illustrated (Presented by Fleer) WORLD SERIES FEVER. 4 Packs of this illustrious stuff.

Inserts are as follows (LOOK FOR THESE!):
10 MVP Collection 1:4
15 Reggie Jackson's Picks 1:12
10 Autumn Excellence 1:24
10 Autumn Excellence Gold 1:240

Oh man there's even EXCLUSIVE FIRST EDITION Parallels limited to only 1! 1/1 SICK NASTY BRO!

Pack 1:
El Dookie Orlando Hernandez
Curt Schilling*
Kerry Wood!
Jason Giambi
Autumn Excellence Gold!!!! Willie Mays
The New Mr. October Orel Hershiser
Edgardo Alfonzo

Well the Willie Mays just made all 4 packs. I've had a pretty solid record going where I open some packs of late 90's cards and pull something rare. At the National Jim bought a box of 1999 Fleer Ultra (I think) and I pulled a Ken Griffey Jr. that was 1:244 packs. Curt Schilling's card just reminds me of how much I hate the guy. Pretentious d-bag whose head is so large from all the steroids he's taken. I cannot wait until his name comes out for doing PED's. It'll be a holiday for me. Speaking of PED's, I got a Jason Giambi card. Creepy photo. He's all focused on something outside of the frame and it's very apparent that he was just injected.

Pack 2:
Gary Sheffield
Brian Hunter
Pudge
Jim Thome
Juan Gonzalez
Rusty Greer

3 Rangers. A Triber. And Brian L. (Please don't forget the L) Hunter. Great Job!

Pack 3:
Albert Joey Belle
Jeff Bagwell
Jaret Wright!!!
Andy Pettitte
Manny Ramirez
Ricky Henderson SI Cover
Andres Galarraga

2 Indians one being Jaret Wright. Plus an Andres Galarraga which is basically a icing on the cake. And an Albert Belle where he is unfortunately on the White Sox, and ironically smiling in his photo. I'm gonna go off here for a bit and say that I honestly believe that Albert Belle never used PED's or Steroids. He had plenty of solid years and then got hurt and never was the same after. God that sounds like a steroid user. Nope, I'm going to still say he never used anything and is clean, I don't care if I'm biased. If you disagree here, you are wrong. Maybe.

Pack 4:
Derek Jeter
Paul Konerko
Pedro Martinez
Bobby Bonilla!!!!
MVP Collection Tom Glavine (1995)
World Series Preview SI Cover
Magnificent Moments Bucky Dent

And the high of these packs just crashed right after seeing the Tom Glavine card. Thank you Fleer for briging to light my cities inability to win any sports championship in 65 years. The blow is only softened up a bit by the Paul Konerko Dodgers card as well as the Bobby Bonilla card. Jeter card is awkward in that he looks sorta queer in his stare and the fact that he was just knocked down by a pitch. It's either that or his FILA arm band, I'm not entirely sure.

I'll try and have some sort of pictures up via camera or scanner later, if possible.

So...

2009-07-29T22:24:00.000-04:00

My computer died, again. This time it seems that the motherboard crashed, after I dropped $350 to get a complete repair by the Geek Squad.

I wanted to blog about those Spectrum Autographs of the Kim Kardashian and other girl from Playboy. I think they fucking suck. They are the most prized possession out of the lot, but why? Because they've been seen naked or because they are good looking? Pretty fuckin lame if you ask me.

The Tribe traded Cliff Lee and a 4th OF'er today. We got 4 prospects. One of which is Knapp. Meh. I understand the reason the trade was made and to be honest, I fully agree with it. Although I think we could have gotten better players, not on a level of Kyle Drabek, but at least other areas of need.

Another tangent I don't understand is about the Tribe is why did we have Garko even try and play LF this year? He's a 1B by nature. Choo-Dellucci-Sizemore-Francisco is your OF. Throw in Derosa, Crowe, Carroll, and then Laporta. Dellucci is gone (thankfully). Derosa is gone, unfortunate but it was his last year and we weren't going to keep him around. Crowe is in AAA. Carroll might not even be able to play the OF, I have no idea. Garko is gone (thank god again). And Laporta is being groomed for 1B? What?

We aren't going to compete this year, and we aren't going to compete next year. 2010 is going to be exactly like 2002 where we evaluate talent and see who we have and what our strengths are. With all the potential talent being built up, I honestly feel that 2011 is going to be a solid year. And this feels weird since I'm the most pessimistic Cleveland fan.

Also, please dear god hire a real development staff for our pitchers because something isn't translating from AAA to the Majors. Reminds me of 2004 when Eddie Murray was our hitting coach. You remember that? Yeah, I tried to block it out too.

-----

Last note, for those of you guys going to the National, I will be there bright and early on Sunday, the only day I do not work. Hope to meet some of you and possibly do a case break? Make some trades? Let me know if you are attending!

Would you buy more cards?

2009-07-13T14:58:00.000-04:00

Nearly all credit card companies now have a Rewards Points System in place. Whether it's spend x amount of dollars and receive points to spend on vacations, merchandise, gas, or even money back. I'm personally very fond of this idea and if I had a credit card that gave me points towards rewards or cash back I'd put every purchase on it.

Now take this idea and apply it to the Sports Collectibles World.

What if Upper Deck, Topps, Donruss/Panini, or Razor did this?

First, you'd sign up online and probably pay a nominal fee to receive the card. The card comes in the mail a few weeks later, and when you go to your local hobby shop you buy a box of cards and scan the company issued card prior to your purchase. The amount of points you receive is a direct kick back of how much money is spent. Once you have acquired enough points you can go online and redeem the points for percent off a hobby box, receive free cards or memorabilia.

Or perhaps, to help ensure that your local card shop stays in business, the stores who are affiliated with the companies can work in partnership with the brands and allow for discounts or redemptions in-store so that they will generate more revenue (possibly).

The only problems that I have with it right now is that this points program would be geared towards the higher budgeted collectors rather than the average collectors.

Broke the duck

2009-07-08T19:01:00.000-04:00

I did it. Finally caved in. I purchased my first pack of 2009. A Bowman Jumbo pack. 32 glorious cards.

My "hits" were Daniel Murphy of the Mets. It was a Blue Parallel /500. James (other blogger who never blogs) said he is similar to Ryan Garko. I don't really know how he gets these comparisons. After he said that I decided to read the back of the card, something I rarely do.

Here's what it said:

Resume: Member of 2008 Eastern League All-Star squad, swatting .308 for Binghampton..Called up to Mets in August and ripped 11 hits in 1st 21 AB's.

Skills: Looks like he'll be a .300 hitter for a long time...Great balance of patience and aggressiveness...Hits to situations...Shows an instinct for the RBI.

Evolution: Not even going to bother.

This is really the crap they put on cards now? His resume sounds nice. Although he had 11 hits in his first 21 AB's, he's currently hitting .241/.310/.353 in 77 games for the Mets.

And where exactly does the writers of these cards find the player's "skills"? I mean, I know most of it is made up, but still, are they on some Bill James abstract non-sense to figure out he'll hit .300 for a long time? And what exactly is a long time? 10 years or 3 weeks? Also, most guys who are coached are told to hit to situations, that's just a stupid sentence.

The kicker, "shows instinct for RBI". Incredible. What if nobody is on-base, how do you get your RBI? Hitting a homer? In 355 MLB AB's he has 7 homers. 7 more than I'll ever have, but still, 7 homers.

At least the card was enjoyable. Other than that I got crap like Aaron Rowand (who I don't like at all). Got a David Price Rookie, which is nice. Then a bunch of WBC guys whose name I cannot pronounce.

Pulled an Esmil Rogers /599 Refractor. Guy is touted as the #7 Prospect in the Rockies System. Currently posting an 8-2 record 2.48 ERA and 83K's to 19BB's in 94.1 IP. Not bad.

2001 Fleer Greats of the Game

2009-07-08T01:41:00.000-04:00

I've got a new life collecting goal:

Complete the autograph checklist for the 2001 Fleer Greats of the Game Baseball Set. 93 Cards. A daunting task by any means. I didn't expect there to be 93 cards in the auto set, at all.

I've been meaning to try this for a few years now. I've always been in love with the one autograph I do have. I pulled it back in 2001 at Easter. I received a few packs of cards in my basket (yeah, I still got a basket), and received a redemption. It was for the Killer, Harmon Killebrew. I had never heard of him, but my dad told me all about him and even pulled out his autographed ball of Harmon.

I don't think any card I have ever seen has come close to the solid design of the 2001 brand. Very basic yet fancy looking. Just having a few and displaying them would be really neat.

The only task I have right now is to try and find a checklist of the 93 guys. All I know right now is that I need 92 more.

Real Life GM?

2009-07-07T11:07:00.001-04:00

I decided I'd like to try my hand at prospecting. And by prospecting, I don't just mean that I'll be buying all the hot rookies or mid level rookies. I decided on about 7 players right now who I'd like to give a go at.

My parameters are that I'd research the player a bit. Then check his stats. After this, I'd see the level he is at followed by his age. Depending on these indicators, I go to Ebay to see how much the cards are going for. My only problem as compared to other collectors, is that I really don't have money due to where I'm at in life right now. So if I could give myself a club to align with, I'd say I'm much like the Pittsburgh Pirates. I just hope I have some decent amount of luck and don't go after all the "Creech-lings".

I don't really intend on making any money, this is more about picking guys who I think might be decent and then follow them. If they are scrubs, well then I've got quite a collection of the guy. It's not much of a problem since most of the auto's I've gotten in the last year haven't been anything special.

I also joined FreedomCardBoard's Forum under the name Hold Steady.

Looking for....

2009-07-04T12:51:00.001-04:00

a good sports card message board.

Basically, I don't want to go to Beckett and have to sift through 10+ pages of nonsense just to find one decent post. I've somewhat glanced at a few and really didn't make up my mind as to which I'd like to join up at. What do you guys suggest?

Topps Sucks

2009-07-01T11:44:00.000-04:00

Over at the Beckett Blog, they ran a story yeterday of the 5 Promotional cards being given away at the National. The cards look amazing. I'm a huge fan of any 1950's or 1960's design. Baseball back then seems so much purer than modern day baseball. It was more about the game than the players.

Photo Credit to Beckett Blog

The only glaring issue I have is that there isn't a regional player issued in this set. The dual Mantle cards, I understand. Mickey will always have a huge command in the collectibles business. Campanella and Maris are also good picks. But Jackie being issued in a Giants uniform? Why bother?

Back to the regional player issue. I've brought this up before, but where is the love for Larry Doby? While he wasn't the superstar that Jackie was, he did break the color barrier for the American League. I'd really love to know why he doesn't get a nod in more retro sets. Does his family own his rights and not want to give them out? Or did the Tri Star Marketing staff learn that Cleveland players aren't worth their time to print cards of on a national scale?

I remember in 2007 that Topps gave out Promotional cards with their Allen and Ginter release. I received both regular and mini version of Grady Sizemore.

It just seems to me that Doby is completely overlooked in releases that feature Hall of Famers. If there is anytime and place to test the market with Larry Doby it'd be with Promo cards at a National featured in Cleveland, Ohio.

Wedgie Watch™

2009-07-01T11:09:00.000-04:00

12 of the last 14 have been losses.

The All Star Break couldn't come soon enough. And to be fair, it's only a break from this horrendous season, round 2 starts right after.

Why does Josh Barfield not get any playing time? Why is he still on the Indians 40 man? What purpose does he even serve as an Indian if he isn't being utilized? Can we please trade him for some prospects? Milwaukee, will you call Mark Shapiro and take Barfield off our hands, please.

Oh yeah, Eric, you've got a mutiny amongst your crew.

Photo Credit: Cleveland Blog.