My Greatest Set Accomplishment Part 1

As most of you know I really like Topps Chrome. If you followed along my case break I was quite a big fan of the sepia refractors. With the help of my girlfriend finding we decided to attempt to complete the set. After very aggressively going after the cards we completed the set in about a month and half. If you don't know, every single card in this set is numbered out of 75, so it might be the only set in the world! (I've yet to see another one) The most expensive card was the Harper, the 2nd Most expensive wasn't Darvish or Trout, it was Wei-Yen Chen. I also acquired quite a few doubles so if you're interested in trading they are all listed on my trade bait page.

Check out the first half of the set:

What's your greatest set accomplishment? I definitely felt good when I received the last card for this set (Nick Swisher). If you read this far, mini contest just leave a comment answering the question and on Sunday night after the 2nd football game (eastern time) I will randomize a winner. The winner will get a Jose Valverde Sepia refractor and a Matt Dominiguez auto and some random cards from their favorite team.

Five Star... Tuesday

As all of you are aware Topps decided to go high end card producing at the end of the season. I didn't buy any boxes cause of the crazy high price point but I am not above getting singles for way less then it would've cost me to bust one box. This is the first batch of cards I've received (have a few more coming!)

In no particular order:

CJ Wilson auto numbered out of 150. Saw him pitch live this past May in Yankee Stadium. The Angels won that game 7-1. I think he can put together a pretty nice career and he should have a whole lot of run support with Trout and Pujols.

A redemption of a Jim Palmer Silver signature numbered out of 99. I'm a big fan of the hall of famer and the card will look great with my Jim Palmer autographed Orioles team book. (posted previously on the blog)

 

This is a nice on card auto of Fergie Jenkins numbered out of 25. It's a nice card and will be added to my small but growing autos of hall of famers. 

 

Once I saw the Krukker was in the set I had to get his autograph (already have one from topps archives) but regardless the silver pen really pops. Although I really like John Kruk, I am surprised that he is in a high end set. 

 Last but not least our 142 million dollar man Cole Hamels. The Relic is really nice and large. I don't have any of the museum collection relics so this is a nice add to my Phillies relic collection. 

These are just the cards I have in hand! Can't wait til the other ones come they get even better!

 

Two New Frank Thomas Cards!

Shockingly I did not complete a trade this evening. I love trading so as always if you have any phillies I'm listening. My next mini project is to get a list of all the Phillies relic/autos I have up so everyone can see what I already have (although I usually will trade for doubles of those). Then I want to get more into vintage and get my team set lists together. Thanks to Jason I have a base to work with and just need to get some checklists together. I'm going to a large show in early December and plan on acquiring some vintage cards then. The main target will be a 1952 Richie Ashburn at a not insane price. We will see if that comes to fruition.

That paragraph had nothing to do with the title. Just wanted to share with everyone my 2 latest Frank Thomas additions.

First we have a 1996 Leaf Steel card. The original protective film as you can see is still on the card. I have no plans to free it. I'm a big fan of these cards, its actually metal! Its a real cool card and a real nice addition.

This apparently is a Gold plated card from 1996 as well. I had never seen it before and when I stumbled upon it on ebay I had to grab it. For under 10 bucks it was worth it. It came in this nice screwdown case and the card itself is real detailed and shiny. If anyone could give me some color on what set these come from that'd be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading!

An Amazing Ridiculous Awesome Trade!

I recently completed a monster swap with Jason from Joe Average Collector. I sent him a whole bunch of cards he expressed interest in. And I got a ridiculously nice package back. I hope this post can do it justice.

Some Frank Thomas goodness (all new ones). Some Phillies goodness.

Vintage Hockey. Randall Cunningham. The Minister of Defense. Donovan. Some Vintage Drysdale and Wills.

Vintage Phillies including hall of famer Richie Ashburn

 

A Bill Bergey eagles legends auto. The J-Roll Silk card is really nice. I had never seen one in person and I like them I'm going to try and get more of those. 

A Jimmy Rollins archive relic and a Scottie Pippen rookie graded 8 from PSA. I have a few slabbed cards so this will fit right in.

I counted the cards and he sent a total of 109 cards. I will have some sorting to do with all the cards I've gotten the past week, but thats a good thing! This is obviously just a small sampling of what he sent. The Jeter rookie card I needed for my set I'm trying to complete and that was just a last minute throw in. Thats my first vintage Jim Bunning card.

Thank you for the great trade hopefully one of more to come!

Card Draft Loot and Affordable Group Break!

I recently participated in The Diamond King's card draft. He had a nice assortment of cards to choose from and he had some unannounced bonus rounds which were greatly appreciated. I think everyone was happy with what they ended up with. I got some nice cards to keep and some I'll put on the trade bait page.

Here are a few highlights:

 

A pretty nice Hank Blalock jersey. A Lance Kendricks auto, a Rashard Lewis auto (his ridiculously large contract is almost over!). And a Thad Young auto. I very much like him on the Sixers. This is actually the 2nd auto of his from that set I have now and both of them are from The Diamond King. If I'm feeling a bit ambitious maybe I'll go after all of them. 

 

My first pick was the Ryan Howard numbered out of 10. I always like a low numbered Phillies card. The Rollins is numbered as well. The Beckham is a cool Bat relic from A&G. The Killebrew is a nice vintage card from 1972.

I am quite happy with the results of the draft, Thanks for hosting Kevin!

This post is a combined post, I've been quite active lately on the mail front.

Colbey from Cardboard Collections hosted a group break where you bid for your team. I bid on the Phillies and won!

Got some nice Phils cards from sets I didnt have. The circle card is a pretty cool diecut of Pat Burrell. He was also nice enough to throw in a few extras including a 1990 Leaf Terry Mulholland.

Thanks for hosting the affordable group breaks!

Inspired by McCovey Mondays

As many of you know Willie McCovey was a really good player. He is also a weekly feature on our fellow blogger's Arpsmith's Sportscard Obsessions blog. He has an absurd amount of Willie McCovey cards and every Monday writes a nice piece about one or a few of them and keeps it interesting. The other day I realized I didn't own a single McCovey card that had him as a stand alone player (I showed the triple threads previously that featured the Ryan Howard in the middle). Long story short (funny how long stories always start with that) I went on ebay to find myself a cool McCovey card that wasn't overpriced. I didn't have a specific set in mind just wanted something I could admire. I looked at some vintage but nothing suited my fancy for the price.

I think I ended up doing ok.. I went the autograph relic route.

Check it out...

 

The Original Big Mac in all its glory. Its a sweet auto relic from this years Triple Threads numbered out of 18. I'm very happy with this purchase and the card looks great in person. Thanks Arpsmith for providing some McCovey inspiration otherwise I would've never went seeking out this card!

 

Trade with Another Orioles Blog!

Ryan from Another Orioles Blog recently posted a ton of trade bait he was looking to move for orioles cards. I expressed interest in one of the Phillies cards and then naturally a larger trade was achieved. Funny how that seems to happen a lot (not that I'm complaining its awesome to receive a bunch of stuff in the mail that you actually want). I sent him a bunch of Orioles goodness and he returned with some really cool stuff.

First the Phillies portion of the trade:

The trade started with the Rollins from A&G since I didn't have that relic card. I ended up with the Rollins, a Gavin Floyd (at one time the number one prospect in the Phillies organization) and a Brody Colvin Purple refractor.

The next portion (just as good if not better depending on your point of view) (I am writing a lot in parentheses tonight)(I spelled parentheses correctly without spell check go me)

These are all from Bowman Sterling and they are all autographs and really sharp looking cards. I never bought a bowman sterling pack so to get my hands on these is super nice. The dual auto is of collegiate national team members Dominic Ficociello and Nolan Fontana. I'm a sucker for dual autos and I really like the design of this one with the photos being a decent size. The other autos are of Tyler Goeddel (Rays prospect) and Taylor Jungmann (Brewers prospect). They are both young pitchers so who knows what will happen but they have the ability.

Thanks for the trade Ryan!

Also I just joined a hockey group break that should be a real good one. If you are interested in hockey cards go to Cardboard Conundrum and check it out. He is even kind enough to guarantee everyone a hit even if you dont get one in the boxes!

Ebay Seller comes through

Recently (September) I purchased a card on ebay and the ebay seller contacted me saying that he could not find the card. He did give me the option to wait or get a refund. I decided to wait cause I preferred the card over the money (hence why I bought it). After a few weeks and not hearing anything I sent another e-mail. The card was still not found so he offered a replacement item instead. I told him that I am interested in anything philly related and would take memoribilia or cards. I got an e-mail back saying he would check. Two days later I get another e-mail saying he didn't have anything. The timeline is a little messed up but I dont feel like checking the e-mail history.

I know paypal/ebay have a time limit for dispute and at this point I had little recourse but to write off the money. Near the end of October he said he was going to list a bunch more item and to take a look and see if I was interested. One of the pieces of memoribilia caught my eye and I asked if I could get that item instead. The dealer agreed and said he would send it that following Monday.. 2 and a half weeks later the item arrived. Thankfully I am very happy with the package and there was 2 extra bonuses inside.

Bonus #1:

Three sepia refractors from 2012 chrome. I added all 3 to my trade bait page but I'll never say no to having these thrown into a trade. They're way too nice.

Bonus #2:

  

A signed postcard of an Eagles legend Chuck Bednarik. He was the quarterback on the last Eagles Championship in 1960 and as you can see was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1967.

Main Event!!!

 

A dual signed auto ball of Ken Griffey Sr and Ken Griffey Jr!!! Both autos are very legible and there is a sticker COA on the other side of the ball (no letter though). It was worth the wait to get these items in the mail even though it wasn't even close to what I originally ordered. 

Trade with Rhubarb Runner!

I recently completed a trade with Rhubarb Runner at Mmmrhubarb. He contacted me about a Ben Revere Relic I had posted on my trade bait page. I was interested in one of the relics he had listed and a trade was born. I sent him the Revere and a bunch of twins cards and he sent me back a nice package as well.

The Brad Lidge relic is my first one of his so I'm happy to add that my growing Phillies relic/auto collection. He was absolutely amazing the year the Phillies won the world series in 2008. Its a shame he never came close to repeating that perfect performance after that season. Phillies fans will always remember him getting the last out in the World Series and the team rushing in to celebrate.

He also included 10 Frank Thomas inserts. Even though I have over 100 unique Thomas cards, every single one of these is a new addition! I will work on getting the haves list on that up soon(probably while watching football). Also not picture he sent me a few of my set needs! I am inching closer to completing those sets. They've literally been sitting in a box for over 10 years untouched so its about time I make some progress.

Thanks for looking at my want list and thanks for the trade!

Trade with Arpsmith!

I recently completed my 2nd trade with Arpsmith from Arpsmith44 . He is a Giants collector and writes a nice blog and holds contest weekly. You should go check it out if you haven't already. He contacted me about a few of the Brandon Belt Parallels I had from 2011 chrome. I agreed to trade them for a nice smattering of phillies cards. I am quite happy with what I received back.

 

Above are a few of the different parallels that Adam gave me. I didn't have any of them so they are all greatly appreciated. The Worley is the rainbow foil from Topps Archives. The David Bell is from 2006 chrome. The Roy Halladay gold rush is real nice because I didn't buy enough packs to send in so this is the first Gold Rush card I've seen in person. 

This next trio of cards are awesome. They are from 1986 Sportflics and when you tilt them back and forth its like the players are moving. Technology that was way ahead of its time. I'd still be impressed if they did that with cards now. They should totally reprint this entire set. 

This of course was the centerpiece of what I received back. This 1975 Topps Mike Schmidt is the oldest Schmidt I now own. I will need to get the rookie card and the 74 next.  

Thanks for the trade!

Two Iconic Rookie Cards

I recently acquired 2 cards I've been wanting since about 1992. They were always unobtainable because of the price point and the players popularity. Both the players are still quite popular but thankfully these cards have come down in price enough that I could afford them both.

My Frank Thomas collection got a huge boost by grabbing this card. It would surely be incomplete without it. All I need now is the No name on front card but the one that recently sold on ebay went for over 1600 dollars. Soon I will post all the Frank Thomas cards I have and I will gladly trade for any I don't have. I'm sure there a ton of inserts and parallels I'm missing.

The next one is 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. In my mind these 2 RC's despite being in different sets and different years belong together. They were the phenoms of the 90's and lived up to it and will soon be hall of famers. I am very happy to add both of this near mint cards to my collection. I will display them side by side as it should be.

Card show pickups

This card show was back in September in Valley Forge PA. Its a good show that typically has a good amount of people from philly or pittsburgh sports that come sign autographs and it has about 200 or so tables of dealers. There is a ton of vintage there so if thats your thing you can find some good stuff. I probably bought about 200 dollars worth of phillies vintage cards to help my brother out. I picked up a couple of boxes of 2012 bowman (will show the good stuff at a later date). And I picked up these 3 singles i'm about to show you. I would be willing to trade them but I would want something decent back.

Quad!

This is a quad relic from Topps Marquee of Jered Weaver. I never bought any of this product so to grab a nice quad relic of a pretty good pitcher is cool. It's numbered 90/125.

This card (sorry about the glare) is a Harmon Killebrew bat relic stamp card from Donruss signature. The Stamp is a 3 cent stamp from way before i was born. The card has a nice design with a portrait type photo up top the stamp prominently featured and the bat at the bottom. Its numbered 13/70

 This card is pretty sweet. I never had previously owned these letter autographs until now! This is a nice Chad Billingsley (his name is way too long to try and get one of each). I felt the price on this was good so i pulled the trigger. Its quite a nice looking card. The auto is in silver across the I. I'm tired so that last sentence might have been obvious to anyone with eyes. Regardless its a nice card and numbered 28/150.

I will be back this weekend to post some more!

Triple The Fun

In the past couple of months I picked up a few triple threads cards off of Ebay. I was curious how 2012 would look and overall I'm not impressed but I like some of the sayings on the cards so I decided to pick up a couple.

First we have an offering from 2011 Triple Threads, I only picked this card up cause of the Ryan Howard on it but the other guys are pretty good. I have nothing bad to say about a Giants great and Prince continues to mash the ball in Detroit with his 200 million dollars. It's a real nice low numbered Howard to add to my growing Phillies collection.

 

This next card is from 2012 Triple Threads and apparently the guy likes to smile a lot.. at least thats the explanation they give. He is full of fun and smiles. No wonder the Nationals are winning again they have this guy (and oh yea he pitched like a cy young candidate most of the year). 

Serial Grinner

 This next card is a hall of famer dual sided relic.. one side makes sense to me.. since it is an event that happened. The other side.. is just amazing.

And George Brett goes nuts on the umpire!

 

 

Mullet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

As a side note I added even more cards to my trade bait list including my Chrome from this year and last year. 

Fear the Mullet!

Quick Update

Just wanted to let everyone know I updated my want list and trade bait pages. Currently my want list is some older sets I'm trying to complete and of course any phillies. The trade bait is sorted by team so please take a look and if anything catches your eye maybe we can work out a trade! If you want pictures of any cards I can provide them.

I only included relics and autos on the trade bait I of course have other cards that I can trade so please ask!

Rainbows are pretty

Especially baseball card ones! Recently I completed my first ever chrome rainbow. Naturally I chose a current Phillies player Ryan Howard to go after. Hopefully his achilles injury will heal more over this offseason and he will return to his MVP form. The only problem I'm having with this rainbow is figuring out how to display it. I didn't include the base refractor or the base card. I have 10 cards as part of this player 'set'.

As many of you know I'm a huge fan of chrome (I broke back into sports card collecting by buying a case of 2011 chrome). Chrome this year has been real good to me and I've quite enjoyed collecting it. I've shown off the xfractor sheets which look great on the wall in my living room and now this.. but just wait there is one more monster to show that I will highlight over my next few posts. Enjoy the rainbow.. if this were a football blog I'd make a Marshawn Lynch joke.

Xfractor

 

 

 

 

 

Orange

 

Purple

Blue

Black

Sepia

Gold

Red

Atomic (20% of the print run!)

Last but not least the hardest one to get to complete the rainbow:

Super!!!