Not a baseball post

I recently become a seller on ebay (within the last 6 months or so) I haven't had any issues and everything has gone smoothly. One or two non payers but no biggie I re-listed and ended up making more haha! I just wanted to say good bye to 3 cards I sold that were quite literally sitting in a shoe box under some stuff for the better part of 10 years!

 

I'll never forget what I traded for this card. Gave up an Ernham Djinn from the Arabian Nights set! What a great trade for me.. at the time same exact book value.. now not so much. This card sells for way more! Goooo younger me!

 

This card was actually given to me by a friend who was leaving the hobby. He told me to sell it then ( I should've listened) I probably left a hundred on the table and I actually never used this card in play not once.

 

I probably overpaid for this on a trade. I gave up a Volcanic Island and one other dual land (don't remember which) All dual lands sell for a pretty penny these days so this card didn't quite make up for it! Still like the Legends set though very sharp looking cards. 

I enjoy nostalgia as much as the next person. I am still piecing out parts of my M:tg collectiong when I have time, but I will not be selling my hand collated 4th edition set that I completed when I was 11 years old. Now that was an accomplishment all 378 cards in a nice binder! 

Thanks for walking down memory lane with me!

A Great Weekend for Baseball!

This weekend I was out at my best friend's bachelor party! It included tailgating at noon for a 4 o clock game. Going to the Phillies Mets game and then out to dinner in South Philly. Then to some bars and ahem other things. It was a long but really fun day! Best part is the Phillies actually won on a walk off home run! I've been to two games this year and I've seen TWO walk off home runs, one by Freddy Galvis and one by Kevin Frandsen.. the epitome of power hitters right there!

Ryan Howard hit 2 Home Runs in the game, finally got to double digits! In honor of that I will show 2 New Ryan Howard cards I recently acquired!

 

This is the red ice version from this year's bowman. I think I got it for about 7 dollars. Pretty good price for the rarity. I like the shiny foil. (I am still attempting to put together a set of silver ice's. I've bought a few cheap lots on ebay. I will have to catalog what I'm missing but I definitely have over 150 or so right now! Going to need shades to look at those in pages!

This is the one and only card I have gotten from Panini Prizm! A nice Gold one numbered out of 10. Not a huge fan of the air brushing but that's alright. Hopefully Howard's knee heals a little bit and he hits another 20 home runs in the second half! I really am holding out hope the Phils can come back and not be sellers at the deadline. The end of an era if that happens.

Thanks for reading!

Museum Collection -- First look and Very Happy Look!

I recently acquired 2 cards from this years Museum Collection for my PC. I obviously mainly collect Phillies cards and this was no exception! I was happy with the first card acquired and then extremely happy with the 2nd card.. oooo the suspense (unless you just looked at the scans in which case not much suspense)

This first card I saw on Arpsmith's Blog and knew I wanted a copy. Thankfully went for cheaper then I was willing to pay and its a nice looking card in person.. Jumbo Lumber Mike Schmidt!

It's a nice addition to my Mike Schmidt collection. I now have 3 or 4 relics and I think 6 or 7 Autos (not all of them on cards).

Now check this baby out!

A BAT NAMEPLATE OF RYAN HOWARD AHHHHHHH

I audibly gasped when I saw this card come available. After a bit of negotiating and some back and forth I talked the seller down to a number we could agree on and had the card in hand 2 days later!

It deserves the Extra Large picture treatment (sorry sidebar). The name is perfectly centered which makes it even better! (I've seen ones not so nicely centered) This is my 5th Ryan Howard one of one and rivals the Topps Chrome Superfractor as my favorite! It's only for trade if you have first born children available (haha just kidding)

Thanks for reading!

A Ryan Howard Dual Auto!

I recently picked up a Ryan Howard and Mark Teixeira dual auto. (Yes I looked up how to spell Teixeira).

 

As you can see it is numbered out of 99 and quite red in its background. It was already graded when I got it so I didn't pay for that fee. (I personally wouldn't have bothered to get it graded) 

Good story about Tex, last year my girlfriend and I went to Yankee Stadium for the first time to check it out when I was living in Manhattan. The girl behind us in the stands kept yelling how much she loved Tex and Swish and how great they were etc etc. I didn't really have a rooting interest in the game (it was Yankees vs Angels) (Angels won 7-1). But back to my narrative, one of the Yankees hit in the RBI and the guy this loud girl was with was like nice Riiibeee. And the girl immediately snaps back and says whats a riiibeee about 5 times until the guy answers and says RBI. Not sure of the point of telling the story but thats about all the experience I have with Mr. Teixeira (if that counts). 

Either way,  I like that he is in a Rangers uni. Looks good next to the Ryan Howard Phillies jersey. 

Thanks for reading! 

Also, I have been slowly getting organized. I have piles of every team currently on my desk ready to trade for Phillies! Not sure exactly how I am going to go about it (some have several hundred cards). But if  you are interested in a team (mostly base some inserts) Let me know and I can hold em for you til we work something out! 

Almost summer but I have Spring Fever!

Been busy with stuff lately so I didn't post the last few days. All good stuff though so no worries! I have a largish purchase coming shortly that I am really looking forward too! A huge PC hit!

I recently picked up all 50 of the Spring Fever set because I was too lazy to search for Phillies singles.. and there are no Phillies in the set! Who knew ! Either way it's still a nice looking set and I think it ran me 10 bucks or so which isn't so bad.

I like shiny, so I do like this set. It's a nice mix of players of today and yester year. I stopped by the local Toys R Us to see if Series 2 hit yet but they didn't have any. Does anyone know if they are doing the purple parallels in that series as well. If so I'm going to clean them out and have a good ole time opening packs!

My vintage collection was slowed a little bit mainly because I haven't been to a show lately and those are my favorite place to look for deals. (Picked up a sweet Nolan Ryan rookie for about 100 bucks)

I realize this post has now covered 4 topics.. I shall end it on a happy note! Summer is in less then a week and that means beach weather!

Thanks for reading!

Trade with the Junior Junkie!

I recently completed a trade with The Junior Junkie! Shockingly, he is a big Ken Griffey Jr fan and collects his cards. I sent him some Griffey's and a couple cards from my trade bait post. He sent me back a stack of cards that I'm not really quite sure how he fit them in the envelope. It was quite thick. I didn't scan them all but got a nice representation!

First comes the 'bipping' via Sarge aka Gary Mathews

Appreciate the 1984 goodness!

A couple of nice Big Hurts! The hottest guy in baseball in May Dominic Brown! One of the Phillies few bright spots! I really like the Mike Grace card. I know he didn't make it because of arm trouble but when he was on the Reading Phillies he signed a bat for me that I still have to this day!

I like the diecutness of the Pure Heat insert of Cole Hamels. The Wayne Gomes is the ever popular electric diamond subset. This might be the last card that Roy Halladay is considered a Star. I like the Phillies logo card very centric for lack of a better word.

Thanks for the trade! I'll keep you in mind if I come across any nice Griffey's!

Not sure what to post so.. hey Books!

Sticking with the current theme.. check out this mini National Treasures set I was able to compile (without buying a single really expensive box)! I would be thrilled at the book card.. but I wouldn't be thrilled if I paid 500 dollars for a box and this card sold for about 10 dollars.. But I am thrilled as a buyer! Quite a conundrum!

They look nice all together! The plain wood one and the patch are numbered out of 25 and all the others are numbered out of 99. I have to get proper one touch cases to display them all. The other books I have look good in those type of cases. I wish I had jumped on the bandwagon when national treasures was 300 box, I would've taken a shot. 500 is too much though for 8 cards in my opinion. Some of the one of ones are pretty crazy though.

One day soon I will have to get a list of my Ryan Howard's together. I'm sure it rivals my Frank Thomas collection! He has way more patch cards so I've been able to obtain a few nice ones.

Thanks for reading! (Question, is anyone collecting Topps Archives this year? I didn't get one single response about the blaster I opened)

Who loves books!

I like books. Book Cards! See what I did there! (but seriously regular books are good too) I recently picked up TWO Ryan Howard book cards! Didn't spend a fortune on either but they both look really nice in my opinion.

The first one commemorates his achievement of hitting 45 plus Home Runs for four seasons in a row! I hope to see him smack another 30-40 this year. Between Howard and Dom Brown maybe the offense will start getting good again!

This multi book card is pretty cool. It shows guys that hit a lot of long balls in a very clever saying 'Four Baggers'. From left to right, Howard, Pujols, Fielder, Vlad, A-Roid and Ortiz! Pretty solid lineup. I hope Pujols starts to hit again I'm hoping no steriod issues never pop up with him and he breaks Bond's record. He's nipping on the heels of 500(should get it this year) and he has a large and long contract to try and keep going.

Thanks for reading!

Another Awesome Monster Hit!

I picked this card up because I really like the look of it and its a One of One!

It's a sweet 2 color patch with an auto to boot! Only thing to make it better would be an on card auto. I'll have to check but I think thats 5 or 6 autos now of Mr Howard that I have! Pretty good.. I had 0 at the start of the year! I'm watching a few more one of ones that I hope to snag in the next few days! I love how much cheaper it is to snag singles then it is to buy cases and cases (although I would have fun opening cases and cases) On a completely unrelated note when I hit the Powerball I am going to quit my job and open a card store just for fun! The prices will be at cost cause I'd be able to afford that and everyone would have fun hanging out at my awesome store! Can't Wait!

Also, this card is cool, thanks for checking it out!

If you want to trade let me know always up for a good trade! (although I won't be trading the card above)

A Quick Trade and Wanna Trade?

I recently completed a quick and easy swap with The Lost Card Files! He is collecting the Topps 206 mini booklet set. I had one so I figured why not I'll start him off with a trade. Even though the one I owned has a Phillies player on it I was willing to let it go for other Phillies cards I did not have! I was quite pleased with these 2 relics!

 

The Tribute card is really sharp. I love these cards in person, never bought a pack but I always debate it. It doesn't seem like people can get the return and its so much easier to pick up singles or trade for them.

 

A nice white swatch of Mr Lee. There's talk on Philly sports talk that the Phillies should trade Lee. Yes he is our most tradeable commodity.. but hes also a lights out ace.. can't replace a guy like that. I don't like the idea of trading him but if you get Middlebrooks and some other prospects maybe its worth it. We shall see what happens if the Phils don't do well in June. 

I opened a blaster of Archives to see if I would like this years set.. I don't. I collected last years and the inserts (Loved the deckle edges and 3d inserts) This year I'm not sold on it. I will only be keeping the Phillies I pulled. If you want any of the above short prints or inserts please claim and any type of Phillies back and we got a deal!

Also I have the following base cards available if someone is collecting the set:

3, 11, 14, 16, 19, 20, 25, 27, 29, 33, 39, 45, 46, 52, 53, 56, 66, 72, 81, 82, 88, 91, 95, 96, 97, 98, 100, 102, 104, 106, 111, 113, 119, 124, 125, 128, 132, 136, 137, 140, 150, 159, 162, 165, 168, 169, 177, 181, 188, 189, 190, 192, 193, 194, 199

Thanks for reading and thanks for the trade and potential trades!

A quick .. ooo shiny

Look shiny!

Trade with a Red Sox Fan!

I recently completed a trade with a blog from Nebraska! If you click that link you can see what I sent him.. a whole mess of Red Sox cards and he sent me back a whole mess of Phillies cards.

Check it out!

 

My favorite card of the whole package is the Pat the Bat diecut. I like everything about the card, the shininess, the rookie card ness, and that its one of the players I really liked when he was here in Philadelphia! Bastardo almost blew the game today, what a nail biter! Seven run lead almost gone.. thankfully they pulled it out. Need to get back to .500 and then go from there! 

I hope JA Happ is doing alright... he took quite a liner to the head not too long ago. That has to be scary. Always appeciate the random blue parallels ( I don't buy much from Wal Mart blaster wise) so the only way I'd get these is from you great traders out there! Love the Jimmy Eisenriech press proof insert! I had forgotten about those inserts but they're awesome!

Thanks for the trade and thanks for reading!