Ertz so good!

Nothing else to say!

Go Eagles!

Pull of the Year!

Last year's pull of the year was a Matt Moore / Jeremy Hellickson die cut auto numbered to 5 out of 2012 Topps Chrome!

This year it's also from Topps Chrome.. but I never actually had the card in hand before trading it. Even though it's a redemption nothing beat the excitement of pulling this rare card.

As many of you readers know I was able to trade it for a Michael Jordan rookie card graded 6.5. (I wanted a graded version simply for authenticity purposes).

Every year I open 1 case of Chrome so it's not a big surprise that my largest hit comes out of it. I bought a couple other random boxes but nothing else in bulk.

Also, if you need any base cards I have a ton of extra (including an extra base set) so please let me know.

This year has been good for my collection. I changed my habits some but I believe I am more focused on what I want. I have 2 main player collections in Ryan Howard and Frank Thomas. I've enjoyed chasing their cards down. The Frank Thomas NNOF is the holy grail at the moment.

I completed my dream of owning real life Mickey Mantle cards from the 50s and 60s. I always marveled at those cards as a kid and it feels good knowing I own them now. The banner on my page is hard to top in my opinion as far as centerpieces of a collection go. I would love to own the 1952 Topps of course but the prices were a bit out of my range. (Maybe if I hit it huge at the casino I'll splurge!)

I had the opportunity to show off a ton of my Ryan Howard's and I've added a few more since. I wish him a speedy recovery and a great season!

I don't have any specific goals for collecting. I just do what I feel would be fun! That's the whole point. Most of the time I do not like selling my cards but I do now and again. I live right near a Toys R Us that usually gets a ton of those purple parallel packs. I'm debating if I want to load up on those in 2014. I had this grand plan last year to sell them off for a profit. I ended up selling a few but I'm still sitting on over 100 of them. I got close to breaking even so it wasn't a total loss.

All in all a solid year of baseball!

Thanks for reading! 

Happy days in between Christmas and New Year's!

I like these last few days of the year. It's usually semi quiet at work and things wind down a bit before the new year and then it all comes back to reality afterwards. But I enjoy it while it all lasts. The Holidays were good, no family members killed anyone!

Anyways, been in a semi collecting lull. I haven't purchased any new product since the Chrome case. I did buy a couple old school boxes recently though. A 1999 Pacific Revolution box and a 1998 Stadium Club the Odds. They weren't expensive and tons of fun! Once I get them scanned I will share what I pulled! Love 90's Shine!

Check out some other randomness!

I'm not sure if this is considered 'on-card' but it's close enough for me! I was able to snag it for around 10 bucks too which I thought was really good! I don't think it will fade based on the pen that was used. It goes nicely next to the Mike Schmidt sweet spot auto!

Thanks for reading! Hope your year end goes well!

A little bit of Jimmy and a little bit of Ryan!

I recently came across this nice looking card on ebay. I offered what I thought was fair and the seller accepted! Only 2 more months til pitchers and catchers report! The Phillies unfortunately haven't done much of anything this off season. The season may hinge on the health of the veterans. Who knows maybe we'll catch some 1993 magic and ride it to the World Series!

Here's the 2 recent Phillies MVP's! Even though the autos are stickers, the card displays quite nicely. I like the pictures with the bats and the relics work. It's a nice addition to my Ryan Howard Triple Threads collection. It may be a while until the Phillies have some more MVP's, so have to appreciate the accomplishments of these 2 guys!

Thanks for reading!

A Quick Hello!

Been rather busy this week so here's a cool card to look at !

Ooo Shiny!

Contest winnings and a Redemption received!

I not so recently won a contest from Pat over Hot Corner Cards! He had an open invitation to post your "super collections". It could be defined any way you want but just show some stuff of your favorite player collection! For those long time readers (I've been blogging for more then a year woo!) you guys and gals know I collect Ryan Howard. I have over 40 relics/autos and am always on the lookout for more. I try and grab the rare ones when I can cause don't want to miss out and I am always more then happy to trade for a few. 

Pat was kind of enough to add to my super collection. I know for a fact a few of these are new cards!

I really like the spliced in photoshop job on the 2 cards on the bottom. Makes the cards unique in my opinion. I never bought any Triple Play so the Focus card is a new one as well! Much appreciated!

I know I mentioned previously I finally received my Jim Palmer auto from Topps! Here is the card in hand! I'm glad I waited and didn't request a replacement. One more to go! I also have 7 redemptions from this year Topps Chrome that I have not entered yet. I am debating whether I want to go through the hassle or just trade or sell them off.

I know there was some chipping issues on last years five star. Thankfully this card came from Topps really clean and very well packaged. Pretty cool card, it will go nice with the signed Program that I have!

Also, if anyone is interested in the Chrome redemptions they are of the following players:

Jedd Gyorko (base)
Tony Cingrani (2 base autos)
Oswaldo Arcia (base)
Jose Fernandez (refractor)
Nick Franklin (blue refractor)
Tony Cingrani (black refractor)

Thanks for reading!

Pink Refractor!

This year Topps added some new colors to Topps Chrome make it more difficult to put together rainbows. Thankfully the Pink Ryan Howard numbered out of 5 showed up on ebay and I was able to snag it quickly. I am still searching for the Super! Any help finding it I will reward with some sort of cards!

Here is Mr. Howard in pink!

I do like the picture they used for this Topps card. The Five Star picture is kinda bad.. I don't have any in hand yet but once I do I will be sure to show it.

One card and 2 printing plates away  from the rainbow! It will look sweet next to the 2012 Rainbow once I find it. I hope the super gets pulled and known to the public at large though (always a risk when not starting the rainbow with that card!)

I have been a little bit lazy on scanning this week. I haven't had any trades but I did win a contest! So I do want to show some of that stuff. I'm slowly organizing some things and will be happy to show some cool vintage stuff in the coming weeks!

Happy holidays and thanks for reading!

Bye Bye Roy!

Thanks for the memories!

I remember his no hitter in the postseason. I was in a bar in Atlantic City (In the Trop for those that care) and I made sure I watched every pitch cause I was witnessing history! Love watching cool stuff happen in sports. (This past weekend for football was pretty good!)

Lee and Hamels are still with the Phillies, but Halladay was the rock of that rotation that won over 100 games. Check out these stats!

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO

2010

33

PHI

NL

21

10

.677

2.44

33

33

0

9

4

0

250.2

231

74

68

24

30

1

219

I remember when there was trade rumors in Philly that we were going to get Halladay from the Blue Jays. The big sticking point is should we trade young up and coming prospect Kyle Drabek. Drabek unfortunately tore his elbow not too long ago and is still rehabbing but even if he was doing well, the trade was completely worth it! Thanks for reading!

The Card Show!

I had trouble thinking of a witty title for this post, so I kept it simple. (Not that all of my other titles are especially witty). I am planning to go to the Philly show tomorrow as usual. They usually have a nice amount of tables and lots of things to look through! I've been slowly but surely tackling away the Phillies team sets from the 50s and 60s from this show. Seeing as there is about to be another one.. I never showed what I got from the last one

Everyone saw the Jordan rookie that I traded for, which was obviously the biggest card I got by far. But I did receive some other little goodies.

A couple of pretty cool vintage autos. The Bouton I grabbed cause I am currently re-reading his book ''Ball Four". It's still a great read and very enjoyable. The Virdon I grabbed well cause its 1963 Topps and if Adam out there wants it, I will gladly trade it to him.

The card on the left Mr. Jonathan Herrera.. I just liked his signature. Looks like he signed it "north" no idea why. The Joe Savery is my continued quest to get everything Phillies.

This I got from a dealer for the price of a blaster! I had never seen this auto before but I more or less know the market for Howard cards and was comfortable buying it. I've become a bit more selective in my Howard purchases, so this auto being on card was huge! He does not have a ton of on card autos out there. Tons of stickers though!

Here's hoping we complete another team set or 2 at the show! Hope everyone comes out!

For those who don't know happens a few times a year. http://www.phillyshow.com/

(I am in no way affiliated with the show just wanted to try and inform the card collecting community)

Thanks for reading!

A "Rhino" 1 of 1!

As always, I never buy boxes of Triple Threads because they are expensive and you rarely get the bang for the buck. But I am usually looking to pick up the rare Ryan Howards for way way less then the price of the box!

Check out the latest 1 of 1 from this year!

The patch is decent. Multi colored etc. I like the design of this card though. The swirlies and what not in the background make it pop out.

For comparison's sake here is a 1 of 1 from last year's triple threads.

Not as cool as background.. WAY better patch. I also like the Sapphire patches from last year too. Maybe they used up all the cool parts of the jersey on 2012. Either way, I'm happy with the pickup and it didn't break the bank!

Thanks for reading!

Silky Smooth!

I recently completed a quick and easy trade with My Cardboard Habit! He posted some cards he had received recently and I was interested in one and next thing I knew it was in my mailbox! Much appreciated.

I really like the look of these silk cards!

If anyone happens to have other Phillies ones I am interested. I believe this is my third ever silk card.

Hope everyone enjoyed the Thanksgiving/Hanukah festivities!

Thanks for reading!