Deal or No Deal... Deal!!!

I received a great package from the banker aka Jay Barker's Fan Blog! He is one of the more creative and generous bloggers out there and it was a ton of fun playing the game. I agonized over the later decisions and ultimately made the right choice!

Just to squelch any rumors.. If I had stayed with my original pick #14.. I would've gotten this:

Well I still got that because Mr. Wes was kind enough to send it to me! I should've switched the cases in the end, which mathematically speaking you should always do, but I digress, I like the number 14 so I wasn't going to switch if the prize wasn't what it was. (that was probably a run on sentence)

Check out the awesome prize!

 

A Whole lot of Ryan Howard Numbered goodness! I actually did sort out of my Ryan Howard numbered cards recently, debating whether I should catalog them here or elsewhere. I'll probably debate that for another 6 months! I love the black parallels for Moments and Milestones. I have about 30 of them or so. 

The Masterpieces Relic of Utley is nice and thick. Also, that set is awesome. Big fan of those cards. The Ryan Howard A&G is nice, I also like framed cards. The Lonnie Smith auto is nice too cause I didn't have one previoously!

Oh yea, almost forgot also got a sweet HOF signed baseball of Robin Roberts!

(borrowed the picture)

Thanks for letting me play! It was fantastic!

Thanks for reading!

Trade with Home Run Apple!

I recently completed my first trade with The Home Run Apple! He is a Mets fan.. hey we can't all be perfect. But Thankfully, he likes Mets cards so I can send them to him and he can send me back Phillies! Works perfectly! I sent him basically all of my Mets trade bait (at this time) and he sent me a nice package of Phillies back. Whenever I get some more Mets will let you know!

Check out the fun!

 

There's a gaggle of mini's. None of which I believe I had because they were in products before I started collecting again after a 16 year hiatus (damn 16 years!) There's a pretty sweet Rollins relic. Big fan of the frames on Ginter and Gypsy Queen. Cole Hamels, the Phillies 142 million dollar man has to start pitching like an ace but regardless nice card!

The two 'bigger' hits were from Triple Threads! The DOC is the gold version numbered out of nine! I like triple threads, its unique.. just too expensive, but more then happy to trade for Phillies!

Thanks for the fun trade! I am now up to 80 Relics/autos of Ryan Howard! Pretty freakin' awesome! I traded for a lot of those so many thanks to everyone out there!

Happy Long Weekend! and ooo Shiny!

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy long weekend, unless you have to work on Monday in which case, happy normal weekend! Also, Happy Memorial Day to the veteran's out there! I know a few veterans around my age or people still in the airforce/army etc. My Mom's husband is a Vietnam veteran as well.

Hope everyone enjoys the weather and the BBQ's!

The Phillies are very hot and cold this year, they love to either get shut out or score 10 runs. I wish we could carry over runs from previous games that we didn't need. That'd make things interesting... score a run in the 4th inning and be like nah.. we'll use that run tomorrow take it off the board.

Here's the shiny part of this post!

This a sweet XFractor rookie from 2003 Bowman Chrome. It's numbered out of 130 so there's not too many out there. The Gem Mint part was just a bonus but I didn't have this card previously. I am actively searching for the gold one numbered out of 50. There's one on ebay but he wants over 200 and the last one sold for about 100. Large price difference that I'm not willing to do. Patience is a virtue!

Thanks for reading!

Ooo look a Quarter!

This card I have been chasing for about a year or so. I saw it pop up on ebay when 2013 Gypsy Queen came out. I bid on it but lost. A year later it pops up again and I bid on it and won it for 10 dollars cheaper! It's a neat idea for a card and quite nice. They use plastic to hold the quarter in.


Check it out!

Its numbered out of 5 so they don't come up all that often (about once a year!) Howard looks fierce with the way Gypsy Queen glosses the pictures.

Thanks for reading!

Trade with the Card Chop!

I recently completed a trade with a Braves fan from The Card Chop! He expressed interest in one of my braves cards and we quickly came to an agreement! Hopefully the Phillies can overcome the Braves in the standings this year!

Check out some of the wares!

Something to see on each row. The Mike Schmidt card on the top left is from Topps HD! Definitely a new card that I haven't seen before. Very nice. I like the manufactured patches that look good too. Always like a World Series patch because that means your team was in it! I really hope it doesn't take 15 years to go back. The back to back world series appearances were too much fun not to do again!

Another random card!

This wasn't part of the trade but I have a lot of things scanned card!

A nice Rookie bat relic! Part of my Ryan Howard collection, naturally! I was able to snag this card with a few others for about 10 bucks. I was pleased with the deal since usually people ask 20+ just for the relic alone. It goes nicely with the autographed version!

Thanks for reading!

A Trade with Bob.. Walk the Plank!

I recently completed my first trade with Bob Walk the Plank! His blog name is a bit more creative then mine but that's ok, despite our creative differences we came to a quick and easy deal. I sent him all of my pirates trade bait and he sent me all of his Phillies trade bait! Trade bait that actually worked!

The only downside is I have no pirates hits left at the moment! But that's ok Bob Walk the Plank beefed up my Phillies collection quite a bit!

 

The Chooch auto is sweet, only my 2nd auto of his! The Rolen relic is a neat design for a card. The relic and the ticket in it. The Rollins Bowman sterling is nice because I'll never spend the money to open any of that product myself. 

 

The Randy Wolf auto is great! Used to love his super slow curve ball that he would always throw. Also, he had a nice fan following in Philadelphia, "The Wolfpack". A bunch of guys would dress up as wolves and do the Michael Jackson Thriller dance every time he got a strikeout.

 

 The Panini Prizm's are nice cards. I wish they had logos but as far as logoless cards go they did a decent job.  The relic in the middle of Bobby Abreu is just the front of the card.

The Marlon Byrd is the other side of said relic. I don't have many cards that are dual sided like that but I do like that type of design. I scanned a few of the extras that were thrown in as well.

Thanks for the trade, look forward to the next one if I come across any cool Pirates.

Thanks for reading!

A Few New Things!

This week has been a great week! Blog wise and life wise! Blogging wise after a bit of a hiatus from trading (I don't really have much in 2014 besides Phillies cards) there has been a flurry of activity. I completed a trade, got another package in the mail and am sending out three trades today! Can't wait for all the cool stuff coming back to me and hope everyone enjoys what I'm sending. Life wise, I had my birthday which was really fun and it's Friday!

Here's a few new things!

 

A Fleer Ultra printing plate! I don't always collect plates unless they are aesthetically pleasing. I think this one looks nice and is much clearer then some of the other plates out there. 

 

A Moments and Milestones one of one! Someone put this up as a buy it now for 5 bucks so I went for it! That's the first time I've seen one under 20! I know there is a million numbered cards in this set... but one day I will have them all! And then make wallpaper! 

Another Museum pickup. but not Ryan Howard. In my searching for Howard I came across this Schmidt. I have the circle relic from last year of Schmidt and thought it'd be cool to get this year too. It was under a blaster and cheaper then actually buying a pack of museum so I can't complain! Also looks nice on display!

Thanks to you traders out there keeping baseball cards fun!

And thanks for reading!

A Sweet Birthday Present!

Tomorrow (the 14th) is my birthday! My mom's husband is retired and is quite handy. He made me a custom case for my signed Ryan Howard bat and ball. It's pretty freakin' awesome. He also made me another case to hold cards in (which I will highlight at a later date) I just wanted to show the sweet display that is now hanging above the TV!

Check it out!

The bat and ball are nice and snug in the case. It's covered with plexiglass. You can see my Xfractor sheets on the wall behind me that are hung as well! The picture at the bottom is the history of the Phillies stadiums. A nice overhead shot of Citizens Bank as well. I'm very happy with the custom case that was made for me! Gotta enjoy the collection!

What kind of cases do you guys/girls use for your bats or cards or other things?

Thanks for reading!

Merkle Pulls a What?!

I saw this card and I couldn't not pick it up. I love words that were in style and are no longer in style and now are hilarious! He really did make a bad play though.. check it out!

 

No other words are needed!

Thanks for reading!

2 More Museums.... and a one card trade bait!

I was able to pick up 2 more Ryan Howard's the last week or so. They are both jumbo lumber relics.. which are different design of the other relics I showed but the same exact idea. More bat pieces! At least the card design is easier to tell apart. The card color border is more pronounced and noticable.

Check it!

 

This is the gold version numbered out of 10! I ended up paying .50 cents more for this one then the one at the bottom. Not bad! Nice cards overall but not worth 50-60 bucks a pack, unless you hit some hall of famer auto (check my previous post!)

Maybe the grain on the wood is different (haha) I do like the picture Topps used this time.

Now onto the one card trade bait. I happened to pick up this card chasing after a different card in the same lot. I figured no big deal, someone will trade with me!

It's Curtis Granderson and its numbered out of 5 and its wood and its mini! I know someone out there likes most or all of those things! I'd like something decent back but doesn't have to be numbered out of 5 or anything like that.

Here's a scan! Please claim in the comments and I'll respond at worse on Monday.

Happy Mother's Day!

Thanks for reading!

A heavy Museum Card! Silver Framed!

This is one of the heavier cards I own. I really like the metal in these and the on-card auto to boot. He's a hall of famer and a Phillies player so more then happy to add this to the collection!

None other then Silver signed Steve Carlton! (say that ten times fast)

Numbered out of 10 (hard to tell on the scan). And my scanner is a little dusty but the card itself is very clean. They are just neat cards, good idea by Topps. I don't think I'll ever buy a museum case but I'm more then happy to get a case hit this way! This is my 3rd autograph of Lefty. Him and Schmidt both have nice crisp signatures (readable!)

On another note, as all of you know I am going after Ryan Howard's from this year. I got beat out on the Copper parallel numbered out of 5. I put in a max bid at 45 and someone sniped me. Hopefully another pops up cause I feel like that was my only competition. They aren't particularly exciting cards, its just my insatiable need to own them all! (As collectors I hope you can relate) (if parentheses had friends I would be one of them)

Also on a really unrelated but awesome note, I am the first contestant on Wes's great blog Jay Barker Fan's Junk for Deal or No Deal! That is the one slot machine in Vegas my girlfriend and I would play. Mini story -- we were in Vegas and walked over to New york New York to check out the rollercoaster. The Coaster is right next to a video arcade. I can't resist some good gaming. My girlfriend and I were playing deal or no deal on the big machine. She had 400 tickets left and 5 tickets left. The banker offered 250 some odd tickets. I said mathematically take the deal! She was all like heeeelllls no and hit no deal without blinking an eye and boooooom FOUR HUNDRED Tickets! I jumped up and down like we had won a million dollars! Love deal or no deal!

Thanks Wes and Thanks for reading!

My Nicest hockey card! Dual auto!

I have eluded to this card for the last 2 posts. It arrived Saturday and I had time to scan some stuff tonight! I decided to show it right away since I know all dozen(s) of you are on pins and needles. I had been searching for the 'right' card for about a year. I was more then happy when I came across this one!

Without further stalling!

Jaromir Jagr and Eric Lindros dual auto! Both on card and both in Flyers uniforms! I was searching for a while for a Jagr auto specifically in a Flyers uni. He only played here for one year (and then Flyers management were dumb and didn't offer him a decent contract), so there weren't too many options. I saw the Shield Logo one of one once at a card show. I asked the dealer what she wanted.. she said 18.. I stupidly pulled out 20 bucks and said deal.. she was like uh 1,800.. not my finest moment. Smooth move. Regardless, all happiness with this card! Awesome sigs and players and my favorite Hockey team! Stanley Cup Champions.. next year!

I'm optimistic! NFL draft on Thursday! My Birthday next week! Lots of good stuff to come!

Thanks for reading!

It's kind of a Museum!

See what I did with the title there.. Museum Collection! I have been patient and been able to pick up some decent deals. I am a self proclaimed Ryan Howard "super collector". (Whatever that means!) The difference in parallels is very small on these cards. Took me a minute to realize that the borders were slightly different.

Check out the 2 extremely different cards!..

They are obvious bat pieces of some sort. Numbered out of 35 and 50. I have my eyes on the copper numbered out of 5 as well.. although they will look almost exactly like the above! Maybe that's why I like Chrome the parallels look quite different and colorful. On a happy note the Phillies took 2 out of 3 from the Nationals! Always good to beat up on a division foe.

The big cards I was waiting on came in yesterday! Once I fire up the scanner I'll be sure to share with everyone!

Thanks for reading!