A Swing and a Hit!

Baseball season is officially over. (sad face) Let the Hot Stove begin! Some big names out there. Pablo Sandoval, James Shields and Max Scherzer immediately come to mind. Will the Phillies trade Cole Hamels? (personally I hope not, hes one of the few reasons to watch). Ruben Amaro somehow managed to keep his job, wonder who he has pictures of! These questions and more will be answered in the coming Hot Stove winter.. and just in case I forget, happy almost daylight savings time!

The title of this post comes from these 2 refractors!

I very much enjoy the home run pose. I say everyone should flip their bat if they get a home run, you hit it you deserve to enjoy it.

This 2011 Topps Chrome set is what got me back to collecting. I bought a blaster on a whim at Target and hit a pretty sweet Buster Posey refractor. I ended up buying a case.. now that was fun! It has since become my one large annual purchase. This picture is pre-injury Ryan Howard, so you know he was in fine form. Head down bat extended, bye bye ball!

Thanks for reading, enjoy the baseball off season!

A Diecut auto!

Just to show something a little bit different this time. I have a bunch of new-ish Ryan Howard's but this card does not fit in that category. I simply enjoy the design of these cards and wanted a cool auto.

Although Nelson Cruz is no longer on the Rangers, he had quite a good season for the Orioles. He was mashing the ball down at Camden Yards (fun ballpark to visit!). As you can see these are numbered to 25 and although the auto is a sticker it still works for me. These cards non sticker came 1 per box in 2012. They are nice and a welcome edition to the Topps Chrome universe. One day I'll get the non auto set. I have a bunch of these in my 2012 Chrome binder.

Only one more win for the Giants. Quite a performance by Bumgarner.. he deserves MVP if they win it!

Thanks for reading!

A Surprise from Bob Walk the Plank!

Mr. Bob Walk the Plank is a very generous trader and without any of my asking was kind enough to send a couple cards that fit perfectly into my collection! I dropped a return package in the mail so I hope he finds those cards to his liking. Blind trading can be a good time!

Not one, but two autos that I did not have!

 

Larry Bowa! Arguable the 2nd best shortstop in Phillies history (Behind potential HOFer Jimmy Rollins). It's a nice on-card signature from this year's Panini's Pastime Signatures. Nice looking set in hand, if the price keeps dropping might give it a shot. 

 

This is an interesting card of Chooch. He signed on a piece of Leather from 2005 Leather and Lumber. It will be a sad day when he leaves the Phillies. He was the perfect catcher for the pitching staff the last decade or so. His handling and ability to hit a fastball really helped the Phillies win all those games. 

Thanks for the cards Matt and thanks for reading!

Ryan Howard Rainbow Progress!

I am still working on the 2014 Topps Chrome Ryan Howard Rainbow. I have everything except the Printing Plates and the Superfractor. I've been searching but they've yet to pop up (to my knowledge).

Check out the colorfulness!

Xfractor

Purple

Orange

Blue out of 199

Black out of 100

Sepia out of 75

Gold out of 50

Red out of 25

Atomic out of 10

This year is a little bit easier then last year. They dropped out the Camo (out of 15) and Pink (out of 5) refractors. I think it was a good decision to do that. There's already enough parallels to chase each year. If anyone knows where the super or plates are please let me know! (I have all except the Super and 2 plates from last year as well)

Thanks for reading!

Trade with Remember the Astrodome!

I recently completed my first trade with Remember the Astrodome! Shockingly, he is an Astros fan! I sent him all the hits I could find and he sent me back some cool stuff! Anyone who hits up my vintage want list, I like! In the last couple weeks I've knocked off over 100 cards from the 70s and 80s! Slowly chipping away from the Phillies team sets! I've had a lot of fun slowly building into these and look forward to the chase for the 60s cards!

Without further delay, here is the mentioned vintage!

 

1972 Topps was a good year for baseball cards. The design is very pleasing to the eye. Maybe after the Phillies quest is over, this set could be next! Who knows so many things I want to do! 

Two game used cards I didn't have! I really don't have many Roy Halladay hits at all! He will always be loved in Philly though. The guy was the man when he pitched. I did go to the game last year where he was honored to get his bobblehead and he gave a short speech before the game which was nice to see. The Topps Archives relics are hard to find sometimes. The autos were actually easier odds, go figure! Thanks for the trade, if I get some more Astros in the future will let you know!

Thanks for reading!

Some More Ryan Howard's!

Cleaning up the old scan folder! Here's a nice SP from 2012 Topps (99 cents woo!)

This is quite a good photo. Ryan Howard in the batter's box with the heavy bar thing. A really nice background of Citizens Bank Park from the dugout vantage point.

This card is from 2009 and numbered out of 63! It's a now hard to find black parallel. I try and grab these as they are released because they tend to dry up in the market later.

Hope everyone is enjoying the playoffs. I have no rooting interest personally left.. so go underdog! I'd like to see the Royals win, they haven't won since the year I was born! Now that I'm old that's a long time haha! Anyways happy weekend, may the off season be fruitful for you!

Thanks for reading!

I'm Back and a Trade!

I spent the last 5 days on the West Coast visiting my brother and attending a wedding. It was a really fun time but it's always nice to come back and sleep in your own bed! The blog light is officially back on! I wanted to share a trade that happened before I went on vacation.

The trade was completed with Sports Card Mask a Rade! He has gotten a line on a guy lately with a ton of relics and autos and cool stuff. I believe I sent him some Ginter or maybe some Chrome (don't honestly remember) and he responded in kind with some Phillies!

 

A nice smorgasbord of recent releases. I didn't have any Prizm or Donruss so nice to see those Phils in the package. The Hamels is one of those White retail parallels with the raised up frames. Very nice looking card. 

I like the retail Orange Parallels. They look pretty sharp. Mr Hamels had quite a good year for the Phillies. I know they have to rebuild but I still would like to see him pitch here, gives a good reason to go to the ballpark and watch a game! Hopefully, Lee will bounce back from his injury an become the guy he has been the last couple of years.

Thanks for the trade and thanks for reading!

Looking forward to posting over the next couple of weeks!

Some gold..!

Ryan Howard's of course! One's a diecut that is from the Golden Giveaway. I'd been looking for one of these for a while and finally one came up for auction and not buy it now! Got it way cheap! I never hit any cards from the Golden Giveaway. I didn't even attempt the Chase thing they had this year (I think that was this year)

 

I will say these cards are nice in person! Bold look!

This card is from America's Pastime by Panini. I didn't personally break any of it but I was able to snag this nice gold one! Nice airbrush on the helmet but overall nice looking card. Very classic look.

Thanks for reading!

A Little bit of Nostalgia!

The year was 1993. Topps Finest packs were out of my price range (I was 8 years old!). I didn't yet start my POG selling business so I had no money. I really really wanted a 1993 Finest Refractor. I would look at Beckett (remember when Beckett was semi relevant pre-ebay) and marvel at the insane prices of the Frank Thomas, Ken Griffey Jr and Cal Ripken Jr refractors. I would daydream of the one pack and the huge payday I'd get and retire and become a multimillionaire on the spot! Good times!

Although I was able to procure a Frank Thomas refractor last year (which is awesome), this little bit of nostalgia comes from last year's Topps Finest.

Low and Behold the Ryan Howard if he played in 1993 refractor!

This refractor is numbered out of 25. The ones in 1993, I believe the estimated print run was 241 copies. (No numbers were officially released but thank god for math nerds!) I waited patiently for this card, in the beginning the prices were outrageous because there was a few set collectors with deep pockets going after these. (The Trout went for over 1K!) Eventually, it came up for auction with a 99 cent opening and I was able to snag it for much cheaper then previous! Yay deals!

The MLB playoffs, even though the Phillies are out, have been quite entertaining so far. Hope the good games keep happening, lots of fun to watch!

Thanks for reading!

Philly Show Recap!

I usually split this into several posts, but usually no one reads the last couple! (or maybe one of you) So.. I decided to put my thoughts and pickups into one post. My budget was undetermined up until right before the show. I went to the casino that week and won some money and that was my budget! We (Fiance and I) decided to go vintage heavy and maybe pick up some modern if it was something that caught our eye. We did well sticking to the plan.

I didn't get anyone's autograph in person. Roy Halladay had quite a line. It wasn't cheap though (99 dollars without inscription). It was cool to see him and Jim Bunning sitting one table over. Also, Hollis Thomas (former Eagles DT) was broadcasting on the radio (he is a massive human being).

Check out some of the stuff!

 

This is an auto from 2006 Topps Turkey Red. I wasn't collecting in those years so its always nice to get cards from them. What sold me on it is the On Cardness of it. I've gotten more picky with my Howard pickups lately and thats one of the deal breakers (unless extremely rare). Also, now I am up to over 90 Autos/Relics of Ryan Howard! Almost to triple digits! 

 

1964 Topps! Here comes the vintage focus. We took out a good chunk from 1964, Over 20 cards! 

 

1965 Topps! Another awesome set! (One day hope to get all of them) And a 1963 snuck in there as well!

Two 1957 cards, a couple high number 1961's (these are tough to find apparently) and a bunch of 1962's!

Overall, had a great time. Saw the usual dealers and some new faces. Always a ton of vintage and pre-war at this show. Also, the Frank Thomas NNOF does exist. I was able to see one in person for the first time in my life. Shame I didn't hit the jackpot at the casino to pay for that one.

We completed the 1957 Topps and 1963 Topps Phillies team sets! One card away from 1961 and real close on 62. Next show is in December. Not sure which day we will be attending (Sat or Sun) but we should be going regardless!

Made 2 box purchases as well (haven't scanned the cards yet) 2 boxes of 1989 Fleer. Hit 2 Griffey Rookies! Money in the bank!

After the show hung out with some friends and hit up mainline restaurant week. Delicious!

Thanks for reading!