Gint-a-Cuffs (Packs 17-24)

Now our exciting conclusion!!

Currently at +81

Pack 17:

Pedroia

Longoria

Hosmer

Gooden

Maybin

McCovey

Baseball Equipment Baseball Donut +2

Kris Bryant A&G back mini +5

Running Total: +88

Pack 18:

Heyward

Turner

Epstein

Devers

McCann

Lester

World's Talent Darvish +2

Maddux base mini

Running Total: +90

Pack 19:

Arenado

Flaherty

Seager +1

Eckersley

Berrios

Keuchel

Magnificent Moons Mimas +2

Nelson black mini +4

Running Total: +97

Pack 20:

Ray

Nelson

Gonzalez

Severino -1

Benintendi relic +5

Fantasy Goldmine Carlton +2

Posey base mini

Running Total: +103

Pack 21:

Brett

Schoop

Taillon

Pederson +1

Fedde

Weaver

World's Greatest Beaches South Beach +2

Matt Chapman A&G back mini +2

Running Total: +108

Pack 22:

Sano

Hamilton

Gallo +2

Segura

Smoak

Betances -1

World's Talent Jones +2

Trea Turner A&G back mini +2

Running Total: +113

Pack 23:

Ohtani +4

Clemente

Dozier +2

Marquez

McGwire

Total Solar Eclipse

World's Greatest Beaches Bora Bora +2

Folio of Fears +3

Running Total:  +124

Pack 24:

Freeman

Pence

Gehrig -1

Rogowsky

Barreto

Robinson +1

Fantasy Goldmine Henderson +2

Rogowsky base mini 

Total total: +126

Not bad, we'll see how it stacks up against everyone else. As always subject to audit! Did pretty well with favorite players and by far the rarest card in the box was the brooklyn back mini. First time I have ever hit one of those. Pretty cool! 

Thanks for reading!

Gint-a-Cuffs X (Packs 9-16)

Running total is starting at +38, onto the cards!

Pack 9:

Rosario

Sandberg

Wainwright

Sanchez -1

Dawson

Zobrist

World's Talent Acuna +2

Carlos Martinez Brooklyn back mini (1 in 248 packs) +7

Running Total: +46

Pack 10:

Moustakas

Russell

Kingery

Altuve

Bader

Arcia

World's Greatest Beaches Harbour Island +2

Tim Beckham A&G Back mini +2

Running Total: +50

Pack 11:

Stroman

Stephens

Aaron

Arcia (back to back packs maybe its special?)

Benentendi framed mini relic +6

Fantasy Goldman Jim Thome +4

Strasburg base mini

Running Total: +60

Pack 12:

Machado

DeJong

Lucroy

Mazara

Gregorius -1

Richards

Baseball Equipment Vintage Cleats +2

Gohara black mini +4

Running Total: +65

Pack 13:

Martinez

Myers

Gohara

Acuna

Bour

Gurriel

World's Talent Cotton +2

Longoria base mini

Running Total: +67

Pack 14:

Thames

Castellanos

Thome +2

Santana

Renfroe

Piscotty

Baseball Equipment Pitch Counter +2

World's Hottest Peppers +3

Running Total: +72

Pack 15:

Blackmon

Lamb

Bomb Cyclone

Greinke

Puig +1

Pillar

Fantasy Goldman Robinson +2

Method Man base mini

Running Total: +75

Pack 16:

Abreu

Kipnis

Archer

Brinson

Smith

Pederson +1

Magnificent Moons Europa +2

Mismatched Socks +3

Running Total: +81

Onto the end of the box, one more hit to go!

Gint A Cuffs X (Packs 1-8)

I have enjoyed Gint A Cuffs through the years. I've won it twice and winning is awesome. I don't care what you win at but it's awesome. If I win a raffle for a free umbrella I am the man for that day! If I win free lunch, dude I just ate lunch for free! Can't beat that! Wish the Phillies had my winning attitude. I could be the next manager! I managed my Fantasy Baseball team to the title, can't be that hard!

Without further introduction hopefully my winning box of Ginter. Always fun to open, we shall see how it treated me this year.

For the purposes of scoring my Favorite player is Shohei Ohtani and Favorite Team is the Dodgers.

Box topper:

Jose Altuve +4

Pack 1:

 Votto

Jackson

 Santana

Cain

Stugotz -1

Cabrera

Magnificent Moons +2

Running Total: +5

No joke there was no mini in this pack. Literally the first pack I opened. I was worried the rest of the box would be miniless (it was not) I'm willing to bet this pack should have had the wood mini but because of Topps screw up they were never packed out.

Pack 2:

Cole

Jones

Fulmer

Andujar -1

Riley -1

Ortiz

Fantasy Goldmine Alomar +2

Adam Wainwright A&G Back mini +2

Running Total: +7

Pack 3: 

Seager

Ripken Jr

Marte

Gonzalez

Inciarte

Almora

World's Greatest Beaches Venice Beach +2

Indigenous Heroes Pocahontas +2

Running Total: +11

Pack 4:

Cano

Koufax +1

Davis

Lue -1

Correa

Altherr

World's Talent Urias +3

Doolittle base mini

Running Total: +14

Pack 5:

Donaldson

Bryant +2

Arrieta

Bruce

Bauer

Leake

Baseball Equipment Modern Baseball +2

Postage Required Ben Franklin +3

Running Total: +22

Pack 6:

Mancini

Gonzalez

Lecomte

Garcia

Rizzo Relic +5

Fantasy Goldmine Randy Johnson +2

Koufax base mini +1

Running Total: +30

Pack 7:

Banda

Cruz

Hicks -1

Davies

Calhoun

Mejia

Magnificent Moons Encelaous +2

Josh Donaldson A&G back mini +2

Running Total: +33

Pack 8:

Jake Lamb HR Challenge +1

Bellinger

Boggs

Contreras

Franco

Bullpen Car +1

World Talent Brandon Nimmo +2

Yu Darvish base mini

Running Total: +38

Solid start!

Thanks for reading!

Fantasy Championship!

I finally won my head to head league that I've been a part of for several years now (mostly same group of guys) We do head to head, 11 categories. Last year I finished regular season in first and got knocked out in the semis. This year I finished in 4th and won the whole thing!

Check out the final roster!

C - Yasmani Grandal (20th Round pick)
1B - Rhys Hoskins (Traded for)
2B - Jose Peraza (Free Agent pickup)
3B - Alex Bregman (4th Round pick)
SS - Gleyber Torres (Free Agent pickup)
OF - Whit Merrifield (9th Round pick)
OF - Aaron Hicks (Traded for)
OF - Nick Markakis (Free Agent pickup)
Util - Trevor Story (8th Round pick)
BN - Mike Moustakas (13th Round pick)

SP - Jacob DeGrom (3rd Round pick)
SP - Corey Kluber (Traded for)
SP - Mike Fiers (Free Agent pickup)
RP - Kirby Yates (Free Agent pickup)
P - Ken Giles (Free Agent pickup)
P - Tanner Roak (19th Round pick)
BN - Joe Musgrove (Free Agent pickup)
BN - Trevor Williams (Free Agent pickup)
BN - Carlos Rodon (Free Agent pickup)
BN - Joey Lucchesi (Free Agent pickup)

This league I typically rolled 3 closers in years past. This year after I drafted them poorly I decided to go with the extra starter and just hope for saves some weeks. My mistake was taking Corey Knebel in the 7th round who I ended up dropping. Drafted Brad Hand as well in the 10th who was good but I dropped him for Yates when he was traded.

I traded Aaron Judge and Chris Archer (2 days before Judge broke his wrist) for Corey Kluber, Aaron Hicks and Mitch Moreland (ended up dropping for a pitcher)

I really killed it with Story Bregman and Degrom. They were stalwarts all year. Also Merrifield leading the American League in steals and batting over .300. The other trade I made wasn't as great but it worked. I traded Paul Goldschmidt when he was cold and Walker Beuhler (who was hurt for a while after I traded him) for Rhys Hoskins and Gio Gonzales.Gio was good for a while then went real cold. I know I'm not an expert but I targeted Bregman and Story and I made the right call with DeGrom. (7th pitcher taken in my draft)

Rhys approve of this Championship!

Thanks for reading!

Hoskins Salutes you!

I recently picked up my first auto of my new semi mini collection PC player Rhys Hoskins. I would go full blown PC but a lot of his stuff is quite pricey. I was quite pleased this card didn't grade well cause that kept the price down! I was able to snag this for 30 dollars.

Pretty nice auto numbered out of 25. The corners got dinged big but there's nothing crazy. It's fine for a raw card in my opinion and displays real nice. I have a bunch more rookies to show and would love to pick  up some Topps Chrome color in the offseason hopefully when the prices go down. Would love to shoot for the rainbow but with the waves of colors not sure I have the wherewithal to do it this year.

Hoping the Phillies finish out strong.

Thanks for reading!

Samples on Samples!

I picked these 2 sheets up at the Chantilly Card Show. The dealer charged 3 bucks for each which I thought was more then fair. I wanted the Frank Thomas's for my collection.

 

The immortal 1994 Donruss! 

1993 Triple Play

I remember as a young person buying packs of these at an LCS for a buck a piece. None of the cards said Promotional Sample on them though! Pretty cool 90s oddities. Probably not worth a fortune but meh 3 bucks a sheet I can more then live with.

Hoskins just hit his 31st HR. Despite the Phillies falling out of the playoff race at least Hoskins will have a nice follow up to last year. I hope he continues to get better. 

Thanks for reading!

Did someone say Wood (mini!)

As all of my faithful readers know I pulled a Mike Trout wood mini a few years ago from a Ginter box. I ended up selling it a little while ago for a good price to a wood mini collector. That same collector messaged me and gave me a heads up that this card was for sale. I made a super strong bid at the end and it ended well below my maximum. Happy to re-enter the wood mini club.

Also, big controversy this year with wood minis. I don't think they were packed out except in rip cards. Kinda sucks for the collectors and breakers. Those are fun cards to hit and definitely carry value. Don't know if Topps ever responded to the people's inquiries.

From 2011 Ginter! Isn't in perfect condition but it fits perfectly into my Ryan Howard PC. Rather fun cards in hand. Reminds me a bit of that old 90s insert Lumber Company.

1996 Fleer Lumber Company. Pretty great Piazza card.

Thanks for reading! I have to get to scanning for Gint a Cuff. Probably won't win  but I always enjoy it!

Take a Seat!

Bad puns aside. I did pick up this pretty cool relic card off of ebay.

A seat relic from Shibe Park. Shibe Park pre-dates me so I never was personally there. My time as a youth for Phillies games was spent in the friendly confines of Veteran's Stadium.

I haven't posted this week just been on vacation. Getting back into the swing of things shortly. Have a bunch of scans I want to share and the card room is still a work in progress. (May forever be a work in progress but it's looking better and better)

Thanks for reading!

Hope the Phillies can make September interesting before the Eagles completely take over the radio (if they haven't already, how many questions can one ask about Wentz knee)