A card redeemed!

I pulled this card before last volleyball season. I had a gift card to Modell's and bought a volleyball and some hanger packs. It was cool to hit a rarer card in one of the packs.

 

This little blue piece of paper turned into this...

 

Pretty solid on-card auto. I would love to trade it for a similar looking Phillies card.

Thanks for reading!

A nice Vintage Rookie Card

This was the last card I picked up at the card show. I had been wanting one for a while but didn't want to overspend on some trimmed card that looks nice. I figure I'm safer playing on the lower levels of grading and not messing with the ultra high end (not that I could afford it anyway) This is a nice addition to the Hall of Fame rookie PC that I am super dis-organized and pick up things randomly as I see them.

Good ole Mr McCovey. A solid BVG3. Obvious wear on the card but it still looks cool to me. It pair well with my only auto of his.

A nice one from year's past Triple Threads. Always happy to get a big check mark off the proverbial list without breaking the bank.

Been a fun offseason so far. Lots of big spenders and the market is moving quickly unlike last year. The only mysteries now if there will be any big trades. The three biggest names in my opinion are Mookie Betts, Franciso Lindor and Kris Bryant. Phillies have no shot at Betts or Lindor but the rumor around here is they want to go after Bryant. I would be totally cool with trading prospects and some major league talent for a guy of his caliber.

Thanks for reading!

I did meet Ryan Howard!

A Big Piece (see what I did there) of the card show was the opportunity to meet and get Ryan Howard's autograph in person. Obviously I have his autograph on multiple items but I never had gotten one in person from the man directly. I wanted something cool signed not just a typical bat or ball (which I already have multiple of). This was probably my most unique item that I currently own. The photo op and auto lines were pretty well run. They changed the setup a bit which I think was a good change. They turned the auto lines so it didn't clog up the one side too much which was usually a problem. There was a lot of people there for autographs for Brad Lidge and Carlos Ruiz and Allen Iverson. (among other people).

Here was my photo op photo, I have an 8x10 of it professionally printed and upstairs in one of my cases.

I was rocking my Howard shirt with all of his career stats that I picked up in the Citizen's bank lot for 10 bucks. Howard's hands are ginormous. He was nice and I'm glad he smiled in the photo. They take them real quick so who knows how they come all come out.

This is the banner folded up. We bought a curtain rod yesterday and hung it in the card room. It looks really cool with the autograph. I will have to take a pic of it completely unfurled. My ceiling in that room isn't quite high enough so it does touch the floor. This banner was hung outside of Citizens Bank on a light post, I'll have to look up which year because it does have the MLB authentication sticker on it. Not sure if it tells you which year though.

It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I got to meet him!

Thanks for reading!

A Whole lot of Shiny!

These were 2 of the shinier cards I got at the card show. I actually didn't have either of them. Surprisingly, I did not have the Ryan Howard rookie (have the base, gold and xfractor but was missing this one)

The Hamels was the most expensive card I bought at the show but I feel like it was still a solid deal and not a card I've seen out in the wild all too often.

I don't love that Hamels signed with the Braves but they did offer a lot of money for 1 year so at least it makes sense. Two very nice PC additions!

Thanks for reading!

A Team Set Complete -- 1954 Bowman!

It's been a while since I've been able to post a complete team set. I know this one isn't particularly large but complete is complete! Slowly but surely chipping away at the Bowman sets from the 50s after doing the Topps. It's one of my more fun collections to look at without all the vintage-y goodness.

The only graded card is the Ashburn. It's pretty nice. I am not planning to grade any of the other cards. They all fit my criteria for a team set. No paper loss and no crazy creasing. It's all about the eye appeal!

The card show was fun, will have some more things to say about it soon!

Thanks for reading!

A Gold white whale!

I recently picked up a tough to find Ryan Howard card. I was pretty happy about getting a reasonable price on it too since they don't pop up too often. I would've been happy graded or raw so extra protection is fine with me.

Numbered 15 out of 24.

In more important news, Ryan Howard is going to be at the Philly show this coming Saturday! I got my photo op and premium autograph ticket, can't wait!

Thanks for reading!

Couple of Shiny Future Phillies!

I not so recently picked these cards up in a package deal. I wanted a particular Harper card and these came with it. Two of the Phillies top prospects this off season. The other is probably Spencer Howard because they are in desperate need of some consistent starting pitching besides Nola.

Both cards look good in person. I'm hoping Bohm is really good. Haven't seen him play yet but he should get every opportunity to become the Phillies new third baseman. There have also been rumors that the Phillies would entertain trading Hoskins and then shift Bohm to first and then sign Rendon (made up the Rendon part but hey why not?)

Next card show coming up in December looking forward to it!

Go offseason!

Thanks for reading!

2019 Stadium Club Box Break

I like to try and open a box of Stadium club now and then. The photography is 2nd to none and sometimes get lucky and pull something cool. It's a fun box to open with every card being visually pleasing. This was a decent box the best card wasn't the auto!

 

The 2 autos were Tyler Skaggs and Chance Adams. Pretty sad with what happened to Skaggs this year.

  

The Jose Ramirez is the Chrome and the Johnny Bench is the gold minted variation.

 

The best card in the box was this Pete Alonso Photo Variation Rookie Card. Pretty nice to hit the eventual Rookie of the year variation. Didn't hit any Vlads but I'll take it!

Thanks for reading!

Back from vacation!

The blog has been a little quiet this month. I have some cards to show but I was away with the wife on vacation. We spent 3 days in Rome and 3 days in Spain. It was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed it. Also, don't gate check your bag in Rome if you are connecting to a flight in Spain. We missed the connection due to a mechanical issue and then got stuck in the Barcelona airport for 7 hours and they lost my bag. I got it back 2.5 days later but that wasn't the best experience. Glad I was still in Spain when they found it otherwise I'd probably still be waiting.

Anyway card stuff! The World Series is now tied 2-2. Solid series. Kind of cheering for the Astros cause I can't cheer for the Nationals being a Phillies fan. Eagles were terrible when I was away so now that I'm back I think they will beat Buffalo today. (I have the right to edit this later..)

Check this card out..

Pretty nice on-card auto of Hoskins. Still looking for last years Heritage blue auto at a decent price. Hoskins didn't have the best season as everyone knows but I hope he bounces back next year. If the Phillies can get some real starting pitching and between him Harper and Realmuto they could have something. Hopefully Girardi does well and gets the best out of everyone!

Thanks for reading!

1992 Fleer Ultra card!

Normally I would not get excited about a junk wax era card but there are some gems out there. I ran across this at the last card show and I had never seen one in person so I decided to buy it off the dealer. Maybe overpaid by a couple bucks compared to ebay (although with shipping not that far off) but it is my first Gwynn out and it is on-card and its pretty cool looking.

Has the Fleer stamp as you can see in the middle. Very legible and nice signature in black ink.

Gabe Kapler is still the Phillies manager. There is quite a few differing opinions now on whether he will stay or go. The Phillies are either really smart or really stupid.. can't figure out which.

Hope the playoffs are fun.

Thanks for reading!

A nice 'new' vintage card!

This was a big pickup for the Phillies PC. I've been looking for a nice looking copy of this card but they don't pop up too often in my price range.

A nice PSA 3 Mike Schmidt O-Pee-Chee Rookie card! I now have the regular version and the nice Canadian version. No creases or paper loss. A little beat up on the corners and edges but meh that's Vintage for ya. A nice card to add to the PC! I will display it proudly!

Thanks for reading! The Kapler getting fired countdown has begun (at least according to sports talk radio, we shall see)

In person trade, at the Philly Show!

I went to the Philly Show this past Saturday with my wife. I had texted with Brian from Collecting Cutch about meeting up at the show. He was there to get his awesome piece signed by Andrew McCutchen and this show isn't a bad drive for me so we always try to go to it. There is a lot of dealers and I always get to see some amazing cards in person. Maybe overpay for a thing or 2 here or there but find some good deals as well. The show has really revived over the past year or so. It was dead for a minute there and I was worried it was on its way out and the promoter has really done a good job bringing people back. It was crazy packed on Saturday. It rivaled being as crowded as it was when the Eagles won the super bowl and a lot of the Eagles players were signing in the March show. It was really cool to see so many people of all ages enjoying our great hobby.

I picked up some stuff as usual. Some old, some new.Other posts will be for that.

Brian and I exchanged some cards. Definitely new cards for me!

 

The top 6 cards were from National Baseball card day which I didn't have any of so much appreciated for those. The Hamels is a mini from a rip card so they are not particularly easy cards to find. I have a couple Phillies now from rip cards (actually literally 2). 

 

The Negative of McCutchen is a really good looking card. I like these parallels in Chrome

  

Oh yea he just threw in a Steve Carlton autograph. Ho-hum! 

Thanks for the cards, the show was a lot of fun! Glad I was able to video Cutch signing the item! 

Thanks for reading!

Fun cards

I haven't gotten too much new things in the past month. Unfortunately been spending money on life stuff but all good. I plan on hitting up the Philly show this month and hope to pick up some vintage and anything else that catches my eye there. Usually find some good stuff or random stuff.

These are the only 2 bat knob cards I own. Glad I picked them up when I did cause they do not come up often and of my PC player. He doesn't seem to be in the recent sets since he retired.

One vertical and one horizontal. One of them is Panini and one of them is Topps. Both are visually pleasing even without the logo. Two centerpieces of my Ryan Howard collection.

Go Phillies!

Thanks for reading!

Back to Back Championship!!

I have officially won my 2nd straight head to head Championship in Fantasy Baseball. I adopted a strategy early on the season that I wasn't sure was going to work. I ended up finishing 2nd in the regular season (out of 12) and getting a bye. I won both playoff rounds 6-5 and am officially the Champion. This league is tough because we limit moves. Only allowed 32 moves for the whole season so streaming pitchers would be difficult if any of your players get hurt. I ended up using 31 moves I held one at the end of the season just in case someone got hurt.

Original Roster based on draft pick round. I had first overall pick.

1. Mike Trout
2. Justin Verlander (traded)
3. Kris Bryant (traded)
4. Walker Buehler
5.  Jack Flaherty
6. James Paxton
7. Clayton Kershaw
8. David Dahl (dropped)
9. Michael Conforto
10. Yasmani Grandal
11. Jose Peraza (dropped)
12. Mallex Smith (dropped and picked back up before the playoffs for speed)
13. Luis Castillo
14. Julio Urias (dropped)
15. Greg Holland (traded)
16. Jonathan Schoop (dropped)
17. Hunter Strickland (dropped)
18. Pete Alonso
19. Garrett Hampson (dropped)
20. Jhouyls Chacin (dropped)

Draft wise I didn't do badly.  Trout was a no brainer #1 overall. Verlander was the right pitcher even though I traded him. The 4th-7th round I hit on all 4. Paxton being the worst but he was serviceable. Kershaw was great this year consistently pumping out quality starts. I took Grandal earlier then I wanted but catcher was so weak this  year. That worked out instead of having to scramble to put in a decent catcher. 

Here is the Championship roster.

C - Yasmani Grandal
1B - Pete Alonso
2B - Yuli Gurriel
3B - Vlad Guerrero Jr.
SS - Eduardo Escobar
OF - Michael Conforto
OF - Rhys Hoskins
OF - Joc Pederson
UTIL - Mike Trout
BN - Mallex Smith

I tended to rotate Pederson. For a lot of the year I also had Verdugo and would just rotate them in and out. Kind of like Dave Roberts did in real life before Verdugo went down. Escobar was a great pickup he had massive offensive numbers. Yuli I had in April dropped him and then picked him back up when he got hot after the All Star break. 

Pitchers --
Walker Beuhler
Marcus Stroman
Andrew Heaney
Jack Flaherty
Clayton Kershaw
Kyle Gibson
John Means
James Paxton
Luis Castillo
Marco Gonzalez

I rolled 10 starters most of the year. I did a poor job picking closers in the draft and one when went down I tried to salvage it early but wasn't successful so I traded Greg Holland and completely punted the category. Castillo was solid pretty much the whole year. He has a nasty changeup.

My big trade this year on paper I probably lost but it worked out.

I traded Kris Bryant, Justin Verlander, Greg Holland and Wade Miley for Max Muncy, Joc Pederson, Rhys Hoskins and Kyle Gibson. (trade done on May 4th)

Bryant was driving me crazy early in the year and I really wanted Rhys on the team so I probably overpaid. Joc would get hot now and then and Muncy when I had him was actually super solid. I ended up flipping Muncy for Vlad though. (trade done on June 6th)

Overall super happy to win back to back! Head to head leagues are tough!

Thanks for reading!

Blue-ish Harper!

I snagged this card off of Blowout in a lot. I like Harper in a Phillies uniform and I like the look of this card.

Clearly can see it's numbered. I have the base version as well (which unfortunately I paid way more for, should've waited that one out). Win some, lose some. Either way they are both PC cards. Harper's bat has really come alive this month. It's nice to see him hitting the way he should. His defense has been pretty solid all year too. I was at 2 games this year where he had really nice outfield assists. One guy he threw out at 3rd and one at 2nd. Both were really nice plays.

Thanks for reading!

2 Box Ginter Break

Despite Gint-A-Cuffs taking a year hiatus (I have no doubt it will be back strong next year) the wife and I decided to crack open 2 boxes of Ginter anyway. It was a fun break and we did pretty well odds wise.

The framed relics are rarer as in the last couple years. Two years in a row hit the Benintendi framed relic. The three other guys are Miguel Cabrera, Yadi Molina and David Dahl. Two future hall of famers and an up and comer, not bad.

Also, got this autograph in the wife's box in the last pack. Saw the blue jays team and got excited.. oh well wrong guy but still nice to hit an auto in Ginter.

Hit a nice rare Brooklyn Back mini of Orlando Cepeda. Second one of these in 2 years after never hitting any. 

Hit this Paul Molitor rip card. This is now the third rip card that I've personally pulled. The other 2 were double rips and are still intact.. this one yielded....

A Johnny Bench EXT mini.

Overall very fun break.

I am looking for these base cards if anyone has them to trade or sell.

 

5	11	19			30	39	48	50	53
56	61	65	67		91	94	105	112	119
123	125	130	137	139		160	162	166	168
183	195	204	211	213	218	222	229	236
	260	264	266	278	280	281	290	293	299

2017 Gypsy Queen Blaster Break

I rarely say no to a discounted blaster. It's always nice to get cards cheaper that may have been sitting on the shelf a while or hiding in the back and never put out. Regardless of the reason happy to help open them for less then full price. (still waiting for the dream when all of 2011 Topps Update shows up one day!)

For one blaster I did pretty well. A On-card auto of Robert Gsellman. A numbered card of Maikel Franco (out of 250). Even though I feel he will no longer be on the Phillies at the end of the year or relegated to the bench he is still a Phillies card so therefore PC. A Judge, Josh Bell and Moncada rookie cards. The missing black plate Chris Archer. Solid amount of good cards in one box.

Thanks for reading!

2019 Stadium Club blaster break

The wife so kindly picked up this blaster for me from Target (I think it was Target). I like Stadium Club because the cards really are nice. I wish box breaking wasn't so expensive. If Stadium Club had no autos that wouldn't bother me with the full bleed photography and the parallels would be enough to keep me opening it at a discounted rate. I know that's not going to happen but one can hope.

Beat the odds....

 Got one of my PC guys in Rhys Hoskins which is always nice. The Maris I just thought was a great picture. Luis Castillo has been a solid addition to my fantasy team this year so no complaints about him. The Sepia Straw is a nice looking card.

The Dansby Swanson is the Photographer's proof parallel. They are 1 in 513 packs. Pretty psyched to hit something so rare in 1 blaster box.

Thanks for reading!

Rhys Hoskins Gold Minted!

I hinted at this card a few posts back. Thanks for being patient. I finally did some scans! I am currently in between jobs so I had a minute to do it. (I wasn't fired or anything, voluntarily switching jobs for those that are wondering).

I was on the hunt for this card for a while.They are 1 per case but not numbered but they don't seem to come up super often.

 

The whole card is there, I'm just not good at scanning. The Gold really does pop in the light. I have one other gold minted card.A 2nd year Corey Seager I pulled myself in a box. I knew I had to get the Rhys rookie year for my ever burgeoning Hoskins collection.

Fantasy baseball Update.. I have 2 head to head leagues. One I clinched a playoff spot.1 week left in that one and I'm 3rd playing the 2nd place team. If I win decent I can jump him and get the bye. Either way I'm mathematically in. My other head to head currently in 5th and it's a close race, need a good week this week to stay in it. My rotisserie keeper league I'm firmly in the middle of the pack but I have 4 good keepers for next year (Betts, Hoskins, Springer and Arenado) so I just have to draft pitching and get a little lucky!

Thanks for reading!

My favorite card in my PC

Hi Everyone! I wanted to post something and I've been super bad about scanning so I don't have a ton in the folder at the moment. Do have some super old trades that I completed over a year ago which I know I'm terrible. I haven't been trading much lately mainly due to time and I don't have a ton of new cards in general. I've been much more focused in my collecting then just buying everything I see. I like to grab a blaster here or there just to see what sets look like in person but mainly pick up singles. I really do want to bust a Chrome case but the prices are just too high at the moment.

Back to the topic at hand, this is my favorite card in my PC. I pulled it personally in 1993. I opened 1 box of 1993 Donruss and got it!

It's numbered out of a minuscule 10,000. The exact odds were never revealed according to wikipedia but the general consensus is 1 in 45 boxes. I remember pulling the card when my family was visiting my Aunt in Massachusetts at that time. We posted the card up on those message board things in the early 90s to see if I could sell it. One person offered me 35 dollars and I turned it down. It's still probably worth roughly that but the nostalgic factor is way way higher.

What's your favorite PC card? I have some expensive cards of course but this one ranks #1.

Thanks for reading!

Some cards from 2016!

In honor of the National coming up I am going to post some cards that I received in the last national I went to in Atlantic City in 2016. I went for 2 days and had a blast. It was baseball card heaven. So many awesome pieces and anything from low end to high end and museum quality. I am saving up for next year in Atlantic City and planning to spend more then 2 days and have a bigger budget. I haven't yet trekked out to Chicago but one day I will. I used to live in Chicago but at that time I was in between collecting and didn't realize what was right in my backyard (or 40 minute-ish train ride) at the time.

These cards were the promo cards that Topps gave out if you bought certain boxes or cases. We purchased a couple Topps Chrome boxes and a Ginter box to get the packs. Hit a Trevor Story blue auto and a Tyler White gold auto in the Chrome. Pretty solid.

These base cards are pretty thick and shiny. They did the set well this year. Didn't pull any base numbered parallels but did manage to get 2 autos in 7 packs. One was an Austin Meadows which I sold last year and the other is Jorge Mateo which I still have upstairs.

And since we are talking the National in 2016. The centerpiece of my collection..

*Drops the Mic*

Thanks for reading!

2018 Topps Heritage High Blaster Break (2 boxes)

I was able to get my hands on one of these to break not to long ago. I know blasters don't usually pay off big but I like that I don't have to have a large monetary commitment to just see what the cards look like up close. Didn't do to bad though. Hit all the big names.

Soto, Gleyber Acuna and Ohtani. Couple rookies, couple inserts, no complaints here. The set for High Number is pretty small so to hit the big guys isn't too hard. For Bellinger's rookie year I opened 7 boxes back then and I now own 7 Bellingers. (also hit the Action Variation for those interested)

I was able to pick up one big Hoskins card this past week. I will scan it shortly and show everyone. I just think the look of the card is fantastic.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer time. Thanks for reading!

A little bit of Nola!

I have a small Aaron Nola collection going. I enjoy watching him pitch and have seen him in person several times. He had an outstanding year last year and has had some rough spots this year but he has the stuff to get through it. He pitched a gem earlier this week against the Braves. For a while his auto's were basically all in the 10 dollar range. Pretty sure I got this one for that price.

Also, added bonus, his auto is actually nice looking. Doesn't have the scribble look as many other players seem to have these days. In fairness my autograph isn't all that great but no one is paying me (yet) to sign a card for them. I like the on-cardness of Gypsy Queen. I am not a fan of the price of the boxes though so I stick to singles if I'm getting anything.

Here is a nice quartet of Bowman and rookie cards. Nothing crazy but decent action shots.

Hopefully everyone enjoyed the holiday and if you had the time off enjoyed that as well.

Thanks for reading!

2017 Topps Chrome Break

I not so recently picked up a few retail blaster/boxes of Topps Chrome. I am disappointed case prices have driven me away. One day I'll make enough money to set aside to open a case. I rarely ever sell too much so I'm not in it for the money. I just find it to be an immense amount of fun to open that much baseball cards at one time.

Here are some of the cards from the break.

 

These were the nicer X-Fractor cards from the mega box thing. (not sure what they call it) The Betts is a nice picture. I do like the xfractor design look. Only thing that beats it in Chrome is atomic refractors. How about Stanton getting hurt again, he's been really snake bitten this year. 

This was my 'big' hit! Never upset to hit an auto. Don't think he is doing to much.. (checks..) currently in Triple A and his Era is up over 7. He needs to get it going to get back to the majors. Who knows it can happen!

Thanks for reading!

Some 'older' inserts

I hate to call these old inserts, cause then that means I'm old and I don't feel old so I'm not old. Solid logic there. I always enjoy a good late 90's early 2000's insert set. I feel the creativity in the industry really ramped up because of all the competition and everyone was trying to stay relevant (also wow did they print a lot of cards!) Some rarities still hold value but most of the cards did not. Made getting back into collecting all that much more fun to pick up cards that were expensive back then and are not now.

Check out these inserts!

Upper Deck Ionix Mark McGwire and Greg Maddux Pyrotechnics inserts. I remember opening this box back when it came out and enjoying it. There are lots of different cool inserts and the cards have a nice stock to them.

What are your favorite 'old' insert sets?

Thanks for reading!