Red on red auto!

         Ryan Howard has been a lot of recent releases. I haven't been able to pick up everything and prices for him have been higher then I'm used to. Which is good and bad, I guess my collection is more valuable? But I have no desire to sell it. I like my collection of him, some really unique items and stuff you can't just find by searching ebay. 

Although.. I did find this card on ebay but there won't be many more if any that pop up. I like the red border with the Phillies colors, always works.

I paid 50 dollars for it. Which was fine but now I'm seeing lesser parallels go to close that or more and I just can't bring myself to pay more for something not as nice. Happy to add another low numbered hard to find Howard to the collection! 

Baseball season is right around the corner. Had my keeper league fantasy draft today and have my re-draft head-to-head league draft tomorrow. I took off work to watch baseball on April 1st! Going to be great! 

Thanks for reading!
 

2000 Upper Deck Ionix 5 Box Break -- 1 big one!

 I was able to procure 5 boxes off of ebay for a price I felt comfortable with. I was originally planning to keep 1 sealed but eh I don't have that kind of will power. Each box is 24 packs per box. 4 cards per pack. I was specifically searching for the Griffey Auto because I've yet to see one surface (I'd overpay or pay market or whatever) (spoiler, I did not hit the Griffey auto). Regardless, these were fun to open and I did chip away at the master set I am going after. 

Lots of scans.. 

Shockwaves were the most common insert being 1 in 4 packs or so. I completed another set of them and have a bunch of triples or more. 

Next easiest to pull were the Atomics. Nice looking cards. All doubles or more as well. 

Next in line were the Bio Rhythms. Not as fancy as the atomics but still pleasing to the eye. 

The Awesome Powers fell 1 per box. It was nice to hit the Griffey, that's easily the best one in the set. 

The Pyrotechnics fall 1 in 72 packs so no guarantees to get any. Unfortunately these were both doubles. I still need the Bagwell and the Griffey to complete these insert set. 

Now here is the fun stuff. Yes, I hit 2 Warp Zones. Yes, they were in the same pack! I already had the Maddux but the Bonds is new! That was an amazing pack to open. And literally the next pack I got this...

A freaking Roberto Clemente Relic! There are no stated odds on these just listed as 350 across the entire print run. I wasn't including it in the master set originally but now I am! 

I got all the requisite reciprocals. Lots of doubles. I also now have 8 base sets if anyone cares. 

I still need the Jose Canseco, Manny Ramirez and Griffey Autos. (The Canseco I did buy in February but I think its lost in transit) 

The cards stuck together some but don't think any were damaged. I was quite pleased with how they came out of the pack. I'm inching closer to the Warp Zone insert set. Slowly but surely. It's been tough to find but fun!

Thanks for reading!

2000 Upper Deck Ionix Autos

These are not all the autos. I bought the Canseco but have yet to receive it. (been waiting almost a month so may have to get a refund and buy a different one). I do not have the Griffey or the Manny Ramirez (if you have a lead on them please let me know, especially the Griffey, willing to pay very strong!) 

 

Scott Rolen, Pat Burrell, Ben Davis, Carlos Beltran and Adrian Beltre. Beltre is a lock for the HOF. Previously, I showed the Vlad Senior auto. It's not a big auto set but has a bunch of good names. Ben Davis isn't expensive but he's actually a Phillies announcer now and I think he does a pretty good job. I like the cards are on-card and have a solid design. Plenty of white space to sign and most of the autos look bold and good even after 20 years. 

Thanks for reading!

2016 Topps Chrome!

I am still on the lookout for the remainder of this rainbow. I have the superfractor but I cannot find the gold refractor! Go figure!

This is the blue, blue wave and green refractors. I do like the look of the blue wave. I believe I also have a Miguel Cabrera blue wave that I pulled myself in 2016. I'm assuming Howard hit a double off the wall the way he's running hard out of the box and looking up at the ball. 

Thanks for reading! Almost Baseball time!
 

A nice card!

I usually don't spend big(ish) money on cards like this. As I mentioned before I am chasing this master set. It's not going to be easy. The Griffey auto might never surface. I easily got the 2nd most expensive card though. 

My first and only Jeter auto! It's on card with a bit of a smudge but it's still nice. I put in a massive bid on ebay at the end and got it for well under my max (thankfully!). 

I'm still chasing half the warp zones, only 2 Pyrotechnics and Griffey and Manny Ramirez auto. I still need a bunch of reciprocals but those are readily available so I'm not concerned about completing those. 

Thanks for reading!