The Bowmanist

Home away from home

2011-04-25T17:43:00.002-04:00

The Yanks were in one of their favorite locales this weekend for a series against the Os and came away with a couple wins. For some odd reason the Bombers treat Camden Yards like it's Yankee Stadium South.... not that I'm complaining. Saturday's game was a laugher with another 5 HRs hit.
Yesterday's game was a bit of a nail biter with the new guy in town Russell Martin getting the game winning hit in the 11th. So much for Buck's team that started with a bunch of wins out of the gate.

As of yet I have not figured out what's up with my scanner. I'm very very close to just going and buying another one out of spite. I really need to get that squared away before the '11 Bowman comes a knockin'.

Rain rain go away.....

2011-04-23T17:59:00.002-04:00

So the Yanks/Os was a washout in Baltimore last night. Will we even get to nicer weather? Will CC ever pick up win number one on the season? Will I ever get my scanner working again properly? Who knows, but I do know one thing...... relax and enjoy a homebrew. Sorry mixed up my blogs, lol

Nice one by Bartolo

2011-04-21T00:00:00.002-04:00

Nice win tonight for Bartolo Colon, his first since May 26 of '09. He smartly used all parts of the plate and kept the Jays guessing. I'll take it. Now if only the Rays and Sox kept up their losing ways I would love to get like a 12 game lead by June 1, lol.

Didn't last long

2011-04-20T18:20:00.002-04:00

So my scanner is already giving me issues. Ugh. I'm hoping a quick re-install of the drivers and software will square things away and allow me to upload moor pics of bad junk wax. Here's to figuring a quick solution to my problem(s).

The Yanks wrap up a short two game series tonight in Toronto after blowing one in the tenth inning last night. All I can say is Mo is human and is bound to not be perfect. That he has done it for this long this consistently is mond boggling. That he has done it with one pitch makes you want to question the Baseball Gods.

My man Freddy

2011-04-17T18:53:00.002-04:00

It looks like Freedy Garcia turned back the clock to 2001 and pitched lights out yesterday. If he can keep that up who needs Cliff Lee..... oh wait we do. The Yanks have shown a propensity the last couple years of finding lightning in a bottle starting pitching-wise. From Aaron Small's one year stint at greatness to Shawn Chacon doing it for half a year to Chien Mien Wangs extended two and a half years of premium pitching, the Bombers on occasion can find 'em in the weeds. Who knows.

Ohhhh and I've got a secret.......

I've got the starting pitching blues

2011-04-16T10:40:00.002-04:00

Is it me or does the Yankee starting pitching look like it is straight outta double A?
One pathetic start after another after another. When your best SP on the season thus far is A.J. Burnett you know things have gone awry. Hughes = junk. Nova = garbage. Even CC = pedestrian. There are only soo many times your lineup is going to save you from yourself.

Phil Hughes goes on the 15 day DL yesterday one day after getting the white smacked out of him. Supposedly it's a "deadarm" possibly from him throwing 190 Innings last year or so the theory goes. Does that mean that each and every Yankee prospect from now on is only going to be allowed to increase their total over the year before by 10?
Guys are going to 31 years old before they are allowed to make a full seasons worth of starts.

No need for a dome?

2011-04-13T18:10:00.002-04:00

Who needs a dome when you play baseball in the Northeast in March and April? Not the Yanks or the Mets who have fancy new houses. Two weeks into the schedule and the weather has already played havoc with the Yanks and they might miss yet another game tonight with rain. I could see a football team not wanting a dome but baseball? The season goes from March until November these days, there's bound to be some shat weather in that span. Bah.

As for one to file in the Things that make me smile collumn, the Sox and their 2 and 9 start are tops on that list right now. The Rays go for the sweep tonight and I have my pom poms out and ready.

Eat them words

2011-04-12T17:13:00.002-04:00

Sooooooo..... I guess I need to give the Rays some credit after the shellacking they put on Dice-K and the Sox pitchers. My prediction of an enemic offense lasted all of about 4 hours. Serves me right for trying to be cute/funny.

On another note I am starting to worry about our Capt. Two years ago I would have pencilled him in for 3,700+ hits easy. Now with every ounce of pop gone from his bat I dunno if he will even get to 3,200 let alone 3,500. I was hoping it was an injury that sidelined him last year, but now it's starting to look like just plain old "old age". Damn shame. Hopefully he doesn't let his ego get in the way of him moving himself voluntarily to the lower part of the order, which is where someone with his greatly diminished skillset belongs. Fare thee well Captain.

No nail in the coffin

2011-04-11T18:42:00.002-04:00

So god forbid the Yanks do themselves a favor and totally stick it to the Sox when they are down. Nope, let's grant them some clemency and let them back into this season. Bah! At least the Rays are still reeling (and with that linup their woes will continue)

I took all I had this weekend to not go and buy about 8 boxes of wax to bust. This card stuff is for real, like my caffeine addiction. Damn you Strasburg for having a superfractor last year that woke this sleeping bear!

Lakewood Blue Claws

2011-04-06T22:16:00.002-04:00

So I've been tossing about the idea of buying season tickets to the Blue Claws, a class A affiliate of the Phillies. Tickets are pretty cheap, like whole-season-for-price-of-a-single-Yankee-ticket kinda cheap. They had a pretty stocked team last year, but most of those guys have moved up to AA ball. Anybody dealt with them or have any experiences good or bad?

So much for our bullet-proof pen

2011-04-05T23:09:00.002-04:00

Well, it couldn't last forever. I'm talking about the seemingly endless winnging streak against the Twins at the Stadium. They started off nice and strong with Tex ripping another shot, followed by Andrew Jones' first of the year, but couldn't seal the deal.

Oh and I swear by all that is holy I will figure out the whole scan/bucket/upload scans thing. I swear it!

One more month

2011-04-04T17:46:00.001-04:00

So we are about a month away from the release of '11 Bowman and I'm itching up a storm to rip some. I plan on pre-ordering a couple boxes of both jumbo and regular hobby. I know the ceiling isn't as high as the '10 product, but I'm still super-stoaked for the product

Let's go Yanks!

2011-04-04T17:40:00.003-04:00

So I'm kinda late for opening day..... oh well. Pitching looked kinda spotty this weekend but it's early. The Bombers open a series against the Twinkies tonight at the stadium, let's look for three out of four! My thoughts on a couple of subjects for the spring:

Montero needed more seasoning so starting the year in AAA was ok with me

Romine wasn't nearly as close to being big league ready as was advertised

My heart wasn't set on either Colon or Garcia, so no tears there

Tex spent alot more time this offseason doing baseball related things.... and it looks it after 3 games and 3 HR

Next year I would expect two of the three "Killer Bs" to really make a push into the starting five. All of them have live arms and look like they know how to use them

Update for March

2011-03-12T22:26:00.003-05:00

I've bought a some cards recently but have not been giving the instructions necessary to scan/upload into the blog. I'm hoping to rectify the situation soon. Stay tuned 'cause they include a nice variety.

Scanner-rific

2011-02-20T16:40:00.004-05:00

So I broke down and bought a scanner this weekend whilest picking up a wireless mouse/keyboard for some tv/pc from the couch action. Gotta love it. Now if only I had Alec show me how to get the pics named and then online into my 'bucket. I think I'll try to play with it a bit and see how much damage I can do. Stay tuned

Now you've done it

2011-02-14T17:16:00.004-05:00

So I was out and about do things on Saturday when I realized I needed a box to put all of the junkwax I was busting. A hum and a haw later and I picked up some 2011 Topps series one and some 2010 Bowman Prospects and Draft Picks. Wow. All I can say is wow. The Topps base set is great looking, in my eyes, with an absolute ton of parallels and the BDPP is a continuation of the '10 Bowman line. I have to give the Topps two thumbs up and the Bowman gets one up and one down even after I pulled a red refractor of Addison Reed.

Forgot about Andy

2011-02-11T20:33:00.002-05:00

I can't believe I forgot to post about Andy Pettite's retiring from baseball. A truly great guy and a standup fella. Good luck to you wherever you go Andy..... you will be missed.

Updates

2011-02-10T17:18:00.001-05:00

My buddy is coming down next weekend and I'm hoping to have him help me update the blog a bit. Maybe a little spring cleaning is in the works

Getting the itch

2011-02-10T17:09:00.002-05:00

So I am putting up "the good fight" with regards to buying cards, but with the Topps series 1 looking nice and with the 2011 Bowman due out soon, I dunno how much longer I can control the beast. In the last couple days I have had to turn off the computer to help fight the urge. I have even hesitated going to Target and passing by the card display there for fear of the repercussions.

Maybe I'll head to my Dad's and play with my cards to feel better, or will that make things worse?

Sorry 'bout that

2011-01-26T00:09:00.003-05:00

Sorry that I haven't posted much lately, been very busy with vacation and then 40 hours of training this week on top of my regular work hours. Things will return to normal soon. I'm almost outta junkwax so I will need to make a trip to Target for "housegoods" soon, lol.

Just saw the 2011 Topps design and wasn't thoroughly disgusted so that's a good thing. Awesome contest going on over at . Check it out.

edit. I just noticed that the link I tried to put in this post didn't exactly work. Damn I hate being so computer illeterate.

Now playing on ESPN the ocho.....

2011-01-11T17:15:00.002-05:00

So I guess it's been awhile between posts and I didn't even realize it. My bad to all who were harmed or involved in any way. I'll more than make up for it EIGHT count 'em eight packs of junkwax. Let's start the show.....first up

2008 Topps Opening Day

#94 Moises Alou
#16 Cole Hamels
Matt Holliday mural piece card
#178 Carlos Lee
#160 Lance Berkman
#66 The Big Z Carlos Zambrano

2007 Upper Deck Baseball Series Two

#826 Oliver Perez
#980 Cameron Loe
#577 Joel Pinero
#880 Michael Bourn RC
#599 Carlos Zambrano

2007 Topps Baseball Updates and Highlights

#UH324 Dan Wheeler
#UH113 Wille Harris
#UH 54 Mark Teixeira
#ARHR393 Arod Road to 500 refractor shiny-ness
#UH258 Miguel Cabrera
#UH224 Prince Fielder

2009 Upper Deck SP

#65 Randy Johnson
#2 Derek Jeter
#66 Jay Bruce
#31 Jon Lester
#87 B.J. Upton

2007 Topps Opening Day

#15 Magglio Ordonez
#134 Jason Bay
#3 Jake Westbrook
#144 David Eckstein
#178 Delwyn Young RC
#56 Javier Vazquez

2007 Topps Baseball Updates and Highlights

#UH62 Mike Fontenot
#UH63 Cesar Izturis
#UH56 Jamie Burke
#UH166 Felix Pie RC gold 833/2007
#UH160 Hunter Pence RC
#UH217 Placido Polanco

2009 Allen and Ginter

#189 Casey Kotchman
#111 Jason Giambi
#213 Stephanie Brown Trafton (female discus champion)
#136 Mickey Mantle
#130 Johnny Damon mini
#NP66 Joba Chamberlain National Pride

2008 Topps Opening Day

#195 Chin-Lung Hu RC
#107 Rich Harden
#33 Dan Uggla
#157 Brian Roberts
#158 Bobby Abreu

Oh my that's some list today

A day late and a dollar short

2010-12-26T17:08:00.001-05:00

I know it comes a day late but merry Christmas to everybody out there. Hopefully everybody got what they asked for from Santa. I'm still waiting on that '52 Mantle from jolly ole St. Nick.....lol.

Last week/this week

2010-12-19T17:20:00.002-05:00

Sorry but I forgot to post last week's wax bust. I decided that 3 packs were calling my name quite loudly last week, and to remedy the situation I needed to free them of their packing restraints. Here's the results

2009 Upper Deck Icons

#35 Dustin Pedroia
#75 Mariano Rivera
#21 Chien-Ming Wang silver parallel
#74 Manny Ramirez
#47 Jason Varitek

2007 Fleer Baseball

#292 Nick Markakis
#299 Andrew Jones
#164 Kenny Lofton
#22 Kevin Millwood
#76 Chris Young
#368 Adam Lind RC
#332 Josh Fields RC
RS-CB Chad Billingsley Rookie Sensations
#11 B.J. Ryan
#385 Derek Lowe Dodgers checklist

2007 Fleer Ultra Baseball

#71 Miguel Cabrera
#26 J.D. Drew
#155 Brian Giles
#143 Zach Duke
HM-TG Troy Glaus Hitting Machine

and this week's beauties....

2007 Upper Deck Series One Baseball

#244 Scott Downs
#304 Clint Barmes
#178 Bobby Crosby
#158 Joe Nathan
#90 Bobby Jenks
#468 Chad Cordero
#465 Ramon Ortiz
CRTG39 Cal Ripken Jr./Tony Gwynn Road to the Hall gold foil

2009 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions

#134 King Felix Hernandez
#16 Abraham Lincoln (sweet beard on this guy!)
#17 Rollie Fingers mini (in old school A's attire)
#73 LeBron James (in funky yellow Cavs jersey)

not a bad assortment of junkwax

Greinke to the brewcrew

2010-12-19T17:17:00.002-05:00

So I guess 7 years of losing in KC has taken it's toll on Zack Greinke. Reports today say he is getting granted his request to be traded and he's landing in Milwaulkee for a couple prospects and some cash. Hope he finds what he is looking for up there.

Man crush on A-Gon

2010-12-06T20:27:00.002-05:00

So Theo Epstein's man crush on the Padre first baseman finally comes to fruition.... he has only coveted the poor guy for the last 3 years. You can get off his jock now Theo.

Seriously?

2010-12-06T20:25:00.001-05:00

I know that the Nats have to overpay to get free agent talent to even look in their direction but $126mil for Werth? Come on

New deal for the Captain

2010-12-05T17:27:00.002-05:00

So word on the street is that the Yankees and Derek Jeter have agreed to a three year deal with a player option for a fourth. The first part of the contract is three years for fifty one million.

Also being bandied about is that Mo Rivera has worked out a two year deal worth thirty million.

I wont cry about either deal although coming off last year the Jeter deal is a bit high for my liking.

Feeling frisky

2010-12-05T17:10:00.003-05:00

So I was feeling adventurous today and opened four packs instead of two of the ole junk wax. Here's the results:

Topps Stadium Club 2008

#40 Eric Chavez
#95 Honus Wagner
#91 Jackie Robinson
#121 Matt Tolbert RC
#9 Alfonso Soriano First Day Issue Shiny

Goudey 2009 Baseball

#57 Aaron Harang
#12 Tim Hudson
#96 Matt Kemp
#58 Edinson Volquez mini
#35-22 Santo/Sandberg/Ramirez/Lee quad red bordered
#178 Albert Pujols
#166 Kevin Kouzmanoff
#119 Justin Morneau

Topps Opening Day 2008

#85 Melky Cabrera
#199 Radhames Liz RC
#73 John Maine
#177 Jhonny Peralta
#91 Jeff Kent
#80 B.J. Upton

Upper Deck 2009 Baseball

#34 Carlos Guillen
#38 Lance Berkman
#39 Carlos Lee
X2-MT Mark Teixeira Xponential shiny
#18 Carlos Zambrano
#61 Joba Chamberlain

edit. Here's half of the '10 Bowman Chrome blaster from the other day

#57 Micheal Cuddyer
#USA-12 Henry Owens USA Baseball
#BCP194 Trevor Reckling
#163 Dexter Fowler
#66 Kosuke Fukadome
#USA-13 Phillip Pfeifer III USA refractor #92/500
#189 Scott Sizemore RC
#83 Clay Buchholz blue refractor #77/150
#BCP123 Nicholas Hernandez
#199 Drew Storen RC
#171 John Lackey
#BCP186 Jhan Marinez

Bowman Platinum out early?

2010-12-02T17:18:00.002-05:00

A couple places on the interwebs reported that retail packs of '10 Bowman Platinum are showing up in large common goods stores. I will look when I'm out and about this weekend. Although I wouldn't be surprised if hobby packs don't come out until January-ish.

Bust that cheap wax!

2010-11-30T16:46:00.003-05:00

I opened up a couple packs of cheap wax the last couple weeks and have totally forgotten to submit my pulls here. Sooooo for your viewing pleasure:

From two weeks ago:
2007 Upper Deck Series 2

#708 Jorge Julio
TS-KO Kory Casto, Ticket to Stardom
#966 Edwin Jackson
#597 Juan Mateo
#811 Lew Ford

2007 Topps Series 1

#111 Felipe Lopez
#109 Billy Wagner
#262 Ryan Braun RC
#199 Ryan Shealy
#152 Adam Everett
#60 John Smoltz

From last week

2009 Upper Deck Icons

#87 Roy Oswalt
#24 Clayton Kershaw
#48 Jake Peavy
#21 Chien-Ming Wang
#73 Magglio Ordonez Silver parallel

2009 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions

#2 Derek Jeter mini
#137 Prince Fielder
#72 David Wright
#187 Joe Alexander (bareback horse riding champion)

And finally this weeks goodies:

2007 Fleer Baseball

#239 Jake Westbrook
#309 Chipper Jones
#142 Johan Santana
#166 Julio Lugo
#27 Micheal Young
#360 Juan Morillo RC
#324 Jeff Baker RC
RS-LO James Loney Rookie Sensations
RS-NM Nick Markakis Rookie Sensations
PN-CJ Chipper Jones Perfect 10

2007 Topps Baseball Opening Day

#15 Magglio Ordonez
#134 Jason Bay
#183 Drew Anderson RC
#120 Chad Billingsley
#31 Chad Tracy
OD Puzzle piece #28 Ichiro

Also I had picked up a blaster of '10 Bowman Chrome and I will post results when I open next weeks' junk wax

Bust 'em Open

2010-11-29T16:50:00.002-05:00

So I opened two of those misc. packs from Target but I keep forgetting to post what I pulled, lol. I will do last weeks' and this weeks' tomorrow and go from there. I do know that one of the packs contained a Jeter mini card but that's all I can remember.

Crazy numbers

2010-11-18T18:27:00.003-05:00

So today the first inklings of the Derek Jeter negotiations have leaked and I'm aghast.
The numbers being discussed, supposedly, are in the 3 years at 21 million a year range. Now I'm as big a fan of the Captain as anybody, but c'mon. In my head the other day I bandied about 10 to 12 million a year for 3-4 years sounding about right, but 21 for 3? I know all about "the Yankee Brand" and know what he symbolizes to the game and it's fans, but let's get real here.

Couldn't stand the pressure

2010-11-18T18:22:00.002-05:00

So I was in Target last night picking up a 30gal tub for my new home brewing operation when my curiosity got the better of me. I made the fatal mistake of just "looking" to see what cards they had gotten in since the last time I was there. I managed to get out of there, just barely, with 2 of the prepackaged 10 pack for $10 that they offer. All kinds of older wax in them, And I plan on busting open 2 packs a week until they are gone. I'll let you know the results as soon as I get started.

The King!

2010-11-18T18:15:00.003-05:00

King Felix won the AL Cy Young award today with Price finishing second and Carsten Charles in third. Roy Halladay won the NL unanimously the other day with Wainwright finishing a distant second. I like both picks. Roy was incredible in his first season in the senior circuit and Felix pitched lights out the few times that I got to see him on tv this year. Granted 13 wins is not so great, but when you pitch in front of a no-show offense it's pretty impressive.

Save them wrappers?

2010-11-11T17:47:00.005-05:00

Maybe it's just me but typically I don't keep the wrappers of things I buy. That turkey sandwich for lunch? I threw away the wrapper. My brand new TV? I threw away the wrapper and the box it came in. I would have never in a billion years saved the wrapper from a pack of cards, but evidently that's exactly what Topps expected you to do with their '10 Bowman Chrome cards. For every 18 wrappers you return to them, they send a 5 pack of black bordered parallel cards. What a joke. That's so funny I forgot to laugh and I bought none of the product. If I had bought a couple boxes or a case or two of said product, I might be inclined to burn the whole lot of 'em. This has left such a sour taste in my mouth about collecting that I'm seriously giving thought to giving up collecting/never buying another Topps product.
Who was the genius who thought that giving Topps exclusivity to MLB licensed cards was a good idea for the hobby? Shame on you sir/madam

Cash in Arkansas

2010-11-11T17:39:00.002-05:00

Brian Cashman was in Arkansas visiting with Cliff Lee and his wife yesterday. Supposedly it was just a meet and greet kind of thing with no money or offers taking place. With the absolute lack of quality starting pitching on the free agent list this year, the Yanks are pointing their sights on Lee in a big way. I just hope his 32 year old body can hold up over the course of a 4 to 7 year deal. Kevin Brown part 2? I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.

Ouch!

2010-11-04T23:02:00.002-04:00

At this rate my hiatus from opening wax will be out the door by the end of the week. The prices on the '10 Bowman Chrome are dropping and dropping fast. I might have to buy a couple boxes at this rate. All kinds of discussions about it over on FCB. But who knows....

Congrats to the champs

2010-11-02T23:53:00.001-04:00

Congrats to the Giants of S.F. for winning it all this year. I wish I had more Posey/Lincecum in my collection. Hell I'd even take a wee bit of Matt Kain in my collection at this point, LOLOL.

First Time Winner

2010-10-27T17:16:00.003-04:00

So the Series starts tonight between the Giants and the Rangers and I can honestly say I am not at all interested in it. Maybe it's due to my Yanks getting spanked by Josh Hamilton and Co. or maybe it's because I just don't give a damn.

The Yanks looked old and will look older still unless some pretty big changes are made. As much as I love the Captain I think it's time to consider moving him to 3rd. Make Arod the full time DH with promises of 600 ABs and either use one of our kids to man SS or find someone. They will also need to pull Posada from behind the plate where he has looked like a tired old man defensively. From what I've heard neither of the 2 stud catching prospects they have are ready for the big show. Montero can hit but can't field or throw any better than Posada and Romine may actually be the better all around option of the 2. I'd hate to stick Jorge on the bench as a pinch hitting stick but that might be what he has been reduced to as Texeira is going nowhere at 1st and is an absolute black hole over there defensively. Woe is the Yanks woe is them, lol.

Looking grim

2010-10-20T16:48:00.002-04:00

So the Yanks today are facing elimination, and I'm hoping that the new stadium has just a little bit of the magic from across the street in her today. They need it as their bats have been turned off and the bullpen has imploded the last 2 games. Hoping to see it go back to Texas for games 6 and 7.

Also a guy I know tells me that a couple of the places he buys wax from are dropping the prices on most of the recently released Topps products. Guess having the Goldenboy hurt and a very edited auto checklist didn't impress the public much.

ALCS bound

2010-10-12T17:54:00.002-04:00

Tonight the Yanks find out who they get to play in the next round of the playoffs. I'm divided on to who I want to play. If I had my druthers I think I would like a 19 inning affair with the Rangers pulling it out in the end. Tampa plays a great brand of ball and we don't fair very well against their speed. Let's go Yanks

A Great Listen

2010-10-12T17:38:00.002-04:00

Today on WFAN Mike had Jane Leavy on talking about her new book The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle. It was the best hour and a half of radio that I've heard in a long time. For any Mickey fan it's a must listen. A ton of new revelation and twists on old stories.

It's unbelievable to think that he played the '52 and '53 seasons on a non-surgically repaired kneeas had been repoted. The whole knee was shot and he still dragged himself out onto the field to play day in and day out. No wonder they were such pedestrian years numbers wise. Can you imagine a guy today going out and playing on a hurt knee let alone a devastated one for 2 seasons?

I'm too young to have seen him play in person but was raised by my father to be a Mickey guy. The only Mickey story I have is the day of his passing. I was dating a girl and we were sitting in my den watching tv when the story came on. I burst into tears and my girlfriend couldn't understand why I was crying unconsolably. I told her of the stories my father would tell me at bedtime and how "The Mick" was my guy, almost a mythical figure in my formative baseball years. She just didn't get it. He was the guy in my eyes flaws and all. Hard to beleieve he's been gone 15 years now.

Yanks and Rays

2010-09-21T17:04:00.003-04:00

This week the Yanks face off against the Rays with the top spot in the A.L. East on the line. Nice win last night and for 5 innings Nova looked good, but that 3rd time through the order seems to catch up with him. More later.

The Golden Boy goes down and the Yanks put on their hitting shoes

2010-08-30T22:01:00.003-04:00

Damn shame about Strasburg going down and needing "Tommy John" surgery. From everything I've read on the subject he should do fine and we will see him in about a year and 3 months to a year and a half. Hopefully the hobby doesn't take a huge hit in his absence. Actually some of the medical reports I've come across say that guys throw harder after they get the surgery done. Imagine that kid throwing harder than 101-102? Craziness.

My Yanks are actually scorching the ball the last couple days and it's got me wondering about the randomness of baseball and how much that days starting pitcher plays into the game. They can go out and get 6 hits over 3 days against guys who should be parking cars and then go out and terrorize grade A prime guys. More craziness

Damn them Jays

2010-08-24T16:57:00.002-04:00

I don't know what they are putting in the water in Toronto these days, but the Blue Jays seem to like it(or at least when they are playing the Yanks). This year they have played the Bombers with such gusto that you would think they were in the battle for first. They pitch....they hit....they do both and I'm not sure how they are so far behind in the standings.

So hard to stay away

2010-08-23T17:19:00.002-04:00

So I was out and about in my local Target picking up a few things and as I walk up to the cashiers I have to pass by the card section. All they had was crap but it was still sooo hard to stay away and not pick up a pack or 2, lol. Damn my self control.

Topps Triple Threads delayed

2010-08-17T17:36:00.003-04:00

Just heard word that Topps Triple Threads have been delayed until sometime in September. Don't know about you but I will probably buy a couple packs unless they really blow my doors off. The only thing that I'm kinda waiting on at this point is the Bowman Platinums and then the '11 Bowman in the springtime

Tigers coming to town

2010-08-16T18:04:00.002-04:00

Johnny Damon and the tigers come to town to play 4 starting tonight. And yes I was one of those guys that was yelling at both sides to get a deal done this offseason. Both sides were stubborn and got hurt because of it. Do I miss his bat? yes. Do I miss his average at best D or his limp-wristed throws that travelled all of 90 feet? no. But he deserved better from the Yanks. His "double steal" in the WS last year was an instant classic.

3 bombs

2010-08-15T18:31:00.002-04:00

Arod goes out and hits 3 long shots last night in an 8-3 win and the Yanks as a team today can't muscle a single run. Figures. His third of the night was of the moon-shot variety into the fountains in deep left center. I think I heard it was a 439ft. job. As soon as he hit it you knew it was going out. Not a question of if it would go but how far it would clear the fences.

Kinda slow

2010-08-12T17:46:00.002-04:00

Things have slowed for me card-wise. I have realized that my Brother's wedding and bachelor party are coming at me fast, so card spending has been brought to a halt. I plan on getting a scanner soon so that online trading will be possible and cut the buying out until I have a healthier wallet. I've also realized that I have too many hobbies and devote way too much attention to each of them and I need to pare down my list just a bit. More later.

The Cap'n makin' it happen

2010-08-08T23:21:00.002-04:00

Congrats to the Captain for passing Babe Ruth on the all-time hits list. Sometime next season he will be added to the list of gents with 3000 hits. That's some nice company to be in.

Oh and not that I think that Buck won't let the Os lose another series this year but it's nice to see tham play hard for him. They are too proud a franchise to mire in that kind of funk.

Didn't quite make it

2010-08-08T23:18:00.002-04:00

Well..... we hit a bunch of traffic on the way up from NC so unfortunately I wasn't able to visit the National card show this year. Too bad as I've never been to one and would like to go just for the experience. I read that the pickins were kinda slim this year with alot of empty booths, I'm hoping this doesn't dissuade them from bringing it back to Baltimore sometime soon.

Out and about

2010-08-06T18:46:00.003-04:00

I'm away from home this weekend down in NC picking up my brother. He's back in the states and happy/healthy. I might try to go to the National card show in Baltimore on our way back up to NJ

The new guy(s)

2010-08-02T18:27:00.002-04:00

So the Yanks went out and got Austin Kearns, Lance Berkman and Keery Wood. You'll have to pardon me if I dont exactly fall all over myself crowning them the '10 World Series champs. Granted, the guys they replaced weren't exactly Joe D., Lou Gehrig and Whitey Ford but come on.

I ended up divvying my AL and NL book into 3 divisions apiece. And I took all of my Autos and GU cards and stuck them in with my vintage/random cards. Hopefully that will make just a bit of sense of what to do with them. And those Topps Tribute cards are very thick, so I don't know what I will end up doing with them.

No no Joe, not like that

2010-08-02T01:20:00.002-04:00

So why does Joe Girardi think that resting guys when we are playing the team that is chasing us a good idea? The Yanks play the Jays the next 3, so why not rest some of these guys then? And I know that even in a good year your team will lose 60 or so games, but why go out of your way to make it against the number 2 in the division..... makes no sense.

I got my first look at the '10 Topps Tribute and all I can say is wow. They are a fantastic looking card. The pictures you see of them online don't do them any justice at all (in my eyes). Pulled a couple nice ones, but I'll have to post them up later.

Good luck to Buck

2010-07-29T17:03:00.003-04:00

Congrats have to go out to Buck Showalter for landing the manager's job with the Orioles. Buck is one of my all-time favorite baseball guys and if not for the incident involving Brian Butterfield he might still be the Yankee manager. Good teams seem to pop up anywhere that Buck spent some time. Granted he can be a bit controlling and sometimes goes overboard with his micromanagement but he's still a great baseball mind.

edit. I had originally posted this about 2 weeks ago when the rumors first started to surface so if this seems familiar it is.

More books

2010-07-28T19:19:00.002-04:00

With most of the cards I've bought now catagorized and teamed I have realized that I'm gonna need more than 1 book per league. I'm thinking maybe one per division and see how that goes. I've also taken all of my pre-'60 cards and maybe a seperate album and paired them up with all of the non-team cards I have like the '09 WBC and randoms.

No love

2010-07-27T16:30:00.000-04:00

So I got asked the other day about the Allen & Ginter cards from Topps and why I didn't have any. I tried to explain to my friend that although I like the look of the cards and I'm kinda into the nostalgia thing they just don't do it for me. If I wanted to get a card of a wrestler I'd buy wrestling cards. Ditto for dinosaurs and sailors. I know that in the original 1880s A&G set those kinds of cards were also included, but it just doesn't make sense to me. I guess it's something different to collect or a break from baseballbaseballbaseball. I guess.

Last of a generation

2010-07-24T11:08:00.003-04:00

Got the last package of purples I ordered with yesterday's mail. 3 of them with a /777 refractor tagging along.

Picked up Pedro Ciriaco purp ref BCP18 #701/999
Kiel Roling purple refractor BCP63 #706/999
Pedro Florimon purp ref BCP25 #770/999

and

Wilmer Font refractor BCP87 #329/777

So with 3 of the subsets of the '10 Bowman done and out of the way I need to start trading instead of buying. I have a nice little box of cards that hopefully somebody will find interesting enough to want to trade me their purples, lol. I'm guessing a scanner is up next to make a whole trade list of what I have much easier. We'll have to see.

edit. update to the checklist page 7/25

Quick trip to the store

2010-07-22T17:25:00.002-04:00

I got the call yesterday that the '10 Topps factory set I ordered was in, but I couldn't make my way up to the card store. So today after the day job I headed up the highway to pick her up. My usual guy Bob wasn't working behind the counter so I didn't really stick around and BS like I usually do. After hearing about the 5 red parallel cards included in all the factory sets, I had to fight the urge to open it up to see who I got. The sets are relatively cheap so maybe I'll pick another one up.

Pay to play

2010-07-20T22:33:00.003-04:00

Last week I had spoken about putting up a list of Yankee prospects and doing a kinda report card half way through the year. Well it turns out that BBA charges for access(which I didn't know) and I'm a little low on funds at the moment so......I'll have to put that prospect report card on hold for a bit.

I do know that Jesus Montero seems to have gotten his swing back. After suffering an injury to end last season it looked like the kid was either still injured or had been possesed by the spirit of a light hitting ghost second baseman. It looks like the kid is feeling better because he has been killing the ball and he has his sweet swing back. Here's hoping that he keeps it up and makes a run for making the big club next year.

Something different

2010-07-20T17:53:00.002-04:00

I decided to try something different this week..... different being '06 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects, lol. Busted a couple boxes looking for that pesky Longoria auto Superfractor that is as of yet unseen. I get into my second box when I open a pack and see a shiny in the middle. I quickly flick through the other cards on the way to the shiny and find that it's a Longoria......it's an auto Longoria..... it's a #/500 auto'd refractor of Longoria and not the missing link. My heart skipped about 4 beats when I was taking all of this in and finally restarted when I went to bed last night. To be honest without the cards sitting in front of me I couldn't tell you what else I pulled. I know it was a couple autos and some GU patches. Even a couple of those Xfractors. I will edit when I have the chance.

Telephone tough guy

2010-07-18T13:02:00.002-04:00

So A.J. Burnett decides to go on a little rampage last night and hurts himself in the process. Why should I not be surprised? God forbid the guy just pitches to his contract or even close. He's the right handed Yankee version of Ollie P. Then he decided to lie about it and tried to cover it up. Good luck living that one down with your teammates chief. What a joke.

On to other news just a lone purple in Saturday's mail. A very off centered Alex Colome
BCP43 #419/999. How is it that it's now 2010 and Topps still can't figure out how to get their cards centered? I'd say about half of the nicer cards I've pulled or bought off the bay have centering issues.

Another one bites the dust

2010-07-17T10:55:00.003-04:00

I completed another subset of the B yesterday when I booked the last of the Bowman prospects base cards. I think I might even have doubles of the whole thing, lol. Not only that but I'm also only VERY close to the finished base set. Watch out now!

edit. After looking through my A.L. and N.L. books I found the 3 Bowman base cards I needed to finish the set. Supersweet

Banner mail day

2010-07-16T16:41:00.002-04:00

It turned into Christmas morning part 2 today when tons of packages were waiting for me when I walked in the door. My box of '10 Bowman jumbo hobby and a TONNE of purple-y goodness were laid out like a deck of cards awaiting my guidance. Lets get to the box break:

Bowman base blue:

Jeff Francoeur 93, #215/520
Adan Wainwright 104 #417/520
the Panda Pablo Sandoval 162 #150/520
Brian Roberts 37 #434/520

Bowman prospect blue:

Byron Wiley BP24 #058/520
Bo Bowman BP12 #272/520
Jhan Marinez BP31 #299/520

Bowman base gold:

Mike Leake 196
Jason Heyward 200

Bowman base orange:

Delmon Young 137 #231/250
Tyler Flowers 210 #181/250

Bowman prospects:

S. Stras BP1 x2

Refractors:

Tommy Mendonca BCP29 # 176/777
Bryce Brentz USA-BC3 #646/777

Purple refractors:

none, not a single pull

Blue refractors:

Simon Castro BCP48 #76/250

Autos:

Drew Stubbs 212
Grant Green BCP106
Jefry Marte BCP112

and a whole butt ton of expectation, Topps 100's and Bowman Throwbacks

As for the seperate packages of purples, thats a whole other ball of wax:

Tyson Gillies purple refractor BCP19 #710/999 and #613/999
Gustavo Nunez purp ref BCP33 #861/999
Eric Niesen purp ref BCP32 #849/999
Patrick Schuster purple ref BCP97 #424/999
Curtis Petersen purp ref BCP78 #324/999
Jhan Marinez purp ref BCP31 #916/999
Dillon Gee purple refractor BCP70 #554/999
Joe Serafin purp ref BCP73 #585/999
Scott Shaw purp refractor BCP34 #69/999
Rex Brothers purp ref BCP92 #153/999
Steve Lombardozzi purp ref BCP77 #696/999
Nick Czyz purple refractor BCP38 #783/999
Chad Jenkins purp ref BCP94 #762/999
Carson Blair purp ref BCP41 #841/999 ( way off center)
Cody Satterwhite purp ref BCP26 #380/999
Logan Watkins purp ref BCP11 #439/999
Cole McCurry purp ref BCP3 #237/999
Melky Mesa purple refractor BCP2 #665/999
Stefan Gartrell purp ref BCP17 #914/999

whew..... that took forever

Another long night

2010-07-15T21:45:00.003-04:00

Damn this never ending All-Star break. I am really in the mood to listen to a game, and can't bring myself to listen to the cross town AAA team, lol. The Yanks open a series at home against the Rays tomorrow night. Mail-less again today as well, so I'm really doubleskunked. I have a couple things in the mail, but I guess they are shipping it to Cuba or the Netherlands before they bring it to NJ these days. Like I could run to the Topps factory and make my own cards before I will see the ones I ordered. I edited my base black set and gold base set along with my expectations and Topps 100 today so go take a peek at the checklist.

One part down, many to go

2010-07-14T13:54:00.002-04:00

Forgot to mention that yesterday I completed my first subset of the '10 Bowman set. The chromes are done and I'm down to only needing a few of each of the USA and USA18 cards for them to be done as well. I will attempt to go through them later today and sort through and put the better or best version of each card in a page. Damn them for not all being centered, lol.

Jinxed it

2010-07-14T13:50:00.002-04:00

I had to go and post yesterday about the A.L. needing the win, so my post officially jinxed the game. There I said it, blame me. Guess they couldn't just go the rest of my lifetime without another loss at the hands of the senior circuit. bah.

I'm expecting a few goodies in the mail today and I will post 'em up when they arrive.

How bad it is

2010-07-13T20:25:00.002-04:00

The last couple days I decided to go through my old A.L./N.L. books and was amazed at what I saw. I started buying cards with the '86 Topps and Donruss and quit somewhere between the '89 and '90 seasons. Granted I had a few nice vintage cards that my buddy Tim had given me, but most of my collection was less than desirable, lol. I had man-crushes on some guys who lasted 2 or 3 years in the league and treated them like Mantle and Mays. Guys like Chris Sabo and Steve Searcy had pages and pages of cards while guys like Boggs and Ripkin had half a page or less. Am I alone in this phenomenon? Dunno

Other lesser known guys taking up mucho space in my books:
Hensley Muelens
Mike Harkey
Mike Greenwell ( had 3 full pages and last I knew I don't really like the Sox)
Kevin Seitzer
Al Pedrique
Ricky Jordan
and the list goes on and on

Home field advantage

2010-07-13T20:07:00.003-04:00

Come on A.L. let's make it 14 years unbeaten. Gotta get home field for my Yanks. After the All-star break I will do a rundown on how some of the Yankee prospects are performing to date as some are promoted and others are sent packing for a bag of balls and some used bats.

edit. Just heard a great stat, 33 players are making their first All-star game appearance. That's some youth for you. (except for Arthur Rhodes who just cashed his first social security check)

George III

2010-07-13T18:01:00.002-04:00

R.I.P. George M. Steinbrenner III

Perhaps the greatest sports owner of the last 40 years.

This is turning into a horrible week for the NY Yankee family

Box break

2010-07-13T01:01:00.003-04:00

Got home from work to find my Bowman gravity feed box waiting along with a few purple refactors. Lets's get to the hits....

Matt Brown refractor BCP74 #766/777

Luis Esposito blue ref BCP21 #72/250

Tony Delmonico purp ref BCP50 #833/999 (way off center)
Anthony Gose purp ref BCP104 #801/999
Carson Blair purp ref BCP41 #836/999
Nick Czyz purple ref BCP38 #808/999 (way off center)

and the wunderkind Steven Strasburg chrome BCP1

oh and my 3rd Darin Holcomb auto .....

by far the worst box I've opened so far this year. Guess they can't all be great.

edit. I forgot to enter which purple refs I got in the mail and left them out

Skunked

2010-07-12T20:29:00.003-04:00

By the time I left for work this afternoon nothing had come in the mail. I swear our town is 1/3 of a square mile but yet we wont get our mail until after 3PM. Makes me wonder where all the USPS's time is spent in town. Certainly enough bars to grab a quick brewski but I digress. All star week is for me the worst week of the MLB schedule due to the lack of baseball being played. This years HR Derby is no one you would pick out of a hat to actually hit homeruns. How does that make sense? I guess all I can hope for is another win by the A.L.

edit. I talked to my girl and she says I have some packages waiting at the house that look like baseball cards. What else would they be? Plans for the Deathstar?

Decisions decisions

2010-07-11T22:24:00.002-04:00

I'm on the fence about trying to collect certain players instead of just plain ole card collecting. As a Yankee fan I like when I pull a Yank in a pack, but do I want to concentrate on just Yanks? Just Jeter? Just Donnie Baseball? I think collecting the Yankee captains would be a neat idea but where to begin with them?

R.I.P. Bob Sheppard, your voice will live in Yankee lore for all eternity

Better late than never

2010-07-11T12:50:00.002-04:00

I didn't get to chime in with Saturday's mail goodies so I will add them in now. I've given up hope on that box of Bowman coming before the Holidays, lol. I also had to run up to the card store with my girl to pick up some supplies including new 3200 count boxes and new albums for my cards from Dad's. The 1985 Donruss album held up semi-ok but my older A.L. and N.L albums look like they have been though a couple years of trench warfare. I also had to pick up a large plastic bin to put all the cards and supplies in because they were slowly encroaching on the rest of the den and had to do something soon before they broke off and declared themselves an independant state with my '84 Topps Mattingly declaring himself sovereign Emperor.

On to the mail for Saturday:

A bunch of Bowman purple chrome!!

(x2)Konrad Schmidt purple refractor BCP6 #738/999 and #845/999
Nick Santomauro purple refractor BCP9 #572/999
Byron Wiley purple refractor BCP24 #850/999
Melky Mesa purple refractor BCP2 #171/999
Welinton Ramirez purple refractor BCP35 #163/999
Rashun Dixon purple refractor BCP42 #622/999
J.J. Hoover purple refractor BCP45 #56/999
Matt Tucker purple refractor BCP72 #756/999
Yen-Wen Kuo purple refractor BCP80 #594/999
Yowill Espinal purple refractor BCP84 #883/999

Not a bad haul for a rainy Saturday

Freaky Friday

2010-07-09T17:55:00.002-04:00

Not so much hot today as just outright miserably humid. A couple cards in the mail today that I'll list at the end of the post. Yanks almost landed Cliff Lee today, that would make for one impressive rotation. They already have 3 guys with 10+ wins each on the team but he would be welcomed with open arms in my book. Send Javy packing and since I know that Cashman and Co. Have an innings limit on Hughes, send him to the pen to shore up the front end. On to the good stuff...... cards in the mail

To start we have:

Tony Delmonico purple refractor BCP50 #630/999
followed by another Tony Delmonico purple refractor, lol this one #321 and no I'm not making a run on Tony D's cards
Next up is the Starlin Castro purple refractor BCP100 #680/999
Brian Baisley purp ref BCP49 #653/999
Caleb Joseph purp ref BCP55 #855/999
Tommy Mendonca purp ref BCP29 #695/999
Edinson Rincon purp ref BCP39 #764/999
Alexis Oliveras refractor BCP75 #655/777
Rolando Gomez purp ref BCP56 #183/999
Cody Satterwhite purp ref BCP26 #977/999

Overall not a bad day at the mailbox and I also stopped by my Dad's barn and picked up the cards I had dropped there years ago for safe keeping. I'll have to go through them thoroughly and sort 'em by year and make. It also means I'll have to go to the store and get some new boxes cause these are shot. They lasted a good 21-23 years so I can't complain.

Old timers

2010-07-08T22:24:00.004-04:00

Figured I will go to my Dad's this weekend and grab my boxes of cards from over there. I'm curious to see what I have still in books and what I relegated to the boxes back in the day, lol. Also have to remember to find my '98 Topps Gold Labels that aren't in the boxes but mixed in with misc. crapola. Now that I think about it I think I left my Auto book out in Colorado when I couldn't find room for it in the move. Somebody right now is sitting there staring at my '87 Fleer Auto Benito Santiago RC...... lololol

One lone warrior

2010-07-08T17:28:00.002-04:00

Checked the mail today before I left for the evening job and only one envelope for moi.
Cracked her open and found a Rex Brothers purple refractor, so I can go scratch him off me list. That 36 pack box of Bowman is just mocking me from afar. I wouldn't be surprised if the UPS lady was watching me leave and pulled up after I left. And I'm starting to wonder about a couple cards I bought on feebay from a certain seller with
low feedback. I'll give him until this weekend before I start my inquiries.

Million card giveaway

2010-07-07T17:06:00.005-04:00

Checked my email today and lo-and-behold...... Topps is actually shipping out the cards that I have "won" in the giveaway. From what my guy at the card store tells me I have done exceedingly well. Here's the short list of goodies to look forward to:

1970 Pedro Bourbon #358
2008 Mike Lowell #64
1961 Bob Oldis #149
1971 Casey Cox #82
1981 Bud Harrelson #694
1999 Kenny Rogers # 27
2003 Dan Wilson #2
2009 James Shields #174
2002 Aaron Sele #15
1959 Harry Chiti #79
1958 Bob Trowbridge # 252RC

edit. As I'm leaving tonight to go grab a slice with my girl, the UPS lady drops off a package and do you know what's in it? My cards from Topps.......lol. Now if only they would ship out that Red Hot Rookie redemption as fast.

These aren't the droids you're looking for

2010-07-07T12:11:00.003-04:00

Got home from work last night and to my surprise there were packages waiting..... packages of what you say? Packages of cards, sweet glorious baseball cards lol. I was really hoping that the Bowman 36 pack would have come, but I'll settle for the blue refractors and gold refractors that came. Now I'm not usually into the blues/golds but they were dirt cheap and it would have been a sin to see em go to waste. Just because I'm focusing on the purple refractors now, doesn't mean that next month I wont change my mind and start going crazy for the other parallel sets. Or if need be I could use them to trade for a purple.

Not that I think my quest is crazy, just a lil daunting at times. I've set my sights on finishing all of the subsets up to and including the purples. Sounds rather reasonable to me. The only big money cards I don't have so far seem to be the Strasburg chrome and purple. Not that I would mind pulling the refractor or the blue or gold or even the orange, lol. I've certainly pulled enough of his damn base rookie cards.

Nothing major....

2010-07-06T17:22:00.000-04:00

It's an absolute scorcher out there today. Nothing in the mail today before I left for work. Did find a few cheap purples on feebay and used BIN to scoop them up. Bid on a few others but they have a few hours left on them. Slow day at work so I will pour through my need/have lists and double check my figures.

Checklist so far

2010-07-05T19:32:00.015-04:00

I'll attempt to keep track of the '10 sets in this thread. I'm sure there are easy ways to do it, but this is my first attempt at blogging and I'm not very tech savvy.
These are the cards I NEED unless otherwise noted.............

Bowman base:
COMPLETE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bowman base gold:
2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 15, 19, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 32, 34, 35, 36, 38, 40, 41, 46, 47, 52, 55, 57, 61, 62, 63, 65, 66, 67, 68, 73, 74, 77, 79, 80, 83, 84, 85, 86, 88, 89, 90, 92, 94, 95, 99, 100, 101, 103, 104, 107, 108,110, 112, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 125, 126, 127, 131, 133, 134, 137, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 147, 152, 154, 155, 156, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 169, 170, 173, 174, 175, 177, 178, 180, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 188, 189, 191, 192, 193, 197, 198, 199, 203, 205, 206, 207, 208, 211, 214, 217, 218, 219

Bowman base blue:
Due to a very small number of haves, I will keep track of them instead of the needs
58

Bowman base orange:
Due to a very small number of haves, I will keep track of them instead of the needs
154

Bowman prospects:
COMPLETE!!!!

Bowman prospects blue:
Due to a very small number of haves, I will keep track of them instead of the needs
BP20, BP24, BP35

Bowman prospects orange:
Due to a very small number of haves, I will keep track of them instead of the needs
BP100

Bowman chrome prospects:
COMPLETE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bowman chrome prospects purple refractor /999:
BCP1, BCP4,BCP5, BCP7, BCP8, BCP10, BCP14, BCP15, BCP21, BCP23, BCP28, BCP30, BCP40, BCP43, BCP44, BCP46, BCP47, BCP48, BCP51, BCP52, BCP53, BCP54, BCP57, BCP58, BCP59, BCP60, BCP62, BCP64, BCP65, BCP66, BCP68, BCP69, BCP74, BCP75, BCP77, BCP81, BCP82, BCP83, BCP86, BCP87, BCP88, BCP89, BCP91, BCP93, BCP96, BCP97, BCP98, BCP99, BCP102, BCP103, BCP106, BCP108, BCP109, BCP110

Bowman chrome prospects refractor /777:
Due to a very small number of haves, I will keep track of them instead of the needs
BCP24, BCP37(X2), BCP40, BCP46, BCP55(X2),BCP74, BCP75, BCP81, BCP87, BCP101, USA-BC7

Bowman chrome propects blue refractor /250:
Due to a very small number of haves, I will keep track of them instead of the needs
BCP12, BCP21, BCP29, BCP33, BCP73,BCP80, BCP84, BCP99, BCP104, BCP109

Bowman chrome prospects gold refractor /50:
Due to a very small number of haves, I will keep track of them instead of the needs
BCP24, BCP33, BCP41, BCP109

Bowman 1992 Throwbacks:
BT1, BT2, BT8, BT12, BT15, BT19, BT20, BT25, BT26, BT29, BT31, BT34, BT36, BT40, BT42, BT43, BT44, BT45, BT50, BT52, BT53, BT54, BT56, BT57, BT58, BT61, BT64, BT67, BT69, BT70, BT71, BT73, BT77, BT80, BT82, BT84, BT86, BT90, BT92, BT93, BT97, BT98, BT99, BT104, BT105, BT107, BT110

Topps 100 prospects:
TP2, TP3, TP7, TP10, TP11, TP12, TP17, TP19, TP20, TP23, TP25, TP26, TP28, TP31, TP32, TP34, TP37, TP38, TP40, TP41, TP43, TP45, TP46, TP48, TP49, TP52, TP54, TP57, TP62, TP63, TP66, TP69, TP74, TP75, TP80, TP83, TP85, TP90, TP99

Bowman expectations:
BE9, BE11, BE18, BE20, BE24, BE26, BE29, BE33, BE35, BE37, BE38, BE40, BE41, BE43, BE47

Bowman USA Baseball:

USA-BC6, USA-BC17, USA-BC20

Bowman 18U National team:
USA18-BC1, USA18-BC4, USA18-BC5, USA18-BC18

lists updates 7/25

Up next

2010-07-05T19:11:00.001-04:00

I have a few things in the mail as we speak. A couple Bowman purples a few Bowman blues that were too cheap to pass up and a 36-pack gravity feed box of '10 Bowman. Stupid Holiday weekend delaying my goodies. j/k. The 4th is actually one of my fav holidays. When else do you get to blow shit up and not have your neighbors look at you sideways?

Back at it again

2010-07-05T18:11:00.001-04:00

After hearing a few quiet whispers I had to stop and think about it. Cards. Cards. "Atlanta has this kid Heyward.....blahblahblah." A few weeks go by. I had it contained. Then the mania began. Then the Strasburg Superfractor story was plastered all over Yahoo news. "Whats wrong with buying a few cards, maybe you'll get lucky" I tell myself. "it will only be a few packs, nothing more"........ damnit where is the shutoff switch for my brain.

I had no idea where to buy baseball cards. I hadn't bought so much as a pack since the craziness that was the '98 McGwire-Sosa home run-fest. "I know, swing by Target since you have to head that way" was what my uneducated brain began blurting out. Sure enough they had a small card section near the checkouts. "Where to begin?" I asked myself. They had some Topps products, a few assorted packs, nothing that begged to be opened.

I ended up buying a few of the combo packs that contained 10 packs from assorted companys
and assorted years, along with a couple of the Topps '10 series 2. Seemed like a nice well rounded start to an evil habit. And as I walk up to the checkout lane a stranger approached me.

"Whatcha doing with those cards?" he asked.
"Just helping my 'cousin' start his own card collection" I replied tongue-in-cheek
"If you're looking for real cards go to this place up on 34 in Aberdeen" he retorts. "Speak to my buddy Bob"

Damn that random man and his enabling ways. Damn him. Without his interference I could have just bought my crappy cards and been done with it in a few days. But no. He sends me to
a baseball card Mecca. I walk in and introduce myself to the sports dept. manager and tell him of my plight. He introduces me to the wonderful world of '10 Bowman. lol.

It turns out, that in my 13 or so year sabbatical from even looking at cards, that a lot had changed. Gone were Donruss, Fleer and Score. Replaced by Bowman who I thought went out of business sometime in the early '50s and Topps. And not just plain old Topps. 897 varieties of Topps in every color of the rainbow. Old looking Topps. New looking Topps. More Topps than you could shake a stick at. I asked him what was up with all of the Topps and he explained how they were pretty much it anymore. I asked what was up with the Bowman and he let me in on all of the details and showed me some of the set and the inserts.

"Oooooh, shiny!" is what the little voice in my head exclaimed. "I'll take 6 of the Bowman and some of those and some of those and a couple of those" Grrrrrrrrrrrr I replied to the little voice.
Grrrrrrrrrrrr indeed.

A few weeks and countless packs and visits to feebay later here I stand. I've decided to stick with the cards but in a more controlled way. No more just buying cards to buy them. No more shopping 'til all hours of the night online. I've come to the conclusion that I really like the '10 Bowman purple refractors and that they will be a nice little subset to collect. To hell with it, I'm trying to put together ALL of the '10 Bowmans sets up to the purple. Maybe even the blue refs if the purple prove to be "too easy". lol.