Post-Holiday Shopping Spree

I had some cash burning a hole in my wallet, so I wandered on down to the local card shop, where the owner was trying to clear out some older packs so he wouldn't have to inventory them come the first of the year. Just my luck! Lots of stuff half-price!

Here's a sampling of what I came up with.

2009 Sweet Spot Sweet Beginnings Gold Tommy Hanson auto 135/199 (this was the only full-price stuff I bought - $18 per pack - I'm hooked on it!)

2008 SPX Carlos Zambrano patch 17/50 - $10/pack (usually $20)

2009 UD Icons Everth Cabrera Rookie Signature 293/600 - $5/pack (usually $10)

2009 UD Icons Letterman Joe Nathan 03/45

2009 UD Icons Letterman Kent Hrbek 50/50

2008 SPX Ken Griffey American Hero #KG91 1/1!

Nice take for only a few packs. OK, so there were more than a few packs, but not a case. Busting packs and getting this many things is not normal, at least not for me.

I also ended up taking the last five packs of 2009 Goudey at $2.50 per pack. Great price! Better than Tar-zhay and Wally World. And what do you know, I ended up getting three SP's and one 4-in-1 that I needed, on top of the base. Plus two blue-back minis. I'm very happy with the SP's on those packs. I would normally pay $3 for each of those short prints, so this was a great deal.

There are a few other things I got that will all being going on my Picasa trade page (see the links to the right, under "Give & Take"). If you want something, make me an offer. My email address is also in the right-hand column.

Holiday Thanks

Thanks to Jack, a.k.a. Baseball Dad, sent a nice holiday treat to me, and probably many others. Mine was a very cool 2001 Topps Archive Larry Doby card:

Not enough was done to honor Doby for being the second African-American in MLB, and first in the A.L., to break the "color" barrier. He was not necessarily the most gifted, but like Jackie, could withstand the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" better than most. He quickly made a name for himself as a ballplayer and a gentleman.

Daniel from It's Like Having My Own Card Shop sent along my half of a trade in which I sent him a Micah Owings autographed card and a Brandon Webb jersey relic. He sent me the last card I needed for one of the 2008 A&G insert mini sets:

That was a VERY difficult insert set to finish. I'm glad that one is done. Now, only a few more minis and one World's Greatest Victories insert card. If you have any....

Daniel also sent a few Propaganda Posters and Turkey Reds from this year's Topps, a few other 08 A&G cards, and a few Sabathia and Sizemore cards. Great trade! Thanks Daniel.

Eat Your Hearts Out, Night Owl and GCRL!

...or make me an offer I can't refuse.

I bought the redemption for this at a CollectorFest for $6, I think, and I just got it in the mail today. I've got three of these now: Masterson, Samarzdja and Kershaw.

Grass is always greener...

Duane, from Democratic Roadkill, made some real roadkill of my wantlists and sent me several dozen cards from '08 Goudey, '09 Goudey and '08 A&G. The grass (Duane knows what I'm talking about) is definitely greener on his side of the collection table, and he is willing to share some sod with me. He has been a great trade partner, so check his blog and wantlist out.

He also killed off what I thought was the last card from 2008 Masterpieces, #96

I still need 104 (Mattingly) and 106 (Berra), so if you have them, I'd like to trade for them. I must have sent them off in another trade to get something I wanted more, though I don't know what I could want more than to finish off this set. I regret the UD did not see fit to release it again this year.

Duane took a big chunk out of my Goudey wantlists with many short prints, so many that I'm embarrassed that I might not be able to keep up with his generosity. The '09's he sent include some Sport Royalty, which are a difficult catch and a few other straight SP's.

The '08 Goudeys included more Sport Royalty and straight SP's, as well as some presidents and Play Ball cards, but also included the rest of the Hit Parade of Champions that I needed. Great! Another list completed! WOW!

When I fist saw the Pujols, I thought it was C.C. There is a bit of a resemblance. And the Staubach is interesting in that his helmet has a funny red-white-and-blue design that I had never seen on the Cowboys helmets before. Any clues?

He also threw in a few A&G minis from 2008, including two that I have been chasing out of a subset for quite some time now. They are very difficult to obtain, so I am very grateful to Duane for the Baseball Icons that he sent of Cobb and Ott.

Man, Duane do I owe you or what! Thanks again, my friend.

From Trolling to Rolling

Ed from Roll Out the Barrel read my Father's Day post and was so moved that he decided to give away his entire collection to me. Thanks, Ed!

Wha? Huh? You don't believe me?

Um, well, I, er, guess that it was a wee bit of an exaggeration. But he did contact me. That part is true. And he did send me a few cards. Lots of great cards to help fill up some of the collections that are bugging me, like that nasty 2008 Topps with all its inserts.

Plus, another of the World Leaders from 2008 A&G: Vladimir Putin, doing his best impersonation of Nikita Kruschev.

And finally, among the many other cards that he sent, were a Grady and an Omar that I didn't have either of:

Thanks, Ed.

More 2008 UD Masterpieces

For 2007 UD Masterpieces, I bought mostly retail from Target, and only when it was in the $1.59 Powerpacks box. It took me quite a while to collect all 90, and only with the help of my fellow collectors.

This year, I have purchased two boxes of 2008 UD Masterpieces, and I'm happy to report that I have collected 87 of the 90 base cards, and 11 of the 30 short prints. In addition, I've managed to get two autographs (one a patch-auto), two relics, two numbered framed parallels, two red parallels, and eight black parallels. Not bad at all. I only had one double after the first box, and now I have 21 after the second box, but that can be forgiven for the nice collation out of the two boxes. 

The prime cards of the second box, besides a Brandon Phillips Strokes of Genius (my second Phillips auto from this set!) auto and a Jered Weaver relic, are the following two parallels:

The Chipper is really nice, and the Oswalt is numbered 036/100.

All in all, I'd say that the 2008 UD Masterpieces are very nicely done, save for some factual errors, well collated, and a pretty good value for what you get in a box.