Base Cards and Shipping update

Here is what I have doled out so far:

• Troll - Carl Crawford
• Tom DiCap - Carlos Beltran
• Brian - Sammy Sosa (on Rangers)
• arfmax - Jermaine Dye (on White Sox)
• GCRL - Schmidt
• Night Owl - Pujols
• Mike (Ryan's Memorabilia) - Bedard
• Bud (MadHandle) - Gil Meche
• Ghost - Matt Holliday
• Phungo - Ryan Freel
• Dan (The Other World) - Jimmy Rollins
• WickedOrtega - Barry Zito
• PopStartled - Huston Street
• RoofGod - Roy Oswalt
• Beardy - Stephen Drew
• Tunguska - Garrett Atkins

I hope this is alright with everyone. I randomly assigned the last four cards, and I am not taking any. I will be sending all the cards out tomorrow, so you should have them by the end of the week. I hope I get all the trades done correctly. If you have arranged a trade and haven't let me know, please do it soon (like tonight!) so that I can ship them to the correct place.

Scans

As usual, clicking on a scan will bring up the full-size version.

Video Part II

Video Part I

Please disregard what I say in the video about who gets which cards from about halfway through the video. I messed up and was one behind, starting with with Ryan. Sorry about any confusion.

The Hits!

Here is what everyone got:

• Troll: Ryan Zimmerman autograph; Randy Johnson (D-Backs) black jersey piece (02/75)
• MadHandle: Jim Thome (White Sox) Game used 3-color swatch (30/50); Matt Cain auto
• Ghost of Cory Snyder: Scott Kazmir white jersey piece; Cal Ripken Jr. white jersey piece
• dkrill: Ultimate Ensemble Swatches 4 Cardinals - Pujols/Edmunds/Rolen/Carpenter jersey pieces (06/25); Andy LaRoche auto (Dodgers); Manny Ramirez (Red Sox) Gold white jersey piece (16/50); Garrett Atkins grey jersey piece with purple pinstripe
• Tom DiCaprio: C.C. Sabathia (Indians) Gold white jersey piece (36/50); Rollie Fingers (A's) Ultimate Star Materials Auto Patch 3-color swatch and auto (2/5)
• Shoebox Shane: Joe Mauer blue jersey piece; Chris Carpenter grey jersey piece
• arfmax: Randy Johnson (D-backs) Ultimate Team Materials Swatch white jersey (45/50); Torii Hunter (Twins) Blue jersey piece
• Brian (Play at the Plate): Hunter Pence auto (221/297); Andy Van Slyke auto; Ultimate Ensemble Swatches 3 Mauer/VMart/Posada jersey pieces (37/50); Rod Carew grey jersey piece
• Mike (Ryan's Memorabilia): Felix Hernandez grey jersey piece; Joakim Soria auto; Austin Kearns (Cinci) white jersey piece w/red pinstripe; David Oritz grey jersey piece (19/75)
• Dan (Other World): Paul Konerko (White Sox) white jersey piece; Fred Lewis auto (160/299)
• Phungo: Carl Yastrzemski grey jersey piece; Billy Butler auto (146/299)
• Night Owl: Francisco Liriano blue jersey piece; Kevin Youkilis white jersey piece (39/75)
• Beardy: Kei Igawa auto; Jonathan Papelbon auto
• RoofGod: Victor Martinez white jersey piece; Garrett Atkins white jersey piece w/purple pinstripe
• WickedOrtega: Tony Gwynn Ultimate Patch 4-swatch 3-colors (3/25);Matt Cain grey jersey piece
• Jim (GCRL): Micah Owings auto (41/299); Jeremy Bonderman auto
• Gritz76: Ryan Zimmerman white jersey piece; Travis Hafner white jersey piece
• Motherscratcher: Kevin Kouzmanoff auto (50/299); Dontrelle Willis grey jersey piece
• Tunguska: Garrett Atkins grey jersey piece w/purple pinstripe; Tony Gwynn white jersey piece w/blue pinstripe
• Joe P.: Hank Blalock white jersey piece (16/25); Redemption - Tony Perez auto
• PopStartled: Jimmy Rollins 2-color swatch (12/25); Justin Verlander auto(25/25)

I will scan some of the better ones and post them later. The videos are compiling and will be posted as soon as I can.

Let the trading begin! Leave comments here to facilitate trades.

Re-randomization

I had to rerandomize the list, because the second card out of every pack is the autograph, so I did another 7 randomizations at Random.org and this is the list I came up with. Joshua was my witness.

This will be used only for the second go-through, so if you were the 2nd, 5th, etc. for the first randomization, you got an auto already.

Cards are ready!

I've got the cards in my baseball card cave, and I'm ready to break them open once my son gets home. I will record it and upload it tonight, but I will also try to write a post as soon as it is done to let everyone know who they got.

I'm also just going to loop back to the first person once I go through the list once.

As for team selection, I've got everyone except for Joe P. (who I know collects Vladimir Guerrero cards) and PopStartled. Let me know if you want some base cards.

• Troll - Rays
• MadHandle - Mariners
• Ghost of Cory Snyder - Indians
• Tom DiCap - Mets
• Shoebox - Red Sox
• arfmax - Phillies
• Brian (Play at the Plate) - Rangers
• Ryan - Orioles
• Dan (The Other World) - Phillies
• Phungo - Phillies
• Night Owl - Dodgers
• Beardy - Orioles
• RoofGod - Tigers
• WickedOrtega - Marlins
• Jim (GCRL) - Dodgers, Twins?
• Gritz - Cubs
• Motherscratcher - Indians
• Tunguska - Cubs, Blue Jays
• PopStartled - ?
• Joe P. - ?

Let me know of any errors/corrections.

I suggest that any trading done after the break should be posted on the comments for the post I will put up with the "hits" after the break.

Case on the way

I want y'all to know that the cards will be here today. Here is the UPS tracking statement from today:

HENRIETTA, NY, US

10/22/2009

4:06 A.M.

OUT FOR DELIVERY

Cool! I will do the break this afternoon/evening and have it uploaded by late this evening. I don't think I'll be able to get the cards out until I get back, if that is OK with everyone.

Group Break orders of business

First, each person MUST be paid up before I start the break. Everyone except for PopStartled has paid or indicated that their payments are on the way. I have only received one payment TTM so far, so please make sure that your payment has been sent out. If I have not received your payment by the time the break starts, I can choose to leave you in the break or exclude you, and possibly even sell off that spot again. This is only fair to the others who have paid, and it removes the possibility that someone can not pay if they don't like the cards they get.

I have randomized the order that the hits are doled out, using RANDOM.ORG to randomize the list on the right of my blog seven times. Please don't try to trade the slots, only the cards after the break is done. If you want a screenshot of each of the randomizations, let me know and I can send them to you. I am only going to upload the final one.

I should be getting the case tomorrow, so hopefully I can record it and upload it tomorrow evening. I am trying to figure out a way to podcast it or have a videoconference, but nothing easy is presenting itself yet. I'll let you know.

Case Ordered!

Finally! The case has been ordered from Blowoutcards. I hope it gets here on Thursday. I'll let everyone know.

Almost there

I finally have enough in the Paypal account to order the case, and I just sent an email to Blowoutcards confirming that I want to purchase it now, so barring any problems, it should be coming by Thursday. If it comes by then, I can do it on Thursday evening. I'll have to mail the cards out, though, after November 2nd. I hope that is OK with everyone.

Beardy is paid up and WickedOrtega has confirmed his payment. The only one I haven't heard from is PopStartled. Does anyone know him, or have an email?

Thanks, and I'm really looking forward to this!

Group Break Update II

I need one more Paypal payment before I can order the case and have it shipped. Sorry, but I've already put $200 of my own into my account and I'm waiting for the following people to let make a payment:

• Beardy
• Pop Startled
• Wicked Ortega

Please pay by Paypal, or contact me immediately to arrange an alternate method of payment.

It looks like, if I order today, I may get it by Wednesday and do the break on Thursday. Like I said, though, I'm going on vacation starting Saturday morning, and I won't be back for a week. This has taken slightly longer than I expected. If it is alright with everyone, I can ship everything out when I get back. That will leave a week to do some horse-swapping with the cards you get. Let me know in the comments on this post.

Also, make sure you let me know what name goes with which ID. It took me a while to figure out the David W. is actually Tunguska! Thanks, everyone.

Case Break Update

I've still got two slots open for the 07 Ultimate break. I'd really like to get those filled so that I'm not out $116 for four slots, just $58 for two. Somebody. Anybody. Buehler. Buehler. Buehler.

I also can't order the box until everyone pays. I don't have enough in my Paypal account to cover the cost, so please pay as soon as you can. If I order the case this weekend, I figure it will be here Tuesday or Wednesday, I can break on Thursday, and hopefully ship on Friday. If people want to trade after the break, we can do that for a day or two, but I will be on vacation from the 24th to November 1st, so I can't ship until I get home. Let me know if that is OK.

As for the base cards, everyone seems interested in getting them, so most of you have already let me know what teams you want. If two or more people want the same team, we can split it up equitably, and I can send cards from unpicked teams to fill in. Again, let me know.

Thanks for your patience.

Last Chance to Join Ultimate Group Break

There are three slots remaining for this group break. Again, we will be breaking a case of the 2007 Ultimate Collection baseball. If you want to see what the cards look like from my last break, check out the links here and here. The triple relic of the HOFers Carlton, Ryan and Sutton is awesome!

Good news on case break!

Blowoutcards has agreed to sell me a case of 2007 Ultimate Collection baseball for $659, so we can go ahead with the break. The sooner I can get the payments to Paypal, the sooner I can order it and get it ordered and shipped.

Please pay for your slot via Paypal to dkrill@rochester.rr.com for $29 per slot. I still have four slots left, so I will spot them for now, but that is a big chunk of change for me, so let's talk it up and get it filled, or please consider getting a second slot if you don't have one already. Thanks.

Case Break - Stuck on 10!

There are ten people out there who are anxious to do this case break, but I haven't gotten commitments from anyone else. I need 13 more in order to do an 07 Ultimate Break, which so far seems to be the consensus, with Fleer Greats of the Game a close second. Each requires 24 slots, so we are OK either way and will make a group decision when all the slots are filled. If you want two slots, let me know so I can fill them in. In the end, I will probably take two slots also.

Please talk it up on your blogs and in your emails so we can get it fully booked and ordered. Thanks.

No Heritage Group Break

Since I can't get more than two or three other people to commit to this break, then I will put it on hold for a while until at least 10 more people express interest in it. Sorry to those who were excited for it, but apparently Autogamers Rule. No one wants to put out some $$$ to finish a set. So, I will fall back to the old trading path to get these sets finished. 

Set Collector Group Case Break

In discussing a trade with Steve of White Sox Cards, I came up with the as-yet-to-be-determined-if-it-is-brilliant-or-stupid idea of having a group break of a case of a product that would help many of us finish sets, or at least get most of the way there without breaking the bank.

Well, here is my idea. We pool our money to buy a case of 2009 Topps Heritage. A 12-box case is $864at Blowoutcards.com. Each box has 24 packs of 8 cards, plus a box-topper, including one relic or auto per box. The totals would be 2304 cards, 12 box-toppers, and 12 auto-relics.

Let's say we get 24 people to do this. That is shipping for $24, and I'll conservatively estimate that at $2 per. So another $48 brings the total to $912, or just under $38 per person. This would give everyone 96 cards plus an auto, relic or box-topper. The premium cards (auto-relic-boxtopper) would be randomly assigned to each participant, and hopefully we could accommodate most of the card requests for each participant with regard to base cards. The SP's, well, we will have to figure something out for that, such as a random order in which the first pulled goes to the first in the random order, etc. As for any variations that may be pulled, we could random those off, too.

What do you think? Could this work? If you would be interested, leave a comment here. If we can get enough people to commit to it, then we'll go ahead with the finances. I'll host it here.

Hey, I'm excited about this. I hope y'all are, too.

New Group Break Proposal

I was noticing that 2007 Upper Deck Exquisite Rookies has come down in price to where a case of five (5) boxes is now $615. I did a box break of this with Gellman at SCU and ended up with a Tulowitzki quad relic auto, which I was really happy to get. It was my first big box break score. You have probably seen it in previous posts here, and it is available for trade, for the right price.

Anyways, here is the description of Exquisite:

Each pack will contain one autographed rookie card, one multiplayer autographed card, one autographed memorabilia card and 2 more autograph cards. Each case will have a one of one autographed card!!! All base cards will be numbered to 99 with parallels numbered to 75 and 1. Rookie autographs are numbered to 99, 75, and 1 of 1. Multi-player autographed cards will feature dual, triple, Four, Five and Six signatures on a card and are numbered to 235, 150, 85, 75, 40, 35, 25, 20, 15, 8, 3, 2, and 1 of 1.

There are 6 cards per pack, 1 pack per box, 5 boxes per case. Is there enough interest to do this? We could do a random order break so that, for 30 people, each person would get one card. First card out, first person on the random list, etc. 

Let me know what y'all think.

Ultimate Group Break Recap Scans