Rookie R******S Autos

Posted by cardboard hogs on July 23, 2013

I got some nice autographs! Wanna See!

I got a great deal on them…and really happy to jump on these cards before they go through the roof, because as we all know, the football team from Washington is going to be great once again! -HTTR!

I’m going to go alphabetically by first name, so the first player is Brandon Jenkins from Florida State University and his Bowman Chrome Refractor. The light in the scanner is making this thing look like a urine stained card…but trust me, it’s in mint condition and smells wonderful.

Next up, we have Chris Thompson, also from FSU (pronounced ay-fay-shu). Since Shanahan has been the head coach slash GM, the football team from Washington has tended to draft multiple players from the same school in their drafts. I have no idea if this is common place around the league since i tend to not pay too much attention to the other teams drafts…but it’s a little curious.

2010 – Perry Riley and Dennis Morris from LSU
2011 – Roy Helu, DeJon Gomes and Niles Paul from Nebraska
2012 – Josh LeRibeus and Richard Crawford from SMU (Aldrick Robinson from the 2011 draft)
2013 – Chris Thompson and Brandon Jenkins from Florida State

The next couple of guys will hopefully have a huge impact this season. Jawan Jamison and Jordan Reed. Jamison is coming off a pretty solid career at Rutgers, but was injured in his last season. I guess he’s one of those big upside guys that you either hit a home run with or strike out with…but don’t lose too much in the loss.

Jordan Reed is quite intriguing. He has mentioned in the very recent past that Aaron Hernandez was a role model of his and someone that he looked up to while he was at Florida…kind of scary since the darkside of Hernandez is being peeled back each day and only getting worse. Let’s hope that Reed was only referencing Hernandez for his on-field abilities and not his propensity to murder people…allegedly…of course. Innocent until proven guilty.

why is the chrome auto picture zoomed in?

2013 Topps S2 – Packs 5 and 6

Posted by cardboard hogs on July 20, 2013

The last couple of posts have been about celebrations. This post is going to be about great plays and faces…as in the faces of men celebrating something or working very hard at doing something.

The first pair of cards feature a very smooth and shaded Jackie Bradley Jr. gliding in to make a very nonchalant catch. Jackie has a great name and also had a wonderful spring training rendering him the next superstar phenom…unfortunately, spring ended and so did his hot run. He’s a great young player and is in that always awkward transition of being a major leaguer and a AAA player…he’s too young to say he’s a AAAA guy, plus I think he has a ton of talent. One thing I can’t seem to understand is that the Red Sox always seem to have a great farm system and the Yankees continue to ignore theirs…or at least the Yanks don’t seem to be able to develop enough major league talent. The other card is of Andy Dirks and he appears to have made the catch, good for him and better for the photographer for making this photograph. This is one of the things I love about sports cards. They can capture a singular moment in time and become eternal images on cardboard (card stock) forever.

The intensity of these next two faces is both fascinating and extremely disturbing. Not sure what the expression being exhibited by Adam Dunn is about, but if I had a daughter I would keep her away from him…based on this one photo of him. I know it’s judgmental, but sometimes you just have to go with your gut. James Loney. This is the face I make when i’ve become irregular and having a tough time with my situation. Both intense faces, both disturbing faces.

These next two cards are the epitome and possibly a little over the top of facial enthusiasm. The Papelbon card is out of control, but so is Papelbon…this was probably a 38 pitch save in May, and this is how he’s reacting. So Intense! The Trouty card is kind of cool. You have to love this kid. He doesn’t get the fanfare that Bryce Harper does, for some odd reason? Both are equally talented and are going to be a whole lotta fun to watch the next 12-15 years. Wonder if Trout was in DC and Harper was in LA if Trout would get more love? Harper would get attention regardless due to polarizing personality…just wondering.

I’m not a Giants fan, I don’t hate them or even dislike them, I just don’t like them like them. You know what I mean? They are a solid team and should be successful for a very long time, or at least as long as this kid is healthy. I have a feeling that this kid’s baby face isn’t going to age much, so I guess that would make him the Dick Clarke of baseball…no?

I’m gonna end it with some mini action. The Kid and a guy named BJ. Why a guy would want to go by BJ is beyond me…but maybe that’s just my issue or maybe it’s because his name is Melvin Emanuel. (ps. yes that is a hair…from my head linking the Kid and Melvin…i’m receding)

2013 Topps S2 – Packs 3 and 4

Posted by cardboard hogs on July 17, 2013

For the first couple of cards, I’m going to stick with the twofers…and it goes a little something like this, HIT IT!

As usual, I’m late for the bus on this one. I just wanted to add my two cents on the whole celebration card that Topps seems to be putting out more and more each season. I like the concept, and sometimes it works brilliantly as it does with the Francisco Cervelli card. Then there are other times when it doesn’t work well, like this Derek Norris card. It’s more of an Oakland A’s team card and I fully expected to see some team leader stats on the back of the piece of card stock. If the camera man was a couple of inches to the right, nobody would know who this card is for, including the wonderful mlb-baby-making parents of Mr. Norris! I would have thought it was for Reddick or that little dude squatting in the middle of the card. Get it together Topps!

Here are a couple more celebration cards. Am I the only one that thinks Homer Bailey and Christian Bale are twins lost at birth? Maybe they should be doing those cheesy State Farm Chris Paul commercials. This is a good example of a celebration card. You can see his Batman looking face and yet, he is still sharing a personal moment with Chris Heisey after his no-no last year. The Ryan Ludwick card on the other hand is all kinds of terrible. Not only is his face nowhere to be seen, his nameplate on the back is blurry!!! At the very least this should have been a Jay Bruce card because his unbridled enthusiasm is…unbridled (first time using that word on the blog and i drop it twice!).

Alright, enough whining. These making their mark cards are nice and the player selection is great. I love that they went with the young future superstars for this subset. Both of these guys are great players…and I kind of have a baseball crush on Manny Machado…the kid is all kinds of awesome. I’m no Orioles fan and have no idea when he will make the move to short, if ever, but he is going to become their rock for the next 10-15 years like Jeter has been for the Yankees.

Bryce Harper. Stud. Kind of want to do a player collection of him. I think this kid is great and i’m sure i’ve mentioned it here before, but I would love for Bryce to be my sons favorite ballplayer. If everyone played all out each play like he did, the game would be so much more fun to watch day in and day out.

Here is a nice little cut to the chase Ernie Banks card. You can’t ever go wrong with Mr. Banks and some die cut action.

Last card for the night was my autograph hit from the box. Alex Cobb chasing history. I’m going to chase some whiskey with a little sleep. Goodnight collectors of the internets.

2013 Topps S2 – Packs 1 and 2

Posted by cardboard hogs on July 15, 2013

It’s been a few weeks since i’ve done just a baseball post and I have a jumbo box of Topps Series 2 sitting here to my left. Whattaya say we open it up slowly and see what we see kids!

There’s no need to go over the design of these cards since it’s been covered ad nauseam on your favorite bloggers website, so i’m just going to touch on the hits and fun cards that were pulled from the packs…two at a time. Double your pleasure!

The first card is two cards, because i’m doubling your pleasure…remember? I LOVE landscape base cards. I think they are fantastic and would love to see more sets go this route…just for the fun of it, you know? The only problem is that they don’t look as great when put in a binder which is where these two islanders are going. HanRam, as some of you may know is one of my favorite players and along with Carl Crawford are the only two guys that I collect that haven’t played for the Yankees…yet. Wait until they are 35, then they will be in pinstripes. Apparently that’s what the Bronx Bombers do these days. Lose to the Orioles and sign old guys. The Chapman card is also fantastic, plus he’s Cuban…and I love Cuba…PLUS he’s throws really really hard and fast.

The next two cards are one of the reasons why people hate Topps. Although, I don’t think either one of these guys are SP cards they are still super gimmicky. Of the two, I would rather be Justin Ruggiano becuase it’s either water or that crazy clear Ice Gatorade or something…I have no idea, the card doesn’t explain what is being expelled on his shoulder. Anyone feel sorry for the sideline reporter on the Lombardozzi card? Me neither…

Alright, this is where is turn in to a singles hitter. That said, here is Derek Jeter. I love the Captain. And there is nothing wrong with that, just like there is nothing wrong with starting a sentence with and.

This is a cool card because it has Bryce Harper and the look of a child who got his hand caught in the cookie jar. Brian is the older brother that gets in trouble for not keeping a better eye on his little brother. Big Brother = Baltimore Orioles — Little Brother = Washington Nationals.

Here is one of the 73 different inserts that Topps likes to entice people to collect. I believe this is what they call an emerald card? Please correct me if i’m wrong, and if you are correct, I will send you this card. When scanned, it kind of looks like a forrest. David didn’t do so well in the Home Run Derby this evening…on his home turf, but neither did Robbie Cano donchaknow.

Another insert, similar to the The Greats inserts. Yes, I used The back to back. As far as i’m concerned, this card would be better if it were Rickey Henderson. Not to take anything away from the wizard, he was a phenomenal player, but when you have 73 inserts, it would be nice to get one of your favorite player, eh?

This rarely happens, but I pulled a box hit in one of my first two packs. This heavy ass ~~metal~~ mettle coin card of Adrian Gonzalez. I like this guy so much more now that his short stint with the Red Sox is over. Great player, great cards…but still heavy.

Box Break: 2013 Bowman Football

Posted by cardboard hogs on July 14, 2013

I’ve been sitting on this box of bowman football for a few weeks now and decided that I want to post the results. Bowman football is something that I kind of like…and kind of don’t. Just like the baseball set, they have loads of rookies and prospects for your prospecting desires, which I don’t typically desire. I desire the Redskins players and rookies. The last couple of years i’ve only picked up a few packs but decided a box was needing to be purchased for this season. I’m chalking it up to my hangover excitement to the Redskins winning the NFC East last year…and having some nice draft picks. Most of what i’m going to show are the guys from my favorite team, but if you are putting this set together, let me know and i may have some cards to complete your sets.

Card Design: 3 of 5

The card designs are nice and simple white bordered cards with all the typical info you’d expect on a nice piece of cardboard.

The backs are pretty simple as well. You get stats from last season, where the guy was drafted and the school he ~~received a degree from~~ attended. The vet players have a short write up under ‘The Next Coming:’ where they tell you how great this guy can be and how well he runs routes, or something. They are often compared to another player, sort of a changing of the guard commentary on the player in hand. The rookies on the other hand are titled ‘Next in Line:’ which makes sense, although pretty similar to the next coming.

At this point, i’m not really sure what line some of these guys should be in? If you didn’t play much in your rookie season, would that make you the next in line or next coming? I’m confused.

Photography: 2.5 of 5

I gotta knock the photos a little on this set. The veteran cards are ok, but nearly every player is chopped off at the ankles again.

If you’ve read my previous box break posts and as someone who enjoys photography, you will know that this drives me insane. Cropping in important and can be the difference in a good and a great photo. These photos are just good. Now, the reason why i’m knocking these guys down even more is the photography and weak photoshop work on the rookies. Lots of airbrush work that created some soft imagery on the cards.

You would figure that if Topps can muscle their way in to being the only show in town for MLB, they could work some magic and get their NCAA license locked down to show the schools logos and proper colors.

Just a thought…

Hits: 4 of 5

The hits for this box were good, not great. I did pull a very pretty TJ McDonald sparkle card of some sort that is significantly nicer than the weird looking scan.

I also pulled this sweet ass Alfred Morris. This is more than likely, at least from what I can remember, the best Redskin hit i’ve ever pulled from a box of my own. This card is a beauty in person and with it being numbered to 99, i am pretty happy with the pull.

There are minis, which aren’t really much of a hit, but this one was.

Bowman did do a great job of having some good second or third tier college guys put their autographs on cards. With 5 autos in the box, i was quite happy…although some of my Cal friends probably won’t appreciate the two Stanfurd autos 🙂

Review

I jumped on the pre-sell of my jumbo box from Dave and Adams Cardworld pretty early on, so I didn’t have to pay the outrageous prices that the boxes inflated to. I have no idea why these guys went up so high so quickly. The rookie selection this year wasn’t nearly as great as last years was. At least not now. The overall look and feel of the cards was good, not great, but you really can’t go wrong with 5 autographs and a memorabilia card. I really did love that I pulled a ton of Redskins too, don’t typically get them in the boxes I break.

One Free Cooley

Posted by cardboard hogs on July 9, 2013

I stopped in to my LCS last weekend to see what was out and chat with Rick for a little bit. He was kind enough to have a sweet little piece of cardboard behind the counter waiting for me. This beauty from the Donruss Threads 2009 set of Chris Cooley. A piece of the sleeve trim dual colored jersey card numbered 37/50.

Not bad for a free piece of Cooley paraphernalia!

getcha heritage!

Posted by cardboard hogs on July 8, 2013

This is a marketing and promotion post.

I have a ton of duplicate Topps Heritage cards from 2011, 2012 and 2013 that need to find a home in YOUR HOME. Most of what i have left are from the base set, but it’s a lot of em! I do have some short prints, chromes of various colors (limited though) and other items of a similar variety for trade. If you have any interest in them, send me your checklist and an email to cardboardhogs@gmail.com, and hopefully i can help you complete your player, team or base sets.

thanks!

Why do you blog?

Posted by cardboard hogs on July 7, 2013

We had an extremely interesting presenter come to our office on Tuesday afternoon to discuss social media and the impacts it has on our culture and what the future can bring. More specifically, or at least what I took from the discussion, was in regards to how corporations (or businesses of all sizes) can use modern forms of communication to spread news and information about their work.

My work is architecture and we design schools that (hopefully) will have a positive impact on the community and foster eduction through learning and teaching. We have struggled for years to truly grasp the appropriate way to get our message out through social medai to those that do not know our work. Inevitably, little gets done if anything. This happens for various reasons of course. Sometimes it’s due to someone failing to step up and take the lead or, of course a fully booked calendar. Unrelated to my office, but general speaking, there is a hesitation or possibly reluctance to ‘put yourself out there’ and bare all for the world to see. It’s scary, but it offers you a voice to be honest and get your thoughts out there. The great thing about social media is that everyone has a voice and can get involved in anything that interests them. We all have a voice that can reach a greater number of people than ever before. Our voices can be insightful and have the ability to stimulate conversation and connect through a common interest. This is why i am proud to be a part of the sports card blogging community, albeit, a newer member.

I started this blog just 6 months ago and have connected with some great people online that share a similar interest as me. As a matter of fact, I have connected with a wide variety of people that I would never have had the ability to connect with were it not for this blog or commenting on other blogs. Our community is extensive and great. We are diverse and offer a wide variety of perspectives to collecting from all ages, sports and eras of cardboard.

So how does any of this pertain to what we write about, and what can we do to make our hobby better?

I think we can do more to lift up the collecting community as a whole. As we all know the hobby has nearly neglected the young collector by pricing them out of the same hobby we started as kids. There is also the dilemma of all the short prints in flagship sets and of course the dreaded redemption card. We also have the elephant in the room (sorry for the crappy cliche), how does Topps owning the MLB license for the next forever affect the baseball card industry?

I am obviously not bringing up anything ground breaking or new here, but I was hoping to start some dialogue or have a couple of comments from other bloggers out there to get their openings on the these items and anything else that may be bothering them with the hobby and blogging.

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July and enjoyed their long weekend.

Cedar Hills Show – The low budget version ep.IV

Posted by cardboard hogs on July 2, 2013

I’m finding that scanning cards is an arduous task. I imagine this is why so many bloggers choose to not scan that many cards or just eventually allow their blogs to fade to black. So I’m going to ride out the next couple of posts with some more cards that are sitting in my queue. As you would imagine they are all Redskin cards, so I understand if you stop reading from this point on…but you really shouldn’t bail…this is going to be a great visit. I’m feeling wordy tonight and have a ton of stuff to show.

Buckle your seat belts.

Digging through dusty old boxes gives you time to think about things. Things you could have done. Things you should be doing and most importantly, things you completely struck out on. That’s what this trifecta of young, future stars represents for me. Justin Tryon and Malcolm Kelly were products of a Cerrato draft. Those last two words are almost always followed by the following two words ‘…which sucked’. Look at those crazy eyes!

Vinny did all he could to single handedly destroy the franchise for many many years. Constantly selecting guys that should have never been drafted or shouldn’t have been drafted so high. That’s all assuming, of course that the Redskins had picks to make. Cerrato hyped Kelly up so much that he mad me believing we had the next Art Monk on the roster. Unfortunately for Kelly, he had Greg Oden knees and never really played that much…but made some nice money. Tryon was supposed to be a nice kick/punt returner and future cornerback. Neither really happened and he was eventually jettisoned to Indy. Thompson was a free agent pick up for the Redskins in 1999, never really making an impact with the team. BUT he was the homecoming King for Cedar Hill High School, so that’s a thing. He did two things I will never accomplish. Play in the NFL and be called a King by anyone, ever…

Speaking of big disappointments, Michael Westbrook. This guy and Health Shuler should have been the next great QB/WR duo, but both never really panned out. When these cards initially came out, they were probably going for $8-$10 each…now, you can pick the trifecta up for fifteen cents. Don’t let your kids ‘invest’ in cards.

This is a great trio right here. B-Mitch, Stephen Davis and Champ. Mitchell should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame already! Dude is only behind Jerry Rice in all purpose yards for a career. JERRY RICE! That’s it. Anytime you are on a list and the only guy ahead of you is Jerry Rice, you are a winner. Davis is really special…He’s from Spartanburg, SC. I have lots of family there. I should write something about him soon, very soon. Champ. This is the guy that brought Portis to DC. There was a time that I really disliked (read hated) Champ. Anytime a player begs to not play for my favorite team, they might as well be dead to me. But, being the forgiving man that I am, I have seen the light and appreciate his phenomenal career. I just wish he could have had his success with the Redskins.

The three greatest Redskin quarterbacks. Sammy, Sonny and Joe. Three photos. Three face mask bars. These guys are old school like suede pumas. Sammy Baugh was a Texan and was one of the main catalyst for the forward pass in the NFL. If money was no object, he is a guy that I would love to get some vintage stuff of…instead i’m relegated to reprints and new releases. The Sonny card is pretty fantastic. Love the colors and the determination in his eyes is priceless. Plus I love the spear helmet. The Theismann sticker is actually a duplicate, but i figured for a nickel, you couldn’t go wrong.

Mark Rypien was one of the three quarterbacks to win a Super Bowl under Joe Gibbs. He’s sort of a local guy…went to Washington State and still lives in Spokane I believe. He’s also made a few appearances in Vancouver just across the big river.

Who loves parallels. I always have to double check these things…’I know i’ve seen this card before…do I have this one or that one?’ #cardcollectorproblems

I’m losing gas here, so i’m just going to show you the goods. Coles was annoying, so glad he’s didn’t last long. LaVar was the first jersey I ever bought and Gardner goes along side Westbrook for good, but not as good as he could have been.

I love the Redskins. This is MY team. I love going through all of the old cardboard and seeing guys that had great careers. Some players have the ability to meet or exceed their talent while others fail to live up to whatever standards have been set for them. As a fan, it’s difficult to understand that these guys deal with a lot each day and sacrifice their physical health and well being to entertain us. So that said, I would personally like to apologize to Champ Bailey, Lav….Coles (sorry dude, your name is weird), Michael Westbrook, Sean Gilbert and Rod Gardner. I have said many bad things about you guys in the past and it wasn’t fair to you. You have accomplished things that I wish I could have done…and made a lot of fans happy (or pissed! Vinny!) That’s what I was really thinking about when sorting through these pieces of cardboard, not getting upset with these men in Burgundy and Gold. They are doing their best.

This was probably one of the most rambling posts about nothing I have ever done. It will get better…