Natitude

Posted by cardboard hogs on February 3, 2015

I love the Yankees. People give me a hard time about it and when they don’t, they are utterly confused…why in the hell would a boy raised in Texas and who has never ever been to New York City be a Yankee fan.

Seriously?

Why?

The Yankees?

The Evil Empire!

Well, I don’t have a great reason why other than when I was a very easily influenced 9 year old boy my favorite player became a Yankee. He was an Athletic, and he became a Yankee. Being a 9 year old confused little child I decided I would follow my player to the team. Now, nearly 30 years later I am still a Yankee fan and love the history of the storied franchise. I’m gonna miss the hell out of Jeet as i do Mo, Posada, Pettitte, Mattingly…etc…Over the past couple of years though, i’ve developed quite an attraction for the Washington Nationals. Here’s my reasoning. As you can tell, i’m a Redskins fan and i do everything I can to listen to Sports Talk radio from DC, and as one would expect they talk DC sports. So, by default the past 6-8 years my affinity towards the Nationals has been building and building. So much so that i am working all angles to get the kid to become a Nats fan. They’re a lovable team, right? Scrappy, hard working. Dealt with tough losses in big games (looking at you Drew Storen…). Built a strong organization from the ground up, albeit from many poor seasons and in turn drafting well with their high picks (hard to miss on Harper and Strasburg though, eh?).

I’m kinda old school in that i love it when players stay with a team their entire career. I know this isn’t always the players fault, but i greatly appreciate it as a fan. I also appreciate an organization that can draft, develop and lock up their talent for years to come. You build a strong foundation with the kids in the minor leagues and infill with veteran leaders and role players as necessary. You don’t chuck millions after millions for guys past their prime. You take a chance on a kid that your program has developed and lock him up. Make it so he doesn’t even want to look at another club. Make him feel like he is a cornerstone to a strong future. Now this is in total contradiction to what the Yankees have historically done…although, you can very easily argue that their last mini dynasty was due in part to the development and infill mentality rather than poach and overpay mindset. So, i guess what i’m beating around the bush about here is that I will always love the Yankees, but i’m kinda diggin’ the Nats right now. I’m sort of a baseball polygamist.

Albeit one American League Team and one National League Team.

I bought baseball cards.

Remember that part where I talked about wanting a player to stay with one team for the duration of his career? Hanley is one of those guys that, well, he’s come full circle. Red Sox, Marlins, Dodger, Red Sox. Initially i was cool with the first Red Sox run because it was so insignificant in his career. In my eyes he was a Marlin. A Florida Marlin, not a freakin’ Miami Marlin. He was a wonderful player on my fantasy baseball team for a couple of seasons and won me a really nice chunk of change one season. I was cool when he became a Dodger. I kinda like the Dodgers. Great history. Iconic Jerseys and who doesn’t love Vin Scully?

Seriously.

Vin Scully!

But now that he’s a Red Sock again. I can’t do it. I can’t collect his cards and feel good about myself, the Yankee fan inside me can’t handle it. So, I’m only collecting him as a Marlin…Florida Marlin.

Now to the Nats portion of the program. Werth and Strasburg with some Game Worn Memorabilia on display below. Other than Mariano Rivera, I don’t typically collect pitchers. Too risky and their careers can be schizophrenic (is that not PC?). I’ve always steered clear of them, but Stras is pretty special I guess. So far he hasn’t lived up to the hype, but the hype was out of control that nobody ever could live up to that hype. He’s still be very solid and hasn’t been overly fragile, maybe sensitive, but not fragile. Now this Werth cat is something else. His hair is amazing. His beard is amazing, but the DUI isn’t really cool. Maybe hit up the Uber app next time for a $900 ride home. #justsayin

Speaking of wonderful pitchers. Jordan Zimmerman. He has become the most important Zimmerman on the team the past couple of years and luckily isn’t related to the crazy Zimmerman in south Florida. No, he’s a pitcher and a pitcher that will be an important piece to a potentially all time dominant starting rotation. I have his autograph on a sticker on a card that has no logos. I can imagine how annoying it would be to write Z I M M E R M A N every time you sign an autograph, but this is a little too much corner cutting for me. Although I do appreciate the left justified approach. Never know how long that squiggly line will need to extend at the end of Z I M M E R M A N.

HEY! I snuck in a Redskin card! But only because it reminded me of Rocket Pops.

This is a very patriotic, summer-y, popsicle-y card that I had to have. This is one of those parallel cards that makes the rainbow collector happy…i’m assuming?

It’s Art Monk and I love Art Monk.

Rickey goes to a card show!

Posted by cardboard hogs on February 1, 2015

It’s been a very long week over here. I’ve been fighting this sinus infection and dealing with all the fun things that come with that…lots of drugs and kleenex. Lots of coughing and sneezing. Lots of uncomfortable days and bad nights of sleep…but i had something to look forward to this week. A card show, not just any card show, but the first one of the year! We are quite lucky here in Portland to have a show or two each month, but it’s become more and more difficult to make each one with family responsibilities calling. We almost had a scheduling conflict that would have made it impossible for me to attend the show but nana stepped up and took care of the kid for a couple of hours. Good on you Nana!

When i got to the show, i had a plan to take a wallet card photo at each table i visited but then chickened out…or maybe got distracted once i got there. I did manage to get one photo taken while at Tom’s table and pulling a bunch of 2014 Redskin cards.

his was a pretty good show. My favorites were there, Kim and Tom. Both had some great items pulled aside for me…as well as another dealer that always pulls items aside for me although his name escapes me now. He’s become my go to guy for knocking out a ton of my common Redskins especially the years during my non collecting time between the mid 90’s to the early 2000’s. Lots of commons but great checklist items. I will be posting them later this week…hopefully.

Today’s post though, is about Kim’s table. Kim has tons of great relic, auto and serial numbered cards for every sports team in every sport. He also has great prices for the cardboard. The kind of deals you really can’t get anywhere else. He’s often thrown in items at the end of our deals…you know…just to keep me coming back. Since i picked up quite a few items at his table i wanted to focus on the landscape collection. These are the landscape cards from Kim!

This card was essentially a toss in as it’s neither a relic nor an auto…but it is numbered to 99.

Next up is the Roy Helu Jr. card which Kim was extremely excited to show me and REALY wanted me to take it home with me. So I did…i was a little worried that i already have this one but after double checking when i got home i was happy to see that i had not picked this one up yet.

Malcolm Kelly. A very sad bust. Actually probably someone that should not have been drafted as high as he was by the Redskins…but those days are gone and there is no sense in looking at the past. One of the difficult things about obtaining EVERY SINGLE Redskin card made is that you have to make these kinds of pickups. A pretty short print autograph (albeit a sticker) with a game worn jersey that books much more than it should. This is a card show though and the book doesn’t work here…or if it does, you probably won’t have much business at your table. Honestly can’t remember what this one cost but the sticker had it at $18 which i’m certain is not what it cost when the deal was done…maybe $5?

Next in line is this really lovely London Fletcher game worn jersey card from last years Spectra set. I love the burgundy jersey swatch here with a slightly unbound thread coming out of the card…not sure how visible it is, but it’s a nice touch to the card. The shiny blue (purple?) card is pretty sweet too.

Last one and the card that was one of my favorites from Kim is the Jordan Reed Bowman Sterling player worn refractor jersey card. It’s always nice to get a card that has a portion of the number or nameplate in the swatch portion of the cardboard. This one was number 41 of 75.

2014 Topps S1 – Packs 7 and 8

Posted by cardboard hogs on February 27, 2014

Yeah, it’s been a while. I haven’t posted since the 10th. I was on such a roll too! Life.

I’m going to stick with the 2014 Topps Jumbo duo pack breakdown because I like order and crossing things of off lists. It’s a problem, but it’s my problem. I pray to whatever you choose to believe in that you have already seen these cards, so that none of them should be eye openers. My hope though is that i can knock it out of the park with my witty narrative…or not. You will be the judge of that.

I’m going to go ahead and start with the box autograph ‘hit’. Not because i’m super excited about it, but because if you are reading this, you probably pulled this auto as well. From what i’ve seen on the other blogs, this card is a popular pull from this years Topps. Way to diversify your packs Mr. Topps company. Andrew Lamb-oh everyone.

I did get a couple of Harper’s in one pack. My first look through the pack and i completely missed the Power Player logo on the lower right of the card. It’s a Harper parallel and an insert. Nice. Here’s hoping the Bryce kid tears it up this season and avoids walls.

Another nice little pull from these two packs was a Casey Janssen black border card. See! It has a black border!

Next up is a Derek Jeter All Rookie Cup team. It’s not the athletic supporter type of cup, which is probably best for us all considering how many gift baskets this guy has handed out. He is stellar in his accomplishments on and off the field. A legend.

Maddux Mini. Why is the border yellow? WHY!

A gimmicky base card from Topps that you have seen on every blog from everyone that has opened a Topps pack this year. I can’t wait to put this one in a 9 pocket sleeve in a binder and forget all about it. He’s catching a football. Maybe I should get out my Nolan Ryan slinging the pigskin card out and put them side by side.

I pulled two buy back cards and this one is a very Brave Ralph Garr, no relation to Terry Garr I imagine. Maybe thirds cousins?

Sean Doolittle closing it out with a very red and pubic-y beard and 90’s Oakley glasses and a t-shirt that has words on it. Great photo selection Topps. Great selection.

Two more packs to go with a nice thick card that will make some of you smile, and then it’s back to some good ole vintage Redskins…or maybe a few card show pickups from a future show.

Oh hey, i’ve gotten around to posting a few very random cards on ebay. Please take a look if you are interested in bidding on them. The cards that don’t sell will be available for trade, or will end up back on ebay.

Box Break: 2013 Topps Magic Football

Posted by cardboard hogs on February 7, 2014

It’s been a while since i’ve picked up a box of cards. I have been doing my best to stay away from boxes of cards unless I plan to put the set together since I have terrible luck with the ‘hits’. I’m not a hit chaser and don’t plan to be one either…but I do love opening packs of cards. It takes me back to being a happy go lucky kid with $5 in my pocket riding my bike to the Stop’n Go for a few packs of 1986 Topps or Garbage Pail Kids and tall bottle of coke…man, those were the days. Back when $5 could get you way more than 8 cards to a pack.

As you can see from the title, the box is Magic Football from this year. Unlike the last couple of years, the rookie class isn’t too exciting…but I love this brand and here we go!

Card Design: 3.5 of 5

Just like the past couple of years, the base card design is pretty simple.

Topps does it’s best to give these cards a sort of retro look with the banner and stars. Nobody really does that anymore, do they? seems like a throwback to the 50’s. I’ve always felt like Magic is Topps version of Heritage for football, minus the copying of vintage designs. Instead of copying them verbatim, they take bits and pieces of the cards to create a ‘new throwback’ look, which i love.

I also like that they used a good solid card stock with no glossy finish. I’m kind of old school like that. The glossy cards are great and have a time and place, but i really enjoy a card that isn’t slippery or covered with texture. Just some nice smooth cardboard with a little friction. Such a weird comment…

Photography: 4 of 5

Photography, yes, photography. The photos are highly over processed and in most cases i despise this. Technology is a great thing, but a heavy hand can ruin a great photo.

I was quite impressed that Topps was able to get a photo (almost looks photoshopped, eh?) of Josh Freeman’s short lived stint with the Vikings (is he coming back to the Vikings next year?) As i’ve mentioned in previous posts, I enjoy photography and my wife is a professional photographer, so we have our fair share of HDR imagery discussion in our home. Fun huh?

This fairly new form of photo processing is everywhere now and definitely has its place…and I think sports card photography is that place.

The photos on these cards always look really sharp and you can see a lot of texture and depth on each card…i guess for some, this may make up for the lack of glossy-ness.

Look at that smile! And those Tattoos!

Look at those crazy eyes! And that old school mesh jersey top!

Hits: 3 of 5

As i’ve mentioned, I do not by boxes for the hits. I am not that type of collector. Magic does offer three autographs in their boxes along with the occasional relic or memorabilia card. The autographs are stickers though…ugh stickers…better than redemptions, but man an on card autograph is so great! Since the rookie class wasn’t too stellar this year, the autographs weren’t that stellar either.

Brandon Myers – New York Giants

Kayvon Webster – Denver Broncos

Khaseem Greene – Chicago Bears

Magic is owned by Topps, so they fill your box up with little hits and parallels and a whole bunch of other shit that makes collectors want to collect things they don’t really want to collect. Like some micro cards with Drew Brees and Arian Foster on them.

or how about some receiver action with Cal bookends of Keenan Allen and DeSean Jackson sandwiching Anquan Boldin from the base white mini.

How about some green border minis with these three dudes.

Or what about these black border minis!

and a Hall of Famer Blue Border mini!

I could have done without these groovy Aerial Attack inserts…but my wife loves Cam, so here honey.

The colors on this thing…holy crap…ho-lee-crap.

The Rookie Enchantments are back, but aren’t that enchanting.

Markus Wheaton for all of you Steeler fans out there.

and a Cordarelle Patterson card.

Desmond Trufant, a man that Steve Smith respects.

Review

All in all, i love the cards. I was really hoping to put together a set, but after seeing the 330 card set checklist and heavy dose of SP cards i’m not sure that’s gonna happen. I need to think about it. My collection is a bit chaotic right now and this won’t help with the chaos. I really wish Topps went a little lighter on the SP’s. A box of these guys won’t set you back too much, but if you plan on putting the set together you could be dropping well over $100 on this set and i’m not sure that’s worth it for this group of cards.

and a MINI!

Bacarri Rambo…the best name ever.

Hope you enjoyed the review…my pack breakdown for 2014 Topps will be up soon. I’m waiting for everyone else to release theirs before I put my thoughts out there. 🙂

A Panini Redemption, and it’s a Bear!

Posted by cardboard hogs on February 6, 2014

One more Panini redemption down and one more to go. Come on Panini America, you can do it! Get it done! Get those busy athletes that don’t care about sports cards to sign their autographs on a sheet filled with little 1 3/4″ x 5/8″ stickers. They love it. Tuned in to the latest Rick Ross song bumping through their beats by Dre headphones. C’MON PANINI!

Initially when i pulled this redemption of Jeffery, I wasn’t too excited. He a Gamecock and I’ve always been partial to the Clemson Tigers. I was born in South Carolina and all of my family is from there, so I picked the Tigers at a young age and never looked back. Now that Spurrier is coaching the cocks, i have even more dislike for them…Spurrier…yuck…Clowney is pretty awesome though. And so was Jeffery this past season.

In hindsight, this is actually a pretty decent hit. Unfortunately though, there isn’t a serial number on the card. It’s just a regular ol’ autograph on a nice card. Seeing the high quality of Jeffery’s auto, i can’t imagine it took him too long to get his pen on the sticker.

Quick stats. This card was redeemed on February 23, 2013 and it was pulled from my mailbox on February 5, 2014. Nearly a year, but not quite…348 days to be exact. Way to go Panini, keep those customers happy. Just for the record, i haven’t picked up any packs or boxes from Panini since last summer and I haven’t really missed it.

I apologize for sounding too negative, but the redemption thing in this hobby really needs to end. Of all the frustration this hobby brings on its collectors with parallels, topps control of the mlb contract and high price ‘hits’, the redemption is the most annoying. Waiting nearly a year to get one of your guaranteed hits from a box is simply ridiculous.

Rookie Scribble

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 27, 2014

Got this gem off of the electronic bay for about $3 shipped. I think Panini has one photo of Chris Thompson and it’s of him stretching in sweats. This one is cropped so you think you’re getting something different…but you’re not…

Trade Post: My Cardboard Mistress

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 26, 2014

When I broke down a few weeks ago and picked up a few retail packs of Prizm from my local friendly Target store i pulled a couple of cards for Adam over at My Cardboard Mistress and sent them along. Adam was nice enough to return the favor with the Redskins he pulled from his recent hobby box of Topps Strata.

As he mentioned in his blog posting, the Jordan Reed autograph numbered to /99 was on it’s way…and it’s a beauty. The colors of the card are great and i love the thicker card stock on the hobby cards. I have been able to pick up quite a few Reed autos and he isn’t exactly winning me over with his ‘less is more’ autograph approach. Just a simple JR is all we’re getting right now. Still a pretty nice card though.

Adam also sent along the base version of Reed’s card.

The last card sent over was the Topaz/orangy/goldish parallel for Pierre Garcon, or boy waiter if you are prone to speak the language of love, French. Maybe, you’re Canadian, eh?

Thanks Adam! Love the cards.

I should be receiving my box of Topps Magic this week and doing a break review of the exciting cards i pull from the box. If i come across any Hokies, they will be headed your way.

Also, Dave…if you are reading, your Heritage stuff is on it’s way in the morning. Hope it helps.

Panini Prizm Redemption, I.Pead

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 4, 2014

WOW! Two redemptions in less than a month and it’s a decent auto of a decent player. Isaiah Pead, I.Pead. With a name like that he’s lucky that he’s fast and incredibly athletic. I can only imagine how difficult elementary school could have been.

This card, as you can tell was from last years Prizm set. I picked up a box of this from Dave and Adam’s and really loved the design and layout of the cards…plus they have a great feel to them. This completes the hits from that box that I opened up 315 days ago. Better late than never, I guess.

I have two more redemptions that are in the hands of Panini. I’m going to give it another week or so and give them a call to see if I can get a Redskin replacement for the two outstanding redemptions. I will keep you kids posted. Until then, good luck to you and enjoy collecting!

Black Friday Reeds

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 2, 2014

Going back to Black Friday. As I mentioned earlier, I jumped all over the COMC.com Black Friday sale and picked up some very nice Jordan Reed cards. These are the kind of cards that you want to put in nice card holders and present on some prominent shelf in your sports card room. I don’t have a sports card room, so they will be shown here on the blog.

Here are the player worn patch/player worn relic/player worn memorabilia cards in landscape format. The first one is from Topps Inception. I love these cards with the very cool over processed images and intense photography. Plus it’s number 1 of 93. What’s up with the random number 93?

Next up is Bowman Sterling with Mr. Reed staring very intensely into the cameraman’s lens.

And here is a quad patch numbered to 75.

Here is the autograph portion of the post. The Bowman card along with the three above are super thick cards that barely fit into a penny sleeve. It’s kind of a shame that a card this thick and nice is a sticker auto.

The next card is from this years Prizm set. I love Prizm.

For the last two cards, you will notice they are crazy die cut cards with reflective shiny-ness all over them. I love the die cut cards, but they can be a pain to put back in the penny sleeves.

This one was more difficult to put back in the sleeves. Not putting the toothpaste back in the tube difficult, but difficult no less. I happened to scan these along with the thicker cards, so pardon the shadows…although they create a nice depth to the card and the angles. So nice!

If you are in your late 30’s like me and love some good ole Hip Hop, then you should listen to this as I am doing right now. This takes me back…life moves way too quick.

PS – I’ve updated my 1970’s Redskins checklist…check it out if you think you have something to help me complete my team sets.

Rookie Autos!

Posted by cardboard hogs on December 21, 2013

I think the 2013 Redskin rookie class could be a pretty good one. Most of their performances were overshadowed by injuries, lack of playing time or just not being ready for NFL action. One of my favorites and a guy that i’ve been picking up a lot of cards of has been Jordan Reed. One of the knocks on him coming out of Florida was his tendency to suffer injuries, or not being able to play through the injuries. He has been shut down for the remainder of the season due to a concussion. I’m hoping this isn’t a precursor to future issues with him as he’s shown to be a player with a ton of upside.

I have a pink chrome refractor card autographed by Mr. Reed…This is a very masculine card.

$13 TC Jordan Reed Pink Refractor Auto 12:75$

…and a nice fancy topps base card auto that is unfortunately a sticker auto.

Another kid that i’ve been really excited to see play has been Jawan Jamison. He’s been on the practice squad for most of the year and made the roster last week, but was inactive for the Falcons game. I’m hoping he can see the field against Dallas this weekend and get some good runs in…all over the field agains the Cowteam.

JJ has an extremely tiny signature, but it’s numbered to 25. This card was picked up at the last card show i went to that Tom had pulled for me. He told me he had a nice short print autograph card for me that i could have for free if i could name the player. I said Alfred Morris, wishful thinking i guess…didn’t get the card for free, but I got my usual great deal from Tom and was very pleased to walk away with this platinum #1 beauty.

It’s a little weird seeing a Redskin wear #47 and it not be Chris Coooooooley!