A break from football and new PC additions

Posted by cardboard hogs on November 24, 2013

So, i was going to do a post on some Redskin cards that have been sitting around the computer but thought i should mix it up with a couple of baseball cards. Being a Redskin fan i tend to listen to DC sports talk radio and over the past 5 years, that has bled over to their coverage of the Wizards, Capitals and Nationals. Not being a huge fan of hockey or basketball, two of those teams didn’t quite do it for me. But one has, the Nats. Normally when you become a fan of a team and collect sports cards, you want to start a collection of their better players or at least the guys on their team you enjoy watching. I’ve been a fan of Ryan Zimmerman for a while but haven’t jumped all in for his cards but have decided to roll with Harper and Strasburg…with the potential to start collecting Zimmerman, assuming Spanky is cool with that 🙂

Harper was a pretty easy decision for me. I love the way the kid plays. He may be a little to intense and hasn’t had the best reputation for being a modest humble guy…but most great players are not quiet on the field, right? I will admit that he has some growing up to do, but you gotta love a guy that sprints around the bases after going yard, right? Or a guy that dives in to a wall to make a catch, risking his face and his health…and his beard! Harper is the new addition to the PC. I will more than likely be focusing on the base cards and a few inserts, avoiding the autos and super short prints.

The other player that i’m adding to the PC is Stephen Strasburg. He is going to be the first pitcher added to the collection, which for some reason, i’ve never started a Mariano Rivera collection. I guess that can come at a later date since i’ve never started a PC for a retired player. Strasburg was a tough decision. Pitchers are always tough decisions since their health is always a concern and Strasburg has proven to not be a tough durable guy. When he is though, he’s lights out…and that’s what i’m counting on. The lights out part. Similar to Harper, I will be focusing on base stuff and a few inserts…maybe i can pick up an autograph or two next year.

Lots of football stuff coming this week, keep reading please and do yourself a favor by not watching the Redskins tomorrow night…please…

2013 Topps S2 – Packs 7 and 8

Posted by cardboard hogs on August 13, 2013

I feel like a dope writing about 2013 Topps series two, but i will manage to get over it sooner or later…plus i have another post to go!

I’m not really sure where I left off on the Topps post, but these two cards really caught my eye…plus they were in my to be organized scan folder. So here they are, Trouty and Alvarez. Both amazing photos and both are landscape cards, which i LOVE in base sets! Both cards manage to get the player and ball in the shot…great photography to the photographer.

This sideburn slash sort of neck beard is disturbing…plus he’s a Red Sox guy. Not much for me to like about this card.

Ah jeez. Jackie and the Babe. The only problem with Topps pushing out these old school legend cards is the lack of photo variety. I’ve got 5 other Jackie cards with that same pose…wish they had access to other images, you know, to spice it up a bit?

Bryce Harper. Love this kid. He is the newest addition to my player personal collection and a reason i started following the Nats a few years ago. He seems like he can be quite a jerk sometimes, but he’s intense and he goes all out each game. That is how I would want my son to play.

Rizzo – Italien – Cub.

Joey Belle. Remember how crazy this guy was. Dude had a serious temper and would go off over the stupidest crap. I’ve said too much…

This guy. Love the Cuban players. Did you hear, he won the home run derby over the all star break…it’s been that long since i’ve been blogging.

Good night.

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.

Box Break: 2013 Bowman

Posted by cardboard hogs on June 1, 2013

Bowman is one of those in between sets for me. Do I buy packs? A box and build the set? Pull my favorites out and part ways with the rest of them?

I’m not a prospector, but I love to pull some of the great rookies that I read about.

I don’t put together too many sets, but I love to buy packs and sometimes a box of cards that I enjoy openings packs of.

I like inserts, but too many of them become overwhelming.

Bowman has a way of providing a response to each of these contradictions in my collecting habits. When Topps brought back the Bowman cards in 1989, my friend Alex and I were all in. The cards were weird and big and didn’t fit well anywhere, but they were cool and had a Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card. Griff was the man in 1989 and his rookie cards were something every kid in America that collected cards wanted. I had them all, and loved the oversized Bowman version (after the Upper Deck version of course…) Although the cards weren’t that great. The photography was a little grainy at times and the overall design was weak…plus the stat on the back were quite confusing and took some getting used to. Either way I was going to collect this set…and all other versions that would come out in the future. That was, until 1992 rolled around. The card quality became significantly better and the rookie class was pretty stellar at the time (I still have my Raul Mondesi in a screw down holder, iknowright!). 1992 was also the time I began to realize I can’t collect everything…because I couldn’t afford it. So I never completed the set and ended up getting rid of my other sets from the previous years.

Fast forward to the future that is today. The card quality has improved exponentially and in relation to the other stuff that’s being issued, Bowman is quite affordable. I’ve purchased a box of these the past three years and took a bigger step this year and bought the jumbo pack box from Dave and Adam’s card world. Here is my review.

Card Design – 3 of 5

The overall design of the cards is quite simple, which I love.

No extra weird things going on here, just some simple graphics and all the basic information you need on a baseball card. I do like the subtle variation on the front of the card that differentiates the Bowman Prospects from the Major Leaguers. Bowman also carried this through as they do on the back of the card with the numbering and color of the card stock.

Photography – 3 of 5

The photographs are your typical action photos mixed in with awkwardly posed for photos of young men in uniforms. There are a lot of beards and facial hair in general around the world these days and the major league baseball franchise is no different. I’m thinking Panini needs to do a facial hair card set. Maybe Josh Reddick get the coveted #1 card?

Hits – 4 of 5

Like I said before, I’m no prospector. I simply don’t have the patience or wherewithal to invest in people I don’t know and Bowman counts on people doing this. That’s what makes this set so wonderful though. If you do pull a great auto of a young talented player or a refractor you have a nice piece of cardboard. If you don’t, well, you have something shiny to look at i guess. Another thing with the hits is that you have to wait a couple of years for these guys to pan out and get a year or two under their belts. Just because you are a top 100 prospect doesn’t mean you are going to be a star in the bigs. All that said, It’s nice to get the ‘First Bowman card’ of a potential star.

Another thing that i really enjoy about the Bowman cards and the young stars is the names of these kids. Damn.

Review

Bowman is always fun to open and the cards are always a very solid quality. I’m not sure if I will buy a jumbo box next year unless i plan to start building the sets again…but getting 32 cards in a pack is pretty cool.

The overall look and feel of the cards is great, nothing to complain about here, plus the price is right with Bowman, especially for what you get.

Mini’s are cool.

So are Flags…

and blue or maybe purple cards?

$13 BB Brett Gerritse Blue Refractor 60:250$ and who doesn’t love them some autographs!

$13 BB Yordano Ventura Refractor Auto 79:500$

I miss the Captain…a rare post.

Posted by cardboard hogs on May 1, 2013

I really miss watching Jeter play short for the New York Yankees.

I know the guy is nearing the end of his career and the severity of his injuries has increased the past few seasons, but it’s always nice knowing the captain is in the lineup and there at shortstop. I’ve been lucky enough to see him play the last few years in Seattle, but will miss him this year since he will still be on his DL stint when we make our trek up to Seattle in June. This will be our son’s first baseball game and living in Portland, will probably be his only game for the season. So here’s hoping Jeter can come back and play well for many more years.

The team has been playing pretty well without him, Teixeira, A-Rod and Granderson, but I’m not sure if the Yankees have the staying power to keep pace with the other teams in the AL East. Boston is having a great season, are healthy and don’t have to deal with the Bobby Valentine circus. Baltimore is young, playing well and managed as well as any team in baseball. Toronto has a ton of talent and i’m sure they will get it turned around in plenty of time to compete for the division title…and Tampa is always lurking around with their deep farm system and endless amounts of young talent. At this point, i think it’s inevitable that the numbers being put up by Hafner, Wells and Overbay will level out and begin to pull the Yankees back to the rest of the pack a bit…I may very well be wrong. Wouldn’t be the first time tonight that i’ve been wrong.

Getting back to Jeter, I know he is one of those guys you love or hate and may be overrated due to his days with the pinstripes…but his passion for winning and dedication to the Yankees and the game of baseball is something i’ve always appreciated. Yeah he doesn’t have great range at short and his arm isn’t the strongest, but he always seems to make the big play with the bat or glove. Jeter is one of those guys you want your kid to emulate when they play baseball. Bryce Harper is another one of those guys. I have always loved the hustle guys (maybe Rickey wasn’t always about the hustle…). It’s the way i played baseball, when i played, way back when i was younger and in shape.

I know the cards i’ve posted aren’t the most exciting Jeter cards out there, but I like them…and i haven’t had too many posts dedicated to Derek Jeter. I always manage to pick up a few Jeters’ at the shows in the nickel and dollar boxes, coming home with 12-15 each time. He’s one of those guys that you can’t ever get enough cards of…plus he has a gillion of them.

We have another show this Saturday and i’m sure I will be adding a few more Jeters to the collection…and I might just post a few of them.

Sorry for the choppy thoughts, been busy at work and up all night with the kid, but I Hope you enjoyed the Jeter post!

2013 Topps – Packs 9 and 10

Posted by cardboard hogs on February 19, 2013

DONE!

I have finished opening 10 jumbo packs and am quite proud of myself. The last two packs turned out to be pretty action packed as well as thick card packed. There was a post over at Basketball Card Blog about the girth-iness of the Topps Cy Young card. I was hoping I would pull one of my own and when i got to the 10th pack i noticed what looked like 10 cards glued together. This reminded me of the time when i opened up an old shoebox of cards from the 90’s that had stuck together to form an un-bendable stack of good ole’ junk wax. My heart broke as i ended up tossing most of these cards as they were damaged, that will teach you to put your 90’s glossy cards in some polypropylene sleeves for that long lasting protection.

On to the cardboard.

First card of note is The Big Hurt. I absolutely LOVED this guy in the 90’s. I remember going to my local flea market and buying 9 of his Score and Topps Rookie cards thinking i was investing in something really great. Like most kids around this time, I was planning my investment strategies when these cards hit the $1,000 mark. They sell for a few dollars now. Frank Thomas was an unbelievable hitter. Great command of the strike zone. Herculean power and a fierce competitor. One of my cousins from Phoenix City, Alabama tells me he went to school with Frank Thomas…i guess it’s believable since Thomas went to school in Columbus, Georgia just across the state line. That anecdote had no other purpose than to be a topper, sorry. These Chasing History cards are OK, not great, not terrible…just OK. Topps has really gone out of their way to put retired players on cards the last 8+ years. I think it’s a great theme to carry on, but maybe pump the brakes a little on this one.

Next up is Reggie Jackson and his super Abs. This card is from his Athletics days. Just look at those glasses and sweet ass afro busting out the bottom of his ear flapless helmet. I couldn’t imagine players using ear flapless helmets these days…someone would be killed by an erratic fastball and claim some unwritten rule in doing so. Still love these The Great cards, this one goes along with the Mo i pulled earlier.

This is my second Bryce Harper card from the box. I got the base card #1 and this one. These Chasing the Dream cards are kind of nice. I would really like them if the name was easier to read on the left side…maybe that’s just due to my old, tired eyes. Harper is going to be a great player and I really love the way he plays the game. I want my son to go all out like he does. Unfortunately, his temper gets in his way at times, Bryce Harper that is. I think it’s going to get the best of him as he gets older and becomes a veteran and more comfortable pushing back. Hope he doesn’t let it come to that though. Topps absolutely loves this kid and it’s almost as if Mike Trout doesn’t matter that much…kind of crazy that the stat guys love Trout so much but his love is overshadowed fairly significantly by Harper, at least from what i’ve seen.

Ok. Here is my thick ass card. It’s Alex Rodriguez. Look at it. That pompous smirk and his magnetic wrist band to increase blood flow to his wrists or from his wrists, i have no idea how those things work or if they work…snob.

If you knew me, you would know that I do not like A-Rod at all. I think he is the worst of the selfish/narcissist modern athlete. I really wish he didn’t play for the Yankees. Anyone else but the Yankees. I understand that a lot of athletes have personal issues and many are far worse than A-Rod, but something about him just kills me. He is a false image of a great baseball player and overwhelmed with his own image that he diligently created. I wonder if he just took less money and stayed in Seattle if i would feel this way?

Ironically, my last two packs contained these two minis. Maybe it wasn’t irony but rather the cardboard gods (my apologies to the card atheists…) balancing things in a very confusing world.

One great humanitarian for the game that would drop everything to help people in need. The other a self serving and self absorbed popcorn fed, orange spray tanning sucka! Now, don’t get me wrong, A-Rod is/was a great talent. Even with the PED rumors, i think he is one of the all time great players…it’s his attitude and entitlement that tugs at my short hairs.