Opening Day…a couple of days late

Posted by cardboard hogs on April 5, 2017

The last few years i’ve taken the…sort of MLB opening day of Monday off. I already get Sundays off, so it’s not really necessary to take that day off. It’s Monday’s that i like to not be at work. Plus, who likes working on Monday’s. They tend to suck don’t they? Take ’em off i say. The only problem though was that i am drowning in a mess of a deadline at work…so that time could have been better spent working than watching baseball…but life goes on.

Normally, i take this time off to be with my kid, but he’s in school until 3pm and i saw that as a time in the day to open up some packs of cards from my local Target. Why Target and not my LCS…well, Brian was apparently out that day…he must have taken opening day off too.

I’m not typically a pack buyer or box buyer unless i plan on putting the set together, but i do like to pick up a pack or two of new releases. A couple reasons, it helps me replenish my team card lots as well as adds star cards to my personal collection…which unfortunately ends up living in a white box in my basement. Let’s take a look at what i picked up.

Just a couple of battery mates from the city by the bay. MadBum and Posey. Both of these cards are fantastic examples of how Panini should make cards with none…or at least very minimal photoshopping in order to get a proper non logo’d image. Plus some cool action photos

Next up is a couple of Longo cards that just so happened to be back to back in the fat pack of Donruss. Longoria was one of those guys that I had added to my PC a few years ago…but never really followed up on him. I kinda feel bad for the guy. He’s a great player on a mediocre team…they’re not bad, but playing in the AL East is tough…plus, not too much fan support in Tampa for their baseball team.

Cutch is a player that i’ve waffled on adding as a “guy i collect” but never seem to actually getting it done. Instead, i think i’ll just add this card to my non official collection of him…again, in the white basement box.

Ok, this guy. Mr. Sanchez will most likely be a “guy i collect”. I’m already building up a little stack of his cards so far…would like to get an autograph of his at some point this year. I’ve never been overly fond of catchers though…cept for Posada of course!

Last card from the Donruss pack was this shimmery bit of sexiness. A Madison Bumgarner ‘The Elite Series’ serial numbered card of 96/249. It was the only hit of the day for me…very nice though.

Next up was a few packs of Gypsy Queen. GQ is something that i get excited about each year, but never really seem to get that much in to the set. I saw a few samples on the other blogs and was quite impressed with the cards this year though. My trip to Target yielded single packs only. I had high hopes of getting a blaster, but that wasn’t in the cards for me…so i had marginal expectations for the packs i picked up and was definitely not let down…or lifted up? Pretty cool to get a couple Bronx Baby Bombers though.

Rizzo, because he’s a champion of the world with the Cubbies. Also, JaCoby Jones…not the receiver from Super Bowl fame, but JaCoby Jones that appears to be doing something that should not be done on a baseball card, but maybe i’m just a perv…

Trea Turner. I watched the Nets game Monday morning and couldn’t get over how smooth Trea seemed out at short. He’s quite the talent at such a young age and he rocks the 7 like he owns it. Can’t wait to see what kind of player he becomes.

When i first saw this card, i thought it was some kind of error card. NO WORDS! I’m rich!! Well actually it’s an introduction card from last season of a clean shaven Evan. Maybe he’s working to get back in my PC box.

Adrian Beltre and Elvis Andrus are buddies and should totally make a buddy cop movie.

A former Nat in a Sox Jersey. Not sure Adam Eaton was worth giving up on Giolito…but Rizzo is a better baseball GM than i am and so maybe i should just trust the process and see what Eaton can do this season.

Now, Topps Opening Day is not something i buy much of if at all. Just not really in to the cards. I wish they would do something different with the cards rather than just copy the base design…but, it’s a cool and inexpensive little set each year that i like to get a few packs from.

Last card of note is Turner again. A nice kitchen mitten action photo. That’s how i look chasing my kid when he takes the spatula from the kitchen when i’m making fried eggs on sundays.

So that wraps it up for me tonight. Deadline wraps up next week…not sure i’ma make it but there’s always another deadline…Oh yeah. One odd story. At the end of last year, i received an email which i initially though was just some spam email. Turns out it was legit. Someone from a book publisher had reached out to me as they came across an image from my blog a few years ago (2013 no less!). They wanted a copy of an image i did not produce, but scanned and wrote about…as we all do. The image they wanted was the one shown below. Adam Dunn’s 2013 Topps Series 2 card #647.

I was slightly confused because…it’s not an original image of mine, just a scanned one. I was concerned about sharing the image, but figured it wasn’t in my court…it was their book. Nevertheless, the book is out and i read through a couple pages and it’s quite a fascinating take on some of the biggest, recent trades and how each team benefited or not from the deals. Kind of excited to read a little more soon…plus an “image of mine” has been published…not really, but you know what i mean…

Today’s music video is brought to you by Evidence from Dilated Peoples. It’s a great one!!!

The School of Rickey

Posted by cardboard hogs on December 20, 2016

So, last night was a little disappointing…Not only did the Redskins blow a golden opportunity to take hold of the #6 seed in the NFC playoffs, my #1 seed fantasy football team lost by 1 point. As you may have guessed, my roster is filled with Redskins players…it’s my real life team and i like to make them my non real life teammates. Coming in to the game i was in a great position to make it to back to back FF Championship, all i needed was the Redskins to not crap the bed…and they crapped the bed. All over the freaki’ place. Now, i know one of the most annoying things is hearing some random dude complaining or bragging about his fantasy teams…it was just tough man. Still love my Redskins and can only regret the roster decisions that i should have made in hindsight. But as Steve Spurrier once said…”hindsight is 50/50.”

Moving on. The MLB network had a great documentary on Rickey Henderson tonight, “School of Rickey”

Needless to say, i enjoyed the hell out of the show and all of the stories from Rickey’s past…and present. He seems like the kinda guy that is impossible to figure out in real life, not to mention if you were a pitcher attempting to hold him on base during his playing days.

If you are a Henderson fan it’s a must watch.

If you are a baseball fan it’s must watch.

So, watch it!

But first, check out this sweet ass 2016 Topps Dynasty card i recently picked up! It’s a lovely tricolor patch on card autograph of my baseball idol, and it’s numbered 03/10.

Fantastic piece of cardboard i say. Some of you fellow bloggers have picked up a couple of these cards recently and noted the bumpy texture of the cards which is pretty evident in person, more so than in the photographs…but these photos were taken with an iPhone in low light, so there’s that. Initially, i wasn’t going to go after one of these cards until the madness died down a bit but i saw a great deal on eBay and had some PayPal money from some recent sales to cover the cost and went for it!

When i posted a bid on the card i made the rookie mistake of not reading the description…i should have, and you should always do the same! Apparently, the guy selling the card was flipping the card and didn’t have it in hand. To me, that was the beginning of a scam…so, i contacted the seller and he was really cool about it and understood where i was coming from and did an awesome job of following through on the whereabouts of the card. Luckily for me (and probably him too?) the card came in a couple days later. He shipped it out quickly and it was in my precious little hands last night, right before the Redskins crapped the bed. So, i guess last night was all that bad…eh?

One of my favorite MC’s of all time, Aesop Rock is in town tonight for a show at the Wonder Ballroom…well, he’s in town most nights as he lives in Portland these days. Normally, i would insist on going to his show and having an amazing time…if you’re in to Hip-Hop and love the indie version of that form of music, he’s one of the greats and always has high energy shows along with Rob Sonic and Homeboy Sandman. This time though, other family / work related things came up so i couldn’t make it out. Kinda missing out too, wishing I could have made it out…next time. Until then, here’s a cool video from his latest album “The Impossible Kid”