Well…damn…!!??!?!!?

Posted by cardboard hogs on March 20, 2017

We have a champion in the very first ever Cardboard Hogs contest…and it was a non-contested contest. The Winner…wait for it…GAVIN!! from my current hometown of Portland, Oregon and writer/blogger of the very entertaining Baseball Card Breakdown blog. I don’t believe i have your address, so it you wouldn’t mind passing me an email i’ll get something over to you that i hope you enjoy! Not sure i’m going to make it to the show the weekend…

In case you were wondering, here are the results…along with some other stuff.

DOOR #1 – $20

Rypien Monk Mann

Ok, brief story on this lot. This is the old guy, the new…old guy that had the vintage football. Seemed nice, very chatty…but there was something odd about him. He was a little more pushy than the other guys and was really doing a sell job on me. Normally i don’t like that and tend to wander off when i get that kind of vibe. I should have listened to my gut! When i pulled this lot of cards, i handed him the stack and said my usual “what’s my damage…?” his response was “…make me an offer!” I offered $10 thinking that was more than enough. $2 per card. In fact, i thought it was a little too high…Bill probably has all of these cards in his 7 for $5 boxes. Anyways, he LOL’d out loud and said “…the 24K gold card is $20 by itself!”. That’s the Charles Mann card. He could quite possibly be right, but card shows aren’t about getting top dollar for your cards. It’s about selling cards to collectors at negotiable prices that work for both parties. I was taken back by his counter and shockingly stared at the cards for what seemed like 2 minutes before sheepishly taking out a $20 and handing it to him. Retelling this story and reliving the moment, i’m quite upset with myself. I tend to be a fairly generous person and don’t mind getting the lesser end of the deal if i can make someone happy…but this was just a case of me getting taken advantage of…and it pissed me off…i’m still upset that i let myself accept that offer. I should have given him the cards back and walked off. I will certainly skip his table next time…if he’s there again. I can’t imagine he did much business in finding too many suckers last time.

DOOR #2 – $15

This is just some good ole’ Tom hooking me up. His table was my third stop and more than made up for the previous door…Now, Tom has a habit of overpricing his cards and then giving you a great deal on them. I think he does that so he an engage in conversation with the guys at the show. When he handed me that Jamison Crowder card with a $40 sticker, i was like nah SON! But, he smiled and said, “you know i’ll make a good deal for you.”

DOOR #3 – $25

These are a few gems from Kim. All relics or autos, most with serial numbers…and $5 more than door #1. This is why i enjoy hitting up Kim’s table. He has stuff set aside for me and i get great deals on them.

DOOR #4 – $10

Reed Seastrunk Jeffcoat

So, the last door was from the military vet. This is another guy that over prices his cards with the label, but is more than happy to negotiate a deal quickly and easily. He’s the autograph guy that is more interested in moving things than keeping them. I had offered him $15 for the lot and was scrambling around for a $5 to go with my $10 and he said “…$10 is fine…” That’s how you treat a customer at a mall show i say!!

So there you have it kids. Don’t let people take advantage of you and do not hesitate to negotiate…don’t be a sucker like me!

Today is the first day of spring and my mid year birthday…tomorrow is my son’s…kinda cool that we basically share birthdays. So, in honor of none of that…here’s a video from a TEDx conference in Wisconsin by Michael Ford…very cool connection of Hip Hop and Architecture. Check it out.

One of a kind

Posted by cardboard hogs on February 2, 2017

In my endless journey to collect every single unique Redskin card that man, woman and child has ever made, i have to understand my limitations. Whether they are due to fiscal inability or levels of rarity that would make winning the lottery easier, i must pursue, pursue, pursue…or collect, collect, collect! What that means is when i have the chance to pick up a card that is rare…10 copies or less…maybe, actually 5 or less…i gotta do it…assuming I can afford said card. The real issue comes in to play when the old printing plates cross my eyes.

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Printing Plates are annoying. I would venture to say that most of us would wholeheartedly agree to those four words. They are FREAKIN’ ANNOYING!. At first i thought they were a cool little insert in packs and something that was part of the card production process. A truly unique, one of a kind insert. But now, there are multiple printing plates for multiple card sets each year, and as a team collector it makes me feel the need to put them on my checklists…knowing good and damn well that i won’t ever get the majority of them…or possibly any of them. They are One of One after all. Last Saturday though, I had a chance to pick one up from Kim at the show and this was it.

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It’s from the 2013 Panini National Treasures set, card #100 of Robert Griffin III. Now a former Washington Redskin(s). The thing that’s baffling to me and printing plates is their price. This card you see here was marked at $20 and i probably got it for around $10 (bought a bunch of cards so it’s hard to say exactly). Now, i’m no economics expert, but neither is your President of the United States…but i would think that a second year card of an NFL QB that is the only one of its kind in the entire world would fetch upwards of $100. Possibly even more, tens of hundreds maybe, but no, not today, not at this show.

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Now, i get that RGIII isn’t the same RGIII in 2017 as RGIII was in 2012…or 2013 RGIII. But it’s still a 1/1 card! I feel like a fool for complaining about this pick up, but it just seems really odd to me and my marginal understanding of basic economics. Regardless, i now own it and am pretty pleased with the card. it is quite lovely and has a nice weight to it. It’s thicker than most of the other plates that i have, which is great because most of those are dinged or dented or bent(ed). This one just has some printer roller streaking, maybe that’s RGIII fleeting career moving past him quickly and on to the next guy, not quite sure.

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Another thing that i think is a little crazy about these printing plates is that i normally end up with the Black versions, not the Cyan, not the Magenta and definitely not the Yellow. I may have a couple Cyan and Magenta ones…but i don’t believe i have any Yellow plates. Could it be that the Yellow Uno/Uno plates are even more rare? Maybe the rarest of them all?

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Idiotic, i know…there’s one of each of the CMYK printing process plates randomly inserted in your packs, boxes and cases…but it just seems odd to me. Cue Rod Sterling…

…That’s all i got for today

I saw The Founder tonight with Michael Keaton, he wasn’t physically there, he was on the screen, but it would have been pretty cool to see the movie with him. I have a couple questions about Mr. Mom and Gung Ho i’d like him to answer anyways. Getting back on track…It’s the story of Ray Kroc and how he brazenly took the McDonalds model ~~nationwide~~ worldwide and became a billionaire of the seemingly kind McDonald brothers. (Nick Offerman is a man crush of mine.) It was a good movie, not epic, but entertaining. Watch it if you get a chance!

Here’s a one of a kind from Slug and Ant…AKA Atmosphere.

Skins from Kim

Posted by cardboard hogs on February 2, 2015

… careful…

Now that football season is finally over, we can all start to focus on the upcoming baseball season. Spring is my favorite season and we are getting a small taste of some phenomenal weather up here in the great northwest. That light jacket and slight drizzle in the morning kinda weather that makes me happy that i live here and not some place that is buried in snow or is simply 80degrees year round. There is something to be said about seasons and the changing of the weather and surrounding foliage (what other blogger uses foliage in a post?) I love it all to pieces. It’s wonderful. You know what else is wonderful, football cards…i know, i know…i was leading you down the path to baseball cards and then dropped a steel hammer and made a lane change. I LOVE baseball cards, i really do and i LOVE baseball, i really do, but my love for the Redskins far exceeds any sport…so please bear with me and another post football post. Baseball will be on its way soon enough.

Kim’s table. He’s my favorite dealer at the Portland shows. Great guy with tons of great pieces of cardboard like this lovely Orakpo auto card. ‘Rak has been a bit of a disappointment to most Redskin fans…but I still love him, as long as he’s wearing the Burgundy and Gold of course. I don’t think he will be on the team next year, but i’ve enjoyed watching him play and i’ve been a fan of his autograph. It’s super simple but with a nice variation of pen strokes that are appealing to the eye.

His pending replacement at LB is this kid, who as luck would have it is also a Longhorn. Keenan Robinson. This auto is what mine would look like if i was signing cards that you wanted to purchase. 3 Letters. Boom. Robinson is a minimalist. De Stijl. What’s up with the fleur-de-lis anyways? Is Leaf a French Canadian company? Do non French, French people like the fleur-de-lis?

Hey, does your football franchise need a solid QB? The Redskins have a couple. Cousins and RGIII will be duking it out next preseason, well, i assume they will. The loser may end up finding a new franchise to sling it for on Sundays. My bet is that Cousins makes his way to Cleveland or Buffalo next season…no reason other than pure guessing.

Refractor, shiny Prizm, wavy Griffin! If this card were issued in 2012 it would have it’s own blog post but life comes at you fast when your knees explode. I still believe in RGIII but am losing faith…i gotta have faith!

$14 PP Robert Griffin III Refractor 99:99$

This card is sexy. Plus it’s a little intense. Why is the ‘L’ so skinny? That’s a mighty big gap between the ‘F’ and the ‘L’.

Do you like Pizza? Do you live in the DMV? Well then, lemme tell you about Spinfire…actually I can’t really do that since i don’t live in the DMV. I do love me some pizza though. My wife has taken it upon herself to master the art of the homemade pizza from our oven and is killing it! Seriously, there isn’t another pizza in town i would want over the ones the wifey makes for us. I gotta give Topps some credit on this card. The on-sticker auto is placed so precisely and over the integrated box in the card design that makes the sticker nearly disappear. WOW!

This is the part of the blog where most bloggers post their biggest, baddest cards. Me? I’m going with some run of the mill running backs. Jawan (not Japan, Jawan autocorrect!) Jamison and Silas Redd Jr. Now, I had high hopes for JJ and thought he would have a nice impact on the team once he was healthy, but that day did not come for him and he’s seem to have bounced around the league a bit and i think he was on the Steelers practice squad at the end of the year, but could be wrong.

Silas Redd can be a nice little free agent find for next season. Maybe even replacing Roy Helu as the 3rd down guy or someone that can be blended in with Morris on Sundays.

Rickey’s Week

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 18, 2015

Rickey had a great week, not an epic week or amazing, but it was pretty eventful for the wallet card. Rickey as wallet card is a little shy and doesn’t like to come out too often, but when he does, he makes quite an impression. We are working on that though…there were a couple of moments when Rickey didn’t want to be seen with nice old fashioned that was ordered for his photographic purposes…but hey, everyone has their own thing.

After a wonderful weekend, Rickey had to make his way to work on Monday…a little weary and lacking energy to do much of anything. But Rickey is a fighter and did some great things at work. You may notice some other paraphernalia on the desk, the two RGIII’s are from Collector’s Crack from a trade a few months ago. The Ganesh was a gift from an old friend that was brought back from India and i think may not be working too well being that close to Robert’s ligaments…maybe next year I will shift it up a bit. There is also a tiny and outdated photo of our little family along with my vitamin jars. I’m big on those raw, whole food vitamins. Gotta stay healthy and alert! 😉

Rickey got to go on a field trip to my latest completed middle school project. He really liked it! We were doing the photo shoot with a fantastic local architectural photographer and i had to set up some of the staging. Rickey had some thoughts on staging, but they fell on deaf ears. Rickey don’t like deaf ears…but he does like the media center…and those roses, pretty dope eh?

Rickey ended the week with a wonderful date night and dinner with some wonderful friends. We hit up a couple bars on NW 23rd and had a great time catching up with the group. It was a bittersweet meeting though as we found out one of our great friends that both work at Nike are being relocated to Amsterdam. They will be leaving soon and will be greatly missed. We hope to make a visit in the next two years to see them, but who knows. Either way it was great to see the crew again.

We should really clean our mirrors…

What will we have in store for Rickey this week?

My First Trade Post!

Posted by cardboard hogs on December 31, 2013

…Now, this isn’t my first trade. Just my first trade post you see. I am sort of a slacker when it comes to following through. I try, I really try…it’s just not always that easy for me. The other trades i’ve made have been great…i’ve just found it difficult to do as many posts as I would like, and tonight I have some time. It’s New Year’s Eve and I have time to write a post on my sports card blog…My, my, my how the times have changed…

When Collector’s Crack posted a couple of mini figures of Robert Griffin III I was enamored as I am with Redskin and RGIII things. I begged and begged for them and CC was kind enough to part with them. The cool thing is that I now have the full rainbow of RGIII figures for this year. 2 pieces and the set is complete! I can’t say this is my best photography work and the background is a little weak. I’m sure my photographer wife will give me the business about my shoot. I guess I don’t know how to work with models that well.

Here is the front of the burgundy top…

…and here is the back of the burgundy top.

Here is the front of the white top…

…and here is the back of the white top.

It’s a very happy day at the Hog household when I can get new toys that my wife looks at and rolls her eyes. Such a patient woman to be married to a child. I warned her! 🙂

CC was also kind enough to send me a 2013 Strata card of Robert, which I do not have already.

I’ve noticed that it’s probability very difficult to make a trade with me since I am terribly behind on my checklists (more on that tomorrow…) I’m really hoping to make more trades in 2014 and post them on the blog (more on that tomorrow…)

Be on the lookout for your portion of the trade package CC and I hope you enjoy the cards. Also, don’t forget to sign up for the Easiest Super Bowl Contest on the Web.

Consider yourself PIMPED!

PS – I’m trying out smaller scans of the cards as i think the gigantic scans are a bit much…although I liked how they lined up with text at the edges. Visually I thought that was a better layout…but maybe not. I would love to hear your input if anyone is reading.

Black Monday

Posted by cardboard hogs on November 25, 2013

Ugggghhhh!

What did you waste your time doing tonight? Mine was spent fast forwarding through 60 minutes on ineptitude and a pathetic showing on the football field. I really didn’t expect too much from the Redskins tonight, but kind of expecting SOMETHING. Sometimes, expectations are set too high and cannot be met…mine were not met this evening. What a terrible season.

Being a fan of the Redskins has to be one of the most gut wrenching things in all of sports.

I’m staying with my guys though. I will be there when they eventually turn it around. I just wish they could get a way from the circus sideshow crap and just be a football team. Between them and the Dallas Cowboys, i’m not really sure any other football team has so much importance put on things other than playing football. Lots of noise for the organization and a ton of distractions. The good thing is that it really doesn’t matter…it’s just football and a game these silly kids play for tons of dollars.

Just watch and enjoy what you can…as always Hail to the Redskins!

The good and the bad…

Posted by cardboard hogs on September 9, 2013

Well, crap…didn’t really expect the football team from Washington to get worked like they did tonight agains the Eagles. The guys looked REALLY rusty on offense…and the defense was on the field way too much. Chips’ quick moving offense looked great in the first half, very dominant, but was slowed down in the second half. That, of course could have been due in part to them having a 26 point lead. No less, the skins didn’t look smooth at all and i’m thinking RGIII and Morris watching the preseason has something to do with that. It’s only one game and there are 15 more to go, but heading to Green Bay next week won’t be easy. Two 0-1 teams with division champion thoughts. Should be a barn burner in Weees-caaan-sinnn.

That was the bad.

Now for the good.

I got some sweet cardboard in the mail today from Sam over at the Daily Dimwit.

The first one is the jersey DeAngelo Hall card he had posted a few weeks ago. D’Hall as i’ve mentioned in the past on this site is the epitome of ‘the good, and the bad’. The good is his awareness to pick up the ‘lateral’ (iffy call honestly) pass and run it in the end zone to put the skins up 7-0. The bad is his dumbass horse collar, out of bounds drag down of DeSean Jackson for a 15 yard penalty…and his constant chattering with that tiny fool. No less, the card is very awesome.

Sam also sent along two other RGIII cards from this years crop of cardboard, one being a very awesome die cut Bowman of Robert in the throwback.

thanks Sam!

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.

An RG3 autograph has come to my home.

Posted by cardboard hogs on June 24, 2013

No words to describe this one.

This is the card that I wanted as soon as I saw it and I got a pretty good deal for it on e-bay. After a few months of stewing over the piece of cardboard I went for it!

I really couldn’t pass up an on-card autograph of the Washington Redskins Rookie of Year Quarterback numbered to 25 (21 for Sean Taylor?)

One of the dealers at the local card shows had a different, higher serial numbered version of the card for the same price I paid and so I’m glad I waited. This is going to be a great addition to my collection and something that I will always enjoy owning…I keep telling myself that…it may just become an investment, if that’s something you believe in with football cards.

The piece itself is in pretty spectacular condition and has no scratches or dents anywhere on the card, plus the corners are all sharp. This is one card that I had thought about getting graded, but am going to pass at this point as I just can do that to a card on my own…not yet at least.

Bonus Redskins and a gift package

Posted by cardboard hogs on June 11, 2013

As I mentioned in the previous post Colbey from Cardboard Collections hooked me up with a few extra Redskin cards, which was very cool. As I was flipping through the team bag of cards, I noticed most of the cards I do not have for my team sets, so they will be great additions. Thank, Colbey!

Here is a peek at the cards that stood out for me.

The Orakpo is really nice. One of my favorite players on the team and a Rookie card to boot. This one of those cards that i’ve never seen before either…so a really nice piece of cardboard.

Next is a couple of blasts from the not so far past. SP Threads of Portis and Campbell…wish I had done a better job of aligning the card banding.

Colbey also sent the two Griffin’s from this years Upper Deck set that I noticed on his blog…and really wanted for my RG3 personal collection. Love the Baylor jerseys.

Next is a three card filmstrip of sorts of Moss, Orakpo and Hankerson. I absolutely love the Orakpo photo…although it was used on the Topps issue as well…or at least the same pose…not really sure right now and too lazy to look it up. The Hankerson card is a little disconcerting as it is cropped really poorly and he is chopped off at the ankles…not to mention the gigantic offensive lineman ass poking out from the right. Ass.

I’m ending with Captain Chaos, Chris Cooooooley because I don’t believe he will be back next year…and I hope he ends up retiring. Can’t wait to watch him in the booth calling games in the future…or maybe he will become some crazy weed smoking hippy living in the hills and making pottery.