Topps Series 1…The Sequel

Posted by cardboard hogs on February 9, 2015

The second part of the blog posts from my Jumbo box brings the hits and nice little slices of hobby cards that i’m happy about. I’ve never been a guy that gets the great hits in a box, this is the main reason for me not typically buying a pack or box just to open. I typically only buy boxes when i plan to put the set together and I rarely do any type of insert set building. In the past, i’ve found ways of passing the parallels or minor hits off to eBay or sending them to someone in dire need. That said all but one of these cards are up for trade if you likey…

I’m going to start with my favorite sub set/insert from this years production.

The Gallery of the Greats. I think these cards are fantastic. I love the smooth texture on the border and the recessed metallic foil photo of a great. Now one of the guys i got from the box is hands down one of the greatest of all time, if not the single greatest player ever. I understand that’s a huge can of worms to open up, but if i’m looking at top to bottom best of all time i have to put Willie Mays at the top of my list. I’m loving this image of a young kid rockin’ the New York Baseball Giants cap.

The next guy though, maybe isn’t so great…or maybe he is in your opinion?

Steroid era or not, McGwire was a slugger and a respectable hitter…but far from a legendary baseball player. I like my ball players to be more rounded in their game than donkin’ the ball over the fence…but again, that’s just me.

Topps did the buyback thing again with the ‘Original’ foil stamp on a vintage-y card. I’m not so opposed to this, kinda like it actually as i don’t see it ruining the cards since most of them are commons. If they did this to a Mantle or Mays card, my words may take a different route. Here are the two kids i pulled from the packs.

I received one variation card…at least that i immediately noticed. It’s a pretty cool one too. I was a huge fan of Hayward when he came up with the Braves and thought he would be one of those guys that spent their career in the same town and won a championship or two the Bravos…but baseball being a business and teams wanting to move in different directions when things don’t work out, he’s a Cardinal.

When i saw the next card on other bloggers sites i was crazy excited to see it in person. Great young talent from a really fun team that I enjoyed watching make it to 90′ of tying game 7 of the World Series.

Yordano Ventura!

The only problem is that this card is hella grainy…or noisy as the camera people may say…plus it’s not TACK sharp, which is another thing they would say. Complete shame because that pose on a card is fantastic. Why isn’t this guy a Future Star card, especially if Gattis is?

I pulled a few first pitch cards and as i mentioned in the previous post, the Eddie Vedder was the one I really wanted. Side note, Eddie will be making his way to work at some point this week and chillin’ with two mini RGIII’s and a Ganesh. Back to the first pitches. This one made my scratch my head a bit. As i’ve mentioned here multiple times, i’m a huge fan of the rap music…i grew up on it. But you see, I grew up on the greats like EPMD, Eric B. & Rakim, Boogie Down Productions, Big Daddy Kane (my personal favorite) and the Biz Markie! Now, Biz is from Long Island but is tossing out the first pitch at an A’s game…I understand Oakland has had some legendary Hip-Hop acts (Too Short, Hieroglyphics, E-40) but other than that i can’t really see the connection, unless of course he lives in the Bay area?

Some of you may love Biz for Just a Friend and that’s cool, to each his own, but for my money his best song is Vapors. Also, not really sure about that form…seriously

Keeping in the Hip-Hop frame of mind, i love the B-Boy poses captured in this card. So old school.

Now for the hits. One isn’t quite a hit to you maybe, but it is to me. It’s a Rickey “hit”

Ok, now to the real hits from the box. I got your standard 1 auto and 2 relics but have seen some others get a bonus hit with the silver bordered cards…lucky bastards. My hits were ok, but nothing to shout about. Like this Kinsler…in a Rangers jersey.

I also pulled this Brett Cecil auto. This, i believe is the 4th Cecil auto i’ve pulled from various boxes in my rebirth of collecting. If i was a Cecil collector i would be crazy happy…but i’m just eh about it. Not really feeling that tattoo, but his ERA is nice.

This last hit is quite cool. It’s face value is 26cents, but i think it may have more value than that on the black market. The stamp of Mt. Rainier is pretty cool, especially with the moon looming over the shy mountain. Rainier is a stratovolcano for all you volcano enthusiasts out there and can often be seen from downtown Portland, but not this time of year. It’s gray. The card also has a penny which i flipped for the fun of it and it’s numbered 9 of 50. I really like it and one of the better hits for me in a while. Again, not outstanding, but i’m quite happy with it. Bumgarner kinda looks like Eddie Vedder, no?

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.

Rickey gets out a bit…

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 25, 2015

So, it’s been an eventful week for wallet card Rickey. He’s been a great partner in crime and…lunch. Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t have much protection in the money clip and well, since i’ve been biking to and from work, sometimes in the rain…he’s been getting damaged quite a bit. But that’s cool, that’s what this thing is kind of about anyways right? Carry a card with you and document all the events that happen in your life with the card. Photograph the mundane and the extravagant as well as anything else in between. All the cool kids are doing it!

One of the highlights for wallet card Rickey was Wednesday night!

He got out of the house on a school night to see the Hail Mary Mallon show with Aesop Rock and Rob Sonic…also, Homeboy Sandman. It was a blast…a wonderful time and a highly energized show which an old man like me really loves. Really, really loves. I’ve loved hip-hop and rap music before i loved baseball cards and i’ve always been a fan of both as i’ve gotten older. Now, Aesop Rock isn’t your run of the mill rappers. He’s a sophisticated and verbally dynamic emcee that apparently has the largest vocabulary in Hip-Hop…the findings were based on algorithms so…it’s pretty cool. What’s also really cool is the PBR I shared with wallet card Rickey…that cardboard kid is a lightweight.

Anyways, the show was great and i have a couple of videos i took from the show below…now, you should be warned that there are bad words being used the two videos below. So proceed with caution and…enjoy…or skip it! 🙂

The next day at work was wonderful, i was enjoying the excitement from the previous nights events. By the time Saturday came around though, i was bull dozed by a head cold. Sleeping all day long and doing absolutely nothing king of bull dozed. So me and Rickey shared some Ricola cough drops and took long naps.

During the awake times, i along with the rest of you heard the sad news of Ernie Banks passing. Now, i’ve never really been a Cubs fan but i love baseball and the history of the game. He was one of the players that i’ve always loved. I haven’t pursued too many of his cards in the past but when the wife and I went to Wrigley for a game a few years ago I wanted a shirsey and wasn’t settling for anything but Banks’ #14. I rocked the shirt today with pride and less of a head cold.

I was digging around for some cool photos of Ernie on the internet and didn’t come across any great ones but then found this fantastic photo that Pearl Jam posted on their twitter account. Such a great shot of Eddie, Ernie and Wrigley.