Cards that made me laugh

A lot of people are getting in to the “looking back” mode as 2009 rapidly approaches its end, so I may as well hop on the bandwagon.  I mostly purchased ‘07 and ‘08 products, so I don’t have much material for a favorites/least favorites entry, so my favorite 2009 product is…. drum roll… 2009 Sweet Spot. Least favorite?  Ummm… O-Pee-Chee.  There ya go.

However, I have run in to a handful of absurd cards that’ve made me chuckle, so I’ll take a brief look back at those.

2009 SPX Jason Giambi/Richie Sexson dual relic.  On top you’ve got Jason Giambi, with an A’s logo, Yankees jersey, over A’s colors in the background!  Underneath you’ve got Richie Sexson (who was in the Bronx for all of 10 minutes) wearing a Mariners helmet, Yankess logo, and what is most likely a Mariners swatch.  That’s one messed up relic card!

2009 SP Authentic Ozzie Smith short print variation.  I saw this posted in a YouTube box break.  Nice serial numbering, right across The Wizard’s face!  And it’s upside down, to boot.  Hilarious!

And finally, speaking of “across the face”, the third card of 2009 that truly made me chuckle was a Yao Ming relic card, and as you can see, Fleer chose to place the relic in it’s predetermined postition regardless of photo used.  They must have had a second Yao Ming picture to choose from, don’t you think?  Priceless.

Which higher end box should I buy?

It’s been a great year in the Priceless Pursuit household.  For one, it’s a “household” that we bought a few months back after an eight month search.  And of course, the birth of our son topped off a wonderful year when he joined as at the beginning of December, just one day before this guy’s birthday (the cute one… on the bottom.)  So I’m considering treating myself to something nice to cap it all off.

The two options I’m most considering are a box of 2008 Sweet Spot (in the low $80s) or a box of 2008 UD Ballpark (closer to $100).  I’d get double the hits out of Ballpark (and spare me the lecture on relics; I love ‘em!), but I sure do love me some sweet spot autographs.  I suppose a box of ‘09 Sweet Spot can be thrown in to the mix as well.  This is uncharted territory for me, as I usually stick to stuff that most would consider mid-range, at best, but even that is a bit of a stretch.  I’d considered buying just a single pack of UD Ballpark for the longest time, but that hardly seems the economical thing to do.

So I turn to the blogosphere – which higher end box should I go after?  Or perhaps the ‘best’ answer is “none of the above”.  Your input is welcome, either in the form of a comment or a vote in the poll below.

Totally ’90s

Sometimes one picture captures an entire generation.  It may be your parents’ high school yearbooks, full of beehive hair cuts, big glasses, and afros.  Or perhaps it’s old photos from your great grandparents, showing women in fancy, formal dresses on a Saturday afternoon.  Sometimes it’s nice window in to generations past, but sometimes it’s a permanent reminder of a style or trend that didn’t age well.

Like team hats with logos spilling off of the front panel.

This card SCREAMS ’90s, taken from the 1998 Collector’s Choice set (#352).  Omar Vizquel is classy looking enough in his crisp, white Indians uniform, but that Tribe hat is out of control.  I consider myself something of a ball cap connoisseur.  Although I’m a die-hard Yanks fan I own approximately 10-12 other New Era caps, all perfectly seasoned to fit as snugly as possible on my head.  I will NOT wear a straight brimmed cap, nor will I bend it into a triangle.  It’s gotta be a perfect curve, and cannot be worn any other way.  As a kid, I used to spend hours flipping through the pages of the Manny’s Baseball Land catalog (do they still make those), looking at all of the hats.

There was certainly a time and place when the Indians hat pictured on the card was in style, complete with the “S” on the side of the hat (along with, I’m guessing, the “I” on the left side!).  I haven’t kept any of my hats from when I was younger, though I’d venture to guess that they’re stashed away somewhere at my parent’s house.  I don’t remember having any like this, which is a shame.  It’d definitely turn some heads to walk down the street with one of these beauties on!

I can’t decide if Vizquel is telling the autograph seeker that a sharpie would work better, or that it’s time for the guy to update his cap collection.

Like it never came at all

And just like that, Christmas is over.  It’s always a funny feeling, this time of year:  a month (or more) of build up, shopping, time spent with seldom seen friends and family, and it all ends at 6:30 am on the Monday after Christmas when the alarm goes off.  Back to work.  All in all we had a terrific, if hectic, first Christmas as a family.  We ran in to an old friend at the airport who I haven’t seen in over eight years, a former co-worker, and spent three days with my wife’s family which included her brother, his wife, and their two boys who you may recall from earlier posts about trading baseball and hockey cards.  Very fun, but traveling through the airport with four bags, a baby, and a car seat was quite the juggling act.

Joseph made out like a bandit, with gifts including (but not limited to) books, clothes, baseball cards, and a signed Derek Jeter baseball from grandpa!

Regularly scheduled entries are coming shortly, and I’m looking forward to reading about all the loot everyone else came away with this holiday season!

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays, and may there be lots of unopened wax under your trees!

Little Carl learns to care

Even notorious hot head Carl Everett plays nice once in a while and finds himself in the giving mood, as captured on his 2006 Upper Deck card, #107.  It’s great when a card makes you stop and think about all the good things that can be attributed to sports, like team work, camaraderie, and sportsmanship.  Anything to let young fans of the game know that it’s not always about the money is a good thing.

Of course, there’s always the chance that at the last minute Everett yelled “SIKE!!” and threw the ball into the stands, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen that happen, and surely it’d end up on Sports Center if it did.

What have I done?!

I’m headed down a slippery slope with my recent baseball card purchases.  I bought a handful of packs from the shop on Friday afternoon, and I couldn’t resist one of the weekend specials at Blowout Cards:

Only $15!! Seems like a good deal.  I absolutely loved the 2007 Masterpieces set, and a complete set of the 2008 version will be a perfect compliment.  I’m pretty sure there’s a relic in each box, which is nice, plus very nearly the entire base set (or the whole thing if you get lucky.) I purchased both a hobby and a retail box in ‘07, but if collating a set is the main goal, the retail boxes make a bit more sense.

Of course, at $15  a box, how could I buy just one?!

That’s right – I picked up two boxes of 2008 UD Masterpieces for a combined total of $35 with shipping.  I’d initially planned on getting one box of Masterpieces and one box of ‘09 Upper Deck X, but figured I could get X cheaply any day of the week.  Don’t know why, but I’ve had the urge to put together cheap sets recently. And even just in the time I’ve spent writing this entry I’m starting to change my mind about UDX and am already thinking of how I’ll spend the money (on something better) that I’ll save up as I slowly make my way through the two boxes of Masterpieces… yes, I tend to change my mind that quickly.

Anyhow, that wraps up my end of the year shopping spree. I’ve always considered myself a budget collector, so spending $65 on a whim in just one weekend nearly gave me a heart attack.  And I was just talking about not wanting to spend $81 all at once on an entire box of Sweet Spot, too.  Depending on how these boxes go I  may regret this purchase (or not making the other).  O’well, sometimes a deal is too good to pass up.  These won’t be arriving until after Christmas, but I’ll of course be posting a box break when everything has been opened.

2009 Topps Updates – Needs List

OK, I’m tapping out.  I purchased one more round of packs of Topps Update and pulled exactly ONE card that I needed, making Pedro Martinez’s #UH93 essentially a $10 card.  That’s no good.  Even if it had been a Yankee it wouldn’t have been worth it, but the fact that it was a Pedro was the final straw.

Help!

Below is my ‘09 Topps Updates and Highlights “needs” list.  I have a TON of doubles if you’re trying to put together a set too, so perhaps we can arrange an “Updates for Updates” trade.  If not, I’ve got some inserts you can (kind of) see in the box break entry, or you can tell me your favorite team/player and I’ll do my best to come up with a suitable trade.  Leave a comment or send an email if you can help (address is on the Contact page at the top).  Thanks!

Need #UH:  6, 10, 15, 26, 36, 46, 65, 82, 95, 129, 133, 136, 165, 192, 199, 213, 225, 230, 232, 237, 244, 264, 300, 301, 314, 317

UPDATES

** Cards in RED are pending, courtesy of Dan of It’s Like Having My Own Card Shop.

** Cards in GREEN are pending, courtesy of Alfredo “Wicked” Ortega, who there ain’t no rest for … like that song… get it?!

** Cards in BLUE are pending, courtesy of Jeremy of No One’s Going to Read This Blog

** Cards in ORANGE are pending, courtesy of Larry, who did not leave a link to any site.

Confidence is high that these missing cards will be in hand before the new year, if not shortly after.  Thanks so much, everyone, for your help!  Hopefully you’ll find my half of the trades fair, and I look forward to completing (and to helping others complete) even more sets in 2010!

Yet another ‘09 Sweet Spot pack rip

I’m hooked on Sweet Spot.  The 2009 set features my favorite base design yet – and I’m keeping track of ‘em all as opposed to 2008 when I sent most of them out as part of trades or stuffed away in the closet.  I’m not actively pursuing the entire set, but I’d definitely like to complete it down the road.

However nice the base may be, this product is all about the hits.  In my last pack I pulled a short printed Sweet Beginnings autograph of Trevor Cahill and watched as my dad pulled a Derek Jeter/Ken Griffey, Jr., dual swatch.  Good stuff!  There were still three packs left if the opened box at my shop on Friday, and the owner mentioned that the sweet spot auto hadn’t yet been pulled… foreshadowing?  You betcha!

I pulled a sweet spot autograph of Mr. Sweet Spot himself, Chad Billingsley:

He’s a decent enough young pitcher, and I’m not going to be picky about which sweet spot autos I pull, but I still had hoped for a slightly bigger name.  I’ve watched countless breaks of this stuff online, going all the way back to the ‘07 tins, and I feel like Billingsley appears more than any other player.  This particular card is numbered out of 199, so it’s not like it’s any more common than any of the other autographs in the set, but I really do feel like I see this card (or the very similar 2007 version) ALL the time.  Maybe it’s just me…

May as well scan and display the far less exciting base cards:

My apologies to Mr. Sizemore, whose head I’ve lopped off for the sake of a rectangular scan.  I’ve had a nice run lately when it comes to pulling good cards out of packs and boxes, and I’m enjoying it while it lasts.

Card shop haul

Another Friday lunch break has come and gone, and with it I’ve made my last card shop trip of 2009.  Immediately after the holidays I’m leaning pretty heavily towards collating a few sets via cheap boxes online, so we’re not looking at a return to the shop until early January.  A quick photo of what I picked up:

I feel like I’ve got to try one more round of packs from ‘09 Topps Updates and Highlights before posting my need list.  I’m a little over 20 cards short of the set, I so know I won’t complete it after today’s purchase, but I have so much fun opening these that I can’t resist trying to collate it all myself.  I’m enjoying the inserts, and the box was freshly opened so there’s a reasonable chance of pulling a relic or auto.  If I do purchase any more Topps Update, it’ll definitely be of the jumbo pack variety.

Also pictured is a pack of 2009 Sweet Spot.  There’s a killer sale of this stuff online today over at Dave and Adam’s – $81 for a whole box – but I don’t like spending that much on cards all at once.  The shop owner said she didn’t think the sweet spot auto had been pulled from the box yet (same box from the one my dad and I picked out of last week), so I chose the middle of the three remaining packs.  Not bad odds!  I was oh-so-tempted to rip this pack in store and buy the others until I found the sweet spot auto, but then that’d defeat the purpose of NOT buying an entire box of the stuff online. Wish me luck – I’ll post the contents later this weekend.

Of course, no afternoon at the card store would be complete without three bargain relics.  There were ZERO baseball relics.  I picked out a Shaun King, London Fletcher, and Sage Rosenfels… all garbage, to be sure.  But hey – they were half priced, so it was three relics for a buck!  The Rosenfels is serial numbered (out of 999… big deal, right?) and features his college uniform, which… well… still makes this card virtually worthless.

All of the packs will be opened tonight.  Mom is planning on getting out of the house for a little while, so I’m eagerly anticipating a “guy’s night” of pack ripping with Joseph.