randcard

I reached in to my big box of cards and pulled out a random dude.  It's Pete!  He obviously comes from refined ancestors, huh?

Don't forget to make your lowball offer for the SPx insert set!  Tomorrow is the last day.

Highest lowball wins!

Behold, the 1999 SPx Star Focus insert complete set!!!  30 cards of 1999's hottest stars.  The scans dont show off the cards in their true look.  They are lighter than the scans show and feature the color photo on the left with a greyscale photo on the right.

The cards are in good shape!!  My scanner is doing a number on me.

So here is the deal.  These cards are 'worth' somewhere around $120 according to my year old Beckett.  I want less than that for them.  I want you to lowball me!  Anyone interested in trading for this set, make me an offer at kmattson2002@yahoo.com.  Comments are nice, but offers on this go to the e-mail address please.

I'll take offers until 8PM PST on Wednesday March 21st.  After that, I'll take whatever offer I consider the best.  Offer me a vintage common, a nice insert card, some refractors or even a WNBA card.  Anything goes!

Oooohhhh!  Big money!  LOL.  I'm off to clean my scanner!

I got two old farts in a draft

Plaschke (AKA Greg) who's sweater happens to be Argyle recently held a card draft that I was happy to take part in.  We each got to draft 30 cards, and I got mucho 'mojo' and other 'sick' cards.  (for the reason I use those lame collecting terms, see this post over at Community Gum)

Even though I got a lot, I decided to only show my 2 favorites from the draft...

A jersey of a HOFer?  Yes please!!

OK, this guy isn't quite a HOFer.  But he is vintage!  He is named Howie!  He is a rookie!  He looks like he is 55 years old!

Actually, Howie was only 24 in this pic.  Strange huh?

Thanks to Greg for a fun draft!

Featured Diamond Kings set of the month - February

Welcome to yet another series inspired by my blog goals for the year!  Every month, I will feature a Diamond Kings set in depth.  Gotta stay true to my roots!

OK, I know its not February anymore, but I had a rough end to last month.  Consider this catch up!  In January, I went old skool and featured the Original 1982 Diamond Kings set.  This time I decided to go the new skool route (relatively) and look at one of the subsets from 2003 Diamond Kings.  The 2003 Diamond Kings set was very different from the original inserts.  First off, it was a complete release, not a subset of the Donruss set.  200 beautiful cards!  Take a look at an example...

Aint it purdy? (oops, this is a framed parallel, but you get the idea)

But this is not the set I'm highlighting.  For that, let's look at the 2003 Diamond Kings Team Timelines insert set.

There are 10 cards in the set and each is serialed out of 1000.  They also came in dual jersey versions serialed out of 100.  The cards themselves are all differently colored, but share the basic design with swirly decoration near each player depiction in an attempt to create a classy look.  The players themselves are in the upper left and lower right of the card, drawn in standard Diamond Kings style.  Here are a few examples.

Most of the cards look great.  Mike Sweeney(below) and a few others might seem odd picks now, but at the time, they made sense.    The one I really don't like is the George Brett.  His head looks too long and his nose looks crunched.  Not a big deal, but every time I look at the card, I notice it.  It's just not George to me.

Here are the rest of the cards in the set!

I got this complete set on Ebay for a steal a couple of years ago.  Its one of my favorite little Diamond Kings sets!

I buy because...

Yesterday I posted a 'Why do I buy?' post where I put up some stuff that I purchased at Saturday's card show that I didn't feel the need to keep.  Well, here is the stuff that I will be keeping!  It's not really different from the non-keeper stuff, at least qualitatively.  But I like it!

Funky Jeter die-cut
Carew Kellogs (my 4th different Carew kellogs!)
Funky (again) Biggio die-cut #d /1000
Eddie Murray oddball - on the back in the small print, it says that the bearer of this card is a 'True Fan'.  I'm a true fan!!!!!
Ozzie Kellogs
1984 Star Yaz - I'd never seen these before.  cool.

Pickup of the day, Sandy Amoros 56 Topps!  Like most everyone, I love this set.  This card is in very nice shape for a 56.  Beautiful!

Why do I buy????

Card show yesterday!!!  In another post, I'll show what I am keeping, but here is a bunch of stuff I bought... that I don't want!  Why, you ask?  Mostly because it was too cheap to pass up, but partly for trading.  So if you see anything you like...

I have no idea what the 'Red Foley' Nolan Ryan is.

Lots of Piazzas in this bunch.

Told ya!

The Gwynn and Hendersons are 2001 Heritage SP's.

Let me know if you want anything!

The Ultimate Carew?

What is the Ultimate Rod Carew?

I've always liked Carew, with his wacky batting stance and preternatural ability to put bat to ball.  His .388 average in 1977 was HUUUUUGE... until George Brett did him one better in 1980.  But it was a foregone conclusion that when I returned to the hobby, I'd chase me some Carew's!

So is this the Ultimate Carew?????

Well, yeah.  It's a 2004 Upper Deck Ultimate Rod Carew #d/675!  And its in MY personal collection!

The Ultimate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, enough hyperbole, while I like the Ultimate line, that can't be the Ultimate Carew can it?

How about this one, also in my personal collection?????

This just happens to be my only 1/1 too.  Pretty nice!?!?  Now I only need the Gold version (/50) and the Platinum (/10).  That's be a sweet little 4 card stack!

But for the Ultimate Carew, I probably need to go outside my collection.  How about something like this:

I'd take that in a heart beat!  It's a sticker auto, but still sweet as Rod's swing.

Naw, none of these are the Ultimate.  The ultimate is the one Topps Carew from his playing days that I don't have.  It might be one of the ugliest Carew cards too, but it is still my Ultimate Carew!

Oh, and if anyone's got one laying around... you know what to do!

feb fractor report

If you read this blog at all the last 2 months, you know I'm collecting refractors this year.  Any refractors!!  This month was brutal for the last 1/2 of it.  I got 0 new refractors in that time.  But the 1st half was awesome!!

Here is the monthly progress report for February!

As of February 29th, I have the following:
389 - Baseball Refractors
17 - Football Refractors
34 - Basketball Refractors

440 total Refractors!  That's 165 this month.

More math...

I have 44% of my goal of 1000 Refractors
I have been accumulating refractors at a pace of  7.33/day (down from 8.87/day in January)
I am on pace for 2677(!?!?) Refractors

As I said last month, "Holy *bleep*fractor*bleep*"!   I am very tempted to go back to my original plan of 2000 refractors this year, but things have got to slow down.  Right?

I hope not!

Huge thanks to all who have helped me along so far, with a special shout-out to Dennis of Too Many Verlanders and Too Many Manninghams fame, who sent this months largest fractor pack, 69 total refractors! Thanks again Dennis!

Back I hope

A few weeks ago I had a run of 21 posts in 20 days.  Good times.  Then I dropped off the face of the earth, no posts in 18 days.  I think I'm bipolar.  Actually, work has been a bear for the last month.  We let people go and one is on medical leave and I have all their burdens on my shoulders.  I get home and there is no energy left for cards or posting.

But somethings gotta change!  I am getting crankier and meaner and the cure is some diversion and fun.  So hopefully back to blogging.

It is time!

Be quick!

Every Major League team has an all time-games played leader.  Most of these men are retired.  Three are still active and still on the team they hold the record for.  Soooooo......

Name the three players that are the All-Time leaders in career games played for their current teams.

One guess per person, 1st to get it right takes the prize!

Unfortunately, I will be out until about 8:30 PST, so I won't confirm a winner until I get back.

Something to read

Attention: (NO PIMPING!)

There will be a contest of (limited) skill and quickness on this blog tomorrow at 6PM PST/9PM EST.  The prize will be these:

and these

The condition on these is not always mint, but it is a good variety of semi-vintagy goodness.

The way to win will be to answer a trivia question first in the comments on tomorrows post.  So come on by around 6PM PST/9PM EST.  The answer is probably searchable, I found the info on the net after all.  Bring your Google machines and your quick typing fingers and go home happy!

As it says up top, please do not pimp this, I want someone who reads this blog regularly to win.

Holy package from Dennis

Yesterday, I mentioned that I would be posting about 2 packages from bloggers that were sent to me out of the kindness of their hearts.  Speigel was yesterday, today is Dennis from Too Many Verlanders!  This one was completely out of the blue.  Not only does Dennis have too many Verlanders (and Grandersons), but he has way too many cool cards that I like.

He sent a ton.

Like 2000 pounds.  That is how much a ton is.

With the postage rates gone up, I wonder how much is cost him to send 2000 pounds of cards.  Really, a lot of cards, and all of them right in my wheelhouse!

So check it out!

I'd been looking for some of these Pinnacle Mozaics cards.  Well, Dennis threw in a bunch of them!  They are very interesting looking.  I likey!  Other flashy stuff was abundant as well.

Here is more flashy.  Die cuts, the 2 Wave of the Future cards actually are plastic and have liquid in them.  The Fleer card on the top left doesn't look too flashy, but it is actually my first Fleer Tiffany parallel!  I thought only Topps did Tiffany.

These are all various Artists Proof parallels from Pinnace and Donruss.  There were a LOT more of these.  I especially like the Die Cut ones.

2 serial #'d Pudge Diamond Kings from tough sets!  Really cool, I don't know if I will ever complete these 2 sets because they don't pop up much any more.  And McGwires!!  Beautiful stuff, I had never even seen the Pinnacle Die Cut one.

And of course, the inspiration for the package, Dennis wanted to help with my quest for refractors!  You can see why I say he sent a literal ton.  Bundles and bundles!

Thanks oh so much Dennis, I'll be on the lookout for you!!

nomo surprise!

This will be the first of two back to back posts where I am treated like a kid at Christmas.  Like a BAD kid at Christmas.  These comparisons aren't getting the point across... maybe like the devil on Halloween, or any Kardashian, any time.

The point is, I got stuff I don't deserve for no reason other than someone seems to like me!!!

This first post is brought to you by the letters S, P, I, E, G, E and L.  If you don't know who that is, get on over to Nomo's Sushi Platter and check out the nice work.

I guess I sent him something in the past that he appreciated, so being the great guy he is, he sent me this great stuff.  I wasn't expecting it!

Great variety, and this scan is just a sampling.  I really love the Nettles 'Senior Baseball'  card, McGwires always welcome and vintage?  Who can complain about vintage?  OK, I can.  I think Topps is dumb to rebrand old vintage for current product.  i understand the marketing attitude that drives it, I just don't like it.  Still, I'll gladly take them in my vintage collection!

He also sent refractors!  The generosity of the community astounds me.  Thanks a ton Spiegel!!

Travis Buck. So pretty.

Dan from It's like having my own card shop recently contacted me about a trade for a Kelly Johnson relic I had on my trade bait page.  Unfortunately, I had sold it a couple days before.  So after I updated my bait page, we worked out a trade for some other D-backs!

My favorite is this Travis Buck.  It didn't come through on the scan, but his hair is 'refractorized' so that it looks even more squirly and girly than in the scan.  He be beautiful!  And so are the other refractors Dan sent.

Thanks Dan!!

Who is this Arpsmith guy?

For a guy with no blog, arpsmith sure gets around.  See here for his latest.  Well, he also worked out a fun trade with yours truly.  I sent stuff I didn't want that he wanted, and he sent stuff he didn't want that I wanted.  See, a trade.  Worked out awesome!

So he sent me refractors.  Nice ones.  Lots.

A couple older ones (always cool!), numbered, colored etc.  Very pretty, eh?

And here is a shot of some of the big ol pile that came with them!  Very nice, helps me a ton on my goal for the year!

Thanks arpsmith!

Rooting AGAINST my favorite player

I've decided I'm crazy.

When a normal person watches a sporting event in which their favorite player is participating, the natural thing to do is to root for that player.  Right?  Well, here is an example of how collecting cards has totally screwed up my priorities!

I'm not a Giants fan. I'm not a Patriots fan.  But my favorite football player is Wes Welker.

I love Wes because he reminds me of me.  Not the stupid comments about Rex Ryan last year (OK, I make plenty of comments I regret too).  No I like Wes because he is an undersized, undrafted tough little producer.  I like the sheer number of catches he makes.  The way other teams try to bully him physically, but he just bounces right back.  Reminds me of me in my tiny little football career.  (I didn't even make the team at a 2 year college, so I'm definitely not bragging!)  He isn't perfect, but he is my favorite active player.

So why am I rooting against him?  Cards.  I don't have many Welkers and no RC's or high end cards.  I'd like some.  And if he has a big game on the Big Stage, they will retreat even further out of my price range.  So if Welker catches a game winning touchdown, I'll celebrate his accomplishment, but mourn a little for the cards I'll never own.

What a sad sob story. huh?

Go Wes!

Joe brings it!

Joe over at The Sandlot and I recently completed a fun trade.  I send him Mets and Piazza's and he sent me:

A regular and a jumbo Gallery of Heroes from 98 Topps Gallery!  They made these for at least 3 years that I am aware of, but this year is the nicest looking in my humble opinion.  I am collecting this set, but only have #'s 3(Bonds), 12 (Chipper) and 14 (Nomo).  If you have any for trade, let me know!

The jumbos are really cool for display.  I doubt I'll get the whole set of those, but I now have the Arod and Ripken.  They look great together!

Big Mac's and hoops funkiness!  Right off my wantlists, and beautiful!

And what trade these days would be complete without refractors!  Joe sent a bundle.  I imagine that back in the early days of refractors, a Mantle refractor would have been big bucks.

Awesome package Joe!  I'll be on the lookout for more Piazzas!

Mustached trader strikes again

I apologize for the abundance of trade posts (but I love having that problem!) and also for making the trade posts so short (but I'm slammed at work and home right now).

Anyway...

Eric over at Manupatches and Mustaches is a great blogger and fun to trade with.  He collects mustachio'd players.  I didn't send him any of those, but I have some for the next package (I promise this time Eric!)   I recently sent him some John Stocktons and Karl Malones and he sent me refractors!  Here's a small sampling of the bounty:

Thanks a ton Eric!

Refractor Quest - January Report

Collecting 1000 refractors from scratch in a 1 year period sounds daunting.  Since I don't buy packs, it sounds even tougher!  I know the blogging community will be there to help.  Trading is awesome in our little community.

I have semi-devious plans to attract fractors as the year goes on.  I have a couple of quite nice cards that I plan to 'auction' off for the highest number of refractors in return.  But still, it going to be a big challenge, right????

Here is the monthly progress report for January!

As of January 31st, I have the following:
230 - Baseball Refractors
11 - Football Refractors
34 - Basketball Refractors

275 total Refractors!

More math...

I have 27.5% of my goal of 1000 Refractors
I have been accumulating refractors at a pace of  8.87/day
I am on pace for 3246(!?!?) Refractors

Holy *bleep*fractor*bleep*!  So far the trades have been rooooling in! Obviously.  It's been awesome.  I am very tempted to go back to my original plan of 2000 refractors this year, but things have got to slow down.  Right?

I hope not!

Huge thanks to all who have helped me along so far, with a special shout-out to Brad from Philly, who sent the largest fractor pack, 89 total refractors! Thanks again Brad!

Platshke's got a draft going

Hey all, There's a card draft going on over at Platshke, Thy Sweater is Argyle!  With a creative name like that and a reputation for great trading, it should be a good one!

$20 gets you in.  Head on over!