Call for wantlists

I’ve seen others do this with varying degrees of success, but I’m going to sticky this and give it a try.

You see, in my two month absence, it seems that 100’s of new card blogs have made their way onto the scene.  And with those 100’s of new blogs are, no doubt, 100’s of wantlists.  So all I’m asking is that you post a link to your wantlist in the comments of this sticky, and I’ll go see what I can do to help you out.  It’s that simple.

So if you want cards that you need, and have a minute to cut and paste, do so here.  I’m not going to be able to fill your ‘52 Topps requests, but I may be able to help with more recent fare.

Thanks!

Mail from the Cheap Seats

UPS informs me my Allen and Ginter boxes will arrive on the 14th.  Ugh.  By that time it will be time all the Gint-a-cuffs will be over and it will be time for the Upper Deck Icons-o-clash.  That’s okay, though, because I knew it’d take forever for me to open my packs anyway.

Until then, I’m hoping to start whacking away at more of your wantlists, including Dan’s from Saints of the Cheap Seats.  After posting my wants last week, Dan sent a quick email saying he’d send me some stuff.  And boy, did he.

The first thing I pulled out was a note.

Wait, that’s not for me.  And they guy it’s addressed to is the guy sending me these cards.  Then I noticed that Dan’s saving the earth (and money) by reusing bubble mailers, and this note just got stuck on the inside.  So Dan, if you were mad at Jeff that he didn’t send a note, don’t be.  I’ve got it,and it’s safe.

Then, an actual note from Dan and a think stack of cards inculding:

Cy Young Career Best Legends.  Listed with the Cleveland Naps.  Awesome.

I love the look of this Helton Turkey Red.  It makes me think he’s at some municipal park somewhere and he’s been practicing all day and into the dusk.  I just wonder what he’s going to throw the ball at with that downward sightline.

One of last year’s insert chases, the Trading Card History set.  Zambrano’s showing off the 1922 E120 design origianlly released by American Caramel.  If Topps were true to the set, it’d be a blue-green card stock with green ink since Zamboni’s in the NL.  The orignals, as usual, look much nicer than this.

Most of those Topps Dark cards look really nice with the all black.  This one of David Eckstien does not.  It looks like two separate images on one card without the background to tie it together.  Any word on if Topps is doing this for series 2 as well?  I’m not sure my bank account can take another hit.

Finally, a few random Reds.  These are my first Heroes and Sweet Spot cards ever.  Dunn is trying to become what I can only imagine is the first player to hit more home runs (22) then his team has wins (24).  And Harang  just needs some run support.  The kind Adam Dunn could provide.

Perhaps my favorite of the bunch, though, is this purple monstrosity from 1991 Classic.  I think this beauty speaks for itself, really.

Thanks Dan, for making my wait a little more awesome.

The local card shop

is charging $120/box or $5/ pack for me to scratch that Ginter itch.  I laughed.  I’ve got two boxes coming in the mail for just a little more than that.

And I’ve been posting this in comments elsewhere, but seriously:  Blowout has boxes of Allen and Ginter for $73.99.  Atlanta Sports Cards has them for $75.99.  I think those are the best deals I’ve seen so far.  If you can wait, I’d try there first.

08-09 Be A Player signatures

Mario from a popular blog you may have heard of before worked out a trade for some hockey cards a few months ago.  I told Mario at the time that I was in no hurry to get the cards, but he still felt bad and sent me a handful of 2008/09 Be A Player Autographs to apologize.  Apology accepted, good sir.  But you still didn’t have to do it.

For those unfamiliar, Be A Player started back in the mid 90’s and was one of the first (if not the first) releases that promised a signature in every pack.  The initial release was a joint venture with Upper Deck and the NHLPA, but wasn’t licensed by the NHL.  It was awarded worst set ever over at Get High on Hockey.  Throughout the years, different companies have taken up the  Be A Player mantle, but in 2005/06 Upper Deck took the reins once more.

One of the cooler things about the one per pack autos back in the 90’s is that they were numbered the same as the set.  So if you wanted to collect all the auto parallels (as I once started to do in 1999), it was pretty straight forward.  Upper Deck’s changed that, though.

Now, I wasn’t going to collect this set anyway, and certainly not the parallel version.  But if I had any inkling to do so, Upper Deck’s numbering decision would totally turn me off.  You can see there they went from using the same numbers as the base card to using a players initials.  Anytime I have to do research just to put together a wantlist, well, it’s going to be a big turn off.  Just another bad decision on Upper Deck’s part, if you ask me.

As for the design itself, well, it’s alright I guess.  I’m not a huge fan of it overall, and all the cards Mario sent were sticker autos.  I’m pretty certain the 99/00’s I have were all hard signed, but that’s where we are in the hobby today.  I don’t have an autographed card of Marc-Andre Fleury, I have a signed sticker of Marc-Andre Fleury that Upper Deck stuck on a card for me.  Once I think about it like that, it really takes some of the fun out of it.

Finally, he threw in this Voracek jersey card from the most cherished of hockey’s historic moments, the rookie jersey shoot.  Voracek didn’t shine as many thought he would this year, but did show some glimmers that will help him maintain his promising status going into next year.  The Blue Jackets have always been a secondary favorite of a team, so this card was a very welcome addition to my collection.

Thanks again, Mario.

I’m jealous

of everyone who can pick up their Allen & Ginter boxes at their local card shop instead of waiting for them in the mail.

Updated wantlists

Night Owl and Beardy aren’t the only ones who work a night shift. And since I’m up late, I thought I’d take the time to update some wantlists. First, some 2009 Topps additions, including the series 2 short prints. My jumbo box was lacking in SPs, so all 17 have been added, as well as the new crop of Turkey Reds.

My Upper Deck wants from this year are finally up, too. I’m looking for no printer’s creases and no machine damaged corners for these. I’m particular, I know.

If you can help, drop me an email and I’ll do my best to return the favor.

Dear Upper Deck

I believe it’s spelled “Strasburg.”

Or has someone else already pointed this out?

Yours truly,

Hand Collated

2009 Upper Deck Rack pack box review

A rack pack box?  Sorry, I guess Topps must have that trademarked, because Upper Deck calls them Fat Packs.  Whatever.  As a set collector, I did some quick calculations on these and found I’d get 648 cards from a 500 card set.  After the 2-a-fatpack Starquest turquoise cards, I’d still pull 612 cards, more than enough for a 500 card set, right?

Not quite.  Collation was still pretty good, though, and I ended up 4 cards away from my series 2 set on the hopes that Upper Deck can replace my damaged cards for me, and three of those cards were from the 1001-1006 portion of the set which I believe are shortprinted.

As far as the damaged cards went, most of the cards with creased corners visible on the back were gone, but the printing marks remained a problem.  A new issue arose with lots of excess foil, mostly on the backs of the cards.  For some reason, though, I’m more willing to let Upper Deck slide this time around.  But man, if they can sort this crap out, they’d be so much better off.

How about the photography, the one thing that kept Upper Deck heads above Topps?  While certainly Topps has improved, Upper Deck seems also to have taken a step back.  At one point there were four Astros pitchers in almost the same pose.  And too many of these:

No, not Kyle Farnsworth cards.  Posed photos.  They’re everywhere.  I appreciate Upper Deck trying to get me cards of players with their new teams, but rather then go and get some spring training action shots like Topps did, Upper Deck seemed content to go with the Olan Mills coupon special.

So after the debacle that was series 1, Upper Deck redeems itself a little with series 2.  There were few cards I was blown away with, but I credit that mostly to the underwhelming design of the cards in general.

Should you buy a fat pack box as opposed to a hobby one?  Well, if you are looking for the set and don’t want to be bogged down by useless inserts and jersey hits, then sure.  The almost set I put together actually goes on ebay for more then the price of the box, so I guess that says something, too.  But if you want the thrill of the chase and hope to pull a Griffey auto or some auto patch of the next big thing who’s yet to play in the majors, you’re better off going hobby.

Trading with Tunguska

Is it really a trade when you haven’t sent anything back yet?  I’d forgotten all about working things out with Tunguska until a package of cards landed in my box.  Luckily I still had some cards I pulled for him aside and a brand new wantlist was enclosed in the box to boot.  Now when things return to some normalcy around here, I’ll have plenty to do.

To show how life continues to invade my collecting world, this box arrived mid week last week and I finally had a few moments to look at it today.  So to celebrate the opening of the NHL free agency signings, I got a crapload of cards for my 2008/09 OPC set.  Hoorah!

There are few visually interesting cards in this set, but the grimace on Sundin’s face helps qualify this one.  Mats will always be known as a Maple Leaf even after last years half season with Vancouver.  No word yet on if Mats will retire or come back for one more run.

Probably the only reason that Gaborik hasn’t signed anywhere today is injuries.  He’s averaged a little over 50 games a season over the last four years and played only 17 games in the 2008-09 season.   I guess you could say he’s well rested and ready to sign.  Rumors put everyone in New York, but the Rangers may be forced to take the risk without a clear goal scorer on their roster right now.

By far one of the uglier cards I got, only because Upper Deck chose to list Tucker with the Avs while leaving him in the Maple Leafs jersey.  I’m wondering after his off year last year if Avs fans would have rather seen him stay in Toronto, too.

Another frankencard, this time Erik Cole.  He resigned today with the Hurricanes, the only team he seems to want to play for.

Zherdev’s a guy who’s full of potential, but doesn’t seem to know how to use it.  He started out well, but really tailed off as the season went and ended up scoreless in the 7 game loss to the Capitals.  Not sure if he’s back next year or not, but I know the Rangers made an offer.  There’s rumors he’s off to Russia to play next year.

And finally, Upper Deck has no color pictures of Lanny McDonald?  Really?

As I was finishing this up, rumor came out that Gaborik wants $75 million over 10 years.  Yikes.  I just can’t see that happening, so it probably will sometime soon.

Thanks Tunguska.  I’ll be working on more cards for you soon.

*UPDATED*  Not really, but who knew Tunguska had his own theme song?

Nobody cares about my fantasy team

I know it’s true, but I had to share this somewhere.  Yesterday, I benched this guy

Brett Anderson because he’s a struggling rookie.  He went 5 1/3, gave up 1 run and K’ed 7, running into problems in the sixth.  Not to worry, I thought, because I had a former Cy Young award winner

and this guy

going for me tonight.

Their combined effort:  6.2 innings, 15 ER, and a 3.45 WHIP.  There goes those two categories this week.

On a blogging note, I’ve made it through some of the wantlists already and cards are speeding off to destinations if they haven’t already arrived.  I had planned to get more done today, but a family emergency arose.  Everything’s fine now, but it really took a lot out of the day.

I may get to it tomorrow, or it may take another week.  But it will get done.

Feel free to complain about your fantasy team here.

I can’t decide

if I like this Steve Pearce card for the action shot…

… or dislike it for the lack of color and the distance we fell from him.