The Redemption Has Arrived! Strasburg?

Hey guys, Drew back here! I'm in a really good mood today, considering I finished my winter track season off yesterday at the sectional meets where I did fairly well, and have gotten a TON of awesome mail in lately! However, nothing topped this one. Last Saturday, I got a paper in the mail saying that a package from TriStar was missed, and I needed to sign for it. I assumed that maybe TriStar sent me a box to review, so I got a little excited, but on Tuesday, I realized that this wasn't the TriStar I thought it was. It was actually one of those tiny little Topps redemption envelopes, and I immediately knew what it was. I could not wait and I ripped the envelope open to reveal this beauty...

Woah. If you don't remember my box break of 2010 Topps 206, Dad and I pulled a redemption for an autograph of Stephen Strasburg. While I really wanted to sell it because of all the hype, I decided to keep it to remember one of the greatest pulls my Dad and I have ever had. My grandma bought me the box of 2010 Topps 206 from our local hobby shop as a gift for my 1st quarter grades, and here in February the card is finally mine!

Topps couldn't have done a better job with the design of this card, and it truly looks incredible! The redemption called for an American Caramels autograph of him, which would have been a sticker autograph, however, I think Topps decided that an on card auto would be more fitting for one of the biggest prospects of all time.

Now that I own an autograph of Mr. Strasburg, I hope for all the best for his career, not just for the sake of the value of this pull but for baseball as well. Thanks Topps!

See Ya!

Mystery Packs from eBay: Is It a Good Idea?

Hey guys, Drew back here. So one day I was just surfing around eBay looking to buy something nice for my PC when I came across a seller who was selling mystery packs. With Griffey Jr. autos and Hall of Fame relics galore, and 2 hits plus inserts for 6 dollars a pack (free shipping), I thought it was a great deal. It seems like out of the 50 packs made total, that I got 3 of the lower end packs. But was it still worth the price? Let's take a look:

So, in addition to the 2 "big hits" per pack, you get a few nice inserts. I combined the 3 packs in this post, but anyway, I love the refractors. I think I liked some of these cards more than the hits. With 2 Strasburgs and 2 Heywards popping up, they made for a nice rookie group of cards, and I love the orange refractor cards, even though I've never seen them before and I have no clue what they are. The purple refractors are all pretty sweet too, even though I don't know these prospects. They are numbered to 899.

Next were 8 Moments and Milestones. It's kind of sad to consider these cards "inserts" just because they are numbered, because this was actually a base set and Topps' dumb concept to completely confuse us collectors. All of these but Sheffield and Granderson are for trade.

Here is a 2010 Topps Chrome Hunter Pence purple refractor numbered to 599. This is a really nice card, and I think Topps did a good job at bringing purple into the refractor rainbow, even though most people would normally think thats a terrible idea. Pence is a solid player, but this is also for trade.

TIME FOR THE INSANE MOJO!! Here we have an unbelievable looking 2006 Upper Deck Ovation JJ Hardy gray jersey card! Wow! In all honesty, this is a pretty awful hit to start it off. Don't worry it gets better, I guess.

Ok, it's not getting much better. Nothing better than a 2006 Cliff Floyd bat card! For trade.

From 2004 Topps Pristine, a Moises Alou jersey card. While Alou was a very good player, and this card is way nicer than the first 2 hits shown so far, the value of this card is close to nothing. Relic overproduction? Maybe, but this is just boring.

Continuing on our journey from junk relic to the next, this is a familiar face in my collection. A 2006 Upper Deck Rafael Palmeiro relic. Again, a great player, but this is just boring! The funny thing is that I actually owned this card, but traded it away a long time ago to William, so now, I have it again. And its for trade. Again.

Woah, Rafael Palmeiro again? I haven't seen you in a while! From 2001 Donruss, a bat chip of his numbered to 550. Yawwwwwwwwwwwn.

Almost done here guys, don't worry. Here's a 2008 Sweet Spot Manny relic. One of the biggest collector pet peeves is used here, and I bet it stands out nice and big to you right now. Red Sox uniform? Dodgers logo? No, Upper Deck, what were you thinking?

The final card is 10x better than any of the above cards, because of the tiny black piece of patch in the corner of the relic. The card is of ex-Yankee Austin Kearns, numbered to 250 from 2003 Leaf Certified. This is a sweet card in person, so I think I'll hang on to this for now.

So I think the most valuable thing I bought with this purchase outside of lots of trade bait was a lesson. A lot of sellers do a great job of showing off the stuff that have horrible odds, and you get sucked right in. I can't be the only one to do this, right? Do you guys think this heap of junk was worth $18? An average blaster produces 1 relic and like 5 inserts, so this owned those odds, but I think I could've done better with that money. Whatever, you live and learn.

Have any of you guys tried "mystery packs" out? How did you do? See Ya!

HAPPY 800 TO ME! 2 Big Pickups!

Hey guys, Drew back here! This post marks the 800th post from me in this blog's history! It's been a long journey, ever since December of 2008, when I wasn't even a teenager yet. This blog has become a part of me that can never leave me, and I couldn't have done it without you. For the first few months, it was hard to get readers, but once I did, there was no stopping me from continuing to share my new additions and thoughts on sports. Since the beginning of this, I have added probably a good 40,000 new cards to my collection, a lot of it coming from all sorts of places around the world, from you readers! And while I've had a lot of trouble getting packages ready on time because of school work, I never get the page long rants from people complaining about where their cards are, because you're all the best! I've made not only a few new acquaintances from this but also a few great friends, and yes I am talking to you Will! So, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has kept me consistent and going strong from the past 2 years in this wonderful addiction!

Anyway, I don't have anything super special to show off here, other than a few pickups of 2 players that kept me going with the blog over the past year and a half or so. First off was a nice eBay pickup I bought maybe a month ago now, but I've been waiting for this post to show it off. Nick Swisher has been my favorite player for a little while now, and even though his signature is one of the worst ones I've ever seen, I never get tired of it. A lot of people would say I have a man crush on this guy, and I guess they'd be right.

This 8x10 autograph of Nick is my 1st item larger than a card that I own of him that is signed. It was a fairly cheap piece, and I liked the photo a lot. Now my 8th autograph of Swish, and one that will certainly get hung up on the wall as soon as possible! The certificate from ACE seems to be legit, but I don't know much about the company, so if anyone knows if it's a good certification company comment and let me know.

And how about this bad boy! From 2010 Topps Tribute, a Robinson Cano bat autograph numbered only to 75! This card has quite the story, because I actually had bought it months ago and it got lost in the mail. However, some nice guy said he found the package ripped up lying around, and he shipped it to us! The seller gave us a refund a long time ago, so this was almost considered a gift. Oh, and while this card now sells for a solid $40-60, I got this for about $15 when I had originally bought. Wow. This card is now one of my favorite Canos, and at this point it could be my last auto of his for a while, due to his ridiculously high value and stock going into the 2011 MLB season.

These 2 cards are enormous additions to my 2 big PC's, and while I am soon ready to introduce the next 2 players I will try to also focus on, these 2 players are always on top of my want list.

Happy Valentines Day everyone, but more importantly, Happy Pitchers and Catchers report day! Thanks so much guys and girls, this has been a fun ride so far and this train is gonna keep rollin on and on and on and on and on...

See Ya!

Trip to the Card Shop

Hey guys, Drew back here. About a week ago, I took a journey with my dad over to the card shop in need of 2011 Topps. Unfortunately, the snow delayed the delivery of their boxes, but since we don't go there often, we still decided to pick up some packs. Did we hit big? Take a look:

We picked up 2 packs of 2010 Bowman Platinum baseball, 2 packs of 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces baseball, 2 packs of Panini Epix Football, and 1 2010 Bowman Sterling Dual Relic Box Topper pack. While we thought the relic pack was baseball, it was actually football, which was a little disappointed considering I wanted a baseball one.

2010 Bowman Platinum Baseball: (combined)

- Ryan Kalish RC
- Josh Bell RC
- Chris Coghlan (not pictured)
- Torii Hunter
- Matt Holliday
- Wade Davis RC
- Jerry Sands Prospects
- Jackie Bradley Jr. USA
- Nolan Fontana USA (not pictured)
- Ryan Wright USA (not pictured)
- Checklist

The most exciting part of those 2 packs was finishing them and moving on. Please remind me not to buy packs of that junk anymore. But before I diss it any further, I do like the design, which is mostly foil, but was done pretty well by Bowman. All are for trade.

2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces Baseball: (combined)

- Grady Sizemore
- Nolan Ryan SP (need for set)
- Robin Yount
- Justin Verlander
- Dave Winfield SP (need for set)
- Jason Varitek
- Jimmy Rollins
- Max Scherzer RC
- Alfonso Soriano (not pictured)
- Andruw Jones (not pictured)
- Jonathan Papelbon (not pictured)

- Babe Ruth Yankee Stadium Legacy (keeper)
- Nolan Ryan SP Framed Brown Border 13/100 (keeper)

Wow, possibly the best hitter and best pitcher of all time together in one picture. These 2 cards made the Masterpieces packs a success, as well as 2 needed SP's of Winfield and Ryan. I'm probably going to hang on to the Ryan for a little while but it can be traded.

2010 Panini Epix Football: (seperate)

Pack One

- Brandon Jacobs
- Chad Ochocinco
- Rashard Mendenhall
- Aaron Rodgers
- Myron Rolle RC
- DeAngelo Williams
- Darren McFadden
- Miles Austin

Pack Two

- Tom Brady
- Devin Hester
- DeSean Jackson
- Sergio Kindle RC
- Knowshon Moreno

- Shonn Greene (keeper)
- Cadillac Williams
- Matt Cassel

That was so pathetic that it was nearly depressing! Just another boring "X" design with boring pictures and nothing exciting whatsoever.

2010 Bowman Sterling Football Dual Relic:

- Demaryius Thomas/Eric Decker Dual Jersey /69

Not too bad for football, Thomas is a great young receiver, and it's numbered very low. I like the relic on the Decker one, and the card is nice because it provides colorful relics rather than the typical plain white or gray. I wish the other Broncos star rookie was on this but I'm sort of please with this. It is for trade if anyone wants it, send me an email.

Well that was de-motivating. Tip to all of you that have money: buy boxes, not packs. When you spend around $50 on packs and come up this dry, maybe about $15-20 of overall value, it doesn't typically make you feel good. Anyways, let me know if you're interested in anything marked for trade, and See Ya!

TTM's #43 and 44! Two More Awesome Successes!

Hey guys, Drew back here. My TTM adventure has officially taken off and I'm afraid this is the most addicting hobby this world has ever known. Seriously, aside from the work it takes to get all of these ready, I've never had so much fun going to the mailbox every day to check for new autographs. I got 2 more nice successes back recently, and I guess I'll have to let you check them out:

First off, we have 1 autograph from Yankees great Bill "Moose" Skowron! Nicknamed "Moose" after getting a haircut similar to that of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini as a young kid, the name stuck throughout the slugger's career. Moose played for 14 years total, but spent 9 of those seasons in pinstripes. In those 9 years he compiled 1,103 hits, 165 home runs, 672 RBI, and an average of .294. In 1961, Skowron had the greatest season of his career so far, with 28 home runs, and 89 RBI. That same year, he was just a little overshadowed by 2 other Yankees, you know, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, and the 3 of them combined with 143 total home runs that season! Achievements wise, Moose was an 8 time All Star, and has enough rings to fill up an entire hand of his! While he wasn't the best known and most popular Yankee at that time, he was a very underrated player!

This return took about 10 days. Man, these older men tend to return letters really fast! The 80 year old Skowron is about as consistent as they get, however I did need to toss a $5 bill in there to make Bill happy. Now on to success number 2...

None other than former Pirates reliever Elroy (Roy for short) Face! Face pitched 17 years in the bigs, and was considered a pioneer of the new "relief pitcher" job. According to several sites, he was the first pitcher in history to save 20 games more than once, and until his retirement, only Cy Young and Hoyt Wilhelm had appeared in more games than him. In 1959, he won 17 consecutive games, leading to his astounding .947 winning percentage in that season. He retired with a record of 104-95, an ERA of 3.48, and 193 saves. Not bad for one of the first of the new generation of pitching! He made 6 All Star teams and was again part of the 1960 World Series team that beat the Yankees after a series winning home run by Bill Mazeroski.

Face signed these 2 cards in about 5 days, which is again, incredible! The first is a custom, and it came out sharp, but my favorite was the 2004 Topps All Time Fan Favorites, which came out sweet in blue sharpie!

Well, another 2 great successes in the books, what do you think of them?

See Ya!