2012 East Coast National Recap! (Pt.1)

Hey guys, Drew back here! All summer, there are certain events I pinpoint as being the highlights of my summer. Sunday was one of those very days, as Dad and I geared up to make the trip over to White Plains, NY, for the East Coast National! As most of you know, we're common customers to JP's Sports autograph signings and card shows, and with a pretty solid lineup, we couldn't miss out on it. I met 6 players, which will be shown later this week, and bought a couple of nice cards, but for today, you guys will see the results of the few packs I opened at the show (hint: I didn't do too badly!). Here we go!

2012 Topps Archives (1 Pack):

- Nyjer Morgan

- David Ortiz

- Josh Hamilton

- Jon Lester Gold Parallel

- Andy Van Slyke

- Starlin Castro

- Jose Valverde

- Clay Buchholz 

If I didn't get the Hamilton card I wouldn't have been very happy at all with this pack. Every card besides it is for trade.

2011 Bowman Chrome (1 Pack): 

- Chase Utley

- Dillon Gee RC

- Michael Blanke

- Dickie Joe Thon

I'm not quite sure why I bought a $7 pack that only held 4 cards in it. I was feeling good, so I thought maybe a sweet auto would be coming, but well, the results of this pack gave me a pretty solid reality check. 

2011 Allen & Ginter (1 Pack):

- Brandon Belt RC

- Daniel Descalso RC

- Peter Bourjos

- Tim Lincecum

- Miguel Tejada

- CJ Wilson

- Jonathan Sanchez Black Bordered Mini

- Roy Halladay Hometown Heroes

I wasn't paying attention when looking for these packs, and instead of grabbing a pack of the new Ginter, I got some of the old, boring, last year Ginter. I believe I have the set, so these are for trade too. 

2012 Topps Gypsy Queen (2 Packs):

- Casey Kotchman

- Ryan Dempster

- Heath Bell

- Jhoulys Chacin

- Jimmy Rollins

- Ryan Braun

- Troy Tulowitzki

- Roy Halladay

- Willie Mays

- Bob Gibson

- Ty Cobb

- Geovany Soto

- Scott Rolen

- Trevor Cahill

- Jemile Weeks

- Angel Pagan

- Carlos Ruiz Gypsy Back Mini

- Willie Mays Moonshots Insert

- Matt Garza Mini

I love the look of this year's Gypsy Queen, and by far these were my favorites of the packs. The mix of older and newer players makes for a really strong checklist, and it's fun pulling cards of people I actually know (unlike Dickie Joe Thon)! But, I did say earlier that I did pretty well overall, and well, one card in the Gypsy Queen pack just about made up for the cost of the packs....

I saw blue when I opened the pack, and I suddenly thought it could be Griffey or Koufax or Darvish or just something beyond incredible. It wasn't at THAT high of a level, but I'll take a Gypsy Queen Eric Hosmer on card auto any day! Hosmer is having a sophomore slump type season, but I think he's got enough potential to be a star for the next decade or so! I redeemed this when I got home, and unfortunately, the Estimated Shipping date was around the beginning of December. A long wait, but I believe it will be well worth it. 

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the recap! See Ya!

Mail from Brian of 30 Year Old Cardboard!

Hey guys, Drew back here. I am very proud to say that my interest in this hobby has increased more and more as this summer has gone on, and with that said, I've got a heck of a lot of stuff to share with you all! I still don't really trade a whole lot anymore, but I did recently work out a deal with fellow blogger Brian from 30 Year Old Cardboard! If you don't know Brian either from his terrific blog or his inclusion into last month's Beckett Sports Card Monthly, the best guess is that you live under a rock. In case you do indeed live under a rock, please, go check it out.

Anyway, Brian and I just made a small trade involving Yankees and Marlins cards for each other's collections, and this is what I walked away with:

I started talking about this trade with Brian after he posted a bunch of Topps Archives base he had up for trade. At the time, I didn't have a whole lot of the Yankees from the set, so I figured I'd contact him about a simple trade to benefit both of us. Sure enough, I landed these 8 Archives cards, all absolutely awesome looking! My favorite has to be either the Ruth or Mantle, but you can't go wrong with any of these guys!

Brian included a bunch of extras as well, including the Cano Topps 206 Bronze parallel that I didn't have yet!  It's always nice to add another unique card to my collection of his! 

However, he also went the extra mile by sending me some even older Archives cards, being of Roy White and Hank Bauer. I've never seen these two reprints before so I'm more than happy to knock them off the list. Lastly, I feel pretty embarrassed to say this, but I did not own a single Finest card from the mid-90's until now. Not 1. So thank you Brian for filling that hole out too.

Thanks again for the trade man! I'll be sure to get your package out ASAP! See Ya!