Mail Day (aka Forgotten Spoils of The NPN)

Today @UpperDeckSports surprised me by hiding out in my mailbox. I came home from work to find a brown padded envelope. The stamped return address on the envelope threw me off for a second because I have zero outstanding redemptions right now. However, once I tore into the package I pulled out this congratulatory letter;


Now, admittedly I rarely take advantage of most "no purchase necessary" offers when it comes to contests. I tend to find them too much of a hassle. I seem to recall being spurred on to try an NPN entry into a card company's release by reading another blogger's success story. As usual I threw in an entry and never gave it another thought until today.

Quite frankly, I had completely forgotten I had done it. In all fairness it WAS in 2010.

After reading the above letter I was a bit excited to see what card I had lucked into.

Autograph cards have become a bit more of an interest to me lately, much more so than relic cards. Every time I hit a show I thumb through the $1.00 boxes looking for interesting signatures or unique cards featuring unique subjects and their signatures. This card fits perfectly into that role.


I believe this is actually the second autograph I have of a figure skater. I never bought any of the 'World of Sports' release but the uniqueness of the autograph subjects in the product definitely sets it apart. The signature on this card is clean and legible and the little heart gives it a nice personal touch.

2012 'World of Sports' releases soon and I doubt it will get any of my hard earned dollars. However, I will definitely look over the autograph list and see what is available.

UD also included a base card of Dustin Coleman in my prize package.

I guess the lesson here is that for the actual amount of time an NPN entry takes it may not be such a bad thing when it pays off. Thanks again to Upper Deck for the cards and rest assured I will do just as the letter suggests, I will continue to check out your NPN's.

Cheers,

Family Day/Presidents Day Goes Well With PIE!!!

Here we are chasing down the remaining days of February and I have yet to post anything. Suffice it to say I have been busy but that hardly excuses me from negligence. In the coming days I do hope to have a few product review box breaks as I have been told they are on their way. I also plan on beginning to chronicle my collecting adventure for 2012.

More on that at a later date.

What brings us all here today is another installment of my quest to complete my patchwork collection of Topps 'American Pie'. When we last left I had received a generous helping from Cardboard Connection Radio listener, Lou. What I did not share with you was the stack of 'Hollywood Walk of Fame' cards that Lou sent that put a big dent in my AP Wantlist. I got wayyyy too excited about "Shiny Zappa" and all focus was lost.

The 'Hollywood Walk of Fame' set is a 50-card set featuring an impressive checklist of Hollywood's greatest celebrities who are also featured in the base set. There is also a manufactured patch version of this set which has the star replaced with a stitched version of the star stuck into a cutout recess in the card. The manufactured cards are numbered out of 50. For ease of completion I simply chose to go with the regular cards.

One of the nicest features on the back of the cards, besides the write-ups on the individuals, is that the date of the dedication ceremony and the address location in Hollywood of the star itself are printed as part of the "stats" under the name of the card subject. Nothing like making a trading card purposeful.

The design of the front of the card is simple and effective. The star, as it appears on the 'Walk of Fame' is featured on the right half while a photo of the card subject takes of the left. My only issue with the card set is the lack of consistency in the photos. The use of black and white pictures makes the cards look much better than the photos featuring colour. I wish Topps had made every photo black and white. Other than that, 'Hollywood Walk of Fame' is a set that looks great paged in a binder.

10 more cards were knocked off my HWoF wantlist thanks to Lou. I scanned them as two separate groups to attempt to show you what I mean by the B&W v. Colour photo use. As far as I am concerned every single one of these guys is light-years beyond in the "coolness" department than any celebrity walking the face of the earth today.

HWF-7 Dean Martin, HWF-18 Jimi Hendrix, HWF-21 John Wayne
HWF-30 Walt Disney, HWF-33 Orson Welles, HWF-39 Clark Gable

Now, compare those with the colour photo used on the following four. I get that colour makes the picture more life-like but the classic black-and-white makes the cards look more "Hollywood" somehow. Maybe, I'm just weird.

HWF-4 Cary Grant, HWF-5 Christopher Reeve, HEF-9 Elizabeth Taylor, HWF-13 Gene Roddenberry

Minor issues aside this set fit perfectly with the whole "pop culture" aspect of 'American Pie' and it looks great paged into a binder. Thanks to Lou my AP binder looks alot less empty now.

Another donation of Pie came to me via the command center in Fairfax, Virginia otherwise known as the domain of the curator of 'Stale Gum', Chris Harris. Any time you get a package from Chris you have to open it with care as the potential to be "bipped" always exists. Thankfully, this Canadian was spared. However, what was inside really made my day.

I'm winding down in the number of base cards I need and besides the Frank Zappa/MTV card there is only one other card from this set that I truly MUST have, and wouldn't you know it Chris sent it my way....

GABBA GABBA WE ACCEPT YOU, WE ACCEPT YOU, ONE OF US!!

Perhaps someday we might even see a Topps product that incorporates a Joey Ramone cut signature into it. If that were to happen it would cause a serious dent in my bank account, just saying.

One of my other enjoyments in the sporting world is horse racing. I grew up with my father enjoying horse racing and it is one of the enjoyments he has passed along to me. When I saw that Secretariate had a card in American Pie I new it was going to be part of my patchwork set. This is a beautiful card of a beautiful and amazing horse.


In an effort to make my completion of my 'American Pie' collection a bit of a challenge I have decided to tray and collect both parallels of each of the base cards I am seeking. Chris was kind enough to send along a handful of shiny goodness to help the cause.

Dr.Seuss, Jack Kerouac and Pong

Miracle on Ice, Mr. Rogers and Genomes

Perhaps the most challenging part of this collection will be the "spotlight" parallels which are serial numbered to a relatively meager 76 copies. The first one in my collection accompanied its shiny partner in this package. Card #99 features the godfather of 'The Godfather', Mario Puzo.


Chris also saw fit to knock another card off of my 'Hollywood Walk of Fame' wantlist as well. As the host of one of the greatest television shows of all time his place in pop culture was set. To go on and host an even more interesting yet less popular show in the 60's, Rod Serling was a part of my growing up and will always define "hip", for me.


'Night Gallery' was one of the first shows that I "discovered" as a young television watcher and I can remember sneaking into the basement to watch episodes on an old black and white television we liberated from my grandmother.



In a rather short period the generosity of fellow collectors has helped me eliminate a majority of my Topps 'American Pie' wantlist. If you have any of the cards listed in my original post that I still need, and you have no use for them, please send them north and I will gladly change them into something you want.

Thanks for taking the time to check out yet another post devoted to PIE and stay tuned for several box breaks coming soon to the blog.

Cheers,

Mail Day (aka MOAR PYE!!!!)

Now, I realize that the entire collecting collective is collectively collecting Topps Series 1 flagship baseball, At this very moment the world is looking for Albert as an Angel and some rodent.

I am here to sober you all up.


I am here to slap you in the face and wake you the hell up!!!!

HEY!!!!!!

Let us not forget that not too long ago the darling of the hobby world was a little release known as......


Yeah!! Remember her?!?!

Remember how we were all hanging out together and saying how cool she was?!?

Remember!!??!!

Well, I do!! And you know what? She's STILL cool!! She's STILL awesome!!! She's STILL my friend!!

Thanks to Lou who is a regular listener to Wednesday Night Card Talk show that I am a part of on Cardboard Connection Radio, I am now the proud owner of the one card I knew I had to have when I first saw it. The one card that has been on my mind since I ripped my first of 4 blasters of this stuff. Now, as I said, thanks to Lou I can proudly proclaim.......


........AHEM.........

I HAZ DEH SHYNEE ZAPPA CAHD!!!!!!!

Very rarely have I ever acquired a parallel version of a card before I have acquired the base version. Thanks Lou, you have no idea how much this card means to me.

After some research I have found the source of this photo. It is from the live MTV simulcast of the Frank Zappa Halloween Concert at the Palladium in 1981. Nina Blackwood (pictured on the card) and Sam Copper hosted. Even better a search of YouTube turned up the concert (was there any doubt??) and Frank being Frank.

Enjoy!!




Lou also sent me a bucketload of 'Hollywood Walk of Fame' cards that fit perfectly into the empty spaces of my 'American Pie' binder pages.

Thanks Lou!!

I am glad you shared this opportunity with me to revisit a sorely and rather abruptly neglected beauty in Topps 'American Pie'. If you have a chance please check out my original AP wantlist post and see if there is anything you are not using that perhaps I might be able to. I can also do the same with my spares.

See??

This trading stuff works!!

Of course, like all of you I am now off to tear into some 2012 Topps Series 1 baseball that miraculously made it to Canada on "opening day".

Happy squirrel hunting!!

Cheers,

Mail Day (aka Check Out MY Cards - Framed Autograph Edition)

I recently took advantage of a great deal on shipping from the fine folks over at CheckOutMyCards.com and emptied out most of the cards I had sitting in my account. Over the next little while I thought I would take the opportunity to share what exactly came my way.

When Topps released the Anniversary T-206 collection in 2009 it was right around the time I was first immersing my self back into the hobby and the though of collecting a tobacco card sized set really grabbed my attention. I also liked the look of the framed autograph cards, so, I dedicated myself to completing the 30-card set.

At first I tried to gather the cards from anywhere and everywhere which made it feel much more like a task than a pastime. I decided to try and take a step back and make it more about the pursuit and less about the completion. Hence why it is 2012 and I am still working on the set.

Well, thanks to COMC I am 5 cards closer to completion and I have yet to pay a price for any of these cards that I feel is unacceptable. THAT is the true goal here. I think this set is going to look really nice in pages once complete. The latest additions to be removed from the wantlist are;

#FMA-6 Glen Perkins & #FMA-21 Jason Motte

#FMA-13 Shairon Martis & #FMA-26 Rich Hill

#FMA-15 Mat Gamel

Unfortunately these additions still leave me short of that wonderful milestone that a collector can celebrate, the joy of a completed page. The closest I am on that is a centre-square vacancy awaiting one Mr. Justin Masterson.


If you happen to have any of these laying around gathering dust I would happily give them a home in a protective page alongside their brethren. I am over 60% complete now and I can see the finish line off in the distance. Here is a list of missing persons belonging to my T-206 Framed Autograph binder.....


FMA - 1 Gordon Beckham
FMA - 2 Koji Uehara
FMA - 7 Jordan Zimmermann
FMA - 8 Daniel Schlereth
FMA - 9 Chris Volstad
FMA - 11 Nick Evans
FMA - 12 Fernando Martinez
FMA - 16 Michael Bowden
FMA - 18 Chris Young
FMA - 23 Justin Masterson
FMA - 28 Curtis Granderson


Thanks for taking the time to stop by the blog and checking out my cards.

Cheers,

Mail Day (aka Patches and Swatches are Sew Sweet)

Back in mid-February Larry from 'Sewingmachineguy on Cards' took pity on a post I had made about trying to find a Starlin Castro 'Red Hot Rookie' from 2010 Topps. Now, Larry apologized that he could not hook me up with the RHR but he did have a Starlin Castro card that I was interested in. As well, he had another Cubs relic from '09 Goodwin Champions that he would be willing to send my way to help ease the sting. I did my best to find some worthy Detroit based cards that would seal the deal.

Today the cards from Larry arrived and the Castro card is even more impressive in person. When manu-patches are done like this I have no problem with them at all.

The Derrek Lee gets me one card closer to the Cubs relic set from '09 Goodwin. So yes, it is a Good win for me!!


Thank-you to Sewingmachineguy for the trade and for helping my Cubs collection grow.

Stop by his blog and spend some time. Check out his Want Lists and he will more than likely have something you want. As for my quest for a Starlin Castro RHR, it continues...........

Cheers,

Counting The Days - Vol. III

Mail has been rather sparse the last while but there are a few packages that I am rushing home daily in hopes of being greeted by them at the door. Today was one of those days where there were 4 envelopes sitting on the kitchen table and they were that familiar yellow colour that collectors have grown to love.

Three of those envelopes helped knock off one of the counters on my sidebar over there to the right. Well done Topps!!!


Compared to the 2009 versions of the Red Hot Rookie cards released in Flagship Series 3/Updates & Highlights the 2010 version of these cards look much nicer. Unfortunately, if early reports are to be believed, Topps will not be doing RHR Redemption cards in 2011. Kind of disappointing but not a tragic loss.

Two of my redemptions were of the same player.......

RHR-1 Carlos Santana (C), Cleveland Indians

The third card I received today was of a Philly......

RHR-7 Domonic Brown (OF)

Like I said, the design of these cards are the best of the last two years, and seeing as I have only been back collecting for two years, I have a pretty narrow frame of reference. These cards are a nice addition to a product that is usually a forgotten issue by the time it rolls around As well, this is a case where redemptions work. It is a nice fun feeling as a collector to be able to wait and watch as the "mystery" is revealed as to who your card will be, plus, coming home to an envelope in the mail is never a bad thing. If these are truly gone for 2011 I will miss them for sure.

As for the fate of these three cards, if there are any Indians or Phillies collectors out there that have a Starlin Castro that needs a home in Canada I would love to hear from you.

Until the next time we can eliminate a counter from the blog I leave you with the theme song of this segment.

Play it Goldfinger..........





Cheers,

Counting The Days - Vol II

This past Tuesday there was a notification left on my door that there was a registered letter waiting for me at the postal outlet in the mall a stone's throw from my house. Usually the only thing I get sent registered mail are new credit cards and notifications from the Government that I am being audited.

Yes, I speak from experience on both!

Knowing that my credit card has another 18 months before expiration I assumed the worst. So much so that I put off retrieving the letter for a day. Imagine my surprise when the attendant gave me my package and it looked nothing like an official Revenue Canada notification of audit.

Once, again, I speak from experience.

Relief turned to anticipation when I saw the return address label.


Could it be?

Could Topps have finally seen their way to getting around to it?

A fulfillment sent via Registered Mail also threw me off a bit. BTW, Topps, you charged me a little over $15 for 22 MCG cards to be mailed to my home. I guess we can say we are square now.


Suffice it to say Topps came through with what has, to date, been my longest wait for a redemption to be sent. I am also giving you the grace of when the notification was delivered, not when I went to get it. Holding the record at 93 days, 12hours, 22 minutes and 41 seconds is Andrew Cashner and his Topps Finest Auto/Rookie.


I picked this redemption up off of eBay for a decent price and I am quite happy with everything about the card. The auto is on card, it is clean and I cannot find any hint of scratches or scuffs on the surface of the card. Very pleased indeed.

The smudges and spots are from my scanner, the POS3000

Thanks Topps!!!!

Now, what kind of collector would I be if I did not immediately try to find something wrong with my latest acquisition? Where would my self-respect be if I did not find something to make me look for another reason to buy another Andrew Cashner card?

It did not take me long.

As happy as I am with the card I could not help but wish that more time had been taken with the autograph itself. I know he had a tonne to sign and not exactly all the time in the world, my complaint is not really with him. The problem is totally me.

I tweeted about the signature on this card and how it is what I wish this card could have been. Also, it is what Topps used to advertise the card itself.


Now, that being said, I DO understand that this is simply a promotional image and in no way represents the final outcome. I get it. When I go in to Wendy's I do not expect my burger to look anywhere near the one that is on the menu, BUT, it would be nice, you know?

Anyway, I did do some searching and it looks like this auto does, in fact, exist. It is on a sticker, but it looks pretty darn close to what would be a very crisp, clean and prime auto of Andrew Cashner. His 2008 Bowman Sterling auto.

Image borrowed from mag227's photobucket

So, if you happen to have one of these lying around, gathering dust and want to send it off to a happy Canadian for something else that you would prefer to have, hit me up with an e-mail or a Tweet and we can work out a deal I am sure.

Congratulations, to Topps on attaining a rather dubious record here at the blog and now it is up to Upper Deck to see if they can catch them. Only 68 days to go.



Cheers,

Counting The Days - Vol I

Today I came home to an envelope from The Topps Company.

It was one of the redemptions I have been tracking on the sidebar.

It is not the one I was expecting to hit first.


A quick glance through the cards has me pleasantly surprised and extremely happy with this shipment from the Topps MCG.

The '71 cards especially.

Once I get them all scanned I will let you be the judge of what Topps charged me around $15 for.





Cheers,

Mail Day (aka Packs from a Junkie)

While I am currently attempting to catch up in thanking previous senders of valuable and cherished bubble mailers of cards, I also wish to attempt to begin to keep up to date with recently sent items as well.

One such package was sent to me courtesy of dayf over at 'Cardboard Junkie'. Knowing from other blog postings that nothing but goodness comes from Georgia area I tore into this mailer like a rabid hound. Onto the desk spilled three packs of unknown cardboard contents.

This was going to be a fun adventure.

Football or Baseball.......Baseball or Football.......Topps or Upper Deck.......Upper Deck or Topps.......what to do, what to do.......MechaGodzilla gets the pick.

PACK #1

2009 Upper Deck Philadelphia Football - This stuff is wicked. Mini National Chicle inserts, Autographs, Jersey Swatches.......the whole nine yards, so to speak.

Now, before we go any further, I want to touch on a subject that has been hashed time and time again on countless other blogs. Quality Control. I understand that in a high volume automated process things can sometimes get past QC. However, sometimes things are so bad it makes you wonder if there even is a human being watching this stuff go by.

You tell me.......

CARD #1 - Phil Hughes T206 Framed Mini Autograph

Is that a Topps card in my Upper Deck package?!? The madness folks, is just beginning!!!

CARD #2 and CARD #3, ALSO T206 Framed Mini Autos
Elvis Andrus and Jonathan Van Every

I do not think this has ever happened in the history of card collecting. Not ONLY have I just hit on a "hot pack" but said pack is loaded with another companies' product!!

THIS IS MADNESS!!!!!!

However, fear not. All is not lost. There is some semblance of normalcy in this hottest of packs. I did hit an Upper Deck relic card that ACTUALLY belonged in this pack. WHEW!!!! Thank goodness!!!

CARD #4 - Andre Caldwell 'Game Day Gear' Jersey Relic

All I can say is, I knew Upper Deck had a few "issues" here and there but THIS is ridiculous, unprecedented, unfathomably believable and downright insulting.

MY GOD!!!!

I need normalcy. I need reassurance. I need to know that the world is all it should be, right now. C'mon Topps, if ever your trusted brand was needed to re instill hobby security it is now!!!

PACK #2

Good ole' 2010 'Allen & Ginter'. 8 Picture cards of World Champion goodness.....ahhhhhhhh!!!

WHAAAAAATT!!!!!

OHZ NOZ!!! THEYZ GOTZ TO YOUZ TOO??!!!??

8 Cards - Check!

That is where the similarities end. If I did not know any better I would say that these are a mixture of 2009 and 2010 Heritage. There is no hope left in the collecting world. No serious thought is being placed into the security and management of the product we so devoutly love and cherish.

Upper Deck does not care!!

Topps does not care!!

Heck, I no longer care!!! Thankfully we have only one miserable, pathetic, useless pack left to wade through. If there is any shred of decency left in this universe this will all come to an end mercifully soon. My apologies fellow bloggers, you deserve much better than this. You do, indeed!!

PACK #3

2009 Upper Deck Philadelphia Football - Or should I guess here.....maybe some Obak, or Press Pass, or even some rogue Classic from the 90's......*sigh*.........here we go.....

ZOMG!!!

2009 T206 base, SPs and bronze parallels!! OH THE HORROR OF IT ALL!!!!!!!

Base - Trevor Cahill (OAK)


Bronze Parallel - Ricky Romero (TOR) & Aramis Ramirez (CHC)


SPs - Gordon Beckham (CWS), Koji Uehara (BAL) & Evan Longoria (TB)

What to say?.......Where to begin?.......I AM SPEECHLESS!!!

All the good intentions, all the selfless giving of a fellow blogger is completely ruined by the incompetence and complete abandonment of integrity by both Topps and Upper Deck. Those companies should be ashamed of they actions. To you dayf I apologize and offer the only thing I can, in return. I pledge to see to it that these abominations that we shall loosely call "packs of cards" here will receive a proper and loving home. I will try and see they fit in amongst their brethren regardless of their bastardized origins.

In order to make room for them and see to it that they "fit in" I will be removing several members of the current collection of cardboard misfits. And, will be sending them your way, so as to ease the pain of an attempt at generosity gone awry due to mismanagement at the production level.

Thanks dayf,

Cheers,

Mail Day (aka Plain Ketchup (Act II))

For the last month I have been inexcusably lax in honoring those who have seen fit to send me cards worth putting into my collection and in return taking on those cards which I have no desire to keep. Things creep up on you incredibly fast when it comes to bubble mailers and the next thing you know, you have to do a post like this just to cover what has been sent.

Let's get to it.

Firstly, I have begun to seriously focus on the players I collect. Putting sets together can really chew up the time and make it easy to neglect the supposedly simpler things in Cardworld. Four cards have been added to my Ricky Romero collection. One of them came from Chris over at 'Stale Gum' who gladly parted with some 2010 Heritage Chromero-Jo. I am still looking for the Refractor and Black-bordered version of these. Like I said, I have neglected my PCs.


The next two Romero cards were purchased as a lot on eBay for a VERY acceptable total. The 'SP Prospects' National Honors card is the first relic card I have added to the PC and the 'Bowman Heritage' is the first RC.


One of the things I like about Ricky Romero, aside from him being a Southpaw, a Blue Jay and quite possibly the future Ace of their staff, is his signature. It is clean and more importantly, legible. I received my first Romero auto last year, coincidentally, from Chris at 'Stale Gum' This auto I had seen sell several times and was happy to finally snag at a great price on eBay. A 2006 Bowman 'Signs of the Future'.


Yeah, I know its a sticker. On card would have been much better on this set but that is true for any set. No sense in complaining and it still has a home in my collection. This winter I am going to make a solid effort to build my Ricky Romero collection by at least a hundred cards or so. This thing needs to be shown some lovin'.

An even longer time ago, Chris over at 'Nachos Grande' posted some trade bait. I had a few things he was looking for so two of his cards came my way for a series of cards that were better served in Pennsylvania. Besides certain players I like to collect certain subjects that have been featured on cards. One of those subjects are authors. When those authors are featured on shiny cardboard it is even better.


The other card that caught my eye happens to be my first relic from the 2008 Allen & Ginter set. Some pin-stripey-Cubbie-goodness featuring Carlos Marmol.


The last card I want to feature in this post was an eBay purchase and one I decided to grab on a whim one night. If I ever get around to redeeming it I hope the card looks as good "in hand" as it does as a scan. More Cubbie-goodness, this time redemption-style. 2010 Topps Finest Rookie Redemption #7 for Andrew Cashner.

THIS......

...will eventually become, THIS.

Any opportunity to get an on-card auto of a Cub is one I cannot pass up.

Looking at my desk here I have managed to shrink my pile of envelopes by a total of five. I have a few group break envelopes to open and sort and share with you. It feels good to get through some of the clutter and it feels even better to properly thank those that took the time to trade me some of their discards.

As always, if you see anything you want on my "For Trade" lists or if you have anything from my "Want Lists" I would gladly work a deal to benefit us both.

Send me an e-mail.

Cheers,

Mail Day (aka Cardboard Cuisine Buffet Style)

As the clock ticks down on the last few days we have left to complete our renovations on the house certain priorities have had to be shuffled. Unfortunately the blog here has been set aside in favor of learning how to install vinyl flooring. Envelopes have been piling up and the nagging urge to post their contents has been unbearable.

Gotta post!!

Mike over at BA Benny's Baseball Card Buffet and I worked out a trade for some of the Cubs cards he pulled during a Box Break of 2008 Upper Deck Heroes. Naturally he was willing to trade and so off I shipped what I hoped would make Mike happy. You can see his post of what I sent here.

What Mike sent in return was extremely generous and made me extremely happy. The first card is the one that originally caught my eye from the break.

Carlos Zambrano Jersey #078/125

Along with the jersey were included the base cards of Alfonso Soriano and Kosuke Fukudome.

Having sent some other relics that were gathering dust on my shelves what was sent in return were definitely much more appreciated. The first card is from the 2004 Upper Deck Reflections set featuring Corey Patterson as a member of the Chicago Cubs. A nice pin-stripey swatch.


Heading into the personal player collection is a jersey swatch from 2006 Upper Deck 'Game Materials' insert set of David Wright.


The last relic sent is from 2001 Fleer Finest and appears to be the Gold parallel version hand numbered out of 50. An awesome piece of bat from a Blue Jay who was quite popular during his run with the team. Shannon Stewart.


Mike also sent a handful of Cubs singles and a few of them might have me rethinking my blase stance on Topps Chrome. Two of the bunch I had to show off simply because they needed to be shown off. First, what would a Cubs card post be without "Mr. Cub" Ernie Banks? I am not a fan of the idea of the '20th Anniversary' insert monstrosity from Upper Deck, BUT, I have to say it will make for some interesting team card and player card searching in the months ahead, for sure.


The last card I want to show simply because it is based on the design of my favorite Topps set. For me, the 1965 Topps Set is what a baseball card should look like and I am counting down the days until 2014 when Topps Heritage reaches that design. Until then I will be happy with Ron Santo's card from the 2005 Topps 'All-Time Fan Favorite' release.


Thanks to Mike from BA Benny's Baseball Card Buffet for the heaping serving of cardboard and I will definitely be looking to knock off some more cards from his wantlists in order to trade with him again. I have many more bubble mailers to work through and will be hopefully doing so in the coming days. I am waiting on my first purchase from 'Check Out My Cards' which hopefully arrives before the weekend because there is a special card I need in there that will be accompanying me to FanExpo this weekend.

Until then,

Cheers,