eBay Finds - Vol V

Ever since they began to surface last year I have been intrigued by Upper Deck's 'Shadowbox' insert cards. Being inserted on a 1 per case ratio makes them all the more desirable. Trolling eBay and watching the sales of these cards had me thinking that the best I may hope for is to keep admiring from afar. However, I decided to do what I have read others do time and time again and simply exercise patience.

Recently this patience paid off and I was rewarded this little beauty.

ST-6 Mikka Kiprusoff

Any time you can get a case hit of a player from one of your favorite teams for a price significantly less than a single pack of the product it comes in, how can you say "no".

The colours on these cards are vibrant but just ever so slightly miss the mark on being eye-popping, and the whole shadowbox design makes for something really, truly visually appealing. These are an exceptional card that really do need to be seen in person to be appreciated fully.

With the Flames not exactly lighting up the league and with his hefty price tag I would guess that there are very few days left that will see Mikka as a Calgary Flame. Hopefully he will be sent to a team that he can help carry over the threshold. Being one of the top goaltenders in the game has its price and unfortunately he is worth more on the trade block than he is in net.

I have my eye on a couple other of these 'Shadowbox' cards and it looks as though this year there will be autographed versions inserted into Upper Deck's hockey products. With a limited checklist this time around they would be a remarkable centerpiece to any hockey card collection. I may just have to try my luck with a few packs this year or hope to "steal" one through auction.

Here's to hoping.


I debated which song to tag along with this card but in the end, Fiona Apple won out.





Cheers,

2010 Toronto Fall Expo - Thoughts (Part 2)

My main purpose this time around at the Toronto Sport Card & Memorabilia Fall Expo was to take in the corporate atmosphere and participate in as many wrapper redemptions as possible. Far too many amazing card were dangled in front of collectors and I felt the driving need to acquire them gnawing at me.

However, before I get into them, I noticed I was neglectful in posting a scan of the program provided faithfully via snail mail, twice a year, promoting the Spring and Fall shows.

Here it is.


One of the players I was on a quest for on Saturday was Edmonton Oiler, Jordan Eberle. I really enjoyed following his career through the O.H.L. and have slowly but surely become a fan of his. The next natural step, of course, is becoming a collector of his cards. The problem is, when the player you like is on everyone else's radar screen it becomes rather difficult to get the latest offerings so soon after their release. Case in point is this card.......


.......Upper Deck Series 1 Card #220. In the Hockey Card world the 'Young Guns' RCs are considered to be THE Rookie Card to have. This particular card was selling for $80 on the floor of The Expo. To make things more trying there is also this card.......


.......Upper Deck Series 1 Card #220 20th Anniversary Retro Variation. I saw only 1 on the entire floor and the dealer was asking $120. Suffice it to say, I came home with neither one.

Upper Deck were back at The Expo with another installment of their EXTREMELY popular 'Priority Signings' wrapper redemption program. All you had to do was bust a box of 2010-11 Upper Deck Series 1 Hockey or a box of 2010-11 Upper Deck Artifacts Hockey and you could select a random penny sleeved package containing an exclusively designed and autographed 'Priority Signings' card.

Now, when I capitalize how popular Upper Deck's redemption program is, it still does not convey it properly. The last time I was a part of this program you needed to line up about an hour and a half BEFORE it was scheduled to start as the redemption only runs for 2 hours per day. Needless to say by the time I made my way to the line it was well beyond what I had hoped to see and I knew the chances of me making it through before the end were very slim. Fortunately for me, the few who had attended the 'Collectors Roundtable' earlier that morning received a greatly appreciated "Thank-you" gift, our own packed 'Priority Signings' penny sleeve.

Sandwiched between these two cards.......

.......I unveiled Card #PS-NG numbered 15/75. Nathan Gerbe of the Buffalo Sabres.


Jordan Eberle was not a part of the 'Priority Signings' checklist but there were definitely some names I would have loved to have added to my collection. The best variation discovered from the show was that there were two versions of Gordie Howe's card. One featured him in a Red Wings uniform and the other featured him in a Hartford Whalers uniform. The Whalers version was numbered out of 3.

I still plan on opening some UDS1 in order to chase the Eberle 'Young Guns', but the money I had set aside for this redemption ended up being spent on a different Upper Deck product that has captured my attention. The subject of which will be a taken care of in a later post.

The next company I set my sights on was In The Game. The first 1500 people through the turnstiles every day received a card that could be redeemed at their booth for a gift bag that included a pack of 2006-07 'Between The Pipes', a pack of 2001-02 'Parkhurst', a pack of 2002-03 'All Star Edition' and a pack of 2007-08 'Heroes and Prospects'. Also in the bag was a copy of 'Insider's Edge' magazine plus some promotional pamphlets highlighting upcoming releases including their highly anticipated 2011 'Heroes and Prospects' Baseball.

ITG's Fall Expo exclusive card set was a daunting 45-card set handed out in 5-card packages, 1 per gift bag. I received cards numbered ITG-08, ITG-11, ITG-23, ITG-39 and ITG-43. I may look into the feasibility of actually trying to put this set together but I have a feeling it may prove rather time consuming. Here's a look at the cards I have.


The Kharlamov card made me real happy. I have always liked Russian players, especially the ones who could give any talented Canadian a run for their money.

The final "freebie" from ITG was a chance to spin the prize wheel. You had a shot at one of three prizes; A pack of cards, a random bobblehead figure or a single spot on the wheel paid off a Blaster Box of 2007-08 'Heroes and Prospects' - Arena Version. Guess what yours truly landed.......


I am planning on ripping the blaster while I learn how to use UStream at some point soon.

'In The Game' had some really nice sounding wrapper redemption programs running at the Fall Expo but the products I would have liked to have opened were too far out of my current budget. Maybe next year.

Last, but definitely not least, were the wrapper redemptions and challenges from Panini. I spent the most time, and perhaps arguably too much time, at their booth. Scott Prusha and the other representatives from Panini had a continual exciting vibe going all day long. It did not hurt their efforts that there was one Expo goer who was opening case after case of 2010-11 Panini Certified Hockey.

Panini's wrapper redemption program was one Expo Exclusive pack of cards per box of 2010-11 Score Hockey or 5 packs of any other qualifying Panini/Donruss/Leaf product. Inside the packs were cards showing off the upcoming Donruss Hockey release from Panini. Randomly inserted into packs were autographed cards, patch cards, autographed patch cards, serial numbered cards out of 5 and a whole bunch more instant win cards. To top it all off they had included the very player I had decided to chase at this Expo in their exclusives.

I was going to hit this.......


I opened up two boxes of Certified Hockey, trying not only to finish my base set but to hopefully find one of these.......


.......sadly, I was thwarted yet again. Not to worry, I had 4 redemption packs to rip and I knew, I just knew, that I was going to come away with something exclusive to add to my collection. The Donruss cards look pretty slick and the retro 'D' definitely looks good back on cardboard. Out of the four packs I pulled these.......

A Trifecta of Ryan Millers

A couple Taylor Hall RRs

Yes, they both say 1 of 250. Do not know why.

Finishing off the Donruss cards I have a couple of Leafs. Jonas Gustavsson and Nazem Kadri.......


.......and one of the most entertaining players to watch in the N.H.L., Ovie.


I am not sure if there has ever been a point in hockey where two players have emerged on the scene and polarized fans as much as Crosby and Ovechkin. Very rarely have I spoken with fans who like BOTH players. They are Hockey's version of "The Beatles or The Rolling Stones", "Coke or Pepsi" or "Ginger or Mary Ann". Truly a good time to be a fan.

Now, let's get a look at the inserts I pulled from the redemption packs. The very first one I opened felt like it had a pretty thick card inside. I was hoping and praying it was what I had come to Panini's booth for. As I peeled away the card on top.......


.......I could not believe it, I had bucked the odds and snagged an auto patch of Jordan Eberle. Just like I.......


.......aaarrrgghhh!! DENIED!!! However, if I had to get another Oiler player then Magnus was the one to get. He may have quite a ways to go in becoming a two-way player but the upside on this guy is big. Admittedly I know very little about him, seeing as his junior career kept him in Sweden, but from what I managed to see of him in the World Junior Championship Tournament as well as the Under-18 Tournament he can give defensemen fits when carrying the puck.

I did manage to get three of the cards that were serial #'d out of 5. Two of them went to the guy who was busting case after case of Certified Hockey because he was kind enough to see that I did not leave the Panini booth without at least ONE Jordan Eberle card. Patrick Roy and Brian Gionta were traded for this beauty of a card, serial #d 2/5.


The one remaining serial #'d card is of a player and from a sport that I could not know less about if I tried. Someone beside me when I opened it said he was a decent player. I will have to take their word for it and put it to you, dear reader, to let me know who he is.


The second feature contest/event at the Panini booth was the hourly "Box Wars". Essentially collectors were encouraged to battle amongst themselves looking for a particular statistic or achievement from the cards they pulled. The BEST part was that unlike the usual box/pack wars, everyone got to keep their cards. The winner(s) were then to select a numbered card from the prize box and win the corresponding prize from the Panini Showcase sitting front and centre at their booth. There was also a Grand Prize draw for the winners of each Box War for the entire weekend, a 2010 Classics 'Classic Cuts' auto of former U.S. President Gerald Ford.

I chose to enter the "Box Wars" featuring the 2010-11 Score Hockey release. By the time the bell rang to start the fight there had to have been at least 30 people involved. The mylar was flying. The goal of this round was to be the first to pull a 'Snow Globe' Die-cut insert of a goalie. There are 3 in the set and in my second to last pack I saw this.......


.......and staked my claim as a Panini Box Wars Champion. Only one other goalie card was found in this round so two cards from the prize cabinet were going home from Toronto. Before we chose our winning numbers though we both got a pretty sweet autographed 8x10 of Toronto Maple Leaf, Nazem Kadri.


I selected lucky number 19. Lucky number 19 ended up belonging to an Emerald Green Prime patch/autograph 'Freshman Fabric' from 2010-11 Certified Hockey featuring Tyler Seguin of the Boston Bruins. Immediately one of the nicest looking patch cards in my collection. Being a 1/1 does not hurt either. Truly a beautiful card.


It is surprising how much time can fly when you get caught up watching other people rip boxes of cards. By the time I had finished trolling around the corporate area, talking with fellow collectors and watching some pretty amazing hits delivered by boxes, I barely had time to browse the dealers tables at the show. I did manage to find a few baseball cards that I was looking for but most of the time was spent getting an idea of who people were collecting and what the hottest product out there was.

Every single representative from Panini, Upper Deck and In The Game could not have been more inviting and kind to every collector that took the time to stop by their respective booths. Later in the day there were impromptu giveaways that drew crowds that spilled out and around the corner of the corporate area. It was really great to see the enthusiasm of everyone and to hear very little of the grumbling and negativity that seems to accompany freebie giveaways all too often.

Keep coming back as I will be covering some of the questions that Upper Deck dealt with at the 'Collectors Roundtable' that they hosted Saturday morning.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers,

2010 Toronto Fall Expo - Thoughts (Part 1)

My Saturday started earlier than a usual Saturday.

Today was my one and only day to get to the fall edition of the 'Sportscard & Memorabilia Expo' for 2010. This bi-annual show is the largest of its kind in Ontario. Dealers and Collectors alike make the trek from all around to browse, trade, sell and add to theirs and countless others collections. Being a show held in Canada it is understandable that over 90% of the content on the floor and the focus of the event is dedicated to Hockey. While partially disheartening for a Baseball fan, it makes for an entertaining and ultimately rewarding challenge to find the few dealers that are not Hockey-centric.

One of the main reasons for getting to the show early was the "Hobby Roundtable" that Upper Deck was hosting starting when the doors first opened. Apparently UD had been hosting these types of events for a few years now at The Expo. However, judging by the few in attendance (actually countable on 2 hands), these are either poorly advertised or the "everyday collector" has little interest in connecting with the people who they give a great deal of their hard-earned money to on a daily basis. This was the first I had attended since returning to the Hobby over 2 years ago.

In attendance from Upper Deck were Chris Carlin from Marketing, Grant Sandground from New Product Development and Jason Yenglin from Customer Service and Redemptions. Also part of the group was Angelo Exarhakos from Universal Distribution.

The first topic covered by Chris Carlin was the emergence of not only Upper Deck's presence, but the Hobby's presence in general, on Social Media sites like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, BBS Forums and blogging. Upper Deck's biggest project in this area is the 'Upper Deck Volunteer Alliance' whose purpose, according to Carlin, was to not only engage the collector in new and interactive ways but also to bring back a positive aspect to the Hobby which tends to be more deficit-focused. A couple attendees were members of the UDVA and several ideas were passed around designed to attracting kids back to collecting.

One of the upcoming fan-focused events covered was the third annual Upper Deck National Hockey Card Day Promotion. Designed to work along side the well established N.H.L. New Year traditions like the 'Winter Classic' outdoor game annually scheduled for New Year's Day, and the 10-year-old 'Hockey Day In Canada' celebration happening January 30th, 2011 started by the CBC and Hockey Night In Canada. On February 12th, 2011 special promotional packs of a 15-card set will be given out for free at participating Hobby Stores much the same as the past two years. However, this year a special 16th card will be available as a purchase reward. The card will commemorate the first Stanley Cup win for Jonathan Toews.

In addition to the National Hockey Card Day promotion Chris talked about several other reward programs that are in development. One of the more interesting was the 'Collect-to-win' idea that has been used several times before, but held a significant interest due to a related story out of the Fall Expo. Series 1 Upper Deck Hockey was released with a 4-card-per-box parallel 20th Anniversary version. Upper Deck recently announced that there would be a 'Collect-to-win Contest' associated with that particular parallel set. As a testament to collector fanaticism, barely 48-hours into its release the first completed set was turned in at the Upper Deck booth at the Fan Expo.

Next to speak was Jason Yenglin from Upper Deck's Customer Service and Redemptions department. Having barely settled into the job he was the one who inherited the 2009 SP 'Mystery Cut Signatures' nightmare. While stating that ideally redemptions should never be a part of the product, they are a necessity due to unforeseen circumstances. His goal is to not only get redemptions out in a more timely fashion, obviously, but he wants to come up with a way to handle expired redemptions. With the introduction of social media outlets, the opportunity for collectors to have a direct line to resolution of issues with damaged product has become a possibility. Remember here, for the average collector years ago, there was never the thought that you had a remedy for damaged product. Trying to properly compensate for these returns is a daunting task in itself.

The last one to address the roundtable was Grant Sandground from New Product Development. What Grant had to offer was really exciting news about upcoming releases and some creative ways that Upper Deck will be delivering some of their recognized products in new and interesting ways. One of the coolest mentions was how Upper Deck Ice was going to be delivered to collectors this year. Previously it had been a stand-alone product. Now, as a result of having to scale back their number of releases, 'UD Ice' will be a "product layover addition' in 'Black Diamond and 'SPx'. 'Series 1 Ice' will contain 30 veterans and 21 rookies and be distributed 1 pack per box of Black Diamond containing 5 cards per pack, 4 cards being veterans and 1 card being a rookie. What was made crystal clear was that 'UD Ice' is not a part of 'UD Black Diamond'. None of the deliverables in 'Black Diamond' will be scaled back. 'UD Ice' is simply an additional product included. 'Series 2 Ice' will be released with the exact same number of veterans and rookies as Series 1, but will be packaged with 'SPx'.

The one pressing subject I wanted to discuss about Hockey releases this year was the inclusion of the Shadowbox cards in Hockey. Grant confirmed that they would be released in 'SPx' and that there was an additional wrinkle to them involving 4 of the card subjects. There will be 4 Shadowbox cards produced featuring Gordie Howe, Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr and Sidney Crosby that are autographed. Once again, the messaged was stressed that these will NOT be parallels of the regular Shadowbox cards. They will be their own card. As an example, the Gretzky Shadowbox card may feature him in a Rangers uniform and the autographed Shadowbox card will have him in an Edmonton Oiler uniform.

As mentioned earlier the 'Collect-and-win' rewards program is going to be a focus of Upper Deck. 'Upper Deck Series 2' Hockey will build on the '20th Anniversary' parallel set. Throughout its evolution Upper Deck's flagship hockey set has become a 250-card per series release. Back in 1990-91 the set was 550 cards. Grant mentioned that this has not been lost on Upper Deck and that the parallel set will be 550 cards, including an All-Rookie Team, Award Winners, retired players and something involving Canadian World Juniors.

A tentative release schedule was discussed for Upper Deck Hockey products as well, here is what was mentioned;

Black Diamond - November 30th
O-Pee-Chee - December 14th
SP Game Used - December 28th
SPx - January 11th
Upper Deck Series 2 - Mid February

Having never participated in something like this before I had no preconceptions as to what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised by the willingness to discuss almost any subject and to honestly give their opinions in the answers. Being able to speak directly to the people involved in producing what we spend our hard earned money on, and having them face the questions we come up with daily made all the difference. The Toronto Fall Expo and card manufacturing companies could learn a great deal from this event and schedule more of these events for collectors. This show was beginning to feel just like a vendor-focused show and less like an Expo should be.

Thanks to Upper Deck, thanks to Chris Carlin, Grant Sandground and Jason Yenglin and thanks to all the collectors who showed up. This was truly one of the highlights of the Fall Expo for me.

Throughout the roundtable we had the opportunity to ask questions of each individual. My next post will be a recap of those questions and the sometimes lengthy discussions that emerged. Keep coming back and hopefully I will keep interesting you.

Cheers,

National Hockey Card Day

Upper Deck is running a promotion today for the second year in a row.


National Hockey Card Day is celebrated a few ways. Firstly, a 15-card set designed strictly for release today is available for FREE at participating hobby stores across Canada. The set is broken up into packs of 5 cards. FREE packs are also available at select retail stores as well.

On Upper Deck's Facebook page they have posted photographs of 11 Hobby Stores across Canada. If you are the first to arrive and purchase the required product you can claim the prized memorabilia designated to that store.

Of course this is ALL in accordance with the TRUE event of the year. Hockey Day in Canada. Check it all out and enjoy National Hockey Card Day and Hockey Day in Canada!!


Cheers,

Where to begin?

As most of you may know my recent absence from posting was due to a nasty fight with some pretty kick ass little viruses. While I was away I managed to amass quite a backlog of purchases and box breaks. I have been spending the last little while sorting things out and trying to decide where to start. All this has managed to do is actually keep me from posting anything. So, I decided to just grab something at random and post it.

What I had beside me on my desk make good enough sense to post. One of the things I have neglected to do is register some of the redemption cards I have pulled this year with their respective companies. Three of them are already known to me and two have yet to be announced.

The 'Red Hot Rookie' redemptions from Topps have been known for some time but I finally got around to entering them on the website. I managed to pull #s 4, 8 and 9.

#4 is Tommy Hanson of the Braves,


#8 is Julio Borbon of the Rangers,


and #9 is Jhoulys Chacin of the Rockies.


It seems as though most people who pulled these and were prompt in their registration have received them in good order and are pleased so I don't foresee any problems getting mine. The only disappointment I have is that I did not pull the redemption card for the only one in the set I truly wanted. If anyone has a #3 redemption card or has the actual card of Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates, I would be more than happy to work a trade out. Andrew fits into my personal sub-set collection and would be a prized addition.


The other two redemptions I registered were pulled from the 2009-10 Upper Deck Artifacts Hockey box that I broke back in November. Due to the early release of the set Upper Deck put in the redemption cards to keep this set relevant while adhering to the rules of rookie card production and waiting until this years crop of rookies actually play a game. Hopefully the checklist will be released soon and I will know who I am getting. On the other hand, looking at the two teams I pulled I am not holding out for anything close to rivaling that of the big chase this year, John Tavares.

I managed to pull redemptions for the Buffalo Sabres and the Pittsburgh Penguins. I am not complaining either because these normally fall one per box and I drew two.


In the end I think I prefer not knowing who I am going to get when it comes to these redemption cards. It is like one prolonged pack opening. I guess I will find out in a few weeks, or months, or years. Depending on which doomsayers you like to listen to when it comes to redemption cards.

Until then, I will be watching my mailbox.

Cheers,

In Search of.....T.W. [Jumbo Edition]

A few days ago during one of the first NHL games I have found the time to watch this season I ripped through the Jumbo box of 1992 Upper Deck Baseball I had purchased in hopes of finding one of the autographed Ted Williams cards still up for grabs. Back in the day this box would have probably sold for around $50 so getting it for roughly $10 was okay in my books considering the potential. What I have decided to do with the singles is package them off by team and give them away to loving, deserving homes. Some teams have already been claimed but there are still others up for grabs. You can check the availability in the post below this one.

So, how did the jumbo box break out, you ask? Had this been 1992 instead of 2009 I am quite sure I would have been elated to break this particular box. Firstly, trying to build a 700-card set was what the hobby was all about back then. Chasing patches, short-prints, variants, printing plates or whatever else it is people today desire would have been insulting to most collectors. It is amazing to me how the hobby has changed since I first started, but, for the most part change is good.

I won't keep the suspense building to whether or not I pulled what I was looking for. I will tell you that I had a brief shot of excitement when I first started to unveil this card but, alas, it is missing one key ingredient ;

NO SIGNATURE!!!

Two other Ted Willams cards accompanied this one out of the box. One is a holographic version of the above card and the other was one of the 'Baseball Heroes' insert cards marking Ted's inclusion in the 500 Home-run Club.


One of the cool things about revisiting some of the older sets is learning or sometime re-learning something about the set. I had forgotten that these early artist cards were drawn by Vernon Wells Sr. and being a Jays fan it was extra special to appreciate these cards again. These are truly some of the nicest artist cards I have ever seen. Here are the others from the box.


One of the things Upper Deck had on their side in the early years was that they brought a new life to the photographs used on the cards and they also used photos on both sides of the cards. Two cards I pulled in particular used a triple-exposure effect rather nicely. Card #333 belongs to Jose Canseco and card #424 belongs to Ken Griffey Jr.


Speaking of Junior, when you are the spokesman for the Upper Deck company you tend to pull a little weight when it comes to decision making. One of the clearest examples of this is this card ;


Including this issue, Craig Griffey had 5 different cards issued throughout his minor league career. One of them I am actually looking for is from the 1995 UD Minors set, it is a part of another collection of mine. In looking up the ultra-lesser-known Griffey I came across this article from 'The Priceless Pursuit'.

For those of you who have already claimed teams I thought I would let you know who had the most cards and who had the least cards from this box. The highest number of cards goes to the Seattle Mariners with 26 and the lowest number was a three-way tie between Detroit, Toronto and the New York Mets with 12 cards each.

I had mentioned earlier that had this been 1992 I would have been pleased with this box break. One of the reasons was that I pulled one of the better rookies in multiple which I am sure will make 'All Tribe Baseball' happy.

MAN-RAM x 4

Going through the players who were around in 1992 was a nice trip as well. The best reminder was just how special it was to watch the Milwaukee Brewers back then. Yes, the Milwaukee Brewers were special at one point. Not only were they in the American League but they had this future HOF duo suiting up every day. Sure, Jeter and ARod are a dynamic duo but I would take these two over them any day, any decade, anytime. What a treat indeed ;


What would a baseball card retrospective post from 1992 be without Mr.Home-Run King? Sorry, I don't mean the "true" king Henry Aaron, I mean Barry. The stats on this card list Barry as being 6'1" and 190lbs, pretty decent for a major leaguer. He's smiling and happy, almost looking like he is enjoying himself. The back of this card is what is "rare", it shows that Barry once did have a sense of humor, or, at least didn't take himself so seriously.


Lastly I am going to finish with a few cards that caught my eye as I went through the packs. Some of the more interesting photos as well as some seriously dated images as well.

Here's Otis Nixon in a pose that, back in 1992, proved to be quite prophetic on the part of Upper Deck. The last at-bat of 1992 ended with Nixon like this and Mike Timlin flipping the ball to Joe Carter!!


Another Brave from that year I just had to post was Lonnie Smith. Never has there been a better representation of the hi-top haircut. Awesome-90s-ness!!!


I have no idea what Greg Gagne is trying to do here but this may be one of the most disturbing cards I have ever laid eyes on. The only thing that would save this card is if he jumped 10 feet in the air to snag a line drive. Still, there must have been a better file photo of GG.


Ramon Martinez does perhaps the best impression of Reed Richards that has ever been captured on cardboard.


Finally, what is the one recipe that could make a baseball card legendary. How about an All-Star player, A legendary figure from the world of sports, a lawn chair and a water bottle. Well, if that is what it takes then Upper Deck delivered back in 1992. I don't think we will see Prince posing like his Pa, ever!


I hope you enjoyed this quick run through the year 1992 brought to you by Upper Deck. I will be busting the regular pack box tonight as I watch my winless Toronto Maple Leafs remain such at the hands of the New York Rangers. Perhaps Ted Williams will be making an appearance tonight.

Stay tuned.

Cheers,

Freebie Card Giveaway & In Search Of.......A Pre-Thawing Ted Williams

Today I finally had a complete Saturday unto myself with no responsibilities or work that needed to be ignored. Thanksgiving dinner/house guest prep is not an issue this year (my wife is out of the country so no turkey this weekend) so I decided to visit a few card stores that are a bit of a drive from home.

I have always enjoyed the surplus of production of cards from the mid-to-late 80's right through to the mid-90's because, for me, it makes what I enjoy about this hobby easy. I have never been nor will I become one who uses the hobby to plan their retirement or hinge their financial future on prospecting rookies. I buy boxes to rip packs and build sets, that to me is a "hobby". The prospect of pulling some super-rare hit has its place and appeal but it seems to me that card manufacturers have intentionally steered the hobby towards these kinds of "consumers" and away from the hobbyists.

I was a collector when the initial wave of this philosophy hit the market. The Upper Deck Company became one of the first companies to purposefully seed their product with "chase cards" in order to promote the product. Let me qualify this by stating that there have indeed been insert cards prior to UD, I am not saying they invented them, I am saying they were the first to market their product around them. They reinvigorated a hobby that was booming but needing a shot of creativity.

Enter the 'Heroes Autographs' insert.

I will save the boring history lesson as I am slowly straying from my purpose here. One of the recent articles I read over at Wax Heaven, Mario shared a story about the shocking treatment that has apparently befallen Ted Willams. I read this and was blown away. This story had also reminded me that in 1992 Upper Deck had inserted a Ted Williams autograph card as part of their Heroes set. I had been a Topps collector back when I first collected cards and had ignored the Upper Deck brand. However, with the over-production being what it was and the current price point of the product today being very low I decided I would search out some boxes and see what I could find.

This brings me to today.

For $20.00 I was able to get a regular box and a box of jumbo packs of the 1992 Upper Deck baseball from one of the stores I stopped at and I decided that while I would enjoy ripping the packs and seeing what I get I am still fairly loyal to Topps and probably will not build the set. So, here is what I am proposing. I will bust this stuff and see if I am lucky enough to pull a Ted Williams autograph. What I will do with all the base cards is offer them up on a first-come-first-serve basis, sorted by teams. Essentially this will be a group break but it will not cost you, loyal reader, a dime. What it will cost you is some small token of voluntary appreciation in return.

A trade, simple as that.

What am I looking for?

I currently collect 2 teams, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Chicago Cubs. I also collect certain players, Jackie Robinson, David Wright, Pete Rose, Ryne Sandberg, Marco Scutaro, Ricky Romero, Dion Phaneuf and Wayne Gretzky. I also, as some of you already know, collect a personal sub-set of any and all cards featuring players attempting to bunt. As I mentioned before I collected from the early-to-mid 80's to the mid 90's. I stopped collecting in 1996 and as such I have a gaping hole in the collections I mentioned above. Seeing as I picked up collecting, in earnest, again around the middle of 2008 I am hoping to fill the void.

I say this is "voluntary" because what team you choose is NOT contingent on some return deal. If you ask for a team you get it. In the early stages I hope to keep the requests to one or two teams per person and then if others are available they are more than available. So, let me know what you think and start requesting teams in the comments section. I will build a list when it becomes necessary of who is left and who is taken. Tell your friends, tell your enemies, tell your friends' enemies, tell your enemies' friends!!!!!

I have enjoyed giveaways from other sites so it is now LFB2B's turn to return the favor.

Cheers,

Hey, UD Legendary Cuts....where's the love??!!?? Mr.X knows.

The weekend finally arrived, although it was not that bad having the work week split into two 2-day segments, it was still welcomed. As usual I stopped by my "home base" card shop to see what I could find. It turns out there was a customer earlier in the week who had purchased and cracked a box of 2009 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts , kept only the inserts and left the singles behind. This kind of collecting I fail to understand. However, with the opportunity it presented me I will not question it that deeply. There is no way I would purchase packs of this stuff, let alone a box. However, to Mr.X. prospector/collector I say thanks because I got these from you. (in a roundabout way)

Firstly after going through the Upper Deck website and finding the checklist I was actually a bit intrigued by this set. It appears to me to be the "Coles Notes" of the A&G set, sorry for the Canadian reference there but I think the American version of that statement would be "Cliffs Notes", I do believe.

Hey, here's a tangent, have there ever been A&G Cards dedicated to either Cliff Hillegass or Jack and Carl Cole? I think Topps needs to get on this right away, or at least some of the more talented card designers/bloggers I have seen. Beardy and PunkRockPaint , I'm looking at you two!

After going through the checklist I was a bit mystified at the general lack of Toronto Blue Jays cards in this set. I understand that with such a small card count that only the higher calibre players can be included in the set. However, do you mean to tell me that this was the only Toronto Blue Jay that made the cut?

Where is Vernon Wells? Where is B.J. Ryan? Even Alex Rios arguably deserves a card. I'm not saying the Blue Jays are house-hold names but really, they are not the Indians either!!
There is one other Blue Jay in the set but a short-printed ex-Jay does not truly count here. Joe Carter is card #144 and if anyone has Joe and wants to send him home to Canada, please feel free.

By contrast there are 8 Chicago Cubs in this set and Mr.X. was gracious enough to leave 5 of them for me. Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez, Carlos Zambrano, Rich Harden (for some reason he is listed as an Oakland A in the checklist) and Derrek Lee.


Mr.X. was also fortunate enough to pull the only card in the set that goes straight into my sub-set collection of players bunting, Curtis Granderson.


I also grabbed three other cards from Mr.X's discards to send out to some other bloggers as kind of a "just because" thing. I have been incredibly impressed with the continued generosity I have seen among everyone that it is kind of infectious and it makes me want to do the same. I figure they may even already have these cards due to said generosity, but, it is still a great opportunity to just introduce myself and just say "Hi".

All in all, I like the look of these cards and as I was scanning them I saw just how great they look in binder pages. I am thinking of returning to the card shop and maybe grabbing the rest of Mr.X's stuff as a starter set and collecting the base set. There were a few of the non-baseball short-printed cards that caught my eye that I will have to put on a wish list. At the end of this entry I will post a needed list and add one to my Want Lists on the side bar of my blog as well.

What are your thoughts on the SP Legendary Cuts set? It is too bad that designs like this cannot bet utilized in a more mainstream set. A great deal of what I collect is based on how a card looks as well as the player list. The thickness of these cards and the design along with the chase hits are what make these a premium card but thanks to Mr.X. I can afford to have these in my collection now.



2009 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts - Needs

#5 - David Wright
#29 - Jeff Samardzija
#46 - Ryan Dempster
#59 - Geovany Soto


2009 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts - ShortPrint (#/500) Needs

#115 - Ferguson Jenkins
#134 - Billy Williams
#144 - Joe Carter
#159 - Edgar Allen Poe
#175 - Charles Dickens
#188 - Billy The Kid
#198 - Jesse James


Cheers,