How I Spent My Spring Card Expo - Mini Edition

It has been a little while since I last posted about my haul from the Toronto Spring Card Expo. Had a few things come up that were a bit more important than blogging. However, things are now better and I have a little more time available now for hobby talk. So, here we go.

I recently posted how a few eBay lots have brought me close to completion of the 2009 Topps T-206 Piedmont minis parallel set. Since returning to the hobby I have come to really appreciate and enjoy collecting the mini tobacco sized cards that have become quite prevalent in the hobby. What I managed to bring home with me helped complete some team sets and added to another set I am slowly picking away at.

Chicago Cubs from the 2009 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions release lead the way with a total of five cards. Four were actually needed to complete the mini team set.

#224 - Ryan Dempster, #27 - Derrek Lee, #33 - Jeff Samardzija

#95 - Alfonso Soriano, #117 Carlos Zambrano

It turns out I already had the Zambrano, but, doubles are never bad, are they? I found three of the four Toronto Blue Jays minis that I needed to complete the mini team set. All I have left to chase down now is card #48 Joe Carter.

#243 - Vernon Wells, #219 B.J. Ryan, #242 - Alex Rios

While sifting through the pile of minis I set aside two cards that featured Horses. One figurative and the other literal.

Card #18 - Bo Jackson

Card #115 - Smarty Jones

Aside from the T-206 Piedmont mini cards one of the other mini card sets I am working on is the 2009-10 Upper Deck Champs Hockey mini extension set. Finding lots of these cards at a show is pretty hard and completing a set paying the individual prices being asked is just too much pain on the wallet. One dealer had a stack of 25 cards and wanted $5.00 for them so without my needs list handy I grabbed it and hoped for the best. Turns out I only needed 4 of the 25, but, it gives me a number of traders.

Card #270 - Mike Richards, #314 - Don Cherry

The great appeal of Champs is that, much like Allen & Ginter, card subjects are not just limited to athletes. 'Wonders of the World' and 'Natural History Collection' cards found a place in the binder too.

Card #407 - Aurora

Card #512 - Common Raven

The last mini card that joined the bunch was a lone 2007 Allen & Ginter Chicago Cub. Every team set starts somewhere and this 2007 set begins with Michael Barrett.

Card #159 - Michael Barrett

We are almost at the end of the series of posts dealing with my purchases from the Spring Expo. Doing these posts has helped me realize that my search was much more successful than it felt at the time. I managed to pick away at quite a few needs successfully.

The next post will deal with the handful of vintage cards that I purchased going towards one of the latest projects I have decided to tackle as well as a few cards for some projects that I am still tossing around in my head. I also found one of the cards I had been hoping to find for a PC, which also happens to be the first and perhaps cheapest vintage card for said PC.

Stay tuned for that post and thanks for reading this one. I appreciate you spending your time here.

Cheers,

How I Spent My Spring Card Expo - Relic Edition

This edition of my Toronto Spring Expo posts is going to be the briefest of the bunch. I managed to find very little in the way of relics that I was looking for, however, I was also near the end of my budget so I am sure there were number of cards I left behind.

I walked away with 4 Cubs cards and 1 card that will be used either for trade bait or if I happen to find someone trying to complete the set, I will send it their way.

The Kentucky Derby is about to get underway, so I feel I need to do the same.

Another card from 2010 Topps National Chicle made its way into my collection. This time it is a game-used bat relic.

2010 Topps National Chicle Bat Relic card#NCR-AS Alfonso Soriano

A couple of Upper Deck Relics from 2008 and 2009. Both are grey swatches, both could have come from the same item, who knows. One belongs to Aramis Ramirez, the other belongs to Kerry Wood.

2009 Upper Deck Icons Jersey Relic card#IC-RA Aramis Ramirez

2008 Upper Deck Series 2 Jersey Relic card#UDJ-KW Kerry Wood

I found a 2009 Topps silk card for a steal and I am sure I can easily find it a home with someone building the set or a Florida Marlins collector. If you are either, send me an email and we can work something out.

2009 Topps Silk Jeremy Hermida serial #'d 06/50

The final relic card also cost me the most, a whopping $10. I hope to eventually build this set but as always will gladly take my time as it gives me something to concentrate on when there are lulls in the set collecting world. This set ties in the historical players of the game with historical places of the game. I now own my own little piece of Crosley Field.

2009 Topps Heritage 'Flashback Relic' Crosley Stadium seat relic card#FR-EB Ernie Banks

Like I said at the start, a pretty brief post but some sweet cards making their way into my collection. Keep an eye on the blog as the next Toronto Spring Expo related post will cover the mini cards that I bought. A couple team sets were brought further to completion and I knocked a few cards off of a hockey set as well.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers,

How I Spent My Spring Card Expo - Autograph Edition

Outside of the sets themselves one of the things I enjoy the most about the hobby is the on-card, hard-signed autographs. Upper Deck says they have "watered down" the hobby, I would tend to disagreed. Then again, who am I to say? I am just a lowly collector.

So far, here is the story. We have covered the serial numbered and insert cards that I picked up last weekend at the Toronto Spring Card Expo. This time around I am going to show off the autograph cards that I bought. Once again, these came from the so-called "bargain boxes" that adorned a number of tables on the floor and all but 1 was $2 or under. A winning combination in my book.

The first three autographs I grabbed are from a set that I plan on pursuing to completion. The base set went heavily ignored by collectors but I still like the looks of the autographed versions.

2010 Topps National Chicle Autograph card#NCA-HR Henry Rodriguez, NCA-JF Juan Francisco

2010 Topps National Chicle Autograph card#NCA-BD Brent Dulgach National Chicle back Parallel #006/199

I had no idea I had picked out one of the parallels until I had looked through the cards once I was home. Of course, this now means that I will probably chase down the serial numbered versions of these cards.

The 2009 Topps T-206 framed mini-autographs are a set that I have liked from the beginning and are the first set of autographs that I decided to try and complete. I have a few sitting in my COMC account and admittedly picked this one up without being sure if I even needed it or not. The good news is it turns out I do need this one, the bad news is it was one of the cards in my COMC account. Nonetheless, it is still a fine looking card.

2009 Topps T-206 Framed Mini Autograph #FMA-13 Shairon Martis

The next autograph I picked up specifically for a fellow blogger who collects this particular player. I have no idea if he already owns it and I would be quite surprised if 'I Am Joe Collector' has not pulled from his crazy case breaking fiesta of 2007 Upper Deck 'Masterpieces' Baseball.

2007 Upper Deck 'Stroke of Genius' Autograph card #SG-BB Billy Butler

I had never seen one of the 2004 Topps 'Cracker Jack' autographs cards until I came across this one. They have a great look to them and it is a Toronto Blue Jay.

2004 Topps Cracker Jack 'Secret Surprise Signatures' card#CJA-DM Dustin McGowan

The last pair of autographs are from the same player but come from 2 distinct pints in his young career. Sadly though, one of the cards breaks my streak of on-card autographs from this group. The other card I picked up as I was leaving the show on Saturday, also it was the most expensive, $5.00. Hopefully, there is enough of the 2011 season left that when he returns from injury he can still make a significant impact for the Cubs.

2010 Topps Pro Debut Baseball Autograph card#PDA-AC Andrew Cashner

2011 Topps Gypsy Queen Autograph card#GQA-Ac Andrew Cashner

Finding bargain on-card autographs would make any collector happy. Finding bargain on-card autographs from players and teams you collect is even better. Finding cards for other collectors that might add something to their collection is the best. All reason to be a happy collector.

Stick with the blog as the next post from my Spring Expo spoils will be the relic cards.

Cheers,

How I Spent My Spring Card Expo - Serial #'d Edition

As most of you who follow me through Twitter know this past weekend was the semi-annual Toronto Sports Card Expo. I spent Friday night and all of Saturday shopping around for deals, filling lists (or at least trying) and just soaking in all that is our hobby. I the end I was once again happy with the Expo in general and as usual I overspent, however, what I came home with still seems worth it upon further review.

The next few posts are going to cover some of the purchases I made as well as other items that came home with me. Firstly, we will start with the serial numbered cards that I purchased, most of which came from one particular dealer and his $0.50 boxes.

The first couple cards are serial #'d out of 500 and are from 2008 Bowman Baseball.

Alex Rios #470/500 Dmitri Young #173/500

The next 4 cards are numbered out of 250. 2 were picked up for potential trades or just to ship out to an unsuspecting collector and 2 were for my own Team collections and PC Bunting collection.

2007 Topps Sterling Tony Gwynn TG2-145 #211/250 TG4-147 #081/250

2008 Bowman Alfonso Soriano #194/250

2010 Bowman Jake Kahaulelio #001/250

The colours keep a happenin' with two green refractors from 2008 Topps Finest. 1 for my Team set collection and 1 to possibly send a fellow blogger's way.

Aramis Ramirez #139/199 Robinson Cano #063/199

I admittedly know very little about this following set but I know enough that it drove a great number of collectors insane. It seems to me to be the ultimate challenge for any set builder but for now I am happy just cherry picking singles here and there for trades or PCs. We will visit this set again in a little bit. For now, here are two cards serial #'d out of 150.

Albert Pujols 64 RBI #075/150 191 Hits #008/150

I grabbed the next card after finding a couple others including a blue parallel shown earlier. I figured that I would attempt to build the base and chrome rainbow of this particular player. I enjoy listening to him on Card Corner Club Radio and figured, what the heck, why not?

2008 Bowman Chrome Gold Refractor Dmitri Young #09/50

The final 3 cards are the lowest numbered cards I purchased and will fit nicely into my PC Team and Player binders. They are also from the loved or hated 2006 'Moments and Milestones' release. All 3 are numbered out of 29.

David Wright 27 HRs #02/29 17 RBIs #04/29

Derrek Lee 107 RBIs #28/29

I looked for a cheap 1/1 but was unsuccessful in that endeavor. Still, a few cards #/29 is nothing to complain about.

Stay tuned for the next few posts as I will be revealing more of the treasures that I uncovered at the Toronto Spring Card Expo. I have a handful of inserts I will be scanning and posting ASAP.

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,

Twitter Card Shop Challenge

First and foremost let me state unequivocally that I in no way harbor any delusion that I am anywhere close to competing for top spot in the $10 Twitter Card Shop Challenge. The goal of which is pretty self-explanatory. Let's just say that I even ventured to TWO card shops looking to contend. I managed to spend $9.50 of my $10.00 budget but I think I may have one item disqualified.

Stop number one was the usual Not-so-LCS. I had to put in a few hours of work today and so naturally I thought a quick stop and $10.00 later I'd be at home.

Not so much.

I looked through 3 boxes of '50% Off' items but nothing that I or anyone else would have wanted. The closest I came was a Darren McFadden 'Absolute' relic for $3.50. Had it been auto'd I would have pulled the trigger.

Disappointed but undaunted I decided to scout out another card shop a little further down the road. This one is a Definitely-not-so-LCS and after my visit today will not become a regular anytime soon.

Enough yakking, on to what I did find.

I sifted through 2 4800-count boxes of $1 cards that were mostly Hockey and Basketball. To the store-owner's credit he did inform me off the top that he dealt in very little baseball but I was free to look. I found a grand total of FIVE cards!!!

As you may or may not know, on of the kinds of cards I collect are ones featuring players bunting the ball. I collect any and all kinds of them. It gives me something to do when boredom sets in with set building. Some of the harder cards to find, let alone even learn of their existence, are relic and insert cards that belong in my PSC. I found 3 that fit the bill in the $1 box.

The first one is from 2002 Upper Deck SweetSpot USA Jerseys Insert set. Card #USA-DM featuring Doug Mientkiewicz.


Card number 2 is from 2006 Bowman Draft Future's Game Prospects Relics Insert set. Card #FG20 features Trent Oeltjen drafted by the Minnesota Twins.


The third card in the bunting series is from the 2007 Topps Heritage Clubhouse Collection Insert set. Card #CC-RF is a Rafael Furcal GU bat card.


The next two cards were purchase simply because I collect Cubs cards. No other reason, although the GU relic card does look pretty good with the jersey-shaped cut out window. The first card is from the 2008 Bowman Draft Prospects Jerseys Insert set. Card #BDPP82 is of Welington Castillo.


Cub number 2 is actually a former Cub now but I still like the looks of these 2009 Topps T-206 full size card autographs. I cannot help but feel had they been on-card they would get much more attention from The Hobby. My last $1 card from the five is Card #NFA-16 and it features all-around major-league curmudgeon Milton Bradley.


The last card making its entry into The Challenge was a throw-in from the store owner when I told him what I was buying the cards for. He let me pick a 6th card at no cost as long as I made it BIG. A choice of a card that could put me over the top. I decided to take his advice literally and went BIG.

I went 485 pounds BIG!!

I WENT GIANT!!!!!

Card #S-BS from 2010 Topps WWE Superstar Swatches insert set of Big Show.

Now, as I stated at the top I spent $9.50 of my $10.00 budget. The card selection just was not there. I tried and tried but everything I found just felt forced and upon further review had no rightful place in my collection. However, I did find something in this shop that DID complete a collection AND I had been searching for one for about a year.

I defer to the judges but with $4.50 I completed my 6-issue Batman series written by the great Kevin Smith.


All things considered an afternoon spent at card shops is never a bad way to spend the day. I added a few cards to my collection and that is never a bad thing. For some greater successes and to view the other entries in this impromptu challenge head on over to 'The 400 Level' and check out his loot, 'Cardboard Icons' came away with some nice stuff and Tweet Mr. Chris Olds to provide you a link to what he purchased for $10.00.

Keep an eye out for the next challenge laid down and join in. Its all in good fun.

Cheers,

As If Cards Were Not Enough

Baseball card collecting is by definition an obsession. The pursuit of a 2 1/2" by 3 1/2" piece of cardboard for the purpose of filing it away with others of the like becomes a full blown necessity for some and a life-long quest for others. When you begin to add other items into the mix of this pursuit things start to get crazy.

On February 1st of this year Canada Post, in honour of Black History month, released two stamps commemorating the achieves of two outstanding members of the 'Order of Canada'. Carrie Best was a poet, author, journalist and activist amongst black Canadians who worked together with Viola Desmond to lobby the Canadian Government to repeal segregation laws in 1954.

The other honoree featured on stamp is the only Canadian to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Ferguson Jenkins was born in Chatham, Ontario (about 2 hours from here) and his achievements as a Chicago Cub, Philadelphia Phillie, Texas Ranger and Boston Red Sock should come as no surprise to anyone.

I have managed to find only two First Day Covers in the three Postal Outlets that I have checked in the last week. The front of these are nicely designed with a picture of Ferguson in his Chicago Cubs uniform, a facsimile autograph and a very cool special postage cancellation from his hometown.

The stamp bears a more updated image of Ferguson along with his 'Order of Canada' medal. The back of the FDC features a brief write-up on not only his achievements in baseball but his achievements beyond the game as well. Also pictured on the back are his 1967, 1971 and 1975 Topps baseball cards.


I have purchased several books of these stamps and will be using them for the next little while when sending out packages to fellow bloggers and a the few eBay sales I have. I will continue to search for the FDCs because I plan to send them out to a few Cubs collectors that I have traded with in the past.

I have always been interested in stamps and First Day Covers that deal with Baseball. In fact, there was a stamp released last July by the USPS that I will be looking for a FDC at The National this year featuring Rube Foster.

Collecting FDCs is something that I had always tried to avoid because they are a complete genre unto themselves. Today may just be the beginning of a whole new obsession for me.

YAY!!!


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,

Mail Day (aka Ginter Free Zone)

Thought I would take a break from the onslaught of Allen & Ginter posts and focus on the part of the hobby that has been opened up to me through Blogging. I'm talking about 'Through The Mail Trades'.

Every so often you see someone post a trade with or link to a brand new Blogger on the block. It is great to see more and more of them popping up. 'Two Strikes' is a blog run by Matt in Texas and I recently tried to help him out with his pursuit of Topps Series 1 singles. In return Matt furnished me with a pile of Bowman Cubs and Blue Jays that will be finding their respective places in their Team Binders soon enough.

We have some Base card goodness......


As always there is some Golden Parallel goodness as well.......

Along with those Matt sent 2 of the 'Topps 100' prospect cards. 1 featuring Kyle Drabek for the Jays and 1 with Andrew Cashner for the Cubs. He also saw fit to throw in a '1st Bowman Card' of Hak-Ju Lee and one of the two-sided cards featuring Carlos Zambrano and Andrew Cashner.

Mat also furnished me with a handful of cards that included another 2010 Topps Gold card which gets me one step closer to the complete Cubs team set, scattered Jays and Cubs from '07 and '08, as well as this little guy......

HA!!!

You honestly thought you were going to go an entire post in July without seeing some Ginter!!!

Poor, poor, trusting soul.

Thanks Matt for the cards and I hope yours arrived safe and sound.


The second envelope that arrived came from Ted in Connecticut. Ted is the brains behind 'Crinkly Wrappers' and was giving away some of his extra Topps 'Opening Day' cards. Never being one to turn down a shot at some free cards I swooped in and grabbed up his Cubs and Jays.

I like the 'Opening Day' cards simply because they are more affordable for younger/entry level collectors and they feature different photos than their flagship counterpart. The airbrushed photos were a nice touch and provided some much needed entertainment when they first hit the street and everyone deemed them ERROR CARDS!!!!!

Ted sent me 6 Cubs; Fukudome, Dempster, Lee, Lilly, Ramirez and Zambrano.


He also sent me a couple Jays in Travis Snider and Adam Lind.


Ted still has a couple cards I have to try and pry out of his hands but a million thanks go out to him for setting me up with my 'Opening Day' team set needs. Any time I can get closer to completion I am a happy collector.

I received one more envelope recently but I am hanging on to it so I can pair it up with a sweet purchase I made on eBay. They all go towards one of my player collections. I anticipate the eBay purchase to show up anytime now. Once it does you will be the first to see it.

Until then...............

Cheers,