Live Free or Die Cuts

I've started writing this post without a title or an idea of where I am going with the words. Even that sentence, and the one which I type now, are a surprise. Well, not at this point, because I tend to think faster than I type.

I've taken a step back a rethought some of my collecting methods. One change is less, if any, retail. Sets which I won't pay hobby prices for (Mothership, Gypsy Queen) will be an exception. Anything Bowman, too. I just plan on taking a different route from now on. More singles. Probably more purchases of trait bait for others, rather than relying on my own pulls.

This is a trade post. I'm trying to disguise this post, the way you may have notices over at Night Owl  Cards. Mainly, because this is a trade in which cards came from the nocturnal Lechuza himself.

We trade often. Never more that 5-15 cards at a time. I'm starting to like this plain white envelope trade much more than others. No post office. No bubble mailers. No shitty Roger Clemens and Alex Rios filler. Just cards.

Like this one. I had this in my complete set of Chasing the Dream inserts. But not one for my flip through this column of top loaders much more often pile. I appreciate it, as with all Brett Lawrie cards.

Brett, unfortunately, will not be playing for Toronto tonight.

 And neither will Travis Snider. You see, Travis is a Pirate now, and apparently, his swing versus lefties may have progressed to even worse proportions. This, is sad. I liked The Great Pasty White Hope. I wish him the best.

Also, Heritage refractors are awesome. Especially green ones. This green one surprised me, as the Night Owl loves shiny things.

Sigh. Another broken Blue Jay. I don't even know where Kyle is in his rehab. I know I won't be seeing him in 2013, though, but I bet he'll still have more cards than JP Arencibia. This card is much more Night Owl. Cloaked in darnkess, and...

...miiiiinnnnnnniiiiiiiiiiii!

 Unlike this, the anti-Night Owl:

...owls hate manupatches. Even with Dodgers. With Reds logos? For All Star games no one alive could possibly remember? I'm starting to see why...

But there was one, err, two huge surprises in this package. Nestled side by side, like holoboard little Owlets...

 Wait, why am I posting two non-major leaguers in their base paralles from a set mostly everyone hated?

Because someone actually read my wants lists. 

And I appreciate that greatly.

Blistering: 2008 Topps Chrome Repacks

Recently, Wegman's, the greatest grocery store of them all (yes, better than King Sooper) has been expanding their junk wax section - what used to be a magazine rack is not a checkout isle. And if you've ever been t Wegman's, you know only about three of the ~20 checkouts are open after 7pm - thus no awkward card-section searching while others check out their nightly sustenance.

They've been showcasing some half-priced blasters lately, too. However, they're atrocious. UD X, Icons, 2008 Topps, 2008 Upper Deck 1&2 (read: no inserts in packs.)

However, they did recently have blister repacks of one of my favourite products, 2008 Topps Chrome. For some reason, the refractors look just great in this set - especially the coppers and blues. XFractors, on the other hand, are the Ke$ha of refractors - so trashy, yet somehow irresistible.

I grabbed one blister a few weeks ago that contained a Mickey Mantle HR history insert refractors and flipped it on ebay for 4x the price of the pack. So of course, when I found two more about a week ago, I grabbed them at a meager $1.59/pack.

Here's pack one:

Fukullardo.

I had both of these, both in base and refractor..or at least I think I do. I know I have seen the Gallardo repeatedly.

Puke.

What the hell happened to Daric Barton? These features an awful photo on a mediocre design, with gold-foil serial numbering on a faux-aged card back. Yeah, I don't like these. At all.

Blue Bass!

I did not have this one, yet. Well, at least in blue - I don't know about the basic refractor or Ke$hafractor. I love the blue-bordered refractors, which somehow look great with cards of all uniform colours, unlike the new orange, green and purple refractors.

And along to pack number two:

Yadiutler.

Ah, much better base cards this time 'round. Yadier is one of the more exciting players to watch in baseball - and as a huge fan of catchers, pitch calling and defense, I'll often tune my MLB.TV to St. Louis Cardinals games just to watch him. Also featured is his cross-Missoura rival, Billy Butler.

Five-year chrome bend makes for great
refractor scans.

Oh hey, Martin. Guess what? You're trade bait. Because I already have you. SOMEONE PLEASE TAKE MY BARVES CARDS.

Blue, blue, blue, blue Christmas.

Well that's a great way to end it. A blue refractor of an insert? My hot streak continues. This was numbered to /200.

I enjoy 2008 Chrome. If you have any refractors to offer, I have a want list for the set on the left side of the ol' blog. 

2008 Topps Chrome Refractors

Looking to complete a "Frankenstein" rainbow refractor set from 2008 Chrome.
Please help.
This is hard.
I have doubles! Variations listed. Would loooove to throw a few reds in here, too...

# Player Variation
1
2
3 Scott Kazmir Copper, Basic
4
5
6 Daisuke Matsuzaka Copper
7
8 Jimmy Rollins XFRACTOR
9
10 Cole Hamels Basic
11 Yovani Gallardo XFRACTOR
12
13
14 Orlando Cabrera Refractor, Copper
15
16 Erik Bedard Copper
17
18 Chris Young Basic
19 Jose Reyes XFRACTOR
20
21
22
23
24
25 Alex Rios Basic
26 Jason Bay XFRACTOR
27
28
29 Ryan Howard Basic
30 Kevin Youkilis Basic
31
32
33 Jeremy Hermida Basic
34
35
36
37 Tim Hudson Basic
38
39
40 Robinson Cano Basic
41
42 Magglio Ordonez Basic
43
44
45 Carlos Zambrano Basic
46
47 Tim Lincecum Basic
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58 Melky Cabrera Basic
59
60
61 Gil Meche XFRACTOR
62 David DeJesus Basic
63 Roy Oswalt XFRACTOR, Basic
64
65
66
67 Roy Halladay Blue
68
69
70 Akinori Iwamura Refractor
71
72 Brandon Phillips XFRACTOR
73
74 James Loney Blue
75 Carston Charles Sabathia Basic
76 Jermaine Dye Basic
77
78
79 Paul Konerko Basic
80 Jorge Posada Basic
81
82 Carlos Delgado Copper, Blue
83
84
85
86 Carl Crawford Basic
87 Mark Teixeira Basic
88 Bobby Crosby Basic, Copper
89 Brian Roberts XFRACTOR
90 David Ortiz Basic
91
92
93 Fausto Carmona XFRACTOR
94 Grady Sizemore Basic
95
96
97 Troy Tulowitzki XFRACTOR
98 Troy Glaus XFRACTOR
99 Nick Markakis Blue
100 Lance Berkman Basic
101
102
103
104
105
106 Johnny Damon Basic
107
108
109
110 Aaron Harang Basic
111 Hanley Ramirez XFRACTOR, Basic
112
113 Ryan Braun Basic
114 Torii Hunter Basic
115 Joe Blanton Basic
116
117
118 Hideki Matsui Blue
119 Cameron Maybin Basic
120 Kenji Johjima XFRACTOR
121 Derek Jeter Basic
122 Chone Figgins Basic
123
124 Jacoby Ellsbury Basic
125 Freddy Snachez XFRACTOR
126 Rocco Baldellia XFRACTOR
127
128
129 Geovany Soto Basic
130
131
132 Chipper Jones Basic
133 Jeremy Bonderman Basic
134
135
136 Jeff Francis Basic
137
138 Travis Buck Basic
139
140
141 Ryan Zimmerman Basic
142
143
144 Chris Young Basic
145
146 Curt Schilling Basic
147 Josh Beckett Basic
148
149 Ronnie Belliard XFRACTOR
150 Homer Bailey Basic
151
152
153
154
155 Joba Chamberlain XFRACTOR
156
157 Carlos Beltran Blue
158
159
160 Pat Burrell Basic
161 Asdrubal Cabrera XFRACTOR
162
163 Greg Maddux Refractor, Copper
164 Eric Chavez Blue
165
166
167 Carlos Pena Copper
168 Frank Thomas Basic
169 Aaron Rowand Basic
170
171
172 Ryan Theriot Basic, XFRACTOR
173 Andre Ethier Basic
174
175 Rickie Weeks XFRACTOR
176 Milton Bradley Basic
177 Daniel Cabrera Basic
178
179 Livan Hernandez Basic
180 Hideki Okajima Basic
181
182 Jonny Gomes Basic
183
184
185
186 Paul Maholm Basic
187 Placido Polanco Basic
188 Noah Lowry Basic
189
190
191 Edinson Volquez Basic
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200 Elliott Johnson XFRACTOR
201
202 Alex Romero Basic
203 Gregor Blanco Basic
204 Rico Washington Basic
205 Brain Bocock Basic
206
207 Brian Holm Blue
208
209
210 Randor Bierd Basic
211
212
213
214
215 Kyle McClellean Basic
216
217
218
219
220

Contributors: Night Owl