About Time (and autographs).

Blogging about baseball and hockey cards without a scanner lends to some difficulties.

I will admit, however, I do not hate it nearly as much as I intended.

The use of digital (handheld) photography for posting cards does have one perk, in which the repetitive narrative of "the scan doesn't do this card justice" is completely thrown out the window.

Bowman Platinum is one of those sets, along with many refractors from Topps and Bowman Chrome and Finest, in which scanning the cards doesn't quite give the true light-bending properties of the card.

Take this Brett Lawrie relic-auto. While the sticker may not be incredibly obvious in a scan - neither would the eversweet rainbow stock of the card. This is a blue parallel, numbered to /199, and I landed it for the price of what a base version usually runs. There are also green (eww) and gold parallels, but since Brett is rocking the Jays deep blue batting practice Jays jersey (which matches the swatch! rejoice!) the blue version looks the best other than the base refractor, which seems kind of rare lately.

But what is it that I love the most about this card? Check out that autograph. For Brett Lawrie, that thing is immaculate. Let's take a look at his more recent inkings:

Ugh. This may taint my quest for the reverse-box of 2013 Tribute.

What the hell is that

AHH! Look away!

The thing is, Brett Lawrie collectors, or possibly autograph collectors in general, have taken notice. Brett's Red Bull-induced autographing process since 2011 (I am assuming the '12 Bowman Platinum in the first picture is from a set of 2011 stickers) has led to lower values of his cards, rather than the cleaner, crisper autographs you find on the early-2012 and 2011 releases. Perhaps this coincides with his call-up in late summer of 2011 and the flurry of off-field action he may be seeing, including appearances, endorsements and so on. He is the Canadian Jesus, after all.

Oh, and in case you're wondering what those other clean autographs look like, behold 2012 Gypsy Queen:

Holy YES.

and his 2011 Bowman 1stie:

This would make no one blue.

Or maybe it's the ever-growing number of tatts messing up is penmanship. 

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.

Not always baseball, not always "Blue" Jays

I don't expect too many pageviews today. It's one of those family holidays, you know.

You should all go outside and enjoy the what-seems-like-Spring weather out there. I mean it. I won't be offended.

A couple years ago I started a fantasy baseball league at the University at Buffalo, where I completed my master's in - can you guess what? in May of last year. We were always away from our families, mine being across New York, two from New Hampshire, one not close with his family, Maine by way of Orono, and I added some high school and undergrad friends - one with the NAVY in Mississippi displaced from his family in Connecticut, and others from my hometown uprooted in Pennsylvania, Texas, New York City and other far away dreamlands. Last season, one of our league strongmen moved all the way to Singapore for a post-doc at a Volcano Observatory. Sweet gig, amiright?

We always drafted the evening before the season started, watching the Opening Night game projected in the Climatology office/grade student office, grilling hot dogs on a George Foreman-esque grill and drinking Budweiser out of flag cans. To me, the Easter season became less about hiding eggs and eating ham (which I eat almost every week anyways) and a lot about missing my buddies from the past decade-and-a-half.

Needless to say, I scheduled our draft during all three of my localish families festivities for today. I felt like I owed it to my old friends to be present. My Easter family, if you will.

__

Sorry about that. I had been guilt tripped a bit by some extended family, and I wanted to get that off my chest a little.

Now, on to some cardboard.

I've wanted to add something different to this blog, and aside from my other less-conventional antics, one of those things was adding a bit more of a hockey presence to the local community.

Hopefully, 85% of you haven't tuned out at this point.

This is a Zach Parise dual relic, in wonderful Devil's red, supplied to me by mostly Hockey-oriented blog Cardboard Conundrum. If you like hockey or have Cubs or Texans cards to unload, He can take them. He also rips a ton of product that I couldnt afford with my old budget allocations, so maybe we can spark up another trade, soon.

I am a sucker for anything Parise after I drafted him LAST overall as a sophomore in college in one of my first hockey leagues, and he and Evgeni Malkin carried me to a Championship over my die-hard Sabres fan roommate.

Also included was this premium UD Ice - probably one of the best-looking sets ever - Rookie /999 of Jason Zucker. I mean that thing is sexy. 

Always a Maple Leafs fan, I have taken a liking to the Minnesota Wild with their signing of Zach Parise last summer. It took a long time to click, but they're been on a hot streak of late - until the last couple of awful games.

If the name Jason Zucker sounds familiar, this is probably why: Not cool, Corey Perry. 

Zucks has since been sent to AHL Houston (kind of like the Blue Jays getting sent to Las Vegas) to get more ice team. It worked with Nazem Kadri.

I sent Matt a hockey Hall of Fame relic, a baseball Hall of Fame relic, and a Sidney Crosby, dual-color  Artifacts (just like the Parise) jersey, and thus I was rewarded with quite the haul.

I mentioned this one briefly in trade talks before, and said it was optional to throw it in.

He threw it in anyways, and I am glad to see it. This is my only soccer relic after selling off a Landon Donovan jersey ($!) a few years back, and it's a good one.

Might also be one of my first ever orange jersey swatches.

Very cool.

But of course, there was baseball. First, some more orange:

I've decided that I must have all of these Bowman's Best cards, prospects and pros. The 2011 effort was much, much better than the 2012. 

I've also started building up a nice cache of Manny Machado cards. No big deal.

We finished my adding one more rookie, but this one much more significant to me, but also a third baseman with an elite ceiling, defensive flair, and a solid line-drive bat. I am babbling at this point to maintain the integrity of the formatting of this post. It's getting kind of difficult. Oh well, another bite of my coconut cake donut and a sip of my Caribou Blend coffee.

That's a damn fine cup of coffee you have here made of Caribou. And damn fine cherry pie.

Oh right, baseball cards:

Hey! Brett Lawrie! He's kind of awesome, eh?

Has anyone else notcied that pretty much every serviceable third baseman is injured right now? I have. In my drafts I've been grabbing Freese, Headley and Lawrie on the cheap because people are passing them up.

The season is won at the end of the year, dingus, not April.

Matt also included a quite-awesome autograph of a unique Blue Jays prospect in Justin Jackson.

I say unique because Justin is currently undertaking the Sergio Santos experiment. Sergio struggled in the minors as a hitter, but his arm was always an impressive tool. Seeing what they possibly had in him, the White Sox sent him to A-ball in hopes of converting him to a pitcher. The Blue Jays waited for the White Sox to sign him to a team-friendly deal, and made a trade of mega-bust Zach Stewart for him.

Jackson seems to like his conversion to the mound so far. I wish him the best, both from a Blue Jays fan's sake and buying up a bunch of his cards for cheap as he toils in the very low minors.

I've grown quite a liking to the TriStar ProspectsPlus autographs from whatever season this is. I currently have Justin Jackson, Brett Cecil and JP Arencibia. I just love black cards with autographs.

Anyways - Matt, thanks for the huge trade. I think more jersey material moved from here to North Dakota than cardboard. 

Cannot wait for the next one.

Cheers.

Traders without Borders

Quintessential Robby Alomar.

In the never-ending competition we bloggers have, I am stooping to a new low with this title. So if you've come here to see my convoluted mentioning of a one Pat Borders, you'll have to wait.

But, I guess, it makes some sense. I received a package today from Jeroen, the man behind the Ace and Yankee-centric Dutch Card Guy blog.

This is our second cross-Atlantic trade, the first netting me a forking JP Arencibia 1-of-1 Printing Plate (no big deal). While JP wasn't involved in this particular trade, I did receive some soon-to-be well-loved Blue Jays, along with some 2012 Allen and Ginter's help:

I know you guys have Allen and Ginter base cards laying around. Check out my want list, and I will make it worth your while. I'd love to get this set banged out by the release of Gypsy Queen and forgotten on my shelf of completed set binders.

The Dutchman also contributed to my Blue Jays rainbow attempts for 2013:

 

The Hutchison is just a common, but at this point I had only pulled his red parallel. I believe le Dimwit may have contributed the Drew to my base set, and now this one will go on the rainbow page - hopefully to be replaced before 2014 by the Silver Slate parallel.

There was also a Jos-eh Reyes sighting:

The emerald is from Jeroen, but the black is from ebay. Coincidentally, the pink and black parallels of Jose both came from sellers based in New York, one being in the town that I still play baseball in during the summer.

If you send me a Bowman Blue Jay in a trade package, there is a strong chance that I will mention it. Daniel Norris loves him some crosses, as does Jose Reyes. Damn, the Blue Jays are a handsome bunch.

Well, except Colby Rasmus.

And now, what you've all been waiting for, a full-bleed, fully-geared, chaw-choked Blue Jays fan favourite and all-around ruggedly handsome gentleman - NAY, Legend, Pat Borders:

Oh sweet hell yes.

Recent Additions to the Puma Box

I posted a teaser earlier today. Now I am ready to show of the newest beauties to my Puma Box - or as others may say, "personal collection."

First, the oft neglected member and current number five started for your Toronto Blue Jays, Ricky Romero:

A nice large keystone black swatch - and numbered to 50. This is a great-looking card, and 2012 Platinum is starting to grow on me something fierce. I scored this for about $2.50 on ebay, and the seller, some carbon-copy of a JohnnyG screen name took about two weeks to ship it. Sellers have been awful, lately.

Retail odds on this are 1:3226, so I am wagering that this came from a hobby box.

Also coming my way recently via the Bay was this Drew Hutchison from 2012 Pro Debut.

The gold parallel of the base autograph that I pulled from the second of my two boxes back in January. Very nice card, and surprisingly very little competition for it, since it is numbered to only 50.

Slightly more common, but considerably more difficult to find in pack of 2013 Topps was this Brett Lawrie:

It's the short-printed Out of Bounds variation of his 2013 Topps base card. It came my way via Classon Ave, who was very unhappy about pulling it and accepted a pile of 2013 spare parts in exchange.

And lastly, my one and only foray into 2013 Turkey Red.

The Fat Cats at Topps decided to short print an ass ton of the actual good players in this set, and JP was one of the victims. Luckily, I grabbed the first one to hit Ebay. If you've got a favorite player in this set, go get their cards right now. This is the best Turkey Red yet, but the print run is pretty low.

Pitchers and Catchers Report.

Ohh, those simple words.

It's that time of year when, just before being completely encapsulated by icicle and towering snowbanks...

..the clouds break. The sun comes out. Icicles turn to puddles. The salt stains creep up your jeans to your knees, but oh no, you don't care.

Pitchers and catchers reported today, you guys.

This is kind of a big deal.

And what better way to celebrate than with a mondo mailday and discount blaster extravaganza?!

Oh heck yes.

I suppose I'll start with what came first, which was of course, a debilitating trip to the post office. I figured early afternoon would be a premium time, but my favourite cashier was going to lunch and the only ones left was the old guy that loves his job so much and the surly giant with the treacherous neck hair.

Luckily, he weighed maybe one or two of the larger packages and then just priced the rest of them based on that. However, I underestimated my shipping costs, and as I usually charge $2.82 to ship, new price changes and package tracking brings one card up to $3. So I took a hit there on my twelve ebay packets and two three trade packages. So it goes.

As the recent ebay purge drained my top loader supply, I went slumming to the local KMart. Luckily they had some that looked like they had fallen off of a truck and been repackaged, so I grabbed two 25 packs and perused the discount blaster pile. There was a very good selection, including:

• $5.99 2011 Topps Opening Day
• $11.99 2011 Topps Series 1 (w/commemorative patch)
• $11.99 200? Goudey (guarnteed hit + general shittiness)
• $11.99 2009 UD Piece of History (1 hit)

I ended up grabbing a Series 1 and the Piece of History.

The Piece of History was actually an enjoyable open, resulting in this nice swatch:

 Not terrible at all, with a nice stripe and commemorative of his 2007 no-hitter. However, in typical 2009 Upper Deck fashion, the rest of my decent cards were Yengwes:

...I cannot avoid A-Rod right now. Ugh. This one is numbered /249 and I may put it on ebay, where he is selling surprisingly well right now. Another Yankee hit was a Johnny Damon insert #/149, but we've all seen enough of him.

The 2011 Topps S1 blaster resulted in this:

Yeap. That was the highlight. A card my Mom didn't throw out, but probably begged me to. I don't know if I ever owned the original, and I certainly do not now. If you've got an original to send my way, go ahead and do so. I don't have any Robby Alomar rookies. My manupatch was a 1909 Cleveland Indians of Shin-Soo Choo. Which was nice when I won an auction of it for about $1.50 last fall. So, if you want one...

Anyways, the better schtuff came in the mail upon my return.

This is number 10 in my crusade to get one of every color of every Blue Jay (that I like) in Series 1. This is going to be hell by the time Series 2 and Update are out. Progress, dammit.

I had seen this a few times on the 'bay but never found a reasonable price. $4 was reasonable, and it arrived today. With signature confirmation. Overkill, yes.

Like I mentioned a few days ago, my Carlos Santana collection is coming along nicely.

But he has a lot of catching up to do to ever catch my Arencibia collection numbers.

The previous two cards were from the same auction, in which I absolutely pillaged a seller's 2013 Topps inserts via combined shipping, also landing these four:

...to go along with my own Babe Ruth, Matt Cain, Ryne Sandberg and...ugh, someone else. It's a start.

Like today.

The start of Spring Training. Happy New Year, everyone.

COMC #1 - JPA and the Miscellaneous

I managed to raid the COMC silos filled with cardboard goodies again recently.

I enjoy COMC orders every time. While the first or second was probably the best, it's not ad if they're getting worse or anything. Every time there is something new. My player collections are quite fluid, so the previous statement becomes more true every time.

And while I will get into some newer player collections in future posts, this one will stick with my number one - JP Arencibia.

As you can see from the photo above, JPA is currently being awesome on the Jays Winter Tour, which, sadly, does not come through Syracuse.

Might have to call up Paul Beeston and have a discussion on that.

Anyways. On to some new John-Pauls:

Diamonds and white trash parallels.

Black and white J-Ps from 2011 Topps. The white devil is from the factory set, which were stamped with a special logo in the top left, in case you forgot last (two years ago) was Topps' 60th Anniversary,

Fred Lewis is making a ton of cameos on this blog. Might as well give him a mention.

Nice card, poor analysis.

Not totally sure what set this is from*, but I really enjoy it. I don't always agree with Baseball America. And their podcasts are about as interesting as cud drying in the Wisconsin sun. I'm more of a Baseball Prospectus guyer.

Tristar Stylee

Another new Arencibia, and another Arencibia making a rediculous "who ripped one?!" face. This is some sort of rainbow foil.

Doble Gypsy

A Gypsy Queen Gypsy Queen from 2012. What the hell does that mean? There's a picture of some Hungarian woman, likely my GEOL 451: Remote Sensing professor printed on the back.

Also, my favourite back-type from '12 Gypsy Queen.

That's it for JPAs in this post, but it wouldn't be a tear-assing party without this guy:

#proooooo

Lawrie cards are expensive. This one, actually wasn't. But it's still awesome.

And of course, the lonely, single card from the iciest of sports, hockey:

Downtown Koivu

These cards are just great. This is number two in my collection, and is headed straight to the Puma Box to hang out with new teammate Zach Parise.

More COMC posts coming soon. There may be up to seven, you've been warned.