Card Shows

The October card show is always supposed to be the best here in CNY. I don't know why, but that's always the way it seems. Maybe it's because two of the other ones are in January and April, months notorious for near-death winter driving situations and the blossoming of a new baseball season.

Either way, I always manage to make it to the October show. Winter and Spring be damned. So rather than be a pessimist about the state of the hobby, I rolled on down the road fifteen minutes and walked in to Collectorsfest.

We'll start with a nice black wave refractor of young Dodger Julio Urias. Black waved aren't particularly rare (they're not even numbered) so this plus another black wave, the Harper and Abreu you'll see later, and a few others were landed for eight bills. 

Could have been worse. It was evident right away that no one was really looking to give cards away today. Card dealers with prospects are just getting more and more greedy, it seems. 

Needless to say, I heard the term "book value" way more times than ever necessary today. I'm walking away if you bring up book value. Get the net, bro.

Oh my, these cards seem to have melted. Landed for $0.50 each, I also grabbed Javier Baez and Oscar Taveras. Might go after the whole set.

Sadly, this Jose Fernandez sparkler looks like it could have been taken at the moment his delicate ulnar collateral ligament shredded earlier in the season. I'm looking to add Jose Fernandez to my collections. I enjoy the players with personality and brightly coloured uniforms.

So send me some, I'll send something back.

A lot of folks were placing a large emphasis on the Kershaw-Wainwright match up Friday night, pegging it as the best possible starting pitcher match up in the National League. Not so. It's Fernandez versus Kershaw, and it's not even close.

Get well soon, big guy, We miss you.

Oh, Salvador. 

Salvy is getting worked like a dog right now. The Royals have a perfectly capable backup in Erik Kratz. Give him some playing time.

The swatch here is actually off-white, almost cream. I'll have to do some research to find out when the Royals ever wore jersies like that.

My Salvador Perez collection is doing good, but I am up to further developing it.

The Perez was a $1 throw-in to the following Jake Marisnick card. I could have had a matching refractor of Zach Walters, but some mouth breathing basement dweller hovered for a good 10 minutes over that one. So I had to settle on the base autograph, which was only two bills.

 

LeVon Washington only set me back $2. I unloaded pretty well on one guy who's head was firmly planted up his Yankee-worshipping ass. I mean, how else could you let this slip by in a $2 bin?:

That's numbered 04/10. TEN. 

Roberto came from the same box. Like shooting fish.

Kevin Siegrist auto? Sure, why the hell not. What else?

Salvador Perez goodies kept coming. Only fifty of these made, and that's probably for the best. The silks were nice for one year. Now, whatever.

How about some Nationals?

The aforementioned Zach Walters and a Bryce Harper. After watchign Zach in Syracuse for two seasons, he was finally called up in 2014. Then  swiftly traded to the Cleveland Indianes.

So it goes.

Ugggghhhhhhhh. Drew Storen.

A mini! Since blogspot popped this in  about the same size as the rest of the card, I shrunk it. It's my first Byron Buxton, mostly just to say I have a mini Byron Buxton.

And a nice Gavin Cecchini pick up. Not a Cecchini collector, but loved the orange swatch from this insert. Looking for both blue and orange version of AJ Jimenez.

Of course, it taked until the end of the post to show a Blue Jay, which is just how it goes at card shows nowadays. And probably all of the days before. I could have had this one many times, but decided to add it in to the pile with the old friend who sold me the black wave refractors.

And finally, RED, WHITE AND PUIG

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.