What's the word?

I've never been much for grading modern cards. In my opinion, it's just a way to jack up the price of an otherwise affordable card. It seems that a nice autograph of your favourite player can run you from $5-$50, yet if the card is "slabbed", that $5 turns into $25 and that $50 into $250.

It's markup. A card limited to 200, once graded, is limited to however many others were graded exactly the same. So if a card gets 9.0 corners, 9.5 centering, 9.0 surface and 9.0 edges - it's a 1/1 compared to the exact same card with 9.5 corners, 9.5 centering, 9.0 surface and 9.0 edges.

And honestly, I would be surprised if anyone who's a collector and not a grader can tell the difference between a 9 and a 10 BGS card.

Like this:

I won this on ebay (almost 11 days ago) and today it was jammed into my mailbox. I love the card. It's J-PA's TRUE rookie, as in, first card featuring him in a Jays uniform (notice: hologram sticker underneath the brim).

I grabbed it for around $6.35 or something, and I am happy with this. Why? It's my first slabbed card, and it's my version of the 2008 Bowmachrome J-PA autograph (nevermind for a second that 2008 was an absolute disaster for Bowman Chrome Prospects...what an eyesore). It's a good autograph, according to Beckett, grading as a 10. If I were to grade autographs, J-PA wouldn't be a 10, maybe more of a 4. For some bitchin' autos, look up Ken Griffey Junior, Jose Bautista or the best EVAR - Chien-Ming Wang.

And while I am happy with the card, the graded aspect can be summed up by:

"Meh."


Oh yeah, Beckett sucks.

Awkward Rookie Cards Part I: Josh Johnson

2002 Bowman Chrome

#83 Josh Johnson

It's even worse un-chromed:

Good thing they picked up the Marlins jersey at a Salvation Army on the way to the park. Not much of a size selection there, so the youth-xl had to do, I guess.

So....there's that.

There are new Blue Jays. And shit, dude, they're pretty good.

Toronto gave up quite a bit, but they are an incredibly improved team from last year.

Honestly, I don't remember the last time the Jays had a legitimate leadoff hitter. Now we have, you know, Jose Reyes. He's pretty alright.

And an Ace. Honestly, I believe Brandon Morrow will have a better year than Josh Johnson. He's that good. But a 1-2-3-4 of Johnson/Romero/Morrow/Buerhle is...I am at a loss for words. They're not the best team in the MLB, nor the best rotation, but damn. They're going to be good. I hope.

Now all we need is Sandy Alomar coaching the team.

Unfortunately, there are now three MLB-caliber catchers on the roster. JP Arencibia, John  Buck and Travis D'arnaud. JP is my favourite player on the planet. But it looks like he is going to be traded. And I will be sad. But I will maintain my JPA collection, I promise.

But in all seriousness...

JOSE REYES!!

The King of my John-Paul Arencibia Collection

Click to embiggen.

Behold the treasure my mailbox held today. This is JP's piece in the 2012 Topps Tier 1 On the Rise Autographs (Silver Ink) set. What...a...beauty. Everything on this card works. The new incredible Jays uniform (albeit photoshopped, but at least done well). The silver ink on the black background. A card design that begs to be inked. Tasteful foiling. Oh yeah, and it's limited to 10. 

Even the back is beautiful:

Once again, click to embiggen.

I'm not much for card backs, but this one is nice. Simple. Two-colour. Centered. Unlike most autographs, there is text that actually related to the card, and not a congratulation for throwing all f your hard-earned money into the dark basement hallway that is Topps Trading Cards. Just a simple bit about having a Topps witness for all signings. I like that.

All for $13.36 delivered.

The Blacklist

Welcome to the Blacklist. My most wanted, nay - needed - cards.

1. 2004 Donruss Studio #111 Rickie Weeks

• I need this card to complete my 2004 Studio Base Set

2. 1999 Topps Stars #1 Ken Griffey Jr. ONE STAR

• In a group break @Another Orioles Blog, I had the Seattle Mariners. I was incredibly lucky to pull the base, 2-star, 3-star and 4-star Junior Griffeys...however, just didn't find the 1-star. It's like a base card but zoomed in slightly with silver foil.

3. 2011 Topps Chrome #182 J.P. Arencibia Red/Black/Gold Refractors and autos

• Needed for the magical JP Arencibia rainbow

In the Kitchen with JP-A...and MOAR

Those of you who follow this here blogarino may be familiar with my JP Arencibia-centric mail day posts. Seeing as I receive 3-6 packages per week from trades, ebay, COMC etc., I have to start combining them.

As a result, this post will not be just JP cards, but some other badasses I have picked up recently.

But of course, we start with the J-Poops:

Ya'know what I love? GYPSY QUEEN. Both of JP's cards in this set feature him in his catcher's gear, which is awesome. I am hoping to get a sick gray-trimmed chest protector like his this summer as I'll likely be changing teams in my summer league.

You know what else I love? PURPLE. Purple will show itself again in this post, I promise. Here's another piece to the Magical JPA Rainbow Crusade, acquired for $.74 off of ebay and limited to 499 copies. It's really a great looking card...much better than an orange or gold refractor. The black refractors look best on this card though. 

My first 2012 Topps (Flagship) John-Paul is this rather acrobatic and sparkly parallel. I am quite pleased as to how well this scanned. It reminds me of the level in Sonic 3 when Knuckles shows up at the end of the first half of the jungle level, jumps on a switch and the island basically burns to a crisp. Well done, Topps. 

This will be it for the Arencibias, but he's got one total BRO of a teammate:

Brett Lawrie. Is there any more professional athlete more fitting for a die-cut card? FCKINAGGRROO D00000D. This came out of an outrageously overpriced blaster of 2012 Bowman Chromez.

On a much more positive box blaster note, I decided to switch things up and check out WalMart, rather than Target, for a pack-ripping fix last weekend. The results were excellent. 2011 Update (and 2010 Bowman Platinum) blasters were marked down to $11.48, so out of fiscal expertise, I took the 16 combined 8-card packs of Update over the 7 packs of 4 Platinum card.

I was well-rewarded. The Larry Walker is a Short Print, and currently sits around $7-$12 on the 'bay. Pretty good for one card out of a blaster - but these came fo' free in each box:

I saw the Orioles logo on the back of this and instantly thought it was a Robby Alomar, and although the patch is great (except it had fallen off in the pack) I was a bit disappointed in the player. 

Although, pretty much everyone is disappointing after this beauty came out of the first pack:

Holy nuts gawd yessssss. This is your reward for reading through this post - a card so badass I don't think I need to explain anything about it, just know that it was WAY worth the price of admission in this case - braving the semi-lat-night WalMart crowds. 

Collection Favourites: Ken Griffey Jr.

During the Holiday season (yesterday was out first snow), money is a bit more scarce as it is being funneled into different, "more important" avenues such as presents, foodstuffs for family gatherings and a noticeable change in the heating and electricity bills.

So it goes.

And while I won't be posting rips of sexy new high-end products at an impressive frequency, I'll still be posting. More than likely complaining about Topps, looking for flaws and redundancy and posting ebay and COMC grab.

But in terms of this post, I'll be writing about my "older" cards more frequently. I have a lot of great cards, or at least great to me. From time to time, I want to show some off. So I'm starting a new series in which I talk about my favourite players and their cards.

And of course, I am starting with Ken Griffey, Jr. I don't go after his relics or autos - so don't expect and three-colour patches or such on here. What drew me to his cards were 90's-00's inserts and commons from the Saved by the Bell era.

The format of these posts will be simple. The front and back of nine cards - the amount which fits on my scanner - and a short bit about each one. So let's get started.

1989 Donruss #33 Rated Rookie

There was no clear-cut KGJ to post first, here, so I went with possibly his least appreciated rookie card. I was only 2-3 years old when this card was minted. I love the violet-purple fade and black vertical borders. And of course, the v-neck jersey. AND the orange background. It's Ken's hipster rookie card.

        

2000 Upper Deck HoloGrFX Star Views #SV1

Yes, it is as awesome as it looks. Somehow the scan picked up the 3-dimensional star background similar to Score's Artist's Proofs parallels of the late 1990s. I may try and find the complete set of these, but I sure its full of jackasses like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Alex Rodriguez.              

2000 Pacific Invincible Reyes del Diamente #10

The Reyes del Diamente (Diamond Kings, for those english-only readers) set out of 2000 Pacific Invincible set were super awesome. While not picked up by the scan, the background is sort of a cream colour and the 'card' markings are in a deep red foil. Very cool set, even with the picnic-table-cloth backs promoting the pack you already purchased (and boy, did I purchase a LOT of Pacific from 1998-2004.)

1989 Upper Deck #1

Of course it's here, why wouldn't it be?

2007 Fleer Ultra Swing Kings Relic #SK-KG

I pulled this from a discounted blaster of '07 Fleer Ultra in about 2009. I was sitting on the floor in my girlfriend's room and almost cried over this plain gray swatch (hey, look at the header image of this blog...). Griffey was always a childhood favourite of mine, and this was my first relic I have pulled. I never bought any and still have not (though I have been eyeing some batting glove cards). It wasn't as great as seeing him hit a HR in a meaningless June blowout in Yankee Stadium in 1998, but it was still amazing and possibly my greatest pack ripping moment.

2004 Donruss Studio #60

While the Kid on the Reds was never great for my fandom of him, it came during a time when my baseball card collecting was ripe. Here's a "dark" Griffey. In most cards he's smiling, joking around, having a great time. Here he's zoned in. It's a great nighttime shot and has a beautiful skyline photo of a not-so beautiful city behind him. By far one of my favourite Griffey cards from one of, if not my favourite set of all time. 

2000 Skybox Skylines #9 of 10SL

Speaking of my affinity for anything skylines and Griffey, here comes one of my favourite insert sets of all time. The colours and silver etched foil in the background explode off of this card. It's just perfect, even for a horizontal set. Once again, the ten cards in this set feature a bunch of jerkasses (Rodriguez, Bonds, Sosa), but the good guys included (Griffey, Ripken, Nomah, Jeteah, Piazza, Chippah) make it worthwhile to collect. I have 3 of the 10. I you have any, let me know and I will make a trade worth your while. 

1994 Donruss 90's Dominators 6 of 10

 You see, Topps? You don't have to design a card just for a relic. You don't have to print 10 different parallels and claim Hall-of-Fame(dom) on a player just to make a nice insert. I love the 90's Dominators set, and every other one I have seen is just as beautiful as this one - which as you might be able to tell NEEDS to be replaced, as it has been loved. The edges are chipping and there is some kind of glue-spot on his left glove/right shoulder.

2000 SP Top Prospects Minor Memories #Jr2

I'll close with a card from an insert set from 2000 SP. I think there are only about 5 in this set, and they may have a pretty low print run (ebay results: 6, including one Michael Jordan). They're a nice set, with a bright holofoil background. Simple, yet sorta flashy. Well done, definitely.