Decisions decisions

Decisions decisions. I am going to pose a question to everyone out there in the blogging world and I'm gonna hope that some people decide to read and comment on it, crossing my fingers.

I am in the process of making my xmas list, and I am realizing that there aren't very many things on it. Most of my clothing needs are currently met, I don't have that one big gift that I am asking for like in past years (i.e. ps3 or a snowboard). So this leaves some good gift opportunities for baseball cards. I don't want to burden my family with the task of scouring ebay for singles that I might be interested in so I would like to ask for a couple of hobby boxes as gifts because I don't particularly have the money to invest in those myself. But deciding on 3 hobby boxes to ask for is a tough job, there are sooo many options.

So here's the question: If you were to ask for three hobby boxes from the past 3 years what would you put on your list, and why?

However, there is one stipulation, you must take price into account when making your decision. You can put a $100 hobby box on your list if you desire but that means you need to justify why you would choose that box over any of the others that have a much lower price ticket.

Did somebody say CONTEST

Here's a link to an great looking contest, go check it out:

http://tradedsets.blogspot.com/2009/11/new-contest-win-free-relic-card.html

I'll probably post another little something later.

Ebay: Apparently I was the only ebayer to find these Sweet Spot cards to be Sweet

Last week ebay got the better of me, and I won a couple auctions from two sellers. Anyone who has ever used ebay to add to their collection knows how addicting it can be. It always starts with an innocent web search for info on a card, then you accidentally click a link for an ebay auction regarding this card. Next you spot a must have item in one of the many auction links that come up. Before you know it you've snagged the item and are looking for others from the same seller to make the shipping cost more economical.

Here are the results from that progression:

Ok, so it's not a Sweet Spot Auto but it went for dirt cheap and this was the day after Cliff Lee's game one gem in the World Series. I had to get it.

Now the search was on for another item to buddy up on the shipping.

In this second auction I got:

SS-VW Vernon Wells

SS-TH Trevor Hoffman

SS-SH Shin-Soo Choo

And...

Sweet Beginnings: James Parr Auto #d/699

I liiike. Cool on-card auto. The baseball graphic at the bottom of these cards is fantastic, great effect. Surprisingly, this lot went for even cheaper than the Cliff Lee, I wasn't sure that was possible.

O yeah, the second lot also came with this stuff:

I'll hold on to Mr. Berkman for my PC but the other two are w.e.

Hopefully the loot that I won from the other seller will arrive shortly.

Pulls: Paper Thin Packs'O Goodwin

I kinda like this set but these are quite possibly the thinnest packs I have ever felt! Four cards of relatively thin stock, one of which isn't even a full size card. But hey, the turn outs after opening 5 packs haven't been too bad.

2 Derek Jeter

12 Matt Cain

36 Lyndon Johnson

67 Josh Beckett

70 Chuck Liddell

90 Jonathan Toews

My man Jeter; it's a good card of him. Jonathan Toews, who's he? I don't follow hockey. That's awesome that UFC fighters are starting to appear in these Baseball+ type sets. I love UFC and Chuck Liddell was pretty darn exciting to watch for the longest time. Last night I watched the Couture vs. Vera fight on Spike, Couture had me scared for a while but he pulled it off. He really is Capt. America, 46 and still going strong! Anyway...

96 Paul Molitor

111 Kevin Garnett

115 Smarty Jones

121 Dustin Pedroia

128 Bill Rodgers

159 Howie Kendrick

So far the ratio of baseball vs. "other" seems to be 1/2 and 1/2. Ehh I personally like to pull mostly baseball out of my baseball card packs, o well.

Now for the Minis:

27 Derek Lee

102 Curtis Granderson

218 Adam Wainwright

234 Carmeron Maybin

248 Carlos Gomez

I don't normally collect Carlos Gomez, but I might hold on to this card, I like it.

And my favorite card from the packs:

222 Mariano Rivera (Mini Black Border w/ Gypsy Queen Background)

Ok, so the list of attributes is much longer than the card is rare, but it is Mo after all! A great addition to my Mo collection.

Overall, the players in this set look nice. Great art or art-esque look to it. They look like paintings but I believe that they are pictures that have a painted effect digitally applied to them. The backgrounds are so-so. Definitely worth the $2.25 I paid for each pack.

I've heard mixed reviews on this set, what does everyone think?

Ebay Purchase: Gotta Love Ebay

So recently I did some scouring of ebay to bolster my player collections. I found this one really great ebay seller. Every one of his auctions was a "buy it now" for either $1 or $2 in which he allowed you to pick a specified number of cards that he had available from the auction category. I felt like I was in ebay heaven, I didn't even have to outbid anyone.

YR19 Alex Rodriguez

YR13 Roy Halladay

AR20 Ivan Rodriguez

AR48 Manny Ramirez

240b Phil Hughes

240a Phil Hughes

On the right are (2) 2007 Bowman Heritage Phil Hughes. the one without the facsimile auto is the SP.

The four cards to the left of Phil and the 6 in the scan below are a lot of 10 2009 Topps inserts that I picked out, in one of my purchases. When I first saw the All-Rookie Team 50th Aniversary cards I wasn't impressed, but they have grown on me so I decided to go with mostly those cards in my selection. Also, he had a lot of these inserts that would contribute to my player collections.

AR13 Alfonso Soriano

AR42 Ichiro Suzuki

AR44 Todd Helton

AR46 Derek Jeter

AR52 Ryan Zimmerman

AR54 Joe Mauer

All 6 of these are going toward player collections.

Topps photography is disappointing time and again, when will they get it right?! The Ivan Rodriguez card in the first scan and some of the others are crystal clear but the Ichiro and Zimmerman are really fuzzy. Do their photographers use point and shoot cameras, ones that don't have a setting for motion photos? Step it up!

US6 Roy Halladay

US23 Joe Mauer

US25 Ryan Howard

US11 Shane Victorino

US33 Ryan Zimmerman

US47 Grady Sizemore

I love these inserts because of how hefty the card stock is; that and the Allen and Ginter art has such a great touch. I got to pick 6 of these for $1! How is that even fair; I felt like I was stealing. The hobby shop back home sells these for $1 each. I might actually try to collect the set of these inserts. I don't have money or patience to put together the full 08 A&G set but I can handle this insert set for sure.

29 Alex Rodriguez

35 Ichiro Suzuki

42 Ryan Zimmerman

60 Lance Berkman

70 Derek Jeter

80 Carl Crawford

I kinda like the 07 UD Elements set. The top row has cards from the Light Effects portion of the set. The second row has cards from the Foil Board portion of the set. I like the Light Effects most out of the three technologies used.

112 Derek Jeter

113 Alex Rodriguez

122 Carl Crawford

126 Ryan Zimmerman

These 4 are the PETG cards from the set. Blehh. No good. The poses are dull, and the stat box on the back shows through and sits right in the middle of the picture. The plastic card stock is pretty neat though.

I've seen one good use of this technology and I believe it was by Skybox. Half of the card had a pic of the player in motion, it was opaque and raised; while the other half was clear and recessed so that the player's pose jutted out into the clear section. The stats were hidden behind the opaque half of the front.

Now for the best part...

SZ-RH Roy Halladay

CC-MR Mariano Rivera

These are my first game used cards of both Halladay and Mo.

My favorite set is the 2007 UD Masterpieces, so a game used Mo card from this set for $1.50 was the perfect find!

What I Collect (official list)

So here is the list of cards I collect:

Veteran Players: Others (Casually collect):

• Derek Jeter -Lance Berkman
• Ichiro Suzuki -Carl Crawford
• Joe Mauer -A-Rod
• Mariano Rivera -Alfonso Soriano
• Robinson Cano -Cliff Lee
• Roy Halladay -Mark Teixeira
• Ryan Zimmerman
• Andy Pettitte

Retired/ All-Time Greats:

• Mickey Mantle
• Don Mattingly
• Paul ONeill
• Bernie Williams
• Wade Boggs
• Mike Mussina
• *any card of an all-time great

Newer Players (Rookies 2006 or later):

• Evan Longoria
• Tim Lincecum
• Phil Hughes
• Joba Chamberlain
• Hanley Ramirez
• Nick Markakis
• Ian Kinsler

Insert Sets:

• 2006 Topps: Rookie of The Week
• 2008 UD Spectrum: Derek Jeter Retrospectrum (haven't started but would really like to)
• 2008 Topps: Wal-Mart Dick Perez
• 2008 Topps: Trading Card History
• 2008 Topps Chrome: Trading Card History
• 2009 Topps: Legends of the Game

Sets: (don't really have the money or patience but these are what I would collect if I did)

-Really this should be called: "Sets I like to get cards from"

2007 UD Masterpieces (I actually am trying to put this one together)

200* Turkey Red (any year)

200* Allen & Ginter (any year)

200* Topps or Bowman Heritage (any year but 2009 is my favorite)

---- Any quality set, I have an eclectic collection cause I get bored of the same type cards

I figured posting this would come in handy in terms of trading. I'm going to link this post to menu bar on the right for future reference.

Pulls: (4) 7 Card Packs of 09 Chrome

Hey, I have some 2009 Topps Chrome to show off today. I like the chrome product, mostly because they are hardy cards and I like the refractors that are reasonably plentiful. I bought 4 packs of 7 cards at Wal-Mart and this is what I got:

The Basic:

22 Justin Morneau

42 Kosuke Fukudome

70 Scott Rolen

70 Scott Rolen

78 Joe Crede

95 Stephen Drew

109 Aramis Ramirez

115 Todd Helton

137 Travis Hafner

145 Nick Swisher

159 Jake Peavy

169 Cole Hamels

I love Todd Helton and Jake Peavy, and the Nick Swisher photo really does suit his style.

BTW, what's happened to Cole Hamels? He's gone from 08 World Series stud to 09 Postseason dud.

The Rookies:

177 James McDonald

209 Chris Jakubauskas

211 Walter Silva

211 Walter Silva

214 Gordon Beckham

215 Anthony Claggett

I might hold on to this Beckham card, I've heard he's supposed to be good but I don't much about him. Anyone want to fill me in?

RF and PC:

144 Jimmy Rollins RF

180 Phil Coke RF

215 Anthony Claggett XF

94 Joe Mauer RF (PC)

163 Robinson Cano (PC)

67 Ian Kinsler (PC)

This is definitely a great group of cards for me. As a Yankees fan, I like the Phil Coke rookie refractor, and even though I've never heard of him, the Anthony Claggett x-fractor is pretty cool too. The Mauer refractor is a really cool addition to my PC, and Robi Cano and Kinsler are also always welcome.

Inserts:

W57 Po Yu Lin

W84 Nelson Cruz

Ehh, the WBC inserts aren't my favorite. They seem pretty dull and I really don't like the WBC logo. They are definitely up for trade if anyone is collecting the set.

I also got an Auto in these packs but I can't show it here cause there apparently is a five photo limit per post. It wouldn't let me add a 6th pic so you guys are going to have to wait until my next post to see it.

Pulls: Upper Deck Spectrum 07 & 08

I thought I'd post some Spectrum cards I pulled the other day. I had bought a pack of the 2007 Spectrum from dacardworld.com along with some other stuff that will be posted at another time. Then I got the 2008 Spectrum cards from a pack that was in a repack box in Walmart. It's really a bummer that while I'm at school my collecting is limited to whatever I can find at the local Walmart. I'm really interested in trying to collect the Derek Jeter Retrospectrum insert set from the 2008 Spectrum packs, so if anyone has some for trade or knows where I can find some more of these packs just let me know. Here's what I got...

2007 UD Spectrum:

8 Jim Thome

25 Justin Morneau

4 David Ortiz

92 Omar Visquel

and an Insert:

Rookie Retrospectrum: Chris Demaria

2008 UD Spectrum:

60 David Wright

31 Matt Holliday

78 Greg Maddux

65 Robinsn Cano

Well I got a Cano for my PC, it's actually one I really like.

I wish the 08 Spectrum pack had one of the Jeter retrospectrum cards but overall I like both of these products. What can I say, shiny cards are nice; maybe it's just because I grew up during the Pokemon craze. One complaint that I have is that the 07 Rookie Retrospectrum insert cards look too much like the base cards. I'm definitely planning on buying more of the 2008 Spectrum packs though.