How'd That Get There?! Part 3

Clearing out my draft folder again with just a quick post today.

As I was reorganizing my collection I came across a few cards that apparently, I didn't pay real close attention to when I them picked up. Upon closer inspection, they don't really belong in a team collection...but they do.

2006 Upper Deck UD Game Materials  #UD-CP Corey Patterson

I don't remember what I was thinking when I picked this card up but it was probably something along the lines of "Oh look, C-Patt in a Cubs jersey. And a nice blue pinstripe. I'll take it!" 

Maybe the orange hued background should have been the first clue, but if you look directly under the relic, you'll see that Patterson is noted as being a part of the Orioles. 

What?!

The Cubs traded Patterson to the Orioles before the 2006 season started but apparently Upper Deck still had Patterson Cubs jerseys to get rid of. Or the card was more or less made and at the last minute it was easier to just swap out the team name than scrap the card from the checklist. 

Whatever. I don't recall how or when this entered my Cubs collection but its there despite being an Orioles card on checklists.

The back is similar to the front but since it's black and white, the color Orioles logo sticks out more. Oh well, still happy to have it!

Small Card Show Recap - Part One

I recently found a new card show in the ballroom of a local Best Western. While its not real big, it is fairly regular, coming around every month. I've now been three of the last four months and haven't had a problem dropping $20-40. There are probably only about ten dealers spread out over twenty-ish tables but they manage to cover most if not all of the collector niches. 

The title I used is kind of a misnomer because I'm only going to show one card today. I probably should have gone with my underused "Hump Day Hits" but I wanted to tease the show and how many of you would have clicked to just see a Mike Fontenot relic? As usual, this is merely a ploy to buy some time to get some scanning and cropping done.

The Mike Fontenot card above came out of 2010 Topps Series 2 and is from the Peak Performance series. While I was digging through the boxes that led me to tomorrow's post, my son was at another table looking through football boxes. He had pulled out a nice stack of dime box Patriots cards and was finishing up a $2 multi-sport "hits" box when I checked in with him. He had set aside 6-7 Cubs cards from the box but the Fontenot was the only one I didn't already have.

The dealer eyeballed the stack with the Fontenot card included and quoted us $5. I knew there were more than 50 cards in the Patriots stack so I think we were getting the "kid collector" discount. Or its tough to unload Patriots cards in Redskins territory. While I needed the Fontenot card for the collection, the greatest thing about it is that it essentially ended up being free!

Tomorrow, I'll be back with the meat of my card show pickups and Friday I'll wrap it up with the "big money" cards.

Cubs Lot #2, Part 1: The Relics

Last week's first Cubs lot was a pretty manageable 217 cards. So much so, I was able to fit the scans and breakdown into one post. My second lot was nearly six times that size at about 1300 cards. But don't worry I'm only going to split it into four posts. Relics. Autographs. Serial Numbered. Everything else and the breakdown.

I decided to start with relics, because there were only two. (Again, buying time for scanning and cropping.)

2005 Donruss Champions Imprressions Jersey Hee-Seop Choi

Maybe it's just me, but I always wished they matched the photo to the type of jersey they used. Here, Choi is wearing the home pinstripes while the swatch is road jersey grey. But then again, the authenticity of all these game used jersey cards are in question anyway.

2005 Donruss Champions Imprressions Jersey Hee-Seop Choi back

This card looked really familiar to me but I knew I didn't have it. As it turns out, I had picked up the non-relic version at the card show a couple of weekends ago.

The other relic in the lot also happened to be Hee-Seop Choi.

2003 Fleer Box Score Wave of the Future Hee-Seop Choi Jersey

This swatch matches the uniform although it appears I have the one square inch of the jersey without a pinstripe.

2003 Fleer Box Score Wave of the Future Hee-Seop Choi Jersey back

This has to go down as one of the worst card backs in the history of baseball cards. Look at all that empty space! Maybe I have some printing error because that looks like where the congratulatory notification of authenticity should go.

I was out of the hobby when these two cards came out but I would guess they were probably $5-10 cards in their heyday. At least in the Chicago area. Hindsight is 20/20, but I probably wouldn't have picked them up unless they were in a $2-3 bin at a card show. I definitely wouldn't have sought them out individually on eBay so I'm glad they showed up in this lot.

Hump Day Hits

As I've been sorting and scanning cards, I realized I have a bunch more relics and autographs (your typical cards considered the "hits" of the pack). I love me some alliteration so to help get through Wednesdays of the offseason, I've come up with Hump Day Hits where I'll show off a random hit from my collection.

A few weeks ago, an eBay seller was clearing out their Chicago sports collection that included dozens of relics and autographs from the Cubs, Bulls, and Bears. Some of the listings had Buy It Now prices but many more started at just $.99. I think I did pretty well, picking up 24 new pieces for just about a buck and a half apiece after shipping.

For some reason the Hall of Fame ballot for 2014 was "released" yesterday. Maybe I'm a bit more computer savvy but I thought this information was widely available on Baseball-Reference and even the Hall of Fame website for years. I'll tie this together by starting this new theme off with a big name from the list.

In 2005, Greg Maddux was in the midst of his second stint with the Cubs and had already more or less cemented his Hall of Fame status. I haven't known the Braves to wear pinstripes so I can reasonably assume this is at least from a Cubs uniform. In fact, I'll willing to believe that this is from the actual jersey that Maddux wore in 2004 when he secured his 300 career victory. Ok, probably not.

I never really thought about how many swatches a company could manage to get from a game used jersey. This card is numbered to 250, which sounds like a lot. Even for a Prince Fielder and Pablo Sandoval jersey. But these squares are probably less than one square inch so I guess it's possible.

Maddux is a shoe-in for the Hall of Fame and I can't think of any reason not to vote for him. He's gotta be as close to unanimous as it gets. Especially to reach the milestones he did that included 10 seasons with the Cubs!

Card Show Recap Part 2: The Hits

Yesterday, I showed off the dime box pickups from the big card show last weekend. Today, I bring you hits.

The dealer who had the one 3200 count box for sale was mostly selling supplies. But he did have a single 800 ct box of miscellaneous inserts/parallels for $2 each. Most of them were serial numbered cards and after two handfuls, I didn't see anything worth picking up. But I'm glad I went through the last stack because I found this 2012 Pro Debut Junior Lake bat card. Because of my "Where Are They Now" posts I did on the 2010 Pro Debut Cubs, I've been trying to complete the Cubs master set for the entire run, including hits. This card has been going for $5-10 on eBay so to find one for $2 without shipping, was a steal. There aren't even any currently for sale on eBay.

Also in that same last stack was this Topps Stars Game Gear Corey Patterson bat card. Not something I would have normally picked up but for $2, what can I say? Maybe I'm a sucker. I haven't gotten around to cataloging my relics and autographs yet but I do think this might be my first Patterson relic. I hope they had some kind of die cut machine for that crazy relic cutout.

One last table and I was out of money. I found a dealer who had a $4 relic/autographs box, 4 for $10 or 10 for $20. Brains work kind of funny. Relics and autographs for $2 doesn't seem like a lot. But having to spend $20 for 10 cards to get that deal doesn't sound so great. Especially when you're down to about $12. Could I even find 10 cards from a box like this?

Sure enough, I did. While I was searching the box, the dealer was wheeling and dealing with other customers saying how he didn't want to take stuff home with him. I pulled out 10 cards, hoping the dealer would be willing to cut me a break too. 

I told him I had $12 left and asked what he could do for me. He said he could the $2 per deal without having to get 10, so for the $12, I could get 6. Not too bad. I put two back right away, some minor leaguers who never made it. Then I put back another card that after closer inspection was a little dinged up. After hemming and hawing a little bit to try to get rid of one more, the guy said just take those seven. Nice!

Now before you see the cards, remember, somebody probably paid $40-50-60 for a box of this stuff and this is what they pulled. Even as a Cubs fan, I probably would have been disappointed with that ROI. Schadenfreude?

I have four cards here and three others that went into mail packages this week so you'll have to find those on other blogs. Let's start off with two more bats. 

The Starlin Castro is from 2011 Allen & Ginter. This probably would have been the one to go back in the box if the guy hadn't offered the 7th for free because I wasn't absolutely, positively sure I didn't already have it. Because of his early popularity and the crappiness of the Cubs in general, Castro was put into just about every set by every company so without looking, he probably represents the most relics cards of one player in my collection. But for $2, I didn't really want to put it back either...

On the other end of the spectrum, Eric Karros was not in my relic collection at all. This bat card is from 2003 Topps, his only season with the Cubs.

Moving on to a jersey card, we have a 2004 Topps Cracker Jack Moises Alou jersey. Despite the size of the scan, this one is a mini card. And as a bonus, it came in a real nice case which has since been transferred to a more worthy card.

And the only autograph of the group (that I kept) is Mike Fontenot from the 2008 SPx Young Star Signatures set. This is another first for the collection as I didn't have any Fontenot hits of any kind yet.

So for right around $30, I got all the supplies I need to make it through for a while (aside from an extra storage box or two), made a nice dent with some oddball dime box stuff, topped off a few giveaway packages and pick up a half dozen hits. I think the next big show like this one will be in March so I'm going to make use of the winter to start putting my pennies away and add the finishing touches on my checklist so I can go attack the vintage. There was some really nice stuff last weekend that I would love to get a second crack at.

Some 2013 Allen & Ginter Cubs Hits

I don't know what keeps me from jumping on the A&G bandwagon but I can't bring my self to get on board. By all accounts, I should like the product but as a whole, I just don't care. Maybe because I wasn't in the hobby when it came out and therefore not an early adopter. Maybe it's the price point. More than likely, its the checklist. Too much randomness.

But that won't keep me from picking up some Cubbies every now and then if the price is right. I still haven't picked up a base card team set yet but I added on some reasonably priced relics and autographs to other recent purchases.

 

You're not seeing double. As I mentioned last week, Brett Jackson cards aren't exactly lighting eBay on fire. One I added to an order I was already making with combined shipping. And as luck would have it, the other showed up in a different lot I picked up later in the week.

I was shipping out some Kerry Wood cards out to Tom of Waiting 'Til Next Year so I threw the extra one in his envelope. Problem solved!

These next two were purchased together. I didn't notice in the listing but when I got them it stuck out like a sore thumb. Hopefully, you can tell from the scan. Look at the two swatches. Are they from different parts of the jersey or different kinds of jerseys? Did the Cubs switch types of jerseys from one year to the next? Is one a gamer and the other BP or something? Darwin Barney has only been a Cub, but maybe the David DeJesus is from his Royals days? I have questions!

Funny what you notice sometimes.

I still have a few to pick up, but this was a good start.

2013 Anthony Rizzo Chasing the Dream

Last week, I did a write-up on Anthony Rizzo's Chasing History cards. He was also in the insert series that featured some younger, up and coming players, Chasing the Dream. Like the History cards, there is also a relic/autograph version numbered to 25 that I wll not be actively pursuing.

Again, the only real difference in the cards are the card "numbers" and the verbiage as to whether the card is a relic or an autograph. Oh and the fact that one has a relic and the other an autograph.

I typically prefer the blurbs to have concrete facts rather than quotes or opinions but this is one is good enough as it fits in the the theme of the card. The last line seems a little cheesy and cliche but what can you do?

One more tiny complaint though? Ok maybe not so tiny. Remember that part in last week's post when I mentioned that they used a photo from Rizzo's rookie walk-off on his base card but not his insert card commemorating said rookie walkoff? Well, guess where the photo for this card is from?

Yep, that same rookie walk-off.


Photo by Jonathan Daniel (courtesy of Getty Images)

Wow. Just wow.

2013 Anthony Rizzo Chasing History

With several relics, autographs and an SP in Series 1, it is a clear sign that Starlin Castro's heir apparent with Topps is Anthony Rizzo. I wasn't going to go for everything this year but when I saw that the Rizzo inserts weren't going for ridiculous prices, I decided to indulge a little.

There are three versions of Rizzo's Chasing History card. First we have the relic card. Usually on these, they state that the relic came from no particular game, event or season and that is the case here. As you can see, this is an all blue swatch and he is wearing pinstripes in the photo. More on that later though. All of the versions I saw on ebay were solid blue swatches.



I like the write-up on the back of this card. A lot of what I've seen on cards this year have been pretty informal and silly. Maybe it is just me, but I prefer blurbs that will be true and/or interesting whether I'm reading the card in 2013 or 2033. The only thing that would have made this card better was if it was a dual card with both Andre Thornton and Rizzo. No relic even needed.

Next up we have the autographed version. The front is essentially the same except for the Cubs logo where the jersey swatch was and a sticker autograph across the lower part of the player photo. Also, under Rizzo's name it says Chicago Cubs rather than Game Used Memoribilia

There are two differences in the backs of the cards. The card "numbers" are close but the relic card is CHR (R for Relic) while the autograph card is CHA (A for Autograph). Also, each has its own respective disclaimer. As mentioned, the relic card states that the piece of jersey isn't from any partiuclar game, event or season. The autograph card states that a Topps representaive witnessed the signing to guarantee the authenticity.

As I mentioned above, I was a little disappointed that they didn't use a pinstripe jersey to match the photo. And to add insult to injury, they didn't even match the photo to the event!



Photo by Brian Kersey (courtesy of Getty Images)

This is the original photo that was used and according to the caption, was a first inning single on June 26, 2012. The Cubs won this game 5-3 over the New York Mets. If you remember my post from just a few days ago where I broke down Rizzo's base card, you'll note that particular photo was the event which this card was based on. Nice cards to look at, but c'mon, man!

The final version of this card contains both an autograph and a relic. Unfortunately, it is numbered to only 25 and has been running close to three figures on ebay. This means I doubt it'll be one I add to my collection. The relic part of the card is also a piece of a patch rather than jersey which seems to be more desirable.

Trade List Thursday

Small update today in the trade list section. I'm still organizing after coming back to the hobby so bear with me. I added some relics from some recent blaster boxes I opened and a couple of Phillies inserts.

2010 Topps SP Steve Carlton and a 5 card bonus pack of Phillies from a team themed complete factory set (Halladay, Howard, Utley, Rollins & Werth).

Always interested in trading for Cubs stuff, and not limited to what's in my Want List. Like I said, I'm still sorting and organizing and I hope to update both lists often.

Today's ATCRCS card of the day: Benito Santiago