Couple of Current and Future HOF Pieces of Trade Bait

I've mentioned numerous times that I've been downsizing my collection to just Cubs stuff and some select Hall of Famers or other personally notable figures. That said, here are a couple of cards I have that may mean more to your collection than mine.

Starting of with a couple of Andre Dawson numbered autographs. Loved the Hawk as a Cub which is why I originally picked them up but here he is with the Expos.

Dawson as an Expo Autograph, Jersey & Bat (#13/25)

Dawson as an Expo Autograph (#18/100)

Andre Dawson as an Expo with ROY 77 inscription (#98/100)

Gary Carter as a Met Autograph (#68/100)



Ichiro, Edgar, John and Bret Quad Bat Card



Rizzuto Certified Topps Archives Autograph

Albert Pujols Topps Series 2 Historical Stitches

Looking for Cubs cards of similar player value or design (ie,Cubs Hall of Famers autographs or relics). Also willing to accept fairly large stacks of older miscellaneous Cubs cards.

A little blog cleaning starts with a good...

SWEEP!

Most of the time, sweeping the worst team in baseball (Sorry Marcus!) isn't something to get all excited about. But when your team gets swept in 4 consecutive series to make for a 12 game losing streak, there probably isn't a whole lot to get excited about anyway. I wasn't able to watch yesterday's Cubs game (stupid CSN, more games on WGN please!) but I followed the game log online while doing a few other things. These days, I'll take any victory and the come from behind walk-off variety makes it that much sweeter. 

I've been fiddling with some other custom card designs and a great photo from yesterday's game inspired this newspaper-ish one:

   

I originally had it all black and white but it looked a little too blah so I kept Darwin Barney in color. The design was loosely based on this old Ernie Banks card although I'm not a big fan of the red lettering: 

(Ernie Banks 1961 Nu Card, photo courtesy of Wrigley Wax)

I would love to hear any feedback, suggestions and even critiques. 

On to the housecleaning...

I went through my list of those following my blog and if I wasn't following their blog(s) yet, I am now. If I missed you or know of one I should be following, let me know because I'm always looking for more. 

So after I mentioned the other day that I regretted selling someone a couple of teams from the Case Break at a cheaper price just to be rid of them and that it may have unintentionally given them an edge on winning anything randomized, that said someone felt besmirched. That was not my intent! I explained that I didn't realize the possible implications and was merely disappointed in myself for not seeing it. He explained his team had already been selected, he was merely looking for trade bait and that anything extra would have been just that, extra.

Well, we hugged it out (email wise) and decided to dissolve our transaction. I refunded the money, no hard feelings, no backroom deal shenanigans or collusion (as alluded to in a separate email by a third party). Maybe this only worked out because I didn't pull anything worth randomizing but I wanted to air everything out and put it to bed now. Learn something new every time I do a break.

That said, I now have a couple of teams available for trade bait of my own from the break. Willing to move these as team lots or pick and choose to help fill your sets:

Angels - Jered Weaver x7, Dan Haren x8, Albert Pujols x9, Ervin Santana x6, Jordan Walden x9, Torii Hunter x6, Mark Trumbo x8, Howie Kendrick x6

Indians - Grady Sizemore x7, Shin-Soo Choo x8, Justin Masterson x7, Ubaldo Jimenez x9, Carlos Santana x8, Asdrubal Cabrera x6, Lonnie Chisenhall x8, Casey Kotchman x8

Mets - Tom Seaver x6, Johan Santana x7, Darryl Strawberry x7, Ike Davis x7, RA Dickey x6, Lucas Duda x9, David Wright x9, Gary Carter x7

Rays - Matt Moore x6, Jeremy Hellickson x8, BJ Upton x6, Desmond Jennings x6, Evan Longoria x8, Ben Zobrist x8, David Price x8, James Shields x9

Rockies - Drew Pomeranz x6, Troy Tulowitski x6, Todd Helton x8, Marco Scutaro x7, Carlos Gonzalez x9

Twins - Joe Mauer x7, Justin Morneau x6

I could probably be persuaded to part with some of the Cubs and Nationals team sets as well.

Also, my Want List has been updated for Archives. I'm in the middle of some trades for GQ and Bowman so those lists are completely up to date just yet. Thanks for any help!

Trade List Thursday - Archives

Sorry for the delay, forgot to "publish" the post!

As some of you may know, I'll be doing a case break of 2012 Topps Archives this weekend. It is scheduled to be delivered by the end of the day Thursday (today). As with the Gypsy Queen, I sold almost all of the teams, with someone buying a handful of the remaining teams as trade bait (or maybe just a better shot at winning the randomizer if I'm lucky enough to pull one of the 1/1 non-team associated hits). The only teams not eligible to win with the randomizer will be the Cubs (my team), the Nats (my son's team) and the Padres. After looking over the checklist, the Padres were the only team I did not sell. Their checklist consists of two base cards, no inserts. And their base cards? Heath Bell and Mat Latos, neither of whom are even with the team anymore! Ouch!

Anyway, in anticipation of the break I picked up 2 blasters of Archives to familiarize myself with the product. I wanted to make sure I knew what I was pulling during the actual break because I'm still embarassed I didn't realize I pulled a 1/1 printing plate in the GQ break last month. I've looked over the checklist and looked at my cards so I'm fairly confident I won't do that again. Unless I get one of those unassociated hits and then who knows what will happen!

The blaster yielded me 89/200 base cards plus 20 dupes. I figure I may as well collect this one too. The dupes are listed on the trade page and I'll get my needs page up this weekend once I add in my Cubs and Nats pulls from the case break. I did pull 4 high number SPs that I will be keeping as well but the inserts below are available:

Cloth Stickers: Carew, Jeter, Verlander, Morgan

1968 Sticker Sandoval & Lincecum, Gold Parallels Andrus & Lind

Classic Combos - Lincecum & Mays

1968 Topps 3D - Clemente & Kemp (the white spot to the right of his right hand is a ding in the 3d-ness)

I'm almost kind of glad nothing in these blasters blew me away. I was on a little bit of a hot streak with 3 autographs in my last four blasters so hopefully this "cool streak" bodes well for the case break!

Today's ATCRCS card of the day over on Facebook:

Joe Garagiola

Trade List Thursday

I had to pick up a few things at Wal-Mart the other night so I did my obligatory glance at the card section. I noticed they had some Bowman blasters out so I picked up one of those. And once I saw a single lonely Gypsy Queen box left, I went all in on that one too.

The GQ wasn't a horrible decision because I did fill a couple holes in my set, added a few things to the trade list and pulled an autograph of Randall Delgado (available, see photo below). Probably didn't get $20 in card value even with the autograph but I've learned to chalk up opening the packs as $5-10 in entertainment value as well. At least that's what I tell myself.

On to Bowman. When it comes to card design, I'm a big fan of less is more so I'm not afraid to say I like the base and gold cards. I've never been a fan of chrome cards and the blaster box featured 2 per pack so I ended up with a dozen or so. Highlights for me were a Paul Hoilman 1st Bowman Chrome Card, a Starlin Castro Gold parallel card and a Kolten Wong autograph (available, see photo below). I also pulled a Bryce Harper Chrome and Ian Desmond Gold parallel but my older son swiped those before I could scan them. Overall, two blasters, two autographs, not too shabby.

Autographs, both available for trade:

Kolten Wong (Cardinals, sticker) Randall Delgado (Braves, on card)

Miscellaneous inserts from Bowman, gold parallels and Bowman's Best

I didn't scan any of the chrome except for the Hoilman because they don't show up anyway but I did add what I have to my Trade List. Check the tab above.

I don't think I'll pursue any more Bowman except for Cubs (for me) and Nationals (my sons) team sets so let me know if you're looking for any base cards too.

Today's ATCRCS card of the day over on Facebook: Lloyd McClendon

Trade List Thursday

As I said yesterday, I picked up another Gypsy Queen Blaster on a whim the other day and have decided to try to put together the base set. So today's Trade List tab update features some of my dupes and various inserts that are up for grabs. One thing I found interesting is that I've opened 2 blasters and 2 hobby boxes and I've gotten that Frank Robinson Moonshots card in all 4 boxes. If I remember correctly, I also pulled a framed parallel Frank Robinson card in the hobby box in addition to at least a couple of base cards. Maybe its just because I've opened so much GQ lately but has anybody else had a seemingly crazy run on a player like that?

Today's ATCRCS card of the day: Scott Bullett

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

Structure

I love structure. I can be a little scatterbrained so I learned early on that checklists are not just for baseball cards sets. I use them everyday for work, home and my hobby. When I decided to start my blog, one of my biggest concerns was that there would be days where I would draw a blank and not be able to write anything. But now that I've been doing this for about two weeks, I've come up with a basic structure of themed days that will get me through the week should the need arise. Some of these I'll do every week, some just when needed.

Sandberg Sunday - Without a doubt, my favorite player growing up was Ryne Sandberg. I have thousands of his cards (hundreds of which are different), dozens of autographs and plenty of other memorabilia to showcase.

Mailday Monday - Whether its eBay purchases, trades, autograph requests being returned or bills, Monday tends to be my biggest mailday. I'll share some of my bounty from the previous week.

Tab Tuesday - It seems logical to me that following a big mailday, I should update the different collections featured in the tabs underneath my header (tabs coming soon!). Also, updates and reminders to any upcoming box breaks or contests will be noted here. Date of last update will be included in tab name.

Wantlist Wednesday - After sorting through everything from Mailday Monday, I will update my wantlists accordingly. As I dive deeper back into the collecting world, I fear this list may grow faster than it will shrink.

Trade List Thursday - I can't expect people to help with Wantlist Wednesday without something in return, so on Thursdays I'll showcase a few items looking for a more appreciative owner.

First Pitch Friday - Debuted yesterday, this is a fun little insert for my ATCRCS that I developed on a whim. While looking for photos to use, I came across quite a few celebrities who have thrown a first pitch at Wrigley Field.

Signature Saturday - As part of my overarching Cubs collection I collect autographs as well. With a pretty good headstart and continuous acquisitions, I should have enough to cover Saturdays for a long time.

Although this blog will be heavily Cubs themed, I hope there is enough variety to keep others interested. Feedback always welcome!