2012 Bowman Prospect Purple

Time to go current, or at least last year. I have five really nice Bowman Prospect Purple parallels up for grabs. The best out of the scan is definitely the Gerrit Cole, but all of them would make a good addition to someone's collections.

Here's what I got:
BP16 Jesus Galindo
BP18 Brandon Drury
BP34 Matthew Szczur
BP51 Brett Krill
BP86 Gerrit Cole

2008 Tristar Projection Reflectives

I acquired these chrome parallels about a year ago after purchasing several packs, then a box, of the '08 Tristar Projections. For some reasons, I was drawn to them. Pretty basic but weird design, especially like on the Conger and Friday cards. Regardless, I think it boils down to recognizing the names on Minor League cards that got me. Out of all the packs, I only came across six Reflectives. The picture doesn't quite to these justice.

Here's what I got:

48 Nathan Vineyard (Mets)

68 Michael Burgess (Nationals)

106 Omar Poveda (Rangers)

147 Brian Friday (Pirates)

160 Casey Weathers (Rockies)

167 Hank Conger (Angels)

Honestly, the only guy I know in the group is Hank Conger only because he got a pretty significant rookie push from Topps. I did find out, though, that Weathers is currently playing right down the road from me for the Tennessee Smokies (Cubs AA affiliate). 

Two down, too many more to go. More sets will be posted tomorrow. Hopefully, you'll find something you like.

2010 Topps Legendary Lineage

This is the first in a long series of posts in which I will be trying to purge my collection of cards I don't need/want or sets/inserts/parallels I will not be completing. If you are interested in any of the cards, just hit me up with an email or comment on this post. We can get a trade started, and, boom, the card is yours.

As the title says, we are going to start with the 2010 Topps insert Legendary Lineage, something Topps has done in some form since the East Meets West inserts from 2002, which will ironically appear in one of these posts in due time.

Here's what I've got:
LL3 Babe Ruth/Alex Rodriguez
LL5 Ty Cobb/Curtis Granderson
LL17 Cal Ripken/Derek Jeter
LL19 Whitey Ford/CC Sabathia
LL22 Frank Robinson/Vladimir Guerrero

Three Yankees, one future Yankee and Vladdy Daddy. Only five cards but not too bad quality.

Time to Downsize

Friends, bloggers, readers. Lend me your ears...Corny enough for you. Ok, you read right. I am downsizing my collections, kinda. I have partials of several sets, whether it be one card, ten cards, or 50 cards. More often than not, I have no desire to complete those sets. Again, they can be base, inserts or parallels. All manufacturers, all years. What I've decided to do throughout the year is posting those sets with numbers, names and scans (if the set is small enough). Maybe some are sets you're trying to finish, or maybe a card will help your player collections. Regardless, we can help each other in a trade. I will be posting the first of those sets some time tomorrow.

I will also be adding to the blog will pages for each team and the trade bait for all the players on said teams. I will be putting up singles, inserts, parallels, game-used and autos. This will be a work in progress, so nothing will be up just yet.

If you see something you like from either the posts or the future pages, just shot me an email. I'm always ready to trade. Remember to come back tomorrow for the first of those Downsizing posts.

Happy New Year, Folks

Well, my friends, 2012 will be over in mere hours, but that gives me time for one more post before the ball drops on Dick Clark, again. First of all, I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas and have a wonderful New Year. The real reason for this post is to show off the last cards I received in a what has been a great 2012 card-wise for me. These cards came to me via my Secret Santa from the Crackin' Wax Holiday Gift Exchange. Let me say, without hesitation, that this was the best Secret Santa gift that I've ever received.

Santa sent me this awesome '08 SP Legendary Cuts Dan Uggla Auto, via St. Paul, MN. Dan definitely doesn't have the nicest signature I've ever seen but will always look good in my collection, unless he ever becomes a Yankee of course, but I digress.

Last, but surely not least, Santa also packed in this great '03 Fleer Double Play Flip Card Game Used Gold. Thanks to Santa, this card has been knocked off my Top 5 Most Wanted List. What makes this one special, though, is that it is numbered out of 100, hence "Gold" in the name.

Yeah, yeah. Insert dirty joke here, but that just adds to the cool, manliness of the card. So thank you, Santa, whoever you are! If you have more awesome cards and generosity to spare, we should definitely get in touch. Happy New Year, everyone! Stay safe and remember. Don't drink and blog. If you do, use Spell Check.

An Early Christmas Post

Well, everyone. I hope you are done/finishing your Christmas shopping. Everyone will be getting together with their families over the next week or so and spending some quality time with relatives, some of who you won't see until next Thanksgiving. Regardless, being around my family makes me thankful for all the blessings that have been bestowed upon me. This year, I added a few more things to be thankful for. Besides my awesome family, friends and girlfriend, I have gotten a better job with better pay closer to home. I've made some great new friends from work. Lastly, starting this blog has introduced me to some great people in the blogosphere who share in my love of 2 x 3 rectangles of cardboard blazoned with some of the best, worst, and mediocre players in Major League Baseball.

From the humble beginnings of this blog to where it is now, I could not be more happy. I have been allowed the great pleasure of meeting (through email, obviously) some great people. And with this post I'd like to thank you all for all the trades I've been able to make and for participating in the two group break here at the Home of the Toddfather. Thank you Chris from Nachos Grande for my first trade. Thank you Julie from Funner Here for my smallest trade, as in the # of cards. Thank you to Scott from Scott Crawford on Cards for by far the largest trade. Thank you to Doug from Sports Cards from the Dollar Store for catching on to one of my lesser known loves "Wrasslin'". Thanks to Ryan from O No!!! Another Orioles Blog for the invites to his group breaks. Thanks to Speigel from Nomo's Sushi Platter and Adam from ARPSmith's Sportscard Obsession for opening a trade line to the West Coast. Thanks to the Dutch Card Guy for my first international trade. Thank you Mark from This Way to the Clubhouse for the all the awesome trades he has sent my way. And most importantly thank you to everyone who have read, glanced at, or just accidentally clicked on my blog.

I hope you all have safe travels wherever you make be going, spend some well-needed time with your loved ones, and have the merriest of Christmases.

Going Back to the Archive

It seems as though that is what Topps is doing in 2013. I'm sure most of you have saw it on Beckett, Cardboard Connections, or somewhere else. At first read, I'm intrigued by the base set. This time around Topps is reportedly using 1972, 1982, 1985, and 1990. Although all the reviews are not that great because of the use of the '90 set, but being a child of the '90s, I'm in love. Just imagine pulling this from a pack.

Yeah, now you're in love. Just admit it. Anyway, I read further and became quite turned off my the inserts. I'm really not digging any of them. I definitely don't like the idea of using the different sports designs in a baseball set. Maybe in a multi-sport set like Classic, but not in 2013 Topps Archives baseball set. What football-loving adult would want to see Jerry Rice on a 1990 Topps baseball? Not many. Nor do I want to see Andrew McCutchen on a 1965 football "tall-boy" or the '72-'73 basketball design.

C'mon, Topps. Let's keep our sports separate. You've all but made it impossible for other card companies to survive making baseball cards (Panini is doing a pretty good job, though). Now you want to combine all the sports? No, thank you. So, I will be purchasing the 2013 Topps Archive, but all the inserts I get, save my player and team collections, will be up for trade. For me to change my mind, these inserts are going to have to absolutely blow my mind. What do you guys think?