Yesterday the Memphis Grizzles assigned their 2009 First Round Draft Pick Hasheem Thabeet to the D-League. According to league sources the Grizzles even attempted to trade Thabeet and OJ Mayo to Golden State for Monta Ellis before the trade deadline but the trade fell through. This seems to be another situation of a team picking an undeserving player to high in the draft; we all remember what happened with Darko Milicic.
Currently you can pick up Thabeet autographs or relics for well under $10, a sad situation when you consider he was the 2009 #2 Draft Pick. How many more teams are going to pass on Chris Paul or Dwyane Wade to draft a project?
Friday, February 26, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
2009 National Chicle Box Break
The other day I posted about 2 boxes that I just received, a 2009 Topps National Chicle Football and a 2009/10 Panini Rookies & Stars Basketball box. I am posting the National Chicle first since it was the first box I busted, plus the R&S box turned out to be a better break.
What I Pulled:
Packs per box: 24
Cards per pack: 8 (Relics contain 7)
Cards pulled: 188
Base set completion: 70%
140 base cards
24 minis (18 regular, 4 National Chicle, 2 Bazooka)
6 Youngster, 4 Stars, 1 Greats, 1 Greatest Thrills, 8 Era Icons
1 Jersey- Mohamed Massaquoi
2 Autos- Jamaal Charles, Ramses Barden
1 Stamp Relic- Amelia Earhart
1 Cabinet Card- Beanie Wells
When you are looking at a set that contains all artwork paintings that were created by 10 separate artists, you are in for a set that is very original because no two artists will produce similar works. I have seen many reviews that put this set down and from now that I have busted a complete box I tend to agree mostly.
The artwork is interesting and range from honest depictions to artists interpretations of the players. I actually like Mike Kupka’s work but I felt that Dave Hobrecht went over green with his paintings.
I pulled 188 cards from the box with no duplicates so I was satisfied with the quality control. I was also surprised to pull a stamp relic after having already pulled a jersey card because each box is marked as containing 2 Autos and 1 Relic per box.
Some of my favorites include Matt Hasselbeck, Aikman, Warner, Sanders and Fitzgerald. I also pulled some of the year’s top rookies like Matt Stafford, Percy Harvin and Hakeem Nicks.
What I Pulled:
Packs per box: 24
Cards per pack: 8 (Relics contain 7)
Cards pulled: 188
Base set completion: 70%
140 base cards
24 minis (18 regular, 4 National Chicle, 2 Bazooka)
6 Youngster, 4 Stars, 1 Greats, 1 Greatest Thrills, 8 Era Icons
1 Jersey- Mohamed Massaquoi
2 Autos- Jamaal Charles, Ramses Barden
1 Stamp Relic- Amelia Earhart
1 Cabinet Card- Beanie Wells
When you are looking at a set that contains all artwork paintings that were created by 10 separate artists, you are in for a set that is very original because no two artists will produce similar works. I have seen many reviews that put this set down and from now that I have busted a complete box I tend to agree mostly.
The artwork is interesting and range from honest depictions to artists interpretations of the players. I actually like Mike Kupka’s work but I felt that Dave Hobrecht went over green with his paintings.
I pulled 188 cards from the box with no duplicates so I was satisfied with the quality control. I was also surprised to pull a stamp relic after having already pulled a jersey card because each box is marked as containing 2 Autos and 1 Relic per box.
Some of my favorites include Matt Hasselbeck, Aikman, Warner, Sanders and Fitzgerald. I also pulled some of the year’s top rookies like Matt Stafford, Percy Harvin and Hakeem Nicks.
There are some cards where the images are hilarious or are just completely out of wack like Asante Samuel’s green tone, Ron Brown’s robotic looking head and Wes Welker’s “Just seen a ghost” look.
The Mohamed Massaquoi jersey is just all right, nothing special considering I am not a Brown’s fan, the same thing could be said about the Charles and Barden autographs. To me the saving grace of the entire box was sitting in the final pack, the Amelia Earhart stamp relic. How cool is it to pull a stamp from 1935? I would have preferred the Babe Ruth stamp but I cannot argue with this pull.
The Good;
- Ten different artists offering interesting depictions of players, both past and present including the top players and the most recent rookies.
- Not overloaded with parallels and inserts
- Inserts are varied from the basic set
- Decent selection of player autographs
- Era Icons relics
The Cons;
- Maybe to many artists were used
- Sticker autographs
- Jersey relics are bland
Final Thought;
With some work this set could have turned in to an industry standard for Topps had they not lost their NFL license. Unfortunately Topps has attempted to force this brand in to a baseball line and failed miserably.
Friday, February 19, 2010
UD Baseball Short Prints
Upper Deck announced four “short-printed” cards link that are available in retail only 2010 Upper Deck Baseball Series 1. The cards are Sarah Palin, Joe Jackson, Pete Rose and a NY Yankees World Championship card. You can find the Sarah Palin and Pete Rose cards in packs from Wallyland and the Joe Jackson and Yankees card can be found in packs at Target. Looks like I will be hitting Target more often, I am a big fan of Joe Jackson and a firm believer that he belongs in the Hall of Fame.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Delivery Day
Less then 5 minutes ago I heard a delivery truck pull in to my cul-de-sac, the doorbell rang and sitting on my front step was two packages, one from Blowout Cards and one from Costco. The box from Blowout Cards is what I have been waiting for; I pop the box open and inside, beneath all those damn Styrofoam peanuts, was a box of 2009 Topps National Chicle and a box of 2009/10 Panini Rookies & Stars. Time to get ripping, I will post shortly on how the boxes turned out.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Possibilities?
Does anyone else see a missed opportunity?
Outside of the Dream Team(s) we do not see many Olympians showing up in card sets. Jennie Finch started showing up in sets back in 2002 and since then has made appearances in Donruss, Fleer, Topps and Upper Deck sets. Another USA Softball player, Cat Osterman, was picked up by Donruss in 2008 and then made a splash in the 2009 Allen & Ginter set.
The Winter Olympics seem to be the redheaded stepchild of the collecting world though, and understandable so when you see that American Idol outdrew the Olympics on NBC…sad sad sad.
How cool would it be to pull an Olympic event-worn Lindsey Vonn ski suit relic or an autographed patch from a Shaun White event-worn jacket?
Outside of the Dream Team(s) we do not see many Olympians showing up in card sets. Jennie Finch started showing up in sets back in 2002 and since then has made appearances in Donruss, Fleer, Topps and Upper Deck sets. Another USA Softball player, Cat Osterman, was picked up by Donruss in 2008 and then made a splash in the 2009 Allen & Ginter set.
The Winter Olympics seem to be the redheaded stepchild of the collecting world though, and understandable so when you see that American Idol outdrew the Olympics on NBC…sad sad sad.
How cool would it be to pull an Olympic event-worn Lindsey Vonn ski suit relic or an autographed patch from a Shaun White event-worn jacket?
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
The Waiting Game
It has been awhile since I have opened up a hobby box, so when my tax refund came in I decided to place an order. Originally I planned on ordering a box of 2009 Ultimate Baseball but seeing that a mini-box cost over $100 I figured I could get more for my money going with something else. It seems like prices keep going up, a few years ago I picked up 3 mini-boxes of Ultimate for around $100 for all three.
I ended up going with a box of 2009/10 Panini Rookies & Stars Basketball and a box of 2009 Topps National Chicle Football. Now I am just waiting for it to arrive, it left Baltimore on Saturday and is scheduled to be delivered on Thursday. Hopefully I will have some nice cards to write about.
I ended up going with a box of 2009/10 Panini Rookies & Stars Basketball and a box of 2009 Topps National Chicle Football. Now I am just waiting for it to arrive, it left Baltimore on Saturday and is scheduled to be delivered on Thursday. Hopefully I will have some nice cards to write about.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Patchworks- Kerr
Player: Steve Kerr
Team: San Antonio Spurs
Set: 2007 Upper Deck Trilogy- Generations
Card # : PM-SK
Serial # : 08/50
Description: Appears to be neck or sleeve piping, unfortunately there is a little damage to the top of the card but nothing serious.
Steve Kerr is by far my favorite NBA player of all time. A University of Arizona product, I have been watching him play since 1984-85.
Just look at his career: He played in the '86 FIBA World Championship where the US won the Gold (he did injure his knee during the tournament though), he helped lead the Wildcats to the '88 NCAA Final Four, a 5-time NBA Champion with the Bulls and Spurs and he is the All-Time NBA 3-point percentage leader.
I missed my one opportunity to meet him when he came to talk at my church when I was in high school, I was sick that day and didn't know he was the "surprise" guest speaker. Fortunately my girlfriend got his autograph for me, which I still treasure today.
I have a decent sized collection of his memorabilia, not as large as my Griffey collection but still sizeable, ranging from autographed floor pieces to a decent collection of relic and autograph cards.
Maybe some day I will run a series of posts about my Steve Kerr collection.
Team: San Antonio Spurs
Set: 2007 Upper Deck Trilogy- Generations
Card # : PM-SK
Serial # : 08/50
Description: Appears to be neck or sleeve piping, unfortunately there is a little damage to the top of the card but nothing serious.
Steve Kerr is by far my favorite NBA player of all time. A University of Arizona product, I have been watching him play since 1984-85.
Just look at his career: He played in the '86 FIBA World Championship where the US won the Gold (he did injure his knee during the tournament though), he helped lead the Wildcats to the '88 NCAA Final Four, a 5-time NBA Champion with the Bulls and Spurs and he is the All-Time NBA 3-point percentage leader.
I missed my one opportunity to meet him when he came to talk at my church when I was in high school, I was sick that day and didn't know he was the "surprise" guest speaker. Fortunately my girlfriend got his autograph for me, which I still treasure today.
I have a decent sized collection of his memorabilia, not as large as my Griffey collection but still sizeable, ranging from autographed floor pieces to a decent collection of relic and autograph cards.
Maybe some day I will run a series of posts about my Steve Kerr collection.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
An Unexpected Pleasure
I love opening up the mailbox and finding an envelope loaded with cards. I had forgotten that Patricia from Dinged Corners was sending me a package and my initial thought was that I was about to be Bipped, I was joking with my son when he asked what “Bipped” meant.
So imagine my surprise when I opened the envelope and I was not overrun by Bip Roberts cards but instead found the envelope stuffed with Mariners cards. A wonderful collection of cards too ranging from some Minor Leaguers, ex-Mariners and my favorite of all, Dave Niehaus. This was a nice gesture by Patricia and I really appreciate it. I am pulling aside some Mets cards for you that I will be shipping out soon.
So imagine my surprise when I opened the envelope and I was not overrun by Bip Roberts cards but instead found the envelope stuffed with Mariners cards. A wonderful collection of cards too ranging from some Minor Leaguers, ex-Mariners and my favorite of all, Dave Niehaus. This was a nice gesture by Patricia and I really appreciate it. I am pulling aside some Mets cards for you that I will be shipping out soon.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
A Dilema
Today's Super Bowl puts me in to an odd position. I am a die-hard Seattle Seahawks fan and of course I support my hometown Arizona Cardinals (when not playing the Seahawks) but the game today pits two of my favorite teams and I am in a quandary. I have been a Saints fan for 24 years and a Colts fan for the past 20 years, I love the losers, but now the Saints and Colts are no longer the lovable losers and battling for supremacy in the football world.
So torn, so torn...
So torn, so torn...
Friday, February 5, 2010
Patchworks- Swisher
Player: Nick Swisher
Team: Oakland A’s
Set: 2006 SP Authentic - By The Letter
Card # : BL-NS
Serial # : 006/340
Description: A manufactured letter patch that is hard signed
This was the first letter patch that I ever pulled, the cool thing about it is that Nick Swisher signed right on the letter.
Team: Oakland A’s
Set: 2006 SP Authentic - By The Letter
Card # : BL-NS
Serial # : 006/340
Description: A manufactured letter patch that is hard signed
This was the first letter patch that I ever pulled, the cool thing about it is that Nick Swisher signed right on the letter.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
The Week In Trades
Over the past week I have been working on some trades, The first with Chris from On Card Autos, a big fan of the Chicago Cubs and Nomar Garciaparra. When he told me that he had hundreds of Mariners cards to trade he was not kidding. In all, I would say that there was close to 400 Mariners cards in the box that I received. I sent Chris 5 cards total, a couple of Derek Lee cards along with a Nomar die-cut and Alfonso Soriano card and a sketch card of Nomar that I made for Chris.
The box he sent took me a couple of days to go through, it seemed like every other card I saw brought me back to some early Mariner teams. Besides Ken Griffey Jr, my favorite Mariner player has always been Jay Buhner and Chris included a Pinnacle Sportflics Buhner that I did not have. Not to mention a couple of Toppstown.com cards that my son collects.
The last few days have been fun trips to the mailbox… definitely better then bills.
The box he sent took me a couple of days to go through, it seemed like every other card I saw brought me back to some early Mariner teams. Besides Ken Griffey Jr, my favorite Mariner player has always been Jay Buhner and Chris included a Pinnacle Sportflics Buhner that I did not have. Not to mention a couple of Toppstown.com cards that my son collects.
The second trade was with Chuck from Chuck’s Used Cards. He is a serious soccer collector and I happened to have a small collection of Turn of the Century English soccer cards. I sent a couple of cards ranging from the 1902 Ogden Cigarettes through 1917F & J Smith Cigarettes sets. In return Chuck sent me some amazing cards. First and fore most he included 3 Reggie Jackson cards (73 Topps, 74 Topps Playoffs and a 81 Donruss), one of my favorite retired players. The cream of the crop for me is the 1955 All-American Hugh Gallarneau. The 55 All-American set is one of my favorite football sets ever, I love the college logos, the images and colors used are so cool. Then he included a couple of cards I was not expecting, an 84 Rickey Henderson along with 2 2005 Topps All-Americans.
The last few days have been fun trips to the mailbox… definitely better then bills.
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