Throwback Thursday - 12.29.2016

Every Thursday, I post a card showing a ballplayer wearing a throwback uniform from my collection. Hopefully, he will be wearing it well, with proper pants blousing. The picture may be from the front of the card, or the back. Enjoy the uniforms from years past.

Bronson Arroyo - 2013 Topps Archives - Cincinnati Reds

Sigh....

Pat Harrington, David Bowie, Monte Irvin, Alan Rickman, Dan Haggerty, Johnny Bach, Abe Vigoda, Dave Mirra, Antonin Scalia, Vamity, Tony Phillips, Harper Lee, Essie Einhorn, George Kennedy, Nancy Reagan, Sir George Martin, Frank Sinatra Jr, Rob Ford, Phife Dawg, Joe Garagiola, Ken Howard, Johan Cruyff, Garry Shandling, Mother Angelica, Patty Duke, John Carlson, Merle Haggard, Blackjack Mulligan, Doug Banks, Charlie Hodge, Milt Pappas, Chyna, Prince, Charlie Beamon, Morley Safer, Alan Young, Harambe, Tom Lysiak, Jan Crouch, Muhammad Ali, Kimbo Slice, Gordie Howe, Anton Yelchin, Buddy Ryan, Pat Summit, Carl Haas, Turk Lown, Nate Thurmond, Garry Marshall, Dennis Green, Miss Cleo, Brian Clauson, John Saunders, Kenny Baker, Choo-Choo Coleman, Mr. Fuji, Gene Wilder, Hugh O'Brian, Phyllis Schlafly, Buckwheat Zydeco, Jose Fernandez, Arnold Palmer, Hanoi Hannah, Thomas Mikal Ford, Dennis Byrd, Bobby Vee, Leonard Cohen, Janet Reno, Robert Vaughn, Ralph Branca, Fidel Castro, Ron Glass, Grant Tinker, Associação Chapecoense de Futebol, Joe McKnight, Rashaan Salaam, Greg Lake, John Glenn, Bill Dineen, Alan Thicke, Craig Sager, Zsa Zsa Gabor, George Michael, Carrie Fisher, and far too many more to list.....

Eat a big fat dick, 2016.

It's the holidays!

Enjoy your Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus or whatever time of the year you are celebrating.

Throwback Thursday - 12.22.2016

Every Thursday, I post a card showing a ballplayer wearing a throwback uniform from my collection. Hopefully, he will be wearing it well, with proper pants blousing. The picture may be from the front of the card, or the back. Enjoy the uniforms from years past.

Carlos Beltran - 2004 Fleer Platinum - Kansas City Monarchs

So I joined the idiot group

I remember reading about this release a month or so ago. Then I saw a few here and there and thought "nah - it's extra stupid on something already stupid'. I saw other blogs ripping boxes and used those posts as the taste I needed for the product.

Then I just frigging caved and bought a box out of the desire to rip something.

Image stolen from a YouTube video

Why are we all such mindless drones to buy into this stuff? The posts and videos should have been enough, but no. I buy a box anyway, knowing I really only care about a small fraction of the contents. May as well show off what I got.

As I ripped, I thought this was a pretty decent box for the Chicago area. With 6% of the 200 card base set Cubs (12 cards) and just 2.5% of the set (5 cards) White Sox, I thought I was doing pretty good with the Sox over the Cubs in regard to quantity. After sorting, though....

Got 5 of the Cubs and 3 Sox, but one of the Fraziers is a glitter insert. So I pulled 42% of the Cubs in the set and just 40% of the Sox. Will this winter of my discontent ever end?!?!?

Here are all the arts and crafts cards from the box. Was it just me - did other people that ripped one of these find their preschool project cards to be dupes of other cards? All these that glitter I have the non glitter base for. Just an observation.

Three for the binders. Technically, I need another of the LeMahieu since Lamb is wearing a throwback sliding in to break up the play.

And my hit?

Eh. I guess that's good. Has a nice two color swatch at least.

So who is making the membership cards for the Stupid Club? Gavin????

Tis the Season: LET'S DO THIS!

Ok, finally the day has arrived. It's the day for you to get free stuff and for me to gain space in my dupes box for the 2017 card year. Fourth year of doing this, and in the past I have done some odd, weird and playful things to offer up the cards. Been a busy year for me, and especially the past week or so. In that, we are just going to do a single post blow out. First claimed gets the stack. No randomizer or contests. Just leave a comment with the stack you want and it's yours.

The rules? You can claim just one stack. There are a total of 26 available, so not many, but enough for quite a few people. Just leave a comment with the number of the stack you want. I'll do my best to keep updating this post for others. Then, check in with me at 2x3heroes (it's a Gmail account, so you can figure out the rest of the address, right?), reminding me of the stack number you claimed and your mailing address. Live out of the US? That's nice - claim a stack. I'll mail anywhere I get an address, whether domestic or foreign. I'll do my best to get the mailing out in January. I still have a few things I need to mail, but I'll get to those and these as well.

I bet I know your next question.....

Thought you'd never ask.

1 - 2013 Panini Golden Age with inserts. About 125 cards
2 - 2015 Topps series 1, 2 and Update. About 120 cards
3 - 2012 Panini Golden Age with insets. About 110 cards
4 - 2015 Topps series 1, 2 and Update. About 120 cards

5 - Bunch of associated football cards (soccer for you US folks). Mishmash of years and sets. About 100 cards
6 - 2016 Topps Chrome, 2016 Bowman Platinum and 2010 Topps Turkey Red inserts. About 50 cards
7 - 2015 UD Firefly: The 'Verse base cards. About 60 cards
8 - 2016 Topps Opening Day and 2016 Bunt. About 80 cards

9 - 2016 UD Goodwin Champs with some other random years of Goodwin (2012 and 2013 I think). About 100 cards
10 - 2016 Topps series 1, 2 and Update. About 120 cards
11 - 2016 Topps series 1, 2 and Update. About 120 cards
12 - 2014 Golden Age, 2016 Panini Diamond Kings and 2016 Topps Archives. About 90 cards

13 - 2015 Topps Gypsy Queen. About 125 cards
14 - Bunch of random years of Gypsy Queen minis. I think only 2011 is not represented. About 200 cards
15 - 2016 Topps Gypsy Queen. About 125 cards
16 - A blaster worth of 2012 Topps US Olympic cards. Maybe 70 cards

17 - 2015 Topps Stadium Club. About 90 cards
18 - Random group of 2016 Topps Star Wars cards. About 75 cards
19 - 2016 Topps Stadium Club. About 90 cards
20 - Bunch of entertainment cards and such. Fair amount of 2015 Panini Americana. There are a few Stan Musial Leaf cards in there as well. About 70 cards

21 - 2016-17 UD series 1 hockey, and maybe 10 or so of 2016 UD Champs. About 80 cards
22 - 2015 Topps Opening Day. About 100 cards
23 - Bunch of 2016 basketball cards. Random manufacturers. About 120 cards
24 - Bunch of 2016 football cards, with some older football thrown in. About 150 cards

25 - Random years of Topps Allen & Ginter. Mostly 2016 but earlier years too.
26 - Random years of Topps Allen & Ginter. Mostly 2016 but earlier years too.

And there you have it. I did my best to not have dupes within the stacks, but it's inevitable. I would say that the worst stack has less than 10% dupe rate. All the others that have dupes are probably under 5%. Use the dupes for TTMs.

And let's end with a couple recent pickups. Hit my LCS the other day and splurged a bit. Scored big time with a mini box of Museum, and someone (hopefully) reading will benefit from it. I also like to be the guy that buys the last few packs in an open box. Ya never know what you can find. So when there were five packs left in a box of 2016 Stadium Club, I picked them all. The hobby box comes 16 packs per, with two on card autos. Needless to say, unless there was a bonus, the previous 11 packs were a bust.

I snagged both hits in the box. I'm becoming a bit of a Shaffer super collector, as this is my 2nd SC auto of his I pulled, the first one being a gold numbered to 50. But two rookie autos are not shabby by any means.

The comments section is open. CLAIM AWAY!

My take on card of the year

So everyone is jumping on P-Town Tom's take on the best card of the year. For those just coming out from under a rock, Tom from Waitin' Til Next Year {screw you - I am sticking with that name :) } is having a contest with each person selecting their favorite card from 2016, no matter the sport or non-sport. I did some digging, and there are a couple cards I would give runner up status to. I snagged the images from COMC, though I own the first one.

I just posted this yesterday, and commented how I like the different image used. The framing is decent and the subtle blue on the card works well with the design. Topps need to find more unused or under used images of old timers.

UD Canvas takes the already great pictures from the Upper Deck hockey set and goes up about 50 levels. It's almost impossible not to call this Card of the Year. While it is from last year's set, this is from Series 2, that came out in February. If I owned this beauty, I would give it the top spot, but I feel the winner should be a card I own. Sorry Ryan. But if/when I do get this card, I'll need a second for a TTM.

But my call for card of the year is this beauty:

The moment I pulled it, I knew this was my favorite card. So much red tone, with the border, the high pants showing red socks, the dirt, the catcher's mask highlights.... Then appears that fantastic splash of green from the Monster and the infield to the right side. The framing is awesome and the timing is dead on, with the ball just barely jumping from the bat, leaving the damage to the barrel in its wake.

Winner winner.

Lost.

I think it's standard for us collectors that everything is in total disarray. We are either tracking stuff we have received, organizing our stuff into new groupings, trying to package stuff or any of a hundred other actions. Even though I work from home, time organizing my cards happens infrequently. And with the driving at night, I am not to the point of making piles on my desk. Seriously - my desk is a total craphole of crap.

It's an industry term.

As I have slowly made my way thru the stacks, I found a mailer I misplaced. It sucks in multiple ways. First, it is loaded with AMAZING stuff, which you will see shortly. And second, I'm a dick for not thanking the sender much sooner than now. So Duane, I hope you cut this fellow saddened liberal some slack.

Yup, I said Duane from the super mini collection blog of Democratic Roadkill. If you want to see all the A&G mini sets, and I mean the WHOLE frigging set, with the parallels, SP, SSPs and others, Duane can hook you up with some images. He's crazy. Crazy awesome! And I really mean that when I reopened the yellow mailer and took a much closer look at the innards.

I just show these because they were throw ins. When you post with a name like JediJeff, people send you Star Wars cards. Which is awesome. I think if I see a box of this on clearance, I'll scoop it up. Who else is excited for Rogue One?

It may or may not come across in the scan, but the Ticket To Stardom cards are actually the ripped ticket parallels, with the jagged edges. Paulie is going into the Konerko binder. I hope, with the crappy 2017 the Sox will probably have, being a rebuilding year, they sign Buerhle to a one day contract and he can retire where he never should have left.

Both 2015 and 2016 GQ are still works in progress for me. For 2015, it's just a bunch of SPs and a couple insert cards, but for 2016, there is still a decent amount of base and inserts needed, along with the SPs. Duane hit 7 base, dropping me to needing 6, six SPs, leaving me at 25 needed, and 5 inserts, putting that group at 19 cards remaining. I don't go nuts about SPs, but I would like to have them for the sets. Still, that Walk Off of Jackie is super sweet. Always a good thing using a photo that hasn't been used (or over used).

I mentioned minis, and Duana has them in spades. Three of the Basics of Baseball completes that set for me. YAY!!! Also included were some of the 2016 A&G Mayors, a few First Ladies (I am missing Michelle already), along with a few other earlier mini inserts.

Each time I go back and look at checklist, I add mini sets. Then I wonder why I do it. Then Duane reminds me why I do it. That is the perfect mailer, if it stopped there.

Uh.....nope!

Black parallel GQ minis, with the Sale slated for the Throwback binder. And Abreu? That is no regular mini. That is a super high number extended mini. First I own from any year.

Someone say "relics"? First bat relic from Jose. And if you look close at the Peavy, it's not the scanner. That pinstripe is green. So that uniform would have come from the Sox "Halfway to St. Patrick's Day" game they play each September.

And autographs too!! I think we are regretting getting rid of Davidson now, but hindsight is 20/20. I have only one certified autograph of Beckham, and one TTM. Now I have two. It's hard to read, but that one on the left is Micker Adolfo. Good power in single A, but strikes out far too much. But he's working on it in the minors.

Duane, thanks again. I owe you big time. We'll have to soothe our political pain via cardboard over the next 4 years.

Or at least until that f*cking misogynistic Cheeto brings the world to an end.

Black Friday hauls

With the Uber driving, I was able to build up some funds for me to spend on Black Friday. While I did go through and load up my COMC shopping cart, I never pulled the trigger on any of the cards. I don't know - I just wasn't feeling like some of the cards were that great of a deal. But I always had my eye on some boxes. When all was said and done, I bought 4 boxes to rip from BF deals.

* box of 2016-17 Upper Deck hockey series 1 from my LCS
* box of 2015 Upper Deck Firefly:The 'Verse from Dave and Adams.
* box of 2012 Panini Golden Age from Steel City Collectibles
* box of 2013 Panini Golden Age from Steel City Collectibles

Did you mean how'd I do? Like were the boxes good and did I get nice hits? That's what you meant, right?

Let's start with the UD hockey. No, I did not pull the Auston Matthews Young Gun. Boo! But I did nab that card about an hour ago with a blaster, so I am happy. The box was a great start at building the set. I did pull on gold exclusive and one Clear Cut acetate card.

Not huge names. I also pulled a relic from my box.

I know someone with "too many" cards that will be receiving this soon.

Next up let's look at the 2012 Golden Age. I have talked of my love of this set, if only for the 3 years it existed. But since Panini killed it, we can get over run with football and baseketball releases that all look the same, so yay 'Merica.

I pulled one of the felt pennant box toppers of Citation. This was the first pack I ripped from either box, and probably a foreshadowing. You are guaranteed one relic and one auto in a box.

I nice Yankee jersey swatch from Sweet Lou, and the name Jean Cruguet may not be a household name, but on Seattle Slew he brought in the first undefeated Triple Crown horse across the finish line.

Let's jump to the Firefly box, because while I have a tough time picking which box was better, I am going to believe many will pick the 2013 Golden Age with the best hits. This is my 2nd box of Firefly, and I was not able to complete the set. Which just means I have to buy a third! You get 3 hits per box: one manu relic and usually 2 autos - one of an actor and one of an artist. I beat the odds big time.

That's my manu relic. It's ok. At least it's different than the first box. I think these fake relics suck, so let's move on.

Nice grouping here, with a 1/1 sketch card of Mel done by John Sloboda, and a reprint card (a card drawn by the artist printed with a matte finish) autographed by Karen Hallion. John autographed the back of the sketch card too. All the artist did great work in this set, so it's nice to add their autographs.

Three leather cards in a box. I just showed them off to remind people that the woman on the right is a younger Christina Hendricks.

You like my excuses....

No huge pull on the actor autograph, pulling Edward Atterton. But if I ever go for master set, I have it crossed off the list. And btw, that's 4 hits, and there was one more to be found.

It's the blue plate on the left. I matched the card with it so you can see the full image it builds. Five hits in total in the box. And here's the interesting thing: if this was an open box in a store, if you pulled the correct stack of packs, you would have yanked the entire box. All five hits came from the same stack (upper left if I recall).

Ok - 2013 Golden Age. I completed the base of all three years, but at $25 (for 2012) and $30 (for 2013) a box, I could not pass up the deal. Plus all the inserts and minis. Some folks gamble on $300 boxes. I do the same at 1/10th the cost.

Back to the horses with the Exhibit style box topper. Steve Cauthen is a little better known, riding Affirmed to the Triple Crown in 1978 at the tender age of 18, the youngest Triple Crown jockey ever.

And some monster hits with the relic and autograph. Nice leather swatch from a glove of Gene Tunney. It feels super soft. In the pack before I snagged the Berra auto, I pulled a Berra mini and commented "Pulling this signature would not be bad at all". Then boom.

Good times from this year's Black Friday. There will be Golden Age and Firefly cards available in the upcoming Tis The Season IV. Yes - that will be starting very soon. Be ready! Oh - and one last thing from the Firefly box.

RIP, Shepherd Book.

Throwback Thursday - 12.01.2016

Every Thursday, I post a card showing a ballplayer wearing a throwback uniform from my collection. Hopefully, he will be wearing it well, with proper pants blousing. The picture may be from the front of the card, or the back. Enjoy the uniforms from years past.

Frank Thomas - 2000 Topps Stars - Chicago American Giants

Norman Bates in the house

I don't do a lot of TTM requests. I'd like to send out more, but considering how well I'm mailing cards to you folks, sending out autograph requests is farther down the list. Did receive an envelope yesterday with my hand writing on it and was at a loss of whom it was from.

If you look in the upper left of each card, there is a bend in there. Oh well - that happens with TTM requests. I forgot about this as I sent it to Lyons a good year ago. I mailed it to his office with NESN and plain forgot about it. But a great return, and so happy he put his nick name on a couple of the cards. Guess which binder the card on the left is going into.

Know me well

The nice thing about constant streams of mailers is the sender really knowing what you like. I'm overdue sending a package to GCRL Jim, now blogging at cards as i see them, but Jim still dropped a recent mailer on me.

Bunting? He know me well. Winfield is from the 1985 Fleer/Leaf Minnesota All Star Game set. Winfield actually bunted once in his life?

Double plays? He know me well. With a couple Dodgers, I assume they are dupes Jim has received. Not dupes to me, though.

Throwbacks? He know me well. And what the hell, San Diego, BRING BACK THE BROWN ALREADY!

Buybacks? He know me well. Jim Essian buyback hot...er....mailing.

Assorted White Sox? He know me well. That super sweet red back Zarilla is going to go into my sampler binder. It was the last Topps card I needed. I'm three Bowman (1949, 1953 and 1954) and a bunch of OPC short of having one design from each year release of Topps, Bowman, OPC and Upper Deck. I need to work on Score, Donruss and Leaf. Some day.

Thanks a bunch again, Jim. You know me well.