Cobb and Halladay

Searching For Jackie

2011-07-17T18:15:00.001-07:00

I haven't completed a Topps Heritage set since 2005; before that I had done the 2003 and 2004 set as well as the 2004 Bowman Heritage Set. They were a pain the ass to finish with all of the short prints but I was able to finish them off before the next set came out so I guess I shouldn't complain when I read about the Sowing Machine Guy still working on his Goodwin set from 2009. I have with the help of some great people like Nightowl, HiFlew and the aforementioned Sewing Machine Guy finished the regular set with short prints.

Now I only have to find the 2 remaining "Jackie Robinson Special" Parallels to the "Babe Ruth Special" set and I'll consider this set done (I won't be chasing the weird SSP variations of Joba or Vlad). At 1:50 Packs the Robinsons are fairly hard to find so it may take me a while to finish this set unless I decide to go to ebay to finish it.

It's a fantastic looking set and I love this years look and I love the look of the '63 set so I'll probably be doing the 2012 Heritage set as well.

I have a fair amount of Base and 13 SP doubles I can trade so if you can help me out I'm sure I can make it worth your time.

Please e-mail me at Redwingshockey82 at hotmail (dot) com if you'd like to trade.

2011 Topps Heritage Baseball

Base Set: DONE

Short Prints:DONE

Jackie Robinson SP's:
137, 141

Baseball Flash Backs: DONE

News Flashbacks: DONE

New Age Performers: NAP- 6, 7, 11

Then and Now: 6, 10

Checklist: #3

Thanks for reading.

What would you spend $10 in "Topps Cash" on?

2011-05-14T20:17:00.000-07:00

On the Topps Diamond Giveaway Site after you get 10 unique rings from "digging" on the site you get $10 in store credit for the ShopTopps store. After buying the awesome Topps Value Boxes over the past few weeks I managed to hit the ten rings required for the store credit. So I went over to the site and I was surprised that there really isn't a great variety of things to buy on there. There are however a few things I had never seen before including the binder above which I used my store credit towards.

The binder came in the mail about four days later which is pretty amazing considering how long redemption cards from Topps take to ship and I have to say I'm really pleased with it. It's definitely expensive and not something I would have normally bought but with the $10's off I figured it was worth it.

Does anyone else remember the redemptions for the binders in 2004 Bowman Heritage Baseball? I remember they sent them along with a sheet featuring the other binders you could buy from the now defunct M.J. Roop company and those black binders with gold lettering were about $100 and you came with a laminated sheet listing all the cards in the set. I think they made a binder for pretty my ever set from 1952 onwards. Looking at those being $100 I guess the Topps Heritage binder is a steal compared to that.

I updated my Wantlist and included what cards I have for trade, here it is and let me know if you'd like to trade:

Please e-mail me at Redwingshockey82 at hotmail (dot) com if you'd like to trade.

2011 Topps Heritage Baseball

Base Set: DONE

Short Prints:
428, 431, 432, 433, 435, 440, 451, 452, 454, 456, 464, 465, 469, 472, 476, 479, 480, 486, 490, 491, 498.

Jackie Robinson SP's:
136, 137, 139, 141, 143

Baseball Flash Backs: DONE

News Flashbacks: DONE

New Age Performers: NAP- 6, 7, 11

Then and Now: 6, 10

Available for trade:

5, 7, 8, 18, 23, 36, 41, 51, 66, 73, 76, 83, 130, 146, 197, 199, 207, 212, 236, 237, 245, 249, 259, 263, 266, 277, 280, 284, 286, 294, 297, 301, 312, 313, 336, 338, 344, 352, 363, 373, 389, 401, 415, 421, 427, 430, 475, 482, 485.

Baseball Flashbacks: BF-3, 5

Then & Now: TN-1, 2, 5

New Age Performers: NAP-5, 9, 10, 14

2010 Topps Magic Football Needs

2, 12, 15, 17, 23, 24, 27, 30, 34, 35, 42, 46, 53, 54, 55, 58, 59, 62, 68, 69, 70, 76, 78, 80, 81, 82, 84, 85, 88, 89, 103, 105, 114, 119, 122, 130, 131, 136, 138, 140, 145, 149, 152, 155, 157, 164, 174, 176, 196, 208, 216, 223, 225, 231, 232, 242, 246.

Available for trade:

3, 18, 29, 40, 44, 51, 57, 104, 135, 150, 166, 170, 173, 185, 201, 209, 215, 222, 243

Local Card Shop Pick-up and Want List Update

2011-04-23T17:51:00.000-07:00

I picked up this beautiful Fleury at my local card shop today. It's pretty amazing how well the Penguins are doing given that Crosby and Malkin are out of action and Fleury has been a big reason for their continued success. The got destroyed today but they're still up in the series and I think should be able to finish off the Bolts.

I've also update my want-list after completing a trade with a reader Harold who sent me Jackie Robinson Short Print #140 and a few inserts I needed and a pending trade with The Sewing Machine Guy I've knocked this list down quite a bit. I only have 34 Short Prints left and a handful of inserts. Send me an e-mail or leave a comment if you want to make a trade.

2011 Topps Heritage Baseball

Short Prints: 428, 431, 432, 433, 435, 436, 437, 440, 443, 451, 452, 454, 456, 460, 461, 464, 465, 467, 469, 470, 472, 473, 476, 478, 479, 480, 486, 488, 490, 491, 495, 497, 498, 500.

Jackie Robinson SP's: 136, 137, 139, 141, 143

Baseball Flash Backs: BF- 3, 4

News Flashbacks: NF-5

New Age Performers: NAP- 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13

Then and Now: 6, 8, 10

Lucky 13

2011-04-07T16:21:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a pending trade with Brian who knocked 16 cards off my list including six short prints I'm down to only 13 more cards for the base set (Zero after today!). I picked up four Robinson SP's on ebay so I'm good progress there. At this rate I'll be done with this set in no time. Thanks again to hiflew, Night Owl and Brian.

Here's what's left so leave a comment if you want to make a trade.

2011 Topps Heritage Baseball

Base Set:

DONE!!

Short Prints:

428, 431, 432, 433, 435, 436, 437, 440, 443, 451, 452, 454, 456, 460, 461, 464, 465, 467, 469, 470, 472, 473, 476, 478, 479, 480, 486, 488, 490, 491, 495, 497, 498, 500.

Jackie Robinson SP's:

136, 137, 139, 141, 143

Baseball Flash Backs: BF- 3, 4

News Flashbacks: NF-5

New Age Performers: NAP- 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13

Then and Now: 6, 8, 10

(I was thinking about posting that creepy picture of A-Rod kissing himself in the mirror but then I had second thoughts cause it's just too creepy, Davey is a much better choice)

2011 Heritage - Update

2011-04-02T17:09:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a pending trade with hiflew and some kindness from Night Owl I'm making some serious progress on this set.

Being down to only needing 20 cards in a 425 card base set feels great. As I said before I have a ton of base for trade (I was able to knock 24 cards off hiflews wantlist and he's pretty well into the set too) as well as some SP's I have dubles of and some inserts so drop me a line at Redwingshockey82AThotmailDOTcom if you'd like to trade.

Base Set:

17, 24, 36, 44, 51, 79, 87, 103, 108, 168, 210, 246, 293, 297, 321, 344, 350, 396, 401, 415

Short Prints:

426, 427, 428, 429, 431, 432, 433, 435, 436, 437, 439, 440, 443, 451, 452, 454, 456, 460, 461, 462, 464, 465, 467, 469, 470, 472, 473, 475, 476, 477, 478, 479, 480, 481, 486, 487, 488, 490, 491, 492, 494, 495, 497, 498, 499, 500.

Jackie Robinson SP's:

136, 137, 139, 140, 141, 143

Baseball Flash Backs: BF-1, 3, 4, 5, 10

News Flashbacks: NF-4, 5, 6

New Age Performers: NAP-1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 15

Then & Now: 6, 8, 10

Thanks for reading and thank you hiflew and NIght Owl, you guys are great and I appreciate the help with this set!

2011 Topps Heritage - Trade with me

2011-03-31T20:01:00.000-07:00

I've decided to try and do this years Topps Heritage set. I love the set it's based on and overall I like this set more than I have in years. I did the 2003, 2004 and 2005 Heritage sets and had a great time doing them

I have about 600 Base Cards for trade, a fair amount of Chrome and a few SP's and jerseys, (sadly no auto's yet) so send me your lists and lets see if we can help each other knock a few cards off our lists.

Please leave a comment or e-mail me at Redwingshockey82 at hotmail (dot) com if you'd like to trade.

Here's my needs list:

Base Set: 17, 24, 36, 44, 46, 51, 72, 76, 77, 79, 87, 95, 103, 105, 108, 142, 146, 168, 207, 208, 210, 227, 208, 210, 227, 232, 245, 246, 293, 297, 312, 321, 344, 349, 350, 358, 370, 396, 401, 415

Short Prints: 426, 427, 428, 429, 431, 432, 433, 435, 436, 437, 439, 440, 442, 443, 444, 450, 451, 452, 454, 456, 459, 460, 461, 462, 464, 465, 467, 469, 470, 471, 472, 473, 474, 475, 476, 477, 478, 479, 480, 481, 486, 487, 488, 490, 491, 492, 494, 495, 496, 497, 497, 499, 500.

Jackie Robinson SP's: 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 143, 144

Baseball Flash Backs: BF-1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10

News Flashbacks: NF-4, 5, 6

New Age Performers: NAP-1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 15

Then & Now: 2, 3, 6, 8, 10

Thanks for reading and let's make a deal!

#27 Bobby Orr - Recent card show pick-up

2011-03-10T19:23:00.000-08:00

I picked up this nice short printed Bobby Orr at a local card show this past Saturday. It's a pretty neat card that features Bobby in his not often seen #27 pre-season rookie jersey. There are only 27 of them according to Upper Deck and while I'd love to keep it their selling really well online so I'm flipping it. I think I'll put the profits toward a nice hard signed Warren Spahn autograph.

Finding Value in Stan Musial

2011-03-09T19:45:00.000-08:00

Bill James lists Stan Musial as the 10th greatest baseball player of all time, ahead of Henry Aaron, Lou Gehrig and Joltin' Joe so to find value in Stan on the field is easy, as a collector I'm looking for value in his autographs and memorabilia. I recently acquired the card above on ebay, it cost me $58 shipped, I have no idea what the book value on it is (if anyone knows I'd be curious to find out). The reason I think it's a solid value buy is because it's a hard signed vibrant autograph of a man who in November last year turned 90. Compare the autograph above to the autograph below.

They're both great autographs, one showing off the 1958 All-Star design with a smiling Stan Musial and the other showing a zoomed in smiling 1957 Musial. Again both are great cards but I would take the one above, why? Well the Team Topps Legends Musial is about $80 less than the Real One autograph. Both are vibrant, on-card autographs on classic Topps inspired cards, it's just one costs 250% as much as the other. I think there is still a ton of value in a Musial autograph from a nostalgic point of view as well as a collectible point of view. Given Stan's incredible playing career and the relative scarcity of his autograph (he's usually an SP in everything) I think there is plenty of room for growth on his autographs over the coming years. The other factor that could lead to a spike in the value of some of his older on card issues is the overuse of sticker autographs as well as the decline in the quality of Stan's signature, see below:

Don't think I'm knocking Stan for a minute, his autograph is still better than many players who are a quarter of his age, but it's pretty clear his signature isn't as vibrant as it once was. Talking to a dealer at a recent show he echoed the same remarks after having a piece signed by Stan at the National a few years back. Stan took his time with every piece and made sure his autograph showed off the same pride he had in his craft on the diamond but it was obvious the years had robbed him of the perfection of his earlier auto's.

When I think of the Cardinals and their long history Stan Musial is on the top of my list along with Gibson, Pujols, Dean and Frisch. I'm happy to have this card in my collection and I hope Stan has many more more happy years left, he's the embodiment of class and he deserves a place in every baseball fans collection.

Recent ebay win

2011-02-21T18:27:00.000-08:00

I recently won this wonderful Bob Gibson autograph (not this exact one but I'm too lazy to scan mine). I've always wanted a nice hard signed Gibson and I think this one is rather nice looking. I paid about $50 for it which is very close to the "book value", I could have had two sticker autographs of Bob's for that price but I'm not a huge fan of sticker-graphs. It's sad that it's so hard to find hard signed autographs anymore, it seems like 90% of autographs made after 2002 are sticker-graphs. Bob has a lot of hard signed cards on ebay, but most are pre-2002 like "Greats of the Game", "Century Legends" or "Team Topps" and the like. Most of his newer auto's come from Triple Threads, Sterling and other foilboard garbage. I don't know about you but I would rather have the autograph above rather than this:

1 of 1 or not this card sucks, Triple Threads is the ugliest set every year. I mean look at that and it's not even as bad as the foilboard base version. Sometimes less is more.

Topps Magic Quick Opinion or Brohm, Iglesias and Morris

2011-01-25T20:44:00.000-08:00

I have to say I really like this years Topps Magic football set, it's a nice retro design and I would guess it's supposed to be the football equivalent of Heritage Baseball.

The base cards are nice looking and out of the box and I got most of the major rookies and a few nice mini rookies including a Dez Bryant black mini which I really like. The only major drawback is the autographs. I got 3 from the most common and most worthless group (the odds are 1:21 packs or something similar, but I beat the odds and got 3 from this group).

The first autograph I got was Brian Brohm. Brohm is awful, I think he might be the only player to turn the ball over on 2 (or was it 3?) consecutive plays to end his career as I can't imagine him getting picked up by another team.

Second autograph was of Jauquin Iglesias who appears to be a Minnesota Viking now, I had to check Wikipedia because I didn't think I had heard his name mentioned at all this year and I honestly didn't think he was still in the league.

Third auto was of Sammy Morris. Not the first auto of his I've ever pulled but I didn't think I'd still be pulling cards of his in 2010 let alone auto's. At least he played this year.

So all in all I like the set a lot but I think I'll wait for the box price to drop before I buy another box and make a run at the set. I'm sure the box price will given the rough autographs that the average buyer is likely to pull.

Topps Million Card Giveaway

2010-02-15T18:05:00.001-08:00

I bought a jumbo pack of 2010 Topps and two packs of 2010 Upper Deck today, I didn't get anything special. Just a bunch of commons and a Topps Gold parallel of some Rockie that I have no interest in. Inside the pack was a redemption for one of the Topps "Million Card Giveaway" cards.
I tried redeeming it right after dinner but I couldn't get the site to load. About 20 minutes ago everything was up and humming and I got registered and redeemed the card. I think I did pretty well:

This is my first 1953 card and I have no idea who Bob Del Greco is but according to Wikipedia he was a defensive sub for Mickey Mantle and helped the Yankees win the Pennant in 1957. One thing that's kind of cool is that he's a Pittsburgh born Pirate. You don't see that much these days, guys don't usually end up with the hometown team. He's not a Blue Jay but he did play for Toronto which is very cool and I think this may be Bob's RC too.

Super Bowl Contest Winners!

2010-02-13T18:25:00.001-08:00

This was an extremely close contest with a four way tie for first!

The winners all got 4 of the questions correct and the tie breaker was also close too.

Here are the winning answers:

1.Manning

2.Addai

3.Brees

4.Clark

5.Brees

6.NO

7.5

8.48

Here are the winners:

1. Night Owl - His guess of 52 was closest and he came in first.

2. Don

3. BA Benny

Leave comments with what card you'd like, Night Owl picks first so he only needs to give me what his pick is. Don, give me what your top 2 are and you get the one Owl doesn't pick and BA Benny give me your top 3. Don, you're the only person I need an address for so send me an e-mail at Redwingshockey82 at hotmail dot com with your info so I can get the prize out to you.

Thanks again to everyone for reading the blog, I was in NYC all week for business and I wasn't able to give this any attention until tonight. Sorry it took me so long to get these results up. It was a great Super Bowl, I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you all had fun with the contest. I'm looking to do more in the future so I hope you all will check back often.

Resolution to the Jeter Dilemma

2010-02-04T18:38:00.000-08:00

So I sold the Jeter. I'm out from under the temptation to redeem it and I have some money in my Paypal account that I'll hopefully turn into something nice.

I closed down the SB contest, I have to head to NYC for business in a few days so I might not be able to update the blog or look at it really over the next few days so I figure now is as good a time as any. I think everyone who wanted in is probably in.

Check out Mike's blog: http://babennysbaseballcardbuffet.blogspot.com/ , he's new to the blogging game so show him some love.

Also the Fukudome Ultimate single is still up for grabs, comment if you want it, it's free.

2009 Ultimate Collection Dilemma

2010-02-02T17:06:00.001-08:00

So I bought a box of 2009 Ultimate Collection and now I have a problem, let's look at the cards and see what you think.

This is the first card out of the pack, I like David Wright a lot. I have him as a keeper in my big Fantasy Baseball league so I'm a fan. All of the base cards are numbered to 599 this year which I think is the same amount as the years previous. I like the design, Gellman is right, Upper Deck has a pretty good design team. Speaking of Gellman I'm in his Ultimate Collection box break thing this month too, I have the Cubs and Braves, not as good as the Blue Jays and Red Sox but I guess it could be a lot worse (Nats and Rockies would be my least favorite combo I think).

A Fukudome card, I'm not a huge fan of his. he's been a below average player for his brief career, I liked the Wright, the Fuku, not so much (although he had about a week of roster time on the fantasy team last year).

The "Rookie" of the pack. Nolan Reimold, not terrible. I like Reimold, this isn't a true RC but it could be worse, a lot worse. I think Beardy would probably like this card and it's his if he wants it. All of the base cards I've showed are up for grabs, so Cubs and Mets fans leave a comment saying you want either the Wright or the Fuku and I'll be happy to pass them along (if in 24 hours Beardy hasn't commented or e-mailed me you can put in for the Reimold all of you O's fans out there, Beardy gets first shot but 24 hours is enough time).

Now for the problem card:

Yes, this is the first Derek Jeter Autograph I've ever pulled myself. What's the problem you may ask? My answer is simple, due to it's being the defendant in a few lawsuits Upper Deck may not be in business long enough to ever get this card out to me. Anyone who was around when Fleer went out of business knows that if Upper Deck goes, it'll be fast and anything of value will be plundered long before it ever gets anywhere near the collectors holding the redemption cards. So that's the Dilemma, do I redeem the card and take my chances as I'd love to add this card to my collection or do I flip it on eBay because of the risk of it not being fulfilled? I'm looking for advice here so let me know what you think.

Overall I thought I got really lucky and this is a great looking set, I can't wait to see what I come away with in the box breaks, if only the card I pulled was live I would be a very happy collector right now.

Super Bowl Contest & Surprises

2010-01-26T17:58:00.000-08:00

The Super Bowl is almost upon us and as such I thought it would be a great time for one final football related contest. Here are the prizes:

A couple of nice cards of this years top draft picks at the Quarterback position. A leaf Certified Mark Sanchez jersey RC serial numbered 27/50. And you may recognize the Matt Stafford, it's back again, it's a refractor RC out of Bowman Sterling and is serial #/199.

The last prize is a lot 5 jersey cards. All the cards are serial numbered, the Wells is #'d to 500, the Alan Page is a Patch #'d to 88, the Jergensen is #'d to 90, the Dawson is #'d to 99 and the Klecko is #'d to 50.

Again winners can choose the prize they want in order of finish. The rules of the contest are pretty simple, just leave a comment and take a guess at the following:

1. Who will have more passing yards, Manning or Brees?

2. Who will have more Rushing yards, Pierre, Bush or Addai?

3. Most Passing TD's, Manning or Brees?

4. Most Receiving yards, Clark, Colston, Wayne or the field (field being anyone besides the other
3 named players, i.e. Meachem)?

5. MVP of the Bowl?

6. Winner of the Bowl?

7. Total Touchdowns?

8. Total Points?

So that's it, eight simple questions, the most right answers win, ties being broken by who comes closest to the total points.

Now for the surprises, the surprise is nobody except for the Troll decided to claim a prize from the last contest. That's why the Stafford is back up, Troll got the Gibby and the Auto. The prizes this time are pretty good I think so maybe people will actually want them.

Baseball only people (Night Owl, Troll, etc.) feel free to enter too, if you win I'll give you something good from my baseball collection if you don't want any of the football prizes.

Leave your guess in the comments and good luck.

As always if you want to trade any Blue Jays, Bills or Sabres cards to me for cards of your favorite teams or players drop me a line at Redwingshockey82 at hotmail dot com.

Contest Winners

2010-01-17T17:51:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was by far the best weekend full of football I saw all year, no question. This week it was the opposite, the Cowboys didn't show up at all, I had high hopes for that game but I was let down. Oh well. The contest went well though, here are the winners:

1st - dominicfdny
2nd - mmmrhubarb
3rd - Collective Troll

To make things easy please leave a comment on this post with what cards you'd like, dominic gets first pick so mmmrhubarb if you see this post first and leave a comment first please list your top 2 and troll you will get whatever is left over. Troll please check your e-mail as I have a card I think you might like that I e-mailed you about. The only person i have an address for is troll so dominic and hubarb send me an e-mail ( redwingshockey82 at hotmail.com ) and I will get your cards out to you Tuesday.

Thanks again for reading and I'll have details on the next contest tomorrow, since the J-E-T-S won today it will be a very Jets themed contest with the Sanchez being up for grabs but also a few other cards of the Jets young stars. As always I'm looking for Bills and Sabres cards so if you want to trade send me an e-mail.

Recent Trades, eBay Buys & a call to Traders.

2010-01-16T16:59:00.000-08:00

I'm going to make an effort to show some love for the people who have made trades with me in the past week. I don't have any scans from what he sent me but I'd like to thank Night Owl for the great cards he sent me including a nice Tommy Hanson Topps Update Gold rookie card. I am by no means a Braves fan but I am a Tommy Hanson fan, he was a fantasy star for me this year and he has the potential to be a good top of the rotation guy for years to come so thank you again Night Owl.

This card comes from Beardy and it is awesome. I have a cool Mark Teixeira story I'll share sometime. I'm glad Beardy hates this guy because this is a cool card, I'm almost positive it's part of the Majestic laundry tag on the bottom of Tex's jersey. Either way it's a 4 color Ginter relic and I've never seen anything like it from Ginter so that alone makes it worth having.

This fine example of a Grey Eagle card is also from The Bearded One. It's an extended Mini from a rip card and one hell of a nice card, it's #363 in the set (Duane do you need this card?). The rendition of Speaker is kind of interesting as it pictures him with brown hair and a Boston Uni, when I think of Speaker i think of him as an Indian and I also always associate him with his trademark gray hair. Crazy fact about Speaker, over 3,500 hits and only 220 Strkie outs in his entire career. Mark Reynolds eclipsed that strike out mark in a single season. Beardy also sent along a few other Tex cards including a T206 SP and a NNO Ginter, thank you again Beardy for the nice cards.

Duane of the Democratic Roadkill blog sent these two Halladay pieces as well as some nice Halladay singles some of which I didn't have. Duane thanks for the awesome Doc cards, I look forward to our next trade.

I picked up the Cobb and Babe cards on ebay and I'm glad I did. They look great in person and despite Gellman's hatred of all things foilboard (or maybe he just hates the overuse of foilboard in some products, I'm not really sure), either way these cards look awesome in person, they have a ton of eye-appeal. I'm not in love with every aspect of the design so they aren't 10's in my book but I think they're much better looking than most of the relics on the market today.

I need this card, it's #205 in this years set, it's the last card I need to finish my set. I have a nice Hedman Young Guns Rookie I'd be willing to trade for it as well as a pile of other RC's including some good prospects.

I'd also love to add more Myer's cards to my collection, he's done amazing things for the Sabres this year and if anyone has any Myer's cards they'd like to trade (or sell) let me know as I have some nice stuff in Hockey that I'd be willing to trade for Myer's cards. On the topic of the Sabres I am always looking to add their cards to my collection and can help you out with cards of your favorite team. If you want to send me 100 current Sabres I'll be happy to send you 200 cards of current players from your favorite team, if you send me a jersey or auto I'll send you two back, I have a ton of hockey cards and I'd like to find a good home for them so drop me a line at redwingshockey82 at hotmail.com .

Lastly, I will be running another contest this coming week, here's the catch though, the prize will be dependent on the winner of the Jets vs. San Diego game tomorrow. If the Jets win this is the prize:

If they don't I'll have to find some kind of San Diego themed prize. Details on the contest will follow after the outcome of the Jets game tomorrow.

The Promised Prize

2010-01-11T17:34:00.000-08:00

This card is now a prize in this weeks contest, I would say grand prize but it's winners choice so this may not go first. Anyway, it's a Bowman Sterling Matt Stafford Refractor RC serial #/199. Please put your guesses in the comments of the previous post so they'll all be grouped together.

I picked up a few other cards yesterday that I'm sure will make their way into another contest or two. Once again good luck.

The Next Contest

2010-01-09T23:41:00.000-08:00

These are two of the prizes in the next contest. There will be three, I don't know what the third is going to be yet. I'm going to the card shop tomorrow and I'm going to look for something for the conest, I may find something, I may not but I'm going to try and find something worthy of giving away in a contest, I want something football related which sadly I don't have much left right now. I don't know if I mentioned this before but I sold my collection a few years ago and I'm building it back up slowly. I had some nice Chris Johnson stuff but that was an investment that I flipped this past week, I doubled my money on most and tripled my money on the Exquisite RC.

Seeing as the the NFL playoffs are more interesting this year than they have been in the last 10 as far as I'm concerned this contest will focus on what looks like it will be a great game next weekend, Dallas versus Minnesota.

Just like the last contest you need to guess the total combined scores of the game (ex. Cowboys 21, Minnesota 17 = 38 so in this case my guess would be 38). As a tiebreaker please also choose the winner of the game or simply write out the individual team scores like I did above and I'll figure it out.

The contest will close Saturday night at 10 PM, so you have about a week to register your guesses. Once again I will be paying all the shipping too so it costs nothing to enter.

Good luck.

Contest Winnings

2010-01-04T15:47:00.000-08:00

Duane chose the Smith Jersey, but I still need his address to get his cards out to him.

Night Owl chose the Van Every.

Captain Canuck gets the LT jersey and some random Young Guns, I still need his address too.

This Friday the contest card will be a Peavy and Bob Gibson dual jersey, so stay tuned for that. I think I'll tie it to a Sabres game over the weekend or maybe football again (I wish there something baseball related but sadly there isn't).

Contest Winners

2010-01-03T14:39:00.000-08:00

I think this was a pretty good first contest from a quality of guesses standpoint.

Duane wins with the exact right total of 37, he had the teams flipped but he even had the individual scores right.

Second is The Night Owl with the guess of 36 and the upset.

Third place goes to Captain Canuck who guessed 38 and I know technically they were both one point away but we're going to go with a price is right style tiebreaker (don't worry Captain I'll send you a random young guns RC from this year to make it up to you).

I've also decided that rather than setting the prize tiers for you the first place finisher gets first pick, second place gets the second and Captain Canuck gets the remainder (AdamE made me realize that it should be winners choice).

Duane, please leave a comment and let me know what you want so the Night Owl can make his pick or just send me an e-mail (Redwingshockey82 at hotmail.com) . And Captain Canuck I need your address so I can send you your prize so please e-mail me too.

Thanks to everyone who entered.

First Contest of the Year & a Request for Help Finishing a Set

2010-01-01T21:15:00.000-08:00

I plan on running a contest on here to help drum up some love for this blog. This first one will be pretty simple, all you have to do is come closest to guessing the final total score of the Bills and Colts game this weekend (i.e. Bills 10, Colts 24 = 34 and 34 being the total would win), just enter your guess in the comments section of this post (all guesses must be in by Sunday at Noon). Easy right? The prizes are featured below:

1st Place is the Emmitt Smith Game Used Football Card
2nd Tomlinson Jersey
3rd Van Every T206 auto

Since I only have 9 followers your odds of winning are great and if I don't get 3 guesses the people who bother to comment will get more than one of the prizes and I am paying for the shipping so this will cost you nothing to enter.

The contests will get bigger over time but I'm offering these up as a start. The Emmitt was a fill-in for redemptions I sent in to Fleer back during their whole going bankrupt debacle. I got back literally 50 fill-ins for the redeptions I sent in and the Emmitt was the best one. My friend Tom who owns a shop said no one got anything worth more than $5 back even though the packages were supposed to be random so I guess I did well with a HOF'er like Smith. I'm not going to elaborate on the story behind this whole fill-in thing right now but if you were in the hobby around the time they went bankrupt you know what I mean and are probably as mad as I am.

Now for my request, I need 7 cards to finish the 2009 Topps Heritage Update baseball set: 689, 692, 694, 698, 706, 707 & 715.

I have dupes to trade back and any help is appreciated. If you do hockey at all I need 11 Young Guns from this years Upper Deck to finish my set, they are: 203, 206, 208, 214, 215, 217, 218, 227, 229, 231, 234, 235, 240.

Send me an e-mail at RedWingsHockey82 at Hotmail.com if you can help and thanks for reading.

Happy New Year! Also, My All-Time Top 5 Pre-WW2

2009-12-31T22:50:00.000-08:00

1.Babe Ruth - Obvious Reasons. About 9 or so years ago I was at the local card shop just hanging out minding my own business and this old man who I'm pretty sure is dead now was talking about how much he loved the Yankees and all things Ruth. Being a Cobb fan I mentioned how a .366 lifetime batting average made a strong case for Cobb as Ruth's equal only to be chided for not acknowledging Ruth's prodigious career BA as well. I ignorantly said, "Ruth couldn't have hit much more than .300 at the most." Boy was I wrong, Ruth really was amazing, Pujols is the best player I've seen play the game live but he's not anywhere near the monster Ruth was.

1A. Ty Cobb - Continuing that previous story of my ignorance the Yanks fan then proclaimed that Jack Chesboro was the all-time single season wins leader and he was a Yankee just like Ruth (a Highlander actually, but I guess it's kind of the same thing except for the name). I told him to check the Baseball Almanac and look up Old Hoss Radbourn who won 59 or 60 games in a season (depending on the source). This has nothing to do with Cobb, look up his stats and you'll see why I think he was Ruth's equal, this story is being told simply because Radbourn is the only 300 game winner that was also a Buffalo Bison, my home town team.

3. Lou Gehrig - When Gehrig delivered his "Luckiest man in the world" speech he didn't know he was dying and thought he would make a complete recovery. His wife conspired to keep the grim truth away from the Iron Horse so he could enjoy what time he had left and keep his mind off his inevitable untimely death. Even with knowing that you have to admire Gehrig, he was an amazing player who was overshadowed by Ruth during most of his career and never reached his true potential because of his skills being diminished by his bout with ALS. He's one of the players I always find myself thinking about the "what if's" with regards to his career.

4. Ted Williams - Teddy Ballgame - he's what I think of when I hear the word "hitter", find a copy of "What Do You Think About Ted Williams Now". It's a great quick read and it will give you a greater appreciation of him, he was a flawed man like Cobb and Ruth, not to the same depth as they were though. He played in Mantle's shadow and he live in it in the hobby but Teddy was Mantles better in individual statistics. If he had those prime years back that he lost to the war he might have been a 650 home run hitter on top of topping the .400 mark 3 times (which he did but failed to meet the minimum number of at-bats twice.

5. Stan Musial - If he had played on the Yankees his statistics would have benefited from the added protection in the lineup and he would have had a chance at top 3 status but he played for the good not great Cards and so he is forever doomed to the 5 spot.

6-10 (not necessarily in this order): Big Train, The Christian Gentleman, Kraut Head, The Rajah (kind of a stupid nickname actually) and Napoleon Lah-jou-ay as Tommy Lee Jones would say it.

By the way Bill James I know you're the Father of Sabermetrics but Oscar Charleston doesn't belong anywhere near the top 10 (maybe Josh Gibson but not Oscar) and Joe Morgan still isn't the best second baseman ever.

New Additions

2009-12-30T17:59:00.000-08:00

I recently picked up this Cobb T206 bat card and I am really excited to add it to my collection. I got an ebay gift card for Christmas and I bought this card with it. The Seller is amazing as this is only the 4th day of mail delivery after the holiday and I already have this card in hand.

Over the years I've had a Babe Ruth bat piece (that looked like the one above only he was in a Red Sox Uniform ) and a Mantle Jersey piece but never a piece of Cobb bat or jersey so this is pretty special addition to my collection. Ty doesn't seem to much out there as Mantle or Ruth either, this is the first piece of his that I've seen outside of eBay.

Ty isn't half as popular as Mantle or Ruth add to that the fact that he played a decade before Ruth even came in the league making his memorabilia presumably harder to find than the Ruth's and much harder to find than Mantle's it makes sense given these factors he isn't as readily available as The Babe or The Mick.

With regards to this particular Topps T206 card I chose the "Old Mill" version of this card because it seems to fit the older feel of the card. I like the Piedmont version of this card but the blue doesn't seem to fit this card that well. Maybe if it was a Dodger relic the blue would fit in better. The Polar Bear version is my least favorite as the white border seems fairly bland.

Cobb is one of the 5 greatest players of all-time and while I have a signed check of his and some nice old ads featuring him I'm happy to have finally added a piece of game used memorabilia of his to my collection.

Collective Troll is Right

2009-12-23T20:39:00.000-08:00

Yes I don't update this blog ever, why you ask? Cause I don't really feel I have a lot to add most of the time and when baseball season starts to wind down so does my interest in most things baseball. It's not that I don't still care about baseball because I do but my attention starts to turn toward other things like football and hockey. (This will be a pretty long post, not collective troll long but close, it will cover a few topics too, outlined quickly they are a call to traders, "thank yous" to the people I've traded with so far and my take on the Halladay trade).

I love hockey, it will always, be first in my heart. That being said I finished the Upper Deck Set, all Young Guns too. I opened 5 packs at different times from the local shop I frequent (First at Bat, 1928 South Park, Buffalo, NY) and got 2 John Tavares Rookie Cards. So I really crushed the odds and because of that I decided to do the set. I've picked up singles at the shop and off ebay and like I said I've got one set done and I'm working on my second. I plan on giving the second set a friend of mine. His dad died recently of a heart attack and he wasn't even 60 (the guy was in great shape too, it was completely unexpected). He's a huge hockey fan and with everything that's been going on with his family and with him and his wife expecting their first child I know he's not collecting right now so I'm going to try and finish a set of him. So if anyone wants to trade for the cards I need to finish the set drop me an e-mail at: Redwingshockey82 at hotmail.com . I'm sure I'll be able to help you finish your set too as I've bought some big lots of the young guns on ebay and I have quite a few dupes.

Here are people I've traded with so far:

NightOwl
Collective Troll
Beardy

Thank you all very much, trading with you has made this one of my favorite years for collecting since I was a kid, Greg, Marck and Greg with the beard, thank you all for everything again, you're all great (to be honest I'm not sure that both Greg's don't have beards, they might, one is just more public about it).

Here is a list of people I'd like to trade with because they live about 10 miles away from me but for whatever reason they didn't respond to my emails:

Mojo Hand

If you read this and you know him and you want to do me a favor tell him to drop me a line. He goes to one of my favorite hobby shops, Highland Hobby, if you're ever in Derby, NY stop in and say, "Hi" to Fred the owner, he's a cool guy and he has a ton of cool stuff not related to cards. Fred used to own the bowling alley in Derby and is friends with one of my good friends Bruce who is one of best sources for single cards, the guy busts more cases than anyone I know.

Finally, on to the matter of one Harry Leroy Halladay. I'm happy for him, he deserves a chance to win a championship and the Blue Jays are years and years away from being close to the playoffs let alone a championship. Watch Doc's win total spike along with his K total and his ERA drop as he faces off next year against the inferior National League hitters. I went to a Phillie's game in Philly last year and wow can they rake, good luck beating that guy now that he has run support. Cliff Lee helped me win my fantasy baseball league in '08 and for that I will always be a fan of his but Halladay is an A+ pitcher, Lee is an A-. There is no comparison to Halladay in modern baseball, the guy is a class act, he never bashed the Jays in public for not trading him sooner, not many modern players are like that. Everything I've read about Christy Mathewson makes me think that the Christian Gentleman is Halladay's old tyme equivalent. I know Doc is no where near the player Christy was on the field but hopefully Roy can pitch for 8 more years and win another Cy Young or two with Philly and finish up strong, something he would have trouble doing with the Jays because as his skills fade with age he'll need the extra pop the Phillies can deliver. On an odd personal note I had a Michael Taylor (one of the prospects the Jays got for Halladay) Red Refractor from Bowman Chrome that I sold on ebay last year, I heard the kid had an explosive Bo Jackson like skill set but since I don't collect Phillies I flipped it, I wish I had that card now as he has a chance to be special for the Jays. I really think they made out will, they got some top notch talent for Doc.

Drop me a line at Redwingshockey82 at hotmail.com if you want to trade, see my first post on the blog for what I'm looking for.

Oh and I've been right a few times so far this year, Arodis Chapman looks like he could make hobby waves and Chris Johnson is the real deal.

Merry Christmas!

Topps Gets MLB Trading Cards exclusive - Goodbye Upper Deck

2009-08-05T21:46:00.000-07:00

The NY Times is reporting here that Topps has been given exclusive manufacturing rights for Major League Baseball cards. While Upper Deck still have their MLBPA license it's questionable what they would be able to do with it, producing airbrushed cards seems like the only thing they could do considering they aren't going to be able to produce a card featuring any of the logos of the MLB teams.

To me this is great news, I think Upper Deck Baseball products have really gone down hill over the past few years, their base brand is garbage, SPX is awful, SP Legendary cuts was a rip-off. The only product I like of theirs from the past few years is exquisite, it seems like the only brand they put any thought into.

I guess UD President Richard P. McWilliams will have to crank out another 100,000 Ken Griffey Jr. rookies to help keep his private jet fueled up since he won't be able to rip anymore people off with new product.

On a personal note, sorry for the lack of updates but honestly there hasn't been anything to excite me in the past few weeks but this news is a real bombshell and has me excited again.

Updates

2009-07-23T12:24:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the lack of updates, work has been crazy this week trying to ge ready to go on vacation. I will be in Philadelphia this weekend for the Cardinals and Phillies game on Saturday. I'm looking forward to seeing the game and I'll be sure to update on Monday with my thoughts on the game and anything else that comes to mind. Thanks for reading.

All-Star Game

2009-07-14T21:16:00.000-07:00

The All-Star game ended about an hour ago, I really wasn't too impressed. Halladay got knocked around Crawford made a great catch, Ryan Howard still likes striking out ( a lot) and Jonathan Papelbon looks intense at all times, seemed pretty average to me. Nothing really "all-star" about it except the names on the back of the jerseys.

It really didn't do anything for me and neither did the home run derby last night, I still don't know why Brandon Inge and Joe Mauer were out there, they're good players but Ted Kluszewski and Dave Kingman they aren't. Prince looked dynamite, other than that and Nelson Cruz murdering the ball it was basically three hours of TV I probably skip and catch the highlights on Sport Center next year. Then again Josh Hamilton smashing the ball out of Yankee Stadium was great, I'll probably watch again next year if he's in it. I'm not sure why he wasn't out there actually, I know he's been injured for a good portion of the year but it honestly isn't the same without him out there.

Aroldis Chapman Vs. Stephen Strasburg

2009-07-14T16:20:00.000-07:00

Who's the better pitching prospect, southpaw Aroldis Chapman born in 1987 or flame throwing righty Stephen Strasburg born in 1988? Both are young enough to have many productive years in the MLB. Strasburg is probably the better pure prospect, I haven't seen Chapman pitch but I can't imagine his stuff being as good as Strasburg's, nor can you replicate how good pitching in college can be for a young pitchers progress. Honestly though I don't know who's better from an on the field standpoint.

One thing I do know is from a collector's standpoint Chapmans's cards have the potential to blow Strasburg's away. Why? Simple, Straburg plays for the worst team in baseball (nothing personal nationals fans, I'm simply stating that their record is the worst in the MLB at this point), while Chapman will get to choose what powerhouse he plays for. If he chooses the Yanks, Dodgers, Red Sox, Mets or any well collected teams he has the potential to make the fervor over the 2003 Bowman Chrome Jose Contreras when it was originally released and it's $200+ price tag look like nothing.

That being said this 2009 Upper Deck USA Strasburg Jersey card sells for around $16-$27 on ebay.

While this 2009 Topps WBC Chapman Jersey sells for $7-10. This is Chapman's only game used piece that I'm aware of, he does have some other Bowman and Bowman Chrome cards but this is the only jersey piece I saw.

While there is no substitute for being the #1 overall draft pick there's also no substitute for playing for a powerhouse (and in Chapman's case he gets to pick his team, well at least his wallet does) . Just as Bryan Bullington if he'd like to play on a team that gives him run support like the Phillies give Cole Hamels. Both came out of the same draft class, only Bullington went #1 to the perennially pitiful Bucs while Hamels went to the hard hitting Phils and the rest is history. One is a bust and the other is World Series MVP. I'm not saying it's all about what team you play for but getting an almost guaranteed 5 runs of support a game is nice. Remember, Walter Johnson went 5-9 in his rookie season in Washington despite having a 1.88 era in 1907, could Strasburg suffer a similar fate in 2010?

To sum it up I think the Chapman WBC Jersey is an incredible value right now considering he has a ton of potential.

Halladay a Phillie?

2009-07-14T00:57:00.000-07:00

No, it hasn't happened yet and I don't think it will that's why I haven't written about it yet. I honestly don't think Toronto will part with him and I don't think Philly will be willing to pay the Jay's asking price. If the Brewers gave up a Top 10 prospect in LaPorta for CC, a guy they new wouldn't be there for more than a few months, what does Philly have to give up for a guy who's under contract for more than three months? CC was a true rental player, Halladay is not. I just don't think is realistic. Unless Carlos Carrasco and Michael Taylor are involved this trade probably won't happen, the question is do the Phillies give up potential for a proven commodity, I would but I don't think they will, baseball GM's are always too enamored with what could be instead of what is.

Is Joe Morgan the best second baseman ever? Is second base the least collected position on the diamond?

2009-07-13T23:59:00.000-07:00

I was surprised when I read Bill James' Historical Baseball Abstract to find that he ranked Joe Morgan ahead of the great cardinals second baseman Rogers Hornsby.

Did you know Hornsby is the only player to hit an average of .400 or greater over a period of 5 years (1921-1925)? Yet he's only #2 among second basemen according to Bill James.

Let's compare the two. Both Morgan and Hornsby have two MVP awards. Hornsby's career batting average is 87 points higher than Morgan's, Hornsby's OPS is almost 200 points higher than Morgan's and he has about 400 more RBI's. Morgan does have about more 100 more runs than Rajah. The only category Morgan kills Hornsby in stolen bases though, 689 to 135.

For my money Rajah is the best second baseman ever. In fairness to Morgan second base has become more of a defensive position and his five gold gloves are a great accomplishment. It shocked me to learn that in Hornsby's time third base was where the weaker hitters played and sluggers played second, this seems counter intuitive. I just can't see Evan Longoria or David Wright playing second, I'm sure they'd be great but it'd still be weird. (I wasn't alive when Morgan played, is there something I'm missing, some part of his game that goes beyond the numbers, leave a comment and let me know if you think Morgan is better than the numbers indicate.)

Morgan was truly and all-time great though and I'm honestly amazed at how incredibly cheap Morgan's cards are considering how good he was. I added this jersey card featuring him and Ian Kinsler to my collection for less than $2. It's from a box that retails for almost $100 (maybe more depending on where you're buying).

I previously had a few Hornsby jerseys in my collection and considering the leader in all-time batting average leader (with a mark of .366) Ty Cobb's bat cards command over $100 for an average card, it's crazy that the second man on the list, Rogers Hornsby (.358) jerseys like the one below can be had for less than $10 on ebay they seem like a deal, I'll have to get a few for my collection.

Don't get me wrong, I love Cobb, but the disparity is incredible.

Look at this list of the 50 Greatest Second Basemen and what do you notice? I noticed that there were hardly any truly collectible players on the list. Sandberg has his collectors, so does Biggio, as does Frisch, Lajoie and Kent but they're not anywhere near the collectibility of a the elite players at other positions. Even they're closest counterparts in the field put them to shame. Ripken and Jeter. Pujols and Gherig. Morgan and Hornsby? Not even close from a collectabilty standpoint.

They're too good to be ignored forever, with the resurgence of hard hitting second basemen like Utley and Kinsler I hope there will be a renaissance in the cards of the Morgans, Hornsbys and the like. Even Bob Feller thinks they deserve some hobby attention.

Jonathan Sanchez is the Newest Pitcher to Throw a No-Hitter

2009-07-10T21:39:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Jonathan Sanchez and the Giants on the most recent no hitter in Baseball and the Giants fisrt since John Montefusco did it last in September of 1976. Thirty-three years later Sanchez should have been the 15th player to throw a perfect game in modern baseball history but a Juan Uribe error cost him his perfect game bid. Still, no walks, 11K's and only 110 pitches is pretty amazing. Aaron Rowand really helped him out in the 9th with an amazing catch against the deepest part of the center field wall, it almost made up for Uribe's mistake. This probably won't affect his cards much but maybe it will help Sanchez find the confidence he had as a rookie and get him on the winning track again. My favorite Rookie of his is in 2005 Bowman Chrome, there are two nice gold refractor parallels of that card up for auction on ebay right now, but for a cheaper option the Topps Update pictured above is a nice alternative that will cost you less than $1.

What a difference a year can make.

2009-07-09T20:18:00.000-07:00

Last year at this time I was selling one of my favorite rookie cards of all time, the guy was the reigning AL MVP, it hurt to part with any of his cards let alone his "best" rookie. But I did what I had to do and sold the card on ebay thinking that I'd never have a chance to own that card again, just like the Ryan Howard Bowman's Best RC's I can't afford anymore. I had two and sold them too, thinking I might be able to get them again down the road but given their popularity I don't see being able to get them again any time soon. The card I sold last year was a 1994 SP Alex Rodrguez BGS 9, I paid $300 for it at a card show, which I think is still a record for me on any single item at a show. I had that card for about 2 years before I sold it on ebay for about $375, a nice 20% profit. But I wasn't happy, I really thought I was making a mistake, I mean this guy was the fastest to 500 Homers ever, plays for the most collectible team on earth and above all of that he was clean. In an era of roid monsters like Bonds and McGwire, Alex's progression seemed natural, he went from 36 to 23 to 42 homers over his first three years, not a staggering explosion like Brady Anderson going from 16 to 50.

Alex seemed like a bastion of purity, like Albert Pujols seems right now. I feel the same way about Pujols as I did A-Rod last year. I guess I'm just being naive, he probably juices, everyone probably does, Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg probably stick each other with needles in the ass like Canceco and McGwire used to (I'm being facetious obviously). Who can you trust? As soon as a guy hits 25 homers before the all star break it makes me question him a bit, but I'm giving Pujols the benefit of the doubt. Rodriguez doesn't have that anymore, he's a cheater, Shoeless Joe is probably more innocent than Rodriguez.

Back to the 1994 SP RC I sold. As I said before I never thought I'd get another one. Now up until last week I didn't think I'd ever want another one, I honestly don't care for Rodriguez anymore, but ebay changed my mind on owning the card again. The card that I sold only a year ago had plummeted, I bought a copy for only $132.5o with shipping. Just about 35% of what it was selling for early last year.

Why did I buy the card if I hate A-Rod? I don't know, I guess I realize that he's the lesser of two evils and when he breaks Bonds' record, which I think he will, this card will be $400 again. Even if he only hits 30 home runs per year for the next 7 years he will shatter the record (his average for 162 games is 44 and he'll be 40 in seven years so this seems like a sure thing). The only thing that can hurt him is a Nomar like string of injuries. Will that happen? I don't know but I think it's a good risk to take, since I doubt there will be many collectors 50 years from now who will know or care how he got record (they probably won't care at the time he breaks the record either). No, they won't care, just like they don't care that Ty Cobb is an admitted murderer, Mickey Mantle was a drunk and a womanizer, Pete Rose gambled on baseball or Joe Jackson threw a world series, their cards still sell extremely well. So as sad as it is people, outside of Hall of Fame voters, won't care that Rodriguez cheated to break the record that Barry Bonds cheated to take away from Hank, they'll just care that he broke it.

First Post

2009-07-08T23:19:00.000-07:00

I generally dislike blogs (that's a great way to start the first post of a blog isn't it?), however recently I've recently started reading some great blogs about collecting sports cards, the hobby that I love and thought that it might be fun to add a few musings of my own on the subject.

I'll try and give some insight into players and sets that I like or that I think have potential to hold their value or increase in value in the future, what prospects I'm collecting and the like.

I'd also like to try and help new collectors as in the 20 odd years I've been collecting cards I've seen dealers and other collectors take advantage of newer collectors ignorance which along with overproduction in the early 90's was one of the things that almost killed the hobby.

One of the first things I remember about collecting cards is buying packs for about $.50 at Woolworth's in town, those are great memories. Being on summer vacation, riding my bike to the store and getting 4 packs of cards on a weeks allowance on a summer morning then rushing home to open them and pulling a Jim Kelly rookie card is one of my favorite memories from my childhood. That's the reason I love collecting cards.

Paying $100 (it booked for about $60 at the time) for a Shaq "Rejector" insert card from the local card shop owner only to have it drop in consistently until it became virtually worthless is one of the worst.

I hate when people take advantage of someone being a novice for their own gain and boy did the guy in my home town do that. If anyone else remembers "Chad's Grandslam Cards" from Hamburg, NY feel free to leave a comment, he's the reason I stopped collecting for years (thanks again for the Shaq rejector card Chad) . You only have to get ripped off a few times before you get totally turned off and want to stop collecting completely.

But that's enough negativity, I wouldn't have met two of my best friends if it wasn't for collecting cards and going to shows so I owe a lot to the hobby. It's given me years of enjoyment and lots of great memories which outweigh the negative by a ton. My card collection helped me put a down payment down on the house I live in and have owned for the past 2 years. It hurt to sell part of my collection off but it was necessary and it helped me find out what I really wanted to focus on. I've decided to focus on only my favorite players for the most part.

My first collecting love was Steve Yzerman, he still has a special place in my heart and my collection, his cards are one of the only things I kept when selling my original collection to buy my house. As I've gotten older I've really started to gravitate more towards baseball, the history of the game is unparalleled. My favorite baseball players are Ty Cobb, Al Kaline, Grady Sizemore and Roy Halladay.

As for football I collect only Buffalo Bills cards as I've been a Bills fan for as long as I can remember and also Chris Johnson because it's hard not to like him if you've ever seen him play (his mouth is a bit much, but as of now his play is overshadowing that, I hope it doesn't go the other way like it has with Chad Ochocinco).

I don't collect anything in basketball, since there's no local team here in Buffalo and hasn't been since the 70's I never really got into basketball.

Sorry for the long post, I'll try and keep it shorter going forward. I'll get a trade page up in the near future showing what I have available for trade.

Thanks for reading.