My First Check Out My Cards Purchase

Alright, judging by the response to my last post nobody here cares about football cards, so I'll go back to something that everyone loves: purchases from Check out My Cards! I was really impressed with the selection of the site as well as the prices, and was happy to nab some Griffeys, Felixs and other Mariners for a song. The shipping charges seem to be a little high, but in most cases it is still a better deal than buying this cards separately on eBay. Here's the goods:

2007 Finest Ken Griffey Jr. Refractor: I think I've run out of adjectives to describe how much I love refractors, especially of Junior, so I'll let you insert your own for this beauty.

2001 Topps Stars Stan Musial: Stan the Man is one of my favorite "old-time" players and 2001 Topps Stars is a guilty pleasure set of mine so this card was a match made in heaven. Not surprisingly, the back of the card gave Musial five stars for hitting ability.

2009 Bowman Draft Picks Michael Saunders Blue #/399: Although "the Condor" is currently toiling away in Triple-A I think he is still a big part of the Mariners future, and will probably get a call-up sooner rather than later with the way the M's offense is performing. The Bowman blue parallels look nice when paired with the Seattle unis.

2008 Bowman Chrome Felix Hernandez Refractor: A refractor for 50 cents? Only a crazy person could say no, and I am no crazy person (debateable). I couldn't be more excited to have this guy around for five more years.

2009 Topps Allen & Ginter Doc Holliday SP: This might be the most plain but important card from the whole purchase. With this Doc Holliday short print I have finally completed the 2009 Allen & Ginter set that I started so long ago. It's a good feeling.

I'm a Man and I've Got Needs!

I can't believe I haven't gotten around to posting a needs list before today (it's certainly not because I'm lazy--no way), but here is what I'm looking for:

2009 Allen and Ginter: 305 and 343 (so close...this would be the first set I ever put together by hand. I have about 100,000 doubles to trade if anyone needs help with the set)

2007 UD Masterpieces: 4, 11, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 34, 35, 37, 39, 42, 46, 52, 59, 60, 65, 68, 78, 82 (I got two hobby boxes of this and still need 20 cards...ouch)

2008 UD Masterpieces: 1, 15, 24, 29, 38, 65 + SP's 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 99, 101-106, 108, 112, 113, 117-120 (I'm more concerned about the base set, but the SP's would be nice)

Let me know if you have any of these cards and I would be happy to work out a trade with you. Thanks for stopping by!

Come on Opening Day!

First Day Issue's First Contest!

If you've read my blog at all, you know that I bought an unreal amount of Allen & Ginter this year. I'm talking mountains of A & G as big as David Eckstein. When opening that much of a single product it's not unusual to get doubles or triples of base cards and some inserts. What's less expected is getting multiple relic cards of a single player, but that's exactly what happened to me.

I pulled not one, not two, but three C.C. Sabathia jersey cards from packs of Allen & Ginter in the past three months. Now I don't hate Sabathia, in fact I quite enjoyed his historic run with Milwaukee last year, but now that he's a Yankee it's a little more difficult to root for him, and I certainly don't need three of the same card of him.

So I am giving my loyal reader(s) a chance to win a '09 Allen & Ginter C.C. Sabathia jersey. But that's not all, the winner will also recieve any missing base cards from their set that I can provide. All you have to do to win is post a comment and I will draw a winner at random over the next few days. The winner will be notified by email and can then send me their A & G want list.

UPDATE: And the winner is....Brian from Play at the Plate! He was chosen randomly (I would assume) by random.org. Thanks to everyone who entered, there will be more contests to come soon. Congrats again to Brian for winning the Sabathia jersey, A & G cards, plus another card to be named later!

Final Thoughts on 2009 Allen & Ginter

After opening 2 hobby boxes, 8-10 blasters, 7-8 loose retail packs and 6 hobby "hot" packs worth of 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter (for the sake of my mental health I have decided not to add up the total cost of this), I feel that I am finally ready to render my judgment on what has become arguably the hobby's most popular product of the year. I loved opening every single one of these packs, but I got burnt out when I saw my 10th Chris Volstad shortprint and will likely finish up my set through eBay or trades with other collectors. Like any product, A & G is not without its shortcomings, and there are a few things I would like to see Topps change for 2010. So I compiled a list of what I love and hate about this year's A & G which can be found below, and I would love to hear what you think of this year's Ginter offering (maybe we can start a petition!) But first, a look at my drool-worthy pulls...

Hits: Evan Longoria Autograph, John Higby Yo-Yo String SP, Ichiro Suzuki Bat, Tim Lincecum Jersey, Mike Metzger Auto/239, Carlos Quentin Jersey, David Wright Batting Glove, Jim Thome Bat, Vladimir Guerrero Bat, Manny Ramirez Jersey, David Wright Jersey, C.C. Sabathia Jersey, Rich Harden Jersey, Josh Johnson Auto, Miguel Cabrera Jersey, Justin Upton Jersey, B.J. Upton Jersey, Travis Hafner Jersey, Jimmie Rollins Jersey, Magglio Ordonez Jersey, Yunel Escobar Jersey, Adam Dunn Bazooka Back (#8/25), Blake Dewitt No-Number Back (sent to Nightowl), and the extremely rare Here-To-There-O-Matic mini (roughly one per case).

If you would like to trade for any of these cards, except those in red, just let me know and I am sure we can work something out (first crack at the Wright Batting Glove & Jersey cards to the gals at Dinged Corners).

Love:

1) Base Set Design: Adding the borders to the cards was a great idea and really classed up the set. I also love the cards with non-pastel backgrounds...aren't the Joe Mauer and Clayton Kershaw cards some of the best looking base cards you've seen in a long time?

2) Non-Baseball Cards: While the public seems to be split on this debate, I really enjoy pulling a Richard Gatling or an Electron from a pack. It brings some variety to the set and makes it more accessible to non-baseball collectors.

3) Creatures of Legend, Myth & Terror: How cool is it to pull a card of a Kraken or a Unicorn from a pack of baseball cards? This was my favorite insert set of the year and here's hoping Topps can come up with something like this for 2010 (Natural Wonders of the World?)

4) Black Bordered Cards: The intricate design is much more appealing than the past straight black border and they are attainable enough that it is not out of the realm of possibility to complete the entire set (if you have a big wallet and lots of free time).

Hate:

1) Poor Collation: Despite the fact that I have opened nearly 140 packs (plus another hobby box belonging to my brother) of Allen & Ginter this year, I still have not completed a standard 1-350 base set of the cards; that seems wrong to me. How is it that I can manage to pull 10 of a particular shortprint, but still be missing numerous cards falling between 1-300? By the way if you are interested the cards I still need are: #34, 54, 68, 93, 125, 168, 248, 305, 338 and 343. I would be forever indebted to you for your help in helping me bring in my white whale.

2) Small Autograph Checklist: While there are some great players featured in A & G (Hanley Ramirez, David Wright, Evan Longoria) and cool non-players (Michael Phelps, John Higby, Hannah Teter) the checklist as a whole leaves something to be desired, and I think the set would really benefit from adding more baseball players. How quickly would this product sell-out if there was a guaranteed auto in every box?

3) Sketch Cards: Not to go all Stephen A. Smith on you, but quite frankly these aren't very good looking cards. I would much rather pull another base card than one of these monstrosities (same goes for the National Pride cards).

4) Griffey-less Ginter: In what may be his last go-round with the Seattle Mariners, Ken Griffey Jr. was inexplicably left off the base card checklist. It's not like this is a small set either, if there's room for Bobby Crosby and Melvin Mora, then there is certainly a spot in the set for the only active member of the 600 HR Club. Not coincedentially my second favorite player, Ben Zobrist, was also not included in the set. Topps clearly was not creating A & G with me in mind, how thoughtless.

Of course I would buy Allen & Ginter next year even if they didn't change anything, but I think there is still room for improvement. What is your opinion of 2009 A & G? What do you love/hate?

Pack Attack: 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter Hobby Hot Packs (3)

Normally I'm not one to join the "hot pack" craze, you know those packs on eBay that are guaranteed to contain a hit--jersey, auto, etc. I frankly have no idea how these sellers can be certain there is something inside, maybe they just have the magic hand, or maybe it's something much more devious. Anyway, I finally fell prey to these hot packs when a lot of three 2009 Topps Allen and Ginter Hobby Packs showed up on the Bay. A & G is hands down my favorite product of the year, and since relics, autos and silk cards are the same size in the frames, I felt I had a decent shot at landing a big hit. Most times when a seller offers a pack with either an auto or relic, you can fairly safely assume that it will be a relic, but not with A & G. At the very least I reasoned, I would pull three jersey cards, some minis and a couple of cards to help complete my set. Did this prove to be a worthwhile gamble? I thought so, if only for the excitement inherent in each pack, but I will let you decide if these 3 hits were worth $30. The results below will just list the "hit" in each pack. Enjoy!

Pack 1: David Wright GU Batting Gloves--Wow! What a way to start! I pulled this out of the pack and was excited right away because it was David Wright, but a closer inspection showed just how special this card was. I noticed that the swatch looked a little different than a regular jersey, it had kind of a cross-hatch pattern and when I flipped the card over I found out it was a piece of Wright's batting gloves. I had no idea that there were batting glove relics in this set, and I am assuming that it is shortprinted because there are only a few on eBay in comparison to the normal Wright jersey cards. This turned out to be the best of the hits, and I certainly won't complain about it. My first game-used batting gloves, of a great player, in my favorite set--not bad at all.

Pack 2: BJ Upton GU Jersey Relic--A bit of a let down after the Wright hit, but this allowed me to complete the set of game used Upton jerseys from 2009, as I had earlier pulled a Justin Upton relic from a pack. BJ "Bartells & James" Upton has recovered nicely after a slow start and is helping to keep the Rays in the thick of the Wild Card hunt.

Pack 3: Jimmy Rollins GU Jersey Relic--A gray swatch of J-Roll's jersey. Not much else to say about it, other than I'm sorry if you drafted the 2007 MVP in the first round of your fantasy baseball draft...football season and redemption are right around the corner!

I sure enjoyed these hot packs and might gamble on them again if I wrangle up some extra frogskins. What do you think of this pack attack?

Pack Attack: 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter Retail (x2)

Topps Allen & Ginter has been one of my favorite products over the past few years and 2009 marks the first time I attempt to put the entire set together. After three hobby boxes I am still about 50 cards short so I have been picking up blasters and loose packs at Target and Shopko. Probably not the best idea, because retail packs only contain 4 base cards (+1 mini and 1 National Pride), but who can say no to A & G? Here are the results of my latest excursion to Shopko:

Pack 1:

Andrew Miller-63
Carlos Pena-264
John Danks-261

Brett Gardner mini-295

Rich Harden Game Used Pants Relic! Not a bad pull at all from a retail pack, as this relic even came from the relatively scarce Group A (1:250 packs). Harden possesses electric stuff but has been inconsistent for the Cubs this season despite staying healthy, making many wish for his injury prone days when Rich was nearly unhittable. He did have a solid start against the Reds today, pitching 6 innings, allowing 1 run and striking out 8 to pick up the win, and his fantasy owners hope this means Harden is turning the corner. I'm not a Cubs or Harden fan so if you are interested, let me know and we can work out a trade.

Pack 2:

Delmon Young SP-318

Michael Cuddyer-86

Jair Jurjenns-271

Mark Buehrle (of perfect game fame)-42

Skandenberg National Heroes Mini-NH33 (1:12 packs)

Yadier Molina National Pride-NP74

Overall, not too shabby for a couple of retail packs. A few cards to add to my set and a game-used Rich Harden makes this a worthwhile trip to Shopko. More packs to come soon!