A .26 Cent Trade & an eBay Pick-Up

A few bubble mailers hit my mail box today.
First, a trade package from Matt over at .26 cent Summer. He was kind enough to knock out some of my 2011 Heritage wants and a couple of Kimballs. A smooth and easy trading partner. Thanks Matt.

I went to eBay and grabbed the 2011 Topps Gypsy Queen Al Kaline Copper Framed card/ Serial numbered 736/999. $2.50 shipped free.

I also grabbed a couple of 2009 SP Legendary Cuts Destination Stardom game-Used Jersey cards. This is one of the sets that I am toying around with the idea of collecting. Something in the packaging immediately caught my eye... the blue painters tape. Most cards that come in the mail have Scotch tape plastered all over the top loader. The nice thing about painters tape is it doesn't ruin the top-loader. Oh yeah, there was also a nice little note from a fellow blogger attached to the two cards. I bought the cards from Dan of Saints of the Cheap Seats. You can see a great card that he has up for auction here.

A Thought About Inter-League Play

2011 Topps Heritage Neil Walker #353 & Jhonny Peralta #173

Watching the Tigers play the Pirates tonight reminds me of my summer trip of 2006. Back in '06, the sewingmachinedad, the sewingmachineboy, and I went to Pittsburgh to see the Tigers play the Pirates. We arrived at the park early, and had time to play catch down by the river. It was a beautiful day. The park in Pittsburgh is gorgeous. There are monuments and statues all around the stadium. It was so much fun. The Tigers beat the Pirates 7-6 that day. Chris Shelton and Marcus Thames went yard for the Tigers.

This statue of Pops is near the left field entrance to the park. There is a Clemente too that is very well done.
On our way to Cleveland to see the Indians play the Yankees, we stopped in Cooperstown for a couple of days.

The Hall-of-Fame was the highlight of Cooperstown. The whole town is sort of like a time warp back into the golden age of baseball. There is a quaint small town Norman Rockwell feel to the place. I can't wait to go back.

Interleague play. I don't like it. Even though we incorporated a trip to a National League park in our trip of a lifetime, I don't like it. The Tigers make one trip to Rogers Center to play the Blue jays this year. One. There's something wrong here. Rivalries can not be fostered unless a team is in the same division. The Tigers and Blue Jays had a great rivalry. You know how many games the Tigers play in Fenway? Two. That's it... two lousy games. That sucks. They play three in Coors Field for Pete's sake!  I'm not saying get rid of it all together. Just cut it down. Fewer games.

Don't forget to get in on my 500th Post Party here. You could win some cards. I will draw the winner tomorrow morning. Good luck everyone.

Trade with the Dimwit

Amongst all of my recent Gypsy Queen collecting, Heritage has kind of been forgotten. Forgotten until a nice little trade package arrived from Texas. 

Sam of Daily Dimwit fame commented to one of my recent posts about UD Origins, and shortly thereafter, a trade was brewing.

Six more 2011 Topps Heritage cards knocked off the want list. Manny Acta has a double chin.

Detroit Tigers lead-off man, and future gold glove winner, Austin Jackson. When I watch Jackson play, I always think "Mike Cameron". 

Sam also tossed in three 2011 Topps Kimball Champions Mini's. Hanley, Bautista, and Kershaw. What a great looking insert set. 

 The original target of my desires was this 2005 UD Origins Torii Hunter Authentic memorabilia card. I didn't know it has a pinstripe. Cool. Also today, I got a bubble mailer from a recent eBay score. The Man Ram from the same set. Both cards show the player sprinting around the bases. Sadly, my last thought of Manny on the bases is him walking to first on a ground out.

This trade was a breeze. If you're a trader, give The Daily Dimwit a look. Not a trader? Go give his blog a look anyway. There's some great stuff there.
Thanks for the trade Sam!

Meijer is Having a Sale

This morning, I stopped in at our local big box retailer, Meijer. Acting like some Thorzul-ish creeper, I made my way to the toy department. Relieved, there were no kids around at 7:15 in the morning.
Adding joy to my trip, there were little yellow sale tags hanging from all the collectible card displays. For retail cards, Meijer has a very good selection.
The sale is 20% off anything, including already discounted stuff.
I grabbed a blister 3-pack of Heritage. I got it for $7.19. With the savings, I got a diet Mountain Dew for later.

Just Smack Me (My 2011 Heritage Wants)

I hate short prints. Building a set like Topps Heritage is an exercise in frustration. Short prints are probably the reason why I have never decided to build a Heritage set.

Maybe it's the cardboard feel, I don't know, but I am going to try and build the 2011 Topps Heritage set. It will take a long time. There are 74 short prints. 74!

The current want list is now all SP's; 465, 472, 475, 478, 490, 495, 498, 500

I have an S-load of doubles, so hit me with a note on this post if you have a want list. Lets trade!

3 Pack Round-Up (2011 Heritage)

I am perilously close to declaring a 2011 Heritage set building project. I have bought a few blaster boxes, and some random hobby packs. The stacks on my desk are calling me to organize and see how close I am to a set. I have bought Heritage in the past, but for some reason, this years offering is striking a chord with me.

I stopped in to Legends Sports at Woodland Mall yesterday to grab some top-loaders, and other supplies. For the first time since I have done business with Legends, the staff was helpful, not dick-ish, and actually pretty cool. I have been harsh in my criticisms of them in the past, and want to make special mention about Jeff. He was really nice about helping me with my '79 wants. I grabbed 3 packs of Heritage too. The results.

Pack 1)

BF-9 Robinson Baseball Flashbacks

209 Andrew Romine

414 Jarrod Dyson

463 Bob Green (SP)

260 Matt Cain

303 Daric Barton

263 Rangers Danger (Hamilton & Cruz)

228 Marlon Byrd

346 Felix Hernandez

Pack 2)

24 Detroit Tigers Team

286 Ozzie Guillen

422 Kendry Morales

423 Fear the Beard (Brian Wilson & Buster Posey)

78 Freddie Freeman

100 David Price

208 Rickie Weeks

232 2010 World Series Game 1

153 Marco Scutaro

Pack 3)

399 Roy Halladay

5 Clayton Kershaw

270 Ronny Cedeno

185Mariano Rivera

BF-7 Killebrew Baseball Flashbacks

251 Texas Rangers Team

256 Ruben Tejada

90 Julio Borbon

323 Jon Jay

Not too bad. A few all-stars, a couple of inserts, and one short print. I will probably have a want list posted sometime. Peace.

Cabby in Chrome

I scored a 2011 Topps Heritage Chrome refractor of Miguel Cabrera. Serial #'d 43/62.

It's kind of mis-cut, but at least it's not all warped outta shape.

Topps may have solved the problem of the crazily warping chromious cards.

2 Target 3 Pack Blisters

The sewingmachinegal and I went to Target for Kleenex, a pink shirt, and a few other things. The card aisle drew me over. I snagged a couple of those three pack blister packs of 2011 Topps Heritage. The bonus in each pack is a three card pack of black bordered parallel cards. These blackies are not chrome like some other parallels.

I am really liking this years Heritage offering. Although I have not 'hit' a great card with my retail buying, I have unwrapped some cool cards. Anytime a Pujols is drawn, it's a good thing.

Check Your Heritage for Tinting

I grabbed a blaster box of 2011 Heritage from Meijer (Midwest based big box store) today. The cards at Meijer are 20% off right now.

Sifting through the packs, I noticed something odd about the Heath Bell card. It had a green tint to it. Checking the box, I noticed that there are green tint variations seeded 1:108 packs. Damn! Those are long odds. To compare, a Clubhouse Collection relic card falls 1:58 packs.

You can get more info on tint variations at baseballcardpedia.com.