A Dollar at the Dime Box - Mansfield Show - Pt 5

As usual I have a ton of great new cards and post ideas, but no time to get to any of it. I feel like I need to finish a couple of things first here (like catch up on trade/thank you posts) before I move on to anything new.  To that end, here's the 5th and final post featuring the cards I plucked from a dime box at a recent show...

Surprise, surprise, there are more Red Sox in this post.  I was fairly certain that I didn't have this Mo Vaughn card, and after getting home and looking around further I'm still just fairly certain.  What else can I say, I have a lot of organizing still do to when it comes to my Red Sox cards...

Here's another Fleer Ultra Ken Griffey Jr.  I showed the '93 version in an earlier post and just had to take the '92 as well.  What a great baseball card, but I'm biased given that I would have been just 9 years old the first time I laid eyes on it.

Here's a Bowman Chrome rookie of pitcher Kyle Weiland.  I don't recall where he ended up in the long run, and I'm too lazy and short on time to look it up right now.  I do have some memories of him pitching at least one or two solid games for the Sox though, including one in Yankee Stadium I believe.

I thought this Upper Deck Retrospectives insert of Rick Nash was interesting.  Doesn't really fit into my collection but maybe it will end up in a trade package someday.

This might have been my steal of the show.  These yellow parallels from 2009-10 Upper Deck Champ's fall at just one per box, the toughest pull of the colored parallels.  I've been pumped to find a couple in dollar boxes before, but to find one for a dime is unheard of.  On top of that Vanek has been tearing it up, in fact he's your current NHL leader in both assists and total points as of the time of this post.  Not too shabby!

Another Sergei Fedorov, no explanation needed here.  I'm up into the triple digits now for Fedorov cards but did not have this one.

Here's another one that doesn't really fit into my collection per se, but was just too cool to leave behind for ten cents.  I highly doubt we'll ever see a two-sport star again, so I sort of gravitate towards Sanders and Bo Jackson, the two-sport stars of my youth.

An Allen & Ginter card that I needed, and a chance to add a new Negro League player to my collection who wasn't represented on cardboard in my shoebox previously.  That's a win/win.

After buying my cards I truly thought that I already had this Eddie Mathews, as I busted a decent amount of 2008 Goudey retail packs.  Looks like I was wrong though, I didn't have Eddie.  Like the Rick Nash, this could end up getting mailed out someday.

Finally, we have a 1994 Bowman's Best Blue Jose Malave.  Not the most exciting card to end on, I know.  Jose played just 45 games over 2 seasons in Boston (1996 and 1997).  That would be the extent of his Major League career.

So there you have it, 50 cards for $5.  I doubt you could get much more value out of $5 anywhere in the hobby.  I think I need to hit up this show more often!

A Raven Visited My Mailbox

At least a couple of weeks back now, I came home to a bubble mailer awaiting me in my mailbox.  Looking at the address I knew it was from one of my favorite new card bloggers, Michael aka The Card Raven.  I enjoy reading his blog, and I think he and I have a lot in common when it comes to cards and many other things in life.  Inside the package were some really great Red Sox cards.  I won't show them all (I'm saving one for a future post) but here are a few favorites...

We'll start off with one off of my official want list.  My published list consists of mostly complete sets I'm chasing, there are a million Red Sox cards I need to add but working on a want list seems to always fall towards the bottom of my hobby priority list.  Anyway, I liked the 2011 Topps Diamond Anniversary parallels enough when they came out to try to track down all the Red Sox.  I nearly completed Series 1 (still need Marco Scutaro), but had lost enthusiasm by the time Series 2 was released.  Hideki here gets me one step closer!

There were quite a few Bowman cards.  I don't ever buy Bowman and like many collectors am usually befuddled by it given that the sets all look so similar.  I like any Red Sox card I didn't have though, and this one is especially nice.  My first Jackie Bradley Jr. card actually!  I can't wait to see this kid get some MLB at-bats someday (assuming he's not dealt) to see if he lives up to the hype.

I realized when scanning in the cards for this post that this is the first 2011 Topps Chrome in my organized, scanned and inventoried collection.  That seems strange to me, I must have at least a few of these floating around that I just haven't scanned in yet.

This Will Middlebrooks insert was perhaps my favorite card in the package.  He is without a doubt a bright spot on the roster and I'm hoping he can turn in a full, healthy season in 2013.  15 HR and 54 RBI in less than half of the team's games last season makes you think he could put up some really nice numbers if he can manage 140+ games.

I like this shot of Kevin Youkilis.  I had the standard Topps version but this Chrome card is new to me.

Here's another new Beckett, this one an insert from 2011 Topps Update.  David Ortiz also has a card in this set that I'd like to track down.

Another first, my first Wal-Mart Black parallel from 2011 Topps.  JD may be gone, but we'll see how his little brother Stephen fares in Boston this season.  Most fans are unfairly skeptical at this point.  I hope he doesn't get off to a slow start, or there will be some pretty comical taunts coming from the Fenway faithful.

I didn't buy any 2011 Allen & Ginter, not so much as a single pack.  I have accumulated a handful of cards, but this is my first code card.  I like this one, even if Daniel Bard did forget how to throw the ball over the plate.

Last but certainly not least, a 1958 Topps George Susce!  Any package that contains a Red Sox card from the '50s that I didn't have is an automatic winner, no matter what else is included.

This is my 9th 1958 Topps Red Sox card, so I'm about 1/3 of the way to a complete team set.  Sure it's been gently loved, but that's actually perfect because it fits right at home with some of my other cards condition-wise, like this one:

Thank you for the fantastic package Michael!  Believe it or not I needed every single card you sent, and your package went a long way towards my goal of 2,000 Red Sox cards by the end of the year.

I look forward to reading The Card Raven and sending you Mets cards for many years to come!  Already have a pile ready to go for you that includes some 2013 Mets...

Signature Sundays - Sean Burke

It's been a whole lot of baseball here lately so for this week's Signature Sundays post we're going back to hockey, taking a look at yet another 2012-13 Panini Classics Signatures auto.  As you probably guessed by the post title, it's yet another Hartford Whalers auto:

I still feel these autos are very well done.  I get that some of the subjects are questionable for a mid-to-high-tier release.  I guess that's why the price point on these boxes seems to be dropping (roughly $15 less than they were going for last time I posted one of these).  I truly appreciate the chance to get on-card Whalers autographs of some of these players for the first time though.

This is my first Burke autograph, and as far as I know it's the first Whalers autograph anyone's produced of Sean.  He was the team's mainstay between the pipes from the time he came to the Whalers prior to the '92-93 season straight through the franchise's final year in Hartford.  He played more games in net for Hartford than anyone (4 more than Mike Liut, Al Smith beat him out but only if you count the New England Whalers WHA games) and many times I saw him play in person, so I'm glad to have his autograph in my Whalers collection at last.

Still really digging the backs too.  This one set me back a mere $4.25 with shipping, and is my third Hartford Whalers auto from the set (Ulf Samuelsson and Pat Verbeek being the other two).  My total cost for the three so far has come to $20.25.  There are a couple more Whalers autos still to go, hopefully you'll see them here in a future Signature Sundays post.

Enjoy the Super Bowl everyone!

2013 Topps Blaster Success

I succumbed to weakness.  I don't buy much modern wax but I was in Target yesterday running some errands and I caved and picked up a blaster of 2013 Topps Series 1.  I really liked what I had seen of the set on a few blogs, which granted wasn't a whole lot.  A blaster I saw from Night Owl though was pretty great, so I went for it.  How did I fare?  I'd call it a huge success!

Each blaster contains one patch card to go with your 10 packs.  You can get a variety of different types of patches, including Commemorative Patches and Rookie Card Patches.  For me, this ended up being the card that made my box:

I pulled a Willie Mays Rookie Patch Card.  These remind me more of the Topps Silk cards from the past few years.  I'm not really big on the whole manufactured patch card thing, I find them kind of gimmicky unless it's a player or team I collect.  This card instantly went up for sale on eBay, a one-day auction with a .99 cents starting price and no reserve, basically an attempt to capitalize on the craze due to the flagship set being just a couple of days old.  Boy did this strategy ever pay off!  Believe it or not this card netted me $15.38!  Thanks to Willie here my blaster effectively cost me $4.61.  Let's see what that $4 and change resulted in...

47 base cards.  I definitely do like the design, really creative concept of using the corners of the card to form the basepath.  Daisuke was the first card in my first pack.  Would it be an omen for a blaster chock full of Red Sox?  Not really...

I'm not going to show you every card, especially since you've probably already seen them 10 other places by now, just a couple of highlights instead.

Craig Breslow here was the only other Red Sox base card I pulled.

Great shot of Jon Jay crashing into the wall next to Tony LaRussa...

...and finally a pair of celebration cards...

47 cards out of 330 is acceptable as far as I'm concerned for a $20 blaster.

19 Target Red Parallels, which fall at 2 per pack.  Basically 19 base cards robbed from the collector, forcing you to buy more wax.  I seem to have a weakness for colored parallels though, and I really don't mind these.  I should have had 20 in total from the blaster, but my lone damaged card from the blaster was one of these (Justin Masterson).

Unfortunately there wasn't a single Red Sox Target Red parallel to be found.  Oh well, maybe next time...

The next few inserts are off to the trade box and the Zistle trade list.

I do have to say that the Chasing History inserts are much nicer than a lot of the crap Topps has thrown at collectors over the past few years, not half bad looking cards.

I still won't be collecting these inserts though.

I got two Emeral Foil parallels, which are headed to the same place as the inserts above.

These 1972 Topps Minis are  my favorite insert by a long shot.  I know there were no '72 minis but I just really love these parallels.  Unlike Lineage they actually have proper backs, which I'll get to below...

These Calling Card inserts have a nice look to them, one of the few insert sets I'm considering collecting...

Towards the end of the box this Clemente die-cut turned up.  These last two cards would make any Pirates fan happy.  The Cut to the Chase die-cuts fall at 1:14 packs, so you're not guaranteed one in a blaster.  Couldn't ask for a much better pull than Clemente.  I'll be hanging onto this one for now.

Same with this Target Red parallel, definitely a keeper.  Bryce Harper Rookie Cup, which just so happens to be card #1 in the set.  A great example of when these colored parallels work.  I'm sure I could make a few bucks back if I sold this one but I like it enough to hang onto it for now.

Finally, we have my favorite pull from the entire box.  There are only 3 Red Sox on the 50-card 1972 Topps Minis checklist, so I was psyched to pull one of them in my very first blaster.

Here's a look at the back, well done!  One of the more interesting Red Sox cards I've pulled from a pack in a while.

I have to say that was a ton of fun.  I thoroughly enjoyed this blaster.  To flip the Mays manu-patch and land all the rest of these cards for under $5 made this an unquestionable win.  $4.61 netted me 77 cards (1 damaged and I don't count the useless code cards that I received two of), so in the end I paid less than 6 cents per card!  I pretty much have to try this again, right?

A Dollar at the Dime Box - Mansfield Show - Pt 4

Here's the fourth installment of five featuring cards plucked from the dime box at a recent show. This one's a bit heavy on the Red Sox, with 5 of the 10 cards filling in gaps in my Sox collection...

I was surprised to see that Daisuke made the checklist for 2013 Topps.  This card here's a Topps Stars insert from the 2007 set.

Pedro is on the short list of players who I simply cannot leave behind in a dime box.

Here's one more of those Baseball Flashbacks Heritage inserts that I showed some of a couple of posts back.  Killer is one of the most under-rated superstars of yesteryear.  Had he played in New York or Boston his cards would demand more of a premium.

I've talked more than once about my guilty pleasure of accumulating Alexandre Daigle cards, and here's another one.  This card is ugly as sin but I just couldn't leave it in the box.  I know it's an illness, I'm working on it.

Another cheap early-'90s Classic issue, this is from the same insert set as the Teemu Selanne that was in the first dime box post.

I can't put my finger on why, pretty sure it's 90% nostalgia, but few things from the junk wax era appeal to me more than the Fleer Ultra rookies from the first couple of baseball/basketball/hockey sets that featured the gold foil ROOKIE ribbon.  A dime for Felix?  No question, a great looking card.

I don't post nearly enough of them here, but I definitely have a thing for oddball cards, including the atrocious-looking Classic releases like this one.  These are sometimes tough to find without some condition wear, at least in my experience, so I would have paid $1 for this mint condition Griffey.  This was definitely one of the cards I was happiest to stumble across in my time standing at the dime box.

I'll close this one with a trio of Red Sox.  Wade Boggs, who I recently acquired an on-card auto of at long last, from the 1987 Donruss Baseball Highlights set...

...a Jon Lester Opening Day card (yes I know an Opening Day common is not a great dime box find)...

...and another Pedro (see above).

I have one more round of 10 from the dime box to post this weekend, as well as a couple more trade packages...