Wednesday, December 31, 2014

First Amazon pick ups - a couple of Hall of Fame baseballs

I got a $50 gift card to Amazon from a Secret Santa exchange and wondered how I would actually spend it since I really thought of Amazon as an online bookstore - maybe I'd get one of those annual baseball card reference books that are about as thick as a brick, though I'd probably lose interest in that 10 minutes after I flip through it.

As I browsed through Amazon Web site, I realized it was like flipping through a hard copy giant mail order catalog where all sorts of goods were offered - the Web site is kind of like eBay with various sellers offering different goods, except it's all fixed price listings.

I was tempted to look up some baseball cards listings, though most seemed priced for those who don't know much about them - which meant absurd, inflated prices.

When it comes to autographs, I'm usually a 'card guy,' but I looked for some unsigned baseballs since I occasionally try to get them signed - I usually stick with the regular official MLB baseballs, so I was aiming to find something different since I see other collectors clutching specialty baseballs commemorating various events, awards and/or honors.

I ended up getting a couple of Hall of Fame baseballs from the Outfitter Country storefront - there was a local seller selling similar baseballs, but I chose the one which had the shipping built into the price of each ball and which didn't charge me a sales tax.

The total came out to $49.90 and after I'd made the order last Friday - the baseballs arrived Tuesday afternoon.

The balls arrived in a small bubble mailer - the balls were individually boxed and I could see one box a little more beat up than the other.

I opened the more dinged up box to see how the ball looked like - the Hall of Fame logo was a little blemished [first thing I actually look at with any unsigned baseballs] and one part of the ball had some visible spotting.

It just happens, but when spots start to show up on your balls, is when you start to cringe just a little bit inside - I'll probably use the ball on 'second tier' Hall of Famer I may run into or maybe even mail it out to try and get autographed.

The other baseball was relatively clean, so that is good to go for something - I guess my first adventure into the Amazon wasn't bad, though I might stick to other online resources to buy different sports collectible goods.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

2014 Panini Prizm Perennial Draft Picks Minors Gold Sean Newcomb

I picked this up for a buck and change - it maybe worth $0.50 at the same time next year, but it's a nice and shiny insert of the 2014 Angels first rounder.

2014 Topps Heritage High Numbers George Springer

I might end up hoarding a 'low-end' mini-collection of Springer after finding some of his cards recently, including this one I found for $0.40 - he has the potential to be an impact player through his prime, if he stays relatively healthy.

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Erisbel Arruebarrena

I picked up some base cards of Arruebarrena recently - after signing a five-year, $25 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, I don't think he ever made the impact expected and maybe trade bait with Jimmy Rollins at shortstop for now.

For a number of reasons, Arruebarrena bounced around four levels of minor league baseball in 2014, playing in only 68 games - he logged in 22 more games with the Dodgers, but hit only .195.

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Card show trip highlights

I spent $14.50 and picked up three 11x14 toploaders [$1.50 each] and five ball cubes [$2.00 each] just to leave with something - I picked out about 50 assorted cards from another booth's quarter boxes, but the guy there was too busy with his chicken bowl to acknowledge me, so I just finally walked away.

Maybe I should have said something - but I didn't want to bother the guy.

Friday, December 26, 2014

R.I.P Ryan Bolden 1991-2014

I had six cards of Bolden in a discard pile, not knowing what to do with cards of a failed Angels prospect - last week, I learned that he was shot and killed over a kids' argument about candy; now his life cut short, the cards I have are headed to my 'beyond the glory' mini-collection as sort of a tribute to the young man.

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Assorted vintage / old school pick-ups

I picked up a handful of assorted vg-ex cards and spent about an hour or so trying to create a post late Saturday night - adding pictures and commentary.

I thought I saved it and figured to set up another post - but I guess I wasn't paying attention and [perhaps I had a duplicate tab open for whatever reason] probably cut and paste whatever that was going onto a subsequent post into the one I felt I'd put all my effort into.

I'm not happy, but perhaps losing a post only means there is an opportunity to put together a new one - with the original serving as sort of a rough draft.

Maybe the main point of the original post was I'm looking to build up a little more cardboard diversity in my mini-collections - besides just rounding up cards printed from the last 30 years.

If I was really more organized, I'd have a formal, detailed wantlist so I'd know what to grab - as is, I was mostly looking for cards of players from different nations, particularly Latin America.

1970 Topps Roberto Pena #44 - Dominican Republic
1970 Topps Gill Garrido #48
- Panama
1970 Topps Juan Rios #89
- Puerto Rico
1970 Topps Jerry Morales / Jim Williams #262 - Puerto Rico

1971 Topps Duane Josephson #56 - tools of ignorance
1972 Topps Jim Nettles #131
- bloodlines; brother of Graig

1973 Topps Ed Kirkpatrick #233
- tools of ignorance

1973 Topps Ivan Murrell #409 - Panama

1974 Topps Paul Casanova #272
- Cuba

1974 Topps Steve Mingori #537
- facial hair
1975 Topps Carmen Fanzone #363
- had a second career as a musician; goes into my cult players / cult feats mini-collection.

1976 Topps Pepe Mangual #164
- Puerto Rico
1976 Topps Willie Montanez #181
- Puerto Rico
1976 Topps Luis Melendez #399
- Puerto Rico
1976 Topps Ted Martinez #356
- Dominican Republic

1978 Topps Oscar Zamora #91
- Cuba
1980 Topps Fernando Gonzalez #171
- Puerto Rico

1980 Topps Mark Lee #557
- facial hair
1984 Fleer Roy Lee Jackson #158
- featured on the Dime Boxes blog, I stumbled upon the card while leafing through a loose stack of 1984 Fleer.
1984 Fleer Luis DeLeon #297
- Puerto Rico
1984 Fleer Mario Ramirez #309
- Puerto Rico

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Random card pick ups

1998 Score Rookie & Traded David Ortiz #RT 74

1998 Score Rookie & Traded Billy Wagner #RT 77

1998 Score Rookie & Traded Vinny Castilla #RT 78

1998 Score Rookie & Traded Pat Hentgen #RT 87

1998 Score Rookie & Traded Garret Anderson #RT 162

1998 Score Rookie & Traded Darryl Hamilton #RT 200

1998 Score Rookie & Traded Mo Vaughn #RT 259

1998 Topps Doug Glanville #37

1998 Topps Scott Hatteberg #228

1998 Topps Roberto Alomar #285

1998 Topps Brian Jordan #287

1998 Topps Todd Hundley #294

1998 Topps Raul Mondesi #333

1998 Topps Tom Goodwin #376

1998 Topps Delino DeShields #400

Saturday, December 20, 2014

2014 Bowman Draft Super Jumbo pack recap #2

#TP-22 J.P. Crawford
#DP 58 Grant Hochin
#TP-39 Aaron Judge
#DP 69 Mitch Keller
#TP-50 Jacoby Jones
#DP 80 Jace Fry
#TP-61 Tyler Glasnow
#DP 90 Josh Morgan
#TP-71 Miguel Almonte
#DP 104 Brett Austin
#CDP 74 Ronnie Williams - Chrome
#CTP 55 Luis Torrens - Chrome
#CDP 85 Brian Gonzalez - Chrome
#CDP 61 Sam Travis - Chrome
#CTP 42 Aaron Blair - Chrome
#CDP 53 Jacob Lindgren - Chrome
#TP-7 Jorge Alfaro
#DP 18 Grant Holmes
#DP 128 Jordan Foley

#DP 9 Kodi Medeiros
#DP 119 Jordan Schwartz
#DP 4 Aaron Nola
#DP 114 Jordan Montgomery
#DP 59 Alex Verdugo
#TP-40 Peter O'Brien
#DP 68 Gareth Morgan
#TP-87 Courtney Hawkins
#DP 110 Casey Soltis
#TP-29 Gabriel Guerrero
#DP 57 Cameron Varga
#TP-38 Luis Severino
#DP 49 Michael Gettys
#TP-30 Brandon Nimmo
#DP 46 Ryan Castellani
#TP-26 Dominic Smith

#DP 37 Connor Joe
#CTP 66 Jake Thompson - Chrome
#CDP 106 Chris Oliver - Chrome
#CTP 89 Devon Travis - Chrome
#CDP 103 Brian Schales - Chrome
#TP-90 Nomar Mazara - Ice parallel
#BSB-RM Ryan McMahon - Bowman Scout's Breakouts insert

#DN-MH Monte Harrison - Draft Night insert
#89 BIB-BL Ben Lively - Bowman is Back insert
#CTP 34 Alen Hanson - Chrome
#CDP 84 Milton Ramos - Chrome
#CTP 65 Christian Binford - Chrome
#CDP 97 Wyatt Strahan - Chrome
#TP-49 Alex Gonzalez
#DP 76 Andrew Morales
#TP-57 Josh Hart
#DP 87 Chad Sobotka
#TP-68 James Ramsey
#DP 94 Dylan Davis
#TP-75 Raimel Tapia
#DP 100 Jordan Luplow
#TP-83 Clayton Blackburn
#CTP 27 Hunter Harvey - Chrome refractor
#CDP 33 Forrest Wall - Chrome refractor
#CTP 13 Lucas Sims - Chrome refractor

Featured autograph - Johnny Giavotella

The Angels picked him up recently and I was geeked up since I have this random card that he signed in ballpoint ink [through the mail] laying around - the signed card maybe of use if he plays in one game for the Angels in 2015 and I can slip it into my all-time Angels autograph collection.

More than likely however, the road to Anaheim isn't as clear cut as I assume for players like Giavotella - if he does stick around through spring training, he'll probably end up in AAA for much of the season.

Friday, December 19, 2014

Assorted football card finds

I don't collect other sports cards, but I'm tempted to pass by the football section of the quarter boxes - to leaf through cards that maybe of use to fill out some of my mini-collections and/or be used to update the 'Rolodex' of assorted NFL star cards I have somewhere.

2014 Topps Platinum Alshon Jeffrey #3 
2014 Topps Platinum Drew Brees #18
2014 Topps Platinum Rob Gronkowski #20 - Blue parallel
2014 Topps Platinum Calvin Johnson #28 - Blue parallel
2014 Topps Platinum Brandon Marshall #34 
2014 Topps Platinum DeSean Jackson #42
2014 Topps Platinum Joe Flacco #47 - Blue parallel
2014 Topps Platinum Marshawn Lynch #62

2014 Topps Platinum Marshawn Lynch #62 - Blue parallel
2014 Topps Platinum Robert Griffin III #66 - Blue parallel
2014 Topps Platinum Tavon Austin #93 - Blue parallel
2014 Topps Prime Richard Sherman #PT-RS - Prime Timers insert

2014 Topps Valor Gale Sayers #19 - Strength parallel serial #'d 297/499

2014 Topps Valor Jamaal Charles #60
2014 Topps Valor Adrian Peterson #100 - this one goes into my 'infamous' mini-collection

2014 Topps Valor Rob Gronkowski #108
2014 Topps Valor Drew Brees #166
2014 Topps Valor Dez Bryant #173

2014 Topps Valor Tony Romo #179