Topps Diamond Giveaway thoughts and trades

The 2011 Topps Diamond Giveaway is the 21st century way of collecting trading cards - the cards in your portfolio are mostly the same from the 00s, 90s, 80s, 70s and before, but you don't really have the cards in hand. If you want them delivered, you need a credit card to ship your cards to you for S/H.

I find myself logging in each day to see which cards I maybe able to trade for - even though I only have a lousy 11 cards.

I made a couple of more trades that seemed to make sense - I traded my 1979 Topps Dennis Martinez for a 1978 Topps Darrell Porter and my 1978 Topps Rollie Fingers for a 1980 Topps Gary Carter.

I got exposed to a lot of Martinez cards through the 1986-1992 junk wax era - so it was a breath of fresh air to trade for something just a little bit different.

I think I was ecstatic being able to trade my 1978 Topps Rollie Fingers for a 1980 Topps Gary Carter - I've stashed away a 'tools of ignorance' collection picturing catchers or non-catchers with catching equipment.

Most of my cards are from the last 20 years - so it is nice that I can pick up a card featuring a nice action shot of the Hall of Fame catcher showing he tagged out an incoming runner trying to score.

Topps Diamond Giveaway trade

I didn't exactly wait to jump on an 'interesting offer,' but I did dump my 1989 Topps George Brett for a 1995 Topps Jose Canseco - even 20 years later, I think the 1989 Topps set makes my skin crawl because it was such an uninspired, boring set devoid of innovation.

Probably from about 1994 through the present, Topps has come out with consistently decent looking sets - while not every set is a 'winner,' there are no '1989 Topps' among the last 16 or 17 years.

This was almost a done deal - if there were only more cards offered instead of one lone Cal Ripken Jr. card...maybe a combination of some vintage 1988, 1989, 1990 Topps to sweeten the pot for my 1960 Topps Frank Malzone.

Featured autograph - Julio Teheran

Atlanta Braves top prospect Julio Teheran signed this card for me at the Futures Game hotel in 2010 - for a young prospect, he has got a very legible autograph, though I wonder how if it hasn't shorted up already.

Teheran looks to make his Major League debut Saturday against the Philadelphia Phillies - despite not quite having the same buzz and fanfare like Stephen Strasburg's MLB debut in 2010, there should still be a lot of interest, particularly from the 'prospectors' who are hoping someone like the 20-year old Teheran becomes an impact player for years to come.

A fun fact is a memorabilia company already has Teheran on lock down and he doesn't typically sign the sweet spots on baseballs - unless at an organized event where fans are paying for his autographs.

Featured autograph - Eric Hosmer

I got this Eric Hosmer autograph card scribbled on in-person at the 2010 All-Star Futures Game - the autograph placement was not great but there was a lot of people at the game and the Kansas City Royals uber prospect was trying to do his duty for sign for a number of fans.

Hosmer made his Major League debut Friday night and while he hasn't had a chance to do something in the Major Leagues yet - he was his hitting .439 in the minors with a .525 on-base percentage and .582 slugging percentage at the time of his call-up.

Last of the two Topps Diamond code cards - 1983 Topps Bill Madlock and 1989 Topps George Brett

1983 Topps Bill Madlock - don't know much about him, but doing some digging around on his stats, it looks like he was a pretty good player collecting just over 2,000 hits in his playing career and winning National League batting titles in 1975, 1976, 1981 and 1983.

1989 Topps George Brett - this is a card I probably won't have delivered, though I'm hoping to get some interesting offers for it, since Brett is a Hall of Famer.

Admittedly, my early years in card collecting was spent with the likes of 1989 Topps, 1990 Topps, 1990 Fleer and 1990 Donruss - there is something I just don't like about this particular card. Maybe I've seen it too many times over the years and realize it was worth a quarter back 20 years ago and it is probably now worth a nickel in 2011.

More Topps Diamond - 1979 Topps Dennis Martinez and 1978 Topps Rollie Fingers

I relented to enter the rest of the Topps Diamond Giveaway code cards I got from my 2011 Topps Value Box breaks - a 1979 Topps Dennis Martinez is a common, but I do remember him superficially as an older veteran who had reinvented himself as the ace of the Montreal Expos pitching staff from the late 1980s through the early 1990s.

1978 Topps Rollie Fingers - the first thing to notice is probably Fingers' trademark handlebar mustache and the second thing is the San Diego Padres' mustard-and-brown uniform / caps of the 1970s were really gaudy.

Even though Fingers is a Hall of Famer unlike Martinez - I'm probably looking to getsome sort of package deal of cards for this one or maybe one unique card i.e. a pre-1973 Topps common card of some vintage. I've seen my share of Fingers cards [mostly retro or late career] over the years and have gotten his autograph on various cards / items through the mid 2000s.

Vladimir Guerrero Diamond Die Cut

I unlocked a Topps Diamond code and ended up with this Vladimir Guerrero Diamond Die-Cut - this suddenly became the most unique card out of my portfolio. However, besides any interesting offers I may get, I'm thinking the Diamond Cuts cards may only be worth so much after people actually end up getting them delivered in-hand.

Unlocked another Topps Diamond Giveaway code

I got a 2007 Topps Rich Aurilia, which was a dud - but I got a bonus code, which led to a vintage 1960 Topps card of Frank Malzone.

Unlocked some Topps Diamond Giveaway codes

I was thinking about it lately and I hadn't gotten in on any Diamond Giveway action for the longest time - I ended up with about eight code cards [two pulled from packs] from the three 2011 Topps Value Boxes I purchased and wondered what to do with them?

I know I'd like to go to the Diamond Giveway Web site and enter the codes sooner than later - whether it is nefarious or not, there is a certain gambling element in play as you plug in a code and hope for something, anything of note.

I ended up entering two of the codes Sunday night and got a 1973 Topps Dave Marshall [who?] and a 1983 Topps Super Veterans subset card of Phil Niekro - maybe I should have save the rest of the unused codes to sell, particularly when the code cards are good for $3 or $4 each.

Chances are however, I'll probably end up entering the rest of the six four remaining code cards - after scratching in another set of codes Monday night.

2011 Topps Value Box three box recap - six packs of 2011 Topps Heritage Hobby

These six packs of 2011 Topps Heritage were from a 2011 Topps Value Box - I ended up picking up three boxes for $14.99 each at Target.

I think these new retail configurations Topps has come up over the last year or so has evolved and is doing wonders - as far as appealing to a collectors making impulsive purchases at a big box store.

In my mind, $50 is more than I want to spend at one time on cards at Target - but people have been busting a lot of these boxes on the Freedom Card Board and Blowout Cards forums because of the resale value of the two Diamond Giveaway code cards as well as potential hits on the two 2011 Topps Heritage hobby packs.

In each value box, the two 2011 Topps Heritage hobby packs maybe worth $5 each and the Diamond Giveaway code cards maybe worth $3 each - the five 2011 Topps retail packs included maybe worth $2 each, the bonus card [either a Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson or Babe Ruth] maybe worth $2 and the booklet enclosed with a gallery of Topps cards from the last 60 years / 2011 schedules for all 30 MLB teams maybe worth $1.

So for $50 of my actual hard earned cash - I'll take my chances on the unopened packs, but as far as guestimated value of the contents as they are packaged, I'm getting $28 worth of cards per each box.

Maybe Topps should work on something like this for baseball card shoppes that still exist - offer an attractive box of cards to entice collectors who want to purchase more than just loose packs, but don't exactly want to spend $75, $100, $125 on a full hobby box purchase.

Pack one - first box
#203 Kevin Millwood
#419 Wandy Rodriguez
#127 Dallas Braden / Trevor Cahill - Pride of the A's
#411 Michael Young
#335 Austin Jackson
C83 Justin Morneau / Joe Mauer - Twin Terrors Chrome refractor serial #'s 418/562
#18 Albert Pujols / Ryan Braun - Managers' Dream
#312 Roy Halladay - Doc Shows His Perfect Form
#64 Nick Markakis

Pack two
#351 Justin Morneau / Joe Mauer Twin Terrors
#130 Omar Infante
#307 Jair Jurrjens
#29 Terry Collins
#40 Pablo Sandoval

#486 Martin Prado - SP
#137 Babe and Mr. Huggins

#239 Brandon Beachy

#182 Cody Ross

Pack three - second box
#363 Nick Hundley
#252 James McDonald

#CCR-10 Ike Davis - Clubhouse Collection relic
#383 Daniel Hudson
#75 Chris Tillman
#338 Brett Gardner
#1 Josh Hamilton
#247 Jonathan Lucroy

Pack four
#45 Evan Longoria
#315 C.C. Sabathia - Sabathia Tosses a Curve
#367 Dan Uggla

#39 Erick Aybar
#129 Carlos Quentin
#311 Derek Jeter - Jeter Makes the Double Play
#106 Yadier Molina
#406 Tyler Colvin
#158 Atlanta Braves - Team Card

Pack five - third box
#197 Casey Blake
#389 Ryan Doumit
#123 Aaron Hill
#70 Justin Morneau

#NAP-6 Ubaldo Jimenez - New Age Performers insert
#58 2010 National League Wins Leaders
#336 John Lackey
#153 Marco Scutaro
#128 Joel Pineiro
#4 of 6 Checklist

Pack six
#362 Greg Halman
#319 Tim Lincecum - Lincecum Shows His Stuff
#214 Chris Sale
#401 Matt Kemp / Andre Ethier - Dodgers Dandies

#433 Kyle Davies - SP
#88 Joe Girardi
#353 Neil Walker
#242 Manny Acta
#96 Jered Weaver

Featured autograph - Jean Segura

Segura is coming on strong as the second best position player in the Angels' minor league system - after being a second baseman for much of his 4-year pro career, he has shifted over to shortstop in 2011 and it tempts me to believe this guy could be a Starlin Castro clone.

I got this autograph in-person after an Inland Empire 66ers game on April 23 - it was Ken Griffey Jr. bobblearm night, so getting the doll was a nice bonus in addition to the autographs I got with my friend.

Not the finds of a lifetime

When my parents and I were at my sister's newish house for dinner, her husband brought out his younger brother's cards for me to look at - there was several boxes of cards, maybe a binder filled with hockey cards and some 'good' baseball cards like a 1987 Topps Mark McGwire, 1987 Topps Will Clark RC, a Lance Parrish autographed card, a couple of 1988 Topps 'white triangle' McGwire record breaker cards, some Jose Canseco cards and others.

There was a b/w 8x10 glossy of Chad Curtis and some odd-sized b/w promotional photos autographed by some California Angels of the early 1990s - the best one was probably a Dave Winfield that had some damage of some sort on the photo/autograph.

It was sort of fun trying to go through them, though it took me about five minutes to realize it was the typical 1986-1992 junk wax collection - I said I expected as much and perhaps the only real interesting cards that may have stood out [because they were older than 1988-1992 range] was a 1968 Topps Stan Bahnsen rookie card and a 1976 Topps Babe Ruth.

Featured autograph - Troy Percival

Former Angels closer Troy Percival threw out the first pitch before Thursday's game and signed autographs for the first 100 people - with the signings being announced immediately after a former Angel throws the first pitch, it seems the line forms quickly behind the center field rocks.

Hall of Famer Rod Carew threw out the first pitch before Friday's game - I assume people lined up to get his autograph soon as the gates opened.

For Percival, I chose to get a 1992 Bowman rookie card #290 signed - because I wanted a card that was a little more unique, even though Option 1 was a 2001 Fleer Tradition setter.

Percival took a moment to point out the card to the handler at the table who was turned away for a moment - I think he said something like, "see that's how I looked on my first card."

A group of three or four guys who seemed to know Percival [they called him 'Big Daddy'] asked me what I'd gotten signed - at first they thought I didn't get his autograph until I showed them the signed card and explained it was the one I'd just gotten signed.

When I started to walk away but still lingering to take pictures, one the guys motioned for me to come back and they were still curious about the card - asking whether or not it was hard to find [I got it for a buck], wondering what the 'B' means [Bowman], what he was wearing [I told them 'street clothes,' like others from this set] and wanting to see the back [to kind of see when the card was made].

Thoughts on Ryan Braun and the investment the Milwaukee Brewers made on his legacy

With the news of Ryan Braun's extension, it is fascinating to see Major League teams make value judgements as to which player they have otherwise annointed their face of the franchise - to maintain their organization's brand.

A player like Braun is a public trust more than ever before and making sure he is a a lifelong Brewer was something important to that franchise - to build fan confidence.

Maybe I used to think Major League Baseball players produced and got big contracts and little else mattered - but someone like Braun sort of becomes royalty and their status becomes even more inflated among fans, advertisers, media.

If a team spends $100 million to extend Braun - it means they view him more that just a guy who is obviously expected to be an All-Star performer.

I don't know what it says for the wishy/washy way the Brewers have dealt with Prince Fielder's contracts - I guess they don't consider him as special with regards to his value to the organization and will have no problems 'not being able to afford his demands' when it comes down to paying for him.

However, the lament of 'modern day' professional athletes in Major League Baseball not staying with one team anymore seems antiquated - bitching about a young player getting squeezed such as being kept in the minors due to service time / arbitration issues seems out of place when even seemingly non big market MLB teams are willing to step up and lock up their franchise guys.

Skunked by A.J. Pierzynski's apparent ghostsigner

A.J. Pierzynski c/o Chicago White Sox [spring training] - I think I sent this request out on 2/18 and got it back on 4/20/11; the card was signed in blue ink but it doesn't appear to be Pierzynski's actual autograph.

I know of at least two variations of his autograph - one closer to his early signature, where it looks like Pierzynski has scribbled out his last name kind of letter-for-letter. There is also his 'current' autograph where it looks mostly like this and 'sloppier' variations of it.

The SASE I got back was postmarked from Phoenix, so I assume it was left behind at the White Sox facility at Camelback Ranch - instead of simply mailing my card back unsigned [maybe it was buried beneath a pile of letters that Pierzynski never touched], someone decided to have some fun at my expense.

Brandon Wood - an Angel never has been

It was bittersweet to read about the Angels designating Brandon Wood for assignment - particularly after a trio of young Angels [Mark Trumbo, Peter Bourjos and Hank Conger] had combined for nine hits in a 15-4 win against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday.

There are guys like Albert Pujols who seem to hit from their first day in the Major Leagues and there are guys who struggle before enjoying any sort of success - as much potential Wood showed through his minor league career, it is puzzling why it had taken him so long to do anything with the Angels.

Maybe he should have taken the slow and steady route, like Trumbo - who isn't that much younger than Wood.

It might have taken awhile for Trumbo to get to the Major Leagues - but the Angels nearly buried the guy until he was 24 and maybe it was the right thing to do.

Wood on the other hand, was the top prospect whom the Angels probably couldn't wait to push through the minors - because of his once tangible power potential.

As I look through my handful of random Wood cards and lament his failure as a Major Leaguer - it looks like without establishing himself in Anaheim, the book on his Angels' career is a waiver claim away from being closed for good.

Pocket schedules and Grady Sizemore

Reading up on this blog post about collecting pocket schedules, I can't say I'm a big pocket sked guy - I've got enough clutter to worry about when it comes to hoarding various MLB team related trinkets.

I will concede that I may pick up and keep a few, if they feature an actual player [like Grady Sizemore pictured on a 2009 Cleveland Indians spring training pocket sked] or unique team logo of some sort - maybe I should go and hoard the Angels 2011 pocket skeds, since I can get them signed by various Angels alumni and other players I might not have cards for.

Despite the injuries suffered by Sizemore over the last several years - he maybe a guy who just needs to get on the field in order to be the impact player he was in the late 2000s.

When you can't watch a guy play after being hyped up as a future superstar and living up to some of the press clippings - you kind have doubts as to whether someone like Sizemore will ever be 'that guy' who you pay attention to as a visiting player coming to play your local MLB team.

However, there maybe still a lot of baseball talent left in Sizemore's body - as long as he actually healthy.

Featured autograph - Sam Fuld

I was rummaging through the stands after a Chicago Cubs spring training game at HoHoKam Park back in 2009 - lingering around just before being kicked out of the stands and looking for a souvenir cup or something I can clean up and take home.

I think I found some trail mix that was still sealed in the bag and also found a discarded program, with a couple of autographs - the program was no good to me because the cover was bent out of shape.

However there were a couple of autographs on it and I think I got one more random player to sign it when he came out of the locker room - one of the two autographs that were already signed on the program is apparently Sam Fuld's, who has gotten some early season love as the next gritty, scrappy, tiny player to seemingly come out of nowhere and become David Eckstein...or maybe Reggie Willits.

32 card rookie lot purchase recap - some highlights

2011 Topps Mark Trumbo #57

2011 Topps Platinum Diamond parallel Mark Trumbo #57

2011 Topps Hank Conger #285

2011 Topps Kyle Drabek #70

2011 Topps Platinum Diamond parallel Kyle Drabek #70

I picked up a 32 card lot of 2011 Topps / 2011 Topps Heritage rookies [$4 shipped] - I didn't know what I was getting, but it wasn't a bad lot with five Angels cards and several other 'rookie stars' included.

2011 Topps Platinum Diamond parallel Brian Bogusevic #88
2011 Topps Greg Halman #83
2011 Topps Brian Bogusevic #87 x2
2011 Topps Lucas May #91
2011 Topps Ben Revere #99
2011 Topps Aroldis Chapman #110
2011 Topps Brett Sinkbeil #117
2011 Topps Lucas Duda #129
2011 Topps Jeremy Jeffress #143
2011 Topps Freddie Freeman #145
2011 Topps Jeremy Hellickson #165
2011 Topps Jose Ceda #196
2011 Topps Brandon Snyder #213
2011 Topps Lars Anderson #254
2011 Topps Jake McGee #268
2011 Topps Scott Cousins #287
2011 Topps Darren Ford #292
2011 Topps Brent Morel #322
2011 Topps Heritage Corey Luebke #69
2011 Topps Heritage Sinkbeil #131
2011 Topps Heritage Jordan Walden #194
2011 Topps Heritage Bogusevic #204
2011 Topps Heritage Ceda #266
2011 Topps Heritage Eric Sogard #348
2011 Topps Heritage Trumbo #404
2011 Topps Heritage Jarrod Dyson #414

Featured autograph - Derrel Thomas

From one of the stacks on my desk, I was able to dig out two cards signed by Derrel Thomas - who basically was a California Angel for all of 14 games and 33 plate appearances back in September of 1984 [after being purchased from the Montreal Expos].

I think my friend got the pair [one is a 1978 Topps card] of cards autographed before one of the Los Angeles Dodgers games a few years ago - looks like Thomas enjoyed most of his Major League success as a utility infielder / outfielder for the Dodgers.