Damn, Angels Win.

Well, the hopes of the Rangers somehow pulling out the AL West title are over. Would have liked to see a little more fight than going down 11-0 though. We'll cling to that ever so slight chance of nabbing the wildcard now.

2009 Upper Deck Icons

We are now officially trying to build this set, after Nobie received 2 blasters of it for his birthday. Please check our want lists if you have anything to offer.

Topps Ticket to Stardom Pack Rip

Picked up a couple of 2009 Topps Ticket to Stardom today, just to see what they are all about. Here's what we got.

Base cards are pretty simple, clean design. They feature the players in mostly action photos with the backgrounds lightly faded and some portion of the player breaking the border for a slight 3d appearance. The cards all have some sort of UPC looking bar on them to give them a ticket look.

At least one card per pack also has a diecut serrated upper and lower edge to further play up the ticket aspect. We got a Joba Chamberlain insert done in a different ticket style. You can see how it compares to the base card which is directly below it.

If you look closely you can see the serrated edge on the Papelbon and Francouer cards.

Out of two packs the Hanley card is the only one that Nobie needs for his favorite players binder.

Each box I think has 3 hits, and we got one! Nick Swisher auto/relic. I really like the look of this card unlike the dual swatch/autos I have seen that plaster the swatches on top of the player photo. Nobie was very excited to have pulled this from a pack even if it is a Yankee.

All in all these seem like pretty neat cards and I'm sure we'll pick up a few more here and there. At 12 cards per pack they are a pretty decent deal compared to other hobby offerings. We'll be keeping the Hanley, interest in anything else, let us know. Later.

Mystery Mail

Went to the mailbox today looking for a couple of packages I am expecting and instead got one I wasn't. It was mailed from Sharon, MA and had an assortment of 2005 Bowman cards from our favorite team/players lists. Okay, who is the guilty party? Anyone gonna fess up?

Pirate card for the masses

Dayf had a great idea this past Saturday, check out the details here. This is my entry, hope you like it.

I Need This Card, Success Plus Two!

A few weeks ago I posted about a favorite card of mine that I was trying to reacquire. It was this card.

I made the initial post hoping one of my blogging brethren may have a copy I could trade for. Turns out no one did, at least not that I heard from. I did, however, end up finding one in my local card shop after digging a little deeper than I had before. So now, Lester and his sticky fingers can once again occupy a space in my collection. This card will not be alone, though. While searching his collection for the card I was wanting, Baseball Dad came across these instead and offered them up for nothing.

Never one to turn down free cards, I accepted his offer, so my search for one Lester Hayes card turned into three. I returned the favor with a pack of random Indians, hopefully he doesn't have them all already. Thanks to Baseball Dad's generosity, I now have a mini Lester collection, even if he is a Raider. Later.

Card Show Haul

A few weeks ago there was a card show at our local convention center so the boys and I decided we should go. They had never been to one and I hadn't been to one in probably 15 years or so. It was a pretty big show with a lot of former & current Cowboys scheduled to appear. I was a little hesitant since they were charging $10 just to get in, but kids under 12 were free, so I thought okay, I'll pay for Goose and myself, let's just do it. Well,things started off poorly when we got to the parking lot and saw it was another $5 just to park! I really didn't want to pay to park, that just drives me nuts, but I wasn't sure what to do until Goose suggested we just park at the Ballpark and walk a few blocks. Great idea!

So we get to the convention center and go in to buy our two tickets and they say we all have to pay for a total of $30! Good grief, what if we don't find anything, 30 bucks just to look around! Why do they have to charge so much for some of these things anyway? They don't charge admission to go in and shop in any other stores. I could have sworn kids under 12 were free I said, to which they said they had no such knowledge. Bummer. I just couldn't pay $30 just to get in, so the boys and I went outside to discuss our options. We stood around for about 10 minutes trying to decide what to do, we discussed me going in alone and picking stuff for all of us, but of course, they didn't want to have to wait outside. Man what a disaster, a fun day planned going down the tubes. Well the kids must have looked very pathetic, cause after a few more minutes, the ticket taker came out and said we could come in and the kids would be free. In fact, he said we're going to make all kids under 12 free. I thanked them for the gesture, but insisted that wasn't our intentions. They insisted though, so in we went for only $10. Goose is actually 13, but they let him in without asking his age. Shh, don't tell! Finally, we were in!

Once inside there were quite a few vendors with all types of memorabilia. We went around the hall looking for the cheapest cards possible to start, and found a guy with a bunch of 10 cent boxes. I picked up a ton of Elway cards. Elway is my 1B favorite player to 1A Walter Payton. Elway cards are much easier to come by though since he played the majority of his career as the card industry was booming. I picked up probably 25 or so, this is just a small sample.

Next up we've got a Kurt! If you've read my previous posts then you know that Kurt is my newest favorite player to collect and this is the first one I found for myself. The first three in my collection were acquired in a trade with my pal Brian. This one took some work sorting through the thousands of 10 cent cards, but I finally found a shiny gem!

Tony Gwynn is another of my favorite and one of the few retired players my wife actually recognizes. She always loved his voice and can still name him without looking just by hearing him talk. I had no idea Tony had such leaping skills! Look at the big boy get up! Although, if he stretched his legs down, I guess he'd only be a few inches off the ground. Oh well, at least he makes it look good for this shot! He even appears to be saying, "Watch this! I can catch with my eyes covered!"

"Man, check this out!" I said, when pulling this bad boy from the dime boxes. Goose said, "What's so great about that?" I just kinda blinked at him dumbfounded and said, "It's a Jim Palmer 3D Kelloggs card! See the pretty blue clouds?" "Uh, okay. Whatever," was all the response I got. I tell ya, kids these days, what do they know?

I couldn't not pick up this card of the Wizard, he looks so happy on it! A lot of times painted cards are hit and miss for me, but I really like this one and the raised border/frame adds a nice touch.

Two cards of TD, one as a Cowboy, they way we all remember him, and one as a Bronco. These have always been my two favorite teams, so I didn't mind so much when Tony left since he went to the Broncos, if only for a short time.

All of the previous cards came from the dime boxes, so then I moved over to the dollar boxes from the same vendor and found 3 Sweetness cards. My all-time favorite NFLer. I miss watching him run and it's a shame he was taken from us so early. No one can dive over a pile like Walter could and few even try it anymore. I'm still mad at Ditka for letting the Fridge score a touchdown in the Super Bowl instead of giving the call to Payton.

Here we have an Ichiro 2008 Upper Deck X - Nobie had traded this card away to a friend of his without my permission. I don't know what he got in return, but at least I was able to replace it for only 10 cents. We've got quite a few Ichiros now, but I never get tired of finding new cards of him that we don't have. What I really want to find is a card or two of his playing days in Japan.

These 2 2009 Legendary Cuts of Kinsler & Hamilton came from the 25 cent box. Now all we need is the Michael Young and we'll have all the Rangers from this set.

I got these 2 Sweet Spot jersey cards of two of my favorite old school players for $3 each. I wish the Padres would go back to their look with the yellow and brown. Much more distinctive, now they are just another navy & white/gray team. Blah. A 1970 Lou Brock was the first single card I ever bought with my own money. We went to St. Louis for the weekend to catch a Cards/Cubs game and found a little card shop there. That exact card is the one I used in the header at the top of my blog.

So, that about wraps up my purchases. I actually got quite a few more cards, but these were some of my favorites and this post has gone on long enough. I'm just glad that the boys and I got to experience the show together and look forward to more in the future. Hopefully, we can find one not so expensive next time, I doubt we'll be able to get the same admission deal twice. That would probably be pushing our luck. Oh, by the way, when I got home I double checked the promoter's website, just to prove I wasn't making it up that I thought kids were free. Turns out I was wrong. I had their show confused with one coming up in October. Whoops! Later.

Separated At Birth

Sometime last year the boys and I were watching a Rangers game when Warner Madrigal made an appearance. Immediately, we thought he looked like someone we knew. None of us could pinpoint it at first, but then it hit us...


Princess Fiona! You know, Shrek's wife from the Shrek
movies. Only she has to be in her ogre form. Funny thing is,
apparently we aren't the only ones who think so. Last week, while touring Rangers Ballpark we noticed a picture
over Warner's locker in the clubhouse. Sure enough, it was
princess Fiona! Needless to say, the boys and I didn't hear
anything the tour guide was saying as we were busy poking one another and pointing at the picture while trying not to bust out in fits of giggles. Classic. Good thing is Warner must have a good sense of humor about it, since he leaves the picture in place.

Now if only the Rangers would quit joking around on the field these past few games and get on with trying to wrap up a playoff spot. I mean, come on, a 9-0 loss to the A's (sorry Kurt), that is not gonna help! Later.

Siblings?

Quiiincy!!! Trade with Play at the Plate

A few weeks ago Brian from Play at the Plate and I completed our first trade and he was very generous in his offerings. I still had some more cards he was needing so we traded again.

Brian sent a bunch of football for Goose including a Jamal Charles swatch card. Goose loved it as he is also a big Longhorn fan.

Nobie got a bunch of Cubs and Alfonso on the Rangers ...

and I got quite an assortment for myself including some Rangers, a few of my childhood baseball heroes, an Elway and some Cowboy greats... aaaand one not so Cowboy great. Quincy Carter, also known as Q-Car, was supposedly the next great Cowboys QB a few years back. I even drank the Kool-Aid and bought the boys each a Carter jersey. Man, what a flame out. A couple mediocre seasons and a little too much appreciation for weed and wham, Arena League 2. Last I knew he was playing in some 3rd rung indoor league in Abilene and got arrested for DWI or some such. What a waste. Neat card though, very shiny! Thanks again for a great trade Brian. Later.

Trade with drewscards

Most of you, I'm sure are familiar with Drew from drewscards. If not, check out his blog. He's just a young guy, but he does a good job hanging with the big boys & gals of the card blogosphere. In fact, he's been the inspiration for Nobie to try his hand at this blogging thing. Drew's got a few years on Nobie, but maybe by the time he's 13 or so, Nobie will be running his own solo blog. Anyway, Drew had some A&G needs that we were able to fill so we sent those and a few damn Yankees his way. This was basically a blind trade for us since, at the moment, the only set we're building is 09 UDX. Drew didn't have many of those, so we said just send us some stuff from our favorites lists. Check it out... First up, a couple Rangers, Byrd and Catalanato. Next we have some football. Broncos for Goose and a Hester for Nobie. Funny thing is, if Topps hadn't of photoshopped Orton's card, it would have gone to Nobie since he's the Bear lover. Then Nobie got a large assortment of Cubs, including one UDX that we did need and an interesting Ron Santo card. Here's a closer look...

Anyone know what this is from? It looks like those old photos from the 50's or 60's with the strange scalloped edges. There is a blue, I'm assuming, faux autograph across the bottom with no other info on the front. The back just shows Ron Santo and that this is no. 19 of 33 photos. We don't have anything else like it, so it's a nice add to Nobie's "old school" player binder. Nice stuff, Drew, thanks for the trade! If you or anyone else can give me some more background on this card, let me know. Later.

Trade with Cardboard Overload

Okay, time to get caught up a little bit. We've had a few trades go down lately so I need to get them posted and give the proper acknowledgments. The first was with Nick from Cardboard Overload. We had a bunch of Upper Deck Series 2 cards he needed to complete his set, so we sent them and this is what we got. A handful of A&G's & a couple of Goudey's for Nobie's favorites binder. An Alfonso Soriano Upper Deck 20th Anniversary card, we like these as long as its at least a sports personality. 2 Ian Kinsler starquests, that look the same, but are not. One is a silver common, while the other is a blue uncommon. What exactly is blue about it, I don't know. The only slight difference I can see is the blue in Kinsler's jersey is a smidge brighter on the blue uncommon one. I've noticed this on all the blue uncommon starquests this year, they might as well just be silver. Someone's idea of blue is definately different than mine. Oh well, at least it's a favorite Ranger, so doesn't hurt to get all the variations. Last but not least, is the Goodwin Champions preview of Ichiro. Nobie and I really like the look of the Goodwin Champion cards. We are seriously considering getting a box or two and trying to put the set together. Hopefully a lot of the rest of you are going to get them also, which will make trading to complete a set a lot easier. Okay, that's all for this post. Thanks again for the trade Nick! Later.

Want List & For Trade List

WANT LISTS (Updated 11-19-09)

2009 UD X
Base: (These are the cards we need) # 28, 30

Diecut: (These are the cards we need) #2, 3, 6, 10, 12, 13, 27, 28, 32, 34, 35, 38, 39, 42, 45, 46, 47, 48, 51, 54, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 62, 65, 66, 67, 68, 71, 74, 77, 81, 82, 83, 85, 88, 89, 90, 91, 99

Since we don't have that many of the inserts yet, I'm going to list what we HAVE, anything not on the list is what we NEED.
Exponential X: We have #X-FR, X-GE, X-GS, X-JE, X-JP, X-JS, X-KG, X-KY, X-LB, X-MA, X-RB, X-RE, X-RH, X-RM, X-SK, X-TE, X-TH, X-TL
Exponential X2: We have #X2-AG, X2-CU, X2-CZ, X2-DW, X2-EV, X2-HR, X2-IK, X2-JD, X2-MH, X2-MO, X2-MR, X2-MT, X2-RE, X2-RJ
Exponential X3: We have #X3-AP, X3-CU, X3-DL, X3-GS, X3-IS, X3-JB, X3-KG, X3-LB, X3-MC, X3-MH, X3-PF
Exponential X4: We have #X4-AP, X4-JB, X4-JH, X4-JS, X4-MH, X4-MR, X4-RB, X4-RJ, X4-VG
Exponential X5: We have #X5-DJ, X5-DO, X5-IS, X5-JR, X5-KG, X5-JP
Exponential X6: We have #X6-AR

2009 Upper Deck Icons
5, 29, 32, 34, 66, 75, 86, 95, 100

2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces
Complete!

FOR TRADE LISTS

2009 UD X
Base: #We have quite a few, drop me an email about any specific #'s
Diecut: #4, 36, 75, 92
Exponential X: X-JS, X-LB, X-RM, X-LB
Exponential X2: X2-DW
Exponential X3: X3-PF
Exponential X6: X6-AR

2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces
8, 10, 21, 25, 38, 40, 47, 50, 53, 64, 66, 67, 74, 76, 77, 83, 84, 86

Nobie's First Post - 2009 UDX Blaster Break

Hey this is Nobie I'm only 9 and today I am going to do my first post.Please leave comments. We are trying to collect the whole set of Upper Deck X. Soon we will have a need list for our set. Like my dad might have told you before I am a big Alfonso Soriano fan. My collection is at 102. If you have heard my dad say that's one of Nobie's binder players what it means is that I have a NL binder of favorite's and a AL. Well now we will get started on the blaster break of UDX.

Pack 1

Lance Berkman X3 [Woo-hoo NL binder player]
43-Tori Hunter
52-Justin Morneau [AL binder player]
78-Randy Johnson Die Cut
77-Aaron Rowand
21-Jermaine Dye

Pack 2

80-Ichiro [Me and my dad have a big collection of Ichiro's]
16-Alfonso Soriano [Yeah Babe!]
1523-20th Anniversary [I hate these cards]
Randy Johnson X2
100-Derek Holland Die Cut [BIG Rangers fans]
3-Brandon Webb [NL binder player]

Pack 3

4-Chipper Jones

Ken Griffey JR. X [AL binder player]

22-Carlos Quentin

20th Anniversary Jersey of Garret Anderson

Pack 4

23-Jay Bruce

86-Evan Longoria [AL binder player]

87-Carl Crawford Die Cut [AL binder player]

27-Travis Hafner

2 Chris Young

Matt Holliday X2 [NL binder player]

Pack 5

34-Carlos Guillen

38-Lance Berkman [NL binder player]

98-James Mcdonald Die Cut

Jake Peavy X [AL binder player]

26-Victor Martinez

7-Brian Roberts

Pack 6

1-Dan Haren Die Cut

Jeff Francour Jersey

Johan Santana X

96-Rick Porcello

Pack 7

58-Carlos Beltran

42-Vladimir Guerrero [AL binder player]

92-Roy Halladay Die Cut

Jose Reyes X5

1518-20th Anniversary

50-Corey Hart

Pack 8

Jimmy Rollins X [NL binder player]

72-Nate Mclouth

25-Brandon Phillips

53-Joe Mauer Die Cut [AL binder player]

83-Rick Ankiel

60-Andy Pettitte

Pack 9

84-Albert Pujols [NL binder player]

64-C.C. Sabathia

29-Grady Sizemore Die Cut [AL binder player]

17-Derrek Lee [Woo-hoo Cub]

9-Josh Beckett [AL binder player]

Ken Griffey JR. X3 [AL binder player]

Pack 10

31-Garrett Atkins

75-Adrian Gonzalez [NL binder player]

Johan Santana X4

41-Alex Gordan Die Cut

20-Paul Konerko

14-Daisuke Matsuzaka

Well that's the end for today. I hope you guys liked my blog and please like I said leave comments. See Ya!

That's MY card, for real? Come on!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to see yourself on your very own football card? You collect them as a kid, idolizing the players you so carefully sort into stacks and dream of the day when other kids will do the same with your card. You work your butt off to make it to the collegiate level, hope and pray that you get drafted by the NFL and anxiously await your first training camp, when you know the card companies will be shooting for the new season's cards. You're not sure they'll even make a card of you, since you are an Offensive Tackle after all and who really cares about cards of players like us, but hopefully you'll be in the set. You get word that, yes, you will be in the set. A Star Rookie, card #254 in 2009 Upper Deck Football. And then you see it, your first NFL card and all you can say is...

What the Heck!!! That is the best they could do?? Who the hell is that, 'cause I'm sure not that much of a dork. Why didn't anyone tell me they were shooting that day? I look like I put a whole box of breathe right strips on my nose so I wouldn't keep my roommate awake and forgot to take them off! Not to mention the fact I'm in a practice jersey against a plain BROWN wall! Why didn't I get a fancy photo shoot in an actual game uniform and get to jump off a trampoline or something into some sort of awesome pose? This sucks, I should have been a wide receiver!! They always have cool cards.

Aww, man! You've got to be kidding me!! I just had the best season of my career! I'm a Super Bowl MVP! What the heck is this, showing me getting high/lowed, like some pansy no-name spare? Couldn't they have gotten a picture of me doing my endzone celebration or breaking some DB's ankles with a juke move? I'm a wide receiver for crying out loud, not some offensive tackle! Man, I get no respect. This wasn't how I thought my card would look!

I Need This Card!

I hate the Raiders! I'm a big John Elway/Denver Broncos fan, so I can in no way ever root for the silver & black. I did, however, like Lester Hayes, if only because of this card. It's a 1981 Topps Super Action #218. I used to have one, but like many other cards in my collection, it sort of disappeared to who knows where, so I want it back! Why you ask? Well, it's simple, the stick-um! It's everywhere in this card. Lester's got it on his hands, of course, giving him what appear to be skeleton fingers, but he's also got it all over his helmet and pants. If a ball where to hit him anywhere it would probably stick without any effort! I would hate to give him a high-5 if I were a teammate, and let's hope he didn't need to use the restroom at halftime! I've checked all my local shops for it to no avail and will resort to ebay if I have to, but I thought maybe some of my blogosphere friends may have one that needs a new home. If so, let me know & we can make a trade. I'll gladly take it off your hands, that is, if it isn't too sticky! Later.