Trade with John

I haven't posted in several days due to the holidays. I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. I'm actually off until after the 1st so maybe I'll post a little more frequently the next couple of days, or maybe not. Who knows. Now on with the post.

A few weeks ago I received an email from a guy named John asking if I would be interested in acquiring some basketball cards. He said he had lost interest in his basketball collection and had a bunch of Nash, Nowitzki and Finley cards he could send my way. I said, "Bring 'em on!" He also threw in some stuff for the kids. Check out what he sent.

John sent several of Nobie's favorites, here are just a few of them. I'd never seen the cardsupials set before, unfortunately, we only got the baby.

Goose got several football cards to add to his collection as well, including LT, Hines Ward and Champ wearing the hated Redskins uni.

John sent me a few cards each of a few of my other favorites including Pau Gasol, Reggie Miller and the Dream. I'd forgotten Hakeem even played for the Raptors, that just looks weird.

Next we've got some former Mavs. Nick the Quick, the Little General Avery Johnson and every one's favorite whipping boy, the Mantis himself, Shawn Bradley.

John sent something like 3o cards of Steve Nash almost all of them new to me. Here are just a few of my favorites. Gotta love Steve's intensity on that second card. I also like the one in the middle of the second row. Nash versus Kidd, who were traded for one another several years ago.

I also got about 25 or so Finley cards, again almost no doubles from my previous collection. The first card is really sweet, love the clouds and wings in the Soarers logo.

Last, but not least, John sent another large stack of 25 or so cards of Dirk. I don't know how it turned out that way again, but almost all were new to me, so it was a really great package that John sent. I sent him a package of his favorites in return, but I wasn't able to match his generosity by any means. Anyway, I hope you liked what I sent John. As far as I know, John doesn't have a blog, but if you happen to get an email from him stating he would like to unload a few cards on you, by all means take him up on it. Thanks again, John. Later.

I Think I Can Do Better - Entry 1

Okay, now for a spin at something new. This is my first entry in what may or may not become a "series" of sorts. I don't know about the rest of you, but I often come across cards that just don't seem quite right. Most of the time, I'll just think, "You know, that looks a little half-assed, to me! I know I could do better!" I am a graphic artist for a living (I only get to design yellow pages, but hey, it's my official job title) and now I have my own blog, so guess what, I'm gonna show you I could do better. At least I think so, how about you?

For my first attempt, I selected Panini's 2009 Rookies & Stars. Unfortunately, for Panini/Donruss, their cards seem to be the most common when making my claim of "I can do better". They just typically leave a lot to be desired in my opinion. The problems with 09 R&S to me are multiple. First, cut out players with no game background. I don't totally dislike this design element, but I do think it is to prevalent. Second, black and white background for every card. Third, the team logos are teeny, tiny. Lastly, the players names have too much white space around them. So I've made some changes and here they are.

Since I don't have the original photos, I can't put any of the original background back in, so we are stuck with cut out players. I did, however, change the boring black & white backgrounds to team colors for each specific player, which I feel makes the cards much more dynamic. I also increased the size of the logos and player names to take up more of the white space and tie everything together better. The one thing I didn't change, but would if I could figure out how to make it appear correctly is add foil to the R&S logos at the bottom right corner. Panini must not have budgeted in any money for foil, because I have yet to see any on their cards (that I can remember) that weren't completely foil board. Maybe they just don't have any foil stamps. Anyway, at least for their basketball products so far, I feel they look a lot cheaper minus any of the foil that UD and Topps uses.

So there you have it. The first "I Think I Can Do Better" entry. What do you think? Later.

Trade with Democratic Roadkill

I got an email a few weeks back from Duane of Democratic Roadkill offering up a Kurt game used bat card. I said "cool", I'll take it. Duane said he had a nice pack of cards to send for all of us and he'd get it in the mail right away. Anxious to add another Kurt to the collection we checked the mail daily and waited and waited and waited, but no package. I contacted Duane and he said he sent it right before Thanksgiving and this was like 2 weeks later and still nothing. I figured it might be lost for good, but then after about 3 weeks it finally appeared. Duane had accidentally left 1 digit out of our address and I guess it took the post office a while to figure out where it belonged. Anyway, the cards eventually arrived safely, let's see what we got.

First up we've got some football including Cowboys and the always awesome Fleer cards of the 80s. The great thing about the Fleers of the time was that the helmets actually had logos, unlike Topps. From what I remember Fleer had no cards of individual players, that must have been Topps exclusive, but the more than made up for it with great action shots. Can't beat the Broncos in the snow wearing the orange unis!

Duane also sent a nice little bunch of stickers from the 80s. I used to buy the albums and fill them up, but have no idea what I did with them later on. I love the Air Coryell era Chargers, so it was cool to get a couple of Charlie Joiners as well as some of my other favorites like Elway, Dorsett and Payton.

Here we've got a nice little group of basketball, mostly mid 90's Mavs, when they were at their worst. Dallas had quite a few good players roll through here back then, they could just never put it all together and get anything accomplished on the court. I also got a Hakeem, can't ever go wrong there.

Some baseball minis to add to the Ranger, Cub and catcher collections.

A bunch more catchers including a Fisk I've always liked with big Cecil rumbling towards home.

Up next are some of Nobie's favorite players including a numbered Ultimate Soriano. These are really nice base cards and more expensive than we normally spend per pack, so it's cool to get one now and then in a trade. Duane also sent a few for me as well including a nice Hank refractor.

Which leads us to the crown jewel of the trade and the reason Duane contacted me in the first place. Topps Heritage game used bat Kurt! I've wanted one of these for quite a while, but hadn't gotten around to bidding on one or anything so it was nice to get a hold of one in a trade. I don't know about the rest of you, but even though I buy my fair share of cards online or in shops, there is just something a little neater about getting something in a trade. I guess it's the fact that there are other people who share a passion for the hobby and are always on the lookout for something to make someone else happy. Well Duane, you've made me happy with this trade, hope you liked what I sent in return. Oh, and sorry about Halladay, I guess it was bound to happen. Later.

I'm My Own Secret Santa!

I went by the card shop a few weeks ago, looking for a gift for the Secret Santa exchange that A Rookie (baseball) Card Collector put together. My wife often complains that I'm hard to buy gifts for because I tend to just buy what I want when I see it, leaving her (or anyone else for that matter) with no choices. Well, guess what. I didn't end up with anything for my Secret Santa person, but I did get a few cards for myself. My wife knows me so well. Anyway, here they are.

I picked up 8 Elways and only one was more that a buck (the Gunslingers one). I got my first Elway "snow" card and I also really like the "mud" one, though it's not nearly as cool as the Greg Landry mud card. I suppose a couple might not be really worth a dollar, but I don't mind spending a little bit more from time to time at this shop. The shop I frequent is really a combination of 4 guys. There are all there on Saturday, but the rest of the week usually only one of them is there and he looks after the others guys' stuff. I should learn their names, but I haven't. Anyway, the guy I bought these from is a really nice older guy and he's never pushy and usually ends up cutting a little off the total anyway, so like I said, I don't mind paying a little extra "sticker" price.

I also grabbed 8 Dirks. I guess that was a coincidence, I don't remember planning it that way. These were all a buck too, including a couple chrome refractors and what I like to call "hippie" Dirk (the Topps 1952 Style). So there you go, another gift for myself. Don't worry, though, I got the Secret Santa gift taken care of a few days later, so if it's your name I drew you can breathe easy. Later.

Dollar Tree Score!

I've been picking up quite a few of these 08-09 NBA Fleer packs at local Dollar Trees lately. Most of the time I just get 8 base cards, maybe an insert here and there, nothing too special. I really like the design though and am at least trying to get most of the Mavs and my other favorite players. This pack, however, did include something special...

game used KOBE! I really like the look of this card and it's got a purple swatch which is cool, the problem is, I can't stand the guy! I've never liked the Lakers except for a few individual players here and there, but I really don't like Kobe. I think he's a total doucher. So what to do with the card? I think I'm going to take it to the local card shop and see about trading it for a Dirk relic. I'm not sure what it's worth, but I aught to be able to get something pretty cool for it. That is, of course, if someone out there in blogger land doesn't have a better offer first. Let me know if you think you do. Later.

German Mavs

I picked up two awesome cards on ebay the other day, featuring a pair of Germans. Detlef Schrempf, the original German Maverick (Kiki doesn't count, he never played for us) and Dirk Nowitzki, the greatest Maverick ever, German or otherwise.

Uh...I did not pick up this card. Sorry Uwe. Later.

Stuck at 39.

I don't know why, but it's bugging me that we're stuck at 39 followers. Maybe it's because I'll turn 40 in a few months and I'd like to get 40 followers before 40 years. Doesn't anyone want to be follower number 40? Anyone? Bueller?

Sweet Spot Trade Bait

Nobie and I really like the look of the Sweet Spot base cards, but buying packs of that stuff for the base cards is absurd. Lucky for us (and possibly some of you) we found a nice 30 card lot on ebay for $5 including shipping. Since that is roughly the cost of most packs containing only 5 or so cards, we jumped on it. We pulled the players we wanted for our binders and this is what is left.

If you see anything you are interested in , check our lists of what we collect off to the right, and make us an offer. We aren't real picky, just looking for cards we don't already have. No limit to how many you can ask for. First come, first served. Later.

What The Heck Is This Stuff?

Found these at a Dollar Tree the other day. I seem to recall someone posting a pack of this stuff awhile back, but decided to try it for myself. I guess I was suckered in by the "Trading Card Investment Series" emblazoned across the top of each pack. It's about time I make a killing off of cards instead of just throwing money away! I picked up a pack of football for Goose, baseball for Nobie and some basketball for myself.

The football & basketball promise "one sports legend trading card in every pack" while the baseball promises only "rookie minor league cards in every pack." All 3 packs include an Investment Grading Service coupon, worth $5 off of having a card graded. They each have a mail in offer for a free autographed card on the back of the wrapper, all you have to do is send in 4 wrappers and $3.99 shipping. I'll bet you get something awesome if you do it! I did not. I will show you, however, what we did get in the packs.

Sorry if I'm insulting any one's favorite player, but what a load of crap. Admittedly, most of these cards come from when I paid only a little bit of attention to baseball, but I figured I'd have a little knowledge of some of the players inside. Uh, not so much. I guess for me the best card would be the RBI Leaders card featuring Simmons, Jackson and Nettles, all of whom I am familiar with at least. I also got a Mickey Tettleton card to ad to the catcher collection. The promised rookie minor league cards consisted of one, Bruce Chen. The pack was only a buck, but I'd have to say, not worth it. Let's check out football next.

Wow, what the heck? A pack of 14 cards featuring 3 sets of doubles, who packed this stuff? Talk about poor collation. A little more name recognition here at least. I got a couple of Cowboys in Chris Boniol and Everson Walls, though Walls is a Giant on the card here. Eugene Robinson was a pretty good player from what I remember, though not worthy of 2 cards in one pack! I guess my promised legend card would have to be Franco Harris. A Steeler, yuck! Maybe we'll fare better with our basketball pack.

Heck yeah, that's more like it. A Maverick, first card out of the pack, even if it is a guy who is better in his post NBA career than he was as a player. I also got a Fat Lever Mavs card and one of former Mav Sam Perkins. Tyrone Corbin was one of my favorites during his college days at DePaul as was the X-man, Xavier McDaniel, though I don't need 2 of the same card of him either. The pack was full of several bigger name players, though the promised legend card, has to be Charles Barkley and I got 2 DIFFERENT cards of him. What a deal! The "hit" of all 3 packs though, has got to be the John Paxson Silver Season card, which apparently came from a pack of Equal sweetener. Sweet! I know, bad joke.

So there, you go. I definitely had more fun with the basketball pack than either the football or baseball, but I doubt if I give these a whirl again. If you find yourself in a Dollar Tree and are feeling lucky or just want to make a "good" investment grab a few packs for yourself. Later.

Trade with Trader Crack's

Just completed a trade with Ryan from Trader Crack's Card Blog. Well, not complete, as I still need to send him his cards, but half complete. He has a list of cards he's willing to give up on his blog, so I picked a few we were interested in. This is what we got.

A nice little assortment of Nobie's and my favorite players. We've got Pujols & Ichiro, looking like they are about to start clubbing one another, big Prince inside a shiny X, MVP Mauer, Kinsler as a young pup, Mr. Met minus the over sized baseball head and another shiny Pujols that appears to be missing a swatch or something (look at all that empty space!) We will be sending Ryan a little package of Canadian MLB players, since he favors those that hail from the Great White North. Ryan, thanks for the trade and your package should be in the mail no later than Saturday. Later.

Trade with Beardy (Better Late Than Never, Right?)

Okay, I feel like a tool. I usually try to post a trade as quickly as possible, but this one got by me somehow. Only because I've been pestering Beardy about giving up his Kung Fu Panda auto, was it even brought to my attention that I had neglected to let Beardy know I had received the cards he sent almost a month ago. Sorry, Dude! Beardy and I set up a trade starting with a Micheal Young card I'll get to in a minute. Since we were going to be dealing with an Oriole guy, Nobie had me check to see if he may have any Markakis doubles he could send his was. Boy did he!

Beardy sent quite a pile of Markakii (is that plural for Markakis?), which immediately tripled the number of cards in Nobie's growing player collection. Very nice gesture from the bearded one!

Of course, as most of us seem to do, he threw in some random extras from my favorite team, the Rangers. A nice mix of old and new, I really like the black border mini Hamilton and the Ryan with the smokin' baseball. The only one of these I already had was the Byrd, so I very nice lot.

Here is the aforementioned Young card, which as you can see, is not normal size. It is a cabinet card, though I'm not sure why they are called that. I've mentioned in an earlier post, that this isn't exactly one of my favorite Michael Young cards, it just looks a little "weird" to me somehow. It is, however, an unusual card of my favorite Ranger, so it's very welcomed. It is also my first cabinet card of any kind so that is cool too! Once again, sorry for the delay Beardy, don't take it personally, it was a great trade! Later.