More Than One Penny Sleeve

Longtime blogger (and new Twitter Buddy) Jon from A Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts went on a generosity streak after finding a ton of Topps Buybacks for sale.  He asked me if I wanted some.  Of course I do!

His mailer arrived with these six "REDISCOVER TOPPS" stamped buybacks.  I love the 1987 Topps set anyway, so getting new versions for these are great!  Especially Willie Wilson.  The cards on the top are all silver-stamped, while the three on the bottom are bronze-stamped.  

However, that was not all that was in the package - Jon included two unexpected manu-relics, also!

The Jackie Robinson buyback is beautiful, contrasting the blue in the Royals uniform to the blue in the medallion.  Moose's 1st Home Run is my second one of these relics -- the first was Alex Gordon.

Thank you, Jon!  These are much appreciated and will find a great home!

  

Top 10 Countdown - Cards I Won't Throw Out

I recently got a stuffed mailer from JP at Cards My Mom Didn't Throw Out.  If you have Diamondbacks cards to spare (especially Steve Finley, Paul Goldschmidt, and Luis Gonzalez) make sure you drop him a line and get a trade going! 

Anyway, 4 full team bags later, I pulled out some favorites to show off here (in descending order).

Honorable Mention:  The Absolute Memorabilia Sweeney shown above.  Any new Sweeney will make me a happy camper.  However, there were even BETTER Sweeneys in this very package, so keep your eyes peeled.

#10) I already have this Bo Jackson card, but it's the "Grand Slammers" version of 1990 Donruss, showing Bo ready to crush one. 

#9)  Just an unassuming Kevin Seitzer, right?  Non!  It is the O-Pee-Chee version. 

#8)  I sent CMMDTO a few Goldschmidt "Chipz", and he returned the favor with a Salvy chip I didn't have! 

#7)  Gil Meche -- the only guy who would retire and forego $11 million on the last year of his contract because he didn't feel like he had earned it.

#6)  I don't know if any non-Royals-fans remember Mark Teahen, but he was a bit of a fan favorite during the lean years.  Which "lean years" am I talking about (there were so many)?  He was worth 6.0 WAR between 2006 and 2007, but never had another good season in the majors after that, despite hanging around in MLB through 2011.  Here's a chrome Bowman of his.  Maybe he has some of these on display in the new wine bar that he owns in Arizona. 

#5) An auto of Royals farmhand Nolan Watson...originally was a high draft pick, but has not progressed much.  He's was recently promoted to High-A Ball at the end of June.

#4)  Just a cool-looking Mondesi here. 

#3)  I can't believe a Sweeney memorabilia card only made it to #3, but that's how the cookie crumbles sometime.  This "Leather and Lumber" Sweeney is numbered only to 100.  When I pulled it from the package I thought I already had it since it looked so familiar.  But upon checking, what I actually had was the base version with no jersey swatch. 

#2)  The penultimate card is a 2016 Chrome prism refractor of Lo Cain with a very prominent Russell Martin.  Wonder what makes this play special?  Oh, it was only Cain scoring from 1st on a single in the Playoffs.  The Royals coaches KNEW that Bautista would sometimes throw to 2nd on a play like this, so they were ready for it when it actually happened. 

#1)  And, the #1 card in this countdown is....

So graceful.  It's like a ballet..."Sweeney Lake," perhaps?  👦

And with that, I extend one final "Thank you" for all these cards.  Much appreciated!!!

Did any of you have a favorite out of these cards?  Did I get the order wrong?

100 Words - 5 Crows

Life Cycle of a Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos):

At hatching, newborn Crows have naked skin, devoid of feathers and hair.

Shortly thereafter, feathers and other body coverings are added which turn black and the Crows develop an iridescent shine.

Between the ages of two and four, Crows reach sexual maturity and begin to breed.  Multiple smaller Crows are born in each hatching, bearing a resemblance to their parents.

The average life-span of a Crow in the wild is eight years.  Crows are susceptible to West Nile Virus and Ulnar Collateral Ligament problems.

The Crow in his natural habitat.

CAW!  CAW!

2016 Topps Olympics - Opening Ceremonies Hit

In celebration of the Opening Ceremonies, I picked up some 2016 Olympics cards from Target.  My son and I each got to pick one pack to open tonight. I didn't pull much of anything, but James pulled a Simone Biles USA flag patch card, limited to 99.  Nice hit--USA!! USA!!  #NextGenerationCollecting

Simone Biles - USA Flag Patch #/99

A Foolish Decision Pays Off

To get a particular card for your collection quickly,  you really should just find it online and click buy-it-now.

It's never smart to buy packs looking for one particular card.  The vast majority of the time you end up several dollars poorer and holding a stack of cards you don't want.  Plus, there are probably Giants and Cardinals in that stack (ewwww....).

There are still blasters of 2015 Topps Series Two floating around out there in retail-world, and they each contain one of the "First Home Run" medallion manu-relics.  I was at Target with my son, and we were looking for something fun to bust together.  The side panel of the blaster box had the checklist for the medallion cards, and there were THREE Royals on there.   Alex Gordon, Bo Jackson, and Carlos Beltran -- A, B, and C.  Getting a "Gordo" would be ideal, but any of them would be great to pull from the box.

I put the Series Two blaster and a Fairfield Repack -- the six-year-old LOVES Panini Triple Play -- into the cart and we headed home.

The first thing we opened was the Blaster.  The guaranteed hit comes in its own opaque wrapper.  We cracked it open, and found this:

2015 Topps - First Home Run Relic - Alex Gordon

 
There was lots of screaming and giggling between us.  I won't say who giggled more.

So there you have it -- sometimes a foolish decision turns out to be the right one.  :-)

Last-In, First-Out

When dealing with inputs/outputs, you have to decide how to process them.  You can process them either as First-In, First-Out (FIFO) or Last-In, First-Out (LIFO).  FIFO is used by grocery stores to stock their shelves so that you buy whatever is oldest before you buy the new stuff.  LIFO is what you use for stacking plates in your kitchen cabinet...whatever you just cleaned gets put on the top of the stack and used first the next time.  Selling stocks can use either method, depending on what you want your basis to be.

Why am I talking about this?  I think most bloggers (myself included) try to use a FIFO method for posting our trade packages.  If someone sent me something 5 weeks ago, I want to show that off before I show the stuff I got today.  However, I am hopelessly behind (I have a 1-year-old....it's been a crazy year) on a bunch of the stuff that has been sent to me (including the JBFJ "Ton of Bricks" that he sent me WAY LAST YEAR and I still need to show off), but I still want to post some of the recent stuff in a timely manner. 

I won a recent contest run by Arpsmith.  He and I are neighbors.  Well, not next-door neighbors, but with our recent moves, we now live in the same 'burb.  We haven't met yet (I can't be friends with a Giants fan after last October ;-)), but we are card buddies.  From his contest he sent a bunch of 2015 Topps and some Royals goodies.

First of all, a bunch of 2015 Topps base:

Next, he gave me the two relics from his box that were NOT Nolan Ryan:

Finally, he tossed me a package of  Royals that I needed...my favorite of which makes me want to go for a sprint:

How happy did all this make me?  Very happy.  Like....SALVY-HAPPY.

Thanks, Adam!

Do Yu like this retail hit?

It's winter, I have a preschooler, so it is expected that we will all be sick around here (we are).  On a trip to Rite-Aid last night, I was buying a bunch of stuff for the family -- Baby Tylenol for the infant, toothpaste for the 4-year-old, and unmentionables for the wife.  As I was heading to checkout, I said, let me see if there is anything I should get for myself. 

This Rite-Aid does not have a card aisle.  It has a "card section" which consists of whatever will fit on 4 little hangers below the Yu-Gi-Oh cards.  Right now that is 2013 Topps Update baseball and various Panini football rack packs.  I'm not much of an impulse purchaser, but I saw the 2013 Topps Update and figured that splurging on a $2 pack would be fun.  Maybe I'd get a Royal!  I didn't have any of the 2013 Update yet, so no dupes...

I grabbed it, checked out, took it home, treated the kiddo, then settled down to see if I got anything good.

First - Chris Getz -- a Royal! casualty of the offseason priorities.

Then, I noticed that the remaining stack felt thick and fairly firm.  What's that in here????



2013 Topps Update - Yu Darvish - All-Star Stiches Relic Card



 That's surprising!   So I guess I made the right choice on that pack.  :-)  This is only the 2nd-time I have ever pulled a retail hit, and my first time from a Topps product.  It's got good colors, and even though I don't collect the Rangers, I think I'm gonna keep it as a reminder to always be selfish when at the store....errr......rather as a reminder of my good fortune.   

Kyle Drabek - Triple Threads

Hey all,

I gotta give a shout out to NAPKIN DOON (if that is your real name)....for running his Big Fun Game again this year.  I ended up with this sweet Kyle Drabek Triple Threads auto #'d / 50.  I really like it, and will probably keep it but would be willing to trade it if any of you had any good Royals auto-relics for trade.  The auto is on-card -- the swatches are three different white ones with really fine patterns that don't scan too well. 

2011 Topps Triple  Threads Triple Relic - Kyle Drabek

Napkin also tossed in a wax pack of 1990 Topps.  Yes, it had the gum.  No, I did not eat the moldy gum.  What can come from a pack from the teeth of the overproduction era?  How about 3 Hall-of-Famers!

1990 Topps

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.  And I do say so myself. 

Thanks again, Mr. Doon!

These Cards Are To Dye For

Back in April, I got a package from Colbey with my plunder from one of his "Affordable Group Breaks."  It had a bunch of Pacific Online, Pacific Paramount, and Topps Gold Label cards for the KC Royals.  He also threw in some extras for some stuff I had sent him.  These were a lot better than the usual throw-ins, though.

The first one was a 2001 SP Game Bat - Milestone Edition Auto/Relic of Jermaine Dye.  It had a LITTLE sliver of bat in it with a "KC" imprint, plus an auto.

2001 SP Game Bat - Auto Relic - Jermaine Dye - #S-JDy

The second one was another Jermaine Dye -- with more tiny stuff in it!  This one had two parts of a base. 

This one was a "Home Opener Souvenir" from the game on April 6, 2001 with two chunks of memorabilia -- one smooth and one textured.  There's a picture of the base!  That's way better than the current Topps disclaimer..."This memorabilia was not used in any specific game, event, competition, play, day, zoo, restaurant, bathroom, or submarine."  I think it goes like that.  Oh yeah, it was #'d /200.

So that's some good stuff, eh?  Thanks a bunch, Colbey!

Jaybarker Fan's Junk Mega-Post

As you may have seen, I've posted more in the last 2 weeks than I did in the prior 2 months.  Part of that has been catching up on the ever-growing stack of incoming packages on my card shelf.  Usually that means dealing with one package-per-post, but I'm not gonna do that when I have FOUR packages from Wes from Jaybarkerfan's Junk.  If you aren't reading his blog yet....HOW have you missed out this long?  He's a super-generous dude here in the blogosphere and has run some fun card-drafts, too.  I gotta post my favorites in honor of all he's doing out there for the people.

So here we go....the first (annual)

 Jaybarker Fan's Junk MEGA POST

NUMBER ONE
First package was one of his PWE BOMBs. 

Teahen looks downright regal in this card from UD A Piece of History.  I think he should be on the $2 bill or something.

NUMBER TWO
The second package was from one of his card drafts.

 I used my first pick on this Jay Buhner relic.  Not really sure why, but it was neat.  :-)  Anyone want it?  It's for trade.

 

Next, I picked up a few vintage Royals.  I'd never heard of Billy Sorrell, but that didn't stop me from pulling the trigger.  One of the nice things about cheering for a team that has only been around since 1969 is that you don't have to get bogged-down with all the old players from before you were born.  Just think if you were a team collector of the Yankees or Cubs.  You'd have to be on the lookout for everything starting with the turn-o'-the-century.  Not my problem.  I can mostly stick with the '70s and up.

 

TEBOW!  I'm pretty sure JBF just threw this one into the draft pile since he knew I would jump on it.  Love me some Tebow.

Here's a few "Propaganda Posters" that I grabbed since I thought they looked cool.  Any David Wright or Ichiro collectors need these?  They're for trade.

Here's a Deion Branch that I grabbed for my buddy, Raj.  It's X-Fractory.

Finally from this package, as my last pick I was able to grab a Rafael Palmeiro Pepsi card.  On this one, Pepsi is claiming to be the "Flavor of Baseball."  Call me crazy, but I always thought that the flavor of baseball was "Leather and Cork."  I guess we'll agree to disagree on this one.

(Oh yeah, this card is slightly wider than a regular card, so it doesn't fit in a penny-sleeve or page.  It is destined to live in a top-loader forever.)

NUMBER THREE
The penultimate package was ANOTHER PWE BOMB.  

This one had two more sweet cards I needed.  A Score Traded Buckner, and the Alex Gordon Masterpieces card.

NUMBER FOUR
The last package is from the "Oddball Draft."  Hey, I'm an oddball.  I like math and wear glasses and goofy band T-shirts.  I guess that means I should participate.  Oh, it was Oddball CARDS?  I misunderstood....

Let me take a look at what JBF is offering here....and I'll do my shopping.

CARDS ON MY HISTORY WANTLIST?????  Yes, please.  26 left on that subset to go.

Royals parallels? Throw those in my cart.

 History MINIS.  Last year when Ginter came out, I decided to look up who LL Zamenhof was since I had no clue.  Turns out he invented the language Esperanto.  Nobody needs to know that, right?  Wrong.  That little piece of knowledge won me a match in my online trivia league last season.  Yes, I am in an online trivia league.  And it is glorious.

 I had no idea this set existed.  I would have chased it.  Jared Ingersoll was a lawyer and VP candidate who signed the Constitution as a representative of Pennsylvania.

Finally....this appears to be my first "modern" tennis card.  I had to unlock the Tennis section in Zistle for this.

And.......Scene.  That's it!  Thanks for all of it, JBF!

Just Call Me "Josh Sr."

Right before the Super Bowl, Colbey at Cardboard Collections ran a Football Group Break.  That's something we don't see around here too often, so I had to jump in.  There's just one problem, I don't have one team that I root for, that is "MY team" like I have in baseball.  This is the result of growing up in a state with no NFL team and a father who was into college football way more than pro ball. 

Anyway, so I had to pick teams.  I decided I would try to get a Tebow (and grabbed the Broncos) or a Peyton Manning (and grabbed the Colts). 

No Tebow, but got 3 Peytons!  Here were my two favorites.

Peyton Manning

Here were my top picks among the other cards.  Got an Andrew Luck Score rookie, and a very sharp-looking Eric Decker.

It was a buy-one-get-one random team setup.  My random teams were the Falcons and Lions (not too shabby).  I got lucky and picked up a Lions hit.  Mr. Titus Young.

Or should I say "Titus Young Sr."  Why would I say that?  The guy is only 23.  "Sr." gets affixed to your name when you are in your 40's at the earliest, right?

Nope, Titus cared enough about naming his son Titus that he had the "Sr." put on his jersey last season. 

It's spreading!  Mikel Leshoure was doing it, too.  Oh, Detroit.

I doubt we'll be seeing much more of Titus Young now that his name is mostly seen in headlines like:
TITUS YOUNG SUCKER PUNCHES TEAMMATE and TITUS YOUNG RUNS WRONG ROUTES ON PURPOSE.  He doesn't get the privilege and opportunity that he could have had.  The Lions cut him after the season, he was picked up by the Rams, and then cut by them after nine days.  Have fun in the Arena League, Titus.  It's too bad....that's an awfully pretty card and blue swatch.

With that, my first football group break post is done.  Thanks to Colbey Hopper Sr. for making it happen!

Alive and Kicking

1999 Omega - Jason Hanson

Very occasionally, a baseball player will spend 20 years with one team.  Less-than-never does a football player do so.  Except that's what we have with Mr. Jason Hanson.  When this 1999 Omega card was printed, he already had 6 years with the Lions.  He is STILL their kicker.  All those years haven't helped his hairline.

Cards of kickers are fun fun fun.  Punters, too.

I pulled off another great Zistle trade with Steve D. (user SDre31 - go trade with him if you can).  In exchange for a whole mess of Yankees (who wants those anyway?) I got the Hanson card and all the following sent back to me.

2005 SPx Signature - David DeJesus - #29 - #'d/225

Beautiful!  It's a sticker autograph, but the card is great.  And one of my favorite players, too. 

It would have been a great trade with just one relic card, but Steve included this one, too!

2011 Bowman Sterling Rookie Relics - #MM - Mike Moustakas

That's some good stuff.  Here's a #'ed Guillen parallel, too.

And here is an example of how Zistle rocks.  When you are a collector of lesser-known players, it is pretty rare that someone will send them to you in a regular trade.  However, when they are on your Zistle wantlist, EVERYONE there will know that you want them.  So it's easy to make a match with their automatic system.  And that is how I received a card of Iowa State alum Loren Meyer (from Ruthven, IA, FYI). 

1995-1996 Topps Loren Meyer - #213