* * * Special Bulletin * * *

We interrupt your blog to bring you this special bulletin...

The Charlotte Bobcats suck!

Come on guys, you can't even win one stinking game again the Magic in a best of 7 series? What gives?! Granted I haven't watched many games this season (thanks in part to your exclusive deal with Time Warner Cable), but man was it depressing watching these last 4 playoff games. Keep playing like this and you'll lose all the fans you gained this year on your run to the playoffs.

I'm wondering how good Michael Jordan feels about his purchase now? Heck, wonder what Larry Brown is thinking? Should I return to be embarrassed again?

We now return you to your regular blog...

Need a checklist?

Need a checklist for those current or upcoming sets? While going through a stack of cards I won on eBay over the last few weeks I ran across a business card tucked inside a top loader advertising this site.

Now I'll be able to browse the upcoming checklists for Braves players as well as get the card #s for the those players. Joy!

In the mail (weekend edition)

It was a great weekend filled with baseball on TV, in person and for baseball cards! Here's a look at some of the stuff that I picked up over the weekend.

Peter Moylan
2006 Upper Deck Future Stars Clear Path to Greatness Signatures #158

I didn't realize these cards were printed on translucent plastic. Guess that's why they are called "Clear Path..."


Rafael Belliard
1996 Leaf Signature Series Bronze autograph

I loved watching Raffy pull off some amazing throws in the early to mid 90's. Worth $3 I paid.


Brian McCann
2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces Captured on Canvas jersey #CC-BM

It's cards like this that will really make me miss Upper Deck.


Jeff Francoeur
2009 Upper Deck X jersey #UDXJ-JF

Picked it up since it was cheap ($1.00)


Andruw Jones
2006 Topps Bazooka Bazooka Blast bat #BBL-AJ

Always loved those Bazooka sets and Andruw was hands down the best center fielder the Braves have had in a long time (sorry Nate McLouth!)


Lance Berkman
2003 Topps Finest bat #FRB-LB

Shiney, cheap, bat, Berkman!


Greg Maddux
1993 Upper Deck Fun Pack#65, #184, 1998 Pinnacle Piece of the Game#7

Should I feel odd that as an adult I still love the 93 UD Fun Packs?

Tom Glavine
1997 Select Artist's Proof #99


Ryan Klesko
1995 Panini Sticker #100
1995 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Gold Signature #155
1996 Panini Sticker #7
1998 Topps Gallery #GP137 (071/125)
1999 Pacific Omega Bronze #24 (54/99) & Gold (241/299)

I know Pacific got a bit ridiculous with the whole parallel thing in the 90's, but I still miss them.

Lazy Sunday afternoon...

Real simple today. Church, afternoon @ the minor league ball field w/ my family, dinner @ home while watching the Charlotte Bobcats play their first ever playoff game.

Card shops...a dying breed?

I can remember heading over to the local card/comic shop after high school and hanging out with other collectors talking about baseball, opening packs and trading from time to time. It seems like those times are but a distant memory now. However I ran across a local card shop today on my day off where those memories I once had came back to life. Grand Slam Collectibles in Rock Hill, SC is where I spent 30 minutes or so (would have stayed longer if my daughter hadn't been so fussy) digging through the dime boxes. There is just something about the thrill of the hunt and the cheap prices that makes the digging through row after row so much fun. Now that I have access to so many commons let me know guys & gals if there is anything you want me to keep an eye out for. Whether it be a certain player, team or set...I'll gladly pick them up for you in exchange for Braves or other players I collect.

Today I was able to pick up a nice selection of Cubs and Mets players for trade fodder as well as this little gem:

2007 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Jason Heyward #BDPP54

No, I didn't find the Heyward in the dime boxes! It was in a $5.00 box, but got it for $4.00. I do have to ask you fellow bloggers about this card though. I don't care for monetary reasons, but is this considered a "true" rookie card of Heyward? I can't keep up with the whole rookie card debate.

You could tell from the store's atmosphere that a lot of people like to hang out and talk sports. There was one customer breaking a box of 2010 Topps Pro Debut. I remember those days...when I could afford buying a hobby box and bust all the packs in the store. I will definitely go back in the near future as it's the only hobby shop I know of that isn't a 45 minute plus ride from my house.

I can dream...can't I?

Comic card sets used to be all the rage in the early 90's. Now they seem to be making a come back and as a card collector and comics fan I have to say that I don't mind. The card sets are very nicely done and the inserts such as these sketch cards are beautiful. Being true 1/1 cards though my chances of owning any of these are slim to none. So I guess I'll just have to gaze at the scans of the cards for the time being.

Firestar

Firestar


Spider-Woman


Silver Sable


Scarlet Witch


Firestar


Storm


Moon Knight


Black Cat


Spider-Man


Man Thing

Start 'em young!

This is my 6 month old daughter Olivia. She is at that stage where she must be in the middle of everything. I pulled out a new card I got in the mail today to show my wife and Olivia quickly grabbed it out of my hand and was instantly mesmorized by the shiny Finest card. Have I hooked my daughter on this great hobby? If so I wouldn't mind at all!

If you were wondering what card she was holding it was a beautiful 2010 Topps Finest Jeff Francoeur Finest Moments autograph. Sure it's a sticker autograph, but at least the sticker is somewhat incorporated into the card's design. On my card the sticker isn't even straight! Oh well, it only set me back $2.00.

In the mail 4/8/10

Andruw Jones 2001 Upper Deck SPx Winning Materials
game-used base/ball #B-AJ (037/250)

I love 'relic' cards. Jersey cards are so common place it's hard to get excited about those. Bat cards I still like, but are pretty common as well. Hat, ball, base, glove, etc. memorabilia cards though are still very exciting in my book. I don't run across many of these types of cards for the players or team I collect so when I ran across this Andruw Jones card the other day I had to go for it. Seller had listed this card with one of those make an offer options so I shot them an offer of $2.00 and they accepted! Very, very pleased...even if I had to pay $3.00 shipping.

Cable company making it harder to follow my Braves...

Comporium Communications in upstate SC has dropped Peachtree TV from their non-digital lineup making it that much harder to follow the Braves this season. Sure I can upgrade my cable and pay another $12.95 on top of the $49.95 a month I'm already paying and get Peachtree...but when we got the channel included in our package all of last season it just kinda sucks I gotta pay more now. Thankfully Sports South and Fox Sports South are still broadcasting games so we aren't entirely out of luck.

This just sucks as I was looking forward to coming home this evening and watching the game w/ my wife. I even bought us each a blaster box of cards to open while we watched our first Braves game on TV together.

In the mail 4/6/10

I love getting mail, especially bubble mailers filled with baseball goodness! 3 packages today to open. 1 for my wife and 2 for myself. Let's start with the wife's bubble mailer.

I'm so glad that Brooks Conrad made the Atlanta Braves team this season for several reasons, but the one main reason is now perhaps Topps will get him on a card in a Braves uniform. He had a 6 game stint in the majors (2008) when he was with the A's organization...but the wife doesn't want those cards. Even though Brooks was called up late last season I don't know of any MLB cards so for now we'll have to settle with minor league Braves stuff.

2009 Choice Marketing Gwinnett Braves #10

Since I wasn't buying baseball cards in the 80's I missed out on a lot of those releases, but thanks to eBay I've been able to pick up some Braves team sets for not a lot of coin. We'll start with the 1982 set that arrived today.

1982 Fleer
Bob Horner, Dale Murphy, Phil Niekro, Gaylord Perry

I knew the Braves uniforms were ugly, but boy do these cards do a good job of showing these off. I also have to mention the horrible photo quality. I know that digital cameras didn't exist in 1982, but couldn't have Fleer done a better job? The poses of some of the cards are also horrible. I was surprised at how little there are of action shots. Most of the pictures are of the players just standing around @ spring training or at practice. What fun is that?

And my last package was full of baseball "cards" from Panini? I didn't even know these existed!

1989 Panini Stickers
Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Jeff Blauser, Ron Gant, Dale Murphy, Tom Glavine

These are small stickers designed to fit inside an album I do believe. They are a little bit smaller than a traditional baseball card. The backs are rather plain just featuring a number and the cartoon knight logo of Panini. The Braves logo and stadium have that silver prismatic like background. I could care less for that effect, but seeing a picture of the old Fulton County Stadium brings back lots of memories when my late dad and grandfather would take me to games. I love odd ball cards and sets so I was very pleased with this purchase.

What did the Easter bunny bring you?

First of all I gotta say I've got a great wife. I woke up this morning and she was all gun ho to take our 6 mo. old daughter downstairs so she could go through her first Easter basket. After she was done tearing through the basket my wife hands me a little bag of Easter goodies. She picked up a pack of 2010 UD, Topps, Topps Opening Day & Topps Attax as well as a 2010 Topps Braves team set. She also got me a nice Carolina Panthers fitted hat.

After church we headed over to my mom's house for lunch with the family and she too had a few little things for my daughter, wife and myself. Inside the Easter card was a gift certificate for Atlanta Braves tickets!

What a great way to start off the 2010 MLB season!

2010 Topps Finest first impressions

Since I don't have a good local card shop (that I know of) I hit up eBay looking for some 2010 Finest Braves Refractor goodness and a few finally hit the mailbox today.

I picked up blue refractors of Chipper Jones (168/299), Brian McCann (013/299) & Yunel Escobar (028/299) as well as a refractor of Tommy Hanson (289/599). I gotta say that I'm not as impressed with the front design as in past years. To me the background is bland and it looks odd that the team logo doesn't even fit...at least the Braves logo doesn't. The blue refractors are shiny indeed, but still seem blah to me. The regular refractors (/599) don't have the wow effect either on me. In a way I guess I'm kind of glad as it makes it that more easier for me to save my cash and wait for the next product.

The backs of the card are OK. I'm not a huge stats junkie, but the lack of even 2009's stats bothers me. True you get a snapshot of their career stats so I guess that is better than nothing. The finestrivia is interesting however and for young collectors I can see how this may be a good way for them to learn about the history of the game.

Blaster Break - World's Greatest Card Chase: Pack Edition

Today while rummaging through the card section @ Walmart I ran across this blaster box of cards that had a prominent picture of a 1952 pack of Topps on the box. It was labeled as 'Chase the '52 High Series Pack'. If you haven't seen these your self the premise of the box is that you get 16 sealed packs of cards. The majority of the blasters contain packs from the 80's, 90's and 2000's. You have the chance to receive packs from the 70's as well. The side of the box showcases Topps packs from '70 to '79. Upon closer look of the fine print on the bottom of the box says the approximate odds of finding one of these 70's Throwback packs is 1:2,667. The real kicker is you don't even get an actual pack in the box...it's a redemption program.

So what 16 packs did I receive in my box?

1987 Topps, 1988 Topps Big Baseball, 1988 Topps, 1989 Topps
1986 Donruss Pop-Up, 1988 Donruss All-Stars Pop-Up, 1988 Donruss x2, 1989 Donruss

1987 Sportflics, 1988 Sportflics, 2007 Hidden Treasures World's Greatest Card Chase, 2008 Tristar Projections, 2008 Tristar Projections High # Series x2, 2009 Tristar Projections

And now you may be wondering what cards were in those packs and if I had any hits. Here's the pack by pack break down:

1988 Topps Big Baseball
#11 Dwight Gooden (Mets)

#17 Brook Jacoby (Indians)
#23 Steve Bedrosian (Phillies)
#41 Tom Henke (Blue Jays)
#68 Andres Thomas (Braves)
#70 Jerry Mumphrey (Cubs)
#78 Brian Downing (Angels)

1987 Topps
#010 Cecil Cooper (Brewers)
#015 Claudell Washington (Yankees)
#047 Dennis Powell (Dodgers)
#072 Walt Terell (Tigers)
#115 Donnie Moore (Angels)
#195 Mike Pagliarulo (Yankees)
Back of the card was completely ruined by the gum - it was stuck to the card that when I was able to remove the gum it also removed the top layer of the cardboard!
#221 Vern Ruhle (Angels)
#297 Don Schulze (Indians)
#396 Tim Lollar (Red Sox)
#438 Kelly Downs (Giants)
#514 Orlando Mercado (Rangers)
#527 Jim Wohlford (Expos)
#550 Pete Incaviglia (Rangers)
#664 Mike Marshall (Dodgers)
#727 Mike Moore (Mariners)
#735 Rickey Henderson (Yankees)

#787 Alejandro Pena (Dodgers)

1988 Topps
#005 Phil Niekro / Joe Niekro
#121 Checklist
#131 Don Schulze (Mets)
#165 Robin Yount (Brewers)
#170 Rich Gossage (Padres)
#191 John Cerutti (Blue Jays)
#326 Al Nipper (Red Sox)
#403 Tim Raines - All-Star (Expos)
#521 Jim Dwyer (Orioles)
#539 Mike LaValliere (Pirates)
#564 Frank Lucchesi - Manager (Cubs)
#649 DeWayne Buice (Angels)
#650 Cal Ripken, Jr. (Orioles)

#676 Ken Dixon (Orioles)
#733 Spike Owen (Red Sox)

1989 Topps
#099 Sherman Corbett (Angels)
#127 Walt Terrell (Tigers)
#261 St. Louis Cardinals
#285 John Candelaria (Yankees)
#419 Tom Filer (Brewers)
#425 Jay Howell (Dodgers)
#432 Chad Kreuter (Rangers)
#498 Dwayne Henry (Rangers)
#535 Todd Worrell (Cardinals)
#579 Houston Astros
#596 Kurt Stillwell (Royals)
#691 Roberto Kelly (Yankees)
#712 Bill Swift (Mariners)
#741 Ken Phelps (Yankees)

1986 Donruss Major League All-Stars Pop-Up#16 Jim Rice (Red Sox)
#34 Pete Rose (Reds)

#38 Dick Williams - Manager (Padres)Ozzie Smith - Pop-Up (Cardinals)
Hank Aaron puzzle pieces #43-45
1988 Donruss - Pack #1
#011 Scott Fletcher - Diamond Kings (Rangers)
#047 Jack McDowell - Rated Rookies (White Sox)
#608 John Candelaria (Mets)
#609 Mike Brumley (Cubs)
#610 Mickey Brantley (Mariners)
#611 Jose Nunez (Blue Jays)
#612 Tom Nieto (Twins)
#613 Rick Reuschel (Giants)
#614 Lee Mazzilli (Mets)
#615 Scott Lusader (Tigers)
#616 Bobby Meacham (Yankees)
#BC-2 Eric Davis - MVP (Reds)
#BC-3 Paul Molitor - MVP (Brewers)
#BC-5 Ivan Calderon - MVP (White Sox)
#BC-7 Wade Boggs - MVP (Red Sox)
Stan Musial puzzle pieces #22-24

1988 Donruss - Pack #2
#012 Tony Fernandez - Diamond Kings (Blue Jays)
#021 Will Clark - Diamond Kings (Giants)
#593 Steve Howe (Rangers)
#595 Storm Davis (A's)
#596 Sammy Stewart (Indians)
#597 Neil Allen (Yankees)
#598 Alejandro Pena (Dodgers)
#599 Mark Thurmond (Tigers)
#601 Jose Mesa (Orioles)
#602 Don August (Brewers)
#603 Terry Leach (Mets)
#604 Tom Newell (Phillies)
#605 Randall Byers (Padres)
#606 Jim Gott (Pirates)
#607 Harry Spilman (Giants)
#BC-1 Cal Ripken, Jr. - MVP (Orioles)

Stan Musial puzzle pieces #31-33

1988 Donruss Major League All-Stars Pop-Up
#17 Pat Tabler (Indians)
#28 Tom Henke (Blue Jays)
#42 Davey Johnson (Mets)
#51 Tony Gwynn (Padres)
#64 Checklist
Andre Dawson - Pop-Up (Cubs)
Cal Ripken, Jr. - Pop-Up (Orioles)

Stan Musial puzzle pieces #1-3

1989 Donruss
#014 Andres Galarraga - Diamond Kings (Expos)
#031 Gary Sheffield - Rated Rookies (Brewers)

#103 Glenn Braggs (Brewers)
#108 Dick Schofield (Angels)
#109 Henry Cotto (Mariners)
#112 Tom Brunansky (Cardinals)
#113 Kelly Gruber (Blue Jays)
#118 Bob Forsch (Astros)
#129 Lance McCullers (Padres)
#134 R.J. Reynolds (Pirates)
#140 Mike Aldrete (Giants)
#146 Dale Sveum (Brewers)
#152 Mookie Wilson (Mets)
#158 Rich Gossage (Cubs)
#BC-5 Jose Canseco - MVP (A's)
Warren Spahn puzzle piece #46-48

1987 Sportflics
#022 Eric Davis (Reds)
#073 Bob Horner (Braves)

#117 Mitch Webster (Expos)
#78 Angels Logo
#93 White Sox Logo

1988 Sportflics
#002 Tim Raines (Expos)
#128 Joe Magrane (Cardinals)
#207 Roger Clemens (Red Sox)

#117 White Sox Logo
#149 Dodgers Logo

2007 Hidden Treasures
The odds of pulling a "hit" - Diamond Ticket 1:1,000,000, Autographed memorabilia 1:10,000, Specialty Insert 1:500, Star Player 1:1, Other 4:1
84 Topps Dave Stegman #664 (White Sox)
89 Score Jim Abbott #88T (Angels)
90 Topps Kevin Brown #22 (Mets)
94 Leaf Limited Gary Gaetti #37 (Royals)
95 Donruss Chan Ho Park #175 (Dodgers)

2008 Tristar Projections
#023 Travis d'Arnaud (Phillies)
#055 Zack Daeges (Red Sox)
#072 Corey Brown (A's)
#074 Casey Crosby (Tigers)
#092 Nevin Griffith (White Sox)
#149 Brett Cecil (Blue Jays)
#020 Austin Romine - Reflective parallel (Yankees)
#136 Brett Smith - Autograph (Yankees)

#140 Billy Rowell - Autograph (Orioles)


2008 Tristar Projections High # Series - Pack #1
#219 Carlos Urena (Yankees)
#237 Hector Gomez (Rockies)
#354 Reynaldo Navarro (Diamondbacks)
#383 Chris Perez (Cardinals)
#384 Shane Keough (A's)

2008 Tristar Projections High # Series - Pack #2
#228 Darwin Barney (Cubs)
#236 Christopher Nelson (Rockies)
#308 Francisco Castillo (Yankees)
#336 Christian Garcia (Yankees)
#382 Joe Mather (Cardinals)

2009 Tristar Projections
#091 Chris Nowak (Rays)
#105 Brian Conley (Orioles)
#183 Ryan Mantle (Giants)
#212 Nathan Nery (Orioles)
#269 Matt Richardson (Yankees)

So there you have it. Was this blaster box worth the $19.95 price tag? Probably not, but it was fun none the less opening the old packs. It is a nice reminder of how far the trading card hobby has come since I first started collecting in 1990. Pulling the autographed cards from the Minor League Tristar packs was a rush...even if I have no idea of who the players are! Outside the Ripkens, Braves & Red Sox cards pretty much everything else is up for grabs. If you saw something you want please let me know. Until next time...

White Sox fall to AAA Charlotte Knights

Chicago White Sox 3, Charlotte Knights 4

Jake Peavy and the White Sox fell tonight to their "little brother" AAA team, the Charlotte Knights. The stadium was packed, the weather was just right and the game was entertaining. A great way to kick off the Easter weekend!

P.S. - I picked up a 2009 Charlotte Knights team set so if anyone out there reading this that is a White Sox fan let me know as I'm more than willing to trade it for anything I "need".