November Group Break Sign Ups!

It's time to announce November's group break!  Last month's was probably my most successful (in terms of selling a high # of teams) so I'm keeping the tiered pricing in place this month.

This month we'll be busting open 3 boxes and 4 jumbo packs:

- 1993 Bowman x4 jumbo packs (22 cards per pack)
- 1995 Topps Embossed Hobby (24 packs, 6 cards per pack)
- 1999 Topps Stars 'N Steel Hobby (12 packs, 3 cards per pack)
- 2000 Upper Deck Ultimate Victory (24 packs, 5 cards per pack)

Pricing is a little higher than I initially wanted it to be mainly because of the inclusion of the Stars 'N Steel box.  I debated switching it out for a less expensive box (and lighter!), but I'm so intrigued by it that I left it in.

To sign up please leave a comment to claim your team or teams.  Braves will be claimed by the host.  Sign ups will last approximately one week (ending on Sunday, November 7th).  At that time I will ask for payment.  Prices include shipping.  Payments can be sent via PayPal to colbeykatie at comporium.net.  Please be sure to mark the payment as a GIFT please.  Include your shipping address with your payment please!  Results will be listed per pack here on the blog - no video will be done.

The following teams will be $9.00 each:
Baltimore Orioles - "O" No!!!  Another Orioles Blog (paid)
Boston Red Sox - Cardsplitter / the Call of Cardboard (paid)
Cincinnati Reds - FanOfReds (paid)
Minnesota Twins
New York Mets - TheBrooklynMet (paid)
New York Yankees - wickedortega / My Past Time...I Love It!
St. Louis Cardinals - Cards on Cards (paid)
Toronto Blue Jays

The following teams will be $7.00 each:

Chicago Cubs

Cleveland Indians - Baseball Dad

Los Angeles Angels

Los Angeles Dodgers - night owl (paid)

Oakland Athletics

Philadelphia Phillies - arfmax (paid)

San Francisco Giants

Seattle Mariners - BA Benny (paid)

Texas Rangers 

The following teams will be $6.00 each:

Chicago White Sox
Colorado Rockies

Detroit Tigers - Grand Cards (paid)

Florida Marlins - PhaLe28 (paid)

Houston Astros - Baseball Dad

Montreal Expos - PhaLe28 (paid)

San Diego Padres

Tampa Bay Rays

The following teams will be $4.00 each: 
Arizona Diamondbacks 
Kansas City Royals 
Milwaukee Brewers - cynicalbuddha (paid)
Pittsburgh Pirates - PhaLe28 (paid)

Free box of 2010 Topps Chrome baseball?

Unless you've been living in a hole then you've probably already heard about GA Mindset's contest he's having on his blog offering up a free box of 2010 Topps Chrome baseball cards.  It's real easy to enter so what are you waiting for?!

New addition...and it's NOT cardboard!

I already spilled the beans over at APTBNL, but if you don't visit that blog frequently I'll summarize it all for you right here.  Thanks to Clear Blue Easy (among other things) my wife and I discovered this afternoon that she is pregnant with our 2nd child.  We are of course happy, but a little rattled at the same time.  If any of you out there are of the praying type I ask that you keep my family in your prayers as we go down this road again.

I don't foresee this effecting anything blog wise right now so I'll keep the posts a coming and the trades going out.

Reorganizing Trade Lists

I love to buy cards whether they be singles, packs or boxes.  That said I end up with A LOT of cards that I don't particularly care to keep.  That means a lot of work trying to organize and catalog cards that I may or may not be able to move.  What does that mean to you the reader?  Well it could mean you'll be getting a package in the mail soon with cards of your favorite team!  If you have participated in one of my group breaks or if you have traded with me in the past...or if I just have your address and I know what team you collect you'll be getting something soon.  Some teams have more cards than others, but since they are basically free I don't think anyone will mind.  To anyone that receives a package - I'm not asking for anything in return necessarily.  However if you run across Braves stuff I just ask that you keep me in mind.  Deal?

Going forward I'm changing what I keep to list on my trade list.  Outside of inserts, autos and relics there won't be nearly as much stuff listed outside of cards for base sets I may be building which results in lots of doubles like the base Topps sets.  I'm still open to trading with anyone, I just don't have the room and time to organize hundreds and hundreds of cards.  Make sense to anyone?

Thanks everyone that has sent me stuff whether it was out of the blue or an organized trade.  I hope these packages I'll be sending out will return some of the kindness I've been shown since joining the community.

Box Break - 2010 Topps Update Series (Hobby) #1 | Box full of Strasburg?!

The fine folks @ Blow Out Cards served me 2 hobby boxes of the new 2010 Topps Update Series yesterday and I couldn't wait to get home from work to rip 'em open.  Usually on Tuesday evenings I watch TV w/ my wife so during the odd Rocky Horror Glee Show I opened my first box.

I thought I knew the included inserts and such, but I was puzzled when I opened the box and saw the one card per pack silver wrapper lying on top.  I debated whether to open it first or last.  That debate didn't go on very long as I quickly opened it to discover this:

Wow, neat...I guess.  You see I was never on the Strasburg bandwagon.  Yeah his first outing was very impressive, but I guess with being a Braves fan and with Jason Heyward being a rookie and all I just never cared much for Strasburg's stuff.  I did pull a Bowman Chrome RC of his earlier this year, but quickly sold it.

Moving on.  I ripped a few more packs and then I got these:

Card #661 & #US-274.  I read that this card features a different photo from the card released in the Million Card Giveaway program...am I correct?  I actually ended up 2 of #661 from this box.

Another handful of packs later and I got the "Merry Stras-mas" checklist card and it's gold parallel. 

This is crazy!  At this point I haven't even pulled a base card of Jason Heyward, but I've pulled 5 cards of Stephen Strasburg!  What gives Topps?  I figured I may pull one of Strasburg's Attax code cards since they are one per pack and sure enough I did with a few packs later.

The last Strasburg card I pulled from this box was a Turkey Red insert.  I still don't know why I like these cards, but I do and this one is no exception.

I plan on building the base set as well as the inserts again so the base cards & the Turkey Red I'm keeping...but I could care less about keeping the duplicate #661, the gold parallel, chrome refractor or the Attax code card.  If you've got any Jason Heyward cards (esp. the chrome refractor) I'm willing to deal.

The box also yielded several good Yo Mama cards and other inserts which were a lot of fun to pull.  The box stated one autograph or relic per box, but I ended up w/ 2 All-Star Game relics.  Neither were too exciting, but I figured someone out there in blogger land will want to swap for them.  Here's a quick break down of the rest of the inserts:

Gold parallels:
#030 Roy Halladay (0370/2010) - Phillies
#068 John Danks (0787/2010) - White Sox
#129 Gregor Blanco (1732/2010) - Royals
#191 Danny Valencia (1118/2010) - Twins
#242 Shelley Duncan (0643/2010) - Indians
#274 Stephen Strasburg & Ivan Rodriguez (1879/2010) - Nationals


All-Star Game Relics:

#AS-MCA Matt Capps (Nationals)
 
#AS-FC Fausto Carmona (Indians)


Cards Your Mom Threw Out:
#118 John Podres
#124 Lew Burdette
#128 Willie McCovey
#131 Robin Roberts
#145 Lou Brock & Carl Yastrzemski
#158 Frank Thomas
#162 Derek Jeter
#163 Mike Piazza & Ken Griffey Jr.
#165 Barry Zito & Ben Sheets
#169 Jim Thome & Mike Schmidt
#173 Joey Votto
#174 David Price

CYMTO Original Backs:

Nolan Ryan


Legendary Lineage:
#63 Victor Martinez & Carlos Santana
#67 Hank Greenberg & Ike Davis
#68 Mark Teixeira & Logan Morrison
#69 Tom Seaver & Mike Leake
#70 Ernie Banks & Starlin Castro

Million Card Giveaway:
#s 21, 22, 23, 24, 26 (x2), 27 (x2), 30


More Tales of the Game:
#02 Triple Billing
#04 Eddie Matthews - "Homes" of the Braves
#07 Mike Schmidt - Tape-Measure Single
#09 Andre Dawson & Alex Rodriguez - the Last Shall Be First
#11 Warren Spahn - Spahn Spans the Decades
#12 There's No Tying in Baseball

Peak Performance:
#105 John Lackey (x2)
#113 Carlos Santana (x2)
#122 Dallas Braden

Turkey Red:
#103 Jason Heyward
#110 Shin-Soo Choo (x2)
#126 Matt Cain
#134 Rod Carew
#140 Thurman Munson
#146 Duke Snider

Vintage Legends Collection:
#26 Johnny Mize
#31 Babe Ruth
#35 Mel Ott
#36 Ty Cobb (x2)
#39 Roy Campanella
#42 Jackie Robinson (x2)
#43 Johnny Bench

Trades with Crinkly Wrappers, the Call of Cardboard & Scott Fendley

Early last week when I was putting the last of my group break packages together to mail out I received 3 rather large packages from Crinkly Wrappers, the Call of Cardboard and blog reader Scott Fendley.  With some much goodness inside each box it's taken me a little time to sort through and scan the cards, but I wanted to share what each of these awesome guys sent me.

We'll start with Ted @ Crinkly Wrappers.  We have gone back and forth sending each other stuff.  I recently sent him some Blue Jays and Nationals along with a few Topps WWE relics and in return he sent me a big ol stack of Braves along with some Garbage Pail Kids Flashback cards & 2010 WWE cards I needed to complete my sets.  I'm still missing a few cards from each set, but the want list is a lot smaller now.  Ted also sent me a card that I thought was very cool, especially since I just finished at the time helping my brother list a lot of vintage baseball cards on eBay for his boss.  Take a look:

I've seen various posts on his blog of vintage cards he's picked up at local shows and stuff and I've always thought they were cool, but I've never gone after anything older than mid to late 70's before.  I'm not sure what year this is, but it's very cool and I really appreciate the card.

Chris @ the Call of Cardboard recently participated in my October group break for the first time.  We e-mailed back and forth about a few things.  He ended up sending me a nice stack of Braves cards as well which 99.9% of them I didn't have.  I keep saying I'm going to post my master Braves collection on my blog, but at this rate I simply don't have the time.  I'm doing good just to catalog the cards I'm buying!

One day a few weeks ago I received a message from reader Scott Fendley stating he had a lot of Braves to send me and he wanted my mailing address.  A week or so later I got a medium sized box in mail chocked full of surprises.  The first thing in the box was a generous pile of cards for my new side collection of pitchers depicted batting.  I haven't posted them yet, but they will soon be found here.  He also sent me a nice stack of Braves players along w/ some cards of Josh Hamilton and others.  The Braves cards were of current and former players with some of them being refractors, serially numbered inserts and even a few Chipper Jones jersey cards.  Here are  few of my favorites:

 

          

        

To be completely honest I'm blown away by the generosity of everyone...and not just these guys.  Ever since I started this blog in February I've been amazed by so many people.  I really appreciate the effort put into these packages and I hope I can return the favor soon.

BBCexchange.com?

Anyone know what happened to the BBCexchange.com website?  I was just browsing it earlier yesterday trying to get some ideas for November's group break and went I went back last night the site is down.  Just curious to see if anyone has read anything or know when the site may be back up again.

Excuses & In the Mail 10/21/10

I was going to use my recent group break as an excuse of taking some time away from the blog and cardboard collecting, but I must confess and admit that I've been sucked into the world of Fortune City helping Chuck Greene clear his name and save his daughter from the recent massive zombie outbreak in Dead Rising 2.

I try not to bring up non-trading card related subjects here (since I know many of you could care less), but that is the real reason I've been absent of late.  All that said I beat the game last night and got the 'S' ending and outside working on a few achievements I should be able to return to the land of the living (pun intended).

Now that I've got that out of the way I wanted to share really quick 3 cards that arrived in today's mail.  I was super excited about them since 1) they were cheap and 2) I had never seen these before.  What were they you ask?

We'll start with my favorite of the bunch.  I love the more unusual game used cards and base cards are some of my favorite.  Combine that with one of my favorite Braves catchers on a card design that I've never seen before along with a low serial number and you've got yourself a winner!  This card comes from the 2004 Topps Clubhouse Collection and is serially numbered 65/65.  I like the front design, but the back surprised me once I had this card in hand.  It has the usual "congratulations!" blah blah blah stuff, but the back of the card is covered in a refractor like sheen!  The front is just glossy, but the back is shiny?

The next card is also from a 2004 Topps product with this time it being the All-Time Fan Favorites set.  I really wish I had been collecting cards in 2004 because everything I've seen from this set is very nice.  However this card has eluded my attention so I quickly gobbled this card up for $2.00.  I was a huge fan of Justice growing up and I hated to see him leave the Braves organization.  I was OK with him being an Indian or even a part of the Athletics, but I cringed the day I saw him sporting the Yankee pinstripes (shudders).  At least this is a nice design with a piece of bat in the uniform he belongs in.

And last but not least we have a Bobby Bonilla jersey card...because what collection isn't complete without at least one Bobby Bo card in it?  To be honest I never even knew Bobby played for the Braves.  According to the card's back the jersey piece was taken from 2000 when hit .255 for Atlanta.  It also mentions he holds (held) the record for most HRs by a switch hitter w/ 242.  The card was cheap so I figured why not?

In The Game 2011 baseball cards?

For some strange reason I decided to log into Facebook this evening to check my page and in the sidebar I saw an add for a company called In The Game advertising 2011 baseball cards.  I clicked on the ad to get a better idea and it appears this 2011 set will feature minor league and hall of fame players.  They are even including autographs of said players.  I noticed in one picture you can clearly see the Atlanta logo on Jason Heyward's jersey.  Do they have a license w/ MLB?  Has anyone else heard about this company before?  Apparently they made a name for themselves with hockey card collectors.  Maybe that's why I've never heard of them!  Take a look at the image below and click on the link above to read what this set is all about and then tell me what you think?  Will there be any interest in this?  Are you planning to buy any or would you buy a pack/box on sight?

I'm invited to a meeting w/ Michael Jordan?

Upon checking my e-mail earlier this morning I got this message from the NBA Charlotte Bobcats:

What is this town hall meeting all about?  Beats me, but it's hosted my Michael Jordan and it's free.  I'm guessing I got this invite from a former customer of mine that worked for the team.  With baseball being over (for me at least) and with the Carolina Panthers sucking right now I guess I'll give the Bobcats a little attention this season.  While I'm at it I may even see about tickets for the pre-season game that follows this meeting.  If I'm going out of my way to head into uptown Charlotte I might as well make it worth my time.  I'll report on this meeting later on if anyone cares.

October Group Break Final Results

Drum roll please!  I will now tally up the total number of cards per team so everyone knows what to expect in the mail this coming week.  I'll do my best to have everything mailed by mid-week.  Again, if you want any of the wrappers or you don't want your duplicates please let me know ASAP.  Thanks again for everyone participating.  I plan to try to do one more break before we wrap up 2010 so keeps your eyes on the blog for future information.

Astros - 18 base / 6 inserts

Blue Jays - 25 base / 5 inserts

Braves - 28 base / 4 inserts

Cardinals - 21 base / 5 inserts

Cubs - 18 base / 2 inserts

Dodgers -  23 base / 8 inserts

Giants - 20 base / 5 inserts

Mariners - 27 / 8 inserts

Marlins - 18 base / 18 inserts

Mets - 17 base / 4 inserts

Orioles - 21 base / 5 inserts

Padres - 20 base / 3 inserts

Rays - 23 base / 1 insert

Red Sox - 22 base / 9 inserts

Rockies - 29 base / 2 inserts

Tigers - 22 base / 5 inserts

Twins - 18 base / 9 inserts

Yankees - 34 base / 8 inserts

Group Break Round 3 - 2007 Fleer

We've come to the last handful of packs of the last box.  I'll follow up this post with a recap so every participate has an idea of how many base cards and inserts you'll be receiving.  On to the packs!

Pack 1
#282 Curt Schilling (Red Sox)
#137 David Wright (Mets)
#039 Jae Seo (Rays)
#267 Carlos Zambrano - Mini (Cubs)
#341 Glen Perkins RC (Twins)
#RS-FL Francisco Liriano - Rookie Sensations (Twins)

#CA-PM Pedro Martinez - Crowning Achievement (Mets)

Pack 2
#274 Jacque Jones (Cubs)
#213 Kenny Rogers (Twins)
#109 Barry Zito (Giants)
#356 Philip Humber RC (Mets)
#RS-JB Josh Barfield - Rookie Sensations (Padres)
#002 Alfonso Soriano (Cubs)

#CA-MC Miguel Cabrera - Crowning Achievement (Marlins)

Pack 3
#224 Jeff Francis (Rockies)
#212 Mike Jacobs (Marlins)
#071 Randy Winn (Giants)
#031 Carlos Lee - Mini (Astros)
#359 Ryan Feierabend RC (Mariners)
#323 Jeff Fiorentino RC (Orioles)
#RS-SO Scott Olsen - Rookie Sensations (Marlins)

Pack 4
#301 Jeff Francouer (Braves)
#124 Jorge Posada (Yankees)
#148 Carlos Silva (Twins)
#053 Ichiro (Mariners)
#341 Glen Perkins RC (Twins)
#RS-FL Francisco Liriano - Rookie Sensations (Twins)

Pack 5
#196 Andy Pettitte (Yankees)
#062 Raul Ibanez (Mariners)
#321 Alvin Colina RC - Mini (Rockies)
#335 Kevin Kouzmanoff RC (Padres)
#RS-KJ Kenji Johjima - Rookie Sensations (Mariners)
#014 Roy Halladay (Blue Jays)

Pack 6
#288 Miguel Tejada (Orioles)
#125 Robinson Cano (Yankees)
#046 Jason Isringhausen (Cardinals)
#149 Boof Bosner - Mini (Twins)
#365 Delmon Young RC (Rays)
#329 Scott Moore RC (Cubs)
#RS-JL Jon Lester - Rookie Sensations (Red Sox)

Pack 7
#302 Chuck James (Braves)
#267 Carlos Zambrano (Cubs)
#032 James Shields (Rays)
#068 Matt Morris (Giants)

#338 Troy Tulowitzki RC (Rockies)
#352 Devern Hansack RC (Red Sox)
#RS-LO James Loney - Rookie Sensations (Dodgers)
#RS-NM Nick Markakis - Rookie Sensations (Orioles)

#IZ-KG Ken Griffey Jr. - In the Zone (Reds)

Another nice Griffey insert that wasn't claimed!

Pack 8
#220 Nate Robertson (Tigers)
#035 Jonny Gomes (Rays)
#362 Oswaldo Navarro RC (Mariners)
#326 David Murphy RC (Red Sox)
#RS-JH Jeremy Hermida - Rookie Sensations (Marlins)
#RS-JJ Josh Johnson - Rookie Sensations (Marlins)
#380 Ivan Rodriguez / Tigers Checklist (Tigers)

Pack 9
#273 Ryan Dempster (Cubs)
#140 Michael Cuddyer (Twins)
#013 Vernon Wells (Blue Jays)

Pack 10
#231 Aaron Cook (Rockies)
#132 Billy Wagner (Mets)
#276 Kerry Wood - Mini (Cubs)
#360 Juan Morillo RC (Rockies)
#324 Jeff Baker RC (Rockies)

Pack 11
#309 Chipper Jones (Braves)
#133 Pedro Martinez (Mets)
#295 Kris Benson - Mini (Orioles)
#325 Brian Burres RC (Orioles)
#364 Brian Stokes RC (Rays)
#016 Lyle Overbay (Blue Jays)

#CA-KG Ken Griffey Jr. - Crowning Achievement (Reds)

Pack 12
#294 Corey Patterson (Orioles)
#204 Josh Johnson (Marlins)
#207 Jeremy Hermida - Mini (Marlins)
#351 Andy Cannizaro RC (Yankees)
#342 Ubaldo Jiminez RC (Rockies)
#018 Bengie Molina (Giants)

#CA-JA Johan Santana - Crowning Achievement (Twins)

The 2nd half of this box just seems to be loaded with these Crowning Achievement cards. 

Pack 13
#225 Brian Fuentes (Rockies)
#295 Kris Benson (Orioles)
#149 Boof Bosner (Twins)
#050 Jason Marquis (Cubs)
#RS-SO Scott Olsen - Rookie Sensations (Marlins)
#373 Miguel Tejada / Orioles Checklist (Orioles)

Pack 14
#281 Manny Ramirez (Red Sox)
#308 Tim Hudson (Braves)
#059 Jarrod Washburn (Mariners)
#368 Adam Lind RC (Blue Jays)
#020 Aaron Hill (Blue Jays)
#RS-JV Justin Verlander - Rookie Sensations (Tigers)

Pack 15
#134 Paul Lo Duca (Mets)
#044 Scott Rolen (Cardinals)
#058 J.J. Putz (Mariners)
#348 Delwyn Young RC (Dodgers)
#357 Hector Gimenez RC (Astros)
#RS-RN Ricky Nolasco - Rookie Sensations (Marlins)

Pack 16
#077 Adrian Gonzalez (Padres)
#204 Josh Johnson - Mini (Marlins)
#337 Justin Hampson RC (Padres)
#RS-BB Boof Bosner - Rookie Sensations (Twins)
#RS-HR Hanley Ramirez - Rookie Sensations (Marlins)

Ok, not the most exciting box of cards I've opened, but it did yield lots of base cards for most of the teams along with a slew of inserts for the Marlins.  I swear it seemed like every other Rookie Sensations card was of a Marlins player!

Group Break Round 3 - 1998 Fleer Sports Illustrated World Series Fever

These should be the last few packs of Fleer SI to open.  We've pulled at least one of each insert so far, but let's see what else we may find.

Pack 1
#124 Mo Vaughn (Red Sox)
#038 Jose Cruz Jr. (Blue Jays)

#041 Mark Grace (Cubs)
#040 Shawn Estes (Giants)

Pack 2

#029 Kirk Gibson / Magnificent Moments (Dodgers)
#126 Derrek Lee (Marlins)

#012 The Champs / SI Covers (Twins)
#114 John Smoltz (Braves)

I'm sure all Dodgers' fans are familiar w/ this shot of Kirk Gibson.  This photo makes a beautiful baseball card.

Pack 3
#002 1957 World Series / SI Covers (Braves)
#104 Paul O'Neill (Yankees)
#054 Todd Helton (Rockies)
#067 Chuck Knoblauch (Yankees)

Pack 4

#04RP Juan Gonzalez - Reggie's Picks (Rangers)
#130 J.T. Snow (Giants)

Another hit, but no Rangers fans?

Pack 5
#107 Rafael Palmeiro (Orioles)

#015 1991 World Series / SI Covers (Twins)
#097 Raul Mondesi (Dodgers)
#104 Paul O'Neill (Yankees)
#070 Eric Karros (Dodgers)
#069 Brian Hunter (Tigers)

Pack 6
#09MC John Wetteland - MVP Collection (Rangers)
#079 Ryan Klesko (Braves)

#003 1958 World Series / SI Covers (Yankees)
#090 Greg Maddux (Braves)

Pack 7

#025 Mookie Wilson / MM (Mets)
#072 Chipper Jones (Braves)

#016 Canada's Team / SI Covers (Blue Jays)
#081 Fred McGriff (Rays)

Pack 8

#008 Frank Robinson / SI Covers (Orioles)
#108 Alex Rodriguez (Mariners)

#065 Derek Jeter (Yankees)
#061 Chan Ho Park (Dodgers)

Pack 9
#045 Brady Anderson (Orioles)

#07MC Paul Molitor - MVP Collection (Blue Jays)
#088 Kerry Wood (Cubs)

#007 Frank Robinson / SI Covers (Orioles)

Another MVP Collection hit - this time of a hall of famer!  Like with most of these cards the player is pictured on the front and back in a different uniform.  Since he won the MVP award while playing w/ the Blue Jays it makes sense to me that this card goes in the Blue Jays stack.  If we get another one it will go to the Twins.

Pack 10
#027 Mickey Lolich / MM (Yankees)

#020 Edgar Renteria / SI Covers (Marlins)
#052 Roger Clemens (Blue Jays)

Pack 11
#103 Jeff Bagwell (Astros)
#075 Craig Biggio (Astros)
#085 Matt Morris (Cardinals)

Pack 12

#10MC Livan Hernandez - MVP Collection (Marlins)
#086 Paul Konerko (Dodgers)

#001 Mickey Mantle / SI Covers (Yankees)

We finish off this box with the last card in the last pack being a really nice looking Mantle card.  I've got to say I really enjoyed opening this box and I will be buying another as I want to build it now.  If anybody doesn't want your doubles from this set please let me know.  Collation was really good so I don't believe there were many doubles to begin with.  We've got a handful of packs left to go before the end of this month's break.