First time contacting Topps' customer service

Sometime last year I participated in a group break featuring 2010 Topps Chrome baseball.  I was lucky enough to end up getting a redemption card for a Brandon Hicks autographed rookie refractor.  Once my cards arrived I was quick to enter the code into Topps.com so I could begin my wait for the card to be delivered to me.

After several weeks of waiting I decided to check on the status of the card since I had to head to the site to enter some codes for Tim Tebow cards.  That is when I noticed the description for the Brandon Hicks card now read some sort of basketball card.  What?  I figured it was a simple error that Topps would find and fix on their own so I didn't report anything.

Flash forward to today when I was trying to file some cards away and I ran across this redemption card.  Since I never got the card I decided to check the website again and that is when I noticed 1) the description had been fixed to list the proper card and 2) there was a USPS tracking number.  So I copied and pasted the # into USPS.com to see what happened to the card.  Apparently it was sent to Bridgeport, NJ on Dec. 28th, 2010.  Sigh...

I shot off an e-mail this evening to Topps' customer service letting them know of the error and asking if my card would be replaced.  Has anything like this happened to any one else?  Is Topps pretty good at fixing errors as such?

One more "dirt cheap" step to completion

Last week I posted my first card from the awesome 2001 Stadium Club Play at the Plate game-used dirt set.  Once I had the Griffey card in hand I just knew I wanted to track down more and I'm glad to say that I've added 3 more cards!

Nomar Garciaparra - people must not collect him like they did when he was still playing as I grabbed this card for just a few bucks.

Vladimir Guerrero as an Expo.  Another cheap pick up at a few bucks.

Alex Rodriguez - at least he was still a Mariner in 2001 as I shudder at the idea of adding a Yankee player to my collection!

So 3 more cards down - several more to go.  Still haven't been able to find the Chipper Jones in the set...

Recent Acquisitions

Things have been really busy for me lately, but I did want to take a few short moments to share a few cheapos that I've picked up recently.

I love Pacific's various die-cut cards.  This is my first card from 1997's Fireworks insert set.

For whatever reason I've always like Studio's credit card style Studio Stars cards.  I don't have a lot of Tim Hudson cards as an A's player so I was happy to find this 2004 card.

2005's Studio Stars dropped the credit card motif for a clear acetate design...which I love!

Sunday Verse

John 3:30 (NIV)

³⁰ He must become greater; I must become less.”

These words were said by John the Baptist and what he meant by that was he had to put aside his own agenda to follow God's plan for him and his life.

I've heard it said that in order for us to strengthen our walk w/ Christ we must let Him consume every part of us until all that can be seen in us is Him.  This is easier said than done a lot of times because we as humans like to stay in control of things.  I have witness first hand however that if you can give up control and let God's will for your life take place you just may be surprised that He really does know what's better for us.

Want an early jump at next month's ALL CHROME group break?

...then follow me on Twitter (@flywheels) and you'll get first dibs at claiming your favorite team(s) as well as early information on future group breaks!

Sign ups for June's group break will be posted to on the blog Wednesday morning, June 1st.  Prices per team start at only $4.00 and there are discounts for multiple teams.  Make sure to drop by after the long Memorial Day holiday for all of the details.

Trade w/ Trey of Rants, Reviews and Fandom

A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from blog reader Trey.  We went back and forth before finally agreeing on a trade.  I sent him some cards he needed and he found a few cards off of my want list to send to me.

He helped me knock off several cards from several different sets including 2011 Topps, Gypsy Queen, Heritage, Opening Day and a lot of cards from 2010 Topps Magic football!  A big thank you to Trey for making our first trade such a success.  Since we completed our trade he finally has his own blog up and running so make sure to check out Rants, Reviews and Fandom.

Cards from the Quarry Group Break results

Every once in awhile I get to be on the other side of group breaks and be a participant.  Sometimes I even get to claim my Braves in said breaks.  This was the case for the Quarry's first ever group break.  He busted 2 boxes of Topps Bazooka and a box of Bowman.  I wasn't one of the lucky ones w/ a lot of inserts or a hit, but I'm happy w/ the base cards I did get.

I love the old school Fleer logo stickers!  The Bazooka comic cards are interesting.  The Andruw Jones "card" is actually a temporary tattoo.  If only I was 6 again!  Anytime I end up w/ a Maddux that I didn't have before I did good in my book.

I think I got a complete Braves team set out of the Bowman box.  The Kevin Millwood is his RC. 

With things in my world changing I may have to back off hosting group breaks every single month (still to be determined), but the Quarry is ready, willing and able to step up to the plate and pick up where I may slack off!  Thanks for such a great (affordable) group break.

Contest over @ Baseball Cards Rule!

Want to win a cool low serially numbered jersey card of Brewers slugger Prince Fielder?  Yeah, me too...that's why I'm helping to plug the contest so I get an extra entry!

Check out all of the details HERE and join in on the fun!

Missing cards?

First it was Gypsy Queen missing hits, now it's Bowman missing cards per pack?  I haven't found too many loose packs available in my area (and if I have the packs have been opened and left behind), but I did grab 2 packs the other day and both packs only had 9 cards.  One of the Chrome cards were missing and neither pack had been tampered with.

Has anyone else ran into this problem w/ loose retail packs?  It wasn't a huge deal as I'm more of a fan of the base cards, but I still would like to get everything I pay for.

The 2 packs even though they were short a card I did get a few decent things:

- Buster Posey Finest Futures #FF2
- Buster Posey International parallel #1

Both are available for trade.  Looking for the green retail parallel of Tim Hudson.

A sign of things to come in Carolina

 

Cam Newton-mania...at least on cardboard.  Who knows if they'll even be a 2011 NFL season, but we do know that both Panini and Topps will be cranking out all of the rookie cards later this summer.

While all of the prospectors are buying up the expensive Cam Newton rookies I'll be picking up the discounted Jimmy Clausen rookies and autos I skipped in 2010?  Why when he'll probably ride the bench?  I dunno, let's just say I think he's a good guy who got off to a rocky start and deserves another shot.