Thursday, July 30, 2015

Nothing Is Better Than a Quickie! (#2)

Had a lot to mail out today, hopefully in future posts I can talk about them, but look what was waiting in my mail box for me:


Bo Hart Autograph on 2004 Ultra! Yay! Another Cardinal on a Cardinal card. I was close to writing this off, but  24 days after I sent it, it came back.

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Key to Success or: How I Love Puns

Another day in the trading card world, but this time a little brighter as I got another TTM Auto today, this is a pretty decent one too:

Jimmy Key, 1993 Leaf. Marking the second card in that set I've got signed. only 548 to go! lol By the way, if you send Mr. Key a card to sign, only send one, since he only does one at a time.

On the TTM from I'm now 3/12. I've wrote off getting my 2015 Gypsy Queen Wade Boggs signed since that was mailed a month ago. Sad. Also writing off Jhonny Peralta (because of what I've read about him and TTM Autos), a 2014 Heritage down the drain, it was sent two months ago. 

Moving onto the trade front, the first one I want to talk about is from Shrimpy Sausage over at the Trading Card Database. Traded a football card and a 2015 Heritage Indians checklist for some 2014 Heritage cards. I have a long way to go on that set, but I love that design so much, so much so I was thinking about hunting down some of the 2003 Upper Deck Vintage cards where they used the exact design.

Another trade from the TCDB, this time from wjsenke, 2015 Topps Series 2 base cards were exchanged and some Gypsy Queen Minis. He got the Minis and I got the base cards which is nice, the trade also included a Gypsy Queen Short Print of Dwight Gooden:

It brings me closer to completing the set, only need three more cards to complete the base, which is really all I care about, the short prints would be nice to have of course but I'm not going to hunt them down and well, don't get me started on the variations.

Also included in the trade wjsenke included a couple extra cards including:

2010 Topps Tales of the Game, Ozzie Smith. I had no idea this card existed and I usually look for Ozzie cards, even when I was out of the loop of collecting. It's a nice looking card, catching Ozzie mid-flip.

Another extra card was:

2008 Heritage, Wilson Betemit. Now I haven't started collecting this set yet, but I love the design, it's the classic 1959 Topps design which I am a big fan of, although I have no cards of that set. lol

I'm out of breath from typing..It's almost like running a marathon.


Saturday, July 25, 2015

Nothing Is Better Than a Quickie! (#1)

Quick post today. Got these in the mail:

Two Pat Neshek auto's. A former Cardinal, but I have no Cardinal card of, so I guess I'll have to look for one (or two) and get them signed.

I'm currently 2/12 on my TTM Auto's. I'll keep going longer, I know it's a process that involves patience, but I don't have much of that. lol

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Da'Dip or: How I Can't Think of a Title

Another day, still sick though. Going on five days now and it is so not fun.

I have nearly every card added except for five packs from a 2013 Topps Series 2 blaster. Those will be added sometime soon.

In the mail today was some fun stuff. One of the items was:

1979 Topps Al Hrabosky, autographed. I have just started doing TTM Autos and this was one on my list I wanted to get signed. However I didn't have the card, looking for a trade over at the Trading Card Database for any Hrabosky cards in Cardinal uniforms are scarce, Just Commons didn't have it, it's going for over $3 at COMC. So, I just went ahead and bought the card autographed off eBay. It was only $4.75, so not too bad I think.

Also in the mail today was a trade from engine614 over the Trading Card Database, he helped me sure up some cards from 2012 Topps that I didn't have in exchange for some Phillies cards. I was late mailing my end of the trade out because of my summer flu, I hope he doesn't hold it against me. But the cool card of that trade on my end was:


2013 Allen & Ginter Ozzie Smith. Another Ozzie card ticked off the list. Supposedly it's a short print, I don't know. Don't like messing around with them or think they're all that necessary. I wanted this one though. lol

And finally, the previous post I talked about how I got a 2013 Topps Series 1 box. I ripped through all of them, nothing exciting really. Here the highlights:

My hit of the box. CJ Wilson, Chasing History Relic. It's a nice looking card, that's about it though. lol

Evan Longoria Black Border. #'d 62/62. So I actually got the last one made.

Jeter, Cut to the Chase. I'm a big of this design.


Mike Trout, Chasing the Dream.

And finally Willie Mays, The Greats.

That's it for today, please comment is you have anything you'd like to imput. Find me over at the Trading Card Database under the username ShoTime.

Until next time....Stay out of Wal-Mart. Little brats there will get you sick. Ugh.

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Busy Mail Day

So, one of the new things about being in this new age collecting is that you have crazy busy mail days. I noticed this today. No trades to send out but I did send out a bunch of cards I sold on eBay. Mostly cards from 2015 Topps Series 2 Hobby Box and 2015 Topps Archives Blaster Box I got last month. I got back roughly half of what I paid for the blaster of Archives and did well on the cards from the Series 2 box, I can now get a Series 1 box, because I do things ass-backwards.

Also in the mail I sent out two more possible autographs. Hopefully they will come back signed by the ballplayers I sent them to. *crosses fingers*

And finally in the mail, was this:

A box of 2013 Series 1 Topps. It didn't come like that, I just needed to open the box.

Here's the thing though, I'm not opening any of those packs until I get all of my cards put into my collection over at the Trading Card Database (username: ShoTime, go check out what I got). I only have one set left to got through and it's 1993 Upper Deck. It's sitting right beside me as I sit at my desk. A row and a half out of the four row boxes. Normally this would suck, but I'm sick as a dog and probably won't be able to sleep. Hopefully I get through this set pretty fast and I can rip open a few packs before I pass out.

I'm off to take some Mucinex and count cards...

Monday, July 13, 2015

It Came from the Mail #2: TTMA Edition

For the past three weeks or so I've been trying out TTM Autographs. Being away from the hobby for nearly 20 years, a lot has changed. The amount of parallels a certain company releases, they have have one where they intentionally damage the card, make it smell like gum and it's worth more. What the hell? LOL

One of the better changes, I think anyways, are TTM Autographs. I wasn't smart enough to send any out when I was collecting as a kid, firstly I don't know if I would have had the resources to pull it off and secondly information is a lot more easily obtainable these days. Like where to send your cards to get them autographed.

Before I show my first success, I'm going to go over a few rules that I did for myself:

Rule 1: Handwritten letter. Don't just print out something a plain piece a paper, hand write it. Oh, always go with Mr./Miss/Mrs. Whomever. It shows respect and whatnot.

Rule 2: Self-Address Stamped Envelopes. So, roughly a dollar per autograph. This kind of weeds out sending an autograph to everyone under the moon. So if you don't want to lose a dollar, make sure they sign and get back.

Rule 3: Never send more than three cards and make sure they're doubles. I haven't sent three cards to anybody yet, but more than three seems like you're asking for too much. The doubles rule is simple. You're never sure it will return and what if it's a fake autograph? Maybe they pay their friends to sign for them. You're out a card and have a fake autograph on it.

Rule 4: Use the cards for your own private collection and show them off. This is much like the double rule, don't sell your TTM Auto on eBay because you never really know. You shouldn't be thinking of monetary gain when getting a TTM, you should be sending to players you enjoyed watching not thinking of "hits" and "scores."

Those are the rules, the main four anyway. Now onto my first TTM Auto I actually got back. No "return to senders" yet. Drum-roll please...

Ron Gant, 1996 Ultra. I broke rule #3 here though. I don't have a double of this card. I figured I have so few of the set, the card is awesome looking and I'm a sucker for Ultra.

Another drum-roll...

 Ron Gant, 1997 Upper Deck Collector's Choice. This was a double.

So my first return back was a Cardinal and one of my favorites from my teens, when I was just getting out of collecting cards. I went into this a month ago thinking - I'll give it some time and if doesn't get any returns I'll stop. - I'm 1/7 so far and that one is a pretty nice one for me and means I'll keep doing it for a little longer.

Friday, July 10, 2015

It Came from the Mail #1:

My first ever real blog entry in nearly....A few years, I had a regular one over at TV.com, but that site dried up after the staff killed it, but that's a different story for a different day. Today is about what I got in the mail, it was trade from redlegs_baseball over at the Trading Card Database. A medium sized trade, here's what went down.

I gave up:

1977 Topps #100 Joe Morgan

1991 Studio #161 Tom Browning

1991 Studio #162 Eric Davis

1991 Studio #163 Rob Dibble

1991 Studio #164 Mariano Duncan

1991 Studio #165 Chris Hammond

1993 Studio #71 Nolan Ryan
1993 Studio #121 Sammy Sosa
1994 Donruss - Special Edition Gold #10 Tony Gwynn

1994 Donruss - Special Edition Gold #29 Dave Hollins

1994 Donruss - Special Edition Gold #45 Barry Larkin

Yes, I have a ton load of Studio cards to trade after buying a 3 box lot of '91, '92 and '93 off eBay for super cheap. I got the complete sets of '92 and '93. The '91 box was a complete debacle and have put me off of buying any older Leaf products again.

And I got back:

1985 Donruss Action All-Stars #28 Ozzie Smith
I had no idea how huge this card was when I asked for it in the trade, if I did I probably would have offered more.

1988 Donruss All-Stars - Pop-Ups #15 Ozzie Smith
I originally thought I had this card, but it was actually the '89 Pop-Up I had. You can only tell the difference in them through the slight differences in the background since both pictures were taken at Wrigley Field.

2011 Topps - 60 Years Of Topps #60YOT-32 Ozzie Smith 1983
I have the original of this card, I guess I wanted the reprint because of my OCD.

2012 Topps #1a Ryan Braun



The rest are all 2012 Topps base cards which I need to finish up the set, sans short prints. Yuck.

2012 Topps #8 Mike Adams

2012 Topps #13 Vernon Wells

2012 Topps #16 Desmond Jennings

2012 Topps #18 Colby Lewis

2012 Topps #20 Craig Kimbrel

2012 Topps #21 Chris Iannetta

2012 Topps #27 John Buck

2012 Topps #29 Livan Hernandez / Roy Oswalt / Randy Wolf

2012 Topps #35a Eric Hosmer
For those of you who actually read this, what do you think of the trade?