Bunch of eBay Purchasing - Still FAILURE...

As a fan of the TV show Survivor, going back to the first season, when A&G offered a Bob Crowley relic and auto, I got excited. Unfortunately, since this is a short printed relic/auto, they are hard to come by and also relatively expensive. I'd thought I found the perfect one on eBay pricing wise. I put in my best offer and with 4 minutes left, assumed I'd win as there had been very little activity on it. Thinking I'd really outsmart the system, I then checked the seller's other auctions to take advantage of combined shipping. He had a ton of football relics including HOFer Steve Largent, as well as a mediocre T206 auto. I bid on them all, as they were all only .99. As you can guess, I got outbid at the last second for the Bob Crowley bow tie relic, but won all the other relics. Oh well. Hopefully I can find someone to trade them to!




















I've heard Scott Elbert should make the roster and maybe play a middle relief role. Who knows. He used to be a hot prospect, but that shine has faded I think. Hopefully the Padres shellac him. My first T206 mini auto, as I have the Heath Bell full size auto also for T206.




















Steve Largent is a hall of famer, a former Congressman and a losing Gubernatorial candidate. For $.99, I figured I couldn't go wrong.





















This was a larger size swatch for Torry Holt. Former fantasy team member. Not much else to say about him, I think we can probably stick a fork in his career at this point.




















First I'd seen the Bowman Sterling product, as I'm not a big Football collector outside of the Chargers. The foilboard is OK but kind of weird looking. Anyways, numbered to 50.




















Steve Smith is the all time leading receiver in USC history, so I've always rooted for him. Can anyone guess who's record he broke? A former Panther... I'm glad he broke out this year. This one is numbered to 25.

So, all of these cards are for trade. Even though I didn't get my Bob Crowley, I got all of these for about 9 bucks including shipping. Hopefully I can trade some of them, and if anyone has the Bob, please let me know!!!!

eBay Mail Day - Ryno Time!

I received a card I've been salivating over for a while. I've bid probably 4 or 5 times on this card, which I'd assume was in low demand. I was wrong. There must be a lot of Ryan Klesko collectors out there! Klesko was a player I loved to hate when he was on the Padres, even though he was one of the "stars". He always seemed to hit into double plays in critical times. But, he was a great guy. A fan favorite. His towering home runs to right were spectacles to see, as were his admiring of the moon shots. One of my favorite parts of his game was the year he stole over 20 bases. It was great seeing hulking Ryno swiping a base. Anyways, this 2004 Sweet Spot auto will go up in Padres wall display, joining my Giles, A-Gon, and Chris Young Sweet Spot a
autos.















Look how great that soul patch was! Now I just need the rest of my recent eBay binge to finally get here! To be discussed later...

TTM Return

So, as I mentioned yesterday, I sent out a huge batch of TTM requests. Most of them went to Spring Training camps, but I sent 3 to some early 90's Padre starting pitchers. I got one back already. Of course, it was one I knew I'd get back. A slam dunk. Only one of the key pitchers on the 1998 World Series team, and one of the sweatiest men on the mound you'll ever meet. None other than Pittston, PA's own Andy Ashby!














Of course I've already got 2 Ashby certified autos, 2006 and 2008 Leaf/Donruss Signature Series cards. But, I needed a good, high probability one to start off this TTM season. And none better than a pitcher I really looked up to. From everything I've heard, he is a great guy. And a great signer!

Spring Training TTM

I am a big TTM'er. I love getting autographs back in the mail. I've had tons of success with the Allen and Ginter non-sports figures. I love my Steve Wiebe, Billy Mitchell and Joey Chestnut autographs. I've had less success with my baseball players (thanks David Eckstein, Phil Nevin, Chase Headley, Wade Leblanc and Matt Antonelli for ignoring my letters!!!) For the first time, I'm trying to send to Spring Training hoping for better results. I sent out ten packages last week to time it with the reporting dates. Packages went out to:

David Eckstein
Scott Hairston
Nick Hundley
Tony Gwynn Jr.
Trevor Hoffman
Mariano Rivera
Andy Ashby
Andy Benes
Ed Whitson
Trevor Cahill

I also am planning on getting packages to Aaron Poreda, Clayton Richard and Kyle Blanks. Maybe new Padre Aaron Cunningham.

I'll keep the blog up to date with what comes back!

New Card/Comics Store - Victory Comics, Falls Church, VA

Northern Virginia does not have a great variety of card and comic stores. The ones that are here are fine for supplies, but cards are grossly overpriced (like charging book value for early 90's junk singles), and the people are pretentious and unfriendly. Our best card store is blowoutcards.com, which of course has no physical storefront. At the Shoff show, there were fliers for a new card store in Falls Church, Victory Comics. They were offering 4.95 off the first purchase, and it was on the way home. So, my friend and I stopped there.

It is a nice new store, very bright and spacious. Very unlike a lot of comic stores in that there is room to walk and browse. Their card counter was quite weak, populated with wax boxes of early 90's junk, although they were all appropriately priced (low). They did have some 2010 Upper Deck and Topps hobby packs. I opted to buy 2 hobby packs of UD. It led to a first time milestone for me since I restarted collecting last year:














I PULLED MY FIRST HIT FROM A PACK!!!!!!! At least my first hit from a pack that wasn't part of a box I bought.

Granted, it is Barry Zito. And it is these non-descript looking 2010 UD jersey cards that as I found out at the Shoff show, are being sold for less than some 2010 Topps non-relic inserts.

I also pulled this:



















Granted, it's JJ Hardy, but I always like pulling these numbered UD Gold cards. I pulled a Hunter Pence last year from a pack from Target, and was able to get it to a player collector on Sports Card Forum. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how many JJ Hardy fans or player collectors are out there.... BUT, it's available for trade!!!! Act now!!!!

I also pulled a Buster Posey base "Star Rookie" for what it's worth. Also for trade.

Not bad for 2 packs at 5.95 each, with a 4.95 discount. And I finally got the excitement of pulling a hit out of a pack!!!!! Not bad, even if it's stupid Barry Zito on the stupid, stupid, terrible Giants.

Card Show Sunday

I hadn't been to the Shoff Promotions card show in Tysons Corner, VA in probably 4 months. I finally made it out, hoping to grab some 2010 cards, as well as various bargains I found. I'd say it was a great success:

First off, they are practically giving away the 2010 Upper Deck jersey cards. It might be because they are so bland looking, it might be because you get so many per box, who knows. But I got both of these for 5 bucks total. On another note, I'm sad that Kevin Kouzmanoff got traded because he was one of the few Padres I could count on being included in sets, especially as a jersey or auto hit. Hopefully someone can pick up the slack once Adrian Gonzalez gets traded (assuming...).

Next...

















































































I scored these cards out of a huge pile of game used/autographs that were going for $2.50 a piece, or 5 for 10 dollars. Considering these would go for that price PLUS shipping on eBay, I jumped at the opportunity to clean him out of Padres. It's sad to see Trevor Hoffman with another team name, but at least he is wearing the camos. Plus I scored a nice Hall of Famer jersey in Gaylord Perry. I'd kill for the 2003 Finest Gaylord Perry that Beardy pulled. I've failed so many times on eBay to get this at a decent price and would love to have it as it's one of the few that pays homage to his years as a Cy Young award winning Padre.

I also picked up a slew of random Padres singles out of the 2010 sets, as well as some lingering 2009 ones. I did pick up Latos, Everth, and Blanks rookies out of the nice looking Exquisite set.

I'll also mention that the show owner announces door prizes every few hours. He called out a winner who didn't run up to him fast enough so he pulled another one - mine. We both got up to him about the same time. He was nice enough to write us both 10 dollar gift certificates since we both got called. Very nice of him. I obviously turned that $10 into cards. I'd pretty much cleaned out the show of Padres hits. I was stumped as to what I should spend it on. Then I saw this:















None other than Nails! The now destitute, piece of trash that is living in his car, but who created the finest looking dip stain on the Veterans Stadium turf that ever there will be. Not really sure why I opted for this, but it is definitely up for trade.

That's about it for this show. We did get a coupon for a new comic/card store in the Northern Virginia area which we hit up on the way home. I'll post about what I got in the next few days.

Restarting the Blog

So I follow probably 20 baseball card related blogs on my RSS reader. I feel like such a lurker. But at the same time, I'm so jealous of all the bloggers and their community. I'm also jealous that they basically have a "storefront" to post about what they've acquired, and to set up trades. Because trading is really the most fun part of collecting: making others happy with your unwanted scraps, receiving cards that others felt were important to you.

And so, after the first aborted attempt at a San Diego Padres related baseball card blog (Ugh, Padres...), I've renamed the blog San Diego Cardres to more reflect the focus on the cards.

Clearly, I collect Padres cards. But I'm a collector in general. I love set collecting. There is no collecting related feeling better than finally completing a set, short prints and all. I'm hoping this blog helps me in those endeavors as it will open a lot of new possible trading partners.

There will be more frequent posting hopefully, and hopefully more traffic from fellow baseball card bloggers and collectors. I am always open to trading, just let me know.