Lull in Collecting

I've felt like the releases are coming slower this year. With Upper Deck out of the picture (and Goudey canceled), I think that my interest has waned with less new product to ogle. My TTM returns are coming slower than usual. The product that has been released, hasn't been that interesting to me (TOPPS HERITAGE!). Hopefully Gintermania can come soon. For now, I'll concentrate on my older sets I need to complete. Again, if anyone has any Timeline or 2009 Goudey cards I need, let me know!

I'm even running out of items on eBay to randomly bid on. This is a sad time. At least I'm getting some time to catch up on collating and entering items into Zistle.

Plus, the Padres young talent is really looking good in spring training. Any idea who will win the 5th spot in the rotation? Right now, I honestly think Latos and Wade LeBlanc are our best options. Sorry Clayton Richard...

TTM Returns!

I just received two more TTM autos from the Padres spring training camp. Aaron Poreda and Tony Gwynn Jr. were nice enough to send these back. Luckily, both also have outstanding autos. Poreda so far has really stunk in camp, but I think with some seasoning he will still be at least a great reliever.















He'd better be at least, since he was the centerpiece of the Peavy trade. Tony Gwynn Jr. is a sentimental favorite, but I'm just not sure how great will be. He really seems like a quick, good defensive outfielder with little ability to get on base. Still, as a Padres fan, it would be great to have him mature and grow and become a valuable part of the team.




















I've still got quite a few TTMs out there, and hopefully I get some more responses. Still waiting on Trevor Cahill, Mariano Rivera, Scott Hairston, Nick Hundley, David Eckstein, Ed Whitson, Andy Benes, and Trevor Hoffman. Will keep you updated.

eBay Victory Survivor Style

After about six tries to get this card, I finally won an eBay auction at the price point I wanted. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I have been trying to win the 2009 Allen and Ginter Bob Crowley relic card. For those not in the know, Bob was one the winner of Survivor Gabon. Using his science knowledge gained from years as a high school science teacher, as well as his great interpersonal game, Bob and his trademark bow tie ended up beating out the other Survivors. This relic is a piece of that famed bow tie.

Knowing that this was a short printed relic, I knew it would take a while, but I eventually won this at a total cost including shipping of $6. This is now my second short printed relic, as I picked up the Brian Cappaletto shirt relic (Scrabble champion) last year. I'd like to get the Bob Crowley auto as well, but that might take a while.

Anyways, relish the victory by admiring Bob:

Another Mailday and Chase Headley Discussion

Kevin Kouzmanoff was a real favorite of mine. His defense was underappreciated, his hitting was powerful but untimely. As much as I liked him, and I've heard he's great to the fans, his on-base skills were horrendous, and he had a real penchant for hitting into double plays or striking out with runners in scoring position at key points of the game. For these reasons, while I was sad to see him go, I was pleased that 3B was now open for Chase Headley to give it a try. Chase was the Padres #1 prospect a few years back, but I always thought that was more due to the putrid Padres farm system rather than Chase being that outstanding. When he got called, the sports talk stations were hyping it up to be a turning point. In reality, Chase has been a solid but unspectacular player. Here's hoping that a switch to 3B, his natural position, will help his production at the plate.

With Kouz gone, it seems like Chase is the defacto Padre for the card manufacturers to use for the token Padres relic or auto in their sets. Especially since Adrian has blown up and I assume gotten more expensive, it seems like Topps and Upper Deck are concentrating on using Chase, and maybe Heath Bell. At least I know they'll be on the team for a while.

I picked up this 2010 Upper Deck Signature Sensations for a total of $3 on eBay including shipping. It's a sticker auto, but it blends in better than a lot of other Upper Deck sticker autos. Sadly, after looking at some checklists for upcoming Topps sets, this might be the last auto for a while from a bonafide, everyday Padre. Topps has deemed Luis Durango and Cesar Ramos as the token Padres rookies to use in their insert sets. Last year it was Will Venable, Matt Antonelli and later on, Everth Cabrera. Couldn't they have at least picked one of the Padres with actual potential like Jaff Decker or Mat Latos? Ugh. Oh well, here is the new Headley auto!

Another eBay Mailday - Spree Almost Over

I'm not sure what caused it, but the past few weeks I've been on a little shopping spree on eBay. Despite excitement related to Spring Training starting, it seems like pricing is lower now than it has been all Winter. As such, I've been picking up some cards I've been waiting to get since last year. I've also been taking advantage of combined shipping to pick up some cards I wouldn't otherwise be able to get, which increases my base for trading (which I'd like to do a lot more of now that I have this blog).

This latest batch of purchases had two from the much ignored Upper Deck Icons set. A lot of the negativity towards this set was due to the manufactured letters they used, as well as the incredibly moronic celebrity letterman insert. As if I'd really want to pull a Jeremy Piven manu-letter in my baseball product (although I did enjoy his work in the unappreciated classic PCU). Anyways, this set was one of the first to feature an Everth Cabrera auto, so I had to have it. Everth I think is the real deal, the next Furcal. He is quick, a sharp fielder (his low UZR aside, I think he performed better than that stat said), and a good contact hitter. If you get the chance, I think he is a steal in fantasy drafts this year.




















This auction featured combined shipping, so I scored two other cards for .99 each. The second was another Icons card. This Jake Peavy jersey card was a nice addition, even though Peavy has turned into a stupid jerkface of late. For all of his talk about how San Diego wasn't a winner while he was there, they went to the postseason 3 years in a row. The biggest reason for the postseason failures fell squarely on Peavy's shoulders. His outings were abortions. Just look at his atrocious postseason ERA. He blew the games. So good luck in Chicago, Jake. We miss you, but hopefully you won't blow it for them like you blew it for us if they make it to the playoffs.




















Finally, as a resident of the DC area, I casually follow the Nationals. I like that their team is about equal to the Padres, and that the Padres have a ridiculous record in DC since the Nationals moved from Montreal. One of the most popular players is Nyjer Morgan. Going by the nickname Tony Plush, Morgan is a really exciting player. With this card going for .99, I couldn't resist picking it up. Even though there don't seem to be any Nationals card bloggers or collectors, I figure it would come in handy. Worst case, it's a player I like watching.




















As always, a lot of my cards are up for trade. If the one to two readers of this blog are getting tired of the eBay posts, rest assured, I only have one or two left and then I'll take a break from eBay. Especially since now it's looking like 2010 Goudey won't be released, I'm not sure what sets I'm going to collect at this point.

Blogger Trade - Nachos Grande

I recently completed my second blogger to blogger trade with the fantastic site, Nachos Grande. I have been dabbling in 2008 Upper Deck Timeline for a while now. When I was first getting back into the baseball card collecting, Timeline retail packs at Target were some of my first purchases. I liked that they harkened back to my last year of collecting with 1993 SP model cards. The die cut cards blew my mind as I missed that whole phase of baseball card production. Anyways, with the cheap boxes, the chase for Strasburg cards last year, and the pretty cool design, I've opened 3 or 4 boxes of this. I even got lucky with a Miguel Cabrera auto'd and numbered to 10. With that many cards, I figured, even with all the short prints, I'd try to collect this set. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like many others are collecting these, so I'm having a hard time finding traders (bolded to tempt others to trade me Timeline cards!).

Anyways, I reached out to Chris at Nachos Grande as he listed quite a few Timeline singles I needed for my set. I had toyed with collecting the 2010 Topps subsets and inserts, but after the initial excitement, I decided it really wasn't worth the effort. So, I offered a heap of 2010 inserts to Chris, along with a David Wright N43 2009 Allen and Ginter boxtopper I happened to have doubles of (another set I was trying to collect but have fallen behind in finishing).

In return, I got a nice batch of Timeline cards:














I also threw Chris a special "bonus pack" of cards. I'm looking forward to him opening and reporting back on this special surprise. What better way to start off in the blogosphere than by sending an uncalled for Bipping... Looking forward to seeing his reaction on his blog.

Once again, I'm always looking to trade for either Padres, Chargers or any of the sets I'm collecting. Just check my want list and my Photobucket!!!

2010 Topps Heritage - Waste of Money

I'm a set collector at heart. There is no better collecting feeling than finally finishing a set you've been working (see my year long quest for 2009 Goudey). For this reason, I should really be into Topps Heritage, but it's something I just haven't been able to do. I think the main reason is because in a lot of ways, it's a set that's almost impossible to actually complete due to recent years' implementation of stupid super short printed error cards, as well as just a preponderance of short prints in general. It is just too cost prohibitive to finish this set. Usually you can offset some of your costs with the included hits, but Topps Heritage's hits really aren't worth much at all.

My recent purchases on eBay prove this point pretty well. I bought these days after the set's release, when their value should be at their peak. I really only wanted the Chase Headley relic (the token one Padre relic offered) but saw that with combined shipping for $.25 per additional card, I could pick up tons of these for a net $1.24 each from the case breakers. I ended up buying 9 of them for a grand total of about $13. Understanding there is additional value in a Heritage box such as SPs and refractors, this poor case breaker made back $13 for NINE boxes worth of hits ($720 of boxes!!!!). I posted about this over at I Am Joe Collector, where he cited my comment in agreeing with me.

I mean, I'm not complaining. I mainly bought them so I can have a bit of trading fodder, sometimes I get a little Padres top heavy. Now I've got a variety of teams' players to offer - that Edinson Volquez looks tempting, doesn't it Nachos Grande?




















So, anyone up for trading for some of these 2010 Heritage relics (everything but the Headley)?

Mail Day - Trade with Democratic Overkill

When I saw Democratic Overkill had a few Goudey short prints I needed to finish my master set, I jumped at the opportunity. At the same time, this blog had its first official trade in the baseball card blogosphere. What a shining achievement!

I traded some duplicate Goudey SPs I had, as well as some 2009 Goudey minis over to Duane. I also threw in some random Toronto Blue Jays cards I had on hand. In return, he sent me two Goudey SP's (I already put them in my album, so no scans.), as well as some 2009 A&G short prints and some National Pride A&G's I needed:









All in all, it was a great trade for everyone. As I've mentioned before, the chief goal of this blog is to create connections in the card blogosphere for trading purposes. If you see anything of interest in my Photobucket let me know, as I am always up for a trade. Check out my want list in the top left corner of this blog.

Thanks to Duane and Democratic Roadkill!

TTM Return - Kyle Blanks

As I mentioned last week, I sent a whole heap of TTM requests out a few weeks ago. With a blizzard happening here in DC, I had pretty much nothing else to do. I'd sent out a mix to former retired Padres as well as current Padres in spring training, not to mention a few longshots (Mariano Rivera/Trevor Hoffman). I got my first spring training request back today.

I sent a T206 to Kyle Blanks for his autograph. For those not in the know, Blanks is pretty much the Padres great hope for the 2010 season. Other than Adrian Gonzalez, no one has more raw power than Kyle. Hopefully he can provide Adrian more protection in the lineup than Kouz did. Another great aspect of Kyle is his amazing fro from spring training last year:














Quite impressive. I'm glad we have some characters in the clubhouse these days.

Here is the autographed card:



















Anyways, thanks to Kyle Blanks for his expedient return of my request. I'm really hoping for big things from him this season.