LCS Trip plus Mailbag - Extra Edition

Knew I was going to be too busy this weekend for a Flea market trip so I hit the LCS in town last night looking for Stadium Club set help.

No such luck there but the owner had just busted a couple boxes of Elite Extra Edition so I dug into the scraps. Pulled this Dansby insert plus a ton of base for 5/$1.

Expect unsolicited prospects in your mailbox if we trade frequently. 

Grabbed a couple of Braves with this Ozzie who's signing at FanFest at Turner Field right now. Wish I could've made it but they're coming to me in a couple weeks so I'll live. 

My first card of 17 year old Christian Pache who signed out of the D.R. last year at 16 for $1.4 million. He's currently ranked as the #14 international prospect.

This was the best photo in the stack and of course I butchered the photo of the photo. 

Only got 2 cards in the mail this week that weren't a part of trade packages (got 4 of those). This purple refractor of Braxton Davidson is /250

Knocked 1 off my Stadium Club list with this cheap Ebay pickup. I'm not discriminating against gold parallels. Love these White Sox unis

Finally there's only 18 days til Pitchers and catchers report folks. As always thanks for stopping by and reading,  enjoy your weekend. 

Cards from Cards on Cards II - A Trade Post

Got home from work the other day in the pouring rain (yes rain, not snow) and found a surprise bubble mailer from Kerry of Cards on Cards all the way from rainy Portland.

Starting off with my first 2015 A&G relic of now free agent Mike Minor. Still think there's a chance the Braves bring him back if he gets close enough to Opening Day without signing on somewhere else. He made 5.6 million to not throw a single pitch last year so I don't feel too bad for the guy.

This Ace of Diamonds Smoltzy may be my favorite card in the package. Even has a old school card back - I searched google for "ace of diamonds John Smoltz" because the card is in the other room and found this....

Don't think Topps printed any of these bad boys up in '84, here's the link to a pretty cool article on John - SMOLTZ

Ok sorry for that but sometimes laziness pays off my friends.  Here's a cool fold out card of maybe the 2 best pitchers of the 90's that is pretty relevant all these years later. Greg Maddux and that other guy..

I'm on a hot streak on picking these cards up 1 at a time either at shows or through trades. Eddie looks pretty young there.

This Murph's frame is embossed and makes for a great looking/feeling card in hand.

Kerry sent a bunch of PC guys but this Deion was my favorite new addition being from one of my favorite sets ever.

Kerry sent new stuff too, a rainbox foil of EY Jr. and the last base card I needed from Topps '15. Just in time for Topps '16 in 5 days!!!

Love this green refractor of Justin the Tiger.

19 days til Baseball guys, my countdown lasted all of one day.. Kerry sent this and a bunch of other set help off my want list. 

Like a lot,  thanks a ton man!

Kelly's back for his third tour with the Braves, let's see where he went in between. 

8 teams in 6 years including his 2nd stint in Atlanta. Talk about a journeyman.

If everything goes to plan I should be here on April 9th taking in the Braves and Cardinals so here's to you Kerry, thanks for all the great cards.

30 Clubs In 67 Days

Sure every sports website in the world will be doing this concept over the next 2+ months, but what better way to get a feel for the upcoming season than by writing about every club in that span?

Maybe you'll read it maybe you won't but I'm going to write it damnit. Don't worry there will be cardboard planted within each post. 

Could the Twins be this year's Mets/Cubs with thier glut of young talent?

The NL Central will be stacked and competitive all year. I'm going to try and hit 3 new Grapefruit League Stadiums this year plus the usual 2 or 3 games at Disney but will try and incorporate those into my posts with some pictures. May have some guest posts as well for help with prospects and the like.  Anyways thanks for reading, i'll be back! 

PS - All of the above cards are already packed up to other homes. 

Spring Training Countdown plus a 150th post Contest

21 Days til Pitchers and Catchers report guys! I repeat twenty one days,  that's only 3 weeks until the greatest game is back. 

Never done one of these before but before I posted this I realized it was my 150th post here. So I figured why not do a contest? 

Be the first person to name the last player to wear the number 21 before Warren Spahn and you win

What do you win?  Oh yeah, I'll send you something nice for your collection from the next card show or flea market I go to.

2nd prize?  Just comment the final score of the Super Bowl and whoever is closest will win something too. Probably something cardboard but if you make it to Florida during Spring I'll buy you a ticket to a game! Pimp this contest for an extra entry,  i'll randomize the Monday after the big game. 

Flea Market Round Up IV

Braved the arctic temperatures of 40 degrees on Saturday morning and took the family out to a different flea market than our usual stomping grounds at Big Top. Drove about 45 minutes to Oldsmar Flea Market and was met with a extra windy day. My daughter walked around in a blanket all day and we looked truly Floridian in our heavy coats. It might have dropped to 39 at the lowest the whole time we were there. Brrr I say!

My biggest purchase of the day: $10

Anyways getting to the cardboard, my best find of the day was a gentleman in the very back of the market with a small, warm booth. We chatted as I browsed his  vintage boxes and he even gave my daughter a pack of Pokemon cards much to her delight. I grabbed the '62 Spahn above off the wall and when he said ten, I threw it on the stack.

I found this matching '62 to go with it in a large vintage dollar box the guy had. Yeah, it's a little beat but you don't find '62s of Hall of Famers for a dollar everyday.

I absolutely love these 1975 SSPC cards, also dollar box finds.

Again this Topps game card of Rod Carew is a little worn but I just like to think that was from people actually playing with them in the 60's. For a buck I'm glad I brought my first one of these home and can see why so many of you have chased this set.

Another first for me is this super clean 1962 Post card. 

Was the 1957 set less produced than other sets, in my area they always seem to go for a lot higher than the earlier years, Either way I really like the photos in this set, they just all seem so classic. Maybe it's the way they're lit or the way the backgrounds all seem to fade out but these cards are all sharp, even if the corners on this one aren't.

Trio of 1960's including my first card of the late great Ernie Johnson. I'll always remember him and Skip calling games when I was a kid.

To tell you the truth I didn't know that Eddie Mathews went on to manage the Braves until recently. I can't believe the fact that he was the manager when Hank hit 715 never smacked me in the face but that's pretty cool that he was there for the moment.

''While the crowning of Aaron as baseball's all-time home run king made 1974 an exceptional season for the Braves, the strong performance of the team on the field also marked the campaign. The Braves' 88–74 (.543) record was an 11¹⁄₂ game improvement over 1973, and resulted in a third-place finish in the NL West.

But a mid-season slump cost manager Eddie Mathews—for years Aaron's fellow-superstar with the Milwaukee Braves of the 1950s—his job on July 21 during the All-Star breakwith the club at 50–49'' - 1974 Braves

Here's a photo my wife snapped of me digging thru the boxes.

Which is where I found this super protected Chipper Best card I didn't have. I'll let it live on in it's home for now but will probably binder him eventually.

The guy asked for a dollar for that Chipper but when he said he'd throw in this pocket schedule from the Inagrual season I dug out, I agreed.

The back.

Also grabbed these 2 cards of new Braves, my first card of both guys.

Finally I grabbed this autographed oversized 8x10 card for one dollar, thanks for reading.

I Got Him Back! - Mailbag + Retail Fail Pt. 2

As you may or may not have read here the other day,  I've decided to go after the whole 2015 Stadium Club set. I sent a bunch of cards from packs I bought when it came out to a few other bloggers (doh!) but there was one card I sold. I pulled a Bryant rookie out of the first rack pack I bought on release day and instantly used the money to go buy 3 or 4 more rack packs so no regrets there. 

But knowing this card would be the hardest to track down, why not knock it off first.  I hit ebay and won this guy back for about five bucks. The guy wanted 3 dollars for shipping, so I skimmed his other listings ending soon and was able to grab 3 autos for others plus this card:

For 99 cents! It was like killing 3 birds with one stone, Bryant rookie, Murph rookie plus  some nice trade bait. Not bad. 

Hit the LCS the other day and grabbed a single pack of the newest baseball release. Seven bucks but there's 5 autos a box so I figured it was worth a shot. 

No autos or even inserts,  Buehler was the best name I pulled. Pretty typical Elite design, the cards look good if your teams red I guess.

Here's the other guys I pulled, nothing crazy but most do have homes to go to at least. 

Didn't let that pack get me down though because I hit the 3/$1 hockey boxes. Those original Lightning alternates were awesome. 

Acetate action here. 

Ending this one with a pre-move Sakic, I liked the Avs as a kid first getting into hockey so I nabbed this one on the cheap. 

Thanks for stopping by and reading and enjoy the rest of your football Sunday.