One Contest Ends & Another Begins!

I realize that I'm a little early... but I have to work tomorrow and can't afford to stay up until midnight.  So without further adieu... it's time to announce the winner of April's contest.

Wait... before I do, let's review the prizes.  The winner will receive a collection of "cardboard fools", highlighted by the infamous 1989 Fleer Billy Ripken F-Face card:

Let's get to the randomizations.  First up... we needed to find out April's Post of the Month:

There were ten people who left responses on my Arturs Irbe game used goalie stick post... so each of them will receive four additional entries into the final randomization.

Now for the final randomization...

 
In case this is your first time participating, I'll review the process of selection.  In the case of all "randomizations", I will always hit "randomize" five times and select the name at the top of the sixth list.  Congratulations Mariner1!  Email me your mailing address and I'll ship these out ASAP.

Okay, now onto this month's contest...

Some of you may have read about my addiction to those Fairfield Collector's Cache boxes a few weeks ago.  If you're bored you can read about them here.  

Anyway... this month I'll be giving away a custom Collector's Cache box.  What's inside?  Well... a modified version of what Fairfield promises:

A.  Two MLB Collector Patches

B.  Two Game Used or Autographed Cards

C.  Three Factory Sealed Packs

D.  Two One-Touch Holders

E.  A 1991 Topps Coin Starter Set

F.  Fifty (or more) Baseball Cards

Plus, I'll try my best to cater your custom Collector's Cache box to the team of your preference.  Unfortunately, I can't send the original plastic card box or include all 500 cards that the original Fairfield box promises.  The fact is... I want to keep the shipping affordable and pack everything into a small flat-rate box.

So how do you enter?  As always, there are three ways to play:

A.  Respond to today's question of the day below.

and/or

B.  Promote this contest on your blog, and leave a link below.

and/or

C.  Leave comments in my posts throughout the month of April.

On June 1st, I will put everyone's names from today's post into the list randomizer on www.random.org.  If you promote this contest on your blog, I'll add your name two additional times.

As a bonus, I will randomly select one of my posts from the month of May using the same website.  Anybody who left a comment on that particular post will have their name added four additional times.  That means if you play your cards right, you could end up with seven possible entries.

Let's get this started.  Here are today's questions:

What's your favorite baseball team and why?  How long have you supported them?  Who's your favorite player to don the jersey of your favorite team?

Leave your comments and/or contest plugs below.

Thank you to everyone who participated last month and congratulations to Mariner1 for winning the April contest.

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

The Runt of my Cardboard Family

I often neglect to give my Montreal Expos PC the attention it deserves.  While I routinely add cards to my Oakland A's and San Diego Padres PC's... the Expos seem to get lost in the shuffle and as a result doesn't grow as fast as the others.

But recently, I've made a conscious effort to add new items and show it the appreciation it deserves.  Check out the latest additions to my Expos collection:

2004 Fleer Greats of the Game

Le Grand Orange was played in Montreal from 1969 to 1971 and represented the Expos in the all-star game all three years.  He briefly played for them again in 1979 before getting shipped off to Texas.

2012 Topps Archives

El Presidente had some of his best years playing in Montreal.  Like Staub, he represented the Expos three times in the MLB All-Star game and in 1991, he led the National League in ERA, completed games, and shutouts.

1974 Topps

Ken Singleton played for the Expos from 1972 to 1974 with a .285 batting average and 46 home runs.  Unfortunately he only has 14 cards that feature him in his Expos uniform and none of them are autographed.  So this card represents the only non-certified autograph in my Expos PC.  I'm not worried about it though, since I acquired it from Dion... who got it signed in person.

2012 Topps Archives #SR

He might not be Captain America, but this particular Steve Rogers is a hero in the eyes of many Expos fans.  His 393 games started, 158 wins, 129 complete games, 37 shutouts, and 1,621 strikeouts are the most in franchise history.

On the flipside, he also holds most of the undesirable franchise pitching records as well:  walks, home runs allowed, wild pitches, and losses.

Now I can finally focus on finding the last certified autograph I've been wanting to add to this collection:

2003 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites #JRE

If anyone has one available for trade, I'd love to work something out.

Happy Monday and sayonara!

Make no bones about it...

Jon Jones is a beast!  Broken toe & all.

Sports Card Bust #30 - Ki-Jana Carter

1995 Signature Rookies Auto-Phonex Phone Card Autograph

Today's the final day of the 2013 NFL Draft... and guess what?  I could care less.  I love football.  I love watching football.  I love playing fantasy football.  And I love collecting football autographs, cards, and other memorabilia.

But I've never been one of those guys that follows and analyzes the NFL Draft.  The fact is... I care more about former draft busts, than the current draft picks.

So tonight's post is focusing on former Penn State standout, Ki-Jana Carter.  Carter played under Coach Paterno from 1992 to 1994.  In his final season, he was a Consensus All-American who helped the Nittany Lions go undefeated, and was the Rose Bowl MVP.

The Cincinnati Bengals selected him with the first pick in the 1995 NFL Draft, but Carter injured his knee on the third carry of his first preseason game and was never the same.

He finished his NFL career with 20 rushing touchdowns, 1,144 rushing yards, 66 receptions, and 1,613 yards from scrimmage.  Those numbers would be awesome if he accomplished that in his rookie season.  But he didn't.  Those numbers were accumulated over 7 injury ridden seasons.

Mr. Carter... welcome to my unique Sports Bust PC.  Make sure to say hello to Mr. Leaf, Mr. Couch, and Mr. Russell.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Flea Market Finds #36: An Insane Abundance of Randomness

When:  Sunday, August 21st
Where:  Capitol Flea Market
What:  Way Too Much To List
How Much?:  $43

I apologize in advance for this long post, but that's what happens when you spend three hours walking around a flea market loaded with interesting items.  It's pretty rare that I take a trip to my car to drop things off.  Last Sunday, I made two trips.

So without further adieu, here's a look at my finds...

Purchase #1:  Sports Cards  $20

I stumbled across a guy who has been slowly dumping his collection over the past few years and now he's finally down to the leftovers.  I spent an hour sifting through his binders and the singles he scattered across his six foot tables.

To make things a little easier to understand, I'll break the purchase down into three parts...

Part A:  Singles  $5

He had hundreds of singles in Card Savers and top loaders.  He was looking to get $1/card, but after hanging out and socializing, he hooked me up with these seven cards for $5.  These cards are in really good condition for being thrown out on a table with the exception of the Brodie (slight crease) and the Brown (rounded corners).

Part B:  Pages  $5

The guy also had six or seven binders full of cards.  He wanted $30/binder or $2/page.  I pretty much focused on the pages with vintage cards and in the end, he told me I could have five pages for five dollars.

Part C:  More Singles  $10

Within the scattered singles, certain cards were singled out with recent eBay prices.  I ended up grabbing these three vintage football hall of famers, plus a 1988 Oakland Raiders oddball set with this cool first year Bo Jackson.  According to his searches, the three cards and the set were in the $30 range (it's actually much lower).  He asked me if $10 was fair and I accepted.

In the end, I spent $20... but was able to add a ton of stars to my vintage binder.  Plus it was cool to hang out with another collector and reminisce on our cardboard memories.


Purchase #2:  Kenner Starting Lineups  $8

1993 Mark Messier (Canadian)

1996 Rod Carew (Anaheim Convention)

1997 Terrell Davis

Have I told you about my addiction to Kenner Starting Lineups?  It truly is a sickness.


Purchase #3:  Holograms & Commemorative Tickets  $5

Do you remember these?  Each hologram came with a ticket and if I remember correctly, the card shop I worked at during the early 90's sold them for $10 to $20 each.

I've actually see these pop up every now and then at card shows and during my flea market runs, but people usually want way too much.


Purchase #4:  Mr. T Bobble Head and a Shaun Alexander McFarlane  $3

I have absolutely no use for a Mr. T bobble head, but the Alexander figure will look awesome next to my autographed mini helmet.  The guy was asking for $4 for the pair, so I asked if he'd take $3.  I pity the fool who'd pay more.

Purchase #5:  Garfield Print w/Jim Davis Autograph  $2

This is easily my favorite purchase of the day and that's saying a lot, because I love SLU's and vintage cards.

Garfield and Jim Davis take me back to my elementary years, when I'd beg my mom to buy me their books at the book fair.  One of these days, I'll have it reframed (this one is trashed) when I find some wall space in my office or classroom for this awesome print.

Purchase #6:  2001 Bandai Ichiro Figure  $3

I'm not exactly sure what this is.  It's either a figure or a model kit.  Whatever it is, it's from Ichiro's first year in the MLB and it was made in Japan.

In other words, it'll make an awesome addition to my Ichiro PC.


Purchase #7:  Comic Books  $2

Yup.  More comic books.  I'm pretty sure this makes three weeks in a row.  Once again, I can't stay away from first issues and cool covers.  Oh well, at least I didn't buy thirty-five of them like last week.

Okay... that's all folks.  Time to take a break after spending the last two hours organizing and scanning these flea market purchases.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!