Blog Trade #10: The Lost Collector

Last Tuesday... I came across this blog post over at The Lost Collector. Right away I knew I could use the Trevor Cahill manufactured patch and his Dale Murphy jersey card. So... I left him a comment with a link to my Yankee trade bait... and he contacted me immediately. By the end of the day, we worked out a trade that would benefit both of our PC's. Another awesome trade!

The first card will be going straight into my Oakland A's PC:

2011 Topps Commemorative Patch

The other card I wanted will also be going into my collection. It's the second piece of my Dale Murphy Trifecta. Now all I need is his 1977 Topps rookie card.

My favorite thing about the card is actually the back (I apologize for not scanning it... before I tucked it away). Upper Deck did a great job of writing up a great certificate of authenticity. It stated something like this: "On the front of this card is an authentic piece of a jersey worn by Dale Murphy in an official Braves game". I wish manufacturers would go back to being this descriptive.

The Lost Collector also threw in a bunch of cards for my students and a couple of bonuses for me as well:

The Johjima insert will fit nicely into my Japanese PC... and the Ed Reed base card is one that I didn't have yet. So thanks... I appreciate both of them.

Plus he sent me some Giants, 49ers, and Raiders cards for my students. I'll bring them in on Monday and hand them out. They'll love it.

Thanks again for the trade. I look forward to trading with you again in the future.

If any of my readers have extra Yankees for trade, I suggest you head over to The Lost Collector and see if you can work something out with him. You won't regret it.

Happy Sunday everyone... Sayonara!

Blog Trade #9: Manupatches & Chrome Scratches

Last week, Eric over at Manupatches & Chrome Scratches contacted me about a couple of A's cards he had for trade. The first one is an on-card autograph of Greg Smith out of 2008 Sweet Spot baseball:

2008 Sweet Spot "Auto"

The second card he had for trade was a bat card of the #2 overall pick from the 1994 amateur draft. If you collected baseball in the mid 90's, then you know who I'm talking about. Mr. Ben Grieve:

2001 Private Stock "Game Gear- Bat"

Typically I wouldn't bother trading for either of these cards, since I have my share of Grieve cards already... and Smith only played with the A's for one season... in which he lost 16 games.

However... Eric wasn't looking for high demand trade bait... just some Royals cards for his personal collection. In short... I gave up my unwanted trade bait for two new additions to my A's PC. After thinking about it... it's what collecting is about. Trading cards to help each other's PC's.

Plus... he decided to throw in some cool extra's:

My favorite is definitely the 1991 Swell Baseball Greats Vida Blue card. I've never seen one of these before.

So if you have extra Kansas City Royals cards that you're looking to trade, I encourage you to contact Eric over at Manupatches & Chrome Scratches. He's an awesome trader... both generous and reliable.

Thanks for the successful trade Eric... I appreciate you reaching out and contacting me. Look forward to completing more trades in the future.

Sayonara!

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly #3: 1991 Pro Line Portraits Football

Forgive me collectors... for I have sinned. Back in 1991... I collected 1991 Pro Line Portraits football. But I learned my lesson and dumped all of them when I sold off the bulk of my collection years ago.

Then... last year... I fell off the wagon and purchased 15 to 20 packs of this stuff at a garage sale near my house. Thankfully... I learned my lesson and haven't gone back. But yesterday... I strolled across the evidence from that regretful cardboard bender.

I've decided to share my story... so you can learn from my mistake.

I've chosen to use my The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly format, since there are a couple of things that I liked about this product. However... a lot of it was bad... real bad. And it's hard not to cover this product without using the word "ugly". So let's get started...

The Good

Two Cool Base Cards

After sifting through a couple hundred cards... I pulled out these two former politician cards: Steve Largent & Jack Kemp. These are the only two base cards that I thought looked decent. Obviously... I'm a little biased when it comes to Largent, since he's my favorite player. But I actually like this photo of him. It sort of reminds me of an 80's Nike poster or something.

The Jack Kemp card is another story. I like it because when this card was produced, Mr. Kemp had just finished his presidential bid three years earlier. So the photo of him holding a Bills helmet in front of the Lincoln Memorial is simply awesome.

Autographs

Another cool thing about 1991 Pro Line Portraits football was the randomly inserted autographs. It's one of the first products (along with Upper Deck & Star Pics) to feature on-card autographs inserted into football packs (Star Pics inserted them into factory sets). It was the sole reason I busted so much of this stuff in the early 90's.

I'm not 100% certain, but I think this product could be searched... since I never pulled one myself... and I busted a ton of this product... more than I care to remember.

The Bad

Autographs

Unfortunately... as you already have noticed... most of the players signed their cards on the back. And if you do find cards with autographs on the front, double check to see if they have the embossed stamp of authenticity in one of the corners. I'm certain that these autographs would be a lot more popular had they all featured autographs on the front. Oh well... I guess card companies learn from their mistakes too.

While we're on the topic of card backs... this was another thing I didn't like about these cards. I'm a stat guy and these cards have no stats. Instead... the card back featured a bunch of words that I didn't care to read. Maybe that's why I like teaching math more than language arts.

Topless Players

Was this product produced for women? I'm not sure what Pro Line was thinking... but it seemed like 25% of the cards featured half naked men. It's cool if you're into guys with muscles... but it's not my cup of tea.

WTF?

At first I was just speechless. I couldn't come up with a comment for this Mel Blount card. Why is a Steeler dressing up as a cowboy? Is there a card of Tony Dorsett working in a steel mill? After thinking about it for awhile now... the only thing I have to say is... it's bad.

I understand the whole "portraits" concept... I just think that it's a bad idea.

The Ugly

Zubaz Zebra Pants

Umm... I wore a lot of embarrassing clothing growing up: Members Only jackets, parachute pants, Z Cavariccis, fluorescent colored shirts & jackets, and even a bolo tie or two. But thankfully... I somehow avoided this nightmare.

What's the worst part about this fashion disaster? Umm... it's captured on cardboard. I wonder what the players think everytime the receive these cards in the mail for TTM requests. Do the get rid of the evidence? Giggle? Cry?

Much like the cards with half naked guys... these zebra pants wearing players pop up about 25% of the time in this set.

Finally... we come to the cards featuring some of the player's wives:

NFL Spirit Cards

I wasn't sure where to categorize this subset/insert set. So I'm looking for your assistance.

Are they "good", since they feature women? I remember thinking to myself... damn Bernie Kosar's wife is hot. And during the 80's... I had a secret crush on Clair Huxtable.

Are they "bad"? I mean... c'mon...they're wasting cardboard on player's wives... instead of topless players... just kidding.

Or are they "ugly"? The jacket that Jennifer Montana, Michelle Oates, and Stacey O'Brien are wearing is (IMHO) plain hideous.

So there you have it... today's question of the day:

What do you think of the player's wives insert set?

Good, Bad, or Ugly?

Thank you for helping me cope with my addiction to 1991 Pro Line Portraits football cards. Hopefully, I don't pick up a pack of these ever again. But if I do... I sure hope there's an autograph in it.

Happy Saturday everyone... Sayonara!

Domo Arigato: The Daily Dimwit

A couple of weeks ago... The Daily Dimwit ran a contest for a $35 gift code to one of his sponsors CSNStores. As luck would have it... my name wound up at the top of the list when he randomized everyone's names.

He immediately emailed me the gift code, so I could start my shopping spree. I headed over to www.csnstores.com and started browsing. At first I was looking in the sales & promotions area looking for a deal on something for my office. When I didn't see anything I really needed or wanted... I headed into the toy section. I might be old... but I'm still a huge fan of action figures. This led me to typing in "Star Wars" into their search engine... which showed me a Ray Park autographed Darth Maul photo (authenticated by Steiner Sports), which eventually took me to this:

Can you figure out who it is? Well... if you guessed Ryan Miller... then you win a nice pat on the back. I've been a huge fan of his ever since I watched his performance in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Miller helped the United States win the silver medal in the games with his amazing play in goal. His 5-0-1 record, .946 save percentage, and 1.35 GAA earned him the MVP award for the tournament.

I typically don't follow players who don't represent the San Jose Sharks logo... but I've made an exception for Mr. Miller. He represents something bigger than the Sharks... he represents our country.

This weekend, I'm going to head down to my local Michaels and pick up a black frame, so I can hang this bad boy up in my office. I'm very thankful to The Daily Dimwit, because I've been wanting to pick up an autographed photo of Ryan Miller for awhile now, but I've been waiting for the right deal from Steiner. Unless I obtain an autograph in person or out of a pack, I try to only pick up autographs certified by UDA or Steiner.

Typically this photo sells for $59.99 (w/0 shipping) at steinersports.com and at cnsstores, but with the $35 store credit, I was able to grab this for $24.99 (+ $10 shipping).

So a big "thank you" shoutout goes to The Daily Dimwit. Your contest is much appreciated and has added a beautiful autographed 8x10 to my Ryan Miller PC. His blog is much more popular than mine, but I encourage all of my readers who haven't checked him out... to head over to his blog where you'll find posts ranging from Ebay winnings to interesting YouTube videos to box breaks.

Domo Arigato Daily Dimwit! Have a great weekend everyone... and until tomorrow (or Sunday)... sayonara!

Happy St. Patty Marleau Day

Another year... another St. Patrick's Day... and another Patrick Marleau from my personal collection.

2007/08 Trilogy Scripted Swatches (12/50)

This year, I'm going with my scripted swatches autograph of St. Patty, because the serial number matches his jersey number... yep... it's an Ebay 1 of 1 (gosh... I hate that saying).

Patrick is having another solid season... and tonight he scored the game winning goal against the Wild in the third period. I'm so glad the Sharks were smart enough to hold onto Patty.

I hope everyone enjoyed a safe and happy St. Patrick's Day. I know I did. Can you believe it's already Friday? This week sure flew by. Sayonara!