It Could Have Been Worse

Back in January I classified myself a jack of all trades when it came to collecting.  I may have been exaggerating just a wee bit when I wrote that post.  Although I've always enjoyed collecting rookie cards to some extent, but prospecting hasn't been my thing since the early 90's.  That's why I don't usually go out of my way to buy products like Bowman Chrome.

However.. back in November, Gavin wrote about purchasing some boxes of 2008 Bowman Chrome over at Blowout for $19.95 each.  I looked over the checklist and quickly realized why these boxes are so affordable.  There aren't a lot of prospects who panned out.  With that knowledge firmly in the back of my mind, I still made the decision to purchase four boxes due to the entertainment factor and the slim chance of pulling a Madison Bumgarner, Buster Posey, David Price, or Giancarlo Stanton autograph.

Sadly... I didn't hit any of those guys... but like the title suggests... it could have been worse.  

To save us both a lot of time, I'm only going to list the cards of interest... which aren't many.

#1:  2008 Bowman Chrome X-Fractor #194 (#'d 166/250)

This was my favorite card from the break.  I've actually thought about bidding on this card a few times over the years.  It's not Votto's real rookie card, but it's still cool.


#2:  2008 Bowman Chrome Prospects #BCP171

Justin Turner has been a rock solid free agent acquisition for the Dodgers the past few seasons.  Pulling this card was a pleasant surprise.


#3:  2008 Bowman Chrome Prospects Red Refractor Autograph #BCP282 (#'d 2/5)

This card is the most valuable card from the break.  Melancon is no longer an elite closer, but this is an autographed rookie card of a 3x MLB All-Star numbered to five.  It could have been worse.


#4:  2008 Bowman Chrome Prospects Refractor Autograph #BCP264

An autograph of a guy I've actually heard of.  It could have been worse.


#5:  A Variety of Refractors

Here are nine I'm planning on keeping:

Nothing too exciting, but it could have been worse.


#6:  2008 Bowman Chrome #194

Another Votto that technically isn't his rookie card, but it could have been worse.


#7:  2008 Bowman Chrome Prospects X-Fractor Autograph #BCP259

Bard hasn't pitched in an MLB game since April 27th, 2013... and officially retired as a player last year.  But it could have been worse.

Fifteen years ago, Baseball America named Bard the top freshman pitcher in the United States.  Two years later, the Boston Red Sox took him in the first round of the 2006 MLB Draft with the 28th pick.  Three years later, he was the Red Sox #3 Top Prospect.  In 2010, he appeared in 73 games for the Sox and had a 1.93 ERA.  In 2011, he set the franchise record when he pitched 25 consecutive scoreless innings.  He didn't allow a single earned run in June or July that season.


#8:  2008 Bowman Chrome #216

This card is no longer sitting on anyone's hot lists like it did ten years ago.  Heck... he's probably no longer a Top 20 third baseman in the league.  But it could have been worse.  He's approaching the 300 home run mark and I don't think I own many (if any) of his rookie cards.

I'll wrap up this box break post with the fourth and final autograph from this break, but before I do... I want to thank Bulldog over at Nothing If Not Random.  He recently wrote about his 2017 Donruss NASCAR box break that he busted two years ago.  When he mentioned that, I remembered that this post was still sitting in my drafts.

Alright here's the final card of significance...


#9:  2008 Bowman Chrome Prospects Autograph #BCP242

Never heard of Zink... but it could have been worse.  He was once considered the top prospect in Wisconsin back in 2003 and he's wearing a Yankees jersey, so this will be passed along to a fellow blogger who roots for the Evil Empire.

Eighty bucks could have bought me a few nice autographs or even a graded 1956 Topps hall of famer for my collection, but sometimes this collector needs to scratch that pack busting itch.  And the bottom line is... this break could have been much, much worse.

By the way, I'm hosting my first contest of 2019.  If you're interested in winning a 2015 Pastime Presidential Portraits set, click here. 

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

A Little Cardboard Controversy

Politics and controversy tend to go together like two peas in a pod.  So when I discovered there was controversy surrounding the 2015 Pastime Presidential Portraits set I purchased last year, I wasn't too surprised.

In a nutshell, the card company that produced this set took presell orders at $45 (free shipping) leading up to the March 10, 2015 scheduled release date.  Unfortunately they went out of business a few months before that.  Although I did find one member on Non Sport Update Card Talk who stated he/she received their set approximately one month after the release date, it's assumed that most people didn't receive their orders.

Then in July of 2016, sets started popping up on eBay.  Each factory sealed set contains a complete 44 card base set, two inserts, and one one-of-a-kind hand drawn sketch card.

The controversy has to do with the fact that none of the sketch artists were paid for their artwork.  Plus there are randomly inserted redemption cards for the original artwork used to create the base set that will never be redeemed.  In fact, you've gotta wonder what ever happened to the original artwork.  This definitely left a sour taste in the mouths of anyone who never received their sets or never received compensation for their work.

As for my interest in the set, I can't remember exactly how I learned about them.  But I'm pretty sure I purchased my two sets primarily for the sketch cards.  By the way, if you're wondering if I paid $45 for each set, I didn't.  I paid $26 (+ $8 shipping) for the two sets back in August of 2018.

Today I figured I'd crack them open in honor of President's Day as well as kickoff my first contest of 2019.  But more about that at the end of the post.

Let's show off the set:

I'm a pretty big fan of portraits and some of these aren't too bad.  However there were a bunch of the base cards that seemed a little off.

Here's a closer look at Ronald Reagan:

I admit that there's no way I could do a better job, but this isn't how I remembered our 40th President.

Here's how I remember him:

This is one of the inserts I received in my first set.  It's called a Presidential Posters Collection card.

Here's the one from my 2nd box:

As you can see these inserts are unnumbered and do not contain any serial numbering.

The second insert in each set were the Presidential Stamp Relic Cards:

The card on the left features a 1938 3¢ Jefferson stamp, which seems to be fairly common.  The other one contains a 1923 8¢ Grant stamp which is a little rarer.  Unused copies sell for $20 to $30.

On the back of each stamp card there's a certificate of authenticity:

And finally the two cards I was looking forward to the most:

I was very impressed by both of these sketch cards.  The detail on the Theodore Roosevelt is fantastic, but on the other hand, I enjoy the simplicity of the Obama sketch as well.  I'll be hanging onto both of these sketch cards, the four inserts, and one of the base sets.


Contest Information:

However if you would like to own the other forty-four card base set, please respond to at least one of these questions of the day:

Who is your favorite United States President?

Who is your least favorite United States President?

What is your favorite trading card controversy?

I'll leave the contest open until Saturday afternoon at 3pm PST.  After that I'll put everyone's names into the randomizer, hit randomize five times, and whoever is in the 16th slot will win the set.  If there are less than 16 entries, then I'll enter everyone's name two times.

Happy President's Day!

Lots of Luck!

When it rains... it pours.  At least that's how I feel when it comes to contest winnings.  I recently won two different card blog contests.

The first one involved a popular Blog Bat-Around over at Waiting 'til Next Year.  P-town Tom asked bloggers to write about their favorite card of 2018 and offered two random winners blaster boxes of 2019 Topps Series 1.  Thanks to a unique way of selecting a winner that involved an integer set generator, I won.  This was sort of a blessing in disguise since I didn't have any plans on purchasing any 2019 Topps, but I've really been enjoying reading everyone's product reviews.

Here are my five favorite cards from the box along with a few of my thoughts on the product:

This card has been written about on several blogs and I haven't gotten sick of looking at it.  I'm usually an action shot junkie, but there's a place in our hobby for dugout snapshots and this one is a masterpiece.

Speaking of action...

The Calhoun is possibly a bat flip... and definitely well-cropped action shot.  And the Stroman might be zoomed in, but it captures an interesting body contortion.

Here's my nomination for subset of the year:

I would have rather pulled the Oakland Coliseum, but this card features a beautiful shot of Fenway.

And finally... a new addition to my Kershaw collection:

Thanks Tom for hosting this Blog Bat-Around and the generous contest!  

The other contest win involved a Rose Bowl contest over at Stadium Fantasium.  I tried to access the site to help me remember the exact details of the contest, but it was down for maintenance while I was writing this post.

I think it involved predicting the final score of the Rose Bowl or something like that.  Whatever the circumstances, I was the first place winner and was able to choose three prizes.  I ended up picking three of the 2018 Topps LA Dodgers 60th Anniversary SGA Packs:

Each of these packs contain seven player cards, along with the header card seen in this photo.  The cards resemble something from Topps Archives and utilize the 1965, 1977, 1985, 1994, 2001, and 2018 Topps designs.  As soon as I get my hands on the other three packs, I'll do a review of the entire set.

He also included a 2019 Rose Bowl Program:

My cousin attended UW, so I grew up cheering for the Huskies.  Unfortunately their 4th quarter comeback fell short and the Buckeyes walked away with a 28-23 victory.

He also included five souvenir cups from the game:

And a 2019 NFLPA Collegiate Bowl Program:

I honestly don't know much about this game, but it'll be interesting to see how many players listed in this program get drafted in April.

Thank you Andy for all of these awesome Rose Bowl goodies... and the cool Dodger SGA cards.  I've been wanting to get my hands on some of these cards since the first time I read about them.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!