What kind of Christmas is it going to be?

I'm not going crazy, but I'm starting to prepare for the upcoming baseball cards extravanza known as Christmas!
It's been in the last couple years the excuse to order very big loads of boxed cards from DACARDWORLD, ensuring a 25th of December spent busting packs...

I know it's not intended in such way, but when you grow up you leave the magic behind and start focusing more on the material aspects, and after a certain age, it can be used as an excuse to buy very nice stuff to yourself... please let me know if I'm a bad person!

This year, it seems that the average price of boxes on the above mentioned website are slightly higher than last year...
I compared today prices to those I paid last year when I bought my Christmas presents, and please consider this as a rough estimate, since a couple products are no longer available, but I'm pretty sure that the exact same lot of boxes would cost about 50 to 100 dollars more...

So I'm still deciding what to do for this year...

But, just for the sake of completeness (this is what the blog is about), let's list what I got last year with a vote to the quality of cards I got..

- 1 box of Topps Tribute WBC, as usual a great product (and very expensive as well). I got a cool Cespedes auto and also a double card (Jason Grilli auto if the memory works still)...
- 12 Jumbo Packs of 2014 Topps, this had a double purpose. On one hand it is always fun to bust a huge amount of packs, and also it was very useful to find some subsets and parallel cards for my sets.. Amoung others, I found a camo Jeter card and an acetate Jorge De la Rosa numbered to 10.
-1 Box of 2014 Topps, same as above... (the purpose, not the hits!)
-1 Box of 2012 Heritage, I remember this costed less than 10 bucks, and considering it is a very cool product, I couldn't pass this up...
-1 Box of 2011 Donruss Elite Extra Edition, a product not particularly appealing, since the absence of licenses (and the limited checklist as well), but I pulled a cool Jurickson Profar auto so it's fine...
-1 Box of 2009 Upper Deck signature series, this was he second most expensive box of the order.. but was filled with cool cards. For example a triple auto with Dustin Pedroia, JD Drew and Jonathan Papelbon, a US set auto jersey of Sonny Gray, and 3/4 more autos and jerseys so definitely a great product!
-1 Box of 2007 Upper Deck series 2, this was more for checklist completion than other reasons...
-1 Box of 2012 Bowman, I don't remember pulling anything cool from this box, exept some cards useful for the completion of the set
-1 Box of 2005 Donruss studio, because I really like the brand, and I also found a couple Portraits cards (those numbered depending on the coloring of the border on the front of the card), so overall a cool box
-1 Box of 2006 Upper Deck future stars: the box guaranteed 5 autos on a acetate colored card, and I got 5 autos to be honest...but the players were more than unknown, so pretty disappointed with it...

Five more boxes bought only for completion purposes, since were from sets I had very few cards, are the following:
- 2009 Topps T206 (nothing very cool to report);
- 1994 Upper Deck series 2 (nothing very cool to report);
- 1996 Upper Deck series 2 (nothing very cool to report);
- 1995 Topps (sticky cards, which resulted in several cards scratched or chipped/tear when the packs were opened) (second worst box of the lot);
- Upper Deck the american epic, an 80 card set (if I remember correctly), with the greatest that ever plaied the game in the past. The set is connected to a very cool set of documentaries by Ken Burns.


Maybe this Christmas will be focused on Justcommons pickups, maybe I'll blindly buy some appealing lots on ebay....

Speaking of which, on July, due to my birthday (again, excuses),  I picked up 5 lots on ebay, purely basing the decision on the acution picture and the quantity price ratio of each lot... I almnost finished my checks and soon I will post a detailed statistic on the content of such lots...

Merry Christmas and Keep Collecting!!

CIAO

Some more random and unexpensive pickups!

Continuing from the previous post, where I showed some cards picked up during the first part of October, this time I'm going to show some more cards won on ebay in the second part of the month...

As you will notice, there's no common thread in the cards, also because the cards connected to the sets I'm trying to complete are posted directly in the specific pages... but nonetheless I think these are nice cards, from players I have no other autos or relics, and from very cool sets...

First, a nice red chuck of jersey from 2013 Topps Triple Threads, numbered to 27 and featuring Josh Hamilton from when he was an Angels player

 

 

Then a cool auto of a player that I really like, but of whom I had no relics or autos before, from 2013 Topps Supreme and numbered to 50, he's Johnny Cueto!

 

 

The next card is from a set of which I already have a couple of cards (Reggie Jackson and Alex Rodriguez). I'm talking about 2001 Upper Deck Legends, legendary lumber, and the next card is from a Legend that recenly passed away, the great Tony Gwynn.

 

 



The next is a sick patch (at least compared to other products), from 2004 Fleer Platinum Name Plates Team, but depicting a player that hasn't left many memories in the record books (as far as I know), I'm talking about Hee Seop Choi, depicted as a Cubs player.

 

The next player gets both Auto and Jersey cards, and I'm talking about Johnny Podres, and the cards are from 2004 SP Legendary Cuts Historic Swatches and from 2014 Topps Supreme Autographs. The first is not numbered while the second is numbered to 20.

 

 

I offered on the next card for two reasons, the first is that I had no relics from this player, and the second is that the fabric chunk insert in the card is pretty huge, and of a color not very common.

It's an Andy Pettitte jersey card from 2006 Sweet Spot Super Sweet Swatch, numbered to an astronomical 299.

 

 

The last card for this post is from 2005 Upper Deck Past Time Pennants. The cards are very well designed, especially the golden logo and I really like the fact that the signature is made inside a pennant (like the set name suggests). I already have Pedro Guerrero from this set, and I'm happy I have added another player to the roster, here comes Ray Knight!

Since at this point the post wasn't published yet, and in the meantime I have a couple more scans in the COMC mailbox, why not show some more nice cardboard?

First is a 3 color patch card from 2008 Upper Deck Premier, featuring Takashi Saito on it, and numbered to 65.

And the last card for this post is an autographed card from 2005 Donruss Diamond Kings, numbered to 100, and the featured player is Dave Parker!

 

Do you like the cards in this post and in the blog so far?

 

I'm very proud of my growing collection...and very satisfied of the completion level reached in the main sets I'm chasing...

 

Keep collecting and...

Ciao!

October brings cards!

After a three-month ebay craze that affected me, I forced myself not to buy at least during the month of September...needless to say that it's been very hard, especially if I think of all those auctions ended at a dollar that I could easily win during the whole month...

But September is now in the memories and October started pretty well for me, and I picked up from where I left in August, great cards for ridicoluosly low prices...

Here's a little taste of what I got, and already reached COMC facility (I also won some 2015 Tier One relics that I'm not showing since they're already available in the dedicated page (that is not available at the moment !)(but soon will))..

The very first card I got in this new auctioning adventure is a nice 2015 Panini Immaculate, that features both a jersey piece and a sticker auto, plus is numbered to 49, and it's been also a pretty steal, since it costed 0.99 $.

 



It's a Rymer Liriano card! The first I own of this player.

Another card I got from this year's Panini set is the next one, from a subset called "Immaculate pitchers", numbered to 99 comes my first Archie Bradley game used jersey!

I haven't decided yet if I like this year's product, but at least for now it is pretty affordable!

Back to 2014 Panini Immaculate. here's a nice (despite tiny) jersey chunk of Dustin Pedroia. The card is from the "Immaculate swatches" subset and it's numbered to 99.





 

The next card is a clean, beautiful on card autograph of Kevin Maas,from 2004 Upper Deck Yankees Classic Clipping set. It's the second card I own from that set, since in August 2014 I picked up a Mickey Rivers auto during my visit at the White Plains card show.

 

 

 

This next card comes from 2015 Topps Triple Threads, a very expensive product that usually provides extremely cool and valuable cards. But according to my policy, so far I've only been able to pick up the following "Unity Single Jumbo Relics Emerald" (sounds very complex but in the end is a big chunk of fabric)... here's Michael Taylor numbered to 18!

 

 

Since I usually try to adhere to the motto "save the best for last", I'm about to show the card that in my opinion is (by far) the best of the lot.

 

BOOM!

 

It's a beautiful 3 color patch card of Mark Teixeira from that glorious set which is 2007 Ultimate Collection Team Materials Patch! It's the third card with this numbering I own (the other two are Garrett Atkins and Delmon Young), and it tempts me to try to complete the whole set...

 

So I think I can say that October started the right way (can't really say the same about the Yankees), and I'll post new pictures as soon as the other pickups (obviously there are other pickups) reach the mailbox.

 

CIAO! 

 

 

 

Along came autos!

Not auto-mobiles, but auto-graphs!

After showing in the previous post some (maybe I should say several), patch cards currently in the COMC.com mailbox, this time I'll show some ink cards...

Let's set the bar high, even if it means making all the next cards less cool...

It's a graded Rookie auto card of Hanley Ramirez, directly from 2006 Upper Deck Future Stars.
It's funny because I bought this card on ebay for about 2 bucks, while last Christmas I got myself a box of the product, only to find five completely unknown player's autos...

This is from 2007 SPx Autofacts, and it's signed by Kei Igawa. It's cool (IMO) for many reasons, first of all because I got it for .99 $ on ebay (I'm sorry if I'm always mentioning the prices, but I'm pretty proud of my buying policies). Second reason why this card is cool is because it's signed by a former Yankees pitcher. Third, it's because autographs of Japanese players are very cool in my opinion.
And the last reason (I just made the link), it's that I used to play MLB the show on my PSP (some years ago) and the only time I got close to a perfect game this guy was on the mound. (btw thank you Kevin Youkilis, you ruined that perfect game in the 9th with one out)...


Another auto of a former Bronx Bomber is the following

I know he's wearing a Dodgers uniform, but that's what I was able to pick up this time...issued by Topps in 2008 as part of the Highlights set...Russell Martin!

And last, is a card from a manufacturer I didn't know exists, and showing a player I honestly never heard of...

Issued in 1995 in the Fritsch All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Samples, has the plus of being hand signed by the player herself!
I haven't researched details or history of the player's career, but I have a feeling that her character was part of a 90's movies..but I might be completely wrong...
I'll update this post with more details in the coming days...

Keep collecting!

CIAO

Jersey time

Since I already posted pictures about Autos and Patches, the last category of cards in COMC.com mailbox I could show (not considering base and variations) are Jersey cards...which usually are small white fabric squares, pretty boring and generally not appealing...

So in this post I'll try to show jersey cards that are at least colored, and possibly from notable players..

From this year Topps Carrer high, an orange (or maybe red) jersey card of David Wright

 

 

From 2013 Tier One comes a jersey piece that is red for sure, and numbered to 399. He's John Smoltz

 

 

 

From 2008 Donruss Threads come the next card, with blue fabric and numbered to 450. Here's Gary Carter...

 

Time for a black jersey, it's from 2012 Topps Triple Threads and numbered to just 18 (which is cool) and features Brian McCann (not as a Yankee, for obvious time reasons)

 

The next is a pretty unusual color (brown), and it's even more unusual since the depicted player (Steve Garvey) is wearing a Dodgers uniform...

 

There were many duplicate colors (especially the red, and white, which I carefully avoided), but I feel like I already set a record for color palette used in a single post, so for today I greet you all with a

CIAO!

Brace yourself, patches are coming

After this quote from Game of Thrones (that I recently started watching), let's get to the point...

In the last two posts (part 4 and 5 of the "What's in my mailbox" series) I showed some pics of the cards that COMC.com is currently storing for me, waiting for the final and biggest shipment request ever (for me at least)... some of those cards have already been showed, and many more are still unknown to you...so let's see some more of that!

This post is only focusing on the patches (in case the title didn't suggest it)

 

2008 Spx Winning Materials 3 color patch of Luis Gonzalez, numbered to 99.

 

 



2006 Sweet Spot sweet beginnings BIG patch of Chad Billingsley, surprisingly not numbered.

 



 

2004 Fleer Platinum Nameplates 3 color patch of Mark Teixeira numbered to 505 (really?!)

 

 

 

2007 Ultimate team materials 3 or 4 (not sure) color patch of Delmon Young, numbered to 25

 

 

 

2009 Topps Unique primetime patches of Lance Berkman, 3 colors, numbered to 99.

 

 

2003 Fleer patchworks nameplates with 3 colors of Rafael Palmeiro, numbered to 50. Not sure if I already posted this, but I'm certainly too lazy to check it out.

 

 

 

2014 Panini Immaculate 4 colors patch of Neftali Feliz, numbered to 49.

 

 

There are (many) more cards in the mailbox, maybe less cool than these patches (some have just a poor plain white jersey piece), but also several autographs I haven't posted yet...so stay tuned for more cards!

 

 

CIAO!



 

Important Upcoming Updates!

Well, after a title so teasing you are probably wondering what kind of revolution is preparing behind the scenes of this blog...
Maybe you'll be disappointed, but in the way I've been running this blog so far, will be a pretty huge innovation...

I'm about (a couple weeks away, based on the last estimates) to complete a comprehensive and detailed wantlist!!!

It's in the form of a set of spreadsheets (read excel files), two for every manufacturer (Topps, Upper Deck, Donruss, Fleer, just to name a few). In the first are listed the complete checklists of base and update/traded sets (in Topps' case), and in the second file are the checklists of all the subsets, divided by year.

It's been so far an incredible effort and a considerable time consumption ...especially when it comes to track down the checklists for particular subsets (I mainly use Baseballcardpedia, Openchecklist or Cardboard connection), while it's very fun the part where I go through the monster boxes and mark everything I have!

I think I will share such files on Dropbox, so that will be easily accessible, but not before I finish the complete listing, so prepare for that...