The Lighter Side of Collecting

Hey, everyone. Since I'm going to be away on a family vacation from this Saturday to next Saturday, I won't be able to post at all. So, in the interest of a grand send off and an even grander welcome back, we'll start with the send off which includes jokes, hysterical card names and pictures, and when I come back from the trip (did I mention I'll be going to Chris's Comics and Cards which I reviewed yesterday?, I'll be starting a big contest! So, starting with the jokes.....

You know your a true collector when..

1) You here someone say "That's a perfect 10!", and are disappointed when you see a woman rather than a graded card.....

2) You go to a fine art museum and ask where the sketch card section is.....

3) You come back from a long business trip, and when your wife asks you how your trip was, you say you only bought a few singles and packs.....

4) You fill out a resume and list "pack breaking" as special skill.....

5) You name your pet after a card product or company.....

6) You name your child after a card product or company.....

7) You ask you wife's opinion on if the card your examining looks dented or creased.....

8) Rather than counting sheep when you can't sleep, you count how many complaints you have about Topps or what your favorite cards are.

How bout' dem apples? Some of those are credit of Chris Olds...I can't take all of the credit.



Now, for something we hope you'll really like...Hilarious Cards!


This pretty much is self-implied........


This is just plain disturbing...A guy who can pummel a 26 year old kid who's in his prime and on steroids needs to show off his glutes?..that's not the image I want to remember of a hall-of-fame pitcher..


I..I don't.....I don't even...I mean,...where do I even start?.......So much wrong..so little space to say.....


This poor, poor man...I couldn't imagine having that name..



His hair is not even human....for gits and shiggles, compare it to Will Smith's hair on.."The Fresh Prince."

See!


The hilarious irony of this name....compared to the image.....

I couldn't stop laughing while doing this post. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did. So, I'll be gone for a week, but It'll go by quick. The contest is going to be really sweet, so stay on the "Pack Prodigy" bandwagon. See you, guys.

Keep Breakin'
-P.P.

Daily Update

Hey, everyone.

The new segment below this post was one I just put up today, like promised. It is a side by side comparison of two hobby stores I go to called "The Battle of the Hobby Stores". That is the first installment in a series of about 5 or 6, so expect one every few weeks or so.



Last night, Topps announced that at the National Sport's Collectors Convention in Baltimore, Maryland, they will be giving away rare 2010 Heritage Stephen Strasburg RC's limited to just 999 copies. They will be available in limited quantities at certain times during the show, which goes from Aug. 4-8. Collectors are limited to one card per person per each day.

To anyone who visits their booth, they will also give a Million Card Giveaway code to redeem online.

Anyone interested in Strasburg-mania? Check out this site on all of his RC's. http://www.strasburgrookiecards.com/

Card of the Day:

I got this card at a supermarket in a "20 Cards of Favorite Team: Red Sox" plastic pack. I was pretty excited at the time and am happy to own it today.

That's it for now. Thanks, guys.
Keep Breakin'
-P.P.

Battle of the Hobby Stores

Battle of the Hobby Stores

Store Name: That's Entertainment Vs. Chris's Cards and Comics
Where?: Worcester, MA. Vs. Salem, NH.
Website: www.thatse.com Vs. www.chriscardscomics.com

Summary: That's Entertainment is a large store the specializes in comics, but has a wide variety of cards as well, including boxes, packs, and singles. It does a decent job at maintaining stock and supply. They will also buy cards on Wednesdays when the card specialist is there. The prices are right around BV, which is nice.
Vs.
Summary: Chris's Cards and Comics is a smaller store, but has a phenomenal variety of card packs, boxes, and cases full of singles. It doesn't specifically specialize in comics or cards, and maintains supply and stock very well. And, his prices can't be beat!

Hours:
That's Entertainment
Monday - Saturday 10AM - 8PM
Sunday 10AM - 6PM
Saturday 10AM - 5PM
Sunday 10AM - 5PM
Vs.
Chris's
Monday - Wednesday 11AM - 6PM
Thursday & Friday 11AM - 8PM

Final Grade: B Vs. A+

Reason: Chris's is the clear victor here. Reason being, his store so well kept and stocked compared to That's Entertainment. Although it's a nice store, it's not as vast as Chris's. The array of packs and great customer service is astounding.

Pack Break: 2009 Topps Unique

Hey, everyone. Anyone up for a pack break? I purchased this at the oh-so-lucky Newbury Comics (where I got my first printing plate)last year due to all of the hype surrounding it, and because I liked the design. It's been sitting around in my card storage, so I decided to dig it out and rip it. Here's what I pulled:

1) Mike Lowell
2) Aramis Ramirez
3) Brian McCann Red # /1190
4) Chris Cohglan RC Gold # 99/99
5) Tim Lincecum
6) Chase Utley
7) Derek Jeter

That's all for now. I'll have the scans tomorrow. Thanks Everyone.
Keep Breakin'
-P.P.

LCS Pickups (Plus: New Segment Preview)

Hey, everyone. Today, I had some time to kill so I decided to stop into my local card store for some quality bargain pickups. Ultimately, I was very pleased with the outcome of my trip, as I only spent $5 on 3 quality cards, 2 of which were $0.99 each.
I snagged a 2004 Donruss World Series Parallel of Victor Martinez, short printed 88/100, a 2008 Topps Heritage Clay Buchholz RC, and a 1996 Edge Ray Allen RC for my Boston Celtics PC. Obviously, I'll only be discussing the baseball pickups. For that matter, I was very surprised to see a Victor Martinez SP priced at only $0.99, considering the relatively slim amount of only 100 circulated and his popularity as an all-star catcher. As for the Buchholz, I was not in the least bit surprised by the pricing, due to the fact that it was a notch above book value at $3.00. But, nonetheless, I was very happy with all both cards. Here are the scans:


The new segment that I'll be introducing is a competition between two card stores that I will review myself. I'll be in New Hampshire this week, so I'll visit my all-time favorite card store, and compare it to the one I went to today. It should be interesting to see the victor of the two.

Card of the Day:

I got this card about 6 months ago in a trade. Lester, next to Dustin Pedroia, is my favorite baseball player. period. He has a kind of mound presence that baseball hasn't seen the likes of since Roger Clemens.

That's all for now. Thanks everyone.
Keep Breakin'
-P.P.

Daily Update (Plus: How Long Does It Take For Daisuke to Throw 1 Pitch?)

Hey, everyone. Well, the Red Sox one a tight one last night, 2-1, on the back of stellar pitching by Daisuke Matsuzaka and a nice hitting display from All-
Star third baseman Adrian Beltre. It was an unusually short game considering the fact that Daisuke was on the hill, clocking in at a tick under 2 1/2 Hours. In the car this morning, I heard a contest on the radio to see who's guess of the elapsed time between when the catcher tosses it back to Daisuke and when he throws the pitch is closest. One of the times, it was a whopping 53 seconds! The guy won a pair of tickets for an advanced screening of Dinner for Schmucks, the new Steve Carell Movie. The hysterical part is that the had that yodeling cutout from The Price is Right in the background, yodeling to his hearts content.

Beckett reports the 2010 Topps Sterling is locked and loaded to beef up on Stephen Strasburg relic autos, with three different cards listed on the official checklist (3-piece auto, 4-piece auto, and 5-piece auto). Along with those include a phenomenal cut-sig checklist of 20 players, including Honus Wagner, Yaz, Frank Robinson, Mike Piazza, Bo Jackson, Bobby Doerr, Stan Musial, Yogi Berra, Willie McCovey, Mariano Rivera and more. There's a checklist of dual cut-sigs that preliminaryly includes Roy Campanella and Thurman Munson, Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby, Mickey Mantle and Mel Ott, Eddie Mathews and Roger Maris, as well as several other combos. That set includes 10 cards. The auto and relic checklist is where things loosen up with more current and active players — everyone from the likes of Andre Ethier to Ulbaldo Jimenez can be found along with Hall of Famers and other unforgetable players from the past, and everything in between.

Just a quick update today. Thanks, guys.
Keep Breakin'
-P.P.

Too Funny to Ignore

For about the past hour, I've been running through the Cardboard Junkie's blogroll and checking out a handful of sites that looked interesting. When I went on BDJ610's blog, I couldn't help but laughing at the poll he set up on what Topps should name this year's Updates edition. Reason being, 23 people out of 142 (16%) voted to name it "Stephen Strasburg and 329 other guys.". The winning vote of 52 people (36%)was for "Topps Series 3". I mean, come on....series 3? As if Topps doesn't milk the monopolized card market enough by stretching the base brand out through 2 series'. Granted, Series 2 is good to include new rookies,lesser-known or average players and unsung heroes, but couldn't they just include all of that in an updates product and expand series 1 to about 25% more cards. I do like series 2; In fact I like it a lot, but how Topps raises product prices like gas and skimps us on certain brand's quality with a monopolized card business is just evil. It's worse then what McDonald's does with selling Coke's, considering it costs them not even $0.15 to make a 24 oz. Coke and they charge us $1.75 to buy one. I mean, I do love some Topps products, but others I cant stand. Besides, knowing that my hard earned cash is lining the pockets of the cheap, money-grubbing, pedophile-like, bastard Michael Esiner, the CEO of Topps, just really makes me want to drive to New York from Massachusetts, knock on his office door, and land one below the belt. That has to easily be the best method of stress relief in the card world.
Keep Breakin'
-P.P.

Daily Update

Hey, everyone. Well, the computer has been OFICIALY set up again, and I'm back in business. So, as a sort of welcoming back for myself, I went on to toppsmillion.com and redeemed 3 of my codes. I was extremely happy with my haul. Here's a basic rundown of what I got.

1) 1975 Topps Ernie Mcnally
2) 1973 Topps Chuck Taylor
3) 2000 Topps Armando Benitez

The first two cards I was extremely happy about because the 1975 card design is one of the most monumental and renowned Topps designs of all-time. And, the 1973 card is of a good player. The last card, granted, was a bust, but it's always a viable trade bait option. I'll have the cards scans when I receive them in the mail. Meanwhile, I have the scans of the MCG Redemptions themselves.



Obviously the cards I unlocked varied, but still, three great players are pictured on the redemption cards.

Card of the day:


Description: I got this gem in 2007 at Chris's Sports Card Store in the Hampton Beach area of New Hampshire for $2.50. That was a steal considering Papelbon's current career success.

That's going to do it for now, everyone. Thanks for being so patient with the lack of updates! I appreciate it.
Keep Breakin'
-P.P.

Daily Update

Hey, everyone. The lack of posts here has been for a good reason, as we are tediously redmodeling our family room, in which our computer is in. So, I'm almost ready to get back on track with these consistent updates. In the card world, Topps announced that at the All-Star Game's Fanfest in Anaheim, Topps will be giving out Stephen Strasburg redemptions for what I beleive is several pack wrappers from any 2010 Topps/Bowman Product. Thats a slim price to pay for any card of this rookie phenom. The Red Sox are now 3 game behind Tampa Bay for the wild card in the AL, and are looking to sweep Texas in four games right after the All-Star break while the Yankees and Rays face each other, so if they win, they're guarenteed to make up some ground. I've been ripping a lot of packs as of late, and I'll have a boatload of breaks to post with pictures included.

Card of the Day:

http://sportscardinfo.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/card-of-the-day-daniel-nava-2010-bowman-prospects-47/

(Sorry, cant load pictures.)
2010 Bowman Prospects Daniel Nava
I got this card a few weeks ago in a blaster box of Bowman, and I was excited because, knowing me as a tremendous Red Sox fan, I love Nava and his story, and he's only a rookie!

Well, that's all for now. I'll post again tomorrow.
Keep Breakin'
-P.P.