1/1 Triple Threads Patch Mailday

A couple weeks ago I won an awesome card for my Kevin Youkilis PC on eBay.  I put in a max bid of $100 and was lucky enough to win the card for $50.  This card is the 2010 Topps Triple Threads Kevin Youkilis Platinum Relic 1/1.  It took a while to come in the mail, but it was definately worth the wait.



 

While the card is numbered 1/1 and features some amazing patches from his 2008 All Star Game jersey, it also came with some unexpected damage.  There are some surface scratches as well as fingerprints on the card.  While this is unfortunate, it should not effect the value because it is a 1/1.  It will also be staying in my PC for  the rest of my life, so its not that big of a deal.

I also own a copy of the version numbered to 3, pictured below.  Since I have the two lowest numbered parallels of the card, I would like to try for the rainbow.  The other versions are numbered out of 9, 18, 27, and 36 so this will not be an easy task.

If you have any of the cards I need for the rainbow, please leave a comment below as I am willing to trade for or buy the remaining versions I need.

-20youksox

Weekend Pickups (Part 1)

This past Saturday, I went to a local town-celebration day as I do every year with the intention of grabbing some lunch, exploring with 20youksox, and picking up some cards. There are usually several contingencies of folks selling items around the center of town. Among the items being sold, generally speaking, are your garden-variety junk wax boxes, along with the occasional mix-ins of little gem treasures which are either inhumanely overpriced or incredibly cheap.

Just to give you some perspective on the wide array of prices along the spectrum, I once bought a 2007 Ultra Josh Hamilton Lucky 13 RC for a pretty $0.50. The lowest I've seen the card selling for as a BIN is here. Then on the other end of the table, a lady was attempting to sell your prototypical late-80's junk wax complete set for $50. Not exactly the most price-aware sellers.

In addition those sellers, however, is a dealer who has been a staple in my card collecting journey since early on in my life. Every August, I'd wait with anticipation to arrive at the table, knowing that each year brought an entirely unique experience. He always had team bags full of 50 cards or so for 50 cents, and then some for a dollar. He had varieties of unopened packs from the 80s and 90s, some being your average junk packs and others being pretty unique.

Take this pretty incredible find as case 1A, an unopened 1996 Pinnacle promotional pack issued by Denny's with the purchase of every Grand Slam meal, which yielded this unique card. I'd heard about the food-issued hologram set, and knew that someday I'd like to have one for my own collection...I just never knew I'd find the unopened packs containing them.

If the previous find was case 1A, this is certainly case 1B: a 1995 Studio Chipper Jones. The card is brilliantly engineered like a credit card, all the way down to the laser signature on the back. It was the front card on the acetate team bag featured for 50 cents featuring a medley of various cards. I knew it was certainly worth shelling out a couple of quarters.

Another team bag, this one for a dollar, featured a 2012 Dustin Pedroia Topps Hertiage need for my Pedroia PC. Again, I knew it would be worth the price. Of course, when it came time to pay after I accumulated several other wants, I ended up paying a flat rate or everything of 5 dollars.

I had so much money left, I decided to dig through his quarter bin. What it yielded was incredible.

This is a yet-to-be-completed page from my Throwback PC. All of the cards are ones I had picked up over the weekend at one point or another. The ones I'm featuring I all snagged on Saturday. The set is brilliant; it's an insert subset from 2001 Topps Heritage, which features player painted in their respective teams classic or throwback duds. All of em were only a quarter a piece, and I knew they'd find a great home in my binder.

Quick Rundown of Upcoming Posts

Hey, everyone. I've been so busy lately that I've barely had to so much as even consider posting on the blog. I have some free time in the next few days, so I figured I'd give a rundown of what to expect. So, yesterday 20youksox and I hit up a flea market, and the day before we hit up a town fair with a similar setup. Within the next few days, anticipate scan-heavy posts with rundowns of some of our sweet pickups.

Card Store Recap Plus IMPORTANT Allen and Ginter Announcement!

I am going to start off with the Allen and Ginter announcement because it is important: DON'T THOW AWAY YOUR BOXES!!!  Topps has hidden 1/1 glossy parallels of the base set inside of the box lids.  While they are quite rare, it is definitely worth checking with there possibly being a 1/1 inside.

Next on to the card store recap.  I was able to buy cards at 3 different locations on Cape Cod.  The first was at a Newbury Comics at the mall.  I bought 1 pack of 2013 Goodwin Champions and 1 pack of 2013 Gypsy Queen.  I didn't pull anything spectacular but I did get a Jim Bunning SP from Gypsy Queen and a cloth mini of Nikolas Lidstrom from Goodwin which are inserted at a rate of 1 per box.

This stop was really just to tie me over until I went to Pastime Sports Cards and Collectables.  I had been a couple weeks earlier, so I knew he was cleaned out of any Youkilis cards I needed for my PC, but I did do some digging for my new Stars and Stripes PC which features cards of players wearing their Stars and Stripes uniforms with no success.  The pack selection was a little slimmer than I was hoping for so I just bought a few packs of 2013 Topps Heritage.  The Heritage was a bust except for an R.A. Dickey high number SP.

The final stop on my card tour was Hyannis Sports Cards Inc..  This was my first time ever going to this shop, so I saved the bulk of my money for here because it looked pretty big from the outside.  When I walked in they certainly had plenty of sports cards, but the bulk of the store was taken up by t-shirts and apparel.  They had a ton of singles, unfortunately none for my Youk or Stars and Stripes PC.

There were not many baseball packs for sale, just your basic Series 1 and 2, but he did also have some 2013 Bowman.  I never have any luck with base brand, so I decided to go for some 2013 Bowman.  I think I busted about 7 packs if I am remembering correctly.  Anyways, I pulled the usual assortment of good prospects, a blue bordered parallel, and a cream of the crop mini refractor.  However, the big pull was an autograph.  While just a base autograph, it is the best one you can pull in the set.  Baseball America's number 1 prospect, Byron Buxton!

This card is in perfect shape!  The corners are sharp and the centering looks pretty good (hard to tell from scan, but take my word for it).  The autograph is legible until you get to the second half of his last name.  I am so glad I pulled this card and for the record, I have had some luck with prospects in the past.  Maybe I will post my top Bowman pulls sometimes.  I also have a couple of PC mail days coming up!

-20youksox

Incredible Vacation Card Haul (Part 2) + I Chime In In Recent PED Suspensions

This post is a continuation of me showing off some of my awesome pickups and pulls from my vacation at Cape Cod. This time, I'm showcasing pickups from my trip to Pastime Cards & Collectibles, a baseball card store in Yarmouth, MA.

I picked through a little-known gem in the storekeepers dollar bin, which yielded some nice cards for my throwback collection. The first is a 2012 Topps Team Set Variation Ervin Santana, which features him in a nifty LA Angles throwback.

The next card is a 2011 Topps Ryan Braun. 

It's quite disconcerting to hear of the still well-and-alive usage of PED's at the pro and minor league levels, as many people, myself included, had hoped that a newer era beyond expansive PED use had been ushered in. At least as it appears now, that is not the truth. That being said, I respect and admire the MLB's decision to suspend an unprecedented 13 players for PED usage, with Alex Rodriguez suspension being the most harsh. His suspension is currently under appeal, but assuming it is upheld the 211 game suspension will be the longest and harshest suspension the likes of the MLB has ever dished out...and for entirely justifiable reasons as it appears. A-Rod is accused of being a cheater, and I feel like that is a totally accurate and justifiable statement. We'll see how it plays out, but I certainly hope Rodriguez is suspended so as to be effectively removed from the game.

Anyhow, the next card I bought was one I had seen on Dime Box Nick's Blog and I'd been meaning to add to my want list on the blogs sidebar. I looked and looked in the stores Nomar binder, and to my joy I found it on the second or third to last page in the binder. It really is a sick card, and as Nick said you don't often find Red Sox throwback uniforms on cards. The set the card is from is actually 1998 Fleer Sports Illustrated; It's from an insert subset called "Legends of Today".

As for my Pedroia PC, I added a 2012 Topps "Career Day" insert to my collection.

Also, I pulled two Red Sox cards from a pack of 2013 Archives: a David Ortiz and a Jim Rice insert.

That's all for now. Next installment of this segment, I'll showcase the pinnacle pickups of my vacation!

Epic Redemption Mailday

Well, I just got back from a week at Cape Cod and had a package waiting for me in my mailbox. This package had the return address of Panini so I figured it was my redemption card. The package was sent via FedEx with signature confirmation so that gives you an idea of how cool this card is going to be. I waited about three months for this redemption and was excited to see that it finally came. I opened up the outer box to get into the bubble mailer inside. Due to the recent Topps replacement garbage, I was a little nervous that I wouldn't receive the original card. I opened to package to find the intended card placed carefully in a magnetic holder. This card is my 2011 Panini Prime Cuts Miguel Cabrera Notable Nicknames Autograph numbered 14/25. The beauty of this card is that not only is it an autograph of the reigning MVP and triple crown winner but it is also inscribed with his nickname, "Miggy". This makes the card unique as well as more valuable than a standard Miggy autograph. The autograph is on card and I am proud to add this to my personal collection.

I was also able to bust some packs at various card stores on Cape Cod, so I will share those some time later this week.  Spoiler alert: I pulled something pretty sick!

-20youksox

Incredible Vacation Card Haul (Part 1)

Hey, everyone. I haven't posted in a while, as I've been at Cape Cod for 2 weeks. However, during those 2 weeks, I was able to accomplish so much in regards to my card collection. I visited a flea market, 2 baseball card stores, and a mall, in each of which I found cards of all varieties. I managed some incredible pulls, the best of which I will showcase in the last part of these segments.

The first part of this set of posts highlights my pickups from a flea market, all of which I acquired for the total of only a dollar. Two cards were for my Throwback PC, and two were for my Pitchers at the Plate PC. Also, I picked up a pretty notable rookie card for what was essentially free.

The two throwback cards were from the $0.25 box, which was a more than welcome find for my taste. The bottom right card is a 1991 Stadium Club Sammy Sosa, which features him in a White Sox throwback. Above that is a 2003 Donruss Miguel Tejada, featuring him in the A's famous yellow throwbacks.

The top left card is a 2004 Fleer Tradition Randy Johnson, and directly below that is a 2003 Ultra Jason Jennings. Both cards feature pitchers batting, one of my newer potential PC's.

Lastly,  the top right card is a Just Minors issue minor league card of Clay Buchholz. As a Red Sox fan and a fan of Clay, I found this to be a no brainer. When I brought the cards to the sales table and the toal was $1.50, the owner threw in the Buchholz and had me hand over exactly one semi-wrinkled dollar.

Pretty incredible pickups for only a dollar!