Brand New Wood

Now on to the last subject from my little teaser I gave a week or so ago. One of the best things about my LCS is the weekly bid board. He'll have everything from cards to sets to autographed pictures, some with certification and some without. and a couple weeks ago he had this bad boy.

One Louisville Slugger autographed bat. Some of you may know that here in Des Moines we a lucky enough to have a AAA baseball team, the Iowa Cubs farm team for the Chicago Cubs. In the course of a game if a player breaks his bat a lot of the time it will end up in the souvenir shop where you can buy it. I'm guessing that's what happened in this case. The bat itself has 30 signatures on it but as I'm going to guess, again, that it was signed at the game no authenticity with it. Some of the guys already have certified autographs in sets so I used that to see if the autos matched. It's also a good thing that several of the players sign with their number as well, it really helps when trying to figure out who they actually are! So let's see who I have of the bat, not going to do all 30 signatures here but just some of the ones I could find. Who knows some of these guys might be playing in the bigs this next year and some of them already are.

#16 is catcher Chris Robinson. Chris is hitting .231 with 2 HR and 25 RBI in 62 games this season

#37 is pitcher Jeff Stevens. Jeff has been called up this season and has appeared in 18 games for the Chicago Cubs. With Iowa he has appeared in 32 games, has 7 saves and is 0-2 with a 3.58 ERA.

Here we have Micah Hoffpauir. Micah has been called up several time this year and is currently playing for the big boys in Chicago. In 7 games this year he is only batting .077. I know that doesn't sound great but he was doing MUCH better in the minors.

#20 pitcher Jay Jackson. Jay is 11-8 with a 4.28 ERA this year.

#1 2nd baseman Matt Camp. Matt has appeared in 122 games and is hitting .274 with 1 HR and 35 RBI's this year.

Taking a bit of a guess here but this looks to be #36 pitcher Hung-Wen Chen. Chen is from Taiwan and with the Iowa Cubs is 2-3 with a 5.70 ERA.

I saved the best autograph for last. As most baseball fans now know the Cubs organization has been grooming a new manager over the last few years and this year he came to Des Moines to take over........

Hall of Fame 2nd baseman, #23 for the Chicago Cubs, Ryne Sandberg. Ryne has been nothing but great to the fans this year. He takes the time to sign before each game and we love him for it! This year with the Iowa Cubs Ryne has coached them to a record of 77-58 and has them headed for the playoffs (not something the Chicago Cubs can say is it!)

There are many other auto's on the bat including Sam Fuld, another player that is spending time with Chicago. But these are just highlights for you. One thing I didn't mention at the beginning of the post was how much it cost me. Well, I think I got a great deal $15.00. I know, no certification.... not a big deal to me. I know how easy it is to go down to Principal Park and have these guys sign. It's the first autographed bat that I own and will be a great keepsake for me in the future.

The Joy of Completed Pages

I'm borrowing this idea from other bloggers as it's fun to do and it really is the best way to show off what I've done.

My LCS is a great place to shop, lots of selection and the prices aren't off the wall crazy like some I've heard about. One of the best things is he keeps a nice supply of older boxes and sells them at just over his cost. Last year one of the boxes caught my eye, 2008 Upper Deck Goudey. I had bought several packs of this when it first came out and liked the design so I bought a box and tried to see what I could get. Hit wise it's not overly great, you get one jersey and one on-card autograph per box. If you're lucky that autograph is a Sports Royalty version or one of several SP's. You could also pull original 1933 Goudey buybacks, these fall one per case. After I got my first box opened and sorted I decided to try and put the set together. The base set was no problem as I had most of it in one box. However, the last 130 cards were short-prints and you only got 8 or so per box. So almost every time I went into the shop I bought a new box. I probably bought a case worth of Goudey trying to pull the SP's to complete my set. Along the way I pulled several of the Sports Royalty autographs including my favorites Kerri Strug and Kerri Walsh. For regular autographs I pulled a Don Mattingly and a Brooks Robinson. I got a couple of the Yankee Stadium Legacy jersey cards and I managed to get one 1933 Goudey buyback of Lew Fonseca.


I finally got to the point where I had only five or six cards to go and I decided to quit buying boxes as I was getting too many doubles of the SP's. I had pulled three of the hardest cards: Tiger Woods, Sidney Crosby and Jack Nicklaus and started looking for singles online. This last month I finally got down to two cards I needed, Kerri Strug and Terry Bradshaw. After some searching I found both on E-bay. The Strug was an auction that I ended up winning for $.99 and the Bradshaw I actually found on a buy it now/BO. I offered the seller $3.00 and waited. The offer was accepted and I never heard from the guy again. I had to open a case and get my money refunded. So I started looking elsewhere for the card. In came Check Out My Cards and the one seller on there that had my Bradshaw. I again made an offer and less than a week later I got the last card I needed for my fully complete 2008 Upper Deck Goudey card set built by hand. Now I know some of you will look at the first scan and say it's not a complete page, well, you're right. It starts with card 200 as I don't have the regular base set in pages yet. I put that part of the set together months ago and it's stored in a box that I need to pull out.


If there is anyone out there that is trying to put this set together and needs some of the Sp's please hit me up. I have a stack and will gladly work something out with you.

Mixtape

Today's post is short and sweet. I recently won a 5finity Mixtape sketch card off E-bay by the amazingly awesome artist Rhiannon Owens called "Shuriken Throwing Dart" From the info I've seen Rhi only did 25 sketches for this set and all of them are amazing.

Such a Tease

Hey guys, wanted to say I haven't forgotten the blogger world! I have a couple posts in the works. One about a recent e-bay win. I'm going to rip-off Dayf and do my version of "The Joy of a Completed Page." and one really cool win from the LCS bid board. That's it, 'laters all!

.....But I'm not dead yet!

So it's been a while since I've put anything here. Just wanted to let you know I am still alive. Went on a family vacation and when I got back my computer had died...FRAK! So I don't have a whole lot of access to any new pictures or scans. So time to show off an old favorite or two and leave it at that.

Here is one of my favorite female wrestlers that is being horribly misused in the WWE currently. Gail Kim is one of the most athletic if not the most athletic females and good old Vinnie Mac has her doing jobs nite after nite. Gail has been in several of the Benchwarmer sets and this is one of my favorite cards of hers.


And secondly I'll show off an Ultimate Collection Signatures numbered to 10 I picked up last year. Living in Iowa we don't have any pro teams to call our own so we adopt from the nearby states. For basketball I have followed the Chicago Bulls the closest since the Jordan years. This meant I was thrilled when in 1989 the Bulls drafted the point guard from the Iowa Hawkeyes B.J. Armstrong in the first round. He went on the be a three time champion and an All-Star once. I remember writing to him and sending several cards I had to try to get them autographed when I was a kid but never got a reply so it's nice that I was able to pick up this low numbered auto cheap.


Hopefully I'll have my computer fixed soon so I can get some more recent stuff posted. I have some new art by Beck Kramer to show off and a couple of purchases from the 'Bay to reveal as well.

Getting the Fun Stuff

So, two posts in one day. Boy are you guys lucky!! Actually I'm going to post today's mail that I got about an hour or so ago. This isn't going to be a regular feature or anything but when I went down to my box and opened it I found five packages waiting for me including a couple that I've really been looking forward to. So lets start. First off i got my monthly group break cards from I Am Joe Collector. Nothing too special here, no hits this month but did get a nice 2008 Bowman Chrome rookie refractor of Luke Hochevar. Luke is 5-4 with a 4.96 ERA. Not great but nobody on the Royals staff this year has great numbers.


Next in the stack is an Essence of Fairyland sketch off E-bay by Andrew MacLean entitled Captured #1. As you can see some lucky collector has caught and labeled the Fire Fairy in a dome, not that the fairy seems too happy about it. I imagine he's using some sort of word we will not repeat on this blog to express his displeasure.


Next I have a double purchase also off E-bay by the fantastic duo of Jason Potratz and Jack Hai. These are two amazingly talented artists that combine their skills into wonderful sketch cards. I was lucky enough to win two of their latest works from the Harry Potter series. One card of Ginny and one of Hermione. I love all the detail they put into the cards every time.



Next I opened an envelope that I've been waiting on for six months or more. Artist Leah Mangue offered last school year to draw a PSC if you donated money to her son for a school fund raiser. This seemed a perfect way to get a card done and I sent the funds on the way. Leah soon realized that she may have bitten off more then she could chew as she was apparently overwhelmed with requests. I wasn't overly concerned either way if I got my sketch or not as I know the money went to a good cause but today it finally came. I now have another PSC Boomer from Battlestar Galactica to add to the collection.


Lastly is a card I've been wanting since the set came out. The set is Press Pass Showcase 2010. Cards from these boxes have been nothing short of amazing and not only does it include current NASCAR drivers but has legends as well. My favorite driver of all time is the current Fox announcer Darrell Waltrip. Darrell has several cards in this set but I was kinda picky on what I wanted one in my collection to look like. I wanted an autograph, of course, and a multi-color relic piece. I didn't care if it was a firesuit or sheet metal but leaned towards sheet metal if I could. Well the card came today and it looks even better in person! A beautiful on-card autograph with a 3 inch by 1 inch hunk of three colored sheet metal. The card weighs a ton and the colors are great. This is now one of my favorite cards in my collection. Right up there with the Jordan auto and the Peterson NT.


Thanks for letting me share my mail day and here's to hoping the rest of the day is just as good!!

Gint-A-Cuffs Box 2 Packs 17-24

Well it's time to end the pain and finish out posting my second box. I've had all three hits so unless there is a surprise waiting I'm not expecting a whole lot here.


Pack 17

Orlando Hudson
Jayson Werth
Curtis Granderson Yankee -1
Tim Lincecum
Felipe Lopez
Kelly Kulick
Mini Dustin Richardson
This Day in History Ian Kinsler +1


Pack total: 0, that's right 0!
Total box score: See previous post total


Pack 18

Shawn Johnson
Erick Aybar
Carlos Carrasco
Alex Rodriguez Yankee -1



















Mark Teixeira Yankee -1



















Clayton Kershaw favorite player +2



















Mini Monsters of the Mesozoic Allosaurus +3



















This Day in History and Yankee Curtis Granderson +0















Pack total: +3
Total box score: +151



Pack 19

Yovani Gallardo
Gordon Beckham
Tiago Della Vega
Shin-Soo Choo
Nick Johnson Yankee -1



















Mini Allen & Ginter back Tony Hoard & Rory +2



















Sketch Card DeWayne Wise +3



















This Day in History Justin Upton +1


Pack total: +5
Total box score: +156



Pack 20

Josh Thole
Aaron Cook
Johan Santana
Elvis Andrus
David Blaine
Ryan Braun favorite player +2



















Mini Ricky Romero
This Day in History and favorite player Adrian Gonzalez +3
















Pack total: +5
Total box score: +161



Pack 21

Ryan Ludwick
Torii Hunter
Ian Stewart
Rafael Furcal
A.J. Burnett Yankee -1



















Carlos Pena SP +2



















Mini Allen & Ginter back Ian Desmond +2



















This Day in History Pablo Sandoval +1



Pack total: +4
Total box score: +165



Pack 22

Jeff Francoeur
Michael Dunn
Juan Francisco
Anne Donovan
Revolving Door
Chone Figgins SP +2



















Mini black bordered Pedro Feliz +3



















This Day in History and my favorite team Kosuke Fukudome +2
















Pack total: +7
Total box score: +172



Pack 23

Colby Rasmus
Scott Feldman
Russel Martin
Daniel Hudson
Trevor Hoffman
Jim Zapp Negro League player +2



















Mini World's Wordsmiths John Milton +4



















This Day in History Chipper Jones +1



Pack total: +7
Total box score: +179



Pack 24

Ryan Zimmerman
Mark Reynolds
The Parthenon
Mike Cameron
Hanley Ramirez favorite player +2














Michael Young favorite player +2



















Hiroki Kuroda SP +2



















Mini Hubertus "Master of Hellfire" Wawra
This Day in History Andre Ethier +1


Pack total: +7
Total box score: +186

Total for box number two......... +186
hey check that out, I actually beat my box one score...... by 5 points. Not the top score and not even in the top three. Oh well there's always next year!