Presents from It's Like Having My Own Cardshop!

I finished up the work week by getting a nice little package from Dan at the blog It's Like Having My Own Card Shop. Dan has really helped me build my collection, while also becoming a good friend of mine. He was able to find this awesome Longo bobblehead that I have been actively want for some time. Also, He included a few Longo cards, and a Hellickson Jersey card! Thank you so much Dan! This is my favorite bobblehead that I own!

Cobb Triple Threads

I have been working on a PC of Alex Cobb for a while now. At the beginning of November, I impulse bought this card. It is a 2013 Topps Triple Threads Alex Cobb gold signature. I think it was $31 shipped, but I actualy forgot. I really enjoy the card, but not sure if I should have bought it. I recently almost got stuck with a 1/1 Wood Cobb card for around $70. 

Tonights Rack Pack

Tonight at Wal-Mart, I noticed that they had a couple rack packs of Topps Chrome, and then one pack of Bowman Chrome. Both packs come with very few cards, but I wanted to try out Bowman because Wil Myers was on the pack. I did not get any Rays or D-Backs player, but I did get something that made me kind of happy.

I pulled a Jose Peraza Refractor auto #/500. I knew nothing about him, until I read that he is the #10 ranked prospect for the Braves, and #1 ranked infielder. Always fun to pull an auto, too bad it was not Myers....

2013 Topps Chrome- eBay team set pickups

I wanted to attend a local card show weekend, but ended up not being able to make it, and spending all my card show money the night before. So rather than buying packs to try and get my fix, I picked up a Rays team set off of eBay from my favorite seller BrentandBecca. The Rays team set had a few cards that I was looking forward to such as Alex Colome RC, Jake Odorizzi RC, and of course Wil Myers RC. I still need to pick up another Myers, but it was nice to add this first one to my collection. 

Wil Myers RC

Another Longo

Another Cobb

Over the past few weeks, I have been looking for my new PC guy. Longo and Myers auto cards are pretty high, Price's tenure with the club could be coming to an end, and a few other players just don't catch my eye as "that" player I want to collect. So it was down to Archer and Cobb, and after a few Tier 1 purchases, I have decided it is Cobb. The guy has put up some pretty solid numbers this year, even with a few stints on the DL which were primarily due to a liner that hit him in the head. Cobb may not be a staff ace, but I know he would be at the front end of the rotation for the majority of MLB teams.

This is my newest Alex Cobb auto, and my first black and silver auto of any release. The card was actually listed on eBay as a 1/1, but I am assuming that is because it is 10/10. I really did not care because this card was awesome, and the guy accepted my "Best Offer" of $18.50. I am very pleased to add this one to my collection, and I look forward to building up some of the older autos of Cobb.

Photoshopped

Tonight I was trying to recoup from the Rays horrible loss, so I decided to finally use my PhotoShopCS6. I have used this only for a few little projects, so I figured I'd take it on a test run before starting a much larger project. I love Gypsy Queen cards, so it was only ideal that I try and make myself into one. It was challenging to find a similar font, but I think for the most part I got this right. I am going to make a few templates to mess around with, but others may be more difficult. GQ uses pictures that are just max-contrast, so now that I have graduated to a better software, I am sure I will eventually get it spot on. Has anyone else dabbled into PS CS6?

Archer Turkey Red

I picked up this 2013 Topps Turkey Red Chris Archer card for $7.00 shipped, and am very pleased with it. I actually forgot about this card until I won it, because I submitted my bid over a week ago! I have wanted this card for sometime, and I think I found it at the right time. I have watched it go for much higher and much less, so a middle ground price is fine by me. This card is #'d out of 699, and I had to be the one person to get the one that is 666/699. A little freaky, but I just wont pay attention to it. Scary number aside, I am very pleased to be adding this. This is my second Archer auto (1st is 2013 GQ). He is loaded in all of the 2013 releases so chances are I will pick up a few more.

Card from Moe (Albie Lopez)

A few weeks ago, I heard that former Devil Rays/D-Backs pitcher Albie Lopez was doing a signing at the Game 7 Grill next to Chase Field. The problem was that I was unable to make it because I found out about it while it was happening. I was a bit bummed just because he was an Inagural Devil Rays player, but thankfully Moe was there to save the day. Moe is from the blog "My 2008 Topps Set", and knows that I am an avid Rays fan.

Albie was a fan favorite for me as a kid, mainly because he was fun to watch. He started as a relief pitcher and then rolled into a starter role because the rest of the pitchers were terrible. Albie was the opening day starter in 2001, and then was traded to the D-Backs in the summer of '01. It was neat because I moved to Phoenix from Tampa in June 2001, so having Albie here was a little bit of home.

Thank you Moe! I appreciate it very much!

Cobb Auto

 Over the last few weeks, I have eased back into the card game, and it feels great. I have given up on finding Longoria autos at a good price, so I am going to start looking for any and all cards that are Archer and Cobb. This week I stalked eBay for the newest Tier One Alex Cobb auto, and was pleased when I got the card for $3.50 shipped. It is my 3rd Cobb auto, and goes well with the one that Dan from It's like having my own card shop gave me earlier this year. Cobb is having a good year, and has become a favorite of mine. Hopefully he can help guide this team to some wins as the playoff chances dwindle.

2011 Topps Tier One- This is not my exact card.

2013 Topps Tier One- #'d 118/399.

Moore and more (auto)

Since my birthday (Aug 22), most everyone has had some sort of poor luck. The details are not important, but it really seems that being 27 has started in a way that I hope is not a sign of things to come. Anyways, today picked me up quite a bit. It was crazy, but follow along...


After work, I had to run to get a dress shirt for a funeral tomorrow. It turns out that the only color shirt that I do not have is white, so I figured I would just run into the mall. So JCPenny is my go-to place when it comes to work clothes because they usually have good sales on clothes that can hold up in both washer care, and dry cleaning. Anyways, I find the shirt that I wanted, and I began to leave the store. The price tag was $35 dollars, but for some reason, it would ring up as $1.94. I made sure that it was the correct price, purchased it (just incase), and then decided that maybe I would stock up. I ended up buying about 8 different shirts, and spent only a total of $18. Right place, right time.

Here is my receipt just to show the total for the first shirt. I even searched for ugly shirts at that price!

    

So I figure that since I saved on the shirt, I could use some of the extra cash on something that I actually will enjoy. I have not been to an actual LCS in almost a year, so I thought I would take a trip. Currently, I am searching for anything Archer, Myers, or Cobb, so I thought I would check it out. I see their stuff going on eBay, but I am always more apt to spend more if it is in front of me. So right away, my card guy remembers me and shows me what he just pulled. He had no Myers, Archer, or Cobb, but he did have a 2013 Tier One Matt Moore auto. Moore is a solid player, card was beautiful, but at the initial price, it was hard for me to say that it was worth it. I really wanted to pick up Bowman Platinum cards, but he did not have any singles at all. Platinum was running $8 a pack, but I can't find any at local retailers. After much deliberating, he offered me the Moore Tier One card, and 2 packs of Bowman Platinum for $30. More than I wanted to spend, but that essentially means that I got the Moore card for $14, and I think I am ok with that. I took that offer, and I really think that I won.

This Moore card is #'ed 86/99 and is very thick. It does not crack my favorite card, but it is up there. 

So once I got over that I could have spent that money on a Myers card, or Archer/Cobb, I opened up the packs. The top two cards on the first pack could not have been better base....

*I took these photo's from eBay because my phone is now dead. Wil Myers at the top, Longo Blue Sapphire at the bottom

These two cards are nothing extremely rare or special, but I honestly did not even care what was in the next pack. I was so sick of seeing the Myers card for for $2 with $4 shipping, so this was worth it to me. Plus, I can never have too many Longo cards. Once I got done being excited about these cards, I opened pack 2.....

First card that I pulled was.....

George Springer Jumbo Auto/Relic #'d 38/199. 

I do not know much about other teams beside Rays & Dbacks, but I do know that George Springer is a beast in the Astro's system. He has been in AA and AAA, but his numbers are outrageous. Here is a bit of info that I pulled up on him. 

George Springer, OF, Houston Astros

George Springer turned in an outstanding full-season debut last year, posting a .910 OPS with 24 home runs and 30 stolen bases in 127 games across two levels. However, due to his high strikeout rate and struggle to control the strike zone, many expected him to take a step back in 2013 against advanced competition.

That’s been anything but the case this season, as the 23-year-old has significantly improved his stock with a ridiculously good campaign at Double-A and Triple-A—arguably the best among all prospects.

Courtesy of MiLB.com

Having already achieved the first 30-30 season in the minor leagues since 2009 (Grant Desme), Springer now has his sights set on joining the very exclusive 40-40 club. At the time this article was published, the outfielder had 37 home runs and 43 stolen bases. With five games remaining in the regular season for Triple-A Oklahoma City, he'll need to catch fire to accomplish the feat.

The Astros have already said Springer will finish the season in the minor leagues, according to Brian McTaggart of MLBlogs.com, but it’s difficult to argue he’s not worthy of a September call-up. Either way, Springer’s combination of power and speed makes him a strong candidate to content for the 2014 AL Rookie of the Year award.

The rest of the cards were actually pretty terrible, but I left the shop with a huge smile. Could my initial purchase been a little more thought out? Yeah, but the overall experience was great.

Goldschmidt Bobbleheads

This past Saturday was the Paul Goldschmidt bobblehead SGA, and the crowd came out in a big way. This is the only giveaway during the 2013 season that had 25,000 units, and also a large number of ticket/giveaway guarantees. I really enjoyed how the promotion went, but apparently there were people sitting around at 10:00 AM (5:10 PM Game).

Anyways, I scored the gold one on Wednesday when they held a contest in the 7th inning. That was the inning that the Rays made a comeback, so that stretch of 30 minutes was great for me. I was just in the right place at the right time. This is my first "Limited" bobblehead, as these were only made up to 1000. They are not numbered, and there is not a marking that labels it as a limited exclusive or anything.

I was able to get two home jersey bobbles on Saturday. My girlfriend told me that we could not go super early because 1. She did not want to wait, and 2. I already had the gold one. I still talked her in to going a half hour before gates, but our plans would end up a little shifted. Once we got there, the line from the main rotunda was all the way down a street, and almost directly across from the basketball arena. We ended up walking back to our car, and we just listened to the Rays game on the radio. We ended up going to the game at 3:30, and sure enough they still had plenty of bobbleheads left!

Solid addition to my bobblehead collection, but I am looking for a Longoria retro bobblehead. If anyone knows of someone who has an extra, I'd be happy to swap one of my extra regular Goldschmidts.

Long Overdue...

The D-Backs and Rays started a 2 game series today, and I have waited what seems like a year for it to come. Over the past few weeks I have wondered where the Rays would be standings wise, and same goes for the D-Backs. Both teams need wins, so I am ok with the teams splitting the season (If the Rays win tomorrow).

So tonight, my girlfriend and I got to the ballpark as soon as the gates opened, in hopes of getting a few of my favorite Rays players to auto some of my photos and baseballs. The people that I was hoping to get were Longoria, Price, Rodney, Myers, Archer or Maddon. Realistically, I brought multiple cards to every player on the roster just incase, but I knew that I would have to pick my battles. Longo was standing directly next to the home plate fence, but he was talking to a few of his friends (I assume), and did not want to be bothered. He did sign, but only a couple of autographs. Although he mentioned he would sign again, there were people on the field who kept following him, so I think he just wanted to get away. While I was waiting for Longo, I saw Archer and Molina signing. I had to let those guys go just because the opportunity to get Longo was much more important (to me at least).

I went back to the Rays dugout bummed out, but then I saw a few players coming over. One of the players that walked to the dugout was Wil Myers, and he stopped to sign two autographs. I had two items for him, and I am happy to say that he signed one of them!

I have heard quite a few people complain about his signature, and I was not very impressed either. At the same time... It is Wil Myers! So excited about this, wish I could of gotten him my 8x10, but this is awesome. He did not sign on the sweet spot, but it is what it is. Someone said that he only does that for paid signings, but a lot of my friends back in Florida have said that he has not had any paid signings, and rarely signs for anyone.

Game Highlights:
Rays lost 6-1. Longoria hit an HR, but I was getting a drink.... I left when the D-Backs started batting, but it was a 1,2,3 inning.

Sean Rodriguez gave me two baseballs during the game. This was the first baseball that was given to me just before the first pitch.

I have never had a ball from batting practice or anything labeled as "practice" before. It was pretty neat because I was just sitting there, and he pointed at me and tossed it. I guess it was because I had my raise gear on. In the 6th inning, Sean tossed me another one! I made sure it was supposed to be for me, and he gave me a thumbs up. In the later innings, Myers tossed a ball to this young boy, but this big girl pushed him out of the way and grabbed the ball. They boy was very upset, and started crying. Since we ended up with two baseballs, we gave the boy one of them. He was still a bit unhappy because getting a ball from some guy with terrible facial hair is not nearly as good as a ROY candidate, but I am sure he will appreciate it some day. 

Anyway, I will be back at it for game 2 tomorrow! Hopefully they will split this series.

Museum Collection

While I was looking up Bowman sets on Ebay, I stumbled across this from the same seller. I had lost quite a few other auctions for Longoria cards, so I thought I would give this one a whirl. I really have enjoyed watching Alex Cobb pitch, so when I saw this card I got pretty excited. I know he had a few high-end cards last year, but this one just looked great to me. I was not sure how bad I wanted the card, I got out-bid, placed a bid at the last second and won. I was almost instantly having buyers remorse, but when it came in the mail the remorse went away. So here it is:

#21/299- Cobb recently threw 4 2/3 inning and struck out 13. One of the innings he stuck out 4 batters as a passed ball  let on a batter. He is not a power pitcher, and I do not ever expect that kind of thing from him again lol. This card did not set me back at all, but I originally wanted a Longo card. This cost me $9.60 and combined with my Bowman cards for shipping.

I have a Museum Collection card from last year, and it is no where near as thick. This thing is a monster in person. They do not mess around!

This card was .50, so I felt that it would be a great addition for that price. No pun intended.

Newest Additions

Bowman 2013 has been out for a few weeks now, and this is my first taste. I had been fighting the urge to buy any packs because I told myself that I would just pick up the singles and hopefully be able to complete some cool little sets of the cards I do like. I was unable to find a Wil Myers card on Ebay that was not at least $3 shipping, so I passed on him for now. I was able to pick up gold team sets for the Rays and Dbacks, Rodney, and Longo cards for a total of $6 shipped.

Last year Fernando was unstoppable, now I cringe when he comes in to pitch. I like his personality though, so I will try and complete a run of his Bowman cards. I lost the bid on his 1/1, but it was ugly anyway. The blue and orange cards are #'d while the flag and silver ice are not. 

3 new Longos to add to my collection. I am pretty sure that this picture has been used on multiple cards.  For me to notice after only 1 year of collecting is ridiculous, Topps please pay attention.

In my last post, I had mentioned that I bought a Longo Gypsy Queen Alternate SP Mini but it was not shipped. Well I ended up getting it in the package today, along with the David Price alternate SP. 

Longoria Silver Slate

I had been eyeing a few Longo silver slate cards, but was not looking forward to paying $5 plus $3 shipping. Thankfully, the ebay seller that shipped my GQ cards had an extra one and tossed it in free of charge. I absolutely love this card, and it works even better because Longo is wearing the powder blues.

Gypsy Queen 2013

Gypsy Queen (2012) was the first set that I really got excited about, and it carried over into 2013. I love the high contrast designs, on-card autos, and minis. This year, GQ had a few diferences but it was mainly the same exact thing as last year. That is fine by me. I have been picking up team sets at a very reasonable price from Brent Williams (twitter & ebay: @brentandbecca). Typically he offers set prices way cheaper on Twitter if you message him, and he is a real good guy in general. I picked up team sets of the Rays and Dbacks,  Team set of Minis, Mini SP Variations, and an Auto. I do not remember how much I paid, but more than likely much less that the cost of 3 rack packs. I just posted the pictures of the mini team sets since it's easy to take pictures of more of them. Insert cards are normal sized, I do not think that GQ has insert minis this year.

Rays Team Set:
Longoria
Zobrist
Jennings
Cobb
Rodney
Odorizzi
Moore
Price

I was pretty bummed that they would not include Joyce, Hellickson, Wil Myers, Archer (Base). Wil Myers was the centerpiece of the James Shields trade and should be up very soon. They included Odorizzi, who was also in the trade and is in AAA so that does not really make sense.

Dbacks Team Set:
Hill
Montero
Cahill
McCarthy
Eaton
Kennedy
Goldschmidt
Miley
Ross
Skaggs

I think they did a good job of putting together the Dbacks list, but what about Prado? He has yet to be in any of the sets this year as a Dback, and he was the return for the Dbacks in the Upton trade. Would have been nice to see Kubel, Parra, or Putz too.

Chris Archer Auto. I love this card.

 

Longo Black Border 191/199

New additions

This is slightly off course of what I usually post, but I thought it was important. Today I received a package from a friend that had actually passed away 2 weeks ago. He let me know that he had picked up a few things, a while back so I assume his wife sent it, but it's just crazy to me. My friend Jim was a visionary, and he showed that by creating the Hungry Howies pizza chain and developing it in to what is today. He was a huge sports fan, and really is the only reason I enjoy sports to this day. He took me to tons of sporting events in Tampa and gave me my first job. He also never missed a Superbowl. Ever. In my package I received a few really cool Tampa sports things, but I wanted to include these things.

A mini-helmet from the Super Bowl, a Rays gnome, and a Hungry Howies bobblehead. I have many things to remember him by, but these are some awesome things too.

Opening Day

It's been a while since I missed an opening day, and I am very grateful that I was able to go again this year. The D-Backs are a new team, but I care more about the name on the front of the jersey than the back (except with Longo because he is a Rays legend). The game was awesome! I brought by team ball because I still have many signatures I need, and i'm glad I did. Aaron Hill was signing but I could not figure out the direction he was signing. Everyone flocked to him which meant that I was the first person that Parra signed for. I've never met him before, and he is one of my favorites. I am so excited for the season!

Mail Day!

This is a day late, and I will have a longer post coming up, but I wanted to thank Matt from the blog Doc Holoday who was nice enough to send me a great shipment of Rays cards. I can honestly say that I loved each and everyone of the cards you sent. Being new to the hobby, I can never get enough of cards of my teams. It doesn't matter if it is rare, common, or whatever. It is always such an awesome feeling. I will post pictures, but I wanted to get this up on here as soon as I could.

Thanks again Matt! I hope all your baseball wishes come true this year (except if it is winning the AL East).

Topps 2013 Silver Slate

I just got home from a little road trip to Tucson to find a package from Topps in my mailbox. Back in January, I shipped off 50 empty packs of cards in hopes that I would get a pack. I know a lot of people got the maximum of 10 packs, but I just wanted to give it a shot one time. So once I opened the mystery package, the disappointment hit me. Cards are beautiful, but no Rays or D-backs. I was even crossing my fingers for a Red Sox card to throw in this little care package that I am shipping out but nope.  I still am very happy that I did the promotion, but it would have been 1,000 times more gratifying if I would have pulled a Longo or a hit. That's how it goes, I guess :(

If anyone participated and is interested in swapping for some Rays/D-backs silver slate cards then let me know. These pictures do not do the actual cards themselves any justice. They look awesome in person.