Ho, Ho, Holy Secret Santa!

GCRL of cardsasiseethem, garveyceyrusselllopes, ohmyopc, timelessteams, frankendodger, and gcrlwants fame hooked me up JJ style for Secret Santa this year! Two numbered Jones autos, a shiny JV and a nice dorado to fill out the package. Check it out:

Thank you GCRL and also Jon for putting it together again this year!

The Zenith, nay, The Pinnacle, nay, The Crescendo of my Autograph Collection! 13 Years in the Making

I call her "Mt. Rushmore '06"

13 YEARS. Early into the 2006 season the Tigers were looking good, already. I showed up early to a game and to shag fouls and take pictures of the guys taking BP. For one split second Justin Verlander, Magglio Ordonez, and Jim Leyland shared a joke in deep right field and I snapped my then 35mm Nikon camera capturing the moment above. I was smart enough to have an 8X10 printed soon after because I then lost the film. This pic is definitely a 1/1. I took it. Maybe it can be photo copied but not ever printed again. I was lucky enough to see Justin Verlander at Tigerfest in 2007. I had him sign this picture. For the longest time I cherished this trophy as the best Verlander piece in my collection. I took it to every Tigerfest after that and even to some games trying to add some ink to it but was not successful until this past Tigerfest in 2019 when I had Jim Leyland add his scribble. Then, as if god himself called Venezuela to ask Magglio to come to a barely thawed Michigan; a public signing 2 miles from my house popped up. A smiling Maggs stared at the photo after he signed it for a good 45 seconds. I could see it brought some kind of memory into his mind. My photo is complete. My favorite, priceless piece to stay in my collection forever.

My Big Break

I don't know what got into me but I bought into a very expensive (for me) spot in a Hobby Legends 6 case player break. I snagged the Christin Stewart spot probably in a nostalgic need to feel the days of hitting JaCoby Jones RC's in online breaks. Above is my haul from the break. 108 base rookie cards, dual relic /49, dual relic auto, framed RC, Auto /99, Auto /49 and a base auto. I am pretty happy with this. Of course just as I paid for the break the 1/1 from the set popped up on ebay. Stewart has been impressive. I hope he really blossoms and stays a Tiger. Both rare things nowadays.

Pistons Legend Auto

I should have posted this long ago. A few weeks ago I won a free auto at a local Rip Hamilton signing that was put on by the same company that did the Magglio one. I bought this poster from them to get signed. 

Recent Additions

I made a trade with @B_Litch88 on twitter for the next four cards .

The ole ebay 1/1. I LOVE THIS CARD!

I just moved a Robles auto out of $ necessity and low and behold I got one back. 

Hi Tek RC's are awesome. I am a sucker for acetate cards. 

Kopech has been talked about for a long time. I hope he's the next Clemens.

This package is a TCDB trade that was supposed to be only the Stewart but this fine trader sent me a bunch of other wants. The guys on that site are so awesome.

This is the card I bought with the ebay $3 coupon last month that showed up the first time requesting $3 in shipping as the seller didn't package right. I refused it and it supposedly took FOREVER to get back to him then he went on vacation and finally sent it to me correctly. Ebay sucks even when you do everything right as a buyer or seller. Its just the worst and people are terrible.

The Jones is an ebay purchase because I fell to #2 on the site for his cards. Stupid move as it is labeled "Rally Goose" and not a JJ card on the site. The other three are from a trade. 

Another trade pickup. Maybe he'll have a signing sometime. I like his defense. 

Deals, Deals, Deals. Buy one, get one 50% off at Meijer.

Bought all this for a good price. Didn't pull much.

 

The 2 numbered cards in the haul.

Notable RC's from the purchase. 

Pretty happy with this BUNT pull even though its just pixels.

My Boy Started Tee Ball 

The good news is my son is only 4 but is bigger than half the 5 and 6 year olds on his ball team. The bad news is I am an assistant coach and our team is the Braves.

Free Baseball

The woman I gave a free ticket to Tigerfest to gave me 2 tickets to the Tigers v. Royals game. I ended up going solo. It was a new experience being there alone. It was fun. I HATE the screens. Even in batting practice I can no longer get decent, sharp images because of those dumb ass screens. 

Billy Hamilton always has fun.

Stewie Launching.

I will let you in on a little secret. I watched Ryan O'Hearn take BP and the crack sounds different off his bat. He has such crazy pop. Made Lucas Duda look like the rookie in the group. In his last round he hit a homer to left, right and dead center effortlessly. 

Juuuuust a bit foul.

Just close your eyes and swing big man.

Card Show

The four cards below I pulled from a table I never spend time at at my local show. It is always just shoe boxes stacked and tossed on a table. Nothing priced or organized. I don't know why I even stopped there but I did and pulled these out, threw them down and said "How much?" The guy grabbed them and said "Rice Hoskins? Never heard of him. $1 for Sisco and Hoskins, $2 for Fielder and Salmon." I literally had a ten in my hand hoping to take all 4 for $10. I guess that table should be my first stop next time.

What does "Top Loader" mean to you?

I mistakenly stirred the pot so to speak on Twitter a few days ago by posting this:

Now, when I receive a card I assume it will be top loaded and by "top loaded" I mean the card will be right side up with the sealed end of the loader at the bottom of the card. When I get cards I think they should be this way so I can put them into my collection without having to remove the card. Seemed like a silly post about typical ebay shipping shenanigans and a lot of collectors see it my way. BUT, I have discovered a population of collectors who ship the way I received this Yelich card believing if the card slips towards what should be painters tape it will not be hurt. And, of course, I had the thought and many others too; that this card is the upside-down printed variation. Ha, ha, ha. There was also the token "it was loaded in the top: top loader" joker too. Maybe its my own laziness but I prefer to receive cards upright in the loader. What do you think?

Some other recent ebay pickups:

I had seen this card before but had never noticed the baseball in it. How great is this image?! At 11 cents shipped, I couldn't help myself. 

Boesch will always be one of my favorite Tigers. 

Clearance 2017 Update Packs

A while back I struck out on 2017 Series 1 packs I picked up on clearance but this time I found two fat packs at Walmart for $3.49 each. I did well in both. Lots of great RC's (of course, it is Update) but both packs had short prints. A Trey Mancini Photo Variation RC SP and a Stanton Photo Variation. I can't wait to hopefully find 2018 Update clearance priced this year, if that happens.

TCDB Trades

I made some good trades this past week on Trading Card Database. I didn't take pics of the trade pages but here are some of the cards that came in:

Who knew a middle school level photoshop job on a baseball card would look so damn appealing.

Some are PC, some are trade bait. I was also able to flip the Kevin Brown patch card I got at the card show for $1 for a JV all star relic card. This trade started on Twitter with @dennisbaker and was completed on TCDB. 

Pistons Getting Some Traction

I don't think Stanley is going to make it to this appearance. Luckily I didn't trade the only Svi Mykhailiuk card I pulled this year:

I know I don't talk about the Pistons a lot on here but I like this move. I wish they would trade Andre Drummond too but since they moved Bullock I think we are stuck with Dre. I will say this; Blake Griffin is one of the hardest working players I have ever watched in the NBA and he gets barely any recognition and shit on by the refs every game. He gets beat down with uncalled fouls and then called for ghost reach ins at the other end nightly. Yet, he still keeps his head up and is a leader. The guy is amazing. 

Upcoming Shows

I was disappointed to finally be hit by the new shipping costs this week. $4.81 for a small bubble mailer to Washington. I cannot keep trading with prices like that. I guess I am going to save my very little money and take it to card shows. I don't know what I will do with all the trade bait I acquire throughout the year. I guess I will have to be very, very selective with my trades. I have already turned down more trades in 2019 than I did in ALL of 2018. No joke. Its painful to do so and probably making me lose some partners but I got a kid to feed man. Thanks USPS. I am hoping to hit at least one of these shows coming up.

I got Darrel on his RC a few months back. I just found a box bottom card of Evans I want to get signed. 

I already have Delvecchio's sig but I may get another. Pretty good price. Hanson is out of my price range for a Lion. Hopefully I can hit at least one of the days and maybe catch some of the other bloggers there.