3 Bloggers -VS- A Card Show

If you didn't know; Tiger fans make the best bloggers, trade partners, and overall just the best kinds of people. Somehow the stars aligned allowing for Dennis of Too Many Verlanders fame, John from John's Big League Baseball Blog  and myself to meet at a mid-Michigan card show. It was a short, but sweet visit. As usual, these blogstars brought me each a box of cards. In first name, alphabetical order; here is what Dennis dropped on me. Most of these he brought but some he found at the show while we were there. Plus, he gave me like all his best pulls from his video pack busting last month.

Another Nolan to add to the collection and an auto at that!

Crazy the amount of love I have for this card and Dennis just stumbled upon it in a box at the show. PC forever.

Tiger legends.

A baseball legend to me.

Look at the JV heat! A bunch of RC's included!

The card on the far right is an SP, I know thanks to TCDB.

The Prince.

Yes, that is a relic Dennis pulled in his video. 

Holy Nolans!

Tiger color of all my favorites!

I think that is most of what Dennis gave me. To be honest I was drowning in cardboard after this show so I probably missed a bunch of stuff from both guys. Here is what John graciously brought me. I gave him a measly 3 cards in return, I owe him some cards. I just found a stack of Baldelli cards I had set aside for you John so you can look forward to at least those soon.

These are all full cello packs. I grew up in a Coke family so I love these!

Again, Holy Nolans!

This bum named Nolan too.

I really started collecting seriously in 1992 (serious for an 8 year old) so 1992 Topps will always make me happy.

The best part of 1992 Topps was the stadium pics. This one of Comerica sucks. It doesn't show anything unique about the park but I would love to see a new set with these backs again.

This Sportflic Nolan Ryan is awesome!

 

 Here are some of the treasures I found at the show:

Still awaiting this guy's screwball in the show. Hope he stays healthy.

Crushing it this year!

Its so funny that these were $1 and up just a summer ago. Now ten cents takes them home.

It pays to know which RC's are short prints each year!

I did not pay $8 and I have Dennis to thank for finding this gem for me.

My streak of finding good Rhys relics for low prices continues. I will be happy I did when he joins the 500 home run club and gets inducted into the HOF.

I feel bad for the Pistons but am excited for the future. Love this guy's game.

Its hard to pass a big chunk of prospect cards from the same set.

Just like the last pic, there is bound to be somebody building this set. Maybe.

Some fine additions to a set I am slowly building.

Cool card.

Here are some other pickups via trades, twitter, and ebay:

First up a twitter giveaway win from @sportcardcollec and also Parts of My Past blog.

A TCDB trade. 

TCDB trade.

Ebay pickups. The Stewart I got for 99 cents! I have been searching for JJ's I don't have now that I am suddenly 2nd on the TCDB ranking of his cards.

The only bowman I have found. Empty box at a Meijer. Seems like a lot of guys are seeing this.

I've also been striking out at Walgreens around me. I've checked 12 stores twice each and not a single pack of 2019 Topps. Two managers I talked to had no idea what I was even talking about. I did see these repack hangers that looked good but I passed.

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.

Topps Home Run Challenge 2019, Laughable Collectors, and MLB the Show '19

I have a bunch of pictures and thoughts bouncing around so: Blog Vomit in 3...2...1...

TOPPS HOME RUN CHALLENGE 2019

Topps Home Run Challenge is back and I am hitting it HARD. I am sitting 2 for 5 right now with my winners pictured above. I almost got screwed with a Yankee rainout but luckily they played. ALWAYS CHECK THE WEATHER BEFORE PLAYING A CODE! I have 12 more cards to play and more on the way. Please think of me if you have one of these cards and want to swap it for something better OR hit me up if you want my thoughts on when to play your code. I was stupid and thought March would get its own card so I played 5 cards quickly to get them in before April. As soon as I came to my senses I looked and like I suspected; Topps lumps March/April together. So much for low numbered cards. These guys homer every frickin day.

STUPID SHIT "COLLECTORS" SAY

The Judge/Bellinger/Ohtani/Doncic get rich quick rushes from 2017-now are still impacting hobby newbs who expect every pack to hold a hit worth 5X the pack. Ugh, the entitlement. I don't think I see this crap posted from guys who collected through the 80's and 90's, we are just glad to not get doubles in a single pack. I love that he spent $400 on cards from Walmart.

Above is what an ebay breaker puts in all his posts. My word.

Oh, Come On!

This is what I received from the order I placed using the $3 ebay coupon last week. No joke! WTF! This shit only happens to me. I refused the card and now the seller says he hasn't got it back yet. Here we go...

Love Fox Sports Detroit jinxing their own guy thinking it will gain watchers who are channel flippers. Of course J-Zimm lost it just after this. 

The Tigers prices on game used baseballs from opening day. Like I tweeted; they are finding a way to pay that Miggy contract. No way in hell I (or hopefully anybody else) is paying hundreds of dollars for a dirty baseball with a sticker! Auto balls are a fraction of those prices with those dude's scribbles on them. I bought a Blake Snell pitched to Victor Martinez ball from the stadium last year for $35. It wasn't opening day but those guys are better than most the list above. Don't get me started on the bat prices (Cabrera $3500). Disgusting. 

Love it. Love him.

Recent Additions

TCDB trade.

TCDB trade. My favorite hockey card of all time!

Trying to flip this one. 

Pulled this and selling right now. Gotta get that spending money for The National.

I have my first wallet card. This Bird card I snagged from a dimebox at the last show. It deserved a better life. 

The Show 2019

I broke down and bought the show. Its as good as its always been. The addition of Mark DeRosa and Heidi Watney are terrific.