Friday, February 28, 2014

A Stadium Club Custom


Given the mood, and the amount of photos that my photo source has been giving me (next to nothing), I'm confined to doing a shot of Mark Trumbo that seemed to me like it'd be found in any classic Stadium Club set.

Specifically the one I've ripped three boxes of.

I know Trumbo's an odd choice for a 2nd custom of the year, but it's a nice shot, and I got it while it was hot. I'm actually kinda impressed with how this turned out, too.

By the way, something I forgot to mention with the Cano custom- this year, unlike any other year, I am actually presenting my custom cards as a year-long set. Series One began with Card #1, Robinson Cano, and will go up until the All Star Break. Series Two will go from there until the end of the season. Series Three will be in December, with anyone left.

I will be numbering the cards, because I put more effort into this crap than Topps does.

(Trumbo: MC14:#2)

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Brace Yourselves...

...2014 Custom Cards are coming.

This Robbie is beautiful, and the perfect way to start this sure-to-be-awesome year of customizing.

More (?) to follow.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Nostalgic Box Break: 1993 Stadium Club Series 2 (Part 3)

These are the last 1993 Stadium Club packs you will ever see me rip. Also, this is likely the last appearance of the brown carpets in my den. So bear with me as we cut into the last eight packs of this box. Will there be any more appearances by Hall of Famers? We will soon see.


Pack 17-
Doubles: 0/14
Cards I needed: 14/14
Hall of Famers: 1/14
People who will likely be criminally overlooked: 2/14


Three people that were generally big in 1993- Marquis Grissom, Eric Karros and Don Mattingly. A few great sideways shots of these guys.
(I had a picture showcasing Edgar Martinez's card, because they're awesome, but it wasn't taken, because argh)

Pack 18-
Doubles: 12/14
Cards I needed: 2/14
Number of those cards remotely interesting: 0/2.

Pack 19-
Doubles: 1/14
Cards I needed: 13/14
Hall of Famers: 3/14. THREE!
Hall of Fame Ballot Mainstays: 1/14
Rookie Cards/Zero Year Cards of current managers: 1/14 (Mr. Ausmus)

Two darkly lit shots of future expansionist powerhouses. Only difference is that Larry Walker lacks a World Series ring, while Grace won one in 2001.

Tony Gwynn, Ryne Sandberg, and Nolan Ryan. All in the same pack. Keep in mind that Ryan's last season was in 1993, Sandberg would be retired in five years, and Gwynn within ten. Hell of a place to find them all.

Pack 20-
Cards I needed: 2/14
Doubles: 12/14
Hall of Famers: 1/14

That is a Member's Choice of Fred McGriff, and a really, really cool base card of Ozzie Smith. The two highlights to a really crappy pack.

Pack 21-
Cards I needed: 9/15 (!!!)
Doubles: 6/15
Extra Cards: 1/15
Inserts: 1/15
Expos who look like a young Christopher Walken: 1/15 (The ICE...is gonna BREAK!)

John Wander Wal...look, you can TOTALLY see it. Just add any old Walken line. Even a "Bruce Wayne, what are you doing dressed as Batman" or something.
Glenn Davis looks poignantly upon his final season.
Andy Van Slyke slides to remain relevant, doesn't quite.

Jeff Blauser is the box's First Day Issue card, which is pretty nice, as any of those are pretty cool to pull.

Pack 22-
Cards I need: 1/14
Doubles: 13/14
Cards that are my exact expression upon seeing this pack: 1/14 (Grace)

Pack 23-
Doubles: 4/14
Cards I need: 10/14
Hall of Famers: 1/14
Really Awkward Posed Shots: 1/14

Doc Gooden playing catcher...hm. Weird.
Todd Stottlemeyer signs autographs, which is pretty cool.
That Lenny Dykstra is a pretty awesome one, regardless of anything.

ROBBY! A Roberto Alomar Member's Choice card, which is a pretty nice one.

Pack 24-
Doubles: 12/14
Cards I needed: 2/14
Cards I actually wanted to photograph at that point: 0/2

So, that's the box. Wantlists will be up tomorrow.

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Local Card Show: A New Hope

...wait.

That card doesn't have a watermark on it..

..

THAT CARD DOESN'T HAVE A WATERMARK! So that could mean either one of two things: Either I got it from another source, or...

(checks printer)

A SCANNER?

One that's been sitting on my printer since the inception of the blog, and one that I've been afraid to use for some reason?

...IT EXISTS! I can actually scan things for the blog, and USE them! FOR REAL ACTUALLY!

No more watermarks! No more discrepancies! No more DESCRIBING THINGS! BETTER CUSTOMS! YES! THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER!

Okay, okay...where was I?

Oh, yes, the card show.

--------


PREVIOUSLY ON LOST CARD SHOWS, the local mall that had hosted every great card show since I'd began blogging, announced that they were no longer carrying the show. Management made the decision, none of the dealers were happy, and the show had an incredibly somber tone to it. However, one dealer in particular spoke of hope. Hope of a card show not too far from where I lived, in Deptford, NJ, that would be taking a lot of the same dealers from the older show, and giving them a larger mall to sell in.

Hope came today, in Deptford, on the upper level, around the main area of the mall. And it came in the form of ten-cent bins.

I came home from Deptford with a bag full of nicely selected cards, ranging from $1 to 10 cents each, from the 90's to today, baseball and football. And thanks to my scanner, I can SHOW you what I got.

SET NEEDS:

Now, I know what you're thinking, and yes, I do realize how absolutely insane it is to like Upper Deck Timeline, and actually want to collect it. Well, I don't really want to collect it, however I do like seeing cards I don't have from it, especially from these designs. 


2012 Archives is a set I'm a bit more serious on collecting, so getting these nine cards helped matters especially. I also got a few more cards that I thought I needed, but I didn't. Oh, well.


2005 Topps was the first card set I got into, because a friend of mine had a lot of it in 2007, and it was so new to me. I remember "borrowing" some of his star cards. I think he stopped collecting after that. Still, these five are always nice.

PLAYER SIGHTINGS:
The one ten-cent dealer had a lot of random clumps of different players, including Manning and Harrison, though there were a lot more Harrisons, which I can understand, as he was everywhere around 2003 and 2004, right before Manning became The Greatest Quarterback of Our Time. Manning had a few nice ones too.

This one was my favorite. Not because it's 1998 Upper Deck (1998 for football, 1999 for baseball), but because it's a great shot of the guy in mid-run. Also, because I get to see those awesome red-centric Patriots uniforms again.


Andre Johnson was also well represented, as these cards were new to my collection. Also, I have a soft spot for 2004 Fleer Showcase. Matter of fact, I have a soft spot for 2004 Fleer Anything.

Plus, it's not a card show without an appearance by Donovan McNabb, one of my favorite QB's of my youth. Two sets that are fun to collect, too, especially the Stadium Club one....WHICH REMINDS ME...

STADIUM CLUB:
 
These five are at least a start, especially considering the fact that they all come from sets I haven't broken a box of. The Smoltz one is cool, because where else are you gonna find a pitcher diving for an outfield catch?
 
 
The majority of the Stadium Club at one dealer's box was from 1999, which was another nice set from the last few years of the product. The Greg Maddux one is a hell of a shot, and the Damon one is a great 'pulled back shot' card. Also, rookies for Adrian Beltre and Eric Chavez.
 
MISCELLANEOUS:
Gypsy Queen, sad to say, is only good for the inserts. I mean, the base cards are okay, but the inserts have been the only consistently-awesome part of the three-year-long descent in quality. These two are proof, from last year's release- excellent photography combined with impressive filtering. Can't decide which one I like better.
 
These are both inserts from 2006 Topps Football, as part of their Turn Back the Clock promotion. Of the inserts the guy had, these two were the only notable ones. After last season, they might be a lot less notable.
 
All inserts of powerful players I kinda adore. Thome especially. Any cards of him on any team, I will collect whole-heartedly. Edgar Martinez is one of my Mariners-loving uncle's favorite players, and this is one of those 'let's make up what would have happened had there been no strike last season' inserts. These two Johnny Damon cards are also awesome, even the one that depicts his year-long stint on the A's.
 
Three cards of versatile journeyman QBs. I picked up the Hasselbeck because I so badly needed a card of him on the Packers, as a completist and Packer fan. The Brees is another nice addition to my ever-growing 'Brees as a Charger' mini-collection. The other Hasselbeck is here because I like any and all Topps cards of cool players.
 
2014 TOPPS:
 
I got a bit more than depicted, but these are the highlights. The $1 Torii Hunter gold was the priciest card I bought. The others are here for star power, team-bias, and awesome photography, in the case of Upton, Marky and Werth, who much be pointing at how awful the guy who took his place is doing.
 
ROOKIES:
 
The czar of ten-cent bins specialized in rookies of fringe players. This card isn't Beltre's rookie, but it's marginally close. It's a rookie-ish card from 1999 Upper Deck. But there's more.
 
These two Topps-centric cards are legit rookies of two fringe-stars, Young and Kendrick. You can argue that Kendrick is still a big star for the Angels, but not as big as he was in 2008.
 
These three are of people that would only excite a quirky collector like me.
 
Lillibridge's is important to me because he helped me out a while back, and made one of my customs his Twitter profile picture, which I will never not be bragging about. McCallister is equally sentimental to me, as I was there to see his Major League Debut, five years after this 2006 Bowman card was produced. Morse is also kinda sentimental, because I was in Washington when he returned from a minor injury, during his peak season in 2011. These three may not be stars, but they are to me.
 
Justin Masterson had an excellent season in 2013, finally breaking out for the Indians. I'm happy this happened, because it took the sting out of his previous claim to fame, the one that said he was the catalyst behind the trade that sent Victor Martinez to Boston. Now, they can say he was the guy who brought the Indians back to legitimacy. So for that, his 2006 rookie card's a pretty big deal.
 
However, I think it can be trumped...
 
Unless I'm mistaken, I believe this is Carlos Gonzalez' rookie card, three teams away from where he'd make a few All Star games in Colorado. This is a pretty nice one, especially considering I got it for ten cents.
 
So, being that the show was a success, I imagine that I'll be going back the next time they have it, and I'll hope to see some of the same people, and more ten cent bins.
 
...and maybe a little more Stadium Club.




Friday, February 21, 2014

Nostalgic Box Break: 1993 Stadium Club Series 2 (Part 2)


Out of the three boxes of 1993 Stadium Club I've ripped, this was the only one of the three that didn't include a 'Master Photo' insert, which is really for the better, as it's been invalid for 20 years. I would have liked another to go with my Danny Tartabull and Greg Maddux. Oh well.

On with the middle of the box:

Pack 9-
Doubles: 6/14
Cards I needed- 8/14
Sweet throwbacks- 1/14
Overly vibrant uniforms: 2/14

Our two highlights include a Member's Choice of Carlos Baerga, which means the members must have been smoking something. Who they should have chosen was Curt Schilling, who was about to have a nice season with a pennant-winning team.
Pack 10-
Doubles- 0/14
Cards I needed- 14/14
Hometown heroes: 1/14
Concerning Grins: 1/14
Concerned Expressions: 1/14

Bret Saberhagen and George Bell were pretty huge in the 1980's. After 1993, Saberhagen would have eight years left, and Bell would retire immediately after the season. Duane Ward has the best card here, with a nice artsy horizontal shot.

But nothing can top the overall classiness of Orel Hershiser. One of my favorite non-Hall-players, just fun to root for and watch. Part of that is due to him pitching at my high school.

Pack 11-
Doubles: 2/14
Cards I needed: 12/14
Hall of Famers: 1/14
Soon-to-be-Hall of Famers: 1/14
Will probably make it into their team's Hall of Fame, but beyond that, nothing: 3/14 (Welch, Hrbek, Bernie)

Kent Hrbek's shot is pretty awesome, like the Shane Mack one from the last part. A lot of subdued emotion on there. Bernie's is just all-around Bernie.
Our two huge stars. Kirby is always a pleasure to pull out of a pack, and it's funny, because I feel like I've been pulling a billion of his cards lately. Pudge is similar, because he's also been showing up, but because he's a catcher, his shots are slightly more impressive.
Pack 12-
Doubles: 11/14
Cards I needed: 3/14
Near-Hall-of-Famers: 1/14
The one card in the pack that didn't make me wince. Fred McGriff's pretty awesome. I forgot how good of a hitter he was until people started bringing him up for Hall entry.


Pack 13-
Doubles: 0/14
Cards I needed: 14/14
Future Hall of Famers: 1/14
Steroid Abusers: 1/14
Awesome blurred-lens shots: 1/14
Zane Smith, in the height of his "popularity", seen here in a nice horizontal. But of course it's upstaged by Pat Listasch, in a card that actually means something, where he was actually playing (unlike his equally amazing 1995 release).
Mark McGwire, most likely pre-juicing, was a Member's Choice, which was, in hindsight, a good choice for the time being. Just think-five years after this he'd be a good 50 pounds larger and going for Maris' record. Mike Piazza was also in this pack. He probably also took steroids, but I think he'll end up in the Hall of Fame anyway.

Pack 14-
Doubles: 14/14
Cards I needed: 0/14
Cards that summed up my expression after opening this pack: 2/14 (Blauser and Delgado)

Pack 15-
Doubles: 6/14
Cards I needed: 8/14
Rookies of Future-Hall-of-Famers: 1/14
Great cards of sadly-past-their-prime superstars: 1/14 (sorry, Bo)

Trevor Hoffman's bonafide rookie card is here, decked out in teal, which is pretty nice. Meanwhile, Bo Jackson would have one more season left in him after 1993, which is sad, because he was a great, fun player. Alan Trammell is seen fending off a cool double play.

Pack 16-
Doubles: 8/14
Cards I needed: 6/14
Future Hall of Famers: 1/14
People named Fernandez: 2/14
Grins that are still creeping me out: 1/14

Sid Fernandez is pretty nice in this sideways card.  However, he's upstaged by the sheer awesomeness of Randy Johnson, with a broken bat and punctured ball. That is the look of someone who's mastering their craft.

Tomorrow I post the last bit of this box, then wantlists go up.