Beardy's Baseball Blog

Keep posting links to my new site. Every time I do, our traffic spikes, so you all must want to read what I'm posting.

HERE it is again. Bookmark it. Blogroll it. It is my new permanent home. A new post just went up concerning the authenticity of the jumbo patches found in "2009" Ultimate. Check it out!

What is a collector to do when he's trapped in a hotel during the worst blizzard to hit Baltimore in decades?

Make a stupid pack break video, that's what.

See it HERE.

For those of you that haven't caught on yet, I am doing most of my posting these days over at my new blog, The Mojo Beard. Most likely, this site will stay active, but I won't be posting here on a regular basis. I have packed up my wit and my trade posts and moved over to wordpress. You can expect more of the same ol' beardy, despite the new location, along with some hopefully new and better content as well.

If you haven't already done so, please check out the new site, and add us to your bookmarks/blogroll if you like what you see.

Is it Spring (training) time yet?

With an unpossible redemption

See it HERE

Just for you Thorzul...

Can be read HERE, at my new blog. It's a joint venture between Jay, formerly of The Mojo Hand, and myself. We've got big ideas, and hope to keep things as interesting as possible. Not to mention, 2 bloggers equals half the work and twice the awesomeness (right?).

While you're there, add us to your blogrolls, and check out our Topps Pristine video break. It's four packs this time, 2 from '03 & 2 from '04. Did we pull anything awesome? Not really, but go watch it anyway.

A bit of a shorty this week, since I am WAY behind on the scanning and the posting. If you sent me cards in the past few weeks, and haven't gotten anything in return yet, your cards should be shipping out no later than Wed. Hopefully I don't miss anyone. Typically, I am on top of this stuff, but life has bee stressful the past few weeks, and as a result my writing, or at least the frequency of it has suffered as a result. Sorry dudes!

First up to bat are a couple of cards from Grant, the Old School Pack Buster. Grant and I have traded before, and he is a very generous trader. Along with a fat stack of random O's were the following 2 cards, both of which I really like:


Next up is a card from Mike, of JD's Wild Cardz. I sent him a crummy Papelbon sticker auto (ewww!) and in return got this sweet Ichiro relic that is already on it's way to Bud, of First Day Issue, to satisfy a trade from a couple weeks back.



Last up are some cards from I Am Joe Collector's group breaks. Along with my monthly Orioles slot, I also participated in his UD Premier Football break, and picked up a second monthly slot at a discount. The Athletics were offered up for $10, and I jumped all over it. As per usual, I didn't exactly "kill it" this month, but it surely could have been worse.

Look at THIS card, then look at THIS card.

I watched, and even bid on the hand-numbered version the first time it was listed, about 3 months ago. It was the first time I had ever seen that card, and I really wanted it. The fact that it was "hand-numbered" only made it more appealing. It ended up selling for $125, which was about $100 more than I was willing to pay. The day after that first auction, the card was re-listed by the winning bidder at $200, and Buy It Now.

Fast forward to this morning.... I am trolling eBay, drooling over all the sweet new Markakii found in '09 Ultimate collection, and happen to stumble across TWO more Markakis/Brooks Heritage dual relics. Both of the new listings are NOT hand numbered, and most likely will NOT sell for $125.

This is yet another reason to avoid eBay, and purchase your cards elsewhere. eBay does a horrible job policing it's listings, and there's quite a bit of counterfeit bullshit for sale these days.

EDIT: It looks like Sooz may be right. She left a comment stating that perhaps just the gray swatches are numbered. I found THIS listing that backs up her claim. Why would Topps do that? Perhaps they are trying to make plain gray swatches more appealing?

This is something I normally wouldn't do, but I need to generate some PayPal funds to purchase a Markakis jumbo patch from 2009 Ultimate. I don't want to sell this card, but would rather have a jumbo patch of my favorite player than an autograph of a young stud who plays for a rival.

It's from 2007 Bowman's Best, and I acquired it from one of I Am Joe Collector's group breaks a few months ago. It is absolutely mint! I'm looking to get $50 for it, but am willing to accept offers as well. I apologize profusely for using my blog as a forum to whore out my collection, but I'm sure you all know how it is when you see a card you absolutely have to own.

I just reported THIS as a fraudulent listing. I wonder how long it'll take for it to be pulled. Can you believe this dude (or dudette) is a "power seller"? The sad thing is that someone already bought one. I can't feel that bad for them though. $8 for a Dick Perez original? That definitely falls into the "too good to be true" category.

Since right around the beginning of this year, I have been selling some cards on checkoutmycards. While progress has been slow, I have managed $28.50 in sales so far, and this is how I spent it (including shipping).

I got these from the same seller as the first break, but decided against recording this one. It was probably for the best, as the pulls aren't near as exciting this time around. The EPA must have given Topps hell for all the wrappers this product generated. If you're not already familiar, these are packaged as a pack inside of a pack inside of a larger pack. Yes folks, THREE wrappers for one pack of cards. No wonder the Earth is rapidly warming (or cooling, depending on who you talk to).

Last time we started with the 2003 pack, so this time around it's 2004 that will be first up to bat. After opening the larger outer wrapper, I found this card (and another pack):



After opening the second, slightly smaller pack, I found this card (and yet another pack):



Just like last time around, hidden in the innards of that final pack was an autograph. It's not Lance Berkman again, but it could definitely have been worse.



So yeah, that was the '04 pack. Not too shabby, especially not for $10. Let's move right along to the '03 flavor, and see what that pack had to offer. After ripping the first wrapper, this puppy was found tucked away inside, along with another pack (naturally).


The pack inside the pack inside the pack wasn't super exciting, but it did have the following 2 base cards in it, which I thought were pretty nice.





There you have it, 2 more packs of Pristine busted and scanned for all the world to see. I've actually got 2 more packs of each on the way (4 more packs total), and they will be busted on video, most likely over the weekend. The eBay seller from whom I purchased the first 4 packs offered me the rest of his inventory at a very reasonable price ($10/pack). It will be a bit of a group break, as Jay from The Mojo Hand and I are splitting the costs 50/50. We're going to try to do something fun with it, and hopefully end up with a nice little pack break video.

What do you guys think of Pristine? Do you wish it was still around? Any ideas on why Topps chose to kill off the brand?

You're nice enough to send a guy a Jordan Zimmerman autograph, and this is what he sends in return. The nerve of some people! As I briefly mentioned last week, this Bipping is brought to you courtesy of Matt from Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius. I'm guessing that once the Jayhawks season is over, there probably isn't much to do in Lawrence, but that is surely no excuse to reach out and Bip someone.

Matt started things off by sending me a 1995 Upper Deck Armando Benitez card....

Followed by FOUR 1986 Topps Sammy Stewarts.
All of this was innocent enough, and didn't cut near as deep as my first Bipping, at the hands of GCRL. But then I saw it...

The dreaded double "g" spelling of Greg, which happens to be my name. Matt knows this.
Matt knows that I have written in the past about my dislike for the nonsensical double "g" butchering of my first name. He knew.
He knew yet he sent the cards anyway. The balls on this friggin' guy!


I guess since this card was sent along as well, I can't be that mad. Another Brooks relic for the player collection. It's not actually a bat though, it's a piece of wood from a park bench that Brooks sat in one time. The back says "Congratulations, you have received a piece of wood".


Thanks for the cards Matt.... I guess. I want you to keep it in the back of your mind that maybe, just maybe, I will seek vengeance. Probably not, cause I'm lazy, but I could.

Excuse my absence for the past couple of days. There's a lot going on on beardyland, and we may become homeowners in the next few weeks. Pretty overwhelming if you ask me. Anyway, back to the card stuff.

Since there's always a whole lot of tradin' goin' on, I've decided this is going to become a weekly feature, cards allowing of course.

First up is a card from Marck, the Collective Troll. He's got one of the best card blogs around, and is also an extremely generous collector. After seeing that he had been busting some '08 Ginter boxes, I dropped him an email to see if he had pulled any Ancient Icons mini cards, since it was a set I had been thinking about chasing. The card below was sent to me in exchange for absolutely nothing. That's right, FREE. I know the Troll likes Brian Roberts, and I happen to have a TON of B-Rob cards laying around. His generosity will surely not be overlooked.


Next up are a few cards from Ron over at Section 36. He had originally emailed me about a Ginter World Leader mini, but sent these great cards along as well. I deem our first trade a rousing success.



Next up are some cards from Joe over at Cobb & Halladay. Since helping me complete the great Burke Kenny nona-fecta, Joe has become one of my favorite people to trade with, and I think this is our third or fourth completed trade.


Also a big thank you to Baseball Dad and The Average Joe for sending me some cards from my Goodwin Champions want list. I'm still a long way from finishing, but progress is progress.

I meant to post this hours ago, but today has been pretty terrible so far, and I'm just getting around to it now. It all started this morning, at 6:07, when I woke up late for work. I was supposed to be in at 6. As I finally arrived at the office, 45 minutes late, without a shower, I witnessed a hate crime on my way in the door, as someone had defaced the sushi bar next door, and left some not so nice racial epithets scribbled on the front door. As if that wasn't bad enough, it's been insanely busy since I got here, and all I can think about is how much I'd rather be at Orioles Fan-Fest today, instead of being stuck at work. Saturday is typically the slowest day here, so typically that is when I catch up on posting. Not today. Not at all. At least not until just now.

In retrospect, that might not be such a bad thing, especially since Mr. Scott of Mr. Scott's Baseball Cards, sent me a couple of cards of a player who until a few hours ago was only a former Oriole. What was old is new again, and Miguel "B-12" Tejada is once again back in Charm City. This morning the Orioles and Tejada reached an agreement on a one-year deal, and he will most likely play 3rd base this time around.

The only Yankees fan I like is the one who is currently sending me O's cards. This rule currently applies to Mr. Scott, and Mr. Scott only. I am only capable of setting aside my hatred on an individual case-by-case basis.




To any O's fans out there who made it to FanFest, please post some pics or something. I'm literally green with envy right now.

Now if I could only find a card shop nearby that sells pages for these things... So far I am 0 for 3, which makes me good enough to play 3rd base for the O's.


Another BIG thank you to everyone who helped me complete this set. There is absolutely no way I could have done it without making trades all over the place.



Oh, and another thing... THIS IS POST #400!

Welcome to my first video break. Going forward I promise not to be such a goober, and to actually hold the cards in front of the camera, and not off to the side. You know, so you can actually SEE them and stuff.

Both of these sealed blister packs (one 2003 & one 2004) came from eBay, and were a ton of fun to bust. I understand why this product is no longer around, as it is very similar to Finest, but the cards are still very nice. One thing that makes no sense to me is the whole "uncirculated" thing. These things are inserted into packs. Doesn't that count as "circulation"? I understand that they come in nifty hard cases, sealed with Topps foil stickers for safety, but how does that make a card "uncirculated"?

The Video:



The Goods:

2003:



2004:




For only being a 2 pack break, there were some decent cards to be had here. I've got another pack of each on the way that I paid even less for. Hopefully, they aren't a letdown after pulling the Howard and Berkman cards.