We were somewhere around Orangetown, on the edge of the Tappan Zee Bridge, when...

HOLY JESUS WHAT'S THAT IN THE MIRROR!



Eighteen-year-olds should not be allowed to drive their parent's SUV. Seriously.

Hey, did you know that the White Plains show is in a couple weeks?

Are you going?

Would you like to meet an actual cardblogger/minor internet celebrity?

Did you answer "Yes," "yes," and "yes?"

Well then, have we got great news for you! Stale Gum's Chris Harris will be attending the White Plains show on Saturday January 17th, and you can meet him!

Where and When:

The Westchester County Center (google maps for directions)
Saturday January 17th from Noon until ??? (depends on traffic)
Admission: $7 (kids under 12 free!)

Over 300 tables, and Bobby Valentine and Willie McCovey will be signing autographs! Oh, what fun we'll have!

For more information on the show, and autograph guests go to JP's Sports & Rock Solid Promotions' website.

RSVP: chris.harris@stalegum.com

Yes, it was White Plains weekend. And you know what, The Slap couldn't come soon enough. After all the turkey, bad football, and annoying relatives, a Saturday afternoon in White Plains was definitely in order.

For the first time in a long time, the show was in the basement of the Westchester County Center. The folks at JP's Rock Solid Promotions were punked out by a stamp and coin show, which booked the arena floor so into the basement we all went.

If you've never been to the basement of the Westchester County Center, consider yourselves lucky. It is the tenth circle of hell. Imagine the usual White Plains show, but compressed into a space the size of your typical middle school lunch room. Combine that with the atmosphere of a medium-security prison and you have a dreadful scene.

Now that I'm on the subject, for those of you that have small children or babies, do me a favor. Do not ever take your kid to a card show like White Plains. It's bad enough that you have to constantly run into other collectors while navigating the extremely narrow aisles. I don't need to be constantly running into your wife/girlfriend and your four-year-old. It's called a babysitter, look into it jerky.

In fact, when I'm dictator, my first decree will be that all children under the age of eight shall be prohibited from attending sports collectible shows.

---

As for the show, Jim Rice -- one of the show's autograph guests -- no-showed. Not that anyone seemed to care. (This is, after all, Yankee/Met country.) Now if this were a little further to the North and East, you would have heard about the riot already.

One of the regulars at White Plains (and at most other card shows in Northeast) is a dealer named Seymour. He always rents six tables and stacks them high with all the latest wax. I purchased a box of Allen & Ginter for $65 and an HTA box of Topps series two for $45 from him, but then the conversation turned to another Topps product.

"Say, are you collecting Stadium Club? I can cut you a deal. $175!"

The price tag on his stack of eight 2008 Stadium Club baseball boxes had already been marked down from $225 to $200 to $185. I replied, "Nah, that's alright."

"What's the matter, you don't like Stadium Club?"

"I like Stadium Club, just not 2008 Stadium Club. It's overpriced and uncollectible."

At this point Seymour lowered his voice and said, "You know what, you're right. But I'm stuck with all these boxes that aren't moving. You know, I have to wonder what Topps was thinking. It great that they brought back the Stadium Club name, but $25? For one pack? In this economy? And all those autographs? Who's gonna collect that?"

To which I said, "Yeah, sometimes I wonder too. I wonder if whoever came up with 2008 Stadium Club even collects baseball cards?"

He nodded his head in agreement.

After making this purchase, and bowling over about five stray toddlers, I went looking for cheap singles. White Plains is a Mecca for cheapskates like myself who rummage through the $1, $5, and $10 boxes. I picked out about $30 worth of 2006 and 2007 Bowman base set autographs and another $16 worth of various inserts from such boxes.

---

Other observations:

For the first time in my life, I witnessed perhaps the single greatest autographed insert card of the modern era: a 1992 Score The Franchise Triple-AU of of Stan Musial, Mickey Mantle, and Carl Yastrzemski. It didn't have a price tag, and I wasn't about to ask.

Some a-hole had packs of 1997 Metal Universe for $5 each. $5 for a pack of '97 Metal? Yep, $5. Why? Because it has an "A-ROD AUTOGRAPH!" Yes, 1997 Metal did have an on-card autograph of Alex Rodriguez. Too bad it was a redemption.

Another a-hole had a 1993 Donruss Don Mattingly (base card) for sale. It was graded PSA10 and he wanted $20 for it. First off, who the fuck sends '93 Donruss singles to be graded? And who the fuck would want to pay hard currency for a GRADED 1993 DONRUSS DON MATTINGLY BASE CARD?

Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects is live, but no one seems to care anymore. I didn't see a single waxbox sold.

The same can be said for the new unlicensed Donruss Elite.

I was tempted to buy a waxbox of 1992 Score Italian Soccer for $5, but thought better of it.

Total Spent on Cards: $156
Admission and Parking: $11
Tolls: $16.70
Grand Total: $183.70

I got out of my car around one in the afternoon and no one spoke as I crossed the Bronx River Parkway towards the arena. The air was unusually warm. Inside, people hugged each other and shook hands...big grins and a whoop here and there: "By God! You old bastard! Good to see you, boy! Damn good...and I mean it!"

In the air conditioned snack bar I met a man from Long Island who said his name was something or other--"but just call me Vito"--and he was here to get it on. "I'm ready for anything, by God! Anything at all. Yeah, what are you drinkin?" I ordered a Pepsi.

"Look." He tapped me on the arm to make sure I was listening. "I know this White Plains crowd, I come here every show, and let me tell you one thing I've learned -- this is no card show to be giving people the impression you're a non-collector. Not in public, anyway. Shit, they'll roll you in a minute, knock you in the head and take every goddam card you have."

"Say," he said, "you look like you might be in the card business...am I right?"

"No," I said. "I'm a writer."

"Oh yeah?" He eyed my ragged book of wantlists with new interest. "Is that what you got there -- notepads? Who you write for?"

"Stale Gum," I said.

He laughed. "Well, goddam! I read that page all the time!" He was laughing wildly. "Hell yes!"

I shook my head and said nothing; just stared at him for a moment, trying to look grim. "There's going to be trouble," I said. "I'm here to cover the story."

"Story?"

I hesitated, twirling the ice in my Pepsi. "On the floor. 2008 Bowman Baseball." I stared at him again. "Don't you read my site?"

The grin on his face had collapsed. "What the hell are you talkin' about?"

"Well...maybe I shouldn't be telling you..." I shrugged. "But hell, everybody else seems to know. Everybody's been ready for weeks. They brought 25 cases. They've warned us -- all the press and bloggers -- to wear helmets and special vests like flak jackets. We were told to expect rioting..."

"No!" he shouted; his hands flew up and hovered momentarily between us, as if to ward off the words he was hearing. Then he whacked his fist on the bar. "Topps! Those sons of bitches! God Almighty! The White Plains Show!" He kept shaking his head. "No! Jesus! That's almost too bad to believe!" Now he seemed to be sagging on the stool, and when he looked up his eyes were misty. "Why? Why here? Don't they respect anything?"

I shrugged again. "It's not just Topps. Beckett says box loads of Celebrity Cuts are coming from Donruss -- to mix with the other wax and attack collector's wallets all at once, from every direction. They'll look like all the other high-end packs. But when the trouble starts...well, that's why I brought this." I then showed him my can of "Chemical Billy."

He sat for a moment, looking hurt and confused and not quite able to digest all this terrible news. Then he cried out: "Oh...Jesus! What in the name of God is happening in this Hobby? Where can you get away from it?"

"Not here," I said, picking up my wantlists. "Thanks for the drink...and good luck."

He grabbed my arm, urging me to have another, but I said I was overdue on the floor and hustled off to get my act together for the awful spectacle.

I went to one table to pick up a box of '08 Upper Deck series two, but the moon-faced young swinger in charge said they didn't have any. "You can't buy one anywhere," he assured me. "It ain't out for another couple a weeks. Besides, our pre-sells have been booked for six weeks."

I leaned closer to him, half-whispering: "Look, I'm from stalegum.com. How would you like to write for a Hobby blog?"

He backed off quickly. "What? Come on, now. What kind of a blog?"

"Never mind," I said. "You just blew it." I swept my wantlist book off the table and went to find some cheap inserts. A man in a gimmicky T-Shirt is a valuable prop in this kind of work; I have lots and the most prominent of all is a very official, navy blue thing that says "Rated Rookie." I bought it from a website somewhere, and they told me how to use it. "Never mention your website until you're sure they've seen you in this shirt first," they said. "Then, when you see them notice it, that's the time to strike. They'll go belly up ever time. This thing is magic, I tell you. Pure magic."

Well...maybe so. I'd used it on the poor geek in the snack bar, and now I felt a little guilty about jangling the poor bugger's brains. But what the hell? Anybody who wanders around the world saying, "Hell yes, I'm from Long Island," deserves whatever happens to him. And he had, after all, come here once again to make a nineteenth-century ass of himself in the midst of some jaded, atavistic waxbox freakout. Early in our chat, Vito had told me that he hadn't missed a White Plains show since 1996. "The little lady won't come anymore," he said. "She grits her teeth and turns me loose for this one. And when I say 'loose' I do mean loose! I toss ten-dollar bills around like they were goin' out of style! Wax, singles, rookies...shit, there's dealers in this building that'll do anything for money."

Why not? Money is a good thing to have in these twisted times. The Hobby, meanwhile, continues its grim slide.

---

My attorney was unable to accompany me to White Plains. But I remember what he told me before I left.

"As your attorney, I advise you not to buy 2008 Bowman wax. With all the gimmicks and autographed "rookies," it's a junkwax product now. You'll be able to get a box for half-price after the baseball season ends."

My attorney is a very wise man. He's not just some dingbat I found on the Strip. I think he's probably Samoan.

---

I came for a cardboard riot, and left a bit disappointed. Although 2008 Bowman was live, and in ample supply (Hobbby: $60-$63; HTA: $89-$95), it wasn't selling. In fact, in my three hours at White Plains, I did not witness a single box sold nor did I see a single collector carrying around a purchased box. Maybe card collectors are starting to get hep to Bowman? Either that, or they all have my attorney on retainer.

It wasn't just the Bowman wax. The entire Westchester County Center was a morgue. The last show... The Hobbyists were packed into that place like a Tokyo subway car. Shit, there were so many dealer tables, they had 'em stacked up on the stage! This show... Nothing. No junkwax. No loose packs to review on APAD. No, nothing.

Then again, it probably wasn't a smart idea to schedule the show during the first weekend of Interleague Play. In these parts, The Subway Series is a far, far better thing than the Super Bowl, the Kentucky Derby, and the Lower Oakland Roller Derby Finals all rolled into one. The White Plains show attracts a very special breed, and they were either out at Yankee Stadium, or home watching the game on TV.

I began wandering the aisle looking for something to bust. Leftover boxes of Topps Moments and Milestones for only $69. (Now with a complementary layer of dust!) A box of 2001 Bowman Chrome for $600. Some poor sap is probably dumb enough to buy that box, and he'll probably pull that Albert Pujols redemption card. Sucker. Monster box after monster box of commons and cheap inserts. I looked at those monster boxes and began to think. How would Jefferson Burdick handle the situation?

Panic. It crept up my spine like the first rising vibes of a wax frenzy. All these horrible realities began to dawn on me: Here I was all alone in White Plains, completely twisted and in need of a wax fix, with no attorney, not much cash, and no wax riot story for the blog. How would Jefferson Burdick handle the situation? Shit! I'm not even sure ol' Jeff could handle this.

---

I wound up purchasing a stack of 2004 Topps Heritage SPs interspersed with 2007 Fleer and Topps Heritage commons for $80. I also spent $40 on a stack of over 50 inserts from a dollar box -- ranging from 1994-2007. I was able to pull a 2001 Roy Oswalt Rookie Diamond King, so I can add that to the 2K1 D'Russ blog.

All in all, a pretty disappointing show.

Total Spent on Cards: $120
Admission and Parking: $11
Tolls: $15.70

GRAND TOTAL: $146.70

If you're going to the card show this weekend in White Plains, NY, and want to meet up, let me know ASAP.

I always appreciate feedback from my readers.

FOLKSSSSSSS!!!! YOU'RE GONNA WANNA GET IN ON THISSSSS!!!!!

In fact, JUST START DIALING, NOWWWWWW!!!!!

ARE YOU READY FOR THISSS?????

ITEM NUMBER 72X-425: ITS A CHANCE TO ATTEND A MAJOR CARD SHOW WITH THAT IDIOT WHO WRITES STALE GUM!!!!!

KENNY, TELL THEM WHAT THEY'RE GONNA GET!!!!!

---

Where and When:

The Westchester County Center; Westchester, NY
Saturday Nov 29. from Noon until ??? (depends on traffic)
Admission: $7 PUT IT ON STRETCH PAY!!!!!

175 TABLES!!!!!

A ONE, HUNDRED, SEVENTY, FIVE, TABLE, SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

Auto guests: GEORGE FOSTER!!!! JIM RICE!!!!

KENNY, THISSSS ISSS CRAZY!!!!

(VERIFING ON ANOTHER!)

JSA will be on-site to authenticate (literally) anything!!!

Free packs to kids under 12!!!

---

FOLKSSSS. I KNOW THIS IS NUTSSSS!!! WE KNOW THE PHONES ARE BUSY, BUT JUST KEEP DIALING!!!!!!

For more information on the show, and autograph guests go to JP's Sports & Rock Solid Promotions' website.

RSVP: chris.harris@stalegum.com

GET.
IN.
ON.
THIS.
NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was supposed to hook-up with Ben Henry, but he forgot my cell phone number, and I forgot to ask for his. The great clash of the cardblogosphere titans will have to wait until the next pay-per-view, errr..., White Plains show.

Just as well. My adopted EPL side Fulham was playing Arsenal that morning on Fox Soccer. Couple that with the fustercluck that is the Cross-Bronx Expressway, and I didn't get to WHP until 2:30.

(Memo to self: Next time take the Tappan Zee. I don't care if driving 60MPH on the Bronx River Parkway is the most fun you can have with your pants on, TAKE THE TZ INSTEAD!)

By the time I finally arrived, most of the scheduled autograph guests had left. The only one left signing was former Gnats Giants and Eagles punter Sean Landeta. (Damn, I knew I should have brought that football.) Unfortunately, this being the "New York Ass Slap*," the only photos of Landeta available for sale were of him in Gnats Giants gear. I gave my free Sean Landeta autograph coupon to some guy who looked like Carl from the Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Seriously, this guy looked EXACTLY like Carl. The only thing missing was the Foreigner Belt and the green flip-flops.


Anyway, here's what I got.

$55 in assorted inserts (mostly 2004-present).

Aww yeah, it's that time.

You know it's that time.

It's time for... $55 worth of inserts.

Aww yeah.


I had the $55,

I had to have the inserts.

Aww yeah.


Now, I could have bought $20 worth of inserts.

And that would have been, a LOT of inserts.

But I had to go all the way, baby!

With $55 worth of inserts.

Aww yeah.


Now I know what you're thinking; Chris, how exactly did you get $55 worth of inserts?

SHHHH!!!!

Don't worry your pretty little head off.

It ain't none of your concern.

Aww yeah.

$55 for a box of 2007 Topps Heritage

Believe it on not, but this is the first box of 2007 Topps Heritage I've purchased. I guess I've just become bored (or is it jaded?) with the whole "Heritage" concept. But I wanted something to rip, and this was the only wax available that interested me. It was either this, or a jumbo box of '93 Upper Deck.

The first pack should be posted to APAD by the time you read this, and a full review will be posted here shortly.

$40 in 2007 Ultra retail singles

Right as I was about to leave, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a dealer selling singles of Ultra retail.

A Hobby dealer who busts mass-quantities of retail? Yes folks, there is a God.

After I picked through the short-set singles, I asked the dealer if she had any of the short-printed rookies and Lucky 13s? To which she said (with a wink-and-a-smile),

"You must be one of them."

To which I replied,

"You mean, an actual collector."

We both got a kick out of that.

I'm now three cards short of completing the Ultra retail base set -- all of them from the short-set.

Total Spent on Cards: $150
Admission and Parking: $11
Tolls: $9.90
Grand Total: $170.90

* Thanks to A Pack A Day contributor Scott for coining the term "New York Ass Slap."

LAST MINUTE CHANGE OF PLANS!

The White Plains Pants Party will be on Sunday (Aug. 19).

Come meet Stale Gum's Chris Harris, Ben Henry of the Baseball Card Blog, and a slew of other card bloggers and collectors at the first ever "Baseball Card Pants Party," this Saturday in White Plains, New York!

Where and When:

The Westchester County Center (google maps for directions)
Saturday Sunday from Noon until ??? (depends on traffic)
Admission: $7 (kids under 12 free!)

Over 350 tables, and a crapload of autograph guests! Oh, what fun we'll have!

For more information on the show, and autograph guests go to JP's Sports & Rock Solid Promotions' website.

RSVP: chris.harris@stalegum.com

Site: Westchester County Center; White Plains, NY


Yeah, I know. It's been six weeks since my last post. Sorry about that. Time flies when your trying to get into a halfway decent grad school.


First off, I didn't wake up until 12:30 PM. I went ten rounds with one Mr. Jack Daniels at the Phillies-Blue Jays game the night before. Let's just say, I lost. That, combined with the bad weather, meant that I didn't arrive in White Plains until 4:00 PM -- an hour before the show's closing.


Pulling off the Bronx River Parkway, the lot was nearly empty, and the attendant let me by for free. (Normally you have to pay $4 to park). I still had to pay the $7 admission to get in show though.

With my elusive six-year quest for the mysterious 2001 Donruss Albert Pujols RC finally completed, I've moved on to my next "white whale:" The equally elusive twelve-year quest for the mysterious 1994 Score Rookie/Traded Alex Rodriguez Call-Up redemption card. The backstory on this card is worthy of an entire post (hmmm...), but much like the Donruss Pujols, the SR/TCU is one of those cards that I've always wanted, but have never actually seen for myself. Granted, I didn't have time to look at every table, but I didn't find the A-Rod SR/TCU here.


One Box of 2007 Upper Deck Series One (paid $59)
One Box of 2006 Flair Showcase (paid $49)


These were my fourth and third boxes, respectively, of '07 UD and '06 Flair.

I was debating on whether to buy either a box of last years Topps Heritage; a box of this year's Topps Heritage; or the box of last year's Flair Showcase -- as the going rate for all three the same. I was one Eric Chavez card short of completing the 100-card Flair short set, and only bought it just to see what fracture cards and inserts I could get. This particular Flair Showcase box yielded a Dice-K WBC insert, and a David Wright Fresh Ink autograph. It wasn't until after I looked it up in the Beckett, that I discovered that the Wright was short-printed to 100 copies and worth $60! I still didn't get that Chavez card I needed to finish the short-set. In three boxes I've pulled two Billy Wagner Legacy parallels, each numbered to 150 copies, but zero Eric Chavez's base set cards.

A stack of '05-'07 commons and short-prints. (paid $40)

This was mostly '07 Fleer singles and '06 Ultra Lucky 13s. I also got the last few cards I needed to finish off '06 Topps Updates and Highlights and '06 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects.

A stack of various inserts, and short-prints. (paid $30)

Among these were three '00 SPx autographed "rookies" (Octavio Dotel and a pair of scrubs), and a bunch of '06 Topps inserts. However, the big find was a Roy Oswalt 2000 Black Diamond Rookie Edition jersey card that books for $25. Not bad.

Total Spent on Cards: $178
Admission: $7
Parking: FREE
Tolls: $12
Grand Total: $197

Site: Westchester County Center; White Plains, NY.

I've got two ten-page research papers due in the next month -- neither one I've actually started. But screw all that, it's White Plains weekend, and I'm there!

No sightings of the infamous, deplorable, Keith Olbermann, but the crowds were noticeibly smaller than in January. Kind of unusual considering that baseball is right around the corner, and White Plains is in the heart of Yankee country.

Two boxes of 2007 Upper Deck Series One (paid $55 each)

'07 UD was tops in my list for this show, and I was able to snag two Hobby boxes from the same dealer for $110. Box breaks forthcoming, but due to my academic studies, do not expect a formal review anytime soon -- if ever.

This dealer had both Hobby and Retail -- even though (as he said) Retail wasn't expected until later this week. The Retail boxes (which have 24 packs of eight cards) were $45, and Hobby (16 of 15) were $55/box. Considering that the cost-per-card were roughly the same for both formats (about $0.23-per-card) and Hobby promises two gamers and an autograph, I went with Hobby boxes.

A stack of '01-'04 Topps and Bowman Heritage singles (Paid $125)

Another case of "Animal Spirits." The dealer whom I bought the two '07 UD boxes from had a couple of boxes of old Topps Heritage singles, and I just couldn't help myself. (And yes, I paid $5 for another Marlon Anderson card: '02 Topps Heritage SP). This stack also included a bunch of '06 Ultra non-parallel inserts I needed.

Speaking of Topps Heritage, it is NOT selling like it used to. I mean, for Christ sake, I saw boxes of '07 Heritage going for $50! Which begs the question: Has Topps Heritage finally run its course? I'm not suggesting that Topps abandon Heritage altogether, but maybe put it on hiatus for '08.

One big ol' stack of late-90s and early-00s era inserts and short-prints (Paid $50)

This from the same dealer that I bought a bunch a late-90s and early-00s era short-prints and inserts from at the last White Plains show. If you were there, he was the big dude with the Reggie Bush jersey and the Bluetooth headset. I got three more '01 Donruss cards from this stack (a Nick Johnson SP, and McGwire and ManRam Rookie Reprints), and a crap load of other "junk" inserts.

Total spent on cards: $285
Admission: $7
Parking: $4
Tolls: $17.20
Grand Total: $313.20

Site: Westchester County Center; White Plains, NY.

White Plains and Philly/Reading are the kind of card shows you save your money, tap-out your credit cards, sell one of your kidneys, and take out a second mortgage for. There's stuff you'll find at White Plains and Reading that you just won't find at the local weekend mall show -- or for that matter eBay. Those of us in the Norteast don't need no stinkin' National or Sportsfest! Unfortunately, a 2001 Donruss Albert Pujols rookie card was not among of them.

One of the coolest things about the White Plains show, is the drive there. The Bronx River Parkway is a neat little road to drive on. You really got to love driving a highway with sharp curves, non-existent shoulders, tight lanes, and a 40 MPH speed limit. It must be really fun commuting on it every morning. The only thing that sucks about the Bronx River is that you have to take the bland and decrepit Cross-Bronx Expressway to get there. "You know without the shadow of a doubt that you are in Hell, then you must be on the Cross-Bronx Expressway!"

Now, onto the show and my quest for the elusive Donruss Albert Pujols RC. I talked to one dealer who had a dozen different Albert Pujols RCs in his display case -- including an '01 Bowman Chrome AU RC. (Just like the Donruss, the BowChro is numbered to 500, and was inserted into packs as a redemption.) He said he's sold just about every Pujols rookie card imaginable, from the most common to the most obscure. So when I asked him if he had the '01 Donruss (and not the Baseball's Best he had on display), or where I could get one, he said something unexpected. He had never even seen a copy of this card, much less sold one! Wow. For a collector trying to complete a master set of the Worst Card Set in the World, that's pretty depressing. I guess I shouldn't ask about the Ben Sheets.

Speaking of the Worst Card Set in the World, I overheard one collector saying that the infamous, deplorable, Keith Olbermann made an appearance earlier that day. (The subway does run from Manhattan to White Plains.) I can neither confirm, nor deny Olby's appearance, as I arrived in White Plains late in the afternoon. As much of a douchebag he is on TV, I have to give the man his collecting props. Olby is the only real out-of-the-closet "celebrity collector," which isn't exactly saying much about The Hobby -- although it would be kind of funny if Bill O'Reilly was a closet collector. Like I said before, and I'll say again, if I were in charge of a trading card company, the first person I would hire to run it would be Keith Olbermann.

One big ol' stack of late-90s and early-00s era inserts and short-prints (Paid $95)

I don't know about you, but I love raiding discount boxes. I think I spent an-hour-and-a-half going through two this particular dealer's 80%-off closeout boxes -- and he had another two I couldn't get to. When all was said and done, I came away with about $500 worth of cards, and paid less than a C-Note for them.

Individually, the cards I bought are way too many to list. Let's just say, that when I got home, I took out a ruler and measured this stack of top-loaders at just short of ten inches. I did come away with a Vladimir Guerrero Fan Club SP, which means I'm now one card closer to completing my aforementioned '01 Donruss master set.

A second box of 2006 Upper Deck Update ($40)

Yes, I know. I'm severly back-logged on the box breaks. I have four I'm working on (including one of UD Update) and I'm still slugging them all out. Patience my friends, patience. I don't want to spoil anything, but this particular box of Update was much better (collation wise) than the box I bought last week and will be reviewing soon.

All in all, I came to White Plains with a wallet full of twenties, looking for my elusive Albert Pujols RC. I came away empty handed, again. On the other hand, based on my observations, we can now crown Ryan Howard as "The Man" in The Hobby. Howard RCs were everywhere, and a great amount of greenbacks were changing hands over anything with his face on it. Even in New York, Howard cards were outselling David Wright, Jeter, AND Pujols.

To give you an example: Back at the last White Plains show I attended in May, I purchased an '03 Elite Extra Edition Howard for $20. Eight months and 58 homers later, the same dealer who sold me my E3 had another in her display case for $100. All hail the new King of The Hobby!

Total spent on cards: $135
Admission and Parking: $11
Tolls: $17.20
Grand Total: $163.20