Drew's Hot Corner: January 2010

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Vintage Cards from Pop Popps

Hey guys, Drew back here. It was a long day, I couldn't log on until now because we went to the mall. I got 12 packs of 2010 Topps, a blaster and 2 hobby, and 1 pack of 206. I'll have those up tonight or tomorrow, probably tomorrow. Pop Popps gave me some cards after I went to Al Hammell pre-season baseball camp, and they were sweet! Here are the highlights, it was a regular size stack but I just scanned the best ones:

4 Hall of Famers (and Steve Garvey)
I already had the Schoendienst but he's a Hall of Famer so I don't mind. I really like the Billy Williams card for some reason, I don't have much of him. Definitely some cool ones in this bunch.

1974 Topps Reggie Jackson/Willie Stargell League Leaders
Boy this is a sweet card! 2 examples of 70's players with awesome facial hair! And 2 excellent players! I never hear anything about Stargell, well, that may be because he passed away.

2 1965 Topps Bob Veale/Bob Gibson/Don Drysdale League Leaders
Awesome, my 1st Drysdale vintage card, actually, probably my 1st Drysdale anything! I have a Gibby auto and 2 game used from boxes, and I really like him, because he was so dominant. So overpowerful, which may result in being on a strikeout leader card. Adding Veale is practically a bonus. Lovin this card(s).

1965 Topps Joe Morgan/Sonny Jackson Rookie Card!
Now we're talking! One of the best cards he's given me, books for 60 but you could get it much cheaper. It's not in great shape but it's awesome to own a Hall of Fame rookie card, even if he is a pretty bad announcer. This is not for trade!

Thanks Pop Popps, and See Ya!

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Catching Up.... All in One!

Hey guys, Drew back here. As you see I made it out of mid terms alive, wait not yet, Math test Monday. Argh! Anyway, since it's the weekend, I felt like catching up, and tomorrow my mom and I might go to the mall to try to hunt down some 2010 Topps. Maybe a stop at the hobby shop for supplies could help too, I'm low on binder pages and binders. I also need some thick quality paper so I can get these TTM customs printed and shipped. Wow, quite a list! Well, I got 4 packages in the past week, so let's get started!

First up is a package from Tony over at Mike Pelfrey Collect ibles. As you see he posted his share of the trade last Saturday, but the card show has been holding me up, and that's finally caught up, and I can FINALLY get back to regular blogging. Here are the cards, he sent me a ton of needed cards and says he has more for me, and we may get another trade brewing! Check these out:

6 2009 Topps Heritage Cards

Eric Hinske & Melky Cabrera Heritage Updates Base Cards, Ramiro Pena & Fransisco Cervelli Rookie Cards, and 2 Chrome cards of the newest Cub Xavier Nady and the newest Padre Jerry Hairston Jr numbered each out of 1960. Cool, needed them all! I really like the Rookie cards, Cervelli is going to be good.

8 2009 Ticket to Stardom Yanks

Wow, needed 7 out of these, I got the Jeter before but needed all the rest of them! The Granderson is a perforated parallel, and he is going to be great as a Yankee. I could use his 1st Yankees card, the shortprint in 2010 Topps, and of course, the Swisher & Cano Pie in the Face Short Prints. It's awesome that they are doing that. Out of this bunch though my favorite may be the Pettitte, Damon, or A-Rod. They used good pics on those cards.

2008 Finest Cano Topps Team Favorites
2009 Ticket to Stardom Swisher

Awesome, 2 more cards for my PC's. Swisher is barely hanging on to his pinstripes, but I think he'll stay. Very cool though. I saw a guy selling the Cano at the card show for I think like 10 bucks. Ridiculous!

2002 Playoff Piece of the Game Reggie Jackson Bat Card!

This is my first relic of Reggie and boy it's sweet. I have a bunch of his 70's cards and they are very nice, but it's cool to get something modern of Mr. October. Although it's just a small sliver of bat, it's very cool looking and it adds to my very small yet growing bat card group.

This is my favorite part about this card though. On the back it shows what jersey they or bat they took the relic from. How nice! If only Topps and Upper Deck could think of doing that! Thanks Tony for the cards, great stuff!

Next we have 2 Blowout Forum Trades....

2007 Bowman Sterling Melky Cabrera Bat Card

I traded my 2008 Donruss Threads Wilson Ramos Prospect Autograph for this, and you may be asking "why the heck would you want this since he's a Brave?" Well, needed it to complete his trifecta, so it's a nice card for that. You can check out the trifecta page here, as an update to the post will be added with the newest completed trifectas.

2007 SP Legendary Cuts Dave Parker Jersey /199
2007 SP Legendary Cuts Don Mattingly Short Print /550

This was the next trade on the Blowout Forum. I have officially made 7 trades on that site and I think 5 or 6 on the Sports Card Forum. You should definitely check those sites out if you haven't already, they're great for trading. It's cool that I met both the guys on the cards, and I needed the Parker for the trifecta. Since I did nothing to improve them at the card show I traded for a few cards for trifectas. I like the Dave Parker card but I hate the 3 blank spaces in the relic design. I have a Joe Torre triple relic from this set too and that's a sweet one. The Mattingly shows a nice picture and deserves to be a short print.

Last was a sweet eBay purchase...

2009 Topps Tribute Robinson Cano Blue Dual Jersey Auto /75

I love this card and suddenly it may be my favorite Cano card I own. This is my 5th Cano auto and it's numbered out of 75. I got it for about 15 bucks, which in my book is a pretty good steal. This set has some really nice cards but paying 50 bucks a pack for something like this, or the mass prodcution of Jay Bruce, Dustin Pedroia, Clayton Kershaw, Evan Longoria, and David Wright, is just not worth it. Now Topps is admitting that the Ruth triple relic is seat/jersey/seat. Yuck! People paying big money for cards that look like they have bat relics but really they're pieces of a seat that maybe your great great grandpa sat in! I heard these cards can get smudged easily so it's staying the plastic. I love the card and hope to get other versions of his cards in the set.

Hope you liked the cards, thanks to everyone I traded with in this post, and see ya!

Friday, January 29, 2010

TTM Custom #3

Nice card eh? I chose the Expos since he chose them for the hall, and this would look great signed! More to come! See ya!

2009 UD Philadelphia Box Break Review Part 2

Hey guys, Drew back here. Well, after a trade post tomorrow I should be caught up. I'm working a lot on my new custom cards, and when I get a response from Grandpa Roy I'll have the backs complete. You'll see what the heck I'm talking about. I got a sweet Cano in, my 5th auto of his, and you'll see it soon. Here is the final review for 2009 UD Philadelphia, gonna be hard to beat my great mid term performances! My final average in Spanish was 100! BooYah! Anyway, here goes:

Design: The design is very original, but you have to look back at the greatness of the old school set. There are some nice cards, and Upper Deck did use some nice pictures, so that makes me happy. The inserts are pretty nice, but I do have a small problem with the set. It has 100 short prints. That's a heck of a lot. 25 or 30 of whatever amount it was of stupid Obama inserts is NOT GOING TO MAKE YOU COMPLETE THE STUPID SET!!!! (By the way, this is pretty funny. Brian Bruney of the Nationals makes more money than Obama, but President Obama has more cards). I like the Woodstock inserts and I don't mind all the others, but I am sick of Obama cards. He's nothing but a celebrity, the way people are treating him. I'm not saying anything bad politically, but it feels like George Clooney is our President, the way they make him look. He's done a lot of work and I don't even follow politics, so I'm not knocking on the guy. Remember though, he's a President, not Brad Pitt. I love how the set has on card autos, there's a big plus. Design Grade: B+

Price: Another awesome deal here. For 40 bucks on Blowout Cards, you can get about close to half the base set, about 3 quarters of a short 200 card set of veterans. You also get 2 game used of solid players and an on card autograph. Being that Jerricho Cotchery may be the worst auto in the checklist benefits me. They don't sell really well but none of us are here to sell. We are here to see some great cards join our collection. With the chance of a buyback card, it adds more fun and suspense to the product. Price Grade: A+

Hits: Well, as I said, 2 game used of solid players and a nice on card autograph are guaranteed per box, and with a chance of an original card (I got a Hall of Famer, woo!!!!) from an original Philadelphia set is great. You get all that for the price of 2 blasters. Upper Deck really hit the jackpot on this set! Hits Grade: A-

Overall: Like I just said, Upper Deck definitely hit the jackpot on this set! I have seen some great cards come out of it, and they definitely proved us collectors wrong, the ones who thought they couldn't make a football set to save their life! For the price and the amount of hits it's a great deal, and I'm very happy my dad got me the box! I may trade the buyback to Beardy but I'm still thinking about it because it's such a cool card. Sure, it would be better off in his collection, but I would like to get a Jets one. Titans maybe even. No, not Tennessee. New York! Thanks Upper Deck for putting out such a solid release, definitely will consider buying more of it in the future. Overall Grade: A

Some high praise for a company that is drowning underwater right now in lawsuits! Got a mailday coming next! See Ya!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

2009 UD Philadelphia Box Break Review Part 1

Hey guys, Drew back here, with a box break review of 2009 Upper Deck Philadelphia football. Still typing on Microsoft Word due to Internet connectivity issues, but its OK. I just found out how to add scans, click to enlarge them if you'd like! Sorry about the font, it'll be fixed in the next post, it's just because of Word copy and paste. Thanks again to my dad for the box, and let’s get cracking! But first, the very important Product Expectations!

PRODUCT CONTENT

20 Packs per Box

8 Cards per Box

160 Cards per Box!

1 5x7 National Chicle R311 Box Topper

15 Base Set Short Prints Expected per Box

4 National Chicle Inserts

2 Memorabilia Cards per Box!

1 On Card Autograph per Box!

Chance at buybacks from original Philadelphia Sets!

Upper Deck gave this retro set a try this year, after Topps said they would release Magic, and of course, Mayo. The cards are simple, but have a pretty nice design. More on that when I get to the review. Here is what I got in my box:

MY BOX BREAK REVIEW:

Full Set: 144/300

Base Set: 139/200

Base Set Short Prints: 5/100

- Rookies: 3 (Peria Jerry, Patrick Chung, Malcolm Jenkins)

- NFL Legends: 2 (Barry Sanders, John Elway)

Other Short Prints: 10/100

- The Story of Barack Obama: 3 (305, 307, 320)

- Woodstock 40^th Anniversary: 1 (328)

- Vietnam War Bulletin: 1 (U.S. Involvement in Vietnam War Ends)

- The Election Years: 1 (1960: JFK vs. Humphrey)

- Stars of Action: 4 (Drew Brees, Julian Peterson, Ronnie Brown, Derrick Brooks)

5x7 National Chicle Box Topper: 1 (Hines Ward)

National Chicle Minis: 4

(William Miller NC9, George McGovern NC17, FG-1D Corsair NC33, Hines Ward NC58)

Memorabilia Cards: 2

- Steve Smith (CAR)

- Darren Sproles

Autographs: 1

- Jerricho Cotchery

1965 Philadelphia Buyback: 1

- Lenny Moore (Baltimore Colts HOF!!!)

In my opinion, this was a great box! I got a very old card in decent shape of a Hall of Famer, and the game used are of players I have always liked. The autograph, is of course a Jet. Unfortunately, I bought the Cotchery auto at the show BEFORE we opened the box, before I knew he got me a box that is. So, I have 2 now, 1 is for trade I guess, but I'm only looking for my PC stuff in return. Thanks, and See Ya! Stay tuned for Part 2, the grading!

White Plains Card Show Review Part 8

PART 8:
SURPRISE BOX!!!

Hey guys, Drew back here. Today, I am typing this on Microsoft Word, because my computer is having weird connection issues. So, anyway, we got out of school 1 HOUR early, which is ridiculous, due to a snow storm.

So, my dad got me a box of 2009 Upper Deck Philadelphia. It was a nice box, especially because we got like a bonus hit. Stay tuned for the review coming up next!

This show was great, JP’s Sports Promotions did great as usual, a big thanks to them. I got a ton of stuff, so my PC’s are really growing and are getting awesome. My Cano collection really improved, with 2 autos, one being a rookie auto.

See Ya!

UPDATE: I now can upload scans to posts! So no more videos unless they are necessary. And the problems are fixed. A nice copy and paste post! How bout dat!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

TTM Autograph Design

Hey guys, Drew back here. I'm gonna wait until the weekend for finishing the catching up process due to some mid terms, but in my spare time I've decided to try making some custom autograph cards for future through the mails. I know some people have done this before, and I already have a card finished, but I need to know a few things, please answer me in the comments if you have any advice on this stuff:

1- Is the design nice?

2- How can I change the dimension size so when I print it it is the size of a regular card? (I used GIMP, a throwoff of Photoshop)?

3- Is it worthy enough to send out?

4- Any other suggestions?

Check it out, and let me know, thanks, Drew

UPDATE: Just made another one, I think this one came out a little better, but let me know again if you have any suggestions, thanks.

Monday, January 25, 2010

White Plains Card Show Review Part 7

Part 7:

Meeting Mattingly & Montefusco!!!

Hey guys, Drew back here, after a long day of boredom at home. Here is the next part of the series.

Well, it was a great day of picking up cards and other stuff, but there was a whole other side to this story. The lines were huge, so I had to pass on former Dodgers Ed Roebuck & Ralph Branca, and former Mets manager Bobby Valentine, and so I met the freebie autograph guest, John "The Count" Montefusco, after I met Mattingly.

Let's start with Montefusco. I had to go pick up his rookie card at a vendor so I could get it signed, since we had 2 tickets and 1 card. So, I got that for I think 50 cents, and off we went. They did the Mattingly session by number called, in order. Yeah, we were #145. Ugh. So, we went in line to meet Montefusco, and it was a really long wait. We got called to meet Mattingly when we became close to the front of the line, and so we hopped over to meet him. But after we got back from meeting Mattingly, it was almost our turn to meet Montefusco. Actually, if Mattingly hadn't left right after we met him and Montefusco had to run out and get his autograph before he left our plan may have never worked out. But it did, and he was a really nice guy and looked pretty young, although he is 59, he looked in his early 50's. He never was too successful in the majors but did finish his career with a 90-83 record and a career 3.54 ERA. He made the all star team in his 1976 rookie season, and he also was named rookie of the year. He threw a no hitter that year and had a great rookie season. It went downhill after that unfortunately. He inscribed the cards I gave him to sign "The Count" and I was happy to meet him. Here are the cards and me with him:

Him Signing Autographs

Me with The Count

The End Result

Next up, was the reason I preferred going the Saturday instead of meeting the entire Yankees infield from the 1977 World Series on Sunday, meeting former Yankee Captain, 6 time All Star, 9 Time Gold Glover, 3 Time Silver Slugger, and 1985 AL MVP Don Mattingly! As I mentioned in the Montefusco paragraph we had to get out of line for him and go to the Mattingly line when nobody was there and he was about to leave. Since we practically were first in line, we rushed to get everything ready, and all turned out well except for the picture of me and him, which is blurry. He signed the 8x10 picture we bought of him and it looks nice with my other signed pictures (Roy White, Chris Chambliss, Cecil Fielder, Brian Bruney, and Yogi Berra). We asked him if he remembered a story in an elevator involving my uncle and him. There were in a hotel, same elevator at one time, and my uncle thought he was Ron Guidry. He said to Mattingly "Hey, Louisiana Lightning!". Of course, it wasn't Guidry. Mattingly didn't remember it, but he said many funny things like that have happened to him in his career that they are all a blur. He laughed at the story though. It was great meeting him and getting his second autograph. I already have his trifecta after that crazy pull in my box of Donruss Threads, but it's nice to actually meet him. Here are the pictures of the autograph and other stuff from the quick meet with a former Captain:

Him Signing

Me with Donnie Baseball

Always good to authenticate!

The Autograph

I hope you enjoyed that story, and See Ya!

White Plains Card Show Review Part 6

PART 6: ROBINSON CANO &

NICK SWISHER PC PICKUPS!!!

Hey guys, Drew back here. I had to stay home today because I have a bit of a stomach bug and other cold symptoms, but I'm feeling a little better, so I figured why not put up a post? I sorta got over the Jets loss, you guys proved a point, they did much better than anyone thought. With a new head coach and rookie quarterback, we had no business being that far in the playoffs. So, here are the new cards in my growing collections of Swisher & Cano. I focused mainly on Cano this time around, trying to play it safe with Swisher as he may be dealt at some point before the season. Chances are unlikely, and even if he does get dealt I will probably still collect him, but just calming down a bit with Nick Swisher.

5 Robby Cano Inserts

Top left is a 2009 206 Bronze Parallel, got it cheap, pretty nice card. Top right is a 2006 Topps Finest card. It looks like a parallel but apparently it is a base card. Never seen them but they are nice. The middle one is a Bazooka Mini rookie card I got for a quarter, which was sweet! The bottom left is a 2008 Finest Dual Team Favorites Cano/Melky Cabrera Refractor, I need the regular version but this is really nice! The bottom right is a 2008 Bowman Gold Parallel, nothing special there, just a 1 per pack insert I didn't have.

2008 UD Diamond Collection Nick Swisher

Pretty nice card here, I never see these inserts anywhere, but I do have the Brian McCann & another one too lying around my house if I haven't traded them. I think this was a quarter too, so not too bad there.

7 2008 Moments & Milestones Cano Base Cards, 1 2007 Moments & Milestones
(all #ed/150)

This set is a headache, so I bought all the ones I saw. I hope to get as many of them as possible just to get it off my chest. This is a pretty good start on 2008, one of the most pointless sets Topps has ever created.

2007 Bowman's Best Blue & Green Refractors

When I saw these 2 cards lying around, I knew I may never get a chance at the blue at least again, so I got them for pretty cheap, I think in a deal with another card for 5 bucks. The blue is numbered to 99 and is hard to find, while the green is a little easier, numbered to 249. I still need the gold version, and that is numbered to 50. Wish me luck on finding that one.

2008 Topps Finest Cano Blue Refractor /499

Keeping with the refractor theme, I picked up this nice Cano for cheap, and it is a really nice card. I still prefer 07 or 09 Finest over 2008 but it's a pretty nice set nonetheless.

2006 Topps Co-Signers Changing Faces Red Insert w/Jeter /150

Another pain in the butt set for Cano cards, in base and inserts only it adds up to 25 different cards! He is featured on the Jeter inserts on the side, and also there is a version with Mickey Mantle. Topps really gives me a hard time. But it's worth it.

2003 Bowman Robinson Cano Rookie Card

This is a card I've wanted for quite some time, and it's definitely an awesome card. My dad secretly got this one for me as well as the next one. He certainly did a ton for me and I thank him so much for the cards! Now I have 3 regular rookie cards and something awesome at the end of this post of Cano. I definitely made some progress.

2006 Allen & Ginter Cano Bat Relic

Now this is a beauty. My dad got me this one too as I said and it is a great addition. I have a huge stack of Cano relics and autos, and this is definitely one of the nicer ones. I upgraded my Cano wantlist yesterday too by the way, the 2010 stuff is already on the list. I still need to work on the Swisher list.

2006 Bowman Originals Nick Swisher Buyback Autograph /342

I bought this card for 10 bucks, a great deal! I saw a few Swishers that I needed to pass on but this one is cool. Another nice steal for Drew! I just don't get why they made Nick Swisher sign 342 2006 Bowman base cards, kinda pointless, but so is the rest of this hobby.

2008 Topps Stadium Club Robinson Cano Beam Team Autograph

YES! I finally can get rid of my Tom Gorzelanny version of this card! And better yet, I have a Cano now, and I got it for like 15 bucks. It's a really nice one I must add, probably the greatest autograph design I've ever seen. Nothing much you can do about the sticker, and I still need the other 2 versions of the card, which kinda sucks, because I like this one the best. But I'm trying to be a Cano Supercollector so I need to do what I gotta do.

2005 Topps Total Robinson Cano RC Autograph

My 1st thought of this card when I saw it (other then, wow, how much does it cost?) was, his autograph has really developed over time. I got this for like 15 bucks too I'm pretty sure, another no doubt steal. I love this card, and it is probably one of the better pieces of the PC. I actually just bought another sweet one of his off eBay, from a newer product. Can't wait to get it and show it to you guys!

Well, that's it. Not that much, haha, yeah, I'm crazy. See Ya!

Next up is the post about meeting Donnie Baseball, and then the surprise box break, and then I'm somewhat caught up, at least finished with this show.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Wait Till Next Year: The On-Going Saga of Jet's failureness

I hate crying like a baby, or whining like a teenager, but, I am awfully sick and tired of waiting. We have failed to perform when it counts in the past 41 years and counting, and my question is... will we ever get this opportunity again? We have one heck of a head coach, and one heck of a team, but do we have the heart? I really don't think so. We played a heck of a game in the 1st 2 quarters, but after Feely missed 2 field goals and lack of offensive production, it's just another game to add to the list of embarrassments. I'm gonna hate going to school tomorrow, I'm gonna hate it all week. And the press isn't gonna shut up. When you're in New York and are a terrible team turned into a contender, you are going to be looked highly of, and in NY, it's too much. We're gonna be hearing the same garbage throughout the next week. The Jets suck all this and that, firing Rex Ryan, trading Mark Sanchez, and all that other ridiculous stuff that comes out. I'm happy where we got, and I'm happy we did better than the Giants, but after looking forward for a Super Bowl party 2 weeks from today this sucks. We looked too far ahead as usual, and it's really embarrassing to think about. C'mon baseball season!

White Plains Card Show Review Part 5

Part 5: J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!!!!

Hey guys, Drew back here, and I am amped for the big game that will probably start while I'm posting the Jets I bought at the card show. My dad got me 2 of these, thanks again dad! Anyway, here goes, but first, this little video to amp me, you, the person sitting next to you, the dude throwing pistachios into a sleeping dude's mouth at an airport, or any other people up!

2009 Bowman Sterling Dustin Keller Jersey /999

Wow, Jordin Sparks does a good National Anthem. Anyway, got this card in a nice deal for dirt cheap, and it's an awesome card. I have one of his relics from that stupid premier from 2008 Bowman Sterling, and this is now my 3rd relic of his. I'd sure love to get his auto. He is a great young tight end, and he may be a big factor in today's game.

2009 UD Philadelphia Jerricho Cotchery On Card Autograph

What a nice card this is. When I traded my auto from this set of D-Bowe to Beardy, I knew I had to check for Jets in the checklist. Sure enough, one of my favorite wide receivers, Jerricho Cotchery, had an auto in the set. I'm pysched to have this card, but there is a funny story about the card too, and I'll have to tell you that in one of the next posts in the series. I think I got this for 10 bucks, which isn't bad.

2009 Upper Deck 3D Stars Shonn Greene Rookie Card

Boy I'm amped up! I think I got this for like 2 or 3 bucks, and it's an awesome card. When you tilt it it shows his college jersey, and then of course the Jets side as you see in this picture. Shonn is a great rookie and I'm excited to see how he'll play later on in his career.

1990 (or 1991) NFL Pro Set Matt Snell On Card Autograph

My dad got me this one and the next one, and nothing better than having an autograph of a 1968 NFL Super Bowl Champion. Matt was a key factor as the Jets fullback and occasional running back back in the day, so it's cool to have. He bought it at a vendor, so there's no guarantee it's authentic, the guy said he met Matt and got that auto then. He inscribed his number too, which was cool.

2007 Topps Performance David Harris Rookie Jersey Autograph

Jeez. First play, first down. Let's hope that isn't the start of bad things here in NY. Good, 3rd down. Sorry, just typing while watching, and since my subject is based on the Jets, then I could write whatever I want about them. 4TH DOWN!!! And guess who just sacked Peyton? DAVID HARRIS!!!! He's a good linebacker and this is a sweet card. Now I need an autograph of Darelle Revis, who has his own island named after him for the day!

GO JETS!!!! AND SEE YA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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