Trading on the Trading Card Database

In addition to being an excellent cataloging website, the trading feature on the Trading Card Database makes it even better.  Trades are simple to initiate and process.  I've completed almost 20 trades and it's been a great way to pick up cards while clearing out duplicates.

My latest trade comes courtesy of user herkojerko

This first set of cards is a small collection of Mariners from 1996 Collector's Choice.  The year depicted on the cards, 1995, was a special year for the Mariners.  That year the Mariners would see their first division title and their first post-season trip since their 1977 inception.

They also won their first post-season series in dramatic fashion with a play that is revered as "The Double."  The ALDS was tied 2 games a piece.  The Mariners saw themselves down 5-4 in the bottom of the 11th against the hated Yankees.  Edgar Martinez was at bat with two runners aboard. Edgar smacked a double down the left field line scoring both runners, which included Griffey scoring the winning run.

That's why the two ALDS cards above are great to have in my collection.  Until the Mariners with the World Series, that will be the greatest moment in Mariners history.

Top - Updates and Highlights
Middle - Opening Day
Bottom - Chrome

Herkojerko must be a Phillies fan because he sent me a smattering of Phillies from 2008 Topps.  If I had a collecting goal for this year it would definitely be to finish the main 2008 Topps sets.  I already have a factory set of flagship but I would like to have a hand collated set as well.  In addition to the main set, I do need all of the other sets.

Carlos Ruiz (middle right) is actually with the Mariners now, serving as a backup to Mike Zunino. Ruiz has worn #51 all through his career but it looks like he has taken on #52 for this season.  Why the number change?  #51 has been worn by Randy Johnson and Ichiro.  Although the number is not retired yet and can technically be worn, my guess/hope is that he switched numbers out of respect to those two fabulous Mariners players.

That number will certainly be retired once both Johnson and Ichiro are enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

Serving Up a Daily Prime Cut

The Daily Dimwit is back up and running again after taking an extended hiatus from card blogging and card collecting in general.  He stopped blogging shortly before I started blogging so I never read his blog before.  I decided to give him a follow as he starts up again as he is posting some excellent cards over at his blog.  

He has been posting a lot about 2016 Panini Prime Cuts.  This is a higher end release featuring relics and autographs, a la Topps Triple Threads.  Since he is showing off his Prime Cut cards, I figured I would show off my one Prime Cut card I picked up on eBay a few weeks back for only a few dollars.

Montas is no longer with the Dodgers, having been traded to the A's towards the end of last season.  He currently ranks as the #10 prospect for the Athletics.  He is a hard throwing right-hander who could be part of the A's rotation when the season opens up.  

I mainly picked up this card to start a semi-PC of the Dodgers as I've decided they are going to be my NL team to follow.  Now that Montas is in the AL, and with a division rival no less, I can't root for him too much. Regardless, this was a nice looking card to pick up on the cheap.

Thanks to The Daily Dimwit for the contest and I look forward to reading more of your blog!

Starting a New Project

As if I needed a new card collecting project, I've picked up a few dual relics/autograph cards from one of my favorite sets of 2016: Panini Diamond Kings.  I know a lot of people dislike Panini due to the lack of logos.  I'm no fan of the logoless design either.  Blame Topps, blame MLB, maybe blame Panini (I don't know actually know their culpability) but this is the reality of today's cards.  

Diamond Kings still looks pretty spectacular without the logos.  I opened two hobby boxes last year since I liked the design so much.  I didn't see an insert design I didn't enjoy.  One of the cards I liked was the rookie relic/auto insert:

Bronze - SN99

The checklist includes notable names such as Corey Seager, Kyle Schwarber, and Trea Turner.  Plus, it's a relatively small set at only 19.  Given how much I liked the above card, I wanted to collect the rest and make this my first complete relic/auto insert set.

Curiously, the bronze cards have a lower print run than the silver set.  Silver cards are SN299, which is the opposite of a typical rarity progression.  Fine by me as I think the silver looks better anyway.  

These were an excellent way to start my hunt for the complete set and with the Seager and Schwarber autos out of the way, finding the rest shouldn't be too hard.  

Touchdown with Drew Bledsoe

I wanted to give a quick shout out to Colby at Cardboard Collections for the free Drew Bledsoe card. He has was giving away a few lots of cards and when I saw this Bledsoe, I knew it would make a great addition to my WSU Cougar binder.  Although the "Washington State" name was removed from the front of his jersey, you can still see the Cougar logo on his arm and "Cougars" written on the helmet.

The front has Tekchrome technology, which is essentially today's chrome look.  In person, Bledsoe's body pops off nicely from the background.

Bledsoe famously lost his starting job to second-year player Tom Brady after Bledsoe went down with an injury.  Brady would go on to lead the Patriots to their first Super Bowl win.  Bledsoe moved on to the Buffalo Bills the following year.

Bledsoe was a Cougar great and it's nice to finally have a rookie related card.  Thank you Colby!

Winning the Retail Lottery

I recently brought home the last of my old boxes from my dad's house. One of the boxes contained my 6th grade yearbook.  Looking at my likes and dislikes section next to my name you could tell I was a basketball fan.  My likes included "Rodman, Bulls" whereas my dislikes were "LA Lakers, doing homework."

Nowadays, my interest in basketball (at least at the professional level) is all but gone.  Other than checking in on some players from my alma maters and seeing if the OKC Thunder are still title-less, I don't follow the sport.

That doesn't stop me from opening card packs, however.  My grocery store happened to have two untouched boxes of 2016-17 Panini Prizm. 

The boxes said they contained 1 autograph or memorabilia card on average so feeling the itch for some new wax, I grabbed three packs from the top box.  Amidst some base and prizm parallel cards was a gold parallel autograph of Patrick Patterson numbered out of 10! This was without a doubt my best retail pull ever.  

Patterson was the 14th overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft.  He's not an all-star but he appears to be a decent player.  

The next night I was at the store again.  The two Prizm boxes remained virtually untouched.  Since I pulled what was likely the only auto out of the first box, I went for the second box hoping for some more luck.  This time I only grabbed two packs.  

One of the packs contained a teal wave parallel of Ben Simmons, numbered out of 25!  I knew that Ben Simmons was a big deal, being the #1 pick in the overall draft and signing an exclusive autograph deal with Upper Deck.  I didn't realize that his cards were so highly sought after.  On top of the parallel, I pulled his base rookie in the next pack.

Word came down Friday that Simmons is officially out for the rest of the season due to his foot injury.  He never played a regular season game this year.  With all the hype it will be interesting to see how well Simmons plays next year.  

A few days go by and I'm at the store again.  I had to check my boxes of Prizm and they were still rather full.  It's not too surprising as the Seattle area is mainly a football town with a lesser interest in the Mariners.  

I grabbed four more packs, two from each box.  This time I pulled another teal wave parallel! Another SN25 parallel! Kent Bazemore is not a big name but still a big pull!

I never thought I would have gotten so excited about basketball cards.  I couldn't believe my luck with all the great cards.  For now, these are my best retail pulls and will be hard to beat!

The Longest Journey

This is the tale about four common cards that took a fun, little trip around the state in 30 days.

1988 Topps Traded

Last month I made a small 4-card order on COMC.  I purchased a few cards in preparation for Mariners Fanfest, hoping that I could get them signed.  In order to ensure their arrival before the event, I upgraded the shipping so that they would arrive in a few days.

On January 17, I requested shipment of the cards and the next day they were shipped.  Fortunately, or so I thought, COMC is located in my neck of the woods (Seattle area).  This means orders typically arrive quickly after they are shipped.  I checked the tracking number the day after the order was shipped, January 19, and I saw that the package was labeled as out for delivery.  Wonderful, everything was working out.

At the end of the day, I check my mailbox but did not see the package package.  The tracking number was not updated either.  I waited until the next day thinking it would be delivered then.  Again, no package.  This time the tracking number was "updated" to merely indicate that the tracking number was never updated after it was marked "out for delivery."  That was no help.

2015 Topps Update

I waited a few days giving the post office the benefit of the doubt.  After the weekend ended, I called my local post office for helping tracking down my package.  I left my information with someone who said they would call me back at the end of the day.  I never heard anything.

A week later, I went into my post office and did the same song and dance routine.  Another week goes by and I still don't hear anything.  This time I went onto the USPS website to leave my information, hoping that they can't ignore it this time

Several days after submit my info through the website, I get a call my from my post office.  The person I spoke to essentially said they cannot find the package and there is nothing I can do since the package was not insured.

1992 Topps - Gold Winner

I was disappointed but not too upset since all the cards I purchased were cheap commons.  I think shipping cost more than the cards.

The other day I was getting ready to e-mail COMC saying my package was lost.  I hoped that at the least I could get a refund on shipping.  I click on the tracking number and to my surprise it had updated!  On February 8, the package had somehow made its way to Spokane, which is 4 1/2 hours away on the other side of the state.  This was the first tracking update of any kind since January 19.

The package then made its way *back* to Seattle. It was finally delivered on Feb 12.

To illustrate the absurdness of the delivery route, I have annotated a map of Washington below.  My package was shipped from and to the Seattle area, which is by the black arrow on the left.  My package, at some point, traveled to Spokane, which is at the red arrow on the right.

Glorious Washington State

How a package goes from literally being out for delivery to traveling to Spokane, I will never understand.

I never worried about their location as the cards never would have been missed.  That said, I'm happy they made their to their rightful destination.

2009 Topps Updates & Highlights

Autograph from a Veteran

Today I received my first through the mail autograph from an unexpected signer.  I saw a post a few weeks ago that Burke Waldron signed quickly for autograph requests. However, Mr. Waldron is not an athlete.  No, he is 92-year-old World War II veteran who threw out a first pitch at a Seattle Mariners game last year.  He was lucky enough to be featured on a First Pitch insert for the 2016 Topps Update series.

I sent Mr. Waldron a copy of his card, along with a small note saying he looked like he had a lot of fun. He went above and beyond signing the card with an nice inscription.

His first pitch is truely worth watching.  Despite being 92, he had the hustle and zing of someone half his age.

He was also kind enough to send along a note:

Dear Tyler,

Yes, the most exciting day of my life--40,000 fans cheering & yelling. Even better than my skydive at age 90.

There [is] another video out there of my dancing on Waikiki Beaching during 78th anniversary of Pearl Harbor--to the Lt. Dan Band. Gary Sinise put on that concert, and it was fun dancing with all the girls.

Gary served us dinner on our flight over and back. What a BLAST!

Sincerely,
Burke

That does sound like a blast! I would love to find that video he mentions.  And let it be said that for his age, his penmanship is excellent.  Far better than mine currently!

This was a very fun TTM request that will be hard to top.