Going Back to the Show

This weekend marked my 2nd annual trip to the Washington State Sports Collectors Association summer card show.  I am only mere minutes away from the show so I'd be foolish not to attend. Plus, I overheard someone questioning whether this show would be at the same location next year since the president (I'm assuming) of the club had retired.  I hope that's not the case.

I didn't have much time for the show this year as I was busy working on some home projects.  I don't mind the time crunch as that keeps the expense down.  Overall, I spent about $30 on cards; even accounting for the couple cards that are typically beyond my show budget.

I'll start with an item I didn't buy.  Every entrant received a scratch card that could potentially contain prizes.  At the show back in the winter I won a $25 credit.  This year I won a signed 8x10 photo of Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon.  Not a bad way to start!

I'll start with the most expensive cards of the day at $5 a piece.  I initially thought the Russell Wilson card might be overpriced so I did a quick check on eBay.  I saw one listing at $3 and figured that was close enough.  However, I later looked on COMC and this card is going for less than a $1 😑 Oh well lesson learned, always check COMC.

The basketball card is a dual, game-worn jersey of Grant Hill and Gary Payton.  It also has a recreated ticket from when the two teams played.  I liked the design and that it contained two great players.  I felt okay with the price of this one.

Finally, my last big expense was a 2008 Topps parallel of Josh Beckett.  With such a low numbered parallel from one of my favorite sets, I couldn't resist.  These are hard to come by, as well.

Card shows are an excellent way to pick up Bowman cards.  Outside of the Edwin Diaz Chrome, which is his first Bowman card, the rest are all parallels.  Dylan Cease is numbered out of 250.  He was voted the Cubs' minor league pitcher of the month for April.  I picked this one out randomly so it looks like I made a good choice.

The Taylor Motter card is from Topps Heritage.  Motter is one the Mariners' young stars so I felt compelled to pick up one of his rookie cards.

A very cool looking green parallel of Franklin Gutierrez from 2013 Topps along with some framed parallels from one of my favorite sets last year, 2016 Panini Diamond Kings.

Oooh shiny! The 2011 Topps design is rather bland but these Diamond Anniversary parallels are a neat addition to my Felix Hernandez PC.  Kyle Seager is a refractor parallel from 2014 Topps Chrome that I picked up as it was pretty much a free card.

A couple James Paxton rookies.  If Paxton ever stays healthy for a full season he would be capable of putting together a Cy Young worthy season. This year he is 4-0 with a 1.26, which is great.  However, he's already spent some time on the disabled list.  He's back now but for who knows how long.

I always like picking up Museum Collection base cards on the cheap because I know they come from a higher end set.  They are on a thicker stock too, which adds to the premium feel.

Lastly, it wouldn't be a card show if I didn't buy a Griffey card.  I only bought one this time around as I was trying to spend more time looking for other cards.

Here are some set needs from 2017 Bowman and 2008 Topps Chrome.  I wasn't intended to try to complete this year's Bowman set yet after buying a blaster and a few hanger packs, I'm over 50% complete before these additions.  A complete set is therefore realistically possible.

With my newfound Padres fandom I was hoping to find more Padres players than just one.  I didn't have enough time to really dig through the dime and quarter boxes so I had to settle for this Yasmani Grandal rookie card.

Finally we have this 1988 oddball Smoky the Bear football set.  Washington State has a lot of US Forest Service land so it makes sense that there would be a Smokey the Bear set released here.

This was another great card show and I look forward to it returning next year!

Lost and Found

Greatness Within (I don't know why I had a Harris Barton sticker)

As I have mentioned a couple times before, I used to be the proud owner of a complete Magic the Gathering 3rd (Revised) Edition set.  I had forgotten about it for a long time until last year I actively looked for it in my dad's house.  That search is what brought me back into the hobby as I reconnected with all of my old baseball and basketball cards.

After going through all the old cards, there was still no sight of my Magic cards.  I thought maybe my sister took them, maybe they had been sold at one point, or maybe they were truly lost.  

Since my father passed away in January, my step-mother has had the very unfortunate and difficult task of going through not only my father's things but everything else in the house as well.  Books, boxes, nick-knacks, who knows what. It's remarkable how when you own a house, you find a way to fill all the space.

A few weeks ago I went down to visit my step-mother as she had found some more things I would want.  Two of the items she found were white binders containing cards.  I'm sure you guessed where this story is going but yes, one of the binders contained my complete set of Magic cards!!

They were in the garage the whole time!

Even at a young age, I knew the importantamce of card organization

I haven't verified that all the cards in the set are there but I am 99% sure I have the whole set.

I have all of the dual lands cards, which were hard to get back in the day, so that makes me confident all the cards are there.

There are about 30 more album pages

As much as I am glad that the cards have been found, I don't know how much longer I will keep them around.  Aside from the nostalgia factor, I don't have any need to keep Magic cards around.  I'll sell them off and hopefully people are still interested in buying these cards.

One other thing I found was my attempt at designing my own Magic cards.  I don't recall my inspiration.  Maybe I was feeling angry?

Catching Up and Jumping Aboard

May has surprisingly been a busy month for myself.  During the first week of May I headed down to San Diego with my wife and her parents for a nice, relaxing getaway.  Then after I got back the weather started to shape up, which meant getting outside more to take advantage of the weather before it goes by too quickly.  That also means that cards have taken a backseat in the car that is life. I have picked up some cards here and there so I will show some of them off.

My first time to San Diego was fantastic.  It was even made better by what else? Baseball.  It wasn't planned this way but our trip happened to coincide with a Padres home stand.  I've never been to Petco Park so I told my wife the only thing I wanted to do was attend a baseball game there.

Petco Park

I found a ticket for a day game against the Colorado Rockies.  Knowing I would not visit again soon, I picked the best seat I could without breaking the bank.  I ended up finding a seat right next to the Rockies dugout, row 7.  Technically there were only two other rows of seats in front of my so the view was incredible.

I was so close to the field that I was even on camera at least once.  This particular shot occurred during the bottom of the 9th in a break in the action after Hector Sanchez let his bat slip and it hit a lady in the stands.

I'm on TV!

There I am inside the yellow circle rocking a Padres hat and sunglasses.  Everyone is concerned, looking at the woman who was hit and I was just thinking "how long is this going to take?" I'm sure there were other times when the camera caught me given my placement.

Nolan Arenado

I had a great view of Arenado's defensive skills at third base.

 

All of those shots I took my from my seat.

Watching the game felt all too familiar as a Mariners fan.  The Padres had trouble getting hits and missed opportunities when they finally did get on base.  In the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded and either one or two outs, San Diego couldn't close out the game.  They went on to lose it in extra innings.  That sort of disappointment is vintage Mariners.

Even though the Padres and Mariners are considered rivals for the purposes of interleague play (I know, it makes no sense), I now consider myself a Padres fan.  The ballpark was enjoyable, the city was nice, and the team has some likable players.  With the Mariners and Padres similar struggles with success and perennial underdog status, I couldn't help but embrace the Padres.  Plus, I didn't really have any NL team that I felt strongly about.

The Padres are not well represented in my collection (currently ranked #22) so next time I am at a card show I'll be on the lookout for any cards of current Padres players.

Since this is a card blog, I owe you all some pictures of cards.  Here are a few cards I have received lately.

A batch of 2017 Topps Now cards.  Did you know that Ichiro has as many Topps Now cards of him at Safeco Field as the Mariners have in general?  Yup.  The Mariners have two cards this year and Ichiro had two cards this year when he returned to Seattle.  Topps isn't all to blame as the Mariners have been lackluster this year.  

I've set an eBay reminder for 2008 Topps printing plates as I would love to be a super collector of anything and everything 2008 Topps.  Printing plates show up often on the site but I ignore any ones over $10.  I think this Willis McGahee yellow plate was right at $10.  That seems reasonable enough for a 1 of 1 card.

Blue Die Cut

Gold

Gabe Marks, the standout wide receiver from WSU made his way into a few Panini products this year, including 2017 Elite Draft.  Marks was featured in the autographs insert and with the dizzying array of parallels Panini puts out there have been plenty of cards from which to choose.  Here are a couple of the more short printed cards.

That is it for cards.  Thanks for reading!

Day 3: Looking for Summer

30-Day Challenge: Day 3

Here in Seattle it's universally understood that summer doesn't unofficially begin until after the Fourth of July.  Until then, the weather makes no guarantees.  I don't know if I can wait that long for a nice, sunny day.  Seattle recently broke a 122-year-old record for the rainiest winter.

I'm ready to get out of the rain.  Fortunately I will making a trip to San Diego soon.  There I know I'm guaranteed some sun.  I'm also guaranteed a San Diego Padres game.  This will mark the sixth different major league stadium (four if you exclude defunct stadiums) I have visited.  I'm excited.

All this talk about sun fits nicely into today's categoires:

• Music: A song that reminds you of summertime
• Minus the Bear - Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse
• Trading Cards: A card from the first set you tried to complete
• Magic the Gathering - Revised (3rd) Edition 

Finding a song to remind me of summer was hard.  Way back in 2005 I remember trying to come up with songs/albums that reminded me of each season and I could never come up with anything for summer.  

The song I picked doesn't remind me of any specific for summer but the feeling it gives me is a hot summer evening, windows open, a cool breeze wavering in.  Perhaps one of the reasons why this song, and really the album it's from, reminds of summer is that I first discovered the song in the summer.

Back in high school I went to a LAN (Local Area Network) party at my friend's house.  LAN parties were necessary in the days of dial-up internet.  In order to play multiplayer games with each other on our computers, we needed to be in the same room on the same network.  After we would play a few hours of Counter-Strike we would all download music and movies from each others' computers.  

Minus the Bear's Highly Refined Pirates was one such album I picked up as all the songs titles were unusual like "Monkey!!! Knife!!! Fight!!!" and "Thanks for the Killer Game of Crisco Twister."  I became a big fan of the band for their next two albums Menos El Oso and Planet of Ice. 

I stopped tracking the band when their album Omni focused less on the technical, math rock and veered toward synthpop.  Admittedly, I only listened to one song from Omni as wasn't the direction I was expecting or wanted.  I love a good synthpop album but not when it's from one of your favorite bands who should not be making such an album.  As I write this I decided to put on Omni to see if I can fairly judge it.  Stay tuned.

Scan courtesy of The Trading Card Database

When I think about summertime, I often think about summer in New Hampshire growing up.  The summers there were hot and humid.  They were also a lot of fun.  I had no school.  I had no responsibilities.  I could play all day.  Simpler times.

When I think about New Hampshire I also think about collecting Magic the Gathering cards.  I don't recall how I became hooked on Magic; maybe because other kids at school were playing the game. At one point, you had to get special permission to play the game at school.  I also think Magic cards were banned at one time, too.  

I collected Magic cards during the time of the Revised/3rd Edition.  One of the best birthdays I had was when my parents gave me a WHOLE box to open all by myself while everyone watched.  Thank you Mom and Dad.  

I had so many cards that I decided to put together the whole set, which was the first time I tried to complete a set.  I did complete the set but the cards have been lost to the universe.  I even asked my dad if he knew where they were and he didn't know.  I have some mana cards but that doesn't count.

If they ever turn up I will be very happy.  Until then, I'll live off the memories.

Day 2: Counting the Shots

30 Day Challenge: Day 2

I went to my first Mariners game of the year on Friday. The game turned out well with Felix Hernandez putting in a great effort and the bullpen held the slim lead that the offense gave them.  A 2-1 victory is about right for any game that Felix pitches.  

The main highlight of the evening was the stadium giveaway.  The day before the Mariners installed a statue of Ken Griffey Jr.  After being inducted into the Hall of Fame this was inevitable as he is one of the most, if not the most, beloved players in Seattle history.  On game night the Mariners gave out a replica of the statue, which features Griffey with his signature swing.  

Onto day 2 of the challenge!

• Music: A song with a number in the title
• Coheed and Cambria - 33
• Trading Cards: A card with more than one player on it
• 1996-97 Collector's Choice Mini #M135

Coheed & Cambria are often compared to Rush both musically and lyrically.  The lead singer of Coheed has a high falsetto voice much like Geddy Lee of Rush.  Coheed doesn't lean too hard into prog-rock like Rush but Coheed is definitely inspired by the genre.

Both singers wrote about the fantasy genre.  Part of the appeal of Coheed was that each album was a concept album part of a larger story.  I never followed the story to completion (if it even ever happened) as I dropped off from the band before that.  Still, I can appreciate a band with a larger vision.

"33" can either be interpreted as part of the overall Coheed story or it can be interpreted as a song about Patrick Ewing.  The story I heard was that Claudio Sanchez (the lead singer) was at a Knicks game watching Patrick Ewing play from the upper level and was inspired to write a song about him.

I'm willing to believe that the song is about Ewing.  Ewing wore number 33.  Lyrics include such phrases as "Patrick short flip and outside / boundary lines" as in he's throwing a pass to the out of bounds.  Another lyric includes "well nothing looks right from up here / i'm still unclear about the things you might have said."  Since Claudio was watching the game from high above in the arena, he could not make out what Ewing was saying on the court.

No matter the true meaning, it's a fun theory.

I could not pass up the opportunity to post a Patrick Ewing card after writing about a song that may or may not be about Patrick Ewing.  I only have eight cards of his in my collection so it was a difficult choice to pick out which card I would feature.  Actually, it was an easy choice, a Collector's Choice.

The minis from Collector's Choice were always a treat to pull.  The fact that this one features all elite players who are part of the Hall of Fame makes it even better now.

I would not be opposed if this type of three-panel card made a small comeback.  In baseball there seems to be some fatigue over true minis as neither Gypsy Queen nor Diamond Kings had minis this year.  Although I could envision card companies seeing this type of card as too labor intensive (not to mention acquiring three separate photo rights) to reproduce a similar card noways.  

Day 1: Starting the 30 Day Baseball AND Music Challenge

Before I get into the topic at hand I wanted to give a quick aside and say that the beginning to the Mariners baseball season has been soul crushing on a whole new level.  High expectations going into the season and the roster looked good on paper.  As it stands right now, the team is 2-7.  If they don't start to creep back up to .500, it will be a long season.

When Tony from Off Hiatus Baseball posted on Twitter about making a 30-Day Baseball Card Challenge to mirror the 30-Day Music Challenge he had been doing, I was excited to take part.  Not only would it provide great blogging material but it would be a fun way to re-examine all my cards. I won't be limiting myself to only baseball since my collection spans all sports.  Regardless, baseball will likely take up a lot of these posts.

The music challenge piqued my interest as well.  I decided to give myself some extra work and take on both challenges at the same time.  As can be seen on Tony's blog, talking about music and cards makes for some interesting connections and discussions.  As I've been planning out my 30 days, I've found some great links.

Since I'm going the blogging route instead of posting these topics on Twitter, I'm going to spread the posts out every few days or so.

Without further ado, I present to you the topics for day 1:

• Music: A song you like with the color in the title
• Kishi Bashi - Bright Whites
• Cards: A card from the current year with a photo you like
• 2017 Topps Now - Team Dominican Republic #W-26

Unlike most bands, the leading instrument here is the violin.  Kishi Bashi manages to craft delightful pop.  His solo performances are a treat as he does a wonderful job creating looping samples of his violin and vocals to replicate the experience of a full band.  I've seen Kishi Bashi play only once but it was one of the most fun times I've had at a concert.

With baseball season just right around the corner [I drafted this the weekend of opening day], there is nothing like the bright white of a brand new baseball.  Fortunately, baseball fans were treated to some early, meaningful baseball this year.  The World Baseball Classic took over in March and provided a lot of memorable moments.  From USA Baseball winning it's first WBC title, to Adam Jones making a spectacular leaping catch at the wall, and to Jose Bautista making a dead-on throw to the plate.

As the Topps Now card indicates, the throw to the plate eliminated a game-winning run to send the game into extra innings. The Dominican Republic would go on to win the game.

The picture captures the moment perfectly.  It's photos like these that I hope to see more of from Topps Now this year. [Two weeks into the season and Topps Now has been underwhelming].

That wraps up day 1 of the challenge.  Like I said, I plan to put up a post on this topic every few days. Catch you next time!

Looking at Alternatives to Topps: 2017 Donruss

While the release of Topps Series 1 is an exciting time because it means the start of baseball card season, I was not excited about the design of this year's Topps.  There are some inconsistent design elements and the colored backs come off too strong.  After I bought a couple packs that I promptly traded away, I decided I would pass on opening any more flagship this year.  I'll buy a factory set at the end of the year to satisfy my need to collect the full set.

When I saw a preview of 2017 Donruss, I knew this would be a good alternative for me this year. The design is very similar to last years Donruss football, a design I regarded highly.  If there is any main competitor to flagship Topps, Donruss would have to be it.  

Retail boxes have started to pop up so I bought a blaster to see if this will satisfy my desire for a good base set. Only seven packs with eight cards per pack, which is about half of what would be in a Topps blaster box. Although there is one guaranteed autograph or memorabilia card so that is a step above Topps' guaranteed manufactured relics.  

Pack #1

I wish the base design had full colored borders like the football but I still like the overall design. The gray backs look fine to me as not everything needs a blast of color.  

If there is one downside to this set it's that a lot of the photos feature similar poses.  Perhaps Panini does this because it is easier to Photoshop out the logos.  From what I have seen of this year's Topps flagship, their photo choices have some variation.  

With the stark white borders and similar photos, I'm going to dispense with showing off the rest of the base cards I opened.   

Name variation

This is a name plate variation so it's worth showing off.  I had to look up the story behind the nickname "Hakuna Machado" and it's actually rather clever.  It's based off the Lion King and the Orioles even made a song featuring his nickname.  I encourage you to watch it only because it's this kind of thing that reminds me how fun baseball is off the field.  

1983 Throwback design

These cards are a throwback to the 1983 Donruss design.  I have no nostalgia for 1983 Donruss (I wasn't even born yet) so these cards don't sway me one way or another.  The design is faithful to the old 1983 design.  These inserts came two to a pack for each pack so I'm not going to bother showing them all off.  You've seen them once and you've seen them enough.

Pack #2

70 - Anthony Rizzo
84 - Francisco Lindor
127 - Starlin Castro
174 - Wilson Ramos
179 - Duke Snider

I like that Panini will included retired players in their base sets.

1983 Throwback - Paul Goldschmidt & Mookie Betts

I lied above.  Here's two more of the 1983 retros.  I scanned these two before I decided to stop scanning them all.  Now you won't see any more of these cards.

The Rated Rookie subset, which is a standard Donruss inclusion.

Pack #3

54 - Mark Trumbo
96 - Michael Fulmer
112 - Adrian Gonzalez
186 - Pete Rose
195 - Carlos Gonzalez

1983 Throwbacks - Corey Kluber & Albert Pujols

This is from The Rookies insert.  I miss the days when the Astros were bottom feeders in the AL West.  Give the Mariners their chance to win the West!

Pack #4

85 - Jose Ramirez
100 - Evan Gattis
142 - Johnny Cueto
162 - Elvis Andrus
167 - Aaron Sanchez

1983 Throwbacks - Pedro Martinez & Evan Longoria

SN# 29/210

This is a Season Stat Line parallel from the 1983 throwbacks.  All of the serial numbers from this insert are from the stat represented.  In this case, Robin Yount had 210 hits in 1982, so the card is numbered out of 210. Clever

Pack #5

46 - Paul Goldschmidt

55 - Chris Davis

88 - Tyler Naquin

151 - Randal Grichuk

159 - Cole Hammels

1983 Throwbacks - Robinson Cano & Brian Dozier

Another Donruss staple, the Diamond Kings subset.

Pack #6

73 - Jon Lester

116 - Giancarlo Stanton

130 - Marcus Semien

165 - Josh Donaldson

169 - Troy Tulowitzki

1983 Throwbacks - Ozzie Smith & Josh Donaldson

SN# 871/999

Since Panini has the license to USA Baseball, it only makes sense that they would include players from the national team.  Hiura is a junior at UC Irvine and is projected as a high first round draft pick. I couldn't find any up to date stats on his current season but at the end of February he was hitting .444/.515/1.074 with five doubles and 15 RBIs in seven games.

I don't track college baseball prospects but I think I'll keep my eye on him now that I have his card.  

Pack #7

71 - Ben Zobrist

113 - Christian Yelich

128 - Masahiro Tanaka

170 - Jose Bautista

191 - Wade Boggs

1983 Throwback - Joe Morgan & Brooks Robinson

Last but not least, the guaranteed hit of the box.  I was certain I would pull a relic as the guaranteed hits are typically not the autographs.  This is a nice piece of purple jersey, a sight for sore eyes blinded by white jersey relics.  I don't think I have any Rockies relics, either.

Looking at the back, Panini says this is "player-used" material, which is code for "the player wore it for 10 seconds at Panini's request then took the jersey off."  Oh well, I guess game-used was too much to ask.  I still like the card.

A solid effort from Panini and this year's base design is an improvement over last year.  I love the USA Baseball insert and the Season Stat Line parallel.  I don't expect this to be a set I chase this year but I'll likely pick up another box.  There were no duplicates in this box, which is always a plus.