Wednesday, January 27, 2010

They're Baaaack : 2010 Topps Blaster w/ Historical Patch

I stopped at the local Meijers store tonight to check things out.They finally caught up with Target and have 2010 Topps!! Blasters, rack packs and individual packs.According to the box, our old friends , The Historical Patches are back.



Here's what this blaster had to offer.


Five of the 50 base cards. The only Tribe card in the whole box !! I love the Brewers "Franchise History card.



My first and only Gold parallel of 2010.




At first I wasn't sure what this card was. After checking the wrapper I'm thinking it must be "The Cards Your Mom Threw Out Original Backs". They are seeded 1:24 packs.





History of the Game I love these and want them all !!!!!! I love the historical side of baseball.



Legendary Lineage. Comparing legendary players to their modern counterparts There are some interesting facts here, but with the changes in rules and equipment, I'm not sure you can always make realistic comparisons.


Peak Performance. This would be another insert set that I want to collect. I'll be working on want lists this week-end.



Tales of the Game. Still another set I want!

The Cards Your Mom Threw Out. I thought I would want this set too, but I have a slight problem here. With Tim Lincecum.His card goes in the "What were they thinkin' ! " category.If you Mom (or wife) is throwing out your 2008 cards already, you better start picking them up off the floor. I just don't think a card this new belongs in this set.


2 of 10 Topps Town cards. The McCann is already promised to " McCann can Triple" and I'm thinking, if she doesn't already have it, "Covered in Wrappers" is salivating over the Puhols ! There was also a gold Man Ram.


Turkey Red. These are still nice looking cards, but they're getting a little old to me.


When They Were Young. This, I think, will be a fun and interesting set.





Now, there was one more pack in the box.

They did make the wrapper interesting this year.





The latest in the commemorative patches. MCP-9. Lou Gehrig from the 1937 World Series.At least it's a noteworthy player.

I was pretty happy with the box, except for the lack of Tribe cards.
The Meijer wrappers are the silver foil like you find in Walmart as opposed to the white vinyl that Target sells.




Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Priority Tribe Cards

Chris over at On Card Auto's saw a Nomar jersey card on on my trading post and quickly left a comment of interest.After a couple of emails we decided on a trade.The Nomar for an Asdrubal Cabrera jersey and maybe a few other Tribe cards as well. A few.

A couple days ago I came home to a small, USPS priority box from Chris.My first thought was " Well, he certainly uses sturdy packaging for a few cards".


This Topps jersey card was mostly what I was expecting. Much to my surprise, he also threw in the Dan Denham Bowman auto !! And a few extra Tribe cards.....

Just a few !! First of all, don't panic! He did not ship them loose in the box.They were tightly wrapped and sealed in cellophane in four individual packs.They all arrived perfectly.I didn't count but there has to be at least 200+ cards. And a very wide variety.I picked out a few favorites to share.


Wally Shaner, bottom center, got his first card 2 years after he died.1994 Conlon collection.It says he came up to Cleveland for a cup of coffee, common phrase for a short stint at the big league level, in 1923. He barely finished his coffee.3 games,1 for 4 with a run scored.Three years later he played in Boston for 2 years and finished his career with 13 games in Cincinnati in 1929.I love the Conlon Collection cards. I need to post my want list.



Slider !! Our colorful,fun loving mascot.Paul Shuey and his chorus line kick.Mark Whiten drops the bat and watches as the ball soars far away.




Boy I miss Omar.We all miss Omar.At least we'll see a lot of him this year if he makes it up with the White Sox (I believe I read they signed him). 1994, Eddie Murray's first year with the Tribe.

I don't know what to say Chris, except thank you very, very much for all the great Tribe cards!!
Be patient with me, your Nomar will be on it's way as soon as I can get some Cubbies together!!





Monday, January 25, 2010

O-H-I-O Thank you OSU !!



The Rose Bowl

OSU-26

O-17



Why, you ask, is this important on my Cleveland Indians sports card blog ? Well, Madding, over at Cards on Cards was rooting for the Ducks.He had a great post about the Ducks and seemed to be very knowledgeable on that subject.At the end he mentioned something about watching the game so I put up a comment saying I'd be watching but rooting for the Bucks.I also suggested a friendly little wager of 50 Cards cards to 50 Tribe cards that OSU would win! Being a blogger of good faith,Madding came through with the terrific assortment of cards shown below.






First a little college basketball and football.





Then down to the Tribe !!
These are some great cards from the 1995 Bazooka set.


Next a lot of shiny.
2000 Topps Chrome - Eat your heart out Motherscratcher !!


If you look close, Robbie is blowing a bubble while stealing a base.


I love this this Albert Belle card from 1995 Stadium Club.
They don't make them like this anymore!



Dave's expression is priceless.
"You don't know,I just might bunt." Riiiiight.



Ryan Garko's card looks like a posed shot from the early 1900's.



There was a little bit of everything in this package.

Ah, sigh......



I'm not sure if Keith Foulke ever had an Indian uniform but he had a Tribe card.



Well Madding, I'm sorry about your Ducks, but thank you very much for the great Tribe cards.
I just might be able to find a few Red Birds to send your way!!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Thorzul's Budget Break

Thorzul had a budget box break a couple weeks ago and this was some of the Tribe loot I ended up with.


First some 1997 Circa.
I like this set because there are several different background colors and
designs, even within the same team.
Player names are a little tough to read in some cases,but I still like them.
I even needed a couple of these cards.


The top Dennis Martinez is from 1996 Score and is the
"Dugout Collection" parallel.
These were nice looking cards with the copper colored border.
Below is Albie Lopez in the regular, white bordered basecard.
Albie was known for his bubble gum bubbles as shown in the 1995 Pinnacle set.

The only trouble with older box breaks is most of the players are no longer on the team!!
But, that's all part of the system and why I no longer have any favorite players.
I will always root for the Tribe, but it's hard to get too excited about
individual players when you know they probably won't be there that long.



Lastly , we have 1999 Upper Deck MVP.
I was never overwhelmed by this set but the Omar silver script is nice.
Too bad one of the Colon duplicates wasn't!

There was also a nice selection of Astros cards

that went to my oldest son Josh.

Thanks Thorzul, for this break.

I added a few more cards too my ever growing collection!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Lured in by the promise of GOLD, then bipped by my own team !!!!

We all know the internet can be a dangerous place.You can lose your identity and thousands of dollars.You can be led to think you're going to meet the love of your life in a wonderful, romantic setting (why do people believe this??!!) only to come face to face with a serial killer in a dark ghetto alley.But this,this is just wrong.


Wrong , Wrong ,Wrong !!!!!
And I hate to say it,but this was brought about by one of our own.

I received a seemingly innocent email from a blogger, with whom I've never dealt, but felt was an upstanding member of the community. He offered to send me this gold Steve Olin card.One I dearly need for my collection.I unwittingly gave him my address.

A couple days later I received another email " Sorry about the cards that tagged along with Steve...". What ??!! I quickly emailed back accusing him of bipping. Alas, no reply.

Yesterday the package arrived.I had my wife dial 91_ just in case my second heart attack was on it's way. As I opened the big yellow mailer I saw the glint of gold inside, as shown below.



Ah...the nearly perfect, very well-centered 1993 Topps Gold Steve Olin card !

But wait, there was more.




Oh No !!!
A dozen Carlos Baergas flying through the air,coming right at me !
With their mouths open and an evil grin on their faces
I knew there was no chance for escape.
But then something else dropped out.

Agh !! A Carl Crawford card.
Wait a minute, there's something unusual about this card.
Derek Jeter is wearing a disguise.


The jokes on you !
You must have accidentally sent me this one-of-one card right out of your own collection.
It's probably worth millions to a Carl Crawford collector.

Wait, you are one !!!

Yes, friends, the culprit is Paul from Carl Crawford Cards.

Thanks Paul for the great cards !!



Friday, January 22, 2010

2010 Topps Tribe and a huge mail day.

Get ready 2010 here we go !!!!
Let the games begin for the new baseball card season. I don't know how this is going to pan out with just one licensed product line.We've been used to so many choices in the past. They say everything goes in cycles so we'll have to wait and see what the future brings.And what the unlicensed products deliver. Maybe an upcoming generation of young kids will catch the baseball card train again and other brands will return.

The new Topps.
I'm kind of on the fence with this new look.I do like the bright colors, although some better than others.The Indians always look good with red so I am happy with the Tribe cards. The player names are hard to read though.That would be my biggest complaint. I bought 5 packs.3 for me and 1 for each son.

Justin Masterson. My first 2010 Indian card.

I did get a nice trio of Topps Town cards including the Halladay gold.

This is from the Legendary Lineage insert set.
LL3 comparing Babe Ruth with A-Rod.

After Masterson,this may be my favorite card of these three packs.
The Cards Your Mother Threw Out # CMT-11.
My boyhood hero,Mickey Mantle. Although my Mother never threw this one out because I never had it !

Dexter Fowler,#TR26, from the Turkey Red set.

Peak Performance
#PP-34
Ichiro gets 200 hits in 9 consecutive seasons to set a new record.

Cool ! A card give-a-way.
I'll be looking for more of these.Maybe I can get the real Mantle card.lol



The mini Red Backs.
Mariano Rivera # 8 of 45.


And Topps Attax will be back !



A few other , "interesting to me" cards.

Rick Porcello.
A good start last year for this Tiger hurler.
Can he repeat?
I love this shot of Rollins trying to avoid the tag by Ryan Theriot.


The Franchise History cards are very interesting as they compare team records to current leaders. Hopefully there will be one for Cleveland.


Here's one for Night Owl !!
Matt Kemp trying to climb the wall.

Finally,as Stephen Drew dives into the base,the ball is lined up perfectly with his helmet.





This is what I'll be doing all week-end!!

I came home tonight to 3 brown mailers and a small priority box
stuffed with Tribe cards!!
Plus, I got trapped by the promise of GOLD !!