Alright, Fess up, Who did this !!??

A small flat box arrived in the mail today.

It contained this:

I admit I tried to make the picture a little dramatic.
But it is almost 6" high.

Granted, it is mostly commons, but how many times have you overlooked a common card at a show and then got home and discovered you needed it ?

Here are a few samples.

The Sandy Alomar Christie Brinkley is nice.
There was also a Julio Franco in the stack
and I already have Thome.
Now I need Belle, Ramirez, Baerga and Lofton.

There is a really large selection of years and brands of cards
and they are several I know I need and probably more I don't know I need!


So who sent this huge assortment of Tribe goodness?

I'm not telling !

It's not that I don't want to tell.
I don't know !

There was nothing inside or outside of the box to indicate who sent it.

It was post marked in Resaca, Ga.

I'm  not sure but I suspect Jinxo56  from
  Wanted : Baseball Cards

He and I have been discussing a trade.

But whoever sent them, thank you very much !!


I also got a package yesterday.

This one had a return address!

Matt, from   Bob Walk the Plank told me  he had a 2014 Donruss Jason Kipnis.
Of course I said "I'll take it !"

He also thought he may have some Indian game used.
This is what he found.

A really sweet 2002 Leaf Mirror Blue Ellis Burks jersey card.

There was one thing he neglected to tell me though.

The Kipnis card had some ink marks on the bottom.

This was great surprise as Kipnis is one of my favorite players !

If only Donruss hadn't used stickers. 

This would be beautiful on card.   

Well, thanks  Matt and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.
I have no Pirate auto's or GU cards but I'll find something for you !

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

Each year as new baseball card products hit the shelves, we all want to get all of the cards of our favorite teams or players. Or, in the case of you set builders, complete sets.

Most base team sets are pretty easy to come by via packs, blasters and all the great blogger trades.

However, some of the parallel sets are a little tougher.
The 2012 Topps Cognac (sparkle or whatever you want to call it) set was no exception, although not as tough as some.

I recently found a listing on ebay for 11 of these cards
( 1 duplicate - US121 Johnny Damon ) and won it for less than $5 !

This purchase made a dent in my needs, but do to the size of the team set, I still need several more.

91    Active HR Leaders  Jim Thome

205  Justin Masterson

324  Active RBI Leaders  Jim Thome

436  Chris Perez

469 Vinny Pestano

566  Jason Donald

569 Travis Hafner

582  Shin Soo-Choo

583  Josh Tomlin

US 48  Asdrubal Cabrerra

US 97  Shelly Duncan

US 146  Casey Kotchman

US 200 Chris Perez

If anyone can help with these please let me know. I have five trade packages going out tomorrow and I would love to send out more !

Dodger Redemption and My Greatest Pull Ever (not the Dodger !)

Redemptions !

You hear about them.

You see them on other blogs.

You wonder  " Will I ever get one !? "

Over the years I've been lucky enough to get three of them.
All from retail packs.

My first came in 2001, from Donruss.

Three days ago was the 40th anniversary of one of  this guy's greatest achievements.
715 HR's. 

 

If I remember correctly,

I was supposed to get some rookie card.

For some reason it wasn't available

and I received this instead.

I don't remember complaining too much !

Some of you readers may remember my second.

She came dancing in a couple years ago.

Yeah Baby !

Two - time "Dancing with the Stars"  champion

Cheryl Burke !

When I first pulled the redemption card,

I had no idea who she was.

It didn't take much research to figure it out.

And now, what you Dodger fans have been waiting for,

my latest mail in redemtion.

It just came a few days ago. I was not real impressed, as an Indian fan, and it can be had on ebay for less than $10.

Shiny !

Refractory !

Dodgery !

Paco Rodriguez !!

 

I'm still up in the air on this one.

I want to keep it because it a redemption.

But can't really decide.

And now,

what I feel is the best pack pull I've ever made'

drum roll please !

Dadadadadadadadadadadadadadadadada.............

This came from a random pack of Upper Deck cards I purchased at the Meijers store in Sandusky ,Ohio back in 1999 on the way from work one night !

This one is definitely a keeper !

 

Tribe Cards on the Internet for Less than $15 !

Ebay and other sports card dealers on the internet have definitely lowered card values and hurt local card shops over the years. There will always be changes, as technology advances, with no sign of slowing down.

Is that a good thing or bad ?  Well, it all depends on which side of the technology you are on.

If you were a blacksmith in the 1890's, you were on the verge of losing your job to automobiles and mechanized farm equipment. If you were a file clerk or key punch operator in the 1960's, you would lose your job to a computer. If you were a photo processor in the early 1980's, you would lose your job to digital cameras. The list goes on and on and will continue until who knows when. Just like the song by Zager and Evans,  In the Year 2525. 

You have to adapt. You have to be able to see which way your industry and customers are moving and try to keep one step ahead. 

Card shop owners can move their inventories online, but the prices aren't likely to come back to what they were in the 1980's and 90's. Oh, there will always be some cards that command higher prices, but buyers have so many options now and it's so easy to search so many different venues for the lowest price.

My two sons and I never had access to a local card shop. The closest thing we experienced was the card shows at the local shopping malls. Which, of course, are on the verge of becoming extinct also. There are a few that still seem to thrive, but not in our area. There are some flea markets around also. That is another option.

Life is just moving too fast and everyone wants everything to be too easy !

Ok, off my soap box and back on to my comfy swivel chair. Back to the computer, to show you the Indian cards I purchased online, so you wouldn't have to drive clear to Ohio to see them ! ( not that you would anyway !)    

2014 Topps Heritage, Tribe Style, Thanks to the Daily Dimwit

Thanks mostly to Sam, at the Daily Dimwit, I have a nearly complete 2014 Heritage, Indian team set.

 These are the ones Sam sent.

Jason Kipnis and Carlos Santana

are short prints.

David Murphy came from Red Sox Fan in Nebraska.

I pulled Chisenhall.

Still need the : 

Target Reds

 Walmart Blues

Chromes

Minis

Auto's

Inserts

Short Prints

Seems like it never ends !!

Tribe Cards From Red Sox Fan in Nebraska

I recently received a nice stack of Indian cards from Metallattorney, over at Red Sox Fan in Nebraska .

Here are a few of them :

2014 Heritage

Ubaldo apparently didn't want to win the

 World Series this year.

The other three guys will  hopefully be around

 to join in the celebration in October !

I'm not really impressed by this set, 

I think it's the yellow background.

But I do want all the Tribe cards !

Especially the state and zip code parallels.

And the two short print Charboneau auto's.

I love to see the colored border parallels too !

It's a long process to get all of these.

The Panini Golden Age cards, I do like.

Especially the image of Lopez flipping the mask and getting ready to make a play.

Thank you very much Metallattorney,

for the great Tribe cards !

The Wizard of Oz Netted me Tribe Cards !

No, this has nothing to do with Ozzie Smith.

My wife loves the movie "The Wizard of Oz".

Cliff, over at the Phillies/Astros blog known as Capewood's Collections, is also a Facebook friend of mine.

He showed a Wizard of Oz  playbill, from a theater he went to, so I asked if he could get me an extra one for my wife. He was more than happy to send one and also included a stack of Indian cards !

Here are a few of my favorites :

This card is strange in so many ways.

First, the look on his face.

Playing "air guitar" on his kayak paddle.

I assume the black around his face and chin

 is part of his kayak gear.

The whole kayak outfit.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not making fun of the guy.

I'm sure you have to very physically fit, skillful and well trained to be a champion of his caliber.

Maybe if he was pictured with his craft......

All of the above is why I really like this card !

Cliff did include a wide variety of cards,

as you can see.

  

Here's Carlos Santana doing his

 catching and hitting things.

Next year they will have to add a third base action shot.

Talk about facial expressions !

Giambi is like, "Did I really hit it that far ?"

After all these years, I'm finally starting

 to really look at my cards ! 

I don't think I ever did that enough.

Now here are some serious looks.

Finally, a couple oldies, 1987 Fleer.

If the blue on Carmon Castillo's border

looks darker, it's because it is a glossy version.

And, one more time !!

Thanks Cliff, for the playbill and the great cards !