Building the club.

Free.

Just the word is amazing. Free embodies all the that perfect in the world. Free is never having to have enough money, searching for spare change, worrying about coming up short. Free is joy and happiness. It could not even be anything wonderful, but if it's free, it's awesome. When it comes down to it, is there anything on this blue ball of a planet better than something that is free???

Oh hi.

Touché.

Many of you have been trading partners with me, and in that I have your address which permits me to drop a PWE on you at will. I have about 1.64 million more readers that I have not traded with yet, but might enjoy receiving a PWE from time to time.

It also says 1.659999 millions of those readers find you better looking than Brad Pitt.

So how about you join all the cool kids? Up top, in the links bar, I have added a page for Club PWE, the coolest, hippest club in the history of the world. At least the coolest club on this website.

So click on the link above. You will be taken to a simple form to fill out. I won't share this data with anyone else for under $100. We'll have good fun!

Throwback Thursday - 05.30.2013

Every Thursday, I post a card showing a ballplayer wearing a throwback uniform from my collection. Hopefully, he will be wearing it well, with proper pants blousing. I'll try not to duplicate a uniform. The picture may be from the front of the card, or the back. Enjoy the uniforms from years past.

Jermaine Dye - 2001 Fleer Ultra - Kansas City Monarchs

Rolling the dice.

Fairfield Company.

It might take a few seconds for some of us to ID who Fairfield is, but a look at their Facebook page should help those that can't place where you know the name. When I get bored, I like picking up a repack box. Or anything repack-y. It's a total gamble, but you never know what you get. I have added far more cards to my collection through the 20 pack repack boxes at Walmart (no idea the company), but Target Fairfield repacks have done me fairly well. I talked a month or so ago about a Bucky Dent auto I pulled from a pack of Goudey. 10 pack repack at Target. The dual Ducks auto? Another Fairfield hit. There are a few more jersey pulls I have never blogged about.

Lately, the budget has been tight, but I still like ripping open packs. GQ, Heritage and Series One are pretty complete, and I am waiting on Allen and Ginter to be released, so I have turned to Fairfield's hanging 100 card count rack packs for some fun. Just five bucks, and I get a good 15-20 cards out that I want or need. However, the packs list the ratio of a hit (relic or auto) at 1 out of every 8 packs. I have bought four packs so far, I have 3 hits. 75% compared to 12% - I am WAY ahead of the curve. Granted, the hits aren't going to pay my daughter's college, but I still like a bonus.

 

I just pulled this Maine jersey a couple hours ago. Not a bad card design, but available if you are interested. Maine is not a collection of mine, nor are the Mets.

Pulled this Rodriguez auto about a week ago. Actually, the whole rack pack was pretty sweet with the number of cards I added, plus the cards that will be traveling around the US in PWEs. Again, this is available for trade. I am looking at you, Baseball Dad. But the first rack pack I bought a few months back had the best pull of all, in my opinion. I think you will agree.

This was still in the penny sleeve (with $15 written on it in marker). But how great a pull for $5? I needed a jersey card of Frank. Now I just need his autograph to finish off the trifecta.

Turning two

When I played ball as a kid, I worked my way through a lot of the positions. In the minor leagues (8 and 9 years old), I was a third baseman and a pitcher. I had a natural curve that the coach liked. I also had decent reaction time for the hot corner. Though, I was forgetful with the most important piece of equipment and was reminded once when a ball hit towards me bounced off a rock. Never forgot that plastic guard again.

Moving up to the majors (10, 11 & 12), I was moved to center field. I was the only kid on the team with any decent speed or range. So I roamed the outfield catching what I could. Last game, and we were out of the hunt, so the coach just put us in positions we had never played before throughout the game. First inning, I started at 2nd. Looking back at the last game, and the first inning in particular, the couch should have played the lineup that way the whole year. First batter ripped a shot down third the the kids plopped on to smother, got to his feet and threw the runner out. Next batter looped one over the short stop that the left fielder snagged with a diving catch. Third batter hit a shot up the hole, to the right of 2nd, that I broke to, backhanded, put on the brakes and threw out the runner by a few steps. ESPN Top Ten plays in one inning. But I am getting away from my story.

Pony league (13 & 14). I get drafted by the Cardinals and at the first team meeting the coach tells me I am moving to second. "Because of that great play in the last game last season", I ask? "No Jeff. You have no arm." Ok, wasn't what you wanted to hear, but I became a two time All Star at second, committed just a single error in two years (because of an injured glove hand the previous inning sliding into a base) and batted .469 in my last year.

In Colt....that's where I got stuck on the pines, and I figured the game wasn't fun anymore. So I moved to soccer. I was away from baseball a very long time. However, in my heart, I have always been a second baseman. It's natural one of my side collections in the play at 2nd. Jim over at Garvey, Cey, Russell, Lopes did an amazing double play card dump on his site, and it really impassioned me to work harder on that sub set. Jim and I talk about the DP cards that I find that are not on his master list. Recently, Jim dumped a nice envelope of ChiSox and double play cards to help me out. The Sox went to the Big Sort table (groan), but let's look at a few of the cards with the turn at two.

Jim hit me with a couple dozen cards for the binder. I'm hoping Nacho has that Larkin, cuz he is not getting it. The star is the Delino in the lower right. Double play, killer stirrups and a bunt on the back. That's the trifecta here at the 2x3 household.

I can honestly say I never had to sky over anyone trying to break up a double play in my youth career. Oh well, can't live the full life of a star ballplayer at 15.

Thanks Jim. One day, we will have the definitive record of all the turns at second on cardboard.

Awesome to last a lifetime.

Still catching up a some great envelopes received here are Chateau 2x3. One blog that I find a wealth of great info is Lifetime Topps. Charles decided to collect the base Topps set for each year since his birth. Now there is a project. It's also a site with some awesome need lists that I am more than willing to fulfill. Charles replied in kind for the cards I sent, and does Charles know how to fill an envelope.

I didn't scan off the 2012 and '13 Gypsy Queen, but he knocked a few off the needs lists.

Those? Oh, just the last 3 Heritage I needed for the base set. And the Kinsler is another SP off the list.

MINIS!!! The three A&G were needs, and the Thomas GQ turns out to be a card I don't have. NICE!

 

COLORED PARALLELS! Hmmm - that doesn't carry the same sound as 'minis'. But I do love me some gold, Target and sparkle White Sox parallels. Charles could have stopped here and I would have felt like I get the better side of the trade. Then he added these three and it was a slam dunk.

With the train wreck (in my opinion) of the whole Turkey Red online deal, I gave a crap about the Sox in the set. Now I have half of them. They are pretty sweet in person. I may have to work on the Sale and Peavy if I can find them at a good price. I hate last year's Heritage, but I don't hate them when they are chromed!

Charles, thanks a bunch for the great trade.Now go help Charles and his base set needs.

Throwback Thursday - 05.23.2013

Every Thursday, I post a card showing a ballplayer wearing a throwback uniform from my collection. Hopefully, he will be wearing it well, with proper pants blousing. I'll try not to duplicate a uniform. The picture may be from the front of the card, or the back. Enjoy the uniforms from years past.

Scott Erickson - 1995 Upper Deck - Minnesota Twins

A smart use of Listia

I don't need to go too much into Listia. I think we all know what it is, and how it works, blah blah blah.... I think we also know that people on there are frigging out of their minds thinking some '90 Score card of Brian Holman is worth 499 credits. Free or not - that's real money in my book. But, from time to time, something will come on Listia that makes it worth the effort. This is the culmination of one of those times.

See, about a month back, an auction hit for a Panini National Trasures booklet of Lance Berkman. Now, there isn't a binder on Lance here at Casa Dos por Tres. However, there is an avid collector of Mr. Berkman in Alabama. Here's what was listed.

I was fairly certain that while the swatch was not Lance as an Astro, I was sure the Dimwit would be interested. Also, what the hell else did I have to spend my 20k+ of credits I have earned from surveys? After an intense bidding war, I snagged this for just under 8400 credits. Listia math puts that about $28. But since I sold nothing to get the credits, it was free to me. I have had my eye on a card from Dimwit's trade bait, and I knew this could wedge it from his hands....

....only to learn it was already promised to someone else. CURSES!!!

I'll get you next time, Plaschke! And your fantasy wife too!

So I had to come up with a plan B. Which, after a lot of white board work, came down to "Hey Sam - let me know what you want to trade for it". One of my better plans, if I say so myself. It took Sam less than a week to come up with the perfect trade. In the package came some new...

Some old...

YUMMY VINTAGE! And the prize of the trade was this...

Errrr.....well that didn't scan so well. Let me try this another way.

Ahhh - much better. My original plan was to swap the booklet for a Pee Wee Reese relic card. After that fell through, Sam offered a TriStar certified autograph of Harold Baines. Well hell yeah! This is my first autograph on a baseball, and I couldn't ask for a better player.

So, children, what have we learned? Free can be pretty dang cool.