A call to arms

I've been doing some organizing of my cards, cuz frankly, they need better organization. The stack of minis was just waiting for me to knock it over. Considering I picked up some sleeves a good two weeks ago, I have but myself to blame for taking until now to put them where they rightfully belong. In the sleeving of the minis, I did some reordering of the cards, getting the same backs together, and the subsets. Even put all the minis that are sideways together. Oh - I am talking 2012 A&G if you haven't figured it out. Anywho - found I have one no number back mini. Devon Meroraco. Yeah, exactly what I said. So I took the time to go back through all the other Ginter minis and see if I had any other no number backs. I know I had a Bazooka back, but danged if that is MIA. But sure enough, I do have two other no number minis in my binder, and that is where this call to arms comes from. First, a gander at the backs, shall we?

Click them if you want the full size - I didn't reduce them. But if you ask me, both of those are no number backs, correct? Good - then I am not blind. Ok, here comes the really confusing part, and I'll start by showing the front of the cards.

So we have a 2007 black border Elijah Dukes (see my Meroraco comment above), and a 2010 Johnny Strange. Sweet they have no number on the back, but from my research, something isn't right. I know the 2012 mini no numbers are short printed to just 50 of each. I wanted to see what the short print number was for these two years, and damned if I found some confusing info.

I first found this article talking about the 2007 minis. In it, they state the the no number mini has a normal back. Ok - mine does. But the very next paragraph talked about the black bordered minis. It makes no reference if the no number minis are normal front or black border front. My thinking is if they were related (no number back on black border), there would be some statement of that fact. Nope.

Moving on to the 2010 mini of that Strange dude, this article says the no number minis are serialed to /50. Check that card out. There is no serial number printed anywhere on it. Go ahead, look it over a few time. Nothing. So......WTH?

And my call goes out to you whom are reading. If you have a link telling me something I can't find, send it. If you have a clue to what I am missing, enlighten me. If you have a good joke, I better frigging laugh.

Sunday SIL: Double vision

Ok - grab your 3D glasses for this week's installment of Stuff I Like. I know it's been a couple weeks hiatus on this feature. Life has a funny way of kicking you down, and then continuing to kick you as you try and get up. Screw you, life. And your board game too. But all in all, let's dive into my cards (or other sporty stuff) and share with you that which I deem cool or awesome or kinda neat-o (according to Eddie Haskell).

Today I present cards (that is a plural there and not a typo) that chronicle a famous event in the World Series. I'm sure if you ask about, you will have many answers to what is the greatest or most memorable WS play. You have Larsen's perfect game. Carter's home run. Buckner's five hole. Gibson's home run. Robinson stealing home. Mays catch. Fisk's willpower. Smith's beer shower. I could continue on because I am sure any of you reading have a fave I didn't link (I didn't even link to one of my personal faves). But if you are a baseball fan, a quick scan of my links may point to one event I missed. And if you live (or love) the Pirates, you are pretty pissed and may have stopped reading. Well, I am glad you are still reading, cuz the World Series lore is not complete without this:

That was 5 years before my birth, but a play ranked as one of the greatest home runs ever blasted. So in my binder of special cards, I keep these two side by side.

I am pretty sure those are not the only pieces of cardboard that celebrate that home run. I'll hunt down the others. While Bill was not remembered (much) for his offense, one would be hard pressed to find a better second baseman in the league during the 50's and 60's. It's great he's in the hall - just should have gone in before the veteran's committee had to put Bill where he rightfully belonged. Think Ron Santo minus ten years. I think I will risk that A&G card on a TTM from Mr. Mazeroski. That card deserves a nice autograph.

Oh.....if you are honestly shocked by the following YouTube selection, raise your hand.

Let's talk Ginter (again).

I gave you the warning in the post subject, so don't go and blame me if you are reading this and thinking "holy crap - are we going to drone on and on about Allen and Ginter in ANOTHER blog post on some other blog?". Right there is the subject line, pal. You ain't getting some post about Panini basketball or 1964 Topps. Be glad I didn't title this "Check out the deal on the '52 Mantle I scored", only to jam a Ginter post down your throat. You're welcome.

That all being said, I thought I would just throw together a post high lighting the "hits" I have received in this year's A&G offering. If you scan back on that last sentence, you notice the word hits is contained within quotes. Some writers will display words in this fashion with ironic, even sarcastic, tones about them. And that is exactly my intention. Now, I have not purchased a hobby box of A&G, so all my pulls have come from blasters, rack packs and the like. How about I just show you the scan and we'll talk more after the picture....

-5 manna for poor alignment

So, what's not to like? First we have Jayson Werth. Granted, he was injured most of the year, but not a great start up there. Then we have David Ortiz. The swatch is ugly, and I think I have plenty relics for this guy already. Especially when one is one too many. Chris Young. Who? Miguel Cabrera. He's a Tiger, which means I don't like him by nature of his uniform. Sorry, but you suck. Last is David Wright. At least this swatch has some personality to it. It appears to be the white under a patch, as there are stitch holes and some greenish stain in the middle. Again, it's David Wright. Zzzzzzzz....

All are available for trade, and you would be surprised what offers I would accept for any of these.
 

Midday rock out.

I give you General Grievous Ramone.

Hey! Ho! Let's go!

Nice try.

I'll do my best to bring this around as a card post, as frankly, I haven't posted much lately (a little bit of writer's block, a little bit of personal blahs, a little bit of time constraints, etc....), but at least I was able to get a good smile on my face, and I thought I would share, maybe to put the same smile on yours.

So I threw a few Cisco routers on Craigslist. The cost is about what I found for the same items used from a Google search, so it's pretty fair. New, these suckers were in the thousands. They are a few years old, but still. The price is a hell of a deal. Well, I got an email pretty fast inquiring about them. "Why yes, they are still available." I replied. And then a few hours later, I get this response from the original email:

Hi There 

Thank you for getting back to me. Can you assure me that it's in good state and that i will not be disappointed with it.I'm ready to pay your asking price and to be honest, i wanted to buy this for my father, but the issue is i am an oceanographer and i do have a contract to go for which starts tomorrow and am leaving any moment from now.The contract is strictly no call due to the lack of reception on the sea area. But I'm able to access email anytime as we will make use of laptop so my only quickest payment option is PayPal as i can send money via PayPal anytime.Since I'm requesting this transaction to be done via PayPal, i will be responsible for all the paypal fee/charges on this transaction and if you don't have an account with paypal, its pretty easy, safe and secured to open one. Just log on to www.paypal.com. I hope we can make the purchase as fast as possible? I have a mover that will come for it once payment clears and they will take care of very necessary paper for me. So i look forward to hear from you soon. will like to see more pics. I need the address where the agent will meet you and your PayPal email address so i can send the money now.

Many Thanks 

Yeah......riiiiiiiiiiiight. An oceanographer that happens to be heading out at a moments notice on some project with no call abilities, yet access to email, wants to send his agent over, with movers, to get the items. They're routers, dude, who needs movers? Not to mention the other red flags in this email. And the picture at the top? That is "supposedly" James Demark, the person inquiring. I quick Google image search states this is actually a scamming Nigerian televangelist Chris Oyakhilome. So I shot James/Chris a reply:

The ad states I do not ship. That is not negotiable. You come to my house, you pay cash, you walk away with routers. The only way I will change that policy is that the price of the routers is changed to 1 million dollars. Per router. So if you would like to spend 4 million dollars and send your agent over, then we'll talk.

And wow - you are an oceanographer AND a televangelist in Nigeria. Any chance you also have $35.7million dollars from some late prince you need help getting out of the country? Cuz I would be totally interested in helping you with that as well. 

He has yet to reply back. He is in Google chat, though. I should mess with him....

Ok - card stuff. I have a BUNCH of packages I am still trying to get out. See the first paragraph to understand why they are still on my desk. I hit a 5th jersey in 2012 A&G - David Wright. I'll post all my A&G hits that are up for trade. Really don't want the uniforms I got and would love for them to get to people that would appreciate them more. Ok - I'll stop here. Enjoy the laugh.

Sunday SIL: Do you get it?

Today's SIL is prompted by something I received just yesterday in the mail. I finally took the leap, prompted by a potential price increase, and "joined" a site I have been following for about 3 years now. It is one of maybe three bookmarks I will visit on a daily basis, and for you that are reading, you should add it to your daily reads as well. First off, on to what it is...

I now officially "get it", though I have gotten it long before I found the site. For those who are out of the know, this card makes me a member of UniWatch, the only site on the web that talks about the look of sports uniforms. UW covers all the sports and them some. Paul Lucas, who runs the site and is an ESPN journalist, will blog about anything and everything, whether the look of the new Seahawks jerseys (sh*t in my opinion), to the history of the MLB logo and anything in between. What's really great about UW is that a fair amount of it is reader driven. From finds posted in the comments that my hit the ticker to a random comment that drives the post of that day, it's a fun community of folks that enjoy the look of the game as much as the game itself.

And to "get it"? I think, and Paul would agree, that part of getting it has to do with these two pictures:

Who looks like a ballplayer, and who looks like a slob? Outman gets it. Strasburg gets it. Pierre gets it. Fielder, Sabathia and most of the rest don't. If you have never visited UniWatch, head over and join the fun and the appreciation of what sports looks like, from the angle of fashion.

Out of reach...

With the release of Allen and Ginter 2012 edition, I took the opportunity to try and score a nice small mini set from the 2011 group. When I first pulled one of these flora cards from a blaster, it just caught me up. There's something really neat about these cards, and I was determined to complete the set. And then I saw the prices of the cards on eBay, and my heart sank. They are sweet cards, but not for the price range I was seeing. Well, I waited and when 2012 hit the stores, the prices on the 2011 cards really tanked, these flora included. I have picked up 3 of the 4 needed to finish off the 5 card set, and I think the 3 cards, total with shipping, have cost me under $15. I'll pay a fin for this card, as opposed to $20 plus a year ago. Well, as I said, I have 4 of 5. The fifth is proving to be a pain. I have now tried at 3 auctions for the Mexican Hat, and each time, something in my life keep me away from my computer when the auction ends, and I fail to land the card. The winning bids have been $1.54, $1.26 and $2.01. Ok - I usually start at like a buck eleven or something, just to put it on my radar, but then life becomes life, the auction ends and I get the email that makes me sick for how low someone snagged the card.

So if you have a Mexican Hat mini, think of me. My email is in my profile - let's talk. Otherwise, this song will be ringing through my ears for years. My eyes will be happy, but still...