I made my semi-regular (read:  when I remember about the site) trip to Checkout My Cards.com the other day, and just recently my cards arrived in the mail.  This site is growing, and I really hope it succeeds long enough for me to get my act together and send some cards in.  You may think this is pessimistic, but it might take me years to get things together.   I like having my cards with me.  I hope for a long and happy future with Checkout My Cards.

I picked up two cards this trip, and was pleased to notice that pricing for ‘hit’ cards is becoming a bit more reasonable (even without having to make offers).  I snagged an autograph and GU card for eBay like prices.  This is good to see, as eBay has changed a lot in the past little while.  I still use eBay for selling my hits (its hard to get the same exposure anywhere else), but this could be an option for those more generic autographs and jersey cards everyone seems to have boxes of.

Upper Deck Heroes had a lot of Josh Hamilton cards.  He had a bunch of base parallels (which I am diligently tracking down), and a similar number of autographed parallels (which I am much slower at picking up.)  I think this parallel is referred to as ‘Charcoal’, but I am not too sure.  I call it Auto /150.  Serial numbers are not up for guesses.

Billy Butler Jersey Card.

Yeah, I’m not scanning it.  Luckily, I also broke this box of hockey, which went much better.

I had picked up a pack, then put it down to grab the one I eventually took.  I have no idea what was in the pack I put down, but it was probably better than the Butler jersey.

Just saw this quote in an article about James’s theory that any NBA player who currently wears #23 on their jersey should give it up in a tribute to Jordan, effectively retiring Jordan’s number league-wide.

Fine.  A noble goal.

OK, maybe James isn’t quite that noble after all.  The article had this quote: “I feel like no NBA player should wear 23. Nobody. If I’m not going to wear No. 23, then nobody else should be able to wear it.”

Lame.  If you want to do something about this – change your jersey number, and make your position known.  Don’t issue an ultimatum saying that you will change your jersey number – if everyone else does.  Or implying that if you are going to deign to give up your jersey number, every other NBA player should do it because they are somehow beneath you.

While you are at it, you could suck it up and shake hands even after a tough loss.

This is why I don’t watch basketball.  It angers me.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

A while back, Mario over at Wax Heaven had a contest.  He was giving away the winner’s choice of cards from his break of 2009 Bowman Sterling football, in exchange for finding some of these:

I tracked down 8 or so, and got in touch with Mario.  He sent the Bowman Sterling cards I selected my way, and told me to send the Barnses his way when I received.  They have been patiently waiting on top of my scanner to be sent south.  Here’s the cards I got in return.

Thanks for the contest, Mario.  The Barnes card will be headed your way tomorrow. 

I love this stuff.

Autograph: Dave Scott

Memorabilia: Chris Young (this guy looks terrified in this picture) & Yogi Berra (my first vintage GU piece).

Base Set Variation: Ken Griffey, Jr night sky variation.

I have the usual assortment of base, minis and SPs.  I will probably be posting what I have for trade in a few days.  If you want to let me know what you are looking for, drop me a note and I can look.

First game should be pretty much underway by now.  Just a quick post here to point out a cool story on CNN.com about the mud that all MLB & MILB teams use to rub the gloss off a new ball.

In 2007, Josh Hamilton’s card population exploded.  Aside from strict prospect only sets, I think he was in every set issued.  In fact, he might have been in most of the prospect sets as well, because he was one of those ‘Rookie Logo’ players in 2007.  His comeback was big news, but for most of the season he flew somewhat under the radar.  His cards had picked up from where they had bottomed out during his absence from the game, but they weren’t breaking the bank.  I was picking up 2007 Bowman Sterling autographs for right around $10.

His cards really exploded during the 2008 MLB season, and they went even higher after the Home Run Derby.  As a Hamilton collector, it has been quite a ride.  I am missing a lot of 2007 cards, but I recently had the chance to score a few of his lower end Rookie Logo cards for a good price.  Included in this purchase was a 2007 Bowmna’s Best card.  These cards are serial numbered /799. The scan makes the card look slightly gold, but it is actually almost a rainbowish refractor type finish.  Nice, thick card stock as well.  And of course, it displays the dreaded Rookie Logo prominently.

Today’s mail shows the benefits of plowing through everyone’s tradelist when they say they are interested in a card of yours.  Every so often, you find a card you need, but that you weren’t specifically looking for.  For me, this is usually Josh Hamilton cards from between 2000 and 2004.  He had a ton of cards issued in those years, but I am  not really familiar with the sets.  Topps Stars?  Topps Fusion?  Topps Tek?  Topps Gallery?

Its all a bit of a blur for me.  But I love picking these cards up when they present themselves.

This 2000 Topps Stars Spotlight presented itself in a recent trade I completed on The Bench.  I had never seen this card before, but it has slotted itself into one of those ‘Ooooo, shiny’ favourite slots in my collection.  The gold shadow behind Josh on this card looks like it is gold flecked.

I tried for a while, but I just came up empty.  Beardy showed off his half of our trade a few days ago, and the mailman droppe my cards off today.  You know its good, because I actually scanned them the same day they showed up.  Let’s get on with the show.

Starting off small….

Get it?  Small?  It almost makes up for my lack of a beard pun.

Almost.

From small we are moving directly into the shiny section.  Two refractors.  The Hidden Gold is some type of proof, and it is slightly oversized.  Oh, and it looks awesome.

After the shinies, there were some very nice looking cards, but someone went and scribbled all over them.  Luckily, that someone was Josh Hamilton.

Love, love, love this card.  Its so simple, yet so awesome.

Hamilton has a remarkably consistent autograph.

Even after his comeback in 2007, the autograph still looks pretty damn good.  Greg went out of his way to make this trade work, picking up these cards off eBay to fill holes on my wantlist.  I really wanted that bug, but circumstances were not in my favour, so I am happy with these cards.  It was an intense couple hours of negotiating, but we got it all worked out, and I think we both ended up happy.