Didn't Nail It First Time Out

Wrigley Wax posted his pack of Marketside Topps pizza cards yesterday and showed off his Kris Bryant card.  I was more than jealous so I hit up the Wal-Mart yesterday morning on the way to baseball practice and found they had five such pizza boxes in stock.  Could I be as lucky as WW?

In short, no. I kind of regret the purchase now. As a household we try to avoid going to Wally World, because we like to support small and local businesses.  But, I love pizza and I'm a sucker for food issue baseball cards so my curiosity won out.

This was the first pack I have opened in 2016 and I was not happy with the cards I drew.  All three of them are going out to #SuperTraders and the coupons will be saved for a contest in the near future.

Card #1:

 Madison Bumgarner isn't a bad pull, but I owe GCRL some Dodgers. I'm pretty sure the Giants are the antithesis of the Dodgers. Heads up Arpsmith, this one is coming your way.

Card #2:

 Evan Longoria?  Hmph. The best thing I can say about this card is at least I know where to send my Rays. #Supertraders  Tim B., you will soon be the lucky owner of food issue Evan Longoria card!

Lastly, card number #3.

Wait, is it too late to ask for a do over?

No one held me hostage and forced me to purchase that pizza, but I still feel cheated.

If only I could turn back time.

I haven't seen a checklist yet, but I'm fairly certain I pulled the only mascot on the checklist.

Ugh.

Everyone, meet Mr. Met.  Mr. Met, this is everyone. Mr. Met will soon be meeting buckstorecards in person.

 Seriously, how did Mr. Met beet out the Philly Phanatic or that Orbit character from the Astros? My guess is the proximity of Forbes headquarters and Citi Field, which is a mere fifteen miles.

Shoot. Well, enough complaining for this Cub fan. I could have purchased a pack of high end product (like Topps Tribute) and been really mad at myself. Instead I made three other people happy and I get to eat pizza. I guess I'm doing alright.

Thanks for stopping by and good luck to those of you looking to purchase a Marketside pizza!

A Package from the Burst Trader

There are definitely times when my trading can be described as deliberate and there are other times where I wear a path between my doorstep and the post office. The Junior Junkie recently coined a new term: burst trader. Trading in bursts is something I'm quite familiar with, but not to TJ's level, which recently was fifty-one packages in one trip to the post office!

I was one of the happy recipients of that record shipment.  Let's see the cardboard mojo he sent my way!

I didn't know Upper Deck joined Topps in the gold foil business back in 1992.  The little UD emblem on the back is gold. I wonder how many of these I unknowingly have in my collection?

 Die-cuts!  Mr. Jackson didn't make enough contact for his five-tool talent to stick in the majors. D-Lee is one of my favorite Cubs first basemen of all-time.

 More die-cuts!  Mickey Morandini replaced Ryne Sandberg at second base after Ryno retired the second time.   I'm hoping Javier Baez can make more contact than Brett Jackson. Only time will tell.

 Here's another luminescent!  I already have the the Jorge Soler and now I only need one more to complete the triumvirate. Should I seek it out or hope it lands in my mailbox unexpectedly? Decisions, decisions.

 Some 2015 Donruss . . . The Rookies was a boxed set I always looked forward to picking up when I was younger. I guess I was a prospector even back then.

2016 Donruss!  I still have yet to crack a pack or buy and 2016 cards for myself, but they keep trickling in to the Waiting 'til Next Year headquarters.

 Ha!  Finally! My first 2016 Topps flagship base card!  And it's of Mr. Kris Bryant!  Boo-yah!

 I don't recall a player ever being granted a rookie cup AND being labeled a future star on the same  card.  Is that a thing now?

I think I'm up to six of the 100 Years of Wrigley insert set. I will complete this set. I will.

 2016 buyback vintage!  Hello, Steve Swisher!  The 1978 set is the only "vintage" set I have managed to complete, so this is a perfect addition to my collection.

Nomaaaaah! Nomar always get blog time when I find him in a package. Fantastic.

 I was just re-organizing my Hall of Fame Cubs last weekend and I was disappointed to find that I only had three Gabby Hartnett cards in my collection.  The Junior Junkie cures what ails ya.

 More of my beloved Cubs greats from the Conlon collection.  I love the Conlon collection and I would absolutely to try to complete the set if I could find a couple of boxes for cheap.

 Ted Williams baseball cards.  Why did the Splendid Splinter get his own card set? Not complaining, just curious.

 Playoff Contenders!  Dillon Maples if a PC guy and Matt Szczur is a favorite!  I hope he makes the 25-man roster out of spring training this year. I really excited about these!

 An O-Pee-Chee of big Lee and a purple chrome card of Beef.  Two more of my favorites!

 Lastly, here are three additions to the Kerry Wood collection.  The new total is 455 and still counting!  I like the 2004 Upper Deck advertisement in the upper right.  I'm a sucker for anything nontraditional-like in my cardboard collection.

The Kousuke Fukudome card on the bottom right is the 130th different card of Fukudome's in that particular PC, and the first addition in quite some time.

Congrats on the newborn, T.J.!  And thanks for the great additions to many of my cardboard collections!

Still Pack Free, But . . .

I have not purchased any packs in 2016 and I have yet to add a base card from Topps 2016 flagship product, but thanks to gcrl I now have some Heritage! I don't know why I linked his blog, because it's gone dark, but Jim is still out there dispersing cards. Thatta boy!

 Two-fourths of the Cubs outfield.  Yes, I'm a math teacher.  Yes, I know you can only start three outfielders. I'm figuring both of these two guys will get over 100 starts along with Kyle Schwarber. Heyward should start around 150.  At least, I hope that's the plan.  Only his guy knows for sure:

 It's my first Joe Maddon card donning Cub blue!  Simply. Awesome. I really like the look and feel of this year's Heritage issue, but I'm not a fan of the really thin and really small signatures. The thinner the signatures are the more they look like facsimiles.

GCRL also threw in a Ryno from 1992 Stadium Club's Members Choice.  It's a nice shot of Sandberg in between rounds of batting practice at Wrigley Field. That's my best guess. I believe he's sporting some helmet hair.  No?

Thanks for the cards, Jim. I'll see if my LCS has an 2016 Heritage Dodgers I can send your way!

Time to Empty Out My PATP Cards

I've been adding "play at the plate cards" to a small pile whenever they appear and after receiving the latest package from Brian, the brain trust of Play at the Plate, I guess it's time to send them off to Texas!

Let's see what Brian has in store for me this time.

Inserts from the 90's are just plain awesome!  Bat Patrol!  The pink granite bordered card of Big Z is pretty sweet, too.

 I think these two cards of Mell Hall (as a Cub) just tripled my Mel Hall inventory.

 A bunting card of Jerome Walton. What a nice looking card.

 The cards below are from Leaf's Rookies & Stars set from 2002, but they highlight award winning moments of two of the Cubs better pitchers from the last thirty years.

 More Kerry Wood!  This might be my new favorite in my 453 card collection of Kid K.

 It's a "Draw Your Own Card" from 2000 Upper Deck MVP. Why don't card companies try this again? What a great way to get kids excited about baseball and baseball cards.

Here's a couple more of Sammy Sosa:

 Personally, I prefer the one on the left, but they are both pretty cool.  Below are some higher end cards of Fleer Platinum and Private Stock.  In my opinion, neither hold a candle to the hand drawn Sosa cards.

 The Rizzo, below, is a mini sticker from Topps.  It's also just a tad out of focus. My bad.

 I'm never sure what to do with cards like these.  First of all, I'll need a centimeter thick top loader to store this bad boy.  Secondly, it's obviously a patch from Soriano's days as a National, but the back credits him as a Cub.  What's a team collector to do?

 This team collector will keep it, because that's a pretty sweet game used swatch!

Lastly, from the same America's Pastime set, we have former Peoria Chief Sean Gallagher. 

It's a sticker autograph, but it's hidden really well by the design. I love getting cards of Peoria Chiefs!

Thanks for a great batch of cards, Brian.  I'll get something out in the mail to you before too long!

A Boost to My KW PC

Jeff, from Wish They Still Came With Bubblegum, sent me a trade package the other day that had some serious Kerry Wood mojo in it.

The above are from an Upper Deck SP minor league set from 1997.  I don't have many cards of KW dating that far back, so these are a pretty exciting coup for my collection.  The card on the left is the base, whereas the card on the right is a checklist.

There were four more in the package that were new to me, including my third different pattern from a Topps Tek release.

I'm now over 450 different cards of Kerry Wood in my collection thanks to Jeff!

Other cards in the package that stood out in the package was this Stadium Club card of Moises Alou.

 This is actually an Astros card, but it's tough to tell because Moises did play for the Cubs later in his career AND he's sliding into third at Wrigley Field. Either way, it's a really nice looking card.  Such vibrant colors!

All of my best trading partners know I love my Cubs prospects.

 I can't wait for Willson Contreras to get a shot at catching in the majors.  I hear his arm is electric.

Albert Almora!  I read somewhere that he holds the record for playing for the most USA teams in the history of international play. 

 That's a pretty cool thing to have on your resume, but it would look much nicer if he could add "Starting CF for the Chicago Cubs"!

Woo-Hoo!  This is my second piece of cardboard produced in 2016 and both are from the same insert set.

 Kris Bryant cards are hard to come by at a reasonable price in this neck of the woods!

Thanks for a great trade package, Jeff!

A New Trading Partner

I'm familiar with most of the people within the Super Traders Rolodex, but Brett was one of the few I had not been previously introduced. He's just started up his own blog with a stellar first post AND he sent me some cards last week.

Let's see what was in bubble mailer!

 An autograph of Lance Johnson!  And he took the time to write "1 Dog" as well. Lance is one of my favorite Cubs center fielders and I couldn't be happier to add this card to my auto collection!

Starlin!

I've always been a fan of Xfractors, but I think this is the first time I've seen one on a Topps Finest card.

A nice helping of recent Cubs:

And finally, some parallels!

 A chromey Rizzo Heritage card and a Gold Ramirez.  It doesn't get much better than that.

Thanks for the cards, Brett.  And welcome to our little blogging community!