Walking the Plank

I think just about every "walk the plank" pun already done around the blogosphere, so I kept my title for this post pretty simple.  Matthew, from Bob Walk the Plank, contacted me a couple of weeks ago and we made a quick trade.  He was was a little quicker on the draw than myself, as I wanted to wait to find more Pirates mojo at my local annual card show.  It was fun shopping for someone else, but a little frustrating at times as well.  When you live in P-town almost everything is red or blue...  Cardinals or Cubs.  Nope, the White Sox don't get much love in these parts.  I picked up what Pirate items I could find and I hope they're enough to keep Matthew from making me walk the plank.

Let's see what was sent my direction.

 I would have given my left arm for the Mark Prior above about ten years ago. Jersey with a stripe, nice autograph, and a shiny card that works the Cubs' colors in.  It's just beautiful!  The Sammy is nice, too, and the #21 in the bat sample is pretty classy.

I snapped all the horizontals together and it makes for a nice grouping.  DLee is one of my faves, Rondell White had a nice little career, and I can't argue with a second Sammy relic.  The Kerry Wood is my favorite out of these four, but for the life of me I can't read or figure out what the "R" stands for in the "TR" on the front of the card.  Any idea anyone?

 Lastly, we have a low numbered Kerry Wood Studio Portraits card made by Donruss.  Simple and tasteful for sure.  I love that the number of the card is SP-34. How cool is it someone at Donruss gave KW his jersey number as a his card number?  In actuality I'm sure it's just a coincidence, but in my own little make believe world I choose to think that before Topps cornered the market other companies paid attention to details.  No?    From what I've seen around the blogosphere Topps needs to get their act in order.

Matthew, you trade package packed a punch.  It's not often I see a relic come my way, let alone a half-dozen in the same yellow mailer!  You've made this Cub fan very happy.  Thank you very much! 

Pack Wars: 3 vs. 1

Welcome to another edition of Pack Wars, ladies and gentlemen!  On the left we a wax pack of 1988 Topps, coming in at 15 cards and one 26 year-old piece of gum.  On the right we have a newer release in 2014 Stadium Club, which measures in at a measly five cards.  Sadly, sans gum.

Let's hope the Stadium Club brought it's 'A' game, because it will be matched up against three cards in each round!

Ding-ding-ding!

Round 1

Tito Landrum and Tom Browning seem to have the same barber.  Ken Griffey has a wax stain on the back.  Stadium Club throws out an unimpressive first card in Cole Hamels.  Although, there is speculation that the Cubs may trade for Hamels this off season.  Stadium Club strikes first with a speculation point.

Score:
1988 Topps Wax Pack = 0
2014 Stadium Club = 1

Round 2

Shawon Dunston!  That's a nice pull for this Cubs fan.  I'm not sure who Jeff Stone is, but Doug Jones has a nice flavor saver there.  No mention of Billy Butler's nickname: Country Breakfast.  Bummer.
Acquired: Via Draft?  Was Topps too lazy to look up the round or year?  Laaaaaaaazy.  Don't worry Topps, I got you... 1st round of the 2004 draft.

Past Topps ('88) thanks Present Topps ('14) for being so lazy and basically handing Past Topps a point.

Updated Score:
Past Topps = 1
Present Topps = 1
 
Round 3

 

 Whoa!  Justin Upton is sporting a throwback uniform.  Cool!  But wait, so is Andy Allanson, Howard Johnson, Kevin Bass, and Billy Hatcher.  Hmmm...   The point goes to '88 Topps because I always like Howard Johnson.
HoJo. He had a shortened nickname before it became cool.  Yes, I'm looking at you ARod et al.

For the record, if Stadium Club used this picture of Justin Upton on his card, then the Uptons would have earned Stadium Club a point.

Updated Score:
1988 Topps Wax Pack = 2
2014 Stadium Club = 1

 Could a pack of junk wax take down a mid-end Topps product from 2014?  Crazy to think so, but there's still two packs left.

Round 4

Jose Abreu won me a fantasy baseball title this year.  End of story. 
(Boy, I like rounds that are easy to score.)

Updated Score:
1988 Topps Wax Pack = 2
2014 Stadium Club = 2

Round 5

Wow.  Lot's to love about this matchup.  Mattingly was a beast of hitter in the 80's.  Davey Johnson is sporting a sweet mustache.  Kelly Gruber, a fine third baseman in his day, has the best gum stain I've ever seen!
Stadium Club?  I pulled a Yasiel Puig die cut Future Stars insert.  These go for a bout two bucks on The Bay.
The three Topps cards and the gum won't sell on the Bay at all.  Maybe I can get someone to buy the gum for a few credits on Listia?

I'll give this one to Stadium Club, but only because the '88 cards are all duplicates and I don't have many Puig cards.  Kind of an anti-climatic final decision.  It is what it is.

Final Score:
1988 Topps Wax Pack = 2
2014 Stadium Club = 3

So, 2014 Topps Stadium Club finds a way to defeat the '88 Topps Wax Pack.  It took a rally in the form of Jose Abreu and Yasiel Puig to do it, but I think the other judges out there would side with me on this one.  If not, let me hear you in the comments!

Thanks again for stopping by and stay tuned for another edition of Pack Wars!

Trading Across the Border

I completed a nice trade with Caitlin, from Yankees and Jays, not too long ago.  Obviously, she's got a vested interest in the Yankees and Blue Jays, but when she said she'd take some Marlins I about fell out of my chair.  Woo-Hoo!  My trade box is much lighter now, which means I can add some new cards!  Thanks, Caitlin!

Let's see what she sent in return.

Early 90's Pinnacle with a nice clean design.  Collectors seem to be united against black borders because of chipping, but these two are 20+ years old and are in pretty good shape.  And hey, they made it all the way from Canada in a trade package! 

 The Dunston replaces the hole in my Cubs binder from when I stole Shawon to complete my '88 Donruss set early in the year.  Very nice.  DLee is a personal favorite and an all-around good guy.

 I was a fan of Koyie Hill. Back-up catchers always seem to resonate with me for some reason.  Being that as it may, I hope the Cubs bring back John Baker.  He's serviceable and a great clubhouse presence. 

Here's a couple of former signings by the front office who were flipped the following July for some "long term assets."  A few of the names in return for these two starting pitchers are Jake Arrieta, Pedro Strop, and Addison Russell.    Yes.  Thank you.  More.  Please.

Lastly, my favorite of the bunch:  

I think I've mentioned only thirty-one times on this blog how I enjoy shiny cards.  This one is uber-shiny because it's a refractor numbered to 200.  I really like how it has a blue tint.  Simply gorgeous.

Thanks for a great trade, Caitlin.  We'll have to do it again sometime!

Releasing of the Wampa

The Wampa and I had some good laughs, but our time together has run its course.  He got into my cards again and starting ripping, chewing, and generally destroying them.   I just can't tolerate his behavior anymore. 

For future reference, the Wampa seems to prefer aged cardboard stock.  He stays away from the newer stuff, especially the chrome.  He won't touch that stuff. I'm sure he's worry about chipping a tooth on that beautiful smile of his.

Here's the last picture I was able to take before corralling him and stuffing him into a USPS box.  Don't worry, I gave him some fresh cardboard to chew on while he's making his trip to his next destination. He should be well-rested and well-fed for the next blogger!

I plan on hitting the the ol' post office on Monday and bloggers from the following zip codes should keep an eye out for deliveries:

07030
10707
16101
26505
35750
55129
60586
60706
87499
97213

Yes, one of the above lucky ten will be staring face-to-face with a Wampa by the end of the week.  Good luck!

Celebrating a Cardboard Milestone

I'm feeling a but under the weather on this first day of November.  When that happens I usually throw on a hooded sweatshirt and head downstairs to organize the cardboard in the Man Cave.

Luckily, the Wampa has left me with a ton of cards to sort.  Why collating and cataloging I came upon a milestone:

Hey, hey!  My 100th unique Kosuke Fukudome card!

Many thanks to JayBarkerfan's Junk, carlsonjok, Madding, and The Lost Collector for helping me out along the way.

Nothing like a little milestone to make a guy feel better.