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Rookie/Prospect Card Six Pack #35

Posted in Rookie Card Six Pack with tags Austin Jackson, Jarrod Parker, Jason Heyward, Jordan Zimmermann, Josh Reddick, Madison Bumgarner on March 16, 2014 by Cardboard Icons

2008 Bowman Chrome Jarrod Parker, 2008 Bowman Chrome Refractors Jordan Zimmermann, 2008 Bowman Chrome Refractors Austin Jackson, 2008 Bowman Chrome Madison Bumgarner, 2008 Bowman Chrome Jason Heyward, 2008 Bowman Chrome Josh Reddick

Clearance retail Chrome hitting stores; Strasburg rookie auto refractor pulled

Posted in Box / Pack Break with tags baseball cards, Giancarlo Stanton, Jason Heyward, Mike Stanton, rookie card, Starlin Castro, Stephen Strasburg, Topps, Topps Chrome on April 12, 2012 by Cardboard Icons

Who doesn’t love a deal, especially when they come in the form of marked-down collectible baseball cards.

True clearance prices for sealed packs of baseball cards in a retail setting are rarely seen. Most stores blow through product before there is a chance for it to sit around. And in the cases where stock has collected dust, the packs are sent back to the distributor and then they are repackaged in another form.

And in the occasions where cards are marked down, they usually are brands that are not super appealing. Well, in some Toys R Us stores right now, you might find something that is appealing — 2010 Topps Chrome baseball, and in some places 2010 Bowman Chrome baseball.

The 2010 rookie class is one that continues to be at the front of the hobby even two years later.

Nationals’ pitcher Stephen Strasburg, Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro, Braves outfielder Jason Heyward, Marlins outfielder Mike (Giancarlo) Stanton and Indians catcher Carlos Santana are the five names that led that fairly deep rookie card class. And in Topps chrome you have a shot at their rookie cards, as well as signed versions that can be worth big money.

Toys R Us appears to have been restocked with loads of 2010 Topps Chrome rack packs which feature three sealed retail packs (4 cards per pack) and a retail exclusive pack of three orange refractor parallel cards. The original price on these packs was $9.99. These are now available to you for $4.99.

And while the odds for any autograph are tough, and the chances to land one of the aforementioned five rookie studs are even worse, the opportunity is there. And no one is passing up that chance when it comes at basically $1.66 a pack.

I’ve visited three Toys R Us stores this week and found Topps Chrome in each of them, and in one store I actually located a blaster of 2010 Bowman Chrome for $12.99. (I opened it, it was bad …. really, really, bad.)

Needless to say I cleared out all of the Topps Chrome packs, and it is always fun to look back and see this many refractors.

$2010ToppsChromeRefractors$

And those rookies? Yeah, pulled a few of those too:

Even a few shiny ones:

$2010ToppsChromeRookieRefractors$ But nothing, and I mean nothing, compares to the feeling when you beat the odds and pull the main card in the set from a retail pack:

$RC2010ToppsChromeRefractorAutoStephenStrasburgWM$

2010 Topps Chrome Refractor Autograph Stephen Strasburg /499

Happy hunting.

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Thrift Treasures Part XXIX: She’s Thrifty, She’s Just My Type

Posted in Thrift Treasures with tags baseball, baseball cards, Bobby Cox, Hank Aaron, Jason Heyward, Mickey Mantle, rookie cards, Thrift Treasures on January 4, 2011 by Cardboard Icons

Last week, my wife and I decided to take a day away from the kids and get back to something we used to love when it was just the two of us: Thrifting. Lately we’ve been getting the itch to hit the thrift stores and antique shops because of the slew of television shows that have begun to emerge: Storage Wars, Auction Hunters, Auction Kings, etc. It seems like every time we turn on the television, there is a new show documenting the kind of stuff that we loved to do.

So we decided to make a date of our thrifting adventure and treked to a local town that has a district famous for its slew of antique shops. I knew the area would be ripe for baseball items. As it turns out, I was right.

In the first store, I came across a stack of good-looking vintage cards that were marked $4 each. The cards appeared to be primarily 1961 Topps, but I figured I’d thumb through them just in case something caught my eye. Among the stack was this 1960 Topps Yankees Team Checklist. If this card looks familiar, it’s because I already own a copy of this card and showcased it a few months ago. (Yes, the original piece says 1959 … I was wrong.) But when I saw this card in the stacks, I figured I might as well get it just in case I didn’t find anything else during our adventure. True, the card has a lick-and-stick stamp on it, but if it were not there, the card would not have been sold for $4 and it would not be in my collection. Now the question remains: Remove the stamp or leave it for character? I think I might leave it.

A few doors down the street, a sign on the sidewalk proclaimed that items within another antique shop were on sale ranging from 10 to 50 percent depending on the item. In a showcase near the front door, I saw a vintage All-Star ballot that instantly intrigued me. The sticker price of $8 scared me; but then I realized there was not one, but EIGHT, un-punched ballots stuffed into a plastic sleeve. And to my luck, they were on sale for 30 percent off — so I got them for less than $ 1 each. Look at the samples I’ve shown here. Look at those names: Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Johnny Bench, and so on. By my count, there are 21 Hall of Famers listed here — and they don’t even show the pitchers. What also should be noted is that the ballot contains the name of Roberto Clemente, who was elected to the All-Star Game and had two at-bats, one of which resulted in a home run. Clemente was elected to the 1972 All-Star Game but didn’t play. He died on Dec. 31, 1972.

And before leaving the town, we made one last stop at a shop that I had visited a few times in the past. This shop has a card case in the back, but the thing is locked, and judging from the prices I could see, everything inside was priced at Beckett values. However, on this day, everything in this section — including the cards — was 25 percent off. I figured if I were ever going to find out what was in the case, this would be the time.

There were lots of vintage cards in top loaders, none of which really struck me as much of a deal. At least not until I came to this 1969 Topps Bobby Cox rookie. Since the Braves skipper retired at the end of the 2010 season, I’d been looking to add a Cox rookie to my collection. And to my surprise, they had not been easy to find, even on eBay. And when I did see them, the price and condition just weren’t right. I could not justify spending upward of $15 for a Cox rookie that looks like it had been rolled into a ball and swatted over the right field wall like a Jason Heyward Spring Training homer. But magically, hidden behind the some-what overpriced old cardboard in this antique store on this day was a pretty good condition (yes, I know it is off center) Cox rookie priced using an old Beckett … and it was 25 percent off. In a nut shell, I added this Cox rookie to my collection for $7.50. A Steal in my eyes.

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LIVE Opening Day Blog 2010

Posted in Newspaperman with tags baseball, baseball cards, I Love This Game, Jason Heyward, Major League Baseball, Opening Day, Topps on April 5, 2010 by Cardboard Icons

It’s here. It’s here. It’s finally here. I feel like a 5 year old on Christmas morning. Damnit, I love baseball.

Opening Day has been a personal holiday for me for the last 16 years. I have been following the game since 1987, but in 1994 I started a tradition that I have continued almost every year since: I’ve taken the day off work or school just to watch baseball. Call me silly. Call me immature. Call me what you want. But I do it because I love the game.

And after spending the last six months without the greatest sport on earth, is there really a better way to get back into the swing of things than to completely submerse yourself in it? And so I am here, on the greatest day of the year, chronicling damn near every minute of the day.

I started doing Opening Day blogs in 2007 and wrote them for three years for the now-defunct The Baseball Stars fantasy baseball blog, and will continue the tradition here. I pondered scrapping the idea, but The Jon, my co-writer from the site, talked me into it. Probably because we’ll be spending the day together, and he wanted in on the fun. He hasn’t written anything for publication in more than a year, but The Jon will be joining me on this occasion. If things go well, maybe he’ll contribute to this blog in the future.

So sit back, relax and enjoy the greatness of the 2010 Major League Baseball Opening Day blog as brought to you by Cardboard Icons. All times posted are Pacific.

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10:20 p.m. And a sign of the times — I learned from MLB’s Twitter feed that the Angels has just closed out the Twins to complete the day. That’ll do it for the 2010 Opening Day blog. Thanks for reading.

9:58 p.m. Seattle just shut the door on Oakland, leaving only one game remaining on Opening Day. Putting it on MLB Network for the first time today. My friend’s house didn’t have this channel, and I was going through withdrawal.

9:17 p.m.: Horrible state of affairs developing in the blogosphere. I run a three-week contest to give away a 1958 Topps Hank Aaron / Mickey Mantle vintage card and get 32 entries. A Cardboard Problem is running a contest for a $5 blaster of 2006 ultra and they have 48 entries in two days. Pathetic, people. Pathetic.

9:08 p.m. So Travis Buck’s Walk Up music is Triple H’s theme song. Booooooooooooooooo.

9:05 p.m.: So I’m watching Felix Hernandez pitch in the seventh inning … I owned this guy in my primary keeper league for about a week in the off season before dealing for Hanley Ramirez. Just realizing that it’s not as fun watching pitchers.

9:03 p.m. Is Eric Chavez growing out his hair to look like Andre Ethier?

9:02 p.m. Looks like Duke won the National Championship tonight. Should be noted that I have not watched a single minute of the NCAA tournament. I just don’t care about college basketball.

8:51 p.m. Just settling back in for the remainder of the two games on the slate. This day has flown by. Seriously. I feel like I need to rewind and view this again.

5:09: I think I’m going to call this thing off early. MLB late-afternoon schedule is not jiving with my real-life responsibilities. Thanks all for ready. I’ll post once more later tonight to wrap things up.

4:53: The Jon: Lull No. 2 with only one game to watch. The loser of the day? Rotowire.com. This what the cheerleaders wrote about Placido Polanco:

Polanco went 3-for-5 with a grand slam and six RBI in Monday’s Opening Day romp over the Nationals.

Recommendation: The grand slam (off Jason Bergmann in the seventh) was the second of Polanco’s career, but the six RBI marked a new career high for the second baseman. After posting double-digit homers last year for the first time since 2004 and topping 70 RBI for the first time, his mini power surge seems to have picked up right where it left off.

(Rotowire.com)

So where is the recommendation? Pick up Polanco because he had 6 RBI and that will herald a 10 homer, 70 RBI season for a second baseman? If he gets the obligatory interview from the ugly blond, The Jon will be on board.

Rotowire.com. Herbs.

4:25: The Jon: The winner of opening day so far? Tony Womack. The Arizona guys love him. They’ve been showing him every two minutes and even sent the obligatory ugly blond female reporter over to talk about his glory day (key word being day). Womack hasn’t been that close to a female since Mark Grace took him to Applebees in 2004. Oh, the Giants are on?

4:23 p.m. Just want to say that I wish MLB would do a better job of spreading out the games next year. I hate having like eight games early, and then two in the afternoon and then two games at night. Spread them out evenly.

4:20 p.m.: We’ve been sending text messages to PoiDoig all day with fake box score information. I just now told him we’ve been screwing with him. His response: “You Scoundrels.”

4:09 p.m.: So it’s been brought to my attention that the Jason Heyward Red Refractor I just wrote about has been relisted by the same seller who is now asking for $15,000. People are crazy.

4:00: The Jon: So Mark Grace has moved up to the echelon of Hawk Harrelson in commentating skills. This Arizona game is brutal. Did the doze off and am sadly looking forward to the Giants game because as a the D’backs play-by-play guy said,

“If there is no pitching, there is no baseball.”

3:55 p.m. So, yeah. Jason Heyward Mania is live and well. His gem mint 2008 Bowman Chrome Red Refractor just sold for $5,000.

3:47 p.m. The Jon and Crazy Johnny were just discussing the ridiculousness of the Padres having the Hairston Brothers. “You put them together and you still have a s**** player,’ The Jon says. Crazy Johnny responds: “Yeah, that’s like a negative.”

3:46 p.m. Diamondbacks broadcast is doing an in-the-stands interview with the not-so-great Tony Womack. They wanted him to analyze Stephen Drew. During said discussion, Womack says his 11-year-old son will be better than he was. Womack was horrible.

3:44 p.m.: Jason Heyward was just welcomed into the 3,000 hit club, 500 Home Run Club and Hall of Fame in the eighth inning of his Major League Debut.

3:21 p.m. Small discussion about Eric Hinske has broken out. Dude looks like Karim Garcia.

3:18 p.m.: Braves still putting it on the Cubbies, now 12-5. Dumbass Braves announcers talking about Atlanta scoring 1,600 runs this year.

3:15 p.m.: Pizza guy showed up a little while ago, he had to call to confirm the address. Should be noted he had a porno mag in his back seat. Guess who didn’t get a tip.

2:38 p.m.: We need to break out the ‘We Want Pizza” chant.

2:35 p.m. Diggin the Ultimate Warrior theme music playing at Kauffman Stadium IN THE MIDDLE of Scott Podsednik’s atbat.

2:32 p.m.: Afternoon baseball is slowing dowj; watching the Royals/Tigers. Good pitching duel.

2:04 p.m.: Just doing a quick check of eBay for Jason Heyward rookies. A lot of 100 Bowman Chrome rookies (like the one shown here) just sold for $1,400.

2 p.m.: We ordered pizza a while ago … worth mentioning they said delivery would be 1 hour and 20 minutes. I know it’s Opening Day and all, but this is some Super Bowl Sunday wait times.

1:58 p.m.: Official Jason Heyward rookie card count: 2 Bowman Chrome, 3 Bowman Draft and 2 Bowman Draft Gold. Word.

1:50 p.m.: Braves just scored their seventh run against Carlos Zambrano, Guy No 3 (Crazy Johnny) is not happy. AND Brian McCann just hit a solo shot. This is awesome. Good night, Carlos.

1:44 p.m. First set of games are starting to end — Rangers Jarrod Saltalamacchi just hit a walk-off single. Ranger announcers just crapped their pants. Rangers just won the World Series.

1:41: The Jon: The Jon calls dibs on reporting Heyward’s homer. And yes The Jon has just had a bathroom moment with Heyward. Thanks three-run homer.

1:40 p.m.: Jason Heyward is now a trending topic on Twitter.

1:32: The Jon: Love seeing another Carlos Zambrano meltdown. Crazy Johnny is starting the guy who loaded the bases with cheap flares. Heyward is up and yes that is a homer and yes he is The Jon’s rookie keeper.

This is followed by Crazy Johnny telling Zambrano to:

“Keep your composure d!ckhead.”

1:25: The Jon: PoiDog being the degenerate he is is texting for fantasy updates, so The Jon and Newspaperman are sending him bogus updates. Josh Johnson for 8 earned in 1.2 innings sounds about right. Corn.

1:15: Jason Heyward just made the first catch of his Major League career. I’m worried I might jinx him. I’ve live-blogged only one other rookie debut in recent years. The player’s name: Alex Gordon. Ugh.

1:08 Getting ready to order some pizzas … I suggested we play the Back To The Hotel music in the background while The Jon places the order. He does not like that song.

12:56: Quick check of Fantasy Team A: four homers already — Two for Pujols, and one each for Wright and Lind. LOVE it.

12:49: The Jon: Almost had a bathroom moment with Braun. Looks like a homer, oh great RBI double. You suck Braun.

This Rockies/Brewers game is turning out to be the game. Two young pitchers finding their game, Ubaldo Jim enez doing what he was supposed to be doing three seasons ago. Yovani Gallardo giving it up, but pitching well with nasty stuff.

And Nelson Cruz ties it up against Marcum. Screw you Mike.

12:48 p.m.: “Man, f*** Shaun Marcum. He’s gonna lose now,” says Guy No. 3

12:47 p.m.: seeeeeeeeeeee. And just like that, Shaun Marcus has returned to his non-important status.

12:43 p.m. Flipping around EVERYONE is talking about Shaun Marcum’s no-hitter … He’ll blow it here.

12:30 p.m.: The Jon: Lull time after the alcohol and sugar high. The Jon is still miffed about these Topps cards. The Jon was one of the best designers on the planet and The Jon has to see cheesy bright, flowery design on Topps cards. Where’s the job, man.

And MikeOz in our league picked up Shaun Marcum and his no-hitter through six innings.

The Jon likes Toronto’s arms. A lot of young guys that can battle. The Jon got to know these guys following Halladay.

Let’s just say there is a lot of grumblings about this kneejerk pickup of Marcum. You know, whether it is valid and is the true essence of our league rules. We are losers. Yes.

12:20 p.m. We’re just now noticing how dominant Roy Halladay has been today … actually, every day.

12:03: So Ryan Braun is putting the up the o-fer. It hurt with two guys on base with no outs. C’mon Braun, how come Newspaperman gets all the beater moments in the bathroom with Wright and Pujols hitting homers.

Braun, The Jon wants a beater moment too.

12:02 p.m.: Warren Spahn is now following me on Twitter. Made me laugh.

noon: Quick recap of the 2010 Topps Opening Day blastern box we busted: two blue parallels (Jake Peavy and Troy Tulowitzki), two mascots (Bernie Brewer and Fredbird), two Topps Attax Foils (Arod and Josh Beckett) and a Yankees Celebration card. Bunch of base cards obviously — Yankes go to TheJon, Red Sox to Me, and Angels to the other guy. forth guy may come by later — he’ll get the A’s.

11:53 a.m.: Flipping channels, back to the Nats /Phillies. Can’t believe it’s the sixth inning here already. Day is flying by.

11:40 a.m.: Holy crap. just realized Garrett Jones has two homers today. Long Live Tuffy Rhodes!

11:32: The Jon: OK, Halladay is ripping it up. Gallardo is in trouble. And Crazy Johnny has the quote of the day replacing Newspaperman’s “I would wipe the sweat off of David Wright’s baseballs.”

So here’s the quote, “Mickey Mantle, rest in peace. More alcohol for me.”

11:27 a.m.: Three of us are sitting talking baseball cards. LOVE IT. I am the only current collector of the bunch. We’re having fun opening a Blaster of 2010 Topps Opening Day. The Jon loves his Yankees. I’m all about my Red Sos and the other guy is an Angels fan. I just pulled two Angels in one pack — good day for Guy No. 3.

11:15: The Jon: So lost in all of the overload of baseball is The Jon has not seen The Jon’s favorite pitcher Roy Halladay pitch. It’s tough when you have five opening day starters going on today.

The game of the day so far? Brewers and Rockies. Two loaded teams that are fun to watch. And Peace to Crazy Johnny coming over with the Pacificos. There goes me quitting drinking. It was four days not well spent, knawmean?

11:08 a.m.: New guy just showed up carrying a 12-pack of Pacifico.

10:59: The Jon: The Jon does not flip out. Padilla is your opening day starter? Yeah Dodgers are not doing anything this season. Especially with Padilla giving up dongs to jones.

So Newspaperman is forcing me to open baseball cards. He wants some guy from Topps guy to link to CardboardIcons. I got some type of Purple Lips insert. Man, I’ve been out of cards for about 15 years and they still have the same crappy computer neon graphic look? Man these cards suck. Oh, The Jon means wow, Alex Rodriguez insert. It looks great! (Thumbs up).

10:56 a.m. The Jon just flipped on the Pirates/Dodgers game — we just had a good laugh at Vicente Padilla being the Opening Day starter for Los Angeles. Should started Kershaw.

10:55 a.m. The Jon just broke out the hard stuff: Henry Weinhard’s Vanilla Cream Soda. The Best.

10:43: The Jon: PoiDog is still here talking about the only thing he knows about: Pro Wrestling which brought up Alex Wright:

Let’s just say PoiDog started his Iran Shiek impression where Newspaperman said:

When you leaving PoiDog.

And Michelle: Newspaperman makes his own thongs. He’ll be doing a raffle later on this week at this site.

10:39 a.m.: And now some odd wrestling talk — dude just brought up Buff Bagwell. Ugh.

10:35 a.m.: Sitting here recapping some of the off-season fantasy baseball trades I made, getting an earful about trading Dustin Pedroia.

10:25 The Jon: Newspaperman went to the bathroom again. He just got out with tears on his face and muttering “This is special.” We are having a TheBaseballStars reunion over here with PoiDog who just called and yelled at his kids because Josh Johnson gave up the homer to Wright.

Now y’all know Newspaperman doesn’t have Grady Sizemore right? If there is enough interest I’ll tell you the story behind it. With behind being the key word.

10:21 a.m.: Holy crap, this must be my day. David Wright hit a two-run shot for the Mets.

10:14 a.m.: The Jon: Newspaperman gets his first hard on of the day. Pujols is at bat and hits a homer while I am typing this. Newspaperman has just gone into the bathroom. There is a lot of banging noises going on.

10:08 a.m.: Gotta give a quick plug to the Topps Blog, which started today.

10 a.m. Just sitting down with The Jon to watch the first round of games. Getting off to a slow start, but we do have a 10-pack blaster of 2010 Topps Opening Day to open throughout the day. Looks like we’ll be watching the Cardinals v. Reds first.

12:40 a.m.: OK, turning in for the night. Will be back in a few hours. Will stop at Target to buy a few packs of 2010 Topps Opening Day so that The Jon and I can bust them on Opening Day. Games start at 10 a.m. Pacific, we’ll be back live probably about 9:45 a.m. with a little banter before the first pitches across the league.

11:45 p.m. (Sunday)

So I had to watch the Red Sox / Yankee Opening Night game on DVR because my wife and I were entertaining family early in the night. As I watched the game, I absolutely had to take a screen shot of this two-run sixth inning triple Kevin Youkilis hit into right field. Love the reaction from the fan in the blue, giving the one-finger salute to Nick Swisher. Chris Olds of Beckett probably loved this moment. Olds is a big Swisher honk.

As everyone knows by now, the Red Sox went on to win the game 9-7. I gotta say, I LOVE that Major League Baseball decided to open the season with a rivalry game. I feel like its August already. I already hate the Yankees that much.

Also, big ups to Mike Cameron for his “Walk Up” song.

Opening Day Archives: 2009 // 2008 // 2007

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My 2010 Spring Training TTM request list

Posted in Newspaperman, TTM Success with tags baseball, baseball cards, Jason Heyward, Stephen Strasburg, Topps, TTM, TTM Success on March 2, 2010 by Cardboard Icons

After taking a year off, I’ve decided to send out a slew of TTM (Through The Mail) requests this spring training. I’ve got four batches out to a random mix of players, some guys who more than likely will not sign and a few others who probably will. As is the case with everything, you never really know unless you try. I’ll probably do one more surge before the end of Spring Training. Hoping to see some returns over the next week or so.