Yard Sale "Junk"

My in-laws love yard saleing (as do I, but I've yet to find anything blog-worthy at a yard sale in my small town) and since they know I love cards, they always keep their eyes peeled for something to add to my collection.

About a week ago, they stumbled into four big boxes of cards and snapped them up for me.  I finally got around to sorting them out (of course I did a cursory flip through the boxes the moment my wife brought them into the house) and I was quite pleased with their purchase.

Of course the boxes were filled to the brim with "junk wax" era cards, but I am pumped to add them to my library card file cabinet.  The tall piles are made up of your usual late-80s and early-90s Upper Deck, Topps, Leaf, Pinnacle, and Donruss.  And everyone knows what that means:  MUSTACHES!!!

The above beauties will be immediately filed in my 2012 Mustache Portraits Set drawer.  And I am certain that the four boxes of yard sale "junk" will give me the last three mustache cards I need to complete the 2011 Mustach Franken-Set.

I can't wait to dig deeper into each pile of cards and I definitely can't wait for my in-laws to stumble into more cards for me.  Thanks for the cards Sandy and Richard!

That's What I'm Talking About!

6.1

IP, 5 H,

2 R,

2 ER,

2 BB,

4 SO,

2.84 ERA over 95 pitches, and, most importantly, The W.

Big Fun Game Cards from Napkin

I once again participated in Napkin Doon's Big Fun Game and received these two cards.

Unlike last time, I was one of the early drafters, so I missed out on a sweet St. Louis Cardinals manupatch.  But, like last time, it was Big Fun to be a part of the game.  Thanks for including me Doony!

2012 Topps Hochevar Rainbow: Black Gold Rush

This week I was able to add one new 2012 Topps Series 1 parallel to my Hochevar rainbow, as well as one more Black Bordered parallel to my set.

First, the black bordered card, which is serial numbered 15/61 and is my tenth card of the 61-card print run.

I also stumbled into a "Gold Rush" embossed version of the base card.  I think the Gold Rush label works very well with the photograph and is a nice touch.  I've seen others that did not turn out so great.

I now have eight unique cards in the rainbow, including one 1/1 card, but still no printing plate.  Also, I had to let the 1/1 wood card get away when it sold for $80, which was about twice the price I could reasonably pay.  So if anyone has any leads on one (or all) of the printing plates, let me know because I won't be able to put this rainbow to bed until I have one (or all of them). 

Premier Rookie Signatures

It's been a little slow on the new card front in my neck of the woods lately, but I did manage to pick up these two beauties for two bucks plus shipping this week.

Hopefully as summer and the baseball season gets here I'll be able to pick up more cards more often.

Just a Bit Outside Box Break #4 Results

I was able to outbid JABO proprietor Kyle4KC for the Royals in his Box Break #4 and here are the cards that I received, presented in Fave Five fashion.

FIVE:  Extras

FOUR: Authentic SPs

THREE:  2012 Heritage Royals

If you'll notice, there is no Hochevar Heritage card again this year, which I would have known had I looked at a Heritage checklist before signing up for break.  Which brings me to my next card:

TWO:  2012 Topps Heritage Hochevar

ONE:  Platinum GU/Auto

Thanks for a great break Kyle!

Art of the Steal

Double Hope Diamond

As skiing season winds down (check local listings), I thought I'd show off my second Hochevar 2011 Hope Diamond parallel that I recently added to the collection.

 I grabbed my first version back in October, so if I keep up this pace, I could theoretically have all 60 of these cards by 2072.

Trif-ECK-ta

Thursday was a good day.  It brought an end to the third quarter of my school year.  It brought me to within one week of the return of Community.  And it brought all three pieces of a Dennis Eckersley trifecta into my life.  Two of the pieces were eBay purchases and one was included in the trade package* I received from the Wicked One The Cardboard Don. 

*The trade package was jam packed with Royals and Rockies goodness.  I'll probably be able to get a bakers dozen posts out of that one trade alone, which I'm sure my wife will love.  :)

In one fell swoop, I knocked off my number one collecting goal for 2012.  I guess I can now focus one a few of the goals that I've yet to address this year (I'm looking at you Goal #2 -- Denver Bronco Super Bowl Rookie Cards).

Without further ado, I present my first Hall of Famer Trifecta.

THE RELIC

 Nothing fancy about the piece of fabric, but I love the photograph that UD choose.  Classic.

THE ROOKIE

Sure he's sans-mustache, but the awkward face and pose and the fantastic jersey font and wind-breaker under-shirt make this card a definite icon.  It was never important to me to have the rookie be graded, but when I saw this one bundled with two other graded 1970s-era cards of star players and it was in my price range, I wasn't going to let it slip through my fingers.

And, the piece de resistance.

THE AUTOGRAPH

On-card.  Great photo.  Dual autographed.  On-card.  By two Cy Young Winners.  Both mustachioed.  Serial numbered.  Epic and stylish signatures.  ON CARD!!!!  Fifteen bucks shipped.  

This card is 100% in my top three favorite autograph cards that I own. 

Thus completes my trif-ECK-ta.  I love these cards and I am excited to continue to build up my Eckersley collection.  I think I may need to pick up one of those 1000-card lots that I occasionally see listed.  Or maybe someone wants to trade a huge pile of them to me?

2012 Topps Hochevar Rainbow: Black Jack

I'm finally ready to show off my the most ambitious portion of my 2012 Topps Hochevar rainbow, the black parallel.

As most of you know, the black parallels are limited to a 61-card run.  As more and more of them started showing up on eBay, I decided to buy all of them that I could (which ended up being all that were listed).

Which means that I own nine of the sixty-one black parallels (14% for you stat junkies).

A sweet looking page of cards, if I do say so myself.

Proof Positive

I grabbed a couple of 2008 Stadium Club Luke Hochevar rookie printer's proof cards for my collection.

Also, both of the bottom cards are serial numbered editions of the cards.

These cards look great with the base versions of the cards, which I already had in my library card cabinet.

Fifty Pieces of Gold and I've Got One

Sure, this isn't the Topps Gold card that is all the rage these days.  In fact, it's from way back in 2007 and it was produced by Bowman Chrome.

But it is numbered to fifty.  And it is mine.

Ignore the "20-" in the upper left hand corner of the card.  It's written on the penny sleeve and I didn't notice it while I was scanning the card.

My 2007 Bowman Chrome collection is coming along quite well thanks to this addition.

A Black Tie Affair

The 2012 Hochevar Rainbow interlude continues as I continue to wait for a few key pieces to arrive.  In the mean while, here is a nice little black beauty I picked up off the bay.  After discovering a 2009 Heritage black parallel for Dexter Fowler, it got me wondering if I had any such cards for Hoch. 

And I didn't!  I know, I was surprised too!

So I grabbed this fella BIN for a 10-spot shipped (which was essentially what I paid for the Fowler).  It's numbered 42/59 and, as with all Heritage Hochevar cards, has my favorite town in the Union listed on the back.

Sure, it's horribly miscut (is a pattern starting to emerge?), but it was the only one available, and a gap in the collection has been filled.  So I'm pleased.

It looks nice with the other three versions of the card that I already had.

Look Ma, No Logo!

I'm going to take a quick intermission on my 2012 Topps Hochevar rainbow while I wait for a handful of cards to show up in the mailbox.  In the meantime, this card should quench the Hochevar thirst to which you've become addicted accustomed.

I'm 99.99% certain that this is my first Hochevar card with no logos.  It comes to me from the 2011 Panini Playoff Contenders release (which is a moniker that I definitely hope the Royals fall under this season).

As with most of the Panini cards in my collection, I don't love it and I don't hate it, I just have it.  The uniform appears to have been pulled directly off a Ma&Pa Sporting Goods store rack.  Very odd.  But, as with any good player collector, I can't not buy this card.

*I'm not sure I can legally file this post under the "Royals" tab on my sidebar.  I'd best not risk it.