HBO: Documenting 2008

I picked up a pile of 2008 Upper Deck Documentary cards featuring Hoch in the HBO.  If memory serves me correctly, I had one of the cards featuring Hochevar on the front and also the card that documents on the back of the card Hoch's first win.

I'll need to eventually track down a gold parallel for each of these cards and any other games in the series, if there are anymore.

HBO: Finestly Added Some Color To This Rainbow

A blue parallel card helped bring some life to the 2008 Topps Finest rookie rainbow, which was fairly dull with just silver and gold.

I just need a green, red (which I currently have my sights set), and black card to complete the non-1/1 rainbow, which is all I will ever hope to accomplish.

HBO: Fifty Carats of Gold

Continuing down the 2007 Hochevar drawer, how about a #/50 gold autographed parallel from the 2007 Bowman Chrome release.

And the rainbow isn't looking too shabby either, including a bunch of doubles, which arrived in magnetic cases, thanks to the HBO.

HBO: 2006 Sterling Base

Surprisingly, of the two 2006 Bowman Sterling Prospect autograph cards that I already had, neither of them was the base card.  But, now I do have it thanks to the Hochevar Buy-Out.

The base, refractor (#/199), and black (#/25) cards all together as a happy family.  And, other than the four printing plates and red refractor (all of which are 1/1 and none of which have I ever encountered), I now own the 2006 Bowman Sterling rainbow.  Pretty sweet.

Trade Report: Who Are You Calling a Fathead?

I'm pretty sure all of the puns/double-entendres have already been made about Spankee and his Cardboard Mistress blog, so I chose to take the high road and pretend that he called me a mean name during our trade. 

Well, he didn't call me a Fathead, but he did send me one.

I've placed it next to a Gypsy Queen mini and base card of Moose and Country Breakfast, respectively.  Since it won't fit inside my library card file cabinet, I found it a home on top of the cabinet and it looks great.

And, since he already included one "tradeable", Spankee decided to add a few more Royals and a couple of CarGo Rocks.

And, the pieces de resistance, a couple of cards that I'm glad to add to two of my severely neglected collections.

Annika and John.  There's a joke to be made about the shorts in these pictures, but I haven't stumbled upon it just yet.  Help a brother out?

Thanks for the great cards Spankster!

And don't forget to (shill) bid on my current card auctions!

Trade Report: Sometimes You Don't Know a Card is Lost Until It Is Returned Home

I love when Hochevar cards hunt me down instead of the other way around.  In this case, AJ The Lost Collector let me know that he had a Hochevar relic card that I needed for my collection.  YAHTZEE!!!

Getting this card in my collection opened the TriStar Elegance parallel floodgates because right after receiving this card, I added two of it's parallel brethren to my library card file cabinet a few days later in the "Great 2012 Hochevar Collection Buy-Out".

And, in true blogger-trade fashion, AJ threw in a few extras that are much appreciated.

It's always great seeing a mustache on a contemporary player's card.

Thanks for the great trade AJ!  I can't wait for our next one.

Purple Pride

I was able to slay another one of my white whales this week when I added a 2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes autographed purple parallel, which is serial numbered 1/5.

It's a great looking card and I love the purple background.  It's a regal color and is fitting for such a low numbered card.

I had no clue that there was a purple #/5 parallel in this set until the moment it popped up on the bay.  Until that point, I assumed that the #/10 red parallel was the lowest numbered card.  Sometimes it pays to constantly troll the bay.

The rainbow is coming together nicely.

Delivery from the PONY Express

I was greeted by the following message from the PONY Express in my mailbox today:

Well, you know I do!  And the Royals were great!

O-Pee-Chee Brett?  Need it!  Johnny Damon in a Wilmington Blue Rocks jersey?  Need it!  Bud Black's O-Pee-Chee mustache?  WANT IT!!!!!

But, as great as these Royals were, there was one particular card that will immediately be added to my "If the house is on fire, be sure to grab this drawer of cards" drawer.

First, the back.

That's right, this card was inspired by a twitter conversation.  I can be found at the @Lundog handle, so feel free to follow me while I retweet people who are funnier than I am and occasionally post one of my inane thoughts.  Anyway, back to the card.

As most of you have figured out by now, the card is a sketch of Luke Hochevar by the Cardboard Junkie.  This is the second sketch card package I've received from the Junkie, the first being a "Build Your Own Moustachas" card set.

While this sketch isn't as interactive as the Moustachas cards were, it is equally kick-ass and once again proves that the card-blogosphere (and card-twittersphere) is the greatest collection of human beings on the earth.

The ears are my favorite part of the sketch and, coincidentally, my favorite feature of Hoch.  As I look at this card, I begin wishing that dayf had a public-access-style internet show where he walks us through his process of sketching cards.


Thanks for the great card dayf!  I owe you big time.

Working Blackwards

It is surprising to me how often I get multiple cards deep into a Hochevar rainbow before I get around to finding the base card of the rainbow.  Well, it's happened again.

The (I'm assuming) base card of the 2007 Bowman Chrome has finally joined its brethren in my library card file -- a refractor, an x-fractor, and a blue boarder.

Turn of the Century

Not only is that how long it's been since I posted twice in one week, but it's also the name of the Donruss Elite Extra Edition parallel I recently bought.

My 2007 EEE collection is getting pretty colorful these days.

Hopefully I'll have my next post up before the Mayan apocalypse hits, but I'm not making any promises.

A Little Something to Make the Kershaw Fans Drool

After my previous defeats at tracking down rare Hochevars, I wasn't about to let this beauty slip through my fingers.

That's right, it's a Just Minors 2007 Triple Signatures (#'d 2/10) featuring my boy Hoch, Homer Bailey, and some guy named Clayton Kershaw.

I'd never heard of Mr. Kershaw, so I did a quick internet search and was puzzled when this came up.



Now why would Just Majors put a country singer's autograph on a baseball card.  Upon further review, I realized I was watching Sammy Kershaw.  Maybe Clayton is related to him or something.  We may never know.

Either way, he must not be much of a player since the seller also included these cards in the package.

Either way, I'm very glad that my low numbered 2007 Just Majors Triple Signatures collection has doubled.

Incidentally, the black Royals autograph card is numbered 2/3, which is pretty sweet.

And, if you'll excuse me, I must continue my quest of obtaining every Hochevar card ever.

p.s.  School lets out this Friday, so my posts should come at a more regular rate throughout the summer, assuming I can find anything to post about.

Step 12

Last night's Royals v Tigers series opener was rained out, so Hochevar's start got pushed to today.  In his honor, I shall post a Two-fer Tuesday of recent Hochevar pickups.

The first item is (as this post title suggests) my 12th step toward completing a 61-card black-boarder mojo-set.  It came to me via a BIN w/ free shipping.  I swooped in and grabbed it minutes after it was listed.  I am taking this set seriously, you guys!

A big tip of the cap goes out to the Sports Syzygist for turning me on to the following toy.  He posted about the two that he picked up and said that the roster of players available was fairly deep, so I decided to check if Hoch was up for sale.

They are Lego-esque in their size, but appear to be a little more maneuverable.  I may need to pick up one more of these to crack open, since I plan on keeping the cellophane wrapper on this fella.

Sadly, as Offy mentions in his post about the figures, they are a bit on the pricey side considering how small they are.  They run in the $10-12 range (depending on how much shopping around you do) and apparently the Lego ones can run in the $3-5 range.  I think the $3-5 price-point would entice me to pick up most of my favorite Rockies and Royals, but at $12 (plus shipping) a shot, I'm going to stick to just Hochevar and possibly Dex Fowler.

Good luck to #44 on the bump today.

Looking to Break the Streak Tonight

UPDATE:

Royals snap skid behind homers, Hochevar

 ____________________________________________________________________________

As Hochevar faces off against the Indians' Ubaldo Jimenez.  The (currently 12-game) losing streak has got to end something (right?  RIGHT!!!?!??!!?  ANSWER ME!!!!!) and it might as well happen while Hoch is on the mound.

Speaking of impressive streaks, I now own eleven of the sixty-one 2012 Topps Black Boarder Hochevars (with one more on the way).

I was starting to think that no more of these beauties would emerge onto the bay once the other newer/hotter products started hitting the shelves, so I was happy to see two more emerge last week.  I think I'd be happy if I could somehow own over 50% of these cards, but I'm not going to hold my breath for that one.

Dualing Stars Emerge

Been waiting for this card to show up at my doorstep for a little bit now.  I was about one day away from filing a complaint against the seller, but decided to wait a little longer, and it turned out just fine.

As it is getting tougher and tougher for me to find unique Hochevar cards that I don't already have in my collection, when one comes along, I pounce.  I ended up hitting the BIN on this fella within the hour it was listed.

I present a 2008 UD Premier Emerging Stars Dual Autograph Luke Hochevar/Alex Gordon, which is serial numbered 12/35.

I love all the blue and white flowing through the card.  This is also the second card I have with a Hochevar/Gordon autograph on it. The other is a Triple-graph with Hochevar, Gordon, and Billy Butler.

So, as another one bites the dust off the checklist, and you're wondering what cards I could still possibly need, a fairly comprehensive list can be found here:  http://www.checkoutmycards.com/Cards,=hochevar

Also, just wanted to add another vote to the growing chorus of people who dislike this new blogger format.  The old format was way easier for me to navigate.

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.

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!