Mustaches A.P.B.

This is an All Points Bulletin to all my card blogging amigos asking you to please be on the lookout for trading cards (any sport) featuring a mustache.

Should you encounter these mustachioed cards, DON'T BE A HERO!!!  Immediately contact the local mustache authority in your general locality (which, in every case, would be me) and await further instructions.

Do not be fooled by other types of facial hair on your cards.  While they may be suspicious looking, cards featuring beards and goatees are not our prime targets.  As a rule, if the lip hair connects together with chin hair, it's no longer a mustache and is not needed for this exercise.

The more mustache cards we can round up, the safer our card collections will be.

Thank you for your time.

_______________________________________________

Also, if you like free cards, then head over to Hoopography ASAP and get signed up for his latest contest in which he gives away most of the contents of a 2011 Panini Contenders Basketball box.

Trade Report: A Letter from Too Many Grandersons

I received a letter in the mail from Dennis of Too Many Grandersons this week.  I must admit, it is so nice to get a great letter in the mail from a friend.  Not enough people send letters in the mail anymore.  Sure, I receive emails and texts from friends.  But nothing is quite as personal and heartfelt as a physical letter arriving in an envelope which was delivered by a living, breathing human being.

The uncommonness of a letter like the one Dennis sent is what makes it so special and important and I'm glad that he sent it my way.

So, what did the letter say?

Well, it simply said, why.  

No more, no less.  Just why.

I wasn't sure what the letter meant.  Did he want to know why I collected cards?  Did he want to know why I I collect Royals and Rockies specifically?  Did he want to know why I was such a fan of Luke Hochevar or Dexter Fowler or John Stockton?

Then I started asking why.  Why did he send such a vague letter?  Why, why, why?

Maybe someone could help me decipher this letter for me.

Maybe it is because this is the final letter I needed for my "Family Nameplate" manupatch collection.  The letter "Y" has been eluding me for a while and Dennis was kind enough to complete my last name for me with this letter.

(If you think this lame attempt at humor is bad, try being my wife for the past seven years, hearing "jokes" like this one every day.  She truly is a saint.)

As usual, Dennis also included some extra cards in his trade package.

Along with the above Royals and Rockies, he also included two cards for me to use to kick start some trades with other bloggers.

Ideally, I'd like to get a manupatch in exchange for the Manny jersey card, but all offers will be considered.   As for the Daugherty autograph, first dibs go to Hiflew since it's a Rockies card.

Dennis closed up the trade with some great Mustache cards that I'll be showing off later this year.

Dennis did actually include a "letter" in the envelope, which asked what names I'll be attempting to build with future manupatch letters I receive in the future now that the "Family Nameplate" is finished.  I won't be building any names, but will be working on building a manupatch Alphabet Set and I'm always looking for Team Logo manupatches, so feel free to send them my way.

Thanks again for trading with me Dennis!!!

Trade Report: My First Team Logo Manupatch from "'O' No!!!"

Ryan of "'O' No!!!' Another Orioles Blog recently posted a collection of cards as trade bait and I immediately asked him if he'd like to trade me one of the manupatch cards from his collection.  He obliged and soon, this beauty was in my mail box.

I'm excited that my MLB Team Logo Manupatch collection has its first member.  It was very depressing having the words "all teams needed" on my want list.  Now it shall say "all teams needed except the Arizona DBacks", which is an improvement.

A few Rockies and Royals cards were also included in the package.  I love the extra goodies like these.  They make trading all the more enjoyable.

Thanks for the trade Ryan.  I'm excited to do it again.

Trade Report: A Hochevar Masterpiece from Tomahawk Chopping

I recently completed a trade with Derek from Tomahawk Chopping.  Derek emailed me to let me know that he had a 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces Green Luke Hochevar card, serial numbered 63/75, up for trade if I was interested.  I of course agreed.

Soon, my second green Masterpieces card arrived in the mail.  If I can track down 73 more of these, I'll have the set (looks like I have a new PC goal).  Also included were a few Royals cards for my personal collection.

I'm a huge fan of the Masterpiece cards and I'm always willing to trade for any Hochevars from this series that you would like to send my way.  I wonder how much work (and/or money) it would take to try to track down all the cards of one of the parallel sets of a particular player.  Has it ever been accomplished?  If so, was that person immediately inducted into the Card Collectors Hall of Fame?

Thanks again to Derek for the trade.  And you'll be seeing Derek's name on my blog again real soon, because not long after we worked out this trade and had our packages in the mail, then we worked out a second one.  Isn't that how it always works out? 

Trade Report: A Quarry Full of Rockies and Royals from Hiflew

I completed my first trade with fellow Rockies collector Hiflew from the great blog Cards from the Quarry this week.

Hiflew was kind enough to send me a pile of his Rockies duplicates and an assortment of Royals cards.  First, some of the many Rockies I received.

As for the Royals cards, my favorites have to be the Royals sticker cards.  They are sharp looking.

The die-cut Montgomery and Damon cards are literally sharp cards.  Very cool.

Thanks to Hiflew for a great trade.  I can't wait to do it again.

My Other Cardboard Collection: Lincoln, NE

"My Other Cardboard Collection" is a series of posts in which I show off golf scorecards that I have accumulated over the years from golf courses I've played.

This week's scorecards are from the two Lincoln, Nebraska, golf courses that I've played in the past.

First up is the Crooked Creek Golf Club, which is located east of Lincoln.  It's a nice little course with plenty of water hazards, hence the name "Crooked Creek". 

I did not score well this particular day.  The combination of tree-lined fairways, ever-present hazards, and lousy putting helped me puke up a 98.  Not good.

The second Lincoln course I've played is the Hidden Valley Golf Club which is southeast of Lincoln.

No one in the clubhouse appreciated any my ranch dressing jokes.  Their loss.

Apparently I didn't save the card with my score on it, so I don't remember how I scored on this particular course.

 
There are quite a few other courses in Lincoln that I'd love to play this summer, but who knows if I'll have the time or money to get down there and do so.

Bowman Chrome Goodness

I sometimes wonder if chrome cards ever do get scratches like my blog name suggests.  I've never encountered them.  I'm sure that the practice of immediately sliding pack-fresh cards into their protective plastic homes has helped curb any scratching that may occur to a pile of loosely stored chrome cards.  I may have to do some testing to answer this age old riddle once and for all. 

Anyway, enough about me and my thoughts, I'm sure you came here for less words and more pictures.  Well, I'm nothing if not a people pleaser, so I present another of my many Luke Hochevar "rainbows" that is chock full of parallels.  This one is an assortment of 2008 Bowman and Bowman Chrome cards from Luke's rookie season.

As an aside, I really need to get a bigger scanner because not being able to fit nine cards and their toploaders onto my current scanner is really starting to chap my hide.

This assortment of cards is complete with colored parallels, refractors, Xfractors, and a prerequisite printing plate. 

I hope that Luke has a breakout year for the Royals this season so that Topps will once again fill their product with countless Hochevar cards.  I'm tired of waiting until Series 2 (as I did last season and will once again do this year) is released to get my fill of his latest batch of cards.

Trade Report: A Royal Flush from Joe from the D

(UPDATE:  Most of you probably know Joe as "Joe from the D", not Jumanji Joe.  I apologize for the confusion.)

Continuing my previous post about a trade that reader Joe from the D and I worked out, here are a sampling of the many Kansas City Royals cards that Joe sent my way.

First up are some Bo Jackson cards, including (what I just learned are) two rookie cards and some serial numbered insert cards.

Next we have a page of Billy Butler and Zach Greinke cards.

 Some Alex Gordons.

Four each of Joakim Soria and Luke Hochevar.

 And, to finish up, a smattering of random Royals.

As you can see, Joe from the D is a great person with which to trade.  Should he contact you about putting together a trade, I highly recommend you jumping at the opportunity.

Better Late Than Never?

Card collecting blog interest in 2011 Topps baseball cards died about a week ago, which makes this post about the two jumbo packs of 2011 Topps baseball cards that I bought tonight retro, right?  If not, you're really going to hate my future posts where I attempt to revive Disco and MC Hammer pants.

I had a $5 gift card to Target burning a hole in my pocket for the past few days and since my wife has a night class tonight, I thought I'd go buy some cards and see what the fuss was all about.  I bought two jumbo packs and here are the results.

The top of pack one gave me these cards.

I like the design and the photography is really good.  I especially like the E.Y. Jr. action shot.

The bottom half of the pack had some sparkly fun and a couple of inserts.

The second pack was the better of the two, in my humble opinion.

The top half gave me a Jiminez and a ToppsTown Pujols.

The second half of the pack was even better.  In fact, I wanted to show off so many full cards that I didn't have room on the scanner for the rest of the base cards.  This half had my second favorite photograph, the Saunders card in the second row is fantastic.

All in all, it was a fun product to rip.  Unfortunately, I won't be buying any more of Series 1 because they don't have a Hochevar card in it.  I'll wait until Series 2 to go crazy with the pack ripping.  And I'm not particularly attached to any of these cards, including the Diamond Giveaways, so if you want any of them, let me know and I'll send them your way.

UPDATE:  All the Phillies are going to Dawgbones (along with some parachute pants, if I have them in his size) and the Diamond Giveaways have been claimed by Hiflew. 

UPDATE 2:  Both Sparkley cards have been claimed by Colbey.   

UPDATE 3:  Verlander RC reprint goes to TMG Dennis. 

UPDATE 4:  Piazza Gold "Topps Catchers" claimed by Greg Z. 

UPDATE 5:  Remaining inserts and Mets to BABenny.

Chumming the Waters, Part 4: MLB

I recently won a lot of MLB "hits" on eBay.  These are all available for trade.

• Jamie Brown -- Boston Red Sox -- autograph TRADED to Joe from the D
• Six Swatch relic card with Randy Johnson, Brandon Webb, Justin Upton on one side (shown in scan) and Max Scherzer, Conor Jackson, and Stephen Drew on the other side. TRADED to Cameron
• Bobby Wilson -- Angels -- autograph  TRADED to Angels, In Order
• Lyle Overbay -- Arizona DBacks -- autograph and jersey relics TRADED to Crinkly Wrappers
• Jake Woods -- Angles -- autograph
• Joe Nathan -- Minnesota Twins -- autograph  TRADED
• David Murphy -- Boston Red Sox -- autograph TRADED to Joe from the D

Chumming the Water, Part 3: NBA

I recently won a lot of NBA cards that included the following "hits".  These are all available for trade.

(Items that are crossed-out have been TRADED)

• Arron Afflalo -- Denver Nuggets -- jersey relic
• David West -- New Orleans Hornets -- jersey relic
• Chris Douglas-Roberts -- New Jersey Nets -- autograph
• Randy Foye -- Minnasota Timberwolves (Villanova) -- autograph
• Hasheem Thabert -- Memphis Grizzlies -- autograph and relics
• Rashard Lewis -- Orlando Magic -- jersey relic
• DJ Augustin -- Charlotte Bobcats -- jersey relic
• Bobby Jones -- Philadelphia 76ers -- jersey relic and autograph
• Hilton Armstrong -- Oklahoma City Hornets -- autograph

(Items that are crossed out have been TRADED)

• Joe Smith -- Minnesota TWolves -- jersey relic
• DJ White -- Oklahoma City Thunder -- autograph
• Patrick O'Bryant -- Golden State Warriors -- autograph
• Steve Francis -- New York Knicks -- jersey relic
• Al Harrington -- Atlanta Hawks -- jersey relic
• Al Jefferson -- Boston Celtics -- jersey relic
• Ben Wallace -- Detroit Pistons -- jersey relic
• Anthony Johnson -- Indiana Pacers -- jersey relic

Getting Back to My Roots: Building a Set Via Trade and Packs

For my entire collecting life I've been a player collector who has never built a set.  I'd like to change that.

Last summer I put together most of the 2010 Topps T206 baseball set after opening three boxes, but I ran out of steam and am still 50+ cards away from completing it.  I'd like to eventually complete that set, but the problem lies in my lack of interest in it right now.

When I was sorting through my basketball cards to find representatives for my All-Star Nickname post, I kept noticing how great the 1990 Skybox cards looked. 

"Flame" basketball + gold boarder + blocky colorful background = 1990 Skybox

Twenty-one years after their release and they are still visually appealing to me.  I love the gold boarders.  I love the simple black bar with the player's name and team logo along the bottom of the card.  I love that the bold colors in the background are very typically 90s in style, but don't feel dated to me (as the 1991 Skybox cards do).  Even the backs of the cards are interestingly simple.

So, I figure if I like looking at these cards enough to go back through my basketball-card shoebox to pull them out, I'll like these cards long enough to try to collect the whole set.

My goal is to build this entire set by trade and by buying packs, like I did when I was a kid.  I am interested in getting back to my collecting roots and this seems like the best way to do it.  With this set, I won't be distracted by inserts, parallels, or "hits".  I'll be able to slow down and appreciate each card and how important it is to the set.

Therefore, if anyone has some 1990 Skybox basketball cards they would like to trade away, email me and I'll let you know what I can send back your way. 

Right now, I have about 10% of the entire set, which means it wouldn't be very effective to list out which cards I need.  If you have 1990 Skybox basketball cards, the odds are I'll need them.  I will be listing out my progress toward completing the set on the "My Personal Collection" tab above. 

Also, if you're going to be scouring your basketball cards for Skybox cards, might as well pull out any 1991 Skybox you find because I'll eventually be attempting to build that set as well. 

1990s NBA Nickname All-Stars

I always wanted a nickname and never had one.  While there was a period of high school when one of my teachers referred to me as "Thunder" (because, like a clap of thunder, I was loud but caused little damage), but the name never really caught on.  I imagine a nickname needs to be adopted early if it is going to be effective.

So, in honor of today's NBA All-Star game, I present my favorite basketball player nicknames, in reverse alphabetical order.

   Zo   

   X-Man   

   The Worm  

   The Waiter     

   Vinsanity   

   Thunder   

   Spud   

   Run T.M.C.       

   The Round Mound of Rebound      

   Reign Man   

   Penny  

   Nasty  

   Muggsy   

   The Mailman       

   Magic   

   The Jet   

   The Hoya Destroya     

   The Hick from French Lick   

   Grandmama   

   The Glove    

   The Dream   

   Diesel   

   The Chief   

   The Big Ticket   

   Big Dog   

   Big Country   

   The Answer   

   Air   

   The Admiral    

Looking at the above list of nicknames, my favorite three are "The Glove," "Thunder Dan," and "The Round Mound of Rebound".  IMHO, anytime you can work a prepositional phrase into a nickname, you've reached the next level.

Did I miss any of your favorites?  What NBA player has your favorite nickname?