Buying A Card Sight-Unseen

Will often sometimes lead to owning a headless autograph.

No, I'm not becoming a Broxton collector.  It just so happens that this is my first two-sided autograph card.  Numbered 4/5, the other side of this coin card is another Tristar "cut" graph for my Hoch collection.

Awful design. No picture. Unnecessarily encased in a giant lucite holder.  Ugh, being a player collector is broo-taal when there's a monopoly in town.

3/1

I'm half tempted to only collect the 1/1 cards of the 2012 A&G Hochevar release.  I mean, I'm already over half way there.

Oh, who am I kidding.  Feel free to send me your extra 2012 A&G Hochs.

Black Shirt

No, not the Nebraska Cornhuskers' defense.  The "black shirt" I'm talking about is the piece of All-Star Futures Game game-worn jersey.

And my rainbow continues to grow.

In fact, it's about too big for my scanner.

Box Topper

Being a player collector sure is fun. Take for instance this SPx Rookie Signatures card.  I have no idea how many times I came across a similar card and passed it by because I thought I already had it.  Well, this particular card was listed as a "box topper" in the eBay listing, which piqued my interest. 

After a little research, I learned that it was indeed a parallel to the SP Rookie Signatures card I already owned.

Now, anyone looking at these two cards notices right away that they are different, but when I'm scanning eBay, I don't always do a card by card comparison to the ones I already have in my collection.  So, mega thanks to the eBay seller who was smart enough to label this one correctly as a box topper.

Patchey Elegance

Another recent eBay purchase is this 2007 Tristar Elegance Showtime game-worn patch, and it is absolutely AMAZING looking in person.

It goes great with the other Elegance cards I got in my HBO purchase.

Royal Blue

I'm going to take a little break from showing off the HBO winnings and feature a handful of recent eBay purchases.

First up is a 2004 UD USA Baseball blue autograph of Hoch.

With this new addition, I'm getting really close to finishing off this rainbow set.

I know I still need the blue autograph jersey card, so I'll keep my eyes peeled for it and will wrangle it into my collection as soon as possible.  Also, I like how each different version of the card features a different photograph.  Way cool.

HBO: Fresh off the Presses

Here ye, here ye!!!

Fresh off the presses!!!

I have another printing plate!!!

HBO: Mini-Me

Numbered to 88, this green-back 2008 Goudey is a peach. But the best part is that it only cost me

/pinkie to the corner of my mouth/

ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!!

Sound the Horn

Just like the chap in the Furman University Murad card, I'm sounding the horn and pulling out the megaphone to ask everyone to keep their eyes peeled for any of the 66 remaining Murad cards I need for my Murad T51 collection. 

Furman University -- 88/150, 58.7%

HBO: Premier Signatures

In the HBO, there were a handful of times when I'd add the HBO cards to my cards and end up with a pile of dupes.  Sometimes they were simple base-card dupes.  Sometimes they were low numbered autograph cards.

Take for instance the UD Signature Premier cards below.  The blue cards are numbered to /45 and the gold cards are numbered to /15. 

As my Hochevar player collection gets deeper and deeper along, I'm guessing that these instances of duplicates will occur more and more, which is cool with me.

The Cabin in the Woods

No, not the horror movie.

No, not the coffee-table picture book.

No, not the "how to build a cabin in the woods" plan kit.

It's just a tiny piece of 100-year-old cardboard featuring a cabin in the woods.

Hamilton College -- 85/150, 56.7%

And it's the second to last one I have from the lot-of-27 I bought many moons ago.  Just like many lakes around my state, the electronic bay has dried up of Murads I need.  Hopefully they will start springing up during the autumnal harvest.

HBO: Tuesday Triple Play

Good good mornin' all you cats and kittens and welcome back to The Mustache and Lazer Morning Zoo Fest-a-Poluza on 98.1 KROX -- Classic Rock with a classic twist.

I'm the Mustache and you all know Lazer.

*Three lazer sounds:  beew beew beew*

Coming up we'll have you're traffic and weather together on the 10s and 2s, isn't that right Lazer?

*beew beew beew*

So, back to my story.  So I'm in the doctor's office and the doctor comes in all serious in the face.  You know that look don't you Lazer?

*beew beew beew*

I know that's true.  So the doctor, all stern and stuff, says to me, Mustache, you've got to stop masturbating.   And I get all sad, right?  And I say, but doc, why do I have to stop masturbating?  And he says, get this, he says, because if you don't stop masturbating, I'll not be able to finish your root canal.

*beew beew beew*

Get it, Lazer?  Do you get it?  Anyway, it's Tuesday, and we all know what that means.  *beew beew beew*  TUESDAY TRIPLE PLAY  *beew beew beew*

We got some ZZ Top for ya.  *beew beew beew*  We'll throw some ELO your way.  *beew beew beew* Some Seger, some Van Halen, some Alice Cooper.  *beew beew beew*

But let's kick off our *beew beew beew*  TUESDAY TRIPLE PLAY  *beew beew beew* with a little threepeat of Hoch's Signature on KROX.

*beew beew beew* 

*beew beew beew*

HBO: Knock, Knock.

Who's there?

Banana.

Banana who?

Knock, Knock.

Who's there?

Banana.

Banana who?

Knock, Knock.

Whoooo's theeeere?

Banana.

Banana whoooooo?

Knock, Knock.

Who's therrrrre?

Banana.

Bananaaaaaa who?

Knock, Knock.

Who's there?

Banana.

BANANA who?

Knock, Knock.

WHO IS THERE???!?!!!?!?!??!

Orange.

Oh.  Orange who?

Orange you glad I didn't say banana?

McGill

It's been a while since I've posted a Murad card, so I thought I'd show off this McGill College/University sledding card. 

I've had some major Olympic withdrawals so hopefully looking through my wintery Murad cards will tide me over until the Winter games in two years.

HBO: Golden Boy

Hoch takes the bump tonight against the A's.  Maybe he throws the season's fourth perfect game, a sterling feat that is worth its weight in gold.

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho

It's back to work I go.

And, back to the Hochevar Buy-Out well for the inspiration for today's post. 

Below is a red parallel, #/149, from the 2008 Upper Deck A Piece of History release.

The red parallels seem to look the best with the blue and white Royals jersey.

I Got Da Blues

I've got da
work starts back up tomorrow and summer vacation is over,
lost the club championship when an 18-handicapper shot three-over-par 75 to my 77,
voted off the Nachos Grande writing contest island,
friends and family are backing out of my yearly golf tournament,
one of my tomato plants has yet to produce fruit,
new car shopping,
Murads've dried up in the eBay,
Royals and Rockies are having awful seasons
Bah-luuuueeeeessss!

Also, I've a new blue Hochevar parallel, as seen in the top of the below scan.

So I've got that going for me.

But seriously, starting work again tomorrow has got me feeling blue.  I'm not sure what I'll miss more: sleeping in til my morning golf game or my lunchtime beer.

Who am I kidding, it's definitely the lunchtime beer.  I have no idea why it's taboo to have a cold one with my cold-cut sandwich during working hours. 

UPDATE:  And here's the last lunchtime beer I'll be having til Thanksgiving Break.

She was absolutely delightful, and, as the bottom of the can states, Available Only In Colorado.

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: Multiplicates

There were a handful of multiple duplicates from 2008 releases that I received in the Hochevar Buy-Out.

First are three #/798 autos from SP Authentic.  They join my #/798 copy and my #/50 parallel that has no discernible parallely difference other than the different numbering.

Also, there were three SPx Rookie Signatures that came my way.

Coming Soon to a DVD Rental Machine Near You

From the creator of Chuck,

from the director of I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry,

and from the same craft-service company that worked on the set of Good Luck Chuck,

comes what will surely be viewed as one of the most entertaining sports-comedy movies released straight to DVD this year.

A NachosGrande Production presented by Mustaches&Manupatches Films

Chuck Behind the Plate

 It was a normal Monday at the Ceviche Tapas Bar and Grill in St. Petersburg, FL, and Charlie O'Brien was busy plating dishes on the line as an assistant sous-chef.  But to suggest that Chuck, as he was know by his friends, was living his dream is an understatement.  Sure, he plates tapas and ceviche to pay the bills, but he doesn't love food.  Chuck loves digging curveballs out of the dirt. 

  Yet, ever since he underwent double-Tommy John's surgery during his senior year in high school, Chuck's coaches, doctors, neighbors, guidance counselors, ex-wives, children, step-children, local gas-station attendants, softball league teammates. and parents have insisted that he'd never play baseball again.  So when he saw the open-call for catchers to try-out for the struggling Toronto Blue Jays, he knew he had to try living behind the plate one last time.

You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll forget to return the DVD to the RedBox machine until its 3-days late.

Murder in Willow Cove

 

*There's been a murder in Willow Cove*
*Well it appears the boys father seemed to like Cynthia, but felt his son could and would do better  ...
 ( •_•)
( •_•)>⌐■-■
(⌐■_■
which made for tension.*
 YEEAAAAHHHH!!!!

*Go HERE for an explanation. 

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.