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.

Dex Knows Golf

I stumbled into this kick ass Mile High Sports Magazine on eBay, and it happens to feature two of my favorite things: Dexter Fowler and golf.

And how did they know that on my Colorado Golf Bucket List is a round with Dex.  This magazine is a mind reader.

This is an All Points Bulletin

If you know (or, worst yet, are) ebay buyer f***b with a rating of 1668, please warn them that they may have won the past three battles over rare Hochevar cards, but they will not win the war.

You caught me by surprise when you sniped this 2010 Topps T206 black printing plate away from me.  And I shouldn't have been so careless with my bidding on this 2008 Topps yellow plate.  But I now consider the camel's back broken with this last straw, this 2007 Tristar patch card.  It doesn't even have an autograph, for crying out loud.  Twenty bucks should have been plenty of money to bring it home to me.  But noooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

It shouldn't have to come to this, but I'm going to take a page from the Napkin Doon Book of Nemesis Destruction and track you down, rip off your face, and TAKE MY CARDS BACK.

So, let word spread that eBay isn't big enough for two Hochevar supercollectors, and I totally called firsties a long time ago.

Cool Hand Luke

It was a great outing for Hoch last night.  Sadly, I couldn't get the live feed to work, so I had to settle with watching the gameday pitch-by-pitch. 

Here are his highlights for the night.

Joining the Dark Side

I've never quite understood the point of getting modern cards slabbed.  I completely understand slabbing and authenticating vintage cards, but is there really any point in authenticating a card that was released five years ago?  But, if I need a card, the fact that it's slabbed isn't going to stop me from owning it.

Which was the case with this 2006 Bowman Sterling Luke Hochevar Black Refractor, which is numbered 7/25. 

It goes great with my regular refractor card, which is numbered 15/199.

It's always nice checking off a card from my ever-shrinking Hochevar want list, even if it means adding another graded card to my collection.

So It's Come To This, Has It?

I now sit idly by on my computer waiting for 1/1 Hochevar cards to pop up for auction because I basically have all the others.  Luckily for me, three such cards have surfaced this week.  I've won one (see below), got sniped on another because the auction ended whilst I was still at work so I couldn't defend my bid, and I still have a day left on the other.

I'm also still reeling from the schlacking Hoch took from the Yankee's bats earlier this week.  The wife was flipping through the channels and stumbled upon the Royals/Yanks game and yelled at me to come see if it was Luke pitching.  Sure enough, it was him.  I was elated!  Then I was bummed because Luke proceeded to drill A-Roid in the arm with a pitch, load the bases, and give up a grand slam to one of them other Damn Yanks. Broke my heart.

I then made the mistake of reading every article online that bashed my guy, which has kept me away from the blogosphere for a few days. Also, this has been a fairly busy time at work, getting ready for the school year to end.

So, to recap, I haven't been blogging because there are few cards available that I want/need, my favorite player is being run over on and off the field, and life has been busy.  At least I know that one of those anti-blogging issues will be resolved in the next couple of weeks (work), and I'm hoping the other two will come around as well.

How about a 2011 A&G printing plate to help heal the wounds?

It will go well with the rest of my 2011 A&G Hochevars.

Also, be assured that there will be at least one more Hochevar post this week as I finally received one of my 2006 white whales in the mail this week.

GQ Triple Back

Saw this lot of Dexter Fowler 2012 GQ minis on the bay and ended up winning them for less than a buck a piece shipped.  Not too shabby.  I much prefer gathering these mini parallels in groups than the usual piece-meal method I use on the bay.

Nothing too fancy on the fronts.

But straight sexy on the back.

And speaking of Dexter Fowler. 

Thanks to a tip from fellow Rockies fan Hiflew (Cards from the Quarry, duh!), I was able to attend Dexter Fowler t-shirt night.  Here I am wearing said t-shirt and the new hat from my bro-in-law.

 My wife also picked up a program and guest guide while she was buying a Dinger doll for my golfing buddy Ryan.

And the Rockies seem to be taking their "Year of the Fan" slogan to heart, because they sure gave the fans a performance in the bottom of the 5th Friday night.  

If you missed the highlights, after giving up four runs to the Mets in the top of the 5th, the Rockies followed Eric Young's hustle on the base paths with three walks, seven hits (including two three-run homers from Carlos Gonzalez and Dexter Fowler), and a hit batsman, along with four errors from the Mets, to score 11 runs, one shy of the Rockies' record for runs in an inning. Gonzalez set a club record with five RBIs in the inning, as the Rockies sent 15 men to the plate.

It was an absolute pleasure to watch.

Also, while at the game, I ended up sitting next to the high school football coach of Met's center fielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis.  Turns out, Kirk went to high school at Denver Christian Academy, which means he'll soon be a member of the Colorado Collection. 

It was an all around great night at the ballpark with my wife and brother-in-law.

And thanks again to Hiflew for letting me know about Dex Night at the ball park.  Be on the lookout for your Colorado Rockies care package in the mail in the near future.  I believe you'll enjoy what I rounded up for you!

The Big 7

Grabbed another lot of T51 Murads off the bay last week.  This one featured 15 different cards, of which, 7 were new additions to my collection, which now sits at 57/150 or 38% complete.

This week I add Georgetown, George Washington, Pratt Institute, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Wesleyan, Amherst, and Columbia to the filing cabinet.

And, here are the cards that ended up being duplicates to ones already in my collection.

Man, I love this set, and I'm very excited to be nearing my 2012 goal of owning 50% of these cards.

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.

Without Further Delay (and With Some Explaination)

I should announce how much I spent on my Eckersley card. 

First, the guesses.

Greg Zakwin said...10 cents

Nick said...25 cents.

jaybarkerfan said....05 cents

The Diamond King said...1 penny! That's my price is right bid!

  eltoro2012 said...15 cents

and Robert said...30 cents

First of all, thanks for all who took the time to guess.  Second of all, apparently none of you have ever shopped for baseball cards at a hotel-lobby card show in Colorado because if you had, you'd know that there is no such thing as a nickle-, dime-, and/or quarter-box.  In fact, it was a pain in the butt for me to even find a baseball card that was in my budget and that was interesting to me.  All around me were MAJOORZ MOJOZ HITZ!!! from recent football, basketball, and baseball releases, which everyone knows is not my niche in the card market.

So, with that as a way of background, the grand total paid for the Dennis Eckersley cards was....  THREE DOLLARS!!!!!

I know, right?  Crazy sauce.  And, yes, I knew I was over paying for it.  But here was my rational.  I'd already driven the 60+ miles to the show and, up until that point, I'd found nothing to buy.  Second, even if I did find the card under 50 cents online, the shipping costs would probably bring the total up to $3.00 I was paying the guy.

So, there you have it.  With a guess that was ten-times too low, Robert is our big winner.  I shall be sending you a plethora of cards that will fit into your collection this week, sir. 

And be sure to stay tuned for future editions of "Guess How Much I Overpaid for this Card." 

(Actually, that might be a really great feature.  I'd better trademark that shizz).

Early Eck

I keep forgetting to post this 1978 Topps Dennis Eckersley that I picked up at the Colorado Springs card show I went to a month ago.  So, since I'm still waiting on a few other eBay pick-ups to arrive, I'll throw it up here on the blog and see what everyone thinks.

How about a little bit of fun? 

I paid money for this card.  The person who can come the closest (without going over) to guessing the price I paid for the above card at the card show will get a bubble mailer filled with as many cards that I have that they collect.  For example, if a Braves collector who also collects cards of catchers will get every Braves and catcher card that I can stuff into a bubble mailer.

I'll close the guesses at 11:59pm, April 27, 2012.  I'll announce the winner Saturday morning and will get their winnings into the mail next Monday.

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.

One More Reason Why I Don't Prospect

Saw that Philip Humber pitched a perfect game today and thought that the name sounded familiar.  So I went back into the archives and sure enough, I pulled one of his Bowman rookie autographs last year.

I ended up trading the card to BA Benny.  And, if Twitter is to be believed, people are snatching up the cards like crazy today.  So, if you're still out there BA, maybe you could make a nice little chunk of change if you put the card up today.

Let's Give'em Something To Blog About

You know you've been away from the blog for too long when out of the blue someone sends you something to blog about.  In my case, that someone was the fabulous Jaybarkerfan.  And did he ever send something worthy of a blog post.

How about a low-numbered Hochevar autograph to reignite my blogging urges?

And, just for good measure, a little shiney to polish off the package.

Thanks a ton for the package JBF!  Your generosity continues to impress this blogger.

Now, here's hoping that an extra two days of rest help Hoch recover from the shot to the ankle he took in his last outing.

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!

Nice Catch Rook

In protest of Bruce Chen getting the Royal's opening day start instead of Hochevar I'm going to post some pictures of football cards.  I know it's probably card-blog sacrilege, but I don't care.  I'm very sad that Hoch doesn't get to face-off against Jered Weaver on opening day for a second year in a row.  Now that I've got that off my chest, on with the show.

The third card I've added to my Denver Broncos Super Bowl XXXII Roster Rookie Set (I may need to shorten that name in the future) is one of my man Eddy Mac's rookie cards.

Until I got this card, I never knew that I wore both of McCaffrey's jersey numbers in high school football.  I wore 81 my freshman year and then 87 the rest of my high school career.

And since I'm showing off McCaffrey cards at the wrong time of year, I may as well unveil this monstrosity.

This card is one of the few times that I'm glad they don't make cards like they used to. 

The Best of Both Worlds

I've been on the hunt for this card since well before this blog was created, and, as the song suggests, it hits the best of both of my main collecting worlds.

The only thing that could have improved the card would have been a 007 serial number.  Missed it by that much.

Trade Report: Fishing for Manupatches with SpastikMooss

Did a little vintage-for-manupatch trade with SpastikMooss of The Great Sports Name Hall of Fame blog last month, and along with a nice little cache of staches, I received this Marlins Manupatch.  

I have no idea who CARL is or why he deserves to be on a manupatch, but regardless, this card's a beauty.  Thanks a ton for the trade Mooss!

Sharpe Looking Rookie

The second addition to the Denver Broncos SuperBowl XXXII Roster Rookie card set is this 1990 Action Packed #46 Shannon Sharpe rookie.

The scans don't do this card justice, as the gold credit-card-like front is quite appealing to the eyes.  My favorite part of the card is probably the fact that he's wearing jersey number 1.  I kinda wish he would have worn that throughout his career.

Tackling Another 2012 Goal

I've been chipping away at a few of my 2012 Collecting Goals, including making some great progress toward my 1910 Murad College Series set and completing my Eckersley Trifecta.

Well, I've decided to start making progress toward Goal #2:  

The Denver Broncos Super Bowl XXXII Roster Rookies Set.

I figure I might as well kick off the set with the grand-daddy of them all, the 1984 Topps #63 John Elway rookie.

While it's not in the most pristine condition, the price was right for what will probably be the most expensive card in this rookie collection.

Also, I received a tip that using lower-resolution scans might solve my picture capacity problem, which explains the grainy scans.  I'll try using lower quality scans for the foreseeable future in an attempt to avoid paying for more photo storage capacity.