2009 UD Series 2

I just bought a blaster of UD series 2... Here's the results...

Pack 1:
Vlad Guerrero
Hideki Okajima
Brandon Webb Starquest Silver common
Kosuke Fukudome
Duaner Sanchez
Ryan Lipkin USA team jersey (why are there so many damn USA team jersey cards in Series 2?!)


Pack 2:
Alex Rios
Nelson Cruz
Huston Street (checklist)
Curtis Granderson Starquest Blue
Colby Rasmus
John Buck
Manny Acosta
Jon Inglett


Pack 3
Ryan Rowland-Smith
Geoff Geary
Livan Hernandez
Hockey in Japan 20th Anniv
Evan Longoria Starquest Silver
Francisco Rodriguez (checklist)
Chase Utley
Scott Eyre


Pack 4:
Cole Hamels
Chris Young
Reggie Abercrombie
Shane Victorino Award Winners
Francisco Liriano Starquest Gold
Trevor Hoffman
Yorvit Torrealba
John Lackey

Pack 5:
Jo-Jo Reyes
Chris Iannetta
Kevin Milwood
Jock Taschner
Jay Bruce Starquest Silver
Carlos Beltran Award Winners
Todd Coffey
Bill Bray

Pack 6:
Alexi Casilla
Rob Bowen
Endy Chavez (checklist)
Geovany Soto Starquest Blue
Jordan Goodwin Champions
Humberto Quintero
Magglio Ordonez
Dave Roberts


Pack 7:
Carlos Zambrano
Chad Qualls
Jake Peavy
Carlos Beltran Starquest Silver
Josh Willingham
Cliff Lee
Troy Tulowitzki
Miguel Montero


Pack 8:
David Murphy
Grady Sizemore
Jason Motte
Tim Lincecum Starquest Black
Brian Fuentes (Checklist)
Gabe Gross
Gio Gonzalez
Miguel Olivo


Pack 9:
Ryan Shealy
Scott Baker
Jason Varitek
Clayton Kershaw (checklist)
Jonathan Papelbon Starquest Silver
John Smoltz
Jed Lowrie
Travis Buck

Pack 10:
Rafael Perez
Manny Delcarmen
Nick Blackburn
Tony Pena
Josh Hamilton Starquest Blue
Grady Sizemore Award Winners
Adrian Gonzalez
Ted Lilly

Consolidating my collection

In an attempt to further consolidate my collection and focus more on just Longoria's, and frankly because I've lost interest in completing the spectrum base card subsets. I've decided to sell/trade off all of the spectrum game used jersey/patch cards, green parallels, and black parallels. What this means... If you are looking for a green/black/jersey of someone and would rather trade for it than buy it on ebay, then send me an email ASAP (as they are heading to the bay this weekend...) I have both Jeter light blue jersey cards #/99, 2 black pujols #/50, a roy halladay auto patch #/50, griffey and chase utley patches #/25. Over 50 different green paralles (lincecum, pujols, mauer, ichiro), and about 40 black parallels. (list of cards here... link)

UD Series 2

To start with, I'm looking for 2002 Bowman/Topps Ryan Gripp cards, if anyone has any, please let me know, that was the only year he had cards out, except for some minor league cards in 2000/2001. He doesn't play ball anymore and never made the majors, so surely he's at the bottom of your box, but if you happen to have one let me know. Thanks...

I opened a box of UD Series 2 this past weekend. I'm not going to get into all the numbers and percentages of what I received, it was probably the same as about anybody getting a regular box. But I'll at least show you some of the better cards I received. To start with, I got a box topper that was a 2000 SP Game Bat Edition Alex Rodriguez game-used bat card. Darn the luck, stupid steroids. But one has to wonder, if a player has stopped taking steroids and plays even better than they did when they were on steroids, can you argue that they actually hindered themselves, and thereby would have had even higher stats were they not on the juice? Just a thought...



Also in the box, a Stephen Strasburg USA...



Mike Leake Auto and Game Used cards...





Chris Young jersey card (gag me)



Ryan Braun gold /99 (if anyone is interested in it, let me know)




Evan Longoria

In case you missed it...

Canseco Fights MMA match... and loses

What a Card Show Shouldn't Be

I was looking the other day at card shows in my area as advertised in beckett. I found one that was happening this weekend Fri-Sun within 10-15 miles or so from where I live. I figured since I will probably be busy tomorrow with company, I'd go check this thing out really quick tonight, maybe see if there's any Longoria cards available within a reasonable price that could be had. (I have 87 different cards currently, and a hell of a long way to go...) So it's at a local mall, and I'm thinking if it's a mall show then worst case scenario I'll see 10-15 tables minimum, and at least find 1 or 2 Longoria auto'ed cards that I don't have yet. Boy was I wrong, I walked around the entire mall and eventually found a corner where there were probably 5-10 tables setup, but only 1 guy sitting behind. Almost too embarassed to be the guy that looks at cards at some random table, I sucked it up and went and looked. More or less the guy was selling fairly common base cards for some of the well known stars from the 80's, 90's and today. No wax packs to purchase that I could tell, and the Longoria's that he had clearly made a point to set in view of people checking out the table were VERY common cards that I obviously had, and could purchase off ebay for $1-2. I was furious that I even wasted my time to look at this stuff, furious that beckett would advertise this abomination as a "card show", so I came to the conclusion that card shows must follow 2 rules.

1. Have lots of cards. (unopened wax, commons, hard to find cards, etc)
2. Don't suck.

On a brighter note, I got some Longoria cards in the mail today...

Spectrum of Stars

I came to a conclusion recently... I have almost all of the 2009 Spectrum of Stars cards, and I could really care less. The cards are mostly actors that are no longer relevant. And the ones that are worth anything are sex objects or drug users. Why would I want these, when I could have a killer Longoria card?! So, I'm selling them all. I already sold my Kim Kardashian card for higher than any sane person should buy it for, but let's just say I'm now half way to purchasing a 2006 Bowman longoria auto. What would you rather have, a set of spectrum of stars, or a 2006 Bowman Longoria auto?! The decision for me was simple. So here's to me for selling an autographed card of a person who's only really famous for getting video taped while in the act...

2009 Bowman

I just opened a box of 2009 Bowman, no video, because I don't have time as I need to drive out to Colorado at 2 AM... Whatever... Anyway, I got 3 autos in the jumbo box (as advertised), and think there are a couple things that were odd. First, there was a top loader with the Shairon Martis auto as a box topper. Why they didn't place this card in the packs with others, I have no idea. Second, the Gordon Beckham auto has a sticker, the others don't? Must be left over stickers from a past year? Can players choose to sign on cards or stickers? I love the on card auto's they just look better...

Need Advice

I've never sent in cards to get graded, and am curious what others have experienced, and whether or not it is worth it. I ask because I'm thinking about whether or not to get this Lars Anderson refractor auto graded. If you have any thoughts on the matter, leave a comment or email, thanks!

(The scan clipped a bit off the left and top sides, and I don't feel like rescanning... it doesn't actually look that off centered)

Spectrum Rookie Auto's

In the mail today I received the final card to finish my set of 2009 Spectrum rookie auto's (#101-120), it was an Angel Salome card. I've been working on the green parallels, and am over half way done, but am losing interest quickly. I'm pretty happy about finishing the rookie auto's though, and it didn't end up costing me any more than the price of purchasing 1 hobby box. (I think there's a lesson here about buying secondary vs. retail, but I'll continue to carry on ignoring that lesson whenever I see fit...)

Back in the Day... (Bash Brothers edition)

Back in the day, when I first started collecting cards as a kid, I used to collect cards of the bash brothers (Canseco and McGwire). I can't even really tell you why I liked them, can't even remember how I first heard about them, but I did and it lead to a slight baseball obsession. I had this bash brother poster on my wall.



(My how thin and slender McGwire looks... Hmmmm....)

Back then Starline also came out with those life size baseball player posters, and I had a 6' Canseco on my wall too. I just found the poster on ebay, and if I were being overly nostalgic I'd probably buy it and put it up in my office.



I loved collecting cards back then, I'd take the issues of Beckett with their 8 1/2" x 11" full page glossy pictures of players and plaster the pictures all over my wall. I never got around to getting an '86 Donruss Canseco rookie, but I did have my fair share of cards that I enjoyed. It's cards like these that remind me of where the fun is in collecting cards for me. It's in following an impact player as they play, and it's being a fan and not just a collector, and it's collecting unique cards that not everyone is likely to have (or want). So yeah, that's why I collect today, that's why I got back into it, because I enjoy the game, I'm a fan. I like to collect specific players, and follow their career. It's fun to me despite the sometimes odd/quirky designs and gimmicks that card companies come out with now.

2004 Topps Chrome Hobby Box

Here's a lame box of 2004 Topps Chrome I opened...

I Don't Collect Jeter...

Simple post, I don't collect Derek Jeter. I have some of his cards, that I'd be more than willing to trade away. If there's a card here that you want, then feel free to contact me... If there's another player that you're curious about what I have, let me know and I'll look for what I've got available.

Here's the Jeter's I've got...


2008 UD Timeline #28
2009 Topps #RH13
2008 Topps Updates and Highlights #UH52


2007 UD Future Stars #63
2008 UD SP Authentic #2
2008 Topps Stadium Club #59
2001 UD SPx #X9
2001 UD SPx #F8
2000 UD SPx #XC3
2007 UD Elements #28
2007 UD Elements #112
2009 UD SPx #40


2009 UD First Edition Starquest #SQ-6
2009 UD First Edition #201
2008 Topps Moments and Milestones #57 (#18/25)
2005 Fleer Flair #31
2005 UD First Pitch #296
2007 Topps #327
2009 UD A Piece of History #63
2009 Topps Finest #2
2008 UD SP Authentic #MM-2

Spring Cleaning

I decided to sell a bunch of my unneeded Spectrum red parallels, among with some other random stuff. If you're looking for a red parallel, you might find it in my list of items for sale...

My ebay sale can be found here...

Also selling some game used memorabilia cards, along with 09 Topps Finest Hamels Red Refractor, Beckett Green refractor, Finest Matt Antonelli Patch Auto, and A Piece of History Parallels that I don't want/need...

2009 Topps Finest Box Break

Players I'm Always Destined to Pull

I've noticed that recently I tend to pull the same player card even when I buy hobby boxes or blasters from different stores. I can go to the hobby shop one day, Target the next, walmart the next, and end up with three cards of the same player that are short printed or memorabilia. Would one say this is destiny? Am I destined to own cards of this player? Maybe. So this recently happened for me with two different players, earlier this year (and to a slight extent still ongoing) I kept getting Roy Hallady's short print, autos, and memorabilia's. This month, I've received 2 short prints and a memorabilia card of Francisco Liriano from Upper Deck A Piece of History, but I've yet to get a single Evan Longoria or David Price. So the question is, which player are you always destined to pull???