...they ain't kidding.

First, some background. I made some eBay purchases in late October. My mom mailed them, along with some other stuff, in early November. Here's the postmark:

The package arrived in my mailbox...today.

I had pretty much given up hope. Usually, when a package takes a long time, it's because Customs and Quarantine has it, they saw something on the X-ray they didn't like, and they opened it up and inspected further. I've had that happen a couple of time (usually with food involved) and when they do that, they seal the package back up and include a little card explaining what they did and a number to call if you want to complain (not that it would do any good).

No card in this package. So who knows why it was delayed. And for so long.

I'm just glad that Australia Post (or possibly the USPS, there's no way of knowing on which side of the Pacific it got lost on) found it. Because one of the cards was the one on the top row, in the middle.


As you can see, that card completes my Griffey Spectrum rainbow. That's two rainbows down, two more (Ichiro and Felix) to go.

Here we go - the first installment of Pack Wars! Come to think of it, I kinda like the title "Battle Blaster" better. And Rule 1 of Pack Wars Battle Blasters is that capriciousness and whims are the order of the day. On with the show...

Battle #1
Pack 1 vs. Pack 2

I liked in better back in 2009, when Topps would put different players on the front of packs. This time, we just have ten Albert Pujolses battling each other. Here we have Albert I vs. Albert II

Albert I
J.J. Hardy (+1) (Orioles)
Dan Haren
Grant Balfour (+3)
Phil Niekro Mound Dominance insert
Albert Pujols Career Day insert
Chase Utley (+1 for sliding/diving headfirst - a.k.a. the Pete Rose bonus)
Alex Gonzalez
Chris Johnson (-1) (Astros)

Total score: 4

One pack in, and I've already shown my capriciousness. I've decided to award Grant Balfour an extra point for wearing the gold A's jersey, and another point for being an Aussie. I can't believe I didn't include that as a category. It is so forever enshrined, and I'll be updating the official scoring system

Albert II
Gaby Sanchez
Brett Gardner (-1) (Yankees)
Wade Miley
Andruw Jones (+1) (Gold) (-1) Yankees = A big, fat zero
Cliff Lee
Zack Cozart (+2)
Robert Andino (+1) (Orioles)
Gerardo Parra

Total score: 3

Zack Cozart gets one point for being a Red, and a bonus point for being one of my favorite Reds. As the cliche goes, "he plays the game the right way." Still, it's not enough - Battle #1 goes to Albert I! It's the leader in the clubhouse, but something tells me 4 points isn't going to hold up. Shall we have another battle? Sounds good!

Battle #2
Albert III vs. Albert IV

Albert III
Nick Swisher (-1) (Yankees)
Buster Posey (+1) (Orange uniform)
Dan Uggla - not even the base card, the checklist
Ty Cobb Gold Standard insert (-1 for being a horrible human being)
Ken Griffey Jr. 1987 mini (+8)
Carlos Quentin (+1 for the smirk on his face)
Mark Ellis
Frank Francisco (+1 for having the same first and last name)

Total score: 9

Not even having both a smug Yankee outfielder and an unrepentant racist can hold this pack down! Not when there's the coolest insert card in the set! To be honest, I had no idea that Series 2 '87 mini cards featured retired players. And when I was creating the scoring system, I had forgotten that Junior and Topps had kissed and made up, and that he was now featured in 2012 Topps. Since my other PCs get two points, I figure Griffey is worth double because he's retired. Along those same lines, I doubled the '87 mini bonus, too. That's how I got 8 points. See, it's not completely random.

The bonus points for Carlos Quentin and Frank Francisco, well, yeah, that is pretty random.

Albert IV
Rafael Furcal
Gio Gonzalez (+1 for being a part of the Nationals all-conquering rotation)
Charlie Furbush (+1) (Mariners)
Ozzie Smith Golden Moments insert
Domonic Brown Gold Futures insert (+1)
Chris Carpenter
Tim Lincecum (+2)
Carlos Pena

Total Score: 5

Who packed this pack, Tony LaRussa? The last time I saw this many Cardinals in one place was the NL All-Star team. That reminds me - fair warning: if I see LaRussa's mug pop up I'm going to give him -10 points for the way he treated Johnny Cueto and Brandon Phillips. I resisted the urge to give Charlie Furbush a bonus point for his vaguely obscene last name. That kind of stuff shouldn't be celebrated.

Poor Albert IV. That score would have won Battle #1, but it had the bad luck to go up against Mini Griffey. Oh well, that's the way the cookie crumbles. A strong score by Albert III, will it hold up against six more packs? All will be revealed...tomorrow!

Well, I'm feeling incredibly productive - I've finished my Ken Griffey Jr. PC page. That's three down, one to go. Unfortunately, I've saved the biggest for last, and given how long the Junior page took (not long, but tedious, so I didn't work on it straight through), I'm not looking forward to Ichiro since that collection is twice as big as the Griffey.

Anyway, my Junior cards are catalogued and up on the site. The link, as always, is available on the right-hand side of the website. It now points to the Junior PC page instead of the White Sox project page, which is still at the top. I also have some Junior cards (as well as cards for the other three) that are sitting in my CheckOutMyCards account and aren't listed on any of the player collection pages. I really should get those cards shipped to me. It's been a year since I bought some of them, for crying out loud!

What do you think, should I add the pictures from COMC onto the page? Or should I just stick only with the cards I have on hand in my binders?

During my last eBay buying frenzy, I picked up a strange little set for 99 cents. Card No. 1 featured Ken Griffey, which is why I got the set. I figured I could put that card in the bottom right-hand slot of a binder page of my Griffey, then put the other nine in a page behind. While I realise this might offend some of your sensibilities, frankly, I'm not losing any sleep over this.

I scanned the whole set it while scanning in my Griffey cards (news flash! - I'm now done scanning in all of my PC cards!). So here, I present to you, the 1989 All-American Promo Cards set. A giant among card manufacturers, to be sure.

 

 

A couple of things - first, AAPC's attempts to hide MLB logos makes Upper Deck's attempt 21 years later look positively professional. I don't think AAPC even tried, or cared. Secondly, the choice of players seems strange - Griffey was in his rookie season, and appears to be the reason for the set since he has two of the ten cards. If you can figure out rhyme or reason behind the other eight players, please let me know. Jim Abbott was also included as a rookie. However, the back of his card lists "1988 Pitching Record" then says "No Major League Stats". However, the back of Griffey's cards say "1988 Batting Record" then list his numbers for the San Bernardino Spirit. Plus, they got the number of runs wrong.

I was the winner of the inaugural Five Card Friday giveaway, which you can find over at The Daily Dimwit. Sam was offering some Ichiro cards, and of course I jumped at the chance of getting those. What was great about it was that cards were all 2010 Topps inserts - card that I had collected for the insert set, but that I could use doubles of for my Ichiro PC. Yes, just what I need, more cards to scan. Well, I have, and here they are:

The two copies of Ichiro's rookie card are just that - Yo Momma copies, both the standard and the original back. I already have the original back, so this is my second - perfect for the Ichiro binder. The Turkey Red I *don't* have, so it's still on the want list. The Legendary Lineage card is great because of the connection - I started "semi-collecting" Sisler cards due to Ichiro. But perhaps the best-looking card is from the series I don't collect - the Peak Performance. I think it has a classy look.


Sam also tossed it a pack of 2007 Fleer Ultra. It has Ken Griffey on the outside. Does it have Griffey on the inside, too? Let's find out:


Gary Sheffield...


Ryan Howard...


A Cal Ripken insert (now we're getting somewhere)...


Ichiro! (pretty exciting)...


Hey, whaddaya know! It's a Griffey! So in a five card pack, I got a Griffey, an Ichiro and a Ripken. That's a great outcome. Thanks, Sam!

I got a big bag in the mail today. I won't call it a pleasant surprise because I was expecting it, but that doesn't make the contents any less good. It was full of cards that I had purchased off of eBay but had sent to may parents due to the fact that the shippers don't ship internationally. There were quite a few cards in the package, so here's a few of them, with many more to come later. It was a big bag!

Here's one of last year's manupatch varieties - in this case, a Tim Lincecum card commemorating their move from New York to San Francisco. It's a 50th anniversary patch, yet this card didn't appear in the 2008 Topps set (which would have been the actual 50th anniversary) but rather the 2010 set. I don't pretend to understand the logic in that. I've given up trying.

On the other hand, I think it's a great looking card. I like the blue and black border, and the patch itself is quite nice looking. It is the actual logo that appeared on the Giants' uniforms that season - so maybe that's the reason it's on the card. Does anyone know what the "theme" for 2010 Series 1 manupatches was - old commemorative logos, perhaps? I know the Series 2 theme was World Series logos and this season it's obviously old team logos.


Ah, 2008 SPx American Hero - a set that causes Ken Griffey Jr. collectors heartburn. I know there's at least 75 different cards like this, because I'm pretty sure I've seen card #KG75 on eBay. This is card #KG37, and as you'll noticed, it's serial #ed 1 of 25. Thankfully, it wasn't being sold by a douchebag, so he put a very reasonable starting bid (99 cents) and didn't artificially pump up the market by claiming it was a "1 of 1" by virtue of its serial number. Frankly, I couldn't give a flying flip what the first number of a serial number is. I do have a 1/25 (this card) and a 50/50, but that's just because they were the cards that were available at the time.

Now that I have this card, I feel no need to collect any more from the series. I'm not going to play Upper Deck's little game. I may get one of the cards from this set that show Griffey in a Reds uniform, but that's only if the price and circumstances are correct. I'll certainly consider trading for one, too.


About three times after I bought this card, a Felix Hernandez Spectrum Swatch, I panicked that I already owned it in my CheckOutMyCards account. And each time, after about 30 seconds, I remembered that the card in my account is actually the gold parallel Spectrum jersey card numbered to 99. It's actually the first King Felix relic card I bought, so you'd think I'd remember it better.

This card, on the other hand, is not serial numbered. But I do need it for the rainbow, so into the sleeve it goes.

Those are the first three cards to show. There are many more parallels, autos, sets and relics to come. Like I said, it was a big bag.

The resolution to get more trades done this year is already into high gear. I can't count the ones that started last year, so this is my first trade of 2011, from Duane at Democratic Roadkill. I sent Duane some Blue Jays and some unwanted insert cards, and he sent back some wanted inserts. I like this idea of turning cards I don't want into cards I do want! Let's see some of what was inside.

Duane put a big dent into my Turkey Red wantlists. I'm starting to think that it was a folly to collect these insert sets, but I'm too far along to turn back now. But I am glad that there isn't a Turkey Red 2011 set to chase, and I'm not going after the Kimball minis. I need a breather!

Duane sent about 20 Turkey Reds from 2010 alone, including many from the Update series (numbered 101 to 150). While there were current stars such as Joe Mauer and Andre Ethier in the pile, a lot of the cards were the legends, which was awesome:

One of those cards is not like the other - I know. But I included the Shin-Soo Choo card in the scan because I liked how it looked, and I needed twelve cards for balance.


2009 Turkey Red got some love, too. Duane sent about a dozen of them my way, including Hambone, Jay Bruce and Lincecum's buddy Matt Cain, plus old-timers Cobb, Reese and Wagner.


But it wasn't all Turkey Red. Here are four 2008 Baseball Heroes base cards that I needed, including ICHIRO!!!! and Matt Cain again.

I'm collecting the base set and chasing the rainbows for my four players (Griffey, Ichiro, King Felix and Lincecum). The King Felix rainbow is nearly complete, thanks to COMC. I only need the two most-rare colors now.


Finally, a surprise inclusion into the package, a 2008 Allen & Ginter mini of Ken Griffey (with the Old Planter back). I don't even need to look at the Frankenset™ (© Dayf) to know that this card is going in there - whatever's in spot #290 (if there is anything) can certainly be bumped for this!

Thanks for the trade, Duane. You've certainly helped whittle down my want list! Hopefully you will receive your cards soon if you haven't already but I guess that's really down to Australia Post, isn't it?

I look forward to more trades from everyone this year! If you think you can help, check out my want list. And if you see something you're interested in, let me know!

Next up in the mail isn’t a trade, but a contest. Jon over at Community Gum busted a box of Topps Moments and Milestones, and, somehow, I won some cards. I’m not quite sure how I did it, and lots of people won far more cards than me, but I did get some cards numbered to 10, 25 and 125. Here they are:

A special surprise when I got to the post office today. Not one, not two, but three packages. When looking at the postmarks, I see that one was mailed on January 31, one on January 27, and one on January 26. So that means that at least one of these packages was mailed the day after Julie at Things are Funner Here mailed her package, but I got it a week later. I have officially stopped trying to figure out Australia Post.


I firmly believe that each trade deserves its own post, because the time and effort people put into making trade packages should be recognised and celebrated. So the package I’m highlighting today is the first one mailed (the January 26 one) from Joe at The Sandlot.

I sent Joe a package including a Heritage Box Topper with three Mets, some David Wright specials, and a Henry Blanco 2010 Topps Update card. Why Henry Blanco? Because that was the card Joe needed to finish off his Mets team set. I love being able to send someone the last card they need to complete a set. It’s a great feeling.

In return, Joe sent me a bunch of Griffeys, Ichiros, and cards to knock off my wantlists, too:

Here are the Ichiro cards, and they’re both shiny. And that leads into an announcement I would like to make. From this point forward, shiny cards of Ichiro Suzuki will be known as Ichichromes. Tell your friends.

And I am happy to accept any and all Ichichromes.


Joe sent some shiny Griffeys, too. The two 2010 Topps Chrome cards are the first ones I’ve gotten from that set – I was going to buy some until everyone starting talking about how warped they are. And guess what – everybody’s right! The Griffey card, in particular, is quite bendy – it seems to be bending in four directions at once. Just part of the “charm” of 2010 Topps Chrome.


There were three horizontal Griffeys in the package, including a die-cut Fleer Ultra. I love the card in the middle, and I think I’m going to have to try and find out more about this “1995 Mariners Memories” set – is it an insert, a locally-produced situation, or what? The back of the card features a mock-up of the front page of the Seattle Times, which makes me think it was produced in conjunction with the newspaper.


Some Griffey firsts – his first Diamond Kings card, his first Reds card (Topps 2000) and his first Turkey Red card.

Joe included eleven Reds cards from 2006 Fleer, which was of course made by Upper Deck by this point. This is the first I’ve seen of ’06 Fleer in person, and I quite like the look of it. I’m not sure if I’ll try to collect the whole set, but I definitely want to finish off this Reds set and look to get the Mariners, Orioles, White Sox and Athletics, too.


Finally, a card that has absolutely nothing to do with Ken Griffey or the Reds, but one that I was glad to see. The Hank Greenberg/Ike Davis Legendary Lineage card teams the greatest Jewish hitter of all time and the latest Great Jewish Hope. I’ve already got the Greenberg/Ryan Braun card from Series 2 in my Legendary Lineage binder. But I’m not holding my breath that Topps is going to release a Sandy Koufax/Scott Schoenweis Diamond Duos card this year.

Joe, thanks a bunch for the cards. Any day that I can get a padded envelope full of cards in the mail is a great day. To get three, well, it was worth the wait. To find out what else arrived in the mail, check back later...

Things are slower here.

That's in no way an indictment at all on my trade partner, Julie, aka PerfectHalladay, from Things are Funner Here. It's more a problem with Australia Post. Julie was one of six people who I mailed packages off to before I left for my European extravaganza. Hers was the first I got back. She sent it on January 25. I got it...yesterday.

Usually, it takes about a week, ten days tops. This was three weeks. Clearly, Australia Post flies the mail over to Perth, then walks it up to Derby. Or something like that.

The good news is that this is the first of many packages, and thus the first of many trade posts. And hopefully soon, when I get my DSL line up and running, normal posting. Because I want to do the Blog-Bat-Around, continue the Uniform Back series, and much, much more. And, the one-year anniversary of RGB Cards is next month! Hard to believe, but it's true.

Okay, enough with the bellyaching. On to what Julie sent my way:

(and by the way, she's having a contest but it ends today at noon so you've got about six hours to enter. Hurry!)

Two cards stand out from the pack. First, THE BUZZSAW!