I bought game-used pants! And made relic cards with them!

I read a Raz post a while back where he mentioned buying game-used pants of a guy he collects and I half-jokingly made a comment suggesting he should cut them up and make custom relic cards. And that planted the seed that I should do just that! I looked around eBay for game-worn pants of somebody I collect (gotta assume pants are cheaper than jersey tops since they don't display as well; It's not like something you'd frame on your wall). I found a listing for Brian Giles pants that wasn't too outrageously priced, made an offer I was comfortable with, and it was accepted. As a guy who went to my high school (and worked there when I attended), plus later played several years for my hometown Padres, Giles was a great choice for me to feature in a bunch of customs.

While the pants didn't come with any fancy authentication hologram sticker or anything, I gotta think someone would be crazy to go through the trouble of making fake Brian Giles pants with this much care and detail. A player like Jeter or Trout, maybe. But other than an all-time great like that, just doesn't seem like it'd be worth it to a would-be bootlegging seamstress to make. So I'm convinced they're legit.

The listing said they were used in a game while Brian was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2000, but that was the extent of the information provided; no exact date or anything. They don't seem to have any stains, so it's safe to say he didn't steal a base (only 6 on the year) or make any sliding catches in the outfield this day. But the pants have pinstripes, so that's definitely a big plus as far as making interesting memorabilia cards.

The 2000 season was a good one for Brian, though. He made the All-Star team for the first time, set what would stand as his career-high in RBI, and even got some MVP consideration.

Readers with good memories might recall my post several weeks back where I mentioned I was writing the post while wearing Brian Giles' pants. Yeah, I just wanted to get the feel of them, plus then I could truthfully make the claim that they were "blog-used" at any point down the line if I felt like getting silly with it. Yep, I wore the pants for an hour or so and loved it. I could definitely see considering them regular lounge pants for lazy weekends and whatnot. Almost hated having to cut them up for cards.

But cut them I did. I even worked out a deal with noted Pirates collector and fellow physical customs maker Mark at Battlin' Bucs where I sold him one of the legs to recoup some of my purchase price. That allowed plenty of material for us both to play with.

And now I'm going to show off some of the cards I've made so far. With the exception of rough, tongue-in-cheek "blog-used button" cards I made for some of my trading buddies a couple years ago with an old shirt of mine, I had never attempted to make my own custom relic cards. I'm still in the learning curve, figuring out the best way to go about it all with some trial and error. So while I may feel good about most of the customs I crank out these days, custom relic cards are a whole new ballgame and you'll have to be forgiving if these aren't quite up to the standards you'd expect from real memorabilia cards from Topps, Panini, or Upper Deck. Also, while I'd like to think I'm pretty good at making customs using classic designs, I admit coming up with original card designs of my own has never been my strong suit. So I usually just keep it simple.

Here's the first card I came up with. Good run-of-the-mill relic card, I'd say. The uniform he's wearing in the photo matches the swatch.. Always a plus. The photo is from 2000, so who knows, there's a chance they might actually be the same pants from the photo.

Now, I didn't want to just make a ton of Pirates relic cards, so I took the liberty of stretching the pants into other settings. Hey, real card companies are known to use a photo from one team with memorabilia that player used while with another team.. so if they can do it, I figure so can I!

This card goes back to Brian's early days making a name for himself in Cleveland. I gave one of these to TSHenson the other day, the only Indians collector I've traded with lately. I should note the back clarifies the material is from his Pirates days.

And of course I couldn't leave out my Padres. Cool shot of Brian returning to the dugout after some run-production.

When I found this double play photo from '97, I thought it'd be fun to psych out my Yankees-collecting trade buddies with what would at first seem to be a Jeter relic. But the back of the card makes it clear it's from Giles' trousers, not Jeets' jeans, and mentions the 1997 season when Brian's Indians bested Derek's Yanks for the AL pennant. (Brian had a robust OPS of 1.500 in a losing cause to the Marlins in the World Series that year, BTW.)

Here's another team-up card. As I mentioned in my last post, Khalil Greene is one of my favorite somewhat obscure guys to collect, so I was happy for the chance to manufacture a new hit to squeeze into that PC, even if it's essentially just a cameo appearance.

Ok, here's a fun one. This "zero year" card commemorates the brief time Brian spent in the Dodgers organization at the end of his career. He signed with LA in 2010, but ended up retiring early in spring training due to a bum knee. I found this cool posed photo that was perfect for a relic card. I tried something new by making the window a circle instead of a box, but I don't have a big hole punch so I had to do it by hand with a blade tracing a jigger and couldn't get a perfect circle. Whatever; good enough. You're probably saying, "Hey DefGav, that's clearly a plain white swatch, not matching the pants! What the heck?!" Well, first of all, it's "defgav" (no capitalization), and secondly, yeah, I thought the grey with a black stripe would look too jarring on a Dodgers card. But I assure you the material is indeed from the pants in question. Take a guess.

Give up? If you guessed it's from a pocket, you got it. Yes, game-used pocket! I'm glad I could work up a custom relic to give to my Dodger-collecting buddies. And it's nice to have a copy in my collection too, since as far as I know, Brian never got a real card from his brief tenure bleeding Dodger blue.

Coincidentally, Brian's younger brother Marcus Giles also was technically in the Dodgers organization for a hot minute but never played an official game with them.

And you know I've got to work Marcus into one of my custom relic cards, since he's another guy I collect, went to school with him, etc. Spiced things up with a horizontal stripe here in this prototype. This "memorBRObilia" card features a nice photo that commemorates the glorious homecoming reunion of the brothers in 2007. Marcus had a down year and was out of MLB after that, which is too bad, but still a sweet story of brothers playing together for their hometown team.

That's all I've whipped up at the moment. The plan is to make a few copies of each design: one for me, and probably like 3 or 4 more to throw in with trades. I've still got about half of the pants left-- a ton of material left to play with-- so I'll likely come up with more designs in the future. And once I feel comfortable making relic cards that I'm happy with, quality-wise, I'll tackle making fancy cards, like with the buttons and tags. But no rush there.

Any feedback on my attempts at making custom relics? Let me know what you think!

A Taste of Burbank

When I think of the Burbank area of Los Angeles, I think of where the Tonight Show was filmed during the Carson/Leno eras. A buddy and I stayed the night in a hotel there once years back after driving up to LA from San Diego to catch a concert. Seemed like a decent city.

They've also got one of the world's biggest card shops in Burbank Sportcards. I recently placed a big order with them (100+ cards); let's check out some highlights.

Creeping along with my '57 Topps build. These 2 cards take me to the brink of one-fifth complete (19.9%). I'm not a stickler for condition with this set when the price is right. That bat-rack shot of Elmer Valo is a classic! Semi-candid photos like that are a nice break from all the posed shots of the time.

The other day I was showing off some Kevin Mitchell cards and noted that I only needed the Mariners to have a card from each team he played for, and this '92 Bowman fit the bill, completing that little project of mine.

I stumbled upon this relic of Garret Anderson numbered 8/25 (full disclosure, I was looking at #/25 cards trying to find any cheap Christmas Cards). Not a yuletide card nor a guy I collect, but it was only 50 cents, and hey, it's got a game-used piece of a baseball! Pretty sure I needed that for my "ridic relics" minicollection where I try to get memorabilia cards with all the different various "stuff" I can find. Looks like the text on the ball includes "Maj" from "Major League."

Always a refreshing change of pace when a relic cards provides you with specifics regarding the featured memorabilia.

Picked up some needs for a couple of my biggest PCs of old timers, Nate Colbert and Dick Allen. Pretty sure that's my first 1990 Target Dodgers card, though I'm very familiar with the set thanks to gcrl going through it back on his old blog. Too bad that they couldn't find Dick in a Dodger uniform and had to go with a White Sox photo.

Hit a few needs for the We Didn't Start The Fire binder.

A new name to add to my Pride PC. (On May 26, 2013, Robbie Rogers became the first openly gay man to compete in a top North American professional sports league when he played his first match for the Galaxy.)

Let's close for today with this trio of 1987 Bohemian Hearth Bread Padres. Last time I talked about this oddball set I'm working on, gcrl suggested I give Beckett Marketplace a try. Sure enough, there were several listed there, and lead to this big order with Burbank Sportcards thru the Marketplace. It was only my second purchase on the site ever, and my first since 2014. I guess I usually stick to eBay, COMC, and occasionally Sportlots or Just Commons, though I should remember to keep an eye on Beckett's site too when looking for cards. (I have bought from Burbank on eBay before, but looks like they've got a wider selection in their Beckett store.)

Thanks for swinging by!

Slowly peeling price tags off penny sleeves and top-loaders

Time for more from my card show haul.

These are my first cards of 2005 Leaf Sportscasters, a weird insert set which a bunch of differently numbered parallels based on the combination of color and pictures in the corner. I left the tags on these in case you were curious about the serial numbering on the backs.

Here's Reggie again, on a 2009 Topps Update legends variation, paired with another old-timer on a modern design.

Some #'d Donruss parallels.

These Artist Proofs were a good score for me, each /10.

A nice selection of Trea Turner cards.

A young Gwynn and a couple Padres prospects.

Carlos Delgado xfractor in a scratched up case and a gold Christian Yelich 1st Bowman Card.

Some Francisco Lindor parallels.

Let's wrap up the post with some memorabilia cards, including jersey swatches of a couple 2017 Gold Glove winners and the only basketball card I bought at the show. Glad to add a piece of game-used basketball to my "ridic relics" minicollection.

That's all for today. Thanks for stopping by.

A dirty 2012 Topps setbreak

I celebrated opening day by opening a box of cards.

This month's box out of my Black Friday stockpile is a bit different because it's a factory set rather than packs to rip. It's a special edition that comes with a relic card of Fenway Park infield dirt. For narrowly less than the retail price of a blaster (well, 4¢ less), it was a pretty sweet deal. I think I'll raid it for my many player collections rather than worry about keeping the set together. The surfboard set, as it's sometimes known because of the design, is fine but I wouldn't call it one of my favorites. I never ripped any 2012 flagship, as far as I recall, so there should be a good number of needs for my collection in here.

If I were to sell them, the two Bryce Harper rookies alone could probably cover my price of the set. So it's all gravy from here. He's off to a good start this season with a homer, his 5th career opening day home run. The card on the left is the standard #661 in the set. On the right is actually a sealed 5-card pack of "rookie variations" which I think I'll leave sealed for the time being since Bry-Bry himself is on top and all such packs are apparently the same so there's no mystery. There's also a Darvish in there, and Cespedes visible on the back. Reminds me of the days of pulling sealed little packs of oddballs out of cereal boxes.

And the other star of the box: the Fenway Park infield dirt. It's my first dirt card. Silly, but pretty cool. I've sort of lost steam in my pursuit of a "Ridic Relics" minicollection of out-of-the-ordinary relic cards (ie, not jersey swatches or bat chips), though I still enjoy them.

Regardless of your team allegiance, ya gotta love Fenway if you're a baseball fan, right? I've never traveled to that part of the country, but it's nice to have a tiny baggy of it in my collection now.

Cracking into the rest of the base cards, here are a couple of the other big rookies.

Some nice Season Highlights cards. Vlad didn't get a standard base card in the set, unfortunately, but got on the front of a checklist, at least.

Here are some early cards of big names whose RCs appeared just prior, in 2011 Topps Update.

Healthy stack of other dudes I collect.

Speaking of Mickey Mantle, have you heard the news about his return to cards? That's kinda cool, but bummer about them being from Panini (logoless).

And a big stack of "other notables" to wrap up with. I had forgotten about Manny's stint on the A's.. maybe because he never actually played a major league game with the team.

After going through them all, I think I'll probably hang onto the cards for now (though sending the Willingham off to jaybarkerfan is hard to resist). Even if many of the cards are spread out into my various player collections, I'd know that I technically own the complete factory set of 2012 Topps somewhere under my roof, which I guess is kinda cool.

Thanks for reading! Enjoy baseball! I think this is the year the Padres go all the way! :P

Card Show Recap: Ridic Relics Edition (+ Contest lineup)

More nifty pickups from the recent card show.

This gets the award for card most quickly thrown onto my stack. A McCutchen hit #'d /99 for less than a buck? Yes please! One of these recently sold on eBay for $12.50.
The manufactured "hat logo" looks pretty sharp. Sure, it'd be way cooler if it were from a game-worn hat, but still. Part of me would love to send this to Matthew Scott, but think I'll gotta keep it in my modest little McCutchen McCollection. I've got plenty of other Pirate cards stockpiled for Matt anyways.

Here's another card I was very excited to pick up. It's my first batting glove relic. For the price, I would have bought this card regardless of the player, so it was a nice bonus that it's a guy I like from my hometown team. Xavier Nady never quite delivered on his potential, but managed to grind out a long career, debuting in 2000 and retiring after the 2014 season (in which he double-dipped with the Padres). Looks like he spent 2015 as hitting coach for the Lake Elsinore Storm, Single A affiliate of the Padres. Nady only got one MLB plate appearance in 2000, so I'm skeptical this piece of batting glove was from that solitary at-bat (he hit a single, btw), but was more likely from batting practice. It's a nice card, #'d 42/200, though given the nature of the relic, the defensive pose doesn't really fit. That's the biggest smile I ever recall seeing from the normally stoic Xavier.

This is my second relic featuring a piece of a base. Like the other one I showed off last time, this one isn't game-used either. My quest for a game-used base relic remains ongoing! This one is a generic relic from Triple Play, where Panini apparently just bought some baseball gear at Dick's Sporting Goods or someplace like that and cut them up to put into cards. Kind of silly, but I guess it's a neat idea for adding hits to a cheap product aimed at kids.

Finally, here's a boring bat chip, but in the interest of completeness and my goal to reach 100 "things" in cards, I need a bat relic in my Ridic Relics minicollection, so let's count this one. Again, for less than a buck, I was happy to add a hit of a HOFer.


Now onto the 600th Post contest stuff. The entry period is now over.. thanks to everyone who entered!

Here's the field of entrants: (* - pimp bonus; eligible for "second chance" drawing)
Adam [Cardboard Clubhouse]
Adam Kaningher
Al Kawamoto
arpsmith
Bo*
Captain Canuck
CaptKirk42
cynicalbuddha
Greg Zakwin
irondequoit36
Jason T. Carter*
jaybarkerfan
JediJeff
Jon*
Josh D.
Kevin P.
Lonestarr
Marcus
Mark Aubrey*
Mark Hoyle
Matthew Scott
Nachos Grande
Nachos Grande (Trade Bait post bonus entry)
Nick
night owl
night owl (Sandlot post bonus entry)
Nolan Tucker
Play at the Plate
P-town Tom
Red Cardboard
Reds Card Collector
Sport Card Collectors/Fuji
Stealing Home*
the bowl cut kid*
The Dutch Card Guy
The Junior Junkie
The Lost Collector
Tim B.
Tony L.*

Now let's randomize once to assign numbers. Let's say the winning number is the total number of hits in Game 1 of the 2015 World Series.

So if the Mets and Royals have a slugfest resulting in 39 combined hits in Game 1, Tim B. would be the winner, while up at Play at the Plate's end of the spectrum, they're hoping for a pitchers duel.

Good luck to everybody!

And remember the guys with an asterisk after their name will get another shot after this. Should be an exciting week here at Baseball Card Breakdown HQ. I don't get TBS or FoxSports in my TV package, so I haven't watched any postseason baseball yet this year. But I'll definitely catch most of the Series. I actually have a fancy dinner out scheduled for my brother-in-law's birthday Tuesday, so I'll probably end up missing most of Game 1.. Bummer.

I think I've mentioned that the place where I work is closing operations in Portland and moving to Georgia? This Friday is the last day for most of the staff here, so it'll likely be an emotional week with lots of goodbyes. I will likely hang on in some capacity for another month or so, but then I'll be back among the unemployed.

And if all that isn't exciting enough, we've only got one roll of toilet paper left in the house that needs to last until Saturday night. Should be thrilling to see if we make it! Haha.
See what I mean? Quite a week!

Thanks for reading, and good luck again to everybody who entered the contest.

Ridic Relics - not your grandfather's relic cards!

Here's an exciting new minicollection for me. Ridic Relics will include relic cards featuring materials besides just boring old jersey swatches and bat chips. We're more concerned with out-of-the-norm relics here.. the more ridiculous the better! (or as the kids say, "So ridic I can't even. Chaaa! [rolls eyes, resumes texting]") Keeping with my Hundred Card Club method of collecting, my longterm goal will be to gather up 100 different things embedded in cards, one of each thing. I suppose I'll count manufactured things (ie, stuff like commemorative patches, pins, and coins made by card companies), though I'm definitely more interested in things that were actually used out in the world at one point.

Expect this to be a recurring feature with posts covering a few such cards. Sound good? Let's kick it off...

2001 Donruss Studio Warning Track Scott Rolen Stadium Wall Card #WT-27 Phillies

The Thing: outfield wall

The Specifics: "The enclosed piece of outfield wall was cut from an Authentic Outfield Wall from Three Rivers Stadium used in an official Major League Baseball Game."

My Observations: Every card in this post cost me a buck-something each in a couple bulk eBay wins from one seller.. same guy I got the Adam Jones auto and a several other cards from. This is one I was pretty excited to win. It's the first outfield wall relic I've come across. Funny how it's from the Pirates' stadium, yet features a Phillies player. I guess this was during Pittsburgh's dark years. I'd love to trick myself into thinking I have a relic from where greats like Clemente and Stargell called home, but in reality I'm sure they replace this tarp-like wall covering at least once a year, so there's no way this was around back in the 70s. Donruss at least tries to tie it to the guy on the card, Scott Rolen, by mentioning he hit a homerun over the wall on 7/1/99. I'm sure lots of guys went deep in Pittsburgh in 1999. Maybe I should look it up and make a custom overlay for my favorite. I don't really collect Scott Rolen, but he's fine, I guess. I remember him being a bit of a Padre-killer in his prime, and I hated him for it. His name always gets a Soul Coughing song stuck in my head.

2001-02 Topps Heritage Articles of the Arena Charles Oakley Arena Court Card #17

The Thing: basketball court

The Specifics: "(A)n authentic piece of the Boston Garden parquet floor [...] acquired directly from the Boston Celtics."

My Observations: Yep, my Ridic Relics minicollection will not be limited only to baseball-- or even just sports, for that matter. Again, we've got a venue/team missmash: Charles Oakley of the Chicago Bulls is the featured player, though the relic is a piece of the Boston Celtics' hardwood. Like with the Rolen card, the card attempts to tie the player to the item by mentioning he played on it, though no specific dates are given. I don't collect Oakley, but at 99¢ I'm happy with this card.

2003 Donruss Studio Big League Challenge Barry Bonds Base Card #BLC-41 Giants

The Thing: base (event-used)

The Specifics: "The enclosed piece of base was cut from an Authentic Base personally used at the Big League Home Run Challenge on February 9, 2002."

My Observations: I had be wanting a base card for a while (no, not a base card, a base card). I'll have to keep on looking for a game-used base card, as this one wasn't used in a MLB game, but rather the Big League Home Run Challenge. It's my understanding this was an exhibition similar to the All-Star Home Run Derby that occurred annually for a few years at Cashman Field in Las Vegas. Proceeds from the event, organized by the players' union, benefited the Players Trust for Children. Again, I landed this card at its 99¢ opening bid plus very reasonable combined shipping. Bonds is a "guilty pleasure" PC of mine.. a guy I used to hate but eventually came around on.
Speaking of such players...

2011 Leaf Limited Limited Gamers Alex Rodriguez GU Glove Card #2 #'d 01/70 NYY

The Thing: fielding glove

The Specifics: "Game-used glove"

My Observations: Highlight blurb on the back, but no further details about the glove in question. Being numbered 01/70 is a nice little bonus. While I still don't love A-Rod, I've reluctantly started a PC for him (after ending up with like 50 cards in one of the discount bins I bought a while back-- figured I'd try to get him in the HCC). One of the very few pre-season predictions that I was right about was saying he'd bounce back and have a productive year, when most people were saying he'd be a benchwarming bust all year. Me and Zippy were the true believers!
Anyways.. my first glove relic. Cool.

2002 Topps Gold Label MLB Awards Ceremony Tony Gwynn Jersey Card #ACR-TG2 Padres

The Thing: jersey (baseball)

The Specifics: "An MLB Awards Ceremony authentic game-worn jersey"

My Observations: Ok, this is a "boring" one, but I've got to have a jersey relic among my list of 100 things, right? This one is cool because you can see the entire thing (including the sides and back), something kinda rare for a full-size relic card, though A&G mini relics are usually like this. The downside is you can't feel it because it's built into the card with no "touch window" or whatever. But it's fine. Tony Gwynn is of course a big PC guy for me, and I really like Topps Gold Label, so this was a sweet card to add to my collection. It's a little confusing-- are they saying this was worn in a MLB game or to an award ceremony. But I'm thinking "MLB Awards Ceremony" is just the dumb name they gave to this relic insert set, not actually implying it was worn at some ceremony where baseball players attended in their playing jerseys, as that would be weird.

2001-02 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Rookie Jersey Jason Collins #98 #'d 0741/1200 Nets

The Thing: jersey (basketball)

The Specifics: "An authentic piece of a jersey worn by Jason Collins at the Nets' 2001-02 Team Media Day."

My Observations: Yeah, while this is also a jersey, I'm counting it as a separate thing as the Gwynn jersey. To me, solid fabric is significantly different than fabric with a bunch of breather holes in it (Sorry, I forget the formal name of this type of porous fabric). Plus this Jason Collins card is a double minicollection hit for me, as it also works in my Pride PC. The back of the card admits it's not game-used but rather was worn at media day, meaning he probably just got some photos taken in it and did a few interviews and whatnot. That's not awfully exciting, though it is nice to tie the relic to a specific moment.

That's it for this time. More stuff soon enough.

Optional question for you all in the comments:
What's the most ridiculous relic card you own?

Thanks.