A banner day for the blog

It's done! A couple letter cards in my latest COMC order finished off this project for me. Behold the new header for Baseball Card Breakdown:

Labor Day 2016 - ???

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. That's 21 auto letter patch cards spelling out the blog name. A couple dupes, but hey, I was mostly just trying to find the cheapest specimens I could find. I filled up the blank space with my pride n' joys, 2004 Topps Retired refractors. Go ahead, give it a long look, lingering from card to card over the span of several minutes. You know those bumper stickers that say "Ask me about my grandchildren"? I need a bumper sticker that says "Ask me about my 2004 Topps Retired refractors".

And as we pass the torch, let's pay respects to the blog's previous banner...

January 2014 - Labor Day 2016

This is a photo of my little "card display" area from my old place. I haven't lived there for well over two years, so I was probably overdue to make a new banner. I always felt a little guilty having such a big header, as I feel they make your readers have to scroll down a little extra every time they visit your blog. I'm happy my new one is a bit smaller. Though, sure, I'll miss this image. I'm the type of guy who typically isn't a fan of change for change's sake.

And the original..

Day 1 (June 15, 2013) thru January 2014

This is a sparser image of the same display area. The autos are Marcus Giles and Gaylord Perry. Ah... simpler times. I was just getting back into the hobby then. One thing I love about looking at my banners is each card holds a story for me. That '66 Gaylord in the upper right is the spoils of an epic Listia battle, fought hard and won (I remember lying in bed stressing out over it while the auction was going, becoming downright obsessed with winning the card). The adjacent Clemente RC reprint is also very meaningful to me, somewhat of a representation of my first dog Lucy, as she was so great and an embodiment of awesomeness just as Clemente was... and similarly taken too soon, as we had to put her down due to an extended fight with cancer not long after I pulled that card from a blaster of Archives.

Sorry for the sentimental tangent. But thanks for being here for the dawn of a new era for the blog, at least as far as the banner image goes. Hopefully I'll have plenty of good content and cards for you to check out over these next few years until I get bored with this banner and make a new one.

Take care, everybody.

jaybarkerfan trade? Oh, it's ON!!

This package from Wes showed up the other day, and while it wasn't an epic bomb like he sometimes unleashes, it still packed a solid punch.

A couple more letters! A skeleton and a lobsterman, sounds like a comic book villain team. I believe I'm now down to only needing a B and a K to have accomplished my goal of spelling out BASEBALL CARD BREAKDOWN in cards. So if you have a B or K card and want to be a hero, send it over!

A couple Gavin Floyd cards I didn't have. Very nice. Especially love the pretty 2010 purple refractor #/599.

The gavalcade continues with a couple nice Gavin Escobar cards.

Big thanks, Wes! Always a pleasure!

To check out what I sent him a while back (featuring some of my best custom work, I think), check out his post here.

Trade roundup for one

Seems like a few weeks since I last did a trade roundup. And it's not because I've been slacking, but because I just haven't gotten a trade package in that time. But P-town Tom heroically broke my cold streak with a sweet mailer of cards.

Kicking off with a couple autos. While I've already got the four needed letter A cards in my project of spelling BASEBALL CARD BREAKDOWN, there's a good chance this Mike Leake card will bump one of them out, what with him being an established major leaguer and hey, San Diego born, to boot. Not sure who my other A cards are off the top of my head, but chances are at least one of them is a failed prospect.
As for the other card here, I don't really know anything about Chris Betts, but when I saw Tom pulled a Christmas Card out of a box of Leaf Draft, I let it be known I was interested if it was available. (Really guys, if you get a card numbered 12/25, just assume I'm interested in trading for it!) Cool looking card. Best of luck to Chris Betts with his career.

As a Cubs/Team USA fan, looks like Tom had some Kris Bryant dupes to share. Nice!

The Giles Brothers and the Vogelmoster! That sounds like the title of a cheesy book for young adults.

Some appreciated cards of dudes I collect. Of special note is the yellow bordered box-bottom Brett, and the Yaz that I remember recently seeing on Completely Arbitrary and thinking to myself that was a cool card and I hoped to get a copy someday. So that worked out nicely!

We wrap up with a great lot for my 2011 Topps parallel frankenset. Oh how they sparkle!

Big thanks for the trade, Tom!

An ill-timed COMC order

I had just placed a COMC order back in late April, and I couldn't resist making another one in late May. I know a lot of you guys just add stuff to your inventory throughout the year then wait until a free shipping special to get the cards mailed out to you. But I just don't have the patience for that!

However, I should have waited a little while longer this time, as it's a Spring Cleaning Sale weekend at COMC coming up (6/3-6/5) with free shipping. Oh well, just 3 bucks wasted.

Sorry to say it, guys, (as I don't have much/any regular readers these days who are Padres fans), but this was a San Diego-centric order (though not actually Padres cards). While the team is pretty bad this year, I'm still a Friar fan for better or worse. While I only consider myself to have a PC going for 3 current Padres (Matt Kemp, Wil Myers, Andrew Cashner), I figured I'd pick up a good card of some of the other notable players on this year's team. And so that's the meat of this recent order.

Kicking off with some shiny catchers, at $2.74 the Derek Norris was easily the most expensive of these future Friar autos, with the others averaging around a buck-fiddy. He's been pretty cold at the plate this year, but still an exciting guy to watch. Christian Bethancourt has been playing decently, with manager Andy Green trying to wedge him into games with some time in the outfield. He even pitched in a blowout the other day and raised some eyebrows with his arsenal of pitches.

Alexi Amarista? Well, he's an easy little guy to root for. Melvin Upton has bounced back from rock bottom liability to be a serviceable (if overpaid) everyday outfielder once again. He seems to still have his speed, as his 11 stolen bases and 2 triples lead the team.

legends pic.twitter.com/FzgU2Z0W4Q

— brady phelps (@LobShots) June 2, 2016

Drew Pomeranz and Christian Friedrich have been pleasant surprises in San Diego's rotation, with ERAs around 2.50 and ERA+ around 155.

Jon Jay has been doing pretty well, with his .286 average leading the club among qualified hitters (UPDATE: up to .301 after his 5-6 performance in a crazy game last night). He's also endeared himself to Padre fans by always wearing fabulous Tony Gwynn socks. I commemorated this wardrobe choice on a custom overlay.

Here it is undressed. Days after picking this one up for a little over a dollar on COMC, I then found another of the same card for a little under a dollar at the card show. I picked up that one also and sent it to Marcus from All The Way to the Backstop with an overlay (and it should have arrived by now so I'm not spoiling anything). Marcus' overlay actually came out better, while the window on mine got a little wonky to accommodate the auto.

From current Padres now to former. I'm just about ready to consider my Ken Caminiti collection "finished" by my standards, but one last card I felt I needed to round it out was this one. I don't think I previously owned any Cammy relics or cards depicting his swan song half-season in Atlanta. This card hits both birds.

More letter cards toward my quest of spelling out BASEBALL CARD BREAKDOWN. I'm down to only needing another B and a K in addition to a couple that jaybarkerfan has set aside for me. If anybody has a B and/or K of anybody available for trade, please let me know! I might also want another L, because I'm pretty sure my other L is also Jarett Dillard which I didn't realize at the time, and I'd rather not have dupes in this project.

I had a little store credit remaining (over the $3 for shipping), so I looked for a cheap 65 need to tap me out, and Floyd Robinson is who I came up with. This card takes me to 59% complete with the set.

That's it for this order. I might throw together another one this weekend to take advantage of the free shipping offer. Already got a couple Yangervis Solarte autos in my inventory.

More cards of mine to check out

Here are a few more pickups to wrap up my latest COMC order.

Here's a pair of nice looking blue bordered refractors. Mookie and Goldy.

Picked up 3 Giancarlo cards.

These guys raised some eyebrows in Padres spring camp, getting sucker fans like me to think they were on the verge of break-out seasons. But Jabari Blash has struggled (Rule 5 guy who recently cleared waivers and was sent to AAA after the Mariners didn't want him back) and Jemile Weeks is injured.

A pair of Gavin cards. Gavin the Goof-Off fits alongside the "Thanks Gavin" Garbage Pail Kid as kooky cards (stickers, actually) in this minicollection of mine. Don't know much about this set, but I believe it was originally released in 1973 and reprinted in '88 (1988 Donruss Awesome! All-Stars #63, is what this is).

A pair of cheap, neat-looking autos of former Padres Xavier Nady and Kevin Kouzmanoff.

As I look to wrap up my Ken Caminiti collection, I've been trying to score a few nicer cards to round it out. These are pretty cool looking are each serial numbered. That Donruss stat line parallel might be the only card I have of Cammy as a Ranger.

My Julio Franco collection is pretty much done (by my arbitrary criteria) but I was compelled to pick up this parallel #'d /75. As for the John Kruk auto, yeah it was probably a dumb purchase even if it wasn't much money. I'll likely make a custom overlay for it one of these days if I can find a good photo to use.

Time to rock..

My love for David Lee Roth shines through in my choice of letter patch cards. Haha, no, actually I needed these letters in my goal to spell BASEBALL CARD BREAKDOWN. I'm getting pretty darn close to it thanks to these and a few other pending cards that I should be receiving soon. Gavin Floyd and Kevin Kouzmanoff make their 2nd appearance of the post. I've been trying to keep the cost of these around $2-3 per, but I paid a little extra to get a Gavin into this project. On the other hand, I don't know anything about Jarett Dillard, but this was the cheapest L available.

That's gonna do it for this order. Thanks for checking them out.

dual cardboard blast (trade roundup)

Just a couple trade packages arriving within the past week or so, but both were nice fat bubble mailers from my cardsphere hommies the Junior Junkie and SpastikMooss.

First up is Mr. Mooss. He had his eye on one of my extra Wade Boggs Always Sunny autographed customs, and was cool enough to do some COMC shopping on my behalf in exchange, scoring me a nice selection of cards off my wantlist.

Never get tired of these! Thanks to this lovely lot of 2004 Topps Chrome black refractors, I've cracked triple digits in my attempt to complete that parallel set. I'm now at 103/487 complete (21%).

And my goal of spelling out Baseball Card Breakdown in various letter cards has made great strides lately. With these 2 additions, I'm happy to say I'm over hump now, with 11 cards down, 10 left to go. I can currently spell BASE A CARD EA. Not familiar with Greg Halman, but Yonder Alonso was a Padre for a while, so bonus points there.

Whale miniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis!! With these 5 needs, I've completed the 2012 Allen & Ginter "Giants of the Deep" insert set. I'm not a big Ginter collector, but I like whales a lot and was drawn to these minis. Feels great to finish off that goal.

Here's some fun stuff, including 3 Glow Star stickers, getting me closer in completing that subset from 1993 Upper Deck Fun Pack. The coleslaw boots seems to be from a Ren & Stimpy game.

Hmm, I should probably have included the stickers in the previous picture. Some dudes I collect in there. As for the top row, vintage PC needs of Billy Williams and Reggie Jackson. Poor Billy came to Oakland just a teeny bit late to get in on their championship run. While I like to think of my Piazza PC as "complete" I do still like to add Padres cards of his I'm missing and the occasional crazy 90s insert.

Sealed junk wax! Always fun to rip, even if there's probably nothing in there I really need for my collection. Fingers crossed the gum is still bright pink so I can chomp down on that shit. Not even joking!

Great stuff.. big thanks, Mooss!

 -  - - - ---o

Next up to the plate is new dad The Junior Junkie (congrats on the bundle of joy!). I was lucky enough to be a part of his recent epic mailing, even though he had very recently bought a couple custom sets of mine (thanks again!), so he definitely didn't owe me anything and was just getting a jump on our next trade, knowing he'd be a little preoccupied for the foreseeable future. So no rush, but I'll have to hit him back one of these days.

That's a big Gwynn lot! While I've already got most of the overproduction era cards, there are definitely some PC additions among these guys.

And here's a nice Greg Maddux lot to add to my Mad Dog collection.

David Ortiz represented.

A bunch of Giancarlo cards, highlighted by a dufex Pinnacle insert.

Some Padres hits and inserts. I don't know if Mike Thompson or Jon Knott ever showed much in the way of signs of greatness, but cool to get their autographs nonetheless. And neat A-Gon relic and Spangenberg Future Star.

And this picture wraps it up for us. Oops, I should have included that Maddux with the others, but oh well. I believe it's #'d /500 or something. The San Diego card in the lower left is Austin Hedges (I should have included it with the other misc Padres). Another unopened pack! I watched a little of Yo! MTV Raps back in the day. Probably even ripped a couple of these at the time. I should do a separate post where I rip these junk era packs I've gotten.
And the kicker! A custom blogger card of TJ himself, autographed and personalized to me on the back. Very cool! Thanks, man!

Blasting through a card show recap

I made 3 purchases at the card show today. One was 193 cards for $45 from my usual dude, Bill. Another one was 13 cards for $20. And the last one was 20 cards for $1.

It's gonna take me a while to sort out the 193 lot, so today let's look at the other 2 buys. We can say all these cards pictured below combined ran me about the cost of a blaster plus tax (though, full discloser, Oregon doesn't have sales tax).

No two hotter names in the game today than A-Rod and Kris Bryant. Ok, maybe A-Rod not so much, but still, he's still out there getting it done and about to begin a 2-year farewell tour. So a bat relic #'d /299 for cheap sounded good to me. And happy to pick up my first Bryant relic, even if it's a boring unnumbered plain white swatch.

That Alex Cobb auto was cheap and looked good. Hopefully he comes back strong from Tommy John eventually. And Jedd Gyorko is a dude I collect, so that Finest relic/auto is a nice addition to the PC.

You guys know I'm a nut for biblical names, right? Nah, I'm kidding. I need the E's for my goal of spelling out BasEball Card BrEakdown. And I got the V because Gavin Floyd is a guy I collect.

Spoiler alert, these 4 cards won't stay with me for long. Cubs, Pirates, and Braves are always in high demand in my tradebox, so cheap hits from those teams are hard to pass up.

And here are the cards from the nickelbox dig. Mostly Bowman cards of guys I like and/or collect.

So again, not a bad haul for roughly the price of a blaster. I'll be back with the rest of the day's deals in a future post. Thanks for swinging by!

Bonus portion of a trade + a PC 12/25 auto

I've gotten a couple generous trade packages over the past week. Let's take a look.

This first one is from Josh Bob, a relatively new guy on the scene who has been doing some trading but doesn't have a blog (yet?). You might remember his was the trade last week where my priority box to him did a couple laps across the US before being delivered. Well, once it finally did show up, Josh was so happy with the contents that he was compelled to throw together a few more cards for me to balance the scales. That's above-and-beyond trader behavior right there and very appreciated!

A couple steps towards my goal of spelling out BASEBALL CARD BREAKDOWN in letter patch cards! I can now spell ABA CARD. So I could use them in a post about the American Basketball Association. One more B and I can post about the 70s Swedish pop group. I'm not familiar with Bill Hall, and the autograph on his patch isn't very visible, but I'm still very happy about the card. And Josh Willingham I know most for being a top PC guy of Jaybarkerfan, and so it almost feels wrong for me to have this card and not send it to him. But oh well, he's probably got a few of them already. These are both #'d /75. And below them you see a very nice Yankees/Dbacks/Giants Randy Johnson dual relic with a pinstripe and a half. Thanks to cards like this, my Big Unit PC is looking pretty good these days.. Now if only he would sign more autographs so the prices would dip into a reasonable price range. I'd love to top off that PC with an auto one of these days.

A couple turn-of-the-millennium mashers in Carlos Delgado and Vlad, both beasts in their prime.

Some Texas Rangers I collect.

Gavin Floyd on a team leader card, plus a Mantle from the era when Topps would seemingly put every photo of Mickey they could find onto a card. I'd like to think that hat is made of nachos and there's cheese dip in the top.

A couple Goldies including a 2016 Topps rainbow foil parallel, plus an shiny early Kershaw and a Mookie Betts black-border mini. Nice!

Pads in the Hall.

A nice lot of cards for the Matt Kemp PC.

And we wrap up Josh's follow-up package with a few more Padres I collect. Big thanks for the generosity, Josh! I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for cards for you.

 -   - - - -- ---o

The other trade package to feature in this post was a surprise mailing from Jeff Jones of the blog Wish They Still Came With Bubblegum. He's quickly made a name for himself as a guy you want to get into your circle of traders.

A couple Team USA cards of young guys to watch, plus a Goldy insert. Lindor was the AL ROY runner-up last year, while Joey Gallo still needs to prove he can hit major league pitching.. but when he gets ahold of one, he crushes it.

Some vintage to spice things up, with a couple Vidas and a McCovey.

Nice lot of Gwynns including the classic what the..? "fishing" card, and a cut-out oddball in the style of 1969 Topps.

A Hoyt reprint and some great oddballs.

Some neat looking cards of a couple guys who anchored the Padres' rotation during the pennant-winning season of 1998, Kevin Brown and Andy Ashby.

And the jewel of Jeff's package:

At first I saw this card and thought, "Nice! A Jedd Gyorko auto." Then I did a double take when I saw it was a Christmas Card(!!!) It's always much appreciated when I get a 12/25 card from the cardsphere, regardless if it's a Tony Gwynn auto or a card about blisters. But yeah, it's extra awesome when it's a player I collect, such as Gyorko.

Jedd is an interesting case for me, collecting-wise, as he's the first guy since my 2012 return to the hobby who I started PCing while he was with my hometown Padres, and then he got traded away. It happened back in the day with the likes of McGriff and Bip. While the Cardinals are among my least favorite teams, I'll still be rooting for Gyorko to do well, and I'll keep on collecting his cards, at least casually. I mean, I still collect/root-for Adrian on the Dodgers and Peavy on the Giants, both gone from San Diego before I started collecting again, and both currently on "hated rival" teams.

Anyways, big thanks, Jeff! Very nice of you.  I'll do my best to round up a decent return package for you shortly.