Christmas is right around the corner

Howbout checking out some Christmas Cards?

Here's the impetus for today's post. Rick Porcello just capped off a surprisingly strong year by bringing home the AL Cy Young. I picked this card up a few months ago, and figured now's a good of time as any to post it on the blog. His Cy victory was a little controversial, with many stats suggesting he wasn't necessarily the best pitcher in the league, but he got good run support and that helped him reach the magic number of 20 wins, finishing with a league-best 22.. good enough to convince voters.

Anyways this 2011 Triple Threads card didn't set me back too much. It's a stickergraph with a plain grey swatch to spice things up a little.

Ah, there's the money shot! After getting a Dallas Keuchel in trade last month, I've got a string of AL Cy Young winners going in my 12/25 collection.

Dee Gordon's card prices took a big hit when he got stuck with a PED suspension. It was pretty unexpected coming from a little guy like him who everybody felt like was a good kid. I'm willing to take the juicing escapade as a brief lapse in judgment and I still like him. His emotional home run after the Jose Fernandez tragedy was as incredible moment from last season. This orange Chrome refractor auto looks great and only cost me a few bucks.

This Sean Casey Archives mini auto was real cheap. I remember him during his prime years being one of the most feared hitters in the league. Always seemed to be crushing my Padres, at least. He couldn't quite keep it up for a HOF career, but did finish with a .302 lifetime batting average (184th all-time). While I don't care much for original 1981 Topps cards, for some reason I love them used as a modern design choice. Sean is giving a silly blowfish face here, but I still like the card.

And the back.

And here's another Christmas Card of a guy I like fine but don't necessarily collect but found a reasonably priced 12/25 card for sale and went after it. Jean Segura had a very nice 2016 season, leading the league with 203 hits. It was his first year in Arizona after a few strong seasons in Milwaukee. At just 26, you gotta think he's got a solid career ahead of him.

That's it for today. Next week is Thanksgiving and then it's just a month till Christmas. Yikes. Time to start thinking about shopping. Good luck, everybody!

I've gotten into the giving spirit already by sending a large box of cards over to Billy at Cardboard History today. I was mostly just looking to dump some unwanted bulk, but there's plenty of stuff in there he'll like, too.

I've decided I'm not going to do a 2016 Cardsphere Heroes set (maybe 2017?), but I've got another idea in the works as far as holiday gifts for my trader buddies.

All I do is win

Wow, third straight "contest winnings" post here on Baseball Card Breakdown.

New addition to my hockey card collection! Ha, no, of course this is a sketch of Jason from Friday the 13th. Corky at Pack War recently had a Halloween themed giveaway where you could win one of his spooky sketch cards. There were actually more available sketches than entrants, so everybody won, though the randomizer decided the draft order. To be honest, Jason was my 2nd choice. I was hoping for the Invisible Man, because that one glows in the dark, and I sure do love glow-in-the-dark cards. Unfortunately for me, CaptKirk42 snatched that one up before me, though.

But wait!...

Corky had an alternate Invisible Man sketch card that he threw in as a bonus for me! It's a Halloween miracle!

Here it is glowing triumphantly.

He threw in some other great bonus cards as well...

Donruss Optic is represented by a purdy purple refractor Sale DK, plus a Xander base card.

Boom! Griffey/Gwynn Topps Now card. Two of my favorites. Awesome card. Corky's a big Junior collector himself, so he must've had an extra copy to kindly spare. Looking it up, it had a print run of 1,730 copies. It uses the same photo from a short print variation in 2013 Topps Update that's been on my Desperate Dozen for a while now. But I guess I'm somewhat less desperate to get that one now thanks to landing this very similar card.

Thanks so much, Corky! Very appreciated.

- - - --o

And while not technically under the umbrella of "contest winnings", I also recently got a small package from GCA of The Collective Mind which he generously sent with "no return fire necessary" per his accompanying note.

Three additions for my Michael Sam PC.

Some needed LA Fernandos for one of my newest PCs.

Yes! Non-Dodgers Fernandos are the best (though I'm sure Dodger fans would have something to say about that). He looks great rocking the Oriole orange.

Very cool. Thanks a bunch, Greg!

Funny thing is both packages featured in today's post arrived on the same day and both had been marked "postage due" by the post office, though lucky for me, my mailman was nice enough to let it slide and deliver them as normal without hassle. Another win for me!

That's all for today. Thanks for reading.

1992 Classic Minor League set break (and lamenting the lack of ladies on the blogs)

I won a sealed factory set of 1992 Classic Best Minor League Baseball Cards from Julie way back in January. I exercised some patience, but finally ripped into it last night, deciding to raid it for my PCs and dump the remainder in the spirit of tightening up my collection a bit.

These are the big 3 of the set, no doubt. Jeter, Piazza, and Chipper.

A few of the other guys who went on to solid careers.

These 4 were all PC needs for me.

Giving you a look at the backs and a few of the more quirky names in the set.

Classic snuck in 3 MLB stars. I often see that Griffey at the card show whilst digging through bins and for a second I'm like, "minor league Griffey card!" then I notice the "1992" and I'm like, "hey, Junior was already an established star by that point. 👎"
The Nolan Ryan is a nice card.. and one I don't recall seeing before.
The Mike Schmidt card is a bit of a head-scratcher. It has nothing to do with minor leagues. He had "a minor league card" in the previous Classic Minors set (the only such throwback in 1991 Classic Minors), so I guess I understand them not wanting to repeat themselves, but still wanted to milk their association with him. So we get a card commemorating his 500th home run from a few years earlier. The back features the full box score of the game, yet neglects giving the date. (Google tells me it was Apr 18, 1987.)

And an artist's rendering of one of the Schmidt photos (see 500th HR card) is used on every checklist. As a player collector, I feel like I should include these in my Schmidt PC and count them towards my goal of 100 unique cards of the guy.. but I don't necessarily feel good about that. Kind of like breaking up a no-hitter in the 9th with a bunt. Or losing the popular vote but still getting elected.

Anyways, there are some highlights from the set. But yeah, the gist of the cards are guys I've never heard of. Any team collectors out there (who also collect minor league affiliate cards), feel free to get in touch regarding trades. But do it ASAP, because I'm currently loading up a big box of cards to dump on Billy, and the majority of this set will likely end up in there.
Red Sox trader buddies... do you need/want the Sox from this set?
Same question to Cubs collectors. And Braves? Brewers? Pirates? Let me know.

Big thanks again to Julie for surprising me with this set as the prize for losing a contest of hers. Very nice of her to do.

On a side note...
It's a bummer that Julie hasn't been seen around the cardsphere for quite a while now (7 months since a new post on A Cracked Bat, and I don't recall her commenting anywhere since then either). I hope things are going well with her and she makes a comeback soon. And thinking about women cardbloggers... it's kind of depressing. The lady from Portugal (Hobby Cards Europe) hasn't posted much in the past several months. Caitlin, the young collector from Canada, seems to have gotten run off the blogs for reasons I'm not privy to. Funner Here, the cardblog run by a female Phillies fan, is completely dead and gone now. A Cardboard Problem isn't updated very often anymore (though Sooz is active on Twitter, with #CardChat being a cool weekly social event she runs). But yeah, it sucks that the cardsphere is such a sausage party these days. Even Fashion Shoes hasn't been around lately! (ok, that one was a joke.) I'd love to see more diversity around these parts.. gender, race, age, etc. But what can you do? I don't really have any suggestions other than to say collecting cards is fun, and it's made even better by being part of a community who shares your interest. So start a blog if you haven't already! Even if you're a middle-aged white guy.. but especially if you aren't!
 👯👱👳👵👶👸😎
(Have you noticed Blogger now has an "insert special characters" button on the blog compose page? LOL. These are fun. I hope the faces are actually showing up for everybody, not displaying as plain squares or whatever.)

Ok, enough rambling.
Thanks for stopping by!

Winning the World Series contest winnings

It seems like forever ago now in light of current events, but it wasn't that long ago I picked the Cubs to win in 7 games over the Indians, and thanks to that prophecy being fulfilled, I won a contest from Collector's Crack.. the 6th Annual Almost the Easiest World Series Contest on the Web, to be precise. The prize package showed up on Saturday and put a smile on my face.

This Carlos Baerga auto was the centerpiece of the package. It's from 2016 Topps Archives Signature Series and is a 1996 Bowman's Best buyback, #'d 40/56. Looks like it was about time for him to swap out for a new pen, but still a very cool card.

Framed Gypsy Queen cards are always neat. I don't see many of the green variety. Nice PC additions for me here.

I love Mickey Mantle and I love the 1957 Topps design, so these cards from the height of Topps' Mantle Mania are appreciated.

A couple needs for two of my most active current PCs. These 2 guys should start a rap group and call themselves Kris Cutch.

A bunch of code cards for Bunt. These aren't useful to me at the moment, as I'm still rocking an old school flip-phone. But I might finally be getting a smartphone this Christmas.. so I may get some use out of them yet. If not, I'll pass them along sometime before their February 2017 expiration date.

A nice lot of old baseball postcards. I believe these were put out in 1978 by Dover Publications, as you can see if you zoom in on the copyright info. I don't have them in front of me right now or I'd tell you the names of these guys. If any of you baseball historians wanna show off in the comments, have at it.

And finally, a surprise autograph to round out the prize pack: Ke'Bryan Hayes 2016 Inception auto /99. Nice! The 19-year old has shown promise in the Pirates minor league system after being taken 32nd overall in the 2015 draft. This card fits into my "blacksheep minicollection" as a (so far) less successful relative to a well-known ballplayer, in this instance, his dad Charlie Hayes.

Big thanks for the contest and sweet prize, Cynicalbuddha! I'll try to get a "thank you" PWE out soon with that Yount custom I've been meaning to send you. And thanks to the Cubs and Indians for a great series to make a winner out of me!

Football cards from the card show: No Billys allowed

I don't really search out football cards, but sometimes I stumble across them and end up picking up a few, which is what happened at the recent card show. Many of them were NY Giants cards (stocking up for future trades with Sport Lad) and other teams that trader buddies of mine collect.

But I did grab a few for myself, and I'd like to show them to you here now.

A trio of fancy Philip Rivers cards.

To give you an idea of the type of Chargers fan I am, I have no idea if Antonio Gates is still with the team or even active in the NFL.

This might be my best pigskin find of the day, LaDainian Tomlinson Artist's Proof.

#'d 10/32!

Here's another Philip Rivers I forgot to include in the earlier photo. And the Timeless Triples card fittingly includes all 3 guys featured in this post so far. It's #'d 17/100 on the back.

Now we're past the Chargers portion of the post and onto the running backs with local ties to me. Reggie Bush (went to the same HS district as me), Marshall Faulk (same college as me), and Marshawn Lynch (Seahawks are the closest thing I have to a local team these days). I should have taken the Faulk card out of the old toploader, as it doesn't look very good in the photo. But it's a kinda-neat diecut that's numbered /150 on the back.

I don't collect Boomer Esiason or Reggie Wayne, but these were a couple cool cards that caught my eye, so I threw them on the stack. Boomer's got some crazy lasercut action going on, while Reggie is a red refractor #'d /259.

A couple all-time QBs here. Montana #'d /299 and Tom Brady #'d /750. The Brady might look like it's a relic of Satan's guitar pick or something, but no, it's just the (flat) design. (Oh man, guitar pick relic cards would be sweet! I should totally make custom relic cards for the couple of concert-used guitar picks I own. Don't let me forget about that idea.)

Let's close with a /162 Bo Jackson. After pulling an auto of him last month, and then watching the 30 For 30 You Don't Know Bo documentary on him on Netflix, I feel like stepping up my li'l Bo PC a bit. I think John Miller was asking the number of cards in it so far. It's not much.. just about like 25 or so.

That's it for this time. See ya.

Basketball cards from the card show: For Billy's eyes only

I'm posting this late on a Saturday night, so you know I don't expect anyone to actually read it. In fact, this post is really only for one guy: Billy from Cardboard History. I emailed him a week ago and he hasn't replied. Come on, Billy, Get back to me! He's one of the few guys on the cardsphere who actively collects basketball cards. I picked some up at the latest card show and I'd like to show them off here now with you.

Ok, honestly I just grabbed these for the magnetic one-touches. The things are like a couple bucks each new, so if I can pay less than a buck per, plus get a shiny card along for the ride, sounds like a great deal. Players here are Gary Harris, Julius Randle, Sam Dekker, and Karl Malone. I might wanna hang onto the sweet diecut Malone, but the rest of these cards (sans cases) are Billy's for the taking if he gets in touch.

More one-touch cases with shiny cards in them! These are all from 2015-2016 Panini Revolution Basketball. Chris McCullough, Rakeem Christmas, Aaron Harrison, Mario Hezonja, Josh Huestis. These are all Billy's if he wants them (...and no, Rakeem Christmas doesn't fit into my Christmas Card collection, lol!)

Hey, these ones are actually for me! I've lived in Portland for going on 7 years now. While I can't say I've really converted into much of a Blazers fan yet (though I'm hoping this season to maybe attend my first game), I figure maybe I should start up a little Clyde Drexler PC. These are a couple cool ones. The card on the left is a nickname card of "The Glide" while the card on the right has a couple transparent areas. Nice dimebox pickups for me.

More cards for Billy, all #'d parallels from 2014-2015 Panini Prestige Basketball. Channing Frye, Jason Terry, Jason Thompson, Serge Ibaka.

Take it deep to the hole. What do you say, Billy? Drop me a line. Thanks!

Card show overview and a 2016 Stadium Club blaster

Pretty solid card show haul for me today. I picked up a bunch of cards, with about half of them earmarked as trade fodder. I'll need to sort through everything later and get another post or two out of it within the next few days. So stay tuned. For today, let's just rip open the half-priced 2016 Stadium Club blaster I picked up.

A couple nice Cubs. Pretty sure I already have the Bryant, so it might be available.

A couple decent gold parallels.

Black & white beauties. I actually had just picked up 3 of these 4 from a dimebox (all except the Killer), so I suppose they are available, too.

And a diecut Robin Roberts that's kinda cool. These should have been refractors.

And of course several more cards that weren't interesting enough to show, available for trade.
Not the best box, but a fun little ripping experience for $10.

Thanks for stopping by.