Christmas Eve Cards!

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know I'm into Christmas Cards (cards #'d 12/25). For whatever reason, I just think they're super cool.

But what doesn't get much attention here is that I'm also into Christmas Eve Cards, (#'d 12/24), which makes even more sense seeing as that's my birthday. But the reality is there aren't many 12/24 cards around, so I don't bother to really chase them much. 25 is a nice "one quarter" number that Topps and card companies of their ilk naturally pick for parallel print runs on the regular, while 24 remains an oddball number for print runs that doesn't get used nearly as often.

I'm thinking that maybe in 2017, I'll focus more on 12/24 cards and less on the 12/25 variety. That would likely save me money, thanks to the simple fact that there are much less available cards to chase. That said, both are still very welcomed in trades.

But yeah, here are a few 12/24 cards I've snagged so far.

Ozzie Guillen sure was one of the game's more entertaining characters for many years, and left his mark on the game by helming the White Sox as they broke their championship drought by winning the 2005 World Series.

It's the latest 2016 Archives Signature card I've picked up. (Topps needs to stop naming so many of their products Archives.. there's, what, 3 or 4 different products this year claiming to be Topps Archives?) This card set me back about the price of a blaster, which might be over-paying a little for an Ozzie Guillen auto (he signed a lot of cards for this product), but I was anxious to get my Christmas Eve Card collection off the ground with a nice specimen such as this.

Carlos Lee had a very fine career, putting up 358 home runs and batting .285 over his 14 years in the Majors.

This 2005 Donruss Elite "Gold Status" diecut parallel didn't set me back too much.

Switching gears to basketball, but sticking with Elite, here's Metta World Peace. This 2013-2014 Panini card came out a couple years after he changed his name from Ron Artest. I'm surprised to learn he's still playing..? Currently on the Lakers. The former bad boy must be behaving himself these days since I haven't been hearing anything about him. His career highlights include a championship in 2010 during his first stint with the Lakers, and a great 2004 with the Pacers when he was an All-Star and later named NBA Defensive Player of the Year.

World Peace on Christmas Eve. Yes, please.

Now onto football, here's Orson Charles. I only bought this one because it was the cheapest 12/24 auto on eBay at the time. Turns out Orson is not a good dude, having gotten a DUI and nailed for brandishing a gun whilst driving in separate incidents. His football career hasn't been very impressive, either. He most recently surfaced briefly with the Detroit Lions earlier this year.

Welp, this holiday season, let's hope he's able to turn things around for himself. He's still got a place secured in my collection regardless, thanks to Elite's penchant for numbering their Gold Status parallels out of 24. Oh wait-- I get it-- 24, as in 24 karat gold. Makes sense, I guess.

The real holiday surprise with this football card purchase of mine is that the seller generously threw in a bunch of base cards from 2014 SP Authentic.

A couple names in the lot definitely rang a bell with me: Johnny Football and Odell Beckham Jr. Not bad for surprise bonus cards with a cheap nobody auto pickup!

So that's wrapping up this post.

You might be wondering why I chose to publish this on 12/23 instead of waiting a day.
Well, I've got big birthday plans, with a forthcoming post on 12/24 to feature the most epic box break of my life.

I've got this setup on my bedside table right now. The birthday present from my mom is a box of cards with a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $999.99. The break is ready to go, with a pair of scissors as well as assorted sizes of new one-touch cases ready to give safe harbor to the wondrous cards poised to make their entrance to the world. I'm so excited for this that my plan is to rip into it right when I wake up, before I even get out of bed. (though that could change if, say, I wake up really needing to pee, or get up before my wife does.) But anyways, yes, exciting birthday break coming up. Regardless if I hit the mojo motherload or it ends up a spectacular turd, just this past month of building anticipation has been a gift in itself. Check back tomorrow (if you can find a free moment) to see how I do.

Thanks as always for reading!

A Little from St. Nick

Nobody packs quite as much awesomeness into a little plain white envelope than Dimebox Nick.

I think many would put 2011 Topps Chrome Atomic Refractors on their shortlist of the all-time best parallels. They really are incredible looking cards. They're somewhat scare (#'d /225), so Eric Sogard here is the first of this parallel to make it into the 2011 Topps parallel frankenset I'm working on.

Teammates Vida Blue and Willie McCovey show up here in both vintage oddballs and recent rehashes.

A new Gavin Cecchini for my PC! And coincidentally, it's his 23rd birthday today. Happy Birthday, Gavin!

More of the game's finest young middle infielders I've recently started collecting. The Altuve was a Desperate Double Dozen need, as I look to fill in some holes in that PC.

A nice Gwynn assortment. I've recently been chipping away at the overdue task of sorting my massive Gwynn collection, finally making my way through the overproduction era (Anyone need any junk Gwynns? I've got hundreds of dupes available. Can't make rip cards with all of them! And can I just say that I'm sorry for being all over the cardsphere lately. I'm sure people are sick of me and my rip cards. I achieved my goal of being mentioned in others' posts for a week, and then some. Now I'm almost starting to get a little embarrassed at all the attention. Sort of like on Twitter, I love when I get a couple fav's and/or re-tweets, but once in a while I have a popular tweet that gets retweeted a lot and then I start feeling weird about it. LOL)

And we close with these cards of fire and ice. Those Fire cards are kinda odd as I think of that as a football card thing, but that Giancarlo is cool, featuring the modified helmet with face shield.

Speaking of guys who missed considerable time due to taking a fastball in the face, that's a nice cracked ice parallel of Rymer Liriano. After missing all of 2016, looks like the White Sox picked him off waivers from the Brewers. Here's hoping he bounces back and makes it into some games in the Windy City next year. I sure have a ton of his cards from his time as a top prospect for the Padres.

Colt Hynes hasn't had much of a career, but those /99 camo parallels are always cool to get.

Great Rod Beck card with him taking time for the fans, as he was known to do regardless if there was a hunched down photographer beside him or not.

And always great adding a new Hoyt Wilhelm to the PC.


Excellent stuff, as always, Nick! I hope you're equally pleased with the PWE from me!

Bountiful card package from Too Many Verlanders

Here's some great stuff I got the other day from Dennis (Too Many Verlanders/Manninghams).

The package's instructions had me open these last, but I'm going to show them off first.. a couple sweet Christmasy cards. I had been wanting to get one of those Pacific ornament cards for a while now, so this was a very cool surprise. I seem to come across the Mo Vaughn one of these at the card show from time to time, but I don't collect him, so I never pulled the trigger. But Larry Walker, yes, I definitely collect, so this is perfect. I'm tempted to hang it on our little fake tree, but it seems kinda delicate so I think I'll keep it safely in the penny sleeve.

As for the other card, it's a shiny auto/relic of former can't-miss Padres prospect Sean Burroughs. Flip them over...

Very cool!

Wow! This trio of 2004 Topps Chrome relics takes me past the halfway mark with this insert set I'm trying to complete along with the main set's black parallels.

Here are some old Padres cards of guys I collect. I think I've got them already, though these may very well be upgrades, as they're pretty sharp for the most part.

Some more cool Padres, including a Berger's Best Winfield reprint, a Geoff Blum #/99, and a Caminiti that at one point had a coin embedded in it, yet now just has an empty hole (...makes you think.)

Ooh, a bunch of shiny Trevor Hoffman cards!

And a bunch of less-shiny Hoffman cards! Looks like the Shiny Machine (or whatever they call it) had a hiccup halfway between applying the shininess to that last one, as it really looks like that, not an issue with my photo.

Trevor is scratching at the door to the Hall. Last I saw, he was at 77% on all revealed ballots so far (75% needed for induction). I hope he's able to hang on for the save.

Dennis was kind enough to also give me the gift of ripping into a pack of cards, with this unopened pack of 2008 UD Baseball Heroes. I was able to pull 3 dudes I collect out of the 5 cards, so I'd say it was a success.

Finally, I called dibs on a couple things from the holiday giveaway/tradeapalooza Dennis ran recently:

This is a Barry Bonds 1997 Zenith Dufex 8x10. Normally I try to stay away from oversized stuff like this, as storage and display can be a pain. But man, the dufex effect (I always want to call it duflex) sure is snazzy all big n' in your face like that!

Bonds is cool, but I was more excited for the Ken Caminiti..

That's pretty sweet and works as a nice backdrop, allowing me to set up a neat little display in the man cave...

Oh, I like that!
As a San Diego fan in the late 90s, gotta have a place in your heart for Cami, even if he did end up being a cautionary tale. I think the auto card was an eBay pickup a while back, and the ball w/ stand was a $5 card show pickup earlier this year.


Big thanks for everything, Dennis! Hopefully my Holiday Blast PWE to you finally arrived. (Still a few people out there I haven't gotten any sign of acknowledgement from.. not that they are obligated to get in touch or post about it ASAP, but it's just nice to know they showed up safely. The gift I sent to my folks last week-- I even paid an extra buck to send it Priority, and the tracking number has gone dark since the day I sent it out. Last seen departing Portland, should have arrived at its destination Monday. Not happy about that! Hopefully it shows up for them in time.) But yeah, after this awesome package, I'm going to have to round up a few more cards to send out and balance the scales a bit, regardless of the fate of that PWE. Thanks again, Dennis!

Cardboard Overload (+ sweet Kershaw autograph)

Too many incoming cards to post about! It's a good problem to have, though. I was home with the flu all weekend and Monday. The cards just kept coming.

Even on Sunday! A Priority box from Zippy Zappy showed up, which isn't something you'd expect from the USPS on a Sunday, but I guess they're ramped up for the holidays. And shortly afterwards, Rod from Padrographs stopped by my place to bestow a couple thousand cards or so on me. These are going to take a while for me to sort and post about!

Then today I got a few more cards in the mail, including a package consisting of an empty magnetic one-touch from Billy at Cardboard History. Ha, thanks, Billy! Also great cards from Dennis, Nick, and a big eBay win.

But yeah, I don't know what to post about first. And I'm pretty much fried from the flu, so that's not helping.

Oh, and congrats to gcrl for winning my flash 900th Post contest, just narrowly beating out Tony Burbs by a few seconds. I feel I should scrounge up a few Cubs as a consolation prize.


Ok, that all was written Monday but I didn't get around to posting. Was feeling ok enough to come into work today, but still a bit "out of it".

Let's show off that aforementioned big eBay win:

Finally added a Kershaw auto to my collection, and went big by ponying up for one that was licensed, on-card, and #'d 12/25.

While this isn't the one-touch Billy sent me (twas a hair too small), I was able to use that one to swap out with a Giancarlo mani-relic that fit Billy's case perfectly, and the case it had been in fit the Kershaw perfectly. How nice!

That rainbow foil sure looks nice in the light!

You might be like, Gavin, why not sit on that awesome Christmas Card until Christmas? Sorry, bro, too much stuff to post about. Box breaks on Christmas, assuming my in-laws came through for me. One-card posts are low-hanging fruit, so there you go.

Thanks for reading!

Tony Gwynn SDSU cards (900th post!)

Ah man, Saturday was the monthly card show, but I woke up feeling like crap and have been sick all weekend, so I didn't make it out. It's probably for the best, since it's still snowy out and I'd rather not drive if I don't have to. Plus the show takes place in a mall, which is not the type of place I want to find myself the weekend before Christmas. And with my Black Friday purchases and exciting gifts lined up for me next weekend, there's definitely no shortage of incoming cardboard to my collection. So while I hate to miss a show, it's probably ok to sit this one out.

Switching gears, I sure do love Tony Gwynn, and my ample surplus of his '89 Fleer and '89 Donruss DK lent themselves to be utilized for my rip card idea that you may have seen popping up on the blogs lately.

While I'd site Gwynn as my #1 PC guy, the sheer volume of his cards out there makes it frustrating if you ever wanna feel like you've got a good handle on your collection. So while I pick up a new Padres card occasionally, I think I'm going to focus more on a specialty niche of his cards where he's pictured in his collegiate days at San Diego State University. And a big chunk of my latest COMC order consisted of such cards. I thought I'd show those off, as well as the other cards I already had, in one big post of SDSU Gwynn cards.

These Upper Deck Black autos are clearly the highlights. Just terrific looking cards!

Here's one from the COMC order. The base card, I guess.

As you can see, many of Gwynn's SDSU cards featuring him squeaking on the court. The top middle card is a pretty cool layered acetate thingy. The one on the bottom is the back of a custom I made a few months back.

And onto the more familiar sight of Tony gripping a bat. Here's the other side of that custom at the bottom. The 2005 Topps Pristine (1982 Topps design) seems to have a faded IP auto, and is numbered /1999 on the back.

Perhaps you've noticed the same photos showing up on several cards in this post? Normally I'd be bothered by so much reusing of the same few pics, but it's not like there are a ton of options for card companies to choose from here, so I think they get a pass this time. The above are all from Upper Deck, except the yellow one from Press Pass.

Ok, this one isn't in-hand yet, but just picked up off COMC today. Looks neat.. Can't wait to check it out in person. It's #'d 91/100.

Here's the collection in text form:

2005 Topps Pristine Legends 105 #'d 1511/1999
2009 Press Pass Fusion 3
2012-13 Fleer Retro 1997-98 Fleer EX 2001 EX-23
2012-13 Fleer Retro 1997-98 Fleer Ultra ULT-27
2012-13 Fleer Retro 1997-98 Z-Force Rave Z-23 #'d 269/399
2012-13 Fleer Retro 1997-98 Flair Showcase Legacy Row 0 97FL-17 #'d 91/100 (incoming)
2013-14 Upper Deck Black Old School Signatures autograph #'d 24/75
2013-14 Upper Deck Black Original autograph #'d 21/75
2013-14 Upper Deck Black 9 #'d 73/175
2014 Upper Deck 25th Anniversary 37
2014 Upper Deck 25th Anniversary Silver 37 #'d 76/250
2014 Upper Deck National Convention NSCC 15
2014 Upper Deck College Colors 7
2015 Panini Contenders 91
2015 Panini Contenders Old School Colors 14


In other SDSU news, the football team won their bowl game yesterday (Las Vegas Bowl), so that's cool. RB Donnel Pumphrey got the record as FBS' all-time leading rusher. Pretty sweet.


Oh, and also..
This is my 900th post!

I usually run a celebratory contest when I hit a big round number of posts, but since mid December is hectic enough of a time already, let's just do a quick little contest: Be the first to comment on this post and I'll send you a prize PWE of some cards I think you'll like. No fuss, no muss.

Thanks!

Cards of Merriment and Joyousness

Looks like my Holiday Blast is in full effect across the nation. Well, if Kenny all the way over in NY got his, I'm assuming the rest I sent the same day have either shown up yesterday or will today. Call it a narcissistic goal, but I'd love to make it a full week with "cards from Baseball Card Breakdown" posts posted on the cardsphere. That'd be cool, right?! Already at 2 consecutive days going for me (Dec 14, Dec 15), though I don't think I've gotten one yet today and the hour is growing dark.

I got some nice incoming card packages over the past few days. Let's take a look.

Here's a surprise 1-card PWE courtesy of Trevor over at Bump and Run Cards. And what better for a Christmastime surprise than a Christmas Card! A card trumpeting Chase Utley's times being hit by a pitch (specifically the 17th time out of 25 times total on the year) is a bit of an odd card, but it's serial numbered 12/25, and so I will take it to the grave with me. Big thanks, Trevor!!

-  -- - ---o

Next up is Tim B. from the blog Wish They Still Smelled Like Cardboard Nobody's Got Time For. (Sorry, I'm drafting this at work and have had a couple work beers to ring in the weekend.) He's had a busy year and I don't think we had swapped cards yet in 2016, but I'm glad we were able to reconnect here in mid December. He hooked me up with some great stuff.

It was June that I last was able to check a card off my 2014 Chrome Black setbuild, so this Aaron Rowand is very appreciated! And while I've got that Gavin LaValley-- several copies, in fact, thanks to getting in on some group player breaks-- it's a welcome sight.

Quick aside... another Gavin, Gavin Lux is featured in 2016 Bowman Draft. I put in what I thought were very competitive bids for his slot in about a dozen group breaks and I got decimated in each auction. So yeah, while my Gavin LaValley 2014 Bowman Draft rainbow is pretty impressive, I will not be rainbowing Gavin Lux's 2016 Bowman Draft card due to financial infeasibility. I'll just have to be happy with eventually landing his base card, base auto, and maybe a parallel or two.

When I came to this card, I was like, huh? I thought maybe the wrong card got slipped in the package.. was this meant for Giant fan Sport Card Collectors or somebody? But nope, turn it over...

Christmas Card!!!!!!!!1

Here's a Sparky and a Trout. (mmmm.. seared trout)

Limited edition!

These aren't just any 2016 Topps cards, but rather the much more scared Lids/New Era versions. Very nice! I actually already had the Cutch (with an expensive Padres hat to prove it), so it's available for trade.

2011 parallels! Utley makes another appearance in this post. Cashner was/is a PC guy, so that's a bonus. Zimmermann's pretty good, right? The purple refractors are /250.

Diamonds! Diamonds! I haven't had a chance to update my wantlist with these, but looks like a great lot with some big names.

Larry Walker legend variation!

Freddie Freeman RC!

Awesome.. thanks, Tim!!!

- - - ----o

Next is a nice "Operation PWE" package from Stealing Home.

Johnsons and Schmidts. (or, crude slang, dicks n' shits) Love that minor league pic.

Here's a #'d mini and an autographed Neshek. Sweet!

More cards!

Dodgers I happen to collect!

Some current dudes I collect, including a Rizzo RC back on those happy days when he was a Padre.

HOFers!

At this point my wife was calling me for dinner, so here's a rushed shot of some other keepers in the package.

Thanks a bunch, buddy!

Thanks again, Trevor, Tim, and OM for the thoughtful cards! Very appreciated.

See you next time.